The Jewish Star

HAFTR rainbow for Noach

In honor of this Shabbat’s Parshat Noach and its rainbow promise, 3- and 4-year-olds at HAFTR’s Early Childhood Center in Lawrence came together to form their own rainbow, with each class wearing a distinctive color.

JEWISH STAR

TheJewishStar.com

Nikki Haley, who has been a face of the Trump administration’s uncompromising support of Israel, is resigning as United States ambassador to the United Nations.

The former Republican governor of South Carolina, who has served in the UN post since the beginning of the Trump administration, said she would step down at the end of year.

“She’s done a fantastic job, and we’ve done a fantastic job together,” Trump said on Tuesday. “We’ve solved a lot of problems, and we’re in the process of solving a lot of problems.” Haley responded that the US is now respected again on the world stage.

“They get it when the president says he means business,” she said.

Early on in her tenure, Haley made it clear that she would no longer tolerate anti-Israel bias at the world body. During See Todah on page 17

Serving our Orthodox communities

Combined Sources Israel Defense Forces and other security personnel were in pursuit this week of the Palestinian who murdered, executionstyle, two Israelis at the Barkan Industrial Park on Sunday morning.

“We grieve today for Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi, may G-d avenge their blood,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a synagogue dedication at the Ein Keshatot archaeological site in the Golan Heights. “We will catch this heinous killer and we will settle the score. Israeli blood will not be spilled in vain.”

Yehezkel, of Rosh Haayin, a 29-year-old mother of an infant, was laid to rest on Sunday night in her hometown. Hajbi, a 35-yearold father of three from Rishon Letzion, was buried Monday afternoon in Moshav Nir Yisrael.

Both had been tied up and shot at close range. They died of

their injuries at the scene.

Sara Vaturi, 54, was moderately wounded.

The killer was identified as 23-year-old Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alwa from the West Bank village of Shuweika, just north of Tulkarm.

The horrific incident took place as the three victims were beginning their workweek at Alon Group in the large industrial park, one of the few commercial centers to employ both thousands of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians.

Barkan, in central Samaria near the city of Ariel, 35 kilometers east of the Petach Tikvah, consists of 165 manufacturing facSee Unbearable on page 10

Unbearable tragedy

Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Todah, chaveira

Noach • Oct. 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 • Torah columns pages 18–19 • Luach page 18 • Vol 17, No 39

Family and friends at the levaya of Kim Levengrond Yehezkel on Sunday.

Yehezkel was slain along with Ziv Hajbi (both pictured top right).

On campus: Bibi is Hitler, Jews are U.S. enemies MICHIGAN U A required lecture for University of Michigan art students featured a speaker who compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

A slide that showed a picture

of Netanyahu and Hitler with the words “Guilty Of Genocide” written across their faces was displayed

by Emory Douglas as a part of the Penny Stamps Speakers Series Presentation of the Stamps School of Art & Design. Below the photo was the definition of genocide.

“During his tenure, Douglas cre-

ated powerful images to depict the reality of racial injustice in America and to promote the [Black Panther] party’s ideologies,” according to the school’s website. “His distinctive style established the ‘militant-chic’ style decades before the aesthetic became popularized and sought to See Michigan on page 6

HATE FLIERS Fliers blaming Jews for the sexual assault allegations against newly sworn-in Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were posted at Vassar and Marist colleges in Poughkeepsie, NY, at University of

California campuses at Berkeley and Davis, and elsewhere.

“Every time some Anti-White, Anti-American, Anti-freedom event takes place, you look at it, and it’s Jews behind it,” the fliers discovered Monday read.

The flier shows an image of KaSee Hate flyers on page 6

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

Monte Rosenzweig 516-374-7700

291 Burnside Ave, Lawrence mrosenzweig@allstate.com We can also help with auto, home, life, and business insurance.

996583

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

2

YU, OU Press complete Soloveitchik Chumash Yeshiva University and the Orthodox Union will co-host “Remembering the Rav, Celebrating the Completion of Chumash Mesoras HaRav: The Neuwirth Edition” this Sunday. The program, in YU’s Weissberg Commons, is free and open to men and women.

Part of YU’s Kollel Yom Rishon series, the event will be hosted by Rabbi Simon Posner, OU Press executive editor with a keynote address by YU president Dr. Ari Berman. Other speakers will include Rabbi Hershel Schachter, rosh yeshiva and rosh kollel at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) and senior posek at OU Kosher; Rabbi Mayer Twersky, RIETS rosh yeshiva; Dr. Arnold Lustiger, editor of Chumash Mesoras HaRav; Rabbi Menachem Genack, RIETS rosh yeshiva, CEO of OU Kosher and general editor of OU Press; and Rabbi Julius Berman, chairman of the OU Press Commission and a YU trustee.

The Chumash Mesoras HaRav has been a multi-year project to make Rabbi Soloveitchik’s commentary on the Torah readily accessible

to readers. Compiled and edited by Dr. Arnold Lustiger, the project draws upon material from dozens of published sources in Hebrew, English and Yiddish, as well as many previously unpublished lectures and tapes of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s shiurim.

This material is presented in concise English, often in the Rav’s own language, as a running commentary alongside the Chumash text. The Chumash Mesoras HaRav presents the Rav’s philosophical insights, homiletic interpretations and Talmudic analysis in a form that transforms them from a diverse array of sources into a timeless commentary.

“The completion of the Chumash Mesoras HaRav project is a pioneering event in Jewish publishing and will serve to further disseminate the Rav’s Torah,” said Rabbi Posner. “The upcoming event at Yeshiva University provides us the opportunity to give kavod to the Rav and pay public tribute to his memory.”

Oct. 14, 9:30 am to noon oupress.org/remembering-the-rav

GALA Honoring Outstanding Long Island Leaders

Zelda Berger

M A R V I N L E F F, z ” l , L E A D E R S H I P AWA R D

Shevi Cohen

SHOSHANA CHAPTER | WEST HEMPSTEAD

Marilyn Grossman E F R AT C H A P T E R | M E R R I C K

Laura and Amanda Kornblum SABRA MASSADA CHAPTERS | FIVE TOWNS Midreshet AMIT Alumna ’16

Beverly Skolnick

DAROMA CHAPTER | LONG BEACH

Rochelle Sroka

B AT YA C H A P T E R | P L A I N V I E W

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Buffet Dinner & Boutique | 6:30 p.m.

Program | 8:00 p.m.

Dessert Following Program

Sephardic Temple

775 Branch Boulevard, Cedarhurst

Come hear why AMIT was named the #1 Educational Network in Israel!

RSVP Online

www.AMITChildren.org/LongIslandGala

For more information

Debby Gage | 516.551.1058 | DebbyGage@icloud.com Genene Kaye | 212.477.5465 | GeneneK@amitchildren.org

AMIT

Building Israel. One Child at a Time.

993945

“One way or another we will have Shabbat

By Ben Sales, JTA When he and his wife moved to Pensacola, services this weekend,” Stefanie Posner, the synaFlorida, on Sunday afternoon, Rabbi Mendel gogue’s education and music director, wrote JTA Danow expected to spend the next couple of in a message Wednesday. “Even if there’s no elecweeks settling in and buying supplies for their tricity we’ll make something happen. What’s nicer than a Kabbalat Shabbat service by candlelight.” new home.

Rabbi Danow grew up in Sweden and has no Instead, two days after getting off the plane, Rabbi Danow found himself driving to a Walmart prior hurricane experience for comparison. He in Alabama to buy five 40-packs of water bottles. and his wife came to Pensacola after visiting as

By Wednesday, the windows and doors of his part of a Chabad program. They hope to serve new home were being covered by metal plates both the small local Jewish community and Jewprovided by their landlord. And instead of spend- ish students at the University of West Florida. ing their first week in Pensacola alone in their new and mostly empty house, Rabbi Danow and his wife, Nechama, cooked up a stockpile of rice and pasta — and prepared to host 10 overnight guests.

The Danows, who were married this year, were beginning a life as Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.

They landed in the path of Hurricane Michael, an ominous Category 4 storm that hit the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday.

“We’re here to come and we’re here to stay, and we’re here to help out the local community with whatever they need on a physical level Hurricane Michael hits land in Panama City, Fla., on Wednesday, and spiritual level,” Rabbi Danow, Oct. 10.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images 23, told JTA. “It seems like G-d Besides providing for their own needs, wants us to start our communal work right away.”

Hurricane Michael made landfall on Wednes- the Danows have checked in with local Jews day near Mexico Beach, Florida, roughly 100 they have already met ranging from seniors to miles west of the state capital of Tallahassee, young Israeli singles. Another Chabad family and about 120 miles east of Pensacola, which is that evacuated from the nearby coastal town of on the Alabama border. Maximum wind speeds Destin will be staying at their house.

The couple, three days after moving, does not topped 150 miles per hour. The storm is being have much furniture. But they do have sleeping called the worst the area has seen in a century.

In Tallahassee, which is further inland, Jew- bags, carpeted floors, a folding table, and crayish leaders sounded relatively calm. Both the ons and paper for kids. And lots of food.

“We’re preparing over here at home, cookReform and Conservative synagogues secured their Torah scrolls, but both expect to be open ing up [food] to have ready to get out to people this weekend for Shabbat services. The Reform during and after the storm,” Rabbi Danow said. congregation, Temple Israel, is set to celebrate a “Maybe it won’t be hot, but at least it will be fresh and edible.” bar mitzvah — of a boy named Michael.

The AMIT

AMIT 817 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 212.477.4720 www.amitchildren.org

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

On Sunday, rabbi moved to Florida. Wednesday, Hurricane Michael hit

3

Blaming Abbas, Egypt may end Gaza talks

By Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff Amid mounting tensions between Israel and Hamas along the Gaza border, Egyptian intelligence officials may withdraw from diplomatic efforts.

Attempts to reconcile rival factions Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Fatah, which controls Palestinian Authority territory in Judea and Samaria, have been unsuccessful since Hamas violently routed Fatah from Gaza in 2007.

SILHOUETTE CLEARVIEW™SHADINGS A Hamas delegation headed by deputy political leader Saleh Arouri and senior Fatah representatives were in Cairo last week for meetings with Hunter Douglas window fashions.

SILHOUETTE CLEARVIEW™SHADINGS SILHOUETTE CLEARVIEW™SHADINGS with Egyptian intelligence officials and were supSILHOUETTE CLEARVIEW™SHADINGS Light-diffusing window fashions from Hunter Douglas let you design with soft light. Enjoy generous posed to stay several days, but departed after 24 rebates on qualifying purchases April 14–June 25, 2018. hours. A senior Egyptian defense official told IsraHayom this was the reason for Hamas’s intenREBATES QUALIFYING SSTARTING H A D EAT S $ • B*LONI N D S • CPURCHASES U R T A I N S • D R A P E S elsified weekly riots along the border with Israel. with Hunter Douglas window fashions. with Hunter Douglas window fashions. with Hunter Douglas window fashions.

“If Egypt ceases its involvement in the talks, Soho Window Fashion, Inc Light-diffusing window fashions from Hunter Douglas let you design Enjoy generous alight. military confrontation will very likely erupt in Light-diffusing window fashions from Hunter Douglas let you you design withwith softsoft light.

Enjoy generous Light-diffusing window fashions from Hunter Douglas let design with soft light.

Enjoy generous Gaza.

Hamas will direct the pressure at Israel,” rebates on Willow qualifying purchases April 14–June 25, 2018. rebates on qualifying purchases April 14–June 25, 2018.

581 Avenue rebates on qualifying purchases April 14–JuneAsk 25, us 2018. about special savings on the official said. He added that Israel and Egypt * select Hunter Douglas operating * have been coordinating recent diplomatic steps. $ * $ Cedarhurst, REBATES STARTING AT QUALIFYING PURCHASES $ REBATES STARTING ATNY ONON QUALIFYING PURCHASES The official said Egypt’s plan would begin REBATES STARTING AT ON QUALIFYING PURCHASES systems. with a cease-fire and reduced tensions between 516-341-7600 Israel and Hamas along the Gaza border. If the www.sohoblinds.com cease-fire held, Hamas and Israel would implement a prisoner exchange. Israel would receive qualifying purchases made 4/14/18–6/25/18 from participating dealers in the U.S. only. Offer excludes HDOrigins and Nantucket Window Shadings, a collection of Silhouette the form of a prepaid reward card and mailed within 4 weeks of rebate claim receipt. Funds do not expire. Subject to applicable law, a $2.00 monthly fee will be assessed against the bodies of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, Ask us about special savings and each month thereafter. Additional limitations may apply. Ask participating dealer for details and rebate form. ©2018 Hunter Douglas. All rights reserved. All trademarks Askusedus us about about special savings on on Avera Ask special savings on and information on Ethiopian-Israeli r their respective owners. 18Q2MAGSCVC1 select Hunter Douglas operating Mengistu and Bedouin Hisham al-Sayed, who select Hunter Douglas operating select Hunter Douglas operating entered Gaza voluntarily in 2014 and 2015. systems. systems.

In phase two, hundreds of millions of dolsystems. lars would be transferred to Gaza for infrastructure and civilian projects. The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would open more frequently, and Israel would ease other restric®

Soften harsh sunlight and save

Soften harshsunlight sunlightand andsave save Soften harsh 100

® ®

®

100 100

™

™

®

993715

Soho Blinds Soho Window Fashion, Soho Window Fashion, IncInc 581 Willow Avenue 581 Willow Avenue Cedarhurst, Cedarhurst, NYNY 516-341-7600 516-341-7600 www.sohoblinds.com www.sohoblinds.com

™ ™ ™ ™ atevalid offerfor valid for qualifying purchases 4/14/18–6/25/18 from participating dealers theonly.

U.S.Offer only. excludes Offer excludes HDOrigins and Nantucket Window Shadings, a collection of Silhouette fer qualifying purchases made made 4/14/18–6/25/18 from participating participating dealers in the the in U.S. HDOrigins ™ and Nantucket™ Window Shadings, a collection of Silhouette fer valid for qualifying purchases made 4/14/18–6/25/18 from dealers in U.S. only. Offer excludes HDOrigins and Nantucket Window Shadings, a collection of Silhouette be issued in theofform of a prepaid reward cardmailed and mailed within 4 weeks of rebate claim receipt.

Funds do not expire.

Subject to applicable law, a $2.00 monthly feebewill be assessed against beewill issued in the form a prepaid reward card and within 4 weeks of rebate claim receipt.

Funds do not expire.

Subject to applicable law, a $2.00 monthly fee will will assessed against issued in the form of a prepaid reward card and mailed within 4 weeks of rebate claim receipt. Funds do not expire. Subject to applicable law, a $2.00 monthly fee be assessed against erissuance card issuance andmonth each month thereafter.

Additional limitations may apply.

Ask participating for details and rebate form. ©2018 Douglas.

All rights reserved.

All trademarks and each each thereafter.

Additional limitations may apply. apply.

Ask participating participating dealerdealer for details details and rebate rebate form. ©2018 ©2018 HunterHunter Douglas.

All rights rights reserved.

All trademarks trademarks used used dd issuance and month thereafter.

Additional limitations may Ask dealer for and form.

Hunter Douglas.

All reserved.

All used Hunter Douglas their respective owners.

18Q2MAGSCVC1 Douglas or their theirorrespective respective owners.

18Q2MAGSCVC1 rr Douglas or owners.

18Q2MAGSCVC1 ® ®

tions, including on Gaza’s fishing industry.

The third phase would implement HamasFatah reconciliation and transfer civil control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in stages.

Hamas’s military wing and other armed factions in Gaza would disarm and their members would be integrated into the PA’s security force.

“While Hamas was ready to discuss the plan up to the phase where its military wing would have to disarm, [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas refused to even listen to it and asked [Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi] to shelve the plan immediately,” the Egyptian official told Israel Hayom.

Egyptian and Palestinian officials said that Abbas warned that if Egypt continued to mediate between Hamas and Israel while ignoring the PA, the PA would impose sanctions on Gaza, revoking its budget and declaring it a “rebel area.”

A senior official in Ramallah told Israel Hayom, “Abbas won’t permit negotiations with Hamas as the sovereign in Gaza. Hamas is exploiting the budget cuts from Ramallah to direct the pressure and unrest in Gaza at Israel.”

El-Sissi sent a calming message to Israel: “Preserving peace is no less a challenge than preserving war. In both situations, Egypt has made it clear that when it chooses, it can meet the challenge.”

Meanwhile, dozens of incendiary balloons were launched from Gaza into Israel over the weekend, sparking seven fires on Friday and four more on Saturday. Shimon Barak, a famer in southern Israel, said his children saw the balloons land near the family’s greenhouses.

Some 20,000 rioters gathered along the Gaza border last Friday, hurling explosive devices at IDF soldiers. They also burned tires and some breached the border fence.

®

Energy Efficiency means a greener future for our growing family.

Future Offshore Wind Turbines

Dominique & Joseph Dickson - Hempstead, NY

Discover what Energy Efficiency means for you.

PSEGLINY.com/Efficiency

997154

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

4

By Marcus M. Gilban, JTA

RIO DE JANEIRO — Jair Bolsonaro, an ardently pro-Israel candidate who is highly divisive among Jews for his sometimes politically incorrect rhetoric, won the first round of Brazil’s presidential election and remains the frontrunner to lead the Latin American nation.

Bolsonaro, a 63-year-old conservative Christian congressman, won 46 percent of the ballot on Sunday as voters appeared to reject Brazil’s political establishment in a country struggling to emerge from recession and corruption scandals.

However, the rightist candidate did not reach the 50 percent needed for an outright victory and will face far-left rival Fernando Haddad in a second round of balloting on Oct. 28. Haddad, a former mayor of São Paulo, is heavily backed by ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for corruption and money laundering.

Fernando Lottenberg, president of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, told JTA that the country is facing a polarizing choice in the runoff.

Like evangelical and deeply conservative politicians in the United States, Bolsonaro is divisive among Jewish voters, who tend to be socially liberal but want their representatives to be strongly pro-Israel.

“Bolsonaro starts with an important advantage,” Lottenberg said. “The Jewish community is quite diverse. We will work so that political differences do not affect our unity.”

Bolsonaro, who counts on passionate support from much of the Jewish community, declared recently that he will move the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and close the Palestinian embassy in Brasília.

“Is Palestine a country? Palestine is not a country, so there should be no embassy here,” he said. “You do not negotiate with terrorists.”

The retired army captain, who represents the

Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is shown after casting his vote in Rio de Janeiro on SunFernando Souza/AFP/Getty Images day.

Rio de Janeiro state in the National Chamber, espouses a crackdown on crime and a return to traditional family values. He prides himself on the fact that he has never been accused of corruption during his nearly 30-year political career.

“Bolsonaro has a real chance to become president,” Rio Jewish Federation President Ary Bergher told JTA. “His victory in the first round made us very joyful and hopeful due to his friendship, love and bonds not only with the

State of Israel but with the whole Jewish people.

He will be a great president by having Jewish ethics and morals as his pillars.”

Bolsonaro also has declared that he will seek to broaden dialogue with Israel, the United States and Europe. The Jewish state reportedly will be his first international trip if elected.

“He stood out among the many candidates for including the State of Israel in the major speeches he made during the campaign,” Israel’s honor-

ary consul in Rio, Osias Wurman, told JTA. “He is a lover of the people and the State of Israel.”

Leftist Jewish groups accuse Bolsonaro, who many refer to as “Brazil’s Trump,” of racism, homophobia and misogyny, as well as labeling his speech as Nazi-like. Anti-Bolsonaro demonstrations have been held in some cities, while groups and hashtags against the candidate have appeared online.

On Sept. 6, Bolsonaro was stabbed and seriously injured during a street rally while campaigning in the city of Juiz de Fora. The assailant, whose action was captured on cellphone videos and went viral, told police he was “on a mission from God.” After receiving local emergency treatment, Bolsonaro chose to be transferred to a Jewish hospital in São Paulo to recover from lifethreatening injuries. The fact that the politician declined treatment offered by the Syrian-Lebanese, another elite hospital commonly chosen by senior politicians, led to conspiracy theories in social media.

The most radical among Bolsonaro’s nearly 10 million followers suggested his life would be at risk at a place “by the hands of Arab and Muslim doctors,” adding that at the Jewish-led Albert Einstein, Israel’s Mossad would be able to protect him.

In 2017, Bolsonaro told an audience of 400 at the Hebraica club in Rio that “My heart is green, yellow, blue and white,” in a reference to the Israeli and Brazilian flags. The venue was surrounded by Jewish leftist youth groups who opposed the speech and called those who attended “shameless Jews” and “Jews without memory.”

Bolsonaro’s supporters usually refer to him by the nickname “Mito,” from the word myth or legend. His three sons, also politicians, have been photographed wearing T-shirts with messages in Hebrew. One of them was elected senator on Sunday.

Great CD and Savings Rates!

1 Year CD*

2 25 

100% liquid

No monthly maintenance fee

%

APY** APY

Choose the account that’s right for you.

Grand Yield Savings®

6 Month CD*

2 00

%

1 60 



% APY

APY

for balances of $2,500 and up**

Annual Percentage Yields (APYs) disclosed are effective as of 8/21/2018 and may be changed by the Bank at any time. *CDs require a $1,000 minimum balance to open and earn interest. Early withdrawal penalty may apply. CDs must be opened in person at an Apple Bank branch. ** For the Grand Yield Savings Account, interest earned on daily balances of $2,500 or more at these tiers: $2,500-$9,999: 1.60% APY, $10,000-$24,999: 1.60% APY, $25,000-$49,999: 1.60% APY, $50,000 or more: 1.60% APY. There is no interest paid on balances between $1-$2,499. $100 minimum deposit required to open account. A combined $3,000,000 maximum deposit per household applies to the Grand Yield Savings Account. A household is defined as a family residing at the same address. This account may be opened as a passbook or statement savings account. Offer may be withdrawn at any time without prior notice. apple bk - JEWISH STAR - CD-GRAND YIELD SAVINGS - EFF DATE 8-21-18.indd 1

Established 1863 · Member FDIC

www.applebank.com

997378

Visit us today!

115 Cedarhurst Avenue, Cedarhurst, 516-295-2698 1693 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont, 516-437-5966

8/15/2018 3:13:14 PM

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

Trump-like pro-Israel pol may soon rule Brazil

5

Michigan...

Continued from page 1 flip the cultural paradigm from one of African American victimhood to one of powerful outrage.”

Douglas “worked as the resident Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1967 through the 1980,” the website said.

The content of the lecture first came to public attention via a Facebook post on Friday by a Jewish University of Michigan student, Alexa Smith. The post included a photograph of the slide (pictured to the right).

“Yesterday I was forced to sit through an overtly anti-Semitic lecture,” she wrote, adding: “In what world is it ok for a mandatory course to host a speaker who compares Adolf

Hitler to the Prime Minisallow others to dehuter of Israel? manize my people and “I sat through this my community,” she lecture horrified at the wrote. “The administrahatred and intolerance tion is repeatedly failing being spewed on our to forcefully respond to campus. As a Jew who antisemitism, and so it is proud of my people comes back worse and and my homeland, I sat worse each time. A line through this lecture feelneeds to be drawn and it ing targeted and smeared needs to be drawn now.”

Michigan President to be as evil as the man Mark Schlossel and Prowho perpetrated the Holocaust and systematical- A lecture at the University of Michigan vost Martin Philbert, in a ly murdered six million used this slide to equate Prime Minister letter to the campus comNetanyahu with Hitler and genocide. munity on Tuesday, said Jews.” they were “sorry students Smith noted that two years ago, another mandatory Stamps lecture were hurt by this experience.” They also said speaker, Joe Sacco, called Israel a terrorist the image was “on a single slide among nearstate and claimed that Israeli soldiers were ly 200 other slides” and that the lecture had unworthy of being portrayed as human be- not singled out Israel.

Earlier, the school’s assistant vice president ings in his artwork.

“This time I will no longer sit quietly and for public affairs, Rick Fitzgerald, said in a

statement that “Douglas covered a wide array of subject matter within the overarching context of his work, which looks at the oppression of people across the globe by governmental powers.”

“The Stamps program is intentionally provocative and we are clear with our students about this. The school does not control or censor what speakers present,” Fitzgerald said.

Undergraduates receive academic credit for attending 11 of 14 scheduled Stamps events during the school year.

Last month, John Cheney-Lippold, a University of Michigan professor of American culture who supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, declined to recommend junior Abigail Ingber for a semester abroad in Israel. Subsequently, a second Michigan student reported being refused a letter of recommendation because of a professor’s adherence to BDS. The president and provost, in their letter, said, “We have apologized to the students themselves and worked to ensure that they have everything they need to complete their applications,” adding that the university “strongly opposes a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.”

On Tuesday, Detroit News reported the the university disciplied Cheney-Lippold. —JTA

Campus...

995406

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

6

Continued from page 1 vanaugh surrounded by caricatures of Jewish members of the U.S. Senate with Stars of David drawn on their foreheads, as well as the Jewish billionaire George Soros, who has been accused of funding opposition to Kavanaugh.

One of Kavanaugh’s accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, and the attorney for two others, Michael Avenatti, are depicted with the words “Good Goy” This flier was found at several colleges this week. written on their foreheads.

The fliers say they are “Brought to you by your local Stormer book club.”

According to the ADL, Daily Stormer Book Club chapters, or SBCs, are “small crews of young white men who follow and support Andrew Anglin and his neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer.”

Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism, reported the flier’s appearance on the Vassar campus.

A professor reported finding the fliers at Marist College.

One of the fliers was posted to the door of a Planned Parenthood center in Des Moines, according to a Facebook post by Tanya Keith.

They were found at UC Berkeley, according to a Facebook post by the campus Zionist organization Tikvah: Students for Israel.

In a message to the UC Davis community posted on the university’s website, Chancellor Gary May said, “The message on these flyers is reprehensible and does not represent who we are as a community. In addition, the person or persons responsible violated our posting policy.”

He said the fliers had been removed and the university was working to identify who posted them.

“UC Davis is a diverse community comprised of individuals having many perspectives and identities. To all of our students, faculty and staff, please know I won’t stand for intolerance of any kind,” May wrote.

Meanwhile, swastikas were drawn on a wooden bulletin board on the campus of Sacramento City College less than a week after racist graffiti was found in a bathroom on campus, the local CBS affiliate reported. Authorities are investigating both incidents as hate crimes.

When Islamists and other anti-Israel groups gather, they’ve learned to use euphemisms.

They don’t call for Israel’s annihilation, they just lock on to a “right of return” that would destroy it demographically. They use slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which leaves no room for Israel.

The usual demonization was present last weekend in St. Paul, when the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), an umbrella group leading the BDS push to boycott Israel, held a major conference.

It is common for pro-Palestinian activists to sanitize terrorist attacks as “legitimate resistance,” but three USCPR speakers openly made a case for violence. Two are university professors, one of them a frequent CNN pundit. One made a point of praising a murderer. The other diminished nonviolent protest, saying “this nonviolent thing” can be too limiting and raising the question of “what legitimate resistance looks like.”

That was Marc Lamont Hill, a Temple University professor, BET host and CNN contributor, who warned his audience against adopting “a civil rights tradition which romanticizes nonviolence. That’s the challenge … How can you romanticize nonviolence when you have a state that is at all moments waging war against you, against your bodies, poisoning your water, limiting your access to water, locking up your children, killing you. We can’t romanticize resistance.”

This gross misrepresentation of the conflict ignores the role of Palestinian incitement and intra-Palestinian political struggle in fueling the conflict today. But even so, Gandhi grappled with that challenge and prevailed. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers — men, women and children — endured murders, terrorist attacks, beatings, police dogs and fire hoses. But with that “romanticized” principle, they ended school segregation and secured passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

“The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community,” King said, “while the aftermath of the violence is tragic bitterness.”

For Palestinian advocates, “nonviolent protest” includes throwing grenades and using kites to spark wildfires. But, as Hill said at the end of the clip, “we have allowed this nonviolent thing to become so normative that we’re undermining our own ability to resist in real robust ways.” The audience embraced his comments.

USCPR is considered a leader in the BDS movement, with member organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and Code Pink. In June, Tablet magazine reported that USCPR “is the fiscal sponsor of a group called the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the main West Bank and Gaza-based cohort advocating for sanctions against Israel.”

Next, Palestinian writer Miriam Barghouti reminded the USCPR conference that “Palestine from the river to the sea is our demand.”

Like Hill, she tried to cast Palestinian violence as rare, but sometimes valuable.

“When the knife attacks were happening in Palestine a few years ago — 2015? 2015. You know, Palestinian youth were out in the streets carrying out knife attacks and I’d hear Palestinians and Palestinian representation scurrying away from this topic,” she said. “No one really wanted to talk about it because it shatters the image of the approachable nonviolent Palestinian that’s standing bare-chested in front of Israeli soldiers that are carrying arms. And suddenly we were confronted with anger and that made us uncomfortable. And it’s this discomfort with anger, this discomfort with violence that has created a huge gap when we speak about Palestinian resistance.”

The approachable, nonviolent Palestinian?

The Palestinian Authority doesn’t name community centers and schools for heroes of nonviolence. It names them for terrorists who kill Israeli civilians. It pays the families of dead and imprisoned terrorists on a sliding scale that rewards

more violent attacks.

The USCPR conference featured no talk about peaceful negotiation. No talk about pressuring Hamas to devote its resources to improving the quality of life in Gaza. But it did feature praise for a killer. George Mason University Assistant Professor Noura Erakat opened the conference by hailing Rasmea Odeh, who helped blow up a Jerusalem grocery store in 1969, killing two Israeli college students. Odeh is not a terrorist, Erakat said, but “our dear sister [and] freedom fighter.”

President Trump, Erakat said, “for better or for worse has further entrenched the question of Palestine into a progressive-left movement driven by intersectional analysis. This trend is best exemplified by the case of our dear sister, freedom fighter Rasmea Odeh [applause], who I had the recent pleasure of being with in Am-

man, who is shining everywhere she goes, who teaches us what survival and thriving looks like. So, if we all just collectively send out energies to Rasmea. Rasmea is a freedom fighter, a former political prisoner.”

In fact, Odeh’s prosecution for naturalization fraud took place before Trump took office. After an appeal overturned her conviction, Odeh pleaded guilty in April 2017 and was deported to Jordan. In her plea agreement, she admitted that she had lied about being arrested and convicted in the Jerusalem bombing, “and not as a result of any mistake, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or any other psychological issue or condition or for any innocent reason.”

In another session, the audience learned what to do if asked whether they support Hamas. Evade the question. Say you support

Palestinians living in Gaza. When an audience member described the strategy, Tanya Keilani, from the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) endorsed it wholeheartedly.

“Reminding people of the root cause is super important, right?” she said. “Also noting that throughout history people have responded to oppression in various ways, right? But we all know that nothing justifies this form of oppression, right? … No one needs to know the details of the Hamas charter.”

The USCPR conference comes weeks after the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) held a convention featuring an admonition not to “humanize” Israelis, a denial of Palestinian incitement, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Like ISNA, the USCPR conference makes it clear the goal is not peace, but tragic bitterness.

995399

IPT via JNS

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

Nonviolence? For a BDS group, fuhgeddaboudit

7

Grow your savings AMA should reject doctor-assisted suicide today with our high-yield savings promotion.

T rABBI AArON GlAtt AND NAtAHN DIAMENt

rABBI AArON GlAtt AND NAtAHN DIAMENt

2.01

%

APY

Offer applies to new and existing HSBC Premier clients who open an HSBC Promotional Premier Savings account and fund with New Money. Limited time only.

Speak with an HSBC branch representative today.

See back for Offer Terms and Conditions.

Together we thrive

Benjamin Messinger Vice President Senior Branch Manager

HSBC BANK USA, N.A. 125 Cedarhurst Ave., Cedarhurst, NY 11516, United States P. 516 569 8610 F. 516 374 7037 benjamin.x.messinger@us.hsbc.com www.us.hsbc.com Offer Terms and Conditions: This offer requires each of the elements to be met.

• An HSBC Premier relationship is required to open and maintain an HSBC Promotional Premier Savings account from September 10, 2018 through and including December 14, 2018, with the stated Annual Percentage Yield (APY) effective through March 14, 2019. Charges and fees may reduce earnings.

Yeshiva Winter Break 2019 “DREAMS DOMINICUS LA ROMANA”

• New Money is defined as deposits and investments not previously held by any member of the HSBC Group in the U.S. • To qualify for an HSBC Premier relationship, you need to open an HSBC Premier checking account and maintain balances of $100,000 in combined U.S. Dollar personal deposit accounts and investment balances. Business owners may use their qualifying HSBC U.S. Dollar commercial balances to qualify for a personal Premier relationship. A monthly maintenance fee of $50 will be incurred if minimum balance requirements are not maintained. Investment and certain insurance products, including annuities, are offered by HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. (HSI), member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC. HSI is an affiliate of HSBC Bank USA, N.A. • HSBC reserves the right to change or terminate this offer in its sole discretion.

• Offer available at a U.S. branch.

Deposit products are offered in the U.S. by HSBC Bank USA, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2018 HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

F

It violates the fundamental values of human dignity.

L

For an appointment contact

and denies equality before the law. Every human being has intrinsic dignity and immeasurable worth, whatever his or her health, or disability, might be. In the Jewish (and Christian) tradition, this is expressed by the biblical teaching that each person is created in the image of God. No matter your world-view, assisted suicide is a fundamental break with equal protection under the law to give some people — namely the well and able — suicide prevention, while giving people with terminal illness and advanced disability suicide help. Many people living full and what they consider happy lives with advanced disability would be considered “terminal” under assisted-suicide laws. or our legal system to be coherent and just, the law cannot discriminate against a class of people, but must uphold the inherent dignity in everyone. It does so by taking all reasonable steps to prevent the innocent, of any age or condition, from being devalued and killed. Classifying a subgroup of people as legally eligible to be assisted in their suicides would violate our values and our nation’s commitment to equality before the law, and show profound disrespect for and callousness to those who will be judged to have lives no longer “worth living,” often the frail elderly and people with dementia or disabilities.

The suffering experienced by people with terminal illnesses is not to be dismissed or minimized. Relieving people of pain is a basic element of medical practice, and consistent with traditional values. Pain — both physical and mental anguish — must be properly addressed, and it can almost always be significantly, if not totally, alleviated. In the very rare case of intractable pain, sedation of the imminently dying is an appropriate option. Doctors, hospitals and hospices know how to deliver this relief, and the government can support and strengthen their ability to do so with more resources. But we must respond to suffering with great compassion and palliation, never actively assisting in suicide.

As an experienced physician, hospital administrator and clergyman, and a community leader, we call on the AMA to recommit to its opposition to physician-assisted suicide. This will best serve all those in the medical profession, as well as those for whom we care.

Rabbi Aaron E. Glatt, M.D., is chair of medicine at South Nassau Communities Hospital, a clinical professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the assistant rabbi at Young Israel of Woodmere. Nathan J. Diament is executive director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

Glatt Glatt

www.glattkoshervacations.com www.glattkoshervacations.com info@glattkoshervacations.com info@glattkoshervacations.com (212)221-9777 / (212)681-6666 (212)221-9777 (212)681-6666

27 2 0n a 4 ,J 019 2 7 2 1 JJan 17-27 JJaan

Kosher Kosher Vacations

The Theperfect perfectway way to to vacation vacation Kosher Kosher

996830

Earn

he Hippocratic Oath has been passed down through the ages because it contains some perennial wisdom: I will keep the sick from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asks for it, nor make a suggestion to this effect.

The rabbis of the Talmud counseled centuries ago that no person ought to take action that might hasten another person’s death, even if that person is ill, and most other major faith traditions have objections to hastening the end of a person’s life.

Yet the American Medical Association voted in June not to affirm its ethics council’s recommendation to maintain longstanding opposition to legalizing physician-assisted suicide, and has referred the issue back for further study. There is an aggressive effort to have the AMA drop its opposition. If that were to happen, it would put countless people at risk — especially those who are older or who have disabilities — as well as undermine doctors’ integrity and violate fundamental values held by millions of Americans. egalizing assisted suicide would put people at risk because no matter how carefully guidelines for physicianassisted suicide were established, financial, ethnic and cultural issues would potentially put the most vulnerable, socially marginalized and disabled people at the greatest risk of lethal harm. A great many people would be subject to pressures including mistakes in prognostication, potential abuse by greedy heirs or worn-out caregivers, and both subtle and explicit coercion as a result of financial considerations, denial or delay of coverage by insurers, and illness-induced depression.

Legalization would put physicians in the untenable position of being relied on to deliver healing treatments one moment and life-ending treatments the next. It would corrupt the medical profession by permitting the tools of healing to be used as techniques for killing. As well, physician-assisted suicide threatens to fundamentally distort the doctor-patient relationship, because it would reduce patients’ trust in doctors and their commitment to the life, health and comfort of their patients.

Perhaps most significantly, physician-assisted suicide’s most profound injustice is that it violates the fundamental values of human dignity

997375

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

8

Rabbis tell Five Towns to end silence in drug war: P3

tary investigation can show what these systems were doing when the Ilyushin was shot down.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu rejects the Israeli version of events, according to which the Israeli planes were already back over Haifa when the Ilyushin was shot down. The Russians argue that radar showed an Israeli plane using the Ilyushin as a shield. A possible explanation for this, revealed by the Israeli daily Haaretz, is that the radar picture available to the RusKnow-nothing Ocasio-Cortez rips ‘occupation’ Bibi and Vlad were pictured as pals by The Jewish Star in July. sians was not accurate, but was the product of Israel’s electronic warfare. Given that this will continue Russia already has in place in Syria for its own defense. Perhaps only an internal Russian mili- to be part of any future Israeli bombing, the

The JEWISH

STAR

TheJewishStar.com

Devarim • Tisha B’Av fast begins motzei Shabbat • July 20, 2018 • 8 Av, 5778 • Torah columns pages 18 –19 • Luach page 18 • Vol 17, No 28

The Newspaper of our Orthodox communities

President Donald Trump suggested after his summit on Monday with Vladimir Putin that he envisions a U.S.-Russian-Israel troika in support of the Jewish state’s interests in Syria.

Trump praised the Russian Federation strongman for his approach toward Israel.

“I think that working with Israel is a great thing,” Trump said during a press conference with Putin that followed their private meeting in Helsinki, Finland. “And creating safety for Israel is something that both President Putin and I would like to see very much.”

While most reaction to Trump’s performance on Monday — especially his siding with Putin against American intelligence officials — was negative, the notion of a mutuality of interests involving war-ravaged Syria offered some positive spin.

“The south of Syria should be brought to the full compliance with the treaty of 1974 about the separation of forces — about separation of forces of Israel and Syria,” Putin said through a translator, speaking with some detail on the subject. “This will bring peace to Golan Heights, and bring a more peaceful relation-

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation on Monday.

Left-wing Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upped her anti-Israel rhetoric last week, decrying “the occupation of Palestine” by Israel.

After inserting this reference into an interview on the PBS program “Firing Line,” she

sought to backtrack, claiming ignorance.

“I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue,” she said. “I just look at things through a human rights lens and I may not use the right words.”

“Middle Eastern politics is not exactly at my kitchen table every night,” she said.

ship between Syria and Israel, and also to provide security of the State of Israel.”

The disengagement Putin referred to allowed Israel and Syria to coexist more or less without incident from 1974 until the 2011 civil war that wracked the country and brought in U.S. and Russian involvement.

Trump in his remarks said Israel’s security was preeminent both in American and Russian considerations of Syria.

“We’ve worked with Israel long and hard for many years, many decades. I think we’ve never — never has anyone, any country been closer than we are,” Trump said. “President Putin also is helping Israel. And we both spoke with Bibi Netanyahu, and they would like to do certain things with respect to Syria, having to do with the safety of Israel. So in that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help Israel. And Israel would be working with us. So both countries would work jointly.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in turn, welcomed the attention. In a statement, he commended “the abiding commitment of the U.S. and President Donald Trump to the security of Israel.” Netanyahu also “very much” appreciated “the clear position expressed by President Putin regarding the need to uphold the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria.”

Implicit in Putin’s emphasis on ensuring Israel’s security in the “south” is that Iran, Russia’s de facto ally in assisting the Assad regime’s bid for survival, will be absent from that region, as will its proxy, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

But Netanyahu wants Iran out of Syria, period. Prior to meeting with Putin last week in See Protect on page 16

Trump trusts Putin to protect Israel

White House

Although foreign affairs was not a significant issue in her upset of veteran Rep. Joe Crowley in a June Democratic primary in the Queens-Bronx district, in May she had referred to the killing in May of Gazan protesters by IsSee Ocasio-Cortez on page 7

Tehilla, back home, sends ‘View from Jerusalem’ View from Central Park

Tehilla r. goldberg

J

ERUSALEM — Hello from Jerusalem! I am thrilled to take up the original dateline of my column, a continuation of my father’s View From Jerusalem from the 1970s and 1980s.

The last time I was in Israel was during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. I came to visit wounded IDF

soldiers and show solidarity with residents of the South. There were no beach days, Jerusalem meanderings, café tastings, book hunts or side trips.

It’s been a while since I spent time with Israel, the country and particularly Jerusalem, the sacred city.

Just pulling out of the airport and onto the new highways was amazing.

Getting money from the ATM yielded bills bearing new faces — the purple 50-shekel bill with the face and words of Shai Agnon was gone, but the new batch of banknotes continued to highlight literary personalities. And now women have been added.

The 20-shekel bill features “Rachel The Poetess,” as she is known in Israel, with a brief quote from one of her famous poems, Kinneret. Leah Goldberg, an acclaimed poet, writer and children’s book author, graces the

new 100 shekel bill. Dira Lehaskir, “An Apartment For Rent,” is a famous children’s book. Not only is her sophisticated poetry known and studied in university, but every child knows her work. The bill highlights her poem

GAUCHER AWARENESS MONTH 2018

“White Days,” replete with an image of two graceful Judean Desert deer.

Shaul Tchernichovsky has replaced Agnon on the 50-shekel bill. And Natan Alterman is the face of the new See Returning on page 21

CEDARHURST 30th ANNUAL SUMMER SIDEWALK SALE WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 THURSDAY, JULY 26 FRIDAY, JULY 27 SUNDAY, JULY 29

TONS OF GREAT STORES UPSCALE MERCHANDISE BARGAIN PRICES WWW.SHOPCEDARHURST.COM

SEE AD INSIDE

advanced Russian missile defense systems will be rendered no longer marketable. Perhaps this is why Russia, upon announcing that it will deliver S-300s to Syria, simultaneously announced their willingness to negotiate with the U.S. on this delivery, in order to avert any possible clashes with Israel and their ramifications.

Russia’s true face has been revealed not only in the strategic sphere, but also by its reversion to the old Soviet anti-Semitism that not even Russian President Putin’s “special relationship” with Chabad can camouflage.

Former Israeli Ambassador to Russia Zvi Magen noted: “The media blamed Israel on the day of crisis in a well-timed orchestrated manner, filled with antisemitic elements. This wasn’t random.” Given Russia’s actual policy towards Israel, this should come as no surprise.

968529

Analysis by Yigal Carmon, MEMRI A year ago, Russia’s mask of non-hostility was still in place, in the form of strategic coordination with Israel regarding its bombings in Syria. This allowed it to conceal that it sided with Israel’s enemies — Syria and Iran. Even as it refrained from stopping Israel’s bombing of Iranian targets in Syria — as if it could have prevented this — it was at the same time enabling and sponsoring Iran’s expansion into Syria.

An article I wrote a year ago presented the unvarnished facts about Russia’s support for Iran’s expansion in Syria at the expense of Israel’s national security. It asserted that the Iranian forces’ presence in Syria constituted an existential threat to Israel. It further explained, for the benefit of those who could not conceive of Putin as anti-Israel — after all, he had made Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu a guest of honor at the Moscow Victory Day parade in Red Square in May — that this was nothing personal against Israel, but, as they say in the Mafia, just business connected to Russia’s rivalry with the U.S. In truth, the strategic Israel-Russia coordination of Israeli bombings in Syria served Russian interests: Israel declared that it would continue the bombings no matter what, and an IsraelRussia military escalation could only draw the U.S. into the melee and expose Russia as a mere regional power that was no match for the U.S. Following the Sept. 18 downing of an Ilyushin-20 plane by Syrian missiles, Russia’s mask dropped, and the true face of its policy was fully revealed. Putin first attempted to conceal it by refraining from fully blaming Israel for the tragedy. But soon enough he joined subordinates in blaming Israel, and announced that Russia would equip Syria with S-300 missile systems, which would, inter alia, protect Iranian forces in Syria from Israeli attacks.

Now the picture is clear: The Russians, who originally enabled and sponsored Iranian expansion in Syria as an anti-U.S. measure, will now also protect Iranians in Syria from Israeli attacks. This constitutes an undeclared act of war against Israel, since it will not be the Syrians operating the S-300s against Israeli aircraft. They face a long learning curve to do this. It will, for an indeterminate time, be Russian officers.

But with Russia’s equipping Syria with S300s, and their inevitable operation by Russian officers against Israeli aircraft, the Russians risk a major military and technological debacle. They will learn, if they haven’t yet from the Ilyushin tragedy, that Israeli-American technology is far superior to Russia’s — and that goes not just for the S-300s now being shipped to Syria, but also for the S-300s and S-400s that

The National Gaucher Foundation invites you to

ASK THE Experts

DR. MISTRY

DR. WEINREB

DR. LAU

Panel Discussion

& Champagne Dessert Reception

991507

Saturday, October 27, 2018 • 7:30 p.m.

The Mezzanine

55 Broadway, New York, NY 10006

RSVP at gaucherdisease.org/asktheexperts

990909

Meeting supported by educational grants from Pfizer, Sanofi Genzyme, and Shire Human Genetic Therapies, Inc. Kosher dietary laws strictly observed.

Commercial & Residential Licensed & Insured

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

11

+Special Short Film Premiere:

“One of Those Dates”

Produced by acclaimed Israeli TV and film screenwriter and journalist, Itay Segal — a dramatic comedy that brings Gaucher disease to the forefront of the conversation…on a first date.

993445

990909

Alcohol will only be served to those 21 years or older. ID’s will be checked.

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

Russia flips, reveals itself as Israel’s enemy

9

Unbearable tragedy…

Sukkot cheer at 5 Towns rehab

Forty local Shoah survivors celebrated in the Sukkah at the Premier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Woodmere. The group, which meets regularly at the Five Towns JCC, joined Premier owner Ben Landa and administrator Joseph Benden (pictured). “As the number of survivors dwindles it is vital that we never forget,” said Landa, the son of Hungarian survivors.

Continued from page 1 tories. It is known to be an island of co-existence with Jews and Palestinians working together side by side. Of the 8,000 factory employees in the park, about 60 percent are Palestinian.

According to news reports, before Na’alwa — who worked as an electrician at Barkan — fatally shot Levengrond Yehezkel and Hagbi, he forced a 20-yearold Arab cleaner from Shechem to tie Levengrond Yehezkel’s hands behind her back with zip ties.

The cleaner, who was subsequently questioned

by Shin Bet security services but not arrested, told authorities that Na’alwa threatened to kill him if he did not comply.

The gunman used an assault rifle and was caught on security cameras leaving the factory.

At Yehezkel’s levaya on Sunday, her father called for vengeance.

“When it comes to breast cancer, we treat the person — not just the disease.”

NAME: CHRISTINE HODYL, DO, FACS, board-certified surgeon and graduate of New York College of Osteopathic Medicine OCCUPATION: Director of Breast Services SPECIALTY: Breast Surgical Oncology WHAT DRIVES YOU? Giving personalized, expert care to women with breast problems. It’s an honor to help women get through what is often a devastating diagnosis.

WHAT DOES PATIENT CARE MEAN TO YOU? I often say we are treating the person in front of us and not just the disease. It’s important to me to take the time to have conversations with my patients — they feel much better and are not as scared.

WHY CHOOSE SOUTH NASSAU? At South Nassau, we offer a full range of services: • Screening mammography • Breast cancer surgery and reconstruction • Oncoplastic surgical techniques to treat breast cancer with excellent cosmetic results • Our Breast Center of Excellence is certified by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers • Earned the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Commission on Cancer • Named one of “100 Hospitals with Great Women’s Health Programs” by Becker’s Hospital Review

BREAST CANCER SYMPOSIUM 5th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day FREE Lecture Series Friday, Oct. 12 | 11 a.m.-2 p.m. | Conference Center One Healthy Way, Oceanside, NY 11572 To register, visit southnassau.org/breastcancerlecture Continental breakfast at 10:30 a.m.

Recognized by the Commission on Cancer Accredited by the National Cancer Institute

For more information about our breast cancer services, call 516-632-3350 or visit southnassau.org/breastcancerlecture.

996715

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

10

“Every terrorist should know he would be executed, and that his family will suffer for his crimes,” he said. “These people spit into the well they drink from, so maybe they don’t deserve to drink.”

Minister of Communications Ayoub Kara, a friend of the family, lamented at the levaya that terrorists were not eligible for a death penalty in Israel.

“It is a dark day,” said Kara. “I came to represent the government of Israel and to express solidarity with this dear family. I came to tell her husband and her baby, who will never again see his mother, I am sorry. I tried to advance a law to give the death penalty to terrorists, but I have not succeeded.”

Iris Hagbi, the mother of Ziv Hagbi, also called for the death of the terrorists.

“I want to convey a message — I wish none of the terrorists remain alive,” she said. “The terrorist’s family should suffer. He shortened the lives of the people there. He should be killed.”

David Ha’ivri, a political strategist who often brings influencers from around world on tours of Samaria, would show them the coexistence taking place in the industrial park in order to expose the BDS movement as being fraudulent.

The killer “had the same objectives as the BDS — to close the factories and sabotage the normalization of Jews of Arabs in this region,” Ha’ivri told JNS. He explained that “the industrial park and the factories, as they are east of the Green Line, are the type of [places] targeted by the BDS [movement] that wants to label, tax and boycott products that are manufactured in Israeli factories in the West Bank. However, contrary to that idea, it is a huge benefit for the Palestinian workers to get a job at Barkan because the salaries are about three times higher than salaries in the Palestinian Authority.”

In addition, he explains that “the factories are also a huge benefit for the Palestinian workers because they do not need to cross over the Green Line into Israel for work.

It’s much easier for them to receive security clearance to enter these areas, and, of course, it’s much closer to their homes.”

Avi Zimmerman, president and co-founder of the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that “as with previous terror attacks in this area, the terrorist does not live in any of the nearby Arab communities.

“The climate of economic cooperation goes well beyond any individual business or factory. It’s an ecosystem that impacts the fabric of life across the region,” Zimmerman said. “Because the local populace is not interested in disturbing the economic ecosystem that we have developed together, we find terrorism imported from other regions.”

Ashraf Jabari, the Palestinian co-founder of the chamber of with Zimmerman, strongly condemned the brutal attack.

“Someone [Arab] who works together [with Israelis] and then turns on them, this is not our way,” he said.

President Reuven Rivlin in a statement said, “This was not only an attack on innocent people going about their daily lives, it was also an attack on the possibility of Israelis and Palestinians co-existing peacefully. I call on the Palestinian leadership to condemn the attack and to use the forces at their disposal to capture the terrorist and those who aided him.”

Rafi Alon, owner of Alon Group, said he had always considered workers at his company — both Israelis and Palestinians — as “a family.”

He said he hopes the killer was simply a bad egg, but added that his faith in coexistence initiatives had been rattled.

The Hamas terror organization called the attack “a new chapter in our resistance in the West Bank.”

An Islamic Jihad spokesman, Daoud Shehab, said the attack is a reply to “Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, Jerusalem, the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar and the damage Israel causes to the Al-Aqsa mosque. We call on our people to rise up against the settlements terror until the West Bank is freed from it.”

move that the country’s Jewish community condemned vociferously as a violation of the constitution. The Muslim community, whose members consume halal meat produced similarly to kosher, also protested.

Yet despite a rabbinical consensus to the contrary, Friedman told JTA that she has no problem with stunning. “Animal welfare is important to me. All parties should go into a dialogue on the issue,” she said.

It’s a view shared by her father, who in 2013 embarrassed communal leaders by enrolling two of his boys at a Jewish girls’ school to highlight the controversial gender segregation at statefunded Jewish schools.

In March, the elder Friedman told a Flemish newspaper that “only extremists are against the ban on slaughtering without stunning.”

Rezi Friedman campaigns at a cafe in Antwerp, Belgium.

Cnaan Liphshiz

Nearly all major parties in Antwerp have Jewish candidates. But an Orthodox Jewish female candidate is unusual in Antwerp. The last one ran in the 1990s and did not stand a chance of being elected because she was too far down her party’s ticket, according to Freilich.

“That’s all different with Rezi,” the editor said, noting that Friedman is 16th on her party’s ticket for one of 48 seats on the City Council and is “featured prominently with Peeters.”

Regardless of how Friedman fares in the election, her father says he is already “extremely proud of her daughter.”

The rabbi said that even some his “enemies” told him that by winning the award at her college, his daughter is “bringing an honor to the community” that “offsets the anger from [all the] fights.”

997653

By Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA ANTWERP, Belgium — At 23, Rezi Friedman can already boast credentials matched by few women in her community.

Her prestigious alma mater, this city’s Karel de Grote University College, from where she graduated last year with a degree in clinical psychology, awarded her a distinction for excellence. It was partly in recognition of her journey from one of the world’s most insular faith communities: Antwerp’s large population of haredi Orthodox Jews.

It was the first feat of its kind for someone from that world. Friedman grew up with seven siblings, and without internet or television. She joined Facebook three years ago for studies-related purposes. Despite communal taboos on female modesty, Friedman is liberal enough to shake hands with men.

Now Friedman, who is fluent in at least five languages, is seeking to become the first haredi woman on the City Council here, where she is running on the ticket of the centrist party of Deputy Prime Minister Kris Peeters.

In a bid to woo voters from the city’s Jewish community of 20,000, Peeters, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish Party, posed with Friedman for a campaign poster unveiled last month, wishing residents Shanah Tovah.

“I’m Jewish Orthodox, but I represent no community,” said Friedman, a kindergarten teacher whose main campaign focus is children’s welfare. “I am running to represent children and their rights, and their entitlement to education.”

On paper, these credentials make Friedman a strong candidate in Sunday’s municipal elections.

But in the Antwerp Jewish community, her candidacy is complicated not only because of her liberal image but by her father, Moshe Aryeh Friedman, and his frequent provocations.

Recently he was embroiled in a spying scandal involving a Moroccan woman. Before that he fought off allegations that he denied the Holocaust while visiting Iran and meeting the country’s then-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rabbi Friedman also attacked the community publicly on gender segregation at schools and for shechitah.

“I am not my father,” Friedman told JTA in an interview at a cafe here. “I don’t think people need to look to my father or aunt or whoever when they decide whether to vote for me.”

But Friedman still lives with her parents, who recently became the focus of an international spy scandal between Belgium and Morocco.

The couple’s friend, 32-year-old Kaoutar Fal, left Belgium on July 23 amid suspicions that she is a Moroccan spy — a claim she and the Friedmans have denied.

Michael Freilich, editor of the Dutch Jewish paper Joods Actueel, said that “we have to ask ourselves questions about” a suspected spy’s ties and access to politicians during the lead-up to elections and “whether this is a security issue.”

Christophe Busch, a terrorism expert and criminologist who is the director of the Kazerne Dossin Holocaust museum near Antwerp, told Joods Actueel that even if Friedman herself never does anything to endanger national security, “There is the appearance that that’s possible.”

Rezi Friedman declined to say anything about the concerns. She also would not speak about her position on Israel, calling the issue irrelevant.

“I want to fight how poverty affects many children in Antwerp, including Jewish ones,” she said. “I’m talking about how many families can’t afford the price tag of $35 for each day of day care per child. It has nothing to do with Israel.”

Friedman also would not say how she came to be on her party’s ticket, including whether the party contacted her or vice versa. She did say that the party’s “multicultural and forwardthinking” message appealed to her.

But Friedman seems to share at least one conviction with her father about one of the Jewish community’s most serious disputes with authorities: the ban in Belgium on shechitah.

Last year, the Flemish Region, whose major city is Antwerp, and another of the three entities that make up the Federal Belgian state banned the slaughter of all animals without stunning in a

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

Rabbi’s daughter eyes political history in Belgium

11

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

12

The JEWISH STAR

Wine & Dine

Tasty grilled cheese choices for autumn Kosher Kitchen

JOni SChOCKEtt

Jewish Star columnist

T

he Earl of Sandwich had nothing on Hillel, who put together pieces of matzah and made one of the first recorded sandwiches in history. Though that sandwich may not resemble in any way the towering deli sandwiches that Jewish delis have been famous for, it was, nevertheless, a sandwich.

Where would a Jewish deli be without a mile-high corned beef sandwich or steaming hot tower of pastrami on heavily seeded, deliciously chewy rye bread? What would a Jewish deli be without a juicy grilled burger on a bun or even a chicken filet paired with delicious sauces and more? And don’t forget all those combination sandwiches that pair deli meats with chopped liver and more.

The Jewish sandwich may have started with Hillel and matzah thousands of years ago, but we have taken it to new heights and made some of them the quintessential Jewish food. Iconic Jewish foods extend far beyond matzah balls and bagels!

Corned beef? Of course. Pastrami? Definitely! But there is nothing like a hot brisket sandwich. My mother used to make hot brisket sandwiches in a sandwich press, toasting them on both sides over the burner of a gas stove. The sandwiches ended up round with no crust. Best of all, I could add lots of things to them.

My favorites were ketchup and pickle slices, though rumor has it that I once used raspberry jam.

However, of all the iconic Jewish sandwiches available, my favorite was not to be found in a kosher deli. My all-time favorite sandwiches were the grilled cheese sandwiches my dad made. He took cheese, chopped it, added toppings like sautéed mushrooms, shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers, exotic sauces and more, then grilled it with real butter until it was crispy on the outside and the cheese was all melted and stretchy inside. There was nothing like a Sunday dinner grilled cheese when my dad made it.

While the grilled cheese sandwich may not find a place in a kosher deli, it is a favorite go-to for weekend lunches and even dinners on the run. As the weather cools, we desire warmer foods. A great grilled cheese sandwich with a warm cup of vegetable soup is a perfect dinner. Add some fruit, and you have a meal that can fill little bellies and big ones, too!

Welcome the cooler weather with delicious grilled cheese sandwiches, and enjoy the beautiful colors of fall.

Grilled Cheese with Avocado and More (Dairy) 8 slices bread (sourdough, rye or ciabatta) 3 to 4 Tbsp. butter, softened 1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced 1/3 to 1/2 cup salsa, medium or hot as desired AND/OR 4 to 8 slices fresh tomatoes 8 to 10 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, Gouda, or mild cheddar cheese, coarsely grated Butter one side of four slices of bread and place on a griddle or large skillet, butter side down.

Spread some salsa on the bread and add the tomato slices. Add the grated cheese, mounding it more in the middle. Top with the avocado slices and spread more salsa on the other slices of bread.

Place salsa side on the avocado and butter the top of the bread.

Turn the burner to medium-high heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the bread is golden and the cheese begins to melt. Carefully flip each sandwich and cook the other side until the cheese is completely melted. Use a spatula to press gently on the sandwich.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

Garlicky Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Grilled Cheese (Dairy) 3 large onions, thinly sliced 2 Tbsp. canola oil 4 to 6 ounces mushrooms, sliced 8 slices sourdough or rye bread 4 Tbsp. butter, softened 8 to 10 ounces cheddar, Gouda, Monterey Jack, or smoked Gouda cheese, coarsely grated Optional: Sliced tomatoes, sliced avocado Heat a skillet and add the canola oil. Add the onions and mix well. Reduce heat to low and cook the onions, stirring often until they are deep golden and caramelized, about 25 to 40 minutes. If the onions stick, add a bit of water and scrape up any burned bits with a silicon spatula. Can be made a day ahead.

When the onions are caramelized, remove to a bowl and add a bit more oil to the skillet. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until golden and all liquid has been reabsorbed. Remove to a bowl.

Butter one side of four slices of bread. Place face down on a

skillet or griddle. Spread some of the caramelized onions on each piece of bread. Add some of the grated cheese, the mushrooms, more grated cheese and then the bread. Butter the top and heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden. Flip carefully and cook the second side until golden. Makes 4 sandwiches.

Roasted Eggplant with Grilled Cheese and More in a Pita (Dairy) 1 pint large cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half 2 to 4 cloves garlic, finely minced 1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes 1/4 to 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 8 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves 1 bunch fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled OR shredded mozzarella, Gouda, or cheddar cheese 4 pita rounds, cut in half Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with foil. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the tomatoes in half and place in a large bowl. Add the eggplant cubes and toss to mix. Add the oil and toss quickly to evenly distribute the oil. Spread on the prepared pan and place in the oven. Roast until the tomatoes have charred spots and the eggplant is soft and golden. Use a silicon spatula to mix the veggies a few times while roasting. Spread the spinach leaves over the veggies for the last 3 to 4 minutes of roasting time to wilt them.

Remove from the oven and let cool.

Scrape the veggies into a bowl, add the feta and chopped basil and mix.

Cut the pitas in half crosswise to make two pockets from each round.

Spoon the filling into the pita pockets.

Brush each side of the pitas with oil and place in a skillet. Cook until golden on each side, pushing the filling into the pita if it slips out. Makes 8 pita halves.

Kid-Friendly Grilled Cheese with Raspberries and Apricot Jam (Dairy) 1/2 pint fresh raspberries 8 slices brioche or whole wheat bread Brick-style cream cheese, softened 1 to 2 bananas, sliced thinly Butter, softened Lightly mash the berries in a bowl and set aside. Spread 4 slices of bread with a layer of softened cream cheese. Spread some of the

softened butter on the other side of the bread and place the bread, butter side down on a skillet or griddle.

Spread the berries on each slice of bread in the skillet. Arrange slices of bananas on top and then spread more cream cheese on the remaining slices of bread. Place that cheese side down over the fruit and press gently around the edges so the cream cheese will stick together.

Butter the top of the bread and turn on the heat to medium high.

Cook until golden, flip carefully and cook until golden. Let cool, cut in half and serve. Makes 4 sandwiches.

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

992334

13

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

14

5 times Haley delighted pro-Israel community

By Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — When Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that she would be stepping down as United Nations ambassador by the end of this year, the Israeli and pro-Israel laments poured out swiftly.

Haley didn’t simply defend Israel and its government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as her predecessors had under Democratic and Republican administrations.

She led a game change: On her watch, and with the blessing of President Donald Trump, support for Israel became a “with or against us” proposition. Slam the United States for defending Israel, and count on being slammed back, was the Trump-Haley credo.

A big chunk of Haley’s two years at the world body was about Israel.

“Thank you for your support, which led to a change in Israel’s status in the UN,” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, said on Twitter.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his gratitude as well in a statement.

“I would like to thank Ambassador @nikkihaley, who led the uncompromising struggle against hypocrisy at the UN, and on behalf of the truth and justice of our country,” he said.

Haley’s predecessors had also robustly backed Israel in the body, but there were hiccups. The latest came in December 2016 when Ambassador Samantha Power allowed through a Security Council resolution criticizing Israel’s settlement policy in the waning days of the Obama administration, about a month before Trump was inaugurated.

It was a rare instance of a US official semiendorsing UN criticism of Israel.

Netanyahu and the centrist to right-wing pro-Israel community sees the United Nations as a snake pit, and any concession is seen as a betrayal. That was the message in the American Israel Public Affair Committee’s farewell to Haley packed into a single word: “consistently.”

“We appreciate the strong leadership of @ nikkihaley @USUN,” AIPAC said on Twitter.

“Thank you for consistently standing up for America’s interests and our democratic ally Israel.”

Nikki Haley speaks with President Donald Trump in the White House after she announced her resignation as UN ambassador on Tuesday.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Here are five times Haley changed the game for Israel while she was ambassador to the United Nations.

Cutting funds to UNRWA Israel and pro-Israel officials have long criticized UNRWA, the UN agency that administers assistance to Palestinians and their descendants, for what they say is a too-broad definition of what denotes a Palestinian refugee, effectively allowing the status to continue indefinitely.

Haley helped spearhead the Trump administration decision last month to sever funding to the agency. Last year, the United States contributed $360 million, the lion’s share of the budget. This year, after forking over $60 million, there was a freeze, and it became permanent last month.

Speaking in August at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Haley said the money could flow again — if UNRWA radically reconfigured how it counts refugees, slashing the number from 5 million to 500,000.

“We will be a donor if it reforms what it does,” she said of UNRWA, “if they actually

change the number of refugees to an accurate account, we will look back at partnering them.”

(Liberal pro-Israel groups decried the fund cuts, saying they were cruel, and noted that Israeli security officials have long argued that UNRWA assistance helps stabilize the region.)

That wild UN party Haley used the US veto to nix a UN Security Council resolution last year criticizing Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but its backers took the measure to the General Assembly to at least score a moral victory.

(Security Council resolutions have the force of international law; General Assembly resolutions amount to little more than statements.)

Haley went to work and managed to get an impressive 64 members to not vote or vote against the resolution in the General Assembly.

Then she invited them to a party.

“It’s easy for friends to be with you in the good times, but it’s the friends who are with you during the challenging times that will never be forgotten,” the US mission said on Facebook in January. “Thank you to the 64.”

Quitting the Human Rights Council The United States Human Rights Council makes Israel a perennial agenda item, even as it includes among its members some of the world’s worst human rights abusers like Iran, China and Venezuela. The Obama administration repeatedly noted the anomaly, but it stuck with the council in order to nudge its members to condemn abuses in other countries.

Haley and the Trump administration stayed for 18 months before eventually concluding it wasn’t worth the insults. The body “was not worthy of its name,” Haley said at a joint appearance with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in June.

Scrub the apartheid report The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia published a report in March 2017 accusing Israel of apartheid. Haley, fresh to her role, made it a point to lobby the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, to pull the report from the web. Guterres, no doubt wary of getting off to a wrong start with the Trump administration, pulled rank on the agency and the report was soon gone.

“That such anti-Israel propaganda would come from a body whose membership nearly universally does not recognize Israel is unsurprising,” Haley said before the scrubbing.

Praying at the Western Wall Two months after the apartheid incident, Haley told the Christian Broadcasting Network that the Western Wall belonged to Israel, a sharp departure from longstanding executive branch policy of not pronouncing on who claims what in Jerusalem. By the end of the year, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

It was an early instance of Haley’s role as a smoke signal for a significant Trump administration shift in US policy. She was tapped a year ago to signal that the Trump administration would pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and, as noted above, she set the stage for cutting off UNRWA funding.

Recognizing the Western Wall as Israeli seemed personal, however. Visiting Jerusalem a month after her CBN interview, she broke away from security to touch the holy site and ask worshippers how to pray.

Haley showed how Americans can win at the UN JoNATHAN S. TobiN

Jewish News Syndicate

T

he resignation of US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley took the political world by surprise, but it’s likely that no one is more disappointed than supporters of Israel. Haley wasn’t just a smart and assertive voice for America at the world body.

She was a champion for the Jewish state, refusing to countenance the routine discrimination against Israel that was either blandly accepted or even encouraged — as it was during the last days of the Obama administration — by many of her predecessors.

Most of those sent to represent the United States at the United Nations have sought to both assimilate into their environment and to adjust their foreign-policy message to fit in with the culture of a world body where America and Israel are generally despised. It’s become a place where everyone pretends that Third World dictators, theocrats and terrorists are respected statesmen.

This theory of diplomacy is epitomized by former Secretary of State John Kerry, the architect of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, who is, according to Politico, apparently thinking of running (again) for president in 2020.

Kerry, like his former boss, Barack Obama, doesn’t just believe in multilateral institutions, he hitched US foreign policy to the notion that

America’s role in the world was not to listen and cooperate, but to also apologize and appease. He paid lip service to Western values, rather than to confront America’s enemies and call out those who have perverted international institutions into cesspools of anti-Semitism.

The result was not merely a failed attempt to ingratiate Muslim extremists, but retreats in Iraq and Syria, followed by atrocities, and then a nuclear pact that enriched and empowered an Iranian regime seeking regional hegemony.

Though Samantha Power — Obama’s UN ambassador—has a reputation as a fighter for human rights and opponent of genocide—she wound up doing little to change the ways of the United Nations or oppose anti-Israel prejudice.

By contrast, Haley’s tenure was in the tradition of a select few US ambassadors that preferred calling things by their right names, rather than ignoring and enabling corruption and prejudice. Like Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jeanne Kirkpatrick and John Bolton (who now serves as President Trump’s National Security Adviser), Haley stood with Israel when the rest of the world was silent or complicit in the unfair treatment it got at the world body.

As a general rule, that is the sort of behavior that makes few friends for US ambassadors, as well as bringing down upon them the opprobrium of the foreign-policy establishment.

Haley was undaunted by the abuse of the “experts” who opposed her stands, in addition to the decisions of the Trump administration to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and to withdraw from the Iran deal

while re-imposing sanctions on a rogue theocratic and terrorist regime. ut there was more to Haley’s tenure than just that. She didn’t just talk back to terrorists and dictators, telling them that she would be “taking names” of countries that get US aid but oppose America when it comes time to vote at the world body.

She also worked hard at persuading and charming—at least, as far as it is possible to persuade and charm the diplomatic corps—other nations to back the United States. She didn’t just decry the United Nations. She engaged in successful attempts to reform its budget and to pass resolutions that assisted US efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. In other words, she didn’t arrive in New York to kowtow to the establishment or to engage in war with its members. Her goal was to change the tone at the United Nations, even as she held it accountable.

It was a unique combination of toughness and political skills that none of her predecessors possessed.

As such, she wasn’t just a key member of a Trump foreign-policy team that pushed hard for a sensible reboot on Iran and stood by Israel. She was a unique figure in that she had earned the respect even of Trump foes, who generally consider anyone who works in the administration to be beyond redemption.

Haley has a bright political future. And thanks to her ties to the GOP establishment and her ability to stay on Trump’s good side, it’s likely that at some point she will be a presidential hopeful who will be able to point to her

B

time at the United Nations as a powerful argument for her candidacy. But that’s something to consider in the future after the 2020 election, no matter what happens to Trump.

What is important to consider now about her service is that she managed to do something that no other UN ambassador accomplished: to stand up for American interests— and those of its crucial ally, Israel—while also making friends. That’s something that Bolton, who was as forthright as Haley but who played the role of a bull in a china shop, didn’t manage to do during his time at the United Nations. As such, it’s no wonder that reportedly Haley and Bolton clashed behind the scenes. The idea that the only choice Americans have on the diplomatic stage is to be either a Kerry or a Bolton was always a false one. t’s a shame that Haley was apparently determined not to hang on longer, as her many admirers, including those in the proIsrael community, would have liked. But this unlikely diplomatic star—she had no foreignpolicy experience before Trump appointed her, despite Haley’s bitterly opposing his candidacy during the 2016 Republican primaries—has made a mark that will ensure she is remembered even if she never runs for president.

Those who follow Haley will need to match her diplomatic chops, as well as her courage.

Let’s hope that they’ll be as steadfast in their determination as she was to bear witness against anti-Israel and anti-American hate in the diplomatic circus that is the United Nations.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.

I

15

(

Free Parking

Y DA R E V E S T C U NEW PROD

Quaker Cap’n Crunch Cereal Assorted

1

$ 99 11 oz - 14 oz

Schwartz Chulent Mix

79¢

16 oz

Sparkling Ice All Flavors

8

$ 99 12 Pack - 17 oz

Flaum’s Sour Pickles

3

$ 79 52 oz

Macabee Pizza Bagels 18 Pack

Over 150 Spaces!

TM

Peter Pan Peanut Butter Assorted

1

$ 99 15 oz - 16.3 oz

Bloom’s Chocolate Chips

3

2/$

9 oz

Tooki Granola Bars All Flavors

Gefen Mini Mandel

1

$ 99 14 oz

Galil Whole Hearts of Palm

1

$ 49 14 oz

Lieber’s Mini Stripe Cookies

1

$ 79 6 Pack

$ 99 8 oz

Walla Matbucha, Turkish Babaganoush, Caponata, Tehini

HaTov Cottage Cheese

1

1

$ 79 8 oz Turkey Hill Ice Cream All Flavors

Regular or Low Fat

2

$ 49 16 oz

Dagim Tilapia Fillets

3

7

$ 99 48 oz

2

$ 99 14 oz

Beef Flanken

Minute Roast

Chicken Cutlets

$ 99

9

$ 99 LB

Strawberries Pint

4

2/$

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

ng in all of i c i r p y a d y r Best eve ong Island!

L & s n e e u Q Brooklyn, Y!

5

$ 89 LB

Yukon Potatoes 5 lb Bag

5

2/$

Untrimmed

3

$ 89 LB

Green Squash

69¢

LB

Prices Good Sunday, October 14th through Friday, October 19th, 2018

Savings Plaza | 11 Lawrence Lane, Lawrence, NY | (516) 371-6200 | info@kolsavemarket.com | /kolsavemarket Hours: Sunday-Tuesday: 9am-7pm | Wednesday: 9am-10pm | Thursday: 9am-11pm | Friday: 8am-till 2 hours before Shabbos We reserve the right to limit quantities. No rain checks. Not responsible for typographical errors.

992356

Keilim Mikveh on Premises | Pre-Shabbos Buffet Every Thursday & Friday!

Smithtown Woodbury Forest Hills

(under development)

NYC

Garden City

Rockville Centre Lynbrook Merrick

NASSAU

SUFFOLK Bohemia

Massapequa

Cedarhurst

Our practice continues to expand.

More offices opening soon.

L.I.’S LARGEST ORTHOPEDIC GROUP IS NOW OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK Why live in pain or waste time (and money) visiting a generic urgent care center?

Orlin & Cohen, Long Island’s dominant orthopedic group, is now open every day for superior orthopedic urgent care. Our network features fellowshiptrained subspecialists backed by in-house diagnostics, pain management and physical therapy so you’ll feel better, faster.

IMMEDIATE APPOINTMENTS FOR URGENT CARE AVAILABLE Monday – Thursday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Sunday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

516.536.2800 | orlincohen.com Rockville Centre Lynbrook Merrick Woodbury Garden City Massapequa Cedarhurst Bohemia Smithtown

994809

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

16

OC507_PrintAd_7Days_10.25x12.75_HeraldNewspapers_4C.indd 1

8/29/18 2:41 PM

“…impressive… most useful volume…”

—Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka

www.iknowaguyinc.com 461 Central Ave Cedarhurst NY 11516 Lic #H04398900 • NYC Track #GC611686

11

990877

855-I-KNOW-A-GUY

5 Towns Computer Services • Virus and Spyware • Consulting from Purchase to Setup Removal • Computer Repair and Tuneup

• PC, Mac and all Smartphone Training

We Make Housecalls

718-490-0192

990930

5TownsComputerServices.com Expert Personal Care

RNSP

“This small volume should be within hand’s reach of every rabbi and gabbai.”

—Rabbi Isaac Rice

24 HOUR HOTLINE

(516) 858-7300

“An absolutely beautiful sefer! So necessary and very well done.”

—Rabbi Pinchus Weinberger

POLICE - 911 @rockawaynassau

.com/RockawayNassauPatrol

@Rockaway_Nassau_Patrol

TO RECEIVE SECURITY ALERTS, SIGN UP AT: SECURITYALERTS@ROCKAWAYNASSAU.ORG 990088

Available at Amazon.com or from the author 516 376-8800

Commercial & Residential • Licensed & Insured

995401

Continued from page 1 a March 2017 speech to AIPAC, she declared herself as the UN’s “new sheriff in town” and said that “the days of Israel-bashing are over.”

Statements of appreciation from American Jewish leaders were quick in coming.

“We are very grateful for Ambassador Haley’s outstanding service to the United States of America and its allies, especially Israel,” said Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union. “Ambassador Haley had the courage and good sense to refuse to accept longstanding bias against Israel at the United Nations. Through her decisive actions, she taught the UN and the world right from wrong.”

“We will miss her willingness to stand up for what is right and speak strongly to those who use the United Nations to unfairly attack the United States and other countries,” said OU President Moishe Bane.

“Ambassador Haley’s voice was clear and consistent in championing the causes of human rights and democracy across the globe,” said Agudath Israel of America. “Her strong support of Israel and articulate defense of its security made her a deeply respected figure in the Orthodox Jewish community.”

“From her first days, she was a forceful voice for reforming the international body, articulating US interests, and seeking to end the pervasive and obsessive bias against Israel,” said Chairman Arthur Stark and Executive Vice Chairman/CEO Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

“In a time when the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel is constantly questioned in UN fora, Ambassador Haley demanded that the UN treat Israel as it would any other nation and she repeatedly took the floor of the UN to denounce the blatant and absurd mistreatment of the world’s only Jewish state.”

Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center, called Haley “a strong, articulate voice for our country, our interests and our allies — not only our ally Israel, but most particularly Israel.”

“In the face of enormous pressure from UN institutions with built-in biases against Israel and the United States, she never lost her composure while never missing an opportunity to stand for what is right,” Bryen said. “While we wish her well in her future endeavors, she will be sorely missed by Americans and others who treasure plain-spoken truth.”

Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, said that “Nikki Haley has been an example of a shining city on a hill for the nations of the world to follow. Her uncompromising leadership will be missed by lovers of peace and friends of Israel. She was a voice and not an echo. We are very grateful for her service to America and for her unwavering support of the US-Israel relationship.”

17

990893

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

Todah...

“We appreciate the strong leadership of Ambassador Haley,” said AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann, “and we thank her for consistently standing up for American interests and our democratic ally Israel.”

During her 2018 address to AIPAC, Haley again received an overwhelmingly positive response, getting numerous standing ovations from the pro-Israel crowd.

“Some people accuse us of favoritism towards Israel,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with showing favoritism towards an ally; that’s what being an ally is all about. But in all that we’re doing, our approach on Israel is tied to one major idea—the simple concept that Israel must be treated like any other normal country.”

“Nikki Haley showed time and again — in word and deed — to be a passionate, fearless, and unflinching foe of tyrants like Iran’s Ayatollah and terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah,” said rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, dean and founder and associate dean and director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

“No matter the odds or prevailing diplomatic niceties, she was always the truth teller who also stood up for the rights and dignity of the Jewish State of Israel. We wish Ambassador Haley well and hope she will soon return to public service on behalf of the American people and human rights,” the SWC officials concluded.

“Nikki Haley is a great champion of human rights, of UN reform and for a strong US-Israel relationship,” said Daniel S. Mariaschin, executive vice president and CEO of B’nai B’rith International. “She called out the bias against Israel time and again, and spoke directly about the hypocrisy and politicization that pervades the organization. A steadfast friend of our community and of Israel, we hope we’ll continue to hear her voice on the many issues she has championed.”

Michael Makovsky, president and CEO of JINSA, said Haley “quickly became a rock star, strongly advocating for US positions on all matters in the UN, including championing Israel and consistently defending it from the constant barrage of hypocritical attacks in that body, and as well as highlighting Iran’s many transgressions. Americans owe Amb. Haley our deepest gratitude, and welcome her return to public service at some date.“ Even the New York Times, in its lead editorial on Wednesday, headlined, “Nikki Haley Will Be Missed.”

“Many United Nations diplomats valued Ms. Haley as a pragmatic envoy who could explain the president to a world confused by the chaos in Washington,” the Times opined.

During her time at the United Nations, Haley presided over the US pullout of UNESCO and the Human Rights Council, citing their bias against Israel as the reason.

Additionally, the United States also announced that it would end funding to UNRWA, the UN agency that handles Palestinian refugees, accusing the organization of corruption and perpetuating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

‫כוכב של שבת‬

SHAbbAT STAR

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

18

An accounting of blood P T

Parsha of the Week

Rabbi avi billet Jewish Star columnist

A

nother terror attack in Israel on Sunday morning. This time not “random.” This time, an Arab co-worker who knew his victims tied them up and murdered them. Does it get more evil than that? As a friend of mine put it, most terrorists kill for an idea, not targeting a specific victim. But this monster assassinated a young mother and a young father, knowing their families’ situations. Why? Because they were Jews.

In its history, the State of Israel has executed two people. The first — a Jew in the Independence War — has since been exonerated. The second was Adolf Eichmann. Israeli law allows for the death penalty for “war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people, treason and certain crimes under military law during wartime,” which, in practical terms, means they only intend to use it against Nazis.

Terrorism can certainly be qualified as a crime against the Jewish people, but the Israeli electorate is split on the matter. Especially since, sadly, there are sometimes Jews who commit similar crimes (albeit extremely rarely, and condemned by the whole of Israeli society).

he Torah has two views of the matter: One is human law, as applied to Noachides (all of humanity), and one as applied to Jews, defined by halacha.

Halacha dictates that a Jewish rabbinical court should not be in the business of capital punishment. These punishments are to be left in G-d’s hands.

But Eichmann? Ah, yes.

The indication is that Israeli law doesn’t necessarily follow halacha.

Which brings us to Noachide law, and our Torah portion: “Only of the blood of your own lives will I demand an account.

I will demand [such] an account from the hand of every wild beast. From the hand of man — [even] from the hand of a man’s own brother — I will demand an account of [every] human life. He who spills human blood shall have his own blood spilled by man, for G-d made man in His own image [tzelem Elokim]. Now be fruitful and multiply, swarm all over the earth and become populous on it” (Bereishit 9:5-7).

In simple terms, a person who kills another person has diminished his own tzelem Elokim to nothing by destroying (through murder) someone else’s.

esikta, Targum Yonatan, Rashi, Bechor Shor, and others note that the death penalty can only be in play if there are witnesses, and a trial before judges. Some even require the witnesses to have warned the person. Ibn Ezra declares there is a mitzvah to put to death one who murders someone else in public. For our purposes, however, I think Radak’s comment is most instructive.

“If there are witnesses, it is the job of the judges to execute the murderer.

“Humans, having been created in the image of G-d, are the pinnacle of Creation, G-d having given humans seichel [intelligence and common sense]. This is why all creatures are to revere the human.

Humans should not destroy the body and ‘image’ [of G-d] of another. … Humans were not even allowed to kill any animals until Noach was given permission! Even plant life was unavailable to humans until G-d allowed it.

“And G-d also commanded that murderers are to be put to death — only those deserving of death based on their sin. The murderer has destroyed his own tzelem Elokim through violating the commandment of G-d. There is no [longer a] tzelem Elokim, and no seichel in one who [murders]. Seichel dictates to the servant to follow his master’s commandments. Seichel should also prevent him from sinning in this manner,

Will Israel ever be able to rid itself of terrorist culture?

Unity, a double-edged sword From heart of Jerusalem

Rabbi biNNY FReeDMaN

Jewish Star columnist

J

une 19: Passengers boarding Air France Flight 139 discover it will stop in Athens en route to Paris. Some, like George and Rivka Karfunkel, don’t want to board—Athens Airport is renowned for its terrible security, and a plane was hijacked from this very airport in 1970. But their luggage is already on board, so they board as well.

In Athens, two Germans join the flight— Brigitte Kulma and Willie Burs—along with two Arabs connecting from Bahrain. There is no security inspection for transit passengers, so they are able to board with weapons brought from Bahrain. The two Germans are members of Baader Meinhof and the two Arabs members of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, founded by Wadi Hadad, who did not consider Yasser Arafat radical enough. He had masterminded the 1972 Maalot massacre in which 22 children were murdered.

Five minutes after takeoff, they hijack the plane, refuel in Benghazi and end up in an old airport terminal in Kampala, Uganda. (The new terminal continues to service flights throughout the affair.) One hundred ten Ugandan soldiers guard the old terminal to protect the terrorists. The terrorists give a deadline: on July 1, if their demands are not met, they will start killing hostages. In Benghazi, they called out names; it did not take a genius to figure out that not thirty years after the Holocaust, German terrorists were separating the Jews. Ninety-three Jews and Israelis were separated and, along with the crew, who refused to leave, were taken to Uganda.

Yitzchak Rabin, Israel’s Prime Minister, upholds a policy of not negotiating with terrorists, and eventually approves a mission led

by Yoni Netanyahu to fly thousands of miles through enemy territory to rescue the hostages.

Legend states that Yoni Netanyahu, just before boarding the planes and entering radio silence, gathers his men, Israel’s most elite commandoes, and tried to put into words why they are doing this, risking everything for people they do not even know, many of whom are not even Israeli. He says, “We may not know who they are, but they are our brothers and sisters.

If we don’t go, no one will.” he moment recalls the well-known Jewish axiom: kol Yisrael areivim zeh lazeh, all Israel (i.e. every Jew) is responsible for (literally, ‘mixed in with’) every other Jew. Ultimately, we are all one.

Achdut, unity, is a powerful idea that cuts to the core of what the Jewish people are all about. And ultimately it’s not only about Jews; we are meant to be a model of brotherhood and unity for the world. What could be more beautiful than true unity, when we all put aside our differences in deference to something greater than ourselves?

This week’s portion, Noach, seems to suggest otherwise.

Everyone knows the story: the world created with hope and light has sunk into a morass of idolatry and violence to such a degree that there is no longer a point to its existence.

If G-d, and G-dly ethics, no longer matter, then we no longer matter. So G-d brings a great flood that destroys the world and pushes the “restart” button with Noach. The world gets a second chance.

Yet later, it seems like humanity is about to make the same mistake. In their building a city and a monstrous tower, rabbinic tradition

T

‘If we don’t go, no one will.’

suggests, they were going to war with no less than G-d Himself!

But this time, despite all of mankind uniting against G-d, the world is not destroyed.

Why? (Of course, one might suggest that G-d promised never to bring another flood, but, as my good friend Dr. Meir Becker pointed out in shul this past Shabbat, G-d has no shortage of options. If You don’t want to destroy them in a flood, explode them with fire!) he Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah) suggests that what saved the builders of the Tower of Babel was that they were unified (Bereishit 11:1). Unity is beloved before G-d, so they were spared.

A beautiful idea, save one detail: the Bible makes very clear that the consequence of the Tower of Babel was (ibid. 6-9) that G-d caused the people to speak many languages, and scattered them across the face of the earth! Why would He undo their greatest merit?

Unity is a double-edged sword. We need only recall images of tens of thousands of Germans with outstretched arms yelling Seig heil together to realize just how dangerous it can be. Indeed, sometimes allowing for divergent opinions helps to create healthy unity.

One of today’s most worrying phenomena is how easily non-consensus opinions are shot down, their authors ostracized. This dangerous trend is not limited to left-wing campuses, Bernie Sanders fans, or sycophants who surround President Trump, or any other president.

Back in 2005, in the midst of the Gush Katif expulsion, it was difficult to suggest that the rabbis who advocated that no one should pack their bags (because “G-d would never let such a folly occur”) might be mistaken, just as were the rabbis who told Jews not to leave Poland.

Perhaps this week’s portion of Noach teaches us that unity is meant to build bridges, not guard towers and walls.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem.

T

especially was his Master has specifically commanded not to kill.” he Talmud says in Sanhedrin (56) that all death penalties for Noachides are beheading. Which leads to the question: Is video evidence enough of a witness? Will Israel ever be able to rid itself of the cancer that is terrorist culture, and a society that celebrates these heinous acts of barbarism with the sharing of candy on the street?

A few years ago, I read an article in National Review by Kevin D. Williamson (“Why the Left Hates Jews”) which had a line I can really relate to. “The Arab-Israeli conflict is a bitter and ugly one. My own view of it is that the Palestinian Arabs have some legitimate grievances, and that I stopped caring about them when they started blowing up children in pizza shops. You can thank the courageous heroes of the Battle of Sbarro for that. Israel isn’t my country, but it is my country’s ally, and it is impossible for a liberty-loving American to fail to admire what the Jewish state has done. And that, of course, is why the Left wants to see the Jewish state exterminated.”

While I won’t get into the Left v. Right issue, wanting to eliminate the Jewish State is not only immoral. It is evil. Since that is what terrorists want, they are by definition evil. And the only way to defeat evil is to wipe it off the face of the earth.

In nicer terminology. Rabbeinu Bachaye says in Parshat Re’eh that capital punishment is merciful: to the rest of society, which will never have to worry that a murderer will be free to murder again.

T

luach Fri Oct 12 • 3 Cheshvan Noach Candlelighting: 6:01 pm Havdalah: 7:09 pm

Fri Oct 19 • 10 Cheshvan Lech Lecha Candlelighting: 5:51 pm Havdalah: 6:58 pm

Fri Oct 26 / 17 Cheshvan Vayera Candlelighting: 5:41 pm Havdalah: 6:49 pm

Fri Nov 2 / 24 Cheshvan Chayei Sara Candlelighting: 5:32 pm Havdalah: 6:30 pm

Thurs Nov 8 / 30 Cheshvan Rosh Chodesh Fri Nov 9 / 1 Kislev Rosh Chodesh Toldos Candlelighting: 4:24 pm Havdalah: 5:32 pm

Fri Nov 16 / 8 Kislev Vayeitzei Candlelighting: 4:18 pm Havdalah: 5:26 pm

Fri Nov 23 / 15 Kislev Vayishlach Candlelighting: 4:13 pm Havdalah: 5:22 pm

Five Towns times from White Shul

Kosher bookworm

AlAn JAy geRbeR

Jewish Star columnist

W

e should know by now that kavvanah, or the use of deep meaning and concentration, has been at the heart of the study of prayer in Jewish law and practice throughout our history. In his study on this topic, “Kavvanah: Directing The Heart in Jewish Prayer” (Jason Aronson, 1997), Rabbi Seth Kadish gives us an intense course of study that will surely give all his readers a deeper appreciation of the value of Jewish liturgical tradition.

Among the points that Rabbi Kadish focuses upon is the vital role kavvanah plays in the following: “1. Is kavvanah crucial for Jewish prayer? If it is, then why did the halacha stop demanding it as

an absolute prerequisite?

“2. What actually is kavvanah? Or, more precisely: What is the nature of a perfect or ‘ideal’ prayer, and what does it aim to achieve?

“3. How did the fixed, prescribed prayers of the siddur come to be? Should reciting the exact words of the siddur be considered the basic act of Jewish prayer or not?

“4. What can be done to improve our tefillah?” n considering these questions, posed in the functional outline that governs the book’s content, we have before us a comprehensive study of the deepest kind that will give the reader a fuller appreciation of the Jewish liturgical tradition.

Within the context of this valued study, the author brings to our attention the work of one of the great Jewish liturgists of our time, Rabbi Avraham Davis, the author of the Metsudah series of translation and commentary on the siddurim and Chumashim that are used in shuls worldwide.

According to Rabbi Kadish: “For years I have felt a debt of gratitude to

I

A tzaddik in his time Torah

RAbbi dAvid eTengoff

Jewish Star columnist The conclusion of Parashat Bereishit paints a dire picture of mankind’s imminent annihilation: “And the L-rd saw that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of his heart was only evil all the time. And the L-rd regretted that He had made man upon the earth, and He became grieved in His heart. And the L-rd said, ‘I will blot out man, whom I created, from upon the face of the earth’” (Bereishit 6:5-7).

On the edge of this abyss, a beacon of light pierced the darkness: “But Noach found favor in the eyes of the L-rd” (Bereishit 6:8). Noach emerged as the savior of mankind. He “found favor” precisely because he “was a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noach walked with G-d” (Bereishit 5:9).

In his commentary, the Ramban explains that Noach found favor in the eyes of Hashem because all of his actions were pleasing, as we find with Moshe. He was similar to Yosef, about whom the Torah states: “The L-rd was with Jo-

seph, and He extended charisma to him, and He gave him favor in the eyes of the prison warden” (Bereishit 39:21), and to Esther, who “found grace in the eyes of all who saw her.”

The Ramban suggests the following: “Noach having found ‘favor in the eyes of the L-rd’ is mentioned in contrast to the actions of his generation, since all of their actions caused despondency before Him … [the Torah states explicitly] why he [Noach] was considered good before Him, [i.e.,] he was a completely righteous individual.” ccording to the Ramban, Noach was comparable to Moshe, Yosef, and Esther.

Like them, he was unquestionably a tzaddik, a true hero of the spirit and a model for us all.

The Ramban’s presentation of Noach’s greatness is further enhanced when we realize that he is the sole figure in Tanach to receive the appellation “ish tzaddik” (Bereishit 6:9). In the same verse, the Torah also calls him “tamim,” pure and unblemished.

What is the difference between these expressions? The Talmud puts it this way: “Tzaddik — in his actions (b’maasav); tamim — in his ways

A

RAbbi mARc d. Angel

M

ay God enlarge Yefet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem” (Bereishit 9:27).

In rabbinic tradition, Yefet and Shem — two sons of Noah — represent different civilizations. Yefet is identified with Greek culture, while Shem is identified with Jewish tradition.

Yefet. whose name connects to the Hebrew word for beauty, symbolizes the Greek stress on aesthetics and philosophy. Shem symbolizes the life of religious belief and observance.

Over the course of the centuries, the civilizations of Yefet and Shem have had mixed relationships. The Chanukah story reminds us of the antagonism between Hellenism and Judaism. Yet the impact of Greek thought on Judaism has been profound, and especially so since the time of Moses Maimonides in the 12th century.

The great 19th century English literary fig-

(b’drachav)” (Avodah Zarah 6a). Rashi notes that tzaddik b’maasav teaches us that in contrast to the rest of his generation, Noach did not participate in robbery. Tamim b’drachov specifically refers to his humility. In short, both Noach’s behavior and middot were second to none.

Given this stellar persona, Rashi’s gloss on the phrase, “Noach walked with (et) G-d,” is difficult to understand: “But of Avraham, Scripture says, ‘I am G-d; walk before Me (lefanai) and be perfect.’ Noach required [G-d’s] support to uphold him [in righteousness], but Avraham strengthened himself and walked in righteousness by himself.”

The difference between these two pesukim is the use of the word “lefanai” (“before Me”) that appears in Avraham’s, and the word “et” in Noach. The Maharal takes issue with Rashi’s comment. He emphasizes that nothing in the expression “Noach walked with G-d” indicates that G-d helped Noach any more than he helped Avraham. In other words, there is no substantive distinction between “lefani” and “et,” and, by extension, no difference between Noach and Avraham. nstinctively, however, we know that Noach and Avraham were very different people. After all, Noach never prayed to save his generation from the impending flood, while 10 gen-

erations later, Avraham did precisely this for the evil people of S’dom. Yet, if they were both tzaddikim, how can we account for this difference?

In his Kedushat Levi, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev (“the Berdichever”) answers our question. He suggests that there are two archetypes of tzaddikim: “One kind of tzaddik serves the Creator with tremendous fervor, yet he remains focused upon himself and makes no attempt to bring evil people nearer to the Creator to serve Him. Instead, he remains alone in his service.” The second type serves his Creator, and also influences the evil people of the world to do teshuvah so that they, too, can be amongst those who serve the Creator. “[Prominent among this second type] was our father, Avraham, who was responsible for converting people. … Noach, for and by himself alone, sought to serve the Creator, may He be blessed. He did not, however, involve himself with his fellow man to bring them closer to become servants of the Creator blessed be He.” The Berdichever understood human nature, and rejoiced in the many different kinds of people woven into the grand tapestry we call mankind. For this Chasidic master, all people, and all types of tzaddikim, have a role to play in the great drama of life.

Noach, in his generation, was the archetype of a tzaddik that was required to ensure the continuation of the human race, while Avraham was the tzaddik that was needed to help the world enhance its connection with the Almighty, and to ultimately found the Jewish people.

As religious Jews, we must ask ourselves: is our religious life mainly concerned with obedience? Does Arnold’s notion of Hebraism ring true to how we actually live our lives? Don’t we also have inquiring minds, aesthetic values, and spontaneity of consciousness? Is it fair — or even religiously healthy — for Hebraism to be isolated from the worldview of Hellenism? o some, it does appear that Judaism can be reduced to obedience. The great Hebrew poet, Chaim Nachman Bialik, lamented the negative turn in the religious life of his day in Eastern Europe: “Halacha has an angry face…Strict, severe, hard as steel — strict justice… [it] sets forth its ruling and leaves no room for differentiation: Its yes is Yes, its no is No… fossilized piety, obligation, enslavement…” (quoted by Zvi Zohar, “Rabbinic Creativity in the Modern Middle East). This critique is not entirely irrelevant even today in some circles.

On the other hand, there are those who are so enchanted with the worldview of Hellenism, that they downplay the role of obedience (i.e. mitzvot) in Judaism. Yet without the firm foundation of religious observance, Judaism can evaporate into religious-sounding platitudes.

Without the commitment to daily religious observance, Judaism gradually fades away with the passing of generations.

The Talmud (Megillah 9b) cites an interpretation of the verse May God enlarge Yefet and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem: “Said Rav Hiyya bar Abba: Yefet’s beauty belongs in the tents of Shem.” I believe that Rav Hiyya’s statement provides a healthy view of Judaism. While firmly based in Torah and mitzvot, it welcomes the beauty of Yefet into its tent.

Hebraism and Hellenism are not antithetical to each other. On the contrary, both worldviews need each other! Human beings need the spirituality and orderliness of Hebraism, as well as the intellectual freedom and love of beauty of Hellenism.

Our home base as Jews is Torah and mitzvot.

But for us to flourish fully in our humanity, we invite the beauty of Yefet into our home. We not only foster a “strictness of conscience,” but also a “spontaneity of consciousness.” Our goal is “to see things in their essence and beauty” while staying faithful to our spiritual natures.

It is a vast overstatement to restrict Hebraism to obedience, just as it is an extreme exaggeration to assert that Hellenism has a monopoly on seeing things as they really are. We gain as Jews — and as human beings — when we give due respect to a harmonious blend of the teachings of Yefet in the tents of Shem.

Noach and Avraham were very different people.

Hebraism and Hellenism Angel for Shabbat

Rabbi Avraham Davis, who created a tool to help make the fixed prayers in the siddur more meaningful for English-speaking Jews. His Metsudah Siddur provides a clear translation, line by line, for each individual phrase of the siddur … I found that praying from his siddur was virtually the only way for me to say the tefillot in Hebrew and to honestly mean what I said.”

Further, Rabbi Kadish states, based on Rabbi Davis’s teachings: “The point underlying Rabbi Davis’s description is that with fixed prayer texts, the job of the pray-er is to lose himself in the meaning of the words, and to make their meaning his own. It is only by doing so that he can discover new nuances of meaning in them during each and every prayer. This is the

ure, Matthew Arnold, wrote a chapter in his book Culture and Anarchy, which he entitled “Hebraism and Hellenism.” In a stereotypical manner, he averred that Hebraism stands for “strictness of conscience,” while Hellenism fosters “spontaneity of consciousness.”

“The uppermost idea with Hellenism is to see things as they really are; the uppermost idea with Hebraism is conduct and obedience.” He goes on to assert that “as Hellenism speaks of thinking clearly, seeing things in their essence and beauty, as a grand and precious feat for man to achieve, so Hebraism speaks of becoming conscious of sin, of wakening to a sense of sin….”

Arnold acknowledges that Hebraism, i.e. obedience, is 75% of life, and is responsible for maintaining a properly behaving society. And yet he presents Hellenism as the 25% of life that actually involves clear thinking, appreciation of beauty, and freedom of imagination.

I

T

Is our religious life mainly concerned with obedience?

T

19 THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

Kavvanah in Jewish prayer

way to avoid keva. But of course, having kavvanah during such a process is still much harder than talking freely to G-d, more difficult than expressing thoughts and feelings that come naturally.” hese are tough words and sharp teachings that should serve to caution us as we approach the prayer ritual each and every day of our lives.

Rabbi Kadish’s teachings and narrative on kavvanah will help you better appreciate the siddur’s text and prompt you to further your study of related books on the laws and rational of the Jewish liturgical tradition.

I conclude with a quote from Rabbi Jacob Schacter of Yeshiva University: “Rabbi Kadish outlines concrete and practical strategies to enhance kavvanah in davening, analyzing in the process an impressive array of sources – ancient to modern, halachic and homiletic, philosophic and kabbalistic, Jewish and non-Jewish.

“His challenging call for a re-emphasis on individual personal expression in prayer will echo in the hearts and minds of those new to the siddur, as well as those whose siddur is well-worn from use.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

20

Content: The Publisher endeavors to ensure that this newspaper’s 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.

The JEWISH

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.

The newspaper of our Orthodox communities • Established 2002

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.

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.

STAR

TheJewishStar.com

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

EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 ext 291 • cell 718-908-5555 Advertising Sales: Tovah Richler

516-622-7461 ext 306 • TRichler@TheJewishStar.com

Copy Editor: Rachel Langer

516-622-7461 ext 241 • RLanger@TheJewishStar.com

Editorial Designer: Stacey Simmons Photo Editor: Christina Daly

Send us your news!

General news: EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com Calendar@TheJewishStar.com by noon Friday Schools@TheJewishStar.com by 5 pm Monday Shuls@TheJewishStar.com Send photos as high resolution JPEGs

Let’s do business!

Ads@TheJewishStar.com.

Distribution: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com.

Simcha Papers: Publisher@TheJewishStar.com

Editorial contributors: Rabbis Avi Billet, David Etengoff and Binny Freedman; Jeff Dunetz, Alan Gerber, Judy Joszef, Joni Schockett and Zachary Schechter (calendar).

Trump is right about Soros Politics to go

JEff DuNEtz

Jewish Star columnist

T

here is plenty of evidence that George Soros contributed funding to the anti-Kavanaugh protests from the time he was nominated through the sexual assault accusations. But when President Trump slammed protesters opposed to Brett Kavanaugh and said that the women who confronted Senator Jeff Flake were being paid by billionaire George Soros, liberals said he was being anti-Semitic.

On Friday, the President tweeted: “The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it!

Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others. These are not signs made in the basement from love!”

He was almost immediately met with an opinion piece by Andrew Paul in The Forward, called “Trump’s Shameful Anti-Semitic Dog-Whistle Puts Him In Bad Company.”

Paul wrote: “This isn’t just a dog-whistle. It’s an openly anti-Semitic, easily debunked conspiracy theory put forth by the President of the United States. Blaming a rich Jew for controlling the levers behind a mass protest organized by your political

opponents is the stuff anti-Semitic cartoons have been made of for centuries.”

Deputy Washington editor of the New York Times Jonathan Weisman added his voice to Paul’s, tweeting: “I’m sorry but the ‘Soros is paying them’ trope from the president of the United States is ... wow. Read (((Semitism)))” ut via his network of political charities, Soros has provided much funding to the protests.

The Daily Caller reported in July that Soros was the moneyman behind Demand for Justice, which is run by Hillary Clinton’s former press secretary, Brian Fallon. My friend J.E. Dyer, who blogs at Liberty Unyielding, pointed out that one of the lawyers for Kavanaugh accuser Debra Katz, recommended to her by Senator Diane Feinstein, is vice chair of the board of directors for the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a Soros-funded group.

“Left-wing groups funded by George Soros and other major Democratic donors hand out cash to protesters arrested for disrupting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, the activists revealed Monday night,” Daily Caller reported. “The cash from the donor-funded groups goes toward the protesters’ post-and-forfeit payments — a small cash sum paid to resolve low-level misdemeanor crimes and avoid jail time.”

B

During an interview on MSNBC Friday, Ana Maria Archila, one of the women who confronted Sen. Flake in an elevator, did not deny Trump’s characterization of her efforts. Archila is the executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD, which is heavily funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. And her elevator companion, Maria Gallagher, is an activist with CPD. hile Soros is Jewish, he funds so many anti-Israel and anti-Semitic organizations that it is hard to believe any criticism of him to be based on his Jewish background. In addition to supporting the Woman’s March, which is run by anti-Semites, since 2001 the Soros network has given $2,688,561 to Adalah, which has accused Israel of war crimes and contributed charges to the now-disgraced Goldstone Report. Adalah has also called on governments the world over to sever or downgrade diplomatic relations with Israel.

Another favorite for Soros money is I’lam, a Nazareth-based Palestinian media center that promotes allegations of bias in Israeli media. The New Israel Fund (NIF), which received $837,500 in Soro money since 2009, funds anti-Israel groups that make false charges or promote the BDS movement, including Adalah, B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, and Physicians for Human Rights, Social TV, and

He would have to hate his daughter.

W

Sinwar: Hamas hasn’t changed Viewpoint

BEN COHEN

Jewish News Service

A

newspaper interview with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, billed by publishers as an opportunity for Israeli and international readers to learn about the new Hamas, ended up confirming that the old Hamas is very much alive and kicking.

On Thursday, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot ran excerpts of a longer interview with Sinwar, conducted by Italian journalist Francesca Borri. Borri intended the interview to be printed in both Yediot and the Italian newspaper La Republicca, and she insists that Sinwar and his advisers knew that from the outset.

Sinwar’s office, however, claims that Borri misled the Hamas leader, as he would never knowingly speak to an Israeli outlet, nor to an Israeli or Jewish journalist, nor to a journalist whose work had been published in an Israeli outlet.

“The decision of Hamas is clear and has been repeatedly emphasized in terms of not dealing with the Israeli media,” said a statement from Sinwar’s office, after excerpts from the interview appeared online.

“The journalist applied for an interview with the leader of Hamas in Gaza on the basis of an official

request for two newspapers [Italian and British].”

The statement added that a background check determined that Borri was “not Jewish or Israeli, and that she had no previous work published in the Israeli press.” At the same time, Hamas was clearly anxious to ensure that no misleading quotes from the interview went into circulation, and so Sinwar’s office ran the exchange in Arabic in its entirety on the Hamas-linked Quds News Agency — a day before its full publication in Italy and Israel. iven this panicked reaction, one might be forgiven for thinking that Sinwar had said something of unprecedented significance, announced a policy shift, or sent a conciliatory message to the Israeli population. But he said nothing of the kind.

Reading his remarks, one is left wondering what it was, exactly, that Sinwar was worried about.

He said nothing that could not be wholeheartedly endorsed by even the most zealous members of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The value of the Sinwar interview is that it demonstrates why Hamas has not been — and will never be — a party to any credible peace process between Palestinians and Israel. Once the reader sees past Sinwar’s dramatic assertion at the beginning that “now, not tomorrow, right now” there exists

G

an opportunity to introduce what he calls “security and stability,” it becomes clear that this involves not a meaningful overture to Israel, but a restatement of fundamental Hamas doctrine.

What, for example, does Sinwar think about the prospect of renewed conflict with Israel? “We are a people under occupation and are being attacked daily.” Another war, he continued, was not in the interest of the Palestinians because they would be confronting a “nuclear power.”

But, he went on, even if Hamas “cannot win, Netanyahu’s victory will be worse than defeat because it will be the fourth war [fought by Israel in Gaza since 2008] … The war will not bring them anything.” or the last 10 years, Hamas has imposed ironfisted rule upon Gaza, with three key assumptions: that Israel and Egypt will maintain control of Gaza’s borders, that heavy fighting will periodically erupt with Israeli forces, and that Israel will not invade Gaza and overthrow the regime.

That continuity enables Hamas leaders to retain control over the Gaza Strip.

In propaganda terms, as Sinwar demonstrated, the terrorist organization emphasizes its shared goal with other Palestinian factions in securing a state within the 1967 borders — with eastern Jeru-

Never a party to a credible peace process.

F

Opinions: Views expressed by columnists and other writers do not necessarily reflect the position of the Publisher or of The Jewish Star LLC. 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 first class mail in the continental United States, send $150 for one year or $75 for six months, prepaid. Rate subject to change.

Employment opportunities: Visit TheJewishStar.com/jobs.html. Send inquiries to Publisher@TheJewishStar.com.

Copyright: All content in The Jewish Star is copyright and may not be republished or otherwise reproduced without written permission by The Jewish Star LLC; to do so without permission is both against the law and against halacha. To inquire about content reproduction write to the Publisher@TheJewishStar.com.

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

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

972 Magazine.

Women Against Violence (WAV) received $1,430,000 from Soros, and also supports BDS. Along with advocating for boycott, divestment, and sanctions, Mada al-Carmel – Arab Center for Applied Social Research, which received $707,000 from Soros, was one of the creators of the Haifa Document in 2007. The Haifa Document calls for a “change in the definition of the State of Israel from a Jewish state” and accuses Israel of “exploiting” the Holocaust “at the expense of the Palestinian people.”

And let’s not forget that Soros helped fund the creation of J-Street, the faux pro-Israel organization that is actually anti-Israel and supports the BDS movement. n the other hand, anyone who says President Trump has an anti-Semitic bone in his body is a fool. Putting aside for a moment that he would have to hate his daughter Ivanka, his sonin-law Jared Kushner, and their three children, Trump has been generous in donating to Jewish organizations and was grand marshal of the Israel Day parade.

Trump counts Jews among his circle of friends, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (something that was obvious when he visited Israel) and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. His Jewish son-in-law is a close adviser.

Evidence shows that George Soros did provide significant cash to Kavanaugh protest groups, including sending the elevator women who went after Sen. Flake. He may have been born Jewish, but he is not a big friend to the Jewish people and the Jewish State, while Trump may be the most pro-Israel and pro-Jewish president in American history.

O

salem as its capital — but without recognizing Israel and without renouncing violence. Every so often, media reports suggest that Hamas might be willing to do one or both of those things, but it never does.

The status quo suits Sinwar, given the military vulnerabilities of Hamas and his unresolved conflict with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

It’s what his predecessors, who expelled Fatah and the P.A. in the ugly civil war of 2007, also favored.

Gaza’s situation has not really changed in that time, and neither has the ideology of its Islamist rulers.

“Israeli propaganda,” Sinwar answered, when asked why Hamas was building tunnels to smuggle arms amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis. “The tunnels are not responsible for the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The disaster exists years before the tunneling began. The responsibility lies with those who impose the siege, and not on those who are trapped.”

These are standard Hamas talking points, whose purpose is to make the organization sound reasonable while conceding nothing in the way of Israel’s legitimacy. In keeping with Hamas’s traditions, Sinwar also mused on the Palestinians as tragically lacking their own agency in the face of Israeli duplicity (“Why should I trust them? They withdrew from Gaza in 2005, they simply redeployed the occupation, they were inside and now they close our border, who knows what is in their minds?”) and was careful to underline that every Gazan is a prisoner of the Israeli occupation, whether inside or outside a cell.

“I never came out of prison,” Sinwar said. “Gaza is the largest open prison on earth.”

And Hamas wants to keep it that way.

stephen M. Flatow

H

ow did President Donald Trump go from “People have been talking about [the twostate solution] for so many years now; it so far hasn’t worked” in February to last week’s “I like a two-state solution. That’s what I think works best”?

The answer, as with so many things involving Donald Trump, is that we just don’t know. But one thing is certain: He didn’t arrive at this new position after seeing any actual maps of what Israel would look like if a Palestinian state were created.

Because nobody who realizes that establishing a Palestinian state would reduce Israel to just nine miles wide could possibly advocate such an outcome — except, of course, somebody who seeks to facilitate Israel’s destruction. ake a look at a map of Judea-Samaria (the “West Bank”). Notice the cities with the largest Palestinian Arab populations. Hebron is

T

first, Nablus (Shechem) second. The third largest is Tulkarm. The fifth largest is Qalqilyah. Obviously, Tulkarm and Qalqilyah would have to be included in any Palestinian state.

Now notice where Tulkarm and Qalqilyah are located. They are on the far western edge of what would be a Palestinian state. They are a little more than nine miles from the Mediterranean Sea. That is, nine miles of Israel.

Meaning that if “Palestine” is created, Israel will be just nine miles wide at its mid-section.

That’s not as wide as Washington, D.C., or even the Bronx.

Nine miles wide. An enemy army would be able to cut the country in two in a matter of minutes. A terrorist with a shoulderfired rocket, standing inside the border of the new Palestinian state, would be able to shoot down a plane landing at Israel’s major airport. Pedestrians in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, could be targeted by Arab snipers — as they were before June 1967.

There’s a reason why advocates of a Palestinian state call it “the two-state solution,” instead of “the nine-miles-wide plan.” he phrase “two-state solution” sounds fair. You have two warring parties, so you give each of them a state. And “solution” sounds so promising; a problem is solved. But the term is deeply deceptive because it doesn’t tell you anything about the size of the two states — so you have no idea whether that would “work best” or not.

“Two-state solution” is nothing more than a slogan. A sound bite. An appealing phrase with no content.

If you add some content — if you call it what it really is, the “Nine Miles Wide Plan” — then you understand what a Palestinian state actually would mean for Israel. And with that information, you can make a much more educated decision as to your support.

Palestinian advocates don’t want you to have that information. They don’t want you to look at a

T

Palestinian advocates don’t want you to have that information.

map, to see if it’s genuinely a safe plan for Israel’s future. They want to lull you into thinking that it will bring peace, and if that isn’t enough to convince you, they will try to scare you with the old “demographic time bomb” threat.

That’s the claim that because of the high Arab birthrate, Israel will have to agree to a Palestinian state or it will become an apartheid-like ruler over the Palestinians. Nonsense. Yitzhak Rabin resolved that problem in 1995, when he withdrew Israel’s forces from the cities where 98 percent of Palestinians reside. Now they are residents of the Palestinian Authority, who vote in Palestinian elections.

They will never be Israeli citizens, will never vote in Israeli elections, and will never threaten Israel’s Jewish demographic majority.

There may be no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in our generation; not all international conflicts have one. But certainly whittling Israel down to nine miles wide is not the answer.

Would somebody please show President Trump a map?

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

Locked in and out of my Manhattan apartment View from Central park

tehilla r. goldberg

Intermountain Jewish News

W

hen I departed New York for Denver before Rosh Hashanah, neighbors in my heavily Jewish building asked if they could put up a Rosh Hashanah guest in my apartment. “Sure!” I replied. It’s a nice feature of my building’s community — borrowing an ingredient or an apartment, it’s all part of neighborliness.

The neighbors with whom I left my keys were traveling to Israel for Sukkot, with plans to be back

by Hoshana Rabba. Perfect. I was returning then too, and we’d all be together for Simchat Torah.

I didn’t account for delayed flights.

In Denver, I boarded the JetBlue redeye on Saturday night, Hoshana Rabba. It’s customary to remain awake through the night of Hoshana Rabba — to study Torah, not to fly to New York. Nevertheless, I felt in spirit with the tradition. When I arrived at 5:15 am, it was still dark out. With no checked luggage, I was thrilled at the prospect of beating the morning traffic and settling in for a

catnap after my all-nighter. n the taxi, I remembered the apartment keys.

I hadn’t texted my neighbor before Shabbat to arrange a plan and time for the key pickup.

Now I had gotten off a redeye and the city was asleep. It was pitch dark outside. It was Sunday morning. I resigned myself to hanging out at the Starbucks around the corner for a couple of hours until I could text or call people.

I’m sure it will all work out, I thought. And if not, another friend in the neighborhood has a spare key. Either way, I’m covered.

In my sleepy state, my mind kept wandering to Hoshana Rabba. I needed to still get hoshanot, the willow branches that are part of the holiday prayers. With coffee cup in hand, as morning was breaking, and with all this time on my hands at Starbucks, I thought of Hoshana Rabba’s customary food. Soon it was late enough to start calling people, so I could retrieve my keys and put an end to this state of being locked out.

But my neighbors’ flight had been delayed.

There would be no keys until at least 12:30 pm.

I

It was only 8 am. I called my always-reliable friend in the neighborhood who keeps my spare keys. Today of all times, she had decided to go away! For years and years she had been in the city for Simchat Torah!

Finally, I got hold of my keys, my friend kindly coming along to hold my carry-on. I couldn’t wait to relax and unwind from the flight, my exhaustion exacerbated from being locked out all these hours. It sure had been an interesting no-sleep Hoshana Rabba. We entered my apartment, close the door behind us, and bang! The inside doorknob clanged to the floor. I picked it up and attempt to screw it back into place, but no dice. Behold, my friend and I were locked in. fter a long morning of being locked out, leading me to think of the sukkah’s open threshold and protective space, suddenly we were on the other side of things. From having been sealed out, I was now sealed in. What are the odds that happening in the space of a single morning?

What a contrast. Just moments before, all I had wanted was to be comfortably ensconced in my

Time stood still. We stayed put, sheltered.

A

A threat to future of liberal Judaism aMMiel hirsCh

S

omething is rotten in the state of liberalism, and it threatens the future of progressive Judaism.

Jews who call themselves “liberal” join organizations seeking to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel in disproportionate numbers.

They lead the attack against Israel with a ferocity normally reserved for the world’s worst regimes. Their antipathy even leads them to join groups with anti-Semitic tendencies.

Many liberal Jews are uncomfortable with Jewish particularism, asserting that it is an illiberal idea whose time has passed. While there was always a healthy tension in Jewish thought between the centrality of Jewish peoplehood and Jewish interaction with, and obligations to, the world at large, it is increasingly difficult for liberal Jews today to accept that Jewish distinctiveness is a core Jewish value, or even a contemporary social good.

Thus, liberal Jews are abandoning their identity in accelerating and unsustainable numbers.

According to a Pew study published in August,

nearly half of American Jews prefer not to identify with organized religion. If we do not reverse these trends, Reform Judaism two generations from now will be a shadow of what it is today. ichael Chabon’s commencement address last spring at the [Reform] Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion addressed these issues directly.

Before a sanctuary filled with newly minted or soon-to-be Reform rabbis, cantors, educators and other Jewish professionals and their families, Chabon told these future leaders of Reform Judaism that since the last of his children’s bnai mitzvah, his retreat from religious practice has been near total. He contended that Judaism, like every other religion, is one giant interlocking system of division intended to enforce the division between, among other things, Jews and non-Jews.

Chabon touched upon the very heart of Jewish distinctiveness and peoplehood.

“An endogamous marriage is a ghetto of two,” he said. “I want [my children] to marry into the tribe that prizes learning, inquiry, skepticism, openness to new ideas. I want my children to marry into the tribe that enshrines equality before the law and freedom of conscience and human rights. … There will be plenty of potential partners for my

M

children to choose — a fair number [of whom] are even likely to be Jews.”

Such is the wounded state of Jewish liberalism today that in response, Chabon received a rousing ovation from most (but not all) of the crowd of students about to embark on their first fulltime positions in Reform synagogues, supported by many of their professional mentors. nder what theory of liberalism are we required to discard attachments and loyalties to Jews? What is this new Jewish progressivism that asserts that the acceptance of others requires the negation of self? Is a marriage between two Catholics, Hindus, Muslims or Universalists illiberal? Is a marriage between two indigenous Australians, eager to preserve Aboriginal civilization, illiberal?

Do liberals believe in diversity, in a pluralism of communities? Do we believe in the dignity of human difference? Or do we believe in diversity for everyone but Jews?

We liberal Jews never seem to speak about Jewish solidarity anymore. We speak about our obligations to the world with profound conviction and eloquence, but never seem to speak about our obligations to Jews. Thus, for many Reform Jews,

Diversity for everyone but Jews?

U

own apartment. Now, I was — against my will.

At first it was nice. While, regrettably, there were no kreplach on hand, I quickly boiled warm mugs of coffee and cream, and I had adorable windmill butter biscuits nestled in a cookie jar from before my trip. While it was forced “nesting,” it was lovely. Imposed calmness and relaxation, because there was really nothing we could do until my neighbors, who had just arrived from Israel, came to pick up the meatballs they had cooked in advance and stored in my freezer. They had a second set of my keys and would be able to unlock the door from the outside. Until then, time stood still.

We stayed put, sheltered.

That was my conclusion to the Days of Awe this year.

Of course, I don’t know what the meaning of this was. I can only hope that it heralds a year replete with the balance of blessed comings and goings, of unlocking what has thus far been locked, in the company of friends and family, with nourishment for the journey.

But at the very least, this whacky experience certainly provided amusement, until we were finally “rescued” and I was able to pick up a bundle of hoshanot I was more than ready to thump.

Copyright Intermountain Jewish News

tikkun olam implies everyone in the world except Jews. It is rare to meet an American Reform youth or activist who considers tikkun olam to include the obligation to assist, say, impoverished Jews in Israel or the former Soviet Union. A Reform tikkun olam mission would more likely travel to a poor African village than a soup kitchen for Jews in Ukraine. he irony is that the very concept of prophetic values emerged from the Hebrew prophets, who were fierce particularists. At no time did they abandon the Jewish particular in favor of the universal. To the contrary, the universal was a function, a product, of the particular. The impetus and urgency of prophetic morality was an outcome of the centrality of the Jewish people, not its negation.

The growing inclination among liberal Jews to de-emphasize Jewish distinctiveness is the gravest threat to the future of liberal Judaism.

For what are the prospects of the continuity of the people if the people are not committed to its own continuity — and does not even agree that it is a legitimate objective?

It is the will to Jewish distinctiveness that ensures Jewish distinctiveness. It is the will to continue that has led to continuity. There is a ferocity to Jewish survival instincts, an indomitable sense of Jewish destiny. When these are lost, the future is lost.

In the modern world, those who are not committed to Jewish survival will not survive as Jews.

Ammiel Hirsch is senior spiritual leader at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a Reform congregation on the Upper West Side. This op-ed is adapted from his 2018 Yom Kippur sermon, “From the Ghetto.”

T

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

No, Mr. President, two states won’t ‘work best’

21

CAlendar of Events

WE PAY

TOP DOLLAR

Thursday October 11

Pink Challah bake: Join Sharsheret for challah baking and health and awareness tutorials.

7:30 to 9 pm. 207 Grove Ave, Cedarhurst. 516569-6733.

FOR

Sunday October 14

Modern Furniture • Modern Art Paintings • Bronzes • Silver • Chinese Art Old Costume Jewelry • Men’s & Women’s Watches

& any other kind of antiques

Clothing Drive: Young Israel of West Hempstead collecting gently used clothing for Yad Leah.

630 Hempstead Ave, West Hempstead. $25 suggested donation. Chaipol@optonline.net.

Mesoras HaRav: Yeshiva University and the Orthodox Union celebrate the completion of the Soloveitchik Chumash. Keynote address by YU president Dr. Ari Berman. 9:30 am to noon.

Weissberg Commons, 2495 Amsterdam Ave., Manhattan. See story on page 3.

Wednesday October 17

YU Community Beit Midrash [weekly]: Learning opportunities open to men and women.

Dr. Rona Novick, “Social Responsibility in Today’s World,” 10:30 to 11:30 am. Mrs. Shoshana Schachter, “Avraham: The First Lonely Man of Faith,” 11:45 am to 12:45 pm. 215 Lexington Ave, NY. $25. YU.edu/sternlearn.

WE SPECIALIZE IN BUYING WHOLE ESTATES

ANS Antiques

Sunday October 21

Clothing Drive: Held by Keren Minchas Shlomo at Precision Auto Body. 10 am to 3 pm. 10 Nassau Ave, Inwood. 802-622-1818.

Annual Dinner: Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills celebrates 67 years. 6 pm. 101 Causeway, Lawrence. 718-261-9723.

516-441-2070

Tuesday October 23

Visit us on www.ansantiques.com

ShOmeR ShAbbOS

985303

Strategies for Success: Yachad/Ivdu help parents improve kids’ executive function at school and home. First in a series of two. 7 to 9 pm. 1244 E. 7th St, Brooklyn. 551-404-4447.

Broadway at Rockaway: Learn about the influence of Jewish music on American theater. 8 pm.

201 Beach 121 St. 718-634-8100.

Wednesday October 24

YU Community Beit Midrash [weekly]: Learning opportunities open to men and women.

Dr. Rona Novick, “Social Responsibility in Today’s World,” 10:30 to 11:30 am. Mrs. Shoshana Schachter, “Avraham: The First Lonely Man of Faith,” 11:45 am – 12:45 pm. 215 Lexington Ave, NY. $25. YU.edu/sternlearn.

Shiur in Emunah: Chazaq presents Rav Shalom Arush, with translation by Rabbi Lazer Brody.

7:30 pm. 812 Peninsula Blvd, Woodmere.

Tuesday October 30

AMIT Gala: Join AMIT in honoring outstanding Long Island leaders. 6:30 pm. 775 Branch Blvd, Cedarhurst. 516-551-1058; 212-477-5465.

Hollywood at Rockaway: Learn about the influence of Jewish music on American film. 8 pm. 134-01 Rockaway Beach Blvd. 718-634-8100.

Wednesday October 31

YU Community Beit Midrash [weekly]: Learning opportunities open to men and women.

Dr. Rona Novick, “Social Responsibility in Today’s World,” 10:30 to 11:30 am. Mrs. Shoshana Schachter, “Avraham: The First Lonely Man of Faith,” 11:45 am to 12:45 pm. 215 Lexington Ave, NY. $25. YU.edu/sternlearn.

Tuesday November 6

OneIsrael Dinner: OneIsrael Fund hosts keynote speaker Caroline Glick and MC Ben Brafman. 6:30 pm. 10 Desbrosses Street, New York.

516-239-9202 x 19. dinner@oneisraelfund.org.

Wednesday November 7

YU Community Beit Midrash [weekly]: Learning opportunities open to men and women.

Dr. Rona Novick, “Social Responsibility in Today’s World,” 10:30 – 11:30 am. Mrs. Shoshana Schachter, “Avraham: The First Lonely Man of Faith,” 11:45 am to 12:45 pm. 215 Lexington Ave, NY. $25. YU.edu/sternlearn.

Celebrating 30 years of service to our community

Draperies • Valances Wood Blinds • Roman Shades Roller Shades • Zebra Shades Luminette Luminette®® Privacy Privacy Sheers

With WithHunter HunterDouglas Douglaswindow window fashions,the thepossibilities possibilitiesare areendless. endless. fashions, HunterDouglas Douglasoffers offersaawide widevariety varietyof ofwindow window fashions fashions in in an an array array of fabrics, Hunter texturesand andcolors. colors.Contact Contactus ustoday. today.We’re We’re the the Hunter Hunter Douglas Douglas experts, experts, textures guidingyou youininthe theselections selectionsthat’ll that’llmake make your your home home even even more more beautiful–– beautiful–– guiding whateveryour yourstyle. style. whatever

Since 1988 Lenny Koegel • Daniel Simon

516-594-6010

DistinctiveWindowFashions.com

Save on Select Hunter DouglaS operating SyStemS • Free meaSuring + inStallation • Hunter DouglaS liFetime guarantee Askus usabout: about: Ask Specialsavings savingson onselect selectHunter HunterDouglas Douglas operating operating systems systems •• Special Freemeasuring measuringand andinstallation installation •• Free

987686

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

22

THE JEWISH STAR October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779

997456

23

996584

October 12, 2018 • 3 Cheshvan 5779 THE JEWISH STAR

24