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We will never forget ‘When Hashem gives you rest from all your enemies, in the Land Hashem gives you as an inheritance to possess it, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heaven — you shall not forget!’ Devarim 25:17-19

How do we react? By Rabbi Hershel Billet Young Israel of Woodmere I have one foot out the door on my way to Israel in a few hours. My plans for this trip will be dramatically altered in light of the crushing news that the bodies of our three sons have been found murdered in cold blood. But I cannot leave without penning a few hastily collected thoughts. We are all privileged to be a part of Am Yisrael, a great, ancient, and noble nation that has always brought light to the nations of the world. For some inexplicable reason we have been hated, persecuted, and murdered by evil people for our entire history. Once again evil has manifested itself in a pernicious way and has murdered three beautiful boys who were kidnapped on their way home from school. So how do we react? 1. The Jewish people have always persevered and survived and we must once again. And we will! 2. We must extend our love, support and condolences to the boys’ respective families, who have demonstrated their nobility over the past eighteen days. While we all feel the loss, they feel it in the way that only a nuclear family —

Tears at funerals

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mom, dad, grandparents, and siblings — can. 3. We must support Israel and the IDF and the SHABAâ€?K as they do whatever they must to eradicate evil. 4. We have prayed every day for those boys. Hashem in his mysterious and incomprehensible ways, has said, “no.â€? Why? None of us will ever know! But our prayers were not in vain. They uniďŹ ed us in an incredible way. We made our case before the Ribbono Shel Olam. I feel that he owes us big

time. I also believe that He keeps his books balanced and will not forget our pleas in the future. We MUST maintain our faith and not lose our voices of prayer. Our hands and feet should continue to be active in performing mitzvot and good deeds. 5. We must pray for the classmates of these boys and the many Jewish children who have been traumatized by this horrible experience. We must pray for their teacher and principals. G-d protect our kids!

6. We must never forget and always remember Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach. They are victims of an act of Amalek. We are commanded to remember and not forget. Let us join all good people in our revulsion toward this heinous crime. May their blood be avenged without mercy for the perpetrators. May Am Yisrael see better times ahead. Let us believe with all our heart and faith in the eternity of G-d and of Israel. May our redemption come soon.

By Anav Silverman and Aryeh Savir Tazpit News Agency The families of the three murdered Israeli teens conducted separate services and eulogies before laying their children side-by-side in a joint funeral in the Modi’in cemetery on Tuesday. Thousands gathered together in the home communities of Gil-ad Sha’ar, 16; Naftali Frenkel, 16; and Eyal Yifrach, 19, whose bodies were discovered on Monday evening not far from the site where they were abducted in Gush Etzion by Hamas terrorists nearly three weeks ago. Israel’s government ministers spoke at each of the services. “The song of their lives was stopped. They were kidnapped and murdered just because they are Jews,â€? Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said at the service for Eyal Yifrach in Elad. “Even in these hours, our security forces are looking for their murderers and we will not rest until we ďŹ nd them. Before us stands a cruel enemy, a terror organization that seeks to kill us. But we will not be afraid and they will pay a heavy price.â€? Finance Minister Yair Lapid spoke at Gil-ad Sha’ar’s service in Talmon and Education Minister Shay Piron spoke at Naftali Frenkel’s service in Nof Ayalon. Both ministers spoke of the unity of the nation of Israel in the face of the terrible tragedy. Continued on page 3

Shabbat candlelighting 8:10 pm. Shabbat ends 9:21 pm. 72 minute zman 9:43 pm. ParshatBalak.

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July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai. The ďŹ eld is a 15-minute drive away from Alon Shvut Junction in Gush Etzion, where the teens were kidnapped on June 12. The condition of the bodies indicated that the teens were killed shortly after being kidnapped. Experts suggested that at least one of the boys put up a ďŹ ght, according to evidence on the body. One of the teens was able to call the police before they were murdered. After being pulled out of the ground, the bodies underwent forensic testing. The families of the teens were notiďŹ ed even before the ďŹ nal identiďŹ cations were made. The Israeli Defense Ministry quickly announced that it recognized the three murdered teens as victims of terror. Israeli defense ofďŹ cials said that Operation Brother’s Keeper—Israel’s response to the kidnapping—has not come to an end, as the suspects have not been caught. Defense ofďŹ cials believe the suspects are still in Judea and Samaria, but have gone “completely off the radar.â€? The Israeli Shin Bet security agency said it was continuing its “intelligence and operational efforts to ďŹ nd all those involved in the attack.â€? “The mission isn’t over,â€? said the IDF’s Gantz. “We are halfway there. The intelligence and operation effort put into ďŹ nding the kidnapped boys will be redirected toward ďŹ nding the kidnappers. The IDF will work on every level to capture them in the shortest possible time.â€? Âś+DPDV ZLOO SD\¡ Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his diplomatic-security cabinet in Jerusalem on Monday night to discuss courses of action in response to the discovery of the boys’ bodies. “On behalf of the entire Jewish people, I would like to tell the dear families—the mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and brothers and sisters— we are deeply saddened,â€? said Netanyahu. “The entire nation weeps with you.â€? “Hamas is responsible— and Hamas will pay,â€? he added. Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s OfďŹ ce OďŹ r Akunis (Likud) said as he left a meeting with U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, “An entire na<, :RRGPHUH GLVSOD\V D EDQQHU UHPHPEHULQJ (\DO 1DIWDOL DQG *LO DG tion has stood as one and By Lilach Shoval, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom via JNS.org The citizens of Israel were shocked and saddened on Monday when news emerged that the bodies of the three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped on June 12 were discovered in a ďŹ eld west of Halhul, near Hebron. The kidnapping of Gil-ad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach appalled Israelis who rallied behind the youngsters’ families in a display of national unity. Israel has accused two Hamas terrorists— Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme—of carrying out the abductions, and the suspects were still at large on Wednesday. Israeli media said the break in the case, which led to the discovery of the bodies, came after the suspects’ relatives were interrogated. Soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) elite Maglan special-forces unit and the KďŹ r infantry brigade, as well as civilian volunteers, discovered the bodies in their search on Monday. The search’s focus on the speciďŹ c area where the bodies were found was based on intelligence information gathered by the Shin Bet security agency. Also, a pair of glasses belonging to Yifrach was found nearby in recent days. The fenced ďŹ eld where the bodies were found was uncultivated and strewn with boulders. Soldiers had searched the area recently, but not the speciďŹ c ďŹ eld where the bodies were located. During Monday’s search, civilian volunteers noticed something unusual on the ground that stood out from the surroundings and decided to dig there, leading to the discovery of the bodies. After the bodies were discovered, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz arrived at the scene for a situational assessment with GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon and Coordinator of Government Activities in the

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prayed for good news, but this time our prayers were in vain.� “We have one obligation—to wipe out Hamas,� Akunis said. “It’s a degenerate, murderous terrorist organization that sees murdering kids as a legitimate move. So there is only one response: crush them immediately. My heart is with the families, may we know no more sorrow.� Upon hearing the news that the teens’ bodies were found, Akunis told Eliasson that the tragedy is “the result of [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas setting up a terror government, which the world welcomed,� referring to the recent formation of a unity government between Hamas and Abbas’s Fatah party. Israeli Science, Technology and Space Minister Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid) said he once again called upon Abbas to immediately “kick out the murderous terror group Hamas, which committed this loathsome crime.� Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Habayit Hayehudi) said he urged the Israeli cabinet to punish the killers’ families “in the harshest possible way, so nothing like this happens again.� “We need to deport the murderers’ families, raze their homes, and prevent them from rebuilding,� he said.

President-elect of Israel Reuven Rivlin said, “What we were afraid of has come to pass. Our fear was heavy, but in our hearts we had great hope that even the murderous terrorism would spare our boys.‌ Our hearts are with the brave families at this difďŹ cult time. They will always symbolize heroism and belief in the hardest hours.â€? Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) said that there would be “no forgiving the murderers of our children and the ones who sent them.â€? Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) stressed that Israel must undertake an “uncompromising war against terrorism in general and against Hamas speciďŹ cally.â€? “It’s time that the Palestinians also understand that Hamas is leading them astray and boot them out of the Palestinian leadership and from their society,â€? Edelstein said. Israeli Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) said there is “no human explanation or justiďŹ cationâ€? for the kidnapping and murder of the boys. “I’m convinced that the long arm of the [Israeli] security forces will reach the killers,â€? he said. “We have known horrible, painful terror attacks and overcome them, and that’s how it will be this time. That’s life in this country.â€?

Tears ow as Israel buries 3 of its sons‌ Continued from page 1 “We will ďŹ nd the killers and punish them. The real revenge will be in the ability to bridge the gaps between us,â€? said Lapid. “We need each other on this day. We need one another, not anger, we need no further split, we need love, a common language,â€? said Lapid. “We are mourning a life which will not be actualized.â€? “I remembered all the times we argued, how you would wake me up in the mornings to go to school,â€? said Shirel Sha’ar, Gil-ad’s sister with her mother holding her. “I told the nation of Israel how much I will miss wrapping you in my tallit during the blessing of the Cohanim; now that tallit

is wrapping your body today,� said Gil-ad’s father, Ophir Sha’ar, in a breaking voice. “I believe your story will be told for generations. I was able to speak to you an hour before you set home and heard your loving voice. Your sisters loved and were proud of their only brother.� The community of Nof Ayalon gathered together to remember 16-year-old Naftali Frenkel. “Three young boys killed in cold blood, in a shared fate, which in turn can only make us better people. Your death will lead this nation together onwards. Rest in peace my dear son,� said the father of Naftali Frenkel, Avi, in tears. “Those people were out there to hunt, and you were those chosen,� said Racheli, Naftali’s

mother. “We are thankful for the army, police, security forces that promised to bring the boys back and they did. We will learn to sing without you. We will always hear your voice within us, Naftali.� At Eyal’s funeral, Defense Minister Ya’alon said, “Dear Yifrach family — Iris and Uri, these hours of personal grief are shared by all of us. May their memories, Gilad, Naftali and Eyal, be blessed.� “You were such an example to your family. Your brothers are missing you, Eyal,� said the weeping father, Uri Yifrach. Eyal Yifrach’s grandfather said at his levaya: “I am convinced that Eyal struggled with the kidnappers with all his strength, to show them that we are not

afraid, because he was a hero in his soul, a hero in his love to the Land of Israel, a hero of his love for the people of Israel, and certainly did not go like sheep to the slaughter. I’m sure he gave them what he could to prove that we are in our country, our homeland, and we are conďŹ dent in the righteousness of our way that the Land of Israel is ours.â€? Eyal’s father asked his son to whisper in G-d’s ear and ask him to give them strength to cope. “It is hard without you, we need strength,â€? he said, “We are loving people, we have the love and it will win. We will not break. We cry, but these are tears of strength. We will not give up. We are here and you can do nothing about it. We are a strong nation.â€?

THE JEWISH STAR July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774

Israel mourns and vows Hamas ‘will pay,’ as teens laid to rest

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They didn’t weaken us, they made us stronger W

e will do our best to hand our enemies a great defeat, by becoming even more united. Three boys. Three worlds. Three families. Three mothers broken. FROM THE HEART Three empty chairs. So OF JERUSALEM many dreams lost. Forever. There are simply no words to describe the depths of our pain and sense of loss. Our enemies are smiling today because they think they have won a battle, on the way to winning the war they have been Rabbi Binny fighting for so many Freedman years. A war we never wanted and for which we would give so much to end. But our enemies are mistaken; they do not know the secret of the Jewish people. How many great empires over thousands of years thought they could cut off our future by killing the best and brightest of our children, and where are those empires now? We’ve outlived ancient Egypt and the Canaanite nations, the Assyrians and Arameans, the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans, the Byzantines and Medieval Crusaders, the Spanish Inquisition and Chmelnitzki’s Cossacks, the Mamelukes and Ottomans, and the final unspeakable horror, the Nazis. Like the broken pieces of Roman glass scattered all over Israel, they are long gone, dust in the wind. And we are still here. With today’s news, this week’s portion of

Balak is an appropriate one indeed. “Vayagar Moav me’od mipnei ha’am ki rav hu.” (“And [the nation of] Moav was very afraid of the nation [of Israel] for they were great.”) Why were the Moabites so afraid? What were they scared of? And why is this detail important? Is there is a value to the fact that our enemies fear us? Living in Gush Etzion, these past few weeks have been more than intense, as thousands of Israeli soldiers, joined by thousands of local volunteers, worked day and night to find our three missing boys. At the same time, Jews all over the world responded with an incredible outpouring of prayer, spirituality and acts of loving-kindness. Here in Israel, Israelis who never stepped foot in a synagogue came to pray; hundreds of thousands of Shabbat candles were lit, and specific psalms (121 and 130) were recited daily, even at weddings and joyous occasions. We often speak of the need for Jewish unity, but these past weeks, such words have not been necessary, as the entire Jewish people put aside their differences in common cause for something greater, for the right of every mother to know her innocent child is safe and protected. Meanwhile, we witness deafening silence from most of the world. Where was the instant condemnation from the E.U. one sees

as soon as a room is added on to a house over the green line, in Judea and Samaria? Was Catherine Ashton just too busy? Is anyone besides Israel and the Jewish people troubled by an Arab leader who denounces the kidnappings while signing a pact with the kidnappers? This week’s portion of Balak has much to say regarding this question, but one point is worth noting. The nations’ fear of the Jewish people did not begin with this week’s story of Balak the king of Moav; it was already duly noted upon the Jews’ exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the sea: “Az namogu kol yoshvei Ke’naan…” (“Then did all the nations of Canaan tremble… Forty years earlier, upon witnessing the miracles G-d wrought for the Jewish people, the nations of Canaan trembled. They knew even then where the Jewish people were headed: “Tevi’eimo ve’titaeimo be’har nachalatcha…” ([G-d will] bring them and plant them on the mount of your inheritance…” Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov were still world-famous personalities — indeed, Yaakov had been buried in the land of Israel in a massive public ceremony that had the Canaanites wondering — so it was clear the Jewish people were planning on coming home.

Israel is a haven of democracy and ethics in a Middle East populated by dictatorships and inhumane behavior. One cannot build an ethical world next to unethical neighbors.

The Talmud tells us the Canaanite nations were given a choice: accept the seven Noachide laws, meaning they would have to commit not to steal, murder or practice child sacrifice, and stay in the land. Building an ethical society would mean everyone had to subscribe to a minimum of basic ethics, and this the Canannites would not do. Today, history may have come full circle. Israel has built a haven of democracy and ethics in a Middle East populated by dictatorships and inhumane behavior. And one cannot build an ethical world next to unethical neighbors. Israel’s neighbors understand that one of us will have to go. Seeing the destruction of the Emorites (even before the Nation of Israel does battle with the great Og king of the Bashan) and recalling how this Nation miraculously defeated Egypt, the greatest empire of its day, Balak, the king of Moav, has figured out that we cannot be defeated on the battlefield unless we are first defeated spiritually. Therefore, he enlists the help of the non-Jewish prophet Bilaam. And Balak is correct; our physical battlefield strength is entirely due to our spiritual strength. As much as it is a mitzvah to join the army and fight the enemies who would destroy us, without our true Commanderin-Chief, Hashem, directing the results, all the military prowess in the world would not make a difference. That being said, we are not meant to rely on miracles, and one of the cardinal rules learned in any military command school is the value of deterrence. How we carried ourselves, and the energy we gave off, often had a direct impact on the level of resistance we encountered. Continued on page 15

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T

he story of Balak and Bilaam is fascinating because it is indicative of an obsession that hasn’t waned in the history of mankind since the time of Avraham our forefaPARSHA OF ther. THE WEEK It is what Hitler called the Jewish Question. It is what Haman referred to as “a single nation spread all around your kingdom” (Esther 3:8). The thought process goes something like this: “There is a nation that is unlike us, whose very existence is troubling us, even Rabbi Avi Billet if they leave us alone. The fact that they are there, that they exist, is enough to make us sick to our stomachs, until the problem is resolved because they are removed from where we are.” Even today, the Jewish State – Israel – faces similar sentiments from some of its indigent (or is it indignant?) population, who will not be happy until Israel is Judenrein. Thank G-d, Israel encounters this challenge from a position of strength, and we continue to support that strength, as we hope and pray that Israel will be around as a Jewish State until the end of time. The Torah tells us that Bilaam told Balak to build seven mizbeachot (altars) on three different hilltops. The first time he did this was at the beginning of Chapter 23, at which point he brought a bull and a ram as an offering, per-

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haps one pair of animals for each mizbeach. Bilaam expresses his confidence that G-d will “Happen upon him” and sure enough, G-d does. In Bilaam’s pride over what has been done, he explains to G-d, “I’ve arranged these seven mizbeachot and I brought the bull and the ram on the mizbeach.” That he leaves Balak out of his depiction of what took place just proves what we’ve known about Bilaam all along. He only thinks of himself and what makes him look good. But does he really need to explain to G-d what he did — as if G-d, the all-seeing and all-knowing, didn’t see and doesn’t know? Midrash and commentaries explain that from Bilaam’s view there was tremendous depth to his creation of seven mizbeachot. Compare my seven to the Children of Israel’s one. Seven is far more than one (Midrash Aggadah). Seven people had built a personal mizbeach — Adam, Kayin, Hevel, Noach, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov — and Bilaam was coming to outrank them through building seven to counter their seven (Tanchuma). The arrogance of Bilaam’s thought process neglected to remind him that if indeed he was trying to impress G-d, he was failing because he violated Bal Tosif, the prohibition against adding in one’s mitzvah observance. Now Bilaam could hardly be counted as a mitzvah observer; he was in the midst of violating G-d’s instructions not to join Balak and try to curse the Children of Israel. But he fancied himself as being connected to G-d in a special way — as he told Balak’s men several times — “I can’t violate the word of the L-rd, my G-d” (22:18, 24:13). Rashi points out what might come to destroy Bilaam’s logic as defined until now, be-

cause Rashi says Bilaam was coming to counter the seven mizbeachot built by Avraham (4), Yitzchak (1), and Yaakov (2). If he was indeed coming to counter the personal mizbeachot built before, he is four shy — when we count those the Tanchuma mentioned and the multiple mizbeachot of Avraham and Yaakov. His bringing a bull and ram was to outdo Avraham who only brought a ram. Bilaam, as we might surmise, can hardly outdo Avraham (see Avot 5:19). Despite it all, G-d told Bilaam to return to Balak, and “koh t’daber” (say the following). The word “koh” refers to the promise made by G-d to Avraham — “koh yihyeh zarakha” (so will your children be), according to Rabbi Chaim Paltiel. (editor’s note: using gezera shava-analogy by common term) In other words, in the first pronouncement regarding the Israelites that Bilaam was to say in front of Balak, he was to remind him that this venture, irrespective of the person (Bilaam) and the trimmings (the mizbeachot), was doomed to fail because of a promise made long ago to Avraham Avinu. There are anti-Semites and there are antiSemites who mask as being Jew lovers. It is our hope that the philo-Semites of the world will be able to see that whether anti-Semites are open about their feelings or wear a smiling mask that hides their true colors, those who harbor a hatred for the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and who think Jews living in Israel is an obstacle to peace. These beliefs are the real obstacles to peace. And like Bilaam, who got it but didn’t really want to get it, they, too, should be doomed to fail in their efforts to harm the Jewish people. Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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No feelings hurt. Everybody gets a trophy L

ittle by little political correctness has taken over our culture and our language. In some communities, manholes have been renamed “personnel access units” to avoid offending women. Even though it is only Christmas that is an official POLITICS TO GO U.S. holiday, communities have renamed their Christmas displays “Holiday Displays” in order to assimilate Chanukah, a holiday at least partially about a war against assimilation, and Kwanzaa, a day invented by a black separatist group in 1966 to separate people rather than unite them. Remember when Jeff Dunetz people would get their Academy Awards after hearing the sentence, “And The Winner Is…” Now their victory is a dulled “And the Oscar goes to…” Face it, our culture has been damaged by the politically correct, nobody’s feelings get hurt, everybody gets a participation trophy police who are little more than jackbooted

thugs attacking anybody who disagrees with their nonsense. Their assault on our language and culture has a supposed goal of softening words they decide are hurtful, but in doing so they are destroying the true meaning of words and actions. In the extreme, it means when a Palestinian straps a bomb to his body, barbarically exploding it, killing dozens of Israeli civilians, he is no longer described by the press with the evil sounding terrorist but a softer sounding “militant.” The guardians of political correctness have invaded every aspect of our language. A tax increase is now a revenue enhancement even though either way we have less cash in our pockets, and additional government spending programs are called investments even though either way they lead to more “revenue enhances.” Softening the term does not make the case more valid, it simply makes people wonder what is being covered up. About a year ago, at the urging of the PC bullies, the news media decided the term illegal alien does not accurately describe illegal aliens and from that they would henceforth use the term “undocumented immigrant.” The dictionary supports the use of illegal alien for anybody not citizen surreptitiously crossing the border without permission.

Illegal: forbidden by law; unlawful; illicit Alien: An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country. Also called noncitizen. Expanding this logic: If I steal a car and the cops come to my house and ask me to show the papers proving I own the car and I can’t, I am no longer a car thief but an undocumented car owner. A kidnapper who can’t provide a birth certificate proving the parentage of a stolen child becomes an undocumented parent. A criminal caught after they broke into someone’s home becomes an undocumented resident. Words matter. wo weeks ago, in a move supported by members of Congress, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cancelled the six trademarks owned by the Washington franchise of the NFL, the Redskins. After searching the trademark office’s database, one realizes they expelled the name Redskins for the football team but left it for 15 other trademarked products. They also left trademarks for products containing swear words and others with other politically incorrect terms for people such as Fags, Stinky Gringo, Retards, Coons, Half-Breeds, Nips, Beaners, Hillbilllys, Guidos, Hymies. Think about this for a moment: Our economy is falling apart because too many “in-

T

vestments” are driving our deficit over the 17 trillion dollar mark, our porous border is allowing “undocumented immigrants” to enter the country with no danger of them being stopped, and no one worries about the real danger that one or more of those criminal trespassers may be a “militant” with designs to kill American citizens. But instead of working on government spending, cutting the deficit, or worrying about terrorists crossing the border, members of Congress are wasting their time supporting government moves to enforce political correctness. And if you thought the attacks on the name “Redskins” for the Washington DC NFL franchise were examples of political correctness gone wild, as the saying goes, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.” Simon Waxman, managing editor of Boston Review, wrote an op-ed in Friday’s Washington Post criticizing the U.S. military for using Native American names. He wrote: “Apache, Comanche, Chinook, Lakota, Cheyenne and Kiowa apply not only to Indian tribes but also to military helicopters. Add in the Black Hawk, named for a leader of the Sauk tribe. Then there is the Tomahawk, a low-altitude missile, and a drone named for an Indian Continued on page 15

One professor’s twisted definition of ‘scholarship’ L

ike many others in the Jewish community, I first became aware of the dire situation facing Jewish students at San Francisco State University (SFSU) back in May 2002, when John Podhoretz published an op-ed in the New York Post exposing the anti-Semitic activism plaguing the campus. Podhoretz quoted from an email written by Professor Laurie Zoloth, Ben Cohen, JNS then the chair of the SFSU’s Jewish Studies department, in which she confessed, “I cannot fully express what it feels like to have to walk across campus daily, past posters of cans of soup with labels on them of drops of blood and dead babies, labeled ‘canned Palestinian children meat, slaughtered according to Jewish rites.’” Twelve years on, not much appears to have changed at the university that revived the ancient and despicable “blood libel” against the Jewish people. This time, SFSU is engulfed by a scandal involving allegations that one of its professors “misused” $7,000 worth of taxpayer

VIEWPOINT

funds for a January research trip to the Middle East that included meetings with representatives of terrorists and Islamist organizations. Notably, one of the individuals with whom the professor, Rabab Abdulhadi, met was Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, who has himself voiced the blood libel. “You should ask,” Salah told an audience in eastern Jerusalem in 2007, “what used to happen to some of the children of Europe, whose blood would be mixed in the dough of the holy bread.” Salah in this quote references the matzah, or unleavened bread, eaten by Jews during the Passover holiday, which medieval Jew-haters claimed was prepared with the blood of Christian children. In a letter sent on June 25 to California State Controller John Chiang, a coalition of Israeladvocacy groups led by the AMCHA Initiative charged, “Abdulhadi indicated that the primary purpose of her trip was academic: to deliver a paper at a scholarly conference in Beirut. However, Abdulhadi never attended the Beirut conference. Instead, as she herself acknowledged... the trip was a ‘political solidarity tour’ to Jordan, the West Bank and Israel, whose primary purpose was to promote ‘resolute actions in support of the academic and cultural boycott of Israel’.” The groups urged Chiang to conduct, as part of a proposed investigation into “this potentially fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars,”

a state audit of SFSU. What does Professor Abdulhadi have to say about the matter? When I emailed her to ask for her side of the story, she promptly sent me a “public statement” which she has distributed to friends and colleagues. In that document, Abdulhadi says her non-attendance at the Beirut conference was the result of delays “imposed” by SFSU, because she was traveling to countries deemed “high-risk” by the State Department. She went ahead with the state-funded visit anyway. According to her public statement, “As Senior Scholar at the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED), it is part of my job duties to establish educational and research collaboration on Palestine and between Palestinians in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. Research and discussion between actors in the U.S. and Palestine is fundamental to my scholarship. It is one of the reasons why SFSU hired me in the first place.” Abdulhadi insists that since her trip was conducted for the benefit of what she describes as “scholarly understanding,” the “McCarthyist repression campaign” led by AMCHA should be unmasked as an assault on the right of scholars to conduct their research without interference. Such phrasing is designed to win the support of fellow academics by invoking the eminently reasonable argument that underpins academic freedom—in their quest to explain the state of

the world, social scientists have to interact with all the agents in a particular conflict, including professional haters and terrorists, so as to paint a rounded picture. That was why Abdulhadi met with Sheikh Salah as well as with Leila Khaled, a convicted hijacker and a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist group whose exploits resulted in the murder of several Israeli and American citizens. What does Abdulhadi, a professor at SFSU’s College of Ethnic Studies, understand the word “scholarship” to mean? That question is what lies at the heart of this controversy. By her own admission, Abdulhadi’s methodology does not begin from dispassionate neutrality, whereby the perspectives of all parties to the conflict, including that of the Israeli mainstream, are taken into account. Instead, as she says in her public statement, “The purpose of such programming is to contextualize the study of Palestine as well as the study of Arab and Muslim communities within other social justice struggles and affirm our principle of the indivisibility of justice.” To my ears, that sounds much more like explicit political advocacy, not scholarship—and it gets worse. In the passage where she discusses her meeting with Leila Khaled, Abdulhadi doesn’t even mention the latter’s participation in the hijack of an El Al plane in 1970, which resulted in the shooting of a member of the Continued on page 15

By Malka Eisenberg “We come together today b’achdut (unity) to show our commitment to our children,â€? said Rabbi Reuven Taragin in opening a conference on Jewish education that drew more than 500 people to the Young Israel of Woodmere on Sunday. Billed as the ďŹ rst Five Towns Community Collaborative Conference, the event featured 40 speakers from across the Torah observant spectrum in 40 minute sessions throughout the building. Each speaker presented his or her perspective on honing parenting skills in educating, inspiring and motivating children. Rabbi Taragin noted differences in hashkafa (philosophy) among participants, but stressed that we have “99 percent in common.â€? There was a “palpable excitement in the air, a feeling that it was a special event,â€? he said, “a strong statement of how primary educating our children is.â€? Rabbi Sholom Axelrod, assistant rabbi at YIW, cited questions raised by his father in 1959 about the impact of yeshiva education and the family on the continuity of Jewish traditions, noting that Sunday’s meeting was building “spirituality and continuity.â€? Rabbi Taragin’s wife Shani, a Ram for Tanach in Midreshet Lindenbaum in Israel, discussed how the ďŹ rst chapter in Mishlei, Proverbs, describes the steps in a child’s growth and education. She stressed the importance of conveying life and social lessons in the home as well as fostering a Torah learning environment, being a role model, inviting guests, living a life of shalom bayit (positive interactions between the father and mother), not yelling, encouraging children to ask questions, not labeling a child, praising good midot (behavior), serving as a tzniut (modest dress) role model, tolerating irritability but expecting respect, and having kids clean up their messes. Rabbi Reuven Taragin discussed the unusual conversation between Yosef and Yaakov when Yaakov blessed Menashe and Ephraim, Yosef’s sons born to him in Egypt. He noted that Yaakov stated that the Jews will con-

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tinue to bless their children using the names of Yosef’s sons, as we do today, because they were the ďŹ rst not brought up in the home of the forefathers and yet chose to connect to tradition. “The only way to get kids to identify with you is if you identify with your past, to something bigger and broader, to be greater but a continuation of our parents.â€? “Who will be the Zaidy of our children if not we?â€? he asked, quoting Moshe Yess. Rabbi David Fohrman discussed the message of the Shma prayer and the need to educate children in the beauty, levels, layers and patterns in the Torah, to give them the tools to reach into and feel they are a part of the 3,000-year-old document, to love the Torah and thus G-d. Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, founder and dean of Yeshiva Darchei Noam, Monsey and founder and Director of Project YES, gave practical advice on connecting with one’s children: “Be there, give a couple of minutes, make eye contact, and listen to what the kids say.â€? He recommended asking a “targeted,â€? speciďŹ c question rather than a general one-not “how was your dayâ€? but “how was your chem

examâ€? or “did you make up with Aviva?â€? He stressed the importance of grandparents as a haven where children can be “spoiledâ€? when parents have to â€?blend rachamim and din (mercy and judgment/discipline). “It’s important for kids to seek guidance when things are wrong around them,â€? he said. “Listen for the trial balloons. Kids rarely get into trouble without warning.‌ Listen to them; discuss don’t lecture.â€? Tell them, “if something is going on in your life, I want to know even if it upsets us. We don’t want you to go through this on your own. We love you,â€? he said. Rabbi Horowitz recommended setting boundaries for the use of technology, observing that banning it “never worked.â€? He also stressed the importance of child abuse prevention, citing child abuse as the “biggest reason for kids going off the derech (path), drug abuse, suicides. It’s a real issue; it happens everywhere.â€? He said that having one conversation with some followup makes a child six to seven times more likely not to get into a potential child abuse situation.

Rabbi Herschel Schachter, rosh yeshiva at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University, presented the closing address, outlining the importance of teaching a broad base of Jewish education, including the Tanach (24 books of scriptures), siddur and halacha including halacha l’maseh (practical and applied Jewish law) and pshuto shel mikrah (the text of the Torah). “We have a lot of work to do,� he said. “It should be with hatzlacha (success).� The day after the conference, Rabbi Taragin told The Jewish Star that “it succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations or hopes� and organizers may do it again. “The most important educators are the parents, and educators want to help parents be the best educators possible,� he said. “People want to learn how to educate their children.� Two of the scheduled keynote speakers were unable to attend. Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, was at the bris of his new grandson, and Rabbi Naftali Jaeger, Rosh Yeshiva of Shor Yoshuv, was delayed at a prior commitment, Rabbi Taragin said.

After murders, call to action against death culture By Dror Eydar, JNS.org What has the death culture that surrounds us sought to sell in the past hundred years? Look around: there are no Jews in Iraq and no “territoriesâ€? in Syria, and nevertheless the angels of death gleefully slaughter each other. No science and no industry and no inventions that will beneďŹ t humanity. Just death, and it’s wrapped in a thick layer of damned political correctness that has distorted our thought process. Dozens of organizations stand up for the rights of the emissaries of the death culture while we are stunned by the additional absurdity that crosses the bounds of tolerance. “Just as long as we don’t associate Islam with terrorismâ€? has been the line of the Obama administration since he was ďŹ rst elected and up through the catastrophic embrace of the Fatah-Hamas unity government. The abduction of the three teens Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach began when humanity’s healthy consciousness was hijacked.

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We must employ full force against the emissaries of the death culture, those who aid them, their military and civilian infrastructure, their sources of funding, their families, their clans, and anyone who knows something but just nods his head and keeps quiet. We know the argument that keeps us emasculated: “It will only increase tension and

give an incentive to terror and strengthen the cycle of bloodshed.â€? Not at all. The culture of death doesn’t need incentives—it kills and murders and kidnaps, because that's what it is. Perpetuum mobile. Instead of trying to understand, we should look at it as a natural phenomenon. No one negotiates with cancer cells—we ďŹ ght to dig them out at the root. If new ones appear? We’ll ďŹ ght again. And if, heaven forbid, again? We’ll ďŹ ght again.

7KH IDPLOLHV

Even in their grief, the mothers and fathers of the three boys gave the nation strength, reminding us of life truths. If we want to live—and we do—this is the way, the example we should follow. The rest of the complaints and the debates are transitory foam on top of the deep currents inside us that are stronger than any horror. These mothers even faced the world, in one of the most hypocritical places on earth— the U.N. Human Rights Council (rights that include everything except the right of the Jews to a single independent state and to defend themselves). And there, in that place, they spoke for all of us, throwing the truth in the impassive faces of Israel's persecutors. That is why Israel has embraced these families so strongly. Not only to comfort them, but also in thanks.

7KH VHWWOHPHQWV They’re settlers, the accusers say, so it’s understandable and there is room to explain, and anyway they brought it upon themselves, and all sorts of other stupid remarks that only Jews would know how to ing at each other, even when at the gates of the death industry. But that’s just it—we’re all settlers. Not just in the hills of Samaria and Judea, but also in Tel Aviv. In the eyes of our neighbors and some parts of the world we are all people who stole a land that wasn’t theirs. This blood libel is spread every day by anti-Semites and haters of Israel, as well as by useful idiots among us. But this is the truth: We are settlers because we returned to settle our forefathers' inherited land. It’s simple. This country was a wasteland that waited for its rightful descendants for 2,000 years, like a mother keeping her milk for her true children, like a woman waiting endlessly for her lover who disappeared. Since we Jews were exiled, no other sovereign entity has sprung up in this land.

3UD\HU

Israeli society discovered at the height of the matter an ancient weapon in the history of our nation: prayer. The People of the Book believe in the written and spoken word, in its power to imbue the skies and build on earth, to pierce the heavens and mainly to rejoin those who are separated. Singing in a group

is also prayer. Some were startled by this religious awakening, but most of us prayed, each in his/her own way and style. The purity of prayer will restore—if not the dead, then at least those left behind, letting them cling together to the power of the ancient words and remember where we came from and where we are going. It’s a matter of culture. And belief. And in the end, we will remember the deep, courageous words of Rachel Frenkel, Naftali’s mother: “G-d doesn’t work for us.�

5HYHQJH

We still don’t know exactly what happened, but in sane places people don’t die from agging down a ride. No sane place indirectly justiďŹ es the bitter fate of these youths, our children. Don’t preach, the ones who always preach against us in favor of our enemies will say. Don’t listen to them and to the castrating talk. We are allowed to be angry and impassioned about the murder of our children and an entire country’s descent into madness. We are deďŹ nitely allowed to seek revenge. We are the sane ones, not them. I always wondered why G-d asks Adam in the Garden of Eden why he ate the forbidden fruit, and then asks the woman, but doesn’t ask the snake—he metes out immediate punishment. Here is the answer: We don’t ask snakes why they bite. We cut off their heads. Dror Eydar is a columnist for Israel Hayom.

THE JEWISH STAR July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774

500 hear 40 discuss educational parenting

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Mom will be missed, but never forgotten O

n June 22, my dear mom Ruth Feig, a”h, passed away peacefully in her home. While I am grateful that she lived to be 92-1/2, her passing has left a huge void in my life as well as the lives of my siblings and children. WHO’S IN THE My mom, a”h, was known by many KITCHEN names. She was born Faiga Rifka bat Mordechai Halevi. Her parents and siblings called her Rifchu, and later Rudy. To the customers at the Anchor Savings Bank in Boro Park, she was your “Anchor Banker” and then affectionately dubbed “The nice lady from the bank.” When people found out my mom was the hostess at the bank they would always exclaim, “That’s your mom? I love her. She’s so sweet.” Later on she also became Bobby Rudy and was adored by her grandchilJudy Joszef dren and great grandchildren. My mother, a”h, didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She never held a grudge, even if someone was rude to her. I would ask her why she didn’t get annoyed at that particular person, and she would say, “maybe they just had a bad day.” Apologies to my kids; that trait obviously skipped a generation. In her eyes, I, as well as my siblings, could do no wrong. We were the best, the prettiest, the nicest, the smartest. I guess she just skimmed over my report card. When I was about four, my mom taught me how to tie my shoelaces. She marveled at how good I tied them, and said that when I started first grade (in those days kids didn’t go to school straight from the womb) everyone would line up to ask me to help them. I kid you not that on the first day I was waiting for the kids to ask for my help. Not even one kid asked. Years later when I was about 13 I found this ugly, uneven candy dish, or ashtray (the kind we used to make out of clay and then bake) and painted the ugliest shade of army fatigue green. Upon further inspection, I noticed it had my name on

the back along with my bunk number. I was seven when I made it. Suddenly, I remembered it was me that created the awful piece of artwork. I remembered my mom complimenting me on it, the day I brought it home from day camp. She asked where I got it from. I told her I made it. Her response went something like this: “You made that, all by yourself? No, how is that possible? It’s so beautiful, it looks like it came from a store.” As I stood there, five years later and a little less naive at age 13, I thought to myself, “I will never be able to be a mom; how will I be able to like something so hideous?” Apologies to my kids: another trait that skipped a generation. I basically ended up doing my kids’ projects, to avoid criticizing them. My mom, a”h, not only cared about her family, but all those around her. When my brother Jerry, aka the tatalah, started school, he was a bit younger than most of the class and a bit smaller. She would walk him to school in Williamsburg in the morning. At 10:15 she would be back for recess to make sure the bigger boys didn’t push him down the stairs and made sure he drank his milk. She was back at 12:30 for lunch, then at 2:15 for recess and at the end of school to pick him up. (You’d think he was her favorite, but trust me it was me … just kidding, my sibs.) One day she found a small boy crying and walking away from the school. It seemed he didn’t have milk and had only a plain roll for lunch. She started bringing him milk and lunch every day. When she was about to give birth, she made sure the school supplied him with milk and lunch. She also collected clothing for him and his siblings as she later found out he was one of many kids and they couldn’t afford much. My mom was an exemplary daughter. As her parents aged she was always close by and took care of all their needs. I always told her I would take care of her when she got older. I could never fill her shoes, but I tried as best I could. She was always so proud of everything I did. I once bumped into a friend of my mom, who told me she loved the tea set I had made totally out of chocolate. She went on to explain that my mom brought it to an Amit meeting to show the “girls” (funny, they never turned into “women,” Continued on page 14

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Victim of terror in Hebron believed in Israel 34 years after he was murdered, Tzvi Glatt’s words remind us that Torah is calling us home By Malka Eisenberg “I do think about him. You don’t really forget.â€? Robin Nussbaum of Woodmere taught a chapter of Nach again this year as Lag Ba’Omer approached, in memory of her brother Tzvi Glatt, Hâ€?yd, eternally age 21, murdered 34 years ago by Arab terrorists in Hebron. A budding Torah scholar, Tzvi combed Jewish legal and philosophic texts, delving into the commandment to live in Israel from all aspects, taking notes that after his death, were combined into a book now translated into English with his ďŹ ery conclusion: the commandment to live in Israel is a requirement, a chova, not a reshut (option). The Glatts grew up in Flatbush, their mother a Holocaust survivor active in Emunah and the father active in Hapoel Mizrachi. Tzvi, then known as Howie, went to Yeshiva Rambam and BTA, Yeshiva University’s high school for boys. “Before 16 he was a regular kid,â€? she said, active in the Bnei Akiva Zionist youth movement.

He left America for Israel after tenth grade and completed high school at Yeshivat Or Etzion, a Bnei Akiva high school in Merkaz Shapira; learned in the Yeshiva Gavoha there for a year before switching to Yeshivat Mercaz Harav in Jerusalem. Robin recalls his efforts to learn Hebrew pre-aliyah, listening to Hebrew radio broad-

casts and writing and memorizing vocabulary words, talking to shlichim (emissaries) from Israel, to hone his language skills. “He was very determined,â€? she recalls, conjecturing that her mother’s past as a survivor from a Polish labor camp inuenced him as well. He thought since Jews were expelled from countries, he was uncertain about the future of the Jews in America, Robin said. He made Aliyah in 1975, visited the family some years for Pesach and came in for Robin’s wedding in 1979. She said that he was “very into learning. “It was a progression, he was getting frumer (more religious), and was dati leumi (religious nationalist). He was going to all these rabbis, who were aware of his writings, that he wrote on pieces of paper — I have his notes. He wore a beard and a big kipa, white shirt and sweater.â€? The narrative is then taken up by two friends who made aliyah after they completed high school, Simcha Wollman Elyashiv, originally from Boro Park, Brooklyn, now a radiologist, and her husband Yerachmiel (Borzokovsky) Elyashiv, from Queens, an educator. They now live in Karnei Shomron. Tzvi, Simcha and Yerachmiel and a group of other Bnei Akiva members living in Israel were considering forming a nucleus to live as a group in an established city in Israel, a garin ironi, a relatively new concept in Bnei Akiva that until then usually formed a peer group to move to a religious kibbutz. Yerachmiel organized a Shabbaton in Kiryat Arba, a

relatively new town near the ancient city of Hebron, then in the beginning of the struggling resettlement movement in Judea and Samaria, areas reclaimed by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War. The idea was that these American olim who knew each other so well could form a group together. It was Friday, May 2, 1980, and that Sunday, as happened this year, would be Lag Ba’Omer. A group went to daven kabalat Shabbat and Arvit at Maarat Hamachpelah, the Cave of the Patriarchs. Afterwards, part of the group returned to their Shabbat homes in Kiryat Arba and a group of about ten stopped at Beit Hadassah in Hebron to make Kiddush for the women and children there. A group of women with their children had moved into Beit Hadassah, a previously Jewish owned building, to begin the resettlement of Hebron spearheaded by Miriam Levinger. Jews had lived in Hebron since before the time of King David, it had been an Ir Miklat, (biblical city of refuge) a Levite city and more recently Jews had lived there for hundreds of years. In 1929 a massive pogrom against the Jews was instigated by the Arabs and 67 Jews were killed and the remainder were evacuated leaving Hebron and its Jewish homes, stores and Beit Hadassah, a medical clinic where Arabs as well as Jews were treated, empty and ďŹ lled with refuse and manure by the Arabs. At that time they determined that things were “’calm enoughâ€? and they didn’t need weapons for defense. Continued on page 13

Palestinian terror is genocide, plain and simple By Stephen M. Flatow, JNS.org It’s time to say the G-word out loud. Palestinian terrorism is not just another form of violence. It’s genocide by another name. A word such as “genocideâ€? should never be used lightly. If it is to have any meaning, it dare not be ung about just to make some political point or to award victim status to some aggrieved party that has suffered far less than mass murder. At the same time, we have to be willing to use the G-word when it applies—even if doing so is politically inconvenient or unpopular. I recently spoke at the 11th National Conference of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. It was the ďŹ rst time I have ever addressed such an event. I was one of the speakers in a session involving individuals connected to genocides other than the Holocaust. There we were: a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, a son of victims of the Armenian genocide, and me, the father of a victim of Palestinian terrorism. At ďŹ rst glance, it must have seemed to some in the audience that the three of us had nothing in common. But the more I have thought about it, the more I have come to realize that, sadly, we have everything in common. All three of us have experienced not only the consequences of genocide itself, but also the added tragedy of politics preventing a response to genocide. Jacqueline Murekatete spoke at the Wyman conference about how her family was brutally slaughtered by the Hutu mass murderers in Rwanda in 1994, about her narrow escape from that fate, and about the Clinton administration’s decision not to intervene. A few days after her address, the New York Times reported that the Obama administration is refusing to declassify 100 internal White House cables from 1994 that reveal what U.S. policymakers were discussing about Rwanda as the genocide was taking place. Those policymakers included senior Clinton ofďŹ cials who are

now senior Obama ofďŹ cials, such as National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Dr. Hagop Deranian spoke about the ornate rug woven by Armenian orphans in 1925 and given to the White House in appreciation for American humanitarian aid to survivors of the Turks’ genocide of the Armenians. He spoke, too, about the Obama administration’s refusal to permit the rug to be seen in public, evidently for fear of offending Turkey, which to this day denies that it committed genocide. And I, too, spoke about a genocide that is politically uncomfortable to acknowledge: the genocide that Palestinian terrorists have been trying to carry out since the early 1900s. It’s uncomfortable to acknowledge because it ies in the face of everything that the pundits and the State Department and the United Nations constantly claim—that the Palestinians have become moderate, that there is violence “by both sides,â€? and that enough Israeli concessions will produce peace. But the truth is that when genocide is involved, no amount of concessions will make any difference. On April 9, 1995, my daughter Alisa, a 20 year-old junior at Brandeis University, boarded a bus that would take her to a seaside resort in Gush Katif, a region then under Israeli control. She never made it because a young Palestinian terrorist, recruited by the group Islamic Jihad, rammed her bus with his explosives laden van and detonated a massive explosion. Alisa was one of eight people murdered in that attack. They were eight of the thousands of Jews who have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Turkish-ruled Palestine, in Britishruled Palestine, and in Israel over the course of the past century. What was the motive of these Palestinian attackers? The answer to this question is crucial. Motives matter. They matter very much. Because if the Palestinians’ motive is simply to secure some territory—and then live in

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peace next to Israel—then much of the world can see some justiďŹ cation in their violence. But if the Palestinians’ motive is simply to kill Jews, then their actions are genocide. Nothing can justify that, and no surrender of territory will ever put an end to it. Obviously not everyone who has been harmed in Palestinian attacks has been Jewish. When a terrorist blows up a plane or machine-guns a crowd, non-Jews die, too. And not every victim of Palestinian terrorism has been an Israeli. Alisa wasn’t. The terrorists don’t know, in advance, the nationality of each of their intended victims. But we do know who they are trying to kill. And we know it for one simple, harsh reason that no pundit or State Department ofďŹ cial ever acknowledges: Palestinian terrorists never try to murder Israeli Arabs. Think about that. Israeli Arabs are Israeli citizens. Indeed, we are constantly told that they are, overwhelmingly, completely loyal to the State of Israel. So if that is the case, why don’t Palestinian terrorists ever attack

them? If the Palestinians’ grievance is against the policies of the State of Israel—and not against Jews—then they should be attacking Israeli Arabs just as they attack Israeli Jews. But they don’t. If they were just against “Israelis,â€? the Palestinian Authority’s newspapers and radio and television shows would be inciting Palestinians to hate Israeli Arabs with the same vehemence that they hate Israeli Jews. They would be accusing Israeli Arabs of being evil and Nazi-like. Their political cartoons against the “occupationâ€? would be showing Israeli Arabs as monstrous occupiers. Instead, their cartoons show “occupiersâ€? with huge hooked noses, side curls, beards, and yarmulkes. Palestinian terrorists don’t plant bombs in supermarkets in Israeli Arab neighborhoods. They don’t machine-gun bus passengers in Israeli Arab towns. They don’t kidnap Israeli Arab teenagers from hitchhiking posts and murder them. The reason is simple, and there is no other reasonable explanation: their goal is to murder Jews. The international legal deďŹ nition of the crime of genocide is found in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide: “Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.â€? That is what they have been doing, whether with knives and bombs, airplane hijackings and suicide bombers, or kidnapmurders of hitchhikers. It’s an inconvenient truth. It doesn’t suit most political agendas. But it’s the reality. It’s time to acknowledge the nature of what Palestinian terrorists have been doing to the Jews for more than a century—and about what they have now done to three Jewish teenagers. It’s not politics, it’s not policies. It’s genocide. Stephen M. Flatow, a New Jersey attorney, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in 1995.

By Mollie Katzen, JNS.org “This is goyish,â€? said my friend during brunch one Sunday, as I was enjoying my lox and cream cheese bagel, overowing with onions, cucumbers, and a host of other vegetables. I looked behind me to see whom he might have been addressing, but it turns out he was referring to the bell peppers on top of my lunch. My confusion sparked a debate at that moment — and a question that has stuck with me since: What is Jewish food? When I was a young girl in upstate New York in the late 1950s, bagels were still considered to be ethnic bread. There were only a handful of bagel bakeries across the U.S., and most were centered in New York City. Our bagels were own up from the city only on Sunday mornings (in very limited editions), and delivered directly to Mr. Rasnick’s

times, inuenced religious tradition (rather than the other way around). Sephardic Jews, for example, are permitted to eat kitniyot (maize, peas, beans) on Passover, while Ashkenazi Jews are restricted from it. So Jewish food has always been subjective by geography, but as my friend demonstrated, it is also sentimentally deďŹ ned by each family. While often extremely creative and adventurous in many other areas, we humans tend to hold on to the familiar when it comes to food. The meals we grew up with remind us of our childhood, giving us stability in a world that can change at the drop of a hat. We form an emotional attachment to it. So all of these things — geography, family, and our sense of personal connection — weave together to deďŹ ne Jewish food as whatever our mothers and grandmothers made. Keeping all of this in mind, I have been having fun incorporating a few ethnic avor touches into the infrastructure of the foods we’re used to. For the more conservative palates in our families, I took three staple Ashkenazi Jewish dishes, and gave them a twist. You might call it goyish, but enjoy it anyway.

0H[LFDQ 6W\OH &KLFNHQ 6RXS ZLWK &KLOH $YRFDGR /LPH Âł DQG -HZLVK )ULHG 2QLRQV Chicken soup is the diplomat of foods, with some form of it existing in almost every culture. Although we Jews feel like we own it, with just a few little turns of the wrist it can travel around the world and acquire other accents. And it can still be “ours.â€? Mexicans make beautiful soups, and to give $ WUDGLWLRQDO ODWNH FDQ EH WDNHQ KDOIZD\ DURXQG WKH ZRUOG ZLWK D IHZ WXUQV chicken soup a Mexican RI WKH ZULVW Kagor twist, we don’t have to go the route of cooking beans or pressing hometiny grocery store, where they sold out in a made tortillas (although both are nice). We matter of hours. And then we had to wait a can take a bowl of chicken soup south of the week for more. border simply by adding a squirt of fresh lime We knew there were only two kinds, plain juice and a pinch of chili akes. Float some and poppy seed—and as far as my family was tortilla chips on top, garnish with sliced avoconcerned, there were only three acceptable cado, and Mexican-style chicken soup is all ingredients to eat them with: butter, cream yours. cheese, or lox. Bagels were Jewish, bagels &KDL 6SLFHG .XJHO ZLWK with cream cheese were Jewish, and bagels with cream cheese and lox were Jewish, and &LQQDPRQ 5DLVLQV 6DIIURQ DQG RWKHU ,QGLDQ VSLFHV that was Jewish food. For most families, especially those with It never went further than that for me, until I moved to Berkeley decades later, and eastern European roots, noodle kugel is a began serving the by-then available-every- baked rectangle of noodles, sour cream, cotwhere-far-inferior California bagels with a tage cheese or cream cheese, and cinnamon. platter of vegetables. And it was then that I Not sweet enough to be a dessert, it’s more received my friend’s shocked declaration. I of a fun brunch dish, and best of all—it can responded that whether or not he thought easily become chai avored. Going beyond the cinnamon already in my food was Jewish, I was, it was, and that was all good enough for me. “To my fam- the kugel, dissolve a few strands of saffron in ily,â€? he shrugged, “that would be goyish.â€? I a tiny bit of water or milk, and stir that into laughed as daintily as I could with a mouth the noodles. Toss in pinches of cardamom and turmeric, and the combination of the full of vegetables. That was when I realized that the deďŹ ni- spices will start to taste like chai. Bake with tion of a non-Jewish food is whatever your a topping of chopped almonds and pistachio nuts, and serve with a dollop of yogurt, and family didn’t eat. Jewish food is by its nature subjective. it becomes an Indian-style kugel that you will There is not one kind of Jewish food — nor likely want to make repeatedly. can we boast of a bona ďŹ de cuisine. Dias- 0RUURFFDQ 6W\OH /DWNHV ZLWK pora Jews have lived all over the world and &KHUPRXOD 6DXFH DQG <RJXUW we have adopted the cooking customs from Potato latkes are perfect for this time of wherever we’ve lived. So affected have Jews been by our locale’s foods, that it has, at year. To give them a Sephardic angle, add

some minced jalapeno—or just dump in a 4-ounce can of Ortego brand diced green chilies and a large pinch or two of whole cumin seeds. In addition to serving with sour cream, consider chermoula—a Moroccan green sauce, similar to a pesto, and usually served with ďŹ sh. Chermoula can be made by pulverizing fresh cilantro in a processer with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and pinches of cayenne, cumin, and salt. It’s very nutritious, almost like topping the latkes with a serving of green vegetables. ••• As you prepare these dishes remember that the one thing people will want to be unchanged is texture. People will accept differ-

ent avors, but will tend to expect the mouth feel to be something familiar. That is why these three recipes don’t recreate the food, but rather build on the original template of each dish. So, for those of you who’d like to keep your Jewish food traditional (whatever that means to you), but are yearning for a taste adventure, or even just a slight variation, give the dish a little twist. Keep it familiar, but let it run with new avors. Mollie Katzen, with over six million books in print, is one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. She is creator of “Moosewood Cookbookâ€? and “The Enchanted Broccoli Forestâ€? and has authored 15 cookbooks overall. This column was previously posted by JNS.org.

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Celebrity chef Mollie Katzen infuses varied ethnic cuisine into our favorite dishes

THE JEWISH STAR July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774

Jewish foods with a twist: Bagels and beyond

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w e i s J h a s t k a c i r P

It might be anyone (young or old) whose acts of chesed are several steps beyond exceptional … a neighbor who is the soul of your block … your rabbi or rebbetzin … a business person whose tzedakah goes unnoticed … an organization or civic leader whose contribution to our community is priceless. Every week, The Jewish Star newspaper will highlight one of our community’s real stars. Each star featured in the newspaper and online will be entered as a nominee for a Jewish Star Award that will be presented at a celebratory event later this year.

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July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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O

nce again we come upon a new summer season of downtime from work. However, there is no downtime in KOSHER reading for the BOOKWORM devoted bookworm. Once again I am taking this opportunity to briey suggest to you some of my upcoming favorites for this year’s summer reading. Not in any particular order, here are just some Alan Jay Gerber of them for your considerations. Rabbi Zvi Grumet’s “Moses and the Path to Leadershipâ€? [Urim Publications, 2014] is an excellent proďŹ le of the great lawgiver which will provide you with a rigorous, close analysis of his biography and leadership talents. This documents how he withstood the test of his leadership as a teacher and master of G-d’s law and teachings. The book’s topics are most timely to this season’s Torah readings of the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. Moses’ talent and gift of resilience, trust, and wisdom, are given their timely due within the context of his leadership talents as a teacher of the holy writ. This book forces you to recast your previous regard to Moses’ place in the history of our people. Read this work with caution as well as respect; both the subject and the author richly deserve it. Rabbi Grumet is a musmach (recipient of rabbinic ordination) of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and is a graduate of Yeshiva University. He is a senior staff member of The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education, coordinator of the Bible Department at Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi, and a distinguished faculty member at the Pardes Institute. The theme of Moses’ leadership is further dealt with in expanded form in Rabbi Hayyim

Angel’s latest work, “Peshat Isn’t So Simple� [Kodesh Press, 2014] In the chapter entitled, “A Modern Midrash Moshe: Methodological Considerations� he goes into detailed analysis of the work on Moses’ leadership career by Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein. While Rabbi Angel does go into some critical detail of his writing, he is both very informed and most respectful. The reader will gain much from both his analysis and scholarship. This anthology warrants your attention, too, because of the many other intelligent and learned analysis to be found therein. Rabbi Alex Israel’s latest work, “I Kings Torn in Two� [Maggid Books, Yeshivat Har Etzion, 2013] goes into great detail into the activist role that Elijah played in Jewish history as detailed in the First Book of Kings, chapters 17, 18, and 19. Rabbi Israel almost forces you to recalibrate your previously near mythical regard for the prophet. In retrospect, Rabbi Israel describes Elijah as a more activist, hands on personality, whose spirituality is tempered by his confrontational roles with Ahab, the drought, and the appointment of Elisha, and the impact these had

upon Biblical history and our people. Rabbi Israel teaches at Yeshiva Eretz Hatzvi and is Director of Community Education at the Pardes Institute. Among his academic credentials are degrees from The London School of Economics, and Bar Ilan University. Rabbi Francis Nataf’s latest chumash commentary “Redeeming Relevance� [Urim Publications, 2014] deals with the Book of Numbers. This commentary contains a relevance that gives it a heft both intellectually and religiously, a factor that is a rare commodity today among our Bible commentators. This quality is found in the way Rabbi Nataf deals with such complicated personalities such as Bil’am, Korach, the daughters of Tzelofchad, the spies, and the actions of the tribes of Shimon, Levi, Reuven, and Gad. Chumash is rarely taught in this manner at most shul shiurim, but it can be had by the simple addition of this work into your shul library. Lastly, I am proud and happy to note the publication of volume 17 of Hakirah: The Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought. Among the selections is a most perceptive and informed essay entitled, “Modern Orthodoxy: A Philosophical Perspective� by Dr. Ba-

ruch Brody, Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities in the Department of Philosophy at Rice University. Also featured in this volume is a review by Prof. Nathan Aviezer of Rabbi Moshe Meiselman’s controversial book, “Torah, Chazal, and Science.â€? True to his reputation, Dr. Aviezer goes into refreshing detail in ďŹ rmly parsing many of Rabbi Meiselman’s arguments on this timely and controversial subject in an informed and polite manner. Another essay is by Rabbi Chaim Miller, “Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson: On Confrontation with the Secular World.â€? This refreshing treatise is indeed a special treat for those who both revere, and for those who question the rebbe’s legacy and legend. Rabbi Miller’s analysis is neither fawning nor critical. He is surely as responsible in his work as any true “ben Torahâ€? should be. Once again, my sincerest congratulations to Heshy Zelcer and the staff at Hakirah for the high quality of this work. And, to all my dear readers, keep cool and safe over the next months. Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

Tzvi Glatt, Hâ€?yd, writes: Jews belong in Israel‌ Continued from page 10 “We sang the whole way,â€? recalled Simcha, “It was lively and spiritual.â€? She said that “looking back,â€? she remembered the Arabs staring at them as they passed, the hatred for the Jews apparent. And then gunshots and explosions split the night. Arabs opened ďŹ re from the rooftops around Beit Hadassah and threw hand grenades down at the young men and women below. The shooting went on for a minute or two, recalled Yerachmiel, until someone ran and got a rie from a nearby booth and started shooting. The terrorists ed. Yerachmiel, who was in Hesder at the time, saw the person in front of him was dead and although he himself was severely wounded, he dragged another person under a nearby Jeep out of range of the bullets. They didn’t know until later, but Tzvi died there. The wounded were evacuated. Six died. “I was in intensive care for a few days,â€? recalled Yerachmiel. “I was not at the funeral. Boruch Hashem we pulled through. I had many visitors. Some of the visitors ended up marrying each other,â€? he said, smiling at Simcha. “It’s somewhat of a happy ending to part of the story.â€? Simcha knew Tzvi from Brooklyn Bnei Akiva meetings and Camp Moshava at Indian Orchard, Pennsylvania. She said she learned

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some “very spiritual songsâ€? from him when they both came on Aliyah. “He was a strong believer that everyone should come to Israel; it drove him crazy that the Jews are in America.â€? When she had difďŹ culty initially in the dorms at Tel Aviv University, he wrote her letters encouraging her to “think positively, you’re here in Israel, everything will be ok.â€? She said “he was mischievous when he was younger but became idealistic, quiet, outspoken about things that were important to him and very serious.â€? After his death, two books were published based on his writings and many named their children after him. The Elyashivs have a Tzvi as well.

The Glatts found out about the massacre and ew in for the funeral as did Robin and returned for the yahrzeit in following years. “I think he would have tempered a bit, everybody does,â€? said Robin about her brother’s views. “My parents would have lived there part of the time; life would have been very different.â€? She did send her children to Israel to learn after high school but admits that she was initially “terriďŹ ed.â€? As for the terrorists, “I remember during another raid they caught them because they bragged about it. They were imprisoned and let out on (a prisoner) exchange.â€? Tzvi’s book, Mayafar Kumi, was translated and is now available as Arise From the Dust, from Hotzaat Keren Tzvi Menachem; his name is Tzvi Menachem Ben Shmuel Chaim Glatt. It was translated by Rav Moshe Lichtman. Another book of his writings is only in Hebrew, Eretz Tzvi. He also has pamphlets based on his writings. When The Jewish Star spoke to the Elyashivs, they had recently returned from the azkara, memorial service, they still go to every year for Tzvi and the ďŹ ve others killed that day. Tzvi is buried on Har Herzl, the military cemetery, in the area of terror victims. About 30 of his friends show up yearly, from Mercaz Harav, Or Etzion and Bnei Akiva. Rabbi Chaim Druckman comes every year to recite

Tehillim. And the friends sit around after to talk and catch up. “It’s strange for us,â€? said Simcha. “It’s a yahrzeit and day of hodaah (gratitude) that we’re still alive.â€? Said Yerachmiel, “That we still have so many blessings.â€? “It’s a mixed feeling day,â€? said Simcha. “I think of him, where he would be today, a rosh yeshiva with a big family,â€? Simcha said. “It’s sad that he’s not here.â€? “The book was what he believed in. He was frustrated as to what seemed so simple and it was clear (to him) what had to be done.â€? About Rise From the Dust: The book is divided into a Jewish philosophy section, a Jewish legal section and letters to and from rabbis. The book is geared towards honing the proof of the requirement for all Jews to live in Israel. In the book, Glatt notes that the land is awaiting the return of the Jews, that the Jewish leaders yearned for the return over the centuries, but that current Jewish leaders no longer have these yearnings now that the land is back in Jewish hands. Glatt notes that aliyah is difďŹ cult, citing the recent reading of the parsha of the spies in the Torah, who turned evil in the face of the upcoming aliyah to the land at that time. He calls from the pages of the book for those who have already made aliyah to assist those still in Galut to return home.

THE JEWISH STAR July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774

On July 4th, warm summer book suggestions

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July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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Nazi’s precious Aryan baby actually Jewish

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C’hurst Friendship Circle cheers its volunteers The Friendship Circle, a local organization that pairs members of the Five Towns community with children with special needs, held an event at the Jean Fischman Chabad Center to honor and award volunteers on May 28. Rob Kurtz served as the master of ceremonies and Rabbis Matisyahu Friedman and Schneur Wolowik, along with 9-year-old Shoshana Simon spoke about the program. Sarah Eckstein, a high school sophomore and Friendship Circle volunteer, expressed her gratitude for the program: “If it weren’t for the most phenomenal organization the Friendship Circle, I wouldn’t be standing here tonight or worse yet, Effy, my dearest little friend, would never have

been a part of my life. I can tell you this much, my life has never been the same since I’ve met him.� Benjamin Weinstock, deputy mayor of the Village of Cedarhurst, presented volunteers with awards and towels embroidered with the organization’s logo. Graduating volunteers received an armband phone case. Woodmere resident Chava Willig Levy, a writer, editor and lecturer who zips around in a motorized wheelchair, shared her personal journey of shattering stereotypes about people with disabilities. Her main goal: to enable people to view disability with pride rather than prejudice. To learn more about the Friendship Circle, visit www.fc5towns.com.

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By JNS.org Here's a giant dose of historical irony. Eighty years ago, 6-month old Hessy Taft's picture was selected by the Nazis, reportedly chosen personally by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, as the image of the ideal Aryan baby. That pamphlet had been distributed on postcards far and wide and no one, the Nazis included, ever discovered that the sweet, puffy-cheeked baby in the picture was actually Jewish. The story of how Taft's image was selected is just marvelous. Taft's mother had taken her for a photo shoot with a well-known Berlin photographer, who then submitted the photo to the contest

seeking the perfect Aryan baby as a joke. “I wanted to make the Nazis ridiculous,� the photographer told her, reports the British newspaper The Telegraph. But the best and sweetest revenge of all is that Hessy Taft is still alive—80 years old, and a professor of chemistry in New York. She was recently presented with a copy of a Nazi magazine featuring her baby photograph on the front cover at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel. “I can laugh about it now,� she told Germany’s Bild newspaper in a recent interview. “But if the Nazis had known who I really was, I wouldn’t be alive.�

Judy’s mom will be missed, but never forgotten Continued from page 8 they were known to each other as the girls even into their 90s). I later called my mom and reminded her that I made that set for shaloach manot four years prior. It was made of chocolate; it was time to throw it out. My mom called me Zissy, my yiddish name. She would tell everyone, “That’s my Zissy, everyone should have a Zissy.� I would respond by saying “everyone should have a mom like my mom.� Although my mom and dad never got to see their wedding movies because my uncle misplaced them, they were found 69 years later when my dear aunt Sylvia passed away a few months ago, and her apartment was cleaned out. Although my mom would not have been able to see them because of poor eyesight and she wasn’t that aware at the very end, I was excited to have them developed. My dear friend Harry Fink converted them to DVD and I’d like to think, not by coincidence, that they were completed the day of my mom’s funeral. So when the last person left after paying a shiva call that night, my siblings and I watched the movies that were taken on the night of their wedding in 1945. Tears streamed down my face as I saw the grandmother I was named after and relatives I never met. I saw my handsome dad and my beautiful mother looking so in love

make us all feel like we were perfect, because in your eyes, we were, will serve as a beacon, which will lead and comfort us throughout the rest of our lives. I love you Mommy, from “Your Zissyâ€? ••• My mom was a chocoholic, as long as it had chocolate on it, she loved it.

Ruth Feig’s favorite dessert cake

as they started their new life. I am so grateful to have so many wonderful memories of my mom, too many to ďŹ t into an article. Ruth Feig, Rudy, Rifchu, “your Anchor Banker,â€? “the nice lady from the bank,â€? Bobby Rudy, and most importantly to me, mommy — you excelled in every one of those capacities. Your kind midot, loving nature, good humor, melodic voice, outgoing personality, great sense of humor and the ability to

Ingredients: 3 cups all purpose our 3 cups granulated sugar 2 cups baking cocoa (I prefer Landau’s) 3 eggs 1-1/2 cups non dairy creamer 3/4 cup of canola oil 3/4 tsp salt 2 tsp vanilla extract 1-1/2 cups of boiling water Ganache Ingredients: 16 oz dark chocolate or chocolate chips 16 oz non dairy whipped topping in liquid form Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray 9 x 13 inch pan (photo was taken of cake in a round pan, but I prefer the rectangular better). Place all dry ingredients in bowl of an electric mixer.

Slowly add the non-dairy creamer, the eggs and vanilla, making sure to scrape down the sides, leaving no lumps. Lastly, add the boiling water slowly, a little bit at a time, till it is all incorporated. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for approximately half an hour. Each oven temperature varies so check after 20 minutes, to be sure. Remove from oven and cool. Cake can be made ahead of time and frozen. Melt chocolate and non-dairy creamer in a double boiler over a low ame till melted, making sure not to burn the mixture. Mixture can be melted in a microwave as well. Let Ganache cool till it starts to thicken a bit as it will be easier to spread that way. Slowly pour a portion of the Ganache on top of the cake and spread evenly, adding to it till the entire cake is covered. Any extra ganache that you have should be added to the top of the cake and evened out, leaving you with a thick rich coating. Refrigerate cake if not eating immediately. Cake will keep in refrigerator for up to a week. It will keep in the freezer for four months if wrapped securely. Enjoy. And think of that nice lady from the bank when you eat it. judy.soiree@gmail.com

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Continued from page 6 ight crew. Instead, she lionizes Khaled as a “Palestinian feminist iconâ€? whose insights are integral to “a counter narrative to the orientalist depictions of Palestinian, and other Arab and Muslim, women as weak and docile.â€? Later on, we learn that another element of Abdulhadi’s “scholarshipâ€? involves “our commitment to the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israelâ€?—a quite astounding admission, given that she has spent the previous pages bemoaning AMCHA’s “attackâ€? on academic freedom in the U.S.! After I received Abdulhadi’s statement, I sent her a further email asking her, in light of her department’s mission “to connect with communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as to validate the experiences and support the empowerment of marginalized and oppressed communities,â€? whether she had forged

“similar connections with scholars, academic institutions or activist networksâ€? elsewhere in the region. For example, what about the historically repressed Kurdish areas of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria? This time, Abdulhadi chose not to reply—a silence that speaks volumes. Still, the Abdulhadi affair should be regarded as a positive experience, for we now know beyond doubt that anti-Zionist propaganda is being digniďŹ ed with the label of “scholarship.â€? If Abdulhadi wants to engage in such work privately, then she should do so—after all, as she herself notes, we have a First Amendment in this country that protects initiatives like these. But for her to use public funds to accomplish these aims is chutzpah of the most breathtaking kind. Let’s hope Chiang, the California state controller, sees it that way too. Ben Cohen is Shillman Analyst for JNS.org.

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rassment, disenfranchisement and effective segregation. Being a Native American means living, on average, more than four years less than other Americans. The violence is ongoing, even if the guns are silent. “So, sure, rename the football team. But don’t stop there.â€? It is interesting to note that in writing his polemic about the lack of political correctness of the U.S. military, Waxman insists on using the politically incorrect term “Indiansâ€? to describe Native Americans seven time while using the correct term “Native Americansâ€? only twice. That is typical for the PC Police: What’s evil for others is just ďŹ ne when they say it. The real intention of their self-righteous, moral indignation over the use of some words is to limit self-expression and the discussion of vitally important issues. By insisting on terms such as “militantâ€? and “undocumented immigrantâ€? they have already put a gag order on the truth and skewed the discussion. Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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No feelings hurt‌ Continued from page 6 chief, Gray Eagle. Operation Geronimo was the end of Osama bin Laden.â€? According to Waxman, the use of Native American terms is an example of the false narrative and denial of guilt by the invading Westerners. He continued, “The myth of the worthy native adversary is more palatable than the reality — the conquered tribes of this land were not rivals but victims, cheated and impossibly outgunned.â€? He concluded with a suggestion for the U.S. Senate: “Perhaps the senators outraged by the Redskins name could turn their letter-writing pens on the Defense Department next. And when that’s done, there is the more important step, when these senators, and their constituents, choose not only to be offended on behalf of Indians but also to be partners in improving their lives. War and forced removal have been replaced by high rates of unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, illness and disability; by inadequate housing and education; by hate crimes, police ha-

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they aren’t. For now, we come together and feel the pain of Eyal, Gilad and Naphtali’s families, and do our best to comfort they who can never be fully comforted. We will adjust to a world made crueler, and we will do our best to hand our enemies a great defeat, by becoming even more united. Every Jew everywhere — every human being everywhere who cares that the world should be a better place and that those who spew hatred should never think that their barbarism pays off — should think carefully how we can send that message. They think killing our children will make Jews scared to come to Israel? Book a ticket this week to come home to Israel, even for a visit. They think murdering our sons will cause us only tears? Find a mitzvah that gives a smile to someone who really needs one. They think we will lose faith? Let every one of us take upon him herself a learning project in Jewish tradition, some form of Torah study. They think kidnapping three boys hitchhiking home at the end of a day of Torah study will leave those who live in Yehuda ve’Shomoron (Judea and Samaria) feeling cast aside and alone? Find a way to let those whose children hitch on the roads of Gush Etzion and Hebron feel they are not alone. For thousands of years we have educated our children towards peace, love and mutual understanding. Perhaps it is time we take the education of our enemies’ children out of their hands and ďŹ nally educate a generation of Arab children towards that same peace, love and mutual understanding. Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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Continued from page 4 amas stopped ďŹ ring missiles into Israeli population centers when they saw that the price was too high. After Operation Cast Lead, when thousands of Israeli troops entered the Gaza strip (notwithstanding the questions of whether that mission was a complete success and whether we should subsequently have left), Hamas concluded the price was too great, as did Hezbollah in the aftermath of the second Lebanon War, albeit temporarily. At least for now, Hamas in the West, Hezbollah in the North, and Syria on our Eastern front, all sufďŹ ciently fear an Israeli response so as to create a reasonable deterrence. They need us to be afraid, and they want us to be weak, and they ďŹ nally struck what they believe will be a weakening blow — they kidnapped our children. Now, they believe, we will be afraid — afraid to hitchhike, afraid to hike the hills and valleys of our beautiful country, afraid to live in every Jewish town and village. But made a mistake; rather than weaken us, they made us stronger. Over 3,000 years ago, this same Bilaam, calls out, “Am levadad yishkon‌â€? (“They are a Nation that dwells alone‌â€? (Bamidbar 23:89). It was foretold that we would live alone, as a “light unto the nations,â€? as the prophet Isaiah (Yishayahu) described us, to show the world an ethical society, and how different a G-d ďŹ lled world could be. Perhaps one day the world will take a stand and recognize that might does not make right; right is just ‌ right. Perhaps one day our Arab neighbors will learn that our holding out a hand in friendship is not weakness but strength; we are not there yet, or at least

THE JEWISH STAR July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774

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July 4, 2014 • 6 TAMUZ 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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