September 05, 2014

THE JEWISH

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VOL 13, NO 35 Q SEPTEMBER 5, 2014 / 10 ELUL 5774

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September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come to Sderot, Sderot will come to youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

By Malka Eisenberg More than 30 vendors from Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard hit southern communities will be showcasing their wares at HAFTRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s middle school in Lawrence on Sunday, Sept. 14, in an effort to help these businesses get back on their feet.

The brainchild of former North Woodmere resident Stuart Katz, the event is billed as â&#x20AC;&#x153;shuk to our core,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;shuk for Israel,â&#x20AC;? and the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Long Island Jewish Community Market For Southern Israel.â&#x20AC;?

Participating Israeli communities include Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beer Sheva, Beer Tuvia, Kiryat Malachi, Netivot, Ofakim, Saad, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, and Yavne. Products to be sold include art, chocolate, jewelry, Judaica, kitchenware, toys, and kippot.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very painful to see whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happened down there,â&#x20AC;? Katz said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;However, as one united people we will help each other continue to survive and ďŹ&#x201A;ourish.â&#x20AC;?

While helping out in the south during Tsuk Eitan, Katz realized that many individuals and businesses were subsisting on government checks because businesses couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stay open and customers couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come under rocket ďŹ re. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a shortâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;term Band-Aid that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help the economy,â&#x20AC;? he said.

The shuk project was spearheaded by Katz and his business, TAL Tours, by Areyvut, a chesed organization, and by community volunteers. Additional fairs will be held at Lincoln Square Synagogue on Sept. 7, Solomon Schechter School of Westchester on Sept.

8, Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck on Sept. 9, the Staten Island JCC on Sept. 10, HANC in West Hempstead on Sept. 11, and the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn on Sept. 15.

Jordan Hiller of North Woodmere has

been handling the logistics of this event on this side of the Atlantic, insuring that the vendors have â&#x20AC;&#x153;a place to go and that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a well attended event.â&#x20AC;?

Hiller said the shuk project is â&#x20AC;&#x153;a comfortable community trying to help an uncomfortable one.â&#x20AC;?

Hiller praised HAFTR for â&#x20AC;&#x153;seizing the opportunityâ&#x20AC;? and providing space, and said that he worked with One Israel Fund on â&#x20AC;&#x153;planning and promotion.â&#x20AC;?

The shuk demonstrates that American Jews are â&#x20AC;&#x153;not just talking about [whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on in the south] but showing solidarity with them in a real and meaningful way.â&#x20AC;Ś Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boosting the economy that was already at risk to nonexistent. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those going to vacation in Israel are not going to a war zone.â&#x20AC;?

Hiller said that Katz came in after Hurricane Sandy to help clean up in Long Beach.â&#x20AC;?Stuart is a one man chesed organization â&#x20AC;&#x201D; otherwise things like this donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen,â&#x20AC;? he said.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want credit or money, he just wants to do chesed.â&#x20AC;?

Katz is originally from Panama, grew up in San Diego and during 20 years in North Woodmere was president of the Young Israel of North Woodmere twice, dinner chairman at Kulanu for ďŹ ve years, and served on the HAFTR board. He is now president of TAL Tours, Deluxe Kosher Tours and IsraMedica.

He and his family made Aliyah four years ago to Hashmonaim. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The event knows no hashkafa,â&#x20AC;? said Hillman. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The shuls (participating) are from Orthodox to Reform.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a very challenging summer for us all, especially Israelis,â&#x20AC;? said Katz. â&#x20AC;&#x153;However, as Jews, we are all Israeli, whether physically or virtually living the dream we are Israelis. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The level of achdut (unity) is unprecedented and our hope is that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only the beginning.â&#x20AC;?

The shuk will be open from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, at HAFTR Middle School, 389 Central Ave., Lawrence.

Hair for kids: Woodmere cousins clipped for cause

By Malka Eisenberg A pair of Woodmere cousins more than a decade apart had simultaneous haircuts this month to donate their long growing locks to an Israeli charity.

Rachel Schreiber, 20, a student at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Kayla Hercman, 8, a student at Shulamith of Long Island, sat for their bobs at Hewlett hair salon Fairy Tales, to have the long hair tied off and snipped and the remaining hair styled into similar cuts.

The clipped ponytails and braids will be taken along on the Schreiber family trip to Israel this week, where the family will visit Zichron Menachemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main center in Jerusalem to tour the facility and donate the hair. Zichron Menachem, literally Menachemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Memorial, is an organization based in Israel founded in 1990 to assist and support children with cancer, and now adults with cancer, and their families.

The organization is named for Menachem Ehrental, zâ&#x20AC;?l, who died of leukemia at age 15. Menachemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents and friends pooled the knowledge and experience gained during his 15-year battle with cancer, begun in his infancy, to help other children with cancer and their families. Physicians, rabbis, government leaders, and musicians have lent support to the award-winning organization.

The Schreiber family is steeped in chesed, from great grandparents Esther and Irwin Weber volunteering with Kulanu and Israeli soldiers, mom Debbie Schreiber, involved with food collection and donation, and Kaylaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mom, Daniella delivering food twice monthly to hospitals in Nassau County.

Rachel is a HAFTR graduate and spent this summer working at Camp Koby, a camp for Israeli children who have experienced the trauma of terrorism with the loss of a family member. She ďŹ&#x201A;ew back from Israel with some of the American counselors, got her hair cut with her cousin and returned to Israel for additional time there and to meet the rest of her family the following week there.

The Schreibers, Debbie, dad Michael, Adam, 18, Benjamin, 12, Haley, 15, are traveling to Israel for Benjaminâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst time putting on TeďŹ lin at the Kotel. Adam will be staying in Israel

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after the trip to learn for the year at Yeshivas Toras Shraga.

Kayla, daughter of Daniella and David Hercman, and the oldest of three sisters, said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I did a big mitzvah and I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mind doing it because it makes my head feel lighter. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m happy because people who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have hair-Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m giving it to them.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am proud of my daughter,â&#x20AC;? said mom, Daniella Hercman.

This is Rachelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third time donating hair. She is studying a dual major of special education and studio art with the intent to teach art to children with mental and physical disabilities and plans to make Aliyah after graduation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been about ďŹ ve years since I last donated,â&#x20AC;? explained Rachel, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and my hair was getting really long and a couple of months ago instead of getting a hair cut I thought, why not just donate it again! I think the whole decision was just stam (unplanned). Some people said donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do it because you have long beautiful hair but then I think, now some little girl can have long beautiful hair also, and mine will just grow back soon. I love to make people happy and help out in any way I can. I believe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important for people to feel included in society and not feel like an outsider, so a wig for a little girl with cancer is very important. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My cousin Kayla also had long beautiful hair, and we decided that we will donate it together! Seeing her enthusiasm about doing this act of kindness made the whole experience more meaningful. She looks beautiful with her new haircut.â&#x20AC;?

While in Israel, the family will join Tikvot, a non-proďŹ t, volunteer-based organization that rehabilitates Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s victims of terror and wounded soldiers through sports, getting wounded soldiers out of the hospital environment for fun activities such as wind surďŹ ng and go carting.

Rachel plans to volunteer during her college break in January as well. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was so cute to see them together,â&#x20AC;? said Debbie. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The whole family is very close, so the kids are very close. Kayla is aware that she is giving her hair to someone who needs it. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great that her parents were encouraging her to get a haircut. Some parents donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to cut their kidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hair. She is so proud of herself.â&#x20AC;?

How to keep children healthy in new school year Maimonides Medical Center As children and parents gear up for a new school year, it is important to refocus on healthy nutritional habits that may have been lost or curbed during the Summer break.

Dr. Ravi Saksena, Pediatric Attending at Maimonides Medical Center, says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although it can be challenging to make time for a good breakfast before school, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the most important meal for children and should not be skipped. â&#x20AC;Ś Children who consume a healthy breakfast have better school attendance, better concentration and higher test scores.â&#x20AC;?

Nutrients and energy from good food serve neurological functions, as well as physical body functions. Eating breakfast before school can positively affect the brainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shortterm blood sugar requirements, improving memory, problem solving skills and concentration levels â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all essential for achieving high grades.

School is also a social network for children â&#x20AC;&#x201C; behavior, cooperation, and interpersonal and small-group communication skills all factor into the school experience. Dr. Saksena says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;A healthy breakfast has been

shown to improve both alertness and mood, whereas hunger can distract children, causing irritability, moodiness and lethargy.â&#x20AC;?

A balanced lunch is also important, as an adequate intake of protein, vitamins and minerals throughout the day is necessary for maintaining good academic performance.

Dr. Saksena shares these nutrition tips: â&#x20AC;˘Plan a breakfast menu the night before. â&#x20AC;˘Whether your child eats school lunch or brings lunch from home, talk about what kinds of healthy foods he or she would like for lunch â&#x20AC;&#x201D; choosing from whole grains,

fruits and veggies, and low-fat dairy. â&#x20AC;˘Remember to include healthy snacks in your childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s day, whether they bring lunch or get it at school. Fruits and vegetables are easy for snacks (whole or sliced), and can be paired with whole grain crackers or bread, low-fat dips, peanut butter or cheese to add some protein. â&#x20AC;˘Talk nutrition: Make sure your child understands the importance of healthy eating for body and mind. Read food labels together so your child can begin to understand the importance and function of nutrients.

THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774

Israelis of war-torn south to sell at HAFTR shuk

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4 September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

Brits: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Zero toleranceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; for anti-Semitism British-Jewish groups protested Sunday in London against the growth of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom.

Standing outside Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Royal Courts of Justice, the protestors called for â&#x20AC;&#x153;zero tolerance for anti-Semites,â&#x20AC;? reported AFP. Sparked by this summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conďŹ&#x201A;ict in Gaza, 240 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in July alone by the British anti-Semitism watchdog Community Security Trust, compared to 304 anti-Semitic incidents in the entire ďŹ rst six months of 2014.

In August, four British synagogues, as well as Jewish graves and Holocaust memorials, were vandalized. A branch of the super-

market chain Sainsburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s removed all Kosher products from its shelves, including products made in Europe, in response to protests and vandalism by activists protesting the sale of products made in Judea and Samaria. â&#x20AC;&#x153;British Jews are afraid,â&#x20AC;? Jonathan Sacerdoti of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said in a statement last week, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Citizens are looking to the police and government to enforce the law with zero tolerance against anti-Semites, as they do in other cases of racism. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is only through zero tolerance that the tide of anti-Semitism can be turned,â&#x20AC;? he said, reported Haaretz.

Gaga and Israel: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on!

Lady Gaga will perform in Israel on Sept.

13 despite this summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Neil Young, the Backstreet Boys and Lana Del Rey all cancelled their planned concerts in Israel this summer.

The singer will perform as part of her international tour â&#x20AC;&#x153;artRave: The ARTPOP Ballâ&#x20AC;? at Tel Avivâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hayarkon Park.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists have been calling for entertainers to cancel performances in the country, but Lady Gaga is not the only international artist with an upcoming concert in the Jewish state.

Tony Bennett will perform in Tel Aviv the day after Lady Gaga. The two concerts will take place about 10 days before the release of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cheek to Cheek,â&#x20AC;? a joint jazz album Lady Gaga recorded with Bennett.

This has sparked rumors that the two musicians might perform together at one of the concerts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m proud and happy that Lady Gaga will come to Israel as planned,â&#x20AC;? Israeli concert producer Udi Appleboim said, reported the Jerusalem Post. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is an honor to host her for a historic concert.â&#x20AC;?

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struggle to rebuild Jerusalem and of foreigners who recently moved to the land trying to claim it as their own and sabotage the Jewsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; efforts to rebuild, enlisting foreign powers to hinder the reconstruction.

He said that the book of Ezra is â&#x20AC;&#x153;the great-

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est piece of advocacy for the State of Israel and Zionismâ&#x20AC;? and that â&#x20AC;&#x153;anti-Zionists havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spent much time delving into the Tanach.â&#x20AC;?

He also quoted from chapter 36 of Ezekiel describing G-d bringing the Jews back ďŹ rst and then purifying them and returning them to the Torah and describing the ďŹ&#x201A;owering of the land only when the Jews are in it.

In his third talk between Mincha and Maariv, Gimpel described the clarity he felt as he and his unit maneuvered in Gaza, that Israel is right and is the truth and Hamas is evil and wrong.

Gimpel said that it is â&#x20AC;&#x153;important for the Jews and the secular community to recognize the people we are facing, they have a different mentality,â&#x20AC;? that they kill their daughters for â&#x20AC;&#x153;honor,â&#x20AC;? use their children as human shields and that their mothers celebrate the deaths of their children as martyrs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If they had gas chambers they would push the Jews in and turn on the faucets,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are an evil enemy, we have to rid ourselves of the enemy with war. Israel has the right now to stop the rockets at any cost, Gaza has to be demilitarized so they never raise a hand against Israel again.â&#x20AC;?

Gimpel added: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Right now they are getting stronger, more audacious, more in your face and gaining momentum. We have to defeat and subdue them in war until Hamas and Al Qaida raise the white ďŹ&#x201A;ag,â&#x20AC;? he said.

In a conversation with The Jewish Star before his return to Israel, Gimpel recounted that after serving in the army he felt that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel needed help projecting a clear ideological message to the world,â&#x20AC;? so he started a radio show on Arutz Sheva and it evolved into the Tuesday Night Live program.

He ran on the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish

Home) slate, Naftali Bennettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s party, but was number 14 on the list (the party only got 12 seats in the Knesset). The World Mizrachi Religious Zionist Movement asked him to join â&#x20AC;&#x153;to bring in young members, the next generation of leadership in the movement, a new spirit.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a match made in heaven,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you take Jewish history and Hakadosh Baruch Hu (G-d) out of Israel and out of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening in Israel today, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like taking the soul out of the body.â&#x20AC;?

Gimpel visited both observant and secular communities during his six-week visit to the U.S., visiting shuls and Jewish communities on Shabbat and holding mixed rallies for non-Jews and Jews during the week. He stopped in Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as New York. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People are dying to feel connected,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Gimpel was born in Atlanta, made aliyah with his parents at age 11 to Jerusalem and was a student at Nvei Shmuel, Rabbi Shlomo Riskinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high school, in Efrat. He served in Hesder at Yeshivat Otniel and in the Givati brigade. He completed law school in the Hebrew program at IDC Herzeliya and received semicha (rabbinic ordination) through Kollel Agudat Achim, learning in Yeshivat Orayta in the Old City.

He is Mizrachiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deputy director and host of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel Inspired Radioâ&#x20AC;? on the Voice of Israel network broadcast from the JVP studios in Jerusalemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s old train station. He is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and presented with friend and co-host Ari Abramowitz the Israeli TV show â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem.â&#x20AC;? He lives in Neve Daniel in Gush Etzion with his wife Tehila and four children.

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By Malka Eisenberg Sergeant Major Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel of the IDFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Givati brigade drew a standing room only audience after Shacharit last Shabbat when he spoke of his unitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s action in Gaza and of his perspective on Jewish history, religious Zionism, and clarity of vision in combat. He drew returning crowds two more times during the afternoon at the Young Israel of Woodmere.

Throughout the Torah, Jews are exhorted to zachor (remember) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; be it the Exodus from Egypt, creation, Shabbat, Amalek â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all part of our national consciousness, he said.

Gimpel stressed the unity of the Jews in Israel and worldwide during the recent war against Hamas, noting that Jews from 40 nations are represented in his unit.

He said he sees the words of the Prophets in the blossoming of the land and the return of Jews to Israel and in the growth in Torah learning in Israel. He marveled at the Iron Dome, describing how the missiles from Gaza explode on their own with great noise in empty ďŹ elds but when they are headed for population centers and are intercepted by the missiles from the Iron Dome defensive system, their destruction is almost silent.

Gimpel described the smoke trail as the rocket ďŹ&#x201A;ies towards Israel and it is almost as if the ďŹ nger of G-d silently touches and destroys it in the sky above.

Gimpel opened the Tanach in his second talk to compare the events described in the book of Ezra from 450 BCE, the return of Jews after the destruction of the ďŹ rst Temple and the 70 years of exile, to the return of Jews to Israel and the ďŹ&#x201A;owering of the land in the last 70 years. The similarities of the rebirth of Hebrew among the Jews, the

THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774

IDF Soldier back from Gaza ďŹ lls YIW on Shabbat

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September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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ESTABLISHED 2002

THE JEWISH STAR TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 The Independent newspaper of Long Islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Orthodox communities Published by The Jewish Star LLC 2 Endo Boulevard, Garden City, NY 11530

Publisher: Ed Weintrob EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com 718-908-5555

Steven Sotloff, aâ&#x20AC;?h Although his background was suppressed while he was captive, after his murder, news reports mournfully acknowledged that Steven Sotloff, aâ&#x20AC;?h, was Jewish â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an American raised in Miami who attended a Reform day school and made aliyah in 2005. A fellow captive, who was released, reported that Sotloff surreptitiously fasted on Yom Kippur and prayed facing Jerusalem.

As a journalist, Sotloff took exceptional risks to uncover the truth; 70 journalists have been killed in Syria alone, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

As Jews, we feel every innocent death, Jew or non-Jew; journalists in combat zones know of the risks.

Jews have been on the front lines of

EDITORIAL Arab butchery for centuries and know that ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah and all the other iterations of Islamist terror are one and the same.

This was an attack on Western mores, with Israel the canary in the coalmine. Now the terrorist groups are lined up and waiting to see whether the world supports Israel in its ďŹ ght against terrorism, or instead condemns Israel and gives ISIS, Hamas and Hezbollah a free pass.

Meanwhile, we are saddened and angered by Sotloffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s murder. May his courage be an inspiration, and may his memory be a blessing.

Editor: Malka Eisenberg MEisenberg@TheJewishStar.com 516-622-7461 x240

Ad Sales: Celia Weintrob JewishStarNY@gmail.com 917-723-4500 Send general press releases to Newsroom@TheJewishStar.com Send Calendar of Events items to Calendar@TheJewishStar.com For advertising opportunities, JewishStarNY@gmail.com Contributing writers: Rabbi Avi Billet, Jeff Dunetz, Rabbi Binny Freedman, Alan Jay Gerber, Judy Joszef Editorial Designers: Stacey Simmons, Matthew Stammel Photo Editor: Christina Daly Kashrut: The Jewish Star is not responsible for the kashrut of any product or establishment featured in the Jewish Star.

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FLASHBACK 2002 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The Jewish Star praised the rapid growth of 3-year-old Kulanu that â&#x20AC;&#x153;has opened up peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes and hearts [and] united parts of the community once fractured.â&#x20AC;?

2003 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The Jewish Star rips a scurrilous email campaign against Starbucks, asking, â&#x20AC;&#x153;As Jews, should we assume that it is our birthright to automatically forward such messages â&#x20AC;&#x201D; factual or not, inďŹ&#x201A;ammatory or otherwise â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even if, in the process, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing nothing more helpful than perpetuating the stuff urban legends are made of?â&#x20AC;?

2008 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A Jewish Star editorial bemoans â&#x20AC;&#x153;the grinding bureaucracy encountered by new immigrants to Israelâ&#x20AC;? and wonders â&#x20AC;&#x153;how many potential olim simply never applied to the Jewish Agency â&#x20AC;Ś because they found the prospect of such a grueling ordeal too daunting.â&#x20AC;? It looks forward optimistically to Nefesh Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Nefeshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impending takeover of the Jewish Agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s North American aliyah operation, headlining the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Death of a bureaucracy.â&#x20AC;?

2009 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Senator Ted Kennedy is remembered in two front-page stories. An editorial concludes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatever mistakes he made in his life, Senator Kennedy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a Liberalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liberal, the Lion of the Senate â&#x20AC;&#x201D; certainly worked hard at being a force for good in America, and for that, in death, he deserves to be remembered well.â&#x20AC;?

When burning Jews doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make news O n Aug. 30, Palestinian terrorists set a Jewish man on ďŹ re in Jerusalem, and on Sept. 1, other Palestinian terrorists tried to set an entire bus full of Israeli Jews on ďŹ re.

Yet I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ďŹ nd any mention of these horriďŹ c attacks in the New York Times, the Washington Post, or any other major American news outlet. Why is it that news about burning Jews is not considered ďŹ t to print?

The ďŹ rst of the ďŹ rebomb attacks took place in Jerusalemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s City of David neighborhood. A Molotov cocktailâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a ďŹ&#x201A;aming bottle of gasoline which explodes upon contactâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;was hurled through the window of a historic 19th-century house known as Beit Meyuhas. One of the residents, a 45-year-old man, was struck by the ďŹ rebomb and set on ďŹ re. He suffered ďŹ rst and second-degree burns to his face and head.

Second-degree burns often result in permanent scarring and require skin grafting.

Burning one Jew is not enough to satisfy the appetite of Palestinian terrorists. On Sept.

1, two ďŹ rebombs were thrown at an Israeli bus traveling on Route 505, between the towns of Migdalim and Kfar Tapuach. The attackersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; goal was to set the entire bus on ďŹ re and burn all of its passengers alive. They almost succeeded. The ďŹ&#x201A;aming bombs exploded as they crashed through the front windshield of the bus. Flying glass slashed the driver. It was only by a miracle that he was able to stop the bus without crashingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and that the ďŹ&#x201A;ames did not spread through the entire vehicle.

Palestinian terrorists sometimes use rocks instead of ďŹ rebombs. Stoning is, after all, a time-honored method of execution in that part of the world.

On Aug. 20, Palestinian rock-throwers attacked an Israeli automobile traveling near the Yitzhar junction. An 11-month-old baby was wounded. Medics on the scene were quoted as saying that it was a â&#x20AC;&#x153;miracleâ&#x20AC;? she survived, since the rock that hit her was the size of a ďŹ st.

Three days later, Yedaya Sharchaton, his wife and 1-year-old Stephen M. Flatow daughter were driving in the Gush Etzion region.

Arab rocks smashed through the front windshield, causing Yedaya to lose control of the car. It ďŹ&#x201A;ipped over.

All three family members were injured; Yedaya suffered internal bleeding.

On Aug. 29, a mob of Palestinians emerging from prayers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Temple Mount threw rocks at Israeli police ofďŹ cers. It would be interesting to know if anything in the sermons they had just heard encouraged them to try to murder Jews. Two of the rock-throwers were arrested; they were minors.

The next day, Palestinian rock-throwers targeted Israeli policemen in another section of Jerusalem. Three of the ofďŹ cers were injured.

Their names were not mentioned by the Israeli media. Nor were the extent of their injuries.

Did one of them lose an eye? Was one of them permanently disďŹ gured? Three more anony-

OPINION

mous, forgotten victims of Arab terror.

On Sept. 1, the rock-throwers chose the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ev. Spotting an Israeli bus coming down Uzi Narkis Street, from Pisgat Zeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ev to the adjoining Arab neighborhood of Shuafat, the wouldbe killers attacked. The rocks smashed the windows, one striking and injuring a 3-year-old girl. The Magen David Adom paramedics who rushed to the scene to provide emergency treatment knew that the difference between life and death for that little girl was just bad aim.

So once again, they are burning and stoning Jews. Yet the New York Times and the others are not interested. Why? Because it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ďŹ t their preferred narrative.

Most of the editors and reporters in the mainstream media subscribe to a narrative of the Israeli-Arab conďŹ&#x201A;ict in which the Israelis are the aggressors, and the Palestinians are the victims. That narrative supports the political outcome that most editors and reporters personally endorse: an Israeli retreat to the 1967 lines, a division of Jerusalem, the rise of a Palestinian state.

But when you report about Palestinians burning and stoning Israelis, that changes everything. Americansâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;from the average person in the street to Members of Congressâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;regard such behavior as barbaric. They naturally conclude that giving a state to such violent extremists is crazy. Telling the truth about Palestinian behavior makes it harder to mobilize pressure on Israel to give in. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why in the editorial ofďŹ ces of the New York Times and so many other newspapers, news about burning Jews isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ďŹ t to print. Sadly, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that simple.

By Robert Gluck, JNS.org Today’s comedy superstars, especially those whose careers are driven by television, may well owe their success to pioneering Jewish entertainer Milton Berle.

Born Mendel Berlinger in Manhattan in 1908, Berle became America’s first smallscreen star. Aptly nicknamed “Mr. Television,” he influenced and helped promote the work of hundreds of younger comics.

“Milton Berle was deceptively successful and very Jewish,” says Lawrence Epstein, author of “The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America,” published the year Berle died in 2002. “His success came about because early television sets were mostly sold in wealthier urban areas, with Jews and gentile urbanites accustomed to and appreciative of Jewish humor. So Berle’s quick talking, his high-speed jokes, his dressing in outlandish costumes, and his sprinkling of Yiddishisms all played well. Ironically, it was Berle’s success with those urban audiences that propelled the sales of televisions around the nation.”

Epstein explains that once televisions reached the rural areas of America, viewers “took a look at [Berle] and said he spoke so fast they couldn’t understand him, and that he wasn’t funny, and [they asked], ‘What was that foreign language?’”

“That is why Berle’s television career was meteoric,” Epstein tells JNS.org. “It burned brightly but briefly.”

Berle’s close friend Lou Zigman, a Los Angeles-based labor lawyer and Brooklyn native, disagrees with Epstein’s use of the word “meteoric,” arguing that Berle never burned out like a meteor does. Berle kept performing, assisting other comics, giving to charities, and spreading Jewish culture until his death, and he was even performing card tricks as a hos-

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pital patient at age 90, according to Zigman.

“I asked Milton how come all the gentiles knew Yiddish humor,” Zigman tells JNS.org.

“He answered that the great majority of comedians and writers in those early years were Jewish. That’s why it spread, and our culture spread, all over the country.”

At age 5, Berle won an amateur talent contest and appeared as a child actor in silent films. He became a vaudevillian at age 12 in a revival of the musical comedy “Florodora” in Atlantic City, and was hired by producer Jack White in 1933 to star in “Poppin’ the Cork,” a musical comedy concerning the repealing of Prohibition. From 1934 to 1936, Berle was heard frequently on “The Rudy Vallee Hour” radio show and attracted publicity as a regular on “The Gillette Original Community

Sing,” a Sunday night comedy-variety radio program on CBS. Then came the “Milton Berle Show,” a variety format he would revive for his television debut.

That debut was “Texaco Star Theatre,” which began in September 1948 on ABC and continued until June 1949. The show became the first-ever “appointment television”—a program prompting viewers to adjust their schedules to watch it at a specific time. Berle’s autobiography notes that in Detroit, “an investigation took place when the water levels took a drastic drop in the reservoirs on Tuesday nights between 9 and 9:05. It turned out that everyone waited until the end of the ‘Texaco Star Theatre’ before going to the bathroom.”

According to Artie Butler, Berle’s friend and a well-known composer/arranger, Berle had a Jewish sense of comedic wit. At age 16, Butler met Berle while filling in for his piano player at the Town and Country Club in Brooklyn.

“Milton was a mensch, a lovely man, a giving man,” Butler tells JNS.org. “He had a New York, garment district, Stage Deli, vaudeville-based Jewish sensibility, the theatrical yiddishkeit (Jewishness), but not in Yiddish. I asked him where he got his first laugh. He told me he was a chorus boy in one of Ziegfeld’s musicals, a hoofer. Every night his mother was there in the audience. He was purposefully out of step with the other dancers and [producer Florenz] Ziegfeld himself told him after the show to keep doing that, that it got a lot of laughs.”

Berle assisted popular comics including Fred Travalena, Ruth Buzzi, John Ritter, Marla Gibbs, Lily Tomlin, Dick Shawn, and Will Smith. Butler says young comedians sought Berle’s advice because he was a pioneer.

“Every comic including David Brenner and Rodney Dangerfield wanted to hear the sto-

ries about how Milton worked in the Catskills at Grossingers and the Concord, and how he worked the Jewish audiences,” says Butler.

“Milton told them they were rough audiences and he had to learn how to finesse them.”

What would “Mr. Television” think of today’s programming?

“I think Berle wouldn’t much like current television,” Epstein says. “He was a believer in live comedy, in working hard for the joke.

I don’t think he would have appreciated current subject matter or language either. It just wasn’t his style.”

In 1947, Berle founded the Friars Club of Beverly Hills, Calif. Other founding members included Jimmy Durante, George Jessel, Robert Taylor, and Bing Crosby. The private show-business club is famous for its celebrity roasts, in which club members are mocked by their friends in good fun.

But occasionally, Berle’s life took on a more serious note. He risked his newfound TV stardom at its zenith to challenge “Texaco Star Theatre” when its corporate sponsor, the gas giant Texaco, tried to prevent black performers from appearing on the show.

“I remember clashing with the advertising agency and the sponsor over my signing The Four Step Brothers (a black dance group) for an appearance on the show,” Berle writes in his autobiography. “The only thing I could figure out was that there was an objection to black performers on the show, but I couldn’t even find out who was objecting. ‘We just don’t like them,’ I was told, but who the hell was ‘we’?

Because I was riding high in 1950, I sent out the word: ‘If they don’t go on, I don’t go on.’ At ten minutes of eight—ten minutes before showtime—I got permission for The Step Brothers to appear. If I broke the color-line policy or not, I don’t know, but later on I had no trouble booking Bill Robinson or Lena Horne.”

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THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774

Very Jewish Milton Berle inspired modern comics

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September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

8

Highly anticipated music of the High Holidays W

ith Labor Day now safely behind us, it is time to give serious thought to the upcoming High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

For this week, I will foKOSHER cus on the importance BOOKWORM that music plays in the liturgy of this sacred season.

My main question at the outset is what is it about music that it has such an influence upon us, especially at this time of year?

When you walk into a synagogue service on the high holidays, the musical theme immeAlan Jay Gerber diately tips you off as to the identity of the holiday. Just listen to the music, join in the song, and presto you are a part of a legacy of song whose rich heritage goes back to time immemorial. And, it is music that does it all.

In September’s Reader’s Digest, in an article entitled, “The Beautiful Life of Your Brain” by Kimberly Hiss, we have the following observation concerning the role of music and its influence on your brain: “Imagine you’re in line for coffee, and Pharrell Williams’ bouncy hit ‘Happy’ comes on the radio.

“The resulting cascade of mental activity it takes to process the music ‘touches on all the most advanced aspects of human cognition,’ says Robert Zatorre, Ph.D, professor of neuroscience at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University.

First, the sound hits your ear, activating a series of structures from the cochlea [where

vibrations are turned into electronic impulses] to the brain’s cortex.

“When you recognize the tune — its name or where you last heard it — your auditory cortex is connecting with regions that handle memory retrieval.

Then, if you start tapping your foot, you’ve activated the motor cortex in a very particular way because you’re tapping to the exact beat of the song.”

Now, consider all of these and other factors that the author references in this essay as functions of the brain in its interactions with music. Consider reading the rest of this essay and surely, the next time you listen and experience a niggun (tune) in shul you might be better prepared to understand the dynamic that makes for how the relationship between prayer and song operate.

Now, let’s consider this music dynamic when explained by a gadol hador (outstanding leader of the generation), in this case Rabbi Avigdor Miller, of blessed memory, in a new book brought to us by the Parkoff Family of Lawrence, entitled, “Asking Hashem.”

This wonderful little work is a compilation of small essays by Rav Miller, themed to the spiritual factors that go into the proper observance of the high holidays.

One such essay deals with music and is entitled, “The Power of Music.”

Rav Miller writes: “How do you awake to the glory [of G-d]?

By awakening the musical instruments.

So David bestirred his mind by stirring the strings of the harp.

“As the melody began to enter his mind, the greatness within him began to well up

to meet the harmony of the instrument. Everyone experiences this: when we hear music at a wedding or some other occasion, there’s a certain stirring of greatness within us. It’s something mysterious that we’re not able to explain. Is it merely that certain airwaves strike our eardrums? Then, it’s nothing but the irritation of the nerves. What is there about music that makes us begin to see unseen horizons?

A certain intuition begins to dawn upon us when we hear music. We call it inspira-

tion. Unfortunately, it gets lost and evaporated because people don’t understand. But the purpose of music is to stir the greatness that lies within man.”

Rav Miller continues this essay relating the importance of music to prayer and all other spiritual expression, especially at this time of year. His sacred teachings certainly warrant your attention.

For your further study of the role of music in our prayer services may I suggest that you check out and read, “The Jewish Music Companion” [Tara Publications, 2002] by one of our premier musicologists of Jewish music, Velvel Pasternak of Cedarhurst. This work of just over 200 pages can serve as a comprehensive overview of the Jewish liturgical tradition that deals with the following subjects in detail: Sources of music in the Bible, musical instruments of ancient Israel especially in the Temple musical tradition, the early role and the historical role of the cantor and the traditions relating to the various classical Jewish musical traditions in the High Holiday prayers focusing on Kol Nidre and the MiSinai musical traditions as well as a detailed descriptive of the synagogue songs and melodies of the Ashkenazim. This work can be obtained through JewishMusic.com.

As noted before, as we approach the High Holiday season, we become increasingly aware of the various disciplines related to our liturgical music. Additionally, we should become aware of the content of the liturgy itself, through the new works that deal analytically as well as with the various interpretations, translations, historical data, and commentaries of the sacred texts.

To comment, or to contact Alan Gerber: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

Eradicating the evil from within F

rom the one time in Re’eh to the three times in Shoftim to the five times in Ki Tetze, the Torah tells us nine times to eradicate evil – “Uvi’arta hara” – from PARSHA OF either amongst you, THE WEEK or amongst all of Israel.

It would seem that in most of these cases, as well as others in our parsha, the Torah is advocating for a death penalty kind of punishment for those who are either guilty of a crime, or are in violation of a mitzvah.

Rabbi Avi Billet Most people I know would have much less of a problem with capital punishment for truly evil people, such as murderers and terrorists. This is likely true in times of peace, but is even more true during times of war.

But for sinners?

We are all sinners!

Why would we advocate for these death penalty punishments, or any kind of corporal punishment, when the laws that trigger these punishments are so easily violated? I have seen sharia law advocates explain that the law is meant to be a deterrent, and that the message of “they will hear and they will fear” will serve as the inspiration to create a moral society as we weed out the bad apples among us.

The problem is that the court system always required witnesses and warnings. And if the warning was not issued in the proper fashion (let alone if it was not issued at all), or if the witnesses did not fit the necessary criteria or were somehow disqualified (assuming there were witnesses — how often are there no witnesses to a crime?), the court case is more of a spectacle than an effective system of punishment.

Understanding to which crimes and sins specific punishments were appended requires a careful reading of Devarim chapters 17-24. But all of the cases in question come with Talmudic caveats. The rebellious son never existed. The betrothed daughter at that specific age was never unfaithful. Warnings.

Witnesses.

How then is a just society created if the court system has its hands bound and can’t carry out the law?

Two elements come into play in a society living under G-d.

Firstly, monetary cases are decided by the courts. Documents always had to have witnesses. Legal jargon may not have been what it is today, but the paperwork was there. And courts could decide between he said / he said cases, even in the absence of witnesses.

The other element is G-d’s role. The G-d fearing individual reads the Torah, un-

derstands the gravity of the worst sins described in the Torah, and makes a conscious choice not to violate, and to otherwise live a holy existence, to the best of one’s ability.

Otherwise, between the punishment known as “kares” (which has many possible manifestations) and “misah bidei shamayim” (death at the hands of heaven), the courts would put certain punishments in the hands of Heaven. Imagine the otherwise guilty party (minus the necessary proof to actually convict) walking out of court with the judges saying, “Good luck because you’re going to need it. G-d is going to get you.”

What will it take? A car accident? A slip and fall? A heart attack? Or, in those days, perhaps getting gored by an animal running amok? Precisely.

I am not suggesting that the victims of tragedies like these in our day are being punished for indiscretions. Even if they were guilty of certain sins (after all, aren’t we all?), in most cases it was private, and it was certainly never adjudicated in court.

More likely they were not even remotely guilty of the sins of the magnitude described in our parsha. How then do we explain why tragedy struck?

We can’t. And those who think they know the answers are fools and should be shunned. Sometimes we don’t know and can’t understand the ways of G-d. Saying

We can’t explain why tragedy struck. Those who think they know are fools.

things like “it was his time” and “G-d wanted it this way,” are the wrong things to say to people who are filled with questions.

Two final points: I read an opinion piece in Haaretz this week that suggested that as we have evolved from the punishments described in the Torah and no longer practice “an eye for an eye” and capital punishment, we should also consider getting rid of Bris Milah, as the author suggested that “ritual circumcision is the only act of physical harm that remains.”

The author’s misunderstanding of the corporal and capital punishments aside, he completely misunderstands what Bris Milah is all about. The Covenant is not viewed as a punishment. It is a gift from G-d. The act of circumcision is an act of faith that has been adequately addressed by Rabbi Akiva almost 2,000 years ago (Midrash Tanchuma Tazria 7).

Finally, we are to understand that as much as society “evolves,” the Torah’s truths remain. The punishments described for the heinous crimes and sins are meant to illustrate just how badly these specific violations tear apart the fabric of our Torah-guided society. Our goal is to weed out sinners, and we do that through educating sinners not to sin.

May we all become experts in Torah knowledge, so we not only continue to enhance our wonderful society, but are also be a light to the world for how to treat our fellow man.

To comment, or to contact Rabbi Billet: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

9 THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774

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September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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New siddurim better connect children to prayer

By Maayan Jaffe, JNS.org â&#x20AC;&#x153;TeďŹ lla (prayer) is a journey,â&#x20AC;? says Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom.

This school year, some students will better be able to experience that voyage with the release of the ďŹ rst two volumes in the Koren Magerman Educational Siddur Series, a joint project of Yeshiva University (YU) and Koren Publishers Jerusalem.

These two new prayer booksâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Koren Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Siddurâ&#x20AC;? for students in grades K through 2 and the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Koren Ani TeďŹ lla Weekday Siddurâ&#x20AC;? for high school studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;offer a new approach to teďŹ lla education in the school, home, and synagogue. The books, which according to YUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dr. Scott Goldberg are based on dialogue with close to 100 elementary, middle, and high school Jewish educators, were ďŹ rst published in February and offered to educators at the iJED 2014 Jewish day school conference.

Following a short trial period, during which YU and Koren received positive feedback from Jewish educators who reviewed them and tried them in their own classrooms, the books are now available to the general public. Two more volumes, one for children in grades 3 through 5 and another for those in grades 6 to 8, should be available around this time next year.

In an introduction, publisher Matthew Miller conveys that the siddurim serve two purposes. One is the obvious: prayer. While volume one is abridged, the prayers follow traditional conventions. So, too, with the high school siddur, which is not abridged.

The other purpose, however, is much deeper. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Each page is replete with teaching oppor-

tunities to bring the teďŹ llot contained in the siddur alive cognitively and emotionally for our children, advancing the overall goal of developing a spiritual connection to prayer and to G-d,â&#x20AC;? writes Miller.

Giving children age-appropriate siddurim is a paradigm shift, says Dr. Daniel Rose, project director of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Koren Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Siddurâ&#x20AC;? and author of the adult educational companion. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give ďŹ rst graders a high school math book and say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get something now, but by the time you get to high school youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll really get it.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;... So why do we give them an adult siddur?â&#x20AC;? explains Rose.

Rose says he and his team are trying to encourage a new way of thinking about the prayer curriculum in Jewish day schools.

Rather than the focus being on Hebrew literacy, tropes, and choreography, the new prayer books will help teachers (and parents) better help students connect to the prayers and their meanings on a spiritual level, according to Rose. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone knows that what we do now is not really working,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are trying to encourage schools to put the child and G-d at the center of teďŹ lla.â&#x20AC;?

In the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s siddur, this is accomplished through a combination of visually stimulating, detailed, and intentional designs coupled with creative use of trigger questions and quotes. The siddurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creative director, Tani Bayer, describes the project as among the most unique she has participated in during her 18 years as a graphic designer. She says she relates to the concept of the work on

Bayer says the imagery and questions are supposed to elicit feelings of joy. Young kids can talk about what makes them feel happy in everyday life when they approach this page, she says.

On page 39, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ohr Chadash,â&#x20AC;? the siddur reads, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The glory of Hashem can be felt in the rays of the sunshine from the morning sun.â&#x20AC;? The Temple (which sits in the backdrop of the photo), the letters of the Ohr Chadash prayer, and the earth are all the same colorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;brown. Rose explains that this tries to help the student make a connection between Jerusalem as a place of G-d and its connection to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;chosenâ&#x20AC;? Jewish people.

The siddur incorporates messages of Zionism and Âł.RUHQ &KLOGUHQÂśV 6LGGXU´ ZLWK DGXOW HGXFDWLRQDO FRPSDQLRQ modern Orthodox values of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Torah uâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;madah,â&#x20AC;? the relationpersonal, parental, and educational levels. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I grew up frum (Orthodox), and even to ship between secular and Torah knowledge. this day I would say there is something miss- A feature of the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s siddur is a subtle ing for me personally in my connection to navigation bar, which loosely forms a ladteďŹ lla,â&#x20AC;? says Bayer. She notes how â&#x20AC;&#x153;specialâ&#x20AC;? it der, based on Rabbi Sacksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s understanding is to know that such a tool is now available for of prayer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;TeďŹ lla is structured as a journey. You beher own children, and that she will be able to watch them grow up with the relationship gin on the ground level and ascend toward Heaven. It takes a long time; it is a meditative and dialogue with G-d as she wants them to.

Nearly every page has its own unique process. And then you come back down to meaning and message. For example, on page earth and, hopefully, you are transformed,â&#x20AC;?

37, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yishtabachâ&#x20AC;? prayer is depicted by an Sacks tells JNS.org.

Rose says Sacks served as an inspiration image of a young girl ďŹ&#x201A;ying a kite. Musical not only for this element, but also for many notes comprise what would be the sky. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yishtabach is about singing to Hashem aspects of both of the new siddurim.

The high school version (which can be (G-d),â&#x20AC;? explains Bayer, noting the page asks Continued on page 20 children, â&#x20AC;&#x153;How do you feel when you sing?â&#x20AC;?

After Gaza, a stormy year for Israel on campus Phil Nordlinger, director of the Hillel International branch at Temple University, said the branch has â&#x20AC;&#x153;offered members of the community a safe place to discuss their Judaism, feelings towards Israel, reactions to the [SJP] incident, or concerns about safety on campus with Hillel professionals and counselors from the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s counseling center.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are also working closely with the Temple administration to ensure that the concerns of Jewish students at Temple are heard and met,â&#x20AC;? Nordlinger said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We value our partnership with the administration and are working with them to ensure a campus climate of civility where our students feel it is safe to celebrate their Jewish identities and show support for Israel.â&#x20AC;?

Elliott Hamiltonâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a student at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., and a fellow for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;wrote in a recent op-ed for JNS.org that the Temple SJP incident came â&#x20AC;&#x153;as no surpriseâ&#x20AC;? to him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;SJP historically bullies pro-Israel students and invites vehemently anti-Semitic speakers to campus under the pretense of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;dialogue,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? he wrote.

In order to educate both students and staffers about the difference between legitimate criticism of Israel and hate speech, the Brandeis Center has introduced a resource guide called the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fact Sheet on the Elements of Anti-Semitic Discourse,â&#x20AC;? which is being distributed to campus ofďŹ cials across the U.S. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want university administrators to understand that much of the anti-Israel protest activity that we Âł,VUDHOL $SDUWKHLG :HHN´ LQ 0D\ RQ WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI see on college campuses is really &DOLIRUQLD ,UYLQH FDPSXV AMCHA Initiative not just about politics. In fact, it has

By Alina Dain Sharon, JNS.org This summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 50-day conďŹ&#x201A;ict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has come to a close if a cease-ďŹ re reached last week holds, has spurred a sharp rise in both anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents around the world.

At the same time, the boundary between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism has become increasingly blurred, particularly on American college campuses.

Trouble for Jewish students got underway even before the start of classes. At an orientation event in late August, a pro-Israel student at Temple University in Philadelphia was punched in the face by a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and called a â&#x20AC;&#x153;baby killer,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Zionist pig,â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;kike.â&#x20AC;?

Given this climate, pro-Israel organizations are taking special precautions for the upcoming academic year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are expecting that things can get very ugly this year on many college campuses, including some that were quiet in the past,â&#x20AC;?

Kenneth L. Marcus, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and former staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, told JNS.org.

Amid the increased harassment and intimidation of Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus, Hillel is â&#x20AC;&#x153;playing a very active roleâ&#x20AC;? in addressing the situation, said Hillel spokesperson Arielle Poleg.

Every campus is different, with some facing more anti-Israel activity than others, but Hillel is generally working to create a secure environment on each campus in the aftermath of the Gaza conďŹ&#x201A;ict. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of Hillel directors have been working Âł&KHFNSRLQW KDUDVVPHQW´ ZDV SDUW RI Âł,VUDHOL $SDUWKHLG :HHN´ DW WKH closely with campus ,UYLQH FDPSXV RI WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI &DOLIRUQLD AMCHA Initiative police or campus security at their univerroots in ancient and medieval Jew-hatred,â&#x20AC;? sities just to make sure their facilities are said Marcus. secure, that Jewish students know that they To that end, the guide builds on the are safe,â&#x20AC;? Poleg told JNS.org. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Of course, stuU.S. State Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deďŹ nition of anti- dents are being advised not to engage in any Semitism, which conďŹ rms that â&#x20AC;&#x153;when criti- kind of physical confrontation and to always cism of Israel involves demonization, double place physical safety ďŹ rst.â&#x20AC;? standards, or delegitimization, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s often Upon their return to campus, Hillel is something more involved than just politics,â&#x20AC;? engaging about 4,000 students who particiMarcus explained. pated in Hillel-led Birthright trips to Israel â&#x20AC;&#x153;For example, when anti-Israel activists this summer. During the Gaza conďŹ&#x201A;ict, Hilobsess about the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Israel Lobby,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; people need lel worked with the Birthright organization to understand that this notion is rooted in to â&#x20AC;&#x153;adjust itineraries as needed to ensure the old-fashioned ideas about Jewish conspirato- safety and security of all groups,â&#x20AC;? said Poleg. rial control,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Students who are active with Hillel on The Hillel International umbrella, mean- various campuses have also applied to rewhile, is working to strengthen its continued ceive Israel Solidarity Grants from the Ismission to help students develop their Jewish rael on Campus Coalition (ICC), a Hillel identity and their connection to Israel.

Continued on page 20

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Path of teshuva: Off and on the Orthodox path

By Maayan Jaffe, JNS.org Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the days in between them mark the season of â&#x20AC;&#x153;teshuvaâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;which in Hebrew literally means â&#x20AC;&#x153;to return,â&#x20AC;? but in the context of the High Holidays refers to repentance. A unique case of those seeking to return and repent, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;do teshuva,â&#x20AC;? are Jews who become less observant but later decide to return to their roots.

Last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s much-debated Pew Research Center survey of U.S. Jews found that 52 percent of Jews raised Orthodox no longer consider themselves to be so. That ďŹ gure stands at 64 and 45 percent in the Conservative and Reform movements, respectively.

While a gloom-and-doom picture of rising assimilation seemed to be most observersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; takeaway from the Pew study, the journey of Jews who actually return to an observant lifestyle after initially leaving it behind is a more common storyline than one might think.

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, an early pioneer in the ďŹ eld of Internet-based Orthodox Jewish outreach and the founder of Project Genesis, said there is â&#x20AC;&#x153;usually some causeâ&#x20AC;? for someone Orthodox to choose a different lifestyle, but that â&#x20AC;&#x153;usually it has little to do with religion and a lot to do with religious peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or should I say, people who identify as religious.â&#x20AC;?

Josh, who asked that his full name not be used because it might embarrass his parents, was raised in a haredi home. He said he found his Atlanta Jewish community â&#x20AC;&#x153;stiďŹ&#x201A;ing.â&#x20AC;? Although his parents and rabbis went to great lengths to keep Josh away from outside inďŹ&#x201A;uences, by 13 he already started â&#x20AC;&#x153;checking outâ&#x20AC;? and by 18 he was â&#x20AC;&#x153;off the derech (path),â&#x20AC;? or no longer Orthodox. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Judaism then was all this external stuff

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that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t speak to me, like the way people dress. â&#x20AC;Ś There was a major focus on learning Torah, but without â&#x20AC;Ś spirituality,â&#x20AC;? said Josh. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was just routine, a very dull, dead-ended life.â&#x20AC;?

Menken said cases like Joshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are not too uncommon in the 21st century. The causes for leaving observance can range from the most awfulâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;abuseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to overly critical teachers or misguided community members or

mentors who focus on a superďŹ cial Judaism, he said.

In particular, college is a trendy time for Orthodox Jews to test their boundaries, said Menken, explaining that â&#x20AC;&#x153;when a person is just over 18 and goes out on his own and has to make decisions surrounded by people who do things differently and with different values,â&#x20AC;? he will likely be faced with peer pressure.

This was the case for Yaakov Cohen, who

chose to leave his Orthodox upbringing during college. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was like, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I want to experience the world,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? said Cohen, who described his childhood Judaism as â&#x20AC;&#x153;shoved down his throat,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;following the motions,â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;zombie-like.â&#x20AC;?

Cohen said his decision to become less observant was not spontaneous, but gradual.

He still remembers the ďŹ rst Torah commandment he broke: eating non-kosher food. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was Chester Cab pizza. I ordered a slice and just gulped it down. It was like a weird feeling overcame me, and I just ate that pizza in two seconds,â&#x20AC;? Cohen said.

Yissachar â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jasonâ&#x20AC;? Schneiderman started his non-observant journey by eating a stick of non-kosher chewing gum. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was very frustrated at being frum (Orthodox),â&#x20AC;? Schneiderman said of his teenage years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was surrounded by negative frum people.â&#x20AC;?

The fact that Schneiderman is the son of divorced parents who themselves were newly observant made it hard for him to have the support he needed at home. He said some of his friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; parents judged him because of his broken home and refused to let him play with their children.

When he chewed his stick of gum, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the fact that a bolt of lightning didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come out of the sky immediately made it easier,â&#x20AC;? Schneiderman said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The fact that you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t immediately die from your sins made it easier to continue on the path of trying new things,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Josh turned on the light switch on Shabbat, and then let go of most other commandments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Turning on that light switch was a turning point in my life,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Continued on page 22

September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774

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September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;¢ 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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The Jewish Star photos by Susan Grieco

15

STAR BUSINESS BRIEFS

At Camp Seneca Lake, every player was a MVP Camp Seneca Lake MVP, the Jewish orthodox boys basketball camp at Camp Seneca Lake, celebrated its sixth consecutive season of record breaking registration and enrollment.

Over 200 MVP players, on 30 teams in four divisions, participated in over 120 games over the course of five days. The games were competitive and exciting with many last-minute buzzer-beater endings.

This year’s MVP featured players with all levels of playing ability. Third graders joined MVP along with players in grades four through 12, representing many schools in the tri-state area including Yavneh, Noam, YNJ, Moriah, Ashar, TABC, Frisch, JEC, HAFTR, HALB, HANC, North Shore Hebrew Academy, YCQ, Har Torah, SAR, Ramaz, Derech HaTorah, MTA, Rambam, MAY, DRS, and Kushner. Some of the counselor/coaches were former MVP players themselves and were able to give over their experiences to the MVP players from their years at MVP Each day was filled with a packed schedule starting with Shachris, followed by breakfast, and then a series of activities including conditioning, clinics, swim (including the GIANT slide), league games, after lunch visits to Seneca Sprinkles Ice Cream Parlor, 3-on3 and 2-on-2 competitions and much more.

New events added this year were the 1-on-1 and knockout competitions for each grade.

After dinner, all MVP players went to the shul for Mincha and Maariv. Following the night games, and nightly individual skills contests for each grade (and a movie for juniors), the late night barbeques gave all the MVP players, across all the divisions and schools, the opportunity to interact and meet up with each other. The X Box Room was open to allow the players to wind down after a full day of on the court activities.

On the final day, championship games for each division were played at beautiful Seneca Park (featuring stadium seating), as well as on the blue and orange MVP courts, followed by closing award ceremonies in which over 100 trophies were distributed.

In reviewing this year’s MVP Experience, Judah Rhine, who is co-director with Irv Bader, stated that “this was by far our best season ever. There is something here for everyone. Every camper is truly an MVP.”

MVP was privileged to again have NBA Hall of Famer Nate “tiny” Archibald participate — he’s the only player in NBA History to lead the NBA in both scoring and assists in the same season.

All MVP players had the opportunity to meet “tiny,” take pictures and receive autographs.

Also visiting was Elliot Steinmetz, the new head coach at Yeshiva University; Barry Neuberger, associate athletic director at Colum-

bia University; and Andy Weitzen head coach of Ramaz Middle School Varsity; they gave multiple clinics to all the MVP Players.

MVP has already started planning for MVP 2015 which promises to be even better!

Information is available on the Seneca website, www.senecalake.com.

Or contact Judah Rhine at gefen18@aol. com or Irv Bader at info@senecalake.com.

MVP: Where Every Player can be an MVP. MVP: All Ball, All The Time.

Lavi chessed event raises 42G for Friends of IDF

Camp Lavi “We are in America but our hearts are in Israel,” read the graffiti art on the paddle board courts at Camp Lavi. This art exemplifies what all Jews in America felt this summer, and that is not forgotten by the nearly 800 campers and staff at Camp Lavi.

The camp hosted a rally at which its di-

rector, Joe Hoenig, announced that on the day before Camp Lavi’s annual Israel Day, it would be hosting a Chesed Day to raise money for the Friends of the IDF. Joey committed to personally match all donations made by parents, family and friends of the campers.

On Chesed Day each camper participated in an activity of his or her choice in an effort

to help raise funds, from shooting hoops to dance steps. Parents were asked to sponsor their child in his or her chosen activity.

All the campers participated in activities and received a Chesed Day T-shirt. They felt great being involved to help raise money for the Friends of the IDF. “At this point in time, this organization is

in need of financial assistance and we were happy to help,” Hoenig said.

“I am proud to say that Camp Lavi’s parent body raised over $21,000 in just one short week of promoting this special day. By Camp Lavi matching funds, our partnership together raised over $42,000 for Friends of the IDF!”

THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774

THE JEWISH

With Gaza quiet, Israeli kids go back to school

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Israeli children living in southern Israel near Gaza went back to school Monday after a summer spent in bomb shelters during Operation Protective Edge. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are a little scared but we are excited,â&#x20AC;?

Ronit Bart, a resident of Kibbutz Saad and an English teacher in its school, told the Associated Press. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of children in our area really need to go back to a routine.â&#x20AC;?

It felt a â&#x20AC;&#x153;little bit weirdâ&#x20AC;? to return to school, said her 11-year-old daughter, Shani Bart. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There were some difďŹ cult times and we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave our houses at all,â&#x20AC;? she said.

The school year also began across the country in Israel. About 2.1 million students in total returned to school, as well as 165,000

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Israel signed a memorandum of understanding with Jordan that will make the Jewish state Jordanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chief natural gas supplier.

Although a ďŹ nal agreement still needs to be approved by Israeli Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom, Israel has informally agreed to supply the Hashemite Kingdom with $15 billion worth of natural gas over the next 15 years from its Leviathan offshore gas ďŹ eld. Shalom is expected to approve the deal.

Among those present in Jordan at the negotiations over the deal were Amos Hochstein, the State Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, and representatives of Leviathan ďŹ eld

partners Delek Group (based in Israel) and Noble Energy (based in Houston), Globes reported.

In February, Israel signed a deal to supply Jordan with $500 million worth of gas from its Tamar offshore ďŹ eld.

The new deal is â&#x20AC;&#x153;a historic act that will strengthen the economic and diplomatic ties between Israel and Jordan,â&#x20AC;? Shalom said in a statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At this time, Israel is becoming an energy superpower, which will supply the energy needs of its neighbors and strengthen its standing as a central source of energy supply in the region, and I welcome it,â&#x20AC;? he said.

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teachers and instructors. About 5,000 policemen are volunteering to secure schools around the country Monday.

As part of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curriculum, teachers are planning to implement a program titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Other is Me,â&#x20AC;? that includes educational activities about racism, incitement and freedom of speech adapted for different age groups. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On behalf of all the government ministers, I want to wish the best of luck to all the children, but ďŹ rstly the children entering the ďŹ rst gradeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;hi there, ďŹ rst gradersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;may you, may all the children have a good, successful and safe school year,â&#x20AC;? said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement, reported Israel Hayom. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;JNS.org

Jordanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gas source: Israel

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September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

16

I

remember the look of shock on his face like it was yes- it was waged; over the next 20 years, until the last Israeli ence,â&#x20AC;? according to Maimonides.

If the woman decides, after 30 days, that she does not terday. soldier came back over the border, more than 250,000 Israeli It was, I believe, the summer of 1984, and we were on soldiers served in Lebanon. want to convert, she is set free, and even given rights as a citipatrol in Beirut. Technically, the Lebancredibly, there was not one single reported case of rape. zen (including, 3,000 years ago, the right to live in the land nese stores were off limits to us and we (Contrast that with the Russian army that occupied of Israel and be supported by Jewish charity). If she does FROM THE HEART werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even supposed to go into them, Germany and the eastern states between the years 1945 convert, then he marries her and she becomes his wife with OF JERUSALEM but it was a really hot day, and we were and 1947. During this period of time it is estimated there full rights and privileges, not a slave or a mistress. really thirsty, so, using â&#x20AC;&#x153;initiative in the were approximately two million German women raped.)

Clearly, we are not speaking here of a woman as an object ďŹ eld,â&#x20AC;? a couple of us went in to a marI challenge any army in the world to match this standard. of desire, but rather a process which concludes in a partnerket to get a couple of six-packs of Coke And that is what a Jewish army is meant to be. So how does ship of marriage. And in fact the soldier, or anyone else, is for the guys. one understand the Eshet Yefat Toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ar described above? forbidden to take advantage of this woman in any way, even Imagine what it would feel like to In fact, the same portion that permits the Eshet Yefat though she is technically a captured prisoner of war. Obvisee two fellows in full gear with M-16 Toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ar, also teaches us the prohibition of rape, as well as the ously, the army of Israel has a very different notion of the submachine guns, webbing and pouch- penalties imposed for such a heinous crime (22: 25-27). And, concept of a prisoner of war! es and all, walk into the small corner based on the Mishnah (in the eighth chapter of Sanhedrin), So what is the message behind this challenging mitzvah? grocery store you owned one afternoon. it is from this same portion that we are taught that a person It is not accidental that this portion is always read durI didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see his face right away, and is allowed to kill a would-be rapist, even though one is not ing the Jewish month of Elul, preceding Rosh Hashanah. The only noticed his apprehension as I allowed, without beneďŹ t of the legal system of courts and the theme of this month, in preparation for the days of awe, is walked to the cash register in the front like, to kill an idolater. one of introspection and repentance, permeated by the desire Rabbi Binny of the store.

I dropped the six-packs on Incredible!

Over 3,000 years ago, Judaism taught that the to change, to overcome the pitfalls of the previous year, and Freedman the counter, waiting somehow become better. expectantly for him Many of commentaries note the opening words of this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portion: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ki Tetzeh to ring up the purchase on his cash register. At this point, his look of fear became Leâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Milchamah Al Oyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;vecha.â&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you infused with a nervous confusion, and he go out to war against your enemy.â&#x20AC;?) started placing other items on the counThey explain that each of us does battle within ourselves, and that often we are our ter alongside my Cokes. At this point, I became confused and started shaking my own greatest enemies. head.

There is an idea that the Torah is always speaking to all of us, in our daily lives. How He was speechless, and it took me a moment to realize that after nearly ten many of us, in the end, have ever seen, or years of occupation by the PLO, it had for that matter, ever will see battle? And never even occurred to him that we, as Iswhat are the chances that we will be chalraeli soldiers, would actually want to pay lenged by the predicament of the Eshet Yefor the Cokes. fat Toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ar? In reality, however, we face this I had no Lebanese money, but I had challenge every day. some dollars, which were at that time far hat the Torah is sharing with us more valuable than Lebanese currency, so here is the struggle between love I dropped a ďŹ ve-dollar bill on the counter and lust. and waited for some change. And then Love and lust, though so closely related he got it. He pushed away the ďŹ ve-dollarthat they are often confused, are really bill, indicating to me to just take what I very different. We lust objects, but we love wanted. But I insisted on paying, for obvipartners. Lust will always wane with time, ous reasons. but love will always grow.

And then, as he rang up the bill, a Most of all, lust is all about taking, and huge smile lit up his face, and he clasped love is all about giving. Because in lust I my hands with both of his and said one see only myself; it is love that allows me to word: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shalom.â&#x20AC;? And in that moment, I see the other. understood what the dream of a Jewish 7KH FKDOOHQJH LV ZKHWKHU ZH FDQ UHPDLQ KRO\ LQ D WDQN RU RQ WKH Ă&#x20AC;RRU RI WKH VWRFN H[FKDQJH A soldier, in the heat of battle, can bestate was all about. And what a Jewish come so focused on the primary objective protection of a woman from rape was even higher than the of staying alive; it is natural to become completely focused army was always meant to be. his weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portion, Ki Tetzeh, is the basis for the estab- honor of G-d himself! And yet, in this same portion, we are on oneself, so much so that often the normal mores of society lishment of just such an army with a moral ethic as its told of how a soldier who â&#x20AC;&#x153;sees a beautiful woman â&#x20AC;Ś may completely break down. guideline. Which is what makes the beginning of the take her â&#x20AC;Ś as a wife.â&#x20AC;?

I recall once, getting off a safari truck in Kiryat Shmoneh A closer examination of the laws of the Eshet Yefat Toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ar way up north, after a long stint in Lebanon, having to yell at portion so difďŹ cult to fathom.

After last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s descriptions (in Shoftim) of the moral shows that the case here is not so simple. a few of my men to stop them from relieving themselves by â&#x20AC;&#x153;And you shall bring her into your home, and she shall the side of a road in the middle of a crowded city street. They standards demanded of the soldier in a Jewish army, including the obligation to ďŹ rst call out to your enemy in peace shave her head, and cut her nails. had gotten so accustomed to army life in the ďŹ eld; it took a And she shall take off her captive dress, and sit in your moment for them to snap back into life as part of society.

(Devarim 20:10), the prohibition in war against destroying the fruit trees, even of the enemy (20:19), one imagines an home and mourn her father and mother for a month of days, Judaism suggests that that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the way life was meant and then you may come to her and take her for a wife. army of Israel with the highest ethical standards. to be.

And if you shall no longer desire her, then you shall send Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no big deal to be holy in the synagogue or the study Jewish tradition describes both the physical and spiritual level expected of the Israeli soldier to the extent that even her away. And you may not sell her for money, nor make use hall. The real challenge is whether we can remain holy in a tank, or on the ďŹ&#x201A;oor of the stock exchange. improper thoughts were prohibited! The Talmud in Avodah of her, for having afďŹ&#x201A;icted her.â&#x20AC;? (21:12-14) Maimonides (Laws of Kings 8:3) makes an incredible So the issue isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t whether this woman is being made an Zarah (20b) points out that the Divine presence itself was turned away from the army if its soldiers were thinking im- statement, explaining the verse â&#x20AC;&#x153;And you shall bring her into object, it is rather whether the soldier continues to see her your home,â&#x20AC;? to mean, that the soldier is not allowed to intimi- as one. pure thoughts!

And on a deeper level, during Elul, we are trying to â&#x20AC;&#x153;conSo one could hardly imagine a stranger command in the date her in war, but rather must ďŹ rst bring her home (see also Torah than the one given the Jewish soldier at the beginning Rashi Shabbat 64a, â&#x20AC;&#x153;sheloâ&#x20AC;?), and a number of commentaries, vert,â&#x20AC;? to re-discover who we were meant to be, and to emincluding the Tosafot there, as well as the Ramban, rule that brace, anew, the dream and mission we were each brought of this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portion: â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you go out to war against your enemies, and he the soldier is prohibited from having relations with her until into this world to fulďŹ ll.

This is the month of creating relationships of love, transis given into your hands by G-d, and you take captives, if this 30 day period has passed! you see a beautiful woman (Eshet Yefat Toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ar) amongst the ndeed, it is clear that we are discussing anything but pas- forming our relationship with G-d and the world to one of prisoners, and you yearn for her, you may take her to you as sion in the heat of battle, given that the soldier may not giving; to be able to see holiness everywhere, and to release a wife.â&#x20AC;? (21:10-11) consider a relationship with her for quite some time after that holiness into the world.

There is so much evil in the world, and yet there is also In other words, if a soldier desires a woman amongst she is brought to his home.

Further, the Torah (see 21:12-13 in Rashi) is taking great much good and loving-kindness. the prisoners, he can literally take her, in every sense of the word! What of the dream of being a light unto the nations, pains to actually distance the soldier from his passion. She Our challenge, as a people, and as a world, is to transform and demonstrating before the world that there is a higher must have time to mourn her losses; let the soldier see her the lusts we sometimes are gripped by, into love and buildoutside the heat of battle, without the trappings that make ing, so that the world moves closer to becoming the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Olam moral standard?

I cannot imagine an Israeli soldier, in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s army, ever her beautiful, in all her misery.

Chesed,â&#x20AC;? the world of loving-kindness, that it is meant to be.

Even more fascinating, as Maimonides makes clear in his And the way to begin is to start with ourselves, each of us, even considering the type of action seemingly sanctioned Laws of Kings (8:5), is that this is a process of conversion. one at a time. here, and yet, there it is, right out of the Torah!

Best wishes for a sweet, happy and healthy New Year, There is an amazing statistic that never seems to have This woman is being given the opportunity to become a Jew, Ketivah Veâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Chatimah Tovah. made it to CNN, but is worthy of mention here. In June of which cannot, in Jewish tradition, be done by force, but must To comment, or to contact Rabbi Freedman: Columnist@ 1982, 20,000 Israeli troops rolled across the border into Leb- be a consensual decision, for the convert to want to â&#x20AC;&#x153;embrace anon. Putting aside the issues of this particular war, and why the opportunity to come under the canopy of the Divine pres- TheJewishStar.com

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THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774

The dream of a Jewish state and a Jewish army

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September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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Al Sharpton’s sins and Parshat Shoftim POLITICS TO GO

Jeff Dunetz

M

ichael Brown was buried last week. Some criticize the family for asking Al Sharpton to speak at Michael Brown’s funeral. That’s wrong; the Brown family is enduring a pain that no parent should endure and should not be criticized for any choice they make to ease their pain.

It is, however, justified to criticize the media for building up this hater, for averting their eyes and refusing to show Sharpton for the hypocritical bigot he has been his

entire career.

Al Sharpton began Michael Brown’s eulogy by quoting the Biblical prophet Micah. But when thinking about Sharpton’s career I can only think of a passage from last week’s parsha Shoftim: “You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the L-rd your G-d is giving you. “ Watching last week’s funeral opened a festering wound from the past, a funeral in 1991 where Al Sharpton also gave a powerful eulogy; at that one he said: “The world will tell us he was killed by accident.

Yes, it was a social accident. … It’s an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights. … Talk about how Oppenheimer in South Africa sends diamonds straight to Tel Aviv and deals with the diamond merchants right here in Crown Heights. The issue is not antiSemitism; the issue is apartheid. … All we want to say is what Jesus said: If you offend one of these little ones, you got to pay for it. No compromise, no meetings, no kaffe klatsch, no skinnin’ and grinnin’. Pay for your deeds.”

Those people in Crown Heights should have justice, especially those who were hurt in the violence as noted in the sworn testimony of Efraim Lipkind, a former Hasidic resident of the neighborhood: “Then we had a famous man, Al Sharpton, who came down, and he said Tuesday night, kill the Jews, two times. I heard him, and he started to lead a charge across the street to Utica.”

Justice means Sharpton should be condemned by the media as a hater because when New York City Jews complained about the anti-Semitism of college professor Leonard Jeffries in 1991, Sharpton called them race baiters, adding, “If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.”

Former state Attorney General Robert Abrams needs justice. Sharpton refused to meet with Abrams during the Tawana Brawley hoax because to meet with Abrams would be “like asking someone who watched someone killed in the gas chamber to sit down with Mr. Hitler.”

Steven Pagones, former Assistant District Attorney in Duchess County, deserves justice. In 1987, Sharpton accused him of raping Tawana Brawley.

Not only was Pagones nowhere near Brawley that night, but also the entire rape story was a fraud.

How about justice for Yosef Lifsh, the driver of the car that tragically struck Gavin Cato in August 1991? Al Sharpton falsely claimed he was driving drunk that night, although police tested him and he was clean. Al Sharpton incited so much hate

against Lifsh that he fled to Israel.

Angelina Marrero, Cynthia Martinez, Luz Ramos, Mayra Rentas, Olga Garcia, Garnette Ramautar, Kareem Brunner, the seven victims of the massacre at Freddy’s Fashion Mart never had justice. They are dead because a four-month-long campaign of hate by Al Sharpton led to a man firebombing the clothing store, killing the seven innocents.

The Central Park jogger who was raped and beaten to within an inch of her life and her former boyfriend never received justice. Sharpton led rallies where he claimed she was raped by her boyfriend and beaten to within a hair of death.

David Dinkins, the hapless first black mayor of New York deserves justice. He was called a prostitute by Sharpton and was angrily denounced with the “n” word.

Remember the controversy surrounding the Duke lacrosse team? They never received justice when they were falsely accused of rape and without any facts Al Sharpton declared that they had attacked a girl, and he warned that if arrests were not made immediately, there would be no peace.

It was later proven that indeed she had totally invented the story and all charges against the defendants were dropped.

Al Sharpton slanders political opponents. They too need justice. For example he once told his radio audience that Republicans view black people as subhumans, much as Adolf Hitler saw Jews. “It seems like they [some of the right wing] act as though some wiping out of people … is alright.

It’s not alright to do to any innocent people. …

[To] wipe out innocent people just ‘cause of who they are, like was done in Hitler’s Germany, or was done to Native Americans, is not justified.” hile most of Sharpton’s acts of hate were not criminal, they were immoral. Justice for him would be for the media to ignore him instead of propping him up and honoring him.

Justice would be for the President of the United States to say I will not associate with a man who spews such hatred instead of using Sharpton as an adviser.

At Michael Brown’s funeral, Al Sharpton said, “God judges you for what you did on Earth.” He’s correct, because in the end it is up to Hashem to dispose final justice. However just once I would like to see the mainstream media pursue justice by asking Sharpton how does he think G-d will judge him for filling the world with chamas, violence and cruelty?

A Baptist Minister, Al Sharpton regularly breaks the ninth commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” He has incited riots; he has falsely accused people of crimes, many of which never happened. A real preacher would not have incited violence but called for peace. A real preacher would have waited for the truth before he incited and accused. A real preacher would have apologized when he wrongly accused people, a real preacher would be pursuing justice.

The mainstream media should be perusing truth and justice about Al Sharpton, indeed we all should. They should be asking tough questions of others for associating with Al Sharpton, they should be asking MSNBC if they agree with his venom, they should be asking Al Sharpton to justify his anti-Semitism and his hatred of others.

And the rest of us should be pressing the media to ask those tough questions. It’s time for Al Sharpton to be labeled for what he is — a hater not a healer.

Justice, justice shall you pursue.

To comment, or to contact Jeff Dunetz: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com

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The Rev. Al finally gets it right T

he Rev. Al Sharpton is getting the right kind of grief.

This time it’s not from conservatives for being a race hustler who exploits every white-on-black killing to raise money for his civil rights group National Action Network or to boost his miserable ratings on MSNBC. This time Sharpton is being criticized by other blacks — liberal blacks — who didn’t like the tough sermon he preached at Michael Brown’s funeral on Monday.

Sharpton’s fiery eulogy was not the familiar Gospel of the Rev. Al. Sure, he quoted the Bible and criticized Ferguson police for allowing a young black man’s body to lie in the middle of the street for more than four hours. But after calling for major reforms in policing, Sharpton pulled a Michael Reagan switcheroo.

He pointedly condemned the violence and rioting that came in response to Brown’s death.

Then he surprised everyone in the church by bringing up a subject that too few black leaders — particularly the part-time one in the White House — are brave enough to bring up on a public stage.

Sharpton said blacks have to take responsibility for the chronic violence and bad behavior in their community that creates so much police attention in the first place.

“We have to be outraged at a 9-year-old girl killed in Chicago. We have got to be outraged by our disrespect for each other, our disregard for each other, our killing and shooting and running around gun-toting each other...”

As Sharpton said, “Blackness has never been about being a gangster or a thug.” It has been about rising up, fighting against discrimination, building churches and black colleges and succeeding in life and never giving up.

“And now,” he said, “we get to the 21st century, we get to where we’ve got some positions of power. And you decide it ain’t black no more to be successful. Now, you want to be a n----- and call your woman a ‘ho.’ You’ve lost where you’re coming from.”

The New Rev. Al had Spike Lee and other sensible blacks standing in pews when he declared, “We’ve got to clean up our community so we can clean up the United States of America!”

But since Monday Sharpton has been rapped by “progressive” blacks for using Brown’s funeral and the notoriety of a tragic police shooting to scold the black community for its own sins. he Rev. Al’s critics say the issue of black-on-black crime is irrelevant to Brown’s death. Brown was shot by a white cop, not another young black male, they argue.

BS, I say. Sharpton was right to use a national pulpit to challenge black leaders to address the black-on-black killing spree that has been decimating the youth of our inner cities for decades.

Thanks to the attention of the national media and professional race-card players like Sharpton, everyone in America knows about Michael Brown’s tragic death. Soon we’ll know how it actually happened.

Meanwhile, have you ever heard of Dorval Jenkins, Marcus McCarty or Antonio Smith?

They’re just three of the 26 murder victims in Chicago since Aug. 9, the day Brown was killed in suburban Ferguson.

All but one or two of the 26 dead Chicagoans were young black males. All but one or two were shot to death deliberately or by accident by other black males.

Jenkins was 19. McCarty was 14. Antonio Smith, deliberately gunned down by local gangsters in a dead-end alley for unknown reasons, was 9.

Al Sharpton didn’t show up at their funerals. Neither did Spike Lee or Snoop Dogg. Neither did several underlings from the White House. Neither did Brian Williams and Anderson Cooper.

Black-on-black gang murders are too common. They’re not news. So they don’t bring good ratings or network camera teams.

It’s great to see the Rev. Al’s call for blacks to man-up and address the violence and gang culture that’s destroying their community and tainting their entire race.

Now, if he’s really serious, he needs to take it to the streets and churches of Chicago.

Whether the cameras follow him there or not.

Michael Reagan is the son of former President Ronald Reagan. He is an author and is a popular national speaker on issues related to conservative politics. His work can be seen at www.reagan.com.

MAKING SENSE

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or most third graders, the school year began this week with the hustle and bustle of new teachers, fresh notebooks, and crisply ironed uniforms. But the third grader in Gaza whose photo appeared in the New York Times on Aug. 30 wore a different kind of uniform: a headband with “jihad” slogans Rafaei Medoff and military-style camouflage pants, while carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and marching alongside adult members of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group.

The macabre practice of educating children to hate and kill, honed to deadly perfection in Nazi Germany, is alive and well 70 years after the end of the Third Reich. It is now found in a different part of the world, and the youngsters who are being raised to murder speak a different language, but the targets are still Jews.

It was no secret that the Nazis were teaching German children to glorify hatred and violence. At a press conference in September 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself expressed concern that the German government seemed to be preparing young people for war with Germany’s neighbors. He related a story he had heard from an American tourist in Germany, about an 8-year-old German boy who in his bedtime prayers each night would say, “Dear God, please permit it that I shall die with a French bullet in my heart.”

OPINION

One of the ways in which Americans learned about the Nazi indoctrination of Germany’s youth was from Disney. During World War Two, Disney created a series of short cartoons to support the American war effort and expose the nature of Nazism. They were shown in movie theaters, prior to the main feature.

One episode, called “Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi,” follows a German child, “Hans,” as the Nazi school system turns him, step by step, into a worshipper of Adolf Hitler. When Hans’s teacher shows the pupils a fox capturing and eating a rabbit, Hans makes the innocent mistake of expressing sympathy for “the poor rabbit.” As a result, he is made to sit in the corner with a dunce cap, while another student gives the “correct” answer: “The world belongs to the strong… The rabbit is a coward and deserves to die.” Finally surrendering to peer pressure, Hans agrees that the rabbit was “a weakling” who got what he deserved. The teacher then provides the moral of the story: the German people are “an unconquerable super race” who will “destroy all weak and cowardly nations.” The Disney narrator concludes: “For now his education is complete—his education for death.”

CBS correspondent Howard K. Smith recognized that the Hitler Youth movement

might be the Nazis’ most powerful weapon.

He reported that he was “more afraid, more terrorized, at watching a squad of these little boys [of Hitler Youth], their tender faces screwed up in frowns to ape their idolized leaders” than he was at seeing “a panzer brigade of grown-up fighters.” After all, when it came to Germany’s soldiers, “we only have to fight… But we shall have to live under the children who are being trained for their role,” Smith explained.

That was precisely why Hitler lavished attention and resources on the Hitler Youth.

“With them, I can make a new world,” he once remarked.

Members of Hitler Youth played a prominent role in many infamous atrocities, from forcing Vienna’s Jews to scrub the streets with toothbrushes in 1938, to the mass shooting of Jews swimming from sinking boats in the German harbor of Lubeck, just before Germany’s surrender in 1945. While other branches of the Nazi apparatus collapsed or surrendered in the waning days of World War Two, Hitler Youth remained fanatically loyal to their Fuhrer to the very end.

Today’s fanatical child-terrorists are not limited to Gaza. On the same day that the photo of the third-grader with the Kalashnikov appeared in the New York Times, a 14

Expelling the Mahdi terrorscouts from world scouting would be an important step in making it clear that such abuse of children will not be tolerated.

year-old girl in France was arrested as she attempted to travel with two other teenage girls to the Middle East, to join a jihadist group.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, the 60,000-member Mahdi Scouts movement has been serving as a “feeder” movement for the Hezbollah terrorist organization, according to the Times. Children who belong to the Mahdi Scouts are trained in “resistance or military activities,” and are made to study books in which “Jews are described as cruel, corrupt, cowardly, and deceitful, called killers of prophets.” When the scouts are old enough, they join Hezbollah.

The Mahdi Scout movement is the largest group within the Lebanese Scout Federation.

That federation, along with the Boy Scouts of America and other scouting movements from around the world, are all part of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM).

Last year, longtime U.S. Boy Scout leader Scott Teare was elected secretary-general of the WOSM. There is something disconcerting about an American who represents the noble values of the Boy Scouts sitting side by side with a scouting movement whose largest component is part of a terrorist group—in fact, a terrorist group that has murdered an estimated 300 Americans.

Expelling the Mahdi terror-scouts from the world scouting movement will not solve the problem of extremists raising their children to commit murder. But it would be an important first step in the process of the civilized world finally making it clear that such abuse of children will not be tolerated.

Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, www.

WymanInstitute.org.

Happy New Year!

Send your High Holiday Greetings thru The Jewish New Year begins Wednesday Night, September 24.

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THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774

Teaching kids to kill, in Gaza and beyond

New kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; siddurimâ&#x20AC;Ś Continued from page 10 used by anyone in high school or older) stimulates an intellectual, visual, and emotional connection to prayer through Sacksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s translation of the prayers. It also includes a multi-tier commentary by Rabbi Dr. Jay Goldmintz. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Each of us come to teďŹ lla with different experiences and backgrounds, at different stages of our lives and our developmentâ&#x20AC;Ś with different needs, moods and desires,â&#x20AC;? writes Goldmintz in his introduction to the high school siddur. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The prayer does not change, but the pray-er does.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a scary concept,â&#x20AC;? says Rose, noting he foresees it being a â&#x20AC;&#x153;challengeâ&#x20AC;? to convince schools that children need more than one siddur throughout their educational experience. It will cost more, and it means revamping the curriculum.

Rose, however, does not see another option.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are losing our opportunity to encourage children to have a connection with G-d,â&#x20AC;? he says.

Bayer notes how we â&#x20AC;&#x153;say to our children that we have this wayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;prayerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of communicating, but we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really give them the tools to do it.â&#x20AC;?

The way Sacks sees it, now is the time to move from mechanical recitation of prayer to the central spiritual experience that prayer is meant to be. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think teďŹ lla is a transformative experience,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And we know the result of transformative experiences: they allow us to see the Divine presence in our lives.â&#x20AC;?

To learn more about these new siddurim, visit www.korenpub.com.

Maayan Jaffe is a freelance writer in Overland Park, Kan. Reach her at maayanjaffe@icloud.com or follow her on Twitter at @MaayanJaffe.

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upcoming anti-Israel initiative: the Sept.

23 International Day of Action on College Campuses organized by University of California, Berkeley professor Dr. Hatem Bazian and the American Muslims for Palestine. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We [also] talked [at the conference] about the track record of SJP at different campuses,â&#x20AC;? said Rothstein. While SJP has â&#x20AC;&#x153;the right to express their opinionsâ&#x20AC;? in accordance with free speech, in many cases â&#x20AC;&#x153;this is really about bullying,â&#x20AC;? she said.

StandWithUs deďŹ nes the difference between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism or intimidation based on the â&#x20AC;&#x153;three Dsâ&#x20AC;?: double standards against Israel, demonization, and delegitimization. DeďŹ ning hate speech is â&#x20AC;&#x153;not very difďŹ cult when someone calls you the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;kâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; word,â&#x20AC;? as was the case in the Temple SJP incident, Rothstein said.

This year, based on how Israel conducted Operation Protective Edge and how Hamas behaved during the conďŹ&#x201A;ict, â&#x20AC;&#x153;we hope to make it clear that Hamas is holding the Palestinian people back from their futures, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re hurting [both] the Palestinian people and the Israelis,â&#x20AC;? added Rothstein.

CAMERA also held a summer conference for pro-Israel students, bringing together 53 participants in Boston for the media watchdogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual Student Leadership and Advocacy Training Conference.

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conference included a new focus on the phenomenon of anti-Israel divestment resolutions, with CAMERA holding a mock student government debate to help pro-Israel advocates simulate a scenario they are likely to face on at least some campuses this year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think practicing how to talk to the other side is extremely important,â&#x20AC;? said Hali Haber, a student at the University of Central Florida who participated in CAMERAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mock divestment debate. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hoped that I would take away the conďŹ dence it takes to advocate on campus, and I did.â&#x20AC;?

Due to the increasingly blatant antiSemitism being displayed by anti-Israel campus groups, the ICCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Baime believes students need to be reminded of their identity beyond the Israel issue.

Though fostering Jewish identity is not the ICCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role as an organization, Baime said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I actually think that given events around the world, we may need to have an even more basic conversation with Jewish students about being proud to be Jewish.â&#x20AC;?

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Continued from page 10 partner organization. The ICCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grants are a new initiative to help students, campus professionals, and faculty launch visible initiatives in support for Israel on their campuses. Checks are set to go out to the ďŹ rst 65 grantees for projects such as leadership dinners, rallies, statements signed by student leaders and published in campus newspapers, and more.

Jacob Baime, executive director of the ICC, said he believes the â&#x20AC;&#x153;greatest threat of fallout from the current conďŹ&#x201A;ictâ&#x20AC;? is the â&#x20AC;&#x153;potential of an erosion of conďŹ dence of pro-Israel students and other stakeholders on campus.â&#x20AC;?

In that vein, the ICC Academic Networkâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;comprised of 64 professors on 54 campusesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is â&#x20AC;&#x153;making a concerted effort now to organize private meetings with proIsrael students in order to increase their conďŹ dence,â&#x20AC;? Baime told JNS.org.

Additionally, the ICC is fostering collaboration among its pro-Israel partner groups on campus, including a recently held twoday retreat in St. Louis attended by 30 ďŹ eld professionals. A larger ICC retreat is planned for December in Orlando, Fla. Groups like SJP â&#x20AC;&#x153;donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do anything to bring people together, they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do anything to actually help the plight of the Palestinians,â&#x20AC;? Baime said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not only do they not accept the notion of two states for two people, but if you ask a representative of SJP whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t acknowledge it, they wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even answer the question generally,â&#x20AC;? he said.

When it comes to incidents such as the one that occurred at Temple University, â&#x20AC;&#x153;thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s absolutely no place for violence on a college campus, which is a place of open dialogue, discussion, and debate,â&#x20AC;? according to Baime.

He said the ICC encourages students â&#x20AC;&#x153;to try to de-escalate a situation like that,â&#x20AC;? and that the pro-Israel side is currently â&#x20AC;&#x153;exhibiting a tremendous amount of decorum, and we should continue that.â&#x20AC;?

The Israel education organization StandWithUs expressed a similar sentiment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Students need to be able to point the ďŹ nger at anti-Semitism and bullying, and not accept it as commonplace,â&#x20AC;? StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein told JNS.org.

In August, a training conference for the 70 StandWithUs Emerson Fellows helped students prepare for how to respond to an

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September 5, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 10 ELUL 5774 THE JEWISH STAR

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International law and the Israel-Hamas conďŹ&#x201A;ict

By Eli Wishnivetski, JNS.org In the wake of the latest Israel-Hamas conďŹ&#x201A;ict, both sides are invoking violations of international law. The United Nations, in late July, had already announced an investigation into alleged Israeli â&#x20AC;&#x153;war crimesâ&#x20AC;? in Gaza, and in mid-August the international body named the members of a three-person panel that will conduct the probe.

How should a scrupulous application of international law treat Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Operation Protective Edge and Hamasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actions in the conďŹ&#x201A;ict? That is no small question, because the outcome of the U.N. investigation will be the commonly accepted verdict on the matter.

The international humanitarian laws regulating conduct of armed conďŹ&#x201A;icts are the 1949 Geneva Conventions, along with their ofďŹ cial commentaries. Three additional Protocols that purport to clarify and add various provisions were instituted in 1977. Since not all nations have ratiďŹ ed the Protocolsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;notably including the U.S., Israel, and the U.N. non-member observer state â&#x20AC;&#x153;Palestineâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;the protocolsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; application falls outside the scope of the investigative committee.

As the issue at hand pertains to the protection of civilians in wartime, the Fourth Geneva Convention and its derivative commentaries are predominantly pertinent.

Procedural considerations Article 149 of the Fourth Geneva Convention institutes a procedure by which an inquiry into a violation of the Convention is to be carried out. Any investigation into an alleged violation must be conducted through an agreement between the partiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;either via negotiated procedures or an appointment of a mutually agreed-upon umpire. The process to appoint an investigative three-person panel is palpably speciďŹ c.

The panelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members must be drawn from a list of eight â&#x20AC;&#x153;neutralâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;qualiďŹ edâ&#x20AC;? nomineesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;four from each opponent. Each side appoints one member to the panel. The third, should the parties disagree, is appointed by the International Court of Justice. The Convention certainly prohibits one party to the conďŹ&#x201A;ict, or even a third party, to unilaterally determine the members of an investigative panel. Yet severe doubt is cast on the neutrality of the Gaza probeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nominees.

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Legal considerations Despite the procedural failings, it is worthwhile to ask whether the U.N.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case against Israel works on its merits. The shelling of Gaza hospitals, the most damning of allegations, is also the most instructive. Hospitals are explicitly off-limits, according to Article 18 of the Convention, and are recommended to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;situated as far as possible from [military] objectives.â&#x20AC;? A hospital encapsulates all claims of civilian harmâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it may board women, children, and the sick or wounded.

The Conventionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Articles, however, also explicitly mention the positive obligation of all parties in the conďŹ&#x201A;ict to â&#x20AC;&#x153;respectâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;protectâ&#x20AC;? the hospitals. The Convention makes clear that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.â&#x20AC;? Acts of â&#x20AC;&#x153;belligerentsâ&#x20AC;? that compel â&#x20AC;&#x153;civilians to remainâ&#x20AC;Ś to serve as a protective screen for the ďŹ ghting troopsâ&#x20AC;? are considered â&#x20AC;&#x153;shocking.â&#x20AC;? These acts are condemned as â&#x20AC;&#x153;cruel and barbaricâ&#x20AC;? and are deemed to fall outside the â&#x20AC;&#x153;ruses of war.â&#x20AC;?

Particularly instructive is Article 19, which overtly discontinues the protection afforded to hospitals in the event that â&#x20AC;&#x153;they

are used to commit â&#x20AC;Ś acts harmful to the enemy.â&#x20AC;? Examples of harmful acts include utilizing a hospital as a military observation post, to harbor able-bodied combatants, to store arms or ammunitions or as a center from which to coordinate ďŹ ghting troops.

Although cessation of protection must be mitigated with warnings and reasonable time to evacuate, perpetuation of acts harmful to the enemy from a hospital is condemned because â&#x20AC;&#x153;such acts may lessen the protective value of the Convention,â&#x20AC;? causing the â&#x20AC;&#x153;life and security of the patientsâ&#x20AC;? to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;very seriously affected by its consequences.â&#x20AC;?

Application of the legal considerations The Palestinian death toll during Operation Protective Edge surpassed 2,000, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, claiming that civilians account for 30-50 percent of the casualtiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;giving rise to widespread allegations of war crimes by Israel, whose death toll was 70. Despite that disparity and the harrowing imagery from Gaza, it would appear that Israel is not in violation of international humanitarian law as outlined by the Geneva Conventions.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has been tasked with ending the rocket threat emanat-

Off and on the Orthodox pathâ&#x20AC;Ś Continued from page 12 Today, Cohen, Schneiderman, and Josh are all Orthodox. They all found G-d again. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the religion I came back to,â&#x20AC;? explained Cohen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was Jewish spirituality and a relationship with G-d.â&#x20AC;?

Cohen said he always had â&#x20AC;&#x153;spiritual tendenciesâ&#x20AC;? as a child that he wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to tap into.

But once he experienced G-d himself, he felt compelled to return. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was going off for a run one day and seeing the sun set and saying [the verse], â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ma rabu maâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;asecha Hashem kulam beâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;chochma asisah (How many are your works, they are all made with wisdom). That little spark started something in me,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Cohen said he often thinks about the â&#x20AC;&#x153;what ifsâ&#x20AC;?: What if he had done something that tremendously impacted his relationship with his parents or community? What if he had fathered a child with a non-Jewish woman or gotten tattoos? Would returning have been harder?

Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman, who runs the Ohr Chadash outreach organization in Israel, said becoming observant is much harder for someone who chose to leave than it is for someone discovering a religious connection for the ďŹ rst time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When [secular people] discover the beauty of Torah and Judaism and Shabbos and

the holidays and mitzvot, they realize this is something they were missing,â&#x20AC;? said Trugman. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If they had no idea how beautiful and rich Judaism is, there is a tremendous incentive to pursue that knowledge. For someone who was brought up religious, whatever made them walk away may still make a strong and emotional impression that is not easy to overcome.â&#x20AC;?

But no matter how off the path a person goes, the Jewish spark in his or her soul never dies, according to Trugman. â&#x20AC;&#x153;One can always get closer to Hashem.â&#x20AC;Ś One can always do teshuva,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is a concept in Judaism that someone who commits a sin thinking he will just repent for it later cannot receive forgiveness.

They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow him to teshuva,â&#x20AC;? said Josh, explaining that this idea weighed on him during his journey back to faith. But he said he learned that it is not that one cannot repent, bur rather that repentance itself cannot come without effort.

Menken said the process of doing teshuva, as described succinctly in an article he has read on the Aish HaTorah website, is as follows: stop, regret, verbalize, make a plan to never do the sin again.

Trugman deďŹ ned teshuva as â&#x20AC;&#x153;retuning to the natural state of the Jewish soul.â&#x20AC;? He said anyone can do teshuva, not just those who have sinned,

but those who want to get closer to G-d.

One should start each day saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hashem, if I would have known yesterday what I know about You today, I would have served You better,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Trugman, through Ohr Chadash, has hosted more than 10,000 people for Shabbat. He said he always tells visitors to take teshuva one day at a time. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The secret of teshuva is never to be satisďŹ ed in a spiritual sense with what we think we have accomplished,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Schneiderman was diagnosed with cancer while he started his journey back to observance. He said reading the book â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Garden of Emunahâ&#x20AC;? by Rabbi Shalom Arush helped him realize that G-d â&#x20AC;&#x153;is more patient than anyone,â&#x20AC;? and that he had time to complete his journey back. Today Schneiderman is married with two children, and described himself as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a master returner.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have to constantly be recharging and renewing my relationship with G-d,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have learned that G-d forgives,â&#x20AC;? said Cohen, who today is married with children and living in Israel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He gives us chance after chance after chance. I think going off the derech has made me a stronger Jew.â&#x20AC;?

Maayan Jaffe is a freelance writer in Overland Park, Kan. @MaayanJaffe.

ing out of Gaza. The rocket attacks, according to the U.N., constitute a war crime due to their professed indiscriminate nature. Although the U.N. generally views those crimes as nominal, Hamasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exploits in Gaza are quite dispositive. Extensive reporting from Gaza has made it apparent that Hamas has deliberately utilized the civilian population in order either gain the protection of the Geneva Conventions or implicate Israeli soldiers as violators thereof.

In July, nearly 3,000 rockets were ďŹ red into Israel from among the civilian populace, including from residential areas and hospital zones. Hamas utilizes schools as weapons depots, mosques as fortiďŹ ed military outposts, and residential homes as hideouts and launch sites. It fails to carry military insignia into combat and uses ambulances for transportation. It appears to skillfully use the dense construct of civilian residences as a collective fortress from which to carry out its military objectives. Hamas insists on civilians remaining in areas of military operations, at times through forcible detention. Civilian casualties, the use of human shields, and the repression of journalists comprise Hamasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s documented strategy.

In failing to â&#x20AC;&#x153;respectâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;protectâ&#x20AC;? the hospitalsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and instead opting for conducting military operations inside or within close proximity of hospitalsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Hamas triggered the Article 19 discontinuation of legal â&#x20AC;&#x153;protection.â&#x20AC;?.

For its part, Israel must still satisfy the mitigation requirements of the Convention.

By providing warningsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;through phone calls, messages, and pamphletsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and allowing civilians a moderate amount of time to evacuate targets of airstrikes, the IDF has reasonably fulďŹ lled its legal obligation. The oft-raised objection that Gazan evacuees have nowhere to go is not contemplated by the Convention; displacement is not a justiďŹ cation to remain at a targeted site.

Implications of legal considerations The U.N.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investigations of Israel are typically controversial venturesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;none more so than the 2009 Goldstone commission, a paradigm of baseless accusations not grounded in law. The circumstances of the 2008-9 Gaza war were all but identical to the current clash, complete with substantiation of civilian abuse by Gaza terrorists. The Goldstone Report still concluded that there was no evidence of such conduct, instead opting for labeling Israel as a human rights violator.

Judge Richard Goldstone retracted his report in April 2011, admitting that civilians were not intentionally targeted by Israel â&#x20AC;&#x153;as a matter of policy,â&#x20AC;? and that the fact that Hamas intentionally committed crimes against civilians â&#x20AC;&#x153;goes without saying.â&#x20AC;? Goldstone exposed the commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s partiality, stating that it did not have â&#x20AC;&#x153;evidence explaining the circumstances in which we said civilians in Gaza were targeted, because it probably would have inďŹ&#x201A;uenced our ďŹ ndings about intentionality and war crimes.â&#x20AC;?

The meticulous documentation by the IDF and the foreign independent media of the facts on the ground leaves the presently appointed three-person U.N. commission with an opportunity. The panel is presented with a case in which it can competently frame Hamasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terrorist tactics as illegal.

Rather than poisoning the well against Israel and Jews, an unequivocal consequence of the Goldstone Report, the panel can prove to be on the side of the law. In doing so, it can begin to steer the U.N. back onto the road towards credibility and to reclaiming its authority as the arbiter in matters of human rights and international law.

Eli Wishnivetski is a lawyer and freelance writer based in New York.

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THE JEWISH STAR September 5, 2014 • 10 ELUL 5774

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