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ELECTION: The Jewish Star’s endorsement: 6 • Roundup of candidates: 27 • SCHOOLS: 12-17

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Islamic event tiff roils Rice-Blakeman race

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By Ed Weintrob The race to ďŹ ll Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s South Shore Congressional seat tightened this week, with Israel sharing center stage.

Controversy swirled both around a cancelled appearance

by Democrat Kathleen Rice at the Islamic Center of Long Island and over the candidates’ level of support for the state of Israel.

The Rice campaign said that in April, in her role as Nassau District Attorney, she accepted an invitation to speak at the Islamic Center in November, and that she understood that she would be the only speaker. When the New York Observer reported last week that radical Imam Siraj Wahhaj would be added to the program, she immediately withdrew her participation and denounced Wahhaj, the campaign said.

North Shore Rep. Peter King joined Blakeman in a Manhattan press conference to attack Rice. “Peter King is a regular at this Islamic Center and, just as he has many times, Kathleen Rice accepted an invitation to address its members as the event’s sole speaker,� said Rice spokesman Eric Phillips.

Continued on page 23

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Shabbos Project challah bake draws 1,200 in 5T

By Celia Weintrob Bringing 1,200 women together in one place to bake challah is astonishing. But getting 1,200 women to become silent while reveling in the unity and ruach of a unique Shabbos event — that is a miracle.

Yet that is exactly what happened as the MC of The Great Challah Bake, last Thursday at The Sands Atlantic Beach, called for the attendees to pause and reect on what she deemed the holiest and most special point of the evening. “Separating the challah is the moment we have been waiting for, everything has been a buildup to this,â€? said Judy Rubin, who led the bakers with instructions and the spiritual meanings associated with each step. “If you get a little emotional, it’s ďŹ ne. The gates of tears are never closedâ€? when we pray to G-d, she said, and suggested that the group pray

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Different orientations join for Shabbat Rabbi Kenneth Hain, leader of Beth Sholom for 26 years, along with the new spiritual leader of the Cedarhurst synagogue, Rabbi Matt Futterman, coordinated the events.

Continued on page 19

For free delivery to your Long Island shul or business, email EWeintrob@TheJewishStar.com

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that the designated Torah potion — Noach — introduces the word “family� for the first time.

They shared a Shabbat dinner in the grand ballroom of Temple Beth El on Friday night, and a an afternoon meal at Congregation Beth Sholom.

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By Jeffrey Bessen, Nassau Herald Nearly 300 members of the Orthodox Congregation Beth Shalom in Lawrence and the Conservative Temple Beth El in Cedarhurst shared meals and got acquainted on the very Shabbos weekend

as one for themselves, their families, loved ones who are ill, and the State of Israel.

After the bracha for taking challah was recited in both English and Hebrew by Malky Feldman, a big cheer went up, and the ladies and girls joined hands and started dancing around their tables.

The Great Challah Bake was the kickoff event of The Shabbos Project, a worldwide effort to get Jews to celebrate Shabbos together over Parshat Noach weekend, Oct. 24-25. Initiated in South Africa last year, The Shabbos Project was embraced by Jewish communities in 340 cities and 11 times zones around the globe last weekend. Events in the Five Towns area were spearheaded by Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, assistant rabbi of Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst.

The Challah Bake’s planning, coordination and success was managed by co-chairs Adina Fischlewitz and Sima Gefen, whose 210 female volunteers, half of whom were local high school students, set up each participant’s challah-making station at the Sands, measured out the ingredients for each participant, and signed up attendees.

The Challah Bake “was euphoric, a little bit of Olam Habah,� said Fischlewitz. “I wanted to create a spiritual opening, and from that, each person starts a journey. We all saw the Continued on page 24

October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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“Our security at home begins with Israel’s security at home. I’ll stand up to the President or anyone else who doesn’t understand the importance of our cultural, ďŹ nancial and military bond with Israel.â€?

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aftali Bennett, Israel’s economy minister, got it 100 percent right in a Facebook posting just a few hours after the latest blow to American-Israeli relations— aka “chickens—gate� — surfaced in the media.

Responding to the anonymous “senior Obama administrationâ€? ofďŹ cial who told The Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a “chickens—,â€? Bennett said, “Cursing the prime minister and calling him names is an insult not just to him but to the millions of Israeli citizens and Jews across the globe.

The leader of Syria who slaughtered 150,000 people was not awarded the name ‘chickens—.’ Neither was the leader of Saudi Arabia who stones women and homosexuals or the leader of Iran who murders freedom protestors.�

I would have also added Qatar into the mix, as that terror-ďŹ nancing, slave-owning Gulf emirate is also fawned over by the Obama administration, but Bennett’s point stands nonetheless. Our ofďŹ cials in Washington come across as a vindictive and petty bunch, accusing an ally of cowardice while hiding behind anonymity, and guilty of hypocrisy in its rankest form. “Chickens—?â€? That’s rich, coming from an administration whose fear of Vladimir Putin is the subject of derisory mirth in the Kremlin, and whose cravenness towards Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus has directly resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent Syrians.

Blissfully dismissive of their own failings, they round on Netanyahu, a man who served with distinction in his country’s elite Sayeret Matkal army unit, by calling him, of

BEN COHEN VIEWPOINT all things, a coward!

And that’s not the only epithet. As Goldberg pointed out, “Over the years, Obama administration ofďŹ cials have described Netanyahu to me as recalcitrant, myopic, reactionary, obtuse, blustering, pompous, and ‘Aspergery.’â€?

(For those unclear as to what that last term means, it’s a pejorative description for people with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, and it’s as nasty as calling someone a “retard.� Remember that next time you hear another kumbaya, “let’s heal� speech from Obama.)

You have to think that sooner or later, the administration will join the chorus of conďŹ rmed Israel-haters by labeling Netanyahu as a “baby killerâ€? and a “war criminal.â€?

Sure, the Obama ofďŹ cials will say that the Israelis started it, by citing the injudicious comments about Secretary of State John Kerry uttered in private by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

But Ya’alon was man enough to apologize for what he said, and that still didn’t stop the administration from pursuing a private vendetta against him, blocking him from meeting with key ofďŹ cials like Vice President Joe Biden during his recent visit to Washington.

And while the Israelis wish they could turn back the clock on Ya’alon’s advice to Kerry to “take his Nobel Prize and leave us alone,� Obama’s appointees see nothing

wrong with insulting Netanyahu in such a grotesque manner because, you see, they are Right with a rolling, upper case “R,� and therefore anything goes.

I’ve argued many times in this column that, as far as Israel is concerned, the Obama administration is a lost cause. The only question now is how much damage they will do before Obama departs the White House—a day that can’t come soon enough, frankly.

The immediate danger lies on two fronts.

Firstly, the Palestinians. Any doubts that the Obama administration believes that Israel is responsible for the stalemate with the Palestinians will have been dispelled by Goldberg’s revelations. As far as Obama, Kerry, and company are concerned, the primary problem is Israel’s insistence in building new housing units in its undivided capital, Jerusalem. Their impatience could reach the point where the U.S. no longer backs Israel at the United Nations, thereby allowing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s crusade for unilateral recognition to reach fruition. In the event of such an outcome, Israel could ďŹ nd itself worryingly isolated, as the European governments are anxiously awaiting a signal from the Americans that it’s okay to abandon the Jewish state. If so, we will then be confronted with the edifying spectacle of the world’s democracies aligning themselves with tyrannies from Venezuela to Iran in singling out Israel for opprobrium.

Secondly, the Iranians.

The deadline for a ďŹ nal deal over the mullah’s nuclear ambitions—November 24—is upon us. Perhaps Obama thinks that cursing Netanyahu will persuade Iran’s Supreme Leader, the brutal Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to accept a deal. Judging by the breathlessly

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excited manner with which the regime’s English-language outlet, the Holocaust-denying Press TV, greeted chickens—gate, the president might be onto something.

But what beneďŹ ts will a historic accord with the Iranians bring us? Very few, whereas the costs will be enormous.

For a start, this isn’t just about Israel.

We will alienate the conservative Arab states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, all of them already angry and frustrated with Obama’s kowtowing to Tehran.

We will permit an Islamist state to become a nuclear power, at the same time that it backs terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah with money and weapons.

We will lose our leverage over the Iranians, in the form of biting sanctions, with few resources at our disposal to compel them to cooperate with international nuclear inspectors when they start—as they inevitably will—obstructing them at every turn.

And we risk, again, the prospect of an Israeli pre-emptive strike, because whatever else Netanyahu might be, he’s no chickens—.

Umpteen immediate questions remain, among them: Will Obama apologize for the chickens— remark? Will he publicly name and discipline the ofďŹ cials who showered Netanyahu with insults? What will he do if the Iranians decline to make a deal?

But the biggest question of all is a longterm one. What will the strategic map of the Middle East look like once Obama is done?

That’s what should be occupying the minds of Israel’s leaders, who are painfully aware that Obama’s peace efforts can only lead to more conict and strife.

Ben Cohen is the Shillman Analyst for JNS. org. His regular column appears on page 7.

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THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775

‘Chickens—gate’ fallout for US, Israel, Mideast

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October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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the Tanglewood Preserve in Rockville Centre.

Authorities have come across a number of abandoned reptiles in the past several years, in communities such as Baldwin and Mastic Beach. However, the small alligator in Long Beach was not discovered roaming a supermarket parking lot, as was the case in Baldwin two years ago, and the SPCA said that it was turned in to Animal Control in a tank.

Still, SPCA ofďŹ cials expressed concern, and said that it was yet another example of illegal alligators being found on Long Island. “These alligators are not meant to be pets,â€? the SPCA said. “They can grow upwards of 10 feet and cause serious bodily harm.â€?

The SPCA says that anyone possessing an alligator in New York can be slapped with a violation and a ďŹ ne of up to $150 — and abandoning one in a public place is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.

The SPCA is urging anyone who has information regarding a person in possession of dangerous animals to call 516-THE-SPCA.

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By Anthony RiďŹ lato, Long Beach Herald Long Beach is known for all sorts of marine wildlife, from harbor seals turning up on the beach to humpback whales leaping out of the ocean in the distance.

But the city’s Animal Control ofďŹ cers were in for a shock on Thursday, when a resident turned in a 14-inch American alligator.

The American alligator inhabits freshwater wetlands, and is typically found in the southeastern United States — not in a South Shore beach town.

The alligator was turned in to Animal Control by an unknown female who stated that she was moving. Long Beach ofďŹ cials notiďŹ ed the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which said it may have been kept as an exotic pet.

Both the Nassau County SPCA and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation responded to investigate.

The SPCA brought the reptile to The Center for Science Teaching and Learning located at

THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775

Alligator in Long Beach prompts SPCA warning

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TheJewishStar.com

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he race to succeed Rep. Carolyn McCarthy in the 4th Congressional District involves two candidates with world views that are more aligned to their partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talking points than to their districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs and priorities.

Kathleen Rice is a true believer in the broad sweep of liberal causes often associated with President Obama. Bruce Blakeman is emphatic in his assertion of conservative values.

On Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relations with the state of Israel â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which is paramount to our community â&#x20AC;&#x201D; differences between the candidates are nuanced.

Both Ms. Rice and Mr. Blakeman have promised to support Israel and to criticize the President when they interpret his policy as unfavorable to Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests, which they both link to Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own interests. Mr. Blakeman has attacked President Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foreign policy, including its approach to Iran and Hamas, which has been inept, at the very least. Ms. Rice has also voiced concern.

Ms. Rice concedes that her knowledge of foreign affairs is limited; she promised to become â&#x20AC;&#x153;steepedâ&#x20AC;? in knowledge once elected. Unfortunately, this was the implied message of the 2008 Obama campaign.

For Mr. Obama, the learning curve was steep and unproductive. Unlike Mr. Obama, though, Ms. Rice does not bring to the electorate a history of worrisome views and afďŹ liations on Israel and Jews; the Blakeman campaignâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempt to tar Ms. Rice for a scheduled appearance at the Islamic Center of Long Island is a valid political tactic, which Ms. Rice rebuffed by withdrawing from the event. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ On a range of domestic issues, Mr. Blakeman has voiced vague â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sometimes evasive â&#x20AC;&#x201D; positions, presumably to shield him from being seen as a clone of the Republican right (or perhaps to mask a moderate temperment that might displease the more reactionary wing of his party, a la Mitt Romney).

For example, the Affordable Care Act is not as complete a disaster as the right suggests; its problems (including rising costs and reduced choice) are indeed mitigated â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but not excused â&#x20AC;&#x201D; by the fact that people who previously could not get health insurance now have coverage.

Mr. Blakeman says he would seek to keep the actâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s better points, but the priority of House Republicans is to fully dismantle the act, leaving vulnerable people at risk. Ms. Riceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priority would be to work to ďŹ x the act.

On gun control â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rep. McCarthyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s signature issue â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ms. Rice has taken a sensible approach without subverting Second Amendment guarantees. Mr. Blakemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s views on the subject are unclear.

With Republicans in control of the House at least through the next presidential election, Ms. Riceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s views, however worthwhile, are unlikely to succeed legislatively. On the other hand, Mr. Blakeman, seated with the majority, will have a voice where it counts most. Presumably, he would be in a better position to help the district. â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ Ultimately, however, our decision next Tuesday comes down to the one issue where every vote and every voice counts: Support for the State of Israel. On this, both candidates may be on the same page, but Mr. Blakeman â&#x20AC;&#x201D; now enaged to a Sabra and, as a Republican, wholly detached from President Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foreign policy missteps â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is at the top of the page.

Given the existential threats facing Israel and the serious international crises that America must stoutly confront, even such marginal differences are enough to give added weight to Mr. Blakemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bid.

The 4th CD deserves a voice that will be unrestrained in its support for the Jewish state.

Thus, The Jewish Star endorses Bruce Blakeman for Congress in the 4th CD.

EDITORIAL

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Election prognosticator: Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll win Senate

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he biggest Election Day question is, will the Democratic Party retain control of the Senate or will the Republicans take

over.

In the Senate today, Democrats (including independents who caucus with Democrats) have 55 seats. The GOP needs to pick up a net of six seats to take over. Should they pick up only ďŹ ve, resulting in a 50-50 tie, the Senate would remain in Democratic hands because per the Constitution, the Vice President casts the deciding vote.

Based on an analysis of each of the races, plus some national data, if trends continue, the Republican Party will net at least the six seats it needs to take control of the Senate.

The Democratic Party faces an almost insurmountable task. Firstly, most of the elections are for Democratic seats. Out of the 36 Senate seats to be decided, 21 of those now held by Democrats, and 15 by Republicans.

JEFF DUNETZ POLITICS TO GO On top of that, many of the Democratic seats up for grabs are in states that voted against President Obama in 2012. If that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough, the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approval ratings are very low and right or wrong, issues such as ISIS and Ebola continue to make most of the Senate elections about President Obama.

Although there are 36 seats up for grabs, 13 of those races will determine control of the Senate. Ten of those seats are currently held

by Democrats, three by Republicans.

In three Senate seats currently held by Democrats retiring this year, the Republicans have impressive leads and barring major di-

sasters will ďŹ&#x201A;ip to the GOP. In Montana, Republican Steve Danes leads by 18%, South Dakota shows Republican Mike Rounds with a 10% advantage, and the lead of Shelley Moore Capito, the Republican in West Virginia, is almost 17%.

Alaska: The seat currently held by Democrat Mark Begich will switch back to the GOP. Generally the polls show Republican Dan Sullivan with a small lead of 4 to 5% that has been increasing over the past six weeks.

The stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voter base is strongly Republican with a R+12 rating in Charlie Cookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PVI index (based on the average Democratic or Republican Partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s share of the two-party presidential vote in the past two presidential elections vs. the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s average share of the same). A major reason Begich overcame this disadvantage in 2008 was the incumbent, Republican Ted Stevens, was wrongly conContinued on page 19

BEN COHEN VIEWPOINT

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t sometimes seems as if the see-saw debate about the true intentions of Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority has been with us for an eternity. One day, we’ll be saying that Abbas is genuinely a moderate, that he really is committed to a two-state solution, that perhaps he’s the guy upon whom the cautious, unsentimental Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should risk a bet. The next day, we’ll encounter yet another inciting, spiteful Abbas sound bite and it’s back to the drawing board.

I don’t think that Abbas is the Machiavellian demon some believe him to be. Equally, the idea that the Palestinian leader is a transparently uncomplicated moderate is absurd.

David Pollock of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy summarized the Abbas dilemma elegantly in a interview I conducted with him for the latest issue of Fathom, a magazine covering Middle East affairs.

“Shortly after the kidnapping of the three Israeli teenagers who were later murdered in the West Bank, at a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Abbas made quite a conciliatory speech, defending the need to cooperate with Israel against terrorism,” Pollock told me. “But then at other times Abbas does or says things that point in the opposite direction. He meets with terrorists whom he released from prison and praises them. He allows his spokesmen to continue to glorify terrorism in official media.

Still, for all of Abbas’s failures, you have to credit him with shrewdness on this front: he’s persuaded most of the world that there’s a deal to be made if only Netanyahu would abandon his “Greater Israel” doctrine. He therefore gets away with the kind of incendiary rhetoric that, over the last few months, has involved comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, accusations of Israeli “genocide,” and a bloodcurdling appeal to stop Jews (whom he described as a “herd of

cattle”) from praying at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem “by any means.”

So, if Abbas is being indulged on the rhetorical front—even when that rhetoric contributes dramatically to Palestinian violence that has raged in Jerusalem during the last week, claiming the life of a three month-old Jewish infant—you can hardly blame him for seeking to up the ante when it comes to political strategy.

The PA is now dusting off its unilateralist playbook, which means that it seeks to impose recognition of a Palestinian state upon Israel through international pressure. It’s a method that has won only symbolic victories so far: “Palestine” became a non-member observer state at the U.N. in 2012, and more countries (134 at the last count) recognize the statehood of the Palestinians than they do Kosovo (a country liberated from Serb ethnic cleansing by a NATO coalition in 1999) or the Republic of Taiwan (which has the enormous footprint of communist China to contend with).

But as wealthier, more influential countries join the Palestinian recognition bandwagon, that could change in the coming months. One of the very first acts of Sweden’s newly elected leftist government was to recognize Palestinian statehood. A few days later, the British parliament voted to do the same. And the Irish Senate has just now passed a motion calling on the Dublin government to recognize the State of Palestine.

As the motion’s sponsor, Senator Averil Power, put it, “The more countries that recognize the State of Palestine, the greater the pressure on Israel to end its illegal occupation and agree to a long-term peace agreement in the region.”

What if other European states—like France, which is rumored to be considering a similar move—follow suit? In that case, there could well be direct policy implications for what the Europeans will doubtless portray as Israeli non-compliance with the will of the international community. We’ve already seen the European Union (EU) introduce labeling for Israeli products produced by Jewish communities in the West Bank. It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that further mea-

sures could be introduced to limit the trading relationship between Israel and the EU, worth around $40 billion per year, as well as academic, defense and other vital forms of cooperation.

Think of it, if you like, as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions by the back door, the respectable government version of a campaign whose founders aim is to eliminate the very existence of the Jewish state. As long as such governments remain in thrall to the unshakeable belief that Abbas is the only man who can deliver peace, and that consequently anything he does that might undermine the peace process (like encouraging terrorism) can be written off as just so much understandable frustration, there is little that can be done to counter the Palestinian diplomatic offensive. And in such an environment, can we be sure that the Obama administration won’t underhandedly explore the implications of cooperating with Abbas and company in the quest for recognition?

I don’t think so, which is why we will have to be eagle-eyed in watching U.S. actions at the U.N., given that the Palestinians are now considering applying for membership in 522 organizations, protocols, and treaties as the next step in their unilateralist strategy.

In the same vein, we should be clear that any attempt to force Israel to recognize a Palestinian state without having its own security needs respected is verging upon a declaration of war. The Israelis have themselves said that they do not reject the idea of a Palestinian state—many of them would happily accept one under the right conditions, since it would liberate their country from the burden of controlling the West Bank—but that it must be achieved by negotiation.

It’s increasingly clear, however, that the mood in the world’s democracies is shifting. The view that Israel must be cajoled and bullied into giving Abbas what he wants is spreading. And that could turn out to be just as dangerous as a Hamas missile campaign from the Gaza Strip.

Ben Cohen is Shillman Analyst for JNS.org and author of “Some Of My Best Friends: A Journey Through Twenty-First Century Antisemitism.”

As Iran births nuke, destruction looms EDWIN BLACK

N

ov. 24, 2014 is a looming deadline for Iran, Israel, the United States and the world over Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Under-Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, leading the negotiations, has described them “a forest of distrust” and declared: As the world ponders Iran’s dash to enrich more uranium, the underlying concern is not so much about the enrichment process itself, but the end product: a nuclear warhead. Iran has been developing its warhead for 16 years.

That design is nearly perfected.

Compare the process to gunpowder. To use gunpowder, you need load it into a cartridge, load the cartridge and a bullet into a rifle, and then find a marksman. Iran has nearly mastered all those steps — but in nuclear terms.

Four technological achievements are key to completing Tehran’s nuclear weapon: 1) accretion of enough nuclear materials, highly enriched to weapons-grade or 90 percent; 2) machining that material into metal for a spheroid warhead so it can fit into a

missile nosecone; 3) developing a trigger mechanism to initiate the atomic explosion at a precise moment during missile reentry; and, of course, 4) a reliable delivery system.

Start with the nuclear material. Experts estimate a single bomb would require approximately 25 kilograms of Highly Enriched Uranium, or HEU, with a U-235 concentration of at least 90 percent. Much of Iran’s nuclear enrichment remains at 3.5 and 20 percent levels. But the numbers are deceiving. Enriching to 3.5 percent is 75 percent of the task of reaching weapons-grade. Once Iran has reached 20 percent, it has gone 90 percent of the distance. Today, Iran possesses enough nuclear material for a fast “break-out” that would finish the job, creating enough for five or ten bombs, in about six weeks.

Second, that HEU must be metalized and shaped into a dense spheroid compact enough to fit into a missile nosecone. Iran has mastered the metallurgical techniques using other high-density metals such as tungsten, which have been test-detonated in to measure their explosive character.

Third, the spheroid must be detonated.

Iran’s warhead design employs a R265 shock generator hemisphere drilled with 5mm boreholes that are filled with PETN — pentaerythritol tetranitrate, an organic high explosive favored by terrorists. When triggered

with precision, the PETN array can cause a massive synchronized implosion. That will fire an internal exploding bridgewire which will in turn actuate an embedded neutron initiator to detonate the atomic reaction — and the mushroom cloud. This sequence of devices has been assembled and tested. Iran has some 500 exploding bridgewires.

Fourth, the warhead must be delivered.

The Shabab-3 missile nosecone is large enough to accommodate the warhead. The outer radius of the R265 shock generator-encased warhead is 550 millimeters, less than the estimated payload chamber diameter of about 600 millimeters. Most of all, the Iranian military has selected the Shabab-3 not only because it possesses a range of 1200 kilometers, but because it can be detonated in an airburst some 600 meters off the ground on re-entry. The height of 600 meters was used in the Nagasaki explosion. Such a weapon cannot be crashed into the ground.

It must be detonated while still airborne. Iran has a small fleet of Shahab-3 missiles.

Hence, Iran’s metronomic accretion of nuclear material is not just an ambiguous physics undertaking that should worry the West. It is part and parcel of a nuclear attack plan that the international community is determined to address.

Copyright 2014. All Rights Reserved

INDEPENDENT’S EYE

It’s springtime at The Met

M

el Brooks’ 1968 comedy “The Producers” dealt with an outrageous, fictitious Broadway musical called “Springtime for Hitler” that trivialized Nazism and became a surprise hit. The New York Metropolitan Opera is now presenting “The Death of Klinghoffer,” which tries to explain the point of view of PLF members who hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, shot elderly American Jewish businessman Leon Klinghoffer, and threw him overboard in his wheelchair.

The opera’s composer, John Adams, was quoted as explaining that “pro Israel lobbies” had power in Congress, while Palestinians were “forever scolded or ridiculed for their violence.” His opera is a critical hit — and a monster controversy due to its depiction of Israel and antiSemitic lyrics like this sung by a hijacker: “America is one big Jew.” Or terrorists singing that it’s an “action of liberation” and they’re “men of ideals.” Jewish groups protested, but theater-goers included prominent Jews. New York newspapers ran columns and op-eds denouncing and defending its right to be seen.

The Metropolitan Opera scuttled plans to air it on radio, and ran Klinghoffer’s daughters’ dissenting statement in the opera’s program. “Terrorism is irrational,” they wrote. “It should never be explained away or justified. Nor should the death of innocent civilians be misunderstood as an acceptable means for drawing attention to perceived political grievances. Unfortunately, ‘The Death of Klinghoffer’ does all of this and sullies the memory of our father in the process.”

Yes, there are issues here about free speech and the freedom to create and display art. And there’s precedent for eyebrow-raising definitions. “Piss Christ,” artist Andre Serrano’s 1987 photo of a small plastic crucifix in a glass of urine, won the Southwestern Center for Contemporary Art’s “Awards in the Visual Arts Competition.” Finger paintings by the late Cheetah the Chimp, the simian scene-stealer in Tarzan films, sold at auctions for some $20,000.

Art is in the mind of the beholder, isn’t it? As humorist David Sedaris noted, just call it “a piece.” Crass plebeians may find a photo of a cross in a glass of pee gross, but only the truly ENLIGHTENED understand it’s a work of breathtaking genius.

So what next? If “The Death of Klinghoffer” is a hit, does this mean within a few years we’ll see an opera about American Airlines Flight 11 with terrorist tenors singing as they slit stewardesses throats on 9/11? Will we see a musical displaying ISIS members tap dancing to the sounds of bloody heads rhythmically plopping on the floor after being sawed off?

If this sounds ridiculous, it would have been crazy in 1968 to seriously suggest that the Met would proudly slate, and therefore tacitly endorse, an opera that would polarize people and raise widespread charges of anti-Semitism. It will likely lose some patrons and donors, but I’m sure they’ll pick up new ones — from certain countries in the Middle East.

The bottom line? Mel Brooks is a visionary.

7 THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775

The return of Palestinian unilateralism

JOE GANDELMAN

October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

8

Making the cut, spritually ALAN JAY GERBER KOSHER BOOKWORM

T

his week’s Torah reading Lech Lecha from the Book of Genesis contains the first divine commandment, Brit Milah, the Circumcision, that was mandated for observance exclusively to Jews. This mandate given to Abraham has within it several factors that are unique. According to Rabbi Dr. Alex Israel in his essay, “Two Covenants” [alexisrael.org] this unique feature is broken down into several components.

1. In Brit Mila, the vision is initiated by G-d Himself. G-d appears to Abraham without any prompt.

2. The Brit Mila vision is a straight verbal Nevua. No hidden symbolic visions.

3. In this covenant, Abraham is an ACTIVE partner to the covenant. He has to circumcise himself and his household.

4. More than that — in this covenant, Abraham is transformed! He emerges with a new name and he transforms his very flesh in the form of his circumcision.

5. Not only Abraham, but Sarah is included physically, now being able to conceive.

6. G-d’s name: Elokim, rather than Hashem.

7. Rather than promises for the long term future of the Jewish people, Abraham here receives the news that he will have his longawaited son and heir. This promise will be fulfilled within a year.

On the downside to the optimism ex-

pressed above, we have witnessed these past years an ever growing controversy concerning Metzitza Bapeh. To this, we have some history.

During our travails in the middles ages Jews had to contend with numerous theological attacks upon our observance of Brit Milah. These attacks are to be found within the context of a broad based theological attack upon the very existence and legitimacy of Judaism.

Of particular focus was the Church’s intense concern about Metzitzah Bepeh.

In a very well researched work by Dr. Irvin Resnick, professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Tennessee, titled “Marks of Distinction: Christian Perceptions of Jews in the High Middle Ages,” a detailed chronology is given front row prominence concerning the Church’s rabid antipathy toward Brit Milah. Consider the following citation: “The Dominican Raymond Martini surly rejects circumcision of the flesh. But he also condemns the specific Jewish practice of Metzitza Bapeh, which for contemporary Jews has some special value since they excuse the practice, he claims, by saying that if they fail to do this the infant will die.”

Prof. Resnick also cites another theological work on this matter entitled, “The Disputation between a Christian and a Jew,” this a Spanish anti-Jewish polemic (page 64) wherein the author cites some rather crude and vulgar terminology in describing the physical aspects of the Brit Milah ritual. See footnote 43 for many more details on this hoary and bigoted missive.

These are but two of many far more de-

tailed examples of religious bigotry that has served as grist for future antipathies by ignorant clerics down to our own time. All these presentments can be found within the 40 pages of the second chapter of this study, “Physical Deformities and Circumcision.”

Also, please make note that this book was

published in 2012 by the Catholic University Press in Washington; also that the author is a corresponding fellow at the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar Ilan University, and a senior associate at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.

Two years ago Rabbi Evan Hoffman of Congregation Anshe Sholom in New Rochelle in his essay “A Quiet Man” made note of the following irony: “The early Church Fathers wrestled with the question whether or not to burden gentile converts to Christianity with the physically painful rite of initiation. At the Apostolic Conference of 50 CE it was determined that gentiles need not submit to circumcision.

That decision opened the door to an exponentially larger pool of potential proselytes.”

This policy set the stage in later years to assume and legitimatize a bigoted view of circumcision to the point where church policy assumed a rabid stance to any observance of this practice by anyone within reach of their governance.

Finally, a new book just published by Maggid Books, “A Guide to the Complex”

by Rabbi Shlomo Brody of Yeshivat Hakotel, deals with many contemporary Halachic debates and includes a very interesting and sober presentment titled, “Circumcision and Metzitza Bapeh: What is the controversy behind this practice?” Rabbi Brody, in this all too short brief, explains the outlines to this controversy that should serve as the beginnings to a reasonable a sober discussion on this issue.

Hopefully, this presentment will serve as the guidepost to more balanced and sober writings and discussions.

To serve others, we must first serve ourselves RABBI BINNY FREEDMAN THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

“A

llah Hu Akbar [G-d is great].” These are the final words witnesses say the terrorist screamed before ramming his car into a crowd, killing three month old Chaya Zissel and wounding several others in Jerusalem this week.

It all seems so wonderful, this idea of being in touch with the reason we are here, with a loving caring G-d. Yet, as we have been so horribly reminded of late, some of the greatest tragedies in human history have been perpetrated in the name of that very same G-d.

How can we be sure an attempt to explore our relationship with G-d and embrace our Jewish identity, or for that matter any religious affirmation, will really end in peace and harmony, and not in hate and destruction?

Additionally, there is another question we have been confronted by in recent events: Am I allowed to place my own life in danger to save another, or must I always come first?

What is my obligation to my own life? ne of the most difficult questions I have ever encountered in rabbinic literature was asked of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry in the Kovno ghetto during the Holocaust: Is one allowed to step out of line to try and help someone who has fallen by the way during a forced death march? On the one hand, the person who has collapsed from sheer exhaustion will certainly be shot as soon as the Nazis notice him. On the other hand, the fellow stepping out of line, if seen, would almost certainly be put to death as well.

Were the firemen rushing up dozens of

O

floors in the World Trade Center doing the right thing, placing their own lives in danger in an attempt to save others? Or is it possible that my life is not really my own, and as a gift is something I am responsible to protect as much as if not more than someone else’s?

And even if one is not obligated to risk one’s life for another, at the very least isn’t this an ideal we aspire to, and certainly something we admire?

Rav Oshri’s response, that while absolutely not required, such an action is allowed, and even to be admired, clearly indicates that we do value and aspire to such a level.

All of which leaves us wondering what is going on with Abraham at the very beginning of Jewish history. Recall that the first Jew came on the scene over 4,000 years ago, when the world was a pagan sea of idolatry. Believing that there was one source of all good, Abraham waited 70 years until finally, G-d responded.

And what was the message G-d gave Abraham? What was the mission?

“Lech Lecha” — Go from your country, your home, even your family, leave everything behind, and journey into the unknown, to the land that I will show you.

Jewish tradition suggests that this was the first of ten challenges, ten tests Abraham would ultimately face, setting the stage for the creation of the Jewish people and the world’s introduction to monotheism.

This journey, tradition teaches, must have been an incredible leap of faith. To be willing to leave everything behind, to journey into the unknown following a belief the entire

world at the time considered to be madness, must have taken tremendous courage, selfsacrifice and idealism, not to mention altruism, and selflessness.

And yet, if one takes a closer look at the actual story in the Bible, nothing could be further from the truth!

The words “Lech Lecha” literally mean “go for yourself.” Indeed G-d then shares with Abraham what he will gain by taking this journey: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great.” (Genesis 12:1-2) Rashi explains “Lech Lecha” as “for your own good and your own benefit”; as promised by G-d, they are producing great progeny (children), great wealth, and great fame.

And in fact, the portion of Lech Lecha proceeds to describe how Abraham, upon arriving in Israel, achieves all three of these blessings.

So what was the great challenge here? If you were 70 years old, without children, a poor man with no money, unknown, and with a set of ideas so radically different that people thought you were a mad man, and G-d came to you and promised that if you took this journey, you would become wealthy, famous and finally have children, who wouldn’t go?

The words in the verse clearly suggest that Abraham will only achieve his mission and fulfill the word of G-d if in fact he does this purely for himself! If he takes this journey and leaves everything behind but says to G-d, I don’t need the fame or the fortune, I do this only for your sake and because I love you, he will have failed in his mission!

In Genesis 18:19, G-d clearly says that He

Before you can change the world, you need to change yourself.

loves Abraham because he inspires his children to follow G-d, “in order to receive all that G-d has promised Abraham!”

Perhaps the Torah is suggesting something here which is so often overlooked, but which forms the basis for what Judaism is all about.

While one’s motivation should not be focused on one’s self, the job Abraham needs to “get done”is all about his self.

Before you can change the world, you need to change yourself, and the ultimate goal of Abraham is to become Abraham.

In fact, when we meet him, his name is actually Avram; only at the end of the portion (17:5) does G-d change his name to Avraham, because he has become the Abraham he was meant to be.

If I am here in order to be a partner with G-d in creating the world, then ultimately, the greatest gift I give to the world is myself; I develop my self for the world, because it is the gift I have been given by G-d. And in Judaism, a gift is a challenge, and a responsibility.

Who I am is G-d’s gift to me, but who I become is ultimately my gift to G-d. It is precisely by becoming all that I can be, that I best serve everyone around me and make the world a better place.

It is not always so easy to figure out who I am meant to be, what my gifts are, and how best I can make a difference to the world. But that is our first priority in this world.

As an example, so often people are expending so much effort on trying to “meet the right person.” But the truth is, it’s not about finding the right person, it’s about becoming the right person.

If you become who you are meant to be, then the right person will find you.

We often encounter people trying to decide what they want to do in life. But if you Continued on page 9

RABBI AVI BILLET PARSHA OF THE WEEK

R

abbi Menachem Recanati, the 13th century Italian commentator, quotes the Zohar in making what is seemingly a bizarre claim — that until Avraham was circumcised, he was never intimate with Sarah.

(17:1) This theory is premised in the idea that the foreskin is a barrier to an element of spiritual fulfillment that is “impossible” for the uncircumcised male to achieve. Sarah’s awareness of this reality, long before her husband was given any commandment, caused her to see her marriage as a spiritual one.

This would explain simply why Sarah was insistent that Avraham take an Egyptian woman in order to father a child (at least ten years into their marriage and 14 years before his circumcision) and why Avraham and Sarah are married for at least 25 years without children.

Earlier in the parsha, Avraham declares, as he and Sarah (Avram and Sarai at the time) are heading to Egypt to find food during a famine, “Now I know (Hinei Na Yadati) that you are a beautiful woman.” (12:11) Avraham had been married to Sarah for some time but only now he realizes she is beautiful? How could this be? Radak answers that “Hinei Na” is simply how people spoke. And Chizkuni says the verse should be read like this: “I know that since you are a beautiful woman…”

Aside from that, each of the many explanations given has its own lesson attached to it. Take the interpretation you like and develop an applied lesson on your own.

We are going to a nation where your

beauty surpasses all they’ve ever seen (Midrash Aggadah); Avraham never looked at her before (perhaps following the Zohar’s approach) (Baba Batra 16a) and first noticed her beauty when they crossed a river on their way to Egypt (Tanchuma); She fell in the river and he helped her wring out the clothes she was still wearing (Midrash Aggadah); a person normally becomes weary from the road, yet she was still beautiful (Pesikta); now that they’d traveled to so many places, and Avraham had met many people to compare to his wife, he realizes how amazingly beautiful she truly is and appreciates how special she is (Pesikta); this was the first time he needed to be concerned about her beauty, safetywise, due to where they were going (Rashi); specifically because they were going to a kingdom where beautiful women were abducted by the king, he expressed his innermost feelings (Ramban).

When the Talmud says Avraham never looked at his wife, it says “Lo havei Yada Lah,” which means he didn’t know her. We can understand in the literal sense, that perhaps they married hardly knowing one another.

On the other hand, following a certain theme, and knowing that the Biblical term “knowing” sometimes refers to marital intimacy, it could be the Talmud is confirming the words of the Zohar with which we started.

Particularly if we view the forefathers as human beings (albeit extraordinary ones) it is still very difficult to come to grips with the Zohar and the Talmud. It is hard to imagine a life and a marriage dedicated completely to spiritual endeavors and pursuits, without a physical component.

We live in a time when many people “know” everything. Social media, one of the greatest blessings and ills of our time, is a great example of this. News gets out in a flash, and everyone has an opinion, knows

all the details and becomes judgmental. But while knowledge is power, the display of arrogance that often comes across with all of this, typically indicates a lack of knowledge.

And so the lessons we can learn from Avraham’s declaration and marriage are many. Let us focus on three of them.

A marriage cannot only be a physical marriage. Avraham and Sarah had a spiritual marriage.

Marriage contains two kinds of yedia (knowing). One is the Biblical knowing of intimacy, in which two people connect and appreciate one another in a personal and private way. The other is the knowing which comes from spending time with one another, and getting to know one another as unique individuals. Whether it was, as Rashi calls it, a mayseh (event, probably referring to the water event mentioned above) that helped Avraham see his wife differently than before, or just the simple task of going on a journey alone to Egypt, without their followers, or even Nephew Lot, they just got to talk and know one another better.

Finally, knowledge is not always intuitive. Knowledge which has value sometimes comes after a real thought process, which includes true inspection and true introspection.

A gathering of all evidence, an awareness of one’s surroundings, a look at one’s audience, an appreciation of others and their contribution to the world. And a humility that says, I may know something, but I don’t know everything.

Avraham was able to say “I now know or am aware of something, that I didn’t know or was not aware of before.” Only the brightest people say this because they are able to admit that “I didn’t know all before, and I’m still learning.”

This acknowledgement is a wonderful example of Abrahamic humility.

Continued from page 8 have become who you are meant to be, then what you have to do will no longer be a question, it will only be a challenge.

Finding G-d must be wrapped up in finding ourselves. And if we are trying to serve G-d whilst denying ourselves, then it doesn’t matter what I become as long as the ends I worship are well served. So I can be a crusader in one of the bloodiest religious campaigns in history, or fly a jet plane into the World trade center, all in the name of G-d, because it doesn’t matter what I do, it only matters why I am doing it.

Judaism however, teaches that this is not religion, it is perversion. If the purpose of it all is that the world becomes an ethical place, then if I am not becoming a living model of ethics on my path to serve G-d, I have missed the entire point.

And that is why Abraham’s journey begins with G-d’s message to serve himself.

Be sure, says G-d, that you become the Abraham you were meant be. And be sure that in your pursuit of a relationship with G-d, you don’t get so blinded by the light that in the end you can’t even look yourself in the mirror…

Each of us, every human being, is a world unto ourselves, as well as being part of the entire world. The Talmud teaches that he who saves one life, it is as though he has saved the entire world. And if each human being is a world, then to lose sight of a single human being ‘to save the world’, is to be blind to what the world is all about.

May Hashem grant us the courage to take journeys we need to take, to find and become the persons we need to be, and to build together the world we long to share.

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem.

Lenny Koegel 516-594-6010

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The humility of knowing what is hidden Jerusalem…

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10

lthough food is my business, and I take it pretty seriously, when I’m out with my husband Jerry and friends on a Saturday night, I usually order the same thing. Toasted English muffin or scooped out bagel with butter and jelly on the side. I like to decide how many calories I’m going to smear on. It’s as simple as that. No questions to the waitress. When Jerry orders, now that’s a whole different ball game.

It goes something like this: “I’m not sure what I want, maybe ice cream. What flavors do you have?” She replies, “Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.” Then Jerry asks, “Any other flavors?” I try to hold myself back from saying, “Why would you think there would be any other flavors, you think she’s hiding some from you?” But of course, I can’t hold back. He then asks her what she recommends. “I really don’t eat desserts.”

At this point I’m losing my patience, which was pretty much lost as soon as he started placing his order. “Just get what you like, what do you care what she likes?” I asked, or shall I say, I demanded. Jerry placed his order for all three flavors, large scoops of each. This time I hold myself back from asking him if he thought they had different size scoopers. Just as she’s about to walk away Jerry asked, “Do you any bagels? Can I have one toasted?” “Of course,” she replies, “what would you like on the bagel, butter or cream cheese?” Jerry asked her what she liked. She said she liked butter, and he said “butter it is then.” Not that I was jealous of the waitress, but for the life of me I couldn’t understand what Jerry was doing.

“Why would you order butter on your bagel?

You never order butter. You always have cream cheese on your bagels. I’m the one who orders butter. Why would you order what someone else likes?” I know I shouldn’t care, but it gets me crazy when he does stuff like that.

One evening we were in a deli with Faye and Steve Kollander. Both men order the 16 ounce hamburger steak. Jerry ordered it medium rare, and Steve demanded to see the blood running out of his. When the plates were placed on our table I noticed right away that the burgers looked well done and shrivelled. Return it, I told both men, that’s not what you asked for.

Both men didn’t want to bother the waitress.

Both men, over 6 feet tall, muscle bound, very strong and BTA graduates to boot; for some reason both appeared intimidated into silence by a tiny waitress.

I thought it was ridiculous to pay to eat something that wasn’t prepared the way it was ordered. Jerry was torn. He wanted a rare hamburger steak but didn’t want to insult the waitress. It was HER or Me! I guess my “Jerry, are you kidding me?! You hate well done!” made up his mind. The overlooked meal was sent back and made per his original instructions. Steve,

defeated, dutifully finished every morsel of his overdone burger.

Why is it Jerry is so concerned with stranger’s feeling? It’s not as if they really care what he orders. For heavens sake, I try to get him to try new things all the time. Usually he likes to stick to what he knows, which includes no fish other than gefilte or lox. Here or there I get him to try something, and usually he likes it.

One issue I have had no luck with is his routine. Jerry has to have a bowl of hot oatbran every morning (which I lovingly make for him). I understand that. What I can’t understand, and lord knows I’ve tried to, is why he can never skip that routine. Take for example when we have a morning bris out of the neighborhood.

He davens in shul, afraid to get stuck in traffic and miss the minyan, then he comes home to have his cereal, before we leave. It’s not as if he’s going to starve. He’s going to have at least one bagel with cream cheese and lox — unless of course the waitress likes butter — a few Danishes and two cups of coffee. Why does he need the cereal? Why can’t he break that routine?

You guys who sit with him on shabbos in shul (you know who you are!), try to knock some sense into him, he loves you guys.

This week I’m making a new fish recipe. I figure if Jerry would choose butter over cream cheese or eat a dried out burger not to upset or bother a waiter or waitress, surely he won’t hurt my feelings and chose not to eat a fish dish, even though he normally doesn’t do fish.

Branzino or Red Snapper with lemons and herbs 4 whole branzino or red snapper or other white-fleshed fish, pounded, scales removed and cleaned Salt and pepper 4 tablespoons canola oil 2 lemons, one cut into wedges, the other into thin slices 8 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 6 sprigs rosemary Directions: Preheat oven to 425°F. Dry the fish well inside and out.

Sprinkle generously inside and out with salt and pepper.

Slice two halves of the lemon into thin slices and lay them inside the cavities of the fish, on top of the rosemary.

Heat the oil in 2 large, oven-proof pans or roasting pans large enough to hold the fish. Lay the fish carefully in to the skillet, and cook for a minute. Spoon some of the oil over the top of the fish to coat it, then transfer the pans to the oven.

Roast the fish for about ten minutes, until just cooked through. Then, turn on the broiler to crisp the top of the skin, for just enough time to get it crispy.

Remove from the oven and add the butter and parsley to the pan. When melted, spoon the mixture over the fish while cooking it for about 3 minutes longer making sure to keep spooning the liquid over the fish.

Serve the fish immediately with the second lemon that was cut into wedges.

11 THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 â&#x20AC;¢ 7 CHESHVAN 5775

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516-569-1500 www.mathnasium.com/fivetowns

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October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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Jewish Star Schools For FREE publication in The Jewish Star, mail email material to SCHOOLS @TheJewishStar.com. When available, include hi-res photos.

For Parshat Noach, animals visit HAFTR The Early Childhood Center at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockway was visited by some very special guests last week in honor of Parshat Noach.

Thanks to Bob and Jessie from the Pet-

land Traveling Program, students encountered a hedgehog, a lizard, a snake, a macaw, a chinchilla, a ferret, a tortoise, a guinea pig, a sugar glider, and even a bearded dragon.

Nursery students learned all about Noah

and the ark that he was commanded to build.

At the end of the week, to culminate all that the children learned about Noach, HAFTR’s Early Childhood made their very own rainbow.

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In honor of Parshat Noah, at HANC’s Samuel & Elizabeth Bass Golding Early Childhood Center in West Hempstead, students enjoyed a visit from some very cute and cuddly animals, feeding and petting ducks, goats, bunnies and more.

Students in Morah Shani’s Nursery Aleph class were excited to make their own tevas complete with animals, Noah and his family — and even a place to store the garbage! The yeladim added in a rainbow (a keshet) across the top, painted with their own hand prints, and they learned the Hebrew names of all the colors in the rainbow.

THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775

HANC Noach

13

P A R L O R MEETI N G S FOR PROSPECTIVE GRADE 9 STUDENTS AND PARENTS FOR FALL 2015 Meet Ramaz students, faculty, and administrators Learn about our: Â&#x160;Academic approach Â&#x160;Advisory and interdisciplinary studies programs Â&#x160;Personalized class schedules Â&#x160;Co-curricular activities Â&#x160;Chesed programs Â&#x160;Commuting options and more!

FOR DETAILS CONTACT US AT 212-774-8093 or admissions@ramaz.org

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HAFTR greets Shabbat

By Jeffrey Bessen, Nassau Herald Four rows of tables were lined up in the old gymnasium of the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway in Lawrence as families and friends gathered for a challah bake on Oct. 23 as part of the worldwide

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Shabbos Project.

Tova Tucker, the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s director of Special Programs, who coordinated the event along with Lower School Principal Joy Hammer, said most of the challah bakes around the world are geared for girls 12 and up and women. HAFTR wanted to do â&#x20AC;&#x153;something special for our children,â&#x20AC;? Tucker said.

Ilanit Sternberg and her children, Daniella, 7, a second-grader, and Zachary, 4, who attends the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pre-k program, were hard at work making their challah. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of fun,â&#x20AC;? said Daniella, whose hands were busy kneading the dough. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great experience for the kids and parents who havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t done it before,â&#x20AC;? said Ilanit, who compared the challah dough to Play-Doh that you can eat.

In addition, there was singing led by music teacher Janet Goldman, ďŹ&#x201A;ower arranging and making muktzah boxes, where one can place items such as cell phones that are not permitted to be used on Shabbos.

1000 Rosedale Road North Woodmere, NY 11581

Join us for our

OPEN HOUSE November 9, 2014

Registration: 1:00pm, Program 1:30

at Shalhevet 1000 Rosedale Road, North Woodmere

For more information call (516) 224-0240 Pre-register at www.midreshetshalhevet.org

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October 31, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 7 CHESHVAN 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775

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October 31, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 7 CHESHVAN 5775 THE JEWISH STAR

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Shalhevet girls cover challahs for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Midreshet Shalhevet in North Woodmere participated in The Shabbos Project, the global initiative for all Jews to keep one Shabbos together. In preparation for this life-changing experience, students decorated challah covers that were placed in Shabbos Packets given to guests. The girls were happy to contribute their efforts and help make a difference.

Bklyn Heights preps for new school in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;15

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Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy, a new co-educational Orthodox Jewish day school, plans to open its doors in September 2015, its executive director, Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin, accounced.

Building off the success of the Gan Menachem Kiddie Korner Preschool in Brooklyn Heights, the academy will offer a comprehensive Jewish and general studies curriculum, supported by extra-curricular activities, arming students with the knowledge and skills to become life-long learners.

Under the auspices of Chabad Lubavitch of Brooklyn Heights, it will be the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst Hebrew day school. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now is an opportune time for a K-12 Jewish day school to grace the streets of Brooklyn Heights,â&#x20AC;? Rabbi Raskin said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Investing in Jewish education ensures a Jewish future. We need to inspire the Jewish youth of today towards a committed Jewish life.â&#x20AC;?

With this in mind, the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curriculum takes a holistic integrated Torah perspective where secular units such as math and science are taught alongside Torah themes and content, to create a wholesome and uniďŹ ed worldview.

The schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objective is to equip students with the necessary academic and life skills needed to conďŹ dently take their place in society, while at the same time instilling pride in their Jewish identity and a strong sense of purpose, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy will focus on the growth of the whole child, catering to the needs and abilities of each child,â&#x20AC;?

Rabbi Raskin explained. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Teaching strategies will be employed to accommodate studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; individual needs, rates of development and learning styles. Class sizes will be kept small in order to reach a low student-teacher ratio and provide a more child-centered and personalized education.â&#x20AC;?

Enrollment is currently open for students at kindergarten level, with classes to grow with the students as the years progress. For further information bhja.org or call 718-5964840 x18.

in common with the Mathnasium approach than previous state standards.

The Mathnasium program has always complemented and supplemented existing math programs used in public and private schools. Our support for the Common Core will be no different. While it is not our intention to be strictly â&#x20AC;&#x153;alignedâ&#x20AC;? with the CCSSM (call us for details), our support for those Mathnasium students in Common Core classrooms is unwavering.

The creators of Mathnasium assessments and curriculum materials are acutely aware of the trends in mathematics education while keeping in mind that many trends come and go.

They are excellent at identifying the best methods of teaching math the way that makes sense to each child and creating innovative content that leads each student to true mastery of the concepts and skills necessary for success in the math classroom and in life.

YIW opens adult ed classes

Child-centered general and religious studies program for Kindergarten through 6th grade Challenges students to academic and social excellence Differentiated instruction designed to infuse a love of learning and provide the tools to succeed Commitment to instilling Torah values and midot tovot

Yisrael in the ďŹ rst millennium of the Common Era. Tuesday evening at 9:10 pm, Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt will offer a Gemorah shiur. This class will study sugyos from Meseches Beitzah and concludes at 10 pm.

On Wednesday evenings, a Halacha Shiur is given by Rabbi Moshe Sokoloff from 8:40 to 9:25 pm. Rabbi Sokoloff also leads an Iyun Gemorah shiur on Sunday mornings following the 8:30 Shacharis.

Rabbi Billet offers a Tanach class for women on Monday mornings at 10 am, and a Torah shebaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;al peh class for women at noon.

Supportive and engaging environment which fosters creativity, imagination, exploration and curiosity

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A Jewish history class on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Eretz Yisrael after the Churbanâ&#x20AC;? is being given by Rabbi Evan Hoffman each Tuesday evening at 8:15pm in the Young Israel of Woodmere.

The Jewish people were not exiled from the Land of Israel by the Romans. While the destruction of Holy Temple and the loss of Jewish statehood were traumatic experiences for our nation, our ancestors continued the valiant struggle for a sustained Jewish majority in the country. As the demographic balance shifted against the Jews, they fought for the survival of their community.

The course will trace the history of Eretz

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Mathnasium The Common Core, a state-led initiative originated by the National Governors Council, was created through close collaboration with teachers and educators and has been adopted on a voluntary basis by 45 states including New York.

The Standards place strong emphasis on critical thinking and demonstrating knowledge of far fewer skills and concepts than previous Standards. The hope is that students will gain proďŹ cient knowledge of these concepts rather than just a basic knowledge of the many topics presented in the past.

In doing so, the Standards are directly addressing the criticism that American curriculum has been â&#x20AC;&#x153;a mile wide and an inch deepâ&#x20AC;? for many, many years.

At Mathnasium, we understand the Common Core. The Common Core attempts to closely integrate number sense and critical thinking skills and, as such, has even more

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THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 7 CHESHVAN 5775

Common Core at Mathnasium

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bloodremark h remarkable n a world ďŹ lled with appears to matd that app shed, the only blood sse self-defen by Jews. who ter is that taken in self-defense Jew meant being a target, and by Jews Israeli-Palestinian clashes pale beside happily surrendered lives of prosperity in ab and Muslim-onArab-on-Ara going Arab-on-Arab ongoing neigh- America to return home. r rough I of its uslim violence in Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Muslim Israel, pained both by the deaths Elsewhere, 298 passengers on a Gaza, of rho borhood. children heart- children and those of the vilia airliner are extinguished in a civilian and perhaps una clip in has gone to exceptional collateral eat, â&#x20AC;&#x153;insurgentsâ&#x20AC;? slay hundreds at beat, precedented lengths to minimize iger and so many have died in conďŹ&#x201A;icts damage, while the enemy uses its people as Nigeria, Asia, Latin America and elseSou in Southeast of death and esti- shields, storing their vehicles here in Africa that accurate casualty where in schools, hospi (XURSHDQ commanders their hiding war and ULV VXEXUE RI 6DUFHOOHV RQ 6XQGD\ 3URWHVWHUV LQ mates are impossible. Countries at 3$5,6 $QWL ,VUDHO ULRWHUV UDPSDJHG LQ WKH 3D VLQHVVHV DQG LQGLYLGXDO -HZV $3 7KLEDXOW &DPXV mosques. and tals â&#x20AC;&#x201D; rights human Call 516-622-7461 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; FLWLHV DWWDFNHG V\QDJRJXHV -HZLVK DIÂżOLDWHG EX pea cruelly suppress att peace www.TheJewishStar.com s the carnage continues, we know expresTwitter.com/JewishStarNY not just on Isstarting /TheJewishStar angin from religious and political ranging Facebook.com are the Jews has been renewed, we must tell the world, AV 5774 are 2014 / 26and â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which 22, itself life33 Q AUGUST Dylan continued, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the chances to NO VOL 13, u to the right on up sion but in Paris and London and, and acquainborders raelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colleagues our heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll with That slim; odds are pluralisâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; that the against it and the reely accorded in the democratic, freely world makes for again, even in Berlin. it is tances who may not understand analrul- live by the rules that the Jewish state of Israel. With all that, ticc Jew In this era of 140-character instant and fault lies not with Israel but with Gazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Cause thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a noose at his neck when him; ďŹ&#x201A;eeting, in is plucky Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s determination to ďŹ ght strip nly p the only memory of out when ers. When Israel pulled And a license to kill him ysis, a quaint survive that is under sustained attack. o sur to infrastructure a gun at his back; concept of â&#x20AC;&#x153;15 minutes of fameâ&#x20AC;? is more 2005, it left behind valuable is given out to every maniac.â&#x20AC;? century, the crime Isr has been a home to Jews for Israel no longer relic of a much slower housing and commerce and the promise of are a by missiles when by abandoned Jews Only never on suphan 3,000 years, than against humanity perpetrated by the of a good neighbor and international from Gaza, when tunnels provideven as launched revisited is prosperEurope peopl who lamented during exile people peaceful of enlightened are eliminated, and an Yirusha- port, building blocks demolished ing passage to assassins rivers of Babylon, â&#x20AC;&#x153;im eshkachech chapter is forgotten and denied. you, ity. But the Gazan gangsters in Gaza acknowledge Is- an earlier irreplaced it when the powers ayim tishkach yeminiâ&#x20AC;? (â&#x20AC;&#x153;If I forget layim, s a people of the book, connected its what the Jews had created and â&#x20AC;&#x201D; only then will there forget exist to hand fall right right not my raelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dare let we Jer O Jerusalem, revocably to history, with military encampments, rocket-launch be lasting peace and, likely, prosperity, too. skillâ&#x20AC;?) skillâ&#x20AC;?). victim to the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collective amne1948, sites, terror tunnels and poverty.

The world did not bow its collective of Sin Since sovereignty was restored in assert without apology our Israel, as â&#x20AC;&#x153;the neighborhood bullyâ&#x20AC;? and the Inquisition sia. We must reclaimd about a head after the Crusades to live as free men and free Israel Sabras have been joined in Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the myriad exiles G-d-given right from Bob Dylanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lyrics, is â&#x20AC;&#x153;outnumbere and forced pogroms has Jews the by G-d and that land land arid th ing their and condemned under G-d, in the rulers million to one â&#x20AC;Ś criticized through the ages, but it women our home. to lay down forced upon Jews their homes by Arab and Muslim shame given us, the land of Israel, of re- for being alive â&#x20AC;Ś heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supposed appeared to ďŹ nally acknowledge its Ed Weintrob, Publisher (with no compensation and no right is kicked in.â&#x20AC;? against from be- and die when his door after the Holocaust. Now the war turn) turn), by Jews ďŹ&#x201A;eeing oppression Well, no more. a t Iron Curtain and wherever being hind the Monday.

Av Menachem Chodesh Masei. Rosh 9:10 pm. 72 min. zman 9:30 pm. Parshat Shabbat candles 7:58 pm. Shabbat ends

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The Jewish Star is the newspaper of Long Islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Orthodox communities.

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By Malka

THE JEWISH Eisenberg People from all streams of Judaism and non-Jews as well stood shoulder to shoulder in Manhattanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dag Hammarskjol Hammarskjold d Plaza on Monday in a display of unity and support for Israel.

The South Shore Jewish communities were well represented; buses / 22 SIVAN 5774 20, 2014 participants VOL 13, NO 24 Q JUNEbrought from many shuls and organizations including the Young Israels of Woodmere and West Hempstead and the Five Towns JCC; others traveled by car and train. Three Zionist Orthodox camps â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Moshava, Mesora and MoContinued on page 11

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the ďŹ rst child tied for third. Daniel, Zar, 10, was Keller, Grossto ďŹ nish; his time was 4:10. Kim to ďŹ nish manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s girlfriend, was the ďŹ rst women opportunity with a time of 4:30. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a great said. to support a fantastic cause,â&#x20AC;? Grossman said she Event coordinator Temmi Kramer participants, appreciated the efforts of all the and security provided the auxiliary police who and Warren sponsors: HAFTR, Gourmet Glatt Levi Martial Arts & Fitness.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Blachman, associate rosh yeshiva at Yeshivat Kerem Bâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Yavneh, said we look to ďŹ nd answers in tragedies but must live without answers. Despair over loss is natural, he said, and should lead to a return to religious awareness and priorities.

5DEEL 0RVKH 7HLWHOEDXP HLWHOE Responsive readings -HZLVK 6WDU 'RQRYDQ %HUWKRXG YDQ %H of Tehillim 20, 120, 121 and 142 were led by Rabbi Hershel Billet of Yo Young Israel of Woodmere, Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky of the Irving Place Minyan, Rabbi Ari Perl of the Atla Atlantic Beach Jewish Center, and Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz of Beis Haknesses of North Woodmere, Lebowit respectiv respectively.

Cantor Joel Kaplan of Congregation Beth Lawrence sang a mishebairach (blessing) Sholom in for Israeli Isr soldiers.

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spiritual effort to <DNRY 7UXPS < in saying ter- gregation Aish Kodesh kidnapped byLWWHUPDQV RI on three Israeli boys &HQWHU SKRWR % two perakei tehillim before Musaf :RRGPHUH ²<LWW\ 'U <LVURHO rorists last week. was held Sunrally prayer A DQG 'DVVD Shabbat.

Yeshistudents of Two 16-year-old To-HZLVK 6WDU SKRWRV day night at the Chofetz Chaim 0DOND (LVHQEHUJ Kfar Etzion joined vat Mekor Chaim in 5LJKW SKRWRV VXEP LWWHG rah Center of Rabbi Aryeh Ginzberg a 19 year old student of Yeshivat Israel of Young The Cedarhurst. in Shavei Hevron at a recognized hitchWoodmere held a communal prayer hiking spot on the road by Elon Shvut that in10 rally Monday night at 10 pm in Judea Thursday night at about shuls and the cluded many neighborhood pm. Bus rides are infrequent in schools. area and residents and students often At Kneseth Israel â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the White by get rides from passing cars driven Eytan Rabbi â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rockaway Far in Shul Jewish residents of the many towns Feiner held a kenes tehilim at mincha in the Gush area and beyond. the on Monday, and then spoke to On Long Island and in New York, He men and women gathered there. inboxes were ďŹ&#x201A;ooded with desperate Continued on page 11 cersay to recipients on emails calling

By Malka Eisenberg wife, He had a secure life â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a wonderful nice two beautiful daughters, a great career, hit: a canhouse â&#x20AC;&#x201D; until the great disrupter cer diagnosis.

West Hempstead lawyer and now survivor Howof acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) his experiard Bressler is determined to use ences ďŹ ghting cancer to help others. he Since the beginning of his treatment, now he has counseled other cancer patients; inďŹ&#x201A;uence. is seeking to increase his ďŹ eld of his expeHe has written a book, intertwining the path riences with advice and guidance on much As after. life and cure to from diagnosis there as cancer is a life-changing experience, is life after cancer.

SurvivThe book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Laymanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Guide to Treating Cancer: From Diagnosis Through Continued on page 11

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For Israel, new prez, new tone

age 90, continues between Peres and Rivlin. Peres, at of a two-state solution, and

By Alex Traiman, JNS.org n who has to be a vocal supporter As a well-respected parliamentaria of the now-defunct Oslo peace proof Communica- was an architect served as the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Minister which he was awarded a Nobel Peace Israeli president- cessâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a role for Yitzhak Rabin Minister Prime tions and the speaker of the Knesset, former with the expected pro- Prize along Yasser Arafat in the early â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s. The elect MK Reuven â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rubyâ&#x20AC;? Rivlin has takes the reins in and arch-terrorist on the other hand, is an opponent ďŹ le for his position. But when he and low-key 74-year-old Rivlin, calls July, Rivlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strong nationalistic ideology solution and a promoter of what he an immediate con- of a two-state Sea and international presence will provide Israelâ&#x20AC;? between the Mediterranean greater â&#x20AC;&#x153;a Peres. in which Palestinians would be trast to outgoing President Shimon stature of Shi- the Jordan River, â&#x20AC;&#x153;He wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the international equal rights. Rivlin opposed Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minister, defense granted full and mon Peres, who was a former prime withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. unilateral Mitchell pollster weight in minister, and foreign minister,â&#x20AC;? said The post of president carries signiďŹ cant and a former functions Barak, director of Keevoon Research Israel, even though most of the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of the President.

Continued on page 14 spokesperson for Peres in the OfďŹ ce â&#x20AC;&#x153;stark contrastâ&#x20AC;?

Barak told JNS.org that there is a

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Leading up to Tuesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shloshim, many peo people across the communities of the Five Towns cont contributed learning towards completing the Mishna and a Hillel Tuchman read and explained the ďŹ nal Mishna Mish in Uktzin. After the kaddish, a kel maleh rachamim racham (G-d full of mercy) prayer was recited for the three th boys and another for the fallen IDF soldiers.

Rabbi Blachman said that every Jew carries an aspect of G-dliness, each has a mission and is a unique uniq KH /D\PDQœV *XLGH +RZDUG %UHVVOHU RI :HVW +HPSVWHDG EDVHG ³7 Continued on page 11 QFHU´ RQ KLV RZQ H[SHULHQFHV

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a range of Forces, an organization that offers social, programs that address the educational, and cultural economic, recreational, spiritual, the families of needs of the soldiers as well as FIDF was essoldiers fallen in defense of Israel. and is tablished in 1981 by Holocaust survivors York.

New in headquartered ďŹ nish line Zachary Grossman crossed the placed ďŹ rst with a time of 2:26. Michael Polishuk were Kehni second and Josh Shmuel and Kevin

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the main mai tuary this Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colors of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Ced sancA Long Island ďŹ&#x201A;ight club will ďŹ&#x201A;y a arhurst Tuesday evening for the completion Sunday. of the entire New the Israeli Mishna for the shloshim (30th day memorial At 10 am, 13 planes associated with se service) Airport from Republic after plan to take offhStar.com the516-622-7461 Call York Flight Club, www.TheJewis Frankel, Gilad Shore,murder of kidnapped Naftali Frankel Islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s South Twitter.com/JewishStarNY ShaerSide, in Farmingdale and ďŹ&#x201A;y along Long West and Eyal Yifrach. over Brooklyn beaches, along Manhattanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Rabbi Moshe Teiteland on to New Jersey.

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Continued from page 6 victed of corruption (the charges were overturned after the race and the prosecutors were cited for malfeasance). Despite that, Stevens was seen as corrupt; Begich won by fewer than 4K votes.

Arkansas: Looks like it will flip to the GOP. Another state with a strong Republican voter base (R+14), which should change parties on Election Day. Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor had a 1% lead on July 1st. However, Republican Tom Cotton has run a very impressive campaign and now holds a lead of about 5%. A recent revelation that Pryor’s college thesis had argued that the “state had suffered enough” from the federal desegregation efforts in the 1960s may damage the Democrat among the state’s African-American voters.

Colorado: Colorado has a D+1 rating meaning the state is a pretty evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. The numbers show the senate race is still very close but based on trends it seems as if Republican Cory Gardner has the momentum over the incumbent and he now leads by about 3% in the polls after trailing by the same amount a month ago. However this will be the first Colorado race with mail-in voting and it is not known how that may skew the polls and the voter models by changing the voter base.

Iowa: Another D+1 state. After being tied most of the summer, Republican Joni Earnst has opened up a slight 2-3% lead. Most political observers didn’t believe Ms. Earnst would even win the primary, but the Army veteran’s first commercial that jokingly spoke of castrating pigs turned that all around.

In the 15 polls released by various sources since mid-September, Earnst has trailed in only two. The only news Democrat Bruce Braley has had in recent weeks is two campaign appearances by the first lady; on the first she kept getting his name wrong and the second her staff said Braley was running for Governor. Pigs in Iowa should be very worried because the prediction here is that Earnst will win in a very close race.

Louisiana is holding an open primary Nov. 4. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the total there will be a runoff on Dec. 6. And that’s precisely what will happen next week.

Incumbent Mary Landrieu is trending toward a 4-5% victory in the primary but generates less than 40% of the vote. Republican Bill Cassidy at 35% is fighting against both Landrieu and fellow Republican Rob Maness who may get around 9%. Landrieu has been damaged by recent scandals revealing she used federal funds for campaign trips and that she spends a very limited time in her district. Landrieu, married with three kids, does not own a house in the state and lists her parent’s house as her primary residence for voting purposes.

The same polls that predict a Landrieu vic-

tory in the Nov. 4 primary also show a Bill Cassidy victory in a head to head run off in December. This will be a Republican pickup, but not until December.

In North Carolina, incumbent Democrat Kay Hagen has held a slight lead over Republican Thom Tillis during throughout the campaign. Although the race has been tightening and could change, as of now the prediction is North Carolina will stay in Democratic hands.

New Hampshire is in a similar situation; the only difference is that this race was supposed to be a blowout by Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen. Republican Scott Brown has the momentum in this race, especially after the Democrat’s awful performances in recent debates, but it looks like Shaheen has enough to squeak out a victory on Election Day. The three GOP held seats to keep an eye on are Kentucky, Kansas, and Georgia.

Once a close race, Kentucky voters will reelect incumbent Mitch McConnell over Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Based on Ms. Grimes’ recent gaffes including not admitting she voted for President Obama in the last election, McConnell’s lead will continue to widen. Look for a 6-8% McConnell victory.

The Kansas Democratic Party’s move, getting their candidate to drop out, making it a two-person race between independent Greg Orman (who despite what he claims will caucus with the Democrats) and Republican incumbent Pat Roberts seemed like a masterstroke. Orman has maintained an evershrinking lead over Roberts. An eight-point lead in mid September has shrunk to a lead of less than a percentage point. I wouldn’t be surprised if Roberts overtakes Orman in the last few days of the campaign. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Orman holds on, as there is a huge anti-incumbent sentiment. This race is too close to call.

Georgia may be a Democratic Party pickup, but odds are we won’t know which way it goes until a runoff on Jan. 6. Republican David Perdue had led most of the way, but since the beginning of October Democrat Michelle Nunn has been rising and now has a tiny lead.

Chances are neither candidate will get 50%, throwing it into a runoff leading to a highly competitive election three days after the new Senate meets. This race is too close to call.

That’s the prediction. The GOP will win up to eight new Senate seats, the Democrats may take up to two from the GOP. For those of you who like to go to sleep early, keep your eyes on New Hampshire and North Carolina. If either of those races go to the Republican candidate, there is no need to stay awake further, it will be a GOP wave election. On the other hand, if the Democrat wins in Kentucky or Arkansas, fire up the coffeemaker — it’s going to be a late night.

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Expelled Nazis hit Social Security bonanza, live comfortably with millions from USA

By David Rising, Randy Herschaft and Richard Lardner Associated Press OSIJEK, Croatia â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Former Auschwitz guard Jakob Denzinger lived the American dream.

His plastics company in the Rust Belt town of Akron, Ohio, thrived. By the late 1980s, he had acquired the trappings of success: a Cadillac DeVille and a Lincoln Town Car, a lakefront home, investments in oil and real estate.

Then the Nazi hunters showed up.

In 1989, as the U.S. government prepared to strip him of his citizenship, Denzinger packed a pair of suitcases and ďŹ&#x201A;ed to Germany. He later settled in this pleasant town on the Drava River, where he lives comfortably, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. He collects a Social Security payment of about $1,500 each month, nearly twice the take-home pay of an average Croatian worker.

Denzinger, 90, is among dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards who collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation found.

In response to APâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ ndings, a White House spokesman said that Nazi suspects should not be getting the beneďŹ ts. But the spokesman, Eric Schultz, did not say whether or how the White House might end the payments.

The payments have been ďŹ&#x201A;owing through a legal loophole that has given the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave. If they agreed to go, or simply ďŹ&#x201A;ed before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal government records.

Like Denzinger, many lied about their Nazi pasts to get into the U.S. following World War II, and eventually became American citizens.

Among those who beneďŹ ted: â&#x20AC;˘Armed SS troops who guarded the Nazi network of camps where millions of Jews perished. â&#x20AC;˘An SS guard who took part in the brutal liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland that killed as many as 13,000 Jews. â&#x20AC;˘A Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of Jews in Poland. â&#x20AC;˘A German rocket scientist accused of using slave labor to build the V-2 rocket that pummeled London. He later won NASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest honor for helping to put a man on the moon.

The APâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ ndings are the result of more than two years of interviews, research and analysis of records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and other sources.

The Justice Department has denied using Social Security payments as a tool for removing Nazi suspects. But records show the U.S. State Department and the Social Security Administration voiced grave concerns over the methods used by the Justice Departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nazi-hunting unit, the OfďŹ ce of Special Investigations (OSI).

State ofďŹ cials derogatorily called the practice â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nazi dumpingâ&#x20AC;? and claimed the OSI was bargaining with suspects so they would leave voluntarily.

Since 1979, the AP analysis found, at least 38 of 66 suspects removed from the United States kept their Social Security beneďŹ ts.

Legislation that would have closed the Social Security loophole failed 15 years ago, partly due to opposition from the OSI. Since then, according to the APâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s analysis, at least 10 Nazi suspects kept their beneďŹ ts after leaving. The Social Security Administration conďŹ rmed payments to seven who are deceased.

Legislators demand: Stop US beneďŹ ts to ex-Nazis NEW YORK (AP) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; U.S. elected ofďŹ cials are calling on Congress to stop Social Security payments to former Nazis.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney told a news conference that Congress must close a loophole that allows tax funds to go toward those involved in the persecution of Jews.

Maloney and Rep. Leonard Lance said they would introduced a bill next month to terminate the beneďŹ ts.

Maloney and Lance say a federal judge should decide whether a person had participated in Nazi activities.

Maloney says taxpayers should not subsidize those guilty of the some of the worst atrocities in human history.

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One living suspect was conďŹ rmed through an AP interview. Two others met the conditions to keep their beneďŹ ts.

Of the 66 suspects, at least four are alive, living in Europe on U.S. Social Security.

In newly uncovered Social Security Administration records, the AP found that by March 1999, 28 suspected Nazi criminals had collected $1.5 million in Social Security payments after their removal from the U.S. Since then, the AP estimates the amount paid out has reached into the millions. That estimate is based on the number of suspects who qualiďŹ ed and the three decades that have passed since the ďŹ rst former Nazis, Arthur Rudolph and John Avdzej, signed agreements that required them to leave the country but ensured their beneďŹ ts would continue.

Long-living beneďŹ ciaries can collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments.

A single male who earned an average wage of $44,800 a year and turned 65 in 1990, the year after Denzinger did, would receive nearly $15,000 annually in Social Security beneďŹ ts, according to the Urban Institute, a nonproďŹ t public policy group in Washington. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $375,000 over 25 years. The amounts are adjusted for inďŹ&#x201A;ation.

The Social Security Administration refused the APâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request for the total number of Nazi suspects who received beneďŹ ts and the dollar amounts of those payments.

Spokesman William â&#x20AC;&#x153;BJâ&#x20AC;? Jarrett said the agency does not track data speciďŹ c to Nazi cases. A further barrier, Jarrett said, is that there is no exception in U.S. privacy law that â&#x20AC;&#x153;allows us to disclose information because the individual is a Nazi war criminal or an accused Nazi war criminal.â&#x20AC;?

The agency also declined to make the acting commissioner, Carolyn Colvin, or another senior agency ofďŹ cial available for an interview.

AP on Oct. 16 appealed the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s denial of the information through the Freedom of Information Act. The appeal cited several concerns about the Social Security Administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s handling of the request submitted in April. Without ďŹ rst informing AP, the agency altered the scope of the request â&#x20AC;&#x153;in a manner serving both to undercut APâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inquiry while simultaneously sparing the SSA from having to disclose potentially embarrassing information,â&#x20AC;? the appeal said.

The Justice Department declined the APâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s request for an ofďŹ cial to speak on the record. Spokesman Peter Carr said in an emailed statement that Social Security payments never were used as an incentive or as a threat to persuade Nazi suspects to depart voluntarily. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The matter of Social Security beneďŹ ts eligibility was raised by defense counsel, not by the department, and the department neither used retirement beneďŹ ts as an inducement to leave the

country and renounce citizenship nor threatened that failure to depart and renounce would jeopardize continued receipt of beneďŹ ts,â&#x20AC;? Carr said.

The department opposed the legislation in 1999, Carr acknowledged, because it would have undermined the OSIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mandate to remove Nazi criminals as expeditiously as possible to countries that would prosecute them.

Speed was a key factor. Survivors of the Holocaust who made the United States their home after the war had been forced to share it with their former Nazi tormenters. That had to change, and fast, the OSIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proponents said. If suspects were to stand trial, they needed to be found and ousted while they were alive.

The OSI and its backers didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want death to cheat justice.

Yet only 10 suspects were ever prosecuted after being expelled, according to the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ gures.

Efraim Zuroff, the head Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, said that while he could understand having to make the tough choice â&#x20AC;&#x153;between no justice and a measure of justiceâ&#x20AC;? by allowing suspects to retain their beneďŹ ts to get them out of the country, the OSI should have known there was no political will to prosecute them after their removal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If these arrangements were made based on the supposition that these people would ultimately be prosecuted on criminal charges in their countries of origin, that was purely wishful thinking,â&#x20AC;? Zuroff said Monday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ultimately the numbers prove very clearly that almost none of these people were ever charged, let alone punished.â&#x20AC;?

At his home in Osijek, Denzinger would not discuss his situation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to say anything,â&#x20AC;? he told the AP in German as he rested on his walker in the hallway of his apartment.

But Denzingerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son, who lives in the U.S., conďŹ rmed his father receives Social Security payments and said he deserved them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t coming out of other peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pockets,â&#x20AC;? Thomas Denzinger said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He paid into the system.â&#x20AC;? Plus his father is paying 30 percent in taxes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They should be taking out nothing,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Another former Nazi camp guard, longtime Montana resident Martin Hartmann, now lives in Berlin and also is collecting Social Security, according to a person with knowledge of Hartmannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ nances. That person spoke only on condition of anonymity because the person did not want to be associated with Hartmannâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nazi history. Hartmann, 95, left the U.S. in 2007, just before a federal judge issued an order to revoke his citizenship.

The loophole also means new suspects, including former SS unit commander Michael Karkoc, whom the AP located last year in Minnesota, could retain beneďŹ ts even if removed to another country.

Continued on page 21

couragement to leave,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the department’s thinking on the matter.

The OSI encouraged several suspects to use U.S. passports for legal travel to allied countries, such as Germany or Austria.

5 key findings about Social Security for Nazi suspects An Associated Press investigation found that dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments, through a loophole in U.S. law, after being forced out of the United States.

DOZENS OF NAZI SUSPECTS RECEIVED PAYMENTS Since 1979, at least 38 of 66 suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards forced from the United States collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments.

FOUR STILL COLLECTING Today, at least four former Nazis who participated in the persecution of Jews and other civilians during World War II are living in Europe and receiving Social Security benefits.

OLD-AGE BENEFITS USED AS LEVERAGE The U.S. Justice Department denied using Social Security benefits as a tool for removing former Nazis. But records show the State Department and Social Security Administration voiced grave concerns over the methods used by the Justice Department’s Nazi-hunting unit, the Office of Special Investigations.

ATTEMPTS TO STOP PAYMENTS FAILED The payments flowed through a loophole in the law that a group of U.S. lawmakers attempted but failed to close in 1999. The Justice Department opposed the bill, saying it would undermine the effort to remove Nazi suspects as quickly as possible to countries that would prosecute them.

Only 10 were prosecuted.

PAYMENTS SHROUDED IN SECRECY The Social Security Administration refused the AP’s request for the total number of Nazi suspects who received benefits and the dollar amounts of those payments.

Once there, they would renounce their U.S. citizenships and still be able to collect Social Security benefits. This practice stoked outrage at the State Department and in capitals in Europe.

The path for the OSI’s approach opened when Congress passed legislation making “participation in Nazi persecution” grounds for deportation. But the Social Security Act was not changed to make such crimes also grounds for the termination of benefits.

An internal memo drafted in 1984 by State Department officials discussed how deals were made behind the scenes. To get suspects to renounce citizenship, the OSI would delay legal action and “refrain from seeking in any way to limit the subject’s receipt of U.S. Social Security benefits,” the memo said.

The criticism triggered a bitter back-and-forth between the two agencies, with each accusing the other of being un-American. Decades later, the acrimony lingers.

“It was not upfront, it was not transparent, it was not a legitimate process,” said James Hergen, a former State Department legal adviser who once described the OSI’s approach as a “cynical publicity ploy.”

Neal Sher, OSI director from 1983 to 1994, said the State Department put a higher priority on diplomatic niceties than holding former members of Adolf Hitler’s war machine accountable.

“State always wraps itself in the flag. Unfortunately, it’s not the American flag,” said Sher, recalling a complaint voiced by a former colleague.

One of the first instances of “Nazi-dumping” involved Rudolph, a celebrated rocket scientist, and set off a diplomatic storm. Rudolph was brought to the U.S. after the war because of his technical brilliance. Decades later he was accused of “working thousands of slave laborers to death” in the Nazi factory that built the V-2 rocket, and he faced the loss of his citizenship and deportation.

Rudolph and Avdzej, another Nazi war crimes suspect, became the first to voluntarily leave the United States under the OSI’s “renunciation program.” When they arrived in Germany in 1984 and forfeited their U.S. citizenships, a furious West German government filed a formal protest. Amid State Department objections, the OSI came up with a “new scheme,” said an internal memo, obtained by the AP, to then-Secretary of State George Shultz. The difficulty in finding cooperative countries, according to the May 1987 memo written by senior State Department officials, “has led OSI to resort to bargains with Nazi persecutors which permit their voluntary departure from the U.S.” This investigative report continues online at TheJewishStar. com. (It will be available online through Nov. 30.)

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21 THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 • 7 CHESHVAN 5775

Continued from page 20 German prosecutors opened an investigation after the AP uncovered documentation showing Karkoc, 95, ordered his unit to raze a Polish village during the war. Dozens of women and children were killed in the attack.

The American public did not become fully aware until the mid-1970s that thousands of Nazi persecutors had immigrated to the U.S. after World War II, with estimates ranging as high as 10,000. People were shocked to learn their former enemies could be living next door.

Paul Shapiro, director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, said the influx proved to be damaging.

“Beyond the undermining of American values that these people represented, as a group they gained leverage over government policy in critical areas relating to national security and immigration policy,” he said Monday. “And even decades later as they were forced to leave the country they continued to apply that leverage at the expense of the American taxpayer.”

Congressional pressure led to the creation of the OSI in 1979, and it had a single purpose: Track down and expel Nazis who played a role in the persecution of civilians.

But because their crimes were committed outside the U.S. and almost always against non-Americans, Nazi suspects could not be tried in U.S. courts.

The only option available was to prove they lied to immigration authorities about what they did during the war, to strip them of their citizenships through a lengthy legal process and then to attempt either deportation or extradition.

But almost no countries were willing to accept them through deportation, and few pressed charges that would have forced extradition. So the Justice Department devised a strategy to overcome these difficulties, including encouraging the suspects to leave voluntarily, which meant they would avoid the process of deportation and keep their retirement benefits.

The OSI regularly trumpeted its successes, and boasted in 2006 that its work had led to more Nazi expulsions from the U.S. in the previous 25 years than all other countries in the world combined.

“We really did want people to give up and go,” said a senior Justice Department official, who defended the practice as a way of avoiding deportation proceedings that could last 10 years.

“The goal is still to remove these people as quickly as possible, and the fact that as soon as we move to the deportation stage they run the risk of losing their benefit(s) is still an en-

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1. Mayim Bialik joined the ___ of “The Big Bang Theory” in 2010 5. Paskesz ___ Toast 10. Performs a sweatshop task 14. Awards hosted by Canadian-Jewish rapper Drake in 2014 15. Lynn Ahrens’s “___ is a Person, Place, or Thing” 16. 1988 Conservative Jewish manifesto “___ v’Emunah” 17. Bar mitzvah boy 20. Joel Grey’s “Cabaret” role 21. Alternative to a glass of Manischewitz 22. Canadian politician Bob 23. Dance Sammy Davis, Jr. was known for 26. Gornisht 27. ___ Crown Jewish Academy (Chicago day school) 30. 2014 “Bachelorette” Dorfman 32. ___ Moines (Location of Lubavitch of Iowa) 34. Scandal fictionalized in David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” 36. Bob Hilliard song whose title is a term of affection 39. Bacteria that may be a particular risk with kosher chicken 40. He partnered with Rodgers on “South Pacific” 42. Shalom from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Haw.) 44. Embark (for) the Holy Land 45. Opposite of haredi 47. “Simpsons” neighbor Flanders voiced by Harry Shearer 48. “Mad About You” character Buchman and others 52. Andy Newmark band ___and the Family Stone 53. God number in Ladino 55. Milliband and Asner 57. Uri Geller claims to have it 58. Bit of comedy on “Saturday Night Live” 61. Scholar Robert (“The Art of Biblical Narrative”) 63. Husband-and-wife comedy duo who were regulars on “The Ed Sullivan Show” 67. Greek equivalent of the Hebrew letter yod 68. “___ Again” (motto of the Jewish Defense League) 69. “___, Mikey, Jakey, Sam. We’re the boys who eat no ham” 70. 1936 Palestine Commission 71. Alexander I, II, and III 72. “Nothing but ___” (Reform movement antimalaria program)

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7. Like Samson’s hair 8. The amount Gabe Kaplan spends when he joins a poker game 9. Fanconi ___ (Jewish genetic disease) 10. “Shabbat is ___” (Paul Zim album) 11. (:-}# is supposed to be one of a bearded man with peyos 12. Brooks of “Silent Movie” 13. Abbr. for the last word in a conservative magazine edited by William Kristol 18. Yod preceder 19. Like a kosher hot dog 24. Levine of Maroon 5 25. He was president until he was 90 28. Indian version of the dish Esau served Jacob 29. Jeremy Ben-___, author of “A New Voice for Israel” 31. State where Moses Alexander was once mayor of Boise 33. In Israel, commonly heard sound in July 2014 35. Asimov genre (abbr.)

37. Temple ___ (synagogue name in St. Louis, Atlanta, and Beverly Hills) 38. She said, “If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard” 40. Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs, e.g.

41. Sweeney ___ (Sondheim character) 42. Freud remarks during psychoanalysis 43. Al Capp’s ___ Abner 46. Kavannah, an essential element of Jewish prayer 49. Six-Day War goal, vis-a-vis Jerusalem 50. ___ Y’mei Teshuvah (Ten Days of Repentance) 51. Uses paint in anti-Semitic graffiti, often 54. The Old City has about 225 56. “I am ___” (2001 Sean Penn film) 59. ___ Yisrael (the whole Jewish people) 60. “___ neranenah” (Israeli folk song lyric) 62. Read Torah 63. Emulate Elijah at the seder 64. It might check the temperature of a mikvah 65. ___ neshama (yahrtzeit candle) 66. Advice-givers Laura and Ruth

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OHEL Moishe Hellman and Mel Zachter, CoPresidents of OHEL Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home and Family Services, announced that the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Annual Gala will be held on Sunday, Nov. 23 at the New York Marriot Marquis.

The format of the gala is different this year, with a lavish sit down buffet at 5 pm, followed by an inspiring program at 6:30, with dessert to follow the program. The focus of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gala is Looking back, While Moving Forward, and over 1,000 friends and supporters are expected to attend.

The evening will be dedicated to the memory of Miriam Lubling Aâ&#x20AC;?H, a true Angel of Mercy for OHEL, as well as the thousands of community members she has helped. To ďŹ t the theme of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gala, we look back with admiration and gratitude on Mrs. Lublingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remarkable compassion, generosity, and accomplishments, as she inspires us to move ahead with great optimism. She reminds us of the human capacity for kindness, selďŹ&#x201A;essness, and devotion to our community.

The corporate guest of honor at this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual gala is Pomegranate Supermarket.

Abe Banda, the owner of Pomegranate, is the recipient of OHELâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2014 Community Partner Award. Abeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heart is as large as his spacious,

ultra-modern supermarketâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an impressive 18,000 square feet of the freshest and ďŹ nest kosher food.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re proud to recognize Abeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exemplary commitment to â&#x20AC;&#x153;creating something better for a community that deserves moreâ&#x20AC;?.

Pomegranate partners with OHEL to sponsor SibShops, a program of companionship, recreation, and support for the brothers and sisters of people with developmental disabilities. Pomegranate chefs volunteer their time to offer program participants creative experiences of kosher culinary instruction, among SibShopsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; most popular activities. Abe and Pomegranate are proud to be OHELâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food vendor for residences in Brooklyn and the lower East Side, and providing the best food and service to OHEL individuals is paramount to Abe and his staff. Abe is a model of chessed and tzedaka, and his contributions to our community, and to OHEL, will be celebrated.

OHEL will also be honoring Rabbi Philip and Rebbetzin Malka Goldberg, recipients of OHELâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pioneers of Advocacy Award. Rabbi Goldberg was the Chaplain of Willowbrook State School for those with disabilities, and following the national exposĂŠ and closure of The Willowbrook School.

EMUNAH honors 5 Towns couple Lawrence residents David and Shari Shapiro will receive the Keter Shem Tov Award at the EMUNAH beneďŹ t dinner on Nov. 15.

Shari has served as the vice-president and co-president of EMUNAHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Five Towns chapter, and continues to serve as an advisor and the chapterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s treasurer, along with being on the national board. Lisa and David Zaslowsky are chairing the dinner.

EMUNAH, supports 250 social service and educational projects throughout Israel.

For reservations and journal ads, call EMUNAH at (212) 564-905 ext. 303 or register online at emunah.org/dinner.

Joining for Shabbosâ&#x20AC;Ś Continued from page 1 â&#x20AC;&#x153;It expressed for me what this Shabbat was about,â&#x20AC;? said Hain. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A family has internal issues, but it is sweet to sit down with your brothers and sisters to break bread together.â&#x20AC;?

Shabbat Noach was The Shabbos Project weekend, a bid for international Jewish unity in which all Jews, regardless of their level of observance, were urged to celebrate Shabbat together.

The Five Towns was alive with project-related activities.

The Shabbat Project encouraged frum families to participate with their less observant friends and neighbors.

Members of Cedarhurst and Lawrence synagogues got to know one another at both Shabbat meals, and there was much singing and dancing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a wonderful thing to bring together different parts of the Jewish community that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always get together,â&#x20AC;? said Eddie Edelstein, who has been Temple Beth Elâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s executive director for the past three years and a member for more than 30 years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We hope to really capitalize on all that we have in common and encourage sharing between congregants that live right down the

road from one another.â&#x20AC;?

Hain said that there have been joint community efforts between synagogues in the past, including an adult education program that ran for a number of years, but that last weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gathering truly broke down barriers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This most recent effort was the most interactive in a very human way,â&#x20AC;? he said, adding that this kind of event is needed at a time when disagreements between the diverse movements of Judaism create more division than collaboration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are confronted with such great challenges such as declining numbers, we need to bring ourselves together in any way we can.â&#x20AC;?

Futterman, who began his tenure at Temple Beth El on Aug. 1, previously led a Conservative synagogue in Chicago. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For the past six years we had a relationship with a local Orthodox synagogue,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I never thought in the Five Towns we would investigate that kind of relationship. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so excited we are reaching out.â&#x20AC;?

Futterman and Hain said that more joint efforts could be on the horizon, including an event in February.

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Sister of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Lone Soldierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; speaks at FIDFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LI gala FIDF Friends of the Israel Defense Forces Long Island Chapter raised $1.4 million through its Ninth Annual IDF Appreciation Evening last week.

Over 600 supporters from across Long Island gathered at the Fresh Meadow Country Club in Lake Success to honor the men and women of the IDF. Gal Carmeli, the sister of Sgt. Sean â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nissimâ&#x20AC;? Carmeli Zâ&#x20AC;?L, a Lone Soldier from Texas who moved to Israel, enlisted into the IDF and was killed during the IDFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza this summer, recalled her brother at the FIDF event. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To us, nothing will ever justify this situation,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;No reason will ever be truly acceptable for separating Sean from us; but the pain that we constantly feel carries with it a beauty that I have never seen before. The goodness that has come forth from people we know and people we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, is what keeps us standing and keeps my parents from breaking.â&#x20AC;?

Sgt. Carmeli, 21, originally of South Padre Island, TX, was killed on July 20 in Shejaia, Gaza City, after his vehicle was struck by an anti-tank weapon. He was one of the 13 soldiers from the IDFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Golani Brigade killed during the battle with Hamas. More than 40,000 people attended his funeral in Israel.

This weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s FIDF event also honored

Howard Stecker, spiritual leader of the Conservative Temple Israel of Great Neck. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those of us here tonight can fulďŹ ll a promise to the soldiers of the IDF,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We can fulďŹ ll the promise to support those whose sacriďŹ ces preserve Israel as a Jewish democratic state. We can fulďŹ ll the promise to ensure that their service is a bit less painful and lonely than it has to be. We can fulďŹ ll a promise to support their educational and professional training so that their lives will be more productive and meaningful during and far beyond their time of service.â&#x20AC;?

Guests included FIDF IMPACT! Scholarship recipient, Captain Eliran Naim, Sergeant Tal, a Lone Soldier from Palahan Givati, and Staff Sergeant Elle, a female combat paramedic.

FIDF was established in 1981 by a group of Holocaust survivors as a 501(C)(3) notfor-proďŹ t organization with the mission of providing and supporting educational, social, cultural, and recreational programs and facilities for the heroic men and women of the IDF. Today, FIDF has more than 120,000 loyal supporters, and 15 regional ofďŹ ces throughout the U.S. and Panama. FIDF proudly offers its support to the IDF soldiers and their families through a variety of unique and innovative programs.

For more information, visit ďŹ df.org.

Blakeman-Rice contestâ&#x20AC;Ś Continued from page 1 â&#x20AC;&#x153;As soon as we heard that this Imam had been added to an expanded panel of guests, we immediately pulled out of the event, condemned the Imam, and criticized the Islamic Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to give him a platform.â&#x20AC;?

The Islamic Center is located in Westbury.

In an ad published in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jewish Star, the Blakeman campaign refers to Wahhaj as having been â&#x20AC;&#x153;named in court papers as an unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombingâ&#x20AC;? who testiďŹ ed in support of members of his mosque who were indicted.

On Wednesday, the Blakeman camp issued a statement supporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to build 1,000 more homes in eastern Jerusalem, a move criticized by the White House. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel has a right to build on its own land,â&#x20AC;? Blakeman said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel. No one should be permitted to dictate how Israel should govern their capital.â&#x20AC;?

Rice â&#x20AC;&#x153;believes President Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rheto-

ric was misplaced and that Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security and long-term prosperity should never be compromised,â&#x20AC;? her campaign said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She will stand up to him when it comes to protecting Israel and our sacred bond with the country and its people.'

An ad placed by the Rice campaign seeks to butress the candidateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pro-Israel credentials. Over Riceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s signature, it states, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our security at home begins with Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s security at home. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll stand up to the President or anyone else who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand the importance of our cultural, ďŹ nancial and military bond with Israel.â&#x20AC;?

In her ad, Rice promises that as a member of Congress she â&#x20AC;&#x153;will ďŹ ght to protect Israel by: â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;˘Reinforcing Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diplomatic, political and military bonds with the U.S. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;˘Ensuring a continuation of U.S. ďŹ nancial aid to Israel â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;˘Preventing â&#x20AC;&#x201D;by any means necessary â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a nuclear-capable Iran â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;˘Demanding tough sanctions in response to Iranian nuclear development.â&#x20AC;?

THE JEWISH STAR October 31, 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 7 CHESHVAN 5775

OHEL looks back, moves forward, at Nov. 23 gala

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5 Towns challah bake…

Continued from page 1 Shabbos Project video and I had the chance to be a part of making that happen in our community. But at first, I didn’t realize I’d need an army of women!”

The bakers at the Sands were thrilled by their powerful spiritual connection, the fun they had meeting new people, and the sheer number of challot they produced.

Donna Warshaw of Far Rockaway, who bakes her own challot regularly, was moved by the explanation of the kavanah of each ingredient.

“I will bring that concept back home and incorporate it when I bake. And making challah with all these other women really elevates the process,” she said.

Ellie Schlam of Lawrence, who volunteered with outreach and public relations for the Challah Bake, noted that the number of participants grew to eclipse the planners’ expectations.

“Last week, the event was sold out with 700 people registered,” she said while kneading her challah dough. “But in the days leading up to the Challah Bake, many more people expressed interest and the venue managed to accommodate 300 extra people, bringing the total number of participants to 948. So with the volunteers, over 1,200 women are here tonight.

“The incredible dedication of Adina and Sima led to a resounding success. They truly did a herculean job of organizing details large and small, inspiring the volunteers and participants and setting the tone for a beautiful, inclusive and meaningful evening.”

Sharron Cohen of Woodmere attended with her daughter Celia, a HAFTR student, and two Israeli young women, Nitzan Sorek and Hadar Abu. These HAFTR Bet Ami are living with the Cohen family, who are members of YILC, while in the US.

Cohen recalled being inspired by The Shabbos Project video on YouTube.

“When I saw the video last year, I wished they would do it here too. Then they did!”

When asked for her opinion of the event, Sorek commented, “Wow! But it’s good, I like it. I never imagined how much bigger it would be than I expected.”

Helena Shayer from Franklin Square was another baker. She came with her friend Esther Teitelbaum of Far Rockaway, and thought the event “was fantastic. Everyone has been talking about it for the past few weeks, and here we are. It’s incredibly impressive.”

Inez Yadgarov came from Kew Gardens Hills and commented, “I’m very happy to be baking challah together in unity with so many others. It’s inspiring!”

Carol Alpern of Long Beach came with her niece, and this was her first challah baking experience. She noted, however, that “my daughter had a challah baking business when she was in college. Then she switched to a gefilte fish business. Have you heard of Gefilteria?”

At the close of the event, the bakers experienced an unexpected, moving moment.

The student volunteers joined hands and sang “Gut Shabbos, Freiliche Shabbos” at the close of the event, as the ladies walked down the steps to leave, which struck Fischlewitz as the highest possible way to praise G-d.

“Just like Miriam and the women broke into spontaneous song at the splitting of the Red Sea, our girls did the same. And a Yiddish song; Yiddish enters right into the neshama. It was beautiful.”

The students prepared Shabbos gifts for each baker to take home: a present of Shabbos candles and a challah cover, so Shabbos can continue to be celebrated at each home long after this event.

Photos from the challah bake THIS PAGE (clockwise from top left) Women from North Woodmere; Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, who coordinated The Shabbos Project in the Five Towns; from Forest Hills — Sarit Mirzayev, Shelly Dazza, Sarah Jakubov and Diana Khaimova; one of scores of hard working tables; from Kew Gardens Hills — Sima Ginian, Rena Tanenbaum, Esh Pograw and Shoshana Tanenbaum.

FACING PAGE (from the top)

Aliza Stern and Chana Muchii from North Woodmere; Raichel Minkow, proud young baker from Cedurhust, and Challah Bake organizers Malky Feldman and Judy Rubin; some of the 20 seniors from the Hebrew Academy of Five Towns and Rockaway who participated with their mothers, faculty members and assorted guests.

The Jewish Star photos

by Eric Dunetz HAFTR photo courtesy Katie Glickman

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New museum unveils rich story of Jewish life in Poland

By Vanessa Gera Associated Press WARSAW, Poland â&#x20AC;&#x201D; In the two millennia between ancient Israel and its modern rebirth, Jews never enjoyed as much political autonomy as they did in Poland, a land that centuries later would become intrinsically linked to the Holocaust.

The story of this great ďŹ&#x201A;ourishing of political and cultural life is part of a 1,000-year history told in a visually striking new museum, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which opens its long-awaited core exhibition to the public Tuesday amid days of celebrations.

The Polish and Israeli presidents will attend, along with Polish Holocaust survivors who helped create this memorial to the lost world of their ancestors.

Polin is Yiddish for Poland, and also means â&#x20AC;&#x153;rest here,â&#x20AC;? a reference to a story Jews told themselves about their arrival in Poland in the Middle Ages: that they found favor from the rulers and were allowed to dwell there in tranquility. The result was centuries of a ďŹ&#x201A;ourishing Yiddish-speaking civilization that made important contributions to Polish and world culture before being nearly wiped out by Nazi Germany. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Holocaust has cast a shadow onto this great civilization and the generations of Jews who lived in Eastern Europe before the Second World War, as if those centuries of life were little more than a preface to the Holocaust,â&#x20AC;? museum director Dariusz Stola said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But that is absurd. This museum stresses that 1,000 years of Jewish life are not less worthy of remembrance than the six years of the Holocaust.â&#x20AC;?

Poland, in a union formed in the 16th century with Lithuania called the Commonwealth, became one of Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest and most ethnically diverse territories. Jews beneďŹ ted from tolerance and a large degree of self-governance granted by the rulers, growing into the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest Jewish community. Today 9 million of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 14 million Jews can trace their ancestry to Poland.

Despite their once-signiďŹ cant presence, memory of the Jews all but disappeared from public discourse in Poland in the communist era, leaving postwar generations largely unaware that their country was once a multiethnic land where Jews and other religions lived in relative peace, even avoiding the religious wars that devastated other European lands.

Polandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prewar population of 3.3 million Jews was reduced to 300,000 by Adolf Hitlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s genocide, while communist-era persecution drove most of those survivors away. Today there are fewer than 30,000 Jews in Poland, though the community is again growing.

In the postwar decades, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Polish history didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t speak of Jews. It spoke of cemeteries, of the Holocaust, of the ghettos. ... It spoke exclusively of death,â&#x20AC;? said Piotr Wislicki, who heads a Jewish historical association that raised $48 million for the exhibition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And in the eyes of the world, Poland was just one big cemetery.â&#x20AC;?

The museum is now part of a broader attempt by Polandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaders and elite to reclaim that pluralism, an ethos that took root after Poland threw off communism 25 years ago.

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Built with taxpayer money and private donations, the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liberal message has been welcomed by young Poles, many of whom ďŹ&#x201A;ock to the dozens of Jewish festivals that take place in Poland each year. Days before the grand opening, the museum opened its doors to people living in the neighborhood, an area once the heart of the Warsaw Ghetto. The neighbors, many of whom have never been in a synagogue and know little about Jewish history, were enthusiastic. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even though we arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Jews this is also a part of our history and we need to know about it,â&#x20AC;? said Agnieszka Rudkowska, a 28-year-old preschool teacher who reads the poems of the beloved 20th-century Polish Jewish writer Julian Tuwim to her schoolchildren. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can sometimes hear negative opinions about Jews in the media, but it is important to know the truth.â&#x20AC;?

Polandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transformation is also changing perceptions of Poles by outsiders.

Shmuel Afek, a social studies teacher at a Jewish high school in New York, said he used to accept what he calls the â&#x20AC;&#x153;standard narrativeâ&#x20AC;? about Poland and Jews. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That narrative says that the Nazis were bad but the Poles were worse, that the Holocaust happened in Poland because the Germans realized that the Poles were so anti-Semitic they were prepared to collaborate, and that, as former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Poles imbibe anti-Semitism with their motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s milk,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? said Afek, a teacher for more than 25 years. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is the kind of thing I grew up with and I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t question it.â&#x20AC;?

His views changed radically after he began visiting Poland three years ago, meeting with Poles and becoming acquainted with the museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core exhibition ahead of its opening.

He now knows that serious Holocaust scholarship has established that Germany carried out the Holocaust at death camps in Poland after occupying the country because that is where most of Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jews were. And that while some Poles collaborated, some risked â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and even lost â&#x20AC;&#x201D; their lives helping Jews.

The museum carries these stories, along with episodes of persecution. Even the 16th and 17th centuries, sometimes called a golden age, saw Jews tortured and executed on false accusations of desecrating the host, the sacred bread said to become the body of Christ during Communion.

One of the most unique aspects of the museum is how the story unfolds solely in the voices of those living through the time, never looking ahead or adding analysis from later eras.

For instance, the gallery on the years between the two world wars shows an outburst of Jewish cultural and political creativity along with rising anti-Semitism, without hinting at the Holocaust to come. The idea is for visitors to experience the age as those living through it did. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We try to stay in the moment and not to foreshadow,â&#x20AC;? said Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, program director of the core exhibition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very important for us that our visitors not experience this period as a run-up to the Holocaust.â&#x20AC;?

A few weeks ago an elderly Jewish-American couple who had left Poland before the war was brought to tears during a

pre-opening visit to the exhibition, Wislicki said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I saw them cry I was afraid that the Holocaust gallery had made that impression on them,â&#x20AC;? Wislicki said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But they said â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;no, we are happy that we can show our children and grandchildren that even with all the problems like immigration and pogroms, Jews had an interesting and wonderful life, and that there wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t only death.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘

By Michele Alperin, JNS.org Retired Polish diplomat Krzysztof (Kris) W. Kasprzyk, who has been an enthusiastic promoter of the project for more than two decades, says â&#x20AC;&#x153;our national cultural heritage is really impoverished without all that Jewish history in Poland had been bringing for centuries.â&#x20AC;?

The museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal of reaching out to both the Polish Jewish and broader Polish communities stems from the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s increasingly welcoming environment for Jews. Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich suggests two reasons for that trend: ďŹ rst, the papacy of Polish-born John Paul II, who he notes was â&#x20AC;&#x153;the ďŹ rst pope to ever say that anti-Semitism is a sin according to the Catholic Church.â&#x20AC;?

The second factor is the fall of Communism, which created not only political and economic change, but also a social upheaval. â&#x20AC;&#x153;People are willing to be more open to change than under normal circumstances,â&#x20AC;? Schudrich says, adding that younger Poles are curious about Jews, who had been largely absent or secretive about their identity in the country for 50 years after the Holocaust.

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TH

Bruce Blakeman

Kathleen Rice

Republican, Conservative, Independence

Democrat, Working Families

Age: 59 Lives in: Long Beach Family: Son from previous marriage; engaged to be married.

Education: Law degree, California Western School of Law; bachelor’s degree, Arizona State University; associate’s degree, College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif.

Career: President, Madison Strategies, Ltd., a business consulting firm; executive director and board member, NY Police Chiefs’ Benevolent Association; deputy counsel, Nassau County Fire Marshal’s Benevolent Association. Former Nassau County legislator; Town of Hempstead councilman; vice president, American Jewish Congress; attorney, Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Formato,

Ferrara & Einiger, LLP; commissioner, Port Authority of NY & NJ; partner, Robert M. Blakeman & Associates; senior fellow, Homeland Security Management Institute of Long Island University; president, Tobacco Settlement Local Development Corp.

Political experience: Elected Town of Hempstead councilman in 1993. Elected Nassau County

legislator in 1995 and 1997.

Presiding officer of County Legislature, 1996-1999. Candidate for state comptroller in 1998.

Lost 1999 County Legislature re-election bid. Candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010.

On the issues: Supports creating jobs, lowering taxes on “job creators” and middle class, cutting government regulations like Dodd-Frank, cutting spending, streamlining government, repealing Affordable Care Act and replacing it with “assigned risk system,” building up military, reducing deficit, permitting and promoting fracking, expanding private sector and faith-based services, defending religious freedom from government infringement, and ensuring proper health care for veterans.

Age: 49 Lives in: Garden City Family: Unmarried.

Education: Law degree, Touro Law Center; bachelor’s degree, The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Career: Nassau County district attorney, former assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia and assistant DA in Brooklyn.

Political experience: Beat Dennis Dillon, a 31-year incumbent, in 2005 to become first female DA in Nassau County’s history.

Re-elected DA in 2009 and 2013. Candidate for state attorney general in 2010.

On the issues: Supports cutting taxes on middle class; providing tax credits to help pay for child care; growing the tax base; raising the federal minimum wage;

making college more affordable by allowing refinancing of high loan interest rates and expanding college tax breaks and Pell Grants for middle class and lower-income families; supporting veterans with better health care, education and job opportunities; protecting Social Security and Medicare; giving tax

incentives to businesses that hire new workers or increase hours; preserving the Affordable Care Act; reducing texting while driving; mandating universal background checks for gun purchases; reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban; closing the gunshow loophole; defending abortion rights and increasing reproductive health-care access; ending the gender wage gap; legalizing same-sex marriage nationally and passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; cutting subsidies to oil companies; creating a “pathway to citizenship” for some undocumented immigrants; deporting undocumented immigrants who do not qualify for asylum under law; reauthorizing the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

20 ASSEMBLY DISTRICT TH

Todd Kaminsky

Avi Fertig

Democrat, Working Families, Women’s Equality

Republican, Conservative

Age: 36 Live in: Long Beach Profession: Former Assistant U.S. District Attorney Education: Law degree, magna cum laude, New York University; bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, University of Michigan Family: Married, no children On the issues: Endorsed by retiring Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, Kaminsky touts his record as a federal prosecuotr and community service that includes establishing free legal clinics for Hurricane Sandy victims and helping to bring tensof-thousands of dollars in storm relief funds to local residenrs. He is a strong proponent for maintaining hospital service in Long Beach that includes a 911-receiving emergency department. Kaminsky

said he wants to address the heroin epidemic and work to ensure that bureaiucracies such as NY Rising are doing what they should be to help residents. To create jobs and a more attractive area for people to live in and visit, he says that an ivestment in the infrastructuee is needed, which includes looking at what needs to be done with the Nassau

Expressway and ensuring that Long Island’s aquifers are protected. Kaminsky thinks that casinos are not the answer to economic propseirty and wants government to partner with businesses and colleges to create a more modern workforce.

He believes people are fed up and disgusted with government and the “culture of corruption” that envelopes Albany. He prosecuted former State Senate Msajority Leader Pedro Espadfa Jr. and former Assemblyman Jimmy Meng. Kaminsky believes that voter apathy could be reduced by getting people involved in the process. He also wants to take that tack to address vital issues by getting every stakeholder involved to work on solving the problems.

Age: 41 Lives in: Woodmere Profession: Governmental aide Education: Brooklyn College, degree in psycholog Family: Married, four children On the issues: Fertig, who has worked for County Legislator Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence), and is now a special assistant to Town of Hempstead councilmen Tony Santino and James Darcy, said as the local “go-toguy” he understands how to resolve quality of life issues, and said he has made a career of helping community members obtain the services and programs they need. Ferig said that he has helped many Sandy victims recover more than $1.5 million in NY Rising Grants and previously denied insurance

claims. Noting the overcrowding at South Nassau Cimunities Hospital after the closure of Long Beach Medical Center, he said Long Beach needs a hospital and will apply his government experience to ensuring that happens. Fertig views the state as a “regulatory nightmare” that is hindering New York’s ability to atrract business that would create jobs. Reduc-

ing the amount of regulations that industrices have to deal would help to lower taxes and stop strangling the state’s ability to draw in businesses. Fetig said that NY Rising was conceived with good intentions but there are serious structural issues that must be addressed.

He said that thev state should provide financial incentives for muncipalities to work together such as helping villages or towns pay for expensive equipment. Fertif said that a “sense of realism” must be applied when it comes to infrastructure, but smaller flood mitigation projects should be done with the understanding that larger ones such as the completion of the Nassau Expressway take more time.

9 SENATE DISTRICT TH

Age: 66 Lives in: Rockville Centre Career: attorney; one term in State Assembly, 14 terms in State Senate. Senate majority leader, minority leader.

Education: Washington College; Fordham University School of Law Family: Married, one son On the Issues: Says taxes are

still the biggest issue facing the district and supports measures to bring taxes down. He supported and helped pass the tax cap and worked to repeal many parts of the MTA Payroll Tax. He is proud of the bipartisanship that has grown in Albany over the past two years. It helped lead to the first on-time budgets in years. Skelos said he

worked to restore state education funding that was cut during the previous legislative session. Skelos said he wants to keep the bipartisanship in Albany going and keep getting things done. Next session, he wants to do more to help create a better business climate in the state and help businesses succeed. He also wants to provide municipalities and school districts with more mandate relief.

Pat Gillespie CHALLENGER — Democrat Age: 24 Lives in: East Rockaway Career: Nassau County Board of Elections Family: Single He did not campaign and did not respond to requests by the Herald newspapers for interviews.

This page prepared by the staff of Herald Newspapers

Dean Skelos INCUMBENT — Republican, Conservative, Independence Party

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