August 17, 2017
Distributed weekly in the Five Towns, Long Island, Queens & Brooklyn
Your Favorite Five Towns Family Newspaper
An Unforgettable Rebbe RABBI AARON BRAFMAN zt”l
Pages 9, 10, 11, 25 & 77
Around the
Community
38
A Talmid’s Personal Reflections
Farewell to the Long Beach Summer Kollel
34 Community Educators are Still Learning – in the Summer!
by Rabbi Dov Keilson, Mashgiach of Mesivta Chaim Shlomo
pg
65
This Week We’re Talking to...
WITH ONE HEART
Back for a 4th Year !
44
Giving Wounded Israelis Soldiers Warmth and Chizuk
Camp Areivim
pg Orah Day Camp
Page 41
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G PA
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Dear Readers,
T
it swimming or sports? Did they like the woodworking workshop or the jewelry making? Are they going to be future bakers or future candlestick makers? Different experiences, something for everyone. I always have extra appreciation for the camp experience when camp ends. During the summer the kids come home exhausted, drained from a wonderful day filled with amazing activities. But then camp ends and they are home for two weeks – or more. And I realize that I am not cut out to be a camp director. Because every half hour – or maybe even less – I’m hearing, “I’m bored” or “There’s nothing to do.” Okaaay, how about you color a picture for me? Do you want to build something with Magnatiles? Want to bake? Want to go swimming? And those activities – if they agree to them – last for a short while and then we’re back to “boredom.” I’m sure that history will not agree with my memory, but I don’t recall being so “bored” when I was growing up. Just please don’t ask my mother; I’m concerned she may remember differently. So now that camp is coming to a close and the school year is beginning to just peek around the corner, here’s to a few more weeks of sun, some “boredom,” and a lot of family time!
he summer really flew by. There, I said it. I hate using them but clichés are clichés for a reason. Somehow the summer always seems to run away, and yet it always sounds so trite when you say it after so many weeks of vacation. Truthfully, though, the summer isn’t really over. Hey, we’re only halfway through August. But when the kids finish camp you know that that six letter word – school – is going to roll around. And that will mean homework and uniforms and buses and early bedtimes. Running a camp is like running a small school, a pool and an amusement park at the same time. Every week in the summer we spoke with different camp directors about their camps and the activities and themes the campers enjoy all summer long. I am amazed at how much goes into every day at camp. The camp directors and head staff spend early mornings and late nights assuring that your kids will be safe and have fun. Every year they become more creative with their activities; they think about camp all year to give their campers the time of their lives. And it works. Every year my kids have different experiences in camp and every year they come home happy and full of excitement for what goes on every day. Ask your kids what they loved about camp this summer. Was it their new friends or the special trips? Was
Wishing you a wonderful, relaxing week, Shoshana
Yitzy Halpern PUBLISHER
publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com
Yosef Feinerman MANAGING EDITOR
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Nate Davis Editorial Assistant Nechama Wein Copy Editor Berish Edelman Mati Jacobovits Brocha Rubinstein Design & Production Gabe Solomon Distribution & Logistics P.O. BOX 266 Lawrence, NY 11559 Phone | 516-734-0858 Fax | 516-734-0857 Classifieds: Deadline Mondays 5PM classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com text 443-929-4003 The Jewish Home is an independent weekly magazine. Opinions expressed by writers are not neces sarily the opinions of the publisher or editor. The Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The Jewish Home contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.
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HALB
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
8
COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll
8
Community Happenings
33
This Week We’re Talking to...Camp Areivim
44
This Week We’re Talking to...Orah Day Camp
50
NEWS Global
13
National
27
Odd-but-True Stories
30 ISRAEL Israel News
54
22
With One Heart: Giving Wounded Israelis Soldiers Warmth and Chizuk 72 Cruising on Kvish 6
74
An Unforgettable Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Brafman zt”l by Rabbi Dov Keilson
65
Our Zaidy by Brocha Raizel Braun
70
The Shenandoah – Many Ships with One Name by Avi Heiligman
86
PEOPLE
PARSHA Rabbi Wein
54
Search Required by Rav Moshe Weinberger
56
Dear Editor, Last week the papers were going crazy about Colin Kaepernick and the fact that no teams want him this season. The left was saying he was being “discriminated” against because of his political views. You know what, Colin? You are being discriminated against because you aren’t a good football player. You were hired to play and there are others who play better than you. Isn’t it interesting that there is no “affirmative action” when it comes to professional sports? There are no quotas forcing teams to hire white skinny guys on the football field. No, it’s all about performance. You’re not good? You’re out. And also, if you’re hired to do a job, like play football, then do it. No one asked you to be a politician. If you wanted to let everyone know your political views you should have ran for office. Good riddance. Scott Hertz
Dear Editor, This morning I was given a copy of The Jewish Home. I reside in New Jersey (Highland Park) and nev-
er had the pleasure of reading your journal. My wife and I were given a copy for the purpose of reading your most kind and articulate article regarding Rabbi Kelman, z”l. I most warmly agree with each syllable and I closely relate to each reference. You clearly had an understanding of the righteous “individual” as well as the rabbi, the administrator, the leader and the academian (?). (I am quite certain if that word does not exist in the English language, you will understand my meaning.) I first met Rabbi Kelman in 1989... I had been dating my future wife for seven weeks and I had known quickly I had met the women I wanted to share my life with. Rabbi Kelman had remarried after his first wife passed to another very special women, Ms. Shirley Kurzman, OBM, the mother of my future spouse. My first meeting involved asking for permission to marry my beloved. Not an easy “first go,” to say the least. B”H, I was welcomed lovingly by my future mother-in-law and her kind, imposing but gentle spouse, Rabbi Kelman. I was greatly fortunate to have Continued on page 14
JEWISH THOUGHT Compassion Revisited by Eytan Kobre 58
78
Seeing the Bigger Picture by Rabbi Dr. Naphtali Hoff 60 Sit Down and Take a Stand by Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz
62
HEALTH & FITNESS Do You Compartmentalize? by Dr. Deb Hirschhorn
76
Travel the Light Way by Dr. Rachael Schindler
78
FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Smoked Salmon and Avocado Salad
80
LIFESTYLES Your Money
93
Rules of the Game by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS
94
HUMOR Centerfold
52
POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes
82
CLASSIFIEDS
88
Have you dived off a diving board this summer?
21
%
YES
79
%
NO
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
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The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
Sale Dates: August 20th - 25th 2017
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Continued from page 10 BS”D
PLEASE JOIN US For our 23rd annual WOMEN'S KUMZITZ
“Sha’alu Shlom Yerushalayim – Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” on TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2017, Rosh Chodesh Elul at 143 HARBORVIEW SOUTH in Lawrence Muzika will begin indoors at 8:15 P.M. Please join us as friends share song, poetry, and insight COUVERT: Donations from $25 per person Proceeds will benefit
Tehilat Naava Shlach Lachmecha
Li”n Naava bas Yosef Menachem Mendel To request a song or play along Email us at deedublyew@gmail.com
Special Announcement
a first hand and intimate “seat” to learn about the “man” and the consummate professional that was Rabbi Kelman. I was blessed with that auspicious seat for 28 years. I was blessed to see the rabbi’s patience, warmth, kindness, compassion and incredible love of learning (and teaching) Torah. I was blessed to know him as a zayde to my children, a mentor in business and as a standin father-in-law as I unfortunately never knew my wife’s father. Each role was handled with the greatest of ease, comfort and confidence. Never was a request to learn (in all ways for all things) denied or a call for assistance renounced. In our personal (and later on, professional) lives there was never a harsh or even “loud” word uttered or even an “eye roll” or cross gesture made by the rabbi. That was not “who he was.” He was calm, controlled, loving and at peace. A greater leader by “action” (other than my own father), I had never known. I can go on and on pontificating and elaborating.... I’m known to do so, but I will curtail my usual and customary behaviors to simply say thank you. Your keen observational annotations and firsthand experiences were remembered well, and might I express “right on.” Again, I thank you for putting pen to paper
For all Lawrence Residents LY&CC members Friends and family Reserve: Thursday, August 24th @ 7:30 p.m. for the First-Ever VILLAGE OF LAWRENCE OUTDOOR MOVIE NIGHT at the LY&CC DRIVING RANGE 101 Causeway, Lawrence showing “Despicable
Me”*
Bring chairs … blankets … popcorn will be served
IMPORTANT NOTICE Please be aware that the eruv does not extend onto the boardwalk in Far Rockaway. Please do not carry or push carriages on the Far Rockaway Boardwalk on Shabbos.
and illuminating some of the rabbi’s vast attributes. That being said, while I am certain you were raised in a good home, I have firm knowledge you were educated properly and correctly in a school led by a unique, kind and compassionate...“academian.” With sincere appreciation and kindest regards, Alan Shapiro Highland Park, N.J.
Dear Editor, The story this week about the behind-the-scenes people was interesting – particularly the “dresser.” I have never heard of this position before and it sounds like she can help make things much smoother when it comes to making a simcha. So many people are involved when it comes to making a simcha and each person is so integral to the event. Think about it: if the person who is in charge of making the flowers is sick, then there’s a mad dash to rearrange for someone else. What if the person who has to drive the flowers and set it up is not able to do so, then the same mad dash occurs. Think about the caterer. He has to make sure his food is in order. The delivery didn’t show up? Then the menu may have to be rearranged. Every person in the band is important – one less instrument means a whole different sound. So it seems to me that when we make a wedding or when we go to a wedding, we should think about all the people who are involved and all the details that had to be put into place and appreciate everything that came together. It meant that every person put in their all and every person came through with their unique talent to bring happiness to the new couple. What a beautiful thing. Sincerely, Chava I. Jamaica, NY
It’s a community night of fun & flicks … Sponsored by the Village of Lawrence We hope to see you there along with your entire family! Mayor: Alex H. Edelman Trustees: Michael Fragin Daniel Goldstein Uri Kaufman Syma Diamond *This movie is rated PG - parental discretion is advised
YOUR VOICE COUNTS!
Join TJH’s weekly poll Email editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com Put “include me in the poll” in the subject line
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
The Week In News
Maduro: Trump, Here is My Hand
Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro wants to meet with President Donald Trump, despite mocking and criticizing him in the past. This request comes as the U.S. imposed crippling economic sanctions on his socialist administration. The Trump administration forced sanctions on eight close allies, accusing them of violating human rights and democratic norms. They are also considering adding on more economic sanctions to further isolate the Venezuelan government. During a meeting last week Maduro instructed Venezuela’s foreign minister to approach the United States about arranging a telephone conversation or an in-person meeting with Trump at next month’s United Nations General Assembly. “Mr. Donald Trump, here is my hand,” the socialist president said. He admitted to wanting a strong relationship with the U.S. On Thursday, Trump said he discussed Venezuela along with North Korea and Afghanistan in a security briefing with top national security aides and Vice President Mike Pence. Pence is scheduled to visit neighboring Colombia; the conversation is expected to revolve around how to pressure Maduro. Venezuela is suffering from a severe economic downturn caused by low oil prices and government policies that have turned off private investments. The country’s bonds are one of the few ways the current government is able to raise money to support its collapsing economy. However, as the country’s political crisis deteriorates, the bonds issued by the government are a concern for investors who are hesitant to supporting an oppressive regime.
Goldman Sachs came under political pressure earlier this year for buying a reported $2.8 billion in Venezuelan bonds on the open market at a substantial discount. On Thursday, Credit Suisse bank said it banned trading in Venezuelan bonds over what it said were “recent development and the political climate” in the country, according to an internal memo. Any future transactions involving Venezuelan officials or assets will have to go through additional screening, according to the memo. Over 120 people have been killed since anti-government protests began in April, driven by outrage over Venezuela’s collapsing economy and Maduro’s creation of a legislative superbody that governments around the world say is dictatorial. On Monday, Maduro called for military exercises and told Venezuelans to prepare for an “imperialist” invasion. “Everyone has to join the defense plan, millions of men and women, let’s see how the American imperialists like it,” Maduro told supporters, urging them to join the two-day operation on Aug 26 and 27 involving both soldiers and civilians. His call came just days after Trump said that military intervention may be an option to solve the Venezuelan crisis. Maduro is still insisting that he wants to hold talks with Mr. Trump. He says that the president’s advisors have confused him about the situation.
IS YOUR CHILD GOING TO ISRAEL FOR THE YEAR?
Anti-Semitic Signs in Switzerland
Staying at a hotel over vacation should be relaxing, not distressing. But visitors to the Paradies Arosa hotel in Switzerland this week were shocked when they saw signs specifically addressing “Jewish guests,” reminding them to shower before swimming and to only use the refrigerator at certain hours.
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
After the signs were publicized, the Simon Wiesenthal Center demanded the closure of the hotel and issued a statement on Tuesday calling on “the broader Jewish community and their Gentile friends to blacklist this horrific hotel.” On Twitter, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called for “justice” against the hotel’s management. After the outrage the hotel offered an explanation for the behavior and apologized for the racist signs. One of the signs declared in red, “To our Jewish guests,” adding, “Women, men and children. Please take a shower before you go swimming and although [sic] after swimming. If you break the rules, I’m forced to cloes [sic] the swimming pool for you. Thank you for understanding. Ruth Thomann.” The hotel said the sign specifically called out Jewish guests because two Jewish girls did not shower before swimming. Another sign on the refrigerator told their “Jewish guests” to only take out food at specific times since their staff does not want to be bothered at all hours. Interestingly, many Jews on va-
cation chose this hotel as their destination because it was known to be accommodating to their needs. Attempting to assuage the situation, Swiss Tourism spokesman Markus Berger called the sign unacceptable, adding: “It always needs to stay in perspective: This is one unfortunate incident.” Tzipi Livni, a former Israeli foreign minister, posted an image of the sign on her Facebook page and wrote that “there can be no tolerance and no indifference” to anti-Semitism and racism, in comments that also alluded to violence around a white supremacist rally in Virginia in the United States. We “must not let there be a place in the free world for Nazi flags or Ku Klux Klan masks or ugly signs in hotels directed at Jews only,” she wrote. “We cannot allow acts of hate against Jews around the world to become normal.” Switzerland’s foreign ministry said that it has been in touch with the Israeli ambassador and has “outlined to him that Switzerland condemns racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination in any form.”
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Iran: We Could Back out of Nuclear Deal
Iran was back to its bluster on Tuesday, saying it could abandon its nuclear agreement with world powers “within hours” if the United States imposes any more new sanctions. “If America wants to go back to the experience (of imposing sanctions), Iran would certainly return in a short time – not a week or a month but within hours – to conditions more advanced than before the start of negotiations,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened at a session of parliament broadcast live on state television. The Persian regime says new
sanctions that the United States have imposed on it breach the agreement it reached in 2015 with the United States, Russia, China and three European powers in which it agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of most sanctions. The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms in late July for their role in the development of a ballistic missile program after Tehran launched a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit. In early August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law new sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea passed by the U.S. Congress. The sanctions in that bill also target Iran’s missile programs as well as human rights abuses. The United States imposed unilateral sanctions after saying Iran’s ballistic missile tests violated a UN resolution, which endorsed the nuclear deal and called upon Tehran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such technology. It stopped short of explicitly barring such activity. Iran has denied that its missile development breaches the resolution, saying its missiles are not designed to
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The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
OUTSTANDING EVENTS BEGIN WITH
GLATT KOSHER CATERING
carry nuclear weapons. “The world has clearly seen that under Trump, America has ignored international agreements and, in addition to undermining the (nuclear deal), has broken its word on the Paris agreement and the Cuba accord... and that the United States is not a good partner or a reliable negotiator,” Rouhani said. Trump said last week he did not believe that Iran was living up to the spirit of the nuclear deal.
his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman resulted in an agreement for Saudi Arabia to donate $10 million in aid to the Iraqi government and study possible investments in Shi’ite regions of southern Iraq. The opening of border crossings for trade was also on a list of goals for the talks published by Sadr’s office. Sadr commands a large following among the urban poor of Baghdad and southern Iraq and is one of few Iraqi Shi’ite leaders to keep some distance from Tehran.
Saudi Arabia-Iraq Rwanda ReBorder to Open elects Kagame with 99% Vote
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The border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq has been closed since 1990, but soon the Arar border crossing will be open for business. It was closed 27 years ago after the countries cut ties following Saddam Hussein’s invasion into Kuwait. Saudi and Iraqi officials toured the site on Monday and spoke with Iraqi religious pilgrims, who for the past 27 years had access to the crossing only once annually during the haj season. The governor of Iraq’s southwestern Anbar province, whose staff was on hand for the ceremonies, said the Iraqi government had deployed troops to protect the desert route leading to Arar and called its opening a “significant move” to boost ties. “This is a great start for further future cooperation between Iraq and Saudi Arabia,” said Sohaib al-Rawi. The announcement follows a decision by the Saudi cabinet on Monday to establish a joint trade commission with Iraq. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are both wooing their northern neighbor in an effort to halt the growing regional influence of archfoe Iran. The Sunni-led Arab Gulf countries have hosted influential Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for talks with their crown princes in recent weeks, rare visits after years of troubled relations. Sadr’s office said
Almost all of Rwanda “agreed” on President Paul Kagame’s reelection. On August 4 Kagame was re-elected with a near-perfect vote of 99%. This is a noteworthy victory, placing him alongside the likes of Joseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein, and Kim Jong Un. Of course, no one was exactly surprised by the outcome of this election. Kagame admitted publicly on July 14 that the outcome of the election is obvious but nevertheless he imposed the election that cost impoverished taxpayers around 5 billion Rwanda Francs ($6 million). The expensive, scam elections had been preceded by a constitutional referendum in 2015. In that vote, 98% approved changes that allow Kagame, serving since 1994, to be president until 2034. Kagame is accused of doing what many African leaders have done before – rewriting the constitution in order to stay in power. Kagame is preoccupied with his image. He wants the world to view him as the single hero that stopped genocide, empowered women, helped slow down malaria and HIV/AIDS, built hotels, and assembled conference centers. But Kagame’s life presidency and immunity from scrutiny or criticism ultimately imperils the country, region and continent. Rwanda’s road to true freedom, human rights, justice, democracy and rule of law is not close to over, per-
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
haps it hasn’t even begun yet. One of Africa’s smallest countries in size, Rwanda has a population of 11.9 million and a GDP of $8.376 billion.
Alcohol Raid in Mexico
Cancun is a major tourist destination in Mexico. Its sprawling beaches and many resorts are the perfect vacation spot for many visitors. Last week, though, Mexican authorities disrupted the fun, sweeping through 31 resorts and restaurants. They suspended operations at two places for unsanitary alcohol and in the process discovered a sketchy manufacturer that was supplying tourist hot spots. Regulators seized 10,000 gallons of illicit alcohol from the company,
noting its “bad manufacturing practices,” according to government officials. They did not release the company’s name. Vacationers at one of the resorts, Iberostar Paraiso Maya, claim they had blacked out and been assaulted at the resort after drinking at the beach and at pool bars. Regulators also temporarily shut down Fat Tuesday, a bar in Cancun. They seized a total of 90 gallons of illicit alcohol. The existence of counterfeit and otherwise illicit alcohol has been no secret. Mexico’s government has been aware of it for a while. The national health authority in Mexico has seized more than 1.4 million gallons of adulterated alcohol since 2010. As much as 36% of the alcohol consumed in the country is illegal, according to a report this year by Euromonitor International. The recent raids came after tourists were reported to have gotten sick after consuming hotel alcohol. In January, a 20-year-old from Wisconsin was found dead at the bottom of the pool at Iberostar Paraiso Maya after consuming alcohol. Authorities say the drinks she imbibed were probably contaminated or drugged. Illegal alcohol is classified as alcohol sold or produced under unregulat-
ed circumstances and can be potentially dangerous. A study, conducted in collaboration with the nation’s Tax Administration Service, found that this year’s numbers are an improvement from two years earlier, when 43% was illegal. Last year, Cancun received more than 4.8 million visitors.
N. Korean Prisoner Recounts Captivity
No one says that prison is fun but Hyeon Soo Lim, who was imprisoned in North Korea for more than two years, didn’t expect the “overwhelming loneliness” he experienced. The Canadian pastor was just released
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from North Korea and spoke about harsh conditions in the Pyongyang labor camp. Lim, 62, was apprehended in January 2015 for carrying out “subversive activities,” a charge steadfastly denied by the Canadian government which sent a high-level delegation last week to secure his release. Lim finally arrived back home last weekend, with his captors citing clemency on medical grounds. He was finally able to meet his granddaughter who was born while he was imprisoned. Prior to his arrest Lim was regarded as one of the most influential Christian missionaries operating in North Korea. He had visited the country dozens of times, generously working with orphanages and nursing homes. Unfortunately he got caught up with “the wrong crowd.” Some projects he worked on, including a noodle plant and flour mills, were linked to associates of Jang Song-Thaek, the purged uncle of leader Kim Jong-Un. Jang was arrested and executed for treason in December 2013. Last week, Lim joyously returned to his church near Toronto. He told the congregation: “From the first day of my detainment to the day I was released, I ate 2,757 meals in isolation
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by myself. It was difficult to see when and how the entire ordeal would end.” He added, “During the winter, I had to dig holes that measured one meter wide and one meter deep. The ground was frozen. The mud was so hard that it took two days to dig one hole. It was incredibly challenging. My upper body was sweating, my fingers and toes were frostbitten. I also worked inside a coal storage facility, breaking apart coal.” A number of Christian missionaries – mostly ethnic Koreans who are U.S. citizens – have been arrested in the past, with some of them only allowed to return home after intervention by high-profile U.S. political figures.
A Jewish Wedding with No Jews
A Jewish wedding is a cultural experience. Filled with tradition and customs, a wedding is symbolic of Jewish life, so much so that cities in Eastern Europe are using the scene as a springboard for cultural events. There are many memories and customs of Jewish life still left in Europe. In Ukraine, tourists dine at Jewish-themed restaurants with pork-heavy menus and it is common to find figurines of Jews at local markets sold as good luck charms. In Poland, graffiti reading, “I miss you, Jew” adorns city walls. On occasion, there are some in Poland who celebrate a mock Jewish wedding. Just recently, the Radzanovia Association, a cultural group promoting Polish heritage, organized a pretend wedding featuring many non-Jewish volunteers posing as traditional Chareidi family members. The costumes included fake beards and peyos. Oddly enough, not one Jew was involved in the production. To Jonny Daniels, the London-born founder of From the Depths, which promotes Holocaust commemoration in Poland, events like the one in Radzanów are “some
kind of therapy taking place all over the country.” “Literally hundreds of Jewish cultural festivals are taking place, more often than not with no Jews involved. Poland too has the highest rate of Hebrew language studies in all of Europe,” Daniels told The Jerusalem Post. “I truly believe that the third and fourth generation of Poles since the Holocaust are starting to see how much Jewish culture is part of modern-day Polish culture – it’s amazing that this heritage created by 3.5 million murdered Jews is still relevant today.” Agnieszka Rychcik-Nowakowska, the event’s producer, feels it’s a respectful way of commemorating the hundreds of Jews who had accounted for approximately half of her village’s population before the Holocaust. “We want to remember all those homes of all pre-war Jews, who lived a peaceful life punctuated by the rhythm of holidays, family celebrations and more mundane events,” she explained. Teresa Wrońska, an actress from the Jewish Theater in Warsaw, helped organizers assure the wedding’s authenticity. She choreographed the entire affair, including the signing of the ketubah.
China Outsourcing – for Cheaper Labor
Many of our products say “Made in China” but are they actually made in China? According to traders and businesses, a growing trend amongst Chinese textile firms is to use North Korean factories since across the border labor is even cheaper. Dandong is a Chinese border city where most of the trade happens. There are several factories located in Siniuju city on the North Korean side of the border, just across from Dandong. According to a Chinese trader, manufacturers can save up to 75% by making their clothes in North Korea. “We take orders from all over the world,” said one Korean-Chinese
businessman in Dandong, he spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Dozens of clothing agents operate in Dandong, acting as go-betweens for Chinese clothing suppliers and buyers from the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Russia, the businessman said. “We will ask the Chinese suppliers who work with us if they plan on being open with their client – sometimes the final buyer won’t realize their clothes are being made in North Korea. It’s extremely sensitive,” he said. “North Korean workers can produce 30 percent more clothes each day than a Chinese worker,” said the Korean-Chinese businessman. “In North Korea, factory workers can’t just go to the toilet whenever they feel like, otherwise they think it slows down the whole assembly line. They aren’t like Chinese factory workers who just work for the money. North Koreans have a different attitude – they believe they are working for their country, for their leader.” Textiles were North Korea’s second-biggest export after coal and other minerals in 2016, totaling $752 million, according to data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Total exports from North Korea in 2016 rose 4.6 percent to $2.82 billion. The latest U.N. sanctions, set in place earlier this month, have completely banned coal exports as part of an attempt to penalize North Korea for its missile and nuclear programs. Last year, a popular Australian sportswear brand Rip Curl publicly apologized when it was revealed that some of its ski gear, labeled “Made in China,” had actually been made in one of North Korea’s garment factories. Rip Curl blamed a rogue supplier for outsourcing to “an unauthorized subcontractor.” This is a clear of illustration of North Korea’s dependence on China, and perhaps vice versa. North Korean factory workers work for pennies, making a minimum of around $75 a month to an average of around $160, compared to average factory wages of $450-$750 a month in China. “Wages are too high in China now. It’s no wonder so many orders are being sent to North Korea,” said a Korean-Chinese businesswoman who works in the textiles industry in Dandong. So, where is your sweatshirt really made?
Indian Children Die from O2 Deprivation
In just six days, at least 64 children tragically died while under medical care at a government hospital in northern India. There has been speculation that the deaths were related to oxygen shortages, although the full investigation is not completed yet. Some are saying that the oxygen was disrupted because suppliers’ bills were unpaid. The hospital’s top official has been suspended until the investigation is complete. Could it have been that so many children died just because someone didn’t pay the bills? Officials at the Baba Raghav Das Hospital have denied that the oxygen disruption is the cause of the deaths. “Sixty patients have died at the hospital in the last five days but we don’t think it’s linked to reports of oxygen shortage,” Anil Kumar, Gorakhpur’s divisional commissioner, said. State health minister Sidharth Nath Singh maintained that the deaths were not linked to the oxygen shortage. “The reasons for the disruption of oxygen supply are being investigated but our probe has revealed that no deaths happened because of it,” Singh said after a visit to the hospital. “When you hear about around 23 deaths in a day, it shocks you, and it should. But the average daily death toll for the month of August (at the hospital) has been 19 to 22 for the last three years,” the minister added. Despite the assurances, according to a statement shared by the office of state chief minister, “the pressure of the liquid oxygen supply became low and 52 reserve oxygen cylinders were pressed into service.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that his office was “monitoring the situation in Gorakhpur” and was in contact with state authorities. The media described the chaos in the hospital ward as the oxygen supply was interrupted. The Hindustan Times wrote, “Even as 90 jumbo oxygen cylinders were pressed into service to maintain the supply on Friday,
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
the hospital ran out of oxygen around 1:00am.” The article continued, “What followed was complete chaos as panic-stricken relatives of patients ran for help, and with the support of hospital staff tried to maintain supply of oxygen...using artificial manual breathing bags (AMBB). However several patients started collapsing due to inadequate supply,” it added. The region is one of the poorest in India with a high annual child death rate from Japanese encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome. Kailash Satyarthi, a Nobel Peace winner and advocate for children’s rights in India, called the deaths “a massacre” on Twitter. “Thirty kids died in a hospital without oxygen. This is not a tragedy. It’s a massacre. Is this what 70 years of freedom means for our children?” he questioned.
How Curious George Escaped the Nazis
By June of 1940, Hitler’s troops were closing in on Paris and the Reys couldn’t get a ticket out of the city. They did not own any other mode of transportation so Hans fashioned two bikes out of spare parts that he had found and the two left with all of their unpublished children’s books, including one called, Fifi: The Adventures of a Monkey. They left the city 48 hours before German troops occupied Paris. The couple slept in barns and restaurants as they made their way out of France. Whenever they were stopped, they would show their manuscripts to prove that they were not dangerous individuals and then were allowed to pass. The couple eventually made their way to Lisbon, then Brazil, and finally New York. Fifi the monkey was transformed into George, and Houghton Mifflin published the first “Curious George” book in 1941. H.A. Rey died in 1977, three weeks before his 79th birthday. Margaret Rey died at the age of 90 in 1996.
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We have all read the stories of Curious George, a monkey that is friends with The Man with the Yellow Hat whose curiosity gets himself into a lot of trouble. The kid-friendly primate that was created by Margret and H.A. Rey has inspired the sale of 75 million books in 19 languages around the world. What many do not know is that Margret and H.A. Rey smuggled George out of Nazi territory during the Holocaust while running for their lives. A documentary is being published on the Reys’ daring escape entitled, “Monkey Business: The Story of Curious George’s Creators.” The doc tells of how Hans Augusto Rey (née Reyersbach) and Margaret Waldstein met in the 1920s and were married and living in Paris in 1940. Hans worked as a cartoon illustrator for a newspaper, and Margaret wrote copy. At the suggestion of a French publisher, they joined forces to write a children’s book.
Mudslides in Sierra Leone took the lives of at least 270 people this week. On Tuesday, the mayor of Freetown said rescue workers located the bodies of 270 individuals who perished in the disaster. President Ernest Bai Koroma urged residents to evacuate so military personnel and rescuers could continue to search for survivors. Dozens of houses were covered in mud when a mountainside collapsed in the town of Regent on Monday morning, one of the deadliest natural disasters in Africa in recent years. Sadly, the bodies piled up in the morgue as workers there rushed to process and issue death certificates for loved ones. Sierra Red Cross Society spokesman Abu Bakarr Tarawallie said he estimated that at least 3,000 people were homeless and in need of shelter, medical assistance and food. The Red Cross said 600 more were missing. “We are also fearful of outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid,” Tarawallie said. “We can only hope that this does not happen.” Contaminated water and water-logging often lead to potentially deadly diseases like cholera and diarrhea after floods and mudslides.
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China has N. Korea’s Back
The Chinese have made it clear that they will remain neutral if North Korea attacks the United States. They have also said that they will come to North Korea’s aid if the U.S. and South Korea try to attack Kim Jong Un’s dictatorship. Chinese state-owned media have reported that the government released a statement saying: “If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime, and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so.” In the meantime, other Asia-Pacific countries have come out in support of the United States on the North Korean issue. Itsunori Onodera, the defense minister of Japan, said that his nation is ready to shoot down any North Korean missiles, if necessary. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that his country and America are “joined at the hip” and that “if there is an attack on the U.S., the Anzus Treaty would be invoked.” He is referring to the collective security agreement between the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The Chinese statement was made in response to heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. North Korea threatened a nuclear attack against Guam, a U.S. territory south of Japan, last week. Donald Trump said any additional threats against the U.S. or its allies would be met with “fire and fury.” He later said that his original comment “wasn’t tough enough.” Trump said in a separate appearance that he wants to “see what [Kim Jong Un] does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before – what will happen in North Korea.” On Tuesday, though, North Korea announced that it is backing off its threat against Guam.
Iran Bans Players for Playing with Israelis Iran has banned two soccer players from playing for their country after they participated in a game against the Maccabi Tel Aviv team. Thousands have spoken up in protest and are urging the World Soccer Fed-
eration to punish Iran for banning the two players. Masoud Shojaei, the captain of the
national team, and Ehsan Haji Safi, considered to be one of Iran’s most promising players, both competed against Israel for their Greek soccer club in Athens last week. Mohammad Reza Davarzani, Iran’s deputy sports minister, said on Iranian state television that “it is certain that Masoud Shojaei and Ehsan Haji Safi will never be invited to join the national football team because they violated the red line.”
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Iran has no official ties with Israel and does not recognize it as a state. Iranian athletes are not allowed to compete at any level – including the Olympics – against Israeli athletes. But it could be that their belligerence is really just hurting themselves. Many have said that the ban against playing Israel has hurt Iranian athletes as they are often forced to pull out of competitions in which the Jewish State participates. At the Rio Olympic Games, Iranian Olympian Alireza Khojasteh pulled out of the judo competition for “personal reasons.” It is widely thought that he did so in order to avoid facing and playing against Israeli opponents. A spokesman for Iran’s foreign policy committee said that “agreeing to play in a game against athletes of a regime that has given humanity nothing other than occupation, murder, aggression and betrayal is disrespectful of the rights of thousands of martyrs and those displaced and affected by the occupying Zionist regime.”
World’s Oldest Man Dies
Last year, the Guinness World Records recognized Holocaust survivor Yisrael Kristal as the oldest living man in the world. He was awarded a Guinness certificate as the world’s oldest man on March 11, 2016, when he was 112 years and 178 days old. Speaking at the time, he admitted he did not know the secret to a long life, saying: “There have been smarter, stronger and better looking men than me who are no longer alive.” Born in Poland in 1903, Kristal survived Auschwitz, where he lost
most of his family, including his first wife and two children. After the war, Kristal was lucky to make it to Israel – then called Palestine – in 1950, where he remarried. Last year, Kristal celebrated his bar mitzvah a century late; he missed his bar mitzvah when he was 13 because it fell out just as World War I broke out. On Friday, Kristal passed away in Haifa at the age of 113 years and 330 days, to be exact. His 114th birthday was going to be on September 15. Kristal is survived by two children, as well as grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His daughter Shula Koperstoch said he had died on Friday afternoon after becoming ill on Thursday. She said she had had a “great father,” adding: “Despite all that he went through, and he lost the whole family in the Holocaust, he had a lot of optimism, and he always saw only light and good in everything.” The longest confirmed human lifespan, according to Guinness, is a French woman, Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122.
Na’im had also sworn his allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “The Shin Bet views Israelis who support the Islamic State organization as a serious security threat, especially those who are in contact with organization operatives and desire to fight in its ranks,” the Shin Bet statement read. “As such, the Shin Bet will continue to monitor suspects and take the necessary enforcement measures to prevent the dissemination of ISIS ideology in Israel and prevent Israelis from fighting with the organization.” Although several Arab Israelis have been arrested for being linked to ISIS, Israel has thankfully avoided attacks from the Sunni extremist group.
UAE Gave Blair Money
Arab Brothers Arrested for ISIS Link
The Shin Bet arrested two Israeli-Arab brothers on suspicion of being affiliated with ISIS. Mahmoud Abd al-Karim Qassem Jabarin, 25, and Na’im Abd al-Karim Qassem Jabarin, 20, from Umm el-Fahm were seized in their home where agents found ISIS paraphernalia and a Carl Gustav-style submachine gun. The Shin Bet has not released all of the details of the investigation into the Jabarin brothers, but the agency has said that they received intelligence that Mahmoud was in talks with an ISIS recruiter, who has been in Syria since 2014. Mahmoud intended to leave Israel for Syria to join the fundamentalist terror group.
This week it was revealed that the United Arab Emirates paid former British Prime Minister Tony Blair millions of pounds when he served as envoy for the Quartet mediating between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph. The British newspaper said Blair received millions of pounds in consultancy fees from the UAE as he was trying to mediate Israeli-Palestinian peace. The report said he also received fees from the sovereign wealth fund of the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. In addition, according to a report on Monday in the Daily Mail, the UAE helped fund Blair’s office in London while he was the Quartet envoy. The Quartet – made up of the U.S., EU, Russia and the UN – was established in 2002 to facilitate the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process. Blair served as the group’s envoy from 2007 until 2015. The report about the UAE funds raises potentially troubling ques-
tions about the objectivity of Blair during the time he served as the Quartet envoy. Nevertheless, the former British prime minister is held in high esteem in Jerusalem as a close friend and staunch supporter. Allegations of a conflict of interest between Blair’s role as Quartet envoy and the business interests of his private consultancy firm have dogged him intermittently over the last number of years. The Daily Mail report quoted a spokeswoman for Blair as saying that money he received from the UAE paid for the travel expenses for him and his staff. During his time as envoy, Blair made dozens of trips to and from the Mideast. “As has already been publicly acknowledged, the UAE have supported the work of Mr. Blair over the years including his work on governance – now done solely on a not-for-profit basis – in countries like Colombia and Serbia,” the spokeswoman was quoted as saying. “In addition, they contributed to the costs of Mr. Blair and his London-based staff for the work he and they did for the Quartet role, particularly travel. None of this money went to Mr. Blair personally. It was quite separate from the funding of the Office of the Quartet Representative in Jerusalem, which Mr. Blair also raised from a range of different governments.”
Israeli-Canadian Sets Tennis Record
A Canadian teenager who was originally born in Israel upset top-seeded Rafael Nadal in the third round of the Rogers Cup. Denis Shapovalov won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the third round. He is the youngest player to beat a player ranked in the top two in the world since Nadal beat Federer in 2004 in Miami. The 18-year-old is from Richmond Hill, Ontario. “It’s what I
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
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dreamed of all my life growing up, playing guys like Rafa (Nadal), Roger (Federer), Andy (Murray),” said Shapovalov, who moved with his family to Canada before his first birthday. “You know, my dream came true today.” Shapovalov was born in Tel Aviv to immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Denis is now the youngest player to reach the quarterfinals in Bjorn Borg in 1974. “He played well,” Nadal admitted. “He has a great potential. I wish him the best. He has everything to become a great player. He played with the right determination in the important moments.”
Diamond Mogul Arrested
On Monday, the Police National Fraud Unit detained Israeli diamond mogul Beny Steinmetz and four others for questioning in a money-laundering investigation involving real estate deals abroad. The five were questioned under caution, meaning they are considered suspects in the case. The five were brought in for questioning on suspicion of money laundering, falsifying documents, using fake documents, false registration of corporate documents, fraud, breach of corporate trust, obstruction of justice, and bribery, police said. Raids were also carried out at their homes and offices. The other four suspects were not named, but a media report identified one as a well-known figure in Israeli banking. A statement said police suspect the group “acted systematically together with the prime suspect in order to create and present fictitious contracts and transactions, among other things in real estate deals in a foreign country, for the purpose of money laundering and money transfers,” the statement said. Steinmetz is the prime suspect in the case. He has made billions as a diamond and mining magnate. The mogul was arrested on December 19 and was accused of paying
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millions of dollars in bribes in the Republic of Guinea in exchange for advancing his business interests in the country. He was held under house arrest at the time and later released. According to Forbes, Steinmetz is worth $1.02 billion, making him one of Israel’s richest people.
U.S. Funding Fundamentalist Camp? An American-funded summer camp in Ramallah is getting questioned by two prominent American senators. The program, called “Go Palestine,” is run by the Ramallah
Friends School, a Quaker institution in the Palestinian Authority’s capital. The teen summer camp is officially supposed to introduce Palestinian teens from overseas to “Palestinian culture, cuisine, life and work, and the Arabic language.” However, investigations into the program have revealed that the teenagers are also introduced to an anti-Israel curriculum and are being taught based on a curriculum
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Keren Minchas Shlomo Over the past few years, we have sent gently used clothing to aniyei Eretz Yisrael in a biannual clothing drive. ALL COSTS are paid by anonymous sponsors, and collection and distribution is undertaken by NON-PAID volunteers. This is a special opportunity to perform the tremendous mitzvah of tzedakah without incurring any expense. Last April we shipped over 10,000 garments to distribution centers, both chareidi and chiloni, in Yerushalayim, Kiryat Sefer, Bet Shemesh, and other communities.
The program consists of 40-50 campers each year from all around the globe. According to their website, Americans make up the largest contingent. Their activities include viewing films such as “Occupation 101” and “Jerusalem: The East Side Story,” both of which portray Israel as being a racist and brutal oppressor. For the past two years, campers have visited the monument erected for the Martyrs of Birzeit, which memorializes students who were killed while engaging in terrorism against Israel.
Abbas Tightens Grip on Social Media
The Keren is responsible for the clothing when it reaches E”Y, and the Israeli government inspects the container to make sure we comply with the rules and regulations. WE ARE SENDING ONLY GENTLY USED CLOTHING (no shoes, hats, or undergarments). Please select garments that you feel are appropriate and that our needy brethren in E"Y will be proud to wear. Please ensure that all clothing is stain-free and in very good condition. Thank you for the last drive! Our community’s drive was the most successful this organization ever had in terms of the quality and quantity of clothes we sent to Eretz Yisrael. Help us accomplish this great chessed again right before the Yomim Noraim!
The clothing drive will BE"H take place
Sunday, Sept. 10 | 10am-3pm at PRECISION AUTO BODY
10 Nassau Ave., Inwood, NY 11096 Around the corner from the car wash at Sheridan Blvd. & Bayview Ave. For more information, call 802 622 1818
written by militants and terrorists. According to public records, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) gave the school $800,000 to make various improvements to its facilities. Our government also gave them $700,000 in 2015, $900,000 in 2014, and similar payments in years prior to that. The money was given through USAID’s “American Schools and Hospitals Abroad” program.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer has called on USAID to “immediately investigate” its contributions to the
program. He said that if the reports are true, “this school should be cut off because entities that receive USAID should be teaching about democracy and coexistence – not intolerance or extremism.” Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has had a relationship with USAID for a long time and called the allegations “quite disturbing.” According to his spokesperson, he “has reached out to USAID for an explanation.”
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has come down hard on social media and news websites within the West Bank. He has made a decree that allows his government to put anyone in jail that harms the “national unity” or the “social fabric” of the Palestinian people. Many critics are calling the ban the strictest act of restriction of public freedom that the Palestinians have experienced. Prosecutors for Abbas’ government deny that the rules are in place to silence dissent and say that they are only being introduced in order to close legal loopholes that have allowed hackers to go unpunished. In order to do that, the government feels the need to block some 30 websites, according to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, or Mada. Most of the blocked websites are affiliated with Abbas’s former rivals, Mohammed Dahlan and Hamas. ISIS-supporting websites have also been banned. Five journalists who were working for Hamas were detained this week and charged with violating the new laws. The new rules allow the government to send a violator to jail for one year to life for using digital platforms to “endanger the safety of the state or public order” or harm “national unity and social peace.”
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
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Abbas’s approval ratings are at an all-time low. Polls show that two-thirds of Palestinians want the 82-year-old to resign. He has consistently failed to deliver on his main promise of setting up a Palestinian state.
Mossad Head: Iran Getting Stronger
According to Mossad head Yossi Cohen, the void that was left in the Middle East when ISIS retreated is being slowly filled by Iran. At the weekly cabinet meeting, Cohen warned that Iran’s expansion in the region is happening through their proxies, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria,
and Yemen. Cohen also informed the cabinet that Iran has not given up on its nuclear ambitions and the infamous Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has only “strengthened Iran’s aggressiveness in the region.” Since the deal was signed, Iran has seen a surge in economic growth and has increased its relationship with international firms and businesses. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has opposed the deal since its inception, said that the recent developments are a further proof that the deal was signed under false premises. One of the major ideas behind making the deal was that it would moderate Iran’s behavior in the region. “Israel will continue to work with determination and in a variety of ways to protect itself from these threats,” Bibi said. The cabinet discussion on Iran came a few days after President Donald Trump again criticized the nuclear deal. JCPOA is a “horrible agreement,” Trump said. “I don’t think they’re living up to the spirit of the agreement,” Trump added at a press conference. “I personally don’t think they’re in compliance. But we have time, and we’re going to see.” The
American president also warned that there will be some “very strong things taking place” if the Iranians “don’t get themselves in compliance.”
Muslim Cleric Arrested for Incitement
Muslim cleric Sheikh Raed Salah was arrested on Monday and was held for at least two days in jail. The sheikh was arrested on suspicion of incitement to violence and terror, as well as supporting and being active in a banned organization – the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which he heads. Before the hearing on Tuesday morning, Salah dismissed his arrest and said it was simply a tactic to divert attention from various corruption investigations into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “What is happening today is a continuation of the persecution of the Arab public by the Israeli government,” he charged. “This is political persecution and an attempt to confuse the media so that they will pay attention to my arrest and ignore the accusations against the prime minister.” Joint List lawmaker Masud Ganaim echoed his sentiments and said the arrest was persecution against the religious leader and the people of Umm al-Fahm. “The police flexed their muscles, Rambo-style, early this morning, with their barbaric entrance to the home of a Palestinian public leader,” he said. “This is part of the intimidation and incitement against our Palestinian people and against public symbols, as part of the persecution of the residents of Umm alFahm. Our people will not sit idly by in the face of this persecution.” On Tuesday morning police said that they had arrested for questioning under caution “a central instigator” of the Islamic Movement on suspicion of incitement to violence and terror, as well as supporting and being active in a banned organization. The statement was apparently referring
to the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which split from the main organization. “On a number of occasions, all of them after the movement was made illegal [in 2015], the inciter made statements before an audience and saw his statements quoted in the media. These statement are linked to the movement’s worldview. An examination of the [statements] raises the suspicion that some of the things said [by Salah] meet the criteria for the stated crimes,” police said. Salah has spearheaded campaigns asserting that “Al-Aqsa is in danger,” focusing on the claim that Israel intends to change the status quo at the contested Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem. The allegation was at the heart of last month’s violence and uprisings. Salah was released from prison in January after serving a nine-month sentence for incitement to violence and racism. He was convicted over an inflammatory sermon he delivered in 2007 in Jerusalem in which he praised martyrdom for the sake of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sits atop Temple Mount. The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement was outlawed in November 2015. The government charged the group with links to terrorist groups and inciting a wave of violence. “Any person who belongs to this organization or who provides services to it or who acts within its framework is henceforth committing a criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence,” a cabinet statement said at the time. The move also allowed for the confiscation of all property belonging to the group. The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement rejects the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians and boycotts national elections on the grounds that they give legitimacy to the institutions of the Jewish state. Founded in the 1970s, the Islamic Movement is a political organization, religious outreach group and social services provider rolled into one. The movement’s overarching goal is to make Israeli Muslims more religious and it owes much of its popularity to its provision of services often lacking in Israel’s Arab communities. The group runs kindergartens, colleges, health clinics, mosques and even a sports league – sometimes under the same roof. The movement split two decades ago. The more moderate Southern Branch began fielding candidates for the Knesset in 1996 and is now part of the Joint List, an alliance
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
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of several Arab political parties. Three of the Joint List’s 13 current Knesset members are part of the movement. The Northern Branch had also funded a group called the Murabitun, whose protests against Jewish visitors at the Temple Mount have occasionally turned violent. In September last year, Israel banned the group from the Mount.
Hearing Loss Strains U.S.-Cuba Relationship Some American diplomats who were stationed in Cuba a few months ago have developed a strange loss of their hearing, according to the State Department. The State Department Diplomatic Security, along with the FBI and CIA, are leading an investigation into what – or who – caused the hearing loss.
Although the State Department has only said that officials returned from Cuba with “physical issues,” a source familiar with the investigation has confirmed that hearing loss is being reported as well as some sort of “acoustic incident” having taken place. An official said that it is not yet clear what caused the damage, but ultrasonic sound waves, radio waves, and even attempted poisoning are all being investigated. At least publicly, the investigators are saying they don’t have much to go on yet. “We don’t have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “We
don’t know where this came from. We can’t blame any one individual or country as of yet.” Nauert said that there are a “variety of physical symptoms in these American citizens who work for the U.S. government. We take those incidents very seriously, and there is an investigation currently underway.”
Cuba has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. “Cuba has never, nor would it ever, allow that the Cuban territory be used for any action against accredited diplomatic agents or their families,” said the Cuban foreign ministry. “It reiterates its willingness to cooperate in the clarification of this situation.”
Americans working in Cuba have returned for medical exams. A Canadian diplomat stationed in Cuba succumbed to the same symptoms as the Americans. Two Cuban officials have been asked to leave Washington since the hearing loss came to light.
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Chaos in Charlottesville James Alex Fields Jr. has been denied bail after being accused of second-degree murder for driving his car into a group of counter-protesters at a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend. The 20-year-old killed Heather Heyer, a paralegal who was protesting the “Unite the Right” march. On August 12, hundreds of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, KKK members, and others gathered from all over the country to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general and slavery advocate Robert E. Lee. During the protest, thousands of counter protestors gathered, and Fields drove his Dodge Challenger into the crowd, killing the 32-year-old Heyer and injuring 19 others. Fields is originally from Kenton, Kentucky. Derek Wilmer, who teaches social studies at Randall K. Cooper High School in Union, Kentucky, describes Fields as a man with “outlandish, very radical beliefs,” and a “fondness” for Adolf Hitler – “a very bright kid but very misguided and disillusioned.” When Fields was a freshman,
he wrote a report for another class that was “very much along the party lines of the neo-Nazi movement,” Weimer said. “A lot of boys get interested in the Germans and Nazis because they’re interested in World War II,” he said. “But James took it to another level.” Of those injured in the car ramming, nine were released from the hospital within one day and another 10 were listed as being in “good condition,” according hospital records. Many were disappointed with President Trump’s reaction to the events on Saturday, when he said that the rioting was initiated by “many sides.” On Monday, the president doubled down and explicitly said in a statement, “Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.” But even those strong words elicited disdain. The left were upset because they said that the president’s words were issued too late. They felt that he should have stood up against white supremacist groups harshly immediately after the attack. Since Saturday’s violence, at least three business leaders have stepped
down from Trump’s manufacturing council in protest. Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck, was the first to do so. In response to him stepping down, Trump tweeted that the CEO will now have more time to spend working on lowering drug prices for Americans. Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour, and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich also hastily left their posts on Monday in protest.
Only Woman in SEAL Training Drops out
One strong woman made history by beginning the long, grueling process to become a Navy SEAL. Just last week, however, she voluntarily decided to drop out. The female midshipman decided not to continue participating in a summer course that’s required of officers who want to be selected for SEAL training, Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton, a Naval special warfare spokesman, said. The woman’s name has not been released due to Navy policy against publicizing SEALs or candidates for the force. She had dropped out of the SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection program. The three-week long program in Coronado, across the bay from San Diego, tests participants’ physical and psychological strength along with water competency and leadership skills. The program is the first in-person evaluation of a candidate who desires to become a Navy SEAL officer, and it allows sailors to compete against peers in an equitable training environment. Every sailor is required to complete the program before being selected to take part in SEAL basic training, a six-month program so grueling that 75% of candidates quit by the end of the first month. Before this, no other woman has started the long process required to become a Navy SEAL. Another woman has her eyes on joining a Special Warfare Combatant Crewman, another job that only recently became open to females. The group often supports the SEALs but
also conducts missions of its own using state-of-the art, high-performance boats. She is currently going through numerous evaluations and standard Navy training. These positions became open to women after then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s directive in December 2015 to open all military jobs to women. That decision was made in formal recognition of the thousands of female servicewomen who fought in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in recent years, including those who were killed or wounded. Women have been slowly integrating into previously male-only roles. Two women in 2015 graduated from the Army’s grueling Ranger course.
Bombshell Report: Russia Did Not Hack the DNC’s Computers
As one of the oldest and most liberal news outlets, The Nation is replete with anti-Trump editorials and essays. But, one lengthy report that it ran last week was a momentary reprieve from new-age “resistance journalism” which has no qualms about making up facts in order to fit the narrative that Trump colluded with Russia. The conclusion reached in the report essentially confirms what President Trump has been saying for a long time – the whole Russia-hacking-the-Democrat-National-Committee-computers story is fake news. Although Democrats have been screaming “Russia, Russia, Russia” for almost a year now, as if throwing mud on a wall and hoping some sticks, the original allegation about Russia – which set off the Russia frenzy – is that the country hacked the Democratic National Committee’s computers and then gave the information to WikiLeaks which slowly drip-dripped it to the public throughout the general presidential election race.
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
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However, The Nation reported that forensic experts and former national security advisers have quietly gathered over the last several months to examine the breach and they have determined the DNC emails were not obtained via hack – they were downloaded as an inside job. “Hard science now demonstrates it was a leak – a download executed locally with a memory key or a similarly portable data-storage device,” reports The Nation. “In short, it was an inside job by someone with access to the DNC’s system.” The article cites a report released last month by forensic experts which shows that on the evening of July 5, 2016, 1,976 megabytes of data were downloaded from the DNC’s server. The operation took 87 seconds. This yields a transfer rate of 22.7 megabytes per second. The report notes that the transfer rate speed is unattainable via hack, even if the hacker is within a few miles of the computer being hacked. Rather, the only way to get that transfer rate speed would be by sticking a memory key or similar portable data-storage device into a computer on site. The Nation also notes that forensic scientists have been reviewing the metadata and have concluded that the person who downloaded the information was in the eastern time zone when that information was downloaded. The Nation also disclosed that a group of former intelligence officials who had begun analyzing the supposed hack shortly after it took place contacted President Obama and informed him that it is unlikely that Russia hacked the DNC’s computers. The group of former intelligence officials explained in a letter that if, in fact, Russia hacked the DNC, the National Security Agency would be able to provide definitive proof of that. One day after receiving that letter President Obama gave his final press conference as president and noted that the findings of the intelligence community that Russia hacked the DNC were “not conclusive.”
Would-Be Bomber Caught On Monday, federal authorities said they were holding a man in custody who domestic terrorism investigators said planned and tried to execute an anti-government bombing of an Oklahoma City bank.
Trump Takes on the Opioid Crisis
Jerry Drake Varnell, 23, drove what he believed was a stolen van containing a 1,000-pound ammonium nitrate bomb early Saturday morning to an alley beside BancFirst in downtown Oklahoma City. But the bomb was a fake – the result of a months-long domestic terrorism investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Oklahoma’s Western District said in a statement. The cellphone that Varnell believed was a detonator dialed law enforcement, and the getaway driver was an undercover agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The agency had been monitoring Varnell since December, when he began discussing plans with a confidential informant about attacking the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C., “in a manner similar” to the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. “I’m out for blood,” Varnell wrote in a text message to the informant. “When militias start getting formed I’m going after government officials when I have a team.” Later, Varnell changed his plans, saying he didn’t “want to kill a bunch of people,” after the agent cautioned him that such a plan could still result in death. Varnell lived in a trailer on his parents’ property in Sayre, 130 miles east of Oklahoma City. In a June meeting with the agent, he described himself as a believer in “Three Percenter” ideology, a group that says it promotes patriotism and love of freedom and liberty. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups and extremists, has described the national group as anti-government. In a statement this week, the Three Percenters condemned Varnell’s plans. Varnell later wrote a message that he believed would be posted on Facebook and would distinguish the bank bombing from an ISIS attack. The message said the bombing was in “retaliation” for the “freedoms that have been taken away from the American people.”
There is a growing crisis in the U.S. that is affecting all communities – the opioid crisis. Opioids are prescription pills, and many people become addicted to them, although many who are affected are not actually prescribed the drug. Some are getting prescriptions from their doctors and due to the addictive nature continue to use the painkillers long past their doctor’s orders. Common opioids include Oxycodone, Percocet, and Vicodin. Due to their sedative effects on the part of the brain which regulates breathing, opioids in high doses present the potential for respiratory depression and may cause respiratory failure and death. The abuse of opioids has gotten so bad that President Donald Trump declared it a national emergency on Thursday. His administration is in the process of drafting papers to make it official. Just last week New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called on the White House to declare the emergency. “The opioid crisis is an emergency and I’m saying officially right now it is an emergency,” Trump told reporters. “We’re going to draw it up and we’re going to make it a national emergency. It is a serious problem, the likes of which we have never had.” By making it official, more government funds and resources can be used to address the epidemic. It will also allow the government more flexibility in waiving rules and restrictions to expedite action. Generally, national emergencies are typically declared for short-term crises, such as the Zika virus outbreak or a natural disaster. It is unclear what Trump’s declaration will mean for a complex, long-term public health problem. “We’re going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis,” Trump said. “This is a worldwide problem, not just a United States problem.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids played a role in more than 33,000
deaths in 2015. The commission wrote in a report that more than 100 Americans die of a drug overdose every single day. They noted, “America is enduring a death toll equal to September 11th every three weeks.”
Newlyweds at Ninety
It’s never too late to date. Gertrude Mokotoff and Alvin Mann were married on August 5 in a small ceremony in front of family and friends. Gertrude is four years older than her new husband. But what’s a few years when you’re both in your nineties? You see, Gertrude is 98 and Alvin is 94. And they’re as happy as ever. The two met eight years ago at a gym in Middletown, N.Y. Their first date was at a local restaurant, and they’ve been together ever since. Gertrude asked Alvin to marry her – “I was tired of chasing after him,” she said in The New York Times’ Vows section. “The age difference never really bothered me because we just hit it off, and I wasn’t about to let her go,” Alvin said. This is not the first “first” for Alvin in the past few years. Last year, in 2016, he received his bachelor’s degree in history from Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y. The World War II veteran and retired businessman said he and his new wife, a former biology professor and the first female mayor of Middletown, aren’t going to slow down. “Age doesn’t mean a ... thing to me or to Gert,” he told the Times. “We don’t see it as a barrier. We still do what we want to do in life.” Don’t know what to buy the newlyweds? Matching sets of dentures sound sweet.
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
Young ‘n’ Running
“I thought, you know, let’s give the people of Kansas a chance,” Jack Bergeson said. “Let’s try something new that has never really been tried anywhere else before.” Jack is trying to become governor of Kansas. There’s one vote, though, that he won’t be getting come elections – and that’s his own. Jack is only 16-years-old and despite his age – or lack of it – he is excited to dive into politics. “Under Kansas law, there is no law governing the qualifications for governor, not one,” said Bryan Caskey, director of elections at the Kansas secretary of state’s office. “So there’s seriously nothing on the books that lays out anything, no age, no residency, no experience. Nothing.” Jack said that finding out that piece of information sparked his interest and made him think, “Oh, I could do that.” Other states have a minimum age, including Missouri, which requires the governor to be at least 30-years-old. Jack is vying to get onto the Democratic ticket for the 2018 elections. He is looking to run an “anti-establishment” campaign that would focus on bringing “a clean slate.” He looks up to Bernie Sanders, Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura and former President Dwight Eisenhower. “I’m getting in to give the people a chance,” Jack, who is a junior in high school, said. “It doesn’t matter much if I win or lose. I’m giving people the option.” He is looking to “radically change” the health care system and has pledged his support to fully legalize marijuana for medical purposes. He’s also willing to explore legalization for recreational use. He also supports open carry when it comes to gun rights. “I think if you offer the people of Kansas something radical, something new so then that shows that we can move in a new direction, I think that will put the Democratic Party in a good position to win the seat next year,” Jack said. He plans for his classmate
Alexander Cline, who is 17, to be his lieutenant governor. Cline will at least be able to vote in 2018. Jack is not the only person to throw his hat into the Democratic Party ring for the seat. Former state Secretary of Agriculture Josh Svaty, former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, and Arden Andersen, an Olathe doctor, are all vying for the position. May the best man – or kid – win.
Lost & Found
Three decades ago a masterpiece by painter Willem de Kooning was stolen in a famous museum heist. Now, the piece has been found – only 200 miles away from the original theft. David Van Auker owns the antique store in New Mexico where the painting was found. He had unwittingly picked up “Woman-Ochre” in an estate sale on August 1, but he didn’t know the painting’s true value. Eventually a customer came in and asked him if it was a de Kooning piece. Van Auker googled the artist and realized that not only was it a de Kooning, it was actually the piece that was stolen from the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tucson in 1985 – and was worth $160 million. “We held the painting up next to a computer screen and started comparing drips and splatters, and everything seemed to match. From that moment on, we knew we had it. I knew it in my heart,” Van Auker, 54, said. The last time “Woman-Ochre” made headlines was on the morning of Thanksgiving in 1985. A man walked into the museum after opening, sliced the painting off its frame, and left the gallery with the painting rolled up under his arm with an accomplice. Van Auker reached out the university and the FBI, who confirmed its authenticity. When the museum’s staff finally came to pick it up from his store, the room was “electric,” Van Auker recalled. “You could feel it. I was choked
up. They brought the [original] frame with them. It was so emotional when they uncrated the frame. Everyone was laughing and hugging.” The painting is part of a series of six. Another work in the series sold for $137 million a decade ago, and the museum estimates “Woman-Ochre” is now worth at least $160 million.
112 Cheese Pie
This week, Crown Pizza in Waterford, Connecticut, teamed up with a WNBA team to create a record breaking pizza. Taso Vitsas, manager at the pizzeria, endeavored to top his pizza with more cheeses than the current Guinness World Record. Currently, the record holds at 102. Taso topped his pie with 112 different cheeses. Cheese is integral to a great slice of pizza. But too much cheese can sacri-
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fice taste. Taso was not bashful about his pizza – he knew the record breaking slice would be less than good in terms of flavor. “Originally, I was going to try and make a good-tasting pizza which is obviously my goal being a pizza maker,” Taso said. “Once I got to 30-35 cheeses, I realized this is not going to be a good-tasting pizza.” The Connecticut Sun players helped Vitsas top his 42-inch pizzas with 112 cheeses cut by Christine Chesanek of Fromage in Old Saybrook. It wasn’t just the taste that came out less than delicious; cheese, you know, can sometimes smell. “Some of these blu cheeses and goat cheeses from across the world, they have a very unique smell,” Taso admitted. Let’s just say that the pizza was slightly fragrant. The photos and videos of the feat were submitted to Guinness World Records but not before Taso attempted a taste. “I tried it,” he said. “It wouldn’t go down.” Because sometimes too much cheese is, you know, too much cheese.
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Rabbi Tzvi Krigsman, Menahel of Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island, visiting his talmidim at Camp Dora Golding
Color War at Camp Avnet
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Around the Community
Teacher Learning: The Key to Student Learning
“T
he best part of teaching is that it matters. The hardest part of teaching is that it matters every day,” said Mrs Rina Zerykier, principal of Shulamith High School, as she opened the first session of summer faculty professional development. “At the end of the day, it is the teachers who will define our school. It is they who are on the front lines with kids and it is they who will help shape their tomorrow.” This opening set the tone for the focus of two days of inspiring and innovative faculty learning. Educating teens in today’s world requires a new skill set: it requires teachers to facilitate a learning process in which students deepen their understanding not only of the subject matter but also of themselves as learners, empowering them to appreciate and own their Torah heritage, as well as academic rigor and 21st-century skills. Adults are digital immigrants, raising digital natives in a world that moves faster than ever before. Parents and educators are tasked with preparing children for jobs that don’t even exist yet. Where can passionate teachers capable of taking on this challenge go? Is there an educational environment where students can learn how to navigate the unknown waters of the future while upholding such enduring values as lifelong learning, a strong spiritual connection, a moral compass, empowerment, resilience, and confidence? Enter Shulamith High School for Girls. Shulamith High School blends East Coast classical academic excellence with Silicon Valley new-wave thinking, all built upon a foundation of Torah and halacha. The faculty took
two days out of their vacations, one even facetiming from her summer camp job, to develop the goals and set the tone for the upcoming school year. The school’s student-centered approach to learning is what drew many of the teachers to it, and listening to the faculty speak, one can see that the beauty is more than skin deep. Student-centered teaching is focused on designing learning experiences that promote critical 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, complex problem solving, and emotional intelligence. These were identified last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos by the chief human resource and strategy officers of leading global employers as the top skills that will be needed in the workforce by 2020. How to instill these skills while creating an
and Starbucks Teach Us?” signaled to the faculty right away that each session would be thought-provoking and empowering. From differentiation to lesson planning, the faculty was in constant think-and-discuss mode. “It is healthy to re-examine
In between all of the talk of missions, innovation, and engagement, one thing came through loud and clear: Shulamith High School does not forget its roots. “Tradition and Torah are very important,” said Rabbi Ya’akov Trump, at the closing ses-
environment of active student engagement dominated conversations, both formal and informal. Even after six weeks away from school, the excitement of working in Shulamith was palpable. Seminars such as “Are We a Start-Up and Why Does it Matter?” and “Mission: What can Amazon, Apple, Dunkin Donuts,
conventions and practices,” said Dr. Steven Lorch, a new addition to the high school as Director of Professional Learning who brings more than thirty years of educational wisdom and experience to the school. Teachers collaboratively investigated favorite activities, best practices, and why some lessons do or don’t inspire students.
sion, “Judaism has had a method of chinuch for two millennia.” Mrs. Zerykier echoed her agreement, “We are very proud of our heritage. While we may look for innovative research to inform our teaching practices, we must always remember who we are and what we stand for. For close to a generation, The Shulamith
School has empowered and inspired young women to live their lives as genuine halachic Jews, to appreciate and love the State of Israel, and to become the most excellent version of themselves.” After two days of workshops, seminars, and discussions, new teachers and old shared the common sense of purpose and exhibited the camaraderie of those who have worked together for years. Shulamith High School is an immersive environment that fosters the individual growth of each learner, as its year-round focus on intensive faculty development demonstrates. The Shulamith faculty is very clear on its mission: “We are helping to guide young, frum girls to be whatever they want to be in the 21st century,” said English teacher Tamara Klein. “Each class is designed to help her understand who she is, where she comes from, and to give her the skills to help her inform the most consequential moments and decisions that she will encounter in life.” Two days in the summer: a small investment that will produce large dividends for the students of Shulamith High School.
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Around the Community
Superheroes, Emojis and Rafting at Ruach Day Camp
T
he theme days and specialty program at Ruach Day Camp is part of what makes us so special – and it generates incredible excitement. We began the week with Superhero Day where campers came dressed as their favorite superhero, prepared to help any damsels in distress or ward off any villains. On Emoji Day, bunks had to find and identify a variety of emojis that were hidden throughout the camp. Later in the week, our CITs & CAs created a fantastic carnival for our younger campers with a multitude of games, face painting and prizes. As part of our oneg program, the upper campus girls prepared challah in preparation for Shabbat. Our weekly trip program offers another exciting and fun dimension to the camp experience. This week, the CITs & CAs enjoyed a perfect day
of good old-fashioned fun as they went whitewater rafting down the Lehigh River. For many of the campers, this was their first time whitewater rafting – but for all, this was a river trip that they’ll always remember! The older campus enjoyed a relaxing fishing trip and although they didn’t catch any “keepers,” it was a fun adventure for all. Some of our younger campers enjoyed exploring around the Long Is-
land Children’s Museum, but their favorite was the bubble exhibit and being able to step inside enormous bubbles. Next week, we look forward to another spectacular event … Rabbi Mordechai Shapiro returns to Ruach Day Camp for an amazing concert. Hakarat Hatov to our amazing staff. The entire staff dined on a delicious dinner followed by a night of trivia. A great time was shared by all!
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
Long Beach Summer Kollel
T
his summer the Young Israel of Long Beach inaugurated a new program which became known as the Long Beach Summer Kollel. During the course of six weeks, twelve young men from Yeshiva University and Touro College spent their days at the Young Israel of Long Beach where they learned the halachos of bishul b’Shabbos. In addition to the personal growth in learning there was an out-reach component whereby the chevrei haKollel would learn individually with members of the community on present topical shiurim. The initial Kollel program generated further programs which included a Sunday morning breakfast and learn session, a Thursday evening BBQ followed by shiurim, and a teen/ children program during which the
Kollel members had an opportunity to bond with the youth of community through recreational ball-playing and specially prepared Torah study classes which took place at the BACH. A further outgrowth included a daily shiur following the morning minyan given R’ Hudi Chinskey for several teens that had returned from camp. There were also several guest speakers who delivered shiurim, and Rabbi Mordechai Willig delivered a shiur via Skype on a weekly basis. Rabbi Yaakov Weisenberg and Rabbi Eliyahu Wolf served as Rosh Kollel. Harav Eliyahu Wolf grew up in Kew Gardens, NY, and attended Yeshiva Shaar Hatorah, Yeshivas Mir and RIETS. He earned a BA from Queens College and received semicha from RIETS. Together with his family, he currently resides in Wood-
mere, NY, where he enjoys serving as the Rabbinic Associate at the Young Israel of Woodmere and a Rebbe at the DRS Yeshiva HS. He enjoys learning, teaching and singing Torah with his students and constituents. Harav Yaakov Weisenberg is an assistant rabbi at the Young Israel of Long Beach. He teaches at Rambam Mesivta and HAFTR High School. He has semicha and a Masters in Jewish education from YU and was a member of the Yadin Yadin Kollel at YU. Program participants included: Zachary Rothblatt, Elliot Muschel, Ari Waldman, Alexander Okin, Tuvya Miller, Justin Wexler, David Meir Tribuch, Mataniah Friedner, Adam Huttel, Judah Kerbel, Mitchell Unger, Yehuda Chinskey, Abraham Elberger and Michael Genut.
Kaminsky Honors “Student Star” Daniel Rosenthal
L
ast week, Senator Todd Kaminsky recognized Daniel Rosenthal, of Woodmere, who attended the Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys, as one of his Student Star award recipients. Daniel will be attending the Aish Gesher in Israel for a year, before he hopes to attend City College of New York. Daniel was presented with the New York State Senate Youth Leadership Recognition Award.
Daniel is a Member and Captain of the Science Olympiad Team. David’s leadership has helped the team to earn a medal in the Bridge Building Event, and he mentored a sophomore in the process. In the summer of 2016, David worked as an intern in Senator Todd Kaminsky’s Office. A student member of AIPAC, sharpening political advocacy skills, Rosenthal is a Model Congress Delegate and a volunteer at Friendship Circle.
“They come as fighters and they leave as brothers.” Page 72
This past Thursday evening a seudas pereida, farewell dinner, took place to mark the conclusion of this wonderful program which during its brief existence program most definitely had an impact. The program included a kumsitz which was warm and joyous, after which Rabbi Chaim Wakslak, the rav of the community, provided words of chizuk. Following the words of Torah, each participant was presented with a certificate and their stipend. The program concluded with a rikud and wishes that this program be repeated next year in Long Beach, if not in Yerushalayim. Much of the credit for both the conceptualization and administration of the program goes to R’ Hudi Chinkey, who is an assistant rabbi of the YILB.
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Around the Community
Local politicians attended Yeshiva of South Shore’s Annual Concert on the Lawn on the evening of August 15 at the home of Aaron and Ruthy Jungreis in Lawrence, NY. Pictured, L to R: Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel, State Senator Todd Kaminsky, Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito, Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva of South Shore Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, Executive Director Rabbi Dovid Kramer, candidate for County Executive Jack Martins, and Lawrence Deputy Mayor Michael Fragin
Pugatch Realty Corp Remembers Lori Lewis-Weiner
I
t is with deep sorrow that Pugatch Realty Corp. announces the passing of Lori Lewis-Weiner at age 59, Lori was a resident of Atlantic Beach. Lori was an integral part of the Pugatch Realty family; she worked as a commercial specialist with us for the past 13 years. Lori closed countless transactions and had become close friends with many of her clients. Lori was a tireless ad-
UJA-Federation Volunteers Pack Backpacks for Kids In Need
vocate for all she worked for; her dogged determination to close transactions was her calling card. Lori leaves behind three children, Zack, Luke, and Jake, her sister Gwen and mother Annette, countless friends and colleagues, and her best friend, business artner and fiancé, Ian Leigh. We will miss her dearly – Barry & Susan Pugatch and the Entire Staff of Pugatch Realty Corp.
Jean Kerr once said, “I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on!” Page 78
Brian Nadata with grandkids Yakov, Davie and Ariella Englard
M
ore than 90 children, teens and adult volunteers packed 900 backpacks filled with back-to-school supplies for underprivileged children in the Five Towns communities during UJA-Federation of New York’s 8th Annual Long Island Tov B’Yachad Supplies for Success at the HAFTR Middle School. The backpacks will be distributed to children at HAFTR, JCCRP, Darchei, Bais Yakov, Yeshiva of South Shore and others. This year,
approximately 12,000 backpacks will be distributed throughout Long Island and the metro NY area via UJA-Federation’s network of nonprofits, schools, yeshivas, shelters and local organizations that provide help for people in need. Since its inception, the Supplies for Success program has distributed more than 54,000 filled backpacks, working to ensure that New York area children return to school with the tools they need to succeed.
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Around the Community Scenes from Camp Toras Chaim, Summer 2017
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Around the Community
HALB Summer Educational Technology Institute
F
or the fourth summer in a row, faculty and staff members of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, which encompasses the Lev Chana Pre-School, HALB Elementary and Middle Schools, Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls and Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys, had an incredible opportunity to enhance their edu-
cational technological skills with a variety of workshops from HALB’s Summer Educational Technology Institute. In addition to the SMART Board Notebook Software training given by the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education, the Institute offered such diverse courses as Google Forms and Docs, Sefaria, IPad apps, and 3D
Printing among many others. The Institute was enthusiastically attended by HALB educators of all subjects in every division who greatly appreciated the chance to expand their knowledge of 21st century tools and cutting edge technology. We thank our Educational Technology team, Rabbi Aron Fleksher, Mrs. Ruthi Seidenfeld, Mr. Yosef
Skolnick and Mrs. Rivky Watman, together with Mr. Andre Pabon and Mr. Darren Washington, who have facilitated these important sessions. We look forward to experiencing the potential of these latest technologies in our teaching and learning in our classrooms!
With boating, swimming, sports, cheers, trips, and, of course, the Mets, the fun never stops at Simcha Day Camp
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Around the Community
On Thursday, August 10, Senator Todd Kaminsky attended the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach’s Summer Breeze Dinner that was held at the Lawrence Yacht and Country Club. Pictured from L to R: Arthur Udell, Senator Todd Kaminsky, Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach Rabbi Ari Perl and his wife Meira.
The owner of Frankel’s Kosher Supermarket on Cornaga Avenue in Far Rockaway met with Senator Joe Addabbo in his Rockaway office to discuss community issues and the concerns of local businesses. Pictured L-R: Chesky Kahan, Senator Joe Addabbo, owner Pinchus Frankel, and Benjy Schreier
Summer fun at Camp Atara
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THIS WEEK WE ARE TALKING TO:
Camp Areivim
Exciting Camp Feature! Back for a 4th Year!
How are the youngest Five Townsers spending their summer? Over the summer season we will be speaking with local day camps to learn how our children and teens are spending their eleven weeks of summer vacation. Between swimming, sports, learning, trips, projects, cheers and lots of ices, we know their days are jam-packed with fun.
Camp Areivim, one of the premier allboys camps in the Five Towns, started eight years ago and has since grown to over 700 campers. This week, we spoke with Rabbi Yanky Hersh, Camp Director; Rabbi Yossi Bennett, Assistant Director and Senior Division Head Counselor; and Rabbi Yosef Friedler, Junior Division Head Counselor.
Rabbi Hersh, you opened Camp Areivim eight years ago. Tell us your story. YH: I grew up in Flatbush and learned in Yeshiva Torah Temimah. When I was 17-years-old, together with a group of friends, I started a camp in the Ukraine. That’s for another time, but it was an incredible experience that gave me tremendous insight into how to develop a successful camp program. When I got married, I became a rebbe in the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland. After my first year teaching, I was asked to head their day camp and did so for six years. Ten years ago, I moved to Far Rockaway and became a 5th grade rebbe at Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island. After my first summer, a number of parents of the yeshiva approached me and asked me to start a camp for their older boys who weren’t going to
sleepaway camp. One thing turned into another and Camp Areivim was born at the beautiful new campus of Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island. In the first year of Camp Areivim, we had under 50 campers. It was a tremendous success. Most camps start with younger ages and eventually build up; we started with older boys and built down. Six years ago, we branched out to younger age groups and added more divisions over the years. Four years ago was the first year that we introduced our preschool division, called Areivim Freshies, making Camp Areivim a premiere boys’ summer camp accommodating boys ages nursery through 8th grade. It’s eight years later, and our enrollment has grown to over 700 local boys, b’li ayin horah.
Give us some details of how the camp is structured. YH: Interestingly enough, although the camp has grown tremendously, I wanted to keep my original intent in providing each age group with their own personalized program. I’m extremely proud of how the camp has become four incredibly age-appropriate divisions that run like well-oiled machines. Each division has its own individualized program highlighted in each one of their own weekly newsletters: The Freshies Flash, The Areivim Junior Herald, and The Areivim Times for the Seniors and MITs. It could have only happened by having an extremely dedicated head staff. All of the division heads are able to perform an unbelievable balancing act! They are incredible at being responsible and organized while at the same time giving non-stop fun to the campers.
Our Freshies division is for boys in nursery, kindergarten and Pre1A. Mrs. Bayla Barkany directs this division with her signature warmth, love, experience, and organizational skills. Together with Mrs. Adina Hoch, whose fun and bubbly personality adds so much to their division, it’s no wonder that their top-notch program is so successful. Our Junior program is for boys in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. It is headed by the very experienced and talented Rabbi Yosef Friedler, an incredible machenech who teaches alongside me during the year as a 5th grade rebbe at YKLI. He puts lev v’nefesh into designing a program that is perfectly suited to this age group. He is assisted by Rabbi Tzvi Medetsky, Rabbi Yoni Sokel and Rabbi Boruch Oppen who add enormous energy and geshmak to the division. The Senior division is for boys in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades and is led by another exemplary mechanech,
the S’gan Menahel at Mesivta Ateres Yaakov, Rabbi Yossi Bennett. He is my right-hand man in running all of the day-to-day and behind-thescenes aspects of camp. Besides being so friendly and personable with both staff and campers alike, he is phenomenal at taking care of every last detail of every program, ensuring that everything runs smoothly. The MIT division, which stands for Madrich-In-Training, is for boys in 7th and 8th grades. This group is headed by Rabbi Tsvi Greenfield, a very popular rebbe at Mesivta Ateres Yaakov. The M.I.T.s participate in camp responsibilities, help out in the canteen, on bus routes, in younger bunks, and in shul. They serve as our gabbaim, ba’alei tefilah, and ba’alei kriah. They have their own extremely intense leagues and are even color war captains. They enjoy specialized activities and overnights all over the East Coast every other week of camp.
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This year we also introduced an incredible night activity program, in addition to the overnights, called MIT Extreme. This program, directed by Rabbi Yehoshua Robinson, who is also the MIT rebbe in the mornings, includes late night local activities, inter-camp games, sports tournaments, Heimish on Central, Carlos & Gabbys – the campers just love it! Overnights! That sounds fun. Tell us more. YB: The Seniors and M.I.T.s go on specialized overnights every other week. They go all over the East Coast. We’ve gone to Connecticut, Philadelphia, the Catskills, the Poconos, Boston, Maine, New Hampshire, Lake Placid, Lake George and Lakewood, to name a few. The overnights include really amazing activities and adventures. Some of our activities in-
cluded white water rafting, banana boating, trampolining, zip-lining, horseback riding, kayaking and rock climbing. We visited Six Flag’s Great Escape, Dorney Park, Six Flag’s New England, Dave & Buster’s, Sahara Sam’s, Mountain Creek Water Park, Clementon Water Park, and Connecticut Sports Center, amongst so many other amazing locations. This year, for the first time ever, we went on a 3 day overnight to Niagara Falls! With exciting and fun-filled stops all along the way up and down, it was simply amazing! Wow! That sounds incredible. Wish I could have joined! What trips do the Juniors enjoy during the summer? YF: The Juniors go on really exciting trips as well! They have day trips at least once a week and numerous late nights throughout the summer.
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This year, we had an amazing late night trip to Coco Keys Water Resort in Mount Laurel with state-of-theart coach buses! It was a fantastic trip! Other trips this summer included SkyZone, Bounce!, Adventurers, Adventureland, Hot Skates, the Cyclones Baseball Game, Legoland, Mini Golf, Paintball, Laser Tag, and much more! Sounds like a party! What do you feel makes your camp particularly special and unique? YH: It’s really a home away from home. We try to develop the achdus that makes the kids feel “we’re all in it together.” The atmosphere at camp is infectious. When parents or anyone else come to visit the camp the response is always, “Where was this when I was a kid?!” It’s really incredible! YB: From the head staff all the way through the campers in the Freshies division, there is this unique feeling of “all being in it together.” This is a focus of ours, as you can tell from our logo. Our staff is hand-picked throughout the school year. Our morahs in the Freshies division are married, highly experienced and under-
stand the sensitivities of the children. The same goes for our other divisions in which, aside from having caring and responsible bochurim for counselors, they are joined by other married kollel yungerleit as well. YH: We gear our program to what the boys want and need. We understand the need for longer camp hours the older the boys get. Whereas our Freshies division is dismissed at 3:30 daily, and our Juniors at 4:30, our Senior and MIT divisions have a full day beginning with minyan at 9:00 through dismissal at 5:30! The older the camper, the more he needs to be engaged in a kosher, Torahdikeh, fun environment. The kids enjoy themselves, come home, and are wiped! YF: Our campers are engaged and occupied with activities at all times. There’s no downtime. Even during lunch, every day, we have some sort of competition. We have Sushi Day, Ice Cream Lab, a Chopped competition, the Great Egg Challenge, wacky races, zany contests and ich veis vos! The staff are constantly involved with the kids! Even our lunches are also age appropriate and so
they differ for each age group. The Seniors, for instance, enjoy cholent and kugel on Fridays. We try to accommodate every camper so that he is engaged in activities that are important to him. We make sure that we always have a healthy balance of activities. I know you also have a great learning program. Tell us about it. YF: Our learning director, Rabbi Tzvi Finkel, is unbelievable! He runs all of our learning programs. He is very hands-on and is involved in all the learning in every age group. He is also extremely creative! He has introduced a number of extracurricular learning programs with fantastic incentives for learning over Shabbos (Masmidei Areivim), reviewing shnayim mikrah v’echad targum, age-appropriate kriyah programs, and all sorts of other ideas. He is so encouraging and ensures that the learning in Camp is both serious and geshmak! YB: Our rebbeim are quite experienced and know how to motivate our campers. Even the Pre-1A bunks in the Freshies Division have a rebbe
in the morning, focusing on kriyah, ensuring that the summer is a bridge to the coming school year. The goal is that our boys should feel the simcha and warmth of learning and to come into the next school year on a high. YH: I actually had a rebbe call me. He was very surprised that a certain boy who had entered his class who was just an average boy the past year was now at the top of his class. The rebbe said that he asked the boy what had changed and he said that he had a great summer of learning at camp. This boy happened to have won our Masmidei Areivim learning contest having learned over 20 blatt of Gemara over the course of the summer!! That’s beautiful. Can you tell us a little more about the Freshies program YH: This year’s Freshies theme was “The Many HATS We Wear.” Each day was built around a different hat and had different activities based on each days theme. We mentioned the rebbeim in the Freshies division, but the Freshies also have their own sports clinics given by Rabbi Boruch Oppen who focuses on a different sport each week. They learn from a very young age the rules, fundamentals and how to play each sport. We have a Wheel of Fun Park with 30 different
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wheeled vehicles. They have their own swimming pools, inflatable water slides, jungle gyms, and arts & crafts room as well. They also enjoy age-appropriate trips throughout the summer such as bowling, sprinkler parks, the fire station, Fun Fusion, Bounce U, Chuck E. Cheese, Adventerers, puppet shows… Tell us about your campus and facilities. YH: We are located on the Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island campus. We’re in their state-of-the-art building and enjoy their sports facilities on the adjacent properties. We have an outdoor hockey rink, volleyball court, soccer field, 2 dodgeball courts, baseball turf and football turf (the same turf used in the Meadowlands!). We also have outdoor basketball courts, an indoor gym, another baseball field that accommodates multiple games at once, two gaga pits, and two massive 50-foot pools. The summer is coming to a close. Can you narrow down the summer to a single highlight? YB: It’s hard to say “highlight.” So many things are going on at our camp. Every day, at the end of the day, we look at each other and say, “This was the best day in camp.” Different kids enjoy dif-
ferent things. It’s important to pinpoint and try to tap into what each child enjoy most and thrives from. Every camper has his own highlight! YF: It’s hard to say. We do so much and we present everything in such a fun way. Sometimes even the most ordinary of things becomes so much fun because of the way the staff gets into it! YH: If I had to pick, I’d say that for the Freshies they love their huge commercial water inflatables! It’s like a carnival for them every day! For many Juniors, their double-period, hour-long swim in our two 50foot pools is the highlight of their day. For most of the Seniors and MITs it was definitely the overnights and for others it was the intensity of the Leagues! Tell us more about Leagues. YH: Each division has their own designated Leagues. Our leagues are a very competitive and exciting part of camp! We play a lot of sports – baseball, hockey, flag football, soccer, volleyball, dodgeball and basketball – both indoor and outdoor. Baruch Hashem, YKLI has ample grounds and facilities for it all, and the boys play different sports each day. We have designated League commissioners who oversee all the League activities. The
counselors really get into the games hyping up the campers. We emphasize achdus, sportsmanship and menschlechkeit and always include honorable mentions in our weekly league highlights.
By the Numbers
This is our final “camp chat” of the summer. Any last words to share before everyone goes back to school? YH: I truly believe that camp is a stepping stone for the coming year. We put an enormous amount of energy creating a Torahdikeh environment for our campers. I also feel that a camp setting is the best place for a child to work on bein adam l’chavero. At camp, the entire day is spent interacting with other children. Our staff is consistently involved as positive role models to their campers. There is very little downtime, and the campers need to be occupied with kosher fun. I often say that the two months of the summer can sometimes have a bigger impact on a child than the ten months of the school year. It gives me tremendous chizuk when I see over 700 campers safely and happily engaged in all the camp fun. It’s a great feeling. I hope to continue, be”H, being involved in making positive impressions on our boys’ lives – next year, in Areivim
65,000+:
Yerushalayim!
Areivim
5,000,000+:
points accumulated at Dave & Buster’s
gallons of water in our 2 brand new 50-foot swimming pools
60,000+:
tickets distributed throughout the summer
15,000+: dollars’
worth of FREE canteen given out this summer
3,000+:
hot dogs and hamburgers consumed just on overnights!
700+:
of the finest and sweetest Torahdikeh campers
100+ : of the most
geshmak and incredible staff members
8+: of years of Camp 1: amazing summer
experience – at Camp Areivim!
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
THIS WEEK WE ARE TALKING TO:
Orah Day Camp
Exciting Camp Feature! Back for a 4th Year!
How are the youngest Five Townsers spending their summer? Over the summer season we will be speaking with local day camps to learn how our children and teens are spending their eleven weeks of summer vacation. Between swimming, sports, learning, trips, projects, cheers and lots of ices, we know their days are jam-packed with fun.
Between swimming twice a day, amazing activities, unlimited ruach, and unparalleled programming, Orah Day Camp is the perfect place for girls to enjoy their summer. This week, we spoke with Orah Day Camp’s camp director Mrs. Malka Fishman. I know things are so busy in camp; thank you for speaking with us. Tell us how Orah Day Camp started years ago. Orah Day Camp was started in 1989 as it was apparent there was a need for an all-girls day camp in the Five Towns/Far Rockaway area. Orah is the oldest girls’ camp in our area. That sounds like a lot of years of fun! Can you tell us about your position? Sure, I have been the director of Orah Day Camp for the last 15
years. Nechama Sittner has been our program director for the last 13 years. The camp has grown by leaps and bounds since we’ve both started. Our specialties are second to none. The best part of Orah is our exclusive, Olympic-sized swimming pool on our grounds with certified WSI lifeguards, headed by our EMT/ head lifeguard, Mrs. Leah Mandel. It is known in the Five Towns and beyond that if you want to learn how to swim, Orah is the camp of choice. The summer is coming to a close. How many girls have been enjoying their summer fun at Orah Day Camp? We had over 750 girls in Orah Day Camp this summer. The campers come from BBY, Ateres Miriam, TAG, Shulamith, BYQ, Bnos Malka and all over Brooklyn. The camp is divided into different divisions, as the campers enjoy Orah from nursery age through eighth grade. Our nursery through second graders are in the Lower Division. Grades 3 through 6 are in the Upper Division, and the 7 th and 8th graders are in their own
division. Every week there is a main event geared to each division which ties into the theme of the week. I heard you opened up a special bunk for eighth graders this year. Yes, for the first time ever we have an eighth grade bunk! They have enjoyed their own special activities with many late night trips off campus as well. Seventh and eighth grade enjoyed two spectacular overnight trips this summer. In July they went to Six Flags, and in August they went to Hershey Park...the most delicious place on Earth! The girls had a blast! Tell us about the themes this year. What special activities have you done with that theme in mind? Sure. Here are some examples of the fun tied into every week’s theme. For sports week we had field day, with real ribbons for the winning bunks. For Party City week we had piñatas and pin the tail on the donkey for the lower division and the fantastic live game show with Yisroel Erps for the upper division.
For food week we had the “seasoned” baker Goldie Sebrow decorating “Gourmet” cookies. “Frankly” they were scrumptious, as well as beautiful. During that week, our younger division did a food-related activity as well. They had a bean hunt and then used the beans to create a picture. Each bunk did a different picture – a skunk, a bear, a penguin, each bunk did one. They also had their own food decorating activity as they each got a cupcake and had the opportunity to pile on the whipped cream and sprinkles galore! The list goes on and on. Each week there was a different theme with different activities to go with the theme. We also had some really fun, creative dress up days that tied into theme…and some that didn’t, we just had them for the fun of it! For our food-themed week we had a food dress up
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
day – it was delicious! We had freaky hair Friday, wacky sock Wednesday, and of course throwback Thursday! Every week there was something new. We had the pleasure of having Nick the Balloonatic for our preschool main event as well one week. He does things with balloons that are not to be believed! He also shared his knowledge with our older bunks when he came back and gave balloon workshops. It’s a skill you just never know when you’ll need! What sets you apart from all the other camps? This year was a musical one at camp. We had an assembly of Jewish music superstars! The girls sang and danced the day away with Michoel Pruzansky and Mordechai Shapiro. We even had a concert especially for our preschoolers with Shloimie Kaufman. The ruach was incredible...staff and kids alike were just blown away by the
children’s enthusiasm. Sounds like a lot of fun! I hear the singing in the halls! What’s a “regular” day like at Orah Day Camp? Tell us about some of your special activities. The specialties in our camp are really what make us special! They are really innovative, creative and so enthusiastic about what they do. Did you know you could make beautiful bracelets and headbands with seltzer bottles and an iron? Just ask our Go Green specialty. We have made gowns out of tablecloths in Extreme Art, had musical sword fights in Upper music, and used the sun and magnifying glasses to melt crayons and burn a message into a piece of leather in Wacky Science. Our baking is, of course, our most delicious specialty with separate rooms for preschool and upper di-
visions with age-appropriate activities for them as well. With dance as well as zumba, aerobics and drama, shiur and game room there is never any downtime in our day. One of the campers’ favorite activities of all time is the Step It Up room and – new for this year – is our wood specialty. When the campers aren’t busy all day on our campus they are off to their exciting trips. We’ve been to Bounce U, ice skating at the Aviator, Once Upon A Tree Top, Kzam, Lazerland and so much more. It sounds like there is so much that goes on each day. Yes, each day is jam-packed with fun. There’s no way we can tell you all about it. We invite everyone to come join us here at Orah to experience the excitement for themselves!
By the Numbers 50,000: Gallons of water in our Olympicsize pool 3,800: Challahs baked in July 1,847: Season’s express Slurpees were consumed by Orah Day Campers 1,350: Hot Dogs were eaten this summer 1,008: People in attendance at the Orah Day Camp Mordechai Shapiro concert 672: Children watched the diet Coke/ Mentos science experiment 379: Campers passed their deep water test 195: Dedicated Orah Staff members 1: Orah Day Camp sponsor – Thank you Gourmet Glatt!
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TJH
Centerfold
You gotta be kidding Jimbo and Billy Bob are walking down the street. Jimbo suddenly points at the sun and says, “Look! That’s the moon over there!” Billy Bob says, “No, that’s the sun!” Jimbo replies, “No, it’s the moon!” Billy Bob responds again, “No, it’s the sun!” After arguing for a while, they decide to ask a third party. They go to the nearest house and knock on the door. Bubba opens up and Jimbo asks: “Excuse us, can you tell us whether it’s the sun or the moon in the sky?” Bubba looks up and says, “Don’t ask me. I’ve only been living here for two weeks.”
Things to do During This Year’s Solar Eclipse Pull a Columbus...tell your friends who are not aware of what is about to go down that you are able to control the sun. One minute before the eclipse starts, start humming, point to the sky, and tell them it’s about to go dark….they will be seriously freaked! Set off fireworks….duh Take a two minute power nap...if it is dark outside during the afternoon, what better thing to do than nap? Go grocery shopping…there will be no lines. Make havdala...why? Because you will be the only person in the universe to do that! When everyone else goes outside to observe this wonder of creation, remain at your desk and work... you will instantly gain a reputation as the hardest working person in the office – and then spend the next two months you-tubing solar eclipses! Pick your nose…because nobody will be watching. Roast marshmallows…because, why not? Have a pizza or hot dog contest...see how many slices of pizza or hot dogs you can scarf down while it is dark. (Instead of the same old boring conversation, “I saw the eclipse last Monday….” You can say, “I ate 13 hot dogs during the 2 minutes that it went dark.” Drink the raindrops…because it will probably be raining in NY. (Curmudgeon alert) Tell your kids it’s bedtime...put them to sleep and spend the rest of the day at the beach! Check out the new recipe your friend posted on Instagram...because G-d forbid you should lift your head out of your phone for a minute to see a once-in-a-lifetime celestial marvel.
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
Eclipse Clips Things you should know so people will think you’re smart
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N MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 2017, ALL OF NORTH AMERICA WILL BE TREATED TO AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. ANYONE WITHIN THE PATH OF TOTALITY CAN SEE ONE OF NATURE’S MOST AWE-INSPIRING SIGHTS – A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE.
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hile a total solar eclipse is rare, solar eclipses in general are actually quite common. The Earth, moon, and sun align twice a year, leading to annular or partial solar eclipses. Annular solar eclipses occur when the moon blocks almost all of the sun, but there’s still a ring of light present around the rim. Partial solar eclipses occur when the moon is only partially blocking the sun, creating a small notch of darkness over the fiery orb. In a total solar eclipse the Moon completely covers the disk of the sun. Only the sun’s corona is visible. This is the most dramatic stage of a total solar eclipse. At this time, the sky goes dark, temperatures can fall, and birds and animals often go quiet. The midpoint of time of totality is known as the maximum point of the eclipse.
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f a solar eclipse is total at any point on Earth, it is called a total solar eclipse, even though it’s seen as a partial solar eclipse in most areas.
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total eclipse of the sun, which, as seen from a specific geographic location, occurs on an average of once every 375 years. Carbondale, Illinois, will beat the odds: On August 21st the total solar eclipse path will stretch across the entire United States, reaching its point of greatest duration (GD) a few miles south of Carbondale. This region in southern Illinois is not only in the path of the 2017 eclipse, but also the eclipse which will take place on April 8, 2024. (Watch it rain there on both of those dates!)
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he solar eclipse of May 29, 1919 propelled Albert Einstein to stardom when Sir Arthur Eddington performed the first experimental test of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and precipitated the eventual triumph of Einstein’s general relativity over classical Newtonian physics.
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he Chinese word for solar eclipse is shih, meaning “to eat.” In ancient China people traditionally beat drums and banged on pots to scare off the “heavenly dog” believed to be devouring the sun.
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hile stranded in Jamaica, Christopher Columbus was famously saved by the lunar eclipse of February 29, 1504, which he had read about in his almanac. After tensions with the locals led to them cutting off the food supply for Columbus and his crew, Columbus threatened them that the moon would disappear if they did not start supplying his men with food. Columbus had read in an almanac that a lunar eclipse was on its way and timed his threat perfectly. When the moon vanished, the locals promptly complied, and Columbus breathed a huge sigh of relief. Canadian astronomer and renowned eclipse chaser
. W. Campbell traveled the world for 50 years during the first half of the 20th century trying to see 12 different eclipses. He ran into overcast skies every time. (Accuweather.com would have come in handy.)
Moon Mouthfuls Q: Why did the moon burp? A: Because it was full. Q: How does the man in the moon get his haircut? A: Eclipse it. Q: What did the moon say to his therapist? A: I’m just going through a phase. Q: Did you hear about the great new restaurant on the moon? A: The food is excellent, but there’s no atmosphere.
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Torah Thought
Parsha Re’eh By Rabbi Berel Wein
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he American Declaration of Independence claimed that certain basic human rights were obvious. Yet what is obvious to some is, in reality, obscure and unknown to many others. Because of this, the Torah emphasizes the obvious in this week’s Torah reading. The choice between death in this world and the next, and life – eternal life, no less – should be obvious. The Torah in fact states that seeing this will lead to a correct choice. But one needs to see them objectively and rationally. People who make poor choices do so on the basis of emotion, desire, foolishness and illusory hopes, and false ideas. These are the products of distorted vision – the inability to see things clearly. Only clear vision can lead to wise and correct choices. The commandments that the Torah enjoins us to observe are a form of corrective lenses to aid us in seeing things clearly and accurately. People have to pass an eye and
vision test in order to be able to legally operate an automobile. How much more so is an eye and vision test necessary when life and death itself is in question. The Torah ad-
The final gift, so to speak, that the L-rd granted to our teacher Moshe was that he was able to “see” the Land of Israel and the story of the Jewish people throughout
The commandments that the Torah enjoins us to observe are a form of corrective lenses to aid us in seeing things clearly and accurately.
vises us to always choose life. This is the basis for all Jewish society throughout our long and sometimes very painful history. It is obvious that one should always choose life. But we must always be reminded even of the obvious. We should never underestimate the power of distorted vision which causes untold damage to our own selves.
history. The Torah teaches us that imagination is a form of “seeing.” What we see from this is that seeing in the mind’s eye is also a legitimate form of sight. The Jewish people survived on the basis of imagination for all of the centuries of our exile and dispersion. We always imagined Jerusalem and the Temple, the Land
of Israel and the ingathering of the exiles to their ancient homeland. When imagination wanes, so does our hope and creativity. Of course imagined reality may not completely coincide with the actuality of the human condition and circumstance. But without the original power of imagination – of seeing things in our mind and heart and not only with our actual physical eyes – one will never advance to actually seeing the desired goal. That is why the Torah emphasizes time and again the importance of seeing things correctly, both in imaginary and in actual sight. The prophets of Israel fired our imagination with their visions of the future redemption of the Jewish people and humanity generally. We have seen some of these visions fulfilled in our times and in front of our very eyes, if we are but wise enough to see things accurately. The importance of this kind of sight is never to be minimized. Shabbat shalom
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
From the Fire
Parshas Re’eh Search Required
By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
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e hope and pray that Hashem will soon cause His presence to become apparent in the world through the long-awaited rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash. The search for the Beis Hamikdash is one of the central points in this week’s parsha. Without specifically identifying its location, the pasuk (Devarim 12:5) says, “… the place Hashem your G-d will choose from all of your tribes to affix His name there, you shall seek Him there at His dwelling and come there.” The Torah is telling us that an integral part of the building of the Beis Hamikdash is that we must “seek Him there…”
The Location of the Beis Hamikdash Instead of specifying the place where the Beis Hamikdash would be built, the Torah repeatedly says that the Beis Hamikdash shall be in “the place Hashem your G-d will choose.” This phrase is used no less than sixteen times in this week’s parsha alone. According to our Sages, this is why the Beis Hamikdash is called “Beis Ha’Bechira, The House of Choice.” But why is the location of the Beis Hamikdash treated by the Torah as such a mystery? Why must the Torah repeatedly say that it is in “the place
Hashem your G-d will choose?” It is clear from Chazal that Hashem designated the future location of the Beis Hamikdash from the beginning of time, even carving out the site of the altar and canals for the wine libations at the time of the six days of creation (Sukkah 49a). The Rambam (Beis Habechira 2:2) teaches that: There is a tradition maintained by everyone that the place where Dovid and Shlomo built the altar is the same place where Avraham built an altar and bound Yitzchak, the same place where Noach built [an altar] when he left the ark. It is the [location of] the altar on which Kayin and Hevel offered sacrifices, and on which Adam sacrificed an offering when he was created, and Adam was created from that place. The sages say, “Man was formed from the place of his atonement.” It is clear that we have known from the time of creation that the Beis Hamikdash would be built on a certain mountain in Yerushalayim. According to the Midrash (Pirkei D’Rebbe Eliezer 28), Avraham circumcised himself at the future location of the Beis Hamikdash and his blood flowed into the earth that would eventually fill the altar. If this
was known long before Hashem gave us the Torah, why does He conceal the location? Rav Shlomo Hakohein Rabinowicz of Radomsk, zt”l, the “Tiferes Shlomo,” expressed the question clearly: Why did the pasuk not explicitly say, “the place that Hashem will choose, the holy mountain in Yerushalayim”? It would have been much clearer. Why the mystery? The answer to our question lies in the very same pasuk we started with. In order to find the location of the Beis Hamikdash, “you shall seek Him there at His dwelling.” We must seek it out. As the Midrash (Sifri) says, commenting on the pasuk, “Seek and you shall find it. And afterward, the prophet will tell you [that it is the correct spot].” Expanding on the Ramban, zt”l, on the same pasuk, the Malbim, zt”l, says: “This teaches them that Hashem will not reveal the chosen place through His prophets until they make an effort and seek it out. Then, [Hashem] will pour a spirit from above upon them after the appropriate preparation…” Along these lines, the Chasam Sofer, zt”l (Resp. Yoreh Deah 234), teaches that the location of the Beis Hamikdash was “hidden until [Hashem] illuminated their eyes in the days of Dovid Hamelech.” In other words, Hashem is tell-
ing us that it is not enough that He chose the location of the Beis Hamikdash. We must choose it, seek it out, long for it, and do everything we can to find it. And who finally revealed Hashem’s choice as the actual location of the Beis Hamikdash? The man who felt more “unchosen” than anyone else in the world: Dovid Hamelech. Dovid wrote about himself (Tehillim 118:22), “The stone despised by the builders became the cornerstone.” It became the very foundation of the entire Beis Hamikdash. Even after Shmuel Hanavi told Yishai that one of his sons would be the next anointed king and excluded all of Dovid’s other brothers, it still never even occurred to his father and brothers that Dovid could possibly be the anointed one (Shmuel I 16:611). Yet Dovid, the “stone despised by the builders,” became the cornerstone, the beginning of a new dynasty to which Moshiach himself would eventually trace his lineage. Dovid said (Tehillim 42:8), “All of Your breakers and waves passed over me.” He went through so much suffering. Chazal even discuss (see Yevamos 77a-b) whether Dovid was allowed to marry into the Jewish people! Dovid certainly knew what it meant to feel “unchosen” and what it meant to seek, work, long, pray, and
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toil until he found his place in the Jewish people. Hashem therefore chose him to clearly reveal the location of the Beis Hamikdash and build its foundation. Dovid Hamelech represented the pinnacle of choice, the highest fulfillment of our obligation to “seek Him there at His dwelling and come there.” In verses that Chazal say refer to Dovid, Shlomo Hamelech described this attribute of his father as follows (Shir Hashirim 3:1-2): “In my bed at night I sought that which my soul loves; I sought but I did not find. I will arise and walk around the city, in the marketplaces and city squares. I will seek that which my soul loves. I sought but I did not find.” What was it that he sought out so deeply? What was it that robbed him of sleep? Dovid wrote in Tehillim (132:1, 3-5), “A song of ascents: Remember, Hashem, Dovid, all of his affliction [in his toil to find a place for Hashem’s presence to rest – Rashi]… I shall not come into the tent of my house, I shall not go upon the bed that was prepared for me. Nor shall I give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my pupils until I find a place for Hashem, dwelling-places for the Mighty One of Yaakov.” All Dovid Hamelech sought was the place where Hashem’s presence could be felt on a permanent basis in this world. He conducted his investigation by indefatigably searching through the streets and markets of Yerushalayim, looking for clues, comparing each location to maps and psukim, trying to find the exact location of the altar and the Holy of Holies. That is why Hashem answered his prayers and rewarded his search with success. Hashem chose the place where we chose Him (ibid. at 13-14), “For Hashem has chosen Zion, He desired it for a dwelling-place. This is My resting place forever, here I shall dwell, for I desired it.” It is the same now. We may know the location of the Beis Hamikdash but strangers defile it every single day and we cannot rebuild. Vile terrorists fire rockets at Yerushalayim and Jews all over Eretz Yisroel. So we continue to daven for the Beis Hamikdash, to seek it out. As the Tiferes
Shlomo says, “Even if we know this place, that it is in Yerushalayim, and that no other place will be chosen, nevertheless, it is still impossible to build [the Beis Hamikdash] there until Hashem chooses our prayers and desires ‘from all of your tribes,’ that they are worthy that it should
of my flesh.” The pasuk which personifies the connection between marriage and our loving relationship with Hashem is (Shir Hashirim 6:3), “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li, I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” We know that Chazal teach that the first letters of
We must know that our relationship with Hashem must exclude the perception that we take credit for any aspect of attainments, skills, or accomplishments.
be built for them and that Hashem should cause His presence to dwell among them.” We may know where the Beis Hamikdash will be rebuilt, but there is so much impurity standing in the way and the right time has not yet arrived. In fulfillment of the pasuk, “you shall seek Him there at His dwelling,” we must daven and hope for the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash constantly.
Marriage Partners Just like one must seek out Hashem, the One without Whom we are incomplete, we also seek out a marriage partner, the one with whom we will build a home that serves as a microcosm of the Beis Hamikdash. Why is there so much searching involved in finding one’s mate? We know Chazal say (Sota 2a), “Forty days before a fetus is formed, a Heavenly Voice goes out and says, ‘The daughter of so-and-so to so-and-so!’” If the right person is predetermined, why is it so hard to find one’s destined soulmate? First, one cannot find his mate without first feeling a profound sense of loneliness. One must feel he is missing an essential part of himself, that “it is not good for man to be alone” Bereishis 2:18. One must first experience that existential loneliness before he is reunited with his other half and can say (ibid. at 23), “This time it is bone of my bone and flesh
those words spell “ Elul,” the month in the Hebrew calendar which starts next week and marks the beginning of the teshuva process. This pasuk shows that we must first seek out our beloved. Only when “I am my beloved’s,” when I search out the one I love, will I merit to attain the level called “And my beloved is mine.” Anyone in a successful relationship knows this to be true. It is so sad to have a wife and to give up searching for her, to have a child and to no longer seek him out. This two-stage process is also reflected in the double meaning of the Hebrew word for “betrothed, mekudeshes.” The chosson says to his bride, “Harei at mekudeshes li, Behold you are betrothed to me.” On one hand, the word implies that she is forbidden to every other man in the world. Betrothed here is a word signifying exclusion. This meaning of the word is related to the word “hekdesh, sanctified to the Beis Hamikdash,” i.e., forbidden to everyone such that no one may use the sanctified object for anything other than its designated purpose. So too, the bride and groom agree, through their betrothal, not to look anywhere else in the world. But the word “betrothed, mekudeshes,” also means that the two are dedicated to one another. This usage implies inclusion, a positive, proactive dedication to one another. They are saying that they only have eyes for one another.
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These two aspects of the relationship between a husband and wife are also apparent in our relationship with Hashem, as hinted at in the pasuk (Tehillim 100:3), “He made us and we are His.” The word for “His,” however, is read one way and written another way. It is written as if it says, “Lo, no/not” – with an aleph. According to this reading, the pasuk says “He made us and not us,” i.e., we did not make ourselves. We must know that our relationship with Hashem must exclude the perception that we take credit for any aspect of attainments, skills, or accomplishments. It is a word of exclusion. But the word is also read as if it says, “Lo, His,” with a vav. According to this reading, the pasuk says, “He made us and we are His.” It is not enough to look to Hashem alone and not give ourselves credit for anything we have. We must also realize that we are His, we have a unique and special relationship with Him. In fact, if we put the two ways of reading that word together – lo and lo – it contains the same letters as the month of Elul. Whether it is an intimate human relationship, our relationship with Hashem, or meriting the fulfillment of Hashem’s dwelling place on earth, where the intimacy of the relationship between the Jewish nation and G-d is most revealed, there is always a duel nature. On one hand, there is the exclusion of all else which is personified by searching and longing. And there is the dedication to one another, the intimacy personified by Hashem’s revelation of the location of the Beis Hamikdash after our search and by the way a husband and wife find each other. May Hashem put all of our difficulties behind us, may He reveal the way forward toward the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash soon in our days, and may every husband and wife merit finding one another and never looking at anyone else but their beloved. Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and has served as Mashpia in Yeshiva University since 2013.
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Between the Lines
Compassion Revisited By Eytan Kobre
Few things are so deadly as a misguided sense of compassion. -Charles Colson
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n August 2009, Scottish officials agreed to release from prison Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the terrorist responsible for the 1988 bombing of PanAm Flight 103, which killed all 259 passengers on board and 11
more people on the ground. After serving just eight years of a life sentence, al-Megrahi was released on “compassionate grounds,” as he was purportedly afflicted with late-term cancer. He was supposed to live for three more months. He lived for three more years. It was discomfiting news not only because a cold-blooded mass killer was let loose but also because it perverted everything we know about compassion. The victims and their families deserved compassion – not al-Megrahi. Compassion for al-Megrahi was a cruel betrayal of the victims and their families. It was truly a living embodiment of the teaching that “through the compassion of fools, all justice is lost” (Ramban, Devarim 7:15). To be sure, compassion is an inherently Jewish trait (Yevamos 79a; Beitza 32b; Rambam, Matnos Aniyim 10:2; Rambam, Avadim 9:8). Compassion is the underpinning for many of our commandments: charity (Devarim 15:7; Shaarei Teshuva 3:36), the prohibition against demanding repayment of loans at a time when the borrower cannot repay it (Sefer HaChinuch 67), the requirements of ritual slaughter (Devarim 12:21; Pri Megadim, Introduction to Hilchos Shechita; Moreh Nevuchim 3:26; Ramban, Bereishis 1:29; Ramban, Iggeres HaKodesh, Chapter 4), and countless others (Moreh Nevuchim 3:39). This is hardly surprising. Com-
passion is a Divine attribute of G-d, and we are “to walk in all His ways” (Devarim 13:5) – “just as He is called compassionate, so too you be compassionate” (Shabbos 133b; Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvos 8). Compassion is a godly trait, and we are to emulate it. Our leaders were so chosen because of the compassion they showed even to animals (Shemos Rabba 2:2). But like any virtue, compassion run amok can be misguided, misapplied, and mistaken. It is not always called for, nor is it always permitted, and the Torah is replete with instances in which we are to act with apparent cruelty. So we are “not to show any compassion” to the idolatrous missionary, but instead stone him to death (Devarim 13:9). We are to utterly annihilate an apostate city (Devarim 13:1318). And, in waging war, we are to treat enemies as such: “Confront them as enemies: just as they show you no compassion, so you should not show them compassion” (Tanchuma, Shoftim 15; Rashi, Devarim 20:1). Society has a tendency to regard kindness, mercy, love, forgiveness, and peace as inherently and absolutely good; cruelty, harshness, hatred, revenge, and war as inherently and absolutely bad. That certainly makes life simpler. But that is human morality – not Divine morality. Thoughtless, “feel-good” compassion frequently ignores re-
ality; bona fide compassion, on the other hand, represents as near and objectively as possible the total reality. It is precisely the ability to transcend societal norms of compassion that Avraham taught us when he passed the test of (almost) sacrificing his only son, Yitzchak. Avraham defied his own senses of compassion – acting purely in service of G-d – without a trace of cruelty
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But a judge cannot permit matters of the heart – compassion – to dictate adjudicated matters; rather, a judge must elevate “the judgment of the Jewish people over his heart” (Hadrash V’HaIyun, Shemos 28:30; Pele Yo’etz, Rachmanus). And yet, despite sometimes having to act with an apparent lack of compassion, we are assured that “He will give you compassion, and He will be compassionate with you”
The barometer of human morality often is calibrated incorrectly.
in his heart (Meshech Chochma, Bereishis 22:17). The barometer of human morality often is calibrated incorrectly. As a result, “one who is merciful in times when he should be cruel will ultimately be cruel in times when he should be merciful” (Koheles Rabba 7:16; Tanchuma, Metzora 1; Yalkut Shimoni, Shmuel, No. 221). A strictly human gauge of compassion is prone to human error: if it can be faulty and permit compassion when cruelty is appropriate, eventually it will be faulty and permit cruelty when compassion is appropriate. Compassion can thus be a zero-sum game, as many acts of “compassion” – like the loosing of al-Megrahi – beget cruelty as a byproduct. So, for instance, “compassion towards the wicked is cruelty to all beings,” and vice versa (Moreh Nevuchim 3:39; Me’am Lo’ez, Shemos 21:14; Mishlei 12:10). “It is impermissible to have compassion for those lacking common sense” (Berachos 33a; Sanhedrin 92a) because it enables their foolishness. In a monetary dispute between a wealthy litigant and a poor litigant, does compassion dictate judgment in favor of the poor litigant? Is that not cruel to the wealthy litigant?
– G-d granted the Jewish people an added measure of compassion to offset what to the human heart and mind might seem cruel (see e.g. Ohr Hachaim, Malbim, Chofetz Chaim, Devarim 13:18). A shochet who lived in the same town as the Rizhiner Rebbe grew exasperated at his customers’ unending requests for charity. “Rebbe,” he complained, “there are many wealthy people in this town. Can’t they be called upon to give charity? Why must it always be me?” The Rebbe replied, “Because your occupation is to slaughter animals. You must therefore redouble your efforts at compassion to offset the apparent cruelty inherent in your work.” *
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So we’ve revisited compassion, and we still can’t shake it. We are a compassionate people. That is our essence. Fortunately, G-d is compassionate to those who are compassionate to others (Shabbos 151b). That is, as long as that compassion is not misguided. . Eytan Kobre is a writer, speaker, mediator, and attorney living in Kew Gardens Hills. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail eakobre@outlook.com.
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A Fulfilled L fe
Seeing the Bigger Picture By Rabbi Naphtali Hoff, PsyD
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he Torah is replete with admonitions to care for others around us and to consider far more than our own personal agendas in the development of society. This week’s parsha focuses, for one, on the need to care for the poor in their time of need. If there should be someone destitute in your midst among one of your brothers… do not harden your heart and do not close your hand against your destitute brother. Rather, you must surely open your hand generously to him, and you must surely extend a loan to him to cover the wants which he lacks… Open your hand generously to your brother, to your indigent, and to your destitute in your land. (Devarim 15:7-8, 11)
It also admonishes us to ensure that a Jewish slave, even one who became enslaved because of past indiscretions, not be allowed to leave his master’s home emptyhanded. (Ibid, 12-14, 18) What is perhaps somewhat ironic, however, is the topic that follows immediately afterwards, one which seems to completely contradict (at least by extension) the very concept of social sensitivity and inclusion that we noted above. The Torah instructs us in pasuk 21 that a blemished firstborn animal may not be offered as a korban. These same blemishes (though not exclusively these) also render kohanim unfit for service in the Bais Hamikdash (see Vayikra 21:16ff and Bechoros 43a). The obvious difficulty is the fact that Hashem precluded such men from serving in the Bais Hamik-
dash. After all, the Bais Hamikdash is a spiritual domain; it is the true home of the Shechina and the place where the avodah was performed. If the kohein’s intent is lofty and he is able to fulfill the needed task, why should his physical limitations matter? Besides, is such legislation not inherently discriminatory? Rav Elya Meir Bloch explains that Hashem does not, as it were, discriminate against people with disabilities, G-d forbid. However, He is keenly sensitive to the mental and emotional imperfections of Bnei Yisrael as a whole and our inability or unwillingness to see beyond physical trappings. He knows that people are impressed by those who are welldressed, presentable, and physically appealing and do not wish to be represented by someone who isn’t. If all Kohanim were permitted to serve, regardless of disability or physical
imperfection, then our collective attitude towards the avodah would be diminished. This point is underscored by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, who offers the following insight to explain the reason as to why a korban that was pledged as a neder (where the responsibility is viewed as a personal commitment, obligating the donor even if something were to occur to the original animal) could not be blemished, while one pledged as a nedava (in which the kedusha is limited to that specific animal) could be physically imperfect. The one who brings an offering undertakes to give up his urges and aims, all the actions of his limbs, so to fulfill the Divine Torah that it shall give satisfaction to G-d… In neder, the resolution to do
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an action, to bring an offering, it is the person himself, and indeed the person in the completeness in every phase of his life and his efforts, to represent which the animal is to serve…to express such a complete promise, an imperfect, incomplete animal is unfit. (Commentary to Vayikra 22:23) The true goal of the avodah, no doubt, is the spiritual connection that it engenders. Hashem is not impressed by our physical features, nor is He interested in our showmanship. However, in light of the fact that we are most impressed by material qualities, it is necessary to channel our thoughts through that unblemished agent, in order to achieve true spiritual perfection. Of course, no one understood
this more than the kohanim who were most impacted by this halacha. It was for this reason, suggests Reb Menachem Mendel of Kosov, that the kohein was charged with the responsibility to determine whether a potential metzorah was in fact tamei
thy and were able to feel the affliction even before they saw it. And while that awareness did not preclude a physical examination, it did extend it from a viewing of the affliction alone to an examination of the afflicted as well. “The priest shall examine the
If we are to realize the true objectives of our social mandate then we should learn to go beyond ourselves and become more sensitive to the needs, as well as the inner qualities, of others. (see Vayikra 13). He explains that kohanim possessed heightened powers of empa-
affliction on the skin of his body ... and the priest shall see him.” (Ibid, 13:3)
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If we are to realize the true objectives of our social mandate then we should learn to go beyond ourselves and become more sensitive to the needs, as well as the inner qualities, of others. In so doing, we will live up to the message of Rabbi Yosef Yehuda Tronk of Kutna, who taught, “When a person is examined (by a kohein), one should not only see in him his limitations… Rather, one must see the whole person, his blemishes together with his good qualities.”
Rabbi Naphtali Hoff, PsyD, is an executive coach and president of Impactful Coaching & Consulting. He can be reached at (212) 470-6139 or at nhoff@ impactfulcoaching.com. Learn more about his soon-to-be-released book, Becoming the New Boss and download a free chapter at BecomingtheNewBoss.com.
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The Observant Jew
Sit Down and Take a Stand By Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz
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don’t generally discuss politics, not only in my articles, but in real life. I feel it’s a waste of time as no one in power has asked my opinion recently (that being the past 40 years or so). However, I will discuss things that come across my radar screen unintentionally because I figure it was knowledge given to me by G-d to do something with. Recently I was in a hotel and the newscaster on the television in the lobby was reporting that Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck & Co., resigned from President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council. This decision came in the wake of a hate crime, and the president’s comments which many people felt did not go far enough in condemning the white nationalists whose rally turned deadly when an individual drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person. (The president did acknowledge it was a hate crime and condemned everyone who was violent, yet drew more fire than did another world leader who, when a Jewish grocery store in France was bombed on an erev Shabbos, denounced the act of hurting people “just walking into a deli,” but I digress.) Mr. Frazier is not the first person to resign from the council or other advisory boards in protest of things the president said or opinions and values he expressed. And that is what got me thinking. The photo I saw showed Mr. Frazier sitting to the president’s immediate left at a previous meeting. Others who’ve resigned like
Elon Musk had similarly close relationships with him. Here are people who have the ability to have a conversation with the person with whom they disagree, but, because he does not agree to their opinions, and maintains his own, they choose to end the discussion permanently. In an act of righteous martyrdom, people say, “I cannot in good conscience remain in that group. I must take a stand for what I believe in.” But they haven’t. Instead, what they’ve done is taken the easy and often the popular way out. They choose not to per-
firsthand knowledge into your policies.” Would the president have been more or less likely to be open to the perspective had it been offered in that way? We know that after the resignation President Trump made a mocking comment about Mr. Frazier now being able to focus on lowering drug prices. The move didn’t seem to make him rethink his position at all. We can only assume that continuing the relationship on other bases and opening dialogue on the point of contention couldn’t fare any worse and would likely do better.
If it was really important to us, we’d stay engaged in the relationship, and try other means to get our points across.
severe and hope to make their case in the future; rather they vilify the president so as not to have to strive or work to effect change. Instead of changing his mind, it only serves to further convince him that he is right and that the protester is wrong. What if Mr. Frazier had stayed on the council? What if, at the next meeting, he said, “Mr. President, I respect you greatly, and value your views. I’d like to share my perspective on a different topic as an African-American so you can understand how some members of the public feel and incorporate this
All too often this happens in our everyday life. We disagree with someone. Usually it’s someone we care about. At some point, when they disagree with our position, we take offense and decide to “wash our hands” of it. “There’s no point speaking to you anymore,” we say. We give up. We haven’t taken a stand, but turned and ran. If it was really important to us, we’d stay engaged in the relationship, and try other means to get our points across. If one, r”l, has a child who doesn’t want to live the
way they were raised, how do you think the child will respond to being thrown out? To having the relationship severed like the pharma boss did with the president? Would you really be surprised if it turned out the same way, with mockery and the feeling that this is proof they were right all along? Do you think staging a protest at a business will make the owner change and do things the way you want or will it convince him further that you don’t care about his wellbeing? Even if he feels threatened and does make changes, do you think you accomplished your goal of “bringing him around”? On the contrary, you’ve convinced him that you’re crazy and he’s right. If we truly believe in our principles, then when faced with adversity, the way to make a stand is to sit down, maybe share a cup of coffee and some warm words, and never, ever, close the lines of communication. Jonathan Gewirtz is an inspirational writer and speaker whose work has appeared in publications around the world. You can find him at www. facebook.com/RabbiGewirtz and follow him on Twitter @RabbiJGewirtz. He also operates JewishSpeechWriter.com, where you can order a custom-made speech for your next special occasion. Sign up for the Migdal Ohr, his weekly PDF Dvar Torah in English. E-mail info@JewishSpeechWriter. com and put Subscribe in the subject.
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Yeshiva Derech Ayson of Far Rockaway עיני עיני יורדה מים המומים ושבורים הננו על פטירתו בחטף של איש מורם מעם ירא שמים מרבים המנהל החביב
הרב ר׳ אהרן מרדכי ב״ר שלמה זלמן בראפמאן ז״ל לבו היה לב כל קהל ישראל מסור בכל לבו ונפשו לטובת הכלל והפרט הרביץ תורה ועבודה לאלפי תלמידים משך יובל שנים נסע למנוחות ואותנו עזב לאנחות
We would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the illustrious family of
Rabbi Brafman
Rebbetzin Susie Brafman Mr. Ben Brafman Mrs. Shevy Cooperberg Mrs. Malky Aaron and all his wonderful children Mrs. Naomi Ullman, Mrs. Esther Braun, Mrs. Sima Rottenberg, Mrs. Rina Bloch, Mrs. Aviva Guzik, Mrs. Shoshana Friedman, Mrs. Batsheva Feldman and R’ Avrohom Baruch Brafman
ישיבה דרך איתן הרב יחיאל יצחק פאר ראש הישיבה
ההנהלה והתלמידים
המקום ינחם אתכם בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים
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There are no words, only tears. Nothing can truly encapsulate my feelings over the petirah of Rebbi U’mori, Rav Aaron Mordechai Ben Shlomo Zalman Brafman, zt”l, but I must try. I hope b’ezras Hashem to bring some kavod to my Rebbe who truly changed my life. There is so much to write and to say, I feel my words will certainly fall short. But I must at least attempt to convey the extent of the loss.
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n 5750/1989 I, boruch Hashem, was zocheh to walk through the doors of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway as a young tenth grader. All I wanted at that point was to get through the high school years. I was surely not very interested in learning or in becoming a ben Torah. Yet, what Hashem’s benevolent Divine providence set in motion at that time would change my life forever. Hashem sent special human beings, or really malachim, that would be the holy messengers to guide me and help me change. One of those malachim was Rabbi Aaron Brafman, zt”l, who at that most crucial point in my life took me under his wings, and literally changed my life entirely. With his tremendous love and warmth he was mekarev me, and we developed a very close kesher. For five years Rabbi Brafman and I learned together in his office, and he literally molded me step by step as I, b’ezras Hashem, was transformed into a different person. The cool apathetic adolescent that I had been started to feel and really live a different type of life. Through every hurdle he was there for me; every rung that I climbed, my Rebbi was pushing me from behind. I watched my Rebbi’s every move and gesture; I watched the way he would
make brachos and the way he davened, the way he learned every free moment and the way that he cared with his heart and soul literally about every Yid in general and every talmid specifically. During the next five years we learned so much together. We learned the entire Pirkei Avos in
type of life entirely – a life of aliyah, of serving Hashem, and of preparing for an eternal existence. At one point I asked Rabbi Brafman if we could start a Vaad in his office with a few of my friends to learn Alei Shur from Rav Shlomo Wolbe, zt”l. The Vaad went on for two years and all of its members formed
One of his most repeated messages to us teenagers were these powerful words that still ring in my ears: “Oy, you’re young; you’re so lucky. You can do so much. Take advantage rabosai!”
depth. We learned Navi, and mussar and, at one point, Tanya. Most of all, I absorbed from my Rebbi pure, unadulterated Torah hashkofos: the true perspectives of life and death and what we are here in this world for. I learned from my Rebbi what it means to love Torah, to love Klal Yisroel, and to live with total dedication and conviction for the ideals of Yiddishkeit. He opened my eyes to a new
a very special kesher with our beloved Menahel. Everyone loved Rabbi Brafman it was almost impossible not to. He was just so real and so caring; his love and appreciation for every talmid was palpable. Yet what happened at the end of tenth grade was probably the most important aspect in our relationship and surely a game changer for me.
My Rebbe saw kochos within me, abilities to possibly influence and help others one day, and he wanted to begin nurturing those strengths immediately. He wanted to give me the feeling of confidence that I could actually be a “mashpia” one day, and he thus took the initiative and made me a learning Rebbe in his day camp in the summer of 5750/1990 at the young age of fifteen! His second grade son, Avrohom Boruch, was in the class that he put me in charge of and he asked me to take care of him. At that point in my life the idea of going into chinuch was the furthest thing from my mind. I was just getting my feet wet in the learning and was still not quite a ben Torah. But Rabbi Brafman saw otherwise, and with that small but truly enormous gesture he changed the course of my life entirely. He asked me to start learning with his son after that summer (we began an incredible seder that we kept up boruch Hashem for the next eight years, and we are still extremely close today), and it was at that pivotal moment in my life that I began to dream of one day becoming a Rebbe. Twenty-seven years later, I look back as I sit and mourn the irreplaceable loss, and I am afraid to even think what would have hap-
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Members of the Alei Shur vaad, L-R: Avromy Perr, Zelig Soffer, Dovie Keilson, Dovid Aryeh Fine, Avrohom Yehuda Bressler, and Yisroel Lamm. Seated: Rabbi Brafman
pened. What would have happened if my Rebbe did not nurture that koach within me? What would have happened if my Rebbe did not take that special interest in me, tapping into my neshama? As the tears fell all day erev Shabbos of his petirah, I could not possibly find the words to say thank you, to express gratitude to Hashem Yisborach for sending me that malach that would open my eyes, and to the malach, my Rebbe, who brought me close to Hashem.
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t one of the first siyumim I had the zechus to make, Rabbi Brafman came, and my father, yb”l, thanked Rabbi Brafman in public for the foundation that he was giving to me. (Parenthetically an amazing anecdote took place at that siyum that I remember vividly today: Rabbi Brafman had already left the siyum and all of a sudden returned about seven minutes later. I was sitting with my brother and cousins in the kitchen, and we were quite surprised to see him returning. He then told us that he had not properly thanked my mother for everything and thus he came back. When he left a second time, my brother, cousins and I looked at each other and said, “Wow! That’s like a real story from a gadol book!” But that was classic Rabbi Brafman.) When my mother, a”h, became concerned about my becoming “too extreme” she called Rabbi Brafman and begged him to watch over me. Rabbi Brafman took it upon himself to make sure I was not “overdoing it.” At the Yeshiva retreat that year, he took me out of the Beis Medrash and asked me to come on a hike with him. On another occasion, he also played tennis with me there! Rabbi Brafman was constantly looking out for my welfare and making sure I was healthy and well but it
With his brother Ben at a hachnosas sefer Torah
was his belief in me and my kochos that was the greatest thing my Rebbi did for me. He never ever ceased in his praise and compliments to me for literally twenty-seven years. When some of the boys in the Vaad once were “chippering” me over my “extremism,” he defended me and praised me in front of them saying that I was very good and reprimanded them that they should not, chas v’shalom, make fun. While I was learning with him in the Beis Medrash one day, he introduced me to Rabbi Moshe Brown (who happened
literally every single Melavah Malka or other celebration in Yeshiva, Rabbi Brafman would make a point to specifically take me into the middle to dance with me and – with his eyes closed the entire time – I felt the ha’aracha, value, and the love he was giving to me in those moments of closeness between us and Hashem Yisborach.
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n reality it is truly impossible to give over all that took place in the eight years I was zoche to be in Yeshiva, but what I learned from
Rabbi Brafman, too, said to us, “As long as my candle burns, I can still fix.”
to have known me already because he was my father’s chavrusa) and praised me to him prior to my joining the Beis Medrash. And on erev Rosh Hashana each year he would give me a very heartfelt bracha, and then would say to me – a young adolescent, “You should be written in the book of tzaddikim – you’re a tzaddik” and then would give me a kiss. Although I was quite far from being a tzaddik (and still surely am) when a Rebbe says those words to you over and over, it makes you feel like you one day can b’ezras Hashem really become one. He encouraged me to daven for the amud in yeshiva and would constantly compliment and strengthen my musical talents. So much so that he would actually come into my car all the time to listen to my compositions that I had recorded and would lavish me with praise. At
Rabbi Brafman during those unforgettable years shaped my mind and heart forever. Rabbi Brafman often quoted the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Shemittah which teaches that anyone can choose to be a part of Shevet Levi by dedicating his life to Torah. And just like Hashem provides for Shevet Levi, He will provide for them too. He would assure me that if I dedicated my life to Torah, I should not worry; Hashem would help me. I remember clearly how he would tell us about the Chazon Ish – how he sat and learned for decades in his basement until he felt it was time to become involved in the Klal. He would repeat that often as a symbol to us of hasmodah and also taking achrayus for Klal Yisroel. He would constantly speak about Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky, zt”l, and Rav Gedaliah Schorr, zt”l, sharing
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the yesodos of Torah that he received from them. One of his most repeated messages to us teenagers were these powerful words that still ring in my ears: “Oy, you’re young; you’re so lucky. You can do so much. Take advantage rabosai!” One of the greatest lessons he gave over to his talmidim – both in word and deed – was his concern for Klal Yisroel and his yearning for the geulah. This was his everyday message to us; this was what he lived and breathed. Any tzaara in Klal Yisroel tore at the very essence of his heart, and we as his talmidim were able to see the meaning of Chazal’s dictums come alive within our Rebbi. As R’ Yehoshua Kalish, shlita, said over beautifully in his moving hesped in the name of his son R’ Daniel, shlita, (a very close talmid of our Rebbi as well): “Rabbi Brafman taught us what to worry about…” R’ Moshe Perr, shlita, said so eloquently by the levaya which ripped through the entire tzibbur, “Who will ever forget his clapping his hands during ‘mimkomcha’ as he literally cried out to Hashem Yisborach with every fiber of his being to please bring the Geulah?!” It is no coincidence that the Agudas Yisroel of West Lawrence chose Rabbi Brafman to be their guest speaker each year for Shabbos Chazon. For who better could epitomize the essence of Tisha B’Av: feeling for Klal Yisroel and truly yearning for the ultimate geulah. In Rabbi Brafman we saw true Yiras Shamayim and dikduk b’mitzvos. Rebbi was literally there early for every davening, always, and would daven Pesukei Dizimra out loud stopping to emphasize specific points of the Halelukahs. The way he would cover his eyes with his tallis by “Ahava Rabah” and would scream the words of Shema Yisroel… these things penetrated our impressionable hearts. Rabbi Brafman was the baal tokea in Yeshiva of Far Rockaway for over 40 years. His bracha before tekiah was incredibly powerful. The first time I heard this bracha recited by Rabbi Brafman, I was so deeply moved I literally thought my neshama would leave me. Even years after, when I was no longer davening in the
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Yeshiva of Far Rockaway for Yamim Noraim, Rabbi Brafman’s palpable yiras Hashem in that bracha and in the “Min Hamaitzar” preceding it still echoed in my ears. Rabbi Brafman made a siyum on Shas when he turned fifty, and he invited me to come. The regesh and the humility he gave over at that time made a deep impression on all who were present.
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y kesher with Rabbi Brafman did not end after high school, or even after I went to learn in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. In fact, it was Rabbi Brafman who encouraged me to come back to Yeshiva of Far Rockaway after my short stay in Eretz Yisroel and to become involved with the younger bochurim as a mentor. Thus, be’ezras Hashem, at the young age of twenty I was given a shiur bekius to say to the tenth grade and encouraged to begin giving a shmooze to the high school talmidim every Thursday night. If I ever met a boy in camp that I felt would be matzliach in Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, Rabbi Brafman would accept him immediately! As his beloved brother Ben Brafman said at the levaya, “My brother could never say no to anyone.” When, r”l, I lost a precious friend in camp one summer, Ezra Witkin, z”l, Rabbi Brafman encouraged me to make a siyum in Yeshiva on his yahrtzeit (even though Ezra did not learn in Yeshiva of Far Rockaway) and was extremely involved in helping me make a special gathering in Ezra’s memory. When I started the parsha of shidduchim, Rabbi Brafman was there for me directing me in every step. When I, boruch Hashem, got engaged, he was there dancing with me, and of course praising me to my kallah; at our wedding he was one of our eidei kiddushin. He spoke on our wedding video and, in his inimitable fashion, with true warmth and chizuk, he gave us a heartfelt bracha, telling us how great we really could become. He and, tb”l, his rebbetzin then made sheva berachos for us in Yeshiva, together with the other rebbeim and their
Dancing with talmidim at a Chanukah mesiba
wives, and it was with that incredible foundation that he sent my wife and I off to learn in Kollel and, be’ezras Hashem, begin our own bayis ne’eman. When b’chasdei Hashem I was zocheh to become Mashgiach of Mesivta Chaim Shlomo Rabbi Brafman was overjoyed that I would remain close by. Whenever possible, I would come to Yeshiva to see him, and he attended every simcha and mile-
L-R: Mordechai Ross, Yisroel Lamm, Dovie Keilson and Rabbi Brafman
and for several summers we learned together in Yeshiva every day. He would invite me to speak in his summer camp and once again would lavish me with praise. A few months ago, b’chasdei Hashem, I brought him a sefer which I had written and he literally broke down crying, expressing how touched he felt over the inscription and over how much I was davening for his refuah.
“One does not have to go back two hundred years to see an ‘ish kadosh.’ We had one right here in our midst: Rabbi Aaron Brafman.”
stone in my life. I would try to visit his sukkah on the second night of Sukkos each year to be mekabel pnei rabi, and to absorb from being in his presence. I would admire all the adornments across the Sukkah, and his son would tell me every year that Rabbi Brafman had hung them all lovingly himself.
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f Rabbi Brafman did not hear from me for a few months, he would call me to check up on me and to see how everything was going in Yeshiva. There was not a time that I saw him in the last sixteen years that he did not give me a kiss; if I met him at a wedding, he would kiss me when we met and again before he left. No matter how old I became, I remained his beloved talmid. Boruch Hashem, in the summers we got to spend more time together,
Three months ago we asked him to please begin a vaad for us talmidim every Shabbos. We boruch Hashem were zocheh to do it until four weeks ago when he told us that he did not have the kochos to do it any longer. The way he began these vaadim revealed to us the essence of who our Rebbi was. He shared with us the famous mashal from R’ Yisroel Salanter of a shoemaker who was fixing shoes until late at night, saying, “As long as the candle burns, one can still fix.” Rabbi Brafman, too, said to us, “As long as my candle burns, I can still fix.” The reason I believe this preface defined our Rebbi is because that is exactly who he was. From the moment he started learning and growing in his youth until his very last breath on this world, he was eager
and ready to grow, to learn more, to become better, to change; to be oleh. Rabbi Brafman was the absolute epitome of anivus, following in the footsteps of his beloved Rebbe, Rav Pam, zt”l, whom he spoke about so often. He never sought the limelight, never considered himself worthy of honor. (Interestingly, Rabbi Brafman was niftar exactly ten days prior to Rav Pam’s yahrtzeit. Also like Rav Pam, Rabbi Brafman was niftar on erev Shabbos in the summer when many people are not around: a passing that truly portrays humility.) R’ Brafman would submit himself completely with the ultimate hachna’ah to the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Perr, shlita, even taking notes by every schmooze the Rosh Yeshiva gave! He would also constantly give high praise to the rebbeim in the Yeshiva and showed much hachna’ah to them as well. He would be misyaches to the talmidim with no airs about him, as if he was one of us. He would praise us and encourage us, and if he saw a middah tovah in one of us, he would say that he needs to work on that too. But it was really in these final weeks that this lifelong humility came out in the most revealing way; for in the second to last vaad he turned to the seven of us there and said, “Rabosai, please help me to be mechazeik myself with joy through the yesurin I am enduring.” Each person tried to offer his thoughts and feelings and when it came to my turn to say something I said to my beloved Rebbi, “Rebbi, look at the peiros that Rebbi was zocheh to bring forth. That itself should be the greatest chizuk to you.” He looked at me and said, “You’re right.”
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Rabbi Brafman at the author's wedding
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ho can relate the tears that have been shed by talmidim around the world since his petirah? All day Friday I spoke with my chaveirim on the phone. Each one was completely broken, and some were literally weeping aloud…as the cornerstone of our original aliyah had been taken... At my grandfather’s levaya twenty-one years ago I was standing next to the aron crying with my eyes closed and suddenly I felt someone holding my hand. I looked up and I saw it was my Rebbi, Rabbi Brafman, zt”l. That was my Reb-
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
Saying birchas hachama
bi; he was always there holding my hand; and now that he has departed from this world to the world of truth I grieve and mourn the loss terribly, “Mi yitain lunu timuruso!” Rabbi Aaron Brafman, zt”l, was a most beloved Rebbe to so many thousands of talmidim that were zocheh to be touched by him, each in his own way. Who can ever estimate and fathom how many lives he has influenced in his lifetime? Who can ever comprehend how much good he has accomplished in his years in this world? A choshuve talmid chacham from Eretz Yisroel commented to
me today, “One does not have to go back two hundred years to see an ‘ish kadosh.’ We had one right here in our midst: Rabbi Aaron Brafman.” A talmid from many years ago said to me on Friday, “He had no agenda; he was totally l’shaim Shomayim.” Or as Reb Nosson Scherman, shlita, so beautifully captured at the levaya: “Reb Aaron was just tahor.” R’ Aron Twerski in his moving hesped in Eretz Yisroel said that if he wants to show his children and einiklech the definition of “an erliche Yid” he has to just show them his beloved yedid, R’ Aaron Brafman,
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zt”l.” And as his beloved brother Ben said so eloquently – straight and to the point – “My brother Aaron was a tsaddik – that’s what he was; he was just a tzaddik.” The Rosh Yeshiva, R’ Yechiel Perr, shlita, his partner in harbotzas HaTorah for fifty years said in his remarkable hesped, “R’Aaron, zt”l, embodied the authenticity of unvarnished truth… I hope that in fifty years some of his authenticity rubbed off onto me…” There is so much more to say… this is just a drop in the ocean… As beloved talmidim, with his loss our lives will never be the same, but we are comforted somewhat in the knowledge that be’ezras Hashem we will carry his legacy with us forever and also with the very clear understanding that our Rebbi will continue davening for us in Shamayim. Yehi zichro baruch l’olam.
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FEBRUARY 2, 2017 | The Jewish Home
R E M E M B E R I N G
Our Zaidy, HaRav Aaron Brafman, zt"l Robbie By Brocha Raizel Braun
Schonfeld a�h A Community’s Sheloshim Tribute by Alan Jay Gerber
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ur family, as well as the whole Five Towns community, was plunged into sadness last Friday with the haritep of HaRav Aaron Brafman, Menahel of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway for approximately five decades. Rabbi Brafman, z�l, was known for his tremendous achrayus to the Klal, his hasmadah b’limud, ahavas Yisroel and devotion to his talmidim. My grandfather was born in 1944 in Williamsburg, New York, to Reb Shlomo Zalman and Rachel Brafman. Later he moved to Crown Heights. When he was young, Zaidy attended Yeshiva Torah Vodaas and remained there through beis medrash, eventually becoming a maggid shiur shortly after marriage when he started his official career in hcunihc. While in Torah Vodaas he had the suhcez to be a close dimlat of Rav Gedalya Schorr, Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky, and Rav Avrohom Pam, zt�l, whose teachings he kept close to heart and practiced daily. Zaidy taught us what it meant to practice what is taught. Zaidy didn’t “preach,� he showed. He taught us by example. After being married for about four years to my grandmother, Rebbetzin Susie Brafman, daughter of hachaver Yosef and Brocha Raizel
ing so much in order to get back only this special father-son team obbie Schonfeld, of blessed something. Not the kind of chessed knew. An $80 bill would be charge memory. Just the sad thought and tzedakah that was dependent $20. The costumer was never t that it is now the sheloshim upon public relations tactics. Both NQRZ WKH PRQHWDU\ GLÉŁHUHQFH + observance of his passing just a Ossie and Robbie were known for or her dignity was always preserve short month ago brings a tear to each hoped and davened that each talmid main in Kiryat Sefer for Purim, but Schwarz from San Francisco, Zaidy’s their kind, gentle, and warm nature and forever respected. and every one of us who knew him grow up to be a true asset to Klal Yismy grandfather couldn’t agree as he talents in chinuch were recognized that generated a universal friendship “That was the Schonfeld metho and appreciated the life of chessed roel. needed to be with his children, the and he was offered the position of that they had for each other and for of chessed that I will always cherish that he lived. Zaidy’s hasmada in learning was yeshiva bochurim, for the Purim menahel in Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, all who in their need came to them They both were simply awesome.â€? Now, that life is no more. of paramount importance to him. founded by Rav Yechiel Perr, ybâ€?lch. dancing and simcha. for the assistance that was given Rabbi Mordechai Kamenet Yet his memory and legacy lives was always seen with a stack of selflessness for theand bochurim He commuted on to the with dignity charitable He charm. ky, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva of Sout and yeshiva will livefor on two forever as aHis modsefarim piled up, precious, were beyond imaginable. years each dayeland then, in 1972, my “Just one example in the limitShore,each notedone to me of “how passion of how a person should conduct like a rare gem! One summer while he was a grandparents decided to move out to ed space I have will demonstrate ately Robbie felt about the continu himself on behalf of those in need. Zaidy was known as somelearning director in Camp Agudah,relationship. Far Rockaway,This a skeleton the Jewthis unique father-son ity also of the Yeshiva of South Shore is our of tribute to his everlasting one who everyone was able to apZaidy noticed tremendous potential ish community it is today. During 7KHLU EXVLQHVV ZDV WKH VHOOLQJ RI ÂżVK derech of inculcating middot tovo memory. proach for help, kuzihc or a listening for greatness in a specific camper. his tenure as menahel of the MesivThe tributes that follow were ear, or with his tzedakah fund. He sent a letter to the boy’s parents ta, Zaidy, in forging rela- FRPPXQLW\ ZULWWHQ countless E\ ÂżYH OHDGLQJ He was once asked how it is that leaders. Each, in their own way, was everyone who needs help goes to his involved in their respective commuaddress, and he responded in comnal activities that were linked with plete humility and honesty, “Maybe the chessed of our beloved Robbie, of because I never say no!â€? blessed and sacred memory. Robbie came to our community Everyone knew they can count of the Five Towns from Brooklyn, on Zaidy for help. People in Eretz and so did Judith Greenberger. They Yisroel used to send wedding inviwere close friends active in many starting on 13th Avenue in tations imbuing with Boroughwithwhile heartfelt pleasthe forstudents help good deeds on behalf of those in geshmak appreciation in learning, Park, Brooklyn. They both just for knew hachnasas kallah. These were need. Here is her tribute: who were the people whopeople needed that PHWKRG WKDW ZRXOG ÂżQG LWV ZD\ LQW he never met, and Zaidy “What I would really stress is the with Mesivta. food. They knew from living in the would respond a mazel tov and that Robbie’s legacy that he inherited “He was greatly fund. involved in th neighborhood and loving all people some money from his tzedakah from his legendary father, Ossie, aâ€?h, growth of Mesivta Ateres ZKR WKH\ ZHUH DQG WKH\ ÂżJXUHG RXW Eventually my grandfather began re- Yaakov, informing them of their son’s greattionships with his bachurim, made WUXO\ GHÂżQHG WKH UHDO DQG WUXH PHDQschool named andletters dedicated to th how to make sure that those peopleinvitations ceiving without ness and directed them in a specific sure they felt like they were the only chessed. It was practiced in the ing of legacy of my grandfather, who needed help received the help for help; the klal learned that Rabbi Rav Yaa plan to nurture his growth of Torah. talmid. His care, concern and love real classical mode of observance, due to them. Their business math kov Kamenetzky, ztâ€?l.â€? Brafman sends a donation to all and The parents followed Zaidy’s advice for each one was overflowing. that being, tzedakah. It was not the was special. ‘On account’ was a term Rabbi Chanina Herzberg, Men they didn’t even feel the need to add One year my cousin from Eretz and their son became and is a very way we see such causes played out ahel of Yeshiva of South Shor that they probably invented. It was a letter. chashuve person in Eretz Yisroel, Yisroel had his bar mitzvah erev today with fancy big parties, spend- D YHU\ VSHFLDO ÂżQDQFLDO PHWKRG WKDW UHPLQLVFHG DERXW KLV ÂżUVW PHHWLQ Another middah that Zaidy posinfluencing many people in darchei Purim. Hoping to remain with the Hashem. Not only was Zaidy a rebbi sessed was kavod ha’briyos. Zaidy grandchildren for a few extra days teaching boys, he lived for them and was always greeting those he met on my grandmother suggested they re-
“Robbie was an ish emet who had a heart of gold‌he lived for others.â€? He was once asked how it is that everyone who needs help goes to his address, and he responded in complete humility and honesty, “Maybe because I never say no!â€?
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
the street or in the yeshiva. Any new face that walked into Yeshiva of Far Rockaway was approached by Rabbi Brafman who made sure he had a seat, a siddur and that everything was okay. A newcomer to the community once said after a stressful few days of moving he came to Yeshiva of Far Rockaway for davening and Zaidy approached him, as he was a new face in town. The man later said it was at that point that he felt somebody truly cared about him in the community. This respect for others did not deter Zaidy from speaking out against actions that he believed caused chillul Hashem. When there was chillul Hashem anywhere around the world it physically hurt him. Zaidy always lived with Moshi-
ach’s arrival on his mind. Since each of Klal Yisroel’s tzaaros pained him tremendously, he would say – and sincerely believed – that Moshiach must be coming tomorrow; we can’t live another day like this. In his mussar vaadim Zaidy worried and would speak about the “matzav of the velt” as if they all were his own personal issues. Zaidy was kishmo kein hu, like Aaron HaKohein, “oheiv shalom v’rodef shalom.” He ran away from sekolhcam and when he heard about them it would pain Zaidy so much, that at one point he davened for a girl rather than a boy to be born, so there shouldn’t be any slight of kavod or machlokes with kibbudim at a bris or chasunah. Rabbi Perr, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, said at
the levaya that in the approximate 50 years he worked with Zaidy they had never had a fight. I feel a little guilty writing this article as my grandfather, Rabbi Brafman, was an anav, a truly humble man. Never was a task below his dignity and no favor was too small. During simchos or yeshiva functions if more chairs were needed Zaidy would stand up and bring more chairs himself. Also, many times he would get calls on a snowy morning asking, “Is there yeshiva today?” or on a hectic Friday afternoon, “What time is Mincha?” It didn’t matter that he was the Menahel, Zaidy would answer each call with kindness and patience. In addition to being Menahel of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, Zaidy was
chairman of the Board of Education of Torah Academy for Girls, where he was actively involved in the decision making of chinuch ha’banos for many years. As a granddaughter I am lucky to have my Zaidy’s signature on both my diplomas – one which was given to me just this past June. Zaidy was also a member of the Vaad Harabbanim of Far Rockaway for many years. Yehi zichro baruch. May Zaidy be a meilitz yosher for all of Klal Yisroel. The family requests that any memories or stories of Rabbi Brafman be sent to zichronrabbibrafman@gmail. com or mailed to 746 Mador Ct, Far Rockaway, NY 11691..
• Focus on the complete person • Seminary Credits accepted in major • Stimulating and challenging courses universities that speak to the heart and mind • Extracurricular Programs under direction • Warm atmosphere with expert of Mrs. Yocheved Shonek mechanchim and mechanchos
In Memory of
Mrs. Rose Edelman
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With One Heart Giving Wounded Israeli Soldiers Warmth and Chizuk By Brendy J. Siev
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wo year ago, a car came hurtling at Yarin Eshkenazi, knocking him to the ground and crushing his bones. The car flipped over, and a terrorist jumped out wielding a gun and a knife, pumping bullets into Yarin. Yarin had been part of an elite unit of Israeli soldiers selected to take a senior surgeon course. The 50-man unit was stationed in Ramallah when they were ambushed. A commander shot the terrorist, but Yarin, who was only 20-years-old at the time, remembers little of the moments after. He spent the next week in a coma in Hadassah Hospital where his skull was painstakingly put back together. When he woke up, he was helicoptered to a rehabilitation hospital in Tel Hashomer. For the next year, Yarin had to relearn everything: how to speak, how to complete basic daily tasks, how to walk. But Rabbi Uriel Vigler of Belev Echad, an organization based in the Chabad Israel Center on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, had more in mind for Yarin. Belev Echad’s emissary in Israel, Assaf HaLevi, visits wounded soldiers regularly. He comes holding an album with photos, photos of a trip of a lifetime to New York. He uses the photos and
the enticement of a fabulous trip abroad to encourage our wounded soldiers: when you’re better, when you can walk, I’m taking you to the
for ten days under Belev Echad’s auspices. The goal of the trip is to provide much needed support to the soldiers. From the moment they ar-
The Belev Echad trip is, what Rabbi Vigler considers, “a small gesture of gratitude” that helps provide “respite for the body and psyche,” a healing conduit. United States on an-all-expensespaid trip for ten days. He visited Yarin throughout that year, giving Yarin a goal and what to look forward to when his time in rehab ended. Every three months, groups of 12 wounded soldiers arrive in New York
rive different volunteers escort them through each day. Breakfast is not simply breakfast: it’s hosted by the volunteers who in turn host others to come meet and talk with the soldiers. Friday night dinner includes 400 people who are there to figuratively
handhold and bolster the soldiers’ spirits. The trip’s events vary based on the season, but certain highlights are constant: a helicopter trip over Manhattan, Broadway shows, sports games with a view from the VIP suite, a day of shopping, and Lucky Strikes Bowling. Summer includes a day in the Hamptons, barbecues at a local mansion, wake surfing, and riding the Beast near the Statue of Liberty. Lag B’Omer involves an intense party, one Yarin characterized as “the best day of all.” To Yarin, who eventually made it stateside, the centerpiece of the trip was visiting Ground Zero and the 9/11 Museum. This tour is led by a volunteer whose sister died at Ground Zero on that fateful and horrific day. There Yarin felt the coming together of his experience and that of Israelis every day, with the American conscious. “American and Israel: we go through the same thing,” Yarin said. Today, Yarin is studying to become an occupational therapist, a tribute to those who helped rehabilitate him.
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n 2010, Rabbi Vigler brought his first cohort of wounded soldiers to New York. By 2014, with the
The Jewish Home | OCTOBER The Jewish Home | AUGUST 29, 17, 2015 2017
ongoing war in Israel, the need grew, and Rabbi Vigler’s efforts became an official organization, Belev Echad. The organization’s goal: to help the IDF’s wounded soldiers. Belev Echad recognizes that soldiers in the IDF, just out of high school, are risking “life and limb to ensure the safety of the Holy Land.” With these risks comes the risk of injury that may change these people’s lives forever. The Belev Echad trip is, what Rabbi Vigler considers, “a small gesture of gratitude” that helps provide “respite for the body and psyche,” a healing conduit. Additionally, the Belev Echad Israel Educational
Project invites academics, diplomats, and scientists to discuss Israel’s culture, history, and politics in forums open to the Upper East Side Jewish community. Belev Echad also encourages Americans to join the trip, providing the emotional support to the soldiers and hearing their stories. “They come as fighters and they leave as brothers,” says Rabbi Vigler. Every three months, Belev Echad organizes a reunion for each cohort of soldiers in Israel. This way, the soldiers are able to maintain that brotherhood forged over ten days in the United States. They become each
other’s support. Rabbi Vigler calls this “love therapy.” While most soldiers are in their mid-twenties, some are older, married men in their thirties who were wounded while on meluim, reserve duty. Belev Echad and its staff becomes mentors to the soldiers and their families. Following the trip, Belev Echad continues to provide support for the soldiers, giving them scholarships, laptops, gifts for their children, and wedding gifts when they marry. Thus the soldier on reserve duty, who is suddenly hit by a terrorist’s car, shattering all bones above the
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soldier’s waist; the soldier wounded in action, doomed to a full year in the hospital for painful surgeries and rehab; the soldier standing on reserve duty who finds himself, a man in his 30s with a wife and children, strapped to a gurney receive hope and love on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. This is the kindness and love and comfort and sustenance that a hospital room and rehab center just cannot. Yarin may not remember the details of his injury, but he cannot forget his friends from whom he drew support and caring while looking at the Manhattan skyline.
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Israel Today
Cruising on Kvish 6 By Rafi Sackville
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y wife Keren was recently in the States to visit her ailing mother and our daughter. All told, she was gone for over three and a half weeks. During that time I discovered a few things that many males reading this are sure to relate to. Foremost is the following fact: dust doesn’t exist if you’re not looking for it. It doesn’t. Despite her entreaties to sweep under and over and around and behind, I found no evidence of dust until just two days before her return. Secondly, plants actually need watering. For three and a half weeks I never once walked into the sitting room where days before Keren’s return I chanced upon a large dying plant. Where on earth did that come from, I asked myself, before coming to my senses and vaguely remembering its presence. I did an about face and walked out the front door because I recalled there were two large pots of different mint
leaves out there. To my discomfort and distress I found them without life and as brown as the desert. Finally, dirty laundry accumu-
by myself on weekends I spent time with friends in the center of the country. Every Friday I’d leave school at noon and drive south. Af-
Fascinated by observing the world around me, I like stopping at the Alonit to watch travelers.
lates. Do you need to know more? Let’s leave it at that, shall we? During one of our daily conversations Keren asked me about the state of the fridge. I told her it was as clean as it had ever been. “Did you clean it?” she asked. I detected a tinge of hope in her voice. “Nah! It just doesn’t have any food in it,” I replied. Not feeling comfortable at home
ter three weeks it became quite burdensome: no, not visiting friends, just the expectancy of arrival while sitting in the car for hours. Including the trip to pick Keren up from the airport, I traveled Kvish 6 four times. It is the major highway that runs almost 100 miles (and is constantly being lengthened) from the north to the south of the country. My friend R’ Tzvi Yaakov from
New York has been traveling to and from upstate New York since he can remember. During the summer months he regularly makes the trip to the city twice a week. For years I questioned his sanity. What a shlep, I’d point out to him! The irony is not lost on me when we start our trips southwards or back again. I think of him each time we get into the car to begin our journey, recall questioning his sanity, label myself a hypocrite, and then put my foot on the gas. It takes an hour and ten minutes to get from our home to the northern end of Kvish 6. Highways 89 and 70 have to be traversed first. 89 is a short, fifteen minutes downhill drive towards Nahariya. On a clear day one can see the horn of Haifa Bay and the endless Mediterranean. The view at night is spectacular. Stretches of 70 run through Druze villages, all which – approach roads included – look alike. If you’re daydreaming you might feel a sense
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Rafi Sackville, formerly of Cedarhurst, teaches in Ort Maalot in Western Galil.
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the height of the fires in the Haifa and the Carmel Mountains, which loomed large an hour away from home as I approached Yagur Junction. The traffic was heavier than usual because so many people were fleeing south; some reports had the total at 85,000 people being evacuated. The junction was a mess of cars and the drive to the airport – generally a lazy two hour drive – took nearly three and a half hours. Keren might have taken the train, but there had been closures due to the fires and I didn’t want her shlepping all over the place after her long flight. I usually enjoy arriving at the airport at least forty minutes before. After the drive from Ma’alot I like the comfort of drinking a cappuccino and watching people coming out of customs. I particularly get a kick watching reunions with loved ones. I play a game of guessing how long the joy of these reunions lasts; I’ve seen some people hug and kiss and then break out into domestic spats. It’s all very entertaining. Then there are the hydrogen-filled balloons you can count on the ceiling; there must have been hundreds that I have counted over the years. This time, the drive had exhausted me, and I was hoping to have time for that coffee. The very second I walked into the arrival hall Keren appeared. So much for the coffee. It was great seeing her, though. Five minutes later I was back behind the steering wheel homebound. By the time we got back it was after 9pm. The house was dark, and Keren was too tired to do anything other than sleep. The following morning I was at work at 7am. When I got home later that afternoon Keren was waiting for me with a look of curiosity. “What happened to my plants?” she asked me. “The dust bunnies must have got to them,” I sheepishly answered.
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of déjà vu and think you’ve driving in a loop. There are points of interest on the way that are incongruous to the modern Jewish State. No more blatant an example is The Pork House, a restaurant in the Druze village of Yarca. We must have driven by more than fifty times and not once have we seen a customer inside. While there are stores throughout the country that sell non-kosher meat, The Pork House has a large caricature of a smiling pig wearing a chef’s hat on the edge of the road. I wonder whether it’s the smile or the hat that turns customers away. I’m not going in to find out. Yokne’am is the last city we pass before we reach the highway. It has become a hub of tech companies and rightly deserves the eight lanes of traffic that divide its east from west sides. As for Kvish 6 itself, there’s not much to say other than it’s a pleasant driving experience that includes a few short tunnels, lots of tolls, and a smooth drive. I don’t think I need to educate readers on highways, particularly seeing that America is the home of a highway to everywhere. Somewhere in the middle of a long stretch of highway, however, are two iconic landmarks facing each other, icons that attracts thousands of visitors a day. I am talking about the rest stops, otherwise known as the Alonit. Fascinated by observing the world around me, I like stopping at the Alonit to watch travelers. People in transit are neither here nor there. Their lives are on hold while they are on their way somewhere. They’re not out shopping with a definite plan of action. They’re not in a car stuck in traffic. They have left but haven’t arrived. They live in expectation of events, not in them. Over the course of Keren’s absence I drove almost 500 miles. This included the trip to collect her from Ben Gurion Airport. That was a drive I wish to forget. It was during
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A SHIDDUCH AND A SAVED SON, TWO SPECIAL MIRACLES
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y two sons, my pride and joy, were at the critical stage in life: Shidduchim age. My first son, Naftali, was doing quite well in Yeshiva, and was overall, happy and settled. But he had been in the Parsha for quite some time, and so
far, nothing. My second son, Yaakov, a good boy too, was starting to act out. Seeing that his older brother wasn’t finding a shidduch meant that his time to begin the Parsha was delayed as well, and so he started to take opportunities to slack off, have fun, and cross the line. Yaakov’s behavior was frightening me. I was afraid that he would go completely off the derech and this sweet son of mine would forever be lost. I was sharing with a friend my troubles when he offered me a solution, one that had worked for him with his own children: Tehillim Kollel, a compassionate, reputable organization that puts their heart and soul into davening for you and your family. I contacted them immediately and signed up both of my sons. I am thrilled to say that Tehillim Kolllel has been the perfect Shaliach. Within a few months, Naftali was engaged! After this simcha, Yaakov realized that he was next in line and began to shape up! He calmed down, starting showing up on time for minyan, began dressing normally again… I couldn’t have been happier. Tehillim Kollel delivered to me two yeshuos: Naftali, happily settled, and Yaakov, returning to the Torah way of life. I can’t wait to share the good news of Yaakov finding his shidduch as well, with the help of Tehillim Kollel’s tefillos.
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OPERATIONS AROUND THE WORLD!
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Dr. Deb
Do You Compartmentalize? By Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.
H
e was laughing as he told me his story. And I was horrified. (All stories are made up.) “See, it was a game we played,” Russ explained, talking about his relationship to his father growing up. “I was bad. And I was always getting into trouble. My father wanted to get me the message of just how bad I was, so he would beat me harder. When I didn’t scream, he would hit me harder still. Of course, my aim was to not scream. Why should he win?” I had a mental picture of a 10-year old little boy being abused! Hurt. Willfully. I could feel the stings of the belt myself, almost. I noticed my breathing getting shallow. I inhaled deeply. And again, trying to regulate my autonomic responses. But Russ had shut off all of those feelings. He was into the glory of not giving in. Winning. He was grinning at me. Waiting for my approval. He had completely compartmentalized. He had set his bad feelings in one compartment, shut the box, put it on the back of the shelf in the closet no one goes to, and then shut the
closet door just to make sure. Eventually, he would forget that there was a box on a shelf in a closet. That there even was a closet. Years or decades later, his wife would wonder how it was possible that she would cry from frustration at his inattention and he would be completely unmoved. What was she to do to move him?
CINDY DID THE SAME THING There was absolutely no way out of the chaos. There was no money, no job. Mother out at night for reasons unknown. Was she working? What was her job anyway? Cindy didn’t know. And she had little brothers to watch. Her father was around but not. I mean, she said he was physically present but for reasons she doesn’t remember, she wasn’t actually talking to him. Was it that he didn’t answer when she said something? Did he just have a far-away look in his eye? Is her memory playing tricks on her or did she really notice him crying one time? Cindy learned the joy of playing little mommy. She took care of her brothers, sang happy songs, even
made them dinner starting when she was about nine. I mean, how hard is it to put a piece of cheese on bread and shove it into the toaster? She was pretty proud she could do that. She skipped to school and did well there. Years later, her husband complained that she didn’t understand him. He had some medical issues and she pooh-poohed them. She made light of everything, he said. “It’s like, I’m going, ‘Knock, knock. Is anybody home?’ and no one is there when I’m talking to her,” he explained. Cindy also compartmentalized. All the bad stuff just disappeared, by the wave of a magic wand. There’s nothing you can do about it, so it doesn’t exist. Mom, who? Dad? What about Dad? Husband? What’s the problem?
THEN THERE’S NOT ENOUGH COMPARTMENTALIZING Doris just cried. Mostly every day. There was not a day that she wasn’t flooded with bad feelings. Of course, she forced herself to get up and go to work. After all she had to help support her large family. And of
course, she smiled at people as she went through her day. No one ever knew how she really felt. But she knew. Doris could not remember when this pattern didn’t hold. As far back as she could recall, she was depressed and consoling herself for her sad life. She would tell you that she is just a sensitive person. And I support being sensitive. It means you are open to experiencing all the possible feelings that others – and you – can broadcast. Think about it. Being sensitive means using your five senses to pick up the messages around you. And that includes non-physical messages. Would could be wrong with that Except that Doris is not displaying sensitivity at all because, in being so focused on how bad she felt, she wasn’t able to participate in anyone’s good feelings. The bad feelings oozed into everything. She didn’t compartmentalize enough.
IS COMPARTMENTALIZING EVER GOOD? Compartmentalizing could liter-
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
ally save your life. I was intrigued when I saw the interview online of the famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins with Alice Herz Sommer. Sommer was 108-years-old when he interviewed her in 2011, a concentration camp survivor who saw her parents exterminated. What was her secret, Robbins wanted to know, her secret of survival? “I look where it is good,” Alice told him, laughing, “I know about the bad but I look at the good.” (Please take a look after Shabbos at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=DcNgEqTKvyk or read the book, A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Hertz-Sommer the World’s Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor, by Caroline Stoessinger. Note that Sommer was nifteres at 110.) A concert pianist, she said, “Music was our food.” “But,” Robbins wanted to know, “didn’t you have pain? Wasn’t it painful to not have food?” “I had no pain,” she answered. “I
was always laughing.” She also turned the bad into good. “Everything is a present,” she told Robbins, “everything. This I learned: to be thankful for everything.”
I do not have the answer. Who am I to judge someone who gave the inmates a few moments of joy in purgatory? She is, after all, an inspiration. she was a giver. Her compartmentalizing did not make her callous.
To laugh in the concentration camp? Her parents, her sister, her husband exterminated, and she laughs?
WHERE’S THE BALANCE? I distinctly remember thinking when I saw that video that there was something seriously wrong with Alice Herz Sommers. And that wrong thing saved her life. To laugh in the concentration camp? Her parents, her sister, her husband exterminated, and she laughs? Is it good to remain alive because you could compartmentalize so well that you laugh in hell?
If the examples at the start of this article show that compartmentalizing could make a person callous or at least insensitive to others, where should the line be drawn? Too little compartmentalizing, as was the case with Doris, is no good either. We are meant to be sensitive beings. Hashem created the world with rachamim. That’s our model. So I have no guilt over being “too sensitive.” Good for me! It helps me very
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well, thank you, in doing my work. But… I can compartmentalize. And maybe that is the answer: that word “can.” To what degree do you have control over where your thoughts and your feelings go? If you’re stuck in a bad place that you can’t get out of, that’s no good. If you’re stuck in a good place and can’t empathize with another person’s pain, that’s no good either. What’s the solution? Never be stuck anywhere! Compartmentalize because you believe you need to do it when you need to do it for exactly as long as you need to do it. Then go on and experience life: all the sensations, feelings, thoughts, however strong, painful or joyous they may be. Let them in! When it’s under your own control, you’re being adaptable. When it’s not, you’re stuck. Dr. Deb Hirschhorn is a Marriage and Family Therapist. She can be reached at 646-54-DRDEB or by writing drdeb@ drdeb.com.
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Health & F tness
Travel, the Light Way By Dr. Rachael Schindler
J
ean Kerr once said, “I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on!” With summer ending just around the corner, many of us are making vacation plans. While going away is fun, traveling for some can be a food challenge for a variety of reasons. Some of the popular ones include less access to the foods you usually eat and that getting to your destination can be stressful. Also, your usual routine is disrupted, mealtimes may be irregular, and you may be exposed to a variety of tempting foods or drinks. To complicate matters, some individuals may find it relatively easy to keep up their healthy eating efforts for a while, only to slip up after a few days and gain weight! So the big question is: how do you relax on vacation, without being too lax with your eating and fitness plan? The major pitfall to dieting and eating healthy today is that food is over-abundant and easily available. Therefore, our survival and our belt size depend on our ability to become discriminating food consumers. In this article I will give you the tools you will need to make good food choices wherever you eat. In my view, there are two types of trips. One, where there is a
dizzying array of delicious foods being offered at a resort/hotel, where you have to skip food offerings because otherwise you would literally be in the dining room (or tea room) all day (or even at a midnight buffet). The other, where you go out to nice local restaurants for meals, or
vance, since breakfast is usually the same every day, and figure out which meal is more worth it to you. Make sure you fill up on healthy salads without all the hidden calories and fat from dressings. Ask for balsamic vinegar and a little oil and mix them with salt and pepper. Then eat what
Just remember, if you overeat at the beginning of your trip you might gain a little weight, but if you continue to overeat, you might gain a lot of weight. bring your own prepared ones, and make due with snacks you pick up anywhere (airport, candy store…) along the way. In the first scenario, where there is an overabundance of food, it is important to plan which meal you want to indulge in. Some prefer a large breakfast, (eggs, pancakes, fruit), or a large lunch (salad, fish, quiche), or dinner, (soup, steak, veggies, potatoes), and even a dessert! That’s right – one dessert a day, max! Either have a whole one, or bites of a few that in total would be one. What I advise is to get the menus for lunch or dinner in ad-
you planned. Try to make veggies and then protein your biggest staple. However, if you want to indulge in a yummy pasta dish or something that is more laden with fat, like eggplant parmigiana, go ahead. Just lighten up the rest of the day or just eat half the portion and fill up with free foods like steamed veggies or salad beforehand. Don’t forget to stay hydrated and drink all day long (it helps your metabolism get revved up). Take a water bottle with you everywhere or add a Crystal Light pouch to it for flavor. Avoid tea rooms in the afternoons if you can’t help but eat the
cake when you see it. Have a family member bring you a plate of fruit or some nuts (not a cupful, and not the chocolate-covered kind). Let’s face it, if you don’t see it, you don’t want it, and there’s plenty of food to eat during the meals. I always pack with me baby carrots, light yogurt, chummus, and bran crackers as a light snack just to have ready in my room. If you are the type to order one of every main dish just to taste, make sure you consume only one complete meal. That means, cut portions off the mains to visually total only one plate. If you do wind up eating an unplanned food, don’t use it as an excuse to continue eating. Just remember, if you overeat at the beginning of your trip you might gain a little weight, but if you continue to overeat, you might gain a lot of weight. Sometimes it’s worth the caloric and fat expenditure to taste a delectable food (for example, croissants in Paris) so enjoy in moderation, allow yourself to taste, but don’t have the mindset that you “cheated” and blow away all your self control. Taste, enjoy and stop. Remember you can’t “treat” yourself every minute all day. After all, you would never give treats to your kids all day either!
In the second scenario, where you eat as you go, the best advice is to not go too long without eating, otherwise studies have shown that you are more likely to overcompensate at meals. You must pack snacks with you just in case you get tied up, you are touring, or even get lost and there’s no food in sight. From home I pack some sugar-free and fat-free mini muffins, low-fat all natural peanut butter, tuna packets and sugar-free jelly on every trip. I find that when you go out of the country it’s much harder to find light/ diet foods so I bring my favorites. When I arrive at my destination I check out a local supermarket and stock up on fruit and veggies such as cherry tomatoes, Persian (no peel) cucumbers, as well as nuts and dairy (yogurt) which are easy to eat and/or carry. I eat something small (usually something high-protein which lasts longer) approximately every three hours to keep me going. In restaurants, try to just taste
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#1 Independent Brokergreat on yoga Long Island 2012 class or have fun work-
(not eat) the rich dishes or appetizof 2012 ers Winner and eat your snacks Christie’s like baby carrots before you go so you are not starved. I like to eat a light breakfast, such as an egg and two whites with cucumbers/tomato and coffee. Lunch is easy with any one of the veggie burgers you can buy frozen. They are fully cooked and don’t need to really need heating up. Frozen dinners from home can be ordered light too, with yummy Portobello mushrooms or grilled veggies as a great side dish. Or, for the restauranteurs, the rule is, eat smart for your heart! Enjoy your protein-laden meal and eat starches or fried foods sparingly. Try not to eat too late and chew gum or suck on candy as often as your sweet tooth knocks. A glass of wine a day is OK too; after all, it works for the French and is antioxidant-rich. Aside from food choices, choose to be active some of the time. If you find yourself at a resort, take a
Affiliate-of-the-Year ing out with your spouse. IfAward you are not skiing or snorkeling, find a way to move for at least an hour a day (aside from walking to and from the dining room). You don’t need fancy equipment, so walking/jogging on the boardwalk is a super way to increase your fat burn and calorie expenditure (as well as your tan)! As Zig Zagler once said, “People say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Last but not least, sleep! Studies have shown that sleep loss alters hormones that control hunger and increase appetite for calorie dense foods such as cookies, candy, chips and bread. A study from the National Public Health Institute in Finland found that sleep disturbances and lack of exercise increased the risk of abdominal obesity in men and women. So whether you watch what you eat, exercise moderately, or take a nap, the feeling of accomplish-
ment and satisfaction that you will feel that you didn’t pack on another ten pounds along with the luggage is priceless! As one of my clients always says, “Nothing tastes better than not gaining!”
Rachael E. Schindler, PhD., is a psychologist, founder of ”www.Kosherchefzone.com” meals home delivery (www.litenlow.com/dietdelivery/), noted lecturer and author, naturopathic medicinal practitioner, certified pediatric and adult nutrition counselor, resident nutritional counselor at Life Clubs of Lawrence, certified personal trainer and celebrated group fitness instructor and Pilates master for over 25 years, practicing in Cedarhurst, Lawrence and Manhattan. She can be reached to order, for an appointment, or for comments at Teichbergr@aol.com, or (917) 690 – 5097.
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
In The K
tchen
By Naomi Nachman
This is one of my favorite salads, and I make it often in the summer, when radishes and corn are at their peak taste of freshness and flavor. It’s perfect to use as a plated appetizer for Shabbat lunch (sans the cheese) or for a Sunday brunch with the cheese. You can even make it into a one-bowl meal by adding 1 cup of a cooked grain such as quinoa, wild rice or farro.
Smoked Salmon and Avocado Salad
Ingredients Salad 6 cups mesclun greens 1 cup (colored) cherry tomatoes, halved 1 watermelon radish, thinly sliced 1 cob fresh corn, freshly shucked ½ lb. smoked salmon, sliced shredded surimi (fake crab) 2 medium avocados, cubed ½ medium red onion, sliced thinly ½ block of feta cheese, crumbled (optional, if you want to keep it parve)
Dressing 2 TBS finely chopped fresh dill 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice ½ tsp Dijon mustard 2 TBS honey 1 clove garlic, crushed 2 TBS rice vinegar 2 TBS olive oil
Preparation In a large bowl, combine all salad components together. Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small jar or cruet until smooth. Pour over salad; toss gently.
Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
June
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POOL DATE thru S: Aug 27th* *8 No W /24 and 8/ omen ’s Sw 27 im 25th
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Notable Quotes “Say What?!”
They are trying to get me and attempting to topple the Right. This is not new. They have been trying for many years. - Prime Minister Netanyahu to senior officials in his coalition amid reports that his wife is about to be indicted
The news organizations are actually telling people what to do in case of a nuclear attack. They say people should immediately stay inside and keep watching Netflix. - Jimmy Fallon
Elon Musk recently announced that the government has approved a plan for something called a “Hyperloop” that will transport people between New York and D.C. in just 29 minutes. “Hyperloop?” I don’t know how much I trust [that as] public transportation. That sounds like it should be a ride at Six Flags. - James Corden
According to Vanity Fair, the Queen of England has four alcoholic beverages every day, including a glass of champagne before bed. Champagne before bed?! Who does she think she is, herself? - Seth Myers
So when the sea levels rise, obviously we could lose Venice. We could lose Florida. And who would know better about losing Florida? - HBO’s Bill Maher to Al Gore, during a discussion about Gore’s new global warming movie
The Forward’s Israel reporting displays a bias comparable to that of Al-Jazeera, and its coverage of Judaism is even worse. What is Jewish about slandering pro-Israel conservatives while minimizing the anti-Semitic views of Linda Sarsour? It is an embarrassment to Jewish journalism. -Rabbi Yaakov Menken, Director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, in response to an editorial in The Forward which posited that Morton Klein, Director of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), had views that were a “bigger threat” to Israel and Jews than Linda Sarsour and the anti-Israel BDS movement simply because he has ties to the Trump White House
Gosh, you’re right. Because Nazis & the Klan have such love for Cuban-Americans. If only we worked for a paper that shilled for Stalin. - Tweet by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in response to an accusation by a New York Times reporter that he only condemned the Charlottesville attack because he is posturing for 2020
MORE QUOTES
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Today Trump said that if North Korea doesn’t get its act together, they’re going to be in big trouble. “Now, look, I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed.” - Jimmy Fallon
If Donald Trump had suddenly jumped on Marine One ... down to Charlottesville, walked into the jail where the young man was being held, shot him between the eyes, I guarantee you people said he didn’t use the right caliber bullet. - Mike Huckabee responding to the criticism of Trump for his initial response to the Charlottesville attack
If the U.S. soils the homeland, the rifles would come to New York and take the White House. - Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the son of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, after President Trump stated he would not rule out military intervention in response to the human rights abuses being committed by Maduro in Venezuela
Let me give you one bottom line as a former government official. The government is going to kill this guy.
We’re so proud of our daughter Talia. She always wanted to live in Israel, and she’s realizing her dream… Our whole family is very proud of her. We’re here just to greet her and give her a hug and wish her hatzlachah raba here in Israel. - U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman after greeting his daughter Talia, 23, who arrived on a Nefesh B’Nefesh flight in Israel, making an aliyah
I kept getting teased about dating an [older woman], but the age difference never really bothered me because we just hit it off, and I wasn’t about to let her go. - Alvin Mann, 94, of Middletown, NY, talking about his recent marriage to Gertrude Mokotoff, 98
I read that the U.S. has a plan to launch a cyberattack on North Korea. It’s pretty serious. They say it could affect both of North Korea’s computers. - Jimmy Fallon
- CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd, on CNN talking about Trump riling the intelligence community and the deep state
There was no hack of the Democratic National Committee’s system on July 5 last year - not by the Russians, not by anyone else. Hard science now demonstrates it was a leak - a download executed locally with a memory key or a similarly portable data-storage device. In short, it was an inside job by someone with access to the DNC’s system. - Conclusion of a report in left-wing publication The Nation, about last year’s supposed hacking of the DNC by Russia
MORE QUOTES
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I’m out of goals. I have nowhere else to go in the world. I don’t really want to climb Mt. Everest. I almost see this as climbing Mt. Everest. It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever done in my life - knowing how many people do not like me in a small space and continue to survive. - Dion Cini, a former Marine from the Upper West Side, explaining why he paddles his rowboat every day in the Hudson River along the Manhattan shoreline with a prominent flag that reads “Trump 2020”
Trump spent this week ratcheting up the rhetoric even as his own cabinet tried to tamp it down. All of the macho war talk between rounds of golf at Bedminster has made it difficult to tell Trump’s words from those of the brutal 33-year-old dictator of North Korea. Take, for instance, some of the tough talk from this week about a sea of fire or the threat that only absolute force can work on him. Can you guess who said it? … OK, all of those came from Kim’s regime, but you weren’t 100% certain, were you? Because with Trump it’s very hard to tell the difference. - MSNBC host Joy Reid criticizing Trump’s handling of North Korea, which started with Kim Jung Un promising to nuke Manhattan, then revising his pledge to lob some missiles at a U.S. territory, Guam, then calling off the operation altogether
Tensions with North Korea continue to rise. And you can tell Trump’s nervous because he’s been wearing a “Make America Great Again” helmet. - Jimmy Fallon
Sometimes you hear, “I hope you get hit by a boat!” “I hope you drown!” From the top of their lungs as loud as they can. I get it all the time. - Ibid.
I want to thank him because we’re trying to cut down on payroll and as far as I’m concerned, I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll. There’s no real reason for them to go back so I greatly appreciate the fact that they’ve been able to cut our payroll for the United States. We’ll save a lot of money. - President Trump trolling a reporter who asked what he thinks about Putin expelling 755 U.S. diplomats from Russia
Someday there will be a district attorney who will prosecute for child abuse [on the football field], and it will succeed. It is the definition of child abuse. - Dr. Bennet Omalu, a neuropathologist and expert in the study of the effects of concussions, whose findings on concussions were recently dramatized in the movie “Concussion,” at a recent medical conference
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Forgotten Her es
The Shenandoah Many Ships with One Name By Avi Heiligman
CSS Shenandoah
T
he naming of ships during the American Civil War was not as sophisticated as it is today. Incredibly, both sides had a few ships with the same name. These include the USS Georgia and the CSS Georgia, and the USS Florida and the CSS Florida. By far the most interesting name to go along with their stories used by both sides was the Shenandoah. It was the CSS Shenandoah that fired the last shot of the Civil War and was the last to lower the Confederate flag. There were several ships named the Shenandoah in American history including an airship. Shenandoah is the name for several geographic locations mainly in Virginia and West Virginia. It is the name of a town, a mountain, a national park, a valley and a river that
USS Shenandoah (AD-26)
flows through the valley and spans three states. It is also the name of an Indian chief that is thought to have been the origin of the name. Confederate ships took names from several places in the South and it is interesting to note that the Union as well took the name for their own sloop of war from the same river. In any case, the CSS Shenandoah was built in Scotland and was named the Sea King. It was a transport ship before being purchased in secret by the Confederate Navy. Since it was a far distance from the United States, the ship was low on crewmates and had to use stowaways that were in Australia. In 1864 the ship took on its new name and identity. It was transformed into a raiding ship with the purpose of destroying Union whal-
USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)
ers. While Union ships were devastating the Confederate economy the CSS Shenandoah was trying to do the same to the North. Thirty-eight ships were either sunk or taken as a “prize,” and over 1,000 prisoners were taken by the fullrigged steam-powered ship. She sailed around the world looking for Union ships to capture or sink. Over the course of 58,000 nautical miles, she remained at sea for more than twelve months looking for targets. The whaling industry was very important to the North as it provided fuel and lubricants. The Shenandoah was successful in its mission to put this type of commerce out of commission. The upside was that kerosene and petroleum were used instead. And as a media outlet put it, “In a sense, the rebels saved the
whales”. On June 22, 1845, the Shenandoah shot at a whaling ship in the Bering Sea, which has been officially recorded as the last shot of the Civil War. However, the Shenandoah continued her journey for several months before hearing of the Confederate surrender from a British ship. Not knowing that the war had ended, her crew took action to make the ship look like any other merchant ship. To avoid being captured by the American Navy and the possibility of being treated as pirates, her captain decided to travel to Liverpool, England. She finally surrendered to the British Navy seven months after General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. She was soon turned
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
over to the American government with her crew scattering around the globe. Once the threat of harsh punishment from the government had subsided, many of them returned to the States. Her battle flag is preserved at the Confederate museum in Richmond. The ship was sold to the Sultan of Zanzibar and eventually sank in a storm. The first USS Shenandoah was a wooden sloop used by the Union Navy from 1863-1865. For fifteen months her mission was to stop Confederate ships from running the blockade on the Atlantic coast. During one engagement she chased a ship for four hours, firing many times before the ship slipped away in the darkness. In December 1864 she was stationed off the coast of North Carolina for the attack on Fort Fisher. The first landing of troops failed as they had to retreat without gaining ground. For the next three weeks
the USS Shenandoah bombarded the fort with precision fire and soon was ready to land a large force of Union troops, marines and sailors. In the largest amphibious assault until WWII, Fort Fisher fell. The Shenandoah was used to transport the wounded to hospitals. After the war she remained in service with the American Navy and visited ports worldwide from Japan to the Mediterranean. In 1972 she was host to the king and queen of Greece. Before airplanes were used by the navy, airships were used in the 1920s to test the feasibility of aircraft in the post WWI military. The USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) was one of four rigid airships built by the navy to be used for fleet reconnaissance. Tests for the airships proved to be a mixed bag as the weather played a part in the difficulties of communications. On a goodwill flight in September 1925, the helium-filled
Shenandoah was caught in turbulence and crashed. 14 crewmembers were killed but the rest were saved because it was filled with helium and not explosive hydrogen. Soon all airships were replaced as airplanes became more reliable. The name Shenandoah was used twice more, both for destroyer tenders. USS Shenandoah (AD-26) was commissioned just two days before the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945. For the next 35 years she remained in service with the fleet. In 1964 she gained international recognition for her rescue of the crew from the Dutch merchant ship Doris. The merchant ship was impaled on rocks, and the entire crew was rescued by the Shenandoah just minutes before the Doris rolled over and sank. A year later the Shenandoah came to the rescue again of a stricken ship. This time it was the carrier USS Shangri-La that had collided with a destroyer.
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This time the Shenandoah was able to repair the carrier well enough for her to make it to port under her own power. Just three years after her decommissioning in 1980 another USS Shenandoah (AD-44) took her place tending to ships of the fleet. This ship remained in service for only 13 years. No matter which navy or type of vessel the crewmen of the USS Shenandoah served on the sailors went about their duties with distinction. As for the legacy of the Confederate sailors on the CSS Shenandoah it was with distinction that they will be remembered for they were the last to ones to hoist the Confederate flag by a combatant in the Civil War. Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.
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Classifieds SERVICES Alternative Solutions Geriatric Care Management staff will assist you with: * Obtaining Medicaid and Pooled Income Trust * In-home Assessments, Individual and Family Counseling * Securing reliable home care assistance * Case and Care Management services Dr. S. Sasson, DSW, LCSW (718) 544- 0870 or (646) 284-6242 VISION HOME INSPECTION 718-921-1211 / 516-595-8566 Call or visit us www.visionhomeinspection.com to schedule your home inspection Experienced certified teacher tutors in math and science. All tests including SAT, Regents, and GED. Very reasonable rates. Call 718-763-6524 Struggling with Shalom Bayis? The Shalom Bayis Hotline 732-523-1112. Caring rabbanim answering your questions for free. So far very positive results BS’D! HAIR COURSE Learn how to wash & style hair & wigs Hair and wig cutting, wedding styling Private lessons or in a group Call Chaya 718-715-9009 SHALOM HANDYMAN Plumbing, heating, boiler, installation, sewer, locks, dryer vent cleaning and more… CALL 917-217-3676 Yoga & Licensed Massage Therapy Peaceful Presence Studio 436 Central Avenue, Cedarhurst Separate men/women Group/private sessions Gift Cards Available www. Peacefulpresence.com 516 -371 -3715 GERBER MOVING FULL SERVICE MOVING Packing Moving Supplies Local Long Distance Licensed Insured 1000’S Of Happy Customers Call Shalom 347-276-7422
Reach Your Target Market Classifieds
HOUSES FOR SALE
HOUSES FOR SALE
COMMERCIAL RE
Can’t afford your property taxes? Mortgage? Must sell for any reason? Call for FREE Consultation. Call now 212-470-3856 Cash buyers available!
WOODMERE: NEW LISTING, 6BR Colonial In SD#14, Deep Property, Formal DR, HW Floors, CAC, Room To Expand, Close To All…$499K Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com
WOODMERE.......MUST SEE “SPACIOUS” PRICE REDUCED Custom Center Hall Colonial 4 Bedrooms, 2 1/2 Baths… 80 x 100. Oversized: EIK with Granite countertops, DR.,Den(fpl) ,LR, large sunny & bright. Full unfinished high ceiling basement. Cac, Gas heat. 2 car garage...REDUCED: $950,000 Call: Barbara Berkowitz (516) 295-1621 thesportingwife1@aol.com
Don’t Get Stuck With a Two Story House Ya Know, It’s One Story Before You Buy It But a Second Story After You Own It! Call Dov Herman For An Accurate Unbiased Home Inspection Infrared - Termite Inspection Full Report All Included NYC 718-INSPECT Long Island 516-INSPECT www.nyinspect.com
OWN A HOUSE IN BROOKLYN? The Brooklyn Real Estate market is on FIRE. Call the best! The Behfar Team 347-988-2526 BAYSWATER OPEN HOUSE AUG.20 FROM 11-1PM 1478 Point Breeze Pl Renovated 6 Bedrooms 4 bathroom DR/LR/ Large Remodeled kosher kitchen plenty closets porch driveway Huge lot. Asking 849k Call 212-470-3856/ 516-206-2005 All going realty Cedarhurst: PRICE REDUCED GREAT STARTER HOME - Mid-Block Location in the Heart of Cedarhurst, 3BR Colonial, Variance Approved for Expansion, Near All…$520K Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com CEDARHURST: Center Hall Colonial on Quiet Cul-De-Sac. Backing the Golf Course. 5 Bedrooms, 4 Full Bathrooms, Large Eat-in Kitchen, Den, Finished Basement, Attic, Heated In-Ground Pool, & Much More!!!...$1.3M Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com HEWLETT BAY PARK: PRICE REDUCED Spectacular Waterfront Colonial On 2+Acres, Bulkhead & Dock, 6BR, 6.5BA, Grand LR, Den W/Fplc, Eik W/Gas BBQ, Formal DR, IG-Heat Pool, Wood & Marble Floors Throughout, Separate Carriage House, 4 Car Garage & Much More...$1.995M Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com
WOODMERE: PRICE REDUCED Magnificent 5BR, 3.5BA Split Level Home, Eik, Formal DR, Den W/Frpl & Vaulted Ceilings, Skylights, Hardwood Floors, In-Ground Pool, Cedar Deck, Radiant Heat & Much More!!! Close To All…$825K Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com NORTH WOODMERE New Listing 492 Golf Court Tropicana High Ranch, Cul de Sac, 6Br, 3Baths, EIK, Dining Room, 4000+ SF, Walk to Temple, Multi Levels Patios, Sundeck. Open House Every Saturday and Sunday 12-5, or appointments 516-205-1655 Asking $789,000
COMMERCIAL RE CEDARHURST 500-3,500 +/- SF Beautiful, newly renovated space for rent. Ideal for Retail or Executive offices. Prime location. Convenient Parking. Call Sam @516-612-2433 or 718-747-8080 Cedarhurst: Professional/Medical Space with On-Site Parking, Three 1,500SF Suites For Lease in the Heart of Town, Near Public Transportation & Major Highways... Call For More Details Broker (516) 792-6698
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Classifieds classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com / text 443-929-4003 COMMERCIAL RE
COMMERCIAL RE
COMMERCIAL RE
Cedarhurst: Spacious 6,600+/- Combined Office Spaces, 3,400SF Ground Floor & 3,200SF Lower Level W/4 Bathrooms, Kitchenette, On-Site Parking, Can Be Rented Individually, Great for Any Professional Use, For Lease... Call for More Details Broker (516) 792-6698
ROCKVILLE CENTRE: Prime Sunrise Hwy Location, 13000SF Lot with 10000SF Free Standing Bldg & 2 Partial Basements, Vacant Adjoining Lot Included, Retail/Office Use, For Sale …Call Lenny for More Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com
WAREHOUSE Up to 10,000 S/F Rockville Centre Loading Dock - Walk to LIRR 917-822-0499
HEMPSTEAD: 1,600SF & 3,000SF Professional Office Spaces in Beautiful Elevator Building W/Excellent Parking, Great Location, For Lease… Call For More Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com HEWLETT: 850+/-SF Office Space, 2nd Floor Walk-up in Professional Bldg with On-Site Parking, For Lease… Call for More Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com ROCKVILLE CENTRE: LANDLORD MOTIVATED!!! 850+/-SF Retail Store on Corner of Municipal Parking Lot, Excellent Signage Opportunity, Almost Any Use, Great Location, For Lease …Call Randy for More Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com
WOODMERE: High Tech Executive Suites W/Parking & Storage, Various Sizes Available, All New!!! 24 Hour Access, All Utilities Included Plus Many Amenities, For Lease…Call for More Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com INWOOD OFFICE SPACE LOWEST PRICES IN TOWN! 500-7000 Square feet gorgeous office space with WATERVIEW in Inwood! Lots of options. Tons of parking. WIll divide and customize space for your needs! Call 516-567-0100 ROCKVILLE CENTRE 4,600 -S/F Warehouse Includes Offices with Large Windows Loading Dock / Ideal Location - Walk to LIRR 917-822-0499
CO-OP FOR SALE FAR ROCKAWAY 833 Central , 1st floor, balcony, doorman. Completely renovated, near LIRR, 2BR/2 full bath, 2 DW/sinks, wood cabinets, granite counters $339 917-572-9644 WOODMERE: BEST BUY – NEW PRICE SMALL PETS OK: Beautiful Corner Unit In Elevator Bldg, 2BR, 5 Closets, All Large Rooms, Sunny & Spacious, Close To All...$165K Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com LAWRENCE: Magnificent 2BR Renovated Apt, New Top Of The Line Stainless Steel Appliances, Bright & Sunny, Eik, Updated Full Bathroom, Washer/Dryer In Apt, Storage In Basement, Near All…$239K Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com
APT FOR RENT FOR RENT Large 2 bedroom apartment, 2nd floor of private house on nice street in Lawrence, near Shaaray and LIRR. A lot of closet space, eat-in kitchen, living room/dining room, washer/dryer. Available immediately. $2,150 a month, includes heat. Call (516) 318-9153 FAR ROCKAWAY 2 bedroom apt available furnished newly renovated basement with high ceilings, airy and light. Brand new Kitchen and appliances . All rooms have split air conditioners, full bathroom and WiFi. please call Ricki 347-248-9160 $1400 + utilities
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Move Right In, 1BR, Elev Spacious 2BR, 2BA, Eik, 6BR Colonial, SD#14, 4BR,2BA Cape, Formal Bldg,Near All..$1,700/mo Storage,Near All..$2,650/mo Room To Expand..$499K DR,Bsmt,SD#14..$550K
5BR,4BA Colonial,SD#15,Eik Waterfront 6BR, 6.5BA Beautiful Updated 5BR Hi-Ranch, Eik, Den, W/2 Sinks, Near All..$899K Col,Dock,Pool..$1.995M New Appliances, SD#15, Near All... $660K
Carol Braunstein
Susan Pugatch
Call or Text
(516) 592-2206
cbraunstein@pugatch.com
(516)
www.pugatch.com
295-3000
spugatch@pugatch.com
MASSAPEQUA: 2 0 E Wa l n u t S t ( 1 2 - 2 ) $359K
2,500+SF Medical Office Bldg Turn-Key Atrium like Setting Handicap Accessible
1,600SF & 3,900SF Suites Beautiful Elevator Building Excellent On-Site Parking
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Classifieds classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com / text 443-929-4003 APT FOR RENT
HELP WANTED
HELP WANTED
HELP WANTED
HEWLETT: HOUSE RENTAL Beautifully Maintained Home In SD#14, 4BR, 2BA, SS Appliances, HW Floors, Gas Heat, Renovated Kitchen, Close To All…$3,500/mo Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com
Seeking Nursery Assistant Warm, Loving, Motivated and Organized Excellent opportunity for growth! Please send resume with references to morahseek@gmail.com or call/text 347-766-2618
Seeking curriculum director for a Bais Yaakov elementary school Person should be knowledgeable in Limudei Kodesh and General Studies curriculum as well as up to date on current methodology. Please send resume to currsearch@gmail.com
HELP WANTED
Looking for a shadow to accompany a special needs child from Far Rockaway to Flatbush , Mon- Thurs leaving around 8am and from Flatbush to Far Rockaway leaving around 4 pm and Friday 12 pm Please call 718-252-3365 x 105
SKA HS for Girls, Hewlett, NY seeks an AP Biology teacher for the 2017-2018 schoolyear. Email resumes to: hspirn@skahalb.org
SECRETARY/OFFICE MANAGER Yeshiva High School Office Mange all aspects of the School/ Business Office, Responsibilities include: Registration, Tuition, Annual Dinner, Banking, Academic Records, Mailings. Strong Organization Skills and Ability to Multi Task. Must be responsible, extremely organized, self-motivated Yeshiva Experience a plus Email Resume: officepositionhire@gmail.com
Be A Camper And Get A Youth Corp Job at Camp Gavoha Ages 14-16 Call Today 917-734-4495 FINANCIAL COORDINATOR Nursing Home in Nassau County is seeking a Qualified Financial Coordinator with Nursing Home experience. Individual should be able to Multitask & have excellent organizational skills, be efficient in excel and word. Responsibilities include but not limited to; Handling of patient accounts, bank deposits on a daily basis, Medicaid applications & other financial duties. Excellent salary & benfits pkg as well as a grt working environment. Please send resumes to gdiamond@southshorerehab.net
Pugatch Realty Corp., in Woodmere, is looking to hire and train a select group of motivated Realtors. If you are looking to build a career in real estate, or looking to take your existing career to the next level, there is no better place to start that the #1 Real Estate Brokerage in the Five Towns… Call Today (516) 295-3000 x 128. All calls kept confidential. TAG JH looking for lang arts teacher looking for full time sub. Email: cdwieder@gmail.com
355 Central Avenue, Lawrence NY 11559 (Across the street from Seasons)
Local Yeshiva is seeking half and full day substitute teachers for grades 1-8. Please email cover letter, resume and time availability to: hweiselberg@halb.org
Shevach High School, Flushing, NY seeks AP Psychology Teacher- Masters’ Required and FT Secretary. Send resume to: office@shevachhs.org
Bais Yaakov in Far Rockaway seeking teachers and asst teachers for the coming school year. Please email resume to teachingpositions1@gmail.com
Shulamith Early Childhood is looking for teacher assistants for the 2017-2018 school year. Please email your resume to earlychildhood@shulamith.org
POSITIONS AVAILABLE The Ganger Early Childhood Division of Torah Academy for Girls seeking warm, capable Assistants, experience pref, good pay and working conditions. Please email resume to csender@ tagschools.org
TJH Classifieds
P: 516.791.6100 | F: 516.374.7059 www.WeissmanRealty.com
CEDARHURST
LAWRENCE/FAR ROCKAWAY
Reduced Sunny Junior 4 in Beautiful Co-op Building. 5 bedroom, 2bth w/ gorgeous granite kitchen. Lrg grnd r opens to beautiful water Renovated Kitchen & Bath, Hrdwd Flrs. Elevator, view. Renovation needs to be nished. Make Doorman, and Laundry. $265,000 it the way you want. Call Sherri Slochowsky 516-297-7995 $698K
Looking for Commercial Office or Retail Space?
We have available: One room offices Office suites Retail spaces
Call Sherri for more information.
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Our investment sales division, winner of the prestigious Costar award 3 years in a row, has an opening for a sales position. Involves aggressive prospecting via cold calling and building relationships with property owners. Please contact Kus Sebrow 516-791-6100 x103
APARTMENT RENTALS
OFFICES FOR LEASE Far Rockaway office for lease Cornaga location, 3 to 4 offices, plus bthrm. Good for doctor, dentist or business. $1900 Call Sherri 516-297-7995 Cedarhurst offices for lease Single rooms or executive suites. All utilities included. Starting at $400. Call Sherri 516-297-7995
Post your Real Estate, Help Wanted, Services, Miscellaneous Ads here.
Weekly Classifed Ads Up to 5 lines and/or 25 words 1 week ................ $20 $10 2 weeks .............. $35 $17.50 4 weeks .............. $60 $30 Email ads to: classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com Include valid credit card info
Deadline Monday 5:00pm
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Life CAPTURE
I M A G E S LTD PHOTOGRAPHY I VIDEO
GABRIEL SOLOMON
GABE@LIFECAPTUREIMAGES.COM 516.499.9620 WWW.LIFECAPTUREIMAGES.COM
Classifieds HELP WANTED
MISC
Full time administrative position
OVERNIGHT \WEEKEND COUNSELOR
available at Machon Sarah High
Responsible and exp’d staff to live
School of Torah Academy for Girls.
in a beautiful group home & work 3
Please email resume to mweitman@
nights\week 7pm - 9am. Staff are not
tagschools.org OFFICER Girls’ high school is looking for an organized, responsible administrative assistant to manage attendance. Must be adept at school management software, Excel, and mobile devices. Hours 9-5 M-Th and 9-12 F. Email resume to mshepard@tagschools.org
req’d to remain awake after 11pm. Staff are req’d to work two weekends per month. Free rent & food. Stipend given as well. Great for college girl. For additional info contact Frayde Yudkowsky at 732.948.4636 or fyudkowsky@evolvetreatment.com WARM, LOVING, HEIMISHE PLAYGROUP IN FAR ROCKAWAY ages 2 ½ to 4 – is looking for assistants
Local F.T. Accounting Office Seeks
and substitutes.
P/T JR. ACCOUNTANT proficient in
Please call 516-371-6848
Q.B. knowledge of payroll tax, sales tax,
MISC
business tax and individual taxes Qualified applicants should please
ARE YOU FREE IN THE MORNINGS?
e-mail resume to:
Come join any of our free shiurim in
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Nach, Mishnayos, Bavli ,Yerushalmi and Mishna Berurah. Right here in
FIVE TOWNS OFFICE LOOKING FOR
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immediate hire of several people…part
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HERSHEY PARK TICKETS
CATAPULT LEARNING
CALL OR TEXT SHUA @917-923-0011
NOW ON SALE FOR $48 Teachers, Title I Boro Park, Williamsburg and Flatbush Schools
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*Teaching experience required *Strong desire to help children learn *Small group instruction *Excellent organization skills Competitive salary Send resume to: Fax: (212) 480-3691 ~ Email: nyteachers@catapultlearning.com
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WIG GEMACH Everyone in our community deserves to look great! Donate used wigs and make a world of a difference. For appointments to see wigs or to donate, call Deena 845-304-6668
Boys kiruv school located in Kew Gardens seeks general studies teachers for upper elementary grades. Must be proficient in Common Core curriculum and comfortable with
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Classifieds
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
Your
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Money
Bottoms Up! By Allan Rolnick, CPA
W
hat were you doing at the end of your day on Friday, August 4? Were you knocking back a bottle of suds at your favorite happy-hour bar? Enjoying vacation time with a cold one overlooking a beach or a harbor? Maybe feeling ripped off paying $14 for a tallboy of St Louis’s finest at your local ballpark? Well, maybe you were doing something like that because the first Friday in August is International Beer Day ! Beer is the world’s oldest alcoholic beverage — chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that brewers produced beer as long as 7,000 years ago in ancient Iran. It’s the third most popular beverage overall, behind water and tea. (Sorry, Starbucks, it’s the rare coffee drinker who chugs more than one of your lattes in a day.) As Ben Franklin once famously said, “Beer is proof that G-d loves us and wants us to be happy.” It’s almost as easy to make as it is to drink, and you can do it with as few as three ingredients: water, hops, and barley. So ... would it surprise you to learn that taxes are actually the priciest ingredient? Taxes are more
expensive than labor and raw material combined when making beer – and even more than marketing, which typically runs over 30% for a national brand. Here in the U.S, the states take the lead on taxing beer. Taxes start as low as two cents per gallon. But
more than 2 million barrels (you know, the ones who brew beer in tanks the size of Rhode Island) and importers. Smaller brewers trying to get ahead get tax credits reducing the effective rate to $7 per barrel on the first 60,000 barrels, which encourages the sort of craft-beer
All told, the beer industry contributes $252.6 billion to the economy and supports 1.75 million jobs.
they range up to a foamy $1.29 per gallon in Tennessee, including a 17% wholesale tax. Arkansas, Maryland, Minnesota, and DC include statewide sales taxes specific to alcoholic beverages. Other states impose distributor taxes, case fees, and bottle fees. Don’t forget regular sales taxes on top of those special rates. And that’s before the tipplers at the IRS draft their share! The federal excise tax on beer is set at $18 per barrel for brewers who produce
competition that gives you 57 varieties of India Pale Ale on tap at your local pub, along with beers flavored with lemon, watermelon, and even banana. Today there are over 4,000 breweries across the country, including a whole new universe of craft breweries and brewpubs that didn’t exist a decade ago. All told, the beer industry contributes $252.6 billion to the economy and supports 1.75 million jobs. The Beer Institute, a national
trade association representing those 4,000 breweries, estimates that once all those taxes are added up, they make up more than 40% of the retail price of your favorite six-pack. The beer lobby even buys a few rounds, with its own version of proactive planning to pay less tax. The result? In a rare example of bipartisan cooperation, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representatives Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Ron Kind (D-WI) have introduced the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, which would skim the tax to just $3.50 on the first 60,000 barrels for the pint-sized producers and reduce it to $16 per barrel on the first 2 million for the big guys. You may not have an industry lobby fighting to keep your taxes down. But you do have us . So call when you’re ready for your own proactive plan. We’re confident you’ll want to raise a toast to the results!
Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 yea rs in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home
Life C ach
Rules of the Game By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS
L
ast week I looked at an hourto-hour record of the weekend weather in Loch Sheldrake, NY. My entire extended family cancelled a fun trip up to the country based on that steady and continuous hourto-hour report. Rain, rain and more rain, that’s what the weatherman guaranteed! And guess what? Not a sprinkle. Not even a spritz. At least not during waking hours. Now tell me, who is running the world?! Cause it certainly isn’t the meteorologists! A meteorologist is defined as an expert in predicting weather for the rest of the week. But his guess is usually as good as mine! Did you ever hear a report that said zero chance of rain – as you were standing in a downpour? Someone is certainly messing with the weather. As good as anyone is in their field, there always seems to be plenty of space for surprises. It’s as if there’s some kind of secret agent messing
with the accuracy, behind the scenes. Someone seems to be out there on their own guard duty, or might we say, G-d duty. We are always making plans... and flip, flop, plop, it could change
Did you ever buy a board game? You know how it comes with rules enclosed in the box? So does life! A major rule is that we are supposed do our best. How it might get changed, well, that’s not our depart-
Someone seems to be out there on their own guard duty, or might we say, G-d duty.
in a moment. It doesn’t always. But it could. Because we are not really in charge. Expert, shmexpert – they are important, don’t get me wrong, but that title goes just so far! So, what advice should we give ourselves?
ment! Maybe we don’t focus on these rules that apply to the life box because everyone is so “out of the box” these days. Or, perhaps, it’s because these rules aren’t actually written out at delivery. Maybe it would be simpler
to understand if a baby came out with the rule card right on top of them. You know, the same way games do. But then again, they’d probably go the same way game rules go. They always get lost in a minute! No one remembers to put them back in the box. And where would we store our rule cards anyway, in the baby’s diaper?! Nope, it’s just some rules of the game we have to remember: Rule #1: Try your best! Rule #2: Try to remember that’s the best there is, trying your best! Here’s the take home message. Armed with those two awesome rules front and center in your mind, have an awesome week. Or at least try your best to! Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relationship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-7052004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com<mailto:rivki@rosenwalds.com
The Jewish Home | AUGUST 17, 2017
YESHIVA GEDOLAH ATERES YAAKOV Rabbi Meir Braunstein, Shlita, Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Gedolah Under the leadership of Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe, Shlita, Rosh HaYeshiva
Lifelong Kesher With A Rebbi
3 Sedarim With Shoel Maishivim
Centrally Located
THE IN-TOWN YESHIVA
with the Eretz Yisroel flavor
Earn College Credits
1st Year Bais Medrash Program
Active Kollel
Affiliated With Yiep Graduate Degree Programs
Mishmar, In-shabbosim, Siyumim
Be A Mashpia For Mesivta Bochurim
Beautiful Bais Medrash Rabbeim: Rabbi Mendy Edelstein Rabbi Avrohom Hartman Rabbi Yisroel Gold Rabbi Yecheskel Rodkin Rabbi Akiva Willig
To apply for the upcoming zman, please call
yg@ateresyaakov.com
516.374.6465 ext:4016
Lawrence, NY 11559
131 Washington Ave
95
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AUGUST 17, 2017 | The Jewish Home