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Every election matters. Of course. But this one is different. For the first time, we face an existential threat.
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• �������� D��A c��lls our s c��ools r ����gr ����s s iv����, our v��lu����s d��ng����r ous , our communi��y ��n obs ����cl����. ����is is n’�� ��bou�� inclus ion—i��’s ��bou�� ����r ��s ur ����.
• Cuomo is no�� �� ��z��ddi��. Bu�� ����is is n’�� ��bou�� li��ing ��im. W����’r ���� no�� c��oos ing �� r ����bb����—w����’r ���� c��oos ing �� s ��i����ld.
• Y����s , w���� r ����m����mb����r �������� p��in of �������� 2020 r ����d zon����s . Bu�� w������’s coming is wor s ����
• M��y or Er ic Ad��ms is NO�� on ����is b��llo��. A vo������ for ��ny on���� bu�� Cuomo = �� vo������ for M��md��ni.
Pl������s ���� no������ �������� in r ��n������d-c��oic���� vo��ing, y ou ��r ���� no�� r ����quir ����d ��o r ��n�� mor ���� ������n on���� c��ndid��������, ����v����n if �� poll wor ������r ������lls y ou o��������r wis ����.
EARLY VOTING STARTS SUNDAY, JUNE 15 ������y ��om���� = s ur r ����nd����r . Vo������ = pr o������c��. ����is is ��bou�� Our s ��f������y . Our fu��ur ���� in ����is ci��y .
FAR ROCKAWAY JEWISH ALLIANCE
El����n�� Ad����lm��n
Ric����r d Al����b���� ������lom B����c������r
Bour c�� B����r B����nd����r
Zvi Bloom
J��c�� Br ��c��
Mor d����c����i Zvi Dic������r
Ruc��i���� Dunn
Jo����l K��pl��n
A����r on K��pl��n
Dr Mos ������ L��z��r
Mois ������ Mis ����owi��z
C����im R��pfog����l
B��r uc�� Ro����m��n
A��r on Zupni��
FAR ROCKAWAY JEWISH ALLIANCE STRONGLY URGES YOU TO VOTE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR:
MAYOR: ANDREW CUOMO
COMPTROLLER: MARK LEVINE
PUBLIC ADVOCATE: JENIFER RAJKUMAR
Dear Readers,
Sometimes I wonder what my reaction would have been like if I had lived in certain periods of history. Would I have been able to see the miraculous turns of events as they occurred in the Purim story? Would I have viewed every military victory during the times of Chanukah as a marvel orchestrated by Hashem?
Or would I have been the type of person who had every reason and excuse to explain why, according to the “natural world,” it made sense that Esther became Achashveirosh’s queen or how Yehuda and his band of Maccabim were able to emerge victorious over the Greek army?
It’s easy to see the miracles in events when we’re centuries away from them. But when the story is unfolding and the chapters are being written, would I have been able to see G-d’s Hand before the book was finished and tied with a bow?
It’s questions like these that I ask myself now, as we are clearly in the middle of a chapter of a fundamental moment in history.
Israel has said that they have been working on this type of attack for three decades. That’s
30 years of work they say has been poured into this battle. And still, they admit that what they have been able to accomplish over the past few days is even more than they would have anticipated and hoped for.
Years of planning, infiltrations and preparations have brought them to this point. But if G-d wasn’t their military Commander, then all the planning in the world would be for nought. If Hashem didn’t hold back missiles from reaching Israel or He didn’t allow the Iron Dome to do its job, there would be countless tragedies and fatalities.
But He is there; He is guiding and leading the Jewish nation.
I hope that soon the chapter will finish being written. I hope that soon our nation will be able to live in peace. Then, the twists and turns of the story will be clear and the open miracles will be revealed to all.
But until then, I am looking for His hand in every news story and headline.
He is there – we just have to find Him. Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana
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Dear Editor,
My husband and I had been dreaming about this trip for years. Every spare dollar, every skipped indulgence — all of it was in service of one goal: to finally set foot in Israel. To stand where history lives and where our hearts had always belonged.
We boarded that plane filled with excitement and deep emotion. The idea that we were just hours away from landing in Tel Aviv felt surreal — like a prayer answered after years of waiting.
And then, just three hours away…everything changed.
The captain’s voice crackled through the intercom: due to the escalating war between Iran and Israel, we could not continue. We were making an emergency landing in Rome.
Rome.
We sat frozen in our seats. No one spoke. The flight crew was overwhelmed and offered little guidance. Fear and disappointment settled like a heavy fog. We were strangers in a foreign country, suddenly without a destination, no plan, and Shabbat approaching fast.
We hadn’t made it to Israel — not even close — and the war raged on in the background of our phones and hearts.
But Rome had its own quiet miracles waiting for us.
We walked to Tempio Maggiore “The Great Synagogue of Rome,” a magnificent and historic building that has stood through centuries of Jewish history, including the Holocaust. And somehow, we ended up there, praying in that space. The same prayers we would have said in Jerusalem, now carried through vaulted
ceilings built with stone and memory. We cried. We sang. We prayed. We had not reached our original destination. But we had reached something deeper — a reminder that wherever we go, our people are there. Our traditions, our spirit, our hope — they follow us, they surround us, and they rise with us even in the most unexpected places.
We had a Shabbat meal at a Jewish restaurant. At first, we debated whether to even go. We were too tired, too emotionally raw. But something inside us said: go anyway.
And we did.
That Friday night, we sat with dozens of other Jews — tourists, locals, travelers stranded like us — and when the blessings began, something shifted. The pain didn’t disappear, but it softened. The room swelled with singing, with joy, with resilience. When everyone began to sing “Shalom Aleichem,” the walls felt like they were holding generations of strength and faith. We all became a family. I’m proud to be a Jew. I’m proud to be a Zionist. And though this journey took a detour we never saw coming, I will carry the heartbreak, the resilience, and the beauty of that Shabbat in Rome with me for the rest of my life.
We were three hours away from Israel — and yet, we somehow found it anyway. Rosie Ashare
Dear Editor,
I write with regard to a letter to the editor written by Dovid Aryeh Rosenblatt proposing a 10% “Luxury Maaser” on those who engage in “high-end spending” with the proceeds to fund full-time Torah Continued on page 15
A drive through any Orthodox community, whether in the Five Towns or Lakewood, will see the names of the gvirim who funded the building of shuls and schools on the buildings. Those philanthropists continue to support those institutions on a regular basis. But that is not enough for Mr. Rosenblatt. He wants to enact a luxury tax on those who purchase “boutique cheesecakes.” (For the record, the Costco cheesecakes are better than any boutique cheesecake I ever ate.) He must have gone to the same school of economics as Bernie Sanders who wants to raise the top income tax rate on the One Percent who pay 40% of federal taxes. Moreover, he wants to have this tax enforced “on par with kashrus and tzinius standards.”
The Torah prohibition of Lo Sosef (Devarim 4:2; 13:1) prohibits the imposition of an additional maaser. I expect I will get an opposing opinion. Sol Liss
Dear Editor,
Several weeks ago, I expressed concern of Pizza Pious closing down. It definitely took a slice (pun intended) of my life when I heard the news.
I am pleased to share in this community’s simcha that they will, b”H, not be closing after all.
As aforementioned, Leo’s delicious zeppolis and pizza have been an essential part of my childhood and Woodmere at large.
Please, if you live, work, visit, or attend school in the area, feast by Pizza Pious – whether it’s for lunch, dinner, melava malka, a siyum, birthday parties, or just to chill with some friends.
With summer underway, and Sukkos arriving before we know it, order some of his delicious pizza pies for your pool party and Simchas Beis Hashoeiva!
Wishing Leo Shalamoff and all of Pizza Pious much hatzlacha in feeding the community,
Chaim Feldman
Loyal Customer
Dear Editor,
I was delighted to see the writeup on Rebbetzin Shoshana Perr in last week’s TJH.
I had first encountered Rebbetzin Perr during ninth grade in TAG, where she taught us Mesilas Yesharim. Years later, Reb Perr became my kallah teacher. My husband soon found his kehilla and his rav, Rav Yechiel Perr and the Yeshiva of
Far Rockaway, and so Rebbetzin Perr became my Rebbetzin.
We learn together on Shabbos afternoons, Inyanei D’Yoma and the week’s Torah portion. I teach in the Judaica Studies Dept. of Touro College and often discuss my material with Rebbetzin Perr.
I consistently learn a great deal from my dear teacher. Foremost, the determination to constantly keep learning and growing. She is never rigid. We can comfortably explore any topic together. She is regal, yet very warm. As a daughter of the Mussar movement, she knows exactly what her role is and plays it to perfection. Rebbetzin Perr is a true role model for me and for many. I had watched her interact with her mother, a”h, over the years, which had been most inspiring. And through the Rebbetzin, I have had access to the Rosh Yeshiva, zt”l, such a privilege.
To be connected with Rebbetzin Shonnie Perr is quite extraordinary.
Shulamith Rubin
Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my concern regarding an alarming issue I recently learned about from my nephew, who attended a high school boys’ summer program in Israel. It has come to my attention that this program permits vaping among high school boys, a fact that is not disclosed to parents. While the program claims to prohibit other substances, the allowance of vaping raises significant concerns about the environment and influences present there. As a concerned mother, I feel it is crucial to spread awareness among other parents about the potential risks associated with such programs. It is essential for parents to thoroughly investigate the programs they send their children to, as the acceptance of vaping may indicate a leniency towards smoking and drinking as well. I urge other parents to be vigilant and ensure their children are not exposed to harmful habits.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Aunt/Mother
Dear Editor,
While Israel possesses the capability to decimate densely populated areas in Iran, it chooses not to, because Israel, at its core, values human life. It is a nation built on the principles of morality and restraint, even in the face of relentless hostility. In stark contrast, the Iranian regime has launched waves of missiles and drone attacks aimed deliberately at civilian centers, a barbaric campaign designed not to defeat armies but to terrorize and kill innocents. This is not warfare, it is the deliberate targeting of civilians,
the very definition of genocide. And yet, where is the global outrage?
When Israel exercises its right to self-defense, the world rises in condemnation. But when genocidal aggression is unleashed against Israel, when children sleep under the threat of missile fire and entire neighborhoods are targeted, too many remain silent. These double standard and silence are not only unjust; they embolden tyrants.
Within Iran itself, the people are not the enemy. On the contrary, many brave Iranians dream of a future free from the grip of a regime that has brought them nothing but isolation, repression, and war. Across Iran, there are growing signs of unrest and celebration at the thought of a future without theocratic tyranny. The winds of change are stirring.
A change in Iran’s leadership is not only possible, I believe it is inevitable. But the world must wake up and take a stand. Supporting the downfall of the Iranian regime is not about waging war on a nation, but about standing with a people yearning for liberty. It is about drawing a clear line between those who uphold life and those who glorify death.
History will not judge the world kindly if it remains a bystander. The time has come to call things by their true names, to recognize and confront evil when it masquerades as resistance, and to stand firmly on the side of justice, life, and freedom. Pedram Bral, M.D.
Dear Editor,
The Chasam Sofer and Hamek Davar offer a wonderful insight that has great relevance to the current situation. We know the well-known verse, Sameach Zevulun b’tzeit’echa, v’Yissachar b’ohalecha — Rejoice, Zevulun, in your goings out, and Yissachar in your tents (Devarim 33:18). They say that the “going out” refers to war. In this interpretation, the meaning of the verse is that Zevulun should feel confident in going out to war as long as Yissachar is learning simultaneously. This real-time study during the war is far more powerful than previous military occurrences in our history, where karbanos were sacrificed before the war to attain victory. Based on this verse, however, the learning is not before the war, but during it, giving constant strength toward success. This Yissachar study is taking place now, all around the world, offering confidence to all military maneuvers.
Steven Genack
Fatal Plane Crash in India
On Thursday, an Air India plane bound for London crashed less than a minute after it took off, killing at least 270 people, 242 of whom were on board. The others who were killed were hit by the craft after it crashed, skidded, and caught on fire. The only survivor on the plane was a passenger named Viswash Kumar Ramesh.
At 1:38 p.m. local time, the plane crashed in Ahmedabad, India, around a mile southeast of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, and damaged several buildings. The aircraft stopped skidding after it hit the dining hall of B.J. Medical College. According to the school’s dean, of the 60 to 80 students in the building, five or more were killed.
Around 28 hours after the crash, authorities uncovered the plane’s black box, a device that records flight data. The cause of the crash is thus far unclear. Because the airplane is American-made, investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board have come to India to investigate the disaster. The crash was peculiar for several reasons. For one, when it descended to the ground, its nose was pointed upward, according to Safety Operating Systems’ CEO John Cox, a former airline pilot.
The aircraft was a 12-year-old Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. This is the first time a Dreamliner has crashed fatally.
According to Air India, the plane had on board 169 Indian passengers, 53 British citizens, seven people from Portugal, and one Canadian. The crash, one of the world’s most fatal in recent memory, was India’s deadliest since 1996.
Strike at the Louvre
The Louvre, a French museum best known as the home of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, closed last Monday after staff members staged a walkout out of concern for the intense pressure of mass tourism.
The Louvre, the most-visited museum in the world, has only ever closed in times of war, during the pandemic, and during staff strikes in 2013 and 2019 over safety concerns and crowding. On Monday, however, the museum’s shutdown was more sudden than ever, with thousands of confused tourists turned away.
The walkout was decided during a staff meeting, during which gallery attendants, ticket agents, and security personnel opted to spontaneously strike in protest of poor working conditions, understaffing, and overcrowding. The strike came a day after organized anti-tourism protests spread through southern Europe.
On average, 20,000 tourists visit the Mona Lisa per day. Last year, the Louvre hosted 8.7 million visitors, which is more than twice what the museum was built to handle. Though the number of daily visitors is capped at 30,000, employees have voiced concern over soaring temperatures at the museum and a dearth of restrooms and rest areas.
Louvre President Laurence des Cars, in a leaked document, called being at the Louvre “a physical ordeal,” noting that areas of the museum are “no longer watertight,” that the museum’s treasured art works may be damaged by temperature fluctuations, and that visitors are not given sufficient access to food, directions, and restrooms. The Louvre also suffers from water leaks.
A few months ago, French President Emmanuel Macron introduced a plan to restore the museum and fix its issues. Macron plans to move the Mona Lisa into her own room and create new entrances and exhibition spaces. The renovation would cost $730 million to $834 million.
The plan is expected to be implemented over the span of a decade, which the museum’s workers say is too long, as some of the Louvre’s issues need to be addressed urgently. Moreover, staff members complain that government funding
for the museum is too low, with subsidies having decreased by over 20% over the last decade, despite record visitor numbers.
Iran’s Centrifuges Damaged
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the 15,000 centrifuges operating at Iran’s biggest uranium enrichment plant at Natanz were badly damaged or destroyed because of a power cut caused by an Israeli strike, the UN nuclear watchdog chief told the BBC on Monday.
“Our assessment is that with this sudden loss of external power, in great probability, the centrifuges have been severely damaged if not destroyed altogether,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in an interview with the BBC.
“I think there has been damage inside,” he added.
Power cuts pose a threat to the fragile, finely balanced machines that spin at extremely high speeds.
Earlier on Monday, Grossi told the IAEA board that there was a possibility of both radiological and chemical contamination within the underground Natanz facility.
The radiation caused by the damage posed a significant danger if uranium is inhaled or ingested, he said, but the risk could be effectively managed with appropriate protective measures, such as using respiratory protection devices while inside the facilities.
“The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event,” he said.
Israel bombed Natanz early Friday during the first wave of major strikes that started its shock campaign against Iranian military and nuclear sites, in a move it says was needed to thwart an immediate existential nuclear threat.
Israel’s airstrikes have put at least two of Iran’s three operating uranium enrichment plants out of action.
Grossi told the board no damage was seen at the separate Fordo enrichment plant dug deep into a mountain, later telling the BBC: “There is very limited, if any, damage registered [there].”
While the IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections since the attacks, it makes extensive use of satellite imagery.
“Four buildings were damaged in Friday’s attack: the central chemical laboratory, a uranium conversion plant, the Tehran reactor fuel manufacturing plant, and the UF4 [uranium tetrafluoride] to EU [enriched uranium] metal processing facility, which was under construction,” Grossi shared.
Israel said last week it had no choice but to attack Iran, and that it had gathered intelligence showing Tehran was approaching “the point of no return” in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Iran, in retaliation, has launched some 350 ballistic missiles at Israel since Friday, the vast majority of which were intercepted, according to IDF statistics released on Monday. In all, 24 people have been killed in Iran’s ballistic missile attacks, and hundreds more have been wounded.
Oil Tankers Collide
Two oil tankers began to burn this week after colliding in the Gulf of Oman. The incident occurred approximately 17 miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah near the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday.
The UK Maritime Operations, which tracks vessel threats and incidents in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, warned on Monday that ship navigational systems are being disrupted in the region as a result of the military campaigns being waged by Israel and Iran. Norway-based Frontline, which owns one of the vessels, said the collision was due to navigational issues and not as a direct result of airstrikes.
At least 24 people were evacuated from the two ships that had collided, the Liberian-flagged Front Eagle and the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Adalynn.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the busiest shipping corridors in the world and provides the only sea passage from
the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. An average of about 20 million barrels of crude oil and oil products pass through the Strait each day.
On Saturday, Esmail Kowsari, a senior commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, warned that Iran is considering closing the Strait. Greek and British maritime officials have already advised merchant ships to avoid the passage.
Deadly Bridge Collapse in India
On Sunday, the pedestrian bridge in a Pune village in India collapsed, killing four people. Many others were pulled from the water to safety.
Just days before the collapse, a work order was issued for construction of a new bridge. Had the work order – issued after years of complaints from the villagers – been on time, last week’s tragedy would not have taken place.
The bridge, built for farmers on the Indrayani river 30 years ago, had become overcrowded with tourists. Though its capacity was no more than four to five pedestrians at a time, it was carrying dozens of tourists and two-wheelers.
Alarmed, the locals tried to prod the government into action and at the same time warn the tourists. But neither course of action succeeded.
The demand for a new bridge was placed seven years ago. The approval was also received at that time. But the work order was issued on June 10 – a delay that many blame on officials.
“The process could have been faster. It took a lot of time. We were serious, but the officials were not serious. Also, this is a military area, there are always restrictions here,” said Ravindra Bhegade, a local leader of the BJP.
Earthquake Hits Peru
On Sunday, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck off Peru’s central coast, rattling Lima and the port city of Callao. One person was killed in the tremors and five
others were injured.
The quake’s epicenter was located 14 miles southwest of Callao, west of the capital Lima.
A 36-year-old man died in northern Lima while “standing outside his vehicle waiting for a passenger” when a wall from the fourth floor of a building under construction detached and fell on his head, Police Col. Ramiro Clauco said.
Roads and educational centers were damaged in the quake. Footage showed falling debris hitting cars and damaging buildings.
Peru is located along the Ring of Fire, a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by frequent earthquakes and active volcanoes.
Water Guns in Barcelona
Activists in Barcelona, Spain, are bringing out the guns – water guns.
The cheap, plastic toys are becoming a symbol for anti-tourism activists in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods.
The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the “degrowth” of the city’s successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Because of the sweltering heat, some protesters brought water guns to cool down.
“What happened later went viral, but in reality, it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot,” Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, said.
Some sprayed tourists with water guns as well.
The guns reappeared in April when
the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital.
On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona’s top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church.
The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: “One more tourist, one less resident!”
The protesters plastered doors, cafes and lampposts with stickers emblazoned with a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: “Tourist Go Home!”
Some tourists didn’t mind being squirted by water guns. But there were moments of tension. When several marchers sprayed workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as he slammed the hostel door shut.
Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those spritzed on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The “Tourist go home!” chants didn’t help either.
“I still like Barcelona,” she said. “I have met a lot of people who were kind.”
More Pain
Two Israeli soldiers were killed fighting in separate incidents in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis on Monday, the military announced.
Cpt. (res.) Tal Movshovitz, 28, a deputy company commander in the 7086th Combat Engineering Battalion, from Re’ut, was killed by an explosive device planted in a building. Hours later, Staff Sgt. Naveh Leshem, 20, of the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion, from Nokdim, was killed. Ten other soldiers were wounded.
Leshem and the other wounded soldiers were in an armored personnel carrier during operations in Khan Younis when a terror operative placed an explosive device on the outside of the vehicle. The blast
killed Leshem and seriously wounded four other troops, including an officer. It also left three soldiers in moderate condition and another three lightly hurt.
Leshem and Movshovitz were the second and third IDF fatalities in the last three days. Their deaths brought Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and military operations along the border with the Strip to 432.
Movshovitz was married to his wife Eliana. They had two children.
A day before those two heroes lost their lives, on Sunday, Sergeant Noam Shemesh, 21, of Jerusalem, was also killed in action in southern Gaza. Shemesh served as a squad commander in the Shimshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade.
The deadly incidents came as the IDF withdrew some forces out of the Strip, redeploying them along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, after Gaza was downgraded to a secondary arena amid a new campaign against Iran’s nuclear program.
According to the military, four IDF divisions are currently operating in Gaza, after the 98th Division, an elite formation of paratroopers and commando units, was taken out of Khan Younis and sent elsewhere as the Iran conflict began. There are tens of thousands of IDF troops still operating in the Strip.
Hostage Bodies Brought Back Home
Last week, the IDF recovered the bodies of two slain hostages from Gaza’s Kahn Younis area. Yair Yaakov and Aviv
Atzili were finally brought back to their families and laid to rest.
Atzili, a warrant officer in the reserves and a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz’s civil defense squad, was killed battling Hamas-led terrorists in the Gaza border community on October 7, 2023. He was 49. After being killed in battle, Atzili’s body was taken by Palestinian Islamic Jihad to Gaza, according to the IDF. His wife, Liat, was also kidnapped but was released in November 2023 as part of a weeklong truce.
“Aviv bravely went out to defend his
Kibbutz Nir Oz, fell in battle against the murderers, and was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement.
“I would like to thank the IDF and the Shin Bet for their determined action to return him,” he continued. “We will not rest until we bring home all of our hostages — both the living and the dead.”
“Aviv was one of the great pillars of the Nir Oz community,” the kibbutz said in a statement in 2023 after he was declared dead. “Painter, cyclist, a lover of the land. May his memory be a blessing.”
In a Facebook post in February 2024, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote that Atzili was a “peaceful and calm man with good karma” and that “everyone felt he was their best friend who always found the right words and advice.”
Yaakov, the other slain hostage who was brought home last week, was also abducted from Nir Oz and was murdered by Islamic Jihad terrorists during the massacre. He was kidnapped from his home with Tal and his two children. Tal was later released as a part of a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The IDF operation to recover the bodies was carried out by the army’s 36th Division and was “enabled by precise intelligence” obtained by the military’s Hostages Headquarters unit, the Military Intelligence Directorate, and the Shin Bet, the IDF said last week.
After the bodies were brought to Israel and identified at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, also known as Abu Kabir, officials notified their families and the kibbutz.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are now holding 53 hostages, including 52 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 31 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 20 are believed to be alive. There are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said.
New Hamas Leader
Following the assassination of Hamas chief Muhammad Sinwar last month, Az al-Din Haddad, 55, became the new leader of the terror group.
Sinwar rose to become the head of Hamas in northern Gaza after Israel assassinated his brother and predecessor, Yahya, in October 2024. Haddad, on the other hand, waas Hamas’s leader in southern Gaza. When Sinwar died, Haddad took full control over Hamas’ operations in Gaza.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Haddad played a role in orchestrating the
October 7 massacre, during which Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Haddad, who has a $750,000 bounty on his head, is referred to as the “Ghost of al-Qassam,” as he is generally under the radar. Israel has tried and failed to assassinate him numerous times. One former hostage, who was not named, said he met Haddad on five occasions. Once, they slept in the same apartment. In March 2024, when they first met, Haddad spoke to the hostage and others in Hebrew. The terrorist explained that he was responsible for all the abductees. He then showed them that he had pictures of the hostages on his cellphone.
According to the hostage, Haddad initially seemed friendly. He reportedly asked the hostage if he needed anything and gave the impression that he was concerned with the way the hostage was treated. In January, following the death of one of his sons, Haddad no longer appeared warm. His face was covered, and he angrily ranted about Israel. This year, two of Haddad’s sons were killed.
“Izz al-Din Haddad in Gaza and Khalil al-Hayya abroad, and all their partners in crime, you are next in line,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz, warning the terrorist leaders that Israel plans to assassinate them.
According to reports, Haddad may be more open to disarming Hamas in order to end the war in Gaza. Reportedly, Haddad encouraged Sinwar to accept the ceasefire in January and was supportive of continuing to release hostages in exchange for a temporary truce.
Argentina’s Milei Visits Israel
Last Wednesday, during his three-day visit to Israel, Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, addressed the Knesset and announced that Argentina’s embassy in Israel would move from Herzliya to Jerusalem in 2026. In February 2024, Milei initially declared that he intended to relocate the embassy during his first visit to Israel as president.
At the Knesset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana hailed Milei as a true friend to Israel.
“Javier, you are a true friend. With this visit, we are bringing our relations to new heights. 12,000 kilometers separate Buenos Aires, Israel and the Knesset in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu told him. “This great distance is compensated for by the closeness of our hearts.”
“Time and again, you have chosen to prefer truth over comfort, faith over fashion, and a moral compass over belonging to an automatic majority,” Ohana said, adding that he considers Milei the best friend of Israel and the Jewish people. “By standing by the State of Israel, you have woven yourself and the Argentinian people into the eternal story of the Jewish people.”
Even Lapid, a staunch critic of Netanyahu, joined the prime minister in his praise of Milei. At one point, Lapid began speaking Spanish to Milei.
“Since the prime minister does not
know Spanish, I can tell you in secret that we disagree on almost everything. But there are two things on which we agree,” Lapid told Milei. “The first is that Jews have the right to defend themselves. Israel will not surrender or bend. Neither in the face of terrorism nor in the face of lies. The second is that your friendship and support for Israel move us all.”
Milei began his speech to the Knesset by speaking about the October 7 massacre, during which Hamas killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others.
On that day, “the world witnessed great barbarity,” Milei said. “We believed that we had finally put an end to this barbarity — the tragedy of October 7 woke us up from this dream.”
“Argentina stands by you in these difficult days,” he told the Knesset, adding that Argentina will continue calling for the release of all the hostages. “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about a large part of the international community that is being manipulated by terrorists and turning victims into perpetrators.”
During his speech, Milei criticized Greta Thunberg, an activist who was recently detained by Israel while on a yacht bound for Gaza. Thunberg was promptly deported.
Milei continued by pointing out the
“many miracles” that Israel and the Jews have seen.
“The first miracle is the establishment of the State of Israel after the Holocaust, and the second is Israel’s survival after repeated attempts to destroy it,” he said.
The third: “You managed to grow food on land where nothing else grew.”
Netanyahu expressed his gratitude to Milei for “standing by our side in the campaign against the forces of darkness.” The Israeli premier said that Israel and Argentina would together “achieve enormous things.”
“I can assure you that we will continue to fight them. Israel is a fortress of democracy in the Middle East,” Netanyahu added. “We will not fall, nor will we surrender. We will win, and we will bring back all the living and the dead. We will make sure that Gaza no longer threatens Israel.”
Israel Slams Iran
On Sunday, three days into the Jewish state’s war with Iran, Israel struck numerous targets in Iran, killing top Iranian intelligence officers and hitting energy sites and radar systems, as well as ballistic missile launchers. Additionally, the IDF hit what might be its farthest target yet, striking an Iranian refueling plane at northeast Iran’s Mashhad Airport, around 1,430 miles away from Israel.
That day, Israeli strikes killed Brig. Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ intelligence chief, Hassan Mohaqiq, his deputy, and Mohsen Bagheri, another IRGC intelligence officer.
Early the following morning, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it had hit surface-to-surface missile launch sites in central Iran.
Early Friday morning, Israel began attacking Iran in an effort to stop the country’s nuclear program, which the Jewish state believed would have imminently become threatening if not for immediate Israeli airstrikes. While the Israeli army is ready for a tough fight with Iran, military officials have said that “at the end of the operation, there will be no nuclear threat” from Tehran.
On Sunday evening, IDF Chief of Staff
Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir praised the “historic and unprecedented operation [against Iran], aimed at significantly damaging the existential threat that Iran has built for years to destroy us.”
“We are continuing to operate according to a structured, thorough, professional and evolving plan,” Zamir said. “In the past 24 hours, we completed opening an air corridor to Tehran… Air Force pilots are flying with great risks, hundreds of kilometers away from Israeli territory, striking hundreds of diverse targets with precision. At the same time, we are locating and destroying missile launchers firing at our territory.”
24 Killed in Iranian Attacks
Since Friday, the day Israel began launching airstrikes to stop Iran from creating a nuclear weapon, Tehran has fired back around 350 missiles, most of which were intercepted, killing 24 people in Israel, as of Monday. One other person is missing and is believed to have been killed in an Iranian strike on a building in Bat Yam.
According to the Health Ministry, at least 287 people were hospitalized due to injuries caused by Iran’s strikes, one seriously and 14 moderately. The rest sustained light injuries or experienced acute shock. Two Iranian missiles caused major damage to buildings in Tel Aviv. Convulsions from a strike lightly damaged Israel’s United States embassy branch in Tel Aviv, confirmed U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Iran has been specifically targeting populated areas, including those in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and nearby cities. On early Monday morning, the IDF struck surface-to-surface missile launchers, a move that has cut the number of rockets Iran can launch by half. Shortly after 4 a.m., Iran launched around 40 missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted. Overnight and on Monday morning, Iran sent dozens of more drones, all of which Israel’s navy and air force successfully intercepted.
One of the impacted cities is Petah
Tikvah, where a missile struck a bombproof room. According to the IDF, four people were killed, two inside the shelter and two outside. Another three people were killed in Haifa, where many homes and buildings were also damaged. In Bnei Brak, authorities recovered the body of a man in his 80s from a damaged building. Miraculously, in a destroyed building, the Magen David Adom emergency service found an uninjured four-day-old baby, whom they kept in an ambulance until
the mother was, an hour later, also taken out of the building.
“The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a scared murderer who fires at Israel’s civilian home front in order to deter the IDF from continuing to carry out attacks that are destroying his capabilities,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz in reference to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. “The residents of Tehran will pay the price – and soon.”
“There is no intention to physical-
comes to kill children and women,” said Netanyahu.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli military has been asking Iranian civilians to evacuate from targeted areas. Iran generally sends 30 to 60 missiles at a time, 5 to 10 of which aren’t usually intercepted. The Israeli military allows some missiles to fall in open areas, while some circumvent Israeli air defenses and land in populated areas. Tehran can’t launch more missiles than its current amount because the Israeli Air Force’s attacks on Iran’s ballistic missile launchers have limited the regime’s military capabilities.
San Antonio Floods
Flash floods hit San Antonio, Texas, last week, killing at least 11 people and sweeping away at least 15 vehicles. The floods were caused by heavy rainfall. In only three hours, the city saw 5.6 inches of rain, which is more than San Antonio usually has for the entire month of June. Authorities rescued 10 individuals from trees and bushes who were swept a mile away by the floods. Rescue operations were still underway earlier this week, with fire officials responding to over 70 water rescues since early Thursday, said Joe Arrington, a spokesman for the fire department.
ly harm the residents of Tehran, as the murderous dictator does to the citizens of Israel,” clarified Katz. “The residents of Tehran will be forced to bear the cost of the dictatorship and evacuate their homes from areas where it will be necessary to strike regime targets and security infrastructure in Tehran.”
“When we control the skies over Tehran, we are hitting these targets, the targets of the regime, unlike the criminal regime of Iran that targets our citizens and
“While the majority of the water rescue responses were not severe in nature and consisted of our crews assisting drivers from vehicles that were stalled in high water, several of these calls were harrowing and involved our crews entering swift-moving water to effect rescues,” Arrington said in a Thursday evening statement.
Many of the deaths occurred near the neighborhood of Perrin Beitel, where three victims were named by the Bexar County Medical Examiner: Victor Manuel Macias Castro, 28; Matthew Angel Tufono, 51; and Martha De La Torre Rangel, 55.
Over the span of two hours, starting at approximately 5 a.m. local time, water levels rose from around 3 feet to a whopping 25 feet — an increase similar to flooding that occurs in tropical systems.
Thursday was the second-wettest June day in San Antonio’s history and the city’s seventh-wettest day over the past 82 years.
Leonard Lauder Dies
Leonard Lauder, the eldest son of beauty pioneer Estée Lauder, died on Saturday at the age of 92.
Leonard was heavily involved in the family business, famously typing invoices for the family business when he was growing up. He gradually built up the business around the globe.
In five decades at Estée Lauder, including a 17-year tenure as chief executive, Lauder secured prime spots in every major U.S. department store and built a portfolio of beauty’s biggest names, including Bobbi Brown, Aveda and MAC.
A dealmaker, he grew the company through acquisitions and took Estée Lauder public in 1995 on the New York Stock Exchange. Today, the company has more than two dozen brands and roughly $15 billion in annual sales. The Lauder family is still the biggest shareholder and controls about 87% of the voting power.
A famed art collector and philanthropist, Lauder long held a place in the upper echelons of New York society, his family’s name gracing portions of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art, among other institutions. In 2013, he donated a renowned collection of 78 cubist artworks, including pieces by Picasso, Georges Braque and Juan Gris, valued at $1 billion, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“My son always thought big,” his mother, Estée, said in her 1985 biography. She had started the business in 1946 selling skin creams she made in her Queens, N.Y., kitchen. “He worked every summer, every free moment.”
Under Leonard, Estée Lauder expanded into Europe and Asia and became a department-store staple at a time when big
retailers controlled the high-end beauty business. He created the company’s first research-and-development laboratory and ushered in the first nonfamily-member CEO.
The billionaire coined the idea of a Lipstick Index nearly two decades ago to show how lipstick sales rise in a bad economy. The theory behind it is that women will buy high-end cosmetics in a recession because they are an affordable luxury relative to bigger-ticket items such as jewelry or clothes.
Lauder, at an event in 2014, described working for his mother, who retired in 1995 and died in 2004. She would introduce him as her son first, then note he also was the company president and command, “Comb your hair.”
Leonard’s brother Ronald spent two decades at the company before leaving for other pursuits, which included a U.S. ambassadorship to Austria and an unsuccessful bid for New York City mayor in 1989.
Leonard served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy for three years at the height of the Cold War, followed by another four years in the Navy Reserve.
“With brave American troops in harm’s way in Afghanistan and Iraq, my years of military service seem comparatively uneventful,” he wrote in 2010 in a U.S. Naval Institute newsletter. “Yet, for me, they were defining.”
He was married to Evelyn Hausner from 1959 until her death in 2011. He later wed Judy Ellis-Glickman, the widow of a close friend whom he’d known more than 30 years.
U.S. Military Parade in D.C.
On Saturday morning, the United States held a military parade in honor of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary.
Despite the less-than-desirable weather, thousands watched the parade, which featured soldiers driving down Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Avenue in tanks, a parachute jump by the Army’s Golden Knights Parachute team, several flyovers, and historical military reenactments. Live music played, as well. The parade, in
36 which 6,600 soldiers and 150 army vehicles participated, began near the Lincoln Memorial and ended at around 9:30 p.m. near the Washington Monument.
Crowds chanted “U.S.A.” and “We love Trump” and applauded President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as they arrived. Since the 250th anniversary parade coincided with Trump’s birthday, the crowd also sang “Happy Birthday” for the president.
At the military parade, which has been hailed as the biggest in U.S. history, Trump gave a speech, praising the army and its heroes.
“Every other country celebrates their victories,” the commander-in-chief said. “It’s about time America did, too — that’s what we’re doing tonight.”
He added, “As we celebrate tonight, we also think of the hundreds of thousands of Army soldiers who have made the supreme sacrifice for our nation and selflessly laid down their lives in every war, from the Revolution to the War on Terror, to the Gold Star families with us today,” he added. “The Army has forged a legacy of unmatched courage, untold sacrifice, and unequaled and undying glory.”
Trump praised President George Washington, the most well-known U.S. general, as an “indomitable commander.”
The current president spoke of the army’s many victories, including at Gettysburg, Guadalcanal, Shiloh, San Juan Hill, the Argonne trenches, and the Afghan mountainsides. He also hailed other war heroes, including Gen. John Corse, a Union commander who fought despite having been shot in the face, and Gen. “Mad” Anthony Wayne, an American Revolution general.
During the parade, Trump mostly sat but stood multiple times to salute the army. Sitting next to him were the First
Lady and Hegseth.
The parade is part of “Task Force 250,” which the president created in January through the use of an executive order. The task force will also organize the 250th anniversary of American Independence, which will be on July 4, 2026. The U.S. Army was established a year before American Independence.
The parade coincided with multiple anti-Trump protests across the U.S. Protestors have dubbed the demonstrations the “No Kings” protests.
“I don’t feel like a king,” Trump said when asked about the protests. “I have to go through [a lot] to get stuff approved. A king would say, ‘I’m not gonna get this.’ A king would have never had the California mandate to even be talking. He wouldn’t have to call up (Speaker) Mike Johnson and (Senate Majority Leader John) Thune and say, ‘Fellas you got to pull this off’ and after years we get it done,” he said in reference to three resolutions he signed on Thursday, which will end California’s electric vehicle mandates.
Keep on Walking
According to a study released on Friday in the JAMA Network Open journal, walking 100 minutes a day is linked to a 23% decreased risk of developing chronic low back pain, a condition that currently impacts around 600 million people and is responsible for many disabilities.
“This is an important finding because walking is a simple, low cost, and accessible activity that can be promoted widely to reduce the burden of low back pain,” Rayanne Haddadj, the lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in the department of public health and nursing at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said.
Dr. Natasha Pocovi, a physiotherapist and postdoctoral research fellow in health sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney, who was not involved in the research, noted that the study “suggests that we don’t need to complicate our exercise routines to protect ourselves against chronic low back pain.”
The research team analyzed data collected from the Trøndelag Health, or HUNT, Study in Norway. The HUNT researchers, from 2017 to 2019, recruited participants aged 20 and up to wear accelerometers for seven days in order to record their walking habits. Then, from 2021 to 2023, the researchers asked the study’s participants whether they had back pain. In the end, the researchers found that, generally, the more someone walks, the less back pain they report.
According to Pocovi, the study also seems to suggest that faster walking helps more than slower walking. However, it is unclear whether walking for 100 minutes straight is more, less, or equally beneficial as walking for the same amount of time in short bursts, added Pocovi. She also noted that any amount of walking helps, even if it is less than 100 minutes a day.
The study had a large sample size and recorded reliable activity data, thanks to accelerometers. However, the data was only collected over the span of a week. As such, it may not be representative of participants’ general walking habits. The research, for now, has demonstrated a correlation between inactivity and lower back pain but not a causation.
“The key is to gradually increase your walking in a sustainable and enjoyable way,” Pocovi advises. “Additionally, it can be helpful to have a friend, partner, or colleague join you for walks to keep yourself motivated and accountable.”
Kraft Heinz: No
More Artificial Dyes
Beginning in 2027, Kraft Heinz will be pulling artificial dyes from its U.S. products and will no longer roll out new products with the dyes.
Two months ago, U.S. health of-
ficials said that they would be urging food-makers to to phase out petroleumbased artificial colors in the nation’s food supply.
Kraft Heinz said this week that almost 90% of its U.S. products already don’t contain food, drug and cosmetic colors, but that the products that do still use the dyes will have them removed by the end of 2027.
FD&C colors are synthetic additives that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food, drugs and cosmetics.
Kraft Heinz said that many of its U.S. products that still use the FD&C colors are in its beverage and desserts categories, including certain products sold under brands including Crystal Light, Kool Aid, Jell-O and Jet Puffed.
The company said that it will instead use natural colors for the products.
“The vast majority of our products use natural or no colors, and we’ve been on a journey to reduce our use of FD&C colors across the remainder of our portfolio,” Pedro Navio, North America President at Kraft Heinz, said in a statement.
Kraft Heinz stripped artificial colors, flavors and preservatives from its macaroni and cheese in 2016 and said it has never used artificial dyes in its ketchup.
The FDA currently allows 36 food color additives, including eight synthetic dyes. In January, the agency announced that the dye known as Red 3 — used in candies, cakes and some medications would be banned in food by 2027 because it caused cancer in laboratory rats.
Artificial dyes are used widely in U.S. foods. In Canada and in Europe — where synthetic colors are required to carry warning labels — manufacturers mostly use natural substitutes. Several states, including California and West Virginia, have passed laws restricting the use of artificial colors in foods.
Many U.S. food companies are already reformulating their foods to replace synthetic dyes. Other dyes, which are natural, can come from beets, algae and crushed insects, and pigments from purple sweet potatoes, radishes and red cabbage.
from Hamas and Hezbollah. The Biden administration was publicly lobbying Israel not to target Iranian nuclear sites or energy facilities as it prepared a retaliatory strike.
“I don’t think the severity, the seriousness, of the conduct can be overstated,” U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said as she imposed Rahman’s sentence in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court.
“Our intelligence community has a responsibility of keeping our nation safe, and when things are done to compromise that in any way, it puts us all in danger.”
The leaked information was so sensitive, Giles said, “I can’t even have it in my chambers alone. … And yet, it is thrown into the ether.”
Rahman, 34, also admitted leaking more than a dozen other classified documents, though their contents were not described in public court filings or proceedings.
Rahman had been a high school valedictorian and had earned a Yale University degree with honors in three years. His lawyers said he had mental health issues stemming from a traumatic posting in Baghdad and his wife’s miscarriage, which occurred just before the couple’s planned move to Cambodia last year. In the end, Rahman moved there alone.
His attorneys requested a prison term of one year and one month for Rahman, saying he “never intended to harm the United States or its interests” but was unsettled by “events in the Middle East that began in the fall of 2023.”
“I betrayed the oath I took when I joined the CIA, and I let my colleagues and the American people down,” Rahman said in remarks to the judge on Wednesday.
CIA Analyst Leaker Gets Prison
Asif W. Rahman, a former CIA analyst who last year leaked highly classified records about Israeli plans for a military strike on Iran, was sentenced last week to three years and one month in prison.
Rahman had pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Espionage Act,
admitting that he leaked more than a dozen classified documents while working as a CIA analyst. He was arrested last year after FBI investigators traced the download of two records detailing Israeli military preparations to Rahman’s workstation at the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The two top-secret documents, from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, appeared in a Telegram channel called “Middle East Spectator” in
mid-October and described aviation exercises and movements of munition carts on an Israeli airfield that were consistent with preparations for a strike on Iran but contained no images, U.S. officials said.
The leaks also spread to other social media platforms and led Israel to delay its attack plan, officials said. About two weeks before the top-secret documents appeared online, Tehran had fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel as a response to the killings of leaders
Minnesota Lawmaker
Assassinated
On Saturday, Vance Boelter, 57, allegedly shot and killed Melissa Hortman, the former House Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband, Mark, at their home. Boelter is
42 believed to have, on the same night, shot Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both of whom survived the attack. Both lawmakers were Democrats.
On Monday, federal prosecutors charged the alleged gunman with six counts, including first-degree murder and stalking offenses. State prosecutors have also charged Boelter, including with murder and attempted murder. Though Minnesota does not have capital punishment, Boelter could potentially be sentenced to death by the federal government. He was held without bail and is expected to reappear in court next week.
According to authorities, Boelter disguised himself as a police officer, carrying a 9mm handgun and a flashlight, when he knocked on the Hoffmans’ door. He also wore a black tactical vest and a “hyper-realistic” silicone mask, according to acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson. Boelter allegedly knocked on their door and shouted, “This is police.” The Hoffmans eventually discovered that Boelter was wearing a mask, and the gunman said, “This is a robbery.” Then, when the senator attempted to push the assailant out of his house, Boelter allegedly shot the lawmaker and his wife. The lawmaker’s adult daughter then called the police.
After Brooklyn Park police heard about the incident, they sent patrol officers to check on the Hortman family, who lived nearby. Just as the officers arrived, they saw Boelter, who was standing in
front of the Hortmans’ open door, shoot and kill Mark Hortman. Police briefly exchanged fire with Boelter, but he escaped. Inside the couple’s home, officials found Melissa Hortman dead.
Following the attacks, Boelter texted a family group chat, “Dad went to war last night… I don’t wanna say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody,” according to the FBI. He also texted his wife, “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation… there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy, and I don’t want you guys around.” A few hours after the assassination, he texted friends, “I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both, and I wish it hadn’t gone this way.”
For more than two days, police searched for the suspect. On Sunday morning, they found Boelter’s abandoned Buick sedan, which he had purchased from an individual he met at a Minneapolis bus stop. Officials found the car on a highway in Sibley County. Inside of the vehicle was the cowboy hat surveillance footage spotted him wearing and a letter addressed to the FBI, which confessed that he was “the shooter at large in Minnesota involved in the 2 shootings.”
On Sunday, a police officer spotted Boelter running into the woods. The suspect gave himself up to police after they found him in the woods. Later, police found Boelter’s wife and kids in a car, along with two handguns, around $10,000 in cash, and passports.
Before executing the attacks, Boelter conducted surveillance missions and took extensive notes on his targets, according to Thompson. In his fake police car, officials found a list of targets, including 45 elected officials, along with community leaders and activists. According to an
anonymous Minnesota official, a common denominator between the elected officials on Boelter’s list is that they were all vocally pro-abortion. While Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has called the attack “politically motivated,” Thompson has said that it is too early to tell what the suspect’s motives were.
“Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America,” said President Donald Trump, condemning the attack.
According to records, Boelter used to serve as a political appointee on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman. However, whether the two were familiar with each other is unclear.
Economist Stanley Fischer Dies
Stanley Fischer, a widely respected economist who served as head of the Bank of Israel for eight years and as vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for three years, died earlier this month at the age of 81.
The renowned financier was the Bank of Israel governor from 2005 to 2013, and successfully navigated the nation through the 2008 financial crisis. He received multiple accolades for his policies and led the Bank of Israel to be ranked first in 2010 among central banks by the International Institute for Management Development for its efficient functioning.
Fischer, a dual U.S. and Israeli citizen, served as vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors from 2014 to 2017, and before that was the World Bank’s chief economist and the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
In 2023, the Financial Times called him “the pocket-sized colossus of modern central banking” and “the most quietly influential person in global economics over the past several decades.”
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog paid tribute to him as “a world-class professional, a man of integrity, with a heart of gold.”
In 2020-2021, he served on the board of directors of Israel’s Bank Hapoalim Ltd. for eight months, before resigning
to spend more time with his family in the United States.
Fischer had taught at MIT and was a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. His academic work in the 1970s proved to be groundbreaking as he built up the idea that activist central banks could stimulate the economy, becoming a leading figure in New Keynesian economics. One of his published works included the influential book Macroeconomics, co-authored with Rudi Dornbusch and Richard Startz.
Fischer was born in 1943 to a Jewish family in Northern Rhodesia (today’s Zambia), and after the family moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), he became involved in the Habonim Zionist youth movement. He visited Israel in 1960 as part of a youth leaders’ program. He later studied at the London School of Economics and at MIT, moved to the United States and became an American citizen in 1976. He eventually also obtained Israeli citizenship.
He had been married to Rhoda Fischer, who died in 2020. He is survived by three children.
Menendez Reports to Prison
On Tuesday, former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) reported to a federal prison in Pennsylvania to begin an 11-year sentence following his conviction on bribery and other corruption charges.
The New Jersey Democrat was found guilty last year on all 16 counts, including that he accepted bribes from three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for his political clout and that he acted as a foreign agent of Egypt.
A federal appeals court last week denied Menendez’s last-ditch bid to stave off his prison term while appealing his conviction.
Once the chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez’s conviction amounted to a stunning fall from grace. He is the first senator ever found guilty of acting as a foreign agent while in office.
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Damian Williams, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, called Menendez’s conduct “shocking corruption” following his conviction.
“This wasn’t politics as usual,” Williams said at the time. “This was politics for profit. And now that a jury has convicted Bob Menendez, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end.”
A federal jury in New York determined that the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and a luxury car from the three businessmen, Wael Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe. In exchange, the men benefited from Menendez’s political power.
Hana and Daibes were convicted at trial alongside Menendez and reported to prison last month. Uribe pleaded guilty before facing a jury.
Nadine Menendez, accused of acting as a go-between for her husband and the businessmen while accepting the bribes and conspiring to turn him into a foreign agent of Egypt, was convicted in April on all counts she faced. Her sentencing is set for September 11.
Lawyers for Menendez have called his punishment “a life and death sentence.” The former senator is 71 years old.
Red Light, Green Light
A summer won’t be complete without a great game of red light, green light. This week, a fitness education group broke a Guinness World Record by gathering 1,423 people to play the iconic playground game.
CF Fitness Inc. gathered students from the Anaheim Elementary School District and their families to play the record-breaking game at Yorbe Park in Anaheim, California.
The participants also included students who traveled in from other districts, as well as local firefighters, police
officers and city officials.
The game ended up breaking the record with 1,423 participants.
“It was definitely an afternoon filled with lots of energy, and I think my face hurt from smiling so much,” Guinness Records Adjudicator Brittany Dunn said after the successful attempt.
She added, “The children were all really great and so eager to participate. I loved that [they] all took the attempt so seriously, and one of the older police officers present decided he wanted to participate in the game as well, which made the children happy – and I thought was a great reminder that even adults need play in their lives, too.”
Game on!
His “A” Game
Ezihie really got into the swing of things at 6 p.m. last Sunday when he hit the links at the Huntington Crescent Club.
The Long Island man who is originally from Nigeria played golf for a whopping 36 consecutive hours, breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest marathon playing golf.
Ezihie’s original goal was to play for 24 hours, but his plans abruptly changed halfway through his attempt when he was told that a Norwegian man had just completed an attempt that went on for 32 hours.
Ezihie then extended his own attempt and ended up finishing his game after 36 hours of golf on Tuesday.
Ezihie said his goal is to expand the reach of golf, especially to young people in Nigeria, where he bought land and plans to build a course.
“People assume that golf is for the wealthy, and I’m trying to change that,” Ezihie said. “The goal is to let people know that golf is a game for everybody. Whatever your economic background or somebody with special needs, you can play the game of golf.”
Sounds like a hole in one.
Smashed
the rule is “look, don’t
touch.” But two tourists didn’t get the memo recently when they visited the Palazzo Maffei in Verona, Italy.
The man and woman took turns taking photos of themselves pretending to sit on a crystal-covered chair made by the artist Nicola Bolla. The museum describes the artwork as an “extremely fragile” piece.
The woman managed to get herself photographed without touching the chair. But the man clumsily squatted and then sat on “Van Gogh’s Chair” and then promptly broke it. Where is Goldilocks when we need her?
The pair then fled the room to desperately get rid of their involvement in the crime.
Palazzo Maffei described it as “every museum’s nightmare” and said on Monday it had made a complaint to the police, without specifying when it was filed.
Since the incident occurred, the museum has thankfully been able to repair the broken piece of art.
After hearing about the tourists’ blunder, Bolla said, “It was an idiotic thing to do.”
Still, the artist said he could see a “positive side” to the incident.
“It’s like a kind of performance. Ordinary people can do it too, not just artists.”
You see, to err is human.
The Capybara Café
Looking for something to snuggle with while sipping your morning joe?
Consider the Capybara Café in St. Augustine, Florida.
The eatery claims to be the first of its kind in the United States. Offering (non-kosher) muffins, cookies and coffee, live capybaras are also on the menu – to hang out with and snuggle.
Capybaras are the world’s largest rodents. They are native to South America.
Stephanie Angel, the cafe’s owner, said she was surprised how popular the cafe became after it opened in October; she said she gets about 100 customers per day.
“You work in any other field, you always have unhappy customers and complaints,” Angel told The Washington Post. “We generally don’t have any of that. If anything, our complaints are, ‘Man, I wish I had more time with the capybaras.’”
The cafe is owned by Noah’s Ark Sanctuary, which houses more than 100 animals, including foxes, skunks, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, tortoises, snakes, goats, miniature donkeys, lizards and guinea pigs, on roughly two acres in Hastings, Florida, about 15 miles from the cafe.
In the summer of 2024, the sanctuary was struggling to afford medicine for its animals and was on the verge of closing. While brainstorming ideas to make money, Angel, who is a director for the sanctuary, thought about starting a cafe with animals. She decided that capybaras are the perfect animal to highlight.
“I hoped that everybody loved them as much as we do,” Angel said.
Capybaras are generally calm and friendly.
The rodents live in a 1,200-squarefoot enclosure in Hastings with a pond. Employees place them in secure crates most mornings and transport them to the cafe in a van.
For $50, customers can sit on the floor, on couches or on chairs a few inches off the ground, place blankets over their laps to protect their skin from the capybaras’ nails and spend a half-hour with two or three capybaras. They can cuddle them while petting their coats, which feel like a coconut’s exterior. They feed them hay, kale, collard greens, apples and oranges — treats that motivate the capybaras to approach customers.
During that time, customers are given facts about capybaras, which can run up to 22 mph and can hold their breaths for four minutes.
The sanctuary now has five capybaras that it rotates for what it calls “encounters.”
The cafe’s motto? “Don’t worry, be Capy.”
Coffee and cuddling a capybara is a sure recipe to be “capy.”
Kelechi
Around the Community
Scenes from The White Shul’s 103rd Annual Dinner
YCQ Mishnayot Enrichment Club
Last week, the YCQ Junior High School Boys Mishnayot Enrichment Club successfully completed Masechet Bava Kama and celebrated with a beautiful siyum. Each student recited and explained a mishnah at the siyum for the students and their parents and succinctly summarized the expansive masechta.
Led by Rabbi Ophie Nat, the students met once a week after school to learn together. The students learn b’chavruta amongst each other and then Rabbi Nat would conclude the evening with a shiur. The special club is by invitation only.
Students are chosen by Rabbi Landsman and their rebbeim from the previous year and learn completely l’shmah, without any external incentives.
This year, students completed Masechet Bava Kama. The program functions in a three-year cycle, learning Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, and Bava Basra. Students who join in sixth grade will complete and master the three masechtot by the time they graduate. Looking forward to Bava Metzia next year!
Mazal tov to all the participants, and thank you to Rabbi Nat!
Bais Yaakov Ateres Miriam Hosts Vibrant State Fair Extravaganza
The spirit of learning and creativity filled the halls of Bais Yaakov Ateres Miriam last week as students participated in a spectacular State Fair event that dazzled both heart and mind.
The fair, a schoolwide celebration of knowledge and artistic expression, featured an impressive collection of handcrafted dioramas, descriptive essays, and live performances, all centered around the culture and geography of the United States.
One of the fair’s highlights was an energetic and heartfelt song and dance performance spearheaded by Malka Shimoni and Perele Sigman, captivating the audience with its rhythm and enthu-
Luxury Cruise for all YOSS Mechina Tech-in-Check Superstars
siasm. The stage then came alive once more with a beautifully choreographed dance presentation by Ariella Selmar and Chana Hirsch, which blended movement and meaning.
The event was the vision and labor of love of the students’ beloved teacher, Miss Tzippy Gold, who guided her class with inspiration, care, and boundless creativity. Her dedication to bringing learning to life was felt in every corner of the fair.
Parents, staff, and peers were all in awe of the vibrant displays and spirited performances, making the fair not only an educational experience but also a treasured memory for all involved.
In honor of their incredible achievements, the YOSS Mechina Tech-inCheck (TiC) members were treated to an unforgettable night out. Rabbi Yitzy Haber, TiC Commissioner, donned his captain’s hat and led the group on a luxurious cruise into the scenic waters of Long Island Harbor.
The evening was filled with excitement, featuring a delicious catered dinner, lively entertainment, and plenty of fun aboard the party boat. It was a well-deserved celebration of the boys’ hard work and dedication throughout the year — a night they’ll surely never forget.
At the Yeshiva Darchei Torah’s fourth grade Colonial America Fair
“United” We Stand at TAG
The month of June is upon us and many an exciting fair does appear on Torah Academy for Girls’ calendar. We have a Biography Fair for third grade classes, a Science Expo Fair for the fifth-grade classes, and then, there is the fourth grade Fair.
For many years, the curriculum for Social Studies centered on the history of New York State starting from the Native Americans through the colonies, becoming a nation etc.
This year, TAG expanded its curriculum to include many states to become the United States Fair. This exciting new fair took place on Wednesday, June 11 to rave reviews. The mothers were invited to hear the new song, written and directed by Mrs. Soshie Hirth. This was followed by the beautiful displays, depicting the states, along with games and appropri-
ate costumes. The girls worked tirelessly along with their devoted teachers, and the unity they displayed in working together perfectly reflected their new United States theme. In the afternoon, many of the elementary classes came to participate in the Fair, to learn new things and
enjoy the games and treats
At the forefront of this event was Miss Miriam Elias, who dedicated the event in memory of her father, Avraham Shlomo ben Eliahu, a”h. Working together with the other fourth grade teachers, Mrs. Hersch, Mrs. Berger, Mrs. Pfeiffer, Miss
How Beneficiary Designations Put Your Family at Risk
By Monet Binder, Esq.
You work hard every day to provide for your loved ones, but have you thought about what would happen to them if something unexpected happened to you? As a parent, it’s natural to worry about your children’s well-being and security. You want to know that they’ll be taken care of, no matter what. A Plan That Comes from the Heart A Life & Legacy Plan is more than just a document – it’s a way to show your love and care for your family. By creating a plan, you can ensure that your assets are managed in a way that benefits your children, and that your wishes are respected. You can have peace of
mind knowing that your family will be protected and provided for, even if you’re no longer there to guide them.
Protecting the Ones You Love
You know your children better than anyone, and you want to make sure they’re taken care of in the way that’s best for them. By planning ahead, you can ensure that your assets are used to support their well-being, education, and future goals. You can also make sure that your wishes are respected, and your loved ones are protected from unnecessary stress and uncertainty.
Leaving a Lasting Legacy
By taking control of your Estate Plan, you can leave a lasting legacy that reflects your values and love for your family. You can en-
sure that your assets are distributed according to your wishes, and that your family is secure for generations to come. This is your chance to show your family how much you care, and to leave a lasting impact that will be felt for years to come.
You’ve poured so much into building your assets, and it’s smart to think about who benefits from them. Naming beneficiaries on your life insurance, retirement funds, or bank accounts is a great first step, as it helps your money go directly to someone without getting tied up in probate.
However, relying solely on beneficiary designations for your assets can pose significant risks for your loved ones. While naming beneficiaries can help avoid probate, it’s not enough to ensure your wishes are carried out. For instance, if you name minor children as beneficiaries, courts will appoint a guardian to manage the funds until they turn 18, at which point they’ll gain full control. This can lead to impulsive decisions or vulnerability.
Furthermore, if a primary beneficiary passes away before you or simultaneously, assets may revert to your estate and go through probate, potentially causing delays, expense, and stress for your family. Additionally, outdated beneficiary designations can lead to assets going to unintended recipients, such as ex-spouses.
Beneficiary forms also lack nuance, options, and safeguards, making it impossible to specify conditions, staggered payments, or protect assets from credi-
and
the mark they received
their efforts was not just Fair but rather excellent!
tors. This is where a comprehensive Estate Plan comes in. This plan includes essential documents like wills and trusts and is designed to be reviewed regularly to ensure it adapts to your life’s changes and reflects your intentions for your loved ones. By creating a comprehensive Estate Plan, you can safeguard your legacy and ensure your wishes are carried out precisely. This plan provides a framework for managing your assets, protecting your loved ones, and carrying out your wishes, giving you peace of mind and security for your family’s future.
Consult a professional who has your best interests in mind, not someone who only focuses on after-death documents. Estate Planning is also about what happens while you’re still living. Learn the best way to protect yourself and your family while you’re still living and after you’re gone and keep everyone out of court and conflict. Call today 718.514.7575 | 732.333.1854.
Monet Binder, ESQ., has a practice in Lakewood, Queens, and Brooklyn areas, dedicated to protecting families, their legacies and values. All halachic documents are approved by the Bais Havaad Halacha Center in Lakewood, under the direction of Rabbi Dovid Grossman and the guidance of Harav Shmuel Kaminetsky, shlita, as well as other leading halachic authorities.
Rivlin and Miss Edelstein, and guidance provided by Mrs. Jenny Gulkowitz, principal,
Mrs. Rivky Keilson, assistant principal,
for
Mineral Cube Fair at YOSS
The sixth grade science students at the Abraham and Sara Silber Middle School at Yeshiva of South Shore proudly presented their creations at this year’s Mineral Cube Fair. Each student engaged in in-depth research on a specific mineral before thoughtfully designing a unique cube to represent it. Their projects reflected not only a solid grasp of the minerals’ properties but also an understanding of their real-world applications. A special thanks goes to Mrs. Slansky, sixth grade science teacher, for leading this meaningful project.
HALB Senior Trip
The eighth graders at HALB had an incredible trip to Niagara Falls last week. It was a chance for the
students to enjoy the sights while bonding with one another. The trip was a beautiful display of achdut.
HAFTR Students Reflect and Celebrate a Successful Year
By Ben Lipton
As the school year comes to an end, students are beginning to prepare for finals and Regents. But before diving into this intense academic period, HAFTR High School students and faculty took a well-deserved day to relax, bond, and have fun together. On Tuesday, May 27, the day began by joining together for a beautiful davening, led by our students and rabbis, and then a lavish Student Appreciation breakfast. The breakfast was a special treat and gave everyone a chance to spend time together and reflect on the concluding school year. Then, we headed to the buses, eager to arrive at Six Flags Great Adventure to enjoy a thrilling day at the park. Once we arrived, students lined up for rides to enjoy the thrill. There were so many great rides at the park, including El Toro, Jersey Devil Coaster, and classic
HALB Kumzitz
On Monday, the entire lower and middle school at HALB came together for a meaningful and beautiful kumzitz. Students and staff sang loudly together, using songs to daven for Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael.
amusement park games where students could win various prizes. By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted but had so many new memories. By early evening, we left the park, davened Mincha, and enjoyed a delicious Chickies dinner. We headed back onto the buses after an amazing day.
Thank you to our incredible HAFTR High School faculty for organizing and chaperoning this event; it was a day to remember and a perfect way to celebrate the year before the final stretch.
At the end of the kumzitz, the students surprised Mr. Altabe, who is retiring this year, with an original farewell song, thanking him for his many years guiding the students at HALB.
MAY Eagles Soar to Victory
In a thrilling and hard-fought matchup, the MAY Eagles defeated the Netzach Knights 55-48 to claim the Mesivta Basketball Association Varsity Championship. The Eagles led from start to finish, showcasing grit, skill, and teamwork throughout the game.
Captains Chesky Singer, Daniel Gewirtz, and Aryeh Wisnicki guided the team with leadership and determination. Mazal tov to the entire team on an incredible win!
Did you know?
The words “Alla-hu akhbar” is inscribed on the Iranian flag 22 times.
Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato Brings Victories For Non-Public School Families
New York State Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato secured a record high investment in State funding for nonpublic schools during the recent 2025 State budget. Through her continued work, in partnership with TeachNYS and Agudath Israel of America, Yeshivas and nonpublic schools throughout New York will receive an unprecedented allotment in funding for STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), free school meals, and school security. Since first elected in 2017, Pheffer Amato has been the State Legislator that is responsible for the ongoing increase in the amount of funding allocated to nonpublic schools every year.
In the recent budget, the Assemblywoman was responsible for generating over $85.5 million in STEM education, millions of dollars higher than previous years. Through her work, yeshivas all over New York have been able to hire experienced science teachers to educate students, ensuring they have a strong Judaic and secular education.
In another historic move, Pheffer Amato helped usher in universal free meals for all schools, including nonpublic schools. For the first time ever, New York State will fully fund school breakfast and lunch – guaranteeing that every child will be eligible for healthy and nutritious
meals. The Assemblywoman worked to ensure nonpublic schools were INCLUDED in the program and that kosher meals would be applicable. A state-wide estimate believes this will save families over $120 per child, per month.
For school safety, Pheffer Amato succeeded in increasing the annual allotment yeshivas are eligible for in security funding. This includes $70 million through the Nonpublic School Safety Equipment Grant (NPSE) and $35 million for the SCAHC (Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes). The NPSE grant is often used by schools for the hiring of security guards, while the SCAHC grant can go towards security measures like cameras and fencing. The competitive grants have been successfully used by schools in the Assemblywoman’s district.
“Safety, nutrition, and education are my top priorities. With this funding, our students will continue to be in a safe and secure environment, while receiving a well-rounded education. This will help guarantee that students can compete in an ever-changing world for generations to come. It is my priority to ensure that every child has a safe and secure learning environment, but also cutting-edge, multifaceted, and quality education that develops their skills and prepares them for the future,” said Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato.
Rabbi Yeruchim Silber from Agudath Israel of America said, “This is a budget we can be proud of. Increased security funding, universal free lunch and mandated services will benefit the students in every yeshiva and nonpublic school across the state. We are incredibly grateful to our champion, Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato, for securing the needs of the nonpublic school community.
“These are transformative dollars directly impacting our schools,” said Sydney Altfield, National Director of Teach Coalition. “The state of New York recognizes the importance of investing in the future of tomorrow no matter the choice of school they attend, and we are so grateful to our partner, Assemblywoman Pheffer Amato, for fighting alongside us to make this a reality.”
Outside education, Assemblywoman
Pheffer Amato succeeded in working to put money back into the pockets of her constituents by expanding the Empire State Child Credit to a $1,000 tax credit per child for children under four, and $500 for children ages four to seventeen. She also voted to approve a one-time inflation rebate check which will be automatically mailed to NYS residents at the end of the year.
For single earners: - with income up to $75,000, they will receive a $200 check
- those making between $75,000 and $150,000 will receive $150 check
For those who file jointly: - with income up to $150,000, they will receive a $400 check - those making between $150,000 and $300,000 will receive a $300 check
Sara Schenirer Charts New Territory in Healthcare Education
With growing demand from students eager to enter healthcare fields, Sara Schenirer proudly announces the launch of a new accelerated Health Science degree track for men and women, to complement its already highly successful Pre-Med Track. The new program begins this fall, and multiple cohorts have already filled due to high demand. Both tracks are offered in partnership with the University of Mount Saint Vincent and Saint Peter’s University.
“Our existing Pre-Med track is ideal for students seeking to apply to medical, dental, or PA school,” explained Rabbi Elazar Meisels, president of Sara Schenirer. “But students who wish to pursue a career in nursing and similar fields will be better served by the Health Science
track, which is quicker and even more affordable.”
Which track is right for you?
Pre-Med Track (16 months):
Designed for students pursuing admission to medical school, dental school, PA school, or pharmacy programs, this track includes the advanced science prerequisites and lab courses required for those programs.
Health Science Track (11 months):
Ideal for students planning to apply to nursing school and similar allied health fields. Fast, affordable, and rigorous, it includes the core science prerequisites needed for those pathways.
Students in both tracks earn a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with a concentration in Pre-Med or Health Science, positioning them to apply for graduate
programs in a wide range of medical fields. Students may also transfer in dual credit and seminary credits to complete their degree even faster. Both programs offer access to exceptional professors and a highly supportive learning environment.
Although Sara Schenirer does not offer a nursing degree directly, graduates of the Health Science Track benefit from an exclusive agreement with the University of Mount Saint Vincent, which offers a Shomer Shabbat Nursing Program specially tailored for Sara Schenirer students.
“We’ve seen a tremendous demand for clear, Torah-aligned pathways into the healthcare field,” said Mrs. Batsheva Shonek, Director of Sara Schenirer.
“These new tracks allow our students to pursue meaningful, respected careers in medicine or allied health—without com-
promising their values, schedule, or support system.”
Interested in learning more?
Join our upcoming virtual open house to hear all about the program, meet the faculty, and get your questions answered:
● Women’s Open House: Tuesday, June 24 at 8:00 PM
● Men’s Open House: Monday, June 30 at 7:30 PM Register now at sarasch.com/openhouse
With these programs, you’ll receive our trademark student support every step of the way—alongside a clear, accelerated path toward your future in healthcare. Whether you’re aiming for medical school or a nursing degree, Sara Schenirer is here to help you get there—with clarity, structure, and confidence.
Around the Community
HALB Students Shine at National History Day in Washington, D.C.
From June 8–12, 2025, ten students from the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) proudly represented their school at the prestigious National History Day (NHD) competition held in College Park, Maryland. Competing against thousands of students from across the country, HALB students earned national recognition in two major categories: Junior Group Website and Junior Group Documentary.
The Junior Group Website titled “Voices of Conscience: The Vrba-Wetzler Report and the Responsibility to Act,” created by Alex Bornstein, Eli Berman, Bram Feldman, Siggy Simon, and Azi Verschleiser, placed fourth in the nation. In addition to this remarkable achievement, the project was honored as the
Best Overall Junior Project from New York State.
HALB also received national acclaim in the Junior Group Documentary category. The film “Freedom Summer: Fighting for Rights and Shouldering the Responsibility for Change” was selected for a prestigious showcase at the Nation-
al Museum of African American History and Culture. The documentary was screened at the Oprah Winfrey Theater, where museum visitors were given the opportunity to view the students’ powerful work.
These outstanding accomplishments were achieved under the guidance of
Why Everyone Over 18 Needs an Estate Plan
Many people associate estate planning with retirement, extreme wealth, or complex family dynamics. But the reality is far simpler and more urgent: every adult over the age of 18, regardless of income, assets, or marital status, should have an estate plan. The term “estate planning” may sound formal or intimidating, but at its core, it’s about making sure your wishes are known and legally enforceable—especially in situations where you may be unable to speak or act for yourself. Whether you’re a college student, a working professional, or just entering adulthood, being prepared for the unexpected is not only responsible—it’s essential.
What Happens
If
You Don’t Have a Plan?
When someone becomes incapacitated or dies without any legal documents in place, the consequences can be both costly and painful for loved ones. Without a Health Care Proxy or Power of Attorney, your family may be unable to access your medical information, make treatment decisions, or handle your financial affairs. Even paying your rent or student loans could require a court order. If the worst happens and you pass away without a Will, state laws—not your personal preferences—will determine who inherits your belongings. These default rules rarely reflect the complexity of modern relationships or individual intentions.
What many people don’t realize is that once a person turns 18, parents or guardians no longer have the automatic authority to intervene in medical or financial matters. In emergencies, even the most well-meaning parent can be denied information about their adult child’s condition or prevented from stepping in to help. These barriers create stress at the worst possible time—during a crisis.
Why Young Adults and College Students Need a Plan
Young people often believe that estate planning is irrelevant until they’ve bought a home, gotten married, or accumulated significant wealth. But adulthood brings with it new legal boundaries. Once a student turns 18, they’re legally independent, and parents are effectively locked out of their medical records and financial accounts unless explicit legal permission is given.
For college students living away from home, a medical emergency or accident can escalate quickly if no documents are in place. Having a Health Care Proxy allows a trusted person—often a parent or close relative—to make medical decisions if the student is unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate. Similarly, a Durable Power of Attorney can allow someone to manage bills, tuition, or insurance matters temporarily on the student’s behalf.
Estate planning for young adults isn’t about preparing for death. It’s about en-
suring that someone you trust can help you if you’re injured, sick, or traveling abroad. It’s a smart and proactive move, and one that takes very little time to implement.
Estate Planning Is About Life, Not Just Death
One of the biggest misconceptions about estate planning is that it only becomes relevant after death. In truth, many of the most important documents in an estate plan are designed to protect you during life. A complete estate plan allows you to decide who will speak for you if you’re unable to speak for yourself. It allows you to determine who can manage your bank accounts, pay your bills, and authorize treatment if you’re incapacitated by an accident or illness.
These decisions are intensely personal. You may want a sibling to handle your finances but prefer a close friend to make medical decisions. Without a plan in place, a court may appoint someone you wouldn’t have chosen—or worse, delay the process while your family scrambles to respond.
The peace of mind that comes with having these documents is invaluable. Knowing that you’ve selected people you trust to step in if needed brings a sense of control and stability that benefits both you and your loved ones.
Estate Planning Is For Everyone
You don’t need to own a mansion or have millions in the bank to justify an es-
their social studies teacher, Ms. Kristen Waterman, whose dedication and leadership helped inspire students to reach new academic heights. HALB congratulates all the participants for their hard work, creativity, and success on the national stage.
tate plan. It’s not about the size of your estate—it’s about protecting your autonomy, your relationships, and your dignity. It’s about making sure that your values and wishes guide the decisions that affect your health, your property, and your legacy.
Even a basic estate plan that includes a Will, a Durable Power of Attorney, and a Health Care Proxy can make an enormous difference. These documents are affordable to prepare, and they remain effective even if your circumstances change over time. As you grow older, get married, start a family, or accumulate more wealth, your estate plan can evolve with you. But the most important step is to start.
Start Early, Stay Empowered
There is no such thing as being “too young” to take control of your future. The earlier you put an estate plan in place, the better protected you and your loved ones will be. Emergencies don’t wait until we feel ready—they arrive without warning. With a little planning now, you can avoid chaos later and ensure that your voice is heard even when you cannot speak.
To learn how to protect yourself and your family with a tailored estate plan, visit www.haaszaltz.com or call 516979-1060. You can also email info@ haaszaltz.com to schedule a consultation with an experienced estate planning attorney.
Mazal tov to the HAFTR-EC PreK class of 2025
Mazal tov to the HAFTR-MS 8th grade class of 2025
Rep. Gillen Recognizes HANC Student
Congresswoman Laura Gillen (NY-04) proudly recognized Noam Traeger, a student from the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County High School and a 2025 Congressional Gold Medal Winner, during his visit to the U.S. Capitol for the Congressional Gold Medal Summit. Noam earned this prestigious distinction by completing more than 400 hours of community service and over 200 hours dedicated to personal growth and leadership development.
“I’m so proud of Noam and his commitment to serving our community,” said Rep. Gillen. “He has a bright future ahead and I look forward to seeing all that he continues to accomplish.”
“I have gained a strong understanding of the needs of my community and my own needs by participating in the Con-
Mazal tov to the HAFTR-LS 5th grade class of 2025
Mazal tov to the HAFTR-MS 8th grade class of 2025
A Sofer Visits Shulamith
gressional Award,” said Noam. “I have become a better goal-setter and developed as a student and citizen. As a result of my participation, I have discovered the impact that each of us can make by contributing to our communities through service. I’ve learned the importance of taking care of my body and mind. I developed skills such as time management, critical thinking, and became more independent.”
The Congressional Award is a non-partisan charity that recognizes and promotes excellence in young people.
The program’s goal is to encourage youth to set and achieve goals in four areas: Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and Expedition/ Exploration
The second and third grade girls of Shulamith were privileged to learn from a Sofer, Rabbi Shlomo Klein, a parent in our school, about how a Sefer Torah is written. He showed us how klaf is made from skin, the thread is made from sinews and how a quill is made from a turkey or goose. He then wrote some letters and showed us how
they are made up of other letters along with the special crowns! Thank you, Rabbi Klein, for making it so interesting and interactive.
We also received sheets with Ksav Ashuris and calligraphy pens, and we had the opportunity to try writing the letters ourselves. Thank you, Morah Naomi, for arranging this wonderful experience!
DRS Graduation Awards
Co-Valedictorian Yoni Posner
Yonatan Zev Posner boasts a resume that makes everyone wonder, “Where does one find the time?” Yoni’s unwavering commitment to Torah learning sets him apart. Academically, Yoni has always been an honors society member, balancing his drive for excellence with a tireless dedication to chessed through iShine. Driven to be ultra-productive, Yoni harnesses every moment for learning, growth, and kindness, while always maintaining a sense of humor and an appreciation for a good laugh. Next year, Shaalvim will be blessed to have Yoni.
Co-Valedictorian Doni Posner
Nachman Daniel Posner is an exemplar of middos tovos, menschlichkeit, diligence, conscientiousness, and kindness. His high school career has been an odyssey of exponential growth in all disciplines and extracurriculars, including Torah, academic, and athletic experiences. At DRS, Doni has cultivated wonderful friendships and built deep relationships; and in the community, he has given of himself in many ways, most notably volunteering for I-Shine. DRS proudly wishes Doni much continued success continuing next year at Yeshivat Shaalvim.
Mishael Lalehzari is the quintessential mensch whose smile has the power to brighten up every room he enters. He has excelled in every vista of the yeshiva with a commitment to learning, editor of the Dvarim Hayotzim Min HaLev Torah Publication, and his skilled Torah reading as the baal koreh for the Sefardi minyan. Mishael’s presence has elevated the academic standard for everyone in DRS. The yeshiva is confident that Netiv Aryeh will be fortunate to have Mishael next year, bringing with him the same enthusiasm and dedication that made him a central figure in DRS.
Yaakov Doniel Meisels is an exuberant and dedicated talmid, a real multifaceted leader, role-model and scholar. His contributions to the classroom and community are unrivaled. Be it Devarim Hayotzim, mentoring younger students, tutoring in both Gemara and math, never missing a Night Seder or goalie-ing for the DRS soccer team. His campers at Kaylie and friends from Ivdu love spending time with him because of Yaakov’s ever-present smile and amazing positivity. DRS is excited to see your great accomplishments at Kerem B’Yavneh next year.
Salutatorian - Mishael Lalehzari
Keter Shem Tov AwardeeYaakov Meisels
Mazal tov to all the HALB eighth grade graduates
Mazal tov to all the Lev Chana Kindergarten graduates
Gan Chamesh Graduation Mitzvah Parade
Gan Chamesh ended the year with a grand Graduation Mitzvah Parade. The date of the parade, 6/13, was the inspiration behind the theme as the parade highlighted mitzvos and the concept that Mitzvah Goreres Mitzvah, one mitzvah brings another. The theme was particularly relevant as
each and every day, the children of Gan Chamesh have been involved in learning and doing mitzvos, not by rote but with simcha, joy, and a deep appreciation for the beauty of each mitzvah.
The 613 mitzvos are the channel given to us by Hashem to achieve the ultimate close relationship with Him.
5TLL/JSL Playoff Recap
Playoffs by FM Home Loans this past Sunday were amazing. The real dads of Father’s Day came out and supported the boys despite the wet weather. We had some really competitive ball games: three games ended in walkoff hits! Let’s take a look…
1st Grade
(1) Future Care Consultants 15
(7) Marciano PD 8
Future Care secures the win and will face Drifters in the championship game next Sunday!
(4) Drifters 15
(1) NY Custom Closets 12
Drifters pulled off an incredible upset win over the really impressive NYCC 1st place team. Zack Pearlman turned a double play to end the game and send Drifters to the 1st grade championship game!
3rd Grade
(3) John’s Auto 19
(2) VMM Legal Eagles 18
MVP Aryeh Templeman led his team to a nail biter win against VMM!
(5) Eden Gardens 16
(8) Smash House 11
Eden Garden played a strong game and kept Smash House from picking up any momentum. Yehoshua Terline was the MVP for strong all around play. On the Smash House side, Aron Zev Rudansky and Yakir Roberg made some impressive plays in the field.
5th Grade
(1) Town Appliance 20
(8) Newman Dental 2
Town Appliance did what they needed
Watching our young students involved in doing mitzvos is incredibly special as they develop into true Ovdei Hashem with a deep love for Torah, mitzvos and Hashem.
In connection with the graduation theme, Gan Chamesh has embarked on a Mitzvah Goreres Mitzvah campaign to
light up the world with 613 mitzvos, to inspire others to do mitzvos, and to bring Moshiach. As we wish mazal tov to all our graduates, we invite everyone to access onemitzvah.org/ganchamesh to join our Mitzvah campaign.
to do and are moving on to the semi-finals with some swagger after a dominate performance this week.
(2) Elegant Lawns 15
(7) Eden Gardens 1
Netanel Katz got things rolling for Elegant in the first inning with a two run bomb. Momo Friedman hit a 3 run triple and Chaim Indig added another 2 run shot. In the field, Elegant kept Eden Gardens to only a single run and Elimelech Gitelis had a beautiful catch that encapsulated the great play for Elegant.
(3) Smash House 11
(6) Drifters 10
The shorthanded Drifters gave Smash House a run for their money. But in the final inning Zecharia Kahana came through with a clutch base hit to bring in the winning run for Smash House!
(4) Wieder Orthodontics 14
(5) Posh Home & Bath 4
Mordechai Gold is golden! He can hit with the best of them, and he can field like nobody else. He was the MVP in this game and pushes Wieder past Posh and on to the next round.
2nd Grade
(1) Marciano 6
(5) Elegant Lawns 5
Avi Melmed was hitting everything thrown at him, and he was named game MVP as he led Marciano to the championship!
(6) Drifters 28
(2) Hewlett Auto Body 10
The 6 seed Drifters came in and sent Hewlett Auto Body back for a detailing!
Shimi Dicker stepped up with 3 triples!
4th Grade
(1) Bluebird Insurance 4
(4) Extreme Vent Cleaning 3
These two teams have been some of the stronger pitching teams all season, and this week was no different. Elya Feit was the only player that no pitcher had an answer for. He hit a home run, a double and the walk off single!
(7) Marciano PD 12
(6) Town Appliance 3
Marciano’s Elimelech Ringel pitched lights out to advance his team to the champs!
6th Grade
(1) Wieder Orthodontics 9
(4) Seasons 8
Seasons hung around and kept this one interesting against the top seeded Wieder Orthodontics. Levi Jeger had a standout MVP performance batting in 4 runs, homering and providing gold glove play at shortstop.
(2) Sperling Productions 6
(3) Emporio 5
This game went to extra innings to decide a winner! Ultimately, Sperling pulled through with a walk-off hit to prevail! 7th/8th Grade
(1) Maidenbaum 21
(4) Eden Gardens 4
Maidenbaum rolled over Eden Gardens to continue on to the championship next week. Shaya Baron had the bat going 6 for 6, and he made a few incredible plays in the field!
(3) Judaica Plus 20
(2) Emporio 4
Judaica Plus pulled off the upset victory in dominant style hammering in 20 runs! Do they have what it takes to knock off Maidenbaum in the championship?
JSL Men’s Basketball
(3) Emporio 39
(2) Smash House 35
The Wieders were out and Simcha Zev Beren stepped up again this time on the defensive end holding the league leading scorer to a humble 11 points. Yosef Rudansky came up big on the offensive end knocking down a bunch of clutch three pointers.
(1) Growtha 60
(4) Hewlett Auto Body 49
Back in peak form, Eitan Gettenberg balled out yet again. No Aaron Azose and Eitan called game! He scored 31 points leading Growtha back to the finals for a chance to three-peat!
A Special Siyum
Yeshiva of Far Rockaway’s 31st Annual Siyum was held on Monday, June 9. Eighty-three talmidim completed masechta Kesuvos. The guest
speaker was Rabbi Aryeh Zev Ginzberg, rav of Chofetz Chaim Torah Center in Cedarhurst.
Mazal tov to the Yeshiva Har Torah eighth grade class of 2025!
This past Thursday, hundreds participated in a powerful graduation ceremony, marking the culmination of the students’ elementary school journey.
Mr. Adam Zitter, president of the Board, addressed the graduates, discussing the critical need for Jewish resiliency and education punctuated by the events of the last two years. He highlighted how the students have embraced this mission of connection to Jewish identity and demonstrated remarkable growth.
Rabbi Gary Menchel, Head of School, discussed a key message from Parashat BeHaaloscha about departure from YHT tinged with longing, as taught through the lessons of the bracketed nuns. While Bnei Yisrael were reproved for leaving Har Sinai with haste and eagerness, Rabbi Menchel believed and encouraged the graduates to hold on to the memories and lessons they gained from YHT over the years.
Student speakers shared heartfelt reflections on their time at school, discussing the valuable life skills they’ve
acquired and meaningful relationships built with faculty. Most importantly, they expressed gratitude for the special friendships formed—bonds they believe will endure for years to come.
Rabbi Hal Levy, principal, delivered an inspiring message emphasizing lessons from Moshe Rabbeinu, reminding students that the strong values received during their YHT years would equip them to overcome future challenges.
Rabbi Etan Ehrenfeld, assistant principal, also addressed the graduates and focused on the blessing of having our
souls be impressionable as the dust of the earth.
What makes these graduates special? They embody everything YHT stands for: living with Torah values, showing compassion, staying curious, and commitment to being lifelong learners who are connected to Hashem.
As the graduates prepare for the next chapter of their educational journey, the entire YHT community wishes them tremendous success in all their future endeavors.
Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yisroel Moshe Perr and Rabbi Avrohom Halpern
Boys being mesayim
Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg
Israel Beading
In honor of the school year coming to an end, Shoshana and Chen went from class to class making Israel themed bracelets and keychains. HALB will miss Shoshana and Chen and wish them the best when they go back to Israel!
NSHA High School Class of 2025 Garners an Impressive List of Accolades and Acceptances
As the school year draws to a close, the North Shore Hebrew Academy High School (NSHAHS) class of 2025 marks a new beginning. The graduates are celebrating an incredible list of accomplishments, from awards and accolades to acceptances from colleges, yeshivot, and seminaries throughout the U.S. and Israel.
NSHAHS guides students to try new disciplines, develop their skills and explore their options for continued studies. The prep begins in middle school and continues with a comprehensive college guidance program including support for SAT and ACT testing, connecting with college representatives, essay writing, and completing college applications.
Those efforts have paid off, with the U.S. college acceptances demonstrating an impressive diversity of academic institutions including Yale, Vanderbilt, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Princeton, Barnard, Columbia, Brown, University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, Washington University in St. Louis, Albert Einstein College of Medicine Medical Scholars Program through Yeshiva University, Macaulay Honors College at Queens College, Hunter College, Baruch College, Tufts, University of Florida, the University of Miami, Northeastern, Muhlenberg, Syracuse, UMASS Amherst, Oberlin, Franklin and Marshall, Yeshiva University, Brandeis University and more.
The student achievements this year speak to what makes the school’s culture singular, says NSHAHS Dean Ira Miller. “Our students are incredibly motivated, they have high aspirations, and they want to learn as much as they can and prepare themselves,” he said. “The NSHAHS en-
vironment produces a culture of expectation –– it motivates them.”
Whatever their interests, Mr. Miller says the school works with students and their families to figure out what postsecondary options are right for them. “Some students come in knowing they want to go into business or art, but high school is a time for exploring and building a foundation,” he said. The class of 2025’s achievements are evidence of how effective NSHAHS’s academic rigor and extracurricular opportunities are in preparing students for success.
A Strong Foundation in Judaic Studies
Core to the school’s mission is instilling a love and mastery of Judaic studies and fostering the next generation of Jewish leaders.
This year, Ethan Monhian participated in the Tel Aviv University Hebrew Olympiad. Students from around the world were tested on their knowledge of Hebrew. Ethan placed second globally in the prestigious competition, something he says would not have been possible without Chairperson of the Hebrew Language & Literature Department Ms. Rachel Taylor’s guidance. “I cannot thank her enough for believing in me and my ability to achieve great success,” Ethan said.
Other students are celebrating great strides in Judaic studies, too, such as Talia Beck, who was a Siyyum Scholar and will be continuing her rigorous Judaic studies path at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Israel next year.
Many graduates choose to pursue education in Israel. Of this year’s graduating class, students will attend a wide array of yeshivot and seminaries. Others are beginning their lives after graduation in service, like Jakob Baum who will attend Mechina
Keshet Yehuda and enlist in the IDF. Immersive Programming
for Future Leaders
NSHAHS’s unique, personalized schedules and specialized programs allow students to focus on the subjects that interest them most –– and set them up for success. “Our goal is for our graduates to make their mark on the world beyond North Shore,” commented Rosh HaYeshiva / Head of School Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Kobrin. “We want our alumni to inspire others as we have tried to inspire them during their time with us.”
The school’s Model Congress, for example, builds a wide variety of skills from public speaking to research methodologies and collaboration. Several members among this year’s graduates have used those skills to attain impressive accolades; class of 2025 co-valedictorian, Ilana Greenberg, earned a prestigious National Merit Scholarship – the John M Stalnaker Memorial Scholarship awarded to a student who is planning to study in the STEM field. She also earned the gold medal at the Long Island Math Fair, and the Grace Hopper Innovation & Leadership Award; Jordana Bruckheimer, a 2025 salutatorian, won the Nassau County Award in Combating Antisemitism from Bruce Blakeman; Elizabeth Mirharoon won Best Delegate at JCYMUN while also editing the school’s Science Research Journal; and Abby Rutta, also a salutatorian, won Best Delegate at the Princeton Model Congress.
Whatever combination of programming our students choose, they are known for their initiative. Graduate Abigail Suler was recognized with the first place prize for leadership by Virtual Enterprise International, an organization that creates
educational pathways that align career education and work-based learning with academic standards-based education.
Cultivating Acumen in STEM
From computer science to mathematics, NSHAHS students have demonstrated excellence in STEM. Director of College Guidance Mrs. Susan Davidson says she’s seen the class of 2025 go above and beyond with their studies and their pursuit of higher learning.
“Having excelled in the math curriculum at our school, one student pursued coursework at NYU to reach even higher in math and physics,” she said. That thirst for knowledge has led to several awards for members of the graduating class: Sarah-Kate Leibowitz won the Ada Lovelace Award for Excellence in Computer Science, Natalie Terrani was recognized with the Computer Science Department Award, and class of 2025 co-valedictorian Maya Arama has been selected for the highly competitive Albert Einstein College of Medicine Medical Scholars Program through Yeshiva University.
NSHA students also garnered awards for their athletic and artistic prowess, says Mr. Miller, and altogether, he says their success demonstrates the results of programming that nurtures students’ abilities. “Our students’ achievements span each subject area, from the humanities, the arts, the sciences, mathematics, languages, technology, and finance,” he said. “At the same time, our program steeps our students in Torah learning with courses in Tanach, Talmud and halacha/machshava. Our educational mission is to inspire our students to grow and develop not only academically, but also emotionally and spiritually –– they are our leaders of tomorrow.”
YOSS talmidim in Rabbi Oberlander’s shiur celebrated the completion of their chazzarah program with a special trip to Lakeview Marina
Rambam Mesivta Awardees Exemplify Middos and Learning
Rambam Mesivta is proud to recognize Shmuel Rabinow as the Class of 2025/5785 Valedictorian, Rami Kessock as their Salutatorian, and Elazar Schwartz as the Torah Communications Network Keter Shem Tov (Rambam Man) awardee.
The Valedictorian, Shmuel Rabinow, has distinguished himself as an exceptional student, leader, and role model. His achievements have been recognized on both local and state levels, receiving the New York State Assembly Citation, Nassau County Certificate of Recognition, and Nassau County Certificate of Appreciation. At Rambam, he was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Award, Outstanding Service Award, and the Masmidim Award, and earned the prestigious NSDA Degree of Distinction for his accomplishments in speech and debate.
Shmuel held numerous leadership roles, serving as Captain of the Rambam Rambots Robotics Team, the Rambam Rashis Torah Bowl team, and the History Bowl Team. He was also President of the Friendship Circle of the Five Towns, a STEM Club Instructor, and an active member of the Debate Team, Model Congress, Mathletes, Writers’ Guild, Model Chinuch League, and the Chess Team. As a proud Masmidim participant, he committed himself to daily Torah study, while also energizing his peers as a Ruach Ra-
ven. Shmuel’s family davens at Mesivta Ateres Yaakov in Lawrence. Shmuel will be attending Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush) in Israel next year, followed by studies in Finance at Baruch College.
Rami Kessock, Salutatorian of Rambam Mesivta’s Class of 2025/5785, has spent four years exemplifying achievement in academic excellence, leadership, and a deep commitment to Torah learning and community service. As a passionate learner, Rami was part of the Masmidim program throughout high school, earned the Masmid Award, and participated in both the Double Beis Midrash track and the Hamasmid publication, where he oversaw weekly distribution of Torah content.
Rami served as Captain of the First Tech Challenge Robotics Team, leading his team to a first-place finish in the Long Island regional qualifiers. He was also Captain of the JV and Varsity Hockey Teams, earning the title of Top Goalie at Camp Dovid Hockey in 2023. His other extracurriculars included Mock Trial, the Chess Team (which won back-to-back championships), and volunteer work as a Bnei Akiva Snif Counselor.
Outside the classroom, Rami was selected for the prestigious Tikvah Summer Scholars Program at Mount Holyoke College and was awarded the Solomon Fellowship for his engagement in Jewish
and political philosophy. He also worked on the sports staff at Camp Moshava IO, where he mentored children and promoted teamwork and sportsmanship.
Rami’s family davens at the Young Israel of Oceanside. He will be continuing his Torah learning next year at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush) in Israel.
Elazar Schwartz, Rambam Mesivta Class of 2025/5785 recipient of the Keter Shem Tov/Rambam Man Award, has personified leadership, character, and commitment throughout his high school years. Elazar was an active participant in both academics and extracurriculars, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook and a dedicated member of College Bowl and Torah Bowl. He was elected to
the Senior Council, led as President of both the Chesed Club and World Culture Club, and contributed meaningfully to the Yachad Club and Friendship Circle. Elazar’s devotion to his school community earned him the School Service Award, the Outstanding Chesed Award, and he was twice honored with the Outstanding Leadership Award. He also played on the JV Basketball team and the Varsity Hockey team. Elazar’s family attends the Agudah of The Five Towns. He will be continuing his Torah learning next year at Yeshivat HaKotel in Israel.
Rambam Mesivta is proud to be represented by three students who demonstrate and live the Rambam Mesivta core values of Torah, Midos, and Excellence.
Shmuel Rabinow, Valedictorian
Rami Kessock, Salutatorian
Elazar Schwartz, Keter Shem Tov Awardee
YOSS members of the debate club received end-of-year awards for excellence in public speaking, critical thinking, and teamwork demonstrated during debate this year
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman delivered an inspiring speech at the YOSS graduation this week
Mesivta Netzach HaTorah celebrated the graduation of our fifth graduating class this past Sunday. We are filled with immense pride as we witness our graduates reach this momentous milestone. For the rebbeim and faculty, it is the culmination of four years of hard work, which has yielded remarkable results. We are so proud of our talmidim and look forward to watching these fine young men continue to build on the accomplishments they’ve achieved at the Mesivta, as they grow into dedicated Bnei Torah in yeshivos both in Eretz Yisrael and America.
Mercaz Academy Four-Year-Olds Morph Into Lepidopterists
The Nursery Bet students at Mercaz Academy in Plainview spent the spring devoting themselves to the subject of metamorphosis, and they wish to alert the world to the fact that Eric Carle made a serious error in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. No self-respecting butterfly would ever spend time in a cocoon; only moths do that. A butterfly, they eagerly explain, emerges from a chrysalis. And that’s not all they learned.
Caterpillars appeared everywhere in their classroom as part of a rich and multi-sensory learning journey. Nursery Bet practiced their counting skills with caterpillar math activities, and they made edible caterpillars out of cucumbers, blueberries, and celery. They read fiction and nonfiction about the process of metamorphosis. Butterflies fluttered through their art projects. In a very exciting experiment, Morah Joanne Mlotok brought caterpillars to live in the Nursery Bet classroom, where fascinated students watched them crawl around their sealed cup, eat the caterpillar food contained therein, and finally, crawl up to the top to spin silk in preparation for what seemed like endless time in chrysalises.
Once the pupae were snugly wrapped in silk and immobile, Morah Jo moved
them into their butterfly habitat, and students checked in on them frequently as they crafted colorful butterflies and learned about the latter stage of butterfly development. At last, two butterflies emerged from the chrysalises; the children named them Molly and Sebastian. After allowing the butterflies time to strengthen their wings, Nursery Bet celebrated the completion of their study with a joyful release ceremony in the Early Childhood Center playground. The students watched, captivated, as Sebastian and Molly took flight into their new world—the perfect ending to an unforgettable learning experience.
At the Chumash Mesiba of the Pre-1A classes of Siach Yitzchok
Around the Community Angel of Mercy
Biography
of Mrs. Miriam Lubling, Pioneer of Bikur Cholim
By Shoshana Friedman
Rabbi Moshe Sherer, the longtime legendary chairman of Agudath Israel of America, enjoyed a close relationship with Mrs. Lubling. As a public servant who devoted every ounce of his talent, intellect, and resources to Klal Yisrael, he recognized a fellow “Klal Yisrael Yid” and harbored extraordinary admiration for her grit and passion. He regularly referred to her as the angel of mercy, a moniker that was later adopted by many of the medical professionals and communal activists who saw her in action.
Mrs. Lubling’s background as a PAI activist left her with a finely-honed sense of organizational savvy. She was a faithful Agudist who often offered advice to Rabbi Sherer, and later to Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, who currently serves as executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America. “Stay away from this person,” she warned. Or, “This person will be a good contact for
you, try to form a strong connection.” Invariably, her advice was on target.
Rabbi Sherer valued Mrs. Lubling’s life experience so greatly that he invited her to join Agudah’s national leadership mission to Washington, DC, several times. During these missions, a select group of activists and influencers travels to America’s capital to discuss shared areas of concern with elected officials and politicians. The schedule is packed with meetings, discussions, presentations, and at least one official luncheon, and each event is conducted with formality and utmost respect.
During one mission, Mrs. Lubling was escorted into the White House along with the Agudah team for a session with several high-level Cabinet members. The organizers seated her in the front row, a sign of Rabbi Sherer’s abiding admiration, and then introduced the first elected official on the agenda. The Agudah representatives all listened attentively as the guest began to speak. Then a cellphone began to ring.
Mrs. Lubling didn’t particularly care
that she was in the White House, the locus of American executive power. Nor was she intimidated by the fact that a prestigious elected official was sharing his valuable time with the Agudah representatives. Her phone was ringing, and that meant that someone needed help. She reached into her large handbag, pulled out the phone, and took the call right there in the White House.
(After the session concluded, the Agudah organizers approached the official and explained that Mrs. Lubling dealt with medical emergencies at all hours of the day and night and that she’d meant no disrespect by taking the call.)
During another mission, then-Senator Hillary Clinton addressed the Agudah team during a luncheon in the Senate. Mrs. Lubling, with her sharp nose for potential allies, approached Senator Clinton as soon as she finished her speech and began to describe one of her chessed projects — perhaps the Senator could help obtain funding.
That unplanned conversation developed into a warm relationship, and a year later, when Agudah’s mission arrived in Washington, Senator Clinton greeted Mrs. Lubling with familiarity and respect.
But that wasn’t their last encounter. During the time that Mrs. Lubling worked for the Boro Park Community Council, Council Executive Director Rabbi Yechiel Kaufman received funding to hold a special tribute luncheon for Holocaust survivors on Chanukah of 2002. Since Mrs. Lubling handled the Holocaust Survivors’ desk, she was charged with organizing the event.
It was clear that most of the attendees would be women, and Mrs. Lubling decided to bring in a fitting guest speaker who’d make her guests feel honored and prestigious. Who better than New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a powerful and influential woman who had once been the First Lady of the land?
When the afternoon of the luncheon came, the Khal Chassidim simchah hall in Boro Park was packed. The tables were set and the kitchen staff was at work, putting the final touches on the menu, when suddenly their quarters were overrun by Secret Service operatives. The cook came running to Rabbi Yechiel Kaufman. “What did you do?” he demanded. “How can I cook like this?”
Rabbi Kaufman soothed the man and watched as the Secret Service gave the allclear for Senator Clinton to enter the hall. Suddenly scores of elderly women, dressed
in their best weekday suits with matching scarves, brooches, and earrings, surged around the visiting dignitary. Everyone wanted to get close to her, share a word with her, shake her hand. The Secret Service operatives had no idea how to cope with an invasion of genteel heimishe Holocaust survivors eager to get hold of their client; this definitely had never been part of their training.
Finally the crowds returned to their seats and the program began. Senator Clinton made her speech paying tribute to the survivors, the families they’d built, and the community they established upon the ashes of a shattered world. Then she turned to Mrs. Lubling.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here,” she said. “The truth is that no one in the world can walk into my office whenever they want without an appointment and say, ‘Hillary, you’re going to be in this place at this and this time’ — except Mrs. Miriam Lubling.
“A few weeks ago, Mrs. Lubling marched into my office. She told me, ‘Hillary, I’m making a luncheon for Holocaust survivors, I want you to be there at this and this time.’ And then every week since, I got a phone call: ‘Don’t forget, Hillary, December 8 at 12 noon in Khal Chassidim.’ “So, of course, here I am.”
Reprinted from Angel of Mercy by Shoshana Friedman with permission from the copyright holder, ArtScroll Mesorah Publications.
HALB lower school students who committed to the screen-free-to-be-me program all year got a special trip day to Adventureland
2nd Annual Pong for Israel
The Second Pong For Israel Tournament was held Sunday, June 8, at the spacious HAFTR gym, The Hawks Nest.
Many students came from different schools to compete and have fun. With a round-robin format, players had the chance to play against many different styles and meet and make new friends. Esther Glatt finished first in the middle school girls’ division, with HAFTR’s Ava Lazarus coming in second. Middle school boys Yosef Glatt defeated Ezra Goldberg
in a very close contest. Simi Felder from Yeshiva of Far Rockaway took the high school boys crown over HAFTR’s Max Levine. After the final smash was hit, Cyril Khazan won the Open with a perfect 7-0 record.
This event benefited the ZAKA organization. Much thanks to the HAFTR athletic director, Joey Hoeing, for helping with everything, and to Table Tennis Champion and HAFTR teacher Estee Ackerman for running a smooth and efficient event.
Voice N tes Letter from Abba
By Akiva L.
My Dear Children,
As the school year winds down and the smell of sunscreen and Shabbos in the country begins to fill the air, I wanted to share a thought from a different stage in life.
Your mother and I are no longer packing lunches or attending PTA. But we were, once — and now we get to watch you doing it, raising your children with the same care we tried to raise you. Baruch Hashem, what a precious gift.
But there’s something I’d like to pass along. A quiet message, but an important one.
As you think about camps and summer plans, don’t forget to stop and ask yourselves this question:
How will you express hakaras hatov to your child’s rebbi or morah?
As you know, I’m not a rebbi, and this isn’t a campaign. It’s just something that matters. Because with age and hindsight, I’ve come to realize that some of the most powerful relationships in our children’s lives happen behind the classroom door — and they deserve to be acknowledged properly.
1. They Gave More Than You Realize
A rebbi — or morah — doesn’t just teach. They carry a class. They notice who’s slipping. They hold things together. They give over Torah, structure, and often tefillos, tears, phone calls, and sleepless nights — not only for the easy child, but for the child who tests every limit and needs every ounce of love.
Sometimes, it’s your son’s rebbi, staying up late thinking how to reach him after a tough outburst. Sometimes, it’s your daughter’s morah, calling you discreetly to let you know that Aliza seemed unusually quiet that morning — and making sure to follow up during recess. And often, that morah is also the main breadwinner, juggling a classroom of children with a home full of her own.
These aren’t dramatic, one-time heroics. It’s the daily emotional investment that no paycheck can truly cover.
You may not see it. But it’s happening. And it matters.
2. What Can You Afford?
The Torah never asks a person to give more than they can. “Chayecha kodmin” — your life comes first (Bava Metzia 62a). If money is tight, give what you can — $10, $18, $36 — but pair it with a heartfelt, handwritten note.
I don’t mean, “Thanks for everything. Donny had a really great year.” That’s polite, but hollow. I mean something specific:
“Thank you for helping Sruli through that week when he refused to go to school — and for not giving up.”
“Thank you for sitting with Ariella to review for that first big test. She walked taller for weeks afterward.”
These notes matter.
A rebbi once told me, “I save every sincere note I get from parents and talmidim. On a hard day — especially after dealing with a challenging student — I take those notes out and reread them. They remind me why I’m doing this.”
That’s not an exaggeration. That note you write — if it’s personal and real — can lift a mechanech during his or her hardest week of the year.
And if you are in a position to give more — if Hashem has blessed you with comfort — then think about the message you’re sending. If you tip your cleaning lady $500 at the end of the year, if you’re booking vacation flights, if you’re redoing
your kitchen — don’t hesitate to give your child’s rebbi or morah $1,000, $1,800, or even $5,000 over the course of the year. It doesn’t have to be all at once. It just has to show that you value what they’ve given.
And yes — many poskim permit giving such gifts from maaser money, particularly when the mechanech is in financial need. But as always, check with your rav.
3. What Did They Put Into Your Child?
Not every year is the same. And not every mechanech invests equally in every student. But sometimes — if you’re honest — you’ll realize that this year’s rebbi or morah gave everything.
They noticed your child. They reached him. They believed in her.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin (19b) teaches us that someone who teaches Torah to another’s child is considered as if they gave birth to them. I used to think that was an exaggeration. It’s not. I’ve seen rebbeim and morahs treat children as their own — defending them, crying for them, davening for them.
That deserves more than a polite envelope. It deserves real recognition.
4. What Do They Need?
Most rebbeim and morahs live with dignity — but many quietly carry heavy burdens. They aren’t in chinuch for the money. But the money is still needed. Summer is especially tough. No regu-
lar paycheck. Camp jobs don’t pay much. Bills don’t stop.
The Torah says: “V’chei achicha imach” — your brother should live with you (Vayikra 25:36). The Rambam (Hilchos Matanos Aniyim 10:2) teaches that the highest level of tzedakah is helping someone before they fall.
This isn’t charity. It’s respect. It’s saying, “I see your effort, and I want to support you — not just in spirit, but in substance.”
5. Think Like the Torah Thinks
When a poor person knocks on your door, halacha doesn’t say, “Give him $1 like everyone else.” It says: “Kefi machsoro asher yechsar lo” — give according to what he lacks (Devarim 15:8).
The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 249:6) says the same: Give based on his needs, not your assumptions.
And if we do that for a stranger we see once, how much more so for the person who stood by your child every day, rain or shine, through tantrums, triumphs, and tefillos?
6. This Is Not a Tip
You’re not tipping a waiter. You’re honoring a shaliach Hashem.
You’re telling your child, through your actions: “We value Torah. We value the people who give it. And we don’t take it for granted.”
Whether it’s $18, $500, $5,000, or anything else — give something. Give a note. Give it from the heart. But don’t let the year end with nothing.
Because what you’re really saying is: “I saw what you gave my child. And I will not let that go unnoticed.”
That is hakaras hatov.
That is Torah.
That is how we raise children who value their teachers, their learning, and their journey.
With love and pride, Abba
I wish you the nachas from your children that you have given Mommy and me.
TJH Centerfold
Things You Will Miss About School
The 7:00 a.m. alarm — There’s nothing quite like being jolted awake by a siren disguised as your phone
Group projects — Especially doing 100% of the work while everyone else contributes “vibe”
The smell of the lunchroom — A rich bouquet of tater tots, spilled milk, and something that they claim is chicken.
That one teacher who thinks they’re a stand-up comedian — “Pop quiz!” Haha...no, seriously.
End-of-class packing panic — The last two minutes of class: 50% stuffing your bag, 50% existential dread
The one working water fountain — 600 students. One spout. Hunger Games: Hydration Edition
Standardized testing week — You’ll miss bubbling in your soul onto a Scantron
Hallway traffic jams — Just like NYC rush hour but with backpacks and snack bags and very smelly armpits
The thrill of catching the last seat on the bus — Bonus points if it’s not sticky
Fire drills in the rain — Because what’s better than standing in a soggy line during third period?
Cracking the code of your report card — “What does ‘approaching expectations’ really mean?”
Gym class basketball — Where everyone suddenly forgets how arms work
You Gotta Be Kidding Me
Why did the computer teacher retire?
He lost his drive.
Lifting weights every morning- Your 24-pound knapsack, filled with who-knows-what
Seeing your friends every day — Okay, this one you’ll actually miss. A lot.
Riddle Me This
Everyone is really excited for the last day of school at Yeshivas Zay Gezunt. The students, though, still really don’t know their way around. There are four classrooms, and each has exactly one door. Every door leads to a hallway—but only one hallway leads out of the school.
The principal says:
“Room A leads to Room B.”
“Room B leads to Room C.”
“Room C leads to Room D.”
“Room D leads to freedom.”
But one of his statements is false. Which room should you enter first if you want to escape, and how do you know?
D leads to freedom. This forms a valid path out of the school, beginning in Room B. Any other assumption would either create a contradiction or not lead to freedom. Therefore, to escape the school, you should begin in Room B and follow the true path through Rooms C and D to freedom. Have a great summer!
“Room A leads to Room B”—is the false one, then the rest must be true: Room B leads to Room C, Room C leads to Room D, and Room
The principal made four statements, but one of them is false. If we assume the first statement—
Answer: The correct room to start in is Room B.
Bye-Bye School Trivia
1. What’s the average number of hours a U.S. student spends in school per year?
a. 691
b. 842
c. 1,231
d. 1,570
2. What country has the longest school year, averaging 220 school days?
a. United States
b. Finland
c. Japan
d. Canada
3. Aside for the Rocky Mountains, Colorado also boasts a short school year. When did the Denver School District end school this year?
a. April 17
b. May 15
c. May 28
d. June 4
5. What state was the first to make school mandatory?
a. Virginia
b. New York
c. Massachusetts
d. Pennsylvania
6. What famous inventor only had three months of formal schooling?
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. Nikola Tesla
c. Thomas Edison
d. Steve Jobs
Wisdom key:
4. According to studies, what’s the most commonly used locker combination in American schools?
a. 10-20-30
b. 12-24-48
c. 0-0-0
d. 1-2-3
5-6 correct: You are an A student! You are probably sad that the school year’s over. Don’t worry – before you know it, you will be back to e=mc²! (I hope I didn’t throw you off with the exclamation point.)
2-4 correct: I bet I can guess your locker code— zero, zero, zero.
0-1 correct: I bet I can guess your scores on your last four tests – zero, zero, zero, zero.
In the discussion of the commandment of tzitzit, which is the concluding subject matter in this week’s parsha, the Torah warns us not to follow the dictates of our hearts’ desires and the wants occasioned by our wandering eyes.
The rabbis (especially the Netziv, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin of nineteenth century Volozhin) who commented on this verse stated that the “desires of our heart” refers to people who perform mitzvos without any faith in their worth or in their Giver, and that “after their wandering eyes” refers to those who view mitzvos that they personally observe through the prism of their eyes and understanding alone. They are always willing to substitute either their desires or their intellectual rationalizations for the pure belief in G-d and the subservience necessary to serve the Eternal.
Man’s natural inclination to be independent of commands and orders of others, to do what man alone wishes to do irrespective of duty, tradition and ultimate consequences, always places
Torah Thought
Parshas Shlach
By Rabbi Berel Wein
man in opposition to this Jewish concept which stresses obedience and humility before our Creator. The Torah allows us desires and rational thinking. But like every other facet of human behavior, these desires need to be channeled and disciplined. They are not meant to run
Jewish life and make it eternal. Otherwise, our hearts and eyes, our uncontrolled desires and uninhibited intellect and thoughts, will allow us eventually to go astray. But why is the commandment of tzitzit the ultimate method for teaching us these lessons of obedience, probity and
Tzitzit is a mitzvah that numerically (through gematria) and in its form (its knots and strings) constantly reminds us of the 613 mitzvos.
mitzvah applies only to four-cornered garments, a relative rarity in post-Talmudic times, Jews purposely wore such four-cornered garments to obligate themselves in the performance of the mitzvah of tzitzit. Thus, this is a mitzvah that was omnipresent in their lives – a garment that was constantly worn on their bodies. It was an item of self-identity and a primary reminder of the yoke of mitzvos and Torah that the Jews accepted upon themselves and their generations at Mount Sinai.
wild and follow all the changing whims and vagaries of human society in all its ages and generations.
Performance of the mitzvos faithfully and in acknowledgement of the One Who commands those mitzvos to be performed becomes the foundation and anchor for the necessary disciplines that enhance
faith? After all, there are hundreds of other commandments that would seem to be proper to instruct us in the same fashion. Here also the commentators to the Torah struggled to find a proper and meaningful explanation. The one that appeals most to me has to do with the form that the mitzvah takes. Even though the
Tzitzit is a mitzvah that numerically (through gematria) and in its form (its knots and strings) constantly reminds us of the 613 mitzvos that are the basis of our existence and the responsibilities in our lives and in this world.
Tzitzit is the total of all the commandments – in fact, of the very concept of commandments – that is the heart of Judaism and the nucleus of all Jewish life. Such is the methodology of Torah in all our behavior and thoughts.
Shabbat shalom.
From the Fire
Parshas Shlach
The Joy of Torah and Eretz Yisroel
By Rav Moshe Weinberger
Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf
This is the parsha of Eretz Yisroel. The commentators explain a variety of reasons why Moshe consented to send the spies to Eretz Yisroel. There was no doubt that Hashem would fulfill his promise to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov to give their descendants the land. In addition, there was no doubt that the land was good, a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Shemos 3:8). So why did Moshe agree to send the spies?
The Ramban (on Bamidbar 13:2) explains Moshe’s consent in a beautiful way that also enlightens us to a new perspec -
tive of the uniqueness of the mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisroel: “Because Moshe knew that [the land] was rich and good… he told them to pay attention so that they would know this, in order that they tell the nation [so that the nation would] rejoice and be reenergized to ascend [to Eretz Yisroel] with joy.”
This is somewhat difficult to understand. We know that there is a general principle that one should perform all mitzvos with joy, as the pasuk (Tehillim 100:2) says, “Serve Hashem with joy…” But this refers to a general state of
spiritual happiness that one is fulfilling Hashem’s command. This is a value common to all mitzvos that should accompany the performance of any mitzvah. But with regard to particular mitzvos, their purpose is not to give us physical enjoyment, as the Gemara (see, e.g., Eruvin 31a) says, “mitzvos were not given for physical enjoyment.” Physical enjoyment from mitzvos would make them “not for the sake of Heaven.”
In contrast, with respect to the mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisroel, the Ramban teaches us that that Moshe specifically
wanted the Jewish people to know that the land was “rich and good” so that they would rejoice and feel great happiness while living in Eretz Yisroel. It seems that Moshe did not only want them to feel a spiritual enjoyment in knowing that they were fulfilling one of Hashem’s mitzvos. He wanted them to feel a geshmak , a sense of pleasure, from living in the land of Israel. This is why Hashem told us that Eretz Yisroel is “a good and expansive land…a land flowing with milk and honey” (Shemos 3:8). It is why Moshe told the spies
(Bamidbar 13:20), “Strengthen yourselves and take from the fruit of the land.” He wanted them to see the geshmak of living in Eretz Yisroel. This is why, when Hashem first spoke to Avraham to command him to go to the land of Israel, He told him (Rashi on Bereishis 12:1) “Go for your good and for your pleasure.”
The unique nature of the mitzvah to enjoy living in Eretz Yisroel is also reflected in the Rambam’s statement (Hilchos Melachim 5:10) that, “The greatest scholars would kiss the borders of Eretz Yisroel, kiss its stones, and roll around in its dirt…” l iving in Eretz Yisroel must be incredibly enjoyable!
After returning from his visit to Eretz Yisroel, Rebbe nachman once commented that the land was very beautiful. The listeners assumed he meant that in a spiritual or kabbalistic sense, but he clarified that he was talking about “the streets and the houses.” The fulfillment of the mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisroel must be enjoyable, beautiful, and geshmak.
The Pleasure of Learning Torah
There is another mitzvah that is also an exception to the general principle that “mitzvos were not given for physical enjoyment” and that is the mitzvah to study Torah. In this regard, the Taz writes (Yoreh d eah 221:43) that if, for example, Reuven vows that Shimon may not derive any benefit from him [Reuven], then Shimon may not study Torah from Reuven’s sefer. He explains that this is because “the Torah certainly gladdens the heart… Therefore this mitzvah [to study Torah] is not comparable to other mitzvos with regard to which we say that they are not given for physical enjoyment. In contrast, this [mitzvah to study Torah] brings a person enjoyment.” Because it offers tangible enjoyment, Shimon may not study from Reuven’s sefer.
In order to counteract the erroneous notion maintained by some that Torah study is only for the sake of Heaven if one does not enjoy it, the Avnei nezer writes in the introduction to his sefer Eglei Tal that the primary fulfillment of the mitzvah to study Torah is to enjoy one’s learning and that this is the only way that the words of Torah will “become absorbed into the blood… This is what it means to study Torah for the sake of Heaven. It is entirely holy because even the enjoyment itself is a mitzvah.” According to the Avnei nezer, enjoying one’s learning is the primary way one must fulfill the mitzvah of studying Torah.
These two mitzvos involve the two main
categories of enjoyment. The mitzvah to study Torah involves a positive emotional and intellectual enjoyment, and the mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisroel includes a component of physical enjoyment.
The common denominator in these two mitzvos is that neither are circumscribed activities done for the sake of the performance of an obligatory act. Both are much more. They are life itself. With respect to
tial unit bound by the bond-of-life to the People, united by inner characteristics to its existence.”
Eretz Yisroel is part of our lives, physical and spiritual, with all that this entails. It is not a detail of our national reality, but rather it is an inherent part of the richness of our spiritual and physical life.
With this in mind, we can now understand the root of the sin of the spies. As
He wanted them to feel a geshmak, a sense of pleasure, from living in the land of Israel.
Torah, we say (Maariv), “For they [the words of Torah] are our life and the length of our days.” Without Torah, we are like fish on dry land. The Torah is the wedding ring, the bond connecting the Jewish people and G-d. Can one imagine if a chosson told his kallah under the chuppah, “Just so you know, even though I’m marrying you, it’s nothing personal. I’m doing this because it’s a mitzvah. Sure, I’ll be happy, just like there is a mitzvah to do any of Hashem’s mitzvos with joy. But it has nothing to do with you. I do not enjoy you personally in any way.” What kind of marriage would that be!? Hashem expects us to enjoy Torah, to have a geshmak in our learning. That is the essence of our relationship with G-d.
And it is the same with the mitzvah to live in Eretz Yisroel. l iving there is not simply the ability to have a land of our own, a refuge from persecution, or even a place to unify us as a nation. The land of Israel is intertwined with the essence of our lives as Jews. As the pasuk (Tehillim 116:9) says, “I will walk before Hashem in the land of life.” The life of the Jewish people and Eretz Yisroel are inseparable. They are one life, one essence.
The connection between them and the reality that both are the essence of our lives is reflected in the pasuk (devarim 32:47), “For it [the study of Torah] is your life and through it you will lengthen your days upon the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess it.”
This is what Rav Kook describes at the beginning of Oros Me’ofel, as translated by Bezalel naor, “The l and of Israel is not something external, not an external national asset, a means to the end of collective solidarity and the strengthening of the nation’s existence, physical or even spiritual. The l and of Israel is an essen-
dovid Hamelech said (Tehillim 106:24), “And they were disgusted by the desirable land.” With all of their justifications, the spies concluded (Bamidbar 13:31), “We cannot ascend.” Kalev, on the other hand, cried out (ibid. at 30), “We can surely ascend and take possession of it, we can surely succeed in doing it!” What was the difference between them? The spies put on their white fabric gloves, so to speak, inspected the land, found a
speck of dust, turned up their noses and said, “You call this a good land? Is this a beautiful kallah?” In contrast, Yehoshua and Kalev said (ibid. at 14:7), “The land is exceedingly good!” “She is a beautiful and kind kallah!” (cf. Kesubos 17a).
Rav Kook, zy”a, in his essay, “The Great Call to Eretz Yisroel,” writes, “[We must] destroy, with the powerful arm of the spirit and with the spiritual holiness of the desirable land, the filth of the spies…” Rav Kook calls upon us “to awaken the ancient love for Zion, to take hold of it and to settle it with the ropes of man and cords of love.”
May Hashem allow us to learn the Torah and make our lives in Eretz Yisroel with joy, peace, and happiness. And may Hashem fulfill our request in the blessing of the haftara, “Have mercy on Zion because it is the house of our life. And save those who are sad of spirit and cause them to rejoice soon in our days. Blessed are You Hashem, Who causes Zion to rejoice in those who build it!”
Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the founding Morah d’Asrah of Congreagation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.
Think. Feel.Grow.
The Qualities of Great Leadership
By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman
In an ideal society, everyone is devoted toward achieving their own unique greatness while simultaneously applying that individual greatness toward the larger collective greatness of the nation. A leader’s role is to enable each individual to embark on their own journey of self-discovery and achievement while also helping them devote their lives to a greater whole – to that which transcends themselves, to Hashem, the Jewish People, and the world as a whole.
This explains a seemingly strange halacha of the eglah arufah (Devarim 21:1–9). If a man is found dead outside a city, the elders of the city must decapitate a calf and proclaim that they did not kill this person. Why, though, would this even cross our minds? It appears obvious that the elders – the leaders of the city – did not murder an innocent Jew! What then is the deeper meaning of this strange halacha?
The Gemara elaborates on the procedure of the eglah arufah and explains that the elders of the city must promise that they did not turn the man away without food and an escort. On a practical level, this means that, as the elders of the city, they did not refuse this man adequate sustenance and protection. But do the leaders really have to escort every single guest out of their city?
Rav Michael Rosensweig suggests a deeper understanding, one that carries with it a profound lesson. The elders of the city are the leaders of the city. They influence the atmosphere and set the standards for the city; it is their job to inspire greatness in the people. If they achieve this, nobody in the city would ever murder an innocent man. The elders are therefore required to swear that this death was not due to a lack in their leadership; they assure us that they set up the proper standards of behavior to make something as abhorrent as murder unthinkable.
With this foundation, let us now study the key characteristics of a great leader.
Qualities of Leadership
Everyone is a leader in some capacity. Some will lead their families, while others will lead the world. The scale is irrelevant; the principles remain the same. A leader must begin by leading their own life, devoting themselves toward their own personal greatness. In addition to self-development, a leader must have a strong moral conviction, a genuine love of others, and a sensitivity to their needs. Most important of all is the desire to lead l’shmah (for a higher purpose), without any selfish or ulterior motives. Let us develop this topic in greater depth.
The crucial prerequisite of effective leadership is first developing oneself. Before you can lead anyone else, you must lead yourself toward a greater state of existence. This requires a relentless desire to better yourself, to improve every aspect of your life, to become more self-aware, and to maximize your full potential.
Developing a deep awareness and connection with Hashem is fundamental to this process. It is therefore no surprise that many Jewish leaders in the Torah were shepherds. (See Kli Yakar, Shemos 3:1) The Avos, the Shevatim, Moshe Rabbeinu, and David HaMelech were all shepherds, which provided them the time and setting to contemplate the nature of existence and connect with Hashem on the deepest levels. They walked around in nature, admiring the awe-inspiring world Hashem created – a lifestyle conducive to a spiritually rich existence. They had the peace of mind to gain deeper levels of self-awareness and weren’t caught up in the unimportant and tedious elements of life. In addition to developing empathy and leading a flock, a shepherd’s life is one that enables a spiritually flourishing existence.
The Lone Path
A leader must also be willing to commit to the right path, even if he is the only one doing so. Avraham was called the “Ish Ivri ” because all the masses walked on one side of the river, and he
walked on the other. (Ivri comes from the Hebrew word “ever ” (the other side), as in “the other side of the river.” Ideologically, Avraham walked on “the other side.”) He walked alone, choosing to live a life of truth rather than a life of social acceptance. Sometimes, one can see most clearly once they have distanced themselves from their current surroundings, as this gives them the ability to rethink, redirect, and then return with newfound purpose and meaning. Avraham completely removed himself from his culture.
Moshe spent many decades alone in the desert and on the run from Pharaoh, building his clarity and understanding of life before returning to lead the Jewish People. David HaMelech grew up as an outcast before being appointed as king by Shmuel.
This is not always necessary, but often, a step back leads to a giant step forward. This is why teenagers who leave their homes in chutz la’aretz and spend time learning Torah in Eretz Yisrael often find it immensely transformative for their spiritual development.
Expanding Outwards
After one has properly developed his or her own inner self and connection with Hashem, a true leader must then learn to properly expand outwards, devoting his life to that which transcends himself, i.e., his people. This requires one to become a giver, a lover of others, someone who focuses on the well-being of his nation. Avraham was an “ish chessed ” (man of kindness). Moshe’s first sign of leadership was his empathy, feeling the pain of those outside of himself: He intervened when a Mitzri was beating a Jew, when Dasan and Aviram were fighting, and when Yisro’s daughters were being harassed. (It’s fascinating to note the unique progression of Moshe’s empathy. First, he stops a non-Jew from hurting a
Jew. Then he stops a Jew from hurting a Jew. Finally, he prevents a non-Jew from hurting a non-Jew. This reflects an ideal whereby we care about all of humanity, not only people who we are related to, feel close to, or relate to ideologically. While there may be a hierarchy, the fact remains that all of humanity is interconnected, and all are deserving of respect, dignity, and empathy.)
A leader’s empathy must extend so far that he is willing to sacrifice and endure pain for his people, putting the needs of his people before himself. The seventy Zekeinim (elders) in the Midbar were the taskmasters in Mitzrayim. They were beaten mercilessly by the Mitzrim because they refused to hurt their brethren when the Jews failed to meet their quotas. Their leadership was granted to
purpose, and toward their destiny.
We Are All Leaders
Some leaders are the face of a nation, the ones who stand in front of large crowds and deliver extraordinary and inspiring speeches. But that is not the only type of leader. A leader is anyone who is on a mission, who empowers others, and who always looks for ways to contribute to the greater good. Leaders are great parents, great teachers, and great friends.
We are all potential leaders; we are all potential revolutionaries. We can all create change in the world. But to create any external change, we must first learn to develop ourselves and live with higher ideals. Let us all be inspired to become the greatest version of ourselves with the
A leader’s empathy must extend so far that he is willing to sacrifice and endure pain for his people, putting the needs of his people before himself.
them as reward for the pain and sacrifice they were willing to endure for their people. But in a deeper sense, they weren’t awarded positions of leadership because of their sacrifice; their sacrifice itself is what transformed them into leaders. (True leaders do not sacrifice their people for their own well-being. Israeli officers are known to lead their soldiers into battle and not remain behind in the safety of their army’s protection.)
Truly empathetic leaders care as much about the individual as the masses. While inspiring the masses is critical, if a leader cannot lower himself to help an individual, there is something essential missing from his leadership abilities. He must see the infinite value within every single individual. When a single sheep ran away from his flock, Moshe ran after it to retrieve it. It was at this exact moment that Hashem revealed Himself to Moshe at the Burning Bush, appointing him as leader of the Jewish people. Perhaps most important of all, a true leader never desires power for himself. His goal is solely to fulfill his unique purpose and to help others do the same. He leads by directing his people toward something far greater than himself. He leads them toward Hashem, toward their
hopes that our own journey of growth will inspire others to become the greatest version of themselves as well.
Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is the author of the bestselling book, “The Journey to Your Ultimate Self,” which serves as an inspiring gateway into deeper Jewish thought. He is an educator and speaker who has lectured internationally on topics of Torah thought, Jewish medical ethics, psychology, and leadership. He is also the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-development course based on the principles of high-performance psychology and Torah.
After obtaining his BA from Yeshiva University, he received Semicha from Yeshiva University’s RIETS, a master’s degree in education from Azrieli Graduate School, and a master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Bernard Revel Graduate School. He then spent a year studying at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Scholar. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife and son where he is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago.
To invite Rabbi Reichman to speak in your community or to enjoy more of his deep and inspiring content, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com.
It started innocently enough. Boruch was just going to pop into the store—grab some lightbulbs. That’s it. He even said it out loud in the car like some kind of budgeting mantra: “Just the lightbulbs. I don’t need anything else.” Spoiler alert: Boruch did not get the lightbulbs.
Two hours later, Boruch walked out carrying a giant inflatable flamingo (“seasonal clearance”), a Bluetooth-enabled plant pot that plays rainforest sounds, a novelty doormat that says “Welcome-ish, Depends Who You Are,” a scented putty designed to “relieve existential dread” (spoiler: it did not), and a microwaveable stuffed llama that smells like lavender and guilt.
Boruch’s Mood: confused. Slightly uplifted. Still in the dark, because again—no lightbulbs.
What happened? This is the phenomenon known as impulse purchases. Studies suggest that almost a third of consumers (29%) give in to the temptation of impulse purchases, splurging
Delving into the Daf
Impulse Purchases
By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow
at least once a week. Is this a new phenomenon? What do Chazal say about it?
The Gemara says in Shavuos (45a) that day laborers do not want to be paid at the beginning of the day. Rashi says the reason is that the workers need the money they are being paid for home living expenses, which they will purchase at night. They are afraid that if they are paid before the end of the day, they might spend it on something else. Impulse purchasing is not new.
Interestingly, the Rashash suggests a forced reading of Rashi where the laborer is concerned that he might drop or lose the money. The laborer is not worried about spending frivolously. Perhaps the Rashash assumed that at the time of the Mishna, food trucks did not regularly visit construction sites. This is because gas stations hadn’t been invented yet. Rashi in Bava Metzia does suggest the reason offered by the Rashash. (However, see Rabbeinu Chananel, who also assumes the worker is worried about spending his money, but for a different reason.)
Belief Perseverance
You’re at a dinner table. Someone confidently says, “Napoleon was sixfoot-two.” You gently reply, “Actually, he was 5’6”,” and even show them a reliable source. They glance, frown, and dismissively mutter: “Fake news.”
Why?
Because once people make up their minds, convincing them otherwise is about as easy as teaching a cat to use Venmo. Psychologists call this belief perseverance—the idea that once a person accepts something as true, they’ll cling to it tighter than a squirrel clutching its last acorn before winter.
One classic 1975 Stanford study illustrates this well. Researchers gave participants fabricated data suggesting that certain people were either good or bad at predicting suicide. Later, they revealed the truth: the data was entirely made up. Everyone nodded in understanding. But when asked again, “So who do you think was good at predicting suicide?” participants still leaned on the original fake data—despite knowing it came from
psychology students armed with a typewriter and too much free time.
Do we see a similar psychological dynamic in the Gemara?
Yes. The Gemara in Shavuos (45a) discusses a case where employers, amid the chaos of payday, become confused about which workers have already been paid. In cases of doubt, Chazal side with the worker, allowing him to swear and collect his wages. But the next day, when the dust has settled and no crowd of workers is demanding payment, the standard rule applies: possession of funds is stronger. The employer is presumed to be correct unless the worker provides proof.
Tosfos raises a question: if we expect the confusion to clear up once the pressure is off, why “bend” the rules and allow the worker to swear and collect? Why not just wait a day? The employer will remember more clearly and may admit he didn’t pay.
Tosfos answers insightfully: if the employer made his initial claim during the high-stress rush of payday—that he
paid—he will stick to it even afterward, when clarity returns. He won’t reverse course. His mind has locked in the belief that he paid the worker, and now he’s emotionally invested. He’ll double down.
Belief perseverance plays a role in halachic reasoning. Once someone commits to a position, even under pressure, they’re far more likely to defend it than to rethink it.
. I’m Not a Thief, I’m a Borrowologist
Let’s get one thing straight: these people aren’t criminals. They’d never mug you in an alley or sneak a candy bar into their coat at a gas station. But lend them a book, a space heater, or a lawn mower? Time to say goodbye. These people walk a moral tightrope. They live by an unspoken code: “If I didn’t take it—just borrowed it—then it’s not stealing. It’s custodial extensionism.” Welcome to the world of the Intentional Non-Returner.
A 2014 University of Michigan study found that 34% of people admitted to intentionally not returning something they borrowed. One-third! That’s not petty theft—it’s a lifestyle.
Do Chazal discuss this phenomenon?
Absolutely. The Gemara in Shavuos (46b) presents a case where someone leaves his friend’s home holding an item. The homeowner shouts after him: “Thief! You stole that from me!” The guest replies, calm as can be: “What do you mean? You sold it to me, and I paid you.”
In this case, Chazal side with the guest. (There are additional factors dis -
from you!”—then we believe the homeowner that he lent the guest the item.
The Nesivos raises a powerful question: either way, the homeowner is essentially accusing the guest of theft. It is only the homeowners’ claim that changes; the guest’s claim remains the same. “I bought it, and I am never returning it.” Why do we believe the homeowner when he claims the guest borrowed the
Once a person accepts something as true, they’ll cling to it tighter than a squirrel clutching its last acorn before winter.
cussed in the Gemara; see there.) The idea that a guest would blatantly steal something on his way out is too implausible. But if we tweak the scenario slightly, the halacha changes.
If the homeowner instead yells, “Remember to return it in a week!” and the guest answers, “Return it? I bought it
he’s a borrowologist. In his mind, once the item is in his possession, turning a temporary loan into a permanent one doesn’t feel so wrong. It’s not malice— it’s rationalization.
Across all three cases—whether it’s buying things you don’t need, refusing to admit you’re wrong, or “borrowing” things indefinitely—one thread runs through them all: the human mind’s incredible ability to justify itself. We rationalize splurges as self-care, double down on bad facts to protect our ego, and rebrand theft as “extended borrowing.” Chazal understood these tendencies well. The Gemara deals with people in all their messy, relatable psychology. And it reminds us that while some things have changed over time, our behavior has not.
item and not when he claims he outright stole it?
The Nesivos explains that while we’re reluctant to believe a person would commit outright theft, we are willing to believe that a borrower might “accidentally-on-purpose” never return something. The guest isn’t a robber—
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow is a rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. In addition, Rabbi Sebrow leads a daf yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, NY. He can be contacted at ASebrow@gmail.com.
Headlines Halacha
Getting Robbed on Shabbos A Halachic Analysis
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman
It is an unfortunate reality that happens, although, thankfully, they are happening less and less.
Robberies do take place, and they can be pretty scary. According to the FBI’s statistics, there were only 685,766 home robberies in 2018 with an average haul of $8,407 worth of merchandise. Since there are 128 million households in the United States, this means that 1 in 200 homes will be robbed each year. In 2018, most of them (61.4%) were robbed in the daytime. Our question is, what may one do if the robbery takes place on a Shabbos or a yom tov? May one call the police?
The Source
In Shulchan Aruch
The source that contemporary poskim rule regarding such matters is a Shulchan Aruch and Ramah that address a related point in Orech Chaim Siman 329:6-7. He writes that if the enemy is coming regarding matters of money, we do not violate the Shabbos,
but if they come regarding matters of life and death, then we do violate Shabbos. If it is a peripheral or border city, then we violate the Shabbos even if they come only in regard to matters of money. The Ramah adds that, in our times, we violate even if they only come for money – because if someone will resist, then the robber will surely get violent and it is a risk of life and death.
From this Ramah, it seems that one should always call the police even if the matter only pertains to monetary matters.
The Acharonim
The Magen Avrohom (329:5), however, poses a question. Why not just let him take the money and not violate the Shabbos? He answers that perhaps since a person cannot hold himself back when it comes to monetary loss, we are concerned that one of the assembled might take a stand against the robber and it could lead to loss of life. The Magen Avrohom, therefore, concludes that
when there is only one person present, he should let him take the money and not violate the Shabbos, but when others may be present, then one should violate the Shabbos. The Mishna Brurah (329:16-17) rules in accordance with this Magen Avrohom. He adds that it depends upon also upon the anger and unpredictability of the personalities involved.
The author of the Tzitz Eliezer Vol. II 9:1 applies the same criterion to contemporary Eretz Yisroel and is generally lenient about calling the police.
It must be made clear that whenever there is even a remote chance of danger to life one may violate the Shabbos. Indeed, one who does not do so is in violation of “lo saamod al dam rayacha – do not stand idly by your brother’s blood,” a Torah prohibition.
What About After the Robbery?
Interestingly enough, when the discussion is after a robbery has al -
ready taken place, some poskim take a stringent view and do not allow for any Shabbos violation. The Shmiras Shabbos K’hilchasa (41:24) writes that when there is no danger whatsoever, such as after a robbery has already transpired, it is forbidden to violate the Shabbos.
In a publication printed by Baltimore’s North West Citizens Patrol, whose text was approved by Rav Moshe Heinemann, the following guidelines appear:
1. If a crime has recently occurred and one has information that may lead to the apprehension of the perpetrator, one should ask a non-Jew to call the police (for example, if one has the license plate number or the description of the perpetrator).
2. If a crime has recently occurred and there is reason to believe that if the police are called, the perpetrator might be prevented from committing another crime (e.g., either because the police might catch the perpetrator or because a heightened state of alert might prevent
him from committing another crime), one should ask a non-Jew to call the police (for example, someone’s house has recently been burglarized).
3. If enough time has passed since the crime occurred that the perpetrator is probably out of the area, one may not ask a non-Jew to call the police (for example, if one wakes up in the morning and finds the window of their car smashed). However, one may mention the incident to a non-Jewish neighbor and if that neighbor chooses to notify the police, it is his prerogative.
4. In all of these situations, when the police arrive, one should answer all of the questions he is asked, in detail, even though the police are writing every word being said.
Another View
This author would like to provide sources that suggest that the aforementioned views are not universal and there might be ample room to violate the Shabbos in these circumstances as well – the reason being is that we may actually be misjudging the true danger to life in these situations. Of course,
each person should ask his or her own posek and not rely upon printed articles, as in all matters of halacha.
Let’s take cases #1 and #2. If a crime has recently occurred, the perpetrators may very well enter another house in the area and loss of life can chas v’shalom ensue. In this situation, the sources found below would indicate that one
robbery where one may, in this author’s view, ask a gentile to call the police even if the perpetrator may be out of the area.
The Sources
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach in Minchas Shlomo Vol. I #7 cites a debate between the RaZa and the Ramban regarding whether a bris mila that was
Rav Auerbach, zt”l, also discusses the possibility of the gentiles finding out that Jews will not be calling the police and thus Shabbos robberies might increase.
should not look for a gentile but should call the police on one’s own.
In case #3, there may be a difference between a house window being smashed and a car window being smashed. It is this author’s view that a home window being smashed may result in a future
to take place on Shabbos morning. The problem was that the herbs and paraphernalia that were prepared beforehand somehow disappeared. May one proceed with the bris while knowing that the pikuach nefesh situation might necessitate them obtaining new herbs?
The Razah forbids it but the Ramban permits it entirely.
Rav Auerbach, zt”l, also discusses the possibility of the gentiles finding out that Jews will not be calling the police and thus Shabbos robberies might increase. Rav Auerbach concludes that one could in such a situation call the police. He argues that even according to the Razah the prohibition is Rabbinic in origin.
It could very well be that this was the meaning of the Mishna Brurah himself when he stated the notions of anger and unpredictability of the individuals involved. It should also be noted that in contemporary times, the technology is such that informing the police is a Rabbinic violation not a Torah one.
Once again, the reader is urged to ask their own rav or posek regarding this matter. This article should be viewed as a halachic discussion and not practical advice. The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@ gmail.com.
Every day, except Shabbat, I get up early to go to the gym. Today was no different. When I opened my phone (mistake, phones need to be on at all times in Israel), there was a slew of “are you okay?” messages. As I scrolled, I found out that Israel had taken out the nuclear threat in Iran.
Somehow, I was not surprised. Last night, we went to a celebration of the Israel Museum – 60 years of magnificent existence. The crowds kept coming, and the exhibits, specially curated for the event, were interesting and eye-opening. I can now say that I have seen the first statue, tiny, made with a tool.
As we roamed the sites, I was thinking but did not say out loud to my friend Dora, that this was the first time that we have been out where there have been no sirens. It’s as if the Houthis have Jerusalem’s social calendar as their missile schedule. Monday, as we were walking to a family dinner, we saw one neutered above our heads in a cloud of smoke.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed our family dinner.
Today, a clueless Bob came home from an almost empty – of mispallelim and shnorrers – minyan. He only carries his phone when reminded. “Why are you home?”
There’s a war!
We did a deep dive into the internet
School of Thought
In Real Time
By Barbara Deutsch
for information. We had gotten numerous alerts and did not hear the screaming sirens. Everyone in Israel has been waiting for this shoe to drop. On our walk to the museum, Dora had told me that the U.S. had cleared out its embassies in the Middle East. Today we heard that the feud between Netanyahu and Trump and some other rumors about Israel and its plans forward were all a ruse to throw off the enemy.
When we got an alert granting us permission to leave the house, we went to the shuk to stock up for our quiet Shabbat. The cleaning help was stuck in Tel Aviv, so we changed linen and washed the floors, a daunting job. When the stores open, I am intent on buying myself something fun with the saved money.
Numerous flights, parties, celebrations and random events had to be cancelled or postponed. Heartbreaking is the news that multiples of reservists had to be called back to duty, some about to be married now worried that they will be able to attend their own weddings.
My friend was taking his weekly bike ride when the chain suddenly fell off his bike; he was catapulted into ongoing traffic and thought his life was over. A woman in the car behind him slammed on her brakes, picked him up, and took him home. He has many bruises and a
broken clavicle on one side and wrist on the other.
He will be okay.
That’s how we feel today. We woke up clueless and soon found ourselves in the middle of war. As this day progresses, we know it will be okay. Hashem is in control, and we are believers.
There is no other place we would rather be.
Am Yisroel chai; today, you officially became a world leader!
In the space between sirens, we went shopping for necessities; stores in our neighborhood are beginning to run low on some supplies. Stocking up is a necessity during war time. The major post-Shabbat garbage has been cleaned up, but the streets are not swept with minor street garbage pickup not happening. For smaller buildings, all bulk garbage in Jerusalem is in a public space.
I saw my homeless lady casually reading near my Ulpan; she was sitting on one of her multiple suitcases, smiling.
We just got back from a short walk to town (Ben Yehudah) and back. It’s a veritable ghost town. There are some buses and many cabs running but few stores, save for food, are open.
People are hurting. Yet, we know that we have to, once and for all, eliminate the threat.
For the past two nights, missiles have been pummeling our physical and emotional space. We are fortunate to have a protected space (maamad ) that is private and comfortable.
We are pained by the hardships and toll that the war is putting on young families, especially our young children and the chayalim. There is no school, no recreation, shul, smachot or assembly of large groups.
We hosted dear friends Rabbi Sadigh and his daughter Aviva for a light brunch. They made it to our place between sirens. Their extended family is in Jerusalem for a wedding; the venue just cancelled.
They are not alone. Our friends Anna and Maury have been planning a wedding that’s supposed to take place Friday. They are waiting to see what will happen.
These disappointments are minor compared to the loss of life in Bat Yam and Tel Aviv and more; in our small country, every precious life counts exponentially.
We went for a quick “between more sirens” walk. We made it home to safety just before it went off. Isn’t it amazing
that we actually have the technology to alert us to the oncoming danger; we have 20 minutes to a half hour to get out of danger’s deadly path.
Today, I wondered if all countries need to build homes with designated safe rooms.
I am also thinking that it is probably more anxiety-producing watching round-the-clock news talk in America than it is here in Israel living it in Real Time.
Thank you, Hashem, for giving the IDF, Mossad and Am Yisroel the ability to perform miracles.
Happy Father’s Day to all our precious fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers – too many of them fighting for the world’s safety. May every one of them come home soon.
* * *
When I wake up every morning, the sun shines bright in a cloudless sky; ironically, the weather has been just magnificent. When we found our apartment in Israel, we had no idea how important the “safety space” would become. We are blessed with a place where
we can sleep in a secure room.
Our neighbors, a family with numerous children of many ages and sizes, live in a literal hole in the wall. They have no maamad, and when they get an alert, they have to run to the parking garage three uphill blocks away.
We know how much harder it would be without the luxury of our in-house maamad.
Most things remain closed, streets
test. Chofesh has come too early for struggling families.
Ulpan, for which we placed ourselves on leave though we still get the messages, is in the middle of an assessment cycle. Most of the students are adult pensioners with grandparenting responsibilities; their kids need them to babysit because their schools are closed. It’s kind of amusing to read their Google Translate-generated notes of ex-
We woke up clueless and soon found ourselves in the middle of war.
are deserted, buses and cabs are out but the hustle and bustle of life’s daily activities does not prevail.
Schools and cheders are closed, on Zoom or nonexistent. Whoever even heard of Zoom before Covid? Yet, it has become an essential in our daily lives.
The charedi system resorts to a phone system that parents de -
cuses as to why they can’t take the tests or be in class even when it’s on Zoom.
No one should ever feel “stuck” in Israel. I heard a local rabbi explain that if you planned to “go back” to wherever you live and are frustrated in your efforts right now, don’t despair. Consider yourself privileged to be in Israel as history unfolds.
Everything in life is contingent on your attitude and perspective.
Wedding and other simcha planners are scrambling for appropriate venues as people cannot assemble in large places. Amusing is to picture fancy outfits relegated to stuffy classrooms and open fields. Heartbreaking is to think of chasanim being called back to service and disappointed grandparents not able to actively participate.
As each news bite filters into our day-to-day, determining if there will be another siren, another imminent danger, another life lost, another building collapsed, we persevere in the knowledge that the real miracles that we see every second are all because Hashem loves and protects His children.
We are safe in His hands.
Barbara Deutsch is the former associate principal at HANC, middle school principal at Kushner, and Dean of Students at Yeshiva of Flatbush. A not-retired educator, she is trying to figure out life in Israel through reflections on navigating the dream of aliyah as a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend.
Israel Today Israel Is Not a Game. This Is Our Reality
By Aron Schoenfeld
The world watched in awe as Israel carried out a bold and highly coordinated strike deep into Iranian territory. From the Mossad base established within the heart of Iran to the precision of the mission, the headlines have been filled with admiration, curiosity, and even entertainment. But from within Israel, the view could not be more different.
This is not a game. This is not a Hollywood blockbuster or a digital war simulation. This is life and death. And for those of us living here, the last few days have been a sobering reminder of how fragile that life can be.
A Nation on Hold
Since the retaliatory strike on Iran, Israel has entered a state of high alert. The country is not just tense, it is effectively shut down.
There are no flights. Airports are closed. The skies, once buzzing with planes and helicopters, are now eerily quiet.
There are no cars on the streets. Highways are empty. Cities that once pulsed with movement feel frozen in time.
There are no children walking to school. No backpacks bouncing as they rush to class. No laughter in the courtyards. Just silence.
There are no conversations at cafés. No coffee brewing. No clinking of glasses. No smiling waitstaff serving their regulars.
In this moment, life in Israel is on pause. We are not watching. We are not speculating. We are not posting memes. We are living through something incredibly real. In the Shelter Again and
shelter not once or twice but five times.
At 9 p.m., the sirens began. Then again at 10 p.m. Then at 1 a.m., 3 a.m., and 5 a.m.
Each time we rushed to the bomb shelter. Each time we sat, waiting, hearts racing, wondering what would happen next. We listened for the booms, for the sound of Iron Dome intercepts, and then for the dreaded sound of something hitting the ground. Hard.
Some of the missiles were taken down in the sky. Some were not. Some hit. People died. Many were injured. The damage is not theoretical. It is personal. It is visible. It is tragic.
And then, on Saturday night, it all happened again.
The Human Cost
What is often lost in the international narrative is the real, human cost of this war.
This is not just about rockets. It is about the thousands of Israeli soldiers now stationed on every border, each one leaving behind family, children, and responsibilities. These soldiers are putting their lives on the line to protect ours, even as their own families take cover during incoming barrages.
It is about the families who are navigating this crisis without both parents at home. One parent must manage multiple children, infants, pets, routines, and fear, all while rushing to bomb shelters at any hour of the night.
It is about the children who now associate the sound of sirens with panic and whose sense of safety is permanently shaken. For many of them, the innocence of childhood is replaced with a constant awareness of danger.
It is about parents who don’t sleep, who cannot offer comfort, because they themselves are running on fear. It is about grandparents too frail to move
quickly, and teenagers forced to become protectors instead of protected.
It is about small businesses that have closed their doors, not knowing when they will reopen or if they can survive this period at all. It is about an entire society struggling to remain economically afloat while emotionally under siege.
There is a cost here, and it is paid not only in shekels and statistics. It is paid in sleepless nights, in trauma, in emotional fatigue, and in a national psyche that is forever changed.
A
Time for Strength, Not Spectacle
It is easy for people far away to make jokes. We see the posts online. “Let the games begin.” Graphics and memes parodying our Home Front Command alerts. Social media turns a national crisis into viral entertainment.
But for us, it is not a game. It is not funny. It is terrifying. And it is very, very real.
Yes, we are proud of the strength and reach of the IDF. We are proud of our intelligence community and our defense systems. We believe in them, we trust them, and we know that when the time comes to act again, they will act with clarity and courage.
But that doesn’t take away the fear, or the cost, or the longing for peace.
We Will Rise, But We Will Never Be the Same
Israel is resilient. We always have been. We will recover. Our lives will resume, our streets will fill, our children will laugh again.
But we will not be the same. Something has been taken from each of us— something invisible but vital. Perhaps it is the belief that peace is just around the corner. Perhaps it is the illusion that we
can live like any other country. Perhaps it is just the simple right to live without fear.
There will be a time to reflect on these events with perspective. There will be a time to analyze, to celebrate the success of missions, to acknowledge the courage of our forces.
There may even be a time to laugh again.
But that time is not now.
Now is a time to be present. To protect. To support one another. To carry the weight of this reality, together.
And to remind the world that, for Israel, this is not a headline. This is our home.
Aron Schoenfeld, who was born in Woodmere and is now a resident of Modiin, Israel, is the founder of Smiles for the Kids (www.smilesforthekids.com) a grassroots non-profit bringing joy and support to children facing life challenges. He is passionate about community impact and creating meaningful connections through giving.
The Lion Has Roared
How Operation Rising Lion Has Changed the Landscape of the Middle East
By Tzvi Lev
It finally happened. At 2:40 AM on June 13, over 200 Israeli fighter jets lifted off and headed to Iran. Four hours later, the aerial armada reached the Islamic Republic.
Operation Rising Lion was underway. Three decades of Israeli military planning, diplomatic activities and massive covert sabotage and intelligence operations had come to a head.
The first wave was led by Mossad special operations units on the ground in Iran. The operatives had been smuggled in weeks before to a covert drone base located in the heart of Tehran.
The UAVs had been brought into Iran by seaborne commandos and in parts sent via standard mail before being put together in the Tehran safe house by agents recruited years back. Armed with explosives, the UAVs were driven in launchers hidden in the back of innocuous-looking trucks to Iran’ antiaircraft batteries ringing the capital.
Then, the drones lifted off, smashing into the S-300 air defense systems. The skies were now open for the F-35 stealth fighters, who had taken off hours earlier from Nevatim air base in the Negev Desert.
Largely invisible to radar, the F-35’s split off. Dozens continued to target Iranian air defense systems in order to open the sky to the older and slower planes that would follow them.
Others headed to pre-selected targets, assassinating senior Iranian military officers, spy chiefs, and the over a dozen of the Islamic Republic’s most important nuclear scientists. In a dramatic and unprecedented escalation, Israel eliminated the upper echelon of Iran’s military leadership within minutes, in a coordinated strike that stunned the region.
Among those killed were the Chief of the General Staff, the Commander of the Air Force, and the heads of the Iranian Navy and Army Ground Forces. Also eliminated were the top commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including the leaders of the IRGC Navy, Ground Forces, the Basij paramilitary units, and the Quds Force—the elite external operations wing once led by Qassem Soleimani.
The Commander of the Emergency Headquarters and the head of the Army Air Force were also confirmed dead. The simultaneous strike marks one of the most significant blows to Iran’s military infrastructure in modern history and resulted from a mind-boggling
“When the dust settles, you’re going to see some surprises on Thursday night and Friday that will make the beeper operation almost seem simple,” said Israel’s Ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter.
With its air defense crippled and most of its chain of command dead, the skies were now wide open.
Over 100 aging F-15X and F-16i ‘Sufas’ pulverized the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, destroying the above-ground infrastructure and wiping out 14,000 centrifuges.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) later confirmed the destruction of surface-level centrifuge buildings and reported a loss of power to the underground halls. However, the extensively fortified underground section remained largely intact, according to official assessments and satellite analysis.
For the next three days, the Israeli air force operated freely above the skies of Iran. This sight of IAF jets circling above and bombing missile launchers and sensitive military installations at will was previously unthinkable and was a result of the complete and total air superiority Israel established.
Military analysts around the world marveled at the
speed at which Israel put Iran’s vaunted air defense systems out of service, noting that Russia failed to do so in over three and a half years of war in Ukraine despite having a considerably larger air force than Israel. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Lt. Gen. David Deptula (Ret.), former commander of U.S. air campaigns in Afghanistan and current dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, emphasized that control of airspace is often the deciding factor in military success.
“When no one controls the air, you end up in a war of exhaustion,” he said, referring to the situation in Ukraine. “What we’re seeing with Israel is the opposite—wherever they can dominate the air, they’re able to strike with precision and freedom.”
Not having to fear Iranian Surface-to-Air Missiles, Israeli planes and drones were now able to fly low over Tehran, Isfahan and Mashad and take out hard-to-reach targets such as the mobile ballistic missile launchers that were firing barrages towards Israel. This also enabled the fighters to use short-range rockets instead of expensive long-range missiles.
“The Israelis now have the ability to use the whole suite of their offensive weapons—in greater mass, more efficiently, and spreading them out,” noted retired British Air Marshal Martin Sampson. “From Israel’s side, the campaign objective is to destroy and degrade—and Iran doesn’t have that ability.”
Caught by Surprise
Apart from establishing air superiority, a factor that was key to the initial success of Operation Rising Lion was surprise. Keeping Iran from guessing that an attack was on the way was critical in order to prevent the Islamic Republic’s top brass from hiding in underground bunkers that would be impossible to hit. Furthermore, the tens of thousands of centrifuges at Natanz needed to be spinning when hit in order to be destroyed irreparably.
Ensuring operational surprise featured an expansive deception campaign that included highlighting the upcoming wedding of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s son Avner that was slated to take place this past Monday. Iran surmised that the premier would not ruin his son’s happy occasion by ordering a full-on air assault.
As Israeli and U.S. military officers drew up attack plans, erroneous leaks surfaced in the media that spoke of a supposed demand by President Donald Trump to Netanyahu to publicly renounce any attack plans. These were later confirmed to be purposely planted in the press as part of the effort to keep Tehran from guessing what was underway.
Trump and his team publicly acted opposed to an Israeli strike but privately raised no objections. The strategy was to mislead Iran into believing no attack was coming, preventing key Iranian figures from relocating.
This campaign of deception was needed because Israel’s military strike on Iran’s nuclear program should not have surprised anyone. For days leading up to June 13, every possible red light was blinking.
Reservist pilots were called up en masse, Israeli air force jets stationed overseas for training or maintenance were brought home, and the United States evacuated its embassies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Iraq and Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid an irregular visit to the Western Wall to pray for the operation’s success, and wagers on an imminent Israeli attack even surged by 100% on the online betting site Polymarket 72 hours before the planes lifted off.
Yet Iran should not have been surprised that Israel ordered in the troops. Destroying the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program before the fundamentalist state could get to the bomb is well in line with longtime Israeli national security practice. Known as the “Begin Doctrine,” the principle holds that any regime openly hostile to Israel and threatening its existence must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons capabilities that could be used against it.
This approach was demonstrated in Israel’s successful airstrikes on nuclear reactor sites in Iraq and Syria, which destroyed the facilities without causing loss of life. These operations significantly delayed the nuclear ambitions of both countries, beyond what might have occurred through technical or diplomatic setbacks alone.
For almost three decades, Israeli leaders consistently and repeatedly vowed that the Jewish State would not allow Tehran to get nuclear weapons. No one took the threat more seriously than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who viewed stopping Iran’s race to the Bomb as his life’s mission and focused on preventing it to an extent that he was labeled “messianic” by many.
An Existential Threat
Israel views Iran going nuclear as an existential threat due to three key reasons. The first was the fundamentalist and extreme nature of the Islamic Republic.
A religious theocracy, Iran funds terrorism throughout the world and puts destroying Israel as its most important strategic imperative. This goal overrode everything else, to the extent that Iran refuses to cut the hundreds of millions it affords to terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah even when facing economic collapse due to sanctions.
The prospect of what is arguably the world’s most extreme state possessing the deadliest weapon known to mankind is nightmarish.
“It’s 1938, and Iran is the new Hitler,” Netanyahu once told the United Nations.
For a country founded with the mandate to prevent a repeat of the Holocaust, having its most powerful foe obtain the ability to murder millions of Jews at the push of a button could not be allowed to happen.
Had Iran gone nuclear before the October 7 massacre, what would stop Iran from protecting Hamas by threatening Israel with annihilation should IDF troops enter Rafah?
The scenario of another Holocaust was not theoretical, as senior Iranian officials would frequently reiterate how one nuclear detonation would destroy Israel forever while the Islamic Republic could absorb multiple blasts yet still survive.
The second threat was the effect a nuclear Iran would have on the entire region. With Shi’ite Iran viewed as the primary adversary by dozens of Sunni states, Iran obtaining the bomb would unleash a nuclear arms race throughout the wider Middle East.
The Shi’ites and Sunni Muslims have had an uneasy relationship for almost a thousand years. Sunni Islam views Shi’ites as heretics; Iran invests enormous resources to topple moderate Sunni regimes in places like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt.
Even the perception that Iran is progressing toward nuclear weapons capability would trigger a regional arms race, with nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seeking to match that threat in order to maintain strategic balance. Currently, Israel is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to possess nuclear weapons—an undeclared arsenal believed to date back to the late 1960s, though Israel officially maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity.
Saudi Arabia has openly indicated its intention to pursue nuclear weapons if Iran were to develop them. In 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) stated that while the kingdom does not desire nuclear arms, it would not hesitate to acquire them if Iran did. He reaffirmed this position in a 2023 interview, saying that Saudi Arabia is wary of any state obtaining nuclear weapons and would feel compelled to respond in kind if Iran became a nuclear power.
Saudi Arabia has already taken significant steps toward developing a civilian nuclear program. In 2019, reports surfaced about the near-completion of its first nuclear reactor near Riyadh. The following year, investigations revealed Saudi cooperation with China in building a facility to process uranium yellowcake. U.S. intelligence agencies later assessed that this collaboration could potentially lead to a broader capability for producing nuclear fuel.
Then there are similar initiatives across the region, potentially involving the UAE, Egypt, and Turkey. The UAE became the first Arab state to operate a nuclear power plant in 2020 with the launch of the Barakah facility. Egypt, once a strong supporter of the Iran nu-
clear deal (JCPOA), viewed it as a safeguard against regional proliferation before its collapse.
Turkey has also expressed dissatisfaction with nuclear inequality; in 2019, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the notion that some countries are allowed nuclear weapons while others are not, pointing specifically to Israel as an example of regional imbalance.
A nuclear arms race in the Middle East would prove catastrophic for Israel. If Cold War tensions between United States and the Soviet Union were highly calculated by two rational actors seeking to refrain from deteriorating to a nuclear holocaust, here the deadly weapons would be held by extreme and unstable regimes sitting on its borders.
The threat to Israel’s security would go well beyond the Arab governments themselves. Nothing could guarantee that a military officer undergoing a religious awakening would not “go rogue,” acting on his own to detonate a nuclear weapon on Israeli soil in order to go down in Islamic history as the biggest hero since Saladin.
And while Moscow and Washington were on opposite sides of the globe during the Cold War, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are less than a half-hour flight time from Israel. It would be almost impossible for Israeli intelligence to detect the threat in time, let alone act on it.
Nor could Israel destroy an Arab nuclear program like it did in Iraq, Syria and Iran. Attacking Saudi Arabia would mean declaring war on Muslims worldwide, while Egypt is nominally an ally that shares a border with Israel and has the largest military in the Middle East.
“Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned in 2018. Only by stopping Tehran’s race to the Bomb could Israel prevent widespread nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
The third reason Israel could not live with a nuclear Iran is the protective umbrella a nuclear Iran would be able to give its proxies. Had Iran gone nuclear before the October 7 massacre, what would stop Iran from protecting Hamas by threatening Israel with annihilation should IDF troops enter Rafah?
Iran obtaining weapons of mass destruction would make its proxies untouchable, allowing groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis to morph from serious threats to an existential danger to Israel’s existence. These were not chances that Israel could take after the shocking surprise of October 7.
Moving Forward
Operation Rising Lion went forward as a result of the various factors coming together. The first was Iran’s race to the Bomb, together with an effort to produce hundreds of ballistic missiles every month.
Just days before launching its surprise strikes on Iranian targets, Israeli intelligence reportedly uncovered evidence that Iranian scientists had made significant progress toward the development of a nuclear weapon—advancing the program to a point where a functioning bomb could be completed within weeks, if Tehran chose to move forward.
According to unnamed security officials cited by
Army Radio, this critical intelligence was delivered to Israeli decision-makers as part of the final deliberations before Friday’s operation. Officials referred to the information as “golden” but also noted a troubling gap in visibility: Israel could not confirm whether Iran had advanced even further than known.
The report claims that, beginning in late 2023 or early 2024—soon after Hamas’s October 7 attack and the subsequent escalation in Gaza—Iran discreetly mobilized teams of scientists. These experts were divided into specialized groups, each focusing on a different phase of the nuclear weaponization process, with operations conducted in extreme secrecy to avoid detection.
“We saw Iran on the threshold of getting a nuclear weapon, perhaps in a matter of days. We couldn’t let that happen and made it clear to the United States that we would act – with or without them,” Prime Minister Netanyahu told Fox News.
Then there was the complete destruction of Hezbollah and the Assad regime, removing the biggest threat from Israel’s northern border. Two of Iran’s strongest allies and assets, these proxy groups had been armed by the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for over two decades for this very moment – unleashing the gates of hell and raining thousands of missiles onto Israel’s Home Front every day in the event of a potential Israeli strike.
But the IDF shattered Hezbollah, leading to the fall of the Assad regime and removing Iran’s main forces from the picture to the extent that Hezbollah refrained from joining the fight following last Friday’s assault on Iran. If Syria once played a central role in the anti-Israel axis painstakingly constructed by the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps, new President Ahmed Al-Shaa’ra declared that he would take no side in the current outbreak of hostilities and maintained that “we have no issue with Israel using our airspace to shoot down ballistic missiles.”
Finally, there was the election of President Donald Trump. Replacing President Joe Biden, the man who denied Israel the crucial weaponry it needed to fight in Gaza, with someone like Trump and his strong antagonism towards Iran was a key development.
An air assault on Iran was a non-starter for the Biden administration, staffed by Obama veterans who brokered the disastrous Iran deal. Had Kamala Harris prevailed in the election, with the former vice president surrounded by a bevy of pro-Iran advisors, it
For a country founded with the mandate to prevent a repeat of the Holocaust, having its most powerful foe obtain the ability to murder millions of Jews at the push of a button could not be allowed to happen.
definitely would have been off the table.
But Trump running things opened up a slew of new possibilities. The immediate and urgent threat of a nuclear Iran, the elimination of its proxy network surrounding Israel, and the return of Trump presented a unique opportunity.
What Comes Next
Israel’s ongoing attack on Iran is a generational event, whose effects will reverberate throughout the region for decades to come. What comes next depends on three critical questions.
The first is to what extent Iran’s nuclear weapons program is impaired. Current estimates say that Iran has been set back for at least a year, as Israel caused significant damage to the Natanz and Isfahan enrichment facilities and killed dozens of its top scientists.
At the same time, Israel has of yet failed to target the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. The subterranean uranium enrichment site is key to the survival of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and it would be impossible to fully eliminate Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure if the installation is still operating.
But buried hundreds of feet underground and built under a towering mountain, the facility is largely immune to Israeli airstrikes. Only the United States currently possesses the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator precision-guided bombs that are able of destroying hardened sites.
Israeli officials have admitted that they cannot fully destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure on its own and have been pressing the United States to step in.
“Thirty minutes of U.S. strategic bombing by a pair of B2’s, and the Iranian threat is history. We don’t need boots on the ground, and we’ve already taken care of Iran’s air defense” said Major General Ya’acov Amidror, Israel’s former National Security Advisor and a close Netanyahu advisor.
This raises the second critical question of to what extent the United States will enter the fray. Israeli officials say that apart from military action against the Fordow facility, Washington can use its significant diplomatic clout to end Iran’s designs of a nuclear breakout.
Speaking with Israel’s Channel 12, National Secu-
rity Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi remarked that only the United States has the ability to fully dismantle Tehran’s nuclear ambitions—not through advanced munitions like the “bunker buster, but through diplomatic pressure. He pointed to the agreement once proposed by former President Donald Trump, under which Iran would abandon its nuclear efforts in return for normalized relations and the lifting of economic sanctions.
Israel’s overarching strategy with Operation Rising Lion is two-pronged, and both involve the United States: the first goal is to halt Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon by forcing it back to the negotiating table in a dramatically weakened state, following days of “Shock and Awe” airstrikes and systematic assassination of top security brass.
Should that fail, Israel seeks to have Washington put the finishing touches by joining the operation and dropping its GBU-57A/B “Bunker Busters” on the Fordow enrichment facility hundreds of feet under the earth.
The final question is the future of the Islamic Republic. Some contend that Iran is currently in a vulnerable state, and that this moment presents a rare opportunity to leverage internal instability and widespread dissatisfaction among the population to challenge—and potentially topple—the country’s ruling religious leadership, led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel reportedly had intended to assassinate
Khamenei but called off the strike following pressure from President Donald Trump. Netanyahu himself suggested that eliminating Iran’s Supreme Leader “would be the best way to end the conflict” with Iran, adding that “we’re doing what we need to do.” Israel has so far refrained from targeting the regime itself, restricting its airstrikes to Iranian nuclear and military installations and senior defense officials. Yet that could change as time goes on and Jerusalem decides that it cannot remove the Iranian nuclear threat solely through kinetic means.
A New Middle East
Israel has demonstrated military and intelligence mastery arguably unmatched in the annals of warfare. Tiny Israel with less than ten million people established complete air superiority within days over a nation thousands of kilometers away, circling over Iranian skies at will and completely decapitating its military leadership.
It’s difficult to describe how Israel’s strategic position has changed. Only two years ago, it was surrounded by Hezbollah with hundreds of thousands of missiles and a small army, who threatened to turn entire cities into an inferno in the event of future hostilities. Iranian proxy militias numbering tens of thousands of fighters waited in Syria, backed by the Assad regime and its powerful military. In Gaza were Hamas
and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, while the Houthis in Yemen and Iran-affiliated militias in Iraq built up their strength.
With Iran’s “Ring of Fire” in place, Israel expected to suffer an aerial blitz on its cities that would see tens of thousands of dead Israelis. IDF intelligence reports predicted much of the country’s critical infrastructure destroyed, of weeks without electricity and potable drinking water.
Today, Israeli troops occupy much of Gaza; Hamas is unable to fire missiles at Israel and is heavily degraded. Hezbollah has been effectively dismantled and refrained from joining Iran’s war against Israel; Syria’s military was destroyed by Israel and a new regime rules in Damascus.
However things play out, Israel has woken up to a new reality: it is a regional superpower, more powerful than any Jewish entity in the Middle East in recent history.
Born and raised in Far Rockaway, NY, Tzvi Lev has extensive experience working throughout the Middle East. Previously an Israeli diplomat, Tzvi served on the Abraham Accords Task Force and established Israel’s Economic team in Dubai, leading it while living in the UAE for three years. Today, he is a businessman and the CEO of the Dubai Israel Business Council.
Rav Avshi Weingot Finding the Derech
By Eliyahu RosEnBERg
In His Words…
The cure of the world is depth. The whole world wants to feel high. But the real answer is that you have to be high. you could sometimes feel high. But to be high is to be elevated, to become holy, to become g-dly. a nd that’s what we’re here for... i encourage everyone to invest in a relationship with the Creator. Everyone today has to be connected, in some form, to the depth of g-dliness… The secret of hashem goes to those who fear him and his bris. it’s not for the smart. The whole Torah has nothing to do with brains. it has to do with connection to hashem.
i object to the term, ‘off the derech’... These kids are not off the derech. They’re searching for a derech.
i discovered a lot of the illusion of fun. To the naked eye, it looks fun. But when you go through it, it’s actually pain. i learned from there that many things that appear beautiful and attractive — many relationships that appear to be the source of fun — are actually the source of tremendous anxiety, lying, and crookedness... What’s truly fun? having quality of life. Being around quality people. having quality relationships. a nd the most important thing is the Creator of the World. a nd that life is very real. so, when you know that, your concept of fun changes.
“My daughter is 18 years old. And recently, she’s begun straying off the path,” a concerned father once told Rav Avshi Weingot over the phone.
The man, a member of a chassidish community, went on and on about his predicament. He was distraught. He was nervous. And, worst of all, he was powerless — and he knew it. Nothing he could do would heal his daughter’s wounds. And so, he turned to Rav Avshi Weingot for help.
The call went on for a long while. Then, Rav Weingot asked the man a very simple question.
“Have you ever told your daughter that you love her?”
Silence. The man thought for a moment. And then he replied.
“No.”
As Rav Avshi Weingot advises, the best thing for parents to do if their teenager goes “off the derech” is to strengthen their connection with their child.
“The most important thing is focusing on the relationship — not on whether the kid is good or bad. Because every teenager could go through his searching and his becoming. And if during that time, there’s distance between the family and him, he won’t be able to go back to them once he’s ready to return. It’s not going to be a safe ground. The most important thing is to keep the relationship at all costs,” the rabbi declares.
“They’re kids. Kids are not bad. They’re good. Let’s look at how beautiful the kid is. If they have questions, open up. If you don’t know the answers, look for answers yourself. Tell your kid, ‘I don’t have the answers. But let’s have a relationship — it’s okay.’”
Indeed, Rav Weingot’s philosophy comes at odds with some older schools of thought — the kind of thinking that leads parents facing these challenges to choose tough love instead of connection, distance instead of closeness, and judgment instead of understanding. But as Rav Weingot explains, that old approach does not work. Why? Because, not only does it fail to address the problem, but it only worsens the very issues that led the child astray in the first place.
“I object to the term, ‘off the derech’,” Rav Avshi Weingot shares. “These kids are not off the derech. They’re searching for a derech. If anyone is off the derech, it may be the system. But the kids are searching. They’re not coming from a place of evil. A kid grows up in a house — you think he wants to be bad? No. The neshama is good. He wants to be good. Things just don’t make sense to him. Kids are honest. So, today, I speak to parents all the time and I tell them: Speak to your kids, listen to your children. They’re not children! They’re gigantic people, just in tiny bodies. In 20 years, you’ll chap. But there’s no such thing as a little person. They’re
big. They have real questions. And the questions of kids are very big. If they’re not answered, the worst thing happens: the kid answers his own questions.
“So, don’t make a gap. Don’t fight. All these gaps and fights — they’re what push a person away,” he says. “Give him a relationship, give him trust, give him greatness. Show him that he’s good, that you love him…that you believe in him.”
Rav Avraham Shimon Weingot learned these lessons from his own journey, growing up in Tzfat.
The oldest of nine children, Avshi Weingot began struggling with Yiddishkeit when he was a young boy.
“My memories of my childhood are very good. But I struggled with Yiddishkeit as a child. I went to a Gerer Cheder in a little town next to Tzfat. And since I could remember, I kind of never saw eye to eye with how people around me saw religion,” recalls Rav Weingot. “The main thing is that I wasn’t seeing fun. Today, I understand that we’re all meant to have a lot of fun. We’re here to have fun. In the words of the Mesilas Yesharim, ‘Adam nivra li’taneg al Hashem ,’ we’re here to mamash have fun. And I wasn’t seeing fun. I wasn’t seeing joy. And I was a very strong searcher.” He did well in school, but he had no interest in his studies. He went to a great yeshiva in Bnei Brak, but he soon left, burdened by the endless unanswered questions he carried in his mind. He was in pain, and he was lost.
And, as many lost teenagers do, Avshi, frustrated with Judaism, eventually searched for answers elsewhere. Starting at age 16, he embarked on his quest for “fun.”
“For my parents, it was hard. And I must say, looking back on it, I thank them tremendously. They stuck with me through my journey. When I was running around, it didn’t make a difference. I remember my mother would call and send me little books and things. The relationship went on,” Rav Weingot shares. “That showed me the value of keeping the parent-child relationship.”
For five years, he tried to live a fun life. He was 21, living in Long Beach, New York, when he finally had his “aha moment” and decided to return to Israel.
“I realized the difference between mature and immature fun. Immature fun is like chocolate. It gives you a stomachache afterwards,” he says. “I discovered a lot of the illusion of fun. To the naked eye, it looks fun. But when you go through it, it’s actually pain. I learned from there that many things that appear beautiful and attractive — many relationships that appear to be the source of fun — are actually the source of tremendous anxiety, lying, and crookedness... I had to leave. It was toxic. It was poisonous. It wasn’t real for me. I can’t live a life that’s not real. I had to get out of there.
“In the beginning, you eat the chocolate — the immature fun — because it’s there. But then you realize: What’s truly fun? Having quality of life. Being around quality people. Having quality
relationships. And the most important thing is the Creator of the World. And that life is very real,” he adds. “So, when you know that, your concept of fun changes. Today, I have a lot of fun.”
* * *
When Rav Avshi Weingot returned to Tzfat in 2001, he went straight back to his father’s yeshiva, Shalom Rav. Eventually, Rav Weingot, set on helping boys on their own journeys, became the yeshiva’s Rosh Yeshiva.
“If a guy gravitates to Tzfat, there’s naturally something more artistic or musical or spiritual about him,” says Rav Weingot. “You could definitely call Tzfat magical. It has attracted all the mystics, from Rav Shimon bar Yochai, who was the mystic of all mystics, to the Arizal, to everyone who followed in their ways. Tzfat is one of the holy cities, along with Yerushalayim, Teveria, and Chevron. It’s a city of spirituality. As a matter of fact, there’s really nothing going on in the city. Not a beach, not a mall, no major business there. There’s no coffee shop. It’s, mamash, a place of kulo ruchnius.”
In his yeshiva, students don’t only learn Mishnayos and Gemara. They also delve into Chassidus and, if they’re ready, Kabbalah, as well.
“The cure of the world is depth. The whole world wants to feel high. But the real answer is that you have to be high. You could sometimes feel high. But to be high is to be elevated, to become holy, to become G-dly. And that’s what
we’re here for,” Rav Weingot explains. “I encourage everyone to invest in a relationship with the Creator. Everyone today has to be connected, in some form, to the depth of G-dliness… The secret of Hashem goes to those who fear Him and His bris. It’s not for the smart. The whole Torah has nothing to do with brains. It has to do with connection to Hashem.”
* * *
Rav Avshi Weingot’s advice to those whose children are searching for the derech is as follows: “Drop all expectations of whatever is in your mind and hug and embrace the reality. Say, ‘Creator of the World, I trust that You are the reality. Give me the strength to love what You’re doing with me, to handle this in the best way, and to have the patience to see the outcome.’
“These processes are long. I have parents who call me sometimes when the kid is 16. And I tell them, ‘Take a deep breath till he’s 20.’ These kids are beautiful. Their neshamos are beautiful, and growing up today is tricky. It’s not what it used to be. And you never know what beautiful surprise your kid will be. I’m telling you, the kids that gave their parents the toughest time — when they come back, they are the nachas of the entire family. They’re the ones who inspire their parents. They’re the ones who give the chizuk. Be mature and understand that there’s a process.
“And most of all, understand that Hashem is running the world.”
This article is based on a podcast, “Inspiration For the Nation,” hosted by Yaakov Langer. To catch more of this conversation, you can watch it on LivingLchaim.com or YouTube.com/LivingLchaim or listen wherever you listen to podcasts (just search for “Inspiration For The Nation”) or call our free hotline: 605-477-2100.
Dating Dialogue What Would You Do If…
Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters
Dear Navidaters,
When I was in high school, I had a little sister in a big sister-little sister program. I remember going to their house, and it felt very dark. It was a completely disheveled house and very not happy. I always tried the best that I could to take my little sister out and help her experience fun and exciting things. It is now many years later. One of my best friends just told me that she is engaged to a guy. It happens to be this guy is the brother of my “little sister.”
I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin, like I need to tell her what I experienced years ago going to their house. But on the other hand, I really don’t want to ruin anything and be blamed for it later. Hopefully you all can help me with your sage advice.
Thank you so much.
Sarah*
The Panel
Dear Readers,
We want to offer YOU an opportunity to be part of the discussion! Please email us at MichelleMondShadchan@gmail.com, subject line “reader’s response,” if you would like to participate in the new “A Reader’s Response” columnist spot. We will send you a question and publish your answer in an upcoming Navidaters edition. If you have a question you would like the Navidaters to answer, please reach out to this email as well.
Looking forward!
Michelle, the “Shadchan”
The Rebbetzin
Rebbetzin Faigie Horowitz, M.S.
Sarah, contributing to the breakup of an engagement is a serious matter. It
seems your teenage self sensed darkness and saw mess in that home many years ago. You did not identify dysfunction, abuse, or neglect then but felt that the girl needed fun and excitement. Yes, you were young then and probably did not see red flags but sensed a disturbing tone and perhaps a need to protect the girl.
Think things through now. What was it that you saw/sensed? What is real or was it vague? Decide if your teenage impressions were serious enough to take the question now to a rav whom you trust. Methinks you are still not able to identify warning signs years later.
The Shadchan
Michelle Mond
Dear Sarah, I’m inclined to think that you are an empath; you feel people’s and places’ energies stronger and deeper than others. You are attuned to the energy in a room that most people don’t even notice is there. You are highly intuitive, and a good way to describe the way you process the emotions of people around you is that
Good intentions can cause severe, unintended, negative consequences.
of an emotional sponge. You soak it all in, whether you like it or not. If I am correct in this assessment, read on.
There are many people who may have gone into that same house, perhaps thought something fleeting, but had not picked up on the dark energy that you did. Your thoughts and feelings are very real, however, you must know that not everyone picks up on these feelings. You have a gift that many other people don’t have.
Your friend is engaged to this guy already. That already tells me that she has met his parents, has been to his home, and experienced an updated version of what you had experienced there years ago.
There are two possible scenarios here: 1) It is quite possible things have shifted for the better and the home is a happy place now. Think back to moments in your own life. Have there been years when things were particularly difficult and the tides ended up turning? Most people have experiences like this. It is highly likely you entered the home during a difficult period and picked up on the negative energy which indelibly affected your perception of them. This does not make them bad people. This does not make their home as it is now, a terrible place to be.
2) Their home has the same negative and dark energy, however, your friend has not picked up on it simply because she does not feel it, or, it does not bother her. You can acknowledge that your extra feeling “power” which you as an empath possess grants you something that she
does not have. There is no reason for you to put a damper on her engagement based on those feelings you have felt.
One last closing note for you and our readership: your friend is an adult and is her own person. I know it can feel difficult to stand by when you see a friend who is engaged to a guy or girl that you have random thoughts or comments you would like to express about him/her or their family. It is very important to practice the act of self-restraint. Unless this thing you want to express can help prevent them from getting into a dangerous situation, your opinions are just that –your opinions. Your opinions are created based on your own background and life experiences. Your friends come from a different place and are wired differently. As we can see in this case: she is an empath picking up on an energy that her friend has not tapped into. It is for this reason it is important to be happy for our friends and be there for them when they need us. They don’t need unsolicited comments on the people they are dating or engaged to.
The Zaidy
Dr. Jeffrey Galler
Let’s analyze this situation. You are wondering if it’s a good idea to ruin the happiest moment in your best friend’s life because her boyfriend grew up in a home that was dark and disheveled?!?
I am amazed how some “friends” are able to convince themselves that they are doing something “good” when they are actually behaving very maliciously.
How many potentially wonderful relationships have been ruined by helpful “friends” who callously, or even jealously, remark:
“Oh. That’s who you’re dating? I know about him. He’s not for you.”
“Did you know that he once dated Rivka? She said he was very stingy.”
“I heard that he has a very sketchy history.”
My advice: Unless you personally know about serious issues, like criminal activity, severe mental illness, drug addiction, or immorality, don’t say anything.
Pulling It All Together
The Navidaters
Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists
Dear Sarah,
First of all, I just want to say I really feel your heart in this. You’re remembering something that stayed with you for a long time. You’re holding concern, and you’re also trying not to cause harm. That’s a tender space to be in, and I can sense how much thought you’re putting into it.
It’s human to want to protect the people we love.
In this case, Sarah, may I suggest that instead of derailing your friend’s relationship and casting a cloud over your friend’s happiness, be proud that her fiancée has been able to transcend a difficult upbringing.
Try to see the positives in his ability to rise above his difficult upbringing and build a healthy, loving future with her. Why speak badly about the young man?
Did you forget how Miriam, one of the saintliest women in our history, was severely punished for speaking lashon hara?
Don’t fall into that trap. Perhaps you mean well. But good intentions can cause severe, unintended, negative consequences. As George Bernard Shaw famously wrote, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Here’s what I’d invite you to consider. Our childhood homes are chapters in a story, not the whole book. What you witnessed all those years ago might have been a tough time for that family, but it doesn’t necessarily tell you who your little sister, or her brother, has become.
people we love. But protection doesn’t always mean speaking up. Sometimes it means sitting with the feeling, getting clear on what it’s really about, and deciding whether it still holds meaning in the present.
That said, if something from that time left you feeling unsettled, it makes sense that it’s stirring something in you now. It’s human to want to protect the
If your friend is someone you’re close to, you can gently say something like, “This might sound random, but I was in a big sister program in high school and your fiancé’s sister was my little sister. I’ve been thinking about what I remember from that time and just wanted to check in with you.” You’re not judging or making assumptions. You’re simply sharing a memory that’s resurfaced and
offering it with care.
She might already know about his background and feel confident in the man he is today. Or she might share something she’s been wondering about, too. Either way, your role here is to show up in honesty and kindness, which you’re already doing.
People grow. Families shift. Stories evolve. Sometimes, all we’re meant to do is name what’s true for us, gently and with love, and then trust others to do what’s right for them.
Warmly, Jennifer Mann, LCSW
In our last article, you took a quiz to find out if you were a Planner, Nurturer, Doer, or Thinker and were asked to also jot down something that felt like “you” – maybe you love organizing the carpool schedule, helping friends sort out their problems, or figuring out how things work behind the scenes. These details might seem random, but they’re not. They’re clues. Real ones. They point to how you think, what you value, and what kinds of work might actually fit you – not just look good on paper or match what your friends are doing.
So now what? You’ve got a few clues. Maybe even a pattern. What are you supposed to do with them?
Step One: Spot the Pattern
Line up your “clues.” You might see common threads. For example:
• Are they about helping and supporting others? (Nurturer)
• Do they involve planning, organizing, and structure? (Planner)
• Do they require hands-on action and fast problem-solving? (Doer)
• Or maybe they’re about analyzing, thinking deeply, and strategizing? (Thinker)
If you’ve always loved managing logistics, jumping into action, or giving advice – that’s not just a nice personality trait. It’s directional. It tells you what kind of energy you bring to the table and what kind of tasks you’ll likely thrive in. Now translate that into categories of work. Think:
• Education, therapy, or community work
• Operations, logistics, or project management
• Marketing, graphic design, or social media
• Technology, coding, or data analysis
Step Two: Do Real Research
Once you have 2-3
L festyles What Now? Part II
By Basya R.
feel aligned, find someone in a related field and ask questions, such as:
• What does your day actually look like?
• What skills do you use most?
• How did you get started?
enjoying?
You’re not deciding forever. You’re just moving from guessing to learning.
Step Three: Take a Step
The only way to figure it out… is to
The only way to figure it out… is to try something.
• Would you choose this field again? Also ask yourself:
• Would I want that kind of schedule?
• Does that sound energizing or draining?
• Is this a lifestyle I could see myself
try something.
Pick one possible direction and do something to explore it more deeply:
• Shadow someone for a day
• Apply for a part-time or volunteer role
• Start a short course or class
• Research degree or certification options
• Speak to a mentor or career coach
The biggest mistake? Staying frozen because you’re afraid of choosing the “wrong” thing.
The truth? You can pivot. It’s much easier to pivot from something than from nothing.
Your Homework
Take one of your clues and ask, “What kind of career uses this skill or energy?” Then pick one step – research, conversation, course, shadowing – and do it this week. That action brings more clarity than a thousand Google searches.
P.S. Feeling stuck? Your personality is a huge part of the picture- it shapes how you process the world, make decisions, and relate to others. You may already see yourself in one of the four types: The Planner, The Nurturer, The Doer, or The Thinker.
But personality alone doesn’t answer everything. Sometimes the missing piece is how your brain works – how you learn, solve problems, and take action. That’s where aptitude comes in.
If you’d like to explore this more, reach out to Careerly to learn about our aptitude testing and how it can help guide your next steps.
Basya is a career coach at Careerly. At Careerly, we redefine recruitment by going beyond resumes and job descriptions. Through personalized services such as aptitude testing, career coaching, and expert resume writing, we help individuals uncover their strengths and connect with roles that truly fit. Whether you’re navigating a career transition or looking to refine your path, Careerly is here to guide you forward. Learn more at www.careerlyny.com or reach out to info@careerlyny.com
Health & F tness
“What If I Drop Her?” A Silent Struggle with Postpartum OCD
By Rivka Kramer, PMHNP-BC
When Leah gave birth to her daughter, she expected exhaustion. She expected emotional ups and downs. She even braced herself for moments of doubt and overwhelm.
What she didn’t expect were the thoughts.
They started subtly, like background noise she could shrug off. What if I don’t wake up when the baby cries? What if she rolls off the bed when I change her diaper? Harmless, right? Every new mom worries.
But soon the thoughts turned darker, more persistent. What if I hurt her? What if I snap and throw her?
Leah was horrified. She loved her baby more than anything. She would never, ever hurt her. But the thoughts kept coming, like an uninvited guest that refused to leave. She started avoiding holding her daughter unless someone else was in the room. She wouldn’t use knives or walk near stairs with the baby. She washed her hands until her knuckles cracked, terrified she might
make her daughter sick.
And through it all, Leah told no one. Because what mother thinks these things?
What Is Postpartum OCD?
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition characterized by intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors or mental rituals (compulsions) that are meant to reduce the anxiety caused by those thoughts.
Postpartum OCD is a subtype that emerges after childbirth. Unlike postpartum depression, which is more widely discussed, postpartum OCD is lesser known—and often misunderstood. Many women don’t even realize what they’re experiencing has a name.
While OCD can present in many forms, postpartum OCD often revolves around themes of harm and contamination, especially directed toward the newborn. The thoughts are deeply distressing, completely ego-dystonic (meaning they go against the person’s
values and desires), and usually lead to significant shame.
Some examples of intrusive thoughts common in postpartum OCD:
• What if I stab my baby with scissors while trimming her nails?
• What if I accidentally smother him in his sleep?
• What if I touch her with dirty hands, and she gets sick and dies?
• To reduce the anxiety, moms might:
• Avoid being alone with the baby
• Avoid sharp objects or potentially “dangerous” items
• Repeatedly check on the baby during sleep
• Seek reassurance constantly
• Wash or clean excessively
These are not simply “new mom worries.” The level of distress and the compulsive behaviors distinguish postpartum OCD from typical concerns.
“I’m Not Crazy — Why Am I Thinking This?”
One of the cruelest aspects of post-
partum OCD is how deeply it shames the mother. The intrusive thoughts feel morally repugnant. They clash with her intense desire to protect her baby. This mismatch creates a deep fear: What if I’m not safe? What if I’m a danger to my child?
But here’s the truth: having intrusive thoughts is not the same as wanting to act on them. In fact, the very distress they cause is evidence that the mother does not want to harm her baby.
Psychiatrically speaking, the intrusive thoughts in OCD are known to be “ego-dystonic,” meaning they feel foreign and unacceptable to the person experiencing them. This is different from psychosis, where harmful thoughts might feel real or justified. In postpartum OCD, mothers know the thoughts aren’t right—but that awareness only intensifies their distress.
This distinction is critical. One of the most common fears women with postpartum OCD have is: If I tell someone what I’m thinking, they’ll take my baby away. This fear often keeps them
The Psychiatric Perspective
From a clinical standpoint, postpartum OCD is part of the broader family of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). It often begins within the first few weeks after childbirth, though it can develop gradually.
Risk factors include:
• A personal or family history of OCD, anxiety, or depression
• Traumatic birth experience
• Sleep deprivation
• Hormonal shifts
• High levels of responsibility or perfectionism
It’s estimated that up to 3-5% of new mothers may develop postpartum OCD—though many go undiagnosed due to stigma or misidentification as generalized anxiety or postpartum depression.
Importantly, postpartum OCD is treatable. Psychiatric care often involves:
1. Psychoeducation – Helping the mother understand that intrusive thoughts are a symptom, not a sign of being unfit.
2. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – Specifically, a form called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), which helps the person face their fears without performing compulsions.
3. Medication – SSRIs like sertraline (Zoloft) or fluoxetine (Prozac) are commonly used and considered safe in breastfeeding mothers.
Sometimes, a low dose is sufficient. Other times, medication and therapy together create the most effective result. Every case is unique—and so is the treatment plan.
Why It’s Not Talked About Enough
Motherhood is often painted with soft lighting—bonding, joy, the smell of newborn skin. But the reality is messier. Not just sleepless nights and diaper blowouts, but fear, shame, guilt, and sometimes disturbing thoughts that mothers can’t bring themselves to voice.
Culturally, we expect women to immediately feel connected to their babies. To be naturally maternal. So when the experience doesn’t match the expectation, mothers often assume the problem is them.
Mental health stigma plays a huge role. A mother might walk into a psychiatrist’s office and casually mention she’s tired or anxious but omit the part
about the terrifying thoughts. Clinicians must be attuned to the subtle signs— and create safe, nonjudgmental spaces where mothers feel empowered to speak honestly.
As mental health providers, we need to ask directly:
Have you been having any scary or
Leah burst into tears. With a combination of therapy and a low dose of sertraline, the fog began to lift. The thoughts didn’t disappear overnight—but they lost their power. She learned to recognize them for what they were: OCD lies, not reflections of who she was.
The thoughts kept coming, like an uninvited guest that refused to leave.
unwanted thoughts that you don’t feel comfortable sharing?
Do you ever find yourself doing things repeatedly—like checking or cleaning—to make sure your baby is safe?
These questions, asked with compassion, can open a door.
Differentiating OCD from Postpartum Psychosis
Because intrusive thoughts can sound alarming, it’s important to clarify the difference between postpartum OCD and postpartum psychosis.
In postpartum OCD:
• The mother is aware the thoughts are irrational and upsetting.
• She feels intense guilt or fear about the thoughts.
• She avoids situations to prevent harm.
In postpartum psychosis:
• The mother may lose touch with reality (delusions or hallucinations).
• She may not recognize the thoughts as problematic.
• There is a potential for true harm, and it is considered a psychiatric emergency.
While postpartum psychosis is very rare (about 1-2 per 1,000 births), it’s often confused with OCD. This confusion can further stigmatize OCD sufferers, who already fear judgment.
Healing and Hope
When Leah finally told her OB-GYN what she was going through, she was referred to a reproductive psychiatrist. The first thing her psychiatrist said was: “Thank you for telling me. You’re not alone. And you’re not a danger to your baby.”
One of the most healing moments came when she met other mothers who had been through the same thing. Just knowing she wasn’t alone helped her reclaim her confidence as a mother.
What You
Can Do
If you’re a mother having disturbing thoughts, know this:
• You are not your thoughts.
• You are not alone.
• You can get better.
If you’re a partner, family member, or friend, watch for signs: Avoidance, irritability, excessive checking, or a sense of shame that the mother can’t articulate. Offer support without judgment. Encourage her to speak to a professional—ideally someone with experience in perinatal mental health.
And if you’re a clinician: ask the scary questions. Normalize the conversation. Let your patients know that scary thoughts don’t make them bad mothers—they make them human. And treatable.
Postpartum OCD doesn’t define motherhood. But how we talk about it— how we recognize it, treat it, and support women through it— can define how a mother heals.
Let’s be brave enough to talk about it.
Rivka Kramer is a Board Certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. She has a psychiatric private practice based in Cedarhurst, NY. She serves as a member of the board of JANPPA, the Jewish American Nurse Practitioner Psychiatric Association. She can be reached at 516-945-9443.
Parenting Pearls Turning Three
By Sara Rayvych, MSEd
Last week’s topic was birthdays. Every year is another milestone to appreciate, but some birthdays mark special events in a person’s life. While still young, turning three years old is an important birthday for a little one.
Three is the transition from toddlerhood into childhood. Toddlers are still very much babies, but three is the beginning of those sweet child years. Yes, they are officially “big” – at least according to their own calculations.
This is one more step in their chinuch as they will start to learn about the many mitzvos they will be zocheh to keep as they become older. This is especially pronounced with boys as they will often get their first haircut and begin to wear tzitzis at this time.
Many families have the minhag of upsherin. They will leave their infant son’s hair unshorn until he reaches his third birthday (there are others who hold by a different age), and he is given his first haircut. The young man will often be presented with his first yarmulka/kippah and pair of tzitzis.
Upsherin At-a-Glance
The upsherin is actually divided into a few parts that may be separated or combined based on the parents’ preference. The upsherin itself is a minhag, and there is much variety to how it’s kept.
The most noticeable portion is the actual haircut. The boys walk in with long hair and walk out looking like a typical little boy. For some kids, the transition is so significant others don’t recognize them. It’s very popular to take before-and-after photos. For parents, it can be very emotional seeing this major physical change to their child’s appearance – even as they appreciate the greater ease of bathtime.
The child is often brought to begin learning alef-beis. This marks the child’s official introduction in formal education. While most little boys will already have started learning, many families still consider this a formal transition in their chinuch.
The longest part of the festivities is usually a party. Whether held privately or shared with friends, many families will want to have a formal celebration of this momentous birthday. This is simply a birthday party and is more for sharing the simcha with others. It doesn’t need to be an extravagant affair.
Upsherin Tips
While this discussion is focused predominantly on the topics as they relate to an upsherin, most of these tips are really applicable to all children. Recognizing that children will experience events differently from adults is one step in helping us meet their needs.
Children are used to their routine and may find it difficult to have so many changes – even if they are excited about them. Be sensitive to your little one’s needs throughout the day and gauge their mood. They may need quiet time or their own space to regroup.
Haircuts are frightening for children – especially the first time. Little ones may be afraid that it will hurt to have their hair cut, or perhaps the sound of the clippers is scary. It can help to use a barber who is familiar with children and will be patient. Permitting them to (safely) see and touch some of the equipment may help dispel some of the fear. Some children may be comforted by holding a familiar toy in their hand. Many kids will be given lollipops. Little ones should be reminded to not remove the lollipop from their mouth during the haircut. It will taste disgusting when covered with the little hairs that are guaranteed to stick to it.
There are barbers whowill come to your home and do the first haircut there. Some families may find this not only convenient but also less frightening for their little one. When this isn’t possible, there may be times when the barber shop is less full and your child will have more attention with less wait.
Crowds are large and noisy. Some children may feel scared or overwhelmed in big groups. While there are kids who
thrive on being the center of attention, others don’t appreciate being the main focus. Parents should be mindful of their child’s needs and try to match any parties or crowds to their child’s personality.
I’ve seen many little upsherin boys cry at their own parties. Parents may want to separate the first haircut from the party if they feel it will overwhelm their child. It may be necessary to limit the number of people giving the ceremonial “first cuts” if the child isn’t tolerating it well.
Often, pekelach are given out in the classroom or to friends and family. Schools usually have set rules for what is permitted to go into the bags. It’s important to know which hechsherim are acceptable, what items are banned because of allergies or other reasons, and how many bags you will need to make. It’s best to find out in advance before starting to shop. I personally suggest making a few more bags than needed. It’s better to have more than necessary rather than too few. Children look forward to those snacks and will be upset if they’re left out, even accidentally.
It’s my personal opinion that it’s better to not purchase overly big tzitzis. The strings dangle down, and they can drag on the floor or get damaged if they’re too long.
The boys should be taught to remove their tzitzis before using the bathroom or move the strings to the side so they don’t fall in. Little boys are unable to keep their tzitzis clean. It’s helpful to keep an extra pair in their drawer for the times they need to be quickly changed.
The Little Girls Little girls turn three, too. While the
adjustment is quieter, we can’t forget that three years old is also a milestone for little girls. They, too, transition from baby to child, maturing just a bit more in the process.
Even without the formalities that may surround an upsherin, we should still acknowledge this big day. Many families have the minhag that little girls start certain mitzvos at this age, such as candle lighting. They may also begin their formal training in other areas of halacha. It’s helpful and meaningful when there are set minhagim and standards for practices. We know what to do and what’s expected. Still, there are times it’s nice to be able to be creative and think out-ofthe-box to build your own path. Families without set minhagim can find their own way to honor and celebrate the birthday of their new big/little girl.
There are so many beautiful milestones each child reaches, bringing them one step closer to adulthood. As they grow in height, we daven they continue to grow in yiras Shamayim and their avodas Hashem.
Author’s note: This article was started before the current matzav in Israel. I decided to complete the article even though it felt disconnected from the reality we are currently experiencing. I join the rest of klal Yisroel in davening for the safety of our brethren in Israel and throughout the world.
Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rockaway. She can be contacted at RayvychHomeschool@gmail.com.
School of Thought
Ending the School Year 5785, 2024-2025
By Etti Siegel
Dear Readers,
As we close out another school year, I find myself reflecting on the moments, the challenges, and most of all, the people who make the learning community I belong to what it is. I’m filled with gratitude – gratitude for the students who bring energy and curiosity into our classrooms, for the families who entrust us with their children’s growth, and most especially for the extraordinary principals, teachers, and staff I have the privilege of working with every single day.
One of the great gifts of my work is the chance to step into so many schools, each with its own culture, strengths, and stories. And yet, the more schools I visit and get to work in, the more I see how much we all share. The core values, the passion for teaching, the dedication to students, and the desire to help children become their best selves are constants. The challenges may differ here and there, the minhagim might be slightly different, pronunciation of Hebrew words might sound different… but the heart behind the work is the same. Being part of this larger fabric of education, woven together by such committed and inspiring individuals, is something I never take for granted.
This year, like every year, has brought its share of lessons. Some have been humbling, others affirming, and all have been meaningful. One of the most powerful reminders is this: as educators, we cannot care more about a child than the child’s parent. It’s a hard truth, but an important one. At the same time, I’ve seen time and again that many parents simply don’t realize when something is happening that should raise concern. Life is busy. Responsibilities are heavy. Even the most attentive parents can miss things. Our role isn’t to replace their care, but to help them see what we see, with empathy, patience, and trust. That kind of partnership takes time to build, but it’s essential.
Another lesson that’s become even clearer to me is this: people are inherently good. Especially our mechanchim and mechanchos. Teachers don’t come to school each day for the paycheck. (In some schools, they are behind in pay, and they come anyway, and teach with love, anyway!) They come because they care. Because they believe in the power of learning, in the potential of each child, and in the hope that today might be the day a breakthrough in learning or relationships happen. When parents approach teachers with that understanding, that we are all here for their child’s best, it becomes so much easier to work together. We are not on opposing sides. We are all on the same team.
To every teacher who stayed late, revised a lesson, made a phone call, or offered kindness when it was hard, you are seen and you are appreciated.
At the same time, educators must remember that every student is someone’s whole world. Parents want their children to be happy. They may not always see the long view we hold as educators. They are focused on the “now,” and that perspective matters. We have the opportunity to help them see further, just as they remind us that we are teaching a child who is loved.
Ultimately, what makes a school strong isn’t found in test scores or lesson plans, it’s found in relationships. The more openly we communicate, the more deeply we listen, the more generously we trust, the better we serve our students.
So to every teacher who stayed late, revised a lesson, made a phone call, or offered kindness when it was hard,
you are seen and you are appreciated. Working with me means you gave up time, and I hope you felt it was worth it. And as I tried to share strategies and ideas in pedagogy with you, you taught me so much.
To every parent who asked questions, shared insights, and stayed engaged, your partnership matters more than you know. Your letters and comments made me research, grow, learn, and struggle to say what I want to say better and more clearly. I even appreciated being stopped when you saw me and shared a thought, for I know that meant an article I wrote made you stop and think as well. That’s collaboration at its best!
To every administrator who held the vision and guided the journey with wisdom and empathy, thank you for your leadership, and for allowing me into your hallowed walls. Thank you for meeting with me and helping me tailor my coaching to the needs in the school.
And to every student who showed up and tried again and again, to learn, grow, and do your best, you are the reason we, teachers, principals, parents, and coaches do what we do.
Here’s to learning, to growth, and to everything we’ll carry forward into the year ahead.
Have a wonderful, rejuvenating, and thoroughly enjoyable summer.
Signing off until September, iy”H, but feel free to keep the letters coming!
- Etti
Health & F tness
Stop the Spoilage Food Storage Strategies for Every Home
By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN
As temperatures rise during the summer months, so does the risk of food spoilage. Warmer weather is known to speed up the growth of bacteria, yeasts, and molds which cause food to go bad more quickly. This not only leads to increased food waste and higher grocery bills but also raises the chances of foodborne illnesses. Many people underestimate how sensitive food can be to heat and humidity. Understanding the principles of safe storage, especially in the summer, is important in order to keep food fresh, safe, and enjoyable.
The Danger Zone
One of the most crucial food safety principles, especially in the heat of summer, is understanding what’s known as the “danger zone.” This term refers to the temperature range between 40°F and 140°F. Within this zone, conditions are ideal for the rapid growth of harmful bacteria. These bacteria don’t necessarily alter the taste, smell, or appearance of food, so contamination can occur without any obvious signs. Under the right conditions, some bacteria can double in number in as little
as 20 minutes, significantly increasing the risk of foodborne illness the longer food stays within this temperature range.
To prevent food from reaching unsafe temperatures, it’s essential to store perishable items in a refrigerator set to 40°F (4°C) or below, and to keep freezers at 0°F (-18°C) or lower. Timing is another critical factor in food safety. As a general rule, perishable foods should never be left out at room temperature for more than two hours. If the ambient temperature is above 90°F (32°C), such as during hot summer afternoons or while eating outside, this safe window shrinks to just one hour. After that point, the food should be either returned to refrigeration, properly reheated to kill bacteria, or discarded entirely. This includes not only meats and dairy products but also items like salads with mayonnaise, cooked vegetables, cut fruits, and leftovers. Even if the food still “looks fine,” it can be growing with invisible bacteria that may lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or more serious illness.
In situations where refrigeration isn’t immediately available, such as on road trips, beach days, or hiking adventures,
investing in insulated coolers, ice packs, or portable electric coolers can make a significant difference. Packing food in small containers also helps reduce the amount of time it spends at unsafe temperatures when being served or eaten. Additionally, try to keep coolers out of direct sunlight and avoid repeatedly opening them, as this causes cold air to escape and raises internal temperatures. By staying mindful of the danger zone and making small adjustments to how food is stored and handled, especially during hot weather, it’s possible to dramatically reduce the risk of spoilage and illness.
Fruits and Vegetables
Produce requires special attention during hot months, because fruits and vegetables are highly perishable and sensitive to both temperature and humidity. Some types of produce, like berries, leafy greens, cucumbers, broccoli, and mushrooms, should be refrigerated as soon as possible after purchase. High humidity drawers or produce containers lined with paper towels can help control excess moisture, which often leads to
mold and decay. Other types of fruits, such as peaches, plums, mangoes, and avocados, ripen better at room temperature and can be moved to the fridge once fully ripe to prolong freshness. Bananas, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and potatoes should be kept at room temperature in a cool, well-ventilated place. However, care should be taken not to store potatoes and onions together, as the gases they emit can cause each other to spoil faster.
It’s also a good idea to regularly inspect your produce and remove any items that are overripe or moldy, since one spoiled fruit can accelerate the spoilage of others nearby due to ethylene gas.
Meat, Poultry, and Seafood
Animal products such as meat, poultry, and seafood are extremely prone to spoilage, and even a short period at the wrong temperature can be enough for harmful bacteria to grow. These items should be refrigerated or frozen immediately after purchase. During summer grocery trips, it’s smart to bring insulated bags or coolers, especially if your travel time is longer than 30 minutes.
In the fridge, raw meat should be stored on the bottom shelf in leak-proof containers to prevent juices from contaminating other items. Fresh poultry and ground meat should be cooked or frozen within one to two days, while steaks and roasts may last up to five days. Seafood is even more delicate and should be cooked or frozen within 24 hours.
For freezing, wrapping meat tightly and labeling it with the date helps reduce freezer burn and makes it easier to rotate older items first.
Dairy and Eggs
Dairy products, including milk, cheese, yogurt, and eggs, must be kept at consistently cold temperatures to stay safe. These items should always be stored in the main compartment of the fridge, not in the door, which is exposed to frequent temperature changes each time it’s opened. Milk and yogurt should be returned to the refrigerator promptly after use, as even brief exposure to warm air can start the spoilage process. Cheese should be wrapped in wax or parchment paper and placed in a container that allows for a little airflow, which prevents it from drying out or growing mold. Butter can remain fresh in the fridge for several weeks or longer if stored in its original wrapping. Eggs should always be kept in their carton and placed in the coldest part of the fridge to maintain their quality and safety.
Grains, Nuts, and Dry Goods
Shelf-stable foods, like grains, flours, nuts, seeds, and dried legumes, may seem safe from spoilage, but they are still affected by heat and humidity. Whole grains and nut-based flours can go rancid faster in the summer due to the oils they contain. Storing these items in airtight containers in a cool, dark cabinet can extend their shelf life. In hot or humid climates, it’s even better to store them in the refrigerator or freezer.
Nuts and seeds are also prone to spoilage and should be checked periodically for any bitter smell or taste. Even dry foods like rice, pasta, and cereal can absorb moisture from the air and attract pests like pantry moths, so it’s important to seal them tightly and avoid storing food directly in its original packaging if it’s flimsy or torn.
Managing Leftovers
Leftovers can be a wonderful way to save time and money, but only if handled and stored properly. After cooking a meal, leftovers should be cooled and placed in the refrigerator within two hours, or
within one hour if the room is particularly warm. Shallow containers allow food to cool more quickly and evenly, reducing the risk of bacterial growth. Try to label leftovers with the date they were cooked or stored and aim to eat them within three to four days.
children, the elderly, and individuals with weakened immune systems.
Ultimately, staying ahead of food spoilage during the summer requires a bit of planning and attention to detail, but the payoff is well worth it. Proper storage extends the life of your groceries, reduces
Even if the food still “looks fine,” it can be growing with invisible bacteria that may lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or more serious illness.
When reheating, ensure that food reaches an internal temperature of 165°F to kill any potential bacteria. This is particularly important for dishes containing meat, eggs, or dairy.
Never taste food to see if it’s gone bad; appearance and smell are more reliable indicators.
Outdoor Eating and Food on the Go
During the summer, outdoor gatherings and travel pose extra food safety challenges. Bringing perishable food to a picnic, beach, or barbecue means you’ll need to take extra precautions to keep it cold. Use coolers filled with ice or ice packs, and try to keep them in the shade. Pack food in small, tightly sealed containers and avoid opening the cooler repeatedly. If you’re transporting raw meat for grilling, keep it in a separate cooler from ready-to-eat foods to avoid cross-contamination.
When serving food outdoors, keep cold foods on ice and hot foods in insulated containers to maintain their safe temperature ranges. If anything sits out for more than an hour in high heat, it should be discarded.
Signs of Spoilage
Relying on your senses is also an important line of defense against spoiled food. While expiration and “best by” dates offer useful guidelines, they aren’t always perfect indicators. If food smells sour, rancid, or off, it’s best to toss it. If you see mold, unusual discoloration, or notice an unusual texture on items like lunch meat, produce, or leftovers, that’s a clear sign the food is no longer safe. In the summer especially, it’s better to err on the side of caution. Foodborne illness can cause symptoms ranging from mild discomfort to severe illness, especially in
waste, saves money, and protects your family’s health. By knowing which foods are most vulnerable and how to handle them, you can enjoy fresh, delicious, and safe meals all summer long.
Tried & True Tips & Tricks
Strawberries – To prevent mold, mix water with a splash of apple cider vinegar. Dip the strawberries in, let them dry, and store them in the fridge.
Bread – Place a stalk of celery in the
bread bag and seal it tightly. It helps keep the bread from molding too quickly.
Lettuce – Wrap lettuce in a clean cloth or paper towel to absorb moisture. Store it in a sealed container in the fridge to keep it crisp.
Bananas – Wrap plastic wrap around the stems of bananas. This slows down the ripening process.
Cookies – Add a slice of bread to your cookie jar. It keeps cookies soft and prevents them from drying out.
Meat (DIY Vacuum Seal) – Place meat in a zip-lock bag. Seal it almost all the way, then slowly lower the bag into a bowl of water to push out the air. Seal the rest of the way before refrigerating or freezing.
Avocados – Keep a cut avocado from browning by rubbing the flesh with lemon juice or olive oil, then wrap it tightly or store with a slice of onion.
Aliza Beer is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition. She has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY. Patients’ success has been featured on the Dr. Oz show. Aliza can be reached at alizabeer@gmail. com, and you can follow her on Instagram at @alizabeer
Fd for Thought
Pappardello
By Nati Burnside
In case you hadn’t heard, Linden is a growing community. And with more people, comes more restaurants.
Evolving from its previous identity as Bakeristor Cafe (2019-2024), the space was transformed into a beautiful dining room for the now upscale eatery, Pappardello. Pappardello isn’t trying to really survive on the local community alone. The goal was for there to be a really nice restaurant that would service all of the surrounding communities as well as the sizable number of kosher keepers who pass through the area on a daily basis.
The result is a menu that works for the whole day and even has some people showing up for late night dessert. It’s a great place for a date, a lunch meeting, or just two friends meeting as a halfway point to grab a bite.
When I was invited to Pappardello, the first thing I had to decide on was whether to go for lunch or dinner. Lunch has a slightly larger menu that includes some sandwiches and wraps that are absent from the dinner menu, so if those interest you, make sure you are aware.
As far as those offerings go, I’d recommend getting the French Onion Panini. The first thing you should know is that these sandwiches are big. Like they are cut into four quarters instead of two halves. The second thing is that they don’t skimp on the cheese, so these paninis have some real gooeyness on the inside of a really nice crusty crunch from the bread on the outside. This specific panini is amazing if you love French onion soup. It’s like a sandwich version of the soup, but with a little bit of an upgrade as the cheese is both mozzarella and gouda.
The next dish is perhaps the most unique on the menu. Though it’s technically only on the lunch menu, they’ll make it for dinner if you ask nicely. Let me introduce you to the Cheddar Waffles. No, these aren’t waffles with cheddar on them. These are waffles made of cheddar. As in, they take a fistful of shredded cheese and throw it
in the waffle iron until it crisps into waffle form. Speaking as somebody who loves that crispy, half burnt cheese taste, I love this idea. The two “waffles” are topped with guacamole, roasted garlic tomatoes, and two sunny side up eggs. Not only is this a great mixture of textures, the blend of flavors is fantastic. Salty cheese, creamy guac, some umami from the tomato-garlic combination, and savory eggs? Sign me up.
As for the traditional menu, if you’re looking for an appetizer, look no further than the Fried Ravioli. There are some other options that are a bit more basic, but this choice stands out for a reason. Served on top of a bed of ricotta, topped with honey, and plated with a side of spicy marinara, the ravioli are fried expertly. They have to be crisp enough to retain their crunch even while sitting in the ricotta, and yet it still works. The honey gives the dish a hit of sweetness that is balanced by the creamy ricotta and the spicy sauce. And as six of them come on the plate, it’s a great order to split with another person or two.
Now, we have the classic decision many people deal with when patronizing a dairy restaurant: pasta or fish? Starting with my pasta recommendation, it’s got to be the Mushroom Alfredo. There’s nothing like a great alfredo sauce, and this one was particularly creamy and adhered well to the linguine. The mushrooms and breadcrumb topping added to the variability of the texture, and the parmesan both in the sauce and sprinkled on top gave the dish a bit of extra richness that made me want to finish the pasta and scrape the plate. However, the best complete plate has to go to the Creamy Grilled Salmon. Not only was the fish light and flaky, but the base was actually the thing that tied everything together. The fish was served on top of a basil cream sauce and a parmesan polenta, and the plate was rounded out with a medley of seasonal vegetables that included broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, and zucchini. Honestly, I would probably eat almost anything if you served it with this combina-
tion of sauce and polenta. Whether it was a bite of the fish or the vegetables, both were greatly enhanced by the addition of the sauce and polenta. The nutty parmesan and the herby basil flavors combined in harmony and were the star of a well-rounded plate that might have otherwise had me wishing it was mashed potatoes instead.
Like many others, I go to a dairy restaurant looking slightly past the meal towards dessert. There’s just that anticipation you get by knowing that everything in the after dinner department is going to include the real thing. Let’s just say that you won’t be disappointed by the Oreo Crunch Waffle. Easily large enough for two people to
share, this is a large waffle with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, Oreo crumbles, and a full-sized Oreo just for good measure. I probably don’t really need to describe much about this. You can imagine what it tastes like – and it’s just as great as you’re thinking.
So if you’re part of the growing community of Linden, a resident of one of the nearby communities like Elizabeth, Springfield, Staten Island, Metuchen, West Orange, or Livingston, or just passing through the area on your way to somewhere else, Pappardello is a great place to stop for a nice meal, great ambiance, and good food. What more can you ask for?
Dairy - Waiter Service 221 West St. Georges Avenue, Linden, NJ 07036 (908) 487-6619 Pappardello.net
Beth Din TzedekKahal Minchas Chinuch
In The K tchen
Sheet Pan Brussels Sprouts & Chicken Dinner
By Naomi Nachman
I love a quick and easy sheet pan dinner loaded with vegetables and chicken. We love when the juices of the chicken infuse the vegetables. Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts were always hard to check and use in recipes. Now, the Beleaves brand has come out with fabulous Brussels sprouts, and I was so excited to test out my recipe using them.
Ingredients
◦ 8 chicken drumsticks
◦ 24 oz. bag frozen Brussels sprouts
◦ 24 oz. bag frozen cauliflower
◦ 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
◦ 2 teaspoons paprika, divided
◦ 2 teaspoons onion powder, divided
◦ 2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
◦ ½ cup olive oil, divided
Preparation
1. Season chicken with 1 teaspoon each of the salt, spices, and ¼ cup olive oil, and set aside.
2. Place the frozen vegetables on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and toss with remaining salt and spices. Drizzle with remaining olive oil.
3. Place the seasoned drumsticks amongst the vegetables and bake for 1 hour at 375°F convection roast.
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.
Notable Quotes
“Say What?!”
Donald Trump is America’s Hitler.
- Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) at a “No Kings Day” rally
This is what rage does – it gives you a license to do things and say things you would not ordinarily do or say. And what these people won’t admit… is that they like it, and that they need it, and that it’s contagious and it’s addictive. That’s what rage is.
- FOX News contributor and law professor Jonathan Turley talking about Democrats holding “No King Day” rallies against Trump
Most governors would see looting, mayhem and attacks on police officers as problems to fix. California Gov. Gavin Newsom sees them as a means to boosting his presidential ambitions.
- Victor Joecks, Las Vegas Review-Journal
[Newsom] downplayed the initial destruction by noting state and local officials “sent our police officers to help keep the peace and, with some exceptions, they were successful.” That’s like saying that the Titanic had an uneventful voyage with some exceptions.
- ibid.
Some people use life’s lemons to make lemonade. Newsom is using burning Waymo taxis to make his case to be president. What a riot.
- ibid.
If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will notify your family where to collect your remains because we will kill you graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.
– Florida’s Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey at a press conference with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warning anti-immigration protesters not to try in Florida what they did in California
If you try to mob rule a car in Brevard County, gathering around it, refusing to let the driver leave...in our county, you’re most likely going to get run over and dragged across the street. If you spit on us, you’re going to the hospital and then jail. If you hit one of us, you’re going to the hospital and jail and most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs that we have here. - ibid.
The objective is not to contain the war. The objective is to win the war.
- Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter on ABC News
Look, 80 years ago, we had a little man with a mustache running around Europe and nobody believed him when he said he was going to destroy the Jewish people. We lost 6 million. Now we’ve got a crazed new Hitler running around the Middle East saying he’s going to destroy us. We have to take him at face value. That’s his intention. He says it every day. He’s got a concrete plan to destroy us. This isn’t a joke. This is very serious for us. It’s existential. – ibid.
Everybody knows that when the Israelis try to retard the Iranian nuclear weapon program, the Israelis are doing the world a huge service. So why doesn’t the British government just come out and say what they believe and what everybody knows?
I’ll tell you why: Because it’s all about managing the growing anti-Israeli feeling in the Labour Party, the growing antisemitism, and it’s nothing to do with the national interest.
- Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
The real divide isn’t between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers. Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct U.S. military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson. At some point, they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now.
– Tweet by Tucker Carlson
Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON! AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!
- President Trump, responding on Truth Social
From L.A. to Rafah, there is one common oppressor — death to the colonial empire!
- The daughter of Ilhan Omar (D-MN) —the
Argentina will support Israel with all our force.
- Argentina’s President Javier Milei speaking in the Knesset
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for much of the international community that is being manipulated by terrorists and turning victims into perpetrators. It is important to understand that we are in the midst of a battle between good and evil, and we began to lose this battle when we began to not distinguish between the two. The international community must urgently reconnect with its moral compass. To decide, one only needs to look at the facts: on the one hand, the barbaric terrorism that only kills and destroys, and on the other, the only stronghold in the region where there is freedom and democracy.
- ibid.
I see the history of the Middle East in the last 39 years as a showdown between two people: Bibi Netanyahu and Ayatollah Khomeini. Prime Minister Netanyahu tried to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program, and Khomeini tried to eliminate Israel.
- Amit Segal, senior political analyst for Channel 12, on the Call me Back podcast
On October 7, 2023, it looked like Khomeini was on his way to succeed. 620 days later, it looks like for the first time, Netanyahu is about to succeed in his mission of life –which is to take care of the biggest threat to the Jewish people since the Holocaust, or maybe even including the Holocaust, because when fundamentalist Muslims have deadly weapons, they have them to use them against the Jews.
- ibid.
On October 7, it was Toyota vehicles, knives and Kalashnikov rifles. In a few weeks, it was supposed to be a nuclear bomb. This is why Netanyahu actually approved the plans to attack Iran’s nuclear program. So Netanyahu, who devastatingly failed on October 7, was the only one to survive and convinced the military establishment to fulfill his life’s mission.
– ibid.
President Trump on CNN:
Trump: We, of course, support Israel, obviously, and supported it like nobody has ever supported it. Iran should have listened to me when I said – you know I gave them, I don’t know if you know but I gave them a 60day warning and today is day 61. They should now come to the table to make a deal before it’s too late. It will be too late for them. You know the people I was dealing with are dead, the hardliners.
CNN’s Danna Bash: This is as a result of the attack last night?
Trump: They didn’t die of the flu; they didn’t die of Covid.
Israeli Bombs Can’t Build the Iran Its People Deserve
IBy David Ignatius
srael’s wars have a history of mission creep. And in that tradition of relentless escalation, the Israeli campaign that began early Friday against Iran’s nuclear program is now moving inexorably toward regime change.
Watching the television images from Tehran, you see that Israel is widening its lens. On Sunday, it was the billowing flames surrounding the Greater Tehran Police Command, loathed by many as a center of repression. On Monday, it was an attack on the headquarters of Iranian state television, dispenser of state propaganda – driving the stolid anchorwoman in a dark hijab and chador from her chair in the middle of a broadcast.
The clearest sign that Israel is going for the heart of the regime came in a comment Monday from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Asked by ABC News whether Israel plans to target supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu answered: “We are doing what we need to do.”
Assassination isn’t the path to a strong country. But we’re clearly in new territory, described by the best Iran-watchers I know. “The Islamic Republic has spent decades seeking to eradicate Israel. Now, Israel seems to be pursuing the end of the Islamic Republic,” said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace during an interview Monday. Behnam Ben Taleblu, the Iran director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, agreed: “Israel has operating freedom over Iran’s skies. Now it can drive a counter-regime campaign.”
You’ll get no argument from me that it’s long past time for political change in Tehran. The clerical regime has been shedding
the blood of Israelis, Americans, Saudis and anyone else who opposed its dictates since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The question is how change will come. What’s the road toward a dynamic country that’s worthy of Iran’s creative, cultured people?
Here’s one obvious fact: Israel can’t bomb its way to this new Iran. A campaign of bombing of the kind Tehran is experiencing makes people hunker down, turn inward and often fight harder. Strategic bombing didn’t break the will of the British, German or Japanese people during World War II. It hasn’t yet destroyed Hamas in Gaza, either, for that matter.
“Iran is in a prerevolutionary situation. But I question whether people can rise up during aerial bombardment,”
Alireza Nader, a longtime Iran analyst for Rand who’s now an independent consultant, told me. “I worry that there’s no plan. The regime will survive, and things will just get worse.”
Israel rolled the dice with this attack, and I don’t mean to minimize the danger, for it or the region. Sadjadpour succinctly describes the twin risks: “This could end up destabilizing the regime or entrenching it. It could halt the nuclear program or accelerate it.”
Talking with Iran experts, I heard one consistent theme: The best way to rally Iranians is to help them build a wealthier, more advanced and integrated country. So often in the past, Israeli and American intelligence planners did the opposite. They tried to use Iran’s ethnic divisions – its mix of Kurds, Azeris, Arabs and Baluchis – against Tehran.
Israel often scoffed that its Middle East neighbors were little more than “tribes with flags” and tried to exploit sectari-
an tension. That’s a mistake, argues Ben Taleblu. “Don’t see Iran as a multiethnic state that can be shattered. Don’t engage in balkanization.”
And don’t try to reimpose an old monarchy, I would add. Some advocates of Iran change are rallying around Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah deposed in the 1979 revolution. But surely the United States and Britain made that mistake before, in the 1953 coup that installed the shah in place of Mohammed Mosaddeq, the democratically elected prime minister. Reza can be helpful in a transition, but Iranians deserve better than turning backward.
The message that will resonate with Iranians is that this regime has reached a violent dead end – through its own mistakes as much as Israeli actions. Its weakness and corruption are a national embarrassment.
Iranians have been posting black-humor messages even in the mayhem since Israel began its attack early Friday, according to friends who call Tehran and read Iranian social media. After several nuclear scientists were assassinated, a student anonymously cracked that his meddlesome professor should be on the list. When top military leaders were killed in their apartments, a jaundiced Iranian asked why they were all living in penthouses.
What angers Iranians is that the regime has squandered money supporting anti-Israel proxy forces such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, rather than spending more at home. Police were arresting women for not wearing headscarves even as Mossad agents were smuggling in the drones that killed top military leaders Friday. “While the ideologues were
securing the windows, they left the front door wide open,” argued Ben Taleblu, expressing an opinion he said is being voiced widely in Tehran after Israel’s attack.
The right approach in thinking about regime change, argued Sadjadpour, is to encourage patriotic nationalism, without the mullahs. “What should come next is a group of leaders whose organizing principle is not Islamic revolution but national interest,” he told me. “Instead of ‘Death to America,’ the slogan should be ‘Long Live Iran.’”
The Iranian revolution in 1979 was an earthquake whose aftershocks are still rumbling across the Middle East. Israel and the United States were the main targets, but the whole region has suffered. The idea that Iran’s mischief and meddling might gain a permanent nuclear umbrella is intolerable.
Periods of revolutionary instability inevitably give way eventually to consolidation and construction. That’s what happened in Europe in 1814 with the Congress of Vienna, which ended a century of violent upheaval and brought nearly a century of peace to Europe. Before the death of former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who was a student of Count Metternich’s diplomacy in Vienna, I asked him occasionally whether such a moment of transformation would ever come to Iran and the Middle East.
Kissinger would usually shrug. Who can say? Watching the disaster that is now unfolding for Iran, one can only hope that a path will emerge out of this moment, offering Iranians a chance to build something new.
Political Crossfire
How Trump is Bypassing Los Angeles’s Sanctuary City Hurdles
While the media has focused on President Donald Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard to quell immigration riots in Los Angeles, there is a much more significant aspect of his crackdown on sanctuary cities and states. The Trump administration has found an innovative way to neutralize California’s sanctuary policies, forcing local officials to hand over illegal migrants for deportation despite state and local sanctuary laws and policies that bar them from doing so.
California law enforcement officials can refuse to cooperate with “ICE detainers,” requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transfer illegal migrants held in local jails to federal immigration officials. That is because ICE detainers are nonbinding and can be disregarded by the local agency.
But Bill Essayli, Trump’s recently appointed U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, has come up with a way to compel California’s cooperation. Local officials can “ignore detainers, but they can’t ignore [federal criminal] warrants,” he told me in an interview.
So, in his first weeks in office, Essayli launched Operation Guardian Angel, a federal task force that is scanning criminal databases every day to identify illegal migrants arrested in the Los Angeles area, and then checking their fingerprints against immigration records to see whether they have previously been deported. If they have, Essayli charges them with illegal reentry, a federal crime, and obtains an arrest warrant from a federal judge, which cannot be ignored by sanctuary jurisdictions.
The operation has been underway for less than a month, but already California is being forced to hand over dozens of illegal migrants to ICE each week. Fox News’s Bill Melugin reported on one of the first ICE detentions under Operation
By Marc A. Thiessen
Guardian Angel of a previously deported illegal migrant, who had just been arrested in a robbery in the sanctuary jurisdiction of Los Angeles. Once the concept is proven there, the Justice Department can deploy Operation Guardian Angel across California – and then nationwide. “It could be done in every sanctuary city,” Essayli told me. “Every jurisdiction has access to these databases, and everyone who’s booked in a jail has to be fingerprinted.”
His pioneering effort will save lives.
Indeed, if Operation Guardian Angel had been in place 10 years ago, Kate Steinle might still be alive today. In 2015, the young California woman was shot in the back on a San Francisco pier by an illegal migrant, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who was free because the city refused to honor an ICE detainer. Zarate had been deported five times and thus could easily have been charged with the federal crime of illegal reentry, which would have compelled San Francisco to hand him over to ICE.
According to police, in February, an illegal migrant in the Los Angeles area named José Cristian Saravia-Sánchez shot and killed a 48-year-old father of two who interrupted him attempting to steal a neighbor’s catalytic converter. Saravia-Sánchez had been arrested 11 times between June 2022 and August 2024, but Essayli says local law enforcement was prevented by state law from complying with an ICE detainer. Saravia-Sánchez was deported in 2013, so had Operation Guardian Angel been in effect, local police could have been forced to turn him over to ICE – and two Inglewood boys might still have their father.
Stories such as this are why, Essayli said, most local sheriffs who have had their hands tied by sanctuary policies want to cooperate with ICE. “We briefed the sheriffs. A lot of the sheriffs were excited. They were like, ‘We’ve been waiting for this.’” Others, he said, were incredulous when presented with their first federal arrest warrants. “They looked like they’re having a heart attack,” he said.
“A lot of them were like, ‘Well, what are these?’ I said: ‘It’s a warrant. You deal with warrants every day. There’s nothing different about this.’”
So far, he has faced no resistance from local law enforcement, Essayli said. He cautions that anyone interfering with the federal warrants will face serious consequences. I asked him what can be done if the illegal migrants found in criminal databases have not been previously deported. They could be charged with other federal crimes, Essayli said. “If they have a firearm, it could be possession of a firearm. If they have a drug offense, we can hit them with a drug offense. If they have fraud, we can charge fraud. There’s a lot of charges we can take federally other than illegal reentry.”
But gathering evidence for these crimes takes time, during which the suspects could be released. Charging migrants with illegal reentry is the fastest way to obtain a federal warrant. “It’s a very simple case. You’re here, you’ve clearly committed an offense because you’re not supposed to be here,” he says.
Essayli says that the politicians behind California’s sanctuary policies are not only putting the lives of American citizens at risk but also making things worse for the illegal migrants they are purporting to protect. “If they had just complied or honored our ICE detainers, a lot of these people would just be processed administratively,” he said. But by forcing him to get federal criminal warrants, “they are causing these illegal aliens to potentially have to serve prison time before their deportation.”
This much is certain: the riots will be contained, and order will soon be restored to Los Angeles’s streets. But Operation Guardian Angel is coming to a sanctuary city near you.
Trump’s Travel Ban and the Defense of the West Political Crossfire
By Jonathan S. Tobin
Like many, if not most, wars, the conflict between Israel and Iran didn’t have to happen, and certainly, not in this way. But the blame for the hostilities now underway doesn’t belong to the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered the Israeli Air Force to undertake a pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear targets in the early morning hours of June 13.
That won’t be the way the international media, as well as liberal legacy news outlets in the United States, report it. The same sources that have been demonizing Jerusalem’s efforts to eradicate the Hamas terrorists who launched the Gaza war with unspeakable atrocities on Oct. 7, 2023, will put all the blame on Netanyahu and the Israelis. They will blast him for not waiting to see if President Donald Trump’s efforts at diplomacy could succeed in ensuring that Iran could not obtain a nuclear weapon.
Voices on the “woke right,” such as Tucker Carlson, will undoubtedly repeat their appalling apologias for the Islamist regime in which they falsely claimed that Tehran wasn’t working for a bomb.
They’ll likely refloat familiar antisemitic tropes about Jerusalem trying to drag the United States into an unnecessary war against its interests.
And left-wing Israeli and Diaspora Jewish outlets will likely echo some of those accusations. Netanyahu will be accused of acting for political reasons or of being a reckless war-monger determined to start another conflagration before his coalition finally splinters.
Don’t
Blame Netanyahu
While those who claim that it didn’t have to go down like this will be right, they’ll be wrong about who bears the primary responsibility for the destruction and casualties in Iran, as well as any harm that comes to Israel by way of the regime’s retaliatory efforts—whether by missile strikes on the Jewish homeland or terrorist attacks by its proxies around the region.
Though Netanyahu is the one who gave the order for the blow to fall on Iran, the real blame for the war happening at this time belongs to the party that is currently standing on the sidelines: the United States.
All four of the last U.S. presidents
have played a decisive role in leading to the point where Israel was left with no choice but to roll the dice on a military effort to ensure that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions could not be realized. Had Washington taken decisive action at any point in the last 20 years to deal with the Iranian threat, it wouldn’t have been left to Netanyahu and Israel to do the dirty work that the leaders of the Western world weren’t prepared to do. Indeed, Israel’s actions are defending not just itself but the entire world, which stands to benefit from its efforts to prevent a terrorist regime from getting a nuclear weapon.
The problem first became apparent during the second term of President George W. Bush.
Bush had been advised by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not to invade Iraq in 2003, rather to focus on Iran. He rightly understood that the Islamist government in Tehran was a far greater longterm threat to both the West and Israel than the admittedly awful Saddam Hussein regime in Baghdad. Getting rid of Saddam was a good thing, but the unintended consequence of the collapse of Iraq was to strengthen Iran immeasurably.
By his second term, when Sharon had already passed from the scene after being felled by a stroke, Bush was too distracted by the disaster in Iraq to spare the attention and political capital needed to address an Iranian threat that he preferred to punt on.
Obama’s Appeasement
Bush was succeeded by President Barack Obama, who came into office with a big idea that was a lot worse than Bush’s obsession with toppling Saddam.
Far from understanding the necessity of halting the Iranian push for nuclear weapons, in addition to hegemony over a Middle East in which its allies in Syria, Lebanon and a fractured Iraq gave it a dominant position, Obama wanted a rapprochement with the Islamists. He was convinced that America and the West had wronged the Muslim world and that if it only apologized and then appeased it, all of America’s problems in the region would be solved.
This meant more “daylight” between the United States and Israel, about which Obama was, at best, ambivalent. So, when Prime Minister Benjamin Net-
Obama officials with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif negotiating a nuclear deal in 2016
anyahu began to campaign for an international effort to stop the Iranian nuclear program, it fell on deaf ears in Obama’s Washington circles.
Israel might have done well to attack Iran during Obama’s first term, before it got even close to a nuclear weapon. Washington not only said “no,” but it also helped influence the Israeli defense and intelligence establishment to effectively veto Netanyahu’s idea of a pre-emptive strike.
What followed then was one of the worst blunders in American foreign-policy history. Having reluctantly agreed to sanctions on Iran and with the support of most of the international community, Obama and John Kerry, his second secretary of state, opted to throw away their leverage and give in to virtually every Iranian demand in the negotiations they initiated behind the back of the Jewish state.
The result was what became the 2015 Iran nuclear deal—Obama’s signature foreign-policy “achievement.” It not only legitimized Iran’s nuclear program but also put limits on its enrichment of uranium that were easily evaded. Even worse, its sunset provisions guaranteed that Iran would eventually get a nuclear weapon by the end of the 2020s. On top of that, the relaxed sanctions and billions handed over to Tehran in heretofore frozen funds enriched and empowered the regime to escalate its activities as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. That made it able to strengthen Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and, crucially, Hamas in Gaza, making Obama indirectly responsible (among many others who also bear the blame) for setting in motion the chain of events that led to the horrors of Oct. 7.
“Maximum Pressure”
To his credit, Obama’s successor, President Donald Trump, rightly understood that the Iran deal was a fiasco. But as was true of many of his correct foreign-policy decisions, it took him a while to do something about it. New to government and hindered by establishment-oriented cabinet appointees as well as distracted by the Russia collusion hoax that hamstrung his efforts, it took Trump more than a year after taking office to get around to withdrawing from the nuclear deal.
That was something an American president was going to have to do sooner or later if the deal’s reckless provisions were to be prevented from ensuring an Iranian weapon. And Trump followed it up with a “maximum pressure” campaign that—had it been started earlier, or more
importantly, had been continued after his first term—might have forced the Iranians to their knees and possibly led to a real nuclear agreement that might have prevented an Iranian nuke.
After Trump was defeated in 2020, President Joe Biden was eager to restore Obama’s deal. Despite his earnest wooing, the Iranians had by then gotten to the point where they knew that, via their cheating on Obama’s accord and a feckless international monitoring effort, they could get to a nuclear weapon without the benefit of renewed Western diplomacy.
Throughout this era, Israel was essentially prevented from acting on its own to stop Iran by American diktats and pressure, despite clear evidence that it
Trump’s Diplomatic Delay
Though he had been very tough on Iran in his first term, the first months of his second term saw him unleash the inexperienced Steve Witkoff on the Middle East as his regional envoy. Witkoff is possibly compromised by his business connections to Qatar, an ally of Iran and Hamas. He seemed bent at times on repeating all the same mistakes made by Obama and Kerry with respect to Iran, sounding at times as if he, too, was negotiating a deal that would let Tehran keep its nuclear program and even refine uranium, in addition to failing to get them to stop funding terrorism.
It is possible that Trump, who knows a good deal from a bad one, would never
He was convinced that America and the West had wronged the Muslim world and that if it only apologized and then appeased it, all of America’s problems in the region would be solved.
was moving closer and closer to nuclear capability. It’s also true that the Israelis were aware that the best plan for dealing with the threat from Tehran would involve American forces participating in an offensive aimed at destroying its nuclear facilities. But the wait for America to wake up to the fact that an Iranian weapon was a certainty if the world’s inaction and/or indifference to the threat continued to the point where Jerusalem rightly understood that if they weren’t going to do something about this problem, no one would.
That became even more obvious after Trump’s return to office after his victory in the 2024 presidential election.
The Trump 2.0 administration has been more focused and purposeful than his first try at the presidency. However, along with the experience he gained from the triumphs and the failures of his first term was an even deeper conviction that his primary foreign-policy mission was to avoid starting wars and to end any conflicts in which the United States was entangled, either directly or indirectly. That included the Ukraine-Russia conflict, as well as Israel’s fight with Iran’s terror proxies in Gaza and elsewhere.
he had to risk offending Trump in order not to throw what may well be a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deal a fatal blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. More delays in acting might have led to a situation where a military solution would no longer have been possible.
We don’t know yet how successful Israel’s effort will be or what form Iran’s retaliation might take. Nevertheless, the notion that Israel or the West should have continued to avoid the necessity of acting because of what the Islamists may do in response would have been yet another blunder.
Equally uncertain is how Trump will react to Netanyahu refusing to take his advice about standing down. Let’s hope that he concludes that not only was the prime minister right to act, but that in doing so, he was doing the West a favor as well as helping his own country.
The one thing we do know is that the events of June 2025 were made necessary not by Netanyahu’s yearning for conflict. If anything, he has been as cautious and reluctant to use force against Iran as he has been on all fronts until forced into a war after Oct. 7.
have agreed to another appeasement of Tehran. Still, his decision to double down on diplomacy wasn’t just misguided but seemed to ensure a fatal delay in any attempt to use force to stop Iran, should, as is likely, his negotiations fail to achieve their purpose.
Israel had largely destroyed Iran’s air defenses in 2024 after the Islamist regime launched missiles against the Jewish state as part of its efforts to help Hamas. At the time, Biden forbade Netanyahu from attacking nuclear targets. Dependent as they are on American military aid to continue the war against Hamas, the Israelis complied with that demand. Taking out Iran’s air defenses didn’t directly violate Biden’s request, though it did go around it. But it also provided a window for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities that were effectively undefended until Tehran’s ally, Russia, could help rebuild them with a new system.
Trump, besotted as he always is by the idea that he is the ultimate dealmaker and peace broker, insisted that Israel not act while his futile diplomatic gambit was allowed to play out.
In the end, Netanyahu decided that
Instead, it has been four American presidents who, for one reason or another, chose to prevaricate on the issue or to appease Iran over the course of the last two decades that led to this moment. Had the United States acted decisively against Iran at any point during this period, especially in the years of Bush and Obama, the likelihood is that the possibility of an Iranian nuke could have been forestalled indefinitely. And that could have happened, despite the false warnings of Obama and Tucker Carlson that the only choices were war or appeasement, without significant risk to the United States or its allies.
In the end, it was those four presidents and their failed, foolish or indecisive policies that left Netanyahu no choice but to act before Iran went from a threshold nuclear power to an actual one, with unknowable and possibly catastrophic consequences for Israel and the world. Regardless of whether you support or oppose Netanyahu, it’s imperative to recognize that his decision to act wasn’t about his government’s longevity or his political prospects but the survival and security of the State of Israel as well as the West. Sensible observers can only hope that by June 13, 2025, it wasn’t already too late.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS (Jewish News Syndicate).
Political Crossfire
Finding G-d, and Nietzsche, in the Hamas Tunnels of Gaza
By Isabel Kershner
HERZLIYA, Israel — Each morning, Shelly Shem Tov would enter her son’s empty bedroom and recite Chapter 20 from the biblical Book of Psalms, an ancient plea for deliverance.
All the while she was unaware that her son, Omer Shem Tov, happened to be uttering the very same verses of Psalm 20 — “May the L-rd answer you on a day of distress.”
He had adopted the same daily ritual about 130 feet underground, alone, in a Hamas tunnel in the Gaza Strip.
Omer Shem Tov was 20 when gunmen seized him during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. He had grown up in a largely secular home and was living a relatively carefree existence after completing his compulsory military service — waiting tables in a steakhouse to earn money for a post-army trip to South America, a popular rite of passage for many Israelis of his age.
He was captured while fleeing the Nova music festival, a rave party attended by thousands near the Gaza border.
A few days into his captivity, he said,
he began to speak to G-d. He made vows. He began to bless whatever food he was given. And he had requests — some of which he believes were answered.
“You are looking for something to lean on, to hold onto,” Shem Tov said in a recent interview at his family home in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. “The first place I went to was G-d. I would feel a power enter me,” he said.
“Faith kept me going,” he said, adding, “I always believed I would get home, though I didn’t know how or when.”
He was released in late February as part of a temporary ceasefire deal, after 505 days in Gaza.
Shem Tov, who turned 22 in captivity, said he had always had faith, but had never been religiously observant.
Many other released hostages have spoken of similar experiences, finding solace and the strength to survive by connecting or reconnecting with G-d and recalling oft-forgotten Jewish rituals.
Some taken hostage said they found the will to go on in a motto they heard from Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli
American hostage, before he was killed by his captors. It was a version of a quotation about having purpose in life from atheist German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and often echoed by Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor: “He who has a why can bear with any how.”
Among those hostages is Eli Sharabi, who emerged emaciated after 491 days in captivity to learn that his wife and two teenage daughters had been killed in the October 2023 attack. He recounted how he had recited the Shema Yisrael, a central Jewish prayer, daily in the dark, dank tunnel space he shared with other hostages and had tried every Sabbath eve to make kiddush, the blessing over wine, though they had only water.
Sharabi told how Goldberg-Polin’s adage inspired and sustained him after the pair spent a few days in a tunnel together. Another hostage, Or Levy, who was later held and ultimately released with Sharabi, even had the maxim tattooed on his arm after his return home.
And like several other family mem-
bers of hostages, Shem Tov’s mother, Shelly, experienced her own spiritual journey while her son was in Gaza. She too began observing the rules of the Sabbath. She came by Psalm 20 randomly: A group supporting hostages’ families handed out cards printed with chapters from the Book of Psalms, and that psalm happened to be the one that had Omer’s name on it.
For 27 days early last year, while Omer Shem Tov was in a Hamas tunnel, he could hear Israeli troops above him. After they moved on, he said, his captors brought him some reading materials the soldiers had left behind, including religious literature that Shem Tov’s captors asked him to decode, thinking it might be military instructions.
Call it coincidence, but among the materials, which the captors allowed him to keep, was a card printed with Psalm 20 — though without his name on it.
The Capture
On Oct. 7, Shem Tov fled from gunmen through a furrowed field near the festival
site with his good friend Maya Regev and her brother, Itai Regev, who was then 18.
Ori danino, another member of their party whom they had met only a few hours before the festival, had managed to drive out of the danger zone. But he called them, asked them to send him their location and came back to get them.
Back on the road, gunmen shot up the car, wounding the Regevs. All four were abducted to Gaza. d anino was taken separately. He and five other hostages — among them Goldberg-Polin — were shot to death by their captors, the Israeli military said, in a squalid tunnel in southern Gaza in August last year.
Shem Tov said that as soon as he arrived in Gaza he was lowered into the ground in a plastic tub by a winch.
His first instinct was to try to connect with his captors, he said, by introducing himself and asking their names. One asked if he knew the songs of Eden Ben Zaken, an Israeli pop singer. He sang the chorus of “Queen of Roses,” one of her hits.
He said he was forced to walk through the tunnels and came up into a house with yellow couches and a chandelier. From there he was driven to the first apartment where he would be held and
was soon joined there by the Regevs, who had received some rudimentary treatment for their wounds. Maya Regev was later transferred to a Palestinian hospital, and the siblings were released along with scores of other hostages during a brief ceasefire in November 2023.
Shem Tov said he was moved several times, usually at night and once dressed as a veiled Muslim woman. He said he and Itai Regev narrowly missed being hit by Israeli airstrikes, including one that shattered the windows of their room and filled it with thick black dust.
A week after being captured, Shem Tov said, he decided to keep kosher as much as he could, eating either the cheese or the canned meat when they were given both, in line with Jewish dietary laws that prohibit mixing meat and dairy products. He promised G-d that if he got home, he would pray daily with tefillin — the small leather boxes containing scriptures that worshippers tie onto their heads and one of their arms for morning prayers.
He said that the first miracle was that he had survived the initial ambush unscathed. A photo of the blue car showed the windshield on the passenger side, where he had been sitting, shattered by
bullets. “Even as I look at it now, I’m shocked that I got out alive,” he said.
After the November 2023 ceasefire collapsed, Shem Tov was taken back down into the tunnels and spent the rest of his captivity alone, save for the gunmen who would look in on him.
In Hamas’ Underworld
For 50 days, he said, he sat in a small, stifling cell with hardly any food — as little as one biscuit a day and a few drops of salty water. It was pitch dark most of the time. An asthma sufferer, he could barely breathe. His captors brought him an inhaler. One day, at breaking point, he begged G-d to take him somewhere — anywhere — else.
Ten minutes later, he said, the captors came and moved him to a larger underground chamber with white tiled walls and electricity.
“It was paradise” by comparison, he said.
Two days later, his captors told him they were taking him back to the previous cell, which distressed him. But he said that the Israeli military struck part of the tunnel network that night, and the passage was blocked, so he remained
where he was.
Shem Tov tried to keep on good terms with his captors. He prepared their food, cleaned the living quarters and washed dishes in an unspoken agreement that he believed earned him better treatment. When another part of the tunnel collapsed, he labored, seven hours a day for two weeks, to help his captors clear a passage large enough to crawl through.
Shem Tov clung to his newfound faith.
He blessed his food and held on to a small bottle of a grape-flavored drink he’d been given by his captors, saving it for the blessing over the wine on Friday evenings. He said his captors were amused when he placed his hand on his head, instead of a skullcap, and uttered the familiar prayer.
Now home, Shem Tov, like other released hostages, is still recovering.
His father said he came back more mature, more focused. Shem Tov wants to study acting, and he recently returned from a speaking tour of Jewish communities in the united States.
And he said that he prays daily in his bedroom with tefillin.
Israel Had the Courage to Do What Needed to Be Done
By Bret Stephens
It may be months or years before we’ll know the full results of Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military targets, which began early Friday morning and could last for days or weeks. But critics of the strike — and already they are vocal — might at least ask themselves whether Israel had any realistic alternative against an adversary that has repeatedly vowed to wipe it off the map.
Barely a day before the strike, the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, representing 35 nations, declared that Iran was in violation of its nuclear nonproliferation obligations. The agency’s technical report points to “rapid accumulation of highly enriched uranium,” a failure by Iran to provide “technically credible answers regarding the nuclear material at three locations” and Iran’s “insistence on a unique and unilateral approach to its legally binding obligation.”
In plain English, Iran has been deceiving the world for years while gathering the means to build multiple nuclear weapons. In a better world, diplomacy would have forestalled and perhaps eliminated the need for Israeli military action.
But President Donald Trump, who tried to dissuade Israel from striking, failed to get a deal after five rounds of negotiations and noted this week that Tehran had become “much more aggressive” in the talks. Make of his testimony what you will, but it’s worth recalling that a much more pliant and patient Biden administration spent years trying to reach an agreement and also gave up in frustration with Iran’s repeated prevarications.
As for other alternatives, the clandestine means of sabotage and targeted assassinations that Israel had long used, and which probably delayed Iran’s nuclear breakout moment by years, had
plainly run their course — otherwise, Israel would have continued to use them rather than risk Iranian retaliatory strikes using drones and missiles that could overwhelm Israel’s defenses.
Those strikes may yet come, and soon. But they underscore, from an Israeli point of view, how crucial it is that Iran be prevented from being able to mount any of those missiles with a nuclear warhead.
Academic theorists in, say, Chicago may be convinced that an Iran armed with nuclear weapons would merely help create a stable balance against a nuclear-armed Israel. Yet that fails to take into account the millenarian mindset of some of Iran’s theocratic leaders, for whom the ideological objective of destroying Israel may be worth the price of mass martyrdom in a nuclear exchange. It also ignores the prospect that an Iranian nuclear bomb would lead Saudi Arabia, and perhaps Turkey and Egypt, to seek nukes of their own. How stable is a balance of terror if there are three, four or five nuclear powers in the world’s most volatile region, operating in uncertain diplomatic combinations,
each at daggers drawn with the others?
Still, even if Israel had no better options against Iran, it’s no guarantee that the strikes will succeed, either in the short or long term. Besides a direct retaliatory strike on Israel, Iran will be tempted to hit back at other targets: ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Jewish sites in faraway places, U.S. diplomatic or military installations in the region. The Israeli strike may also drive Iran’s nuclear programs further underground, figuratively and literally, accelerating its effort to get nukes while making future attacks more difficult to carry off.
Those risks can’t be ignored. But it’s worth noting that Iran was doing many of those things without the pretext of an Israeli strike, sometimes directly and sometimes through proxies, such as the Houthis and Hezbollah.
Also worth noting is that Hezbollah has been quiet since Israel’s attack. That could always change, but it’s a result of its swift decimation at Israeli hands last September. That, too, was denounced by Israel’s critics as dangerously escalatory. But now it’s paying dividends in the form
of constricted Iranian retaliatory options, the end of the pro-Iranian regime of Bashar Assad in Syria, and the first possibility in two generations for the Lebanese people finally to govern themselves. Sometimes military strikes end with blowback. But sometimes they accomplish their goals — as Israel showed when it took out Syria’s nuclear reactor in 2007 and Iraq’s in 1981. Neither regime, thankfully, ever acquired nuclear weapons.
As for the prospect of Iran now racing toward a bomb, evidence suggests it was already doing so anyway. It will take time, probably years, for Iran to regain its former pace, and it will do so in a severely weakened military, technical and economic state. And it can always be hit again.
It also matters that Iran’s leadership has again been bested on its home turf, not by the “Great Satan” of the United States but, much more humiliatingly, by the “Little Satan” of Israel. The weaker and more uncertain the regime looks in the eyes of ordinary Iranians, the likelier it will spark the kinds of mass protests that nearly brought it down in 2022. An end to the regime that has inflicted so much misery on so many people for so many years offers the only sure route to ending the nuclear crisis for good.
I’m writing in the first hours of a conflict that surely still has many surprises in store. It’s far too soon to say how it will end. But for those who worry about a future in which one of the world’s most awful regimes takes advantage of international irresolution to gain possession of the most dangerous weapons, Israel’s strike is a display of clarity and courage for which we may all one day be grateful.
Democratic strategist James Carville would not appreciate being compared to Republican president Richard Nixon. But apparently Carville and Nixon have at least one thing in common: antisemitic views concerning Jews and money.
In a June 4 podcast, Carville railed against “really wealthy Jewish fundraisers” who have told him they will no longer make donations to Columbia University, because of the rising antisemitism there. But according to Carville, the real reason for the Jewish donors’ position is quite different. He said he has admonished them, “No, you just want your [expletive] tax cut now.’”
Apparently Carville believes those Jewish donors support the Trump administration’s actions against Columbia because the president is proposing tax cuts from which they would benefit. Carville did not present any evidence to support his claim.
Fifty-four years ago, President Nixon expressed somewhat similar sentiments about Jews and money. In tape-recorded White House conversations in 1971, Nixon instructed his senior aides to have the Internal Revenue Service investigate “big Jewish contributors” to the Democratic Party.
The “rich Jews” were “stealing in every direction,” Nixon asserted, evident-
ly assuming that since those Democratic donors were Jews, they must be cheating on their taxes or engaging in some other financial misbehavior.
Ugly claims about Jews and money became widespread in the Middle Ages. Employment restrictions that were imposed on Jews in Europe forced some of them to become money lenders; antisemitic borrowers who failed to repay their loans then found Jews to be convenient scapegoats. Shakespeare solidified the stereotype with his notorious depiction of the Jewish money lender Shylock, who demanded a “pound of flesh” from a client who defaulted on a loan.
Bigotry has never been limited by borders. Antisemitic slurs about Shylocks and Jewish financial practices long ago spread far beyond Europe and the United States. In recent decades, they have been featured prominently in the propaganda arsenal of the Palestinian Authority.
Raymonda Tawil, Yasser Arafat’s longtime adviser (and mother-in-law), once claimed that Israel’s tax policies in Arab-populated regions reflect “the Jewish money-lender’s mentality.”
On official PA Television in 2014, self-described journalist Akram Attalah claimed that Israel was using its search
for three kidnapped teenagers as an excuse to harm Arabs. “Israel is a state that seizes opportunities in the style of Shylock, and it knows how to seize opportunities,” Atallah said.
Mahmoud al-Assadi, who is currently the PA’s consul general in Saudi Arabia, likewise has invoked the Bard to attack the Jews. In an op-ed circulated by Fatah, the PA’s ruling faction, in 2018, al-Assadi wrote: “The greatest playwright, William Shakespeare, correctly described the deceitful, greedy, trickster, extortionist, and lowly character of the Jews in the story The Merchant of Venice in the 16th century.”
Yahya Rabbah, a regular columnist for the official PA daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, has suggested a more convoluted connection between Shylock and Israel. After comparing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s agreements with his political allies to the bargaining tactics of Shylock, Rabbah wrote that “there is one essential difference [between Netanyahu and Shylock], which is that the modern Shylock doesn’t lend to anyone, but rather owes everyone—without exception—his ability to survive.”
In the PA’s eyes, however, it is not Netanyahu alone who resembles Shylock, but all Jews, as PA chairman Mahmoud
Abbas made clear in an infamous speech two years ago.
Addressing the 11th session of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, on August 24, 2023, Abbas offered this antisemitic history lesson: “They say that Hitler killed the Jews for being Jews and that Europe hated the Jews because they were Jews. Not true. [Europeans were hostile to Jews] because of their role in society, which had to do with usury, money, and so on and so forth.”
While separated by continents, decades and political philosophies, Abbas, Carville, and Nixon nevertheless are linked by common gutter sentiments about Jews—and by the failure of their political allies to take them to task for their bigotry.
(Translations courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI.)
Dr. Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and author of more than 20 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust. His book, The Road to October 7: Hamas, the Holocaust, and the Eternal War Against the Jews, will be published on October 1, 2025, by The Jewish Publication Society / University of Nebraska Press.
Forgotten Her es
The Man Whose Weather Forecast Saved the World
By Nazaneen Ghaffar
“If he had got the forecast wrong,” Peter Stagg said from his home an hour from Bordeaux, France, “I could have been sitting in German France — not France France.”
Stagg was speaking about the pivotal role his father, Group Capt. James Stagg, played in liberating France from Nazi occupation.
The elder Stagg was not a general or a foot soldier, but in the final hours before one of the most consequential moments of World War II, he was the man everyone was waiting on.
On June 6, 1944, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered more than 150,000 Allied troops to storm the beaches of Normandy in one of the largest seaborne invasions in history. But hours before, Eisenhower’s eyes were fixed not on the battlefield, but on the skies. More precisely, on the weather report laid out before him. And the meteorologist who had created it, described by his son as “a dour irascible Scot,” had to get it right.
“The weather forecast was a go or nogo,” said Catherine Ross, a library and archive manager at the Met Office, the weather service for the United Kingdom. “Everything else was ready.”
Success demanded a very specific set of conditions:
— Before the landings, the weather
needed to be calm for 48 hours.
— For the three days following, the wind needed to stay below Beaufort Force 4, equivalent to a moderate breeze.
— Parachutists and other air support needed less than 30% cloud cover below 8,000 feet, with a cloud base no lower than 2,500 feet and visibility of over 3 miles.
— A low tide at dawn was needed to expose German defenses.
— The invasion had to occur one day before or four days after a full moon for nighttime operations.
— Furthermore, the invasion had to align with the Soviet summer offensive in the East, to maximize pressure on German forces.
The Allies identified a window: between June 5 and June 7.
The odds were daunting. According to Ross, the likelihood of all the desired weather conditions aligning was 13-to-1 — and roughly triple that once the full moon was added to the equation.
Making matters worse, the beginning of June brought a spell of highly unsettled weather.
“There was a succession of low pressures and fronts coming across the Channel, and the challenge was trying to find a gap,” she said. “Not just to allow them to invade, but to be able to get enough backup troops and supplies across.”
The 5th “was the ideal day,” Eisenhower recalled in an interview 20 years later. But the date was subject to last-minute revision in the event of bad weather.
The man tasked with delivering that all-important forecast was Stagg, the chief meteorological adviser to Eisenhower from the British Meteorological Office. He was responsible for producing a unified forecast based on input from three independent groups, two British and one American.
Peter Stagg, who was a toddler in 1944, said his father upheld strict discipline at home and rarely smiled. Yet he also had a lighter side.
“He had a sense of humor,” Stagg said. “If we had visitors to the house, they’d all say, ‘Oh, what a wonderful host.’ And he was charming with it, and plying them with whiskey and everything else.”
In the days leading up to D-Day, that charm was tested under enormous pressure.
“He did go through, obviously, tremendous stress — not just because it was his responsibility to get the decision right, but he was working with Americans as well as Brits,” Stagg said.
“It Was Very Much an Evolving Science”
With today’s advanced forecasting,
and the help of supercomputers, satellites and a range of sophisticated models, meteorologists can produce fairly accurate predictions several days in advance.
But there was no unified approach to forecasting in 1944. The American team, part of the newly formed U.S. Strategic Air Forces based near Eisenhower’s headquarters in southwest London, employed analogue forecasting, a method that compared current conditions to historical weather patterns. The British teams relied on hand-drawn charts, observational data and newer understandings of upper-atmosphere patterns. These approaches often clashed.
“At the time, it was very much an evolving science that evolved in different ways in different countries,” said Dan Suri, a meteorologist at the Met Office. Suri said that some of these methods remain in use today, albeit digitally.
“Aspects of what they did still feature, and the D-Day forecasters would recognize aspects of what they did in what we do today,” he said.
James Stagg’s job was not just scientific, but diplomatic — a delicate act of balancing contrasting forecasts from the American and British teams, and shaping them into a coherent narrative with a single decisive recommendation for Eisenhower.
James Stagg
The landings at Normandy on June 6
“That wasn’t always entirely possible,” Suri said. “He had quite a difficult job, really.”
Ahead of the invasion, tensions rose between the forecasting teams. Transcripts from the daily telephone discussions among Stagg, the general and the three forecasting teams revealed a strong difference of opinions among the groups.
Peter Stagg remembered his father telling him how he had to navigate the growing tensions.
“The American guy was pushing all the time to give Eisenhower the good news or what he felt was the good news,” he said. “Whereas my father had to somehow get over to Eisenhower that that wasn’t the right answer.
“My father was saying, the British weather is not like that. It’s not predictable in that sort of way,” he continued. “It’s one of the most difficult weathers in the world to predict, because it is so changeable.”
The American meteorologists believed that June 5 or 6 would offer suitable weather. The British, however, opposed June 5.
“He had to make the decision of which side he was going to go with,” Ross said, “and take that to Eisenhower.”
According to professor Julian Hunt in his book “D-Day: The Role of the Met Office,” a high-pressure system over the Atlantic Ocean and a strong storm near northern Scotland were expected to cause rough seas and excessive cloud cover in the English Channel on June 5. James Stagg delivered his decision: Gales would sweep through Normandy, making landings impossible.
“He gave us the worst report you ever saw,” Eisenhower later recalled. Convoys that had already set off were ordered to turn back.
But by June 4, forecasts indicated that the storm system would shift northeast, giving way to a brief period of calmer conditions June 6.
Still, Stagg was uncertain. His diary reveals his doubt: “I am now getting rather stunned — it is all a nightmare.”
Ross said the decision to go ahead was a compromise. “It was a question of, will the 6th be good enough? And the call was, yes, it will be good enough. But it was a challenge.”
Eventually, the American and British meteorologists moved toward consensus for June 6. On the evening of June 4, Stagg returned with the more optimistic forecast. Eisenhower later described a
“little grin on his face.”
“We hoped that with this break, we could do it,” Eisenhower later said. After a brief moment of contemplation — “about 45 seconds,” he recalled — he gave the order that would change the course of history: “OK, we’ll go.”
The invasion went ahead June 6, 1944, but the forecast turned out to be off the mark.
Suri said that, instead of moving northeast, the storm over northern Scotland shifted southward into the North Sea, weakening as it did. This unexpected change allowed winds to ease slightly, and visibility improved as the front over northern France moved away.
“That’s why things got better,” Suri said. “So they were right for the wrong reasons.”
But conditions were windy, and the seas remained rough.
Many of the first troops to cross the English Channel had “considerable seasickness,” The Associated Press wrote, and the strong winds whipped up whitecaps, making the journey to the beaches even more punishing.
But the marginal weather may have given the Allies a vital edge.
The German forecasts were similar
to those of the Allies, but they had not expected an invasion under such adverse conditions. On June 4, the chief meteorologist of the 3rd German Air Fleet reported to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel that the weather in the Channel would be so poor that there could be no landing attempts until June 10.
“The Germans assumed high tide, cover of darkness and better cloud, wind and visibility conditions than the Allies actually needed,” Suri said. When the Allied forces struck, the Germans were unprepared.
In the aftermath of the invasion, as the weight of its success came into focus, the full significance of the meteorological gamble became clear.
In a memorandum accompanying an official report to Eisenhower, Stagg reflected on just how close they had come to disaster. Had the invasion been postponed to the next suitable tides, the troops would have faced the Channel’s worst storm in 20 years.
“Thanks,” Eisenhower wrote in response. “And thank the gods of war we went when we did.”
The achievements of the medical profession have greatly increased over the past 200 years. This has translated well to the battlefield as the developments have saved countless lives. Key medical contributions from World War II include the introduction of penicillin and antibiotics, blood transfusions, air evacuations, and better trauma and surgical care. To care and treat the wounded from the battlefield, a large number of medical personnel was needed. By the spring of 1945, over 245,000 people had joined the army’s medical department, with many more serving in the navy and the Marine Corps.
Battlefields from World War II were often known for their inhospitable terrain and harsh climate. From the frozen landscapes in Russia to the almost unbearable heat of North Africa, there were some situations that made logistics difficult. This included getting medical supplies and personnel to an area to treat the sick and wounded. The fighting on New Guinea in the South Pacific was extremely challenging due to the mountainous terrain, very hot temperatures, and lack of infrastructure and roads. Wounded soldiers often had to be carried miles through dense jungle, and diseases like malaria were rampant. Still, a major effort went into maintaining medical facilities even in remote areas, while the presence of Japanese
troops remained an ever-present danger.
Sergeant Frederick Kosak of New York was a medic with the 2nd Field Hospital in New Guinea. The U.S. Army had been fighting alongside the Australians in defending the key city of Port Moresby and by the fall of 1942 had begun the intense jungle fighting in the Buna-Gona Campaign. Kosak worked tirelessly to care for the wounded and sick undeterred by the enemy planes strafing and bombing the American bases.
On December 7, 1942, Sergeant Kosak was caring for a Major Edwards who had been wounded in action when a Japanese plane began its strafing run. Bullets pierced through the hospital tent killing and many several soldiers. Kosak covered Edwards with mattresses without regard of his own safety. The major survived, and Kosak was credited with saving the wounded man’s life. For his actions, the Jewish medic was awarded the Silver Star.
First Lieutenant Nathan Brooks was another Jewish medical officer in the 2 nd Field Hospital Field tent that day on New Guinea. He had graduated from Wayne State University Medical School in 1938 and was a doctor in the Detroit area for many years. His Silver Star citation reads in part: “Lieutenant Brooks cared for the sick and wounded, working courageously and fearlessly, entirely oblivious of his personal safety, while continually being bombed and strafed by enemy planes.”
The 32nd Infantry Division was heavily engaged during the Buna-Gona Campaign on New Guinea. Jewish Doctor Rafael Gamso of Brooklyn, New York, was a captain in the division when on December 29, 1942, they heard that a company that had reached the coast was in desperate need of medical assistance. The company had been cut off by the Japanese. Captain Gamso led five unarmed soldiers to bring medical supplies through enemy lines. Braving enemy automatic and sniper fire, they finally reached the stranded company. Gamso stayed all night treating the wounded soldiers before returning to his unit the next day. All five men were awarded the Silver Star for their actions.
Private Hyman Epstein was a medic with the 126th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Division on New Guinea. Born in Russia, Epstein moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and excelled at sports while in high school. The Jewish medic was killed by a sniper near Soputa on December 1, 1942. His unit was sent to an area where the Japanese had set up machine guns flanked by snipers. After a number of American soldiers became casualties, the commanding officer refused to allow medics to go out onto the battlefield to treat them due to the extreme risk. Epstein went anyway and started treating the wounded. This went on until a sniper’s bullet tragically killed him. He was
awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart which his parents received in a ceremony in Omaha in June 1943. During the campaign, the Japanese bombarded American rear areas with air attacks. During one of these bombardments on December 7, 1942, First Lieutenant Julius J. Gutow was operating on patients in a 2 nd Field Hospital tent. The Jewish doctor continued the medical procedures despite the bombs falling in the area and received the Silver Star for fearlessly working on patients despite the danger.
The Buna-Gona Campaign ended in January 1943 when the Australian and American forces successfully defeated the Japanese at their beachheads. The campaign was costly, as close to 2,000 people were killed and over 12,000 others were wounded or became severely ill. It was also a crushing defeat for the Japanese as they had also suffered heavy losses. The New Guinea Campaign continued until the end of the war. The sacrifices and heroism of the medical teams that operated during this brutal campaign is history to be remembered.
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.
American Field Hospital on Port Moresby in August 194 Troops during the Buna-Gona Campaign
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Life C ach
Let’s Get To The Root of It All
By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS
The roots of words are fascinating –at least to some people. So, for the rest of you, how about coming along for the ride?
It’s always interesting, especially in the Hebrew language, to look at derivations. Especially because there’s so much wiggle room in Hebrew!
After all, practically everything gets to be substituted for everything. If a letter looks like another letter, you can replace it; if it sounds like another letter, you can interchange it; if it has a similar numerical value times 10 or 100, you can expand on it; or if it is in the reverse spot when going backward in the alphabet, you can substitute it. It seems almost like everything can intersect in some way.
One would think they’re all ultimately compactable, in some way, into one letter or they are all just very versatile. And that makes sense because the sages say they are the building blocks that were used to build this diverse world.
And because of all this depth and breadth of the letters, we find amazing messages and insights .
After all, Hebrew letters need to be quite flexible and malleable because, as the building blocks ,they had to create every brick, driveway, mothball, and mammal.
Let’s just really look at some interesting examples of the derivations.
Years ago, someone complained to me, who really was not familiar with the Hebrew language, that they really dislike the idea of G-d having “mercy/pity” on us. They felt the words made us sound so destitute and desperate. I said: I can understand that feeling but that the word did not really mean what they were hearing. They needed to look at the Hebrew word, “rachamim,” because that was the emotion G-d extends to us.
And when we analyze its derivations, the fun and the assurances begins . Rachamim comes from the word rechem, which means womb. Now, just picture that!
G-d is not feeling sorry for us. Rather, He’s nurturing us. Protecting us. Staying with us for months. Positioning us in the center of all things. Feeding our needs dai-
ly. And is totally wrapped around us. That’s the womb experience!
Doesn’t all this sound so much better when we understand where the word comes from?!
root (l’shalaim) And when we want someone to feel better, we use the same root (refuah sheleima).
It’s funny – we’ve all heard of the saying one-size-fits-all. This is almost like one
There’s clearly more to what we are saying than meets the lips!
What about the word for hello, goodbye, and peace – shalom. How can it all be the same word ?!
Well, what’s it conveying ?! Sure, when some people show up, they give us a sense of peace; laughably, when others leave, we finally have that peace. But there’s even more times we use the same root.
When we pay someone, we use the same
or feels shored up does one feel whole. They all move toward the same bottom-line need. That’s why the root gives us so much useful information.
When G-d created the world, after each day, it says, “He saw it was good, tov.” We don’t always feel that, though.
So let’s go deeper. We see on Monday during Creation, G-d didn’t use this phrase. Yet on Tuesday, He double-used it. We may all agree that the start of the week is just really not always that great, but let’s look at what the sages say…
The sages say that it means that G-dd saw that it was done. Aha! Perhaps that is why we can’t always see the good because we are still in the midst of the journey; it’s not done yet.
Ergo, maybe when we say have a good day, we actually are saying: get everything done that you need to do.
Who knows? Maybe we’re not even saying what we’re saying when we’re saying it…
The point is just as it’s exciting to learn where we came from to try to understand our roots and to figure out who we are better, similarly, it’s exciting to figure out where our words come from to figure out what we are saying and conveying better. There’s clearly more to what we are saying than meets the lips!
So here’s a fun insight to wrap up with.
The Hebrew word for the past is aver, which sounds like the English word “over.”
The Hebrew word for future is asid, like we plant a seed for the future.
And the Hebrew word for present is hoveh, reminiscent of the word “have.”
Let’s try to be aware of what we HAVE and not get stuck in what’s OVER so we can plant A SEED for the future.
And maybe that way we will all feel tov and shalom!
I’m rooting for us all!
word fits all.
However, let’s actually look at the word shalom and its meaning. The root is wholeness, completeness!
After all, doesn’t it make sense we want someone, whether they’re coming or going, to feel complete? A sense of “ peace” only comes when you feel complete. And surely, only if one pays up
Rivki Rosenwald is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist working with both couples and individuals and is a certified relationship counselor. Rivki is a co-founder and creator of an effective Parent Management of Adolescent Years Program. She can be contacted at 917705-2004 or at rivkirosenwald@gmail.com.
