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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Dear Readers,

time he sees me that he is “a rebbi for life.” He always asks about his talmid and wants to hear how he is doing. I know that he is cheering him on years after my son left his classroom. Every year, I am awestruck by the devotion that the teachers and rebbeim in our community have for their students. They care for them. They love them. They wish for their success. And the children feel it. When they come home, faces shining, after their first day of school, you know that they felt the goodness and love emanating from their teacher. It’s only one day, but it’s the beginning of a relationship, one that will be honed through months of connection and communication. The lessons that will be taught won’t just be given over by rote; they are imparted with an excitement, with a fervent yearning to instill vital messages into our children’s minds. And perhaps that is why, so many years later, we still remember. We may forget the worksheets and the tests, the homework assignments and even much of what was written on the board. But we remember how a teacher made us feel. We remember the one who noticed when we were struggling, who believed in us before we quite believed in ourselves, who offered a smile or a word of encouragement at exactly the right moment. Our children may not realize it now, but years from today, tucked among their memories of backpacks and bus rides and school hallways, there will be a teacher’s voice, a teacher’s kindness, a teacher’s lesson that stayed with them for life. Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

don’t remember my first day of school. But I remember the daily walks to the bus stop, the smells of the lunchroom, my backpack weighed down with books. I remember the shmoozing in the hallways, the songs from second grade, the poem I read at the school assembly. I remember the feeling I had when walking the school halls – of belonging and connecting and being excited to learn. And I remember the teachers. It’s funny which lessons stick in your mind years – many years – later. Some of these teachings were lessons that teachers honed throughout the years, concepts that are so essential that they form a foundation for so many of my classmates’ lives. But there were other lessons that were taught in a backhanded way, perhaps not even intentionally, gleaned from a comment or a gesture or something so minute that the teacher never thought twice about it after that moment. But I did. And I still do. Every year, when our kids go to school, we send them off with whispered prayers on our lips. We hope that this year will be a successful year, a year in which they will grow and mature and learn and discover. We hope that they will make the right friends, peers who will embody and nurture kindness and empathy. We hope that they will be safe and protected. We hope that they will be successful in their learning and will have a clear understanding and a thirst for Yiddishkeit. But above all, we daven that they will have the right teacher or rebbi, one who will understand them and love them for who they are and will encourage them to soar to new heights. One of my children’s rebbeim tells me every

Yitzy Halpern, PUBLISHER

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Nate Davis Editorial Assistant Nechama Wein Copy Editor Rachel Bergida Shana Brecher Lani White Design & Production Gabe Solomon Distribution & Logistics P.O. BOX 266 Lawrence, NY 11559 Phone | 516-734-0858 Fax | 516-734-0857 Classified Deadline: Monday 5:00PM classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com text 443-929-4003 PAYMENT VIA CREDIT CARD MUST BE SUBMITTED ALONG WITH CLASSIFIED ADS The Jewish Home is an independent weekly magazine. Opinions expressed by writers are not necessarily the opinions of the publisher or editor. The Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The Jewish Home contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.

Shabbos Zemanim

Weekly Weather | September 4 – September 10

Friday, September 4 Parshas Nitzavim-Vayelech

FRIDAY

SHABBOS

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Partly Cloudy

Mostly Sunny

Partly Cloudy

84° 66°

79° 64°

75° 62°

78° 65°

78° 67°

80° 71°

83° 67°

Candle Lighting: 7:04 pm Shabbos Ends: 8:02 pm Rabbeinu Tam: 8:33 pm

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll

Community Happenings

NEWS Global

20 National

That’s Odd

ISRAEL

Israel News

It’s Not Business as Usual by Barbara Deutsch

One Pair of Boots. One Conversation

JEWISH THOUGHT Torah Sparks

Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

All for One by Rav Moshe Weinberger

A Lifelong Journey of Return by R’ Shmuel Reichman

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

Headlines and Halacha by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

PEOPLE The Wandering Jew

Inspiration Nation

Forgotten Heroes

128

HEALTH & FITNESS Back to School by Dr. Hylton Lightman

108

FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Apple Hand Pies

114

LIFESTYLES

Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW

100

School of Thought

104

Parenting Pearls

106

Book Nook

112

HUMOR Centerfold

Shmooze and Muse

110

POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

116

What the Disloyal Leaks about Iran Prove by Marc A. Thiessen

122

Inside Afghanistan’s Secret Schools for Girls

124

Yes, Woke 1.0 Was Crazy by Bret Stephens

126

CLASSIFIEDS

130

Dear Editor, There has been a rise within the frum world at large encouraging individuals to seek a therapist, whether it’s for personal life challenges, couples therapy, amongst other matters. For far too long, one of the key reasons for America’s mental health crisis has been the cost of therapy with few continuing to take insurance. I heavily sympathize with both sides: with therapy at over $200 per session, this becomes prohibitively unaffordable in an era where families struggle even more than ever to pay tuition and put food on the table, when both parents need to work. Therapists, on the other hand, are reluctant to accept insurance, mostly due to their poor pay rate. Thankfully, we started seeing hope: Ohel started advertising insurance covered therapy, with Pesach Tikva also doing so. We still have a long way to go with this. In the dating scene, we’ve been seeing some improvements as well with gemachs for games, supplies, and even to subsidize dating costs on an already expensive endeavor. Sadly, as I’ve been in, many need dating guidance from dating coaches. The cost of a dating coach can easily be $150, if not more. Many dating coaches want a weekly commitment for at least several months. Think of what this means for most singles first starting out in their careers, with high dating expenses, irrespective of their salaries. I don’t know anyone who can possibly afford that unless they win the lottery. To

those saying people need to spend money for care they need: there are those who simply don’t have such means. Thinking outside the box, I contacted several insurance-accepting frum therapists who emphasized that dating coaching could absolutely be an element of therapy/psychological services where they can bill insurance in-network. I was outraged, while simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief. In the same way how the dating and mental health world has started becoming more accessible to the frum population, we can for sure make dating coaching more accessible. One way, as a friend mentioned, was to fundraise to be able to pay the dating coaches the rates they want, similar to a gemach. Another way is to get more dating coaches the proper licensure, such as LMSW, PsyD, Psychologist, LMFT, and do the aforementioned the psychologists and therapists said. This is a win-win: dating coaching is affordable via insurance, and with the additional licensure taking insurance, they’re more marketable to all. For those concerned about insurance payment and the work involved, several frum therapists came up with a very realistic solution: Headway. Aetna is a very popular insurance accepted by Headway therapists and psychologists, and they handle all the administrative work involved to get paid – nicely, from what I’ve been told – via insurance. Mental health is indeed a very real matter affecting the frum world more Continued on page 16

Do you daven in a different shul than usual on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur?

67 33 %

Yes

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Continued from page 14

than ever. In the frum dating scope alone, there is a lot of pressure for singles to get married quickly, rather than just letting things just flow and having Hashem run its course. When we give people the tolls to thrive, more people get increased opportunities in life. Sincerely, A single Dear Editor, Yes, it’s the time of year that we are most predisposed to ask ourselves, “What can I change or improve?” The following points are a few second suggestions that may have far reaching effects and can be employed year-round. General Blessing: I have often admired how members of the chassidish community end conversations and interactions with “zei gebentched” (be blessed) or pepper their conversations with some blessing. It is a few short words that may be very impactful, particularly in these difficult times when many people are struggling with various hardships. It also serves to better forge a connection between two individuals that are conversing. It would be nice for more communi-

ties to become accustomed to interchanging good wishes during interactions. ** Blessing for Children: While on the topic of blessings, I came across the following in the Book entitled Reb Dovid, The Life and Legacy of Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, an Artscroll publication, authored by Yisroel Besser (a worthwhile read in general....) Page 319-320 makes mention of the following blessing: It seems that during Jewish weddings the verse “Achoseinu, at hayi l’alfei revavah” was employed (a blessing bestowed by Lavan to his sister Rivkah), wishing the couple to multiply into thousands. The book indicates that the minhag was lost and Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, zt”l, did reinstitute this minhag within his community. There are so many people struggling with fertility issues, why not bring back this blessing to our community at large? Blessing for Shidduchim: Some singles have voiced dislike and shame when “singled out” by another simcha participant with the “Im yirtza Hashem by you.” If they are welcoming of the phrase, provide it. If not, you can still have them in mind or whisper it under your breath. (As an aside, perhaps this can facilitate a change in perspective related to shidduchim: When you make a shidduch,

you are doing a chessed for someone else, that is the initial benefit. Additionally, when a marriage results in future doros, keep in mind the benefits your own family may reap. If you make a shidduch within a community similar to your own, there are more people born into society that will likely share your ideologies, that can strengthen shared political and economical systems and organizations, and may provide a broader range within the shidduch pool within later generations that may subsequently be a proper match with your own grandchildren and great grandchildren.) Wishing all of Klal Yisroel much bracha and hatzlocha in all that they do. L.M. Dear Editor, I wonder if any of the religious organizations that have had or are preparing to have realized that by arranging concerts at the United Palace in Washington Heights realize that this theater is owned by Reverend Ike’s (a known antisemite) church. Why would we Jews want to give money to a known antisemitic group? Just because it’s a huge theater that used to be the Loew’s Palace? I say that anyone arranging concerts there should look for different venues that will cater to Jewish entertainment better than this because it’s a shame to give money to people who hate us. Jeffrey Stiefel Flushing, NY

Dear Editor, I would like to address a subject that receives far too little attention, despite being of utmost importance to so many families: the operation and oversight of assisted living homes, nursing facilities, and rehabilitation centers. While not all of us may be in this “parsha” at this exact moment, it is a reality nearly all of us will eventually face. Short of the fortunate few who remain in their own homes until 120, most of us will eventually have to navigate the care of aging parents or grandparents. Recently, my family experienced this firsthand when my mother-in-law—a

sharp, vibrant woman in her mid-90s— entered a local rehabilitation facility following hip surgery. The conditions we encountered over her several-month stay were deeply disheartening. Words hardly convey our profound disappointment in how the facility was run. What made this experience so appalling was realizing that the lack of attentiveness and basic compassion was not an isolated mistake, but an ongoing pattern. Once her initial Medicare coverage for therapy expired, the facility made virtually no effort to maintain the physical therapy she medically required. It was only after my wife hired a private therapist that any progress was made to help her walk again. The most painful moment, however, occurred on her final day. As her breathing became noticeably labored, I asked the head nurse to check her oxygen equipment. She reluctantly agreed, looked in, and reported that everything was fine. Just five minutes later, seeing my motherin-law struggle further, I returned to the nurse’s station to ask for another check. I was met with a curt, “I was just in there, all is fine.” When I pressed her—reminding her that we were dealing with a matter of life and death—she finally walked back to the room. By the time she arrived, my mother-in-law had passed away. Unfortunately, this standard of care has become far too common. Financial considerations frequently take priority over resident well-being. Furthermore, it is particularly painful when these facilities are operated by people who seem to lack the training, experience, and empathy required for such a sacred responsibility. We are not dealing with physical property or inventory; we are dealing with human beings—with neshamos. These are people who built lives, raised families, and contributed to our community and the world. They deserve dignity, respect, and attentive care in their final years. We must demand greater transparency, stricter standards, and true accountability from those entrusted with the care of our elders. Sincerely, J. Brody

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The Week In News

Starmer Steps Down as MP

Sir Keir Starmer has announced he will step down as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, paving the way for a by-election in the London constituency he has represented for 11 years. According to Starmer, he will be turning his attention to international affairs, including defense, security, trade and technology, while continuing his work on tackling violence against women and girls. His decision comes weeks after he stepped down as prime minister, with Andy Burnham succeeding him. In a statement to the Camden New Journal, Starmer said it had been a “huge honor and privilege” to represent Holborn and St Pancras for 11 years. He said he was now ready to “pass the baton to a successor.” “I will now focus on other things and that will be international affairs including defense, security, trade and technology in a fast-changing world…. It’s work I started before I became an MP, and it’s work I’m keen to continue after I’m an MP. So international affairs on the one hand and continuing my work on violence against women and girls on the other.” A date for the by-election will not be set until Starmer formally resigns his Commons seat. Holborn and St Pancras has long been a Labour stronghold. Starmer secured a majority of more than 11,000 votes in the constituency at the 2024 general election. The announcement came hours before Burnham was due to make his first statement in the Commons as prime minister, when he was expected to outline his priorities and take questions from MPs. In an interview shortly after stepping down as prime minister, Starmer said he would stay on as an MP until the next

general election, which must take place by 2029. In his statement on Tuesday, however, Starmer said he was ready to hand the seat to a successor. Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused Starmer of making “another U-turn having pledged to stay on” and said the decision would result in a “costly by-election for taxpayers.” Starmer’s decision departs from the recent pattern of former prime ministers remaining in the Commons after leaving Downing Street. Rishi Sunak remains the Conservative MP for Richmond and Northallerton two years after leaving No 10. His predecessor Liz Truss stayed on as a backbencher until she lost her seat to Labour at the 2024 general election. Theresa May remained an MP for five years after leaving Downing Street. Boris Johnson and David Cameron, however, both quit the Commons shortly after leaving their position as prime minister.

Rent-a-Child in China

A growing number of young Chinese adults are offering their services as “shared children,” visiting seniors who live alone and providing something that can be difficult to find in an increasingly aging society: companionship. The workers, generally in their 20s and 30s, aren’t professional caregivers. Instead, they chat with elderly clients, accompany them to doctor’s appointments, help with smartphones and simply spend time with them. Advertisements on Chinese social media offer three-hour visits for roughly $29 to $88. At Happy Home, a startup in Tianjin, 28-year-old Sun Shuyang said many of the company’s clients are seniors whose children have moved to other cities for work. “They can regain a sense of vitality and feel more energetic,” Sun said of the elderly who spend time with younger companions. The unusual service reflects a much larger demographic challenge facing China. The country’s population is aging

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Critics warn that companions could gain access to sensitive documents and property information, while others note that many lack medical training. The companies say they screen and train workers. Time Bank also tries to match clients and companions by gender and requires body cameras during visits, with permission, to document interactions. For now, the industry remains small, with providers struggling to convince seniors to open their homes to strangers. But as China grows older, the need for connection may only grow. Liu hopes to expand Time Bank from about 100 orders a month to 650. “We are envisioning a future where senior home care is as easy as ordering takeout,” he said.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Russian Forces Help Niger Junta

rapidly after decades of low birth rates, including the one-child policy that was in effect from 1979 to 2015. The World Health Organization projects that, by 2040, approximately 402 million Chinese citizens will be over 60 — about 28 percent of the population. More than half of elderly people were already living in “empty-nest” households in 2021, according to China’s National Committee on Aging. “We don’t have that many young peo-

ple,” demographer Huang Wenzheng said, pointing to low fertility as a greater concern than aging itself. The trend has also created pressure on the so-called “sandwich generation,” middle-aged adults caught between raising their own children and caring for elderly parents. Liu Cheng, founder of Time Bank in Suzhou, launched his company to provide “shared children” after seeing the difficulty families face balancing both responsi-

bilities. “We have both elderly parents and young children to support,” Liu said. “A lot of the time, when we focus on taking care of the younger ones, we end up unable to look after the old.” Still, the arrangement has raised questions about safety and whether emotional care should become a commercial service in a culture where filial piety has traditionally placed responsibility for elderly parents squarely on their children.

Niger’s military government survived its most serious internal challenge since taking power in a 2023 coup after a group of renegade soldiers staged a mutiny in the capital over the weekend, prompting Russian forces to intervene. The confrontation began at Base 101, a strategic military facility at Niamey’s international airport, where mostly young soldiers reportedly seized several fellow servicemen and held them hostage. Gunfire was also reported near the presidential palace, roughly seven miles away. The standoff lasted about 24 hours before Niger’s presidential guard, assisted by members of Russia’s Africa Corps, regained control, according to diplomats and regional analysts. Russia’s ambassador to Niger, Viktor Voropayev, said Nigerien officials requested Moscow’s assistance and that the mutineers were “neutralized, particularly thanks to the intervention” of the Africa Corps. Analysts said the rebellion presented a potentially serious threat to the junta, with the mutineers reportedly numerous and determined enough that the outcome remained uncertain until Russian personnel became involved.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

The episode underscores Moscow’s growing role in protecting military-led governments across Africa’s Sahel region. Russia’s Africa Corps, which operates under the Russian Defense Ministry, replaced the Wagner mercenary organization as Moscow’s primary security force in the region. In May, Russian personnel similarly helped Mali’s military government withstand major attacks by jihadist and rebel groups. “Fighting jihadis comes as a second priority” for the Africa Corps, said Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center. “The first priority is to sustain regimes, and they are succeeding in this.” Military governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have increasingly distanced themselves from longtime Western partners while building closer security relationships with Moscow. Estimates place the number of Russian personnel operating across the three countries at between 1,700 and 2,000. But Russia’s growing influence comes as the broader security situation across the Sahel continues to deteriorate. Niger has already faced two jihadist attacks on Niamey’s airport this year. The latest unrest may deepen ques-

tions about just how independent the region’s military governments are becoming. The Timbuktu Institute for Peace Studies said Russia’s intervention highlights “the vulnerabilities of a regime whose stability increasingly relies on a Russian partnership,” raising questions about whether Niger’s push for greater sovereignty is instead creating a new dependence on Moscow.

Devastation in Nepal

At least 1,000 people were killed in Nepal’s flooding disaster last week. That number is expected to rise as rescuers use heavy machinery, helicopters and excavators to reach the thousands still missing, nearly a week after the catastrophic Himalayan disaster left a trail of destruction across towns and valleys.

The collapse of a glacier on August 26 sent a deluge of ice, rock and mud sweeping through the impoverished nation’s border region with China. At least 639 people remain stuck in several devastated hydropower stations that have become the focus of rescue efforts. Specialized rescue teams from China, India and Nepal built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas, using excavators to rescue close to 300 workers trapped inside tunnels. The total confirmed death toll rose to 1,003 as of Tuesday, with about 4,000 people still missing, including 590 foreign nationals from 39 countries. “Thousands of citizens have lost their homes, families, loved ones and property,” Prime Minister Balendra Shah said in a late-night social media post on Monday. More than 11,000 people have been rescued across the affected region. Power and communication lines were restored in some areas by Tuesday. Over 9,200 personnel were deployed in the affected areas, coordinating the search and rescue of the injured, assisting in the management of bodies, opening blocked roads and conducting emergency treatment, the army said.

“We did not have the time to grab anything before fleeing,” said a survivor from the hard-hit Rasuwa district, who said she had walked to Nuwakot with scores of other villagers who survived. “What we were wearing is the only pair of clothes we have. And even they are wet from rain.” Rescue teams had managed to restore road networks to Nuwakot, one of the worst-affected districts, facilitating rescue operations and distribution of relief material. In China, rescue teams worked through the night to reopen access to the Nepali border, on a steep mountain gorge with unstable cliffs on one side and fast-flowing river channels on the other. Beijing will send DNA testing experts to disaster-hit areas as well as a second batch of relief supplies, its foreign ministry said, adding that equipment would include drones and water purifiers. South Korea, nine of whose nationals were working at a hydropower project and are missing, also said it will send a 44-member emergency relief team to support search-and-rescue operations in the Rasuwa region. Two hundred seventy nine workers had been rescued from hydropower projects, with joint teams from Nepal, India and China working on search-and-rescue

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

operations. Rescue teams drained water from tunnel heads and used rock breakers to make entry paths into the tunnels, Nepal’s army said, as troops tried to reach those still believed to be trapped inside. “Our first rescue observation at Trishuli Hydro Power plant shows that it is not humanly possible to go into the tunnel,” Asish Gurung, a mountain guide helping in the tunnel rescue, explained. “We need machines like bulldozers and excavators. There are two of them here now. One is not functioning and the other is being repaired. There may be about 500 people trapped inside.” After the disaster, more than $42 million worth of aid poured into the country. There has been a boom in hydropower projects in Nepal since the turn of the century as the mountainous country sought to take advantage of its Himalayan water resources to address chronic domestic power shortages and exploit prospects for selling electricity to southern neighbor India. Thirteen American citizens had been rescued after the disaster. Around 80 other Americans remain unaccounted for. Two Israelis are still missing.

Butcher of Bosnia Dies

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general whose actions during the Balkan wars of the 1990s led to him being called the “Butcher of Bosnia” and who was held responsible for Europe’s deadliest massacre since World War II, the killing of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, has died in custody in The Hague. He was 83. His death was announced on Thursday by Serbian state media. Authorities at The Hague said he died while hospitalized there but did not provide a specific cause of death. Mladic was captured May 26, 2011, in a farming village north of Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, after almost 16 years as a fugitive, ending one of the longest searches in modern history. His 2017 conviction

by an international tribunal on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes marked the end of a dark and bloody chapter. In pronouncing a life sentence, the presiding judge, Alphons Orie, said Mladic’s crimes ranked “among the most heinous known to humankind.” Mladic appealed the verdict, which was upheld in 2021. The Balkan wars erupted as Yugoslavia was breaking up into independent states. Slobodan Milosevic, the nationalist president of Serbia, one of those states, was intent on creating a Greater Serbia. He reawakened old ethnic and religious enmities and started wars pitting Serbs against Slovenes, Croats, Bosniaks and the Albanians of Kosovo. Roughly 100,000 people died during the conflict, and more than 2.5 million were displaced. A ruddy-faced and intimidating man with a bellowing voice, piercing blue eyes and a grandiose sense of himself, Mladic, an officer in the Yugoslav People’s Army, led the army of the Bosnian Serbs in the early 1990s. On the eve of the Srebrenica massacre, he promised to avenge the conquest of Serbia centuries before by the Ottoman Muslim Turks. Over 10 days, his soldiers hunted down, captured and summarily executed thousands of Bosniaks, lining them up with hands tied behind their backs and shooting them. Serb forces buried the remains, dug them up again and scattered them in distant mass graves in an organized effort to hide condemning evidence of war crimes. Mladic’s was among the last high-profile trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. The tribunal wound down after trying nearly 100 of those responsible for the atrocities of the Balkan wars. (© The New York Times)

Cyprus on Sunday, leaving survivors clinging to its overturned hull. The privately owned ferry left the port of Kyrenia at 12:30 p.m. local time and immediately started taking on water. It was heading for the Turkish port of Tasucu in the eastern Mediterranean. Survivors reported the ferry moving erratically, with its last hard impact with the water’s surface breaking the bow of the two-hulled vessel, allowing water to seep in. The boat was carrying 267 people, including a crew of eight. Two hundred forty one people were rescued. The disaster occurred just off the coast of Kyrenia, a popular holiday resort for both locals and tourists. The ferry was one of several shuttle sea services that link North Cyprus, a breakaway unrecognized Turkish Cypriot state, with Turkey daily. “The vessel had been moving very badly. It was constantly lifting out of the water and slamming back down. It was shaking violently,” survivor Efe Multici said. “Three or four minutes later, the ferry leapt high into the air, then came crashing down. The front left side burst ‌open, and water started pouring in.” By late afternoon, the ship had sunk, settling on the seabed at a depth of 1,686 feet. Cyprus was battered by fierce storms on Saturday, with one person dying after his sailboat crashed onto rocks in rough seas in the island’s southeast. But by Sunday the storms had calmed, and the weather had been suitable for travel. In Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan extended his condolences to the families affected. Expressions of condolence and offers of assistance also came from Cyprus’s internationally recognized government. Cyprus has been split down Greek and Turkish Cypriot lines since 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup.

Boat Capsizes Off Cyprus

A New King for Norway

At least eight people died and 18 are missing ‌after a ferry carrying around 270 passengers and crew capsized off North

Norway’s new monarch, King Haakon VIII, paid an emotional tribute to his late father in his first national address since

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

taking the throne, remembering King Harald as “such a good dad” and promising to carry forward his legacy in his own way. King Harald died on Friday at the age of 89 after more than three decades on the throne. His death immediately elevated his son Haakon under Norway’s constitutional monarchy. Speaking from the royal palace in a recorded televised address, Haakon recalled his father not only as king but as a warm and devoted parent. “My dear father, thank you for being such a good dad for Martha and I,” he said, referring to his sister, Princess Martha Louise. “I am going to miss him. I am going to miss his laughter. I am going to miss his good-natured way to meet people and situations.” The new king became visibly emotional when he noted that Saturday would have marked the 58th wedding anniversary of his parents, Harald and Queen Sonja. “Congratulations on your wedding anniversary, dear Mummy,” he said, his voice briefly faltering. Haakon also used the address to lay out the values he intends to emphasize during his reign, including democracy,

equality and national unity. “We believe in a society built on the rule of law — where every individual has equal worth,” he said. “We believe in a Norway where there is room for everyone.” Haakon is expected to formally take his oath before parliament on Tuesday. Norway no longer holds coronations, which were abolished in 1908. Thousands of Norwegians have gathered outside the royal palace to honor Harald, leaving flowers, cards, drawings and flags. Portraits of the late king have appeared across Oslo as flags throughout the country were lowered to half-mast. Many mourners remembered Harald for his emphasis on tolerance and inclusion. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said Haakon appears to share one of his father’s defining qualities: an ability to bring people together. “He meant a lot to us immigrants,” said Veselina Vitanova, a teacher originally from Bulgaria. “We felt really very included. So, thanks to him, I feel so Norwegian.”

Chinese COSCO Gathering Intel

China’s state-owned shipping company COSCO is using commercial vessels equipped with covert technology to gather intelligence on military communications near the coastlines of countries including the United States, according to two senior Trump administration officials. The officials, who spoke anonymously because they were discussing classified U.S. assessments, said COSCO has maintained an intelligence-sharing relationship with Beijing for decades. According to the officials, specialized equipment aboard company ships can collect communications signals from military vessels and aircraft operating near Europe, North America and Asia. One official said the technology is designed to gather information about “military communications technologies and encryption developments.” The intelligence operation also reportedly gives China greater insight into heavily traveled shipping corridors and maritime routes that are significant for both global commerce and military operations. The officials described the systems aboard COSCO vessels as sophisticated signals-intelligence platforms rather than ordinary shipboard communications equipment. Information gathered through the program, they said, could provide Beijing with maritime reconnaissance, early warning about potential military targets and an advantage in territorial disputes. China’s embassy in Washington strongly denied the allegations. “We oppose vilifying China by peddling the so-called ‘intelligence collection’ narrative, which is totally baseless,” embassy spokesman Liu Chang said. He added that Beijing would never ask a company or individual to obtain intelligence overseas in violation of local laws. Questions about COSCO’s ties to China’s military are not new. The Pentagon added the company to a list of firms linked to the Chinese military in January 2025. A U.S. Naval War College report

published several months later also said China’s military was likely using commercial shipping and fishing fleets for surveillance and intelligence operations. Still, confronting COSCO could prove complicated. The company remains deeply integrated into international commerce and continues to call at American ports. “Taking COSCO out of our supply chains and transporter networks could be life-threatening surgery to U.S. trade networks,” said Isaac Kardon, a China maritime expert at Johns Hopkins University. The allegations come as President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping prepare for a Washington summit later this month, with trade and national security expected to feature prominently in the talks.

Iceland Won’t Join EU

On Saturday, the majority of citizens in Iceland rejected a measure to commence accession talks to join the EU, with 52.8 percent of people voting No and 47.2 percent voting Yes. The capital, Reykjavik, was the only part of the island nation of 400,000 people where a majority voted Yes. Public broadcaster RUV said on Sunday morning that, with only a few ballots left to be counted, “the nation rejects accession negotiations with the EU.” Pollsters had said on the eve of voting that the result was too close to call. Competing surveys had put each camp ahead by a sliver, but warned polling was too close to be statistically accurate. The vote count through the night had the nation on edge as the Yes vote took an early lead, before results started to swing in favor of the opposition. On Sunday, Kristrun Frostadottir, Iceland’s prime minster, said that the country would continue to strengthen its relationship with the European Economic Area. The Social Democratic Alliance leader, who favored a Yes vote, stressed that she did not “see this as a setback.” “I see this as a victory for democracy,” she told a press conference, pointing to a

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Massacre in Haiti

voter turnout of over 80 percent. “I want to make it absolutely clear, this government is not going forward with the accession talks this term.” The result means any discussions of Icelandic accession are frozen at least until 2028 – an apparent disappointment to Brussels, which had appeared willing to compromise on thorny issues to facilitate Iceland’s accession. Iceland applied to join the EU in the wake of the 2009 financial crisis, but in

2013, the country put membership talks on hold after a Eurosceptic government came to power. Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, the foreign minister, who had been backing a Yes vote, said last week that the vote came down to whether her country could stand apart in a world where old certainties were crumbling. “The international order that underpinned our security and prosperity for decades is under serious pressure. In times

like these, small nations need to think carefully about where they stand and who stands with them.” The outcome was hailed by Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Marine Le Pen, head of France’s National Rally party. “Congratulations to Iceland on voting to keep their independence,” Farage wrote on X.

Dozens of people were killed last week in a massacre in a hilly, long-safe Haitian town, raising fears that gangs could encroach on a nearby suburb of the capital that is considered a last bastion of peace, the authorities and human rights activists said. The United Nations said that gangs killed at least 47 people over several hours last Sunday night into Monday morning in Kenscoff, a once-bucolic area just south of Pétion-Ville, an upper-class suburb of Haiti’s capital. The victims included 22 people who were executed at a church where they had sought safety, the U.N. spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said. Gang members entered the town on motorbikes about 9:30 p.m. and went on a rampage, burning homes, killing people, attacking women and taking hostages, the authorities said. It was the first time that gangs had approached downtown Kenscoff, near the police station. The city’s mayor, Jean Massillon, said on Monday night that the number of dead had not been confirmed. His preliminary count, based on figures provided by the police and the judicial authorities, were 25 people killed, 25 homes burned, a school partly burned and 10 people who suffered gunshot wounds. At least 15 other people were still missing and many more were wounded, he said. The higher death toll figure cited by the U.N. could be a combination of those counted at morgues, and missing people, Massillon said. “We have absolutely no news of these missing people,” he said in an interview. “I believe this attack was triggered by a failure in the security measures.” Kenscoff, which has historically served as a cooler mountain retreat for middle-class and wealthy Haitians, is about 6 miles southeast of the capital. It borders Pétion-Ville, a suburb containing most of the diplomatic posts and functioning hotels that host government meetings. “This is to terrify and intimidate the population and get strategic,” said Bill O’Neill, the United Nations’ human rights expert on Haiti. “Kenscoff is really

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

important. It’s above the hills above Pétion-Ville, and if they start coming down from there, then you’re talking about hitting the one part of the capital where the government is, where the Karibe Hotel is, where all the embassies are.” (© The New York Times)

tus. “An Israeli special force abducted one of the officers in the Internal Security apparatus,” the source said. Katz said the raid reflected Israel’s broader policy of aggressively pursuing Hamas operatives. “We do not wait for threats, but pursue Hamas terrorists, thwart them and destroy their terror infrastructure,” he said.

Hamas Intel Chief Captured

Dado Bar Kalifa to Lead Central Command

Israeli forces captured a Hamas security official in Gaza City on Tuesday during a covert operation carried out with the help of local militias and Israeli air support, according to Israeli officials. Defense Minister Israel Katz identified the detainee as Muin al-Arabid, whom Israel described as a senior figure in Hamas’ internal security and counterintelligence network. Palestinian sources disputed that characterization, saying that al-Arabid was a lower-ranking officer. According to Israeli officials, al-Arabid helped oversee Hamas intelligence and counterintelligence efforts aimed at uncovering espionage and identifying Palestinians suspected of cooperating with Israel. The hours-long operation was conducted under the IDF Southern Command, but Israeli officials said no IDF ground troops entered Gaza City. Instead, local armed groups carried out the mission while Israeli aircraft provided cover from above. Officials said Zik drones struck several threats to the force on the ground before al-Arabid was captured and transferred to Israel while wounded. He is reportedly receiving medical treatment. Palestinian reports said the force was discovered during the operation, leading to exchanges of fire and heavy Israeli airstrikes across Gaza City. A Palestinian security source told Al Jazeera that Israel had not captured the head of Hamas’ internal security appara-

The IDF announced on Monday that Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa has been formally nominated to become the next head of Central Command, the senior military position overseeing operations in Judea and Samaria. The appointment comes weeks after Defense Minister Israel Katz caused an uproar by publicly naming Bar Kalifa for the job before the military had formally announced the move. According to the IDF, Katz has now approved Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s recommendation to appoint Bar Kalifa, who is expected to take over the command in 2027, “subject to an operational situation assessment.” The post is currently held by Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth. Katz and Zamir publicly clashed last month after Katz announced during a live television appearance that he intended to replace Bluth with Bar Kalifa. The comments came after panelists on Channel 14 pressed Katz to remove Bluth from the position. Katz later sought to clarify the remarks amid criticism that he had interfered in military appointments for political reasons. He said Bar Kalifa had already been recommended for the position and that he was merely announcing his intention to move the appointment forward. At the time, however, the IDF said the announcement had not followed standard procedure. Bar Kalifa currently serves as head of the IDF Personnel Directorate and previously commanded the 36th Division

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

vitz will run on the Arab party’s slate in Israel’s October 27 election, marking an unprecedented political alliance for the party. Segalovitz, a Jewish Zionist who previously served with Yesh Atid and as deputy public security minister, is expected to take the No. 2 spot behind Abbas. Ra’am is currently polling at roughly four to five seats. “In every generation, there is a moment when fear and hope stand together in the same room,” Abbas said at a joint press conference. “This evening, in this room, hope won out.”

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during months of combat against Hamas in Gaza. Bluth, meanwhile, has been a lightning rod for criticism from both ends of Israel’s political spectrum. Some leaders have accused him of being overly aggressive in confronting settler violence while failing to act forcefully enough against Palestinian terrorism. Left-wing groups, on the other hand, have criticized him for what they say has been an insufficient response to settler attacks and for support-

ing expanded settlement activity. It remains unclear whether Bluth will continue serving in the IDF after his term as Central Command chief ends in 2027. The IDF also announced a broad slate of senior appointments on Monday, including several new brigadier generals and colonels. Among them was a historic promotion for Col. Efrat Kaykov, who will become the first woman to command the Artillery Corps’ 282nd Regiment, a standing army artillery unit. Kaykov pre-

viously served as deputy commander of the regiment and was the first woman to command an Artillery Corps battalion.

Jew Joins Arab Slate Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas announced on Monday that former senior police official and lawmaker Yoav Segalo-

Ra’am has never before placed a Jewish candidate on its Knesset slate. Segalovitz will not formally join the party, instead running as part of a technical alliance that will allow him to retain political independence in the Knesset. Abbas said the partnership reflects Ra’am’s growing focus on Jewish-Arab cooperation and domestic issues, particularly violent crime in Arab communities. “I’m not looking for someone who is like me,” Abbas said. “I’m looking for someone who knows how to do the job.” Segalovitz founded the police’s Lahav 433 serious-crime unit and later headed the Investigations and Intelligence Division. He was also credited with efforts to combat crime in Arab communities while serving as deputy minister during the Bennett-Lapid government. Segalovitz said his decision was rooted in his Jewish and Zionist values and in a belief that political cooperation remains possible despite deep differences. “The common assertion that after October 7 it is impossible to maintain a political partnership with Arab parties is baseless and false,” he said. He said he hopes the alliance can “build a real political bridge,” even if that bridge proves “shaky or unstable.” The move immediately drew fierce criticism from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. Likud accused Segalovitz of helping pave the way for a government that would advance Palestinian statehood, while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir denounced the alliance as an effort to bring Ra’am back into a future governing coalition. With polls showing a close race, even

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

the health of both livestock and crops. The current problem is believed to be caused by microalgae and other sediment carried northward from the Nile Delta, creating unusually murky conditions along Israel’s southern coastline.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

As of Monday afternoon, the desalination facility in Hadera was the only one still operating. The Soreq A and B plants, along with facilities in Palmachim, Ashkelon and Ashdod, had been shut. “Professional personnel are closely monitoring water quality and are prepared for any scenario,” the Water Authority said, adding that the goal is to restart the facilities as soon as the seawater clears. Officials have stressed that there is no indication the shutdowns are related to a cyber-attack. Israel relies heavily on desalination, with its six plants producing roughly 800 million cubic meters of water annually and supplying as much as 80 percent of the country’s drinking water. That dependence has made the temporary shutdowns particularly significant in the water-scarce region. A seventh desalination plant, planned for the Western Galilee, is expected to begin operating in 2027 and add another 100 million cubic meters of annual capacity.

“Achilles Shield” Deal

a small party may once again hold an outsized key to Israel’s next government.

Desalination Issues Most of Israel’s desalination plants were shut down again on Tuesday morning after rising seawater cloudiness made it difficult to safely operate the facilities, the Water Authority said. The closures came after the plants had

operated through the night, briefly easing concerns that began over the weekend when five of the country’s six desalination facilities were taken offline. Local authorities were instructed to curb public water use and reduce irrigation in agriculture, parks and gardens. Household water supplies are expected to continue, though the Water Authority said its operations center would address any localized shortages. Farmers, however, warned that the

disruption was already taking a serious toll. Shai Swissa, who owns a family farm in Kadesh Barnea in the northern Negev, told Channel 12 that her farm had been without water for more than 27 hours. “Without access to water, we have to transport water to workers in the field in bags,” she said. Swissa added that hundreds of animals on the farm were also without normal access to water, raising fears about

Israel and Greece signed a major $3.5 billion defense agreement on Monday that will see Israel build a multi-layered air defense system for Greece, marking the largest defense deal ever between the two countries. The agreement, dubbed “Achilles

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Shield,” will include several Israeli-made systems, among them Rafael’s David’s Sling and SPYDER systems and Israel Aerospace Industries’ BARAK MX. Israel’s Defense Ministry called the agreement “the largest defense export deal in the history of Israel-Greece relations” and one of the biggest arms deals Israel has ever signed. It will also mark the first time Israel has supplied another country with a complete air defense network designed to confront a broad range of threats, including ballistic missiles and drones. The agreement comes as countries around the world have shown growing interest in Israel’s missile defense technology following years of combat in which systems including Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow have been used extensively. Israel and Greece already maintain close military ties, conducting annual exercises and cooperating on cybersecurity, drone defense and military training. Greece last year purchased 36 Israeli-made rocket artillery systems in a deal worth approximately $739 million. The latest agreement was signed in Tel Aviv by Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram and his Greek counterpart, Ioannis Bouras. “Greece’s choice of Israeli technology

as the backbone of its most ambitious air defense buildup program in the past decade reflects the depth of trust built between the two countries,” Israel’s Defense Ministry said. A separate $30 million agreement was also signed for Rafael’s Drone Dome counter-drone system. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the partnership reflects the shared strategic concerns of Israel and Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean. “Israel and Greece share common strategic interests and face shared regional challenges,” Katz said, adding that both countries would continue working together to preserve regional stability. His comments were widely seen as a reference to Turkey, whose regional ambitions have become a growing concern for both Israel and Greece. Greece has sharply increased defense spending in recent years and now devotes roughly 3.5 percent of its GDP to the military, placing it among NATO’s higher-spending members. For Israel, the agreement represents more than an export win. Officials say major foreign purchases help expand production lines, bolster Israeli weapons stockpiles, and strengthen the country’s defense industry.

Yair Netanyahu Targeted Army Sec. Steps Down The Shin Bet confirmed on Saturday that Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, was urgently flown back to Israel from Miami after security officials identified a serious threat to his life. The confirmation came days after reports surfaced that Yair had been targeted in an alleged Iranian assassination plot while living in Florida in December 2025. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had recently hinted at the incident during an interview with Channel 14, saying, “Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder, one of my sons.” In a statement, the Shin Bet said there had been “a significant threat to harm Yair Netanyahu,” prompting officials to quickly remove him from Miami along with his security detail and return him to Israel. According to Channel 12, the operation was organized on short notice, with Shin Bet agents reportedly transferred to Miami from New York, where they had been assigned to protect President Isaac Herzog during a visit. Israeli authorities did not publicly detail the exact nature of the threat. However, Newsmax reported earlier in the week that intelligence officials believed Iranian operatives were “on the ground” in the Miami area and had been monitoring Yair’s movements. Yair had spent much of the previous several years living in Florida, where both his lifestyle and the publicly funded security surrounding him became the subject of political controversy in Israel. His extended stay abroad also drew criticism after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, as hundreds of thousands of Israelis were called up for reserve duty. Netanyahu has defended the protection provided to his sons, arguing that without security, attackers “would succeed.” Yair has long been a polarizing figure in Israeli public life. He maintains a highly active social media presence and frequently attacks political opponents, journalists and critics of his father.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump, according to officials on Monday, paving the way for him to depart the administration in coming days after repeated clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Driscoll has served as Army secretary since February 2025, overseeing efforts to make the service more modern and nimble and taking a leading role in the Trump administration’s efforts to defend against the proliferation of cheap, deadly drones. Hegseth and Driscoll clashed both professionally and personally over the firing of top generals, over Hegseth’s belief that Driscoll had not been appropriately deferential to the defense secretary, and over other matters, said people familiar with their relationship. Driscoll is a close friend and former Yale Law School classmate of Vice President JD Vance. Officials at the White House credited Driscoll in April as being among a group of leaders who “effectively restored a focus on readiness and lethality across our military.” For a time, Driscoll was seen as a potential replacement for Hegseth, should he leave the position. President Trump had sent Driscoll to Ukraine in November 2025 to represent the U.S. government. Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran who was 38 years old when the Senate confirmed him as the Army’s top civilian leader, worked in venture capital and ran an unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2020 before joining the Trump administration. He sought to stay at the Pentagon for up to two years, but the infighting accelerated his decision to leave, two officials said. Driscoll’s departure follows that of Navy Secretary John Phelan, who was forced out in April. In that case, Hegseth sought Phelan’s firing, and Trump agreed. The service is now run on an acting

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

basis by Hung Cao, a Navy veteran more closely aligned with Hegseth. It’s not clear when the Trump administration will nominate someone to run the Army or Navy on a permanent basis. Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-North Carolina), a former Special Forces officer, said on social media that Driscoll “brought urgency to an institution that cannot afford complacency.” The congressman credited Driscoll with constantly questioning how the Army buys and sustains equipment and prepares soldiers for the battlefield. “I’ve been fortunate to work alongside him on many of those fights, and even more fortunate to call him a friend,” Harrigan said. “His leadership made the Army stronger, and the impact of his work will be felt long after his time as Secretary. Dan’s service to this country is far from over.” David J. Freeman, a social media influencer popular with MAGA Republicans, had another view. “Good riddance!” Freeman wrote to his more than 1.7 million followers on X. “If Dan Driscoll could not get on the same page as Pete Hegseth, he did not need that office.”

store it, only to then pay again to set it back up, just didn’t make financial sense,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. But not everyone is pleased. “I’d like to know, does [Speaker] Julie Menin or anyone on the City Council live upstairs from one of these outdoor dining kiosks? I’m sure they don’t,” said Carol Putre-Czyz, of the East Fifth Street Block Association. “All of the noise, the traffic, the rats in the evening, homeless people take over the kiosk. There’s drug dealing going on there... It’s awful.” There are also traffic concerns about the roadway sheds. “This used to be like a four-lane road. Now, with the bike lanes and the bus lanes and the outdoor kiosks, you should see the traffic here at the end of the day,” Putre-Czyz noted. “Today’s bill signing is reflective of a different policy choice, one that will make New York City feel even more alive than it currently does,” Mamdani said.

Stabbing in Times Square

Outdoor Dining in NYC

Outdoor dining in New York City is going to be a year-round event. On Monday, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed legislation to make outdoor dining on NYC streets a year-round extravaganza. The law reverses a policy enacted by former Mayor Eric Adams, who made restaurants close their outdoor spaces in the winter. James Kwon, the owner of the Village Square Pizza chain, was one of 10 people to praise the decision to undo Adams-era regulations that made restaurants remove outdoor dining setups in the winter. “This is really big,” Kwon said. “We rarely see anything being done to help small businesses, and I really feel like this is one of the biggest things that’s happened in years.” “The cost to pay to set up your roadway cafe, pay to break it down, pay to

On Monday, a woman brandishing two knives stabbed two people in New York City’s Times Square, killing one of the women. The stabber was eventually killed by police. The shooting occurred just before 4:30 p.m. next to a New York Police Department substation, just outside One Times Square. It is one of the most heavily touristed and policed spots in all of New York. The 49-year-old woman from Queens pulled out two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed a 68-year-old man who had just come out of the subway station and was waiting to cross the street with his wife, striking him in the abdomen. Seconds later, the woman stabbed a 32-year-old woman also in the abdomen. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Both victims were taken to the hospital; the woman died of her wounds. The man is in stable condition, according to police. Police surrounded the deranged woman, who told them, “I’m not dropping anything. I would rather kill both of you.”

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

“This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world,” Tisch said. According to Tisch, the woman has a “documented mental health history with the NYPD,” which include incidents in 2018 and 2019 but no arrest history with the department. This is the second killing this year in Times Square. A man was fatally stabbed in the same area in May.

Lake America

Last week, in the newest clash between President Donald Trump and the U.S.’s northern neighbor, the president decided to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” His executive order on Friday directed the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geo-

graphic naming service. On Monday, Trump asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its maps app. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox’s “Mornings with Maria” program that Trump “reached out to Apple directly.” He said he was confident the “Lake America” name could be seen on its platform soon. As of Monday afternoon, only the Lake Ontario name appeared on the Apple platform. Just over the weekend, competitor Google Maps rolled out the new “Lake America” name for U.S. users looking at the body of water that sits between the state of New York and Canada’s Ontario province. The company cited the recent order by Trump and its alreadyestablished practice of using names assigned by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, also known as GNIS. “People using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names,” Google said in a brief statement on Saturday, reiterating that such updates “follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country.”

After Trump’s executive decision, the leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York said that the move violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a “blatant disrespect” for the Indigenous people who gave Lake Ontario its name in the first place. This isn’t the first time Trump has moved to rename water spanning beyond U.S. borders. Last year, Trump ordered that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America, and both Apple and Google later updated the name on their maps in the U.S.

thorities said they will also use Bluetooth technology and a drone to search the damaged area.

Grand Canyon Flash Floods

Flash flooding unfolded about 2:30 p.m. local time on Saturday in the Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch area, both popular destinations for hikers. Eighty-two people were rescued from the canyon, mostly by helicopter. A few people were able to hike out on their own. Flood survivors said that they ran for their lives when the flood swept through the floor of the Grand Canyon, wiping out campgrounds, structures, hiking trails and vital infrastructure. On Sunday evening, officials said the body of a 46-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was recovered near Crystal Rapids along the Colorado River.

A deadly flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon, endangering scores of hikers and killing at least two people. At least one person is still missing. The current missing-person count is based on permits issued by the park, park officials said, while acknowledging that additional day hikers who did not have permits could also be missing. A Border Patrol technical search team will search for the remaining missing person. Au-

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

The family of the other recovered victim identified him as Dr. John Giusti, a Texas chiropractor and married father of three daughters. “The flash flood resulted in significant impacts to infrastructure throughout Bright Angel Canyon. Nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek were destroyed, eliminating hiker access across the creek,” the Grand Canyon NPS said. Saturday’s flash flood event occurred after four rounds of rain swept across parts of the Grand Canyon over a span of about six hours, according to the National Weather Service. The initial three rounds were not very heavy but saturated the soil and left the area much more prone to dangerous flash flooding once the fourth round of torrential rain moved through. The steepness of the canyon and the burn scar from last year’s Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim were likely major contributors to the roaring floods.

business generating more than $100 billion a year. But Ternus is taking the top job at a particularly consequential moment. Apple has faced criticism for falling behind rivals in artificial intelligence, making the company’s AI strategy one of the biggest items on the new CEO’s todo list. He will also have to contend with geopolitical tensions, supply-chain challenges and pressure to prove that Apple can still create groundbreaking new product categories. He won’t have much time to settle into the corner office. Apple is expected to hold its next major product event on September 9, giving Ternus an early opportunity to introduce himself to millions of customers and investors as the face of the company. Cook made Apple bigger, richer and more deeply embedded in consumers’ lives. Now Ternus gets the considerably harder assignment: figuring out what Apple’s next big thing will be.

Apple’s New CEO Play Your Cards Right Apple began a new chapter on Tuesday as John Ternus officially took over as chief executive officer, succeeding Tim Cook after 15 years at the helm of the technology giant. Ternus, 51, has spent nearly his entire career at Apple, joining the company’s product design team in 2001 and eventually rising to senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. He has overseen engineering across some of Apple’s most important products, including the iPhone, Mac computers, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods. Cook is moving into the role of executive chairman, where he is expected to continue advising the company and handling some of its relationships with governments and policymakers around the world. Ternus inherits an Apple that is dramatically larger than the company Cook took over from Steve Jobs in 2011. During Cook’s tenure, Apple’s market capitalization soared from roughly $350 billion to more than $4 trillion, while annual revenue nearly quadrupled. Cook also helped turn services — including iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Pay and Apple TV — into a

Talk about hitting it out of the park. A 13-year-old Seattle Mariners fan turned a free ballpark giveaway into a $21,100 payday after scoring a one-of-akind rookie card featuring Jimothy, Seattle’s unlikely raccoon celebrity. The gold Jimothy card sold on eBay on Sunday after attracting 100 bids. The auction began at just 99 cents before collectors went wild, driving the price above $21,000 in a matter of days. The lucky cardholder was Abby, a 13-year-old Mariners fan who received the rare card during an August 5 promotion at T-Mobile Park. “Talk about a one-of-a-kind pull,” the ballpark wrote on social media after Abby discovered the card. And in this case, that was no trash talk. Jimothy became a Seattle sensation over the summer after videos of the un-

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

usually shaped raccoon roaming the city’s Ballard neighborhood spread online. The compact critter is believed to have Short Spine Syndrome, a rare condition that gives him his distinctive appearance. The Mariners quickly decided to get in on the raccoon racket. For its August 5 promotion, the team handed Jimothy rookie cards to the first 20,000 fans entering the stadium, with several harder-to-find “chase cards” randomly mixed into the batch. “Among the 20,000 cards, we had a collection of ‘chase cards’ which were headlined by the 1-of-1 gold card that Abby took home,” the Mariners said. That little piece of cardboard turned out to be worth considerably more than peanuts — or whatever Jimothy prefers digging out of Seattle’s garbage cans. Abby later listed the card on eBay. Starting at less than a dollar, bidding steadily climbed until the auction closed at $21,100. Fan pages have said the money is expected to go toward her college fund. Jimothy, meanwhile, has gone from

backyard visitor to bona fide local celebrity. Ballard resident Dmitriy Ishimskiy, who filmed the raccoon visiting his property, said the animal’s fame took off almost overnight. “Over the past week, Jimothy has become a local celebrity, and I feel lucky to have captured this moment on video,” he said. For Abby, the whole episode proved that sometimes the best ballpark catch doesn’t involve a baseball at all. And for Jimothy? Not bad for a guy whose career began by simply raccooning around the neighborhood.

Necklace Nabbing Two thieves in Vienna apparently decided admission was worth the price. Last week, the men bought tickets to enter the Museum of Applied Arts before smashing a display case with a hammer and stealing a 200-carat platinum-and-diamond necklace worth several million dollars, Austrian police said.

The Van Cleef & Arpels necklace, set with 673 precious stones, was part of a major exhibition devoted to the famed French jewelry house. Police said the suspects did not wear masks and were clearly captured on surveillance cameras during Thursday’s robbery.

After entering like ordinary museumgoers, the pair “smashed a glass display case” before fleeing with the necklace “in an unknown direction,” police said. In other words, they came for the exhibit and left with a souvenir worth considerably more than anything in the gift shop. The museum confirmed the theft but declined to comment further while the investigation is underway. The exhibition, which has featured roughly 500 pieces since June, is scheduled to run through September 27. The stolen necklace has some royal history of its own. It was created for Egypt’s former royal family and was worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 at the wedding of her daughter Princess Fawzia to Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who later became Shah of Iran. Van Cleef & Arpels has described the piece as a “triumph of white jewelry.” For investigators, though, the real challenge now is finding where all that sparkle disappeared. The Vienna robbery is the latest in a string of brazen thefts targeting European museums. In October, thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris in broad daylight and escaped in less than eight minutes with jewelry valued at approximately $102 million. More recently, thieves raided a museum in Villena, Spain, stealing pieces from a major Bronze Age gold collection, while four valuable Renaissance paintings were taken from a museum in Sicily. Italian police also recently recovered works by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth more than $10 million after they were stolen from a museum near Parma. Sounds like there are serious getaway gems on the loose.

Over the Hill

Dale Sanders has learned that when life knocks you down, you get back up. In his case, 71 times. The 91-year-old Tennessee man reclaimed his title on Monday as the oldest person to complete the Appalachian Trail after finishing the 2,193-mile route atop Maine’s Mount Katahdin. Sanders, whose trail name is “Grey Beard,” counted 71 falls during the journey, including six serious tumbles. One sent him briefly to the hospital. Another came just 200 yards from the finish. But none of them stopped him. “I had to thank G-d, and I had to thank my support team and everybody that got me here,” Sanders said after reaching the summit and pausing to pray. Sanders first set the age record in 2017, when he completed the trail at 82 years old. Four years later, his friend M.J. Eberhart — known on the trail as “Nimblewill Nomad” — broke the record at 83. Sanders promptly plotted a comeback. This time, however, the road — or more accurately, the rocks, roots and boulder fields — was considerably rougher. In June, Sanders fell while descending Vermont’s Killington Mountain, scraping his arms, hands and legs. “Thank G-d, nothing got broken, but I was banged up,” he said. “I didn’t rub the blood off – I just kept hiking.” Weeks later, numbness in his arm sent him to a hospital. Doctors initially feared a stroke but ultimately diagnosed a pinched nerve. Sanders had a bit of help along the way. In Pennsylvania, “trail angels” brought Sanders treats, including caramel frappes. “When people are taking care of you and bringing you caramel frappes on the trail, the rocks don’t matter,” he said. Sanders has become a celebrity among hikers, many of whom say his determination has inspired them. Determination may be putting it mildly. On one 12-mile day, Sanders became tired enough to lie down on the trail for what he called a power nap. Two minutes later, he woke up and started hiking again.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

At 91 years young, apparently even his rest stops are in a hurry. Sanders has also paddled the entire Mississippi River, completing the 87-day journey after beginning it on his 87th birthday. For Grey Beard, age may be just a number. But he’s definitely not over the hill.

Protected Parrots

One of the world’s rarest parrots is finally getting some good news, and conservationists in New Zealand are positively chirping about it. A record 90 kakapo chicks were born this breeding season, bringing the total population of the critically endangered species to 325, according to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation. For a bird that once appeared headed toward extinction, that’s no small feather in its cap. The kakapo is a large, flightless parrot native to New Zealand. Males can weigh as much as nine pounds, making it the world’s heaviest parrot. With yellow-green feathers, owl-like faces and a distinctive waddling gait, kakapos are unusual even by parrot standards. They are also exceptionally long-lived, with some believed to survive 60 to 90 years. “There is still a long road of recovery ahead, but ninety chicks in a single season is a record,” said Deidre Vercoe, who manages the government’s kakapo re-

covery operations. “In the early years of recovery, it took 16 years to produce that many chicks.” The milestone is particularly significant because kakapos breed infrequently, generally depending on the fruiting cycle of native rimu trees. There had been a four-year gap since the previous breeding season. The species’ population may not have exceeded 300 birds in roughly 75 years, officials said. The Kakapo Recovery Programme began in 1995 with just 51 birds, including only 20 females. Conservationists have since battled low genetic diversity, infertility, poor hatching rates and the constant threat of predators. Kakapos live in an environment with virtually no ground predators and eventually lost the ability to fly. That strategy worked beautifully — until humans arrived with cats, rats and other animals that found a slow-moving, flightless parrot to be something of a sitting duck. Today, the surviving birds live primarily on predator-free offshore islands and are closely monitored. Each kakapo wears a small backpack-style radio transmitter that allows conservation teams to track its whereabouts and activity. Officials are also experimenting with a more hands-off approach, reducing chick checks and supplementary feeding where possible. Many of this year’s chicks will receive names next year. A few will deliberately remain unnamed, symbolizing hopes that the population may eventually become large and self-sustaining enough that officials won’t need to know every bird on a first-name basis. Current projections suggest another breeding season could come in 2028. For now, though, conservationists can enjoy this rare, egg-citing event.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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Community SuffolkHealth-Dr. Lightman Office’s Annual Flu Fair

he Five Towns/Far Rockaway communities celebrated the opening of the new SuffolkHealth/Dr. Lightman’s office on Monday, August 31. Matt Swerdloff, Suffolk Health’s Chief Executive Officer, presided over the official opening. Dr. Lightman, Suffolk Health’s Chief Medical Officer, presented Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato with a gift, thanking her for her years of service to the community. Numerous rabbonim

and community leaders attended as well. Over 1,000 parents, grandparents and children attended the Flu Fair that followed. They enjoyed getting their flu shots, ice cream, face painting, magic show, bounce house and demonstrations by Warren Levi Karate. Do you still need your flu shot? Call 718-868-4808 to book your appointment,

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

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Village of Lawrence Summer Concert & Fireworks Show Photo by Lisa Neuman Photography

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

he Village of Lawrence recently hosted its annual Summer Concert & Fireworks Show, drawing a record-breaking crowd of over 5,000 residents and visitors to the Lawrence Yacht & Country Club driving range. The free community event featured a live musical performance by Joey Newcomb,

a community kosher BBQ by Elite Catering, and a waterfront fireworks display by Grucci. Local leaders in attendance included Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Town of Hempstead Supervisor John Ferretti, and Lawrence Mayor Samuel Nahmias.

Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island Welcomes New Rebbeim

Rabbi Teitelbaum

eshiva Ketana of Long Island is fortunate to have Rabbi Dovid Shmaya Teitelbaum join us as the sixth grade rebbe for our new 6M track. Rabbi Teitelbaum is a talmid of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, the Mir, and BMG. He has Smicha from YFR and a Master of Social Work from LIU. He is also a Licensed

Rabbi Krigsman in Rabbi Teitelbaum’s classroom

Certified Social Worker. He has been a Rebbe in the P’TACH Mesivta program in Chaim Berlin for the last nine years, as well as program director for the last five years. We are thrilled and truly fortunate to have him join the YKLI family. Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island is excited to welcome Rabbi Rafi Spirn, the

new Zareinu 4/5th grade rebbe, to our YKLI family. Rabbi Spirn learned in Yeshiva Netiv Aryeh in Eretz Yisrael, then in Yeshiva Shor Yoshuv, where he developed a strong foundation in Torah learning and chinuch. Rabbi Spirn holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education from the Sara Schenirer Institute. For

Rabbi Spirn

the past three years, he has served as an Assistant Rebbi at Talmud Torah Siach Yitzchok, working closely with talmidim and helping foster their growth in both learning and middos. We look forward to the warmth, dedication, and enthusiasm he will bring to his talmidim and to the entire YKLI family.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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Episcopal Health Services Physicians Discusses Prevention Tips and Ways to Reduce Risk

ccording to the American Cancer Society, approximately 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. In the United States, an estimated 333,830 new cases will be diagnosed this year. While prostate cancer can be serious, most men diagnosed with the disease do not die from it. The overall five-year relative survival rate is approximately 97%, and more than 3.5 million men in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer are alive today. In recognition of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, Sheldon Pike, MD, Chief of Urology at Episcopal Health Services and Mark Ashamalla, MD, Chief of Radiation Oncology at Episcopal Health Services Cancer Center recommend the

following steps to help reduce the risk of factors of prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Prevention Tips  Maintain a healthy weight and exercise daily. It is recommended to get at least 150 minutes of moderate intense activity each week or for 30 minutes 5 days a week.  Choose to eat healthy foods. Eat more fruits and vegetables; reduce your intake of red meat, especially high fat or processed meats and limit your intake of high fat dairy products.  Know your family history. Having a father or brother with prostate cancer more than doubles your risk of developing disease.  Avoid the use of tobacco and alcohol.

A New School Year at Cheder Menachem of Long Island

Dr. Sheldon Pike

 Get screened. The American Cancer Society recommends that average-risk men get screened at age 50; high-risk men, including African American men and those with a first-degree relative diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early age get screened at age 45; and highest-risk men with multiple first-degree relative diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early age get screened at age 40. Talk to your doctor about your individual risk and how often you should be screened. Key Facts About Prostate Cancer  Prostate cancer is more likely to develop in older men. About 6 in 10 prostate cancers are diagnosed in men who

heder Menachem of Long Island began the new Shnas Halimudim with the return of our talmidim to a school that looks a little different this year. Over the summer, the Cheder moved into a different section of the building, which underwent extensive construction and renovations to create new, beautiful, state-of-the-art classrooms. The classrooms feature central air conditioning, spacious layouts, and large windows overlooking the beautiful surrounding park, creating a comfortable and pleasant environment for our talmidim to learn. The renovations also included upgrades to the game room, with new games for the boys to enjoy, as well as a beautiful, spacious staff room for our dedicated staff.

This year, the Cheder welcomes its new hanhala: Rabbi Yisrael Faiden, Principal, and Rabbi Meir Cohen, Assistant Principal. Together with the dedicated mechanchim, they look forward to a productive and successful year of limud haTorah, and Chassidishe chinuch al taharas hakodesh. As the boys settled into their new classrooms, the halls once again filled with the sounds of davening and learning. The beautiful new surroundings are a fitting setting for the important work taking place within the walls of the Cheder each day. We look forward to a year of continued growth and hatzlacha for all our talmidim.

New beginnings all around: the school year is officially underway, and our Adult Day Program at the Special Children’s Center has begun! For info or to get involved, please call 516-200-2234 ext. 507.

Dr. Mark Ashamalla

are 65 or older, and it is rare in men under 40. The average age of men when they are first diagnosed is about 67.  Prostate cancer is one of the top five leading causes of cancer death in me About 1 in 44 men will die of prostate cancer.  Most men with prostate cancer have no symptoms. However, some men may experience frequent urination, trouble urinating, blood in the urine or semen and pain in the back, hips or pelvis.  Prostate cancer happens when some cells in the prostate grow too much and don’t stop. These cells can make a lump called a tumor.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Rav Yaakov Hillel, Rosh Yeshiva of Ahavat Shalom, Yerushalayim, davened at Yeshiva Darchei Torah on Tuesday morning and delivered divrei hisorerus to a beis medrash packed with talmidim

Building Relationships with Bikur Cholim

HAFTR Faculty Kicks Off the School Year

A B

ikur Cholim of Far Rockaway & Five Towns recently hosted “I Didn’t Think It Would Be This Hard,” an evening focused on strengthening the relationships that shape our lives. Featuring Bassy Schwartz, LMFT, and Rachel Tuchman, LMHC, the candid and engaging conversation addressed the challenges and pressures women face while juggling the many roles of everyday life.

Hosted at The Manchester in Woodmere, the evening offered practical insight, relationship wisdom, and guidance on setting healthy boundaries. Attendees walked away with meaningful takeaways and a renewed perspective on navigating life’s relationships with greater clarity and connection. To learn more about Bikur Cholim of Far Rockaway & Five Towns or to get involved as a volunteer, please visit BikurCholimFR5T.org

s the start of the new school year approaches, educators at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) gathered for a full day of professional development, reaffirming the school’s commitment to educational excellence before welcoming students back to campus. Faculty and staff from every division participated in workshops, collaborative learning sessions, and discussions focused on instructional best practices, student engagement, and building strong classroom communities. The annual program provides educators with the opportunity to learn from one another, exchange ideas, and prepare together for the year ahead. While the day emphasized academic growth and innovative teaching strategies, it also highlighted one of HAFTR’s greatest strengths: its sense of community. Teachers spent time strengthening the relationships that foster collaboration across grade levels and divisions, ensuring that students benefit from a cohesive and supportive educational experience. “Outstanding schools are built by outstanding educators who never stop learning,” said HAFTR administrators. “Professional development allows our faculty to grow together, share expertise, and continue creating meaningful learning experiences for every student.” The program reflects HAFTR’s educational philosophy that investing in faculty ultimately enriches every classroom. By continuously refining their craft and learning from one another, teachers are better equipped to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of each stu-

dent. The day also embodied HAFTR’s guiding theme, Makom Shelanu, “Our Place,” which emphasizes belonging, shared responsibility, and lifelong growth. Just as students are encouraged to develop as learners and leaders, faculty members model that same commitment through ongoing professional learning and collaboration. As students prepare to return for another school year, HAFTR’s faculty begins the journey first: united by a shared purpose and dedicated to providing an educational environment where every child is known, challenged, and inspired to succeed.

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here is a particular point in the summer when the calendar becomes a little complicated. Parents still have to go to work. Summer vacation is still in full swing. The girls need structure. The boys are already back in yeshiva. Older sisters may still be away at sleepaway camp. And suddenly, there are several long days to fill. So what’s a parent to do? TAG saw the need and decided to do something about it. This summer, Torah Academy for Girls introduced SCAMP, a brand-new initiative created specifically to bridge the gap between camp and school. Held August 24–26, SCAMP provided girls entering grades 1–5 with three days of fun, structured programming, giving families a much-needed solution during those final weeks of summer. And it was not just a place to send the girls for glorified babysitting. SCAMP was designed to feel like summer. The girls enjoyed exciting shows, trips, crafts, activities, games, and plenty of time with friends. The days were packed with experiences that kept the girls active, engaged, and having fun, while providing the structure and super-

vision that parents were looking for. The program was led by TAG’s own Mrs. Aliza Schwadel, who, together with the dedicated SCAMP staff, worked to create an atmosphere that was energetic, warm, and uniquely TAG. And there was another important piece to the story: the cost. Thanks to the generosity of several sponsors who believed in the concept and stepped up to make it possible, TAG was able to offer SCAMP at an extraordinarily subsidized rate, including meals and snacks. For 3 full days of programming, activities, trips, and fun, it was truly an opportunity made possible through the generosity of others. While the girls were enjoying SCAMP, however, there was a tremendous amount happening behind the scenes. The TAG building was simultaneously being prepared for the upcoming school year. Classrooms and hallways needed to be ready, the building needed to be put back together, and an enormous amount of work had to be completed before the first day of school. Yet, rather than waiting until the building was ready to host the girls, Mr. Yaakov Berger and his dedicated team

made it happen. They took on the enormous undertaking of preparing the building for the new school year while, at the very same time, hosting SCAMP and making sure the girls had a clean, safe, and welcoming environment in which to enjoy their experience. It was a tremendous amount of work and a true display of mesiras nefesh from so many angles. The fact that the girls simply walked in and enjoyed themselves was a testament to how much effort was taking place behind the scenes. And TAG didn’t forget the older girls. For students entering 6th and 7th grade, TAG created TC, Teen Camp, based in the Machon Sarah High School building, itself a construction zone in advance of the MSHS building expansion! SCAMP TC offered this age group a summer experience of its own, with a more age-appropriate program filled with activities, trips, and experiences geared specifically toward preteen girls. The TC girls enjoyed next-level outings, including ice skating, along with so much more, giving them the chance to spend the waning days of summer with friends in an environment that was active, excit-

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Mind the Gap: TAG’s SCAMP and SCAMP TCs Bring Last Licks to Summer Life

ing, and age-appropriate. Kudos to the TC “Soups” for giving the girls an amazing time! Together, SCAMP and TC addressed a simple but very real need for TAG parents, those in-between days when camp is over, school has not yet begun, and families are left trying to figure out what comes next. Sometimes, a school sees a need and creates a program. And sometimes, a school sees a need and says, “Let’s make it happen.” That is what TAG did with SCAMP and SCAMP TCs. From the generous sponsors who helped make the programs accessible, to Morah Schwadel and the SCAMP and TC staff who poured their energy into the girls, to Mr. Berger and his team working tirelessly behind the scenes, it was a true group effort. The result? Three days of summer fun for the younger girls, a special experience for the older girls, a little more breathing room for working parents, and a whole lot of happy TAG students. Not a bad way to finish the summer.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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More Than a Shidduch App: Project NIVNEH Reborn, Phase 2

or many people, the shidduch process can be overwhelming before a date even happens. There are the phone calls that go unanswered. The names that are suggested and never seem to go anywhere. The awkwardness of following up yet again. Every unanswered call can feel personal. After enough disappointments, even picking up the phone becomes difficult. Then there is another challenge. Often, someone in shidduchim may benefit from guidance in a particular area but doesn’t know whom to ask or even what kind of help would be useful. Finally, there is the basic difficulty of getting access. Many shadchanim give tremendous amounts of their time to helping singles but reaching them can still require repeated calls and messages. Sometimes the biggest obstacle is simply getting through. We want to help change this. Project NIVNEH actually began almost fourteen years ago in a very different setting. After Hurricane Sandy devas-

tated the Five Towns community, Project NIVNEH was created to help families rebuild their homes and their lives. One of the most successful parts of the original NIVNEH was the Partner model. Each family was paired with someone who stayed involved and helped them navigate an overwhelming situation. At its height, NIVNEH had approximately 800 partners. Baruch Hashem, many families were able to rebuild with dignity. We want to bring the same model back for shidduchim. The organization will focus on supporting the process through Partners, access to resources for personal growth, and practical initiatives. The partner system pairs singles with someone who gets to know them and actively advocates on their behalf. A Partner can make the calls that are difficult to make personally. They can follow up and explore possibilities without carrying the same emotional weight. Because the partner is removed from the situation, they can often stay objective and

devote more time to exploring options. NIVNEH is also working to provide access to resources to support personal growth in the dating process. Sometimes a person may benefit from another perspective. We want to create a space where someone who wants guidance has a number to call. We believe there is a way to grow and date better. Shidduch Initiatives focuses on practical ways to make the process easier. One of the first initiatives is a new scheduling platform that will make it easier to connect with participating shadchanim. It aims to make it easier to get in touch and provide a centralized place to reach shadchanim.

The new NIVNEH platform is designed to simplify the shidduch process by allowing singles and parents to see available times and schedule a conversation more easily for a small fee. We believe a structured time and place will help streamline the process and make it more convenient for everyone involved. Fourteen years ago, Project NIVNEH successfully helped families navigate the overwhelming process of rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy. Today, we hope to bring that same success into shidduchim. To join NIVNEH as a Partner, shadchan, dating coach or committee volunteer, please apply at projectnivneh.org.

Did you know? Stop signs used to be yellow.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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“I Was Blown Away!” Grand Opening of Agra d’Pirka in the Five Towns

Rabbi Aharon Kahn, Nasi of Agra D’pirka, speaking at the grand opening

By Malky Lowinger

he iconic Torah learning program that has transformed Torah communities across America has just opened in yet another location, and the response has been incredible. The Five Towns community has been eager to start an Agra d’Pirka program for some time, and the organizers of the program worked tirelessly to make it happen. Yet when the grand opening event was finally held last week at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, everyone was stunned by the palpable enthusiasm and excitement of the local community. Rabbi Yaakov Trump, morah d’asra of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, says he is incredibly inspired by the Agra d’Pirka team. When he met the askonim of the program, he was intrigued. “What is this organization that is creating a makomos of Torah for people in klal Yisroel? I was blown away!” The Agra d’Pirka team was also overwhelmed by the response. “The grand

opening was b”H an astounding success,” said R’Ezra Klein, founder of the organization. “Almost forty people turned out to hear the inspiring shiurim and droshos from Rav Yaakov Trump, Rav Aharon Kahn, Rav Yisroel Efrati, and Rav Noach Isaac Oelbaum. The audience was extremely engaged and interested in the parameters of the program. They interacted with the rabbonim who were in attendance, and they indicated their strong desire for the expansion of Torah opportunities in the Five Towns area.” Rabbi Sholom Jaroslawicz of Agra d’Pirka commented that “the overwhelming response from the Five Towns community demonstrates that this program is long overdue.” The Five Towns program is being held at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst Monday through Thursday from 9:45 AM until 11:45 AM. Distinguished maggidei shiur will include Rav Akiva Willig, Rav Yaakov Trump, Rav Ashie Schreier, Rav Yoni Levin, Rav Moshe Brown, Rav Ephraim Polakoff, and Rav

Rabbi Polakoff speaking on our first day of regular programming

Aryeh Lebowitz, on a variety of topics. Rav Yisroel Efrati will be giving the Gemara shiur on Masechtas Brochos at 10:45 AM. A light breakfast will be served. Rav Efrati, who has been a maggid shiur for Agra d’Pirka in Miami, Monsey, Flatbush, and now in the Five Towns, is clearly eager to begin. He told the crowd at the Grand Opening that he enjoys an interactive shiur. “What inspires me daily is the interactive learning,” he explained. “That’s what we’ve been doing in Flatbush for the past six years. We had such a good time learning the heilige Torah. We were fighting and talking and asking and answering, and every page of Gemara and every Tosfos came alive. It was very satisfying to me and the participants. I would like to do that here as well. I think we could all walk out daily feeling satisfied, feeling close to the Torah.” Rav Kahn, Nasi of Agra d’Pirka, made a similar observation. “Our program started many years ago so I had enough opportunity to gauge what it did to the people,” he said. “People come in and they’re tired and I wondered to myself what would these people be doing if they wouldn’t have this. I look around, and I see chiyus. When Rav Efrati gets involved, they forget their age, and they think they are youngsters back in Yeshiva. The experience is phenomenal. The give and take and the energy and excitement that is being produced has everybody feeling younger by twenty years. To have that oasis of tranquility, or excitement for the beauty of Torah in spite of everything that is going on in their lives makes everyone feel accomplished.” Rav Kahn also noted that the wives are thrilled that their husbands are filling their mornings with Torah. Rav Oelbaum pointed out that “whenever you have more limud haTorah in a

neighborhood, it’s mekadesh the makom. It’s not the same place that it was before.” Similarly, when a person learns Torah, he is not the same. “Learning Torah is not the ultimate goal. The goal is to change you. The gevaldike program that is being introduced here will enhance the avodas Hashem of each and every Yid.” Rav Oelbaum also offered a tip on retaining the Torah that is learned. “The problem that all bnei Torah encounter is shikcha,” he said. “Therefore it’s kedai to mention a segulah niflo’oh that will help you remember and retain what you are learning. This is from the Tzlach himself. He said a segulah niflo’oh when you daven every morning is to make sure to say birkas haTorah b’kavana.” Last week’s grand opening was only the beginning. Participants are expected to join the program from as far as Far Rockaway and North Woodmere, as well as from Lawrence and Cedarhurst. All are encouraged to bring their neighbors and friends. According to Rabbi Trump, “It is an inspiration to see so many people coming to learn Torah every day with zeal and good energy. This program will continue to make a revolution in the lives of many.” Agra d’Pirka will undoubtedly enrich and enhance an already vibrant Torah community and is destined to become a fixture of the neighborhood for a long time to come. The Five Towns Agra d’Pirka program is being held in memory of Rav Simcha Schuck, z”l, who learned Torah and supported Torah and was devoted to serving the community. For more information about Agra d’Pirka and the Five Towns program, contact Rabbi Sholom Jaroslawicz at 212-6619400.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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AMIT Starts a Global Education Conversation By Michal Rosenberg

hen Mrs. CB Neugroschl, principal of Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck, traveled to Israel with a group of educators this summer, she joined a larger conversation about connecting Jewish schools and communities worldwide. As part of the first cohort in AMIT’s new educational think tank, Neugroschl was one of a group of principals who came to learn about the school network and discuss the global future of Jewish education. The group from the U.S. and Canada included Rabbi Joseph Beyda of Yeshivah of Flatbush, Brooklyn; Rabbi Eli Ciner of Yeshivat Frisch, Paramus; Rabbi Dr. Seth Grauer of Bnei Akiva Schools, Toronto; Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Kobrin of North Shore Hebrew Academy, Great Neck; Mrs. Sara Munk of Shulamith High School, Brooklyn; Rabbi Dr. Gil Perl of Jewish Leadership Academy, Miami; and Mrs. Neugroschl. From the start, participants understood they were part of AMIT’s bold new venture to create a global partnership that would benefit students and schools on both sides of the ocean. “We’re all trying to accomplish the same goals and if we could do that together I don’t see what could hold us back,” said Rabbi Kobrin. The visiting leaders presented candid case studies from their own schools, sharing the challenges and opportunities they encounter. In turn, AMIT professionals introduced the network’s innovative learning models: the Learning Management System’s personalized pathways, now being implemented nationwide in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Education; the Tatzam mentorship model, which fosters personalized growth; and a unique partnership with the Disabled Veterans Organization that connects students to real-world challenges through values-driven projects. “I was amazed by the combination of culture and strategy at AMIT,” said Rabbi Beyda. Visits to schools and communities around Israel brought their discussions to life and gave the group a firsthand look at Israeli society and culture. A trip to Sderot highlighted resilience and rebuilding, as U.S. educators were amazed by the

AMIT Think Tank with North American principals

forward-thinking mindset of the community and AMIT school leadership, despite the extremely difficult past few years. A visit to the Orot Shaul Hesder Yeshiva in Tel Aviv spurred a conversation about identity formation. Roshei Yeshiva Rav Itamar Eldar and Rav Tamir Granot spoke about the challenges and opportunities facing the Dati Leumi (Religious Zionist) community. A conversation with two reservist officers from very different backgrounds and belief systems sparked a fascinating dialogue about connection within Israeli society and across the larger Jewish community. “Jewish education is about building the future,” said Mrs. Neugroschl. “I found AMIT’s commitment to growth so remarkable and gained a real appreciation for its holistic approach.” “This passionate and talented group of educators grappled with important issues facing the global Jewish community,” said AMIT Director General Dr. Amnon Eldar. “We learned from one another and explored how we might raise the bar in significant areas in education.” AMIT Goes Stateside Earlier in June, AMIT brought 45 principals and senior educators from Israel to the United States for an intensive professional learning seminar designed to foster cross-cultural collaboration and explore emerging trends in education around the world. Over the course of several days, the group engaged with a diverse range of educational institutions, examining innovative pedagogical models and thinking about the role of schools in a rapidly changing world. Participants considered

North American principals in Israel with AMIT

how these ideas intersect with the realities of Israeli education, and how new approaches could strengthen AMIT’s own holistic educational philosophy and ultimately create greater opportunities for students. The group visited three secular schools in the tri-state area, intentionally selected to challenge different anchors of AMIT’s educational model. Each offered a distinct lens: one explored questions of identity and belonging; another focused on developing each student’s individual strengths; and the third examined how environment and educational practice can foster a more meaningful learning experience. The Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School, for example, had a unique model that reflected AMIT’s philosophy of recognizing that a student’s passion can become a gateway to a larger world of possibility. At the school, basketball is used as an entry point, exposing students to related fields ranging from marketing and contract negotiation to media and analytics, building on their passion and creating a solid career path. “At a time of heightened geopolitical tensions surrounding Israel, it was meaningful to see secular school communities warmly embrace a delegation of Israeli educators. Their willingness to engage was a powerful reminder of the connections that can be created across cultures through education,” said Limor Friedman, director of Strategic Overseas Relations and Innovation at AMIT. AMIT hosted a luncheon welcoming the educators to the U.S. and recognizing their determination, despite the volatile climate at home, to make the trip, grow

as educators, and bring new opportunities back to their students. “At AMIT, we are always looking beyond our own schools for ideas that can make us better,” said AMIT President Shari Safra. “Our educators’ openness is what makes them such extraordinary leaders, and opportunities like this help us continue to grow.” The group also spent significant time delving into the issues of Jewish identity, values, and antisemitism. They visited Hillel at Columbia and met with Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Sarna at NYU and Rabbi Ingber of Romemu. Highlights of the week also included visits to The Heschel School, SAR High School, NCSY, and Camp Moshava. “Experiencing Jewish life and schools in the U.S. firsthand, the visit showed us the tremendous potential for collaboration,” said Dr. Eldar. “We left energized by the opportunity to deepen the connection between American Jewish communities and the State of Israel.” The same powerful sense emerged from both visits: despite the many challenges facing the Jewish community worldwide, passionate educators and remarkable students on both sides of the ocean offer every reason to believe in a future defined by strength, perseverance, and possibility. To learn more about AMIT, visit www. amitchildren.org

Around the Community

TA welcomed students back for the 5787 school year with a renewed sense of energy, growth, and excitement for the year ahead. The new school year brings new faces, expanded opportunities, and several new roles designed to strengthen the academic, spiritual, and student-life experience at MTA. The MTA family is excited to welcome a talented group of dynamic rebbeim, including Rabbi Dovid Einhorn (Passaic), Rabbi Asher Finkelstein (MTA ’15, Washington Heights), Rabbi Yosef Fried (Monsey), Rabbi Yonatan Kosowsky (Bergenfield), and Rabbi Aharon Teigman (Bergenfield). On the General Studies side, Dr. David Roher (MTA ’87, Teaneck) joins MTA as Director of the Learning Center, Ms. Sari Joskovitch joins the Ivrit Department, and Mr. Shmuli Stern takes on the role of Athletic Director and JV Hockey Coach. Several returning faculty members have also stepped into expanded leadership roles. Rabbi Yitzchak Kaminetsky returns as 11th Grade Dean and Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Axelrod becomes 9th Grade Dean, and Rabbi Shua Pariser takes on an expanded role as Director of Student Activities and Machshava Rebbe. This year also marks an exciting expansion of MTA’s Beis Midrash Katan

(BMK) program, which now includes two dedicated 10th Grade BMK Shiurim led by Rav Shimon Kerner and Menahel Rabbi Shimon Schenker. The program provides students with an additional framework for learning, chazarah, and personal growth beyond the regular yeshiva day. Participants commit to maintaining strong academic standards, participating in two weekly Night Seder sessions, and actively engaging in Yeshiva Fellowship, which features a weekly shiur by Moreinu Rav Hershel Schachter, shlita. Thursday night Mishmar serves as the centerpiece of the program, featuring weekly review of the week’s Bekiyus with Rav Asher Finkelstein and other MTA Rebbeim and Shoalei U’Meishivim, along with a weekly chaburah and enhanced ruchniyus programming. Together, these new additions and expanded opportunities reflect MTA’s ongoing commitment to providing our talmidim with an exceptional yeshiva experience—one that challenges them to grow in Torah, inspires them to develop as individuals, and gives them a strong sense of belonging to the MTA community. With a talented and dedicated faculty and an ever-expanding range of opportunities, MTA looks forward to a year of continued growth, achievement, and meaningful experiences for every talmid.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

A New Year Begins at MTA

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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A Story of Triumph Against All Odds: From the Sulamot Music Program to Radio City Music Hall, How Midgal Ohr Enabled Shani Levy to Achieve Her Dreams

rom a young girl with a violin to an acclaimed musician performing before an audience of 6,000 people at New York’s iconic Radio City Music Hall, Shani Levy’s story is one of thousands of inspirational, life-changing stories of at-risk and orphaned youth growing up at Migdal Ohr. Born in Israel in 2003, Shani began playing the violin at just three years old. Raised by a single mother, Shani was enrolled in Migdal Ohr for a chance at a great education and a bright future. Shani’s extraordinary musical talent was identified right away and nurtured in Migdal Ohr’s incredible Sulamot Music Program, run in partnership with the Israel Philharmonic. Like hundreds of other orphaned and at-risk youth in the program, Shani blossomed with the positive encouragement and advanced quickly with masterful instruction from her teachers at Migdal Ohr. Shani’s abilities quickly caught the attention of Migdal Ohr founder Rabbi Grossman, who gave her countless opportunities to take the stage and showcase her talent. The Rav even found a donor to purchase a rare violin that Shani still plays today! Shani credits the encouragement and love that surrounded her at Migdal Ohr with her ability to overcome incredible obstacles to become a worldclass musician. Today, Shani has earned prizes in international competitions and performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout Israel. She has also performed internationally in Paris, London, New York, Toronto, and Montreal, and has participated in numerous chamber music ensembles and musical projects. This August, Migdal Ohr collaborated with our partners at Bnei Akiva to shine a spotlight on the young musicians in our Sulamot Music Program. We secured an incredible opportunity for Shani to play Radio City Music Hall at the sold-out historic concert of Ishay Ribo with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Seeing Shani on stage was a powerful full-circle moment that highlighted just how far a child can go given the encouragement and the tools to be successful! Shani was treated like the true celebri-

ty that she is and embraced warmly by the Migdal Ohr family of lay leaders and donors who came to see her after the show. Migdal Ohr supporters didn’t come as concert goers, but rather, as proud family members celebrating the accomplishments of a child whose performance was proof of what they always believed to be possible. Executive Director Atara Solow caught Shani after the show to ask a few candid questions: Atara Solow: When did you first discover your connection to music? Shani Levy: My mother is a violinist, and she introduced me to music when I was just three years old. I don’t remember life without music. The violin has been part of who I am for as long as I can remember. Atara Solow: How did Rabbi Grossman and Migdal Ohr help you develop your talents? Shani Levy: Rabbi Grossman has an incredible ability to see and care about each person. He really is like a father to everyone. He invited me to perform at Migdal Ohr events, giving me opportunities that built my confidence and encouraged me to keep going. More than anything, he and the teachers believed in me and helped me believe in myself. Atara Solow: What is the story behind your violin? Shani Levy: Rabbi Grossman encouraged me to find the perfect instrument, and after trying many violins, I fell in love with this beautiful extremely unique hand-crafted Gagliano violin handcrafted in 1838. The Rav found a donor and purchased it. It’s the same violin I am playing today and is a constant reminder of the journey and support that I have received from Migdal Ohr to get here. Atara Solow: What did Migdal Ohr give you that changed the direction of your life? Shani Levy: I would never have reached this point without Migdal Ohr. Knowing that someone believes in you

gives a child confidence and self-esteem in ways that are difficult to put into words. My principal and teachers always reminded us to believe in ourselves and showered us with love, keep opening new doors, and look forward no matter what happens. The principal always taught, “Derech eretz kadma laTorah,” that our character and values come before learning any Torah. Those lessons have stayed with me throughout my life, and I think of that line daily. Atara Solow: Why is a program like Migdal Ohr’s Sulamot Music Program so important? Shani Levy: Music develops memory, concentration, motor skills, discipline, and so much more. It teaches patience and perseverance. Today I also teach violin, and I see that as part of what I learned at Migdal Ohr: the importance of giving back and helping others discover what they are capable of. Atara Solow: What was it like to perform at Radio City Music Hall? Shani Levy: It was incredibly emotional. Standing on that stage, I felt like I was looking back at everything I had overcome to get there. My mother and sister were there, and it was especially meaningful because it was my mother’s birthday. I was representing Migdal Ohr, the people who believed in me, and all the children who are still waiting for someone to believe in them. Atara Solow: What’s next for you? Shani Levy: As soon as I return to Israel, I’m starting a new position at Rafael Security Industries as an organizational consultant. I never imagined that’s what I’d be doing, but I’m excited to see where life takes me. I want to continue realizing my potential, doing things I believe in, and that I love. Regardless of what I do, I want to be successful and pave the way for other children! Enable a New Generation of Young Musicians to Take the Stage Shani’s story is a powerful reminder of what can happen when a child is seen, believed in, and given the tools to thrive. We are deeply grateful to Jerry and Sandy

Seligsohn for believing in that potential, and to the hundreds of donors who make the Sulamot Music Program, and so many other life-changing programs at Migdal Ohr, possible. “Donors make this possible. They change lives.” For Shani, this is more than a thank-you. It is her story. Migdal Ohr gave her the opportunity to develop her extraordinary talent, believe in herself, and turn her passion for music into a source of purpose, income, and opportunities she once could never have imagined. Today, she is using what she was given to inspire and teach others to discover their own potential. There are thousands more at-risk and orphaned children waiting for someone to believe in them. With your support, the next Shani can take the stage. Founded by Rabbi Grossman over 50 years ago, Migdal Ohr is dedicated to transforming the lives of Israel’s most vulnerable children and youth. Through a network of educational, residential, and social programs, Migdal Ohr serves more than 10,000 children annually, helping them overcome adversity, discover their potential, and build a brighter future for themselves and for Israel. To learn more, visit migdalohrusa.org or reach out to info@migdalohrusa.org to see how you can get involved.

Around the Community

n Friday, August 28, Shmulie Hartstein, together with four students from West Hempstead, visited State Senator Siela Bynoe to deliver school supplies for 200 students, including backpacks, pencil cases and other essential items. Senator Bynoe was participating in a back-to-school event together with the Uniondale Empowerment Resource Center on Shabbos, August 29. Since the group would not be able to attend on Shabbos, the senator graciously arranged a special visit on Friday so they could

personally deliver the supplies and take part in the effort. The visit was a beautiful kiddush Hashem and an opportunity for the students to step outside their own community and help families in another neighborhood. Community activist Aaron Jungreis also joined the visit. The experience was another reminder of how much can be accomplished when communities come together to help one another.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

West Hempstead Students Join School Supply Effort in Uniondale

Around the Community

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

On Sunday, the BACH Jewish Center’s Youth Department hosted the season finale of its widely popular Sunday Fun Day weekly series of youth events during the summer. This week’s event was a Puppy Cuddle Party.

Rav Menachem Engel, a first grade rebbi at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, blows shofar during Elul with talmidim

Touro University’s New Teaching Fellowship Targets Campus Antisemitism Through the Classroom

ast month, Touro University, in association with the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC), launched a first-of-its-kind teaching fellowship designed to help university professors build and teach rigorous undergraduate and graduate courses on antisemitism within their existing academic disciplines. The resulting courses will deepen students’ understanding of antisemitism, civil rights protections, and the modern challenges facing Jewish students and Israel today. The fellowship, a program of the Touro University Antisemitism Institute, aims to reclaim the campus as a serious place for scholarship, intellectual rigor, fairness, and safety through one of the most powerful tools available to educators and universities—the classroom. According to fellowship leader Dr. Mark Goldfeder, Director of the Antisemitism Clinic at Touro Law Center and CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, the campus eruptions after October 7 were not spontaneous. Somebody assigned the readings, framed the questions, and graded the papers for years. Many of the students in those tents did not know which river or which sea they were chanting about. They were there because someone they trusted had given them a story simple and broad enough to explain the world. That person was often a professor. Activists understood long ago that the classroom is one of the most powerful rooms in the West, and they treated it accordingly and that is where the repair must begin. “When the people who set out to capture our universities began their work, they didn’t start with a million people. They started on one campus, in one classroom, with a dedicated few, and they were patient. Last week, that is exactly how the

correction began. Ten fellows came to Touro and built courses that will teach a thousand students a year how to think clearly, using nothing more radical than primary sources, honest scholarship, and the even application of the law,” said Goldfeder. “It went better than I dared hope, and it is the beginning of something big. In ten years, G-d willing, when we look back at how we won our universities back, the answer will have started here, this week, with this group.” Developing New Courses on Antisemitism The inaugural fellowship brought together ten fellows representing nine disciplines and three continents, including Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars. Over the course of the three-day in-person retreat, fellows worked with experts in antisemitism and law, alongside Touro University curricular specialists, to develop courses they can bring back to their own institutions. The program covered the history of U.S. and global antisemitism; legal frameworks governing discrimination and civil rights protections; and practical tools to understand and counter bias, hate crimes, and systemic discrimination. Fellows learned specialized techniques they can use to combat antisemitism, to design assignments and assessments for antisemitism courses, and creating classroom environments where students can engage in respectful disagreement and rigorous debate. The potential reach of the fellowship extends well beyond its inaugural cohort. Each fellow will teach the courses developed through the program, with the initial cohort expected to reach approximately 1,000 students annually. Over the course of the fellows’ careers, that reach could extend into the tens of thousands,

even before future cohorts, a published syllabus library and additional course materials expand the program to campuses across the country. The Fellows For the fellows, the experience was about more than developing a syllabus. It was an opportunity to think about how educators can equip students to confront antisemitism with greater knowledge, context and intellectual rigor. “In Pirkei Avot, we learn, ‘Lo alecha ham’lacha ligmor, v’lo atah ben horin l’hivatel mimena:’ it is not the responsibility of any one individual to complete the work of repairing the world, but neither are we free to refrain from beginning it. Thus, this fellowship started that beginning,” said Patrik Rako, scientific researcher at the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. “Thank you again for a deeply meaningful experience,” said Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D., an English professor at Farmingdale State College, part of the State University of New York. She continued, “I look forward to teaching the class on antisemitism at my college and helping my students understand what is happening to Jews.” Ariel Liberman, Assistant Professor, Law and Justice Program and Political Science at Auburn University, said the experience reinforced the importance of bringing scholars from different disciplines together around the issue. “Teachers, scholars, and advocates of all sorts came together to learn, to teach, to reflect, and to think about one incredibly complex challenge and how we can make a difference,” Liberman said, “With renewed energy and purpose, we’re ready to work.” Daniel Holtzman, Ed.D, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education at

Rabbi Dr. Mark Goldfeder

Great Neck Public Schools, said the fellowship provided practical tools he can use to bring the subject into his own educational community. He is using what he learned to develop and teach a course entitled Antisemitism Through the Lens of Psychology, Sociology, Law and Media Literacy. “The opportunity to be the room with great legal minds and engage in rhetorical development of collegiate level coursework was a powerful and meaningful experience,” Holtzman said. “I look forward to the continued partnership and important work ahead.” Ultimately, the fellowship is designed to give students something more durable than a set of talking points: the ability to distinguish history from slogans, argument from accusation and scholarship from conspiracy. By empowering professors to teach about antisemitism through their own academic disciplines, Touro and NJAC hope to create a model that can be replicated across campuses and sustained through generations of students. To learn more about the initiative and the Touro University Antisemitism Institute, visit antisemitism.touro.edu.

Around the Community

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

50 Years of ArtScroll Part 25: The Stone Chumash: A Revolution Carved in Stone

he quick and widespread popularity of the ArtScroll Siddur taught us something very important. Although there was a thirst for classic sefarim in the everyday language of English-speaking Jews, there was an even greater need to present the daily tools of Jewish life in terms that helped people understand them better. So the logical next step after the ArtScroll Siddur was the Chumash. The Alter of Kelm, a leading disciple of R’ Yisrael Salanter and one of the greatest architects of the Mussar movement, made a penetrating observation. We were all introduced to the narrative of the Chumash when we were little children, so naturally it was presented in terms that a child could understand. If we can put his observation into the modern idiom, the story of Yaakov and Eisav was taught on a superficial level, and children can think of them similarly as they do good guys and bad guys, cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians. Indeed, most illustrated children’s books show Eisav as an ill-clad ruffian with a sword and Yaakov as a yeshivah bachur huddled over his gemara. The Alter observed that most people grow up with that immature image – unless they take the trouble to study and understand the Chumash on a mature level, which so many simply do not do. Popular Chumashim with English

commentaries were available at the time, but Gedolei Yisrael encouraged us to produce a work that would cite only traditional rabbinic sources, transmitting strictly unadulterated Torah. Guided by our mission to faithfully fulfill their mandates, we undertook the creation of a one-volume Chumash featuring an original translation, generally following Rashi. Its flowing commentary would have to explain and inspire, and reflect unwavering fidelity to Chazal and the classic early and later commentators, while incorporating insights from contemporary Torah leaders and thinkers. Introductions would clarify difficult topics and demonstrate the Chumash’s relevance to issues facing today’s Jew. Like all major undertakings, this one required funding. Thanks to R’ Moshe Mendel Glustein, Rosh Yeshivah of Montreal, a contact was made with Mr. Irving Stone of Cleveland. Mr. Stone was a major advocate for Jewish education, and Rabbis Glustein and Scherman presented the proposal to him. He warmly agreed to dedicate what became the Stone Edition of the Chumash. The enormously formidable task of writing it was entrusted to Rabbi Scherman due to his vast knowledge, sound judgment, and engaging style. R’ Zlotowitz read every word, and his

incisive comments and suggestions were an integral part of the final product, as were the comments of R’ Hersh Goldwurm and R’ Avie Gold. Obviously, the commentary and Overviews of the original ArtScroll Bereishis and Vayikra served as a major source. Rabbi Scherman was asked how he chose what to include. He says that he looked at himself as an ordinary reader trying to understand the Chumash. In other words, he wrote for the reader and explained the Chumash in terms that would benefit and fill the needs of the reader. Did he succeed? Thirty-three years of success have provided the answer. The Stone Chumash was published in July 1993 and was an instant bestseller. All parts of the Orthodox community, and many beyond, embraced it, and it has become the standard Chumash in shuls and homes, all over the world, wherever people speak or read English. Well over a million copies are in print. Inspired by the success of the Stone

Mr. Irving Stone

Chumash, Morry Weiss, Mr. Stone’s sonin-law and associate, later dedicated The Sapirstein Edition of Rashi, a groundbreaking undertaking that ushered in a new phase of ArtScroll. UP NEXT: The Gedolim Approve and Encourage

Cedarhurst to Commemorate 25th Anniversary of 9/11

s the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the Village of Cedarhurst solemnly gathers to remember and honor the lives lost on that tragic morning, especially the seven victims from our community: Kevin O’Rourke, Thomas E. Jurgens, Neil D. Levin, Joseph Rivelli, Jr., Ira Zaslow, Bettina Browne Radburn, and Howard Selwyn. We invite residents and members of the community to join us on Friday, September 11, at 11:00 AM at Andrew J. Parise Park in Cedarhurst for a solemn remembrance ceremony. Together, we will pay tribute to those we lost, honor the courage and sacrifice of our first responders, and recognize the enduring strength and resilience of the families and loved ones they left behind.

Twenty-five years later, we continue to remember. We continue to honor them. And we continue to stand together as one community. Please join us as we gather in solidarity, reflection, and remembrance.

Handmade Sterling Silver Mayim Achronim by Oded Davidson

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

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Visionary – Rabbi Nota Schiller By Rabbi Nachman Seltzer

’ Nota Schiller’s and R’ Noach Weinberg’s first official yeshiva was opened in the late sixties in the Talpiyot neighborhood of Yerushalayim. They called it Mevasseret Yerushalayim. In preparation for the yeshiva’s grand opening, the two roshei yeshiva traveled around the United States sharing their vision for what they hoped to achieve and asking people for pledges. Months later, when the yeshiva was up and running, R’ Noach remained in Yerushalayim with the students, while R’ Nota flew to the States to collect the money that had been pledged. One of the places R’ Nota and R’ Noach went to raise funds for their upcoming kiruv enterprise was Miami. While there, they ran into a Chaim Berlin alumnus who suggested they approach Eddie Sokowitz (not his real name), a Jew with ties to the underworld who was staying in

Miami. When they questioned whether it was appropriate to accept money from him, their friend explained that Sokowitz had expressed an interest in doing teshuva and reconnecting with his Yiddishkeit. That was enough for them to try to meet him. They were told Sokowitz usually stayed at the Shanghai Hotel, a place known for hosting some less-than-savory characters. “On the way,” R’ Nota recalled, “R’ Noach turned to me and said, ‘Listen, I don’t think it’s such a great idea for two guys with beards to go into this place.’ I said, ‘Let me guess which one of us you think is the right one for the job…’ Next thing I knew, I was walking into the hotel.” Behind the counter stood a man about six-foot-eight. R’ Nota asked, “Excuse me, is Mr. Sokowitz here?” No reaction. He asked again. Finally, the man said, “There ain’t no such guy.” Most people would have left. R’ Nota was not most people. “‘I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘You can tell me Eddie Sokowitz isn’t here. You can tell me I have

the wrong address. You can tell me you never heard of him. But what do you mean, “There ain’t no such guy?”’” The answer was unchanged: “There ain’t no such guy.” R’ Nota left, later joking that he kept looking over his shoulder for the next three days. Sokowitz never became a donor, but R’ Nota enjoyed telling the story for decades. Mevasseret Yerushalayim remained operational for about a year. R’ Nota’s brother, R’ Mordechai, remembers that time well. “I went to learn at my brother’s yeshiva due to R’ Shlomo Freifeld’s influence. I went to learn at Chaim Berlin around the time that my brother founded his yeshiva. This was during the period when the yeshiva was briefly situated in Far Rockaway before returning to Brooklyn, where it has remained ever since. During the time that Chaim Berlin was in Far Rockaway, R’ Shlomo Freifeld served as mashgiach at the yeshiva, as well as serving as the rav of the shul where the Schiller family davened. “I still recall a conversation the two of us had that made a major impact on my life. I remember R’ Shlomo telling me that my brother and R’ Noach Weinberg were opening a new yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael and that I should go and learn there.” When R’ Mordechai told his parents that R’ Shlomo had advised him to go to Eretz Yisrael and learn in R’ Nota’s yeshiva, they weren’t enthusiastic about the idea. But they didn’t stop him, because it was R’ Shlomo who had advised him to go. In their minds, anything R’ Shlomo said was akin to Torah from Sinai. Such was the respect they had for him. R’ Mordechai arrived in Yerushalayim between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur of 1966. There were at least eight guys learning at the yeshiva at the time, American students who had come to travel around Israel and had been convinced to give learning a try, and there were big plans to attract many more. In the middle of the year, at the end of May 1967 — a short while before the Six-Day War broke out — R’ Nota flew to the States with the intention of revisiting those who had pledged money to the yeshiva and to collect the funds owed. But as everyone knows, the best-laid plans can often go awry. In this case,

there was a very clear and obvious reason. Time after time, whenever R’ Nota would arrive at the office of someone who had made a pledge to the yeshiva and inform the individual that he was there to collect it, the response was the same. “I know that I pledged to support your yeshiva, and I still think that it’s a very valid and worthy cause. But I don’t think I’ll be able to fulfill my pledge right now because I’m giving all my extra money to help the IDF buy weapons that it needs to fight the war.” It was the same story again and again. Which meant that the yeshiva was basically operating on empty and had no money in the bank. It’s very difficult to run a yeshiva without money, and as time went on and the situation didn’t improve, things went from bad to worse. It reached the point that R’ Nota sold all the silver he and his wife had received for wedding presents in a desperate attempt to keep the dream alive. That willingness to give up everything he had for the sake of Torah and kiruv would come to define R’ Nota’s life and ultimately help pave the way for his extraordinary achievements while leading Yeshivas Ohr Somayach. Adapted from Visionary – Rabbi Nota Schiller by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer, with permission from the copyright holder, ArtScroll Mesorah Publications.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

1. *

TJH

Centerfold

10 Jobs You Couldn’t Pay Me Enough to Do Costco sampler attendant — Having to tell the

Person responsible for changing the office

guy who is eating all of the granola that this is really a

printer toner — You touched the printer, so whatever

sampler table.

happens to it for the next six months is now your fault.

Airport TSA agent — Eight hours a day explaining that, yes, shampoo is a liquid and you have to remove

Hotel front desk clerk at 1:00 A.M. — “I

your computer from the bag. (BTW – this is the only

specifically requested an ocean view.” “Sir, we’re in

place in the world where they haven’t discovered

the Sahara Desert. There is no ocean here.”

recorded messages yet, at least at JFK and LGA.) Person who answers the complaint line at School bus driver on the first day of school — 38 children, 23 stops, 19 mothers

shouting, “WAIT!

IKEA — “I followed all 37 steps, and I have six screws left.” “Sir, congratulations. You built it correctly.”

THAT’S NOT HIS STOP!” Little League umpire — Making $40 to discover Airline lost-luggage representative — “I have good news, Mr. Goldberg. We found your suitcase. Do

that twelve Five Towns fathers know the strike zone better than any Major League baseball player.

you have any plans to visit Bolivia?” Porta-Potty cleaner — There is no salary high

One Job I’m Applying For

enough to make you say at dinner, “You wouldn’t BELIEVE the day I had.”

Atlantic Beach Bridge Tower Lookout Guy I’m 25 feet above the rest of you, people, looking out

Bomb squad technician — Any job where the

into the ocean for boats, and I get to lift the bridge

performance review can begin with “Well, you’re

up exactly at the moment when everyone needs to

alive…” is not for me.

get home from The Sands because they told

Wedding hall coat-check attendant — “It’s

the babysitter that they

a black wool coat.” Excellent. That narrows it

would be home two

down to 147.

hours ago!

1. After approximately 5½ years on the job, what is the base salary of a New York City sanitation worker? a. $61,500 b. $73,200 c. $84,500 d. $95,316 2. What was the original meaning of the word “salary”? a. Money for shelter b. Payment for a day’s labor c. Money associated with salt d. A soldier’s spending money 3. The term “blue-collar worker” originally referred to what? a. Union membership cards being blue b. Blue denim/chambray work clothes c. Navy shipyard workers d. Depression-era government classification 4. Walter Orthmann holds the Guinness World Record for the longest career as an employee at the same company (a textile company in Brazil). How long did he work there? a. 61 years b. 72 years c. 84 years d. 93 years 5. Which of these occupations has the highest median salary ($226,600)? a. Airline pilot b. Dentist

c. Lawyer d. Pharmacist 6. Which of these was once a real job in American bowling alleys? a. Pinsetter b. Ball polisher c. Lane walker d. Strike judge 7. Which of the following is an actual job performed for NASA? a. Smelling objects before they’re sent into space b. Tasting astronauts’ toothpaste c. Listening for cracks in moon rocks d. Measuring how loudly astronauts snore Answers: 1-C 2-B 3-B 4-C 5-A 6-A 7-A Wisdom Key: 6-7 correct: You are employee of the month! Congrats – you get a paper with a gold-colored ribbon to hang on your wall… Enjoy the next 40 years of your life at the company! 3-5 correct: You are a middleof-the-road type of person. You should drive a trolly. 0-2 correct: You lost your brain cells because you were NASA’s chief sniffer for too long.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me! Billy Bob wanted a job as a signalman on the railways. He was told to meet the inspector at the signal box. The inspector asked, “What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading for each other on the same track?” Billy Bob replied, “I would switch the points for one of the trains.” “What if the lever broke?” asked the inspector. “Then I’d dash down out of the signal box,” said Billy Bob, “and I’d use the manual lever over there.” “What if that had been struck by lightning?” “Then,” Billy Bob continued, “I’d run back into the signal box and phone the next signal box.” “What if the phone was busy?” “Well, in that case,” persevered Billy Bob, “I’d rush down out of the box and use the public emergency phone at the level crossing up there.” “What if that was vandalized?” “Oh, well, then I’d run into town and go get my friend Jimbo.” This puzzled the inspector, so he asked, “Why would you do that?” Billy Bob answered, “Well, Jimbo ain’t never seen a train wreck!”

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Labor Trivia

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

PARSHA OVERVIEW Parshas Nitzavim discusses the eternal covenant with Hashem, the ingathering of exiles, the imperative of closeness to Torah, the notion of teshuva, and our ability to choose good. In Vayelech, Moshe appoints Yehoshua as his successor, encouraging him to be “strong and courageous.” Klal Yisroel is given the mitzvah of Hakhel, which included the assembly of men, women and children after the sabbatical year. Moshe is informed of the events after his passing. Hashem provides testimony for what the future holds. Moshe’s Torah scroll is placed with the Ark. The elders gather to hear the song of Ha’azinu.

“

Quotable Quote

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“For the man of pure heart, there is no higher or more holy consciousness than that of having fulfilled the Divine will.”

-Rav S. R. Hirsch zt”l

GEMATRIA

The Roshei Teivos (first letters) of ‫ אתם נצבים היום‬spells ‫נאה‬, which means beautiful and befitting. Deep down, every yid is beautiful and ‫נאה‬ ‫למלכות‬, befitting of royalty. Rosh Hashana is a time when we stand before Hashem, the King of all kings, and in so doing, we realize that we are His beautiful children, befitting of royalty!

Torah parks S Inspiration. Everywhere.

His shiurim and other Jewish content can be found on YouTube, Torah Anytime and Meaningful Minute. He may be reached at rabbistrumo@gmail.com

Pesukim - 40/30 Words - 657/553 Letters - 2575/2123 Mitzvos - 0/2

Parshas Nitzavim/Vayelech

Thoughts in Chassidus

QUICK VORT

The Kedushas Levi highlights the words in the pasuk ’‫אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ה‬ ‫אלקיכם‬, all of you are standing today in front of Hashem, your G-d.

Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Rebbe and founder of Chabad, known as the Alter Rebbe, would personally serve as the Baal Koreh in his shul in Liozna. One year, during the week of Parshas Ki Savo, which lists the many curses, the Alter Rebbe was away for Shabbos, so another person read the Torah portion in his place. The Alter Rebbe’s son, Dovber (who would later become the Mitteler Rebbe) was in shul that week, and upon hearing the curses, he fainted and became bedridden for a considerable time afterwards. When they asked the Mitteler Rebbe, “Don’t you hear this parshah every year?” he replied, “Yes, but when my father reads it, one doesn’t hear any curses.” Indeed, the Degel Machaneh Ephraim brings from the Zohar that the Tochacha – which appears at first glance as curses – is actually ‫כולה ברכות‬, it’s entirely blessings. This explains why the Tochacha begins with the word ‫והיה‬, a language of simcha! The Alter Rebbe was on such a high spiritual level and was able to connect to the deeper truth of the Tochacha. As such, when he read it, the congregation didn’t hear any curses whatsoever! Reb Shlomo, one of the great disciples of the Noam Elimelech, notes how we specifically read the Tochacha in an undertone — a whisper — because that’s how secrets are said. Beneath the surface of the curses, they actually contain the greatest secrets and blessings. If you think about it, what else is said in an undertone and whisper? The shofar! Regarding the sounding of the Shofar, we say: ‫קול דממה דקה ישמע‬. It is a small voice, a whisper. Maybe, then, it’s not a coincidence that there are 100 ‫קולות‬/whispers of the Shofar, and 100 ‫קללות‬/curses in the Tochacha (see Midrash Tanchuman, Nitzavim 1, who refers to the number of curses as 100, not 98). The commentaries explain that in spite of all the curses, NITZAVIM, we are standing. The Shofar, which requires us to be standing, reframes how the apparent curses are really all secrets and blessings. On one hand, the 100 shofar blasts can be seen as a protection from the 100 curses. But perhaps on a deeper level, both the 100 ‫ קללות‬and corresponding 100 ‫קולות‬, really represent something much deeper: they whisper to us a special secret that every single thing we encounter and experience in life are, at their very core, the greatest blessings from Hashem.

Rabbi Ori Strum is the author of “Ready. Set. Grow.” “Dove Tales,” “Karpas: The Big Dipper,“ and “VEYIDGU: The Upstream Jew.”

PARSHA STATS

Not behind, but ‫לפני‬, in front of Hashem. Hashem is YOUR G-D. The word ‫ לפני‬is the middah of ‫פנים‬, which means to turn. Hashem turns toward us and wants to bestow us with tremendous shefa and goodness. Don’t run accept!

away.

Stand

there

and

Did You Know?! The Torah tells us that the Torah is not in Heaven (‫)שמים‬, rather it’s right here. However, our Sages teach us that even if the Torah were to be in Heaven, we would need to figure out a way to get there!

Points to Ponder The Torah says “all of you” are standing before Hashem, and then goes on to listen the tribal leaders, elders, officials, children, etc. Just say “all of you” and then no need for the detailed list! What’s going on?

Scan the QR code to view Torah classes from R’ Ori Strum on Torah Anytime!

Torah Thought

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Parshas Nitzavim Vayelech By Rabbi Berel Wein z”l

h! The covenant once more. The basis of the relationship between the Jewish people and their Creator is the covenant that exists between them. The covenant is central to the story of the Jewish people. Our father Avraham entered into and created the terms of this eternal covenant. The covenant was embodied in his flesh itself and sanctified by the sense of sacrifice that the historical narrative of Avraham and Yitzchak reinforced. Yaakov received the covenant from his father – after contests with Eisav and Lavan and bequeathed it to his sons, the twelve tribes of Israel. His family took the covenant with them down to Egypt and it was miraculously preserved throughout centuries of slavery. Yosef had promised them redemption and belief in the existence and efficacy of the covenant. And that promise of redemption for all ages and future conditions was attached to the overriding theme of the covenant.

To this historical and faith narrative was added the holy spirituality and Divine laws of the Torah granted at Mount Sinai. This combination of holiness, the discipline of behavior, the historical

not only as a nationality. The continuity and presence of this covenant – alive and well as it assuredly is in our time now – was and is the leitmotif of the rhythms of Jewish life

It is this covenant that unites Jews the world over as a family, not only as a faith and not only as a nationality.

narrative of tradition and family, all combined to form the foundation of the covenant. This has remained the great backbone of Jewish survival during our long and painful exile and dispersion. It is this covenant that unites Jews the world over as a family, not only as a faith and

everywhere. The covenant was binding upon all Jews even though many Jews, especially in modern times, were completely unaware of its existence and the grip it exerted on their lives and society. It is this covenant that governs Jewish history and our current events as well. There is no other rational way

to look at our story, past, present and undoubtedly future, in the absence of the overriding influence and presence of the covenant that Moshe and Israel entered into as recorded in this week’s Torah reading. The demands of the covenant are strong and oftentimes appear to be severe. But an “easy” covenant would be useless considering the challenges and rigors of Jewish history. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein often stated: “People say it is difficult to be a Jew and they are correct in that assessment. But I say that it is even more difficult for a Jew not to be a Jew!” Such is the nature of God’s covenant with us and it has proven to be eternal and binding for all of the millennia of Jewish existence. That is why this is the final major public act of the career of Moshe as the leader of the Jewish people. As long as the covenant holds, he is assured of the eternity of Israel and his own immortality. Shabbat shalom.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

From the Fire Parshas Nitzavim

All for One By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

he parsha begins with Moshe’s statement (Devarim 29:9-10), “You are all standing today before Hashem your G-d, the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officers, every man of Israel, your children, your women, the convert in your camp, from your woodcutters to your water-drawers.” Rashi explains that the pasuk lists the different categories of Jews in order of importance, first listing those accorded the greatest honor and then continuing to those accorded the least honor. Chazal (II Zohar 32b) teach that when Moshe said “today” in the pasuk, he was hinting at the day of Rosh Hashana. What does Moshe’s prioritization of different types of Jews, summarized with the phrase “every man of Israel,” teach us as we go into Rosh Hashana? Rav Yitzchak Vorker, zy”a, teaches that if the pasuk lists different types of Jews in order of importance, we must

understand why the woodchoppers are listed before the water-drawers. What makes them more important? He explains that the word for wood, eitz, is connected to the word eitzah, advice. So “wood choppers” is a reference to those who give good advice. And “water-drawers” is a reference to those who deliver Torah lessons, as Chazal compare the Torah to water (Bava Kama 82a). Since this pasuk is a reference to Rosh Hashana, the Torah is teaching us how to prepare for this day. We must know that when it comes to preparing for Rosh Hashana, those who can give good advice are more important than those delivering brilliant Torah lectures. There is a teaching in the Meor Einayim which gives us excellent advice in our preparations for Rosh Hashana. But we must first understand something else. The Midrash explains that “even though I have appointed for you heads, elders,

and officers, you are all equal before Me, as the pasuk says, ‘Every man of Israel’” (Tanchuma Nitzavim 2). We see that there are two ways to look at the Jewish people. On one hand, there are numerous qualitative levels extending from the most important leaders down to the “least important” people, water-drawers and woodchoppers. On the other hand, the Torah is also telling us that “you are all equal before Me.” Halacha recognizes and is built around a wide variety of differences between Jews. There is a different set of rules that apply to the respect one must show to a king, a kohein, a levi, a talmid chacham, one’s parents, etc. Where does “you are all equal before Me” fit in? This same dichotomy exists in Chazal’s teachings regarding Rosh Hashana. On one hand, they tell us (Rosh Hashana 8b) that the king is judged first and other Jews are judged in descending

order. But they also say (ibid. 18a) that “they are all scanned with one scan,” i.e., the entire Jewish people are judged as one single unit without any distinctions. How can both be true? Do we not say in the davening on Rosh Hashana, “Everyone in the world passes before Him like sheep...”? How can we understand this? The truth is that we see from the seforim hakedoshim, particularly the works of the Mittler Rebbe, zy”a, that there are two ways of looking at the world. There are the details and distinctions of this world in which each thing has its own unique definition and identity. This level is the source of all of the halachic distinctions between different people, places, and things. But that is a more superficial level of reality. On a deeper level, G-d’s existence permeates everything. The tzaddikim live with this perspective on reality overlaying their human understanding of the world. They

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Let us now read the advice of the Meor Einayim of Chernobyl, zy”a, in Likutim: Therefore, our Sages say that on Rosh Hashana, “They are all scanned with one scan,” as the pasuk (Tehillim 33:15) says, ‘He forms their hearts together...’” At the time of the shofar blast, all of their hearts and souls return to Hashem, as it says (Amos 3:6), ‘Will the shofar be blown in the city and the nation not quake?!” Certainly, anyone who is part of the Jewish people will tremble and repent. It comes out that everyone takes refuge in the place of teshuvah, which is the world of freedom. That is [what the continuation of the pasuk in Tehillim] means, “He understands, ha’meivin, all of their actions.” In other words, He elevates their actions to the place of binah, which is the world of oneness. [Regarding the world] below, the pasuk says (Bereishis 2:10), “And from there it [the river] separated and became four heads.” [The world below is a place of separation unlike the world of binah above, which is a world of unification and oneness.] This is [what the pasuk means when it says], “You are all standing

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today...” “Today” is Rosh Hashana. And we find this in the Midrash as well. This means to say that the Torah is giving advice. If you want to be in a state of “standing,” to have life on the day of Rosh Hashana, then you must see that you become as one, “you all, [on the same level] as your heads.” In other words, you must all be as one Jew. You must enter the place of oneness where we are all scanned with one scan, v’havein. This is something very practical that we can do to shift Hashem’s focus from that spotlight on the individual where we are all judged as individuals, to the entire Jewish community as a whole. In order to do that, we must stop focusing on ourselves to the exclusion of others. For example, do we go out of our way to give a warm smile and greeting to a new face in shul? Many people are well-meaning but self-absorbed, only talking to their own friends after davening, completely ignoring those right next to them who have no one to speak to. I have heard the most puzzling justification for not greeting new people: “There are so many unfamiliar faces in shul; I didn’t know this person was new to the commu-

nity. I assumed it was just a guest!” What do the people saying this mean? Let us assume the person standing near them after shul with no one to talk to is “only” a guest and not a new member of the shul. Why does that mean one should not make another Jew feel recognized, valuable, and welcome? A very simple, practical way we can begin taking the Meor Einayim’s advice in achieving a good outcome this Rosh Hashana is not to ask for things for ourselves but to seek out the welfare of the entire Jewish community, without making distinctions. The more we connect to the deeper reality of “you are all equal before Me,” the more we will merit to be judged in the way of “They are all scanned with one scan.” May we all merit to internalize this attitude and see Hashem universally recognized as King forever and ever with the coming of Moshiach.

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.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

therefore see G-d’s presence in everyone and everything. Moshe Rabbeinu is the perfect example of being able to perceive both of these levels. On one hand, he was the greatest Jew who ever lived, as the pasuk (Devarim 34:10) says, “And there was no other prophet who arose in Israel like Moshe...” Yet “the man, Moshe, was exceedingly humble, more than any man on the face of the earth” (Bamidbar 12:3). How was this possible? How can he have been both? To have some understanding of this, we must examine the perspective of a humble person. When looking at others, he looks at all of the details and distinctions of the world. He gives honor to his parents, to kohanim, to talmidei chachamim, and to every other Jew, each in the appropriate way. But when he looks at himself, as great as he is, he looks through the lens of “they are all scanned with one scan,” the perspective in which “you are all equal before Me.” He sees himself as no different from anyone else. This attitude is what enabled Moshe to be as great as he was while still seeing himself as no better than any other person. The tzaddik knows when to look at the world through which lens.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Think. Feel.Grow.

A Lifelong Journey of Return By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

he essence of life is growth and progress, as we strive to fulfill our true purpose. And as we explained in our previous article, the only way we can genuinely change, transform, and evolve is if we have the capacity to assert our inner will and to create a new reality within ourselves. This requires a complete re-creation of self within our consciousness — a remolding of our inner world. While yesterday we were the type of person who did one thing, today a new decision is formed and a new reality is created within our inner world. This requires a complete assertion of willpower, an overcoming of self, and a breakdown and reformation of inner drive and character. This means giving up who we are for who we want to be; sacrificing what we think we want for what we truly want. (See Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Gerushin 2:20, where he discusses the relationship between our true ratzon [“rotzeh ani”] and our lower self.) It means overcoming the emotional and overwhelming pull of current desire and generating a new “want” within our very core. This is why the Rambam places his seemingly philosophical discussion of the concept of free will amongst the halachos of teshuvah; free will is the very root and foundation of hilchos teshuvah. Without free will, one could never change and one could never become something else, someone new, and someone better. Strikingly, Rav Eliyahu Dessler explains that many people never experience a true assertion of their free will due to its immense difficulty. This is why many people do not change. Change is hard, uncomfortable, and often requires sacrifice. One must fully

and wholeheartedly believe in their new future in order to give up their current lifestyle. However, when we push with all our might, expressing a full force of our inner will, we get a taste of truth, an experience of destiny, and a glimpse of our true self. However, this understanding of teshuvah, namely, that of return, has an even deeper layer to it. After all, if teshuvah is an act of return, what or whom are we returning to?

Teshuvah: A Life’s Journey Genuine teshuvah is not just about fixing our mistakes in Elul and Tishrei; it’s about self-expression, returning to our true and higher selves. As we previously discussed, while we were in the womb, we were in a perfect and transcendent state of being, and a malach taught us kol haTorah kulah (Niddah

30b). As the Vilna Gaon explains, this refers to the deepest realms of Torah, a transcendent Torah that lies far beyond this world, beyond the confines of space and time. (Quoted in Maalos HaTorah by Rabbeinu Avraham, brother of the Vilna Gaon. See also Even Sheleimah 8:24.) This Torah is the very root of reality, and you were granted complete understanding of its every detail. Not only were you shown this level of Torah, but you also learned your specific share of Torah; you were shown your unique purpose in the world and how your unique role fits into the larger scheme of the human story as a whole. You were given a taste of your own perfection, of what you could, should, and hopefully will become. And from this transcendent realm, you were birthed into the physical world with the mission to actualize everything you were shown

in the womb while in your primordial, perfect state. In essence, your job in this world is not to create yourself but rather to recreate yourself, to re-attain your original state of perfection, as you were shown by the malach. This time, however, it must be done through free will, i.e., by choosing to become great. Only by overcoming challenge and difficulty, and only by asserting your willpower, can you fulfill your true potential. In essence, our entire life is a story of teshuvah — returning to our original, higher, true self. This theme is the mystical root of creation itself. All of existence is meant to return to its original true, higher form. When Adam was created, his mission was to return to his root and source, i.e., Hashem. When Adam sinned, all of existence fell; our goal became to return the world to its higher form and repair a fractured world. In essence, our goal is threefold: to return to our individual higher selves, our collective higher selves as a nation, and our absolute root self — Hashem.

Breaking Momentum We can now return to our original question regarding how to stop the downwards momentum of failure and bad decisions. The answer is a simple, single-word answer: decide! Choice is the most powerful tool Hashem has granted us. The power of choice allows us to accomplish anything. When life begins to fall apart, and bad decisions start piling up, we must cut off the downward momentum before it grows out of control and before it destroys us. The key is making the decision, as-

mara (Rosh Hashanah 10b) that man was created in Nissan. Why then do we celebrate Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei? Tosafos suggests that although Hashem created the world in Nissan, His decision to do so took place six months earlier on the first of Tishrei. The decision itself serves as a form of creation, which

create a new reality for yourself. When the shofar blows this year, let us truly awaken. In some sense, we all need a shofar for the shofar; we need a wakeup call to listen to this year’s wakeup call. Many are numb to the wordless blast, deaf to its existential calling. Some have given up on change, while others are too

One must fully and wholeheartedly believe in their new future in order to give up their current lifestyle.

Failed or Failure? The single most important psychological factor involved in this decision is our response to failure. When we fail, we often become convinced that we are a failure. We believe that by making a mistake, we become the mistake. We integrate past experience into our present identity, and we therefore lose faith in ourselves, our hopes, and our values. As a result, we begin to cascade downwards, sliding with negative momentum. The key to avoiding this slide is to disconnect our failures from our identity. We all fail; we all have times where we give in to temptation and do things that we regret. But failing does not make you a failure. It makes you human, a work in progress; someone who is growing and learning. If we learn to view our failures as learning opportunities and as wake-up calls, instead of perceiving them as crippling obstacles, we can use them to grow and improve. When we make a bad decision, we cannot let ourselves get depressed. Regret and remorse are essential, but we cannot get lost in these feelings. They must be used in a healthy, balanced, and positive way. When we slip up, take a step backwards, and fall down a notch, we have to immediately stop the downwards movement, pick ourselves back up, learn from our mistakes, and continue our upwards climb. This is the character of one who has a growth-mentality — one who does not get crushed by life, but learns from it instead.

The Power of Decision It is therefore no surprise that the Torah is replete with lessons of the importance of will and the power of decision. An opinion is quoted in the Ge-

is why man is considered to have been created in Tishrei. The Gemara (Kiddushin 49b) rules that if a man marries a woman on the condition that he is a tzaddik (righteous), we consider the marriage as halachically binding — even if he is wicked! How can this be? The Gemara explains that perhaps he had decided at that very moment to do teshuvah (hirhurei teshuvah) and to become a tzaddik, and that intention itself would be enough to validate his statement. Based on this possibility, we must view his marriage as possibly binding. This example, once again, displays the spiritual significance of a decision. There are applications of this idea regarding Shabbos observance as well. If one is outside a city on Shabbos, he cannot walk further than two thousand amos from where he is located at the moment Shabbos begins. However, the Mishnah in Eiruvin notes that if one is in the midst of traveling right before Shabbos begins, he can point into the distance and say that he intends to be at that place in the distance, and his two thousand amos will be measured from that point. Essentially, halacha recognizes us to be in the place where we want to be, where we decide to be.

The Root of Teshuvah Free will — choice — is the root of teshuvah. Teshuvah is about reengineering our will, recreating our desire, and rewiring our wants. It’s about the decision to be better, to be great, to become our best and truest selves. As the Ramchal explains in Mesilas Yesharim, if you change what you want (akiras ha’ratzon), you change who you are. When you make a new decision, you

busy with life to stop and truly consider the possibility of more, of a greater life. May we all be inspired to fully utilize this idea, to embark on a journey of genuine teshuvah, and to continue the process of becoming our ultimate selves.

Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is an international speaker, bestselling author, business coach,

the CEO of SMA, and a TED Talk Speaker. His online content reaches millions of people every month, and he lectures internationally on topics of Torah thought, psychology, leadership, and business – uniquely blending many areas of Torah and wisdom together. His bestselling book, The Journey to Your Ultimate Self, serves as an inspiring gateway into deeper Torah thought. After receiving his BA from Yeshiva University and Semicha from Yeshiva University’s RIETS, Rabbi Reichman received a Masters degree in Philosophy and Religion from the University of Chicago. As part of his Masters Degree at the University of Chicago, Rabbi Reichman received an Ivy Plus Scholarship to Harvard where he spent a year studying Religious Philosophy and Literature as an Ivy Scholar. Additionally, he received a Masters degree in Educational Psychology from Azrieli Graduate School and a Masters degree in Jewish Thought from Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School. As a business and leadership coach, Rabbi Reichman provides a unique 1-on-1 coaching program where he helps high-achievers, coaches, and business owners achieve their financial and personal goals. To learn more or to get in contact with Rabbi Reichman, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

serting your inner will, and focusing its full force toward cutting off the momentum. If you can stop the momentum of bad decisions, of a lifestyle that is draining the life out of you, you can stop it from spreading. With nowhere to spread, negativity is like a flame without oxygen; it simmers out and disappears. It all starts with a single decision to turn the tide — to begin building positive momentum, to start climbing uphill, and to start heading toward your ultimate destination. If you can take that first step and push toward your greatness, you will suddenly begin riding that new wave. This is the power of choice; this is the power of positive momentum.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Delving into the Daf

A Snag in the Plans By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

oruch stepped into the shared backyard, hammer in hand, ready to build his beautiful sukkah. But as he looked up to map out his airspace, he noticed a major snag. His neighbor, Shimon, had clotheslines strung squarely above the exact spot where Boruch’s schach was meant to go. “Shimon!” Boruch yelled toward the house. “Take down your clotheslines! I am building my sukkah right here, and they can’t be above my schach!” Shimon poked his head out the back door, shaking his head. “Look, there’s no need to shout your halachic theories across the yard, Boruch, and stop airing our dirty laundry in public.” He stepped out into the yard. “I won’t take down my clotheslines because the strings are made out of pure cotton. It’s an openand-shut case. The Mishna in Sukkah clearly says that you can use items for schach that grow from the ground once they have been detached. So my strings which are kosher schach won’t interfere with your sukkah.”

Halachic Validity of Cotton String Boruch sighed, trying to keep his temper pressed. “Please, Shimon, don’t let this stain our relationship, but you are not using a raw cotton plant. The cotton you are using has been highly processed and turned into string. There are two potential issues here, so don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes!” Boruch raised a finger. “First, you conveniently didn’t mention the other stipulation of the Mishna in Sukkah: schach cannot be something that is mekabeil tumah. Second, the cotton has been fundamentally changed from its original form. It’s been cycled into something completely new! The Rambam says that even something that grew from the ground, if it is completely changed from its original form, may not be used for schach.”

Shimon smirked. “I’m sure you will always spin the halacha your way for your own gain. Still, you’re grasping at threads. I have used cotton string to tie down the schach on my own Sukkah, which I built with my own arm and hammer, and the rabbi even made a bracha on my Sukkah! Now, I know you are only supposed to use something that is kosher for schach to tie down your schach, it’s called a maamid. So, if the rabbi approved, string must be kosher schach!”

The Rule of Maamid and Overhead Clothes “Perhaps,” Boruch countered, trying to pin the logic down, “the string was only used to secure the schach for uncommon winds, in which case you can use any material.” “No,” Shimon replied, standing firm. “There are frequent wind gusts here. We practically live in a wind tunnel.” “Let’s try to sort this out,” Boruch said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Maybe the rabbi made a bracha on the sukkah because the halacha of ma-

amid is just a chumra. L’halacha, even if schach was tied down for frequent winds with invalid schach, the sukkah is still technically kosher after the fact. But l’chatchila, you really shouldn’t have made the sukkah that way.” “No! The rabbi didn’t hang me out to dry,” Shimon objected. “My son specifically asked my rabbi, and he said we can absolutely continue using string every single year! And he further noted that Rashi in Chullin (125b) says that string is not mekbail tumah!” “Well, that still doesn’t prove that cotton string is strictly kosher schach,” Boruch argued. “Cotton string is rabbinically invalid for the reason I cited earlier: the changed form. Those are rabbinic stringencies. Since maamid is just a chumra anyway, and at best a rabbinic restriction, the rabbis permitted one to support schach with material that is kosher according to Torah law, even if it is rabbinically prohibited. But at the end of the day, cotton string is absolutely non-kosher schach, and you must take them down so I can build my sukkah here.”

Shimon crossed his arms. “I’m hoping I can find an argument to tide you over. The string only takes up a minuscule amount of space. I’m sure it won’t interfere with your sukkah. Your shade will come from your schach and not from my minuscule strings. It’s barely a thread of an issue.” Boruch was losing his patience. “You’re really starting to agitate me. The string maybe doesn’t take up too much airspace now, but I’m sure you will hang your clothes there on Sukkos as well! Baruch Hashem, you have a lot of kids, and I’m sure you’ll be doing laundry on Chol Hamoed. Those clothes will interfere with my schach!” “Boruch, calm down, you’re really bringing down the yom tov cheer,” Shimon laughed. “I’m not throwing in the towel just yet. My clothes hanging on the line also won’t bother you. They hang straight down. They still won’t interfere with your sukkah. It is a wellknown halacha that a sukkah under tree branches is perfectly kosher if the shade inside comes primarily from the schach and not the tree. Even if I hang many clothes, they will, for the most part, only take up vertical space.”

Applying Lavud to Overhead Obstructions “Okay, but there is another significant wrinkle that needs to be ironed out,” Boruch countered triumphantly. “The Gemara in Chullin, on page 125, discusses a case where there is an opening between two stories of a house. The Gemara says that even though a lattice placed in that opening has holes in it, tumah cannot get through. We view those holes as being halachically solid. Here too! You have three clotheslines hanging. Since the space between each of the clotheslines is less than nine inches, they are viewed as solid through the halachic principle of lavud. So it’s not just each individual clothesline I’m

sefer just to find a leniency!” Boruch pointed out. “One second... it says right here that Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, says to be machmir like the Bach only for permanent fixtures!” Shimon declared victoriously. “He says that one should not build under security bars, because that is a permanent fixture and it really is meant to be as good as solid. Whereas by clotheslines, you don’t want the space filled in! Just the opposite – you specifically need the empty space to hang your laundry! Moreover, clotheslines are temporary and much less permanent.” “You think you can just whisk away my proofs with one quote?” Boruch muttered. “Not everyone agrees. The Minchas Yitzchak, for one, disagreed with that distinction. So you’re really just blowing hot air!”

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

concerned about. Because of lavud, it comes out to over two feet of completely pasul schach!” Shimon’s eyes widened. “Wow. That sounds like a massive stretch. Trying to use the concept of lavud for a sukkah to invalidate it? You’re making me split at the seams with these mental gymnastics!” “Whoa!” Boruch exclaimed. “I have seen your own sukkah! You have fabric walls, and you use lavud straps on them! Every nine inches you have another strap. You literally use lavud to make your sukkah kosher. You can’t have it tailor-made both ways! You can’t just bounce between different halachic opinions whenever it suits your needs!” “Yes, you have caught me in a trap,” Shimon conceded. “Still, there seems to be a glaring difference. I am inten-

“It is a well-known halacha that a sukkah under tree branches is perfectly kosher if the shade inside comes primarily from the schach and not the tree.”

tionally using lavud to make my sukkah kosher. You, on the other hand, are suggesting that lavud can work entirely against your will, to make your sukkah pasul. You’re trying to weave a halacha out of thin air.” “True,” Boruch nodded, “but over seven generations ago, the Bach suggested exactly that! It’s called lavud l’hachmir, applying the rule of connection to be stringent.”

Contemporary Poskim on Clotheslines “Hmm.” Shimon paused, a memory returning to him. “Wait, this is coming back to me. Didn’t the Magen Avraham argue entirely with the Bach on that? So it’s the Bach versus the Magen Avraham. It’s a total wash. In a dispute like that, can’t we just be meikel?” “I’m sorry,” Boruch replied firmly, “but the Mishna Berura implies that one really should be concerned for the opinion of the Bach.” Shimon quickly grabbed a sefer from a nearby outdoor table and began rapidly flipping through the pages. “I see you surfing through that

Shimon closed the sefer with a satisfying thud. “Well, HaRav Zilberstein said that I don’t have to take down my clotheslines for your chumra. I refuse to let our backyard enter a new era of unnecessary stringencies. Halachically, you can’t force me. I’m sorry, Boruch, but the lines stay!” Realizing he was completely out of material, Boruch finally decided to fold. After all, it was a better alternative than to let their friendship unravel. Suddenly, Boruch noticed a neighbor videoing this whole conversation. “If you make this go viral, be sure to tell them to speak to their rav for halacha l’maaseh.” “Sure,” replied the neighbor, “but I’m not sure I’ll send it out. I’ve seen laundry detergent leave a better film than this.”

The following insurances are accepted as payment in full or partial payment to the purchase of hearing aids. OXFORD, UNITED HEALTHCARE, AETNA, THE EMPIRE PLAN, UFT Teachers, HEALTHFIRST

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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.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Headlines

Halacha

The Imminent Collapse of Israel’s Welfare System by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

hen a missile struck the tank of Uri Asher during the Iron Swords war, the Israeli state responded exactly as it was built to respond. Uri, severely wounded and having lost a leg, received devoted military and medical care. The system knew who he was, what he was owed, and how to deliver it. His parents, however, Uri’s caretakers, received nothing. “While Israel’s heroes receive institutional accompaniment, their families often find themselves without an appropriate response,” reads the mission statement of Advot, the organization Moshi and Yocheved Asher founded after discovering that their experience — a second, invisible campaign of uncertainty and daily coping conducted entirely without support — was not unusual at all. It was standard. They met family after family of wounded soldiers dealing with pain, anxiety and functional collapse, and all of them were outside the circles of assistance. That is not a gap in a program. It is a structural feature of how Israeli social support is designed, and it explains why the most consequential social work happening in Israel right now is being done by small nonprofits funded by private philanthropy, building parallel infrastructure the state does not have. It is somewhat shocking that Israeli social support runs on two tracks that do not meet nor connect. The first is the statutory municipal welfare system— professional, licensed, and calibrated specifically for these types chronic cases. Its social workers were carrying caseloads beyond capacity before October 7. The war added an enormous number of newly disrupted households without adding a proportionate number of social workers, and

the arithmetic has not improved. The second is community goodwill, whose capacity the war demonstrated dramatically. Neighborhoods organized meal rotations, childcare, transportation and cash within days, often faster than any government body. But goodwill has a documented life cycle. It surges, exhausts itself, and fades within four to six months — usually just as affected families enter the hardest phase, when the casseroles stop and the actual longterm burden begins. Between the two falls a category of family the system does not officially recognize: the functioning household, two working parents and a mortgage, struck by cancer, by a serious accident, by a death, or by a father who has spent two hundred days in reserve duty while the family’s income quietly evaporated. Such a family is eligible for little and known to no agency. These families do not vanish. Some recover on their own. Others decline slowly over three to seven years until they finally cross the eligibility threshold and arrive at municipal welfare as

full cases — at a human cost that cannot be recovered and a fiscal cost several multiples higher than early intervention would have required. Shlomo HaMelech described the condition three thousand years ago. “Ki im yipolu, ha’echad yakim es chaveiro; v’ilo ha’echad she’yipol, v’ein sheini l’hakimo — for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to the one who falls with no second to lift him” (Koheles 4:10).

Yad Tamar Yad Tamar, now operating in 47 Israeli communities, was built specifically on that seam, and its history explains the approach. It began roughly fifteen years ago at the bedside of a young woman named Tamar, as a telephone hotline for families confronting cancer. That hotline still runs and accompanies approximately 1,800 families a year. About eleven years ago, the organization made a decision that separates it from most of the Israeli nonprofit sector: it stopped expanding services and started building infrastructure.

What Yad Tamar installs in a community is designed to remain after its staff have moved on — a local community team, a corps of trained volunteers, a mapped inventory of every real resource available in that town, formal referral channels running in from the municipal welfare department, and a purpose-built application for coordinating crisis response and long-term support. The operational framework organizes help into three concentric circles: family and close friends; formal services and community resources; and trained volunteers drawn from the community itself. Staff map and mobilize each circle, then build a written support plan with the family that connects every identified need to a specific named resource rather than a referral into empty space. The organization reports 3,500 families supported annually and roughly 2,800 volunteers nationwide. Its footprint is unusually broad and tracks no single constituency: the Gaza envelope, the north, the communities of Judea and Samaria that absorbed disproportionate losses in the war, and substantial infrastructure inside Druze society. Two elements of the model deserve scrutiny rather than applause, because they are where the claim will actually be tested. The first is the economic argument. Each community built is supposed to make the next one cheaper and faster, as training protocols, materials and municipal relationships become transferable. That is a flywheel claim, easy to assert and hard to prove. Yad Tamar’s answer is scale: an increase from a NIS 5 million annual budget (about US$1.5 million) to NIS 7.5 million (about US$2.2 million), which it says would double its entry pace to 30 new municipalities in a single year. Whether per-community cost actually falls at that speed is the number a se-

MOSHE, founded in 2017 by Gal Nissim-Emanuel after her brother Moshe Uri Nissim took his own life, describes itself as the first organization in Israel functioning as a community-based emergency response system for suicide prevention. Its method, called ROOFING, rests on the same premise as Yad Tamar’s circles and Advot’s family focus: build a protective human circle around the person at risk by mobilizing those already in his life, rather than routing him into a system with no room. The organization reports 1,778 interventions supporting some 17,500 people, 129 trained volunteers, and 7,600 community resilience agents trained nationwide. Three organizations. Three different presenting problems. One identical

The state cannot reach these people in time, so the community must be trained, structured and equipped to reach them instead.

meaning a philanthropic shekel spent building the infrastructure unlocks public shekels to operate it. What makes this a systemic story rather than a profile is that other organizations, working on entirely different problems, have arrived at an identical architecture. Advot, the Ashers’ organization, is headquartered in Kedumim and is organized around a single premise: a soldier cannot be rehabilitated without strengthening the people around him. Its work spans emotional and social accompaniment, individual and group support, legal and financial guidance, rights-realization assistance, respite activities, and the recruitment and deployment of volunteers. It has also built an AI-driven support agent, developed by families of the wounded together with technology firms, to deliver information and guidance discreetly at any hour — a recognition that the families who need help most are often least able to sit in an office and ask for it. One of Advot’s stated areas of activity is legislative amendment and government support. The organization is lobbying to change the law precisely because the law does not currently see the people it serves.

conclusion: the state cannot reach these people in time, so the community must be trained, structured and equipped to reach them instead. “V’hachut hameshulash lo bimheirah yinatek — a threefold cord is not quickly severed” (Koheles 4:12). The verse comes two pesukim after the warning about the man who falls alone, and the sequence is not accidental. Shlomo HaMelech moves from the danger of isolation directly to the durability of a structure built of more than one strand. What these organizations have built is impressive, increasingly measured, and probably necessary. But the underlying fact is that Israeli civil society is now constructing at private expense a layer of social infrastructure that in most functioning states is a public responsibility. Philanthropy is being asked to fund the prevention of a problem the public system will otherwise absorb later at far greater cost — and asked precisely because the public system has demonstrated that it will not.

This article should be viewed as a halachic discussion and not practical advice. The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

rious funder should demand in writing. The second is measurement. In partnership with Social Finance Israel and the Joint Distribution Committee, the organization developed a model tracking outcomes rather than outputs — family functioning over time, prevented decline into welfare dependence, community resilience. That is a materially harder standard than the volunteer-hours-and-families-served reporting that dominates the sector. It is the right standard. It is also young, and outcome data of this kind takes years to become persuasive. The stated five-year objective is a formal national partnership with the Ministries of Welfare and Health. The strategic logic is that the government already channels resilience and community budgets through municipalities,

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

School of

Thought

It’s Not Business As Usual By Barbara Deutsch

few weeks ago, a balcony attached to an old Rechavia home and next door to an Angel’s Cafe fell off its moorings and into the restaurant. Sadly, a couple enjoying a late afternoon cup of coffee was hit by the falling debris. The husband died upon impact. Luckily, the wife survived, although she is badly wounded. My apartment is not far from the site of the tragedy. As I sat reading on my phone, I could hear multiple screaming sirens and racing cars. Soon, banners displaying scenes of a horrific accident scrolled across my screen. The couple was evacuated, and the building was shut down. Late into the night, the cafe and its surroundings were cleared of dangerous debris. The entire block was closed. And so, it remains. At first, the very Anglo popular hangout, Green’s (right next door to Angel’s), remained open for business as usual. People gingerly walked past the metal gates that closed off the de-

stroyed cafe and peered up to see the exposed broken supports that had kept the balcony in place for many years. Green’s kept selling salads, sandwiches and coffee. Last week, Green’s closed its doors for indoor seating; the restaurant was only accessible through a walk around the block, down a narrow alley and onto a back door portal with two iPads attached to a half-door. This back alley is right across the way from Khal Chassidim, a very busy morning minyan location. After early morning Pilates, Green’s is one of my first pit stops; I often go there for a fresh, crispy baguette and their small chocolate chip cookies. I don’t buy them often because I eat way too much. This new back alley shopping is not for me. Erev Shabbat, I allowed my yen for a fresh croissant to enjoy with my morning coffee lead me to that back window where a long line of patrons stood waiting. An industrious “kid” handled the

crowds. When he spotted me and my “how do I do this?” face, he quickly took my order and gave it to another kid, the designated runner. He sent him downstairs to fill my order and pay. It was pretty impressive. I am not sure what was more impressive – the kid manager, his kid lackey, the order fulfillment or my relinquishing my phone and credit cards in order for him to use Apple Pay. Another morning, I went back to Green’s for some bread and cookies – same kid manning the fort and a short line of early morning “post minyan” and business people. Mid-day, Green’s is usually filled with baby carriages and outside-of-the-neighborhood mothers enjoying a salad and flavored coffee lunch. That is gone; I wonder where they all go now. At the improvised counter, I caught the eye of one of the adult managers, and she took my small order and, yes, my phone. As I waited for her return, the line grew and filled the tight, small

alley with more waiting customers. They were there waiting for their “usual.” As the circumstances are not “usual,” it took much longer. As patience thinned, a senior gentleman (?) speeding in his special handicap vehicle (a souped-up golf cart) came barreling through the alleyway. Barking orders in Hebrew, English and gibberish, he demanded that everyone clear the path. A man sitting on a giant bike waiting for his weekly bagel order, shot back, “Eizeh chutzpah” as he without caution moved his bike closer to my leg and toes. The crowd flattened, and the “gentleman” and his vehicle aggressively drove over the slippery cobblestone walk to wherever he was going. Poor Green’s. There seems to be no clear understanding of when they will be able to go back to “business as usual.” I have said that in Israel there has never been or probably ever will be anything “usual.” Today, I saw a single but determined construction worker trying to clear the

massive amount of rubble in Angel’s. It’s a sad story looking for a happier ending.

My friend Tova went out for dinner at a very fancy restaurant in Tuscany. She and her husband were on vacation from Israel. When she looked around the beautiful kosher venue, she got very upset. Every table was filled with laughing, talking and enjoying Jewish

I have said that in Israel there has never been or probably ever will be anything “usual.”

“Please tell me why this is your new policy?” I asked. His weary response: “When they changed the bus stop (Jerusalem is a construction zone), every hour, more and more people come into my store. They ask me silly questions and want to see this ring or that bracelet. Shtuyot! I have work to do and can’t be bothered!” Only in Israel.

tourists from all over the world. Tova stood in the middle of the room and called for everyone’s attention. She loudly proclaimed in a sincere ringing voice. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you vacationing in our beautiful land that is begging for tourists? I’m here because I live in Israel and I can allow myself to venture out. Israel needs you. There is no longer a ‘war’ excuse. Come back.”

The week has been eventful. The Elul spiritual preparations for Rosh Hashana are in full gear with abundant programs, tiyulim to holy places and shiurim. The charedi schools are open for all. The girls glow with expectation in their crisp, new uniforms. The older boys, in hats and clean white shirts, are ready for another year of Torah. The municipality system opens next week. The American seminaries and yeshivot are filled with students coming for their gap year. The long lines for Natan’s coffee are back. Mazal tov! Remember “Fancy Nails” and “Chaim” from my article about my granddaughter Ariela’s dating journey? Well, real names Simi and Aharon are engaged; the circle with Yoel and Ariela is now “happily ever after” for both young couples.

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 still trying to figure out life in Israel.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

I needed some small jewelry repairs. There is a row of small jewelers on Shmuel Hanagid Street. I chose the one that seemed welcoming and met the French-Israeli proprietor who seemed knowledgeable but very French. I left a pretty diamond pendant that my mother-in-law had gifted three out of our five granddaughters. The piece is a small cluster of diamonds that form a flower in a white gold setting and a chain. The other two girls received small solitaires on a chain; each stone was given to Anyu and Apu as “just in case” backup when they left Hungary. The necklaces are precious keepsakes that the girls all enjoy wearing. It is important to have trust; I would not leave this precious piece with just anyone. A few weeks later, I returned to pick up the necklace and drop off a pair of diamond and gold earrings that had lost a stone. The jeweler gave me the necklace and took the earrings. He told me that I could pay next time. When I went to pick up the earrings,

I was confronted with a door sign in Hebrew. “Pickups and drop offs by appointment only.” In my head, confusion reigned supreme. I texted the number listed and arranged for a pickup. It was another beautiful repair.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Israel Today

One Pair of Boots. One Conversation. One Incredible Ripple Effect.

n February 2024, Yakir Wachstock was in Israel on a mission with members of his community from New York. During the trip, he met an Israeli soldier on duty in Kfar Aza who had recently been serving in the reserves. The soldier began sharing some of what he had experienced on and after October 7. Somewhere along the way, one small need came up. He needed boots. Through Just One Chesed’s Boots for Israel project, we were able to get him a pair. It could have ended there. A soldier needed something. Someone stepped in to help. A simple act of chesed. But that is rarely where chesed ends. Yakir and the soldier stayed in touch. Months later, Yakir reached out with an invitation. “Will you be in New York this summer? We have an amazing event in the Hamptons, and we’re looking for a guest hero to share his story.” The soldier said yes. He would be in New York, and he asked if he could bring his wife and children. The family arrived several hours before the event, giving them some much needed time to relax together by the pool. Later that evening, the soldier spoke for just a few minutes, sharing a small piece of what he and so many Israeli reservists had experienced since October 7. One of the people listening was Michael Dube, whose organization, Moments To Memories Fund, is dedicated to creating meaningful and unforgettable experiences for individuals and families who could use something special to lift them up. Michael heard the soldier’s story

and immediately wanted to do something for his family. He asked a simple question: “Have your kids ever been to a Broadway show?” They had not. That one question turned into an experience the family never could have expected. Michael and Moments To Memories Fund sent the entire family to see Aladdin on Broadway. Then came a Mets game and dinner! And somehow, the surprises kept coming. During the Mets game, Yakir received a picture of the family enjoying the experience. By coincidence, Yakir’s own children were at that very same game. They go to baseball games often and had become pretty good at getting players to toss baseballs into the stands. Yakir immediately thought of the soldier’s children. “See if you can get them baseballs.” They did.

light up as their father was treated like a hero. Because they had sacrificed, too. They had lived through the absences, the worry, the uncertainty, and the long stretches when their father was away serving in miluim. Their mother had carried an enormous burden at

You help one soldier, but you never know where that kindness will travel.

Soon, the family had baseballs to bring home as one more memory from an already unforgettable experience. For Yakir, though, the most meaningful part was not Broadway, the baseball game, the dinner, or even the gifts. It was watching the soldier’s children

home. Their father had only recently finished another period of reserve duty, and the family was simply trying to decompress, reconnect, and enjoy being together again. For a few days, they were not being asked to sacrifice.

They were being cared for. Celebrated. Seen. And it all began with one pair of boots. One need led to one act of kindness. That act led to a relationship. That relationship led to another person hearing the story. And that person helped create memories this family will carry with them for years. But remarkably, the story does not end there. Now, that same chayal is preparing to return to miluim. And this time, he reached back out to us. Members of his unit are in need of proper military boots before returning to service. The soldier who once received a single pair of boots through Just One Chesed is now helping us identify 80 fellow soldiers in his unit who need boots of their own. And once again, we have the opportunity to say yes. We will be raising the funds to provide boots for all 80 soldiers before they head back into service. That is the ripple effect of chessed. You help one soldier, but you never know where that kindness will travel. A pair of boots becomes a friendship. A friendship becomes an unforgettable experience for a family. And eventually, that same connection comes full circle and creates the opportunity to help 80 more soldiers. This is what we mean when we say Just One Chesed. Because one act of kindness is almost never just one act. One chessed creates another. And another. And another.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

The Wandering

Jew

Eretz Yisroel Why, When, Where & Who Part II: 2000 – 2003 By Hershel Lieber

With Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz

y three-day trip to Eretz Yisroel in June of 2001 was strictly related to my involvement with the Yeshiva of Kishinev, Moldova. Together with my partner in this project Rabbi Moshe Eisemann, we conducted fourteen interviews over a three-day period for the position of Rosh Yeshiva as well as for the director of our girls’ high

With Rav Eliyahu Essas in Geula on Sukkos 2001

school. In addition, we needed at least one rebbi for our boys’ division. Unfortunately, we were not successful in ful-

we were not ready to accept. I did get to meet with a number of people whom I was interested in seeing.

When we found our seats, we realized that the congregation consisted mainly of secular Jews who came on their annual Yom Kippur pilgrimage to shul.

filling our mission. Most candidates did not fill the role that we required, and the few that qualified made conditions that

Walking in the Arab Shuk on Chol Hamoed Sukkos 2001

With Mechel and friends Sukkos 2001

This included Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz with whom we shared a common interest, Kishinev. Over the years, I developed

Finding schach for our sukkah in 2001

a close relationship with Rav Menachem Mendel Joskowitz, the former chief rabbi of Poland. He stayed in our home a number of times when he came to the States, and I spent a lot of time with him when I was in Poland. I met with Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs of the Netherlands and Rabbi Eliyahu Essas who I visited in Moscow when he was the main teacher of the “refusenik” movement. I met with a number of Polish Jews with whom I formed a bond over the many years of teaching at the Lauder Summer & Winter Retreats in Poland. They included Azriel Shtyber, Andrzej Skiba, and Malka and Monika Lewkowicz – each person with their unique history. Our dear friends Razi and Rifka Mamet took me on a personalized tour of the Old City and treated me with dinner at Kinor David. The next time we were in Eretz Yisroel was in September/October of 2001. This was our lengthiest trip which stretched from before Yom Kippur through after Simchas Torah. That year I stayed home for Rosh Hashana instead of going to Warsaw. Upon coming to Yerushalayim, I fancied davening on Yom Kippur in a big shul, preferably with a chazan and choir. Mechel, who was learning in Brisk, was not so keen with my choice but reluctantly agreed to join me. We bought seats

Rabbi Avrohom Yehoshua Soloveichik

The Boyaner Rebbe

Former Chief Rabbi of Poland Menachem Mendael Joskowitz in June 2001

Jews who came on their annual Yom Kippur pilgrimage to shul. The atmosphere was far from solemn or serious. In no way did it convey the aura of the year’s holiest day. After davening, I apologized to Mechel for choosing such an uninspiring venue for Yom Hakodosh. The next morning, I went to daven by the Sadigurar Rebbe, and Mechel went to Rav Don Segal. Just after Shacharis I spotted Mechel as he joined me at Sadigur. When I inquired about the change, he shrugged his shoulders and admitted that a Litvishe davening With the Pasiecni family in Petach Tikva Sukkos 2001 was also not his cup of tea.

at the Yeshurun Shul a few days earlier and arrived in time for Kol Nidrei. When we found our seats, we realized that the congregation consisted mainly of secular

The Biale Rebbe

The Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe

Among the many personalities we met, in no particular order, were the following: the Gerer Rebbe; Rav Yakov Aryeh, where we had an opportunity to go in with a kvittel; hakafos by the Boyaner Rebbe who remembered me from a Shabbos we spent together in Lugano, Switzerland; the Biala Rebbe who I met originally in Lugano and where we davened on a number of occasions; and the Stoliner Rebbe at Simchas Beis Hashoeiva. On Shabbos Chol Hamoed we davened Kabbolas Shabbos by the Belzer Rebbe and Shacharis by the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe. We ate a yom tov seudah by Rav Mordechai Friedlander and one by our friends Moshe and Rita Wolf together with their mechutan Rabbi Abba Dunner, the director of the Con-

The Gerrer Rebbe

Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv

ference of European Rabbis. He was very helpful in arranging funding for our yeshiva in Kishinev. Mechel and I were also privileged to attend a shiur given by Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv at the shteiblech in Meah Shearim. One of the most impressionable visits was to Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz. I visited the Rosh Yeshiva of Shaar Hashamayim in Yerushalayim at least four times. I heard that his grandfather was the Rosh Yeshiva of Rav Yehuda Leib Tsirelson’s famous yeshiva in Kishinev. In fact, we put up a plaque about him in our yeshiva in Kishinev. I went to invite him to come and see our newly dedicated yeshiva. He told me that he does not leave Eretz Yisroel but was keenly interested in our school and its progress. All my subsequent visits

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Sadigura Rebbe

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

With Razi & Rivka in Caesarea in 2003

centered around this theme, but at times, I brought my family to join me in getting his brachos. He is a very warm and emotional person with a twinkle in his eye and a great sense of humor. I thoroughly enjoyed every visit. Since this trip was over a three-week period, we had ample time to do some touring. Razi and Rivka gave us a guided tour of the Old City and the Holyland model of Yerushalayim. We visited them in Petach Tikva where we also met some of our Polish expatriates, Robert and Kasia Pasiecni, with their children and Avram Skiba. We had our own sukkah where Mechel’s yeshiva friends joined for some seudos and once we hosted Azriel

With my mother at Yad VaShem in 2003 (she contributed some of her Holocaust paintings)

Shtyber. Another day, we joined Hoffman’s Tours for a trip to Tzfas, Teveria, and Meron. Of course, we went to the Kosel a number of times including once for a massive Birchas Kohanim. The last day we spent at Beit Hatfutzot Museum in Tel Aviv, and we took a pleasant stroll along the Mediterranean Sea. I was back in Israel for four days in January of 2003. We had hired a Rosh Yeshiva for our school in Kishinev a year earlier, but we had serious reservations concerning his stewardship of our mosdos. I met with him in Yerushalayim where we worked out an acceptable compromise. During this trip, I hired two more teachers for our boys’ and girls’ schools. I visited Rav Gamliel again and had lunch with Chief Rabbi Ron Hassid of Gibraltar, building on a relationship that was formed when we were in Gibraltar in 2000. I did take off a day from my duties to do some exploring. I joined Hoffman Tours to tour the Old City and Kever Rochel. His tour included the kevorim of Ezra HaSofer, Shmuel HaNavi, Shimon Hatzaddik, the Ohr HaChayim, Reb Shalom Sharabi and the tombs of the Sanhedrin. All in all ,this trip was much more successful for our yeshiva in Kishinev, but the story did not end all the difficulties that we still faced in maintaining our mosdos in Kishinev. The same year, in October 2003, we

With Chief Rabbi Ron Hassid of Gibraltar in 2003

With my brother Yossi & Idii and family members in the Judean Desert in 2003

went another time for Sukkos to Yerushalayim. This was after davening at the Nozyk Shul on Rosh Hashana. My mother, who met us in Vienna after Tzom Gedalia, joined us for Yom Kippur in Warsaw and then we flew to Israel. My mother joined my brother Yossi, his wife Idii and his children at Gold Hotel while we took an apartment in Ezras Torah. Mechel was still learning in Brisk, and he joined us during his bein hazmanim. This trip was also action packed. Razi and Rifka took us for an excursion to Caesarea and the Tishbi Wine Press in Zichron Yakov. We also took the cable car up to Mount Carmel in Haifa to see Mearas Eliyahu. On Chol Hamoed, we joined Yossi and his family for jeeping in the Judean Desert. One day, we went with my mother and Malka Lewkowicz to Yad Vashem, where we viewed my mother’s watercolors depicting Bochnia ghetto scenes that she donated to the museum. Another day Shmuel and Chana Cymerman visited us with their two daughters. I know Shmuel from when he arrived from Poland and davened with me at the Bluzhever Rebbe. That same evening, we went to a Chanukas Habayis at our mechutanim, Avrohom Chaim and Chany Grossman, in Rechavia. Among the personalities I met were the Slonimer Rebbe when I attended his tisch and the Rachmistrivka Rebbe by his tisch. We also made a repeat visit to Rabbi Mordechai Friedlander. Hoshana Rabbah was a combination of the Kapishnitzer Rebbe followed by the Boyaner Rebbe. A very memorable anecdote which remains with me for the past twenty years is my visit to Rav Avrohom Yehoshua

Soloveitchik. I met the Rosh Yeshiva of Brisk after my son Mechel started learning there. I went with Mechel to visit him at his apartment. As I mentioned before, I had just come to Israel after spending the Yomim Noraim in Warsaw, Poland, where I was the baal tefilla at the Nozyk Shul. Being in Warsaw, I would often go to the bais olam to daven at kivrei tzaddikim. When I entered his dining room and met him, I told him that I have regards from his ancestors Rav Chaim Brisker and the Netziv, as I was at their kevarim only a week before. He did not seem too impressed. I asked him if he was ever there, to which he replied, “No.” When I asked him if the reason is because that he does not go out of Israel, he replied, “Not at all. I go almost every year to Switzerland.” Then he added, “Mir zeinin nit kein kevarim geiyers (we are not people who go to visit kevarim)”. He followed his remarks with a novel story that I love repeating. He told me in these very words: “Reb Nachman Elbaum, the famous travel agent, once asked me to lead a trip of travelers to the towns and cemeteries in Lita (Lithuania) where I would tell the oilem the history of these former Jewish bastions of Torah and the personalities that are interred at each bais olam.” So I told Reb Nachman, “Why don’t you get a Rebbe to do this trip? A Rebbe would do a much better job than me.” To which Reb Nachman retorted curtly, “Please do not teach me my business!” The Rosh Yeshiva has a great sense of humor, and the way he told this story revealed his style. To be continued…

Hershel Lieber has been involved in kiruv activities for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Vaad L’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel he has traveled with his wife, Pesi, to the Soviet Union during the harsh years of the Communist regimes to advance Yiddishkeit. He has spearheaded a yeshiva in the city of Kishinev that had 12 successful years with many students making Torah their way of life. In Poland, he lectured in the summers at the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation camp for nearly 30 years. He still travels to Warsaw every year – since 1979 – to be the chazzan for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the Jews there. Together with Pesi, he organized and led trips to Europe on behalf of Gateways and Aish Hatorah for college students finding their paths to Jewish identity. His passion for travel has taken them to many interesting places and afforded them unique experiences. Their open home gave them opportunities to meet and develop relationships with a variety of people. Hershel’s column will appear in The Jewish Home on a bi-weekly basis.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

nspiration Nation

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Rav Reuven Feinstein Lessons in Humility, Chinuch, and Faith BY BrendY J. Siev

rowing up, R’ Reuven Feinstein, shlita, knew his father was a rabbi, and a respected one, but that was about it. At home, there had been no ga’avah, nothing to signal greatness. Just a father who learned at his desk while his youngest son played with toy soldiers on the floor beneath it. It wasn’t until he had left home to learn in Telz and saw how people reacted to the name “Feinstein,” that he understood how important his father, R’ Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, actually was.

Ask him what kind of father Rav Moshe was, and Rav Reuven hesitates; R’ Moshe was “the only father we had,” he says wryly. But pressed further, the picture comes into focus: Rav Moshe was incredibly considerate. He never wanted anyone to feel tzaar because of him. He never kept a person waiting. Rav Moshe and the rebbetzin were simply always together, a steady closeness that didn’t need announcing to be real. R’ Moshe would carry young R’ Reuven, give him piggyback rides and

In His Words… Anavah is not thinking you are a nobody. it’s recognizing that your talent is a gift from Hashem— and because He gave you that gift, He expects more from you. i never made the Shabbos table an inquisition. The table should be a place where children want to be—a warm environment to talk, ask questions, and be together. We have no true control in this world. Once you internalize that Hashem is taking care of you, the panic leaves.

small, wordless affection. Mostly being together simply meant being in the same room while his father learned. R’ Reuven would sit underneath his father’s desk with his toy soldiers and marbles, running his games out across the floor while his father worked through a daf of learning above him. R’ Reuven didn’t need his father to look up. “I didn’t need to talk to him,” R’ Reuven recalls. “I just played near him.” R’ Reuven’s clearest memory of his father is simple: writing, always writing. “I never spied on my father,” R’ Reuven says, unlike the yeshiva boys who had no such compunction, but he understood R’ Moshe’s learning pattern from what others described. R’ Moshe learned through a page of Gemara, then Rashi, then Tosafos, then turned the page and started again. “He did about 100 pages an hour on Shabbos” and retained nearly all of it. R’ Moshe’s mind wasn’t confined to Torah alone, either. R’ Reuven tells a story from just after the Communists took power, before World War II, when a local commissar, herself a mathematician, tried to publicly embarrass the rabbis as ignorant of anything outside their own texts. She handed R’ Moshe a complex equation. He gave her the answer on the spot. Later, he wrote a sefer on mathematics. His grasp of world history worked the same way his son’s yeshiva still teaches it today: not history for its own sake, but history as it actually touched Jewish life.

Growing up between two worlds, the wider world outside and the Torah world at home, is something a lot of parents talk about trying to balance. R’ Reuven’s advice on how to find that balance is less a technique than a description of the house he grew up in. “There was no ga’avah in our house,” he says. “There was no such thing as being high and mighty.” He and his siblings were capable, and they felt it, but nobody needed to announce it. What mattered more was understanding yourself honestly enough to see what needed fixing. “My father left himself open that we should always be able to talk to him,” he recalls. Anavah, humility, runs on the same principle. It isn’t the hollow, headbowed self-erasure people often picture, where you put your head down and call yourself a nobody. His father’s version was the opposite of pretending you have nothing to offer; it was remembering where whatever you do have actually comes from. “It’s a gift from Hashem,” he says. “Therefore, it’s nothing for you to brag about.” But a gift comes with responsibility attached: because He gave you this gift, He also expects more from you. That philosophy showed up plainly at the Shabbos table, which R’ Reuven has carried into his own home as a parent. The table, in his words, is a place you want to join.

place where Jews were secondary,” he says. In 1950, he was thrown out of the U.S. Capitol for wearing a yarmulke. A policeman stopped him: “Get that hat off your head.” He explained, “I’m sorry, I can’t, this is part of my religion.” The response was immediate: “Get out of this building.” As a boy, R’ Reuven’s brother told him to root for the Dodgers, not the Yankees, not out of any real interest in the sport, but because everyone around him was a Yankees fan. He took the ribbing for years. What stuck with him wasn’t the team; it was the players who happened to be Jewish. “My interest in baseball was always more about the Jewish players,” he says, men like Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, “they meant a lot because it was a big statement for the world.” He points to Greenberg’s near-miss at Babe Ruth’s home run record as proof of exactly what he means: “Greenberg hit 58 home runs, but they stopped pitching to him at the end of the season because he was a Jew and they didn’t want a Jew to break Babe Ruth’s record. You had blatant antisemitism straight in baseball,” he says. “When I was a kid, the right was considered the dangerous ones,” he says, pointing to Hitler and Mussolini as the threats of his childhood. His read on the present has flipped: “Now, the left hates us, they want to kill us.” The right, in his assessment, isn’t necessarily driven by love either. “The right is holding onto us, but not because they love us,” he says, noting that much of the Christian pro-Israel movement is rooted in a belief that certain prophecies can’t unfold without Jews in Eretz Yisrael, rather than affection for Jews themselves. Even so, “I still take that

over them trying to kill us.” Some things, though, have genuinely gotten better. In his own youth, there was no Kollel system to speak of, just the earliest seeds of the idea. “Now the whole world is learning,” he says. “Our generation can take credit for that.” But he doesn’t let the comparison end on an uncomplicated note. Where the threats of his childhood were personal and local – a beating on the way to school – he sees the current moment as facing something aimed at the nation as a whole. Through all of it, his read stays the same as it’s always been: “Hashem is gathering the exiles slowly but surely.” That belief carries into how he thinks about aliyah, too. Asked directly whether Jews should be moving to Eretz Yisrael now, his answer wasn’t a blanket yes or no. “I would think if you have no reason to be here, why not?” he says. For himself, staying isn’t inertia: “I have a reason to be here; I have a job.” He doesn’t expect the decision to stay theoretical for everyone forever either, pointing to what’s already unfolding in France, where rising antisemitism has been quietly pushing Jews to leave, and predicting similar pressures will eventually make the choice for people who don’t make it themselves. However it plays out, in his view, it was never really in human hands to begin with. “Hashem is the One running the show,” he asserts. When asked about contemporary challenges—such as the “shidduch crisis”—Rav Reuven points out that distorted societal expectations often create artificial problems. “Girls in Bais Yaakov are often taught that they must only marry a

gadol ha’dor,” he observes. “A gadol ha’dor is busy with the entire community. What a person needs is a devoted, fine husband. There is nothing wrong with a fine working boy who maintains firm hashkafah and sets fixed times for learning. We need to focus on what truly matters.” Ultimately, whether addressing societal anxieties or personal struggles, Rav Reuven points to one foundational pillar: bitachon, absolute reliance on Hashem. Hashgacha pratis, he asserts, is what separates the Jews from the nonJews. When a Jew believes fully in the special relationship that they have with the Ribbono shel Olam, then they will experience yeshuos. What comes through underneath all of it is a kind of trust that doesn’t need to be explained so much as arrived at. He tells a story about an MRI he took years ago: laid into the machine and told it would take 45 minutes, he suddenly “panicked from the loss of control” and couldn’t finish the scan. Lying there, he turned the fear over in his mind, asking what exactly it was afraid of. “I started thinking to myself, my subconscious is afraid. What is it afraid of? The loss of control. So I had to think over all the situations in life where I have no control and I have to rely on G-d anyway. It’s a point of knowing there’s a G-d that takes care of you,” he says. “You can’t protect yourself on your own; it’s impossible. So therefore, we have to rely on Hashem.” He went back into the machine and finished the test. “Once you internalize that Hashem is taking care of you, the panic leaves. “We’re in Hashem’s hands,” he says.

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

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 | The Jewish Home

“It wasn’t the Inquisition time: what did you learn this week, tell me this. I never questioned my kids at the Shabbos table.... It was a pretty open house,” he says. “There was nothing to hide.” He tells a story from a summer when he was a boy upstate in the country. Each morning, for about two hours, his father learned with him. This was scheduled deliberately, so that by the time the farm truck rolled around that would take the children into town at around one o’clock, R’ Reuven would be free to climb aboard. One day, the truck was preparing to leave earlier than planned, and R’ Moshe, mid-lesson, noticed R’ Reuven watching it pull away. Rather than hold him to the schedule, R’ Moshe simply said: “Go, we’ll learn later.” Even as a boy, R’ Reuven understood what his father already knew, that forcing the moment would have long-term impact. When R’ Reuven talks about antisemitism, he isn’t drawing on headlines. He’s drawing on memory. “I think it’s definitely different,” he says, comparing what Yidden face today to what he faced as a boy. Walking to school nearly guaranteed getting beaten “at least once a day for wearing a yarmulke.” He and other Jewish children were called “g-d-killers and everything else,” and it wasn’t incidental: “the priests would tell the kids to beat up Jews.” Walking alone made children a target. “So I knew hatred in that sense,” he says. He was a small child during the Second World War, too young to grasp the full scope of what was happening but old enough to grow up already aware that concentration camps existed. “You lived with it,” he says. “When I grew up, America was a

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Dating Dialogue

What Would You Do If… Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW of The Navidaters

Dear Navidaters,

Why do people sometimes present themselves very differently in dating pictures than they look in person? I recently went out with a girl who looked very slim in her pictures, but in person she wasn’t, and honestly, I was not attracted to her

at all. I realized even more clearly that I’m really only attracted to someone who is on the slim/ athletic side. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to just be genuine and show yourself as you really are? You don’t need to change your pictures, use angles, filters, or makeup to look different. There are people who will appreciate you exactly as you are. I feel like being upfront about what you look like would save both people time and avoid awkward situations. Thanks for your time, Eli*

Disclaimer: This column is not intended to diagnose or otherwise conclude resolutions to any questions. Our intention is not to offer any definitive conclusions to any particular question, rather offer areas of exploration for the author and reader. Due to the nature of the column receiving only a short snapshot of an issue, without the benefit of an actual discussion, the panel’s role is to offer a range of possibilities. We hope to open up meaningful dialogue and individual exploration.

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The Panel

We want to offer YOU an opportunity to be part of the discussion!

Dr. Jeffrey Galler

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.

he purpose of your query is to raise this issue in the public eye. People should not present themselves as that which they aren’t is your point. You know the answer. People like to present themselves as best they can, and today, with technology, they can. Many people get chances they would not ordinarily get if they use artifice. It can be argued that it doesn’t help when people actually meet. That is probably true most of the time but not all the time. If people take the time to get to know someone, the looks don’t matter as much. Fact are that Hashem created the world in such a way that the eyes work faster than the intelligent brain. Hence people react to what they see, not what they know.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond

n an ideal world, pictures wouldn’t even be necessary. People are so much more than a one-dimensional, still portrait! The couple would get to know each other in real time rather than passing judgment before even meeting. A per-

son’s great personality can make him or her look ten times more attractive! It can work the other way as well. You can have a very attractive person with a terrible demeanor that kills the whole date. We live in a society where photography has become an art. Finding the right angle and lighting, along with some editing, can be the key to getting the most flattering picture possible. From what I have seen, both men AND women take advantage of this. Nobody is going to forgo wearing makeup or purposely stand in an unflattering position just to make themselves look more “realistic.” Whether it’s a woman who finds the perfect angle or a man who chooses to use a picture from ten years ago when he had a full head of hair, everyone is guilty of this to some extent. I understand that you have personal preferences. Nobody can tell you who you should or should not be attracted to. You must realize, however, that people will naturally put their best selves forward when asked for a picture. This doesn’t make it ethical to send out a heavily edited or doctored picture that doesn’t accurately represent what you look like. But wearing makeup? That’s standard. Finding flattering lighting or a good angle? That’s pretty normal, too. Try not to judge others too harshly, and think positively. Most people do present themselves honestly. Keep that in mind as you move forward. Hopefully, you will meet someone you connect with very soon.

nterestingly, the expression “the camera never lies” dates back to the early days of photography, when people assumed that a camera lens simply recorded reality. Today, of course, we know better. Lighting, angles, cropping, editing software, and filters can make the camera a less-than-reliable witness. Years ago, one of my dental assistants married, moved to California, and went to work in a “Dentist to the Stars” office on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. When we met again years later, she told me how surprised she had been to discover how famous actors and models looked so very ordinary when she encountered them in person, away from the cameras, makeup

If people take the time to get to know someone, the looks don’t matter as much.

artists, and carefully controlled lighting. But I digress. Let’s agree that within our Orthodox tent, there are several different attitudes toward photos on shidduch resumes and websites.

Category One: Where Photos are Frowned Upon In many charedi, chassidic, or yeshivish circles, sharing photos is

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The Zaidy

Dear Readers,

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frowned upon as immodest. Instead, shadchanim are relied upon to do the vetting, based on their understanding of the singles’ preferences.

Category Two: Where Photos Help Date-or-Not-Date Decisions Among many Modern Orthodox singles, photos are important. A photo provides additional information that may help someone decide whether or not to pursue a date. But, Eli, what you wrote makes you sound either very naïve or rather arrogant. Obviously, women are going to post photographs that are as flattering as possible. Of course, they do! I’m sure you do the same and don’t use a photo of how scruffy and disheveled you look after a gym workout. (If this letter-writer ever marries and has daughters, imagine how surprised

he’ll be when he discovers what they go through when it’s time for high school yearbook pictures.) It’s extremely unlikely that single women are actually posting photographs that are blatantly fake or dishonest. If their flattering photographs bother you that much, proceed to category three.

Category Three: Don’t Rely So Heavily on Photographs If physical attraction is particularly important to you, perhaps you should rely less on photographs and make more of an effort to meet singles naturally, at singles events, Shabbatons, chessed programs, shul activities, or Shabbos meals. There, you meet the actual person, not her photograph.

A Final, Unflattering Observation My wife has been complaining that,

in recent columns, I have come across as too harsh. Perhaps she’s right. But nevertheless, here goes... Some folks claim they can discern a lot about a person by reading palms, checking astrological charts, or calculating gematrias. I believe you can tell a lot about a person by the way he expresses himself in writing. Eli, there is nothing wrong with knowing what you find physically attractive. We all have preferences, and physical attraction is important. But your letter isn’t merely saying, “I wasn’t attracted to this woman.” Incredibly, you actually seem annoyed that her photographs didn’t allow you to determine, in advance, that you wouldn’t find her attractive in person. And, that sense of arrogance and entitlement is where you lose me. So lighten up, pal.

It is worth examining how much value we are giving the picture altogether.

The woman you went out with didn’t owe you a photograph designed to help you decide whether her body met your standards. She owed you ordinary honesty and courtesy. You owed her the same. And, someday, you may meet a woman whose photograph doesn’t knock your socks off but whose warmth, intelligence, humor, kindness, and personality most certainly do.

Reader’s Response Rachel Shteierman Shadchan and coach Waterbury, CT

ear Eli, I’m really sorry you had that experience. It can be incredibly frustrating to receive a picture that creates one

impression of how someone looks and then meet the person and feel that the picture was not an accurate representation of them. If pictures are going to be part of the shidduch process, I do think they should reasonably represent what someone looks like today. Of course, it should be a flattering picture – we all want to put our best foot forward – but the picture should still feel like a fair representation of the person you are going to meet. I also think part of the reason this happens may be the enormous pressure that has developed around pictures. When someone knows that one photograph may determine whether she gets a yes or a no before anyone has even

heard much about her, there can be a temptation to choose the picture that is most flattering, even when it may no longer be the most representative. I can understand where that pressure comes from, but I don’t think it makes sending an inaccurate picture the right solution. At the same time, I think it is worth examining how much value we are giving the picture altogether. A number of years ago, Adopt a Shadchan ran its Nix the Pics initiative, and something about that idea really resonated with me. One thing I sometimes encourage singles to do is make a phone call or two about the person before looking at a picture. Hear something about who she is, what people appreciate about her, what kind of person she is—and then look at the picture. I think that gives the picture more dimension. A photograph is incredibly

one-dimensional, and yet sometimes we ask it to tell us whether we could be attracted to an entire person. When we already know something meaningful about someone, we may look at that exact same picture with a different set of eyes. This is also where having a shadchan you trust can be enormously helpful. If being slim or athletic is something you have learned is genuinely important for you to feel attraction, you should be able to communicate that respectfully and trust that it will be taken seriously. Perhaps if we can place a little more trust in the people who know us and a little less weight on the picture itself, there will be less pressure surrounding the “perfect” picture in the first place. Wishing you much hatzlacha and hopefully future suggestions that feel more aligned with what you know you are looking for.

whether that should be true, but pretending women aren’t aware of it would be disingenuous. So when someone chooses the picture where she looks thinnest, or the angle she finds most flattering, I’m probably more apt to wonder what she has learned about what she needs to look like in order to get a “yes” than I am to immediately assume she is trying to trick somebody. That doesn’t mean I think people should misrepresent themselves. I don’t. Pictures should be recent and realistic. If someone is deliberately editing her body or using photographs that no longer resemble her, it creates exactly the situation you described: two people sitting down for a date with one of them already feeling thrown off. But I think there’s a difference between saying, “People should represent themselves honestly,” and assuming dishonesty is always what’s driving the discrepancy. Sometimes, it may be insecurity. Sometimes, denial. Sometimes, an old picture someone still thinks looks like

her. Sometimes, it’s simply the universal human tendency to choose the photograph in which we look our absolute best. And sometimes, it may be the result of a dating culture that has taught people, particularly women, that they need to look a certain way just to be given the opportunity to walk through the door. I actually really like something you said: “There are people who will appreciate you exactly as you are.” I agree. I just wish everyone dating truly believed that — because perhaps then there would be a little less fear around showing up exactly as we are. So yes, Eli. Be honest about what you’re attracted to. And yes, everyone should use pictures that genuinely represent them. But perhaps we can also be curious about what makes people feel that who they really are might not be enough to get the date in the first place.

Pulling It All Together The Navidaters Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

ear Eli, I think you’re asking a fair question, and I agree with your basic premise: dating pictures should be current and should reasonably represent what someone looks like in person. You’re also allowed to know what you’re attracted to. Attraction really matters, no matter what anyone may say. If you’ve learned that you’re particularly attracted to women who are slim or athletic, that’s useful information to know about yourself. We all have preferences, whether we say them out loud or not. But I find myself thinking about the other side of your question. Why might someone use pictures that make them look different than they do in person? And honestly, my first thought isn’t deception. It’s pressure. In the shidduch world, a resume

and a few pictures can feel like a lifeline. For many people, there isn’t another organic way of meeting. You’re not necessarily going to bump into someone at a party, talk for an hour, make each other laugh and discover there’s chemistry before either of you has decided whether the other one checks every box. Often, before you ever get the chance to sit across from another human being, someone is looking at your picture and deciding whether to say yes or no. That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on a few photographs. And I think we also have to be honest about the pressure on women in our community to be thin. Very thin. There are women who have absorbed the message, directly or indirectly, that being a size 2 will open doors in dating. We can debate

All the best, Jennifer

Jennifer Mann, LCSW, is a therapist and certified life coach in private practice in Cedarhurst, NY and via telehealth. She works with individuals, couples, and families, and is a part-time school social worker at Bnos Malka Academy. Her work centers on anxiety, relationships, life transitions, and narcissistic abuse. She integrates attachment-based therapy, cognitive behavioral approaches, and relational work, grounded in the belief that healing and growth emerge through honest, attuned, and meaningful human connection. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512.

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It would be a shame to miss her because you had become too efficient at screening. Good luck. Dating can be stressful and annoying. Try to mellow out and enjoy the process.

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School of

Thought

By Etti Siegel

Dear Etti, My daughter behaves beautifully for adults but seems to have trouble with girls her own age. Teachers describe her as delightful, mature, helpful, and wonderfully conversational, but her classmates describe her as bossy and say that she acts like a teacher. At home, she is proud of being more comfortable with adults and says children her age are silly. I am glad she relates well to teachers, but I worry that she is using adults as a safe place because peer relationships are harder. It is a new school year; how can I help her? Should we encourage her maturity or push her to spend more time with girls her own age? - Wonderful With Adults

Dear Wonderful With Adults, I would not discourage your daughter from enjoying adults. She sounds like a mature, articulate girl who is comfortable talking to teachers and other grown-ups. That is a wonderful quality. But I think you are asking the right question. Is she choosing adults because she enjoys them, or because adults are easier? There is a big difference. Adults tend to make conversation work for children. We listen, ask questions, overlook awkward moments, and are often delighted by a child who is mature and interesting. Other children do not necessarily do that for each other. Richard Lavoie talks about this in It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend. Friendship requires skills that are very different from being pleasant and conversational with an adult. With friends, you have to give and take. Sometimes, you lead, and sometimes, you follow. Sometimes, your idea is better, and the group still chooses someone else’s idea. Sometimes, you have to let something go. That may be where your daughter is getting stuck. The very qualities adults love about her may not always work as well with other girls. She may remind them of the rules, correct them, tell them how something should be done, or take charge of a project because she sees the most efficient way to do it. Her teacher thinks, “What a responsible girl!” The other girls think, “Who made her the teacher?” I also would not be too quick to dismiss her comment that girls her age are silly. Maybe sometimes they are! But I would wonder what else is underneath that statement. It

is much easier for a child to say, “I like adults better,” than to say, “I don’t know what to do when the girls don’t listen to me,” or “I feel left out.” So talk to her, but don’t make it a lecture about needing friends. Ask her what she likes about talking to adults. Ask what annoys her about girls her age. What happens when they don’t want to do what she suggests? Does she feel responsible for keeping everyone organized or making sure things are done correctly? Listen carefully. Her answers will probably tell you where to begin. Then work on one or two very specific behaviors. “Don’t be bossy” is not very helpful to a child. She needs to know what to do instead. If she tends to say, “You should do it this way,” teach her to try, “Do you want an idea?” If she likes assigning everyone jobs, teach her to ask, “What does everyone want to do?” If she corrects other girls, give her a question she can ask herself: “Is this my job?” That one question may be very useful for her. She also needs practice letting another girl be in charge, even when she thinks the other girl is doing a terrible job of it! That can be hard for a competent child. But sometimes being a good friend means allowing someone else to choose the game, make the plan, or do something in a way you would not have chosen. Lavoie recommends doing a “social autopsy,” which simply means going back over an interaction afterward to figure out what happened. If she comes home saying, “Nobody listened to me during our project,” you might ask, “What did you want to do? What did they want to do? What did you say when they didn’t choose your idea? Then what happened?” You are not trying to prove that she was wrong. She may have been absolutely right! Her idea may have been better. But she needs to learn that being right and being able to work with people are two different things. Do this when things go well, too. If she tells you that another girl chose the activity, and they had a good time, point it out casually. “You know, that wasn’t what you wanted to do at first, but it sounds like you ended up having fun.” I would also speak to her teacher. Ask what your daughter is doing. Is she correcting girls? Reporting them? Giving directions? Taking over group work? Once you know exactly what is happening, you can work on those specific behaviors at home. I would also ask the teacher not to overuse her as the responsible class helper. Teachers naturally turn to children like your daughter. They send them on errands, ask them to help another child, or put them in charge because they know the job will get done.

A little of that is fine. Too much of it may make it harder for her to stop seeing herself as the person who is supposed to keep everyone else on track. I would not simply push her to spend more time with girls her age, either. If she keeps having the same problems, more time with peers may just mean more unpleasant experiences. Start smaller. One girl is often much easier to navigate than a whole group. Invite over a girl she seems to like, preferably for something concrete – baking, doing a craft, playing a game, or working on a project. Keep the visit fairly short. Beforehand, pick just one thing to practice. Maybe, “Let her choose what you do first.” That is enough. Do not turn every playdate into a therapy session. And while I would respect that she genuinely enjoys adults, I would gently challenge the idea that children her age are simply “too silly” for her. She does not have to like everyone or everything they do. Maturity also means learning to get along with people who are different from you. There are things she can only learn with peers. She needs opportunities to compromise, be disappointed, misunderstand someone and work it out, let someone else lead, and yes, occasionally be a little silly. If this continues to be very difficult for her despite your help, she may benefit from some direct teaching of social skills and perspective-taking. These skills can absolutely be taught. There are therapists who specialize in social groups. But for now, I would not make this into a major problem for her. Keep the adults she loves in her life. Let her enjoy being mature and capable. At the same time, help her learn one very important lesson: She is responsible for herself. She does not have to be responsible for everyone else. And being a good friend means knowing when not to be the teacher. Kesiva v’chasima tova, Etti

Mrs. Etti Siegel holds a MS in Teaching and Learning/Educational Leadership and brings sound teaching advice to her audiences culled from her over 35 years of teaching and administrative experience. Etti is an Adjunct at the College of Mount Saint Vincent/Sara Shenirer. She is a coach and educational consultant for Catapult Learning, FACTS Education Solutions, Brienza Academic Advantage, Yeled V’Yalda; is a sought-after mentor and workshop presenter around the country; and a popular presenter for Sayan (a teacher-mentoring program), Hidden Sparks, and the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools. She is a frequent contributor to Hamechanech magazine and The Journal for Jewish Day School Leaders and has a weekly column in The Jewish Home. She can be contacted for questions and comments at ettisiegel@gmail.com.

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Parenting Pearls

Talking Tech Time By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

his has been a strange start to the school year. Some schools are well into session, while others have just started with opening day. It’s unusual to have such a large gap between different institutions. This has made it more challenging to figure out when and if there should be articles discussing back-to-school related themes. As we transition the kids – and ourselves – from summer mode back into school structure, there are a number of adjustments parents will be making. Bedtime becomes firmer. Uniforms and dress code-compliant clothing are rotating back into the laundry. Technology is a topic that I’ve written about before, and I sometimes wonder if it’s not worth mentioning again. As tech is something so prevalent in our lives, it still feels like a discussion worth having. It’s also an area where parents need to continuously reevaluate their parenting. For example, what is appropriate at one age may no longer be a good match at a later age. I am not here to dictate to parents exactly what they should and should not permit their children to do with tech-

nology. Besides being very presumptuous, it would also be wholly inappropriate for me to do so. Individual children have their own needs, and each family has their own rav and standards to guide them.

Defining Technology Technology is a big topic that covers many areas. Almost everything is done using some form of technology. We even have “smart” appliances that rely on the internet. How we bank, shop and make decisions has been affected by technology. We even have AI that practically thinks for us. I feel a bit like a dinosaur in that I don’t use AI to write (or edit) any of my articles. For this article, I am limiting the definition to the specific technology that children interact with personally. This mostly refers to the internet, computers, phones, tablets and similar devices. We could also extend it to online shopping and other uses. I am not referring to medical equipment or assistive technology devices used in special education. It’s a tremen-

dous bracha that we have these gifts, and we should thank Hashem for them (while also davening to not need them). I am not including in this discussion if you do or don’t use a remote to turn on your air conditioning. I am a big fan of AC. I do not care whether you use a cassette tape or digital device to listen to your music. Alarm clocks can light up, play music or just issue irritating sounds. They’re a great tool to get up for davening and not a concern. Our lives are improved in many ways with technology, and I don’t believe these negatively impact today’s child. I’m sure at one point parents would have argued that having a washing machine would make children lazy and neglect their chores, but we’re no longer there. There is no question that technology has dramatically shifted the way we live every day. Like everything in life, technology has both positive and negative consequences. For example, loved ones are closer than ever, and children can communicate with friends and family through video chat or easily text photos and other nachas sharing. Examples of potential negatives include a decrease

in creativity, difficulties with concentration and a lessening of attention span. Balancing the positives while reducing the negatives is the goal.

Teaching Tech Technology is an area we can’t ignore as it’s so prevalent in our lives. It’s rare to find someone who is able to fully avoid the internet and other technology. At one point, many had the attitude that we can just keep kids away, and it’ll be fine. With it being so pervasive in our daily lives, that’s no longer a realistic option. Kids will learn about technology from their friends, and they will be exposed to it from many areas. They certainly need to learn from their parents. Teaching how and when to safely use technology is a crucial part of a child’s chinuch. When they eventually confront technology – and they certainly will – they need to have been fortified and aware of the pitfalls so they can use it safely. While I won’t give an exact time to begin, this education does not need to start in toddlerhood or at a very young

propriate limits for their children. Personally, I try to minimize the amount of time spent on screens. This is an area where there can be some flexibility based on the circumstances. For example, a child who is sick and in pain may benefit from some distractions, and weekends or summer may be different from school nights.

usage during sleeping hours. Location: Where are screens permitted? It’s easier to provide oversight in more open areas than when sequestered in bedrooms or other private spaces. Activity: What activities are permitted? There are so many things that can be done using technology. Different activities should be looked at separately.

What to Monitor For all categories, the decision may differ based on the individual child’s needs. Factors that affect a child’s needs include age, gender, maturity, personal sensitivities, etc. Parents should try to keep up with what’s out there so they can make educated decisions for their family. Below are just some suggestions of what parents may want to consider when creating a family’s screen policies. Content: Does the content meet your family’s standards? The first step is to decide what you consider appropriate content. Parents may be very surprised by what children are being exposed to, even on supposedly child-friendly sites. Time: How much time is being spent on the activity? Parents should set ap-

Technology is an area we can’t ignore as it’s so prevalent in our lives.

Beyond time limits are also concerns about what time of day children are using technology. For example, screens before bed can affect sleep, and online shopping shouldn’t be done during homework time. It’s our family’s policy that technology “sleeps” overnight in an adult’s bedroom. This was set up to avoid late-night

Examples of activities include gaming, shopping, texting, search engines, etc. Social media: In many ways, this is the area that is currently drawing the most concerns. One article is too little for this topic. Please be extra cautious and very hesitant about social media. Parental controls: Many devices come with parental controls. These al-

low parents to set limits for their children and will deny them access when not approved by a parent. It can be very helpful for limiting time spent and blocking unapproved content. Parents should check what the parental controls actually limit because many will allow websites that may not meet a family’s standards. Parents should periodically reevaluate their policy. This is an ever-changing area, and we need to adjust as needed. Today’s parents are challenged in unique ways as the world shifts around us. Keeping up and adapting is a continuous task. May Hashem give us the wisdom to guide our children properly on this confusing and still developing road.

Sara Rayvych, MSEd, holds a master’s degree in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 15 years. Sara provides personalized parent mentoring services, addressing a variety of general and specific parenting concerns. She can be contacted at Sara.Rayvych@gmail.com with comments, questions or for private consultations.

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age. I’m personally not in favor of real technology use at this time, and it’s my humble opinion that at this point it’s mostly for entertainment or convenience and it’s generally educationally unnecessary. As in all areas, parents lead by example, and we should be mindful of what we are teaching with our own behavior.

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Health & F tness

Back To School, Back To Routine By Hylton I. Lightman, MD, DCH (SA), FAAP

very September, parents send their children back to school with the same hopes. We want them to learn. We want them to make friends. We want them to behave, succeed, feel confident, and come home happy. But getting there looks very different for a six-year-old walking into first grade than it does for a sixteen-year-old walking into high school. For younger children, back-to-school is often about transition. For teenagers, it is increasingly about ownership. And as parents, understanding that difference can help us give each child the support they actually need.

The Younger Years: First Through Sixth Grade For a young child, September can feel enormous. Think about how much changes at once. A different classroom. A new teacher. New classmates. Earlier mornings.

Homework. Bedtimes. Lunches. Carpools or buses. Sitting for longer periods. Following a schedule again after a summer with considerably more freedom. Even a child who is excited about school can feel anxious about it. Children don’t always say, “I’m anxious about going back to school.” Sometimes anxiety sounds like: “My stomach hurts.” “I don’t want to go to bed.” “I can’t find my shoes.” “I hate school.” Or it can look like irritability, clinginess, trouble sleeping, tears in the morning, or behavior that seems to come out of nowhere. As a pediatrician, I remind parents not to look only at the words. Watch the child. The first thing younger children need is predictability. Get the household back onto a school schedule. Bedtime should become consistent. Mornings should have a routine. Backpacks and clothing should be pre-

pared the night before whenever possible. These things sound simple, but routine gives children something tremendously valuable: a sense of knowing what comes next. Sleep is especially important. A tired child doesn’t just feel tired. Lack of sleep can affect attention, mood, behavior, memory, and the ability to handle frustration. Moving bedtime earlier should ideally begin before school starts, rather than waiting until everyone is exhausted after the first week. And don’t underestimate breakfast. Children need fuel to learn. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but sending a child into a long school morning hungry is asking his or her brain to work without enough energy. Most importantly, give them room to talk. Instead of asking only, “Are you excited for school?” try asking: “What are you looking forward to?” “Is there anything you’re a little ner-

vous about?” “Who are you hoping will be in your class?” You may be surprised by what comes out.

Don’t Rush To Fix Every Worry When your child tells you something is worrying them, your first instinct may be to solve it. Sometimes the better first response is simply to listen. If your son says, “I’m scared my teacher is going to be really strict,” you don’t necessarily need to convince him that the teacher is wonderful. You can say, “I understand. Having a new teacher can feel a little scary when you don’t know what to expect yet.” You’re letting him know that you heard him. Then you can help him think through what he can do. Children build confidence not by being told that nothing difficult will ever

happen, but by gradually discovering that they can handle difficult things.

With teenagers, the parenting approach needs to change. A teenager does not need Mom or Dad hovering over every assignment, checking every grade and organizing every minute of the day. But that doesn’t mean teenagers don’t need us. They do. They simply need us differently. High school is a time to begin shifting from managing your child to coaching your child. Sit down at the beginning of the year and ask what they want from the year. What subjects do they want to improve in? Is there a teacher or class they’re concerned about? Are there activities they want to become involved with? What got in their way last year? What would they like to do differently this time? Notice the difference between saying, “You need to get better grades this year,” and asking, “What do you think would help you have a better year?” One creates pressure. The other begins a conversation.

Teach the System, Not Just the Result We often tell teenagers to “work harder.” That’s not always useful advice. A teenager may genuinely want to succeed and still struggle with organization, procrastination, distractions, sleep, time management, or simply not knowing how to approach a large workload. Instead of focusing exclusively on the grade, look at the system behind it. Does your teenager have a place to study? Do they know what assignments are due? Are they starting projects early enough? Are they getting enough sleep? (This is a big one.) Is the phone sitting next to them every time they try to study? (This, too, is a big one.) One of the most valuable things we can teach teenagers is that success usually isn’t one heroic effort the night before an exam. It’s a collection of small habits repeated consistently. Their Phone is Part of the Conversation We cannot talk realistically about teenagers and school today without talking about screens. Phones are remarkable tools. They’re

assume they’re being difficult. Likewise, if a teenager becomes unusually withdrawn, stops enjoying things they normally enjoy, has major changes in sleeping or eating, experiences a significant drop in school performance, or seems overwhelmed for an extended period, pay attention. Sometimes, the problem isn’t schoolwork at all. Your pediatrician can be an important starting point when you’re not sure

Even a child who is excited about school can feel anxious about it.

Children and teenagers can be exposed in seconds to inappropriate or disturbing content they were never looking for and are not emotionally prepared to process – images and material that can stay with them long after the screen is turned off. Above all, parents should remember that teenagers learn from what they see. It’s difficult to tell a child that phones don’t belong at the dinner table when Mommy and Daddy are constantly checking theirs.

Don’t Make Every Conversation About Performance This may be one of the most important things I can tell parents of teenagers. Your teenager needs to know that your relationship is bigger than a report card. Ask about school, certainly. But also ask about friends. Ask what made them laugh. Ask what they’re interested in. Ask what they’re worried about. But sometimes, don’t ask anything at all. Just be available. Teenagers have a wonderful way of choosing the least convenient possible moment to suddenly tell you something important. When that moment comes, if you can, listen.

Watch For the Child Who is Struggling Some back-to-school adjustment is completely normal. But parents know their children. If a younger child continues to have significant stomachaches, headaches, sleep problems, school refusal or dramatic behavioral changes, don’t simply

whether what you’re seeing is a normal adjustment or something that deserves a closer look.

One School Year at a Time Every September feels like a fresh beginning. There will be forgotten homework.

There will be rushed mornings. There will be stressful moments. That’s family life. Our job isn’t to create a perfect school year for our children. For the younger ones, our job is to give them enough routine, reassurance and stability that they can walk into school feeling secure. For our teenagers, it’s to gradually step back enough that they can learn to organize themselves, make decisions, recover from mistakes and take responsibility for their own success. Different ages. Different approaches. But the message underneath both is the same: I’m here. I believe in you. And when something is difficult, we’ll figure out how to handle it. As always, daven.

Dr. Hylton Lightman MD DCH(SA) FAAP is a board-certified pediatrician and the Medical Director of Suffolk Health Five Towns. He adores his patients and tolerates their parents. His life’s mission is to deliver quality health care to babies, children, teenagers and young adults so they bring their children and grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) to him. He loves what he does.

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High School: A Different Conversation

also remarkably good at stealing attention. A teenager trying to study while responding to messages, watching videos and checking social media is asking the brain to constantly switch attention. Families should have reasonable expectations about when phones are put away, particularly during homework and at bedtime. Just as important, make sure smartphones and other devices have appropriate filters and safeguards in place.

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Shmooze & Muse

I Can Parent in My Sleep! By Mordechai Schmutter

arenting is exhausting. And it’s not always great on your back. Obviously, kids are a tremendous bracha from Hashem. But what if I told you that there are games you can play with your kids while lying down? “How am I going to get them to lie down?” you ask. No, they don’t have to lie down. You do. And getting yourself to lie down is the easy part. The hard part is thinking of these games when you’re tired. Hence this article. (“Sheifeleh, can you please go get Totty the article?”) EXPERT PARENTING TIP: Keep this article under the couch where you can easily reach it. In this article, I’ve compiled a list of games, most of which you can play with your eyes closed, many of which your kids can play without your consent, and most of which can be played on Shabbos. They’re also great games for fast days. And any days that you had to get up for Selichos. This way, you can create happy memories that involve the two things you love most: your kids and lying down! Though some of them highly depend on where you’re willing to lie down. Other people complain that they have to chase their kids around all day, but you can be like, “What are you talking about?

You just have to work smarter, not harder.” “Who said that? Where did you go?” “I’m on the floor.” Note that many of these game titles say “Totty,” but mommies can play too, if they ever get exhausted. These are also probably a great idea for playgroup morahs. -How Tall is Totty? as measured against various household items. How many Cheerios long is he? How many rugelach? Have them line it up next to your body. Whoever guessed closest wins! And then, depending on the cleanliness of the surface on which you’re lying, you can nosh on the rugelach. And you can request whatever you’re in the mood of. (“Now do how many cheese sticks!”) -We Have a Giant Baby! that we can’t lift. But they can rock you to sleep and read you stories and teach you to say, “Mama.” They can also swaddle you. You can also provide them ahead of time with some kind of drink in a baby bottle that they can feed you whenever you cry, such as iced coffee or something that doesn’t stain. And you can have them attempt to feed you yogurt or applesauce or a banana that they’ve mashed with a fork (you hope). Make sure they put a bib on you first. -Operation! In actual size! You provide the tweezers ahead of time and also put some stickers on yourself. They have

to tweeze off the stickers, and if they accidentally pull out a hair and you shriek, it’s the next kid’s turn. -On a similar note, you can play lots of board games by drawing the board on the back of an old undershirt and then lying really still – Tic Tac Toe, Chess, Scrabble, Risk (depending on your drawing skills), Ticket to Ride, or even, um, Backgammon. (Sorry. Dad joke.) Or Twister! -Police Chalk Outline. You may have to lie in a weird position for this one to make it interesting and make the game take longer. -King of the Mountain. My kids always liked playing this when I needed someone to walk on my back, though I never requested it. -What’s on Totty’s Back? The game where Totty closes his eyes, and you put random household items on his back and he has to guess what they are. “Is it a stepstool?” “Is it a vase?” “Is it a goldfish?” -What’s on Totty’s Back? The game where they have to look at this thing that’s been bothering you and tell you whether it has a whitehead. -Finger or Toe? The kids give you various household items to smell, and you have to guess what they are. (“Is it a vase?” “Is it a goldfish?”) You may have to recline for this game, rather than laying flat on

your back, or someone is going to spill cinnamon in your face. -Hop on Pop. This is a classic game that is more popular with children than it is with parents. But you can still make rules like, “Ow! No shoes.” -Move Totty from One Side of the Room to Another. This is a physics challenge, and anything is fair game, from furniture dollies to dragging you around on a blanket to slathering the floor in oils and then figuring out how their own feet can get traction. For bonus points, they have to get you down the stairs. Or up the stairs. -Which Kids Can Totty Bench Press? Kids can guess the results and also try to weigh themselves down by putting whatever they want in their pockets. (“Ptth! Ptth! Is that sand?”) -Beauty Shop. They can do makeup, eye shadow, manicures, pedicures, face masks, cucumber slices, haircuts… Don’t fall asleep. -Let’s Draw Totty Sleeping! You have to lay perfectly still or it messes up the picture. Then you can hang these on your fridge and have Shabbos guests wonder what is going on in your house during the week. -Let’s Draw on Totty! Same. They can play connect the dots with your freckles! EXPERT PARENTING TIP: Before this

tall until such time as you get tired of being trapped under a blanket with his feet. -Get Your Coat On! In this game, both you and your spouse lie on the floor while your kids compete to get you guys ready to leave the house. Coat, shoes, hat, the works. Don’t forget Mommy’s sheitel! -Roll Totty Down the Hill. You can play this one with multiple totties from the neighborhood. -Hide and Scream. This is a version of hide-and-seek wherein the kids hide while Totty counts, and then, rather than getting up to find them, Totty calls out his guesses and the kids call back. “Are you behind the shades?” “Are you upstairs in the laundry basket?” Some families play a similar game with the afikoman. EXPERT PARENTING TIP: You should be in zero rush to get your answers right. -The Biggest Present. Lie down on a piece of wrapping paper and have the kids

This way, you can create happy memories that involve the two things you love most: your kids and lying down! all hanging out outside and you’re lying down, I’m not sure this column can help you. Though maybe if you’re camping. And for a more challenging game, you can play “Lay on Your Back and See Who Can Count the Most Stars – The Sukkos Edition,” in which you have to find them through the schach. On a cloudy night. -Can I Jump Over Totty? This game might not be so relaxing for you, especially if the answer is no. For older children, you can play it lengthwise. -What is That Noise in the Kitchen? You have to figure out what they’re making themselves, based on stepstools being dragged, pots and pans noises, what sounds like five straight seconds of light hailstones hitting the floor, and the sound of someone trying to get the last bit of ketchup out of a bottle by imitating a baseball pitcher. -Totty, the Giant Sled, but you might need to buy yourself snow pants for this one. -The Incredibly Tall Child! in which you throw a blanket over yourself so only your feet are showing, and then one child climbs under the blanket above you so that only his head and arms are showing, and he pretends to be ten feet

wrap and decorate you and then present you to your spouse as a Chanukah gift. (“Um, no thanks. We don’t do Chanukah gifts.”) Maybe make sure there’s a second adult home while you’re playing this, so you’re not stuck there until they get home from work. -Who Goes There? Have your kids go outside (of the room, or maybe the house) and then one of them sneaks in and you have to guess which one it is. (“Wrong! It’s a meshulach!”) -What are You Writing? Have the kids write words on your back with their fingers or one of the markers you forgot to hide, and you have to guess what they’re writing. For an extra challenge, use the kids who don’t know how to spell anything. -Spot the Difference. Scan the room and close your eyes. The kids have to make a couple of changes to the room, and when you open your eyes, you have to figure out what’s different. (“Wait, did you paint that wall? How long were my eyes closed?”)

Mordechai Schmutter is a freelance writer and a humor columnist for Hamodia and other magazines. He has also published eight books and does stand-up comedy. He can be contacted at mschmutter@gmail.com.

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game, make sure to hide all the non-washable markers. -Let’s Clean the Marker Off Totty! This is a great follow-up game that can be played on the kitchen floor or in the bathroom or the backyard. They can use washcloths, soaps, brushes, cleansers, and so on. (Licking their thumbs and rubbing?) If they can’t clean it off before you have to go to shul, everyone loses. -Driving Construction Vehicles on Totty’s Body. Maybe they can do some excavating while they’re on there. -Burying Totty in the Sandbox. Then you can have the kids uncover you with little brushes, like they’re archeologists. You can also do this game in the snow. -Lay on Your Back and See Who Can Count the Most Stars. This can only really be played at night, and if your kids are that awake at night and you’re

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Book

Marked

Reading Jewish History in the Parasha By Tzvi Adler

f you subscribe to 18Forty’s podcast, as I do, then Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin’s voice already keeps you company. If you don’t, he’s the one who wrote a book about sin and failure in Jewish thought, which tells you something about the kind of history he is drawn to. As of this week, the familiar voice can adorn the Shabbos table, too. When a review copy showed up just before it came out, I took it straight into Shabbos. That happened to be Ki Savo. The tochacha. The one week of the year when nobody at my table fights over who gets to say the dvar Torah. When the table cleared, I opened it. The first line: “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Twenty minutes later, I was somewhere I’ve never been on a Shabbos night: deep in the story of Bambi. Bambi, the deer. I’m not going to spoil how he gets there, partly because half the pleasure is the route and partly because you wouldn’t believe me. What I can tell you is where the essay lands: at hagbaha, of all places, at the vision of every Jew finding their own letter in the scroll. In the morning, when the Torah went up, I looked longer than I usually do. At lunch, I read a chunk of it out loud, and my kids put down their forks. The sefer hasn’t made it back to the shelf since. Because every essay ends with a “Shabbos Reads” list of the books and articles it mentions, there’s also a translation of the original Bambi on its way to my house. I am apparently helpless before a good reading list. As far as I can tell, he does this with every single parsha. Each essay starts with an honest question on the parsha, the kind you half noticed in shul and never chased. Then he says, “Let’s explore,” and you’re off, three centuries and two continents from Chumash, having the time of your life in a story that happens to come with footnotes. Then comes the sentence he writes repeatedly, the one I’m

already waiting for: “And this brings us back to our parsha.” The journey comes home, the dvar Torah lands, and it lands harder because of everything you now know, the way the best shiur you ever heard made you sit through the whole sugya before it all came together. He grounds the sefer in R’ Yaakov Emden’s claim, tucked into the introduction to his siddur, that the survival of the Jewish people through exile is a greater miracle than the Splitting of the Sea, and in a confession: “We have forgotten our story – how did we even end up here?” An essay for every parsha answers: not anymore. He notes in the introduction that the parsha shelf already holds works on halacha, on lomdus, on stories, on chassidus, and that apart from a single predecessor he credits by name, nobody has read the parsha through Jewish history. His opening essay, on shnayim mikra, ends with a promise: “We are about to begin an exciting journey.” If anything, he undersells it. One essay was supposed to be enough. Instead, I spent the week cheating, dipping into parshiyot that won’t come up for months. No two weeks go anywhere near the same place. In Noach, you meet R’ Yehuda Alkalai, a lonely rav whose printed sefarim reached the grandson of one of his congregants; the grandson was named Theodor Herzl. The small alef in Vayikra opens into the history of infinity itself. Metzora arrives, improbably and convincingly, at the machine matzah wars. Korach asks whether socialism is kabbalistic and takes the question seriously. Bamidbar takes you to Bnei Brak on the October morning of 1952 when Ben-Gurion came to see the Chazon Ish. Ki Teitzei puts Henry VIII’s divorce next to the Get of Cleves. Re’eh traces the Hungarian schism to the birth of the word Orthodox itself, a label most of us wear without ever asking where it came from.

Some of those journeys go to hard places. Rabbis accusing other rabbis of heresy. Letters people wished they had never sent. Does that belong at a Shabbos table? He asked himself the same question aloud. The essay on Tazria is devoted entirely to whether the study of Jewish history is lashon hara, and Rabbi Bashevkin answers it with sources and seriousness. The gedolim in these pages are treated with the kavod of a talmid, not the cool distance of a historian, and I came away from the difficult chapters prouder of our story. It’s 540 pages in Koren’s clean typeset, and I mean the number as good news: there’s a whole year here. This is not a sefer you read ahead or read through, and I say that as someone who spent the week trying. Each parsha is its own journey, and it waits for its week. Which means the sefer ends up wherever you learn the parsha, next to your Chumash at the table, in the beit midrash or in your bag on the train. Mine is going to live next to my coffee on Shabbos morning before shul. The reading lists are how a sefer quietly turns into a library. The title, as anyone who’s spent a Motzei Shabbos online already knows, is the line he’s been posting with a photo of a book for years. He writes in the introduction that it began by accident. He shared a biography he loved, had no plans to do it weekly, then forgot to post again for months. When he picked it back up, he stopped bothering with commentary and just wrote, “I read this over Shabbos.” It caught on, and it got teased, which he seems to enjoy at least as much. People post their siddurim, their cereal boxes, and the instructions on a can of Febreze. Poking fun at it, he writes, is part of building it. The sefer makes the argument the habit was always pointing at. The original Shabbos read, as he puts it, was and always has been the weekly parsha.

Before any of the essays, Teaneck readers should find the section of the introduction called “Finding a Home: Between the Five Towns and Teaneck.” The contents of this book, he writes, were born in one shiur in the Five Towns, raised in another, and “finally matured at the Young Israel of Teaneck,” at a parsha shiur a half-hour before davening. This sefer grew up down the road. Which brings me back to my own table, and to yours. This Shabbos is Nitzavim-Vayelech, the double portion, and Nitzavim is the comfort that same Ki Savo essay points to by name. The sefer pairs the double reading with a single essay, called “The Rebbe of Teshuva,” days before Rosh Hashana. It’s the story of the Yabloner Rebbe, who led a chassidus at twenty-four, brought his chassidim to the land of Israel, and then disappeared into California under the name George Nagel, until the very end of a long life brought him home. Longtime 18Forty listeners will recognize it; he devoted an episode to the story and says so right in the essay. It loses nothing on the page, and with Selichot starting that very night, I’m not spoiling the ending for anyone else. I have a shelf of parsha sefarim, and I love them, and I can usually see the dvar Torah coming from the soup. What I have now is different. It’s our history, and it lands where a dvar Torah lands. For the first time in a long time, I know exactly what I’ll be reading this upcoming Shabbos, and the one after that, and so on. His invitation in the introduction is the best summary I can offer: let’s learn to fall in love with the story of the Jewish people. The sefer reached the stores this week, and Bereishis is a few weeks off, but there’s no reason to wait. Consider this column my own “I read this over Shabbos.” Start yours with the rebbe who came home.

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In The K tchen

Apple Hand Pies By Naomi Nachman

I invited my friend Joy Wilson to be a guest chef on my cooking show Sunny Side Up on Kosher.com a few years back for a Rosh Hashana episode. She is a professional baker and always comes up with fun twists of her baking products. You can follow her baking adventures on Instagra m @joyofcakes. We made these delicious apple hand pies which were a hit with the viewers as well as with fa mily and friends.

Ingredients Special Equipment Needed: apple-shaped cookie cutter

Dough • 4 cups ﬂour • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 4 sticks of margarine, cut into cubes • 1 cup parve sour cream

Filling • 4 cups Granny Smith apples (diced into corn-sized pieces) • 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • 1/2 cup sugar • 4 teaspoons all purpose ﬂour • Sprinkle of cornstarch • Caramel chips (optional) • Maldon sea salt (optional) • Egg Wash • 1 beaten egg • Clear crystal sugar (optional)

and repeat. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the filling. Prepare the Filling: In a small bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, flour and cornstarch. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Set aside. Assemble the Pies: 1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. 2. Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a well-floured surface. 3. Using an apple-shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many apple shapes as possible. You can re-roll and cut out more until the dough is finished. Remember you need an even number of apples. 4. Place dough apples on a silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Spoon a small portion of apple filling into the center of each apple-shaped dough. Be sure

Preparation

Prepare the Dough: 1. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. 2. Add the cubed margarine to the bowl and, using your fingers, work the margarine into the flour until the mixture is the consistency of wet sand. 3. Stir in the sour cream, and then turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface. 4. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together, adding more flour, one teaspoon at a time, if the dough is too sticky to handle. Roll the dough into a rectangle and dust both sides with flour before folding into thirds, similar to folding a letter. Rotate

to leave a border around the ﬁlling. Optionally, top the apple ﬁlling with caramel chips and a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt. 5. Place a second apple-shaped dough on top and, using a fork, crimp the ages together to seal each pie. 6. Brush each pie with egg wash and, using a sharp knife, cut two or three vents on top of each pie. Optionally, sprinkle the top with clear crystal sugar. 7. Bake the pies for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Variation: Use a smaller circle cutter to make round pies (about two and a half inches) and insert a popsicle stick to make apple pie pops.

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.

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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

Barry, keep with it, brother – you got a shot, man. - Retired baseball player Jeff Kent at a San Francisco Giants ceremony celebrating his recent induction into the Hall of Fame addressing his former teammate Barry Bonds who has essentially been banned from the Hall of Fame for taking steroids

I made a mistake. - Jew-hater Abdul El-Sayed, who is the Democrat senate nominee for Michigan and is now trying to get Jews to vote for him, apologizing for responding to a radical Muslim driving a truck filled with gasoline and fireworks into a Michigan synagogue and preschool, “Hurt people, hurt people.”

They knew exactly what I would do. They knew I would activate the Air Force there, wake up the entire IDF, and not allow anyone to approach the fences – we would kill them immediately. The public doesn’t know this, but there were many, many indicative signs that an attack was about to happen. Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi knew this, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar knew this, and Haliva, who was the head of Military Intelligence, knew this. - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent interview

Now, the obvious thing to do is wake up the Prime Minister, but they didn’t wake me. If they had woken me up, everything would have looked different. And that is the story of October 7. That is the story - ibid.

When you’re a military man of such high rank, claiming that you fought on October 7, already early in the morning you were there, already dressed and ready at a very, very early hour when others didn’t know, such as the prime minister… Who is the prime minister anyway to know that a war is breaking out? Why let him know? - Sara Netanyahu, wife of Prime Minister Netanyahu, insinuating that left-wing politician Yair Golan had advance notice of October 7

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China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening! Data centers could be bigger than oil. - President Donald Trump

Data centers use a lot of power and true, fine, debate. It’s what we do. But some of this panic is clearly imported. Which raises the question: how much of it is us and how much of it is them? When foreign governments can so easily hop right in and stir the pot, the fears may be less organic than we think. Because it turns out you don’t need a navy to beat America. You need America to beat America. All you got to do is get us fighting. We already do it for free. So, it’s no wonder the whole country feels like one big liquored up cruise ship. - Greg Gutfeld

They figure out what creates fights during Thanksgiving and amplify the [daylights] out of it. China’s been doing this for a while. Huge farms of phony accounts work both sides because the point isn’t persuasion. It’s chaos. Russia’s Internet Research Agency didn’t invent Black Lives Matter; it just backed every side of it. They’re like your bookie who makes money off the game no matter which team wins. Russian or Iran have run sock puppet news sites that feed opposites on [certain lifestyle] fights, Israel, the border, whatever’s already on fire. The doctrine isn’t make them left or make them right. It’s make them ungovernable. - ibid.

Look, adversaries spent a decade beefing up the dumbest version of every argument to split us apart. Now they want to turn data center into a slur… Think about the fights we’ve had. Race, police, gender, COVID, vaccines. Now it’s AI. Wherever there’s a fire, they bring lighter fluid and dry brush. They find the fight, imitate both sides, amplify the least reasonable version of each, and they repeat it until your neighbor isn’t just wrong. He’s the enemy. - ibid.

Enemies now have become experts at taking our greatest weapon – free speech – and turning it on us. It’s nothing new... Monday could be gender. Wednesday, race. Friday, cops. Sunday, Greg Gutfeld’s abs. - ibid.

Even today, I feel that I should probably be in better shape than I am. But I just have to always go back and say, “But I am 91, so I’m blazing new ground hiking long distances like this.” - 91-year-old Dale Sanders, who just completed the 2,193-mile Appalachian Trail over the course of a year, becoming the oldest person to do so

Multiple back surgeries ended my career earlier than I expected and left me with constant, debilitating pain. That pain led to a dependance on pain medication, and my efforts to get off those medications led to an overreliance on alcohol. - Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current NFL commentator Tony Romo on social media commenting on his recent arrest for DWI

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Abdul El-Sayed, every time they put a microphone in front of his face, he wants to talk about my wife or my grandfather. - Vice Pres. J.D. Vance at a Michigan rally responding to the Democrat senate candidate talking about Vance’s wife and how she wouldn’t be accepted by Vance’s white family

My message to Abdul El-Sayed is you can pal around with terrorist sympathizers, and you can say that America deserved 9/11, or you could empathize not with the children who were targeted at Temple Israel, or— but with the attacker. These are all despicable things, but they’re all things that the people of Michigan will judge you on based on your record. But I actually think that the people of Michigan think it’s kind of weird when you talk about another guy’s wife. - ibid.

Many times, those who have a kosher phone in one pocket also have a [regular] phone to stay connected in the other pocket. They say that a very significant percentage of the chareidi population owns two phones. One kosher phone to show off, and one real phone, a smarter phone. - Supreme Court President Justice Isaac Amit during a court hearing

The brazen mockery by Supreme Court President Justice Amit toward kosher phone owners expresses arrogance and detachment from a huge public that chooses to raise children in a protected and pure environment. – Statement by the Shas political party

I am deeply saddened by the death of a New Yorker in City custody at a jail on Rikers Island early this morning. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones as they grieve this loss. - Mayor Zohran Mamdani after Clarence Woodward died in Rikers Island custody (Woodward was in Rikers Island jail because he was charged with killing a store owner with a meat cleaver, in an unprovoked attack)

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Political Crossfire

What the Disloyal Leaks about Iran Prove about Trump By Marc A. Thiessen

he leaking and finger-pointing on Iran by MAGA disloyalists have begun. The Wall Street Journal reports that in February, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard warned President Donald Trump that if he attacked, “Tehran would rush to close the Strait of Hormuz, destabilizing the global energy market.” Her admonition “echoed warnings Trump was receiving from all corners,” the Journal wrote, including from top military leaders who expressed “concerns about the weapons stockpile and readiness problems for an overstretched force” and from Vice President JD Vance, who “promoted a more cautious approach” focused on negotiations that would be “less costly than a war with unwieldy consequences.” The message of the leakers is clear: Had Trump only listened to us, we would not be in this mess. In fact, these self-serving leaks actually show the opposite – by demonstrating what a courageous decision Trump made. Virtually alone, surrounded by naysayers, Trump acted to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Indeed, Trump not only ignored the words of the naysayers; he did something few presidents before him have ever done: he listened to the words of the enemy. The most tragic mistake that world leaders made over the past century was the failure to take the words of the monsters of history seriously. These tyrants repeatedly stated precisely what they intended to do, but their ideas were assumed to be too foolish, or too fantastic, to be serious. In the early 1900s, Vladimir Lenin published a pamphlet called “What Is To Be Done?,” in which he laid out his plans to overthrow the Russian czar and establish a “dictatorship of the proletariat.” The world didn’t take his words seriously, and the totalitarian empire he founded spawned communist revolution across the globe that

killed an estimated 100 million people and brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. In the 1920s, Adolf Hitler published “Mein Kampf,” in which he laid out his plan to establish a thousand-year Reich in Germany and eradicate the Jews. The world didn’t take his words seriously, and his Nazi regime built gas chambers, set the world aflame and killed 17 million people. In the late 1990s, Osama bin Laden issued a fatwa declaring war on the West, calling on all Muslims to wage “jihad against the enemies of G-d, your enemies the Israelis and Americans.” The world didn’t take his words seriously, and on Sept. 11, 2001, his followers flew airplanes into the Pentagon and World Trade Center. In 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a 7,000-word manifesto explaining that Ukraine had been stolen from Russia, its “historical motherland,” and promising to reunite them. The world didn’t take his words seriously, and a few months later he launched the largest land invasion in Europe since World War II – a war that has resulted in more than 2 mil-

lion dead and wounded among military personnel and civilians so far. The lesson is clear: When tyrants and terrorists say what they intend to do, take them at their word. That is what Trump did with Iran. For 47 years, the Iranian regime pledged to bring “death to America.” In a 2023 speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared, “When you chant ‘Death to America,’ it is not just a slogan, it is a policy,” adding that were it not for America the “artificial Zionist regime would have been destroyed.” In 2022, he declared, “Yes, it will happen. Death to America will happen.” Iran and its proxies have waged relentless war against the United States for nearly five decades: the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the provision of “explosively formed penetrators,” the insurgents in Iraq that killed and maimed thousands of American troops, the 2011

plot to set off a bomb in Cafe Milano in Washington, the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 46 Americans – among countless other attacks. If Iran did all this without a nuclear umbrella, imagine the destruction it would wreak if it gets one. And that is assuming Iran wants such a weapon only as a deterrent. There is a real danger the Iranian regime could be seeking a nuclear weapon in order to use it. The Islamic republic is run by members of a Shiite sect known as “Twelvers” who believe, as historian Bernard Lewis explained, that the “time is now” for the return of the 12th imam – the “Mahdi” – a figure who disappeared in 873 A.D. but is not really dead. Rather, Lewis wrote, he “has been hidden away by G-d” and “will return, as mahdi, at the end of time” to “establish the Kingdom of G-d on earth.” Anyone who might seek to usher in the end times cannot be allowed to obtain the means of doing so. It is folly to think that America can reason its way to a durable agreement with negotiators from the Iranian theocracy. Even if Iran were to reach an agreement to give up its nuclear weapons, they would cheat on it – just like North Korea cheated on the nuclear deal it reached with President Bill Clinton in 1994. Trump’s attack on Iran was not a blunder; it was the bravest foreign policy decision any president has done in my lifetime. Trump acted despite the personal political costs, despite all the doves around him urging him not to do so, despite the unrelenting opposition of Democrats in Congress. He is the first American president to take the words of our enemy seriously – and act before they were able to kill millions. Even if it hurts him politically in November, he will be rewarded by history. © 2026, Washington Post Writers Group

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Political Crossfire

Inside Afghanistan’s Secret Schools for Girls By Elian Peltier

Girls in a classroom in a madrassa in Afghanistan in 2026

yesha goes to a secret school six days a week, mainly to keep seeing people outside her home. It’s the only way to avoid total isolation under Taliban rule, she says. It’s the only way to feel alive. “Without that connection,” she said, “I don’t know what would happen to me.” Now 18, Ayesha once dreamed of studying psychology at university. The Taliban ended that dream when they banned formal education for girls beyond sixth grade in 2022. But Ayesha has been defying the Taliban’s rules for years, sitting in a classroom hidden behind the corridors of a primary school. Thousands of such programs operate across the country under the Taliban’s radar. Clandestine schools were once seen as a stopgap, a way for girls to keep up with their education until the Taliban were gone. But five years after the Taliban’s return to power, nearly 2.5 million Afghan girls have been locked out of secondary school. They can go to religious schools or study at home with private instruction. But across the country, girls are risking arrest by going to school in secret. Others fail sixth grade on purpose, to remain in their

classrooms for as long as possible. Principals, teachers and parents operate the schools through a clandestine effort, fighting for what they fear may be a lost cause: to save a generation of girls from ignorance. The Taliban’s leaders do not appear willing to rescind the ban, even while some local officials tolerate the secret schools, worried about denying their own daughters an education. In interviews with more than 50 students, educators, therapists and parents, many said they feared the ban would do permanent damage — to girls and to Afghanistan’s social fabric. All asked to be identified only by their first names, for fear of retaliation. Even girls who finish their education have few prospects; the Taliban have banned women from most jobs, and opportunities to go abroad are scarce. Reports of suicidal thoughts, self-harm and rates of underage marriage are on the rise, according to teachers and humanitarian organizations. Nevertheless, some girls refuse to give up their fight for an education. “We are also part of this society,” Ayesha said. “Just let us be who we want to be.”

The Hidden Passageway Late one night recently, Ayesha received a text from her friend Zuhal, 17, who said she would not be coming to class the next day. Zuhal’s father had beaten her, saying that there was no point in attending an underground school. Ayesha recalls crying as she read Zuhal’s message. She has become known among her friends as the one they can confide in, the apprentice therapist. She said she prayed in her bedroom and urged Zuhal to come back. “If you sit at home, it’s finished for you,” Ayesha told her. “Nobody else is going to do anything for you.” Zuhal returned to school a few days later but said she would be able to come only when her father is away. Ayesha’s secret classroom is concealed inside an official primary school. The playground is filled with the shouts of younger students, and hundreds of tiny, colorful shoes are lined up at the entrance to the building. But beyond their classrooms, a door leads to a hidden passageway tucked behind a corner, which leads to the secret classroom for older girls. To avoid detection, the students vary their routes to the school and avoid walk-

ing in groups. Still, now and then, the Taliban burst into the school unannounced, as they did one morning in July during Ayesha’s midyear physics exams. The principal locked the students inside, and 14 young women kept scribbling in silence. The classroom remains undiscovered. On one occasion, when the girls were not at school, the Taliban tore down the artwork on the walls in a common room near the classroom, Ayesha recalled. There used to be a time, students and a teacher explained, when a Taliban inspection would send them fleeing through the back door, or rushing to the basement where they would lock themselves in the dark and shush those who cried. As the students moved up to Grade 12, Taliban visits don’t frighten them as much anymore. Many said they feel contempt for the group. “Are they expecting the country to develop by depriving half of the population of education?” said Palwasha, one of Ayesha’s classmates. “We don’t want anything other than the basic rights Islam gave us.” Only a tiny fraction of girls in Afghanistan can receive a secondary education through secret schools; even fewer, like

Computer Science and Duolingo The Taliban have taken credit for one measure of success in education: Primary school enrollment for girls rose from 78% in 2021 to 87% in 2024, according to UNESCO and UNICEF. That’s mainly because day-to-day security has improved across Afghanistan since the war ended with the U.S. withdrawal in 2021. Schools that had been closed reopened, and crossing a street to reach a classroom no longer presents a daily danger. But the overall picture is alarming. Nine out of 10 Afghan children age 10 cannot read an age-appropriate piece of writing, according to UNESCO. Only 1 in 4 Afghan women is literate. Girls who want to continue their education sometimes face additional obstacles from their families. Laila, 21, joined a secret school to study computer science and languages two years ago, more than 500 miles from her home in one of Afghanistan’s most conservative provinces. She said she threatened to kill herself if her family did not let her attend. On a recent morning, she worked on computer science and Duolingo lessons in a clandestine Grade 11 classroom. In the school’s darkened corridors, students walked silently past colorful presentations on the human body and the solar system. Dozens more studied in the basement library. Laila and hundreds of other girls take in-person classes by day and online by night with volunteer tutors around the world, from the United States to the Netherlands to Hong Kong, most of them high school students in a global network of peer-to-peer support. Even two years after enrolling, Laila faces surprise visits from her younger brother, who tells her she has dishonored the family by being “so free.” Her father is more open-minded but fears gossip if a relative or neighbor finds out, Laila said.

Laila now speaks four languages fluently, including English, and is learning Korean. If she can leave the country after graduation, she said she will study graphic design in Canada or South Korea. “I want to share these opportunities with other girls from my province, but I can’t,” Laila said. During their first rule, between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban banned primary and secondary education for girls, argu-

even religious schools, which are permitted for older girls, face an array of rules and frequent, sometimes surprise, inspections. When they see the Taliban approach, the guards at Laila’s school warn the teachers and the principal by walkie-talkies and then sound a distinctive bell to alert the students. Najib, the school principal, said that when he asked some unfamiliar Taliban

bear seeing them cry. She no longer has an answer when they ask her, “What was this all for?” When her own daughter, Kowsar, completed sixth grade, Tasnim persuaded a colleague to take her into her class so she could repeat by taking the spot of an absent student. Her daughter’s graduation certificate reads “Successfully promoted to Grade 7.” “We try to make them happy,” Tasnim said. “But there’s no Grade 7.”

Dreaming of the Taliban

Five years after the Taliban’s return to power, nearly 2.5 million Afghan girls have been locked out of secondary school.

ing that secular schools were contrary to their hard-line vision of Islam. They said it was a temporary measure, until they could establish a more compatible education system, but they never did. After coming back to power in 2021, they made similar claims about the public school system that expanded during the 20-year U.S. occupation, and still maintain that the ban is temporary. “We hope that one day girls schools will reopen,” the Taliban’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in an interview earlier this year. “This situation also deeply affects many officials of the Islamic Emirate who have daughters,” he added, referring to the name the Taliban have given to Afghanistan. But five years into their second rule, the temporary ban once again appears permanent. The ban comes directly from Kandahar, the group’s seat of power in the south and home to its secretive leader, Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada. Many Taliban officials privately say it should be lifted, but no one challenges their leader’s order. In practice, many Taliban turn a blind eye to schools operating in secret. The principal at one secret school, where some girls pay fees if their families are able, said he had enrolled the sons of Taliban intelligence officers for free to maintain a cordial relationship. They know Laila’s school well: Taliban police and intelligence officers visit weekly to ensure that female students wear their hijabs correctly and don’t mix with boys, who attend the same school legally. But they can order the school shut at any time. All schools in Afghanistan,

officers to show him their ID on a recent visit, one shouted, “My ID is my gun.” “And my gun is my pen,” Najib said he replied. He cited Quranic verses about the imperative to educate all children, and that seemed to satisfy them. The Taliban left.

Failing in Order to Succeed Many younger Afghan girls try to delay as long as possible what Ayesha and Laila are going through. In December, Somaya, 12, took her sixth grade final exams but skipped the tests in Dari language, social studies and Quran studies, hoping to fail and repeat her final year. “I love going to school,” she said. “I simply wanted to stay.” Weeks later, Somaya’s teacher told her she could come back. There was only room for her in Grade 4, so she sometimes helps teach since she already knows the curriculum. Fatima, 12, a student at another school, tore up her final sixth grade tests last year, hoping that her teachers would fail her and let her repeat the grade. But they passed Fatima anyway, she said. As Fatima spoke softly in her family’s living room in Kabul, her father, Azizullah, wept and left the room. “I cry when I think about how often she says she wants to be a doctor, and how now it’s all over,” Azizullah said. But Fatima bounced back. Weeks later, she passed an entrance exam for an underground school. Tasnim, a primary schoolteacher, said she leaves the farewell parties for her Grade 6 students because she can’t

The restrictions on women and girls are the primary reason the world has shunned the Taliban, but they have promoted religious schools, or madrassas, as an alternative. The girls in those schools must wear black coverings from head to toe, and they are allowed to study science and English as well as religious subjects. Zala, a sixth grade student, plans to enroll in a religious school after leaving primary school. “At least we still have an opportunity to keep studying,” she said. Other students say the madrassas are a poor substitute. Classes deemed less important than religious ones — physics, chemistry and mathematics — are merged into one. And girls are not permitted to use the more advanced curriculum for boys. “These subjects are pushing us ideologically toward the Taliban,” Zahida, 17, said about Islamic studies, religious history and discussions about politics and jihad led by teachers who embrace the Taliban’s hard-line views. Ezat, Ayesha’s principal, recently turned the school where her classroom is hidden into a madrassa to ease pressure from the Taliban. He said he hopes teachers can keep providing what he described as a “modern education.” To what extent and for how long, he does not know. After the Taliban formalized their ban on education in 2022, many teachers were left without jobs. They kept teaching for free, or for smaller salaries at schools that remained open, or in underground classes across the country. Many say they feel disillusioned. At a recent staff meeting, employees in a secret school in Kabul talked about how to keep motivating students. “But who is motivating us?” Kamela, one of the teachers, remembered thinking. “I see the Taliban in my dreams,” she said. “They’re running after us, beating us and closing the school.” © The New York Times

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Ayesha and Palwasha, study an international curriculum and speak English fluently. Palwasha wants to launch her own clothing brand. Ayesha knows she won’t be able to study psychology at a university in Afghanistan when she graduates, so she counsels her classmates. This is the extent of Ayesha’s social life, and it will vanish in a few months. There is no secret school after Grade 12. “Girls, you are here now,” Ayesha recalled their teacher saying as they sat down for their midyear exam. “But at this time next year, you will be at home.”

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Political Crossfire

Yes, Woke 1.0 Was Crazy. Now Where’s the Accountability? By Bret Stephens

t’s all but official. “Woke 1.0 was crazy,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said this month, quoting a far-left New York City Council member. Given Ocasio-Cortez’s own record — she previously insisted that some groups “have no choice but to riot,” called for defunding the police and “prison abolition” and used a demeaning term to describe a woman — the crazy that she speaks of was also her own. Good for AOC for acknowledging mistakes. Now can we have some accountability for the vast damage that Woke 1.0 did, not to mention the damage that Woke 2.0 continues to do? Wokeness, as it commonly came to be known at the start of this decade, wasn’t just an Orwellian linguistic fad or a tedious set of corporate training sessions in cultural sensitivity or wacky policy ideas about addressing racial and socioeconomic inequities. As it was experienced by those on the wrong end of it, it was a system of enforced ideological conformity, policed by social bullying and institutional coercion (or cravenness), which damaged and sometimes even ended reputations, careers and at least one man’s life. Restitution, if only in the form of honest contrition and perhaps even a public apology, is in order. Restitution, for instance, for Stan Wischnowski, the top editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who in 2020 had to resign from his job and issue a groveling apology for the sin of running an article by the paper’s architecture critic with the headline “Buildings Matter, Too.” Restitution for Mike Pesca, the host of a popular podcast, “The Gist,” who was suspended indefinitely from his job at Slate for making a case, in an interoffice back and forth, that it may sometimes be permissible for a non-Black person to quote a racial slur in narrow contexts. Restitution, yes, for James Bennet, a for-

mer editor of The New York Times’ Opinion section, who was forced from his job after the publication of a controversial guest essay by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Restitution for authors, like my friend Richard North Patterson, who has 16

white and male and therefore quietly but efficiently cut out of the game of literary prizes and publication opportunities. As Jacob Savage noted last year in Compact magazine, his research found that at the time, “not a single white American man

His research found that at the time, “not a single white American man born after 1984 has published a work of literary fiction in The New Yorker.”

New York Times bestsellers to his name. When he wrote a novel that dealt with racial discrimination and had a Black woman as a leading (and wholly sympathetic) character, roughly 20 major imprints rejected it, with several making it clear it was because he was white. Restitution for every aspiring young fiction writer with the misfortune of being

born after 1984 has published a work of literary fiction in The New Yorker.” Restitution, also, in academia. For Jason Kilborn, a University of Illinois, Chicago, law professor, who was barred from campus and placed on administrative leave after he had used the first letter of two slurs in his civil procedure exam, an affront the Black

Law Students Association described as “mental terrorism.” For Ilya Shapiro, a legal scholar about to start a position at Georgetown Law School, who had to endure a 122-day university inquest for the crime of a clumsy tweet betraying a conservative worldview. For Carole Hooven, who was railroaded out of Harvard University after a TV appearance in which she said that the terms “male” and “female” were scientifically essential even as she insisted that “facts about biology” shouldn’t “prevent us from treating people with respect.” Restitution, not least, for the drive-by victims of Woke 1.0 — sometimes literally so. Emmanuel Cafferty, an employee for San Diego Gas and Electric, was fired from his job when he was pictured with his arm hanging out of the window with his fingers linked in what appeared to be an “OK” gesture, which the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League have called a coded symbol of white supremacy. Cafferty, who is Hispanic, insisted he had merely been cracking his knuckles. Certain readers of this column will be tempted to rejoin that all this is old history. So is the Red Scare of the 1950s, but that’s no reason to forget about it. Other readers may say that what President Donald Trump and his allies are doing is just as bad as Woke 1.0 or far worse. I’ve denounced them, too, but that’s pure whataboutism. If liberals want to be serious about standing up for liberty, they have a particular obligation to acknowledge and reject the illiberalism that swept so much of the left in recent years. Any politics of moral certitude and promiscuous demonization — whether it comes from MAGA on the right or wokeness on the left — isn’t just unfit for a free society. It’s crazy.

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Forgotten Her es

Meeting at the Elbe By Avi Heiligman

The famous photo at the Elbe River

he last few weeks of the war in Europe saw Allied armies dashing across German territory to cut off enemy units and force the surrender of the Nazi regime. The Soviets were advancing from the east, preparing for the final assault on Berlin, while the Western Allies pushed from the west and south. On April 25, 1945, elements of both armies linked up at the Elbe River. Details and pictures of the historic event made their way into the media as the soldiers were preparing for the conclusion of the war. The primary formations involved in this milestone encounter were the U.S. 69th Infantry Division, operating under General Courtney Hodges’ 1st U.S. Army (part of General Omar Bradley’s 12 th Army Group), and the Soviet 58th Guards Rifle Division of Marshal Ivan Konev’s 1st Ukrainian Front. The first meeting of the day actually occurred four hours prior to the famous encounter at Torgau. At approximately 11:30 AM, 1st Lt. Albert L. Kotzebue of the 273rd Infantry Regiment, 69th Division led a four-man intelligence and reconnaissance patrol across the Elbe River in a rowboat near Strehla. In this patrol was Private First Class Joe Polowsky of Chicago who was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and served as the patrol’s interpreter. Kotzebue’s

2nd Lt. William Robertson, U.S., and Lt. Alexander Sylvashko, Red Army, shown in front of a sign that says East Meets West

team made initial contact with a Soviet soldier on horseback. Polowsky spent the rest of his life advocating for April 25 to be officially designated as an international Elbe Day dedicated to world peace, a campaign he pursued tirelessly until his death. Despite Kotzebue’s earlier contact, it was a second patrol led by 2 nd Lieutenant William Robertson that made the headlines. Robertson’s four-man patrol included Private Paul Staub, a Jewish soldier from Elizabeth, New Jersey. They reached the Elbe at Torgau later that afternoon and found the main bridge in the area destroyed by retreating German forces. Robertson and his men carefully climbed across the twisted steel wreckage that was partially submerged in the river. Soviet soldiers on the far bank initially mistook the patrol for enemy troops and opened fire. Fortunately, they missed, and after identifying themselves as Americans, the Soviet troops realized the mistake and greeted the Americans with handshakes and smiles. Robertson had been told not to go to the Elbe River, and his commanding general initially ordered a court-martial for disobeying orders. However, recognizing the monumental strategic and public relations value of the linkup, General Omar Bradley intervened personally to drop all charges. Staub, who document-

Soviet and American soldiers in Torgau, Germany, April 25, 1945

ed the encounter on camera, captured a photograph of the ruined bridge that was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp 50 years later. During a subsequent ceremony, Staub met General Dwight D. Eisenhower, received a promotion to corporal, and was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Soviet Order of Glory. Later that afternoon, U.S. 69th Infantry Division commander Major General Emil F. Reinhardt officially met Soviet 58th Guards Rifle Division commander Major General Vladimir Rusakov at Torgau to formalize the linkup. The following day, on April 26, commanders and media corps staged symbolic handshakes across the river for international press coverage. Among the soldiers featured in these famous press photographs was U.S. Army Technician Fifth Grade Bernard Kirschenbaum of the 69th Division. Kirschenbaum was photographed reaching out to shake hands with Soviet soldiers that included Polish-born Chaim Charles Thau. Thau had survived the Holocaust by escaping into the dense forests when Nazi forces invaded his home shtetl. He lived as a partisan fighter for a year before joining Soviet forces. Though Soviet officers initially suspected Thau was a German spy due to his fluent German, he convinced them of his Jewish heritage. Joining the Red Army in July

1942 as a translator, Thau served on the frontlines all the way to the historic linkup at the Elbe. After the war, he returned to his shtetl only to learn that he was the only survivor from his family and moved to Austria. There he joined the Bricha, an underground network that helped Jewish Holocaust survivors leave Europe, and in 1951, he immigrated to the U.S., where he settled in Milwaukee. Linkups occurred all across the frontlines following meet-ups on April 25. Soldiers from both sides celebrated the impending defeat of the Nazis and exchanges of insignia and other gifts followed. The celebrations wouldn’t last long, though, as geopolitical tensions grew in the months and years following the war and a Cold War between the United States and the Soviets lasted for several decades. Despite the political disagreements between the governments, the regular soldiers of the two powers, especially those Forgotten Heroes who met at the Elbe, often remained friends for life.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

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