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September 10, 2026

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Dear Readers,

n Rosh Hashana, the shofar is the sound of the day. Zichronos reminds us that nothing is forgotten, that every deed and every moment is remembered. But beneath it all is the central theme of Rosh Hashana: being mamlech Hashem as Melech— recognizing Hashem’s sovereignty over the world and over our own lives. In a way, when we are mamlech Hashem, we raise ourselves up as well. A coronation does not only elevate the king. It defines the subjects. When we declare Hashem as King, we are recommitting ourselves to being part of His kingdom. We are reminding ourselves that our lives are not random, our choices are not meaningless, and our days are not simply a collection of obligations and distractions. We belong to something infinitely greater than ourselves. Perhaps that is why Rosh Hashana needs to come at the beginning of Aseres Yemei Teshuva. At first glance, it could have been arranged differently. We might have imagined spending ten days first doing teshuva — regretting what we did wrong, repairing what needs to be repaired, cleansing ourselves of sin — and only then, once we are spiritually presentable, standing before Hashem and crowning Him as King. But that is not how Hashem commanded us to begin our year. We begin with Rosh Hashana. We begin not with what we have done wrong, but with who we are. Before we examine our failures, we remind

ourselves of our identity. We are not merely flesh and blood, vulnerable to temptation and prone to mistakes. We are servants of the Creator. We are part of His world, members of His kingdom, people who have been given the extraordinary privilege of serving the One who created everything. That realization changes the entire process of teshuva. If a person sees himself as small, ordinary and spiritually insignificant, then sin can feel almost inevitable. “This is just who I am,” he may think. “People make mistakes.” But Rosh Hashana reminds us of who we are. We are subjects of the King. We were placed in this world with purpose, with a sense of mission. Our actions, our words, our choices – they belong on a higher plane. Our souls belong in His palace, not sullied in the dirt of depravity. From that elevated place, from within His palace, the work of the next ten days begins. We do teshuva not because we are worthless, but because we are worth so much. We clean away what does not belong because we remember what does belong. Once we recognize that we live in Hashem’s kingdom, the question becomes almost obvious: Why would we want to carry anything into that royal realm that diminishes who we are meant to be? On Rosh Hashem, we crown Hashem as our King. And in doing so, we are reminded of who we are. Wishing you a kesiva v’chasima tova, Shoshana

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Rosh Hashana Zemanim Friday, September 11 Candle Lighting: 6:52 pm

Motzei Shabbos, September 12 11

FRIDAY

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Candle Lighting After: 7:13 pm Rosh Hashana Ends: 7:48 pm Rabbeinu Tam: 8:19 pm

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ThunderShowers

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Contents LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMUNITY Readers’ Poll

Community Happenings

NEWS Global

National

36 That’s Odd

ISRAEL

R20

Israel News

Random Thoughts on People by Barbara Deutsch

My Israel Home

R46

JEWISH THOUGHT

The Unique Teshuva of Rosh Hashana by Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

Delving into the Daf by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

Headlines and Halacha by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

R10

The Shofar Blast of Moshiach by Rav Moshe Weinberger

R12

The Sublime Gift of Rosh Hashana by Rav Yaakov Feitman

R16

Personal Revivification by Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

R20

When You Step Aside, You Don’t Lose by Rabbi Benny Berlin

R30

Maximizing the Power of Tefillah by Rabbi Heshy Kleinman

R34

PEOPLE Inspiration Nation

Yom Tov on the Front Lines by Avi Heiligman

121

Your Mission, Your Calling: Rabbi Ken Spiro

R38

HEALTH & FITNESS School of Thought

Beyond “Fine” by Leora Goldenberg, LCSW

100

Before You Promise to Be Better This Year by Rivka Kramer 102 We May Have a Pomegranate Problem by Dr. Hylton Lightman 104

R30

A Healthier New Year by Aliza Beer, MS, RD

R56

FOOD & LEISURE The Aussie Gourmet: Pom Chicken 110

Food For Thought

112

A Touch of Sweetness by Danielle Renov

R48

Dear Editor, As a slightly older individual, when driving around town, I’m always a bit apprehensive. Cars are coming, often speeding, from all directions. Other drivers on the road, racing to catch the lights, do not allow you to make turns easily. I’m aware that many of the drivers are “amcha,” which makes me anxious, chas v’shalom, not to be the cause of any mishap. Backing up or driving down the local streets I am super careful, aware that our precious children are playing all over. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and would like to present a suggestion. What if we would all adopt a new approach? Let My People Turn! Each time we get into our car, let’s take upon ourselves to allow at least one car to go ahead of us or make a turn, where we normally would not have done so. Just imagine hundreds of drivers following through with this proposal. What a huge difference that would make in improving safety on our streets, creating a calmer, less stressful driving experience for all. As a side note, driving aggressively, not allowing others to turn, or getting upset by a driver in front of you who is not driving according to your “standards” is actually a form of aggression, a form of ka’as, anger. Rav Wolbe, zt”l, mentions in his sefarim that a talmid chacham loses his status as such by exhibiting ka’as. It is definitely appropriate for our community to live up to our ideals and display proper middos on the road. May the Eibishter protect us and keep us safe. Wishing all a shana tova u’mesuka! Heshy Liebermann

Dear Editor, I noticed in last week’s paper that there was little if anything said about an important date in our history: September 1. That was the beginning of World War II, what I call the war against the Jew. It should not be forgotten as time goes by. It reminds me of a Yiddish song called Es Brent (There’s a Fire Burning). A town is burning. You are standing there with idle hands, and you are watching our town burn. In those days, there was nothing we were able to do. Once Amalek put out his decree: “Let’s cut Israel off from nationhood.” The whole world joined in with one heart against Israel. There was nothing we could do. We only looked at it years later and said there were signs. We didn’t have smartphones. But there were signs that we saw in the aftermath, looking back. When England declared war on September 3, there was a thunderclap. The Parliament shook. We realized years later that was a message directly from Hashem: “I am aware of it. I will take charge of it. But it will take time.” There were two other signs at the time that we only saw years later. A king walked off the world’s stage. He was attracted to a yetzer hara named Adele Simpson. The king who remained was sympathetic to the people of England, so they were willing to fight for the rest of the war. During the evacuation, the English Channel was a little calmer than usual which helped save over 300,000 lives of the soldiers. Finally, Winston Churchill became prime minister. I’ve quoted many times the historian who said if Lord Halifax had been chosen prime minister, we would all be Continued on page 16

LIFESTYLES Dating Dialogue, Moderated by Jennifer Mann, LCSW

Parenting Pearls

106

Book Nook

108

Get Your Head Into It by Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDS

126

HUMOR Centerfold

Shmooze and Muse by Mordechai Schmutter

R60

POLITICAL CROSSFIRE Notable Quotes

114

America’s Absence is Inviting the War Europe Fears Most by David Ignatius 118 How Trump Can Help Ukraine by Marc A. Thiessen

120

CLASSIFIEDS

122

Does your family add on “extra” simanim at your Rosh Hashana meal?

76 24 %

Yes

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Continued from page 14

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

talking German. Today, we can also sing Es Brent (There’s a fire burning). But Baruch Hashem, the shtetl is stronger. There is a whole school for every little boy who was sitting in cheder in the old days. We are stronger now. We have smartphones with apps leading directly to Hashem. Ein Od Milvado. There is no one like Him. Thank you, Hashem. If you say thank you Hashem, we will see miracles. Yours truly, Elli Epstein Far Rockaway and Ocean, NJ Dear Editor, We have 5 physical senses: taste, smell, touch, sight, and sound. Taste, smell, touch, and sight are all instantaneous senses. You taste something immediately—there is no time lapse. It’s sweet or bitter, etc. You smell something immediately—there is no time lapse. It’s pungent, fragrant, repugnant, etc. You touch something immediately—there is no time lapse. It’s “ouch!” scalding hot, very soft, slimy, etc. You see something immediately—there is no time lapse. It’s blindingly bright, it’s blue, it’s sunny, it’s ugly—all in the blink of an eye. You can make all these conclusions

literally with no time lapse. You hear it, but there’s no immediate sound. There must be a time lapse to “sound,” even a few seconds, otherwise you cannot decipher any sound. It’s the only one of our senses that require a “sound-track,” a movement through a continuum. The sound of the shofar, I would like to argue, is the way of Hashem (kevayachol) entering our world of the continuum, of time lapses, of “sound-track,” which we as humans live in, while Hashem is above and beyond any time continuum. We blow the shofar to present the possibility that this sound would be that which if we had an immediate, no time lapse, sense of sound, that’s maybe what it may “sound” like. I would therefore argue that perhaps Hashem is “meeting us” in our human time-lapse continuum, at this very special auspicious time of the year, by commanding us to “sound” the shofar, “sound” being the only one of our human five senses that MUST have a time lapse, and Hashem uses specifically our sense of hearing to come “down” to us through sound. Jerry Stulberger

Dear Editor, With Rosh Hashana approaching, I would like to alert readers to a potentially common bracha mistake involving a fruit increasingly being sold as a “new fruit.” Many stores are selling Cape gooseberries, also known as golden berries or ground cherries. They are small yellow-orange fruits enclosed in a papery husk and are often simply labeled “gooseberries.” The problem is that there are actually two completely different fruits called gooseberries. The traditional European gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa) grows on a woody shrub and is Ha’eitz. The Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana), however, is an entirely different plant. It belongs to the tomato family and grows much like a tomato plant. I have personally grown them and was struck by how similar the plant is to a tomato. Most importantly, the cRc Brachos Guide explicitly distinguishes between the two: “Gooseberry, European — Recite the bracha of Haeitz before eating… [Note that Cape Gooseberry has a different bracha rishona.]” And under Cape gooseberry, the cRc states: “Gooseberry, Cape — Recite the bracha of Ha’adamah before eating… [Note that European Gooseberry has a different bracha rishona.]” This becomes particularly relevant on the second night of Rosh Hashana, when people specifically purchase unusual fruits for the Shehecheyanu. A consumer seeing a package labeled “gooseberries” could very reasonably assume that the proper bracha is Ha’eitz.

It would therefore be worthwhile for kosher supermarkets, kashrus organizations, rabbanim and publications to publicize this distinction: European Gooseberry — Ha’eitz Cape Gooseberry / Golden Berry / Ground Cherry — Ha’adamah A simple clarification could prevent many people from making the wrong bracha this Rosh Hashana. Doniel Bak Dear Editor, In this busy season of Elul, I still felt I needed to take the time to express my hakaras hatov to Torah Academy for Girls. Understanding the stressful days between the end of camp and the beginning of school, the administration of TAG undertook to sponsor a three-day SCAMP, school camp, which was featured in last week’s paper. What was not publicized was their decision to help parents even further by arranging and paying for buses for the Far Rockaway talmidos. While other districts did provide the service for the start of school on September 1, the city would not commence bus service until Tuesday, September 8! What a bracha for those parents who have been carpooling their sons, who began a half day of learning in late August. The above actions demonstrate that TAG not only caters to the needs of their many fortunate talmidos, but also to their parents, and I, for one, am extremely grateful to them. May TAG and its amazing staff be zocheh to a beautiful new year filled with learning and much nachas from their talmidos. A Very Proud TAG Parent

Views expressed on the Letters to the Editor page do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Home. Please send all correspondence to: editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com.

Make your voice heard! Be part of TJH’s weekly poll. Email the editor to be included in the weekly poll at Editor@FiveTownsJewishHome.com

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

The Week In News

Germany’s AfD’s Historic Victory

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) scored a historic victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, delivering a major setback to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and sending a warning to established political parties across Europe. The AfD captured roughly 44% of the vote, more than doubling its support from the previous state election and winning 39 of the state parliament’s 83 seats. Although the party fell just short of an outright majority, the result marked its strongest-ever performance in a German state election. On Monday, Merz acknowledged that the result had shaken his conservative Christian Democratic Union “to its very foundations,” while again ruling out cooperation with the AfD. The vote reflected widespread frustration with Germany’s political leadership, particularly over the cost of living, pensions and economic uncertainty. An Infratest dimap survey found that 87% of voters in Saxony-Anhalt were unhappy with the federal government. AfD candidate Ulrich Siegmund, 35, built a particularly strong following among younger voters, men and working-class residents, campaigning on promises to restore what he called “our good, old, safe Germany.” The party’s showing came despite warnings from business leaders and economists that its anti-immigration positions could discourage foreign investment and make it harder for Saxony-Anhalt to attract skilled workers. The outcome also reverberated beyond Germany. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure called the result a “very, very worry-

ing signal,” saying it pointed to what he described as a growing global “populist wave.” Saxony-Anhalt, home to about 2.1 million people, has struggled with population loss and the lingering economic effects of German reunification, even as unemployment has fallen and industries such as chemicals, logistics and green energy have expanded. For Merz, who took office in 2025 promising major economic reforms, the vote underscores the difficulty of convincing Germans that change is underway. Germany continues to grapple with slow growth, high energy costs and concerns over the future of its industrial base. The AfD, meanwhile, has cast its Saxony-Anhalt victory as a stepping stone toward Germany’s 2029 federal election, ensuring that the political shockwaves from Sunday’s vote are unlikely to fade quickly.

Bolsonaro Supporters Rally

Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s conservative opposition rallied in São Paulo on Monday, using the country’s Independence Day to protest President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a powerful Supreme Court justice as Brazil heads toward a closely contested presidential election. About 28,500 people gathered along Paulista Avenue, according to researchers at the University of São Paulo, where Senator Flavio Bolsonaro sought to rally support for his campaign against Lula ahead of the October 4 vote. The demonstration focused heavily on Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who prosecuted Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, over an alleged attempt to overturn the 2022 election. Jair Bolsonaro was convicted in 2025 and is barred from seeking office. “This consortium of Lula and Moraes will come to an end,” Flavio Bolsonaro told the crowd, attempting to tie dissatisfaction with the court directly to the president. The rally came as Brazil’s Supreme

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Court faces an unusual internal crisis involving Moraes and fellow Justice André Mendonça, a Bolsonaro appointee. Mendonça recently disclosed a report raising questions about Moraes’ alleged contacts with a banker accused in a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. Moraes, in turn, called for Mendonça to be investigated for alleged abuse of authority. The controversy has quickly become campaign fuel. Bolsonaro and his allies portray the case against his father as political persecution, while Lula and his supporters have argued that Brazil’s institutions must be protected from attempts to undermine democracy. The presidential race, meanwhile, appears exceedingly close. A Quaest poll released Monday showed Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro tied at 41% each in a hypothetical second-round matchup. The runoff, if necessary, would be held October 25. Monday’s turnout was significant but smaller than demonstrations led by Jair Bolsonaro in previous years. Some protesters waved Brazilian, American and Israeli flags, while speakers repeatedly called for both Lula and Moraes to leave office. Lula attended the traditional Independence Day military parade in Brasília but

did not speak at the event. In a televised address the previous evening, he stressed national sovereignty and democracy. “Defending Brazil’s independence is defending our sovereignty and our democracy,” Lula said. With less than a month until voting begins, the rallies highlighted a familiar feature of Brazilian politics: a deeply polarized electorate and a presidential contest in which battles over the courts, Bolsonaro’s legacy and Lula’s record are nearly as prominent as the candidates themselves.

New Delhi Building Collapse

A building collapsed in New Delhi on Sunday, killing at least seven people and trapping dozens of others in the crushing

debris. The five-story building in India’s capital housed a boys’ hostel in Satya Niketan, a densely populated neighborhood known for its private student accommodations near a Delhi University campus. Lawmaker Anil Sharma said some people had been rescued and several others trapped inside were making phone calls for help while rescuers remained in contact with them. Rescuers spent more than 27 hours rescuing those trapped in the wreckage. They managed to extract twelve people, although seven of those had died, including a 75-year-old laborer. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. Police arrested building owner Hariram Gupta in Rajasthan. A magisterial inquiry was ordered, while the MCD suspended its South Zone deputy commissioner and four engineers. Building collapses are a recurring hazard in parts of India during the June-to-September monsoon, when heavy or prolonged rain can weaken aging structures. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked the BJP government over the building collapse, accusing it of failing to take responsibility for the tragedy and questioning the lack of preventive action. Gandhi alleged that the BJP government, led by Prime Minister Modi, repeatedly follows a pattern in which authorities fail to prevent tragedies, engage in “grandstanding” once they occur and subsequently place responsibility on lower-level officials instead of holding those ultimately accountable to account. “The collapse of the building packed with students at Satya Niketan is no isolated tragedy. In the last four months, six people died in a similar disaster in Saidulajab, and a fire in Hauz Rani claimed 22 lives,” he said. “Every time, lives, dreams, and aspirations get buried under rubble – and every time, any real action is nowhere to be found. And when you demand accountability, the prime minister himself slaps you with insulting labels … the intent being to shame, defame, and silence anyone who dares to ask questions.”

Murderer Buried with Honors Thousands of mourners gathered in Belgrade, Serbia, on Monday for the funeral of Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide and other war crimes, as Serbia ignored sharp warnings from the European Union over the public glorification of a convicted war criminal.

Mladic, who died on August 27 at age 84 while serving a life sentence in The Hague, was buried with military honors. His coffin, draped in the Serbian flag and topped with his military cap and saber, was carried by Serbian soldiers as a military orchestra played and mourners applauded. Patriarch Porfirije, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, led the funeral service. Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik and Russia’s ambassador to Serbia were among those attending.

Mladic, known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” was convicted in 2017 for his role in atrocities during the Bosnian War, including the 1995 massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica and the prolonged siege of Sarajevo. His crimes also included the establishment of detention camps for non-Serb civilians and enemy soldiers. Despite those convictions, Mladic remains a hero to many Serbian nationalists. In the days after his death, supporters painted murals in his honor, held vigils and chanted his name at a Belgrade soccer match. The public tributes drew furious criticism from victims’ groups and European officials. “The glorification of genocide is not honor – it’s a shame,” the Mothers of Srebrenica group said, warning that the funeral risked becoming a major gathering for extremists. The European Union also condemned the honors, saying that “any glorification of war criminals, genocide denial, and revisionism” is incompatible with European values. Serbia, which is seeking EU membership, has nevertheless defended the public response to Mladic’s death. The government sent a plane to return his body from the Netherlands, while a military commemoration was held on Saturday at an official Serbian army venue. President Aleksandar Vucic, who did not attend the funeral, described the gathering as an “emotional outpouring” and argued that Serbs have been unfairly blamed for decades. “We have been persecuted and harassed for 30, 40 years,” Vucic said. “People just won’t take it anymore.”

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

The controversy comes at a particularly sensitive moment for Serbia, with an early parliamentary election expected next month and tensions already rising between Belgrade and European officials over the country’s political direction.

Meloni’s Long-Lived Gov’t

Italy has long been famous for governments that come and go faster than tourists traveling through Rome. Giorgia Meloni, however, has managed to stick around. Last Thursday, after 1,413 consecutive days in office, Meloni’s government became Italy’s longest-serving uninterrupted administration since World War II, surpassing the record set by Silvio Berlusconi’s government from 2001 to 2005.

In a country that has had 68 governments in 80 years as a republic, simple survival is no small accomplishment. No Italian government has yet completed a full five-year term without interruption. Meloni took office in October 2022 as Italy’s first female prime minister. At the time, European leaders and financial markets watched her cautiously because her Brothers of Italy party has roots in Italy’s postwar neo-fascist movement. Since then, she has largely pursued a pragmatic course, maintaining strong support for Ukraine, working within European institutions and emphasizing fiscal discipline. Her coalition has also remained intact, a rarity in Italian politics. Supporters point to more than 1 million additional jobs, unemployment below 6%, lower youth unemployment, tighter public finances and a decline in migrant arrivals as evidence that the stability has produced results. “Stability is our first great reform,” Meloni told supporters at a rally in Bari marking the milestone. Critics, however, say longevity and accomplishment are not necessarily the same thing. Italy continues to struggle with weak productivity, demographic decline, low salaries and longstanding problems in

healthcare, education and public administration. “The Meloni government has been certainly stable and long-running, but it hasn’t achieved much in terms of structural reforms,” political analyst Lorenzo Pregliasco said. Meloni has also transformed from a nationalist outsider into a more established European figure, though that shift has created pressure from politicians further to her right. With Italy’s next election due by the end of 2027, the question is no longer whether Meloni can keep a government together. It is whether voters believe that keeping it together is enough to keep her in power. In Italy, though, making it this far without the government collapsing may already qualify as extra credit.

Volcanic Eruption in Indonesia Flights to and from Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta resumed early Tuesday after ash from a volcanic eruption forced a two-day closure that halted nearly 3,000 flights. Although some airports reopened,

a few remained closed. “We are taking a conservative approach because wind direction is highly dynamic,” Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said. “We want to ensure that volcanic ash has moved away from airports around Anak Krakatau.”

Anak Krakatau is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Indonesia’s main islands of Java and Sumatra. Its name means “child of Krakatau,” and the volcano is the offspring of the infamous Krakatau, whose monumental 1883 eruption triggered a change in weather patterns. The continuous eruption of Anak Krakatau with lava fountains and loud booms ended on Sunday, but the volcanic island remained active Tuesday morning. The airport closures Sunday and Monday disrupted nearly 2,961 flights, including 622 international services, and affected about 341,000 passengers.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

The government also authorized schools in areas affected by volcanic ash to shift temporarily to online learning to reduce students’ exposure to ash. An eruption of Anak Krakatau in 2018 caused a tsunami that killed at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java. Researchers believe volcanic activity triggered an underwater landslide and caused a large chunk of Anak Krakatau’s southwest slope to collapse and displace a large volume of water. The volcano remained at Indonesia’s second-highest alert level since July, and authorities advised residents, tourists and fishermen to stay at least 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the active crater. Indonesia has more than 120 active volcanoes and frequently experiences eruptions due to its location along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the ring of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where most global seismic activity occurs.

Houthis Target Saudi Arabia On Tuesday, operations at some energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, were halted following

attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis. The attacks wounded 73 people, in what Saudi authorities described as a dangerous escalation. The Houthis attacked the southern cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran. Women and children were injured in the attack. Fires erupted at the sites and several people were injured as firefighting and other emergency teams rushed to contain the blazes and assess the damage.

The flare-up in violence between Saudi Arabia and the terror group came as tensions mounted between the United States and Iran. The wider Middle East conflict sent oil prices soaring and diplomatic negotiations stalling. The Houthi military spokesperson announced what he described as a broad offensive with ballistic missiles and drones against the de facto OPEC leader, targeting Saudi oil giant Aramco facilities in

Abha, Najran and Jizan, as well as an air base in Khamis Mushait. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen vowed to respond firmly to the latest outbreak of hostilities, saying the latest escalation was “dangerous.” Spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Monday that Riyadh had taken “escalatory steps” by conducting airstrikes on Yemen, and warned that the latest strikes would not go unanswered. “The coalition will take all necessary operational measures to deter this terrorist militia and resolutely confront its hostile approach,” Colonel Turki al-Malki said in a statement on X. The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks towards Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting its vessels in the Red Sea.

vented access to the Eiffel Tower,” in a post on X. “Nevertheless, we sincerely apologize for any pain or inconvenience caused.” The issue sparked criticism across the political spectrum. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said in a post on X on Monday, “Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments.” France’s equality minister, Aurore Bergé, said equality between the genders is “neither negotiable nor variable.”

Jewish Prisoner Released in Iran

Eiffel Tower Tensions

On Monday, the Eiffel Tower was closed due to a staff strike. The strike was implemented after staff at the French landmark said managers told female workers to retreat out of sight during a religious group’s visit. The iconic attraction reopened on Tuesday. Ariel Weil, the president of the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE), told France’s BFMTV on Tuesday he considered the incident “totally unacceptable.” The incident follows a visit from Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), which describes itself as a “volunteer-driven fellowship” within the Swaminarayan sect, a branch of Hinduism. SETE said it had been asked to limit “interactions with women” during the visit, which took place on Saturday. Female staff said they were told to “make themselves invisible,” including by leaving their posts or withdrawing to other areas. BAPS apologized in a statement on Monday, saying: “To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone pre-

Kamran Hekmati, a Jewish Iranian American citizen who had been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, was released on Saturday. Hekmati was arrested in July 2025 while visiting Iran for a brief trip. He was “tried” and imprisoned after a Tehran court convicted him over a visit to Israel 13 years earlier, when he traveled there to attend his son’s bar mitzvah celebration. According to his family and organizations assisting with the case, the trial lasted about 10 minutes. Hekmati’s family and the organizations assisting him have said the legal proceedings were conducted without legal representation and without witnesses being heard. His visit to Israel, which took place more than a decade before his arrest, was central to the conviction that led to his imprisonment. According to family members, Hekmati was stopped at the airport when he sought to return home to New York in May 2025. He was living in Great Neck at the time. Authorities seized his passport and searched his phone and social media accounts. Hekmati was blocked from leaving the country and interrogated. Despite Hekmati regaining his freedom, he is not allowed to leave Iran and return to the United States.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Nine Days Underground

For nine days, Kabir Maharjan lay trapped in darkness beneath the wreckage of one of Nepal’s worst natural disasters in decades, surviving on muddy water and an air pocket deep inside a hydropower tunnel. Then, rescuers heard something. At first, they could not tell whether the faint noise coming from the tunnel was a person or simply an echo. Crews repeatedly shut off their machinery and called into the darkness. Finally, a light revealed a hand. Maharjan and fellow worker Sanjay Sah were pulled alive from the tunnel on the 10th day after a glacier collapse sent a massive wall of mud and water through Nepal’s Trishuli Valley on August 26. The

disaster killed more than 1,300 people and left thousands missing across Nepal and neighboring Tibet. Hundreds of workers at hydropower projects along the valley were believed to have been buried. Maharjan and Sah had taken refuge inside a sloping cable tunnel at the Upper Trishuli 3A hydropower station, where an air-filled chamber protected them from the floodwaters. For days, there was little reason to believe anyone inside had survived. Maharjan drank the muddy water surrounding him to stay alive, according to his wife. Sah later told rescuers that he recited prayers to keep up his courage. Above ground, rescue crews battled unstable mud, heavy rain and debris buried as much as 30 meters deep. It took nearly six days just to reach the tunnel entrance. At one point, rescuers drilled a narrow borehole from above to determine the tunnel’s location. Later, they used high-pressure water to clear several meters of mud-packed passage. Around 4 a.m. on the 10th day, crews began hearing noises. “We would call out, ‘Where are you? Are you there?’” rescue leader Ganga Baral recalled. Several hours later, soldiers broke

through a small opening and confirmed the impossible: the men were alive. Neither survivor could stand when they were brought out. Sah was carried on a rescuer’s back, while Maharjan, who had a serious infected leg wound, was removed on a stretcher. When Maharjan’s sons heard the news, they shouted, “Mummy, Papa is back!” At the hospital, Maharjan was so disoriented that he initially did not recognize his wife. For her, that hardly mattered. “He is blessed with another life,” she said.

20K New Olim As Jews around the world prepare to welcome a new year, thousands spent the past one making Israel their new home. Some 20,000 new immigrants arrived in Israel during the Jewish year 5786, according to figures released on Monday by

the Immigration and Absorption Ministry. The total, that covers arrivals from September 23, 2025, through September 3, 2026, represents a decline of about 6% from the previous year. Still, immigration from several Western countries rose sharply, even as the number of arrivals of those coming from Russia continued to fall.

France saw one of the largest increases, with 4,364 immigrants arriving during the year — a jump of 65%. Immigration from the United States rose 15% to 3,333, while 975 newcomers arrived from the United Kingdom, the highest figure from there in 40 years. Russia remained the largest single source of immigrants, with 5,685 arrivals, though that was down sharply from 9,282 the previous year. Russian aliyah had surged after Moscow’s invasion of

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Israir Takes Flight

Ukraine in 2022 and has gradually declined since. Other newcomers arrived from Ukraine, Belarus, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Georgia, South Africa, Germany and Brazil. The new immigrants also skewed young: 35% were between 18 and 35, while nearly one-quarter were under 18. Aliyah truly spanned the generations. The two oldest immigrants were both 102 years old — one from Russia and one

from France — while the youngest was a two-week-old baby from Mexico. “Especially in a complex and challenging year, the choice to immigrate to Israel and build a future here is a strong Zionist and national statement,” Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer said. Among the year’s arrivals were 414 doctors, a particularly welcome boost as Israel grapples with shortages in the medical workforce. Tel Aviv attracted the most newcom-

ers, with 2,762, followed by Netanya, Jerusalem, Haifa and Ra’anana. Interest in future aliyah is also rising. More than 28,000 Jews worldwide opened immigration files through the Jewish Agency, with sharp increases from Jews in Britain, France, the United States and Australia.

Next week, Israir will become the third Israeli airline to operate nonstop flights between Tel Aviv and New York, bringing more competition into the mix against flagship carrier El Al and the smaller Arkia airline. After completing all the necessary approvals to operate the Tel Aviv-New York route, Israir will launch the first flight from Ben Gurion Airport on September 15, and not in October as initially planned. The first flight in the opposite direction, from New York’s JFK to Israel, is scheduled for September 17. Israir’s flights will be operated using wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft. The local carrier is expected to start with three flights per week between the destinations and ramp up to daily flights by the end of October. The low-cost carrier’s debut on the Tel Aviv-NYC route comes at a pivotal moment, as U.S. carriers are just starting to resume fights this week, having most recently suspended their services following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran in late February. Delta Air Lines restarted daily nonstop flights from New York’s JFK on Monday, as its Airbus A330-900neo aircraft touched down at Ben Gurion. United Airlines is scheduled to resume nonstop flight services from New York to Tel Aviv on September 8. American Airlines has suspended the route through March 27, 2027. While the return of Delta and United and the introduction of Israir will add much-needed seats and flight options, fares are not expected to start descending in the coming peak travel weeks. “Israir is entering competition on the direct route when ticket prices are kept outrageously high by a few airlines,” noted Mark Feldman, CEO of the Ziontours Jerusalem travel agency. “Many travelers have already booked their tickets for the upcoming holidays and demand is still high.” Israir is expected to start selling tickets on the TLV-NYC route late Monday with one-way fares expected to cost $950. Arkia one-way fares on the route departing next week start around $1,099. Depending on the dates, El Al sells roundtrip tickets to New York from around

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

$2,700, United from around $2,200, and Delta from around $2,600. Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air is expanding its Israel operations with the addition of 46 weekly flights departing from Ben Gurion Airport. Starting Monday, Wizz Air is resuming flight operations from Ben Gurion to five destinations, including London Gatwick, Venice, Catania, and Cluj. The budget carrier is also adding flights to existing routes from Tel Aviv to 11 destinations in Europe, including Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava, Rome, Milan, Naples, Athens, Warsaw and Vilna.

Adidas One-Shoe “Uproar”

began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Biton later wrote that he was facing a “crazy wave of hate and reports all over the world,” adding that he was receiving “a lot more hate than love.” Adidas pushed back against claims that the service was created specifically for Israeli soldiers. “We are aware that interpretations in recent days have misrepresented the purpose of the service,” the company said. “It is important to clarify that this is a global initiative intended to expand choice and accessibility for athletes and consumers around the world.” The posters featuring Biton were used only in Israel, though the Single Shoe service itself is international.

Blood Test Detects Cancer

Adidas is facing boycott calls after featuring a former Israeli soldier in a campaign promoting a service that allows amputee athletes to purchase just one running shoe instead of a pair. The controversy centers on Shalev Biton, a former soldier in the IDF’s Nahal infantry brigade who lost his left leg after an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza struck his military vehicle in May 2021. After extensive rehabilitation, Biton returned to running with a prosthetic limb. He was one of 11 disabled athletes featured in posters displayed at Adidas stores in Israel promoting the company’s Single Shoe service. The initiative, which launched in Europe earlier this year and later expanded to the Middle East, is designed for amputees and other athletes who need only one shoe. Biton also posted a homemade video on Instagram describing what the program meant to him personally. The video did not mention his military service or the circumstances in which he lost his leg. Still, the campaign sparked fierce criticism on social media, where pro-Palestinian activists called for a boycott of Adidas and circulated images of Biton alongside photographs of amputee children in Gaza. Some posts falsely claimed Biton had lost his leg while fighting in Gaza during the recent war. He was injured in 2021, more than two years before the war that

Israeli researchers have developed a simple blood test that can detect many cases of lung cancer with striking accuracy – at a cost of about $60. The test, developed by scientists at Tel Aviv University together with JaxBio Technologies and doctors at Bnai Zion Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center, accurately identified 93% of stage 2-4 lung cancers in a peer-reviewed study involving 103 participants. It also correctly ruled out cancer in 90% of the healthy control group. Unlike many existing liquid-biopsy approaches, the test does not rely on expensive DNA sequencing. Instead, researchers examine chemical changes in tiny fragments of DNA circulating in the bloodstream and use fluorescent light to reveal patterns associated with cancer. “We invented a chemical reaction that lights up these chemical changes,” explained Dr. Yuval Ebenstein of Tel Aviv University. The DNA fragments are placed on a specially developed glass chip, where different spots emit different amounts of light depending on their chemical makeup. Ebenstein compared the resulting pattern to “a tiny QR code.” The goal is to make lung cancer

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

screening faster, cheaper and more accessible — particularly because the disease is often discovered only after symptoms appear and treatment options have narrowed. “Most people arrive in the last stages of the disease,” said Dr. Abed Agbarya, director of oncology at Bnai Zion Medical Center and the study’s lead author. “If we can discover the disease in its early stages, we can go to surgery. We can go to a full cure.” Lung cancer remains the world’s leading cause of cancer death, killing an estimated 1.8 million people annually. Researchers hope the test could eventually become part of routine blood work, especially in places where advanced imaging and genetic testing are less accessible. Still, there is an important catch: The study was small, and the test has not yet demonstrated the same success with stage 1 lung cancer, when treatment offers the best chance of a cure. “The real challenge ahead is proving it works at Stage 1,” noted Dr. Ari Raphael of Rabin Medical Center, who was not involved in the research. A larger trial is now underway at hospitals in Israel and Europe and is expected to conclude by mid-2027. For now, the results offer an encour-

aging possibility: detecting one of the deadliest cancers with something as routine as a vial of blood.

Syrian Reactor Was Almost Ready

In 2007, Israeli jets destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor that was nearly completed and would have been able to quickly produce fissile material usable in nuclear weapons, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi said on Monday. The United Nations nuclear watchdog has described its recent investigation into secret nuclear activities under the Assad family’s rule as a “historic breakthrough.” The investigation uncovered around 73 metric tons of natural uranium metal, mainly in the form of reactor fuel.

In a report to member states, the IAEA confirmed its previous finding that the bombed site in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zor was a nuclear reactor under construction, and that fuel for it had been made in Syria, all of which should have been declared at the time to the agency. “This is a reactor that is very efficient in the production of fissile material that could be used directly for the fabrication of nuclear weapons,” Grossi explained, adding that it was “almost completed.” “That was a very serious proliferation concern,” he said, while cautioning that the then-authorities’ intentions “cannot be judged.” Since the ouster of former president Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Syria’s new authorities have committed to working with the IAEA to answer questions relating to so-called nuclear safeguards, the process of accounting for and monitoring nuclear material. “Having received the necessary access and information from Syria, ...the agency has been able to clarify and resolve the agency’s questions concerning the outstanding safeguards issues related to Syria’s past nuclear activities,” Grossi said in a speech to the IAEA’s 35-nation board. “I welcome Syria’s transparency and cooperation with the agency, which facil-

itates the resolution of the outstanding safeguards issues related to Syria’s past nuclear activities.”

UK to Ban Some Israeli Imports

Britain announced on Tuesday that it will ban imports from Israeli settlements in the Judea and Samaria and impose sanctions on individuals and companies involved in settlement expansion, marking a significant shift in London’s policy toward Israel. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband unveiled the measures in the House of Commons, saying the British government now officially considers Israel’s “occupation” of Judea and Samaria unlawful. He argued that economic policy should reflect that position.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

“I do not believe that the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets,” Miliband said. The government plans to establish a sanctions regime that will also target companies and individuals providing construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate services connected to settlement expansion. “To those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this: you will face the full force of UK sanctions,” Miliband told lawmakers. Miliband, who described himself as a “proud British Jew” with deep family ties to Israel, said he saw no contradiction between supporting Israel and supporting Palestinian statehood. He said the measures were intended to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution, which the British government says has been increasingly threatened by settlement expansion, including plans for the controversial E1 project east of Jerusalem. The move represents a sharp escalation from previous British policy. Until now, the government strongly advised businesses against economic activity involving settlements and excluded

settlement products from preferential treatment under the UK-Israel trade agreement but did not outright prohibit their import. The announcement drew criticism from British Jewish leaders and opposition figures, who warned that the measures could further strain relations between Britain and Israel and potentially have unintended economic consequences. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the sanctions could prove “counterproductive,” according to the report, while critics also expressed concern that restrictions could eventually expand beyond settlement goods. Miliband insisted the policy was aimed specifically at settlements rather than Israel itself. The timing comes as Britain and several other European countries step up pressure over developments in Judea and Samaria. Canada, France and other governments joined Britain on Tuesday in signaling support for restrictions on trade involving settlements.

Israel to Release 5 Lebanese

Israel will release five Lebanese civilians from custody after Lebanon helped locate the remains of Jews murdered during the country’s civil war, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said last week.. The move is part of U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon, which formally remain enemy states. One of the five, Malek Kamal Ghazi, was released last Thursday and transferred by the Red Cross to Lebanese authorities at the Naqoura crossing. The remaining four were expected to be handed over on Friday. Netanyahu’s office said the detainees had been questioned and were found to be civilians who were not affiliated with terrorist organizations and had not been involved in terrorist activity. “There is no reason to keep holding them in Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. The decision followed what the PMO described as “significant activity” by both Israel and Lebanon in recent months to locate the remains of members of Lebanon’s former Jewish community. Netanyahu has instructed Israeli officials to continue efforts to recover the bodies of Jewish communal leaders who were abducted and murdered during Lebanon’s civil war in the 1980s. At the time, Lebanon’s once-thriving Jewish community had dwindled considerably, and several prominent Jewish figures were abducted and killed by Shiite terrorist groups, including groups linked to Hezbollah. A U.S. State Department official said the exchange demonstrated progress in the talks and praised both sides for “demonstrating good faith through these initial steps.” Washington said it hopes the development will lay the groundwork for broader discussions on other civilian and humanitarian issues. The agreement was finalized during a meeting last week in Jerusalem involving Netanyahu, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and U.S. Ambassador to Is-

rael Mike Huckabee. Talks are expected to continue in the coming weeks. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam thanked the United States for helping secure the detainees’ release while pledging to continue pressing for the release of all Lebanese prisoners and information about those still missing. U.S.-brokered negotiations since April have already produced limited Israeli withdrawals from designated areas, where the Lebanese military has been tasked with dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.

Fatal Plane Crash in Miami

A cargo plane barreled off a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, crashing through airport fencing and striking vehicles on a nearby road in a fiery accident that left five people dead and five others injured. The Boeing 767-300, operated by cargo carrier 21 Air for Amazon Air and weighing more than 100 tons, was landing on Runway 30 shortly after 2 p.m. when it failed to stop before reaching the end of the pavement. The aircraft tore across a grassy area at 130 mph, smashed through fencing and concrete barriers, and struck a van and an SUV before finally coming to a halt roughly 1,300 feet beyond the runway. All five people killed were inside vehicles, including a 2012 Ford van carrying seven people on an airport service road and a Toyota SUV outside of the airport fence, according to National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy. No one aboard the plane was killed, though the condition of the two pilots was not immediately clear. Homendy described the crash scene as one of “utter devastation,” with aircraft debris, vehicle parts and destroyed fencing scattered across the area. Investigators are examining why the 32-year-old jet was unable to stop. Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

and delays as investigators continued combing through the wreckage.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Clean Water Not a Right

approached higher than normal speeds before descending toward the runway, and aviation experts said shifting winds during a developing thunderstorm may also have complicated the landing. “From the videos that we have seen, it looks like an unstable approach,” said Francisco Diaz, a Boeing 747 captain and president of Miami-based pilots’ organization, the Captains Council. The pilots did not report any mechanical problems to air traffic controllers be-

fore landing. More than 200 firefighters responded after flames erupted around the aircraft. The plane’s black box was recovered, and the NTSB said investigators will review crew training and experience, air traffic control, weather conditions and the airline’s operations. The accident is also raising questions about safeguards at Miami International. Unlike many major airports, Miami does not have an Engineered Material

Arresting System, or EMAS, at the end of the runway. The crushable material is designed to slow and stop aircraft that overshoot a runway. “An airport this surrounded by population, they need an arrestor bed system at the end of these runways to stop this from happening again,” said transportation analyst Mary Schiavo. The crash forced two of Miami International’s four runways to close on Monday, causing hundreds of cancellations

A federal appeals court ruled last week that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to clean drinking water. The September 4 decision rejected Jackson, Mississippi, residents’ lawsuit over the city’s lead-contaminated water system. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling dismissing residents’ 2022 lawsuit.The plaintiffs, Priscilla Sterling, Raine Becker, Shawn Miller and John Bennett, alleged that the city knowingly allowed residents to drink unsafe water. They argued that the water contamination violated their constitutional right to bodily integrity under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause. In the majority decision, Judge Kurt Engelhardt wrote that while the deprivation of clean water was “grievous,” it did “not infringe upon any deeply rooted constitutional right.” “We are skeptical that the right to not be harmed by lead-contaminated water fits within the right to bodily integrity, and Plaintiffs point us to no historical tradition or Supreme Court precedent convincing us,” he wrote. He added that there was no constitutional right to “truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.” The lawsuit against the City of Jackson stemmed from testing conducted by the Mississippi State Health Department between 2010 and 2013 showing rising levels of lead in the water. The four plaintiffs argued that the city failed to take steps to prevent further lead from entering the water supply and gave residents false assurance that the water was safe. The judge found the lead exposure that resulted from the city’s mismanagement was “wholly different” from past examples when governments infringed on a person’s right to bodily integrity, including “from forced surgery, involuntary medicating, and assault.” “The Constitution does not provide redress for every governmental wrongdo-

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

ing,” Engelhardt wrote. He said that residents should take other paths to redress, including electing better representatives and petitioning the government for remedies. While the right to clean water isn’t included in the U.S. Constitution, or in the Mississippi state Constitution, several states, including California and Virginia, have protected access to safe water.

Hungry Bears

Patrick Sullivan thought a “crazy neighbor” was leaning on a car horn at 3 a.m. He was only partly right. The noisy neighbor was a black bear that had climbed into a Toyota SUV in Gold Hill, Colorado, gotten trapped inside and spent the night frantically bump-

ing the horn while shredding the vehicle’s interior. “It’s totaled. It’s unfit to drive,” Sullivan said. The incident is one of hundreds of bear encounters reported across the Rocky Mountain region this summer as drought conditions have reduced the nuts, berries and plants the animals normally eat. Colorado officials say bear sightings and conflicts with humans have roughly doubled compared with an average year, while wildlife authorities in Utah and New Mexico are also reporting unusually high numbers of hungry bears wandering into towns, campgrounds and neighborhoods. The bears have been showing up just about everywhere. One was tranquilized after climbing a tree in Denver. Another wandered onto the campus of Colorado State University during student move-in. Four bears had to be relocated from Moab, Utah, after discovering what was apparently an allyou-can-eat orchard buffet. In Steamboat Springs, a bear cub climbed into a contractor’s truck and found his lunch. “It was like, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’” contractor Andy Kerrigan recalled. Wildlife officials say garbage is the biggest attraction, along with bird feed-

ers, pet food and grease left on barbecue grills. Their warning is simple: “A fed bear is a dead bear.” Once bears learn to associate people with food, they can become dangerous and may ultimately have to be euthanized. The problem has been worsened by an exceptionally dry year. Snowpack across parts of the Rockies was at record lows, while wildfires have also damaged bear habitat. Back in Gold Hill, Sullivan’s brotherin-law eventually freed the trapped bear by tying a rope to the SUV’s door handle and pulling it open from a safe distance. The bear quickly bolted for the woods. “It was just sitting there waiting for someone to help him, basically,” Sullivan said. The bear escaped unharmed. The Toyota, however, was not so fortunate.

Keep Walking

According to a recent study, an extra 1,000 steps a day could protect your heart. The study involved 36,192 middle-aged or older British men and women with high blood pressure who wore an activity tracker. Scientists followed them for nearly a decade to see who experienced cardiac problems and then utilized that data to model the likely effects of increased step counts on disease risk. Small steps can have large impacts, they found. For every additional 1,000 steps a day above 2,344 — the low end of average in this group — the risks for any major heart problem fell by about 17 percent, for heart attacks by 9 percent, strokes by 25 percent and heart failure by 22 percent. But adding 1,000 steps at any point did wonders for participants’ heart health. Adding 1,000 steps to a usual daily total of 3,000, 7,000 or 9,999 steps was linked to lowered cardiac risks. The gains plateaued, though, at 10,000 steps, underscoring that “health benefits accrue well below the popularized 10,000-step goal,” according to an accompanying editorial about the study.

A thousand steps is about half a mile, an eight- to 10-minute walk, or twice around a standard city block.

Foldable Phones

Apple is getting ready to unfold a new chapter in iPhone history. The company is expected to unveil its first foldable iPhone on Wednesday, marking the biggest design change to its flagship product since the smartphone debuted nearly two decades ago. The project has been years in the making, but one of its strongest early champions was former CEO Tim Cook. Around 2020, Cook returned from a trip to Asia struck by the growing popularity of foldable phones from Samsung, Huawei and other manufacturers. He reportedly pushed Apple to move more aggressively into the category, even though company engineers had already been experimenting with flexible displays and folding devices for years. “Tim was the earliest and biggest champion of this,” one person familiar with the project said. “He saw them everywhere in Asia and said Apple needed to play in this space.” Apple initially considered a foldable iPad-style device before shifting its attention to an iPhone. Internally known as V68 and at times referred to as the “iPhone Ultra,” the device is expected to sit above Apple’s current premium models — in both features and price. Apple initially aimed for a $1,999 starting price, but more recent discussions have put the figure as high as $2,199. Models with larger storage capacities could approach $3,000. The device is expected to feature a roughly 7.8-inch interior display and a smaller 5.5-inch exterior screen. Designers reportedly envisioned it as roughly passport-sized when closed, opening into something resembling Apple’s Magic Trackpad. Engineers spent years tackling some of foldable phones’ biggest headaches, including visible screen creases, hinge reliability and flexible glass. Apple ultimately developed a titanium-and-aluminum

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

the quality of K-12 education, according to a new Gallup poll conducted with the Walton Family Foundation. That marks an 11-point drop over the past two years and the lowest level recorded since Gallup began asking the question 27 years ago. Meanwhile, 67% of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the quality of K-12 education, an all-time high.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

hinge paired with custom cover glass created with Corning. The company believes the resulting crease will be less noticeable than those on competing foldable devices. The launch will also mark a major moment for new CEO John Ternus, who took over from Cook on September 1. Cook, now executive chairman, is expected to watch from the audience as Ternus introduces the product. Apple employees reportedly expect

demand to be strong despite the lofty price and compromises in battery life, durability and cameras. IDC analyst Nabila Popal predicted the device could become the “Birkin of smartphones in China.”

U.S. Schools Disappoint Americans are increasingly unhappy with the country’s public education system, and, if the latest poll were a report card, schools might be asking for a doover. Just 32% of U.S. adults say they are completely or somewhat satisfied with

The discontent crosses party lines, though Democrats have seen the sharpest recent decline. Currently, only 35% of Democrats, 32% of independents and 25% of Republicans say they are satisfied with K-12 education. Politics, however, is only part of the problem. Years of disappointing national test scores following the pandemic, worries about students’ reading and math skills, debates over classroom technology and AI, and questions about whether schools are adequately preparing children for college and careers have all contributed to the gloomy outlook. A separate Gallup survey found especially low confidence in schools’ ability to prepare students for the future. Fewer than three in 10 respondents gave schools high marks for teaching critical thinking or preparing students for the workforce. Schools did somewhat better when it came to helping students adapt to new technology. There is one notable twist: Parents tend to feel considerably better about the schools their own children actually attend. About 66% of parents with K-12 students say they are satisfied with their child’s education — roughly double the share of Americans who are satisfied with the nation’s schools overall. Even that figure, however, is the lowest Gallup has recorded for parents. The gap suggests Americans may have a considerably dimmer view of “schools” in general than of the classrooms they see up close. “When people weigh in about the nation’s schools, what they are commenting on are 98,999 schools that they haven’t set foot in,” noted Jack Schneider, director of the Center for Education Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Gallup researcher Zach Hrynowski said the results may also reflect broader frustration with American institutions. “People have a general negative vibe about everything in the country right now,” he pointed out.

The Wounds of 9/11

Twenty-five years later, the memories have not faded. A new survey finds that more than three-quarters of New York City voters say the September 11 attacks still affect their lives and outlook, even as the emotions surrounding that day have shifted from anger toward sorrow. According to a Suffolk University

poll, 77% of registered voters in the five boroughs say 9/11 permanently changed their attitudes or lives. Remarkably, that includes 51% of New Yorkers ages 18 to 34 — a group whose oldest members were only children in 2001 and whose youngest were not yet born. “A quarter-century later, the scar left on New York City hasn’t faded into the background,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. For many New Yorkers, the attacks remain close to the surface. Nearly 3 in 10 said they think about 9/11 often or every day, while fewer than 1 in 5 said they almost never think about it. But what they feel has changed. Seven in 10 respondents said sorrow is now their predominant emotion when reflecting on the attacks, compared with 20% who said anger. The findings offer a picture of a city that has rebuilt its skyline but still carries the weight of what happened on that clear September morning. That sense of remembrance will be especially visible on Friday, when New Yorkers mark the 25th anniversary at Ground Zero. New Yorkers also remain uneasy about the future: Half said they expect

another major terrorist attack in the United States within the next decade.

Coffee Can Help

Your morning coffee may be doing more than helping you remember your own name before 8 a.m. New research from Texas A&M University suggests that compounds found in brewed coffee may activate a biological receptor involved in inflammation, metabolism, stress response and tissue repair — offering a possible explanation for why coffee has repeatedly been linked to healthier aging. The study, published in the journal Nutrients, focused on a receptor called NR4A1. Researchers found that several naturally occurring compounds in coffee, including caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and ferulic acid, can bind to the receptor and influence how it regulates certain genes. Robert S. Chapkin, a collaborator on the study, compared the process to a lock and key. “NR4A1 is the lock, and coffee contains the keys,” he said. Once activated, the receptor may help protect cells from stress-related damage. In laboratory models, coffee compounds reduced cellular damage and slowed the growth of cancer cells. When researchers removed NR4A1 from the cells, those protective effects disappeared. “If you damage almost any tissue, NR4A1 responds to bring that damage down,” said Dr. Stephen Safe, a professor at Texas A&M. “If you take that receptor away, the damage is worse.” Before anyone starts ordering a fourth latte in the name of science, though, researchers stressed that the study does not prove coffee prevents aging or disease in people. The work was mechanistic, meaning it examined what happens inside cells rather than tracking long-term health outcomes in coffee drinkers. Interestingly, caffeine may not even be the star of the show. Researchers said other compounds in coffee appeared more active in their models, meaning decaf drinkers may not be entirely left out in

the cold brew. The findings build on earlier studies that have associated coffee consumption with lower risks of several chronic diseases, although researchers are still working to understand exactly why. Safe’s team is now studying synthetic compounds that target NR4A1 more effectively, with hopes that the receptor could eventually play a role in treatments for cancer and other diseases. “There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Safe said. Still, your morning cup of joe may have a little more going for it than just keeping you from nodding off at your desk.

Lost Art

A group of thieves in southern France pulled off an art heist on Tuesday morning in less than five minutes — proving that the art of the steal can take place in the very fast lane. The burglars targeted the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where the alarm sounded at 5:48 a.m. Police arrived five minutes later, but by then the suspects had already cut four Renoir paintings from their fixtures and made their getaway. Their scheme was fast – and furious. Two paintings were later recovered after the thieves were forced to abandon them while fleeing, leaving “Madame Colonna Romano” and “Jeune femme au puits” still missing. Mayor Bryan Masson said the thieves were “well-equipped and well-prepared” and used an electric saw to cut through the devices securing the paintings. This was no sketchy amateur job. Four of the museum’s 12 Renoir works were initially taken, including “Portrait de Madame Stephen Pichon” and “Coco lisant,” both of which were recovered. The break-in has officials calling for stronger museum security, particularly as art thieves across Europe appear to be getting bolder — and considerably less subtle.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

The mayor’s office warned of “a new form of organized crime targeting works of art” and said local governments cannot afford to shoulder the cost of protecting valuable collections on their own. Masson called the burglary an attack on the city’s history and heritage and promised additional security measures. The museum was closed until further notice. The incident comes less than a year after thieves carried out another lightning-fast robbery at the Louvre, suggesting that France’s museums may want to rethink their “look, but don’t touch” policy — at least when it comes to criminals with power tools. Europol has also warned that art theft is becoming more aggressive, with criminals increasingly targeting valuable objects that can be quickly resold. The thieves may have gotten away clean — but authorities are hoping they’ve left enough clues behind to eventually frame them.

Silly Science

Science can be serious business. But sometimes it involves stepping on venomous snakes, studying cockroach milk, and figuring out the aerodynamics of blowing your nose. Welcome to the Ig Nobel Prizes. The 36th annual awards, held last Thursday in Zurich, Switzerland, hon-

ored 10 research projects designed to “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” This year’s theme was fungi, so Nobel laureates dressed as mushrooms performed an operatic number. Among the winners of the awards was a study examining exactly what makes a venomous snake bite. Researchers carefully stepped on different parts of snakes to determine which movements were most likely to trigger a strike. Talk about putting your foot in it. The economics prize went to researchers who found evidence that wealthier people may be more likely to take candy intended for children and engage in other unethical behavior. The chemistry prize honored research showing that cockroach milk contains about three times as much energy as cow’s milk. No word yet on whether your favorite coffee shop will be offering a roach-milk latte, but we hope not. The medicine prize went to a paper titled “How to Blow the Nose — An Aerodynamic Study of the Nose Blowing,” finally answering a question humanity has apparently been sneezing around for centuries. Another winner investigated how to design men’s toilets that minimize splashing. That team, presumably, was determined not to let its research go down the drain. Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising project involved using mosquito proboscises as tiny 3D-printing nozzles. Researchers dubbed the process “necroprinting.” “Nobody sets out planning to build a 3D printing nozzle from a mosquito,” said co-author Changhong Cao of McGill University. “We got there by paying close attention to something that seems irrelevant and staying open to where it leads.”

And that, researchers say, is the point. Matilda Brindle, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford and co-author of one of the studies, said curiosity-driven research still matters. “It would be a grave loss if we stopped looking at the world around us and asking ‘why?’” she said. The Ig Nobels show that science can still be a laughing matter – and that scientists are really “fungi”s.

Slithering on Stage

The snakes came to their audition thanks to Nancy Novograd and her company All Tame Animals. She got into the business when her horse appeared onstage at the Met in a production of “Carmen,” and now she provides the opera house with everything from elephants to insects. “Animals have to perform as do human talent. Sometimes they have a set type of behaviors that they have to demonstrate. And sometimes they just have to get along with the talent,” Novograd said. “So in this case, they have to be the right color, size, and Zoe has to like them.” Ssss-tar power.

Grave Digging Contest The Metropolitan Opera is set to debut “Cosi fan tutte,” which is inspired by Coney Island in the 1950s. But each character on stage needs to audition for their role – including the snake that is going to be slithering on stage. Last week, Zoe Ziegfeld, a carnival performer-turned-opera actor cast as the snake handler in the performance, held auditions for the sly reptilians who were looking to land the part as her scaly companion. She let each snake slither and wrap around and then hoisted the animal over her head, looking each one in the eye, almost face-to-face to evaluate the snake’s demeanor. “I need to know that the animal is comfortable with people and with what we are doing,” Ziegfeld said. In the cold-blooded competition, a boa constrictor named Princess won. She is a larger snake with a better visual presence on stage. “We will be moving forward with Princess (the big sun-glow boa constrictor who is yellow-peach) in rehearsals on a trial basis! She is a wonderful snake, and the trial is not about her, but rather about me and my strength,” Ziegfeld wrote in an email after the auditions were over. A slightly smaller brown boa constrictor named Nala from a second audition will be Princess’ understudy. This is the third time Ziegfeld has played the role of the snake charmer in the Met’s adaptation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1790 opera. Ziegfeld came to the role honestly. She had spent a few seasons on Coney Island doing eight snake-charming shows a day.

This contest was no laughing matter. On Saturday, 38 competitors grabbed picks and shovels in a daring grave-digging contest in a Hungarian cemetery. The Hungarian Association of Cemetery Maintainers and Operators organizes the contest to showcase the grave-digging trade and its skills and to shake off death-related taboos. The dry summer-baked soil in the public cemetery in Nyergesújfalu, northern Hungary, proved a worthy adversary for the 19 two-man teams. They huffed and puffed and sweated as they raced for the title of quickest-dug and most stylish grave. “Speed is the main thing here, not the beauty,” said Róbert Nagy, the victor with his teammate László Kiss, not carrying his secrets to success to the grave. “When you have to dig a grave for a funeral, you have to be very careful about the exact dimensions and to make sure that it is beautifully carved.” Their winning time was 1 hour, 21 minutes, digging to contest specifications of graves 1.6 meters (5½ feet) deep, 2 meters (6½ feet) long and 0.8 meters (2.6 feet) wide. They hit pay dirt with a shared cash prize of 200,000 Hungarian forints (about $640). Not bad for one foot in the grave.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

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Community Shaar Lev Bowling Event

ALB’s Shaar Lev program hosted a very special bowling event at Woodmere Lanes on Monday, featuring music by Aryeh Kunstler and delicious food. Shaar Lev is a program

that enables community children, enrolled in public schools for their unique learning needs, to gain a Torah education taught by HALB rabbeim and morot.

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

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Shulamith Begins a Treasured New School Year

hulamith School for Girls was thrilled to open its doors and welcome students back for the start of another exciting school year. From the moment the girls arrived, the hallways were filled with smiles, laughter, heartfelt reunions, and the beautiful sounds of tefillah. Students eagerly greeted friends, met their new teachers, and settled into their classrooms ready for a year

of learning and growth. The excitement continued as the Middle School Student Council helped kick off the year by introducing this year’s schoolwide theme, “Our Greatest Treasures,” to students in Grades 1–8. The much anticipated reveal of the new school song and dance brought tremendous energy throughout the school as Student Council members performed and shared the message be-

hind this year’s theme. Throughout the year, students will focus on recognizing and appreciating the many treasures in their lives, with a special emphasis on the middot and values that make each girl unique. At Shulamith, we know that our students are among our greatest treasures. We look forward to a treasured year filled with Torah, learning, growth, middot to-

vot, meaningful friendships, and simcha. As we begin the new school year and approach Rosh Hashanah, we wish our Shulamith families and the entire community a shana tova u’metukah. May the coming year bring bracha, simcha, yeshuot, and besorot tovot for all of Am Yisrael.

From the Far Rockaway and Five Towns Community to England: Teach to Reach Creates a Ripple Effect in Chinuch

each to Reach has become an increasingly familiar presence in the Far Rockaway and Five Towns chinuch community. Through its virtual summer course for Teachers, its Principals Cohort in the winter, and ongoing educational resources, the program works with teachers and school leaders in nearly every local Yeshiva and girls’ school. To date, over 500 teachers have completed the online course, over 90 school leaders have completed the Principals Cohort, and more than 2,000 educators receive Teach to Reach’s weekly lesson plans, all helping mechanchim and mechanchos develop the tools to build stronger relationships with their students and inspire a deeper, lasting relationship with Hashem and commitment to Yiddishkeit. But what began close to home is increasingly having an impact far beyond it. Today, Teach to Reach is working with educators in communities across the United States and internationally. One recent experience in England offers a powerful example of how the ideas being developed and taught through Teach to Reach can multiply from one group of educators to the next. In 2024, community leader R’ Dovid Herskowitz approached Teach to Reach with an ambitious idea: bring the pro-

gram to Jewish schools throughout the United Kingdom. A group of ten rabbeim from London and Manchester joined a 16-session School Leaders Course led by Rav Shaya Cohen, founder of Teach to Reach and Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva Zichron Aryeh. Over the course of the program, participants explored the foundations of authentic chinuch, relationship-based education, and effective communication with today’s students. Just as importantly, they learned from one another, sharing experiences, discussing real classroom challenges, and refining practical approaches together. Among the participants was Rabbi Yechiel Cohen, an educator with a natural passion for educational leadership, who is also the Mashgiach Ruchni of Byachad Youth Center that serves various Mesivtas in Manchester. He found that the combination of Rav Shaya Cohen’s framework together with the collaborative peer discussions gave him a deeper understanding of the principles behind effective chinuch and the confidence to apply them in meaningful ways. Inspired by the experience, Rabbi Cohen decided not to let the learning end with his cohort. Earlier this year, he organized a new Teach to Reach learning group for four-

teen rabbeim and mentors of Byachad. Participants met each week and completed the Teach to Reach online course – Cultivating Connection – together recreating the collaborative environment that had made such an impact on the original principals’ cohort. In addition, Reb Yechiel who facilitated the sessions, provided regular mentoring sessions, and is now creating workshops based on the material to be used in the Youth Center. The results demonstrated the power of that model. In their feedback, participants described significant changes both professionally and personally. Teachers reported greater confidence discussing hashkafa and building a relationship with Hashem with their talmidim. Many said they had become more intentional about validating students, praising their efforts, and taking a genuine interest in their lives. Others shared that they were introducing conversations about happiness, bitachon, tefillah, middos, and hashgacha more naturally into everyday classroom interactions. Several noted that the course had influenced not only their classrooms, but also their own relationship with Hashem, their Shabbos tables, and conversations within their families. Perhaps most remarkably, participants came away with a renewed appre-

ciation of how even brief interactions with a student can have a lifelong impact. They also embraced a longer-term vision of chinuch—one focused not only on immediate academic achievement, but on nurturing lasting spiritual growth. “This is exactly what we hoped Teach to Reach would accomplish,” said Rav Shaya Cohen, the founder of Teach to Reach. “Real change happens when educators internalize these ideas so deeply that they naturally begin teaching and mentoring other educators. That’s how one classroom becomes an entire community.” What began with one man’s vision and ten Rabbeim has already expanded into another cohort of fourteen educators, creating a growing network of teachers committed to learning together, mentoring one another, and strengthening Jewish education throughout England. For Teach to Reach, this is more than a successful program. It is a model for sustainable educational growth—one where investing in a single educator ultimately transforms countless classrooms and thousands of students. To find out more about our programs and resources, please visit weteachtoreach.com.

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Gan Chamesh Ushers in a New School Year

he staff at Gan Chamesh prepared for the new year with staff training, First Aid and CPR, and a visit to the Ohel where they davened for a great year for the Gan Chamesh students. They were excited to greet the parents at the well-attended Parent Orientation and were even more excited to welcome the Gan Chamesh students into the classrooms. We are off to a great start!

Rabbi Reiss and his pre-1a talmidim at Siach Yitzchok building a kosher sukkah in his classroom

Barrier Island Jewish Communities Fire Up 5th Annual Labor Day BBQ

s summer drew to a close, members of the Long Beach and Lido Beach Jewish communities came together on Sunday for a Labor Day tradition that brings neighbors, congregations and local law enforcement around the same table: the fifth annual barbecue honoring the police officers and law enforcement personnel who serve the Barrier Island. Hosted by BACH Jewish Center, the event brought together congregations

from across the Long Beach and Lido Beach Jewish communities with members of the Long Beach Police Department and Nassau County Police Department, along with their families. Over hot dogs, hamburgers and grilled chicken wings, community members and local law enforcement officers spent the afternoon eating, talking and getting to know one another outside their usual interactions. Five years after it began, the barbecue has become a Labor Day tradition

and a much-anticipated opportunity for the Barrier Island’s Jewish community and local law enforcement to come together in a relaxing setting. The event is one of many ways the Jewish community shows its appreciation throughout the year for the officers who serve and protect the Barrier Island, while also celebrating the strong bonds that continue to grow between local congregations and the law enforcement agencies who protect them. “For us, this is really about saying thank you,” said Rabbi Benny Berlin, rabbi of BACH Jewish Center and a chaplain with the Long Beach Police Department. “Our police officers are there for us every day, especially during the busy summer months. We wanted to create an afternoon where we could come together, enjoy some food and let them know how much we appreciate everything they do for our community.” That connection has taken on added importance as Jewish communities around the country have faced increased concerns about antisemitism. “We feel very fortunate to have such a strong relationship with our local police officers,” Rabbi Berlin said. “Knowing that they are standing with us gives our community a tremendous sense of secu-

rity. But beyond that, they have become friends and partners in our community.” “It is always great to see everyone come together like this,” said Long Beach Police Commissioner DePalma. “We appreciate the support from the Jewish community, and we really enjoy being part of this event. This is what our community is all about.” Founded in 1946, Bachurei Chemed – BACH Jewish Center is one of Long Island’s most prestigious and oldest synagogues. Members hail from Long Beach, Lido, Atlantic Beach and Island Park. For more information, please visit https://www.bachlongbeach.com/.

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Rav Shloime Eisen, eleventh grade rebbi at Mesivta Chaim Shlomo of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, in discussion with talmidim after shiur

The Special Children’s Center kids learn about Rosh Hashana through hands-on projects and activities. To get involved and for questions, please call us at 516-200-2234 ext. 507.

Met Council Sets New Record

et Council, America’s largest Jewish tzedaka dedicated to fighting poverty, distributed a record 2,016,982 pounds of kosher food to struggling families ahead of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkos this year, the largest Rosh Hashana food distribution ever in America. From August through September, Met Council worked with 162 partner organizations, including shuls, yeshivas, and community tzedaka organizations, to provide families with the traditional Yom Tov foods, fresh produce, proteins, and pantry staples needed to make yom tov with dignity. More than 15 organizations joined the yom tov distribution for the first time this year. “More than 2 million pounds of food is an extraordinary number and a new record, but this work is not really about pounds. It is about people,” said David G. Greenfield, CEO of Met Council. “Tzedaka means taking responsibility for one another. No family should have to choose between paying a bill and putting food on the table for yom tov. Thanks to our partner organizations, volunteers, and supporters, thousands of families across the

Jewish people were able to welcome the New Year with the dignity, simchas yom tov, and traditional foods that every Jew deserves.” The distribution included 55,026 bottles of grape juice, 48,384 bottles of honey, and 659,432 pounds of fresh produce. Families also received apples for Rosh Hashanah, chicken, frozen fish, eggs, soup mix, and tea biscuits, along with pantry staples such as canned fruits and vegetables, flour, oil, pasta, rice, beans, and canned fish, all with reliable hashgacha. Food was distributed through Met Council’s community partners and 13 Market by Met Council sites, part of the largest kosher and halal food pantry network in the country. Met Council’s digital pantry system allows families to select the food that meets their household and dietary needs, so that a family can receive help privately and with kavod. “I am tremendously proud of our Food Programs team and the 162 organizations that worked around the clock to make this distribution possible,” said Hannah Lupien, Managing Director of Food Programs at Met Council. “Moving more than 2 million pounds of food re-

quires months of planning and enormous coordination, but every delivery came down to one simple goal: making sure families received fresh, nutritious, kosher food in time for yom tov.” More than 500 volunteers joined Met Council staff to sort, pack, and deliver food throughout the campaign, a true community-wide chessed effort. The distribution reached kehillos across New York City and Long Island, as well as New Jersey and Connecticut, and included Met Council’s first Yom Tov distribution in Florida. The Yom Tov campaign is one part of Met Council’s year-round work to fight hunger in the community. Through New York’s Social Care Network program, Met Council screens Medicaid members across all five boroughs for food insecurity and other health-related needs. Eligible members can receive kosher food, pantry access, home-safety services, program navigation, and ongoing care management at no cost. New York City residents with Medicaid who need assistance, or who know someone who may qualify, can call 1-833633-4450 or visit scn.metcouncil.org. A Met Council staff member will answer,

explain the program, and help connect the caller to available services. All calls are handled with complete discretion. Met Council’s work is rooted in a simple Jewish value: tzedaka is not limited to a single yom tov or a single food distribution. It is the continuing achrayus to care for our neighbors, preserve their dignity, and ensure they have the support they need throughout the year. Founded in 1972, the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty (Met Council) has been fighting poverty and supporting struggling New Yorkers, including families living in poverty, immigrants, and the elderly. Its Kosher Food Network is the largest kosher food pantry program in the world, reaching more than 350,000 individuals annually. Its social services division supports more than 34,000 New Yorkers through direct assistance and enrollment in government programs. Met Council’s programs support victims of domestic abuse, the elderly, Holocaust survivors, and the Jewish community’s largest affordable housing network. For more information, please visit metcouncil.org.

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

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Back to School at SKA

he halls of SKA are once again filled with energy and excitement as students and faculty begin another school year together. With Elul and the Yomim Noraim upon us, the opening days at SKA are filled with meaningful opportunities to learn, connect, and be inspired. With great pride, SKA welcomed our own alum, renowned speaker Jackie Bitton, who addressed the entire student body and brought the message of Ani L’Dodi V’Dodi Li to life, encouraging

the girls to use Elul as an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with Hashem and approach the upcoming Yomim Tovim with greater meaning and connection. The inspiration continues with some of SKA’s most meaningful traditions, including Tefillah at the Beach, as well as our Graphic Arts department’s original Unetaneh Tokef video. Each of these events and projects help to set the tone as we prepare for the Yomim Noraim. At SKA, our students remain part of

the family long after graduation. Alumni are welcomed back to SKA, “the place we call home,” to participate in these special shiurim and events. On Tzom Gedaliah, SKA will host a special Alumni Journey of Inspiration, inviting graduates back for a meaningful afternoon of learning and inspiration designed just for them. The school year is off to a strong start for the SKA family. We look forward to a year full of opportunities for learning, friendship, growth, and of course tremendous school spirit!

New Horizons: ARKIA Brings Israel Closer to America

rkia is becoming an increasingly significant presence in Israel’s international aviation market, giving travelers more choice as it expands its network, increases frequencies on major routes and pushes farther into long-haul travel. The carrier now flies to approximately 40 international destinations across North America, Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean, with a network that includes longtime favorites alongside destinations such as New York, Bangkok, Phuket, Hanoi, Paris, London, Rome and Amsterdam. And the map continues to expand. In August, Arkia is resuming direct service to Marrakech after a three-year hiatus, while Tokyo is set to join the airline’s Far East network in October with twice-weekly nonstop service. For American travelers, one of the most significant developments is Arkia’s New York-Israel service. This is not a seasonal route or an occasional addition to the schedule. Arkia operates regular, year-round nonstop flights from JFK to Tel Aviv every day except Shabbat, with

two flights departing New York on Sundays. That steady schedule makes Arkia a genuine alternative for travelers flying from the United States to Israel. During periods of particularly high demand, the airline also adds capacity. In August and September, for example, the New York route is being served by larger aircraft, including Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and, beginning in September, an Airbus A330-300 offering both Business and Economy Class. That additional capacity matters in a market where periods of high demand can quickly translate into limited availability and higher fares. An additional Israeli carrier operating regular long-haul service gives passengers greater flexibility when comparing schedules, prices and levels of service. For travelers to Israel, there is another important advantage to having more than one Israeli airline operating a substantial international network: continuity. Regional tensions over the past several years have repeatedly led foreign airlines to suspend service to Israel,

sometimes for extended periods, while Israeli carriers have continued operating or have been among the first to restore service when Israeli airspace reopened. Even at the time of writing, some major international carriers have yet to fully resume their Israel schedules. For Arkia CEO Oz Berlowitz, that makes a strong Israeli aviation industry more than simply a question of competition. “Only Israeli airlines maintain the routes in moments of crisis,” he has said. “A country like ours, an island state, cannot exist without Israeli aviation.” Alongside its steady year-round service, Arkia adjusts capacity to reflect actual travel demand. During the summer months, the Jewish holidays and other peak travel periods, the airline can increase frequencies or add seats on high-demand routes, giving travelers additional options precisely when availability is often tightest. At the same time, Arkia has been broadening the product it offers. Business Class, already part of its long-haul offering to New York and the Far East, has also been introduced on selected Eu-

ropean flights, beginning with Paris. The passenger experience is another part of that effort. On every flight between New York and Tel Aviv, passengers are served two hot, fully kosher meals, and baggage is included in the price of the ticket. Arkia’s cabin crews are also specially trained to accommodate a wide range of travelers, with an emphasis on cultural sensitivity and awareness of different passenger needs. That can mean understanding the requirements of families with young children, older travelers, religious passengers, business travelers and international tourists. Arkia has also made its year-round New York service more useful to passengers throughout North America. Through an interline agreement with JetBlue, travelers can fly from cities across the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean to JFK on JetBlue and connect there to an Arkia flight to Israel. The agreement effectively extends Arkia’s reach far beyond New York, giving many more passengers access to its nonstop service to Israel.

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The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

The adorable Pre-1A talmidos of the Ganger Early Childhood Division of TAG got ready to make honey in honor of Rosh Hashana Gabriel Solomon, one of the gabbaim, blowing shofar at Hachaim Vehashalom’s nonstop minyanim

Welcome Back to BYAM

he girls at BYAM were welcomed back to school in celebratory style, greeted by a beautiful pencil-themed balloon arch, homemade cookies, and a cute mini pencil to mark the start of a new year. Excitement filled the air as music played in the back-

ground, creating a joyful and celebratory atmosphere. With warm greetings from their principals, teachers, and friends, the girls stepped into the new school year surrounded by smiles, friendship, and anticipation for all that the year ahead would bring.

MTA Seniors Explore Patriotism

TA seniors recently explored the complex idea of patriotism through four different lenses. At four interactive stations, students examined presidential perspectives on patriotism, explored the relationship between patriotism and law, analyzed how patriotism is expressed through art, and considered what social science research reveals about patriotic beliefs and behaviors. The activity encouraged students to think critically about what patriotism means, how it has been expressed throughout American history, and how different perspectives shape our understanding of love of country.

YUHSG Meets 2026-27 School Year with Gratitude

t’s a new school year at the Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central)! Over the summer, Wildcats traveled, worked, volunteered, vacationed, and experienced life outside the classroom – and now Team Central is meeting the 2026-27 school year with joy and intention. The new theme for this school year? Living with Gratitude— Modeh Ani. Over the fall and spring semester, YUHSG will offer events and initiatives that will encourage faculty and students to approach each day with an eye for brachot and a sense of thankfulness for everyday gifts, both large and small. “We are overjoyed to welcome all our students, both new and returning, to Central,” said Principal Mrs. Aliza Gewirtz. “The building truly comes alive when our students come back to campus. The year’s theme is a powerful call to action – a chance for students and faculty alike to pause, reflect, and approach each other and their lives with warmth and appreciation.” The first few days of the semester focused on a celebration of Team Central. On Tuesday, September 1, Wildcats welcomed the first month of school with a special orientation for the class of 2030. After an address by Central’s Mashgiach Ruchani, Rabbi Joshua Goller, the newest Central class got to know their new campus with a scavenger hunt, a general knowledge game show, sweet treats, and a tour hosted by none other than the Central seniors, beginning their last year as Wildcats by acting as guides for new students. And there was a lot to see on the tour, including new windows and flooring in the gym, a newly renovated

art studio on the third floor and a renovated Physics room on the first, a new fleet of lockers, and new doors and new paint jobs throughout. There are exciting new additions to the faculty and staff as well. New staff include Ms. Dena Lauber, who will be teaching both Art and Physical Education, as well as Mrs. Nina Ottensoser (‘17), who will serve as YUHSG’s new Director of Development and Communications. Dr. Lisa Perl and Mrs. Jamie Scharaga, who will both be teaching English, are new additions to YUHSG’s Humanities Department. Mrs. Zahava Grodman (‘12) is returning to Central as a new addition to the Judaic Studies Department. Mrs. Leora Kaminetzky (‘17) and Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner will also join Judaic Studies. Wednesday, September 2 brought the first official day of classes, with a quick run-through of the typical Wednesday schedule, meet-and-greets with faculty members, and a celebratory conclusion with music, games, and food. It’s a new year filled with new opportunities, as well as the warmth and excitement of traditions old and new. And the most exciting new tradition is on the horizon: on September 9 and 10, Team Central will kick off the new school year with its second annual retreat at Camp Kaylie. Welcome back, everyone!

COMMUNICATED

An Interview with Meir Sand, Co-Founder of Sand Real Estate Group, on Embassy Court — Jerusalem’s Newest Address for Life After 60

merican families have long asked the same question: what would it take to truly call Jerusalem home? Sand Real Estate Group has spent years answering it for Anglo buyers in the Israeli market — and Embassy Court, the newest project they’re marketing, may be their most personal answer yet. Rising between Baka and Arnona, on Caspi and Chanoch Albeck Streets, steps from the Old City and the future US Embassy complex, Embassy Court is a hotel-style, 158unit community built for the 60-and-over crowd. We sat down with Co-Founder Meir Sand to talk about the vision behind it. Q: What’s your role at Sand Real Estate Group, and how did you end up focused on bringing American families to Israel? Meir Sand: I started Sand Real Estate Group because I kept seeing the same gap: beautiful projects going up across Israel, but few designed by people who understood what an Anglo, Orthodox family needs before trusting a purchase from six thousand miles away. My brother and partner, Chanan Sand, and I built this company to close that gap — walking every family through the process personally, from the first “is this even realistic for us” conversation through closing and beyond. Embassy Court is the fullest expression of that — not a project we simply sell, but one shaped around our buyers’ needs. Q: In one sentence, what is Embassy Court? Meir Sand: A gated, five-star community for residents sixty and up, built to feel like a boutique hotel, in one of the

most extraordinary settings Jerusalem has to offer. Q: Why build specifically for the 60-plus community? Meir Sand: Most developments try to appeal to everyone. This one starts with a clear picture of who will actually live there: people who’ve raised families and built full careers and are now asking where they want their next chapter to unfold. They’re not looking for a retirement home in the traditional sense. They want a beautiful home in a vibrant Jerusalem neighborhood, among a community at a similar stage of life — with the services and amenities that make daily life easier, and spaces where children and grandchildren always feel at home. Q: Tell us about the location? Meir Sand: Chanoch Albeck and Caspi are among Jerusalem’s most sought-after corridors, beside the German Colony and Katamon, steps from Hebron Road and the light rail, and minutes from Mamilla, the Old City, and the Kotel. Embassy Court also sits beside the planned site of the new U.S. Embassy complex — a 31,000-square-meter campus with a ten-story main building — bringing new energy and prestige to the area. It’s already one of Jerusalem’s most beautiful, tree-lined corridors, with unobstructed views of the Old City walls and hills. Q: Walk us through the amenities. Meir Sand: Embassy Court is envisioned to include an indoor pool, spa, sauna, and gym; a private clinic; and a synagogue and beit midrash, making community life part of everyday experience.

Residents will also have spaces for working, learning, and hosting: a library, screening room, business lounge, game room, and areas for classes and visiting grandchildren. The planned rooftop offers landscaped gardens, Old City views, a pickleball court, and space for entertaining and holidays. From the boutique-hotel-inspired lobby to the café, beauty salon, and concierge service, every element is being planned to keep daily life comfortable and Jerusalem close at hand. Q: When can buyers expect to move in? Meir Sand: Construction is already underway, with excavation nearing completion and the building being built by Ashtrom Group, one of Israel’s most established construction companies. Barring surprises, residents should be able to move in within about three years. Q: What kind of family is actually buying — aliyah or second homes? Meir Sand: Genuinely both. Some are making aliyah and want Jerusalem itself, not a suburb, to be their permanent home. Others are buying a second residence they’ll use for months at a stretch — Yamim Tovim, the summer, a grandchild’s gap year — intending to eventually settle for good. What unites them is wanting to be surrounded by people at a similar stage of life who share their values, without sacrificing the quality they’re used to in the US. Q: For a family in the U.S., how does the process work with your team? Meir Sand: We work to make buying a home in Israel as clear as possible.

Through our U.S. office and regular visits across the country, we meet buyers personally to review the project, pricing, and terms — then serve as their liaison with the developer, coordinating attorneys and finishes from that first conversation until the keys are delivered. Q: What do you want American families reading this to walk away with? Meir Sand: That a fulfilling, connected life in Jerusalem after sixty isn’t just a dream — it’s something families can plan for. We got involved because this stage of life deserves the same care and quality as every other. If that’s a conversation that’s come up around your Shabbos table, we’d welcome the chance to speak with you. To learn more about Embassy Court or to schedule a meeting with Meir Sand, Chanan Sand, or Binyamin Weil, head of Sand Real Estate Group’s US office, contact: Meir Sand — meir@sandgrp.com | +972-54-431-8005 Chanan Sand — chanan@sandgrp. com | +972-52-542-3888 Binyamin Weil, US Office — binyamin@sandgrp.com | (646) 797-2873 www.sandgrp.com This is a paid, sponsored interview. All images, plans, pricing, and descriptions are for illustrative purposes only and subject to change; final specifications and pricing are governed by the terms of the signed sale agreement.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Where Your Next Chapter Begins

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

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N’shei Niggun Chabura

his past Monday night, N’shei Niggun Chabura gathered in Woodmere for “Tefillah Before the King,” an evening of Torah and music exploring the story of Chana and the deeper meaning of tefillah as we approach Rosh Hashana. The Woodmere event followed a highly successful Niggun Chabura held in Baltimore the previous Thursday night. The evening was led by Penina Ginsberg, who shared divrei Torah interwoven throughout the music. The evening featured Shaindel Antelis, Emmi Polansky, Ariella Paneth, Shaindy Zafir, Shira Steen and Leeba Teichman, with each song chosen as part of a Torah journey through the story of Chana. Chana is most famously known as the mother of Shmuel HaNavi, but before she became a mother, she spent years waiting, hoping, crying, struggling and still coming back to Hashem. Her tefillah ultimately became the model for our Shemoneh Esrei for all generations. Throughout the evening, we slowed down Chana’s story and tried to “daven with Chana” at every step along the way. At first, Chana’s tefillos were the desperate prayers of a woman who wanted a child more than anything in the world. Year after year she returned to Shiloh and poured out her heart, yet year after year

she remained childless. How many times could she ask for the same thing? How many tears could one woman cry? Shaindy Zafir gave voice to that struggle in “Humans or Angels?”: “Do You want me to be perfect? Should I live just to impress?…Do You need an angel Or want me?” Yet through those years, Chana discovered something deeper: “Tefillah is a relationship.” Tefillah is not only about asking Hashem to change our circumstances. It means speaking openly and honestly to Hashem, bringing Him into the deepest parts of our hearts and knowing that He is listening. “Even before anything changes, tefillah gives us somewhere to bring the pain. Someone to speak to. Someone who hears every word and every cry.” Ariella Paneth expressed that longing in “Hear It From You,” singing the words of Ana B’Koach: “Accept our prayer and hear our cry, You Who knows hidden thoughts.” Still, after years of saying the same words, even the heart can become tired. Tefillah is avodah shebalev, but sometimes a person can continue davening while something inside has gone quiet. Emmi Polansky captured that pain in “Stone Heart”: “I’m trying just to reach You, I just

want to feel You.” Eventually, Chana’s perspective itself began to change. Standing by the Mishkan, surrounded by kedushah, perhaps she was able to quiet some of the noise inside of her, go deeper and see beyond the immediate pain of what she was missing. She began to realize in the deepest way that “Life is Hashem’s story. And our avodah is to find our place within His plot.” Shaindel Antelis sang: “And I can’t rush what’s meant to be, And I will get what’s meant for me, So I don’t need to worry, ‘Cause You’re still writing my story.” That realization transformed even Chana’s greatest desire. She had spent years begging Hashem, “Please give me a child.” Now she was able to say something entirely different: “Hashem, if You give me a child, I will give him back to You. I will dedicate him entirely to You.” She wasn’t giving up on wanting a child. She was giving up on her way of wanting that child. “Hashem, I don’t need it to be my way anymore. I want Your way. And even the thing I want more than anything in this world, I want it for You.” Before the final portion of the evening, everyone was asked to take the pen and lyrics booklet they had received and use the space provided to write their own

personal tefillah to Hashem, bringing the night of inspiration into a deeper, more personal experience. The evening then turned toward Rosh Hashana, the day of the King—a day primarily to thank Hashem for the past year, to praise Him, and to recommit our lives to serving Him through Torah, mitzvos and middos. As Shaindy Zafir sang in “Malchus”: “Maybe the greatest thing I can do for my King Is just to show up.” The evening ended with a tefillah encapsulated beautifully through a rendition of “Tatty My King” from Waterbury Yeshiva: “Tatty my King, Father I plead, Don’t ever let go of me.” A kesiva v’chasima tova. Follow NC on Insta - www.instagram. com/theniggunchabura or NiggunChabura.com.

How Do You Plan for Long-Term Care Without Losing Everything?

he cost of long-term care can destroy a lifetime of savings in a matter of months. Many families mistakenly believe they have only two options: pay out of pocket until they are completely broke or rely on a nursing home right away. Fortunately, you can protect your hard-earned assets and secure high-quality care, but only if you understand the strict legal frameworks governing long-term care. 4 Keys to Safeguarding Your Wealth  Proactive Medicaid Planning: Medicaid is a primary payer for longterm nursing home care, but it is heavily means-tested. Meaning, if your income or assets exceed strict state limits, you will be disqualified. Proactive planning restructures your assets legally so you can qualify without sacrificing your entire life savings.  The Five-Year Look-Back Peri-

od: You cannot simply give your money away when you need care. When you apply for institutional Medicaid, the state reviews all financial transactions, gifts, and asset transfers over the previous 60 months (5 years). Any transfers deemed improper triggers an immediate “penalty period,” leaving you temporarily ineligible and forced to pay out of pocket.  Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts (MAPTs): A MAPT is a powerful irrevocable trust designed specifically to shield your wealth. By placing savings, investments, or real estate into a MAPT, those assets no longer count toward your Medicaid limit once the five-year lookback clock expires. While you cannot access the principal directly, you can retain the legal right to live in your home, and depending where you live, still receive income generated by the trust.  Protecting the Family Home: Your house is often your most valuable asset and the most vulnerable. While a

primary residence may be temporarily exempt from counting toward your initial eligibility, it is highly vulnerable to estate recovery after you pass away. In other words, the state can force a sale to pay itself back. Transferring the home into a MAPT or utilizing specific family exemptions can permanently protect your home for your children. The Tax Myth Alert: Many people believe they can safely gift up to $19,000 per year under the IRS gift tax exemption. This is a tax rule, not a Medicaid rule. Gifting any amount to your children within the 5-year window will trigger a severe Medicaid penalty. Don’t Wait for a Medical Crisis to Protect Your Assets The protective power of a trust requires time. If you wait until nursing home care is an immediate necessity, your options become severely limited. Taking action early ensures your home

and savings stay exactly where they belong: with your family. Contact Monet Binder Law today to schedule your FREE 15-minute phone consultation: 844-OUR-WILL | 718.514.7575 | 732.333.1854 Monet Binder, Esq., has a practice in Lakewood, Queens, and Brooklyn areas, dedicated to protecting families, their legacies and values. All halachic documents are approved by the Bais Havaad Halacha Center in Lakewood, under the direction of Rabbi Dovid Grossman and the guidance of Harav Shmuel Kaminetsky, shlita, as well as other leading halachic authorities. This article is provided for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Readers should consult an attorney regarding their individual circumstances.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Shofar Workshop at HAFTR

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Rav Elya Brudny, R”M in the Mirrer Yeshiva, leaving Mesivta Chaim Shlomo after his weekly visit, accompanied by Rav Dovid Bender, Rosh Kollel, and Rav Moshe Bender, S’gan Rosh HaYeshiva

s Rosh Hashana approaches, HAFTR Lower School students had the opportunity to experience one of the holiday’s most recognizable traditions through a hands-on Shofar Workshop. Students learned about the different types of shofarot, explored how they are made, and discovered what makes each shofar unique. The experience brought Jewish learning to life, giving students the chance to engage with a meaningful tradition in a way that was both interactive and memorable. Experiences like these reflect HAFTR’s approach to Jewish education: creating opportunities for students to learn, explore, and build meaningful connec-

tions to the traditions that shape their Jewish identity.

Coming Full Circle: SPARKS Didn’t Begin — or End — With Summer By Esti Schiffmiller

onfession: I’ve been trying to write a SPARKS summer recap for weeks. The problem? Every time I tried, I realized I was starting in the wrong place. Because SPARKS didn’t begin this summer. It began years before it had a name— in parenting, advocacy, and years of watching extraordinary neurodivergent children slowly internalize the message that the things that make school, friendship or life harder for them somehow make them not enough. All of that crystallized into one simple but powerful belief: No child should have to change who they are to belong.

And one question: What if, instead of constantly teaching our children how to fit into the system, we built more systems designed to see them for who they are— and ignite what’s already there? Eventually, asking wasn’t enough. So I called Chaim Mutterperl. Somewhere in that conversation, he said, almost casually: “What if we just went out and built this together?” I believe my response was something along the lines of: “Chaim, that’s completely crazy.” Followed almost immediately by: “Yes! I’m already in. That’s why I called you.” Somewhere between seventeen ideas a minute, an alarming number of Google Docs and spreadsheets, and occasionally wondering what exactly we’d gotten our-

selves into, SPARKS became real. And then the doors opened. For seven weeks, neurodivergent kids had a camp built around who they were. There were water slides and sensory gyms. STEM and talent shows. Challah and chess. Boat trips, LEGO hats, ridiculous costumes, approximately four thousand WhatsApps—and a camp guinea pig who somehow joined senior leadership. But none of that was really the point. It was the backdrop. Because underneath all the noise, something quieter was happening. We were finding our people. Kids looked for one another. Saved each other seats. Wanted each other on their teams. Missed each other when they weren’t there. They weren’t simply being included. They were being chosen. And our kids know the difference. They laughed. Fought. Repaired. Belonged. By August, I realized we hadn’t simply built a camp around a philosophy. We had built proof that the philosophy could

work. And perhaps that is the summer recap I was trying to write. Because the question now isn’t simply how we recreate what happened inside those doors next summer. It’s what happens when our children walk back out of them. Into classrooms. Communities. Shuls. Friendships. Maybe the next chapter of SPARKS isn’t simply about creating one place where our children don’t have to change to belong. Maybe it’s about asking what it would take for them to know that they already do. No matter where they go. Because the spark was never something we created. It was already there. We just finally built a place where everyone else could see it, too. See. Support. Celebrate. Be the SPARK. SPARKS returns Summer 2027. Applications are now open at sparksny.org. Follow the Spark @sparksny.

Around the Community

he HALB Middle School boys had their first Friday tisch back at school. Sammy Honig made a siyum for everyone, and then the students

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Friday Tisch

and rebbeim danced and sang together. It was a very special way to bring in Shabbos!

Welcome Back to YCQ

he first day of school at YCQ was filled with such a wonderful and warm atmosphere. It was fantastic to see the hallways bustling with life once more after a long break. Catching up with old friends and welcoming new faces brought an immediate sense of community and excitement. The positive energy was contagious, making everyone feel ready for the upcoming year.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Around the Community

Pesach Osina Gets the Communities Ready for the Upcoming High Holidays

esach Osina, candidate for New York State Assembly in District 23, joined community leaders and helped coordinate a High Holiday safety briefing with Achiezer Community Resources for houses of worship across the Rockaway Peninsula. The briefing brought together representatives from the Police Commissioner’s Office, the NYPD 101st and 100th Precincts, members of the Nassau County Police Department, and faith leaders from across the Rockaways to discuss safety and security ahead of the upcoming Jewish holidays. “With the recent increase in antisemitism, it was important to bring together law enforcement and faith leaders to make sure our houses of worship and our entire communities are prepared and that everyone feels safe during the upcoming High Holiday season,” said Pesach Osina.

Osina also joined Congregation Oheb Zedek in Belle Harbor for Selichot prayers, where he spoke with members of the community about their safety concerns ahead of the High Holidays. In addition to focusing on public safety, Osina visited the Jewish Community Center of the Rockaway Peninsula’s High Holiday food distribution, highlighting the challenges families continue to face with rising grocery and household costs. “I want to thank the JCCRP for making sure families who are struggling with

the rising cost of groceries have access to the food they need,” said Osina. “The JCCRP went above and beyond by including holiday staples in its client-choice pantry, including apples, honey, pomegranates, chicken, rice and other essentials.” Osina also visited The Zone in Belle Harbor for a Shofar-making workshop, where local children had the opportunity to participate in a hands-on experience connected to the upcoming holidays. “It was great to see so many of our children enjoying a one-of-a-kind,

hands-on experience making a shofar,” said Osina. “Our youth are the next generation of leaders, and we need to give them at every opportunity the tools they need to succeed.” From public safety and food security to youth programming, Osina said his focus remains on being present in the community and addressing the issues affecting local families.

Mercaz Academy’s Fifth Year Begins with Celebrations and Shofar

lainview’s Mercaz Academy began its fifth year last week with opening celebrations, welcoming returning and new students, teachers, and families with its signature warmth, Torah values, and a smooth transition into the familiar rhythm of the school year. Students ran off the bus with beaming smiles, reuniting with old friends and teachers, posing for back-to-school photos, and showing off their new backpacks, books, and Mercaz-branded headbands and kippot. At the first schoolwide morning lineup of the year, Rabbi Mendel Kramer

blew shofar for the students, reminding them that Elul is a time for renewal, spiritual awakening, and return – echoing back-to-school themes of fresh beginnings, change, and embracing new challenges. Principal Rabbi Kalman Fogel began the year with a lesson in kindness as he led the student body through Mercaz Academy’s daily recitation of “hareini mekabel alai” – “I accept upon myself the positive mitzvah to love your fellow as yourself.” Students quickly settled into their school routines. As the first week was a

short one, teachers focused on building their classroom communities, getting to know new students, reviewing curriculum, and preparing for the upcoming holidays. First grade had an up-closeand-personal encounter with a shofar and learned the individual blasts, while fourth grade’s hands-on lesson explored the “weights” of mitzvot and aveirot using a scale and LEGO. In the ECC, younger students tested apple flavors, created shofars and honey plates, and read books about Rosh Hashana. The opening days set the tone for the year ahead, as Mercaz students begin an-

A Wonderful Start to the YOSS School Year

he students at Yeshiva of South Shore were so excited to return to school and begin a new year! With great anticipation for the year ahead, the boys reunited with their friends, met their rebbeim and teachers, and enjoyed a wonderful first week back. The week was filled with fun games, exciting activities, and plenty of opportunities to get to know one another. In fourth grade, the boys enjoyed a variety of icebreaker activities, including Ping Pong, Getting to Know You, and Cate-

gories. These games helped the boys reconnect, learn fun new things about their classmates, and start building a strong classroom community. After a wonderful summer, the students were eager to share and discuss all of their amazing experiences and adventures. The excitement, energy, and smiles throughout the week made it clear that everyone is ready for a fantastic year. We are looking forward to an incredible year of learning, growth, friendship, and success.

other wonderful year of academic growth, Torah learning, caring friendship, and community.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Around the Community

First Day of School at HANC

ith great joy and fanfare, HANC’s Reinstein Family Campus in West Hempstead opened its doors for the second year in its magnificent, 100,000 square foot facility. The students from nursery through eighth grade reconnected with their friends on the basketball court, excitedly sharing their experiences from the summer. Together with their teachers, the entire school gathered for the commencement of the 2026-2027 school year. Ringing in the new year, Rabbi Ouriel Hazan, Head of School for HANC Nursery-8th Grade, welcomed the children and staff and blew the shofar. To begin the first day with a burst of

energy, the famous HANC airmen flew outside the school entrance, waving to all the children down below. With festive music playing, the eighth grade students formed clap lines on both sides of the red carpet and ushered in the underclassmen as they walked through an archway of balloons. It was evident from the smiles on their faces that the children were looking forward to an exciting first day at HANC. After meeting their new teachers, organizing their supplies, and engaging in exciting activities throughout the day, the entire school joined together for a school-wide assembly to break out the theme for the year. The children tru-

ly enjoyed the skit that was performed by various staff members and administrators, which drove home the theme: “Catch the Opportunity!” The children learned that we can all “do the right thing” and the opportunities to do so are all around us. Throughout the comical skit, the administrators explained: “If our eyes are open and we are ready to take action, then we can catch the opportunity to help others as well as propel ourselves to reach our full potential.” Reflecting on the opening of school, Rabbi Hazan remarked: “Having been established now in our new, state-of-theart campus, with a completed cafeteria

and gym, all of the stages of development in the Reinstein Campus are complete. The administration spent the summer looking forward to beginning the new year off strong, with all systems running optimally, providing the students with the best possible learning experience at HANC. We have so much to accomplish and now, baruch Hashem, we have all that we need to help our students succeed!” The excitement reflected on the faces of the children throughout the day made it very clear that the new school year at HANC is off to a great start.

as teachers, students are encouraged to think critically, lead with integrity, and live lives rooted in purpose. The beginning of the school year also celebrates the partnership that has long defined the HAFTR community. Parents, faculty, and students work together to cultivate an environment where achievement is celebrated, relationships are nurtured, and every child is given the tools to flourish academically, socially, and spiritually. As another year begins, HAFTR looks forward to the moments that will shape

the months ahead—from academic milestones and athletic victories to performances, celebrations, acts of kindness, and lifelong friendships. Together, these experiences continue to strengthen Makom Shelanu, a place where learning is inspired, character is cultivated, and every student is empowered to become the very best version of themselves. The entire HAFTR community wishes all students and families a successful, healthy, and inspiring school year. Welcome back!

A New School Year at HAFTR

he halls of the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) are once again filled with excitement as students, parents, and faculty come together to begin a new school year. More than simply the first day of classes, the start of the school year marks the beginning of new opportunities for learning, personal growth, and meaningful connection. Across every division, students are welcomed into classrooms where academic excellence is paired with a deep commitment to Torah, character development, and community. At HAFTR, education extends well beyond the curriculum. In partnership with families, faculty members foster an environment where every student is known, supported, challenged, and inspired to reach their fullest potential. This shared vision is reflected in the school’s guiding theme, Makom Shelanu, “Our Place,” a community where every individual belongs, every voice matters, and every student is empowered to grow.

As students reconnect with friends, meet new teachers, and embrace new opportunities, they begin a year that promises countless moments of discovery, achievement, and personal growth. Whether in the classroom, the Beit Midrash, on the athletic fields, on stage, or through acts of chessed and leadership, every experience contributes to developing confident learners, compassionate individuals, and engaged members of the Jewish community. For HAFTR High School students, the new year represents an especially exciting opportunity to grow as thoughtful scholars, compassionate leaders, and proud ambassadors of Jewish values. Through a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum, meaningful Torah learning, and diverse leadership, service, and extracurricular opportunities, students are challenged to deepen their knowledge, strengthen their character, and discover the impact they can have on the world around them. Guided by dedicated educators who serve as mentors as well

Around the Community

First Day at HALB and Lev Chana

Photos by Gabriel Solomon; Lifecapture Images

he hallways were filled with smiling children on HALB and Lev Chana’s first day! Everyone was

ewlett residents and members of the Sephardic Congregation of Hewlett Mr. and Mrs. Avi Aranbaiev recently hosted Rabbi David Yosef, Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi, at their home for an intimate community

gathering. Rabbi Yosef addressed those in attendance with words of Torah, inspiration, and blessing, offering heartfelt wishes for a year of health, peace, prosperity, and spiritual growth.

very excited to see their friends and meet their new teachers.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Words of Inspiration and Blessing for the New Year

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

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K’hal Bnei Torah Welcomes Rav Gershon Ribner to Far Rockaway

Rav Gershon Ribner addressing the crowd

his past Thursday evening, K’hal Bnei Torah of Far Rockaway welcomed Rav Gershon Ribner for a special community event that drew a large crowd of baalei batim, kollel yungerleit, and bochurim from throughout Far Rockaway and the Five Towns. The evening took the form of a lively, wide-ranging question-and-answer session with Rav Ribner, touching on an array of practical and hashkafic issues facing the contemporary ben Torah. With his trademark clarity, candor, and keen insight, Rav Ribner fielded questions from the crowd throughout the evening. The evening held particular significance for Rav Doniel Bush, as Rav Ribner had served as his Rosh Yeshiva. Cholent was served during the program, which concluded with Maariv. The strong turnout also reflected the

remarkable growth of K’hal Bnei Torah itself. Led by Rav Doniel Bush, K’hal Bnei Torah was founded in January 2026 and is currently located at Bais Yaakov Ateres Miriam in Far Rockaway. It has quickly developed into a thriving young kehillah. In just eight months, over 100 young couples have joined the kehillah, with new families continuing to become part of its growing community. Rav Bush received semichah from Rav Reuven Feinstein and Rav Hershel Schachter and currently heads Kollel Beis Ephraim. He assumed leadership of the Kollel following the petirah of Rabbi Yehoshua Kalish, zt”l, with whom he shared a close relationship. K’hal Bnei Torah has drawn young men and families from a wide range of backgrounds, including both working

Rav Doniel Bush and Rav Gershon Ribner during the evening’s question-and-answer session

bnei Torah and kollel yungerleit. At its core is a shared commitment to serious Torah and tefillah, together with the warmth, openness, and strong sense of community that have become hallmarks of the shul. Torah learning is an integral part of the K’hal’s Shabbos experience, including a weekly chaburah before Shacharis each Shabbos morning. Alongside the learning and tefillah, families come together each week, giving Shabbos at K’hal Bnei Torah the feeling of a true community rather than simply a place to daven. That sense of connection extends to the K’hal’s vibrant N’shei. The women have developed their own close-knit community, with friendships formed on Shabbos continuing through N’shei events, programming, and opportunities to come together throughout the year.

Members of K’hal Bnei Torah gather around Rav Gershon Ribner following the program

As K’hal Bnei Torah prepares to enter its first Rosh Hashanah together, the kehillah continues to welcome new families and looks forward to building on the tremendous growth, Torah, and sense of community that have defined its first year.

ELUL: Ish L’rayahu U’matanos L’evyonim By Chaya Feldstein

.A.I.L, First Attempt in Learning. E.N.D, Effort Never Dies. N.O., Next Opportunity. That was a meme I once received, and it’s one of my favorites, especially now as end of the year approaches with a bit of trepidation of the awesomeness of hope for an undisguised sweet new year both personally and communally. Speaking of acronyms, here’s another one which may not be the “go to,” however, its message is one of the best preparations for ELUL: Ish Lrayahu Umatanos L’evyonim. Those words are reminiscent of the joyous month of Adar in which Purim highlights its layers of meaning and feeling. On Purim, Ish L’rayahu: This translates to “sending portions one to another.” It requires sending ready-to-

eat food to at least one friend or neighbor to foster community connection and joy. Matanos L’evyonim: This translates to “gifts to the poor.” It requires giving charity to at least two needy individuals. So, you may wonder what this has to do with Elul and the preparation for the new year? At the start of the new school year ask any rebbe or morah about school, and they will all answer the same. A veteran rebbe and a morah both shared synonymous anticipatory excitement but also with butterflies and nerves. I watched a morah with 37 years experience go in and out of her classroom 5 times before she left her neatly set up room to make sure it was ready to welcome her new class the next day. The Kutzke Rebbe, zt”l, taught the greatest distance is from the mind to the heart. These veteran educators are teach-

ing with endless experience and yet they are still nervous for the first day. What one knows to be true somehow can be hard to inculcate. But one tiny step in the right direction is really all this month of renewal is about. The King is in the Field, ready and waiting. This King is also our collective Father. He wants us to care about each other, to s-t-r-e-t-c-h just a little more. Ish Lrayahu Umatanos Levyonim, is one of the best preparations for the new year – taking care of someone else’s new year! To ensure that others “have” and are prepared. That they have been warmly invited. That their presence matters everywhere. That they are included in conversation and thoughtfulness at work, in the neighborhood, at shul and simachot. They are not invisible pieces of clothing background. This next month of chagim is not va-

cation. It’s not meant to be. Once upon a time, we were traveling great distances to be Oleh Regel. Hopefully, Ani Ma’amin every day dictates that this Sukkos we hope to merit that trajectory. At the present moment, being things as they are, there are endless meals to prepare as hosts and dreadful meals for alone time as a widow, single, or divorcee. You can make the difference. Just one warm phone call, one invitation, one coffee outing, one yom tov gift. If each dear reader were to take just ONE idea and run with that stretch – Am Yisrael will be sure to have the best year yet. Haba Aleinu Lshana Tova Umesuka! Mark your calendars for our upcoming 4th annual Be My Guest event b’ezras Hashem, Monday, December 21 at the White Shul. For more information. please reach out to bemyguestforShabbos@gmail.com.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Around the Community

Six13 Guard Family and Community Safety Program

n preparation for the upcoming yomim tovim, Six13 Guard brought its Family and Community Safety program to West Hempstead and the Five Towns, where Six13 instructors shared strategies for situational awareness on the way to, and at, shul. The instructors also shared tips on emergency preparedness, family safety planning, and firearm safety in the home. The evenings gave attendees the opportunity to meet some of the Six13 guards who volunteer to protect our local shuls, institutions, and community events around the year.

Six13 Guard is a not-for-profit organization that trains and provides armed and unarmed guards to community institutions, all of whom are members of the institutions they protect. Six13 Guard was founded in 2015 and currently covers nearly 100 institutions. Today, the organization has more than 400 certified armed guards throughout New York and Massachusetts, as well as growing operations in New Jersey and New Hampshire, and is in the process of beginning operations in Israel.

Photo credit: Six13 Guard Inc.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

AMIT Centennial Puts the Future in Focus By Michal Rosenberg

eople often ask what AMIT does. The simple answer is that we are an Israeli school network with more than 42,000 students. The broader answer is that we educate the next generation of Israelis. That perspective changes everything. When AMIT was founded 100 years ago, its mission was to welcome new immigrants to Israel and help them thrive in their new country. The goal was not just to help them, but to help them become builders of Israel. A century later, that approach has not changed, though the challenges have evolved. When we help a struggling student succeed, we’re strengthening Israel’s future workforce. When we teach conflict resolution, we’re investing in more thoughtful citizens. When we model leadership, innovation, and responsibility, we’re shaping the future leaders of businesses, communities, schools and hospitals. This November, the AMIT Centennial Mission offers a front-row seat to that work in action. Throughout the week, we’ll see the crucial role of education in Israeli society. With 92 schools in diverse communities across the country, AMIT has a perspective on what our students need today and what Israel will need from them tomorrow. Emphasis on Education Preparing students for Israel’s future means anticipating the world they will enter. That strategic thinking will take center stage at AMIT’s inaugural “Human

Renaissance Forum,” an international education conference at AMIT’s new Gabel & Straus Family Campus at Kfar Batya in Ra’anana. Bringing together some of the world’s most influential voices in technology, leadership, and security, and education, the conference will examine artificial intelligence, a force already transforming our world. Renowned Israeli newscaster Ilana Dayan will moderate a landmark discussion on the topic “Humans Are Underrated: The Role of Education in the Age of AI,” with a distinguished panel of scholars: Yossi Cohen, former head of Mossad; General Michael Kurilla, Retired FourStar Army General; Keren Yarhi-Milo, Dean, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs; Scott Galloway, Professor, Author and Entrepreneur; Micah Goodman, Israeli Philosopher and Author; with more to follow. Other panel topics include: “AI Through the Lens of Defense, Diplomacy, and Security” and “The Human Intelligence Advantage.” No stranger to AI, AMIT’s pioneering Learning Management System, which gives students greater ownership of their educational journeys with personal learning pathways, is now being explored for broader implementation in partnership with the Ministry of Education. But AI is only one of the elements affecting our students’ future. Throughout the mission, we’ll take on other difficult questions playing out in Israeli society. Challenges Beyond the Classroom School violence is one that hit especially close to home this year, after one of AMIT’s own students was attacked and killed by other teens. AMIT launched a

social media campaign encouraging kindness and reinforcing the significance of the choices they make. During the Mission, we’ll hear from authorities in the field examining what’s driving the rise in youth violence and what can be done to combat it. In Israel today, it is impossible to ignore the debate over shared national responsibility, namely, the Haredi draft. We will examine the issue from different perspectives and explore education’s vital role in helping young people engage thoughtfully with difficult questions. AMIT’s students may come from very different communities, but they share a foundation that emphasizes respect, responsibility and their role in the future of Israel. Another reality that has touched virtually every Israeli since October 7 is the emotional toll of war. At an intimate lunch with AMIT educators, we’ll learn about the TATZAM program — AMIT’s answer to Israel’s urgent mental health crisis. Already active before the war, this networkwide initiative became a lifeline,

supporting the emotional well-being of both students and educators through regular check-ins with mentors and open communication. Mission in Action “This Mission is an opportunity to see education through a much wider lens,” said AMIT President Shari Safra. “For 100 years, AMIT has understood that educating a child is also an investment in Israel. Our responsibility is to prepare our students not only to succeed personally, but to contribute to the strength of the country they will inherit.” This November, join us and be part of these conversations. Hear perspectives that deepen our understanding of Israel today and look ahead to the forces that will drive its future, and how we can position our students and schools for success. Come celebrate this historic milestone with AMIT and see why education remains one of Israel’s greatest strengths. For more information or to register contact Laurie Georgeou at laurieg@ amitchildren.org or call 212.792.5025

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Around the Community

JSL Week 2 Recap

huge thank you to our league sponsors, FM Home Loans and Bernath and Rosenberg, for their continued support of JSL and for helping make another incredible season possible. We’d also like to recognize the Maidenbaum Scholarship Fund for helping give more children the opportunity to get out there, compete, and be part of the JSL experience. With evaluations behind us, Week 2 marked the official start of regular-season action, and the season got underway with close finishes, shootout winners, huge goalie performances, and plenty of early-season excitement! JSL JUNIORS K/P Hockey Maidenbaum opened the regular season with a 4–1 victory over Smash House. Jack Schlessel had a huge game, scoring twice while also making two amazing stops when called upon in goal! apaya Events edged Three Pillars Real Estate Investments 1–0 in a defensive battle. Jacob Felder provided all the offense his team needed, breaking free for the game’s only goal and the eventual game-winner. Rip It came out on top against SR Wee in a tightly contested matchup, with Zachy Eisenreich putting together a standout performance in the victory. Blumenfracht Rose 1 took down Wieder Orthodontics after a great battle between the two teams. Isaac Weinstein and Yakov Schlanger both stood out for Blumenfracht in the win. K/P Soccer Central Pizza Co. defeated Wolf Tech Repairs 2–1 in a super-close defensive matchup. Gavriel Krauss proved to be

the difference maker, accounting for both Central Pizza goals in the victory! JSL HOCKEY 1st Grade Hockey Woodmere Lanes defeated SR Wee 3–1 behind a strong all-around effort. Meir Goldman found the back of the net for Woodmere Lanes, while Moishe Flegmann turned in a standout performance between the pipes. Mesila survived a thriller against Central Pizza Co., winning 4–3. Yoel Weiss was absolutely unstoppable, scoring all four goals for Mesila to carry his team to the victory! Suffolk Health defeated Marciano PD 4–1 behind a monster performance from Asher Prince, who accounted for all four Suffolk Health goals! 2nd/3rd Grade Hockey Smash House edged JNT LLP 5–4 in one of the most dramatic games of the week. With just 20 seconds remaining, Joseph Feldman buried the game-winning goal to send Smash House home with the victory! Aryeh Law Group PLLC and 5 Towns Restoration needed a shootout to determine a winner after a back-and-forth battle. Gavriel Aryeh delivered the shootout winner to help his father’s team earn the 4–3 victory! 4th/5th Grade Hockey Elegant Lawns defeated J-Works Construction 6–4, powered by a huge performance from Rafi Jeger, who recorded a hat trick to lead the way! Frank Kitchen & Bath and Extreme Vent Cleaning went down to the wire, with Frank Kitchen & Bath eventually earning a 2–1 shootout victory. Joey Gordon was outstanding between the pipes, coming up with big saves throughout

the game to help secure the win. 6th–8th Grade Hockey Park Kitchens survived a thriller against Twillory, winning 6–5 in a shootout. Yehuda Silverman delivered the shootout winner, while his twin brother Aaron Silverman stood tall in net to help Park Kitchens secure the victory! Sperling Productions defeated Next Level Taste 6–4 behind an incredible performance from Jack Braverman, who turned aside 30+ shots in a monster effort between the pipes. J-Works Construction defeated Elegant Lawns in another game that needed a shootout to decide the winner. Dovid Gerson was incredible in net throughout the game and came up huge when it mattered most in the shootout to help J-Works finish off the victory! JSL BASKETBALL 1st/2nd Grade Basketball Rip It defeated Smash House, with Akiva Muchnik earning MVP honors after coming through with the game-winning basket! Next Level Taste defeated Wieder Orthodontics 10–4 behind an incredible one-man scoring performance from Yoel Nagelberg, who poured in all 10 points for his team! 2nd/3rd Grade Basketball Posh Home & Bath defeated J&T 14–6 in a game that was much closer than the final score indicates. Goldstein took over late, pouring in key points down the stretch to help Posh finally pull away. TNB Architecture defeated Central Pizza Co. 10–6, with Ellie Lopiansky providing the offensive spark and scoring the majority of his team’s points. 4th/5th Grade Basketball Zlotowitz Law defeated Marciano,

with Leib Rosenberg providing a major portion of the offense in the victory. Maidenbaum defeated Central Pizza Co. behind a terrific all-around performance from Moshe Loeb, who seemed to be everywhere — contributing offensively, defensively, and everywhere in between! 6th–8th Grade Basketball Reliable One Labs defeated Emporio, with Yisrael Thaler putting together an awesome performance to help lead Reliable One Labs to the Week 2 victory. Week 2 Highlights The first regular-season games certainly didn’t disappoint. From Joseph Feldman’s game-winner with 20 seconds remaining, to Gabriel Aryeh’s shootout winner, to Rafi Jeger’s hat trick, there was drama all over the hockey rinks. The 6th–8th Grade division alone featured a shootout winner from Yehuda Silverman, 30+ saves from Jack Braverman, and a game-saving shootout performance from David Gerson. On the basketball courts, Akiva Munchman delivered a game-winner, while Yello Nagelberg scored every single point for his team. And among our youngest players, the JSL Juniors kicked off another season filled with close games and great performances. Week 2 is officially in the books — and the JSL regular season is underway! Thank you again to FM Home Loans and Bernath and Rosenberg for powering the JSL season, and to the Maidenbaum Scholarship Fund for helping make JSL accessible to more families. We’ll see everyone back out there for Week 3!

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50 Years of ArtScroll

edolei Yisrael have always been wary of attempts to “improve” and “innovate” in Torah observance and learning; to which the Chasam Sofer famously applied the dictum “Chadash assur min haTorah.” Therefore, as we have often said in these columns, we have always sought, and been subservient to, the counsel of gedolei Yisrael. What would the great Torah leaders in America and Eretz Yisrael say about the proposed Schottenstein Talmud? We prepared a sample of a few blatt and showed it to gedolei Yisrael in America. Their approval and encouragement is expressed in their enthusiastic haskamos and michtevei berachah, which are printed in several volumes of the Schottenstein Talmud. Two themes are prominent in their letters: that ArtScroll’s earlier works provide assurance that it presents the Torah correctly and according to the mesorah of Chazal, and that it is vitally important to help our generation learn and understand the Gemara. It was especially gratifying that R’

Dovid Feinstein and R’ Shmuel Kamenetzky said in their letters that their late fathers, the gedolei hador of the previous generation, were supporters of our work and would have approved and encouraged the new Schottenstein Talmud. To the few who approached R’ Dovid Feinstein contending that the Schottenstein Talmud would make learning too easy and stop people from laboring (yegia) to understand, R’ Feinstein would reply that, to the contrary, by elucidating the basic flow of the Gemara, ArtScroll enables them to direct their labors toward a deeper and more complex understanding. After gaining the approval of American gedolim, Rabbis Zlotowitz and Scherman went to Eretz Yisrael to present the plan to the gaonim R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and R’ Yosef Shalom Eliyashiv. Both strongly approved the initiative and urged the visiting rabbis to publish it despite any opposition. They authorized us to publish the following in their names: R’ Auerbach: There is no question that your work is vital to our generation. This is

an essential harbatzas Torah undertaking that will surely be blessed with great success. R’ Elyashiv: Since we live in a generation exposed to all sorts of translations by unqualified people who denigrate the holiness of the Talmud and Oral Law, in my opinion there is no more important time than now to act for the honor of Hashem. It is a great mitzvah to proceed with this project. The significance of that encouragement became even more apparent as the project progressed and its impact spread. At the 11th Siyum HaShas of Daf Yomi, the Novominsker Rebbe publicly reflected on what the completed Schottenstein Shas had come to mean for Klal Yisrael. These were his words: “...I believe we’d all be remiss at this point not to acknowledge in public the tremendous contribution made by those Torah scholars, the writers, the editors, and the benefactors of the society known as ArtScroll, the publishers of the Schottenstein Shas, who have made the study of Gemara accessible to so many thousands of thirsty Jews eager to drink from

The Novomisker Rebbe addressing the 11th Siyum HaShas at Madison Square Garden

the fountain of Torah. The completion of the Schottenstein Shas in our day is a historic milestone, a sign I believe from Providence that Torah can and will be advanced be’ezras Hashem on all frontiers of Jewish life.” What began with the blessing and encouragement of the gedolei Yisrael became, with extraordinary siyata diShmaya, a historic vehicle for harbatzas Torah — opening the world of Gemara to generations of Jews and helping bring us to a time when more Jews are learning Gemara than at any other point in Jewish history. UP NEXT: Decoding the Machzor

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Part 26: The Gedolim Approve and Encourage

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

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The Self Esteem Trap By Rabbi Moshe Don Kestenbaum

he previous chapters challenged one of our most deeply held assumptions: that healthy self-esteem requires us to think of ourselves as good people. Instead, we should accept our inherent worth and stop judging ourselves altogether. We should evaluate our actions, take responsibility for them, and strive to improve—without turning them into verdicts about who we are. By now you may be wondering if I’ve gone too far. If I stop evaluating myself, should I stop feeling good when I do something good? Should I stop feeling bad when I do something wrong? Absolutely not. In fact, I hope you feel those things even more deeply than before. When you overcome temptation… feel good. When you help someone… feel good. But notice what you’re feeling good about. Not because you’ve now proven you are a wonderful person. But because you’re celebrating something wonderful that you did.

Likewise, when you lose your temper, when you sin… feel bad. Not because you have concluded, I am a bad person. But because you did something wrong. That pain is healthy. It reminds us that our actions matter and motivates us to repair what we have broken. The emotional response is not the problem. The verdict is. There is a world of difference between saying, That was a beautiful act, and adding, Therefore, I am a wonderful person. There is also a world of difference between saying, That was a terrible act, and adding, Therefore, I am a terrible person. The problem is not the evaluation. The problem is the therefore. That little word quietly transforms an action into an identity. It turns a success into a verdict and a failure into a sentence. Leave the action where it belongs. Wholeheartedly celebrate what was beautiful. Wholeheartedly regret what was wrong. But don’t add therefore. One evaluates an action. The other evaluates a person. One leads to growth.

Handmade Sterling Silver Mayim Achronim by Oded Davidson

The other leads back into the courtroom. We all have beliefs about what is right and wrong. Honesty is right. Dishonesty is wrong. Kindness is right. Cruelty is wrong. Those judgments are essential. The mistake is turning those judgments into verdicts about ourselves. I told the truth… therefore I am good. I lied… therefore I am bad. But the evaluation was already complete. Honesty is good. Lying is wrong. Period. Our values are meant to guide our actions, not become verdicts about our worth. Allow me to illustrate. You wake up late. You missed your morning prayers. You think, I’m such a bum. I might as well stay in bed a little longer. But why did missing your prayers bother you? Because you value them. Because you believe prayer is important. So should you conclude that you’re a bum— and then neglect even more of what you believe is important? Certainly not. The proper response is: I messed up. Now let me get up. Let me pray what I still can. Let me do other good things today. Notice the trick. The evil inclination has quietly shifted the focus from the prayer to me. From correcting an action to condemning myself. The very standard that should have inspired my next right action became an excuse to stop acting altogether. That’s the trap. When you fall short of your standards, don’t lower your standards. And don’t condemn yourself. Correct what you can. Then take the next right action. There is another irony here. The less our actions become a way of proving something about ourselves, the more we appreciate them for what they truly are. An act of kindness is valuable because someone was helped. An honest word is precious because truth was spoken. A sacrifice is meaningful because someone else was loved. When our actions become evidence in the trial of our worth, we unintentionally make them smaller. They are merely ego boosters. But when we free them from that burden, we begin to see their true greatness. If every success proves I am worthy, every failure must prove I am worthless. Success inflates me. Failure crushes me. But when I judge my actions instead of myself, success becomes encouragement and failure becomes instruction. Neither becomes my identity.

When you do something good, rejoice. When you overcome temptation, be grateful. And when you sin, feel genuine regret. Never be afraid of deep regret. Deep regret honors the truth that our actions matter. The deeper the regret, the more we recognize the significance of what we have done. That regret does not lower our value. It reminds us how important we are—and how much our actions matter. Beautiful actions deserve joy. Wrong actions deserve regret. Neither deserves to become your identity. Listen carefully. The more we appreciate the true significance of our actions—both the good and the bad—the stronger our self-esteem becomes. Because true self-esteem stems from appreciating the significance of our actions, not from our opinion of ourselves. And the more distracted we become with our self-image, the less we appreciate the value of our actions, unknowingly undermining our self-esteem. So cherish each good deed with a full heart. Deeply regret every sin. Learn from both. But don’t spend a moment trying to decide what kind of person they make you. That verdict was never yours to render. Instead ask: What should I do more of tomorrow? What should I correct from yesterday? Those are the questions worth asking. Reprinted from The Self Esteem Trap by Rabbi Moshe Don Kestenbaum, with permission from the copyright holder, ArtScroll Mesorah Publications.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

1. *

TJH

Centerfold

Oddly Said

“If the odds are 50/50, I don’t stand a chance!” — Rodney Dangerfield

You Gotta Be Kidding Me! A man walks into shul on Rosh Hashana and says to the rabbi, “Rabbi,

“Ever wonder what the speed of lightning

this year I’m turning over a new leaf.

would be if it didn’t zigzag?”

I’m going to be more patient, more

— Steven Wright

“How come you never see a headline like

“Horses are smarter than people. You never

generous, and I’m not going to argue with anybody.” The rabbi says, “That’s wonderful.”

‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?” — Jay Leno The man says, “Wonderful?

heard of a horse going broke betting on

What’s that supposed to mean? You think I’m not patient and generous?”

people.” — Will Rogers

“You can always spot the employee playing golf with his boss. He’s the fellow who makes a hole in one and says, ‘Oops!’” — Bob Monkhouse

E E

Penny has five children. The name

“Between two evils, I always pick the one I

of Penny’s first child is January. The

never tried before.” — Mae West

second is called February. Penny’s

“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.” — Mark Twain

Riddle Me This

third child is named March. The fourth one’s name is April. What is the name of Penny’s fifth child.

“It’s a funny old world—a man’s lucky if he gets out of it alive.” — W.C. Fields

Answer to riddle: What is the name of her fifth child.

1. If you put 23 randomly selected people in a room, what are the odds that at least two share the same birthday? a. About 6% b. About 23% c. About 37% d. About 50% 2. In June of this year, Shawn Brown and Trevor Fackrell were golfing together in Ontario, and each got a hole-in-one. What are the odds of two people playing together each getting a hole-in-one on the same day? a. About 1 in 15,000 b. About 1 in 350,000 c. About 1 in 2 million d. About 1 in 17 million 3. You flip a coin 10 times. What are the odds it comes up HEADS all 10 times? a. 1 in 1,450,0001 b. 1 in 1,23,333 c. 1 in 183,485 d. 1 in 1,024 4. You pick a four-digit PIN completely at random. What are your chances of guessing someone’s PIN correctly on your FIRST try? a. 1 in 1,000 b. 1 in 5,000 c. 1 in 7,999 d. 1 in 10,000 5. Joan Ginther, of Texas, won the lotto four times between 1993 and 2010. First, she won $5.4 million, then $2 million, then $3 million, then $10 million. Some people believe that she was just being a “straw person” for other winners who didn’t want to disclose that they won. You decide… What are the chances of someone winning the

lotto four times? a. 1 in 243 million b. 1 in 147 billion c. 1 in 6.3 trillion d. I in 18 septillion 6. Norwegian couple Karin and Henry Henriksen had three children: Heidi, Olav and LeifMartin, who were all born on February 29…of different years! What are the odds of one person being born on February 29 (never mind three in the same family!)? a. 1 in 365 b. 1 in 730 c. 1 in 1,033 d. 1 in 1,461 7. On April 23, 1999, St. Louis Cardinal Fernando Tatís did something that had never happened before in Major League Baseball and hasn’t happened since. What was it? a. He hit three home runs in one inning b. He stole home twice in one inning c. He got six hits in one inning d. He hit two grand slams in one inning 8. Virginia park ranger Roy Sullivan holds the record for surviving the most lightning strikes. Guiness World Records confirmed that he was struck 7 times between 1942 and 1977. What are the approximate odds of that happening? a. 1 in 24 million b. 1 in 24 billion c. 1 in 24 trillion d. 1 in 24 octillion 9. Imagine a wheel divided evenly into red and black sections. When you spin the wheel, there is an equal chance that it will stop on red or black. The wheel has just landed on

red 20 times in a row. What are the odds that the NEXT spin will also land on red? a. Less than 1% b. 1 in 33% c. 25% d. 50% 10. A 10-question multiple-choice quiz has four possible answers for each question: A, B, C, or D. The correct answers are randomly placed. What are the odds that the correct answer to ALL 10 questions will be D? a. 1 in 12,384 b. 1 in 102,202 c. 1 in 1,048,576 d. 1 in 100,85,003 Answers: 1-D 2-D 3-D 4-D 5-D 6-D 7-D 8-D 9-D 10-C Wis“D”om Key 8-10 correct: Wait a second…before we get to you: We almost hit for a in 1,048,576!! Had the answer to 10 been D, we would have made Centerfold history… Shucks! Shucks! Shucks! 3-7 correct: You are so middle of the road – never going to hit on the crazy odds. 0-2 correct: OK. Here goes. I’m going to guess your password (Shlomo Levinger has nothing on me!) OK, look at me. Here it is: 1…..1…..1…..1. And I’m in your bank account. And, you are such a genius that there is not even $1 for me to withdraw!

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Playing the Odds Trivia

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Think. Feel.Grow.

The Unique Teshuva of Rosh Hashana By Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

he second Daniel woke up, he knew something was wrong. He felt perfectly fine, but he had no memory of who he was. After searching his house, the only useful thing he could find was a book that he seemed to have written. It contained a list of instructions, explaining his life’s story and how he suffers from a form of amnesia, sometimes forgetting who he is. He had written this book as a guide for him in these situations. As he reads through the book, he realizes that it also includes a detailed philosophy of life, a deep spiritual perspective of the world, and an emphasis on living with a mission-centered focus. The book instructs him to seek out a specific mentor, and when he does so, the mentor takes Daniel under his wing and agrees to teach him the true path to greatness. Daniel has an incredible desire to grow and improve, and although he finds the learning difficult, he enjoys the challenge.

As Daniel goes through life, he faces a number of challenges: financial difficulties, relationship struggles, and some health battles. However, the principles in the book and his mentor’s guidance help prepare Daniel for these challenges. He faces each one head-on, always battling through and never giving up. Most of all, they help Daniel deal with his arch-nemesis, Aaron. It appeared as though Aaron’s mission in life is to crush Daniel’s dreams and thwart his every goal. For every step forward Daniel takes, Aaron is always there to challenge him, attempting to push him two steps back. But Daniel never gives up, always managing to push past his challenges. Even when Daniel has a minor setback, he always manages to pick himself back up, re-harness his willpower, and keep pushing forward. After a lifetime of growing, learning, and contributing to the world, Daniel is now a nearly perfect being. One day, just after waking up, the entire world disap-

pears from under him and Daniel finds himself in another dimension, standing face to face with…himself. “I’m sure you are confused,” the other Daniel says, “but I will explain everything. I am the real Daniel, or at the very least, the original Daniel. I was created perfect. Everything in my life was easy, clear, and perfect. But at the end of my life, I felt that something was missing. I suddenly realized that I didn’t want to be perfect, I wanted to become perfect. I therefore devised a plan. “I created a younger version of myself without any memory of who he was. I then created a perfect arch-nemesis who would challenge him, thereby pushing him to grow. This arch-nemesis would develop along with him, continuing to counter and challenge him as he evolved and grew. But I did not leave Daniel to fend for himself; I created a book of instructions that would guide Daniel back to perfection. “You, Daniel, are a part of me. There-

fore, through your journey, a part of me gets to experience the process of becoming perfect. “You have just finished your journey; you have reached a perfect state. Now, you get to enjoy the perfection you’ve built.”

A New Year The birth of a new year is a time of reflection and resolution; a time when hope and inspiration fill the air. We dream about what this upcoming year holds in store; how we can make the rest of our life the best of our life. We all have ideas, ambitions, and aspirations that we yearn to bring to fruition, and the new year gives us “permission” to revisit these goals and breathe new life into them. For a brief moment, everything is crystal clear; we see our purpose and our path with vivid clarity. However, there is an underlying frustration that accompanies this time period as well. If we reflect honestly, we often realize that our new year’s resolutions are aw-

pression, returning to your true and higher self. As we previously stated, the Gemara (Niddah 30b) explains that while we were in the womb, we were in a perfect and transcendent state of being, and a malach taught us kol haTorah kulah. 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

blow the shofar, we are reminded to improve and perfect ourselves, to return to the fetal state of perfection we once knew, and to return to our true selves.

The Three Stages of Teshuva There are three stages of genuine teshuva: • The first is individual teshuva, where we return to our higher selves, our fetal selves, our true selves. • The second stage of teshuva goes beyond the limited self, turning the focus from individual to community.

The Deeper Themes of Teshuva Elul and Rosh Hashana center around the concept of teshuva, and Parshas Nitzavim is clearly linked to this theme as well. The pesukim in Nitzavim discuss the theme of teshuva, the importance of choosing life — choosing what is right and connecting ourselves back to Hashem (see the first pesukim of perek 30 in Sefer Devarim). As Parshas Nitzavim is connected to the transition from Elul into Rosh Hashana, let us delve deeper into the concept of teshuva. Teshuva literally means “return,” but whom, or perhaps what, are we returning to? The Gemara (Kiddushin 39b) explains that Hashem created teshuva before creating the world itself. What is the meaning of this enigmatic statement, and what lessons and implications does it have for us as we proceed through the teshuva process?

The Practical Form of Teshuva The Rambam (Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Teshuva 1:1) discusses the threestep process of teshuva: • First, one must reflect on their past and acknowledge that a problem exists. • One must then transition into the present and strongly feel the pain of their mistake, regretting it wholeheartedly. • Finally, one must look toward the future and resolve to never again commit this same mistake. This three-step guide is the practical process of teshuva. However, there is a deeper essence of teshuva that is the foundation for these three steps, and understanding this deeper essence is the key to truly transforming ourselves through these three steps.

True Teshuva: Returning to Your Higher Self Genuine teshuva is not just about self-transformation; it’s about self-ex-

In essence, our entire life is a story of teshuva — returning to our original, higher, and true self.

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 — 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 teshuva — returning to our original, higher, and true self. The shofar is a wake-up blast, meant to shake us from our stupor and return us to our true self. When we hear the shofar’s piercing cry, we yearn to return to our source, to our higher selves. The word “shofar” shares a root with “l’shaper,” to perfect and beautify. Strikingly, it also shares a root with “mei shafir,” the amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus while in the womb. When we

• The third stage of teshuva is returning to our absolute root and source, to the Source of all sources, to Hashem Himself. The Rambam, in discussing the laws of teshuva, states that someone who removes himself from the Jewish community has no share in Olam Haba (Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Teshuva 3:11). In other words, even if this person keeps all of Torah and mitzvos and is an upstanding Jew, if he disconnects himself from the community, he loses his eternal existence. This requires explanation. After all, this person didn’t commit a heinous or evil act; he merely chose a life of isolation. Why should this warrant such extreme punishment? The answer is profound. As human beings, we begin our lives as completely self-centered creatures, perceiving ourselves as isolated, separate, and disconnected from everyone else. As we progress through life, we learn to break down those walls and psychological barriers, recognizing that we are part of a bigger self, a collective self, and a higher consciousness. At root, all of Klal Yisrael is one, an interconnected self. Each of our individual neshamos are part of a greater whole, like individual cells that make up a single human body. A central aspect of Olam Haba is experiencing yourself as part of Klal Yisrael, as part of a greater collective reality. If, however, one disconnects themselves from Klal Yisrael, they have uprooted themselves from reality. Just as unplugging a light bulb from its electrical cir-

cuit extinguishes its light, a soul simply cannot exist when disconnected from its root. This is not a punishment but merely a consequence. This is the second stage of teshuva: returning to our collective self, to the single soul of Klal Yisrael. The third stage of teshuva is returning to our absolute root and source, to the Source of all sources, to Hashem Himself. The Nefesh Hachaim refers to Hashem as the “neshama shel neshamos” (the Soul of all souls). Hashem is the root of existence, the absolute root of all our souls. Our journey through life is about sourcing our existence back to Hashem; this is the ultimate teshuva. We can now explain the Gemara that states that teshuva preceded Creation (Kiddushin 39b.). This is not merely a chronological description; it is a fundamental principle: Teshuva is the root of this world. All of existence is created with the purpose of returning to its source, to fully reflect its absolute root — Hashem. May we be inspired to fully actualize all three stages of teshuva this Rosh Hashanah and seal ourselves in the Book of Life, the book of true existence.

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 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

fully similar to those of last year, and the year before, and the year before… We have brief moments of inspiration, but they soon fade into oblivion, only to be resuscitated for a few more days the next year in the hopes that somehow this year might be different. However, there is another option — a way to actually make this year different. By truly understanding this time of year and fully tapping into its powerful themes, we can turn what was previously fleeting inspiration into lasting, eternal change.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Delving into the Daf

Bite Your Tongue By Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow

ttending a yom tov seudah and spotting an inviting platter of beef tongue on the table is the ultimate test of fortitude. Your mind immediately starts wondering if taking a slice means entering into a mutual tasting agreement with your main course or if the meat is literally about to talk back. But duty calls, so you close your eyes and dive headfirst into what turns out to be absolute, melt-in-your-mouth perfection. Suddenly, you’re loading your plate for seconds, completely unable to hold your tongue as you savor every bite. By the end of the meal, you agree it was a rare, prime-time masterpiece that truly elevated the entire yom Tov feast. Which brings us to a provocative question: Is that mouthwatering tongue on your plate actually stolen goods? Indeed, a cheeky halachic argument could be made that all the tongue sold in grocery stores today is hot commodity. This is an even juicier issue in Eretz Yisrael. The pasuk in Mishlei states, “Mayim genuvin yimtaku,” stolen waters are sweet. Perhaps the real reason Klal Yisrael loves tongue so much is that extra dash of thrill from eating contraband cuisine! According to the Torah, every time a person slaughters an unconsecrated animal, there is a positive mitzvah to give three specific parts to a Kohen: the front leg (zeroah), the jaw/cheekbones, including the tongue (lechayayim), and a stomach (keivah). While the Mishnah lists a few exceptions, virtually all tongue sold today technically falls under this obligation. The twist? Unlike terumah, the tongue itself possesses no inherent holiness. A Kohen can feed it to anyone, share it at his own seudah, or sell it for profit. (So if you bought your delicacies directly from a Kohen, you’re home free and can stop reading right now!) The Mishnah in Chullin (130a) states unequivocally that the mitzvah of mat-

anos kehunah applies even outside Eretz Yisrael and even in modern times, citing no dissenting opinions. However, the Gemara (136a) quotes Rebbe Illai, who holds that neither the first sheep shearings (reishis hagez) nor the three animal gifts apply outside the Land of Israel. The Gemara notes that the general practice in the Diaspora followed Rebbe Illai regarding shearings, and Rashi extends this leniency to the three gifts as well. Thus, for Jews living in the Diaspora, there is a solid halachic basis not to give the tongue away. Still, major authorities like the Vilna Gaon were machmir on this halacha regardless of location. In Eretz Yisrael, however, Rebbe Illai’s leniency doesn’t apply at all, meaning everyone ought to hand over their beef tongue to a Kohen. The Chazon Ish noted that if you can locate a Kohen whose lineage is formally established by a Beis Din, a Kohen meyuchas, you are obligated to give him the gifts. The snag? Batei Din no longer convene to vet kohanic lineage in this manner. If a verified Kohen with rock-solid testimony were alive today, he’d be sitting on a goldmine! Rebbi Yonasan Eibeschitz famously wondered why yarei Shamayim weren’t more scrupulous about this halacha. Now, you might argue that this isn’t the consumer’s problem. After all, the Gemara clarifies that the obligation to separate matanos kehunah rests squarely on the butcher. The average kosher shopper could easily say, “Not my circus, not my cow.” Besides, if the butcher failed to do his job, why should the consumer have to beef about it? Yet before you swallow that argument whole, three rather meaty issues challenge that relaxed stance: * The Tevel Dilemma: Is the animal considered untithed and forbidden until the parts are separated? While the Gemara rules that this restriction doesn’t apply in chutz la’aretz, some suggest that in

Eretz Yisrael, eating an unseparated animal might actually be forbidden. This position is not accepted. (Locals in America can breathe easy here regardless: either the entire mitzvah doesn’t apply abroad, or if it does, the meat isn’t prohibited before the gifts are separated.) * Rabbinic Restrictions: Tosafos suggests there may be a general rabbinic decree prohibiting anyone from eating the meat before the kohanic gifts are dutifully removed, although this opinion is not accepted. * The Buyer’s Burden: The Gemara explicitly states that if a butcher illegally sells the kohanic portions to an unsuspecting buyer, the buyer is obligated to step up and hand those parts over to a Kohen himself. Tongue purchaser, beware! This discussion is tongue-in-cheek: standard halachic practice today widely relies on the classic leniencies, and nobody is raiding your freezer. We are merely chewing on a fascinating chumra. Here is where the story takes a delightful turn. Unlike other kohanic gifts, matanos kehunah may be given to a Bas Kohen, a Kohen’s daughter, even if she is married to a non-Kohen (Yisrael)! The Gemara even records several Amoraim who accepted these meat portions on behalf of their wives. Because the tongue has no inherent sanctity, a Bas Kohen or her lucky husband can freely enjoy it. There is a famous tale about the Satmar Rebbe, who playfully reinterpreted

the famous Talmudic adage “Aser b’shvil she’titasser” (give tithes so that you will become wealthy). He suggested: “Asser b’shvil she’titasser,” declare something forbidden (assur), construct a clever workaround, and watch the wealth roll in! The Chasam Sofer notes that you don’t actually have to hand the matanos directly to a Kohen face-to-face; an agent can accept them on his behalf. Since this author happens to be married to a Bas Kohen, I am hereby humbly volunteering to accept all your delicious beef tongues! You can hand them directly to me or to any agent you designate on my behalf. I will gladly take them off your hands, validate your halachic stringency, and give them right back to you for a small processing fee. If the entire community accepts this chumra, I will have successfully fulfilled the Satmar Rebbe’s jest: I’ll declare the tongue assur, still save your yom tov meal, and make a prime fortune in the process! After all, when there’s money to be made, apparently, I simply cannot hold my tongue.

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.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

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Halacha

The Wasp that Saved Eretz Yisroel’s Trees by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

n the late 1800s, large parts of Eretz Yisroel were swamp. Mosquitoes bred in the standing water, and malaria killed settlers by the thousands. In some settlements, rachmana litzlan, the death rate was said to be close to ninety-five percent. The Rothchilds sprang into action. Eucalyptus trees were brought from Australia and planted across the wetlands. Their roots worked like pumps — one full-grown tree can pull close to seventy gallons of water out of the ground in a day. Along with other efforts, the eucalyptus helped dry the swamps, wiped out the mosquito breeding grounds, and helped end the malaria. For the next hundred years, the eucalyptus seemed unstoppable. It survived heat, drought, and poor soil, and it could be planted almost anywhere. Then, in the early 2000s, foresters noticed something frightening. Young green leaves began sprouting strange blister-like bumps. At first, there were just a few. Soon they covered whole trees. The leaves fell, the branches dried out, the bark cracked, and entire groves began to die.

The Invisible Enemy The cause was a wasp called Ophelimus maskelli, no bigger than a grain of sugar. Like the eucalyptus, it came from Australia. One theory is that it arrived in the Land hidden inside imported lumber. How does such a tiny creature bring down a towering tree? The female lands on a young leaf, pierces it, and lays an egg together with a mix of venom and proteins. The leaf’s own cells are hijacked. Instead of growing into flat leaf tissue, they multiply and wrap around the egg until they form a hard, woody capsule called a gall. The tree is tricked into building an armored bunker for its enemy’s larva — and then feeding that larva day and night. Thousands of galls on one tree act like tiny pumps draining it of water and energy. The tree becomes a factory for feeding its parasites while its own roots and branches starve.

Chazal teach that Hashem did not create even one thing in His world for nothing (Shabbos 77b). That Gemara lists creatures that seem to be pure nuisance — the fly, the mosquito, the snail — and shows that each one is the cure for something else.

Rabos Machshavos The first answer men tried was the usual one: poison. Crop-dusting planes flew pass after pass over the dying forests, soaking them in pesticide. It did not work. The poison killed insects all through the forest — honeybees, butterflies, native beetles — but the wasp larvae, sealed inside their woody bunkers, were untouched. The chemicals ran off the leaves and seeped into the soil. Next came the hope that nature would fix itself. The forests were full of woodpeckers and native insects. Surely the birds would peck open the galls and eat the fat larvae inside. They did not. Woodpeckers would land on an infested branch, look over the strange bumps, and fly off. To the local wildlife, the galls did not look or smell like food. The invader was, in effect, invisible. Finally came the chainsaws and bulldozers. Infested trees were cut down, piled

into huge heaps, and burned, larvae and all. Smoke hung over the forests for weeks. But while crews cleared one area, the wind carried millions of newly hatched wasps tens and even hundreds of miles to fresh territory. Cutting and burning did not stop the pest. It sped up the loss of the forest.

Atzas Hashem Hi Sakum At that point, someone asked the obvious question. The eucalyptus comes from Australia. The pest comes from Australia. So why are the eucalyptus forests of Australia still green and healthy? The answer: in Australia, Hashem had placed alongside this wasp a second creature whose whole life is devoted to hunting it — a creature no one in Eretz Yisrael had thought to look for, because nothing like it existed in the Middle East. The pasuk says Hashem made all His works with chochmah. A lock and its key, created together and set down together on the far side of the world, is chochmah of the highest order.

The Search in Australia A team of Israeli scientists, led by Dr. Zvi Mendel of the Volcani Center, traveled to Australia. From galled eucalyptus

leaves collected in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, they found four species of parasitic wasps that hunt the pest. Two of them, Closterocerus chamaeleon and Stethynium ophelimi, were later released in Israel. Thousands of live wasps were shipped across the world in climate-controlled containers. Releasing them straight into the forest was out of the question. Bringing in a foreign species has ended in disaster more than once in history. What if the newcomers ignored the pest and attacked Israel’s honeybees or rare butterflies instead? So the wasps were placed in sealed quarantine, with double airlocks and filtered air, and given a strict test. They were starved and offered larvae from dozens of native Israeli insects. The result was striking. The Australian wasp wanted one target and one target only — the very pest that was killing the eucalyptus. The quarantine had a second purpose. Back home, the rescue wasp has enemies of its own — wasps that lay their eggs inside the larvae of other wasps. Had even one of these come along as a stowaway, it could have multiplied and wiped out the rescuers within a few years. Researchers checked generation after generation under the microscope to make sure the shipment was clean.

A Creature Built for Its Job Consider what this rescue wasp can do, and ask whether random chance could plausibly produce it. The forests cover many thousands of acres, and the pest larva is hidden inside a woody gall. How does a microscopic hunter find its target in an ocean of green? When the pest chews the tree from inside, the stressed tree releases certain chemicals into the air — a distress signal. The rescue wasp picks up that scent from far away and flies straight to it. Landing on the branch, it presses its antennae against the bark like a seismograph and feels the tiny vibrations of the pest’s jaws chewing inside the gall.

as far away as Andalusia in Spain. The cure that Hashem placed in Australia, and that was found through the distress of the Land of Israel, now protects forests across the Mediterranean world. The story of the eucalyptus forests is a story of a creature the size of a poppy seed, of another creature designed with exquisite precision to hunt it, and of the Yad Hashem that placed both in the world for a purpose that would only become clear in the Land upon which “the eyes of Hashem your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year” (Devarim 11:12). The Torah itself records that Hashem used a wasp to fight for the Land. “And I will send the tzirah before you, and it shall drive out the Chivi, the Canaani, and the Chiti from before you” (Shemos 23:28; see also Devarim 7:20 and Yehoshua 24:12). Chazal in Sotah (36a) discuss how this creature worked against the enemies of Klal Yisrael. The hornet of Yehoshua’s day drove out those who would have destroyed the Land; the wasp of our day drove out a pest that was destroying its forests. Hashem, it seems, likes to remind us that the smallest of His creatures can do what all of man’s planes, chemicals, and bulldozers cannot. The Gemara in Gittin (56b) teaches the same lesson from the other direction: the mighty Titus, who destroyed the Beis HaMikdash, was brought down by a gnat. The Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 10:6) teaches that there is no blade of grass below that does not have a mazal above that strikes it and says, “Grow.” Every creature has its assignment. A wasp in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, was given its assignment long before anyone in Eretz Yisrael knew that it, or its prey, existed. The Rambam writes (Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 2:2) that when a person contemplates Hashem’s great and wondrous works and sees in them His infinite wisdom, he immediately comes to love, praise, and glorify Him. The rescue of the eucalyptus forests is exactly such a contemplation. “Mah rabu maasecha Hashem, kulam b’chochmah asisa — How many are Your works, Hashem; You made them all with wisdom” (Tehillim 104:24). Dovid HaMelech wrote those words about the cedars of Levanon, the springs in the valleys, and the creatures great and small that fill the earth.

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

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Then there is the bunker wall. The rescue wasp’s egg-laying tube is not just a tube. It is a reinforced biological drill. The female braces herself against the gall, bores through the hard wall, and lays her egg right on the pest larva inside. When the egg hatches, the new larva attaches to the host and eats it, matures inside the same gall, and then chews its way out to find its next victim. There was still a numbers problem. The forests held billions of pests, and only a few thousand rescuers had passed quarantine. But this creature has one more feature. In emergencies, the females can reproduce without males, producing an army of daughters, each born with the same single-minded instinct. A few thousand wasps could become millions. Researchers loaded eucalyptus branches with the wasps in the lab, placed the branches in tube-shaped incubators, and foresters hung the tubes from trees in the heart of the infested zones. The wasps hatched already in the forest and went to work. Within a few seasons, the pest population had dropped by about ninety-five percent. Deformed branches fell away and were replaced by clean, straight, healthy growth. Two of the released species, Closterocerus chamaeleon and Stethynium ophelimi, spread throughout the Mediterranean and have proven to be excellent biological controls. Unlike pesticide, which must be bought and sprayed every season, the rescuers settled in permanently. Today they act as a self-sustaining patrol. When the pest flares up in a distant grove, the trees send out their chemical alarm, the wasps converge, wipe out the outbreak, and then wait for the next one. Eucalyptus blooms in the fall and deep into winter, when almost every other plant in the Land is dormant. For millions of honeybees, the flowering eucalyptus forest is the only winter food. Had the forests died, the bees would have starved over the winter — and in spring, when the citrus groves and avocado orchards bloomed, there would have been no one to pollinate them. Two of Israel’s most important farm exports could have collapsed. An entire food chain was saved by an insect barely bigger than a grain of sand. The rescue was not for Eretz Yisrael alone. In 2006, galled eucalyptus leaves carrying the developing rescue wasp were shipped from Israel to Sicily. Within about two years it had spread across many Mediterranean countries, turning up in Algeria some 450 kilometers from the nearest release site in Sardinia and

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

School of

Thought

Random Thoughts on People By Barbara Deutsch

uring a recent paper cutting class – every Wednesday at 3:30 pm – I heard a great story. Sometimes, there is more talk than cutting at the table, and that’s OK. This week’s conversation centered on a deep dive into the diversity of our Anglo backgrounds. As a former New Yorker, I had always viewed the map of the United States in the way that a famous New York Magazine cover depicted it: New York and California, two coasts, with nothing in between. In Israel, I have been privileged to meet interesting and incredible people; as it happens, many are not from New York. My friend Linda is from Detroit, and she is one of them. During the conversation, Linda shared the story of how she met her husband Joel who hails from West Virginia – apparently, there are Jews living in the Deep South. In the golden olden days, available young men and women met and mingled at YU Mixers. That is where Linda and Joel connected. They got to talking, and in his languid Southern drawl, Joel offered to walk Linda home. “Y’all want to walk home?” Linda rounded up her friends, and together, they all went back to the Stern College dorm. Upon arrival at the dorm, Joel asked Linda if she would like to continue to walk with him. When they were alone, he asked, “Why did you invite all of your friends to walk home with us?” Midwestern Linda took southern Joel’s invitation – “y’all” – literally. In just this past week, I have become more self-aware about how I present myself in public on the Jerusalem streets. I live in Nachlaot, so I certainly don’t believe that I stand out among the eccentrics in this neighborhood. As I was walking along Usishkin on

my way to the Breslov Chabura, I sensed that there was someone walking too closely behind me. When I turned to check it out, there was a young woman with blue hair holding two dogs on long leashes. As she approached, the dogs’ leashes crossed, and they began to sniff at my sneakers. I stopped and tried to untangle myself. Then the young woman, peering closely at my feet, commented in a Hebrew that I understood and said: “I love your hot pink Adidas!” I said a quick “Todah” and extricated myself from the yapping dogs and the crossed leashes. Yes, the sneakers I wore that day were hot pink. I recently co-chaired a very successful Amit “getting to know you” community event. It was surprisingly successful and took a lot of hard work. I have always been a mediocre volunteer, but I love Anne, Amit’s newly appointed Rosh in Israel (it’s title that I forgot), so I said a conditional yes

when she asked me for help. I roped in friends Dora and Deena – innocent newbies – and vatikim, Sarah and Linda. When you are visiting Israel, don’t be surprised if you too get an invite to participate in events. The featured speaker, Leah Genie Avuno, shared the story of her emigration from Ethiopia to her now very successful career. Leah credits growing up with Amit, being able to benefit from the caring Amit staff and their available resources, for helping her develop her potential. Leah is awesome; her interesting and informative talk was profoundly impactful. Back to me. In America, I sort of dressed like a principal; there is a back story. When I worked at the Yeshivah of Flatbush (loved it!), Rabbi David Eliach, a premier educator who set the standard for educators the world over, was my mentor. Rabbi Eliach told me that I had the skill and talent to be considered a principal

at Flatbush (I never made it past Dean of Students) if I would consider dressing more conservatively. He named a dear friend whom I love as a role model; she is the opposite of me in every way. Soon after, I was invited to become the founding principal of The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Middle School; I had cracked the glass ceiling. I loved JKHA and the people. The school and the community will forever be close to my heart. As the Judaic and General Studies Principal, the Board mandated that I cover my hair. One Board member even wrote a personal check for $1,000 to sweeten the ask. In agreeing, my response was a crazy car request. I could have leased any car I wanted. I ordered a bright orange car, another perk, that was built like a square box. Not such a good idea when driving on bridges; when the wind blew, it tilted from side to side to side. I still can’t talk about the rain, snow or how both impacted me driving that car. For good reason, that car was taken off the market soon after its launch. Reluctantly, I covered my hair for five years with an assortment of interesting and mostly not so flattering hats. Wearing them every day left my huge head with a pounding daily headache. When I gave up and told the Board that I could not continue to wear hats, it was okayed. Who were we kidding anyway? When I stopped covering my hair, a few parents asked if I had gotten divorced. I don’t wear rings because of an allergy to gold on my fingers. In Israel, I freed my creative spirit and let it dictate my clothing uniform; loose clothing and funky jewelry always defined me. Once I’m dressed in whatever costume that I choose to wear that day, I often don’t even remember what I have on. When people at the Amit event

times, I get dressed in a mostly traditional (it’s still who I am) Shabbat outfit, slap on a little makeup, and head off to KCD, Josh’s minyan, to welcome Shabbat with him. Except during the time that there is a sub for Josh as baal tefillah, I am never disappointed. I try to spend at least one Shabbat meal with my Shapiro family; eating

scarves and bandannas. I did not spot too many like me, unrestricted hair flowing in the wind. Amit’s Leah is from Ethiopia. She commented on Israel’s acceptance of diversity in her talk: “Only after leaving Israel did I realize how black I am.” It still resonates. The realization of the beautiful diversity made my eyes fill with water. I inhaled the beauty of an

I inhaled the beauty of an experience that can only be felt in Hashem’s home – now my home, too.

with them helps prepare me for the highs and lows of the coming week. Fridays are Sunday. Last Friday, the morning weather was more moderate. I walked to a very special hanachat tefillin for a talented Billet family grandchild. Later, I was able to connect with wonderful Long Island friends, Tammy and Steve and Terry. Despite the sweltering afternoon heat, I enjoyed sitting alongside friends who are like family, Rock, Hillel and Teena, at a magnificent kabbalat Shabbat concert in the splendor of the Avi Chai courtyard. Throughout the jam-packed morning and early afternoon, I reflected on the abundance of different profiles of the people I have met and interacted with during my two short years of aliyah. At the Amit event, a large number of the 70 attendees told me, “I came because of you!” That’s nice. As I walked home in the hustle and bustle of Keren Kayemet (KalKal to natives), I was greeted warmly by friends and neighbors. I was accompanied by the pervasive wonderful aromas of kugel and challah. You could feel Shabbat coming. Walking home from a kiddush the next day, I witnessed Jewish men and boys celebrating Shabbos in shorts and T-shirts, tzitzit swinging. Along Usishkin, there were men in suits and ties and those without ties. Some of the men were wearing their tallit and many not. On their heads were kippot serugot, satin ones, Rabbi Nachman head coverings, and hats. A few boys and teens wore all white. Women dressed in long and short hemlines and sleeves. Atop their heads – hats, wigs, towers of carefully folded

experience that can only be felt in Hashem’s home – now my home, too. In all of my chutz la’aretz life, I don’t think a single random stranger ever commented or complimented me on looking like me. Yerushalayim is a place where there is a “we are one family” vibe that opens the door to friendly comments from strangers.

At the makolet today, the helpful cashier commented on my unique accessory: “I like that tie.” It’s Elul, how do we prepare for conversations with Hashem? In my Breslov class, we were tasked with connecting with a tzaddik and practicing a single positive behavior. A simple smile can change someone’s day. A random compliment about someone’s outfit or shoes can morph into a nice story. For me and many like me, Yerushalayim is the place to encounter so many different stripes of people from all over the world. It turns out that there are multitudes of people who live between New York and California. Take a moment to smile and greet them. I am the lady with grey hair wearing a comfortable, maybe a little out-there outfit. Shana Tova u Mitukah and Shabbat Shalom Y’all.

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 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

commented on my outfit, where I got it and where they could buy it, I had to look down at my clothing to check what they were talking about. It’s Elul, and I feel obligated to get myself straightened out before I talk to Hashem. This past year has banged me up pretty badly, and I am not a fan of mussar. My little learning cohort of Dora and Helen went to a class on teshuva at the OU Center with a very popular teacher. After class, we caught up over bagels and coffee at the Bagel Cafe up the block from Ha–nasi. As we got up to go our separate ways, a woman and her companion who were sitting at the next table leaned over and asked me if my mop of grey to white (in need of a haircut) was a wig? No. What gave it away? The woman saw me swipe, a signature move, my floppy bangs off my forehead. I gave her the number for the latest hair guy I use. She told me that she could not find anyone in Jerusalem to cut her hair properly. I am very familiar with that drill. Please don’t judge me; I am not a shul-goer. I never was. Before I retired, my work, working with students, their families and colleagues, was intense and round-the-clock thanks to mobile access and computers. By the time erev Shabbat would roll around, I could barely move my body much less my mouth. On Friday nights, I was usually asleep a half hour after dinner. I never went to shul on Friday or any night. Before Covid, Bob and I would entertain and invite friends and family. Bob’s meals were much sought after. That stopped during the plague and did not change once we stopped wearing masks. Sitting quietly with my coffee and the now banished New York Times on Shabbat mornings were blissful. Making aliyah completely altered the landscape of my weekends. Working backwards, it starts with Sundays; in Israel, summer Fridays are the poor excuse for American Sundays. In Israel, Sunday is Monday, a major bummer. By Tuesday, everyone starts thinking about Shabbat prep. Wednesdays are considered the end of the week. Even long-time olim miss their Sundays. My son-in-law Josh has a heartrending voice; listening to him lead Kabbalat Shabbat transports me out of my weekday head space and into the magical place where connection with Hashem thrives. I go to hear him; his davening soothes even the most broken soul. Instead of early Friday night bed-

nspiration Nation

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Yosef Waslow

Finding the Tools in His Toolbox BY BrendY J. Siev

ou’d think growing up with two parents who loved each other, who took their kids places, who simply stayed together, would be the most ordinary thing in the world. For Yosef Waslow, it wasn’t. On the North Philadelphia block where he grew up, in a neighborhood historically Jewish but overwhelmingly Black by the time his family lived there, his household was one of only three out of roughly fifty homes where both parents were actually present.

“It sounds strange,” he says, “but it wasn’t the norm.” Even a healthy, happy upbringing felt, to him, a little bizarre. That sense of not quite fitting the pattern followed him everywhere. Biracial, the son of a Jewish mother and a Black Baptist father, Waslow spent his childhood belonging fully to neither world he moved through. Black kids called him “the white kid,” even though he wasn’t white. Around white people, he felt looked at as the Black one.

In His Words… Torah is infinite, and the same pasuk means something different to you than to me. i never had this pink, fluffy vision that being frum would solve all my life’s issues. Frum people have problems too. One of my best friends said, ‘The difference between Jews and non-Jews is we both have problems, but we have a toolbox to deal with ours.’ That’s the Torah. You have to find someone who can help you open that toolbox.

“I never really felt like I fit in anywhere,” he says. Judaism, for most of his youth, meant almost nothing to him personally, an ethnic label he carried without understanding, surrounded mostly by Jewish people he found, in his own word, “weird.” His father, a Vietnam veteran who died when Yosef was sixteen, spent the war on the grim work of recovering and identifying the dead, and rarely mentioned religion at all. He wasn’t bitter, Waslow says, but the war seemed to have quietly cost him his belief in “a beneficent G-d and the beneficence of humanity.” What Waslow inherited instead was a childhood defined less by faith than by an accumulating weight of loss. His grandmother died when he was eleven. His best friend died of leukemia at fifteen. Seven months later, another close friend took his own life. A month after that, his father died. A grandfather and then a grandmother followed within the next two years. He calls this stretch, plainly, “the most tormenting time” of his life, and it’s not hard to see why. He took his first drink at thirteen. “From the first time I had that first drink,” he says, “it was over.” He knew immediately it wasn’t a normal experience. What followed was nearly a decade of drinking that cost him almost everything: a marriage he hadn’t yet entered, a mother who ran

out of ways to help, a childhood best friend who once had to physically take Waslow’s own son out of his hands rather than let him drive home drunk. Rock bottom, he says, looks different for everyone. His arrived on August 28, 2012, the day he checked himself into treatment. *

He’d been there only five days when he decided he was finished, ready to leave against his counselor’s advice, certain he already understood what he needed to understand. What actually changed him wasn’t a program milestone. It was a doorway. “I saw my son, and that was it,” he says. “The second he stepped across that doorway, I was like, I’m done.” He remembered visiting his own father in treatment as a teenager, remembered exactly what that felt like, and understood in an instant that he could be causing his own child the same wound. When his counselor warned him he’d be leaving against medical advice, he told her plainly, “You don’t get it. I’m finished,” and said he’d be back in a year to prove he’d done it for good. He left, and never went back. He also never drank again. Rebuilding trust, he says, was humiliating before it was anything else. “I started life as a child over again in my early 20s.”

What’s easy to miss in the addiction story is how early Hashem was already part of it, even before Waslow had any real religious framework to put around the word. Sitting in treatment, still uncertain whether he’d stay, he remembers his wife telling him something that cut through everything else: “G-d’s the only person that could help you.” He can’t fully explain why, but “for some reason, that made a lot of sense to me.” When he left the facility against medical advice, against everyone’s professional judgment, he credits something bigger than willpower for the fact that it actually held. “I never went back,” he says, “but I did keep it together, about Hashem.” That instinct – that there was a G-d worth relying on before he could have named what kind of Jew he was – is re-

ally the thread underneath everything that came after. For years, he’d pictured G-d as something close to a mansion with twenty different doors, each one a different religion, all of them opening onto the same house. “That’s really just how I viewed it,” he says, though he’s since concluded “there are some fundamental, irreconcilable differences” between faiths that a mansion metaphor can’t quite hold. Working that question out for himself, rather than accepting whichever door he happened to be born near, became its own kind of avodah. He read the Bible the way he’d read a novel, from page one rather than wherever a search engine told him to start, and found himself, without fully realizing it, inside the section of Torah covering the Jewish holidays. Something about the unbroken continuity between an ancient text and the people still living by it caught him in a way nothing else had. A Birthright trip to Israel became the real turning point. Standing in Jerusalem, watching Jews who simply looked normal to him for the first time in his life, he felt something shift that no amount of reading had managed on its own. His wife, not Jewish herself at the time, was often the one pushing him further than he was ready to go, buying him sefarim, encouraging a trip she assumed would just be a vacation. She would go on to convert herself, and today teaches at a Jewish day school, a full circle from the woman who once worried aloud that her husband was reading texts meant only for the Orthodox. When they finally worked up the nerve to visit an Orthodox outreach center in Bensalem, Waslow was certain he

was walking into hostility. “I felt Orthodox Jews were probably like most religious extremists,” he admits, expecting to be judged and unwelcome. What he found instead – a chassid shouting excitedly in Yiddish who turned out to be, in his words, “the sweetest guy I’ve ever met,” a rabbi with no interest in offending anyone – was the opposite of everything he’d braced himself for. *

Asked why baalei teshuva so often move toward the more intensive, all-in end of observance rather than easing in gradually, Waslow’s answer isn’t about ideology. It was about story. He talks about hearing the account of the Toldos Yaakov Yosef, a fierce early opponent of the Baal Shem Tov who set out one day to confront him and instead recognized his own struggles inside the story being told. “When your heart finds your story,” Waslow says, “it’s a game changer.” That recognition is exactly what happened to him, and it’s why, twenty years removed from a restless kid who mostly just wanted to fight, he now heads a large family built around Torah observance, with children of his own already marrying and moving through yeshiva. That same framework, that a person’s specific path is given to them for a reason, is how he’s made peace with everything that came before it, the addiction included. He doesn’t romanticize any of it, but he’s arrived at something close to acceptance. “To want to change my past is to say that Hashem did something wrong,” he says. Whatever the reason he was given

the life he was given – difficult neighborhood, difficult losses, a decade lost to drinking – he’s come to see it as inseparable from the hashkafa he eventually found. “Maybe it was what I needed to go through,” he says, “to come out with the hashkafa that I have.” That conviction shapes how he talks about addiction and mental health inside frum communities too, subjects he doesn’t think get discussed honestly enough. The financial and social pressure to keep up appearances, he argues, is “a fantasy and a lie” that quietly crushes people at every income level, including those who look, from the outside, like they’re managing fine. Struggling with addiction as an observant Jew felt, to him, like a kind of hidden shame layered on top of an already difficult problem, when in his experience the underlying feelings, fear, alienation, the pressure to perform, are identical no matter which world a person comes from. “Feelings are feelings,” he says, “and feelings don’t change depending on what your belief system is.” That’s what he keeps coming back to. A friend once told him the real difference between Jews and everyone else isn’t that Jewish people have fewer problems. It’s that they have a toolbox. “We both have problems,” Waslow says. “We have a toolbox to deal with our problems.” His advice to anyone struggling, inside the frum world or out of it, isn’t really about Judaism as a set of rules at all. It’s about finding one honest person to open that toolbox with, before the weight of carrying it alone becomes the whole story instead of just one chapter in it.

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 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

He found a mentor, spent his days moving between outpatient meetings and a job he was slowly earning back, structuring his day around what he half-jokingly calls “a morning seder, an afternoon seder,” the language of Torah study borrowed for the discipline of recovery itself. His wife, meanwhile, was quietly running the machinery underneath all of it, dropping kids at daycare, dropping him at treatment, going to work, picking everyone up again. “I was an adult baby,” he admits, “and it’s hard.” Getting sober, in his telling, was never purely a private struggle; it was something the people around him carried, too.

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

Dating Dialogue

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

Dear Navidaters,

I feel like my life is a series of unfortunate events. Unfortunately, I’ve always been an unlucky person. I got married first in my class, but my husband ended up being terrible despite people saying how amazing he was. Now I’m navigating dating

again, and I don’t know how to trust anyone. How could anyone be who they say they are? Is the guy being genuinely nice, or is he being coercive? If he has requests, is he just a controlling personality? I look at everyone in the lens of my previous marriage. And I don’t think this could ever change. I figured I’d ask your panelists because I can really use some help. Thanks in advance. Leah*

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.

The Panel

We want to offer YOU an opportunity to be part of the discussion! Please email us at MichelleMondShadchan@gmail.com, subject line “reader’s response,” if you would like to participate in the new “A Reader’s

The Zaidy

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. eah, you know your issue and you are turning to the panelists to tell you what you already know. Go to a professional, qualified therapist and learn to read the signals and patterns of other people. What I can tell you is this: divorced individuals often share your feelings. They say, I made a mistake once. How do I know I won’t make a mistake again? This is really what you are asking. You are identifying a normal fear for your situation. The biggest nightmare for divorced people is to divorce again. Invest in therapy for enough time. Learn to explore further what you are seeing and hearing on dates. Check them out. Spend time with your nearest and dearest together. Navigate disagreements. Check out conflict styles. Make sure he can give emotional support and has patience. Spend substantial time with the other person as well as the therapist before you make a tentative commitment.

The Shadchan Michelle Mond ear Leah, I am so sorry for what you have gone through. Please know, however, that just because you had a disastrous first

marriage does not mean you will have a second one. Comparing everyone to your ex is an understandable gut reaction, considering all that you went through. At the same time, you need to do everything in your power to work through these intrusive thoughts so they don’t prevent you from seeing someone new for who he actually is. As a mashal, try NOT thinking of a pink elephant. (I bet you’re thinking about a pink elephant now!) When you’re looking at everything with a magnifying glass, almost anything can start to look like a red flag. I would love for you to be able to date with an open mind and recognize the man in front of you for who he is, rather than constantly looking for signs that he might be like your ex. That doesn’t mean ignoring your instincts or brushing aside genuine concerns. There is a difference between recognizing a real red flag and automatically interpreting a normal disagreement or personality difference as evidence that someone is controlling or coercive. After what you’ve experienced, it may understandably be difficult to tell the difference. I strongly suggest finding an amazing therapist who can help you work through this as you navigate dating again. There will always be things about another person that bother you because we’re human! But with the right internal work, you will iy”H get to a place where you can trust yourself to recognize genuine concerns while also allowing yourself to see the men you date as they are, without the cloudy lens of your past.

Dr. Jeffrey Galler ou ask heartbreaking questions. Let’s discuss two important concepts. First: Rumination vs. Problem Solving Psychologists use the word “rumination” to describe endlessly replaying negative thoughts, painful experiences, and distressing feelings. The word comes from the way certain farm animals chew their food over and over again. Unfortunately, when we humans do the psychological equivalent, we don’t get any additional nutrition. We simply keep chewing. There is an important difference be-

The biggest nightmare for divorced people is to divorce again. tween rumination and problem solving. Rumination says, “I trusted someone before and was terribly hurt. How can I ever trust anyone again?” Problem solving says, “I trusted someone before and was terribly hurt. What can I learn from that experience to help me make a better decision next time?” That doesn’t mean becoming suspicious of every man who is nice to you or assuming that every reasonable request indicates someone is controlling. Please consider the possibility that your previous horrific experiences have made your internal alarm system overly sensitive.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Kesiva v’chasima tova – may it be an amazing year for you!

Dear Readers,

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

I obviously don’t know the details of the disastrous situation that you experienced. But I would suggest several practical precautions. When seeking information about a potential boyfriend, don’t merely rely upon the glowing references listed on a shidduch résumé. Use your network. Speak with people who have actually observed him over time, including rabbanim, teachers, neighbors, friends, and coworkers. And spend time with him. A lot of time. Everyone can be charming when everything is going smoothly. Watch what happens when the waiter brings the wrong order, the valet takes forever to bring the car, or someone loses his reservation. How does he respond when he’s frustrated or doesn’t get his way? Spend time together in family settings. Observe how he interacts with his family and with yours. Don’t merely discuss the movie you watched together. Discuss your goals, religious values, finances, family expectations, and the kind of home you each hope to build. Pay particular attention when you disagree. Does he listen respectfully, or dismiss your opinion? Is decision-making shared, or does he assume that his preference auto-

matically prevails? You get the idea. I would also consider discussing all of this with a good therapist. An objective person may help you distinguish between genuine red flags and residual fears left over from the past. Second: “Luck is the residue of design.” That wonderful expression is attributed to baseball executive Branch Rickey. What we call “good luck” can often be influenced by preparation, thoughtful choices, and putting ourselves in situations where good outcomes are more likely. Nevertheless, bad things sometimes happen to good, intelligent, and careful people. So, please don’t blame yourself, and don’t believe that you are somehow destined to be “unlucky.” Instead, as we approach the New Year, take the painful lessons of your past and use them to design a better future. Armed with greater wisdom, greater awareness, and renewed confidence in your own judgment, go forward with hope rather than fear. And may you be blessed this Rosh Hashana with a tremendous amount of “good luck.” Let’s prove Branch Rickey right. May that good luck be, at least in part, the log-

ical residue of your renewed efforts, hardearned wisdom, and thoughtful choices. Shana tova, Leah. You certainly deserve it.

Reader’s response

Your previous horrific experiences have made your internal alarm system overly sensitive.

Sara Berger ear Leah, I firstly want to say that I’m reading your letter and I’m really sorry you feel that your life is a series of unfortunate events. You say you feel unlucky because you were the first in your class to get married but it was bad and didn’t last. I would say you’re lucky you got out of it. I don’t know how long it’s been for you, but I was in your shoes and I was divorced for almost four years before I met my husband. In the moments of navigating dating for a second time, it feels really terrible. However, this can also be a growth-filled time for you. You get to work on yourself in so many ways many of your friends didn’t or don’t get the chance to. And you’ll do this so that when you attract your husband (which I hope comes really soon), you’ll have done all of that work and once married you’ll have a bigger appreciation for all of the growth you did. In order to address the trust part of your dilemma, first ask if you can trust yourself. Much of the growth you will go

through will help you to start trusting yourself again, although it may seem impossible or slow at times. It is also your emunah in Hashem being tested. You may need a shift in perspective to help with that. In terms of your more specific questions wondering if a guy’s attributes are legitimate, you can see how he makes you feel. I was recently looking back at some texts between me and the shadchan who set my husband and me up, and I was reading that I was very open with her about how he made me feel and many of his wonderful qualities. Next, are you comparing the men you date to your previous husband even though he was terrible? Maybe try looking at the guys you date (hopefully not too many) as individuals. None of them will be the exact same or the guy you married. Change your lens from a closed one to an open one and be willing to go out of your comfort zone.

to date from. I don’t want to tell you to stop comparing. Your brain has information now that it didn’t have before. Some of that information is valuable. You learned things the hard way, and I wouldn’t ask you to unknow them. I also don’t want your ex-husband to become the measuring stick for every man you meet. Because there will be similarities. There have to be. Your ex probably had good qualities, too. He probably said perfectly normal things. He may have had behaviors that, in isolation, weren’t problematic at all. What made your marriage what it was was likely much bigger than any one comment or request. So rather than asking yourself, “Did

my ex ever do this?” I might start asking different questions. What happens when I say no? What happens when I disagree with him? What happens when I tell him that something he did bothered me? What happens when what I want and what he wants are two different things? That’s where I would pay attention. Can he hear you? Can he tolerate your having a different point of view? Can he own something when he gets it wrong? Can you have a difficult conversation without somehow walking away feeling that you were wrong for bringing it up? Can he repair? I care a lot about repair. Because a good man is still going to annoy you

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

ear Leah, You describe yourself as someone who has been unlucky, and reading what you’ve lived through, I can understand why life may feel that way to you. You married someone you believed was amazing. Other people believed he was amazing, too. And then you found yourself in a marriage with someone very different from the person you thought you had married. That does something to your ability to trust. Because now you’re dating again, and you know something you didn’t know

before: you c a n really believe you know someone and still be surprised by who they turn out to be. So of course you’re watching. When a man says something your ex used to say, you notice. When he asks something of you that feels controlling, you wonder. You’re trying to figure out whether you’re seeing something important or whether your history is making something feel more dangerous than it is. And I think that is such a hard place

Those are things I would want you to notice. And if something sets off an alarm in you, you don’t have to immediately figure out whether it’s a red flag or your past. You can just wonder about it. What exactly bothered me? What happened when I spoke up? Have I seen this before with him? Am I seeing a pattern? You don’t have to know everything about someone right away. You’re allowed to gather information. I actually think that’s important for you, because I imagine there may be a lot of pressure to make sure you don’t get it wrong again. There is no way for me to promise you that. There is no perfect vetting system. No reference who can tell you everything.

No set of questions that will guarantee that you know exactly who another person is. And maybe part of healing from what happened to you is accepting that you don’t need that guarantee in order to date. What you need is a growing sense that you can trust yourself. Not to always know. To pay attention. To ask the question you’re afraid to ask. To stop explaining something away if it keeps happening. To say no. To slow things down. To change your mind. And if you learn something about someone later that you couldn’t have known earlier, to trust that you will deal with what you know when you know it. You wrote that you don’t think this can ever change. I’m not going to argue with you about

how it feels right now. And I’m certainly not going to tell you to “just trust again.” Trust doesn’t work that way. You’ve been through something that changed you. You know more now. You notice more now. Some of that will protect you. I just hope that, with time, dating won’t require quite so much vigilance. You can be careful without closing yourself off. You can like someone without deciding he’s wonderful. You can notice something concerning without deciding he’s your ex. You can take your time. And you can let someone earn your trust a little at a time. Warmly, 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.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

sometimes. He may get defensive. He may be selfish. He may say something stupid. He may hurt your feelings. You’re not looking for someone who never gets anything wrong. You’re learning what he does when something goes wrong. And I would pay just as much attention to yourself. Who are you becoming around him? Can you speak freely? Can you say no? Can you disagree without preparing yourself for what might happen afterward? Can you tell him something he may not want to hear? Or are you becoming careful? Are you watching his moods? Explaining yourself too much? Letting things go because you don’t want to deal with his reaction?

The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 10, 2026

School of

Thought

By Etti Siegel

Dear Etti, I see in your bio that you taught for many years, so I am going to ask your opinion on a trend I see from my kids. From 1st grade through 4th (or 5th) they have to memorize shorashim. I did not have to do that as a kid, and I learned to read Chumash just fine. I think all this memorizing makes Chumash into a tedious subject, which should be the opposite of what we want to do! The craziest part is that they keep getting the same shorashim every year with more added. Where is the drive to make Chumash geshmak? This is an issue for my boys and my girls. What do you think? -Dad Who Loves Chumash

Dear Dad Who Loves Chumash, I hear your frustration. Before answering, I would like to offer one clarification. While I certainly see the memorization of shorashim, I also visit many classrooms where rebbeim and moros teach Chumash with tremendous geshmak. I have watched children sitting on the edge of their seats, eager to discover what happens next in the pesukim. Memorizing shorashim, in itself, is not the enemy of excitement. In fact, there is a very good reason schools emphasize them. The goal is for students to recognize the roots of words so that when they encounter unfamiliar words in Chumash, Navi, Mishnah, or Gemara, they have the tools to unlock their meaning independently. Like phonics in English, shorashim are meant to help children become stronger readers, not simply better memorizers. The question is not whether we should teach sho-

rashim. The question is how we teach them. One challenge I have observed is the lack of continuity from year to year. In many yeshivos and day schools, teachers are given considerable freedom in how they teach. While that flexibility has many advantages, it can also mean that each teacher begins the year uncertain about what the previous teacher covered or how well the students retained it. Rather than building upon prior knowledge, the class often starts over. Children end up memorizing many of the same shorashim every year, adding only a handful of new ones. I once challenged a fifth grade morah I was coaching to try something different. Instead of reteaching prefixes, suffixes, and shorashim from scratch, I suggested she assume the knowledge was there, merely dormant after the summer. Each week, she reviewed a short list from previous years, gave a brief quiz, and then introduced a few new shorashim. Every few weeks, students were assessed cumulatively. Two weeks after Sukkos, the expectations of what the students had to know was set, and the review was over. They were expected to know what they had learned in earlier years and reviewed during the first weeks of school. The results surprised her. The students remembered far more than she expected. What had seemed forgotten simply needed to be reactivated. Instead of spending months reteaching old material, she was able to move her students forward. Many education coaches and consultants have told me that they feel that shorashim should not remain

an isolated subject. They become meaningful only when students repeatedly encounter those same roots in the actual pesukim they are learning. When children discover a familiar shoresh inside the Chumash itself, they experience the satisfaction of decoding the text on their own. That success is what creates genuine geshmack. There are also schools working toward a more unified approach. The Lehavin U’Lehaskil series, published by the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools, was designed to create continuity in Chumash and Navi skills across the elementary grades. Some schools have adopted it schoolwide, others use parts of it, and still others have chosen different approaches. Each school has its own educational philosophy, but the underlying goal remains the same: building skills systematically over time. As parents, we can help regardless of which curriculum our children use. Instead of communicating frustration, even through a raised eyebrow or sigh that children notice immediately – and you know they do – we can transform shorashim into family fun. On Shabbos, announce a shoresh from that week’s parsha and see who can find it first. Ask questions that require answering with the language of the pasuk itself. My son-in-law has been doing this with my grandchildren for years, and they absolutely love it. If you want learning to be geshmak, make it geshmak!

If you want learning to

be geshmak, make it

geshmak!

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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Health & F tness

Beyond “Fine” Healing the Nervous System Root of High-Functioning Anxiety and People-Pleasing By Leora Goldenberg, LCSW

aying yes isn’t your problem. It’s the inability to say no. You’re the one who hosts, who shows up, who takes on one more commitment even when you’re already stretched thin. From the outside, it looks like generosity, and often it is. Yet, somewhere along the way, some of those yeses stopped being a choice. You say them because you’re afraid of what it means if you don’t, afraid of disappointing someone, of being seen as less reliable, less giving. That fear isn’t random. It has less to do with your character than with your nervous system. High-functioning anxiety is a quiet, internal battle that often goes unnoticed because it looks like success. It is the drive that makes you show up early, anticipate needs, and never say no. However, the cost is your presence, your energy, your ability to actually rest. You become a version of yourself meant to be acceptable to others, rather than authentic to yourself. People-pleasing is the companion to this anxiety. It is the belief that your safety and worth are tied to the approval of those around you. While high-functioning anxiety is not a formal diagnosis, it is a phrase many people use to describe the experience of looking calm and capable on the outside while feeling anxious, tense, or overwhelmed on the inside. You aren’t just “being nice,” you are managing your internal panic by ensuring everyone else is happy, because only then can you “relax.”

Why People-Pleasing Can Feel Like Safety It likely didn’t start now. For many people, this pattern started young, in a home where being agreeable felt safer than being honest, where it earned you approval or being seen, and where saying no came at a cost. Your body learned its

still send “danger” signals when you stop people-pleasing. That discomfort isn’t a sign you’re doing it wrong; it’s the same old alarm system catching up to a new pattern. The goal isn’t to make it disappear overnight, but to meet it with consistency and self-compassion.

Brainspotting Therapy

own version of that lesson, and it’s still protecting you the same way. The problem is that we try to solve people-pleasing with logic. We tell ourselves to “just set boundaries,” but when we try, our bodies react with a spike of panic or a wave of guilt. These patterns are survival strategies deeply rooted in your nervous system. In trauma-informed therapy, this is often called the “fawn” response. It is a way your body creates safety by appeasing others. If everyone is happy with you, you are safe. This strategy is effective for survival but devastating for your long-term health. It keeps you in a state of chronic stress, always scanning for disapproval. Understanding that this is a physiological response, not a failure of character, is the first step toward real healing.

Small, Practical Steps Healing happens by showing your nervous system, through small, repeatable moments, that it’s safe to pause, choose, or say no. Here are three practical tools you can try: Step 1: The Exhale Breath: When you

feel the urge to say “yes” when you mean “no,” stop. Inhale for four seconds, but exhale for six or eight. A longer exhale signals to your vagus nerve that there is no immediate danger, allowing your logical brain to come back online and choose your answer instead of an automatic yes. Repeat as necessary. Step 2: Noticing When You’re Bracing: Throughout the day, check in with your body. Are your shoulders at your ears? Is your jaw clenched? Try unclenching it, and notice how that feels. See if any tension has shifted. Step 3: Practicing Tiny No’s: Start where your body feels the least threatened. That might mean letting a non-urgent email sit or giving yourself a few minutes before replying to a text. These tiny experiments aren’t about “having better boundaries overnight.” They’re proof, in small doses, that you can survive saying no.

What to Expect When You Start When you begin trying these steps, it’s completely normal for it to feel uncomfortable. Your nervous system may

If you’ve done a lot of talking in therapy and still feel stuck, that’s not a failure. It often means the pattern lives somewhere talking alone can’t reach. A brain-body approach like Brainspotting can be another way in. Brainspotting works with your visual field to connect to the deeper parts of the brain and nervous system where stress and trauma responses live. We find an eye position that matches the tension you feel inside and stay with it so your system can begin to process what’s underneath, without you having to talk in circles. Healing is not about fixing something broken; it is about gently showing your nervous system that it is safe to be you. It’s about shifting from performing to actually being present. When you work with your body as well as your thoughts, the inner critic often gets quieter and the guilt can start to ease. You deserve to live authentically and feel safer doing so.

Leora Goldenberg, LCSW has 10 years of experience helping adults in New York and Florida navigate anxiety, stress, self-doubt, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and life transitions. She offers online therapy and works with CBT and Brainspotting. Her expertise has been quoted in Forbes, Good Housekeeping, and Yahoo Health. Leora can be reached by email at Leoragoldenberglcsw@gmail.com or through her website at Leoragoldenberglcsw.com.

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Health & F tness

Before You Promise to Be Better This Year By Rivka Kramer, PMHNP-BC

here is something about Rosh Hashana that naturally makes us look inward. As one year comes to an end and another begins, we start taking inventory. We think about what went well, what didn’t, what we wish we had done differently, and all the things we promise ourselves we are finally going to work on this year. Maybe I will be more patient. Maybe I will be more present with my family. Maybe I will stop getting overwhelmed so easily, become more organized, worry less, or finally take care of something I have been putting off. Before we know it, what began as a meaningful opportunity for reflection can turn into a fairly extensive list of everything we think is wrong with us.

Reflection vs. Criticism There is enormous value in looking at ourselves honestly, especially at this time of year. But there is a difference between self-reflection and self-criticism. There is a difference between thinking, “I wish I had handled that differently,” and thinking, “What is wrong with me that I always do this?” One allows us to understand what happened and consider what we might do differently next time. The other takes a behavior or difficult moment and turns it into a statement about who we are. In psychiatric practice, this comes up often. People may seek treatment because they are anxious, overwhelmed, depressed, distracted, irritable, or struggling to keep up with everything expected of them. Yet the symptom itself is sometimes only part of what is making them miserable. The other part is the judgment they have attached to it. They aren’t only anxious; they are angry at themselves for being anxious. They aren’t only having difficulty get-

ting things done; they have decided this means they are lazy. They aren’t only overwhelmed; they are embarrassed that everyone else seems to be managing life better than they are. Knowing that there is nothing to worry about doesn’t automatically switch off anxiety. Knowing that a task needs to get done doesn’t solve executive dysfunction. Knowing that a reaction is bigger than the situation doesn’t mean someone can instantly regulate an intense emotion. Being grateful for a good life does not make someone immune to depression. Understanding this doesn’t mean removing personal responsibility. It means understanding what is happening so that we can respond to it more effectively.

When Yom Tov Changes Our Routine There is another psychiatric piece that feels particularly relevant right now. Rosh Hashana begins several weeks in which our normal schedules become anything but normal. There

is Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, Chol Hamoed, and another stretch of yom tov. There are long meals, later nights, guests, children home from school, changes in work schedules, travel, different eating patterns, and much less structure than many of us are accustomed to. For many people, this is a beautiful time of year. It can also be a destabilizing one. We sometimes underestimate how much our brains depend on routine. Sleep, meals, work, school, medication schedules, exercise, downtime, and simply knowing what the next day will look like all provide structure. When that structure suddenly changes, we may feel the effects emotionally before we even recognize what is happening. Someone who is normally fairly calm may become more irritable. Someone with ADHD may feel much more scattered or overstimulated without a regular routine. A person with anxiety may find that guests, family dynamics, crowded meals, or constantly changing plans increase their symptoms. Some-

one with depression may notice changes in energy, motivation, or sleep. So if you notice yourself becoming more irritable, anxious, emotional, distracted, or overwhelmed over the next few weeks, take a moment to look at what has changed around you. How have you been sleeping? Are you eating regularly? Are you taking your medication on schedule? Have you had any downtime? Have you gone from a predictable daily routine to constant activity, noise, people, and expectations? Sometimes what feels like a sudden worsening of psychiatric symptoms is at least partly a response to a significant disruption in routine. That doesn’t mean we should dismiss symptoms as “just yom tov,” but it does give us useful information about what may be contributing to them.

Don’t Forget About Your Medication This is also a good time to think ahead about medication. If you take psychiatric medication, the chagim are not the time to casually change your dose, skip doses because your schedule is different, or decide on your own that you don’t need medication because you are off from work or school. Different psychiatric medications have different considerations, and abruptly stopping or inconsistently taking certain medications can cause withdrawal symptoms, rebound symptoms, or a return of the symptoms being treated. Make sure you have enough medication before yom tov rather than realizing at the last minute that you are running out. If fasting, changes in mealtimes, or altered sleep schedules create questions about when or how to take your medication, speak with your prescriber ahead of time. Depending

The Significance of Sleep Sleep is particularly important because it is often one of the first things we sacrifice when life gets busy. Repeated sleep disruption can have a very real psychiatric effect. Anxiety can become louder when we are exhausted. ADHD symptoms can become harder to manage. Emotional regulation becomes more difficult, and our threshold for frustration gets lower. We may find ourselves snapping at people or becoming emotional over things that ordinarily wouldn’t affect us nearly as much. For someone with bipolar disorder or a history of mania or hypomania, significant changes in sleep deserve even more attention. A decreased need for sleep, especially when accompanied by unusual energy, racing thoughts, impulsivity, agitation, or behavior that feels out of character, should not simply be dismissed as holiday exhaustion or excitement. Protecting sleep may mean accepting that you cannot participate in everything. Maintaining some structure during the chagim is not selfish or rigid. For some people, it is an important part of staying psychiatrically well.

The Emotional Side of the Chagim Of course, not every trigger during this season is about sleep or medication. Holidays bring families together, and family relationships can be wonderful and complicated at the same time. There may be difficult dynamics, old tensions, grief over someone who is no longer at the table, loneliness for someone whose life does not look the way they hoped it would, financial pressure, complicated relationships with food, or simply the exhaustion of hosting and being “on” for days at a time. Someone can love yom tov and still find parts of it difficult. Those feelings do not cancel each other out. If you find yourself struggling, try not to immediately turn that struggle into a character judgment. Irritability does not necessarily mean you have become an irritable person. Feeling overwhelmed doesn’t mean you are ungrateful. Needing a break from people you love doesn’t mean you don’t love them.

Experiencing an increase in psychiatric symptoms does not mean all the progress you have made has disappeared. Instead, ask what may be contributing. Are you sleeping? Are you taking your medication consistently? Are you overstimulated? Is there a particular situation triggering you? Do your symptoms improve when you rest and regain

when I am overtired? What makes me lose patience? Where do I need more structure? What are my triggers? What helps me function at my best? These are not excuses. They are information, and information helps us make better choices. Psychiatric treatment isn’t simply about giving someone a diagnosis and

Reflection does not have to become a list of personal failures.

some structure, or are they continuing to intensify?

When It’s Time To Reach Out There is a difference between the expected ups and downs that can accompany a disrupted schedule and symptoms that warrant reaching out to a provider. A significant or sustained change in mood, severe anxiety, worsening depression, unusual impulsivity, markedly decreased need for sleep, racing thoughts, significant agitation, or thoughts of harming yourself should not simply be attributed to yom tov stress. Good psychiatric management is not only about what medication someone takes. It means noticing changes early, looking at sleep, routine, medication, stress, physical health, and environment, and adjusting the treatment plan when necessary. This is worth remembering for our children and family members, too. A child with ADHD who does beautifully within the structure of school may suddenly seem much more dysregulated during a long stretch without routine. Someone with anxiety may need more space during a crowded family gathering. A person managing depression may not have the energy everyone expects them to have. Understanding what is contributing to someone’s behavior doesn’t mean excusing everything, but it can change the way we respond.

A Different Kind of New Year’s Resolution As we enter Rosh Hashana, there are things all of us would like to do differently in the coming year. But reflection does not have to become a list of personal failures. We can ask more useful questions instead. What happens to me

a prescription. Medication can be an incredibly important part of treatment, but so are sleep, routine, stress, relationships, physical health, and the demands being placed on us. All of these pieces make an indelible impression on the bigger picture. So as we head into weeks of beautiful but very disrupted schedules, protect your sleep where you can. Keep your medication routine consistent, recognize your triggers and build in some

structure and downtime. If your mental health has been suffering, make the appointment you have been putting off. If your medication isn’t working the way it once did, speak to your provider rather than quietly struggling or changing it yourself. Rosh Hashana gives us an opportunity to look honestly at where we have been and intentionally at where we are going. We don’t have to use that opportunity to become our own harshest critics. We can use it to understand ourselves better, take our mental health seriously, and recognize what helps us remain healthy, grounded, and present for the life we already have. Wishing you and your family a healthy, peaceful, meaningful, and sweet new year. Shana tova u’metuka!

Rivka Kramer is a Board Certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. She has a psychiatric private practice based in Cedarhurst, NY. She serves as a maember of the board of JANPPA, the Jewish American Nurse Practitioner Psychiatric Association. She can be reached at 917-905-3995.

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on the medication and your medical circumstances, food, hydration, blood pressure, and other factors may need to be considered. These decisions are better made in advance with appropriate medical and rabbinic guidance rather than improvised during yom tov.

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Health & F tness

“Houston, We May Have a Pomegranate Problem!” Some people collect watches. Some collect baseball cards. I collect pomegranates. And believe it or not, there’s a lesson in there for our kids. By Hylton I. Lightman, MD, DCH (SA), FAAP

es, you read that headline correctly. I collect pomegranates. We’re talking ceramic pomegranates. Metal pomegranates. Decorative pomegranates. Pomegranate paintings. Pomegranate picture frames. Big ones. Small ones. Elegant ones. Unusual ones. If someone has figured out a way to turn a pomegranate into a piece of art or décor, there’s a pretty good chance I own it or, at a minimum, I’ve photographed it. At some point, what began as an appreciation became a collection. And what began as a collection may have become something of an obsession. So I probably owe you an explanation. I’ve always found pomegranates fascinating. Just look at one. The shape. The little crown on top. The deep reds and rich colors. And then cut one open, and you discover hundreds of jewel-like seeds packed together in one of the Borai Olam’s most beautiful designs. Somewhere along the way, apparently, admiring them wasn’t enough. I started collecting them. And I have absolutely no regrets. Well, almost none.

613 Reasons To Love Them Of course, there’s more to the pomegranate than its good looks. For us as Jews, the pomegranate carries tremendous symbolism, particularly around Rosh Hashana. There is a longstanding tradition associating its abundance of seeds with the 613 mitzvos. As we begin a new year, that imagery is particularly beautiful: a fruit overflowing with seeds, representing our hope for a year overflowing with mitzvos and good deeds. Then there’s the health side. Pomegranates contain antioxidants and beneficial plant compounds and are a source of fiber and nutrients. They’ve been

where else to go. A child who loves drawing can disappear into a sketchbook after a difficult day. A kid who loves basketball can go outside and shoot hoops. A teenager who plays guitar can pick it up, close the door and spend half an hour doing something that has absolutely nothing to do with tomorrow’s test. That kind of outlet matters. Hobbies can provide relaxation, creativity, physical activity, confidence, social connection or simply the pleasure of focusing on something enjoyable. They give children an opportunity to recharge. The best part of all? They don’t even have to be good at it.

Please Don’t Turn Everything Into an Achievement studied extensively for their potential benefits to cardiovascular and overall health. So I can justify my fascination spiritually. I can justify it nutritionally. I can even make an aesthetic argument. But the real explanation is much simpler. I like pomegranates. Believe it or not, this slightly unusual hobby of mine has everything to do with your child.

What Does Your Child Love? As a pediatrician, I spend a lot of time talking with parents about what their children need to do. They need enough sleep. They need to eat properly. They need physical activity. They need to do their schoolwork. They need boundaries around screens. They need to brush their teeth and, preferably, stop torturing their siblings. But here’s a question we don’t ask nearly enough: What does your child love doing

for absolutely no reason at all? Not because there’s a grade attached to it. Not because it will look good on an application. Not because you’re hoping they’ll become the next great pianist, athlete or chess champion. What makes them happy simply because it makes them happy? Maybe it’s drawing. Basketball. Baking. Woodworking. Playing an instrument. Collecting baseball cards. Photography. Gardening. Chess. Building models. Reading about trains, airplanes or dinosaurs. It almost doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is that it’s theirs.

Kids Need an “Off Switch” Think about how structured childhood has become. School, homework, tests, tutoring, activities, family responsibilities, social pressures, and screens compete for children’s attention almost every waking hour. A healthy hobby gives a child some-

We parents have an incredible ability to take something a child enjoys and turn it into another responsibility. Your daughter likes drawing? Wonderful. Let’s find an art program. Your son likes basketball? Excellent. Which league? Does he need coaching? Should we get him into a summer program? Your child enjoys playing a musical instrument? When’s the recital? Sometimes that’s terrific. A genuine interest can become a talent, and a talent can become something a child pursues seriously. But not everything needs to. Sometimes it’s perfectly okay to be mediocre at something you love. Your child doesn’t need a trophy. They don’t need a certificate. They don’t need to monetize it, master it or put it on a résumé. They can just enjoy it.

Boredom May Actually Help This also means we don’t have to

There is One Small Downside I should probably acknowledge that hobbies, particularly collections, can occasionally get out of hand. One pomegranate becomes three. Three become ten. Then people discover you collect pomegranates and start giving

one who shares my living space necessarily shares my level of enthusiasm – and that’s perfectly fair. My wife has been remarkably patient as my collection has grown, although I suspect she could come up with at least 613 perfectly good reasons why it might be time to slow down. And if our

What does your child love doing for absolutely no reason at all?

you pomegranates as gifts. Suddenly, you look around your house and realize that a humble fruit has established a significant real-estate portfolio. There is an important distinction, though, between a healthy passion and an obsession that starts taking over. A hobby should add something positive to your life; not crowd out your responsibilities, relationships, and everything else you once enjoyed. The goal is to have a hobby, not to let the hobby have you. Now, I adore my pomegranate collection. But I also recognize that not every-

dining room sideboard could talk, I have a feeling it would respectfully agree with her. But that’s a discussion for another day.

Find Your Pomegranate Passion As Rosh Hashana approaches and pomegranates begin appearing on our tables, we’ll think about what those beautiful seeds represent. We’ll think about mitzvos, blessings and everything we hope to fill the coming year with. Maybe we can add one more thought. Our children need responsibilities.

They need structure, expectations and boundaries. They need us to push them sometimes. But they also need joy. They need something healthy that belongs to them. Something they can turn to after a hard day. Something that gets them away from a screen, gives their minds a break, gets their bodies moving, lets them create or simply makes them smile. Help your child find that thing. Then give them some room to love it without worrying about where it’s going. A hobby doesn’t always need a purpose. Sometimes enjoying it is the purpose. And if your child’s thing happens to be pomegranates, I highly recommend it. Just make sure you have enough shelf space. (And a patient, understanding spouse.) 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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panic every time a child announces, “I’m bored.” Our instinct is often to solve boredom immediately. We find an activity, make a suggestion or hand over a device. But a little unstructured time can be exactly what allows interests to develop. When nobody tells children what to do, they have to figure it out themselves. They start building things. Drawing things. Taking things apart. Reading. Shooting baskets. Making up games. Starting collections. They’re discovering what catches their attention when nobody else is deciding what deserves their attention. So watch them closely. What does your child gravitate toward? What do they talk about without being asked? What holds their attention? What do they keep coming back to? When you see that spark, give it some room. You don’t necessarily need expensive lessons or elaborate equipment. Sometimes the best thing a parent can do is simply show interest. Ask questions. Admire what they created. Let them teach you something you don’t know. Their hobby doesn’t have to make sense to you. It has to make sense to them.

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Parenting Pearls

Rosh Hashana Reflections By Sara Rayvych, MSEd

his is a very powerful time of year. I’m sure I’m not the only one who takes a few minutes to simply reflect on the year that has passed. As each Rosh Hashana comes, we see where we’ve been and look to where we want to go. Sometimes, the year was better than we expected; at other times, we faced more pain and challenges than we had planned. The year is never exactly as we had envisioned. It can be difficult to sit in this moment of reflection. Some years were overwhelming to experience, and then even more overwhelming to look back on. Often, it’s only after something has passed that we can more fully absorb the experience and emotions from that time. Each of our readers has had their own year of ups and downs, expectations fulfilled and unforeseen disappointments. Often, the most intense moments are the ones that others will never see. For those who had an exceptionally painful year, this article is not to make light of that. I am not one to encourage ignoring pain or pretending it doesn’t exist. That usually just makes it fester and worsen over time. I hope this upcoming year becomes a time of healing for all of us. Despite how mixed our emotions may be at this time, I want to discuss appreciation and gratitude for the good we experienced. For many, this will be easy; for others, this may feel difficult or near impossible. I understand if some readers will prefer to simply turn the page and read the next article that may be necessary, and each person understands their own needs. For those who would find it beneficial, I’d like to focus on some of the positives we can notice this time of year and appreciating some of the many gifts we’ve received but may not have noted.

Ki Tov We know to give thanks to Hashem because He is good. We say this throughout davening and in Tehillim. Recognizing that Hashem is good and does good inspires both gratitude and comfort. It’s easy to see how we can feel gratitude

from recognizing that Hashem is good and does good: doing unexpectedly well on an exam. Getting that promotion. A clean bill of health. Birth. Marriage. Simchos. Time with friends. There is much to appreciate and notice. As adults, we would probably be much happier the more we take note of each gift we receive. As parents, we can give this gift to our children by encouraging (not pressuring) them to do the same. When something happens, we can naturally acknowledge the Source of it. This can become part of our everyday speech. Recognizing that Hashem is good and does good is also a comfort for many people. To suffer needlessly is far more painful than to know there is Divine intention and goodness behind the challenges. Occasionally, we are given the gift of a glimpse of that eventual good, but other times, we never know why we experienced something. Just knowing that the Source of all we experience is good and does good can give meaning and comfort in difficult times – even if we never know the reason. While for many of us this awareness can be a source of comfort, we need to be mindful of how we present it to others, especially to our precious children. There are many commonly used, but inappropriate ways to convey this. For example, “How can you be upset when Hashem does so much good for you?” “Really, this [insert painful thing] is all for the best.” When given over in the wrong way, it only increases another’s pain. Children learn how to address and cope with many challenges by how those around them do. In this area, it’s often best to lead by example and let our children see how we ourselves try to recognize Hashem’s good throughout. The impact of our beliefs can trickle down and affect them. Our actions speak far louder than our words ever can. Even the smallest thing that we can recognize and appreciate can make a meaningful impact. We don’t need to wait till life is perfect. Even just noticing the most minor positive can be powerful – a clean shirt, one more of your favorite snack in

the pantry, or the rain holding off for an hour-long walk.

Rosh Hashana Tips & Tricks I have found the pre-yom tov tips and tricks sections to be popular. I hope it will enhance your yom tov. Being a parent and raising the next generation is immeasurable. It’s a goal of its own and not to be considered as merely secondary. It’s understandable that davening in shul and other yom tov related activities may not be realistic with little ones. Whenever a question arises, please bring anyi to the proper authority and not rely on these articles. Parents should not feel guilty about being at home and not in shul on this holy day. They should recognize the greatness of their daily achievements. That diaper change may not feel glorious in the greater scheme of life, but it’s keeping a little one healthy. The meal may take longer to prepare than to eat, but it’s still nourishing and providing for others. It may feel uncomfortable to spend the day in the park and not in heartfelt tefillos, but sometimes, it’s what is needed for that child’s development into an eved Hashem. Young children are precious, but they don’t belong in shul during long tefillos. It’s unfair to the kehilla to be disturbed. It can also be unfair to the children themselves who are developmentally unsuited to being quiet or sitting too long. Even somewhat older children may have limited attention spans, and parents should view each child based on their child’s personality and development, not simply their chronological age. Children of all ages are generally brought to shofar blowing. Parents should anticipate their child will still need them during this time – even if shofar only lasts

for a few minutes. Bring children in just before shofar starts; we don’t want to test them any longer than necessary. Young children are generally calmer when held or kept close to their loving adult. This also makes it easier to tend to them if they suddenly start loudly whispering (or worse) for something. Ideally, children would be well rested and fed before shofar blowing, but that’s not always possible with the schedule. Pacifiers, favorite blankies and other soothies are all very helpful, as are snacks (especially for little ones who may be hungry). Some children do not do well in crowds and may get overwhelmed by large groups. Be mindful of your child’s needs and plan accordingly. There are options for those who can’t attend shul. We have a very thoughtful neighbor who was blowing shofar for us on years that we couldn’t get out, such as when someone was sick and contagious. There are organizations and individuals that can assist, and many shuls have a second shofar blowing. Kids often can’t wait until the long tefillos are over, and many children may need to have a mini seudah before the crowd comes home from shul. Little ones, especially, benefit from being kept on schedule. They will be more pleasant little people if they sleep and nap as they usually do. May this year be sweet and beautiful for all of our readers, and may the year exceed all our expectations l’tovah. 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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Book

Marked

True for Those Who Understand By Tzvi Adler

Reviewing: “Discovering the Jewish Holidays: Eight Talmudic Readings” by Rabbi Dr. Richard Hidary, with contributions by Dr. Yosef Bronstein and Elinatan Kupferberg

Yeshiva University Press and Maggid Books, an imprint of Koren Publishers Jerusalem. 2026

he Mishna says the world is judged four times a year: Pesach for grain, Shavuot for the fruit of the tree, Rosh Hashana for man, Sukkot for water. Four dates, four subjects, nothing left over. Then the Gemara asks mani matnitin, whose view this is, and answers in a staccato that rules out four of the greatest Taanaim. Not Rabbi Meir, not Rabbi Yehuda, not Rabbi Yose, not Rabbi Natan. Rebbi left a view anonymous, Rabbi Hidary explains, to mark it normative. Rav Sherira Gaon, writing 1,100 years ago, describes what the later rabbis did when they saw fit otherwise. They would tell you it follows rebbi, or teach it as a minority view, so that nobody would have to rely on it. The question is not curiosity about authorship. It is a case being reopened. Rabbi Dr. Richard Hidary, who teaches Talmud at Yeshiva University, has built a sefer on what follows from noticing that. “Discovering the Jewish Holidays: Eight Talmudic Readings,” published by Yeshiva University Press and Maggid Books, argues that sugyot which read like technical legal discussions were composed by someone, and that what they were composed to say is usually not what they appear to be about. He takes one sugya per holiday and runs them in the order of the year, Rosh Hashana through Tisha B’Av, and the sefer is his case that the tools exist to hear it.

Rosh Hashana comes first because the year does, and the Meiri had already seen where that sugya goes. Summing it up, he writes that even though they said all are judged on Rosh Hashana according to their deeds, a person’s eyes should always be raised toward teshuva every day, since they said a person is judged every day. Then he adds that this is all true for those who understand – and says nothing more. Understanding what is the question, and the Rishonim divide on it. The Ramban, in his drasha for Rosh Hashana, holds that everything is finalized on Rosh Hashana and that the tefillot of the other holidays are preparation for next year. The Ritva holds the accepted view follows the Mishna together with Rabbi Yitzchak, that the seasonal judgments can always be abrogated through tefillah. Rabbi Hidary takes the sugya underneath and comes out with the Ritva, which by itself would be unremarkable. How he gets there is not. He does not weigh the Rishonim against each other. He shows that the men who assembled the sugya put it together to produce that answer. Seeing that requires a different page than the one on the shelf, and here his argument will be familiar to anyone who has looked at what his children learn. A generation ago, Chumash in a day school meant the pasuk with Rashi. Then Nahum Sarna, Rav Yoel Bin-Nun

and others brought literary structure, keywords and Ancient Near Eastern background into the classroom, next to the Rishonim and not instead of them, and the way Tanach is taught changed. Gemara, he argues, has not had that yet. Every sugya is presented the same way, under a heading that states a claim rather than a topic. Every Day Is Judgment Day. Drink Irresponsibly: A Serious Satire. The Vilna daf a reader knows faces the manuscript actually being used, a Cairo Geniza leaf or a Yemenite codex or Munich 6, with the Hebrew set from those witnesses and vocalized. The sugya is broken into lettered sections, the explanation kept below the line, the Yerushalmi printed alongside, and the named Amoraim held apart from the anonymous editors who arranged them. The English is deliberately unhelpful. He keeps it as ambiguous as the Aramaic, which forces a reader to decide what the words mean before anyone tells him. Some of what the manuscripts turn up is very small. Kivnei maron is two words in every printed Mishna and one in the older ones. Numeron, the Greek for a legion, soldiers filing past the emperor single file to be inspected, which is what Shmuel means in the Gemara by the soldiers of the house of David. Sheep are a second opinion, and they carried, because copyists who no longer knew Greek broke the word in half.

Two of the eight sugyot are contributed, Elinatan Kupferberg on reclining at the Seder and Dr. Yosef Bronstein on the mountain held over Sinai, and both hold the standard. Set up that way, Rosh Hashana 16a stops looking like a list. Behind the Mishna stands a baraisa, and the machzor’s written and sealed comes from there. Rabbi Meir has all judged on Rosh Hashana with the g’zar din sealed on Yom Kippur, while Rabbi Yehuda has each sealing at its own season. Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Natan drop the seasons altogether, holding that judgment comes every day and every moment. Rava eventually settles the difficulty by assigning the Mishna to the tanna of the school of Shmuel, leaving it to record only techilat din, the beginning of judgment. With the Mishna’s annual verdict weakened, the sugya turns to Rabbi Yose, who holds a person is judged every day, and it is here that the reading is at its best. Rav Chisda asks mai ta’ama, and the Gemara stops him mid-question. Rabbi Yose already gave a source: the pasuk in Iyov about inspecting a man every morning. The real question, it clarifies, is why he did not go as far as Rabbi Natan, who reads the second half of that same pasuk and holds every moment. A distinction between examining and inspecting is tried and falls apart, since both are mere looking. Rav Chisda retracts and brings a different

date, and the Scholion, its later Hebrew commentary, has the Chashmonaim bringing seven iron spits coated with tin to light with. The baraita that places a lamp at the entrance of a home comes only after the Churban. On Tisha B’Av, the baraita in Megilla 31b has them read im lo tishme’u li, the curses in Bechukotai. Abaye reports that in his day, the practice had become ki tolid banim in Va’etchanan, which passes through corruption and exile and comes out at the promise that they will seek Him and find Him. Abaye’s is the leining in shul today. Yoma 87 asks the most of a reader, setting five laws of apology against four stories that test them and ending with Rav going to Rabbi Chanina on 13 erev Yom Kippurs and never being forgiven. Purim will draw arguments,

What a person takes from the sefer is smaller than the method and outlasts the season.

tainly said this before Rava spoke, yet the sugya puts Rava first, so the Mishna goes down before Rabbi Yose is given his support. The Yerushalmi, working the same sources, comes out the other way and shores up the annual verdict, citing Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai that rain once decreed cannot be reduced, only dispersed into oceans, deserts and rivers where the earth gets no benefit from it. The Bavli takes that baraisa and raises it against Rabbi Yochanan, then confines it to the individual, which leaves public teshuva able to overturn a decree. What the sugya was built to teach is that teshuva and atonement are not confined to these days but are available always. The Ritva reached it, Rabbi Hidary shows the editors were driving at it, and the Meiri, who knew, declined to say it out loud. Several of the other sugyot he takes up make a related case, that the Bavli’s editors rebuilt the holidays for a people without a Beit HaMikdash. Chanukah carries the strongest evidence, all of it documentary. Nothing surviving from the Bayit Sheni knows of a lamp lit in a house. I and II Maccabees celebrate a rebuilt altar. Megillat Taanit gives only a

since Rava’s ruling on drinking is read as satire and his estimate of Mordechai is gathered from across the Bavli. Rabbi Hidary answers that objection himself, writing that Mordechai must always be championed and that the message had to be encrypted. Manuscript witnesses, Tannaitic parallels, Greco-Roman background, anonymous editors treated as authors with a program, Levinas and Halbertal cited beside Rishonim. This is academic Talmud, and he says so plainly. His answer is that the tools belong in a beit midrash as much as in a seminar room, and that the division between them is recent. The Rambam, defending a single ruling, wrote that he had “researched ancient versions of the text,” and that a portion of a Talmud on thick parchment had come to him in Egypt, copied as was the custom some 500 years earlier. What a person takes from the sefer is smaller than the method and outlasts the season. He will not read an anonymous stretch of Gemara the same way again. On the next daf, and the one after that, he will find himself asking who set it down in that order and what they wanted him to see. Which makes the 10 days ahead practice for the other 355.

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pasuk, Shlomo HaMelech at the chanukat habayit, each day’s matter in its day. Rabbi Hidary hears a change of tone in that switch, and it is the thing worth carrying into shul. Iyov is complaining when he speaks. In his mouth, the verse describes unrelenting surveillance by One waiting to pounce on a misstep, which makes being judged every day heavier to carry than a verdict once a year. Shlomo HaMelech is asking that the Beit HaMikdash be a place where the same daily attention answers what a person needs that day. Judgment every morning can be a Judge who never looks away, or a Judge who is available every morning. The Gemara chooses. The editors chose too, and their hand shows in the placement. Rav Chisda was Rava’s teacher and almost cer-

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In The K tchen

Sticky Pomegranate Chicken Yields 8 servings

By Naomi Nachman

This is one of those recipes that looks fancy but comes together quickly – crispy fried chicken pieces coated in a glossy, sweet and tangy pomegranate glaze. Pomegranates are one of the simanim of Rosh Hashana, and this dish is a delicious way to bring that symbolism right onto the main course. It’s a crowd favorite at every Yom Tov table I’ve served it at, and it disappears fast.

Ingredients • 1 cup cornstarch • 1½ teaspoons kosher salt • Black pepper, to taste

Preparation 1.

Combine cornstarch and salt in a small bowl. Dredge each piece of chicken in

cornstarch mixture. Heat oil in a large, deep frying pan over high heat. Fry each piece for about 2-3

• 4 pounds pargiyot

• Oil, for frying

minutes per side, until crispy and golden. Remove from pan and set aside.

Sauce • 1 cup sweet chili sauce

Prepare the sauce: Heat the sauce ingredients in a small pot for a few minutes

on low heat.

• ½ cup pomegranate syrup

• 2-4 cloves garlic

minutes, until cooked through.

• ¼ cup silan

Add browned chicken to sauce, cover pan, reduce heat, and simmer for 10

Before serving, add sesame and scallions if desired.

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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d for Thought

100 Restaurants Later By Nati Burnside

hen I started writing this restaurant column in June 2022, I certainly wasn’t thinking about what the 100th column would look like. More than four years and 100 restaurants later, I thought it would be interesting to take all those columns and see what they actually say about the kosher restaurant scene. Some of the numbers were pretty much what I expected. Others surprised me. The first thing that stands out is just how meat-heavy the column has been. Of the 100 restaurants, 69 were meat, compared with 31 that were dairy or pareve. That isn’t entirely surprising. Meat restaurants tend to generate a lot of excitement, particularly when a new concept comes along, and there are simply more ways to make a big production out of a meat meal. Still, nearly a 70-30 split is pretty striking. The geographic breakdown is more interesting. Manhattan leads with 19 restaurants, followed closely by Brooklyn with 18. South Jersey came in third with 15, followed by Long Island with 14 and North Jersey with 12. Monsey and Queens each had seven, while four restaurants were out of town — Columbus, Chicago, Baltimore and Los Angeles. Connecticut/Westchester accounted for three, and Staten Island had one. The South Jersey number makes plenty of sense when you consider the concentration of religious Jews there. Between Lakewood and Deal, the region has an enormous kosher-consuming population, and the restaurant scene reflects that. In fact, Manhattan and Brooklyn combined accounted for 37 of the 100 restaurants, while South Jersey alone had 15. But perhaps the biggest surprise is the breakdown by restaurant style. I classified 17 of the restaurants as counter service, 38 as waiter service but

not fine dining, and 45 as fine dining. That means that almost half of the restaurants I’ve written about were fine dining. Obviously, there is some personal bias involved here. I’m a restaurant writer, so I’m probably more likely to seek out a restaurant doing something interesting than one that simply serves a good sandwich. But the number is still significant. There are now enough genuinely high-end kosher restaurants that I was able to devote 45 of my first 100 columns to them. And those 45 fine-dining restaurants break down in an interesting way: 11 dairy restaurants, 20 “Fancy Fleish” restaurants and 14 steakhouses. The steakhouse number is particu-

larly telling. Of those 14 steakhouses, not a single one has closed. That doesn’t necessarily mean every steakhouse is guaranteed to succeed, but in my sample of 100 restaurants, the classic kosher steakhouse has been remarkably durable. The same cannot be said for the newer generation of higher-end meat restaurants. The 20 Fancy Fleish restaurants — contemporary, ambitious meat restaurants that aren’t traditional steakhouses — have had more trouble staying power. That brings us to the overall survival rate. Seventy-five of the 100 restaurants I’ve written about are still open, while 25 have already closed. Twenty-five percent is a substantial number, but the list of closures is more

revealing than the number itself. Smokehouses have had a particularly rough run. All three smokehouses I covered — Smokey Hill, Wandering Que and Chief Smokehouse — have closed. That’s a small sample, so I wouldn’t pretend it proves anything about the entire category, but it certainly caught my attention when I looked at the numbers. Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants haven’t fared particularly well either. Seven of the 16 restaurants I put into that category are already closed, meaning almost 44% of them are gone. Monsey, meanwhile, looks remarkably healthy by comparison. Only one of the seven Monsey restaurants I covered has closed. That was Dolcetto, and

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distinctly kosher findings in the entire exercise. Kosher restaurants have developed their own culinary language. They borrow from different cuisines, mix traditional Jewish foods with modern restaurant trends and create combinations that might look strange on paper but work perfectly for the people eating them. And finally, there’s another number that says a lot about what this column has actually been documenting. Seventy-five of the 100 restaurants were new when I wrote about them. Only 25 were established restaurants. That means this column hasn’t really been a survey of the existing kosher

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

even that closure came with an interesting footnote: another restaurant moved into the space within just a few months. Based on these 100 columns, Monsey’s restaurant scene certainly appears to be moving in a positive direction. The fine dining numbers are interesting for another reason. Fine dining has been the strongest part of the restaurant scene represented in these columns, but even within fine dining, there are clear differences. The highend dairy restaurants have had very few closures, the steakhouses have had none, and the Fancy Fleish category has been considerably less bulletproof.

Anyone who has looked at enough kosher restaurant menus knows that they don’t always cooperate with traditional culinary classifications.

Then there’s the category that was probably the hardest to create: cuisine. Anyone who has looked at enough kosher restaurant menus knows that they don’t always cooperate with traditional culinary classifications. A restaurant might have sushi, tacos, pasta, steak and a dish involving pastrami all on the same menu, and somehow that can make perfect sense to its target audience. So I created a category called JCF — Jewish Comfort Fusion. The basic idea is that this is the kind of restaurant where a non-Jew might look at the menu and wonder what exactly is going on, while a frum Jew would immediately understand it. The foods may not traditionally belong together, but they somehow make perfect sense in a kosher restaurant. JCF turned out to be the largest category by far, with 26 of the 100 restaurants. Contemporary came next with 17, followed by Mediterranean with 16, Italian with 11 and Asian with nine. American accounted for seven, Chef Driven for six, Mexican for five, and French for three. In other words, more than half of these restaurants fell into just three categories: JCF, Contemporary and Mediterranean. The fact that JCF is the largest category may actually be one of the most

restaurant world. It has been a record of the new one. Since June 2022, I’ve watched restaurants open, close, reinvent themselves and try things that would have seemed unusual in the kosher world not that long ago. Some concepts have worked. Some haven’t. Some cuisines have flourished while others have struggled. Steakhouses have proven remarkably resilient, while smokehouses have had a rougher time. Monsey has been busy. And a category that I had to invent because nothing else quite fit ended up being the largest cuisine classification of all. There’s also a funny symmetry to the numbers: 75% of the restaurants were new when I wrote about them, and 75% are still open today. Those are obviously two completely different statistics, and they don’t represent the same 75 restaurants, but together they paint a pretty good picture of the last four years. I’ve spent most of this column covering the new restaurants entering the market, and three-quarters of those restaurants have managed to stick around. After 100 columns, that may be my biggest takeaway. The kosher restaurant world is changing quickly, it’s getting more ambitious, and it’s becoming harder to categorize. And honestly, that makes my job a lot more interesting.

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Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

The plane is on fire! Put your game face on guys! - What a Miami firefighter screamed as he entered an Amazon plane that was on fire after it crashed near the runway

The mystery of time… What does 60 years mean? It really is meaningless, isn’t it? - William Shatner, 95, reflecting this week on the 60th anniversary of Star Trek

He is a bought and paid by AIPAC monkey. With all due respect, and I don’t mean it in a racist way, he is just basically an errand boy. - Left-wing Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreavl referring to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)

These blood libels, which have been spread by anti-Israel progressives for decades before the latest war, are meant to distract from the evil that was perpetrated on Oct. 7, 2023, and strip the memory of the Holocaust from the Jewish people and weaponize it against them. The survival rate of Jews under Nazi control in Europe was roughly 30% — and only because they did not have time to finish the job. The survival rate for Arab civilians during the Gaza war was somewhere around 99%. There is no genocide. And there was no famine. There was a war. And the bad guys lost. - David Harsanyi, The Washington Examiner

When you talk about socialism here in the U.S., when we look at the demographic of those voters, they are over-educated and under-earning. So these are underachievers who are jealous of those who want to go and work every day. - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with FOX Business host Larry Kudlow

I’ve been doing transcendental meditation since 1972. That’s going to calm you down. I am very proud that I have never yelled at my kids and never yelled at my wife. – Jerry Seinfeld, in a recent podcast with Sebastian Maniscalco

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I’m winning ugly right now. It’s a skill to win ugly when you’re not playing great tennis. - Tennis player Alexander Zverev, after consecutive five-set wins at the U.S. Open

Are you twins? - Pres. Trump to the two Satmar Rebbes at a recent meeting at the White House

No, we are brothers. - The Satmar Rebbes in unison

I had no idea that Clarence Thomas would rebel the way he has against his own background and experiences. - Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), who is black, on NBC News saying that he regrets supporting Clarence Thomas in 1991

It is bigger than Trump, because whenever we do the work of ousting the occupant of the Oval Office, the Confederacy is still alive and well. That’s all MAGA is. - Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)

If you hate America so much, go live in Egypt. - Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), responding to Michigan Democrat senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s continuous bashing of America

It’s a rough day. The families don’t need any more angst, and Mamdani is going to bring angst. Mamdani had the pen for his 9/11 executive order handed to his attorney [Ramzi Kassem] — who once represented an alQaeda terrorist with links to the attack on the Pentagon. He’s a very smart guy. He’s a genius at manipulating people. He’s not big enough to stay away knowing he will be a distraction. - Tom Von Essen, who served as the New York City fire commissioner on Sept. 11, 2001

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been asked to stay away from 9/11 services in Manhattan. He responded by saying that it’s too late to cancel his flight. -Greg Gutfeld

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- Pres. Trump in an interview with Kan News

To be clear, there isn’t a non-racist way to call Leader Jeffries—a Black man—a “monkey” or “errand boy”. - From a tweet by the Black Congressional Caucus in response

G-d is love, and I love my families. I love all my families and strangers. - Mabel Dunbar, of Georgia, upon celebrating her 112th birthday

Please remember: You are not responsible for the hatred directed at you. You do not have to conceal who you are to earn the right to belong. Never permit those who hate you to define you. Do not allow anyone to force you into a false choice between your Jewish identity and your place in the wider world. No one should demand that you deny Jewish history, disown the Jewish people or surrender your connection to Israel. Be courageous, but do not stand alone. Find one another. Support the classmate who is afraid or isolated. The future of Jewish life is passing into your hands. Carry it without apology, with compassion and strength. - From a letter by 98-year-old Holocaust survivor and educator Nate Leipciger being sent to thousands of Jewish college students by International March of the Living

Well, I still had the residual. Like, for instance, I still was on the board of Burisma – I took that when my dad was vice president, and then for three years after I was still on the board, and the requirement of the board would be that I would show up for four meetings a year. Even when I was a crack addict and out of my mind, I could show up for four meetings a year. - Hunter Biden on a recent podcast

We lose with Mexico $195 billion a year. If I don’t trade with Mexico, they have nothing that we have to have. I mean, hot tamales, tomatoes, a couple of things. - President Donald Trump

The good L-rd put me here for so many years, and it’s His life through me. - Blynda Vidock, of Texas, upon celebrating her 105th birthday

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Israel does not need to worry about a renewed war with Iran. I am the president, and I will take care of Israel.

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Political Crossfire

America’s Absence is Inviting the War Europe Fears Most By David Ignatius

ere’s the scenario of a war game played Monday by a group of current members of Congress and former U.S. military, diplomatic and intelligence officials. It’s 2028, the Ukraine war remains a bloody stalemate, and Russia sees a chance to further splinter Europe by attacking Moldova. One of its drones hits a fuel depot in Romania, a NATO member, killing civilians. What does the United States do? The answer in this simulation, as I fear would be the case in real life, was a tepid response – and an implicit statement that NATO’s Article 5 pledge of collective security is almost a dead letter. In the simulation, the members of Congress agreed that the American public wouldn’t support strong action. And without U.S. leadership, Europe would be fragmented and disorganized. Welcome to World War Next. The simulation, co-sponsored by Cornell University’s Brooks Institute and the

Rockefeller Foundation, was the clearest demonstration I’ve seen that the framework that has protected U.S. and European security for 81 years is crumbling, as shared military and diplomatic tools disappear. And the worst of it is that President Donald Trump is part of the demolition team. (I attended the simulation and was allowed to report on it as long as I didn’t identify participants.) The grim fact is that Russia’s war on Ukraine is escalating and spreading to NATO countries. That’s a new reality that most Americans (including many senior Trump administration officials) don’t seem to recognize. Russia’s “hybrid” war against European supporters of Ukraine is moving from the gray zone to blood red, and the U.S. is doing little to deter the attacks. “Russian hybrid activity in Europe became more ambitious and dangerous” over the past six months, according to a private analysis shared with me by TD

International, a Washington-based strategic advisory firm. TDI analysts counted 63 Russia-linked incidents against European targets since March, including 43 drone or other airspace incidents, six sabotage operations or plots, six cyber or electronic-warfare attacks and five hostile maritime incidents. This escalation against Europe, matched by more intense Russian missile attacks on Kyiv, is President Vladimir Putin’s answer to arguments that he’s losing the Ukraine war. “One does not negotiate with terrorists,” Putin snapped early Wednesday, just days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow and warned his Russian counterparts that the war was at an impasse. Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow because he and top U.S. diplomats and military commanders felt that Putin wasn’t getting an accurate assessment of Russia’s battlefield problems, according to a knowledgeable official. The hope was that talks

between intelligence officials might open a more realistic path to ceasefire discussions than those conducted by Trump’s emissaries, businessmen Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, which haven’t budged the Russian leader. Some officials hoped Ratcliffe would also warn against Russian hybrid attacks on NATO countries, but he didn’t press that topic, said several officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issues. Putin’s prompt rejection of the Ratcliffe message has been evident in the nearly round-the-clock missile attacks on Kyiv in recent days. And on Wednesday, he rejected alternatives to the Kushner-Witkoff channel, saying: “We are perfectly comfortable working with people we know well and whom we generally trust – individuals close to President Trump.” Facing an implacable Putin and a Ukrainian population increasingly hunkered down in shelters, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week

of an Aug. 4 drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig/Halle airport and two other attempted drone strikes. The German foreign minister said the Leipzig strike was part of “a long chain” of Russian attacks, and the interior minister said, “We are the daily target of hybrid warfare.” Germany took diplomatic measures against Russia and warned it would

ow and in France as SCALP. A Kremlin spokesman said Britain was “hellbent on pouring oil on a fire,” to which Burnham retorted: “Who started the fire?” As Europe and Russia mount the escalation ladder, what can the United States do to prevent catastrophe? The answer is simple: America should once again act like a superpower and the leader of the

Russia’s “hybrid” war against European supporters of Ukraine is moving from the gray zone to blood red.

increase surveillance of the shadow fleet that secretly exports Russian oil. Britain, which has faced more than a year of Russian sabotage and arson, has pushed for a more muscular response. Andy Burnham, Britain’s new prime minister, visited Kyiv last week and announced that Britain would join France in helping Ukraine build an advanced cruise missile, known in Britain as Storm Shad-

transatlantic alliance. Here are some specific steps the Trump administration could take to deter Putin and reassure America’s European allies, drawn from my recent conversations with senior military and intelligence officials and politicians. The U.S. should first issue a joint statement with its European allies bluntly warning that continued Krem-

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lin-sponsored strikes on NATO countries will result in severe consequences. And if Putin continues nonstop attacks on Ukrainian cities, the U.S. and Europe should quietly assist Ukraine in proportional attacks on Russia. To bolster the NATO alliance, the Pentagon should immediately pause its review of U.S. military deployments in Europe. This is no time to be debating removing troops. Trump has already invoked the Defense Production Act to rebuild America’s arsenal. Some of that increased production should be available for Europe and Ukraine to purchase. And finally, as Trump strengthens the hand of Ukraine and Europe, he should use that leverage to find an endgame for this terrible war before it consumes that continent – by gaining the ceasefire and eventual peace he has rightly sought since he became president. The danger of letting the current situation slide isn’t simply failing to deter Putin but a growing inability to restrain European allies who feel abandoned and increasingly desperate. The advantage of U.S. military strength isn’t just to make war but to stop it. © 2026, Washington Post Writers Group

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SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

threatened his own escalation: “We want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russia’s key airports [that] Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe” because of Ukrainian drones. Putin quickly denounced this threat as “state terrorism.” What makes the situation so dangerous now is that Putin is clearly trying to regain the advantage by attacking the European nations that have become Ukraine’s main weapons suppliers. In April, Russia’s Defense Ministry published the names and addresses of 21 companies in Europe that it claimed were producing drones or parts for Kyiv, and officials warned that they were “potential targets.” Russian attacks on these European arms suppliers have followed. A summary last week by the Daily Telegraph noted August sabotage attacks on Milrem Robotics in Estonia, which provides drones to Ukraine; EMCO in Bulgaria, which sells 155mm artillery shells; and KNDS Ammo in Italy, which provides munitions. Many of these attacks have been conducted by local criminal gangs, avoiding Russian GRU fingerprints. Germany this week accused Russia

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Political Crossfire

How Trump Can Help Ukraine Build Its Own Patriot Missiles By Marc A. Thiessen

any around the world looked in horror last month at images of a Ukrainian grandmother weeping as the body of her grandson was pulled from the rubble of his home following a Russian missile attack. Vladimir Putin is currently carrying out one of the deadliest assaults on the Kyiv region since the start of the war. The attacks will only escalate as the winter months approach, and the Russian president – reeling from Ukraine’s increasingly effective strikes on military and economic targets inside Russia – aims to strike critical infrastructure in an effort to freeze the Ukrainian people into submission. I know that President Donald Trump wants to help Ukraine defend itself against this brutality. But he faces a challenge: He must balance the desire to protect innocent Ukrainians with the demand for Patriot missile interceptors in his necessary effort to disarm Iran, as well as the need to maintain sufficient stockpiles to defend American forces and deter U.S. adversaries around the world. Together these have limited how much the United States can share with Kyiv. An obvious solution is to give Ukraine a license to manufacture its own Patriot interceptors. During July’s NATO summit in Ankara, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he would do just that. “We’re going to give a license to you to make Patriots,” Trump told Zelensky during their summit meeting, adding to the assembled media: “This way he can’t complain that

we’re not giving him enough. I said, ‘Make them yourself!’” But in the two months since that exchange, no progress has been made. So what’s the holdup? Answer: Legitimate concerns that state-of-the-art technology could fall into enemy hands. The PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor is the most sophisticated hit-to-kill ballistic missile interceptor in the world. This cutting-edge version of the Patriot is armed with advanced “seekers” that can autonomously track enemy missiles without relying on a ground station and special motors that can overcome the evasive maneuvers of advanced hypersonic missiles. Sharing the secrets behind this technology with Ukraine, which suffers from widespread corruption and is heavily targeted by Russian intelligence, risks allowing them to fall into Russian – and thus Iranian, North Korean and Chinese – hands. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution: Allow Ukraine to co-produce Patriot interceptors that do not have these most advanced capabilities. In July, Lockheed Martin announced it has developed a new, lower-cost Patriot interceptor – the PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector – which provides 70 percent of the accuracy of the more advanced interceptor at less than half the cost. Lockheed developed the PAC-3 ACE primarily for the European market and is collaborating with European industry partners and suppliers in its joint development and production. The technology is already

being shared with allies, in other words. There is no reason that Ukraine should not be allowed to participate. Ukraine could also be given a license to co-produce an older Patriot interceptor, the PAC-2 Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical (GEM-T), first made by Raytheon in the 1990s. Raytheon signed a $3.7 billion contract this year to build PAC-2 GEM-Ts for Ukraine at a new production facility in Germany in a joint venture with MBDA Deutschland. But it will take time for Germany and other suppliers to ramp up – and time is something Ukraine does not have. So why not permit a similar co-production deal in Ukraine? Ukraine faces an existential threat. That means, if given the chance, it will produce the interceptors fast. Ukraine has the most agile and innovative defense industrial base in Europe. Unleash that innovative spirit to ease the production burden from the U.S. and its allies and protect Ukrainian civilians from Russian brutality. Indeed, as part of a licensing deal, the United States could require that Ukraine provide a percentage of any interceptors it produces to NATO to replenish the stockpiles of allies that have depleted theirs to defend Ukraine. This would in turn allow the U.S. to keep more of its own interceptor production. That’s called a win-win-win. But even if Ukraine were permitted to begin production tomorrow, it needs more interceptors right now. To meet the urgent need, Trump should press South Korea to sell Ukraine its indigenous M-SAM II inter-

ceptor – a.k.a. the “Korean Patriot” – from its substantial domestic stockpile. South Korea claims it is legally precluded from selling arms to countries at war. Well, it is currently selling these interceptors to a country at war – the United Arab Emirates. In June, South Korea and the UAE launched an emergency airlift to speed delivery of M-SAM II batteries to protect Dubai against Iranian missile strikes. Ukraine is also in immediate need of protection against missile strikes, but South Korea won’t sell it the same interceptors. That’s outrageous. Trump is already rightly furious with South Korea for refusing to assist in the Strait of Hormuz. There would be no better way for Seoul to fix that relationship than to make a stopgap transfer to Kyiv and thereby take the pressure off the U.S. to provide Ukraine with interceptors. Moreover, it is in South Korea’s interests to do so. Many of the missiles raining down on Kyiv are made in North Korea, which has sent missile launch teams to fight alongside Russia. Seoul should be jumping at the opportunity to test its interceptors against North Korean missiles. This is an opportunity for South Korea to step up and prove itself a dependable ally. Surely, Trump – the consummate dealmaker – can find a way to bridge the gap. And he should work with the U.S. defense industry to license Ukraine to build its own Patriot interceptors. © 2026, Washington Post Writers Group

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Forgotten Her es

By Avi Heiligman

Joseph A. Joel

erving their country in uniform frequently places Jewish servicemen and women in remote locales far from home. For these men and women, observing and celebrating the yomim tovim demands exceptional resolve. Throughout modern conflicts, there have been many accounts of soldiers hearing the shofar, fasting on Yom Kippur, building a sukkah and shaking the lulav and esrog on the front lines. Across the globe – from the American Armed Forces to the IDF and beyond – these stories reflect a dedication to Jewish tradition amidst the hardships of military duty. Historical records detailing American Jewish soldiers observing the yomim tovim on the front lines date back to the Civil War, but evidence suggests these traditions began much earlier. During the Revolutionary War, soldiers – particularly local militiamen – likely attended shul for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and may have used Jewish pocket calendars to track the holidays. During the War of 1812, the iconic Battle of Fort McHenry concluded on September 14, 1814, erev Rosh Hashana. At least eight Jewish soldiers were stationed at the fort, where local families from Baltimore sent daily rations of (presumably) kosher food, allowing them to mark the New Year on the very grounds they had just defended. Religious observances are far better

Jewish troops of the U.S. 5th army attending Rosh Hashana davening in Italy, September 1944

documented for the approximately 10,000 Jewish men who served on both sides of the American Civil War. Jewish chaplains were commissioned into the military for the first time, and commanders frequently granted leave or allowed troops to observe their traditions in camp. For example, Private Joseph A. Joel of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, along with about twenty other Jewish soldiers, requested and received permission to fast and hold services on Yom Kippur. The 23rd Ohio was famously commanded by future President Rutherford B. Hayes, with whom Joel maintained a lifelong friendship. A European newspaper article from the era details the story of Simon Grün, a European immigrant who fought for the Union Army and steadfastly observed Yom Kippur. While accounts vary regarding his rank as a private or colonel, they record that when another soldier handed him a canteen in the midst of operations, he replied, “Today is Yom Kippur, and as a Jew, I am allowed to consume neither food nor drink.” After being treated at a field hospital for a battle wound, Grün gathered nine other Jewish soldiers to daven Mincha and Neilah “under the thunder of the cannons.” As they finished davening, word arrived from the battlefield that Union forces had secured victory. While the author found no record of a shofar being blown on the front lines

A Jewish American soldier in shul on Rosh Hashana in post-war Berlin, 1945

Lieutenant Elihu Schimmel, M.D., among the officers of the USS Lindenwald in 1956

during the Civil War – likely due to the difficulty of obtaining one – Rosh Hashana services were indeed held in combat zones. Furthermore, historical accounts document soldiers celebrating Sukkos by constructing makeshift shelters or visiting local Jewish communities on yom tov. Documented accounts of yom tov observance in uniform expanded dramatically throughout the 20th century. During World War II, the soldiers stationed stateside often found local places to daven, while those serving overseas gathered together for minyanim when the circumstances allowed. Ralph Goodman of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was attached to 1st U.S. Army Headquarters as forces advanced through Belgium in September 1944. Having missed communal Rosh Hashana davening due to troop movements, he was determined to organize a minyan for Yom Kippur. Although the chaplain could only supply standard G.I. prayer books, Goodman’s commanding officer authorized pitching a hospital tent on a hillside, complete with generator-powered lights and seating. Two Orthodox soldiers served as chazzan and rabbi for the congregation of roughly 25 servicemen gathered from surrounding units. Goodman later recalled keeping his rifle across his lap while searching through mismatched machzorim to follow Unesaneh Tokef. A chaplain gave a speech, and Goodman kept on davening, “Please, G-d,

bring my buddies and me home.” Thankfully, Goodman survived the war. His story of how he celebrated Purim in 1945 is a story for another article. In September 1956, Navy Lieutenant Elihu Schimmel, a frum doctor stationed on the USS Lindenwald, sought to assemble a minyan for Rosh Hashana. Because the vessel was positioned in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, completing the quorum required transferring men from other ships in the convoy. With the cooperation of his ship’s commanding officer and the Army colonel in command of the embarked troops, Schimmel successfully gathered ten Jewish servicemen for a minyan on both days of Rosh Hashana. From battles on American soil to far-flung locales like the Pacific and the chilly Arctic Ocean, these are just a few of the many inspiring stories of how Jewish servicemen and women observed yom tov while in uniform. Their unwavering devotion ensures that no matter where they are deployed, they remain connected to their heritage even in the most challenging conditions.

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.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 | The Jewish Home

Yom Tov on the Front Lines

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CEDARHURST Prime Restaurant Location For Lease. For more information: Call/Text/WhatsApp Owner: (516) 206-1100 5 TOWNS - SHOWROOM/ Warehouse For Lease 4000 + 1000 SF Can divide - Parking included Next to LIRR - No broker fee Call/text/Whatsapp: 516-206-1100

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ELISHEVA BAUM

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DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT

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WOODMERE

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LAWRENCE

Legal 2-family home on oversized 8600 sq ft lot. Multi-vehicle parking. Great location, close to many shuls & shopping. Asking $1.299M

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WOODMERE

Beautiful center hall colonial on a quiet block. 3 beds, 3 full baths. New finished basement w/ playroom & add’l bed & bath. Great backyard! $1.499M

Bright and spacious bi-level home on Barnard Ave in Woodmere, featuring an open-concept layout with a

Spacious Wide Line Expanded Ranch on Most Prestigious and sun-filled living room, dining room, and kitchen. Offers Serene Cul-de-Sac in Village of Lawrence , Main Flr Master Bdrm 3+2 with bedrooms, a home bedroom, and a OPEN HOUSE 12:30-1:30 1068 Suite Many Closets andoffice/additional Bthrm, Addional Main Flr highland Bdrm & Bath, versatile $1.135M Center Hall den/playroom. Colonial with Main Level+Den 3 BRs 23Bths Baths Lg Flr Fdnr Huge Den, EIK, Mudrm, 4 Bdrms onFinished Second Flr, Basment Property BeautifulBeautiful Wrap Around Property, $1.690M $999K

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261 Central Ave 1st Floor, Large Entry Foyer, Open Concept Kitchen. Large LR/DR Overlooking the Courtyard $229K

LAWRENCE

240 Central Avenue Spacious 1 Bdrm 1 Bth Apt in Well Maintained Elevator Bldg with Terrace Overlooking Garden, Near All $229K

Experience with Excel required. Five

Low taxes, desirable cul de sac

Move-in condition high ranch in central Woodmere location. Fully renovated in 2018. Kosher eat-in kitchen, 5 beds, 3 baths. $7500/mo

Quality New Construction!!! 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom home on a spacious 74’ x 100’ Stucco Col. with 2 Story 9 ft Ceilings, Zone Heat which lot, located on a quiet,Entry tree-lined street.14Features freshly includes Radiant Heat, Anderson Windows with Lots of Natural painted interiors, vaulted ceilings, a formal living room, OPEN HOUSE 3:00-4:30 223Eik Hickox Avenue Light Throughout, Flr Fdnr, Magnificent Chefs with High End Totally Colonial. New. High Ceilings, Chefs diningrenovated room, and spacious eat-in kitchen. Appliances, Dble Ovens , 6Like Burner Cooktop with Pot Filler,EIK, 5 Bdrms. Prime Woodmere location! BEDS | 3 BATH | $6,500 24 Dishwashers, and more. Master Bdrm Suite with Luxurious Bath $1.659M and Walk in closet,+4 Bdrms and 2 Beautiful Bths ,2nd Flr Laundry Rm , Full Finished Basement with 10 ft Ceilings Huge Playrm 2 Bdrms and Bth laundry Rm storage, Beautiful Manicured Garden.

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Grand and stately Hall village Colonial showcasing This spacious s/h col brick , in theCenter prestigious of woodsburgh, timeless andinexceptional craftsmanship sits on 1/2 elegance acre property a. most serene setting, with beautiful waterviews, and magnificent sunsets banquet fdnrroom, , throughout, with a gracious entry,. Flr elegant living COMMERCIAL RENTAL! NEW! 9 ,Room Drbdrm officesuite Suite, Located breakfast rm, main level den /fpl master with his and banquet-sized formal dining room. The Reception main-level inand theher Heart of Cedarhurst, room, closets and bth + 4Spacious bdrms , waiting new bths, newly renovated den offers a private retreat, with **4 bedrooms, 4 baths, Area and Exam Rooms, alllaundry on Mainrm, Floor. Close to of Public finished basement with playrm, lots storage, POR special details thruout $1.9M+ Transportation many $6,000

156 B 9th St Mint 2BR, 2 BTH Beachfront Condo with Wraparound Terrace, Magnificent Sunrise & Sunset $589K 29 Woodmere Blvd Apt 2B Renovated, Mint, Corner 1 Bdrm with 9ft Ceilings. Spacious Eat In Kitchen, 2 Sinks, Granite Counter tops and S.S. Appliances.Large Lvgrm/Dnr and Large Bdrm/BR with Lots of Windows REDUCED $299K

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REGENTS EXPERT Tutoring regents in Algebra and Geometry A Darchei Torah instructor. Guaranteed results Text 347-491-8045 WhatsApp 347-767-1755

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SEEKING ELEMENTARY TEACHERS For current school year, starting from end of January: Seeking assistant teacher for General Studies. Candidate should have skills to take over for teachers if needed. Far Rockaway area boys’ school, M-Th, PM hours, strong support. Excellent salary. Possibility to continue for next year. Send resume to teachersearch11@gmail.com

UPSCALE EVENING & Ready-to-Wear Boutique opening on Central Ave seeks fashion-forward, friendly sales associates with retail experience. Full-time & Part-time. Text/WhatsApp 718-310-8550.

MDS REGIONAL NURSE 5 Towns area Nursing Home management office seeking a Regional/Corporate level MDS Nurse to work in our office. Must be an RN. Regional experience preferred. 2-3 years MDS experience with good computer skills required. Position is Full Time but Part Time can be considered. Great Shomer Shabbos environment with some remote options as well. Email: officejob2019@gmail.com

BOOKKEEPER A Five Towns Real Estate Company is seeking a full-time Bookkeeper. The right candidate must be proficient with QuickBooks and Excel. They must also be self-motivated, organized, detail oriented, reliable, and able to work independently or as a team player. Warm, frum office environment with excellent salary & benefits. Please email resume to HR@capsprop.com

CARE MANAGER Remote (requires in-person home visits in NY) Support families facing serious medical or emotional challenges. Provide guidance, advocacy, and resource coordination from home or on-site. Training provided. BA or 2 years Care Management required Apply online: www. chailifeline.org/careers or email hr@chailifeline.org ARE YOU A DOULA? Or have a passion to be? Come join our great referral group and get access to a vast new clientele through Medicaid. JUST CALL 347-668-7886

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BEIS HAMEDRASH CONG. Chasdei Uvois Oshpitzin Talmidei chachomim are willing to learn mishnayos, say kaddish and be the shliach tzibbur to daven for the umid on the yartzeit yom hashanah of your parents or close relatives or loved ones To arrange please call Rabbi Miller 917-445-6220

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Move-in-ready legal two-family home, Featuring 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths Miri (646)515-8813 $1.79M

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beautifully redone 4 bedroom, 2.5 Bath located 1 block from the bay and 1 block the ocean. Moshe (516)455-5364 $5,000/M

Exceptional custom Colonial featuring 6 bedrooms, 6.5 baths on a 30,056 sf lot. Avigail (516)316-3452 $4.15M

Spacious five-bedroom, three-bath Colonial in sought-after District 15 in Woodsburgh. Sarah (347)524-9147 $1.775M

Beautiful sun-drenched split-level, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths Nestled on a quiet, tree-lined block. Chana (516)449-9692 $1.378M

Beautifully maintained 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath home, located in the heart of Far Rockaway. Malka (516)967-1967, Ayelet (516)993-9561 $1.849M

Move-in-ready completed new construction features 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, on a 6,000sf lot. Avigail (516)316-3452 $2.39M

Side-hall colonial offers 5 bedrooms and 3 full baths with a flexible layout. Bryna (516)322-4831 $1.55M

Rare opportunity to purchase fully occupied office building in the heart of Cedarhurst. Raizie (917) 903-1778 Moshe (516-455-5364 $2.39M

charming three-bedroom, two-bathroom home nestled in the heart of Cedarhurst. Bryna (516)322-4831 $719K

Spacious colonial on a beautifully landscaped property, 7 bedrooms, 5 full and 2 half baths. Bryna (516)322-4831 $12,000/M

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Hollywood, Florida (954) 300-3142 MillerRealtySouth.com

Custom tudor in the heart of Lawrence. featuring 8 bedrooms, and 9.5 baths on a 12,036sf lot. Avigail (516)316-3452 $6.395M

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additional units available for Sale and Lease

2 bedrooms, 2 baths, Chaim (516) 262-2144 $209K

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2 family luxury townhouses on the beach, private Newly renovated Colonial in the heart of Old balconies, access to private beach and dock. Woodmere, featuring 8 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. Ayelet (516)993-9561 Avigail (516)316-3452 STARTING AT $1.15M $2.899M

LAWRENCE

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Life C ach

Get Your Head Into It By Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., LMFT, CLC, SDS

osh Hashana. Notice its meaning: head of the year. Did you realize that we don’t call it “new year”? That’s because it’s only new if we make it new! Rather, what’s going on is that we are getting the chance to get “ahead” of ourselves or to get into a new “head.” Same old, same old is just not good enough. A new start does not come because we call it one. It comes when we create it. It comes when we get our “heads” into a new way of being, doing, thinking. It’s not a passive time that comes no matter what. It’s an active choice. Do I lead in with a new attitude, a new sense of purpose, a new sense of commitment?! Do we get our heads on straight? Decide to move ahead differently? This is where we are at. New is up to you! On Rosh Hashana, each one of us is free from other distractions to spend a day

or two deciding how we’d like our next 12 months to look. No one is saying it’s a guarantee. But there is a Jewish idea that in the way a person wants to go, G-d will lead him. Of course, we don’t always see that playing out. But at least we get to stick our

last-minute wake-up calls. As you know, a new baby keeps you on your toes with her very directed outcries. Now think of 100 of those. That’s what we get Rosh Hashana: a real call to action. Similar to the baby’s cries, it calls for some needs to be met:

A new start does not come because we call it one.

two cents in –and hope there’s validity to this. So, this time is coming upon us. We get a whole month before to finetune our thoughts, then like a week before apologizing. After which, we should be just about ready for the changeover. And if we aren’t, we get some blaring

A needed change – though it’s not your diaper, but your ways. A needed feeding – though it’s not for your stomach but for your soul, though in both cases they do fill you up! And some needed attention – either as a distraction or calling you to action. Yes, those blasts are meant to wake

you up like those baby cries. And moreover, that shofar is meant to do something similar to the shofar that drives you. They are there to drive you forward in a new direction. But they don’t use their “Waze.” Rather, they inspire yours. You decide the “ways” you’d like to go and you set the course that your life should follow for the next year. New? Nu – so how about it? Are you ready to “head” straight into a fresh way of living?! Shana tova u’metuka! Wishing you a good, sweet, healthy year! Hope you’re “heading” right into it!

Rivki Rosenwald is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist working with both couples and individuals and is a certifie d relationship counselor. Rivki is a co-founder and creator of an effective Parent Management of Adolescent Years Program. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or at rivkirosenwald@gmail.com.

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Torah Thought

Rosh Hashana By Rabbi Berel Wein z”l

he basis for Judaism and its value system can be summed up in one word: accountability. The gift of freedom of choice and action that G-d has granted to humans comes, as do most gifts, with a price. And that price is that all of us are completely accountable for our actions and behavior. We each have an account sheet, so to speak, with columns for credits and debits. How our lifetime account sheet looks eventually determines our fate and our eternity. But there are temporary stock-taking times as well. The Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are such times. We pass in review, individually and without cover or pretense, before the Heavenly Court to have the account sheet examined. The message of the Holy Days is a clear one. We are held accountable for our past deeds as well as for our budding intents. As responsible individuals, our account sheet is of vital importance in determining our true-life status and future. Just as all publicly held firms must produce an annual report attested to by reputable accounting firms, so too during this season of the year we individually publish our own annual report, and it is attested to by the Heavenly Court that is aware of all of our thoughts and actions.

One of the ills of current society is its acceptance of unlimited freedom of choice and behavior coupled with its refusal to hold people answerable to the results of this uninhibited freedom. Another hallmark of our society is the inability to admit error in previous decisions, policies and behavior. No one is held accountable for all the colossal mistakes of past centuries. The moral

of the story of Israel throughout the ages. The parshios read in the synagogue during this season concern themselves almost exclusively with this idea of culpability – of reward and punishment, and the aspects of the covenant of Sinai between God and Israel. The Torah declares that this “covenant shall respond to them even till the end of days.” In a covenant – a contractual agree-

If there is no deep meaning, no accountability for our behavior can ever arise in our minds and hearts.

and spiritual bankruptcy of Jewish organizations and individuals who fled from Torah and tradition is evident to all by now, but many of them – those still in existence – continue on their merry way as though there was no past to reexamine, no future to contemplate. But the law of accountability allows for no exceptions; eventually, it overtakes everyone. This pattern should be apparent to anyone with even rudimentary knowledge

ment – each side is held to its agreed upon terms and conditions. We are bound to our Creator, and the L-rd, so to speak, states that He also is bound to His commitments. Accountability is the key to the entire covenantal experience and challenge. One should feel that one is answerable not only to G-d, and to one’s fellow human beings, but perhaps most importantly to one’s own self. The primary questions addressed by Judaism are: “To what purpose

is my life worth living? Why am I here? And what is asked of me in this life?” If these questions are never really addressed, or if they are sloughed off and defined in purely material or monetary terms, obviously life has little meaning. If there is no deep meaning, no accountability for our behavior can ever arise in our minds and hearts. For life to have any sense of purpose, sincere goals must resonate within each person. And that resonance must inevitability lead to a realization of the imperative of accountability in our lives. This is why the prayers of the Holy Days stress not only G-d’s greatness and man’s relative puniness, but also the coming to terms of each with past deeds as well as future aspirations. True teshuvah – repentance – requires this simultaneous look backwards and forwards. Rigorous accountability helps us formulate a meaningful plan for our goals and aspirations in life. It allows us to age and mature gracefully, and it creates the proper backdrop for our future actions. It is the ultimate blessing in our lives. Kesiva v’chasima tova. This article was written by Rabbi Berel Wein, zt”l, in 2020 in his book “In My Opinion.”

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From the Fire Rosh Hashana

The Shofar Blast of Moshiach By Rav Moshe Weinberger Adapted for publication by Binyomin Wolf

he shofar is blown a number of times between the beginning of Elul and Rosh Hashana. Tosafos in Rosh Hashana (16b) say that after the first set of tekios, shofar blasts, the Satan is slightly confused but not totally bewildered, but that when he hears the second set of tekios, he is bewildered and is sure that this is the shofar blast announcing the arrival of Moshiach. What does this mean? The date on which Rosh Hashana falls is common knowledge for everyone. Surely, the Satan also knows when Rosh Hashana is. Why does the Gemara say that the second set of tekios on Rosh Hashana tricks the Satan into thinking Moshiach has come? Doesn’t he know it is Rosh Hashana? The first tekios are the cries, the tefillos, of the individual. The Gemara discusses how all of creation passes before Hashem like sheep. What is the significance of sheep? In the times of the Beis Hamikdash, when we merited to perform all of the mitzvos, Jews had sheep and counted every tenth one for tithing. They brought each one out of the pen through a narrow hole. The first tekios, the tekios for each of the individuals, correspond to each of Hashem’s sheep. As each person is evaluated individually, as he passes through the narrow hole, the Satan is not confused by this. The term for sheep, “bnei maron,” has another meaning as well according to the Gemara. It refers to the soldiers of David Hamelech. The second set of tekios corresponds to the Jewish people as Hashem’s soldiers. According to this understanding, in the second set of tekios, each Jew says, “I am a soldier in the army of Hashem. As a soldier, I don’t care about my own personal concerns. My only concern is the nation for

whom I am fighting.” When the Satan hears this, he is astounded. When the Jewish people see themselves as part of Hashem’s nation and do not think of themselves, he is convinced that this will bring Moshiach immediately. Then, as we say in the Rosh Hashana davening, “Hashem, let your glory be seen in the world.” All we want is to reveal Hashem’s glory in the world. As it stands now, how is Hashem’s glory revealed when we have to hold talks with antisemites to determine where in Eretz Yisroel we can or cannot live, or where in Eretz Yisroel the Jewish people are permitted to build? Is Hashem’s honor upheld if we have to consult with gentiles across the ocean before deciding how to defend Jewish lives against maniacs in Iran or Syria? We are waiting for Hashem’s glory to finally be revealed through His nation. The second set of tekios are our wailing for the pain of the Divine Presence, which still wanders in a bitter exile. The concept of the pain of the Divine Presence sounds kabbalistic, but it simply means, “Where is Hashem’s glory? Where is the glory of Hashem, the Jewish nation, and Yerushalayim?” When our tekios, our cries, are not for our own interests, but for Hashem’s and the Jewish people’s interests, we call out, “Then Your name, Hashem our G-d, will be sanctified over Yerushalayim Your city… Give joy to Your land, jubilation to Your city, the sprouting of the horn of David, Your servant…. And they will gather to form one unit, to do Your will with all of their hearts.” When the Satan hears this, it is convinced it must herald the arrival of Moshiach! This is one way to understand why the second set of tekios confuse the Satan even if he knows it is Rosh Hashana. But there is

another explanation which is even deeper and almost impossible to express. My father told me that in Mauthausen, the Nazis made the Jews haul very large boulders. My father’s friend began to lose his grip on his. My father tried to help him, but his friend couldn’t hold it up. The Nazi guard was eating a sandwich, took his gun in one hand, and while still eating the sandwich, shot my father’s friend in front of him. The guard was not moved in the least. He did not even pause to put down his sandwich. The Satan, the side of evil, is not moved by the needs of the individual, by the first set of tekios. But even though the Satan is not impressed, not bewildered, by the first set of tekios, he is blown away by the second set. These are the cries of emunah, faith, expressed by my parents and all of our parents and grandparents who continued to hear the shofar even after everything they lived through – a Gehinom on earth. That is when the Jewish people blow a second set of tekios. It is when we continue expressing faith even after all of the suffering. Such tekios of faith can only mean the coming of Moshiach. There was a story in Mishpacha Magazine a few years ago regarding Rabbi Moshe Menachem Taubenfeld. His first wife and son were killed in a bus bombing on the number 2 bus, on the way back from the Kotel. He remarried a woman from Montreal, and they began raising a total of 19 children together. Then, in Tishrei 2010, their house burned down, with all of their possessions, manuscripts from tzaddikim, and Mrs. Taubenfeld’s furniture, heirlooms, and notes from her teaching work. But she said to her husband, “Let’s see what we

have, not what we don’t have.” Rabbi Taubenfeld told her, “There is a story of a widow who came to a well-known rav who lost his own family in the Holocaust. She told him how, every time she closes her eyes, she sees her husband; she can’t take the pain. The rav told her, ‘If I close my eyes, I see my wife and children taken to the gas chambers. So I don’t close my eyes.’ This is my wife, she keeps her eyes open and looks only forward.” When a Jew looks faithfully toward the future, this is the second set of tekios. When the Satan hears this, he is confused and is convinced Moshiach has arrived. Every single person has his or her ups and downs. Each one has their failures, discouragements and crises. With all of it, we have all come together to hear the tekios. After everything, we still are here. This is certainly the shofar blast of Moshiach. The Ahavas Yisrael of Vizhnitz asked why the Torah reading of Rosh Hashana ends with Ma’acha, the name of a concubine. Why not end with the conclusion of the binding of Yitzchak, the Akeidah, when Avraham and Yitzchak walk home to Beer Sheva? The word “Ma’acha” stands for “Melech al kol haaretz, King over the whole world.” At the end of the Akeidah, our tests, we have met G-d and truly recognize His kingship. Hashem, please blow the great shofar and bring together our dispersed brothers and sisters from the four corners of the world, and return us home.

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.

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Torah Thought

The Sublime Gift of Rosh Hashana By Rav Yaakov Feitman

av Goel Elkarif, one of the roshei yeshiva of Derech Hachaim, founded by his father, Rav Refael, offers us an opportunity to truly appreciate what a gift Hashem gave us in the day of Rosh Hashana (Sas B’imrasecha, Rosh Hashana, page 398): “We sometimes look at these two days as a burden – many hours in shul, speeches, religious obligations such as shofar, and ultimately, the frightening idea that we are being judged on every aspect of our lives.” However, he records a conversation he heard between two young men learning in a yeshiva for recent baalei teshuva. One said to the other, who was a bit further along in the process, “Please explain to me how you can spend so much time learning Torah. I personally can’t even concentrate for an entire hour, let alone the many hours that you seem to be putting in. You learn for six or seven hours in a row and then

get up reluctantly, as if you would rather do even more.” The student who had succeeded in becoming excited to learn answered, “You, too, can feel the same way as I do. Last year, at this time, when I was just beginning to change, I asked Hashem, ‘I left my old world behind because I wanted to learn Torah. But now, Hashem, I ask You only to instill in me the desire and motivation to actually do so. Please show me the sweetness of the Torah and the ability to spend the time necessary to grow in it.’ Hashem answered my prayers, and so I am able and now even eager to study for hours at a time. All you need to do is to realize that spending time with Hashem’s Torah is an incredible gift, and then He will surely give you the ability and opportunity to do so.” Rebbe Goel picks up the thought. “It is, so speak, easier for Hashem to grant us a beautiful apartment and expensive

car because these things are not particularly valued in heaven. However, when someone asks for the ability to achieve closeness to Hashem and love for His Torah, since that is the greatest gift in the world, it must be appreciated and the object of his deepest yearning and prayers.” He brings several proofs to this analysis, and we will add a few more. The Gemara (Yumah 38a) tells the story of Niknor’s doors. He fashioned beautiful entryways to the Bais Hamikdash, beginning with the raw materials purchased in Alexandria, Egypt. He covered them in beautiful copper, and accompanied them on the difficult journey by sea to Eretz Yisrael. Suddenly, the ship was surrounded by giant waves in a churning sea, and the boat seemed about to sink. The captain and sailors decided that they would have to throw one of the heavy doors overboard, but the ocean continued its savage fury. The fear-strick-

en sailors were about to throw the second door over as well, but now Niknor’s voice could be heard above the roar of the waves. He had tied himself to his beloved donation, declaring, “If you must throw this door into the waters, you will have to hurl me in as well.” At that moment, the sea became silent, seemingly assenting to Niknor’s wishes. He was deeply grateful for the miracle but saddened at the loss of the first door. But when they reached the port in Eretz Yisrael, an even greater miracle occurred. The apparently lost door had attached itself to the ship and arrived intact at the port of Ako with its brother door to be built into the holy Bais Hamikdash. To memorialize the miracle, the leaders of Klal Yisrael ordained that although all the other doors were overlayed with gold, these were left as they were during the incredible journey to their final destination. The lesson is obvious. Niknor could

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have just left the sailors to toss the second door into the sea since these were twin doors and one was worthless without the other. However, when a person does all that he can, Hashem does all the rest. The story echoes one which happened much later, soon after a horrific terrorist attack in Eretz Yisrael. A jewelry store owner was intrigued by a young girl who was walking from one display to another. “What can I do for you, young lady?” he kindly inquired. She answered timidly and then more forcefully, “Our parents were murdered in that attack, and our older sister has been taking care of us selflessly ever since. Tomorrow is her birthday, and we would like to buy her a present.” The jeweler was moved by her plight and asked her how much money she had. She pulled out a bag of coins and spread them on the glass. “We have been saving up for weeks, not buying any candy or even milk so that we could buy something for her. This is all of it.” Blinking away a tear, the man whispered, “Look around and come back to me when you have found something.” The nine-year-old returned, pointing to a necklace in the display. “I think

my sister would like that one” she said with certainty. “That’s wonderful. You have exactly enough money to buy it. Wait a moment. I will wrap it up properly. In the meantime, here is a card. You can write a nice note.” A few hours later, just as the store was about to close, a teenage girl came running in, out of breath, with disheveled

expensive jewelry don’t spend their last penny. The money they pay is for extras and luxuries which they would like, but it doesn’t diminish what they have left for their basic needs. Your sister gave me everything she has. No one has ever given me that before.” Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, zt”l, adds to this thought from a Gemara (Chagigah

“Your sister gave me everything she has. No one has ever given me that before.”

hair. “Did my sister take a necklace from you?” she almost demanded. “Not at all,” the owner responded, “she paid for it completely.” Now the big sister was puzzled. “That can’t be. I know what this piece is worth. She couldn’t possibly afford it.” “You don’t understand. She gave me more than anyone else has ever given me. You see, most people who can afford

13a). A gentile is not allowed to learn Torah. The question arises, “How is this possible? Hashem Himself offered the Torah to all the nations even before it was given to us at Sinai. Obviously, had they agreed, they would been allowed to learn Torah. The answer, teaches Rav Elyashiv, is that at that time, all the nations found an excuse to reject the Torah. One couldn’t imagine being prohibited to

steal, the other couldn’t contemplate being prevented from committing murder. Hashem says to them, ‘When I wanted to offer it to you, you rejected My Torah. Now that you want it, you are forbidden to learn it.’” The lesson is that Hashem gives us many gifts. If someone wants to learn Torah, Hashem gives him the intellectual capability and the urge to spend time and energy absorbing its teachings. But as soon as someone demonstrates an aversion to His kindness, He not only takes it back, He makes it forbidden and unreachable. Niknor did all that he could; the little girl gave the jeweler everything she had. We must be willing to do the same to have the time, energy, parnassah and good health to learn Torah and do mitzvos. Rosh Hashana is truly a beautiful and rare gift from our Creator. If we take advantage of every moment of both days, then Hashem will surely grant us all of its hidden treasures and opportunities for the new year, im yirtzeh Hashem.

Rav Yaakov Feitman is the rav of Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi in Cedarhurst, NY.

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Personal Revivification and the Revivification of the Dead By Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

n the Mussaf of Rosh Hashana, at the end of the bracha of Shofaros, we state, “Ki Atah shomea kol shofar u’ma’azin teruah v’ein domeh lach. Baruch Atah Hashem shomea kol teruas amo Yisroel b’rachamim.” The words “v’ein domeh lach, and there is no one comparable to You,” seem superfluous; they seemingly do not lend anything to the bracha. They are a truism that can be inscribed in any bracha, to any tefillah, yet, it is added only to the bracha of Shofaros. Why? In addition, there is a concept in halacha that we require “me’ein hachasimah samuch lachasimah, the words near the conclusion of a bracha must be similar to and reflect the subject of the bracha’s closing words.” The words that immediately precede the Baruch Atah at the end of a bracha must address the same subject as the closing words of the bracha. The addition of the words v’ein domeh lach, however, seem to be in contradiction to this halachic rule, as they are completely unrelated to the conclusion of the bracha. It would seem more logical to omit the words v’ein domeh lach so that the praise of Hashem — that He is attentive to our shofar blasts — will flow seamlessly into the conclusion of the bracha. These words, v’ein domeh lach, therefore, must be articulating a central theme fundamental to Rosh Hashana and the mitzvah of shofar.

The Tefillah of the Shofar We have learned that in addition to the fact that tekias shofar is one of the 248 mitzvos asei, positive commandments, there is another dimension of

tekias shofar: It is a form of tefillah, of prayer to Hashem. What type of tefillah is shofar; what is it requesting? Merubim tzarchei amcha, the needs of Hashem’s nation are numerous. We all have many wants and needs to request of Hashem: health, parnassah, children. Everyone has nisyonos, challenges for which they need assistance. The Ribbono shel Olam recognizes this, and therefore He gives us a gift: the shofar. The sound of the shofar is the unarticulated cry of the Jew. “Ribbono shel Olam, I throw my burden on You! I cannot articulate the many needs I have, but from the sound of the shofar You are able to understand what we need! Ki Atah shomea kol shofar; You are able to understand the tefillah of the shofar, which includes even needs of which we are unaware. V’ein domeh lach, and there is no one like You, Who could hear in the sound of the shofar the myriad requests and needs that we have, both those we wish to articulate and those that we cannot articulate. You, Hashem, are able to uncover and discover the true requirements of every Jew. It is the sound of the shofar that encapsulates and encompasses the unarticulated cry for all of man’s needs. There is no one like You, Hashem — for only You can hear all of this in the cry of the shofar.” There is, however, a deeper explanation for the words v’ein domeh lach, there is no one like You, as these words have a very specific connotation. These words refer to the ability, specific to Hashem, of divining these unarticulated prayers.

Expectations of a Miracle — What Miracle? The Tur cites the following, based on a Midrash: We groom ourselves before Rosh Hashana. We take haircuts and bathe, despite the Yom HaDin that is approaching. There is no nation like Klal Yisrael, who know the methodology of their G-d, His customs and laws. When one is about to be judged, especially for a capital offense, he wears black clothing as if in mourning, he lets his hair grow wild and unkempt, he does not cut his nails, and he does not bathe. He is so frightened of the upcoming trial, he is so consumed with fear, that he cannot even focus his mind on personal hygiene. The Bnei Yisrael, however, are different. As the Yom HaDin approaches, we dress in white clothing, we cut our hair, we trim our beards, we cut our nails. We groom ourselves irrespective of the upcoming judgment. We even go so far as to have festive meals, replete with delicacies. The Tur concludes: We are confident that Hashem will perform a miracle. What does the Tur mean, we are confident in the performance of a miracle? What miracle occurs on Rosh Hashana? The Tur should simply write that we are confident that we will be zocheh in the judgment, that we will have a favorable din, and that we conduct ourselves in this fashion because we feel assured

that we will be acquitted. What is the miracle to which he is referring?

The Key: V’ein Domeh Lach Rav Moshe Shapiro, cited in the sefer Az Yashir by Rav Moshe Schwerd, teaches that the key to understanding what transpires on Rosh Hashana is contained in the three words: v’ein domeh lach. We use this expression in two places in davening. Every day, in every Shemoneh Esrei, in the bracha of Atah gibor, we say, “Who is like You, Master of mighty deeds, and who can be compared to You, King Who causes death and restores life.” The words v’ein domeh lach in this context refer specifically to Techiyas HaMeisim. Hashem has infinite abilities, and He can perform endless wonders. Here is one example worth mentioning: A fetus in utero does not breathe through its lungs. It receives oxygen from the mother, via the umbilical cord. The lungs are not used for respiration. As the baby’s blood returns to its heart, to the right atrium, there is no need for that blood to proceed to the right ventricle and subsequently to the pulmonary artery — to the lungs — since the baby’s blood does not receive oxygen from its lungs. Rather, the blood from the right atrium proceeds directly to the left atrium via an opening in the heart, the foramen ovale, bypassing the lungs and pulmonary circulation. But a baby couldn’t survive after birth, even briefly, with a

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hole in its heart. Miraculously, when a baby is born and cries for the first time and starts to breathe, the lungs inflate and the foramen ovale closes. This forces the blood in the right atrium to now go to the right ventricle and then to the lungs in order to receive oxygen. This incredible miracle enables a child to survive after birth, and yet it is not classified as v’ein domeh lach. There is only one single miracle, one neis, that we reference by saying, “Hashem, there is no one like You. No one can do this except You, Hashem.” This is the miracle of Techiyas HaMeisim. The Gemara states that the day will come when Hashem will knock on a person’s grave and rouse him. Hashem will reconstitute each person. The Gemara tells us, “Hashem mibashan ashiv, Hashem will restore even from the Bashan.” If, chas v’shalom, someone drowned and his body decomposed and his atoms were deposited in all corners of the world, when it comes time for Techiyas HaMeisim, Hashem will reconstitute and re-create the person; He will gather all the tiny particles from all over the world and rebuild the person. This is the greatest miracle in This World. In reference to this miracle of Techiyas HaMeisim we declare, “V’ein domeh lach.” The second place in davening where we use this phrase is in the birchas Krias Shema that we recite on Shabbos morning: “Ein k’erkecha. V’ein zulasecha. Efes bilticha u’mi domeh lach.” Once again, this phrase about the incomparable nature of Hashem refers to Techiyas HaMeisim, as the piyut concludes, “Moshieinu l’techiyas hameisim.”

Why Reference Techiyas HaMeisim in the Bracha of Shofaros? Why, then, in the bracha of Shofaros do we utilize the phrase v’ein domeh lach? What does Shofaros have to do with Techiyas HaMeisim? A halacha brought in Shulchan Aruch states that when one sees a friend whom he has not seen during the past thirty days, he recites the bracha Shehecheyanu. We do not observe this custom in our times; as there are many forms of communication nowadays, we are safe to assume that our friend is still alive even though we have not seen him; otherwise, we would have expected to have heard of his demise. The halacha further states that when one sees a friend whom he has not seen in over twelve months, he recites the bracha Mechayeh HaMeisim. The Mish-

nah Berurah discusses the basis and rationale for this bracha. He quotes the Maharsha, who explains that since on every Rosh Hashana a person is judged either for life or for the alternative, on every Rosh Hashana each person’s life is on the line. Therefore, if one has not seen his friend in twelve months, that means that his friend has experienced and survived the din of Rosh Hashana. Surviving the din is comparable to Techiyas HaMeisim. Therefore, since his friend has experienced a form of Techiyas HaMeisim, it is appropriate for him to recite the bracha of Mechayei HaMeisim.

Rosh Hashana is Revivification! We are learning that we have a fundamental misinterpretation in our understanding of Rosh Hashana. We tend to think that what is occurring on Rosh Hashana is that we, who are alive and in good health, come before Hashem

nothing at all, and we ask Hashem to please revivify us. We come before Hashem on Rosh Hashana like meisim, the dead, but, as the Tur says, we are confident that Hashem will perform a miracle for us. And what is the miracle that we anticipate? It is the miracle of v’ein domeh lach, the miracle of Techiyas HaMeisim.

K’dalim U’krashim Dafaknu Delasecha Rav Shlomo Heiman, the illustrious Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivah Torah Vodaas, related with great emotion the moving drasha he heard on Leil Selichos, the first night of Selichos, from the Granat, the Gaon Rav Naftali Tropp, before he led the davening in the yeshiva in Radin as the chazzan for Selichos. In Selichos we say, “K’dalim u’krashim dafaknu delasecha, like paupers and poor men do we bang on Your door.” What does this tefillah mean?

We stand before Hashem, not with life in hand and a request to continue it, but rather with nothing at all, and we ask Hashem to please revivify us.

and ask Him to maintain the status quo. Hashem, please continue to keep matters just as they are; after all, each of us is a muchzak, is in possession of his resources and success and hamotzi mechaveiro alav hara’ayah, the burden of proof is on You, Hashem, to repossess them. I have health, I have life, and I have money – the onus is on You, Ribbono shel Olam, to come up with a valid reason to change the existing circumstances. Meanwhile, let everything remain the way it’s always been. But this is not what is happening. We learn from the Maharsha and from the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah’s use of v’ein domeh lach in our davening on Rosh Hashana that when Rosh Hashana comes and a new year begins, all bets are off. The lease has ended. The eviction notice has arrived in the mail. The status quo enjoyed until now is no longer viable — it has been terminated. There is no chazakah, established right, there is no status quo, and there are no assumptions. We stand before Hashem, not with life in hand and a request to continue it, but rather with

It does not matter how much money a person has in his bank account, or how healthy he may be. On Rosh Hashana, we stand before Hashem like paupers. We stand before Hashem with no chazakah, no status quo, no money, no family, and we hope that Hashem will revivify us, for the lease has ended. “Like paupers and poor men, we bang on Your door.”

One Year at a Time The sefer Az Yashir cites, in the name of Rav Moshe Shapiro, that the Arizal taught that on Rosh Hashana, Hashem does not grant a person years for the duration of his life. He does not give one person a din for a longevity of a hundred years, and another person for eighty-two. Hashem is judging us solely for the upcoming year. Hashem takes it one year at a time. Our lease on life is only extended for a year; it must be renewed annually. Nothing decreed on Rosh Hashana affects more than just the one year that is starting. At the end of each year, every person’s lease on life is up. He has to come before Hashem in judgment and be ad-

judicated. The lease on life may or may not be renewed. When one merits the gift of another additional year, when he is victorious in din, it is truly as if he is experiencing Techiyas HaMeisim. When we stand before the Ribbono shel Olam on Rosh Hashana, we are asking Hashem to please perform this miracle for us. Please perform the greatest miracle in Your repertoire, the miracle whose key was never given over even to the malachei hashareis. That is why it is a miracle that is referred to with the phrase v’ein domeh lach. Mi kamocha ba’al gevuros u’mi domeh lach refers to the power Hashem has to give life and to restore life. During the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, we insert a sentence into the bracha of Gevuros: Mi kamocha Av ha’rachman zocher yetzurav l’chaim b’rachamim. It is appropriately added to the bracha of Atah Gibor because that is the bracha whose subject is Techiyas HaMeisim! What better place to mention the fact that Hashem is incomparable because He remembers His creations and mercifully grants them life. This granting of life is precisely the topic of the bracha: Techiyas HaMeisim.

The Judgment: Daily vs. Annually The Gemara states, “Adam nidon b’chol yom, man is judged daily.” Rav Eisele Charif poses an incisive question: If we are judged every single day of the year, why is it that only on Rosh Hashana do we take the din so much more seriously? What is different about the din of Rosh Hashana than that of all the other days of the year? He answers that the daily judgment is subject to the laws of chazakah, to the status quo. Every day when we are judged by the Ribbono shel Olam, the judgment takes the chazakah, the person’s current state, into account. The person existed yesterday, and Hashem allows that to continue because he is a muchzak in his life. Hamotzi mechaveiro alav hara’ayah is invoked, and the burden of proof is incumbent upon the one who wants to change the status quo. But on Rosh Hashana, there is no longer a status quo to invoke, there is no longer chazakah. Past existence has no bearing on future outcome. This is the difference between the daily judgment and the annual judgment of Rosh Hashana. Once again, we encounter this principle of the miracle of Techiyas HaMeisim on Rosh Hashana.

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Why Mention the Akeidah? One of the main zechusim that we try to tap into on Rosh Hashana is the extraordinary zechus of Akeidas Yitzchak. Why do we mention Akeidas Yitzchak on Rosh Hashana? Not all opinions agree that it even took place on Rosh Hashana, so why mention it in the davening on Rosh Hashana? Why is the Akeidah such a central theme on Rosh Hashana to the point that we mention it during Shemoneh Esrei, we blow the horn of a ram to remind Hashem of the Akeidah, and we read about the Akeidah in the krias HaTorah of the second day of Rosh Hashana? The Rama codifies the custom of performing Tashlich at a river on Rosh Hashana. It is sourced in the Maharil, who says that we go to the river to say Tashlich to remind Hashem of the Akeidah and to invoke the zechus of that event, because the Satan created a river to prevent Avraham from going to the Akeidah. Avraham walked into the water until it reached his nostrils. He cried out, “Save me, for the water has risen to my soul.” Thus, the purpose of Tashlich is to invoke the zechus of Akeidas Yitzchak. The Mishnah Berurah, in fact, cites this Maharil, that the purpose of Tashlich is to recall the momentous event of Akeidas Yitzchak. The Shulchan Aruch brings the custom of using a head as one of the simanim on Rosh Hashana. This is to symbolize that we would like to be the head, and not the tail — n’hi’yeh l’rosh v’lo l’zanav. Interestingly, the Shulchan Aruch specifically recommends using the head of a ram, in commemoration of the ram that was sacrificed in place of Yitzchak at the time of the Akeidah. Again, we see the centrality of the Akeidah in the customs of Rosh Hashana, but why is it so significant, since it is not unanimously believed to have occurred on Rosh Hashana?

The Akeidah: The First Techiyas HaMeisim On Rosh Hashana, we are not merely asking Hashem to keep matters the way they were. What we are asking Hashem for is Techiyas HaMeisim, for Him to revivify us in every dimension of our lives. And when was the first time in the history of the world that Hashem was mechayeh meisim? It was at Akeidas Yitzchak! The Shibbolei HaLeket brings the teaching that the brachos of the weekday Shemoneh Esrei are actually an historical account of the story of the world.

When Avraham Avinu was saved from the fires of Ur Kasdim, the malachei hashareis cried out, “Baruch Atah Hashem, magen Avraham.” When Yitzchak Avinu was bound on the mizbei’ach to be offered as a korban to Hashem at the Akeidah, he became ashes that were then scattered all about Har HaMoriah. Although the familiar and oft-quoted sequence of events dictate that Yitzchak emerged unscathed from the Akeidah, numerous midrashim state otherwise. According to the Midrash cited in Shibbolei HaLeket, Yitzchak Avinu in fact did die, as his neshama left him — parchah nishmaso. The Ribbono shel Olam then performed Techiyas HaMeisim; He placed dew on Yitzchak and brought him back to life. It is about this event that David HaMelech wrote, “So the dew of Chermon descends upon the mountains of Tzion” (Tehillim 133: 3). Dew on Har Tzion is a reference to the dew that Hash-

Atah Hashem, mechayeh hameisim.” We have a tradition that the first bracha, Magen Avraham, corresponds to Avraham Avinu, and the second bracha, Atah Gibor, which is the bracha of Techiyas HaMeisim, corresponds to Yitzchak. With these midrashim, we can appreciate how the bracha of Gevuros corresponds to Yitzchak, because he was the very first person to experience Techiyas HaMeisim.

Why the Central Theme is the Akeidah Now we understand why the central theme of Rosh Hashana is Akeidas Yitzchak. It is not merely because of timing, as not everyone is in agreement that it took place on Rosh Hashana. The reason to invoke the Akeidah on Rosh Hashana is to point out that this is the maaseh avos siman labanim, all events that occurred to the forefathers are portents for their descendants, a pre-enact-

When one merits the gift of another additional year, when he is victorious in din, it is truly as if he is experiencing Techiyas HaMeisim.

em sprinkled on Yitzchak Avinu as He brought him back to life. Immediately upon Yitzchak’s revivification, the malachim said the bracha, “Baruch Atah Hashem, mechayeh hameisim.” There is another version of the midrash: Yitzchak’s soul departed, and when his neshama returned to his guf, when he experienced Techiyas HaMeisim, it was he who stated, “Baruch Atah Hashem, mechayeh hameisim.” Likewise, Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer states, in the name of R’ Yehudah: Once the knife was placed upon Yitzchak’s neck, at the time of the Akeidah, his neshama departed from his body. When his neshama heard the voice of Hashem coming from between the two Keruvim, stating, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad” (Bereishis 22:12), the neshama immediately returned to Yitzchak’s body. He was then untied, and he stood up. Yitzchak realized that Techiyas HaMeisim is min haTorah, and he understood that those who pass away will be revivified in the future. He immediately composed and recited the bracha, “Baruch

ment to what takes place annually on Rosh Hashana: Techiyas HaMeisim. This is a particularly strong connection according to the view that the original Techiyas HaMeisim did, in fact, take place on Rosh Hashana, at the Akeidah. This action is then forever fused to the day of Rosh Hashana, and Rosh Hashana will always be a day of Techiyas HaMeisim. Hashem revivifies all of us every Rosh Hashana. We stand before Hashem k’dalim u’krashim, and like meisim mamash, actual corpses. We daven and ask Hashem to please sprinkle upon us the dew of Techiyas HaMeisim. We are confident, as the Tur says, that Hashem will perform this miracle for us. This is why we invoke the remarkable capability of Hashem, “Ki Atah shomea kol shofar u’ma’azin teruah v’ein domeh lach.” The powerful and poignant meaning of the final phrase, v’ein domeh lach, is now understood as a reference to the greatest of all miracles, Techiyas HaMeisim, and explains why on Rosh Hashana we focus on Akeidas Yitzchak — the source of the power of Techiyas HaMeisim in This World.

Another Dimension of Techiyas HaMeisim Another dimension of Techiyas HaMeisim is worthy of note. There is a Kaf HaChaim that Rav Shneur Kotler would often repeat during this time of the year in the name of his father, Rav Aharon. There are forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur. These forty days correspond to the forty days of yetziras hav’lad, the forty days of the formation of a baby. Even though the baby is in the mother’s womb for nine months, the primary creation, including the determination of the gender, takes place in the first forty days. The neshama then enters the baby on the fortieth day. In what way do the forty days of Chodesh Elul and the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah correspond to the forty days of yetziras hav’lad? Rav Yerucham Olshin explains, using the Midrash on the pasuk, “Let this be recorded for the final generation, so that the newborn people will praise Hashem” (Tehillim 102:19). Who is this new nation that is being created? The Yalkut Shimoni explains that this verse refers to us, who come before Hashem like meisim b’maaseihem, lifeless in our actions, davening to Hashem on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Hashem responds to our tefillos by creating us anew, allowing us to proceed to Sukkos, when we will hold the lulav and esrog as we say Hallel — thereby fulfilling the verse, the newborn people will praise Hashem. Rav Yerucham understands that the Midrash is adding an important point to our understanding of our status on Rosh Hashana. When we stand before Hashem on Rosh Hashana, not only do we have nothing to count on, not only is there no chazakah, and we cannot rely on the past. But it is more than that: We are actually considered meisim b’maaseihem, because reshaim bechayehem k’ruim meisim, the wicked are considered dead even as they live. We stand before Hashem, proclaiming that our actions, our maasim, do not render us worthy of being considered to be spiritually alive before Him. We implore Hashem not just to revive us physically, but to revive our neshamos as well. Allow us to start again and help us achieve the level where we can be considered alive both physically and spiritually. This is the concept of how the forty days before Yom Kippur correspond to the forty days of yetziras hav’lad. During Elul and during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, we are striving to re-create ourselves. We are trying to be reborn, to start over. Whatever was, was, and we

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are now going through a forty-day process that is reminiscent of the forty-day process we experienced in utero. We go through this process on a yearly basis as we ask Hashem for spiritual revival, spiritual re-creation. With this understanding, the teshuvah process becomes akin to Techiyas HaMeisim. Teshuvah is a process by which we try to revive ourselves and come back to life.

Teshuvah: A Form of Techiyas HaMeisim In his commentary to Shemoneh Esrei, Rav Yonasan Eibeshutz discusses the kavanos, intentions, we should have during Shemoneh Esrei. In his commentary to the second bracha, Atah Gibor, Rav Yonasan writes that Hashem’s acceptance of our teshuvah is a form of Techiyas HaMeisim. A rasha, even while alive, is considered to be deceased: reshaim bechayehem k’ruim meisim. When he then does teshuvah, he is considered to have experienced Techiyas HaMeisim. Therefore, when we say the words “Atah gibor l’olam Hashem mechayeh meisim Atah rav l’hoshea,” one of the kavanos to have in mind is that Hashem should revivify us by accepting our teshuvah. Rav Tzadok HaKohen brilliantly points out that the period of Techiyas HaMeisim will be ushered into the world by Eliyahu HaNavi who is also the one who ushers in the era of teshuvah. These are not two distinct roles of Eliyahu HaNavi, and these are not two different eras. These are one and the same, since, as we said, reshaim bechayehem k’ruim meisim. Eliyahu inspiring all to do teshuvah will be a form of Techiyas HaMeisim. Physical and spiritual revivification are both part of the same function that Eliyahu HaNavi will perform in the End of Days.

Starting Selichos From the First Day of Creation The Tur brings down three minhagim relating to Selichos. Some have the custom to start reciting Selichos from Rosh Chodesh Elul. There is another minhag to recite

Selichos only during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. The Tur then mentions a third custom, which is to start reciting Selichos on the Sunday before Rosh Hashana, and, if that is fewer than four days, then to start from the previous Sunday. The Gra disagrees with the Tur. He says we are to begin saying Selichos on the twenty-fifth day of Elul. This is the anniversary of Berias HaOlam, the Creation of the world. Hashem created Adam on Rosh Hashana, as we say in davening, zeh hayom techilas maasecha. Since Adam was created on the sixth day of Creation, the first day of Creation must have been the twenty-fifth day of Elul. Therefore, the minhag is to start saying Selichos on 25 Elul. The Ran cites this minhag as well, stating that in Barcelona the custom was to start reciting Selichos on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, since that was the first day of Berias HaOlam. How do we understand this custom cited by the Ran and endorsed by the

forms, the first forty days are very tenuous. Each and every moment of those first forty days is indispensable to the baby’s development. Every second is another building block of life, and it may be when the key part of the brain, heart, kidney, or lung is forming. We cannot tamper with these forty days. They are vital, and not even a single second can be bypassed. This crucial time in a baby’s gestation cannot be made up in another manner. During Chodesh Elul and the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, we are re-creating ourselves for the entire year to come, and we are preparing ourselves for the great miracle we are counting on Hashem to perform. We are readying ourselves for Techiyas HaMeisim, both physically and spiritually. Similar to the creation of a baby, here too, every single day is vital, every single second is critical to our rebirth. Each day is crucial and each moment is irreplaceable. There is not a single moment to waste.

We implore Hashem not just to revive us physically, but to revive our neshamos as well.

Gra? Why is reciting Selichos connected to the first day of Berias HaOlam? As noted, teshuvah is a forty-day process, k’neged yetziras hav’lad, as we try to re-create ourselves. We understand that our lease is over, and we ask Hashem to please re-create us, our families, and the entire Creation, in all dimensions, physical and spiritual. It is a time to re-create our middos, our character, our personality, our entire spiritual repertoire. We begin the process on Rosh Chodesh Elul, mem yom kodem yetziras hav’lad. We start saying Selichos on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, which is the first day of Berias HaOlam, as we endeavor to re-create ourselves and our entire world.

Every Moment is Vital The analogy of the forty days of teshuvah compared to the formation of a fetus, teaches Rav Yerucham Olshin, has critical significance. When a baby

The Navi of Teshuvah Who in Tanach is the navi of teshuvah? It is the navi whom we read about as the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, is waning, the navi who teaches us that anyone can do teshuvah, that anyone can turn his life around. He is Yonah ben Amitai. The Malbim says that Yonah was the son of the ishah almanah, the widow who provided for and sustained Eliyahu HaNavi. Her child, Yonah, had died, and Eliyahu HaNavi performed Techiyas HaMeisim, bringing him back to life. Yonah was the first person recorded in Tanach who experienced Techiyas HaMeisim.1 In Rav Dovid Luria’s commentary on Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, he writes that when Yonah says the words “Yet, You lifted my life from the pit …. When my soul was faint within me, I remembered Hashem” (Yonah 2:7-8), he alludes to the fact that when he was a child he died and Eliyahu HaNavi revivified him. The peirush on Sefer Yonah called

Razei Yonah connects Yonah’s experience of physical Techiyas HaMeisim to his being the navi of teshuvah. Yonah, who experienced physical Techiyas HaMeisim, is able to teach the world to do teshuvah, which is spiritual Techiyas HaMeisim. Having experienced the engine that powers teshuvah, namely Techiyas HaMeisim, he was able to teach the world what teshuvah was all about.

Personal Revivification A person might say, “Teshuvah — how is that possible for me? I’m in such a rut; I have so many bad habits.” A person may think that he has a dark past and that he cannot overcome the darkness and the feelings of spiritual lifelessness. Yonah comes to teach us that teshuvah is possible. He testifies firsthand that just as Techiyas HaMeisim is possible, so is teshuvah. He experienced physical Techiyas HaMeisim, so he can teach the world about spiritual revivification. Yonah tells the world, u’mi domeh lach, about Hashem’s incomparable ability to revive the baal teshuvah. At the end of Shaarei Teshuvah there is a brief kuntres called Yesod HaTeshuvah. In it, Rabbeinu Yonah writes that when a person embarks on doing teshuvah, he should throw away all his sins. This is not a reference to actual teshuvah, as the halachic components of teshuvah are not being fulfilled. Rather, Rabbeinu Yonah is teaching us that a person has the ability to say, “I have a clean slate. The past is the past. It is as if I am born on this very day, with no zechus and no chovah, debt. Today is the start of my actions, a clean slate.” This is what is happening on Rosh Hashana—a new beginning, a clean slate. We are experiencing Techiyas HaMeisim. We daven to Hashem, saying, we are like meisim before You, and we beseech You, please give us another year of life, both physical and spiritual. We are confident that Hashem is going to answer us in the affirmative, and that He is going to perform the greatest miracle of all for us, the miracle of Techiyas HaMeisim. May we all be zocheh to a year of chaim and shalom, shefa, bracha, v’hatzlachah b’chol inyaneinu. As noted above, the first instance of Techiyas HaMeisim is that of Yitzchak at the Akeidah, but that incident is not found in the Tanach. It is written in the Midrash. 1

This article has been printed from The Mystery and the Majesty by Rabbi Daniel Glatstein, published by Artscroll. Rabbi Daniel Glatstein is the Mara D’asra of Kehilas Tiferes Mordechai in Cedarhurst, NY, and author of numerous seforim in Lashon Hakodesh and in English for ArtScroll. He is an international lecturer and maggid shiur. His thousands of recorded shiurim are available on Torahanytime.com, podcast, his website rabbidg.com, and other venues.

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Sparks of Light

When You Step Aside, You Don’t Lose By Rabbi Benny Berlin

abbi Yisrael Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel, tells a story from his own bar mitzvah. He was one of the youngest child survivors of Buchenwald, saved again and again by his older brother Naphtali, who once smuggled him into the camp hidden inside a sack. He was raised after the war by his uncle in Kiryat Motzkin. For months, he prepared the reading of Parshas Shlach for his bar mitzvah, and the shul was packed that Shabbos with guests who had come to support the young orphan. There was an older man in that shul, Reb Moshe, who read the Torah every week. He was a man who loved leining and valued the recognition that came with it. Nobody had told him he was being given off that Shabbos for the bar mitzvah boy. So when young Yisrael Meir approached the bima on one side, Reb Moshe approached on the other. The gabbai explained that today belonged to the bar mitzvah boy. Reb Moshe, hurt and caught off guard, said nobody had told him. Young Yisrael Meir saw how wounded he looked. He walked over and told Reb Moshe that he was young and maybe did not know the parsha so well and that it would be an honor if Reb Moshe read the parsha while he received an aliyah. He told the gabbai that it was fine and that he would have other opportunities to give over Torah in public. Rabbi Lau said that this was the first mitzvah he did as a bar mitzvah. He gave up his spot, and G-d gave him a few opportunities to speak in public, to say the least. Rabbi Lau went on to become one of the most sought-after voices in the Jewish world, called on again and again to teach and lead. The boy who stepped away from one opportunity to read Torah would spend a lifetime speaking Torah before audiences far larger than the one in Kiryat Motzkin. Rosh Hashana asks something simi-

lar of us this year, through the story we read on the second day, the Akeidah. Avraham stood at the altar with his hand raised, prepared to give up his son. The malach called out and told him to stop. Avraham lifted his eyes, saw a ram

himself to serve Hashem in one particular way, and suddenly his service would have to look entirely different. He had to surrender his own picture of how the story was supposed to unfold. And then he found the ram.

The ram is the sound of Plan B. And that is where the blessing begins.

caught in the thicket, and offered it in place of his son. That detail is easy to read past. Avraham had spent the entire journey preparing himself for one act of service, only to discover at the final moment that Hashem wanted something else from him. Chazal suggest that Avraham did not experience only relief. Bereishis Rabbah records that when the malach told him not to touch Yitzchak, Avraham was also disappointed. He had prepared

What happens next is striking. Avraham offers the ram in place of his son, and only afterward does the Torah tell us that the malach calls to him a second time. It is then that the blessings pour forth. “Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one, I will surely bless you and greatly increase your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore” (Bereishis 22:1318). Avraham did not let his devotion

disappear with the original plan. He redirected it. The ram is the sound of Plan B. And that is where the blessing begins. That idea carries particular weight this year. On the first day of Rosh Hashana, we will walk into shul wanting to hear the sound that defines the day, the sound we prepare for throughout Elul. And this year, there will be silence. Because Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbos, Chazal instructed us not to blow the shofar, out of concern that someone might carry it four amos in a public domain. We enter the day knowing how precious the shofar is, and precisely because we are committed to serving Hashem on His terms rather than ours, we put it down. Not blowing the ram’s horn reminds us this year that Avraham was also willing to let go of what he thought was being asked of him. Reb Moshe read the Torah that Shabbos because a thirteen-year-old boy was willing to step away from a moment he had prepared for. He saw what the moment required and stepped aside. He could not have known the blessings that awaited him. We will come to shul this year with our own picture of what the day is supposed to look like. Then, on the first day, we will put down the shofar. What sounds like an absence can itself become an act of service. Serving Hashem is not only having the courage to give Him what we planned to give. Sometimes, it is having the humility to surrender the plan itself. And when we can do that, stepping aside is not walking away. It is another way of stepping closer.

Rabbi Benny

Berlin is

the

rabbi

BACH Jewish Center in Long Beach, New York. For more information, visit www.bachlongbeach.com.

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Torah Thought

Maximizing the Power of Tefillah By Rabbi Heshy Kleinman

eb Mat isyahu Solomon served as a chazan in Gateshead. When the mispallelim reached the words “teshuva, tefillah, u’tzedaka ma’avirin es ro’ah ha’gezeira, teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah remove the harsh decree,” the entire tzibbur cried out with great intensity, and Reb Matisyahu shouted even louder so his voice would be heard. His throat discharged some blood, and drops of blood landed on the words “ro’ah ha’gezeira” in his machzor. 1 People understood the message: the words “the harsh decree” being covered over signified that the harsh decrees had been annulled. That year, no one in Gateshead passed away young. 2 During the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, the ten days from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur, the gift of tefillah provides a unique opportunity to place before Hashem our deepest hopes for life, health, livelihood, and happiness. Chazal reveal How profoundly tefillah can affect these precious areas of our lives. Although the Gemara teaches that “children, life, and livelihood” are affect-

ed by mazal, Chazal also reveal the extraordinary power of tefillah. Even what mazal seems to have determined can be overcome through prayer. Indeed, Rabbeinu Bechaya explains that this teaches us how essential tefillah is in seeking these precious blessings from Hashem. With so much at stake, everyone wants to know: How can we maximize the extraordinary power of prayer to affect the most fundamental areas of our lives? The Ramchal explains that through tefillah a person draws close to Hashem, and in accordance with his awakening toward Hashem, blessing is drawn to him. Tefillah is not merely a vehicle for asking Hashem to fulfill our needs. It is an opportunity to draw close to Him— and that closeness itself affects the power of our tefillah. But here we encounter a profound challenge. Mesillas Yesharim explains that because our eyes do not see Hashem, it can be difficult to internalize that in tefillah we are actually standing before Him. We know that Hashem is present and that we are speaking directly to Him. But how can we make that knowledge feel real and thereby deepen our

sense of closeness to Him? A teaching of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai can help us understand how to bridge this gap. When he was ill, his students asked him for a blessing. He replied, “May it be Hashem’s will that your fear of Heaven be as strong as your fear of flesh and blood.” His students were surprised. Shouldn’t fear of Heaven be greater? He answered that when a person sins, he often thinks, “I hope no person sees me.” We believe Hashem sees everything, yet we often feel another person’s presence more strongly because we can see him standing before us. The challenge is to make what we know about Hashem’s presence penetrate deeply enough that it becomes something we feel. How can we do that in tefillah? Chazal give us a powerful way: We can focus on a relationship whose emotions we already understand and feel—the relationship between a father and his child—and use it to help us feel the reality of our relationship with Hashem. A terrible drought once afflicted Eretz Yisrael. Crops were dying, and famine threatened. The Sages declared a public fast, and Rabbi

Eliezer stood before the Aron and recited the twenty-four blessings designated for such fasts. Still, no rain fell. Rabbi Akiva then stood before the Aron and cried, “Avinu Malkeinu, ein lanu Melech ela Atah! Avinu Malkeinu, lema’ancha rachem aleinu!—Our Father, our King, we have no King but You! Our Father, our King, for Your sake, have compassion on us!” The rains came. Why did Rabbi Akiva choose these words—Avinu Malkeinu—at such a desperate moment? What is so powerful about approaching Hashem specifically as “Our Father, our King”? The Abudraham explains that Avinu Malkeinu is a particularly powerful way of appealing for Divine mercy. Hashem is our Father. And if we can deepen our feeling for what that relationship means—if we can stand before Hashem in tefillah and feel, “I am speaking to my Father, Who loves me and has mercy on me”—we can experience a far greater sense of His closeness and thereby enhance the power of our tefillah. Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz would sometimes pray near Yad Avshalom.

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Why pray at a place associated with Avshalom, who rebelled against his father, Dovid HaMelech, and sought both his throne and his life? Rav Chaim pointed to the Gemara’s description of Dovid after Avshalom’s death. Dovid cried, “Beni, my son,” eight times. Chazal teach that seven cries raised Avshalom from the seven chambers of Gehinnom, and the eighth, according to one opinion, brought him to Olam HaBa. Consider what Dovid had endured. This was the son who had betrayed him, rebelled against him, driven him from his throne, and sought his life. Yet when Avshalom died, none of that could extinguish the heart of a father. Dovid cried out again and again, “Beni! Beni! My son! My son!” His child was suffering, and his father’s heart could not bear it. Rav Chaim would contemplate that astonishing depth of a father’s mercy and then turn to Hashem with a renewed awareness. If this was the mercy a human father could feel for a son who had caused him such terrible anguish, how immeasurably greater is the mercy of Avinu sheba-Shamayim toward His children? Rav Chaim was taking some-

thing he knew—that Hashem is our Father—and bringing it into his heart through something he could deeply feel: the extraordinary mercy of a father for his child. With that thought, the words Avinu Malkeinu can take on an entirely differ-

closeness to Him and enhance the power of our tefillah. Indeed, Rav Soloveitchik describes this very experience as fundamental to tefillah. He writes that in tefillah we must experience Hashem not as an abstract idea, but as a living presence,

My health, my livelihood, my family, my deepest fears and hopes—I can bring them all before Him. When Avinu Malkeinu becomes not merely something we say, but a relationship we begin to feel, we can stand before Hashem with a new sense of closeness: The King Who has unlimited power to help me is my Father, Who loves me and has mercy on me. This machzor, with those words stained in blood, is now in London.

It is an opportunity to draw close to Him — and that closeness itself affects the power of our tefillah.

ent feeling. Avinu: I am turning to my Father, Whose mercy and compassion for His child are greater than I can comprehend. And then comes Malkeinu: that very Father is also the King of the universe, with unlimited power to help me. During the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, when our needs are urgent and our future is being decided, feeling the mercy of Hashem as our Father can deepen our

feeling His “infinite love and mercy” and His “fatherly concern” for our lives That is our task in these precious days. When we say Avinu Malkeinu, we should pause and allow those words to penetrate: I am standing before my Father and my King. He hears me. He cares about me. He has compassion for me. And, as King, He has unlimited power to help me.

Cited in Torah Wellsprings, Rosh Hashanah, page 15, F\N 24.

Rabbi Heshy Kleinman is the author of the Praying With Fire series and several other books published by ArtScroll/Mesorah, including Yearning with Fire, Praying with Meaning, The Power of Teshuvah, and Living with Hashgacha Pratis. He speaks on these and other related topics, and is co-founder and director of the V’Ani Tefillah Foundation, which provides education, inspiration, and practical tools for more sincere and effective prayer, including school tefillah programs, Tefillah Power, and the Kavannah Kuntres.

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Your Mission, Your Calling Rabbi Ken Spiro Connects Jews to Their History and to Their Purpose By Malkie Schulman

“W

hen they were young, my FFB (frum from birth) kids would ask me, ‘As a Reform Jew, what did you do Jewish?’ I’d answer, ‘I ate ham and cheese on matzah on Pesach.’” That was the Judaism Rabbi Ken Spiro, historian and senior lecturer and researcher at Aish HaTorah, grew up with. Born in Brooklyn and raised in New Rochelle, NY, he attended public school and then Hebrew school in the afternoons. The joke he likes to tell is that if you’re looking to turn your kid off of Judaism, make sure to send them to after-school Hebrew school. “It was torture,” he shares. “I would do anything I could to get kicked out.” Religion-wise, his parents had one firm expectation for their son: “That I marry Jewish. That was their red line. Unfortunately for them, in college, I began dating a non-Jewish girl.” Desperate to prevent the relationship from becoming serious, his parents approached Conservative Jewish commentator Dennis Prager after hearing him speak at their synagogue. “They asked him, ‘How can we get our son to marry someone Jewish?’ ‘Send him to my one-month program.” Dennis Prager’s BCI (Brandeis Camp Institute) program in Southern California combined Jewish learning

with communal living and work. Among its instructors was well-known Modern Orthodox rabbi and educator Joseph Telushkin. Rabbi Spiro’s parents were thrilled when Ken agreed to go.

From Matzah and Bacon to Aish HaTorah “The truth is,” Rabbi Spiro admits, “Dennis Prager had a profound impact on me. He gave me a reason to believe Judaism might be relevant after all.” So, although he did not ultimately leave the program religious, Ken did leave open to religion (and committed to not marrying out of the faith). A year later, Rabbi Spiro had graduated college with a major in Russian language and literature and was on his way to the University of Moscow for six months to bone up on his conversational Russian. “The funny thing was after I finished college, I could read Tolstoy’s War and Peace in the original, but I couldn’t ask how to get to the corner grocery.” Ironically, it was in Moscow where Rabbi Spiro had his first Shabbos experience. “Most Russians in the USSR were scared to talk to tourists, but the Jews were so persecuted anyway that they weren’t afraid and that’s how I ended up being part of my new friends’ clandestine efforts to bring Judaism into their lives.”

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In those days, owning Hebrew books was illegal so most Torah teachers memorized seforim and taught their students from memory. Rabbi Spiro would often join members of the underground movement for singing events and Jewish holiday celebrations. “I remember gathering with refuseniks in a tiny Moscow apartment for an illegal Shabbos meal celebration. There was no kosher wine available, so for kiddush, we used water with six raisins sitting on the bottom. I was able to obtain yeast so we could make challah, but there was no meat.” Then there was the time, in the winter of 1981, when, at the end of the semester, the entire program went on a trip to Kiev. After being hassled for taking photographs, they ran into a hotel lobby to escape. The KGB arrived, threw them into a few cars and took them to a police station, where they spent several hours while Rabbi Spiro’s roommate, Jim Cohen, was interrogated. “Jim was always giving mini concerts with Hebrew songs in people’s apartments,” Rabbi Spiro explains. “He was already on the KGB’s radar. The whole thing was really a setup. They already knew who he was before we even got there. The photographs were simply a pretext to detain us so they could interrogate him. While we were there, we witnessed some pretty brutal stuff. The KGB beat someone up right in front of us. Thankfully, a short time later, our teacher arrived with someone from the U.S. Embassy and got us released.” After six months in Moscow, Rabbi Spiro had planned to spend three months on a kibbutz “to get a suntan, pick some tomatoes and learn Hebrew” before returning to the United States for graduate school. Instead, a college friend convinced him to spend a few weeks at Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem. “My older brother was going to meet me in Israel, and we’d planned to travel to Europe together. By the time he showed up in Jerusalem, though I now believed in G-d, I still wasn’t sure Torah was from Sinai, so I knew I wanted to stick around to find out more.” Two Aish rabbis who had a lasting influence on him was Rabbi Tom Meyer and Rabbi Chaim Willis, and of course, Rav Noach Weinberg, Rosh Yeshiva of Aish, was a massive inspiration. Rav Noach’s message that the mission of the Jewish people was tikkun olam resonated very deeply with Rabbi Spiro. Ultimately, this message changed the course of his life. After a few more weeks at Aish, Ken went on with his brother as planned to France. After a short visit, even though it was in the middle of the 1982 war with Lebanon, he returned to yeshiva. He had previously called his parents and told them he was deferring business graduate school for a year. In fact, he never ended up attending business graduate school (his intended career path), although later he did go on for an MA in History, but that’s another story. Mark, his younger brother, and Rebecca, Rabbi Spiro’s baby sister, at different points came to visit him in yeshiva and, much to their parents’ dismay, remained and never returned to finish their college education at all. “Three out of the four of us siblings became frum. When my sister went to Iyaht, my father warned me that I had better make sure to get her back on the plane to New York, back to school. Well,” he says with a laugh, “that never happened. She stayed and became religious too.”

In a conversation with his grandmother years later, Rabbi Spiro recalls, smiling, that she said, “I wanted you to be Jewish (i.e., not marry a non-Jew) but not that Jewish.” Despite his parents’ initial displeasure with his decision to become religious, at the end, they became the parents that called other ba’alei teshuva parents to encourage them to support their children becoming religious. “There are a lot of older BTs out there today who are very grateful to my mother,” Rabbi Spiro says. “She would tell their parents, ‘Becoming religious is the best thing your kids could do.’” Though his parents themselves never became religious, they koshered their home, became more traditional, and eventually made aliyah. “My mother would often say, ‘We’re counting on you kids to get us into Heaven.’” For Rabbi Spiro, however, his transformation was only beginning. “If someone would have told me 50 years ago that I would be an Orthodox rabbi living in Israel today, I would have thought they were crazy. The word ‘rabbi’ wasn’t even in my lexicon. But Rav Noach had an ability to inspire young people. In his expansive way, he gave over to his core students a larger vision of the Jewish people’s mission – the mission to connect humanity to G-d. He

“Unless you stop to think about why you believe what you believe, you’ll simply inherit the beliefs and way of life of the society you were raised in.”

would say things like, ‘If G-d and His Torah are true and He gave us a unique mission to bring the world back to Him, to do anything else would be crazy. Why would anyone even consider going into business?’” That became the impetus for Rabbi Spiro’s decision to devote his life to kiruv. After four years at Aish, he married and learned in kollel while working in outreach on the side. When the USSR collapsed in the early 1990s, Rabbi Spiro finally understood why Hashem had him study Russian. In 1990, he joined Rabbi Shalom Schwartz’s Aish Russian program. “It was the hottest thing back then to donate money to educate the millions of Russian Jews who were finally allowed to leave Russia. I worked with him for five years until I left to teach full-time at Aish in 1995. Except for short breaks here and there, I basically haven’t left. Aside from Rabbi Asher Resnick, I’m the longest teaching teacher at Aish.” Concurrent with his teaching career, Rabbi Spiro became a licensed tour guide. Today, he teaches in Aish’s Foundations program. “That’s where we try to get guys to commit to learning. It’s not beis midrash. We teach foundational material, not texts. I do the history component.”

He also teaches in the Essentials drop-in program and serves as a tour guide for the Gesher program and Birthright groups and leads private tours. Rabbi Spiro believes that understanding the foundations of Judaism are just as important for those raised religious as for ba’alei teshuva. He recalls meeting a Vizhnitzer chassid years ago who had come on a visit to Israel with his young family. “He told me he literally stood outside the Aish HaTorah beis medrash for an hour, mesmerized by the lecture. He was afraid to come in because he thought we’d throw him out. Finally, he got up the courage to walk inside. He ended up staying for weeks and loved it. He would repeatedly say, ‘We never learned any hashkafah.’” Rabbi Spiro found this young chassid’s observation fascinating because it reinforced what Rav Noach used to teach. “If you were born in Communist China, you’d grow up carrying Mao’s Little Red Book. If you were born in Italy, you’d grow up a Roman Catholic. If you were raised in Mattersdorf, you’d naturally adopt that community’s way of thinking. Unless you stop to think about why you believe what you believe, you’ll simply inherit the beliefs and way of life of the society you were raised in.” The Vizhnitzer chassid, Rabbi Spiro says, realized that although he had been raised religious, much of his emunah rested on what his parents had taught him rather than on a foundation he had built for himself. “He was like his own kind of ba’al teshuva. He became convinced we needed yeshivas like Aish HaTorah everywhere to teach frum people the foundations of Judaism.”

History, the World’s Greatest Teacher Rabbi Spiro’s minor in college was history, a subject that eventually became his specialty. He began teaching history classes at Aish, which led to his first book, WorldPerfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization, published in 2002. Aish later gave him permission to spend one day a week researching in the Hebrew University library, where he developed a 36-part course on Jewish history. The series was later transcribed and published on Aish.com, eventually becoming his second book, Crash Course in Jewish History, published in 2010. Since 1995, he has traveled on Aish speaking tours, mainly in the U.S. and Canada but in many other countries across the world as well including South Africa, Australia, Mexico, England, Switzerland, and Germany. In 2018, he published Destiny: Why a Tiny Nation Plays Such a Huge Role in History, and in 2020 launched the podcast Remember What’s Next with Ellie Bass. Jewish history is the great black hole of Jewish education today, asserts Rabbi Spiro. “It’s shocking how few yeshiva guys know Nach. Except for maybe the haftarah, not many religious Jews have ever studied it. “But Jewish history is powerful. In Devarim, it says, ‘Zechor yamos olam (remember the days of old).’ We were the first people to teach that history is a continuous process leading to a destination. There’s a Controller and a Director. You can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve come from. Through studying our history, we get to observe the patterns so we can learn the rules. History becomes our guide.”

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Rabbi Spiro points to the famous observation of 18th-century English philosopher Henry St. John Bolingbroke that history is “philosophy teaching by examples.” In other words, history is not simply a collection of facts and dates. Its purpose is to teach principles and lessons through real events and human experience. “For example, capitalists and communists can argue all they want, but all we have to do is look at history to see which one works. Communism is the single worst idea in history, responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people.” Rabbi Spiro sees the same principle reflected throughout Torah literature. “The Ramban’s famous statement, ‘Ma’aseh avos siman l’banim,’ teaches that what happened in the past is a pattern for what will happen in the future. It’s all over Tanach. ‘Ein kol chadash tachat hashemesh (there is nothing new under the sun),’ says King Solomon. The lessons of Sefer Bereishis are all laid out. We’re flying blind if we don’t understand where we come from and we’ll completely miss what our mission is in the world. “History is a fantastic way of teaching hashkafah to secular Jews and to frum Jews. It’s the laboratory. For instance, we were told we’d outlast every other nation. We were told we’d be hated by every other nation. We were also told that not only would we survive, but we would transform the world. Does that make sense as a prediction? Yet here we are today in 2026, again the smallest, most despised nation, and even though they’re trying to kill us, we’re still transforming the world. It’s all come true. “History is such a great way of teaching and demonstrating that the Torah is real, that G-d’s words are true because Jewish history is so supernatural.” The truth is, maintains Rabbi Spiro, our role has never changed. Originally, there was no need for a connector between humanity and G-d. All human beings were supposed to directly connect with Him. But humanity blew that thousands of years ago. When Avraham Avinu came on the scene, he took up the mantle of reconnecting humanity to Hashem. “The Ramchal says G-d created the world so He could give. And what’s the greatest gift He can give? A relationship with Himself. Avraham and his descendants were now charged with the responsibility to be a mamleches kohanim and a goy kadosh, to inspire the world to draw closer to Hashem.”

A Mamleches Kohanim According to Rabbi Spiro, many Orthodox Jews misunderstand the purpose of Torah and mitzvos. “People think the mission of a Jew is to learn Torah and do the mitzvos. But that’s not really true. Yes, Torah and mitzvos are our lifeblood. They’re our guidance system. But they’re a means to an end. Our purpose as a Jewish nation is to make a kiddush Hashem, to live and act in a way that inspires others to connect to Him. The means through which that can best happen is through Torah and mitzvos. That has always been our mission.” But like the laws of giving charity, he explains, “first you give to your family, then to your neighbor and then to the stranger. We first bring our own brethren back to Hashem and then move outward.” Rabbi Spiro readily acknowledges why the Orthodox

world has become so insular. The pogroms, the Holocaust and the constant threats to Jewish physical survival over centuries have caused Jews to turn inward. Spiritually, the Reform movement, the Enlightenment, socialism and countless other ideologies pulled Jews away from their tradition, making the frum world increasingly defensive and focused on self-preservation. “But we’re hunkering down in our lifeboats instead of pulling others on board. We live in our golden ghettos with kosher food and our own schools while the rest of the world is falling apart. We’ve become too much like Noach, who spent a century building the ark.” The bottom line, asserts Rabbi Spiro, is that whether we like it or not, we have a mission. “History teaches us that we can never sit back in our little communities ignoring what’s going on around us. When we do that, the world turns to evil, and when it does, we’re always the first target. “Hashem is shutting down the Diaspora to us. The Holocaust shut down much of European Jewry. 1948 to 1967 ethnically cleansed the Arab world of its Jewish population. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990s closed

“The real question each of us should be asking ourselves is, ‘What can I do with my wealth, my talents and my connections to strengthen the Jewish people?’”

down the rest of Eastern Europe and now Western Europe, Canada and even the U.S. are shutting us out. The unprecedented rise in antisemitism, the fact that so many Jewish institutions require armed guards, is like the proverbial frog in the pot of water as it slowly heats up. We must start recognizing the signs. As Rav Chaim of Volozhin said that when Jews don’t make kiddush, the goyim make havdalah. If we’re not proactively filling the world with the word of G-d, the world becomes filled with the opposite, with evil, and that brings antisemitism.” All this evil comes from the Jewish people not understanding what they’re here to accomplish. Secular Jews have no idea who they are and Who they’re representing. It’s the religious community’s job to reach out to their fellow Jews because, according to statistics, Rabbi Spiro says, “We’re hemorrhaging Jews through assimilation, with intermarriage now at about 70 percent. The real question each of us should be asking ourselves is, ‘What can I do with my wealth, my talents and my connections to strengthen the Jewish people?’ We are the G-d squad. If we do it right, the world will stop attacking us.” At the end of days, the Book of Yeshayahu says, the nations of the world will recognize Hashem and come to Jerusalem. “They’ll grab a Jew by his tzitzis and beg him to tell them about G-d.” The closest the world ever came to that ideal so far was during the reign of King Solomon, when the nations came to learn from the Jewish people.

Today, however, our influence is largely indirect. “Our main impact presently comes through Christianity and liberal democracy, both of which derive a huge portion of their worldview from the Hebrew Bible, which remains the best-selling book in human history, selling roughly 4,000 copies every hour of every day.” In Rabbi Spiro’s opinion, the events of October 7 were a huge wake-up call for Am Yisrael. The world’s reaction to Israel fighting what he calls the most unambiguous evil since the Holocaust, and yet blaming the Jewish people, demonstrates that humanity has lost its direction by thinking Israel is the evil one. He also believes that when we fight among ourselves, it’s as if Hashem is saying, “You’re not getting along with your brothers and sisters. I’ll send the goyim after you.” This pattern has repeated itself throughout Jewish history. To Rabbi Spiro, it was no coincidence that October 7 occurred after a long period of social unrest in Israel. Nevertheless, despite the horrors, or perhaps because of them, Rabbi Spiro says there has been a tremendous groundswell of teshuvah. Many of the released hostages have turned to Hashem, and some have become shomer Shabbos. Rabbi Spiro cites Rav Elchonon Wasserman in his wellknown sefer Ikvesa d’Meshicha who compares, the times we’re living in now to a woman in labor with Moshiach being the “delivery.” “October 7,” Rabbi Spiro says, “was a massive contraction. Antisemitism is now the new normal. Of course, we know we’ll get to the end of the story, to Moshiach. But how painfully or painlessly, and how quickly or slowly, we get there is up to us. We’re approaching the year 6000, by which time Moshiach must come. It’s late Friday afternoon already. We’re running out of time.”

eanwhile, Rabbi Spiro sees a silver lining. “Antisemitism wakes Jews up. It forces them to search for the real reason we’re hated so much and, hopefully, brings them back to their true purpose.” Nevertheless, Rabbi Spiro insists that the answer is not to circle the wagons even more. “It’s time to take real action to reach out to our fellow Jews. The religious world needs to be more proactive and less reactive. That’s always the best strategy. In both business and war, you have to stay on the offensive. You have to stand for something, not simply against something. In this case, we have to stand for our mission.” He concludes with a plea for Jewish unity. “We have a unique responsibility to learn from Jewish history. By reconnecting to our past, who we are and where we came from, we can understand where we’re going and what our responsibilities as Jews are. We need to come together no matter what kind of kippah – or no kippah – we’re wearing. In Auschwitz, there was only one line. The Nazis didn’t care what kind of Jew we were.” Rabbi Spiro ends with a message to the world. Quoting Hashem’s promise to Avraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse,” he says, “What you think of the Jewish people and the Jewish state says everything about you and your values. What’s happened over the last few years has been a clear test of those values. If you’re smart, you’ll line up behind us and help us fulfill our destiny.”

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My Israel Home

Rav Mordechai Eliyahu Torah Meets Real Life By Gedaliah Borvick

Harav Mordechai Eliyahu Street in Lod

riving through cities across Israel, you’ll often come across a familiar name: Rav Mordechai Eliyahu. It appears on street signs in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Netanya, Lod, and beyond. The fact that so many streets are named for someone who passed away as recently as 2010 reflects the tremendous impact Rav Eliyahu had on Israeli society and on countless individuals. Rav Mordechai Eliyahu was born in Jerusalem in 1929, the son of a leading kabbalist. At just 28, he became the youngest member ever to serve as a judge in the Israeli rabbinical courts, an early recognition of his remarkable scholarship. He later served as the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983 to 1993, becoming one of the most influential halachic authorities of his generation. He authored numerous works on halacha, and his teachings and rulings have been published in dozens of books. Rav Eliyahu was respected across a wide spectrum of religious communities in Israel; he was the rare figure whose

authority transcended internal divisions. He did not remain confined to the Beit Midrash, though he spent countless hours there immersed in study. For Rav Eliyahu, Torah was not theoretical; it

a steady stream of people who lined up outside his home each day with real-life questions involving medical decisions, financial dilemmas, and family challenges. Rav Eliyahu was also known for his

For Rav Eliyahu, Torah was not theoretical.

was meant to guide people in the practical realities of life. He grappled with big-picture questions of public policy, security, and the challenges facing Israeli society. At the same time, he made himself available to individuals seeking help with their own challenges. He visited IDF bases regularly, speaking with soldiers and addressing the complexities of observing halacha in the context of military service. He also received

special sensitivity to widows and orphans, making time for people who might otherwise have been overlooked. My business partner, Eliezer Goldberg, once shared an interaction that captures the essence and humility of Rav Eliyahu. A client who deeply admired him hesitated to move forward with the purchase of an apartment in Jerusalem’s Givat Mordechai neighborhood, where Rav Eliyahu lived, without first receiving his guidance and blessing.

When asked whether it was a good deal, Rav Eliyahu refrained from offering a ruling. Instead, he directed the question to his wife, explaining that between the two of them, she had the better understanding of the real estate market. And yes, she gave her approval to the deal. The streets named for Rav Mordechai Eliyahu honor a rabbi who applied Torah to address the practical challenges of building and living in a Jewish state. His life reminds us that building a Jewish state is one achievement; infusing it with Torah and holiness is another. I wish all my readers a year filled with Torah and holiness, and good health, too.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real estate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail.com.

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A Touch of Sweetness By DAnieLLe RenOv

Quinoa, Sweet Potato, Cranberry & Almond Salad It’s up for debate whether this is, in fact, a salad at all. However, quinoa is technically a seed (not a grain), it’s healthy, colorful, has fruits and vegetables in it, and I serve it alongside a protein. So now it’s a salad. Ingredients ◦ 1 cup red quinoa, rinsed well ◦ ¼ cup + 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided ◦ ¾ tsp kosher salt, divided ◦ 1¾ cups water ◦ 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar ◦ 2 Tbsp honey ◦ ½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper ◦ 1 large sweet potato (or 2 small), peeled, cut into ¼ inch cubes ◦ ¼ tsp paprika ◦ ¼ tsp sumac ◦ ½ tsp granulated garlic ◦ ½ cup slivered almonds ◦ 1 cup dried cranberries ◦ 4 scallions, chopped ◦ 1 cup parsley leaves, chopped Preparation Place 1 teaspoon oil, quinoa, and ½ teaspoon salt in a small pot (that comes with a lid) over medium high heat. Stir for about 1 minute to ever so slightly toast the seeds. Add water. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and allow quinoa to simmer for about 15 minutes, until it is tender. Pour cooked quinoa into a fine mesh strainer and allow any excess liquid to strain out. (Quinoa retains lots of liquid, so, although this step is not absolutely necessary, it is highly recommended.) Add vinegar, honey, and pepper to the drained quinoa. Mix to distribute evenly. While quinoa is simmering, preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place sweet potato, 2 tablespoons oil, paprika, sumac, garlic, and ¼ teaspoon salt onto 1 prepared baking sheet. Bake for 35 minutes, until the edges of the sweet potato begin to char ever so slightly. Remove from oven; with a spatula, gently move sweet potatoes around so they don’t stick. Meanwhile, place almonds on second prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until almonds are fragrant and lightly golden. Allow each element to cool separately. Once cooled, combine quinoa, sweet potato, almonds, cranberries, scallions, and parsley in a large bowl. Serve cold and enjoy! Tips + Tricks Rinsing quinoa is an essential step. The quinoa seed has a bitter exterior and rinsing the quinoa very well actually removes that outer layer and yields a more palatable flavor!

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Onion, Maple + Balsamic Chicken The chicken you make when you have picky eaters or guests coming over and you don’t know their preferences. It’s a universal crowd pleaser. Ingredients ◦ 1 whole chicken, cut into 10 pieces (with or without skin) ◦ Kosher salt, for sprinkling ◦ Coarsely ground black pepper, for sprinkling Onions ◦ 1 Tbsp canola oil ◦ 5 large onions, halved, thinly sliced ◦ ½ tsp kosher salt ◦ ½ cup maple syrup ◦ ¹⁄₃ cup + 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar ◦ 2 Tbsp soy sauce Preparation Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add oil and onions. Cook onions, stirring constantly for 30-40 minutes, until they are soft and melty. (if you want to walk away from the pot, turn the heat to very low and stir every 7-8 minutes. it will take longer, though.) Once onions are deeply golden, add remaining ingredients. Remove from heat. if making in advance, allow mixture to cool, then store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C. Coat an oven to table baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken into prepared baking dish; season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Top chicken with onion mixture, creating almost a crust over the chicken. Pour any onion juices right on top. Coat a large piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray. Place foil sprayed side down over chicken and seal dish tightly. Bake for 1 hour 25 minutes, covered, then remove foil and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!

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Stovetop Brisket Usually served on Pesach because it’s cooked on the stovetop the whole time, this brisket makes a surprise appearance every few months when I need a meat that’s just simple, delicious, and savory. It’s easy to prepare, can be served with almost any starchy side dish because of its easy flavors, and is basically a crowd pleaser! Ingredients ◦ 1 (3 lb/1½ kg) brisket Spice rub ◦ 3 Tbsp kosher salt ◦ 2 Tbsp coarsely ground black pepper ◦ 2 Tbsp paprika ◦ 2 Tbsp garlic powder ◦ 3 Tbsp brown sugar Meat ◦ 1 Tbsp walnut oil ◦ 2 cups sautéed onions ◦ 3 cloves garlic, sliced ◦ 3 cups red wine ◦ 2 cups chicken stock ◦ 2 bay leaves ◦ 1 tsp kosher salt ◦ 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper Preparation Heat a wide, heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. in a small bowl, combine spices and brown sugar to form a rub. Sprinkle spice rub liberally all over the brisket. Add oil to the pot; add brisket. Sear for 3-4 minutes on each side to seal in all that good flavor. Set aside. Add onions and garlic to the pot; cook for 3-4 minutes. Add wine; bring to a boil. Add stock, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then return brisket to the pot. Lower heat to a very gentle simmer. Cover the pot, cook for 2 hours, then flip meat over. Continue cooking for 1-3 hours until meat is fork tender. Make sure to cool meat in the pan sauce so that it doesn’t dry out! Store and reheat in the pan sauce! Serve hot and enjoy.

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Raspberry Rice Krispy Treats Really, I needed the whole world to know the right way to make rice krispy treats. And that is with marshmallow creme. Not marshmallows. And I stand by that. Forever. Add any pulverized freeze-dried fruit to add fun color and flavor, or leave them plain. In my opinion, they are the universal dessert. Gluten-free, sweet, crunchy, and customizable. An absolute crowd pleaser! Ingredients ◦ 16 cups (400 g) Rice Krispies cereal ◦ 2 (1.2 oz/34 g) bags freeze-dried raspberries (or any freeze dried berry you like!) ◦ 3 (7.5 oz/213 g) jars marshmallow creme ◦ 2 Tbsp canola oil ◦ ¼ tsp kosher salt Preparation Prepare all your ingredients before you start because once you begin it goes fast! Use your hands to crush and crumble one bag of the berries. Set aside. Open jars of fluff and, if you have a microwave, zap for 15-30 seconds to loosen the creme. Meanwhile, place a pot over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, remove pot from heat and liberally spray the pot and your spatula with nonstick cooking spray, then return pot to the stove. (This is crucial to the cleaning process later!) Add oil, salt, and loosened creme to the pot. Stir to combine. Add crushed berries and Rice Krispies. Mix well until every single Rice Krispie is covered in creme. Pour mixture into a greased baking dish or muffin pans with paper liners. Open second bag of berries, grab a handful, and lightly crush while sprinkling over the top for extra berry flavor and because it looks super awesome! Seal tightly with foil or plastic wrap and serve any way you like! Variation: you can absolutely leave out the raspberries to make the best Rice Krispy Treats ever or you can even go wild and change up or swap the raspberries for freezedried blueberries or strawberries! Freezer Tip: To make them the only way eli will eat them, press mixture into greased muffin tins and pop them into the freezer. Store in a container or ziptop bag and serve them for a fun frozen treat! Tips + Tricks: Since this dessert comes together in just a few minutes, on a yom tov when you leave your stove on, i like to have all the components in my house, and while the table is being cleared, i sneak away into the kitchen and make a fresh batch of Rice Krispy Treats and bring the whole pot filled with hot gooey marshmallowy goodness right to the table, and serve it warm, straight out of the pot. it’s such a fun dessert surprise!

These recipes are reprinted with permission from Peas, Love and Carrots by Danielle Renov, published by ArtScroll/Mesorah.

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Health & F tness

Have Your Honey and Eat It, Too A Healthier Rosh Hashana By Aliza Beer MS, RD, CDN

osh Hashana is approaching, and it is time to start thinking ahead about making some healthier choices and starting the year off right! Rosh Hashana meals are often filled with multiple courses, desserts, unhealthy treats, copious portions, and some healthy, but very high-calorie, foods. This year, Rosh Hashana falls over Shabbos, so there are fewer consecutive meals to navigate. This can make it somewhat easier to maintain a regular eating pattern and avoid several days of heavier eating. With a little planning, you can enjoy the meals while still keeping your overall eating balanced. A few simple strategies can help reduce the likelihood of overeating, excessive snacking, or feeling uncomfortably full. The goal is not to restrict, but rather to be mindful of portions, meal composition, and eating habits so that you can enjoy the yom tov while still supporting your health and maintaining your weight.

Start With a Plan One of the biggest mistakes people make before a meal is trying not to eat all day so they can “make room” for later. While this may seem logical, arriving at the meal extremely hungry often makes portion control much harder. When you are overly hungry, it becomes much easier to eat quickly, take large portions, snack continuously while waiting for the meal to begin, and eat past the point of comfortable fullness. By the time you realize you have had enough, you may already have eaten far more than you intended. Instead, try to eat normally earlier in the day. A balanced breakfast, followed by a small snack if needed, can help you arrive at the meal hungry but not starving. If you typically eat breakfast before davening, focus on a protein-rich breakfast with less emphasis on carbohydrates, since you will likely be enjoying

pieces throughout the meal. From there, consider the other carbohydrate choices being served. If you have a larger portion of one carbohydrate, such as challah or a kugel, keep the portions of the other starches smaller or even non-existent. If you want to try several different dishes, take a small portion of each rather than a full serving of everything. When possible, choose higher-fiber or less refined carbohydrate options, such as wholewheat, whole-grain, or spelt challah or sourdough.

Build the Plate

plenty of traditional carbohydrate-rich foods at the meal. Some options include Greek yogurt with berries, hard-boiled eggs, or low-fat cottage cheese with veggies or fruit. This is especially important on Friday. Since the first meal is a Friday night Shabbos meal, there may be a longer period between lunch and dinner than usual. Having a reasonable snack in the afternoon can prevent the classic scenario of sitting down at the Shabbos table so hungry that everything looks irresistible. Good options for snack include an apple with peanut butter, cottage cheese with berries, Greek yogurt, or another snack that combines protein with fiber to help keep you satisfied until the meal.

Think About the Meal Before You Start Eating With multiple courses and dishes being served, it can be surprisingly difficult to keep track of how much you have eaten. A helpful strategy is to look over the meal before filling your plate and decide which foods you really want to have. You do not have to eat everything that is served. If

there are several dishes you would like to try, take smaller portions of each rather than a full serving of everything. It can also be helpful to start your meal with salads, vegetables, broth-based soups, and other lighter options. Filling up on these foods first can help take the edge off your hunger before moving on to the starchier and richer dishes. Once you have had some salad and vegetables, you can then choose a reasonable portion of starchy food or other sides if you are still hungry. This allows you to enjoy a variety of foods without automatically taking large portions of everything on the table.

Keep a Carb Count The meals often include several sources of carbohydrates, including challah, potatoes, rice, kugel, side dishes, and desserts. While there is no need to avoid carbohydrates, having large portions of several different carbohydrate-rich foods at the same meal can add up quickly. Since challah or sourdough is usually served first, start by deciding how much you plan to have and set that portion aside rather than continuing to take additional

When there are many choices on the table, start with salads, vegetables, and protein-rich foods. These foods can help satisfy your hunger and make it easier to be mindful of portions when you move on to the starchier and richer dishes. A useful approach is to build your plate as follows: • ½ plate: Vegetables and salads • ¼ plate: Protein • ¼ plate: Starches and carbohydrates For example, a plate could include grilled chicken, roasted zucchini and peppers, a large salad, and a small serving of potatoes. Another meal could include baked salmon, roasted cauliflower, a cucumber-tomato salad, and a small piece of challah. This approach allows the meal to feel abundant without every item on the plate being calorie dense. Vegetables are particularly helpful during holiday meals because they add volume, fiber, color, and variety. Roasted vegetables, salads, grilled vegetables, vegetable soups, and cooked vegetable dishes can all help make the meal satisfying without relying entirely on starches.

Main Course Healthy eating doesn’t have to be eating a salad while everyone else eats the main course. Protein is an important part

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of a satisfying meal. Chicken, turkey, fish, lean meat, and other protein-rich foods can help keep you full and reduce the urge to continue snacking later. However, pay attention to the portion and preparation. For example, a moderate serving of lean brisket paired with vegetables and a small starch portion can fit comfortably into a balanced meal. If the main dish is particularly rich, balance it with lighter sides rather than adding several other rich foods. For example: Brisket, roasted vegetables, salad, and a small potato portion is a very different meal from: Brisket, potato kugel, rice, sweet potatoes, multiple starchy salads, and large dessert. The issue is rarely one individual food. It is often the combination of several calorie-dense foods in the same meal.

Have a Dessert Strategy Dessert can be one of the more challenging parts of the Rosh Hashana meal, especially when there are several different options to choose from. Choose the desserts that you actually enjoy and feel are worth having. You also do not necessarily need to have dessert at every meal! It is completely okay to finish your meal without the extra calories, especially if you are already comfortably full. If you do want something sweet but are looking for a lighter option, fresh fruit, a baked apple, or a serving of compote can be a very satisfying way to end the meal. It can also be helpful to wait until dessert is actually served rather than snacking on sweets throughout the meal. There is a big difference between choosing one dessert and continuously picking at cake, cookies, candy, or other sweets that are sitting on the table. If several desserts are being offered, consider taking small portions of the ones you would most like to try. This allows you to enjoy a variety without taking a full serving of each dessert. Most importantly, make dessert an intentional part of the meal. Sit down, take your portion, and enjoy it rather than eating while cleaning up, standing near the dessert table, or walking through the kitchen. Those small, unplanned bites can add up quickly without feeling like you actually had a dessert.

Night Meals Try to keep the nighttime meals somewhat lighter than the daytime meals. A later, heavier meal can leave you feeling overly full and uncomfortable, especially when there are multiple courses and sev-

eral different dishes being served. Instead, focus the meal around lighter proteins, vegetables, salads, and soups. For example, a nighttime meal can include fish or chicken, vegetable soup, several salads, roasted vegetables, and a small portion of a starch. This still allows for a complete and satisfying meal without every course being heavy or rich. If you are not particularly hungry, you can also keep the meal very simple and have just a bowl of vegetable soup or another light option. You do not need to feel deprived for choosing a lighter meal; you have been eating throughout the day, and it is okay to give your body a break when you are not hungry. This is especially relevant on the second night, after already having two heavy meals. Many people are still full at that time but push themselves to eat the delicious food in front of them. It is helpful to listen to your hunger cues, and, if you are feeling full, start with a smaller portion and see how you feel before taking more. If you are genuinely hungry, you can always have additional food. The goal is not to skip meals or restrict yourself, but to let your hunger guide how much you eat.

Be Mindful of Honey Honey is the symbol of the Rosh Hashana, and it is important to participate in the custom. However, it is easy to forget that honey is still a concentrated source of calories, even though it is natural and minimally processed. Honey has about 30% more calories than sugar! A small amount can go a long way, so try to use it sparingly rather than pouring or dipping generously.

Beverages Beverages can be easy to overlook during the meals, but they can contribute a significant amount of extra calories without adding much fullness. Sweetened drinks, juices, flavored beverages, and alcoholic drinks can all add calories throughout the meal. Try to make water your main beverage throughout the day. If you enjoy juice, wine, or another sweet beverage with your meal, be mindful of the portion rather than continuously refilling your glass. Keeping a glass of water at the table and alternating between water and your other beverage can help you stay hydrated while naturally limiting how much of the higher calorie drink you consume. Staying well hydrated is also important, as thirst can sometimes be mistaken for hunger, especially after spending long periods sitting at the table.

Listen to Your Hunger and Fullness There is a difference between feeling satisfied and feeling overly full. You can enjoy a meal and feel satisfied without eating until you are stuffed. One of the easiest ways to practice this during Rosh Hashana is to slow down and give yourself time to notice how you are feeling as you eat. The holiday meal is not a race, so take your time, put your fork down occasionally, and enjoy the company around the table. Between courses or before taking seconds, give yourself a few minutes to check in with yourself. If you are still hungry, have more. If you are already satisfied but simply enjoying the taste of the food, you may decide that you have had enough. Taking this short pause can help you recognize the difference between “I am still hungry” and “I would enjoy eating more.” Both are perfectly valid feelings, but recognizing the difference can help you make a more intentional choice about whether to continue eating.

Staying Active Take advantage of the nice weather on Rosh Hashana and try to make time to get outside. Going for a walk after a meal or at another convenient time during the day is an easy way to stay active while also enjoying time with family and friends. Even a short 10-20-minute walk can be a refreshing break from sitting at the table or couch and can help you feel more energized.

Leftovers Leftovers can become a problem when people continue eating excessively for sev-

eral days afterward. Rather than keeping every dish readily available in the refrigerator, portion leftovers soon after the meal. Some can be frozen for another time. Others can be combined with lighter foods. For example, leftover chicken can become part of a salad. Roasted vegetables can be served with eggs or another protein. A small portion of brisket can be paired with a large vegetable salad rather than another big meal. The goal is not to waste food. It is to prevent every meal after Rosh Hashana from becoming another yom tov meal.

Give Yourself Permission to Enjoy Healthy eating during Rosh Hashana should not feel like a diet challenge. Try to be mindful rather than restrictive. You do not need to count every calorie, avoid foods, or refuse dessert in order to maintain your weight. Instead, focus on making balanced choices throughout the meal and listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues. This approach can allow you to enjoy time with family and friends, and begin the new year with healthy habits that are realistic and sustainable. Wishing all of my wonderful readers a kesiva v’chasima tova and a healthy and happy new year!

Aliza Beer is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutrition. She has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY. Patients’ success has been featured on the Dr. Oz show. Aliza can be reached at alizabeer@gmail.com, and you can follow her on Instagram at @alizabeer

ALizA’S CoMPoTE

APPLE CoBBLEr

• 5 Macintosh apples, peeled and cut up into small chunks • 5 Bartlett pears, peeled and cut up into small chunks • 1 bag frozen sliced peaches • 1 bag frozen pitted cherries • Fresh or frozen sliced strawberries • 4-5 black plums (when available) • Cinnamon

• 6 to 8 Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced • 1/2 cup oats • 1/2 cup white whole wheat or almond flour • 3 tablespoons brown sugar • 1/4 cup monk fruit • 2 teaspoons cinnamon • 3 tablespoons oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place apples into a greased round oven-safe dish. Combine remaining ingredients for the topping, crumbling with your fingers. Sprinkle over apples. Bake for one hour.

Ingredients

Peel and cut up apples and pears. Mix all fruit with cinnamon and place into a 9x13-inch pan. Cover tightly and bake for three hours at 350°F. Serve cold and enjoy!

Ingredients

Preparation

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Shmooze & Muse

How to Stop the Talking in Shul By Mordechai Schmutter

eople always tell you that you can’t talk in shul, and that’s super important. But it’s easier said than done. For one thing, it’s good to make friends with your seatmates, because if you don’t know them on a personal level, you just get annoyed by their constant clearing their throat and squeaking their chairs and squeezing by you every two seconds because they can’t stop pacing. What are they so stressed about? You can’t even ask them. Also, for some people, shul is their entire social time. Everyone’s always busy. Maybe their home lives are too demanding, and this is the only time they can get out. “This guy is my friend, but our wives don’t click. When am I supposed to talk to him?” I don’t talk in shul, but it’s probably not because I’m a big tzaddik. Those two facts are totally unrelated. I don’t talk because I’m an introvert. I have barely enough conversation in me for the way home; I’m not going to waste it in shul when I can just hide behind the “no talking” thing. But apparently some people do talk in shul. (Not to me.) In fact, it’s gotten so bad that there are now these whole campaigns, and they put up signs everywhere, though I’m not sure what the point of the signs is. The people who don’t talk don’t need them, and the people who do talk aren’t very big readers. The signs say things like, “If you come to shul to talk, where do you go to daven?” which is not as clever as they think, because Hashem is everywhere. My friends are in shul. Where do I go to daven?! Honestly, I daven everywhere. Hotels, amusement parks, airplanes... “If you go to an air-

plane to daven, where do you go to sit in a crowded space and be annoyed at the people next to you?” All these posters and pamphlets say, “Stop the Talking in Shul!” though I don’t think they how. They make it seem like it’s very simple. Step one: Go to shul. There is no step two. Or maybe they do. They say, “Go to our website!” They have a website that you could refer people to so they can get on their phone in shul and watch a video of a shiur about how to stop talking. “You’re not supposed to watch them in shul…” “If I had time to watch them when I’m not in shul, I would have time to talk to my friend when I’m not in shul.” It’s not so easy to stop talking in shul. Sometimes you have timely messages for your friends that can’t wait until later. “Remember 45 minutes ago when I yelped? You were on my toe.” “I know; I would have said I was sorry, but I don’t talk during davening. Did you see where my toddler disappeared to an hour ago?” Sure, some things can be expressed without talking, like “Yes,” and “No,” and “That guy over there,” and “Wake up.” But there are some messages that can’t be expressed without charades. So I say that, at least for starters, what we need is a page of common timely phrases that we can point to in shul when there’s a message we need to get across. And then the other person can nod their head in response or maybe point to a different phrase. Will it work? Don’t ask me; I’m davening. Here ae some suggestions of phrases: -No, don’t read the whole article. I’m pointing at a specific line.

-Your chair is on my foot. -I’m sorry. -I’m sorry, but I don’t talk during davening. -Can I have that newsletter when you’re finished with it? -Can I borrow your side sefer when you’re done with it? -Excuse me. -I need to get through again. -Boy, you’re really getting a lot of steps in today. -Did I miss Shofar/Megillah/Korbanos/Barchu? -You’re in my spot! -I don’t see your name on it. -Did you see where my kid went while I was davening Shemoneh Esrei/ doing pesicha/under my tallis? -What page are you on? -That’s not what page everyone else is on. -Pssssssssssssssh! -Ssssh! -Was that 100 kolos? I lost count. -Tabak? -Is this my tabak or yours? They smell the same. -Do you know if there’s a kiddush? -Mazal tov! -Mazal tov (sarcastic) -It’s not a dirty tissue. I was using it as a bookmark. -Do you know what page we’re up to in the blue Chumashim? -Nisht oif Shabbos geredt, but I made this great investment this week. You should get in on it, too. -Thank you for putting my Chumash away, but I brought it from home. -Leshana tovah tikaseiv v’seichaseim l’alter l’chaim tovim ul’shalom. -Leshana tovah tikaseivu v’seichaseimu l’alter l’chaim tovim ul’shalom. -I can’t do Hagbah today. I’m having

issues with my back/knee/wrist/gym instructor. -What is the halacha if I forgot (point to page) in Shemoneh Esrei? -I don’t know; go ask the rav. -The rav is still davening Shemoneh Esrei. -Go look it up. -Everyone in front of the seforim shrank is still davening Shemoneh Esrei. -Can you hear the chazzan? I’ve just been saying Amen when the people around me say Amen. -This is not my used tissue. It was here when I sat down. -We have to leave the women’s section. A woman just showed up. -Leshana tovah tikaseivi v’seichaseimi l’alter l’chaim tovim ul’shalom. -Do you know if the men are sitting or standing right now? -Well, can you peek? -Can you please find someone to find someone to get my husband’s attention? -I can’t hear the chazzan. All I hear is men pushing in chairs. -Please don’t come into the women’s section with your noisy children. Send them to your husband. -Would you like to come over for the seudah? -I have to ask my wife/I have to let my husband know. -You can start Chazaras HaShatz. If anyone has a problem with it, I’ll take the heat. -Do you have room for any more kids under your tallis? I already have seven in here.

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Are we teaching our families to aspire for valuables or values?

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-I hear that our sports team is baruch Hashem doing very well, both as far as league rankings as well as financially. -Can you believe that trade they made in our sports team/the stock market/the trade show? -We missed you last week. -Yeah, I was at a simcha/my in-laws’. -Can we say Vayechulu together? -I wish this chazzan would hurry up. I’m double parked. -I wish this chazzan would slow down. I’m still trying to catch up. -What happened to your ankle? -Skiing accident/walking accident/I don’t know; I just woke up like this. -Can you ask the candy-man if he has any cough drops/breath mints? -I don’t have a cough. I’m trying to get your attention. -I can’t daven Mussaf. I’m still trying to catch up. -Do you feel a draft? -You split your pants. -Please open the window. -I need the window closed. The breeze is blowing on me. -I wish the air were blowing on me. Want to trade seats?

-Maybe, if you’re willing to show my kids what to say in davening. -What if my entire family trades with your entire family? -Your shel rosh is crooked. -Would you like to play with the stuff in my shtender? -We need this table for the kiddush. -Am I in your seat? -No-no-no! It’s okay. -No, seriously. -I don’t need the seat. It’s fine. -Have you seen my Tatty? -Can I go under your tallis? -Do you and your arbah minim mind if a second person sits at this table? -Can I look at your tallis bag for a moment? I didn’t catch your name. -You weren’t supposed to keep the Aliyah card. -In or out! We don’t have to hear all the kids screaming in the hallway. -I believe you had hotza’ah v’hachnasah? -Is there a levanah? I forgot to look. -What time did your Seder finish? -Make sure to look at what time it is when we finish davening, because people in other shuls are going to ask. -Go to Mommy.

-Go to Tatty. -Tatty just said to go to you. -So the guy yelling out random parts of davening isn’t the chazzan? -You’re davening the wrong Shemoneh Esrei. -Not that one either. -You guys think you’re in the back of the room, but all the women are watching you have your conversation/play charades. -I was just resting my eyes. -Can I have a lolly for my sister too? -No, you’re an adult. You can just buy her lollies. -You can back up; I’m actually finished Shemoneh Esrei. I’m just standing here. -Do you have an extra pekalech? I threw mine too early. -How many pages are left in your machzor? -Really? Can we switch? -Are you a guest or are you new? -I’ve been coming here for weeks. -Yeah, that’s why I’m not sure. -Stop clearing your throat so much. You’re confusing the chazzan. -Are those your aravos from last year?

-Can you say Barchu out loud at the end of Maariv? I have social anxiety. -I don’t think we have a minyan anymore. -If anyone asks, I’m running out to get the guy who just left. -Can I borrow money? I need to up my bid. -How is the chazzan saying the Selichos so fast, but then the Kel Melechs so slow? -Why did the gabbai announce that we’re not supposed to talk until after the last kolos if we’re never supposed to talk anyway? -Wait. What time did davening start? -Hold on. I’m trying to find you a specific line. -No, you can’t borrow this article. My wife needs the recipe on the back.

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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