The 5 Towns Jewish Times

!jnau raf dj $1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM VOL. 8 NO. 3 16 TISHREI 5768 ,ufux SEPTEMBER 28, 2007 INSIDE Heard In The Bagel Store Larry Gordon 12 A Torah’s Journey Becky Amster 26 30 32 37 MindBiz Esther Mann, LMSW Glad That’s Over Hannah Reich Berman World Of Real Estate Anessa V. Cohen Rabbi Zev Friedman of Rambam Mesivta at UN protest. See Page 44 “Bentching Lulav.” Oil on canvas by Israeli artist C. H. Nathan. See more Jewish art at www.judaicartexchange.com. Agudah of W. Lawrence Torah dedication. See Page 56 CHILDREN, TRIPS, AND SUKKOS Halachic Musings BY RABBI YAIR HOFFMAN DIRECTOR, TIFERET CHAYA PROGRAM FOR GIRLS F R O M T HE E D I TO R ’S DESK BY LARRY GORDON Ahmadinejad’s Lulav This is not just another sensationalist visit by one of the world’s premier tyrants to the largest city in the bastion of democracy, the United States. Nor is it necessarily just a coincidence that as we are putting the finishing touches on our sukkahs and related details that the world’s leaders will be convening here in New York at the United Nations. Leaders will take to the podium at the UN General Assembly and, while the populations of many of these countries wallow in poverty and hunger, there will be one recurring theme articulated repeatedly: the need to stop Zionist imperialism, complaints of Israel’s occupation of poor Palestinians’ lands, and the need to hold in check or reduce the size of this tiny free, open, and democratic Jewish country even more. We’ll be whittling away at our lulavim, surveying and analyzing our esrogim, careContinued on Page 4 EVEN THE LAND NEEDS A BREAK Our Aliyah Chronicle, Part 58 BY SHMUEL KATZ On motzaei Shabbat Shuvah, I joined with some of our students for one of my alltime favorite activities in Israel. We got together with Standing Together and brought pizza and drinks to chayalim (soldiers) at security checkpoints. Nothing makes Continued on Page 18 Annual Autumn Sampler for Chai Lifeline. See Page 38 CANDLE LIGHTING Sept. 26 – 6:27 PM Sept. 27 – 7:30 PM* Sept. 28 – 6:24 PM *or later Pleasure Trips On Sukkos Sukkos is upon us, and included in the Yom Tov preparations is the invariable Chol HaMo‘ed trip. The Chol HaMo‘ed trip involves much more than the trip itself—it Continued on Page 10 2 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 3 FROM THE EDITOR Continued from Front Cover P.O. BOX 690 LAWRENCE, NY 11559 516-984-0079 editor@5TJT.com ads@5TJT.com LARRY GORDON Publisher/Editor ESTA J. GORDON Managing Editor YOSSI GORDON Director of Sales CHANA ROCHEL ROSS Editorial Assistant SIDI BARON YAKOV SERLE JERRY MARKOVITZ Sales Representatives SHMUEL GERBER Chief Copy Editor MICHELE JUSTIC Copy Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Howard M. Adelsberg, Irwin H. Benjamin Hannah Reich Berman, Anessa V. Cohen Danny Block, Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginzberg Yochanan Gordon, Michele Herenstein Rabbi Yair Hoffman, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky Shmuel Katz, Esther Mann, Rochelle Miller Rabbi Yoni Posnick, Naomi Ross Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow, Eli Shapiro MICHAL WEINSTEIN, ROB FILONUK Staff Graphic Artists IVAN NORMAN, IRA THOMAS Staff Photographers FRANKEL & CO., CREATIVE DESIGN LLC Design & Production TALIYE CORLEY Art Director SUZETTE LEE Assistant Art Director The Five Towns Jewish Times is an independent weekly newspaper. Opinions expressed by writers and columnists are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. We are not responsible for the kashrus or hashgachah of any product or establishment advertised in the Five Towns Jewish Times. fully placing our haddasim and aravos, while at the UN, they look for a consensus for the cause of the problems that plague our world. They’ll be condemning Israel and Zionism, insisting that it is the way of today’s Israelis that is the sole cause of the interminable oppression that plagues Palestinians still living as refugees in 2007. This will be happening at the same time that we are putting the finishing touches on our sukkahs, the booths we build, usually of fiberglass or wood, near our homes and in which we take our meals and in which some of us will even sleep over the next week or so. The question begging to be asked is, what is the connection between these two seemingly disconnected scenarios? It might be absolutely nothing (though that’s doubtful), or it can be everything. Sure, we are compelled by our law books to acquire the four species, the arba minim, and bring them together, which is a commandment of the Torah that has been interpreted by our Sages as being representative of the unity, particularly at this time of year, of all the Jewish people of the world. And if there is anything that is missing today among the relatively small number of Jews who populate the world and among our disparate communities who observe their Jewishness on a myriad of levels, it is Jewish unity. In modern times, the occasions on which we’ve managed to come togeth- er in some fashion are usually when avowed enemies of Jews and Israel and those who threaten and vocalize the desire to destroy Israel rear their ugly heads. Today, if we had to identify only one such individual, there would be no one more suitable than Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Among the personalities notorious for spewing Jew-hatred who have risen onto the world scene and at the UN every now and then, he must be the worst one since Yasser Arafat. In the meantime, you read the news and you know about Iran’s being the biggest exporter of terror in the world. You know that they stand with the Arab world that surrounds Israel articulating their desire to incinerate the Jewish state. They are dabbling in nuclear warheads, helping North Korea hide nuclear material and equipment in Syria, and so on. At the same time, Mr. Ahmadinejad arrives in New York, is invited to speak at Columbia University, and tells the American press that Iran has no nuclear designs and that the U.S. is misleading the American people about Iran’s objective. More than anything, as you might have figured, this is the new indulgence in the famous tactic of the “big lie,” invented and applied with precision by the Germans during World War II. It’s used by the presidents of Iran and Syria as well as by Palestinian leaders, who can take a phrase or a declaration and turn it and skin it in Continued on Page 8 FEATURES Around The Five Towns Chassidic Masters Rabbi Lazer Gurkow 40 46 72 38 Classified Ads Five Towns Simcha Heard In The Bagel Store Larry Gordon 12 Hock Of The Rock Eli Shapiro 35 Insights On The Torah Rabbi Yoni Posnick 48 51 9 Letters To The Editor Luach MindBiz Esther Mann, LMSW 30 Real Estate Anessa V. Cohen 37 That’s The Way It Is! Hannah Reich Berman 32 4 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 5 6 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 7 FROM THE EDITOR Continued from Page 4 so many ways so as to distort and mangle any formula or idea, always leaving in place, despite the rhetoric, their one and ultimate desire: the destruction of Israel. That the UN General Assembly session comes to New York sandwiched between Yom Kippur and Sukkos also cannot escape notice. Just a few days ago, we stood in shul late into the night, after the chanting of the annual Kol Nidrei prayer. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our year, which is dotted with holy days of Shabbos and Yom Tov, yet none more holy than this day of Yom Kippur. And there is something universal about Yom Kippur as it impacts on the life of every Jew no matter his or her level of observance. As we noted last week, Jews attend shul on Yom Kippur and very often this is one of the only days of the year that they attend or think of attending. This is the one chance during the year that religious Jewish life, as we know it, gets their attention. And what is it about the service that is so compelling? Is it Israel? Life? Health? Wealth? No, all that stuff comes later in the service. First and foremost as we stand together to initiate the observance it is about Kol Nidrei, vows. Vows? What is it about vows that dominates the inaugural service of Yom Kippur? Contemplating this issue, it appears that this may be one of the great points of contention that separates us from the G-dliness that we endeavor to achieve particularly at this time of year. We make promises, vows, assurances, and guarantees; we swear and make oaths throughout the year in a rather fast and loose way. We promise He told Abraham long ago that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt, that they would enter the Promised Land, and that in later times His very existence would be concealed for generations. He said it, and so it was. He said it, and so it will be. I HAFTR student Aaron Neufeld protesting the presence of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad outside the United Nations on Monday afternoon. people that we’ll be wherever it is in ten minutes, only to arrive an hour later. And that’s the least of it. On the other hand, when G-d promises or says something, that is exactly the way it is, thoroughly and completely, although His ways are often circuitous, a mystery to the human mind. believe that this is one of the key things that sets us apart—we who have been created by Him in His image— from Him and His ways. He means what He says, while we all too often are not exactly that way. And today that is what the United Nations is all about. Some have called it the “den of lies,” which others refer to as diplomacy. The UN is about saying things one cannot deliver or things one does not mean or intend to carry out. This is Mr. Ahmadinejad’s game; it’s Mr. Assad’s game in Syria; it’s the game played expertly by the weak and incompetent Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas. And, sadly, it’s the game that is being played with inefficiency and embarrassment by Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert. So as we enter the celebration of Sukkos in the aftermath of our personal Kol Nidreis, we are charged with rectifying that which has been so desperately distorted, the best example of such distortion taking place this week at the UN. This is when we take into our hands the lulav (representing our spine or backbone), the esrog (representing our hearts), the hadassim (which represent our eyes and that which we see), and the aravos (shaped like our lips, imploring us to watch what we say). We bring these four species together on Sukkos in an effort to herald greater Jewish unity and truth, in a declaration of victory in the aftermath of our painstaking efforts of Rosh Hashanah and the just completed Yom Kippur. It is the unity and truth of that which unites us—and that is the formula to defeat the lies of the Ahmadinejads, just by taking our lulav and esrog in hand and holding them high. .ohkaurhc vtcv vbak Chag Sameiach. O Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com. 8 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES CALENDAR LUACH Sept. 26-Oct. 8 ZIP Code: 11516 14 Tishrei – Erev Yom Tov Wednesday, September 26 Erev Sukkos Eiruv Tavshilin Candle Lighting* (1st night): 6:27 pm 15 Tishrei – Yom Tov Thursday, September 27 1st day of Sukkos Candle Lighting* (2nd night): 7:30 pm (or later) 16 Tishrei – Yom Tov/Erev Shabbos Friday, September 28 2nd day of Sukkos Daf yomi: Kesuvos 27 Z’manim*: Earliest tallis: Sunrise: Latest Shema: M. Av. Gr’a 9:10 am 9:46 am 6:24 pm 5:55 am 6:48 am Candle Lighting (Shabbos): 17 Tishrei – Shabbos Saturday, September 29 Shabbos Chol HaMo‘ed Shabbos ends**: 7:22 pm 72 min. 7:53 pm 18 Tishrei – 20 Tishrei Sunday, September 30–Tuesday, October 2 2nd through 4th days Chol HaMo‘ed 21 Tishrei – Erev Yom Tov Wednesday, October 3 Hoshana Rabbah Eiruv Tavshilin Candle Lighting* (1st night): 6:16 pm 22 Tishrei – Yom Tov Thursday, October 4 Shemini Atzeres Yizkor Candle Lighting* (2nd night): 7:19 pm (or later) 23 Tishrei – Yom Tov/Erev Shabbos Friday, October 5 Simchas Torah Daf yomi: Kesuvos 34 Earliest tallis: Sunrise: Latest Shema: M. Av. Gr’a 9:13 am 9:49 am 6:13 pm 6:02 am 6:56 am Candle Lighting (Shabbos): 24 Tishrei – Shabbos Saturday, October 6 Shabbos Parashas Bereishis Blessing of Chodesh Cheshvan Shabbos ends**: 7:10 pm 72 min. 7:42 pm * based on times at MyZmanim.com ** add a few minutes for tosefos Shabbos according to your minhag Municipal Calendar For 5 Towns and NYC Thursday–Friday, September 27–28 & October 4–5 NYC alternate-side regulations suspended. October 8 Columbus Day. NYS banking holiday; public schools closed; local post offices closed; no garbage collection. Public transit: weekday schedule. NYC: alternate-side parking regulations suspended; other parking regulations remain in effect. 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 9 Halachic Musings Continued from Front Cover involves deciding where to go, who exactly goes, and what to do when we get there. But wait. What about a sukkah? Do we need to make arrangements for a sukkah in which to eat on the trip? Does it depend upon the type of trip? The question of course only applies to the male members of the family, since the women are exempt from the obligation to eat in the sukkah. (It is a mitzvah for women to eat in the sukkah, but they are not obligated to do so.) Also, technically, although one can be stringent and avoid eating anything outside of the sukkah, the basic obligation is to eat one’s “set meals” in the sukkah. One may eat foods in an arai manner, which means not in a set meal. Certain foods by definition are considered “set meal” foods, such as a mezonos food (foods for which a mezonos berachah must be recited). There is a fascinating beraisa quoted in the Gemara in Sukkah 26a: Travelers, holchei derachim, who travel in the daytime are exempt from the obligations of sukkah during the day and are obligated at night. Travelers who travel during the night are exempt at night and obligated during the day. The explanation for this beraisa is found in Rashi: The verse tells us “You shall dwell in sukkos”—just as you dwell in your homes. Just as the entire year one does not refrain from traveling for business purposes, so too during all the days of the holiday that are not Yom Tov the Torah did not require one to avoid travel. The Shulchan Aruch rules in accordance with this beraisa in Tractate Sukkah. The question arises, however, as to who exactly is included in holchei derachim, travelers. Does it mean anyone? When the family takes its annual trip to the amusement park, are we considered travelers? Unfortunately, not so fast. Some poskim distinguish between a “pleasure” trip and a “true need” trip. Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt’l (Igros Moshe, O.C. III No. 93), rules that one who takes a pleasure trip is not included in the permissive clause of this beraisa in Sukkah. He rules that people are “holchei derachim” only when traveling for a substantive purpose. Pleasure trips, in Rav Moshe Feinstein’s perspective, are not considered substantive enough to exempt one from the mitzvah of Sukkah. Rav Moshe did make an exception when it comes to traveling to Eretz Yisrael (or another country, for that matter), when the traveler could not make the trip during another time. He writes (Even HaEzer IV 32:8) that if one travels extensively for a short period of time and has no other time to do so, it is not considered a pleasure trip, but rather a “true need” and is therefore permitted. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt’l, is also quoted as ruling that Chol HaMo‘ed pleasure trips on Sukkos do not exempt a person from the obligation to eat in a sukkah (see Sefer Succas HaShaleim, p. 458). This is also the view of Rav Ovadiah Yosef, shlita (Yechaveh Daas 3:47). The Az Nidberu (11:34), however, is lenient and does exempt the pleasure traveler from eating in a sukkah, based on the aforementioned beraisa. 10 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES But he adds the caveat that when it is easily done, one should seek a sukkah. The issue is thus the subject of debate among contemporary poskim. However, if one utilizes the halachic concept of poik chazi mai amah devar—go out and see how the nation conducts itself—one seems to see that the halachah is in accordance with the majority view as expressed by Rav Moshe, Rav Shlomo Zalman, and Rav Ovadiah Yosef. Most men and young boys, when taking Chol HaMo‘ed trips, do not pack a mezonos lunch. They generally only eat fruits and shehakols. There is another issue that this brings up, however. Even though most poskim seem to indicate that one is obligated in the mitzvah of sukkah when on a pleasure trip, there does seem to be some debate on the subject. This brings up the question as to whether the pleasure tripper recites a blessing when eating in the sukkah, since, according to some authorities, he is technically exempt. One is tempted to say that the situation should be no different than the custom of women according to Ashkenazic Jewry: they are exempt, yet they still recite the blessing! If so, the same ruling should also apply to men when they are exempt. Yet we do find that when it is raining heavily and one eats in the sukkah (aside from the first night), the person eating in the rain should not recite the blessing, because he has the exemption of metzta‘eir patur min ha’sukkah—if one is extremely uncomfortable, one is not obligated to eat in the sukkah. This is based on the writings of Acharonim. For example, the Machatzis haShekel, in the beginning of O.C. 639, writes that whoever is exempt from sukkah does not recite a blessing. It would seem, however, that in this case, it is significantly different, and one would still recite a blessing. The Machatzis haShekel cited earlier may be referring to a case where the person is exempt and is therefore not fully appreciating the mitzvah of sukkah. In such a case, the blessing perhaps should not be recited. When the person falls under the rubric of metzta‘er— pained or in a state of great discomfort—he cannot fully appreciate what the mitzvah is all about. Here, however, he is fully appreciating it, in that he is seeking to perform it even when he technically does not have to do so. How do we fully appreciate the mitzvah of sukkah? By realContinued on Page 16 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 11 Shopping For No Particular Reason I despise those chairs in women’s clothing stores that are set aside for men accompanying their wives, daughters, or friends so that they can sit and rest while the women are intensely perusing the aisles. I don’t have to sit and watch or read or study. I can move down those aisles just as well, though in 25 years I have yet to find a thing for anyone. Sometimes, however, in my unrestrained urge to assist in the process—or to speed it up (I am told)—I might be drawn to a suit or some outfit that catches my fancy— only to be looked at in bewilderment and awe along with stares that say, “What are you thinking?” Or, “Just stay out of the process!” Of course, there is nothing I’d enjoy more than to be excused from the process, and as time has marched on, I have—I think—earned the right not to be drawn into these torture chambers known as stores or cajoled into the lifedraining human exercise of shopping. I have to admit that years ago I genuine- ly and naively believed that one went shopping because he needed things— clothing for Yom Tov or school, or shoes, or some other necessity. Then, one day I found myself caught in this shopping trap because, well, shopping is important—it was the only way to get stuff—but, more importantly, shopping is supposed to be fun! I looked hard; I looked everywhere; but I could not find the fun. All I could find are those chairs placed in out-of-the-way places so that we men can stay out of the way. Some stores put those chairs for people to sit on right up front near the front windows so that everyone could see them sitting there, most staring at the floor or into a book or just staring straight ahead, at nothing at all. Some men go along on shopping trips because they like shopping. My position is a little different; I don’t like shopping, not even for myself. It’s a tedious, time-consuming process— necessary, but certainly not a sport or an American national pastime that I subscribe to. Okay here it is: I really do not like shopping—but, as with so many other things, I do it anyway. But I’m trying to cut back. The problem with shopping is that it has become a thing to do, frequently without a defined objective. Buying things is only one of the desired results of shopping. It’s possible to have a perfectly wonderful shopping experience and not purchase a solitary thing. Sometimes you can ask someone, “So what did you do yesterday?” and they will say that they went shopping. If you ask what it is that they bought, it is quite possible that they will tell you, “absolutely nothing,” but that they had a great time. I just don’t see it. While I think I’ve always felt this way, I think that the trauma of shopping was really hammered home some years ago when some of my children were very young. The notion existed that, come the new school year, there was only one person on the planet who had the G-d-given ability to fit the kids with shoes for Yom Tov and the new school season. I’m not going to specify who that person was, but those of you who have had the pleasure of the same experience know precisely what I am talking about. The end result was that it seemed that hundred of couples felt that this was the only guy in the world who could fit shoes properly. The funny thing was that it seemed to me that all he did was feel the space between the child’s toe and the end of the shoe and then tell you that it was good. And if he said it was good—well, then that’s all you needed to feel secure. Now, please bear in mind that I did this for years. Every Labor Day or thereabouts I was holed up like a hostage in this Brooklyn shoe store, not allowed to move. I watched other people’s children get fitted for shoes and we watched the shoe styles they picked, hoping that the salesman would not run out of stock of the preferred stylish ones. And we could not leave. You couldn’t write your name down somewhere or take a number and come back. You had to sit there or stand there and watch and wait and wait and watch. It’s the kind of thing that insanity is made of. Once I was just thinking—you know, free associating—and I must have blurted out in an inquisitive fashion if there were something going on in the other children’s shoe stores where people were not herded in, pressed up against walls, sweating and pacifying small children, telling them that they should behave and that they would be out of there in five or six hours at the most. I must have suggested that maybe it would be a good idea to try one of these other stores; after all, they were in the shoe business, too. “No,” I was told; “do you want to ruin your children’s feet?” I’m not sure why we stopped going there—maybe we moved away—but at some point Labor Day ceased to be an unending torturous marathon. Now if the kids need shoes, we just go into a store like regular people and buy shoes and—get this—we leave a few minutes later. I think I have to assess this particular experience as being the one major event in my shopping life that caused my aversion to shopping. 12 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES I like clothes but just do not consider the purchase of clothing to be a lifecycle event. It’s something that just needs to be done, not unlike going to the dentist. Now that I think of it, I think that my father, too, had an aversion to shopping. Right now I cannot recall ever seeing him in a store. Let’s see—maybe once at Chatham Suits on the Lower East Side when I went for a bar mitzvah suit. But then again, his office was just down the block. But I do go shopping and I do endure the discomfort and the waste of time that so much of shopping is. To prove the point, I was in Daffy’s in Manhattan. I wasn’t the shopper per se, but rather the guy accompanying the shopper. As if there were a homing device inside of me, I immediately found the chairs that are set aside especially for people like me. They were adjacent to the up escalator and they were lined up four across. For the half-hour that I spent there, no one else sat there. It seemed to me that sitting while shopping is becoming for many people a thing of the past. I mean, where was everyone? Are they shopping online or are they just staying home? Not to minimize the great mitzvah of shopping for clothing and accessories for Yom Tov or in order to honor and beautify Shabbos; what I object to is this notion of shopping simply for the sake of shopping. Shopping without the intent or objective of a specific purpose is nothing more than an exercise in squandering precious time. Clearly, the way things turn out, I don’t think shopping was intended for men anyway and certainly not when it comes to purchasing clothing. Buying men’s clothing is elementary. Our shirts are mostly blue or white. Our suits are either black, navy, or gray with few variations. If we want to go casual, it’s khaki. Perhaps the only thing that requires some effort is the purchase of ties—which people are wearing much less of these days. For those in the frum community who wear hats, it’s black, or sometimes a shade of blue or gray. Now for women to buy clothing—that’s a much more complicated endeavor. It is so complicated that for a man to accompany a woman on such an expedition is like joining NASA and taking a space walk. It’s that complicated. When a woman is shopping, to suggest that it take 15 minutes or even an hour, or to place any kind of time constraint on the event at all, is total anathema—what you are doing is extracting the joy, the challenge, the sense of accomplishment, and even potential triumph that is possible to achieve when shopping. I don’t think most men can appreciate that concept. That’s why they have the chairs. Take hats for Yom Tov, for example. To me, as a casual observer, a woman buying a hat for Yom Tov is an event of extraordinary proportions. The stores announce their fall line by first sponsoring an intriguing summer clearance sale. Then the autumnal colors are slowly introduced within the store’s interior and then the display windows. Right there, in the middle of August, you can begin to feel those cool fall breezes by just standing there and watching the store colors change from yellow and white to red, black, and camel. Camel? Okay, beige. When a woman sets out on a mission to buy a hat for Yom Tov, you have to hope and pray that she returns unscathed. Frankly, I don’t that no two people are wearing the same hat? I think it’s a display of G-d’s beneficence. The assortment of women’s hats is extensive. There are twists and turns, high ones and low ones, small and large—there is almost no end to the I like clothes but just do not consider the purchase of clothing to be a life-cycle event. know how they do it. How do so many women go looking for hats, buying them, and then when you come to shul on Yom Tov, there are hundreds of women there but virtually none are wearing the same hat? This is both fantastic and fascinating. How is it possible combinations of features that results in that look. And then the hat has to—I don’t know how to describe exactly what it has to do—but it has to achieve that look, I suppose, that says that this hat is you. Then there is the ordeal of the hat boxes that these hats get placed into. I guess you know, by the way, that in order to have hat boxes piled up in your bedroom or dressing room you do not—repeat, do not—have to have as many hats as hat boxes. As long as they are pretty and stylish you can pile the boxes up to the ceiling and either have hats in them or just have them sit idle and empty; it doesn’t matter. Now buying a man’s hat for Yom Tov is a much more solemn, austere and not such a celebratory experience. How many styles of men’s hats are there after all? Maybe two or three, and they are all very similar. So except for minimal variations in color, most hats that people purchase are basic black, wide brim, two pinches up top and that’s it. I don’t even really understand why they have mirrors in men’s hat stores. What is there to see—how you look in the hat? You look the same as you looked in the old hat you used to have. Interestingly enough, I think, the Continued on Page 14 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 13 HEARD IN THE BAGEL STORE Continued from Page 13 fact that you could not purchase a man’s Shabbos or Yom Tov hat around here before Avromie Ellenbogen opened Suits Central (where you can also buy other clothing, including shirts, ties, suits, jackets, and slacks) is a comment on the nature of the community, indicating that there was not such a great demand. Hats (or the number of men wearing hats) say a lot about the nature and composition of an Orthodox Jewish community— albeit on a rather superficial level. To many Jews, whether you don a black hat or not sends signals and allegedly speaks volumes about one’s beliefs, hashkafos, and so on. Though it seems to many that the Five Towns has been going increasingly “black hat” for more than a decade, it must have been that, on the whole, the black hats were still a minority. With the presence of a store that sells men’s hats, however, it seems that the population may have shifted. The introduction of the ability to buy a black (or dark gray) hat on Central Avenue was a watershed event in the ever-evolving history of our Five Towns. It might be that the opening of Suits Central/Hat Box in Cedarhurst was of similar significance to Rosa Parks’s refusal to move to the back of the bus in the old South. But this is about buying a hat, not its sociological implications for our community. As you can see, the difference between the purchase of a woman’s hat for Yom Tov and a man’s hat for Yom Tov is as great as the difference between men and women themselves. At the end of the day, it’s about shopping, the exercise involved in the act, and perhaps even the calories you burn scurrying between floors in Saks. For most, it’s a beautiful and important thing to do a great deal of prior to Yom Tov. But it’s just not for everyone. O Comments for Larry Gordon are welcome at editor@5tjt.com. Deadline for reserving ad space for the October 12 issue is Monday, October 8 at 5:00 P.M. All graphics for ads must be in by Tuesday, October 9 at 5:00 P.M. Call 516-984-0079 14 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 15 Halachic Musings Continued from Page 11 izing that Hashem is truly the One watching over us constantly: that He did so while we were in the Midbar, with both real booths and the Ananei haKavod, and that He still is watching over us constantly. Our faith, trust, and hope lie solely in Him. Training Children To Eat In The Sukkah Halachah provides us with a number of berachos for all sorts of occasions. What berachah does one make when one sits on gum? Leishev babazooka. All kidding aside, however, there is a pasuk in the Torah (Vayikra 23:42) that says, “You shall dwell in booths seven days; all the citizens of Israel shall dwell in booths.” The Sifra, the oldest commentary on the book of Vayikra, comments on the word all. “All comes to include the children,” states the Sifra. The Gemara in Sukkah (28b), however, points to a contradiction from the Mishnah on the previous amud. Our Mishnah states that children are exempt from sukkah! How, then, do we understand the derashah found in the Sifra? The Gemara provides a resolution: The Mishnah discusses very young children that have not reached the age of instruction. The Sifra is referring to older children. The obligation, however, is still rabbinic in origin. Why then did the Torah use the word all? It is a Biblical device known as an asmachta, where at times the Torah will hint to a future rabbinic enactment. Okay, so now we have some kids who are obligated and some who are not. What are the parameters of “the age of instruction?” The Gemara offers two different guidelines. Rabbi Yannai defines it as whether the child is toilet trained: when he uses the facilities, does he still need his mother? Reish Lakish says that the parameters depend upon when he wakes up at night, does he still call out for his mother? These are the parameters for when a child is exempt or obligated. The question arises as to whether Rabbi Yannai and Reish Lakish are arguing. Rashi (Eiruvin 82b) seems to understand that they are in agreement. The Sefer Mitzvos Gedolos (SMaG), however, seems to understand that these two views are different. (So it seems that Rashi holds that when the child is toilet-trained, he doesn’t yell out for his mother in the middle of the night. The SMaG disagrees and holds that one is later than the other. A quick poll of some Five Towns mothers indicates that they hold like Rashi.) So what is the age? The Shulchan Aruch rules that it is five or six years of age. Most Acharonim understand this to mean that it depends on how sharp the child is.1 Does this mean for both eating and sleeping? The answer seems to be that it is for both. Which now brings us to an interesting issue, a discussion of which is found in a sefer entitled HaKatan VeHilchosav (cited in BaSukkos Teishvu, p. 161). What happens in the following situation: You have room for only two beds in your sukkah—one bed for you, and one bed for your 12-year-old son. And now, a guest arrives from Israel and stays with you. Do you let your son stay in the house and allow the guest to sleep in the sukkah (hoping he doesn’t snore), or do you ask your guest to sleep in the house and have your son sleep in the sukkah as originally planned? The question pits two halachic issues against each other. The obligation to train your child is your obligation. The obligation for the guest sleeping in the sukkah is someone else’s obligation, not yours. Do we say that your obligation of chinuch outweighs your guest’s obligation of sleeping in the sukkah? When the question was first posed to Rav Elyashiv, he seemed to indicate that this was indeed the case; your obligation outweighs your guest’s obligation—even though your guest’s obligation is Biblical, while your obligation in training your child is merely rabbinic! However, it seems that Rav Elyashiv changed his mind. Your guest’s obligation is actually not just your guest’s obligation, but your obligation as well. There is a concept in the Torah called arvus— responsibility for one another. We took an oath at Har Sinai. We as Jews are responsible for the mitzvah observance of all of our fellow Jews.2 The responsibility of arvus is actually a Biblical one, too. Hence, Rav Elyashiv revised his position to rule that the homeowner should allow the guest to sleep in the sukkah and his son should stay in the house. (One might have taken issue with Rav Elyashiv’s revised opinion with the following argument: Just as a lulav and esrog is an expenditure and the concept of arvus does not obligate you to spend money on someone else’s obligation, so too one can view the building of a sukkah as an expenditure, and, therefore, one would not be obligated to tell a child not to fulfill the mitzvah so that the guest can. However, to counter this argument, it can be pointed out that there is another mitzvah of chinuch here for one’s own child. We can teach our child the very important mitzvah of arvus.) The lesson is an important one in the notion of arvus, responsibility toward others. Rabbi Moshe Cordevera, in his Tomer Devorah, gives us one insight into the idea of arvus and communal responsibility. He quotes earlier authorities who write that all the neshamos of K’lal Yisrael are in reality one great soul. Each and every one of us possesses a part of that neshamah of K’lal Yisrael and, as a consequence, we are all intimately connected to one another. The verse in the Torah that says ve’ahavta lerei‘acha ka’mocha, love your neighbor as yourself, is actually quite true from a physical sense—your neighbor is part of you (see also the Yerushalmi on Nedarim 9:4). O The author can be reached at vze37jka@verizon.net. NOTES: 1. The Gemara later points out another contradiction about the exact age. Is it four or five, or is it six? The Gemara resolves this contradiction by differentiating between when the father is in town and when he is out of town. 2. In fact, this is one of the reasons why we can make kiddush for another Jew, when we have made kiddush already. We have never completely fulfilled our obligation of kiddush when there is even one Jew out there who has not yet heard kiddush. 16 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 17 Aliyah Chronicle Continued from Front Cover me feel prouder to be here than demonstrating support for the young men and women who keep me and my family safe. I know that the students enjoyed it, too. Although they had been to a Magav (Border Police/Mishmar haG’vul) training base a few weeks earlier, the purpose of that tiyul had been to plant trees on the base and also to learn about Magav. This evening was totally voluntary and on their own time. So this was an opportunity for them to really connect one-on-one with the chayalim, with no agenda other than to say thanks to them. Of course the chayalim enjoyed the pizza and the soda, but it means so much more to them that these young Americans, Canadians, and South Africans came out on a chilly night to do something that most foreigners don’t do—to say thanks. One of the chayalim pulled me aside as we left, to thank me for bringing the guys. I responded that it was we who owed him our thanks for standing post on cold nights. His response? “It is people like this that give me the strength to sit out on those cold nights.” Can’t beat that, can you? N N N applies in Israel, other than avoiding Jaffa oranges every seven years, we have never really had to deal with the issues involved with keeping Shemittah. Of course, as with everything else in Israel, there are the inevitable politics involved, as well. There are many machinations used to allow for kosher produce “It is people like this that give me the strength to sit out on those cold nights.” in the Shemittah year, which range from simply importing goods from outside the country or buying produce from Arabs, to selling the land to non-Jews and then working their land for them (this procedure is frowned upon by many poskim). Further complicating the matter is my desire not to give business to Arab farmers if I can at all avoid it. The general chareidi public has no problem with this, but the National Religious public generally does. So I don’t want to buy from the chareidi-endorsed products (which I would normally have Continued on Page 20 With the coming of the new year came a new wrinkle to our always confused lives. This year is a Shemittah (sabbatical) year in the land of Israel, where farmers are forbidden from the Torah from raising produce in order to give the land a recharge. Since this only 18 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 19 Aliyah Chronicle Continued from Page 18 no problem with), either. In order to accommodate people like me, a new organization was formed called Otzar HaAretz. Essentially, they identify products that use halachically approved growth measures (hydroponics; growth above and not in the ground; sale of land to beit din with consumers paying only the labor costs, known as Otzar Beit Din; or, as a last resort, produce grown by non-Jews) to provide produce for the Shemittah year. They even identify which produce comes from what source, so that the consumer can choose which rulings he wishes to follow. Additionally, there are stringent requirements regarding how to dispose of peels, pits, seeds, and other waste, which incredibly complicate our lives, as well (imagine having to save orange peels and seeds all day until you get to your special Shemittah garbage can). Gravies, soups, fruitcake, and orange juice are all examples of things that need to be disposed of with special care. Unfortunately, there are so many different rules, and so many varying opinions on what is and isn’t acceptable, that it is dizzying to try to keep track of them. I am definitely concerned that we are going to make mistakes just because we didn’t know the right thing to do. Then there are things like flowers for Shabbat or chagim, or having a garden in your backyard. There was a frenzy of summer planting this year to make sure things got done on time. This process doesn’t even end at Rosh Hashanah of next year. The rules regarding farm products start on Rosh Hashanah, because the produce is classified according to when it is harvested. However, fruits, whose Shemittah status is based upon when the tree begins to flower (after Rosh Hashanah) and develop fruit, begin to have Shemittah issues around mid-winter, and we will need to be careful about them until Pesach a year and a half from now. One thing that makes me feel a little less stupid about Shemittah is that Israelis who have lived here their whole lives are entirely confused, as well. N N N We will be making a bat mitzvah celebration for our daughter Aliza immediately following Sukkot. Accordingly, various relatives will be visiting us for the chag. So, even though we are a one-dayYom-Tov family, we will be making three sets of three-day Yom Tovs this year in order to accommodate the foreigners— all while busy explaining the various Shemittah laws to them. If you will be in Beit Shemesh for Simchat Torah (ours, not that extra day you guys add on), we invite you to come join Goldie and me in Rabbi David’s shul as we host the kiddush that day in honor of Aliza. May you all enjoy a wonderful chag, and may we all enjoy the next one together here in Israel! O Shmuel Katz is the director of Yeshivat Eretz HaTzvi in the Katamon neighborhood in Jerusalem. Shmuel, his wife Goldie, and their six children made aliyah in July of 2006. Prior to his aliyah, Shmuel was the executive director of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett. You can contact him at shmukatz@bigfoot.com. 20 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Probe Ordered Into PM’s Home Purchase BY YUVAL YOAZ Attorney General Menachem Mazuz instructed police on Monday to open a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over allegations that he benefited unduly from his purchase of a home on Jerusalem’s Cremieux Street. Olmert is suspected of having received an unreasonably low price on the house, allegedly as a result of his position in government. The Prime Minister’s Bureau issued a statement in response, saying, “We are certain and convinced that the Olmert family’s purchase of the Cremieux Street home was clean and pure. We find the decision to continue the investigation unfortunate, because it is unnecessary.” Mazuz’s decision was based on an investigation conducted by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, which found that Olmert received a $480,000 discount on the home— $330,000 more than the standard discount for paying in cash, as the prime minister did. “[The fact that] a major public figure, a government minister, receives such a large discount on the purchase of a home, requires a detailed explanation without delay, according to the norms of transparency, ethics, and proper administration,” wrote attorney Rina Karmef from the State Comptroller’s Office. The home Olmert purchased was one of several residential units that were part of a project that necessitated the transfer of a historic Templar building designated for preservation. When Olmert purchased the home, the project had yet to receive the necessary authorizations for the transfer of the historic building. According to Lindenstrauss, officials in the Jerusalem Municipality granted “excessive priority” to the project in order to accelerate the authorization process. “Until the [prime minister] signed the contract, the full dismantling and reconstruction of a structure was never done in Jerusalem, and only the decision on dismantling and reconstructing the structure allowed the Olmert family to receive the apartment in the agreed upon conditions,” said the findings. “Advancing the granting of authorizations in a special and irregular manner to a public figure ‘because he has rights in the city’ is an improper act that harms the norms of proper administration.” Once the initial phase of the investigation is complete, the findings will be presented to the attorney general and the state prosecutor, who will decide whether to continue the probe. As is customary for investigations of senior officials, Olmert can only be questioned under caution with Mazuz’s prior consent. (Haaretz) O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 21 ICEJ Pilgrims Undaunted By Rabbinic Ruling Despite opposition from rabbinic authorities in recent days, more than 6,000 Christians from more than 90 nations are set to arrive in Jerusalem next week to take part in the 28th annual Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. This ICEJ’s Sukkot gathering will again be the largest annual tourism event in Israel this year and is expected to infuse some $15–18 million into the local econo- “Some in Israel are alarmed by a Christianity that is no longer intimidating or hostile towards Jews.” my, accounting for over 16,000 hotel room nights. “Our Feast pilgrims… bring much color and joy to the city of Jerusalem, and always receive a warm welcome from the Israeli people, particularly during the hugely popular Jerusalem March,” said Rev. Malcolm Hedding, the ICEJ executive director. “Thus it is disappointing to learn that some rabbinic authorities are trying to discourage the Jewish public from participating in this traditional march. They suspect that parts of our group are engaged in missionary activity, but the ICEJ has never conducted any missionary programs in Israel and we clearly instruct our Feast pilgrims against such activity during their stay here,” continued Hedding. 22 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Hedding’s comments come in the wake of a ruling by a subcommittee of the Chief Rabbinate that Jews should not participate in the annual Jerusalem March or any Feast events at the International Convention Center Jerusalem, out of halachic concerns that some Christians involved may engage in proselytizing. In response, Hedding said, “These Feast pilgrims are coming up to Jerusalem at Sukkot because the Bible invites them. Israel’s former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren once addressed our gathering with the words B’ruchim haba’im b’Shem [Hashem]!— the traditional greeting given to feast pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. Rabbi Goren knew that Sukkot is a time of joy when even the nations are invited to worship the G–d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob here in this city. “For nearly 30 years now, the ICEJ has served as a ‘ministry of comfort’ to Israel and the Jewish people in order to address the historic grievances that Jews have suffered at the hands of gentile Christians down through the centuries. Evangelical Christians like us did not commit these atrocities, but we must bear the bitter legacy of those who came before us in the faith. Thus the Christian Embassy has engaged in many dynamic, pioneering works in the fields of aliyah, absorption, and social assistance. And we have defended Israel’s cause abroad through our network of national branches and representatives in some 80 countries worldwide. “In times past, the great Sages of Israel read the Hebrew prophets and declared that when the Lord would begin to restore Zion, gentiles would be involved as well. We see ourselves as those friendly gentiles promised in Scripture. “Sadly, however, some in Israel are alarmed by a Christianity that is no longer intimidating or hostile towards Jews. The Christian world has undergone tremendous changes in recent generations, and many of us now have a compelling love and concern for Israel and the Jewish people, instead of the hatred and contempt of the past. Many Jews have come to recognize this transformation. We will continue our efforts to win the trust of others who have not yet accepted our sincere repentance and righteous deeds on behalf of the Jewish people,” Hedding concluded . O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 23 Barak: Israel Shouldn’t Appease U.S. President With One Year Left BY MAZAL MUALEM AND ALUF BENN Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned against forsaking Israeli diplomatic principles to gain favor with the Bush administration. Barak warned against a “withdrawal from Israeli principles that have stood for 40 years, merely to gain favor in the eyes of an American president who is leaving office in a year.” Barak also leveled harsh criticism on recent efforts by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Vice Premier Haim Ramon to advance diplomatic progress with the Palestinian Authority, stating that even if PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad wanted to sign a peace agreement with Israel, they don’t have the power to implement it. Barak’s words paint a strong contrast to statements made by Olmert speech to a Kadima Party gathering Thursday night where the PM said Israel “has a partner” in Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The defense minister attacked Ramon’s recently published diplomatic plan that would set the future border of Israel on the 1967 lines and would transfer Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem to Palestinian control. “Ramon is overreaching and he lacks supervision or self control,” Barak stated. Sources close to Ramon came to the vice premier’s defense, saying that his proposal was much more modest than what Barak offered then PA head Yassir Arafat at Camp David in 2000, adding that Barak until recently expressed great pride at his willingness to unilaterally withdraw from 90% of the West Bank at the peace summit proceeding the second intifada. In security and diplomacy discussions held in recent days to prepare for November’s U.S.-sponsored peace summit in Washington, Barak stated that the joint declaration with the Palestinians that the two sides have been working on “must be sufficiently substantive, so that the Palestinians do not feel humiliated and exploited.” However, Barak also said that “it must be sufficiently general, so Israelis do not feel like they are suckers who have made substantive concessions on core issues without receiving anything in return.” The defense minister believes that Israel must avoid presenting opening views that will be considered binding during later stages of the negotiations. He is also opposed to including in the joint declaration a clause stating that the future border between Israel and the Palestinian state will be based on the 1967 lines. His proposal is to include less explicit wording that will reiterate United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Barak is also opposed to any mention of UN General Assembly Resolution 194, which the Palestinians use to interpret as international recognition to their demand for a right of return of refugees. (Haaretz) O 24 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 25 A Torah’s Journey BY BECKY AMSTER Ki miTzion teitzei Torah. If Torah emanates from Tzion, then after journeying from continent to continent, through times of peace and times of war, like the proverbial wandering Jew, my father’s sefer Torah has at long last returned home. The origin of my father’s Torah dates back from far before my time, and far before my father’s. Its background is a mystery cloaked in the lost memories of time, and we have only hints about its past. I played a small part in its latest journey and it is this most joyous chapter that I would like to share with you. I will let the story unfold as I myself learned of it. My father, Mr. Samuel Jacobs, z’l, was a man of many accomplishments, but also a very private and modest gentleman. One day, in some chance conversation about 25 years ago, he related to me for the first time that when he came to America from Europe in 1949, he brought with him a sefer Torah that belonged to him. At some point he had lent it to a shul. That shul became Conservative, and my father had requested that they return the Torah, but they refused. I was stunned to know that my father owned such a treasure, and upset to hear that now it was being kept from him. “Why don’t you pursue trying to get it back?” I asked. My father shrugged. He had tried, he said, but was unsuccessful, and it wasn’t worth continuing to pursue. Knowing my father, I understood that he meant was an unusually large one, he said, and wherever he would give the Torah, people prefer handling a smaller Torah anyway. Only once, years later, I asked my father if he had ever done anything more to retrieve his Torah, or if he wished to, and he declined. And that was all I ever heard or knew about it. When people wished my father “ad meah v’esrim shanah,” he replied with Rabbi Pesach Lerner presenting the rescued centuries-old sefer Torah to an officer of the IDF. it wasn’t worth being involved in a machlokes. There were very few things that my father felt were worth engaging in a dispute over. As if to excuse his lack of persistence over the matter, he told me one other piece of information. The Torah a smile, “Why not till 200?” Such was his optimistic nature and his love for life. Sadly, my father was niftar two years ago at the age of 89. My mother, Mrs. Lili Jacobs, a’h, was nifteres one year later. This left my sister and me with the unhappy task of disassem- bling their entire household, but most importantly, with going through the 55-plus years of accumulated papers in my father’s familiar overstuffed gray metal filing cabinet. Once a week, my sister and I would meet in the strangely empty house. Every folder we pulled out yielded a new discovery. Besides the expected stacks of financial and professional papers, we found ancient memorabilia we had never seen before: the baggage receipt bearing the date and the name of the ship on which my parents sailed to America; their kesubah; letters attesting to their extensive attempts to get a visa; doctors’ reports, so painful to read, describing their injuries from the concentration camps. We found fascinating documents that told of activities and accomplishments we had known little or nothing about. One entire folder held correspondence to and from my father, “Rabbiner Jakubovitz,” on the letterhead of the Vaad Hatzalah of Vienna, regarding visas he was arranging for Jewish families, the list of their names pages and pages long. I had never before known what my father had been doing while in Vienna in 1947–49. One day we discovered a brief letter, from the Jewish Center of a town on Long Island, dated December 1960. It thanked my father for the loan of his sefer Torah, and assured him that he could have it back any time he wished. It was signed by a Mr. Faks [name modified]. Amazed at the find, I related to my sister the story my father had told me; she had never heard about it. 26 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES On a whim, I grabbed the phone and dialed the number on the stationery, on the very slim chance that the congregation still existed. “Temple,” a voice answered. Conscious of the “out of left field” nature of my call, I explained that I had a letter attesting that my father had lent the synagogue a Torah 46 years earlier, and I was interested in finding out if I could get it back. “I have the proof in my hand,” I thought, “yet what are the chances that the sefer Torah is still there or that anyone has any knowledge of it?” The man on the other end, surprisingly, didn’t sound at all puzzled by my call. “Someone will get back to you shortly,” he said. That same evening I received a call from the rabbi of the congregation. Yes, he was aware that my father had lent them a Torah. He said he did not know why it hadn’t been returned years before. But yes, if we wanted it, clearly we were entitled to have it back. The shul had four sifrei Torah. Could I identify which was ours? The rabbi read me the inscription on the atzei chayim of two of the Torahs. The names meant nothing to me, but I didn’t expect them to. Many years ago, my father described to me how his grandfather’s home, in a tiny village in what is now the eastern edge of Slovakia, housed the shul, the cheder and even the mikveh. It was the center of Yiddishkeit for the five neighboring villages. For a full year, his grandfather had a sofer live in his house to write a beautiful sefer Torah for him. As soon as the war was over, my father returned to the village in a vain search for his family, and he also searched for the Torah. He found it, in the shoemaker’s shop, cut up into pieces of leather. So I knew that the Torah my father brought to America was not the one that had belonged to his family before the war. My father had indicated to me that he had rescued this Torah sometime after the war. The other two Torahs in the congregation bore no inscription. On a sudden inspiration, I told the rabbi the one other fact I knew. “My father told me it was unusually large,” I said. “Then I know which one it is,” he responded. “One of the Torahs is much larger than all the others.” “Just send the legal documentation of your father’s death and that you are his inheritors,” he told us, “and then you can come pick it up at your convenience.” It was that simple. It took my breath away. We had lost my parents, but from the next world they seemed to be reaching out to give us this unexpected precious inheritance. N N N And so it remains today. The cantor is still the same as 47 years ago; the rabbi has been with them for 27 years. But, we wondered, what was my father’s connection to this fledgling congregation? “Daddy’s aunt was remarried to a Mr. Fox,” I recalled. Could that be relevant? “Of course!” Presumably, from the time my parents arrived in America until then, my father had kept his Torah in Rabbi Zion’s shul where he davened, in the South Bronx. If my father’s aunt had asked him to lend her stepson his Torah, my father would not have refused her. “I have the proof in my hand,” I thought, “yet what are the chances that the sefer Torah is still there or that anyone has any knowledge of it?” my sister exclaimed. In his accent, my father would have pronounced “Faks” as “Fox”! We surmised that the aunt had a stepson who moved to Long Island and had been involved in starting the shul, and that they did not have a Torah. A little more burrowing in the file cabinet turned up an impeccably polite but firmly worded letter from my father to Mr. Faks at the synagogue, dated 1983, reiterating his insistence that the Torah be returned. There was no written reply. That was the year my parents moved to Brooklyn, and my father must have wished to give the Torah to the shul at which he would then be davening. It was probably at that time that my father had mentioned the affair to me. After all these years, the likelihood, my husband warned me, was that the Torah was no longer kosher. Should we take it or leave it with the shul? What would we do with it if it were kosher? What if it were not? From the temple’s website, it was clear that the Torah was in an impure environment. The services were Conservative, and they had a women’s choir. We knew inside ourselves that it begged to be rescued and taken to a place where it belonged. We asked our rav and were told that since the shul had three other Torahs (the most a congregation can possibly need at one time) we were obligated to retrieve the Torah if it could be done without acrimony. It took a few weeks for the technicalities to be ironed out, and then, one Continued on Page 28 My sister and I tried to put together the pieces of the puzzle. Based upon the information on the synagogue’s website, we were able to infer that the shul had originally been founded in 1960 by a group of new settlers to Long Island—traditional, shomer Shabbos, “Bronxer Yidden”—who wanted a shul within walking distance of their homes. Six months later, a newer faction must have won out, and the congregation, at the same address but under a new name, became affiliated with the Conservative movement. 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 27 A Torah’s Journey Continued from Page 27 fine June morning my husband and I made the half-hour drive out to Long Island. We were greeted graciously by the rabbi, we signed a legal form or two, and then he led us into the sanctuary where a Torah lay prepared on the amud. My father’s Torah. My husband put it against his shoulder, carried it out of the temple after 46 years, and we reverently wrapped it in a blanket, buckled it into the back seat of our car, and took it home. Its next stop was to the sofer in Flatbush to be examined. Wrapped in its blanket, my husband carried the Torah down Coney Island Avenue as I hovered next to him, fussing like a mother hen. After a cursory look, Rabbi Heshy Pincus explained to us that its long slender shape indicated that it was a “Deutcher Torah,” written in the German tradition of 60 lines per column as opposed to the more common 42 lines. It was at least 150 years old, he said, but there were no other clues as to its origin. Was it lovingly read from in Pressburg, where my father learned before the war and where he lived afterwards? In Vienna, where my parents lived after the Communists took over Czechoslovakia? In Germany? In The call from the sofer came several weeks later. The original writing is beautiful, he said, but the ink is old and cracked. It can’t be used as is, and it would require extensive repairs to make it usable again. And even then it might not be in good enough condition What more fitting destination for this Torah than to journey on to Eretz Yisrael to be treasured by Jews engaged in protecting the lives of our people? a cavernous, ornate shul in the center of a major city, or in the modest shtiebel of a small village? I had never asked my father where it came from or how he came to own it, so the sefer Torah will forever guard the secrets of the first century of its life. N N N for a shul or yeshiva to desire it. The bottom line: it was pasul. None of my husband’s warnings had prepared me for the devastation I felt. We had buried my parents. Receiving the Torah had felt like being given back a part of my parents which could stay alive with us. Would we now have to bury this precious gift from their past, too? Bereft, I again called our rav. He told me that the National Council of Young Israel had a program whereby they bring old sifrei Torah to Israel for the army to use. I immediately called Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vicepresident of Young Israel, who explained how the program works: Sofrim who are called up on reserve duty spend their term repairing the seforim to make them kosher for use, at no cost to the army. The need is great, because Jewish soldiers are stationed all over the country, and wherever there is an outpost with a minyan who wish to daven, they need a sefer Torah. The last time four of their Torahs were ready for use, Rabbi Lerner recounted, a seudah was held to dedicate them, but even before the meal was complete, a group of soldiers came to pick one of them up so they could have it for davening that very day. It didn’t take much discussion for the family to decide that this was what we wanted to do. The Torah would be kept “alive,” and although it wouldn’t be housed where we could use it ourselves, it would go where it was truly needed. Besides, we felt, what more fitting destination for this Torah, which had survived so many exiles, through so much turmoil, than to journey on to Eretz Yisrael to be treasured by a young generation of Jews engaged in protecting the lives of our people? It would be a beautiful memorial for our parents, too, and we were confident that they would have been very happy with our decision. Rabbi Lerner promised to personally bring the Torah to Israel on a flight in the near future. In the meantime, we left the Torah by the sofer, and I selected a new, beautifully decorated mantle. On it would be embroidered: “Presented to the protectors of our Holy Land, from the Beer and Amster families, in memory of our parents, R’ Shmuel and Mrs. Kaindel Jacobs, who rescued this sefer Torah from the destruction of a holy kehillah in Europe, and in memory of our son, Mordechai.” It could be ready by Sukkos, the store assured me. As the new year began, one thing Rabbi Pincus had told me when he first gave me the bad news rang in my ears: “The only thing it can be used for now is to dance with on Simchas Torah,” he had said. Well, Simchas Torah was fast approaching. After all its years in exile, how could we leave the Torah imprisoned in a store over the Yom Tov when every Torah is taken out of the aron kodesh to be celebrated and danced with? Besides, this would be our only chance to have the Torah with us before we sent it off to Eretz Yisrael. But we were going to Rochester for Yom Tov, with a very full car and no room for a sefer Torah. A flurry of phone calls produced the miracle I knew deserved to happen. The rabbi of our shul in Rochester was driving down to New York to pick up the lulavim and esrogim for the community, and he enthusiastically agreed to bring up the sefer Torah too. 28 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES On the night of Hoshana Rabbah, I came with the children to join my husband in shul after Maariv to clothe the Torah in its new mantle in time for Simchas Torah. When everyone else had left, my husband removed the sefer Torah from the aron kodesh where the rabbi had placed it over Yom Tov, brought it to the bimah and opened it for all of us to see. We were awed by its beauty, and for me and my daughters it was a particularly novel experience. I don’t recall ever before being so close to an open sefer Torah. Before me, in the graceful Torah script, were the words I had until then only seen in a chumash. The Torah opened to the columns of the song of Ha’azinu. A slight roll and I was reading the words of the mitzvah of shaatnez. It was really here in the Torah! Sure, I had known it was there, but seeing it in the “original” was profoundly moving. My husband closed the scroll, and he and my son gently eased the new mantle down over its length and replaced it in the aron. On Simchas Torah night, my husband was called up to carry my father’s sefer Torah on the first hakafah. Resplendent in its new, deep-navy velvet cloak, with lavish multicolored embroidery, it proudly took its place in the procession of sifrei Torah being carried around the shul. Lovingly, we sang and danced and held it high, bringing to life the theme of the popular “Journeys” ballads: We danced round and round in circles as if the world had done no wrong. From evening until morning filling up the shul with song. Friends who had heard the story of my father’s Torah asked for the privilege of taking a turn dancing with it. The sense of holding history in their hands was palpable. Men formed a line with the other Torahs, opposite “the guest,” and the two lines danced toward and away from each other, as they would dance to welcome a visiting Torah giant, or before a chasan and kallah. The joy of witnessing “Torah chozeres l’achsania shelah,” an aged, but beloved, Torah returning to a place where it was studied and revered, added an unprecedented dimension of simcha to this Simchas Torah. N N N Around Chanukah time, Rabbi Lerner made a trip to Eretz Yisrael, and with his luggage on the El Al flight was an extra-long duffel bag carrying my father’s Torah. Next week, somewhere in Eretz Yisrael, a group of young men will be celebrating the Yom Tov of Simchas Torah, isolated, away from their families, in a dangerous place. They will dance with a Torah that has seen it all, and they will most likely sing this song: “Blessed is our G-d who created us for His honor…and He gave us the true Torah and implanted within us eternal life.” As the inscription we added on the mantle reads, “Eitz Chayim hi la’machazikim bah, It is a Tree of Life for those who hold onto it.” May the merit of the Torah shield them from harm. O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 29 Dear Esther, My sister and I have an ongoing disagreement/fight, regarding our father. He’s been living alone for the past eight years and his home is disgraceful. Besides not being clean, there are piles of all sorts of stuff everywhere. Everything from newspapers to magazines to old mail, and even cartons from cereal and stuff like that. When my mother was alive, she kept a pretty neat and organized home. Since she’s gone, it’s been just awful. We try to get him to have a cleaning woman come in once a week but he refuses. We offer to come in ourselves and straighten up, and he says, “absolutely not.” I’m not sure what’s happening with him psychologically and wonder what this behavior is all about—it just seems so weird. He has some other quirks, but none that concern me too much. In many ways, he is wonderful and loving. My sister feels we have to just let him be, ignore the mess and respect his independence. I have a totally different belief. I think one of us needs to get him out of the house, while the other one goes in and dumps all of the junk, and creates a normal living condition for him. Since it’s just the two of us, we argue about it constantly and aren’t able to come to a compromise. What’s worse, is that lately, I can’t even bring myself to step foot in his home. I find it nauseating and don’t want to put myself through the experience. I also don’t want my children seeing how he lives and am frankly embarrassed. I don’t know what to tell them. My sister and I decided we’d let you decide and whatever you say will go. Neat Freak Dear Neat Freak, Talk about pressure. It’s all up to me? O.K., here goes. Firstly, for some odd reason, many elderly people, and many people who live alone, tend to become “pack rats.” There is nothing unique about this situation. Since your father falls into both of these categories, the stage is set for his behavior, as weird as it may seem to you. There are several theories that might explain his behavior. Firstly, quite simply, he may not be a neat person in general. When your mother was alive, she was able to create a sense of order and cleanliness within her home. But this may not have been your father’s idea, and certainly not what he would have opted for. So maybe now he’s just reverting back to the person he was before he got married. 30 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Also, elderly individuals often feel as though their lives are becoming more and more out of their control. They’ve lost loved ones, their bodies continue to break down and betray them, finances may be an issue, and so they hang on to whatever they can to feel empowered, even if it’s a matter of controlling how often their newspapers get thrown out. This is something they can depend on. Or, many elderly often feel insecure. Unsure of what they need and where they put things, they worry what would happen if they would lose something, What if they throw something out only to realize later on that it’s something important? Maybe they don’t have much trust in themselves and their decision-making powers, and even deciding what stays and what gets thrown out is a decision they don’t want to deal with. So they don’t deal with it. Whatever is motivating your father’s behavior, there is one key question that you have to honestly answer. Does his living space pose a threat to his safety? If there are magazines thrown about that he could slip on, that is a health risk. If food is left out to spoil, and there is a chance he will decide to eat it, or it attracts bugs, that would clearly be a health risk. If there are rugs that are not secure that can trip him up, that’s a risk. The list goes on. I believe the organization JASA has a safety list that they have their social workers work from, which helps them determine if homes of the elderly they visit are considered a safe environment or not. You may want to contact them and see if they might send you a copy of that list. If you find dangerous situations lurking in your father’s home, you and your sister are not only allowed to, but required to explain to him that because you love him, you have to make a few changes in his house to create a safer environment for him. He may resist you, but some things are worth fighting for. Your sister has a good point when she focuses on your father’s need for independence. This may be one of the most important things he’s clinging to right now, and he has a right to hold on. If you truly can’t bare stepping into his home, then don’t. But don’t be angry at him, don’t punish him, and don’t feel embarrassed because of him. Rather, be sure to have him over to your home and/or take him out. Regarding your children, this could prove to be a good lesson for them (and you?) in the areas of tolerance, acceptance, and kindness. Esther Esther Mann, LMSW, is a psychotherapist in the Five Towns. She can be reached at 516-3142295 or by e-mail mindbiz44@aol.com. Esther works with individuals, couples, and families. s”xc WHAT’S YOUR OPINION? WE WANT TO KNOW! E-MAIL US AT editor@5TJT.com 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 31 Glad That’s Over Yom Kippur was only three days ago and already it’s a distant memory. It wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be (it never is), but it wasn’t much of a picnic either. I know it’s not supposed to be a day of fun and pleasure. But there are limits to what one can endure. To start with, although my memory is no longer spectacular, unless it has failed me entirely, I’m reasonably certain of one fact; the day was an unusually long one. Normally the fast ends sometime before or around 7:30. This one concluded at 7:45, which was over the top. Still, it isn’t the day itself that I kvetch about annually; it’s the day before. Erev Yom Kippur is one very difficult day. No matter how well prepared I am, things never run according to schedule. The annual kittel search has gotten somewhat easier, thanks to the fact that I finally learned to put it away in the same spot after every Yom Kippur and Pesach. I always find it, of course, but not without a measure of angst. And the hunt for canvas shoes for me, and plain ol’ Keds for hubby, isn’t really much of a hunt because, summer, having just ended, they’re still hanging out on the shoe rack in the closet. I didn’t yet put them away for the winter. So what is it about that day that gives most of us so much anxiety? To start with, as soon as I open my eyes in the morning, the big question want to go to an early Mincha.” “Yeah, okay, but it’s hard for me to get myself ready because I have to clean up after we eat and put everything away.” “Hannah, what’s the big deal?” “The big deal is that, by the time we get to shul, I’m shvitzing; not to mention that I’m breathing like a racehorse. I feel sick before the fast even starts.” “Well how early do you expect me to eat? The fast is long enough as it is.” I often want to suggest to my better half that we should sit down to the meal at 4:00 p.m. but he would think I was insane if I did. For me, it would be As I knew it would be, the street was empty and we could have had any parking spot we wanted. But I refrained from a wifely “I told you so.” looms large. What time should we start to eat? That’s a big question because there’s always a debate between husband and wife; at least there is between this wife and her husband. ”Arnie please, let’s start eating early so I won’t have to rush afterwards.” “I can’t start too early because I perfection, because that way I could eat slowly, digest my food, and still have ample time to clear the table, refrigerate the leftovers, and stack the dishwasher—without knocking myself out. The 15 minutes that my better half allows between completion of the meal and hopping into the car, is not enough time for me to do all that and arrive in shul without being frazzled. And frazzled is not a good feeling. This year, as in all the previous years, we attempted a sensible compromise. We perused the calendar to see what time we had to finish eating, and what time Kol Nidrei would start. But it didn’t quite work out to my satisfaction. It never does. My husband did the same thing this year that he has done for all of our 45 Yom Kippurim together; he promised to give me a solid half hour after we’d finished eating until we would leave for shul—and then he reneged. It was the same old story, and the same old conversation, and it started about five minutes after he left the table. After all, the only thing he needed to do was grab his machzor, kittel, and car keys, and head for the door. He forgot the part about my having to clean up the kitchen and then finish dressing. Not only does he take no responsibility for the cleanup, but there is another reason that he was ready so quickly. He didn’t need to dress since he was fully dressed when he sat down to eat. Let’s face it; even if he had gotten a spot on his shirt or tie, he didn’t have to worry about it. It all gets covered by his kittel. I, on the other hand, don’t own a kittel. My white (the color that signifies purity that we traditionally wear on Yom Kippur) comes in the form of a white suit or blouse, so I do need to worry about keeping clean; therefore I was not fully dressed when we ate. And so the annual dialogue continued. 32 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES “We have to leave now, or we’ll never get a parking spot.” “Arnie, it’s now six o’clock. Kol Nidrei doesn’t start until six thirty-five, and we’re exactly a two minute car ride from the shul. I assure you, there will be plenty of parking.” “I didn’t go to the early minyan for Mincha, and it’s both Yom Kippur and Shabbos so there’s lots of davening. I tell ya, we gotta go early.” It didn’t pay to argue, because his mind was not going to be changed by anything I said. And anyhow, who wants to argue before Yom Kippur? So I went into my annual whirling dervish routine. I cleaned up, finished dressing, hopped in the car, and arrived at shul, all within fifteen minutes—and with indigestion. As I knew it would be, the street was empty and we could have had any parking spot we wanted. But I refrained from a wifely “I told you so.” Instead, we exchanged a last peck on the cheek, wished each other a good year and an easy fast, and headed to our respective seats. As usual I was the first one in the upstairs lady’s section. The place was empty. I looked down into the men’s section to catch hubby’s eye. I figured that even though I hadn’t given him a verbal I-told-you-so, I was, at the very least, entitled to a visual one. But he outfoxed me. He didn’t look up! The man has willpower. Gradually, the shul started to fill. But none of the wives looked any less harried than I was when I’d arrived. Presumably, they simply ate later than we did. There’s no getting away from it. It’s something like FIFO and LIFO. People who eat earlier simply leave for shul earlier and are in just as much of a rush as anyone else. But that’s all behind us now. We fasted, we davened, and hopefully we ushered in a good and healthy New Year. Now we’re headed for the sukkah, and we hope the bees forget that it’s time for their annual appearance. O Hannah Berman lives in Woodmere and is a licensed real-estate broker associated with Marjorie Hausman Realty. She can be reached at Savtahannah@aol.com or 516-902-3733. s”xc The mitzvah can be fulfilled sukkah. Thus, one who did can fulfill his obligation by One should not, however, may not build his sukkah in the publicly owned land on which the sukkah stands. considered to have stolen a public domain, for he is stolen sukkah. Thus, one fulfill his obligation in a using his friend’s sukkah. not build his own sukkah by dwelling in a borrowed 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 33 34 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Since I have mentioned my friend Yanni in a number of articles, there has been a tremendous amount of pressure to reveal his true identity. Who is this individual that fails to officially invite the author of “The Hock” to his semi-regular post-davening pre-lunch kiddush? Well, despite the pressure, I am not yet ready to disclose his identity. However I will tell you how the name Yanni came to be. Many have hypothesized that it is a reference to a long-haired mustachioed Greek musician (of whom I am not a fan of) whose music from his album Live at the Acropolis has somehow managed to creep into the Jewish simcha scene. However, they would be wrong. My Yanni has little hair, is clean-shaven, is most certainly not Greek, and (although he appreciates a good nigun), is not a musician. I have always said that there is an uncanny amount of talent that comes out of Far Rockaway. Yanni is no different, and although he holds an important position in the world of commercial finance, his true talents come to light when he is a most formidable host at the Ramada Marco Polo Pesach program in Sunny Isles, Florida. Over the years I have had the opportunity to participate in different hotel Pesach programs around the U.S. and Canada. None have come close to the perfect balance of class and comfort that Yanni and his crew provide at the Marco Polo. Where to begin? Let’s start with my favorite part, the food. I religiously attend the 7:00 a.m. Shacharis so I can be at breakfast. The options at this most basic of meals is staggering. Fruit, cereals, cheeses, eggs, kosher l’Pesach bagels, lox, cream cheese etc. They even have omelet stations where a chef will make your eggs to order with a large assortment of addons. Lunch is usually a full buffet with choices of fish, soups, and baked potatoes with all the toppings you can imagine. But it is the dinner menus that take the cake (no pun intended but there are really great cakes too). When the waiter comes to the table and asks you if you would like the brisket, prime rib, duck, spring chicken, or flanken the only thing you can say is “yes.” In addition to the regular meals, the tearoom is almost always open, the lobby area is stunning, the rooms well appointed, and just picture havContinued on Page 36 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 35 THE HOCK OF THE ROCK Continued from Page 35 ing your seder next to a 30-foot high wall of windows overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. With top-notch entertainment and activities on Chol HaMo‘ed and a world-class day camp, Yanni puts together a remarkable program everyone enjoys. Oh, but you want to know about Yanni’s name. Well it’s like this. Yanni has a similar name but the employees at the hotel had difficulty pronouncing it so they call him Yanni and therefore, to protect his identity, I too have chosen to call him Yanni. One other thing I wanted to mention is their beautiful pool deck that also overlooks the ocean. Their Olympic size pool is the perfect place to cool off after a long Chol HaMo‘ed trip. And with their live poolside music, you can just close your eyes, and relax in a lounge chair with a kosher l’Pesach piña colada. Speaking of pools, there has been much contention regarding the proposed pools to be installed at the YMCA being built on Beach 72 Street. As part of an agreement with the city, Benjamin Beechwood and Associated agreed to put in a $3 million community facility. Over time and with financial support from our elected officials, the project grew to a $14 million facility in coordination with the YMCA. And although they had no obligation to put any pool in, they proposed putting in a 4-lane lap pool and family aquatics center. However for some in the community this was not enough. They wanted a 6-lane lap pool. At the last community board meeting, a motion was put forth to send a letter to all participating parties that the facility “does not meet the needs” of the community. 28 members of the board voted in favor of the motion; 10 voted no. I was part of the latter group failing to understand how you could demand more than 4 times the required expenditure of Benjamin Beechwood. Furthermore it was the YMCA that determined that 4 lanes and the aquatic pool would serve the needs of the Rockaway community. It is my understanding that the YMCA knows a thing or two about developing community centers both with and without pools. YMCA presented how they conducted their research based on census data and community comparisons with other YMCA’s to arrive at this well thought out design. They even projected population growths over the next several years and concluded that this facility will meet the usage needs of the community. For community members to say that 4 is not sufficient but 6 is, I need to question their expertise on this matter. Sure 6 is better than 4 and 8 is better than 6 but when one is being offered something far greater than what was required, I believe the appropriate response should be “thank you.” I personally would like to say thank you to the elected officials who contributed to this project. This includes $1.5 million from Mayor Bloomberg’s office. Borough President Marshal contributing $500,000, City Council with $1 million (it is a matter of contention whether this was a combined contribution from both area city council members or just Councilman Sanders), $750 from our state representatives, Pheffer, Titus, and Senator Smith, and $100,000 from Congressman Meeks. I do wonder where the funds from other constituent representatives are, specifically, Congressman Anthony Weiner and Senators Schumer and Clinton. I’m sure their checks are in the mail. In other news, I attended the Community Council at the 101st Police Precinct this past Wednesday. The good news is that there has been a decrease in most major crime categories. There has been an increase in fraud and robbery. Captain Brian McMahon stated that the increased numbers in robbery were related to the home break-ins that occurred this past May and June in sector Adam, a.k.a. West Lawrence, a.k.a. Far Rockaway’s Reads Lane area, a.k.a. the East End. He complimented the community’s vigilance in calling the precinct when there appeared to be suspicious activity and attributed the end of the breakins to the teamwork between the community and precinct. The increase in fraud has to do with scams where people were told that either they won the lottery but they had to give information or got a phone call asking them about account information etc. Personally, I receive a daily e-mail from the son of the deposed king of Sierra Leone needing my help to transfer $23 million out of the country. Most recently I was notified that I was the next of kin of Lucianno Pavarotti. I guess that would explain my wonderful singing voice. In any case, it appears to be the elderly that have been successfully targeted and have lost a significant amount of money. Captain McMahon also mentioned that credit card fraud has also been on the increase lately. While the following incident did not occur in Far Rockaway, I believe it is important for residents to know. Lew Simon, Democratic District Leader and representative for Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, experienced his credit card being charged two separate times for differing amounts on the same day at a gas station on Rockaway Turnpike in Lawrence. I had heard from other people as well about their credit cards being billed more than what they had purchased. I caution people to be careful with their credit cards and to check their statements for inaccuracies in the billing. Around the city there has been a significant decrease in crimes in areas where monitoring cameras have been installed. One such area slated for such cameras is the Redfern Housing Projects off of Burnside Avenue. Although no timeframe was stated, Captain McMahon said that it was going to happen and that Senator Continued on Page 39 36 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES A Financial Appetizer The Federal Reserve has finally served us the first course in what we hope will be a many course dinner! After remaining unchanged for 15 months, they have lowered a key interest rate— the federal funds rate—by .50%. How does this affect the economy and life as we know it? What does this little .50% do to make things better? Will they lower it even further? The federal funds rate, unlike the discount rate which they lowered last month, directly affects interest rates in mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, small business loans, and home equity lines. After the rates dropped and stayed down for an extended amount of time to the 4.00% range for the prime rate (which is used for home equity lines as well as other credit sources) borrowers and purchasers of real estate became used to being able to take out large loans with low interest, making mortgaging cheap and easy to carry. We all got used to having these rates for several years and enjoying them, until the Federal Reserve got up one morning and decided, “This is enough. Inflation is around the bend, let’s raise the rates.” They raised the rates—once, twice, three times, and then continually until by the end of that year, the rate had become more than double what it was—8.25%, giving everyone who had depended on that low 4’s percentage rate mortgage shock. Borrowers who had taken out adjustable loans, especially those with adjustable loans that had low starter rates for the first month or two which would then revert to the “going” rate were not immediately affected. But imagine their shock when a rate they saw as based on a 4% prime rate sud- denly jumped to 8.25%. Most if not all of these borrowers could not afford the extra money tacked on to their mortgage statements as a result of the extra An additional group of borrowers who took out 1 year adjustables (I am going to mention the ones who took out 3, 5, or more year adjustables, since they have more time to try and work something out before their rates will change) are just about to enter their rate change dates next month. It is a great worry for federal officials— what will happen after these many borrowers have to absorb the rate hikes on Imagine their shock when a rate they saw as based on a 4% prime rate suddenly jumped to 8.25%. interest incurred. This group has been one of the first to be bogged down in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosure during the last 6 months. the way to them. All of these issues were very much on the mind of the Federal Reserve when they finally decided to drop the rates. They are hoping to stabilize some of these rate hikes with the drop in the rate, in addition to giving some relief to people with other forms of credit such as home equity lines, auto loans, credit cards, etc. Will there be another drop in the rate soon? Most analysts seem to think that a number of reductions are in the cards in the near future. What with indicators worried about a weakening in the economy, the federal reserve has finally woken up to the fact that relief is needed and has responded with what we hope will be the first of many more courses. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Chag Sameach and good dry weather! O Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a licensed real estate broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) and a licensed N.Y.S. mortgage broker (A.C. Action Mortgage Corp.) with over 20 years of experience, offering residential, commercial, and management real-estate services as well as mortgage brokerage services. You are invited to visit her website at www.AVCrealty.com. She can be reached at 516-569-5007. Readers are encouraged to send any questions or scenarios to anessa.cohen@AVCrealty.com. The minimum length of a sukkah is seven tefachim, as is the minimum width. If either the length or width is less than seven tefachim, the sukkah is unfit for use. 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 37 The height of the Sukkah— as measured from the floor up to the sechach—may not exceed twenty amos [approx. 30 feet] and may not be less than ten tefachim [approx. 32 inches]. If the sukkah exceeds the former or is less than the latter, it is unfit for use. A Five Towns Simcha Photos By Suri Adams Photography Chai Lifeline Annual Autumn Sampler Dena Pilevsky, Ariella Freundlich, Tamar Sicklick, Michalli Weinstein, Rabbi Levi Katlowitz of Chai Lifeline, Bailey Sigman, Aliza Solomon, and Karen Elefent at the Young Israel of Woodmere Second Annual Autumn Sampler on September 9. The event raised more than $22,000 for Chai Lifeline. Deadline for reserving ad space in the October 12 issue is Monday, October 8 at 5:00 P.M. Mazal tov to Zoe Lindenfeld on her bas mitzvah on August 30. Mazal tov to her parents, Drs. Sheldon and Mrs. Valerie Lindenfeld and to all her big brothers. All graphics for ads must be in by Tuesday, October 9 at 5:00 P.M. Call 516-984-0079 38 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES THE HOCK OF THE ROCK Continued from Page 36 Malcolm Smith was supporting this endeavor. I learned something new about graffiti-related crime. First of all, when an individual defaces property with graffiti, if called, the police will come down and take pictures. Those pictures then go into a database. If someone gets arrested and they can identify certain signature traits in the graffiti they will go into the database using keywords and find any graffiti this individual may have done. The DA will then charge that individual for all the related graffiti incidents. Furthermore, the city has a graffiti removal program. If your property within NYC has been damaged by graffiti, call 311. They will send down one of six NYC graffiti vans with power washers and paint remover, and, if necessary, repaint the damaged property. However as with anything, you need to contact them before they can do something about it. Finally, I will once again be participating in what is lovingly called the “Harvey Gordon Marathon” where Harvey Gordon, executive director of the Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula, leads some of our elected officials and public representatives on a tour of all the shuls in Far Rockaway and Bayswater during the evening hakafos. At the writing of this article, I am pleased to confirm the participation of Assemblymember Audrey Pheffer and Captain Brian McMahon of the 101st Precinct. I look forward to meeting some of the loyal readers of this column. That’s it for now. Have a great Sukkos and stay safe. O Eli Shapiro can be contacted through his group I love hock of the Rock at Facebook.com. 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 39 Center For Individual Growth You’ve made your hachlatah, your resolution for the new year. Now what are you going to do about it? Rabbi Dovid Rhodes believes that individual instruction can put people on the path toward a successful future. Rabbi Rhodes earned his undergraduate degree in psychobiology at UCLA and then went to Detroit, where he achieved ordination at the rabbinical college and his MA in educational administration at the University of Detroit. Having established himself as a life coach and sought-after public speaker, and after working with CEOs and business executives for the past 30 years, Rabbi Rhodes has recently created the Center for Individual Growth in the Five Towns, a place in which anyone can learn and grow. With strong connections to both the spiritual and business worlds, Rabbi Rhodes has created a program to address a complete range of vital areas for which instruction leads to further personal growth, including interpersonal skills, stress and anxiety, marriage, parenting, and financial savings. To aid this effort, he has brought on board talented and highly qualified professionals in the fields of personal training, life coaching, financial plan- ning, clinical psychology, and social work, making these services available to residents of the Five Towns and surrounding communities—right in their own backyard. The Center for Individual Growth also provides many services for children. It offers all forms of psychological testing for children. Psychologists and a social worker are available to address any emotional needs that one may have, with a special emphasis on children and adolescents. Their goal is to help you and your family have a better and more successful life. Coming into 5768, isn’t that what we all want? For more information, please call 516-371-2223 or visit their convenient location at 119 Doughty Boulevard in Inwood (near the post office). Free parking is available across the street. O Bringing “A Long Long Time Ago” To Life: This Chol HaMo‘ed At The Jewish Children’s Museum By Mimi Notik The excitement is brewing. It’s in everyone’s calendar. The countdown has begun. Simchas Beis Hashoeva this Chol HaMo‘ed Sukkos is going to be grand! A long time ago, during the times of the Beis Hamikdash, animal sacrifices were accompanied by a ritual of pouring wine and oil on the altar. During Sukkos, the sacrifices took on an extraordinary form. Highlighted by the drawing of water from what was called the shiloach spring, the ritual sacrifice turned into an exhilarating simcha! The drawing of the water was a joyous festivity. Water symbolizes sustenance, the flowing down of Hashem’s blessings, and the drawing of the water during Simchas Beis Hashoeva was a time when Hashem decides the amount for rain for the year. To mark a true celebration, trumpets played, people danced, and everyone watched as the priests lit torches and prepped their knives for the sacrifice. Everyone flocked to the scene of this joyous event. Men, women, children (and their animals, too) all had a part in the celebration, ready to rejoice to the max. The greatest sages and tzadikim would participate joyfully in the celebration, performing the most extraordinary feats. The sages say that one who has not witnessed the joy which accompanies Simchas Beis Hashoeva has never seen real joy. To commemorate the festive ceremony, Jewish communities around the world will put their dancing shoes on and spend the nights of Chol Hamo‘ed singing and dancing, all in an effort to express and revive the happiness felt during Simchas Beis Hashoeva many years ago. In an unparalleled Chol Hamo‘ed event, the Jewish Children’s Museum is bringing us straight to the Beis Hamikdash, gifting us with the oppor- tunity to get a glimpse of the marvelous, joyous event. Enough of this “long, long ago” stuff. No more simply “imagining.” Are you ready to relive Simchas Beis Hashoeva for yourself— juggling knives, fire, and more. With the beautiful scenery and backdrops, you’ll feel like you’re in the Beis Hamikdash, serving as a witness to one of the most spectacular rituals. Get a front row seat and watch Simchas Beis Hashoeva come to life through real life sounds, daring sights and everything and anything else that will make this Chol HaMo‘ed Sukkos the real thing! With a performance to delight your heart, mind, and all your senses, you will celebrate in knowing that you’re getting extraordinary insight into a truly one-of-a-kind ceremony. The Chol Hamo‘ed performance at the JCM takes place September 30, October 1, and 2, with multiple shows daily. For more information on Chol Hamo‘ed at the JCM, please log on to www.jcm.museum or call 718-467-0600. O Suozzi At LI Children’s Museum Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi joined Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) on Monday, September 24 to announce that the Long Island Children’s Museum has received a $147,750 grant from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS). The grant will be used to fund the collaboration between the Children’s Museum, Nassau County’s Department of Health and Human Services, and Family Court to support 40 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES enhanced services for families served by these agencies. O A Flower Grows In Jerusalem—A Story Of Floral Chesed By Vel Werblowsky Richard Kovler made aliyah to Israel, from England, over 23 years ago. He lives in Jerusalem where he has a flourishing flower shop offering a full range of bouquets, arrangements, and houseplants in addition to some very specialized gift items. Richard learned the floral and gardening business from Harry Cohen, a Holocaust survivor and a professional horticulturist. Over the years he has become an expert garden designer and landscaper in addition to running his flower shop. Richard also learned the complex issues dealing with shemittah and is known as someone who can be trusted in the matters of halachah and customer service. Richard has developed a website (www.richardsflowers.co.il) to cater to overseas customers who wish to send flowers to relatives or friends on special occasions, holidays, etc. Ten percent of every order he receives from overseas is donated to helping charitable organizations and also to directly assist some severely injured terror victims whom he has pledged to help. And, as a result of his expanding database, he has been able to arrange loans and grants for people in need. He works closely with Avital Sharansky in helping raise monies for dispossessed families from Gush Katif, and to help them obtain medical equipment if they so require. He does this by getting donations from generous individuals and communities abroad, and all donations go directly to the victims and their families, with no administrative charges. All items ordered through Richard’s Flower Shop can be shipped anywhere in Israel. You can be sure that you will get value for your order and at the same time help contribute to the lives of those in need. O OHEL Swish-A-Thon 2007 OHEL invites ballplayers from the entire tri-state area to participate and compete in the OHEL Swish-A-Thon 2007—an exciting 3-on-3 basketball tournament set to take place on Sunday, October 21 at The George Cromwell Recreation Center at Pier 6 in Staten Island (Murray Hulbert Avenue). The event will bring together players and participants from a diverse array of communities and raise significant funds for the children and families of OHEL. Hundreds of young professionals, businessmen, and members of the Jewish community are expected to participate in the event. The program will consist of a full day of basketball and will feature a wide variety of contests and presentations from organizers and participants. The Swish-A-Thon was founded in 2002 by a group of volunteers and young professionals who came together to raise money for victims affected by the tragedy of September 11 and for terror victims in Israel. In 2002 and 2003 combined, the Swish-A-Thon raised over a quarter million dollars and dozens of teams and hundreds of participants took part in each event. In early 2005, OHEL’s Young Leadership Board—comprised of a growing group of involved and committed young professionals in the NYC area— approached the Swish-A-Thon’s founders about running the Swish-A-Thon on OHEL’s behalf. The founders agreed and the OHEL Swish-A-Thon was set. Men of all ages are encouraged to play. The tournament will be divided into two separate divisions—high impact and impact—based on experience and competition level. The champion team of each division will win a free trip to anywhere in the continental U.S.A. In order to participate in the SwishA-Thon, each team must raise $720. The tournament will consist of several rounds, ending in a championship match at the day’s conclusion. Teams will be guaranteed a minimum of three games in the first round. Teams with the most wins in the first round will advance to the next round and face single elimination style rules. The honorary chair is Dr. Jonathan Halpert, head coach of the Yeshiva University men’s basketball team. The Swish-A-Thon is being co-chaired by Alan Mitrani, Jonathan Neiss, and Elliot Steinmetz. The chairs are joined by other committee members who are working together to ensure an awesome tournament! The Swish-A-Thon is being sponsored by Northern New Jersey Friends of OHEL, The OHEL Bais Ezra Alumni Association, OHEL Young Leadership, and Young Families for OHEL. According to Dr. Jonathan Halpert, “The Swish-A-Thon is a wonderful way to have a great time playing basketball while raising funds for the children and families of OHEL.” For further information, to become a sponsor or to participate in the Swish-A-Thon, indiContinued on Page 42 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 41 AROUND THE FIVE TOWNS Continued from Page 41 viduals can log on to www .ohelfamily.org/swishathon or contact OHEL at 718-972-9338 or via e-mail at swishathon@ohelfamily.org. OHEL currently cares for thousands of people daily through a variety of programs which address the mental health and social service needs of families. OHEL’s seven core services, which encompass all of its nearly 30 programs, are housing, foster care, outpatient counseling, at-home services, school-based services, sexual abuse services and camps. OHEL’s motto is ‘Everyone Needs A Family’ and its goal is to provide everyone it serves with the means to live their lives in the most dignified and productive manner as possible. To learn more about OHEL and its programs, please call 718-8516300 or visit www.ohelfamily.org. O Satmar Institutions Progressing in Bayswater Tremendous progress has recently been made by the Satmar community in Bayswater, in its effort to expand and develop their kehillah and its services in the local area. Over the past few months, the structure of a new shul has slowly gone up, a foundation for a new mikveh has been poured, and many more plans are in the development stages. The Satmar Dayan of Bayswater, HaRav Alter Lazer Horowitz, shlita, last week presided over the initiation of the new mikveh, ensuring that every step was in meticulous adherence to halachah. Many local residents attended and participated in the ceremony. Satmar is renowned for the establishment of shuls that serve as a center for learning throughout the day, a heichal haTorah. An extensive library of seforim and an atmosphere conducive to learning without distraction accommodate those wanting to learn in a pressure free, comfortable environment. The goal here, too, is to establish a heichal haTorah that the entire local community can use and benefit from. Much credit is due the Satmar Chassidim who have dedicated countless hours of planning and thousands of dollars to im yirtzeh Hashem, bringing these projects to fruition. Individuals interested in contributing to this noble and holy cause, or to dedicate in the zechus or in memory of a loved one, please contact Rabbi C. Schwartz at 917-662-0892. May the merit of the big mitzvah be a zechus for a happy and healthy new year for all of K’lal Yisrael. O Chabad Prepares 40 Mobile Sukkahs For Jews Of New York State Traditionally, preparations for Sukkos begin within hours after the Yom Kippur fast is over. Chabad yeshiva students at Lubavitch Headquarters got a head start when they began, even before Yom Kippur, to assemble the ubiquitous Sukkah Mobiles that cruise the streets of New York State during this eight-day festival. The portable sukkahs constructed on the back of a truck bring the celebration of Sukkos to Jewish people everywhere. On city streets and at malls, people are invited into the sukkah and offered to make the blessing on the lulav and esrog—the four species. This year it is estimated that over 40 Sukkah Mobiles will be in circulation. (Vos Iz Neias) O JCC Of The Greater Five Towns Adult Singles With Disabilities Join in for the second annual sukkah pizza party on Monday, October 1, 7:00–9:00 p.m. Fee $5. Pre-registration required. Then, come learn how to put your best foot forward. Hear an inspirational presentation by the former director of the Barbizon Agency, Beverly Eiges. Light refreshments to be served. Sunday October 14 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. Fee $5. To register or for further information, please call Bracha Arnan at 516-569-6733 ext. 204. Events will take place at 207 Grove Avenue in Cedarhurst. O Democratic Solution For Chassidic Dynasties By Shlomo Shamir This is an election in every sense of the word. There is a voter’s registry with a list of those eligible to vote; voters must present valid identification; the contenders are waging a fierce campaign; and the tension between the opposing camps is palpable. What makes this election unprecedented is the identity of the contenders: This election will determine which of two rabbinic leaders of the Bobov Chassidic sect has the most support among Bobov Chassidim. One contender is Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam, son of Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, who revived the Bobov Chassidic dynasty in America after the Holocaust, but died in 2000. The other is Rabbi Mordechai David Unger, son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Halberstam, who briefly succeeded Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, but then died two and a half years ago. The elections, which began about a week ago and are expected to continue for another few days, were forced on Bobov Chassidim by a rabbinic court in response to a suit brought by several followers of Rabbi Unger against Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam. In accordance with Jewish law, rabbinic judges were chosen by mutual consent to determine which of the two rabbis would bear the exclusive title of Admor of Bobov, or leader of the sect. “Something like this has never happened in the history of the Chassidic movement,” remarked one Chassidic Jew, leaning against the gate at the entrance of the central Bobov beis midrash (Torah study center) in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood. “That a Chassidic rabbinic leader would be elected by a vote —our forefathers never dreamed of such a thing.” (Haaretz) O Brian And Ilana Lipman Of Woodsburgh Chair Dinner In Honor Of Their Daughter Jennifer Aleh, Israel’s network of residential facilities for children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities, holds a special place in the hearts of Brian and Continued on Page 44 42 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 43 AROUND THE FIVE TOWNS Continued from Page 42 Ilana Lipman. Their 16-year-old daughter, Jennifer, who was born blind and autistic, has inspired them to work toward improving the quality of life for handicapped children in Israel. Jennifer, whose Hebrew name is Ora (“light”), “is a shining beacon for those whose lives she touches,” say her parents. “She has propelled us into a world where the meaning of unconditional love is crystal clear and where dedicated individuals are devoted to improving quality of life, no matter how incremental.” As a salute to their daughter, the Lipmans are serving as honorary chairmen of the Aleh Foundation’s 2007 Annual Awards dinner, which will take place on November 15 at the grand ballroom of the Gotham in Manhattan. The goal of the dinner is completing a state-of-the-art residential village in Israel’s Negev for more than 8,000 physically and mentally impaired children and young adults. The event will honor two of the organization’s heroes—U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman and Israeli Maj. Gen. Doron Almog—as it pays tribute to the memory of their loved ones who had special relationships with Aleh. Marcia Lieberman, the senator’s late mother, was a longtime supporter of Aleh, which already cares for more than 650 children in four branches across Israel. Aleh’s rehabilitative village in the Negev, the most recently established branch, is a 25-acre complex designed specifically to care for children and young adults with severe developmental disabilities. Plans call for the village— the first of its kind—to house 250 disabled young residents and provide outpatient care and services to an additional 8,000 children annually. Thanks to generous support from the Aleh Foundation, the first stage of construction was completed last summer, and the village already has 65 residents. One of the first residents was Eran Almog, severely disabled son of Entebbe hero Maj. Gen. Doron Almog. The young man was the moving force behind the establishment of Aleh Negev until his untimely death last year. “Heroism takes many forms,” says Maj. Gen. Almog, who chairs Aleh Negev with his wife, Didi. “We ask friends of the Aleh Foundation to help us care for the ‘superheroes’ among our young patients and the exceptional staff at Aleh.” The 2007 Aleh Patron of the Year Award will be presented to Dr. Alisa R. Kasachkoff, in tribute to her generosity and dedication to the Aleh Foundation. The dinner marks the fourth annual event by the Aleh Foundation on behalf of the Aleh Negev Rehabilitative Village. With over $3 million raised to date, this year’s goal is to bring in over $1.25 million for this vital facility for Israel’s handicapped. For information, please contact the Aleh Foundation at 718-851-4596, at 5317 13th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11219 or e-mail gitty@alehfoundation .org or visit Aleh’s website at www.aleh.org. O TSA Recognizes The Religious Items Of Sukkot The U.S. Transportation Security Administration recognizes that the travel period for Sukkot, a significant event for persons of the Jewish faith, begins approximately on September 23, and ends approximately on October 4. TSA’s standard operating procedures do not prohibit the carrying of the four plants—which include a palm branch, myrtle twigs, willow twigs, and a citron through the airport or the security checkpoints, or on aircraft. These plants are not on TSA’s Prohibited Items List. TSA understands that this is a significant religious event for the Jewish faith and has reminded its security workforce that members of the Jewish faith may be observed engaging in religious practices or meditations and carrying the four plants. (TSA.gov) O Machon HaTorah Spearheads Protests Against Ahmadinejad At Columbia University And UN The entire student bodies of Rambam Mesivta and HAFTR High School, both divisions of Machon HaTorah, spearheaded two rallies of parents and students at Columbia University and the United Nations to protest Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s visit. The Columbia protest rally was announced at Sunday’s press conference at the Columbia Gates, outside of Columbia University, that was attended by elected officials and civic leaders and featured speeches by New York City Councilman David Wepirn, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, and Rambam’s rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman. At the rally, Rabbi Friedman highlighted the deeply disturbing issues that had been voiced by community leaders since Columbia announced its intentions to provide Ahmadinejad with a public-relations platform. He noted that Ahmadinejad has publicly espoused Hitler’s agenda, but the threat he poses is potentially even greater than that of the man who killed six million Jews, because of his ambitious development of nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad has openly declared the destruction of Israel as his ultimate goal and has spoken longingly of “a world without America.” Rabbi Friedman declared Columbia University’s invitation “inconsistent and hypocritical,” pointing out that the school would never invite a leader of the Ku Klux Klan because the organization is offensive to minorities. In fact, last week Columbia University withdrew its speaking invitation to Jim Gilchrist, president and founder of the Minuteman Project, which seeks to secure America’s borders from illegal immigrants. The invitation was rescinded on the grounds that Gilchrist’s views were offensive to many of the university’s students. “Ironically,” said Rabbi Friedman, “the education laws Ahmadinejad has imposed in Tehran would not even allow an institution like Columbia University to exist, yet they offer him a platform to share his views.” Rabbi Friedman also scoffed at Columbia University’s claim that it was seeking to engage in an “open debate” with Ahmadinejad. “That proposition is laughable,” he said. “Students won’t be allowed to ask direct questions or to stake out contrary posi- 44 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Michael Kamel, Yehuda Holzer (holding sign), and Alex Burstein were among thousands of students who attended a protest demonstration against the Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, at Columbia University. tions; they have to submit short written questions to a member of the Columbia University staff who will decide which questions are or aren’t ‘appropriate.’ That may be called an ‘open debate’ in Iran; I’m shocked that Columbia University students accept it.” The entire student body of Rambam Mesivta, escorted by Rabbi Friedman and associate principal Rabbi Peretz Hochbaum, was joined by prominent community leaders and advocacy organizations such as Assemblyman Hikind, Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hasbara, the David Project, and Stand With Us, an organization that promotes education and understanding to bring a secure future for Israel and its neighbors, whose North American Campus Continued on Page 47 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 45 From The Chassidic Masters Circular Logic BY RABBI LAZER GURKOW There are two types of people: the first sees tragedy; the other sees opportunity. If his home goes up in flames, the first would reflect on the beautiful home that was; the second would contemplate the even more beautiful home that can soon be. Replacing The Shattered Tablets As we approach Simchas Torah, the culmination of the Tishrei holidays, we reflect on the holiday season that just passed. The High Holy Day season actually begins on the 17th of Tammuz, the day that marks the beginning of the destruction of Jerusalem. On that date, we mourn the lost glory of our past and yearn for the restoration of our Beis HaMikdash. Acknowledging that our ancestors were exiled from our land for their sinful behavior, we strive, from this day onward, to mend our ways. The 17th of Tammuz also marks the day that Moshe destroyed the first set of Tablets. Climbing down Mount Sinai, Moshe beheld the terrible sight of his nation dancing around a golden day of the new year. On this day G-d sits in judgment and we beseech Him to judge us favorably. Our fate remains uncertain till Yom Kippur, the day deemed by history as the Day of Atonement. On this day, G-d forgave our ancestors for the sin of the golden calf and consented to provide Moshe with a new set of Luchos. On this day, He forgives us too. The circle closes. What began on the day the Luchos were shattered ends on the day they were replaced. What began as a drive for repentance ends with absolute atonement. This positive conclusion is a cause for celebration, and we do indeed rejoice. We launch into the holiday of Sukkos, a festive time of joy and celebration. It is fitting that we chant the final portion of the Torah on this festive day. The verses ring with praise for Moshe and his people: an ode to our nation, to our strength and spirit; an ode to Moshe, to his prophecy and leadership. The last climactic words are finally chanted: “The awesome power that Moshe performed before the eyes of all Israel” (Devarim 34:12). “Chazak,” we then declare; “We are strengthened.” Wait. Just a moment. What were those last words again? What was the awesome power that Moshe performed before our eyes? Our Sages teach that this was the power with which Moshe shattered the Luchos (see Rashi’s commentary). What? That again? I thought we were past that. That was the beginning of the journey. This was supposed to be its culmination! Are we turning the clock back? The Purpose Of Sin This goes to show that Torah is aligned with the second group, the one that views tragedy as potential opportunity and a sinner as a potential penitent. The Talmud (Avodah Zarah, 4b) teaches that our ancestors were compelled, by a Divine force, to worship the golden calf. They were in a pious state after receiving the Ten Commandments and would not have betrayed G-d had He not compelled them to. He did this to demonstrate the power of repentance. Lest we breach our relationship with Continued on Page 50 A relationship is strongest when it was betrayed and then repaired. calf. Swiftly concluding that they were no longer worthy of their Divine mandate, he hurled the Luchos to the ground. This sin was the beginning of a long slide that culminated with the second tragedy—the destruction of the Temple. Mindful of these two tragedies, we initiate a period of repentance that extends till Rosh Hashanah, the first A Sudden Reversal As we dance our way through the holiday, we revel in our newfound piety and enjoy our status as G-d’s righteous people. Indeed, the festivities culminate on the last day with a celebration of G-d and Torah. We rejoice with G-d and G-d rejoices with us. We celebrate with the Torah and the Torah celebrates with us, the people that embraced it. 46 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES AROUND THE FIVE TOWNS Continued from Page 45 Director is Rambam graduate Dani Klein. The speeches were periodically punctuated by student cries of “Just Get Out!” and “No Terror in the USA.” The crowd crew hushed during the speech by Mrs. Irene Hizme, a Holocaust victim who underwent brutal experimentation by the sadistic Dr. Josef Mengele at Auschwitz. “If Ahmadinejad, or the professors at Columbia University, have any doubts about what transpired during the Holocaust,” she said, “let them just ask me!” The crowd erupted with chants of “Ask Mrs. Hizme! Ask Mrs. Hizme!” “Public protests are an important part of the democratic process,” said Rambam alumnus Simcha Gross, a student at Yeshiva University, who joined his alma mater’s efforts. “We need to show our government and the world what we think of this man. The only way to do that is to speak out.” Though Columbia University cites freedom of speech as the motivating factor behind its decision, according to today’s protestors, freedom of speech does not imply that everything that can be said should be said. “They insist on exercising the freedom of this terrorist,” said Rabbi Friedman. “We will exercise our freedom, as well—the freedom to deny this institution our support. We call on all thinking Americans: Stop supporting this institution!” Rambam’s students have been in the forefront of many similar rallies on behalf of Jewish and other causes in the past, many with notable success. For example, rallies held against the Australian government contributed to that government’s decision to deport a former Nazi concentration camp guard back to his native Lithuania to face charges. Other demonstrations have produced court orders against Nazis living in the U.S. Rambam students have also been in the forefront at other rallies—against the French government’s failure to act against French anti-Semitism, Saudi support of terror, and the UN’s failure to seek the release of Israeli soldiers who are MIA and believed to be held hostage by Iran and Hezbollah. Concurrently with the demonstration by the Rambam students at Columbia University, the HAFTR students demonstrated against Ahmadinejad at the United Nations at a rally organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the JCRC of New York in cooperation with the UJA Federation of New York and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s visit to the U.S. had prompted a public outcry because of his open call to “wipe Israel off the map” and his denial of the Holocaust. The U.S. has publicly denounced Iran as a “major sponsor of international terror” for its support and training of Islamic terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. The U.S. military claims that Iran is also training and supplying Continued on Page 49 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 47 Making A Simcha BY RABBI YONI POSNICK When one thinks of a simcha, or when we hear someone say, “I’m making a simcha,” our minds think of a wedding—indeed one of the greatest and most joyous simchas. Sukkos is z’man simchaseinu, the time of our simcha, and in fact Chazal relate Sukkos to the concept of “making a simcha” by analogy of a wedding. The Midrash writes that on the night B’nei Yisrael left Mitzrayim, they became engaged to Hashem through the korban Pesach. Pesach was our engagement—the start of our special relationship with Hashem. On Shavuos, Hashem gave us His Torah, which was the kesubah, the written contract detailing our obligations to Hashem and the mutual love we share. Finally on Sukkos, we entered “Hashem’s chuppah,” the miraculous Ananei haKavod, representing our wedding and marriage to Hashem. Sukkos is the completion of the process. On Sukkos we are finally at the chuppah, and we go to live with Hashem. Sukkos lasts seven days—a full week—and in the time of the Beis HaMikdash, grand celebrations took place each night (simchas beis ha’sho’eiva) paralleling the seven days of sheva berachos with Hashem, starting on the night of the chuppah, when we enter the sukkah. True, there is great joy and happiness when an engagement is made, but the happiness is not a complete and true celebration. There is not true simcha until the chasan and kallah are standing beneath the chuppah and begin to start their life of being together as one. We were engaged to HaKadosh Baruch Hu back on Pesach, and we received our kesubah, our precious Torah, from Hashem on Shavuos. But this was not the highest level; the simcha was not yet complete. Merely receiving the Torah was not enough. The Torah tells us “Basukkos teishvu shivas yamim—Sit in sukkahs for seven days,” on which the Gemara comments, “teishvu k’ein taduru”—the Torah means not just to sit in the sukkah but to live in the sukkah, as one lives in his house. It is only when we take the Torah we’ve received and actually live it; when we take concrete action and apply Torah to our lives; when we enter the chuppah and make the sukkah our home to live with Hashem—only then is there truly “a simcha going on,” and we celebrate our z’man simchaseinu with the greatest joy! The Midrash relates that the chapter of Tehillim which we have been reciting since Elul, “L’Dovid Hashem Ori,” refers to this time period. We say “Hashem ori v’yishi, Hashem is my light and salvation.” “Ori, my light” refers to Rosh Hashanah, and “yishi, my salvation” refers to Yom Kippur. A few pesukim later, we find a reference to Sukkos— “ki yitzpeneini b’sukko b’yom ra’a, He hides me in His shelter (sukkah) on the day of evil.” HaRav Shimshon Dovid Pincus, z’l, writes that there is another allusion to this time period in the first berachah of Shemoneh Esrei, “Melech ozeir u’moshia, u’magein—King, Helper, Savior, and Protector.” “Melech” refers to Rosh Hashanah, when we proclaim Hashem as King over all; “Helper” refers to the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, when Hashem assists us in gaining a favorable judgment by giving us ten days to fix our deeds and do proper teshuvah. “Savior” refers to Yom Kippur, when Hashem saves us, as a savior rescues someone stuck in a deep pit with no way to get out on his own. Rav Pincus continues that there is a clear buildup here. First we establish that we are servants of the King, and therefore totally devoted to Him. As a servant of the King, we have no independent interests—whatever the king wishes, the servant does as well; whatever the king eats, so does the servant; wherever the king goes, the servant goes along. This is true by a human king of flesh and blood, but when it comes to the Al-mighty, how could we ever stay close and walk with Him? The answer is “Ozeir,” He is our Helper; He gives us teshuvah to come close and stay close to Him. Even so, we are still unclean and unfit to serve Him. The answer is “Moshia,” He is our Savior, He cleans and purifies us to serve Him. Now enters Sukkos, the last piece of the puzzle. It is true we have this path and buildup, but we still need protection. Without proper protection, all of the levels that a person reached are in danger of being lost. (Just as when a king gives one of his servants a precious gem, the previously unnoticed servant suddenly becomes a target for all the thieves, robbers, and enemies of the king, so too after being purified and attaining such heights and closeness to Hashem after Yom Kippur, our neshamos sparkle like diamonds and we are in great danger from the yetzer ha’ra and spiritual forces which seek to drag us down and take away our high spiritual standing). One who has the greatest treasure, who has attained the greatest heights, is in the greatest sakanah, danger. This is 48 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES the essence of Sukkos. “Ki yitzpeneini b’sukko b’yom ra’ah,” “Hashem will hide me in His shelter, in the sukkah, on the day of evil,”—during the days when all the evil forces are working harder than ever to drag our neshamos down from their heights, from the closeness and purity we reached during Neilah! Sukkos is the shield and protection; Sukkos is that last level, of “Magein,” when Hashem gives us a Yom Tov to protect and solidify ourselves from the surrounding sakanah. And what indeed is the protection? How do we ensure that we protect the levels we have attained? We celebrate z’man simchaseinu! It is through simcha. Simcha, serving Hashem with happiness and joy, is the best possible protection. When a person is happy and realizes how fortunate he is to have a relationship with the Master of the World, he will seek to internalize all he has attained and strive only to grow higher and higher. During the yamim nora’im, as their name implies, we serve Hashem through yirah, awe and fear. Afterwards, before we return to our regular lives and daily schedules, we have a z’man simchaseinu, a Yom Tov when we serve Hashem through ahavah and simcha, love and joy of our Father and Creator. It is only through joyfully serving Hashem that we truly solidify what we’ve achieved and strengthen ourselves for the entire year to come! May we merit Hashem’s protection and to feel His Divine Presence always; may we be zocheh to take the clarity of Sukkos with us in all areas of our lives; may we be zocheh to have only simcha, and to experience the time when all days will be z’man simchaseinu, the ultimate “time of simcha” with the coming of Mashiach, when we will sit in Hashem’s sukkah with the righteous tzadikim, the ushpizin, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu, bimheira b’yameinu! O The author may be reached at YoniMP17@yahoo.com. AROUND THE FIVE TOWNS Continued from Page 47 Iraqi insurgent groups that have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers and thousands of Iraqi civilians. Ahmadinejad’s presence at the United Nations is “an absolute abomination,” said principal Rabbi Yotav Eliach. “Ahmadinejad is an enemy of both the U.S and Israel. He is an enemy of freedom. He is an enemy of decency. To invite him here is an insult to our nation’s citizens.” Rabbi Eliach and Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, the rosh yeshiva, insisted that the entire school participate in the rally, making the HAFTR contingent among the largest to participate. “When a modern-day equivalent of Hitler comes to town,” said Rabbi Friedman, “the Jewish community should not respond with half measures. We have learned our lesson from bitter experience. We will be silent no longer.” The Tefillah l’Shalom haMedinah was recited before the burgeoning crowd by Rafi Benzaquen, a HAFTR senior. The other students waved banners and cheered the lead speakers. Monday’s rally will be the second in as many years protesting Ahmadinejad’s presence at the UN General Assembly. The New York JCRC and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also held a rally last September to protest Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust-denial and to call for the release of Israel’s MIA soldiers held captive by Hezbollah and Hamas. The demonstration, emphasizes Rabbi Friedman, is first and foremost about education. “If we want our children to appreciate the true value of democracy, to understand the significance of our freedoms, then they have to see first-hand that they can make a difference. That’s what the rally is ultimately about. It shows our students what can happen if people remain silent in the face of evil. Jews were the principal victims of the Holocaust, but the suffering caused by Hitler’s madness was universal. We all have to stand up for our freedoms and not just take them for granted.” It’s also about fundamental Jewish values, he notes. “The Torah cautions us that we cannot create a healthy, constructive society by allowing evil to dwell in our midst. That’s why we are given the message of ‘zachor,’ which means “remember—always.” Don’t allow the mists of time, political correctness, or human sentimentality to obscure or allow you to rationalize the existence of evil.” “Student rallies are a serious business,” says Rabbi Yotav Eliach, principal of the Machon. “Our students first study the subject matter of the rally, and then begins the process of organization, preparing informational material, notifying the police and obtaining the necessary permits, inviting dignitaries and others to participate, preparing signs. It’s a big project, but the kids take to it enthusiastically and with great poise and maturity.” O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 49 A Sukkos Recipe BY ERIC ATTIAS Baked Royal Sea Bream Fillet And Sautéed Spinach With Garden Herbs Sauce (Serves 4) Ingredients: 4 fillets of dorad (sea bream), 4.25 oz. each 8 oz. quality black olives (pitted) 8 fillet of anchovies (1.25 grams) 1 oz. fresh-picked thyme salt pepper bread crumbs 1 lb. spinach 1 clove garlic Sauce: 1/2 cup olive oil lemon juice 1 oz. fresh mint 1 oz. basil 1 oz. parsley 1 oz. coriander 1 tomato salt pepper Directions: Pre-heat oven to 425°F. Lightly oil an oven pan with olive oil. Lay the fish down on the pan. Add salt and pepper. Grind the olives and the anchovies, or chop them if you prefer to create a chunky-style topping. Add the thyme, season with salt and pepper, and a drop of olive oil. Spread the fish generously with the paste. Add some breadcrumbs and place the fish in the oven. Important: try to add the breadcrumbs at the last minute to create a crunchier effect. The fish shouldn’t take more than 9 minutes to be ready! In the meantime, prepare the sauce: Add to the olive oil a mix of your favorite garden herbs. I like to chop mint, parsley, coriander and a lot of basil. Any other herbs are also good, but be careful when using an herb with a dominant taste such as dill, tarragon, rosemary, etc. Mix salt and pepper into the lemon juice and add it to the oil and chopped herbs. Optional: fried garlic. Quickly sauté the spinach in olive oil and place in the center of the plate. Add the fish on top of it. Add some sauce at the last minute before serving, so the crust stays as crunchy as possible. Bon appétit! Chef Eric Attias is Executive Chef at Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel. His gourmet recipes will be featured throughout the Sukkot holiday at the 5star hotel. During the course of the 8-day holiday, Chef Attias and his staff will be preparing over 15,000 meals for hotel guests! Chef Eric Attias FROM THE CHASSIDIC MASTERS Continued from Page 46 G-d and despair of repenting, the sin of the golden calf demonstrates the potency of repentance. Repentance brought us back even from the brink of idolatry. Not only did it repair our bond, but it made it stronger that ever before. Just as a rope is sturdiest where it broke and was knotted back together, so is a relationship strongest when it was betrayed and then repaired. The process of repentance began for our ancestors when Moshe shattered the Luchos. The Torah does not see that as a moment of failure, but as the moment the healing began. Simchas Torah At the height of our celebration, when we are most confident in our own piety, we are reminded of the power of repentance. Lest we sin again, we are reminded to never despair. Sin closes one door, but opens another. It closes the door to piety, but opens the door to repentance. The latter is far larger than the former. Rather than perceive our sins as barriers, we are encouraged to view them as opportunities for repentance. This is why we dance in a circle on Simchas Torah. The scholar and the ignoramus, the pious and the wicked, all in one equal circle. A circle has no beginning and no end, no high point and no low point; all are equal in a circle. On this day we are reminded that the ignorant and the wicked are not sinners, but potential penitents—it is not a question of if, but rather of when. On that day, they will not join the scholarly and pious ranks, but surpass them. O (Based on the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Likutei Sichos, vol. IX, p. 237.) Rabbi Lazer Gurkow is spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Tefilah in London, Ontario. He has lectured extensively on a variety of Jewish topics, and his articles have appeared in many print and online publications. For more on Rabbi Gurkow and his wrtings, visit InnerStream.ca. Published with permission of Chabad.org. Find information for the entire family at www.chabad.org/Parshah. 50 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Dear Editor, I was very touched by your article (August 31) about an extraordinary wife, mother, teacher, and friend, Rebbetzin Judy Young. I had the great good fortune to know her and her husband when they were an important part, for too short a time in the late 1980s, of the blossoming Palo Alto, Calif., Jewish community. Her shiurim, hospitality, energy, and emunah inspire me—and countless others—to this day. I would ask you to add to your beautiful article that Judy lived in, and contributed so very much to, the Palo Alto community. Thank you, Pam Machefsky Dear Editor, I have read some of the articles in your paper regarding shidduchim, and nothing shocks me anymore. I wanted to share my own experience with your readers. Recently someone called my 20-year-old daughter wanting to set her up. After a short interview, she told her that the shadchan on the other side wanted references and a picture of her. My daughter discussed it with my husband and me, and we all agreed that we would not procure a photo of her for the shadchan. I discussed it with some friends, who told me it had become common practice, that is, for the boy’s side to request a photo of the girl. As the mother of three girls, I can say that I was not only put off, but incensed. A blind date should be just that. Teaching our children that inner beauty is paramount and that looks are secondary is more important than pandering to a growing trend. Asking for a photo of someone goes against everything we as observant Jews believe. Shlomo haMelech, in Eishes Chayil, (Mishlei 31:30) wrote “False is grace and vain is beauty. A G-d fearing woman, she should be praised.” The ArtScroll edition explains it as, “Grace and beauty are not attributes that are worthy of serious praise, for they have no great value. Moreover, they are often transitory and do not reflect the character and worth of a person. Only a woman’s fear of G-d is deserving of praise.” We must teach our children that a person’s character is what matters. We must teach them to stand up for what they believe in and that “beauty” is, in fact, only skin deep. G’mar chatimah tovah. Sincerely, Chaya Glikman 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 51 52 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 53 Ahmadinejad Slams ‘Unfriendly Treatment’ By Columbia Pres. BY SHLOMO SHAMIR AND YAEL WISSNER-LEVY Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kicked off a controversial speaking appearance in New York on Monday by blasting his host, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger for his “unfriendly treatment.” Introducing Ahmadinejad, whose address at the campus sparked widespread protests, Bollinger described him as a “petty, cruel dictator.” The university president also took aim at Ahmadinejad’s previous calls for Israel’s destruction, asking: “We have ties with Israel, do you plan to wipe us off the map too?” Bollinger had come under fire for his refusal to cancel the speech. Ahmadinejad said earlier Monday that Iran would not launch an attack on Israel or any other country, and he does not believe the U.S. is preparing for war against Iran. “Iran will not attack any country,” Ahmadinejad told The Associated Press. “Iran has always maintained a defensive policy, not an offensive one, he said, and has never sought to expand its territory.” Asked whether he believed the U.S. is preparing for war, he responded “that is not how I see it… I believe that some of the talk in this regard arises first of all from anger. Secondly, it serves the electoral purposes domestically in this country. Third, it serves as a cover for policy failures over Iraq.” In a 30-minute interview at a hotel near the United Nations, Ahmadinejad struck a soothing tone. He said Iranian foreign policy was based on humanitarian concerns and seeking justice. He reiterated his call for a debate at the United Nations on world issues with U.S. President Iran. Israel disagreed sharply with Ahmadinejad’s description of Iran’s foreign policy. “The Iranian government, through its words and actions, has an aggressive and expansionist policy,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. “They are supporting extremist groups in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon. They have their own aggressive nuclear weapons program. I think we would be irresponsible if we didn’t take the threat that Iran poses to the region and the world seriously.” But the president also lashed out at Israel, accusing it of occupation and racism. His comments came after he The Iranian leader is trying to obtain nuclear weapons, is a Holocaust denier, and rules his country with an iron fist. George W. Bush. Referring to fears of a military campaign against Iran, he said “we don’t think you can compensate for one mistake by committing more mistakes.” The Iranian president, in what is believed to be his first comments on a reported attack September 6 by Israel Air Force aircraft inside Syria, said the attack stemmed from Israeli expansionism and it had nothing to with met leaders of an anti-Zionist Jewish group. Mainstream Jewish groups were among those who condemned an invitation by Columbia University for the Iranian leader to speak later Monday at its World Leaders Forum. “We do not recognize that regime [Israel] because it is based on occupation and racism. It constantly attacks its neighbors,” Ahmadinejad said in a video news conference from New York with the National Press Club in Washington, citing recent IDF action in Syria and Lebanon. “It kills people. It drives people from their homes.” He also took a swipe at the United States, saying: “We oppose the way the U.S. government tries to manage the world. We think this method is wrong. It leads to war, discrimination and bloodshed.” Ahmadinejad arrived in New York on Sunday as critics protested his planned speech at Columbia, and the hardline leader denied that his country was building a nuclear weapon. “In political relations right now, the nuclear bomb is of no use,” Ahmadinejad said in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday. “If it was useful it would have prevented the downfall of the Soviet Union. If it was useful it would resolved the problem the Americans have in Iraq. The time of the bomb is passed.” The interview with CBS reporter Scott Pelley was taped Thursday in Tehran. Ahmadinejad arrived Sunday evening in New York, according a spokesman for the Iranian Mission to the United Nations. He was to speak at Columbia on Monday and address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. But the protests had already started. Elected officials demonstrating at Columbia claimed the Iranian leader is trying to obtain nuclear weapons, is a Holocaust denier, and rules his country with an iron fist. The university defended the decision to allow Ahmadinejad to speak as a matter of free speech. (Haaretz & AP) O 54 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES A Nation Like Any Other BY HANA LEVI JULIAN A curse of our own making. The Zionist dreams for the State of Israel have been realized at last. We have become a nation like any other. We have so-called “gay rights” groups, homosexuals and lesbians marching down the main thoroughfares of our eternal capital, Jerusalem, the holiest city on earth. We have organized crime families, drug dealers, thieves, rapists, murderers—many, if not most, of whom are Jews. And now, at last, we also have neo-Nazis, burning with hatred of Jews and admiration for the man who exterminated some six million of us, and who would have murdered the rest if only he had more time. Eight teenage wannabe Nazis were arrested a month ago after a year-long investigation that came on the heels of two anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues in Petach Tikva. The teenage gang of immigrants from the former Soviet Union—only one of whom was truly Jewish according to the criteria set forth in Jewish law—was indicted last week on a variety of charges that included incitement to racism, grievous bodily harm and Holocaust denial. They couldn’t be charged with the crime of being neoNazis, because there is no law against it. The Jewish State, peopled by so many of those who were lucky enough to survive the Nazi death camps a scant few decades ago, does not recognize neo-Nazism as a crime. Nor does Israel recognize the difference between Jewish immigrants who are returning home to their eternal Land, and non-Jewish immigrants who were motivated by little more than the opportunity to escape hardship in their own country at the expense of another. It is a curse of our own making. We voted to approve a Law of Return that allows—nay, even encourages—immigration of individuals with little, if any, connection to the vestige of Judaism in their background. The law uses the Nazi definition of a Jew as criteria for automatic eligibility to become a citizen in the Jewish State. Documentation of descent from one grandparent of either gender on either side of the family is enough to qualify for thousands of shekels in immigrant benefits. The definition of a Jew under Torah law is based on matrilineal descent: someone who is born of a Jewish mother, who was also born of a Jewish mother, and so on back through the entire family line. It is a definition still used by the Israeli Rabbinate, if not by the rest of the government. At least one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union have become citizens of the Jewish State since 1991. Of these, 250,000 to 330,000 do not consider themselves Jewish, and it is quite possible that even more are not Jewish according to Torah law. A significant percentage of those are outright anti-Semites, a fact which many will cheerfully share with you if you speak Russian and don’t look like you’re Jewish. They might get automatic citizenship in the Jewish State under Israeli law, but the Chief Rabbinate is still unwilling to perform marriages for those who are unable to provide evidence of their bona fide Jewish ancestry. It’s ironic that it should be the highly politicized, much disputed Chief Rabbinate that remains the sole government agency keeping Israel from becoming a nation truly like any other. (Arutz Sheva) O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 55 Hachnasas Sefer Torah Photos By Eli Shapiro A Hachnasas Sefer Torah was held last week at Agudath Israel of West Lawrence (Rabbi Brown’s shul). The event, which was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Zvi Keilson, drew hundreds of people from surrounding communities to partake in the festivities. The Sefer Torah was dedicated in memory of Reb Dovid Gotlieb, a”h. 56 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Rabbi Yosef: No Wonder Secular IDF Soldiers Are Killed In War Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, told followers that Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in combat because they did not observe Jewish religious laws. “Is it any wonder if, heaven forbid, soldiers are killed in a war?” Rabbi Yosef said during his weekly Saturday night sermon. “They don’t observe the Sabbath, they don’t observe [the laws of] the Torah, they don’t pray, they don’t put on tefillin every day. Is it any wonder that they’re killed? It’s no wonder. May the Al-mighty have mercy on them and bring them back to religion.” Israeli media accounts of the sermon also quoted Rabbi Yosef as saying that when soldiers “believe and pray, G-d helps them during the war” and that these troops “don’t get killed.” The comments sparked wide criticism. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said that he was “pained by the statements.” “Casualties to civilians and soldiers make no distinction between those who are more exacting [in their religious observance] and those who are less.” David Einhorn, father of a soldier killed in the Second Lebanon War a year ago, strongly criticized the rabbi for his comments. Einhorn said his son was killed just before he was to put on tefillin for prayer. Rabbi Yosef has often been at the center of controversy for comments made at the weekly sermons. He once attacked Meretz party leader Yossi Sarid, comparing him to Haman, villain of the Purim story, put to death by hanging. “He is Satan, may his name and memory be erased,” the rabbi said. Cursed is Haman, cursed is Yossi Sarid. He will be uprooted from the seed of Israel. Just as revenge was wrought on Haman, so it will be wrought on him.” In the past, he also blamed the destruction of Hurricane Katrina on American support for the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, and made statements which seemed to call for the annihilation of Arabs. Shas Chairman and cabinet minister Eli Yishai came to the rabbi’s defense, saying that Rabbi Yosef was stressing that “all of Israel is responsible for one another. If I sin, that can affect IDF soldiers.” According to Yishai, “the rabbi prays every day and every Shabbat for the safe return home of IDF soldiers. When an IDF soldier is killed, the rabbi sheds tears, he cries. He gathers everyone and says, let us pray. Every one of us is commanded and obligated to pray, to observe the [laws of the] Torah and the commandments, for the sake of IDF soldiers. When a soldier is hurt in the IDF, we see this as the fault of all the people of Israel who must return to religion. “My rabbi does not err,” Yishai told Army Radio. “Everything he says is the word of G-d.” (Haaretz) O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 57 58 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 59 60 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES HANC Participates In Rally from the 5 Towns Jewish Times Monday at the National Rally to End the Threat Now. Photo above: Richard Joel together with Rabbi Daniel Mezei and HANC students. Photo at right: Holocaust survivors John and Nitzha Ranz attracted the attention of every major radio and newspaper reporter. John stood with a solemn yet determined look while holding his sign up high for a long period of time. Chag Sameach The maximum measurements apply only to the height of the sukkah; as regards width or length, there is no maximum and any width or length (over seven tefachim) is fit for use, provided that one places a sufficient amount of sechach on the roof. Our Sages said: “All Israel are worthy of dwelling in a single sukkah.” And, it is said, in the Time to Come, G-d will make a sukkah from the hide of the leviathan and all the righteous people who have kept the mitzvah of sukkah will be seated in it. 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 61 62 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Israeli Tourism Rebounds To 7-Year High BY ALISA ODENHEIMER AND DAVID ROSENBERG The number of foreign tourists visiting Israel leaped 82 percent in August from a year earlier, bringing arrivals in the first eight months to their highest level since 2000. Foreign visitors to Israel reached 1.46 million through August, the highest since 2000. About 223,000 tourists entered the country last month, boosting the total by 9.1% to 1.46 million in the eight months through August, the Central Bureau of Statistics said. Arrivals in August 2006 fell because of the Second Lebanon War. “The August figures prove that the tourism sector has recovered from the crisis it had following the Lebanon War,” Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said. Tourism accounts for about 2% of the country’s economy, according to current account figures, bringing in about $2.5 billion last year. That contribution may more than double when all tourism spending is included, according to a Knesset study. Visitor arrivals are at their highest since the millennial year brought a record number of tourists. The second Intifada, which broke out at the end of that year, sent figures plummeting until 2004, when tourism began to recover. “The government has set a goal of boosting the number of tourists to 5 million by 2012, more than double the 2.3 million arrivals that are expected this year,” Aharonovitch said. In 2000, 2.6 million tourists arrived in Israel. “It’s been the best-ever July and August,” said Rafi Baeri, vice president of marketing and sales at the Dan Hotels Corp. He said that the hotel chain, which owns the historic King David Hotel in Jerusalem and 12 other four- and five-star hotels around the country, is expecting a “record” year for 2007. Tourists make up about 65% of the Tel Aviv-based hotel chain’s guests, with about 35% of overseas guests arriving from the U.S. and Canada, and another third from Europe, mainly Britain and France, he said. The remaining one-third are from the former Soviet Union, the Far East, and South America. Most of the recovery this year has been due to the increase in tourism from France and the U.S., Shmuel Zurel, director general of the Tel Aviv-based Israel Hotel Association said. (Bloomberg) O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 63 Imagine For One Moment… BY GERALD A. HONIGMAN Being “nice” hasn’t worked. Imagine for one moment that instead of Iranian artillery indiscriminately shelling Kurdish civilians across the border in Iraq, it was Israeli artillery doing likewise to Arabs in Gaza. Let’s step back a bit. Recently, Iran has been shelling Kurdish villages in Iraq for weeks, supposedly because it fears that Iranian Kurds, who wish for autonomy in Iran, are taking refuge across the border. Iran says PEJAK—a breakaway faction of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—launches attacks from Iraqi bases. For some time now, Turks and Iranians have been collaborating in dealing with their Kurdish “headaches.” In this, they’re soulmates with Arabs, as well. All have worked to deny more than 30 million Kurds—who pre-date Arabs and Turks in the region by millennia and who have been there at least as long as Iranians—political rights in a nationalist age. And it’s worse than that. All three nations have killed many hundreds of thousands of Kurds, subjugated living ones, and denied them even their own culture and language over the past century. While the world demands a 22nd state for Arabs (their second, not first, one in “Palestine”—Arab Jordan sits on 80% of the latter), Kurds are still only referred to as separatists, terrorists, or the like when this subject comes up for them. An AP story on September 2 was the latest to do this (“Iranian Shelling Angers Iraq,” by Yahya Barzanji). And consider the following, as well: There are millions of Arabs in Iran’s own western, oil-rich Khuzestan province—so many that even Iranians have called it Arabistan for centuries. It was the main reason Iraq and Iran fought their bloody war several decades ago. Why not create about the latter’s reluctance to cave in to Hamas, Fatah, and other Arabs who still have the Jewish nation’s destruction as their end goal. So, let’s return to the beginning. Over two years after Israel totally withdrew from Gaza, Israel’s south is still being bombarded indiscriminately by Arab rockets from Gaza. One of the latest hit near a day-care center, damaging a home next door and sending 12 young children to the hospital. Folks, if I were running the show, best believe they’d get a mega-dose of their own medicine. Arab state number 22 there, especially since the province did trade back and forth between Arab and Iranian rule over the centuries? Answer: It won’t happen, because the Iranians are total hypocrites. Iran brutally suppresses Arab, Kurd, Baluchi, Azeri, and so forth when it comes to the question of Iran’s own unity and national security; yet, it is quick to point the finger at Israel Another exploded on a street in the center of the city. In their statements to the press, the Arabs called the attacks a “gift” for the new school year. Could you imagine the worldwide outcry, condemnations, editorials and so forth if—in response to this barbaric, deliberate assault on the most innocent—Israel merely repaid Arabs in kind? Folks, if I were running the show, best believe they’d get a mega-dose of their own medicine—and with just a slight bit of hesitation. I’d probably first issue sufficient warnings that such equal treatment will soon be coming, and then exponentially increase it with each new Arab “revenge” attack. Sorry, lefty suicidal liberals (and I’m an oldfashioned liberal, in many ways, myself—a very different breed from the “new” species), especially you head-inthe-sand Hebrew types. Let Arabs see what it’s like when they’re subjected to random, indiscriminate bombardment like they dish out. Perhaps, afterwards, they’ll think twice about allowing the deliberate murder and attempted murder of Jews to be launched from their lands. And, if not, the other way didn’t work, either. When you’re outnumbered 300 million Arabs to 5 million Israeli Jews, perceived weakness and inaction is suicidal. Tit-for-tat responses don’t work under these circumstances. Yeah, I know, the world would be screaming about “Nazi Jews” and such—the same world that watches Israel’s S’derot targeted and victimized daily and says nothing. Whoops, sorry, I’m wrong—the world does say that Israel must cave in even more. So, being “nice” hasn’t worked. Again, unilateral withdrawals and such are simply seen by Arabs as weakness and incremental victories towards their destruction-in-phases plans for Israel. Jews try to do it right and get condemned anyway. Israel tries its best to 64 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES target the exact perpetrators; yet, when the latter hide amidst their own populations (against the Geneva Conventions), civilians at times get caught in the middle, especially since Arabs love to use their own kids to retrieve rocket launchers after firing missiles at Israel. But again, no world outcry. Given the expectations that Israel will pinpoint targets as it responds to Arab terror, why is it that Iran feels free to attack Kurdish civilians at will because of its quarrel with Kurdish “separatists”? Why is there no worldwide outcry for the plight of Kurdish victims and refugees, let alone the absence of support for Kurdish political aspirations? Where are the editorials, nasty sermons, and demands from the American State Department? While I’m not endorsing PKK or PEJAK attacks on innocents if and when they occur, please understand that neither Arabs, Turks, nor Iranians have granted Kurds anywhere near the rights that Israel has already conceded to Arabs who seek Israel’s very destruction, including partition of the land itself. Why is the latter a must for Israel, but autonomy (at the least) and political rights for suppressed Kurds unspeakable? Shortly, Mr. Bush’s Fall summit to shove a Fatahstan down Israel’s throat will commence, despite the fact that Mahmoud Abbas’s allegedly “moderate” Arafatians have as much or more Jewish blood on their hands—and the same end goals regarding Jews—as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Just visit all of their websites, for starters. Is it not time for the plight of tens of millions of Kurds—who seek no one else’s destruction, just a slice of political rights denied them until now—to also move onto the front burner of the world’s moral conscience? In the late 1980s, many senior officials of the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which processes immigration to Israel, suggested that the “grandfather clause” be dropped. However, American Jewish charitable organizations objected. These organizations had been asked by Israel to raise funds for the exodus of Jews, and they protested any proposed change in the Israeli government definition of “Who is a Jew?” In the mid-1990s, the Jewish Agency for Israel sponsored ads in the major Russian papers that proclaimed: “If you have a Jewish grandparent, you can qualify for citizenship in Israel under the Law of Return.” That law also provided immigrants with a basket of free services for at least three years. In 1997, a member of Israel’s Knesset, Alex Lubotzky, a liberalminded Orthodox Jew, announced that he was ready to check out all conversion possibilities to provide all options of conversion for new immigrants. But in December of that year, Lubotzky announced that, of the 200,000 non-Jews who had arrived in Israel under the Law of Return, less than 2,000 expressed any interest whatsoever in becoming Jewish. Instead, a Russian culture overtook many neighborhoods where former USSR residents established them- selves, totally devoid of anything Jewish or anything Zionist. The late Dr. Yuri Shtern, a hero in the Zionist resistance movement in the USSR who later became a leading member of Israel’s Knesset, warned about a disturbing aspect of the nonJewish immigration to Israel: antiSemitism. Another former Soviet activist, Knesset member Yuli Edelstein, concurred. Yet, until very recently, the Jewish Agency, the Israeli government and the Israeli police would not react to the increasing problems that were beginning to surface, which included sporadic attacks of non-Jewish Russians on religious Israeli Jews. One Russian Jewish Israeli, however, Dr. Zalman Gilichinski, made it his business to document Russian antiSemitism in Israel and to mobilize Israel’s law enforcement system to tackle it. Gilichinski launched a web site, Pogrom.org.il, which consolidated reports of unimaginable anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi organizations in more than 15 Israeli cities, organized by non-Jews whose families had come to Israel under the Law of Return. Gilichinski pleaded with organizations and academic institutions that monitor anti-Semitism to join with him to report anti-Semitic attacks as a threat to Israel’s security and wellbeing. However, no groups would heed Gilichinski’s warnings. Undaunted, Gilichinski took his case to the highest levels of the police five years ago and kept updating the police with comprehensive reports of attacks launched by Israeli neo-Nazi cells, along with reports of their subculture. The unkindest cut of all was Gilichinski’s revelation that the precise anti-Semitic literature, tapes, CDs, movies and books that are now banned throughout the former Soviet Union are sold and marketed in almost every bookstore and music store that serves the Russian-speaking population in Israel. Since only one group of neo-Nazis has been caught so far, it is reasonable to assume that this is only the tip of the iceberg of a crisis that hardly anyone in Israel ever expected to cope with. (Arutz Sheva) O Gerald A. Honigman is a Florida educator who has done extensive doctoral studies in Middle Eastern Affairs. He has created and conducted programs for college youth to counter Arab propaganda, has lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly debated many Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been published in dozens of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, and websites all around the world. Remember that article? Visit our archive section and find any issue of the 5 Towns Jewish Times online @ www.5TJT.com 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 65 When The Body Turns On Itself B Y J U D Y S I E G E LITZKOVICH The human body’s immune system is like a fort, a collection of mechanisms that protects against infection. It does so by identifying viruses, bacteria, parasitic worms, and sometimes even tumor cells, and then killing the strangers. But the system isn’t foolproof, and pathogens can evolve to find new ways to infect a host. But in 2% of the population, the body’s immune system goes haywire and fails to recognize its own parts as “self,” which results in an attack on healthy cells. This can occur from before birth (as in type 1 diabetes) into old age. There are about 80 different kinds of autoimmune disease, which can attack any organ in the body, including the brain, heart, nerves, skin, glands, joints, and bones. Among the bestknown, besides type I diabetes, are rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, ulcerative colitis (Crohn’s disease), Graves’ disease, vitiligo, glomerulonephritis, chronic liver inflammation, Sjogren’s syndrome, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, pernicious anemia, and myasthenia gravis. While a high level of autoimmunity can harm the body, a low level, called natural autoimmunity, is apparently beneficial, as some autoimmune responses are vital to the body’s functioning and the development of tolerance to self-antigens. Although the general public doesn’t know much about autoimmune diseases, people do sit up and pay attention when someone close is diagnosed with one. While these diseases usually don’t kill, they are chronic, so pharmaceutical companies “love” them because of the expensive medications 150 doctors and researchers (including Professor Marc Feldman of Imperial College in London, who delivered a major lecture)—concentrated on similarities and differences between cancer and autoimmune disease—a topic on which Naor has invested 40 years. Born in Hadera, Naor studied at The Hebrew University, specializing in “Could it be that other psychiatric conditions whose cause we don’t yet know are also due to autoimmune diseases?” that need to be purchased for life. Scientists are developing a better understanding of the immune system and autoimmune diseases, although much remains to be discovered. Among the Israelis who have been prominent in the field is Professor David Naor of The Hebrew UniversityHadassah Medical School, whose 70th birthday and official “retirement” were marked recently with a two-day international symposium at the medical school’s Magid Auditorium. The event—attended by more than immunology. “I didn’t want to be a physician; it didn’t attract me,” says Naor, who is tall, white-haired, and fit. He worked on the side “milking” venom from vipers, which was used to produce anti-snakebite serum in horses and camels. It was Pini Amitai, the veteran Jerusalem reptile expert, who taught Naor how to “milk” snakes. His interest in autoimmune diseases and cancer, he says, didn’t result from anyone close to him having such a disease. Naor’s 1967 degree thesis was published in Nature. He did post-doc- toral studies at the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of California in San Francisco. Since 1972, he has been a HU faculty member, teaching and researching immunology. “Seventy is just the beginning,” Naor says in a Jerusalem Post interview during the symposium. “I’m not retiring; I’m only starting, working on all kinds of projects. We have our own company, Maimonidex, in Tel Aviv that makes antibodies against rheumatoid arthritis. And I continue to teach.” Naor explains that the reaction of the body to cancer is an autoimmune reaction. “Tumors are like any other tissue, but unfortunately, the immune system’s reaction to cancer is weaker than to bacteria or other pathogens, and often can’t be seen. As I see it, cancer cells know how to deal with the immune system, as they divide faster and release toxic materials that act against the immune system, which doesn’t know how to counterattack. Our challenge is to understand why the immune reaction to cancer is so weak. Knowing the answer will be a great advance.” During the symposium, Israeli and foreign lecturers presented research and theories on how to induce the immune system to destroy malignant cells without harming healthy tissue. Naor said he hoped the gathering would help further this important line of research. In both cancer and autoimmune diseases, healthy cells are destroyed— in the former due to cells that grow 66 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES and spread in an uncontrolled fashion, and in the latter due to the body’s immune system mistakenly destroying vital tissue. “This is a paradoxical situation,” states Naor, “since if only it were possible to induce an autoimmune reaction against cancer cells, we could eliminate cancer.” Indeed, it has been known for years that the immune system is not indifferent to some malignant tumors, and tries to eliminate them in the same way it fights off bacteria. But this phenomenon shows up only rarely, and the immune system is usually not successful in fighting off cancerous cells. Naor says he doesn’t think there will be a single solution for all autoimmune diseases. “Each involves a different antigen, so I think there has to be a separate treatment for each, just as cancer is a collection of diseases with different treatments, depending on the affected organ.” Professor Yehuda Shoenfeld, a leading clinical immunologist (one of 150 in Israel) and an expert in rheumatology and allergy at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, praises Naor for his “great contributions in the development of antibodies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer.” Shoenfeld, who spoke at the opening of the symposium, noted that several factors trigger autoimmune disease. “There is a genetic component, but it’s not 100%; if a parent has an autoimmune disease, it increases the risk of it being contracted by the child, but this is far from inevitable,” says Shoenfeld. Another factor, he says, is a viral, bacterial, parasitic, fungal, or other type of infection that causes an immune reaction. Since the pathogen has a protein structure similar to that of healthy body cells, the immune system may attack healthy tissue as well. Any infection can bring it about, but only about 2% of the population gets autoimmune diseases, so there must be a combination of factors, including damage to the normal immune reaction. “We all have several lines of defense. If one breaks down and other factors are present, autoimmune disease can appear at any time, although it happens more frequently as people age.” Certain drugs may also trigger the autoimmune reaction by affecting the regulating mechanism. There are various environmental factors such as the sun (which can trigger lupus attacks), paints (scleroderma), and even living near an airport. Women are much more susceptible than men to autoimmune diseases, the Sheba immunologist notes, because their sex hormones affect their immune systems. In his lecture, which he titled “Smelling Autoimmunity,” Shoenfeld focused on systemic lupus erythematosus, which affects a large number of organs and tissues. It may also affect the central nervous system (CNS) and a person’s mental state. CNS involvement in lupus is very common, and linked with more than 20 antibodies, he says. Among the symptoms of lupus is depression. “If a psychiatric manifestation is caused by an autoimmune disease, could it be that other psychiatric conditions whose cause we don’t yet know are also due to autoimmune diseases?” Shoenfeld and colleagues injected one of these lupus antibodies, called anti-P-Ribosomal (anti-P-R), into the brain vesicles of mice. They quickly developed “depressive behavior,” which in mice is observed when they are put into containers of water containing a maze and expected to swim We tried exposing depressed rats to lemon and citrus fragrances. This helped more than antidepressants. to safety. Those that became depressed just floated rather than swimming to find safety. This was the first evidence that injecting a specific antibody into the brain can cause depression, relates Shoenfeld, whose findings were published last March. “Then we injected [the anti-depressant] fluoxetine [Prozac] into the depressed mice, and they swam.” The human-purified anti-P-R antibodies were shown to bind to CNS structures (the limbic system) in the brain, where the smell apparatus functions. When they bind with this part in the brain, it can create depression and harm the sense of smell. “We found that in many psychiatric conditions, patients lose their sense of smell, opening up the possibility that aromatherapy with certain odors can relieve the condition. We tried exposing depressed rats to lemon and citrus fragrances. This helped more than antidepressants, and the mice started to swim. Aromatherapy has already been tested in elderly Japanese. Perhaps we will be able to repair depression with good smells,” Shoenfeld suggested. “A sniffing test may even predict who will develop Alzheimer’s. We have neglected smell in the treatment of central nervous system disorders.” Autoimmune diseases are difficult, but there is hope. Steroids may be taken to suppress the immune system, but these can be harmful if taken for too long because they affect a variety of organs and expose patients to infections. A variety of major new drugs such as Remicade have been developed that are alleviating several inflammatory diseases, allowing patients to live normal or near-normal lives. “There is a revolution with biological drugs for autoimmune diseases, and the discoveries are also occurring in Israel,” says Shoenfeld. “As they may afflict not only the elderly but also young people—as with multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis—treating them has a major economic as well as personal impact. Successful new medications can help people go back to work.” (JPost.com) O 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 67 Terror Victims Group: Entire Shalit Family Held Hostage BY HILLEL FENDEL In response to remarks by Noam Shalit, whose son Gilad has been held captive in Gaza for over 14 months, the Almagor Terror Victims Association (TVA) says that Israel must not give in to his emotional appeals. Shalit the father appeared recently at a Herzliya conference—the 7th Annual International Conference, held by the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center’s Counter-Terrorism Policy Institute— and had strong criticism of the government for not having obtained the release of his son. Shalit demands the implementation of the much-talked about, but still not finalized, prisoner exchange deal, involving the freeing of over 1,000 Palestinian Authority terrorists from Israeli jails. “In the case of Gilad,” he said, “if there is no military option, then Israel must act in every other possible way… Don’t tell me stories about the need to restore Israel’s deterrence on the back of one 19-year-old… Every family of combat soldiers must be worried about Israel’s inability to obtain his release. Israel must be firm, consistent, and creative in its efforts to free my son. If one channel doesn’t work, then another one must be tried.” In response to Shalit, Almagor released a statement of opposition, explaining that though Hamas has apparently abducted Gilad’s entire family, the government must not allow itself to fall prey as well. TVA chairman Col. (ret.) Meir Indor, himself a victim of the war against terrorism, wrote as follows: Dear participants in the international conference on counter-terrorism: Following Noam Shalit’s remarks at the conference, in which he leveled the Shalit family, this must be said: The media pressure being exerted in Israel on the government is completely in line with the deepest desires of Hamas… The terrorist organizations, by means of threats, have managed to abduct the family of the abducted soldier too. Noam Shalit [Gilad’s father] is currently a mental captive of Hamas. All that remains is for Hamas to similarly abduct the government, along with the entire nation. The day the government capitulates and agrees to a [prisoner exchange] deal with Hamas will be that day. We must not allow Hamas to abduct the government of Israel, along with “I do not accept that there should be a price just to receive a sign of life.” criticism at the government…we asked those running the conference to allow us to appear before you and express our opinion on the subject… The conference management was unable to find a time slot for us at the last minute, but agreed to enable us to make our views known to you in writing. With all the sympathy we feel for the rest of the country, in its efforts to free Hamas terrorists. [The letter goes on to detail Almagor’s objections to the release of terrorists, citing a study showing that] at least 30 of the terrorist acts of the last few years have been carried out by terrorists who were released in previous exchange deals… The last terrorist acts have taken the lives of 179 citi- zens, and many more were injured and become disabled… [Other stats:] 80% of security prisoners who were released return to terror activities. 14 suicide attacks have been carried out by terrorists released by Israel. We therefore call upon the Israeli public not to blindly follow statements that make light of terrorists’ murder acts, and not to comfort ourselves with the hope that the next bombing will not hurt us or those dear to us. We, victims of terror, know from our own bitter experience that these are false dreams and we must not fool ourselves .We appeal to you in all earnestness to object with all your heart to these fatal death deals, despite and in the face of the great emotional difficulty to do so. …[The families of some] Israeli POWs, after an aggressive media campaign on all channels and at all levels, received their sons back and hundreds of people paid for it with their lives and health, when those terrorists planned the first intifada and formed the foundation of the terrorist organizations that have gained strength since the Oslo accords were signed. …As soon as the exchange with [Hezbollah leader] Nasrallah was completed, he started talking about the next kidnapping. The writing was on the wall even before the exchange was carried out, but they told us, “Who can look the parents of kidnapped soldiers in the eyes?” Now the time has come to ask ourselves: “And who will look in the eyes Continued on Page 76 68 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES Genesis Of An Anti-Semitic State BY DAVID BEDEIN Imagine, if you would, that a nascent nation-state, somewhere in the world, was in formation, and that it had taken on these features: • Its new constitution would not allow for any juridical status for Judaism. Jews would not even be allowed to live in the country. • Selling land to a Jew would be a capital crime. • The new school system would inculcate children to make war on the Jews. • Those who murdered Jews would become the national heroes of the new country. • Their designated head of state earned his Ph.D. on the thesis that six million Jews were not really murdered during World War II, and that the Zionists were actually allies of the Nazis. The reaction to such a news item would be an outcry from Jewish groups that monitor and react to antiSemitism as a matter of policy. Yet, we have seen no outcry from these groups in the case of the proposed Palestinian state, even though it possesses all six characteristics listed above. Others have expressed their deep concern about the anti-Semitism of the nascent Palestinian entity. Four years ago, this reporter covered a briefing for a visiting United States congressional delegation provided by the Vatican representative to Israel. Archbishop Pietro Sambi warned U.S. lawmakers that the new Palestinian Authority’s approved state constitution, funded by USAID, provided no juridical status for any religion other than Islam in the emerging Palestinian Arab entity. The Papal Nuncio also warned that the Palestinian Authority (PA) had adopted Shariah law. Islamic nations that have adopted Shariah have mandated the absolute supremacy of Muslims over non-Muslims as a matter of law. Archbishop Sambi provided Arutz Sheva with the PA constitution, with the hope that Jewish groups that monitor anti-Semitism would object to the U.S.-funded Palestinian state constitution. It never happened. Archbishop Sambi initiated a study of the new PA textbooks, which the Vatican determined to be anti-Semitic in nature. And so, at the recommendation of Archbishop Sambi, the Italian government pulled its money out of the Palestinian Ministry of Education’s textbook project. This past May, Dr. Arnon Groiss, a researcher at the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, made a presentation for European diplomats in Brussels showing how PA textbooks, instead of educating for peace with Israel, promote the violent struggle for liberation against Israel. From these textbooks, Groiss showed that the PA curriculum teaches the following fundamentals: • Jews are foreigners and have no rights in Palestine. • The Jews have a dubious, and even murderous, character. • Israel is an illegitimate usurper that occupied Palestine in 1948 and 1967. • Israel is the source of all kinds of evil done to the Palestinians. • Peace with Israel based on reconciliation is not to be sought. A violent struggle for liberation is encouraged instead. • The exact area to be liberated is never restricted to the West Bank and Gaza alone. • Jihad and martyrdom are glorified, and terrorist activities against Israel are implicitly encouraged. • The West is imperialist, aspires to world hegemony, directs a cultural attack against Islam, and supports Israel. The list of accusations against Israel appearing in the new Palestinian Authority schoolbooks includes more than 25 items, including the following: • Israel contributes to Palestinian social ills and family violence. • Israel causes the increase of drug abuse cases in Palestinian society. • Israel pollutes the Palestinian environment. • Israel usurps Muslim and Christian holy places. • Israel strives to obliterate the Palestinian national identity and heritage. I asked spokespeople of the Israeli Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Defense Minister if they would ask a new Palestinian state to cancel its anti-Semitic curriculum. The spokespeople for the Israeli government provided a clear answer: “This is not on the agenda.” The spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked for the question in writing three weeks ago, confirmed that it was received, and will not respond. Questions were then posed to Jewish organizations who monitor anti-Semitism—the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, B’nai Brith, the AntiDefamation League, the Religious Action Center of the UAHC, the World Jewish Congress, the Institute for Public Affairs of the OU, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Each group was asked if they would request that the American and Israeli governments condition aid to the Palestinian Authority on the nullification of the anti-Semitic constitution and curriculum of the Palestinian Authority. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote: “You have raised an issue that was supposedly addressed during the Oslo process and unfortunately no Israeli government or U.S. Continued on Page 76 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 69 70 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 71 AUTOS FOR SALE Cars are 4-Door and automatic shift unless specified. Most cars have a 1-year bumper to bumper warranty. 2000 Ford Taurus, black, 55K miles, leather, power everything ABS. ...............................................$5,500 1994 Chrysler LeBaron convertible, maroon w/ white top, CD power, 69K miles...............................$2,999 2000 Chevy Cavalier convertible, 80K, red with black top, power everything.......................................$4,500 2003 Pontiac Montana minivan, power sliding door, power everything ABS, 31K...............................$8,500 2003 Chevy Malibu, black, 6 cyl., leather, AM/FM CD 42K........$6,500 1998 Ford Taurus station wagon, tan, 7-passenger, power everything, 65K........................................$4,500 2000 Hyundai Sonata, green, sunroof, power AM/FM/CD, 6 cylinder ...............................................$4,999 1999 Ford Contour, 46K miles, red, 4 cyl., power, excellent condition. ...............................................$4,300 1999 Ford Taurus, blue, 44K miles, CD changer, 4-door, power.....$4,500 1998 Mazda Protégé, brown, 79K miles, power wndws/locks, sunroof, AM/FM/CD............................$3,500 1995 Toyota Avalon, leather, sunroof, power everything ABS....$2,999 2000 Mercury Cougar, pearl white, leather, 38K miles, 6 cyl., ABS, ...............................................$4,999 Automaven 516-996-5555 SERVICES PROVIDED Study with Steve. One-on-one tutoring. SAT Math prep, regents, high school and elementary math, high school physics. Call 516-371-5522. Simchas Naava Share your simcha flowers! Be m’sameach other simchas! Donate your fresh flower arrangements! We will match your simcha date with simchas following yours or deliver them to nursing home residents. To donate or obtain flower arrangements, call 516-239-6066. In memory of a special friend, Naava Wassner Katlowitz Master Teacher Tutors Limudei Kodesh/Secular Subjects Specialize grades 1-8. Adults; Boys; Girls. Call 718-868-3968. Free 2 Week Trial of Pure Elegance— Brand new digitally integrated bottleless water purification system for your home or office. Very convenient, cost effective, environmentally friendly. Eliminates deliveries, deposits, handling, maintenance and storage. Too many perks to list. Call: 718-986-3732 The Computer Place Computer Consultants, Technical Support, Network, Internet Solutions. Call 800-613-2634. HELP WANTED Local Yeshiva seeks organized administrative assistant: Letter Editing, phones, project management. 9 AM-2 PM. Excellent salary. E-mail resume to yeshiva6132@gmail.com Facialist needed for Cedarhurst salon. Call 516-374-1144 Assistant Manager wanted. Must be early riser and energetic. Call Joel at 516-233-5808 New salon looking for experienced: hair dresser/sheitel macher, make-up artist, manicurist, masseuse in central Cedarhurst area. Please call 516-791-2520 or 646-270-3381 Established music program coming soon to the 5 Towns seeking additional instructors for voice, dance, drama, & instruments. Please call 718-258-5391 Salesperson needed for women's boutique. Cheerful, professional, and detail-oriented. Sales experience needed. Full or P/T positions. For more info call Amy at 516-374-1095. Fax resumes to 516-295-7287. SERVICES PROVIDED Too Much to Type? Too Much to Do? College Reports, Simcha Lists, Secretarial Support. Call Gold Star Typing Service for help. Reasonable rates. Call 718-471-9712. Kollel Yungerman available to learn with your son Gemora or Mishnayos. Review class material or undertake a challenging project. Available after Yeshiva and some hours during Yeshiva. Call 917-842-2587 New Table and Chair Gemach for short-term simchas. 740 Mador Ct. Far Rockaway. Call 718-471-0368. Wallpapering/painting Every home needs a woman's touch. Consultations available. Wallpapers, painting, and borders for any room of your house. 20 years experience in the area. Call Sasha at 516-812-0089. Plumbing and Heating: Sundial Plumbing. Boilers/water heaters serviced and installed. All leaks fixed. Bathrooms, kitchens, basements. No job too big or small. 718-252-1234. 72 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES HELP WANTED Yeshiva of Belle Harbor looking for nursery-grade 5 English and Hebrew teachers. E-mail your resumes to mssaschool@yahoo.com Bilingual reservationists for Israir Airlines in Valley Stream office. Next to LIRR. Flexible hours. Computer literate. Working papers a must. Send resume to jobs@israirusa.com or call 516-403-1442 Part time Mashgiach, cashier, and maintenance needed at local bagel store. Counter positions available also. Call 516-220-4100 ask for Joe. 3-6 PM. Religious. REAL ESTATE FOR SALE Jan Kalman Realty Open Houses, Sept.30th 412 Rugby, Ced. (11:30-1:30) 5BR, 3bth Col. M/D (w/permit). Nu bths. Lg prop...................................$719K 427 Barnard, Ced. (B/A) New Constr. 5BR, 3.5bth Col. Bsmt. .............................................$1.35M 616 Church, Wdm. (12-2) Custom 4BR, 2.5bth Spl. Main fl Den, Playrm, bsmt, IGP...................$779K Ced. Lvly 4BR Col. Lg prop. Steps all ...............................................$599K Ced. All Renov 4BR, 3bth......$589K Hew. NK Updtd 5BR, 3.5bth Col. Old Wdm. vic. Over 1/2ac....$1.25M Wdm. Acad loc. Lg Brk Col. 3BR, 3bth, den, ofc (4th BR), pt fin bsmt. ...............................................$649K Law. (Back) Chauncey Ln Bldg lot. ...........................................$1.375M www.JanKalman.com 516-569-5651 Hewlett — Brand new construction, 5 bedrms, 2.5 baths, office, wood flrs, CAC, Landry room on 2nd flr.$799K Call Jackie 516-526-8841 Woodmere Park — Sprawling ranch on deep property 4 bedrms, 3 baths, Master suite, walk to all. Call Avi 917-512-5442 Cedarhurst Coop — Spacious 2br, 2 bath, LR, DR, EIK, wash/dry, Terrace. Price reduced.........................$359K Call Avi @ 917-512-5442 Far Rockaway — Perfect Starter house in the best location. Newly renovated 3 bedroom 2.5 bath. new kitchen wall to wall carpets, full finished basement.......................$499K Call Avi @ 917-512-5442 Weissman Realty Group LLC 516-791-6100 REAL ESTATE FOR SALE Law: Hi Ranch. Must see, 4br, 2.5bth, fam rm, CAC, 2gar, lg prop. ..............................................$800sK Law: Nu Construc’n, 6br, 5bth, lg prop, walk all, with all goodies. Plans can be seen in office. Ced: Nu2Mkt, 2Fam, 3br/3br, 2fpl, deck, all new, grt loc, full bsmt. $795K Wdm: Reduced. Ranch, 3br, 3 bth, lg prop, grt loc, walk all..................$749K Oceanside: Col, renov’d, lr, dr, nu EIK, den, 3br, fin bsmt. Best Buy! .....$439K Cedarhurst: CH col., new quality construction. 7 bedroom, 4.5 bths, den, LR, DR, oversized gourmet, granite EIK, huge FDR, 9' ceiling, finished basement prime location. Asking...................................$1.25M REAL ESTATE FOR SALE Far Rockaway: 2 Fam. All NU 3 over 3 Br. 4Fbth, Dr, Full bsmt All features.............................$779K Call 516-263-6417 Far Rockaway — 2 Family House For Sale. Newly Constructed, 3 BR/2BA over 2 BR/1 BA, plus Bonus Floor w/ Private Entrance...... $699K Call Owner 917-836-6838. Bayswater —"Forget Far Rockaway" Move to this cozy Bayswater 1 BR apartment. Furnished or unfurnished, private entrance, washer and dryer. Call 516-374-3635. North Woodmere — Open House Sunday. 6 BR, split, 3.5 bth, large kitchen, dinette with skylight, deck/patio, large den, brick fireplace, finished basement garage, CAC, all systems. $738K Call 516-791-2711 Luxurious apartments: Penthouse in Bucman, Modiin. 5 BR, balconies, Shabbos elevator, 2 sinks, 2.5 bths. $350K. Villa 6 BR, c/ac, parking, storage, backyard. $550K 718-471-8888 Kings Point Delray Beach condo for sale 1,100 sq. feet. 2 BR, 2 bths, new European kitchen and appliances, updated bath, new carpets, 24-hour guarded community. Golf, theater, library. $199,999. Call 631-664-0075 5 Town Homes 516-569-5710 Your Real Estate, Service, or Help Wanted Ad Here Every Thursday 100,000 readers look forward to what’s happening in the 5 Towns by reading The Five Towns Jewish Times. Deadline is Monday at 5:00 p.m. 1 Week ..............$35 2 Weeks ..........$60 4 Weeks ........$100 Weekly Ads of up to 25 words Call: 516-569-0502 Fax: 516-977-0608 Or E-mail ads to: 5TJTads@gmail.com Include payment info. Ced: Nu 2 Mkt. LgLr, Dr,EIK, Den, 5 Br, 3bth, Skilits, Cabana, Lg prop. IG pool, Walk to all...............$699K 5 Town Homes 516-569-5710 Woodmere/Cedarhurst Oppty! 12,000 sq. ft. approx. 90’x150’, Colonial, 17 rooms, full bsmt. with hi ceilings, clean 2 car garage plus storage, 6 space parking, 2 family, professional use, accountant, Esq., medical and/or educational and religious uses. Grand colonial with charm and great possibilities. Available at once. $875K Negotiable. Owner 516-322-3555 N.Wdmr: HiRanch, 4Br, 2.5Bth, Nu Kit, Lg. Den, deck, Overlg Prop. Reduced..................................$659K 5 Town Homes 516-569-5710 West Lawrence— detached brick, prime, 3 BR, study, den, DR, huge LR, 3 bths, EIK, basement, plus detached 2 BR rental............ $899K. 917-376-1472 or 011-972-506-302-793 Ced: Nu 2 Mkt. Col, 4Br, 2.5bth, All NU, Den, Mrbl Eik, Full Fin. Bsmt, walk to all...............................$799K 5 Town Homes 516-569-5710 Beach 3rd — 1 family house near beach. 3 BR, excellent condition, detached driveway garage.......$369K Don't miss it, must sell! 718-810-0001 Far Rockaway- House For Sale 3 Br/ 2 Bath plus guest room. Renovated w/ New Kitchen, New Bathrooms. Huge Master Bedroom. Price .............................$499,000 Call Owner 917-836-6838 Far Rockaway/Lawrence- House For Sale 2 BR/ 2 BA, Newly Renovated, Dead-end street, Price .........................................$539,000 Call Owner: 516-750-9257 Far Rockaway: 2 Fam. All NU 3 over 1 Br. 3Fbth, Grt Location..................................$599K Call 516-322-3555 Woodmere—New listing! Fully renovated split 5 BR 3 bths, kosher kitchen, home office, close to shuls, quiet block ............................$825K Owner 516-791-8227 Hewlett — Col. MIC, 4br., 2bth, 2fpl, full deck, wood flr, Lg. den. Walk to all...............................$729K Lawrence — NU 2 MKT. Legal 3FAM. Lg. 3Br/2/2, Full FIN. bsmt., walk to all. NYU sep. mtr,htg & Wtr..........................................$949K Classified Ads are Continued on the Next Page. September 28, 2007 73 5 TOWN HOMES 516-322-3555 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES CLASSIFIED ADS Continued from Page 73 FOR RENT Far Rockaway — Apartment available. Brand new construction. Furnished or unfurnished. 3 BR, 2bths. Cleaning and laundry services available. Perfect for the elderly. Call Sherri 516-569-5450. 2-3 BR rental apt 2 family house 2 BR, lg LR, DR, EIK, den, quiet location.........................................$2,200 5 TOWN HOMES 516-569-5710 Cedarhurst—300 sq. ft. office. Centrally located. Ideal for professional. 516-410-5928 Ced.—3+ br apt, 1.5 bth, lg fdr, new EIK, on quiet street, walk to all. .................................................$2,200 N Wdm. — house rental Hi-ranch in MIC. 4 br, CAC, den, on quiet street. 5 TOWN HOMES 516-569-5710 Cedarhurst — House for rent 3 BR/ 2 BA, Newly Renovated, Great Location, Largest Backyard In Cedarhurst. Asking $2,900 Call Owner: 917-836-6838 Far Rockaway — House For Rent 5 BR/ 3 BA, Newly Constructed, High End Finishes, 2 Car Garage, Deadend Street, Rent ....................$2,900 Call Owner: 917-836-6838 FOR RENT Far Rockaway — 2 Huge Office Spaces. 6,000 and 2,500 Sq Ft. 2nd Floor. Near Subway & LIRR. Build to Suit. Can Be Divided. Owner 917-359-9776. Private office space in Hewlett/Woodmere — All utilities included, conference room, on-site parking, 24/7 Access. $600/mo. 516-792-9444 EquiShares Real Estate Warehouse Space in Hewlett/Woodmere — 1150 Broadway 5,000-30,000 avail. Will divide. 516-792-9444 EquiShares Real Estate Far Rockaway — 2 family houses: 3 bdrms, 2 full baths, granite countertops, hardwood flrs, double sinks, great location, near LIRR. Call 516-792-9444 EquiShares Real Estate Mint Seasonal rental in Boynton Beach, FL - Condo, Fully furnished, Second floor Corner Unit, 2/2, Near All, Spacious, 4-6 months avail, $2,800 per month + utilities Kevin - 516-379-9063 Miami Beach—House for rent. Easy short walk to all shuls schools and shopping neaby, fenced yard w/pool and jacuzzi, 3BR 2Bth and office. 954-927-6035 FOR RENT Cedarhurst — House Rental; kit, den, 3br., 2.5 bth. bsmt. $2,400 5 Town Homes 516-569-5710 West Lawrence—prime location, detached 2 BR, study, EIK, LR, 1.5 bths, beautiful, all new...........$1,990 917-376-1472 or 011-972-506-302-793 Cedarhurst — House Rental LR/FDR, den, 3br, 2.5bth, Fin. Bsmt. $2,300. Call 516-322-3555. Looking for short-term apt — Furnished or unfurnished. Call 516-902-3373 Far Rockaway —1 BR, 2 BR and 3 BR apartments. some balconies. New kitchens, lots of closets, 24 hr doorman, security cameras. Close to White Shul, Shor Yoshuv and train. Call 917-512-5442 Commercial Rental (Retail/Store) Woodmere 600 sq. ft strfrnt +Bsmt. Move right in. Hi traffic/vis. $1,450. Brkr 516-319-2506 The deadline for placing classified ads in the next issue of the 5TJT is Monday, October 8 REAL ESTATE FOR SALE Lido Beach near houses of worship. Large 4 BR, 2.5 bth home, FDR, family room, large LR with vaulted ceilings and wall of windows. Granite throughout, c/a, finished basement, oversized private driveway and backyard...................................... $899K. Call Diamond Realty Group 516-432-2000 Far Rockaway — Lawrence Park apartment 833 Central Ave. Apt #6A, co-op, hardwood floors throughout. Open house Sunday 2-4 PM. Call Exit Realty 516-426-1102 FOR RENT Far Rockaway — 2-family houses. New construction. Near all. 3 BR. Small apt: $1,700. Big apartment, $2,100 with backyard $2,000 second floor. Call 516-445-4048 Ask for Barry Far Rockaway — Lg. Hse Rental: 4br, 2bth, bsmt., Hi ceil’g, NU bths, W\D. Call 516-322-3555. at 5:00 P.M. Call 516-569-0502 74 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 75 Shalit Family Continued from Page 68 of the families of the next kidnapped soldiers? Who will look into the eyes of people walking in the streets, whose names we still do not know, but will be the next targets of kidnappings and terror attacks? Who will look into the eyes of murder victims when their loved ones’ murderers are released en masse, flashing the ‘v’ for victory, smiling and hugging their families, while their loved ones are six feet under”? Another organization, the Victims of Arab Terror organization, similarly stated that by releasing prisoners as a “good will gesture,” this will certainly provide the Arabs with something to enjoy— “but it will imbue total bad will and bad feeling among others, such as those who lost loved ones in terrorist attacks.” … Once upon a time [the Almagor letter continues], things were different. Prof. Yuval Ne’eman said that when he was deputy chief of Israeli intelligence, with Israeli captives in enemy hands, he refused to meet with parents of the hostages in order to not be persuaded by emotions. It took time, but the hostages were eventually released, without bowing to pressure, and after Israel carried out kidnappings in response. Now, at a time when parents are sending their children to fight—a fight they could possibly die in or be seriously wounded by terrorists—we would be insane to release even more terrorists. Who would dare send their children into battle after such a move, when hundreds of additional terrorists captured with great effort are released to save their terrorist organizations?” It should be noted that Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of another abducted Israeli soldier, took a slightly more hawkish stance in her appearance at the Herzliya conference. The wife of Ehud Goldwasser—kidnapped by Hezbollah, together with Eldad Regev, at the beginning of last summer’s Second Lebanon War—said it is unacceptable that Hezbollah demands something in return for merely transmitting a sign of life from her husband and Regev. “I do not accept that there should be a price just to receive a sign of life,” she said. (Arutz Sheva) O Anti-Semitic State Continued from Page 69 administration held the Palestinian leadership accountable. The current questions you raised are important enough that we will urge that the Global Forum on anti-Semitism take it up….” Archbishop Sambi, now the Papal Nuncio in Washington, who has not been afraid to take a clear stand on the issue of official Palestinian antiSemitism, should be asked to join that forum. As for the other groups, they should break their silence on this critical issue. (Arutz Sheva) O David Bedein is Bureau Chief of the Israel Resource News Agency, located in Beit Agron International Press Center, Jerusalem. See www.IsraelBehindtheNews.com for more. 76 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 77 78 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 28, 2007 79 80 September 28, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES