The 5 Towns Jewish Times - Amazon S3

Concert Chairmen Joseph Fragerand Paul Brody. See Page 38

INSIDE

From The EditorLarry Gordon 6

Aliyah ChronicleShmuel Katz 19

Now I Know WhyHannah Reich Berman 32

The 15-Minute ChefJamie Geller 36

MindBizEsther Mann, LMSW 47

VOL. 6 NO. 36 5 SIVAN 5766 JUNE 1, 2006$1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM

CANDLE LIGHTINGJune 1 – 8:01 PMJune 2 – 8:02 PMJune 9 – 8:06 PM

!jna dj

Mesivta Ateres Yaakov Honors.See Page 44

Bar Mitzvah of Sholom Kanner.Simchas: See Pages 45 & 78

Torah Scrolls by C.H. Nathan. This and other Judaica works are available at www.judaicartexchange.com

2 June 1, 2006 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES

5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES June 1, 2006 3

Too many children who belong insidethe walls of yeshiva classrooms haveapparently either been maneuvered outor have voluntarily opted out, and that isthe primary cause of a situation that isalready of crisis proportions. Some willsay that our yeshivas’ inability to handlea certain type of child has left them withno choice but to insist that, for the bet-ter good of the majority of yeshiva stu-dents, some of these kids just not attend.

Frequently, decisions of this typemay solve just part of a problem whileleaving unanswered what this child issupposed to do with the remainder ofhis or her adolescent educationalyears. When these children cannotfind an alternative educational institu-tion in which they are welcome andcomfortable, the result is too often therealization of a parent’s worst night-mare, and a serious collective prob-lematic situation which does notreflect well on all of us as members ofa community renowned for chesed,outreach, and caring for our fellowJew, no matter what their age.

I can only comment on these mattersas a parent of yeshiva students, as a for-

mer yeshiva student myself, and as acasual observer of what is currently tak-ing place in our Jewish communities. Asfar back as I can recall, there were alwayskids who dropped out from yeshiva forone reason or another. In the yeshivas Iattended, there were very few such kidsover the years; but they did exist, and wewere aware of them. And it really didn’tmake a big difference how we asteenagers viewed the role of school in ouryoung adult lives.

I recall viewing those situations asunfortunate, and understood that nomatter how much I may have dislikedschool, felt uninterested in what therebbi was teaching, or been complete-ly bored with some of the subjects inschool, this was the place that Ibelonged and I had a commitment tostay the course and see high schoolthrough to its conclusion.

Somehow, over the last 10 years orso, it became okay to beg off fromattending yeshiva and “opting out” for ayoung life filled with aimlessness, misdi-rection, and a year or so or more ofdoing and accomplishing almost noth-ing. Even more than that, the intellectu-

al wandering—the doing little or noth-ing—became a thing that identified acertain type of individual, and the com-mitment to aimlessness became the aca-demic equivalent of pursuing anadvanced degree in absolute confusionabout what to do with one’s young life.

I believe that being in school is likeoxygen for children up until the age ofabout eighteen. Remove them fromschool, and you are removing their sup-ply of oxygen. As you can see, the resultis the creation of a very dangerous situa-tion. A child needs help breathing in thetools and ingredients that form and resultin an adult life. You know what happenswhen someone is deprived of oxygen fortoo long a period of time.

But, you’re thinking, not all thesekids who are out of school simply optedout. Many of them were asked to leaveor, as it’s more commonly referred to,they were thrown out of school. Even ifthat’s the case, there is still no reasonfor them not to be in some kind ofschool environment. This means thatthe child or teen can be in any numberof specialty yeshivas or even, if need be,in public school (if absolutely no yeshi-va can be found). This idea of living andbeing on the street should be both intol-erable and unacceptable to all.

Still, for some reason we accept thesituation as it is. I can recall that the fewtimes my friends either cut school or cutout early on some days, they were alwaysin fear of being caught on the street bytruant officers and either reported orsomehow labeled as truants. This classi-fication would be recorded on a schooltranscript and would not necessarily


Only For The Children

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LARRY GORDONPublisher/Editor

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CONTRIBUTING EDITORSIrwin Benjamin

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The F ive Towns Jewish Times is an independent weekly news-paper. Opinions expressed by writers and columnists are notnecessarily those of the editor or publisher. We are notresponsible for the kashrus or hashgachah of any product orestablishment advertised in the F ive Towns Jewish Times .


bode well for future references or, onceyou rethought the direction you wantedyour life headed in, if you wanted to pur-sue some level of advanced education.

Frankly, I wasn’t really certain thatthere was such a thing as being brand-ed a truant, until years later when Ispotted a patrol car on a street inBrooklyn, and on the side of one of itsdoors were the words “City of NewYork Truant Officer.” So I really neverunderstood, and still don’t understand,how kids today can just take them-selves out of school and say that schoolis just not for them.

I’m trying to say two things here. Oneis that having teens and others drop outof school and get into trouble on somelevel has always happened and will mostlikely continue to happen. An educator Ispoke to last weekend told me that hisresearch had shown him that the verysame things drew kids out of the main-stream in the European shtetl 60 and 70and even more years ago. Kids weredrawn and taken by the ideas of theNew World—new ideas, “enlighten-ment,” and other things that caughttheir fancy or enchanted them.

The second thing, and perhaps moreimportant, is that even though thesethings have happened and continue tohappen, our objective as a public andas a community has to be that thesetypes of situations should not developand should be nipped in the bud when-ever possible.

At the forum in Far Rockaway lastweek, one of the speakers made thepoint that every parent registering theirchild for yeshiva should have to go

through some kind of series of parentingcourses. That suggestion might be a lit-tle extreme and even unnecessary. I real-ly do not know how to score or analyzea parent’s performance, but I believethat since all people were once childrenthemselves, they learned how to be aparent from their parents, and theirmother and father learned the parentingropes from their own parents, and so ondown the line.

Certainly the parenting courses beingoffered so widely these days cannot doanyone any damage. There are, of course,situations in which extenuating circum-stances invade the family infrastructure,and in these instances an intervention ofsome sort may be helpful and even neces-sary. Looking around, however, I cannotaccept at face value that parenting in gen-eral has broken down so completely thatattendance in these courses should be aprerequisite to allowing children to beregistered for yeshiva.

The events that occurred last week weretragic. They were the worst display of thesystem breaking down and failing someyoung men. No one is comforted by thefact that similar events occurred 10 or 20or more years ago. But they do happen, andthey are no less sickening. Each time wewitness or hear about them, we have tosteel and strengthen our resolve andbecome more determined than ever beforeto reach out and help open our minds andarms and not let up or forget about whatthese young people—our children—maybe enduring. We can’t stop it completely,but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. ❖

Larry Gordon can be reached for comment [email protected].


B Y D E B B I E B I N D L E R A N DF A Y A C O H E N

Our Far Rockaway/Five Townscommunity is justly proud of themany acts of chesed done on an indi-vidual and institutional basis. Theneeds addressed cover many areas.There is provision for the materialand physical needs of the members ofour community, whether temporary orlong term. Among the litany of needsthat our community has diligentlyattempted to address, we would liketo highlight a particular area that islargely unmet, perhaps because it isso labor-intensive and requires a sus-tained commitment of time.

There are children of all ages inthis community who could use a bigbrother or big sister—whether or notthey already have one. Some need anadult mentor even if they are part ofan intact family, and all the more soif, unfortunately, they do not have amother or a father at home for vari-ous reasons.

Even seemingly intact, fully func-tioning families have many stressors,which affect even children who areoutwardly well adjusted. If it is hardto imagine the daily toll of dealingwith chronic illness, unemployment,disability, divorce or death, how muchharder is it to imagine the daily toll ofthe less visible problems of familystrife, emotional or psychologicalimpairment, or subtle learning issuesthat don’t fit into any formal category?Whatever the case, these familieswould greatly benefit from having anolder friend to play with a child inneed of extra support—someone tolearn with, do homework with, or justspend time with.

These concerns are not new, butrecent tragic events in our communi-ty have brought home to us theimportance of paying attention to thechildren who get lost in the crowdwhen young, but as adolescents getnoticed for the wrong reasons.

There are a number of wonderfullocal organizations that have beenworking with our youth, each in itsown way. While each of these organi-zations does vital work, the need forone-on-one attention vastly exceedsthe resources of paid professionals(and the resources of families hiringthose professionals) and mentoringorganizations. This is the kind ofchesed that requires an ongoing com-mitment of time that is probably notfeasible for anyone presently occu-pied with significant family or workresponsibilities. Who might be able tomake a weekly commitment tobefriend another Jew? Those peoplemight include boys in high school andbeis midrash and girls in high schooland seminary, young married couples,and empty-nesters and retired people.

In the event that there are availablevolunteers, our next concern is to pro-vide a clearinghouse for making theseconnections. Our hopes would be foreach existing organization (education-al and spiritual) to attempt to makematches within its own ranks, or per-haps with affiliated organizations.

It is one thing to make suggestions,but quite another to do the hard workof implementing them. Nevertheless,we are making these suggestions, inthe hope that they will at least stimu-late discussion and possible imple-mentation by those who have thewherewithal to do so.

We understand that our localschools are already overburdenedwith both ordinary and extraordinaryfunctions. Nevertheless, we see theschools as a starting point for at leastthe following forms of preventivechesed:

1. Early childhood screening. Itseems that many adolescents whodon’t conform to the norm have somehistory of learning difficulties thatwere not adequately diagnosed oraddressed during elementary school.It is important for schools and parentsto be partners in conducting a reviewof the following basic concerns: (a)Are the child’s basic skills on gradelevel? (b) Is the child appropriatelyinteracting socially with his or herpeers? (c) Is the child fulfilling his orher potential? This review is mostvaluable in the early grades and earlyon in the school year. The answers tothese questions are not usually clear-ly stated in the typical report cards.

2. Peer tutoring/exchange of skills.While most, if not all, of the girls’schools have chesed requirements, theboys’ schools, in contrast, generally donot. Boys have as much of an obliga-tion to do chesed as their femalecounterparts, and they should beencouraged by their schools to con-tribute at least half an hour towards achesed requirement. The boys’ chesedactivities could include being a bigbrother to a slightly younger boy, play-ing with small children on a Fridayafternoon so that the parents can con-centrate on Shabbos preparations, orlearning with a lonely elderly gentle-man who can only find a chevrusa ifhe is willing to pay for a tutor. Peertutoring, where classmates tutor eachother both in academic subjects andin other skills areas such as sports,chess, or other hobbies, shouldbecome the norm in all schools.

3. Staff oversight. Ideally, everyschool—boys’ and girls’—should havea staff member in place to researchand follow up on the needs of its pop-ulation, addressing the first twopoints above. Shadchanus is usually aterm relating to marriage, but it canbe used in this situation as well.

We are blessed to live in a commu-nity that rallies together with tremen-dous achdus in times of crisis. It’stime for us to bring that strength ofachdus to the fore and apply it towardprevention. Many medical insurancecompanies are slowly beginning tounderstand the value of covering pre-ventive medical treatment. Withoutquestion, the mental health of ouryouth can benefit from prevention aswell. Let us consciously look for andtry to prevent potential problems. Letus make prevention our byword, andwork together to reach out to thosechildren who do not feel as if they fitin—before it’s too late. ❖

Thoughts From The Peanut Gallery

Shavuos is here, which means thatit’s time for those cheese dishes.Everyone knows what happened onShavuos—the Jews were commandedto eat cheese. Right? Not exactly. Asyou know, of course, Shavuos is thatbeautiful Yom Tov that marks the dayon which the Jewish people, after atorturous enslavement in Egypt, pre-pared themselves very expeditiously—in just 49 days (including week-ends)—to receive the Torah fromHashem at Sinai.

What a time that must have been tobe alive. My goodness—the sense oftriumph and accomplishment musthave been overwhelming. What a priv-ilege it must have been to be chosen asthe generation that receives the Torahfrom G-d at Har Sinai. The only possi-ble thing close to that is to live in thegeneration that sees the arrival ofMashiach, for which we are very muchin the running. There are, of course,those who maintain that living throughthe times of Mashiach can be wroughtwith great travail. But in the aftermathof the Holocaust and the generally

painful past of the Jewish people, itjust might be that on that count we arein a fairly good position.

So the Jewish people wereencamped at Har Sinai ready to receivethe Torah. This took place over 3,300years ago. We know as a result of ourmesorah that the Torah came fromSinai. But where did the first cheese-cake come from (not to mention allthat lasagna)? A casual and unthinkingobserver can easily conclude that eat-ing cheese dishes is the focal point ofthe holiday. In the food stores onCentral Avenue they are gearing up forthe run on cheese dishes at a pacematched only by the demand for she-murah matzah before Pesach.

The question remains: Is “Thoushall eat cheese” one of the command-ments? Well, it’s not among the firstTen, and I’m fairly certain that it is notincluded among any other of the 613,either. The Torah mostly lets you eatwhatever you want, as long as it’skosher and so on. So where and howdid this whole cheese thing get started?

Actually now that I’m thinking about

it, the fact that we are so obsessed anddetermined to consume the finestcheese blintzes and kugels on Shavuosis great proof that Torah is Divine (ifyou need proof). After all, how do weknow that this event—the giving of theTorah to Am Yisrael at Sinai—actuallytook place when we say it did? I mean,look, it was a pretty long time ago. Thecheese is the clincher. Our sages tell usthat “minhag Yisrael Torah hi”—a cus-tom or a tradition of the Jewish peopleis considered as if it were actuallyTorah. So don’t take this cheese thingtoo lightly. (Though you can use lightcheese to fulfill the requirements ofthe custom.)

To grasp the concept of the minhagto consume cheese products onShavuos, one must place oneself in theshoes of the Jews who just exited Egypt(providing you can imagine that theyhad shoes. And that they only had onepair of shoes each): The Jews are gath-ered at Har Sinai; they are there for theceremony that will surround theirreceiving of the Torah. Mind you thatone of the early complaints of theJewish people after being miraculouslyliberated from their oppressors in Egyptwas that they did not like the menu theyhad to endure during the journey.

Remember that they would fre-quently ask Moshe Rabbeinu why hetook them out of Egypt, and theywould consistently pose this inquiry inrather facetious and sarcastic context.“What’s the matter,” they would say,“weren’t there enough graves inEgypt?” In other words, “Did you takeus out of Mitzrayim just to have us

buried out here in the desert?” I don’tknow, but it seems that in those oldendays G-d gave in to the Jews a lot. Theywould complain about water, andinstantly get water; they wanted meat,G-d sent them quail to satisfy theirculinary desires; and so on.

So, we received the Torah, and oneof the things relevant to our eatinghabits governed by Torah is the fashionin which meat must be slaughteredand prepared. Considering that theTorah was just given a few hours or afew days prior, and that Moshe did notyet have the opportunity to teach allthe laws to everyone in a comprehen-sive fashion, the Jews had a problem:How do they slaughter (or shecht)meat so that we comply with the


Cheesecake, Soufflé, Blintzes,And Kugel At Mount Sinai

requirements of halachah as dictatedby the newly introduced Jewish law?

Mind you that there was not yet anyorganized rabbinate, there was no timeyet to enter into contract negotiationswith rabbis, and there was no recog-nized va’ad. Later, when there was afunctioning va’ad, an opposition tothat va’ad developed under the leader-ship of Korach, and you know how thatstory ended.

In any event, Moshe was theauthority, and there was no need foranyone else, as Moshe was in directcommunication with Hashem. Sothere they were: It was summer in thedesert, and they were on a spiritualhigh, having just received the Torah.They couldn’t ritually slaughter theiranimals, because they were not yetfamiliar with the intricacies of thelaw. So they played it safe and ate onlydairy products. I know; you’re won-dering whether everything was chalavYisrael, and I would speculate that,yes, it was all chalav Yisrael. I mean,there was no Nestlé or Hershey yet,and Oreo cookies would not get an O-U certification for a few thousandyears. And if every Jew milked his orher own cow, then it was all chalavYisrael. Oh, what brilliant simplicity!

So the Jews played it safe, anddecided on this first Yom Tov ofShavuos to consume dairy products.They ate cheese and milk and thingsof that nature. But did they havecheesecake there? And what aboutcheese blintzes? For the purpose ofthis essay, it is important to assumethat they did indeed have cheesecakeand blintzes on that first Shavuos. Itis additionally important to note andobserve the way in which a Jewishcustom gets started, and the beautifulway in which it is able to endure thou-sands of years of exile, pain, anduncertainty and for the minhag toemerge intact.

And how does that wonderful and,okay, cheesy tradition manifest itself inthese modern times? Well here in ourarea, a careful survey of the traditionhas resulted in finding that thousandsof cheese blintzes are sold here inCedarhurst for Shavuos. That’s a stag-gering amount of cheese and dough.(Did I mention the dough?)

So the Jews, being the resourcefulpeople they are, figured that with allthe not yet fully understood detailedlaws of shechitah, they were better offwith simple dairy meals. Except that ifyou ask the women and men who pre-pare Yom Tov meals, they will tell youthat it is more difficult to preparemilchig meals than the more straight-forward meat meals. Of course, that’snowadays, when you can go intoSupersol and the cow is alreadyslaughtered and cut up into littlepieces and shrink-wrapped and vacu-um-packed with a little price tag gluedto it. Unwrap the package, pop theflanken into the oven, and you have ameal (I think). Any gourmet baalabus-ta will tell you that dairy meals are farmore difficult.

But don’t forget, in the desert if youdecided you were in the mood for steakyou had to go out and chase a cowaround. Same if you wanted lambchops. If you wanted sweet breads—good luck. Dairy, in those days, was

much easier. I guess that’s just one ofthose things that fits into the categoryof “nothing is the way it used to be.”

I think the point is that withoutcheese blintzes and cheesecake, thereis a remote chance that some peoplewould not accord Matan Torah theattention it should be accorded. Not

that Torah needs cheesecake to makeit more palatable. Torah, for those whounderstand, is the key to life’s ultimatedesire—and that is eternity. I thinkevery thinking organism inherentlydesires to be eternal; eternal withoutthe burdens, obstacles, and troubles

that accompany a physical existence.But we are finite, being in this beauti-ful and intriguing materialistic andphysical world. For some, that’s veryfrustrating and even disturbing.

But not for the Jew—a Jew withTorah. Torah is the key to eternity.When the Jews received the Torah at

Har Sinai, we accepted an invitation toforever—just like G-d Himself. Ofcourse it’s not that simple, becausebefore we get there we have to experi-ence and endure a life of physical andemotional travail and sometimes tor-ment (make that often torment). But

get yourself lost in the study of Torah,and you can taste the G-dliness that iseternal.

Which brings us to the next unusu-al thing about observing Shavuos. Andthat is the custom to stay up all nighton that first night of Yom Tov studyingTorah. As you know, the origin of thisminhag is to provide a tikun, a rectifi-cation, for the fact that the Jews atSinai overslept on the morning ofMatan Torah. Can you imagine that?The Jews are about to get the Torahfrom the King of all Kings Himself,and they can’t wake up, like a teenagerstruggling to make it to yeshiva forSunday-morning minyan.

Interestingly enough, however, theMidrash states that the Jews slept sosoundly and so peacefully on themorning of that first Shavuos that noteven a fly was allowed to disturbthem. So the question is, if Hashemwas not happy with the fact that theJews had slept late, why did he notallow the flies to disturb them? Those


We have learned many times that some of our

greatest tzadikim throughout the ages have

had high aspects of Torah revealed to them

while they were asleep.

Continued on Page 12

menacing desert flies could havebeen used to wake up those lazysleeping Jews. But no, Hashemallowed them to sleep undisturbed.

Chassidic thought explains that theJews’ oversleeping on Shavuos morningwas not because their alarm clocks did-n’t ring or the roosters didn’t cock-a-doodle-do. The Jews slept because theyunderstood that they were souls inphysical bodies and that the soul in thisworld is restricted by being enclosed ina finite body. To receive Torah, theywanted to have their souls—whichascend to Heaven during sleep—toreceive the Torah unencumbered.

We have learned many times thatsome of our greatest tzadikimthroughout the ages have had highaspects of Torah revealed to themwhile they were asleep. Our forefa-ther Yaakov saw the entire future ofthe Jewish people, from beginninguntil the coming of Mashiach—butonly when he was asleep. And this is

what the Jews desired in unity as theyslept so soundly on the morning ofMatan Torah.

So if that’s the case and if this issuch a beautiful thing, why do we inthis day and age have to rectify thisalleged faux pas by desisting fromsleep on Shavuos night? And theanswer is that Hashem admired thebeauty of the Jewish intent to receiveTorah from Him at the highest levelpossible. But this was not G-d’s pur-pose of creation. Hashem created usand gave us Torah and mitzvos so thatwe can perform them here with ourbodies in a physical world, therebytransforming mundane physicalityinto great and high holiness. Ourfunction as flesh-and-blood humans isto take the physical things that thisworld has to offer and turn themagainst their nature, making themholy and fulfilling Hashem’s intent ofcreating a lower worldly environmentsuitable for Hashem to dwell in andamongst us, which was the intent atCreation.

Which oddly enough brings us back

to cheesecake. And the question as towhether your neshamah is capable ofappreciating a really good piece ofcheesecake from Mom’s Pastries orone of those Schwartz’s blintzes. Thereare some cheesecakes out there thatare indeed heavenly, or at least theytaste like it. So maybe, just maybe, it’sthose carefully prepared sweet cheesedishes which are the bridge betweenthe good taste of the physical and thesweetness of the spiritual.

Whether you eat cheese on Shavuosbecause you are reminded of how theancient Jewish people denied them-selves flanken and steak because oftheir uncertainty regarding proper she-chitah or because you consume dairyon Yom Tov to honor the land of milkand honey, your cheesecake, yourblintz, your soufflé, or your kugel isconnecting you to the depth andthoughtfulness of your ancestors—theJews at Sinai.

Chag sameiach to all. ❖

Larry Gordon can be reached for comment [email protected].


HEARD IN THE BAGEL STOREContinued from Page 11

5 Sivan – Erev Shavuos

Thursday, June 1Omer: 49

Eruv TavshilinCandle Lighting: 8:01 pm

6 Sivan – 1st Day ShavuosErev Shabbos

Friday, June 2Daf yomi: Shekalim 16

Z’manim*:Earliest tallis: 4:20 am

Sunrise: 5:26 am

Latest Shema:

M. Av. 8:33 am

Gr’a 9:09 am

Candle Lighting: 8:02 pm

7 Sivan – 2nd Day ShavuosShabbos

Saturday, June 3Megillas Rus

YizkorShabbos/Yom Tov ends**:

9:11 pm

72 min. 9:34 pm

8 Sivan – Isru Chag

Sunday, June 4

13 Sivan – Erev Shabbos

Friday, June 9Daf yomi: Yoma 2

Earliest tefillin: 4:17 am

Sunrise: 5:24 am

Latest Shema:

M. Av. 8:33 am

Gr’a 9:09 am

Candle Lighting: 8:06 pm

14 Sivan – Shabbos

Saturday, June 10Shabbos Parashas Naso

Pirkei Avos: Chapter 1Shabbos ends**:

9:16 pm

72 min. 9:38 pm* from MyZmanim.com

** add a few minutes for tosefos Shabbos according to

your minhag

Municipal CalendarFor 5 Towns and NYC

Thursday, June 8NYC public schools: no classes.

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B Y P A U L A L . S I M M O N D S

The refrain “All together now…”from a popular song aptly describes abrand-new community effort involvingseveral well-known local organiza-tions, including the JCC of theGreater Five Towns, Kulanu, CAHAL,and TOVA. These four groups havejoined forces to provide much-neededservices to Five Towns families withchildren and teens on the autisticspectrum, giving new meaning to theconcept of the whole being greaterthan the sum of its parts.

Since each of these organizationsalready delivers unique services tothe community, one might wonderwhy they decided to work together.Rina Shkolnik, executive director ofthe JCC of the Greater Five Towns,speaking for the group, explained thereasoning behind the project: “Thecommunity can and should cometogether. When we work together, wecan do great things. Before this pro-gram existed, there was a gap in aux-iliary family-centered services forthose families affected by ASD(Autistic Spectrum Disorder) syn-drome. By coming together, we cannow provide services not only to thespecial-needs child, but also to thesiblings and parents, with respite,

social activities, support, and educa-tion. This group effort allows us to fillthe gap with new activities and serv-ices, including babysitting, tutoring,mentoring, information and referrals,Teen Night, and family-centeredsocial events.”

Under the auspices of the JCC,which manages the program, called“Lemaan Mishpachotainu” (“For OurFamilies”), the four organizations arethe recipients of a two-year grantfrom the UJA designed to provideservices to families with at least onespecial-needs child on the autistic

All Together, Now:JCC, Kulanu, CAHAL, And TOVA Join Forces

Through this cooperative

program, each of the

four organizations hopes

to serve approximately

100 families on a

limited, first-come

first-served basis in the

Five Towns area.


spectrum. Children vary from high-functioning, who can be successfullymainstreamed, to children with acluster of communication, motor, andsocialization-related symptoms thatmay require round-the-clock care.“Each organization takes responsibili-ty for one particular piece of the pro-gram. This is the first time that theseorganizations serving different seg-ments of the autistic population havejoined forces for the benefit of thecommunity,” said Ms. Shkolnik.“Since the JCC is the organizationconnected with UJA, we are oversee-ing the entire program. Additionally,we will offer recreational facilities,staff, and equipment as our part ofthe joint program.”

Kulanu will focus on helping chil-dren and families by providing casemanagement and community sensitivi-ty education, helping with social skills,working with siblings, and leadingrecreational activities for the entirefamily. TOVA will provide ASD-specif-ic training for the Big Brother/BigSister mentoring programs, which willbe supervised by a licensed clinicalsocial worker. CAHAL will participateby providing direction for after-schooltutoring services to children within theschool system.

Families with a child on the autisticspectrum usually shoulder extra bur-dens, which can create additionalstressors for the entire family. LemaanMishpachotainu was developed for theFive Towns community to relievesome of the day-to-day stress, whileimproving the quality of life for fami-

lies living with these challenges. Butsince the needs of children on theautistic spectrum can vary so widely,the program is highly specialized torecognize and address the individualneeds of the families, each with theirown unique situation.

Ms. Chana Pfeifer, director of spe-cial needs at the JCC, further out-lined the program objectives: to offera number of different activities, withthe goal of reducing the isolation andburden on families with ASD chil-dren, and to provide a collaborativecommunity effort for all in need. Ms.Pfeifer said that very often the autis-


Rina Shkolnik

tic child is “identified” for services,but there is a need for sibling support,in the form of fun, social activities,and relaxation, as well.

Rina Shkolnik explained thatthrough this cooperative program,each of the four organizations hopes toserve approximately 100 families on alimited, first-come first-served basis,with activities and services tailored totheir unique needs. The program tar-gets nursery-age children to teenagers,and offers respite for the families, pro-viding babysitting for autistic childlrenand their siblings.

Ms. Shkolnik added, “Our primarygoals are to raise awareness within thecommunity and to reduce the tensionand stigma that families with a childon the autistic spectrum experience.”What are these organizations able todo with the grant that they weren’table to do before?

According to Shkolnik, “We weren’table to provide these ancillary supportservices for the entire family. We cannow provide an organized programand additional services which are typ-ically very costly, while raising aware-ness and public knowledge. This issomething we all need to work ontogether to help. As part of our goal toeducate the community, we are plan-ning an awareness week inSeptember, where we will reach out tosynagogues and provide speakers. Inaddition, we plan on having a SundayFunday this summer at the JCC

Henry Kaufman campgrounds.”Jonathan Cooper, Kulanu’s pro-

gram director of inclusion services,described his organization’s role asone that fulfills the social and respiteaspects, arranging sibling groups andproviding case management andtrained specialized babysitters for theautistic child and siblings. A recentactivity was Teen Night, staffed byKulanu counselors, during whichteens shared pizza, played games, andschmoozed with each other.

Another example provided by Mr.Cooper is Bowling Day, where “weoffered respite, support, and appropri-ate social activities with staffing,through planned activities, so familiescould relax, have a good time, and feelcomfortable.”

Kulanu is primarily a parent-drivenorganization that has been servicingchildren with special needs on the

South Shore of Long Island andQueens with support, referral activi-ties, consultation to area schools,respite/summer camp, informationand referral, and support groups forsiblings and parents. Kulanu also hasa middle and high school calledKulanu Torah Academy. TzippiPosner, the Lemaan Mishpachotainucoordinator at Kulanu, explained thatconsultative support services areavailable to area schools such asHAFTR that are administering the

programs.Andrea Borah, director of TOVA,

outlined her organization’s role in thejoint program: “For this project, we’redoing the mentoring for the childrenin the program. With offices in theFive Towns, Queens, and Manhattan,TOVA mentors children from 1stgrade to 12th grade. We train the BigBrothers/Big Sisters to mentor the

special-needs child and give themone-on-one attention.”

CAHAL’s Naomi Nadata, programdirector, and Alice Feltheimer, educa-tional coordinator, explained thatthey are very enthusiastic and com-mitted members of the team, servingchildren with learning disabilities in adifferent segment of the population.Ms. Nadata said, “We see our role inthis as giving insight into how somechildren learn differently and provid-ing outside support such as tutoringand being in touch with classroomteachers. We hope our students withlearning disabilities can be helped.The children who CAHAL servicesare children with different learningstyles who are in the academicprocess, learning mainstream materi-al in the schools.” The CAHAL por-tion of the program is working withkids from grades 1 through 8, butthey are also now beginning a high-school program for girls that will bebased at TAG, and a boys programbased at Mesivta.

“For Our Families” is a wonderfulopportunity to come together and reapthe benefits of the expertise of thiscoordinated effort. To learn moreabout this program, send e-mail totzippi.posner@fivetownsjcc or call theJCC at 516-569-6733. ❖

The JCC of the Greater Five Towns is abeneficiary agency of the UJA Federation of NewYork, a member agency of the United Way ofLong Island and the Jewish Community CentersAssociation, and an affiliate of the Five TownsCommunity Chest.Paula Simmonds is a contributing editor for theFive Towns Jewish Times.


All Together Now:Continued from Page 15

The CAHAL portion of the program is

working with kids from grades 1 through 8,

but they are also now beginning a

high-school program for girls that will be based

at TAG and a boys program based at Mesivta.


B Y G A V R I E L A R Y E HS A N D E R S

Recently, the Five Towns Jewish Timesinformed you that hundreds of “Jews forJesus” missionaries are preparing tolaunch an unprecedented campaignthroughout the Jewish communities ofgreater New York, including the coun-ties to the north—Westchester,Rockland, Putnam—all five boroughs ofNew York City, and way out on LongIsland. Northern New Jersey and theJersey shore are on the missionary map,as well. I’ve been in touch with a num-ber of communal leaders, and canassure you that this will not occur with-out a decisive response from the greaterJewish community. Nothing unites uslike a good communal threat.

The missionaries are coming with a$3-million war chest to spend onradio, TV, billboard, and print ads. Youcan expect more mailings (like the onethat targeted over 80,000 frum homesfrom Lakewood to Monsey two weeksago), phone calls to your home, con-certs in parks, so-called Torah studies,and a whole lot of very visible activityon the streets, especially in the city.

While this really happens every sum-mer—and has been for the last 33years—it’s never been on this scale. Andwhy davka now? Because the sponsor-ing organization, Jews for Jesus, is con-cluding a five-year evangelistic outreachto 65 Jewish communities around theworld. New York is the last and thebiggest. They are bringing in teams ofseasoned missionary leaders to leadhundreds of volunteers. And they aremultilingual, since they are targetingRussian, Hebrew, and Bukharian Jews,as well as English-speaking Jews.

I’ve reviewed the statistics on thisfive year campaign they call “Beholdyour god”—I call it “Behold yourfraud”—and they really have done apoor job in most cities, at least as far asreaching Jews. With 48 cities reportingstatistics to date, they claim so far tohave converted 958 Jews from aroundthe world. That’s an average of 20 percity. They claim to have converted3,592 non-Jews in five years of effort—that’s about 75 per city. And they’vespent millions and millions to do this.

You and I know that every neshamahis precious to us—each one represent-ing whole generations. For 958 Jewishsouls lost to be lost to deceptive mis-sionary misrepresentations is a tragedyand a travesty.

But when I look at this from a busi-ness point of view, I think their “Beholdyour god” campaign is a failure, and Iexpect their New York efforts to be afailure, as well. We’re not as naive asthey think we are. This is the mostTorah-centric Jewish enclave outside ofIsrael itself. And missionaries goingdoor-to-door in Boro Park, Williams-

s”xc

We will be open Thursday, ErevShavuos from 10:30am - 2:30 pm.We will re-open Sunday, June 4.

Happy Shavuos!!

Preparing ForThe Invasion:Hundreds Of MissionariesComing To New York


burg, Crown Heights, New Square, andMonsey are likely going to meet seriousand testy resistance.

I have to tell you a little somethingabout their message, their motivation,and their mindset, though, just so youunderstand where they are comingfrom and how you can best respond—or not respond.

They are convinced from readingtheir bible that JC, whom they’ll callYeshua, is the messiah of the Jewishpeople. They point to some 300pesukim from Tanach to prove this.They have proof texts. I call them spooftexts. Most of them are mistranslated,misquoted, taken out of context, and ina couple of serious cases, non-existent.They believe that the Jewish peoplemust have a chance to hear their mes-sage so we can make a decision tobelieve or reject their false messiah.They believe that JC—Yoshke, Jesus,whatever you want to call him—can’treturn to earth in his “second coming”

until the Jews as a nation respond posi-tively to the message. They believe weare in acharis hayamim—the end ofdays—and that the millions of Jews willcome to believe in him.

Contrary to what some counter-mis-sionary groups might suggest, they arenot cunning deceivers. I was one suchmissionary for many years. I never tooka class in Bible College called “How toDeceive the Jews.” I was a sincerebeliever, not a cunning deceiver. Andso it is with these missionaries. Theyreally believe what they are saying. Tothem, it’s true because they believe it.

After all, there are over a billionChristians on the planet. How could ahandful of Jews be right about Torah?They believe that the sufferings ofJews over the last 2,000 years, includ-ing the Holocaust, are a result of ourcollective rejection of JC.

Underneath that, of course, is theneed to prove that we are wrong,because they have a nagging ques-tion—what if the Jews are right?

So in recent years, they’ve becomevery sophisticated and have been data-

mining our mekoros and meforshim toput together a whole new substrata ofproofs—really more spoofs. They arequoting—or rather, often misquoting—Rashi, the Rambam, Ramban, the Al-shich, even the Vilna Gaon—all in aquest to demonstrate that our heiligesages knew that Yoshke was Mashiachbut engaged in a great cover up.

Now, what are they out to actuallyaccomplish in coming to your door, orstopping you on the street, or sendingliterature and audio/video media toyour home?

It’s very simple, and this is how youcan deal with them in a kind way.There’s no need to be angry and com-bative; that only reinforces their needto feel and be persecuted. They lovethat. Don’t give it to them.

First of all know this: Their primaryjob during this 29-day outreach in NewYork is to (1) give you something to read,hear, or view and (2) to get your contactinformation for follow-up. In mostcases, they have to do this within threeto five minutes. Much of the time,they’ll be highly visible, wearing ridicu-

lous T-shirts that say things like “Jesusmade me kosher” and “Jews for Jesus.”

Should you encounter any of thehundreds of missionaries planning tobe here throughout July, here are threethings to do and three things not to do.

1. If you meet them on the street, tellthem you are in a hurry. What can theygive you to read? Take their literature.Take as much as you can get. Put it inyour pocket, your shoulder bag—what-ever. Get all you can. If they resist,remind them that their messiah said togive to whoever asks of you. When youleave them, go around the corner anddrop the material in the nearest trashcan. They usually go out to conductstreet outreaches in two to four hoursorties. The sooner you exhaust their lit-erature, the sooner they have to go backto get more.

2. While most of these missionarieswill not be Jewish, perhaps one out offour will be. The Jews amongst themknow very little about Torah Judaism.What they are pushing is a bastardizedblend of Jewish ideas and Christian the-ology. Ask the person if his or her moth-er is Jewish. If they say yes, tell themyou know that the Jewish experiencethey had growing up was probably notmuch more than cultural Judaism. Youare a Torah Jew. Give them a phonenumber of a kiruv organization likeJews for Judaism or Aish HaTorah orOutreach Judaism or Judaism’s Answer.Pick one of these groups and have thenumber on you to recommend.

3. When you meet one of these mis-sionaries, or if they should come to yourdoor, say: “Oh, thank you for remindingme! I was planning to send a contribu-tion to Yad L’achim [or Jews for Judaism,or whatever your preferred Jewish actiongroup may be].” Tell the missionary thattheir visit to your door is a wake-up callto do what you can to counter theirefforts. And then of course, do send it.

On the other hand:1. Do not get into conversations

with them about interpretations ofwho the messiah is. They are playingverbal chess with you. They haverehearsed for many hours on how tolead you with questions. They are bet-ter than a used-car salesman at this.Don’t start with them.

2. Do not give them your contactinformation. That is their main job.They will turn that information over tolocal churches and to local messianicJews to follow up with you in a monthor two after this campaign.

3. Do not give them mussar. Youwon’t be speaking the same languageat all. By the same token, don’t bemean, angry, or verbally abusive in anyway. Point to the mezuzah on your doorand tell them that any home with oneof these will not be interested in hear-ing their message. A simple “No, thankyou” is enough. Don’t reinforce theirstereotype perception that Torah Jewsare angry and reactive.

Now, even though the “Behold yourgod” campaign isn’t scheduled to beginon the streets until July 1, it’s reallyalready begun in Jewish mailboxes. Tokeep up-to-date with the campaign andhow you can prepare yourself and yourfamily, listen to the Gavriel SandersShow on Monday nights at midnight onWSNR 620 AM or in the audio archivesat www.gavrielsanders.com. ❖


Preparing For The InvasionContinued from Page 17

B Y S H M U E L K A T Z

Part 6: Going, Going…In December of last year, we took a

day off and made a special trip to theJewish Agency to open our tik aliyah(aliyah file). Any Jew is entitled toautomatic Israeli citizenship should heso desire. The Jewish Agency is respon-sible for the evaluation of each appli-cant to determine if they are indeedJewish and thus entitled to automaticcitizenship under the Law of Return.

We met with our shaliach aliyah,Yonati Greenfield, to discuss the vari-ous issues facing our family. She wasextremely helpful to us in finding infor-mation and in wading through the redtape. Quite frankly, of all the currentolim I have spoken to, it seems as if ourprocessing was as simple as it gets.

Right off the bat, we discussed ouroldest son. At age 15, we feel that it isunfair to force him to become an olehand Israeli citizen, especially since hehas already mapped out his schoolingand career choices for the next ten orso years. In third grade he announcedthat he would attend Harvard LawSchool (recently changed to Yale) inpreparation for becoming the youngestpartner in his law firm’s history.

While we will certainly encouragehim to follow our example (and hopethat his friends will do so as well), wefeel that he is entitled to make his owndecisions in life and we therefore madeit a priority to arrange for the choice tobe his. This will happen when he turns18. Our other children, being younger,will not have a choice in this matter;they will be Israeli citizens from dayone, with all the obligations and bene-fits that come with citizenship.

This is the plan that we felt workedfor our family. As I have said before, I donot believe there is a right or wrong.Each person and each family has tomake decisions based on what they thinkis best for themselves and their families.

PaperworkWith that settled, Yonati carefully

reviewed the documents that we hadprepared (our passports, original birthcertificates, marriage license, and aletter from our rabbi certifying that heknew both Goldie and me as well asour families and that he could vouchfor our being Jewish). She noted whatdocuments were not originals and thenreviewed all the paperwork we neededto prepare to qualify for aliyah.

Applicants for aliyah under the Law ofReturn are issued a specific aliyah visa intheir foreign passport. Essentially, thepaperwork is required in order to applyfor an aliyah visa. When the paperwork isapproved, the visa is issued.

Each adult has to sign waivers andconsents that they understand whatthe paperwork is for and that theyindeed are applying for Israeli citizen-ship. Each member of the family (ortheir parent/guardian) must sign amedical form certifying that they are in


Our AliyahChronicle


good health.I found the reason for the medical

form quite interesting. As you may know,Israel has “socialized” health care, withfull coverage for every citizen. Apparently,in recent years there have been olim whohave moved to Israel in order to get cov-erage for expensive medical proceduresfor which they have no medical coveragein their home country, after which theyreturn to their country of origin. Thissame thing is also done by Israelis whohave left Israel, which has resulted in theIsraeli Government legislating a manda-tory waiting period before returning citi-zens can get medical benefits.

In addition to the medical form,each person who will be making aliyahmust complete and sign a visa applica-tion in duplicate. Many of the formsincluded a listing of the names andages of all siblings, so they took quitesome time to prepare.

With five children making aliyah,this meant that we needed to fill out (i)two waivers, (ii) two general aliyahapplications, (iii) seven medical forms,and (iv) fourteen visa applications.

We set aside two hours on a motzaeiShabbos to go to my office in the yeshi-va and prepare the forms with no dis-tractions. About 10 minutes before wecompleted filling out the final set offorms, I realized that we probably couldhave saved ourselves a ton of writer’scramp had I simply scanned the formsinto the computer and just edited theinformation for each child. Too late.

We ordered certified copies of ourmissing papers, and in late January wereturned to Jewish Agency to give allour papers to Yonati for processing.Thankfully, we had actually preparedthe forms correctly, and within 10 dayswe received notification that our aliyahwas approved.

I can tell you that many other olimhave a much harder time getting theirpaperwork processed. Although we werenot required to (and I have no idea why),

there is a certification known as “apos-tille” certification that many people arerequired to have put on their birth andmarriage certificates. This is a specifictype of certification that can only beordered through the city or state, and wehave been told it is a pain to arrange for.

Additionally, we know some families inwhich a grandparent was an Israeli citi-zen, which made one of the spousesintending to make aliyah an Israeli citizenas well. This puts them in a totally differ-ent category of oleh, requiring not only adifferent visa but also the issuance of an

Israeli passport for that particular person.Other people have had difficulty

getting birth certificates, marriagelicenses, and even acceptable lettersfrom rabbis who can verify the lineageof both parents as Jews. Thankfully, wehad none of these issues, and we wereapproved very quickly.

With the notification of our visaapproval, we were also given instruc-tions for how to get our visas processedand put into our American passports.

Additionally, we had to notify NefeshB’Nefesh that our visas were approvedand get them a copy of our visas oncethey had been issued, so that we couldget scheduled on an aliyah flight.

Before NBN, the Jewish Agencywould schedule flights for olim on reg-ular El Al flights. Upon entering thecountry, olim would first go to the for-eign passport control area and thenproceed to a special office where theywould wait (seemingly for hours) fortheir visas to be processed. NBN hasstreamlined this process tremendously.

There is a common misconceptionthat Nefesh B’Nefesh is actually payingthe costs of the charter flights that areleaving for Israel twice a month fromJFK this summer (as well as flights fromCanada and England). In truth, thecost of a one-way ticket (except for a$50 processing fee per ticket) is paid bythe government of Israel for each olehas part of the Law of Return.

What NBN does is to assemble allthe olim together in group flights thatthe government pays for. They alsoarrange for officials of the InteriorMinistry to be on the plane to processeach oleh’s paperwork in-flight, savingcountless hours of waiting in the air-port upon arrival.

Olim are also entitled to free trans-portation to their Israeli destinationupon arrival in Israel. Arrangementsfor taxis/transportation for all theirolim is also a service provided by NBN(among the countless other things thatNBN does for olim).

As NBN olim, we had much less to dowith the Jewish Agency than other olim.Two weeks ago, we presented our pass-ports at the Israeli consulate for process-ing. We assumed that the consulate wasin its own building with soldiers postedoutside guarding it. Turns out, that is theembassy. The Israeli consulate occupiesa floor in a midtown office building. Theyhave a special elevator which is guardedand additional security outside the eleva-tors on their floor. When we passedthrough security, we entered a room thatcould have doubled as a bank. Therewere 20 or so bulletproof “teller” win-dows manned by consulate employees.


Our Aliyah ChronicleContinued from Page 19

“What are you doing here? Are you making aliyah?” To whichhe replied, “Yes, we are—and it is

all because of you!”

This, of course, being the Israeli con-sulate, we had to wait on line to seewhich window we would need to go towait on line at. When we got to the“aliyah visa” window, there was no one online, but we were still told to take a seatuntil we were called. I have no idea why.

Once we were called and organizedour visa photos (we need something like10 passport photos for each person toattach to the various forms we will havecompleted by the time we get to Israel)and documents, we were told to returnin no less than 10 days, as there was noway we could get the visas stamped intoour passports that same day.

This week we will go back to the con-sulate to pick up our passports withvisas (and will have done so by the timeyou read this). We will copy the visasand send the copies to NBN, and theywill literally make all the other arrange-ments for our flight on July 5.

HousingWe hope to get a copy of our lease

this week. We might actually havesomeplace to live (more details to fol-low once the lease is signed). Wepacked a few more boxes—our currenttotal is 26. We also signed up to marchwith Nefesh B’Nefesh olim in theIsraeli Day Parade this Sunday.

This past Shabbos a friend of ourdaughter came by the house. Her fami-ly is also making aliyah on July 5. Whenshe saw me she excitedly announced,“Mr. Katz—39 days!” I remarked to hermother later that day that it is almostlike we are in a reverse sefirah, countingdown the days until we make the bigmove. Only five weeks left.

The Aliyah ChroniclesApproximately seven and a half weeks

ago, I got a phone call from LarryGordon, the editor of the Five TownsJewish Times. He had an idea for a newcolumn that he wanted me to write. Hetold me that there are more and morepeople making aliyah from the FiveTowns, but there are surely even morewho are considering it and may be on thefence. Furthermore, while we often hearabout people making aliyah, once thepeople leave, there is very little personalconnection that we here in America haveto them in understanding the experience.

Larry asked me to write an aliyah jour-nal about our experiences. His idea was topersonalize the process of making aliyah.His only instruction to me was to try tomake the reader feel as if he or she werestanding right next to us as things unfold-ed. He felt that this might encourage oth-ers to consider aliyah or, at the very least,give them a greater understanding of whatolim go through. “Who knows,” he toldme, “this just might be the thing that givessomeone the final nudge.”

This past Monday night, a group ofadults got together at the home of Robertand Jennifer Airley in Cedarhurst. Eachone of those attending will be moving toIsrael this summer. (There will be anoth-er get-together in mid-June; if you aremoving to Israel this summer and wouldlike to join us, please send me an e-mail.)

As Goldie and I entered the house, Isaw a very familiar face. I have known onespouse of this couple since college, andour children have played together overthe years as well. As far as I knew, thisfamily had no plans to make aliyah in the

near future. Yet, here was the husband ata get-together for aliyah-bound couples.

So I turned to this fellow and said,“What are you doing here? Are youmaking aliyah?”

To which he replied, “Yes, we are—and it is all because of you!”

I didn’t really believe him, but ourhosts assured me that this couple wasindeed planning to make aliyah thiscoming September. Jennifer Airleyeven mentioned that she had beenwaiting for weeks to see the look on myface when I heard the news.

I cannot describe the emotions I feltat hearing his words. I was absolutelystunned. The thought that this familywould even jokingly imply that I hadsomething to do with their decisionwas overwhelming. I was literallymoved to hug this fellow and I wastrembling from nervous excitement.

I had no idea that this family waseven considering aliyah, and here theywere talking about their post-Shavuospilot trip to find a community to settlein. Obviously this was something thatthey had considered over time, and

clearly I had nothing to do with theprocess, which is what I told him.

He assured me that I was wrong.This is what he told me:

He and his wife have talked for yearsabout making aliyah. They have talkedabout the need for parnasah and how tomake aliyah work for their family. Theirchildren were encouraging them tomake the move. But the task seemedtoo daunting to them; without a job,they didn’t really consider it an option.

Then they started reading these arti-cles, and it didn’t seem so overwhelm-ing (it really is—but once you put yourmind to it, things just happen). So theygave Nefesh B’Nefesh a call and theytalked about jobs. After discussing itwith his boss, it seems that commutingfor 10 days a month will work for them,and all of a sudden here they are plan-ning a September departure to join usthis year. If all goes well, they will makeit official two weeks after Shavuos.

Even now, as Goldie and I talk aboutthis, we are literally close to tears aswe consider the profound impact ourwords have had on this family. Goldie

even feels a sense of responsibility thattheir aliyah be successful, as she wouldfeel terrible if we were responsible fora negative outcome.

I wish I could take the credit. But thecredit really goes to Larry Gordon. Hecame up with the idea for these articlesand he is the one who thought that thisvery result would come from it. So I wisha yasher ko’ach to Larry Gordon for com-ing up with the idea for these articles, andI hope to be able to wish an official MazalTov to this family in two weeks or so. Ialso hope and pray to be wishing manymore Mazal Tovs in the near future.

Until then I wish you all a Gut YomTov and may we all be zocheh to cele-brate the rest of our chagim together inYerushalayim—the capital of our holyland, Eretz Yisrael. ❖

Shmuel Katz is the executive director of theYeshiva of South Shore. His wife, Goldie, is thecontroller at Bnos Bais Yaakov. Together withtheir six children (ages 1 to 15), the Katzes williy’H be making aliyah this July. Mr. Katz can bereached at [email protected] response to the many requests Shmuel hashad for reprints/copies of the prior articles, hehas published them on the web ataliyahchronicles.blogspot.com.


B Y A V I G O L D S T E I N

There is a series of Torahtapes to which we have put myyoungest son to bed this pastyear. The series is wonderful,bringing each parashah to lifefor my son. When an adultfriend of mine was stumped bya question at the motzaeiShabbos father–son learningprogram we attend, my six-year-old had the answer!

Yet these tapes concernme, because they are largelybased on the Midrash, andthey retell Midrashim as ifthey are literal truth. I worrythat my son’s Torah educa-tion will be distorted, as thewrong balance is struckbetween historical reality andthe lessons that Midrashimattempt to teach.

In this light, I was thrilledto read “The Dangers ofMidrashim” (Five TownsJewish Times, May 19, p. 64)by Rabbi Pinchas Rosenthal,the dean of the TorahAcademy of Long Island.Rabbi Rosenthal’s thesis—thatMidrashim often are not to be

taken literally—is on themark. Unfortunately, manyrebbeim do not take the timeto differentiate allegoricalMidrashim from historicaltruth. The error is compound-ed by the fact that teachersthereby fail to teach the mean-ing behind the Midrashim.The actual lesson is lost, whileits façade is taken as TorahmiSinai, and our talmidimlearn how to miss the point.Simultaneously, students aretaught to believe that if onequestions the literal truth ofMidrashim, he is a heretic.

Le’havdil, the story of Alicein Wonderland is written ontwo levels. It is a children’sfable, but it is also a politicalsatire. In like manner, theTorah can be understood atmany levels, and manyMidrashim are also styled inthis fashion. Thus, one canteach the Midrash that MosheRabbeinu was 20 feet tall at asimple level. For a six-year-old,this may suffice. For a 20-year-old, it is unacceptable! At somestage, one must seek the les-son behind the Midrash. And


Midrashim andLiteral Truth

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION? WE WANT TO KNOW!E-MAIL US AT [email protected]


even a six-year-old should be exposed tosuch Midrashim only in moderation,lest he or she lose sight of the realitywithin which our ancestors lived.

I believe that two elements have ledto this regrettable misunderstanding ofMidrashim. The first element is theintrinsically enticing quality ofMidrashim. To illustrate, let us takethe Midrash that when Yaakov Avinulay down to sleep at Beit E-l, he putrocks around his head (Bereishis

28:11). Each rock desired to be theone upon which Yaakov actually lay hishead, so G-d fused them into one rock.It is undeniably more exciting to teachthe Midrash kiphshuto, in its literalform. How enthralling it must be for achild to read about this miracle. If wetake the Midrash as allegorical, we areforced to seek its intended message.What do the Sages mean to implyabout the greatness of Yaakov? The

easy, fun way out is to teach theMidrash literally and stop there.

The second element is our biastoward Rashi’s exposition of the Torah.Rashi’s importance cannot be empha-sized enough. However, he does some-times resort to Midrashim, especiallywhen he feels that they conform to hisstated intent of focusing upon the sim-ple understanding of the text. (At thebeginning of Parashas Vayeishev,Rashi’s grandson, the Rashbam, writesthat he took Rashi to task for not writ-ing his commentary in a simpler way.The Rashbam records that his grandfa-ther conceded the point.)

When our children begin to studyChumash with Rashi, rebbeim exposethem to the Midrashim that Rashibrings, without bothering to note thatmany Midrashim are to be taken figura-tively. A prime example is Rashi’s com-ment on the word “vachamushim” inParashas Beshalach (Sh’mos 13:18).Rashi’s first explanation is the literal one:that the Israelites were armed withweapons and supplies when they leftEgypt. Rashi then proceeds to recordone of several Midrashim on“vachamushim.” Extracting its root,which is ch-m-sh, or “five,” he states thatonly one of every five Israelites actuallyleft Egypt, with the remaining four-fifthsperishing during the Plague of Darkness,out of sight of the Egyptians.

Inevitably my children have comehome from yeshiva with Rashi’sMidrashic comment as the true mean-ing of “vachamushim.” And yet, if this


In order to counter the

teaching method to

which children are

exposed, I have sought,

from when my kids were

young, to explain that

Midrashim are not

necessarily literal.

B Y R A B B I P I N C H A SC H A T Z I N O F F

In our very capable, very accom-plished Jewish community, there is adisturbing trend among some toward acavalier, make-do attitude towardhalachah. The very fabric of our Torahlives—complying with the Divine Willas ascertained by our sages—requiresa commitment to truth and accuracythat sometimes falls as a casualty ofthe busy times in which we live.

Specifically, many people unfortu-nately have become accustomed toassuming that halachic decisions bycompetent poskim are fungible andinterchangeable—a veritable mix-and-match. Nothing could be further fromthe truth. To ascertain the correcthalachah in a given situation, a poseikmust bring the breadth and depth of hisknowledge to a painstaking review of thespecific facts at issue. Knowledge andsensitivity to which facts are critical andwhich are superfluous comes only aftera thorough mastery of the halachicsources and experience in addressingthat particular topic.

If the goal is truth and the correctapplication of truth, then the danger ofpeople deciding halachah for themselvesacutely threatens that goal. A poseik maydecide two different cases—which, tothe untrained eye, seem to be identi-cal—in very different ways. For instance,one man may blunder in the kitchenwith a meat pot and a dairy spoon, and

his friend may make a similar mistake,and assume that the halachic decisionobtained by the first man should apply tothe second. But this is simply not thecase. Halachic decisions may be affectedby such issues as the type of food, thetiming of the blunder, the impact, andthe persons involved.

There are additional pitfalls ofattempting self-determination ofhalachah. In deciding any halachicissue, one must assume that his judg-ment may be impaired in reaching adecision that affects his own life; itsuggests an obvious conflict of interest.

Moreover, a halachic ruling obtainedby one person may have the context ofbeing part of an overall halachicapproach of a particular rabbi. Thus,when someone “borrows” some lenien-cy, it may lose its integrity and context.For example, a woman might attend themikveh and insist that certain cosmeticappliances, like nail attachments, maybe left attached because her friendobtained such a ruling from her rabbi ina different setting, under different cir-cumstances, as part of that rabbi’s over-all approach to the issues; but thiswoman knows only of the leniency ofwhich she wishes to avail herself.

Imagine if people were to treat amedical dilemma in this fashion. Whowould consider it appropriate to self-medicate or undertake certain medicaltreatments based upon the fact that hisfriend who had similar symptomsreceived that medical advice? Certainly,

the patient should consult experts andundergo all the necessary medical teststo independently determine what condi-tion is afflicting him. Who would takemedication based upon a friend’s sug-gestion from her pharmacist withoutconsideration by an expert as to theinteraction of all the drugs she is alreadytaking? So, too, in the arena ofhalachah: each of us must consultexperts in the field, provide them withall the data, and not do it ourselves.

A story is told about Rav MosheFeinstein, zt’l, and a woman whoappealed to him for guidance, havingdiscovered that her post-war secondmarriage—undertaken in reliance uponher belief that her first husband hadbeen killed, and upon an apparent p’sakhalachah (halachic decision) allowingthe second marriage—was an error; herfirst husband was indeed still alive. Therosh yeshiva refused to accept her ver-sion of facts, insisting that if the poseikupon whom she had allegedly reliedhad indeed issued such a heter (permis-sive ruling), then this awful outcomewould never have happened. RavMoshe was certain that such an honestrabbi would have been the beneficiaryof Divine assistance in rendering thecorrect decision.

The woman broke down in tears,confessing that she did not receive sucha ruling, but a friend had, and she haddetermined that the circumstances, andthus the decision, were the same. Hererror was indeed a tragedy.

Often, people feel intimidated or hes-itant to ask their rav certain questions ofhalachah, sometimes dealing with sensi-

tive issues, such as laws of family purity,mikveh, and others. My rebbe, RavNuchim Tzvi Kornmehl, zt’l, used tourge rabbanim to take upon themselvesthe burden of making this process easi-er for people, giving encouragement andputting people at ease. Further, it goeswithout saying that a rabbi must makehimself as accessible as humanly possi-ble to his kehillah, such that no oneshould feel disenfranchised and withoutoptions other than to take a guess at thehalachah.

This is particularly critical in deal-ing with halachic inquiries surround-ing taharas hamishpachah and mikvehattendance, where time constraintsmake a rabbi’s availability so crucial.Women should never be in a positionof having to wait an hour at the mikvehfor guidance, or even worse, “borrow-ing” a heter from a friend because arabbi was not available or because shedid not think it made any difference.

Finally, a word about rabbinic profi-ciency is in order. Not every rabbi is anexpert in every halachic area, and eventhe experts often need some time todeliberate and check sources. It is farmore important to come to a correctconclusion than an independent orquick one. This is well known to therabbanim, and should be appreciatedby their congregants.

In the merit of our conscientiouslypursuing Hashem’s Will throughhalachic observance, may our poskimand leaders be granted with Divineassistance and blessing. ❖Rabbi Chatzinoff is the mara d’asra of the

Tifereth Zvi Yeshiva minyan in Cedarhurst.


Do-It-Yourself Halachah


were meant to be understood literally,several questions should arise. First, itwould mean that the Plague ofDarkness was actually much more aplague for the Israelites than it was forthe Egyptians. Second, it wouldrequire us to believe that the Egyptiansdid not notice how 80 percent of theIsraelite population suddenly van-ished! Third, it would be inconceivablethat just a few weeks later, a decimat-ed Israelite population would go withsuch joy into the wilderness. How, inthe face of this massive loss of life,could they heartily celebrate theExodus? Finally, the Midrash recordsother opinions that have a much small-er number of Israelites escaping thePlague of Darkness. One opinion isthat only one out of 50 left Egypt.Another opinion is that one in 500 sur-vived. And the Talmud, in MasechesSanhedrin (111a), writes that only 2out of every 600,000 left Egypt!

For one thing, only one of thesecan be literal. Moreover, if we takethe calculation in Sanhedrin literally,it would require us to believe that180 billion Israelites lived in Egypt.Truly the Rambam is correct in writ-ing that the literal approach toMidrashim is a foolish one. (And yet,many years ago I heard a rabbi in ourcommunity say that this Midrash inSanhedrin is literally true!)

Meanwhile, the lesson of theseMidrashim is missed. How about thefollowing interpretation for the 1-in-50

version? We are taught that theIsraelites were mired in 49 levels ofimpurity, out of a possible 50 levels.The Midrash hints at this low spirituallevel by stating that one in 50 Israelitesleft Egypt—that only 2 percent ofIsrael’s spirituality had been preservedduring the Exile.

The result of literal teaching ofMidrashim is mind-boggling. Our chil-dren grow up believing that theancients lived a fairy-tale existence.On the aforementioned tape series,the narrator, a highly respected rebbi(and former teacher of mine), says thatduring the Plague of Wild Animals, allthe world’s animals descended uponEgypt, bringing along their local cli-mates. Thus, where the polar bearswere it was icy cold, while where thelions were it was hot. This is taught asliteral truth, in total disregard of themuch more likely alternative: that wildanimals native to Egypt served as G-d’sinstrument of punishment, without abizarre change in climate.

In order to counter the teachingmethod to which children are exposed,I have sought, from when my kids wereyoung, to explain that Midrashim arenot necessarily literal. I have pointedout that the Talmud itself states: “Therabbis spoke in exaggerated terms”(Chullin 90b). I hope that other par-ents are doing the same.

I have no doubt that RabbiRosenthal’s brave piece (and this arti-cle as well) will encounter fierce oppo-sition. It is too bad that in some quar-ters, in-depth Torah study has beenforced to yield to shallowness. ❖

MidrashimContinued from Page 23

On the sixth day of Sivan in the year2448 from creation (1313 BCE), theentire nation of Israel assembled at thefoot of Mount Sinai. There G-d choseus as His people and we committedourselves to observe the laws of life asoutlined in His Torah.

The Talmud (Shabbos 88a) pointsout, however, that nearly 1,000 yearswere to pass before our covenant withG-d was sealed. As formulated at Sinai,the contract between G-d and Israelcontained certain vulnerabilities; infact, its very validity was contestable. Itwas only nine and a half centurieslater, with the events of Purim, thatour acceptance of the Torah was estab-lished upon an unshakable foundation.

The Torah tells us that prior to therevelation at Sinai, the People of Israel“stood beneath the mountain” (Sh’mos

19:17). How does one stand beneath amountain? The Talmud interprets thisto mean that “G-d held the mountainover them like a barrel and said tothem: If you accept the Torah, fine; ifnot, here shall be your grave.” But amost basic rule of Torah law is that acontract entered into under duress isnot binding; hence, concludes theTalmud, there was a standing contestto the legality of our commitment toobserve the Torah.

But during the events of Purim, theJewish people reaffirmed their accept-ance of the Divine law without any hintof coercion from Above. In the words ofMegillas Esther (9:27), they “establishedand accepted”—meaning, says theTalmud, that they established as validand incontestable that which they hadaccepted a millennium earlier at Sinai.

The Dark AgesAt Sinai, G-d revealed His very

essence to man. As the Torah tells it,“G-d descended upon Mount Sinai”and we “saw the G-d of Israel.” Onthat day, we were “shown to know thatG-d is the Supreme Being; there isnone else besides Him”; “Face to faceG-d spoke to [us], on the mountain,from within the fire” (Sh’mos 19:20and 24:10; Devarim 4:35 and 5:4).

In terms of any open signs of theDivine presence in our lives, the eventsof Purim were the diametric oppositeof the revelation at Sinai. G-d’s homeon earth, the Beis HaMikdash (HolyTemple) in Jerusalem, lay in ruins, itsrebuilding, ordered 14 years earlier bythe emperor Cyrus, halted byAchashveirosh’s decree. The era ofprophecy—G-d’s direct communica-tion to man—was coming to a close.We were in exile, at the mercy of ourenemies, and G-d seemed oblivious tothe fate of His chosen people. Eventhe miracle of Purim was so complete-ly clothed in natural events that G-d’sguiding hand in all that occurred wasshrouded by the illusion of fortunatecoincidence. This is most powerfullydemonstrated by the fact that in theentire Megillas Esther, there is not asingle mention of G-d’s name!

How did this spiritual blackout affectour commitment to G-d? It spurred usto what can be described as the greatestdemonstration of our loyalty to Him inour history. For 11 months, a decree ofannihilation hung over the entire com-munity of Israel. As Megillas Estherrelates, even after Haman had fallen

out of favor with the king and washanged, the decree he initiatedremained in effect; the only thing thatEsther was able to achieve was to pre-vail upon Achashveirosh to issue a sec-ond decree, in which the Jews weregiven the right to resist those who cameto kill them. The first decree, callingupon all citizens of the realm to annihi-late the Jewish minority in their midston the 13th of Adar, remained in forceuntil that date, when the Jews were vic-torious in their war against their ene-mies, killing 75,000 of their attackers.

For that entire year, when being aJew meant that one’s life was free forthe taking by imperial decree, not asingle Jew broke ranks from his peopleto seek safety by assimilating into thepagan populace. In fact, MegillasEsther records that that period sawmany conversions to Judaism! Sostrongly did the Jews radiate their faithin G-d and their confidence in His sal-vation, that many of their neighborswere motivated to join a people withsuch a powerful and immutable rela-tionship with G-d.

Therein lies the deeper significanceof the “coercion” to accept the Torahat Sinai and the validation of ourcovenant with G-d achieved on Purim.

At Sinai, we had no choice. Facedwith such an awesome revelation ofthe Divine truth, one could hardlydoubt or dissent. In effect, we wereforced to accept the Torah; over-whelmed and completely enveloped bythe Divine reality (“the mountain held


From The Chassidic Masters

UnderneathThe Mountain


B Y C H A N A W E I S B E R G

It’s the last day of the Hebrewmonth of Nissan. On this breezy,spring day, the sun shines downon us and the small, newly bud-ded branches rustle. We arewalking around my neighbor-hood in search of a fruit tree.Today is the last day to recite ablessing, whose opportunitycomes only once a year—theblessing on a fruit tree that hasbegun to bud, which can be saidonly in the month of Nissan.

Given the varying weatherpatterns in Toronto, it’s notevery year that our search for a

budding tree in April is suc-cessful. With our mild pastwinter, though, we are hopeful.

About a block from myhome, we spot it.

My children excitedly informme that they remember how thesmall, aromatic red-and-greenapples swelled from this tree’sbranches last summer. We exam-ine the tree closely; the littleflowers that will soon turn intosweet, juicy fruit are discernable.

Our search is over.My husband opens the sid-

dur (prayer book) for us to readthe blessing. This is not a bless-ing we are familiar with, as it is

one that is said but once a year.I read the words to myself

in Hebrew, translating silentlyin my mind:

Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d…who has not made Hisworld lacking in anything andHe created in it goodly creaturesand goodly trees to give pleasureto mankind from them.

As I recite the words, I feelevery fiber of my being rebelling.

Has not made His world lack-ing? Not lacking in anything?

My heart vehementlyprotests as my memory conjuresup images from the past year…We are standing just a fewblocks away, on a colder day butat this same time of year, at thefuneral of a young father. I canalmost hear the sobs of hisyoung pregnant widow and the

silence of his toddler son, stilltoo young to fathom the impactof these grave events.

I hear myself answering thephone just a few weeks ago toan urgent request for membersof the community to sayTehillim. The prayers are for a14-year-old boy diagnosed witha brain tumor.

On my lips are still theTehillim I said this morning fora very likable, special woman inour community, currentlyundergoing chemotherapy.

And my eyes still sting fromthe funeral of an elderlywoman, a former kindergartenteacher who, just over a weekago, was finally but so sadlyreleased from her last years ofsuffering and hospitalization.

And these are but the

recent memories, and just thememories from my own littlecircle of acquaintances. Justwithin my own community.

What of the suffering of ourbrethren elsewhere—homes thatwere shattered, lives that havecrumbled, brave individuals whohave been reduced to tears?What of all the many tragediesthe world over, young and old suf-fering a whole score of sorrows?

This is a world that is notlacking in anything? Am Ireally expected to extol aworld where misery minglesso easily with happy times?

We are now walking the shortdistance back to our home. I seechildren playing innocentlyalong the streets of our suburb.

My youngest child—mybaby—who just turned two,comes out of our home to greetme. This last year has broughtmany changes for her, as well.She has grown from a barelycrawling infant to a walking, talk-ing, and quite independent tod-dler. Gazing at her, I silently praythat the coming year will signaljust as much continued growth.

She is a budding flower,replete with potential, burst-ing with energy and capabilityjust waiting to develop.

I think back to the buddingflowers on the fruit tree—theirpotential so tightly wrapped, hid-den within, a secret to the world.Now it is a plain green bud, butwithin is held a precious secret,a key to joy and survival. It won’tbe for several weeks until it pro-duces its aromatic, juicy fruits.But right now, within that bud, iscontained all that power, all thatlatent potential. To the nakedeye it looks unremarkable andspare, but the discerning eyesees life-giving treasure hidingjust beneath the surface.

Within my child—withinevery child, within each of us—lies, like the budding fruit flow-ers on the tree, all that it takesto make our world a perfectworld; a world of redemption; aworld of peace and unity; aworld without strife and misery.

Each of us holds the keys andthe prospects to make our bar-ren world bloom into a redemp-tive one. We need only have theeyes to see and discern what liesbeneath the tiny bud of each ofour positive actions, and havethe courage to create a world“that does not lack in anything.”

Because hiding within ourworld is the potential each of ushas to palpably discover andactualize the reality that our G-dhas not made His world lackingin anything and has created itsgoodly creatures and goodlytrees to give pleasure tomankind. (Chabad.org) ❖

Chana Weisberg is the author ofDivine Whispers: Stories that Speakto the Heart and Soul and three otherbooks. She is a noted educator andcolumnist, and lectures worldwide onissues relating to women, faith,relationships, and the Jewish soul.


Hidden Fruit

over them like a barrel”), we could notbut commit ourselves to our Divinelyordained mission and role.

But a thousand years later, we reaf-firmed this commitment under entirelydifferent conditions. The Divine pres-ence did not hover over us, compellingus to recognize its truth. On the con-trary: the Divine face was hidden. Wewere on our own, our commitment toG-d deriving wholly from within—froman inner choice to cleave to Him regard-less of how invisible He remained to us.

So Why The Coercion?This is not to say that on Purim a

new, valid contract replaced the origi-nal, contestable one. If that were thecase, what was the point of the revela-tion at Sinai? Certainly, the Torah wasa binding commitment between our-selves and G-d for the 950 years fromMoshe to Esther. If we look closely atthe Talmud’s interpretation of theverse from Megillas Esther, it says that

the people of Israel “established whatthey had already accepted”: Purim wasthe fulfillment and corroboration of atruth that had already been imple-mented at Mount Sinai.

That truth is that our relationshipwith G-d is not bounded by reason. Itis not dependent upon our under-

standing of it, or even upon our con-scious awareness of its existence. Ittranscends our conscious self, residingin the very core of our souls.

This was why we were compelled toreceive the Torah at Mount Sinai: notbecause we would not have freely cho-

sen to do so on our own, but because aconsciously chosen commitment couldnot begin to express the true extent ofour acceptance of the Torah.

Our covenant with G-d extendsbeyond the finite world of our con-scious desires, embracing the infiniteexpanses of our supra-conscious self—

the supra-conscious self that alwayssees G-d and is unequivocally aware ofHis truth. At Sinai, this supra-con-scious self was revealed. Our con-scious self, occupying but a minutecorner of our soul, was completelyoverwhelmed and its choice-making

mechanisms were completely silenced.This was the true significance of

what occurred when we stood beneaththe mountain. But for many centuries,the events at Sinai were open to misin-terpretation. In our own minds, weremembered the event as a time whenwe were overwhelmed by the Divinetruth and compelled to accept it. Didthis come from within—from a placein our souls not accessible by the con-scious self? Or perhaps it came fromwithout, from an external force whichcoerced us, against our own true will,into our covenant with G-d?

Then came Purim, with its totaleclipse of all perceivable G-dliness. Toremain a Jew—to remain loyal to ourcovenant with G-d—was a choice unin-fluenced by any supra-conscious revela-tions. By choosing to accept the Torahunder such circumstances, we affirmedthat this is the true will of the Jew. Weaffirmed that our “coercion” at Sinai wasnot against our will, but in complete har-mony with our true desire. (Chabad.org) ❖

Based on the teachings of the LubavitcherRebbe. Courtesy of MeaningfulLife.com.


INSIGHTS ON THE TORAHContinued from Page 26

With Shavuos here, and summerrapidly approaching, many amateurand professional chefs are avidlysearching for new lip-smacking recipesthat they can quickly whip up in thekitchen.

This year, the gourmands at Elite,Israel’s premier chocolate and confec-tions company, are offering several cre-ative culinary ideas with a distinctMediterranean halva twist to millionsof consumers in the U.S., Israel, andthe UK. For Shavuos, one can preparecool and creamy rich desserts usingthe finest Elite products, includingeight different kinds of chocolate barsand halva, which are readily availableat local supermarkets and sweet shops.Elite’s halva is known as a nutritiousMediterranean treat that is also rich incalcium content. Elite chocolate barsand halva carry both the OU andBadatz kashrus symbols.

Below are two of Elite’s most popu-lar summertime dessert recipes thatare both fun and easy to make.B’tayavon and Chag Samayach!

Chocolate-Halva Frozen Delight(Dairy)

Ingredients:15 oz. Elite halva4 small containers sweet whipped

cream9 oz. Elite chocolate spread

“Cool Dessert”Shavuos RecipesFrom Elite

We were on our own, our commitment to G-d

deriving wholly from within—from an inner

choice to cleave to Him regardless of how

invisible He remained to us.

I am starting a brand-new businessand I don’t know if I should incorpo-rate. What options do I have?

Your question may not necessarilybe simple to answer. You will need toconsider several things, and youroptions are not confined to the onesI’ll present in this column. You shouldalso consult with your accountant,since there are tax implications.

If you are considering to incorpo-rate, you should know that there arecertain similarities between a corpora-tion and what is known as a “limitedliability company” (LLC). Both arelegal entities created by law andinvolve state filings. Both help protectyour personal assets from your busi-ness liabilities.

Both have very few ownership

restrictions and may be owned by non-U.S. residents, business entities, orindividuals (except corporations withwhat is known as Subchapter S sta-tus). As the needs of your company

change, the corporation can amendthe existing business structure or forma new business structure.

There are also some differences thatyou should be made aware of.Corporations issue stock, while limitedliability companies do not.

Corporations are owned via shares ofstock; limited liability companies areowned by membership interest.Corporations are required to holdannual meetings of shareholders anddirectors and to keep written minutesof each meeting. Limited liability com-panies do not have this requirement.

A corporation is a separately taxableentity where profits and losses aretaxed directly within the corporation atthe corporate tax rate, exceptSubchapter S status. This can lead to

double taxation when corporate profitsare paid out to owners as individuals. Alimited liability company is a “pass-through” tax entity, and, like corpora-tions with Subchapter S status, theprofit or loss generated by the businessis reflected on the personal income-tax

return of the owners.The Limited liability company com-

bines many of the advantages of a cor-poration—such as limited personal lia-bility—with the tax advantages of apartnership. A limited liability compa-ny offers personal liability protectionto all of its owners (called “members”or “managers”). It may be treated like apartnership or S Corporation for taxpurposes, allowing income or losses tobe reported on the member’s individ-ual tax returns, thereby avoiding dou-ble taxation. Both a corporation and anindividual can be owners of a limitedliability company.

If you are considering incorporating,call my office for a consultation and wewill assist you in making your decision. ❖

The Law Offices Of Howard M. Adelsberg is afull-service law firm with over 20 years ofexperience, and handles a variety of legal mattersin the areas of personal injury, estate matters,real estate transactions and litigation,commercial litigation, and family law. You cancall the office at 516-569-6930.Readers are encouraged to send questions [email protected] or to Law OfficesOf Howard M. Adelsberg, 445 Central Avenue,Cedarhurst, NY 11516.


Deadline for Advertising in the Next Issue is

Monday, June 5 at 5:00 P.M.

Call 516-984-0079

Preparation:Mix halva and contents from 2 con-

tainers of the whipped cream using ablender until you get a smooth whip.

Pour into a long pan until it is halffull and place in freezer.

Melt the chocolate spread togetherwith another half container ofwhipped cream, and whip the remain-ing whipped cream until firm, thenfold chocolate mix into whippedcream.

Pour into pan over halva layer.Cover with saran wrap and place infreezer for 6 hours.

Recommendation: Serve over halvastrips.

Halva-Chocolate Balls (Dairy)Ingredients:8 oz. Elite halva4 oz. Elite bittersweet chocolate 4 oz. Elite milk chocolate1 stick of butter5 spoons confectionary sugar1 cup milk9 oz. Elite petibar biscuits

Preparation:Melt chocolate (both types), butter,

confectionary sugar, and milk; cool.Crush petibar (biscuits) and halva in

blender, place in large container, andpour chocolate mix over it.

If the mixture is too wet, you mayadd more biscuits. Cool the mixture.

Form balls out of the mixture.You may cover or decorate the balls

with chopped walnuts.Place in refrigerator for at least an

hour before serving. ❖

Corporations are owned via shares of stock; limited

liability companies are owned by membership interest.


I’ve always assumed that an inher-ently honest nature keeps one fromconsidering a life of crime. Recently,however, I’ve had second thoughtsabout that—at least in my case. To playit safe, most bank robbers wear masks,and now I understand that it just mightbe the prospect of wearing a mask thathas kept me on the straight and narrowall these years. I will testify to the factthat while apnea and sleepless nightsare troublesome, wearing a mask is nowalk in the park, either.

After waiting for several weeks, Ireceived a call informing me that mysleep mask was ready to be delivered.Oh, joy! I made an appointment for thefollowing Tuesday. (My mother alwaystold me that Tuesday was a mazeldikehday, so I was optimistic.) About 2:00 inthe afternoon, on the day in question,the doorbell rang. I’m one of thosepeople who are never lucky enough toreceive an early morning or late after-noon delivery of anything. My mothermay have been right about Tuesdaybeing a mazeldikeh tug, but my ownpersonal mazel is such that a deliveryis always right smack in the middle ofthe day, thereby ruining any plans I

might care to make.I opened the door to a uniformed

gentleman. The fact that he had hisarms wrapped around two large boxesdidn’t escape my attention. So, insteadof the customary “hello,” my greeting

was more along the lines of “Uh-oh, thisisn’t going to be a simple thing.” I musthave said it aloud, because his firstwords to me were, “Don’t let these boxesworry you, ma’am. The equipmentinside is compact and simple to use.”

He was half right. The apparatus isrelatively compact. But, as for the “sim-ple to use” part of his commentary, thatdepends entirely on the user. I’m not

mechanical, nor am I the quick study Ionce was, so, as he placed the boxes onmy kitchen table, my anxiety levelheaded due north. I stood silently by ashe opened the boxes. The first thing Inoticed was a book sitting on top of amachine that resembled a mini humid-ifier. My new friend insisted it was abooklet—probably because he thoughtthat if he called it a booklet, I would belulled into thinking that the materialinside was condensed and simple.

But I’m not that easy to fool. Onelook at the thickness of this tome andI immediately knew I was in trouble.As is my custom, I went to the lastpage first. I do this in order to make a

quick determination as to how muchreading I’ll have to do. I found out.And my first thought was that anythingthat requires 76 pages of descriptionand explanation is not for me. I said asmuch to the man, who, by the way,doubled as a technician. I made itabundantly clear to him that readingthe booklet wouldn’t do the trick.

I asked him to give me a complete

demonstration of how to operate theequipment, and my first thought wasthat the guy was a prince because henever batted an eyelash. In fact, hewas too calm about it. And that’s whenI realized that this was no surprise tohim. He hears this plea from everyonewho gets snookered into accepting thisface-mask business.

He showed me how to put it togeth-er, take it apart, wash out the plasticcontainer, attach the hose, detach thehose, clean the filter, and remove thecontainer in order to fill it with water.He also answered my questions abouthow often the water would need to bereplaced, how often to clean the filter,and how often to wash the plastic.After 30 minutes I finally let the guyescape, but I didn’t think to writedown this information. So chances areI’ll have to let my eyes tell me whenthe water gets too low, when the plas-tic looks yucky, and when the filterlooks dirty. Either I rely on my powersof observation, or I read 76 pages, andsince I have no intention of doing thelatter, I guess I’ll have to eyeball it.

As of this writing, I’ve worn the mask(for want of a more descriptive word)exactly once, and what they say is true:It will take time to get used to this. It’snot nearly as uncomfortable as the oneI was forced to wear in the sleep lab.But then it’s also not as comfortable assleeping without one. A clear plastichose, measuring two inches in circum-ference and three feet in length, runsfrom the humidifying machine to thenasal plugs that rest just above my lipand press into my nostrils.

Now I Know Why

He showed me how to put it together, take it

apart, wash out the plastic container, attach the

hose, detach the hose, clean the filter, and

remove the container in order to fill it with water.


I had a hard time trying to sleepwith it, and being a restless sleepermade it even more difficult. Every timeI wanted to turn over, I had to movethe hose. As I schlepped it from left toright and then back again, it occurredto me that if I wasn’t careful I mightaccidentally compress the thing andthen there would be no air getting intomy nostrils, the nasal piece would actas a plug, and eventually I would suf-focate. It wasn’t a comforting thought.

But on the positive side, I realizethat, G-d forbid should a robber sur-prise us in the middle of the night,we’ll have nothing to worry about.Under normal circumstances mostpeople appear defenseless when awak-ened from sleep, but not moi—at least

not anymore. One look at me in fullregalia would scare the life out of themost determined intruder.

If the first night is any indication ofwhat’s to come, I may have a majorproblem. The purpose of wearing thisequipment is to help keep me breath-ing, which hopefully will allow me tosleep through the night. On my maid-en voyage with the humidifier, hose,and nose apparatus, I was so anxiety-ridden that I didn’t sleep a wink. Infact, I had less sleep last night than atany time in the past five years. Not agood sign. ❖

Hannah Berman lives in Woodmere and is alicensed real-estate broker associated withMarjorie Hausman Realty. She can be reached [email protected] or 516-902-3733.

And it came to pass on the third day...

(Bamidbar 19:16)

A Galilean scholar lectured before Rabbi Chisda:

“Blessed be the Merciful One who gave a three-fold Torah

(consisting of Torah, Prophets and, Scriptures) to a three-fold

people (comprising Kohanim, Levites, and Israelites) through a

third-born (Moses, the third child of Amram and Yocheved)

on the third day of the third month.”

(Talmud, Shabbos 88a)


Dear Editor,Since we made aliyah, I have really

missed your paper, especially the edi-torials. Thanks for sharing it online at5tjt.com!!

Robin WeinsteinIsrael

Dear Editor,Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg’s article

“Reading Is Believing” (on the cover oflast week’s Five Towns Jewish Times)correctly warns us about the dangersof lashon hara and slander that is read-ily available in newspapers, magazines,and websites. He points to Rav ChaimVolozhiner’s comment on the juxtapo-sition of the clauses of Lo seileichrachil regarding not speaking slanderand Lo sa‘amod al dam rei‘echa regard-ing not taking another’s life: Don’tcause harm through your speech.

However, he could also have quotedthe Netziv (See Ha’amek Davar;Ha’amek She’eilah, Parashat Vayikra68:2) who explains that although thereis a prohibition of defamation (clause1), that prohibition is overridden bythe obligation to save another or to tes-tify in his behalf (clause 2). Thus, theverse should be read, “You shall not goup and down as a slanderer among

your people; but, nevertheless, youshall not stand by the blood of yourneighbor (and you must speak out inorder to prevent harm).”

I do not challenge Rav Ginzberg’ssensitivity to the laws of shemirasha’lashon, chas v’shalom! I am, con-cerned, however, that there is more tothe issue than he allows in his article.Lashon hara is a tool of abuse—bothwhen derogatory speech defames inno-cent people, destroying their reputa-tions, but also when warnings torefrain from derogatory speech areused to silence victims of abuse whocry out for help. As careful as we mustbe not to speak, listen to, or repeat dis-paraging information when it is forbid-den, we must not allow the threat ofspeaking lashon hara to silence the cryof innocent victims.

Victims of abuse need to speak out,for all kinds of personal reasons, inorder to help themselves. Their sup-porters need to speak out in order tohelp them. And the community needsto speak out in order to hold the perpe-trators responsible and in order to pro-tect other innocents from potentialharm. All must be diligent in meetingthe conditions required for such



B Y J A M I E G E L L E R

Shavuos is here, another wonder-ful Yom Tov that just seems to havepopped out of nowhere—or rather,come in a flash along with this oh-so-oppressive humidity and heat. I maybe slightly more sensitive to the tem-perature, as I am as huge as a houseor as big as a barn (take your pick)during the final days of my pregnan-cy. While everything else seems to bemoving in super-fast-forward motion,these last few days of my third andfinal trimester feel like they are beingmeasured in months, not hours. Andnow, I must cook, devise a game planfor my daughter should I go intolabor on Yom Tov or Shabbos, andfigure out a way to feel normal andnot like a schmatte that’s been run-ning ragged (or, as my favorite sayinggoes, “like a chicken without ahead”) from one thing to the next.

I think the answer is to do specialthings for myself and my family, taketime out, and lean on others as muchas humanly possible. There’s no shamein that, you know: looking to others forhelp, support, advice, babysittingand—most importantly—sharing inthe cooking load. The more yourguests, friends, and family contributeto the meal, the more heimishe it is.You know people feel so happy whenthey can be of help, when they can

bring their famous cheesecake (thinklast week’s recipe), their to-die-forlasagna, or just a couple of sodas.

A lot of us tend to be very control-ling. Okay, I’ll admit it—we tend to becontrol freaks. It’s that “my way or thehighway” mentality, the “if you wantsomething done, and done right, thendo it yourself” attitude, that “I need tooversee every detail” approach to life.Trust me—coming from a recoveringperfectionist, overachieving, obses-sive, multitasking, “Jamie, you havetoo much on your plate again” per-son—that whole “I have to do it all”style is completely overrated.

Here’s another favorite saying:“Don’t be afraid to delegate.” I’vefound that some of the most success-ful people in the world, from corpo-rate CEOs to mommies of 10, aregreat delegaters. Those who canrelinquish the right amount of con-trol and power to the right people, atthe right time, seem to get everythingdone. And when it feels like every-thing is crashing down on you andthere isn’t enough time to shop (letalone cook), to sleep (let alone pam-per yourself), or to even find some-thing in your closet to wear (let aloneiron)—just delegate!!

My mother-in-law takes my daugh-ter for a night here and there. Thispast week, I used her expert overnightbabysitting skills to enjoy and cele-

brate my birthday with a nice dinnerand my even nicer hubby. My step-mother-in-law, who is coming forShabbos and Yom Tov, is practicallycooking all the meals and will alsoobviously be on hand should we gointo labor. And my mother has startedshopping for me this last month—buying enough fresh (organic!—woohoo, because she’s paying!) fruitsand veggies to feed my entire block.

So in the end, instead of everythingcoming crashing down on me, itseems to all be coming together. Myonly remaining issue is finding some-thing to wear in this heat. But youknow what? My new awesome neigh-bor offered me her light Shabbosmaternity robe and, after writing thisarticle, I just may just go knock onher door and take her up on the offer.

Here’s one more tip before I sign off,especially if you don’t have as generousof a mother-in-law, stepmother-in-law,and mother (who lives for shopping fororganic produce, among other things):When I do cook, I find that if I cooksomething posh (British-talk for“fancy”) then I need to cook less.Which means that if the dish is some-how special, unique, or out of the ordi-nary, I feel less of a need to go over-board with how many dishes I serve. Sohere is a posh, and oh-so-delish (Jamie-talk for “delicious”), gourmet dairysalad that’s perfect for Shavuos. Enjoy,and good Yom Tov.

Goat-Cheese Walnut SaladPrep Time: 12 minutesCook Time: none

Chill Time: noneYield: 6 to 8 servingsIngredients:2 5-oz. package mixed field greens11⁄2 cups dried cranberries or

Craisins1 small red onion, thinly sliced1 51⁄2-oz. log soft fresh goat cheese,

crumbled11⁄2 cups walnutsFor dressing:21⁄2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar1 Tbsp. Dijon-style mustard1⁄2 Tbsp. fresh thyme, finely chopped7 Tbsp. olive oil1⁄2 tsp. salt1⁄4 tsp. pepperSteps:1. Mix greens, cranberries, and

onion in large salad bowl.2. Sprinkle cheese and walnuts over

salad mixture.3. For dressing, mix vinegar, mus-

tard, and thyme in small bowl.4. Gradually whisk in olive oil; sea-

son with salt and pepper.5. Toss dressing with salad immedi-

ately before serving.Tip: To bring out a nice roasted

nutty flavor, place the walnuts in ashallow baking dish and roast them inthe oven for 10 minutes at 350°F.

Jamie Geller is an NYU graduate and formersenior writer/producer for HBO. She quit her jobto be a stay-at-home mom, publish a quick-recipecookbook, write newspaper and magazine articles,host and produce a kosher food TV pilot, teachdance classes at the local gym, and care for herhusband and baby girl in Far Rockaway.

Jamie’s cookbook will be released by Feldheimduring the Fall of 2006. You can contact her [email protected].

Secrets Of The 15-Minute Chef

We Could All Use A Little Help


speech, including knowledge of or ver-ification of the facts, proper motiva-tion, the curbing of personal animosi-ties, no exaggeration, and the like.Allowances must be made for persist-ent rumors and circumstantial evi-dence when their credibility meetshalachic standards.

Too often, our community, its lead-ers, and its institutions have failedthose who were abused. I know thisfirsthand from speaking to many credi-ble victims. These victims have feltignored by the establishment and feelthey have no place to turn but to themedia. Some are appalled by this pub-lic exposure of our failings in the news-papers and invoke the principle ofh. illul Hashem, the desecration of G-d’sName, a value that obliges us to live inways that protect and enhance the rep-utation and integrity of Hashem, HisTorah, and the Jewish people. Airingour dirty laundry, they argue—especial-ly in the general press—is deplorable.Not surprisingly, this is one of the argu-ments these very same people use toprevent victims from coming forwardand speaking out in the first place.

I disagree with their argument. Theh. illul Hashem was not perpetrated bythe victims and those that speak out intheir defense; it was committed bythose rabbis or teachers when theyabused. The h. illul Hashem was perpe-trated when those in positions ofauthority and responsibility refused tocome to the aid of the victims. Theh. illul Hashem was perpetrated whenJewish law was misinterpreted andmisapplied. The h. illul Hashem wasperpetrated when vulnerable girls andboys, men and women, were sacrificedon the altars of individual, institution-al, and communal interests. Articlessuch as those in New York magazineand discussions on the web—and thisvery article—would have been unnec-essary if our community leaders wouldhave acted responsibly in the firstplace. That is the real h. illul Hashem!

Ultimately we will be judged by howwe respond to the cries of victims andwhat we do to protect them—or to pro-tect ourselves. When we fail our peo-ple and we undermine our faith, wewill be condemned. But while thejudgment of the general communitymay be harsh, the judgment of Heavenwill be even harsher.

Rabbi Mark DratchWest Hempstead

LETTERS TO THE EDITORContinued from Page 34

And all the peoplesaw the voices

(Bamidbar 20:15)

They saw what is ordinarilyheard and they heard what

is ordinarily seen.

(Midrash Lekach Tov; Rashi)


Israel Day Gala Concert

Dr. Joseph Frager (L), chairman of the board of American Friends of AteretCohanim, and Dr. Paul Brody (R). Both are chairmen of the Israel Day Parade

concert which will take place this Sunday, June 4, in Central Park. Among the featured performers will be Shloime Dachs, Blue Fringe,

Shlomo Katz, and Yoni Shlomo.

Dear Esther,My husband of 24 years is very happy

to be with me and no one else. He neverwants company. He doesn’t need peopleto visit, and he’s never thrilled aboutgoing out to other people’s homes. He’salways been this way, and even thoughI’m a much more social person, I’vekind of gone along with it. We werebusy raising our children and the housenever felt empty, so I wasn’t aware ofour lack of good friends.

Now, with our kids more or less outof the house, I suddenly feel an enor-mous desire to be with other people. Irealize more and more how interestingeveryone is in their own way, and I findmyself really wanting to get to knownew people and, as you so often writeabout, “connecting.”

I recently invited two couples overfor Shabbos lunch. It was going prettywell, but then, as soon as we finishedbenching, my husband got up and saidhe needed to take a nap. I was horri-fied. I think the two couples lookedsurprised and suddenly got up to leave.I think they felt as though they werebeing kicked out of the house. I wasspeechless, not knowing what to say.Naturally, I was very embarrassed.

My husband is a nice guy in gener-al, but just doesn’t need too many peo-ple in his life. He doesn’t seem tounderstand what my needs are allabout. I don’t know how to get throughto him. Though I seem to be enoughfor him, he’s not enough for me(though I do love him).

How can I get him to understandthat I’ve grown and want my home tofeel alive with friends and good times? Ifeel lonely and am starting to resent myhusband for his isolation. I also feeldragged down by him. My world is toonarrow and I’m ready for it to open up.

Any ideas for me?Lonely

Dear Lonely,How nice that you’re discovering the

importance of friends and delighting inthe special gifts that everyone has tooffer. It’s easy to be distracted from thisaspect of your persona while building alife with a husband and raising kids.Now that your children are grown, it’s aperfect time to get to know yourself andothers better. One way of doing this isby establishing close ties with femalefriends, who can inspire you in waysyou never thought possible. They willprovide a shoulder to lean on when thegoing gets rough, a person to laugh withuntil your sides hurt, and someone whocan listen to you in that special way thatonly a female friend can.

Though I want to address your hus-band’s lack of interest in socializing, Iam first struck by the fact that you feelyou need him on board to makefriends. There are couple friends, whoare wonderful to have, but tend to be“light” in nature, and then there arethose amazing “one-on-one” femalebuddies, who can be intense and spec-

tacular. (Do you get the feeling I’mvery fond of my female friends?) Itdoesn’t sound as though you’ve madethese connections for yourself, andperhaps you’re using your husband asan excuse for it not happening for you.

So where do you begin? Gettingclose to others can be challenging, buthardly impossible. You may considerjoining a few women’s groups (such asAmit), or a book club, or a group thatdoes volunteer work. Any time youwork or play side-by-side with others,you have an opportunity to connect.

Take a chance. Ask someone out forlunch. Yes, there is the risk of beingrejected, but if you don’t take risksyou’ll never advance your cause. But Idoubt that your husband is really theone holding you back.

Back to the defendant (your hus-band). It sounds as though he is some-what of a hermit, and that’s working forhim just fine. But it’s not working foryou. He may never understand yourneed for people besides himself; hedoesn’t have to understand that need.But that fact shouldn’t stop you fromlearning the art of negotiating. Andthat’s where compromise comes intoplay. Surely, there are certain things hewants from you, whether it’s to sit homewith him several evenings a week doingcrossword puzzles, or baking hisfavorite cake, or calling his mother fivetimes a week. Find your leverage.

The key is that he doesn’t have towant to have company, but he has tobe a mensch about it and do it simplybecause it pleases you. Give to get.One hand washes the other…you bakehis cake, he tells you how often he cantolerate Shabbos guests. Will once amonth work for him? Fine. After that,negotiate what having company meansto you. Spell out the parameters,because sometimes people can seem abit dense. Being a gracious host, no

naps until the last guest has left, help-ing with the cleanup—these are justsome examples of what needs couldlook like, and these concepts need tobe discussed up front.

Many women reading this columnwill be envious of the fact that youseem to satisfy your husband so totallyand he only has eyes for you. In thatrespect, consider yourself very lucky.Some husbands demand to haveguests every Shabbos, which wouldlead one to wonder whether they dreadbeing alone with their wives. It’s kindof sweet that yours enjoys being alonewith you so much.

He sounds like a good man who willbe open to a discussion and, hopefully,a working compromise. But regardlessof how successful you are at negotiat-ing this area of your life, try to keepforging ahead with your own relation-ships. That work is yours, and yoursalone. But it is so very worth the effort!

Esther

Esther Mann, LMSW has a private practice inLawrence. She can be reached at 516-314-2295or [email protected].


OHEL’S Next Tourney In LawrenceOn June 26

Nearly 150 golfers participated inOHEL’s two annual Chol Hamoed golftournaments in Florida and California.Both tournaments were played inbeautiful, sunny weather and featuredgreat food, prizes, and great giveawaysto all who participated.

Nearly 80 golfers participated in theOHEL Invitational that took place atthe beautiful Doral Golf Resort andSpa in Miami and was sponsored byMeridian Capital Group. Each playerreceived deluxe golf club travel bags asgifts. OHEL’s friend and benefactor,Milton Cohen of UKT Tours, whichoversees the yearly Pesach program atthe Doral, provided a delicious lunchand buffet dinner.

The winning foursome of the Florida

tournament was: Michael Pinewski,David Neiss, Jacob Harman, and EvanHonigsfeld. The winner of the JetBlueChallenge was David Neiss.

Approximately 62 golfers played inOHEL’s “California Classic” at the TedRobinson 27-Hole Golf Course,Rancho Las Palmas Marriott Resort &Spa in Palm Springs, California.Hosted and sponsored by ChaimKaminetzky and Pesach With TheChevrah,” this year’s successful tour-nament was won by Robbie, Eric,Judah and Adam Silverman.

The JetBlue Challenge winner wasMichael Greenspan; Meir and RobynGelman of Los Angeles won the trip toIsrael sponsored by Pesach with theChevra and Binyamina Wines.

OHEL thanks Mordy Sohn and EzraBirnbaum, the chairmen of the Florida

and California tournaments respec-tively, for all their help in making eachtourney a success. OHEL also thanks“Lobo” for donating the golf balls usedin the tournament.

You can join OHEL for the upcom-ing golf event on June 26 at TheSeawane Country Club in Lawrence.Last year’s event was sold out, so regis-ter today at www.ohelgolf.com.

The real winners of all OHEL golftournaments are the thousands of chil-dren and families who depend uponOHEL—they are the beneficiaries ofthe day!

Read About A Good ExplosionBy Rivki Rosenwald

“I’ve had it with rising gasolineprices!”…“Is the U.S. left with nochoice but to negotiate with theHamas terrorists?”…“Is our govern-ment taking any concrete steps to stopthe threat of a nuclear bomb fromexploding?”

Are these familiar anxieties andfrustrations that plague you?

Well, there certainly was a good

explosion last week in WashingtonDC—where 550 motivated Jewish lay-men, exploding with purpose and ener-gy, were set loose through the halls ofCongress. NORPAC (a national organ-ization for political action) broughtabout 20 busloads of concerned men,women and students (among whomwere many successful professionalswho wisely took the day off) to DC tomeet with our Senators andCongressmen. The meetings were heldwith one congressman or senator at atime, with his/her complete attentionfocused exclusively on the points theindividual groups were presenting.

So, what was being addressed? Bills!Legislation that is pending right now inCongress. Bills that affect the security ofthe United States and Israel. Bills thatget buried on the bottom of the pile ofhundreds of bills up for legislation. Weshow up to make things happen! Wecause the statesmen to focus on ourissues and get assurances that they willvote for it. And by going there we breakthrough the personal malaise many of ussuffer—speculation, conversation andfrustration without action to stop theproblems and the threats we face.

We encourage our congressman to co-sponsor such bills as the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which would place strongeconomic sanctions on Hamas until theydecry terrorism in their streets and insti-tutions and further obligate them to rec-ognize the right of Israel to exist as aJewish state; the U.S.–Israel EnergyCooperation Act, which would fund jointventures between Israel and the U.S. tofind alternative sources of energy usingIsrael’s proven scientific and technologi-cal expertise; and the Iran FreedomSupport Act, which would penalize for-eign companies that invest in Iran’s ener-gy sector as well as provide assistance topro-democratic forces in Iran and wouldfund independent broadcasters to Iran.We elucidate the strong points of the billand explain why it should be passed—now! We engage in dialogue that helps usunderstand the thinking of our represen-tatives and get an idea of where theystand and who else’s support to seek tohelp the bill get passed.

We met with over 400 Congressmenand Senators. We exercised our demo-cratic right to affect our present andfuture. Everyone who went felt the opti-mism of making something happen.

An extremely rewarding aspect of themission was the opportunity to bringchildren along (from 8th grade to gradu-ate students) and let them learn to lobbytheir congressman directly, thereby gain-ing the realization that they can take anactive role in affecting the course of theirlives and the actions of our country. Itwas especially exciting for me to sharethis with my eighth grader. Though shewill be going to Washington next week onher graduation trip and learning muchabout our government, her experienceson that trip will not be comparable tospeaking directly to senators and con-gressmen on vital issues.

Last year, only two people from LongIsland were among the group. This yearthere were forty. Hopefully, next yearwhen NORPAC (a bipartisan group rep-resenting Israel’s interests in the U.S.)creates this pilgrimage opportunity again,



we Long Islanders will grab our childrenand go join the explosion of energy. Thusmany more of us will be among those rac-ing through the offices of congressmenexpending our energy lobbying for thebills that affect us most. Trust me, theseare the kind of explosions we want to besetting off.

If you would like further informa-tion about NORPAC, visit their web-site at www.norpac.net, or call 201-788-5133. ❖

Rivki Rosenwald is an attorney who lives inLawrence with her husband and five children.

On Deathbed, Nazi Turns OverParchment Cut From Torah Scroll

On an official visit to Germany,Motty Doten, head of Israel’s GalileeRegional Council was approached byDeter Hertzig, a member of theGerman Bundestadt (parliament) withan astounding story.

The German official’s father admittedon his deathbed, that he had been a pilotin Hitler’s Luftwaffe (air force) and hadbombed many synagogues. On one occa-sion, he visited one of these synagoguesand found, strewn on the floor, a scrollmade of parchment, which he thoughtwould make good material for an I.D.folder, and he cut a piece from the Torahscroll for that purpose. Now, on hisdeathbed, he asked his son to hand it overto the first Jew he met and request that hegive it to a holy rabbi in Israel who wouldsurely know what to do with it. Heexplained that, in an age of Holocaust

denial, he wanted the Jews to have proofpositive that it really happened. The Nazidied soon after making that request.

Motty Doten gave the I.D. and walletmade from the Torah Scroll to RabbiYitzchok David Grossman, founder anddean of Migdal Ohr in Israel. When therabbi read the words on the parchment,he began to tremble. The terrifying pas-sages were from the tochachah—thechapter of rebuke in which the Torahwarns of terrible tragedies that willbefall the Jewish people if they abandonG-d’s Torah (Devarim 28:57–62).

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, herself aHolocaust survivor, who was appointedby President Bush to the U.S. Holocaust

Memorial Council, said, “We cannotsimply attribute this to coincidence.That Nazi could have cut a piece fromany part of the Torah, but G-d led him tothese terrifying passages, and it reachesus now, when the president of Iran,Ahmadinejad, Hitler’s successor, lays hisplans for a new Holocaust and threatensto wipe Israel off the map.

Rabbi Grossman visited RebbetzinJungreis’s Torah class in Manhattan,the home of the internationallyrenowned Hineni outreach organiza-tion, and displayed the Torah wallet,the Nazi I.D. Rabbi Grossman andthe rebbetzin explained the meaningof these passages to hundreds of

young professional who gasped at thisproof-positive evidence of theHolocaust and its implications fortoday.

Alphonse D’Amato Receives 5TJewish Council’s Tenzer Award

Former New York Senator AlphonseM. D’Amato will receive the Five TownsJewish Council’s Twelfth HerbertTenzer Memorial Legislative Award atits annual breakfast. The event will beheld at Temple Hillel on Rosedale Roadin North Woodmere, on Sunday, June11, at 9:30 a.m. The Tenzer family gen-erously funds this event. Jeffrey S.Wiesenfeld, Principal of BernsteinGlobal Wealth Management, will makethe presentation.

The award is being given to Mr.D’Amato in gratitude for his successfuleffort, as Chairman of the UnitedStates Banking Committee, to restoreassets to Holocaust survivors and theirheirs, ultimately forcing the SwissBanks to pay over $1 billion in restitu-tion to survivors. He served as SpecialMaster in the Holocaust settlementcase with the German and Austrianbanks, having been appointed by theUnited States District Court of theSouthern District of New York.

In 1995, Mr. D’Amato was selectedas the National Republican SenatorialChairman. His political skills havehelped elect scores of local, state, andfederal candidates to office. He is cur-rently one of the most sought afterpublic policy and business develop-ment strategists in the country. He is afounding partner of Park Strategies


The excised piece of a Torah scroll that a Nazi made into an I.D. holder for himself is shown byRabbi Yitzchok Grossman of Israel to Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis at her Hineni Torah class asanother chilling reminder of the Holocaust and an important message for the Jewish people.

AROUND THE FIVE TOWNSContinued from Page 40

LLC, established in 1998, which hasprovided advice and counsel to its cor-porate clients throughout the nation.

During his tenure in the Senate (1981-1999), he served as Chairman of theSenate Committee on Banking, Housingand Urban Affairs, overseeing legislationaffecting America’s financial institutions,banking, public and private housing,urban development, and foreign tradepromotion. He served on the SenateFinance Committee, the SenateSubcommittees on Health Care,International Trade, and Taxation andIRS Oversight. He was the Chairman ofthe Commission on Security andCooperation in Europe (the HelsinkiCommission). He authored the LibyaSanctions Act to combat efforts by rene-gade nations to finance international ter-rorism through oil field development.During his tenure on the Senate’s Caucuson International Narcotics Control, Mr.D’Amato was a leader in the fight againstillegal drugs. He has appeared frequentlyin the Five Towns, most notably, when heaccompanied President Ronald Reaganto Temple Hillel and the home of itsrabbi, Morris Friedman.

He was honored by the Conferenceof Jewish Organizations of NassauCounty (COJONC) during its first din-ner. He appears regularly on radio andtelevision. Mr. D’Amato and his wifelive in Island Park.

Jeffrey Wiesenfeld is the son ofHolocaust survivors. He served in theforeign counterintelligence division ofthe FBI. He then became an assistant toCongressman Thomas Manton andQueens Borough President ClaireShulman. He subsequently wasappointed Chief-of-Staff to MayorKoch’s Traffic Commissioner. At theconclusion of the Koch Administration,he became the New York MetropolitanArea Executive Assistant to SenatorAlphonse D’Amato. He was responsiblefor many of the Senator’s activities andwas his personal representative in theeight counties of the downstate region.In 1995, he became the ExecutiveAssistant to New York State GovernorGeorge Pataki for the New YorkMetropolitan Region. In 1999, hebecame the New York City RegionalDirector of the Empire StateDevelopment Corporation. He is cur-rently a member of the Board ofTrustees of the City University of NewYork, the board of the United NationsDevelopment Corporation, and aCommissioner within the Long IslandNorth Shore Heritage Area PlanningCommission. He also is the Director ofthe Boards of the Long Island Chapterof the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation ofAmerica; New York MetropolitanRegion and National Governing Boardof the American Jewish Congress;Berkshire Hills-Emanuel Camps;Queensborough Community CollegeHolocaust Resource Center; OpenUniversity of Israel; Folksbiene YiddishTheatre (as Chairman); North ShoreHebrew Academy; Great Neck ArtsCenter; Jewish Community RelationsCouncil of New York; and the AdvisoryBoard of the Rubin Museum of Art. Helives in Great Neck, New York with hiswife and daughter.

Herbert Tenzer represented the FiveTowns Community during his two termsin the United States Congress. He lived

in Lawrence and was one of the foundersof Congregation Beth Sholom inLawrence, New York. He created theSave the Children Foundation, whichrescued children from the Holocaust. Hewas one of the founders of the UnitedJewish Appeal; the America-IsraelFriendship League, where he served asPresident for over 25 years; Cardozo LawSchool; Crown Heights Yeshiva; Friendsof Survivors; the Jewish CommunityRelations Council; B’nai Zion, where hewas a National Vice President; the Saluteto Israel Parade; the Long Island Lodgeof B’nai Brith; and Yeshiva University. Heand his wife Florence were activelyinvolved in the Lawrence-Cedarhurstand Woodmere Chapters of Hadassah.He participated in the early efforts of theFive Towns Jewish Council. He was alsothe Chairman of Barton’s CandyCorporation.

This event is free and open to thepublic. For further information, call516-374-6374.


Linda Dascher, RN, (left), Peninsula Hospital Center’s vice-president of performanceimprovement, and Edward Ozechowski (right), administrative director of cardio-pulmonary

services, present an achievement award to Jeanne Gilligan, RT, RRT (center) for her exemplaryleadership and collaboration with the Intensive Care Unit staff as well as for her valuable service

in patient care rounds.Continued on Page 44

MAY Annual DinnerMesivta Ateres Yaakov of

Greater Long Island—Ruth andHyman Simon High School cel-ebrated its third annual ban-quet on May 10 at the Sands atAtlantic Beach. Under thedynamic leadership of its mena-hel, Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe,Ph.D., and its principal of gen-eral studies, Rabbi SamRudansky, Ateres Yaakov hasemerged as a vibrant Torahinstitution that provides a supe-rior Torah education supple-mented by an outstanding gen-eral-studies curriculum.

The smorgasbord providedby Sharmel Caterers provided aperfect backdrop for friends

and family to gather before themain banquet and program.The delicious main course wasserved as soon as the attendeesentered the main ballroom. Theprogram began right on sched-ule. Following the recital ofTehillim in an act of solidaritywith our brothers and sisters inIsrael, there was a surprisepresentation to the outgoingco-presidents of the PTA, Mrs.Goldy Friedman and Mrs.Shari Weiss.

The spirit and love ofTorah was clearly evident asthose individuals who havemaintained a continuous anddeep involvement withMesivta Ateres Yaakov wererecognized. The banquetchairmen, Dr. Steven Kadishand Michael Salzbank, alongwith the journal chairman,David Portal, Esq., joined theentire community in extend-ing gratitude to Itzi and IreneLaub, Guests of Honor;Leibel and Myrna Zisman,Grandparents of the Year;Rabbi Menachem and LeahBrick, Parents of the Year;Barry and Robin Picker,Amud HaTorah Awardees;and Baruch and Susie Singer,Amud HaChesed Awardees.

The video presentation,which highlighted the uniquebrand of chinuch that is pro-vided at the mesivta, wasthoroughly enjoyed by all. Inaddition, Rabbi Yaffe’s indi-vidualized remarks prior toeach of the presentationsprovided an intimate and per-sonal touch that truly cap-tured the warmth that perme-ates everything that themesivta does. As one guestcommented, “you could feelthe tremendous warmth thateveryone involved in themesivta puts forth. From thevideo, it was clear that theytruly are combining academicexcellence…in Torah learn-ing and in the general stud-ies, while maintaining the




The third annual dinner of Mesivta Ateres Yaakov took place on Wednesday, May 10, at the Sands at Atlantic Beach. Above, left: Honorees Barry and RobinPicker with Howard Weitzman, Nassau County comptroller. Above, right: Honorees, top row (L-R): Rabbi Menachem Brick, Baruch Singer, Howard Weitzman,

Leibel Zisman, Itzi Laub; bottom row (L-R): Leah Brick, Susie Singer, Myrna Zisman, and Irene Laub.


Bar Mitzvah of Sholom Kannertook place this past week on

Shabbos, Parashas Bamidbar, atthe Lawrence Country Club.

Inset: Sholom with his grand-parents, Eli and Greta Hirmes.

A Five Towns SimchaPhotos By Captured Images

closeness of a family. In today’s cli-mate, this is really amazing.”

Perhaps the most remarkable aspectof the evening was the considerationfor the guests and supporters. Theentire program concluded punctuallyas planned, and while the guests wereable to leave at a very reasonable hour,many remained to partake of theViennese table and to savor the sweet-ness of the evening just a little longer.

JCC Adult EducationThe JCC of the Greater Five Towns

invites everyone to “Learn to PrepareSuper Summer Salads,” Wednesday,June 7, at 10:00 a.m. The fee is $45.These new salads will add color and fla-vor to your table. Fennel mango salad,spicy grilled corn salad with black beanand roasted red pepper, and more!

This adult-education program is partof the Kosher Culinary Institue for Juneand July. The class will be held at 207Grove Avenue, Cedarhurst. Pre-registra-tion for all JCC classes is a must. Pleasecall Susan at 516-569-6733.

Chidon HaTanachThe Hebrew Academy of Long

Beach DRS Yeshiva High School forBoys takes great pride in announcingtheir representation in the interna-tional Chidon HaTanach BibleCompetition next year. YehudaGrossman (’08) placed second in theNational Bible Contest on SundayMay 14. The United States NationalBible Contest is coordinated by theJewish Zionist Education Departmentof the Jewish Agency. Yehuda quali-fied for this national contest by takingand passing three qualifying regionalexams. These regional examinationsare administered to over 500 studentsfrom around the country, representingover 35 middle and high schools.

The national contest took place atthe Ramaz Middle School on May 14,and Yehuda came in second place com-peting against other finalists fromaround the country. Yehuda was one ofonly four students in the competitionmoving on to the International BibleContest, which takes place in Israelnext Yom Ha’atzmaut. This interna-tional competition brings togethercontest winners from all over theDiaspora and Israel for a two-weekTanach Camp, during which they tourthe country and meet with importantgovernment officials. The competitionitself is broadcast live on Israeli televi-sion and is attended by the PrimeMinister of Israel. Congratulations toYehuda and his family on his success,and hatzlachah in next year’s interna-tional competition!

Dedicated LearningA Pesach learn-a-thon was organ-

ized by Rav Shlomo Drebin, a rebbi atYeshivas Toras Chaim Of South Shore,and talmidim from grades 5 through 8joined in enthusiastically. Each pro-cured sponsorship for every additionalperiod of learning that they completedduring vacation time. Their parentswere happy to support two such worth-while causes—limud Torah and thekiruv rechokim work undertaken at the

Shuvu School in Beer Sheva. Together,they raised $4,000 for the Shuvu stu-dents who are the children of Russianimmigrants from secular homes.

Rav Binyomin Kamenetzky, shlita,who established the yeshiva in the fast-growing Hewlett community in theFive Towns area seven years ago, was afriend of Rav Avrohom Pam, zt”l,founder of the Shuvu Schools move-ment in Israel. Rav Binyomin suggest-ed to Rav Pam that yeshivos in the U.S.should each adopt one of the Shuvuschools and make it their ongoingtzedakah project. Rav Pam wasimpressed by this idea and comfortedthat some of the fundraising burden ofShuvu would be shared in this way.

Rav Mordechai Kamenetzky, roshyeshiva of Yeshivas Toras Chaim andson of Rav Binyomin, explained: “Thelearn-a-thon has become one of thevarious annual fundraising eventsthrough which all the yeshiva studentshelp their brothers in Israel, therebyconnecting students of Torah aroundthe world in the spirit of acheinu B’neiYisrael.” ❖



B Y S H L O M O W O L L I N SEDITOR, ISRAELREPORTER.COM

5TJT Update: May 28, 2006—In theyear 2004, as Ariel Sharon betrayed hiselection platform and ordered thestrategic surrender of the Gaza Strip,the spinmeisters worked frantically tocreate a new poli-marketing term todescribe this most bizarre and unpre-dictable turn of events. Due to the uni-lateral nature of the Gush Katif sur-render and the increasingly warlikerhetoric issuing from the rising Hamaspower base, the Oslo-nian terminologyof “peace plan” was neither applicablenor marketable to an Israeli populationthoroughly saturated in the blood ofthe post-Oslo travesty. The term“peace process” clearly implies anactive and willing partner in theprocess, which even the surrender-drunk, post-1967 Left could no longersell to the average Israeli voter.

And one day in the year 2003 or2004, the term “disengagement” wascoined and applied to the unilateralsurrender of strategic southern Israeland the wholesale and wantondestruction of the 21 Jewish commu-

nities that had flourished for decadesin that region. “Disengagement” isdefined as either “the breaking off ofmilitary action against an enemy” or“the act of releasing from an attach-

ment or connection.” No peaceprocess or deluded Oslo fantasies ofpeace here—rather the end of engage-ment; a divorce. And truly, what thedisengagement represented was thebeginning of a divorce process from afictitious marriage partner known asthe “Palestinians” and an abortedwedding known as Oslo.

While it is rare to find a political

position that is 100 percent corrector incorrect, the security argumentsof the proponents of the Gaza “disen-gagement” have been proven to bethoroughly bankrupt under a daily

rain of missiles emanating from the“disengaged” Gaza.

And now, in the post-Sharon era,the rise to power of Hamas has ren-dered even the process of disengage-ment to be a non-starter. While wehave defined “disengagement” as adivorce, the terminology still impliesthe existence of a partner to divorcefrom. The democratic, landslide elec-tion of Hamas unveiled the Arab popu-lation as a toxic and adversarial entity;any language of disengagement nolonger fit reality. So, the spin doctorsworked overtime and have applied anew term, “convergence,” to what isessentially a continuation of unilateralsurrenders such as Lebanon, Hebron,Gush Katif, and now the Yehuda andShomron Biblical heartlands.“Convergence” is defined as “a comingtogether to unite a common interest orfocus.” It sounds so positive andhealthy, yet “convergence” is a word-mask for a remarkably Chamberlain-like surrender of highly strategic landto the genocidal Hamas enemy.

The political advantage of theterm “convergence” is its implicationof an entirely internal process, onethat neither interacts with nor inter-faces with another entity. Perhapswhat Olmert should be declaringupon his “triumphant” return toIsrael is, “There will be convergencein our time.”

I was one of many political analystsin shock during Sharon’s betrayal ofthe southern Gaza settlements, andwe all struggled to bring some under-standing to this painful and historicpolitical Benedict Arnold. It was notsimple then, and it remains difficultnow to portray Sharon as an outrightcoward and traitor. Let us theorizethe following: Sharon had been wit-ness to a series of PrimeMinisterships that went down in theflames of broken Arab promises.

One after the other—Peres,Netanyahu, Barak—they all reliedupon Arab compliance to furthertheir political platforms, and allresembled political Charlie Browns tothe “Palestinian” Lucy, pulling backthe football at the last moment.Perhaps the calculating Sharon dis-covered a new “unilateral” politicalstrategy for survival as an IsraeliPrime Minister, and that is: Don’t askfor or rely upon agreements with theArabs. Certainly, all who were closeto Sharon make it clear that he didnot trust the Arabs in the slightestmeasure. Little did Sharon figurethat his leadership would be cut shortby ironic and Divine intervention,and not by Arab diplomatic betrayal.

Essentially, Sharon introduced anew survival tactic for Israeli leaders,a “political unilateralism” that isstructured to insulate Israeli govern-ments from the two Arab constants:terrorism and political obfuscation.And we see that Sharon’s chief stu-dent, Ehud Olmert, is following thepath of this delusional and defeatistpolicy—a path laced with Europeanapproval and 18 standing ovationsfrom a joint session of the two hous-es of Congress. How the House ofRepresentatives passes thePalestinian Anti-Terrorism Act by anoverwhelming 361-37 vote, and just


Direct From Jerusalem

It sounds so positive and healthy, yet

“convergence” is a word-mask for a remarkably

Chamberlain-like surrender of highly strategic

land to the genocidal Hamas enemy.


the next day applauds the Olmertplan of terrorist appeasement and thecreation of “Hamastan” defies logicand clearly reveals the Western psy-chosis in confronting the Islamic reli-gious jihad.

In 1937, David Ben-Guriondeclared as follows: “No Jew has theright to surrender any parts of theLand of Israel. No Jewish group hasthis right. Even if all the Jews livingtoday want to surrender land, theyhave no right to give up any amountof land. This is the right of the Jewishpeople in all generations to have thisland. Even at some time, if there willbe some who want to give up land,they have no right and no authority todo this to further generations. TheJewish people are not obligated andwill not bend to any surrender. Theright to this land in its entirety is oursfor eternity. Until the completeRedemption comes, we will not move

from this historical right.”In July 2002, new Israeli Prime

Minister Ehud Olmert said in aspeech in New York City: “We aretired of fighting, tired of beingheroes, tired of winning, tired ofstriking at our enemies.”

Notice any change in the 65 yearsbetween the statements? Ehud, if youare tired, can we recommend anextended hiatus from politics andyour charade of Jewish leadershipand statesmanship. Because, sir, theArabs are not tired of fighting and ofstriking at Jewish targets, and theysmell victory in your “convergence” ofJewish cowardice and unilateralnational surrender. ❖

Shlomo Wollins, based in Jerusalem, is thefounder and publisher of israelreporter.com. Mr.Wollins has lived in Israel for over six years, andhas focused on the relevant issues for over adecade. Mr. Wollins can be reached in Israel at(0)54-7388-054 or [email protected].

And when you make Me an altar of stone, youshall not build it of hewn stone: for if you lift

up your sword upon it, you have defiled it (Bamidbar 20:22)

Iron was created to shorten the life of man,and the Altar was created to lengthen the life of man;

so it is not fitting that that which shortens should be liftedupon that which lengthens.

(Talmud, Middot 3:4)


B Y N A O M I R O S S

Anyone who has ever looked for newrecipes, let alone tried to follow one, ismost likely familiar with a commonphenomenon. My students call this“turn the page.” Ever look through acookbook and come across a new andexciting recipe? You think, “Hey, I’dlike to try that.” With interest, youstart skimming the recipe to see what’sinvolved. And then BAM! There it is,an ingredient or a cooking term com-pletely foreign to you, staring you rightin the face. Like a deer caught in theheadlights, you stop dead in yourtracks. Your initial enthusiasm fades,you stop reading and…turn the page.Ring a bell?

All too often, we let unfamiliar lingoand ingredients stifle our kitchen cre-ativity just because we are scared orintimidated. We think it must be toocomplicated; it must be a patchke. Andso we turn the page. Poached salmonis one of the easiest things to prepare,and yet when I ask my students ifthey’ve ever attempted to make it, theyreply “No! It’s way too fancy—I don’teven know what poaching is!” We getcaught up in the lingo and are afraid totry, even though that recipe could beour next great dish.

So how can we overcome this pho-bia? Be adventurous! Be daring! Don’tturn the page. Try it anyway.Obviously, that is sometimes easiersaid than done. How can you try atechnique with no knowledge of howto accomplish it? First of all, keepreading; many times, the recipe itselfwill explain the term in the directionsand tell you what to do. And if not,educate yourself! Most cookbookscontain a whole lot more informationthan just recipes. A good cookbookcan be home to glossaries, charts, andexplanations of ingredients. All youhave to do is look and explore formore information. The Internet isalso a great resource for this kind ofthing. Your local supermarket groceris usually happy to guide you to a newexotic ingredient, as well.

I recently taught a wonderfulrecipe for pan-seared tilapia withchile-lime butter. I know what you’rethinking. “What? That sounds likesomething I would order in a restau-rant. I can’t make that at home. Idon’t even know what pan-searing is!”Not so! You can make it at home, too.It’s fast, it’s simple, and I will helpyou troubleshoot your pan-searingwoes. My husband has informed methat only I have pan-searing woes.

Cooking ConceptsOvercoming Kitchen Lingo!

That may be, but here are somepointers to help you get it right.

Pan-searing is a wonderful methodof cooking that uses high heat toquickly brown food in a skillet. Itseals in flavor by creating its owncrust. Perfectly pan-seared fish ismoist and tender on the inside, gold-en brown and delicately crisp on theoutside. Pan-searing is not sautéing.Both use skillets and only a smallamount of fat; however, pan-searingis over a higher heat and does notinvolve frequent stirring, as doessautéing. It is best to leave it alone inorder to allow a crust to form. Hereare some more tips:

• Get your pan hot! Make sure thepan and oil are hot before you placethe food in the pan. When the oilbegins to smoke, it is ready.

• Do not overcrowd fish in the pan.• Do not move fish until it’s time to

turn the fish over.• Do not overcook fish! Nobody likes

overcooked fish—it can be dry, mushy,rubbery, or even fishy flavored. Followthe “10-minute rule” for foolproof fish:

1. Measure the thickest part of thefish.

2. Cook fish for a total of 10 min-utes for each 1 inch of thickness (5minutes for each 1⁄2 inch).

3. Always check for doneness a cou-ple of minutes before you think itshould be done. For example, a 3⁄4-inch-thick fillet may take up to 71⁄2 minutestotal cooking time. If the first side isgolden brown in 3 minutes, check fordoneness 21⁄2 minutes after turning thefillet over.

The flavored butter in this recipe isperfect in combination with thetilapia. If it’s at room temperature, itwill melt upon contact with the fishand create a terrific flavor. Perfect forShavuos or any night of the week, thisrecipe is light, delicious, and quick toprepare. Don’t turn the page!Experiment and enjoy!

Pan-Seared Tilapia With Chile-Lime Butter

Serves 4–6.Chile-Lime Butter:Ingredients:1 stick (1⁄2 cup) unsalted butter, soft-

ened (but not melted!)2 Tbsp. shallots, finely chopped2 tsp. freshly grated lime zest4 tsp. fresh lime juice2 tsp. minced fresh Thai chile or

serrano chile (preferably red but greenwill work as well), including seeds*

1 tsp. salt

*Be careful when handling chili pep-pers not to touch face or eyes, as theycontain oils that can burn the skin.Wash hands with soap afterward (oruse gloves when handling them). Theheat of chili peppers is contained pri-marily within the seeds. For morespiciness, add more seeds. For a moremild taste, remove some.

Directions:Stir together all ingredients in a

bowl. Set aside.

Fish:Ingredients:6–8 pieces (5–6 oz. each) skinless

tilapia fillet

kosher saltfreshly ground pepper1 Tbsp. Flour4 tsp. canola oil

Directions:Pat the fish dry; season with salt

and pepper to taste on both sides offish. Dust with flour on both sides.Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large,heavy nonstick skillet over moderate-ly high heat until just smoking. Cook3–4 pieces of fish, turning over oncewith a spatula, until golden and justcooked through, about 5 minutes (21⁄2minutes per side). Transfer to a plate.Cook remaining fish in remaining 2teaspoons of oil in the same manner.

Serve each piece of fish with a dol-lop of chile-lime butter.

Chile-lime butter can be made oneday ahead and chilled, covered. Bringto room temperature before serving.

Naomi Ross teaches Cooking Concepts, courseson the fundamentals of cooking and Jewishhomemaking skills. She can be reached [email protected].


HaRav Mattisyahu Salomon, shlita, will be the featured speaker at a breakfast reception benefitingVaad Nidchei Yisroel on Sunday, June 18, at 9:30 a.m. at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey

Eisenberg in Lawrence. Pictured above, Rabbi Salomon visiting a Vaad Yeshiva in Russia, wherethousands of young Russian Jews continue to seek a Torah education.

Rav Salomon To Speak In Lawrence

B Y Y A N K I T A U B E R

The Torah is a guidebook. Valuablethings (lawn mowers, MP3 players,minivans) come with a book of instruc-tions on how to properly and optimallyuse them. The same applies to the

valuable (and complicated) thing wecall “life”—the Manufacturer enclosedan instruction book.

The Torah is a contract. When twopeople enter into a partnership, bind-ing their financial futures to a jointdestiny, they draw up a contract thatspells out their respective duties andcommitments. When two peoplemarry, a marriage contract, called akesuvah, is drawn up that does thesame. The Torah is our marriage con-tract with G-d, the document that

details the commitments and dutieswe assumed toward each other whenG-d chose us as His people and wechose Him as our G-d at Sinai.

The Torah is identity. What con-nects the black-skinned EthiopianJew with the red-bearded chasid in

Moscow? What does the West CoastJewish filmmaker have in commonwith his peddler grandfather or hisolive-growing ancestor? Nothing.They share no common language,facial features, or diet. Any two Jewscan be as culturally or even genetical-ly diverse as any other two membersof the human race. But the Shemarecited today in a Canadian syna-gogue is the same Shema that wasproclaimed in Egypt 3,500 years ago;the criteria for the mikveh built at


What Is Torah?

Torah is the Divine blueprint for creation, the

vision that illuminates the foundations of

existence, its purpose, and its significance.

To study and live Torah is to understand and

experience the soul of reality.

Masada are the same as forthe one that opened in Brazillast week. Torah bridges con-tinents and de-gaps genera-tions to serve as our singlecommon expression of ourJewishness.

The Torah is vision. Whyare we here? Where are wegoing? “An architect whobuilds a palace,” cites theMidrash, “has scrolls andnotebooks which he consultsto know how to place therooms and where to set thedoors. So it was with G-d: Helooked into the Torah andcreated the world.” Torah isthe Divine blueprint for cre-ation, the vision that illumi-nates the foundations of exis-tence, its purpose, and its sig-nificance. To study and liveTorah is to understand andexperience the soul of reality.

The Torah is daughter andwife. The sages of the Talmudoffer a fascinating parable forour special relationship withG-d and the Torah’s role inthat relationship:

There was once a kingwho had an only daughter,and one of the foreign kingscame and married her.When her husband wishedto return to his country, herfather said to him: “Mydaughter, whose hand Ihave given you, is my onlychild; I cannot part withher. Neither can I say to

you, ‘Do not take her,’ forshe is your wife. This onefavor, however, I ask of you:Wherever you go to live,prepare a chamber for methat I may dwell with you,for I cannot leave mydaughter.”

In the same way, G-dsaid to Israel: “I have givenyou the Torah. I cannot partwith her, and I also cannottell you not to take her. Butthis I request of you:Wherever you go, make forMe a house wherein I maydwell.”

What can be more powerfulthan the bond between childand parent? The one is thevery extension of the being ofthe other. To the outsider theymay seem as two individuals,but in essence they are one.

Indeed, we are referred to as“children of G-d” (Devarim14:1) in affirmation of theabsoluteness of our bond.

There is, however, one ele-ment which the parent–childrelationship seems to lack:the element of choice. Thechild did not choose to bethe parent’s child. Nor didthe parent choose this partic-ular individual to be hischild; if it were up to him, hemight have chosen someonewiser, kinder, prettier, ormore talented. One cantherefore argue that whilethe two are connected inessence, they are connectedin essence only: the more“external” trappings of per-sonality—intelligence, char-acter, physical attractiveness,

accomplishment; namely, thevery things that are often themost “exciting” elements in arelationship—are present inthe parent–child relationshipby default only, and thus lackthe meaningfulness and per-sonal significance that areattached to that which isconsciously and willfullychosen.

Thus another metaphorcomes into play: that of therelationship between a greatsage and his brilliant disci-ple. Theirs is a relationshipthat is predicated on eachother’s qualities. The loveand devotion of the discipleare motivated by the sage’sgreatness; the teacher’s loveand devotion are motivatedby the disciple’s intelligence

and diligence. The teacherand student have chosen tobond with each other.

Yet the master–disciplerelationship obviously lacksthe essential nature of theparent–child bond.

Now picture this: Imaginethat you are a great king, andthe most precious thing inyour life is your only daugh-ter. And now you mustchoose the man who willbecome your son-in-law.

The Torah is G-d’s daugh-ter. And the Torah is Israel’sbride. In wedding the King’sdaughter we unite with her,becoming one with thatwhich is one with Him. It isan essential oneness, yetalso a chosen oneness.(Chabad.org Magazine) ❖


And theycamped in the

desert

(Bamidbar 19:2)

In the ownerlesswilderness was theTorah given to the

people of Israel. Forif it were given in the

Land of Israel, theresidents of the Landof Israel would say,"It is ours"; and if itwere given in some

other place, the residents of that

place would say, "It isours." Therefore itwas given in the

wilderness, so thatanyone who wishesto acquire it may

acquire it.

(Mechilta D'Rashbi)

B Y L E O N Z A C H A R O W I C Z , M D

A series of home invasions leavesdozens of local victims frightened. Thevicious murder of an 81-year-oldJewish man shocks apartment dwellersin Washington Heights. Attemptedabductions of Jewish children in

Brooklyn alarm New Yorkers. A brutalkidnapping of a 20-year-old Jewish girlin Lakewood makes national head-lines. A magazine article allegesdecades of abuse by a religiousteacher. These come in addition to vio-lent crimes against Jews worldwide.

Recent violent crimes in Jewish

communities require a response. Wecannot keep our heads in the sand anylonger. While the statistics may notseem alarming enough to warrant thepurchase of an armored Humvee orlifetime membership in a martial-artsclub, many members of our local com-munity could benefit from a height-ened sense of caution.

This article will not discuss why badthings happen to good people. Theanswers to such questions are best leftto rabbis, spiritual advisors, and per-haps philosophers. This article willinstead concentrate on how bad thingshappen—and, more importantly, howto lower the chances that you will be avictim.

We live in a world filled with manyvery good people, many people with acombination of good and bad, and afew purely evil people. These evil peo-ple include essentially two-leggedpredators—similar to the rodef of theTorah—waiting for their chance toharm someone else for their own grat-ification or for no logical reason at all.

People who have not a single altruis-tic bone in their body are often classi-fied as psychopaths or sociopaths. Arecent chilling book, The SociopathNext Door, estimates that over one per-cent of the population fits thesociopath pattern. Sociopaths are espe-cially dangerous because they appar-ently lack a conscience, or yetzer tov.

While some of these miscreants areeasy to spot and avoid, the relativelysophisticated sociopath “cases” his vic-tim methodically until he strikes. Inaddition to sociopaths, there are

sadists—people who get some sort ofthrill out of hurting others. Then, ofcourse, there are the hoodlums, ex-cons, and assorted criminals. Finally,there are those addicted to alcoholand/or drugs, and the purveyors ofthese substances. Overall, a small butreal percentage of people in the worldare “bad guys.”

I have, unfortunately, encountereddozens of victims of violent crime, rang-ing in age from infants to elderly adults.No one is immune. The effects of life-threatening events should not beunderestimated. Even among thosewho survive seemingly intact, a largenumber go on to experience post-trau-matic stress disorder, a chronic and psy-chologically crippling condition. Manyhave altered relationships with friendsand family. Some become violent toothers. Childhood victims of chronicviolence often grow up to become per-petrators of violence themselves, andmay also attempt to injure themselves.

How can one lower one’s chances ofbeing victimized by a violent crime?There are a few essential steps to avoidbeing “in the wrong place at the wrongtime” or in the vicinity of the “wrong”person. In several public schools, vio-lence prevention is part and parcel of thecurriculum. In our relatively shelteredworld, many people do not learn the sim-ple steps that can lower their chances ofbecoming another crime statistic.

One can categorize anti-violenceguidelines in many ways, includinglooking at who commits such crimes


Staying Safe


and who are likely victims, when suchcrimes are likely to occur, wherecrimes often occur, and how someonecan react if a violent attack seemsimminent.

While this article will focus on low-ering one’s chances of being victimizedby violent strangers, we need to keepin mind that perpetrators of violencemay include acquaintances and evenfamily members.

This article will limit its focus tophysical violence, keeping in mind thatthere are other ways that innocentpeople can be hurt.

One important caveat: This articlecontains general information only, andcannot be relied on as specific adviceor for all situations.

WhoAs former New York City mayor Ed

Koch once noted, most violent crimesare committed by a relatively smallnumber of people—hardened crimi-

nals, in many cases—and frequentlyinvolve other criminals as victims. Arecent New York Times article on whocommits murder in New York City andwho are the victims emphasized thisvery same point, as does a new book byDavid Buss, a psychology professorwho specializes in the study of murderand its prevention.

So, avoid violent types and youlower your chances of becominganother one of their victims. Thinktwice about whom you let into yourhouse or to work in your garden. Itmight be worth it to pay a little more ifthat means you will be dealing with amore reputable company, such as onethat does background checks on itsprospective employees instead of pick-ing up its “employees” off the street.During the recent installation of abookcase in his home, bought at alocal store, someone I know chattedwith the men and discovered thatindeed one of the workers was pickedup off the street to help with theinstallation. Needless to say, this per-son was carefully watched, and his

access to the house was limited, by thissavvy homeowner.

If you encounter someone who actslike he is on “The Sopranos,” it mightbe wise to give this person some lee-way rather than some lip. Actually, sev-eral of the actors in this TV show havereportedly been associated with violentcrimes, including the alleged murderof a police officer. In this case, lifeseems to mimic art. If someone looksthe part or acts the part, be on guard.

Bad guys also look for “easy marks.”In addition to noticing people whoflash their money, jewelry, and expen-sive items, they may focus on a personwho is so caught up in his or her cell-phone conversation that the person isnot paying attention to what is other-wise going on.

I have seen people answer and thentalk mindlessly on their cell phones,while davening in shul and wearingtefillin, and have witnessed numerousnear-accidents due to cell-phone use. Iimagine that there are probably peopleout there who are so caught up in theircell-phone conversations that, were

they to get mugged, they might hesi-tate to end their conversation, prefer-ring instead to hand over their purse orwallet while chatting away. Use yourcell phone when appropriate, but bealert to who might be in your vicinity.

Many community members are car-ing and trusting individuals—be theychildren, teens, or adults. While it isgreat that so many community mem-bers jump at the chance to help others,in some cases this enthusiasm, coupledwith naiveté, can spell danger. Lookbefore you leap to do a good deed.

Some community members may wishto give their credit-card numbers andother identifying information tostrangers offering to “scalp” baseballtickets on the FTS list—especially if theyuse a Jewish-sounding name, which tosome makes these strangers seem hon-est. However, if you reveal your homeaddress or other identifying information,or if you open your door to strangers—oreven more so, leave it unlocked—youincrease the chances of being victimizedby a violent criminal. Some crimes aresimply crimes of opportunity. Limit theopportunity, and you limit the chances ofbeing victimized.

Don’t be fooled by the garb worn bybad guys. In religious communities,good guys wear black—but so can badguys. It is not hard for an intelligentbad guy to buy some black clothingand a black hat to “fit in.” Judge peo-ple by the context and their behavior;do not judge people by their clothingalone. Several infamous serial killersreportedly dressed very well, lullingtheir potential victims into a falsesense of security.

Unfortunately, as pointed out byDavid Mandel of Ohel in a talk he gavein the community a few years ago fol-lowing a horrendous attack on a girlwalking to a local school, molestationof children often is perpetrated by peo-ple who know the child and not bytotal strangers.

While many of us may welcome asingle fellow who volunteers to run theShabbos program for boys, or to coachlittle league week after week, too few ofus wonder why that same person insistson no adults being present, and veryfew of us take even a moment to con-sider what reason would someone likethis have to want to be around childrenwithout getting paid. Many of us arethrilled when our sons or daughters goto a gym class, but how many of useven know the background of theinstructor—besides the little that he orhis employer chooses to tell us?

It is a bitter truth that deviant peopletake jobs and volunteer for positions thatgive them access to children and teens.Our schools, our JCCs, our rabbis, ourprincipals, and we parents are all “toobusy” and too trusting to do even mini-mal background checks, let alone tohave a sense of caution. No wonder thatthe average deviant will assault hun-dreds of children before he is caught,and even then often gets off scot-free—to go on to another school or shul orJewish center and find more victims.

The special topic of domestic vio-lence and domestic discord is beyondthe scope of this article. For detailedinformation, contact the Shalom Task


Staying SafeContinued from Page 54


Force. Special cases such as bullyingin school—a problem which plagues somany students in yeshivas and semi-naries—will also not be discussed.

WhenIn general, nighttime and early

morning hours are often times whenviolent crimes by strangers are com-mitted. I say “often,” because there areimportant exceptions, such as break-ins—including home invasions—which may very well occur in the mid-dle of the afternoon, as happened to adoctor friend of mine.

In many areas, most homicides, caraccidents, and acts of violence occurlate at night or in the early morninghours, between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.When I was in training to be a physi-cian, we used to joke that late nightson weekends were the hours when the“Knife and Gun Club” would meet, asvictims of violence would be broughtin, one after another, to the hospitaltrauma center.

To lower your chances of becoming acrime statistic, don’t make unnecessarytrips outside during these late hours.Indeed, Pirkei Avos warns the personwho goes out at night on a “solitarypath.” I realize that some people getantsy late at night and really want to gofor a drive, but if at all possible, mini-mize your late-night excursions.

I realize that this warning will do lit-tle to dissuade teens from heading outafter 11 p.m., but nevertheless some

extra degree of caution is advisable.After all, criminal types are oftensleeping during the day and just start-ing out at night. A recent book ongangsters describes their “schedule,”which apparently includes sleepinguntil noon or 2 p.m. (while the rest ofus are at work, in yeshiva, etc.). Then,these bad guys slowly wake up, getready to go out, and eventually headout for their “business activities” lateat night, staying up until 5 to 6 a.m.,and then finally heading home.(According to this book, some gang-

sters take time off on Sundays to bewith their nuclear families.)

If you must go out at a high-risktime, it is probably a good idea to takean adult with you, and/or a cellphone. Pre-program your cell phoneto dial 911 with a single push of thebutton, and keep your phone nearby.Some cell phones have global posi-tion systems (GPS) which enable the911 operator to locate you very quick-

ly. Keep your phone charged up and,better yet, have a car charger.

If you can avoid going to an ATM inthe middle of the night, or runninginto the 24/7 shop at the gas station, orgoing to get a newspaper at 1 a.m., youmay have a bit less cash overnight, abit less caffeine in your veins, or a bitless knowledge of how the Yankeesfared, but you probably have a bit moresense than some of your carefreeneighbors, who may, G-d forbid, onenight run into the wrong person in oneof these locales.

WhereMost crimes occur in certain areas,

in geographic clusters. This, too, wasemphasized in that recent New YorkTimes report. Avoid these high-crimeareas, and you should lower yourchances of becoming a victim. If thedowntown area in your town is a hang-out and crimes occur there, thinktwice before traveling alone into orthrough that area.

You can sometimes find out wherehigh-crime areas exist in your area andsurrounding areas by reading localcrime reports in the newspaper, such asThe Wave or the Nassau Herald, or evenby politely asking a police officer. WhenI travel, I usually ask the person at thehotel’s front desk as well as any police-man I encounter which areas of townare safe and which should be avoided.

On one occasion nearly two decadesago, on the night before a medical res-idency training interview, an acquain-tance and I started walking toward afamous beach area in Los Angeles,thinking we would enjoy a stroll on theboardwalk. A police car with two ofLAPD’s finest passed us; then it madea sharp U-turn, and one of the officersgot out. He asked us who we were andwhere we were heading. After weanswered, the officer emphatically saidwe would be crazy to walk on thatboardwalk at night. (Apparently, it wasthe “territory” of some ethnic gang.)Surprised but thankful, we turnedaround and headed back to our lodg-ings—and lived to tell about it!

Crimes tend to occur in the vicinityof liquor and drugs. Ergo, if you go toa club or bar where there are tough-looking people drinking hard liquor orgoing to the bathroom to use drugs,don’t be surprised if your evening turnsout much tougher than you hadplanned. Even an innocent gatheringof friends can quickly turn violent ifalcohol or drugs are introduced. TheTalmud tells the cautionary tale of the




Pre-program your cell phone to dial 911 with

a single push of the button, and keep your

phone nearby. Some cell phones have global

position systems (GPS) which enable the 911

operator to locate you very quickly.


HAFTR YomYerushalayim

Pint-Size YKLI Sefirah Poster Contest Winners

Proud winners of the Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island Sefirah Midos Poster Contest (L-R): Sruli Vegh, Shlomo ZalmanGrumet, Daniel Klein, Aryeh Berger, Avi Gelfand, Ezriel Spinner, Eli Farkas, Shlomo Klahr, and Moshe Shalom Pfeiffer.

HAFTR nursery students “rebuilt the Kotel” in honor of

Yom Yerushalayim. Amidst singingand dancing, each child carefully

crafted two “stones” and assembled the wall.

Deadline for Advertising

in the Next Issue is Monday, June 5

at 5:00 P.M.Call

516-984-0079

HALB Yom Yerushalayim

Grandparents of the kindergarten children of HALB Lev Chana were invited to participate in hands-onworkshops with their grandchildren to celebrate Yom Yerushalayim. At left, Allysa Silvera and her grand-mother, Mrs. Linda Mitgang, string a blue-and-white necklace. Center: Amiel Kerstein, his grandmother,

Mrs. Phyllis Kerstein, and great-grandmother, Mrs. Perla Topiel, design a picture frame. Above, right:Chana Sigman and her grandmothers, Mrs. Fanny Malek and Mrs. Bonnie Sigman, make Israeli salad.


HAFTR StudentIn Government

ScholarshipFinalist

HAFTR student SamYusopov was invited toparticipate in the ninth

annual Town of Hempstead“Students in Government

Day” on May 17. Students spent the day

learning about localgovernment, meeting withSupervisor Kate Murray,and touring Town Hall,

Norman J. Levy Park, andthe Conservation and

Waterways Department.

Michael Kessler has beennamed by The National

Merit Scholarship Programas a Finalist.


violence that ensued when two sagesstarted imbibing alcohol on Purim.

When you are out and about, alwaysbe aware of your surroundings. Does acar or its occupants seem out of place?Are people hanging around the street?Is someone trying to get the attentionof passersby? Are things too quiet?Develop a sense of “radar.” It’s not ashard as it sounds.

When on the move, make sure to parkyour vehicle in a well-lit spot, preferablywhere other people come and go fre-quently—such as near the entrance to amall or the elevators in a parkinggarage—and, if possible, back your vehi-cle into its parking spot so when you exityou can do so quickly. Try not to parknext to a van or another large vehiclewhich can block the view of passersby.Always lock your vehicle, even if youplan on being away just for a minute.

When walking to your car, keep yourkeys in your hand, ready to open yourvehicle immediately. Scan the surround-ings, and glance in the back seat. Beespecially careful in high-risk locationssuch as near your car, house, or bank.These are often areas where bad guyswill strike. Why? Like Willie Sutton, badguys go where the money is.

When walking in certain areas, it isprobably best to walk on the side of theblock facing oncoming traffic. Thisway, you can see all cars as they drivetoward you, and someone up to nogood may have to stop his car and startbacking up to get close to you.

Develop a sense of personal space.Anyone who enters within several feet ofyou deserves your heightened attention.If a stranger is walking toward you, evenif the person is talking in a calm manner,or smiling, be at least somewhat onguard. You can sometimes stop anaggressive person with a stern voice com-manding them to “Stop!” or “Get lost!”

Never get close to a vehicle thatseems occupied. Under no circum-stances should you willfully get into astranger’s car, regardless of what theperson claims or threatens. Womenand teens should think twice aboutgetting into an acquaintance’s car, aswell. There has been at least onerecent case of an attack on a Jewishchild who entered a stranger’s vehicleto “give directions.” ❖

Dr. Zacharowicz has studied and taught self-defense and personal safety classes for years. Herecently earned his brown belt with Tora Dojo, amartial-arts system founded by Professor HaimSober of Yeshiva University in 1967. Forcomments or queries, or for information aboutthe upcoming June 11 martial-arts and self-defense exhibition in the Five Towns, [email protected].



B Y D A V I D S I N G E R

There seems to be a general interna-tional consensus that Gaza is gripped bya growing humanitarian crisis thatrequires the injection of large amountsof international financial aid to preventa human catastrophe of massive propor-tions. The international community seesitself as trapped between a rock and ahard place. It wants to grant such finan-cial aid, but does not want to be seen tobe supporting the recently electedHamas government, since Hamas is list-ed as a terrorist organization in most ofthose countries whose financial assis-tance is now being urgently sought.

Israel is under international pres-sure to remit tax monies of $50 millionper month it has been collecting forthe Gazans. Israel objects to payingthis money to a government whose pol-icy openly and uncompromisingly callsfor the destruction of Israel. Israel isstruggling to devise a means to get thattax revenue to the civilian population,even though it was that populationthat elected Hamas to power, therebycausing the current crisis.

Many question whether there isindeed a humanitarian crisis or even thethreat of such a crisis in Gaza. An inves-tigative journalist, Arlene Kushner,claims that roughly USD 10 billion inaid has been provided to the PalestinianAuthority in Gaza since 1993. Billionsof dollars in buildings, businesses andagricultural enterprises and infrastruc-ture were acquired for nothing followingIsrael’s withdrawal from Gaza last year.Much of this has been trashed in anorgy of looting and mindless destruc-tion. Muhammad Dahlan, formerPalestinian Minister of State forSecurity, told London’s Guardian news-paper in August 2004 that a total ofUSD 5 billion in international dona-tions “have gone down the drain and wedon’t know to where.”

Others compare the situation in Gazato the Darfur region in southern Sudan,where emaciated children are dyingfrom lack of medical treatment, womentrek 50 kilometers to bring back foodand water for their children and villageshave been totally burned to the groundwith the village men being taken awayand slaughtered. Commentators pointto AIDS, drought and corrupt govern-ments that have created a series ofhumanitarian crises in southern Africathat are far more serious than in Gaza.

Nightly, on our television screens,we see pictures of angry Gazansdemonstrating at funerals of assassi-nated terrorists or even fightingbetween themselves. They all seemwell fed, well clothed and well armed,hardly what one would expect to see ina humanitarian crisis situation.Perhaps one of the more bizarre sightslast week was the Hamas civil militiasporting new guns and new uniformsstrutting the streets of Gaza City inopen defiance of the recognized secu-

Ending Gaza’s‘HumanitarianCrisis’


rity forces. Where the money camefrom to equip and outfit this smartlyturned out militia is unknown.

There is a huge arsenal of weaponsstored in Gaza, much of it allegedly pur-chased with funds provided by the inter-national community for the specificpurpose of improving the lives of thecivilian population. Offering to buy backthat arsenal from the armed militiaorganizations presently operating undera plethora of names and openly floutingthe authority of the government, pres-ents an opportunity to bring this“humanitarian crisis” to an end in Gaza.

It could also help to ease the ten-sions between Israel and Gaza andrestore some authority to the govern-ment in Gaza. Perhaps, it could evenprovide the impetus for a return to theRoad Map sponsored by America,Russia, the European Union and theUnited Nations.

Australia introduced a gun buy-backprogram 10 years ago after a massacrein Tasmania led to public outrage and ademand for action to prevent it hap-pening again. At the end of the buy-back, on 31 August 1998, Australia hadpaid AUS $320 million for 643,726firearms. True, the Australian buy-backwas not the success that was envi-sioned and Australia has once againseen a proliferation of guns in the com-munity since the buy-back was com-pleted. However, conditioning financialaid on the surrender of weapons wouldsend a clear message to the Gazansthat they had a choice—to continue ontheir present descent into anarchy andself destruction, or to go down a differ-

ent path, forsaking armed confronta-tion in favour of building a better lifefor themselves.

The ground rules for surrender ofweapons could be drafted so as to pre-vent the disclosure of the identity of theorganizations co-operating in the buy-back. The monies paid would be givento the organizations for distributionamong their members and supporters.The government would have no interestor claim on these monies since it hadno ownership in the weapons being sur-rendered. The contributing countrieswould be given access to monitor theimplementation of the program toensure the money was being distributedto the civilian population. And finally,the weapons themselves would be pub-licly dismantled and destroyed—neverto be used again.

The Gazan economy would be reju-venated by the infusion of thesemonies into the system. A growingmarket for goods and services, andgreater employment opportunities,would be created. This would, in turn,create revenue for the government inthe form of increased taxes, whichcould be used to provide or improveessential services such as roads, hous-ing, hospitals and schools.

If this offer is refused, the interna-tional community should spend its aidmoney elsewhere, on the myriad num-ber of humanitarian crises occurringin other parts of the world.

If the Gazans turn down this offer,then let them eat bullets, for theywould have brought this “humanitari-an crisis” on themselves. (Arutz Sheva) ❖


B Y S U E F I S H K O F F

Most tourists who make the pilgrim-age to Masada have seen the ruins of the2,000-year-old stone synagogue built bythe Jewish Zealots who hid there fromthe Romans for four years before com-mitting mass suicide in 73 C.E.

It was a sad little building, without aroof, its crumbled walls but a few feethigh. One had to imagine where theworshippers stood to pray. What ritualsdid they observe? What, if any, reli-gious items did they have?

Last year, the little synagogue wasrestored. It now boasts a roof, door andsmall bookshelf. But the focal point isalong the eastern wall: an ark coveredby a dark blue velvet curtain, which,for the first time in two millennia,houses two complete Torah scrolls.

“After 2,000 years, we brought backthe Torah to Masada,” says EitanCampbell, director of the MasadaNational Park and a key figure in therestoration project.

The impetus came three years agofrom Yehuda Meshi Zahav, founderand chairman of Israel’s ZAKA non-governmental rescue and recoveryteam. He had brought a team of ZAKAvolunteers to Masada for a sound andlight show, and noticed there was noTorah there. When people held a reli-gious ceremony atop the mountain,they had to bring their own scroll.

On Shavuot eve, 2004, a ZAKAgroup brought a donated Torah scrollto Masada, carried it up the mountain,and opened it at the top in a festiveceremony before handing it intoCampbell’s safekeeping.

After that night, Campbell kept thescroll securely locked in his vault at the

visitors’ center at the base of the moun-tain. When visitors asked to use it, hewould let them take it up the moun-tain, but he “didn’t feel good about it,”he says. The Torah didn’t belong in avault, it belonged on the mountain.

“We realized it belonged in the

Torah Scrolls Make Trek Up Mountain,Completing Masada Shul’s Restoration

“But the importance

of returning a Torah

to the exact same

place where Eliezer

Ben Yair might have

hidden his Torah

scroll that night, that

he could understand.”


geniza,” he says, the small roombehind the ruined synagogue wherethe Zealots buried their holy books.That was where Yigal Yadin’s excava-tion team found Bible fragments in1963, including the famed “dry bones”passages from Yechezkel.

“There were some obstacles,”Campbell admits. One can’t keep aTorah scroll in a ruin—it requires aroof, floor and secure ark. And thechief archeologist was “not too enthu-siastic” at the idea of interfering withthe structure, a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site.

“But the importance of returning aTorah to the exact same place whereEliezer Ben Yair might have hidden hisTorah scroll that night, that he couldunderstand,” Campbell says, referringto the Zealot who led Masada’s defense.

South Florida philanthropist WarrenStruhl provided the funding for the syn-agogue’s restoration. Struhl and threecolleagues forked over the $80,000Campbell needed for the job, anddonated a second Torah scroll as well.

On September 26 at 3 a.m., morethan 600 men, women and children,fervently Orthodox to secular, began todance and sing their way up the south-ern slope of the mountain, carryingboth Torah scrolls to their new homeinside the restored synagogue. Thegoings-on were streamed live over theiIternet.

“It was a morning that anyone whowas there will never forget,” Campbellsays.

Israeli music legend David Broza,who has held more than 20 concerts at

Masada since 1993, flew in from theCanary Islands for the event. At sunrise,he played a few songs—not religioussongs, he said, but the soulful, spiritual-ly infused music for which he is known.

Last week, he was back at Masada,showing it to his daughter and herboyfriend. He and Campbell, who bothfeel a strong attachment to the site,sometimes sleep on the mountain. Butwhereas Campbell is entranced by thetragic history of the Jewish Zealots,Broza says it’s the power of nature thatdraws him back.

“There’s massive energy, the changeof light from 3 a.m. to sunrise” he toldJTA, reflecting on why he returns againand again to hold concerts there.

“You let yourself get carried away,you don’t really have control over youremotions. And if the show is good, themusic takes you even further.”

Both Torah scrolls are now housedpermanently on the mountain. Theyare used for morning prayers everyMonday and Thursday, Campbell says.“Word has gotten out that the scrollsare here,” he says. “We’ve closed the2,000-year circle. If those last defend-ers would know there’s still a Jewishpresence on Masada, it would mean alot to them.” (JTA) ❖

Sue Fishkoff, a special correspondent based inNorthern California, covers American Jewishissues, with a special focus on Jewish identityand affiliation. She also serves as a contributingeditor, responsible for coordinating JTA’s cover-age of the former Soviet Union. She is a formerstaff writer for the Jerusalem Post, has writtenextensively for a variety of national Jewish publi-cations and is the author of “The Rebbe’s Army:Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch,” pub-lished by Schocken Books.


B Y M I C H A E L F E L D S T E I N

Ask a group of typical Jewish singleswhether or not they like attending“singles Shabbatons,” and chances arethat the vast majority will say that theyhate the experience. Yet singlesShabbatons continue to be one of themore popular venues for Jewish singlesto meet others.

Why do singles continue to flock tosuch weekends even though they pro-fess to hate them? Part of the reasonis that many singles really believethat their future spouse might be at aparticular weekend—and that by notattending a Shabbaton they are goingto miss out on their golden opportu-nity. Advertisements for these week-ends loudly claim “Meet your bash-ert!”—and singles are more than will-ing to plunk down up to $300 a per-son in hopes of cashing in on theclaim.

Another reason is the numbersgame. Singles believe that if there arelots of other singles in attendance, itmeans that there is a better chance offinding their soul mate there. Singlestend to gravitate to the Shabbatonswith the largest number of people,thinking that this will improve theirodds of finding a match.

Logically that may seem correct.However, what’s the real success rate?

Virtually everyone who attends theseShabbatons leaves generally disap-pointed. Fortunately for the organiz-ers, there always seems to be a newgroup of singles interested in attendingthe next Shabbaton.

Is there a better way to run a sin-gles Shabbaton that participants willenjoy more? Indeed there is. This pastyear, I’ve personally helped organizenine Shabbatons for singles throughan organization called End TheMadness (www.endthemadness.org).And each one has been an unqualifiedsuccess, according to the feedbackprovided by participants and the num-ber of singles who have attendedmore than one Shabbaton.

What made these Shabbatons differ-ent than the typical singles Shabbaton?

First, the Shabbaton is held in aJewish community that has an activesynagogue (not in some hotel in theCatskills), and activities and mealsare integrated with the rest of thecommunity. Past Shabbatons havebeen held in Lawrence, Teaneck,Passaic, West Hempstead, Stamford,Elizabeth, and Monsey. Singles aredivided into groups of six (three menand three women) for Shabbos meals,which they eat at the homes of thevarious hosts. This makes for a muchmore natural and comfortable—andless pressurized—environment for

The Alternative To TheDreaded ‘Singles Shabbaton’


singles to meet and mingle. Singlesalso daven with the rest of the mem-bers of the community, and partici-pate in the rabbi’s class on Shabbosand the shalosh seudos meal.

Second, the Shabbaton is intention-ally limited. Only 48 singles can attend,and applicants are carefully screened tomake sure they are the kind of peoplewith which other participants andmembers of the community will enjoyspending a Shabbos. Every one of theShabbatons that were planned has beensold out—and there is always a waitinglist for singles to attend.

Third, the Shabbaton does not costan arm and a leg. Because of the hos-pitality of community members in pro-viding meals to singles at their owntables, the Shabbaton is usually pricedat $25 per person, which includes aSaturday night activity, as well.

Finally, by interacting with mem-bers of the community, singlesincrease their own networkingopportunities. After meeting singlesover Shabbos, many hosts stay intouch with their guests—and some-

times recommend others that theyknow as possible dates to those whoattended the Shabbaton. In addition,community members enjoy hostingmeals because it allows them to dosomething tangible for the singlescommunity.

The nice thing about this model isthat it doesn’t take a lot of work toplan a Shabbaton. It can also beaccomplished by singles informally,without an official organization.You’ll need to find a point person in aspecific community to arrange hous-ing and meals, and you’ll need a cou-

ple of organizers on the singles sideto screen applicants, take reserva-tions, assign participants to homesfor meals and sleeping, and plan theprogram.

There is a better way to run aShabbaton for singles, and this con-cept really works. Why not plan one inyour community this coming year?! ❖

Michael Feldstein serves on the Singles TaskForce of the Orthodox Caucus, and volunteersfor End The Madness. He can be reached [email protected].

Because of the hospitality of community members in

providing meals to singles at their own tables, the

Shabbaton is usually priced at $25 per person,

which includes a Saturday night activity, as well.


B Y T O B Y K L E I NG R E E N W A L D

They say that as we growolder, we “become” our par-ents, like when our daughterleaves the house in theevening and we say, “Take asweater!” Or the shock we getwhen we hear ourselvesreminding our teenager thatthe barbecue with his friendsshould end at an hour thatwill actually enable him to goto school in the morning.

But I think I’m becomingmy Aunt Evelyn. My “AuntieEvie,” one of my mom’s foursisters, worked into her eight-ies. But when she wasn’t inthe office, she was doing gooddeeds. She never walked intoour house (or anyone else’s)without opening her bottom-less purse and pulling outgum, chocolate, Kennedyhalf-dollars, or the latest arti-cle by one of her award-win-ning journalist daughters. MyAunt Evelyn had a wealth ofinformation about the com-munity and the extended fam-ily (not to be confused withgossip, which I never heardfrom her), but more than that,she was a one-woman chesedcommittee. If one of her rela-tives or friends (or the motherof a friend, or the secondcousin of a friend) needed aprescription filled, lettersmailed, film developed, or apiece of clothing exchanged atthe mall, Aunt Evelyn wasyour woman.

But by far her most fre-quent mitzvah was giving peo-ple rides. I thought of AuntEvelyn recently, as I was onmy way home to Efrat, inGush Etzion (the EtzionBloc). Most people stop topick up hitchhikers at theGilo Junction, the last stop inJerusalem before one getsonto the highway to GushEtzion. Our Gush Etzion busused to make stops inJerusalem, but they wererecently eliminated, so evenadults have begun to do whatwas previously a mostlyteenage habit—they take abus to Gilo Junction andhitchhike home from there. Itis a major headache, especial-ly after shopping or a long dayat work.

When I stopped at a redlight in town, I noticed a fewwomen standing at a local busstop that I knew leads to Gilo.People don’t usually give ridesto folks in the city, for securi-ty reasons, but their head-scarves and long dresses indi-cated that they might be fromour neck of the woods. I rolleddown my window and asked

My Aunt Evelyn



them where they had to go. “GiloJunction,” they answered. Nobodylives at Gilo Junction; it’s only a hitch-hiker’s stop. “No, where do you reallyhave to go?” “Carmei Tzur and KiryatArba,” they replied. “Wait, I’ll pullover,” I said.

They piled in with their packages,offering enough blessings on my headto last a lifetime, when I told them,“I’ll take you all the way to the GushEtzion junction,” which was beyondwhere I had to go, but was anothermajor stop that would mean a shorterride to their homes, and it was easy toget a ride from there. They were over-come with gratitude. Their childrenwere waiting at home, their packageswere heavy, it’s so hard to get a ride atGilo… I felt a warm glow.

We paused again at the Gilo junc-tion to pick up a neighbor of mine, anadult who doesn’t own a car. He was soexhausted, he could barely talk. “Ihope you don’t mind that we’re takinga detour by the Gush junction beforewe go back to Efrat,” I said. “Are youkidding?” he said, as he sank happilyback into the seat.

In the course of the ride, I playedJewish geography with the women,leading to the discovery that one ofthem knew a daughter of mine, andthe other had a daughter who wantedto audition for one of our local theatergroups. I continued up the highway,passing Efrat on my left, drove on tothe Gush junction, and let them off tothe sound of more blessings.

I turned around and drove home.My neighbor was getting ready to getout at the crossroads closest to hishouse, but I said, “I’ve brought youthis far, I’ll take you all the way.” I wason a roll; I called my married daughterwho lives in a different part of Efrat.Her husband was away for the nightfor work, and I knew she’d probably

My Aunt EvelynContinued from Page 71

And there Israelcamped opposite

the mountain

(Bamidbar 19:2)

At all their otherencampments, the verse

says vayachanu (“and theycamped,” in the plural);

here it says vayichan(“and he camped,” in the

singular). For all otherencampments were inargument and dissent,

whereas here theycamped as one man, with

one heart.

(Mechilta; Rashi)

walk over to spend the nightat our house. “I’m already inthe car,” I told her; “I’ll pickyou up.”

And then the cap. Leavingour little local shopping cen-ter, I saw two women I knowfrom the senior’s club, whereI teach creative writing. Theywere schlepping bags andwalking slowly. “Ride home?”I offered. They got into thecar with effusive thanks.They only live around thecorner; I didn’t think a ridewould be a big deal. I waswrong. One of them said,“He who saves one life, hassaved the world,” and whenshe got out, told me, “I try tobe as independent as possi-ble, but that walk, with pack-ages, is a hard one.” “Just callme if you need a ride nexttime,” I told her. “If I’mhome, I’ll be happy to popyou over there.”

It was when she got out ofthe car that it struck me.“That’s it,” I thought, “first Iturn into my mom, by tellingmy daughters to takesweaters, and now I’m becom-ing my Aunt Evelyn.” WhenAunt Evelyn died, the funeralhome had to move the cere-mony from the smaller chapelto the larger one, usually usedfor (G-d forbid) youngerdeaths, or people who wereextremely important and well-known in the community. Ilive in Israel and couldn’t bethere, but my parents told methat the crowds kept comingand coming. Like the humanparade at the end of the filmPay It Forward, no one imag-ined how many lives AuntEvelyn had touched until theysaw the hundreds gathered ather funeral.

Anyone who has buried aloved one knows how it feelsto look at that casket andthink, “All that we take intothe next world are the gooddeeds we have left behind.”Aunt Evelyn’s daughters even-tually moved from journalismto more active public service.Babs volunteered for variouspresidential candidates, got alaw degree, and eventuallyworked for the Securities andExchange Commission. Dollygot a Ph.D. in public healthand is seeking a cure fortuberculosis at the CDC. Andme? I hope that, some day (weshould all live till 120), whenthe friends and family I leavebehind gather round, in addi-tion to whatever else they’llhave to say, they’ll be able tosay, “She gave people rides.”You never know what willmake someone’s day.

And I learned that from myAunt Evelyn. ❖

Toby Klein Greenwald, when notgiving rides to people, is a journalist(like her cousins), a theater director,and the editor of WholeFamily.com.



B Y H I L L E L F E N D E L

Just-retired Supreme Court JusticeMishael Heshin said what he reallythought about Chief Justice Barak’sagenda—“civil rights win out over pre-venting suicide bombings”—but thenapologized.

Heshin and Barak recently foundthemselves on opposite sides regardingthe legality of a law forbidding Arabs ofthe Palestinian Authority from becomingIsraeli citizens merely for having marriedIsraelis. Barak wrote the minority opin-ion rejecting the law, claiming it violatedbasic civil rights, while Heshin authoredthe majority opinion in favor of it.

Barak “is willing to have 30 or 50people blow up in suicide attacks, aslong as there are civil rights,” Heshintold Haaretz.

After he saw the headline in print,Heshin expressed remorse. Speakingwith Army Radio, Heshin said, “I haven’tchanged my mind, but the publication inthe press caused me great sorrow… Itwould have been better had these thingsnot been said. I am someone who quick-ly gets upset, and I am sorry about theremarks that were publicized.”

Heshin explained that the remarkswere taken out of context: “I wasspeaking like I was speaking with afriend who knows that you don’t reallymean it. A friend understands that youare angry at the idea, not at the man,

and he knows that you don’t meanwhat you said in all its intensity.”

Heshin also elaborated on his recentmajority opinion:

“I’m not willing to take a chance. Notin the Park Hotel [the site of thePassover seder bombing in which 29people were murdered], not in Haifa,and not in exploding buses in Tel Aviv.Why should I take a chance? We’re deal-ing with an enemy state, no matter howyou look at it. After Pearl Harbor, whenthe U.S. entered the war against Japan, Idon’t remember hearing that 10,000Japanese were allowed to marryAmericans and come to America. It’sinconceivable. If someone comes in andcooperates with the terrorists and kills 4-5 Jews or Arabs, Israeli citizens, I don’tagree. Why do I have to? There is nocountry in the world that has a constitu-tional right to bring a foreigner in to thecountry, and all the more so an enemy.”

Atty. Yitzchak Fuchs, one of the lead-ers of the judicial battle against theDisengagement, said, “The cat is nowout of the bag. Heshin’s resignationallowed him to say what he wants, andhis remarks express the sentiments ofthe public that is sick of Barak using hisposition to promote his radical leftistpositions, at the expense of terrorist vic-tims. How sad it is that a man like Barak,a genius who could have been a greatTorah giant, served as the defender ofIsrael’s enemies.” (Arutz Sheva) ❖

Mishael Heshin Lashes OutAt Chief Justice Aaron Barak

B Y A R N O N R E G U L A R

May 22—A Jordanian citizen waskilled today and three other peoplewere wounded, as a new Hamas-ledsecurity force exchanged heavy firewith gunmen near the Palestinian par-liament building in Gaza, in a freshoutbreak of internal violence.

Hospital officials identified the manas Jordanian citizen Khaled Radaida, 45,and said he was the driver of Jordan’sambassador in Gaza. The death brings toeight the number of Palestinians killedin internal fighting this month.

Witnesses said Radaida was drivingwhen he was hit. The ambassador,Yehiya Qarallah, was not in the car atthe time. Under police escort, theambassador was taken to the morgueof Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital and iden-tified Radaida. The diplomat sobbed ashe emerged from the morgue.

Hamas and Palestinian security forcesgave conflicting accounts of how thefighting started. Security officials saidthe incident began when members of anew Hamas militia stopped a car carryingmembers of the Preventive SecurityService, a branch loyal to PalestinianAuthority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Preventive Security officials saidHamas militiamen fired at the car.Earlier, witnesses had said the incidentbegan when Hamas gunmen patrolling

the streets came under fire and soughtcover in the abandoned building, fromwhere they fired back. A Palestinianpolice cruiser trying to approach thearea came under fire, the witnesses said.

The fighting, which erupted in anarea between the Palestinian parliamentand police headquarters, involved Fatahactivists, Hamas activists, members ofthe Palestinian security forces and mem-bers of the new Hamas security unit.

The Hamas gunmen, holed up in anabandoned building during the battle,fired a rocket-propelled grenade andthrew two hand grenades at the police,witnesses said.

Tensions between Hamas and Fatahhave threatened to explode over a sec-ond assassination attempt against aFatah-aligned Gaza security chief in asmany days. The new fighting under-scored fears that the spate of internalclashes could lead to civil war. Theflare-up followed an overnight incidentin which a Palestinian gunman waskilled fighting between rival militias.

Witnesses said members of the newforce set up by the ruling militant Islamicgroup returned fire as they took coverinside a building near parliament aftercoming under attack from unknown gun-men. Bystanders fled the streets.

Hamas, which took power in Marchafter winning January elections,deployed its new 3,000-strong force in

Gaza last week, prompting Abbas toorder police onto the streets too. Withina barely day, the two groups had clashed.

Apparent assassination attempts on twotop Abbas commanders over the weekend,in which one of the intended targets wasbadly wounded, have stoked worries of fur-ther internal violence, although Hamashas denied any responsibility.

Ambush In Khan YunisThe overnight battle between

Hamas and Fatah gunmen eruptednear the southern Gaza town of KhanYunis before dawn. Fatah said two ofits fighters were ambushed in their car,while Hamas said the firefight wastriggered by Fatah’s attempt to kidnapa Hamas member. A second Fatah gun-man was wounded.

Today’s pre-dawn death brought toseven the number of Palestinian gun-men killed in internal strife in Gaza

since Hamas-Fatah violence eruptedearlier this month.

The confrontations were triggered,in part, by Hamas’ decision to deployits own 3,000-strong security force,parallel to the Fatah-dominated policeand security services.

Tempers were also running high aftertwo assassination attempts againstsecurity chiefs loyal to PalestinianAuthority Chairman Mahmoud Abbasin recent days.

Palestinian security forces saidSunday they had foiled an attempt tokill a top commander loyal to Abbas. Abomb weighing 70 kg (154 lbs) wasfound and defused outside the GazaStrip home of Rashid Abu Shbak.

On Saturday, Tareq Abu Rajab, headof General Intelligence in Gaza, wasbadly wounded by an explosion in Gazathat Abbas called an attempted assassi-nation. An aide was killed. (Haaretz) ❖


Jordanian Citizen Killed In Gaza Strip Gun Battles

B Y A Y E L E T

After one very powerful Yom Kippur, Iwas walking home to break my fast,when I glanced in a fish store windowand I saw the sign. It said, “G-d Cares.”

“Wow,” I thought, with warmth in myheart, “even the people in a New YorkCity fish store know that G-d cares!” Iwalked on with a goofy grin on my face,smiling at people as they passed by. Thisappeared to be a wonderful way to scareoff the mightiest of New Yorkers, whowere crossing the street to avoid me. ButI didn’t mind—all I knew was, G-d cares!

I stopped dead in my tracks as I real-ized that something seemed a little off.(And no, it wasn’t the scent of NewJersey, wafting through the HollandTunnel.)

Maybe it was the hunger, or the fer-vor with which I had prayed all daylong in the synagogue, or perhaps I

had beaten my chest just a little toohard, but something told me thatmaybe I was delirious. Why on earthwould a fish store have a sign in the

window that says “G-d cares”?!Retracing my steps, I returned to

the fish store and took another look atthe sign in the window. Only this time

I carefully examined it. The sign reallysaid, “Cod Cakes.”

I laughed out loud as I walked on (itdidn’t matter at that point, did it?), and

I thought how funny it was that some-times we just see what we want to see.My euphoric state of a spiritual highfrom the Yom Kippur sanctity had put

me in a space where everything I sawwas a Divine message.

But was it the lack of physical suste-nance that caused me to be out oftouch with reality, or just the opposite?Perhaps my participation in therequired fast was just the platform Ineeded, availing me the opportunity tobe in touch with a higher reality.

Rather than accounting my experi-ence to the after-effects of a long peri-od of food deprivation, I would like tothink that seeing the Divine message ispossible everywhere in life, in the rightplace and at the right time. AndJudaism gives me the formula to find it.

On Shavuos, we celebrate the festi-val which happens after counting theomer for seven weeks starting onPassover. The tradition on Shavuos isto stay up all night and learn Torah,and then, in the morning, we internal-ize the spiritual receiving of the Torah,and eat cheesecake. (I don’t knowexactly why we do this, but I certainlyhave an easier time doing anythingwhile eating cheesecake.)

The idea behind staying up all nightis that when the Jews actually receivedthe Torah, they were so excited abouttheir new acquisition that it was beyondtheir imagination to actually get anysleep. So they busied themselves withlearning all night long, in anticipation ofthe final moment.

While I might rationalize that it wouldbe easier to celebrate a holiday on a fullstomach—or a full night’s sleep—per-haps it is exactly the opposite.

The Jewish calendar is full of cycli-cal occurrences which radiate energywithin each time period. It’s impossi-ble to get the spiritual energy ofShabbos on a Wednesday, or the free-dom from Passover from eating matzahin July.

Shavuos is the only Jewish holidaythat was instituted with no specific date.It was marked as the end of the countingof the omer, seven weeks from Passover.We now know the exact date because ofthe count. But it’s the time that makes allthe difference. Shavuos comes out at atime in which the spiritual energy isinfused with the characteristic of “open-ness” for the receiving of the Torah.

By staying up and harnessing thepower of this very special night, theenergy can open our hearts to receivethe Torah, our minds to contemplatethe effects it will have on our lives, andour eyes to the miracles and wondersthat are available. And all this can onlyhappen at this auspicious time.

I’m waiting to find out what may bethe Divine message I can see onShavuos, and I won’t attribute it tolack of sleep, but the availability ofopenness of the moment. ❖


Sleep, At A Time Like This?!

The tradition on Shavuos is to stay up all night and learn Torah, and then, in the morning,

we internalize the spiritual receiving of the Torah,and eat cheesecake.

B Y L O R I L O W E N T H A LM A R C U S

Editor’s Note: Daniel Wultz passedaway on May 14, 2006—shortly afterthis article was written. May his memo-ry be for a blessing.

It is a perverse human quality, but weare drawn to news stories about humantragedies. Some characteristics of suchstories intensify the level of our interest:descriptions or pictures of gore or disfig-urement; pictures of grieving lovedones; and some form of personal con-nection—no matter how indirect—tothose at the center of the tragedies. Theadage “if it bleeds it leads” condensesthis notion to a pithy directive.

Yet, the American media has failed tocover a story containing every item onthe sure-to-interest-newsreaders’ check-list. I invite you to ponder why that is.

An Arab Palestinian homicidebomber detonated himself at a falafelstand in Israel on April 17, duringPassover. The murderer killed nineinnocent people and wounded dozens.

A broad range of news sources,including USA Today, the New YorkTimes, the Washington Post, CBS, ABC,CNN, and the Philadelphia Inquirer,gave personal background informationabout the bomber. We learned that hewas an Al-Quds University drop-outand, incredibly, that he had been asocial worker. In his going-away video,the murderer claimed he sought martyr-dom on behalf of imprisoned ArabPalestinians.

Satisfying its compulsion to draw par-allels between Israeli and ArabPalestinian suffering, at least one news-paper—the Philadelphia Inquirer—placed on page one of its April 18 editiona photograph of an unnamed Israeli griev-ing over the body of an Israeli victim.Placed directly below that is a photographof the murderer’s mother wistfully hold-ing two photographs—in one she is hold-ing a rifle of her now-dead son.

Juxtaposing these photographs sug-gests that there are victims on bothsides of the conflict in the MiddleEast: Arab mothers grieve for theirdead sons and young Israeli men grievefor dead Israelis.

I find this moral equivalence repulsive.But let’s take one more step. If bleed-

ers are leaders, and some kind of per-sonal connection with the bleedersincreases consumers’ interest in a newsstory, then there is a follow-up storyfrom the April 17 bombing that shouldhave been all over the American media.

Daniel Wultz was a 16-year-oldFlorida teen who accompanied hisfather to Israel to visit relatives duringPassover. On April 17, Daniel and hisfather were eating in one of the fewkosher shawarma restaurants in TelAviv. Daniel was almost killed by thehomicide bombing. In a coma for twoweeks, Daniel’s spleen and one of hiskidneys had to be removed. Then, thisbasketball-loving teenager had to have

one leg amputated at the knee.An American teenager, a healthy,

athletic boy from sunny Florida, istransformed in a split second into ashattered vessel, a soul hoveringbetween life and death. More andmore parts of his body, instead of pro-viding him with mobility and life sup-port, turn against him, and are paredaway in an effort to save his life.

Islamic Jihad claimed credit for theApril 17 bombing. One of the terrorgroup’s leaders expressed sorrow thatDaniel had not been killed, accordingto WorldNetDaily, one of the fewmedia sources to cover the story.

Another Arab terrorist group seekingto share credit for the bombingextolled the double treat of havingalmost murdered an American and aZionist. Islamic Jihad threatenedAmericans and Jews everywhere, say-ing they are all legitimate targets.

What American could hear this storyand not become riveted, eager forupdates, eager to cheer his progress ordespair at any further impediments? Butother than the Florida newspapers, such

as the Sun Sentinel and the MiamiHerald, and an AP story picked up bythe Los Angeles Times (but by none ofAP’s other major subscribers), the restof the mainstream American media hasignored the continuing and profoundlymoving story of Daniel Wultz.

Is it because his parents, so focusedon praying for their broken son, willnot share his story with the media?That is true, but there is quite a bit ofinformation available about Daniel;information that fleshes out the coldanonymity of just a name and home-town, information that one wouldthink would draw the interest of caringAmericans; information that is likely tointerest news consumers, if only thenews sources would provide it.

Daniel Wultz had been a student ofthe David Posnack Hebrew DaySchool in Plantation, Florida since ele-mentary school. One of Daniel’s pas-sions was playing basketball; he playedcompetitively at his local YMCA.

The Wultz family synagogue,Chabad Lubavitch of Weston, Florida,distributed blue and white rubber

wristbands imprinted with the words“Pray for Daniel.” The synagogue alsoset up a fund through its website tohelp assist the family with the extraor-dinary expenses it is suddenly facing.

Daniel’s parents, Sheryl (Sarah) andTuly, changed Daniel’s Hebrew name toChaim Meir Naftali. Following Jewishcustom, the word for life was added tothe beginning of his name in an effort toguard him from further danger.

How can it be that an AmericanJewish teenager whose survival of aterrorist bombing has been called amiracle is something most Americanmedia sources consider inconsequen-tial? Why was his story not newswor-thy—because Daniel Wultz was ateenager, an American, and anamputee, or because he was a JewishZionist? Or was it because the mediathinks we are only interested in thepersonal lives of homicide bombersand their families? And whose fault isthat? (Arutz Sheva) ❖

Lori Lowenthal Marcus is a writer, a lawyer andthe President of the Zionist Organization ofAmerica, Greater Philadelphia District.


Daniel’s Story


Bat Mitzvah celebration of Esther Aiga Sarah Rimler of Kew Gardens Hillstook place at Fresh Meadows Jewish Center; entertainment by Azamra DJ.

Mazal Tov to parents Debbie and Berish and brothers Ely, Menachem,Simcha, and Meir. Miss Rimler attends Bnos Malka Academy in Queens.

A Five Towns SimchaPhoto By Jeff Neckenoff

B Y L E S L I E S U S S E R

By failing to include a singleRussian immigrant in his cabinet,Ehud Olmert has made a major blun-der that could shorten his term inoffice, undermine his Kadima partyand hurt his plans for separationfrom the Palestinians, senior Israelipundits say.

It was the first time since 1995 thatan Israeli prime minister has formed agovernment without a representativefrom the huge immigrant communityof more than 1 million. It was a mis-take Ariel Sharon would never havemade, pundits say.

Outraged members of the Russiancommunity speak of a sense ofbetrayal, and say Kadima may have

lost the Russian vote forever. Moreimmediately, Kadima’s Russian-speaking Knesset members arethreatening to defy party discipline in

key Knesset votes.The upshot could be that Olmert

will have difficulty mustering a parlia-mentary majority for his most impor-

tant policy initiative: his plan to with-draw from large chunks of the WestBank. And he might be forced to go forearly elections that he could lose.

During the coalition negotiations, itseemed certain that there would be atleast one Russian immigrant minister.If Avigdor Lieberman’s mainly immi-

grant Yisrael Beiteinu party joined thegovernment, there would be several;and if not, Marina Solodkin, who wassixth on Kadima’s Knesset slate, wassure to be included in the party’s min-isterial lineup.

But in the end none of this materi-alized: The coalition talks withLieberman collapsed, and Olmertfailed to appoint Solodkin.

“There are no more portfolios,”Olmert reportedly told Solodkin theday appointments were made.

According to Solodkin, this was notjust a personal slight. The entireRussian community, she says, feelsbetrayed, insulted and humiliated.

It’s as if Kadima “slammed the door”on “hundreds of thousands of Russianimmigrants looking for a politicalhome,” she told an interviewer fromthe Ma’ariv newspaper.

Rina Greenberg, acting mayor ofCarmiel and one of Kadima’s unsuccess-ful Russian immigrant candidates, waseven blunter: She told Olmert’s peoplethey were “committing political suicide.”

“In two years,” she declared, “therewon’t be a single Russian-speaker leftin the party.”

Since 1992, the Russian vote hasbeen crucial in determining the out-come of Israeli elections. The Russianshave invariably voted for the winner—Yitzhak Rabin in 1992, BenjaminNetanyahu in 1996, Ehud Barak in1999 and Sharon in 2001 and 2003.They also have shown a readiness todefect when they feel let down orslighted: by Labor in 1996, Netanyahuin 1999 and Barak in 2001.

Barak, for example, promised a“civil revolution” to solve immigrantcitizenship, marriage and burial prob-lems, but quickly shelved it to form acoalition with the fervently OrthodoxShas Party. “Ehud the first [a refer-ence to Barak] took nearly two yearsto betray us,” the Russians say;“Ehud the second [meaning Olmert]only two days.”

The Russian vote accounts for 18 to20 seats in the 120-member Knesset.In the March 28 election, the Russiansgave Olmert four or five seats: Withoutthem, Solodkin maintains, he wouldnot have beaten Labor’s Amir Peretz,who got hardly any Russian support.

To win Russian votes, Kadimaincluded six immigrants on its slateand had Solodkin at No. 6, highenough to signal a guaranteed ministe-rial post.

“The feeling in the Russian street isthat they used us and then discardedus,” Solodkin said.

Most of the Russian vote went toLieberman, who got nine or tenRussian seats. However, Lieberman’sinflammatory positions on Arabissues—he favors redrawing the bor-ders of the state to exclude mostIsraeli Arabs, and recently hintedthat Arab Knesset members whomaintain ties with Israel’s enemiesshould be executed—meant thatOlmert would have been harshly crit-icized had he included Lieberman inthe coalition.

Still, some people in Olmert’s camphave been implying that Solodkin, whowas in charge of getting out theRussian vote, could have done better.

At the start of the campaign,


For Olmert, Snub Of RussiansCould Come Back To Haunt Him

Since 1992, the Russian vote hasbeen crucial in determining the

outcome of Israeli elections.

Kadima’s position, with Sharon at thehelm, was much stronger. Pollsshowed Kadima winning eightRussian immigrant seats, ahead ofYisrael Beiteinu with five. Indeed,Sharon, who was extremely popularamong immigrants, was planning astrategic partnership with them simi-lar to the one Menachem Beginenjoyed as Likud leader from the late1950s with Sephardi immigrants fromNorth Africa.

The result of Russian immigrantpique could be the formation of newsectarian parties primarily representingimmigrant interests. If they lose theRussian vote, Olmert and Kadima couldbe in real trouble next time around.

Lieberman could be a major bene-ficiary. His American spin doctor,Arthur Finkelstein, is working on astrategy designed to elevateLieberman to the premiership, basedon taking ultra-hawkish positions tocapture the leadership of the Israeliright and winning over immigrants bycultivating the perception that theIsraeli establishment doesn’t wantthem as equals.

Olmert’s rejection of Lieberman as acoalition partner and his failure to giveSolodkin a ministerial position playedinto Lieberman’s hands, pundits say.

In the meantime, Russian anger atKadima knows no bounds. Partyactivists are threatening to return theirmembership cards en masse; immi-grants who won Knesset seats on theKadima slate are talking about build-ing a power base in the party that willbe able to exert leverage on the leader-

ship; and Solodkin says she wants toform a forum of Russian Knessetmembers from all parties.

More significantly, Solodkin andMichael Nudelman, another Russianimmigrant legislator, reportedly aretalking to Lieberman about possiblefuture cooperation.

Should they decide to vote againstOlmert’s withdrawal, and recruitother non-immigrant Knesset mem-bers in the coalition who have doubtsabout the plan, the consequences forOlmert could be disastrous. The lossof Kadima votes would make himdependent on Israeli Arab parties,and could trigger an erosion of publicand Knesset support for the plan.That could force an election thatOlmert might not win without immi-grant votes.

Why did Olmert get himself intothis vulnerable position—arrogance?Shortsightedness? Inexperience at thehighest level? Confidence that successin dealing with immigrant problemswill turn things around?

As far as the Russian immigrants areconcerned, it doesn’t really matter.They’re determined to teach the primeminister a lesson he won’t forget. (JTA) ❖

Leslie Susser is JTA’s diplomatic correspondentin Jerusalem. Also the diplomatic correspondentfor the Jerusalem Report, he has covered thepeace process and Israeli domestic politics sincethe early 1990s. Before that he was head ofEnglish News at Israel Radio and night editor atthe Jerusalem Post. He is the author of therecent Israel chapters in the Middle EastContemporary Survey and the EncyclopediaBritannica Yearbook, and co-author of YitzhakRabin: Soldier of Peace. He has a Ph.D. inmodern history from Oxford University.


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CEDRHRST: LgLr, Dr, EIK, Den, 5Br, 3bth, Skilits, Cabana, Lg prop.,IGPool…$699K.

N. WDMR: HiRanch, 4br, 2.5bth,nu kit, deck, over lg prop. $679K

N.WDMR: NU 2 Mkt, NU constrc’n,C\H col 4Br, 3Bth, lg. granit kit, Fullbsmt, SD14…$929K.

HWLT: MIC, 3+Br, 2.5Bth, fullbsmt, Lg Prop. Priced toSell...$589K.

HWLT: Lg. C/H, Col. 4Br, 3Bth,SD14, Lr, FDR, EIK, Den, Full bsmt,All Systems, CAC, quiet tree-linedstreet...$759K.

5 TOWN HOMES516-569-5710

2 Co-ops — Lawrence —

Immaculate Junior 4 converted

second bedroom, fully renovated, new

kitchen appls with double sink and

kosher dw, indoor parking, walk to all.

Cedarhurst — Beautiful two bed-rooms/two full baths, w/d, separate

dining room, lots of closet space.

Weisman Realty 347-752-0948.

REAL ESTATEFOR SALE

REAL ESTATEFOR SALE

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Condominium For Sale – Far

Rockaway, Reads Lane property

Ground floor of a two unit dwelling,

3 1/2 bedrooms, eat-in-kitchen, living

room/dining room, 2 bathrooms, cen-

tral air, spacious yard, low taxes and

maintenance, near schools and shuls.

Please call 917-613-1399.

Beautiful 6 bedroom home, fully

renovated, full basement w/separate

entrance, huge property, heart of

Bayswater. Call Weisman Realty

Group 347-752-0948.

Office for rent – located on

Central Avenue. Entire second floor.

Excellent condition. Available June

first. Call 718-851-1688.

Far Rockaway – Lg. Hse Rental:4br, 2bth, bsmt., Hi ceil’g, NU bths,W\D. Call 516-322-3555.

5 TOWN HOMES516-569-5710

CED: Col. Hse: 3br, 2.5bth,

Fin. Bsmt…$2,500.

Ground floor studio apartmentfor rent in Lawrence with drive-

way. All new. $800 including utilities

except electric. Also, looking for

roommate for 3 bedroom apartment

above studio apartment. $600.

Call 718-810-0001.

Lawrence—2 Br, all nu apt., own

heat. Call 917-757-9351

Cedarhurst—Office For Rent

1000sf, all services, grt location, rea-

sonable rent. Call 516-322-3555

Rockville Center—Retail/Office

5000sf, all new, hi traffic, grt for

financial or furniture. Will divide.

Call 516-322-3555.

House For Rent Brooklyn

Madison Area—Immaculate 3 bed-

room duplex, Large LR, DR, EIK.

Move-in condition!! Front/back porch-

es. Hardwood floors. 718-645-0214.

Far Rockaway — Studio & one bed-

room apts available in beautiful eleva-

tor bldg (1st floor). Great location,

Neilson & Cornaga. Reasonable rents

include heat & hot water. Rent

Stabilized bldg. Call 718-377-0708

leave message.

Far Rockaway - Apt for Rent

3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths 1st floor of

2 family home Security system, CAC

w/d hookup. Great Location. Available

Sept. 2006 Call 516-967-1967.

Bayswater For Rent - 3 Large

Bedrooms, 2 Full Baths, Large EIK

with d/w, with large LR/Dining Room

Area. Washer/Dryer. MIC. Excellent

block. Stunning View of Bay.

Ask $1,250. Call 718-471-1282.

Far Rockaway – 2br, semi-bsmt.,

washer/dryer, carpet, large EIK all

new, Beach 12 Street/Lanett Ave.,

pvt. house, light & airy, quiet block,

easy parking. $1,150.

Call 718-539-4472.

Large Studio Apt. for rent in

West Hempstead. Near the LIRR,

Shuls, and Shopping. Recently reno-

vated. Only $650/Month incl.

Utilities. Call 516-750-0531,

leave message.

REAL ESTATEFOR RENT

REAL ESTATEFOR RENT

REAL ESTATEFOR RENT

REAL ESTATEFOR RENT

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at 5:00 P.M. Call 516-569-0502

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