july 15, 2011 the jewish star
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July 15, 2011 The Jewish StarTRANSCRIPT
VOL 10, NO 27 ■ JULY 15, 2011 / 13 TAMMUZ, 5771 WWW.THEJEWISHSTAR.COM
Nefesh B’Nefesh reaches 30,000 olim to Israel Page 3 Newborn state: South Sudan Page 8Historic KJ engulfed in fl ames Page 10 Oceanside Chabad buys home Page 12
THE JEWISH STAR
Shabbat Candlelighting: 8:08p.m. Shabbat ends 9:15 p.m. 72 minute zman 9:37 p.m. Torah Reading Parshat Pinchas This Tuesday is the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz
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By Sergey Kadinsky
On Monday afternoon, eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky left his Borough P ark summer camp for a three-block walk to his mother. He dis-appeared into the streetscape and thousands of Jews mobilized to search for the boy. The
massive search brought together the Shom-rim, Chaveirim, Hatzolah, NYPD and FBI, and some 3,000 additional volunteers from as far as Lakewood, to fi nd Kletzky, even as thou-sands more prayed for his safety. The search ended with a g ruesome fi nd of body par ts stuffed into a trash cont ainer in Park Slope
on early Wednesday morning.“It’s a horror for every parent. I mean it ’s
just a tragedy t oday for ev eryone in N ew York,” said S tate Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose staff participated in the search. “This
BARUCHDAYAN
EMESContinued on page 3
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Community mourns Leiby Kletzky hy”d
Inside
The Jewish StarAsk Aviva 14Classified Ads 15Crossword 14David’s Harp 4From the Heart of Jerusalem 8Hebrew Only Please! 6Kosher Bookworm 7Kosher Critic 13Letters to the Editor 4Mensch on the Street 9On the Calendar 12Parsha 6Politico to Go 5
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By Ariel Rosenbloom
With just a few simple brush strokes, a renowned young Orthodox artist awakened two opposite worlds on acrylic canvas at J Greenstein Gallery in Cedarhurst on July 11. Elke Reva Sudin exhibited works from her “Hipsters and Hassids” painting series, in-troducing the dynamic of two developing yet differing groups in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood.
“The ‘Hipsters and Hassids’ series juxta-poses the two sides of Williamsburg that both seem to be completely different but I show how they actually have so much more in com-mon than you might believe and so when you see these paintings you should come with a feeling of how we are all really connected,” Sudin said. “There’s so much more that is similar than the things that we bicker about than our differences, and I think it’s really important for Jewish communities to recog-nize how different expressions of Judaism or of humanity are all very much valid except they just look a little different.”
A Brooklyn resident, Sudin is an alum of Pratt Institute and participated in various lo-cal art groups, including Jewish Art Salon and Artists 4 Israel. “The reason we brought Elke here is because of the aesthetics of her art. Her work is absolutely beautiful,” said Jonathan Greenstein, the owner of J Green-stein Gallery. “There is a New York story be-hind each and every painting as most recent-ly with the nonsense that was between the hasidim and the non-hasidim in Williams-burg, and she was able to put that on canvas, but she was able to do it in an aesthetically pleasing way.”
Most of the paintings were displayed in groups of two in order to show the differ-
Williamsburg dynamic in art
Photo by Ariel Rosenbloom
Portrait of a Williamsburg hasidic fam-ily by Elke Reva Sudin.
Continued on page 10
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THE
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July 15, 2011 • 13 TA
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is not a story about Borough Park, sick peo-ple are anywhere and in your own neighbor-hood.”
Kletzky was supposed to meet his mother at the cor-ner of 13th Avenue and 50th Street after leaving day camp, but he never showed up. Sur-veillance videos recorded Kletzky walking alone, then with an Orthodox-looking man, who was viewed go-ing into a Honda sedan. Al-though the boy is not seen getting into the car, investi-gators believe that he was a passenger.
The suspect, Kensington resident Levi Aron, 35, was tracked down through videos. Walking out of a dentist’s offi ce, the hardware store worker was shown on tape giving directions to Kletz-ky on Monday afternoon. “Before establish-ing his identity, detectives had observed the
suspect in a video recorded at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, where he was seen entering a den-tist’s offi ce,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in a statement. “Detectives located one of the dentists… and established that the
suspect had been in the den-tist’s offi ce on Monday to pay a bill.”
The dentist’s bill and the Honda license plate both identifi ed Aron. When police knocked on his door at 2:40 a.m. on Wednesday, he con-fessed to the murder, reveal-ing additional body parts in his refrigerator and blood-stained kitchen knives.
As the community mourns, local leaders ex-pressed gratitude for the massive outpouring of sup-
port for Kletzky. “Some of our staff went out to search and my next door neighbor was searching until four in the morning. I don’t think we’ve ever witnessed such communal achdus,” said Achiezer director Rabbi Boruch
Ber Bender.Ohel CEO David Mandel urged parents to
explain the tragedy to their children, noting the innocence of Kletzky and the unusual nature of the kidnapping. “A child who did everything right wound up a terrible death. We teach our children about stranger danger, but this is friendly danger, this was a person from the community,” Mandel said. “But the world is basically good and people are safe.”
Looking at a photograph of the suspect, Hikind noted the apparent trust that Kletzky may have had in Aron. “He looks so familiar, not evil, like someone you know.” According to police, this may have been their only en-counter.
The boy is the only son of Nachman and Ita Esther Kletzky, who also have four daugh-ters. The body was recovered by police and transferred to Misaskim, which handles ex-traordinary funerals in the community. The family began sitting shiva on Wednesday, fol-lowing the funeral.
Mandel said that the actions of volunteers and law enforcement offi cials deserve credit, despite the results. “All the people who dav-
ened, searched and stayed up for 36 hours did the right thing and we will need them inthe future. It was a terrible ending but it doesnot diminish from their work.”
By Sergey Kadinsky
When a local philanthropist speaks, there’s usually a personal connection to the cause. For Lawrence attorney Phil Rosen, it was a trip to northern Israel with his daughter last year, where they kept encountering Hebrew speak-ers with American accents. At a coffee shop outside Tzfat, they met a young Californian olah in uniform, and asked to hear her story.
“She told a great story of a lone soldier who came on Nefesh B’Nefesh after a birth-right tour. She was in love with the country,” Rosen said, at a fundraising evening at the Ce-darhurst home of Moshe Berger, where they welcomed Nefesh B’Nefesh cofounder Rabbi Yehoshua Fass. “Nefesh is one of the two game changers in Israel. It takes facts on the ground and changes them to the right direction.”
For Rabbi Fass, the catalyst was a Hamas
suicide bombing a decade ago where his 13-year-old cousin was killed. “The over-whelming sense was to stand in and continue a life that was snuffed. Stand and show and fi ght with a sense of hope,” Rabbi Fass said. The Boca Raton rabbi connected other pro-spective olim from around the county and fundraised to make a dramatic gesture. It paid off with an inaugural $2 million Nefesh B’Nefesh fl ight in July 2002, which brought 360 Jews to Israel, the largest single number of American olim in a single group to date.
Rabbi Fass said that while the hard num-bers are small, the potential is there and polls prove it. “The low number of North Ameri-cans is not for a lack of will and passion. They have four top concerns, bureaucracy, loans for young couples whose average age is 31, social infrastructure, and employment. We created a foundation to address these problems,” Rabbi
Fass said. Initially an independent nonprofi t, Nefesh
B’Nefesh gained the support of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who added govern-ment funding to the organization, which has been renewed by his successors. “A 97 percent retention rate and our thirty thousandth oleh is coming this August, it is an unparalleled model for any country,” Rabbi Fass said.
While the image of North Americans is of-ten of modern Orthodox pioneers, the Birth-right Israel program has resulted in previously unaffi liated secular Jews making the move to Israel. “We serve close to 400 lone soldiers a year. Most are not religious, but feel a strong connection to Israel,” Rabbi Fass said, estimat-ing 70 percent of these soldiers as secular. In partnership with Friends of the IDF, the soldiers are given fi nancial assistance, social gatherings, and Shabbat hospitality. “It’s a $2
million project and FIDF will match us for upto $1 million.”
Recognizing the economic and social po-tential of Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Israeli gov-ernment partners with the organization topromote settlement of the northern region,answer a national shortage of physicians, andassist approximately 600 “lone osldier” olimwith fi nancial, social, and employment assis-tance.
This August, the aliyah fl ight will includea cousin of Phil Rosen, and 100 lone soldiers,a source of pride for Rosen as he appealedto his neighbors to contribute. “A few weeksback, I took some hedge funders to Israel andwe met with Netanyahu. The Prime ministersees the world as very bright,” Rosen said.“Israel needs three elements- Birthright, Nef-esh B’Nefesh, and investment in the county toconnect it to the Jewish world.”
Continued from page 1
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass speaks in Cedarhurst
Nefesh B’Nefesh: 30,000 and counting
An ealier fl ight of American olim cel-ebrates their arrival in Israel.
Nefesh B’Nefesh participants often travel together and are greated in a ceremonial fashion with Israeli lead-ers hailing their arrival at Ben Gurion Airport.
Murder in Boro Park, community in shock
Photo via Facebook
Suspect Levi Aron was arrested early Wednesday morning.
“We teach our
children about
stranger danger,
but this is
friendly danger”
Photo courtesy of Nefesh B’Nefesh
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Opinion
THE JEWISH STARIndependent and original reporting from the Orthodox communities of Long Island and New York City
All opinions expressed are solely those of The Jewish Star’s editorial staff or contributing writers
Publisher and Editor David F. Nesenoff Assistant Editor Sergey Kadinsky Account Executives Helene Parsons Hy Spitz Sandi Stanger Contributors Rabbi Avi Billet Jeff Dunetz Samuel Fisher Brigitte Fixler Rabbi Noam Himelstein Alan Jay Gerber Zechariah Mehler Aviva Rizel Ariel Rosenbloom Intern Rachel Green Editorial Designer Alyson Goodman Photo Editor Christina Daly
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Copyright © 2011 The Jewish Star LLC. All rights reserved.
I am not going to write about the wars, the troops, the president, Congress, Iraq, Iran, al-Qaeda, global warming, gas pric-
es, hybrid cars and carbon footprints. I’m not going to write about hackers,
WikiLeaks, iTunes, iams, ipods, iphones, apps, apple, limes or troubled times, or the the New York Times or CNN, TNN, ESPN, Fox News, Hannity, O’Reily, Rush, talk radio,
shock jocks, K-Rock, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Martin Short, Martin Luther King, Stephen King, Larry King, BB King, Bibi Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, ski conditions, medical conditions, terms and conditions, term life insurance, whole life, Met life, or the after life.
I’m not going to write about homeland security, fi nancial se-curity, security sys-tems, data systems, databases, baseball,
Bud Selig, Bud Lite, Coors Lite, “let there be light,” Genesis, Phil Collins, Dr. Phil, depression, losses, profi ts, cash, Johnny Cash, “Walk the Line,” online, on air, Air America, Miss America, missed opportuni-ties, employment opportunities, working hard, hardly working, Dream Works, Ste-ven Spielberg, icebergs, natural disasters, natural foods, famine, fortune, favorites, fame, fi ghting, fl ag waving, making waves, breaking the waves, breaking up, falling down, failing, wailing, weeping and worry-ing about homeland security, which I’m not
going to write about.I’m not going to write about GPS, UPS,
Fedex, DHL, HDL, LDL, El Nino, Elle McPher-son, Samuel L. Jackson, Snakes on a Plane, Cobra Helicopters, Black Hawk Down, So-malia, United Nations, United Way, United Synagogue, Gog and Magog, Superman, Wonder Woman, wonderland, Neverland, Michael Jackson, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharp-ton, Sharpe James and Newark, New Jersey.
I’m not going to write about real estate, Trump, The Apprentice, The Bachelor, The Idol, The Survivor, So You Think You Can Dance, sing and are the most talented and the best inventor.
I’m not going to even write about Israel, Hamas, Abas, Gaza, gas, oil, the royals, Di-ana, William the royal heir, Harry the royal spare, the Queen, the Prince, or the Artist Formerly Known as Prince.
I’m not going to write about the Yan-kees, the Mets, golf, Tiger, tennis, Dennis the Menace, Shrek, Harry Potter, pot, drugs, overdose, oxicontin, oxymorons, morons, comedians, Robin Williams, the Wayan brothers, the Marx brothers, Groucho, Har-po, Oprah, O magazine, OJ, the Simpsons and Family Guy.
I’m not going to write about the weather, the fl oods, the fi res, Katrina, FEMA, fi nance, fi scal management, Fortune 500, refi nanc-ing, keeping up with the Jones, Dow Jones, interest rates, real estate markets, mortgag-es, mansions and money.
I’m not going to write about Gmail, e-mails, e-bay, easy money, Monday blues, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Fever, Saturday night dating, Jdate, speed dates, California pitted dates and tainted spinach.
I’m not going to write about Kadaffi , Sad-am, Osama, Obama, Bill and Hill, elections,
the White House, Red Cross, Purple Hearts, Bluetooth, Green Day, gold bullion, Pink Floyd, Black History Month, Orange County, yellow ribbons, and what can brown do for you?
I’m not going to write about steroids, Ritalin, drug legalization, criminalization, prescriptions, health care, illness, Sicko, Mi-chael More, More magazine, People maga-zine, Vogue, Elle, Dell, Shell, kvell, hell or heaven.
I’m not going to write about cancer, au-tism, West Nile, lime disease, ADD, OCD, cds, dvd, HDTV, MTV, TB, Hep B, B list, mailing lists, junk mail, you’ve got mail, YouTube, you go girl, You Me and Dupree, the RU48 morning after pill, happy pills, ec-stasy and same sex marriage.
I’m not going to write about cystic fi bro-sis, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Jerry Lewis, Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead, dead wrestlers, WWF, the F word, the N word, the L word, Microsoft Word, word games and sudoku.
I’m not going to write about reward, pun-ishment, evil, villains, heroes, the strong, the weak, the weekday, the Sabbath, rest, restaurants, recipes, ratatouille and Rachel Ray.
I’m not going to write about Paula Abdul, Bono, Three Tenors, the Sopranos and HBO.
I’m not going to write about Abercrom-bie, Victoria Secret, Hollister, the Gap and the gap between the platform and the Long Island Rail Road trains.
I’m not going to write about HPV cervical testing, science, Scientology, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Homes and Gardens, Kin-dergarten, Baby Boomers, Boeing, Bo Did-dley, Beau Brummel, style, trends, fads, art, body art, tattoos, piercings, Pierce Brosnan,
James Bond, bond markets, Mark Burnett,reality television, virtual reality, virtual cell,stem cell, bioethics, controversy, arguments,panic, calm down and dot com.
I’m not going to write about the Pope,inappropriate priests, cults, crimes, cases,Casey, Caylee, polygamy, bigamy, Big Love,abortion and evolution.
I’m not going to write about Joshua, Jer-emiah, Judah, Jonathan, Jedidiah, Jonah,Jacob, Joseph, Jews for Jesus, jealousy,junk mail, jaywalking, Jay Leno, Letterman,letters of recommendation, Letters to IwoJima, Clint Eastwood, Clint Black, countrymusic, hip hop, rap, rapture, Armageddon,the movie by the same name with BruceWillis, Ed Harris, Howie Mandel and otherhandsome men with shaven heads.
I’m not going to write about surgical en-hancements, body reductions, lipo suctions,tummy tucks, Botox, kick box, Pilates, Yoga,5 minute abs, Feng Shui, herbs, organic ap-ples, soy milk, lactose free, non-gluten, lite,low fat, no fat, no carb, obesity, anorexia,peanut allergies, cashews, calcium, choles-terol and caffeine.
I’m not going to write about gays, bis,bias, bigotry, prejudice, tolerance, hatred,diversity, dying, Holocaust, Darfur, Bosnia,Kosovo, 9-11 and Virginia Tech.
I’m not going to write about the Chris-tian right, the liberal left, Central America,North Korea and South Park. I’m not goingto write about the synagogue, the staff, thesisterhood, the sim shalom, the psalms, thesongs, the school, the services, the Satur-days, the singing and the sinning.
I’m not going to write about the FiveTowns, the four seasons, the three-dayweekend, or the two parties… I’m just goingto write: One G-d.
DAVID’S HARP
David F. Nesenoff
Yankie & Luzer
That was the last space shuttle So, we’re stuck.
I am not going to write about…
Urgent Kashrus Announcement To the Editor:It has come to our attention that there are numer-
ous concessions in the Atlantic Beach clubs selling kosher pizza and French fries. After careful investi-gation, it has come to light that although pizza and French fries are indeed purchased from stores in the Five Towns under the Vaad, there is no hashgacha once they arrive and they are placed in treif ovens to be heated.
Until there is a reliable mashgiach on the prem-ises that follows proper kashrus procedures, it is ab-solutely forbidden to purchase any of these products from these purveyors.
Rabbi Tzvi Flaum, Chairman
Rabbi Dovid Weinberger, Co-Chairman
Vaad Harabanim of Far Rockaway & Lawrence
Letter to the editor
Check your fact, fact-checker
The 2012 Election is still sixteen months away, but the discussions about wheth-er President Obama will be able to re-
tain the same large portion of the Jewish vote as he did in 2008 remains an obsession with the mainstream media. On Monday, the
Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler wrote a piece about Jews and the President which spread stereo-types about Jews and Republicans. Kessler’s piece was designed to call into question the motivation of GOP candidates who sup-port Israel as well the American Jews who oppose the President’s Middle East policy.The article, “Obama and Israel: stalled di-plomacy or ‘suspicion and distrust’?” begins with quotations from GOP presidential candi-
dates Romney, Pawlenty and Bachmann, all criticizing Obama’s policy toward Israel.
“The latest Gallup poll shows that Presi-dent Obama has 60 percent approval rating among Jewish Americans. Jews generally are a reliable vote for Democrats, and in the 2008 election, exit polls show Obama re-
ceived 78 percent of the Jewish vote. That gap has sent GOP hearts afl utter, though the polling should be viewed with caution; 60 percent approval is still 14 percent higher than the president’s overall approval rating.
Still, GOP candidates for president sense an opening. A line attacking Obama and his policies on Israel is now a standard part of their stump speeches. The question is wheth-er these attacks are fair or accurate?”
Kessler has a logic fl aw here. He is cor-rect in saying that Jews are generally a re-liable vote for the Democrats (according to Gallup 66% of Jews are Democrats), where is logic falls apart is since most Jews are Demo-crats, why would he compare their approval of Obama to the total population of which only 45% of which are Democrats. Obama’s support from Democrats is much more stable than that of independent and GOP voters. If the Jewish support of Obama is compared to a re-weighted general population whose par-ty affi liation matches theirs (66% Democrat, 27% GOP and 7% independent) we fi nd that Obama is losing Jewish support more than twice as fast as the general population (for the full analysis refer to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2011/07/why-gallups-analy-sis-of-jewish-voters.html)
Kessler also forgets to mention that if Obama received only 60% of the Jewish vote in 2012 (which is very unlikely), it would be the lowest Democratic total since Jimmy Carter in 1980.
I also take issue with Kessler’s contention that the mentioned GOP candidates are at-tacking Obama on Israel because they see an opening. Michele Bachmann spent the summer of 1974 working at Kibbutz Be’eri in Israel, Romney made strong pro-Israel statements during the 2008 campaign before Obama was nominated, and Tim Pawlenty was leading trade missions to Israel back in 2008 when he was governor of Minnesota.
Perhaps Kessler can’t comprehend that Israel is not just a “Jewish issue.” Some poli-ticians even support Israel because it is the right thing to do for America. Granted it is a foreign concept for a progressive newspa-per such as the Washington Post, but it does happen.
Kessler tries to make the GOP criticism of Obama regarding Israel a bigger deal than the candidates have made it.
“We would be foolish to venture an opin-ion on each side’s collection of historical facts because, seriously, it is a no-win situ-ation. But Obama’s treatment of Israel has become such a key part of the GOP arsenal that it is worth exploring the President’s per-formance.”
The Washington Post fact checker’s char-acterization of bashing Obama’s treatment of Israel as a key part of the GOP arsenal be-lies the truth. If he were following the same campaign as the rest of us, Mr. Kessler would understand that the number one “key part of the GOP arsenal” is the economy, number
two, three, and four are the economy, theeconomy, and the economy, in that order.
Obama, perhaps because of his name andhis background, found his views on Israel un-der scrutiny even during the last election. He didn’t help matters then by making observa-tions that antagonized some of Israel’s more loyal supporters: “I think there is a strainwithin the pro-Israel community that saysunless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you’re anti-Israel and that can’t be the measure of our friendshipwith Israel.”(Ironically, once he became pres-ident, Obama ended up with a Likud primeminister with whom he has had a testy rela-tionship.)
Here, the fact checker is claiming the peo-ple who questioned Obama on Israel duringthe 2008 campaign, did so out of racism an-other incorrect assertion. Mr. Kessler’s “fact-check” of the GOP positions on Israel wasactually just another defense of President Obama by a progressive media vehicle andshould be treated more like a campaign piece than a “fact check.”
Jeff Dunetz is the Editor/Publisher of thepolitical blog “The Lid” (www.jeffdunetz.com).Jeff contributes to some of the largest politicalsites on the internet including American Think-er, Big Government, Big Journalism, NewsRealand Pajama’s Media. Jeff lives on Long Island.
Opinion
POLITICO TO GO
Jeff Dunetz
THE
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B efore its exposition of the holidays and their respective sacrifi cial of-ferings, the Torah gives us its only
reversal of the most repeated verse in the Torah. Normally it says “And G-d spoke to Moshe saying.” Here it says “And Moshe spoke to G-d saying.”
Moshe’s instruction to God centered around his concern that with his own
passing, the people would be left without a leader – like a fl ock without a shepherd. Understandably, after seeing his brother die, his nephew Elazar fi ll the vacant shoes, and now his great-nephew Pinchas slated to be the next inline for the High Priest position, Moshe wants to see that the next person is ready to take on the leader-ship role to complete the project he started:
to bring the people to the Promised Land.In all the pomp and ceremony, perhaps
the most signifi cant element of Yehoshua’s new appointment is his being put into a position in which he will direct ques-tions to the Urim V’tumim, the divinely controlled mechanism in Elazar the High Priest’s breastplate that provides a direct line of communication with the Divine.
It becomes the ultimate lesson in irony.The Talmud (Eruvin 63a) points out
that this connection was never utilized. Both Yehoshua and Elazar were punished, in a sense, for speaking out of turn in the presence of Moshe. Yehoshua instructed Moshe to put Eldad and Meidad in jail (Bamidbar 11:28), and Elazar taught ev-eryone the laws of kashering metals in the aftermath of the Midian war (Bamidbar 31:21-24). Yehoshua’s punishment was that he never had children, and Elazar’s punishment was that Yehoshua never needed him.
To be fair, the Midrash Aggadah sug-gests that Yehoshua never needing Elazar was more of a reward to Yehoshua, as per the verse in Mishlei 27:18, “He who guards his master shall be honored.”
Regardless, the fact is that there was a high anticipation of the new generation of leadership sharing an incredible pro-fessional relationship. Aharon and Moshe worked well together because they were brothers and because their personalities complemented one another in many re-spects.
Would Yehoshua and Elazar have a similar rapport? We never fi nd out.
There’s an old Yiddish saying (some claim German origins) that “A mentsh tracht und Gott lacht - Man plans and God laughs.” [On the internet, I found some people ascribing its origins to Tehillim 33:10 and Mishlei 16:9]
Perhaps we can suggest that even Moshe, in a sense, spoke out of turn to G-d. For all of Moshe’s plans, even Yehosh-ua did not leave a successor. In this regard maybe the anarchy of the book of Shoftim is partly attributable to Yehoshua’s poor leadership choice.
In the end, our charge is to do our best, in as humble a manner and in as G-d-fear-ing a manner as we can.
But G-d puts them in our hands when we do our part to make it happen, and when He feels, at this stage, that we are deserving. But we must be doing some-thing if G-d is going to help us fulfi ll our goals.
A classic Jewish joke has Mendel pray-ing to G-d to help him win the lottery. Af-ter months and months and no winning, Mendel comes to the Western Wall and screams at G-d, “After all I’ve done for You! After all the sacrifi ces and promises!”
All of a sudden, the heavens open and G-d’s voice communicates directly with Mendel, “Mendel you are my most be-loved. But for heaven’s sake – buy a tick-et!”
We may be most deserving. But noth-ing’s going to happen just because we are good people. Very few are so lucky.
And for those who are in the trenches, sometimes we walk on a thin line between getting exactly what we want, and becom-ing destined to never reach that which should have otherwise been our absolute potential.
The words of Micha (6:8) in last week’s haftorah say it best. “He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord de-mands of you; but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly/humbly with your God.”
Parshat Pinchas
After Moshe... Yehoshua
Rabbi Avi Billet
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Never miss a chance to say thanks
Rabbi Noam Himelstein studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion and served in the Tanks Corps of theIDF. He has taught in yeshiva high schools, post-high school women’s seminaries, and headed the Torah MiTzion Kollel in Melbourne, Australia. He currently teaches at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusa-lem, and lives with his wife and six children in Neve Daniel, Gush Etzion.
By Rabbi Noam Himelstein
For all of Moshe’s plans,
even Yehoshua did not
leave a successor.
This coming July 29, the 27th day of Tammuz, will mark the fi rst yahrtzeit of one of the most brave, dynamic and
prominent spiritual and moral leaders in our time, Rabbi Yehuda Amital, of blessed mem-ory.
There is so much that one can write about his legacy as an outspoken leading rabbi of the religious Zionist movement and as a cre-ative and charismatic educator and thinker. His literary output in his 85-years among us is both awesome and everlasting in the
benchmark of morality that he set for all of us to follow.
Rabbi Reuven Zir-gler, editor in chief of Yeshivat Har Etzion’s renown website, Vir-tual Beit Midrash, per-haps summed it up best:
“Rabbi Amital’s grounding in reality and his sensitivity to shifting societal and historical trends often enabled his to foresee
future developments and attempt timely ac-tion. Probably his major historical contribu-tion is formulating the idea of ‘yeshivat hes-der’; he foresaw the need to strengthen the religious Zionist community with a broad cadre of talmidei chachamim and simultane-ously to prevent alienation between yeshiva students and the state.
“He lived Jewish history; he embodied
Jewish history. He allowed us to see the miracle of the founding of the State of Israel through the eyes of someone who had gone from the depths of the Holocaust to fi ghting in the War of Independence, from the ingath-ering of the exiles to the tragedy of the Yom Kippur War.”
Truly, Rabbi Amital foresaw that the phe-nomenon of yeshiva students being exempted from army service would foster friction and bitter hostility between religious and secular Jews at all strata of Israeli society.
He could not and would not abide by this development and his leadership as rosh ye-shiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion was to serve as the benchmark that would establish hesder yeshivot across Israel that would bring both Torah and national defense together, ulti-mately serving to assure both the spiritual and physical survival of our people.
The recent publication of his biography will give you a much-needed view of both the human as well as public persona of Rabbi Amital’s legacy.
“By Faith Alone” written by Elyashiv Reichner and published by Maggid/Koren Publishers, offers the reader a fascinating and somewhat intimate view of Rabbi Amit-al’s life and legacy, and his relationships with family, friends, students and colleagues.
He was a charismatic leader, yet he re-fused to be viewed as a Chassidic rebbe. He was a talmid chacham, par excellence, yet he never saw himself as a posek of Jewish law.
His lasting legacy as a spiritual leader, in this perspective, was seen as a liability by one of his leading talmidim, Rabbi Yoel Bin-
Nun who stated the following revealing and rather direct and candid observation that perhaps sums up the Amital legacy:
“At Yeshivat Merchaz HaRav, where I was coming from, there was no place for halachic decision making. The yeshiva has no obvious posek, and students had to look outside for practical guidance. I also think that had Rav Amital become es-tablished as a halachic fi gure, fi rmly rooted in the Zionist Torah world, nurtured by the teachings of Rav Kook and Rav Charlap, and knowing how to ad-dress philosophical matters in addition to rendering practical decisions, his subse-quent political pro-nouncements would have been received completely differ-ently.” This was to be Rabbi Amital’s choice that governed his life’s work and his legacy has to be seen and understood in this perspective.
This honest presentation, absent the hero worship and false deifi cation, gives us a re-freshing and clear view of what an honest evaluation of Jewish leadership ought to be
like.This work, taken together with Moshe
Maya’s “A World Build, Destroyed and Re-built” [Ktav/Yeshivat Har
Etzion, 2004] thatis based upon Rabbi Amital’s holocaust experiences, and ofhis religious viewsand evaluations of same, will give you afull and clear vision of Rabbi Amital’s legacy for us and pos-terity.
His teachings in English can be read in the following two anthologies, “Jewish Values in a Changing World” [Ktav/ Yeshi-vat Har Etzion. 2005], and “Commitment and Complexity” [Ktav/Yeshivat Har Etzion,2008] which bring to-gether some of his fi n-est writings. Both are worthy and deserve your attention.
Also please consider this. Yeshivat Har Etzion today has the mostextensive internet website for Jewish learningon just about every level of Jewish religiousscholarship. Just Google, VBM to access thistreasure trove of lomdus. You will be mostenriched, spiritually, by this experience.
The Kosher Bookworm
In tribute to Rabbi Yehuda Amital , zt”l.
Alan Jay Gerber
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The festival of Sukkot was around the corner, and I realized I had no way to get a set of four species (arbah minim)
in time for the festival.We were actually in Lebanon at the time,
and as the only kippah-wearing soldier on the base, I knew I was on my own, and the thought of having no set of ‘arbah minim’ was really depressing.
With so many patrols and duties (we were in a hot zone) the possi-bility of taking off time to get somewhere to buy a set was pretty re-mote, but I managed to re-arrange the offi cers’ duty-roster leaving me an eighteen-hour win-dow, and convinced my C.O. I could make it to Jerusalem and back in time to cover the next patrol.
This was no easy feat, as it usually took a good eight hours to get all the way down, but the thought of being in civilization even for just an hour, was more than I could resist.
All told, I ended up in Jerusalem for about three hours, which was enough to pick up a beautiful set of ‘ arbah minim’, and ended up spending a good fi fteen hours in travel. The challenge of keeping my Lulav intact and ko-sher while hitchhiking in a variety of small cars was not simple, but I made it back to base with my ‘arbah minim’ intact.
All of which gave me a whole different level of appreciation for the mitzvah that particular year.
So on the morning of Sukkot, just back from a patrol, I found myself all alone in
what passed for the synagogue on our base. It was too hot to pray inside, so I stepped
outside and, facing south towards Jerusalem continued my prayers. There is a point in the Hallel prayers which really hit me:
“Ma’ ashiv la’Hashem?” “What have I to give back to G-d?”
There are certain moments in life, when you appreciate the gifts you have been given. In the middle of a war zone, with men get-ting killed or injured every day, and the num-ber of close calls and near misses too many to count, you realize that life is a gift and you wonder why you are lucky enough to still be here, and, in silent gratitude, you pray yet again that you will succeed in making the life you have been given worth living.
And in the midst of all these thoughts, deep in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, with the Shouf Mountain Range rising up above, a niggun just popped into my head and I began to sing. And pretty soon, lost in the moment, I actually began to dance.
It was a pretty powerful experience, un-til in the course of my experience I turned around and realized I was not alone. Stand-ing about twenty feet behind me were the base cook and a couple of soldiers on kitchen detail, including one of my men.
Judging by the expressions on their fac-es, they must have thought I was absolutely mad. And who could blame them?
It was for me a deeply spiritual moment, which of course begs the question: What is spirituality, and how do we experience it in our lives? This week I was privileged to at-tend an incredible conference, run by the Center for the Jewish Future of Yeshiva Uni-versity, one of whose themes was the chal-lenge of infusing Jewish life with spirituality. Four hundred Jewish leaders from all over the world came together with an eye towards exploring the needs of the Jewish people go-ing forward, one of which is a deep sense
that people yearn for a more spiritual Jewish experience. So what is spirituality and how do we make it part of our lives?
Obviously, spirituality is an experience that touches and connects us to our spirit or soul; what we refer to in Hebrew as the ne-shama. And the common perception is that we are looking for a soul experience, but we don’t often discuss just how to accomplish this lofty goal.
The truth is, we don’t need to access our souls; we are souls ; we simply need to learn how to get out of the way. And if the essence of a person’s soul is that it represents the meaning and purpose of why we are here, then a soulful a.k.a. spiritual experience, is one that it allows us to connect to what we think our purpose in this world really is. And of course, in order to connect to why we are here, we need to connect to the source of what we are about here; we need to connect to G-d. Indeed, a spiritual experience is an opportunity to have a meaningful connec-tion, a relationship with G-d. But most of us never take the time, nor do we discuss just how one does this. How does one connect to G-d? How do we have a meaningful, and even a loving relationship with Hashem, our creator? In effect, how can we (do we even want to) actually fall in love… with G-d?
Judaism suggests that love is all about giving. The Hebrew term for love, ahavah, is related to the ancient Aramaic term ‘hav’ which means to give. Love is all about giv-ing, which is what makes it so different from lust which is all about taking. And of course, the more you give to anything the more you love it. That is why we love our children so much, because we give them everything, and it is also why sometimes our (especially teen-age) children have diffi culty loving us, if they don’t feel (or we don’t allow them to feel) they have much to give us. In fact if you want to love something more, just practice giving
to it. Maybe that is why some of us so deeplylove the land of Israel; because we have givenup so much for it.
So how does one love G-d? Simply by giv-ing to G-d.
And how does one actually give to G-d who is perfection? If Hashem creates us witha purpose, and we can fi gure (or at leastthink we fi gure) out what that purpose is,then maybe we give back to G-d by living upto that purpose. If in whatever we are doing,we feel we are living up to the reason we arehere then that allows for a deep soul connec-tion; or, for those of us interested in a deeperconnection with G-d, allows us to literally,fall in love with G-d.
And whether we are picking up a piece of litter on a NYC street, helping a neighbor with groceries, lighting Shabbat candles, or even dancing in Lebanon, if in that momentwe allow ourselves to experience, for evena moment, a sense of ‘for this, perhaps, theworld has become a little better with me init; for this was I created’; then we will allowourselves the spiritual windows that makelife worth living.
Maybe it is time, because we so need it, toshare with our communities, and especially our youth a more G-d conscious curriculum, and a more G-d conscious life.
For an excellent treatment of this topicsee Rabbi David Aaron’s Endless Light and Secret Life of G-d , two excellent books thatexplore what G-d really is, and how we cancreate a deeper and more meaningful rela-tionship with G-d.
Rav Binny Freedman, Rosh Yeshivat Oraytain Jerusalem’s Old City is a Company Com-mander in the IDF reserves, and lives in Efratwith his wife Doreet and their four children. His weekly Internet ‘Parsha Bytes’ can befound at www.orayta.org
Dances with G-d
Opinion
FROM THE HEART OF JERUSALEM
Rabbi Binny Freedman
By Sergey Kadinsky
On July 9, fl ags fl uttered and military bands marched though the dust-covered streets of Juba, capital of South Sudan, the world’s newest recognized independent na-tion. Among the messages of congratulation, the Israeli message spoke of full cooperation, while hinting at the social and economic ties between the two states.
“We wish it success. This is a peace-seeking country and we would be pleased to cooperate with it in order to ensure its de-velopment and its prosperity, Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at his weekly cabinet meeting.
The announcement follows a fi ve decade-long civil war between the largely Arab Mus-lim northern Sudan, and the animist and Christian southern region, where the Sudan People’s Liberation Army has been fi ghting for independence.
“The road to independence has been long and bitter. More than two million died and four million were driven from their homes during the civil war. South Sudan has fi nally been,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris.
While the war raged on, Israel had a com-mon enemy with the south Sudanese, the
Khartoum-based government of General Omar al-Bashir, who sheltered and fi nanced anti-Israel terrorist groups, and whose hu-man rights record in Darfur resulted in a war
crimes indictment by the International Court of Justice. In April, Sudan accused Israel of bombing a car outside Port Sudan. While Is-rael did not confi rm the hit, it accused Sudan of smuggling arms to Hamas.
While South Sudan celebrates, it also fac-es challenges, emerging as one of the world’s least developed countries. Echoing Israel’s support for the newborn African nation, Harris announced that the AJC is partner-ing with IsrAID, the government-sponsored partnership with nonprofi ts, in supporting South Sudan. “The noble work of IsraAID is emblematic of Israel’s humanitarian ethos.”
American Jewish World Service, the Manhattan-based nonprofi t that works with grassroots groups in developing countries also congratulated South Sudan, while keep-ing its focus on the neighboring Sudanese re-gion of Darfur, where native African Muslim groups were massacred and expelled by Arab militias over much of the past decade.
“At this moment of celebration, we must also remain focused on the abhorrent vio-lence that continues along the border and in Darfur,” said AJWS president Ruth Mess-inger. “When aggression and gross violations of basic human rights are routinely tolerated, these actions repeat themselves with grave results.”
Messinger said that while AJWS is inter-ested in South Sudan, it does not have estab-lished grassroots contacts in the country, in comparison to its work in Chad and Darfur.
Within Israel, there are approximately8,000 Sudanese refugees, and Interior Min-ister Eli Yishai vowed to return them to theirhomeland. “It’s good that they won indepen-dence. This will reduce the refugees to Israel from there and will make it easier for us toreturn infi ltrators from the Sudan.”
Advocates of refugees expressed caution,arguing that deportations must be carriedout within the framework of international law. “With the recognition of South Sudan,Israel should be cognizant of their rights. There should be mutually approved provi-sions for their repatriation,” said New Israel Fund spokeswoman Naomi Paiss, whose or-ganization assists African refugees living inIsrael.
For now, the mood is celebratory andthe South Sudanese representative to Israelspeaks of close ties. “We hear about the his-tory of Israel. There is no difference betweenSouth Sudan and Israel,” Bith Thiyang said in an interview with Haaretz. “The southern-ers love Israel more than anyone. Even kidsin South Sudan will tell you Israel is our best friend in the world.”
Israel and Jewish leaders congratulate newborn South Sudan
Unlike its parent country, newly inde-pendent South Sudan recognizes Is-rael .
Mensch on the street By Ariel Rosenbloom
What is your image of G-d?
“I’m a Jew and I hate that I grew up having to live a Catholic life. I therefore see Hashem as very accepting and forgiving.”
LEWIS “LAIBLA” CAMACHOretired New York City Parks Depart-ment security offi cer, Oceanside
“A being that is con-stantly looking out for us, loves us, and is always doing what’s best for us. He’s our guide to life.”
DOVI GROSSERD.R.S. graduate, Cedarhurst
“The ocean”
MOSHE STREITERFar Rockaway
“G-d is really in us. When Hashem shines, our neshama shines. ”
ORAN BENDELSTEINyouth director at the Jewish Center of At-lantic Beach, Atlantic Beach
“I’d say defi nitely an angelic fi gure sur-rounded by a bright setting with nice clouds; just a calm atmosphere.”
DAVID MASRYQueens College, Junior, Woodmere
“We both see him as a big white fog.”
TOVA NISSAN AND ADINA LEBOVITZCentral High School graduates, Great Neck/Wood-mere
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ences, yet also paint us a picture of similari-ties between the two sects. For example, the “Farbrengen” and “Loft Party” paintings each represent strikingly different vibes, in addi-tion to the shared feelings of happiness and comfort.
“You have your hasidic group, and then also your artsy type. So the painting of the hasidic party is composed of only males and then the hipster painting shows women and men partying together, and that was just re-ally unique,” said Mileise Sabbatini.
One could infer from the paintings that the amount of importance placed on main-taining a group’s way of life, and preserving its own values, portrays structure and order as commonalities between the two cultures.
“I’m from Massachusetts but I went to art school at Pratt, where many of my classmates were turning into hipsters after the hipster boom kind of came about,” Sudin said. “Pratt is just south of Wlliamsburg so the Satmar hasidim were right there, and then our kind of quirky neighbors. The more that I began to explore what it is about the Satmar Chassidic culture, and then as the hipster cul-ture was developing, I started seeing these similarities.” Gallery goers agreed with Su-din, noting how she highlighted the culture of both groups through color and gestures.
“On the outside, they seem so different and it seems as though the hipsters lack structure, but they actually have structure,” said Moshe Green. “They might show it in different ways, judging by their values, but at the end of the day they both want very similar things out of life.”
When Sudin is not painting, she and her fi lmmaker husband Saul Sudin publish the online SUDINmagazine and Jewishartnow.com, which promote contemporary Jewish art in the New York region. The Sudins are
seeking to turn their online magazine into an anthology book at the end of this year, and are raising funds for this project.
“We promote news, reviews, events andinspiration for Jewish artists around thewhole world,” Saul Sudin said. “We collabo-rate with the people to promote contempo-rary Jewish art.”
By Maxine Dovere
A four-alarm fi re tore into a historic Man-hattan synagogue, placing the 110-year-old Kehilath Jeshurun, a modern Orthodox con-gregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, in danger of collapse.
Throughout the tony Manhattan neigh-borhood, fi re department vehicles screamed towards the burning structure. Local resi-dents, synagogue members and media poured into the quiet block that was the home of the synagogue. Within an hour, close to a thousand were in the street as the synagogue, which was founded in 1872, was engulfed in fl ames. Smoke billowed through the collapsed roof and seeped through the historic façade as fi re-fi ghters perched on ex-tended ladders pouring streams of water into the structure. Smoke steamed out of the once glorious stained glass windows.
On the street, fl ashing red and white lights glared in the hot summer night. The block between Park Avenue to Lexington Avenue on 85th Street was cordoned off and all non essential personnel were removed from the closed zone. A Fire Department spokesman warned of a “possible building collapse.”
One fi refi ghter was observed being re-moved by stretcher from the scene. Accord-ing to sources, four of New York’s Bravest suf-fered minor injuries; no civilians were hurt.
Religious artifacts, including the congre-gation’s Torah scrolls, had been previously removed for the building’s ongoing renova-
tion. “We’re lucky,” Rabbi Haskel Look-stein said, “every Torah scroll is as special as a human life.” The venerable Rabbi briefl y shared words of inspiration with the gath-ered crowd. “There are two ways you can look at this,” said the rabbi, who has been serving the shul for more than 52 years. “You can cry over the loss, which is a very very real thing. But the most important thing to do in the face of something like this, is to ask yourself, ‘how do we respond? Now, what do
you do when you have just had a loss?’…We will rebuild.”
“Rabbi Lookstein is a hero. I am taken by his courage. They will rebuild,” reiterated Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Executive Vice Presi-dent of the New York Board of Rabbis, who stood with the stoic Rabbi Lookstein as he addressed reporters at the scene.
“Every rabbi and every Jew, every New Yorker has their heart with this congrega-tion. We want to see this congregation re-
built, and become more vibrant than ever,” Rabbi Yakov Kermaier of the Fifth AvenueSynagogue.
Flames remained visible through the westfacing windows of the structure even an hour after the fi re was declared under control. By10:35, Fire Department personnel and FireDepartment vehicles had begun to leave the area in front of the building. With the fi reunder control, residents of the neighbor-ing building were allowed to return to theirapartments. The Ramaz Upper School build-ing opposite the synagogue is undamaged; the status of the contiguous building is un-known.
NYFD Deputy Chief Jim Hodgens, com-manding offi cer on the scene, said the Build-ings Department would assess the stability ofthe 110 year old structure. The Chief statedthat there was no imminent danger of col-lapse, and accordingly local residents were allowed to return to their homes.
Close to 50 fi re and rescue vehicles re-sponded to the fi re. After the fl ames hadbeen extinguished, as vehicles were leav-ing the scene, fi re fi ghters, police and fi re marshals were queried about the origin ofthe fi re, “It’s too early. It’s just too early,” re-sponded a Fire Marshall. ”Nothing has beenruled out and nothing has been confi rmed…The investigators will be here all night, the investigation is just beginning.”
Historic Kehilath Jeshurun engulfed by fl ames
By Sergey Kadinsky
When Bellmore resident Alan Forman, 58, received his honorary degree from the Tech-nion Institute in Haifa, it was in recognition of his work in promoting the school in the local Jewish community.
“My business partner Jonathan Sohn is an alum of Technion. Years ago, I attended a Technion breakfast with students and made it my mission,” Forman said. An engineer by trade, Forman is a founder of Altronix, a Brooklyn-based manufacturer of low-voltage electronic equipment.
Forman’s support of Technion began in 1994 with the Alan & Tatyana Forman En-dowed Scholarship Fund. Since then, he has funded numerous projects towards the school’s expansion, including a student dor-mitory. On the local level, Forman is a for-mer director of the New York Chapter of the American Technion Society, which promotes the century-old engineering school in the lo-cal Jewish community.
Forman received his honorary degree alongside Oscar Davis, a Manhattan resi-dent who runs Haywood Industries, a New Jersey-based producer of swimming pool equipment. Going beyond fundraising, Davis founded a fellowship at the school and hired a few Technion graduates for his company. “I am contributing to an institution that I wholly believe in. Its goals and future are so important, and I am proud to be able to help the Technion meet its objectives,” Davis said. Both Forman and Davis sit on the school’s Board of Governors.
Looking at the school’s future, Forman said that nanotechnology is growing at Tech-nion, as well as interdisciplinary sciences. Next year, Technion will celebrate its centen-nial as one of Zionism’s pioneering achieve-ments.
“We need to retain the brain power,” For-man said. “The gifts from the Jewish com-munity to Technion will benefi t Israel and the world.”
Photo by Ariel Rosenbloom
Sudin’s painting of a hipster couple inWilliamsburg on display in Cedarhurst.
Photo by Maxine Dovere
Following the massive fi re, FDNY chaplain Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and Kehillat Jeshurun’s Rabbi Haskel Lookstein speak to the press.
Bellmore resident honored by Technion
Photo courtesy of American Technion Society
Bellmore’s Alan Forman recieving his honorary degree in Haifa.
Hipsters and Hasids exhibitContinued from page 2
By Brigitte Fixler
Local yeshiva students have been making their mark in the fi elds of science and technology this past year.
At the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, students spent months building a robot for the Gildor Family Projects and Inventions competition, an Israeli science and technology contest for high school students. HANC was one of only two American teams present at the fi nals, which took place on June 30 in Israel.
Back in May, HANC had been victorious at the Gildor semi-fi nals in New Jersey. The team demonstrated a robot that was capable of performing various tasks, such as avoid-ing barriers, sensing direction, and following another vehicle at a specifi ed distance.
The students’ trip to Israel was enjoyable as well as educa-tional. In addition to touring the country, the team also met a lot of Israeli students who shared their love for technol-ogy. Though HANC did not win the fi nals, the students had a meaningful and fun experience.
“We did really well and I’m proud of everything we did,” said student Daniel Albert.
Albert says that in addition to learning about robotics and electricity, Gildor taught something even more important—teamwork.
“Without the build team and the programming team or anyone else, we would never have gotten any of this com-pleted,” he said.
The Gildor competition inspired a new love of science and technology in HANC students. Next September, HANC will be one of fi ve Yeshiva High Schools in the United States to imple-ment a new CIJE [Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education] Scientifi c Engineering course for high school students. In this program, tenth grade students will begin a three-year sequence in Scientifi c and Biotechnology engineering, which
will be taught by Gildor coach Matthew Breig. Assistant coach Shoshana Sigal, a graduating senior, had
been fascinated by engineering for a long time. Her expe-rience with Gildor only strengthened her interest. She will be attending Michlalah seminary next year, and after she returns, she plans on studying chemical engineering at The Cooper Union.
“[Gildor] opened up my mind to the whole spectrum of engineering, and to different things that are out there,” said Sigal.
Students at other schools have also been hard at work learning about different kinds of technology. Last Friday, stu-dents from Yeshivah Ketana of Long Island (YKLI) fl ew to Kennedy Space Center to witness the launch of space shuttle Atlantis – with the students’ own science experiment on-board. The fi fth through seventh graders had spent months developing their own experiments, and the winning experi-ment – “Deposition and Formation of Zinc Phosphate Crys-tals in Microgravity” – was selected to accompany Atlantis on its 12-day mission to the International Space Station.
The launch of Atlantis STS-135 on July 8th marked the fi nal mission of the NASA space shuttle program, which has spanned 30 years.
“The kids were phenomenal,” said Stew Greenberg, a parent of one of the students and the project’s coordinator. “They enjoyed every minute of it.”
Several months ago, YKLI had applied to the Student Spacefl ight Experiments Program (SSEP). Out of all the schools that had applied, only 11 were chosen to participate. YKLI was the only school in New York State selected, as well as the only yeshiva.
Despite weather concerns, approximately 36 students, teachers, and parents fl ew down to Florida last Thursday night. They awoke early Friday morning and headed down to the takeoff sight, where they were treated to an up-close view
of the shuttle launch. Though they were away from school, the students kept
up their studies by having a daf yomi shiur on the day of the shuttle launch.
“It was a very big kiddush Hashem,” said Greenberg.On Sunday, the students returned to Kennedy Space Cen-
ter, where they enjoyed lunch with NASA astronaut BruceMelnick.
When Atlantis returns to Kennedy Space Center, the ex-periment will be returned to the YKLI students for compari-son to the identical experiments they had conducted in theirown lab in Inwood. Some of the students hope to return toKennedy in order to watch the shuttle’s landing.
Two local yeshivas celebrate science wins
HANC & YKLI, rockets and robots
Photo courtesy of YKLI
Students from Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
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July 14-15, 17Book Music and Movie FairJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WEST HEMP-STEAD, located at 711 Dogwood Avenue in West Hempstead, will be hosting a Book, Music and Movie Fair. The fair begins on July 14 with a pre-view sale from 10 a.m. to noon. There will be a $5 admission charge for the fi rst two hours. Admis-sion is free following this and on all the dates of the event. The fair runs until 5 p.m. on all dates. Dor more information, contact 516-481-7448.
July 16The Roots of Tisha b’AvYOUNG Israel OF LAWRENCE-CEDARHURST, located at 8 Spruce Street in Cedarhurst, is hosting Rabbi David Fohrman, who will speak on the topic of Moshe, the Rock, and the Spies- the Roots of Tisha b’Av, as the Three Weeks of mourning approach. The lecture begins at 5 p.m. and is sponsored by Easther & Nachman Goodman in memory of heir fathers. For more information, contact 516-569-3324
July 17Formula for a successful relationshipCHAZAQ is hosting noted lecturer Rabbi Label Lam at Congregation Beth Gavriel, located at 66-35 108 Street in Forest Hills. Rabbi Lam is the co-founder of the Monsey-based Foundations for Jewish Learning. He will be speaking on strate-gies for successful relationships. Refreshments will be served at this free public event, which begins at 8:15 p.m. For more information, contact 917-617-3636
NYC SchlepAMERICAN FRIENDS OF RABIN MEDICAL CENTER is holding its fi rst annual 5K run/walk in Manhat-tan’s Battery Park, raising funds for breast cancer treatment and fellowships at the Rabin Medical Center in Israel. The cost for adults is $26. The event runs from 9 a.m. to noon. To register or donate, contact 212-279-2522 or email [email protected]
July 18The key to shalomCONGREGATION SHAARAY TEFILA, located at 25 Central Avenue in Cedarhurst, is hosting Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, who will speak on the keys to peace within family relationships. The event is part of the larger Mishmeres HaSholom initiative that promotes the study of shmiras lalashon. Rabbi Rietti is a senior lecturer at the Gateways organization and director of teacher training at Mishkan Yecheskel. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation is $18. For more information, contact [email protected]
Mid-age singles meetingFIVE TOWNS SHIDDUCH CLUB would like to intro-duce local Orthodox singles in their 40s and 50s to each other at a poolside event in Lawrence. The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. at a private resi-dence, location disclosed to those who register. The fee is $45 per person. For more information, contact Batsheva Donner at 516-426-8017
July 20Unity baseball gameSEASONS SUPERMARKET is sponsoring a baseball showdown between the Flatbush Hatzoloh and the NYPD PBBS teams at Coney Island’s MCU Park, located at 1904 Surf Avenue in Brooklyn. Pro-ceeds form the game will benefi t the Sergeants Benevolent Association Scholarship & Assistance fund, and various local gemachs. The Jewish Star is an inning sponsor at this game. The game begins at 6 p.m. For individual tickets, contact 718-467-8726 or [email protected]
July 21Hewlett Chabad challah bakingCHABAD OF HEWLETT, located at 1606 Hewlett Avenue is holding a challah baking course, run
by Rabbi Nuchem and Rivkie Tenenboim. The year-old Chabad is one of the newest in the area, working to promote daily observance of mitzvoth among the unaffi liated. This free event for women begins at 7:30 p.m. For more information, contact 516-295-3413.
July 29Boardwalk Shabbat DinnerBACH Jewish Center, located at 210 Edwards Boulevard in Long Beach is holding its annual summer boardwalk dinnersome 300 participants are expected for its Friday night rooftop Shabbat service, followed by an elegant outdoor meal on the Long Beach boardwalk. The event is led by Rabbi Eli & Beila Goodman, and Azi & Jessica Cutter. Reservations are required. The cost is $30 for adults and $20 for children. Visitors are encouraged to call Allegria Hotel for special event-related rates. For more information, con-tact 516-897-2473 or visit www.BachYouth.com.
July 31The sandwich generationCONGREGATION ANSHEI CHESED, located at 1107 William Street in Hewlett, is holding a program on the simultaneous commitment of raising children while assisting elderly parents. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. Topics include “Impact on the family and quality of life. The event is cosponsored by OU and MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care. For more information, contact 212-613-8188.
August 3Sisterhood shidduchimYOUNG ISRAEL OF OCEANSIDE, located at 150 Waukena Avenue, is holding its sisterhood shid-duch meeting. Women are encouraged to bring with them shidduch profi les of men they seek to match. The event begins at 8 p.m. For mroe informaiton, contact Lenore Stamm at [email protected]
OngoingParkinson support groupTHE JCC OF THE GREATER FIVE TOWNS hosts every Tuesday a Parkinson’s Support Group, shich brings together Parkinsonians, spouses and their families in order to help them better understand the nature of the condition, gain confi dence and join in community activities. For further information, please contact Cathy Byrne at 569-6733 x220.
ON THE
CalendarSubmit your shul or organization’s events or shiurim to [email protected].
Deadline is Wednesday of the week prior to publication.
By Alex Costello
The Chabad of Oceanside has a home and it opens immediately. Purchased on June 30, the 17,000-square-foot building will serve a variety of programs for the 11-year-old Chabad outpost.
Until now, Chabad had been using a space indefi nitely, funded by a benefactor, but re-cently, due to the fi nancial crisis, the donor was unable to continue subsidizing the space.
“We found ourselves in the position that the building was on the open market,” Rabbi Levi Gurkov said. “With the help of the com-munity, we were able to make a deal with the bank and buy it.”
Rabbi Gurkov said that the only reason the Chabad was able to purchase the build-ing was because the community rallied be-hind the organization and donated to the cause.
“Ever since we started here at the Chabad of Oceanside, we’ve always been giving to the community,” Rabbi Gurkov explained. “We relied on numerous benefactors in the past that let us help people in any way, fashion or form — whether it be monetary, emotional or religious services or anything of that sort. And we did this for all these years. And then when it came time for the community to ac-tually give back to Chabad, they responded tremendously.”
Now that Chabad owns the building, Rabbi Gurkov said that the organization
is already going to expand its popular pre-school program, sacrifi cing space formerlyused for worship to accommodate more chil-dren. But with that trade off, Rabbi Gurkovexpects ceremonies for the High Holy Days— which usually draw more worshipers, toget crowded and based on advance reserva-tion.
“Our doors are not closed, we’re not changing any of our policies,” Rabbi Gurkovsaid. “But due to the fact that there is limited space, it would be prudent for people to re-serve a seat, otherwise there will be a severelack of space for people.”
In addition to religious services and the preschool program, the Oceanside Chabadalso runs a Hebrew school, a Torah class, Bar and Bat Mitzvah clubs, youth clubs andwomen’s groups. Rabbi Gurkov said that theChabad will continue to expand all of its pro-grams and add new ones.
“We want to open up something for chil-dren with special needs,” Gurkov said. “Nowthat we have the space and know that we canopen up another chapter here, we’re looking to expand the community-based services.”
Rabbi Gurkov said that the programsare his expression of gratitude to the com-munity for its effort in securing the buildingpurchase. “The community came together,” Rabbi Gurkov said. “It wasn’t just a single ef-fort. It was a community-wide effort, and ev-erybody came together. That’s the only wayit would have happened.”
O’side Chabad moves inAfter 11 years, organization purchases its building
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The most precious and costly commod-ity in Manhattan is space. Because of this spatial defi ciency, even some of the
city’s fi nest restaurants are no more than glo-rifi ed nooks. The expense is simply too great for most establishments to maintain, espe-
cially in certain neigh-borhoods where the cost of space borders on excessive. So when I say to you that Milk Street Cafe, the new kosher restaurant lo-cated at 40 Wall Street, takes up no less then 23,000 square feet, it should tell you in no uncertain terms how seriously owner Marc Epstein takes the busi-ness of building a suc-cessful restaurant.
Embodying the “Go big or go home” ethos,
Milk Street Cafe opens up to a spacious front end ornamented tastefully with modern sen-sibilities. The stone fl oor is intricately deco-rated, stretching out into 8,000 square feet of equally well-decorated prep stations. These stations offer a vast, almost mind-boggling variety of foods that run the gamut of Cafe style items. Diners can customize pasta, sal-ads, and sandwiches on top of being able to
get sushi, bakery, soups, and prepared grill items. What makes Milk Street Cafe truly unique though is not that they offer so many items, it’s that they offer them in both dairy and meat.
Whereas most restaurants need to restrict their menus to either of the two options, Milk Street Cafe has found a way to merge the two modalities of kosher restaurants with an el-egant, if not grandiose solution in their prep kitchens.
Stretching out behind Milk Street’s front end are several kitchens, with a combined space that is three times larger than the main dining area. These kitchens are separated by corridors, and each kitchen is distinctly marked by its different color fl oor tile, which signifi es if it is the dairy, meat or parve. When working in these kitchens, the culinary staff wear aprons and hats that is specifi c to each kitchen. The kitchens themselves are glorious monuments to modern day culinary production. Every bell, whistle, and kitchen appliance you could possibly need is neatly squared away at its corresponding prep sta-tion. This allows The Milk Street Cafe to act as a catering company, capable of servicing large corporate events.
What I really liked about the Milk Street Cafe, outside of its dining options, innovative structure, willingness to push the envelope, and the very affable owner, is the food. I highly recommend the peppercorn rubbed roast beef with red peppers and horseradish
sauce, and the smoked turkey salad with sun dried tomatoes. Both these sandwiches are served on wonderfully fresh bread that has a nice crunch crust with a soft interior. To me this is paramount for a good sandwich, and so the combination of the excellent fl avors of the meat and the texture of the fresh bread make for one of the better sandwiches avail-able in New York. A friend of mine chose to go the milchig route, and had the fettuccine with wild mushrooms in a light cream sauce. He said that he found it to be “very tasty and very fi lling”. I also recommend trying an of-fering from the Milk Street Cafe’s rotisserie. In particular their KC BBQ brisket, which is smoky, sweet, and cooked to a melt in your mouth perfection.
As I sat sampling my sandwiches, I real-ized that The Milk Street Cafe caters to all walks of life. A non-kosher eater could eas-
ily walk into the restaurant and never knowthey were at a kosher establishment. It sofl awlessly integrates the different cuisines insuch a graceful and thoughtful way that the effect is seamless. Owner Marc Epstein saysthat he is “living the dream” in bringing hissuccessful Boston restaurant to New York. But what I don’t think he realizes is that he is actualizing the dream of a number of kosherconsumers as well, by providing a kosher en-vironment that feels like dining in a high-endcafe that happens to be kosher. It’s just onemore large step towards the mainstreaming of kosher food. I can’t wait to go back and continue working my way through its exten-sive menu.
Zechariah Mehler is a widely published foodwriter and expert in social marketing. Followhim on Twitter @thekoshercritic
Excellent meat options at Milk Street
THE KOSHER CRITIC
Zechariah Mehler
Photo by Chaia Mehler
The sushi counter at the newly opened Milk Street Cafe in Manhattan’s Finan-cial District. The restaurant offers separate milchig and fl eishig sections.
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By David Benkof
Across1. Tops of buildings6. Grooved on9. Chin indentation14. Yaacov Agam’s work15. Prior to16. Shatnez ingredient17. Revisionist Zionist youth movement18. The Faisal-Weizmann ____ of 191920. Jewish labor activist Rose22. Aries or Taurus23. ___ Gedi24. Businesses: Abbr.27. Spiritual musician and rabbi who died in 199433. Wissotsky product34. Nose-in-the-air type35. Atlanta-based airline that fl ies to Israel36. Quality of some manuscripts38. Coordinates in a way41. ___-a-Jewish-story42. Bar Mitzvah is “___ of passage”44. Genuine46. Early fi fth-century date47. He translated the Mishna into German51. Offensive Hebrew letter?52. Site of the Tenement Mus.53. Zeta Beta ___ (Jewish fraternity)54. Contested waterway60. Canadian juggler-comic63. With a chill64. Playful aquatic animal65. Chelsea Mezvinsky, ___ Clinton66. Brains67. Showtime comedy starring the Jewish Botwins68. Foxy69. JNF items
Down1. Reiner and Schneider2. Group with many Arab members3. “@#$%!,” e.g.4. “Howl” actor James5. Hasidic and Conservadox6. ___ Sea Scrolls7. Craving8. ___ Rebbe (Yaakov Aryeh Alter)9. Picked up10. Draw11. Suffi x with Ess12. Wetland
13. Network for Kyra Sedgwick’s “The Closer”19. “God’s Presence in History” author Fack-enheim21. Wrinkle removers24. Like some cats25. Sets of eight26. Captive Gilad27. Predicament28. Final transport29. Rodeo ring?30. Not forthright31. Judge Mikva32. Hospital unit37. Pilot’s announcement, briefl y39. New Deal agcy.40. Bars43. Some desserts45. 19th century enemy of Russian Jews48. Magazine genre49. Israelis and Syrians and others50. Squeezer of a kind54. Ran, as colors55. Political activist Dayan56. “I’m locked out. Can I borrow ___?”57. “...who createth the fruit of the ___.”58. “If all ___ fails ...”59. Some deli breads60. Comic book punch sound61. Enjoyed kugel62. Colorado native
Answers will appear next week
Last week’s answers
The Jerusalem Post Crossword Puzzle
Dear Aviva,I’ve been friends with someone for the
past 20 years. We grew up near each other and were in school together from elemen-tary all the way to college. Now that we both have our own families, I am realizing more and more that she is (and has always been) a very jealous and negative person. She never seems to actually care about me or what I’m going through. I don’t even know why she’s kept up the connection this long.
If I fi rst met her at this point in my life, I probably would avoid her. Am I stuck with her just because there is a history? And is there any good way to cut ties without en-raging her?
-Criticized Comrade
Dear Criticized Comrade,Good for you that you actually have grown
emotionally in addition to growing in years. Consider your back patted.
So, can you be artifi cial friends with this person? Between Facebook, Twitter, email-ing and texting, you can totally maintain a relationship that is up to par without actually investing any emotional energy into it! Hur-ray for socialization that doesn’t actually go deeper! Use it to your full advantage, baby.
If this doesn’t fl y with her, like if she is one of the 13 people who doesn’t have a Face-book page, or if she actually has to pay for texting, then you need a new plan.
Basically, you will have to decide what you can handle. Are you strong enough to pity her jealousy, or does her negativity seep in? If you can laugh it off when she fi nds a way to criticize you when you look good, then try maintaining a minimal friendship. How do you know what her defi nition of a minimal friendship is? Lay low, and then when you see that she starts to feel neglected, you’ve found her threshold level. Is it a lunch date every month, or a 30-minute phone conver-sation every week?
Whatever it is, maintain it. Unless she is really, really needy. If she expects you to call her every night, then you must build a nice strong boundary in the form of “My family needs me, I will call you later this week.”
If the situation is not such that you can stay healthy while throwing this dog a bone, we need to shift gears. If you fi nd yourself feeling inadequate when you are with her, or if you feel very angry after bidding her adieu, these may be signs that she is sapping you dry. First step? Stand up for yourself. “Well, I don’t think this necklace is overkill.” Or, “Re-ally? Because it doesn’t bother me at all that my daughter’s mustache has begun to grow in.”
Immediately after your defense, you have to inject something positive in. Like, “I’m happy I wore such a heavy necklace. The clink-clink of it gives me more bounce in my step.” Or, “Maybe Chani’s facial hair will make her focus more on her middos than the mirror.”
There is a school of thought called “solu-tion-focused therapy”. The solution-focused therapist reframes things with a positive spin so that the person is able to detect his/her resources. The naysayers of this kind of therapy have dubbed it “solution-forced therapy.” That’s what it’s going to be for you. Get together with your friend, be as sunny as can be, even if it means pulling teeth. I’m not looking to make her happier, I’m just won-dering if a more positive tone would wash away your yucky reaction to her.
If your waves of positivity are no match for her tsunami of negativity, then it is time to extricate yourself from this history-laden relationship. I am generally a fan of open, honest communication, but in this case I think “I’m dumping you” will do more harm than good. Is there another way that you can think of to tell her what’s going on?
If you are dead-set against any confronta-tion (and I hope that isn’t a general rule of life for you), then just step it down a little and let the friendship fade and fl utter away.
Now keep on living life with good infl u-ences.
-Aviva
Aviva Rizel is a Marriage and Family Ther-apist in private practice who can be reached at [email protected].
Ask Aviva
Seeks to sever friendship
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