Five Towns Jewish Home 12.08.22

ometimes, success seems so easy. I was thinking about that recently while I was watching an ice skating show with my daughter. The performers glided on the ice silkily – jumping, twirl ing, leaping, flipping – all while singing and performing. And I almost felt like I could have been up there skating along with them.

But even though they made ice skating seem like such a natural way of moving, I have a confession to make: I am not an ice skater. Really – no, really – I am not an ice skater. Throughout my teenage years, I always joined my friends on trips to the ice skating rink, but I never really got much further the wall. After a while, though, I was cool with it. I kept joining them, kept enjoying my time hanging around the periphery, maybe venturing out a bit further, but never really felt se cure enough to zoom around the ice. So I can say with certainty that I am not an ice skater. And I can say with even more cer tainty that I wouldn’t be able to join those ice skaters during their performance on the ice.

So, I wondered, why did their incredi ble show make me feel as if I could glide along with them? Why did I feel like I could just zoom around the ice with min imal effort?

Perhaps it was because they made their job seem so easy. They made it look ef fortless and natural to float on top of the ice. And I forgot that this wasn’t the first

time that they laced up their skates. I for got that years of practice brought them to these roles. And I forgot that in order to get to this point, they spent hours and hours training, rehearsing, preparing, and nursing their sore muscles.

Sometimes, we look at other people’s successes and we think that their accom plishments were produced with minimal effort. I can do that, too, you think. It’s not so hard. But true success isn’t a gift, a freebie, handed out to the lucky winner. True success is the product of intense ef forts. It’s the result of years of struggle, of fierce determination, of bouts of failure, of a burning desire to attain a goal. But the only person who is aware of all that exertion is the person who was on that journey. The observers, the ones who just see the end-product, can’t comprehend the sweat and the sleepless nights that brought them to this crescendo.

We all want to achieve success in dif ferent areas of life. Some are more per sonal, others are more professional, still others are more developmental. But the only way to achieve those goals is to move towards your endpoint surely, with deter mination. It won’t be easy, and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight, but those who end up being triumphant are the ones who remember that there’s a process to success.

Yitzy Halpern, PUBLISHER publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

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THOUGHT

Dear Editor,

This is in response to the Teen Talk column from last week.

I think it’s very nice of you and your friends to want to help this girl! Your hearts are in the right place.

I do, however, want to share a famous children’s story.

Once upon a time, there was a boy who was very poor. One day, he heard about a banquet that was open to anyone. He walked in, but no one made room for him.

Dejected, he went home and told his mother. Luckily, she had been weaving a beautiful cloak for him to wear, and now it was ready, so she gave it to him for this occasion.

He went back to the banquet wearing his new, beautiful cloak. Suddenly, he was the most popular person at the party! Ev eryone wanted him to sit at their table.

He approached one table and put his cloak down on the chair. “Eat, cloak, eat,” he said. Everyone was confused. “Why are you talking to your cloak?” they asked.

“When I first came here in shabby clothes, I was invisible to you,” he ex plained. “Now, in my fancy cloak, you see me and talk to me. So it was never me you wanted. It was my clothes.” And with that, he left the party, and all the people were ashamed.

I read that story when I was young, and I could very much relate to the main character. Growing up, I too always wore the “wrong clothes” and was picked on a lot, partly because my family is work ing class, but really more so because, in truth, I don’t think very much about what I wear. Fashion doesn’t interest me very much.

Girls sometimes approached me and

asked, “Sharon, I’ll give you a makeover and take you shopping!” Their eager, ex pectant faces told me I was supposed to gasp, “Oh my gosh, really? This is my dream come true! No one will ever make fun of me again!”

They didn’t understand when I would mumble, “Um, no thanks.” I wanted friends who would like me regardless of what I looked like. I didn’t want to be anyone’s Pygmalion.

I don’t know if this girl feels the same way. But that’s why you should befriend her first. Once you get to know her well, then you’ll see how she feels about cloth ing, and you’ll know if new clothes are things she actually wants. More impor tantly, she’ll see that she is valued re gardless of her clothes.

Good luck!

Sharon Kew Garden Hills, NY

Dear Editor,

I enjoy reading your “Mind Your Busi ness” column every week.

This week, you highlighted Sim Shain, who offered great points. One point in particular resonated with me. Sim spoke about the importance of public speaking and spoke about how he took a public speaking course and it has helped him in every aspect of life.

What an eye-opening comment! It is so true! Whether you are in business or in college, in an office job or in a sales po sition, you are judged by how you present yourself and how you speak. This is not referring to speaking to a huge audience on a big stage. This is referring to speak ing to

Continued from page 8

the people you meet at a conference or at a wedding, to the neighbors and friends you speak with at the shul kiddush.

Say what you want, but people judge you (subconsciously) when they first meet you. Having speaking skills pres ents you in the most optimal light.

I also want to point out that the same occurs with the written word. Poor writing skills, bad grammar, incorrect spelling, etc. will only present you in a less-than-positive light as well. Remem ber, people don’t always get to meet you. If their first impression of you is: “RLY GR8 2 MEET U!” then they obviously won’t be impressed with who you are – and who can blame them? A thought-out, concise, clear, and proper message to them will convey the message that you are someone with whom they should feel comfortable and motivated to do business with.

Thanks for a great publication!

Sincerely, Rena Morgenstern

Dear Editor, “An Uncomfortable Reader” is so right! There is a huge expectation when it comes to tips in the service industry –and it’s downright ridiculous! A tip should be given commensurate to the experience

that one had with their server or worker.

Nowadays, when waiters can be downright rude, I am sometimes forced to over-tip them because they are hang ing onto the tip pad at the end of a meal. I ask restaurant owners to please change their policy. Waitstaff should not hang ing around and seeing what tip they re ceive. Unless they give good service, they shouldn’t expect anything more than the minimal amount.

Dear Editor,

The Teen Talk question this week was wonderful! It is so nice to hear that our young women are thinking of others and trying to help others.

Dr. Estee Acobas’ answer was won derful as well – she spoke of how helping others should not result in hurting oth ers as well. What a great concept for both young and old!

Chessed should be done in private; it shouldn’t be a showmanship of giving. When we teach our children the power of chessed and the thoughtfulness and care that needs to go into doing chessed, we are raising children that will be nidvei lev and are imparting a solid foundation of following in Hashem’s ways.

Will Iran Abolish the Morality Police?

has been shut,” Al-Alam reiterated on Sunday afternoon.

The decision to dismantle the moral ity police technically lies with the Su preme Council of Cultural Revolution, a body established in the early 1980s by Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, and which is today headed by President Ebrahim Raisi.

Montazeri’s comments about the mo rality police came just two days after the pro-reform outlet Entekhab reported him saying that Iran’s parliament and judiciary were reviewing the country’s mandatory hijab law, which has been in place since 1983.

During a religious conference on Sat urday in the city of Qom, Attorney Gener al Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said that the Iranian morality police was being “abolished,” a comment that was quickly picked up by international media outlets, some of which hailed the “announce ment” as a victory for Iranians who have been protesting against the government for months.

Montazeri’s comment came in re sponse to a reporter who asked if the country’s morality police – or “guidance patrol” – were being disbanded. The at torney general was quoted by an Iranian state media outlet as saying: “Morality police have nothing to do with the ju diciary. It was abolished from the same place it was launched.”

Some are saying the Montazeri’s com ments are being taken out of context; Iran has no intention of abolishing the force. Still others think this is a PR stunt, in which the government is hoping to quell recent unrest that has been rocking the country.

On Sunday, state media was keen to downplay Montazeri’s comments, saying that the morality police does not fall un der the authority of the judiciary.

Arab-language Al-Alam state tele vision claimed foreign media were de picting Montazeri’s comments as “a re treat on the part of the Islamic Republic from its stance on hijab and religious morality as a result of the protests,” but that all that could be understood from his comments was that the morality police were not directly related to the judiciary.

“No official of the Islamic Republic of Iran has said that the Guidance Patrol

A law enforcement body with access to power, arms and detention centers, the morality police are a major point of grievance for Iranians. Notorious for terrorizing citizens as they enforce the country’s conservative rules, the moral ity police have been the main coercive tool implementing Iran’s hijab law.

The force was cast into the inter national spotlight in September, when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died three days after being arrested by the force and taken to a “re-education” center. The group is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union.

China Stems Wave of Protests

In central China, over the weekend, students chanted demands for more transparency about Covid rules, while avoiding the bold slogans that riled the Communist Party a week earlier. In Shanghai, residents successfully negoti ated with local authorities to stop a lock down of their neighborhood. And despite pressure from officials, a team of volun teer lawyers across China, committed to defending the right of citizens to voice their views, fielded anxious calls from protesters.

The recent wave of demonstrations that washed over China was prompted by frustration about pandemic restrictions, but the unrest also sometimes resulted in calls for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to resign. Since then, police have been

out in force to prevent a resurgence, and the mass protests have subsided. In the aftermath, a low-key hum of resistance against the authorities has persisted, suggesting that the big rallies embold ened a small but significant number of people, including students, profession als, and blue-collar workers.

None of those local acts amount to a major challenge to Xi and the Commu nist Party. But they suggest residents are less afraid of challenging officialdom,

albeit in more measured ways. They of ten invoke China’s own laws and policy pledges, an approach less likely to draw the wrath of Communist Party leaders.

In late November, dozens of protests broke out across China, ignited by fury over a deadly fire in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region in the west. The result was the boldest and most wide spread demonstrations in China since the pro-democracy movement of 1989.

The Urumqi government had firmly

denied widespread rumors that the resi dents killed in the fire — 10 by the official count — had been trapped in their apart ments by Covid restrictions. But many Chinese were unconvinced, and grief turned into wider anger at pervasive lockdowns, virus testing and limits on travel. At demonstrations in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities, some protesters called for Xi and the Communist Party to give up power.

The Chinese government has since

taken a two-pronged approach: detaining some protesters and warning would-be protesters, and letting local governments abandon some of the Covid rules that have frustrated the population. Xi has not spoken publicly about the protests, and it is unclear how far the displays of dissent played into his decision to adjust policy. But plenty of Chinese people seem to believe that the nationwide defiance played a big role. They may now try to keep up pressure in smaller ways. (© The New York Times)

Walking with Purpose

On the 76th day of his long march north through the entire length of India, Rahul Gandhi, scion of a once-mighty political dynasty, walked into a tex tile-making town in the middle of this vast country, his face and hair covered in dust.

Gone were the luxury trappings that his adversaries in India’s Hindu nation alist governing party had used to car icature him as entitled and aloof. Now Gandhi was speaking of blistered feet and the struggle of the common man. He was shaking hands with children, hugging older men and women, on what he hoped was a 2,000-mile journey out of the po litical wilderness for his once-dominant Congress party.

“Every democratic institution was shut for us by the government: Parlia ment, media, elections,” Gandhi, 52, told supporters late last month in Burhanpur, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. “There was no other way but to hit the streets to listen and connect with people.”

With a national election less than 16 months away, Gandhi’s march could de termine whether India’s fractured polit ical opposition can do anything to halt the era-defining ambitions of the govern ing Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The future of India as a multiparty democracy hangs in the balance. Modi, one of the most powerful leaders in In dia’s history, has remade its secular po litical foundation to privilege the Hindu

These walls bear witness

The Yeshiva’s walls envelop hundreds of bachurim who spend their days and evenings immersed in the sea of Torah. The walls witness the strength, the commitment, and the joy of our talmidim as they toil to understand each sugya.

18 majority and sideline Muslims and other minorities.

8, 2022

That Gandhi has found it necessary to walk the length of India, fighting to steal a ray of the spotlight and project a new profile, is the culmination of a once-un imaginable reversal of fortune for his family and party.

The Indian National Congress party has led the country for two-thirds of its 75 years of independence, and the Gand hi-Nehru family has produced three prime ministers who governed for a total of nearly four decades.

As the Congress party has withered, its messy scandals and infighting have increasingly played out in public. The muddle created by the family’s inability to reconcile warring factions has resulted in stagnation at the local level, party of ficials say, and high-ranking defections.

“It is our last roll of the dice,” said Jai ram Ramesh, a former federal minister who has been walking with Gandhi. “We are putting everything we have in it. If we don’t make a difference through it, then there is a problem for us both as a par ty and as an ideology.” (© The New York Times)

Mongolians Protest Coal Theft

Most of the demonstrators were col lege students and others in their 20s and 30s, a few bundled up in traditional thick robes, and some holding up placards.

“If you don’t love your country, why be a citizen?” said one. A board held up by another said, “We want to live with dignity in our country.”

“If the citizens rise up, the feast is over!” said another.

half of Mongolia’s 3.2 million people live. In April, thousands of young protesters demonstrated in Sukhbaatar Square.

China is the destination of most of landlocked Mongolia’s exports of coal, cashmere, livestock, and other resources.

Protesters angered by allegations of corruption linked to Mongolia’s coal trade with China tried to force their way into the State Palace in the capital this week, demanding dismissals of officials involved in the scandal.

The U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar is sued an alert on Monday saying that sev eral hundred protesters had gathered in the freezing cold in the city’s Sukhbaatar Square during the weekend and marched to the presidential residence.

The demonstrators chanted and sang, stamping their feet to stay warm. They were demanding that the government hold officials accountable for the alleged theft of 385,000 tons of coal from stock piles on Mongolia’s border with China.

The allegations center around coal from the Tavan Tolgoi region in the south Gobi desert that is being mined by stateowned Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (ETT) and two other companies. Local media re ports said ETT, which is listed on Mon golia’s stock exchange, has been placed under state supervision as the govern ment’s Independent Authority Against Corruption investigates.

Foreign sales of Mongolia’s vast min eral wealth, coal, and other resources are a perennial source of conflict for the country, where nearly one in three peo ple live in poverty. Adding to the frustra tions, the pandemic has left many Mon golians struggling to make ends meet, with inflation topping 15%.

Mongolia transitioned to democracy in the early 1990s after six decades of communism. Peaceful protests are not uncommon in Ulanbaatar, where about

Ukraine Targets Bases in Russia

Ukraine executed its most brazen attack into Russian territory in the 9-month-old war on Monday, targeting two military bases hundreds of miles in side the country using drones, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and a senior Ukrainian official.

The drones were launched from Ukrainian territory, and at least one of the strikes was made with the help of spe cial forces close to the base who helped

20 guide the drones to the target, said the official, speaking on condition of ano nymity to convey sensitive information.

8, 2022

The strikes signaled a new willing ness by Kyiv to take the fight to bases in the heart of Russia, raising the stakes in the war, and demonstrated an improved ability to attack at a distance. Shortly af ter the attacks on the bases, Russia sent a barrage of missiles streaking toward Ukrainian cities.

The Kremlin said that the weapons launched by Ukraine were Soviet-era jet drones and were aimed at bases in Ry azan and Engels, about 300 miles from the Ukrainian border. It said that its forces had intercepted the drones and that “the fall and explosion of the wreckage” had “slight ly damaged” two planes, killing three ser vicemen and wounding four others.

The Engels airfield, on the Volga Riv er in southern Russia, is a base for some of Russia’s long-range, nuclear-capable bombers. Ukrainian officials say it is also a staging ground for Russia’s unre lenting campaign of missile attacks on infrastructure, which have left millions of Ukrainians with intermittent light, heat, or water — or none at all — at the onset of winter. Security footage from an apartment complex near the base showed a fireball lighting up the sky.

The other explosion occurred at the Dyagilevo military base in the central city of Ryazan, about 100 miles from Moscow, according to Russia’s defense ministry. It was there that the fatalities and injuries occurred, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

On the economic front of the war, the United States and its allies on Mon day took their most serious steps so far to deprive Russia of at least some of the oil revenue that is vital to its government and economy. The Group of 7 wealthy democracies began trying to enforce a $60-a-barrel cap on the price of Russian oil on global markets, and a European Union embargo on most oil purchas es from Russia took effect. (© The New York Times)

blockade imposed on Doha between 2017 and 2021.

The Qatari Interior Ministry has an nounced the cancellation of the require ment to obtain the “hajjah” for citizens and residents of countries of the Cooper ation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC).

2014 by four countries in the region that accused Doha of “supporting terrorism.”

Qatar has recently upgraded its ties with the countries that led the boycott – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the UAE – following the end of the boycott in January 2021.

These countries announced in Jan uary 2021 an agreement with Qatar to reopen borders and end the blockade of Qatar. These nations had previously suf fered ups and downs in their relations, especially over the Qatari authorities’ support for the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization outlawed in most Gulf countries, and the role of the Al-Jazeera network in covering the Arab Spring.

Qatar Changes Entry Requirements

The Qatari government on Tuesday announced the removal of the require ment for an entry document to the coun try for citizens of Gulf Arab states, amid a rapprochement in the region following a

These people will be able to enter the country through all border crossings without having to present this document.

Qatar amended its entry require ments in November to allow entry to people who did not have tickets to watch World Cup soccer matches. The “hayya” was an entry permit to Qatar that contin ues to be required to gain access to sta diums.

The announcement from Doha came a day after a visit by United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, his first since a boycott led since

French Baguette Honored

It is more French than, perhaps, the Eiffel Tower or the Seine. It is the ba guette, the bread that has set the pace for life in France for decades and has be come an essential part of French identity.

Last week, UNESCO, the United Nations heritage agency, named the ba guette something worthy of humanity’s preservation, adding it to its exalted

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“intangible cultural heritage” list.

The decision captured more than the craft knowledge of making bread; it also honored a way of life that the thin crusty loaf has long symbolized and that recent economic upheavals have put un der threat. UNESCO’s choice came as boulangeries in rural areas are vanish ing, hammered by economic forces like the slow hollowing out of France’s villag es, and as the economic crisis gripping Europe has pushed the baguette’s price

higher than ever.

“It’s good news in a complicated en vironment,” said Dominique Anract, the president of the National Federation of French Bakeries and Patisseries, who led the effort to get the baguette on the UN ESCO heritage list.

A French delegation celebrated the announcement, delivered Wednesday in Rabat, Morocco, in classic French style — by waving baguettes and trading “la bise,” the traditional two kisses, one for

With the baguette’s new status, the French government said it planned to create a Bakehouse Open Day to “en hance the prestige of the artisanal knowhow required for the production of ba guettes” and support new scholarships

Still, the baguette is under threat, with the country losing 400 artisanal

Some Parisian bakers expressed skepticism that the news Wednesday would do much to alleviate their most pressing fear that the high costs of wheat and flour would continue to rise because

“This UNESCO recognition is not what will help us get through the win ter,” said Pascale Giuseppi, who was be hind the counter of her bakery near the Champs-Élysées. “We still have bigger

The New York Times)

Power Plant in Iran

“250 grams of

Although just one of many breads

ular in France. More than 6 billion are sold every year in the country, according

Iran started construction on Sat urday on a new nuclear power plant in Associated

The 300-megawatt plant, known as Karoon, will reportedly take eight years

Iran currently has one operational nuclear power plant outside the southern port of Bushehr, which went online in 2011 with help from Russia, in addition

The development comes just 10 days enriching uranium to 60% at its Fordow installation, which is

At the time, Maj. Gen. Aharon Hali va, head of the Israel Defense Forces Mil itary Intelligence Directorate, said that Tehran would soon start enriching at least a “symbolic” amount of uranium to weaponsgrade 90%, although he added that it was unlikely to make a dash for the bomb.

Haliva warned that Tehran had made “significant progress” in its nuclear pro gram and that the international commu nity would soon face its “greatest test” in preventing the Islamic Republic from obtaining nuclear bombs. (JNS)

South African Pres. Won’t Resign

Ramaphosa would be removed from office if two-thirds of the members of Par liament, which is controlled by the ANC, vote against him. No South African pres ident has faced an impeachment hearing — let alone been removed from office — since the country’s first democratic elec tions in 1994. (© The New York Times)

Iran Sentences 5 More to Death

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said Saturday that he would not resign and will instead challenge a par liamentary report that suggests he may have illegally covered up a crime at his private game farm, ending days of spec ulation that he would step down rather than face impeachment.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vin cent Magwenya, said in a statement that the president would heed the call of his supporters within the African National Congress and remain in office while con tinuing his effort to seek reelection as the party’s leader.

“The president has with humility and great care and commitment accept ed that call to continue being of service to his organization, the ANC, and to the people of South Africa,” Magwenya said.

The decision by the president to stand his ground caps a rollercoaster week, in which the report was released and Ramaphosa seemed to be leaning toward resigning. His closest advisers, however, encouraged him to fight back against the accusations that he violated his oath of office.

Ramaphosa has yet to emerge pub licly since the report came out Wednes day, and his office said he would address the nation soon. He has previously de nied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.

Now, Ramaphosa, a billionaire in vestor who was among Nelson Mande la’s favorite allies and was once seen as a champion of good governance, will have to quickly recalibrate his campaign to win a second term as the ANC lead er. The party, which has been in power since the end of apartheid in 1994, is set to convene the conference during which it chooses its leaders in Johannesburg in less than two weeks. Ramaphosa held a comfortable lead in the contest before the report’s release.

Iran has sentenced to death five peo ple over the killing of a member of the Basij paramilitary force during nation wide protests. Another 11 people, includ ing three children, were handed lengthy jail terms over the death of Ruhollah Ajamian, judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi told a news conference, adding the sentences could be appealed.

A group of 15 people had been charged with “corruption on earth” over the death of Ajamian on November 3 in Karaj, a city west of Tehran.

Prosecutors said Ajamian, 27, was stripped of his clothes and killed by a group of mourners who had been paying tribute to a slain protester, Hadis Naja fi, during ceremonies marking 40 days since her death.

Najafi was killed during unrest that has gripped Iran since the death in cus tody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Ira nian of Kurdish origin, after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country’s dress code for women.

An Iranian general said on Monday that more than 300 people have been killed in the unrest, including dozens of members of the security forces. Thou sands have been arrested, including 40 foreigners and prominent actors, jour nalists and lawyers.

The latest court rulings bring to 11 the number of people sentenced to death in Iran over the violence sparked by Amini’s death.

Did you know? People in India read more books than those living in other countries.

Herzog Visits

Bahrain, UAE

Arab Emirates’ President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and reassured him that “the Abraham Accords are a national con sensus in Israel on all sides of the political spectrum,” as a government that includes the far right prepares to take power.

“Now we have to reach cruising alti tude,” Herzog told Bin Zayed. “That is, to upgrade ties between us even more, to strengthen them and to bring more na tions into the Abraham Accords.”

Bin Zayed replied that “we built a very strong bridge between the countries that we both can be proud of.” He also told his Israeli counterpart that Herzog should consider the UAE his “second home.”

Ahead of his departure from Israel, Herzog said the trip was “predominantly a message of peace in the region.”

reporters in Iran and nearby regions where Al Jazeera operates. There is no other military that operates under the moral standards of the IDF, and I would like to emphasize my full support and that of the entire defense establishment, to the commanders and soldiers who are defending the citizens of Israel,” he added.

The IDF investigation into the incident found that while it was not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the shot that killed Abu Ak leh, there was a “high probability” that she had accidentally been hit by IDF fire. The investigation further took into account the context in which the inci dent occurred, with Israeli troops under “life-risking, widespread and indiscrimi nate” fire from Palestinian terrorists.

ald’s, one kilo of apples, and a month’s rent for a two-bedroom apartment, which are all then compared to the pur chasing power of the city’s average sal ary. In turn, even if a certain service is more expensive in some cities, the actu al cost of living is measured and ranked in proportion to the average wage in the examined city.

One of the metrics measured by The Economist that helped see Tel Aviv rise to the top last year was the cost of an average family vehicle, an item that was introduced to the magazine’s statistical database used to compile its list. Tel Aviv is ranked as one of the most expensive cities in this parameter.

Earlier this week, President Isaac Herzog visited Bahrain, the first visit by an Israeli head of state to the island kingdom. His trip revolved around busi ness potential between the two nations. In remarks by Herzog, King Hamad, and Foreign Minister Abdul Latef Al-Zayani, they each spoke about the importance of upgrading economic ties since the sign ing of the Abraham Accords in 2020.

On Sunday evening, Herzog joined Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Min ister Salman bin Hamad at the Bahrain Economic Development Board.

With regards to business develop ment, by January, there will be five di rect weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Manama, and the next few months would see the number rise to seven.

On Sunday, Herzog also met with with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khali fa. The monarch underscored his support for the “legitimate rights of the Palestin ian people” in his public statement deliv ered alongside the visiting Israeli head of state.

Notably, the monarch did not men tion a Palestinian state, nor did either leader bring up Iran, a country that both see as an enemy.

At the beginning of their meeting, the president gave the monarch a silver me zuzah.

Herzog also met with members of the local Jewish community while he was in Bahrain.

On Monday morning, Herzog headed to the United Arab Emirates to meet with allies there. He had visited the country earlier in the year to participate in the Expo 2020 Dubai.

Israeli leader met with the United

Al Jazeera Appeals to ICC

The IDF emphasized that at no point was Israeli fire directed at anyone other than the Palestinian terrorists, some of whom fired “from the area in which Ms. Shireen Abu Akleh was present.”

In November, news surfaced that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had launched its own probe into Abu Akleh’s death. Both Lapid and Gantz said at the time that Israel would not cooperate with the investigation. (JNS)

At the bottom of the list, some of the world’s least expensive cities include the Iranian capital of Tehran, Tunis, Tash kent, Tripoli, and Syria’s Damascus.

NYT: We Were Wrong About Gaza Fishing

Al Jazeera has formally requested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) open an investigation into the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the news outlet an nounced on Tuesday.

Abu Akleh, who worked for the network, was killed in Jenin in May during an exchange of fire between the Israel Defense Forces and Palestinian terrorists.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid crit icized the Palestinians’ move, saying in a statement that “no one will investigate IDF soldiers, and no one will preach to us about morals in warfare, certainly not Al Jazeera.”

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz noted that the incident had already been investigated by the IDF.

“I expressed my condolences follow ing the passing of Shireen Abu Akleh. At the same time, we must remember that this was a combat scenario, which was investigated thoroughly,” he said in a statement.

“I suggest that [international] of ficials and Al Jazeera representatives go investigate what is happening to

Tel Aviv is World’s 3rd Most Expensive City

The New York Times published an editor’s note correcting its false report that Gaza’s fishing industry is on the verge of collapse due to an Israeli blockade of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.

Last year, Tel Aviv was crowned the world’s most expensive city. This year, the Israeli city lost that ignoble title as it was toppled by New York City and Sin gapore in The Economist ’s annual list of least and most expensive cities in the world published last week.

Tel Aviv cracked the top five in 2020’s list before leaping to the top a year later, mostly due to the NIS’s strong showing in the foreign exchange market compared to the Euro and the U.S. dollar.

The British magazine ranked close to 200 cities across the globe based on the pricing of hundreds of individual items and services offered in those cities.

These can include a McRoyal meal at the international fast food chain McDon

Using official Palestinian statis tics, the media watchdog group Com mittee for Accuracy in Middle East Re porting in America (CAMERA) proved to the Times that the claim is false. CAMERA provided information indi cating that the fishermen have more than doubled their annual catch in the last 15 years. In addition, the number of registered fishing boats has also more than doubled, according to Tam ar Sternthal, director of CAMERA’s Is rael’s office.

In a Nov. 27 article, “Amid Israeli Blockade on Gaza a Fishing Fleet Limps Along,” Times correspondent Raja Ab dulrahim claimed the Israeli blockade has been “devastating for the Gaza Strip’s fishing industry.”

But CAMERA refuted the claim and provided the Times with research data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics disproving the false statement.

On Dec. 3, the Times printed the editor’s note acknowledging the article omitted important context, leaving the impression that the industry has been devastated. “The current catch is higher than that in the early years of the blockade,” the note reads.

“CAMERA staff are doing the basic research that Times staff should be doing themselves,” stated Andrea Levin, execu tive director and president of CAMERA. “Abdulrahim’s story claiming Gaza’s fish

ing industry is collapsing falls complete ly apart when you look at the facts. But the Times’ impulse to run with any sto ryline blaming Israel subverts ethical re porting norms and leads again and again to these blunders.” (JNS)

2 Million Tourists

Tourists have been flocking to the Holy Land this year. More than 2 mil

lion tourists visited Israel from January through October this year – and many more are expected. By the end of 2022, Israel’s Tourism Ministry predicts that 2.5 million visitors will have come to the Jewish State in 2022.

Ministry figures last month showed some 2,078,000 tourist arrivals in Is rael in the first 10 months of the year. Should these figures continue at the same rate in November and December, the ministry said it expects to record be

tween 2.4 to 2.6 million arrivals by the end of the year.

These numbers are a far cry from 2019’s figures when Israel welcomed more than 4.5 million tourists, its stron gest year on record, but the numbers show promising signs of recovery for in bound tourism.

Israel only reopened its skies in March, lifting most Covid-related travel restrictions.

Hotel industry figures also point to signs of recovery. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 19.3 million ho tel stays were recorded between January and October this year compared to 21.8 million over the same period in 2019.

To boost tourism recovery efforts and meet demand, Israel has been steadi ly working to grow and to diversify the number of hotel rooms. The Tourism Ministry believes there is a shortage of internationally rated luxury hotels and also of modern, cheaper hotels at lower price points. Hotel ownership in Israel at present is largely confined to seven domestic groups — Atlas Hotels, Brown Hotels, Dan Hotels, Fattal Hotel Group, Isrotel, Prima Hotels, and Orchid Hotels — while a number of leading global ho tel chains have limited presence that the Tourism Ministry would like to grow.

This year, Tourism Ministry ex pects to complete the delivery of some 4,500 new hotel rooms, with another 4,000 plus scheduled for next year. These are substantial increases to some 57,000 existing hotel rooms across the country, with the largest numbers of rooms located in Jerusalem and Eilat. Twelve new hotels are due to open in 2023, adding to the 27 new hotels scheduled to start receiving guests in the coming months

In total, 51 hotels are in the planning pipeline as Israel hopes to more than double its pre-Covid tourist numbers to 10 million visitors by 2030.

Chaos at Ben Gurion

Security

30 man who burst through a checkpoint at Is rael’s main airport in a stolen car and then drove against traffic on Sunday morning.

8, 2022

After receiving medical attention, he was transferred to the police for ques tioning. The driver was in the country illegally.

supposed to lie on the floor.

“At 6:10 we received instructions to get up and that it was possible to return to routine,” he said.

Israeli officials believe the suspect may have taken a wrong turn off the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway, sabo taging his getaway as he entered one of the country’s most guarded facilities.

“It happens almost every week,” Re uters quoted a police spokesperson as saying. (JNS)

ried out the attack “knew exactly what they were doing” and that the dam age had been substantial, officials gave few new details about the investigation during a news conference at the Moore County sheriff’s headquarters. Cooper, a Democrat, said that the incident had drawn attention to the importance of protecting critical infrastructure.

robberies was arrested on Thursday af ter authorities linked DNA found at a robbery in May to a straw he used to sip a Red Bull energy drink at a casino five months later, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors said the man, Taylor Dziczek, 30, of Chicopee, present ed a People’s United Bank teller in Plain ville, Connecticut, on May 26 with a note with words to the effect of “I have a gun. Don’t call 911. Don’t set off any alarms.”

He then showed the teller what ap peared to be a black firearm, although the gun may have been fake, according to court documents.

During the incident, travelers at Ter minal 3 were told to lie down and take cover as a precaution.

Ziv Hait, a representative of Israir Airlines who was in the terminal during the incident, told Channel 12 that at around 6 a.m. they heard instructions for everyone in the terminal to lie down “due to some kind of security incident.”

“Everyone was running in panic in every direction to find cover…. I arrived with a group of American tourists…. They didn’t understand what was going on – I had to explain to them in English that it is a security incident and they are

An Attack on Power Lines

Tens of thousands of people in a rural North Carolina county remained without power Monday as authorities worked to repair two power stations damaged by targeted gunfire Saturday night, an at tack that Gov. Roy Cooper said raised “a new level of threat.”

Beyond reiterating that whoever car

“I know that with our power sector, wa ter infrastructure — we know that poten tial vulnerabilities are there,” he said. “We will be evaluating ways to work with our utility providers and our state and federal officials to make sure that we harden our infrastructure where that’s necessary.”

The attack on the North Carolina sta tions left roughly 45,000 people without power in Moore County, which lies about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. Power had been restored to about 7,000 customers by late Monday afternoon, officials said, but they added that most would likely have to wait until Thursday, even as tem peratures in the region fell into the 40s. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is working with state and local law enforce ment on the investigation.

On Monday, Carthage, the county seat, had the quiet and somewhat im provised feeling of a coastal town in the wake of a hurricane, with traffic lights dark at busy intersections and church groups and other volunteers lining the roads to hand out hot dogs and barbecue to their neighbors.

A county sports complex was serving as a shelter — about 20 people stayed there Sunday night, officials said — and the public library in the town of Southern Pines was offering warm drinks, phone chargers and board games “for an escape from reality.” Schools were closed, stores took only cash, restaurants gave away refrigerators full of food, and some resi dents stood in their front yards warming their hands over barrel fires. (© The New York Times)

Straw Leads to Arrest

A Massachusetts man sought in con nection with more than a dozen bank

“Don’t be a hero,” he told the teller, ac cording to prosecutors.

Plainville police officers collected pa per money wrappers that were discard ed at the scene, and they subsequently underwent a DNA analysis, according to court records.

Five months later, on Oct. 21, Dziczek was at the MGM casino in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he was drinking a Red Bull energy drink out of a black straw. Multiple agents from the FBI were surveilling him, court records said, and one of them collected the discarded Red Bull can and straw as evidence. It was not clear what led the agents to surveil him in the first place.

A laboratory analysis of DNA left on the straw was connected to DNA found on discarded money wrappers at the Pla inville robbery, prosecutors said. Dziczek was charged in that robbery Thursday.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Dziczek is being investigated in con nection with 14 robberies and one at tempted robbery of banks and credit unions in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont between September 2021 and August, court re cords show. They state that a total of about $137,000 was stolen.

In each of the robberies, the suspect wore similar clothing and exhibited a unique tendency to obscure his right hand, according to court records. Pho tos in the criminal complaint show that Dziczek has tattoos on his right arm and hand.

In 2017, Dziczek was convicted of a

Warm Noses are Better

As temperatures drop, cold season swings into action. There are various

reasons for the correlation between the cold outside and the cold viruses we fight – more people are gathered indoors, and viruses survive better in low-humidity indoor air. But there has been less cer tainty about whether lower temperatures actually impair human immunity and, if so, how.

Now, a new study published this week in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology details a previously un known way that the immune system

attacks viral intruders inside the nose –and finds it works better when it’s warm. These discoveries could pave the way for an eventual treatment against the common cold and other viruses, Man soor Amiji, a pharmaceutical sciences professor at Northeastern University, who co-led the research, noted.

The starting point was previous re search by Amiji and colleagues in 2018, which found that nasal cells released “extracellular vesicles” (EVs) – a spray

of tiny sacs that swarmed and destroyed bacteria upon inhalation.

“The best analogy that we have is a hornet’s nest,” said Amiji. Like hor nets defending a nest from attack, EVs swarm, bind to, and kill invaders. They are also present when viruses are resid ing in the nose.

Researchers were interested in how EVs respond to changes in temperatures.

They divided the nasal cell samples into two groups and cultured them in a lab, subjecting one set of samples to 37 degrees Celsius, and the other to 32°C.

These temperatures were chosen based on a separate test that found the temperature inside the nose falls by about 5°C when outside air drops from 23°C to 4°C.

Under regular body heat conditions, the EVs were successfully able to fight off viruses, by presenting them with “decoy” targets that they latch on to instead of the receptors they would otherwise target on cells.

But under the reduced temperatures, fewer EVs were produced, and those that were made packed less punch against the invaders tested: two rhinoviruses and a non-Covid coronavirus, which are typi cally found in the winter cold season.

In other words, make sure your nose is warm – and hopefully, it can help you fight off infection.

Rare Ring Can Help Ukraine

For years, Mitzi Perdue looked down at her hand and saw history.

The emerald on her ring finger told a story stretching back nearly four centu ries, to the sinking of a Spanish galleon near the Florida Keys in 1622 and a de cades-long effort of a colorful undersea treasure hunter named Mel Fisher to re trieve its payload of gold and silver coins, gold nuggets and jewelry.

It reminded her, too, of her late hus band, chicken magnate Frank Perdue, who received a share of the bounty in return for his investment in Fisher’s search. He donated most of it but kept

the emerald and presented it to her when he proposed marriage in 1988. She wore it until his death in 2005, when she put it away for safekeeping.

filing by Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, in late July. The new filing could further delay payment of the damages to the families, who would need to seek payment through the bankruptcy courts alongside other creditors. But it could also force a greater degree of scru tiny on the finances of Jones’ empire.

Now, 400 years after the Nuestra Señora de Atocha sank in a hurricane, Perdue, 81, is putting the emerald up for auction Wednesday at Sotheby’s in New York City. All proceeds from the sale of the ring, which has an estimated value of $50,000 to $70,000, will be donated to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, prompted by Perdue’s visit there after the Russian invasion.

“What must it be like for the people who have been there enduring, continu ously, with no respite, for at least half a year?” she said. “After five days, I wanted to do more. And then I started thinking, ‘What can I do to be most helpful?’ And then I thought, ‘I own something that’s of historic significance.’”

The Nuestra Señora de Atocha left Havana for Spain on Sept. 4, 1622, with 180,000 coins, 24 tons of ingots struck from Bolivian silver, 125 gold bullion bars, and 70 pounds of rough-cut emer alds mined in present-day Colombia. It had been sailing for only a day when a hurricane sank it.

Fisher, who died in 1998, had moved his family to Florida in 1962, lured by the promise of finding offshore treasure. By 1969, he had embarked on a search for the Atocha. In 1985, Fisher and his team located the wreckage of the Atocha and recovered about $400 million worth of treasure. (© The New York Times)

Alex Jones Files for Bankruptcy

Infowars founder Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 personal bankruptcy on Friday in the Southern District of Texas in Hous ton, citing nearly $1.5 billion in damages juries awarded this year to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, who won a series of defamation cases against Jones after he lied for years about the school shooting on his radio and online show.

The filing comes atop the bankruptcy

For more than four years, Jones has stonewalled the courts on providing business records, financial information and other records in the Sandy Hook cases. In a separate lawsuit, the victims’ families have accused Jones of improper ly siphoning assets from his business and channeling them to himself and his fam ily. He will now ostensibly be required to reveal more about those assets.

“The bankruptcy system does not protect anyone who engages in intention al and egregious attacks on others, as Mr. Jones did,” said Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the families in the damages case in Con necticut. In that case, in October, Jones was ordered to pay $1.4 billion. Two oth er cases were litigated in Texas.

Hours after the Dec. 14, 2012, shoot ing of 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, Jones began spreading lies that the massacre was planned by the government as a pretext for confiscating Americans’ firearms and that the fami lies were complicit in the plot.

In mid-2018, the families of 10 Sandy Hook victims filed four separate defama tion lawsuits, later combined into three, against Jones.

In the first trial this summer in Aus tin, Texas, where Infowars is based, a jury awarded nearly $50 million in damages to Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, par ents of Jesse Lewis. Shortly before that verdict, Jones put Free Speech Systems into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In October, the families of eight Sandy Hook victims won more than $1.4 billion in damages from Jones. A third and final trial in the lawsuit brought by Lenny Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah Pozner was the youngest Sandy Hook victim, is scheduled to begin March 27. (© The New York Times)

Chinese Hackers

Stole $20M in Covid Benefits

“Whether it’s $350, $400 or $500 bil lion, at this point, the horse is out of the barn,” said Linda Miller, the former dep uty executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, the federal government’s Covid relief fraud watchdog.

The Secret Service said in a state ment that it considers APT41 a “Chinese state-sponsored, cyberthreat group that is highly adept at conducting espionage missions and financial crimes for per sonal gain.”

Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating FTX’s transfer of funds to Alameda.

On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called FTX’s collapse a “Lehman moment” for the cryptocurren cy industry, referring to the bankruptcy of the Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers at the start of the 2008 financial crisis.

that in mind, we wanted to come to the aid of those who are embarrassed about their Kanye West inspired tat toos and are offering complimentary treatment for all UK fans that want them removed.”

Hackers linked to the Chinese gov ernment stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief benefits, including Small Business Administration loans and unemployment insurance funds in over a dozen states, according to the Secret Service.

The theft of taxpayer funds by the Chengdu-based hacking group known as APT41 is the first instance of pandem ic fraud tied to foreign, state-sponsored cybercriminals that the U.S. government has acknowledged publicly, but may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to U.S. law enforcement officials and cybersecurity experts.

“It would be crazy to think this group didn’t target all 50 states,” said Roy Dot son, national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator for the Secret Service, who also acts as a liaison to other federal agencies probing Covid fraud.

The Secret Service said that there are more than 1,000 ongoing investigations involving transnational and domestic criminal actors defrauding public bene fits programs, and that APT41 is “a nota ble player.”

As soon as state governments began disbursing Covid unemployment funds in 2020, cybercriminals began to siphon off a significant percentage.

The Labor Department Office of In spector General has reported an improp er payment rate of roughly 20% for the $872.5 billion in federal pandemic un employment funds, though the true cost of the fraud is likely higher, administra tion officials from multiple agencies say.

In-depth analysis of four states showed 42.4% of pandemic benefits were paid improperly in the first six months, the department’s watchdog reported to Congress last week.

A Heritage Foundation analysis of Labor Department data estimated excess unemployment benefits payments of more than $350 billion from April 2020 to May 2021.

SBF: “Management Failures” to Blame

For someone facing possible criminal charges, Bankman-Fried has been sur prisingly willing to speak publicly. Two days after FTX’s bankruptcy filing this month, he spoke with the Times for more than an hour about how he had managed his business empire while dodging ques tions about his company’s use of custom er money.

On the video stream at the DealBook conference, Bankman-Fried fidgeted at times, as he often does during inter views. He said he was speaking publicly against the advice of his lawyers, who have instructed him to keep quiet.

“That’s not who I am,” he said. “I have a duty to talk.”

Even though some people may want to erase West from their body, it’s not easy destroying that ink. The process involves using intense pulses of light to break up the tattoo ink, which is eventually cleared away by the im mune system, according to NAAMA’s website.

The Kanye West initiative was born out of the studio’s existing “Second Chances” project, which provides free laser tattoo removal for clients with gang tattoos, hate symbols, or other traumatic or triggering tattoos.

The treatment would typically cost around £2,000, or $2,456, depending on the size of the tattoo and the num ber of treatments needed.

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, made his first public appearance last week since his business empire imploded this month, insisting that he “did not ever try to commit fraud” and repeatedly say ing he didn’t know the extent of what was going on within his crypto businesses.

In a live interview at The New York Times’ DealBook conference, Bank man-Fried blamed “huge management failures” and sloppy accounting for the collapse of his $32 billion company, which has sparked civil and criminal in vestigations.

Those investigations are focused on whether FTX broke the law by lending its customers’ funds to a trading firm, Ala meda Research, which Bankman-Fried also owned. Speaking via a video feed from the Bahamas, where FTX was based, the 30-year-old said he didn’t “knowingly commingle funds.” At anoth er point, he said, “I didn’t know exactly what was going on.”

Bankman-Fried also took responsi bility for the collapse. “Look, I screwed up,” he said. “I was CEO.”

FTX disintegrated practically over night after it was unable to meet a run on deposits that left the company with an $8 billion hole in its accounts. With in a week, the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy.

Bankman-Fried, who became a bil lionaire as FTX soared and was viewed as a wunderkind, faces significant legal trouble. The Justice Department and the

But he declined to speak in detail about his possible criminal liability. “There’s a time and a place for me to think about myself and my own future,” he said. “I don’t think this is it.” (© The New York Times)

Could be you would be better off not inking your values on your sleeve in the first place.

Quick Chill

San Diego Padres All-Star pitcher Joe Musgrove recently traveled to Antarctica to celebrate his 30th birthday and break a Guinness World Record.

Saying Nay to Kanye

Not many people are singing the praises of singer Kanye West nowadays. The artist has been making headlines for his recent bizarre and antisemitic com ments. Now, a tattoo removal studio in the United Kingdom is offering the re moval of Kanye West tattoos – for free.

NAAMA said that it started the ser vice on November 15, just weeks after West began his antisemitic rampage and donned a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt.

The Kanye West tattoo removal initiative has received “global interest and a great response,” said Briony Gar bett, NAAMA’s CEO. “It seems there are a few former fans with tattoo re gret,” he added.

“When you have a tattoo inspired by someone you admire and they start making headlines for all the wrong reasons, it’s not exactly something you want to wear on your sleeve that you are or were a fan,” said Garbett. “With

Musgrove, accompanied by fellow Padres pitcher Sean Manaea and a team from the Challenged Athletes Founda tion, traveled to the coldest continent in a bid to set the Guinness World Record for the fastest baseball pitch thrown in Antarctica.

Musgrove’s goal was to throw an 80 mph pitch, and after a few warm-ups, he was able to exceed his goal and set the record at 86 mph on Friday, two days before he celebrated his 30th birthday in Antarctica.

The pitcher’s companions from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which provides support for athletes with phys ical challenges, included Landis Sims, a teenage baseball player born without hands or feet; Roderick Sewell, the first person with double above-knee am putations to finish the Ironman World

Championship; and Justin Phongsa vanh, a bronze medalist at the Tokyo Paralympic Games for the javelin throw.

“I’m constantly inspired by Landis Sims and the athletes from Challenged Athletes Foundation who overcome their challenges every day to achieve their goals,” Musgrove said in a state ment. “Antarctica is one of the most remote and extreme destinations in the world. I can’t think of a better place to showcase pushing the limits of what’s possible.”

It’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Rat Czar

Simple Yet Complex

“As our body needs some kind of ex ercises, the brain needs that kind of ex ercise as well,” he says. Thus was born an elegant teaching tool he named “The Magic Cube.”

“I tried to make it as simple as pos sible because I thought the task itself is complicated enough,” he says. “You don’t need to complicate anymore.”

the list.

The department replied, “You are correct. You have two warrants. We are on the way.”

Are you a “somewhat bloodthirsty” New Yorker whose nose twitches when you smell a rat? Perhaps you should con sider becoming the Big Apple’s new rat czar.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration posted a job listing this week seeking someone to lead the city’s long-running battle against the pervasive rodents. The official job title is “director of rodent miti gation,” although it was promptly dubbed the rat czar. The salary offered is pretty “mice”: $120,000 to $170,000.

“The ideal candidate is highly moti vated and somewhat bloodthirsty, de termined to look at all solutions from various angles, including improving op erational efficiency, data collection, tech nology innovation, trash management, and wholesale slaughter,” reads the ad.

Although the posting is whimsical, the job is not for the faint of heart. New York City leaders have been trying to control the rodent population for gener ations, with mixed results. Sightings of rats in parks, sidewalks and other places in the city have recently increased.

“Cunning, voracious, and prolific, New York City’s rats are legendary for their survival skills, but they don’t run this city – we do,” the job posting added.

Applicants are expected to have a crafty sense of humor and “to lead from the front, using hands-on techniques to exterminate rodents with authority and efficiency.”

No more Mr. Mice Guy.

Ever tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube? It’s easier said than done. But one good piece of advice is to break the process down into steps, according to the cube’s inventor.

“Problem solving is a very basic ac tivity of the human mind, and if a prob lem is complex, you need to divide the problem into smaller elements,” says Ernő Rubik, who invented the cube in 1974.

“For me, the cube represents what freedom means. Freedom is never end less,” he said during a recent visit to New York. “It lets you do what is necessary to achieve your goal.”

Rubik had used the cube as a teach ing tool in Cold War-era Hungary. Now, there are more than 450 million cubes sold.

The original 3x3 Rubik’s has more than 43 quintillion — that’s more than 43,000,000,000,000,000,000 — possi ble configurations, but the principles be hind the cube have been refashioned for 2x2, 4x4 and 5x5 cubes, a board game called Rubik’s Race, a pyramid, and a tower, among others.

It took 36 years after the invention of the toy for anyone to come up with an answer for the minimum number of moves to solve it. In 2010, a group of mathematicians and computer pro grammers proved that any Rubik’s Cube configuration can be solved in 20 moves.

Practiced cube-solvers can complete a Rubik’s Cube in a matter of seconds. The current world record holder solved a cube in 3.47 seconds.

Rubik was a budding artist who hoped to become a sculptor or a paint er before he studied architecture. He earned a degree in architecture at Bu dapest University of Technology and became a teacher in the interior design department at the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in Budapest.

Rubik regularly used physical mod els and materials to teach concepts in construction and design.

He notes, “One of the main keys of the cube is the contradiction between complexity and simplicity,” Rubik ex plains. “On one hand, the cube is a very simple form. And on the other hand, the potential of the variation of movement is so complicated.”

So simple, yet so complex.

“How About Me?”

Police are always looking for the public’s help in catching criminals –especially if the person has firsthand knowledge of the crime.

Last week, Christopher Spaulding helped police in Georgia nab a criminal – himself! – after the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office posted a “Most Wanted List” which did not include him.

“How about me?” Christopher asked police on Wednesday about they posted

It later reshared a screenshot of the exchange along with Spaulding’s arrest photo, writing, “We appreciate you for your assistance in your capture!”

The department thanked the Fugitive Unit for “efficiently” arresting Spaulding who it said had two arrest warrants for felony violation of probation.

It added, “Our Top 10 is compiled based off of the severity of the charges only. By not being on this list does not mean our Fugitive Unit is not looking for you if you have an active warrant.”

We appreciate the clarity.

Around the Community

Chai Lifeline National Gala Celebrates “An Evening of Heroes”

More than 800 people turned out to celebrate Chai Lifeline at its National Gala on Mon day, December 5, at Pier Sixty, New York City. The program, titled “An Evening of Heroes,” highlighted the critical work of Chai Lifeline, the Jewish community’s leading children’s health support net work, and benefitted families living with serious illness, crisis, and loss.

“Tonight, we honor our incredible he roes,” said Rabbi Simcha Scholar, Chai Lifeline CEO. “We celebrate the children of Chai Lifeline, our Warriors, and their families who demonstrate unbelievable bravery in the face of unimaginable pain and hardship. We pay tribute to the thou sands of selfless Chai Lifeline volunteers and staff, and our dedicated honorees and supporters who make our work pos sible.”

The Gala Guests of Honor were Bari and Daniel Erber, longtime friends of Chai Lifeline. The Erbers recent ly dedicated The Happiness Center at Camp Simcha, Chai Lifeline’s overnight summer program for children with life-threatening and lifelong illnesses.

The Gala also recognized The Steven A. Greenberg Charitable Trust for its phil anthropic support and paid tribute to Pam and Joe Lubeck and family, who es tablished The National Volunteer Lead ership Initiative at Chai Lifeline.

The inspiring event featured an in credible performance by mentalist Oz Pearlman and a moving duet by sing er-songwriter Yonatan Razel and Chai Lifeline warrior Menachem Falik.

Chai Lifeline provides critical sup port to more than 6,000 families around the world through more than two-dozen critical programs and services, including case management, counseling, crisis and trauma interventions, home and hospital respite care, meals delivered to hospitals and homes, transportation to medical ap pointments, Big Brother & Sister volun teers, i-Shine afterschool programming for children living with illness or loss, insurance advocacy, emergency financial assistance, and its medically-supervised Camp Simcha summer programs.

To learn more about Chai Lifeline, vis it www.chailifeline.org.

Chanukah tic-tac-toe

An Inspiring Accomplishment

Rabbi Gardenswartz’s third grade class at Yeshiva of South Shore reached an amazing milestone this past week – they were mesayim par shas Vayeitzei! The Yam Shel Shlomo says there is no greater simcha or mitz vah that is done before Hashem than the simcha and mitzvah of finishing a por tion of Torah.

The boys had a fun trip to 7-Elev en to buy Slurpees and goodies, they enjoyed it very much. Iy”H they will make many more siyumim and con tinue shteiging!

Young Israel of Far Rockaway Auction

We recently had a fantastic time at the incredible good and ser vices auction held on Sunday, November 20, 2022 to benefit our shul, Young Israel of Far rockaway.

Over 50 people attended and had a super fun time bidding on beautiful piec es of art, Judaica items and many lovely housewares. We were also so very for tunate to have received incredible gift certificates from over 35 local vendors such as The Cheese Store, Oh Nuts!, Jus by Julie, David’s Famous Pizza and Café Chocolat. Some other local businesses such as Eshet Chayil Boutique and Five Towns Shoe Repair generously gave us cash donations as well. We gratefully ac knowledge all of our generous sponsors; there are too many for us to list!

A nice amount of money was raised, baruch Hashem, to help support fu ture programs at the Young Israel of Far Rockaway. Come join our incred ible shul under the leadership of our

amazing rabbi, Rabbi Shaul Chill. We have fabulous Shabbos groups for the young as well as soulful davening for the adults and a very meaningful dra sha by our rav. Please look out for our

upcoming events. We are planning an amazing Chanukah event with a super magic show as well as other surprises that will be coming up! We can’t wait to see you all there!

Around the Community

YCQ Talks Internet Safety

On Tuesday, November 29, Ye

shiva of Central Queens (YCQ) welcomed Moshe Cohen, LCSW, to YCQ. He presented information to our Grade 7 and 8 students on responsible technology use.

Mr. Moshe Cohen, LCSW, is a teacher and therapist working with adolescents and adults, teaching the skills necessary to successfully navigate the ever-chang ing modern world. Moshe served on the staff of Project Safe for eight years, work ing with students ranging in age from elementary to high school. He has devel oped curriculum plans for several school programs and is a frequent guest speaker at yeshivas where he presents on various topics such as adolescent challenges and obstacles prevalent in our communi ty. Moshe has a private practice where he works with adolescents and adults strug gling with anxiety and stress, depres sion, relationships, and addiction.

The participating students learned decision-making skills to use when faced with developmental challenges, especial ly that of cell phone/internet use.

“It was so special to present and dis

cuss social media and technology use with Grade 7 and 8 students. The energy in the room was great, and the students were really open to understanding the importance in learning to use our devic es in a healthier, more mindful way,” Mr. Cohen reported.

“Our main concern is the safety of our students,” stated Mrs. Esther Lowinger, YCQ JHS Assistant Principal. “We need to keep them informed on how to use the

internet safely.”

When asked, “Which facts do you want our students to keep in mind when online?” Dr. Elana Dumont, PsyD, YCQ Director of Psychological Services, re plied, “Keep in mind that you are actively creating a digital footprint each time you post or message anything which is per manent. In addition, be mindful of how you are using social media, and that it does not become a ‘digital pacifier.’”

“It is unrealistic to think we could give our children addictive devic es and trust they will not make mis takes when their ability to make good decisions is not fully developed,” Dr. Dumont continued. “The YCQ Parent Workshop will help parents learn how to set boundaries around internet/ phone use while still helping our chil dren enjoy the benefits.”

Touro University Marks 50 Years at Celebratory Gala

More than 1,000 people con verged on New York City’s Marriott Marquis this past Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of Touro University. The feeling was one of an extended family reunion as students, alumni, faculty, friends, and support ers from around the U.S. and the globe joined together for this historic mile stone. Past, present, and future merged at this celebration of Touro’s meteoric rise from a small college with 35 students to an academic powerhouse with 19,000 students, 140,000 alumni, and 246 un dergraduate, graduate and professional programs producing valued leaders in medicine, business, law and more.

Tribute was paid to visionary founder, Dr. Bernard Lander, of blessed memory, whose tenacity enabled him to build a college from the ground up at age 56 and

continue expanding its programs until well into his 90s. His dream of creating a center of higher education that would lit erally be all things to all people has been realized. Under the skillful leadership of his successor and current president, Dr. Alan Kadish, Touro has emerged as a place imbued with Jewish values where a diverse group of students attain quality education and meaningful careers in just about every field.

An Evening to Remember Warmth, appreciation, and a sense of awe could be felt throughout the event as the Touro family reflected on the scope of the University and its remarkable growth and advancement in only 50 years. The festivities began with the completion of a Sefer Torah, funded by Touro Chair man Zvi Ryzman and his wife Betty and members of the Touro Board of Trustees,

in memory of former chairman, Dr. Mark Hasten.

“When you stand on the shoulders of giants, you can accomplish beyond what you imagined possible in your wildest dreams. The history and legacy of Touro is miraculous, how appropriate that we begin our event tonight completing the writing of a Sefer Torah. This truly rep resents the vision of our leadership,” said Rabbi Yonason Sacks, Rosh HaYeshi va of Beis Medrash L’Talmud at Touro’s Lander College for Men.

Touro friends and supporters mingled at the reception and lauded faculty at the convocation where Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla received an hon orary doctorate. Entertainment was pro vided by internationally renowned tenor and cantor Yaakov Lemmer, and tribute was paid to the evening’s honorees: Hon.

Shelley Berkley, Touro Senior VP of Ex ternal Affairs;

Board member, real estate investor and founder of the Lightstone Group; Dr. Robert Goldschmidt, Executive Dean at Touro’s Lander College of Arts & Scienc es in Brooklyn, and Touro President Dr. Alan Kadish.

“Throughout the year, we’ve had a number of events celebrating the 50 niversary and tonight is the culmination. Thank you for joining us to celebrate one man’s dream that has become a magnifi cent reality. We have come so far togeth er and had many achievements along the way. This year’s milestones have been the greatest of all–receiving university sta tus chief among them. This recognizes our dedication to research and service to the community,” said President Kadish.

Dr. Kadish introduced Dr. Albert Bourla and stated that his achievement of bringing a safe and effective Covid vaccine to market in just nine months is one that will be remembered for the ages throughout the world.

Dr. Bourla shared that Touro and Pfizer have a lot in common. “Touro and Pfizer are both committed to innovation, not for the sake of innovation, but to move the world forward and to make an impact on people’s lives. Universities like Touro that are developing bright minds have a critical role to play as companies like Pfizer advance global health. We are living in a world with incredible scientific discovery where we can turn disease into chronic conditions and be better pre pared for future pandemics.”

Serving the Jewish Community and Humanity

Dr. Kadish highlighted the success of Touro’s new initiatives and shared how Touro’s ongoing dedication and steadfast commitment to Jewish values have cre ated an ideal learning environment for a diverse student population.

“Looking at the world today, where 73% of college students say they hide their Jewish identity on campus and 50% report experiencing antisemitism, Touro’s mission is more important than ever. Students from diverse backgrounds representing all nationalities and eth nicities share ideas, friendship and col laboration… At Touro, we are developing students who will become leaders of to morrow, the right kind of leaders—those who are dedicated to serving society and

that is Touro. There were difficulties and crises along the way and my father’s opti mism enabled him to see that the angels would never leave. Tonight, we pay trib ute to him and to Touro’s incredible lead er, Dr. Alan Kadish who keeps adding new rungs on the ladder that is Touro, in spiring students and expanding our pro grams. The miracle truly never finishes.”

Looking Ahead to the Future

While the evening spotlighted myr iad Touro achievements and leading personalities who made history over the last 50 years, Dr. Kadish shared his thoughts for the future as well. What’s next for Touro? “As we look forward to the next 50 years, we’re asking our selves: what does society need? what do our students need? How can we better serve our community? How can we do that through education, through re search and inventing new knowledge and through perpetuating the Jewish tradition? How can we do it better in the next 50 years?” asked Kadish. “Because as good as we’ve been, one of our under lying principles is that we can always be better. And that’s our message to every body. We don’t rest on our laurels. We’ve accomplished a great deal, we’re proud of it, but for the future, we can be even better. And we will be!”

On Sunday night, November 27, Lechu V’Nelcha of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway held its first shiur of the year. Although it was cold, dark, and rainy outside, inside of the Agudah of the Five Towns all was warm and light where more than 30 post high school girls from throughout the community gathered to hear from Reb betzin Dina Fink, LVN founder.

Rebbetzin Fink gave over a shiur based on R’ Mordechai Miller, zt”l, and spoke about how we have to understand our environment in order to understand our role. Being that our environment is galus Edom which is Eisav, if we un derstand the nature of Eisav, we under stand how to overcome his influence. Rebbetzin Fink quoted R’ Dessler, who says that Eisav was an oved avoda zarah – meaning that he did his avodah like a zarah. It was superficial, and exter nal. To counteract this, we need to do mitzvos and serve Hashem with focus, intent, with our heart and emotions as well. This is sometimes difficult. But,

the Chofetz Chaim says that Hashem decides how much pain a person will have each year on Rosh Hashana, but we say, “Ach tov v’chesed yirdefuni ,” we want the pain to come because we did the right thing. Putting aside your mil lion and two things you need to do and carving out time to go to a shiur every Sunday night, when it is cold, dark, and maybe even snowy or rainy, may be dif ficult. But you never lose out when doing the right thing!

All who attended surely felt that starting their week off with divrei To rah was the best possible way to head into the week ahead, whether it be col lege, work, or both. After the speech, there was sushi, pastries, fruit, and a hot cocoa station for all to enjoy. LVN is grateful to Seasons for sponsoring a deli cious fruit platter.

Week two of LVN was this past Sun day, and we were privileged to hear from Rabbi Baruch Lovett, who spoke about the chessed of Avraham Avinu and the importance of putting in all our effort

into doing, davening, and caring for oth ers. Rabbi Lovett quoted from R’ Yaakov Weinberg, who says that Hashem surely knew that Avraham would be upset at not having guests in the days after his bris, but Hashem anyways made the sun strong to deter people, so that Avraham would be able to show Hashem how much he really wanted to do hachnosas orchim – which would be his zechus to have the opportunity to do a mitzvah – this is what loving to do kindness for others is all about.

LVN thanks the Agudah of the Five Towns for graciously hosting our shi urim. We are excited to invite all posthigh school girls to our community wide pre-Chanukah Shiur, which will be held this Sunday, December 11, in the Agudah of the Five Towns at 8:00 PM, with Rabbi Paysach Krohn.

For more information, to get updates via email, or to sponsor a shiur, please con tact lvnfarrockaway5t@gmail.com.

Shulamith Science Fluffs Up and Erupts

Netzach Begins CPR Course

This past week, Mesivta Netzach HaTorah introduced a new CPR course for their 11th grade stu dents offering the proper training for emergency response and intervention. The course will culminate in Red Cross Certification and is being taught by an experienced lifeguard and CPR instruc tor Mr. Yehuda Klinkowitz. The Mesivta is proud to offer the boys a wide array of electives and areas of study throughout their week of learning.

SKA Reunion in Israel

To culminate our plate tectonics unit, Shulamith sixth grade stu dents made incr”edible” models of divergent, convergent, and plate bound

aries, learning how mountains and vol canoes form and earthquakes happen!

The annual Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls Israel alum ni reunion is one of the most high ly anticipated events of the year.

At the gathering at the Netzach Yis rael shul in Jerusalem, held this year on Monday evening, November 28, Mrs. Elisheva Kaminetsky, Principal of Reli gious Studies, and Mrs. Paghit Ralbag, Director of Israel Guidance and Senior Grade Level Advisor, welcomed the girls who are attending Israeli seminaries this year. Everyone enjoyed a delicious meal, happy mingling, spirited schmoozing and much reminiscing!

A panel of six SKA alumni who have made aliyah and are now living in dif ferent cities throughout Israel – Chani Aryeh Panitch ’17, Shana Margules Wurtzburger ‘01, Penina Wein Bernstein

‘10,

’02 – shared their expe riences beyond high school and SKA and reflected on their current lives. It was very uplifting to hear firsthand about living in Israel and the challenges they faced when first making aliyah. The SKA Class of ‘22 were inspired and left with new perspectives and memories. The re union was truly a highlight of the year. Each SKA alumna also had her own personal meeting with Mrs. Kaminetsky and Mrs. Ralbag to discuss her progress and explore her aspirations for the year. In addition to the reunion and individual meetings, the SKA administrators visited most of the seminaries the alumni attend. Our graduates will ALWAYS be part of the SKA community!

Around the Community

This past Thursday was a very ex citing day for the second grad ers of Ateres Miriam. They re ceived their very own Chumashim! The girls arrived dressed to the nines with fancy headbands and Shabbos shoes to find a beautifully set table with pekelach and a HUGE cake shaped like a Chumash with pink roses.

Rabbi Dovid Morgenstern, Menahel of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, was the special guest speaker. He explained the concept of mesorah to the girls. He gave each girl a strip of paper and tape. Rabbi Morgen stern instructed the girls to make a paper chain illustrating how each link is con nected just like we are to Moshe Rabbeinu with our mesorah. After Rabbi Neuman called each girl up to receive her Chu

mash, the girls enjoyed their nosh and a special arts and crafts project. They made beautiful badges that they wore proudly the rest of the day announcing that they received their Chumashim!

It was a meaningful day that will surely be remembered for years to come.

Central Students Help Children in Romania

Acohort of Central students re cently traveled to Romania to volunteer their time and efforts at an orphanage hosting children dis placed by the war in Ukraine. Juniors Simona Pitterman, Lois Rifkin, Jamie Roth, and Chana Weinberger, along with senior Gabriella Schikman, traveled to Neptun under the guidance of Central faculty member, Ms. Tamar Pollock, and the NCSY Relief team. There, the stu dents worked with Tikva, an orphanage that left Ukraine to escape the war in Ukraine.

“We all showed up to the orphanage like deer in headlights,” said Ms. Pol lock. “We had no clue what to expect. But the kids were so genuinely happy to see us and to have visitors. The Central students were outstanding. Seeing how invested they were in the Tikva girls was truly inspiring.”

For nine days, the students worked with over two hundred orphans, tutoring the children and planning activities and carnivals. The children at Tikva did not speak English, and so Central students communicated with them using a combi nation of Hebrew and Google Translate. The students also learned a lot of Russian during their time in Romania – but care is a universal language, and one in which Central students are fluent.

“This trip was such an amazing, meaningful opportunity,” said junior Lois Rifkin. “Seeing those kids smile be

cause we were there was so special – and it made me smile.”

The Central group bonded with the children of Tikva, so much so that they have continued communicating and FaceTiming with the children since re turning to the United States.

Senior Gabriella Schikman reflected on these new friendships: “I was nervous to help put them to sleep,” she said, “but then all the kids jumped on me, and they were so happy. They just wanted love and attention. It really showed me how lucky I was, and to appreciate what I have.”

The impact that these students made did not go unnoticed. “One of the orga nization directors told Rabbi Ethan Katz (the NCSY Rabbi who took us) that a team of Israeli professional social work ers were coming to Tikva right after we left,” said Ms. Pollock, “and that, because of us, they are going to have a lot less work than they usually do.”

Since Rambam Mesivta’s founding 30 years ago, Rabbi Friedman has always made it a point to visit grad uates in Eretz Yisrael. Over the years, ap proximately 100 Rambam alumni have made Aliyah and established families there.

Last week, many of those alumni streamed in from across the country for a reunion at the home of Yehoshua (class of 2004) and Estee Konig. Approximate ly 20 graduates were able to make the trek to Ramot, while others sent hearty well-wishes alongside their regrets at not being able to attend this year’s event.

Among the group of alumni Olim

are mechanchim, medical professionals, lawyers, and entrepreneurs. A friendly competition broke out in terms of whose son was learning more and at which ele mentary school in Eretz Yisrael.

Rabbi Friedman also had the oppor tunity to “faher” the Konig’s young son who had memorized Mishnayos by heart. Rabbi Friedman said, “This get-together gives me tremendous nachas to see how we played a small part in providing the foundation for these wonderful young men.”

A WhatsApp group was formed, and talks are underway about an expanded get-together for next year.

A Cure for our Daughter

If there was any place I’d choose to be, it certainly would not be the hospital. Its cold corridors, filled with pain and fear…entertaining my daughter through endless hours in the waiting room and trying to soothe her through grueling tests…it was heavy.

We were hopeful, davening that Hashem kiss our boo-boo away. But when the doctors explained the gravity of the situation, diagnosing our precious princess with a terrible growth in her hand, we nearly plummeted to a point of despair. “The survival rate is not very high,” the doctors warned ominously.

That was when I decided I wanted more than just the worn pages of my Tehillim to be part of my campaign. I dialed Tehillim Kollel’s number and begged them to add my daughter’s name to the list. After the call, I felt stronger. I was no longer in it alone.

Baruch Hashem, the worry and pain is behind us. I still find it amazing when I think back at how things turned around so quickly.

The specialists at Memorial Sloan Kettering wanted a biopsy done. And unlike the results of all the tests we’d carried out until then, these results were positive. The growth was benign!

The doctors were shocked, but I was not. Overwhelmed with gratitude to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we celebrated a joyous seudas hoda’ah, thanking Hashem for heeding our hope-filled supplications and transforming

Mazal Tov at Shaar Lev

The older boys at HALB’s af ter-school Shaar Lev program have been learning the halachot of tefillin in preparation for their bar mitzvahs. They are being taught by Rabbi Dovid Libman using the sefer written by Rabbi Shimon Eider.

Shaar Lev’s goal of inclusion for all children is being realized as these young men prepare for their bar mitzvah. This past Sunday, Binyomin Glick put on te fillin for the first time! We wish him and his entire family a mazal tov!

CAHAL Chanukah Boutique a Huge Success

M’Dor L’Dor at HANC ECC

Friday was a morning of pure nachat in HANC’s Early Childhood Center in West Hempstead. All of the students in the Nursery Bet classes had in vited their grandparents or special guests to join them for an intergenerational event called “M’Dor l’Dor ” (From Generation to Generation).

“The theme of this important event,” explained Mrs. Trudy Rubinstein, the Director of the Early Childhood Center, “is that strong roots make beautiful leaves. This event connected our young students to their roots, em bodied in their grandparents, and helped them to see how our mesorah is transferred from generation to gen eration.”

The talmidim welcomed their guests by singing special grandparent songs as well as Shabbat songs carefully selected to share with their guests. Then the grandparents began the project of creating a family tree with their grandchild. In advance of their arrival, the parents had sent in individual photographs of the child, their parents, siblings and grandparents, and the chil dren had painted a tree upon which they would assem

ble their personal family tree. It was a heartwarming sight to see the auditorium filled with delighted chil dren, who had this special individual time to spend with their proud grandparents.

At the conclusion of the program, each grandparent and special guest was presented with a canvas tote bag that had been decorated by their grandchild. The image of a tree was painted on the bag, and the children add ed leaves that were created by their own darling little fingerprints. Inside the bag was a HANC water bottle, chocolates that said “hugs” and “kisses” on them, and a beautiful picture of their grandchild. This keepsake was a token of appreciation and will serve as a reminder of this precious visit in their grandchild’s school and the family tree that they created together.

While addressing the crowd, Mrs. Rubinstein re marked, “As a grandmother of fourteen grandchildren, I can attest to the importance of these programs. The nachat that we receive from our grandchildren, when we can share special moments such as this one, has a last ing impact on our lives.”

Around the Community

Shulamith High School Chanukat Habayit

We begin pesukei d’zimra each morning with the words “Miz mor shir chanukas habayis l’Dovid,” invoking the dedication of the Bais Hamikdash in the days of Shlomo Hamelech, reawakening the awareness that every time we uplift a makom tefil lah or Torah by using it for its intended purpose, we draw a piece of that same koach into our world. This past Sunday, Shulamith High School celebrated its Chanukat Habayit, the culmination of countless hours and resources devoted over the preceding years. Led by an ad ministration and faculty committed to the goal of educating and inspiring frum young women with a love and appreci ation for Yiddishkeit, Torah, and Eretz Yisrael, the new SHS building is an edi fice in which the mission for which it was created is actualized daily.

Sunday’s program focused on rec ognizing the generous donors and the individuals who were committed, heart and soul, to the logistics of the building, without whom our dream of a permanent home could have never been realized. It was attended by Shulamith parents, stu dents, faculty, and friends, all beneficia

ries of the administration’s and Board of Director’s ceaseless commitment to cre ate one of the premier Jewish girls’ high schools in the country. Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky honored Shulamith with divrei bracha, highlighting its success in nurturing students to become accom plished and capable young women, guid ed by Torah values. County Executive Bruce Blakeman, advocate and champi on of all community schools, shuls, and organizations, spoke in support of Shu lamith’s mission and its excellence in achieving it. Sophomore Kayla Hercman surprised her father, Mr. David Hercman, with a poignant thank you for his devo tion to spearheading the entire building project, overseeing every detail from be ginning to end and coming through on his promise to get her and her classmates inside by the first day of school.

Shulamith High School is honored to dedicate our building l’ilui nishmas Pesha bas Feivel. Pesha was a strong and heroic Holocaust survivor, who lost both her parents in the fires of the Shoah. She built a new life in America, raising a beautiful family with strong Torah val ues and was staunchly dedicated to her

shul and various kiruv organizations. She valued the transmission of her me sorah, understanding that the opportu nity to pass down her legacy to her chil dren and grandchildren was a gift not to be taken for granted, one that was lost to the millions who had tragically perished around her. Her descendants absorbed that same commitment to plant their roots and nourish their development for generations to come, by dedicating their time and resources to mosdos of Torah and chinuch. Shulamith High School is grateful to be a recipient of the fruits of their generosity.

The SHS campus is now proudly known as the Cross River Campus. Cross River Bank leads the industry into a world that embraces and facilitates pros perity, growth, diversification, and op portunity. Cross River Bank is a pillar of the community, committed to education, excellence, and the future of the next generation. We are so grateful for their partnership in dedicating SHS’s Cross River Campus.

Chinuch requires mosif v’holech, to always add on, teach more, share more inspiration, and to continue the conver

sation of life. For us here in Shulamith High School, this building represents our dedication to mosif v’holech, to always continue on our mission of Avodat Hako desh. This building represents opportu nity, possibility, and our dreams for the present and the future. It is better than we could have ever imagined, and it is because of our outstanding community. Thank you for giving us a place where we can continue to shape the next gen eration of frum young women for many years to come.

5 Towns JSL Plays Halftime Game at Knicks Game

The Knicks celebrated Jewish Her itage day at the game last Sunday against the Cavaliers. The local sports league, JSL, went as a group as guests of the Knicks. Ten boys from the league got to play a game on the court at halftime! They also got courtside passes for the Knicks’ pregame shootaround.

JSL is a local youth league sponsored by FM Home Loans that offers soccer, basketball, and hockey leagues for boys K-8th grade. Their winter season starts in January. You can see more info at 5tjsl.

The talmidim at Yeshiva of South Shore are quite busy collect ing and spending miles. No, not the typical trading of credit card miles – here, we work with Torah miles. The Torah Miles Program is an incen tive-based program that focuses on three areas: A) Bachurei Chemed – stu dents earn miles for being held in high esteem for their tremendous middos tovos; B) Masmid Hachofesh – vacation

davening and learning – students earn miles for davening with a minyan and learning that takes place during va cation; C) Parsha Pro – students earn miles for doing well on the weekly Par sha test which focuses on the Yedios Klalios of the Parsha.

Since the beginning of the year, YOSS students have been earning hundreds of Torah Miles. Those miles turn into tick ets for the much-anticipated Chinese

auction. This year’s Chinese auction was loaded with great prizes. A Shas, full height shtender, a set of “Achas Shalti,” questions on the parsha, a drone with an HD camera, board games and everything in between. Each grade had a chance to come to the auction to view the prizes and put in their tickets. Some students went for the smaller prizes, increasing their chances of winning, while other students went for the prizes like the Shas

and drone, hoping it would be their name called for the top prizes. Mazal Tov to all the lucky prize winners. We hope you use your winnings well. However, the truth is that when it comes to Torah miles, every one is a real winner!

Special thanks to Rabbi Greenberg for spearheading the program and to his entire 6th grade class for setting up and running the Chinese auction.

JCCRP Chanukah Toy Drive: Helping Your

Chanukah is a most exciting time as all of Klal Yisroel celebrate with all of the beautiful mitzv ot and minhagim (customs). One of the precious minhagim is to give Chanukah gelt or toys to children. However, there are families in our own community, maybe on your block, in your kids’ class, who don’t share the same enthusiasm. Many families find themselves unable to buy gifts for their children, which is undeniably disheartening. Presents are not the essence of Chanukah, but it makes a difference in a child’s life knowing that someone is thinking of them. The local families that we pass every day need as much love and help as we can give them, and the communi ty will be coming together to help once again this year!

Last year, packages of brand-new toys were donated and distributed to over 650 children! Unfortunately, this year, our client list has grown, and we are now up to 800 children.

This year’s Chanukah Toy Drive is dedicated l’iluy nishmas Dr. Steven

Krauss, a”h, Shmuel Eliezer ben Moshe Zev HaKohain. Dr. Krauss worked with children day in and day out and personified klal work and caring for those who are less fortunate. This ded ication is a most fitting tribute to his legacy and should be an aliyah for his neshama.

Allison Deal, JCCRP’s executive director, expressed, “The toy drive demonstrates the very essence of Far Rockaway and the Five Towns. None of it would be possible without the dedicated toy drive committee, local stores, yeshivas, shuls and dentist of fices graciously partnered with us to collect new toys. We should not have to turn any child away because the es sence of our community is chessed and achdus!”

The JCCRP wishes to thank Seasons Express who is giving out free Slurpees to anyone that drops off a toy at Sea sons Express, all the participating schools, shuls and businesses for col lecting toys: BBY, BYAM, Congregation Beth Shalom, Darchei, Dr. Denise Co

Neighborhood Children

hen Pediatric Dentistry, DRS, Gourmet Glatt, Gural JCC, HAFTR, KolSave, Oppenheimer Orthodontics, Preminger Pediatric Dentistry, Rockaway Kosher, Seasons, Seasons Express, Dr. Sam Abettan Pediatric Dentistry, Schechter School of Long Island, Shulamith, To tal Family Care, Yeshiva Darchei Torah, YILC and YKLI.

None of this would be possible with out the hard work of the dedicated toy drive committee: Naamah Aisenbaum, Sara Austein, Rahely Fruchter, Lara Klein, Daphna Mishaan, Fraidy Osina, Devorah Pelman, Rebecca Richman, Hudis Saltz, Tamar Samuels, Esther Satt, Tamar Scharf, Rocky Stern and Lily Weichholz. They are busy in Cha nukah mode setting up the boxes at the proper locations, organizing sponsors and collecting the donated toys. Our communal success is due to their hard work and dedication to the children in our community.

For those who cannot make it to the stores, please contribute online at jc crp.org/donations

100% of donations goes toward the toy drive. For more information or to volunteer for future project, please email info@jccrp.org or call (718) 3277755 ext: 6113.

Around the Community

JSL Week 9: Playoffs

JSL Juniors

The boys in our Juniors division by FM home Loans continue to show in credible improvements in their skills.

K/P Hockey: Shimon Dicker played spectacular defense, and Yehuda Schwartz made some incredible saves to help ARG win 3-1. Chaim Fein of Molly’s Jewelers tied the game with only 3 min utes to go.

1st Hockey: 1st Grade Hockey played game 2 of their 3 game championship series. Built By Nate led in the series 1-0 and came out strong. Led by superstars Aryeh Templeman and Yumi Erlichman, Built By Nate put up 6 goals to win the game and the series. Congratulations to Coach Eli Jarosalawicz and the team.

K/P Soccer: Yehuda Cohen played ag gressively for Simcha Day Camp. Baruch Rekant of Gourmet Glatt had the play of the day with an amazing score from 10 feet out.

1st/2nd Football: After learning the fundamentals of football and improving their skills greatly, the boys in 1st/2nd football started the playoffs on Sunday. Aryeh Lowy of Gourmet Glatt scored a few TD’s, including an incredible full court catch to help Gourmet Glatt move on to the Championship Game next week. They will face off against the stacked WestWood Realty Team, who defeated The Rebbe’s Choice 7-3. Dovid Bauman made some incredible plays for Westwood in their win.

JSL Basketball League

3rd Grade: Game MVP Aaron Res nick made a stellar pass to set up the game-icing shot for ARG in their victory over Maidenbaum. Island Roofing pulled off the upset, and managed to hold off the #1 seed Triple Net Group 12-10. Island

Roofing & ARG will square off next week in the Championship game.

4th/5th Grade: Game MVP David Gamerman led the way for 925 Sterling, as they defeated Town Appliance 21-18 and will head to the Championship game next week. They will play against Alpert Financial, who managed to hold off Carv ing Block 19-16. Yehuda Fricker of 925 Sterling hit a buzzer beater at the end of the first half.

6th-8th Grade: 6th-8th grade played their primetime Semi-Final games on Saturday Night. Aviv Shabtay went on a scoring rampage. He combined with Game MVP Moishe Jacobs for 25 of the 33 points in 5 Towns Pediatric Dentist ry’s 33-22 win over 5 Towns Orthodon tics. Moishy Jacobs also dropped a few more buckets at MSG during the Knicks halftime on Sunday. Benji Statfeld hus tled hard, helping Paradigm defeat Wie der Orthodontics and advance to the Championship Game next Sunday. Scott Cohen hit an incredible one-handed lefty full-court shot at halftime to win a Holy Schnitzel free kids meal card.

JSL Hockey League

2nd/3rd Grade: Jacob Levine scored the go-ahead goal for Sharona Beck, sending them through to the Semi-Fi nals. Paradigm put on an offensive clinic, scoring 7 goals.

4th/5th: Town Appliance saw their game go into a shootout for the third week in a row. Binyamin Flegmann was the hero, scoring in the third round of the shootout to advance Town Appliance to the Semis. Meat + Board’s offense has struggled throughout the regular sea son, but they came out to play in the 1st round of the playoffs. They scored 5 un

answered to start the game. Gavriel Abbi tan of 5 Towns Pediatric Dentistry scored 3 straight late in the game, but it was not enough to close the gap. Dr. Yehuda Mar ciano of 5 Towns Pediatric Dentistry came out to show his team support and dropped the puck for the opening face-off.

6th-8th: Shimmie Pacht of Posh Home & Bath recorded a hat trick. JSL Superstar Tzvi Maltz came ready to play for the playoffs – scoring 4 goals as Wie der Orthodontics defeated 5 Towns Cen tral 10-3, moving on to the Semi-Finals. Aryeh Perl scored a season high 6 goals as BayRock Insurance eased on through to the next round.

JSL Men’s Basketball

Built By Nate suffered their first loss of the season in a crazy overtime game vs Maidenbaum. Sammy Mandel scored 3 points in OT to help give Maidenbaum the badly needed victory. Shelby Rosen berg played phenomenally for John’s Automotive - scoring 25 points in John’s Automotive win over The Rebbe’s Choice.

Game of the

Family Mishmar at HANC

Despite the rainy weather and high winds on Wednesday night, the auditorium in the HANC Ele mentary School in West Hempstead was filled with parents and students who came to learn Torah together in this school year’s first family Mishmar event. As the crowd began to swell, additional tables and chairs were brought in to ac commodate the many families who had come to participate in this special oppor tunity. Rabbi Ouriel Hazan, Director of HANC’s West Hempstead campuses, ex plained that this year’s school theme is

“Let’s Grow Together.” In keeping with that theme, the families would explore different ways to grow in Torah.

Utilizing a beautiful learning packet that was compiled and designed by third grade teacher Rabbi Eli Bashevkin, the source materials kept parents and the first through sixth grade students en gaged in learning and meaningful dis cussions. Mothers and fathers sat with their children and together they explored what Moshe, Yehoshua and Har Sinai all had in common as a prerequisite for Torah growth. “What the families dis

Week

In 2nd/3rd Grade Hockey JNT and

ARG squared off in what perhaps can be called the greatest game in JSL History. JNT jumped out to an early 2-1 lead and held their ground for the next 2 periods. With 10 seconds left to the game and all hope seemingly lost, Dovid Schwadel of ARG hit a slick wristshot that found its way into the back of the net, tying the game. The game seemed set to go into a shootout but Yitzi Statfeld of JNT had other plans. Yitzi took the ensuing fa ceoff, drove past 3 defenders & scored within 6 seconds to win the game for JNT & send them to the Semi-Finals......

Swag Alert: The older divisions re ceived their JSL / FM Home Loans sweatshirts this week.

Basketball Fun Fact: 10 JSL boys got to play on the court at halftime of the Knicks game this past week.

Game MVPs: Shimmy Greenspan, Eliyahu Fuchs, Aryeh Lowy, Aaron Res nick, Shua Greenberg, David Gamerman, Michael Schaffer, Binyomin Statfeld, Moishe Jacobs, Aviv Shabtay, Steven Pacht, Aryeh Perl, Tzvi Maltz

covered was that all three had humili ty,” explained Rabbi Hazan. “In order to grow in Torah, you have to be curious, be able to be reflective, recognize mistakes, be able to seek out help and take advice from elders. These qualities, coupled with a humble disposition, are the ingre dients for successful growth in Torah.”

At the conclusion of the spirited learn ing session, the crowd played “Name that Tune,” enjoyed a few Chanukah-themed jokes, and then Rabbi Hazan raffled off some amazing prizes. All of the partic ipants were then treated to a delicious

nosh from Oma’s Sushi and Grill, includ ing sushi and soba noodles.

As the families took their leave at the end of the program, it was clear that this event was truly exceptional.

Mercaz Academy Gets Insider’s Look at Torah Reading

Aprimary goal of education is to prepare for anticipated challeng es. So even though all Mercaz Academy students are under bar mitzvah age and there is no obligation for them to read from the Torah, they were excited to get an inside view of the joys of kri yat haTorah. On Tuesday, the students celebrated the achievement of a member of our Mercaz family, Chairman of the Board Gary Katz, who accomplished his goal to lein the entire Torah. In recogni tion of this occasion, Mercaz Academy principal Rabbi Kalman Fogel invited Mr. Katz to visit the school and speak to the older grades about setting goals and tenacity…and could he please bring his sefer Torah with him?

Mr. Katz brought the Torah scroll that he and his wife, Shelley, had commis

sioned and donated to the Young Israel of Plainview in memory of Mrs. Katz’s par ents, offering the first chance many had ever had to get a good look inside. Fas cinated, the students clustered around the table as he and Rabbi Fogel opened the Torah and showed them the careful attention to detail with which it had been crafted.

His son’s bar mitzvah inspired Mr. Katz to return to leining, which he start ed by reading his own bar mitzvah par sha, then his brother’s. He continued volunteering to lein “step by step,” as he put it, and in the early stages, sometimes only one aliyah at a time. Finally, Parshat Toldot completed his goal of leining the whole Torah.

Mercaz students had many thought ful questions for Mr. Katz, asking how

long it took (five years), whether he was ever stopped by rain or snow (no, but lein ing outside during COVID in all weather conditions definitely presented challeng es), and what setbacks he encountered.

“It was awesome to be so close to a To rah, because usually you’re not until you turn 13,” said a fifth grade boy. “Also, it was really cool seeing someone who ac

MTA Robotics Team Takes Home Award

This past Sunday, MTA Lionot ics competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition. We were the only Jewish school in at

tendance, competing with top public and private schools from across the city in an exciting robot showdown. We came with two teams, each of which built an im

pressive robot designed to perform this year’s tasks, which included mechani cally grasping objects, lifting and plac ing them carefully on tall poles, driving around a crowded playing field, using computer vision to recognize objects, using sensors and complex software to drive autonomously and following in structions from a remote controller.

The day started with robot inspection and interviews with judges, where the students described the process of build ing a robot and managing a large team with many different tasks. Then we went on to the qualifying matches, where each team is randomly paired with another team to play an exciting 3-minute match where the alliance that scores more points wins. One of our teams went un defeated during these matches, earning the top spot in the playoffs. The other ro bot had some unfortunate wiring failures and did not score many points, but it did prove that many ambitious mechanisms worked well enough for competition, and with minor fixes it should be ready for

complished a lifelong dream.”

Rabbi Moshe Rubel, the sixth grade rebbe, said, “You could feel the energy in the room, and it stayed with them as we learned Chumash afterwards. You could tell that they had made the connection between what we do here and the Torah that was handed down from Moshe Rab beinu. It was an amazing experience.”

next time.

Next came the playoffs, in which the top 4 teams get to choose their alliance partners and we battle it out. MTA’s alli ance swept the semi-finals, but our big gest challenge was yet to come. We lost the finals 2 games to 1, putting us in sec ond place overall out of 25 teams, a good enough outcome that we qualified to move on to a higher level of competition this coming February.

The day ended with an awards cere mony in which our other robot received an award for its unique and ambitious design. It was hard to see it malfunction, but it felt really good to have the hard work and ingenuity recognized and sin gled out in that ceremony. In the end, both teams brought home a trophy and we are looking forward to improving both robots for next time. Thank you to the school for providing this amazing opportunity for the students, and thank you to our sponsors: Polaris Healthcare, Fabreeco 3D Printing, and Raytheon Technologies.

In The Grandeur of the Maggid, Rabbi Paysach Krohn outdoes himself, bringing us true stories that elevate as they entertain, that illuminate as they inspire. He finds the grandeur in the lives of ordinary Jews — because he knows there is no such thing as an “ordinary” Jew!

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be amazed and be inspired, as Rabbi Krohn shares great stories — and speaks to our very souls.

A Road Map

Drawing

Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Greenwald was a widely respected therapist, with strong personal relationships with many gedolei Yisrael. He was particularly close to the Steipler Gaon, Maran HaRav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky zt”l, whose guidance strongly influenced his therapeutic approach to healing. Guiding With Wisdom offers us a powerful Torah-based perspective on healing and emotional and mental health, with many priceless insights from the Steipler.

Be a Blessing A Guide to Living One’s Mission to the Fullest

“Be a blessing, my child, be a blessing.” They were words whispered from a father to his child as she confronted the horrors of the Holocaust. That child would grow up to be the world’s beloved Rebbetzin, Reb betzin Esther Jungreis.

A new book, Be a Blessing, shows us how Rebbetzin Jungreis chose to “be a blessing” in the darkest of times and most horrific of places. In Bergen-Belsen. In a Swiss boarding school, as a penni less refugee, separated from her family. In a hospital bed in San Diego.

Written as she recovered from a diffi cult and painful accident, Be A Blessing sings out with faith, hope, even in times of despair.

In the pages of this new book, we will hear Rebbetzin Jungreis speaking in Madison Square Garden, in a U.S. Airforce base, in a hospital room where she lies in terrible pain. We will hear her speaking to individuals looking for help or comfort. We will hear her speaking to herself, a young Holocaust survivor. And, most importantly, we will hear her speaking to each one of us, our concerns, our hopes and fears and questions.

From the Rebbetzin, we will gain tips for a better marriage and for being bet ter parents. We will learn how to find the mission our Creator has chosen for each individual and how to make room for Hashem in our hearts. And we will dis cover how to take our personal mission, use it to “be a blessing” and convert dark ness to rays of light.

In Jewish tradition, before parents journey to the next world, they bless their children. In this, the Rebbetzin’s final book before her passing, she has blessed all of us – because she felt all of G-d’s people were her children – with the greatest blessing of all: To be a blessing.

The following is an excerpt of one chapter in the book.

• • • • •

G-d Gives Me All I Need

Do you have all that you need? Do you really have it?

Every morning we make a blessing thanking the Almighty for providing us with all that we need. That sounds a little simplistic, you may protest. Is there any one who feels that G-d has provided him

with everything he needs?

We all have items on our “shopping list”: health, sustenance, a marriage partner, children… a new apartment, a new car, a vacation, a new wardrobe –the list is endless. So how can anyone say, with certitude and gratitude, “she’asah li kol tzorki – G-d provided me with my ev ery need”?

If we do not feel that G-d grants us our needs, it is because we don’t quite understand what those needs are. We suffer from a terrible human failing: We fail to recognize what we have and see only what we don’t have – so we’re not satisfied.

“Eizehu ashir?” the Sages ask in Pirkei Avos. “Who is wealthy? Ha’sa mei’ach b’chelko — he who is satisfied with his lot.” The problem is that most of us do not know what our portion is — so how can we rejoice in it? We are always looking for something else and do not ap preciate what we have. Indeed, that is the principle upon which our materialistic society is built. Create more needs and greed…sell more, and sell even more. It’s a vicious cycle that leaves vapidity, a pur poseless life, in its wake.

Allow me to share with you two alle gories.

There once was a country boy who had never seen the big city, never flown on a plane. One day, through unexpected fortune, he was notified that he had won a grand prize: an invitation to visit New York, where he would be wined and dined and perhaps even offered a job! Thrilled beyond words, he searched for a sack in which to pack his few mea ger belongings. A friend of his drove him to the airport, where he was dumbstruck by the tumult, the many passengers, the security precautions. Once in the air, he kept pinching himself and wondering, “Is this real? Could this be? Am I sitting here, or am I dreaming?”

Soon enough, the pilot announced that the plane would be landing. A flight attendant came and helped him buck le his seat belt. When the plane landed, he asked where he could find his sack of clothing, and was directed to the bag gage pickup, where he saw the carousel going round and round. He spotted his torn sack…but he also saw many beauti ful suitcases. Why should I take my old, torn bag? he mused. Let me take one of

these suitcases instead. How will anyone know that it’s not mine?

Excitedly, he grabbed an elegant-look ing piece of luggage and speedily made his way to the exit. No one stopped him, and he got away with the pilfered piece.

A well-dressed gentleman met him outside, drove him to a hotel, and told him that he’d be back in two hours to take him out to dinner.

Once in his room, the country boy looked down at the clothing in which he had traveled. Everything was crumpled and stained; some of the food he’d been served was splattered over his shirt and pants.

Eagerly, he opened the suitcase, sure he’d find something very special inside. He searched through it — and then came a terrible shock. He couldn’t believe it! The beautiful piece of luggage was filled with ladies’ clothing, high heels, and makeup!

He was aghast. What should he do? He could not go to dinner with his hosts dressed in his stained and creased pants and shirt. In his sack he had a suit, which wasn’t in the best condition, but at least it was his and it fit and was clean.

If only I had my sack with the clean suit that I folded so carefully, he thought to himself. That would be just perfect! Now people will laugh at me when they see me all rumpled. If only… if only…

But the sack was gone.

Many of us, much like this country boy, wish for things that do not suit our needs. We try to grab that which is not meant for us, and when we get it, we cry in dismay, “That’s not what I wanted!”

But it’s too late. We threw away what we had, and now we have nothing.

G-d has given us all that we need, but we think we are “smarter” than He is and throw away what He has given us, only to soon discover that we have nothing to fall back on.

In order to be satisfied with your lot, as Pirkei Avos teaches, you have to recog nize it and be careful not to throw it away in the junk pile.

There’s a famous tale about an im poverished fellow who, every night, was awakened by the same dream. He dreamt that in the big city, under the bridge, a great fortune was buried. He must go there and dig it up, and he would be wealthy for the rest of his life. One day,

he decided to finally make the journey and dig under the bridge. He found the spot — exactly as he remembered it from his dream — and started to dig, until a policeman came along and demanded to know what he was doing. Having no choice, the poor man recounted his re curring dream. “Please don’t laugh at me,” he concluded.

The policeman looked at him and said, “I am not laughing at you. I wouldn’t laugh at you. I understand where you are coming from. For, you see, I also had a dream, and in my dream, I saw a tiny shanty in a little faraway village, where an impoverished Jew lived. Underneath that shanty was a buried treasure. As a matter of fact, now that I look at you, I think that poor Jew resembled you!”

As the policeman further described the little village and the hut, the pauper from the shtetel started to tremble. Oh, my! he said to himself. I have the trea sure right under my house, and I did not know it!

And with that, he rushed back to his little broken-down home, dug deep into the earth, and found the treasure he had been dreaming of for so long.

If we would only be cognizant of the blessings in our lives, how different our days and years could be! How much more meaningful and purposeful our lives could be! But alas, as with so many other things, the truth dawns upon us too late. So every morning when we pray, we must remind ourselves: G-d grants me all my needs, even though I, with my puny hu man eyes and mind, cannot see it, can not appreciate it. Just the same, I trust G-d. I know it is all there.

There is a wonderful story about the Chofetz Chaim, the great sage of the early

A Conversation with Rebbetzin Slovie Jungreis Wolff

Be A Blessing is Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis’s final book, written during the throes of serious, pain ful illness. And yet it sings out with hope, faith, and optimism. ArtScroll spoke with Rebbetzin Slovie Jungreis Wolff about the powerful new book and her incredible, world-famous, beloved mother.

AS: Your mother went through so much, both as a young child and in her later years, and yet she always managed to “be a blessing” to the tens of thousands who loved her — and whom she loved. How did she find the strength to stay so caring — and so optimistic?

RSW: The day my mother arrived in Bergen-Belsen, my zeide said to her, “You have here a groise avodah, a great mis sion.” “Here, Tatty?” she asked. “What can I do here?” My mother didn’t understand, she was just a little girl. “Here, you can give a ‘shmichel’ (smile). Here, you can be a berachah, a blessing. Because when you smile you give others faith. You give oth ers hope. You give others courage.”

Despite all the pain and suffering, my zeide’s words imbued my mother, even as a child, with a purpose and a mission. No matter what is going on in your life, you give strength, courage, and faith to oth ers; this became her lifelong mission.

AS: Be a Blessing is such a hard book to define. Your mother shares many poi gnant personal memories. She gives guidance for parents, spouses, singles seeking their soulmates, and just about everyone facing challenges. And, of course, she includes beautiful Torah thoughts to strengthen our emunah. How did she manage to combine so many dif ferent facets of life so effortlessly?

RSW: My mother had a saying that she would share in every talk, every shi ur, in our private conversations, wherev

er she would go: hafoch ba, hafoch ba, d’kula ba: Turn the pages, turn the pages, everything is here. This was my mother’s motto: Every situation, every challenge, every nisayon, every facet of every re lationship, can be found in the Torah. You just have to know where to look. My mother loved Torah. She made Torah come alive. She made Torah relevant. She made everyone who came to her shiur or for advice, and even us children, grand children, great-grandchildren, see the emes of the Torah. Torah was her fire, and she was a soul on fire.

AS: Much of the book was written when your mother was recuperating from a serious accident. Can you give us the backstory on Be a Blessing?

RSW: When my mother reached her last season of life, she was confronted with many painful challenges – including her final illness. Instead of sitting in the darkness of suffering, my mother used the time to write this book and share her final wisdom and blessing with us all.

My mother would always say: Don’t say “lamah” — why, why, why; say “li mah” — for what purpose? Don’t say “maduah” — why, Hashem, did this hap pen to me? Ask “mah deah? ” — what can I learn from this experience? And so, my mother took the pain and suffering and the fear that she went through during that very difficult period of her life, and she began to write. And then she faced her final illness — and she continued to write this book.

Actually, the last chapter of this book was left unwritten. It was titled “Shacha ris, Minchah, Maariv” — and the pages were blank. We miss my mother and her wisdom, Klal Yisrael misses my mother, and the pages remain to be written But we are so fortunate, so blessed, to have

this final berachah from my mother in this book — not just us children, but all of us, because my mother considered ev ery single person she met to be her child.

AS: Your mother wrote so much about finding one’s mission in life. Tell us about her mission — how she discovered it, how she fulfilled it so successfully.

RSW: My mother’s mission was to touch the heart and ignite the spark, the pintele Yid, of every single neshamah she met. She made thousands of shiddu chim, taught the largest Torah class in the world, sat until four in the morning meeting people needing chizuk or guid ance. She spoke across the globe, shared her triumph over evil with the Israeli and American army, spoke in Madison Square Garden, created Hineni, an inter national organization, and traveled every continent with her mission of making To rah come alive and bringing Jews home. With it all, my mother was an incredi bly devoted daughter, wife, rebbetzin, mother, bubby, and great-grandmother. My mother received the berachos of the gedolei hador before she launched Hineni and spoke in Madison Square Garden. This mission was handed down to her from the doros, the generations that came before her, all great rabbanim and rebbetzins, all the way back to David HaMelech.

In Hungary, as the winds of war were blowing, my grandfather took my mother, her two brothers, and my grand mother to visit his parents, R’ Yisrael HaLevi and Rebbetzin Slova Chana, for whom I am named. On that trip, my mother saw something that affected her forever. She loved to sit with her zeide, her grandfather, R’ Yisrael, in his room with all his sefarim, and hear him learn. On that trip, her zeide began to cry. My

mother ran out of the room and found her father. She was frightened and asked why her zeide was crying. Her father took her outside, where the snow was very deep, and told my mother that he would walk first, and she should follow him. After a few moments, my zeide stopped and asked if my mother understood why he walked first. My mother said, “Of course, Tatty, because you want to make footsteps for me to walk in.” My mother’s father explained that when her zeide was learning and crying, he wasn’t learning only for himself. He was learning for her, her children, her children’s children, so that when the snow became very deep, if my mother would ever fall, she could pick herself up. She would know that there were footsteps, that she had a derech, that she could keep on walking.

This was the story of her life. No matter what the challenge — whether it was life challenges, Bergen-Belsen, my grandparents leaving this world, my fa ther’s illness, her final illness with all the pain that came with that — my mother had the derech to follow. Until her last day on earth, she continued her mis sion of walking in the derech of the avos and imahos, the bubbies and zeides who came before her.

twentieth century. He was a slight man, short of stature, but he was a giant with a great soul, mind, and heart.

It is told that when he was eight years old, he was playing with his friends, and the game they played was “If I were G-d, what would I do?” One little boy said: “I would make everybody healthy.” Another volunteered: “I would make everybody wealthy.” Each child contributed his own vision of what he would do if he were G-d.

When it was the turn of the Chofetz

Chaim, he simply said, “If I were G-d, I would leave everything as it is” — for G-d knows what he is doing. G-d knows what is best for each and every one of us.

Trust Him. He will provide you with all your needs. There is something calm ing about that, to know that you don’t have to be mired in that crazed world where it’s dog eat dog, and you don’t have to compete with the Joneses — or, for that matter, the Goldbergs or the Schwartzes. You are your own person, and G-d creat ed you to be the best you can possibly be.

The great Reb Zisha was once heard

saying, “After 120, when I stand in front of G-d’s throne, I will not be afraid that G-d will ask me, ‘Zisha, why weren’t you like Avraham, Yitzchak, or Yaakov? Like Moshe, like Yeshayah?’ I will sim ply respond, ‘G-d, You never gave me the strength, the talents, of those giants.’ But if He asks me, ‘Zisha, why were you not like Zisha?’ then what will I say?”

Yes, G-d grants us all our needs, but we always want something else. Even if the suitcase we grab has nothing in it that fits us, we want that suitcase. Even if the treasures we seek are buried under our

own houses, we would still go forth to seek our fortunes in faraway places. We like to play G-d and think we can change our destiny. But we do so to our detri ment. One day we will discover that our life was a failure because we always tried to be someone else and never discovered who we really were.

The question that G-d would ask Zi sha continues to echo in the air: Why weren’t you like Zisha? And that voice challenges you as well: “Why weren’t you, YOU?”

TJH Centerfold

Ripple in Still Water

When you peek at this optical illusion, can you see the ripple go through the image?

Riddle Me This

John wanted to get into a members-on ly club so he hid and watched the guard at the door of the club house. The guard said a number to each member as they approached, and the member would respond with a number of their own. If the member responded with the correct number, they were let in. If they respond ed incorrectly, they were thrown out.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me!

Sadie tells her husband Sal, “I had the craziest dream last night. I was in Walmart, and everything was half off!”

Sal replies, “Wow, that is a crazy dream. I had a dream that a burglar broke into the house, and I had to fight him off alone.”

“Oy vey,” says Sadie. “Why didn’t you call for my help?”

Sal responds, “Well, you were in Walmart.”

One member came up to the door, the guard said twelve, and the member re sponded with six and was let in. Another member came to the door, the guard said six and the member responded with three and was let in. Believing he had heard enough, John went up to the guard. The guard said ten, and John said five but was not let in. What should John have said?

number of letters in the number the guard said.

Answer: He should have said three, the

Inventions Trivia

1. Mechanical engineer Whitcomb Judson developed this idea just in time for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 but was overshadowed by the Ferris wheel. Nowadays, it’s on everything from pencil cases to coats, pants, boots, backpacks, and a plethora of other items. What was it?

a. Patch kits b. Buttons

c. Plastic fasteners d. The zipper

2. When was sliced bread introduced?

a. 1257 b. 1786 c. 1895 d. 1928

3. Where was Coke invented?

a. Kentucky b. England c. Georgia d. New York

4. What was the TV remote called when first invented in the 1950s?

a. Lazy bones

b. Detached activation device c. The Ultrasonic d. Cellular remote

5. Who invented the concept of two pages facing each other which are filled with great fun facts, information, humor, and anything else that interests this particular brilliant inventor (which is not much else)?

a. TJH Centerfold Commissioner b. TJH Centerfold Commissioner

6. Who invented the telephone?

a. Thomas Edison

b. Adley Trenton Todem (a.k.a. “AT&T”)

c. Alexander Graham Bell d. Elisha Gray

1) D- Judson’s original concept of the “clasp-locker” was a hook-and-eye device intended to replace shoelaces and buttons on boots. Nowa days, if you look at your zip per, you’ll usually see the initials YKK. It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world’s largest zipper manufacturer.

2) D- Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa, invented the first loaf-at-a-time bread-slicing machine. A prototype he built in 1912 was destroyed in a fire, and it was not until 1928 that Rohwedder had a fully working machine ready. The first commercial use of the machine was by the Chillicothe Baking Compa ny of Chillicothe, Missouri, which pro duced their first slices on July 7, 1928.

3) C

4) A- The first TV remote control, called “Lazy Bones,” was developed in 1950 by Zenith Electronics. The Lazy Bones used a cable that ran from the TV set to the viewer. By pushing but tons on the remote control, viewers rotated the tuner clockwise or coun terclockwise, depending on whether they wanted to change the channel to a higher or lower number.

5) A and B- The best invention ever… me!

6) C- In the 1870s, Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell both inde pendently designed devices that could transmit speech electrically (the tele phone). Both men rushed their respec tive designs to the patent office within hours of each other; Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone first. Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell en tered into a famous legal battle over the invention of the telephone, which Bell won. By the way, Bell disliked tele phones so much that he refused to have one in his office. But when Bell passed away in 1922, every telephone served by the Bell system in the USA and Canada was silent for one minute.

Invention Key:

5-6 correct: You are like Elon Musk! Blue check!

3-4 correct: Not bad. I am sure you are really proud that you knew where Coke started.

0-2 correct: A famous entrepreneur who owned a car company once sued a journalist for publishing an article in which he accused the carmaker of being dumb. At the trial, the attorney for the defendant quizzed the entre preneur on several random topics, in order to show that, in fact, the entre preneur was dumb. The entrepreneur responded that not knowing about random facts didn’t make him dumb because if he really needed that infor mation, he could just buy a $2 ency clopedia; it’s the guy who spends his time memorizing the useless informa tion as opposed to spending his time building car companies that is dumb. So, as long as you own a car company, don’t feel bad.

Parshas Vayishlach

The prophet of Israel, describing what can unfortunately be char acterized as the usual situation in Jewish life, states that it is comparable to one who flees from the lion and finds oneself in the embrace of a bear. Our father Jacob, who barely escapes from the treachery of Lavan, soon finds him self confronted by the deadly mob of his brother Eisav.

Jacob, in his confrontation with La van, chooses the option of flight as he removes himself from the territory con trolled by Lavan and his sons. But this option of flight is no longer possible in his contest with Eisav. Jacob is in his own land, the land of his ancestors, the land promised to him personally by G-d Himself, to be his rightful residence. As such, Jacob has nowhere to run.

As taught to us by Midrash and quoted by Rashi, his only options were to stand and fight, to buy Eisav off with mone tary tribute, and/or to pray. The option of fleeing does not enter the equation in any fashion. This is perhaps the basis for the well-known Talmudic dictum severe ly limiting the right of a Jew to leave the Land of Israel cavalierly.

Jewish history, from biblical times to the present, shows us that exile from the Land of Israel on a collective basis never occurred voluntarily. The most mobile, wandering people in the history of civili zation never left their homeland of their own volition. In this they were following

of the globe, no seemingly safe havens left for escape.

This is part of the reason for the es tablishment of the State of Israel and its phenomenal growth and inexplicable sta bility. Even though it has been provoked by errors of policy and with concessions to its neighbors, it is as though the Jew ish people, like their ancestor Jacob, de clared that this is where they will make their stand.

Prayer is a constant in current Israeli life, even for those who do not deem them selves to be observant of Jewish law and tradition. But in spite of all of the troubles, problems, and the myriad challenges that

the example of their father Jacob, who never considered fleeing from the Land of Israel in order to avoid the long expected and dreaded confrontation with his ag gressive and volatile brother.

In our long and winding road of exile, over the past two millennia, when one country closed down for us because of economic, social, or religious reasons, the Jewish people moved on elsewhere. But as we have discovered, we have run out of places to go in the world. There are no new undiscovered continents on the face

living in our country poses, flight in a col lective sense is a nonexistent possibility.

Unable to defeat us militarily or eco nomically, even though diplomatical ly they have wounded us severely, our enemies openly declare their intent to make us leave our homeland. But that is a very unrealistic policy. The children of Jacob, in the state that bears his name, certainly will follow his example until it finally brings quieter times and better relations.

Shabbat shalom.

Jewish history, from biblical times to the present, shows us that exile from the Land of Israel on a collective basis never occurred voluntarily.

From the Fire

Parshas Vayishlach Making Havdalah

After Shimon and Levi killed the inhabitants of Shechem and Shechem the son of Chamor, Yaakov Avinu was very upset with them and criticized them by saying (34:30), “You have caused trouble for me to make me smell bad among the dwellers of the land.” What exactly does Yaakov Avinu’s criticism “achartem osi, you have caused me trouble” mean exactly? The word achartem is very rare in Tanach. Rashi explains that the expression as follows “It is an expression denoting ‘murky water,’ as if to say ‘my mind is not clear now,’ and according to the aggada it means ‘the bar rel [of wine] is cloudy.’”

In other words, prior to Shimon and Levi’s actions, there had been a type of clarity, a clear barrel of wine. Yaakov is saying that Shimon and Levi made that pure wine cloudy and murky. In what way did Yaakov’s sons create murkiness or a lack of clarity?

The Book of Yehoshua is the only other place in Tanach where the expres

sion achartem is used. There, Yehoshua placed a cheirem, a ban on anyone who rebuilds or takes anything from the re cently destroyed city of Yericho. After los ing a battle, Yehoshua receives a prophecy that the loss was due to someone taking from the cheirem. Also, through proph ecy, he singles out the culprit, Achan, and brings him, his family, his property, and the banned property to be destroyed in the Valley of Achor (Achor, from the word achartem). Before killing Achan as Hashem commanded him, Yehoshua says, “Mah achartanu, Why have you caused trouble for us?”

What is the concept of the achira cre ated by Achan violating the cheirem, and what is the concept of achiras ha’chavis, the clouding of the barrel of wine? And how do those ideas relate to what Shimon and Levi did to the people of Shechem?

Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (the Ram chal) explains the state of man before and after the sin of Adam HaRishon, the first man, in Derech Hashem 2:2, 4. He says

there that before the sin, man had free will to choose between good and evil and that good and evil were two separate and clearly distinct choices. Good was good, and evil was evil, and it was clear which was which. By eating from the Eitz Ha’daas Tov V’Rah, the Tree of Knowl edge of Good and Bad, man destroyed the clarity that previously existed and brought evil into himself, thus making it difficult to distinguish between good and evil. According to the Ramchal, “[Adam] descended very much from his level and incorporated the darkness and murkiness within himself.” Using the word for cloud iness and murkiness that Yaakov and Ye hoshua used, the Ramchal explains that Adam made the distinction between good and evil murky and confusing.

The Ramchal explains that later Avra ham Avinu, the first Jew, began the pro cess of bringing man back to its original state by reestablishing the difference between good and evil. Avraham was called “Avram Ha’Ivri” (Bereishis 14:13),

Avraham the Hebrew (lit. “the one on the other side”) because, according to Bereishis Raba on that verse, “the whole world was on one side, and he was on the other side.” He maintained a separation between good and evil. When Avraham realized that his nephew Lot was not a good influence on his household, Avra ham said (13:9), “Please separate from me.” We see therefore that Avraham repaired the sin of Adam HaRishon by reestablishing the separation between good and evil. In Egypt later on, although the Jewish people failed in many ways, they maintained the distinction between themselves and the Egyptians by living in a separate city and maintaining separate names, a separate language, and a unique mode of dress.

According to the Ramban (34:13), Yaakov criticized Shimon and Levi by saying that although Shechem, who took their sister Dina, deserved to be killed, they killed the rest of the city without any good reason. Yaakov recognized that it

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80 was appropriate for them to take up their swords to kill Shechem, and perhaps his father, for taking Dina. There is a time for war, and Yaakov agreed with the ar gument “shall our sister be treated like a harlot?” Shimon and Levi were upset that the Shechem wanted to dissolve the dis tinction between them and the children of Yaakov through intermarriage. They killed the people of Shechem because they wanted to reestablish the separation be tween the Jewish people and the nations.

Yaakov told them that by attacking everyone, and not just the person who actually took Dina, they accomplished the opposite of their goal. One import ant distinction between the children of Yaakov and the nations of the world is (Bereishis 27:22) “the voice is the voice of Yaakov and the hands are the hands of Eisav.” We must not only be separate from the nations, but we must also act differ ently. By taking revenge on the whole city of Shechem as Eisav would have done, in stead of only the perpetrators, which is the Jewish way, Shimon and Levi actual ly blurred the distinction between good and evil, between Yisrael and the nations. “Achartem osi ” means that Shimon and Levi created murkiness and a lack of clarity where Avraham and Yaakov had

worked to establish clarity, a distinction between good and evil.

In practical halacha, where the law of cheirem (banned people or property) applies, the violation of the ban’s sepa ration between everyone and everything and the banned object or person is one of the most serious transgressions. The Medrash Tanchuma (Vayeshev 2) derives

regress away from its ultimate purpose, which is to regain the clarity that existed before the sin of Adam HaRishon.

The Prophet Daniel says (12:10) that at the end of time “many people will be cleansed and gain clarity and purifica tion, [but] the wicked will do wickedly.” Ultimately, the confusion and lack of clarity created by Adam HaRishon’s sin

dren of Yaakov fought Shechem, saying, “Shall our sister be treated like a harlot?” the Chashmonaim would not tolerate the blurring of the distinction between holy and profane, between good and evil, and between the Jewish nation and the other nations of the world. When they retook the Beis Hamikdash, they reestablished separation, “they cleaned out Your sanc tuary and purified your Temple.” They removed everything the Greeks had placed there which did not belong. And in lighting the Menorah, they sought out the jug of pure oil with the seal of the Ko hen Gadol showing that it had been kept separate and pure.

this from the story with Yehoshua and Achan: “If one transgresses a ban, it is as if he violated all five books of the Torah, and he will be punished for all of his sins.”

Based on what we have said, we can un derstand why the violation of a ban is so serious. The word cheirem literally means “separated.” Something can be separated, because it is holy or the opposite. But if one brings confusion into the world by mixing two things that are not meant to be mixed together, it causes the world to

will be rectified. In the meantime, it is our obligation to recognize the difference between good and evil and not confuse them.

We will soon be entering the time of Chanukah, when we reinforced the dis tinction between the Jewish people and the nations. The final straw that motivat ed the Chashmonaim to rebel against the Greek occupation of Eretz Yisroel was the rule that every Jewish bride had to first be with the local general. Just as the chil

It is imperative that we learn from Yaakov to maintain the clear distinction between good and evil and between our selves and the nations around us. With G-d’s help, may we soon merit to light the Chanukah candles and the establishment of the candle of the son of Yishai Your anointed one, soon in our days!

Rav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, is the found ing Morah d’Asrah of Congregation Aish Ko desh in Woodmere, NY, and serves as leader of the new mechina Emek HaMelech.

Think. Feel.Grow.

Ideals Lost and Found

There is a strange recurring phe nomenon throughout Parshas Bereishis: the Torah first describes one model of creation and then proceeds to depict a completely different, even con tradictory picture of the same creation. For example:

The first perek of Bereishis describes Adam as a being that was created b’tzelem Elokim (Bereishis 1:27), an inspiring and Divine portrayal of man and his role in the world.

However, the very next chapter de scribes man as a physical being, formed from nothing more than the dirt of the earth ((Bereishis 2:7), a description almost identical to the creation of animals.

What happened to the G-dly, inspiring image of man?

This same pattern extends to the cre ation of the luminaries:

When describing the creation of the sun and moon, the pasuk initially says that Hashem created two great lights (Bereishis 1:16).

However, the pasuk continues by stat ing that the large luminary would illumi nate the day, while the small luminary would be dedicated to the night.

The Midrash asks the obvious ques tion: What happened to the two big lights? Why does the pasuk begin by stating that there were two great lights but end by call ing only the sun a great light? The Mid rash famously explains that the moon was originally created with equal stature to the sun, however, in an act of arrogance and ego, the moon asked Hashem how there can possibly be two dominant lights. As a result, Hashem shrunk the moon, and it became subservient to the sun (see Rashi ad loc.).

A similar pattern occurs by the creation of trees. Hashem states that there shall be “fruit trees — “eitz pri ” — that bear fruits (Bereishis 1:11). The next pasuk then de scribes the creation of tress that bear fruit.

The Midrash explains that originally, trees themselves, including their bark and branches, were supposed to taste like their fruits.

However, when they were actually cre ated, this did not manifest. The bark of a tree tastes nothing like its sweet fruit (see Rashi ad loc.).

What is the meaning of this recurring pattern? Why are so many elements of creation depicted in one way before being described in a contradictory fashion?

The Answer

The key to answering these questions lies in one of the most fundamental con cepts in Judaism. The Arizal, Ramchal, Vilna Gaon, and many other Jewish think ers explain that every process contains three stages:

The first stage is the high, the inspi ration, an experience of perfection and clarity.

Next comes the second stage: a com plete fall, a loss of everything that was ex perienced during the first stage.

Then there is the third stage, a return to the perfection of the first stage. Howev er, this third stage is fundamentally differ ent from the first. It is the same perfection,

the same clarity, but this time it’s a perfec tion and clarity that you have earned. The first time it was given to you, now you have worked to build it for yourself.

The first stage is a gift, a spiritual high. It’s there to help you experience the goal, the destination. It’s a taste of what you can and hopefully will ultimately accomplish, but it’s not real. It’s given as a gift and is therefore an illusion. It serves only as a guiding force but cannot compare to the genuine accomplishment of building some thing yourself. It is therefore taken away to allow for the second and most important stage: building it yourself, undergoing the work required to attain this growth in ac tuality, to work for the perfection that you were shown. A gift isn’t real; something chosen and earned is.

We’re in this world to choose, to assert our free will, and to create ourselves. Now that we have tasted the first stage, we know what we’re meant to choose, what we’re meant to build. The third stage is the rec reation of the first stage. While it appears the same, it’s fundamentally different. It’s real, it’s earned, and it’s yours. The first stage was a gift, an illusion; the third is the product born of the effort and time you invested.

The Ideal Adam

There are many explanations for the contradictory descriptions of Adam in the first and second chapters of Bere ishis, but it can be explained clearly and beautifully according to the principle we just established. The ideal and goal of man is to become G-dly, to become per fect, all-knowing, all-good, all-kind, and to have complete self-control. However, this is the goal, not the starting point. We begin as animalistic beings, with limit ed intellectual abilities and undeveloped character traits.

A baby is selfish, the center of its own world, the only person who exists. This is the exact opposite of G-dliness. The goal of life is to become G-dly, to go through the process of actualizing our potential, and in doing so, we become a true tzelem Elokim. As we have previously explained, the fe tus learns kol haTorah kulah in the womb and then loses it upon being born into this world. We are born imperfect so that we can journey through this world with the mission of becoming perfect, recreating and earning what we once received as a gift. Adam was created first as a perfect being, the model of who we each strive to become before being reduced to the lowly and animalistic being that we begin our lives as.

The Sun and the Moon

The sun and moon are representative of an entity and its vessel. The goal of a vessel is to fully and loyally contain and project the essence within it — to serve as the me dium of revelation for its inner content. A lightbulb does not block the light within but loyally projects it out into the world. This is the ideal as well for the body in its relationship to the soul; the body must car ry the soul and serve as its enabler, allow ing the spiritual self to manifest correctly into the world. The entire physical world as well should ideally serve as the perfect

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projection of its spiritual source.

This ideal is modeled in the creation of the sun and moon. While the moon was never equal to the sun in size, it was orig inally able to fully reflect the light of the sun. The moon destroyed this through the sin of ego, a projection of self that prevent ed it from fully and properly reflecting the light of the sun. When you assert yourself and your ego, you are unable to reflect any thing higher than yourself. As a result, the moon “shrank” and was no longer able to fully reflect the light of the sun.

This same theme applies to the human body as well. Originally, the body was a clear reflection of the soul. The Midrash explains that when you looked at Adam, you did not see his body, you saw his es sence, his soul. When you look at a light bulb, all you see is radiant luminescence; only if you look really closely can you make out the vessel which contains the light. This is what Adam’s body was originally like. Once Adam sinned, however, the body fell to its present form — a vessel that hides the soul, not one which loyally projects it.

Every time we say Birkas Ha’chodesh, we daven for Moshiach, when the moon will once again fully reflect the sun, when the physical world will fully reflect the spiritual, when the body will fully reflect

the soul. As the Ramchal explains, in the times of Techiyas Ha’meisim, the body will return to its perfect state, where it can fully reflect all the light and spiritual greatness of the neshama (Derech Hashem 1:3:13).

Trees Tasting Like the Fruits

A fruit represents the end goal, the destination, the result of a process. A tree represents the process, the stage of growth and becoming. The ideal is for the process, the tree, to be as enjoyable and euphoric as the destination itself, the fruit. However, the world was created in such a way that we do not naturally enjoy the process. Most people do not want to undergo the process of becoming great; they simply want to be great. This impatience causes many to give up on their journey toward greatness.

This theme touches upon something very deep. Olam Haba is a place of being, a place of endpoint, where you enjoy ev erything you’ve built and become in this world. The consciousness and person you create in this world is what you will enjoy in the World to Come. This world (Olam Hazeh), however, is the place of becom ing, the place of process, where you create yourself. The goal is to learn how to enjoy the process itself. When you realize that

you are creating your eternity, you are able to enjoy the building process as well. This is what it means for the tree to taste like the fruits. The process is just as important as the destination because you only get to the destination by building your way there. [From this perspective, one can actually enjoy the process just as much as (if not more than) arriving at the goal itself.] Ev ery part of the process is fundamental; every moment spent correctly becomes eternal. When you know this, you get to live in Olam Haba while still in this world! Genuine happiness comes from enjoy ing the process of becoming. You’ll never be perfect, but you can always become more perfect. Happiness comes from en joying the process of becoming your best self, fulfilling your unique purpose in life. The ideal is for the process (tree) to be ev ery bit as sweet as the end result (fruits), but in this world, we must work toward that ideal; it is not a given. It takes choice and willpower to enjoy the journey toward greatness.

This is the process of life. The ideal is revealed, taken away, and then remains as our goal as we journey through life, try ing to recreate that ideal. The key is to be inspired by the goal, not discouraged by the struggle. We must understand that

our goal is to become G-dly, fully reflect our higher selves, create oneness, and en joy every single step of the process!

Rabbi Shmuel Reichman is the author of the bestselling book, “The Journey to Your Ul timate Self,” which serves as an inspiring gateway into deeper Jewish thought. He is an educator and speaker who has lectured inter nationally on topics of Torah thought, Jewish medical ethics, psychology, and leadership. He is also the founder and CEO of Self-Mastery Academy, the transformative online self-de velopment course based on the principles of high-performance psychology and Torah.

After obtaining his BA from Yeshiva Uni versity, he received Semicha from Yeshiva Uni versity’s RIETS, a master’s degree in education from Azrieli Graduate School, and a master’s degree in Jewish Thought from Bernard Revel Graduate School. He then spent a year study ing at Harvard as an Ivy Plus Scholar. He cur rently lives in Chicago with his wife and son where he is pursuing a PhD at the University of Chicago.

To invite Rabbi Reichman to speak in your community or to enjoy more of his deep and inspiring content, visit his website: ShmuelReichman.com.

Delving into the Daf Focusing on the Positive

The daughter of the emperor once said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chan anya, “You are the epitome of mag nificent Torah, but it is stored in an ugly vessel!”

Apparently, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chan anya was an unattractive man. The em peror’s daughter was puzzled as to why Hashem would deposit his Torah in an ugly individual. Rabbi Yehoshua told her, “You may learn the answer to your dilem ma from your father’s house. In what type of container do you store wine?” She said to him, “In earthenware vessels.” He said to her, “Is it conceivable that everyone stores their wine in earthenware vessels, and you also store it in earthenware ves sels? Is there no distinction between the emperor and ordinary people? You should place your wine in vessels of silver and gold.”

She went and placed her father’s wine in vessels of silver and gold. The wine spoiled.

Rabbi Yehoshua said to her, “The same is also true of the Torah. It spoils if it is contained in a handsome person.” She asked him, “But are there not people who are both good-looking and learned in To rah?” He said to her, “If they were ugly, they would be even more learned!” (Ne darim 50b).

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya’s dream was to be the best Torah scholar that he could be. It is possible that perhaps his ap pearance did, on some level, bother him. However, he saw the greater picture. He knew that his humble appearance would in turn enable him to be more humble in spirit. This, in turn, would enable him to reach even loftier levels of Torah scholar ship. For Rabbi Yehoshua it was certainly a worthy tradeoff. In the final analysis, he was happy with his situation. He was able to focus on the positive side of not being the most handsome Torah scholar.

There is a Tosfos in Yevamos (81b) that is seemingly at odds with a Tosfos in Zevachim (72b). The topic was regarding

a piece of the lechem ha’panim that be came mixed with other ordinary pieces of bread. Tosfos in both locations attempts to explain why the ordinary rules of nulli fication don’t apply. However, the reason Tosfos offers in Yevamos is incomprehen sible at first blush. Rav Shmuel Shtrashun (1819–1885), better known as the Rashash, was struggling to understand the Tosfos. At the time, the Netziv came to visit him. The Netziv offered a brilliant but simple solution to which the Rashash readily agreed. Yet, the Rashash was bothered as to why this rosh yeshiva, who was 23 years younger than him, was able to figure out the solution and he was not.

The Netziv offered his explanation: “You are a wealthy banker and are able to learn Torah in relative comfort. I am a poor man and am forced to exert more effort to learn Torah in my circumstances. We know that the more toil one exerts in Torah study, the greater he will become.”

Just like Rebbe Yehoshua in the first story, the Netziv was faced with a difficult life situation. His parnassah was lacking, and it was hard to support his family. Surely, it would have been a welcome relief for the Netziv to have his financial situa tion alleviated. Yet, the Netziv valued the

Torah scholarship he achieved. Whenever he thought of his parnassah predicament, he was able to focus on the positive. He would not let his financial situation de press him when he realized the tradeoff.

There was a young man who tried his hand at investing and was blessed with success. He started with trading stocks and then moved to options. He had good weeks and bad weeks but ultimately man aged to turn $3,000 into close to a million dollars. He was single, living alone, and didn’t have any major financial obliga tions. He began to give charity in amounts that he never dreamed possible. In the end, some bad trades doomed him, and he lost everything. He went to Rav Pin chas Scheinberg, zt”l, with one question. “Doesn’t giving tzedakah protect a person from losing his wealth?”

Rav Scheinberg explained to him, that in his view, one of two solutions is possi ble. Either he will get his money back at some later date, or perhaps he had been destined to die young and his money was taken instead of his life. This individu al, who had been dating for a while, was soon after introduced to his future wife. The young man’s rebbe told him, “Perhaps you needed some type of kapparah to mer

it finding your wife, and the loss of your wealth was it.”

In this story, we have another individ ual facing adversity. He could have let the loss of his wealth depress him and leave him unable to cope. Yet, he was able to fol low the guidance of Rav Scheinberg and his rebbe and focus on the positive. He cer tainly would have given all of his money to save his own life or to find his bashert. Of course, being wealthy would have been nice, but the tradeoff was even nicer.

In all of the tests Hashem gives us there is always a silver lining. Every instance of adversity is an opportunity to enable us to grow. One useful technique in coping with these situations is to focus on the positive.

Rabbi Zelig Pliskin, shlita, was once giving a talk on this very subject. A listen er in the crowd raised his hand and said, “Rabbi, do you mean to tell me that when my car gets a flat on a rainy night, I’m sup posed to be happy and exclaim, ‘Yay! Hash em gave me the ability to change a heavy flat tire’? Only one in a million can achieve that happiness.”

Rabbi Pliskin had observable Divine providence that day. The person sitting right next to the first audience member who had spoken up asked permission to speak.

“That exact situation happened to me. I was returning from my doctor’s office, fol lowing up after my hernia surgery. After an extended time, my doctor had finally cleared me to lift heavy objects. When my car got a flat on the way home, I exclaimed, ‘Baruch Hashem, I am able to change the tire and lift heavy items by myself!’”

The first audience member then shout ed, “That’s the one in a million!”

Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow is a rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. In addition, Rabbi Sebrow leads a daf yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hemp stead, NY. He can be contacted at ASebrow@ gmail.com.

Israel Today

You’re in the (Israeli) Army Now

Last summer, we told friends we were going to Israel. Very nice, they said. Visiting grandkids? No. Other relatives? No. Just touring around? No.

Nu? We’re volunteering on an Army base. Hmm. Are you kidding? Are they giving you a gun? they joked.

We participated in Volunteers for Is rael (VFI), otherwise known as Sar-El.

We can say, at the outset, we enjoyed our experience immensely. We felt it was valuable, rewarding, and important – be ing a small cog in a big important wheel.

We both have friends who have done the program and raved about it. The comments they shared were mostly pos itive. We wanted to go to Israel but also do something meaningful.

The application process was lengthy, bureaucratic, and sometimes frustrating (like Israel itself), made more compli cated after the program was shut down during Covid. The last step was an inter view via Zoom (to try to weed out whack jobs, our interviewer said). After a few months we were finally accepted.

We asked veteran volunteers lots of questions, including what to expect and what were the must-bring items.

While you only find out what base you’re assigned to after you arrive at Ben

Gurion Airport, we were allowed to make a request in advance.

Many of the veterans advised us to ask for Matzrap, which distributes med ical and surgical supplies and equipment for Tzahal medics and paramedics in the field. Why Matzrap? One friend called it the Hilton of the bases – better food and thicker foam mattresses.

The base is composed of many ware houses that collect, monitor, and distrib

bands and wives, housed on separate floors.

Volunteers, who wear army uniforms, gather in formation after breakfast for flag-raising. One of the soldiers who were our female madrichot – Shir 21, and She li, 20 – took turns yelling out, in Hebrew, “At ease” and “Attention!” before the flag was raised by a different volunteer each day. We then sang “Hatikvah.” Then it was off to work in the warehouses.

pressed their gratitude to us – paying our own airfare to volunteer our time to the needs of Tzahal.

Our group of fourteen volunteers came from Czech Republic, Germany, South Africa, Slovakia, and the USA.

Our madrichot were tasked with re sponding to our individual needs and also planned informational and enjoyable night activities.

The work week began on Sunday and concluded on Thursday after lunch, when we were driven to the central train and bus station in Tel Aviv. We felt pride in do ing the work, and we bonded as a group. We both agreed we would volunteer again, provided we are in good health, i”yH.

ute items, including weeding out those with expired dates. The warehouses are staffed and supervised by civilians who work for the IDF.

Volunteers come from all parts of the world and include Jews and Christian.

We were assigned different tasks in volving medications, surgical kits, IVs, etc.

A dormitory building houses the vol unteers, with males and females, hus

We worked from 8:30 until noon, then had lunch until 1, then resumed work un til 4:00.

The base has a large dining room that serves three meals a day, with lunch being the main meal (meat, chicken, and vege tarian entrees) and a nice salad bar with lots of chopped cucumbers and tomatoes and, of course, a variety of dishes made with eggplant.

All staff and officers repeatedly ex

Sometimes, the work was tedious, but then you realized that your efforts mat tered – you were helping to ensure that a combat medic had the right supplies and equipment out in the field – a cog in a very important wheel.

Miriam and Jeffrey Benkoe live in Boynton Beach, Florida, while they dream of Israel. Miriam is a master educator, currently work ing at several South Florida yeshivot. Jeffrey is retired after working for nearly thirty years as a journalist at Reuters.

Volunteers, who wear army uniforms, gather in formation after breakfast for flag-raising.

Koach Eitan

A Family’s Story of Strength, Perseverance, and Determination

On August 5, 2017, Eitan Ashman said he had a slight headache. An active 42-year-old father of four, Daf Yomi learner, businessowner, MDA volunteer, and CrossFit instructor, neither he nor his wife Leora thought much of it. The next morning, Leora found Eitan lying unresponsive on the floor, and he was rushed to hospital.

Doctors confirmed that Eitan had suffered a left-sided stroke, and while Eitan survived the stroke, he was left with a condition called aphasia, which can cause difficulty in speaking and communicating, reading, writing and comprehension.

The Ashmans have been on a rollercoaster journey ever since that day, facing medical, psy chological, emotional, and religious challenges together. I sat down with Eitan and Leora in Yerushalayim last month, to hear their story of perseverance and faith, how they are working through these challenges, and why they are now sharing their story and inspiration with the world.

As Eitan has aphasia, a condition that makes speaking very difficult for him, Leora did the majority of the talking, with Eitan interjecting at various points.

Eitan is originally from Baltimore, and I am from To ronto. We both made aliyah individually and met in Israel. Eitan learned in Ner Yisrael in America, and then Yeshivat Ner Yakov and Yeshivat Hakotel in Israel; after learning at Hakotel, he also joined the IDF, and it was then that we met.

When we got married, we lived in the Old City of Yerushalayim for almost five years, but once our oldest was going to start school, we were looking for a community and moved to a new area of Efrat called the Zayit. Now it is a thriving area (Rabbi Shlomo Katz just opened his shul there recently), but when we moved, many of the roads were still unpaved! We were among the first families to build a shul called Zayit Raanan, and Eitan would give a weekly tzurba halacha shiur there.

Eitan ran a property management business in Jerusa lem, and I ran and coordinated the different youth groups in Efrat. Eitan was part of a regular Daf Yomi shiur in the area completing a few cycles, and thank G-d, we were living happily with our four children in a beautiful com munity.

The stroke came almost out of nowhere. Eitan was forty-two years old, he had become a volunteer for Magen David Adom, he had recently become a CrossFit instructor, and there were no medical warning signs.

On the day before his stroke, he had a headache in shul so he came home early, but the rest of Shabbat he felt OK and even went to teach a class at the gym after Shabbat, so we thought nothing of it. We went to bed, and then early in the morning, I woke up and heard what sounded like a chair scraping downstairs. Eitan often got up early to go to his Daf Yomi shiur, but I came downstairs to check out what the noise was.

I found Eitan lying on the floor in the kitchen, his eyes open, but he was not responding. He had had the presence of mind to shake around a chair to attract attention, but he wouldn’t respond to anything I said. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have continued to talk to him to explain that I was calling an ambulance, to keep communicating with him, as even though he couldn’t respond, I believe he could actually understand what was going on.

We called the ambulance, and he was rushed to hos pital. The doctors discovered that he had had a massive stroke, which had been caused by two blood clots in the brain, and a torn carotid artery. The surgery to treat this was very complicated because of the torn artery, and al though there was significant damage to his brain, baruch Hashem, the doctors were able to prevent so much more damage.

Eitan was in intensive care for two weeks and after three months was discharged from the hospital to come home.

After the immediate scare and surgery to stabilize his condition, it became clear that the stroke had caused major damage to Eitan’s functioning. On a physical level, Eitan

lost his function in his right arm, and his right side is very weak – subsequently he also still needs painkillers and hydrotherapy to deal with chronic pain. We also began to realize the extent of the damage to his brain that the stroke had caused, as in the hospital he was unable to speak. Due to the damage to his brain, Eitan also lost all memory prestroke. He can recognize people he has been in touch with but not remember the experiences he has had with them.

We learned that Eitan had a condition called aphasia, whereby the brain’s language functioning can be damaged; one of the major causes of aphasia is stroke. It felt like Eitan was the same kli as he was before, but that the to chen, a lot of the contents of the kli, were no longer there; he had survived the stroke, but now we couldn’t commu nicate with him as before and he could barely remember his life from before. He was going to have to start learning to speak and communicate from scratch.

While Eitan had to learn so much from scratch, our family also had to work just as hard. Sudden trauma, and one that took away a lot of what was, is hard for anyone to go through, and our family had to learn how to live with a new reality. With so much support from our extended family, friends, and community our family has overcome a lot. Every day, our superhero children, our parents, our family, close friends, and, of course, Eitan go above and beyond to make sure we all keep each other thriving in our new reality.

Eitan started to work with a speech therapist, but it was a painstaking process – when he came home from the hospital on Erev Sukkos, he could only say one word: “Savta.” Everything he wanted to say came out “Savta.” As Eitan began to regain some of his capacity for language, one of the things he began to experience was a lot of frustration – aphasic people often have the words at the tip of their tongue, but just can’t get them out.

[At this point, Eitan interjects and says, “I feel…frus trated.” -Ed.]

The speech therapy was tremendously important in helping his progress.

We also had to work with Eitan to help him remember or relearn things from the first 42 years of his life. We would sit with him with photo albums and tell him about our life before the stroke. Eitan would often see someone or something, and it was clear he knew it was familiar, but he was not able to place it or remember the details. It was a slow and gradual process to re-acquaint Eitan with himself and his life.

Along with Eitan having to learn to speak, Eitan’s friends and family had to learn how to interact with him in a new way. It takes time for people to learn how to commu nicate with an aphasic person – you have to communicate more slowly, but also without insulting their intelligence – just because they have language processing challenges it doesn’t mean they are less intelligent! There were some people who were even scared off from interacting at all anymore as they didn’t know how to deal with the new reality, but I think that is never a good idea – we still want our friends and family to be connected, but it just looks different now.

As Eitan progressed, and as we have learned to under stand Eitan’s reality, we can help him more. Often, if Eitan gets stuck and the words aren’t coming out, I or one of my kids can help finish his sentences, but with permission first. Eitan also carries a notebook that he has studied that has basic information about himself and different pictures that he can point to to help express himself.

We had never heard of aphasia before Eitan’s stroke, and when he developed it, we began to connect with all sorts of support groups and sources of information around the world. However, we began to realize that as a frum Jew, there are so many new questions we had to face that we didn’t know how to deal with and that general aphasia support groups were not going to help with. Aphasia sufferers can find noisy situations with lots of people overwhelming, as it is hard for them to zone out background noise. How was Eitan going to be able to go to shul? Would he be able to say kiddush, or daven, or learn all things that require signifi cant language functioning?

for him. Often, religious settings like this can also be a source of great pain for Eitan – it confronts him with the reality of his situation, as he knows that he used to be able to function in these settings but now can’t, so it is very painful. He was dreading Seder night and not planning on going.

Rav Johnny asked Eitan and me if Eitan had a Hag gadah he had marked up from previous years, which, as many good baale batim, he had. I brought the Haggadah to Rav Johnny, and he started to look through the notes that Eitan had made and shortening each idea into one or two lines. They wrote this up as Eitan’s new Haggadah and spent weeks learning through it together so Eitan was prepared. Aphasia can affect reading as well, so for Eitan, the less words on a page the better.

That Seder night, Eitan was able to join, to follow along better as other family members read, and also to contrib ute his divrei Torah – it was different and wasn’t the same Eitan as before the stroke, but it was him able to contrib ute in his way, with the same divrei Torah as before just adapted for the new reality.

There were also challenges on a physical level – he had lost the functioning in one arm, so how was he going to put on tefillin? There was a tremendous amount to work through.

There were a number of great blessings. Firstly, there were certain things that Eitan was still able to do. Music is processed in a different part of the brain than language, so because kiddush is sung, Eitan was able to regain the ability to say kiddush faster. But the greatest bracha was that Eitan found a rabbi called Rabbi Johnny Solomon who has been a rock of support for him. He needed someone to work through all these issues with, who could understand Eitan’s condition and be able to communicate with him, as well as supporting him religiously and emotionally, so Rav Johnny, who was not afraid of a little word called aphasia, has been a huge help.

[Eitan interjects here: “Wow…chaval al ha’zman!”-Ed.]

A great example of this was before Pesach of last year. Rav Johnny asked Eitan what he was planning to do on Seder night, and Eitan said that he didn’t want to go. He wouldn’t be able to say any divrei torah, and the general noise and discussions at the table would be overwhelming

Shul is still a struggle – Eitan continues to try and go for as much as he can, but often the noise of davening (and shmoozing) can be overwhelming, and he has to take a break. Along with the questions of religious practice, there are also questions of emunah that we naturally have to face. Why did this happen to us, and what does it mean? Rav Johnny has been a support for both of us in this way. I also take a lot of inspiration from Miriam Perez, the re markable woman who lost two sons in the IDF but is a tower of faith. She says that our relationship with Hashem is like a tango, sometimes we are close together and oth er times we feel like we get pushed away. There are days that we can feel further from Hashem and then other days where we feel embraced – but Hashem is with us every step of the way.

It is amazing, though, to see how deep an impact Eit an’s previous Torah learning made on him, and that some of that comes through even if learning is now difficult. Ei tan’s Torah learning made a deep impression on him, and we try in every way to enable him to live as full a religious life as possible, and he is making progress all the time.

“When he came home from the hospital on Erev Sukkos, he could only say one word: ‘Savta.’”

Credit Josh Hasten

The day after Eitan’s stroke, we started a Face book page called Koach Eitan as a way of keeping friends and family informed about his condition. That year, a large group of us ran in the Jerusalem Mar athon to raise money and awareness for aphasia suffer ers. After a few years, someone said to me, “You are now doing so much to raise awareness and teach others, you should be running for your own organization!” We decided that we would use

how Hashem often sends me the chizuk just when I need it. I will be having a difficult day, where I feel that it is all just too much, and a man from LA will reach out to say how much one of our videos has taught and meant to him. I had a rabbi call me from Atlanta last week to see how we can work together. There are so many peo ple in our community who face some kind of speech or language impairment and learning how to best support them is such an important cause.

Koach Eitan as a platform for spreading awareness and educating about stroke and aphasia and how to support people with aphasia and their families as well as people with similar conditions. Together with an organization called Giving Ltd. we launched The Koach Eitan Initiative. The KEI runs different projects and events throughout the year to raise awareness about stroke and aphasia, thereby enabling and creating in clusion and connection for so many.

For so many years of our life, we felt we were usually on the giving side of the equation. After Eitan’s stroke, we experienced love and support from around us, and received so much from our community. It gives us a tremendous sense of purpose to try and be back on the giving side together, to give support and encouragement to others going through this, and to help educate the community about aphasia and similar conditions.

To find out more about Koach Eitan and ways to sup port the initiative, visit www.koacheitan.com

A notebook Eitan carries with him to help him communicate

The first page of Eitan's new hagaddah, bearing a profound and personal thought

One of our campaigns is called the “LETS TALK” campaign. LETS TALK is an acronym for different ways you can communicate in a way that helps people with language impairments, such as lowering background noise, maintaining eye contact, and more.

It is a lot of work to run an initiative like this, as well as taking care of a family and having a job. It is amazing

Rabbi Aron White grew up in London and now lives in Arno na, Yerushalayim. He has semicha from Yeshiva University and serves as the associate editor of HaMizrachi Magazine.

“I also had to work with Eitan to help him remember or relearn things from the first 42 years of his life.”

Dear Teen Talk,

I’m embarrassed to ask this but I’m willing to ask this if it’s anonymous.

I live in Woodmere and am in tenth grade. The thing is that I am in class with a lot of rich girls and my family is not so wealthy. We are not poor, but we don’t have tons of money to burn. These girls are very nice, but they don’t realize that not everybody has endless credit card accounts. They’re always going for pizza/drinks/ shopping after school. I go with them sometimes, but sometimes I have to say no because I can’t ask my parents for more money to spend with my friends that week. Don’t even ask what they do on vacation or on weekends. They talk about what they do/going to do all the time.

Teen Talk, a new column in TJH, is geared towards the teens in our community. Answered by a rotating roster of teachers, rebbeim, clinicians, and peers (!), teens will be hearing answers to many questions they had percolating in their minds and wished they had the answers for.

I like hanging out with them, but I sometimes feel jealous of what they have or feel resentful that they don’t even bother to think of all the money that they are spending.

I hate having these feelings and feel so badly when I do feel them.

What should I do?

It is very big of you to write in with this question. I think this is something many people have a hard time with but it takes a lot to admit it.

No one ever wants to feel jealousy or re sentment towards their friends, but some times we do because we’re human. I have definitely felt jealous of my friends at cer tain points and found it frustrating that they didn’t appreciate the things they had that I so badly wanted. No one wants to feel this way toward their friends, and I one hundred

percent understand where your frustration is coming from.

However, as jealous as you may feel at times, it’s important for you to remember that feeling this way does not mean you are a bad person. You shared that you feel bad about the fact that you get jealous, and that says a lot about you! It’s easy for people to get stuck in a negative mindset because

they allow themselves to think “how could I not be jealous? They have everything I don’t.” The truth is, thinking like that only ends up hurting a person more. You, however, are incredible in having recognized that there is no need to get caught up in such thoughts.

Of course, this is a difficult sit uation. These girls are your friends, and it might feel like the only way to keep up with them is to have a limit

Are you a teen with a question?

If you have a question or problem you’d like our columnists to address, email your question or insight to editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com , subject line: Teen Talk.

less credit card. Even though you do have money to spend, it could feel like it’s never enough. This is an extremely frustrating situation that people face, and I promise you, you are not the only one.

Before we discuss how to approach it, it’s important to remember what a friend ship is made up of. It takes two people to make up a friendship, two different people with different lives and different circum stances. You are different from each one of your friends, and they are different from each of theirs. It’s just how Hashem made us – different! But you know all of this al ready, you know that Hashem has given us different families, different talents, and even different financial circumstances. The hard part is reminding ourselves of this in the moments that it matters most.

Reminding ourselves that Hashem gave us everything we need is especially difficult when we are busy comparing ourselves to others. When you are out with your friends and they are spending money that you can’t afford to spend, telling yourself that this is what Hashem gave them and this is what Hashem gave you may not make the jeal ousy go away. However, it’s not meant to be a quick fix.

Yes, there are areas where you will not be like everyone else, but there are also areas where everyone else may not be like you, and that is OK! You have everything you could pos sibly need, and truthfully, I think that leaves you better than just “OK.” Hashem knows us better than we know ourselves and we have to let ourselves trust that He has given us exactly what we need, especially when we don’t feel it.

It’s possible that when you wrote in you

were looking for a practical solution such as giving yourself a budget at the beginning of the week to spend when you go out with your friends. Or the pos sibility of suggesting to your friends that you take a break from going out all the time and spend some time at each other’s houses instead. While both of those are definitely

and that too is an amazing thing. Each and everything about you, the good and what may feel like the bad, is a gift from Hashem. If you take the time and put the effort into reminding yourself of that, I can guarantee you that it will make a difference. You will get to a place where these things won’t bother you

worth a try, I think what will make the biggest difference is a shift in perspec tive.

Even though you have been giv en so much by Hashem, it’s easy to feel like you’re lacking especially when you are in situations like the ones you describe. No, you may not have been given a family with an endless amount of money, but as you said, your family is not poor, and that alone is something to be thankful for. From what you shared, it sounds like you have very nice friends you enjoy spending time with,

as much. It won’t matter what amount of money your friends’ families may have, because you’ll know deep down you have everything you need.

I would also like to share that it is not the worst thing in the world to go out with a friend and not buy something; sometimes it’s nice to go out just to spend time with them. I have gone out with my friends on drives or out shopping, and whether or not we spend money, we’ve always had a great time. It’s more about the company than what you do together. Either way, I wish you much hatzlacha, and I hope that this gives you a new perspective!

When you are out with your friends and they are spending money that you can’t afford to spend, telling yourself that this is what Hashem gave them and this is what Hashem gave you may not make the jealousy go away.

Dating Dialogue What Would You Do If…

Dear Navidaters,

Hi!

Thanks for your column. My family loves to read it.

I was wondering if you have any advice to give me. I’m a 26-year-old guy and have been dating for three years. When I started out, I wanted to learn full time as long as possible. At this point, an opportunity came up for me to start working in a friend’s startup company. My parents think it would attract the wrong dating crowd if I took this job before I get married, and they say I should stay in learning full time for longer. To be honest, I’m really ready to move on.

What is the smartest way to move forward? Keep learning while dating and be burnt out? Or go with my gut and take this job?

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

The Rebbetzin

Thank you for your question, I hear and understand the dif ficulty of changing “career paths” mid dating/sidduchim. It is always so much harder before you have settled down with a family because the dating system forces us to fit perfectly into a catego ry when in reality we are humans and not black and white pieces of paper. We have nuances to our personality and outlooks on life, and it is hard when we need to define exactly who we are for a shadchan or potential match constantly. That being said, this is the world and system you are in, and the question is what to do now.

I think there is only one route, which

is to be true and honest to yourself and who you are. Pretending to be a fulltime learner when you are really ready to work won’t benefit you or a poten tial match. If a girl is truly looking for a full-time learner, she will be disap pointed to find out that that is not truly her husband’s intention, and everyone will be frustrated. There are plenty of frum, temimasdik, ehrlich girls who are looking for a learner/earner.

I understand your parents’ concerns that you will get a different quality girl, however, you will be redt girls who are on the same page as you and that’s what every match should truly be. Hashem is in charge of who is redt to us, but there are so many wonderful people out there it’s hard for me to imagine that there are not high-quality girls who are not looking for a full-time learner. I trust Hashem will send them to you.

Of course, it is always delicate when talking with your parents about shiddu chim. Oftentimes, children and parents have different views on what the match should look like, but I do feel if everyone is communicating in a respectful and open manner things can be ironed out more easily. That is not to say that there won’t be any friction, but I think just knowing that this can happen between the parent and child is half the battle.

This is a challenging time in one’s life but keeping an eye on the goal, which is finding the right match while also maintaining your middos and closeness with your parents, which will help you be true to yourself and stand up for what you need all while speak ing in a respectful and understanding manner.

I wish you much hatzlacha, Lisa

The Shadchan

Michelle Mond

T hank you for writing in, Gavriel! It is very normal to feel like you have phased out of a time period in your life.

I was just talking to a friend who left her field as a designer and is now finishing up her degree in something completely

A man should feel good about himself at the end of the day.

different. Good for her for pursuing her dreams! It suited her for the time she did it, and gained a lot from it, and then moved on. I remember when my hus band told me on his first day of medical school that there was an older gentle man who had worked as an architect for years before pursuing medicine. I won dered why he would want to suddenly accrue tons of student loans but other wise felt very impressed that someone would leave a niche that no longer spoke to him and moved on to something com pletely different.

The same goes for young men who have phased out of learning, in my opin ion. Personally, I do not think it is good for a man, spiritually, physically, or emotionally, to be doing something that is not fulfilling. A man should feel good about himself at the end of the day. He should feel respected, useful, respon sible, and he should not feel guilty if this work happens to not be the work of learning full time. On the contrary, his learning can be even more meaningful after a day of fulfilling work and mak ing a parnassa to iy”H

support his family.

I cannot speak for your kibbud av va’em – I do think you should find a way to communicate this idea to your parents. Perhaps your rebbi or a mentor can help you get them to understand so there are no hard feelings. You are an adult who is capable of making his own decisions, and Hashem has complete faith in you. Your bashert will come along and respect you for making time to learn while earning a parnassa.

The Single

H i Gavriel,

In a world filled with sheker, it’s so, so crucial to live a life of authen ticity. The second we make decisions for the intentions of pleasing social expec tations, we lose ourselves and the qual ity of our lives gets diminished. Espe

cially in dating, it’s important to be honest with your current lifestyle in or der to attract the right person that sup ports your current decisions and values. Hashem is going to pick out your wife, not the expectations of society based on what they deem as “respectable or important.”

The best investment you can make in your hishtadlus is to continue to make choices that lead to optimum self-devel opment, honesty, and happiness!

You got this!

The Zaidy

You need to be honest with yourself. The question here is not whether you should keep learning, or whether you should start working, or whether you should try to do both.

deavor that will give you gratification and enable you to attract the kind of girl who will share your new, evolving goals and aspirations.

Pulling It All Together

The Navidaters

Dating and Relationship Coaches and Therapists

The real, underlying question here is whether you should con tinue in an activity that you no longer enjoy, simply be cause your parents feel that it will attract the kind of girl that they want you to marry; or, should you start an en

You have already answered that question. You write that you’ve dated for three years without succeeding in finding your soulmate; that continuing what you’re doing could lead to “burn out”; and that your “gut” tells you to join the startup company.

It’s nice to respect the opinions of your parents and your rabbis, but you are the person who you will be spending the rest of your life with.

Dear Gavriel, Thank you for writing into the column! Please keep in mind that you are the one that has to live with your decision every day. Not your parents and not anyone giving you advice. I can’t tell you what to do. It is for you

to truly explore all potential outcomes.

Do you want to attract “the type” that would be attracted to you if you’re learning full time? Do you want to

attract “the type” that would be attracted to you if you are working full time? How will you feel if you pass up this opportunity? Do YOU care about the type you attract or do you want to live a fulfilled life and trust that the right woman will come along and be attracted to YOU? Lots to think about! I typically tell people to

trust their guts (I hope that’s not inter preted as telling you what to do, lol) and you are not the exception to the rule. Explore your options, explore what is important to you, weigh and measure and ultimately... trust your gut.

Sincerely, Jennifer

Jennifer Mann, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist and certified trauma healing life coach, as well as a dating and relationship coach working with individuals, couples, and families in pri vate practice at 123 Maple Avenue in Cedarhurst, NY. She also teaches a psychology course at Touro College. To set up a consultation or to ask questions, please call 718-908-0512. Visit www. thenavidaters.com for more information. If you would like to submit a dating or relationship question to the panel anonymously, please email JenniferMannLCSW@gmail.com. You can follow The Navidaters on FB and Instagram for dating and relationship advice.

The best investment you can make in your hishtadlus is to continue to make choices that lead to optimum self-development, honesty, and happiness.

Dating Dialogue

A Comprehensive Understanding of Recent Studies on the Shidduch Crisis

The term “shidduch crisis” has been bandied about for many years. Until recently, there has been relatively limited research to sup port some of the assumptions people have made. Over the last few years, I have teamed up with several research ers and we conducted multiple studies on shidduch dating. Recently, some of that significant data has begun to emerge. This is an exciting development as we gain a deeper understanding of the issue.

In the largest of the studies, we gathered numbers on marriage rates. That same study allowed participants to express their thoughts, experiences, and opinions on the subject of shid duch dating. I led a qualitative analysis of the responses. We published a paper titled “Struggles in the Jewish Ortho dox Jewish Shidduch Dating System” in the Journal of Community Psychol ogy. This paper highlights the pain that many individuals experience in the shidduch dating process. The difficul ties were evident in the poignant voices of the participants. Many women noted the struggle of not being able to find a suitable marriage partner and lacking dates. As one responder wrote, “Great girls who will be incredible mothers and wives can go months without hearing any ideas, and they need to find ways to promote themselves just to be noticed by the right person with the hopes of getting a suggestion.”

Surprisingly, another strong find ing emerged from the data: women felt pressured to get married before they felt ready (too young) and felt pressured to decide to marry someone in too short of a time span. Many women expressed that this pressure came directly from

constantly hearing about a “shidduch crisis” and believing that there were not enough men for all the women in the Or thodox community.

In a separate study, we found that, on average, Orthodox single women and men believe that for every group of 100 single men there are 215 single women. This means that young girls and boys are walking around with the per ception that more than 50% of women will be left without a spouse. As many participants noted, this belief has con sequences. The negative impact that this belief has on daters was apparent in the text respondents. Many participants ex

pressed the sentiment that “young wom en are placed at a serious disadvantage and expected to make all the accommo dations.” Some noted that “there is a prevalent attitude in shidduchim where boys are made to feel like they have all the power and have the ability to choose from an endless list of girls. They don’t view shidduchim as a relationship that needs to be built but more of a contest and they are the judge.”

In another study, we found that there are actually mental health consequenc es to these beliefs. When one thinks that their gender is in oversupply and there are not enough marriage part

ners to go around, they are susceptible to increased anxiety and depression and decreased life satisfaction. We also found that when women believe there are not enough men, they are more like ly to endorse settling for a spouse that may not be the best fit for them. Addi tionally, when men believe they are in undersupply, and they have the upper hand in the process, they are less likely to commit to relationships and become more selective in their dating criteria. In one of the more fascinating findings, we found that there are mental health consequences for men as well; when men believe there are more women available this can also lead to increased male depression and anxiety. We sus pect that this is due to choice overload and feeling overwhelmed by having so many options. We also found that lack of dating opportunities and stigma in singlehood in the Orthodox communi ty can lead to increased depression and anxiety and decreased life satisfaction for both genders.

The data shows that women believe that they have a 50% likelihood of not getting married. We found that these beliefs are severely skewed. We have evidence that people believe that there are more than double the amount of women than men in the shidduch scene. This, too, is far from reality. What we glean from our studies is that it is more likely that more than 95% of the Yeshiva Orthodox population gets married. Not everyone gets married in their early 20s, and lots of people get married through out their 20s and 30s. While there is evidence that there are slightly more single women than men available after the age of 30, the difference is about 1% more, meaning 101 women for every

100 men – and not double as people be lieve. These numbers are powerful and can help reduce the pressure and stress around rushing into marriages out of fear. As one study participant noted, “Looking back, I have no idea why any one allowed me to date so young – and I was always considered to be mature for my age. The past few months of my life have been my most challenging yet. I so badly wish we can stop putting this huge pressure on singles that ‘every day their dating pool gets smaller.’ I think that if we pushed off the beginning of ‘aggressive’ dating – even only a year or two – we would have much healthier marriages.”

Additionally, we found that when it comes to the age gap theory of a four year age difference between spouses, the actual age gap is closer to two years. This age gap may account for a slight increase in female availability, but the age-gap hypothesis should be reworked to account for the smaller age gap. There also may be other reasons accounting for slightly more female availability such as more men than women leaving the Orthodox community.

Importantly, in no way do these numbers discount the pain of those that

are struggling in the shidduch system. Our qualitative analysis indicates that this process is extremely painful for many individuals. There is the pain of those wanting to get married but not finding suitable spouses and the pain

nation of these varied research proj ects will serve to create new communal messages in the area of shidduchim. We now have the data to correct some of our unhealthy and unhelpful beliefs about this subject. Correcting these misper

about whom to marry. We should teach our men that women are not a dime in a dozen and reduce the “plenty more fish in the sea” attitude that devalues our women. We should work towards reduc ing the stigma of singlehood at any age.

of those jumping into marriages out of fear of not getting married. There is the pain of those who are fully comfortable with their singlehood status yet feel the community looks down upon them.

These numbers are meant to bring the overall fear factor down and provide some relief and hope for those who are struggling. My hope is that the culmi

ceptions can lead to overall better well being for both men and women. We should raise our daughters with mes saging that they are one of a kind and any man would be lucky to marry them. Let them know that it is okay to start dating when they feel ready and that they do not need to worry about missing the boat or make fear-based decisions

These studies, the largest studies ever conducted in the frum commu nity, were six years in the making and many talented individuals put their time and effort into helping with this effort. Notably, my co-authors on the various publications include Yosef Sokol PhD, Isaac Schechter PsyD, Michael J. Sal amon PhD, Craig Johnson PhD, Chay im Rosensweig, Chynna Levin, Devorah Bernstien PsyD and Shifra Hubner. Ad ditionally, there were many individuals who worked on this research in different capacities over the years who deserve a big thank you! While the data needs further analysis and replication, the findings thus far are important.

Naomi Rosenbach PhD is a clinical psychol ogist and researcher. Her research focuses on factors that influence wellbeing in the Orthodox Jewish community.

School of Thought

Q:Dear Etti, I am a teacher for over 25 years, and I see an alarming trend. It started slowly and now seems out of control. I am talking about sched uled Sundays. My students are scheduled for so many events and classes all Sunday, ballet, swimming, sports teams, art lessons, painting – you name it, they do it. And many are signed up for two classes a day! Instead of coming to school refreshed on Monday and ready to learn, they come in exhausted. Also, what happened to free play? To imagination? There is a difference at re cess, as children seriously do not know what to do with themselves!

Can you address this?

-So Sorry for the Kids

A:Dear Teacher Who Is So Sorry For Her Kids, It is true. Parents are sacrificing time and money (taking on extra car pools!) to send their children to help their children learn more skills and have structured fun. And our students are spending their day off shuttling to activities. Many of our elementary school boys go to school in the morning and then are signed up for some thing in the afternoon.

There are so many benefits. Children are spending their time learning useful skills and having lots of fun in constructive activities. Socially, they feel good attending little league or classes as they get to be with school friends or make new friends. For some children, academics is not their strong suit, and they get to do something they love on their day off.

But there are also so many downsides. Children need free play. They need to learn to create their own fun, to use their imagination. When a child has developed their imagination, they naturally develop problem solving skills. If they are going from one structured activity to another structured activity, they are not learning to use their inner resources to keep themselves occupied. They need to learn to work things out for themselves, to be alone sometimes.

But what is a parent to do? We live in a world where children cannot just go outside and play like kids used to. Between busy streets and predatory humans, sending kids outside to “just be” is no longer an option for most city kids.

Parents should try to make sure there are items in their home that allow for quiet free play. Puzzles, paper and crayons/markers, dolls, or small cars…these all allow

imaginations to soar!

If a child balks at being alone, temper it by also trying to schedule playdates, unstruc tured time with friends. A par ent needs to be around to help a little as children navigate un structured time, as they are so unused to it, they might need help with navigating how to use it!

Make sure there are board games (that they may or not play with the rules), and building toys, and dress up, so children can create their fun.

On Sundays, parents might want to borrow an idea sweeping across the country in schools who worry that children are overscheduled. The idea is called Makerspac es, a place where children can tinker and create anything they want using assorted “stuff.” A true non-tech mak erspace might have empty cartons, paper, pipe cleaners, scissors, glue, staplers, stickers… anything that allows children to create freely.

I know families who cover their dining room tables during the week with a durable cover and let the kids create. And they create for hours! They are allowed to use as much tape and glue as they want, they can use scissors and staplers after being taught safety rules, and they know nothing can leave the table – and with those precautions in place, the creativity is amazing, and imag ination is on display full force! At the beginning, a parent might want to sit and cut, staple and glue, saying noth ing, just modeling what can be done, and children will realize that their parent really means it – they can work unencumbered. And free play and creativity is work for

children; it develops so many skills, fine motor, gross motor, problem solving, STEM…

Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld, MD, former head of child psychia try at Stanford University and author of The Over-Scheduled Child, feels that this is an is sue we all need to tune into. He finds that “by the time they reach high school, they are bored and burnt out,” talking about the overscheduled children he sees.

“Let them be kids, and you be the parent,” says Dr. Rosenfeld. “Set limits on the number of scheduled activ ities they attend, and instead you play with them. Have family dinners instead of chauffeuring them to practices and lessons every day. Don’t coach them on how to better throw a baseball, just throw it around. Don’t always teach them on how to be better. Just let them be themselves.”

Dr. Rosenfeld shares research that followed children growing into adulthood until age 50 and the factors in their success. What researchers found is something I think we all we instinctively know: relationships matter.

“The one thing that stood out was whether or not they had at least one good relationship with someone when they were growing up – someone who accepted them for the people they are and not whether they could hit the long homerun. That relationship didn’t necessarily have to be with their parents. But if it was, all the better.”

So, teacher, parents are really doing this out of love, but maybe now some will schedule less and play more. Because play is so important!

Thanks for writing in.

Mrs. Etti Siegel holds an MS in Teaching and Learning/Educational Leadership and brings sound teaching advice to her audiences culled from her over 35 years of teaching and administrative experience. She is an Adjunct at the College of Mount Saint Vincent/Sara Shenirer. She is a coach and educational consultant for Catapult Learning, is a sought-after mentor and workshop presenter around the country, and a popular presenter for Sayan (a teacher-mentoring program), Hidden Sparks, and the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools. She is a frequent contributor to Hamechanech Magazine and The Journal for Jewish Day School leaders. She will be answering your education-based questions and writing articles weekly for The Jewish Home. Mrs. Siegel can be reached at ettisiegel@gmail.com.

They need to learn to create their own fun, to use their imagination.

Parenting Pearls

Terrific Toddlers

Toddlers are known for keeping their parents on their toes. These adorable, little mischief makers are experts in getting into trouble they can’t get out of. They often act irratio nally, especially when they want to do something dangerous that we won’t per mit. This age has been called the “terrible twos” – for good reason.

Many parents have renamed this age “the terrific twos.” This both removes some of the stigma these innocent tots face but also gives room to appreciate their uniqueness. They do manage to get themselves into interesting predicaments, but it’s all done in pure naivete. They real ly don’t realize what they’re doing nor do they have the capacity to stop and control themselves.

Just like two weeks ago we focused on our terrific teens, I felt it was time to take a moment and appreciate our terrific tod dlers in all their cuteness and trouble-pro duction.

Still Small

For all the fanciness of calling them toddlers, during the earlier years of life they are often just bigger babies (but don’t tell them that). They are physically more capable than their infant counterparts, yet they lack the ability to recognize that their actions are insanely dangerous.

Personally, I have found it helpful to think of young toddlers as just bigger in fants – it gives a more accurate perspec tive of what to expect. Often, we really do expect too much from these little ones. When we have more reasonable expecta tions, we may find it just a bit easier to parent at this challenging age.

Appreciating Our Toddlers

It can be hard to notice all the joy they bring as we’re busy keeping them out of danger and cleaning up their destruction, but there really is a lot to appreciate about this age category.

We can’t deny they’re absolutely ador able, and Hashem made them very charm ing for a reason. They still have some of that baby sweetness in them but with the

added personality and skills they’ve since acquired. They look and act cute, charm ing those around them. Some of the best stories we will tell our children as adults happened when they were just toddlers.

They are very entertaining. They say the funniest things as they attempt to un derstand the world around them. Their antics are hilarious. They sing, dance, and roll all over the place. Some of the best videos we have are of our toddlers dressed in bizarre wardrobe concoctions loudly making noises to match their pre tend play.

They see the world differently from us as they try to process their surroundings with their limited understanding of con cepts. Many parents have been amused watching their toddler sneak off to a cor ner and turn their back to hide something, assuming that if they can’t see us then we can’t see them.

At this point in development, we also get to see more of their personality emerge as we meet the unique individual Hashem created and gifted us.

“No” is Meaningless

Discipline is a unique challenge to this age. Babies are too little to climb and perform dangerous feats. Older children are capable of these actions, yet they’ve developed the seichel to not do them. It’s been my experience that the physical abil ities of toddlers, along with their cognitive

limitations, collide in a dangerous com bination. They’re physically capable of circus-like acrobatics without the under standing that it’s a really bad idea. Parents are frequently faced with the challenge of keeping toddlers safe from themselves.

Parents will often tell their little one “no” and expect toddlers to listen. It’s an unrealistic expectation as the word “no” may be inherently meaningless, and children this age lack self-control. This doesn’t mean we can’t tell them no, just that words aren’t sufficient. For example, when an 18-month-old is touching some thing dangerous, parents will quickly get frustrated having their “no” be ignored. This can quickly spiral out of control as the parent repeatedly says no and even tually loses their temper. Rather than just use words, the adult will be more effective saying “no” as they physically remove the child from the dangerous area. In this case, the parent doesn’t need to yell or lose their temper as they intervene. It’s quick, loving, and effective.

Additionally, saying “no” is vague and only tells them not to do something. It’s more helpful to give instructions. For example, “no touching knives” gives in formation.

Even better is anticipating your child’s antics and preventing the situation. For example, it’s easier to keep markers out of reach than to clean the walls. Keep chairs inaccessible if they are used to climb. Stay

close if they are near someone they bite.

Basic childproofing can go a long way. The kitchen is a danger-zone for young hands, and all hot or sharp objects need to be out of reach. Pot handles and other items should face inwards and not where little hands can reach up. You’d be sur prised how much tiny hands can access – even if the item isn’t visible to them.

I have no idea what it is about roads, but put a toddler on the ground and the first thing on their agenda is to run to wards the street. Roads, even in quiet neighborhoods, are a serious risk. Young children cannot be given the responsi bility of watching a toddler near a street, and even adults need to maintain con stant vigilance (no phones or other dis tractions).

Making Words Meaningful

We should use words with toddlers and enjoy seeing their vocabulary develop, we just shouldn’t assume they actually un derstand those words. It’s truly one of the joys of the toddler years to see your child’s vocabulary grow. They soon become eager conversationalists and provide captivating companionship as you go about your day.

We should be as brief as possible when giving instruction to little ones. The work ing formula I use is approximately one word per year of age; anything after that gets lost into thin air. For example, we can tell our toddler “it’s time to get our shoes on now; we’re about to leave.” But, when it comes to actually asking them to dress, “shoes on” or “get your shoes” is more ap propriate.

The toddler years may feel long, but they pass quickly. It’s such a special time that we don’t want to lose sight of the joy among the chaos. As they shed these ves tiges of babyhood, we want to savor their transition into the next stage.

Sara Rayvych, MSEd, has her master’s in general and special education. She has been homeschooling for over 10 years in Far Rock away. She can be contacted at RayvychHome school@gmail.com.

In a few weeks, it will be the first anniversary of my becoming an official empty nester. Over the years, I’ve had a taste of this metaphor ic abode. Kids went to camp. Yeshiva. Seminary. But they came home. Now, the last one has moved out and moved on. While this milestone has wrought many changes, one of the most dramatic is the return of the quiet. Not always. The kids come. The grandkids come –bringing mess and mayhem along with them. But for a large part of the days (and certainly the nights), the house is filled with quiet. And with quiet comes the gift of reflection. The quiet of the mind.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a time and place for “noisy minds” in our life, too. These are the times when we’re so busy doing that there’s little time for thinking. Our brain space is dedicat ed to list making, errand running, task completing. And we are accomplishing! In fact, many of us just recently sur faced from a month of yom tovim when this was the day-to-day reality. Aptly summarized by my friend in the thick of it: “I honestly don’t know what day of the week it is. I just know that ei ther Shabbos or yom tov is coming, and whatever day it is today, I’m cooking chicken soup. And then making potato kugel.” Check. And check.

But now, as the esrog is sitting deco rously in the fruit bowl in my (relative ly) newly quiet home, there’s time and space for thinking.

So, in the spirit of sharing, here is a sampling of the some of the thoughts sprouting this week in the fertile ground of quiet (in ascending order of gravitas).

(Note: Quiet time and reflective thoughts are not the sole property of “people of a certain age.” Having passed the “playdate- PTA-and-pediatrician” period, we generally DO have more time to ponder and pontificate… but quiet time can appear – albeit sporadically –to those at any age and stage.)

Quiet Thoughts

The scene: a Monday morning in the now “relatively-Lego- free” den. Coffee has been poured. Family magazine has been located (not an easy task!) and positioned on the couch. Dazzling sun shine is streaming through the window, birds are chirping contently. Time for a relaxing “Calgon-take-me-away” read. I flip the pages, find an article of inter est, quickly become engrossed and then BAM! A roadblock! Text in the middle of the text. It’s a sidebar. You know, those shaded boxes that pop up in the middle of an article? Those boxes brandishing a different typeface loudly proclaiming: “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” And a question occurs to me for the very first time: When are you supposed to read these seemingly innocuous inter ruptions? Are you supposed to redi rect the flow of your reading and read them as soon you see them basking in shade or shouting at you in a foreign font? Are you supposed to come back to them after you finish the article? Is there important stuff in there that you need to know? Or, can you skip them (guilt-free) altogether? I’ve never real ly thought much about these ubiquitous editorial constructs before, but now here, in the quiet of my den and in the quiet of my life, I do.

The scene: (A follow-up text from a young friend, a virtual dynamo in her mid-thirties.) After hosting company nonstop for nearly a month –and with celebrating the bar mitzvah of her be chor in the thick of it – she invited a young woman who had been recruited by a kiruv organization to her Shabbos table for lunch last week. (I am in awe, but that’s a story for another time.)

She knew little about where this young lady was on her religious journey and the pre-meal text had us debating the merits of having “potentially-recog nizable” food on the table (salmon, snap peas) in addition to the traditional fare (cholent, kugel). (Two votes for yes, by the way.) Her follow-up text midweek (the sweet-spot of quiet after last Shabbos has become a pleasant memory and before next Shabbos has become a to-do project) –belied some quiet time for reflection. “I was thinking about that Shabbos meal and the conversation at the table, and a startling question hit me full on. When exactly did I arrive to the point where my Shabbos company is closer in age to my KIDS than to ME?”

An interesting thought facilitated by the time to think.

The scene: A conversation with a fa ther of many young children who may

or may not be related to me.

Him: “After the house quieted down last night, I had a thought. My children are now up past 9 pm. And they sit at the kitchen table with me when I’ve come home after a long day at work and they eye my supper with hungry eyes and they want to taste (read: gobble) what’s on my plate after they have al ready had three nutritious suppers of their own…

Me: And?

Him: And? And?? On top of it all…… THEY WANT ME TO TALK TO THEM!

They want me to talk to them about things they want to talk about that are important to them and that are not so very important to me at that point in time and they go on and on and on and I try so hard to look interested and…. and…. Mom, I’m so very tired.

Me: Welcome to the forever changing vista of parenthood. You need to listen. You need to engage, and you need to talk. And then you need to thank Hash em for children who want to talk to you and spend time with you. (And also, my son , you’re working too hard and you need to carve out more quiet time for yourself.)

And that last reflection about kids growing up and wanting to talk. It’s not just a reflection facilitated by quiet time or, more accurately, the passage of time. It’s an epiphany.

And interestingly enough, if we take the time to listen, we’ll be fortunate enough to experience many of those in the quiet as well.

JWOW! is a community for midlife Jewish women which can be accessed at www.jewishwomanofwisdom.org for conversation, articles, Zoom events, and more.

Chana Mayer is a children’s literature editor and Five Towns resident and is proud to be part of the JWOW! community.

Health & F tness

Winter Food Immunity

You are all geared up for winter – coats, boots, gloves and all –although that still may not be enough. The food we put into our bodies can either work with us or against us. Let’s focus these upcoming winter months on eating the right foods that will positively impact our bodies.

Did you ever hear of the saying, “Let thy food be thy medicine?” Food may very well be our “medicine” in protecting our health especially come the winter months. Just as we are sure to put on our warmest jacket and softest scarfs, let’s focus on add ing foods that contain various vitamins and minerals that may help strengthen our bodies immunity against the common cold and possibly even the flu.

Vitamins & Minerals

There are various types of vitamins and minerals. Fat-soluble and water-solu ble vitamins can greatly benefit our health. Being that fat-soluble vitamins are stored in our bodies and water-soluble vitamins get released, it is important to make sure we’re getting adequate amounts. Addition ally, there are two types of minerals our bodies need to function properly: trace and essential minerals.

Let’s discuss some important nutrients to add into our diets this winter that may help us feel more energetic to go outside and enjoy spending time with our fami lies.

Vitamin C

Oranges and orange juice are most popular for being big sources of vitamin C, but there are many more options as well: Grapefruit, cantaloupe, kiwi, papaya, bell peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, brocco li, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and potatoes are all good sources of vi tamin C. Next time you are deciding on which snack to grab, think about a pink juicy grapefruit or sliced peppers with hummus.

Vitamin C is an antioxidant which may help prevent cell damage, plays an import ant part in wound healing, and keeps our immune system healthy. It is a no brainer

to add those foods into your diet with all these benefits.

You have probably been hearing ev eryone talk about or grabbing their bag of collagen powder, and there’s reasons why. Collagen may help to strengthen your nails and improve skin elasticity, and vi tamin C is an important factor in collagen synthesis.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is part of the fat-soluble vi tamins A, D, E, & K, and helps our bodies absorb calcium and phosphate. In order to help keep our bones strong and main tain healthy teeth, it’s important to add foods like dairy and fish into your diet. Many post-menopausal women experi ence weak bones, also known as osteopo rosis, and should therefore be sure they’re having enough vitamin D and a healthy balanced diet. Along with diet and proper weight-bearing exercises, it can go a long way in strengthening their bones.

If you heard someone tell you to take vitamin D when you were sick, it is be cause, similarly to vitamin C, vitamin D supports our immune system by fighting against infections.

You probably don’t hear as many peo ple saying they’re going outside for vi tamin D in the winter as they do in the hotter months, which is why many indi

viduals have decreased levels of vitamin D in the winter. If that is the case, supple ments may be necessary.

Salmon, tuna, dairy, eggs, mush rooms, and sardines are all great sourc es of vitamin D. Broiled salmon, sauteed spinach, and roasted potatoes would be a great meal that’s packed with all the im portant nutrients.

Zinc

Zinc, along with vitamin C, is known for helping with wound healing and acts as antioxidants. Zinc is another mineral that benefits our immune system by protecting against viruses. Having cracked skin and weaker bones are common symptoms of a zinc deficiency.

Meat and fish contain the most zinc, although zinc can also be found in al monds, beans, seeds, and nuts. You may notice some cereal boxes have the term “fortified” on them, which means the vi tamins and minerals were added since the food itself doesn’t contain that nutrient.

Iron

Feeling cold in the winter is normal but feeling extremely cold and lighthead ed is not. That could mean you have ane mia which affects millions of people in the world.

Menstruating and pregnant women

are most susceptible to iron deficiency. This is because of the blood loss during menstruation and during pregnancy, there is increased blood circulation for the growing fetus.

The best sources of iron are found in animal foods such as meat, poultry, seafood and are called heme iron. Vege tarians can get iron through non-animal products and plant foods also known as non-heme iron. They can opt for spinach, fortified cereals, nuts and seeds.

More Than Food

Putting the right foods into our bodies is crucial, but so is physical activity.

Going for a walk or a run on a cold chilly day may not sound as tempting as it may be on a nice summer day. Neverthe less, bundle up and go outside or opt for an indoor exercise class. You can also work out in the comfort of your own home; just turn on a workout video and get moving. Exercise is so important to improve your health, aids in weight loss, reduces risks of certain diseases, and perks up your mood.

Lastly, it’s important not to forget about hydration in the winter. We are busy sipping on our hot lattes, but are we drinking enough water? During these cold chilly days, you might not feel as thirsty as we are during the hot summer days, still, it is crucial to remember to drink enough water. Keep in mind that many foods con tain a high water content such as lettuce, apples, cucumbers, and more.

In all, it is crucial to balance all the food groups and to include enough whole foods especially whole grains. By eating a well-balanced diet, you may not need to be taking extra supplements as you may be getting enough nutrients and benefits from the food itself.

Tehila Soskel is a registered dietitian nu tritionist with a private practice in the Five Towns. She sees clients for weight loss, diabe tes, and other various diseases. Appointments can be made for in-person or virtual sessions: 516-457-8558, tehilasoskelrd@gmail.com, tehilasoskelnutrition.com.

Fd for Thought Tomahawk Steakhouse: A

Cut Above

Tomahawk Steakhouse may be lo cated in a nondescript strip mall in Lakewood, but when you walk inside, you’ll forget that very quickly. The ownership clearly spent countless hours designing perhaps the sleekest and most modern kosher restaurants you’ll see any where. From an eye-catching bar to a din ing room with luxury booths positioned in the middle of the floorplan, you’ll be im pressed by what you see.

When I was invited to check out Toma hawk, I was able to see the staff preparing for a private party. While this wouldn’t usu ally be noteworthy, I witnessed their use of a custom-made electronic temporary wall that silently drops from the ceiling to partition the space in one of the rooms. A minute later, you would never have known the wall was temporary.

The space itself has several interesting features, but the cuisine is the ultimate reason that Tomahawk has quickly become one of Lakewood’s busiest spots.

While many kosher steakhouses sport sushi menus these days, Tomahawk is try ing to set a new standard. Sure, they have the typical rolls and sashimi. They also offer specialty rolls including a few made with soybean paper. But it’s the sushi ap petizers that feature some more elaborate options.

With a handful of menu items that sound as interesting as they are delicious, I’d recommend the Tuna Pizza. The crust is made of a deep-fried patty of sushi rice and provides the perfect crunch as a base. From there, it’s topped with salmon, spicy tuna, tomatoes, and tempura flakes before being drizzled with truffle and spicy mayo. The combination of textures and tastes makes ordering this a must for anybody who en joys raw fish, and it’s the perfect item to split amongst a small group.

Even though the Tuna Pizza is flawless,

you probably didn’t come to a place called Tomahawk for the pescatarian offerings. When choosing some starters from the main menu, my highest recommendation is the Pulled Beef Flatbread. Trust me, even as I type these words, I know what you’re thinking: flatbreads are commonplace at this point, and even though they are al most always good, they are almost never great. And while you’d be correct with that assessment, trust me when I tell you that you want this flatbread on your table.

Why? The short answer is the sauce. While the pickled red onions and arugula are nice for acidity and color, it’s the use of the mushroom sauce that makes this dish a necessary part of your meal. This dish gets its distinct flavor from the deeply rich umami taste of the mushroom sauce and its interplay with the really tasty beef. If you order only one appetizer, make it this one.

There are some things that top tier restaurants get carried away with, and burgers are often at the top of that list. Sometimes, you don’t need all sorts of fan cy toppings and you’d rather just be able to savor a burger made from high quali ty beef. If that sounds like something up your alley, you should try the Prime Burger. Served on a brioche bun with tomato, on ion, and pickles, the burger itself is the star of the show. It doesn’t hurt that it comes with a side of large handmade onion rings that have a perfect crunch on the outside.

Though the restaurant offers a signa ture steak to match its name, the cowboy steak might be a more reasonable choice for some that are looking to get a satisfy ingly large steak to split without breaking the bank. This 30 oz. masterpiece is served sliced, but with just enough meat left on the bone for you to cut off yourself if you wish. The steak is everything you want it to be in terms of both flavor and mouthfeel, and it comes to your table on one of Tomahawk’s

branded wooden boards. Great for a special occasion, this would serve well as the cen terpiece of a wonderful night out.

If dessert is something you still have room for, the Peanut Butter Bar makes a great selection. Not for the faint of heart, this plate comes with a bar of peanut butter crisp topped with peanut butter mousse, peanut butter syrup, and a piece of peanut brittle. If you think that’s too much peanut for you, you can offset it with the scoop of vanilla ice cream…which is topped with some peanut crumbles. Needless to say, this dessert is perfect for the peanut lov er, but might be too much if peanuts aren’t your ideal taste. That said, all of the differ ent textures and iterations really come to gether nicely to prove the versatility of the main ingredient.

For the peanut-averse crowd, there’s the White Chocolate Forest Bowl. You won’t find many restaurants that serve white chocolate mousse, and after tasting this, you’ll wonder why. Topped with chocolate,

graham, and pistachio crunch and drizzled with a cherry sauce, this well-designed des sert is as interesting to taste as it is unique.

With more and more restaurants opening in Lakewood all the time, don’t let Tomahawk be one that you miss. The sleek, modern feel and the interesting menu differentiates Tomahawk from its competition. Just make sure you make a reservation, because the new kid on the block is pretty popular these days.

Tomahawk Steakhouse

Meat - Steakhouse - Waiter Service Sunday - Thursday: 5:00pm - 11:00pm (732)-724-5001 • TomahawkSteakhouse.net 700 Cedarbridge Avenue Lakewood, NJ 08701

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In The K tchen

Beer Battered Broccoli

Dairy / Yields 8 servings

I came up with this recipe when I had leftover beer batter I had used on fish. I took broccoli and some other vegetables and started tossing them in the batter and frying them up. I had no idea how good it was going to be! Later, I developed the cheese sauce dip. What a perfect combo, and it is “Perfect for Chanukah!”

Doughnuts Ingredients

1½ cups flour, divided

◦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt

◦ ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

◦ 4 large eggs

◦ ½ teaspoon sriracha

◦ 1 (12-ounce) bottle beer, at room temperature

◦ Canola oil, for frying

◦ 1 (2-pound) bag frozen broccoli florets

◦ Cheese Dipping Sauce (recipe below)

Preparation

1. Sift 1 cup flour into a large bowl. Add salt and pepper. Whisk in eggs and sriracha. Slowly add beer, whisking after each addition. Allow the batter to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. In a large pot, skillet, or deep fryer heat 3 inches oil to 360-375°F.

3. Dredge broccoli in remaining flour, shaking off excess. Coat the broccoli in the batter.

4. Add broccoli to oil; fry until golden brown, 3-4 minutes.

5. Serve with Cheese Dipping Sauce.

Cheese Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

◦ 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter

◦ ¼ cup flour

◦ 2 cloves garlic, minced

◦ 1 teaspoon kosher salt

◦ 1½ cup milk

◦ 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

◦ ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

◦ ¼ teaspoon ancho chili powder

◦ 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a medium pot over low heat.

2. Add flour, garlic, and salt; mix well for 1 minute until combined.

3. Add milk and cheese; mix well until melted and mixture has thickened. Stir in ancho chili powder and salt.

4. Serve alongside broccoli, for dipping.

Naomi Nachman, the owner of The Aussie Gourmet, caters weekly and Shabbat/ Yom Tov meals for families and individuals within The Five Towns and neighboring communities, with a specialty in Pesach catering. Naomi is a contributing editor to this paper and also produces and hosts her own weekly radio show on the Nachum Segal Network stream called “A Table for Two with Naomi Nachman.” Naomi gives cooking presentations for organizations and private groups throughout the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area. In addition, Naomi has been a guest host on the QVC TV network and has been featured in cookbooks, magazines as well as other media covering topics related to cuisine preparation and personal chefs. To obtain additional recipes, join The Aussie Gourmet on Facebook or visit Naomi’s blog. Naomi can be reached through her website, www.theaussiegourmet.com or at (516) 295-9669.

Y ur

Jerel Benjamin and the Five Most Disturbing Trends for Business Owners Today

On a recent 710 WOR “Mind Your Business” broadcast, Yitzchok Saftlas (YS) spoke with guest Jerel Benjamin (JB), founder and CEO of Consulting Group, on the five most disturbing trends facing business own ers today.

* * *

YS: The first of the most disturbing trends facing business owners today is lack of vision in a changing econo my. What can you tell us about that?

JB: So, what I do at Profit Gold is look for trends. And what I have found is

as the economic and political landscape changes, the vision of business owners is also supposed to change. Now, ironically, we’re finding that more business owners are fearful of change rather than being aggressive about making that change. Unfortunately, what that translates into for the direct reports, and for the em ployees that work for them, is that they don’t see a vision at all. And because they don’t see a vision at all, it’s not be ing articulated to them. The company’s employees go into these silos. They start thinking, “Let me just stick with what I do, produce my little piece of the puzzle, and let somebody else figure out what to do with it.” And then the business owner

turns to us and says, “Our production is stagnant,” “Our sales are stagnant,” or “We’re not growing,” not realizing that it’s the lack of articulation of that vision that’s at the core of all the silos and lack of productivity that they’re seeing.

to reset a vision. They’re afraid to even walk into that because they don’t know what they don’t know, and that fear is causing analysis paralysis, and that pa ralysis is feeding its way down into the rest of the company.

So, with the changing economy, many executives are not necessar ily being adept to the seismic shifts happening around them and certain ly not communicating it effectively?

Exactly. The future doesn’t belong to the survival of the fittest; it belongs to those who are willing to adapt. And by and large, business owners are afraid

There’s an expression out there, “You can play a game two ways. You can ei ther play to win, or you can play not to lose.” And a lot of companies are starting to convert so that they’re playing not to lose, to hold on to what they have. And they’re finding out it’s become more and more difficult because you need to adapt, you need to play to win. You need to go

to hold on and hunker down with what you’ve got.

Let’s address trend #2, the lack of leadership skills and how critical those skills are.

“Leadership” is such a commonly used term that the definition has now become ambiguous, where people really don’t quite know what it means. More impor tantly, they don’t realize that there’s levels of leadership. Owners know that leader ship is important, but because there’s so much happening in their world, shifts in the economic and political landscape, they’re not giving the necessary atten tion to the leadership that will inspire the people behind them to actually work in the same congruent direction. It’s a dan ger that we need to address right away because leadership skills are more than saying, “I’m the owner of company, follow me.” That’s level one leadership. But I’m going to stick with the permission aspect of leadership.

What we find ourselves focusing on with more and more business owners is taking them back to the place where they can articulate their vision so clearly, that they not only talk about themselves in the vision of the company, but their employ ees can now see themselves in the vision and approve of what they see. And be cause of that approval, they will give the owner’s permission to lead them there. That’s called permission leadership. That’s the fuel that will allow their com pany to navigate difficult times. Because if the employed staff can see themselves in the vision, they can actually use that fuel in their own personal engines to keep the keep the company airborne and mov ing in the right direction.

Can leadership skills be trained, or is it more of a natural, inborn thing?

The reality is that leadership skills can be trained. Now, there are some to whom it comes easier. But leadership is really just an algorithm of action items that if deployed in the right way, work for anybody and for any business. It’s very similar to flying a jet airplane. I have friends who are pilots, and they always say anybody can be a pilot. As long as you can pull the right levers, in the right sequence, at the right time, you can nav igate anywhere around the world. Lead ership is the exact same thing. It’s really not as much of a skill as it is an algorithm that, when deployed, will bring lift to your entire company.

We’re up to trend #3 – poor commu nication in a remote environment.

Everyone agrees that communication is the lifeblood of a company. Of course, we’ve had to adapt to this increasingly remote world. But what has really been the Achilles heel to a lot of companies is they start making assumptions on work ethic, and it’s really starting to reflect in their ability to grow, and most important ly, their ability to pivot. It really doesn’t matter the industry. For any business owner, we really have to become masters at communication. Setting up systematic scheduled communication about sched uled subjects that impact the company is critical to its existence, and its ability to grow in a remote environment. Assuming

getting a very mixed bag of production. Whether that be in a service industry, product industry, or even supply of in formation industries, there’s no standard. Those lines are becoming more and more blurred, because key personnel are not being held accountable. Now, the catch is, when I use the word “accountability” with a lot of clients, they almost see it as black and white. They think “accountabil ity” just means that I’m going to hold you accountable by terminating you. That’s not the only shade of accountability. Ac countability is actually a very positive thing. What it is doing is setting clear outcomes, so that the person who has been assigned to handle that particular task knows from the beginning to the end

And based on that ambition, they can read the KPE documents and execute.

The final trend is poor assumptions and impulsive gut decision making. How do you address that?

The reason that we don’t recommend people go with their gut is because you’re going to get caught eventually. And I’ll tell you why. When we run roundtables, we have everyone draw out a circle. Once they’ve done that, we say, “Take a slice of that pie, that represents 1%.” And then we’ll ask them, “Take another slice of the pie, that represents 4%.” So now we’ve got a 1% slice and a 4% slice. The 1% rep resents what a person knows about their environment, their business and what’s going on around them. The 4% represents what the typical person knows they don’t know. Whatever it may be, they recognize that they don’t know that. And the ma jority of us live in this 5%. But the 95% of the pie that never gets touched, that’s what you don’t know that you don’t know. That’s the danger. So, if you want to make decisions with your gut, you’re making a decision with 1% of the pie. And you’re making assumptions on the other 99%.

that people who work remotely halfway across the country are going to do every thing they need to do to get us where we were when we were all together in one of fice is really starting to drag companies down.

Companies are struggling because they cease to communicate at check points on critical data throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout the month. People respect what you in spect. And if they don’t know what you’re inspecting, then why are you expecting to get the result? That’s one of the biggest things to work on.

The fourth trend is poor account ability for key personnel. Why is that such a make-or-break point for com panies, and how can it be addressed effectively?

Accountability is really the skeletal system of the entire company. Account ability is really nothing more than a fancy way of saying when everyone does what they say they’re going to do.

The issue that many CEOs and exec utives are running into is that more and more of them are settling. They’re just dealing with whatever is being produced by the team. They’re almost afraid to rock the boat and hold the key person nel accountable, and as a result, they’re

the outcome that you’re trying to achieve. What business owners need to realize is that that type of certainty is what raises the bar in the way the company operates. But it also drastically reduces the attri tion rate. Because people want to work for a company where they clearly know what landmarks they’re trying to achieve and know it without someone always having to verbally confirm it.

Could you please explain the differ ence between KPIs and KPEs?

KPIs are key performance indicators. They’re basically landmarks. They say, “This is what your job is, and here’s what’s expected of you.” At the end of the day, we at Profit Gold actually took that, and enhanced it into what we call KPE, key performance execution. Instead of saying, “Here’s your job, and here’s what’s expect ed of you,” we said, “Here are all the tasks that you will embark on in the execution of your assignment. Here are all the de tails of exactly how to go about doing this. Here are the tools available to get it done, so you know what’s at your disposal. Now, here’s the minimum level of outcome that we will accept and here’s the maximum that we would love to see.”

We’ve taken KPIs and broken them down to what I call forensics. So, a person just simply needs to have the ambition.

I always try to tell people to give a moment to pause before you say, “I’m just going to go with my gut.” In fact, the advice I like to give is “don’t always run to your friends who agree with you either.” Because they know what you know, and they don’t know what you don’t know. So, you’re all in the same pot. Those who are willing to go out and open themselves to world of information they don’t know, those are the ones who are able to navi gate disturbing and uncertain times.

“The future doesn’t belong to the survival of the fittest; it belongs to those who are willing to adapt.”

Notable Quotes

“Say What?!”

Do you have what it takes to do the impossible? A virulent vehemence for vermin? A background in urban planning, project management or government? And most importantly, the drive, determination and killer instinct needed to fight the real enemy – New York City’s relentless rat population? If so, your dream job awaits: New York’s Citywide Director of Rodent Migration.

– From a New York City government job bulletin seeking a “New York City Director of Rodent Mitigation”

As leader of the “Rat Pack,” you will work with your colleagues from across city government, traveling throughout the five burrows, educating, evaluating, and eradicating in equal measure.

- Ibid.

Good liberals can always be forgiven, even when the things they’ve done are objectively very, very bad, like tanking the U.S. economy or stealing billions from investors and using it to buy Bahamian real estate… Liberals can still do these things, and you can still heartily applaud them, because in the end, their hearts are in the right place.

– Tucker Carlson, Fox News, talking about The New York Times symposium with “top business leaders” which took place last week and which featured Democrat super donor Sam Bankman-Fried whose crypto-currency exchange just collapsed due to shady transactions, leaving more than $10 billion in other people’s money missing

Wordle.

- Google’s most-searched term this year. The word topped “election results” and “Betty White” in the U.S. and “Queen Elizabeth” and “Ukraine” globally.

Once I woke up on the platform with an oxygen mask on my face and all the rescue team on top of me, I first felt dejected, as I knew I didn’t make the record — but also [I had] a feeling of sheer relief that I had escaped with my life.

- Miguel Lozano, a professional free-diver and freediving entrepreneur, who blacked out underwater while attempting a world record underwater

I’ll deal with anyone who’s elected president, those that I worked with in the past, and anyone new who comes to the plate, because the bond between Israel and America … it really is a bond of peoples and a civilizational bond, and it’s strong. I’ll deal with anyone, and I certainly will not step on that landmine… I’ve been in this business long enough.

- Benjamin Netanyahu on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when asked if he “would like to see Donald Trump as president again”

I’m not worthy. Who’s worth all this?

- Ira Schab, 102, receiving a hero’s welcome at an event commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks. He was 21 years old at the time of the attacks

I tell you what. No one’s ever done as much as president as this administration’s doing. Period.

- Pres. Joe Biden, in a speech at the White House

In Georgia, Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker are going head-to-head injury in the Senate runoff.

-Jimmy Kimmel, talking about this week’s elections in Georgia

The U.S. Senate is no place for people whose brains don’t work because of football injuries; it’s a place for people whose brains don’t work because they’re 1,000 years old.

-Stephen Colbert

We appreciate you for your assistance in your capture!

- Social media post by the Rockdale County, GA, police department after they arrested fugitive Christopher Spaulding, who contacted them to inquire why he wasn’t on their November Most Wanted list

Throughout history, free speech has been highly unusual, not common. So we have to fight really hard to keep that because it’s such a rare thing and it’s by no means something that’s default. Controlled speech is the default, not free speech.

- Elon Musk explaining why he released information that the Democrats colluded with Twitter before the 2020 elections to bury the Hunter Biden laptop story

That is because The New York Times has become, for all intents and purposes, an unregistered lobbying firm for far-left politicians.

- Tweet by Elon Musk explaining why the New York Times did not report on the bombshell findings

Frankly the risk of something bad happening or literally even being shot is quite significant. I’m definitely not going to be doing any open-air car parades. Let me put it that way. It’s not that hard to kill me if somebody wanted to, so hopefully they don’t

- Elon Musk in a Twitter Spaces discussion

So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great “Founders” did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!

- Trump’s post on Truth Social on Saturday, in response to the bombshell findings

The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to “terminate” the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES.

- Trump post on Truth Social on Monday

Everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

- Former Vice President Mike Pence criticizing Trump

I don’t think we [at CNN] ever were liberal.

— CNN anchor Don Lemon

Today, the U.S. beat Iran 1-0 to advance to the next round of the World Cup. Yes! U.S.A.! I just hope this doesn’t ruin our incredible friendship with Iran.

— Jimmy Fallon

When asked how they beat Iran, the U.S. coach said, “We found their secret game plan in a box at Mar-a-Lago.”

– Ibid.

Americans haven’t been this fired up about soccer since we remembered it existed last week.

– Ibid.

[President Biden has] been to the border.

— White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked why the President is not visiting the border when he goes to Arizona, stating that the reason is because he has already been to the border, although there is no record of Biden ever having visited the border

When I talk about the 85% of the population that suffers from self-esteem issues, that’s me. I’m part of that statistic; this is why I…work myself to death in the gym. This is why I do 12 to 15 blood-burning workouts a week just to feel like I’m okay. Still, I have to absolutely crush myself to do so. And I’m wrecked physically and cognitively, and hormone replacement has helped in a profound and significant way.

- Fitness guru Brian Johnson, who for years claimed that he eats liver to help him get ripped and has always denied using performance-enhancing drugs, apologizing after he was busted for lying about not taking PEDs

Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been. If that’s not corrected over time, prices will be higher, and/or stores will close.

- Walmart CEO Doug McMillon on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”

These woke, high IQ stupid people, they walk around with Ziplock bags of kale that they eat to give them energy. Now, if you want to eat kale that’s up to you. I don’t eat kale, you know why? Because kale tastes to me like I’d rather be fat.

- Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) while campaigning for Hershel Walker in Georgia

Political Crossfire

If TikTok is In Your Family’s Online World, So is Xi Jinping’s China

The panic over Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover is wildly overwrought. Ending woke censorship on the so cial media platform poses no threat to our democracy. What does threaten our way of life is not from Musk’s control of Twit ter but Xi Jinping’s control of TikTok –the wildly popular social media app that the Chinese Communist Party is using to collect unprecedented reams of data on more than 100 million American users.

If you have a teenager in the family, TikTok is most likely in your online eco system – which means China is in there as well. Yet many Americans seem un bothered by Beijing’s infiltration of their virtual living rooms. Why, they wonder, should they care if China is watching their kids’ dance videos?

“It’s not just your dance videos,” says Klon Kitchen, senior fellow at the Amer ican Enterprise Institute for national security technology and a former CIA officer focused on foreign influence oper ations. “It’s all of your contacts. It’s your GPS location. It’s your online viewing and shopping habits. It’s even your keyboard swipes and your off-app, online habits.” If you download TikTok on your phone, he told me in a recent podcast, you have given China the ability to track what other websites you go to and your key swipes when you are on those sites, which means “they know your username and they know your password, and they know texting content” – even if your text messages are encrypted.

Don’t take his word for it. In a joint letter to the Federal Trade Commission, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote that TikTok’s “PRC-based employees [have] unfettered access to user information, including birth dates, phone numbers, and device

identification information.” And Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Feder al Communications Commission, wrote in June to Apple and Google urging them to remove TikTok from their app stores because it is a “sophisticated surveillance tool” that allows China to collect “every thing from search and browsing histo ries to keystroke patterns and biometric identifiers, including faceprints – which researchers have said might be used in unrelated facial recognition technology –and voiceprints” as well as “location data . . . draft messages and metadata, plus . . . the text, images, and videos that are stored on a device’s clipboard.”

All of this information is at the beck and call of the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok claims that it has never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would it do so if asked. But Kitchen tells me that is a dodge, because they are “re quired to build [their] networks in such a way as where the Chinese government has access [so] they don’t have to ask.” Moreover, he says, Chinese law – which the regime applies extraterritorially to all Chinese companies – requires those

companies to make any data that they collect or have access to, regardless of where it is collected, processed or stored, be made available to the Chinese Com munist Party. Earlier this year, BuzzFeed obtained recordings of 80 internal TikTok meetings, which showed that China has repeatedly accessed Americans’ user data – including one September 2021 meeting where a member of TikTok’s “Trust and Safety department” admitted that “every thing is seen in China.”

What can China do with all the data it is hoovering up? For one thing, it is amassing compromising information on millions of Americans, which it can later use for national security or commercial espionage. The Chinese are collecting data that gives them unprecedented insight into how we think and behave – which they can then use for strategic influence operations against our country. And they have hooked millions of Amer icans on an information platform that China controls and censors. Today, more than a quarter of U.S. adults under 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, meaning they are consuming information

run through a filter controlled by the Chi nese Communist Party.

Americans would not tolerate their own government collecting so much sensitive personal information on them. So why do we tolerate a hostile foreign government doing so? When it was re vealed that the U.S. National Security Agency was collecting metadata on U.S. telephone calls (phone records showing only which numbers were calling which numbers) in order to be able to connect the dots and stop terrorist attacks, there was widespread indignation – even though the program was authorized by Congress, collected no communications content, and was operated under the strict supervision of federal judges. Yet today, the Chinese Communist Party is collecting not just phone numbers but detailed “pattern of life” intelligence on more than 4 in 10 Americans, and all we hear are...crickets.

In 2020, President Donald Trump announced he was banning TikTok but backed off after he was shown polls that such a ban would hurt his standing with young voters. Joe Biden launched a se curity review in June 2021, but then simultaneously launched a campaign to woo TikTok influencers, including a White House meeting with the president – giving the presidential imprimatur to a platform that amounts to a Chinese mass-surveillance operation.

Now, Sen. Warner says, “Donald Trump was right . . . TikTok is an enor mous threat.” If that’s the case, maybe we should stop worrying so much about Twitter and focus instead on the clear and present social media danger to our country.

Political Crossfire

A Week in the Life of Vladimir Putin

All politics is local, as the saying goes, and that applies even to Russian President Vladimir Putin. That truth becomes evident from a close look at Putin’s publicly available calendar, which offers fascinating insight into a lead er who oversees virtually every aspect of Russian life.

Putin is often portrayed in the Western media as something of a cartoon villain. But he’s also a skillful politician who has used the state-run media, a pliant bureau cracy, and brutal repression to dominate Russian politics so totally that he appears to have no significant opposition. For many in the West, he’s a figure of derision, even hatred. But at home, he retains a bedrock of popular support, even amid the Ukraine fiasco.

The calendar shows Putin filling his days with a surprisingly mundane string of meetings, videoconferences, and ceremo nies that demonstrate how he tries to bol ster domestic confidence even as he wages a failing war in Ukraine. He is peripatetic, talking with aides about animal husbandry one day and artificial intelligence the next. He knows that he rules a vast nation, and although he’s often seen as a Russian na tionalist, he assiduously cultivates Rus sia’s other, disparate ethnic groups. And although the Soviet Union is gone, he stays in regular touch with fractious leaders of former republics. His nostalgia for the So viet era is palpable.

When confronting a dangerous ad versary such as Putin, it can be useful to imagine the world through his eyes – to examine his template for maintaining pow er, rather than trying to impose our own. What does he worry about? What public messages does he try to send? Putin op erates in secret, but he also leaves a public trail. His official agenda is published on the internet, and it helps explain the prac tical, “retail politics” side of his life as an autocrat.

What’s it like to be a 21st-century czar? Here’s a compilation of his public events during five days last month, drawn from his official website, Kremlin.ru. There’s noth

ing revelatory in this “week in the life.” But you can see how governance works, Rus sia-style. And you sense how hard Putin is working to maintain the appearance of normalcy as the war in Ukraine grinds on.

1. Monday, Nov. 21: Turkeys and taxes

Putin pays almost obsessive attention to the small details of government. He be gins the week with a videoconference on the state of Russia’s livestock and poultry industry. The nominal reason for this vir tual meeting is the opening of a new breed ing center for turkeys in the Tyumen region in Siberia. “We have spoken many times about the importance of creating our own selection and genetic reserve in animal husbandry and in poultry farming,” Putin admonishes his agriculture apparatchiks on the video call.

As the Russian leader is briefed on pig rearing, egg production, and a half-dozen other details of what he calls “the agro-in dustrial complex,” it’s obvious that more than 30 years after the end of communism, Russia is still in many ways a command economy. Putin wants to show he’s boss –even of turkey breeding.

Putin’s other big Monday event is a “working meeting” with Daniil Yegerov, the head of the Federal Tax Service. As usual, Putin quizzes his subordinate about de tails, starting with collection rates over the past 10 months (during which the “special military operation” in Ukraine was under

way). The tax man cheerily (and not quite believably) reports that receipts are up 18 percent over the previous year. “How are things going with you on VAT refunds?” Putin asks. It’s as if Putin has a compul sion to demonstrate that he has a handle on every issue.

2. Tuesday, Nov. 22: Fidel and nuclear icebreakers

Putin takes an emperor’s delight in ceremonial events, and the first one Tues day celebrates two new nuclear-powered icebreakers, the Ural and the Yakutia. The ceremony takes place in St. Petersburg, but Putin participates by videoconference. Pu tin describes the two ships as “part of our large-scale, systematic work…to strength en Russia’s status as a great Arctic power.” He thanks the shipbuilders “from the bot tom of my heart.” Putin later attends the unveiling of a new bronze statue in Mos cow honoring Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a charismatic ally in the glory days of the Soviet Union. Dedicating the monument, Putin recalls Castro as “a true friend of our country” whose “power, energy and un bending will…still attract like a magnet.”

Putin meets later with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Describing his encoun ters with Castro, Putin tells his visitor: “I was very surprised by his immersion in details…. He knew and was able to ana lyze everything that was happening in the world.” Putin might be talking about how he sees himself.

Putin ends his official day with a phone call to Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azer baijan, a former Soviet republic that, like many others, chafes at Russian hegemony in the region.

3. Wednesday, Nov. 23: Fertilizer and a not-so-fraternal visit to Arme nia

Putin’s day begins with Dmitry Maze pin, chairman of the Commission for the Production and Marketing of Mineral Fer tilizers. Mazepin provides the boss with a blur of statistics about fertilizer production.

The fertilizer industry, like so many others, has been affected by the war in Ukraine. Putin tells Mazepin that poor countries in Africa that need fertilizer are suffering food shortages because of West ern sanctions. (That’s false, according to U.S. officials, but Putin insists that the blame lies with “obstacles created by some countries.”) Exporting more, Putin says, “will be right from a humanitarian point of view and…a business point of view.”

Then Putin travels to Yerevan, Armenia – a place where Russian power has been unraveling – for a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an alliance of former Soviet republics. Russia sees it as a version of NATO, but it has become a bit terly divided and ineffective group whose members quarrel with Moscow and one another.

Putin’s speech evokes “the memory of the common history of our states, that our peoples together won the Great Patriotic War,” and he describes himself as “your obedient servant.” But the backdrop for the meeting is the group’s failure to prevent a 2020 war between two member states, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Russia’s failure since then to make peacekeeping plans work.

When Putin meets later that day with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, he touts a supposed 67 percent increase in trade between the two countries in the first nine months of 2022. The Kremlin website does not mention Pashinyan’s snub earlier that day in refusing to sign the CSTO com munique that Russia had drafted.

4. Thursday, Nov. 24: Artificial Intelligence, an “Order of Courage” and no “extraordinary measures”

Putin’s big event Thursday is attending a long, detailed discussion of “Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Economic Growth.” Putin discusses AI with surpris ing intensity – and verbosity. My printout of his remarks is 42 pages long. Putin asks interesting questions: What is the cognitive basis for intuition? How can data improve governance? What will AI mean for em ployment? How can data be anonymized?

In reality, Russia lags badly behind the United States, Europe, and China in AI re search. But Putin imagines a brighter fu ture and tells the gathering of researchers, “the success of the country as a whole will depend on your success.” It’s one of those moments where Russian ambition and Russian reality simply don’t match.

But Putin presses on. When one of the AI researchers pledges, “We will definite ly do everything,” Putin interjects: “This immediately worries me: ‘We will do ev erything.’” The chastened researcher re sponds, in language that recalls the Stalin era: “We will overfulfill everything, yes.”

Putin takes time later that day to award the “Order of Courage” to a propagandistic Russian blogger named Semyon Pegov, who

stepped on a land mine and was wounded in Ukraine. The Russian leader closes his day in a videoconference with the coordi nating council of the Russian armed forc es. Putin’s website doesn’t give any hint that recent events have gone disastrously for Russia: Russian troops have retreated from areas they had captured in Kharkiv and Kherson, Ukraine.

The public Putin insists that all is well. New efforts have been made to “correct our joint work.” And to those who demand changes in the special military operation, Putin argues: “There is no need to intro duce any extraordinary measures – noth ing needs to be done.”

5. Friday, Nov. 25: Grieving moth ers, Chechen allies and Russian gun smiths

Two days before Mother’s Day in Rus sia, Putin meets with a group of women said to be Russian mothers whose sons are fighting and dying in Ukraine. “We share this pain,” Putin tells them. “We under stand that nothing can replace the loss of a son, a child.”

What’s striking about this carefully se lected gathering of mothers is how many of them are from Russia’s ethnic minori ties and distant regions. And here, Putin is canny. For these areas, not cosmopolitan

Moscow or St. Petersburg, are supplying an inordinate share of the soldiers for the costly, unsuccessful campaign in Ukraine.

Putin tells a mother from Dagestan: “Russia as a whole is unique civilization, where people of different nationalities, eth nic groups, different religions live side by side for a thousand years.” He comforts a Cossack mother from Krasnodar; a mother from Tuva, near the Mongolian border; a mother from Sakha, in eastern Siberia.

The Ukrainians are “playing someone else’s game, but we have to fight for our in terests, our people, our country,” he tells the mothers. And then he offers this ex traordinary, chilling comment: “Today’s events are the way to some kind of…inter nal purification and renewal.”

Putin meets next with his war cabinet, the permanent members of his security council. What’s said here isn’t explained on Putin’s website. After that, he receives Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya, a region brutalized by Putin’s scorched-earth campaign in the early 2000s that is now supplying fighters to Ukraine. Again, no details of their conversation.

The Russian leader closes his day, after 11 p.m., with a speech to a state company called Rostec, which is struggling to main tain production of high-tech weapons de

spite Western sanctions.

Across the country, Rostec factories are “working at maximum capacity, in sever al shifts,” Putin says. “Indeed, people are working hard, looking up to our ancestors, to the great traditions of many generations of our gunsmiths, who proved by deed that Russian weapons are weapons of victory.”

At no point during this week does Putin acknowledge, in any way, that his military is conducting a brutal campaign that has terrorized Ukrainian civilians and made the country itself, rather than its armed forces, its target. This was a week when Putin fired scores of missiles and drones at Ukraine’s infrastructure, trying to freeze the nation into submission. Much of the world is outraged, but Putin appears oblivious.

Over this week, Putin tries instead, in nearly every encounter, to justify a war that many Russians don’t understand. He is an enigmatic leader, everywhere and nowhere. He talks falsely of Russia as the victim, rather than the aggressor. His confidence never appears to flag. But he would not work so hard to appear all-powerful if he didn’t fear that the foundation beneath his throne was fragile.

(c) 2022, Washington Post Writers Group

Jewish History

Ashkenazi Jews Have Become More Genetically Similar Over Time

Astudy of skeletons unearthed from a medieval Jewish cemetery in Germany has revealed a surpris ing genetic split among Ashkenazi Jews of the Middle Ages that no longer exists.

The analysis, the first of its kind from a Jewish burial ground and the product of yearslong negotiations among scientists, historians and religious leaders, shows that Ashkenazim have become more ge netically similar over the past seven cen turies. Two Jews walking the cobblestone streets of 14th-century Germany were more genetically distinct, on average, than any two Ashkenazi Jews alive today.

“That is wild!” said Dr. Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and a co-author of the new study. “Despite the rapid growth of the Ashkenazi Jewish population during the past 700 years, the population became more homogeneous.”

The study, published last week in the journal Cell, compared DNA extracted from the teeth of 33 men, women and children buried in the cemetery with DNA taken from hundreds of modern Jews from around the world. Previous studies have shown that modern commu nities are a genetic melange, with Ashke nazim the world over carrying essentially the same collection of DNA sequences.

But the medieval remains tell a differ ent story. They show that European Jews at the time came from two divergent gene pools.

Each group shared the same genetic ancestry, dating to a small founder pop ulation that most likely emigrated from Southern Europe and reached the Ger man Rhineland at the turn of the first millennium. But the DNA analysis also revealed a genetic divide among the skel etons, which could have several explana tions. In one scenario, both groups orig inated from the Rhineland. One branch then stuck around the region, while the

other headed east to modern-day Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and eastern Ger many.

Alternatively, Eastern Europe might have been settled by a different popula tion of Jews who then mixed to a limited extent with their Jewish neighbors to the west.

Either way, the two groups remained fairly isolated from each other for gen erations, as evidenced by their discrete genetic lineages. Then, prompted by massacres, expulsions and economic op portunities, they reunited in places like Erfurt, the central German city that is home to the cemetery where the remains were disinterred.

“It’s a supercool study,” said Itsik Pe’er, a computational geneticist at Co lumbia University who was not involved in the research. “Ancient DNA sequencing is a cheat-code that can take you to places where you don’t have information today.”

The existence of an east-meets-west community in Erfurt is also supported by the historical record, which includes

detailed accounts of a violent pogrom March 21, 1349 — a Saturday. Angry mobs entered the local synagogue and attacked Jews in the midst of prayer. Few, if any, survived.

After the massacre, Erfurt’s lead ers took possession of property and be longings. They even collected on debts owed to the murdered Jews. But just five years later, the need for lost tax revenue prompted the city to invite Jews back.

They came from far and wide. Tax re cords show names denoting origins from all over Europe — including some from distant cities that had experienced their own antisemitic upheavals. “In the mid dle of the German-speaking lands, this was the place to be at the time,” said Ma ria Stürzebecher, a medievalist who is the curator of the Old Synagogue Museum in Erfurt. At least, that is, until 1453, when Jews were forced out again.

The same migration patterns could be seen in the excavated teeth.

Isotope readings from the dental enamel showed that many people were

migrants who had grown up elsewhere. But the DNA took this finding one step further, showing that Erfurtian Jews came from multiple places, and that those populations were genetically distinct.

“This evidence both raises new ques tions and confirms stories we’ve been telling for a long time,” said Elisheva Baumgarten, a social historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who was not involved in the study.

Preserved documents on money-lend ing practices show that the Jews from each subgroup largely formed business alliances with members of their own kind, according to Maike Lämmerhirt, a historian at the University of Erfurt and a co-author of the study. But both groups prayed in the same synagogue. They all cleansed in the same ritual bath. And, ultimately, they all lay side by side in the same cemetery.

The Erfurt skeletons carried many of the same disease-causing gene mutations that Ashkenazi Jews worry about today. That suggests a population bottleneck must have occurred before the Erfurtians were born — one in which small numbers of individuals seeded an entire popula tion, leading to genetic similarities and the amplification of certain gene variants.

Scientists had previously calculated that the bottleneck event of the Ashkenazi Jewish population occurred roughly 600 to 800 years ago. But the new study, along with a British study published this year that examined six 12th-century skeletons found in England, suggest it could have been even further back.

“Given the date of these samples, we’re putting it really at the very, very old end of those estimates,” said Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who led the British study.

“If you put the two papers together, they’re completely in agreement — which is pretty cool,” said Ron Pinhasi, an an

thropologist and geneticist at the Uni versity of Vienna in Austria who was not involved in either study.

Rabbinic law generally frowns on ex humation of corpses, out of concern for the dignity of the dead. Scientists there fore cannot excavate Jewish gravesites purely out of academic intrigue.

But what happened in Erfurt had nothing to do with the scientists.

In 2013, a storehouse that was built on top of the cemetery more than 500 years earlier was converted into a parking ga rage. Karin Sczech, an archaeologist then with the state preservation office, knew that the construction might disturb some ancient Jewish remains.

Sczech came to the work site a day before excavation was scheduled to be gin, only to find that the contractor had already broken ground. Inside the bucket of an actively digging excavator were the bones of a small child.

“I yelled at the driver and said ‘stop,’” recalled Sczech, now a UNESCO-World Heritage coordinator for Erfurt.

She and her team discovered 47 graves in an area roughly the size of a volleyball court. In consultation with the local Jewish community, the archaeologists meticulously removed the skeletons and

brought them back to the local archives.

There, the bones sat for many years.

The plan had been to rebury the bodies quickly, once scientists had a chance to study the remains. But the anthropolo gist involved in the effort became tied up, causing a yearslong delay.

Lucky for genetic science that he did. Had the anthropologist been more

Carmi took the lead. He asked the ad vice of Ephraim Shoham-Steiner, a histo rian at Ben-Gurion University of the Ne gev, in Israel. “I said, ‘If there’s anywhere that this might actually come into play, it would be in Erfurt,’” Shoham-Steiner recalled.

At first, the top rabbi in Erfurt shot down the idea. There are situations that

Carmi consulted a rabbinical court judge in Israel — Rabbi Ze’ev Litke, found er of the Simanim Institute in Jerusalem, which helps people determine whether they have Jewish ancestry through ge netic testing — who ruled that it would be permissible to isolate DNA from teeth or tiny detached bones of the inner ear that, unlike the rest of a skeleton, do not require reburial under Jewish law.

Convinced by the argument, the rabbi in Erfurt changed his mind. The project was a go. Sczech found that 38 of the skel etons had at least one detached tooth.

Soon, Reich was flying back to Boston with zip-top bags full of medieval molars, bicuspids and incisors. Using techniques that won this year’s Nobel Prize in phys iology or medicine, Reich and his col leagues successfully extracted DNA from 33 of the teeth.

prompt, the skeletons would have been back in the ground before the geneticists who led the new study, David Reich of Harvard and Shai Carmi of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, ever knew about their existence.

The researchers set out in 2017 to find an ancient Jewish cemetery undergoing excavation, with the hope that they could take a small sample for genetic testing.

allow for DNA testing on Jewish corpses — for instance, families of Yemenite chil dren who disappeared in the early years of Israel’s establishment can request graves be opened for forensic identifica tion.

But the reasoning in those cases centered on concrete benefits to the de ceased. Scientific research performed on anonymous bodies is different.

The scientists hope their approach to community engagement will provide a road map for others hoping to examine the DNA of ancient remains, whether from Jewish cemeteries or otherwise.

“This really is a sort of prototype for what can be done in similar studies,” Reich said.

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Forgotten Her es

Heroic Jews at the Attack of Pearl Harbor

For more than two years, the Unit ed States was a neutral country watching while World War II raged on in Europe and other parts of the world. Japan was afraid that the United States would interfere in its plans to dominate parts of Asia and the islands in the Pacific. In what they saw as a preventative measure, the Japanese attacked the American fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. Other American bas es in the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island were attacked as well, causing considerable damage.

Out of the clear blue sky over Pearl Harbor came a large formation of planes that were bearing down upon the Amer ican fleet moored at Battleship Row. Four battleships were sunk (two lat er were repaired and returned to ser vice), many more ships were damaged, hundreds of aircraft were damaged or destroyed, and more than 2,300 Amer icans were killed in the attacks. Howev er, the Japanese did not attack the valu able aircraft carriers, as they were out to sea. In the coming months and years, slowly but surely, it was the carriers that became the focal point of American task

forces that caused the tide of war to turn in the Americans favor.

There were many Jewish sailors, airmen, and soldiers present during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Here are some of their stories.

Louis Schleifer was attached to the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron stationed

killed. The Newark, New Jersey, native was awarded the Silver Star posthu mously for his actions.

(A few months later, during a me morial service for Schleifer, Senator Charles McNary of Oregon said, “Jews have been fighting oppression and tyr anny for centuries. They received their

at Hickam Field when he saw Japanese planes dropping bombs on the airfield. The private grabbed his helmet and re volver and started towards planes that had been parked in the middle of the field. As he attempted to move them to the relative safety of a hangar, he saw Japanese planes shooting at other sol diers. Schleifer began shooting his gun at the strafing planes but was shot and

basic training in Egypt and became sea soned soldiers on the battlegrounds of Europe,” said McNary. “Wherever tyr anny threatens, wherever the rights of man are in danger of being destroyed, there you will find the Jew, joining forc es with others willing to fight and die for freedom.”)

As the attacks began, many ships attempted to make their way out of the

harbor and into open water. The crew on the destroyer USS Blue (DD-387) watched as the battleship USS Utah was torpedoed at 8 AM, and she be gan to fire back at the attacking planes with machine gun fire and later with guns from her main battery. With only four officers on board, it fell to Ensign Nathan Asher to make the decision to move out of the harbor and away from the main attacks. Asher was a recent Jewish Naval Academy graduate from Philadelphia and was the senior officer present on the Blue as the other three officers were reservists. The command ing and executive officers were on shore for the weekend, and the commanding officer had given instructions that un der no circumstances was the ship to get underway without him or the executive officer. As the Japanese began their at tack, Asher felt that in order to save the ship from damage he needed to move the ship away from the harbor. By defy ing his commanding officer’s orders, he was credited with preventing the Blue from being damaged.

The Blue kept on firing at the at tacking planes as she went through the channel entrance and shot down a Jap

By defying his commanding officer’s orders, he was credited with preventing the Blue from being damaged.

anese fighter. Under Asher’s directions, the destroyer carried out depth charge attacks on submarines that were sighted in the area. Asher wrote in his after-ac tion report: “One submarine either sunk or severely damaged by depth charging in approximate location 4 miles, bearing 190° true, from Diamond Head Light.”

In 1960, a Japanese midget submarine was found sunk with signs of a depth charge attack in that area. Asher re ceived a commendation from Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox for his actions on the “day that will live in infamy.”

Many of the soldiers, sailors, and airmen fought back at the Japanese planes as the attack progressed. Jewish Lieutenant Stephan Saltzman of Wilm ington, Delaware, who was with the 98th Coastal Artillery, ran outside his post at Schofield Barracks armed with an auto matic rifle. Along with Sergeant Lowell Klatt, they waited until a pair of Jap anese fighters came within a hundred yards of their exposed position. Saltz man then shot several times at one of the planes and hit the pilot, causing the plane to crash. His regional command

er said it was the first Japanese plane brought down at Pearl Harbor and one of the 29 planes that did not return to the Japanese carriers. Later, Saltzman joined the Air Corps as a fighter pilot and flew 22 missions over Europe. He was injured on one of the missions and flew back to his base in England with one hand. Saltzman received the Silver Star for his actions at Pearl Harbor and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his mission over France.

December 7, 1941, will always be re membered as one of the bleakest days

in American history even as the country commemorates 81 years this week since the attack. There were many unsung he roes that fought back at Pearl Harbor, and it is history that will not be forgot ten.

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

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Move Right In. Totally Updated One Bedroom Townhouse Apartment on the First Floor. Featuring 1.5 Bathrooms, Central Air Conditioning, Washer/Dryer in the Unit, Kitchen With SS Appliances, Hardwood Floors, and Recessed Lighting. Freshly Painted. Super on Premises. Underground Parking is $95/month. This spacious rental is managed by a responsible landlord. Great Courtyard. Close to the Railroad, Shopping, Restaurants, Post Office, Cedarhurst Park + Houses of Worship. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@ bhhslaffey.com

WOODSBURGH

Magnificent 2K Sq. Ft. Co-Op. 3Br/2Bth, Eik, Lr, Dr, W/D In Unit, Gar, 2 Stor Units, Elev, Near All $775K 516-846-1032 No Brokers

LAWRENCE

Spacious 2BR, 2 Full Bath Apt with an enclosed terrace in the heart of Lawrence. Well maintained & manicured building. New hardwood floors, updated Eat-in Kitchen with gas stove. warming draw, dishwasher & microwave. New windows on the enclosed terrace & one of the bedrooms. 3 New A/C Units & New Refrigerator. Close to shopping, transportation, library, schools, and houses of worship. $339K Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE

SALE APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

1 bedroom apartment, elevator building, eat-in kitchen, full bath, hardwood floors, plenty of closet space. Ceiling fan in bedroom & kitchen, laundry room in the basement. Close to the railroad, shopping, and houses of worship $169k Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@ bhhslaffey.com

WOODMERE

Totally renovated bright and sunny 1 bedroom corner unit apartment with a washer/dryer. Features quartz countertops, ss appliances, recessed lighting, bathroom with chrome fixtures, close to the railroads, shopping and houses of worship. Call for details Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

HEWLETT

Totally renovated 1 and 2 Bedroom, Apartments with washer/dryer, kitchen with quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances. Recessed lighting, hardwood floors, storage in basement. Close to RR, shopping, and houses of worship. Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

HEWLETT

Bright and sunny 2 bedroom 2 bathroom co-op, elevator, doorman building, in ground pool storage, card room, indoor and outdoor parking, washer/dryer in the apartment, renovated kitchen with granite countertops, ss appliances, master bedroom with en-suite bathroom, formal living room and dining room, close to all $479k Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE APT./COOP/CONDO SALE

WOODMERE

New to the market beautifully maintained bright and sunny 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom co-op on the top floor in an elevator building with a private storage room. Renovated eat -in-kitchen with granite countertops, lots of cabinets, 2 renovated bathrooms. 2 spacious bedrooms with ceiling fans and air conditioners. hardwood floors, high ceilings , close to the railroad, shopping and houses of worship. Call for a private showing.$429K

Mark Lipner Associate Broker

Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

HEWLETT

Hewlett 3 bedroom 2 bath co-op with central air conditioning, terrace, wash-er/dryer, hardwood floors, recessed lighting, magnificent kitchens, ss appliances, l/r, d/r, close to the railroad, shopping, and houses of worship. $300k Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457

APT./COOP/CONDO SALE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

WOODMERE

Beautiful & Spacious 2 Bedroom Apartment Across From The Golf Course. Elevator Building, Updated Kitchen, Gas Cooking, Granite Countertops, Washer/Dryer In Unit, High Ceilings, Great Closet Space, Storage in Basement, Close To RR, Shopping & Houses Of Worship.$349K

Mark Lipner Associate Broker

Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

CEDARHURST

1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments, totally renovated private entrance , central air conditioning, hardwood floors, washer/dryer, garage parking, dishwasher, recessed lighting, private playground, close to railroad, park, shopping and houses of worship. Call for more details

Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey

WOODMERE

Move right in!! 2 Bedroom Apartment, Elevator Bldg in SD #14, Pre War Bldg, Pet Friendly, Laundry Room in Basement, Wood Floors, New Windows, Corner Apartment, Beautiful Renovated Kitchen w/SS Appliances, 3 A/C Units, Close to RR, Shopping & Houses of Worship. A must-see! $199k

CEDARHURST

1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment, elevator building, eat-in kitchen, spacious rooms throughout, laundry room on-premises, garage parking, close to all Mark Lipner Associate Broker Berkshire Hathaway Laffey International 516-298-8457 mlipner@bhhslaffey.com

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

CEDARHURST

Office space For Lease Rockaway Tpke location 2-3 offices available for lease with access to a conference room, and shared amenities. All Utilities and Internet included.  Can be leased individually or as a suite. Contact MJ at Weissman Realty Group for a private showing! MJ@weissmanrealty.com (631)8393748 Follow @mjrealtor365

INWOOD

Storefront/Office for LEASE: Bayview Ave corner Lawrence. Street parking 600+SF - Available immedi ately. Minyan Call/Text/WA Owner: 516-206-1100

CEDARHURST

Office space For Lease   – Rockaway Tpke location 2-3 offices available for lease with ac cess to a conference room, and shared amenities. All Utilities and Internet included.  Can be leased individually or as a suite. Contact MJ at Weissman Realty Group for a private showing! MJ@weissmanrealty.com (631)839-3748 Follow @mjrealtor365

INWOOD OFFICE + Large Parking LOT FOR LEASE: Bayview and Lawrence. Available immediately. Minyan Call/Text/WA Owner: 516-206-1100

HELP WANTED

A YESHIVA IN QUEENS is looking for an experienced part/ full time secretary, 2-year-old morah, kindergarten morah, kindergarten morah assistant and Pre-1A English teacher for the 2022-2023 school year. Nice and timely pay. Please email resume to mshelt613@gmail.com or call/text 718-971-9799.

THE GURAL JCC EARLY CHILDHOOD Center in Lawrence is looking for full-time & part-time teachers and per diem & permanent substitute teachers to work with infants, toddlers or preschoolers. Interested and qualified candidates, over 18 years old, please call (516) 239-1354 or e-mail JCC.Nursery@GuralJCC.org

BOOKKEEPER

Excellent growth potential, Frum environment, Excellent salary & benefits. Email resume to: resumetfs1@gmail.com

LOOKING FOR A DRIVER

Business looking for someone that has a large van or sprinter that can work a full day on Wednesdays on a weekly basis throughout the year in Brooklyn. Please do not call if you do not have a large van or a sprinter 347.992.7411

ASSISTANT TEACHER

CAHAL is seeking an afternoon secular studies Assistant Teacher in a girls’ Bais Yaakov in Far Rockaway. Send resume to shira@cahal.org or call 516-295-3666

OFFICE MANAGER

Receptionist. private dental office. Far Rockaway, Queens/Lawrence border. Exciting opportunity in a well established and growing practice. Seeking efficient, organized, ambitious, friendly, Peoples person to join our great team. Experience necessary. Great salary and benefits for the right person. Please email resumes Jonfriedmandds@gmail.com

Classifieds

classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com • text 443-929-4003

HELP WANTED HELP WANTED

NEWSPAPER LOOKING FOR

someone with a Minivan or SUV who can work late Wednesday evening or early Thursday morning on a weekly basis throughout the year, delivering newspapers in Brooklyn. Please email gabe@fivetownsjewishhome.com or call (917) 299-8082

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Local 5 towns, hours are flexible. Candidate should be Self motivated and organized. Please email resume to cdahan@tikvasecurity.com

SIACH YITZCHOK SEEKING

Additional assistant teachers for General Studies. Wonderful opportunity to observe great teachers, work one-on-one with students, and gain some classroom teaching experience. Send your resume to Email teachersearch11@gmail.com

5 TOWNS BOYS YESHIVA

SEEKING ELEM GEN ED TEACHERS

Excellent working environment and pay. Only lic/exp need apply. Email resume to yeshivalooking@gmail.com

HELP WANTED MISC.

JOB OFFERS

Bright Futures has openings for pro viders. Work one on one with children and earn great money doing what you love! Sports coaches, art teach ers, childcare, etc. We pay $50/hr for providers with a Bachelor’s and $25/ hr for providers with a HS diploma. Email info@brightfuturesny.com or text/call 347-970-9531

SECULAR STUDIES TEACHER

Seeking a secular studies teacher for 4 afternoons a week in a girls class in 5 towns/Far Rock area. Send resume to rina@cahal.org or call 516-295-3666.

DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT

A multi-tasker needed for general office work. The ideal candidate is someone who is detail-oriented, responsible, and can take ownership. Looking for someone who is eager to learn, and expand his/her skill set while possessing the ability to work independently and as part of a team. Experience with Excel required. Five Towns location. In-office position only, not remote. Please send resume to 5tpart.timecareer@gmail.com

SEEKING MORNING SECRETARY

For Bais Yaakov High School in 5 towns. Must be well organized with excellent computer and interpersonal skills. Please submit resume to HSoffice@baisyaakovam.org

GENERAL STUDIES TEACHER Bais Yaakov in Far Rockaway seeking 8th Grade Teacher. Email resume to teachingpositions1@gmail.com

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

A SHUL IS IN DESPERATE NEED of tables and chairs and a safe for “Aron Kodesh” etc. Please call/text  347-486-2858

GEMACH ZICHRON YEHUDA In memory of R’ Yehuda Aryeh Leib ben R’ Yisroel Dov. We have a library of books on the subjects of loss, aveilus, grief, & kaddish. We have sets of ArtScroll Mishnayos to assist with finishing Shisha Sidrei Mishna for Shloshim or yahrtzeit. Locations in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway, & Lakewood. Email: zichronyehuda@yahoo.com

FOUND a black hat outside Siach Yitzchok within the last couple of weeks. If you think it might be yours and can give a siman, please call/text 718-869-1728

Remember privacy? Of course, you don’t. Back in the ‘90s, you might have signed on to AOL expecting that when you got mail, it would be your business and nobody else’s. But now it’s 2022, and it’s all about the data. Your laptop and your phone, Siri and Alexa, your Ring doorbell cam and your Nest thermostat are all spying on you, track ing your movements and sending your data to our Big Tech overlords. Even toasters and hairbrushes have micro chips now! Remember that scene in Toy Story when Woody rounds up Sid’s collection of battered and abused toys to fight back? It’s just a matter of time before the “internet of things” rounds up our data to move on us.

No one violates your privacy more than Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which created a snippet of Javascript called the “Meta Pixel” for web designers to drop into their code to hoover up visitor data (and send it back to the Mother Ship). In 2018, Facebook told Congress that there was an army of over 2 million Meta Pixels online, bus ily filling Facebook’s servers with your browser history. But that’s not because people actually like being tracked. Last year, Apple updated the iPhone’s operat ing system to block apps from tracking you without your explicit consent – and

Your Money It’s Complicated

over 96% of users unfriended Facebook.

Surely, though, your tax information is private, right? The folks at the IRS don’t even use email! Don’t be so sure. Last week, The Verge reported that Meta has been quietly gathering data from online tax-filing sites:

If you filed last year’s return with TaxAct, the Pixel sent Facebook your fil

name, your dependents’ names, and your phone number.

If you used “Financial Peace,” author Dave Ramsey’s site, which white-labels TaxSlayer’s system, then Facebook got all the TaxSlayer stuff plus your income and refund amount.

Even TurboTax, the 800-pound-go rilla of online filing, sent Facebook users’

company that’s smart enough to turn raw data into a compliant tax return would be smart enough to know how much of that data they would send to Facebook. Apparently, you would be wrong.

Naturally, the folks at Meta are fu riously Zuck-splaining how the Pixel is really your friend – they use it to deliver “a better customer experience.” (Never mind that “better customer experience” is just Facebook-speak for “not wasting a single ad spot showing you an ad for something you already bought.”) Mean while, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg himself is sitting with his face in shad ows, stroking a white Persian cat, gig gling at your pathetic naïveté.

ing status, your adjusted gross income, your refund amount, and the names of your dependents in an “obfuscated – but generally reversible” format.

If you filed with H&R Block, Face book knows about your Health Savings Accounts and your dependents’ college tuition grants and expenses.

If you filed with TaxSlayer, the Pix el tried to match you with your actual Facebook account, then sent them your

names and the last time a user logged on.

Representatives from those services said they were shocked at Facebook’s spying. Ramsey’s spokesperson was typ ical: “We did NOT know and were never notified that personal tax information was being collected by Facebook from the Pixel,” she said by email. “As soon as we found out, we immediately informed TaxSlayer to deactivate the Pixel from Ramsey SmartTax.” You would assume a

We understand people want to save money by filing their taxes themselves. That’s often an expensive mistake. Good tax professionals (like us) don’t just tell you how much you owe – we tell you how to pay less. Now add privacy to the list of reasons to go pro, and our value only goes up!

Allan J Rolnick is a CPA who has been in practice for over 30 years in Queens, NY. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at 718-896-8715 or at allanjrcpa@aol.com.

Meanwhile, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg himself is sitting with his face in shadows, stroking a white Persian cat, giggling at your pathetic naïveté.