What the Rebbe wanted:

Thousands pack annual Chabad kinusBy Sergey Kadinsky

Amid the silent evening streetscape of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, the cou-ple of blocks surrounding the entrance to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal were bursting with traffi c. Vehicles were rushing to attend the annual Kinus Hashluchim, where emissaries of the Chabad movement gathered for inspi-ration and celebration.

“This shluchim conference is the engine of Chabad, where we come to focus and reen-ergize ourselves, a reminder of our strength and learning,” said Rabbi Anchelle Perl, who is in his 21st year as the Chabad sha-liach to Mineola. Rabbi Perl was among the 4,500 emissaries at the record-setting confer-ence, where Cedarhurst-based caterer David Scharf organized a staff of nearly 350 waiters for each table within the 63,750 square foot warehouse. Joining the rabbis were some 500 guests that included noted philanthro-pists, community leaders and students.

The guest of honor was British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who spoke of his fi rst encounter with Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson as a Cam-bridge sophomore in 1968. “I had no money in those days, and all I had was a Greyhound bus ticket. If you’ve ever ridden from Los Angeles to New York on a Greyhound bus… Seventy two hours nonstop I sat on this bus,” Rabbi Sacks said.

The meeting inspired Rabbi Sacks to study at Kfar Chabad in Israel after graduating Cambridge. He then returned to the Rebbe to discuss his career options, choosing between becoming a professor, an economist, and a barrister. The Rebbe instead recommend-

VOL 10, NO 46 ■ DECEMBER 2, 2011 / 6 KISLEV, 5772 WWW.THEJEWISHSTAR.COM

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‘start up nation’By Shlomo Sprung

On a rainy Tuesday evening at the Plaza Hotel’s magnifi -cent ballroom, the America-Israel Friendship League

held a dinner and a lively panel discussion, celebrat-ing Israeli entrepreneurship, based on the best-

selling book Startup Nation —The Story of Isra-el’s Economic Miracle by foreign policy experts Dan Senor and Saul Singer. The dinner was held on the 64th anniversary of Partition Day, when the United Nations voted to authorize the creation of the Jewish state.

(Continued on page 3)The vibrant skyline of Tel Aviv, where many of Israel’s start-ups are located.

Inside

The Jewish StarAsk Aviva 13Classified Ads 15Editorials 4From the Heart of Jerusalem 14Hebrew Only Please! 6Kosher Bookworm 11Kosher Critic 9Letter to the Editor 4On the Calendar 12Parsha 6

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By Karen C. Green

The recent and growing SAT cheating investigation by the Nassau County District Attorney, resulting in the arrests of several local high school students, has dominated the news and should be reason for society to take a collective pause. It should also be the impetus for us to redefi ne how we defi ne and measure success. Within the affi liated Jew-ish community, shared values in the commit-ment to chesed is evidence that we already ‘get it’. Sometime we need a reminder, em-bodied by Yaakov Hawk, 16, a junior at DRS High School with a huge list of causes to sup-port.

Hawk is the founder of Philanthropy for the Future, an initiative that combines chesed with fundraising. In its second year, the group encourages youths to volunteer, and take up social action.

A natural leader, Yaakov mobilized up-wards of 50 fellow students to participate in last week’s Mission to Masbia in Brooklyn on Thanksgiving. Closer to home, Hawk found-ed the “Bowling Buddies” program, where participants team up with special needs chil-dren on long Friday afternoons of spring. The bowling program, which is hosted at Woodmere Lanes, accommodates 15 special needs youths, ages 5 through 20, and 10 vol-unteers, providing parents with respite.

Past campaigns promoted by Hawk have included selling bracelets to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen foundation for breat cancer research, and the Sharsheret Purim candy drive to benefi t the Fogel family in Is-rael, letter writing to Israeli soldiers, and a

Yaakov Hawk: the local do-gooder

Photo courtesy of Yaakov Hawk

Philanthropy For The Future volun-teers at the 2nd Pilgrimage to Masbia

“Bowling Buddies” at Woodmere Lanes.

Continued on page 3

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Led by Kenneth J. Bialkin of the white-shoe law Firm Skadden Arps, and Harley Lippman of the business technology fi rm Gen-esis10, the AIFL seeks to improve American-Israeli relations by hav-ing infl uential Americans meeting Israelis, and learning about their ability to bring innovations to re-ality. “They bring senators, con-gressmen, and judges,” said Five Towns resident Robbie Rothen-berg, who has been involved in the AIFL for the last three years. “It’s rewarding in many ways.”

Over the past year, AIFL brought leaders in business, politics, and students to Israel. Highlighting the practical benefi ts of the relationship, AILF Also brought veterans of the Iraq and Afghan confl icts to Israel, dem-onstrating the ability of Israeli veterans in rebuilding their lives and returning to the workforce. The dinner also marked the 40th year for AIFL, which was founded in 1971 with a diverse team of infl uential founders that include former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Democrat Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson and his Republican colleague Nelson Rockefeller, and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph. “It’s important to bring Jews and

non-Jews together. It restores the legitimacy of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” said AIFL Ex-ecutive Director Alex Grob-man.

The distinguished pan-el for the event, which in-cluded Senor, former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and Dan Gillerman, the for-mer Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, honed in on Israel’s unbelievable ability to form start-up com-panies, gain venture capital and create jobs worldwide.

These Israeli start-ups are even creating jobs in America, according to panel moderator Jonathan Medved, a venture capitalist who founded the Is-raeli fi rm Vringo, which devel-ops videos for mobile phones. In describing Israel benefi ting the American economy, Medved spoke of a delegation of 27 law-makers and community leaders from South Carolina, brought by AIFL to Israel, seek-ing to encourage Israeli start-ups to open branches in their state. Later in the year, a group from Evansville, Indiana, attempted to do the same, Medved said.

Grobman added that economic relations between the U.S. and Israel are “stronger and more important than ever” and “beyond just the military.” Grobman stressed that agri-culture, science, industry and education are now greatly discussed between the two na-

tions.Along with Senor, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Singer, an editorial writer for the Jerusalem Post, the Partners for Democracy Awards dinner honored Better Place executives Idan Ofer and Shai Agasi. Undeterred by the lack of oil from their neigh-bors, this Israeli pair’s fi rm develops electric vehicle charging stations around the world with unparalleled success in the industry, in-cluding hundreds of millions of dollars being invested.

Senor dubbed the fi rm as the poster child for the Israeli start-up

movement.In their book, Senor and Singer provided

insight into how a country like Israel has founded more start-up companies per per-son than Japan, China and India, and raised twice more venture capital per person than the United States. Israel created 600 start-up companies over the last year with a popula-tion of just seven million, while the entire continent of Europe, with 700 million people, created just 700 start-up companies, accord-ing to the panel. Incredibly, there are more Israeli companies than European companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, a tes-tament to the strength of Israeli ingenuity.

The dinner was “a great opportunity to see the innovations, design and leadershipof Israel,” said Great Neck fi nancial advisorReuben Askowitz, who mentioned IBM, Mi-crosoft, Cisco and Motorola among the com-panies relying heavily on Israel to develop their products.

“Being creative is who we are,” said Am-bassador Ido Aharoni, the General Council of Israel to New York. “It’s in our DNA.”

Start-Up Nation reached as high as fi fthon the New York Times Best-Sellers list and discussed Israel’s 60-year journey from beingan undeveloped nation of Jaffa orange ex-porters, to one of the world’s dynamic econo-mies for visionaries and entrepreneurs in allfi elds. Many of the top Internet and technol-ogy companies in the world, including eBayand Intel, rely heavily on Israeli technology and engineering to build and develop the world’s most innovative products.

The panel posited that the nations of theworld could view Israel differently throughthese start-ups in terms of respect for hu-man rights, immigrants and minorities, and progress in health, education and energy ef-fi ciency. Another main focus of the event wasto try to change people’s perceptions aboutIsrael. Gillerman said that the only way tochange the narrative of Israel “to a place ofinnovation and beauty” was bringing them tothe country.

“We have to combat bad images of peopleseeing Israel as an occupier,” said attendee Rabbi Joseph Potasnick. “We have to tell ourversion of the story.”

Israeli start-ups: Good for U.S. economyContinued from page 1

Beaver Lake blood drive.The eldest in a family of six children,

Hawk credits his chesed commitment to his maternal great great grandparents, who by choice held the wedding meal for their daughter’s wedding at a Soup kitchen in Bu-dapest, Hungary in the 1930s.

Hawk’s smile widens as he describes his great grandmother, Hedy Mayer, 86, of Bor-ough Park. “She’s worldly, gives great advice and she’s the only grandmother who texts and uses Skype.” The legacy of chesed con-tinues through the family’s business, Jaclyn Wigs, which routinely provides their product to fi nancially strapped brides and to Chai Lifeline recipients.

A native of Passaic, and a former resi-dent of West Hempstead, Hawk and his fam-ily have moved to Woodmere eight months ago. Hawk traces his fi rst involvement with chesed activities to his kindergarten years when he collected money that he earmarked for bullet proof buses in Hebron. In second grade, he accepted donations for Hatzolah in lieu of birthday gifts. Within the last two years, under his leadership, Philantropy for the Future collected money to provide Cha-nukah gifts for his sister’s friend who had recently lost a parent, as well as Haiti earth-quake relief fund.

On top of all this, Hawk is the Editor in Chief of the school newspaper, Vice Presi-dent of his student government, an avid Dev-ils hockey fan, (he is adamant about Martin Brodeur being the best goalie ever), enrolled in three AP courses, and writes poetry. When asked how he has time to do so much volun-teering, Yaakov responds in just two seconds. “I just have to do this.”

Photos courtesy of Yaakov Hawk

“Bowling Buddies” enoying Friday af-ternoon fun (above)

Yaakov and his sisters Gabrielle andCarrie are among the 200 volunteerswho peeled potatoes, sliced carrots and chopped chicken in preparation for Masbia’s Thanksgiving dinner.

Yaakov Hawk: local master of chesed initiativesContinued from page 2

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Opinion

S ometimes ignoring the problem will not make it go away. It would simply continue to fester, gradually gaining in momentum,

peeling away support from the mainstream, speaking a message of irreverence and rebellion in a time of widespread disaffection.

On Nov. 26, Brooklyn City Councilman Charles Barron announced his candidacy for Congress, challenging Democratic incumbent Ed Towns, and local State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who is also likely to run for the seat. In his decade on the City Council, Barron attracted plenty of attention with his invitation of Zimbabwe autocrat Robert Mugabe to City Hall, his proposal to slap the near-est white person “just for my mental health,” and most recently, eulogizing Moammar Khadafy as an “African hero.”

Eager to retain his bully pulpit, the one-time opponent of repealing term limits ran for a third term once they were repealed. Now, he is run-ning for a national audience. To educate Barron on Israel would be futile. His opposition towards Israel goes beyond the standard leftist boilerplate. In 2009, he crossed the Egypt-Gaza border on a self-described “relief convoy,” describing the situ-ation in Gaza as a “death camp” with Israel as the “terrorist” state.

The Anti-Defamation League certainly has no diffi culty in compiling a dossier on Barron, who also argued that the true Semites are black and that Israel is an enemy to Africa. The black-Jewish relationship is among the most storied and com-plicated in American history, ebbing and fl owing between the support of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the hostility of Malcolm X. As part of its pro-Israel outreach, Christians United For Israel has

Pastor Michael Stevens, touring around Brooklyn churches with a message of blessing for those who support Israel.

But to truly rebuild this complicated relation-ship, the Jewish leadership should recognize Bar-ron’s hatred for what it truly is- envy that a fellow minority group that arrived in America much later than his own, has been able to largely prosper on these shores. How can this envy be eliminated? By demonstrating mutual support for each other’s concerns, and working together to address them. To defeat Barron on the topic of Israel alone would be seen as self-serving, but to demonstrate that Barron is as harmful to his own community as to our own would be the most ideal method in defeating his candidacy.

This is not diffi cult at all. With his divisive atti-tude, Barron found himself stripped of Committee assignments on the City Council, a political pariah whose ability in Congress to deliver results to his district would be severely limited.

Letter to the editorOff The Grill responds

To the Editor:As a hard working storeowner with a reputation for hav-

ing a very accommodating restaurant I was appalled to haveseen an article written bad mouthing me and my restaurantfrom your Zechariah Mehler. First of all, the account of what happened at my restaurant had nothing to do with the topicof his article. After writing his complaints from kosher festwithout mentioning one name or booth he goes straight to me and calls me out publically.

It was a blatant favor to a friend to badmouth me. Secondof all considering Mr. Mehler was not here it is of no surprisethat he had his facts wrong. Mr. Mehler quoted the family as saying the steak came out overly thin and leathery. First of all considering they didn’t even try the steak they had no way of knowing if it was leathery or not. Second of all the steak wasnot thin, but it was the proper size that he was just compar-ing to another dish.

You can’t sit in a restaurant order chicken and then when it comes out say why doesn’t it look like that steak. Obviouslythe answer is because it is another dish. We always accommo-date the customer when the dish comes out wrong but he gota perfect house steak and just changed his mind on what he wanted when he saw the other dish. The article also left out the part where he got up to publicly scream in the restaurant where all of my regular customers saw that he was out ofplace and mistaken. Nor did it mention the part where I wasverbally threatened and almost had to call the police.

This is all information that Mr. Mehler conveniently leftout or was not informed of. Legally I believe it is slander and halachically as a Rabbi, where I make sure not to steal or un-justifi ably serve my customers, this is clearly a case of MotziShem Rah. I do believe I am owed a public apology and if Mr. Mehler would like to speak to me about the event that trans-pired that evening I would be more than happy to speak to him, and clear up my name that was wrongly soiled.

It personally is troubling to see a paper that is published to unite and inform a community of Jews to so lightly criticizeand embarrass someone, especially without the full facts. Be-side any possible business damage I have been hurt person-ally because we did our part and the customer was wrong and I’m made to look bad.

Rabbi Moshe OrlofskyOff The Grill, Cedarhurst

Editor’s Note: In my premiere issue as publisher and editorof The Jewish Star, there is no time like the present to right the wrong caused by an article published two weeks ago. From a journalistic and halachic perspective, stories should NEVER bereported based on ‘hearsay’. We apologize to the management

THE JEWISH STARIndependent and original reporting from the Orthodox communities of

Long Island and New York City. All opinions expressed are solely those of The Jewish Star’s editorial staff or contributing writers

Publisher and Editor Karen C. Green Assistant Editor Sergey Kadinsky Account Executive Helene Parsons Contributors Rabbi Avi Billet Jeff Dunetz Rabbi David Etengoff Rabbi Binny Freedman Rabbi Noam Himelstein Alan Jay Gerber Zechariah Mehler Aviva Rizel Ariel Rosenbloom Shlomo Sprung Editorial Designer Alyson Goodman Photo Editor Christina Daly

2 Endo Boulevard, Garden City, NY 11530Phone: 516-622-7461, Fax: 516-569-4942E-mail: newsroom@thejewishstar.com

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Newsstand Price: $1. Copyright © 2011 The Jewish Star LLC. All rights reserved.

But to truly rebuild this complicated

relationship, the Jewish leadership

should recognize Barron’s hatred

for what it truly is- envy that a

fellow minority group that arrived

in America much later than his own,

has been able to largely prosper on

these shores.

Editorial

The Barrony in Brooklyn

Among the pleasures of newspaper work is feedback from readers, which comes in the form of letters, phone calls and emails. As

a publication serving the wider spectrum of Jew-ish Orthodoxy, it is no easy task to represent this spectrum in an accurate, professional and ob-jective manner. Among our longtime readers is Karen Green of Woodmere. With a background in government and politics, and a passion for connecting with people, Green has arrived in the newsroom with an extensive knowledge of the Jewish landscape of Long Island. Green is proud of the extensive list of Capital Projects that she spearheaded in concert with elected offi cials throughout the Five Towns and Nassau County during her tenure in local government. A goal

oriented individual, Green speaks with great en-thusiasm of results achieved through identifying and cultivating relationships. She’s especially proud of facilitating an introduction between Kulanu and St. Joachim Parish leading to the purchase of Kulanu’s current location on Central Avenue. She shares the view that the community deserves a publication with a modern perspec-tive, concise writing, and informed opinion col-umnists. She hopes that The Jewish Star will be a forum for the exchange of thoughts and ideas within the community and will additionally pro-mote a greater understanding of Jewish life to the greater New York population. In sharing our goal of promoting unity and expanding cover-age, The Jewish Star is GOING GREEN.

We Welcome our New Publisher

It is with the greatest sense of delight and pride that I come aboard as Publisher and Editor of The Jewish Star. It is a blessing to live in a vibrant and cohesive com-munity that affords us so many choices... Where to daven, where to dine, where to shop, where to enroll our kids in school. The vari-ety inherent in the many available options speaks to our individual uniqueness within the bounds of Orthodoxy and ultimately to the success of our community. Such differences should be celebrated.

Since its fi rst publication, The Jewish Star has taken on many dif-ferent orientations, evolving over time. In the coming weeks the pa-per will once again morph to re-fl ect yet again a new style.

I look forward to providing my readers with thought-provoking stories, information and editorials. It is my hope that the paper will be the catalyst for the exchange of ideas, debate and civil discourse. Communication makes us stronger and wiser and to that end I encour-age your thoughts, ideas, and sug-gestions.

— Karen C. Green

Statement from theNew Publisher

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Serving the Five Towns & Surrounding Areas

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The North Shore HebrewAcademy High School

wishes Mazel Tov to our esteemed parent, Karen Green

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We wish her much Hatzlacha!

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The Torah never addresses when a new-born is to be named. Just about every Bibli-cal fi gure introduced at birth is named right away. This would not come as much of a shock in a pre-Avraham and pre-bris era. But the fact that Yitzchak, Yaakov, Eisav, and all of Yaakov’s sons (perhaps with the exception of Binyamin’s second name) are named the moment they are born (or so it seems) stands to leave open the idea that in Biblical times, boys were named before the bris.

In a pre-Sinai world, certainly girls were not named when the new father received an aliyah to the Torah – Dinah, for example, seems to be named at her birth.

Why do we name our children when we do: the boy at the bris, and the girl at a Torah

reading? Is there signif-icance to the public dis-play of naming a baby?

Avram received his new name after his bris, and Yitzchak received his name the minute he was born. Yitzchak’s circumstance can be taken off the table, however, because his name was given to him by G-d, before he was even conceived.

Yossele Weisberg z”l, one of the most prominent mohels in

Jerusalem until his passing around 10 years ago, dedicated a chapter of his magnum opus on the laws and practices of the Bris Milah experience, “Otzar Habris,” to the customs surrounding when we name both boys and girls.

He records four reasons for why a boy is named at his bris:

■ At the time we are involved in blessing the child (ie. we say a “mi sheberach” after the bris), it is appropriate to refer to him by name. This would imply that the bris is the latest we can name a boy.

■ Until his bris, he carries the name of an “arel” (uncircumcised), which must be changed to a proper Jewish name as soon as possible after his circumcision.

■ When we give the name with the for-mula of “Kayem” (establish this baby to his mother and father with the following Jew-ish name…), we are asking for the name to carry with it “G-d’s approval,” which would surely be most forthcoming once the child is circumcised.

■ Once he is circumcised, and has arrived at his personal physical “completion” (shl-emut), it is the right time for him to be given his name.

The book Matamim, which explains the reasons for many customs, includes an expla-nation that focuses on the verse in Bereshit 2:19 – “Whatever the man called each living thing [would] remain its name.” He quotes

a thought from the book Toras Emes who points out that an acronym of the fi rst fi ve words of this phrase are the letters of the name Eliyahu/Elijah. The fi rst letters of the next three words, Nun, Chet and Heh have a numerical value of 63 (50+8+5), which is the same value as the word Navi - prophet. The last word is “Sh’mo” (it’s name), Thus, when Elijah the Prophet is present, that is when “his name” [the child’s, that is] is pro-claimed. The only problem with this teaching is that it presumably pre-dates any practice of including Elijah at the bris. As nice as it is, it cannot be used in practical terms to explain why the baby is named at his bris, and not before his bris.

When it comes to naming girls, Yossele Weisberg records six different customs as to when it could be done:

■ The day she is born■ On the fi rst Torah-reading day closest to

her birth■ The Shabbos immediately after her birth■ To wait at least fi ve days from her birth

(unless her 3rd or 4th day is Shabbos)■ On the 2nd Shabbos of her life■ 30 days after her birth.Rabbi Shabtai Lipschitz of Orsziwa wrote

a book called Bris Avos, in which he explains this last custom based on a known connection women have to the moon and Rosh Chodesh. Just as the moon has a monthly cycle, wom-en have a monthly cycle. The Rosh Chodesh connection is deeper, but no one suggests she be named specifi cally on Rosh Chodesh.

Rabbi Lipshchitz’s fi nal point is that just as the father provides the name to of his son to the one who announces it at the bris, he should verbally say his daughter’s name to whomever (Rabbi, gabbai, chazzan, etc) will be announcing it along with a “Mi Sheber-ach.”

There might be room to suggest Yaa-kov’s sons were named after they were cir-cumcised, but in the end, it does not mat-ter whether they were or were not. Giving a name to a child is a signifi cant event in and of itself. So signifi cant, in fact, that Rabbi Jacob Emden declared “it is a mitzvah to re-joice and have a celebratory meal at the time one names his newborn daughter.”

It would seem, therefore, that the nam-ing of a boy at his bris, and a girl on a Torah reading day, particularly on Shabbos, would become a matter of convenience. The sig-nifi cance of the naming itself is a cause for celebration – so our tacking it onto a party we’re making in honor of a bris, or in honor of Shabbos (or even any Torah-reading day) makes sense from a practical point of view.

May our children grow to fulfi ll our dreams and wishes for them, no matter when they are named. And may we merit helping them realize their potential in the best pos-sible way.

Parshat Vayetze

When we name Our Children

Rabbi Avi Billet

Hebrew only please!A Jewish newspaper should have a Hebrew column. So here it is. We will try to maintain a level of vocabulary so that it will be easy

enough for students to read and interesting enough for those more fl uent to enjoy.

To be able to see only until the heart!

This week’s story is about Col. Dror Weinberg, killed in a 2002 terror attack in Hebron. When asked how he gets along with everyone, he quoted Rav Aryeh Levin, who was short, and “couldn’ttell if his friend was wearing a kippa or not; he could only see until the heart.” Rabbi Himelsteincurrently teaches at Yeshivat Orayta in Jerusalem, and can be reached at RavNoam@orayta.org.

By Rabbi Noam Himelstein

Stay up to date with The Jewish Star. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Send us an e-mail with "sign me up" in the subject line to

newsroom@thejewishstar.com

By Natan Farber

If you walked into DRS last Thursday morn-ing, you would be able to feel the excitement for the annual school wide Shabbaton. The spirits were high amongst all students who were just counting down the minutes to per-haps the most anticipated event of the yearly DRS calendar. On Thursday night, November 5th, 250 students drove up to Kutsher’s Resort in the Catskills to begin the 15th annual DRS Shabbaton. The students were treated to a late night BBQ, followed by the traditional viewing of comedy videos. The boys woke up Friday morning, bundled up in their best football gear for an incredible full day football tournament. The weather could not have been better! Shab-bos was absolutely beautiful, full of incredible zmiros, Torah, davening, endless tisches, bond-ing time with friends and Rabbeim, moving speeches by guest speaker Rabbi Moshe Beno-vitz, Inter-Shiur Family Feud competitions, and much more. The Shabbaton also featured a number of educational sessions, which focused on the Shabbaton’s theme: Judaism - The Indi-vidual vs. The Community. The various learn-ing sessions taught the students how to proper-ly use one’s personal talents for the betterment of the Jewish community as a whole. It was inspiring to see the sense of Achdus amongst all boys of all grades - the type of camaraderie that DRS is so famous for.

Open HouseOn Sunday, November 6, DRS welcomed

an exceptional turnout of prospective parents and students to its Open House. With standing room only in the Beis Medrash, Rabbi Yisro-el Kaminetsky, the Menahel of DRS, made his introductory remarks, and informed the pro-gram’s attendees of the tremendous warmth, academic integrity, and religious spirit that DRS is so famous for. Parents and students got a chance to hear from DRS’s new General Studies Principal, Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum. Dr. Kirshenbaum enlightened the parents of the many unique academic opportunities that DRS offers its’ student body, including a wide range of 14 AP courses, and opportunities for inde-pendent study. Parents and students alike were both treated to tours of DRS’s beautiful build-ing and campus, and got a chance to experi-ence what occurs in a DRS classroom. The Stu-dent Fair held in DRS’s gym gave visiting 8th graders a chance to taste all of the many extra curricular activities that go on in DRS, includ-ing a sample of the cooking and karate clubs, a shootout contest with the school’s most talent-ed hockey and basketball stars, and a bowl of

chulent and kugel at the “DRS Shabbaton” sta-tion. Many student volunteers added energy to the tours as the boys eagerly shared their love for DRS with the prospective students.

We look forward to welcoming the class of 2016!

Honor Society InductionACHDUT, the DRS Chapter of the National

Honor Society, is affi liated with the National Association of Secondary Schools. Last week DRS inducted 46 students into the Achdut chapter of the National Honor Society. These students were selected for admission for having a minimum of a 90 academic average, as well as middot befi tting this esteemed organization. The induction ceremony began with words of welcome from both Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky, Menahel of DRS, and Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum, Principal of General Studies. The keynote speaker for the program was Mr. Stephen Sav-itsky, the immediate former president of the Orthodox Union. Mr. Savitsky spoke to the stu-dents about Jewish Pride, and what it means to hold the responsibility of being a Jew in a secular world. Following Mr. Savitsky’s speech, pairs of inductees deliverd short vignettes about famous Jewish personalities, from Tan-ach, as well as the secular world, who exempli-fy the middot and characteristics of ACHDUT: character, leadership, scholarship, service, persistence, integrity, compassion, courage, dignity and vision. The pairs presented their famous Jewish personality to an audience of over two hundred staff, parents and relatives. An honorary award was delivered to Rabbi Moshe Erlbaum. Rabbi Erlbaum was honored and thanked for his many years of service in DRS. Rabbi Erlbaum is a special individual who possesses all of the qualities that were spoken about by our students.

What’s happening at DRS High School

A shabbaton brought together current and prospective DRS students.

Photos by Natan Farber

The boys of DRS High School were bundled up to play football at their annual Shabbaton in the Catskills last month.

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ed that he take up the pulpit and train the next generation of British rabbis. “They will hear you give sermons and they will learn. You will train rabbis and you will become a rabbi,” Rabbi Sacks said. “I tried to do what I know the Rebbe would have wanted me to do. To build schools, to improve Anglo Jew-ish education, to reach out, and to make – not followers – but leaders.”

Rabbi Sacks subsequently saw his other wishes coming true as well, in becoming a Cambridge professor, delivering economics lectures at respected forums, and holding an honorary barrister degree. “You know, you never lose anything by putting yiddishkeit fi rst.”

While the Rabbi Sacks spoke, at table E18, Chabad Director of Social Media Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone feverishly Tweeted excerpts of his speech to the world through the handle @Lubavitch. “The kinus inspired so many back and forth discussions,” Rabbi Lightstone said. “This was my small contribu-tion to the divine revelation.” He shared his table with shluchim from Syracuse, Banga-lore, Sao Paulo, and Greenfi eld, Mass.

Rabbi Yaakov T. Rapaport of Syracuse said that besides the famous group photo and the dinner, the week of activities in-cludes a variety of lectures to assist shluchim in their outreach work. “The workshops run from the mundane to the spiritual, from body language to social media,” Rabbi Rapa-port said. “I learned about bookkeeping, to keep my shlichus running smoothly.” Among the topics in the news, noted psychiatrist Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski delivered the domestic abuse workshop, which Rabbi Perl

attended. “He said that rabbis don’t have to become therapists. We should be aware and empathetic, but we should refer people to ex-perts,” Rabbi Perl said. “As well-meaning as we may be, we may not have the right knowl-edge and could be giving people the wrong advice.”

Rabbi Perl was appointed this year to the Nassau County Domestic Abuse Coalition by County Executive Ed Mangano. He also at-tended an end of life seminar, seeking to ap-ply the lessons taught for his other position as chaplain at Winthrop University Hospital. Thanks to the internet, any seminars that he missed can be watched at a later date from home. “The younger generation of shluchim has so many more tools, but none of us can say that we know it all,” Rabbi Perl said.

Sharing the table with him was his guest, Glen Cove resident Eddy Hallak, who often travels to China on behalf of his textile im-porting business. “This is one big mishpacha. Everywhere I go, there is Chabad,” Hallak said. “When I spent Shabbat in Guangzhou, it felt like home.” At the roll call, the sh-luchim stood up when their countries were announced. The newcomers were Nigeria and Kenya. The birthplaces of Chassidus were also showing a robust Chabad presence, with 164 shluchim in Ukraine, and 45 loca-tions stretching across Russia, according to Chabad.org. Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, who arrived in Moscow in 1990, headed the Russian delegation at the kinus.

But for so many shluchim present, Rabbi Yossi Mendelson of Forest Hills said that the guest list still fell short. “There are things that are more important than the kinus. I had a pidyon haben in my shul and was late,”

Rabbi Mendelson said. “When one of my col-leagues had an emergency in his community I advised him to leave and return home.”

Annual Chabad convention is ”one big mishpacha”

Photos by Sergey Kadinsky

Rabbinic luminaries graced the annual Kinus Hashluchim, including Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, above; and British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who delivered the keynote address before thousands of attendees.

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Anyone who has a daily commute into the city has by now noticed the signs and billboards that announced the com-ing of Johnnie Walker’s new product Johnnie Walker Double Black. Now I am not inherently a fan of Johnnie Walker’s whiskey but when the largest scotch company in the world decides to throw its weight behind a new product it’s enough to catch my interest. Thus when I received an email about a Johnnie Walker tasting, I happily made the trek to Jersey City with my wife and brother-in-law to see what all the hype

was about. Now it’s important to remember that

deep down in my soul I am a marketing guy and so I view these types of events for what they are…an attempt to gar-ner good PR. To this end these product sponsored parties or tastings are often fairly cheesy however even though the attempted to market Johnnie Walker products were not even slightly veiled they did manage to do it with an air of class and dare I say even subtly.

I chose to go with the Black and Ginger, and for one of the fi rst times in my life, I could not fi nish an alcoholic drink. After milling about for half an hour we were ushered into a well-dec-orated room with seats situated around a large screen. From there the actual tasting began.

We began with their “executive” scotch, the Black Label, which is perhaps their most recognizable brand. From there we sampled the Double Black, which is surprisingly like the regular Black Label but with a deeper oaky fl avor and a hint of smoke. The problem is that regardless of how tasty the front end single malt of the Double Black was, it could not mask the fact that it had been blended with a non-descript and fairly harsh “neutral” grain spirit.

This makes the whiskey burn and come off as astringent.

The pitchman tried to explain that Johnnie Walker uses these neutral spirits like a blank canvas on which they paint the fl a-vor of their whiskey. I prefer to look at the neutral spirit they use in their blends as an albatross that weighs them down and gives them a poor reputation amongst dedicated scotch drinkers.

To my surprise we were then asked to sample the Red Label, Johnnie Walker’s highest selling product, with Oran-gina, a half orange juice/half seltzer soda that is popular in Europe. The orange fl avor and carbonation really play well with the whiskey and even though I will probably not ever order one at a bar or make another using Red Label it is a drink combination I will experiment with at home.

The last two scotches we sampled were the Gold and Blue Labels. Both of these whiskeys are Johnnie Walker’s premi-um brands and both of them suffer from the same issue that the Black and Double Black Label have. They may be good prior to blending but once they are given a treatment with the grain alcohol they lose their fi nesse and subtly. However I don’t want you to take away from this article that blended scotch is bad because it’s not.

There are a number of blended malts out there that are in fact delicious. Among them are two Johnnie Walker prod-ucts, the Green Label and Johnnie Walker Swing. These two scotches are blends of single malt and do not use any of the neutral spirit that negatively colors the other Jonnie Labels. I am particularly fond of Green Label because of the depth of fl avors it manages to contain.

I know many of you coinsures out there are going to scoff at my recommendation, but I do recommend keeping a bottle of Green on your shelf as an excellent example of how four distinct scotch varieties can be blended to create a unique fl avor profi le.

Zechariah Mehler is a widely published food writer and ex-pert in social marketing. Follow him on Twitter @thekosher-critic

THE KOSHER CRITIC

Zechariah Mehler

Walker’s new scotch labels

Photo by Zechariah Mehler

Johnnie Walker’s Green Label contains a depth offl avors.

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By Sergey Kadinsky

Growing up in Far Rockaway, advertising executive and photographer Ahron Weiner knew well the holocaust survival stories of his grandparents, the vibrant Jewish life in the prewar town of Vizhnitz, and the deso-lation that followed the holocaust. A decade ago, Weiner settled in Prague for work, and used the opportunity to travel around East-ern Europe documenting the unused syna-gogues and abandoned cemeteries, which are currently on exhibit at the J Greenstein Gallery in Cedarhurst.

“To visit Prague was a total gift, with some spare time, we traveled in the fi rst six months,” Wiener said. Not far from Prague is the site of Theresienstadt death camp, where Red Cross visitors were deceived by the Nazis with an image of a model camp. Part of the rouse included the play Brundibar, which the prolifi c children’s book illustrator Maurice Sendak adapted in 2003. Sendak’s illustra-tions of the death camp are based on photo-graphs that Weiner sent to him. “He was also very infl uenced by the holocaust. We would get together twice a year, where my photos provided research for his illustrations.”

Among the poignant images in the “Me-morial Wall” exhibit is a photograph that

inspired the title, a Jewish cemetery wall in Krakow, Poland, comprised of fragments of desecrated tombstones. Another photo has a former synagogue sanctuary in the Czech vil-lage of Luze, surrounded by fl ood lights and a children’s fi lm set. “This is a village on a hill, and the synagogue is atop the hill,” Weiner said. “The sets fl anking the aron kodesh are bizarre, but in another town the former shul is now a barbershop.”

In total, Weiner traveled across 10 coun-tries and over 200 cities over the course of three years. His wife Pamela and son Moshe, 13, who currently attends the DRS yeshiva, accompanied Weiner on his travels. “We saw shadows of mezuzahs on doorways and one mikvah that is now a club,” said Pamela Weiner. “My son has an intense interest in the holocaust. These towns were the equiva-lent of the fi ve Towns in being heavily Jewish before the war.”

At the Nov. 26 opening of Weiner’s ex-hibits, the visitors shared their own stories of traveling by their ancestral homes. “The Dohany Synagogue in Budapest is magnifi -cent,” said Lawrence resident Gloria Fremed Kaplan, who fi rst visited Hungary at a time when communism was collapsing in the re-gion. “Someone game me Israeli music to pass to another person, and a bencher and

tefi lin to a bar mitzvah boy in Bucharest. They had nothing at the time.”

Alongside photography, Weiner has also documented the subject of European Jewish life on fi lm, collecting hours of stories from his grandmother, Toby Stern of Far Rocka-way, who survived Auschwitz. His profes-sion is also very visual, but as the founder of the Our Man In Havana ad fi rm, he handles mostly the “business side.”

In selecting the photographs for the J

Greenstein Gallery, Weiner gave Sendak apeek, receiving a positive review ahead of the show. “This is more than just tourism. Itis the ritual of mourning, a shivah postponedfor most of world Jewry by circumstances ofbirth and by the currents of politics,” Sendakwrote in a statement. “You have lit my past.”

Weiner will speak at J Greenstein Gallery,located at 417 Central Avenue in Cedarhurston Dec. 4 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact 516-295-2931.

Eastern Europe’s Jewish remnants documented by local photographer

In school, students are supposed to take part in two different activities: learning and acting upon what they have learned.

They perform these activities in order to help them mature and to help them grow. Students at HAFTR are always looking for new occasions to take part in these differ-ent activities. Last week they had the op-portunity to do both.

The fi rst occasion that the students were allotted was at the annual blood drive that

took place on Nov. 21. In the previous week, passionate student leaders went around the school and edu-cated their classmates about how their blood donations could save numerous lives and informed them of the positive effects their donations would have. After hearing this, many students, myself included, took the ini-tiative and eagerly do-

nated blood. The pride that emanated from every donor based upon the knowledge that they had just saved a life was evident to ev-eryone in and around school.

The second chance that the students got to accomplish these aforementioned activi-ties was at an assembly called “Hang Up and Drive: Jacy and Steve’s Journey.” In this as-sembly, eleventh and twelfth graders had the privilege to hear a true personal story of Jacy and Steve’s life changing experi-

ence. Retelling the story, Jacy’s parents’ car was hit by a truck whose driver was care-lessly talking on his cell phone and running through a red light. Unfortunately, both her parents died as a result and Jacy was in-jured and lingered at the brink of death. Her diffi cult and slow, but miraculous recovery encouraged Jacy and her fi ancée, Steve, to go tell their story to others. They inspired everyone in the room to seriously reexam-ine the way that they conduct themselves in a car. After learning new and startling facts about texting, calling, or talking while driv-ing, they motivated the students to make a pledge. The pledge gave the students the opportunity to make an oath to drive safely, without recklessly using their cell phones. This pledge gave the students yet another way to act upon what they learned.

In a time where education has become more and more impersonal it is heartening to see students learn with fervor, and pas-sionately act upon their new knowledge. These are only two examples amongst many where students at HAFTR have done this. Students are already planning and organiz-ing new ways to act upon what they have learned to give back to the community.

In addition to writing for the school news-paper, Michael Sosnick, an 11th grader at HAFTR, participates in mock trial, college bowl, and is on the math team. He is cur-rently actively involved in Write On For Is-rael , a program designed to educate high school students on how to be effective advo-cates for Israel on college campuses.

HAFTR highlights

Photo by Ahron Weiner

In the Czech village of Luze, a children’s fi lm set occupies the sanctuary of a former synagogue.

Michael Sosnick

Photo by Michael Sosnick

HAFTR students got the message: Don’t text and drive.

Imagine that you live in a country that has just elected Adolf Hitler as its head of state.

Your name is Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Wein-berg, rabbi, and a leading authority on Jewish law who is revered by many for your wisdom, knowledge and compassion.

Your destiny has placed you to be present at a time of utter chaos for you, your family and your people. You are part of an orthodox Jew-

ish leadership coming to terms with a force that will prove to become more dangerous than the Jewish people have ever confronted.

Yet, a combination of optimism and denial is at play which impels you and others to at-tempt a path of soft ap-peasement of those, who, in the end will physically terminate the thousand year relation-ship between German Jews and their non-

Jewish compatriots.Dr. Marc Shapiro’s excellent study of the

life’s work of Rabbi Weinberg is not just a bi-ography of one man, it is a biography of an era and of events that serve to defi ne a spe-cial place in history that in turn has defi ned a people’s destiny for all time.

Both events and ideas are given a reader’s front seat as one reads the gripping narrative alongside some of the most stellar footnotes and research. Surely, this is a scholar’s master-

piece, indeed.It is the intent of this writer to focus on

just one sad chapter of this book, and of Rabbi Weinberg’s life, that will serve as an example of what faced German Jewry in that era and of the shocking response of the Orthodox Jewish leadership to the Nazi challenge.

I do not envy Dr. Shapiro for the choices that he made in structuring the events about to be reviewed. To his everlasting credit, no at-tempt was made to cultivate myth or fantasy. Rabbinic rank and status was to have no im-pact as it concerned the chronicling the truth.

In Oct. 1933 “an amazing letter” was writ-ten to Hitler by the separatist Orthodox Jew-ish leaders of Germany seeking, in what they mistakenly thought was some honest attempt to explain to the newly elected German head of government the true nature of the Orthodox Jewish faith and its people.

Never before was the entire text of this let-ter published until the publication of this work.

In retrospect, it reads as a pathetic, naïve missive, pleading at times, fawning to the point of groveling in an attempt to persuade a hateful maniac as to the righteousness of their faith. It was a bold and somewhat elo-quent attempt to be “mefayeis” a modern day Esau, when in reality, it served absolutely no purpose except to further self-humiliate those who signed it.

Among those signers were three whose names many of you will easily recognize:

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Munk of Berlin, Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer of Frankfurt Am Main; and World President of Agudath Israel, Jacob Rosenheim, also of Frankfurt.

According to Dr. Shapiro, the text stressed the Jewish commitment to anti-communism, the many contributions that Jews have made to Germany, as well of their strong opposition to the economic boycott against Germany.

The authors, according to Dr. Shapiro, attempt to mollify Hitler by expressing their confi dence that that do not believe it is his inten-tion to destroy the German Jew-ish community, a community that loves the German soil and people and is bound to its culture.

Now consider the following from Dr. Shapiro’s narrative:

“In concluding the letter the authors stress that they are not re-questing the immediate abolition of anti-Jewish restrictions, for they do not wish to create diffi culties for the government. They are ready to accept certain restrictions for the present. Distancing them-selves from Reform, in a manner which Wein-berg strongly opposed, the authors stress the uniqueness of Orthodoxy. They point out that Orthodox Jews never intended to acquire ex-cessive economic infl uence, since the Sabbath laws prevent this. Furthermore, Orthodox Ju-daism has always been strongly opposed to intermarriage and Jewish apostasy. What the Orthodox desire, they continue, is the ability to practice their religion freely and earn a liv-ing without threats or abuse.”

The letter concludes, “In accordance with our religious obligations we shall always re-main loyal to the government of the country. As part of the German people, the German

Jew will gladly help in the construction of theGerman nation, and do what he can to gain itfriends outside the German borders.”

Dr. Shapiro goes to some length in de-scribing the internal ramifi cations within the

overall Jewish community that this letter had, and it wasn’t pretty. Hisanalysis, given the events that wereto follow over the next decadepoint to an unwarranted Orthodoxself-centeredness. This, in turn, should serve as a lesson unto this day as it concerns Jewish unity in face of adversaries who are no less dangerous to us, after all AdolphHitler never did live to have theatomic bomb, our adversaries in Pakistan, and possibly Iran do.

This book contains the full textof the “Letter to Hitler”, dated October 4,1933,in Appendix 2 [page 225-233]. Appendix 3,contains the full text of a letter, dated May 14,1934, that World Agudath Israel president Ja-cob Rosenheim sent to Agudah’s head offi ce inVienna, with a copy marked to the Nazi For-eign Ministry in Berlin, boasting in detail theefforts to “stem the virulent boycott of Germangoods that is being mounted abroad…” Thisletter warrants your attention.

Not a day passes by when an anti-Semiticincident occurs somewhere in the world.

Our leaders must learn from the actionsdescribed above, to be fi rm in their resolveto defeat their schemes of those who wish usill, as well as to maintain the best in our rela-tions with all those who truly see in us genuinefriendship

Alan Jay Gerber

The Kosher BookwormRabbi Jechiel Weinberg and the futile attempt to mollify Hitler

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Dec. 2-3Scholar in residenceCONGREGATION BETH SHOLOM, located at 390 Broadway in Lawrence is hosting Dr. Marc Shapiro as its Scholar in Residence. Dr. Shapiro holds the Weinberg chair in Judaic Studies at the Univer-sity of Scranton. The Friday night topic, at 8 p.m. he will be discussing “The Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy”. The Shabbat lecture at 11 a.m. is “Judaism and Islam”, and the minchah lec-ture at 4:15 p.m. will discuss “The Philosophy of Rav Kook: Is it Still Relevant?” For more informa-tion, contact 516-569-3600.

Dec. 3Oneg Shemesh concertISRAEL SERVICE ORGANIZATION, a nonprofi t that boosts the morale of IDF soldiers, on a model similar to the American USO, is holding a benefi t concert at the home of Dr. Robert and Tania Materman, located at 307 Lester Court in West Hempstead. The cost is $36 per adult, children under 12 attend free of charge. The Israel Service Organization was founded in 2007, boosting morale with high pro-duction concerts for soldiers. For more informa-tion, visit onegshemesh.com

Hebron Fund DinnerTHE HEBRON FUND, which supports the develop-ment of the Jewish community in Hebron, is holding its annual dinner at the New York Hall of Science, located at 4701 111 Street in Queens. This year’s keynote speaker is Fox News commenta-tor Mike Huckabee, with a video presentation by Rep. Allan West of Florida. The reservation-only event is $300 per person, with accommodations for children. The event begins at 8 p.m. For more information, contact 718-677-6886.

Piano kollel benefi tDR. NORMAN & BARBARA KUPFERSTEIN and the Ganz family are holding an evening of chamber music to benefi t Kollel Aliyos Shlomo Yerusha-layim. Rosh Kollel Rabbi Dovid Lipson will play the piano, accompanied by Shlomo Luwish on the violin and Lanny PAykin on the cello. The music of Grieg, Chopin and Schubert is on the repertoire. The event begins at 8 p.m. at the Kupferstein home, located at 45 Washinton Avenue South in Lawrence. For sponsorships and information, contact 917-586-4421.

Chanukah toy driveOSSIE SCHONFELD MEMORIAL TOY FUND is holding its annual toy drive at the home of Judy & Robbie Schonfeld, located at 850 Broadway in Wood-mere. In partnership with the medical clowns of Lev Leytzan, the toys will be distributed in orphanages, hospitals and homes in Israel. The event begins at 8:30 p.m. For more information, contact 516-791-2158.

Dec. 4Bet El DinnerAMERICAN FRIENDSOF BET EL are holding their 45th Annual Dinner, honoring the pioneering zi-onist yeshiva located in the yishuv of Bet El. The event honors Rabbi Etan & Esther Tokayer,Rubin

Margules, Moishy & Raizy Zikherman, and Alge-meiner Director Dovid & Muskee Efune. The event takes place at Marriot Marquis of Times Square.The event beginsat 5 p.m. For reservations and informaiton, contact 71-482-4134.

Dec. 6Themes in TanachYOUNG ISRAEL OF WOODMERE, located at 859 Pen-insula Boulevard, is holding a series of lectures by Rabbi David Fohrman on the life of Yaakov, the Patriarch with the most parshiot references. The free public lecture, which begins at 8:15 p.m. is cosponsored by the Hoffberger Foundation for Torah Studies. The next lecture of this series is scheduled for Dec. 13. For more information, contact 516-295-0590.

Dec. 7Triumph over DarknessKEHILLAS BAIS YEHUDAH TZVI, located at 391 Oakland Avenue in Cedarhurst, is hosting Rabbi Zev Leff, who will speak on the topic “Triumph of light over darkness in our times.” Rabbi Leff re-sides in Moshav Matityahu, Israel, and is a noted kiruv lecturer. This event is sponsored by Aish International, and begins at 8 p.m. Suggested donation is $10. For more information ,contact 646-961-4961.

Dec. 10Sh’or Yoshuv DinnerSH’OR YOSHUV INSTITUTE, a leading Torah learn-

ing institution in Far Rockaway, is holding its 45th Annual Dinner at The Sands, located at 1395 Beech Street in Atlantic Beach. The event honors Lawrence couple Ephraim & Rena Kutner as the guests of honor. Award recipients include Dr. Robert & Thea Block, whose late son Ari attended this yeshiva and has a sefer Torah named in his memory. Alum Rabbi Yechiel Weberman, who teaches at the DRS High School is the Harbotzas Torah honoree this year. The event begins at 7:45 p.m. For reservations and information, contact 516-239-9002.

Dec. 11CFR DinnerCENTER FOR RETURN, the kiruv organization that leads lunch & learn sessions in dozens of Man-hattan offi ce buildings, is holding its 30th Annual Dinner at the White Shul, located at 728 Empire Avenue in Far Rockaway. The event honors the couple Marat & Yelena Likhtenstein, Reuvain Stein, and Shmuel Schechter, among others. CFR was founded by Rabbi Avrohom Dov Kahn of Kew Gardens. Among the senior lecturers at CFR is Rabbi Akiva Schutz of Far Rockaway, who speaks at 13 current locations around Manhattan. For reservations and information, contact 718-849-6787.

Chabad FiveTowns DinnerCHABAD CENTER OF THE FIVE TOWNS is holding its annual dinner celebration honoring Aryeh & Brocha Blumenthal, Dovi & Tzipi Faivish, Mitchell & Stacey Teller, Mendel & Faigie Warshawsky, and Leibel & Myrna Zisman. The event takes place at 6 p.m. at Sephardic Temple, located at 775 BranchBoulevard in Cedarhurst. For more information , contact 516-295-2478.

OngoingBat Mitzvah classesDRISHA INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH EDUCATION is offering a Bat Mitzvah program at Congrega-tion Beth Sholom, located at 390 Broadway in Lawrence. Titled “Our Mothers, Ourselves,” this fi ve-week class for mothers and daughters ages 11-13 will explore different personalities of women in the Tanakh from both pshat and drash perspectives. The class will also discuss the signifi cance of becoming a Bat Mitzvah and how it relates to these prominent women. The classes will take place on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. For more information, contact inquiry@drisha.org

Thursday night learningKEHILLAS BAIS YEHUDAH TZVI, located at 391 Oak-land Avenue in Cedarhurst has a Thursday night learning program with video lectures by noted lecturers Rabbi Eli Mansour at 9 p.m. and Rabbi Yissocher Frand at 10:30 p.m. Hot chulent will be served, concluding with maariv services at 11:15 p.m. For more information, call 516-374-9293.

Traditions Lunch & LearnYOUNG ISRAEL OF WOODMERE holds weekly Lunch & Learn lectures at Traditions Restaurant, located at 302 Central Avenue in Lawrence. Rabbi Shalom Axelrod delivers the weekly lectures. The cost per person for the meal is $12. For reservations, contact Alan Stern at 516-295-1672.

Photo courtesy of Masbia

DRS junior Yaakov Hawk assisted Hillel Kornbluh of the Monsey-based A&B Fa-mous Gefi lte Fish, which donated its products to Masbia of Flatbush on Thanks-giving morning. Hawk was among some 200 local students who helped out at Masbia in chopping potatoes, peeling carrots, and cutting meat for the holiday.

ON THE

CalendarSubmit your shul or organization’s events or shiurim to jscalendar@thejewishstar.com.

Deadline is Wednesday of the week prior to publication.

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Kive I. Strickoff, CPA

Financial Adviser

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Securities offered through 1st Global Capital Corp., Member FINRA/SIPC SFS, LLC is not affiliated with 1st Global Capital Corp.

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Dear Aviva,How do you settle a dispute between a

husband who is a pack-rat and a wife who would love to purge everything except the bare minimum? This is our relationship and we can never see eye to eye on what to keep versus what to toss. Compromising on such an issue doesn’t seem to make sense in a situ-ation like this! What to do?

-Clean and Chaotic

Dear Clean and Chaotic,Calling all couples—listen up! We are go-

ing to use this example of the pack-rat hubby and minimalist wife as a template for solving all types of confl ict.

This is a great example because these spouses are at polar opposites here, and com-promising doesn’t quite do it for either one. We could try a patch-work mediator sort of compromise—“The garage is your domain, I will not even attempt to go rappelling down your pile of old magazines and broken items campaigning for your fi x-it ability,” says the wife. She states this while her husband so graciously leans against their living room wall, as he quietly waxes nostalgic for any semblance of seating other than the 2’x5’ hard black bench with clean modern lines.

If we followed this well-intentioned cou-ple who are trying to make room for the other over the course of a year or two, we will see the frustration that builds up to resentment and even contempt. So, a plain old compro-

mise within the same household would not breed good will and understanding.

What to do? Just take out your handy-dandy John Gottman book—any of them! After studying couples using sound scientifi c research, Dr. Gottman has found that all cou-ples (couples that rock and couples headed for divorce) fi ght. They fi ght over issues that can be resolved and fi ght over issues that can never be resolved. In fact, a whopping 69% of your arguments with your spouse will nev-er be resolved. This is true within all sorts of marriages.

What this means is that a great couple is not a couple that gets along or a couple that found their middle ground. A great couple, Dr. Gottman discovered, is a couple that can navigate confl ict while living amongst it.

How? Well, simply ignore the what of the fi ght and focus on the why of the fi ght. Then, show your spouse that you are attuned to the why and respect the why, even if you cannot meet the what.

Now that I’ve confused you till you’re cross-eyed, allow me to use our letter-writ-er’s example. The wife may want to have a stark house because she is primarily with her young kids who wreak havoc, and found in-animate objects to actually listen to her at her will. Or, the wife came from a disorganized home where she couldn’t fi nd clean clothes for herself while trying to make it to the school bus. Or it just helps her think straight. Either way, she wants to feel comfortable and in control in her own home.

Maybe the husband agrees exactly with her, even if it manifests in the opposite way. Perhaps the hubby is busy with his structured day (Shacharis at 6:45 a.m. Train at 7:56 a.m. Bus Transfer at 8:23 a.m.) Or, he came from a home that was tightly run. Or he’s too tired to care about order. Whatever the situ-ation is, we can safely assume that this guy wants to feel comfortable and in control of his home as well. This, to him means being able to leave his tie on the dining room table and his socks on the kitchen fl oor, and his guitar string collection in the medicine cabi-net.

So how do we get these two people with the same starting point and opposite end points to live in harmony under the same roof? By doing my personal favorite activ-

ity. Open your mouth! Communicate. Talk about what it means for you to have an or-derly house. Or, talk about what it means for you to be able to unwind in your own home.The goal of this conversation is not to solveanything. It is simply to see where the otheris coming from and to be heard. John Gott-man calls this “Finding your dreams withinconfl ict.”

Does it change anything on the outside?Barely. Does it breed mutual respect and un-derstanding? Totally, plus.

- AvivaAviva Rizel is a licensed Marriage and Fam-

ily Therapist in private practice in Lawrence.She can be reached at 347-292-8482 or Avi-vaRizel.MFT@gmail.com.

Ask Aviva

A hoard of problems

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We invite all grandfathers, fathers and sons in the

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There is war, and then there is mad-ness. In war, one often has to fi ght, but when madness sets in, sometimes, per-

haps one simply has to run. Such was the question on that dark October afternoon in 1973, when the quiet beauty and desolation of the Suez Canal was ruptured by the roar of an entire army crossing the water, bent on bloodshed.

They said it could not be breached; they were sure the Arabs would not dare attack, especially after their humiliating defeat in

the Six Day War a mere six years earlier. Only someone forgot to tell the Arabs. Which is why there were less than fi ve hundred Is-raeli soldiers, who were not even remote-ly prepared for what came storming across the canal that after-noon.

On October 6, 1973, fi ve hundred Israeli soldiers and only three Israeli tanks peered through the fog and smoke of the sudden artillery barrage, at a sight that must have

been beyond terror: seventy thousand Egyp-tian soldiers crossing the Suez Canal.

So what do you do, when there are so many enemy soldiers headed your way that you don’t even have enough bullets to slow them down?

Obviously, you run! . Yet these brave men stood their ground, and all these years later, the State of Israel is still here to tell the tale.

There is a story in this week’s portion, Vayetze’, which might help us understand what happened on that fateful day.

Ya’acov after twenty-two years, is getting ready to make his escape in the middle of the night from the clutches of his cunning and wicked father-in-law Lavan.

“And Lavan went to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the terafi m that were her father’s.”(Bereishit (Genesis) 31:19)

While Lavan is off shearing his sheep at dawn, and Ya’acov is saddling up the camp preparing to steal away in the darkness (31:17-21), Rachel takes the time to steal her father’s… idols?

What interest does Rachel, the righteous wife of Ya’acov, one of the four matriarchs of the Jewish people, have with the graven images of the father whose home and way of life she is clearly willing to leave behind (see verse 31:14)?

Rashi, clearly bothered by this question, quotes the suggestion (from the Midrash) that she was trying to distance or separate her father from idolatry. However, the con-tinuation of this story makes this suggestion even more tenuous.

When Lavan fi nally catches up with Yaa-kov and his camp, and challenges his deci-sion to fl ee with his (Lavan’s) children and grandchildren, he is especially upset that Ya’acov has stolen these idols. Searching for his idols in yaakov’s camp, cannot fi nd them, because Rachel having hidden them beneath the camel’s cushion, is sitting on them!

Now, if Rachel had really taken these idolatrous images just so they would no lon-ger be an infl uence in her father’s home, the

logical thing to have done with them, would have been to get rid of them, or bury them in the earth, a seemingly simple thing to do?

What a strange way to conceal some-thing! Encamped as they are in the moun-tains of Gilad, in the middle of nowhere, with three days to think about it, this is the best Rachel can do? And why is she keeping these idols at all?

Perhaps one way of understanding this strange story, is to place it within the wider context of the mission and struggle of the emerging Jewish people.

Ya’acov, like his father Yitzchak and his grandfather Avraham before him, lived in a world steeped in pagan idolatry. The world was immersed in the power of nature, and the prevalent idea of the time was that there were hidden forces in nature that de-termined one’s destiny, and those who were sensitive to these forces of nature were able to intuit the future, and even manipulate the people and events around them.

Interestingly, Judaism’s position has nev-er been that these forces are not real.

The issue Judaism has with astrology, is not that it is not true, but rather, that we are not bound by it, or limited to its interpreta-tion. The astrologist will assume that what-ever the star pattern teaches has to be, so if the stars say that you are an angry person, or that you will die young, then that is what will have to happen.

But the promise G-d gives Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’acov on different occasions, is that. “Your offspring will be greater than the stars.”

We are not limited by the natural patterns of the constellations. As a people, we don’t fi t into the normal trends of history, and just because the laws of nature would seem to dictate that the Jewish people should disap-pear, does not mean we will.

In the natural order of things, 70,000 soldiers should not even blink when run-ning through a scant fi ve hundred men.

And this may be the meaning of Rachel’s decision to sit on top of these idols. All of these forces of nature have power over us only if we give it to them. But if they are just pillows to sit on, then they no longer control our lives; we do.

And we fi nd this idea almost everywhere we look in Judaism. This is how David, at the time a simple shepherd boy, defeated Golaith when the entire army of Israel seemed helpless before him.

If you see the man before you as a giant, then he is indeed a giant, and he will rule over you, one way or another. But if you see that he is just a fellow who needs a lesson in manners, then to you, that is all he will ever be.

Thirty years ago, a small group of men, peering over the walls of the Bar-Lev line, saw something that would have, indeed should have, sent them running through the desert to escape with their lives. And the Egyptians, based on all the rules of mili-tary strategy, doubled and quadrupled to be absolutely sure, were counting on this. But they forgot to study their history; Jews don’t seem to be able to count too well.

Rav Binny Freedman, Rosh Yeshivat Oray-ta in Jerusalem’s Old City is a Company Com-mander in the IDF reserves, and lives in Efrat with his wife Doreet and their four children. His weekly Internet ‘Parsha Bytes’ can be found at www.orayta.org

Opinion

FROM THE HEART OF JERUSALEM

Rabbi Binny Freedman

Defying the natural order By Sergey Kadinsky

Jordan Farmar, 25, the Los Angeles-born point guard for the New Jersey Nets, is re-turning to his home team following the reso-lution of the fi ve-month lockout in the NBA, a result of a dispute in revenue sharing and salary caps. Since August, Farmar has been under contract for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

At the time of his signing, there was reluc-tance on the Israeli basketball scene in sign-ing up a player who would likely return to the U.S. once the lockout ends, but Farmar’s Jewish background and strong ties to Israel made him an exception. “I wanted to be in Tel Aviv where I have family and I’m familiar with the city and I know what it is all about,” Farmar told Jerusalem Post at the time. “I had seen Maccabi games when I was younger and it was my fi rst choice.”

In his adopted city, Farmar led the team in points, rebounds, and assists, greatly improv-ing its standing in the Euroleague. In his last game for Tel Aviv on Nov. 26, Farmar’s team toppled the Croatian-based Cedevita with a 96-89 victory. Fellow Jewish hoospter Omri Casspi was also expected to play in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, but with the lockout over, he will continue as the forward for Sacra-mento Kings.

The reduced 66-game NBA season will resume on Dec. 25. “I had a great time, I’m glad to go out on top,” Farmar said. “I love these guys. They really hold a special place in my heart and I hope they feel the same

about me. It’s a special place and a specialorganization.”

NBA lockout ends, Jewish Jordan returns to NJ Nets

In 2008, Chabad laid tefi lin on Farmar-during his visit to Israel (above) Whenthe NBA is in play, he’s on the NJ Nets.

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For the third consecutive year, the Oceanside-based South Nassau Communi-ties Hospital has been awarded a Gold Per-formance Achievement Award in Coronary Artery Disease from the Get With The Guide-lines (GWTG) program. South Nassau is one of just 167 hospitals nationwide to receive the award, which is based on standard lev-els of care as outlined in the clinical guide-lines and recommendations by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Foundation’s National Cardiology Data Registry (NCDR) ACTION Registry.

To earn the Gold Performance Achieve-ment Award, South Nassau adhered to the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Regis-try–GWTG for 8 consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 85% for spe-cifi c performance measures. Following these treatment guidelines improves adherence to ACC/AHA Clinical Guideline recommen-dations, monitoring of drug safety and the overall quality of care provided to ST-eleva-tion myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non- ST- elevation myocardial infarction patients (NSTEMI).

What this honor means to the residents and communities of the South Shore is that in the event you, a loved one or a friend need expert, advanced, potentially life-sav-ing cardiac care, you need look no further than South Nassau. Under the direction of Jason Freeman, MD, director of interven-tional cardiology, South Nassau’s center for Cardiovascular Health treats patients with the combination of advanced technologies and best practices and is equipped with the latest advancements in cardiac digital imag-ing systems. Its echocardiography lab is ac-credited by the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Echocardiography (ICAEL). This prestigious accreditation is awarded in recognition of a commitment to quality test-

ing for the diagnosis of heart disease and is based on the quality standards and critical el-ements of the echocardiography laboratory.

The Center performs a wide range of coronary and peripheral interventional pro-cedures, including balloon angioplasty, stent-ing, and thrombolytic therapy. When provid-ing balloon angioplasty in an emergency, theCenter consistently completes the procedure in approximately 68 minutes, which is 22 minutes faster than the medically recom-mended benchmark of 90 minutes.

Recently, the Center opened the doorsto its new, 675-foot Electrophysiology Lab.Lawrence Kanner, MD, FACC, director ofelectrophysiology and arrhythmia services,and the center’s staff of electrophysiologists use next-generation technologies to provide timely, accurate diagnoses and therapies totreat the full range of cardiac arrhythmias(abnormal heart rhythms) and defi brillator complications. Services include diagnostic studies, implantation and testing of pace-makers and implantable cardioverter defi -brillators, and radio-frequency catheter ab-lation for the treatment of potentially fatalirregular heartbeats.

Non-invasive cardiologists at the Centerspecialize in the array of cardiac imagingtechniques. This includes nuclear cardiol-ogy (which generates images of the heartat work) and echocardiogram via the trans-thoracic method (a non-invasive assessmentof the overall health of the heart) as well as stress echocardiogram (monitoring the heart’s movement, valves, and chamberswhile the patient is exercising) and diagnos-tic peripheral vascular ultrasound (which evaluates the health of blood vessels) for pa-tients with peripheral arterial disease.

For more information about South Nassau’sCenter for Cardiovascular Health or to sched-ule an appointment, contact 1-877-SOUTH-NASSAU.

Turn to South Nassau Communities Hospital for Gold Standard Cardiac Care

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SOUTH NASSAU COMMUNITIES HOSPITAL | ONE HEALTHY WAY, OCEANSIDE, NY 11572 | 877-SOUTH-NASSAU | WWW.SOUTHNASSAU.ORG

“When I had my heart attack at 43, Dr. Freeman gave me back my life.

Now, I’m making the most of it.”When you’re having a heart attack, minutes can mean the difference between life and death. They did for Gary Rosenberg,

whose life-saving angioplasty was performed by Dr. Jason Freeman at South Nassau’s Center for Cardiovascular Health.

South Nassau is one of the region’s fastest-growing cardiac catheterization providers. With an average door-to-catheterization

time that is 25% faster than the national recommendation, and cardiac and stroke patient care that is recognized by the

American Heart Association,* at South Nassau, you know your heart is in good hands.

Gary RosenbergHusband, fatherand business owner Bellmore, N.Y.

For more information on South Nassau’s Center for Cardiovascular Health, call 1-877-SOUTH-NASSAU or visit www.southnassau.org.

Jason Freeman, MD, FACCDirector of Interventional Cardiology

*American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines® Program

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