137 SPRUCE STREET 516-569-2662– See pages 5, 11, 64, 65 and 105

– See page 54 –

THEJEWISHHOMEA PUBLICATION OF THE FIVE TOWNS & QUEENS COMMUNITY DECEMBER 25 – DECEMBER 31, 2014 | DISTRIBUTED WEEKLY IN THE FIVE TOWNS, QUEENS & BROOKLYN

– See page 88– See pages 3 & 47

– See page 18

Page 25

– See page 87

– See page 126

800-504-5001“From Our

Family to Yours”

Kitchens, Bedrooms, Extensions, Etc.

PESACH VACATIONSection starts on page 111

Around the COMMUNITY

46

71 PAGE 78

When Children Need to Parent their Parents

Cuba and the U.S. Shake Hands after a Five Decade-Long Embargo

FRIENDS AGAIN

PAGE 90

Yeshiva Har Torah Students Visit NYPDPrecinct in Appreciation

Community Members Celebrate Chanukah at the White House

Performing with Stars in their Eyes at Bnos Malka

69

ROLE REVERSAL

– See page 15

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

2

Open Sundays443 Sunrise Highway, Lynbrook

We also offer PET/CT, Digital X-ray, Ultrasound, Fluoroscopy, Biopsy, and DXA Bone Density.

MRI/PET:

The Radiology

Answer

to Cancer

zp rad .com

128-sliceMRI/PET 3T MRI• entire scan as quick as 10 minutes

• high quality images from 3.0 Tesla magnet strength

• minimizes claustrophobia with an extra wide opening

3D Mammogram• clearer look through overlapping breast tissue

• detects 41% more breast cancers

• decreases callbacks by 11-18%

SIMULTANEOUS

• first outpatient MRI/PET in the United States

• reduces radiation by about 100 X-rays compared to PET/CT

• combines PET with the power of multiple MRI scans into a single test

Low-dose CT• high resolution imaging

• cardiac CTA

• radiation doses included in all reports

20 MINUTE CAR RIDE FROM JFK • 30 MINUTE TRAIN RIDE FROM PENN STATION

3TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

4

ניצני טל המועצה לשימור צמרת העיר

www.meromyerushalayim.com074-7333733 | USA: +1-718-732-3609

ט רונ

פfr

ont

07.12.14 Construction in full swing!

Coming to NY!Merom Yerushalayim

showcasing Jerusalem’s

artistic talents

Details to follow.

Malchei Israel

Yirmiyahu

in the Greenest SettingA Jewel

5TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

6

7TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

The Jewish Home is an independent weekly magazine. Opinions expressed by writers are not neces sarily the opinions of the publisher or editor. The Jewish Home is not responsible for typographical errors, or for the kashrus of any product or business advertised within. The Jewish Home contains words of Torah. Please treat accordingly.

P.O. BOX 266 LAWRENCE, NY 11559PHONE | 516-734-0858FAX | 516-734-0857

ClassifiedsCLASSIFIEDS@FIVETOWNSJEWISHHOME.COMTEXT 443-929-4003

Yitzy HalpernPUBLISHER

publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Yosef FeinermanMANAGING EDITOR

ads@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Shoshana SorokaEDITOR

editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Nate DavisEditorial AssistantNechama Wein Copy Editor

Rachel Bergida Berish EdelmanMati JacobovitsDesign & Production

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 26Parshas Vayigash

Candle Lighting: 4:15 Shabbos Ends: 5:20Rabbeinu Tam: 5:47

From the EditorContents

Shabbos Zemanim

Sponsored byTHE JEWISH HOME

Weekly Weather

SHABBOSDecember 27

FRIDAYDecember 26

SUNDAYDecember 28

MONDAYDecember 29

TUESDAYDecember 30

WEDNESDAYDecember 31

THURSDAYJanuary 1

46º 38º 49º 39º 46º 33º 36º 32º 38º 31º 36º 26º 31º 21º

eretzhachaim.org

SUNNY PARTLY CLOUDY

Dear Readers,A few years ago, on a warm

Sukkos night, my parents hosted a young couple for the seudah. My mother knew the husband, Mark, a doctor from the hospital where she works. They were both very sweet and the meal was extremely enjoy-able. But they were not the typical couple. Mark was from Russia; Anna was from Cuba. Eventually, the conversation turned to her life before she immigrated to the Unit-ed States.

Cuba is just 90 miles from the United States border but life there is something we cannot imagine. Anna spoke about not having as-pirin to relieve headaches, about Band-Aids being smuggled in with relatives. She told us about people who she knew who died from strep throat because there was no anti-biotics there to cure them. If you don’t wait on line in the morning for your loaf of bread, there won’t be any bread for you to eat in the afternoon.

When she came to America and went to the grocery store for the first time, Anna was amazed at the shelves groaning with foods of all kinds. She asked the grocer what time she should come every day to purchase the items; he didn’t un-derstand the question—the food is here all day, any day. This is America.

President Obama’s proverbi-al handshake last week with our neighbor to the south shocked many Americans. We are so used to the icy relationship we have had for years that we’ve become com-placent with the status quo. But perhaps Mr. Obama is leading with the dictum of “keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer.” With Russia becoming more and more aggressive and as the econo-my plummets under Putin’s reign, it may be time to reach out to our enemies to ensure that the Russian leader’s slithering reach doesn’t extend vise-like to the Western Hemisphere.

This week, Malky Lowinger explores a topic that many of our readers face daily: what happens when mom or dad can no longer take care of themselves? It’s an emotional and sensitive topic on both sides. Our parents have been nurturing us even while we’re in the womb. They’ve been the ones to bandage our cuts, soothe our tears, and mend our broken hearts. Now, though, even the most sim-ple of tasks have become complex for them and they need constant care. It’s a role reversal that nei-ther side wants to happen, but it is a task that can be undertaken in the most kind and caring way.

Have something on your mind? Want others to know what you think? Feel free to reach out to me at editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Wishing you a wonderful week,Shoshana

MOSTLY CLOUDYPARTLY CLOUDYPARTLY CLOUDY AM SNOW SHOWERSAM SNOW SHOWERS

Letters to the Editor 8

Community

Readers’ Poll 8

Community Happenings 44

News

Global 9

National 22

Odd-but-True Stories 38

Friends Again: Cuba and the U.S. Shake Hands after a Five Decade Long Embargo 78

Israel

Israel News 19

My Israel Home: Tzur Hadassah: An Alternative for Young Jerusalemites 86

People

Role Reversal: When Children Need to Parent their Parents by Malky Lowinger 90

Aircraft Carriers Since World War II by Avi Heiligman 107

Parsha

Rabbi Wein on the Parsha 81

The Shmuz 83

Jewish Thought

Middle of the Road by Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz 84

Halacha

Doing Business with Non-Jews on Their Holiday 85

Parenting

Chinuch Workshops by Rabbi Chaim Morgenstern 95

Health & Fitness

Emotional Healing Part II by Deb Hirschhorn, PhD 98

How to Keep Your Baby’s Skin Smooth This Winter by David Elazar Simai, MD 108

Stuff the Turkey…Not Yourself by Lori Boxer of Weight No More Diet Center 118

Food & Leisure

Recipes: Cholent Victor Style by Victor Schoenfeld 102

Recipes: Butternut Squash Cabbage Soup by Chef Shaul Silverstein 104

Lifestyles

Hire Education: Frustration #4 by Rabbi Mordechai Kruger 110

From My Private Art Collection 112

Ask the Attorney 114

Your Money 124

It’s Cold Outside by Rivki Rosenwald, Esq., CLC 124

Humor

Centerfold 72

The Rocky Rant 74

Uncle Moishy Fun Page 103

Political Crossfire

Notable Quotes 96

Classifieds 120

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

8 Letters to the Editor

Views expressed on the Letters to the Editor page do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Home.

Please send all correspondence to editor@fivetownsjewishhome.com.

Readers Poll

Dear Editor,Did you notice the protests and ri-

ots on Saturday night this week? There were thousands marching across the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Williamsburg Bridge was closed down because too many were crossing in protest. Thou-sands were chanting and rioting…

Oh wait, that totally didn’t happen. You see, it was only two NYPD officers who were assassinated in broad day-light while protecting New Yorkers’ lives. Despite the mayor intoning that “all lives matter,” it seems that his re-cent inflammatory statements dumping the NYPD under the bus reflected his sentiments a little more clearly to some New Yorkers.

It’s funny—protesters in Fergu-son have been chanting “Black lives matter.” The mayor has said that “all lives matter,” lumping everyone—in-cluding the shooter and including thugs and criminals—all in the same boat. I say that our police officers lives real-ly matter. They put their lives on the line day-in and day-out protecting New Yorkers. They never know who they’ll encounter in a dark alley; they never

know who will pull out a knife or a gun or brandish a machete at them when they get dressed in the morning. These people deserve more than just a token catchphrase from the mayor. They de-serve appreciation, they deserve grat-itude, they deserve a thank you from every New Yorker who passes them by on the street.

The next time you pass a NYPD of-ficer on the street, thank them for their dedication in making New York great. Thank them for keeping New York safe. And thank them for saving our lives every day.Sheila Goodman

Dear Editor, The national debt has increased over

$7 trillion from $11 trillion just recent-ly to a record $18 trillion over the past six years under President Obama with nothing to show for it. The debate will soon begin in Washington between the president and Congress about permit-ting our national debt to grow even more. What’s another trillion or two between friends?

President Obama and Congress

should freeze overall spending. Any extension of the debt ceiling should be matched by corresponding real cuts in spending.

Implement “pay as you go” budget-ing, means testing for all government assistance and sunset provisions for agencies and programs that have com-pleted their missions. End pork-barrel member item spending, stop paying farmers to not grow crops, and abol-ish corporate welfare subsides via tax deductions. Close down obsolete military bases abroad. Reduce United Nations and foreign aid to those who offer no support when needed. Have the IRS accelerate the collection of several hundred billion in uncollected back taxes owed by deadbeat individ-uals and corporations along with sus-pending billions in future tax refunds to those who continue failing to pay long overdue taxes or student loans. Stop wasting billions on the war on drugs.

Everyone needs to do their fair share in bringing the budget deficit un-der control. It is time for government to destroy its own credit cards.

Democrats and Republicans have

morphed into one Washington in-side-the-Beltway party dedicated to staying in power regardless of the cost to taxpayers. Their philosophy is to increase spending above the rate of in-flation. Liberals won’t say no to social welfare programs. Conservatives love any defense spending. Both support farmers and corporate welfare subsi-dies.

How ironic that after winning the Cold War against the evil empire of Communism, it may be mismanage-ment of our economy that results in a decline of our standard of living. It may also end our reign as the world’s superpower as we become the world’s super-debtor nation.

It is time for President Obama, incoming Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Re-publican House leader Boehner and Democratic House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi to come together on bi-partisan basis and end this madness. Sincerely, Larry PennerGreat Neck

Winter is here! Do you usually ski during the winter months?

Yes 43%

No 57%

9TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

The Week In News

GlobalFrance Rocked by Terrorist Acts

On Sunday, a driver shouting, “Allahu Akbar,” plowed his car into a crowd in the eastern French city of Dijon. Thirteen people were injured when the Islamic man rammed his car into the mass of people; two people were listed in critical condition. Some news outlets reported that witnesses also heard the driver shouting that he was acting on behalf of “the children of Palestine” during the rampage, which lasted approximately 30 minutes and took place in four separate locations within the city.

“The man, born in 1974, is appar-ently imbalanced and had been in a psychiatric hospital,” a source told AFP. His name has not been released yet but the 40-year-old was taken to a psychiatric hospital. Authorities were still searching for two other people be-lieved to be in the car during the inci-dent.

The attack came the day after a French convert to Islam was shot dead after attacking three police officers with a knife while also reportedly cry-ing “Allahu Akbar” in the central town of Joue-les-Tours.

Just one day after Sunday’s attack, a second attack involving a car hit pe-destrians late Monday, injuring 10 peo-ple. The act of terrorism took place in the western town of Nantes, crashing into a market crowded with people pri-or to the holidays. After the intentional crash, the 37-year-old driver stabbed himself several times and was then sent to the hospital.

The Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations have repeatedly called for attacks against France, pos-sibly because of the French military’s participation in U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq. Some extremists have specifical-ly suggested that anyone angry at the French government could use weapons easily at hand — such as cars or knives — to stage “lone wolf” attacks.

17,500 Protest Islamization in Germany

On Monday night, 17,500 peo-ple joined in the latest demonstration against Islam in Dresden, Germany, celebrating the rise of the Pegida move-ment, a far-right populist movement in the country.

The protest was organized by Pa-triotic Europeans Against Islamization of the West – a group that has grown rapidly since its first protest in October. Many have been stunned by its mete-oric rise.

About 4,500 counter-demonstrators marched through the city under the slo-gan “Dresden Nazi-free,” warning that there was no space for racism and xe-nophobia in the country that perpetrat-ed the Holocaust.

But most Pegida followers insist they are not Nazis but patriots who worry about the “watering down” of their Christian-rooted culture and tra-ditions. They often accuse mainstream political parties of betraying them and the media of lying.

Former German chancellor Ger-hard Schroeder of the center-left Social Democrats called for concerned citi-zens to launch a “rebellion of the de-cent” against the anti-foreigner move-ment, saying “that’s the kind of public reaction we need now.”

Pegida, born in a city that was part of Communist East Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago, has spawned copycat groups in western ar-eas which have failed so far to attract similar crowds. Smaller clone groups rallied on Monday in the western cit-ies of Bonn, Kassel and Wuerzburg, but they only drew up to 200 followers each and were all vastly outnumbered by counter-demonstrations that drew 20,000 nationwide.

In Munich, the biggest anti-Pegida

march was held with at least 12,000 rallying under the banner “Make space – refugees are welcome.”

“We have space for people of dif-ferent skin color, ethnic origin and mother tongue,” city mayor Dieter Re-iter told the crowd. “We have space for all religions and believers: for those who go to the mosque on Fridays, who go to the synagogue on Saturdays, or to church on Sundays, but also for those who prefer to just stay home.”

The movement has emerged at a time when Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, has become the continent’s top destination for asylum seekers, and the world’s number two destination for migrants after the United States. The influx of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and several African and Balkan countries has strained local governments, which have scrambled to house the newcomers in old schools, office blocks and army barracks.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has cau-tioned Germans against falling prey to any form of xenophobic “rabble-rous-ing,” while other lawmakers have spo-ken out against the new “pin-striped Nazis.”

Russia’s Financial Forecast Looks Gloomy

Russia’s government has pushed the country into an economic crisis by not tackling its financial problems fast enough, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said this week, warn-ing the full effects would be felt next year. Kudrin, who is a favorite of inves-tors, is credited with building Russia’s $170 billion worth of sovereign wealth funds. He added that sanctions over Ukraine were primarily behind the col-lapse of the ruble and warned that Rus-sia risked seeing its debt downgraded to junk status in 2015.

“Today, I can say that we have en-

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

10 The Week In News

tered or are entering a real, full-fledged economic crisis. Next year we will feel it clearly,” Kudrin said at a news con-ference. “The government has not been quick enough to address the situation ... I am yet to hear ... its clear assessment of the current situation.” Kudrin, one of few to criticize President Vladimir Pu-tin, quit in 2011 in protest of proposals to increase defense spending.

He has since criticized Putin’s re-sponse to Western sanctions imposed following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its sub-sequent support for loyalist fighters. But the two men are still believed to be close.

Russia has been hit by what Econ-omy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev calls a “perfect storm” of plummeting oil prices, sanctions and a flight of inves-tors’ capital. Government officials have tried to minimize the impact of sanc-tions on the ruble, which plunged last week despite a hike in interest rates to 17 percent. Putin claims “external fac-tors” like oil were the key culprit be-hind the country’s “tough times.”

Iran Unveils Monument to Jewish Martyrs

At a public ceremony last week, Iran unveiled a monument dedicated to Jewish soldiers killed in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. This tribute came as a shock in a country with a notorious antagonistic stance towards the Jewish people and state.

Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, posted photos of last Monday’s cere-mony with the headline, “Monument to Jewish Martyrs Unveiled in Teh-ran.” The photo was captioned, “Iran

on Monday unveiled a monument to the Jewish citizens who lost their lives in the 8-year Iraqi imposed war on Iran.”

The monument, a large gold slab, contains inscriptions in Farsi as well as a plaque featuring an artistic repre-sentation of the Hebrew phrase, “Sha-lom olam.” It was placed in a Jewish cemetery in Tehran. Another slab has a tiled illustration of a gold menorah set against a royal blue background.

Officials spoke at a dais flanked by the Iranian flag and a large sev-en-stemmed menorah. Banners showed images of fallen Jewish sol-diers, who were hailed as “martyrs” in both Farsi and Hebrew. Photos of the event also depict a large group of Jews praying and visiting tombstones in the ceremony.

At the time of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there were approximately 140,000-150,000 Jews living in Iran; according to the most re-cent Iranian census, the current Jewish population of Iran is 8,756.

Spanish Princess May Face Jail Time

The Spanish royal family has been having a rough time. A judge this week ordered the king’s sister, Princess Cris-tina, to be tried along with her husband on charges of tax fraud — making her the first member of the country’s royal family to face charges in court since the royalty was restored in 1975.

In issuing the indictment, Judge Jose Castro went against a prosecutor’s De-cember 9th recommendation that Cris-tina should be fined and that only her husband, Olympic handball medalist turned businessman Inaki Urdangarin, should be tried. He set bail for her at 2.7 million euros ($3.3 million) and 15 mil-lion euros for Urdangarin. If convicted, the 49-year-old Cristina could face up to four years in prison.

Suspected abuse of company funds to cover the couple’s expenses at their Barcelona home, salsa dancing classes and stays at luxury hotels is among evi-dence Castro has compiled about Aizo-on, a real estate and consulting firm the couple co-owned. The legal troubles of

King Felipe VI’s sister during a four-year probe seriously tarnished the Span-ish monarchy’s image and were seen as extreme examples of royal excess as the country’s unemployment rate rose sharply and the economy nose-dived and nearly imploded in 2012.

The case centers around allegations that Urdangarin used his Duke of Pal-ma title to embezzle about 6 million euros ($7.4 million) in public contracts through a nonprofit foundation he set up with a business partner that channeled money to other businesses, including Aizoon.

Cristina’s lawyers have long pro-claimed that she is innocent. Prosecutor Pedro Horrach recommended charges for Urdangarin carrying a possible sentence of 19½ years in prison, in-sisting Cristina should not be indicted but ordered to pay to pay 580,000 eu-ros ($711,000) to cover the amount she could have profited because of her hus-band’s alleged illegal dealings.

Castro had the option of accepting Horrach’s recommendations or sending Cristina to be tried by a different judge. The case will probably go to trial at the end of 2015 in Palma de Mallorca in Spain’s Balearic Islands, where most of the alleged offenses occurred.

North Korea Denies Terror Claims

North Korea said that President Barack Obama is “recklessly” spread-ing rumors of a recent Pyongyang-or-chestrated cyber-attack against Sony Pictures. The response came along with a threat of strikes against the White House, the Pentagon and “the whole U.S. mainland—that cesspool of terror-ism.”

Such rhetoric is routine from North Korea’s massive propaganda machine during times of high tension with Wash-ington. But a long statement released by the powerful National Defense Com-mission also underscores Pyongyang’s sensitivity to a film produced by Sony whose plot focuses on the assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un. The U.S. blames North Korea for the cyber-attack that escalated to threats of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters and caused Sony to cancel The Interview’s release.

Obama, who promised to respond “proportionately” to the attack, told reporters that Washington is reviewing whether to put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The

Continued on page 14

An Accredited MASTERS DEGREEMA in Educational Leadership - Begins Summer 2015Master of Business Administration - MBA - Begins Summer 2015MS in Clinical Counseling - Begins Summer 2015• Apply your Bachelors Degree from any regionally accredited or Association of

Advanced Rabbinical and Talmudic Schools (AARTS) accredited or affiliated institution

• Government student loans available

• Registration is currently underway

An Accredited BACHELORS DEGREEMajor in Business or Behavioral Science/ Human Services Additional Majors are available; contact YIEP

• Apply up to 70 Judaic credits in transfer toward the required 127 credits of the degree

• Government tuition grants and loans available

• Registration is currently underway

• • New programs begin February 2015 and October 2015

Earn your degree throughONLINE COURSES,accessible anywhere(in 18-30 months, depending on the degree)

For more information:TheYIEP@gmail.com or 917-209-8204Visit us at www.theYIEP.com

NOW IN OUR 10TH YEAR!

BACHELOR DEGREE PROGRAMS BEGIN FEBRUARY 2015REGISTER NOW

MS in Clinical Counseling ∙ New Cohort Forming

11TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

12

13TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

14

National Defense Commission, led by Kim, warned that its 1.2 million-mem-ber army is ready to use all types of warfare against the U.S. “Our tough-est counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cess-pool of terrorism, by far surpassing the ‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama,” said the commission’s Policy Department in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea has said it knows how to prove it had nothing to do with the hacking and proposed a joint investi-gation with the U.S. North Korea and the U.S., which fought each other in the 1950-53 Korean War, remain technical-ly in a state of war because the conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to deter aggres-sion from North Korea.

The rivals are locked in an interna-

tional standoff over the North’s nucle-ar and missile programs and its human rights abuses. In the spring of last year, tension dramatically rose after North Korea issued a string of fiery threats to launch nuclear strikes against Washing-ton and Seoul.

Executions Legal Again in Jordan

If you were running the country of Jordan and you were ending an eight-year suspension of the death penalty, how would you celebrate? Well, Jor-dan celebrated by hanging eleven men in one day. The men were executed at dawn in a prison about 45 miles from the capital Amman.

Authorities said the men were all Jordanians convicted on murder charges, with no links to politics or extremism, in 2005 and 2006. Those who were hanged were mostly in their forties. Jordan’s last executions were in June 2006 and 122 people have since been sentenced to death.

Experts say the government is re-sponding to a rise in Jordan’s crime rate.

“The authorities have been con-fronted in recent years with a wave of violence, criminality and murders and want to meet the challenge by opting for deterrence and the renewed appli-cation of the death penalty,” said Oraib Rantawi, head of Amman’s Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies.

Human rights groups denounced the ending of the moratorium, saying it would make little difference to rising crime. “We are surprised by this deci-sion, which is a step back for Jordan,” said Taghreed Jaber, the regional direc-tor for Penal Reform International.

The head of Jordan’s Adallah (Jus-tice) rights group, Assem Rababa, said the country’s authorities would be bet-ter off tackling the root causes of crime. “Political and economic problems are fostering crime,” he said. “The author-ities should not make a headlong rush [into executions] while ignoring these problems.”

A number of countries in the Mid-dle East continue to impose the death penalty for serious crimes, including Jordan’s neighbor, Saudi Arabia, which has executed 83 people so far this year.

China by far carried out the most executions in 2013, numbering in the thousands, followed by Iran, Iraq, Sau-di Arabia and the United States, human rights group Amnesty International said in a report in March.

The Week In News

Never an Appointment Needed • Open 365 Days • Shabbos-Friendly • Adults & Pediatrics • Lab Services & On-Site X-Ray • Most Insurances Accepted

Robert van Amerongen, MDFAAP, FACEP, FAAEM - Medical Director (844) 4-URGENT (487-4368) | urgent-md.comFor a very serious or life-threatening illness or injury, Urgent Care is

not a substitute for ER Care. Call 911 or go to the nearest hospital ER.

Family Urgent Care Centers

TM

H E W L E T T

1220 Peninsula BlvdAT MILL ROAD

(ADJACENT TO CVS)8AM - 11PM, 7 DAYS A WEEK

S H E E P S H E A D B A Y

3448 Nostrand Ave (AT AVE U)

M I D W O O D

2329 Nostrand Ave(BETWEEN AVES I & J)

K E W G A R D E N S H I L L S

69-40 Main StreetAT JEWEL AVE

(NEAR BERRYLICIOUS)9AM - 9PM, 7 DAYS A WEEK

C E D A R H U R S T

380 Rockaway TpkeBET. PENINSULA & W. B’WAY

(2 DOORS FROM STARBUCKS)8AM - 8PM, 7 DAYS A WEEK

Coming Soon!

Strep Tests -Yes, we do that too!

Get In. Get Out. Get Well!

Just woke upand my throatis killing me...

Time to head over to

URGENT-MD.

15TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

16

Shaking Hands with Cuba

Last Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced that the United States and Cuba will begin talks regard-ing reestablishing diplomatic relations. Neither country has had an embassy or ambassadors on each other’s soil since 1961.

“Today America chooses to cut loose the shackles of the past, so as to reach for a better future for the Cuban people, for the American people, for our entire hemisphere and for the world,” Obama declared at the White House.

This shift in attitude is most likely a response to Cuba’s release of Alan Gross and to the U.S.’s release of three con-

victed Cuban spies in an exchange that officials are insisting is not a “swap.”

Of course, as with any political pol-icy, there are supporters and those who strongly oppose. “To those who op-pose the steps I’m announcing today,” Obama announced, “let me say that I re-spect your passion and share your com-mitment to liberty and democracy. The question is how we uphold that commit-ment. I do not believe we can keep do-ing the same thing for over five decades and expect a different result.”

Apparently, for the last year and half, America had been engaging in secret negotiations with Cuba, since the spring of 2013. The first meeting of top officials was hosted by Canada, then there was a series of cautious ex-changes there and at the Vatican, a rare letter from Pope Francis urging Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro to find common ground, a final meeting at the Holy See this fall, and finally a 45 minute phone call between Castro and Obama on Tuesday. Fidel Castro was not a part of the negotiations, top U.S. officials told reporters.

Practically speaking, better ties will make it simpler to travel to the island

that’s just 90 miles from the shores of Florida and return with consumer goods including legendary Cuban cigars.

ISIS Kills Dissenters 

This should come as no surprise, but once you join ISIS, it’s really hard to quit. The Islamic State extremist group has executed 100 of its own foreign fighters who tried to flee their headquar-ters in the Syrian city of Raqqa. ISIS fighters there said the group has created a military police to clamp down on for-eign fighters who do not report for duty.

Dozens of homes have been raided and many jihadists have been arrested.

Some jihadists have become disil-lusioned with the realities of fighting in Syria, reports have said. According to the British press in October, five Brit-ish citizens, three French, two Germans and two Belgians wanted to return home after complaining that they ended up fighting against other rebel groups rath-er than against Assad’s regime. The Is-lamic State is holding them captive.

There have been a string of apparent setbacks for ISIS in recent weeks. Since a U.S.-led coalition began a campaign of airstrikes against ISIS in August, the extremist group has lost ground to local forces and has seen the number of its fighters killed rise significantly.

Iraqi Kurds claim to have broken a siege on a mountain where Yazidi civilians and fighters have long been trapped. The Kurdish advances came during a two-day blitz in the Sinjar re-gion involving 8,000 peshmerga fighters and some of the heaviest airstrikes since a U.S.-led coalition started an air cam-paign four months ago. Just last week the Pentagon said several ISIS leaders had been killed in recent U.S. airstrikes.

The Week In News

115 Cedarhurst Avenue, Cedarhurst, 516-295-2698Open Monday-Friday 9am-4pm; Thursday 9am-6pm; Sunday 9am-1pmLauren Stamm, Branch Manager; Michael Lukin, Business Development

280 East Park Avenue, Long Beach, 516-897-5705Open Monday-Thursday 8am-3pm; Friday 8am-7pm; Saturday 9am-1pmStephen Hauff, Branch Manager

Visit us today!

Established 1863 · Member FDIC

www.applebank.com

PLUS 0.25% On each 1-year anniversary of account opening

BONUS**

$25,000 minimum to earn stated rate0.75%

APY*

Savings AccountBONUS

Apple Bank BONUS Savings Account: Great Rate and a Bonus on Each 1-Year Anniversary!

*For the Apple Bank BONUS Savings account, interest earned on daily balances of $2,500 or more at these tiers: $2,500-$24,999: .10% Annual Percentage Yield (APY), $25,000 and up: .75% APY. There is no inter-est paid on balances of $0-$2,499. APYs disclosed effective as of July 1, 2014. APYs may be changed at any time at the Bank’s discretion. There is a minimum of $2,500 required to open the Apple Bank BONUS Savings account. $2,500 minimum daily balance is required to avoid $10 monthly maintenance fee. Fees may reduce earnings. Funds used to open this account cannot be from an existing Apple Bank account. Maximum deposit amount is $1,000,000 per household. **Special bonus feature: A .25% simple interest rate bonus will be paid on each anniversary date of account opening on the lowest balance for that year (anniversary date to anniversary date). No bonus is paid if the account balance is less than $2,500 on the anniversary date. Additional deposits during a given anniversary period do not affect the bonus interest payment. Deposits made to the account on any anniversary date will be used to calculate the lowest account balance for the next anniversary period. The bonus interest is calculated on the lowest balance on deposit from one anniversary date to the next anniversary date. Simple interest rate bonus is subject to change at any time after first anniversary date of account opening. Hypothetical example of how bonus works: Assume an account is opened on July 1, 2014 for $50,000. A $10,000 withdrawal is made on February 15, 2015. No other withdrawals are made prior to the July 1, 2015 anniversary date. The low balance is now $40,000, so $100 in bonus interest will be paid on July 1, 2015.

apple bk - FIVE TOWNS JEWISH HOME - BONSU SAVINGS (9-2014).indd 1 9/10/2014 9:46:12 AM

17TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

C L I Q U E F ITN ESSC L I Q U E F ITNESS80-21 164TH STREET, QUEENS • 516.792.6858 • INFO@CLIQUEFITNESSCENTER.COM • WWW.CLIQUEFITNESSCENTER.COM

Clique Fitness was founded on the belief that everyone can enjoy their time at the gym, regardless of your goals or preferences. Clique’s co-founders, Dov and Ava Segal, started their journey with Fitness1on1 personal training studios and have now expanded into group classes. The goal at Clique goes way beyond your fitness achievements; it’s about enjoying the journey.

SIGN UP TODAY! Visit cliquefitnesscenter.com/signup

COMING SOONA BRAND NEW CONCEPT IN KOSHER WELLNESSCLASSES & PERSONAL TRAINING FOR MEN & WOMENHIGH QUALITY STUDIOS • TOP TIER INSTRUCTORSONSITE MASSAGE THERAPY • FREE VALET PARKING!

C L I Q U E F ITN ESS

ww

w.s

an

db

ox-m

ark

eti

ng

.co

m

FOLLOW US! @CLIQUEFITNESSCENTER

SEPARATE CLASSES FOR

TEENS! (BOYS & GIRLS)

CHECK OUT OUR CLASS SCHEDULES, NOW POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE! WWW.CLIQUEFITNESSCENTER.COMBOOK UNLIMITED CLASSES TODAY FOR ONLY $49/WEEK!

MASSAGE THERAPY GRAND OPENING SPECIAL: 20% OFF ALL MASSAGES BOOKED IN THE FIRST WEEK

SPECIALIZING IN: Back & Neck Pain Relief Stress Reduction • Relaxation

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

18

19TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

The Week In News

Israel

Dreidel Record Topped

Almost 800 people took a world re-cord for a spin this week with a huge si-multaneous dreidel spin. Participants in the Tel Aviv event included Member of Knesset Tzipi Livni and other local and national leaders.

With Guinness World Record offi-cials monitoring the 200-meter-long ta-ble, 754 adults and children successfully spun dreidels for 10 seconds in a row at the city’s Sarona shopping compound. The previous record held was for 377 dreidels.

“We came here today to break a pos-itive record,” Livni said. “It’s upon all of us to continue to create a better, more optimistic reality for our children and for all of Israel.”

Draydel House, a store known for creating luxury ceramic dreidels, pro-vided all of the spinning tops. Interest-ingly, the store also holds the record of having made one of the largest dreidels in the world.

Mossad Spy Infiltrated Top Hezbollah Ranks

A recent Lebanese news report said that Hezbollah recently exposed a senior spy working for the Israeli Mossad in-telligence agency within its foreign op-erations branch. According to the report, the Mossad agent had been responsible for the personal security of the head of

the terror group. In the past few days, several high-ranking members of the terror organization have been dismissed since the traitor had been exposed.

According to a Kuwaiti newspaper, the double agent, a southern Lebanon businessman known only by the acro-nym M. Sh., guarded Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the past. Nasrallah is thought to be a top target for Israel and rarely makes public appearances for fear of assassination.

The Kuwaiti report said the spy played a role in the 2008 assassina-tion of senior Hezbollah member Imad Mughniyeh. The spy worked as a trav-eling businessman and was recruited by the Mossad in a “western Asian coun-try.” The collaborator had been work-ing for Israel for years and succeeded in thwarting a number of Hezbollah operations planned to avenge the as-sassination of Mughniyeh in February 2008, ostensibly by Israel. Mughniyeh’s assassination was considered a major blow to the terror group. Israel has nev-er claimed responsibility, but Hezbollah has blamed Jerusalem for the attack and has vowed to take revenge.

M. Sh. also reportedly exposed other Hezbollah agents, including Mo-hammed Amadar, arrested in Peru in late October with TNT and detona-tors following a Mossad tip-off; Hos-sam Yaacoub, convicted in Cyprus for planning attacks against Israeli tourists in March 2013; and Daoud Farhat and Youssef Ayad, arrested in April 2014 in Bangkok for planning terror attacks against Israeli tourists in Thailand.

Syria: Israeli Drone Shot Down

Syrian authorities have claimed that they shot down an Israeli drone in the province of Kuneitra near the Golan Heights. The Syrian Arab News Agen-cy (SANA), quoting a military source, reported that the Skylark 1 drone was flying above the village of Hadar when

it was shot down. SANA posted photos of a UAV featuring labels in Hebrew.

An IDF spokesperson denied the report, saying that it had no information about a UAV being present in the area at the time of the reported incident. Is-rael has struck Syria several times since the start of the latter’s nearly four-year civil war, mostly destroying weapon-ry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for their long-time foe Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

Kuneitra has seen heavy fighting between forces loyal to Syrian Presi-dent Bashar Assad and rebels including al Qaeda-linked fighters. Syria said last week that Israeli jets had bombed areas near Damascus international airport and in the town of Dimas, near the border with Lebanon.

More High-Tech Defenses on the Way

In a new and far-reaching develop-ment, the David’s Sling defense system will now be able to intercept projectiles

beyond Israel’s borders, according to a senior official from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

“David’s Sling has an interception range which ensures intercept before a threat enters Israeli territory. David’s Sling can intercept any rocket or mis-siles inside the atmosphere, and over enemy areas,” Ari Sacher of Rafael’s Air Superiority Systems Division said.

The system can shoot down incom-ing warheads regardless of whether they are conventional or carrying an uncon-ventional warhead, Sacher added. “Two David’s Sling batteries will cover the whole of Israel,” he said. “It protects Israel against strategic threats, and has the range, the speed and the maneuver-ability to do so.” It can intercept medi-um-range rockets and missiles, includ-

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

20 The Week In Newsing many of Hezbollah’s projectiles, as well as hostile aircraft, missiles with longer ranges and cruise missiles.

Unlike the Iron Dome, which was developed exclusively by Rafael, the Israeli defense giant is developing David’s Sling jointly with the U.S. de-fense firm Raytheon. The system is en-tering the production stage and will have initial operational capability in 2016.

The company has been extremely busy. Rafael is also waiting for the De-fense Ministry to respond to its offer to equip the army’s light tactical vehicles, such as jeeps and the Wolf Armored Vehicle, with its active defense system, known as Trophy LV. Merkava MK 4 tanks are already fitted with Trophy HV, which intercepted antitank missile and rocket-propelled grenade attacks in the Gaza Strip on many occasions during last summer’s war with Hamas. The IDF has begun fitting the Namer armored personnel carrier with Trophy HV as well.

Trophy HV provides 360-degree defense against RPG threats. Its radar detects and tracks incoming RPGs and activates an electro-optic system that fires an interceptor from the vehicle’s roof downward to neutralize the threat.

Yiftah Kleinman, marking and busi-ness development manager at Rafael’s Advanced Armored Systems Direc-torate, said the system allows lighter vehicles to move through built-up ar-eas teeming with terrorists armed with RPGs and enables significantly safer border patrols.

Israeli App Gives New Life to the Disabled

A new smartphone app has been developed to help those with disabili-ties easily perform everyday activities. Wheelchair-bound for nine years, quad-riplegic electrical power engineer Giora Livne is hoping his new application will

change the world for those with disabil-ities.

Determined to use a smartphone, Livne joined forces with app developer Oded Ben Dov to create a device that responds to head movements. And the result is an astonishingly smart phone called the Sesame Phone.

The Sesame Phone is customized to the user’s face and allows them to se-lect applications and move the cursor. “I can do everything with the phone. I can call, I can receive calls, I can use SMS, WhatsApp, I can play games and in the very, very near future, I will be able to operate a lot of things at home,” Livne said.

Livne has even more ambitious plans for his next project. “The next step will be driving the car with the iPhone, or with the telephone, and of course, my aim is to get to the moon with the phone.”

Sesame has tested the phone on 10 different users with different forms of paralysis. Chani Shalevet, a quadriple-gic, was one of the testers. “From my personal account, I still don’t have com-munication with the outside world, in terms of technology, and the progres-sive world, and with this application, an

opportunity has opened up and gives me and many people an equal chance to be like everyone,” Shalevet raved.

While the phone has been designed for the mobility-impaired, Ben Dov believes it may have wider appeal. “You can imagine using it in the kitchen while you’re cooking and your hands are messy, while driving perhaps, any task that revolves [involves] your hands and you need to do something on top of that.”

Bank Leumi to Pay US $400M

After admitting to helping U.S. tax-payer hide assets, Israel’s Bank Leumi

Like us on Facebook

}?

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE VAAD OF THE FIVE TOWNS & FAR ROCKAWAY

516.295.1800

www.hapinagrill.com

128 Cedarhurst Ave.Cerdarhurst, New York

Sheva Brachos starting at $25 pp

Student Lunch Special $7.50Includes: Sandwich, Fries & Soda

We will cater your simcha

New Deli Menu

Appetizers Soups Salad Bar | |

| Entrees Desserts

Selection of Wines & Beer Like us on Facebook

כתיבה וחתימה טובה

Wishing you a year filled with

Cravingcomfort food?

Make yourselfcomfortable.

516.295.1800 www.hapinagrill.com

128 Cedarhurst Ave. Cedarhurst, New York

Sheva Brachos starting at $25 pp |

Student Lunch Special $7.50 | Includes: Sandwich, Fries & Soda

We will cater your simcha |

New Deli Menu |

Selection of Wines & Beer |

Like us on Facebook

Appetizers Soups Salad Bar . . |

Entrees Desserts .

All The Best

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE VAAD OF THE FIVE TOWNS & FAR ROCKAWAY

Sheva Brachos starting at $25 pp |

Student Lunch Special $7.50 | Includes: Sandwich, Fries & Soda

We will cater your next Simcha |

Special rates for Business Meetings |

& School Lunches/Dinner

New Deli Menu |

Selection of Wine & Beer |

Appetizers Soups Entrees.

. . Sandwiches Sushi Desserts Salad Bar

Cedarhurst, New York

HAPINAM E D I T E R R A N E A N G R I L L

Want?

21TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

The Week In NewsGroup will pay a total of some $400 mil-lion to U.S. and New York authorities to settle a criminal probe, the Department of Justice announced on Monday. Some senior staff at the bank will be terminat-ed as well.

Bank Leumi agreed to pay $270 mil-lion to the U.S. Department of Justice, $156 million of which is a fine for U.S. taxpayer accounts held at the bank’s Swiss subsidiary, and $130 million to New York’s Department of Financial Services.

From at least 2000 until early 2011, Bank Leumi sent private bankers from Israel and elsewhere to meet with U.S. taxpayers and help them conceal assets at Leumi locations in Israel, Switzerland and Luxembourg, documents revealed. According to prosecutors, Leumi, a unit of Bank Leumi le-Israel, also helped U.S. taxpayers prepare and present false tax returns.

As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, Leumi agreed to supply in-formation on more than 1,500 US ac-count holders.

The Justice Department said the case marks the first time an Israeli bank has admitted to such criminal conduct.

According to a report in Forbes magazine, the statement of facts in the case included the following main ac-cusations: “surreptitiously sending pri-vate bankers from Israel and elsewhere around the world to the United States to meet secretly with U.S. clients at hotels, parks and coffee shops to discuss their offshore account activity; assisting U.S. clients in using nominee corporate enti-ties created in Belize and other foreign jurisdictions to hide their undeclared accounts by concealing the U.S. client as the true beneficial owner of the ac-count; using the Bank Leumi le-Israel Trust Company as a nominee account holder for U.S. clients with accounts in Israel to conceal the U.S. client as the true beneficial owner of the account; maintaining U.S. clients’ undeclared offshore accounts under assumed names or numbered accounts to conceal the U.S. client as the true beneficial owner of the account.”

The report also said the bank was guilty of “providing hold mail services so that correspondence and other ac-count information would not go directly to the U.S. client to make it more dif-ficult to connect the client to the secret offshore account; extending loans to U.S. clients from Bank Leumi USA that were collateralized by the assets in those clients’ offshore accounts, so that the clients could leverage their offshore as-sets to obtain and use capital in the Unit-ed States while keeping their foreign

accounts secret and undetected from the U.S. government; and after the depart-ment’s investigation into UBS and other Swiss banks’ criminal conduct in aid-ing U.S. taxpayers to evade their taxes became public, the Bank Leumi Group opened and maintained accounts for U.S. taxpayers who left UBS and other Swiss banks due to the investigation in an effort to continue to avoid detection by the U.S. government.”

Average Israeli Living in Debt

A new report by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies has found that the average Israeli household spends hun-dreds of shekels more than its monthly income. The difference seems to be pri-marily due to high housing costs, which have climbed by 53 percent between April 2007 and July 2013.

The report was met with fierce con-demnation against the government by prime minister hopeful Isaac Herzog, who said it demonstrated that it was time to oust Benjamin Netanyahu, “who placed the entire country in overdraft.”

“The average Israeli family cannot make ends meet; across all population groups in Israel, expenditures exceed in-come,” a statement from the Taub Cen-ter said. “High housing prices are the primary reason for this phenomenon, and for [non-ultra-Orthodox] Jews, the purchase of an apartment is the factor that shifts them from a positive to a neg-ative monthly balance.”

“The average household cannot pur-chase an apartment without assistance, which usually comes from their parents’ gradually decreasing savings,” it added.

Among all populations except for the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs, the aver-age household spends NIS 864 ($220) more than its monthly income. Among Arab households, the gap stands at NIS 1,919 ($488), and the ultra-Ortho-

dox exceed their income by NIS 3,209 ($817).

With regard to the housing crisis, the Taub Center researchers found that overall more people owned homes in 2012 (73.5%) than in 2006 (72.3%). The higher prices took its toll on young-er buyers, however, as among younger households, between the ages 25-34, the number of non-homeowners rose from 43% in 2003 to 54% in 2012.

The cost of food products also saw a significant increase since 2005, the re-port said. “In 2005, most food products in Israel were cheaper, but within six years alone, all food categories (aside from vegetables and fruit) have sur-passed international averages,” it said. “Dairy products in Israel were only 6% more expensive than the average in 2005, but were 51% more expensive in 2011; fish products were 30% cheaper in 2005, but were 25% more expensive than the OECD average in 2011.”

A separate report released by the National Insurance Institute showed that 1.6 million Israelis — among them 756,900 children — continue to live un-der the poverty line.

EU Removes Hamas from ‘Blacklist’

According to the European Union’s top Israel emissary, the EU court’s deci-sion to remove Hamas from its blacklist will have absolutely no practical impli-cations. To be clear, he reiterated, the European Union still considers Hamas a terrorist organization. Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen said he understood why Israeli officials are worried about the court ruling, since Hamas is “delib-erately mischaracterizing” it, but added that he believes that he was able to alle-viate their worries.

“It’s a technical, procedural decision

10% OFFREPAIRS

RESTRICTIONS APPLY

$100 OFFNEW

INSTALLATIONSRESTRICTIONS APPLY

Your Garage Door Design Center• Wood • Steel • Fiberglass • Vinyl • PVC

• Insulated & Non-Insulated Doors

We Service All Garage Doors• Seasonal Inspections • Garage Door "Tune-Ups"

• Springs • Track • Hinges • Cables • Panel Replacements

Garage Door OpenersGarage Door Openers• Keypads • Remote Control • Sensors

Locksmith Service Installation and Repairs • Decorative Hardware • Shabbos Locks

High Security Locks • Mag Locks • Electric BuzzersAutomatic Handicap Door Openers • New Safe Installations

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

22 The Week In Newsthat the court has reached. It doesn’t change the political position of the EU vis-à-vis Hamas, which is still that it’s a terror organization,” Faaborg-Anders-en said. “It’s important to point out that this has no immediate effect in terms of unfreezing the sanctions that we have against Hamas. We have an asset freeze against Hamas and Hamas members and that will stay in place.”

The EU will continue to adhere to the so-called “Quartet principles,” Faaborg-Andersen said, implying the Union would refrain from interacting with Hamas as long as the group doesn’t renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist. All EU sanctions against Hamas — mostly the freezing of funds — will stay in place for three months. The EU plans to appeal the court’s de-cision, Faaborg-Andersen said, noting that sanctions against Hamas would re-main in place for the duration of the en-tire appeal process. The verdict’s impact “on the ground is null; it doesn’t have any practical effect,” he restated.

Despite the assurances, “we are not satisfied with the European Union’s explanation that the removal of Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations is a ‘technical matter,’” said Prime Min-

ister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The bur-den of proof is on the European Union and we expect it to put Hamas back on the list forthwith, given that it is under-stood by all that Hamas — a murderous terrorist organization, the covenant of which specifies the destruction of Isra-el as its goal — is an inseparable part of this list.” Commenting on the court decision as well as on the current wave of European parliaments calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state, Net-anyahu said it seems “that too many in Europe, on whose soil six million Jews were slaughtered, have learned noth-ing.”

Clinton: Reflections on Rabin

This week, in celebration of Yedi-oth Ahronoth’s special 75th anniversary issue, former President Bill Clinton sat down with the paper to answer ques-tions regarding his involvement in the peace process and his relationship with late Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin.

Clinton revealed what moment

moved him the most in his involvement in the peace process. “The last time Rabin came to Washington, we had a signing ceremony in the White House for the first big handover of land in the West Bank from Israel to the Palestinian Authority,” Clinton related. “…Rabin and Arafat met in the Cabinet Room to initial the annex to the agreement, which included several different maps, each reflecting the results of difficult ne-gotiations on control of a multitude of roads, crossings, settlements, and holy sites. About midway through the pro-cess, I needed to step out to take a call. A few minutes later, Rabin came out and said, ‘We have a problem.’ On one of the maps, Arafat had noticed a cross-roads that he was convinced the parties had agreed to turn over to the Pales-tinians, but was marked as remaining under Israeli control. Rabin and Arafat wanted me to help resolve the dispute. I took them into my small private dining room off of the Oval Office, but then I left them there, alone together for the first time, to come to a decision without any intermediaries.”

But then, the problem was resolved. “Within a few minutes, they came out of the room and Rabin said, ‘He’s right. It’s his.’ In other words, the map was wrong. … Rabin said he would hand over control of the crossroad immedi-ately. When I reminded Arafat that by signing the maps the way they were, he was technically signing away his legal rights, he looked at Rabin and replied, ‘His word is worth more than any writ-ten contract.’ The level of trust Rabin inspired even in his long-time adversary was an amazing testament to his values, his character, and his understanding that trust is always more precious than words.”

Clinton related that one of the spe-cial moments he shared with Rabin in-volved a tie.

“About ten days before his death, Rabin and I attended a black-tie dinner together at the State Department, where he presented me with the United Jew-ish Appeal’s Isaiah Award. As everyone knows, Rabin had been a soldier most of his life, and so he was never comfort-able wearing fancy clothes. In fact, I had read that when David Ben-Gurion sent him on his first-ever diplomatic mission in 1949, he didn’t even own a tie. Some-body had to give him one, tie it, and then loosen it, so he would never have to learn how to tie one himself.

“In 1995, just before our black-tie dinner, he discovered that he’d only brought a straight tie, not a bow tie as the occasion warranted. We borrowed a bow tie from one of my staff, and my

last memory of our time together was me straightening his bow tie, with him good-naturedly kvetching the whole time about having to wear it. The mo-ment will always remind me that while Yitzhak Rabin was a great man, he was also an ordinary yet interesting man. He was also a joy to be with and to work with, and he made you feel better just being around him.”

Clinton also spoke about the day that Rabin was assassinated. “I’d been enjoying a rare, relaxed day in the White House residence when my National Se-curity Advisor, Anthony Lake, called to tell me that Rabin had been shot while leaving a huge peace rally in Tel Aviv. … I called Hillary, who was upstairs working on her book, and told her what had happened. She came down to com-fort me. About twenty-five minutes af-ter his first call, Tony called again to say that Rabin’s condition was grave, but he knew nothing else. I left the resi-dence and went to the Oval Office, but I couldn’t concentrate and I wanted to be alone. I grabbed a putter and a couple of golf balls and headed for the putting green on the White House South Lawn, where I prayed to G-d to spare Yitzhak’s life, hit the ball aimlessly, and waited. About fifteen minutes later I looked up to see Anthony Lake walking down the stone path that led from the Oval Office, and from the look on his face, I knew that my friend was gone.”

NationalNYPD Loses Two Heroes

It was a tearful week for New York City as two policemen were callous-ly murdered while serving our city. A gunman fatally shot two officers in their squad car on Saturday at 2:47pm in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brook-lyn. Ismaaiyl Brinsley fled into a nearby subway station where he then turned the gun on himself.

It was revealed that the shooter had Continued on page 26

23TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Palazzo Della FonteWestchester HiltonWHISTLER, BRITISH COLUMBIAFIUGGI (ROME), ITALYRYE BROOK, NEW YORK

EXCEPTIONALSPRING SKIING#1 Ski Resort inNorth America

ONLY30 MINUTES

FROMNEW YORK CITY

Four Seasons

www.leisuretimetours.comLeisure Time Tours 718-528-0700NEW

YORK

800-223-2624TOLLFREE

2015

• Beautiful Oversized Guest rooms & Suites• Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach• Fantastic Scholar-in-Residence Program• Glatt Kosher Supervision• Outstanding Four Seasons Cuisine

• Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach• Fantastic Scholar-in-Residence Program• Entire Hotel Newly Renovated• Exceptional Cuisine by Prestige Caterers• ORB Glatt Kosher Supervision

• 45 minutes from Rome• Member of Leading Hotels Of The World • Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach• Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet• Glatt Kosher Supervision Rabbi G. M. Garelik of Milan• Delectable Italian Cuisine

PGA National ResortBoca Raton Resort

• Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach• All Rooms Have Private Balconies• 5 Tournament-Ready Golf Courses

• A Waldorf Astoria Resort• Gorgeous Private Beach• Interesting, Thought-provoking Lectures by dynamic speakers

• 2 Championship Golf Courses• 30 Clay Tennis Courts, World Class Spa• NK Glatt Kosher Supervision

• Delectable Cuisine by Foremost Ram Caterers • ORB Glatt Kosher Supervision

PALM BEACH, FLORIDABOCA RATON, FLORIDA

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

24

Thousands worldwide are joined together and have benefitted from Daf HaYomi B’Halacha’s daily limud of Mishnah Berurah and Mussar from Sifrei Chofetz Chaim. Gedolei Yisrael have endorsed and encouraged Dirshu’s Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program’s unique retention and accountability methods, as a way to master Halacha.

TO JOIN, OR ESTABLISH A DAF HAYOMI B’HALACHA SHIUR, CONTACT DIRSHU AT 888-5-DIRSHU x.106

Join LIVE shiurim worldwide!

Receive a daily e-newsletter!

Listen live to shiurim on Kol Haloshon USA: 718-906-6400 Canada: 416-800-2146

Daily Radio Segment

Optional Bechinos

Monthly Bulletin

Receive a FREE Luach!

Now it's easier than ever to join Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, the largest worldwide daily Halacha program:

JOIN DAF HAYOMI B’HALACHA, AND MASTER THE HALACHOS

OF DAILY LIVING!...וצריך כל אדם ללמוד הלכות בכל יום כדי שהלימוד יביאנו לידי מעשה.

ועל ידי לימוד ההלכות מובטח האדם לידי חיי עולם הבא, אך שיזהר ללמוד בכל יום, כדאיתא בגמרא: תנא דבי אליהו כל השונה הלכות בכל יום וכו'...

—מתוך ההקדמה של החפץ חיים זצ"ל להמשנה ברורה

25TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Bot

tom

Lin

e M

arke

ting

Gro

up:

718.

377.

4567

סיו העולמי דרשו היומי בהלכה ד של למחזור הראשו

WORLD SIYUM

—— SPRING 2015 ——

THIS COMING ADAR/NISAN 5775, SPRING 2015, JOIN LOMDEI TORAH FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE AS DAF HAYOMI B’HALACHA MARKS THE CULMINATION OF ITS INAUGURAL 7 YEAR CYCLE OF LEARNING MISHNAH BERURAH, IN A WORLD SIYUM.

HEED THE CALL OF OUR GEDOLIM!

‘‘‘‘

‘‘‘‘

‘‘ HAGAON HARAV YITZCHOK SCHEINER, SHLITARosh HaYeshiva, Kamenitz “There is nothing more important than learning a page of Mishnah Berurah every day. There is no better way to increase one’s desire to learn than by learning and joining. There is no learner of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha who can say, “I didn’t need to do this! Mishnah Berurah is something that virtually everyone needs to learn and wants to learn. There is no sefer as pleasant as the Mishnah Berurah...”

HAGAON HARAV CHAIM PINCHOS SCHEINBERG, ZT''LRosh HaYeshiva, Yeshivas Torah Ore “Baruch Hashem today we have the Mishnah Berurah, a sefer that helps make it easier to learn and know Halacha. Hashem should bless the entire Hanhalas Dirshu that you should be able to fulfill your mission…and be zocheh to expand the learning of Torah and specifically to continue to strengthen the learning of Mishnah Berurah.”

HAGAON HARAV GERSHON EDELSTEIN, SHLITARosh HaYeshiva, Ponevezh“Consistent and fixed times for learning Halacha leads to its proper fulfillment. It is known that people who weren’t so careful with Halacha, once they started to learn Halachos regularly, became meticulous in their adherence to Mitzvos - real tzadikim….as learning Halacha has an impact on one’s Yiras Shomayim as well!”

HAGAON HARAV CHAIM KANIVESKY, SHLITASar HaTorahWhen visited by Hanhalas Dirshu, Harav Kanivesky was very gratified to hear about the success of the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha program and the fact that new learners were joining every day. “Wonderful, wonderful,” he exclaimed, saying it was a “mitzvah gedolah, a great mitzvah” to engage in daily learning of Mishnah Berurah. In his understated way, Rav Chaim also acknowledged that daily learning of Mishnah Berurah has the power to bring the geulah.

HAGAON HARAV AHARON LEIB SHTEINMAN, SHLITAMaran, Rosh HaYeshiva, Orchos Torah“Do you know that when Rav Meir Shapiro first instituted the Daf Yomi many felt that it would not be successful over the long run, and after the easier masechtos were done, the whole program would just fizzle out. Look now at how many tens of thousands are finishing Shas with every machzor. The Daf Yomi ensured that so many people who would otherwise never finish Shas have become Shas Yidden. The same will transpire with the Daf HaYomi B’Halacha!”

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

26

a long criminal history and an open hatred for police and the government. Authorities said that Brinsley also had a history of mental instability including a suicide attempt last year.

Reportedly, in the moments leading him to his brutal ambush, Brinsley ap-proached people on the street and asked them to follow him on Instagram. He then told them, “Watch what I’m go-ing to do,” Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

On his social media account, Brins-ley posted a photo of his handgun and boasted of his plans to retaliate for the death of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Brinsley was black; the slain officers were of Asian and Hispanic descent.

Brinsley, 28, had at least 19 arrests in Georgia and Ohio, spent two years in prison for gun possession and had a troubled childhood so violent that his mother was afraid of him, police claim. He ranted online about police and the government and expressed “self-de-spair and anger at himself and where his life was,” Boyce said.

While police continue to determine if Brinsley actually had a mental illness,

Brinsley’s mother said she believed he had undiagnosed mental problems and may have been on medication at some point.

Hours prior to the assassinations, Brinsley shot and wounded his ex-girl-friend in Baltimore. He then traveled to New York and carried out the homi-cides. He had often traveled between the South and New York; he has a child in Brooklyn, and had been in the city earlier in the week. Baltimore-area po-lice warned the New York Police De-partment that Brinsley was in the city and was determined to be violent. But the NYPD was still in the process of spreading the word to all cops city-wide when Brinsely ambushed the squad car.

The two policemen killed in cold blood, Officers Rafael Ramos and Wen-jian Liu, were laid to rest this week. Ramos, 40, left behind two sons and a

wife. Liu, 37, got married two months ago. Liu was in the department for sev-en years. Ramos, who was a two-year veteran of the force, was executed just one hour away from graduating from a volunteer chaplain program. He had spent ten weeks studying to become a certified chaplain with the New York State Chaplain Task Force.

Following the incident, a union-gen-erated message warned police officers that they should respond to every radio call with two cars — “no matter what the opinion of the patrol supervisor” — and not make arrests “unless abso-lutely necessary.” The president of the detectives union told members in a let-ter to work in threes when out on the street, wear bulletproof vests and keep aware of their surroundings. “Cowards such as yesterday’s killer strike when you are distracted and vulnerable,” the letter read.

Another directive warned officers in Newark, New Jersey, not to patrol alone and to avoid people looking for confrontations. At the same time, a memo from an NYPD chief asked of-ficers to avoid fanning rage by limiting comments “via all venues, including

social media, to expressions of sorrow and condolence.”

New York City Police Commission-er William Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio attended Sunday Mass at St. Pat-rick’s Cathedral, where Cardinal Timo-thy Dolan called for calm. Bratton later visited the families of both officers and laid flowers at a makeshift memorial at the site of the slayings.

“It’s a reflection that the communi-ty cares about the cops,” said Bratton, adding that the memorial was “very ap-propriate.”

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams also visited the memorial, call-ing on protest organizers to “hold off on any type of protest until these offi-cers are laid to rest in a peaceful man-ner.” The family of slain Officer Rafael Ramos also appealed for peace in the days ahead.

In a stark contrast to the relatives of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Ron-nie Gonzalez, a cousin of Officer Ra-mos, said the family has already forgiv-en the gunman. “He’s in the hands of G-d now,” he said. “We don’t believe in vengeance; we just forgive.”

The Week In News

27TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

AD DEADLINE

THIS WEDNESDAY

DECEMBER 31, 2014

FOR DINNER INFORMATION & JOURNAL ADS, PLEASE CONTACT: 718-868-2300 EXT. 237 • FAX: 718-868-4450 • DINNER@DARCHEI.ORG • WWW.DARCHEI.ORG/DINNER

Mr. & Mrs.Eytan Feldman

PARENTS OF THE YEAR

Mr. & Mrs.Yumi Kleinbart

HAKORAS HATOV AWARD

Mr. & Mrs.Yossi Preiserowicz

ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR

Rabbi & Mrs.Moshe LubartHARBOTZAS TORAH AWARD

In recognition of his tirelessdevotion to the talmidim of the

Rabenstein Learning Center& Weiss Vocational Center

Mr. & Mrs.Yoav Taub

GUESTS OF HONOR

HeartChinuchwith

Mesivta Chaim Shlomo Class of 2000CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

Mr. Ronald LowingerDINNER CHAIRMAN

Yeshiva Darchei Torah

Annual Dinner SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2015AT THE YESHIVA

When a Yeshiva Darchei Torah rebbior teacher walks into a classroom,he sees unique individuals -not a crowd.

How does he reach every talmid?With his heart.

Because when a mechanech caresfor each child as if he were his own,he will leave no stone unturneduntil he succeeds in unlockingthat child’s potential.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

28

Dallas Cowboys Number 1

Move over Yankees fans—you’re no longer number one. The Dallas Cow-boys now occupy the spot of most valu-able sports franchise in the U.S., accord-ing to the latest Forbes valuations and a comparison done by Business Insider.

In 2013, both teams had an estimat-ed worth of around $2.3 billion but the

Cowboy’s value has increased signifi-cantly in value since that ranking. The Yankees’ value jumped as well, to $2.5 billion, but that doesn’t come close to the Cowboy’s estimated worth of $3.2 billion. Jerry Jones purchases the Cow-boys in 1989 for $140 million. Excellent investment, Mr. Jones!

The Cowboys are the second most valuable sports team in the world, tied with FC Barcelona. The most valuable team globally is Real Madrid with a net worth of $3.4 billion.

The Cowboys are not the only NFL team whose value increased significant-

ly and surpassed the Yankees; the New England Patriots are up to $2.6 billion, according to the report.

Despite the coveted standing, al-though the Cowboys are tied with the 49ers for the second-most Super Bowl victories, the last time they actually won the Super Bowl was in 1995. Howev-er, they do hold the record, along with Pittsburgh, for the most Super Bowl games played—eight.

N. Korea Linked to Sony Hacking

Whoever thought that Kim Jong-Un is North Korea’s problem, think again… It seems that controlling his own peo-ple is not enough for the dictator; he also feels compelled to control what the greater world thinks. Jong Un is so preoccupied with his image that he has resorted to what some are calling terror-ism to protect it.

Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked last week, several days before the release of the movie, The Interview, in which two men set out to assassinate the North Korean leader. 32,000 emails were exposed, revealing many pieces of confidential information and throw-ing some of the top employees at Sony into the spotlight for controversial com-ments made in their personal emails.

On Tuesday, the hacking group threatened violence at theaters that planned to show The Interview. The Department of Homeland Security said there was “no credible intelligence to in-dicate an active plot against movie the-aters,” but added it was still analyzing messages from the group. The warning prompted beefed up security at theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Eventu-ally, Sony cancelled the showing of the film.

The hackers, who have referred to themselves as the Guardians of Peace, have been threatening and intimidating companies and individuals involved in the movie for weeks. A U.S. official confirmed on Wednesday that federal investigators have established a connec-tion between the Sony hacking to North Korea.

“

“

“

I joined the program to pursue my interest in education, but I am leaving with a passion to help children succeed. I am excited to begin my work

in the field of special education. Many thanks!

- Shayna S.TTI Graduate May 2014.

SEIT Provider at Bais Rivkah School, Brooklyn

CALL NOW FOR YOUR

REGISTRATION PACKET!

718.376.0974 ext. 11

Ask about our Men’s Program!

CONVENIENT SUNDAY CLASSES FOR WOMEN · Accommodates work &

family responsibilities. TTI’s amazing professors have real life experience as teachers, directors, and administrators, which truly allowed them to share their expertise with us and give us the tools to succeed in the

special education field.

- Gila Z.TTI Graduate September 2014 ,

Teacher Bnos Bais Yaakov

Individual guidance and support from

experienced mentors and supervisors.

Daytime and evening hotline hours staffed by knowledgeable &

dedicated advisors.

Work under your Transitional B Certification as

early as 8 weeks into the program.

Curriculum designed to prepare students for revised

NYS teacher exams.

Leads to varied extensive job

opportunities in both special and general

education.

877.RING.TTI • 718.376.0974 ext. 11www.TestingandTraining.com

TTI’s women’s Masters program

in Special Education

Do you see yourself working in the field of Special Education?

A custom designed program structured around the needs of the frum community.

REGISTRATION DATES

Sunday, January 25 · 11:00 AMMonday, January 26 · 7:30 PM

Ditmas Intermediate School (700 Cortelyou Rd.)

Make it happen with TTI !

The Week In News

29TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MIDDOS UNIQUE WARM POSITIVE LOVING KRIAH CUTTING EDGE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE INDEPENDENT LEARNING EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES L’HAVIN U’LAHASKIL CHAIGIGOS SHINING STAR YIDDISHKEIT ENGAGING MEANINGFUL SUCCESSFUL QUALIFIED REGENTS CORE STANDARDS ART N’ MOTION ALIVE CHINUCH PROGRAMS INNOVATIVE COOPERATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE PARSHA MASTERY READING PROGRAM QUALITY EM B’YISROEL NEXT GENERATION PUBLIC SPEAKING CHESSED PROGRESSIVE LITERACY PARSHA CHUMUSH NAVI TECHNIQUES ALEPH BAIS E2K COMPUTERS LAB TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING U’VACHARTA BA’CHAIM HEALTHY HABITS CARING MASTER TEACHERS LEIL LYUN RICH CURRICULUM INVALUABLE PRODUCTIVE POWERFUL ENTHUSIASM DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION EDUCATING MINDS INSPIRING HEARTSPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MIDDOS UNIQUE WARM POSITIVE LOVING KRIAH CUTTING EDGE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE INDEPENDENT LEARNING EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES L’HAVIN U’LAHASKIL CHAIGIGOS SHINING STAR YIDDISHKEIT ENGAGING MEANINGFUL SUCCESSFUL QUALIFIED REGENTS CORE STANDARDS ART N’ MOTION ALIVE CHINUCH PROGRAMS INNOVATIVE COOPERATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE PARSHA MASTERY READING PROGRAM QUALITY EM B’YISROEL NEXT GENERATION PUBLIC SPEAKING CHESSED PROGRESSIVE LITERACY PARSHA CHUMUSH NAVI TECHNIQUES ALEPH BAIS E2K COMPUTERS LAB TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING U’VACHARTA BA’CHAIM HEALTHY HABITS CARING MASTER TEACHERS LEIL LYUN RICH CURRICULUM INVALUABLE PRODUCTIVE POWERFUL ENTHUSIASM DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION EDUCATING MINDS INSPIRING HEARTSPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MIDDOS UNIQUE WARM POSITIVE LOVING KRIAH CUTTING EDGE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE INDEPENDENT LEARNING EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES L’HAVIN U’LAHASKIL CHAIGIGOS SHINING STAR YIDDISHKEIT ENGAGING MEANINGFUL SUCCESSFUL QUALIFIED REGENTS CORE STANDARDS ART N’ MOTION ALIVE CHINUCH PROGRAMS INNOVATIVE COOPERATIVE LEARNING COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE PARSHA MASTERY READING PROGRAM QUALITY EM B’YISROEL NEXT GENERATION PUBLIC SPEAKING CHESSED PROGRESSIVE LITERACY PARSHA CHUMUSH NAVI TECHNIQUES ALEPH BAIS E2K COMPUTERS LAB TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING U’VACHARTA BA’CHAIM HEALTHY HABITS CARING MASTER TEACHERS LEIL LYUN RICH CURRICULUM INVALUABLE PRODUCTIVE POWERFUL ENTHUSIASM DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION EDUCATING MINDS INSPIRING HEARTSPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MIDDOS UNIQUE WARM POSITIVE LOVING KRIAH CUTTING EDGE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE INDEPENDENT LEARNING EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES L’HAVIN U’LAHASKIL CHAIGIGOS SHINING STAR YIDDISHKEIT ENGAGING MEANINGFUL SUCCESSFUL QUALIFIED REGENTS

BNOS BAIS YAAKOV of FAR ROCKAWAYTWENTY FIRST ANNUAL DINNER

HONORING

MR. SAMUEL BERGMAN MR. MOISH HIRTH MR. MEL ZACHTERGUESTS OF HONOR

MR. AND MRS. SHABSE FUCHSKESSER SHEM TOV AWARD

RABBI AND MRS. MOSHE BENDERPARENTS OF THE YEAR AWARD

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2015vwwga, ycac zwwf

THE SANDS ATLANTIC BEACH 1395 BEECH STREET, ATLANTIC BEACH, NY

RESERVATIONS: TEL: 718.337.6000 EXT. 129 FAX: 718.650.6066 EMAIL: DINNER@BBYSCHOOL.ORG WEB: WWW.BBYDINNER.ORG

maz

desi

gn 7

18.4

71.6

470

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

30

31TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

The Week In News“This attack went to the heart and

core of Sony’s business — and succeed-ed,” said Avivah Litan, a cybersecurity analyst at research firm Gartner. “We haven’t seen any attack like this in the annals of U.S. breach history.”

With a modest budget of roughly $40 million, The Interview was pre-dicted to earn around $30 million in its opening weekend. If the film does not get released in theaters at all, Sony would also lose tens of millions in mar-keting costs already incurred. Doug Stone, president of film industry news-letter Box Office Analyst, had predicted that The Interview could have made $75 million to $100 million. With Sony tak-ing about 55 percent of domestic reve-nues, that could mean a $41 million to $55 million revenue loss, according to Stone. Although Sony has not released any details regarding their plans for the movie, Bock believes a video-on-de-mand release might be the best option. “This is the right time to do that,” he said. “People want to see this film.”

As expected, there was a mixed re-action across the nation to the cancelling of the film. While some understood the company’s decision was for security purposes, others felt that by cancelling the opening Sony allowed itself to be bullied by a dictator nation which sets a precedent for future situations.

President Obama criticized Sony’s actions. In an interview with CNN, the leader of the free world said, “We be-lieve in free speech. We believe in the right of artistic expression and satire and things that powers that be might not like. And if we set a precedent in which a dictator in another country can disrupt through cyber a company’s distribution chain or its products and, as a conse-quence, we start censoring ourselves, that’s a problem.”

Sony has since said that they are looking for a way to release the film, possibly through Crackle, Netflix or Youtube.

Wealth Gap Widens in the U.S.

The rich keep getting richer in the United States, widening the gap be-tween the middle and upper-income households to the highest level on re-cord.

The Pew Research Center used the latest Federal Reserve data to an-alyze the data. On Wednesday, they announced that the average capital for

high-income families was $639,400 last year, a 7 percent increase from three years earlier on an inflation-adjusted basis. For middle-income families, the median wealth was $96,500 last year, the same as in 2010. As such, upper-in-come households were nearly seven times that of middle-class ones in 2013, which is the biggest gap in 30 years ac-cording to Pew’s calculations.

“The latest data reinforces the larger story of America’s middle-class house-hold wealth stagnation over the past three decades,” Pew pointed out. “The Great Recession destroyed a significant amount of middle-income and lower-in-come families’ wealth, and the econom-ic ‘recovery’ has yet to be felt for them.”

Last year, 46 percent of American households were classified as middle income, one-third were considered lower income, and 21% upper income. Incomes represent wages and other earnings such as interest and profits, whereas wealth is the value of stocks and other assets such as homes and cars, minus debts.

Wall Street’s Bronze Bull Celebrates 25th Birthday

Over two decades ago on a cold win-ter night in December, a pickup truck lurched around the corner onto Wall Street and stopped short in front of the New York Stock Exchange. The coast was clear, so Arturo Di Modica and his group of co-conspirators hopped out of

the flatbed and got right to work. The night watchman had just completed his patrol of 11 Wall St., and, having cased the block for several nights, Di Modica and his team were well aware that they had just four and a half minutes until he returned. They mustered up all their strength and lowered all 3.5 tons of a bronze bull beneath the holiday tree on Broad Street. Then the truck quickly disappeared into the night, but Di Mod-ica lingered at the corner, watching and waiting for morning.

December 15 marked the 25th anni-versary of that night when Wall Street’s favorite mascot arrived downtown.

Di Modica, an Italian artist, spent $350,000 of his own personal money to cast “Charging Bull” as a gift for the city. He has said that he savored the reactions of New Yorkers — traders, tourists, cab drivers and hot dog ven-dors. New Yorkers were running to-ward the bull when they saw it, he said.

“It was love right away,” Di Mod-ica, now 73, told MarketWatch. “They wanted to touch it, embrace it — it was beautiful. I stood there watching until about noon, when I took a break and went to lunch.”

Of course, the executives at the New York Stock Exchange were not nearly as amused. Authorities were alerted but they were unable to remove the 18-foot-long bull from its spot, so a private contractor was hired and the beast was hauled off to Queens.

“Bah, humbug!” proclaimed the front page of the next morning’s New York Post, above a photo of the bull be-ing carted away. “N.Y. Stock Exchange grinches can’t bear … gift bull.”

Di Modica was known for his hab-it of plopping art onto the city streets when the rest of the world slept.

The artist explained that the sculp-ture is a symbol of New York’s drive, optimism and willingness to barrel ahead against the odds and in spite of what had come before.

Supposedly, NYSE Chairman Rich-ard Grasso offered to allow the bull to be returned on the condition that Di Modica create a bear in addition to the bronze bull, but the artist refused. And then Di Modica along with community activists paid to bail out the bull and re-locate him to the exchange in Bowling Green, just a few blocks away from its original location, where it has remained

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

32 The Week In News

for the past 25 years. Art experts believe that Di Modi-

ca most likely regained the expense of building the original bull several times since, having cast sibling bulls for cit-ies around the world, and having sold

many smaller versions to collectors. He has said that when the market is down, people stop to ask him why the bull isn’t doing its job; he quips, “He’s resting, he’s tired, but he’ll get back to it soon.”

Every couple of weeks the artist himself pays a visit to his most famous creation, watching the tourists pose with it the way they first did 25 years before, his ultimate satisfaction.

Yankees’ Heart of GoldThey’ve definitely got game but ap-

parently they’ve got heart, too…The New York Yankees have

pledged to singlehandedly pay for the education of slain NYPD Office Rafa-el Ramos’ two sons, one college-aged and the other just 13-years-old. Ramos is the officer who was assassinated in New York City last Saturday afternoon while on duty in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The gunman ambushed Officer Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu before fleeing and turning the gun on himself.

The donation will be funneled through the Yankee’s charity, Silver Shield Foundation. The foundation has been doing this kind of work since 1982, when it was founded by former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. The foun-dation pays for the education costs of children whose parents died while on duty as a police officer or firefighter in the NYPD, New York Fire Department, the New York Port Authority, the state police in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and others.

Protesters Swarm Mall of America

The Mall of America had quite a crowd on Saturday and it wasn’t just holiday shoppers. S T E A R N S & F O S T E R

I N T ERNAT I ONA L

Eclipse

33TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Machon Basya Rochel’s Quality Program Offers the Serious Bas Yisroel: • Focus on the complete person• Stimulating and challenging courses that

speak to the heart and mind• Warm atmosphere with expert Mechanchim

and Mechanchos• Seminary Credits accepted in Major Universities• 60 credit certificate in Classical Torah Studies• Extra Curricular Programs under the direction

of Mrs.Yocheved Shonek

Find out about our Half/Full Day Program!

Under the direction of

Rebbetzin Aviva Feiner

Option for transportation from Brooklyn

Open House 5775

In memory of Mrs. Rose Edelman

Machon Basya Rochel Seminary

Rebbetzin Aviva Feiner, MenahelesMrs. Debra Green, Mechaneches

Applications currently being acceptedEarly Registration Tuition Discount by Jan 15th

www.mbrseminary.org (516)362-5000 • mbrseminary@gmail.com

137 Lawrence Ave, Lawrence, NY 11559

Monday, December 29th 8:00-9:30 PM

Located at Our Campus: 137 Lawrence Ave (across from Lawrence Train Station)

Come Tour Our New Building!

Where: Boro ParkWhen: December 10, 8pmRSVP: Text or Call 516.499.2634

516.499.2634

Life Transforming Groups in:. . . . Boro Park Cedarhurst Manhattan New Jersey Monsey

FREEWEIGHT-LOSS SEMINAR

with

Shirley Bar

one of Israel’s most sought-after diet& health experts

MondayDec. 22th at 8pm

WeightLoss

Transformation Group starts

Groups fill up fast, and openevery 3 weeks. If current groupis closed, you can sign upfor the next one

FOR MEN& WOMEN

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

34

Thousands of demonstrators gath-ered, chanting, “Black lives matter,” and caused part of the mall to shut down during the busiest time of the year.

The protest was organized by a group called Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and more than 3,000 people confirmed on Facebook that they would attend. Official crowd estimates weren’t imme-diately available but photos showed the rotunda of the mall very full.

During the rally, protesters shouted, “While you’re on your shopping spree, black people cannot breathe” — a refer-ence to the chokehold police placed on New Yorker Eric Garner. As the crowd dispersed, they walked down the hall with their arms raised, shouting, “Hands up, don’t shoot!” That saying has been used in Ferguson, Missouri, in protests against the death of 18-year-old Mi-chael Brown, and in demonstrations elsewhere.

Mall representatives had warned protesters in advance that they could be removed, arrested and banned. The mall’s management issued a statement on Saturday saying it was “extremely disappointed” that protest organizers ignored the policy banning political protests. Bloomington police said 25 people were arrested, mainly for tres-passing. Commander Mark Stehlik said he was not aware of any injuries or property damage.

“It’s clear from their actions that these political activists were more con-cerned about making a political state-ment and creating a media event than they were about the safety of others, who came to Mall of America for an afternoon of shopping and family enter-tainment,” the statement said.

Within 30 minutes of the beginning of the planned protest, the protestors were given a final warning to disband, and police in riot gear began clearing the rotunda. The majority of protesters began exiting the mall, but others mi-grated to a shopping area and occupied two levels. A small “die-in” was staged in front of several stores. About an hour later, organizers sent out a group text message advising those who were still inside to exit.

The mall increased security, and parts of America’s largest mall were closed for a while. Some entrances to the mall had signs advising shoppers that the east side of the mall was on lockdown. All stores had reopened by Saturday evening.

“While we respect the rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, those rights do not trump our right as private property owners to prohibit that behav-

ior on our property,” the mall said on Saturday.

Organizer Mica Grimm told the AP that the planners feel the protest was a success. “Our goal is to bring more at-tention to these issues — and what just happened, nobody can ignore,” she said.

2014: The Year of Protests

According to AP’s annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors, killings by police and the subsequent protests were the top stories for 2014. The loud chanting and crazed behavior in pro-test of the killings overshadowed tragic world events. The devastating outbreak of Ebola in West Africa came in at just the number two story in 2014. It was followed by the conflict in Iraq and Syr-ia fueled by the brutal actions of Islamic State fighters.

From the 85 people who voted on this year’s top stories, Ferguson received 22 first-place votes, Ebola received 11, and Islamic State tensions and brutality received 12.

In 2013, the first story was the botched rollout of Obamacare, followed by the Boston Marathon bombing. Obamacare still has not gone away; it came in as the fifth top story of 2014.

The other top stories of 2014 includ-ed the U.S. elections (number four), Malaysia Airlines tragedy (number six), immigration (number seven), turmoil in Ukraine (number eight), and the VA scandal (number ten).

CIA Travel Secrets Revealed

Wondering how not to get caught when using false documents to cross in-ternational borders? That information is just one click away on WikiLeaks.com.

On Sunday, the whistleblowing website released two classified CIA documents that offered effective and valuable tips on maintaining cover when using false documents to travel as a spy. The documents outline a number of strategies for agents to avoid second-ary screening at airports and borders.

The two documents, dating from 2011 and 2012, are marked classified and “NOFORN,” which means they were not meant to be shared with allied intelligence agencies, WikiLeaks said.

Some of the suggestions given to CIA agents are rather obvious: don’t purchase a one-way ticket with cash the day before flying. Others, though, seem more ambiguous: don’t look scruffy while traveling on a diplomatic pass-port.

“In one incident during transit of a European airport in the early morning, security officials selected a CIA officer for secondary screening,” one of the documents reads. “Although the offi-cials gave no reason, overly casual dress inconsistent with being a diplomat-ic-passport holder may have prompted the referral.”

The CIA agent involved went on to have his bag swabbed for explosives and it tested positive. Despite extensive questioning, he stuck to his cover story that he had been involved in counterter-rorism training in the United States and eventually was allowed to continue his journey. “Consistent, well-rehearsed, and plausible cover is important for avoiding secondary selection and criti-cal for surviving it,” the CIA noted.

In a statement, WikiLeaks said this example “begs the question: if the train-ing that supposedly explained the explo-sives was only a cover story, what was a CIA officer really doing passing through [a European Union] airport with traces of explosives on him, and why was he allowed to continue?”

In one document, named “Schengen Overview,” it is revealed that the CIA is alarmed about EU nations introducing biometric security measures for people traveling on U.S. passports. The new

systems could pose an increased “iden-tity threat,” which would make it more difficult for agents to travel on false documents.

Ben Gurion Airport in Israel was sin-gled out for being more thorough than other airports around the globe. “With the exception of Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport and a few others, immigration inspectors conducting primary screen-ings generally lack the time and tools to conduct in-depth examination of travel-ers,” the 15-page document says.

Specifically, the manual guides agents how to circumvent “secondary screening”—which it called “a poten-tially lengthy and detailed look by air-port officials at passengers not passing initial scrutiny”—at Ben-Gurion.

“At Ben-Gurion airport in Israel, the secondary screening room contains trace-detection equipment for explo-sive residue; tools for dismantling pas-sengers’ personal items for inspection, particularly items unfamiliar to security officers; and a disrobing area, divided by privacy curtains, to conduct strip searches of individuals, if necessary.”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said the documents show the CIA is in-tent on carrying out spying in Europe. “The CIA has carried out kidnappings from European Union states, including Italy and Sweden, during the Bush ad-ministration,” Assange said in a state-ment. “These manuals show that un-der the Obama administration the CIA is still intent on infiltrating European Union borders and conducting clandes-tine operations in EU member states.”

Arizona Dreamers Can Apply for Driver’s Licenses

They are protected from deporta-tion despite immigrating illegally and now they are demanding their driver’s licenses as well. Thousands of young immigrants lined up for Arizona driv-

The Week In News

Continued on page 38

35TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Dec. 28,29,30 Hours 10am-7pm

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

36ד“בס

37TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

בס ״ד

RABBI YOSSI BENNETTHEAD COUNSELOR, SENIORS

RABBI TZVI MODETSKYLEARNING DIRECTOR

RABBI YANKY HERSHCAMP DIRECTOR

RABBI YOSEF FRIEDLERHEAD COUNSELOR, JUNIORS

RABBI TZVI GREENFIELDM.I.T. DIVISION HEAD

9:00-3:30 9:00-4:30 9:00-5:30 9:00-5:30

RABBI YANKY HERSHCAMP DIRECTOR

״בס ״בס ״ד״בס ״בס ״ד

Deadline: January 25th - CAMP REUNION

UP TO $200 OFF

Plus FREE CANTEEN design: w

ww

.studio613graphicdesign.comdesign: w

ww

.studio613graphicdesign.com

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

38

er’s licenses on Monday after a federal judge removed the last hurdle stopping them from applying for their licenses.

The group, dubbed “Dreamers,” who have been protected from deportation since 2012 under the Obama adminis-tration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, are authorized to stay and work in the country legally. But in Arizona and Nebraska, they have not been able to obtain driver’s licenses.

But a preliminary ruling issued on Thursday by U.S. District Judge David Campbell prohibits the state from en-forcing Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s

directive to deny driver’s licenses to more than 20,000 immigrants. This rul-ing came a day after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to reject an emergency appeal from Brewer, who wanted to block an order from an appellate court that also found the state had no grounds to deny license applications to the Dreamers.

Brewer, though, still isn’t ready to give up. On Friday, she greeted Camp-bell’s injunction with a statement of her own in which she vowed to carry the fight back to the Supreme Court.

“It is important to remember that

courts have yet to consider the full mer-its of the case, and I believe that Arizo-na will ultimately prevail,” Brewer said. “Consequently, I have instructed my le-gal team to move forward in pursuing a full review of this matter before the United States Supreme Court as soon as possible.”

Brewer has said that rules govern-ing who is eligible for driver’s licenses is a state issue and not one that should be decided by the federal government. “It is outrageous that Arizona is being forced to ignore long-standing state law and comply with a flawed federal court

mandate that requires the state, at least temporarily, to issue driver’s licenses to individuals whose presence is in viola-tion of federal law, as established by the United States Congress,” she said.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t accept that argument nor Brewer’s lawyers’ other claim that the governor is simply trying to reduce the risk that licenses could potentially be used to improperly gain access to pub-lic benefits. Instead, the court said there was no legitimate state interest in treat-ing the Dreamers differently from other noncitizens, such as green-card holders, who can drive legally in Arizona. The court said Brewer’s actions were in-tended to show subtle unfriendliness to the immigrants and toward U.S. govern-ment policy protecting them.

That’s Odd

Makeup in Russia Can’t be “Beet”

How do you say lipstick in Russian? Beets. Yes, you got that right; Russian women are turning to the red vegetable to put some color on their lips as the economy continues to plummet.

The first thing that will undoubted-ly be slashed from Russian household budgets will be makeup for the average homemaker. According to the Daily Mail, Siberian senator Igor Chernishev took to a Russian website to explain how women should alter their beauty routine. “Women can live without im-ported lipstick…,” he wrote. “And if they really must use makeup on the lips – there’s no problem, they can use beet-root. It’s natural and chemicals don’t enter the body.”

Beetroots, or beets as they’re known here in the U.S., are the reddish-purple hued bulb of the vegetable that stains people’s hands as they prepare them for salads, pickled vegetables or in borscht. Sometimes, its strong pigment is used for food coloring.

Interestingly, economists have

The Week In News

39TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

40

found that sales of lipstick have typi-cally soared during a recession, a phe-nomenon known as the “lipstick index.” It’s a quick, inexpensive way for women to feel beautiful—without breaking the bank.

Watch out grocers, there may be a stampede of women clamoring for the reddest beets in aisle 11 in the next few weeks.

$184K Bird StolenAs you walk along Central Avenue,

keep your eyes on the sky. Police in Germany are looking for a missing pi-geon—but this is no ordinary bird. The finder of the feathered friend could net a 10,000 euro reward.

On Tuesday, Duesseldorf police said that the 6-year-old male homing pigeon,

named AS 969, was stolen at some point on Saturday night from a locked aviary in the city’s suburbs. The light gray bird is valued by its owner at 150,000 euros ($184,000) and police suspect the thief or thieves were “connoisseurs” as it was the most valuable in an aviary full of other homing pigeons.

Follow that bird!

90 Balloons, 8,000 Feet in the Air

Remember the Curious George book with George flying over the city with a bunch of balloons in hand?

Eric Roner decided to rule the sky with just 90 balloons lifting him above the world. “Who hasn’t thought about

being lifted up by balloons into the sky?” he asked.

The avid skier and BASE jumper from Northern California attached 90 large, colorful balloons to a rickety lawn chair. The balloons were pumped full of helium and Roner took to the skies with a parachute to soften his inevitable fall. When Roner reached the optimum height, he shot the balloons and then softly bailed back to Earth.

As he gained altitude, Roner ex-pressed his disbelief of actually getting off the ground. At 292 feet, he ex-claimed, “I’m doing it. This is crazy!” “You’ve got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous,” he said at 1,630 feet. At 1,975 feet, he said, “It’s nice up here.”

At 2,600 feet, Roner almost makes us jealous: “Wow, it really doesn’t get much

The Week In News

41TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

o SPONSOR A DAY IN ONE OF THE 3 ACHEINU YESHIVAS FOR $600 (Only $50 per month!)

o SPONSOR A DAY IN ONE OF THE 42 ACHEINU PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS FOR $300 (Only $25 per month!)

o SPONSOR A DAY IN ONE OF ACHEINU’S 10 BATEI CHIZUK/YOUTH CENTERS FOR $120 (Only $10 per month!)

o $72 o $54 o $36 o $18 o Other ________

CALL NOW TOLL FREE TO DONATE, OR MAIL YOUR CHECK TO ACHEINU TODAY!

212 Second Street, Suite 404B Lakewood, New Jersey 08701

Please make my tax deductible donation to Acheinu.

Enclosed is my check for $ ____________________

Please bill my credit card:

CC Number: _________________________________________Exp. Date: ________/________ ❑Please bill me for $ ________Signature: __________________________________________

100% of your donation to Acheinu will go directly to help Israeli children return to Yiddishkeit. This ad has been sponsored anonymously:

YES! Name ____________________________________________________________

Phone __________________________ E-mail ___________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________

City ________________________________ State ____ Zip _________________

I would like to help Acheinu save precious neshamos and become an ACHEINU PARNES HAYOM today!

❑Please dedicate the following date: ____________❑Donation in honor of: _____________________❑Donation zekfl: __________________________❑Donation znyp ielirl: _____________________

THE WORLD OF ACHEINU: SAVING OUR CHILDREN’S NESHAMOS

Acheinu, the Kiruv movement to develop B’nei Torah, was founded 20 years ago to return unaffiliated Israeli children to Torah. With great Siyata d’Shmaya, Acheinu’s trained staff and network of volunteers has a 93% success rate of ensuring that these children remain Shomrei Torah u’Mitzvos.

Bo

tto

m L

ine

Mar

keti

ng G

roup

: 71

8.37

7.45

67

HaGaon HaRav MicHel YeHuda lefkowitz, l”veNasi of acheiNu

By supporting Acheinu, besides strengthening

others you are also strengthening yourselves. May you see much nachas from your sons and daughters midah k’neged midah – since you are educating other children to Torah, you will see your children build batim tovim in Am Yisrael.

THE KIRUV MOVEMENT TO DEVELOP B’NEI TORAH

Acheinu's 3 step approach to kiruv

ensures that over 93% of our children develop into B’nei Torah through mentorship, enrollment

in Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs & follow-up

“BATEI CHIZUK” YOUTH CENTERSin strategic locations across Eretz Yisrael

ANNUAL KIRUV CONFERENCEBringing together kiruv experts

from across the globe

BEIN HAZMANIM PROGRAM

3 FLAGSHIP ACHEINU YESHIVOS

877-5-Acheinu www. Acheinu.org

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

42 בס”ד

state of the art

outdoorplayground

Sports! baseball basketball,Soccer... & many more!

FOR BOYS GOING INTO KINDERGARDEN, PRE 1A & FIRST GRADE NEXT YEAR!

View our beautiful groundsMany prizes • Entertainment • no charge

PRICEONLY ATOPEN HOUSE

GOING INTO PRE - 1A & 1ST GRADE

$1995GOING INTO KINDERGARDEN

$1795

Learning

Rebbeswim

Instruction

Open House For Parents & their SonsSunday, January 4th 10:00-11:00AMYeshiva Darchei Torah Preschool 257 B 17th - Parking on B. 19th

718. 868.2300 ext.233 • www.simchadaycamp.com

amazingtrips& Events!

Olympic sized

inground pool on campus 2x daily!

ADINA KATZ preschool director

RABBI SHIMON DACHS Camp director

43TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

more peaceful than this.”When he reached 3,300 feet, some

balloons started to pop “That’s a popped balloon. They told me that it would be scary, and yes it is,” he says at 4,300 feet.

Finally, at 8,000 feet, a safe height to start parachuting, Roner shoots the remaining balloons and then releases himself from the chair to skydive back to Earth.

“That was epic,” he laughed as he came back down.

It’s a Monkey’s World

If you’re heading to a zoo in Argen-tina, you may find all the cages empty.

On Sunday, an Argentine court rec-ognized that an orangutan held in a zoo should be freed and transferred to a sanc-tuary after recognizing that the ape was a “non-human person” and unlawfully deprived of its freedom.

Despite being a “non-human per-son,” the ape could not file a petition for its freedom on its own.

Animal rights campaigners filed a ha-beas corpus petition – a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person’s detention or imprisonment – in November on behalf of Sandra, a 29-year-old Sumatran orangutan at the Buenos Aires zoo.

The Association of Officials and Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) argued the ape had sufficient cognitive functions and should not be treated as an object. The court ultimately agreed that Sandra, who was born into captivity in Germany before being transferred to Argentina two decades ago, deserved the basic rights of a “non-human person.”

“This opens the way not only for oth-er Great Apes, but also for other sentient beings which are unfairly and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in zoos, circuses, water parks and scientific laboratories,” the daily La Nacion newspaper quoted AFADA lawyer Paul Buompadre as say-ing.

Interestingly, orangutan is a word from the Malay and Indonesian languag-es that means “forest man.”

This is not the first time animal activ-ists tried to free animals from captivity, although the court’s decision will un-doubtedly lead to many more cases being brought.

A U.S. court recently tossed out a similar bid for the freedom of Tommy the chimpanzee, privately owned in New York State, ruling the chimp was not a “person” entitled to the rights and pro-tections afforded by habeas corpus. In 2011, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit against marine park operator SeaWorld, alleging five wild-captured orca whales were treated like slaves. A San Diego court dismissed the case.

A spokesman for the Argentine zoo declined to comment to Reuters. The zoo’s head of biology, Adrian Sestelo, told La Nacion that orangutans were by nature calm, solitary animals which come together only to mate and care for their young.

“When you don’t know the biology of a species, to unjustifiably claim it suf-fers abuse, is stressed or depressed, is to make one of man’s most common mis-takes, which is to humanize animal be-havior,” Sestelo told the daily.

The Buenos Aires zoo has 10 work-ing days to seek an appeal.

If these animal rights activists had their way, animals would rule the world and what a world it would be!

43 Years of Comfort

Since 1971, Scott Stewart cherished a small statue of an owl protecting its ba-bies. He said that the sculpture gave him peace during tough times over the years as it symbolized his mother’s love for him and his brother.

But now, 43 years later, the 52-year-old man has finally returned the statue to its proper owner—the Rochester Central Library.

As a 9-year-old, Stewart was able to bring art pieces home from the library. This one in particular provided him with succor and comfort. When he returned the piece on Sunday, Stewart wasn’t fined. A library official said the institu-tion understood that Stewart needed a symbol of comfort—and he found it at the local library.

Coca Cola: Don’t Leave a Message

Want to leave a message at Coca Co-la’s Atlanta headquarters? Too bad—bet-ter send a text instead.

In a world flooded with technology, the globe’s largest soft-drink maker has decided to “simplify the way we work and increase productivity” by closing down its office voice mail system. The change went into effect this month; call-ers are told to try again later or use “an alternative method” for contacting the person they called.

The November 6 memo announcing the change at Coca-Cola created a stir among some employees, who assumed it was part of a program to cut $3 bil-lion in annual expenses by 2019. That plan, which was announced in October in response to a global sales slump, has caused growing unease inside the com-pany over the possibility of firings.

But the savings from eliminating voice mail will be less than $100,000 a year, said Amanda Rosseter, a Coke spokeswoman. The decision had more to do with simplifying work than trimming costs, she said.

Techies have predicted the death of voice mail for years as smartphones co-opt much of the office work once per-formed by telephones and desktop com-puters. Younger employees who came of age texting while largely ignoring voice mail are bringing that habit into the workforce.

“People north of 40 are schizophrenic about voice mail,” said Michael Schrage, a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management’s Center for Digital Busi-ness. “People under 35 scarcely ever use it.”

Workers at Coca Cola were able to keep the voice mail if they claimed a “business critical need.” About 6 percent of workers opted to keep it.

“Many people in many corporations simply don’t have the time or desire to spend 25 minutes plowing through a stack of 15 to 25 voice mails at the end or beginning of the day,” said Schrage, who wrote in a September 2013 Harvard Business Review article that it was “time

to hang up on voice mail.” How about hanging up on courtesy

as well?

Ms. Right Has Been Found

Last month, a Toronto man made headlines when he offered a free round-the-world ticket to someone—as long as they had the same name as his former girlfriend. Finally, Jordan Axani has found Ms. Right—and it won’t be hard to remember her name, Elizabeth Galla-gher.

The 28-year-old revealed that he re-ceived thousands of emails—including 18 from actual Elizabeth Gallaghers from Canada. So how did he make the decision?

Elizabeth Quinn Gallagher, 23, a part-time student and part-time office administrator, spoke with Axani over the phone. “It definitely did seem a little bit creepy at the beginning but now that I talked to him it’s less creepy and more awesome,” she said. “This is totally sort of like as friends,” she added.

“It’s going to be great,” Axani ef-fused.

Axani, who works for an internation-al real estate development and advisory firm, said the tickets were purchased for a couple of thousand dollars, but their cash value today is around Canadian $5,000-$7,000 (that’s $4,400-$6,200 in American dollars).

The trip was scheduled to start De-cember 21 in New York City and contin-ue on to Milan, Prague, Paris, Bangkok and New Delhi before ending in Toronto on January 12. Since the story became public, Marriott International offered to put him and the new Elizabeth Gallagher up during their trip.

Axani said the trip will be document-ed and shared online. He said that he was so moved by some of the emails — in-cluding one from an 8-year-old boy who said he was going blind and wanted to see the world before that happens — that he and his brother created an organiza-tion called A Ticket Forward to help peo-ple who desire to see the world but lack the finances to do so.

Do they all have to have the name Elizabeth Gallagher?

The Week In News

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

44

Five Towns Chabad and Gourmet Glatt Light Up the Night

Gourmet Glatt’s Yoeli Steinberg (R) and Berel Wolowik (L) dance with Rabbi Zalman Wolowik of Chabad of the Five Towns

On the second night of Chanukah, children and adults from throughout the Five Towns area converged on Ce-darhurst’s Andrew J. Parise Park for what has become a much-an-ticipated community event: the lighting of the giant meno-rah. Co-sponsored by Chabad of the Five Towns and Gour-met Glatt, the evening featured free gifts and refreshments, in-cluding delectable donuts from Zomick’s, lively singing and dancing, and a fabulous perfor-mance by popular Jewish sing-er, Yossi Goldstein.

Yossi Goldstein

Around The Community

Showtime was Sunday night, De-cember 14, at 7:30 pm. The lights dimmed, the hush was palpable, and the magnificent drama unfolded. Based on a serialized story by popular author, Etka Gittel Schwartz, the TMM play, “Re-kindled,” was adapted for the stage by alumna Shoshana Raizy Feigenbaum. The storyline was particularly appropri-ate as it described the pernicious influ-ence of Hellenism on the Jews living in Eretz Yisroel. It related the specifics of one family living at that time while pro-

viding the larger historical perspective of the era. Songs, dances, and dramatic dialogue wove the strands of the story into a completely entrancing tale. One delighted grandmother told Mrs. Adi-na Mandel that she has granddaughters living in many different neighborhoods and has seen many of their plays. But never, she asserted, had she seen a pro-duction as magnificent and professional as “Rekindled.”

Certainly, the point of the play was to entertain. But beyond that simplis-

tic goal, and in line with TMM’s holis-tic approach to education, “Rekindled” was not just a theatrical performance – it was a social and academic learning ex-perience. The preparations for the play were a study in social dynamics as they heightened the students’ sense of lead-ership. Every girl in the 11th and 12th grades was the head of one aspect of the play, and they discharged their du-ties judiciously and responsibly. Play practices also created an environment in which ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth

graders were all on equal footing. The camaraderie amongst them blurred all class distinctions and helped create one unified whole. Academically, “Re-kindled” provided a jumping point for many classroom discussions about the timelessness of the play’s theme. The girls noted that the impact of societal in-fluences is just as potent in our days as it was in the times of the Maccabim.

Most heartwarming for the staff was the return of so many alumni to help their alma mater in this theatrical ven-ture. From lighting and costumes to play practices, former TMM students came to lend a hand and show their loy-alty to the school they love. It was a beautiful demonstration of the lasting impact that a nurturing, happy, and stim-ulating environment, staffed with devot-ed educators, can have upon its students.

As per usual, the TMM principals were heavily involved in ensuring the success of this venture for their stu-dents’ sakes. Everything from the mun-dane (applying makeup and helping with costumes) to the significant (mak-ing sure the credits were accurate in the playbill), was within the staff’s purview. It was their particular delight to join in their students’ excitement.

*Special thanks are due to Play Heads: alumnae Shaina Feifer and Ahuva Gold; Student Play Heads: Leah Bloom, Elisheva Stadler, and Gitty Gor-don; Staff Consultants: Mrs. D. Heller and Mrs. E. Myers; and TMM Parents: Mrs. M. Keilson, Mrs. D. Schuss and Mrs. A. Turner. They all helped to es-tablish the spirit of collaboration and achdus which we hold dear.

Bnos Bais Yaakov / Tichon Meir Moshe Annual Production: A Smashing Success

45TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

By Benzion Kaplan

A Look at the Honorees: Mr. and Mrs. Yoav Taub,

Guests of HonorYoav and Shari Taub, devoted par-

ents and supporters of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, have a long and rich history of askanus in the Far Rockaway/Law-rence community.

In 2000, Yoav was a founding member of what is now the Ye-shiva’s Board of Di-rectors. The formation of the board came at a critical time in the Ye-shiva’s history. Student enrollment was grow-ing at an unprecedented pace and the need for a new, larger building was first coming into focus. Yoav and his col-leagues, a cohesive group of young fa-thers, rose to the challenge and helped set the Yeshiva on the course that it is on today.

Shari was born into a family of pi-oneers in communal leadership. Her parents, Dovid and Krunchie Fried-man, were among the earliest support-ers and lay leaders of Yeshiva Darchei Torah in the early 1970s, back when it was a fledgling institution, and remain involved today. Her brothers, Shaya and Tzvi, are proud alumni, and her sister, Chava Lowy, heads Plum, the Yeshiva’s upscale thrift store, so Ye-shiva Darchei Torah is very much a family affair. In addition, her maternal grandfather, Louis Newman, a”h, was one of the first frum Jews to move with his family to Far Rockaway, where he left his imprint on numerous communi-ty institutions, from the White Shul to Torah Academy for Girls (TAG) – both of which he served with distinction as president.

Yoav, son of Shlomo a”h and ybl”c Chani Taub, was raised in Kew Gar-dens Hills, and is an alumnus of Yeshi-va Tiferes Moshe, Ner Israel and Mir Yerushalayim. He holds an MBA from New York University and has been in the diamond business for the last 18 years.

Shortly after their marriage, the Taubs settled in Lawrence, and they were eventually followed by his broth-ers, J.J. and Moshe, as well as his sister, Avigayil Stoll. Together, the extended Taub family soon made its mark on the

Five Towns, with its energetic support of Torah causes and communal mosdos.

Yoav and Shari daven and are highly active at Beis Medrash Heichal Dovid in Lawrence, which they describe as “a very central part of our lives,” with Yoav serving as gabbai and maintaining his daily morning and evening learning sedarim there. “Whatever good we

have accomplished has been through the shul,” he says.

The Taubs are very proud of their sons, Volvi, an alumnus, and Avigdor, a current talmid; both were talmi-dim of Yeshiva Darchei Torah since early ele-mentary school. “The way my sons have pro-gressed in their learn-ing has amazed me,” Yoav relates. “They’ve

far surpassed me already.” After hear-ing one of his sons give a chaburah last year at the Yeshiva, “I was literally floored.” He is gratified that each one of his siblings also has children learn-ing at Yeshiva Darchei Torah and gain-ing from its unique brand of chinuch.

Yoav lauds the extraordinary bein adam lachaveiro exhibited by the Ye-shiva’s talmidim. “To see how the boys relate to each other, without bickering, with a certain maturity – it’s very im-pressive.” He attributes the Yeshiva’s success to its hanhala and to the warm and personal environment that they have created. “To have such a large ye-shiva that has 2,000 students yet is so warm is a dichotomy – yet it exists so perfectly. That fosters great talmidim.”

Mr. and Mrs. Eytan Feldman, Parents of the Year

Eytan and Aliza Feldman of Wood-mere are the proud parents of Akiva, a third grader at Yeshiva Darchei Torah, and four daughters. Eytan is a man-aging director and partner at Old City Investment Partners. Aliza is an occu-pational therapist and focuses on early intervention for children under the age of three as well as a supervisor of other therapists.

In October 2013, Eytan agreed to serve on the Executive Board of the Ye-shiva and has quickly assumed an ac-tive role in addressing its fiscal health and assessing its current and future cap-ital and operational needs. He is also a committed member of the board of the

Yeshiva Gedolah of the Five Towns, where he davens and learns daily.

Eytan has always felt a sense of achrayus to the klal, which he attri-butes to two primary role models. The first is his father, Norman Feldman, who together with his mother, Nedra, instilled this sense of responsibility in their son. His father was in charge of the eruv of the Oceanside community, where they lived. Many a Friday after-noon saw the elder Mr. Feldman fixing downed portions of the eruv – usually with Eytan in tow. Around thirty years ago, his father ran the annual bazaar of the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB), and it became a Feld-man family affair, from preparing the cotton candy to other aspects of the fundraising event. These examples instilled in Eytan that it is not only important to be involved in klal functions, but to take an active leadership role as well.

In addition, during the three years that Eytan spent learning at Ner Israel in Baltimore, he developed a close re-lationship with its legendary president, Rabbi Herman (Naftoli) Neuberger, zt”l. “That’s what he was all about: achrayus for the Jewish people,” Eytan recalls. “He was a real leader. Watch-ing him, I developed a greater sense of the importance of being involved and showing your support for Torah institutions.” While at Ner Israel, Ey-tan learned under Rav Zvi Berkowitz, shlita, with whom he remains close until today. He also studied in kollel at Yeshiva Shaar Hatorah-Grodno in Kew Gardens and earned a MBA in Finance from Fordham University.

Aliza is involved in chesed every day, having chosen a career of work-ing with special-needs children. She is a well-respected clinician, both by the families she works with and her peers. She has instilled this value into her own children as well. One of Eytan and Al-iza’s daughters, Michal, is a consistent volunteer at Ohel Bais Ezra. Aliza at-tributes her love and passion for help-ing others improve their lives to her mother, Shaindy Schumsky, who as a respected psychotherapist has devoted her life to helping others, and who in-fused this value into her from an early

age with her involvement in kiruv and other community causes.

Eytan Feldman is effusive in de-scribing their experience at Yeshiva Darchei Torah. “Akiva loves Darchei. He loves everything about it. He loves his rabbeim, he loves his teachers, he loves his friends, he loves being there. There’s nothing about school that he doesn’t like. And I can attest that his friends from the neighborhood feel the same way. I can’t imagine a more ideal situation.”

Serving on the Executive Board, Eytan reflects on what he has gleaned from his inside vantage point. “Rabbi Bender is well-known for his leader-ship. But one thing that you see when watching him is the love that he exudes. For a person who’s been in this po-sition for over 30 years you would think that at some point it would become routine. On the contrary, you can see

that the concern and care that he puts in has truly not abated. I am amazed at the scope of the Yeshiva and how he is able to accomplish so much.”

The other honorees at this year’s dinner are: Mr. and Mrs. Yumi Klein-bart, Hakoras Hatov Award; Rabbi and Mrs. Moshe Lubart, Harbotzas Torah Award; Mr. and Mrs. Yossi Preisero-wicz, Alumnus of the Year; and the Me-sivta Chaim Shlomo Class of 2000, in celebration of 15 years of accomplish-ment.

For more information about the dinner, please call 718-868-2300 ext. 237, email dinner@darchei.org or visit www.darchei.org/dinner.

Around The Community

Yeshiva Darchei Torah Dinner to Be Held January 11th

Mr. Eytan Feldman

Mr. Yoav Taub

Want to spice up your cholent?

See page 102

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

46 Around The Community

Chaskel Bennett, Maryland Governor O’Malley, and Howard Friedman

Joseph B. Stamm, Ezra Friedlander, Bonnie Rubinstein (sister of Alan Gross), Matt Nosanchuk, White House Jewish liaison, and Simcha Eichenstein

Moshe Visel, Chaplain Jacob Goldstein, Joseph B. Stamm, Rear Admiral Herman Shelanski, and Ezra Friedlander

By Ben-TzviIn what has become a White House

tradition since the administration of President George H.W. Bush back in the 90’s, a ceremony is held on Chanukah to honor the Jewish community by in-viting leading Jewish communal leaders and individuals who interact with the administration on various levels helping and impacting the community.

Over the years the magnitude of the reception at the White House has evolved into a glatt kosher affair with dedicated times for Mincha and Maariv that has greatly enhanced the experience for the Observant participant.

The arrival of Chanukah this year was no exception as President Obama hosted two separate receptions to ac-

commodate the multitudes of invites ex-tended to a diverse Jewish community. Having two individual receptions was

instituted by the Obama administration and featured personalities ranging from Ambassador Stu Eizenstat, Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, Israeli Ambassa-dor Ron Dermer and numerous Jewish congressional members.

“Needless to say, the announcement by President Obama at the onset of his remarks regarding the release of Alan Gross caused great joy for everyone at the White House Chanukah reception and the personal acknowledgment by the president regarding the great impor-tance of pidyon shivuim underscores the sensitivity to a central tenet of our faith by a dignitary no less than the president of the United States…It was a testament to the level of acceptance the commu-nity has risen to-only in America,” said

Ezra Friedlander, CEO of The Fried-lander Group.

Rabbi Abe Friedman, a community

leader and law enforcement chaplain who works closely with various federal agencies within the US Department of Homeland Security, thanked the pres-ident in person at the Chanukah recep-

tion for the close cooperation between the Orthodox and Chasidic communi-ties, who responded, “That’s why we invited you, rabbi,” alluding to his ap-preciation.

“Having been invited to the White House on the day of Alan Gross’ release was a unique opportunity to express our appreciation to the president,” said Jo-seph B. Stamm, CEO of MedReview which is now celebrating their 40th an-niversary of service to the healthcare industry.

Representatives of numerous Jewish organization attended and in particular representatives from a myriad of Ortho-dox Jewish groups who work closely with the administration, including Agu-dath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union, Chabad and many others attend-ed. Some notable orthodox attendees in-

cluded Malcolm Hoenlein of the Presi-dents conference, Rabbi Michael Miller of the JCRC, Nathan Diamont and Allen Fagin of the OU, Bob Levy & Farley Weiss of the National Council of Young

Israel, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwieb-el, Duvi Gross, Abba Cohen, Chaskel Bennett & Leon Goldenberg of Agu-dath Israel, Rockland County legislator Aron Wieder, renowned attorney Na-than Lewin, law enforcement Chaplain Abe Freedman, Ezra Friedlander of the Washington-based Friedlander Group, activists Howard Freidman, Stanley Treitel, Benny Polatseck, Rabbi Daniel Ginsberg, Joe Stamm, Yoel Lefkowitz, Chanina Sperlin, Yaakov Behrman and many others. Of course, the events was conducted under the auspices of Rab-bi Levi Shemtov of the Washington Chabad whose organization certified the kosher preparation and serving of the food and who also arranged the private Mincha and Maariv minyanim.

Community Members Celebrate Chanukah at the White House

Joseph B. Stamm with President Obama

Davening Maariv in the Red Room

SHALOM BAYIS HOTLINEAll calls completely anonymous-9:30pm-11pm S/T/TH

Basic Problem solving/Referrals to local therapists

Call: 516 430 5280

47TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

48

49TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Text L2015 to 22828 to get Seasons emails packed with savings!

Daily Winner will win a Seasons $100 Gift Card!through January 10th

$699/lb

OVEN-READY! KOLICHEL

PASTRAMI*LEAN & TENDER*

$599/lb

OVEN-READY! PICKLED KOLICHEL

(CORNED BEEF) *LEAN & TENDER*

$699 $699/lb /lb

OVEN-READY! BABY CHICKEN SHAWARMAH

OVEN-READY! OVEN ROASTED TURKEY BREAST

$699/lb

OVEN-READY! BREADED CHICKEN

CUTLETS *SUPER CRISPY*

Sunday 12/28 – Friday 1/2

Store Hours:Sun-Tues: 7 am - 9 pm Wed: 7 am - 10 pm Thurs: 7 am - MIDNIGHT Fri: 6 am - 2.5 Hours Before Shabbos

All specials are in store only at the

Lawrence LOCATION ONLY - Send Us Your Order -

516-295-3300 516-295-5001 LawrenceOrders@SeasonsNY.com

WATCH YOUR EMAIL FOR THE FULL CIRCULAR & SEE ALL THE SPECIALS THIS SUNDAY! Email Lawrence@SeasonsNY.com To Join Our Email List!

$429ORGANIC

CHICKEN LEGS

/lb$399

CHICKEN CUTLETS (2.5LB TRAY)

/lb

$629BABY KOLICHEL

American High Choice

/lb

$629TENDER

BEEF STEWAmerican High Choice

/lb$899

SHOULDER STEAK

Tevya’s Ranch Natural Pasture

FLANK STEAK

Tevya’s Ranch Natural Pasture

$699/lb /lb

$749 $749BRICK ROAST

Tevya’s Ranch Natural Pasture

DELMONICO ROAST

Tevya’s Ranch Natural Pasture

/lb /lb

$699100% GROUND

SHOULDER Tevya’s Ranch

*SUPER LEAN*

SHABBOS MEAT (MIDDLE CHUCK)

Tevya’s Ranch Natural Pasture

$569/lb /lb

$749 $699CLUB

STEAK Tevya’s Ranch

Natural Pasture

SILVER TIP ROAST

Tevya’s Ranch Grain-Finished

/lb /lb$699LONDON

BROILTevya’s Ranch Grain-Finished

/lb

SAVE!

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

50

In the China Glatt DivisionWith Shimon Greenwald missing

for this game, Supreme RX Pharmacy looked to take advantage, and they did,

as they upset 4-0 Pizza Heaven 45-40. As the game progressed, it seemed that Pizza Heaven might even win this one without their MVP star, as Yitzy Wax-man filled the gaps scoring a season high 31. However, Ezra Beyda and Yiddy Ein-horn were not going to let that happen, as they scored 26 and 12 respectively. New-ly acquired Sender Gelbtuch tried to help out Pizza Heaven with 5, but the Phar-macy guys reigned Supreme in this one!

Batampte Pickles was looking for that first win oh-so-badly as they faced Oh Baby in this week’s match up. Sha-yala Litchfield had 16 for Batampte and it was within reach going into the fourth quarter. However, Dovid Kapetas’ 23 for Oh Baby was too much to handle. Bata-mpte lost their momentum as Oh Baby outscored them in the fourth and took this badly needed win with a score of 38-29. Oh Baby now shares the #2 seed with Supreme RX Pharmacy with a 3-2 record,with five games left in the regular season.

In the Jewish Home DivisionWith trades made for all the teams,

we had one of the most intense weeks of basketball yet…

Holy Schnitzel topped Quality Carpet by a mere 4 points, 57-53. This game was an epic one, as both Quality and Holy Schnitzel went basket for basket almost every play of the game. Due to a series

of bad passes and steals by Holy Schnit-zel, Quality could not hold on for their first win of the season. Shilo Azarfar was on fire, shooting for all sides, scoring

26 points for Schnitzel. Moshe Frank led Qual-ity with 14, while new addition Moshe Yehuda (Leiby) Lebowitz had 10. You owe me $20, Mr. L.

In the other amaz-ing game, Pizza Nosh topped ITP, 35-32. The crowd went wild as Moshe Dovid Rosenberg and Shimon Weiss each had 10 for Nosh. On the other end, new additions Jack Moseri and David Schildkraut combined for 11. ITP was just seconds away from stealing their 2nd win; however, Pizza Nosh would not let that happen as they hold on for the win. They now sit

atop the division with a perfect 5-0 re-cord.

In the Jewish Connection DivisionNeil, where were you we got a win?

The Visual Image, 63; Rami’s Pizza, 50—you read it right! With all seven players in the scoring column and four with double digits, the Visual Image gets its first win of the season. Dovid Miller with 15 led the way for TVI. The Ma-chine (Yossie F) was dominant for Ra-mi’s with 23 and as usual dominated on the boards. But this wasn’t Rami’s to have. No Pizza for you!

In an amazing game to end the first half of the season, Dovid Bressler leads his Pizza World squad over Plaza Auto Leasing in OT 57-53. You read it right again. The rabbi’s son was held to 19 ONLY! Daniel Bressler led all scorers with 25. It was the clutch shooting by Aryeh Kamalhar at the buzzer that sent this game into the OT period. With 23 seconds left, Yehoshua Fonfeder knocked down both free throws of a one and one to clinch the victory for Pizza World.

How will PAL react to its first loss? Will the win by TVI wake them up? These questions will be answered after the Chanukah vacation. See you back on December 27th.

The Flatbush Basketball League would like to wish all our members and sponsors a freilichen, lichtige Chanukah.

The Flatbush Basketball League Week #5 Recap

Around The Community

51TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

52

Children at HANC Early Childhood Center enjoyed a wonderful, interactive Chanukah experience

On the cold, rainy Wednesday morn-ing of December 3, the halls of Shevach were warmed with the smell of challah wafting through the building. In prepa-ration for their upcoming Shabbaton, whose theme was “Am Mikadeshei Shvii,” Shevach invited Mrs. Devorah Heller, known as “The Challah Lady,” to bake challah with its girls.

The program opened with an intro-duction from Mrs. Yali Rosenberg, who spoke about the mitzvah of hafrashas challah, a mitzvah that was precious to her sister, Mrs. Avigail Rechnitz, a”h. Mrs. Rosenberg described how her sis-ter applied the mitzvah of challah to all that she did in her life. Avigail recognized that despite all our efforts, everything is from Hashem, that we must infuse the mundane aspects of life with spiritual meaning, and how women have a special power to bring bracha into the home. These are important messages we can try

and incorporate into our own daily living. After Mrs. Rosenberg’s moving pre-

sentation, Mrs. Heller began her demon-stration explaining to the girls that chal-lah consists of seven ingredients which reflects the idea that seven represents the spiritual component in a physical world as well as connecting to the Shabbaton theme of the number seven. With her warmth, humor, and personal vignettes, Mrs. Heller related how she became the “Challah Lady” and impressed upon the girls the significance of this mitzvah be-ing one of the three mitzvos uniquely des-ignated for women.

Students learned how to braid a six-strand challah and impressed Mrs. Heller with their knowledge of the significance of the two six stranded challos of lechem mishna as being symbolic of the twelve lechem ha’panim. A won-“dough”-ful time was had by both faculty and stu-dents.

The Challah Lady Visits Shevach High School

until you call MyChoice Dental Plan

until you callDON’T GO TO THE DENTIST

MyChoice Dental Plan

www.MyChoiceDentalPlan.comNo maximums – No deductible – No registration fee – No Waiting Periods

THIS IS NOT AN INSURANCE POLICY

We are so con� dent that you will love your savings, we want you to TRY your 1st year for

70% OFFwith promo code:

MyChoice70

DON’T GO TO THE DENTIST

MyChoice Dental Plan MyChoice Dental Plan

MyChoiceDental Plan

Your plan. Your price.

Procedure Avg. cost MyChoice Cleaning $90 $35 White Filling $150 $65 Root Canal $650 $305 Crown $1000 $530

212.795.9595212.795.9595

Single Plan ...... orig $99 Now $30Family Plan ... orig $229 Now $70 *Over 1,200 participating Dentists & Growing

Around The Community

53TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS:- Touro Israel Option:

Advantages and Benefits

- Financing Your Education: Grants and Scholarships

JOIN US & LEARN HOW TOURO CAN HELP YOU SHAPE YOUR FUTURE.

Refreshments served.

Receive complimentary Touro tote bag.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:Contact Mrs. Judy GreenfeldPhone: 718-252-7800, ext. 234 or 265Email: judy.greenfeld@touro.edu

LANDER COLLEGE @ TOURO IN FLATBUSH

• THE SCHOOL FOR WOMEN •

LEARN ABOUT:• Our 25 majors and pre-professional

options

• Our diverse Honors Programs

• The outstanding record of achievements of thousands of our graduates who are supporting Torah families with dignity

• Our joint bachelor/graduate programs in Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies

• Preferential admissions to our Graduate and Professional Schools

• Our flexible schedule; our transfer credit policies for seminary studies and for prior learning

An invitation for high school juniors and seniors, seminary students, their parents, and women seeking career advancement

WHEN: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28 @ 12:45-3:30PMWhere: 1602 Avenue J in Brooklyn, Main Floor

O P E N H O U S E

Touro is an Equal Opportunity Institution

LANDER COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AT TOURO IN FLATBUSH

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

54

55TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Around The Community

The Department of College Guid-ance at DRS is pleased to announce that every Early De-cision and Early Action candidate to a private col-lege was admit-ted to the college of their choice. A big mazel tov to Yoni Goldberg on his acceptance to Princeton Uni-versity and to Ye-huda Schein on his acceptance to Brandeis. Eleven other seniors were accepted early decision to Ye-shiva University and were collec-tively awarded $1,000,000 in scholarships. Mazel tov to Yaakov Kaminetsky, Meir Avra-cen, Jacob Naiman, Ari Brandspiegel,

Dovid Goldschein, Michael Itzakov, Matthew Haller, Eli Goldberg, Yaakov

Scheinder, Daniel Aharon, and Yehuda Inslicht!

At DRS, the coordinated efforts

amongst the College Guidance Of-fice, the students, their parents, teach-

ers and the administration provided a comprehensive forum to help each student achieve his goal. The College

Guidance Office and DRS advocate strongly and personally on behalf of

our students. Mrs. Madeline Rosen-berg, Director of College Guid-ance, visits col-leges in the spring and fall, estab-lishing personal relationships with admissions offi-cers and sending the message of scholarship and achievement in our dual curricu-lum high school. The relationship that DRS has forged with sec-ular colleges and Yeshiva Univer-sity is grounded

in respect, affording its students strong consideration when they apply for ad-mission.

Congratulations to DRS Early Decision and Early Action Candidates

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

56

Lawrence Resident and DRS Junior, Isaac Fries, being inducted into the Honors Society by Rabbi Kaminetsky and Dr. Kirshenbaum

Around The Community

DRS Honors Society Induction Ceremony Honors Mr. Gary Schall, Superintendent of Lawrence School District

Last Monday night, DRS inducted 28 students into the Achdut chapter of the National Honor Society. ACHDUT, the DRS Chapter of the National Honor Society, is affiliated with the National Association of Secondary Schools. These students were selected for ad-mission for having a minimum of a 90 academic average, as well as middot befitting 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 speak-er for the program was Mr. Gary Schall, Superintendent of the Lawrence School District. Mr. Schall represents all stu-dents in District 15, in both public and private schools. Mr. Schall spoke on the topic of the importance of leader-ship and its effect on our community at large. Mr. Schall was presented with

an honorary induction award to the Honors Society, and this award recognizes the great re-lationship between the local yeshivot and local school board. Follow-ing Mr. Schall’s speech, pairs of inductees de-livered short vignettes about famous Jew-ish personalities from Tanach, as well as the secular world, who have also made tremendous contributions to society, and who exemplify the middot and character-istics of ACHDUT: character, leader-ship, scholarship, service, persistence, integrity, compassion, courage, dignity and vision. The pairs presented their famous personality to an audience of

over two hundred staff, parents and rel-atives. An honorary award was deliv-ered to Dr. Rosalie Peck, a long-time head of Chemistry department at DRS. Dr. Peck teaches both Chemistry and

AP Chemistry as well as coordinates our Science Olympiad initiative.

Mr. Gary Schall (center) given honorary induction to DRS Honors Society, with Rabbi Aryeh Yudin, Dean of Students; Dr. Gerald Kirshenbaum, Principal; Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky, Menahel; and Rabbi Elly Storch, Associate Principal

Students on Yeshiva University’s Beren Campus created a menorah with lights in their dorm building in honor of Chanukah

57TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

58 Around The Community

By Liba Lieberman/Yated StaffEnsconced in the bais medrash of

Congregation Heichel Dovid is a gem of limud haTorah where post- high school bochurim engage in the timeless pursuit of learning while developing life skills that can set them on a path as ovdei Hashem in a complicated world. Yeshi-va Nishmas HaTorah has been thriving in the Five Towns community for three-and-a- half years.

How did the yeshiva come about? “Basically, we saw a need in the com-munity that needed to be filled,” explains Rabbi Pinchas Weinberger, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Nishmas HaTorah along with Rabbi Yissochar Blinder. “The yeshivos are producing wonderful bnei Torah, but there is a large segment of bochurim who are being pushed along in a model that doesn’t necessarily work for them. These bochurim don’t feel good about themselves. We wanted to develop bnei Torah with a full range of life skills, pre-pared to face life’s challenges. There is a shleimus to Yiddishkeit that we wanted to address.”

The results to date have been nothing short of fantastic, with both Rabbi Wein-berger and Rabbi Blinder witness-ing the multi-di-mensional growth of their talmidim.

“In addition to the traditional bais medrash learning program,” says Rabbi Weinberger, “we offer opportuni-ties for bochurim to know how to act in many situations – essentially how to live in the world as Torah Jews. For example, besides regular sedorim of Gemara, we

have shiurim on emunah and hashkaf-ah. We offer interactive workshops for the bochurim to express their personal thoughts and to receive personalized an-swers. On Sunday mornings, there are shiurim in Choshen Mishpat, practical business halachah, given by Rabbi Ba-ruch Greenspan of Lakewood. We also regularly schedule ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions, where a baal habayis comes to speak about the challenges of being a ben Torah in the business world.”

Additionally, the yeshiva has hosted shadchanim and other professionals to help transition the bochurim to the next stage. Bochurim range in ages from nine-teen to twenty-four.

Beginning with a student body of six talmidim, the yeshiva has grown to the point where it has thirty—plus alum-ni—and is growing zman by zman. The bochurim range from part-time college students to full-time learners.

The yeshiva’s classes are accredited with Empire State University, which of-fers college degrees. For those students

who pursue college credits, a degree can be earned in one to two-and-a-half years.

One unique aspect of the yeshiva is its relationship with Mr. Meir Rizel, LMHC, Director of the Men’s Educa-

tion Program at Shalom Workshop, who speaks to the bochurim about creating and maintain-ing healthy relation-ships.

“The interperson-al work we encourage among the bochurim is not just about marriage, but with friends too,” notes Rabbi Blinder. “Boys today are so ex-posed to many things. It can make them emo-tionally closed as well.”

“We feel that the yeshiva’s job is to provide tools to help the bochurim suc-ceed in life,” adds Rabbi Weinberger. “We teach them that there is true sim-cha to the responsibility they take on in life. We keep it small so that there can be follow-up on everyone and so that we develop strong relationships with each of the bochurim. They become so affected by what they learn that they, in turn, become mentors. They have created their own chessed initiatives and are con-stantly looking for more opportunities to share the lessons they have learned. They have become true role models for their

peers. They might be young in age, but they are giants in maturity and responsibility. It is beautiful to watch.”

There is certainly a mutual admiration soci-ety at the yeshiva. One bochur, Nachi Gordon, shares, “The rabbeim at Yeshiva Nishmas Hato-rah don’t just educate us in multiple facets of Torah. They give us the tools to keep learning,

to keep davening, and to keep growing when we will, iy”H, be working and raising a family. I can honestly say that I have the best rabbeim in the world.”

Another bochur, Tuli Urbach, ex-plains, “The yeshiva focuses on the de-sirability of warmth, growth and involve-ment in each and every bochur. Talmidim are afforded the opportunity to craft a sense of self that feels authentic, a sense of self that truly comes from within. This allows them to tap into and nurture their identities, to become healthy, wholesome future spouses, parents, and productive members of Klal Yisroel.”

Both Rabbi Weinberger and Rab-bi Blinder explain that the lessons their bochurim learn aren’t confined to one particular zman. It is a limud they are ex-pected to use for their entire lives.

“We want them to thrive in their mar-

riages and business endeavors, with the understanding that Torah guides every-thing in their lives,” Rabbi Weinberger notes. “Our hashkafos have stayed the same from the time we opened the yeshi-va. We see more and more the need for what we are doing. Our convictions have grown stronger.”

Both Rabbi Weinberger and Rabbi Blinder bring experience and dedica-tion to their positions. Rabbi Weinberg-er learned in the Brisker Kollel for eight years and is currently rov of Bais Tefil-la of Inwood. Rabbi Blinder is a talmid of Yeshivas Mir and served as rov of Congregation Ahavas Yisroel in Cedar-hurst. He is also a presenter for Shalom Workshop. The yeshiva also features the talents of Rabbi Abi Goldenberg, who serves as the yeshiva’s menahel and be-loved rebbi.

The yeshiva will be moving into its own facility at the end of this zman, a building on Franklin Place in Woodmere currently under renovation. Bochurim hail from throughout the United States, as well as from Eretz Yisroel. These are solid bnei Torah who are looking for the kind of broad-based approach to Torah learning that the yeshiva provides with dedication and personal care. Dormito-ries provide housing for the bochurim in the Lawrence area, where the yeshiva is currently located. The focus of the yeshi-va will remain the same as it continues to grow, giving bochurim different per-spectives on life skills to prepare them for life, whatever that will entail.

“We want them to be as productive as possible,” Rabbi Weinberger says. “We want each one of them to flourish in all aspects of life.”

The yeshiva extended special ha-koras hatov to Congregation Heichel Dovid for sharing its bais medrash with Nishmas HaTorah these first few years.

For more information about the ye-shiva, email yeshivanishmashatorah@gmail.com.

Yeshiva Nishmas HaTorah Growing and Moving

59TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Around The Community

Meir Melohn, Mark Drachman and Lavie Popack were the Guests of Honor at the 36th Neveh Zion Annual Gala Dinner on December 10 at the Lawrence Yacht and Country Club. Jonathan Makovsky and Mendy Stern were the Alumni of the Year.

PHOTO CREDITS: IRA THOMAS CREATIONS

Rabbi Wein on the Parsha

Page 81

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

60

At the Chanukah Mesiba of Yeshiva Gedolah Ateres Yaakov, under the leadership of Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe and Rabbi Meir Braunstein. Rabbi Yaakov Reisman was the guest speaker.

Rabbi Menacham Nissel at MBR this Sunday Night

Machon Basya Rochel Seminary will be hosting Rabbi Menachem Nissel on Sunday night, December 28 at 8:30 p.m. All women and girls of the com-munity are invited to attend his mean-ingful shiur, which is titled, “A Wom-an’s Tears: From Trial to Triumph.” Rabbi Menachem Nissel is a beloved seminary teacher in Yerushalayim, as well as the author of the Rigshei Lev, a sefer on women and tefilla. The semi-nary is honored to be able to bring Rav Nissel to the community for all to enjoy.

Adult education and community lec-tures are the focus of Machon Basya Ro-chel Seminary. The seminary is proud to be able to provide this service to the community for over five years.

Please contact the seminary at 516-362-5000 or mbrseminary@gmail.com for more information or for sponsor-ships. Machon Basya Rochel Seminary is located at 137 Lawrence Ave. across from the Lawrence Long Island Railroad Station. Please check out the website at mbrseminary.org.

Around The Community

“A seminary near home that ev-ery girl can call home” is the motto of Machon Basya Rochel Seminary. True to the saying, Machon Basya Rochel Seminary, located in Lawrence, creates a warm, growing, and stimulating sem-inary experience for girls right out of high school or a year in seminary. Under the direction of Rebbitzen Aviva Feiner, the full/half day program is successfully entering its sixth year. On Monday, De-cember 29, Machon Basya Rochel Sem-inary will be hosting an Open House in the beautiful Machon Basya Rochel Seminary building and welcomes all se-nior girls and their parents to attend.

The program will be from 8:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. and will include an in-formational session with Rebbitzen Avi-va Feiner, menaheles, and Mrs. Debra Green, mechaneches, a tour of the facil-ity and a question and answer session. Faculty, alumni and students will be available for questions as well. Machon

Basya Rochel’s program offers courses in Tanach, hashkafa, and halacha in a warm environment with outstanding faculty. Credits from the seminary are accepted in major universities such as Touro and CUNY schools. Students attend from the Five Towns/Far Rocka-way, Brooklyn, Queens, Monsey, Lake-wood, and out of the tri-state area as well.

Applications are now being accept-ed for the 2015-2016 school year. There is an early registration tuition discount for applicants who apply by January 15. Please contact the seminary at 516-362-5000 or at mbrseminary@gmaill.com for more information or for an applica-tion. Please visit the website at mbrsem-inary.org to download an application or peruse different aspects of the program. Machon Basya Rochel Seminary is lo-cated at 137 Lawrence Ave. across from the Long Island Railroad Station.

Machon Basya Rochel Seminary Open House 2015-2016

61TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Available at your local Hebrew bookseller or at www.artscroll.com • 1-800-MESORAH (637-6724)

NEW FOR

AGES 3-9

NEW FOR

AGES 8+

NEW FOR

AGES 3-7

Attention Apple and Android Users:Over 40 new titles just added to the

Featuring: The Schottenstein Edition Talmud, the Kleinman Edition Daily Dose of Torah, the Kleinman Edition Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, and the Jaffa Edition Mesillas Yesharim,

plus many other bestselling titles. For a full listing, see www.artscroll.com/app.

THE SCHOTTENSTEIN EDITION

SEFER HACHINUCH/ BOOK OF MITZVOS VOL. 6

Mitzvos 326-379 Parashas Behar-Naso

THE RYZMAN EDITION

HEBREW MISHNAHנדרים / נזיר

INSIDE THEIR HOMESby Rabbi Nachman Seltzer

A young man's warm and personal encounters with the world of

Torah greatness

A TOUCH OF CHIZUKby Rabbi Yechiel Spero

Stories of strength — that lift, build, and encourage

RAV WOLBE ON CHUMASH

by Rabbi Yitzchok CaplanInsights of Rav Shlomo Wolbe on the weekly Torah readings

and the Festivals

WHAT IF... VOLUME 2adapted by Rabbi Moshe Sherrow

from the works of Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein

More fascinating halachic discussions for the Shabbos table, arranged

according to the weekly Torah reading

ALEF BEIS ADVENTURES WITH

ZIGGAWATby A. Weinberger

Illustrated by C. Gershbaum & i Cenizal

LIVING EMUNAHby Rabbi David AshearAchieving a life of serenity

through faith

BARUCH AND HIS DISAPPEARING

YARMULKEby Rivke Gerstenblit

Illustrated by Chani Judowitz

THE GANGER EDITION

THE STORY OF RAV NOSSON TZVI

by Brochie RothA biography for young readers

JEWISH HISTORYA TRILOGY

by Rabbi Berel Wein3-volume compact-size set• Echos of Glory • Herald of

Destiny • Triumph of Survival

GREAT JEWISH WISDOM

by Rabbi Moshe Bamberger

An album of classic and inspirational quotations by Torah

personalitiesIncludes bentching and the

berachos of bris and sheva berachos

FABULOUS NEW GIFT FOR SIMCHAHS / DINNERS!

NEWCOMPACT-

SIZE EDITION

BEST SELLING CHANUKAH GIFT THIS SEASON

NEW!NEW!

NEW!NEW!

NEW!

NEW! NEW!

NEW!

ENDS THIS MONDAYD E C E M B E R 2 9 , 2 0 1 4

list price

CHANUKAH SALE

20% OFF 1,800 TITLES ALLNEW!

by Leah Schapira & Victoria Dwek

Recipes from the world's top kosher restaurants

SECRETRESTAURANTRECIPES

STARTING AT ONLY$499

LIMITED TIME SALE THRU 12/29

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

62 Around The Community

Celebrating Chanukah with sushi!

YACHADIS COMING TO

GREAT NECK!

Yachad, the National Jewish Council for Disabilities, is dedicated to enhancing the life opportunities of Individuals with disabilities, ensuring their participation in the full spectrum

of Jewish life. Yachad is an agency of the Orthodox Union.

Yachad is bringing its more than 30 years of experience servicing the special needs community to Great Neck beginning Monday, January 5, 2015!

Our adult day program provides job training, job placement, daily living skills and community

inclusion, among many other services. These skills help guide our individuals to lead a more successful

and independent lifestyle.

Join us Mondays beginning January 5th, 2015

10:00 AM to 3:00 PM At the Beth Hadassah Synagogue160 Steamboat Road, Great Neck

CONTACT MICHAEL APPELBAUM AT 212.613.8284 OR APPELBAUMM@OU.ORG

FOR MORE INFORMATION.

On Tuesday, December 16, four HANC High School student chefs, along with their Director of Student Life, competed in the first-ever Cha-nukah Latke Cook-off at the Garden City Hotel in Garden City, NY, against students from the Solomon Schechter High School. Each team prepared three

latke recipes that represent their school. Rabbi Anshel Perl kashered the hotel’s kitchen and toiveled the new utensils provided by the Garden City Hotel.

Students Rachel Levian, Leah Glatzerman, Ari Levine, and Mathew Katz cooked their hearts out before six judges ranging from politicians, rabbis and culinary experts. They included Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, Rabbi Perl of Chabad of Min-eola, and Executive Chef of the hotel, Michael Mandato.

The HANC chefs prepared a tra-

ditional potato latke, an Israel themed falafelatke, and the Persian favorite Kookoo-Sabzi latke. Students arrived at 10am and began to prepare in the ho-tel’s master kitchen. After 90 minutes, the team presented the panel of judges with the final product. The judges were particularly impressed by the HANC

team not only for their culinary expertise but for their creativity in presentation. The HANC team described the sig-nificance behind their choice of recipes, which depicted the Jew-ish experiences throughout the ages.

This event was taped and was televised on

Channel 12, Fox 5, Fios, and on CBS Radio. In the end, both schools dis-played poise under pressure and wowed the judges with their culinary expertise. The judges declared both teams winners as they had a difficult time choosing and presented the participants with certifi-cates. HANC chefs were particularly acknowledged for their plating, presen-tations, and professionalism.

The team is grateful to Director of Student Life, Rabbi Daniel Mezei, for his culinary expertise and for his sup-port throughout the event.

HANC Team Sizzles at Latke Cook-Off

63TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Around The Community

only

$12.70 only

$10.45

DELUXE-SIZE (8¼” x 10¼”) STANDARD-SIZE (6¾” x 9¾”)

List Price $16.95

List Price $13.95

Distributed by 888-536-7427

Bot

tom

Lin

e M

arke

ting

Gro

up:

718.

377.

4567

NOTABLE FEATURES FOUND IN THE DIRSHU SHUL CHUMASH:

• Carefully chosen traditional yet eye-pleasing font, design and layout.

• Printed on premium paper and bound with an enhanced durable binding.

• The most widely studied combination of Rashi/Ramban make this the perfect chumash for maavir sedrah.

• Now, in a handy standard-sized edition!

• Attractively priced for shul budgets.

• All chumash text on one side of the page, meforshim on the other side, for ease of following along with the kriah.

25%Off

Precise, Profound & A Pleasure to Use.

THE DIRSHU SHUL CHUMASH – 2ND EDITIONTHE NEW STANDARD IN SHUL CHUMASHIM

THE FEATURES THAT MAKE IT THE NEW STANDARD:

Precise and accurate Nikud and Taamei HaMikra

Chumash with Rashi

Ikar Sifsei Chachomim completely re-typeset,

punctuated with all abbreviations spelled out

Onkelos, the most authentic version, positioned next to each pasuk (with difficult words translated into simple Hebrew)

Rambanthe only shul chumash

with Ramban

Baal HaTurim

Toldos Aharon, references to all citations in the Gemara at the end of every Parshah

All Haftorahs and all 5 Megillos

—All newly typeset!

Deluxe Size

Standard Size

Now Available in 2 Convenient Sizes!

SPECIAL PRICING!

Now Available in

2 Convenient Sizes!

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

64

Weekly

Call us: (516) 569-2662 •  Fax: (516) 569-8376 • 123 Spruce Street, Cedarhurst, NY 11516

New Items This Week!

Sale Dates: December 28th - January 3rd 2014

General Mills 16 oz Golden Grahamsor 18 oz Cheerios$349

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nestle Rich Milk Hot Cocoa6 Count

69¢. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Starkist Solid White TunaIn Water or Oil - 5 oz 4/$5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Duncan Hines Cake MixesClassic or Signature - 16.5 oz3/$4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Vintage Seltzer1 Liter2/$1

Mott’s ApplesauceCups Assorted - 6 Pack

$199

.................................................Bounty Large Paper TowelsRegular or Select-A-Size12 Count $1299.................................................Gefen Cup-A-SoupExcept Whole Wheat & Fat-Free12 Pack

$899

.................................................Natural EarthBalsamic Vinegar16.9 oz

$599.................................................B&G PicklesChips, Dills, Spears, Deli’s - 32 oz

$249

K’vutzat Yavne 7-9Pickles23 oz Bonus Size

.................................................Wacky Mac Mac & Cheese5.5 oz

5/$5.................................................Lieber’s Animal Cookies13 oz

$249

.................................................Smart FriesAll Flavors1 oz

79¢

.................................................Gefen Marinara &Pasta Sauces26 oz $249

Coke, Sprite, Fresca,Fanta, Seagram’s, Fuze, Dr. Pepper12 Pack - 12 oz Cans

2/$9.................................................Hunt’s BBQ SauceAll Flavors18 oz

3/$4.................................................Le ChocolateChocolate CoveredMarshmallows withJelly7oz $449.................................................Clear Choice Flavored Seltzer1 Liter

3/$2.................................................Tostitos ScoopsRegular or Multigrain - 10 oz

2/$6

Krasdale Sugar4 lb

$159

.................................................Duncan Hines Brownie &Decadent Cake Mixes18 oz/21 oz

2/$5.................................................Sparkling IceAll Flavors - 17 oz 10/$10

.................................................Glick’s FlourAll Purpose Only5 lb

$249

.................................................Mrs. Thinster’s CookiesBrownie Batter, Chocolate Chip, Cookie Batter - 1.5 oz

99¢

3/$4

by the case

Mauzone Salad Dressing

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tropicana Orange Juice

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ha’olam Shredded Cheese

All Flavors - 12 oz

89 oz

Except Reduced Fat - 8 oz

$299

2/$5

$599

Turkey Hill Iced TeaAssorted64 oz2/$3.......................................Yoplait Greek YogurtAssorted5.3 oz

99¢

Sabra Hummus ToGo with Pretzels4.5 oz2/$3.......................................Ha’olam StringCheese18 oz $799

PhiladelphiaCream Cheese8 oz Cups 2/$5

.......................................Breakstone SourCream16 oz 2/$3

Axelrod CottageCheese16 oz 2/$5.......................................Sabra Dips & Spreads8 oz2/$3

32 oz

Original Only - 17 oz

12 oz/13 oz

$299

$199

$399

Cavendish French Fries

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mendelsohn’s Pizza Bagels

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Super Pretzel

Kineret Onion Rings32 oz $499

.......................................A&B Parve Kishke16 oz2/$5

Eggo PancakesAssorted14 oz$299

.......................................Frankel’s Pizza Snaps6.5 oz2/$7

Morningstar Wings & Nuggets10 oz$399

.......................................Edamame Soy Beans12 oz - 14 oz2/$5

Luigi’s Italian Ices36 oz $299

.......................................Hanover WholeGreen Beans14 oz$199

Suzie’sQuinoa Milk

dairy=freegluten-free

Bakery on MainOatmeal

AssortedVarieties Assorted Varieties

Purity OrganicSuper Juices

Assorted Varieties gluten-free!

65TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Specials

/

order@gourmetglatt.com We reserve the right to limit quantities. No rain

checks. Not responsible for typographical errors./gourmetglatt

CucumberRoll

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CrunchRoll

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Spicy TunaRoll

CookedSalmonRoll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LionRoll

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BlackDragonRoll

order your shabbos platters early!

$450

$495

$550

$595

$995

$1095

RussianHealthBread

HamburgerBunsPackage of 6

$599ea$149ea. $149ea.

Aliza Beer Nutritional Meals24 VARIETIES! SPECIAL OF THE WEEK:

Stu�ed Chicken Capon with Side Dishes

$999

all our cabbage is greenhouse grown!

$799

$799

ShoulderSteak

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CowboyPatties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ChickenDrumsticks

VealSpare Ribs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FrozenDuck

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BonelessFlanken

$899 lb.Beef Stew

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CornedBeef1st Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SilverTipRoast

$899 lb.$549 lb.

$579 lb.

We carry only premium quality USA beef - tender, juicy & delicious!

great for chullent!

$1049 lb.

$899 lb.

1ST CUT BRISKET$899 lb.

$269 lb.

Family Pack

$849 lb.

Missing Wing$499 lb.

CHICKEN CUTLETS$359 lb.UntrimmedSuper Family Pack

extra lean!

Family Pack

Neck & Skirt

Family Pack

GrannySmithApples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

RipeMangos

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CortlandApples

CelloCarrots1 LB Bag

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

IdahoPotatoes5 LB Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BartlettPears

PinkGrapefruit

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SleeveCelery

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BagOnions3 LB Bag

RomaineLettuceHead

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

FreshCauli�ower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

PersianCucumber

99¢ lb. 3/$119

$149 lb.

Green Squash

89¢ lb.

99¢ lb.

3/$11999¢ ea.

2/$52/$3

$159 lb.

Jumbo Red Peppers

Slicing Tomatoes

89¢ lb.

79¢ lb.

99¢ ea. 2/$4

2/$3

General Tso’s GrilledChicken

Vegetable Lo Mein

Greek Orzo Salad

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Noodle Crumb Kugel2 lb Container

$599lb.

$599lb.

$1199lb.

$599qt.

$699ea.

Spinach Salad with FetaContainer

Baked Ziti2 lb Tin

Heavy MarbleLoaf

Mini Cymbidium SpraysStem

Orchid ArrangementsMakes a Great Gift!

$999

$1499

$2499

$3499Dendrobium OrchidsFresh Cut - Bunch

Pave Orchid Bouquets

& Up

Falafel Dip

Sour Pickle Dip

Salt & Pepper Kugel

Kasha Varnishkes

Red Lentils

Pre-Packaged

Pre-Packaged

$249ea.

$249ea.

$199ea.

$499lb.

Roasted Sesame Chick Peas

Sholom Bayis Kugel Pre-Packaged

$349ea.

At the Counter

$549ea.

$599lb.

Pre-Packaged

At the Counter

Pre-Packaged

new!

low fat!

Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Crush, Brisk, Mountain Dew,Mug, Schweppes, 7-Up, Canada Dry, A&W, Sunkist, Dr. Brown’s2 Liter 5/$5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kellogg’s 23 oz Raisin Bran, 24 oz Corn Flakes or 18 oz Rice Krispies

$299

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Poland Spring Go Size Water12 Pack - 12 oz

$299. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .La Yogurt All Varieties - 6 oz

2/$1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Edy’s Ice Cream All Flavors - 48 oz

$299

$599ea.

SteamerBags

$799ea.

Moroccan Salmon

Gourmet Glatt Ge�lte Fish

$799ea.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

66

By Elozor HalpertThe scenario is all too familiar. It’s

time to prepare your records for tax filing, and you want to maximize your charitable deductions, so you make a su-preme effort to gather all your receipts.

But you face several daunting prob-lems. You have an avalanche of disorga-nized little pieces of paper to deal with, and some receipts inevitably get lost. Then there are those innumerable small donations that you never even bothered getting receipts for. (It’s amazing how quickly they add up!) And what about those foreign charities that might not be tax deductible? You know that you’re wasting time, money and energy, and you may even wonder whether the entire process is worthwhile.

But it’s not just about taxes – it’s about taking control of the charity giving process. It’s like any other investment – you want to be able to set up a budget so that you’re not spending more than you can afford. You want to be able to see at a glance how much money you’ve spent in total on charity, and how much went to each organization (and you want to be certain that every dollar you spend goes where it’s supposed to go!). You want the process to be organized and easily manageable, and you want to prevent it from spiraling out of control. Is there a way of accomplishing that?

Welcome to the wonderful world of OJC! The OJC (Orthodox Jewish Com-munity) Fund program was created for people just like you. People who like to invest their time and energy as careful-ly and as shrewdly as they invest their money. They want information about

their charitable contribution at their fin-gertips, and they want to maximize their charitable deductions without spending endless hours tracking down and orga-nizing receipts.

With OJC, you are in control! All your records are neat, organized and in one place! This makes reconciliation easier, tells you at a glance where ev-ery charitable dollar went, simplifies tax preparation, liberates you from many hours of paperwork drudgery, safe-guards your financial information, and helps guard against overspending and misdirected funds. If you should face an audit, what a relief it is to know that all your charity records are easily acces-sible and in one place! OJC saves you time, energy and money, and spares you from endless aggravation!

OJC offers you numerous other ad-vantages, such as enabling you to make anonymous donations (while still qual-ifying for a tax deduction), giving you extra time at the end of the year to de-cide where you want your charity funds to go (because you qualify for a deduc-tion as soon as you deposit the funds with OJC), simplifying donations via a foundation, etc., and of course, OJC makes the charity-giving process even more convenient by enabling you to do-nate via its website.

To get more information, you can contact the OJC Fund by phone at 718-599-1400 or visit their website at www.ojcfund.org. Their many satisfied clients will attest to the fact that this will be one of the smartest investments you’ll ever make!

How to Turn a Tax Nightmare Into a Dream Come True

PHOTO CREDIT: AKP PHOTOSAt the Mesivta Shaarei Chaim Chanukah Mesibah

Around The Community

Because You DeserveA Perfect Smile

67TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

68

69TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Around The Community

SKA’s special personal touch high-lighted the festivities on the first days of Chanukah! Every one of the 350 students in the Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls was welcomed to one of twenty faculty members for a warm and inviting Chanukah breakfast on Wednesday and Thursday, December 17 and 18. The girls baked cookies, spun dreidels, played games, sang Cha-nukah harmonies, and at one house, even fed the backyard ducks after par-taking in a scrumptious morning meal. It was a very unique and warm way to start the weeklong celebration!

Since chesed is such an integral part of SKA, what better time is there to do chesed than the Festival of Lights, when SKAers shared their points of light with others? Making parties for Ivdu and Otzar, visiting the elderly in a nursing home, and packing clothing parcels for those less fortunate were Thursday’s highlights of Chanukah events.

The celebrations continued after Chanukah vacation with the annual

school-wide Chanukah Chagiga filled with leibidig dancing and ruach. The eagerly-awaited yearly Chanukah Auc-tion gives the students the opportunity to bid on such items as Shabbosim at the home of faculty members and lunch and yogurt outings with teachers; girls could even bid on having a cus-tom-made scarf, with color and style of choice, knit by one of our faculty members! All the money raised goes to tzedakah, which makes this event even more meaningful.

We thank all our hosts and host-esses for opening up their homes and making this SKA Chanukah one of the best ever. Thanks also go to Rabbi Yosef Zakutinsky, Director of Student Programming, and his assistant, Mrs. Yafa Storch, for their dedication and originality. When Chanukah is over, our extraordinary activities continue with the Ninth Grade Father-Daughter Breakfast on December 25 and then on motzei Shabbat and Sunday…Produc-tion 2014!

SKA Celebrates Chanukah

Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe is embark-ing on a writer’s workshop program which will begin in grade 6 and then, i”yH, include the whole school, un-der the direction of Mrs. Susie Gar-ber, well-known author, journalist and writing mentor. Over the years, Mrs. Garber has helped many schools in dif-ferent boroughs to create outstanding school-wide writing programs.

In this program, the students will segue through various genres as they follow the steps of the writing pro-cess of drafting, revising, editing and publishing. This cutting-edge writing workshop program is based on the philosophy of Columbia University Teachers’ College Reading and Writing program. It covers the Common Core Standards in writing comprehensively, while going beyond this to encourage creativity and voice and to instill a life-

long love of reading and writing. We all know how important writing

is in our students’ future academic and professional endeavors. This program will provide a strong foundation in writing as students hone their craft skills and learn strategies in narrative, informational and argument writing. The writer’s workshop emphasizes that we teach the writer not the writ-ing, so that our students feel empow-ered as they gain confidence and skills in writing. The goal is for each student to compile a portfolio of “published” work from each of the genres.

There is nothing quite like that feel-ing of completing a well- written essay or poem or, better yet, “publishing” your own book. We look forward to reading the stellar writing of the Tiferes Moshe students through this program.

Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe to Include Writer’s Workshop Program

Chanukah is a very special time for children in general; at Bnos Malka it is a much anticipated time for parents too. The kindergarten and Pre-1A classes each put on their own Chanukah plays to the delight of all. It typically marks the first performance for these young children and so parents and grandpar-

ents come, armed with cameras and camcorders, ready to capture the gleam in their child’s eyes. The plays were followed by joint activities and refresh-ments that make the whole experience one they will treasure for many years to come.

Bnos Malka: Everyone is a Star

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

70

For over 20 years, the teens from Shoresh have taken amazing trips. The trips work on a three year cycle. On the first year of the cycle, they go to New York. The second year, they go to Cali-fornia or Florida, and the third year, Israel. This way, the teenag-ers can go to Israel at least once during their high school years. In order to attend this highly subsidized trip, the teens must come to our classes called “Brew Crews,” come to our events, and big brother and big sister the younger children in their communities.

In November, the Shoresh Fidler Teens went to New York on a fun and meaningful three day trip. They spent Shabbos in the Five Towns and Sunday in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Friends of Rabbi Da-vid Finkelstein, the direc-tor of Shoresh, and Arielle Wolfson, a wonderful friend of Shoresh, procured hous-ing the entire group. The White Shul and Rabbi Ey-tan Feiner were so welcom-ing to the group. The kids could not have felt more at home and Rabbi Feiner tai-lored his remarks to make sure that our teens were able to appreciate and internal-ize his wonderful message. (Rebbetzin Aviva Feiner was a former Shoresh star counselor.)

On Friday night, Ephraim and Rena Kut-ner hosted an Oneg at their beautiful home, and Rabbi David Greenblatt and Rab-bi Eli Kutner were the guest speakers. They had wonderful messages for the teens, and in turn, they were dually im-pressed by the insightful divrei Torah given by Shoresh teens Brielle Kaplan and Ethan Smith.

Moshe and Arielle Wolfson spon-sored a beautiful lunch at Rabbi Brown’s shul, and the group was joined by longtime friends and supporters Dovid and Joy Devor and family and Dovid and Seema Schwob. The Devors have been the chairmen of the Shoresh

BBQ that is held annually in the Five Towns. They have worked with tre-mendous love and dedication to help the Shoresh Scholarship Fund. It was

wonderful to see the pride that they felt to have the Shoresh teens come to their neighborhood and meet their friends who have supported Shoresh for over two decades.

Seudah Shlishis was held at the home of former Shoresh counselor Chaya Gibber. She and her husband Aryeh and their family have been part of Shoresh since its inception. The kids ended Shabbos with a beautiful kumzitz.

On Motzei Shabbos, the group headed to Manhattan and went ice skat-ing in Central Park. On Sunday, they had a wonderful time touring Times Square and then headed to Brooklyn. They loved going to sefarim stores and

the bakeries. They couldn’t believe how much candy was actually ko-sher! “It felt like we were in Isra-el as we shopped along Avenue J and saw so many Jewish people,” said Gaithersburg teen Josh Reyer. 12th grader Ben Kron from Fred-erick loved the shul on Coney Is-land Avenue. He couldn’t believe that there was a massive shul inside what looked like a small building.

The teens were so impressed by the hachnassas orchim and chessed of the Five Towns Jewish community. Mi-chael Morberto from Leesburg, Virgin-ia, commented, “This was the nicest Shabbos that I have ever experienced.

Everyone was so warm and friendly.” Sarah Tsimmerman from Olney, MD, and Keren Binyamin from Columbia, MD, loved the singing and spirit at the White Shul. Natalie Buckwold from Mount Airy, MD, and Zach Weissman from Potomac, MD, were thrilled “to see so many Jews walking on Shabbos in Far Rockaway and Lawrence. We don’t get to experience that at home and it was very special to us.”

Emily Scheiner from Gaithersburg, MD, recently joined the group and this

was her first Shabbaton. “I had such a wonderful time spending Shabbos with all of my new friends at Shoresh. I definitely want to come back and I will tell all of my friends about this awe-some organization.” Brian Cohen, who graduated from the University of Mary-land, is from Frederick and has recently

move to New York. He is working as an engi-neer. At Shoresh, you never graduate. You are always involved with the organization “from baby to Bubby.” Brian joined us for the weekend and stayed at former Shoresh camp-er Yitzy Rosenbloom and his wife, Emmie. “Thank you for allow-ing me to join the group for Shabbos last week. I was craving some soulful Jewish expe-riences, and that was exactly what I needed. Thank you again!” ex-pressed Brian. I know the Rosenblooms and

Kutners have already extended invita-tions to Brian and he is heading back to their house in the next few weeks for Shabbos.

Speaking of coming back, Rabbi David Greenblatt, our guest speaker on Friday night, invited the teens back to the area. “There are over 600 families who are ready to welcome all of you whenever you want to come back. I hope you will take us up on this offer.” Shoresh definitely will be back!

Around The Community

Five Towns Hosts Maryland’s Shoresh Teen Trip to New York

71TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

It’s finally winter.

See what Rivki has to say on page 124

On Tuesday, the 7th day of Chanukah, the eighth grade students of Yeshiva Har Torah visited their local police department, Precinct #105. Their mis-sion was to deliver doughnuts, thank the police officers for all their hard work, and of course, to wish them a Happy Chanukah as well! The officers were so happy the students came to visit and they expressed their sincere appreciation to YHT for taking the time to thank them and bring them some Chanukah joy. 

 

Low Cost Quality Insurance Our Specialty

     Free Consultation        Free Policy Evaluation 

Large Commercial Insurance Policies Life Insurance Disability Insurance Self Employed Health Insurance Long Term Care insurance 

   Rabbi S. M. Leiner, CLTC 

Licensed Independent Broker for All Types of Insurance Call: 917‐543‐0497 – Leave a message 

 

Mail:  Rabbi S. M. Leiner, CLTC P.O. Box # 7655 600 Franklin Ave 

Garden City, NY 11530 

Premier clients receive a copy of my book (sefer) “Sweeter Than Honey” as a gift

Ask the Rabbi !!?? 

The Rabbi loves a bargain (a metzia) 

Let the Rabbi help you save money (up to 50%) 

Around The Community

Five Towns Marriage Initiative Uplifting our Home’s Physicality

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan explains that man is greater than the animals because Adam gave the animals their names. Additionally, Rabbeinu Tam says that animals walk on all fours since their es-sence is connected to the ground while man stands because he has a heavenly soul. The Radak says that an animal can only think about something with-in its capabilities. A lion won’t think of how to fly and a fish won’t think of how to stroll through the forest. Yet man is above all this because he can dream up the most unrealistic ideas and reach for the stars.

With all this, it seems odd that ani-mals can look beautiful without cloth-ing while humans generally benefit from the garments they wear. Not only that, but during davening, a person has to distance himself from human waste but an animal waste is not as much of an issue. In a physical sense as well, the body of a human is the most limited compared to all the animal species. So why is it that on the one hand man is so great compared to the animals and yet in a physical way man seems less than animals?

Adam chose his name for himself, reflecting the idea that his physical body comes from the Earth. He makes no mention of his heavenly soul in his name, because the soul that he got, and that we all get, is perfect. The purpose we have in life is to improve our earth-

ly self, and by making us more limited and lowly in a physical sense, it is a constant reminder given to us by Hash-em that the physical aspect, the materi-alistic side, is where we need to expend our efforts and energy. Obviously this is not done by physical exercise; the type of improvement we need is that of making our body holy by using it to do mitzvos.

Marriage gives us ample opportuni-ties to do mitzvos and uplift our phys-icality. Cooking, working, cleaning, and all the other physical exertions we invest in creating a loving home for our spouse all entail using our body parts to make our homes run. When we do this, we are fulfilling the purpose of our stay here on Earth, refining our earthly side and bringing it up to match the level of the perfection of our soul.

Five Towns Marriage Initiative pro-vides educational programs, workshops and referrals to top marriage thera-pists. FTMI will help offset counseling costs when necessary and also runs an anonymous shalom bayis hotline for the entire community Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 9:30-11p.m. For the hotline or more information, call 516-430-5280 or email dsgarry@msn.com.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

7278

On a recent visit to Cuba, Vladimir Putin found that most Cubans’ shoes have holes in them, and so he asks Fidel Castro, “Oye chico, how is this possible after 40 years of ‘progress’?”

Annoyed, Fidel Castro answers, “And what about Russia? Have you done any better?”

Putin says, “Ombe, when you want, I’ll invite you to Russia and if you find a single person with ripped-up shoes, you have permission to kill him. No problem.”

They got on Putin’s plane and went to Russia. As soon as Fidel got off the plane, the first thing he saw was someone whose shoes were all ripped up, and so he grabbed his pistol, killing the man.

The following day, Russian newspapers carried this banner headline: “Old Bearded Man Kills Cuban Ambassador in Moscow Airport.”

1. How long was Fidel Castro’s longest speech?

a. 1 hour and 47 minutesb. 2 hours and 23 minutesc. 3 hours and 48 minutesd. 7 hours and 10 minutes

2. What is the official language of Cuba?a. Spanishb. Cubanc. Englishd. Russian

3. How many U.S. presidents did Fidel Castro outlast?

a. 6b. 8c. 10d. 11

4. According to Cuban security officials, how many assassination attempts did Fidel Castro survive?

a. 73b. 134c. 212d. 638

5. In 1961, the United States backed an invasion by Cuban exiles, which failed. What was the invasion called?

a. Operation Cuban Freedomb. Operation Defeat Communismc. Bay of Pigsd. Operation Havana Lights

6. How many people live in Cuba?a. 6 millionb. 11 million c. 64 million d. 82 million

7. In 1962 why did President Kennedy delay signing the embargo against Cuba for several hours?

a. There were last minute negotiations with Fidel Castro.

b. He wanted to give a televised broadcast to explain his actions but had to wait until after the Super Bowl to do so.

c. He wanted to make sure that he had enough Cuban cigars for himself in the White House first.

d. He was watching his wife play in an ama-teur tennis tournament.

ANSWERS1) D-Castro holds the Guinness Book of Re-

cords title for the longest speech ever delivered at the United Nations: 4 hours and 29 minutes on September 29, 1960. His longest speech on re-cord in Cuba was 7 hours and 10 minutes in 1986 at the III Communist Party Congress in Havana.

2) A3) C4) D-The assassination attempts include poi-

son pills, a toxic cigar, a chemically tainted diving suit, and powder to make his beard fall out so as to undermine his popularity. Castro is quoted as saying, “If surviving assassination attempts

were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal.”

5) C-In 1961, the CIA launched what its lead-ers believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, the invasion did not go well; the invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting.

6) C7) C-According to JFK’s then-spokesman

Pierre Salinger, the president ordered him to buy him as many of his favorite Cuban cigars as he could lay his hands on – and held off signing the Cuban trade embargo until his precious stogies were safely inside the White House. Kennedy asked to find at least 1,000 H.Upmann petit coro-nas, and gave him just a half a day to accomplish the task before they would become contraband. When Salinger handed him 1,200 Cuban cigars, President Kennedy pronounced, “Fantastic!” and then promptly signed the embargo.

Wisdom key5-7 correct: You earned a Cuban cigar, just

remember what el presidente Fidel said after he quit smoking cigars in 1985: “I give people cigars and tell them it is poison. I say: ‘Smoke them if you like, but the best thing you can do with that box of cigars is give it to your enemy.’”

2-4 correct: You know a little about Cuba but not enough. Come to think of it, Mr. Obama, is that why you just handed a victory to Castro?

0-1 correct: You are a winner! You won an all-expenses paid trip to a tropical Cuban island: Guantanamo Bay.

A truck driver is going opposite traffic on a one-way street. A police officer sees him but doesn’t stop him. Why doesn’t the police officer stop him?

Answer on next page

Riddle! You Gotta beKidding!

CUBA TRIVIA

73TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

79

In retaliation for North Korea’s actions last week, the TJH Centerfold Commissioner successfully “gained access” to Kim Jong Un ’s private photo journal. We present portions of the never-before-seen journal to our dear readers. Un-Covered

ANSWER TO RIDDLE: Because he was walking!

“We were eventually able to solve the math problem we were working on: two plus two is four!”

“Picking out matching socks is not an easy task”

“Don’t you just get giddy when you watch people slave laboring?”

“Custard for me! Custard for me!”

“Is it really bad luck to jump in and collect the pennies?”

“Going to a kumzitz”

“I hack Sony!”

“I will never do karaoke again.”

Awkward!

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

74

Rocky Zweig

The Rocky Rant

I suppose I should start this column with a dis-claimer, so here it is:DISCLAIMER:

What follows is not meant to be taken too serious-ly. The main reason Shoshana aksed (dat’s how we talk in Brooklyn. Deal wid it!) me to write for this august publication was to try and tickle your funny bone (that would be your humerus, of course) every couple weeks. But, as I said in my inaugural piece two weeks ago, sometimes folks take offense at some of the things I write. So here it is: a one-size-fits-all, all-occasion apology. Please take everything you ever read in this column with a huge, and I mean huge, grain of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. I never mean to offend anyone. I’m just a guy with a keyboard and a thesaurus and way too much time on his hands.

That said, I am aware that there are people out there who are having trouble finding their soulmates. Please, please, please don’t think the silliness that follows is an indication that I am in any way insensi-tive to your plight. I was fortunate enough to find my bashert on three separate occasions. The fact that I then went on to mess things up all three times is inci-dental. Anyway, I bless you all with all the mazal and brocha in the world and may you all be standing under the chuppa gazing at your beloved, glowing brightly, b’karov mamash!

Okay, fasten your seatbelts — here we go! In my previous venue, people were

always writing in, complaining about the “shidduch crisis,” and it’s a good thing they did, too. Otherwise, I never would have known it existed. I see couples everywhere. I virtually trip over couples. No, wait a minute; I literally trip over couples! I see

husbands and wives picking up prescriptions for the heartbreak of psoriasis. I see married folks debating the pros and cons of smooth versus chunky in Shop Rite. I see nearly napping newlyweds trying to calm their hysterical toddler twins in the double stroller who were just traumatized by a passing Yorkie. I see trees of green, red roses, too, I see them bloom…no, wait, hold on a sec…never mind. Anyway, you get the idea.

As I mentioned earlier, I managed to tie the knot three times. I’m not rich. I’m not handsome (okay, maybe a little handsome), two out of three times I wasn’t young, and I was born with this huge birth-mark on my forehead in the shape of an “L” (okay, just kidding about that one). The point being, if I can

do it, you can do it. It’s really not as hard as you think. Getting married is easy. Staying married; that’s the tricky part! I was once contemplating writing a book on the secrets of marital bliss. I was gonna call it, “The Do’s and Don’ts of a Happy Marriage.” I had to abandon the project, how-ever, when I realized I had an awful lot of don’ts and not too many do’s.

IMHO (I know textspeak like the young ’uns ), when it comes to dating and finding o n e ’s kindred spirit, myths abound. Unfortu-nately, all too often those myths take way too long to become mythusses. If you truly want to move things along, at some point you’re gonna have to think out of the box, bite the bullet, drink the Kool-Aid and any other cliché you can think of, make like Nike and just do it!

Here are some of the aforementioned myths that I shall now either bunk or debunk, whichever is nec-essary:

1. TRUE OR FALSE: Being attracted to one’s po-tential spouse is very important.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! I am sorry, that is incorrect! It is important to note the inspiring words of that most brilliant jurist of our time, Judge Judy, who famously said, “Beauty fades, but dumb is for-ever.” Wanna know what your prospective spouse is gonna look like twenty or thirty years down the road? Sneak a gander at his/her mom or dad. That’ll either scare you away or seal the deal.

2. TRUE OR FALSE: Look for money.

D I N G D I N G D I N G D I N G -DING! You better believe it, hot-shot! Yes, I know: I’m a hopeless romantic, right? But seriously, dude (or dudette) — why not? You may not get it, but it sure doesn’t

hurt to try. My mom a”h always told me it was just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as it was with a poor girl. Problem was, she never explained how I was supposed to get the rich girl to look at me in the first place without her eventually taking out an order of protection. Anyway, all I’m saying is, if the op-portunity presents itself, go for it. Let’s assume, G-d forbid, that ten years down the pike you guys experi-ence a few bumps in the ol’ marital road. Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to be unhappy in a Beemer than in a Civic?

3. TRUE OR FALSE: If there’s no chemistry on the first date, there should never be a second date.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!! Absolutely, pos-

itively false! Do you think any-one is himself on a first date? Are you? How about on a sec-ond date? Or a third? The longer you go out, the more you loosen up. The more you loosen up, the

more you see the real person sitting across from your or next to you in the pizza shop. Truth be told, you never really get to know someone until your first fight. And you never get to really, really get to know someone until you’ve lived with them a couple years. And that, Mr. Gore, is an unfortunate truth we can all relate to.

I’ve got so much more priceless advice, but ink is expensive, so I’ll end here for now. Who knows? Maybe there’ll be a sequel!

P.S. Note to Suri S.: Thank you so much for your kind words in the letters to the editor of TJH. I shall try to live up to your lofty expectations. I don’t know if I can be consistently pithy, but I can thertainly try.

Rocky Zweig has been writing since he was sixteen and was the Editor-in-Chief of the late and decidedly unlamented Modieinu, the mimeographed (remember mimeographs?) newspaper of the Tenth Avenue Pirchei of Boro Park, where he wrote everything from stories to news articles to hash-kafa articles to...yes (now it can be told!)...letters to the editor. Rocky was sixteen a very long time ago. He is the proud father of three marginally neurotic children. He has been married three — count ‘em — three times and has finally determined that he’s probably not very good at mat-rimonial bliss. He lives in his Fortress of Solitude in Flat-bush with a small menagerie: Clarice, a European Starling; Rabbi Horatio LeZard, a Bearded Dragon; an aquarium filled with Lake Malawi African Cichlids; and a ten gallon tank that functions as a Home for Unwanted Goldfish, or H.U.G., collected over the years by his grandkids and great nieces and nephews at myriad street fairs and carnivals (rather than face the unpleasant task of flushing these un-fortunate piscine creatures when they are eventually, inev-itably ignored by their own obnoxious progeny, the parents simply call Uncle Rocky who then feeds them and cares for them until their ultimate natural demise three or four or even ten years down the pike). So apparently Rocky seems to get along better with animals than with his fellow homo sapiens. Or sapienses. Or whatever.

Rocky’s column will be appearing every other week in The Jewish Home.

Solving the Shidduch Crisis

Getting married is easy. Staying married; that’s the tricky part!

75TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

W O M E N ’ S F A S H I O NR E D E F I N E D

top skirts dresses evening wear casual wear jewelry accessories

419 CENTRAL AVE, CEDARHURST, NY 11516 S: 11-5 / M, T, TH: 10-6 W: 10-7 / F: 10-1 516.812.8424

simchwear

FEATURING

an all new, exquisite simcha

wear collection to complete

your signature Fame wardobe.

Sounds exhilirating? Right.

Kallahs receive a 10% discount.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

76

77TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

PALCALL 718-975-90002750 Nostrand Ave Corner of Ave N Brooklyn NY 11210

www.PlazaAutoLeasing.com

WE SELL, LEASE & FINANCEALL MAKES AND MODELS

PlazaAutoLeasing

36 months/10k miles per year. Due at signing is first month, bank fee $695, registration fee and applicable taxes. Residency restrictions may apply. Expires 12/31/14 DCA #1312589 DMV #7084665

PALARE YOU A YET?

BS”D

Didn’t Get What You Wanted for Chanukah? IT’S NOT TOO LATE!

2015 HONDA ACCORD LX

ONLY $149/moDamage Waiver IncludedROADSIDE ASSISTANCE INCLUDEDAT NO EXTRA CHARGE!ONLY 36 months

CALL 718-975-9000 FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY!Features: Backup Camera, Bluetooth, Power Windows,Power Door Locks, AM/FM/CD, $5000 Waiver Available

HURRY! EXPIRES 12/31/14

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

78108

Last Wednesday, President Obama announced dramatic changes in U.S.-Cuba relations with the hope of warming the icy decades-long stalemate between

the two neighboring countries. The surprising news came after 18 months of secret deliberations in Canada and Vatican City, encouraged by Pope Francis and concluding with a phone call between the U.S. president and Cuban President Raul Castro.

The first layer of thawing hostilities was an immediate prisoner swap. Cuba sent home two jailed Americans: U.S. contractor Alan Gross, who had been imprisoned since 2009, and an unnamed intelligence agent who had been held for more than 20 years. In return, the U.S. sent home three Cubans convicted of espionage in 2001. President Obama also announced a meaningful ease on travel and economic restrictions that have been in place for years. Finally, both countries are re-opening embassies in each other’s capitals, effectively re-establishing U.S.-Cuban relations for the first time in half a century.

Before the twentieth century, Cuba was techni-cally in Spanish hands, but by the late 1870s, the U.S. was responsible for the

vast majority of Cuba’s exports and therefore had the strongest leverage on its economy. North Americans moved to the island in increasing numbers and acquired large amounts of land – both for commercial and personal use. As Cuba’s reliance on mother Spain eased, rebel resistance to Span-ish rule and a movement for independence grew. U.S. officials quietly discussed plans to acquire Cuba; it only seemed natural given Cuba’s eco-nomic dependence on and physical proximity to the U.S. But resistance

leaders had other plans. As Cubans struggled for independence, American journalists exagger-

ated Spanish oppression of Cuban natives. Their yellow journalism tactics and an explosion on USS Maine that killed over 250 crewmembers and sank the ship incensed the American public and pushed a reluctant Presi-dent William McKinley to intervene in the struggle against the Spanish in April 1898. What followed was known as the Spanish-American War but is referred to by Cubans as U.S. intervention in Cuba’s War of Indepen-dence.

In December of that year, Spain and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Paris, which recognized Cuba’s official independence, though at the exclusion of input by Cuban independence fighters who were not invited to discuss the length of U.S. occupation or the terms of the treaty.

In 1901, the Platt Amendment outlined U.S. policy in Cuba and es-tablished precedent that the U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs as well as buy or lease Cuban land for naval needs. The Amendment effectively placed the U.S. in a position of power over Cuba, despite military with-drawal in 1902.

In the two decades that followed the Platt Amendment, U.S.-Cuban re-lations were unstable, with the U.S. intervening to quell protests and estab-lish temporary military rule whenever it was thought necessary. In 1933, after a military coup of the Cuban government, the de facto leader, General Fulgencio Batista, heralded an era of acquiescence to the U.S. During this time, U.S. economic interest in Cuba exploded amidst widespread corrup-tion. However, the fragile peace did not last and the rumblings of a revolu-tion were growing louder each year. Eventually, during Batista’s second term, rebels led by Fidel Castro succeeded in overthrowing Batista in the Cuban Revolution of 1959.

Friends AgainCuba and the U.S. Shake Hands

after a Five Decades-Long EmbargoBY TAMAR SULLIVAN

79TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

109Almost immediately, relations between the two countries began to fall apart as Castro ordered the nationalization

of U.S.-owned business and a staunch commitment to socialism. In re-sponse to his anti-American policies and his foreboding friendship with the Soviet Union, the U.S. began imposing trade restrictions on the island. As Castro annexed more and more private businesses as a part of his government’s socialist agen-da, the U.S. intensified trade restrictions even further. Tensions escalated when the Cuban freighter La Coubre exploded off its coast; when no one took responsibility, Castro blamed the United States. A quick spiral of hostility finally led to the cessation of all diplomatic relations and U.S. exports to Cuba. The U.S. closed its embassy in Ha-vana in 1961.

However, the U.S. was not quite will-ing to give up its relationship with the small island nation so easily. In a secret opera-tion, which later became known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, U.S. forces trained 1,500 Cuban refugees to invade and overthrow Castro’s government in 1961, but they were defeated handily by Cuban forces. The Cuban victory established Castro as a formidable socialist leader on the Western hemisphere and sealed his alliance with the Soviet Union. President John F. Kennedy secretly gave the CIA the go-ahead to draw up plans to destabilize Castro’s government, take down key political figures, and even as-sassinate Castro himself.

Tensions escalated rapidly, and with American ballistic missiles in Europe with-in range of Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev agreed to equip Cuba with nu-clear missiles within range of the U.S. Do-ing so would help Cuba’s interests against an imminent U.S. invasion and would also give Krushchev new poise in the ever-esca-lating Cold War and a new bargaining chip in the struggle over West Berlin. The nucle-ar arming of Cuba began in utmost secrecy; very few knew the true nature of the clas-sified operations. Top U.S. officials were suspicious, but by September 1962, missiles had already arrived in Cuba.

Due to national security concerns and inclement weather, it was not until mid-October that an American reconnaissance plane confirmed the presence of missile facilities in Cuba, which prompted the 13-day nerve-wracking Cuban Missile Cri-sis, which brought the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war.

Top U.S. officials were divided about how to respond to the confirmed nuclear threat. Many wanted a full-scale invasion, but President Kennedy hesitated. With the involvement of the Soviets, this was no lon-ger just a U.S.-Cuba squabble; any action would have international ramifications. Ad-dressing the nation on October 22, Kennedy announced a strict quarantine on all offen-sive military equipment en route to Cuba. Cuba continued to insist that all of its operations were defensive, while Krushchev threatened Ken-nedy that a continued blockade would be viewed by the Soviets as an act of war.

The U.S. placed its defensive interceptors and offensive bombers on high alert and positioned its nuclear bombers in striking distance to the Soviet Union. When Kennedy received word that the nuclear missile development in Cuba was continuing unabated, he loaded nuclear weap-onry onto aircraft and readied for a full-scale invasion.

Tense deliberations between the Soviets and the Americans spanned the course of a few long days. Finally, a deal was brokered between the two nations in which Krush-chev agreed to remove nuclear missiles from Cuba and the U.S. agreed to remove its mis-siles from Turkey and pledge not to inter-vene in Cuba’s affairs. Castro was resentful that he was not part of the negotiations, but, with the exception of Guantanamo Bay, he was rewarded with complete sovereignty.

The next few decades saw strained but relatively peaceful relations be-

tween the two nations. In the 1960s, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, those who fled Cuba and arrived in the U.S. were wel-come to apply for citizenship. As Cuba’s economy deteriorated in the 1970s, Castro agreed to allow 125,000 Cubans to seek refuge in the U.S., but sent many convicts among them. After two U.S. aircrafts were shot down by Cuba in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act, mak-ing the economic embargo against Cuba permanent until certain conditions were met, including Castro’s removal and a com-mitment to free elections and free press. In 1999, emotions ran high as six-year-old Cu-ban Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida, the only survivor of his family’s attempt to reach the U.S. A contentious le-gal battle followed until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of returning Elian to his father in Cuba.

In 2008, due to failing health, Fidel Cas-tro handed over the presidency to his broth-er, Raul. When Barack Obama took office in 2009, he lifted travel restrictions to Cuba and permitted Cuban-Americans to send un-limited funds to Cuba.

Reactions to Obama’s most recent ef-forts to re-establish U.S.-Cuban relations are mixed, emotional, and fervent. Natu-rally, Cubans in Cuba are rejoicing, for an end to the economic embargo brings re-newed hope for their futures. But Cubans in the U.S. are split in their support for the president’s attempts to restore U.S.-Cuban relations. It seems that the younger genera-tions of Cubans find the president’s efforts forward-thinking and optimistic; the older generations of Cubans who came to the U.S. decades ago feel betrayed and angered by the thought of their president negotiat-ing with a deceitful socialist terrorist under whom they and their loved ones suffered so much. Politicians’ reactions are also mixed. Those in favor hope that the coming years

will bring new freedoms to the Cubans, despite Raul Castro’s affirmation of Cuba’s Communist values; those who oppose it doubt that the Cuban people will see any new tangible freedoms as a result of this policy shift. Only time will tell.

Cars from the 1960s still line the streets in Cuba due to the embargo

Cuban leader Fidel Castro embracing Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev

President Kennedy addressing the nation during the Cuba Missile Crisis in 1962

A store with nearly empty shelves

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

80

Summer Yeshiva Camp MaTov...To join the MaTov experience, please call (718) 327-2567

Rabbi Aaron Brafman– director Rabbi Moshe Shonek– head counselor Rabbi Dovid Libman, Rabbi Menachem Engel, Rabbi Avki Klein– division heads Located on the Yeshiva of Far Rockaway campus

81TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

As the Torah’s narrative of the story of Yosef and his brothers reaches its dramatic climax in

this week’s parsha, one may feel justifi-ably surprised that the brothers were so shocked at Yosef’s revelation to them. After all, there was no shortage of reve-latory hints strewn by Yosef throughout the unfolding story.

But the brothers, convinced of the rectitude of their actions and behavior, remained insensitive to Yosef and his words, dreams and vision to the end. This fact of willful blindness, no matter what facts are unfolding before one’s eyes, is not a rare occurrence in life. It is unfortunately a very common human characteristic.

The combination of self-righteous-ness, so-called ideological purity, hu-man stubbornness and the reluctance to admit past error is a lethal mix. It cor-rupts thought and behavior and blinds the eyes, even of the righteous. The To-rah describes the effects of venal mon-etary corruption thusly: “For graft will blind the sight of the otherwise righ-

teous and pervert the utterances of the wise.”

There is no greater graft or corrup-tion than the self-righteousness of the ideologues amongst us. The brothers disbelieved Yosef’s dreams from the onset and hardened their hearts and jus-

tified their behavior towards him. They convinced themselves that they could not have been wrong regarding such an important matter.

Blinded by their own convictions and worldview, of their exclusive role in creating the Jewish people without Yosef’s participation, the brothers were blind to the facts that unfolded before their eyes. I am reminded of the sign that I once saw on the desk of a not-

ed professor of law that said, “Don’t confuse me with the facts. My mind is made up!” Even the greatest among us fall into that trap.

There is a portion of the Jewish peo-ple who sincerely believe, whether for religious or ideological reasons, that

the State of Israel should never have been created. Great rabbinic leaders of the past assured their followers that the state could not last longer than fifteen years or fifty years at the most. The facts thankfully belie those dark predic-tions and certainties.

There were ideologues on the left who said that by abandoning Marxism the State of Israel was doomed, as was the world of the Western democracies

generally. Once again, the facts of the matter have arisen to deny this skewed and dire viewpoint. All of the naysay-ers of the past still deny the present and continue to fight against the raging sea of facts that appear before their very eyes.

Twenty years after the Oslo agree-ments, it is apparent to all that some-how this process failed to bring even a modicum of peace to Israel and its Arab antagonists. Yet, having committed themselves to and having invested so much effort in a failed process there are still many who refuse to face the facts and recognize that their worldview and assessment of the situation was wrong.

So even when Yosef stands before you, one is blinded by one’s own prej-udices and previous mindset. This is a very important lesson to be learned from the narrative of the Torah. The ability to admit wrong and change direction is one of the true hallmarks of human greatness. It certainly is necessary in our time and in our circumstances.

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Berel Wein

Parshas Vayigash

Torah Thought

The ability to admit wrong and change direction is one of the true hallmarks of human greatness.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

82

An action packed event, open to all on

7:30pm-9pm

pm

Location: Yeshiva of South Shore 1170 Williams Street, Hewlett Pick-up in the South Shore gym

83TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

“And Yosef hitched up his wagon and went up to greet his father, Yisroel, towards Goshen, and he appeared be-fore him, and he fell on his neck and he wept, and he fell on his neck more.” — Bereishis 46:29

Yosef was the most beloved of Yaakov’s sons. All of the Torah that he learned he taught to Yosef. In Yosef, Yaakov saw brilliant intelligence and wisdom. In Yosef, he saw all of the at-tributes of his beloved Rochel — the kindness, the beauty, and the leadership qualities needed to head a nation. In Yosef, he recognized all of his own life events playing out in parallel.

When Yaakov gave the kisones pa-sim (the coat of many colors) to Yosef, it was a symbol that established Yosef as the leader of the brothers. To Yaakov, Yosef represented the greatest of the Shevatim and the future of the Jewish nation.

When the brothers came back with the report that Yosef was murdered, Yaakov was inconsolable. The tragedy was so profound that none of his chil-dren and none of the dignitaries who came to visit could comfort him. For years, the intensity of mourning didn’t leave Yaakov. His beloved son was gone.

Finally, after twenty-two painful years, father and son were reunited. The joy and emotion of the moment is difficult to imagine — deep yearnings of the heart finally realized. Yosef was so moved that he kissed his father and then hugged him and cried, not just with tears, but with profuse crying that it seemed as if it were without stop. How-ever, Rashi notes that Yaakov did not kiss Yosef, nor was he crying. He was reciting the Shema.

This appears as a rather odd activity. Of all times, why did Yaakov see fit to read the Shema right then?

Yaakov was Locking in the EmotionIt would seem the answer to this

question is that Yaakov felt such intense emotions at that moment — possibly more intense joy than he had ever expe-rienced — that he wanted to capitalize on those feelings. He didn’t want them

to simply pass; he wanted lock them in, to put them into concrete form so that they would become eternal. He wanted to take that extreme sense of joy and completion that he felt and use it to reach a new level. With the high that he experienced, he proclaimed Hashem’s sovereignty of all. “You, the Master of the universe, have brought my son back to me.” He recognized Hashem with an unparalleled sense of appreciation and proclaimed the majesty of Hashem with a level of complete clarity that he may well never had reached before.

Obviously, this wasn’t the first time that Yaakov read Shema. He had accept-ed Hashem’s dominion on a daily basis for decades and decades. But this was a new level of understanding that he was only able to obtain through these pow-erful emotions.

This concept has great relevance to us. In the course of our lives, we expe-rience highs and lows, times of great joy and times of deep sorrow, times of excitement and enthusiasm, and times of boredom and listlessness. There are times when we are passionate and fer-vent, and there are times when we are apathetic. None of these states remains for long. Like waves of an ocean, they come, they go, and when they are gone, we remain the same as before – un-changed.

The ability to capture the moment, to convert it into something permanent, is one of the keys to growth. If a person has a dramatic realization, if an event occurs that is the undeniable result of Hashem’s direct involvement in his life, there is a sense of appreciation of recognition. But that feeling will pass. That sense of clarity will leave.

Sometimes we are so moved by a

sudden turn in circumstances that we say, “It is hashgacha!” But obvious as it may be at the moment, ten minutes later that sense of clarity is gone. The only way to prevent that it from passing is to put that emotion into action, to take that understanding and make it permanent.

I Thank You Sometimes even the most elemen-

tary action can have a profound effect, something as simple as saying thank you. If a person says the words, “Hash-em, I recognize that these events were

not by chance. I see that it is You Who orchestrates this world and I thank you,” this statement can take a fleeting recognition and make it lasting. Even though the concept was already clear, going through the process can have a dramatic effect on whether this under-standing actually remains and changes my perception.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are painful experiences — loneliness,

suffering losses, failing in business. Nobody wishes for them and nobody wants them. However, when experi-encing them, a person does have a very different perspective on themselves and on life. Gone is the feeling of indepen-dence, gone is the illusion of infallibil-ity, and gone is the aura of superiority. In that sense, these are peak moments, moments of extraordinary clarity.

Ironically, the pain will pass and be forgotten. The question is: will the gain pass with it as well? If a person doesn’t take concrete steps to make that vision permanent, it too will pass and become just part of a distant memory.

When a person reaches a new level of understanding, that experience can be an event of life that happens and passes. But with one small step, it can become a permanent part of the person.

By training ourselves to lock in these peak moments, we can take life experiences, moments of unique lucid-ity, and make them part of ourselves. Often, all it takes is a simple conscious action, a decision, or a small change to make lofty concepts and emotional highs permanent — changing who I am forever.

Get the new Shmuz APP! Access hundreds of audio, videos, and articles from the Shmuz. Simply go to the App store, or Google Play, and search for “TheShmuz” or go to www.theShmuz.com.

Parshas VayigashLocking in the Moment

R’ Ben Tzion Shafier

The Shmuz

The ability to capture the moment, to convert it into something permanent, is one of the keys to growth.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

84

We all know how the Ram-bam speaks of the “shvil ha’zahav,” the golden

path. It’s the life path of staying in the center, not too far to any extreme. There’s an old story of a man who wanted to hire a wagon to transport his family. He interviewed various drivers. “How close could you come to the edge of a cliff and still be com-fortable?” he asked the first driver. “I could be twelve inches from the edge and I’m fine,” he said proudly. The next driver said, “I could be only six inches away from the edge and be in control.” The final driver, upon being asked the question, recoiled in horror. “I would never let myself get any-where near the edge!” He got the job.

By following the Rambam’s in-

struction to stay in the middle of the road, we protect ourselves from get-ting too close to the edge. Some-times that’s a good thing, but some-times being in the middle of the road is not a good thing at all. For exam-ple, when you’re crossing the street, you should keep moving and not stop where you could get hit. Even more, you should move quickly not just so you don’t get hit, but so that anyone who has stopped to let you cross sees that you appreciate their courtesy. It is one of the most infuriating things as a driver to allow someone to cross and have them mosey along slowly as if you didn’t exist, especially when they don’t even acknowledge the fa-vor with “the wave.” When I cross, I always make a point of switching to a

jog as I wave so the driver knows I am taking him into account. But it’s not

always people stuck in the middle.One day, as I walked out of a store

which neighbors a kosher supermar-ket, I glanced left to see if any cars were coming and was shocked by what I saw. In the middle of the road was a shopping cart. Yes, the person hadn’t left it in a parking space, but they hadn’t quite returned it to the store either. I stood and watched in amazement as cars drove around it, and no fewer than six people passed it either going to or coming from the store without a single person moving it out of traffic.

At one point, I saw a woman and motioned to her to move the wagon. She looked at me, at the wagon, then back at me. Not having a clue what I wanted from her and the shopping cart, she walked away. I finally could stand it no longer and I walked down the hundred fifty feet or so to move it myself.

So, let’s try to imagine what the people were thinking. True, it’s a stretch to assume they thought about the cart at all, but if they did, what would they say? “Wow! Someone left a wagon here. How inconsiderate.” Maybe they would say, “I’m glad I saw that so when I pull out I don’t hit it,” or “Boy, that car came awfully close to me when he went around that wagon!”

What they didn’t think was, “Oh my! Someone will be inconvenienced by this, let me move it.” They don’t say, “Someone will have to swerve to

avoid that or they might even hit it, I’ll take a minute to make someone’s

day less stress-ful.” So why do I think that is? Are they selfish? Are they apathetic? Not necessarily. I think they are too middle of the road. They proba-bly think, “I could return the cart, but I’m not such a tzaddik.” They sell themselves short and don’t realize that the

cart was waiting there specifically for them.

Hashem was giving them a chance to think of others, to make someone else’s day easier, and to show some consideration. He was giving them the opportunity to see themselves as someone who helps others, someone on the cutting edge of chesed, not just middle of the road.

There are opportunities all around us to make life better for others, and as we do, we’ll find it getting better for us too. To know that you’ve made some-one’s day easier, that you’ve given them a reason to smile will make you feel like you’re on top of the world. And you know what? You are.

Did you like this article? There’s plenty more where that came from! Pick up The Observant Jew, a compilation of some of the best articles from the first ten years of this column, at your local bookstore or order it online and bring the inspiration home.

Jonathan Gewirtz is an inspirational writer and speaker whose work has ap-peared in publications around the world. He also operates JewishSpeechWriter.com, where you can order a custom-made speech for your next special occasion.

Sign up for the Migdal Ohr, his weekly PDF Dvar Torah in English. E-mail info@JewishSpeechWriter.com and put Sub-scribe in the subject.

© 2014 by Jonathan Gewirtz. All rights reserved.

Middle of the Road

Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz

The Observant Jew

85TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Rabbi Moishe Dovid Lebovits

Halachically Speaking

Doing Business with Non-Jews on Their Holiday

We live in a world where we have no choice but to conduct business with

non-Jews. Although many non-Jew-ish businesses are closed a few days before their holidays, many are open. In this article we will discuss the hala-chos of doing business with non-Jews before their holidays. What is the is-sur? Why is there an issur? Which days are prohibited? Is there a differ-ence between Eretz Yisroel and chutz l’Aretz? What are the heterim?

The Issur Three days before the holidays of

the non-Jews (i.e. December 25th and January 1st) one may not do business with non-Jews, lend them money, or pay a debt to them. We may not collect their debts either. There is a discussion in the Gemara whether the three days includes the holiday itself (two days before plus the holiday) or not (three days before and the holiday). The Ge-mara concludes that all four days are prohibited. These days are prohibited because the non-Jews busy themselves with their holiday (avodah zarah) preparations. One who transgressed and did business with them during the three days prior to the holiday may benefit from the money. However, if he did business on the holiday itself, he may still not benefit from it. (Today this is not applicable since we have many heterim; see below).

The consensus of the poskim is that this issur is d’rabbanan in nature.

ReasonsThe Gemara lists two reasons

for the issur. First, the non-Jew will rejoice in his financial success, and thank the avodah zarah for his achievement. In addition, it is consid-ered “placing a stumbling block be-fore a blind person,” as the items we sell to them may be used for a sacrifice for avodah zarah, which is prohibited to the non-Jews.

Items Which Do Not LastOne may sell items which will not

last until the day of their holiday (even without relying on any of the heterim mentioned below). However, items which do last are subject to the hala-chos above.

Eretz Yisroel vs. Chutz L’aretzThe prohibition of three days be-

fore the holiday only applies to those living in Eretz Yisroel, but in chutz l’Aretz the issue only applies on the day of the holiday itself. The reason for this allowance is that our liveli-hood depends on the business which we do with the non-Jews, in addition to the fact that we are scared (not to do business with them). Rashi says the non-Jews in chutz l’Aretz are not as in-volved with their avodah zarah.

HeterimPractically speaking, we do busi-

ness with non-Jews every business day of the year, even on their holi-days. Many heterim are offered for this practice.

1. The opinion of some is that there is no issur today since the non-Jews do not bow down to an avodah zarah.

2. Others say that it is guaranteed that they will not thank their avodah zarah.

3. Many poskim permit business with non-Jews since avoiding busi-ness with them will cause animosity between us and them. According to Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”lthe reason of animosity is a very strong reason to be lenient with these halachos today.

4. There are those who maintain that the issur does not apply to non-Jews whom you recognize.

5. Another reason to be lenient is that the issur only applies to items that are offered to the avodah zarah.

6. There is another heter which is expressed by the Rashba as follows: it is permitted to buy from and sell items to non-Jews which you need and can only get on the day of their holiday.

This is considered a “davar ha’oved.” 7. Another reason offered by the

poskim is that our livelihood depends on the business which we do with the non-Jews.

Giving and Accepting Presents There is a question concerning

giving and receiving presents from non-Jews on their holidays.

The Gemara quotes occurrences where gifts were given to non-Jews who were known not to bow to any avodah zarah. The Gemara discusses cases of accepting presents from non-Jews as well. The Rambam and Tur opine that one should not accept a gift from a non-Jew on their holiday. If there is a concern of resentment, then one should accept it but not derive any benefit from it until he can veri-fy that the non-Jew does not bow to an avodah zarah. However, others say that one should accept it and “place” it in front of him.

One who feels that he must give a gift to non-Jews for their holiday should give it before the holiday, not on the day itself.

Attending Holiday PartiesThe Shulchan Aruchstates that a

Jew is allowed to attend parties on

legal holidays because of resentment and hatred it might cause if one does not participate. Therefore, if attend-ing a holiday party is beneficial to one’s job or he may lose his job if he does not show up, he may make an appearance. He should go and pay his respects, make sure everyone sees him and then leave as quickly as possible.

Some maintain that parties on Jan-uary 1st should not be attended.

School Vacation during the Holiday Season

Often, a yeshiva or girls school wishes to give vacation from Decem-ber 25th until January 1st for a variety of reasons. Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l maintained that this is ossur. This is true even if one has no intention to celebrate the holiday and is only doing it because the parent body has a break from work and wishes to go on vaca-tion with their children.

Rabbi Moishe Dovid Lebovits is a for-mer chaver kollel of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath and a musmach of Harav Yisroel Belsky shlita. Rabbi Lebovits currently works as the Rabbinical Administrator for the KOF-K Kosher Supervision.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

86

Tzur Hadassah is one of Jerusa-lem’s suburbs and is undergoing a major expansion. Nestled in

the Judean Hills within Israel’s “green line,” the community is just a short drive to Hadassah’s Ein Kerem medical center and eight miles from Jerusalem’s

city limits. Interestingly, it is gaining the attention of many young Jerusale-mites looking to raise their families in more pastoral settings.

Tzur Hadassah is 750 meters above sea level and is surrounded by half a dozen nature reserves, which helps the

town maintain a decidedly rural feel. It also offers panoramic views and a rela-tively cool and crisp climate, similar to Jerusalem.

Established in 1960 and named in honor of Hadassah, the Women’s Zion-ist Organization of America, the com-munity has grown to 8,000 residents. Tzur Hadassah is currently comprised of three neighborhoods, and two new neighborhoods are in the midst of being built which will add 2,500 apartments and double the population.

Tzur Hadassah has historically been a secular community and is home to one of the largest Reform temples in the country. Over the past decade, the town has become more heterogeneous, and today the Dati Leumi (national re-ligious) community has grown to about 30% of the population.

The town is very child-centric, which manifests itself in a number of ways: There’s a wide spectrum of schools and youth movements plus there’s a relatively large variety of com-munal facilities for extracurricular ac-tivities. In addition, the community is always looking for creative ideas to fos-ter a love of education, and the follow-ing illustration is a great example: each bus stop has shelves of books appropri-ate for children and teenagers. Surpris-ingly, after almost a year, the books ha-ven’t been stolen or vandalized. What an inspired idea to literally bring the lending library to the community!

Many of the buyers of homes in the new neighborhoods under construction are families from Jerusalem. They are making the move for different reasons. Some families want to trade in their urban lifestyles for a rural setting that

offers a serene atmosphere and a more intimate sense of neighborhood. Other expanding families would have pre-ferred to upgrade and stay in Jerusalem but have been priced out of the market. Tzur Hadassah is within a half hour or so of central Jerusalem but the housing prices are half – and in many cases, a third – the price of Jerusalem real es-tate. For example, 75 sqm two-bed-room units start at under $300,000, 100 sqm three-bedroom apartments start at around $350,000, and 120 sqm 4-bed-room units start at $400,000. There are also a number of newly built 190 sqm semi-detached homes built on small lots for sale at around $500,000.

Tzur Hadassah is equidistant be-tween Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem and has frequent buses running to both cities. However, the community lacks a strong public transportation system, and most commuters need cars to either drive to work or to public transporta-tion. I expect that as the community ex-pands, the public transportation options will increase accordingly.

Currently, less than 10% of Tzur Ha-dassah’s citizens are English speakers. Nevertheless, with the expected influx of Jerusalemites, I expect this number to increase significantly. I am keeping my eye on this community, as I believe it has potential to become a destination for a portion of my English-speaking clientele.

Gedaliah Borvick is the founder of My Israel Home (www.myisraelhome.com), a real es-tate agency focused on helping people from abroad buy and sell homes in Israel. To sign up for his monthly market updates, contact him at gborvick@gmail.com.

Tzur Hadassah An Alternative for Young Jerusalemites

Gedaliah Borvick

My Israel Home

Snowy day in Begin Park near Tzur Hadassah

87TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

88

89TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

s’’xc

Morningof Learning• Experienced Caring Rabbeim• Special Erev Shabbos Program• Free Hot Lunches & Daily Snacks• Transportation Available

Afternoonof Activities• Sports Leagues• Daily Swimming• Professional Grounds• Full Size Gym with Bleachers• Exciting Trip Each Week• Late Nights

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER PLEASE CALL 718.868.2300 EXT. 502 • HAKAYITZ@GMAIL.COM

Directors:Rabbi Eliezer Ament • Rabbi Eliezer SelengutSports Director:Rabbi Eliezer Post

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

9096

There are few things as emotionally scary and overwhelming as realizing that the people who have cared for us and raised us since child-

hood are now getting older and need us to take care of them.

It starts innocently enough. Your mom, the woman whose cookie jar was always filled with home-baked goods, is suddenly having difficulty with basic life skills. The cookie jar has been empty for months now. She’s afraid to step into the shower, she can’t button her coat, and she hasn’t moved the car to the right side of the street in weeks. She can’t handle paying the bills or climbing the four steps up to her apartment. Her kitchen skills are greatly diminished and visiting the grocery – especially in the cold winter months – is simply overwhelming.

These are all normal and expected symptoms of the aging process. Yet when it happens to our own parent, it’s devastating.

Consider Sarah, a middle-aged woman who is mar-rying off her youngest child. Just when she thought she could relax and enjoy the nachas of her beautiful grandchildren, she finds herself worrying constantly about her mother, who lives alone in a hi-rise apart-ment building.

On a recent Friday, Sarah got a call from her moth-er’s neighbor. “I smell gas,” the woman said, “coming from your mom’s apartment.”

Sarah calls her mom in a state of panic. The neigh-bor knocks frantically on the door. As it turns out, Sarah’s mom had accidentally turned the knob on the stove to the “on” position. Windows were flung open and the gas eventually dissipated. Because of a quick-thinking neighbor, a disaster was averted. But Sarah is wondering: What next?

The Aging of AmericaAmericans are aging more than ever before in

our history, and that’s a good thing. Due to advances in the field of medicine, the average lifespan has in-creased dramatically. In 2012, there were 43.1 million Americans over the age of 65. That’s an increase of 7.6 million, or 21%, since 2002.

According to the Administration for Community Living, about one out of every seven Americans is considered an “older” American. The demographic that’s increasing fastest is the 85-plus population, which is expected to grow from 5.9 million in 2012 to 14.1 million in 2040.

Clearly, the population of elderly Americans is growing rapidly. And the field of geriatric health and personal care will undoubtedly increase as well.

Just like Sarah, there are millions of Americans to-day who are either caring for their elderly parents or

worrying about them. This has become the new reality for a generation of baby boomers who are reaching retirement age themselves. Many are drowning in a sea of choices and alternatives, confused and baffled by the field of eldercare. They’re wondering how best to accommodate their parents’ needs and who they can reach out to for help.

Fortunately, there are plenty of choices, and lots of experts and professionals to turn to for help.

Warning SignsNot everybody is lucky enough to have the warn-

ing bell ring as obviously as it did for Sarah. But there are other signs to look out for when determining whether mom or dad is coping with daily life.

Is there a marked change in your loved one’s eat-ing habits? Are you noticing an unmistakable sudden weight loss or gain? Is she neglecting her cleanliness and hygiene? Wearing stained or dirty clothing?

Are you noticing piles of unopened mail when you visit? Scorched or burnt pots and pans? An apparent-ly unsanitary home? Inappropriate social behavior? A sudden decrease or increase in phone calls? Forgetful-ness? A series of missed appointments? Confusion? Burns or bruises from injuries or falls? Any of these may be a symptom that it’s time to consider a new lifestyle arrangement.

Alternatively, a change in health status or a newly discovered medical issue can also mean it’s time to think about making a change.

Outfitting the HomeAccording to most experts, the best option is to

keep mom or dad at home, changing only the dy-namics of the household arrangement. According to

Role ReversalWhen Children Need to Parent their Parents

BY MALKY LOWINGER

JUST WHEN SHE THOUGHT SHE COULD RELAX AND

ENJOY THE NACHAS OF HER BEAUTIFUL

GRANDCHILDREN, SHE FINDS HERSELF WORRYING CONSTANTLY ABOUT HER

MOTHER.

91TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

97Dorian Froelich, director of Social Work and Admis-sions at Gurwin Jewish Nursing and Rehab Center, “The goal is always to keep our loved ones in as least a restrictive of an environment as possible. If the se-nior is able to continue to live in their own home (or perhaps your home), look at home care.”

A thriving industry of household aids can make a tremendous difference. These include grab bars and chairs for the shower and bath, ramps and railings for staircases and steps, as well as electric stair lifts. There’s even an electronic gimmick that helps the elderly rise from a sitting position in their favorite chair.

Health aides and home companions can provide a watchful eye and the necessary peace of mind, es-pecially for children who live quite a distance away. They can be hired part-time or 24 hours a day, de-pending on the needs of the elderly. Froelich makes a distinction between skilled care and custodial care. “Skilled care needs include PT/OT, higher level wound care, I-Vs, etc. Custodial care includes care that keeps the individual safe and secure throughout the day. This includes bathing, dressing, transferring, and feeding.”

Bringing Bubby HomeIdeally, there’s no more powerful expression of

pure kibbud av v’eim than bringing the elderly par-ent into one’s own home. And yet it’s not as simple as it seems. For many families, the dynamics of the home – rowdy children, outspoken teenagers, weary spouses – won’t allow for the added stress of an el-derly parent moving in. Others simply don’t have the physical space to accommodate Bubby.

But for those who can do it, bringing Bubby into the home can be a wonderful learning experience for all. To ease the burden, Adult Day Care programs are available which can provide respite for several hours a day. There are social programs which “of-fer socialization and stimulation in a safe and secure environment,” says Froehlich. And there are also medical programs which also provide medications and medical services. A program for those suffering from Alzheimer’s is also available.

Assisted LivingSometimes living at home is just not an option but

mom’s not really ready for a nursing home, either. What’s the solution? Many families are discovering that Assisted Living provides the perfect answer.

An Assisted Living community offers indepen-dent living in a supervised setting, but the options and level of care varies. Residents live in indepen-dent rental properties, which range anywhere from a tiny studio to a lavish penthouse. The facility usually provides meals, laundry service, medication distribu-tion, nurses on call, and entertainment. Assisted Liv-ing can be an excellent choice for the elderly person who has recently lost a spouse and can’t manage on their own at home.

There are a selection of kosher Assisted Living facilities in the New York area that have shuls, offer shiurim, and full Shabbos and yom tov programs. It’s not quite home, but it can be a viable and practical alternative.

Nursing HomesWhen all else fails, skilled long term care fa-

cilities can provide care to residents who meet es-tablished medical criteria. According to one study,

there are currently over 1.3 million Americans living in over 15,000 nursing homes across America. So it may be comforting to know that there are plenty of others who are in the same situation as you.

Do extensive research when deciding on nurs-ing homes. Network with others. Speak to family, friends, or neighbors who are in similar circumstanc-

es. Discuss the nursing home options with your par-ents’ doctors. Consider the quality of care, the level of independent living, the sanitary conditions, the dietary options, the concern and support of the staff, and the safety and security of the residents.

Once the choice is made and your loved one is admitted, make sure to visit often. Says one expert, “When staff members see the family is constantly in-terested and engaged in the care of their loved one, it makes a very big difference.”

How Do We Pay For All This?Children of aging parents are often shocked to

discover that they find themselves acting as an ac-countant, an attorney, a secretary, and a medical ad-vocate all rolled into one. Navigating the complex

web of healthcare coverage is daunting. That’s why it’s important to consult with a professional who is familiar with the Medicaid, Medicare, and Long Term Health Care systems.

Elimelech Knoblech is a Medicaid consultant who assists the elderly and their families in making these decisions. He explains eligibility requirements and is familiar with the laws that govern individual states. While income limits are low, there are recom-mendations that can help. “There’s a very common program,” he says, “called Pooled Income Trust.” That system allows a Medicaid-approved trust to

pay one’s grocery, rent, tax, utility or other bills from one’s “excess” income. “It’s an excellent program,” he adds.

Long Term Care Insurance plans are designed to cover long term services and supports in a variety of settings. They are gaining in popularity as middle-aged couples look towards the future and decide that they prefer not to burden their children financially with their future care. The costs of insurance vary widely depending on one’s age, location, physical condition, and other factors. And there are many choices of plans. Speaking to an honest and repu-table professional can help clear up some of the mys-tery behind these options.

Having “The Talk”While giving up the car keys or hiring an aide

may seem like a reasonable solution to you, it can be emotionally difficult for the elderly. Nobody wants to be reminded that they are getting older and more feeble. And certainly, nobody wants to see their in-dependence compromised.

So how does one approach the subject? And when is the best time to discuss these changes with the elderly parent who is still cognitively aware and able? Froehlich points out that it’s best to discuss these options before one finds themselves in a cri-sis situation. “Do your homework and take a look at some facilities before they are needed,” she sug-gests. “This could help take away the negative reac-tion when reality hits.”

The AARP offers suggestions on how to bring up this uncomfortable subject. For some people, it’s best to do this during a casual conversation. “As an entry point,” they write, “you could mention your own retirement planning and ask for their advice. As they advise you, you can also discuss their own fu-ture plans.”

Others may prefer a formal family meeting which include all or most of the siblings. In this case, make sure to plan ahead about what issues need to be raised. Remember to remain respectful, calm, and caring at all times.

Knoblech says it’s essential for couples to be-come familiar with the laws well before they will need to deal with them. “At the age of sixty,” he suggests, “they should start speaking to an Eldercare attorney and discuss their options. Too many people start reaching out for help when it’s too late. It’s al-ways best to be well informed and forewarned.”

Kibbud Av V’EimIt’s a mitzvah that never ends, a responsibility to

our parents that lasts a lifetime. Yet, as the years go by, the mitzvah of kibbud av v’eim can seem more challenging than ever.

In Artscroll’s My Father, My Mother, and Me, Ye-hudis Samet explores these challenges. She quotes the sefer Meah Shearim about the difficulties of the “sunset years.”

They who were once the rulers and providers of their home are now dependent on others and must turn to their offspring to sustain them. Though they are needy, they are ashamed and cannot bring them-selves to ask… It is up to sons and daughters to ease their parents discomfort by not only attending to their needs but even anticipating them.

Nobody knows what the future will bring. Let’s hope our aging population can face tomorrow with dignity, serenity, and good health.

“WHEN STAFF MEMBERS SEE THE FAMILY IS

CONSTANTLY INTERESTED AND ENGAGED IN THE CARE OF THEIR LOVED ONE, IT MAKES A VERY

BIG DIFFERENCE.”

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

92

BACK FOR OUR SECOND SUMMER!

ww

w.s

an

db

ox

-mark

eti

ng

.co

m

LOCATION: North Woodmere

HOURS: Mon to Thu: 9:15-3:15 | Friday 9:15-12:30

PRICE: Half summer $550 Full summer $1,100

AGES: Boys and girls, ages 2, 3, 4 & 5 Going into Playgroup, Nursery, Kindergarten and Pre1–A

ASK ABOUT OUR SPECIAL LUNCH OPTION!

FOR AN EXCITING SUMMER OF ACTIVITIES AND FUN, WHERE

EVERY CHILD GETS TO SHINE!

JOIN US...

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND AN APPLICATION:

Email campfunshine2014@gmail.com

or contact Sari Schwartz at 516.655.7855

or Baila Halpern at 516.225.4521

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL:

$1,050 UNTIL JANURARY 15

93TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS JANUARY 1STApplicants after this date are not guaranteed an interview

For an application please call the Yeshiva office at 718-327-7600 or email yfr1@verizon.net

YESHIVA OF FAR ROCKAWAY

We thank all those who attended the Open House, and expressed interest in the Yeshiva.

REGISTRATION

DEADLINE

APPROACHING

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

94

Thank you for your generous support in 2014.We would like to share some highlights with you:

954 Individuals

have received professional services

in our Clinical Services division. 620 Families received guidanceand support on a regular basis throughour Case Management team.

Our staff has saved community members over$275,000at rehab facilities.

In collaboration with

Gruss Life Monument Funds

schools have utilized

our School Based

Services Program.Our staff has conducted 105 workshops for teens, young adults, and parents.

Over 172 youth have

come to The Lounge on any

given week.

516-371-3250 ext 5 • www.madraigos.org 936 Broadway, Woodmere, NY 11598

CLINICAL SERVICES24 Hour Support LineAssessments/ReferralsCase ManagementCrisis InterventionSupport Groups

COMMUNITY RESOURCESCommunity EducationEducational Enhancement Job Placement School Based Services

YOUTH PROGRAMSHoliday RetreatsThe LoungeYear Round Events

Please have our organization in mind as you make your end of the year donations.

11

For more information about sponsorship opportunities please contact Rabbi Josh Zern at jzern@madraigos.org

Over 167 people participated in our weekly support groups.

Clinical Services 954 16% increaseCase Management 620 48% increaseSchool Based Services 11 22% increaseLounge 172 38% increase Support Groups 167 132% increase Workshops 105 Our staff has conducted 105 workshops for teens, young adults, and parents.Money saved $275,000 We have negotiated a savings of $275,000 for community members at rehab facilities.

95TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Although it is quite obvious that poor role-modeling is definite-ly harmful for a child’s chi-

nuch, another type of negative behavior has an even more detrimental effect on children: hypocrisy, when parents don’t practice what they preach. Hypocritical behavior teaches children that they can choose to do whatever pleases and suits them, as the expression goes, “Ish kol hayashar b’einav ya’aseh” — each per-son can do whatever is right in his eyes.

This is because contradictory behavior sends a clear message to children that their parents are insincere about their own teachings and ideals. Once the children see their parents’ insincerity, they will cease to take seriously any of their parents’ teachings.

When a young boy was asked by one of his rabbeim how he would be mechanech his own children, he re-plied, “I’m going to preach olam haba, but practice olam hazeh! This is how my parents conduct themselves – con-stantly preaching the importance of spiritual matters, but living a life of ma-terialism.”

Moreover, hypocritical parents may even rationalize transgressing issurim. For example, parents will teach a child the severity of getting angry or speaking lashon hara, but will be quick to anger when being disturbed at the wrong time or speak lashon hara when angered by a neighbor. The following anecdote ex-plains this:

A child returned from school with a note from his rebbi stating: “Your son

was caught lying in class. Please speak to him about the severity of this aveira.”

The father sat down with his son and began to patiently explain to him the whole subject of lying. Suddenly the phone rang, and as his son was going to answer it, the father told him, “If that’s Yankel calling, tell him that I’m not home.”

Can you imagine the impact this re-mark must have had on his son? The fa-ther has done something worse than just

undoing his whole lecture and causing his child not to take the transgression of lying seriously. He has caused his child to lose all confidence in him and his chinuch. If the father can rational-ize falsehood right after explaining the severity of it, what should prevent his son from copying his father’s attitude in other areas like stealing, cheating, hurting another’s feelings and speaking lashon hara? In this incident, the father is sending a clear message to his son: when a necessity arises, one can be le-nient even with a Torah prohibition. What can be more detrimental to a child than feeding him this concept?

Thus, hypocritical behavior results in parents subtly impressing on their children’s tender minds their insincerity towards Torah, yiras shamayim and ful-filling mitzvos. It is as if they are telling their children, “Don’t take my words seriously because I don’t follow them myself!”

“I’m Different”Sometimes, parents have an atti-

tude that what they tell their children doesn’t apply to themselves. There-fore, when questioned by their chil-dren about an action or behavior that doesn’t correspond to their teachings, they will reply, “I’m different because I am a parent.” This again shows in-sincerity — it teaches the child that he is free to do as he pleases once he be-comes a parent. However, sometimes a child will not wait until he becomes a parent to “be different.” Instead he will want to be different during his adoles-cent years when he is less dependent on his parents and feels that he has a good chance to succeed in rebelling.

This is illustrated by the story of a young teenage boy who slowly started to go off the derech. Eventually, he left yeshiva, ceased to be Torah observant and started to become part of a group of other family dropouts and delinquents.

He went further and further away from Torah observance (and normalcy) until he reached a point where he was about to enter the world of drugs. Then, he suddenly came to his senses and be-came aware that he was on the path to self-destruction and reaching a point of no return. He immediately abandoned

his ruinous lifestyle, returned to the yeshiva and in the course of time was back to normal. Although the cause of his decline was not known for many years, he eventually disclosed it to his rebbi before his wedding.

“I know that you, among others, are probably wondering why I sudden-ly stopped being observant a few years ago. The truth of the matter is that it be-gan much earlier — when I was a six-year-old child. One day, my father told me that it is not proper to have a chup (nice hairdo with a front wave) and that I must keep my hair short. I turned to him and innocently asked, ‘But Tat-ty, you have a chup with a nice amount of hair, why can’t I do the same?’ My father replied, ‘It’s different because I am a father.’ His answer totally con-fused me, and made me very angry at him. When he subsequently made ad-ditional demands on me that he didn’t keep himself, it set off a burning rage within me to rebel. However, I was too young to do anything drastic. This an-ger remained with me until I reached my teens, and at that point, I rebelled because I felt that I could succeed.”

Main point to work and focus on for the next week:> Parents should be careful that their own actions don’t contradict their

teachings. Therefore, if parents want to train their child in a particular trait, such as not to get angry, not to lie or speak lashon hara, or to daven with more kavana, they should ensure that they are careful not to transgress these things on their own.

Rabbi Chaim Morgenstern

Parenting Today

Chinuch Workshops: Practical Torah Guidelines and Strategies for Achieving Successful Chinuch

Rabbi Morgenstern does family counseling and lectures extensively in Israel and abroad on shalom bayis, chinuch habanim, family communication, shidduchim, dating and personal growth, and has produced a popular CD series on these topics. His articles on these topics and Jewish hashkafa have appeared internationally in Jewish newspapers and magazines. For more information or to schedule a lecture, contact Rabbi Morgenstern in Israel at 952-236-4197 or at rabbi@toras-chaim.org. You can also request to receive his weekly Parsha Pearls and chinuch articles by e-mail. Please include your name in the request.

Articles are dedicated to the memory of his parents, Reb Yerachmiel Yisroel Nesanel z”l and Leah Gittel a”h. T.N.T.B.H

“When he subsequently made additional demands on me that he didn’t keep himself, it set off a burning rage within me to rebel.”

Workshop 4Role Modeling – Practice What You Preach

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

9690

In an interview, President Obama said he recently deejayed a small dance party at the White House. Obama has a lot in common with deejays. He takes requests and then completely ignores them.- Jimmy Fallon

The White House announced plans to begin normalizing relations with Cuba — this as we’re awkwardizing relations with Russia. – Craig Ferguson

President Obama recently said that his day is all about politics, so in the mornings he likes to watch ESPN. So if you get the feeling he’s repeating himself every half hour, that’s where he learned it from. – Jimmy Fallon

KFC in Japan will continue its tradition of offering customers a [holiday dinner], which includes chicken, wine, cake, and champagne. For no extra charge, you can tell the cashier how you didn’t see your life ending up like this. – Jimmy Fallon

You probably heard about the big prisoner swap with Cuba. A man who has been incarcerated in Havana for five years is back home in the United States. And we sent them some prisoners. The deal still has to be approved by President Obama and Bud Selig. – David Letterman

Who hasn’t thought about being lifted up by balloons in the sky?- Eric Roner of Northern California who used homemade devices and 90 large helium balloons to lift himself 8,000 feet into the air

Today President Obama announced that the U.S. is working to improve its relationship with Cuba in an effort to normalize full diplomatic relations. For instance, today they released one of our prisoners and in return we sent back one of their shortstops. - Jimmy Fallon

I went to Target. I thought I was undercover. I have to tell you something about this trip, though. No one knew that was me because a woman actually walked up to me, right, I was in the detergent aisle and she said — I kid you not — she said, “Excuse me, I just have to ask you something.” And I thought, cover’s blown. She said, “Can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent?” I kid you not! And the only thing she said — I reached up because she was short — and I reached up and pulled it down and she said, “Well, you didn’t have to make it look so easy.” That was the interaction. I felt so good. She had no idea who I was. – Michelle Obama in 2013 telling David Letterman about her incognito trip to Target

I tell this story – I mean, even as the First Lady – during that wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn’t see me as the First Lady, she saw me as someone who could help her. Those kinds of things happen in life. So it isn’t anything new.- Michelle Obama in a recent interview with People magazine discussing an instance of subtle racism which took place when she took her incognito trip to Target

A new report says ISIS is trying to recruit professionals like doctors, engineers, and accountants. Sorry, kids, even ISIS says they’re not hiring liberal arts majors.- Conan O’Brien

Jeb Bush announced today on the Internet that he may run for president. What is Jeb Bush’s full name? Jebediah? Jebaroni? – Craig Ferguson Jeb Bush announced on the Internet that he is exploring a 2016 bid for president. And to increase his chances, he’s going to run as just “Jeb.” He said, “My last name? It’s not important.”- Seth Myers

There’s blood on many hands tonight. That blood starts on the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor. – PBA President Pat Lynch after two NYC police officers were killed last weekend

We’re all in this together.- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to a group of police officers after the slaying

No we’re not!- One of the officer’s reply to the mayor

“Say What?”

Compiled by Nate Davis

Notable Quotes

97TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

91

A new poll about the 2016 election shows that just 27 percent of voters would be likely to support Chris Christie. And only 4 percent of chairs.- Seth Myers

This shows we can resolve our differences without renouncing a single one of our principles.- Cuban President Raul Castro after President Obama agreed to normalize relations with Cuba

About ten days before his death, Rabin and I attended a black-tie dinner together at the State Department, where he presented me with the United Jewish Appeal’s Isaiah Award. As everyone knows, Rabin had been a soldier most of his life, and so he was never comfortable wearing fancy clothes. In fact, I had read that when David Ben-Gurion sent him on his first-ever diplomatic mission in 1949, he didn’t even own a tie. Somebody had to give him one, tie it, and then loosen it, so he would never have to learn how to tie one himself. In 1995, just before our black-tie dinner, he discovered that he’d only brought a straight tie, not a bow tie as the occasion warranted. We borrowed a bow tie from one of my staff, and my last memory of our time together was me straightening his bow tie, with him good-naturedly kvetching the whole time about having to wear it. – Bill Clinton in a recent interview with Yediot Achronot about Yitzchak Rabin

The White House will ease diplomatic relations with Cuba. When asked how he’ll celebrate, Obama said, “Smoke a Cuban cigar, no I mean smoke a regular cigarette — oh, I’ll just have some water, I guess, I don’t know.” - Jimmy Fallon

Oh, nice!- President Obama when someone handed him a Cuban cigar at the White House’s Chanukah party

Russia has named Vladimir Putin its man of the year for the 15th year in a row. Putin got 143 million votes and the guy he was up against got killed in a mysterious boating accident. The boat was in a warehouse. – Conan O’Brien

Allahu Akbar! -A Muslim terrorist screaming as he plowed his car into pedestrians on a crowded street in France

This is absolutely not an act of terrorism.- A French official after the attack, making the claim that the attacker was mentally deranged and was not acting in the name of radical Islam

A Salvation Army bell ringer in Virginia was injured when an 87-year-old man accidentally ran him over. He was taken to the hospital once the applause died down.- Seth Myers

The DPRK has already launched the toughest counteraction. Nothing is more serious miscalculation than guessing that just a single movie production company is the target of this counteraction. Our target is all the citadels of the U.S. imperialists who earned the bitterest grudge of all Koreans. Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism.- A statement by the North Korean state-run newspaper after President Obama accused North Korea of hacking into Sony

Be very careful if you’re out shopping because of the sidewalk vendors. They’re selling inexpensive items — counterfeit watches, counterfeit handbags, actual Knicks tickets. – David Letterman

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference today that it was too early to decide if he will run for re-election in 2018. But he says it’s not too early to decide how much he wins by. – Seth Myers

The U.S. is re-establishing relations with Cuba. But before President Obama can lift the embargo, he will need approval from the Republican-controlled Congress — or as Republicans who called Obama said, “Close, but no cigar.”- Jimmy Fallon

Graceland is going to auction off Elvis Presley’s first-ever recordings from 1953 — or as people now coming to America from Cuba put it, “Whoa! What’s that hot new sound?”- Jimmy Fallon

The Dalai Lama said there should be no more Dalai Lamas after his death. That’s particularly bad news for his son, Steve Lama.- Conan O’Brien

President Obama announced yesterday that he’s pardoning 12 convicted felons. Political experts say the move could have huge implications for your fantasy football teams.- Seth Myers

Everyone’s weighing in on Sony’s cancellation of “The Interview.” Mitt Romney suggested the film should be released online for free. Donald Trump said the studio has no courage or guts. Chris Christie said, “Either way, I’m having a large bucket of popcorn.” – Jimmy Fallon

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

98

They look so normal, don’t they? You know who I mean. That family over there. You

know them. Or you thought you knew them. The children do well in school; they’re not in trouble. They’re polite and respectful. The parents smile in shul and it seems like things are fine. You had that boy in your class. He was sensitive, had a good head on his shoulders.

It would be so foolish to think that the hurt folks are the ones on the fringes of society, the runaways, the ones off the derech and on the street. Those kids are surely suffering too—but they’re not the only ones. It is altogether possible for one person in a family to be a tyrant behind closed

doors and a charmer to the world. Then the other spouse and the chil-

dren are stuck trying to cope while also trying to be normal. I mean who

really wants to look crazy in the eyes of the world? Only people who run out of ways to cope. Some of those peo-ple do an amazing job straddling both the crazy world they come from and

the outside world they want to fit into. You’d never know the torment they feel inside.

The ones who get through it pretty

much intact are sturdy, resilient, sen-sitive and kind. And the good news is that Hashem told us that He would only punish sinners for three or four generations. Those who love Him would be blessed for a thousand generations – that’s nice, indeed – but in His mercy, families of the ones who mess up get a chance to get on their feet in just a few generations. So the beautiful thing is that, scars notwithstanding, many children from such homes go on to raise happy, emotionally healthy, loving children.

I think about fam-ilies like that on days like this. It’s Chanukah and it seems that the world is full of gaiety. People are out with their children celebrating; school’s out and the feeling is festive. But oth-er children aren’t necessarily in that same happy frame of mind. There’s yelling going on and doors slamming even while the candles burn.

If I could offer one suggestion to help those people heal, it would be not to assume anything about what goes on behind their closed doors. Don’t take for granted that they are happy or that their families behave civilly or normally. Because that isolates them even more. They’re never going to tell you, of course. But if you could get past making those automatic assump-tions, you might pick up a slight wince near the corner of an eye or a quick

intake of breath as you make a casual statement.

And you see, once you put your assumptions aside, you open yourself up to the possibility of experiencing another person’s reality. While that might be somewhat painful for you, in doing that, your friend is no longer alone carrying an unbearable burden. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised that the children who were able to escape and go on to build beautiful, healthy families of their own could do so be-cause they had people in their lives who were open to who they really were.

We were not meant to have shal-low relationships. Making space for someone to be who she or he really

is—crazy family and all—may be a bigger gift than you realize. You may be giving the gift of emotional heal-ing.

Dr. Deb Hirschhorn, a Marriage & Family Therapist and best-selling author of The Healing Is Mutual: Marriage Empower-ment Tools to Rebuild Trust and Respect—Together, is proud to announce that read-ers of The Jewish Home will receive a $50 discount on every visit to her Woodmere office. Attend the Food For Thought lec-tures at Traditions Restaurant in Lawrence on Tuesdays at 12:30 PM. (There is a love-ly optional lunch menu for $12 cash.) Any questions, call 646-54-DRDEB or check out her website at http://drdeb.com. All stories in Dr. Deb’s articles are fabricated.

Deb Hirschhorn, Ph.D.

Dr. Deb

Children/Teens/Adults

Individualized ProgramsPrivate Diet CounselingAll Medical ConditionsNO Drugs

NO Diet DrinksNO Packaged FoodsWe don’t sell anything!

NO Pills

Personal Menu Planning

LOSE 10-20-30 POUNDSIN A MONTH!

Oakhurst732.663.0222

Woodmere516.569.6400

Brooklyn718.998.8898

weightnomoredietcenter.com

WEIGHT NO MORESM

DIET CENTERNo one does what we do!

with clients nationwide and in Israel.Workforce Weight LossSM Programs customized for business.

SKYPESM

Emotional HealingPart II

There’s yelling going on and doors slamming even while the candles burn.

99TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

100

Madraigos Basketball Tournament

Sunday January 4th 4:00pm

@ Aviator Sports and Events Center3159 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11234

5-on-5 Tournament Basketball, 20 minute games

$85 per player (6 players per team)

Basketball Tournament

Sunday January 4th 20154:00 pm Registration

5:00 pm Tip-OffTrophy presentation and raffle at the end of the tournament

$85 per player (6 players per team)General Admission: $10

20 minute games

Games will be streamed live with a color commentator and recorded online!

To register or for information on becoming a sponsor,

please contact Rabbi Josh Zern or Effie Hoffman at

events@madraigos.org or call 516-371-3250 ext. 5

Register online:

HoopsForThem.org

AVIATOR Sports and Events Center

3159 Flatbush AvenueBrooklyn, NY 11234

PRESENTS THE

101TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Kids & AdultsKids & AdultsKids & Adults

Private PartiesPrivate PartiesPrivate Parties BirthdaysBirthdaysBirthdays

Bat MitzvahsBat MitzvahsBat Mitzvahs CampsCampsCamps SchoolsSchoolsSchools

MC & Party WarmerMC & Party WarmerMC & Party Warmer

NAZ 646-320-8008

NaZumba10@gmail.com

Crazy Fun & Exercise!

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

10298 In The KitchenVictor Schoenfeld

Ingredients2.4 lbs osso bucco cut into 0.7 inches thick slices 2 smoked one half goose breasts/duck (about 600 g),

cut crosswise into ½ inch slices 2.2 lbs sausage (I use beef/lamb/pistachio sausage, locally produced),

cut into 4 inches lengths1.1 lbs large dry white beans, soaked for about 12 hours in water1 whole head of garlic, separated into whole peeled cloves3.3 lbs new red potatoes, washedEggs (as many as you can fit in, try one per person)4 onions, chopped2 shallots, thinly sliced1 cup pickled pearl onions, whole, drained3 ½ ounces pearl barley¼ cup decent red wine for deglazingBeef stockSalt, pepper and smoked paprika to taste

PreparationBrown the slices of goose in a large, heavy bottomed skillet (you can do this di-

rectly in the Dutch oven, but I find it easier this way). You need no oil, as the goose fat quickly renders itself. Set aside.

Brown the osso buco in the goose fat. Set aside. Brown the sausage in the same pan, set aside. Add the onions and shallots and sauté in the remaining fat, until lightly browned. Add a bit of olive oil if necessary. Set aside.

Deglaze the pan with the red wine, then transfer liquid to Dutch oven.

Make a thin layer at the bottom of the Dutch oven with a third of the beans and onion and barley, with a sprinkling of the spices. Add a layer of half of the osso buco, sausage, eggs and potatoes. Add anoth-er layer of the beans, etc. Add another layer of the meat, etc. Finish with the remaining beans, etc. Depending on the size of the osso buco slices, eggs and potatoes, it could be a challenge to fit every-thing in. Have an additional casserole on hand for the overflow, if any.

Fill with liquid until there’s about 1 inch of liquid covering the ingredients. If you have enough beef stock, use that. If the beef stock is concentrated, use to taste and then use water to come to desired level. If you do not have stock, use water. Bring to a boil and remove scum. Cover with lid. If the lid does not fit tightly, there is a danger of the cholent drying out and burning overnight. You can add a doubled strip of aluminum foil between the Dutch oven and lid to help seal.

Put overnight in a 230°F oven.Serve to the guests, and hear “oohs” and “ahhs.” Enjoy. Take a nap.

Victor Schoenfeld is the head winemaker at Yarden-Golan Heights Winery.

A ccording to the great Claudia Rodin (author of The Book of Jewish Food, The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, among many others) the origins of the classic French Cassoulet and

the traditional Jewish cholent are intermingled, and my version is a combination of the two. I have yet to meet someone who did not like this, even those who “don’t like cholent.” I make this cholent in a huge (and very heavy) cast iron Dutch oven (8 quart), which fits nicely into our 90 cm (36 in) oven, but the recipe can easily be split into two smaller more manageable casseroles, as long as you can fit them into your oven, or halved.

The marrow bones of the osso buco add richness, as does the fat from the goose breast, which is a nod to my father’s Hungarian origins. I don’t like the “gooey” effect of too much pearl barley, but a little adds nice texture. The beef stock adds to the overall very rich umami experi-ence. I like large white beans, reminiscent of cassoulet, as they hold their shape and become luscious with long cooking. Another nod to cas-soulet is the addition of sausage.

Wine Recommendation: the bright Yarden Sauvignon Blanc or rich Yarden Chardonnay could offer a nice contrast, but I generally go for a lighter red such as Yarden Pinot Noir. Yarden Syrah also makes a good pair as the natural smoky element of the wine connects to the subtle smokiness of the cholent that comes from the goose breast and paprika.

We like to have a mixed green salad along with the cholent. This reci-pes serves over eight guests.

Cholent Victor Style

103TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

104 In The KitchenChef Shaul Silverstein

Ingredients1 medium butternut squash1 large Spanish onion, cubed2 medium carrots, sliced at a half inch3 stalks of celery, sliced into 1 inch

slices1 medium Macintosh apple, cored,

peeled and quartered2 cups cole slaw mix or shredded

cabbage1 small zucchini, julienned (1/3 cup)Sour cream for garnish2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)Kosher salt and white pepper to taste

PreparationPreheat oven to 375°F.Slice butternut squash lengthwise.

Place on baking sheet covered with parchment paper for one hour until soft. When cool enough, remove skin and seeds.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil; low-er to a simmer. Cube butternut squash. Place squash, apple, onion, carrot and celery slices into water. Add pumpkin pie spice and 1 teaspoon vanilla, if us-ing. Add more water, if necessary. There should be at least two inches of water on top of the vegetables.

When carrots are tender, transfer vegetables to a food processor or blender and puree.

Sprinkle cabbage lightly with salt and sauté until translucent. (Try not to brown the cabbage.)

Return puréed mixture to pot. Add cabbage and zucchini while extremely hot and then add salt and pepper to taste

Note: Optionally, you can use chick-en stock instead of water. The stock will add additional flavor to the soup.

Shaul, a veteran chef, runs the koshermet blog on Facebook (Facebook.com/koshermet) and at koshermet.com. For inquiries, Shaul can be reached at chefshaul@gmail.com.

Butternut Squash Cabbage SoupWhen the cold winter months are here, everyone loves a cozy, hot bowl

of soup. Butternut squash soup definitely fills that void. As much as I like the flavors of the soup, I would always like something a bit different for texture, so I decided to try a bit of sautéed cabbage and julienned warmed zucchini. This recipe is what I came up with.

105TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Early Intervention ServicesFor children birth - 3 years with special needs

ServicesProvidedl Evaluationsl Feeding Therapy l Special Educationl Nutrition Counseling l Service Coordinationl Family Support/Counseling l Speech/Language Therapyl Physical & Occupational Therapy l ABA Program – Center & Home ServicesRoutines Based Interventions & Collaborative Coaching

TO REFER YOUR CHILD TO THE EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM CALL 311.

This Early Intervention Program (EIP) is a public program for children under the age of three who are either suspected of having or at risk

for developmental delays or disabilities. EIP is funded by NYS and NYC. All EIP services are provided at no cost to parents. Health insurance may be used for approved services. A child’s

eligibility for the program can be determined only by state-approved evaluators under contract, and all services must be authorized

by the NYC Early Intervention Program.

For more information about CHALLENGE: T. 718.851.3300 W. challenge-ei.com

SERVING

FAR

ROCKAWAY

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

106

Publisher's Report

Yaakov SerlePublisher of the Queens Jewish Link, celebrating its 3rd Anniversary

Words of Welcome

Rabbi Shlomo HochbergRabbi of Young Israel of Jamaica Estates Introductory Remarks

Melinda KatzQueens Borough President Guest Speaker

Dennis Weinstein Director of Advertising,Touro College and University System

Emcee

Yaniv Meirov

Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2015Time: 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM

Location: Young Israel of Jamaica Estates83-10 188th Street., Jamaica Estates, NY 11423

The Special Networking Session

will be from7PM-8PM

DeliciousBuffet Catered by

Raffle Drawing sponsored

by Schwartz Bros.- Jeffer Memorial

Chapels

You are cordially invited to a Special Networking Event by the

JEWISH BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT a networking group

and the

Director of the CHAZAQ organization

For more information and reservations,e-mail: QueensJewishLink@gmail.com

$15 admission (covers expense of the buffet) Y.I.J.E.

107TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

After World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. was the only major mil-itary power to not have its infra-

structure destroyed during the war. This meant that they were able to build ma-chines and weapons without abatement. Included in this was the continual build-ing of aircraft carrier which proved that it was master of the seas. Slowly, other countries, with the noticeable absence of Germany and Japan who had their militaries disbanded, began building carriers that proved to be vital in the next half century.

A major development in aircraft af-ter World War II was the invention of the jet. The first jet plane to land on a carrier was in December 1945 by the British. The plane was a de Havilland Vampire but there were some issues and a new type of carrier was needed. Soon the British launched the HMS Triumph which was the first angled decked car-rier. This allowed more runway space

and the ability of the plane to take off again if it missed the arrester cables. (A carrier plane has a hook underneath that caught onto one of a few cables that stop it from going overboard.) Another British innovation was to use steam catapults to give planes momentum to take off from the deck. The “ski jump” ramp was also put on British carriers and several carriers worldwide use this way to launch aircraft.

It was the Americans who came up with what was probably the most im-portant upgrade in carrier design. Nuclear-powered carriers gave them unlim-ited range as refueling was no longer an issue. As of to-day, only the twelve Ameri-

can carriers and the French Charles de Gaulle are powered by nuclear reactors; every other carrier uses conventional fuel sources.

During WWII, carriers performed a variety of tasks including some for which they weren’t to

carry out. This included a successful American 1942 raid on Tokyo by land-based aircraft flying off the USS Wasp. After the war, these types of missions weren’t used but they still were need-ed. The carrier fleet was downsized but still played a vital role in the Korean War. The HMAS Sydney, originally a British ship named the Terrible, was the only Australian carrier to see action and during the Vietnam War was converted into a transport ship.

American carriers saw widespread use during the Vietnam War as many ground support missions were launched from their decks. Twenty-one carriers

were used to strike the Com-munist Vietnamese and Lt. Duke Cunningham became the Navy’s only post-WWII ace. He had five kills in his F-4 Phantom that flew off of the USS Constellation.

India has had her three carriers span over a half a cen-tury. Her first carrier was the INS Vikrant that saw action in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. Her aircraft struck important enemy harbors and didn’t al-

low Pakistani ships out to sea. Soon a submarine was sent to sink the Vikrant but it was sunk herself by an Indian destroyer. Not a single plane from the carrier was lost during the war that saw

an Indian victory and the creation of Bangladesh.

For ten weeks in 1982, British carri-ers were deployed to the South Atlantic to fight Argen-tinean forces in the Falkland Islands. Argen-tina had a car-rier, the Veinti-cino de Mayo, originally a Br i t i sh-bui l t Dutch carrier, covering the invasion. She backed down from a fight with British carriers, thus preventing the first battle of carriers since WWII. British carriers were used in strikes against enemy positions as well as in support missions.

Several other countries have one or two carriers each including Russia, Chi-na, Italy and Thailand. Russian crafts-manship has been underwhelming, to say the least. This was the case when India tried buying the carrier Vikrama-ditya originally named the Baku. India would pay just under a billion dollars for upgrades while the ship itself would be free. The one caveat was that it would be Russian firms doing the renovations and that proved to be disastrous. Besides the increase in costs—at least two and half times more than they agreed upon—it took almost ten years to finally hand it over to its rightful owners. The ship still has boiler troubles and lacks an air defense system. The Chinese have also purchased a Russian carrier of the same class and they too have seen problems

getting the ship to be operational.It should be noted that in addition

to aircraft carriers, there are also heli-copter landing ships. Most American

ships as well as many ships w o r l d w i d e have helipads that are vital for ground sup-port, medevac (medical evac-uation), search and rescue, and anti-sub mis-sions. How-ever, it is the

carriers that can support jets that are the important piece of a mission. American carriers have played major roles in the two Iraqi wars, the Afghani war and the War on Terror in general. Drones, pilot-less aircraft, now have the capabilities to fly off of carriers and have wreaked havoc on terrorists in Pakistan, Somalia and abroad.

The largest carriers by far are the 100,000 metric ton Nimitz class carriers in the American Navy. The two being built in the Gerald Ford class are to be just as big with even more capabilities. Unlike the previous “king of the seas,” the battleship which saw its demise in WWII, the carrier is here to stay. In a future article, we will hopefully com-plete our series on aircraft carriers with an article on its actual capabilities.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions.for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

Avi Heiligman

Aircraft Carriers Since World War II

Forgotten Heroes

The INS Vikrant, one of India’s three carriers

The Nimitz carriers are the largest ones in the world

The USS Enterprise is the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

108

How to Keep Your Baby’s Skin Smooth This Winter

David Elazar Simai, MD

Health & Fitness

Hand and body soaps will also remove the protective layer of oil that our bodies produce, leaving our skin more dry, cracked and itchy.

Dear Parents,As many of our readers have no-

ticed, their baby’s soft, cute and chub-by cheeks have roughened a bit. It is not a coincidence that the change has appeared in the past month as the temperature has gotten much cold-er. Amazingly, the largest organ in our body is not the heart, kidneys or brain. It is our skin. I have been re-minding many parents over the fall months that this change is imminent and have given them some useful tips to prevent and deal with the harsher weather.

If ignored or mishandled, the dry skin can turn into eczema. For readers unfamiliar with this condition, eczema

is a form of inflammation of the outer layer of skin known as the epidermis. Patients with eczema have extra sensi-tive nerves that make them feel much more itchy than regular people.

Causes of Dry Skin and EczemaGenetics – Eczema has a very

strong genetic component. Parents who have a history of eczema should be extra-careful with their children.

Soaps – We use soaps to remove grease from our dishes. Hand and body soaps will also remove the pro-tective layer of oil that our bodies produce, leaving our skin more dry, cracked and itchy.

Perfumes – Most perfumes are made of alcohol derivatives. Alcohol is one of the most drying and irritating agents available. Perfumes are found in many household products (i.e. deter-gents, creams, soaps).

Dry air – As you may have noticed, your throat may have been extra dry

when you woke up this week. This is because the heat in your house has re-moved much of the humidity from the air. The warm, dry air will also cause your skin to feel dry and irritated.

Food Allergies and Eczema – Here is a sensitive and controversial point. Many times skin or blood tests may show that a baby has a food al-lergy. However, the tests alone are not reliable, and may entirely miss the point when it comes to eczema. If you feel that your child’s skin has dramat-ically dried after eating a certain food, despite taking all the measures that I will mention below, then discuss this with your pediatrician. The best food allergy test for eczema is what reac-

tion you see at home. (Do not test your kids’ allergies at home if they have se-vere allergies to milk, peanuts or other foods.)

Over-Bathing – The warm wa-ter we bathe in dries our skin. This is especially true in the winter, because when we exit the shower, our warm and wet skin dries ever so quickly. In warmer, more humid climates, people shower up to three times daily (try the Caribbean islands for example).

My “Ounce of Prevention”Here are some tips I like to share

with parents. I will mention specific brands of household products, so I would like disclose to you that I have no association with any of these com-panies whatsoever.

Moisturizers – Try and moisturize your baby twice daily. You don’t have to be too generous with the moisturiz-er, just make sure that you thorough-ly rub it into the skin. Don’t leave a

layer on top of the skin – it serves no purpose other than greasing your clothes. Pay close at-tention to the cheeks, elbows, and the area be-hind the knees as these areas tend to be more prone to dryness.Moisturizer Brands I Recommend:

• Vaseline – Original only. The best bang for your buck.

• Aquaphor – A more expensive version of Vaseline.

• Eucerin – Original is the thickest and best.

*Please avoid all good smelling moisturizers; their perfume will dry and irritate the skin.

Bathing – Lower the temperature of your baby’s bath. Give your chil-dren shorter baths. Pat dry (don’t rub dry) their skin right after leaving the bath. Studies show that children with eczema may benefit from bathing but only if the parents moisturize the skin right after the bath.Hair & Body Washes I Recommend

• Eucerin Hair & Body Wash• Cetaphil Hair & Body Wash• Arbonne Hair & Body Wash

Humidity Control – To avoid over-drying at home:

• Set your home thermostat not higher than 70°F.

• Leave the window in your room slightly open (this may prevent the croupy cough as well).

Clothing – Make sure that your child’s sensitive skin does not come into contact with wool or polyester fab-rics. Try and dress your child in 100% cotton clothing. To stop your child from scratching, you may try to cov-er their hands with cotton mittens or socks. (I am sure you have seen infants wearing their socks on their hands.)

Early Treatment – I often mention the notorious vicious cycle that afflicts eczema patients: the dry and irritated skin makes the child feel itchy. The child scratches the skin, causing fur-

ther damage. The damaged, excoriat-ed skin loses its natural barrier to in-fection and loses its ability to lock in moisture. This brings on further irrita-tion and more itchy sensations.

Therefore, if you take the above mentioned precautions and you find your baby is still dry and itchy, see your pediatrician and get a prescrip-tion-strength cream that will stop the vicious cycle and alleviate the situation before it’s too late. Your doctor could use much milder creams if you present the rash early on. Once your child has started to scratch, the skin may require more potent medicine.

Hope you find these tips useful for you and your children!

Wishing you the best of health,David Elazar Simai, M.D.

Dr. David Simai is a Board Certified Pedi-atrician from the Five Towns. He is a full time attending in his own private practice since 2007 in Cedarhurst, New York. In addition, he is an Attending Physician at LIJ-Cohen Children’s Hospital, North-Shore Manhasset University Hospital and South Nassau Communities Hospital. He can be contacted for consultation at 516 374-2228 or via email at davidsimai@ya-hoo.com.

NOTE: name, gender, geographical area and other identifying information were deliberately altered in this article in order to protect the patient’s privacy. This article is not intended to help diagnose or treat any specific disease. Always consult your personal physician before diagnosing or treating yourself or your child for any of the above mentioned illnesses.

109TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

110

Frustration #4: Job Fairs

Rabbi Mordechai Kruger

Hire Education

His goal is to get an appointment to come in and talk—to crawl onto the company’s radar screen.

Like the Cross Bronx Expressway, the job hunter’s road is crowded, strewn with debris and dotted

with potholes. Small wonder that so many people get off at the nearest exit, go back home, and give up. And just like the New York driver, the job hunter has some devices that could be pretty helpful–if only he would know how to use them. One such device is the “Job Fair.”

Job fairs were created in the years following World War II. At that time, big corporations were rapidly expand-ing. Each year, they needed to hire thousands of new employees. For ex-ample, the carmakers needed truckloads of fresh engineers. So they would hold events at likely locations, like the En-gineering Building at the University of Michigan. Supply met demand, and lots of people went home happy. So helpful people today still use that model, bring-ing together lots of potential employers in a place where many job hunters can line up and try to make a first impression that is good enough to get invited for a real interview. Today, though, the fair will likely include employers in many fields, each looking to hire a small num-ber of people. So for any particular job hunter, there will really be only a few possibilities, and the chances of success are small. Studies show that even at the best job fairs, the odds are about 1 in 10.

A recipe for more frustration—unless…If you’ve been reading this column,

you may know where I’m going with this. The secret to job fair success de-pends on finding the companies there that are hiring people like you—and es-pecially the ones that aren’t. As we’ve said before, “not hiring” never means

more than “not hiring today.” Tomor-row? Who knows?

To understand how this frustration can be turned into an opportunity, we need to go back to the first meeting between our job hunter, an accountant named Beryl, and his job search coach (I can recommend a good one…). Beryl has been working for a small firm and wants to move to a corporate setting. As a first step, Beryl needs to know the next rule of effective job hunting (I think we’re up to #3): the goal of an effective job hunt is to speak to the person who can hire you, at a company you want to work for, and tell him why you are the best person to do his job. In order to

decide where he wants to work, Beryl calls a number of friends and old class-mates who work in corporate settings. He learns about the skills that are most in demand in each setting, the software being used, and the experiences that are most valued. Three of his friends work for large insurance companies;

their conversations reveal that Beryl’s skills, background, and values match up well with the accountants that insurance companies hire. Beryl’s search will be-gin by seeking connections to hiring manag-ers at insurance companies. He rewrites his re-sume to empha-size the points that he knows will be import-ant in any future interview. Then he hears about a job fair, and he decides to give it a shot.

Beryl arrives at the job fair and sees a line of candidates that stretches out the door. That doesn’t bother him, though, because he knows that most of those folks are there looking for job openings (unless they also have good job search coaches), but he’s looking for companies. Sure enough, there is a large table where MetLife is looking to hire insurance salesmen. Now, Beryl is no salesman, but MetLife is one of his target companies. So he waits un-til the line thins out, and then he walks up to the recruiter and makes his pitch. He explains that he has done some research on accounting at insurance companies, and he has also learned a lot about MetLife (because he read the brochures that are on the table, and he

spent a few minutes in a quiet corner on his smartphone, where a quick Goo-gle search found three recent articles in the Wall Street Journal—it doesn’t take much to be well informed). Beryl adds that he feels that his skills are just what MetLife needs, and that he would love to work there. He asks for a chance to talk to a hiring manager sometime soon, even if there are no openings. He asks for a business card and follows up with an email the next day. His goal is to get an appointment to come in and talk—to crawl onto the company’s radar screen. He wants them to know he’s out there and that he’s ready and able to do a great job for them.

Beryl’s next step at the fair is to do more research on potential employers. He spends a few minutes at each booth, listening to the conversations and reading the brochures. If the company

sounds interest-ing, Beryl will ask some ques-tions. Do they have in-house ac-countants? What software do they use? What expe-riences do they look for? If there seems to be a match, Beryl asks for the business

card of a hiring manager, and another company is added to his target list. Ber-yl leaves the job fair with lots of home-work to do.

Most people, even most “experts,” would say that a job fair is like a beauty pageant, with hundreds of contestants trying to catch the judges’ eye and very few that will win prizes. The truth is that it is a smorgasbord of information and contacts where a job hunter can make real progress toward a great job.

Rabbi Mordechai Kruger is the Director of Pathways to Parnassa, an organiza-tion dedicated to educating our com-munity in all aspects of career choice and job search. He can be reached at myparnassa@gmail.com.

111TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

112

Paul Cézanne was the son of a successful banker whose desire was for Paul to con-

tinue in his path of banking as a ca-reer. When Paul left for Paris to study art, his father was unhappy with this

choice but eventually came around and sent him a small amount of mon-ey. Initially, Cézanne was rejected by

the art schools in Paris, as his paint-ings were considered not up to par and his color choices were considered in poor taste. After a while, with the help of friends who were also artists, he started changing his design and color choices to best suit the feelings of the times. He started using brighter colors which made his pictures more attrac-tive.

Paul Cézanne was part of the movement of artists who thought art should be structured, stressing the principles of composition. From the beginning of his career, he painted still life pictures. He also felt that art should be made up of bright colors from the artist palette, and so he incor-porated these colors into his still life paintings. The colors were present-ed as slabs of color instead of small specks of color. These slabs of colors were presented as cones, cylinders and spheres. He used many unexpect-ed colors and shapes to tell his story. There are many emotions projected in his work which are shown through the points and sharp angles which he is known for. They produced a misshap-en form which presented the desired design. This period of thought in the art world was known as “Post Impres-sionism.”

“The term Post Impressionism refers to a movement that placed new emphasis on the importance of the subject, and the formal ways in which a subject was represented.”

In the year 1907, Cézanne’s work was presented at a show which influ-enced the artists who later introduced Cubism. At times, he was referred to as “the father of modern art.”

Paul Cézanne desired to only pro-duce artwork of museum quality, as he was quoted as saying, “Something solid and enduring as the art of mu-seums.” This required an enormous amount of effort and concentration as he was extremely methodical in his techniques and spent many hours working out the composition of the work. This thought process came be-fore the actual brush to paint tech-niques which he mastered. Some of his compositions required unusual and distorted versions of what he thought would complete a perfect design. This type of work had him labeled as an abstract artist. The composition might have been a realistic one but the dis-torted shapes and concepts of design made them abstract. He would spend

Paul Cézanne – The French Artist

Rebbetzin Naomi N. Herzberg

From My Private Art Collection

Photograph of Paul Cezanne

color

113TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Still Life with Apples and Oranges by Cezanne

Cezanne’s Still Life with Cherries

Jewish Home4.65” x 5.875

The Schechter Family Presents... First

child Free!offer expires

12/31/14

Join the leaders in Passover Tours for another great Pesach

at this beautiful oceanfront resort!

n Our 20th spectacular year!n directly on the beachn Oversized newly renOvated rooms many with terracesn Poolside fitness center with sauna & steam roomn children’s dining roomn superb day camp programn Private seder rooms availablen Glatt kosher, strict supervision n Gourmet cuisine with renowned Chef Andy Seranon Cantor led or private sedersn Sumptuous “Tea Room”n Top name entertainmentn Trips to major attractionsn Golf, tennis, watersports nearbyn Poolside BBQ’sn Olympic-size pool + kids pooln 2 min. to upscale Aventura Malln Daily services, shiurim, lecturesn Scholar-in-Residence Program

19201 cOllins ave, MiaMi Beach, FlOridawww.MarcoPoloBeachresort.com

for reservations Call Caribbean Kosher tours:

1-800-327-8165marcopolopassover@gmail.com

Call Joy of aMit ChildrenSoutheaSt

Region: 954-922-5100

years on a painting, if that is what was required to finish it to what he consid-ered a level of perfection. An example of his artwork which took five years to

complete was “Still Life with Apples and Oranges,” an oil painting on can-vas.

From My Private Art Collection

Rebbetzin Naomi N. Herzberg is a professional art educator, artist and designer. Among her known artwork is a floral sculpture presented to Tipper Gore, Blair House, Washington, D.C. Presently she is the Director of Operations at Shulamith School for Girls. Please feel free to email nherzberg@optonline.net with questions and suggestions for future columns.

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

114

I just got served with divorce pa-pers and in the papers there was

something about a restraining order; I don’t understand why I’m being re-

strained. What am I supposed to do now? The second half of my kids’ tui-

tion is due and what about camp? The mortgage? Food? How will I pay for anything?

The Attorney Responds:New York State instituted automat-

ic restraining orders a few years ago in reaction to a common practice of many litigants who got served with divorce papers. Their reaction was to immedi-ately empty the bank accounts. Rather than force lawyers to file restraining orders after the fact or hopefully prior to the assets being drained, the plain-tiff is now bound by the orders upon the filing of the divorce and the de-fendant is bound upon being served. I

will first explain what you should and should not be doing, and then discuss what happens if either of you violate the orders.

You are allowed to spend money on “customary and usual household expenses” and “reasonable attorney’s fees.” The idea behind the orders is that you can and are required to main-tain the status quo. Assuming your children have always gone to private school and camp, you can still pay for those things. The mortgage and food are also items that fall under everyday living expenses. The list of things you are not allowed to spend on or change is much longer. For instance, neither of you are allowed to drop the other or the children from medical or auto insur-ance policies. You also cannot re-title anything whether it be a car, a home or a bank account. You should also not change beneficiaries on insurance pol-icies and bank accounts. Both spouses are also restrained from taking out ad-ditional credit or maxing out existing credit except for “customary and usual household expenses” and “reasonable attorney’s fees.” The caveat here is that you may not do these things unless you have written permission from your spouse, so if you both decide to sell a

Restraining Orders

Deborah Kaminetzky, Esq.

Ask the Attorney

Serving the International Jewish Community for 27 years

LASKO’s Famed Lavish Tea Room LASKO’s Live, Accredited CME Program

LASKO’s Scrumptious Poolside Daily Barbeque LASKO’s Inspiring Scholars In Residence Program

LASKO’s Outstanding Day Camp/Infant Care Programs LASKO’s Exclusive “Step It Up” Teen Program with Coach Yogev & his Team

Lapis Spa with 30 treatment rooms, 100 plus lavish services in a tranquil setting Multiple Pools and Optional Private Cabanas • Sephardic and Ashkenaz Minyanim A variety of room & suite offer views of the Atlantic, Oceanfront, Bay & City views

You can and are required to maintain the status quo.

115TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

LASKO’s Famed Lavish Tea Room LASKO’s Live, Accredited CME Program LASKO’s Scrumptious Poolside Daily Barbeque LASKO’s Inspiring Scholars In Residence Program LASKO’s Outstanding Day Camp/Infant Care Programs LASKO’s Exciting Evening Dive-in Chol Hamoed Family Movies LASKO’s Exclusive “Step It Up” Teen Program with Coach Yogev & his Team Family Suites feature bunk bed or living room parlor each with a separate Master Bedroom. Also, Deluxe King or two Queen bedded accommodations.

Serving the International Jewish Community for 27 years

jointly titled asset during the litigation, there should not be a problem.

What if despite being bound by the orders a litigant does drain an account or change a beneficiary? The courts have the power to force a litigant to re-instate beneficiaries, pay back the funds or face contempt of court. In order for the court to find the litigant who defies the automatic orders in contempt, there has to be a finding that: 1. The litigant has knowledge of the order; 2. The lit-igant has to have disobeyed the order; and 3. The rights of the other party were prejudiced by the violation of the order. In a New York County case, the judge found that despite the husband pur-chasing a four million dollar house in Connecticut with marital funds, he had not reached the level of contempt as the marital estate was worth twelve million dollars and he had simply converted a liquid asset into real estate. In other words, the wife was still going to get her equitable distribution as he had not dissipated the assets, he only changed their form. The judge in that case did admonish the husband for the viola-tion and issued a restraining order from further incidents. Another exception I have seen is in a recent Westchester case where the plaintiff, despite being bound, changed her 401K designation as well as her life insurance benefi-ciaries during the pendency of the di-vorce and later committed suicide. The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to enforce the automatic orders and the beneficiaries to their status at the com-mencement of the action because her death ended the divorce action.

Overall, you should feel confident that you are allowed to continue living as you have been, however, it is always a good idea to ask your attorney prior to any transaction of which you are un-certain.

No column is a substitute for com-petent legal advice. Please consult with the attorney of your choice con-cerning specific legal questions you may have.

Deborah Kaminetzky is the founding mem-ber of Kaminetzky & Associates, P.C. lo-cated in Cedarhurst, New York. Prior to starting the firm, Ms. Kaminetzky was an associate at Weisman Law Group, P.C. where she primarily practiced matrimonial

and family law. Deborah has also worked at the New York Department of Consum-er Affairs where she was responsible for prosecuting unlicensed home improvement contractors and negotiating settlements for consumers. She is on the Matrimonial fee

dispute arbitration panel for Nassau Coun-ty. She expanded her alternative dispute resolution practice by completing a Medi-ation certificate program in December of 2013.

Ask the Attorney

Life is funny!

Read Rocky’s Rant on page 74

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

116

• Elegantly-appointed Waldorf Astoria Guest Rooms

• 3 Daily Gourmet Glatt Kosher Meals along with Daily Poolside Barbeques and Lavish Tea Room

• Professionally run Day Camp & Teen Program led by Jamie Gurvitch and Andi Koppelman

• Discounted rates at the onsite Waldorf Astoria Golf Club featuring Rees Jones-Designed Championship Golf Course

• Three Exquisite Pool Areas, Lazy River, Waterslideand Private Cabanas Available

• Fabulous Chol Hamoed Entertainment and Teen Trips

• Featured Scholars in Residence including Rabbi Mark Wildes, Rabbi Ari Sytner, Dr. Steven Dyckman, and special guest, Yeshiva University President Richard M. Joel

• Ashkenaz and Sephardic minyanim under the direction of Cantor Benny Amar

• Luxurious Waldorf Astoria Spa and Fitness Center

• Onsite Emergency Room Doctor to assist with family needs

• Complimentary Motor Coach Transportationto all Disney Attractions

• New for 2015! Allergy and Special Dietary Consultant Available at all Meals

Join us at the incomparableWaldorf Astoria Hotel

Passover 2015 in Orlando, FL

Alan Berger Owner and DirectorRobyn Hartman Program Manager

Doug Soclof Host

For reservations or more information, please contact our team at:1-877-PESACH4 (1-877-737-2244) or 516-734-0840

info@passovergg.comwww.passovergrandgetaways.com

Catering byJoey Bodner,

Marty Bodnerand Eddie Izso

of

GG WAO 10Wx14H Ad 5775 #4.indd 1 11/11/14 1:20 PM

117TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

presents

PESACH 2015

NO ONE OFFERS AN EXPERIENCE LIKE “UPSCALE”.LET US SHOW YOU WHY.

Rancho Bernardo InnSan Diego, California

White Oaks ResortNiagara Falls, Canada

*Rancho Bernardo Spa Pool & Cabanas

info@upscale-getaways.com www.upscale-getaways.com

1.877.895.3210

The Upscale Experience Awaits.

“A peaceful haven in the heart of the mountains.”

-Condé Nast Traveler Worlds Top 100 Resorts

“Extraordinary would be the only way to describe it. The resort that has it all.”

-Canada Select Ontario’s Top Five Star Hotel Resort

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

118

With the year-end holidays upon us, you might be anxious about how you

approach the parties, the baked goods brought into the office, the incessant flow of goodies given as gifts, and even the grocery store aisles laden

with decadent desserts. Top this off with concern regarding the pressure you may feel from others to partake in more food than you may want. We

all know how tough it can be to “go against the grain,” when everyone else is stuffing their faces. Sometimes it just feels easier to go with the flow, to go along to get along, than to resist be-ing poked and prodded and told, “Oh, c’mon, have some!” or “Have some more!” Yes, the gluttonous person next to you is right, “(insert name of the holiday) only comes once a year,” but how badly do you want to spend the next month or longer working off your holiday weight gain?

Most people don’t engage in this

amount of consciousness-raising. They just eat when it’s time. They eat what’s familiar. And they eat when ev-eryone else eats whether they like it or are hungry for it or not. Perhaps they want to be accepted, and if they expect that they’ll be looked upon unfavor-ably or teased for being more discern-ing about their food choices, they’ll avoid doing so. Essentially, they are on automatic pilot around food. If this is you, you can reprogram yourself to respond more intentionally, and it’s the only way, save for wiring your mouth shut, to avoid unnecessary hol-iday weight gain.

Ready? Follow these “talk to your-self” guidelines for mitigating mind-less munching. Holiday meals do not need to end up with you lying on the couch in a carb coma thinking yet again, “Why did I do this to myself?”

1. Really?! You’re that hungry that you would actually compare

Lori Boxer

Health & Fitness

Stuff the Turkey ... Not Yourself!

You are choosing

not to have certain

foods because you

feel better without

them, mentally and

physically.

119TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

yourself to a starving child in Afri-ca?

2. You do realize that you just ate, right? You just consumed (how much?) protein; (how many?) carbs; and (how much?) fat. I think you’ll be okay. This is an objective, just-the-facts assessment of the situation; we can easily get carried away by our emotions and make poor decisions as a result. Think about the years past when you’ve just eaten a plate stacked high with food and then decided to dive in for a second round when you already felt full. How did you feel after that?

3. You can always eat again later. Another objective statement; no emo-tion attached. Most holiday meals end up in leftovers for a week or two.

4. You could have jelly dough-nuts anytime. Why is it imperative that you have 1—or 3—right now? Change your perception of the situa-tion. When you’re craving something or feel a sense of urgency to eat it, reminding yourself that it’s always available takes away the thought of, “If I don’t eat it now, I’ll never be able to eat it,” which just isn’t true.

5. They’ve got their goals and you’ve got yours. You’re serious-ly going to justify eating that be-cause everyone else is? We are eas-

ily swayed by the actions of others. We want to fit in, we sometimes don’t want to explain it ourselves, and let’s face it, when everyone else is doing the same thing, it can be more difficult to stay true to our convictions.

6. It’s not that you can’t have it, (insert your name). You could have it any time you want. You choose not to. Think of the last diet you were on that mandated you eat a certain time, in a certain way, with a certain reci-pe. How long did it last? Structure is good—we thrive with it. But make it too rigid—”you can never eat that food again”—and you’ll likely want to bend the rules. Get back to reality and recognize that you can have any food you want; yes, you really can. But you are choosing not to have certain foods because you feel better without them, mentally and physically. Don’t eat every holiday food just because it’s there.

Would you eat it anyway? If not, leave it well enough alone.

7. You’ve been down this road before. Is it worth it? Nope. You know the negative consequences far outweigh the short-term pleasure. Walk away. Why test yourself? It’s like a recovering alcoholic going into a bar, sitting down, ordering a drink and willing himself not to take a sip. Why risk it?

8. Is what you are thinking of doing in line with what you’ve said you want to accomplish? We’ve all been there. We say we want one thing but then we act in a way that is not compatible with those wishes/hopes/desires/goals. Pause for a second and ask your-self if you want to be the broken record. Aren’t you tired of ask-ing, “How come I self-sabotage?” Stop, and respond to that question to yourself.

9. Are you even hungry, (in-sert your name here)? Genu-inely, physically hungry? If you have to ask yourself this ques-tion, there is a high probability that you’re not. And in that case, tell yourself you are not going to wreck your winning streak of posi-tive decisions!

Finally, follow these practical tips for keeping a food fest at bay:

The likelihood is higher that

you will eat more if all the food is spread out in front of you. If you’re preparing the holiday meal, how about asking everyone to get what they like and then sit down at the table.

Put your fork down between each bite and take a drink of water. This will help you to slow down and for you to more easily register satiety.

Start practicing the skills involved with operating in a more emotionally intelligent manner so that when the next holidays roll around, you more skillfully stuff the turkey rather than yourself.

Lori Boxer is the Director of Weight No MoreSM Diet Center. In addition to serv-ing the Brooklyn, Long Island and New Jersey communities for 25 years, they also provide Skinny SkypeSM service to clients nationwide and to Israel and offer custom-ized Workforce Weight LossSM Programs for businesses. For more information, please call their Woodmere office at 516-569-6400.

Health & Fitness

» PC and Mac » Hardware/Software » Training and Consulting » Internet Filtering » Networking » Wireless » Portable Devices » Servers and Printers

COMPUTER SERVICES

BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

917.535.7294CALL or

TEXTwww.siyata.com

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

120 The Classifieds

Spectacular 6BR, 3 Full Bath CH Colonial, Eik, FDR, Full Bsmt, SD#15…$999K

Beautiful 3BR, 3BA Exp-Ranch Set On A 1/2 Acre, Formal LR & DR, Den...$1.249M

www.pugatch.com

Carol Braunstein Call or Text (516) 592-2206 cbraunstein@pugatch.com

Lovely 4BR, 2.5 Bath Cape, Eik, FDR, Den W/Fplc, Patio, SD#14…$429K

LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL? CALL ME TODAY! ! !

(516) 2 9 5 - 3 0 0 0

950 Broadway

Woodmere, NY 11598

BARRY PUGATCH

RETAIL FOR LEASE

2,250SF +/- Bldg Full BasementW/Bathrooms & Parking Great Location

If You Are Interested In Buying, Selling Or Leasing Call The Local Commercial EXPERTS 516-295-3000

RETAIL FOR LEASE 650-850SF +/- Newly Renovated Parking In Rear Fantastic Location

Commercial Properties For LEASE

www.pugatch.com

Lovely 3BR, 2.5BA Split On O/S Property, Eik, Den, Low Taxes, SD#15...$645K

Services

Hair Course Learn how to wash and style

hair and wigs Hair and wig cutting, wedding styling

Private lessons or in a group Call Chaya 718-715-9009

Real Estate for Sale

Yiddish Home Study Program: The new book Yiddish in 10 Lessons along with 2 CD's has just been released to easily learn to

read, write and speak the Yiddish language. Call Chaim at 516 924 7694 or

www.conversationalyiddish,com You can also sign up to receive a Free Weekly

Taste of Yiddish

Struggling with Shalom Bayis? The Shalom Bayis Hotline 732-523-1112

Caring rabbanim answering your questions for free

So far very positive results BS’D!

Ari’s Cleaning Carpets, drapes, mold removal &

inspection. Water damage cleanup 718-336-7500

Ariscleaningservice.com

We close any hole any size sheetrock, spackle,

paint like new. CALL "Patchman" 800.676.6187

Photos 4 your Simcha Professional Photography and Video We love what we do and it shows in

our work! Competitively priced! Check out our website & specials.

www.photos4yoursimcha.com or call Yaakov 718-868-1800

"Kosher" Yoga & Licensed Massage Therapy The Peaceful Presence Studio

436 Central Avenue, Cedarhurst Separate men/ women

Prenatal Yoga, Martial Arts... www.peacefulpresence.com,

516-371-3715

Professional Organizer and Time management Coach

Enjoy and learn to organize your home, business, or car –

Less mess = Less Stress Sara Koppelman 917-579-7049

Avi’s moving and Trucking Need it moved?

Furniture, deliveries, apartments, small office etc.

Call Avi 646-258-6137

¼ Pugatch

www.pugatch.com FAR ROCKAWAY:

Mint Multi Family In The Heart Of Bayswater, 2BR Apartment Over 2BR Apartment W/Full Finished

Basement, 2 Car Attached Garage…$450K

Call Carol Braunstein (516) 295-3000

www.pugatch.com

Keep Calm and Get Organized! Organizer. home. closet. playroom.

kitchen. garage. Call today to get started

-Special Low Rates- Call Miriam 347-684-0338

Psychotherapist Depression, anxiety, marriage,

low self-esteem, Adults/Children Professional/Confidential

Kenneth J. Levin, LCSW Insurance Accepted (516) 546-9170

Are you Itching? Getting Bitten? Call us for Bed Bug Inspection!

We also get rid of carpenter ants, silverfish, termites, carpet beetles,

raccoons, Mice, rats, fleas, roaches, opossum,

squirrels, mosquitoes, bees and wasps. Call 917-873-3180

Home Organizer Professional home organizer and accessory designer. Will help you organize your home

and get rid of your clutter Will work with any budget

Call (516) 725-6101 for immediate service.

Bubby Babysitter Available Newborn and up. Excellent references Long hours, part time or full time. In

the evenings as well Far Rockaway location. TLC (Tender

Loving Care) Phone 718-327-1932

www.pugatch.com CEDARHURST:

PRICE REDUCED!!! 3 Bedroom Colonial In The Heart Of

Cedarhurst, Updated Kitchen, Formal DR, Finished Basement,

Close To All…$349K Call Carol Braunstein

(516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com

Frum mother Available to babysit during morning hours (till 12) at her

home in Far Rockaway. Early morning available.All ages Call or

text 718-290-3848

Buying or Refinancing a Home? Pre-Approval letters that brokers trust!

Put as little as 3% down. Borrow up to 90% with no MI! We can beat any written offer!

Specializing in very difficult scenarios Call Daniel at Landmark Funding Group.

NMLS#367291 at 718-663-7202 All loans arranged through 3rd party lenders.

121TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

The Classifieds

Job Available

Misc.

www.pugatch.com WOODMERE:

Prestigious Woodmere Park 3BR Ranch, 2 Full Baths, Eik, Large Lr, Lg Master Suite, CAC, Rear Deck

& Front Porch …$609K Call Carol Braunstein

(516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com

Commercial Real Estate

www.pugatch.com Commercial Property

In Valley Stream: 8,100 +/- SF Building With Or

Without Tenants, 5.5 Cap, For Sale

Call for Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com

www.pugatch.com Commercial Property In Valley Lynbrook:

3,000 +/- SF Prime Office/Retail, New To Market, Loads Of

Municipal Parking, Near LIRR Station, For Sale

Call for Details (516) 295-3000 www.pugatch.com

Found: Men’s Wedding Band on the 2nd Day of Rosh Hashanah in front of

Cedarhurst Court across from Cedarhurst Park.

To claim please cal 516-641-0408

1444 Beacon Pl. (off Mott Av.) Bayswater Amazing Private home 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, dining room, living room, den,

gorgeous kitchen car garage nice large back yard quiet dead end water view

block no sandy damage Call for a private showing 212-470-3856

WinZone Re

www.pugatch.com Commercial Property

In Cedarhurst: 500-3,000 +/- SF Retail Space

On Central Ave, Great Location, Close To All,

For Lease Call for Details (516) 295-3000

www.pugatch.com

For Sale: Cedarhurst $600’s Double Lot: Nestled on a park-like corner property, this

private oasis awaits you. Step into the splendor of the spacious rooms of this all brick Tudor/Colonial with many custom

details: high ceilings, crown moldings, cozy fireplace, to name but a few. Steps from

Ced Park, transportation, shopping, numerous shuls, and everything and

everyone. Low taxes and endless possibilities make this a truly rare find.

Call/text C Slansky, broker, 516-655-3636

Amazing Job Opportunities in Cedarhurst Shomer Shabos Office.

Flexible hours for working moms! Part time and full time jobs available. Seminary girls

welcome. Seeking capable, efficient individuals to join a fast-paced growing

office. Excellent communication skills and strong organizational skills required. Basic Computer Skills necessary. Ability to multi-

task and detail-oriented. Email resume to FTSadresponse@gmail.com

CATAPULT LEARNING Teachers for Title I in Boro Park and

Williamsburg Chassidic boys schools

*College/Yeshiva Degree Required *Strong desire to help children learn

*Excellent organizational skills *Small group instruction

*Competitive salary Email resume:

nyteachers@catapultlearning.com Fax# (718) 381-3493

Boro Park for Sale 54th St. (Bet. 11th & 12th Ave.,) 2

family, attached, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, built-in closets, Kosher Kitchen & Passover Kitchen, Mint

Condition. Asking 1.6 Mil. Serious buyers only.

Email: Goingrealty@Gmail.com

Looking for donation of car or minivan in good running condition. Tax exempt receipt available for full market value.

Please call 347-342-8196

Weekly Classified ads

up to 5 lines and/or 25 words

1 Week………………$20 - $10 2 Weeks……….……$35 - $17.50 4 Weeks…………….$60 - $30

Email ads to: classifieds@fivetownsjewishhome.com

Include valid credit card info Deadline

Monday 5:00pm

Post your Real Estate, Help Wanted,

Services, Misc. Ads Here Every Thurs.

TJH CLASSIFIEDS

Brand New and Free! "Same Boat" single mom support weekly voicemail message....call 24/7 to be cheered up,

enlightened, and infused with new strength! 206-6000812

5 Towns area school seeking teacher for Junior High, M - Th. afternoons for

current school year. teachersearch11@gmail.com

Master Faster, an agency providing ABA therapy is looking to hire an individual to

do ABA in Williamsburg Sundays for 4 hours and one afternoon during the week

for additional 4 hours. Please call our office at: 845-477-5000 ext.105 or email

your resume to: services@masterfaster.org

Absolutely Gorgeous Single Family Home in Mint Move in Condition

Newly renovated, eat-in-kitchen, baths, high ceilings. Nice back yard with a one car

insulted garage along with a private driveway, Basement, located in the best

location in Bayswater, seller very motivated Call 212-470-3856 WinZoneRe Due to simchos, Torah Academy for Girls,

Far Rockaway seeking qualified, experienced elem & jr high moras. fax

resume to 718-868-4612 attn: Rabbi Weitman

Yeshiva in Queens seeks full time secretary. Immediate opening. Experience preferred.

Please email resume to ndsudwerts@gmail.com

DJ YOSSY MUSIC and LIGHTING for any event, the

crowd will love it. Djyossy.com 845 774 5949

Seeking a highly motivated, organized person with sales and computer

experience to work for a real estate consulting firm in Cedarhurst. Please

email a resume and salary requirements to sgoldberg@metrorefunds.com

Real Estate for Rent

Apartment for Rent 2 bedrooms in Far Rockaway (near BBY) Asking $1500 (including heat, hot water)

Call: 516-225-4558

Apartment for Rent in 2 family house 4 Bedroom 2 Bath in Cedarhurst

Close to the LIRR, Shuls, and Shopping Huge rooms! Asking $2800 plus utilities

Call Daniel 516-900-3867 cedarhurstrentals@gmail.com

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

122 The Classifieds

Place Your CLASSIFIED in THE JEWISH

HOMETo Get Thousands of People

to Read About Your Business!Contact

classi�eds@�vetownsjewishhome.com

972(0)4-697-3172 or 972(0)-525-697-877 weingot@gmail.com c www.shareibina.com

Under the auspices of Rabbi & Mrs. Rafael Weingot

Wide Range of Torah Classes Teachers Who Care and Welcome Questions

Choices of Art, Writing, Creative Movement, Culinary Arts, Make-up, Photography, & More Life Coaching to Help You Reach Your Personal Goals

Beautiful, Comfortable Dorm Three Delicious Meals a Day Surrounding Nature and Awesome Views Great Trips and Overnights All Over Israel

MILKY FORST PROPERTIES INC. 420 Central Ave., Cedarhurst NY 11516

Avrohom "Avi" Sobel Licensed Real Estate Salesperson

Office: 516.239.0306 Cell: 347.524.6530

Email: asobel18@gmail.com milkyforstproperties.com

MILKY FORST PROPERTIES INC. 420 Central Ave., Cedarhurst NY 11516

Avrohom "Avi" Sobel Licensed Real Estate Salesperson

Office: 516.239.0306 Cell: 347.524.6530

Email: asobel18@gmail.com milkyforstproperties.com

MILKY FORST PROPERTIES INC. 420 Central Ave., Cedarhurst NY 11516

Avrohom "Avi" Sobel Licensed Real Estate Salesperson

Office: 516.239.0306 Cell: 347.524.6530

Email: asobel18@gmail.com milkyforstproperties.com

123TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

124

Rivki D. Rosenwald Esq., CLC, SDSAllan J. Rolnick, CPA

Stealing from the Dead

Your Money Life Coach

It’s Cold Outside

The fashion industry couldn’t care less what the weather is outside when they decide spring’s around the corner—even a 20-foot blizzard doesn’t deter them.  

This year, one San Diego resi-dent will be somewhere near #1 on the not-so-nice list.

Lloyd Irving Taylor graduated from San Diego State University and Loyola Law School. As a CPA, he’s authorized to prepare tax returns and represent clients before the IRS. And as an attorney, he’s authorized to pre-pare tax returns, represent clients be-fore the IRS, and represent them in court. He’s well aware of what the law says he and his clients can do to pay less tax, and what will land him a big lump of coal in his stocking.

But Taylor apparently hates paying taxes with a Grinch-like grouchiness. No Burgermeister Meisterburger could tell him he can’t have his toys!

So, he started off by stealing the identities of at least nine deceased chil-dren, some of whom had died as far back as the 1950s. He used those identities to finagle fraudulent passports from U.S. embassies in Eu-rope. Then he used those passports to open financial ac-counts to hide his income and assets, including $1.6 million in gold coins.

Maybe stealing those identities made Taylor feel guilty. Why else would he have gone and made up over a dozen phony churches, too? He opened 31 more bank and investment accounts in the names of those church-es. Then he argued that the churches’ tax-exempt status meant he didn’t owe tax on their income.

Things might not have been quite so bad if he had at least reported the income from his schemes. But Taylor, who’s now 71, has filed tax returns just seven times since he finished school. That works out to once every six years. Those unfiled returns add up to $5 million in unreported income and $1.6 million in unpaid taxes.

Let’s be honest here. It doesn’t say much for those at the IRS that Tay-lor flew under their radar for so long! But he eventually did wind up in the crosshairs of the San Diego Regional

Fraud Task Force, an alphabet soup of agents from the IRS, Secret Service, San Diego Police Department, and State Department Bureau of Diplo-matic Security. (Bet you didn’t know those last guys even existed!)

Taylor has been in custody since April 2013 — the judge at his bond hearing noted his international travel on false passports, the millions in cash he controlled through his network of bank accounts, and his history of lying to banks as reason to rule him a flight risk. Last month, the jury at his trial took just 30 minutes to convict him on 19 felony counts. (They probably vot-ed him guilty in the first two minutes,

then had a cup of coffee or two just to make it look like they actually “delib-erated.”) The judge sentenced Taylor to 57 months with his fellow naugh-ty-listers in an institution not noted for the cheerfulness of its holiday decora-tions. Taylor also owes $2.2 million in restitution.

What makes Taylor’s case so out-rageous, of course, is that he knows you don’t need to steal a dead child’s identity or establish a bogus church to pay less tax. You just need a plan to take advantage of all the IRS-ap-proved deductions, credits, and strat-egies the law allows. You don’t even have to wait for the IRS to come knocking — just call us, and see what savings we can deliver!

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.

So here’s the $64,000 ques-tion…

Are we having a mild win-ter? Well, in that case, we should prob-ably all be really happy. Or maybe we are just experiencing a late winter—in which case, the worst is yet to come.

Or…here’s a possibility: this is all part of that unresolved global warming issue, and in that case, who knows what in the world is going on out there?!

As that really freezing weather eludes us, we kind of ignore buying all that parapher-nalia that makes winter bearable. You know, those warmy shwarmy boots or that hat that actual-ly covers your ears. Thankfully, during the holi-day season, some “desperate for a gift idea” person usually buys you a scarf or a pair of gloves that comes in really handy when you thought it wouldn’t.

Here’s the thing: the fashion industry couldn’t care less what the weather is outside when they decide spring’s around the corner—even a 20-foot blizzard doesn’t deter them. They empty the shelves and roll out the cottons and cruise wear. There’s not a warm sweat-er around to be had.

So then, when you’re finally feeling that first icy wind that wakes you up, and you get out there looking for some cozy warm clothing, guess what?! It’s too late! It was all emptied out weeks ago on a 60% off get rid of winter sale. You might as well book a trip to Miami or the Caribbean with what’s available to buy!

That’s fashion for you—form over function. They’re forming a gorgeous spring display and your extremities are so frozen they can’t even function to slide the clothes they put on the rack.

So I guess you are just hoping for a

mild winter, right? Unless you’re one of those ski families. Ski families have a whole different attitude. See, they are protected! Somewhere hidden in their closet or stored up in their attic they have the dependable layers and gear to survive any onslaught. The only wor-ry a ski family has is if their kid out-grew last year’s supplies. Otherwise, nose to toes, they’ve got something to keep them warm. I’m not saying it’s so stylish that they can sashay down the

avenue in it, but it certainly can do the job in a pinch.

So how do we prepare for the unpredictable? It’s so hard to get motivated to stock up on that heavy woolen stuff if we don’t feel the need to bundle up.

Here are some suggestions on how you can start internalizing the cold early on:• Turn off your heat everywhere and start shivering• Visit the Minus 5 Ice Bar in Midtown Manhattan • Take an ice cold shower• Plan a ski trip—it’ll get

you to shop (but no one says you actually have to go!)

Life is about preparation and mind-set.

The sooner you start feeling really cold, the quicker you’ll get out there and shop for winter supplies. Unfor-tunately, though, this advice might not help for this year. Winter actually start-ed officially yesterday but I think I al-ready saw bathing suits on the shelves.

So stay warm however you can, and have a great winter!

Rivki Rosenwald is a certified relation-ship counselor, and career and life coach. She can be contacted at 917-705-2004 or rivki@rosenwalds.com

125TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Life Coach

1913 Cornaga Ave. • Far Rockaway • T. 718.471.7555 • F. 718.471.9102 • E. Kosherworldorders@yahoo.com

FREE PARKING • FREE DELIVERY • FRIENDLY SERVICE • CURB SIDE SERVICE

Sale valid 12/25/14 -12/31/14. Cash & Carry only. We reserve the right to limit quanitities on sale items. Not responsible for typographical errors. While supplies last. No rain checks.

ORDERS CAN BE EMAILED, FAXED, OR CALLED IN

Store hours: Sun 8-8 • Mon. - Tue. 7-8 • Wed. 7-10 • Thu. 7-11 • Fri. 7-1 1/2 Hours Before Shabbos

4/$1

Gedilla

Animal Shaped Cookies1oz

$.79

Gefen

Tomato Sauce15oz

$2.99

N&K

Shredded Pizza Cheese8oz

$5.99

Mehadrin

Ice Cream56oz

$2.50

Sabra

Hummus Assorted 10oz

2/$1

Liebers Instant

Chicken Noodle Soup No Msg,2.25oz

2/$3

Jack & Jill Cookies

$4.49

Kariot

Cereal13.20oz

$4.49

Mendelsohns

Pizza4pk

4/$1

Gesher

Snack Pak1.25oz

$1.99

Gedilla

SnackersSalted & Unsalted12oz

$2.69

Devash

Milk1/2Gal.

$.89

Gefen

Barley16oz

5/$1

Glicks

Potato ChipsBbq Flavor 0.75oz

$1.49

Pringles11oz

$3.49

Gefen

Natural ApplesauceOriginalAnd Reduced Fat 46oz

$1.29

Gefen

Chunk Light TunaIn Water6oz

$1.99

Gefen

Semisweet Chocolate Chips9oz

2/$1

Kedem

Tea Biscuits4.2oz

$3.99

Gefen

Chocolate Wafers40pk

$6.99 Case Price Only.

Mayim Chaim

Spring Water3 liters

3/$5

Snapple64oz

2/$5

Kemach

Corn Flake Cereal18oz

$.99

Sleek Sensation

Baby Wipes80ct.

$8.99

Mandelsohns

Pizza8 Slices

$.89

Liebers

Corn 15oz

$1.89

Marshmallow Fluff16oz

$2.99

Tofutti

CutiesAll Variegates8 Pack

Grocery Section

Meat Dept. All of our meats are beis yosef only

Swiss Steaks

$7.99Lb

$2.39Lb

$6.99LbSuper Family Pack

Chicken Legs

Cholent Roast

Fruits & Veg.

Fresh Latkes

Hot SoupMade Everday

Homemade Applesauce

Deli Dept.

BakeryBeigels Chocolate & Cinnamon Buns13oz

Beigels 2 Lb.Rye Bread

$3.99 $1.99

OUR PRODUCE SPECIALSWill Be In StoreThis Week

THE

JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEM

BER

25, 2

014

126

127TH

E JE

WIS

H H

OM

E

D

ECEMBER 25, 2014

Premium Reusable

Plates and Bowls

for Styrene Free products make sure to use MVP Plates

100% Styrene Free (non-cancerous )

Microwavable Safe(will not melt when you heat up

your food in microwave)

Premium Quality

IMPROVEDPACKAGING

&

coming soon

Flyer Dec 2014 Version2.indd 1 12/18/2014 1:51:28 PM