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Weekend generously sponsored by Carrol & Jack Fenigstein and Anne and Mark Goldin.

Rabbi David Lau was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael in July, 2013, the youngest person ever to be appointed to that post. He previously served as Chief Rabbi of Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut, and

Chief Rabbi of Shoham. He is a reserve major in the IDF Intelligence Corps.

Rabbi Lau, son of former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, was the first rabbi in Israel to teach responsa over the internet, and has appeared regularly on radio programs addressing questions of Jewish law. He is the author and editor of many articles and books, including a book in memory of his grandfather, Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel, and Maskil L’David, his 2008 work on matters including genealogy, conversion and military law. Rabbi Lau has developed a reputation of reaching out to different constituencies within the State of Israel in an inclusive way. “Judaism belongs to everyone, the rabbinate belongs to everyone, and the Torah belongs to everyone,” he said upon taking office. “To succeed in connecting everyone is what I hope to achieve.”

9030 W. Olympic Blvd., Beverly Hills • (310) 278-1911www.bethjacob.org

Connected to the Past – Committed to the Future

Beth Jacob and Los Angeles - Beverly Hills

are Deeply Honored to Welcome

Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi David LauJanuary 9-10, 2015

Friday Night TefilahJanuary 9, Mincha at 4:50 pm

Shapell Sanctuary

Shabbat Morning Davening & DrashaJanuary 10, Shacharit at 9:00 am

Shapell Sanctuary

Community Lunch in Bayer Hallwith Remarks from Rabbi Lau

$50 Adult; $25 Child To reserve your spot please contact

310-278-1911 or rsvp@bethjacob.org

Rabbi Lau in Conversation with Rabbi ToppSaturday Night, January 10, 8:00 pm

At Beth Jacob

THE JEWISH HOM

E DECEMBER 18, 2014

3

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KLEIN’SMADE IT Enjoyable.

THE GREEKSMADE YOGURT HEALTHY.

THE JEWISH HOM

E DECEMBER 18, 2014

5CONTENTS

The Jewish Home is an independent bi-weekly newspaper. 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.

Dear Readers,There’s something about the glowing Chanukah

lights which bring us back to our childhood. We feel protected, warm and joyful as we watch the flames flicker from side to side. If we pay attention we can hear the lights recount our history together. First as the seven lights of the Menorah in the Beis Hamikdosh and then as the eight lights of the Chanukiah marking the great miracle which happened back then. The candles remind us of triumphant times and tell stories of the challenging ones. The sweet and the bitter are layered stories in the burning flame.

These candles remind us that what’s right is not always popular. At times society can descend into moral decay. At other times society will support a moral code, but mock the spiritual and the holy. The present culture becomes the bible as the divine gets cast aside. Social fashions can judge traditional ways as old fashioned and it’s seen as narrow minded to believe in G-dly laws such as Shabbos, Kashrus and the sanctity of marriage. The study of Torah becomes a target as well. We’re told; Modern logic? Fine. The sciences? Fine. But what’s this business of studying the same laws for over 3,000 years?

Statements such as “thank G-d my business is doing fine,” or “G-d willing we’re buying a new house,” are looked at as primitive and narrow minded verbiage, veering from the “the world created itself” dogma.

Ultimately however, the lights tell us of the eternity of all that is G-dly. In size it can be small, in a popularity contest it will lose, but as with nuclear energy size is not what matters. A small band of fighters led by Kohanim who would rather be studying Torah can win over the hardened legions of the armies of enlightenment. Children reciting

Tehillim become “tanks” and acts of charity become “war planes”.

We may have only “one light” which doesn’t seem to be enough, but we will not be daunted. We will light the “pure oil” which we have and G-d on his part will continue to give us the miracle of Chanukah.

The truth is, the world has come a long way since the Miracle of lights. Religion and belief in a creator is respected and honored in much of global society (the trouble makers were always around and is nothing new). Giving Charity is universal and Public Menorah lightings are very much the norm. The real obstacle is the voice within us which makes us uncomfortable to reach beyond the consciousness and tap into the holy.

The world at large has also connected to the belief in a redeemer. One who will usher in the time when we will see the purpose for which the world was created. In fact, details cast aside, we’re pretty much all in agreement that it’s playing out right now. As the Rambam writes at the end of Hilchos Melachim “…all of the happenings… and of… who stood up after him are only there to prepare the path for the redeemer. And to prepare the world at large to serve G-d together… How so? The world has since been filled with talk of a redeemer and words of Torah and concepts of mitzvos. And these have spread to far away islands…”

The Rambam wrote this a thousand years ago. We’re experiencing it today.

We want it. Our families want it and the world needs it.

May we have a Shabbos filled with the warmth and light of the Menorah,

Shalom

COMMUNITYCommunity Happenings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

JEWISH THOUGHTChanukah Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

The Power of the Menorah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

OP-EDWhere was G-d? Is He really listening? . . . . . . . . . . 23

COVER STORYFrom Rockets to DoughnutsMenorahs Large and Small . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

OIL! This Year’s Chanukah Miracle and Some of the Jews who Helped Find the Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

HUMOR & ENTERTAINMENTCenterfold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

LIFESTYLESBook Review: Measure of a Man, A Memoir . . . . . 24

Fun with Dreidels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Travel Guide: Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

JWI Cookbook – A Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

EDUCATIONForgotten Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Ask the Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

NEWSGlobal News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

That’s Odd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

T H E P R E M I E R J E W I S H N E W S PA P E R H I G H L I G H T I N G L A’ S O R T H O D OX C O M M U N I T Y

FOR HOME DELIVERY, OR TO HAVE THE LATEST ISSUE EMAILED TO YOU FREE OF CHARGE, SEND A MESSAGE TO EDITOR@JEWISHHOMELA.COM

(Dictated on behalf of Joe who is great with words but cannot type)

Dear Editor,My friend gave me a copy of your newspaper and I wanted to let you know that I am homeless and I panhandle but I am not ever dirty and your image of a dirty hand was untruthful. I am concerned when I see these stereotyped pictures because they affect the way people see panhandlers and this makes people frightened and then they have

a bad attitude to us and their children are rude to us, even though they don’t understand our situation. I have been homeless for 7 years on December 17th. I live behind the Electronics store on Sawtelle. Every face has a name and my name is Joe. If you see me sitting outside Starbucks with my 80lb pit bull terrier, you wouldn’t know that I am homeless. I have made some bad choices in my life so I am not eligible for government housing but a lot of good people help me out because they like me and they like my dog. People also appreciate that work

is what matters to me. I am a good worker. Work is the most important thing I need. My sign reads, “Hello, I’m Joe. No work, no home, any help at all – even work!” I’ve got a lot of work from that sign. It also helps people to see me as a person and they ask how I’m doing and I appreciate that. So I wanted to write to you so that you could tell people that there are many panhandlers and many homeless people who are very clean and are fine to talk to.

Thank you, Joe

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For the third consecutive year, fam-ilies bought tickets to enjoy the sounds and fun of Yeshiva Ketana’s Annual Uncle Moishy Concert. Uncle Moishy has a long history of entertaining Jewish children and is indeed a singing sensation, along with his joyful band of Mitzvah Men. This year the delightful performance took place in Beverly Hills, just a stone’s throw away from the Pico-Robertson neighborhood.

Over 800 men, women and children were seated in the plush auditorium of Beverly Hills High School.

The auditorium was lit up by fluores-cent glow necklaces which matched the children’s glowing faces as they reveled in the magic that is Uncle Moishy, Cous-in Nochum, and Mordy the Mitzvah Man. During intermission there was a run on concessions which included cotton candy,

Chanukah cookies and Sufganiyot.A brief video highlighted the host

school, Yeshiva Ketana of Los Angeles. Though only in its third year of existence, the school has grown to over 60 students across its two locations. It boasts an all-star staff, and uses the latest technology and techniques to bring a high quality Ye-shiva education to the Valley. With events like the Uncle Moishy concert, Yeshiva

Ketana reaches out to benefit the greater Los Angeles community as well.

After the dynamic performance, the audience left the concert with free shop-ping totes and chocolate Chanukah gelt to start their Chanukah season. As one audi-ence member said on the way out, “What a class act!”

Yeshiva Ketana of Los Angeles Brings Uncle Moishy to Beverly Hills

“Anyone can find something mean-ingful in the Holocaust” said E. Randal Schoenberg, board chair of the L.A. Muse-um of the Holocaust. On Tuesday evening, December 9th, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust presented a reading from Michelle M. Gold’s book ‘Memories That Won’t Go Away, A Tribute to Children in the Kindertransport.’ The event, spon-sored by RVW Consulting, explored the

lives of the 10,000 children that England protected from the reality of annihilation.

After the violence of Kyrstallnacht in November 1938, European Jewry recog-nized the danger of living in anti-semitic countries. The Kindertransport was the or-ganized transportation of Jewish children from Nazi Europe between the years 1938-1939. When parents realized they could not rescue themselves with their families, they gave their children to the Kindertrans-port as a step to safety. Some parents were later able to join their children in England, but they were in the minority.

The author, whose own mother was among the children rescued and sent to

England, relates her mother’s story along with the stories of hundreds of other chil-dren. All the children were between the ages of 2 and 17 years and came from Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany and Poland. They traveled to Great Britain by train alone, not knowing if they would ever see their parents or relative again. Al-though the majority of the ‘survivors’ are still alive, most don’t regard themselves

as survivors and thus the healing process of grieving and exploring their history has never experienced a complete outlet.

As a museum docent, Gold’s research was conceived by an artistic ceramic ex-hibit hosted by the museum in which she collected pictures of survivors. Her re-search took four years and encompassed a breadth of documents and stories that she found in libraries, synagogues, organiza-tions and individual families throughout the world. The resulting book is an expo-sition of an often overlooked story of hope within the Holocaust.

For 50 sterling pounds (equivalent to about $80 today but expensive in those

days) paid to the state as a guarantee for each child, the children did not know how much their parents often sacrificed to save them. Money was raised quickly. Funds were required on the theory that it would prevent the children burdening the state until they were reunited with their parents, as was optimistically anticipated at the end of the war.

The readings portrayed the deep emo-

tional bond between parent and child, as well as the pain of parting against a back-drop of anti-semitic terror. Even when they arrived in England, it was not an easy place to call home because the children found little sensitivity for their cultural or religious needs. Besides the trauma of leaving their parents, they had to cope with fear, the absence of protection, the difficul-ty of learning a new language, chores and domestic work (which was expected in ex-change for accommodation). Others lived in hostels or orphanages. Sometimes, the children were so young, that they had no understanding why they were being sent away. Many recalled stories of seemingly

safe, happy childhoods free from anti-sem-itism or discrimination prior to leaving their families.

One of the more acclaimed rescuers of the children was Nicholas Winton, an En-glish civilian who, along with his friends, visited Prague while on a skiing trip and af-ter seeing the camps decided to help. Over the next year he brought 669 children to England, by asking the government for the

conditions which permitted unsupervised children for entering England. And then getting together the necessary documents. Soon, Winton and his friends believed that their politicians couldn’t be relied on and felt they knew more of what was occurring in Eastern Europe than the government. In an interview which was screened in the museum following the book reading, Win-ton quoted a German philosopher “We’ve never learned anything from the past.” The reason why history repeats itself, he asserted, is that the world can never change, “until people decide, irrespective of religion, to live by the standard of ethics and compromise.”

Museum of the Holocaust Hosts Kindertransport Event with Author Michelle Gold by Bracha Turner

THE JEWISH HOM

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Four hundred people were on hand to greet the 37 Israel schools presenting Gap Year Programs at the Second Annual Isra-el Gap-Year fair hosted by Yeshiva High Tech.

The community-wide event generated excitement for the Gap Year programs in Israel and provided a forum whereby the schools, parents, and students could all in-teract in one place. Students, parents, and representatives responded enthusiastically as they discussed and learned about the various opportunities offered.

It proved “A fantastic evening that was well planned with an eye for detail, which contributed to the success of the event,” commented Rav Boaz Mori, Rosh Yeshivat Lev HaTorah.

“The Israel Gap Year Fair is really the only open forum for both students AND parents to have an opportunity to meet reps from the various schools. Another positive aspect was that there were a significant number of 11th graders who came and who had a lot of questions,” noted Mrs.

Ramon, representing HaRova Seminary.The sense of community was evi-

dent at this year’s fair with the co-spon-sors, Yeshiva High Tech, NCSY, YULA, Shalhevet and Valley Torah, encouraging students’ participation. Masa, was also a co-sponsor of this event, provides funding to make trips to Israel possible.

NCSY made the Fair an event, even ar-ranging for a bus to make it more accessi-ble to Valley residents. There were parents who flew in from Seattle and San Francis-co as well as those who drove in from San Diego, Irvine and Long Beach to attend, as well as students from public schools and other private schools. “While the fair fea-tured Orthodox programs, the opportunity to reach students across denominations and cities shows the need and interest of serious student s who want to explore the life changing opportunities that Gap Year in Israel provides,” says Phyllis Folb, Is-rael Gap-Year Fair Director. Additionally the early exposure to the Israel programs by younger students builds excitement now

and allows them to make more educated future choices.”

Rabbi Dardik, from Orayta Yeshiva, summed up the success of the event by remarking that “The Israel Gap Year Fair provided an opportunity for a large group

of people to see a broad swath of schools in a short time, and families in attendance ranged from those who know what they want to those who brought their son over and said, ‘Rabbi please explain to him why he should go to Israel.’ The fair was very worthwhile and worth repeating.”

Over 400 People Attend the 2014 Israel Gap Year Fair Hosted by Yeshiva High Tech

On December 5th, IAC-CARE, The Israeli-American council, once again spon-sored the Wings of Rescue Holiday Air Lift at Van Nuys Airport. The IAC is involved with a variety of programs that support LA needs; not just Israeli or Jewish related, but aimed at helping the entire community.

Los Angeles is a city with an estimated million homeless dogs. While the majority are healthy, they are mostly euthanized be-cause there are too many to handle. In fact, more than 3 million healthy dogs are euth-anized in America every year with a bill of approximately $1billion, paid by our taxes. California has some of the highest kill rates in the country because there are so many un-wanted and stray dogs.

In support of the humane practices of Wings of Rescue, IAC-CARE came onboard with sponsorship that included breakfast, a team of nearly 50 volunteers, dog coats for each furry 4-legged friend that was fly-ing to a colder climate, and a travel box so that each animal would be ready for their airplane journey. The volunteers loving-ly dressed each dog, cared for them at the airport and then carried them in their travel boxes, to the small chartered airplanes that were taking them to a new home.

This is the 5th holiday air lift that Wings of Rescue has coordinated and it is the larg-est charity that transports dogs to success-fully rehome them. At this event there were dogs from 40 pet shelters, rescue organiza-tions and humane societies, although Wings

of Rescue works with 120 Los Angeles res-cue organizations. 660 dogs on the holiday airlift were flown to new homes with desti-nations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Mon-tana and New York. All the pilots donated their time and the airplane fuel, to make the holiday air lift possible.

The dogs were a variety of breeds, most-ly smaller in size and included 150 Chi-huahuas who were requested by the North Shore Animal League on Long Island. Chi-huahuas are easy dogs to care for but they have a death sentence once they reach rescue organizations because there are so many of them. The length of stay in a shelter is usual-ly between 5 days and 14 days. Some shel-ters brand themselves as no-kill homes, but in reality it is impractical to keep so many unwanted dogs alive. A spokesperson for Downtown Dog Rescue explained the real-ity, “We’re not going to adopt our way out of this problem. Adoption is very important,

but it’s going to take much more.”Spay and neutering dogs would alleviate

the problem and there are many free pro-grams that offer this service, but pet own-ers don’t take up the opportunity and many dog owners are unaware of the programs and think it’s going to be an enormous ex-pense. Wings of Rescue’s website has in-formation on free services so there really is no excuse. Without pet owners taking the matter seriously, the overwhelming number of homeless dogs in the Downtown area will not subside.

Many of the dogs would have been put to sleep on the day of the airlift although it costs just $88 to fly a dog to a new home. Unfortunately there are not enough pilots or planes or budgets available to fly the dogs so frequently; the planes are chartered for $15,000 a day. There are other ways to trans-port the dogs, but this is mostly by truck and that makes for a long, hard journey.

Sharon Fall, is a Fund raiser and Press Relations Volunteer with Wings of Rescue. She explained that, “Flying dogs to new homes is the most efficient and humane way

to rehome these lovable pets. Wings of Res-cue flies approximately 100 dogs each week of the year with this program. Over the last four years we have saved the lives of more than 10,000 healthy dogs. It’s just a drop in the bucket, but at least it’s something. The dogs are adopted by families in different parts of America; Wings of Rescue does not have flight passage out of the US.”

While stroking a chestnut colored, long haired dachshund with a sweet disposition, Fall went on to explain, “In October, Wings of Rescue took 136 dogs to Bellingham, Washington in October. We set up a tempo-rary shelter at the airport and by the end of the day, every single dog had been adopted. That same shelter, however, took in 75 dogs on the same day. It’s a fire hose; it never stops, yet I feel it’s important that we are at least doing something and we have a goal. We want to raise enough money to purchase our own plane that can rehabilitate 150 dogs twice a week.” The goal is sensible and yet the cost of a small, used plane is $1.8million.

Ori Pikoos manages community events at the IAC. She wasn’t sure that the IAC would be able to purchase something so costly, “There is only so much we can do! At the same time our investment in this pro-gram is close to our hearts. We take a great deal of care in sponsoring this program be-cause it effects our community and the re-ward is meaningful; thousands of homes are made happier by the addition of a dog.”

IAC-CARE Sponsors the Humane Rehousing of Homeless Dogs

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During the week of Parshas Vayai-shev, the LINK Kollel in Los Angeles had the special gift of hosting Rabbi Dovid Kupinsky, brother of Rabbi Aryeh Kupin-sky Hy”d, one of the four Kedoshim that were recently murdered in a Har Nof shul. Rabbi Kupinsky is a Rav in Nokdim in East Gush Etzion and he undertook to travel to America to speak about his late brother and to offer some perspective on the terrible tragedy that befell Klal Yisroel. On just a few hours’ notice, approximately 75 people packed into the LINK Bais Me-drash to hear his moving words.

Rabbi Kupinsky started by delineating all the hashgacha that determined who would be at the 6:30am minyan on that fateful morning. He gave several examples of regulars who for whatever reason were not at the minyan and yet several others who normally daven elsewhere who were. His point was that there was a clear hash-gacha that determined that those that were killed or wounded were from the “choicest offering” of Klal Yisroel and that Hashem clearly chose them to be a kaparah for the rest of the tzibur.

In particular, he recounted how

his brother Reb Aryeh was a “Gaon in Chessed”. After the tragic loss of his 13 year old daughter O”H, Reb Aryeh found-ed a gemach to deliver freezers to families who were making simchas. He would schlep the heavy freezers up and down the very hilly terrain of Har Nof, insist-ing that he personally deliver and pick up each freezer. He would daven naitz every Shabbos morning so he could go from shul to shul to help set up the various Kiddushim that different families were hosting. He also gave out various candies and treats to children with special wrappings so that they should have his late daughter’s name in mind when they make the bracha.

Rabbi Kupinsky concluded that the aim of the terrorists was to destroy our connection to HaKodosh Baruch Hu. He cited the eyewitness reports that the terror-ists waited specifically for their victims to be in the middle of their silent Shemoneh Esrei- the most sublime moment of Divine connection- before perpetrating their das-tardly deeds. In effect, they were saying that a Jew clad in Tallis and Tefillin in the middle of his most intense connection with Hashem is completely helpless (G-d for-

bid). Our response must be to strengthen

our connection to kedusha, our devei-kus to Hashem and our overall emunah in Hashem’s hashgacha over Klal Yisroel . Ultimately, when we do that, the gen-tile nations will recognize Klal Yisroel’s’ rightful place in the world and will turn to observe the seven Noachide laws and Klal Yisroel will reside in safety and security in Eretz Yisrael with the advent of Moshiach.

A few days later, the LINK Kollel host-ed a luncheon with the renowned speaker and spiritual mentor, Rabbi Moshe Wein-berger of Cong. Aish Kodesh in Wood-mere, Long Island. Rabbi Weinberger’s appearance was arranged in conjunction with the annual West coast Convention of the Orthodox Union. Over 100 peo-ple came to hear his stirring address on “Meeting the Challenges of Chinuch in the 21st Century”.

Rabbi Weinberger is known for his rare ability to translate profound Chas-sidic ideas into contemporary idiom for Jews of many different backgrounds. He identified the major challenge that we face today being how to protect our children from an all-pervasive corrosive, decedent, and profane secular culture that has found a way through the internet, smart phones, etc. to penetrate even the most imperme-able walls of kedusha in our homes and schools.

Invoking the paradigm of the Al HaNi-sim tefilla (“the many into the hands of the few, the strong into the hands of the weak, the profane into the hands of the pure”,) and quoting classical Chassidic sources, he delineated a clear approach to combating

this seemingly insurmountable problem. First, he stressed the importance of instill-ing a sense of kedusha in our children and making them aware of the dangers of the spiritual toxins in the air all around us. This also entails a concerted effort on the part of the parents to - as much as possible - shield our children from the onslaught of secular culture in all of its technological manifestations.

He next addressed the imperative to spend quality and quantity time with our children. Whereas in previous genera-tions, the challenge was often finding the financial means to provide a Torah educa-tion, the obstacle today is more often than not the parents’ inability to carve out sa-cred space in their hectic schedules to not only learn with their children but to speak to them about emunah and connecting to Hashem. Just “being there” for our children when they can feel free to open up to us and express their vulnerabilities, is so critical.

Lastly, he stressed the importance of tefilla, especially the inimitable and in-valuable tears of a Jewish mother. We need to feel a tremendous sense of invest-ment in our children’s spiritual success. He recounted several stories of Chassidic masters who stressed the indispensable component of a mother’s copious prayers for her children’s success in Torah an Avo-das Hashem.

Rabbi Weinberger then proceeded to answer a variety of questions from his au-dience who hung onto every word until it was time for him to leave for his next pre-sentation.

A seven member high level Hungari-an delegation visited Los Angeles headed by Zoltan Balog, Minister of Human Ca-pacity, and Katalin Novak, State Secretary for Family and Youth Services. Attorney and Los Angeles County Commissioner, Andrew Friedman, held a breakfast re-ception for the delegation in his Hancock Park home for a dialogue with four distin-guished Rabbis- Rabbi Pinchos Gruman, Dean of Los Angeles Rabbis; Rabbi Yu-val Noff, Rabbinical Council of America; Rabbi Zvi B. Hollander, Orthodox Union; Rabbi Yoel Gold, Congregation Bais Naf-toli.

The participants discussed the rich Jewish-Hungarian heritage, including that two-thirds of the fourteen Hungarian Nobel Prize winners have Jewish origin. Hungarian schools are required to teach about the Shoah as well as Jewish cultur-al integration into mainstream Hungarian

society for hundreds of years. Minister Balog, in addressing the gathering, stated that “it is only through proper dialogue and extensive education of the youth that an-ti-Semitism can be eliminated.”

The Hungarian Jewish community numbers approximately 50,000 and is the largest in the Eastern Central European region with most Jews living in Budapest, the capital. Before the war, Hungary had a Jewish population of 450,000 and approx-imately 30% survived. There are approx-imately 20 working synagogues today, along with a plethora of other Jewish insti-tutions, both religious and cultural. Jew-ish life is complete, although anti-Semitic rumblings persist.

Pictured L-R: State Secretary Prohle, Rabbi Hol-lander, Rabbi Gold, Rabbi Noff, Minister Balog, Rab-bi Gruman, Commissioner Friedman, Consul Pinter, State Secretary Novak, Consul General Kalman

LINK Kollel in LA Hosts Rabbi Dovid Kupinsky and Rabbi Moshe Weinberger

Bais Naftoli Hosts Breakfast in Honor of Hungarian Delegation to Los Angeles

THE JEWISH HOM

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זאת חנוכה – להשאיר בעברית ]בכל]השעריםלהורידOn Zos Chanukah, messengers of Kupat Ha'ir will daven for contributors at the following 20 Holy Sites

כל המקומות לתפילה להשאירבעברית

At each of these sites messengers

כותל המערבי | מערת המכפלה | קבר רחל | מירון | עמוקה רבי יוחנן הסנדלר | רבי טרפון | בניהו בן יהוידע

רבי יהודה בר אילעי רבי מאיר בעל הנס | הרמב"ם | הבית יוסף האלשיך הקדוש | האר"י הקדוש | השל"ה הקדוש

הפרי חדש | האוה"ח הקדוש | רבי לייב בעל היסוריםהרה"ק מויטבסק | המהרי"ל דיסקין.

At each of these sites messengers will daven for

20 Holy Sites

On Zos Chanukah, messengers of Kupat Ha’irwill daven for contributors at the following

זאתחנוכה

each name individually, along with its request. May be submitted until 10:00 pm on Tuesday

the 7th day of Chanukah - December 23rd

24 Donations can be sent to: Kupat Hair - 4415 14th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11219

קופת

עירKUPATHAIR48285-1-888ה 7 2

www.kupat.org

Kupat Ha’ir

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This coming academic year, Kehillat Mogen David Education Center, (“KM-DEC”), will welcome a new 2nd grade to its thriving education community. Only five years ago this fledgling orthodox school was launched in the city, promising a cost effective quality education. Current-ly the school takes children from age two until 1st grade but each year a new grade is added as the parents want to stay.

KMDEC is affiliated with Congrega-tion Mogen David. The shul is headed by Senior Rabbi Gabriel Elias, whose efforts to build his community have resulted in an increase in membership, with the addi-tion of 205 young families, which include over 100 children. In 2009, a decision was made to add a school that would serve the shul’s congregation.

KMDEC is led by Director Cecelie Wizenfeld, who comes to the school with over thirty years of experience in Early Childhood Education, including Shalhevet School, where she worked as Director of the Early Education program and the Di-rector of Admissions. Additionally, she

comes with 13 years of experience as the Early Childhood Director at Harkham Hil-lel Hebrew Academy.

KMDEC is a school that believes in children leading their learning with teach-ers that are happy to foster the children’s voice, their creativity, and their sense of community through experiential learning. The program is Reggio inspired and the

school prides itself on being a progressive school, weaving in the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development of the students into everyday learning. The chil-dren love the vibrant atmosphere and this year have created space stations, weath-er stations, made fresh olive oil for their Channukiot, incorporated painting tech-niques from the grand masters, and more.

This year has also seen KMDEC incor-porating an Ivrit B’Ivrit Hebrew immer-sion Program in which instructors speak only in Hebrew to build and encourage the growth of the Hebrew language for the children. Along with Ivrit study, the chil-dren are surrounded by Judaica, from an Orthodox approach.

Beginning with morning davening and prayer services for every age group, to rich lessons filled with exposure to the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and the spirit of ev-ery Jewish holiday, KMDEC builds a solid foundation for the practice and understand-ing of the Jewish religion and culture. One parent told Wizenfeld, “KMDEC provides a solid Jewish education and nurturing en-vironment at an affordable rate in the heart of my Pico/Robertson community. The individualized attention is something my wife and I have literally never seen from any day school.” Another Parent added, “Everyone is very warm and welcoming. My child says the teachers tell us even though we come from different homes, we are together and we are one.”

Chabad of Sherman Oaks has found success with a new program. With the number of children in the community constantly growing, there was a need to increase synagogue funds for a myriad of kid’s events. The exciting fundraiser was conceived by the shul’s Rabbi and Reb-betzin Teitelbaum and a Chinese auction was held. It took four months of detailed

preparation but the first annual fundrais-er to support children’s programs was launched on December 7th.

The evening was a vibrant affair with more than 200 attendees and a meaning-ful numbers of tickets being sold. Prizes were allocated by price bracket. The se-lection of prizes included $150 gift cards

to Bloomingdales, gift card to Starbucks, kids jewelry, an American Girl doll, Teeth Whitening, a three string Pearl necklace, a Chef catered evening in your home, an Ipad Air 2, a vacation to Hawaii and an Imac computer.

Tickets were sold on the website that was launched for the event and more tick-ets were purchased on the evening. Rabbi

Weiss introduced the evening with appre-ciation for the supporters and explaining, “An investment in Jewish education is eternal.”

Before the winner’s tickets were hand-picked from a last glass urn, the crowd were entertained by the cheerful singing of the Chabad Hebrew School Choir pro-

vided by the synagogue’s popular Hebrew school, which registers more than 100 kids each year. This was followed by an ac-tion-packed video that showed the myriad of happenings at the synagogue. For the haggim, gym teachers have set up a kid friendly exercise class, there have been puppet shows, carnivals, guitar teachers and more.

With enthusiasm mounting for the top prize, long-time comedian Mark Schiff came onto the stage and delivered a smooth and hilarious routine which was witty and oh-so-polished. Then the win-ners were announced including the moth-er of Rebbetzin Chanie Teitelbaum. She was the first person to support the event,

buying a ticket online from her home in Argentina. The grandparents of a Hebrew school student were winners and a teach-er from the Hebrew School was thrilled to win a top prize.

Rebbetzin Shternie Lipskier was satis-fied with the numbers, explaining, “It takes so much effort and creativity to start a new program like this one, but every year it will

be easier to put together and we are lucky to have a supportive community who were happy to support the shul. Now we can provide more activities for our Jewish kids and that makes everything worthwhile.”

Five Years Old and Still Growing, Kehillat Mogen David Education Center

Chabad of Sherman Oaks Launches Annual Chinese Auction

THE JEWISH HOM

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There has been a longstanding opinion that the orthodox Jewish community of Los Angeles is centered on La Brea, Pico, Robertson and Hancock Park. The total Jewish population of Los Angeles is prob-ably between 600,000 and 700,000 in size and the San Fernando Valley used to num-ber a smaller crowd of, perhaps, 100,000. But times they are a changing. An influx of Jewish families has relocated to areas of the Valley because of lower property prices and for their work and the word is out; the Valley has an excellent network of shuls, schools, kosher restaurants and Jewish communities.

There has been no official censor since 1997, yet there is agreement that over the last years the number of Israeli, Persian and Russian families has grown the Val-ley community to twice that size, perhaps 250,000 strong. Where do these families turn for events that make up the Jewish lifecycle?

In 1973, the first Chabad house in the Valley was started by Rabbi Gordon, who was sent by the Lubavitcher Rabbi Men-achem Mendel Schneerson, as emissary, along with Rabbi Gordon’s wife, Deborah, and 3 week old son. This was at the time of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s 70th birthday and Chabad of Encino was one of the last of the 71 new Chabad houses that were es-tablished around the world in honor of the Rebbe’s milestone celebration.

Rabbi Gordon was raised in Newark, New Jersey. His parents were sent there by the previous Rebbe; the Gordon fami-ly has always been a family of shluchim. Rabbi Gordon tells the story of his first meeting with his wife to be. “Are you interested in becoming an emissary and travelling to some community where Jew-ish life is unrealized?” She said she was, and a courtship was born. The story did not end there.

There was a dearth of Jewish activity in the San Fernando Valley in those days. When the young Rabbi Gordon visited influential people and asked how they thought he might start a Chabad House, he met with apathy or even resistance. “Go back to New York!” was not uncommon advice.

Now, it is a very different story. Rab-bi Gordon is Executive Director of the Chabad centers in the Valley and under Rabbi Gordon’s watch, there are current-ly 26 Valley Chabad Houses. This month sees the newest synagogue opening in North Ranch, Agoura Hills. Doubtless there will be more, all of which offer low cost learning and frequent activities that support contemporary Jewish life. In-deed, the ball has come full circle with Rabbi Gordon’s son, Rabbi Yossi Gordon, now running events up the street from his father, as the shliach of Chabad of Wood-land Hills. Rabbi Gordon explains the

path to Chabad’s success, “Chabad finds Jews; Jews don’t find Chabad.”

And there is another way that Rabbi Gordon finds those Jews. In the summer of 2009, Rabbi Gordon started teaching a vibrant online learning program that Rabbi Gordon had neither forethought nor predicted. For many years the class-es had been held daily in Torah, Ramban and Tanya. Then the students encouraged Rabbi Gordon to take to the internet. He was initially resistant, concerned that an online presentation of his words would stymy him. Finally, however, Rabbi Gor-don agreed to take the plunge and five years later, the classes are fully available online. They are free to listen to and easy to access from anywhere in the world. With a simple Google Search of “Daily Torah Class,” students can click and study. Classes run between 20 and 35 minutes; a short presentation that starts and ends many people’s days with meaningful re-sults.

For the more dedicated students, the Rabbi started studying the Mishneh To-rah on the three year track established by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. This December 14 will see the lesson on the final chapter and the whole program will have been record-ed for future students. And still the learn-ing continues! The next recordings will be on Talmud, approximately one page a day.

The number of students who have used this learning program are overwhelming. Daniel Aharonoff is a tech investor and longtime student of Rabbi Gordon and it was Aharonoff who was instrumental in organizing the classes. Aharonoff is priv-ileged to watch thousands of people log-ging into the sessions in real time. There are men and women of all religions and all ages who join the seminars live and at a later time that suits there schedule. The classes are transforming. In fact, the lat-est statistics from Chabad.org show the rabbi’s classes have been viewed nearly 2 million times since Chabad.org began tracking hits to the site.

Chabad.org hosts the classes on Jew-ish.tv and given that Chabad is the larg-est online Jewish site in the world, the numbers are set to grow further. From the Jewish Rice Farmer in Thailand who was recently reported to be a most enthusias-tic pupil, to mum’s on their way to school, the lessons are reaching thousands of Jews who want to study. Daniel Aharonoff ex-plained the appeal, “I know that I often share things that I’ve learned throughout the day with business acquaintances and family, and other people do that as well. The effects are just astronomical.”

Rabbi Gordon understands how this can be and attributes his successful learn-ing style to his father, Rabbi Sholom Gor-

don, ob’m, from whom he learned how to teach. “My father had a sense of humor. He was charismatic and inspirational and was blessed with the power to enthuse people with simple words. I listened to him all through my youth and this is how I tackle my online classes. My goal is clar-ity. Not deep hidden meaning. I teach so that listeners can pick it all up and under-stand what they have heard and take that knowledge with them. I don’t want them to run away from learning.”

Rabbi Gordon has been a teacher for most of his life, “I’m a born teacher,” he explains, although he never thought his career would lead him to create the most

successful online Torah classes in the world. “I was in Wholefoods, Tarzana last year and an African American man with wild hair approached me and said, “Rab-bi Gordon, I study with you.” “What do you study?” I asked. “Why parashah of course” the man replied and Rabbi Gor-don answered in the same way that he has always answered, “Well, thank you.”

Rabbi Gordon now has many requests for meetings from travelers who are com-ing to LA. They are thrilled to meet the man whose voice and image have brought Jewish knowledge to their homes. Rab-bi Gordon takes it all in his stride and is particularly pleased when he hears that Jewish learning has impacted unaffiliated Jews.

Today’s horrors and tragedies, in Israel and beyond, are endless. Now publicized online, they are often with accompany-ing images of the most negative kind. In contrast, the simple presentation of qual-ity Jewish learning offers a kind of anti-dote. Online learning is still new but the potential for teaching a positive message to an untapped market is infinite. Rabbi Gordon’s classes are making a difference for many participants and reaching untold numbers of people.

“When terrible negativity comes down, there is only one possible response. Do something positive. That’s what these classes offer to people. I know of many listeners who have become more obser-vant of mitzvot because they have listened to the Shiurim,” affirmed Rabbi Gordon.

It has been two years since Rabbi Gordon’s mother passed away. He tells the story that it was while he was sitting shivah that an immense number of emails of condolence came to him from people across the world who had been listening to his lectures. “It was very meaningful. I could never have imagined this kind of support. I still have all the letters in a book of condolence and this year I read them again and I’m so appreciative.”

Is this acknowledgement the highpoint of Rabbi Gordon’s teaching? Perhaps not. “One of my granddaughters had a test in Tanya. She’s in High School and she was very nervous. One of her friends knew that she was worried and told her to visit a website that would make Tanya clear to her.” The site, was Rabbi Gordon’s class-es. “Now that is my dream! To help High school kids and college kids find clarifi-cation and understanding in what they are learning. This is the best part of online teaching. I never stop being amazed by the impact of these classes. And it grows and grows; every time I travel I meet peo-ple who tell me, ‘You’re Rabbi Gordon! I study with you.’”

Rabbi Gordon, I Study with You! by Ruth Judah

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A Japanese themed Chanukah celebra-tion took place at Friendship Circle of Los Angeles on Sunday, December 14. The event has always been the highlight for this 12 year old organization that is known for supporting children with special needs along with their families.

The afternoon was filled with excitement. Each room had its own special Japanese themed Chanukah activity. Activities included a make your own sushi station, Chanukah arts and crafts, origami, and sto-rytelling with the author of Jewish Holiday Origami, Joel Stern. Ex-ecutive board member of The Lev Foundation, Negin Elazari, joyfully watched over the kids during her visit explaining, “The Lev Founda-tion, loves to come together with the Friendship Circle to bring Chanukah gifts and hang out with these children. This event really brings our community togeth-er and helps raise awareness.”

Then the kids, parents, and volunteers gathered together to watch and ultimately participate in a Japanese performance of comedic sumo wrestling and karate tech-niques. The performance ended with the

kids learning how to play the taiko drums. Following the performance was the

Grand Menorah lighting ceremony, where each child had the chance to light a candle, while reciting the blessing. The big smiles on the kids’ faces was a priceless moment

and the happiness continue as everyone danced and sang Chanukah songs.

Outside, in Friendship Circle’s state- of- the- art all inclusive playground, were a slew of kids who patiently waited to take a ride on the integration carousel, the only one of its kind in California. Daniel Tamm, the Mayor of LA’s interfaith liaison, stood in awe as he watched the kids gleefully

ride the carousel. Tamm noting his delight in attending the event, explained: “This carrousel is just brilliant. I love the whole idea that if you’re in a wheelchair you can come in and you can turn it yourself and feel safe and secure. It’s an ingenious

idea. The whole environment throughout this building offers opportunities for kids to be creative and that is just tremendous. To have an environment like this is so pre-cious and what a gift.”

Two volunteers, who were also out-side helping out their buddies during the event, shared similar stories about their life-changing experiences at the Friend-

ship Circle. Daniella Hay, a current Fresh-man at CSUN has been volunteering for several years. She said, “Friendship Circle has really impacted my career path in that I am now looking into becoming a speech therapist and working with children with

special needs.”Adina Rosenberg, a current ju-

nior at Vanderbilt University, start-ed volunteering in 2005 as a 6th grader added, “Friendship Circle informed my life and career path. It brought me into the special needs community and informed me of its incredible population. It has led me to eventually choose a career path in the field.”

The festivities ended as each of the kids received a special Chanu-kah gift. Friendship Circle’s annu-

al Chanukah program was once again an exceptional event that created a sense of unity and camaraderie among children, parents, and volunteers.

To learn more about Friendship Cir-cle, please email info@fcla.org or call 310.280.0955

The 24th annual OU West Coast Con-vention took place over the December 13/14 weekend. The theme of the conven-tion was Bringing Light to a Darkened World. “We aim to make the OU Conven-tion exciting, meaningful, and inspiring every year,” said Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, director of OU West Coast. “This year’s event was very special.”

The convention began on Thursday night with the keynote address by Rab-bi Moshe Weinberger at Young Israel of North Beverly Hills. Rabbi Pini Dunner of Young Israel, welcomed the attendees and expressed his hope that everyone would walk away having truly experienced the joy of Torah. Then Mr. Allen Fagin, OU executive vice president, introduced the keynote speaker.

Rabbi Weinberger is a musmach of the RIETS rabbinical school of Yeshiva Uni-versity and the founding Rav of Congre-gation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere, NY. He received an MA in Jewish philosophy from YU and an MS in educational administra-tion from Columbia University and stud-ied under Rav Soloveitchik. Recently, he was appointed as Mashpia at RIETS at YU and is a leader of neo-chassidus that is be-coming increasingly popular in the Mod-ern Orthodox community.

Rabbi Weinberger discussed the con-cept of light or “the inner light of To-rah” -- a topic frequently mentioned in Torah sources but rarely understood. He

described light as the soul of a person, including the love that binds a couple to-gether. In contrast, a home may consist of two spouses that faithfully fulfill their re-sponsibilities, but miss the light that makes

it a pleasant place to live.Rabbi Weinberger described a scenario

he encounters frequently when a married couple comes to him for counseling. The husband recites a long list of what he con-tributes to the marriage – making a good parnassa, fixing things around the house, buying his wife flowers. The wife doesn’t deny that he does all these things, but she feels that something fundamental is miss-ing in their relationship. She did not marry a repairman or a florist. She married her husband because she felt that there was a shared light and the potential to build something wonderful together, and that light is now missing.

The same scenario could occur in the relationship between a Jew and G-d. A Jew may faithfully fulfill all of his or her obli-

gations that were part of the marriage con-tract with Hashem, but the light that was present at the giving of the Torah is now missing, and there is no joy in such mitz-vah observance. Rabbi Weinberger said

that he has observed this sad phenomenon across the spectrum of the frum communi-ty. Yiddishkeit that is meant to be alive and vibrant and bring simcha beyond words, descends into a lake of Jewish life that is boring and tedious. At the same time, there are many young people in this generation who are searching for a deeper relationship with G-d.

Rabbi Weinberger spent Shabbos in the Pico/Roberson neighborhood, where he led a Chassidic tisch on Friday night, attended by 150 people. The attendees found it a moving and inspiring experience and were hesitant to leave. Other shuls throughout the greater Los Angeles area hosted other convention speakers as scholars-in-res-idence. The scholars included Mr. Allen Fagin, Rabbi Steven Weil, Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman, Rabbi Ronald Schwarzberg,

Rabbi Dr. Moshe Goldfeder, Rabbi Me-nachem Leibtag, Rabbi Dr. Hillel Gold-berg, and Rabbi Hershel Schachter. Each received an enthusiastic and positive re-sponse.

Mr. Fagin, who was attending the west coast convention for the first time, was impressed with the achdus and sense of community that permeated all the events. The convention is always open to the pub-lic free of charge, and every community member is invited to participate. Some local schools also had the opportunity to hear from the scholars.

The OU Convention concluded with a Sunday session at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, with sessions for women’s Torah learning, a rebbetzins’ seminar, legal ethics session, and a closing plenary session which dis-cussed, “Is Social Orthodox the New Real-ity?” followed by a discussion by Rabbis Weil and Schwarzberg and moderated by Mr. Fagin.

Friendship Circle’s Chanukah Event went Japaneseby Berenice Famili

OU West Coast Convention: Bringing Light to a Darkened Worldby Yehudis Litvak

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In the wake of the exhilarating Winning Edge 2014 Business Conference, the staff at Bottom Line Marketing Group has been inundated with positive feedback. With over 160 frum business professionals at-tending the event that was hosted by a doz-en top-tier presenters, the conference was a resounding success.

Participants checked in and enjoyed a breakfast catered by MiChicas. The pre-sentations then began with an introduction by Yitzchok Saftlas, President of Bottom Line Marketing Group, whose contagious enthusiasm set the tone for the day. Re-nowned executive coach and sales trainer Adam Lieberman spoke on Leading & Mo-tivating a Successful Sales Force. He gave practical, applicable tools for creating and maintaining an effective sales team, en-couraging business leaders to go one step beyond competitors to ensure success.

Nachum Segal, famed President of the Nachum Segal Network, moderated the rapid-fire presentations that followed. Next were three sets of concurrent work-

shops, each focused on a unique and com-pelling topic. Perhaps the most difficult choice for attendees was which of the con-current sessions to attend. Topics ran the gamut of business-related topics that are applicable to all companies, from start-

ups to well-established firms. Effective hiring, increasing productivity, strategies for growing one’s business and corporate philanthropy were relevant topics for ev-

eryone; even the presenters were seen at-tending other sessions when they were not running their own.

Jacob Engel, CEO of Yeda, ran an informative workshop focused on identi-fying the technical skill and, equally im-

portant, the interpersonal skills in job can-didates. Yitzchok Saftlas led a workshop on developing and perfecting a successful marketing plan. The expertise and prow-ess of Saul N. Friedman, Senior Partner of Saul N. Friedman and Company, were ev-ident in his illuminating workshop on tak-ing one’s business to the next level. Full of practical strategies and inside tips, all these session provided useful, applicable guidance.

President of R. Bieler Consulting Ser-vices, Rabbi Richard Bieler presented on the benefits of corporate philanthropy, encouraging companies to grow through giving. Jack Friedler, President of City View Commercial, kept the participants’ riveted attention as he interspersed humor and wisdom in his workshop Proven Tech-niques To Close That Deal. Ira Zlotow-itz, President of Eastern Union Funding, presented on raising staff productivity to increase profit.

Zlotowitz summed up the conference saying: “Executives of the most successful frum companies came together to explore what works best to grow a company. I am confident that as these companies tailor and implement the ideas discussed, their top and bottom lines will grow and em-ployment in our community will increase.” Certainly a wealth of ideas flew through-out the day.

Bottom Line Marketing Group also arranged an exclusive women’s track for The Winning Edge 2014. Female business leaders had the option to attend this spe-cial set of workshops in which three of the Jewish world’s most highly-acclaimed professional women presented on perti-nent and pressing topics. With an overflow of personality and good cheer, Miriam L. Wallach, General Manager of the Nachum Segal Network, led a session on present-ing oneself properly as “the woman in the room”. In this women-only session, partic-ipants spoke up without inhibition, having

the unique opportunity to ask questions to, and collaborate with, other frum fe-male professionals. In the second session, Suzy Schwartz of Yeshiva University led a phenomenal interactive workshop on perfecting a sales pitch. Those attending the workshop enthusiastically practiced pitching and openly received feedback, al-lowing the women to productively connect and collaborate with one another.

Interior designer Fanny Zigdon’s ses-sion concluded the women’s track with inspirational flair as she told her person-al story of achieving her dream. She dis-cussed how she used social media as a way to further monetize her creativity, and how now, with 53,000 followers on Instagram, she has met with success. Zigdon shared tips on how to utilize social media to grow in business.

After the breakout sessions, all confer-ence members reconvened to hear divrei halacha and chizuk from Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser, shlita, Rav of Kahal Bnei Yitzchok in Brooklyn. Rabbi Goldwass-er’s warmth and sincerity engaged the au-dience as he touched upon delicate topics, such as gezel, tefilla and support of Torah, bringing in memorable anecdotes to accen-tuate each point. Rabbi Goldwasser pre-sented relatable sheilos, which arise daily in the business world—including hiring, advertising and shmiras Shabbos—em-phasizing the necessity of consulting Daas Torah. He concluded with an impassioned dose of chizuk with regard to bitachon in business and in life in general.

Like a fantastic dessert at the end of an especially satisfying meal, Marc Bod-ner’s keynote address served as the perfect conclusion. Bodner, CEO and Chief Vi-sionary Officer of L&R Distributors, kept the room in rapt attention as he presented on Building a Dynamic Business Vision in Turbulent Times. Bodner gave prag-matic advice on maintaining stability and perspective. Each participant was encour-aged to become a visionary, and recognize an adaptive, visionary outlook as being a key tool for continued success. Innovation serves as the answer to disruption in our quickly evolving world.

The conference continued well into the night as participants took the oppor-tunity to process, internalize and discuss the day’s events over dinner. Marc Bod-ner surmised that, “The vibe at the con-ference was energizing. What a forum to network and learn!” Jay Block of The Small Business Journal aptly assessed, “It was an excellent convention, and more im-portantly it was insightful and practical. I came away with helpful tips and points to incorporate in my business.” The positive responses and still-palpable excitement following the conference are testimony to the win that was The Winning Edge 2014.

THE WINNING EDGE 2014 CONFERENCE: A DEFINITE WINNER Business Professionals’ Conference Meets With Tremendous Success

THE JEWISH HOM

E DECEMBER 18, 2014

19

Over the past decade, Ohr Naava has created many impeccably-planned events. Featuring out-of-the-box themes, top-tier programming, and exceptional attention to detail, events by Ohr Naava have been creative and meaningful. Now, these event planners are presenting a 2015 event, Pe-sach with Ohr Naava.

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he and the Ohr Naava team have created a magical, mesmerizing series that unfolds the awesomeness and enormity of Yetzias Mitzrayim in an unforgettable way, help-ing kids recognize this historic event as the key to our existence as Torah Jews. The product of months of careful planning, this revolutionary program will change the way participating children approach Yid-dishkeit for the rest of their lives.

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014 Chanukah

Mission

As we observe the Yom Tov of Cha-nukah, it is interesting to note that there is a mitzvah of zeh Keili ve’anveihu; to per-form a mitzvah in its most perfect form.

We find in hilchos Chanukah that the hiddurim in the mitzvah of lighting in-volves the type of oil and wicks used to light the menorah and providing a meno-rah for every member of the family. Af-ter the fire burns for a half hour, it may be extinguished. The Mishnah Berurah [672, 6] writes that there is no hiddur mitzvah in having it burn longer. I have long won-dered why. We would think that the longer the candles remain lit, the more of a hiddur mitzvah it would be.

Perhaps we can explain as follows. We light the menorah to commemorate the he-roic act of the Chashmonaim. The great-ness of what they did and what we cele-brate is that they had the courage to stand apart with faith in Hashem as they battled the Yevonim and those who fell under their influence.

What came after was a result of siyata diShmaya, Divine intervention. Although by the laws of nature, there was no way they could have succeeded in their mis-sion, their dedication was rewarded by Hashem so they could overcome the odds stacked against them.

With siyata diShmaya, after the war, they found a small container of holy oil, which miraculously proved to be enough precious liquid to light candles for eight days, and then they were able to procure more. The heroic act of the Chashmonaim was the first kindling of the menorah. The fact that it remained lit until more oil was

obtained was a miracle independent of them. They performed their mission with-out weighing their chances of success and this is why Hashem caused them to suc-ceed.

Thus, the mitzvah is to light the me-norah - kovsah ein zokuk lah - and there is no hiddur in the lights burning longer, because we are saluting the action of the Chashmonaim, namely their devotion to their mission of kehunah and kedushah, and destroying the tumah, even though victory was not apparent. They kindled the menorah even though they didn’t know how long it would remain lit. The mitzvah, therefore, is to acknowledge their heroism by lighting the menorah. For the menorah to remain lit longer than the initial thirty minutes does not add to the performance of the mitzvah.

Klal Yisroel didn’t feel itself strong enough to throw off the yoke of Greek tyr-anny until Matisyahu showed that it could be done. Forces of evil are permitted to remain in power, because the people they dominate do not appreciate their own pow-er and do not join together to bring down the wickedness. Evil is toppled when one

good man decides that he can bear it no longer and begins to rally people around him.

The miraculous military victory over Yovon is a dramatic example of how the laws of nature are suspended when dedi-cated people join together to increase To-rah and kedushah in the world. That rever-sal of the natural order was made possible by the great acts of courage and heroism carried out by one courageous individual, Matisyahu, and his small group. Though according its natural makeup, the flask contained enough oil to burn for one day, it fueled the flame for as long as was nec-essary until more oil could be made. So too in physical terms, it was those who were virtuous, if outmatched, who won against those who were evil.

Very often, we hear tales of wonder about people who succeeded in building Torah where no one thought it was possi-ble. How many times have we heard about the rov who came to a town and was told that hair would grow on hand-palms before a yeshiva would take root? The naysayers are long forgotten as Torah repeatedly takes root and blossoms. People still move to far-flung cities and towns and everyone thinks they are crazy, yet they succeed in building Jewish life.

We are moser nefesh to do a mitzvah and, in the long run, communities gain from the efforts of the first teachers. People who work lesheim Shomayim, with selfless dedication, are not limited by logic or the laws of nature. They go to places, despite being told they can’t and they succeed be-cause they know that our task is to light the fire; the rest is in the hands of Hashem.

On Chanukah, we pay tribute to the ideals of mesirus nefesh of the Chash-monaim. They took a brave, determined stand against the evil tyranny that brutal-ized them and sought their destruction as a people. The Chashmonaim were unpop-ular, as much of Klal Yisorel succumbed to

the temptations presented by the Yevonim. In fact, the Bach (Orach Chaim 670) writes that the Yevonim were able to en-act gezeiros, because there was a hisrash-lus b’avodah, a general weakening in the commitment to religious obligations.

The Chofetz Chaim foretold of a similar atmosphere towards hachzokas haTorah in ikvesa deMeshicha, the period leading up to the arrival of Moshiach. The avodah of Chanukah and of these dark times is the same: to support and enable courageous stars to emerge within our people and free us of our shackles, enabling us to rise.

The Chofetz Chaim regularly delivered a shmuess to his talmidim in his Radiner yeshiva. The teachings were actually more of a rumination. He would contemplate, think and reflect. The shmuess was a con-

versation more than a lecture. In discussing the battle between

Yaakov Avinu and the sar of Eisov, the Chofetz Chaim wondered why the force of evil worked with such energy and drive to block the path of Yaakov. He asked why the paths to kedushah of the first two avos were not impeded in this manner.

The Chofetz Chaim seemed to look into the future as he spoke. “Each of the avos represented a distinct path in avodah. Avrohom’s was chesed, Yitzchok’s was gevurah and Yaakov’s was Torah. The Zo-har reveals that a time will come, just prior to the alos hashachar of Moshiach, when people will ignore talmidei chachomim and forgo traditional support for Torah,” he said. “The lack of encouragement will cause talmidei chachomim to weaken in their resolve. This is hinted to by the in-jury the malach caused Yaakov in his kaf yerech. The thigh supports the body, and the angel thought that by injuring that limb, Yaakov would be unable to battle him.

“The malach struck Yaakov Avinu, but he fought on. Although he was hurt, he summoned the strength to overcome his heavenly opponent.”

The Chofetz Chaim said that before Moshiach’s arrival, chizuk and encourage-ment for Torah would decline. However, he said, the fight would go on, and there would be a few resolute individuals who would fight lonely battles.

He foretold that while they might be few, they would be proud and effective.

Every individual has the ability to grasp an ideal and stand tall in its defense. We all have a singular mission in life, and if we are true to our core, we can summon the strength to realize it. We must never lose sight of our ultimate goal, despite all the noise and static seeking to steal our attention. Challenges confront us, but we possess the ability to surmount them. This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago, when the Chashmonaim confronted the masses to fight with dignity and pride in defense of our mesorah.

On Chanukah, we celebrate the Chash-monaim and their mesirus nefesh for kedu-shah. They rose to throw off the forces of darkness from the nation that was having its light source blocked. They were the

AFTER SPENDING A SHABBOS WITH THOSE PEOPLE, I SEE THAT THERE REALLY IS ROOM FOR OPTIMISM & HOPE

THE JEWISH HOM

E DECEMBER 18, 2014

21me’atim, the tzaddikim, the tehorim, the people who performed Hashem’s service in the Bais Hamikdosh and in the bais me-drash.

Rather than turning to the strongest people and to others who were trained in physical labor and forceful accomplish-ment, they themselves led the battle against the forces of darkness. Too often, we look for others to do our work. We look in the wrong places for saviors and salvation, not knowing that the solution is within us. If we improve ourselves and make ourselves worthy, we can overcome whatever stands in our way. And if it isn’t us who can ac-complish the goal, we can assist those who can. It is very difficult to work in a vacu-um. Those intrepid souls who do so need all the help and support they can get.

While the first part of the Chofetz Chaim’s prophecy has been realized, it is comforting to know that the second part is coming to fruition as well. Yes, we are bombarded by many who seek to under-mine us. We are beset by various problems that beg for solutions. There is an air of negativity and begrudging acceptance of the situation, as many are apathetic.

This past Shabbos, I attended the Torah Umesorah convention, which catered to askonim, executives, lay leaders and yeshi-va administrators. These are people who enable roshei yeshiva, rabbonim, mechan-chim and mechanchos to inspire and lead. They represent the kaf yerech support sys-tem for those to whom we entrust our chil-dren.

After spending a Shabbos with those people, I see that there really is room for optimism and hope. There are people all across the country who fight on and refuse to be dissuaded from bringing Torah and kedushah to all corners. They, and those like them, are heroes in our time. They are the ones the Chofetz Chaim referred to as he spoke to the bochurim in Radin in a dif-ferent time and a different world.

Such people are referred to as “tamchin d’Oraysa.” A tomeich Torah differs from a nadvan, who donates to Torah and good causes. The tomeich doesn’t just donate. He stands behind the talmid chochom and supports him, motivating him and enabling him to continue; comfortable and strong.

The quintessential tamchin d’Oraysa shows humility and veneration for Torah scholars. As wealthy, influential and pow-erful as they may be, they acknowledge the leadership of genuine Torah greats.

Reb Moshe Reichmann zt”l generous-ly supported a local kollel. Once, a close friend asked the Canadian philanthropist to prevail upon the rosh kollel to accept a certain yungerman. Mr. Reichmann looked at him in shock. “Me? What do I know about running a kollel? I am a developer. He makes talmidei chachomim. I have no right to offer an opinion.” He exemplified the tamchin d’Oraysa who are the yerech, holding up the guf of a nation with distinc-tion.

Being a tomeich Torah doesn’t nec-essarily involve donating money. A very wealthy European Jew, who was a gener-ous philanthropist, experienced a bad turn in business and lost his fortune. He shared his frustration and pain with the Satmar Rebbe, Rav Yoel Teitelbaum zt”l. The

Rebbe comforted him. “It’s a difficult ni-sayon,” he said, “but now you have been given a new role, a new shlichus. Now you will show people how you can assist mosdos without money. You will help raise money, you will come up with good ideas, and you will utilize your connections and business experience. By doing so, you will demonstrate that anyone can be a tomeich Torah.”

A heartbroken almanah once shared her tale of woe with Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky zt”l. Her husband had been a wealthy industrialist and a patron of yeshivos. His business went into a down-ward spiral and, before he knew what had happened, he was left with an empty bank account. He died shortly thereafter from a broken heart.

The woman told the rov that she went to visit her son, who was learning in a prominent yeshiva, and was appalled by the squalor in which the bochurim were living. After listening to her problems, Rav Chaim Ozer said to her, “It’s your fault.”

The woman reacted with astonishment to the charge. Rav Chaim Ozer explained: “You and your husband were generous and caring friends of yeshivos, and then, unfortunately, you were no longer able to give money. You thought that you were ab-solved of your obligation to support Torah, but that isn’t true.”

He continued: “You can still do so much. Here,” he said, handing her a sum of money, “take this and buy straw. I’m sure that with your determination, you will be able to get sacks donated. We can fill them with the straw and the bochurim will have new beds to sleep on. Go with hatzlachah. You can still do so much.” So, the almanah left, not just with money, but with a new mission in life.

There are many missions for the tak-ing. There are causes waiting for cham-pions. The miracle and the celebration of Chanukah is primarily that of the tiny flask that burned longer than was thought to be realistically possible. The menorah’s lights signify that the power of light overcame the power of darkness. The oil lasting so long signifies that if you expend the effort and work bemesirus nefesh, physical rules will not apply.

We see wrongs in our world and are told that there is nothing we can do about it. We try to right the wrongs and are mocked. Yet, in fact, if you look around, there are so many people who overcame the odds, building Torah where no one thought it was possible, restoring lives that others had given up on, and fighting abuse that people thought was part of life. We see teachers touching souls and impacting them forever. We see righteous men and women standing up to an apathetic society and awakening people’s consciences. We see people rallying to fight for those who have been wronged.

We see people working with selfless dedication and are amazed that it seems as if logic and the laws of nature don’t ap-ply to them. They tread where no one has dared step before, and they succeed where lesser people vowed success was absolute-ly impossible. Rav Shraga Feivel Mend-lowitz zt”l, who founded Torah Umesorah, stood up to the passive negativity that was

pervasive in his time and dedicated him-self to doing what he could so that tens of thousands of children would say, “Shema Yisroel.” He sent his talmidim across the country, infusing them and others with the passion to change people’s mindsets. The spark they created grew into a fire that spread from New York to California and every major city in between, fueled by in-trepid souls who forsook fame and fortune to save a nation in a death spiral.

Wherever Torah Umesorah reached, the community has blossomed. Many tens of thousands of Jewish children have been lost and robbed of a Jewish education, but the day school movement has made it pos-sible to change that narrative. Assisted by dedicated baalei batim who worked with mesirus nefesh, the mindset has been trans-formed and a revolution ensued.

These are the heroes of our people. They have taken a desolate land and caused a desert of assimilation to bloom with To-rah. It is these heroes who have heard the call of the Chashmonaim. They have been the shluchim for the rebirth of our people decades after we were nearly wiped out. They have succeeded in greater fashion than anyone thought possible, blessed with siyata diShmaya reserved for those who work bemesirus nefesh lesheim Shomayim.

This week, Rav Aharon Leib Shtein-man selected my dear friend, Rav Eliezer Sorotzkin, to run on the Yahadus HaTorah list for the Knesset. Twenty-five years ago, when Lev L’Achim was founded, Rav Elo-zor Menachem Man Shach zt”l tapped the energetic yungerman to lead it. Since then, he has worked ceaselessly and tirelessly, crisscrossing Israel to bring the blessings of Torah to tens of thousands of thirsting people.

With the direction of the gedolim, as-sistance of an army of volunteers, and sup-port of bnei Torah around the world, he demonstrated the ability of one person to affect tens of thousands.

This recent Monday night, Rav Shtein-man said, “He is what the generation needs,” proving again how much one per-son can accomplish and that if we dedicate ourselves to our missions, we can trans-form the world.

Many others work alone, mocked and derided as failing dreamers, yet they place their faith in Hashem and live to see much success. Our forefathers, such as the Pon-ovezher Rov, are the substance of legend and many stories are told about them. But even in our day, there are people who de-fied the odds and went on to undertake

trailblazing endeavors on behalf of our people. We can all have that impact if we discover our mission and set out to right wrongs and make the world a better place. We have to light the spark lesheim Sho-mayim. Hashem does the rest.

A delegation once traveled to St. Pe-tersburg to meet with the Russian minister of education in an attempt to convince him to revoke a decree that would have had a terrible impact on yeshivos. Upon arrival in the Russian capital city, the participants met with the local rov, Rav Yitzchok Blaz-er, to discuss tactics they would employ to underscore the importance of Torah to the minister. Someone suggested translating the words of the tefillah of Ahavah Rabbah for the minister to demonstrate the depth of love for Torah. Rav Blazer replied, “If we would translate those words for ourselves, we wouldn’t need to do so for them.”

We daven three times every day, but we don’t necessarily take the words to heart. We learn the story and halachos of Chanukah, but we have to recognize their relevance to us and our daily lives. The in-spiration is there for those who seek it. If each of us would internalize the lesson of the Chashmonaim, we could free ourselves from much oppression.

It is because of individuals like the Chashmonaim. that we can reach and learn and daven. It is because of the mesirus nefesh of people who went forth into an eretz lo zorua that Torah and Yiddishkeit are stronger than ever. It is because of their dedication that we can publicly light the menorah with pride, without fear of our neighbors.

As we light the menorah, we should learn the lesson of the Chashmonaim, and of the gedolim, roshei yeshiva, admorim, rabbonim, mechanchim and mechanchos who have led us on a path of greatness, and be motivated to do what we can to com-plete their missions and ours.

Rav Yitzchok Blazer would relate from his rebbi, Rav Yisroel Salanter, that on Chanukah it is forbidden to be sad. If someone would tell Rav Yisroel something depressing, he would respond, “Shhh. On Chanukah it is forbidden to say hespeidim and be despondent.” How can a person be unhappy on the Yom Tov that commemo-rates Hashem helping those who actively place their faith in Him? The menorah reminds us of the successes of those who refused to be depressed or suppressed throughout the ages. Let’s remember that.

Ah freilichen Chanukah.

58 YatedNe’eman 27 Kislev 5775 | December 19, 2014

they are crazy, yet they succeed. People are moser nefesh to do a mitzvah and, in the long run, they gain from it. People who work lesheim Shomayim, with selfless ded-ication, are not limited by logic or the laws of nature. They go where everyone says you can’t and they succeed because they know that our task is to light the fire; the rest is up to Hashem.

On Chanukah, we pay tribute to the ideals of mesirus nefesh of the Chash-monaim. They took a brave, determined stand against the evil tyranny that brutal-ized them and sought their destruction as a people. The Chashmonaim were unpopu-lar, as much of Klal Yisorel succumbed to the temptations presented by the Yevonim.

In fact, the Bach (Orach Chaim 670) writes that the Yevonim were able to enact gezeiros, because there was a hisrashlusb’avodah, a general weakening in the com-mitment to religious obligations.

The Chofetz Chaim foretold of a similar atmosphere towards hachzokas haTorah in ikvesa deMeshicha, the period leading up to the arrival of Moshiach.

The avodah of Chanukah and of these dark times is the same: to support and en-able courageous stars to emerge from with-in our people and free us of our shackles, enabling us to rise.

The Chofetz Chaim regularly delivered a shmuess to his talmidim in his Radiner yeshiva. The shmuessen were actually more of a rumination. He would contem-plate, think and reflect. The shmuess was a conversation more than a lecture.

In discussing the battle between Yaa-kov Avinu and the sar of Eisov, the ChofetzChaim wondered why the force of evil worked with such energy and drive to block the path of Yaakov. He asked why the paths to kedushah of the first two avoswere not impeded in this manner.

The Chofetz Chaim seemed to look into the future as he spoke. “Each of the avos represented a distinct path in avodah.Avrohom’s was chesed, Yitzchok’s was gevurah and Yaakov’s was Torah. The Zo-har reveals that a time will come, just prior to the alos hashachar of Moshiach, when people will ignore talmidei chachomimand forgo traditional support for Torah,” he said. “The lack of encouragement will cause talmidei chachomim to weaken in their resolve. This is hinted to by the in-jury the malach caused Yaakov in his kafyerech. The thigh supports the body, and the angel thought that by injuring that limb,Yaakov would be unable to battle him.

“The malach struck Yaakov Avinu, but he fought on. Although he was hurt, he summoned the strength to overcome his heavenly opponent.”

The Chofetz Chaim said that before Moshiach’s arrival, chizuk and encourage-ment for Torah would decline. However, he said, the fight would go on, and there would be a few resolute individuals who would fight lonely battles.

He foretold that while they might be few, they would be proud and effective.

Every individual has the ability to grasp an ideal and stand tall in its defense. We all have a singular mission in life, and if we are true to our core, we can summon the strength to realize it. We must never lose sight of what our ultimate goal is, despite all the noise and static seeking to steal our attention. Challenges confront us, but we possess the ability to surmount them.

It is as true today as it was thousands of years ago, when the Chashmonaim con-fronted the masses to fight with dignity and

pride in defense of our mesorah.On Chanukah, we celebrate the Chash-

monaim and their mesirus nefesh for kedu-shah. They rose to throw off the forces of darkness from the nation that was having its light source blocked. They were the me’atim, the tzaddikim, the tehorim, the people who performed Hashem’s service in the Bais Hamikdosh and in the bais me-drash.

Rather than turning to the strong people and others who were trained in physical la-bor and accomplishment, they themselves led the battle against the forces of darkness.

Too often, we look for others to do our work. We look in the wrong places for sav-iors and salvation, not knowing that the solution is within us. If we improve our-selves and make ourselves worthy, we can overcome whatever stands in our way. And if it isn’t us who can accomplish the goal, we can assist those who can. It is very dif-ficult to work in a vacuum. Those intrepid souls who do so need all the help and sup-port they can get.

While the first part of the ChofetzChaim’s prophecy has been realized, it is comforting to know that the second part is coming to fruition as well. Yes, we are

bombarded by many who seek to under-mine us. We are beset by various problems that beg for solutions. There is an air of negativity and begrudging acceptance of the situation, as many are apathetic.

This past Shabbos, I attended the To-rah Umesorah convention which catered

to askonim, executives, lay leaders and yeshiva administrators. They are people who enable roshei yeshiva, rabbonim, me-chanchim and mechanchos to inspire and lead. They represent the kaf yerech support system for those to whom we entrust our children.

After spending a Shabbos with those people, I see that there really is room for optimism and hope. There are people all across the country who fight on and refuse to be dissuaded from bringing Torah and kedushah to all corners. They, and those like them, are heroes in our time. They are the ones the Chofetz Chaim referred to as he spoke to the bochurim in Radin in a dif-ferent time and a different world.

Such people are referred to as “tamchind’Oraysa.” A tomeich Torah differs from a nadvan, who donates to Torah and good causes. The tomeich doesn’t just donate. He stands behind the talmid chochom and supports him, motivating him and enabling him to continue; comfortable and strong.

The quintessential tamchin d’Oraysashows humility and veneration for Torahscholars. As wealthy, influential and pow-erful as they may be, they acknowledge the leadership of genuine Torah greats.

Editor’s View continued FRoM PAGe 3

Forces of evil are permitted to remain in power, because the people they dominate do not appreciate their own power and do not join together to bring down the wickedness.

GettY iMAGeS

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The Temple in Jerusalem – where Jews once had a special connection to God – was destroyed 2,000 years ago. Any discussion of it today

must seem arcane. What difference do the symbols of the Temple make to our collective life in the modern age? Can they still make changes in us?

One of the special vessels in the Temple, which is still very much part of our identity, is the menorah.

The menorah is part of Chanukah, and lighting it is often the only mitzvah that still speaks to people who are far from Judaism.

Like the other vessels that were in the sanctuary, the menorah has symbolic value. It is a reflection of the way that the soul finds its expression in this world. The menorah reflects the fire of the soul and its unceasing desire to rise to the source. The seven branches repre-sent the seven channels of spiritual self-expression.

What exactly is that spiritual self-expression?

SpiritualityThe term is hard to pin down. We can gain a sense

of its meaning by looking within ourselves.Our identities are enormously complex. When you

ask a child, “Who are you?” the answer given is usually associated with the physical as in “I am a girl.” When the same question is put to a 30-year-old, the answer given is often associated with the intellectual, as in “I am a lawyer.”

However, we all know that our sense of self is not

tied down to our ever-changing bodies nor to our intel-lectual prowess – we had an identity before we had a profession.

Our most basic longings for love, for meaning, for truth are aspects of our souls, not of our bodies nor of our careers. Our other spiritual facets include a sense of there being more to life than the moment – a sense of humility, of desire for relationships that are stable and meaningful, and of yearning to give of ourselves totally. Without these, we suffer the frustration of living in a spiritual vacuum.

These are the spiritual branches of the menorah within us. What do we gain by giving them physical ex-pression? And how does constructing and lighting the menorah change us?

HolinessThe Torah tells us that the effect of the sanctuary,

and every article within it, was to make the Jewish peo-ple holy.

This word holy is tricky. The root of the Hebrew word kadosh, usually translated as “holy,” literally means “separate.” But separate from what? The Jewish answer is separate from everything that constrains us.

Our vistas are cramped by time, space, and of course, our own desires and subjectivity. The Torah opens up our inner landscape. In it, G-d tells us, “Make me a sanctuary, and I will dwell in you.”

It would seem more appropriate for the Torah to say, “Make me a holy place and I will dwell in it,” rather than “dwell in you.” But the phrasing communicates the fact that the physical act of building the sanctuary affected spiritual changes.

And we also learn that the physical actions per-formed within the Temple – like lighting the menorah – did the same.

How does a physical act accomplish a spiritual goal?

Effects of a MitzvahIn the renowned philosophical work “Guide to the

Perplexed,” Maimonides says that we can gain insight into the reason for G-d giving us any given mitzvah by observing the effect that that mitzvah has.

He tells us that the mitzvot of the Torah undeniably have an effect. The focus of the effect of the mitzvot is not the outer world but the inner world – the world of

the menorah. He tells us that the mitzvot affect profound changes in our identity. Each mitzvah presents specific means of self-expression and self-change.

Maimonides divides the pos-sible influence of any given mitz-vah into four groupings:

Mitzvot that channel the basic components of our personalities, such as visiting the sick. Not only is the patient taken beyond the confines of isolation and pain, but also the visitor is taken be-yond the confines of self-absorption and ego. The visi-tor becomes a more compassionate person. The effect on the patient may be transient, but the effect on the visitor will last a lifetime.

Mitzvot that keep us in reality – included in this group are the many prohibitions against various su-perstitious and idolatrous practices. Too many lives have been wasted on illusion for us not to appreciate the enormous significance of this category upon earnest seekers.

Mitzvot that commemorate events that happened in the past. By celebrating the holidays, Shabbat, etc. we bring the memory of the fact that G-d is here with us, in this world, into our present. Our ability to rise above despair, to see ourselves (and everyone else) as divine

creations can be transformational.Mitzvot that alter and refine our relationship to the

physical world, such as keeping kosher. We elevate our-selves and the world in which we live when we relate to it as neither confining nor base, but as being full of spiritual potential.

While many mitzvot belong to more than one group, what they share in common is that they affect the indi-vidual by using the real world as a medium. Feelings and thoughts are grounded and concretized.

Meaning of the MenorahWhat does this have to do with the menorah?Nothing is simultaneously more real and more

ephemeral than our yearnings and strivings. The mes-sage is that we must do something about it. We must concretely give voice to our deepest identity. We must not be afraid of seeking, but that must never be the end of our journey.

The Maccabees lit the menorah when they reentered the Temple after it had been defiled by the Greeks. The second Temple, which had been built with enormous spiritual fire under the aegis of the prophets Ezra and Nechemia had become a home to Greek idols.

The defeat of the Greeks was far more than a mi-raculous military victory. It was a victory of the spirit of Israel. When they re-lit the menorah, it reflected their full commitment to move beyond the limits that Gre-cian rationalism as well as Greek paganism placed on the human spirit.

They didn’t express the spirit of the law alone, but insisted on precision in every concrete detail as well. They would use no oil that didn’t have the seal of the High Priest. Their minds, spirits, emotions, and bodies all had to travel the same road.

One of the most enduring lessons of Chanukah is the light that they ignited endured. Thousands of years later, no matter how much darkness surrounds us, we still light the menorah. We still know who we are, and who we can be.

Reprinted with permission from aish.com.

The Power of the MenorahThe seven branches represent the seven channels of

spiritual self-expression, which can change you forever.

BY REBBETZIN TZIPORAH HELLER

When they re-lit the menorah, it reflected their full commitment to move beyond the limits that Grecian rationalism placed on the human spirit.

THE JEWISH HOM

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On November 27th, hundreds of close family, friends, colleagues and students at-tended Rabbi Eliyahu [Eden] Stewart’s fu-neral. By all accounts it was an incredible experience, both heart breaking and inspir-ing. For the past 65 years, Rabbi Stewart, my father, was a dear friend, colleague and rebbe to so many. The eulogies shared a few common themes. They reminded us that we are left holding onto his ideas, ide-als and teachings, along with the memory of his larger than life personality. This is his legacy.

And yet, we are still left with ques-tions. Why did he die? Why was he not granted a complete recovery? Where was G-d’s mercy?

These basic thoughts are enveloped by the teachings we have learned over the years. Rav Yisroel Salanter writes that if someone wants to merit a positive judg-ment on Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judg-ment, the day when G-d determines who is written in the Book of Life and who is not, than one should become an “ish hak-llal” - a person upon whom the commu-nity depends. There are multiple ways of creating connections to others that enable a person to extend beyond one’s own self. The world of the self is an expandable world; it is a space that has room for oth-ers. There are different ways of becoming a person of the community. Some people excel in preforming acts of charity and kindness. Others teach Torah to many stu-dents. Many people are indeed needed by the community.

Rabbi Stewart was a man upon whom so many depended. His family, his friends, his colleagues, his students, indeed his community needed him. Alas, to our great horror and lasting chagrin, our Abba, our friend, colleague and Rebbe is no longer here, passing away on the fifth of Kislev after battling leukemia for nine months. What happened to Rav Yisroel’s guarantee for a positive judgement and another year in the Book of Life?

This existential question is compound-ed by other troubling puzzles. Tradition-ally, we are taught that prayer and good deeds change mazel, they bring about G-dly mercy. There are few people who are truly beloved by so many. The out-pouring of love and comradeship that Rab-bi Stewart and we, his family, experienced in the time since his passing, is remark-able. Students from the past 40 years have showered their love and concern upon us.

These same students had been praying; they had taken special mitzvos upon them-selves, in the merit that Abba would have a refuah shleimah. His current students at YULA dedicated a googledoc spreadsheet to this endeavor and there were hundreds of entries, each one a special merit for a refuah shelimah. Students at BYLA orga-nized a massive campaign on his behalf.

So what happened? Why was Abba not healed? Where was that mercy?

Confronting these questions is essen-tial to moving onwards and looking to-wards the future with hope and confidence, rather than depression and hopelessness. I would like to use an approach that I have learned from Abba himself. It is his ideas, ideals and values that will enable us to pro-cess these challenges.

Emunah and Bitachon.The Chazon Ish writes that Emunah is

a cognitive exercise. It is the intellectual belief that there is a G-d who exists and knows what He is doing. Bitachon is the intellectual idea that is expressed by our behavior when we are confronted with real life challenges.

As a teacher of Torah, Rabbi Stewart loved to teach and loved to teach Hash-kafah. Frequently, he spoke of the basic principles of Emunah in his classroom. However, living a life of Bitachon is not something easily shared from a pulpit, let alone a teacher’s desk.

Unfortunately, my family had the op-portunity to see if our Emunah was the sort that led to Bitachon. In November/Chesh-van of 2001 my sister, Rivkie a”h, passed

away. She was talented, articulate, beau-tiful, kind, and a fabulous teacher with many dedicated and inspired students. She died after suffering from the disease and treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. She passed away young, far too young. She was twen-ty three years old. How might one be ex-pected to deal with this kind of tragedy? How did Rabbi Stewart deal with this chal-lenge?

The entire shiva he spoke about Emu-nah. He mentioned a well known book written by a scholar whose view was not rooted in the Torah’s tradition, in which the author claims that accidents happen and there is no G-d of Divine Providence over-seeing and managing the world. He kept repeating how if this were true than there is no meaning in suffering and no meaning in loss. it is only to Hashem that we turn. It is only our love of Hashem and through Judaism that we can cope with loss.

More recently, when I would spend time in the hospital with him, he spoke only of emunah and bitachon. He said that he has no complaints against Hashem and “ki kol derachav mishpat” - “All of G-d’s path are just.” When he underwent excru-ciating bone marrow biopsies it was verses of Hallel that sustained him. My father, and of course my mother as well, were great examples of putting thought or theol-ogy into practice. This is our Chinuch and this shall be part of their legacy.

There are two directions to go or meth-ods of practice that people use when faced with catastrophe and tragedy. Some peo-ple say, “Where was G-d? He does not hear our prayers. What is the point of prayer?” Others have a different response. This past summer, the incident with the three boys who were kidnapped and murdered brought the collective Jewish world to its knees. We begged and pleaded with Hash-em, seemingly to no avail. And yet Rach-elli Frankel, Naftali z”l’s mother shared that her family understood that at times Hashem says no.

Let’s take a more global or historical perspective. We don’t know how Hashem operates. We only experience a tiny win-dow of reality. We don’t understand why He does what He does. All we experience is our little slice of history. There is noth-ing final about this world, about this life. There is 6000 years of Jewish history. This world is merely a corridor to the next. In the spiritual spheres there is an “olam han-

ishamos,” a World of Souls. We believe in reincarnation. We believe in Moshiach and in techias haMesim. Our experience in the moment is severely limited.

This is admittedly a very cognitive response to what is really an emotional question. By definition, it is lacking. An emotional question demands an emotion-al response. Nonetheless, our faith system must be clear.

The good deeds we performed and the prayers we recited were helpful. We ex-pect Hashem to answer the way we want to be answered. However, this is folly. Hashem does as He wills. Dr. David Fox shared a powerful idea. In Ashrei we say “Poseach es yadeicha umasbia lichol chai ratzon” - You open your hand and you ful-fill and satisfy every living being. This is the will of Hashem.

Every Tefilah matters. Every mitzvah counts. Every passage of Torah learning was a merit. Rabbi Stewart used to say ev-ery word of Torah is more precious than diamonds and gold.

Did he suffer less because of our prayers and mitzvos? Yes. Did Abba live longer because of our prayers and mitz-vos? Yes. Was he grateful for our prayers and mitzvos? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes. We all deserve a pat on the back and a yash-erkoach. We made a huge difference, for him, for our family and for each other. This was his philosophy and this is Judaism.

If you think about this a little more deeply, this approach is simple; but it is life changing. Judaism is not a black and white religion. It is not all or nothing. Ev-erything a person does is real and signif-icant. Every blessing you make. Every time you put on tziziz and a kippah. Every day you put on Tefilin is a great day. Ev-ery time you say the Shemah and daven the amidah. Every mishnah you learn and every moment spent learning Torah is pre-cious and priceless.

Aba’s reward and continued growth is contingent on his legacy. The legacy which we which we - his family, friends and students - carry Every time we follow his lesson plan, we are propelling him fur-ther along his journey closer and closer to Hashem.

May we all be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Rabbi Avi Stewart is the Rabbi of the Westwood Kehilla and a therapist in pri-vate practice.

Where was G-d? Is He really listening?by Rabbi Avi Stewart

Rabbi Eliyahu Stewart z”l

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Martin Greenfield’s recently-published book, Measure of a Man, A Memoir: From Auschwitz Survivor to Presidents’ Tailor, has been receiving a fair amount of press lately. An interview with him appeared in Tablet Magazine, and Aish.com published a selection from the book, which describes the author’s experiences during the Shoah and his life afterward. I wondered about the hype, but when I read Measure of a Man, I understood why people have found it so captivating.

The book starts off with the heavy sub-ject of the Shoah. Greenfield’s matter-of-fact treatment of it is less literary than the approaches of Elie Wiesel or Primo Levi, yet, his straightforward account is no less affecting. Greenfield started life as Maxi-milian Grünfeld, born in 1928 in a small town in the Carpathian Mountains called Pavlovo. He grew up as Hitler rose to pow-er but young Maxi experienced an idyllic

childhood in a close, traditional Jewish community. His corner of Czechoslovakia was initially spared from deportations and concentration camps.

That security didn’t last, though, and the Nazis rounded up the entire populace of Pavlovo on the second day of Pesach in 1944. Pavlovo’s Jews first stopped in the ghetto in Mukačevo, but found themselves transported to Auschwitz just a month lat-er. There, Grünfeld came face-to-face with Mengele and lost every member of his im-mediate family. Suffering daily violence, depravation, and humiliation, he also learned that an extra shirt could elevate a prisoner above his fellows and that the right pair of shoes could ensure his surviv-al while on a death march.

At the war’s close, Grünfeld relates, “Physically, I was free. Emotionally, I was in chains.” He first attempted to avenge himself against the wife of Weimar’s may-

or, who once had begrudged him a few bites of rabbit food when he rescued her beloved pet. Then, he joined the Czechoslovakian army’s efforts to polish off the Na-zis. Neither effort released him from his torment.

When they had parted at Auschwitz, Grünfeld’s father had told him, “If you survive by yourself, you must honor us by living, by not feeling sorry for us.” Grünfeld came to realize that starting life over, pursu-ing happiness and success, would be the greatest way to fulfill his father’s wishes. In the second half of Mea-sure of a Man, we learn how he carried out this goal, and it is this part of the book – which has received less me-dia attention – that I think is the real gem.

Providentially, Grün-feld was located by long-lost uncles and aunts, and he relocated to the U.S. He recreated himself as Martin Greenfield and took a job with GGG, the premier maker of hand-tailored menswear in this coun-try. Eventually, he married, established a family, and started his own firm, Martin Greenfield Clothiers. Today, that company dresses stars and presidents.

Greenfield’s list of accomplishments might have been tiresome to read. Howev-er, he avoids arrogance because he never attributes his success to his own efforts. Instead, Greenfield acknowledges the in-fluence of his mentors, collaborators, and champions, as well as many moments of Heavenly assistance. It’s a resounding les-son in the trait of hakarat hatov (gratitude).

Greenfield offers additional character lessons throughout the book. Such prover-bial declarations as, “Dressing powerful people has taught me that the greatest men take interest in the smallest people,” and “I was deeply moved by the way accom-plished and successful people took time to help someone who could not help them,” become more than mere cliché when fol-lowed up with a story about Eddie Fisher or President Clinton or any of the other

celebrities whom Martin Greenfield has dressed.

I was intrigued by Greenfield’s busi-ness practices. He explained that custom-ers are willing to pay top-dollar for a Mar-tin Greenfield suit because each is created by hand, according not only to individual measurements, but for how the customer plans to use the suit. This means that cus-tomer Senator Bob Dole, who has a para-lyzed hand, receives a suit with the button closures made easier to handle. If the cli-ent is wheelchair-bound, the jacket will be made to drape properly even in the seated position.

Greenfield does pepper his book with a few very slightly risqué anecdotes, as well as pop-cultural references, so the book is not strictly-speaking a “frum book.” But it contains many moments that evoke paral-lels in Pirkei Avos, and for a reader look-ing for a relatively light, quick read with Jewish content, it will be a hit.

BOOK REVIEW - Measure of a Man, A Memoir: From Auschwitz Survivor to Presidents’ Tailor

by Martin Greenfield (with Wynton Hall) Reviewed by Rebecca Klempner

THE JEWISH HOM

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When we think of Jewish holidays, we usually think of our traditions, and Chanukah is no exception

to the rule. Beautiful, silver menorahs lit with oil, customary fried foods such as doughnuts and latkes, Chanukah gelt, and the tunes we sing each year are some of the warm memories we associate with the Festival of Lights.

The Jewish faith has been connected to the symbol of the menorah for generations. The menorah brings light into the world, just as the Jewish people are a light unto the nations. The seven branched meno-rah was used in the Bais Hamikdash, with the kohanim lighting it every day in the evening and cleaning it every morning. The Chanukah me-norah is similar to the Bais Hamkidash’s menorah, but contains eight branches and one shamash to symbolize the miracle that lasted for eight nights. Some say it is also not the same as the Temple vessel because there is a tradition not to replicate anything used in the Bais Hamikdash after it was destroyed. Incredibly, this holiest menorah from the days of old was constructed out of a solid block of pure gold. That includes its base, cups, knobs, shaft and flowers, and the lamps on top. In fact, the concept was so difficult to understand, that Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to throw it into the fire, and Hashem formed the intri-cate menorah for the Mishkan.

Nowadays, people are thinking a little more out of the box when it comes to menorahs. While gold and silver are the more traditional mate-rials used, these modern-day menorahs make the mitzvah slightly differ-ent than usual.

Rockets into Roses is one such project, which is the brainchild of Yaron Bob, a metal

sculptor, blacksmith and part-time computer teacher. He spent years wit-nessing rockets being launched into Israeli cities—over 18,000 of them since 2001. Yaron had two personal, frightening incidents with rockets, and he felt a strong need to do something with them, to make something constructive from the destruction of the rockets. However, he was also hesitant to touch them, because they are instruments of death. The stress was rising the more the rockets were falling. “It finally struck me that I need to make a rose from a Kassam,” he related. He thought of the verse, “Swords will be turned into plowshares” and decided he would take the destructive rockets and turn them into something beautiful.

The police give Yaron the spent rockets after the bomb squad does the necessary checking to ensure they are not live. He first began making metal ros-es, with only the help of a hammer, anvil and furnace. Each rose takes him hours to produce, and each one is truly unique. The stem of the flower is attached to a metal base that is in the shape of the land of Is-rael; the flowers seem to be growing out of the base.

Now, Yaron has branched out into other items, not just roses. In fact, his beautiful selection of menorahs made from rockets is breathtaking. Each one is different, and

range from modern to traditional in design. We spoke with Shana from the Israel Boutique, whose website, www.rocketsintoroses.com, sells the vast majority of Mr. Bob’s products. In fact, they came up with the “Rockets into Roses” name, after they met Yaron Bob and saw his mov-ing artwork. Shana says that people’s reactions to the products have been incredible. They feel very connected to the Israelis who live in fear when they touch the different items made from the rockets. “They love the idea of turning terror and destruction into beauty, which is what the Jewish people are all about,” she explained.

From Rockets to Doughnuts

Menorahs Large and SmallBY SHIRA DIAMOND

“Lighting them truly symbolizes the victory of the light of Israel over the darkness of

our enemies.”

From destruction came light, lighting a menorah made from rockets

THE JEWISH HOM

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Minyan of Kohanim Gedolei Torah

On the Day of“Zos Chanukah”Facing the Kodesh Hakodoshim

Tefilas HaChashmonaimA tremendous prayer assembly, a minyan composed of pure-lineaged kohanim who are great in Torah and

yirah, who will daven fervently for the donors of Vaad Harabanim.

According to the special seder tefilah stated in the Tashbatz as how the Kohanim Chashmonaim prayed 2200 years ago, thereby meriting their great yeshu’ah.

May we too merit great yeshu’os this year as well – as it was bayamim hahem, so may it be bazman hazeh!

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‘‘HAGAON HARAV MOSHE STERNBUCH, SHLITAAv Beis Din, Eidah HaChareidis “Dirshu, Baruch HaShem, created a revolution, that bachurim, Avreichim and Baalei Batim study Mishnah Berurah, and Beli Ayin Hara, the limud HaTorah went from potential to actual . . . Baruch HaShem, we have embarked on a special derech in this study ... it is a great zechus.”

HAGAON HARAV ELYA BER WACHTFOGEL, SHLITARosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Moshe“Aside from the mitzvah of Torah learning, learning halacha is such a basic requirement, how could I not encourage it?! …With Dirshu, it isn’t just that you are learning, but taking tests on what is learned shows that you takeh know it!”

HAGAON HARAV MEIR HERSHKOWITZ, SHLITARosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Bais BinyominWhen visited by Hanhalas Dirshu, Harav Hershkowitz exclaimed, “Ashreichem shezachisem l’harbotzas haTorah, how fortunate that you merited the zechus of spreading Torah!” Rav Hershkowitz was particularly interested to hear about the success of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha. He then concluded with a heartfelt bracha that Dirshu see continued Siyata DiShmaya in its Harbatzas HaTorah.

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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

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

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‘‘HAGAON HARAV MOSHE STERNBUCH, SHLITAAv Beis Din, Eidah HaChareidis “Dirshu, Baruch HaShem, created a revolution, that bachurim, Avreichim and Baalei Batim study Mishnah Berurah, and Beli Ayin Hara, the limud HaTorah went from potential to actual . . . Baruch HaShem, we have embarked on a special derech in this study ... it is a great zechus.”

HAGAON HARAV ELYA BER WACHTFOGEL, SHLITARosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Moshe“Aside from the mitzvah of Torah learning, learning halacha is such a basic requirement, how could I not encourage it?! …With Dirshu, it isn’t just that you are learning, but taking tests on what is learned shows that you takeh know it!”

HAGAON HARAV MEIR HERSHKOWITZ, SHLITARosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Bais BinyominWhen visited by Hanhalas Dirshu, Harav Hershkowitz exclaimed, “Ashreichem shezachisem l’harbotzas haTorah, how fortunate that you merited the zechus of spreading Torah!” Rav Hershkowitz was particularly interested to hear about the success of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha. He then concluded with a heartfelt bracha that Dirshu see continued Siyata DiShmaya in its Harbatzas HaTorah.

HAGAON HARAV SHMUEL YAAKOV BORENSTEIN, SHLITARosh Yeshiva, Yeshiva Kiryas Melech“Dirshu’s undertaking and organizing of Daf HaYomi B’Halacha…the study of the Mishna Berurah to encourage the study of halacha lema’aseh with clarity, to know how one should live in every detail. Thousands of yungeleit in Eretz Yisrael and America participate in this sacred Avodas HaKodesh.”

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.

סיו העולמי דרשו היומי בהלכה ד של למחזור הראשו

WORLD SIYUM

—— SPRING 2015 ——

HAGAON HARAV SHIMON BADANI, SHLITARosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah V’Chaim, Yerushalayim “There is something special about learning Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, because one can always come home after learning, with practical halachos that he can apply. When learning halacha l’maaseh, like Daf HaYomi B’Halacha, one comes home with tremendous practical to’eles – that he can apply in his day-to-day life!”

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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

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

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111During the year, the Star of David is by far the best-selling piece. It’s a classic item, and its popularity doesn’t wane. Another popular item is the petit rose, which people keep on their desk at home or at work and is an item of interest to others and never fails to spark a conversation. Specialty items are also big sellers in their respective seasons, and the menorah is no exception. As Shana beautifully points out, “Lighting them truly symbolizes the victory of the light of Israel over the darkness of our enemies.” The most wonderful thing about these menorahs, she explains, is that it truly tells the story of our people, the Jewish people. In every genera-tion our enemies rise up to destroy us, and we take that destruction, we build with it and turn our circumstances into beauty. “People in Israel are not hungry for war and what they really want is a bright and beautiful fu-ture,” Yaron says.

The ice menorah is a “cool” menorah found around the

world at many Chabad Houses. The Chabad at Cornell University has one, the Chabad of Indiana, the Chai center in Brookline, Mas-sachusetts, and many others have this freez-ing menorah to attract onlookers and bring attention to the mitzvah of lighting menorah. Cool Way Ice, LLC even advertises that they sell ice sculpted menorahs and will do a live demonstration upon request. In the past they have even constructed ice menorahs as large as ten feet tall. No need to worry about these menorahs melting; an ice sculpture lasts about six to nine hours in 70 degree weather before it starts to melt and lose its shape. Me-norahs made in the winters of the east coast will last a lot longer. To make the menorah even cooler, one can add different color LED lights to tint it any color they desire. Talk about a menorah that is sure to “freeze” your attention on this Chanukah holiday.

And what about the menorah the kids would go crazy for? This year, The Chabad Jewish Center of Oceanside/Vista sponsored its annual community event for families, and it was held on December 16. As a family project, kids and their parents spent the night building a seven-foot menorah out of 5,000 Lego pieces. Lego menorahs have been made before and are actually quite popular, but seven feet worth of Lego is quite a feat! (And quite a hefty price, too). Kids will definitely be ogling this menorah and give them one more item to put on their Chanukah gift lists.

Seven feet is quite large, but that is nothing compared to the world’s largest Chanukah menorah whose home is right here in New York City. In Grand Army Plaza, between Fifth Avenue and 59th street, stands the tallest menorah in the world at 32 feet high! This steel, gold-colored me-norah weighs about 4,000 pounds and was designed by Yaakov Agam, a world-renowned Israeli artist who makes contemporary art. The meno-rah also uses real oil for burning, instead of lightbulbs like many others. Each oil lamp is equipped with glass cases specially designed to keep the wind from blowing out the flame. Rabbi Shmuel Butman, the director of Lubavitch Youth Organization which funds the event, says, “This meno-rah stands as a symbol of freedom of democracy and delivers the message of light over darkness and freedom over oppression.”

Interestingly, Con Edison helps out with this lighting. Because it is so tall, they use their crane to help lift people to the top in order to light

it. This menorah lighting ceremony began in 1877, when Mayor Abraham David Beam, the very first Jewish mayor of New York City, lit the menorah in public.

While we’re on the subject of the tallest menorah, let’s not forgot the smallest meno-rah that is actually the size of a dust speck! The menorah was created by the physics laboratory at Hebrew University in Jerusa-lem in honor of the holiday. This lab, part of the Peter Brojde center for innovative en-gineering and computer science where their main focus is applying scientific discoveries to technology, has created incredible objects that are nothing less than groundbreaking. It is the home of the one and only Nanoscribe system in the Holy Land, and two doctoral students, Yossi Kabessa and Ido Eisenberg, decided to show the world the Nanoscribe’s abilities in building tiny 3D structures. Eventually, Kabessa and Eisenberg built the world’s smallest menorah. But don’t think that you’ll be lighting it any time soon. This menorah actually measures less than a tenth of a millimeter; it can’t be seen by the naked eye. It is only visible through a microscope and is built with building blocks that mea-sure 100 nanometers. The detail that is visi-ble on the menorah is incredible considering its size and represents the “miracle machine” that has the potential to make incredible breakthroughs in medicine and the environ-ment, as well as in the war on terror and for military purposes. Unfortunately, this meno-rah is not considered kosher since it can’t be lit, as a candle or even a single wick would tower over this miniscule structure!

As far as the world’s yummiest me-norah, Rabbi Mendel Kastel, the Chabad shaliach in Bondi, Australia, likes to make menorahs out of the most interesting things. In fact, in 2010, he constructed a menorah that was made from doughnuts. This deli-cious confection stood tall with hundreds of doughnuts on its base and branches. The lo-cal bakery, Carmel Cake Shop, donated 600 doughnuts for the project and to give out to those who attended the lighting. After Rabbi Kastel lit the candles, he announced that the crowd could partake of the treat, and ev-eryone made a beeline to try the oily food. Think a yummy menorah is really different? Rabbi Kastel is no stranger to unusual meno-rahs. He has previously made menorahs out

of sand, and one from surfboards. One year, he had 20 tons of snow deliv-ered to Sydney’s Hyde Park to make heads turn with his wintery menorah.

Regardless of what your menorah is made out of, whether it’s the more

traditional silver or metal, or something a little different and out of the ordinary, one thing stays true. The beauty and tradition of Chanukah and the warm glow of the lights create a wonderful atmosphere that carries us through the dark, cold winter season. Spending time with family and friends, eating delicious latkes, singing songs and gazing at the Chanukah lights remind us of the love Hashem showed us years ago when we saw the menorah lights burn for eight days and nights.

No matter what kind you are lighting this year, whether it’s cold, big, oily or invisible to the human eye, whether it’s made from precious metals or metals of destruction, allow the message of the menorah to penetrate: that even in the darkness there is always a spark of light.

An ice cold menorah

Lighting the world’s tallest menorah in New York City

The most delicious menorah – made out of doughnuts!

The world’s smallest menorah is less than a tenth of a millimeter

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Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education

ARIOT CAL

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS

SCIENCE/STEM LABORATORIES

MATH & SCIENCE ENRICHMENT

MIDDLE SCHOOL STEM

HS SCIENTIFIC ENGINEERING

HS BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERINGMore than 150 schools nationwide are partnering with CIJE to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century and to use their talents to make the world a better place.Please help us expand our Jewish day school partnerships to prepare more students by adding programs, training more teachers, and providing state of the art education technology. To learn more about CIJE and donate to our 501(c)(3) organization, please visit www.thecije.org or call 212-757-1500 or 323-424-4059 or email info@thecije.org and follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thecije

Each day, in Jewish day schools throughout the United States, the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education is challenging K-12 students through innovative programs in Language Arts, Science, Technology, Math and Engineering (STEM).

CENTER FOR INITIATIVES IN JEWISH EDUCATION

Northeast (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts) Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Academy of Rockland (ASHAR) • Ateret Torah Centers • Bais Yaakov Academy of Brooklyn • Bais Yaakov Academy of Queens • Bais Yaakov D'Khal Adas Yereim • Bais Yaakov of 18th Avenue • Be'er Hagolah Institutes • Ben Porat Yosef • Beth Jacob Day School • Beth Jacob of Boro Park • Bi-Cultural Day School • Bnos Bais Yaakov • Bnos Israel School • Bnos Malka Academy • Bnos Menachem • Brandeis School • Bruriah High School • Carmel Academy • Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School • East Midwood Hebrew Day School • Gerrard Berman Hebrew Day School • Golda Och Academy • Hebrew Academy of Long Beach • Hebrew Academy of Nassau County • Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway • Hillel Yeshiva • Hillel Yeshiva High School • Ilan High School for Girls • Jewish Educational Center • Jewish Foundation School • Jewish High School of Connecticut • Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy • Kohelet High School • Long Island Hebrew Academy • Luria Academy of Brooklyn • Ma’ayanot Yeshiva HS for Girls • Magen David Yeshivah High School • Manhattan Day School • Manhattan High School for Girls • Masores Bais Yaakov • Mazel Day School • Merkaz HaTorah School • Mesivta Ateres Yaakov • North Shore Hebrew Academy • Ohel • Park East Day School • Politz Hebrew Academy • Prospect Park Yeshiva • Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva • Rabbi Teitz Mesivta Academy • Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School • Rockland Jewish Academy • Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey • S/A/R • Shaarei Zion Ohel Bracha • Shalhevet High School • Shalom Torah Academy • Shalom Torah Academy of WMC • Shulamith School for Girls of Long Island • Shulamith SchoolFor Girls of Brooklyn • Silverstein Hebrew Academy • Solomon Schechter School of Long Island • Solomon Schechter School of Queens • Solomon Schechter School of Westchester • Stella K. Abraham High School • The Frisch School • The Hebrew Academy • The Jewish Academy • The Moriah School • Tichon Meir Moshe High School • Torah Academy for Girls • Torah Academy of Boston • Westchester Day School • Yavneh Academy • Yeshiva Ahavas Torah • Yeshiva Beit Hillel of Passaic • Yeshiva Bonim LaMakom • Yeshivat Darche Eres • Yeshiva Darchei Noam • Yeshiva Darchei Torah • Yeshiva Derech HaTorah • Yeshiva Education for Special Students • Yeshiva Har Torah • Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island • Yeshiva Ketana of Passaic • Yeshiva Ketana of Queens • Yeshiva Ketana of Waterbury • Yeshiva M’kor Boruch • Yeshiva of Central Queens • Yeshiva of Flatbush • Yeshiva of Spring Valley • Yeshiva Ohr Shraga D’Veretsky • Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin • Yeshiva Shaare Torah • Yeshiva Shaare Zion of Piscataway • Yeshiva Shaagas Aryeh • Yeshiva Tifereth Moshe • Yeshiva Torah Temimah • Yeshiva Torah Vodaath • Yeshiva Toras Chaim of South Shore • Yeshiva Toras Emes • Yeshiva Yesode HaTorah Nachlas Yaakov Vien • Yeshivat Noam • Yeshivat Ohr Haim

CaliforniaBais Chaya Mushka • Emek Hebrew Academy • Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy • Kabbalah Children’s Academy • Masoret Yehudit • Mesivta Birkas Yitzchok • New Community Jewish High School • Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School • San Diego Jewish Academy • Soille San Diego Hebrew Academy • Tarbut V’Torah High School • Valley Torah High Schools (Boys & Girls) • Yavneh Hebrew Academy of Los Angeles • Yeshiva High Tech • Yeshiva Ketana of Los Angeles • Yeshiva Torath Emeth (Boys & Girls) • Yeshiva University Los Angeles High School for Boys • Yeshiva University Los Angeles High School for Girls

FloridaBrauser Maimonides Academy • David Posnack Jewish Day High School • Donna Klein Jewish Academy • Hillel Day School of Boca Raton • Masoret Yehudit • Posnack Jewish Day High School • Scheck Hillel Community School • Torah Academy of Boca Raton • Weinbaum Yeshiva High School • Yeshiva Elementary School • Yeshiva Toras Emes

OtherAkiva Hebrew Day School (Southfield, MI) • American Hebrew Academy (Greensboro, NC) • Ann and Nate Levine Academy (Dallas, TX) • Bais Yaakov of Detroit (Detroit, MI) • Beth Yehuda Boys School (Southfield, MI) • Phoenix Hebrew Academy (Phoenix, AZ) • Torah Academy of Minnesota (St Louis Park, MN) • Torah Day School of Dallas (Dallas, TX) • Torah Day School of Phoenix (Phoenix, AZ) • Yeshiva Ohr Boruch – The Veitzner Cheder (Chicago, IL) • Yeshiva Tiferes Tzvi (Chicago, IL)

CIJE lights the way for today’s children...and paves the path for a brighter tomorrow!

COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION

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This Chanukah, give the

Gift of Giving

Special Chanukah discount with code Chanukah10 @ www.hakarashatovinitiative.com

available at your local Jewish bookstoreFor bulk or school orders contact 917-444-7555

As a member of the Orthodox community, I am pleased to have joined the Mount Sinai family

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Our parks are open Sunday through Friday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PMdaily except Saturday in observance of the Sabbath.

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THE JEWISH HOM

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Torah & Tea Dreidel Cookies!

Perfect for Torah and Tea on Cha-nukah!

Ideal for a women’s event!

…And absolutely fun for a cup of tea after hosting!

These are easy and fun to make and I can tell you that the options are endless with the many variations of sugars, icing and sprinkles! (Make them match your tea cups!)

All you need is a dreidel cookie cutter and basic cookie dough. Simply cut out your dreidel cookies and using a knife cut a slit in the dough, off center. ( I found that they balanced better this way).

Make sure your ‘slit’ is about 1/4″ wide as it will fill in a bit as the dough bakes. (Try use thin rimmed tea cups or play around with making a bigger slit to accommodate thicker rimmed cups).

Then, simply spread out on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles of your choice and bake!

Line up your tea cups on your cof-fee table/counter and it will definitely be a (delicious) show stopper when your guests arrive!

Yum!

Basic Cookie Dough• 3 eggs• 1 cup margarine (Earth Balance)• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract• 4 cups flour• 2 cups icing sugar (confectioners

sugar)• 3 tsps. baking powder• Yields 7 to 8 dozen (if dough

rolled thin, 4-6 dozen if kids are making them:)

• Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.• Line a baking sheet with parch-

ment paper.• In a large mixer bowl, beat eggs.

Add margarine and vanilla. Add flour and baking powder and mix well.

• Roll out dough on a floured board to 1/4″ thickness and cut into desired shapes. Place on cookie sheet.

• Press sprinkles onto cookies.• Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until

slightly browned.• Remove from Cookie sheet to

cool.(Recipe credits: Spice and Spirit The Complete Kosher Cookbook)

Ribbon Dreidels!Sitting at my craft table, fiddling with

ideas for this years Chanukah events and programs, I saw before me my many spools of ribbon.

I have a confession to make, I LOVE ribbon. In as many hues and textures as possible and in as many widths as there exists!

This was really easy to make, all you need are the adhesive rollers, ribbon and wooden dreidels! That’s it. Roll on the ad-hesive and wrap each dreidel in ribbon.

Of course you could add a nun, gim-mel, hay and shin to each side, using a fabric marker or puff paints!

These are fun for decorating your home, hang each one from clear fishing string from a beam or doorway for a grand entrance into Chanukah!

Tie one to a gift with twine or toss a few in a glass candy dish or on a platter and make this the center of your dining room table.

You can even experiment with this look by adding glitter, gemstones and any-thing else that sparkles!

Fun with Dreidels Chana’s art room; where colors come to lifeVisit chanasartroom.com for links to source materials

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Too Much OilAll of the foreign oil-producing countries have

taken a hit recently. Over the past decade, with all the talk about alternative energy, the United States has be-come a top natural gas producer, and, with new shale oil production (chemically forcing the creation of oil from fossils in shale rock), America has overwhelmed the world markets and pushed prices down by 40 per-cent. The U.S. is now one of the top producers of fuel in the world.

OPEC—the Arab alliance of oil producing coun-tries—feels the hit. Instead of curtailing their oil pro-duction, they’ve kept it up, creating a surplus of oil out there. With so much oil on the market, prices are drop-ping. It’s simple supply and demand economics, folks.

Some people believe OPEC’s actions are meant to hurt America’s energy industry.

But, according to experts, for you and me and American businesses, dropping oil prices are not bad news. In fact, this means more spending on the goods and services and more profits for businesses. It means airlines will drop prices and more people will take a vacation. It means food prices drop because it takes less gas to transport food from farm to table.

Still others are raising the alarum on behalf of the American shale oil companies that are still in the start-up phase with startup-style loans and bills. Analysts predict though that the companies will make enough to cover the interest on their loans so they should be okay.

Targeting the Enemy: Using Oil to Bring the Powerful and Power-Hungry DownIn the meantime, others are taking a closer look at

OPEC’s intentions. In their eyes, the continued pro-duction and the forced hit on profits for oil producers are engineered by Saudi Arabia, the biggest and most powerful player in OPEC.

The Saudis can afford the hit on profits. But other countries can’t. And those are the countries the Saudis want to hurt.

Here’s a short list of those pained by the drop in oil profits:

• Iran• Syria and ISIS• Iraq• Russia• Venezuela • Brazil• Nigeria

Those who gain include China (they’ll depend less on their locally-harvested coal, which will im-prove their air quality), India, Canada, Mexico, and, of course, the United States.

Oil: Some Background, Some HistorySo what makes that little bit of oil so special and

so valuable?

Fuel in the United States: William Penn, the Jews, and a Marathon

William Penn stepped foot onto his land in his new country and dubbed it Pennsylvania. He started trek-king and checking out his property, coming to what we now call the Delaware Water Gap. It’s a place you probably know fondly and possibly well, a place where you have meandered on the paths of Boy Scouts before you. But back then, it was no man’s land.

In a historical moment worthy, really, of Mel Brooks, who does William Penn, in the year 1682, meet there?

Jews!I mean, Lenape Indians! Penn was a few hundred years too early for meet-

ing actual Jews there. One look at the Lenapes, though, and he thought the Lenapes were Jewish. He

OIL!This Year’s Chanukah Miracle and Some of the Jews who Helped Find the OilBY BRENDY J. SIEV

The miracle of Chanukah this year in-

cludes the Miracle of a Lot of Oil that

Costs a Little, rabim b’shvil me’atim,

or a Little Oil for a Lot of Cars.

Not to say that olive oil prices have dropped.

(They haven’t.) But the fuel that keeps our cars

and engines going has gone…cheap. Oil prices

have dropped the lowest since June 2009. The

price at the pump has dropped to an average

$2.55 a gallon, and households using oil heat

are expected to save $362 this winter because of

lower oil costs. And oil prices keep dropping.

How did this Chanukah miracle happen?

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35103wrote this with great excitement to the king, did a comprehensive study of the Lenape language, a lan-guage that he claimed followed the style of Hebrew, and described the Indians’ look: just like Jews.

Penn brokered a treaty and created some boundar-ies with the Lenapes which was a good thing. The treaty went something like this: Penn could have land west of the Lenape River. But only the amount a man could walk in a day or two at an easygoing pace. And everyone lived happily ever after.

Until Penn died, and his son took over.Penn’s son didn’t like that this land was off-limits

to him. So he arranged a great land grab, the kind that inspires wars and tremendous bloodshed. He went to the Indians to demarcate his land and showed them the treaty. Then he advertised for the best runners in Pennsylvania. They would receive 500 acres of land for participating.

On a designated day, the Lenape’s and Penn’s marathon runners went to demarcate where exactly a “day’s walk-worth of land” ended. The white men walked 65 miles into the Poconos. The Indians panted behind. And the white men laid claim to the Lenape’s beloved Minisink River.

Eastern Pennsylvania, though, is coal country, the good kind of coal that breaks into chunks and burns a nice blue flame. But this is not what we really use to heat our homes and fuel our cars. We use oil.

Western Pennsylvania: A Land Flowing with…Oil

Eastern Pennsylvania was not where the best fuel was hiding. And hiding, in this case, is the wrong term. The real American treasure was seeping out of the rocks in Western Pennsylvania in an area called Oil Creek.

There, the Seneca Indians’ land included this amazing treasure: oil.

So much oil—the kind you pump into your car and that inspires great treaties and organizations like OPEC—flowed so freely on their land that it flowed through a river and seeped out of rocks. The Senecas drank it and used it as a medicine and rubbed it on their faces. They used it for fuel.

They dug great pits to catch the runoff oil and gather it, and this oil was so pure that, in our times, it would barely need any refining. You could just scoop it up and pump it into your Ferrari and zoom down I-95.

Soon private farmers came and bought small tracts of land around this area. They started to dig and, with-out going too deep, created oil wells, pumping and selling the fuel privately.

The Hunt for Pure Oil: A Jewish Woman Saves the Day

Once those oil sources were depleted, oil compa-nies of course prospected through various parts of the

United States looking for oil. They had ways of sus-pecting where oil would be, but their method was far from perfect and involved a bit of trial and error: dig a little here, bore a little there.

By 1973, things had reached crisis levels, with the oil embargo and the long lines to fill the car’s tank.

And the U.S. government decided to take action by helping the oil industry find the oil on our side of the world.

The government pumped money into the United States Geological Service’s Branch of Oil & Gas Re-sources. They hired people from oil companies and other high-level geologists to join the Service, the kind of government office that sends people off to hike mountains and map the terrain and rocks there. The geologists who work for them actually send bags of rocks back to Washington from whatever remote post office they can find. (This means that when the mail-man grumbles, “What have you got in here? Rocks?” geologists working for the USGS can actually say, “Yes.”) Now they wanted these geologists to answer the quintessential question: where is the oil, and how can we get to it?

It was soon answered by a young Jewish woman from Brooklyn, New York.

From Williamsburg to WashingtonAnita Fishman Epstein was a star. She grew up

in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, playing at the Brooklyn Navy Yards when they were still a navy yard. And sometimes, when she would get bored, she took a little walk—across the Williamsburg Bridge.

She started walking across the bridge, stepped onto Delancey Street, and into Manhattan. This became such a habit that she drew her own boundaries: she would walk from Williamsburg to Central Park and then home again.

A brilliant student who graduated high school at 15, Anita went to Brooklyn College and, once there, intended to get her full tuition’s-worth. She paid six dollars a year.

She majored in geology, a sure-fire way to get out of Brooklyn and do what she did best: walking long distances and collecting rocks. She saw rocks as clumsy storybooks, telling eloquent stories of their history in layered narratives. After graduation, she joined the United States Geological Survey, traipsing across the country on foot and collecting samples of rocks. On weekends, she not only collected rocks, but she dunked them in different solutions, carrying on her own research in her home.

Soon, she was working in Washington, D.C., in charge of the mapping division of the department. And

there she met a new recruit, Leonard Harris, a geolo-gist who specialized in Southern Appalachia.

In a casual conversation, they had a breakthrough.

Colors, Conodont, and How to Find Oil First, some background about oil: Petroleum is ac-

tually morphed algae fossils. They turn into oil when the rock holding the fossils gets as hot as a cup of cof-fee and stays that way, or a bit hotter, for a very long time (scientists say a million years, but who’s count-ing?). If the temperature is too low, the fossils don’t become oil. Too high and they’re destroyed. This “petroleum window” –between 50 and 150 degrees Celsius—is a fraction of the temperature variation within the earth’s crust. That’s why oil is such a scarce resource. Not only does it have to cook and form, but it has to stay that temperature for a long time and the earth’s crust is generally not consistent at staying in one temperature range.

Well, Anita had noticed that tiny little pieces of eel fossils buried in the rocks, call conodonts, vary in color based on location. And she wondered why. Ev-eryone told her there was no reason. But she kept col-lecting samples and charting their presence.

She and Harris realized that the conodonts changed color, because the rocks holding the fossils had un-dergone different temperature changes. She created a “conodont alteration index,” connecting the color change with the heat the rock had gone through. And this way oil companies could determine whether oil is under a particular area: they could check out the color of the conodonts in the rock of an area in the country. If the color was right, that meant that the rock under-neath had undergone the right amount of heating to turn it into oil.

Anita checked out the rocks from the Western Pennsylvania sweet spot, where oil used to run freely. The conodonts were golden brown. And that is the color that you look for if you want to find oil.

So, thanks to a Jewish woman from Williamsburg, if the color is right, it’s drill, baby, drill, and let the oil runneth over.

The Senecas drank the oil and used it as a medicine and rubbed it on their faces.

The Drake Well in Pennsylvania was the first well in the world drilled just for the purpose of producing oil

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Yankel, a small man, is looking for work. He goes to a ranch and says to the lumberjack, “Excuse me, I’d like a job chopping down trees.”

The lumberjack, who is built like an ox, looks at skinny, little Yankel and says, “You’ve gotta be kidding. This is a tough job. Not for little old men like you. Besides, where did you ever work before chopping down trees?”

“Well, I used to work at the Sahara Forest,” says Yankel.The lumberjack looks at him and says, “You mean the Sahara

Desert?”Yankel dismissively waves his hand and says, “Oh, well, now it’s a

desert. You should have seen it years ago!”

o The most accepted spelling for the delicious round pastry is “dough-nut.” However, according to Merriam-Webster, “donut” is also an ac-ceptable spelling.

o Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937. Dunkin’ Donuts started selling doughnuts in 1950, though it was known as Open Kettle for two years prior.

o 10 billion donuts are eaten in the U.S. every year. (Sounds crazy? Ever see what goes on at the corner of Rockaway Turnpike and Burnside Avenue at all hours of the day?)

o The original name for doughnuts was “oily cakes.”

o The original pastries, which didn’t have holes, were the size and shape of walnuts—thus the name.

o Bakers started placing holes in donuts when they realized that it enabled the doughnut to cook more evenly.

o The largest doughnut ever made was an American-style jelly dough-nut weighing 1.7 tons, which was 16 feet in diameter and 16 inches high in the center.

o Eric “Badlands” Booker holds the Guinness World Record for eating 49 glazed donuts in eight minutes.

o Per capita, Canada has more doughnut shops than any other coun-try.

o According to studies, there is an 8 day period in the winter, usually in December, during which if you eat a doughnut a day for 8 days you won’t gain any weight from it. (OK, that was totally made up by me…but I know you totally believe it!)

Siblings Sara, Moshe, Chaya, Leah, and Tzvi all lit the menorah. Sara lit before Chaya, but after Moshe. Leah lit first. If Tzvi lit after Chaya, in what order did the siblings light?

Answer on next page

Riddle!

You Gotta beKidding!

Chanukah Word Jumble

1. Nteesprs ________________________

2. Ltge ________________________

3. Knaauhhc ________________________

4. Tnghouud ________________________

5. Aabcceem ________________________

6. Xndraaler tehtreag ________________________

7. Hytmsiaau ________________________

8. Hheuady ________________________

9. Rliedde ________________________

10. Sltkea ________________________

11. Lio ________________________

12. Nrhomae ________________________

13. yptra ________________________

14. sbeimkhaiashd ________________________

15. heuaairslmyy ________________________

16. hcpa ________________________

17. ehgti ________________________

18. eehmns ________________________

19. aaiochhsmmn ________________________

Answers on next page

“You Say Donut, I Say Doughnut” Facts

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1. What is the standard size of a barrel of oil?

a. 5 kilolitersb. 76 litersc. 42 gallonsd. 55 gallons

2. One fifth of the oil shipped worldwide passes through which checkpoint?

a. Strait of Hermuzb. Panama Canalc. Suez Canal d. Black Sea Port

3. Which U.S. city is built on top of a major oil field?

a. Houstonb. Los Angelesc. Anchoraged. Miami

4. Which of these states is not in the top five oil-producing states?

a. Alaskab. Texasc. Oklahomad. New Mexico

5. How much did a gallon of gas cost after the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo?

a. $5.76b. $3.23c. $2.12d. $1.89e. $0.55

6. Which country is the world’s biggest producer of oil?

a. U.S. b. Russiac. Saudi Arabiad. United Arab Emirates

7. What is ethanol?a. It is a type of oil which is ex-

tracted from the ground without causing adverse en-vironmental impacts

b. It is an alcohol c. It is oil which is ethicald. It is a natural gas

Answers:1. C- A bar-

rel of oil’s refined products includes about 20 gallons of gasoline, 12 gal-lons of diesel and 4 gallons of jet fuel and other products like lique-fied petroleum gases and asphalt.

2. A- The Strait of Hermuz is a narrow strait located between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Iran borders the Strait of Hormuz to the north, and the United Arab Emirates and Oman’s Musandam Peninsula border it to the south.

3. B4. C5. E6. A- In 2013, the U.S. produced

12.31 million barrels of oil per day. Saudi Arabia produced 11.59 million per day and Russia produced 10.53 barrels per day.

7. B- Ethanol is a clear, colorless liquid. In the U.S., over 80% of etha-nol is produced from corn. (When you fly over the heartland and see millions of acres of corn fields, it’s not just because corn is a great BBQ side dish.)

The Jelly Doughnut Challenge

The TJH Centerfold Commissioner should have made this challenge up, but it is actually a real Guinness World Record Challenge, which is available on their website.

The challenge is to eat a jelly doughnut without using your hands and without licking your lips. You must abide by the following rules (again, these are the Guinness World Record’s rules, not mine…so, please, no hate mail):

• Thedoughnutsusedmustbefreshandmusthaveaminimum diameter of 6 cm (2.36 in).

• Thedoughnutsmusthavejaminthecenterandbecovered in sugar.

• Thedoughnutsmustbeservedatroomtemperatureand may not be heated prior to eating.

• Theattemptmusttakeplaceatatableordesk,withthechallenger sitting or standing.

• Thedoughnutmustbeplacedonaplate.

• Thechallenger’shandsmustremainbehindtheirbackfor the entire duration of the attempt.

• Ifthechallengerlickshisorherlipsatanypointduringthe attempt, they will be immediately disqualified.

• Thechallengerisnotpermittedtodrinkwaterduringthe attempt.

• Anyjam,sugarorcrumbsthatremainontheplatemust also be consumed. As the challenger is not permitted to lick their lips, they may have small remnants of food around the mouth and lips. Any large pieces of dough-nut unconsumed, or on any other part of the challenger’s face, the at-tempt is disqualified.

• Theattemptendswhenthechallengeropenstheirmouth and it is empty.

All About Oil

GOT FUNNY? Let the Commissioner decide Send your stuff to centerfold@fivetownsjewishhome.com

ANSWER TO RIDDLE: Leah lit first, then Moshe, then Sara, then Chaya, and then Tzvi.

JUMBLE ANSWERS: 1. Presents; 2. Gelt; 3. Chanukah; 4. Doughnut; 5. Maccabee; 6. Alexander the Great; 7. Matisyahu; 8. Yehudah; 9. Dreidel; 10. Latkes; 11. Oil; 12. Menorah; 13. Party; 14. Beis Hamikdash; 15. Yerushalayim; 16. Pach; 17. Eight; 18. Shemen; 19. Chashmonaim

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Some people are mad over the Discovery Channel’s “Eaten Alive” special about a man getting eaten by an anaconda because the snake didn’t completely swallow him. This proves there are two things America will not stand for: false advertising and portion control. – Conan O’Brien

Today, Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi received the Nobel Peace Prize. And they’re giving an honorable mention to whoever has to announce them. – Seth Myers

New research has found that 84 percent of vegetarians and vegans ultimately return to eating meat. It turns out the way animals are treated is nothing compared to how people treat vegetarians. – Jimmy Fallon

This week, Biden said that he will decide on a potential 2016 presidential campaign by the spring or the summer. Then he said, “Whichever comes first.” – Jimmy Fallon

A midget. - How Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis described Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, who made his first NFL start on Sunday. Manziel is six feet tall

A flight headed from San Francisco to Phoenix had to make an emergency landing in L.A. today after a passenger gave birth midflight. The parents called the birth a miracle while the airline called it a second carry-on. – Seth Myers

A woman on a Southwest Airlines flight gave birth to a baby. As soon as he was born, the baby said, “I had more leg room in the womb.”- Conan O’Brien

The woman gave birth in the middle of a flight. I’m happy to report that the mother and child are doing fine, while the guy who was sitting next to her is not. – Seth Myers

The good book says don’t throw stones at glass houses. - President Barack Obama, in a speech about immigration, citing a biblical reference that doesn’t exist 

A guy in Pennsylvania was arrested because he was drunk in his golf cart going from bar to bar. So they arrested him. I said: Wait a minute. Isn’t that golf? – David Letterman

What happened in 2008 was that Hillary’s candidacy got out in front of any rationale for it. And the danger is that’s happening again. You hear “Ready for Hillary.” It’s like, ready for what? – Former Obama advisor, David Axelrod, on MSNBC

There’s a holiday gift giving trend that’s supposedly on the rise this year called self-gifting. I don’t know why everything has to have a term. Didn’t that used to be called shopping? – Jimmy Kimmel

Events are alleged until we know all the facts.- New York City Mayor de Blasio talking about several incidents caught on video during which NYPD officers were physically assaulted 

He’s a total nincompoop…Maybe he should be out there to take the broken nose for the lieutenant. Ask him if he’d be willing to stand out there and take the punches for the cops.- Ed Mullins of the Sergeants Benevolent Association talking about Mayor de Blasio’s comments in reference to attacks on the NYPD

Time magazine has named “Ebola Fighters” the 2014 Person of the Year. The Ebola fighters said they were honored to be chosen and look forward to the ceremony. Then Time said, “Oh no, we’ll just mail them to you.”- Jimmy Fallon

Mohammed Islam is only 17 and still months away from graduating — but worth a rumored $72 million. “The high eight figures” is as specific as the shy and modest teen would get when asked his net worth. – From a profile piece in New York magazine ranking Mohammed Islam 12th in its annual “Reasons to Love New York” issue. Mohammed Islam has since admitted that he totally fabricated the story of his extreme wealth and doesn’t even trade stocks or have any money, for that matter

This week, Apple stores are holding free computer programming classes for children. Or as that’s called in China, a job fair.- Conan O’Brien

Facebook revealed that Ebola was the most popular Facebook topic in the U.S. this year, with the World Cup coming in sixth. So welcome to America, where even Ebola is more popular than soccer. – Jimmy Fallon

“Say What?”

Compiled by Nate Davis

Notable QuotesCompiled by Nate Davis

Notable Quotes

“Say What?”

THE JEWISH HOM

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Scientists say they’re getting closer to developing a pill to replace exercising. Americans heard this and said that it better come in cool ranch flavor.- Conan O’Brien

We are a substantially different versed candidate. - Governor Rick Perry, comparing his 2012 presidential campaign to his preparation for a possible 2016 run 

Jeb Bush’s brother, Neil, said that their mother has “come around” to the idea of Jeb running for president in 2016. Because if there’s anything that says you’re qualified to be president, it’s your own mom saying, “I guess you could do it.” – Jimmy Fallon

We helped elect Barak Obama—now we’re calling on Elizabeth Warren to run in 2016.- From a public letter signed by over 300 staffers of President Obama’s presidential campaigns

The world’s largest travel guide publisher has declared Queens, New York, the best place in the U.S. to visit next year. And if you don’t believe it, neither does anyone who lives in Queens. – Jimmy Fallon

The point I keep making is that the ISIL death cult has nothing to do with any religion, any real religion. It has nothing to do with any particular community. It is something to which sick individuals succumb, and sick individuals exist in all communities and in all societies. This idea that, you know, ISIL is somehow spawned by any particular religion, frankly, it’s probably even less true than saying that Catholicism spawned the IRA. They’re just completely separate things - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at a press conference after a terrorist attack by a Muslim who professed his allegiance to ISIL

Michael Jordan on his worst day is ten times better than Kobe Bryant on his best day.- Reggie Miller on ESPN

Every year Americans spend millions of dollars on [holiday] gifts for their pets, which makes no sense to me. Your pet doesn’t know it’s [the holidays]. In fact, your pet doesn’t even know it’s a pet, so giving your cat a sweater is about as useful as giving your microwave a hat. – Jimmy Kimmel

Next year, Iowa will become the first state to offer residents an app that allows them to use smartphones as their driver’s license. That way, you can have the one thing you lose most on the thing you lose the second most. – Jimmy Fallon

I seemed to have him kidnapped and killed for no good reason. He is not the first wizard whom Voldemort murdered because he knew too much (or too little), but he is the only one I feel guilty about, because it was all my fault. – Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling writing about the untimely passing of Harry Potter character Florean Fortescue

I spend most of my time watching ESPN in the morning.- President Obama during an interview on ESPN’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently installed a fence around Gracie Mansion for privacy and security concerns. De Blasio wants to make sure the wrong person doesn’t get into the mayor’s mansion — while New Yorkers said, “Too late.” – Jimmy Fallon

We’re off the plantation! The plantation days are over!– Oprah Winfrey in June 2014 reacting to private conversations of Donald Sterling, then owner of the LA Clippers, and arguing that he should be forced to sell the team

There are things that you say in your private conversations with your friends and with your colleagues that you would not want to be broadcast on CNN.- Oprah Winfrey on CNN this week, defending Sony executives after a hacker exposed their racist emails

Sy Berger, the designer of modern baseball cards, has died. He will be laid to rest in a shoe box somewhere in an attic. – Conan O’Brien

At the White House yesterday, they kicked off Computer Science Education Week. Students gave tutorials on computer code and President Obama sat down and wrote one. All his program does is draw a box, which he’s hoping he can crawl into and hide in for the rest of his term.- Jimmy Kimmel

President Obama was talking about the new report on CIA interrogation techniques and praised our country’s ability to—quote—“Face our imperfections, make changes, and do better.” Which sounds less like a speech on torture and more like the comments on a kindergartner’s report card.- Jimmy Fallon

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told me personally, “Your country will turn on you, the liberal media will turn on you, the people will grow tired of this and they will turn on you. And when they do, you are going to be abandoned.”- Dr. James Mitchell, a former U.S. Navy psychologist who was involved in the interrogation of suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, defending the CIA’s interrogation tactics on Fox News

The General Mills cereal Cheerios will soon come out in new flavors like quinoa. The CEO of General Mills said the new flavor is in response to an overwhelming demand by—no one, absolutely no one.- Conan O’Brien

A man was recently admitted to the hospital for surgery after doctors discovered he still had surgical scissors in his stomach from a procedure performed 12 years ago. Said his new doctor, “The surgery was a success. Now where are my keys?” – Seth Myers

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78 Forgotten HeroesAvi Heiligman

In the past centu-ry, the world has seen the United

States military as the global police-man to protect its political and finan-cial interests. Some call it imperialism while others think of it as a world power extending its long reach to make the world a safer place. Certain areas required the attention of the Amer-icans more than once. Places like the Philippines, Somalia and Iraq have seen American ground troops trying to stabilize these nations and reorganize the local government. Haiti is another one of these coun-tries which first got American attention in 1915 right at the beginning of World War I.

For five years, Haiti was in political turmoil. Five presi-dents had come and gone (a couple of them were assassi-nated), and General Vilbrun Sam took over establishing a dictatorship. As with the previous presidents, he faced uprisings and at-tempted coups. Determined to squelch the rebellions, he resorted to brutal

tactics. After ex-ecuting hundreds of political prison-ers, an angry mob lynched him. The country was leader-less again. The next potential president was anti-American.

The U.S. had economic interests in Haiti especially in the sugar planta-

tions. In order to protect these interests, President Woodrow Wilson sent 330 marines to restore order. They landed in the capital city, Port-Au-Prince, in July and established a government with several marines and sailors in tempo-rary positions of power. Establishing

a police force, the marines then sought to bring down the rebels with a group called the Gendar-merie. The fight between the rebels, also known as Ca-cos, and the govern-ment’s Gendarmerie force reinforced by the Americans was known as the Caco Wars. The first battle was at Fort Dipitie on October 24, and the Americans were quick to quell the 400 rebels holding

the fort.The marines, led by Captain Smed-

ley Butler with the Gendarmerie in reserve, continued pushing the rebels back but came upon the formidable Fort Riviere. The fort was built by the French in the 1700s and was on top of a mountain with formidable defenses. However, the rebels had no artillery and were known to be poor shots. The 200 defenders only had a few rifles and assorted medieval weapons like swords and knives. Still, Butler was taking no chances and pre-pared to attack with three companies of 24 hand-picked ma-rines each.

At about 7 PM on November 17, the Americans moved stealthily into posi-tions around the fort. A half an hour later, Butler blew a whis-tle and the attack started. The way into the fort from the direction they were attacking was a small tunnel. The first two men into the tunnel were Sergeant Ross Iams and Private Samuel Gross followed by But-ler. They were under fire the entire time but suffered no casualties at this point. As they came out of the tunnel, over 60 Cacos opened fire but the three Amer-icans were soon reinforced by the ad-vancing marines and in about 10 min-utes forced the Cacos to flee. About 50 Cacos were killed and only one Amer-ican was injured. The rebels weren’t trained to use their guns for short dis-tances so they threw them away and picked up stones instead. One of these stones hit an American officer in the face. Aside from the lieutenant needing dental work, the Americans captured the fort while facing superior numbers.

What was interesting about the af-termath of this battle was the awarding the Congressional Medal of Honor to Butler, Iams and Gross. The medal is the highest decoration for an American in the military. Gross, who was one of only a handful of Jewish servicemen to win the medal, was born in 1891 in Philadelphia. His real name was Samu-el Marguiles and was credited with sav-ing the life of Butler who was issued his second Medal of Honor. Gross’s cita-

tion reads, “In company with members of the 5th, 13th, 23d Companies and the marine and sailor detachment from the USS Connecticut, Gross participat-ed in the attack on Fort Riviere, Haiti, November 17, 1915. Following a con-centrated drive, several different de-tachments of marines gradually closed in on the old French bastion fort in an effort to cut off all avenues of re-

treat for the Caco bandits. Approach-ing a breach in the wall which was the only entrance to the fort, Gross was the second man to pass through the breach in the face of con-stant fire from the Cacos and, thereaf-ter, for a 10-minute period, engaged the enemy in desperate hand-to-hand com-bat until the bas-tion was captured and Caco resistance neutralized.”

This battle ended the first Caco War. A few years later, there was an-other uprising against the American occupation known as the Second Caco War. That rebellion was also squelched pretty easily even though it was bigger than the first war. However, the Battle of Fort Riviere was the most widely known battle of the American occu-pation which ended in 1934. Samuel Gross retired from the marines in 1918 and is believed to be the only Jewish marine to receive the Medal of Honor.

The men who fought in Haiti were not only protecting American interests but were showing the world that the U.S. has the power to defeat anyone who threatens world peace. Indeed, a couple of years later, America entered WWI and defeated the German military juggernaut in just one year of fighting, restoring peace to Europe.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contributor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your com-ments and suggestions.for future columns and can be reached at aviheiligman@gmail.com.

American Victory in the Battle of Fort Riviere

Painting of Samuel Gross in action

Smedly Butler

Painting of the action at the fort. Gross is on the right, Smedly in the center

and Iams on the left

We all know the miracle of Cha-nukah started on the battlefield. Ye-huda led a small group of untrained soldiers to victory against the massive Greek army. Even today, people who don’t have much connection to their roots still light the menorah in com-memoration of the miracles. During times of battle, the Jewish soldiers who do wind up on the front-lines still feel this connection and have made sacrifices to light the meno-rah. Stories of soldiers cele-brating Chanu-kah dating back all the way from the American Revolutionary War have found a way to bring light into the darkest of places.

One story from the American Rev-olutionary War (1775-1783) has been proven to be a tall tale. At least the de-tails are mostly false but maybe there is some truth in the story of General Washington being inspired by Cha-nukah candles. The basic story is that there was a lone Jewish soldier camp-ing with Washington’s army at Valley Forge in the dead of winter. He was a Polish immigrant and brought over a

menorah that his father had given him to light every year. After everyone had bunked for the night, he lit the can-

dles. Suddenly, General Washington appeared and asked him about the me-norah and was inspired by his answer. The next year, Washington visits him on the Lower East Side to give him a medal.

There are many factual errors with this tale, the first being that Washing-ton camped at Valley Forge in 1778 and not two years earlier, like the story says. Also, medals for bravery in the U.S. Army didn’t come about until the

19th century and there is no accepted source for this story. Still, there may be truth to the fact that Jewish soldiers lit the menorah at Valley Forge and a commander was inspired with their courage.

Until World War I (1914-1918), there is very little mention in history books of celebrating Chanukah on the frontlines. While tens of thou-sands of Jews participated in the American Civil War (1861-1865), it seems that many went home for the winter months or

lit the meno-rah without much fanfare. It wasn’t until a century ago that fighting in the winter became a major part of war-fare and stories of Jews on the battle-field lighting can-dles became known. Many soldiers on both sides during the Great War were Jewish and pictures still exist of them

lighting the menorah.There are many stories of Jews

in concentration camps gathering up

scraps to light candles right under the nos-es of the Nazis. The mesiras nefesh that these people had just to bring light in the darkest of times will resonate for genera-tions to come.

In late 1943, the American forces fighting in the Pacific and the China-Bur-ma-India Theater of Operations had just come back from bloody battles in far-flung islands. Dozens of Marine veterans just returning from the bloody battle at Tarawa (their landing craft got stuck in the surf and coral and they were sitting ducks for Japanese gunners) were in western Asia, probably at a base in India, for rest and relaxation. A Jewish chaplain,

Rabbi Rudin, traveled to be with the men and to light the menorah togeth-er. There was no electricity so the can-dle lighting had to be done in daylight when everyone could see. He lit the candles, said the brochos and sang “Maoz Tzur.” It was dark and only the shamash was still lit when a gust of wind blew out that one light and lit the other candles. They had their own little Chanukah miracle in the middle of a brutal war.

At another outpost in India, an-other chaplain began to prepare for Chanukah but he only had candles. Somehow, local tribesmen appeared and gave them eggs. Unexpectedly, a Jewish mess sergeant had arrived and

knew how to make latkes and knishes. For the first time in the war, the Jew-ish soldiers were able to taste Chanu-kah cooking.

Several other tales of miracles in-volving Jewish soldiers celebrating Chanukah exist, including menorah lighting at a remote army base in

Alaska and giving presents to Jewish orphans in London at a Chanukah party for soldiers. The Battle of the Bulge broke out on the morning of seventh night of Chanukah and soldiers tell of trying to light candles that night on Zos Chanukah.

Several organizations pro-vided soldiers with the means to celebrate Chanukah includ-ing the Agudah, the Jewish War Veterans and Jewish Wel-fare Board. A more recent sto-

ry of Chanukah lighting was in 2006 in Iraq. Saddam Hussein had several palaces and through Chabad and other organizations, menorahs were lit in at least two of them by Jewish soldiers.

There are many stories about sol-diers lighting the menorah on the frontlines. The small, flickering flames are able to ignite hope and so-lace in the dark times of war.

Avi Heiligman is a weekly contribu-tor to The Jewish Home. He welcomes your comments and suggestions.for future columns and can be reached at aviheilig-man@gmail.com.

Chanukah on the Frontlines

Rabbi Nathan Zelizer lighting the menorah for soldiers at a military hospital in 1944

German Jewish soldiers on Chanukah 1916

Soldiers in the IDF lighting a menorah

A 12-foot menorah being lit, courtesy of Chabad, in Al-Faw Palace in Baghdad

THE JEWISH HOM

E DECEMBER 18, 2014

41

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Alaska, wedged between Canada and Russian Siberia, is a land of unspoiled beauty and proud traditions. It has some of North America’s most unique natural wonders including the Northern lights, 20-hour winter days, and Mt. McKinley,

the highest peak on the continent. Every-thing in Alaska is big and bold including untamed rivers, soaring mountains, fields

of ice as far as the eye can see and for-ests teeming with some of America’s most stunning wildlife.

As an ideal winter destination, Alas-ka has plenty of thrilling opportunities for skiing and other traditional winter

activities. However, those who are will-ing to go the extra mile to see what this wilderness really has to offer will want to

consider more involved activities such as ice climbing or taking a bush plane ride across the frozen northern tundra. After you’ve explored Alaska’s surreal winter landscape and lain at night under the daz-zling colors of the aurora borealis, you can

come back again in the summer and go hiking through verdant meadows or fish for Alaksa’s famous jumbo-sized salmon. For a trip that’s the textbook definition of “off the beaten path,” few places offer as much natural beauty and unforgettable ad-ventures as Alaska.

The history of Alaska starts with its na-tive inhabitants, commonly referred to as “Eskimos” which means “snowshoes-net-ters” in the Montagnais languages. They crossed the Bering Land Bridge of Siberia thousands of years ago to settle in what is now Alaska. Native Alaskans are today divided into several groups: Eskimos, consisting of the Inupiat and Yup’ik, the Athabascans, those who live on the south-eastern coast, and the Aleuts who inhabit the huge Aleutian Islands chain.

The first European contact with Alas-ka occurred in 1784 when Russian trad-er Grigory Shelikhov landed on Kodiak Island and founded the first Russian set-tlement. The name “Alaska” comes from the Russified version of the Aleut word for “the great land,” Alyeska. Despite the presence of rival British and Spanish settlements, Russia managed to maintain a monopoly on the Alaskan fur trade for over a century. However, the Czar never fully colonized Alaska as the Russian set-tlements lost their economic advantage to the British Hudson’s Bay Company. Rus-sia then attempted to ban foreign traders within its Alaskan sphere of influence, as seen in the 1824 Russo-American Treaty, but this proved futile. Russia’s economic misfortune in Alaska and desire to keep the British out of its neighborhood re-sulted in the sale of Alaska to the U.S. in the Alaska Purchase of 1867, derisively referred to as “Seward’s Folly,” for $7.2 million ($118 million in today’s dollars).

Of course, with the discovery of gold in nearby Yukon, the purchase of Alas-

ka turned out to be anything but fool-ish. Though not much gold was found in Alaska itself, the Yukon Gold Rush of 1896 brought in thousands of miners and brought Alaska up from the depths of an economic depression. By the turn of the

century, Alaska’s gold and fishing indus-tries had taken off and the territory was on solid economic ground.

However, there wasn’t much political will to press the issue of statehood. Alas-ka had a small population that was sat-isfied with the status quo. It wasn’t until the Japanese invasion in WWII of two of the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska, that Alaska was treated as a strategic military outpost. The Battle of the Aleutian Islands resulted in American victory, but at the cost of thousands of casualties. On Jan-uary 3, 1959, Alaska was finally granted statehood.

Alaska then experienced a second kind of gold rush with the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay in 1968. The oil boom took off over the course of the next two decades until it briefly came to a halt in the infa-mous 1994 Exxon Valdez disaster, which severely damaged Alaska’s fragile ecosys-tem. Today, the controversy over Alaska’s oil industry is still raging, with a contro-versial plan to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at the heart of the debate.

Attractions:Anchorage: Anchorage is Alaska’s

largest city and the most popular starting point for visitors exploring the frontier state. A great sight is the Alaska Native Heritage Center which features not only native Alaskan artifacts, but also tradi-tional dance performances and an out-doors section showing different aspects of native life. The even more impressive An-chorage Museum has over 600 native ob-jects, high-tech video displays with native storytellers and the sounds of wild Alaska, as well as a children’s Discover center.

Then be sure to visit the small, but highly unique Anchorage Zoo. The zoo features animals specific to Northern cli-mates such as grizzly bears, bald eagles, polar bears, and moose. For hiking in the

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Anchorage area, one of the best trails is the one leading to the peak of Flattop Mountain. A short 3-mile trek rewards with you with awe-inspiring views of sur-rounding valley and the nearby glacier. Another popular hiking adventure is Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. This 11-mile ex-pedition takes travelers through ancient forests and offers views of surfacing belu-ga whales as well as the indomitable Mt. McKinley in the far distance.

For skiing, Alaska’s largest ski resort,

Alyeska, is located 64 miles south of An-chorage in Girdwood. Alyeska has a vari-ety of terrain for every difficulty level, and its magnificent hotel sits picturesquely on an alpine lake as if it were transplanted right from Switzerland. Last but certainly not least, a museum, located at the Chabad house, details Alaska’s Jewish history.

Fairbanks: As Alaska’s second-largest city, Fairbanks stands at the crossroads of several major Alaskan highways. It is of-ten included on Alaskan travel itineraries for one simple reason: it’s one of the best places in the world to view the Northern lights, visible from mid-August through April. For the full Northern lights adven-ture, look for companies such as Sirius and Black Spruce that take you on a multi-day dog sled trip to prime viewing spots.

The city of Fairbanks itself is much like a typical American city in the lower 48 with plenty of chain malls and restau-rants. However, there’s still no shortage of interesting attractions to see. The Univer-sity of Alaska’s Museum of the North has great exhibits about native cultures. The Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center is dedicated to Alaska’s general history, which it presents in state-of-the-art fashion with an HD theater and over 9,000 square feet of interactive displays. At Pioneer Park, you can enjoy an avia-tion museum, native village, mining tun-

nel, President Warren Harding’s car, the S.S. Nenana (an old steamboat that once crossed Alaskan rivers), and other kids’ activities. One of the best tours in Fair-banks is the Riverboat Discovery tour, a narrated trip down the Chena River which stops at an Athabascan fishing village as well as the Chena Indian Village, showing visitors firsthand how life was like for na-tive Alaskans before colonization.

A fantastic family-friendly activity is panning for gold at Gold Dredge 8, an area

that once

extracted millions of ounces of gold in the late 1800‘s. A narrated train ride recounts the history of Alaska gold mining. What-ever gold you pan is yours to keep.

If you’re willing to go out of your way, enjoy some R&R at Chena Hot Springs Resort, located sixty miles outside Fair-banks. This world-class resort offers an indoor pool, hot tubs, and the Aurora Ice Museum where everything is made of ice including an ice tower and a full-size game of ice chess.

Juneau: Alaska’s capital and third-largest city is located in the state’s Southern Panhandle near British Colum-bia. The surrounding area is quite differ-ent from the rest of Alaska, with rainforest being the norm. Travelers describe this city as a “cooler, even wetter version of Seattle,” yet it’s still, on average, Alaska’s warmest area. The Alaska State Museum has excellent displays covering the state’s history starting with the Bering Land Bridge crossing and going all the way to post-statehood. There’s a tramway in downtown Juneau that connects the city with nearby Mt. Roberts where you can take a fairly gentle hike or, for the more adventurous, climb to the mountain’s summit.

Just 12 miles away from downtown Juneau is Mendenhall Glacier, one of the region’s best attractions. The glacier area

boasts beautiful hiking and camping spots, and some companies offer helicopter tours which give you a panoramic view of the area. A nearby visitor center has an in-formative museum, and is an easy access point to hiking and fishing expeditions. Juneau tour packages incorporate whale/bear watching, glacier exploration, and, depending on the company, rafting.

Ketchikan: This sleepy fishing port is the first stop for ferries and cruise ships coming from the south. Located in the coastal rainforest of southern Alaska, Ket-

chikan is one of North America’s rainiest towns, averaging about 160 inches of pre-cipitation per year. It was once known as the “canned salmon capital of the world” but has since thrived on tourism. The town’s Totem Heritage Center has one of the largest collections of totem poles in the world. The picturesque Creek Street is one of Ketchikan’s main tourist draws; it fea-tures many charming wooden houses and a view of migrating salmon in the adjacent river. Ketchikan is also the perfect jump-ing-off point for a seaplane tour, rainforest hike, or even a rainforest zipline tour.

Aleutian Islands: This massive chain of islands stretches out from the mainland of southwestern Alaska towards Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, with Attu Island being the westernmost point of the United States. The Aleutian’s largest city is Un-alaska where bald eagles are as common-place. Unalaska is home to the Aleutian WWII National Historic Area. The area’s visitor center houses a museum which tells the tale of WWII’s bloody, forgotten war in the far north. The park preserves Mt. Schwatka, America’s highest coastal de-fense battery. The observation posts, gun batteries, and tunnels are very well pre-served.

The Museum of the Aleutians shows how the creative Aleut people adapted to life in such an unforgiving environment. Other displays center around the period of

Russian colonization, the evacuation of the Aleutian Islands in WWII, and the modern fishing industry. Head to Expedition Park to get perfect bald eagle photos.

Barrow: Barrow, Alaska is one of the state’s most unique and remote locales. It’s famous as the northernmost settlement in America. It lies in a flat, foggy area that’s locked in almost perpetual winter. The Inu-piat people have made Barrow, or Ukpeag-vik (“place to hunt snow owls”), their home for over two millennia and still constitute the majority of the town’s population.

Here, the midnight sun doesn’t set for 82 days lasting from May to August, making living conditions especially harsh. You can see the Inupiat Heritage Center, gaze upon the Northern lights, take a helicopter tour, take a photo under the whale bone arch (a testament to Barrow’s whaling history), or just go for a stroll out on the frozen Arctic Ocean. Barrow is only accessible by Alas-ka Airlines, offering service from Fair-banks and Anchorage, and Era Airlines, with service from Anchorage. There’s also barge transportation in the summer.

Daven and Eat:For Orthodox shuls, the only option is

Chabad of Alaska. It’s located in Anchor-age at 1210 East 26th Avenue. It can be reached at 907-279-1200.

Catering can be arranged in advance with Chabad. Falafel King in Anchorage (930 Gambell Street/907 258-4328) which is a well-reviewed kosher Israeli restau-rant. Natural Pantry Market in Anchorage (3801 Old Seward Hwy/ 907-770-1444) has a decent selection of kosher food.

Note: Please consult your rav for spe-cial instructions on davening and Shabbos candle lighting times in Alaska.

Getting There:Anchorage and Fairbanks are accessi-

ble by most major airlines. Smaller cities such as Juneau and Ketchikan are served by Alaska Airlines via Anchorage. Ko-sherica offers two glatt kosher cruises in the summer leaving from Seattle. Current-ly, the cheapest flights from LAX to An-chorage cost around $600 per person round trip. If you’re willing to brave the drive from Los Angeles to Anchorage, it’ll take 3,400 miles or about 65 hours. For winter driving, a block heater is recommended to protect your car’s engine from the cold weather.

(Sources: Wikitravel, Lonely Planet, Tripadvisor)

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Queens, NY: Top Vacation Destination

Residents of Far Rockaway, rejoice! The borough of Queens has just been named the number one location primed for a visit for the upcoming year.

“2015’s Best in the U.S. list includes a mix of up-and-coming destinations, old faves with new highlights and places poised to shine,” a Lonely Planet post on the picks says. “And we hope you like to eat and drink, because the whole country seems to be enjoying a local food renais-

sance.” Queens in the largest borough geo-

graphically and is home to a mixed bag of cultures and ethnicities.

According to Lonely Planet, if you’re planning to go on vacation next year, make sure to check out these top locations:

1. Queens, NY2. Western South Dakota 3. New Orleans, LA4. Colorado River region5. North Conway, NH6. Indianapolis, IN7. Greenville, SC8. Oakland, CA9. Duluth, MN10. Mount Shasta region, CA

Protestors Continue to Fight for “Justice for All”

Protests continued nationwide this week following the Michael Brown and Eric Garner verdicts; in both cases, grand juries concluded not to indict the white of-ficers involved.

On Saturday, thousands of people from across the nation gathered in Washington, D.C. and stormed Capitol Hill demanding “Justice for All.” Family members of the victims stood on the stage in front of the U.S. Capitol and encouraged marchers to continue to demand changes of the crimi-nal justice system.

“My husband was a quiet man, but he’s making a lot of noise right now,” said Washington protest marcher Esaw Garner, widow of Eric Garner, 43. “His voice will be heard. I have five children in this world and we are fighting not just for him but for everybody’s future, for everybody’s past, for everybody’s present, and we need to make it strong.”

Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, called the demonstrations a “history-making mo-ment.”

“It’s just so overwhelming to see all who have come to stand with us today,” she said. “I mean, look at the masses. Black, white, all races, all religions. ... We need to stand like this at all times.”

Brown was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and Garner died of a heart attack in NYC several hours after

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police locked him into a chokehold after he resisted an arrest. The march was also held in the memory of Ama-dou Diallo, who was fatally shot by police more than 15 years ago.

Originally, organizers had pre-dicted about 5,000 people would at-tend the Washington march, but the crowd appeared to be far more than that. It was later estimated that about 25,000 had come to protest, although that number seems to be an over-ex-aggeration. It’s impossible to verify the exact numbers since Washing-ton police do not release crowd es-timates. Washington, D.C., and U.S. Park Police said that the demonstra-tions remained largely peaceful and no arrests were made at the Capitol protests.

Al Sharpton helped organize the marches. “Members of Congress, beware we’re serious,” Sharpton thundered onstage in Washington. “When you get a ring [on X-mas] … it may be Rev. Al coming to your house.”

During protests in New York across the Brooklyn Bridge, two police officers were assaulted when they tried to arrest a protester for un-ruly behavior. During the arrest, Eric Linsker, 29, a CUNY professor, poet, and Brooklyn resident, punched and kicked the officers while trying to remove their radios and jackets. He was taken into custody and the of-ficers were thankfully re-leased after being treated for their injuries.

This is not the first time Linsker has had a run-in with the law. He was arrested for punch-ing a police officer in the face at an Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City in 2011. As a poet, Linsker has been known to indulge some violent and anti-social subjects. His poetry is of-ten filled with attacks on police and government.

Whistle While You Work

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands! If you are at work and you didn’t clap, you may want to analyze a list compiled by Career-Bliss, an online career

community. For the fifth year, the site released

the Happiest Companies in America rankings which is based on reviews submitted by professionals in the year 2013 and 2014. Workers who re-viewed their employers were asked to rate them on eight factors that affect work happiness on a five-point scale: work-life balance, your relationship with your boss, your relationship with your coworkers, work environ-ment, job resources, compensation, growth opportunities, and company culture. CareerBliss combined those numbers to find an average rating of overall happiness for each work-er, a “bliss score” and organized the results by employer to determine the happiest companies in the U.S.

If you want to whistle while you work, perhaps pursue a career at Johnson & Johnson. The New Jersey-based medical devices, phar-maceutical, and consumer packaged goods manufacturer has the happiest employees in the country right now.

The other happiest companies in the nation, where employees do a jig while waiting for their computer to boot up, are:

1. Johnson & Johnson2. Broadcom

3. Chevron4. Texas Instruments5. McAfee6. Google7. Intuit8. Adobe9. Amgen10. SAP AGChrysler (25), Pepsi (26),

NBCUniversal (30), Sabra Holdings (31), Walt Disney Company (33), Ya-hoo (36), Citibank (37), eBay (48), Paypal (49), and Apple (50) were also included in the happiest compa-nies list.

“As we evaluate the factors that impact happiness such as growth op-portunity and company culture, it is also important to understand what type of industries are creating happi-er work environments overall. This year we saw a surge of STEM-related companies rank in the top 10,” Heidi Golledge, cofounder of CareerBliss, pointed out.

STEM is an acronym referring to the academic fields of science, tech-nology, engineering, and math.

CareerBliss advisor Bradley Brummel, who has a Ph.D. in work-place psychology, adds: “Not only do these industries pay well, but employees in STEM-related compa-

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nies are happier in these jobs overall. This may reflect the positive features in the type of jobs these companies offer, but it also might reflect the fact that employees with these skills have lots of choices of whom to work for. This means the companies have to keep them happy to keep them at the company.”

Spending Bill Finally Passed

The United States government will be funded through next September thanks to

a $1.1 trillion budget passed by the Sen-ate this week. Senators voted 56-40 for the long-term funding bill, the main item left on Congress’ year-end agenda. The mea-sure provides money for nearly the entire government through the end of the current budget year September 30. The exception is the Department of Homeland Security, which is funded only until February 27.

The Senate had at first only approved a short-term bill funding the federal gov-ernment for a few days, which avoided a partial government shutdown. The stopgap bill, which passed by a voice vote, bought lawmakers more time to comb through the separate $1.1 trillion long-term funding bill.

Conservative Republicans such as Tex-as Sen. Ted Cruz opposed the controver-sial spending package for not challenging Obama’s immigration measures. Leading liberals such as House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. also criticized the bill for repealing banking regulation.

Despite the opposition from liberals,

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the package won a personal endorsement from Obama and was brought before the Senate. The legislation locks in spending levels negotiated in recent years between Republicans and Democrats, and includes a number of provisions that reflect the pri-orities of one party or the other, from the environment to the legalization of marijua-na in the District of Columbia.

Some of the items tucked inside the bill include increases in the individual limits that donors can give to national parties to help fund conventions, building funds and legal proceedings, such as recounts. The change would effectively allow rich do-nors to give ten times more than they can today to support political parties.

With this bill, local schools are given more flexibility on how they decide to in-clude whole grain items on school menus. Taxpayer dollars are no longer allowed to be used for commissioning expensive portraits for committee chairs and other high-ranking government officials. Fresh vegetables were added to the WIC pro-gram, including white potatoes specifical-ly, for those who need food assistance.

Safety advocates wanted to require truck drivers to get a full two night’s sleep before beginning their new shift on the road; the bill blocks that requirement. De-tainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are barred from being transferred to any pris-ons in the U.S. And, according to the bill, federal money cannot be used by the Inter-nal Revenue Service to target any advoca-cy group based on their ideological lean-ings. This practice is already not allowed, but Republicans wanted to underline it af-ter internal documents showed that some IRS employees targeted some groups when investigating their tax-exempt status.

The bill may be the last thing Republi-cans have to compromise over. Democrats will lose control of the Senate in January because of heavy losses in midterm elec-tions last month and will go deeper into a House minority than at any time in nearly 70 years.

The State of Health—or “UnHealth”—in the U.S.

Overall, Americans have been working on healthy habits. There has been a decline in smoking, violent crime, pollution, infant mortality, cancer deaths, and heart deaths nationwide. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that our country’s health is in good condition.

According to the 2014 America’s Health Rankings, Americans still have a lot to lose. Obesity has increased 153% since 1990, bringing this vital issue to the spotlight. Physical inactivity, diabetes, child poverty, and immunization coverage are also on the rise, according to the report.

The analysis of the findings broke down the nation’s health by state by an-alyzing all sub-categories in each region. For the third consecutive year, Hawaii was named the healthiest state with low smok-ing and obesity rates, a low child poverty percentage, and low rates of cancer and cardiovascular deaths.

Vermont came in as the second health-iest state, followed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Utah. Minnesota, New Hampshire, Colorado, North Dakota and Nebraska rounded out the top ten health-iest states in the nation.

Mississippi, with many struggling with diabetes, smoking and obesity, is the un-healthiest state in the nation. Arkansas came in second, with Louisiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma following behind. Tennes-see, West Virginia, Alabama, South Caro-lina and Indiana rounded out the top ten unhealthiest states in the nation.

Pennies Costing Us Millions

The U.S. Mint reports to Congress twice a year. The lat-est report comes with some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we’re wasting less money on pennies and nickels. The bad news is we’re still wasting money on pennies and nickels.

Production costs for all four major coin types fell in fiscal year 2014 due to the falling price of copper, one of the primary metals used to make coins. The Mint estimates it saved $29 million this year compared to last year on account of low-er copper prices. But amazingly, it continues to lose money on pen-nies and nickels. It now costs $1.62 to make a dollar’s worth of nick-

els, and $1.66 to make a dollar’s worth of pennies. As of 2013, taxpayers were losing $105 million annually on penny and nickel production.

On the other hand, it costs only 36 cents to make a dollar’s worth of quarters, and 40 cents for a buck of dimes. Paper dollar bills are even more cost-efficient.

The Mint could decrease production costs even further, especially on dimes and quarters, by using different metal compo-sitions in the production of those coins. But that would change their weight and their “electromagnetic signature,” which would drive vending machines haywire. It would require a multi-billion dollar up-grade of coin-operated machines national-ly, which dwarfs the few million that might be saved from adjusting the coins’ metal composition.

So long story short, a penny made costs 1.66 pennies earned. Even the shiny ones seem less lucky with numbers like that.

That’s Odd

Parking with Incompetence

Thought the person in front of you is the worst parker in the world? You must not have seen the most recent video to take

social media by storm.When watching the clip, it’s hard not

to jump into the car and grab the wheel. The 97-point turn by a woman in a BMW X3 who is trying to back out of a park-ing space takes four minutes to complete. After clipping one car nearby and finally getting out of the spot, the woman calmly drives away.

Police in Calgary, Canada, also viewed the video and decided not to the let the world’s worst parker get away with her incompetence. They later found the driver and gave her a ticket for $115 for “unsafe backing.” It’s unclear if the owner of the Mazda 3 that was damaged in the woman’s trying attempt will be compensated.

Be thankful that the woman hasn’t tried getting into a spot on Central Avenue on Friday.

Shoplifting Grandma Hit with Kindness

On December 6, Alabama Police Offi-cer William Stacy was called to the Dollar General store. He wasn’t too surprised. “We get shoplifting calls at Dollar General all the time,” he related. “Usually people are stealing things like makeup or phone chargers – not things they need to get by.”

But when Officer Stacy got to the

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scene, he was saddened to find Helen John-son stealing eggs to feed her two daugh-ters, niece and two young grandkids. The 47-year-old grandmother cried that her family hadn’t eaten since Thursday and the kindhearted police officer was moved. Instead of arresting Johnson, Stacy bought her a carton of eggs.

Johnson tried to give Stacy the $1.25 she had in her pocket for the eggs, which cost $1.75 plus tax, but instead he asked only for a promise she wouldn’t shoplift again. She was shocked by the officer’s good deed. “I was like ‘Oh my G-d, thank you … for this man,” she said. “He is my hero.”

Stacy’s act of kindness had a ripple ef-fect. It was caught on video by another customer who posted it to Facebook and was viewed more than 960,000 times.

After the incident, Stacy’s lieutenant helped Johnson sign up for the fire depart-ment’s toy drive which provides toys and food for families during the holiday sea-son.

But the goodness didn’t end there. By that Wednesday, donations had started to pour in from across the country for the family. “It took an entire shift to take all the stuff to her house and unload it,” Sta-cy says of the afternoon he spent deliver-ing groceries to the Johnsons. “I’ve taken three Tahoe loads of food to her house, and I know a food bank came to bring her food.”

Stacy hopes that others will be inspired to help those who are hungy. “It’s a rough city to live in,” Stacy says of Tarrant, Ala-bama. “There are a lot of people who need food.”

Additionally, he hopes that folks will see police officers as real people who have kind hearts and generous spirits. “There’s a real trust issue between law enforcement and citizens right now, but hopefully this shows we are not robots who just want to arrest people,” Stacy says. “We have hearts – you have to have a big heart and clear conscience of mind to do this job.”

“I don’t see myself as a hero. I’m not a big fan of cameras and the spotlight, I just want to do my job, do it the right way, and spend time with friends and family,” he re-lated, although others have called him “an angel in disguise.”

The Perfect Numbers

These two girls will surely never forget their birthdates.

At 10:11 a.m. on Saturday, Hazel Grace was born at a hospital in Cleveland, and Quincy Kessler was born at a hospital in Billings, Montana, making their birthdate and time of birth 10:11 12/13/14.

Hazel is the daughter of Leisha Camp-bell of Cleveland who has three other chil-dren, Aubree, Adalynn, and Josalyn.

“We knew she was going to be born today [Saturday], we just didn’t know it would be at 10:11 a.m.,” the new mom said. “Everyone is telling us we should play the lottery. We feel this is a lucky day.”

In Montana, Quincy is preparing to go home with her parents, Trenton and Meli-da Kessler.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said the girl’s mother. “That’s a really special birthday to have.”

Kessler and Quincy are both doing well. The couple has one other daughter.

It would be a cooler story if they weighed 15 pounds, 16 ounces (which we know really is 16 pounds!).

A Smashing ProposalRecently, a Dutchman proposed to his

future fiancée with a bang. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the “bang” he was expecting.

The unidentified man in the central town of Ijsselstein rented a crane, plan-

ning to descend in front of his fiancée’s bedroom window first thing on Saturday morning, play her a song and then pop the question. Instead, the crane toppled over, smashing a large hole in the neighbors’ roof and waking them all.

Thankfully, no one was injured in his

attempt at surprise. According to the Algemeen Dagblad

newspaper, the fiancée said “yes” despite his clumsiness. After speaking with police, the couple traveled to Paris to celebrate.

Amazingly, the story doesn’t end there. The crane fell yet again during attempts to right it with a larger crane, bashing in the rest of the neighbors’ roof.

I am sure this proposal will be remem-bered in town forever, although they may not remember it too fondly.

Living Large—with a Lie

He called himself the teen wolf of Wall Street.

Mohammed Islam, 17, from Queens claimed to have made tens of millions of dollars by trading stocks on his lunch breaks at Stuyvesant High School. The self-proclaimed millionaire spoke with New York magazine and was highlighted in its Monday issue. “The high eight figures,” he told the paper, when talking about his net worth.

But all is not what it seems. Since the interview, many have questioned how he made all that dough in such a short time, and the teen was forced to admit that he lied about his worth and has not made any money on the stock market.

During his interview, Islam said he bought himself a BMW but doesn’t have a license to drive it. And he rented a Man-hattan apartment, though his parents, im-migrants from the Bengal region of South Asia, won’t let him move out of the house

yet.“What makes the world go round?” Is-

lam asked in the interview, explaining his preference for trading and investment over startups. “Money. If money is not flowing, if businesses don’t keep going, there’s no innovation, no products, no investments, no growth, no jobs.”

Unfortunately for Islam, it’s not flow-ing his way.

In the interview, Islam related that he and a pair of other young, Wall Street wolf-cub buddies eat regularly at hot spot Morimoto, where they enjoy $400 caviar and fresh-squeezed apple juice. They hope to start a hedge fund in June, after Islam turns 18 and can get his broker-dealer li-cense.

“Mo’s our maestro,” one of the kids explained.

And they were not stopping at just “eight figures.” The three pals said they intend to make a billion dollars by next year. All while attending college. “But it’s not just about the money,” Islam told the mag, which ranked his spectacular success story as No. 12 in its 10th annual “Reasons to Love New York” issue.

“We want to create a brotherhood. Like, all of us who are connected, who are in something together, who have influ-ence,” Islam said.

In the interview, Islam related that his biggest inspiration is Tudor Jones, a bil-lionaire hedge-funder and private asset manager from Connecticut who ranks as the 108th-richest American, according to Forbes.

Battered by losses, Jones would jump back in the game again and again. It was a lesson Islam found instructive when, while dabbling in penny stocks at age 9, he lost a chunk of the money he’d made tutoring. Islam swore off trading at the time.

Fortunately for him, he said he then turned to studying modern finance, reading up on the titans of trading and ultimately finding inspiration in Jones. “I had been paralyzed by my loss,” Islam remembered of his 9-year-old self.

“But [Jones] was able to go back to it, even after losing thousands of dollars over and over,” he said.

And while Islam still needs to rely on Dad to chauffeur him on inspirational drives past the magnate’s Greenwich man-sion, he’s quick to quote from the guru whom he credits with getting him back in the game and making him “who I am to-day.” “Paul Tudor Jones says, ‘You learn more from your losses than from your gains.’ ”

Well, you know what Sinatra says, “If you can make it here, you can make it any-where,” even if you are making it all up.

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A: I get this question a lot and fairly so. Los Angeles has never been an in-expensive place to live and when you are looking to buy a home that is not what you want to hear (of course, once you’ve owned a home for a while and then want to sell, you will love the ex-pensive Los Angles market). You may have other needs apart from the bud-get; you might want to be close to a shul, school, and kosher food and feel like you are part of a community. At the same time, unless you are comfort-able renting for a very long time, you will likely have to branch out from the Beverlywood and Hancock Park areas in order to get the size home you need. I’m guessing that a three-bedroom home is the smallest you would con-sider, am I right? So where do you go?

These are three areas I would like to bring your attention.

The first and most established is Valley Village. Some people have lived in the valley for a long time but I’m seeing a new influx of first-time buyers heading to Valley Village and that makes good sense. The trailblazers have long ago established that com-munity and there are choice of Jewish schools and kosher foods. I may know what you are thinking… the valley is nice and all but it’s so far from the rest of the city. And the traffic! While I cannot solve LA’s traffic problem in a sentence I would like to point out that Los Angeles has finally constructed a subway. The orange line can take you downtown from the Valley for a low fare and you spare your car some more mileage and get some work done on the train.

For those of you still worried that the commute isn’t going to work, here is another option: Faircrest Heights, just east of La Cienega and north of Venice Blvd. A quick drive puts you

right on Pico and a mouthwatering se-lection of kosher restaurants and stores. Several schools are in easy carpooling distance. The homes in this area typ-ically need some updating which is economical and a benefit in the process of buying a house and turning it into your family home. The chances are that any new home will want some im-provement. Of course it takes time and money to fix and repair a house but the cheaper purchase price should mean you can create a remodel budget.

The last area I should mention is for the more adventurous type. Between Olympic and Pico east of La Brea is an area that you may not know called Longwood Highlands. The homes need a little work but your dollar goes a lot further here than you would think and the neighborhood has some untapped charm. When you need kosher food you have Western Kosher, just down Pico along with schools for your kids. The obvious problem is that there is no shul or for that matter an established community. Don’t you kind of wish that there were already twelve families that had moved and set up a shul for the rest of us to join? Maybe you can start one and get to enjoy Friday night at your new, under $1,000,000, four-bed-room, four-bath house.

If nothing else I hope this article has inspired you to look outside the box. No matter, where you buy a home the most important thing to keep in mind is that you get what you pay for. If something seems too good to be true then you need to whip out the magnify-ing glass and really examine what you are getting into. With that said, you can certainly find a decent home for under $1,000,000 without having to move to Alabama, and still be a part of the Los Angeles Jewish community.

Call or write Aaron with any ques-tions you have regarding buying or selling real estate.

Direct: 310-819-1545Email: aaron.revere@elliman.comWebsite: aaronrevere.elliman.com

Where can I buy a house in Los Angeles for less than $1,000,000?

Aaron Revere, Realtor Question: I was recently rear-ended. At the scene of the accident, the driver apologized and accepted liability. The next day, his insurance company called me and recorded my statement. Soon afterwards, they sent me a notice denying liability. Can you explain this?

Answer: Your question illustrates a key problem when dealing with an ad-verse insurance company. Many attorneys, myself included, will tell you that discuss-ing the accident with the other driver’s in-surance company is often a bad idea.

Let’s begin by explaining what typical-ly transpires behind the scenes after an auto accident. After you’ve exchanged informa-tion with the other driver, you are supposed to report the accident to your own insurance company, and the other driver should do the same. After you report the accident, the insurance company will gather the ba-sic facts, and assign the case to an adjuster. The adjuster’s job is to investigate the acci-dent further. He or she will determine lia-bility; evaluate the damage to the car; and whether there are any compensable injuries.

By law, insurance companies must set aside reserves once they are notified of a potential claim. The amount of the reserves will vary depending on the extent of the property damage or injuries sustained in the accident. Because the insurance com-pany must prepare itself for the possibility of paying a claim, its representatives will move quickly to ascertain the extent of any financial liability related to the claim.

This explains why you received a call from the other driver’s insurance compa-ny relatively soon after the accident. The adjuster took your statement, and after evaluating the facts and circumstances, de-termined that you were at fault. And this prompts the question of whether it is wise to discuss the case with the other driver’s insurance company.

In my experience, the answer is usually no.

Adjusters are trained in investigation and framing the narrative in a way that benefits the insurance company. Keep in mind that the insurance company’s goal is to maximize profits by keeping down its expenses, like any other business. A claim is an expense, so don’t be surprised if the insurance tries to pay as little as possible on the claim, or finds creative ways not to pay it at all.

With this underlying goal in mind, the adjuster will ask you detailed questions about the accident, looking for ways to minimize the company’s financial liability, or eliminate it completely. I have seen cas-

es in my practice where an adjuster asked leading questions to my clients in an effort to pin liability on them. This might explain what happened in your case, and it probably would not have happened if you hired an attorney to represent you.

For these reasons, it’s important to dis-cuss your case with an attorney who knows how to negotiate with an insurance com-pany. Ideally, this should be done before discussing the case with the insurance com-pany, and most personal injury attorneys will offer a free initial consultation. If you hire the attorney to represent you, he or she will handle all communications between you and the insurance company so your interests are protected. Even if you were not injured, it’s worth calling an attorney to discuss your case and make sure you are not prejudicing your rights. Take the following example from my practice:

My client was stopped in rush hour traf-fic on the freeway, when he was rear-end-ed at close to 70 miles per hour by a driver who was not paying attention. Thankfully, my client’s injuries were not severe, but he was hospitalized and missed several weeks from work as he recovered from his debili-tating pain. It was a traumatic experience.

In the days after the accident, the at-fault driver’s insurance company took my client’s statement. The company accepted liability in the case, but offered my client a few hundred dollars to settle it. When my office took over the case, we made it clear to the adjuster that his insulting offer was insufficient. Through tough negotiating, I settled the case for substantially more than the adjuster originally offered. My client was satisfied that he had been fairly com-pensated for his injuries and lost income.

Adjusters are not attorneys. They may be unaware of an important point of law or court decision affecting your case when evaluating liability or offering a settlement to you. Whether it’s a car accident, dog bite, or slip and fall on someone’s property, the adjuster’s job is to close the case as soon as possible. Unfortunately, many accident victims are taken advantage of in the pro-cess.

Remember that, under California law, you have two years to settle with the in-surance company after an accident. There is no rush to answer the adjuster’s ques-tions—you are well within your rights to discuss the case with an attorney first to en-sure your rights are protected.

Michael Rubinstein is a Los Angeles based accident attorney. Visit his website at www.mrubinsteinlaw.com, or contact him at Michael@mrubinsteinlaw.com, or by calling 213-293-6075.

Should You Discuss The Accident With The Other Driver’s Insurance?

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