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2 The Week In News JUNE 2, 2016 | The Jewish Home

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3The Week In NewsJUNE 2, 2016 | The Jewish Home

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4 The Week In News JUNE 2, 2016 | The Jewish HomeCONTENTS

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,“Na’aseh v’nishmah – We will do,

then we will understand.” These are the words we collectively responded when G-d asked if we would accept the Torah. We knew the truth of G-d’s existence, and so taking this leap of faith was the obvious choice. Since G-d is real, so are his laws – the details of which we knew would soon follow.

Here’s another way to look at it. Say, for example, someone isn’t well, and the doctor proscribes a medicine which will heal them. (For the sake of our mashal, assume this a trustworthy doctor who is 100% correct in the diagnosis 100% of the time.) It would make little sense for the patient to take this medicine only on condition that they understood its ex-act mechanism and the details of how it worked:

When someone isn’t feeling well, their faculties are not 100%. If they take the medicine, they will reach their prime strength, and then it would be easier to understand.

The healing process is best under-stood when experiencing it firsthand.

Why push off getting better! The medicine will work regardless of our understanding of it.

Same is true with the mitzvot. A Jew is only 100% spiritually well when adher-ing to the ways of the Torah. Its beauty

and purpose is best appreciated when experienced first-hand…why not get spiritually healthy now!

A few thousand years have passed since then, and by now the benefits of many of the commandments are easy to see. Shabbos observance = focus. Mod-esty = sanctity. Kosher = conscious eat-ing. Prayer = spirituality. Torah learning = constant education. Pikuach Nefesh = sanctity of human life. Tzedakah = con-cern for others. And so on. These bene-fits are sometimes so obvious it can be tempting to keep these mitzvos because of logic while ignoring their G-dly ori-gins.

When hesitating to take the next leap in Torah observance, thinking, “What’s the purpose” of adding another Torah class, being more careful with the bless-ings we make, or getting along better with our in-laws, we should remember na’aseh and then nishmah. If we take the plunge, we will surely come to ap-preciate it later.

It says matan Torah only happened once, but the secrets of the experience will only be revealed after the coming of Moshiach. Our world can use exactly that.

May we have an inspiring Shabbos and a joyous matan Torah,

Shalom

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

In Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

JEWISH THOUGHTThe Voice of Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Let the Neshamah Take Over . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

FEATUREDoes the Media Control Your Mind? . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

ENTERTAINMENTCenterfold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

LIFESTYLESTravel Guide: St. Petersburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Ask Dr. T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

NEWSIsrael . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

That’s Odd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

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

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As a m e m b e r of Yeshiva Aharon Yaa-kov Ohr Eli-yahu PTA, Jenny Gur-vitz is very involved in the school. But she isn’t s a t i s fi e d . “We want to do more than help our school,” she says. “We want to make a difference in the en-tire community.” To this end, the YAYOE PTA partnered with Zichron Menachem, an Israeli organization that provides sup-port for children with cancer and their families. For the first time in Los Angeles, they will be hosting a unique event, Great Lengths for Cancer, where local women and girls will be able to donate their hair to be made into wigs for Israeli children with cancer.

Zichron Menachem, one of the top Israeli charities, currently provides 24-hour support for families battling cancer. It maintains a blood bank and a database of platelet donors available on short no-tice. It also operates a day center where siblings of children with cancer can come after school and receive help with home-work and a hot meal while their parents are busy caring for their sick sibling. Oth-er Zichron Menachem activities include a respite camp for patients, a birthday program to make a sick child’s birthday special, and a support group for parents of children with cancer.

Zichron Menachem is also known for providing wigs, free of charge, to chil-dren who lose their hair while undergo-ing treatment. “This is the first question children ask when diagnosed with can-cer – when will I lose my hair?” says Eli Seliger, who has been volunteering for Zichron Menachem for the past thirteen years. By giving them a wig, the organi-zation “gives them back their humanity,” Mr. Seliger adds.

Each wig is custom-made, according to the specific requirements of the child, out of top quality human hair. The wig-

makers take the child’s m e a s u r e -ments, look at pictures of the child before treat-ment, and match the color and style to re-semble, as much as pos-

sible, the child’s own hair. Last year alone, the organization dis-

tributed 1300 wigs. Children are very grateful, explains Mr. Seliger. One girl called the day she received her wig “the best day of her life.” Another girl refused to attend a family bar mitzvah without a wig. Within four days, Zichron Men-achem provided her with a beautiful wig, and she was able to attend the simchah.

The hair for wigs is donated by wom-en and girls all over the world: South Africa, Australia, Canada, United States, and England. Some people bring their hair to Zichron Menachem on their trip to Israel, or for their bas mitzvah project. Others donate hair at events similar to the one about to be held in Los Angeles.

The local event will take place on June 14th, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, at Haas and Co Hair Design on Larchmont Boulevard.

“It will be a beautiful experience,” says Mrs. Gurvitz. The donors will feel pampered, she explains. They will receive a certificate from Zichron Menachem, as well as a gift basket. “We want girls to feel beautiful,” says Mrs. Gurvitz. Most importantly, the YAYOE PTA would like the girls to feel good about giving back to the community. “Girls will feel that they made a difference,” adds Mrs. Gurvitz. “They will feel empowered.”

To donate hair, please email [email protected]. Hair must be at least twelve inches long from where it is cut. And for those who would like to participate, but whose hair is not long enough, the YAY-OE PTA is hoping to make this an annual event.

Great Lengths for Cancer: Hair for Wigs ProgramYehudis Litvak


On May 15th, the Valley Torah High School boys’ division embarked on its biennial Weekaton. The destination this year was Yosemite National Park. As one would suspect, taking almost 100 teenage boys on a four-day trip to a national park is a daunting task. However, under the leadership of Rabbi Stulberger, and the hard work and dedication of Rabbi Sem-mel and the rest of the rebbeim of Valley Torah, the trip achieved overwhelming success.

From hiking the famous Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls, to the water slides at the private outdoor water park, to whitewater rafting eleven miles down the Merced River, the destinations and activities were amazing. Students shared once-in-a-lifetime experiences that they are sure to carry with them for years. For the first time ever, the school arranged to stay in Camp Wowona, a private campsite with beautiful cabins situated alongside a rushing river. The accommodations fos-tered a feeling of achdus and bonding that was unique and uplifting.

Most importantly, the students accom-plished something on a spiritual level that deserves tremendous recognition. Prior to the trip, there were school wide dis-cussions about the importance of kiddush Hashem and positively representing the Jewish people. The students learned about the exceptional position we’re in, at this particular point in history, to make a pos-itive impression on those around us. By the conclusion of the trip, it was clear that the students took those lessons to heart. At every stage of the trip, observers com-mented about the impressive conduct of such a large group of boys. Even in the peaceful setting of Yosemite, where vis-itors are expecting a sense of quiet and serenity, the boys were complimented on their respectful behavior. As a rebbe at Valley Torah, I’m proud to have been a part of such a wonderful experience and such an inspiring kiddush Hashem!

Valley Torah Students Visit Yosemite for their Biennial "Weekaton" Moshe Samuels

Happenings

Yeshiva Tzvi Dov v'EphraimMenlo Family Boys' Division

Valley Torah High Schoolis proud to congratulate our

Back Row (L-R): Max Engel,Yonah Darrison, Daniel Mashiach,

Alex Zinati, Avi Goldman,Aaron Loffman, Ryan Marshak

Center Row (L-R): Benjamin Halpern,Adam R'bibo, Elimelech Allison,

David Berg, Samuel-Norman Flicker,Yishai Anatian, Joseph Cohn,

Avraham EskenaziFront Row (L-R): Avraham Stoll,

Moshe Eshaghian,Dovid Levy, Jonathan Kiaei,

Calil Goodman, Nevo Shnider,Jonathan Bitton, Yehuda Atzmon,

Aaron Abrishami, Liron Ben-HarochNot Pictured:

Ely Cohen, Mendel Greenberg

irt-nintraduatin las

This year's Graduates have been accepted to the following Yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel:

University of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of California, Los AngelesUniversity of California, San DiegoUniversity of California, RiversideUniversity of California, Irvine

Hunter CollegeYeshiva University

New York UniversityLoyola Marymount University

California State University, Channel IslandsCalifornia State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Northridge

St. Johns University, New York

Class of 2016 Graduates have been accepted to the following Colleges:

בס״ד

Aish HaTorah - GesherDerech Etz ChaimLev HaTorahMerkaz HaTorah

Reishit YerushalayimShaarei Mevaseret

Toras ShragaYeshiva Tiferet (TJ)

Midrash ShmuelMikdash Melech

Ohr Somayach - DerechOhr Yerushalayim (OJ)

The Administration, Staff and Board of Valley Torah High School extend a hearty Mazel Tov to the Graduating Class of 2016 and wish the Graduates only

success for all their future endeavors in Yeshiva, College and beyond.

8 The Week In News JUNE 2, 2016 | The Jewish HomeHappenings

May 16th marked the culminating event for YULA Girls’ Holocaust Research and Documentary course. For the past eight months, students have been studying in-depth history of Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust, as well as learning how to transmit that knowledge to others.

Instructors Brigitte Wintner and Nick Parsons became proficient with USC Sho-ah Foundation’s iWitness video database in order to help guide students in creating interactive multimedia lessons and survi-vor testimonies. Students participated in a blended learning course, meeting during

free periods and online to complete assignments and lectures relating to the Holocaust. Rabbi Yaakov Co-hen came on board

as an instructor and helped paint the picture of religious life in Europe before World War II. The three staff members then took a group of students on a week-long trip to Poland, where they saw first-hand all of the important places they were learning about. A recap of their trip (including pho-tos and videos) can be found at yulagirls.org/poland.

To help enhance the curriculum, YULA High Schools joined with the pro-gram Names, Not Numbers©, an interac-tive, multimedia Holocaust project creat-

ed by Tova Fish-Rosenberg. Through this program, students embarked on a journey to interview and document nine local sur-vivors’ stories. Soshea Leibler-Weberman, a YULA parent and former CBS Morning News producer, taught the students in-terview techniques and best practices for when they sat down with their survivors. The interviews took place the last week in December, and the documentary was com-pleted and premiered to an audience of 400 people on May 16th at The Grove Pacific Movie Theatres.

Throughout the program, YULA Girls partnered with Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH). With the help of Jordanna Gessler, Director of Educa-tional Programs at LAMOTH, students were able to visit the museum many times to deepen their knowledge of the history of the Holocaust. During this partnership, the students in the course became experts on the various museum galleries and served as guides during a school field trip for ninth- and tenth-graders. It was incredible to see the transformation the girls made from stu-dents to teachers over the past school year.

New Holocaust Research and Documentary Filmmaking Class at YULA High SchoolsNick Parsons

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torah changedthe story of my life

Adar 5775The two brothers enjoyed a brotherly chat, laughter, barbs, and all. Looking into his brothers Yaakov’s eyes though, Moshe saw pain. Understandable. Childlessness is no picnic. And the fact that his two sisters who were married aer Yaakov already have children doesn’t make ma�ers any easier. Moshe’s heart ached. ‘If only there is something I can do for him…,’ he thought. As soon as the two parted ways, Moshe whipped out his

phone. “Kollel Chatzos, where the light of Torah burns brightly throughout the night…” Yes. There is something I can do.“My brother has been married for several years,” Moshe told the representative. “And, he has been not blessed with children yet.”“I’ve heard that learning Torah at chatzos is a segula for zerah shel kayama. I would therefore like to sign up for a partnership with Kollel Chatzos as a zechus for my brother. Please have the talmidei Chachamim daven that Yaakov ben Rivka be zoche to a child of his own.”

Nissan 5775Moshe calls the office of Kollel Chatzos. “I have seen astounding success in business over the past month. Money is flowing in as if on its own accord.‘’Interestingly, I’ve noticed that this amazing success started at the time that I signed up for the partnership with Kollel Chatzos. Obviously there is a correlation…“Seeing this major improvement in the zechus of torah, I strongly believe that by brother’s yeshuah is not far behind.”

Adar 5776It’s just one year aer he placed the original call and a joyous Moshe is calling kollel Chatzos again. “Mazal Tov! My brother has been zoche to a child of his own. An angelic li�le boy, born in the zechus of limud hatorah at chatzos.”

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"This story sounds unbelievable to so many, but it is true. I will continue to support the talmidei chochomim at Kollel Chatzos"


On Sunday, May 22, over 200 peo-ple gathered at YULA Girls School for the13th Annual Ariel Avrech Lecture. Or-ganized by Robert and Karen Avrech, in cooperation with Young Israel of Century City, this year’s event included an address by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro.

The room was bursting from the seams, forcing some listeners to stand in the back. Robert Avrech – an Emmy award winning screenwriter and producer – and his wife, Karen – a child psychologist – created the lecture series as a tribute to their son. To the assembled crowd, Mr. Avrech de-scribed Ariel: Academically advanced for his age, he skipped a grade and entered high school a year early before being diag-nosed with cancer. After high school, Ariel fought to maintain his learning, studying at Ner Yisroel in Baltimore before being forced to return home due to his deteriorat-ing condition.

Michael Wiener, Ariel’s friend from Hillel Hebrew Academy, then spoke fond-

ly of Ariel – recalling his defense of a bul-lied kid in middle school, meeting Michael J. Fox, his own face appearing in a movie for a second, and how Ariel wore a suit and black hat while walking for two hours journey in summertime heat to a bar mitz-vah.

The featured speaker of the event was Ben Shapiro, whose presentation shared a title with his best-selling book, Brain-

washed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth. Upon assuming the podi-um, Shapiro surprised the audience: “I’m going to tell you how you can save Israel.”

Shapiro presented his case on how to end Israel hatred, which he persistently equated with Jew hatred, a problem that has prevailed for the past three years at UCLA, his alma mater.

“You tell the college student, ‘Forget that! You’re an anti-Semite because you’re holding Israel to a different moral standard than the rest of the world.’”

In order to save Israel, Shapiro argued, we must take political action, not meekly hope for peace. At the national and global level, he recounted statements from John Kerry and the Obama administration that isolated Israel and undermined its attempts to fend off a nuclear Iran and to reconcile with its enemies.

Shapiro forecasted that the U.S. is heading towards increasing isolationism. He spoke of internal and external threats to the State of Israel – political, econom-ic, and even ethnic ones. Analyzing can-didates for the presidential election, he scorned Donald Trump for his pandering “to the worst sort of people,” who hate Jews and foreigners. He also denounced Trump for using the term “Political Cor-rectness” in order to not have to take stanc-es on major issues.

Shapiro concluded that Trump is reac-tionary and may be starting a new move-ment, but his stance towards Israel remains unclear until he will “stand still on some issues.” He also assured the audience that Hillary Clinton’s administration would be no better for Israel.

Next, Shapiro identified an internal threat to Israel: a secular left which ques-tions the very existence of the state. Shap-iro categorized leftists as those who tend to side with the underdog. This presumption has caused them to repeatedly denounce Israel; Israel’s prosperity in the face of internal problems suggests to them that

Israel must have done something wrong against Palestinians. Israel has admitted it committed “these original sins” in an attempt to appease those who oppose her on this account, but this simply reinforces the mindset of the country’s adversaries. However, real security threats from places like Iran tend to cause the country to move toward the right.

As part of his regimen to combat Is-rael’s haters, Shapiro suggests that Jews should support religious Christians in Christian moral causes. Many of these issues also affect Jews, and he believes this would be a beneficial alliance. More-over, he brought data suggesting that more evangelical Christians are pro-Israel than Jews. Noting that there are not many mod-erate voices in the Muslim world, he said, “Every moral narrative has to have a bad guy. The problem is that with the pro-Is-rael community, there is a reticence to ac-tually naming the bad guy” - referring to Muslim fundamentalism.

Even more controversially, Shapiro told the audience to stop providing mone-tary support to AIPAC as a whole. Instead, he recommended they support specific projects and causes, since lobbying ef-forts are largely corrupted by concerns for re-election.

On college campuses, he explained the importance of loudly critiquing Israel’s enemies, and targeting those who do not already have a stance on the issue – which includes the majority of college students.

“Negative ads are the only ads that work” he declared. “Make issues so toxic that people run away from it.” Emphasiz-ing the perpetration of horrific hangings, decapitations, and violent criminal laws in counter-protests is necessary.

Following Mr. Shapiro’s address, Rabbi Avi Stewart, who was Ariel’s close friend at Yeshiva Gedolah, sang the “Kel Malei Rachamim,” and Mr. Avrech recited a most moving kaddish.

13th Annual Ariel Avrech Lecture at YULA features Ben ShaprioBracha Miriam Turner

Valley Torah High SchoolAteres Malka v'Sara EstherMenlo Family Girls Divisionis proud to congratulate our

raduatin las of 2016The Administration, Staff and Board of Valley

Torah High School Menlo Family Girls Division extend a hearty Mazel Tov to our Graduating

Class of 2016. May the growth and success that highlighted your years of High School be an

inspiration as you go from strength to strength pursuing your goals and dreams in the future.

בס״ד

Phot

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Your Children Must Be There!!!

The Gedolei Vetzaddikei Hador, shlit"a Will be gathering For an awe-inspiring and historic gathering of prayer and supplication,

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Nearly 350 guests attended the Friend-ship Circle of Los Angeles’s Garden Party on Tuesday, May 24th, at the lovely gar-dens of the Nissel family in Beverly Hills. The night honored 481 volunteers and cul-minated in an inspirational ceremony cele-brating a year of inclusion and community service.

Guests entered a “Garden of Eden” as they enjoyed a delicious dinner from “Let’s Have a Cart Party,” with tasty entrees, hot pretzels, fancy sweets, and much more. Guests took many photos at the “step and repeat” banner, and volunteers were filled with excitement as each of them received a new Friendship Circle baseball cap. Vol-unteers also enjoyed taking photos in the Instagram booth.

Rebecca Kianmahd, a senior at Milken Community High School who will be en-tering UCLA in the fall, received the Heart and Soul Award for nine years of excep-tional volunteering. In an eloquent speech, Rebecca shared how she began volunteer-ing in fourth grade, when she insisted on joining her older sister at Friendship Cir-cle. Through building a close friendship with first Sharon and then Stella, Rebecca realized that these special children “have the most radiant of smiles, biggest of hearts, most contagious laughter, and pur-est of souls.” She plans on spreading this inclusive message as a Bruin and becom-ing a pediatrician who has the sensitivity to care for this population.

Yaakov Sobel, an eleventh grader at

Shalhevet High School, was introduced by our behaviorist Julius English, who shared a fiery Torah thought. Yaakov gave a stir-ring speech as the recipient of the Hineini Award. The Hineini Award is given to an outstanding volunteer who steps up to as-sist Friendship Circle in multiple programs and roles; a volunteer who can consistent-ly be counted on to help with enthusiasm and expertise. He shared his struggles as a child with ADHD, dysgraphia, and dyslex-ia, and how at the age of 14, he began to give back to the community. He spoke of his best friend, Abie, who has autism, and who joined him on stage in an open and exuberant show of friendship. His message was that we are all perfect; it is society that is imperfect, and we can change society.

The Family of Friendship Award was given to honor the Schuraytz family w ho have made Sunday mornings at the Friendship Circle Hebrew School a prior-

i ty, despite the distance from the Valley. T his family has been volunteering regu-larly at Friendship Circle for the past nine years! Ben, Debbie, and their three daugh-ters – Racheli, Chana Leah, and Sarah Bra-cha – are always there for our special chil-dren. They have volunteered at an array of programs with commitment and love.

A ctors Steven Clark and Christina Sanz of the reality show “Born This Way” w owed the audience with their profes-s ional, yet warm, moving, and entertain-ing speeches. Steven spoke about how his parents have always helped him meet his dreams and taught him to believe in him-self. Regarding his life goals he declared, “ I’m working on these goals – it might take me awhile, but I’m confident I’ll get there.” Christina shared her story of suc-c ess, including her engagement to fiancé A ngel. Both of these young adults with Down Syndrome are breaking barriers and stereotypes with their hard work and suc-cess.

G uests enjoyed a presentation where 3 8 students received the prestigious Fel-l owship Award for their extraordinary commitment to volunteering and enhanc-ing their knowledge in the field of special education. Awards were presented by Beth F reishtat, Director of Jewish Education a nd Engagement Partnerships, and Miri-am Maya, Director of Caring for Jews in N eed, both of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

The video, “I Can Be,” featuring high-

l ights of the year and children achieving their goals, captured precious moments of friendship with footage at Friendship Cir-cle.

M iriam Rav-Noy, Program Director o f the Friendship Circle, concluded the e vening with a message dedicated to the v olunteers about the foundation of the Friendship Circle. “The Lubavitcher Reb-be, the inspiration behind Friendship Cir-cle, taught a deep lesson based on the verse ‘love our fellow as you love yourself.’ Just as we have a personal and unique approach t o loving ourselves, we should demon-s trate similar love and understanding to-w ard others; surely including those with special needs.”

Miriam concluded by sharing the im-pact this love and understanding is having on the community. Over the course of this p ast year, 10 local Jewish day schools, t emples, and youth groups have contact-e d FCLA to run inclusion programs and workshops with their students!

Finally, Miriam saluted the graduating s eniors and presented each with a plush b lanket, embroidered with the Friend-ship Circle logo, reminding them that the warmth of friendship will carry on!

On the way out, beautifully packaged, h omemade cookies with the message, “Volunteering is Sweet,” were set out for guests to enjoy. Everyone left feeling in-s pired and excited to continue making a difference in the lives of all our very spe-cial children.

Friendship Circle of Los Angeles' Garden Party

Doonie Mishulovin M.A. Ed.

Happenings

13The Week In NewsJUNE 2, 2016 | The Jewish Home Happenings

O n Tuesday, May 17th, YULA Girls High School hosted the annual West Coast C IJE Young Engineers Conference and award ceremony for participating all-girls s chools. This was the third consecutive year they did so. The following day, Shal-hevet hosted the corresponding ceremony for boys.

CIJE stands for the Center for Initiative in Jewish Education, a nonprofit organiza-tion that provides academic support in the form of curricula and funding for partici-pating schools. Besides investing in teach-er training, the program provides a rigorous s upplementary curriculum in engineer-ing and coding. The program focuses on t eaching 9th and 10th graders the basics of electrical and mechanical engineering, coding, and design. The program’s nation-al director, Dr. Jane Willoughby, was once i nvolved in bioengineering, and the pro-gram also encourages participants to think creatively in order to solve mechanical is-sues in the medical world.

The focus of the curriculum is to allow s tudents to explore methods of trial and e rror to design an actual project that has the potential to bring benefit to the world. Afterwards, CIJE transfers top projects to sourcers who have accepted students’ de-signs in the past.

“ This is what engineers focus on in i ndustry,” noted Dr. Adrian Krag, CIJE’s W est Coast director, who travels from school to school to assist and direct teach-ers. Not only do students have to identify a problem and create a solution; they also m ust execute, building and testing their project. The program is a rigorous one but it helps that they produce something con-crete.

Krag remarked, “[A] lot of students do well if you let them build something.”

An inquiry-based atmosphere of learn-i ng offers students the independence to o wn and explore their individual ideas. T he students each displayed micropro-c essor boards. In the final stage of the program, they must also comprehend 3D m odeling language and practice with it. The students worked in small groups and competed against their classmates. A panel of judges comprised by teachers and vol-unteers awarded a prize to one team of stu-dents from each school.

Amongst the participating girls schools were YULA Girls, Valley Torah Girls, Ohel S ara, and Meira Academy of Palo Alto. Amongst the participating boys and co-ed s chools (with separate presentations and

ceremonies) were Shalhevet, YULA Boys, Valley Torah Boys, De Toledo from West Hills, Harkham-GAON Academy, Mesivta Birkas Yitzchok, and Tarbut V’Torah from Irvine.

“The student are engaged, excited, and in charge of what they’re doing” remarked Willoughby. The co-ed schools reportedly did not have as many female participants, which is something CIJE hopes to rectify in the future.

R abbi Abraham Lieberman, dean of YULA Girls School, persistently insisted that CIJE start a West Coast division and i s heavily invested in the program. He emphasized the importance of being tech-n ologically adept in a future workforce a nd, subsequently, invested tremendous financial resources, technical support, ad-vice and everything else that was needed into making the program a success. YULA Girls School also took students to Israel to meet with scientists, allowing the kids to be mentored and inspired by them.

“CIJE takes our school to a higher lev-

el,” Rabbi Lieberman declared with pride. At the culmination of the conference,

Dr. Willoughby remarked, “Until we get here, they can’t envision what we’re do-ing.” Some problems that the students tackled in their projects were water safety

and conservation, burglary systems, medi-cal contraptions, and sleep solutions. The students’ innovations were remarkably creative, and each one more intriguing than the next.

YULA Girls and Shalhevet Host Young Engineers Conference and Award CeremonyBracha Miriam Turner

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The Los Angeles Jewish community was treated to a majestic experience on Lag B’omer night, at the hachnassas sefer Torah for Maayon Yisroel Chassidic Cen-ter. Accompanied by beautiful white hors-es, a decorated carriage, and live music – including singing by Benny Friedman – hundreds of people escorted the new sefer Torah from the home of Rabbi Reuven Wolf, the rabbi of Maayon Yisroel, to the Maayon Yisroel building.

But this sefer Torah’s unique journey began much earlier, and included many more stops along the way. “The story be-hind it is inspirational,” says Rabbi Wolf, “beyond what I can fathom.”

Maayon Yisroel had been using a bor-rowed sefer Torah. Three years ago, the owner of the sefer Torah needed to take it back. At shacharis, Rabbi Wolf asked his congregation if anyone knew where they could borrow another sefer Torah. Some-body suggested, “Why don’t we write a new sefer Torah for Maayon Yisroel?”

Rabbi Wolf was hesitant to take on such a large expense. But everyone offered to chip in, and right then and there, enough money was pledged to cover sixteen par-shiyos. “In whose honor should we write this sefer Torah?” Rabbi Wolf asked. To-gether, the shul members decided to dedi-cate the sefer Torah to the Baal Shem Tov, after whom Maayon Yisroel is named.

Thus the journey began. Many mir-acle stories happened along the way, not the least being the special sofer in Eretz Yisrael who was hired for the job. When the sefer Torah was almost finished, Rabbi Wolf decided to go to Eretz Yisrael to pick it up. Then a thought occurred to him: why not also bring the sefer Torah to the Baal Shem Tov’s kever? And then the idea de-veloped further, until it was decided to also visit the graves of other tzaddikim in Eretz Yisrael and Ukraine.

The news spread, and others decided to join the trip. Altogether, exactly 22 people traveled to Ukraine, which corresponds to the number of letters in the Hebrew al-phabet. Each of the travelers contributed

something unique to the journey.One of the participants,

Mushka Lightstone, is producing a docu-mentary film about this trip, called Where Light Begins. “I’ve always wanted to make a documentary about the journey of a sefer Torah, the soul of the sefer Torah, and its connection to the Jewish people,” says Ms. Lightstone. She joined Rabbi Wolf and his wife in Eretz Yisrael and filmed the whole trip.

“It was incredible,” she says. Just as there are four levels in learning Torah – p’shat, remez, drash, and sod – there are four levels in this journey, she explains. On a simple level, it was a road trip. On a deeper level, it was about the history of the Jewish people. Yet deeper, it was about the path of the tzaddikim. And deeper yet, it was about the journey of the soul.

The first stop after picking up the sefer Torah from the sofer was the Ko-sel Hamaaravi. The next stops were the Maaras Hamachpeila and Kever Rachel. At each gravesite, Rabbi Wolf and his companions davened for people with spe-cial requests and asked the tzaddikim bur-ied there to shine their light into the sefer Torah, inviting them to the hachnassas sefer Torah ceremony in Los Angeles.

A sofer from Israel, Rabbi Moshe Braun, joined the group. At the kever of the Arizal, they stopped and wrote a let-ter in the sefer Torah. They continued to write letters in the sefer Torah throughout the trip, wherever there was a shul next to the kever they were visiting. In Ukraine, at the graves of the Chassidic Rebbes, they sang each Rebbe’s special niggun and told stories about him.

The participants agree that each stop was a moving experience. They reached some of the kevarim by horse and buggy, which added its own magic to the experi-ence.

“Each kever had its own beauty, its own kochos,” says Shoshana Mansouri, one of the travelers.

At the kever of the Baal Hatanya, white dandelions were falling like snow. “There

was a feeling of light there,” says Rabbi Wolf.

The last stop in Ukraine was the kever of the Baal Shem Tov in Medzhi-bozh, where the group spent Shabbos. On Erev Shabbos, the men toveled in the Baal Shem Tov’s mikvah. Then one of the participants took the sefer Torah out of the suitcase and put it down on the Baal Shem Tov’s tombstone, dedicat-ing it to the Baal Shem Tov. On Motzaei Shabbos, the group had melave malkah in the Baal Shem Tov’s shul – a reconstructed copy of the original. “We were sitting in the same place where the Baal Shem Tov sat,” says Rabbi Wolf. “We sang, danced, and told stories about the Baal Shem Tov until 2 a.m.”

“It was me’ein olam haba,” says Mrs. Mansouri. “Now I can tell when Mashiach comes because I know how it feels.”

Ms. Lightstone agrees that the experi-ence was powerful. “We hear the stories, but to see with our own eyes and hear with

our own ears – you realize it’s real. It’s vis-ceral, life-changing.”

On the way back from Ukraine, Rab-bi Wolf and his wife stopped in New York and visited the graves of the Lubavitcher Rebbes. Then the magnificent hachnassas sefer Torah in Los Angeles exceeded all expectations. “I’m sure that all the tzad-dikim we invited came,” says Rabbi Wolf. “Their light was there.”

The new sefer Torah will be read for the first time at Maayon Yisroel on Shavu-os, the yahrzeit of the Baal Shem Tov. Un-til then, letters of the sefer Torah are still available for sale at http://maayonyisroel.com/sefertorah.

The Baal Shem Tov’s Sefer Torah: A Special JourneyYehudis Litvak

At the Heichal Habaal Shem Tov

Reb Levi Yitzchok M'berditchevWriting a letter at the Kever of Reb Levi Yitzchok M'berditchev

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The Voice of SilenceSarah Pachter

When I was eighteen months old, my mother walked into my bedroom one morning and found me lying in my crib whimpering quietly. As she came closer to see what was wrong, I turned my head and my mother gasped in horror. The left side of my head had a golf ball-sized bump right where the crevice of the ear meets the scalp. Terrified, she called the doctor, who advised us to rush to the hospital. We raced to the emergency room, where the doctor discovered a severe infection that had spread to the mastoid – the inner por-tion of the ear that connects to the skull. If the skull becomes infected, it becomes life threatening.

A few days prior, I had come down with a typical toddler ear infection. My mother did what every mother does – she went to the doctor, picked up the prescribed anti-biotics, and gave me the correct dosage according to schedule. However, unbe-knownst to her, my body did not respond to the antibiotics, and the infection rapidly spread, almost to my brain.

An emergency mastoidechtomy was performed. During the surgery, a bone inside the inner ear (the mastoid) is hol-lowed out to allow the fluid of the infec-tion to drain. The mastoid connects to the skull, and if not dealt with correctly, it is only a matter of time before the brain can become infected, leading to permanent in-jury or even death.

I spent a month in the hospital re-covering from this life-threatening – and life-saving – procedure. My dedicated parents took turns spending nights and days by my side. My siblings sacrificed precious time with my mother and father so that I could be cared for 24/7. My fa-ther sacrificed much time from work in order to care for my siblings and myself. Finally, right before Thanksgiving, I was discharged from the hospital. Our family had much to be thankful for on that third Thursday of November, and every Thanks-giving to come.

Although I do not have real memories of this experience, I will forever remain grateful for it. I am so lucky to be alive – but I did not realize just how lucky until recently.

Fast forward almost twenty years: I am sitting in my college audiology class learning about the inner workings of the ear. My professor practically skipped over the subject of mastoidechtomy.

I quickly interjected: “Hey! I had one of those!”

He was stunned. “You must be mistak-en. Did you just say you had a mastoid-echtomy?”

“Yeah!” I adamantly responded. “My left ear. Look, I still have a scar from it!” I was ready to prove it.

“Are you sure it was a MAS-TOID-ECHTOMY?” He slowly re-peated the name of the surgery.

“Yes, absolutely! I was in the hospital as a baby for a month.”

He then asked me a seemingly unre-lated question: “What year were you born in?”

“1985,” I responded.My professor was silent for a moment

and then said, “Sarah, you are one lucky girl.” He then told me that only 200,000 people worldwide have ever had such a surgery. He informed me that even today, a mastoidechtomy is extremely dangerous, and few survive the procedure. During the 1980s, the technology was not nearly as advanced as it is today. Hardly anyone survived back then.

It was not news to me that the proce-dure was life-threatening, but what he told me next almost made me fall off my chair.

“Sarah, do you remember that there is a facial nerve inside the inner ear? During a mastoidechtomy, it is extremely common that the facial nerve gets severed, leading to facial paralysis on the opposite side.”

He looked and me and said quite frank-ly: “You, my dear, are a walking miracle. Not only because you are alive, but also because the right side of your face, and particularly your mouth, functions perfect-ly – I cannot believe my eyes.”

For many weeks, I felt extremely blessed. Nonetheless, the intense gratitude faded with the passage of time – ten years have passed since then, and my memory of the event has faded. However, one as-pect of the conversation stuck with me: the connection between the mouth and the ear.

Was there a deeper connection beyond the medical bond between these two body parts?

As I was learning about Shavuot, that connection became apparent to me.

According to the midrash (Shem-os Rabbah 29:9), when G-d handed over His Torah to the Jewish people, the entire world became silent.

Why did the whole world need to be silent? The wind stopped blowing, no an-imals made a peep, and every human be-ing was silent during the moments leading up to the giving of the Torah. Was G-d

afraid the Jews would not be able to hear his voice? Surely He could have made His voice heard over all of these sounds?

G-d did not make it silent so we could hear Him; He made it silent so we could fi-nally hear the voice within ourselves – the voice that longed for a spiritual connec-tion, the voice that longed for His Torah.

We have so many distractions today – technology, billboards, and so forth. It is extremely difficult to ignore these distrac-tions and clear our minds so that we can focus on what is important.

I once asked a student of mine who was feeling stressed to take one minute that week to stop and think of nothing – a meditation minute. The next week she confessed that she had not been able to do so. There were too many distractions.

G-d eliminated the distracting sounds around us so that we could hear our inner voice telling us to connect to what is truly essential: the Torah.

Likewise, in order to really hear anoth-er person, we have to learn to listen. There is something called parallel speech. Paral-lel speech can be typified by two excitable teenage girls chattering on the phone eager to tell each other about their day. The girls

speak over each other, not bothering to wait for their friend to finish speaking first. In a sense, they are not really connecting with each other. Each girl’s words fall flat, not making much of an impact, since no one is really listening to them.

Indeed, if no one is listening to what is being said, the words lose much of their power to have any effect. This kind of “si-lence” in a relationship and in a conversa-tion is just as defining as its sounds.

My miraculously undamaged facial nerve, which affects my ability to speak,

could have been permanently impaired thanks to its connection to my ear. Through this link, we can understand that before we can use our speech to meaningfully con-nect with others, we have to learn to listen. This is also G-d’s message with regard to the giving of the Torah. If we want to ac-cept the Torah, and if we want a connec-tion and a relationship with Him, we must learn to listen – to others, to ourselves, and to G-d.

On the occasion of my father’s birth-day, this article was written with tremen-dous gratitude for my parents Meir Ben Shlomo and Rivka Bat Sarah.

Torah Musings


The weeks of Sefirah, during which we count days and weeks and monitor our progression through the seven se-firos of middos, are meant to bring us to a place of harmony. The seven sefiros we mention each day following the counting of the numbers of the omer represent the attributes required for growth during the period leading up to kabbolas haTorah. To properly receive the Torah on Shavuos, man must be perfected in each facet of his avodah.

In Parshas Emor, we read about the various blemishes that render a kohein un-fit, one being “saruah” (Vayikra 21:18). Rashi explains that one with this blemish suffers from “one eye being larger than the other, or one limb longer than the other.” He fails to explain why these conditions are considered blemishes that render a ko-hein unfit to perform the avodah, for ap-parently his ability to perform his tasks in the mikdash is not impeded.

The Chofetz Chaim posed this ques-tion and offered an explanation during his hesped on the beloved rosh yeshiva of Radin, Rav Naftoli Trop. He said, “Shelei-mus, perfection, means that everything fits and the middos of a person are compatible with each other. Someone who davens a long Shemoneh Esrei but has horrible mid-dos is out of sync. A talmid chacham with no yiras shamayim is unbalanced. A mea-sure of Rav Naftoli’s greatness was that his avodah was proportionate to his Torah. His middos fit with his yiras shamayim. They all came together in equal measure. No limb was bigger than any other.”

Now is generally a time of year when we seek to become a little more whole, not just internally, but externally as well, do-ing our part to bring the body of klal yis-roel together.

We just celebrated Lag Ba’omer, when Jews of all types held hands in circles the world over, singing, “Ashreichem Yisroel.” We are marking the climb from Pesach, when four sons sat at the communal table,

when we learned that even those on the 49th level of impurity are worthy of geu-lah, towards Shavuos, the day that saw us proclaim, ke’ish echod beleiv echod, all of the Bnei Yisroel together, “Na’aseh ven-ishmah.”

We often wonder: Why can’t we all get along for longer than one dance? What happened to that achdus? Where has it gone? Why can’t we recreate it on a daily basis, everywhere, all the time?

We need peace in the Holy Land. We need peace in our community. We need peace in our world. “Why can’t we all get along?” sounds like a simple question, but the answer eludes us. Seriously. Why the infighting? Why the backbiting? Why one against the other? And more importantly, what can we do to bring some harmony to our people?

The way to start is by creating peace in ourselves. If we would be fulfilled and satisfied, secure with ourselves and happy, we wouldn’t have to engage in battles to create feelings of accomplishment.

The pesukim at the beginning of Par-shas Bechukosai provide insight into how we go about doing that.

The posuk (26:3) promises, “Im bechu-kosai teileichu… If you will walk in the path of My laws and observe the mitzvos of Hashem, then the rains will fall on time, the earth will produce its proper harvest, vishavtem lovetach be’artzechem. Venosa-ti shalom ba’aretz, ushechavtem ve’ein machrid…and you will live confidently and in peace.”

The absence of external enemies can lead to internal friction. If the nation is not engaged in a battle for its survival against outside enemies, there is a danger that the people will then fight with each other.

The Ramban (ibid.) writes that this is why, after promising vishavtem lovetach, the posuk promises shalom, peace. Hash-em is promising the Jewish people that if they behave properly, they will not only be safe from attacks from across their bor-

ders, but they will also not have to wor-ry about internecine battles. There will be peace, complete and total. Those who follow the chukim of Hashem will be ful-filled spiritually and physically, and they will earn peace and harmony. They won’t have to resort to outside negative activities to satisfy themselves.

Through being amal baTorah, dili-gently following Hashem’s commands, we become elevated people, tranquil and calm within. When we maintain peace in our land, we earn the Divine promise of freedom from our enemies.

In the midst of the brachos contained in the parshah, the posuk says (26:11), “Ve-nosati Mishkoni besochechem velo sigal nafshi es’chem – I will place my mishkan amongst you and My Soul will not purge itself of you.” The Alter of Novardok won-dered about the nature of this brachah and the implications of Hashem’s guarantee.

He answered that according to the nat-ural order of things, the spiritual soul of man, known as nefesh, should despise be-ing in a physical body, known as guf. The reason the nefesh is not offended by being placed in the guf is because of the special brachah depicted in this posuk. The soul of a Jew can acquiesce to its placement in the physical body, because when the guf fulfills the wishes of Hashem, it becomes elevated and can equal holiness of the ne-shamah.

Man has the ability to raise his phys-ical being into a spiritual being. It is this synthesis that allows man to function, ex-periencing the desires of his guf and the longing of his neshamah and learning to work with this duality.

It’s how peace is made in the olam ko-ton, the small world that is man.

The Ponovezher rosh yeshiva, Rav Dovid Povarsky, in Yishmiru Daas, am-plifies this concept. He explains that the relationship between people who fulfill the ratzon Hashem and those who ignore it parallels this association between guf and

neshamah. This, the rosh yeshiva says, is the rea-

son for the intense dislike displayed by Jews who scorn the Torah toward those who cherish it. According to teva, there is a dichotomy between the guf and the ne-shamah, but Hashem created man with the ability to turn his guf into neshamah. Thus, the neshamah doesn’t dislike the guf, be-cause it knows that the guf can raise itself to its level.

However, those who are totally physi-cal despise the spiritual, for the neshamah can never lower itself to the inferior level of the guf. Therefore, those who insist on keeping their guf on a low level, naturally despise the neshamah and anything that resembles it.

People who choose to focus their lives and choices on the world of neshamah are despised by those who choose guf; which is only natural. But the people who have chosen a life of guf aren’t disliked by those who live a life of neshamah, for the world of neshamah remains optimistic that, one day, those who choose guf will also adopt the lifestyle of the neshamah.

Even a person who is controlled by his bodily urges can overcome them and raise himself to the level where his nefesh con-trols his guf.

I met just such a person this past Shab-bos. He was observing Shabbos for the second time in his life and is not yet ready to commit to more. His cherished daughter became a baalas teshuvah a few years ago and lives in a frum area with her husband, who also gave his nefesh control of his guf. This man’s grandchildren attend a fine yeshiva and he derives much joy when he visits them.

He and his wife were ardent leftists and were devastated when their daughter ad-opted a life of “Im bechukosai teileuchu.” But as we sat and talked, he told me that he knows that his days of living strictly a life of guf are numbered. He said that his father had attended cheder, but there was no religion in their home.

“When my father died, one sister got his siddur and the other a chumash. For me, though, there was nothing,” he said. He let that hang for a while as he related with eyes and heart that he didn’t want to leave his children with nothing and was giving serious consideration to allowing his neshamah to slowly take over.

Thankfully, there are more people like him out there waiting for people like us to embrace them. Tragically, there are too many people going the other way, giving

Let the Neshamah Take Over

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz

Publisher of the Yated Ne’eman

Living with the Times


their neshamos over to their guf. They also need to be embraced.

When we merit to visit Yerushalayim and walk through neighborhoods such as Zichron Moshe, we don’t even realize that this neighborhood was once home to the country’s leading Maskilim. It was on one of its pastoral gesselach that Ben Yehuda lived and wrote his dictionary. Rechov Press, now home to the famed Brisker Yeshiva, was home to a leading progressive named Yeshayahu Press. The Lemel School, now home to a cheder, was the first modern educational institution in Yerushalayim. Zev Jabotinsky would ral-ly his supporters on the ground that later occupied the Edison Theater and is now home to a Satmar housing complex.

As the religious people approached the neighborhood, those early Zionists and others like them moved out, seeking greener pastures for their poetry, novels, and works of philosophy. Their children are lost, but not beyond repair. There is al-ways hope for everyone. Every guf has a neshamah that can be tapped.

Thankfully, the battles those people fought a century ago are largely settled, and as you walk into neighborhood shuls, you have no idea that they were once stag-ing grounds for internal battles. Today, Torah seems to be the ruling authority in those very places.

There is still much to be done and a long path to be hoed. There are people who are lost and bewildered, disenchanted by abuse, poverty, or strict conformity. They need a loving heart and soul to reach them.

People who despise the mishpatim of the Torah remain obsessed with their de-sire to carve out a secular state unencum-bered by age-old laws, but passionate Jews don’t rest from trying to bring wayward souls back to Torah and achieving harmo-ny between the neshamah and the guf of the nation.

The sefer Lulei Sorascha tells of a well-regarded askan who was welcomed by Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach, who then bared his soul to him.

“Listen,” Rav Shach said, “I am pained by the financial situation of Chinuch Atzmai to the point that I would do any-thing to help. I would give the shirt off my back to anyone who could do something.”

The askan responded that he had two influential government contacts who could help if the rosh yeshiva would invite them to his home and receive them warmly. Rav Shach was hesitant, explaining that every time he spoke with public officials about

money, he worried about chillul Hashem. “I don’t want them to think that all the rab-bis want from them is money and that we only reach out at times like that,” he said.

The askan assured Rav Shach that they would be happy to help and the rosh ye-shiva agreed. The two politicians arrived at the humble apartment and Rav Shach wel-comed them with love and respect. Then he articulated his request. “You represent the government. You are charged with building up this country and helping the nation flourish. Now, a successful coun-try needs industry to thrive. I turn to you with advice: Help this industry of authen-tic Jewish education, because it will make your country succeed. You’re younger than I am, and you may not understand what I’m saying now, but trust me. If you help these children learn the Torah of the Jews, then the country will benefit and you will have done your jobs.”

The askan reported that the govern-ment officials responded to Rav Shach’s plea with generosity and heart.

The great rejoicing and dancing on Lag Ba’omer in Meron and all around the world were expressions of the neshamah’s yearning, an appreciation of our great rebbi, Rabi Shimon bar Yochai, and the heights he reached. He revealed the depth and potential of each Jew, assuring us that wherever we are, we can always raise our-selves ever higher.

The words selected as Rabi Shimon’s enduring legacy, emblazoned on the fa-mous entranceway in Meron, quote his teaching, “Ki lo sishochach mipi zaro,” representing his assurance that Hashem’s children will never forget the Torah, de-spite all that will befall them. The final letters of the words spell Yochai, a hint at how they are bound up with the essence of the one who said them: yud, alef, ches, yud, vuv.

Rav Shach succeeded in expressing the timelessness of Torah, the enduring birth-right of our children, and the Divine assur-ance that each succeeding generation has a right to its light.

We have to connect the neshamah to the guf, inside ourselves and outside our-selves.

As the fame of the Chofetz Chaim grew, people flocked to him, asking for brachos. Many times, he would respond with a question. “Why did you come to me for brachos?” he would ask. “I am just a simple human being. Brachos can be ob-tained by following the pesukim in Parshas Bechukosai, which proclaim that all the

blessings of the world will flow to those who observe Hashem’s path – ‘Im bechu-kosai teileichu.’ The Torah, whose every word is true, guarantees brachos for shem-iras hamitzvos. If it is blessings you seek, you would be well advised to spend your time advancing your shemiras hamitzvos and forgetting about me.”

May the words of this parshah, with its promises of brachos and yeshuos, fill Jews everywhere with light, blessings, peace, and the ultimate brachah.

The period of Sefirah is a time of harmony, of working on our bein odom lachaveiro, in the season of yomim tovim defined by achdus. We prepare for kabbo-las haTorah by empowering our personal neshamah, as well as the neshamos of all of our people, so that they appreciate their importance and obligation in this world, through peace, harmony, and greatness.

Rav Yisroel Eliyohu Weintraub writes in his sefer Raza D’Shabbos that when we say that a person is a tzelem Elokim, it means that man has the ability to resemble Hashem through his actions. He explains that the neshamah hears the bas kol re-minding it how to conduct itself. When the neshamah manages the guf, man can rise to the highest levels of conduct and spir-ituality, but when the neshamah doesn’t dominate, man can’t advance and cannot be rachum vechanun like Hashem.

As we count the final days of Sefirah and recite the middos of chessed, gevurah, tiferes, netzach, hod, yesod, and malchus, and as we learn this week’s parshah of brachos and shalom, let us allow the ne-shamah to take over and influence our behavior so that we may be blessed with shalom and sheleimus.

Living with the Times


Philanthropist Stanley Black.jpeg LA Council Member Paul Koretz

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24 The Week In News JUNE 2, 2016 | The Jewish HomeOCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home 53The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 201552

For years, it was the journal-ist’s job to keep the public informed of the news mat-ters of importance to their day-to-day lives. It was

Edward R. Murrow’s London news reports, with which he began every evening with the catchphrase, “This is London,” which provided daily up-dates to ordinary Americans on the German Blitz. Murrow was the first to account back home on the horrific Nazi concentration camps, reporting from Buchenwald in 1945, “I pray you to believe what I have said about Buchenwald… If I’ve offended you by this rather mild account of Buchen-wald, I’m not in the least sorry.” To-day there are five Edward R. Murrow awards handed out by various orga-nizations to outstanding journalists.

Almost everyone of a certain age remembers where they were when they heard President Kennedy was shot; it was Walter Cronkite who on April 16, 1962 somberly broke the news to the country on CBS and kept the public updated throughout the day. It was also Cronkite who intro-duced a new British band called the Beatles to the United States in No-vember 1963. Cronkite’s work on the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the Apollo 11 moon landing and the Watergate Scandal earned him the title, “The Most Trusted Man in America.” His steady manner of speaking kept America informed for over 19 years.

Newsmen not only had the job of disseminating the news; they also were able to serve as steady voices

in moments of turmoil. Cronkite’s broadcast on Kennedy’s funeral ended with the following: “Tonight there will be few Americans who will go to bed without carrying with them the sense that somehow they have failed…. If, in the search of our conscience, we find a new dedication to the American concepts then may-be it may yet be possible to say that John Fitzgerald Kennedy did not die in vain.”

In 1980, Ted Turner established CNN, the first 24-hour news televi-sion channel. While many people at the time scoffed at what they figured to be an unsustainable platform, the network’s success was buoyed by its coverage of the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster and the

Gulf War. Indeed, to this day, gov-ernment officials refer to the impact 24-hour news organizations have on U.S. government policy as “The CNN effect.”

CNN spawned a number of copy-cat all-news organizations, includ-ing its chief rival, conservative Fox News, and MSNBC on the left. The influx of news availability which runs the political gamut allows viewers to choose whichever side of the story they felt most comfortable listening to. While the purpose of an all-news network officially is pri-marily to broadcast news with only a dash of commentary thrown in (Fox News’s slogan was until recently, “We report, you decide”), the compa-nies still have the choice of what po-litically charged issue deserve their

Does the Media Control Your Mind?

By Nachum Soroka

Feature


OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home 53The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 201552

coverage and how exactly to cover it. This is all well and good to the viewer; a Barack Obama supporter in 2008 would tune into Chris Mat-thews on MSNBC; a John McCain supporter would watch Sean Hann-ity in the evenings on Fox News.

But, like most things of the ancient turn of the millennium, cable news, along with all traditional news out-lets, has by now been replaced with the offerings of technology and the World Wide Web. And while early internet news sites were no more than digital versions of an edi-tor-curated newspaper or television channel, in the past few years Amer-icans have embraced the algorithm as their curator of choice for news items worthy of their attention.

This week, the Pew Research Center reported that 62 percent of American adults get their news on social media, including 18 percent who do so often – that’s up sharply from just four years ago when the figure was 49 percent. Two-thirds of Facebook users in the U.S. get news from the site (up from 47 percent just three years ago); that’s rough-ly 44 percent of the population, ac-cording to Pew – which is more than the cumulative news reach of You-Tube (10), Twitter (9), Instagram (4), LinkedIn (4), Reddit (2), Snapchat (2) and Tumblr (1), the next seven biggest social media news sources.

Computer programs help us make decisions by offering sugges-tions about the next book we would find enjoyable on Amazon or show-ing us advertisements for airline ticket prices when we are searching

for hotels in Aruba. By analyzing one’s search history, Google can de-termine the gender, race and religion of him and his dog, along with his marital status, profession and aver-sion to guacamole. And now Face-book does the same. The company has not maintained the popularity

which led to its over-$300 billion value because of people’s pictures of breakfast smoothies and birthday wishes. Instead, it is the company’s powerful News Feed feature, which occupies the center of every Face-book page and provides updates on items of interest to each user.

News Feed is powered by a se-cret algorithm which helps keep its users on the site for all those ad-lad-en, valuable hours. Every Facebook user’s News Feed is personalized to display only items deemed of partic-ular interest and relevance to that individual; Facebook’s program is made to track one’s physical loca-tion, what posts he has “liked” re-cently, and whether or not he regu-larly clicks on links of videos. News Feed has been so successful that it has replaced many users’ need to

obtain news stories from television and other media; Facebook’s algo-rithm learns which news items are of relevance to someone and which sources are deemed credible to him. No need to tune into Fox or read The New York Times; Facebook will post their stories to your Feed for you.

Facebook’s official page describ-ing its News Feed algorithm ex-plains that “the topics you see are based on a number of factors includ-ing engagement, timeliness, Pages you’ve liked and your location.” But a recent story, broken by The Guard-ian, portrays a much different meth-odology, which has actual (human!) editors curating almost every aspect of the News Feed, including placing items that would not have ended up there and “blacklisting” items that should have made it onto people’s News Feeds.

On its face, there is nothing wrong with having human inter-vention to override a computer program. An algorithm’s precision can actually become its serious im-perfection, and a real editor should have the ability – and mandate – to

make sure that a News Feed does not cater to someone’s offensive views. If Joe Bigot enjoys following the Nazi Party or Ku Klux Klan, there needs to be a way to ensure his Facebook page is not offering him up his dai-ly dose of hate every time he logs in. Likewise, if Cynthia Catlover enjoys viewing photos of grumpy felines all day, it would not be so egregious for her Facebook Feed to present more than just videos of morose looking kittens and instead to offer her a more varied experience.

But Facebook’s editorial team – which was created in 2014 with only a dozen members and has since mushroomed exponentially – oper-ates under guidelines which sound more like those of a traditional news organization’s, not like those of a technology company which ostensi-bly only seeks to optimize its users’ experiences, and no more. The web-site relies mostly on only ten news organizations to report news stories and has an around the clock team which “blacklists” and “injects” items deemed by the team members to be worthy of such treatment. That included the recent “Black Lives Matter” campaign, which, regard-less of one’s views and level of con-cern on the matter, was inserted into many people’s Feeds. It could be ar-gued that the whole Black Lives Mat-ter campaign gained traction only because of Facebook. Whether it is a worthy cause is a matter of personal opinion. But Facebook should not be in the business of promoting person-al opinions. The recent North Caro-lina restroom controversy, which by some accounts affects less than

The anti-Israel page was allowed to remain on the site in spite of

displaying posts like, “Revenge against the Jewish enemy that threatens Al Aqsa! Death to all the Jews!”

President Obama with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg President Obama with Google’s Eric Schmidt

Feature


OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home 55The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 201554 OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home 55The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 201554

700,000 Americans, is still a heat-ed topic of conversation because the Facebook editorial team deemed it newsworthy.

Facebook’s editorializing also al-lowed it to suppress certain conser-vative, but trending, topics from us-ers’ News Feeds, according to many conservative activists. Stories from right-wing sites, such as Breitbart and Newsmax were many times not displayed, and were only placed on Facebook once other sources, such as The New York Times, began cov-ering them, some allege.

A recent, disturbing survey con-ducted by the Pew Research Center may be more understandable in light of the recent Guardian report. Pew reported that amongst Millennials, the sympathy for the Palestinian cause has risen 5% over the past eighteen months. Millennials are also becoming increasingly more critical of Israel’s military defense of itself against known terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. In recent years, Europe has become a hotbed of hostility towards the Jew-ish state; the second largest political party on England, Labour, has had many of its members suspended for making openly anti-Semitic and an-ti-Israel comments in public. Israel now faces a new challenge across Europe and American college cam-puses as the irrational BDS move-ment intensifies.

Social media, particularly Face-book, may lay at the root of Millen-nial’s growing shift in attitude. Pal-estinians may be winning the social media war with openly hateful and inciteful posts, and companies like Facebook are passively complic-it. Shurat Hadin, an organization dedicated to stopping terror groups through the legal system, creat-ed two Facebook pages: one titled “Stop Israelis,” the other, “Stop Pal-estinians.” Both contained hateful imagery and statements, but only one was pulled from Facebook after the group complained to the web-site about their offensive messages. The anti-Israel page was allowed to remain on the site in spite of dis-playing posts like, “Revenge against the Jewish enemy that threatens Al Aqsa! Death to all the Jews!”

John Q. Public can’t be sure that the news reports he is receiving are not one-sided. He may also be ex-posed to news reports that are no more than PR messages distributed by the parties in discussion. Ac-cording to a 2012 Pew study, rough-ly two-thirds of Americans naively believe that search results found on-line are unbiased.

There are a number of things that President Obama will consid-er part of his legacy, legislation and diplomatic achievements that will remain relevant for many years af-ter the president leaves office this year. On the legislative side, there is Obamacare; on the diplomacy side, there is the détente between the U.S. and sworn enemies such as Iran, Cuba and, most recently, Vietnam. Say what you want about the feasibility or politics of these achievements, or of the president’s motivation in accomplishing them, but the White House deserves credit for realizing the president’s aspira-

tions, particularly in the face of a very hostile Republican Senate and Congress.

The Obama administration real-ized early on that to get its way in Washington would require a calcu-lated strategy and found one in its relations with the media. Obama – or more specifically, his press sec-retary, Ben Rhodes – was quick to recognize the fast-changing news landscape of our web-driven society and has utilized it to influence pub-lic support for his initiatives. The in-ternet has nearly decimated the tra-ditional news industry: nearly 40% of newspaper professionals have been laid off in the past decade and most media outlets are no longer supported by foreign news desks.

Many news organizations now rely on the White House to get informa-tion on stories developing overseas, making an awkward situation of the medium being the message.

There may be no better exam-ple of the White House’s successful manipulation of the media –and by extension, the American public – than Obama’s Iran deal. The White House version of the events as they were unfolding was that the admin-istration was pleasantly confronted with a new, moderate Iranian gov-ernment led by President Hassan Rouhani in 2013. In truth, Obama was looking for a compromise with Iran for at least a year before Rou-hani came into office, a fact that the American people would not be hap-py to hear as it means that the deal didn’t symbolize a meeting of the minds between the U.S. and a new Iran; it instead suggests an acces-sion by the U.S. to do business with the same hard-line regime that had been in place for decades.

Press Secretary Rhodes appoint-ed members of his staff to run Twit-ter accounts full time which would “educate” the public on details of the situation handpicked by the White House. For the less tech-sav-vy audiences, Rhodes chose certain well-regarded political writers such as the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg to disseminate the message, according to The New York Times Magazine. Rhodes worked closely with certain non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to disseminate the message that Congress would be doing the world harm by blocking the admin-istration’s deal with Iran, including J Street, the Jewish, pro-Pales-tinian group, which received over $500,000 in funding from outside

sources to fund a pro-Obama ad campaign. Indeed, the Iran deal has been something which the pres-ident still does not speak much of in public; it is a topic guided by his deputies.

The “new media” companies seem to find this relationship with the White House to be a swell deal. White House logs have Google exec-utives visiting the White House over 125 times since President Obama took office in 2009. Lobbyists from technology companies like Com-cast, Facebook, Amazon, Oracle and Verizon have been reported to visit nearly as much in that time period as well. No doubt that there were a slew of issues discussed at these meetings – much more than just the news – but it should leave the public ill at ease when the shepherd is din-ing with the wolf.

There has been no time in his-tory when the public has had so much access to information, in so many forms and in real time. Sad-ly, though, the ease of access to in-formation has allowed the world to become even more divided. As knowledge has become less and less expensive, it has become equally cheap. Opinions abound and online vitriol is a fact of life. Media no lon-ger functions as the gatekeeper for all that is good and honest in the world. We live in the information age, for better and for worse. To quote Walter Cronkite, “That’s the way it is.”

No doubt that there were a slew of issues discussed at these meetings –

much more than just the news – but it should leave the public ill at ease when

the shepherd is dining with the wolf.

Walter Cronkite, The Most Trusted Man in America

Feature



1.

Match the paperwith the city

Newspaper:1. The _______ Free Press

2. The _____________ Star Telegram

3. The __________ Inquirer

4. The ______ Herald

5. The ________ Globe

6. The ________ Star

7. The ____________ Tribune

8. The ___________ Sun

9. The ____________ Journal Sentinel

10. The ____________ Star Ledger

City:A. Newark F. Milwaukee

B. Boston G. Baltimore

C. Miami H. Kansas City

D. Fort Worth I. Detroit

E. Philadelphia J. Chicago

See answer to left


TJH Centerfold

Answer to riddle: Crystal Ball - Astrologer (crystal ball); Dinah Soares - Paleontologist

(dinosaurs); Paige Turner - Author (page turner); Dee Major - Musician (D

Major); Lee King - Plumber (leaking); Sue Mee - Lawyer (sue me)

Answer to Newspaper Match: 1. I; 2.D; 3. E; 4. C; 5. B; 6. H; 7. J; 8. G; 9. F; 10. A

Newspaper Trivia*1. The first daily newspaper in

the U.S was started in 1784. What was it called?a. The New York Gazetteb. Pennsylvania Packet and

Daily Advertiserc. New England Courantd. USA Daily

2. What is the order of the following newspapers by their circulation?a. New York Timesb. Wall Street Journalc. USA Todayd. Los Angeles Times

3. Which author wrote for the Kansas City Star?a. Mark Twainb. Ernest Hemingwayc. Hunter Thompson d. John Grisham

4. Which newspaper famously declared “Dewey Defeats Truman” the day after Truman was reelected in 1948?a. The Chicago Tribuneb. The Milwaukee Standardc. The Philadelphia Inquirerd. USA Today

5. Newspaper circulation exploded in the 1830s because of what?

a. The industrial revolution

b. Cross country railroads

c. The Penny Press

d. Creation of synthetic paper

6. Created in 1917, the best known award which is distributed for “good” journalism is known as what?a. Nobel Journalist Prizeb. Golden Globec. Pulitzer Prized. Excellence in Journalism

Award

Answers1. B2. C, B, A, D3. B4. A5. C6. C

Wisdom Key5-6 Correct: You are a Pulitzer

Prize winner!3-4 correct: You are pretty

well-informed…keep reading TJH!

0-2 correct: “You Aced the Trivia!” Oops…sorry, had a little Chicago Tribune moment there.

! You gotta be kidding

Einstein, Picasso and a journalist die at the same time.

They come up to heaven and an angel turns to Einstein

and says, “You look like Einstein, but you have no idea the

lengths that some people will go to to sneak into Heaven.

Can you prove who you really are?”

Einstein ponders for a few seconds and asks, “Could I

have a blackboard and some chalk?”

A blackboard and chalk instantly appear and Einstein

proceeds to describe with arcane mathematics and sym-

bols his theory of relativity.

The impressed angel says, “You really are Einstein!

Welcome to Heaven!

The next to arrive is Picasso. Once again, the angel

asks for credentials.

Picasso proceeds to erase Einstein’s equations and

sketches a truly stunning mural with just a few strokes

of chalk.

The excited angel claps. “Surely you are the great artist

you claim to be!” he says. “Come on in!”

Then the angel looks up and sees a journalist. He

scratches his head and says, “Einstein and Picas-

so both managed to prove their identity.

How can you prove yours?”

The journalist looks bewildered and

says, “Who are Einstein and Picasso?”

The angel sighs and says, “Yep, you must

be a journalist!”

Do you know?

? Riddle me this?Some people’s names (such as “Will Power”) sug-

gest a certain personality or career choice. Given be-

low are some last names and professions. Can you

think of a first name for each of the listed last names

which would be suggestive of their professions? For

example: Sonny Day would suggest a meteorologist.

Each last name and profession must be used just

once.

Last Names: Ball, King, Major, Mee, Soares, Turner

Professions: Paleontologist, Author, Musician,

Plumber, Astrologer, Lawyer

See answer below

Well Said◊ If one morning I walked on top of the

water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: “President Can’t Swim.” -Lyndon B. Johnson

◊ Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock. -Ben Hecht

◊ They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers. -James G. Watt

◊ The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.- Thomas Jefferson

◊ No news is good news. No journalists is even better. -Nicolas Bentley

◊ I’ve always said there’s a place for the press but they haven’t dug it yet. -Tommy Docherty

◊ I hope we never live to see the day when a thing is as bad as some of our newspapers make it.- Will Rogers

◊ If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. - Mark Twain

◊ Everything you read in newspapers is absolutely true, except for that rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge. -Erwin Knoll

◊ News is something someone wants suppressed. Everything else is just advertising. - Lord Northcliff

◊ Rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, in order to provide articles for people who can’t read.- Frank Zappa

◊ Being a reporter is as much a diagnosis as a job description. -Anna Quindlen

Centerfold



Notable Quotes “Say What?!”

MORE QUOTES

The Taliban has named a new leader this week after their former leader was killed in a drone strike over the weekend. It’s the only job interview where the correct answer to “Where do you see yourself in five years?” is “I don’t.” – Seth Myers

He actually performed a public service. - Former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder on Edward Snowden

Chairman of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus blasted Hillary Clinton on Twitter for using “bad judgment.” Priebus said, “I haven’t seen judgment this bad since my parents named me Reince Priebus.” – Conan O’Brien

Yeah it is. I’m going to continue to attack the press. I find the press to be dishonest. I find the political press to be extremely dishonest. – Trump, when asked at a contentious press conference whether his relationship with the press would continue to be contentious if he wins the presidency

Donald Trump issued a statement saying he will not debate Bernie Sanders. For a while, it was looking like they were going to go ahead with it. They even started negotiating the rules. The one thing they both agreed on: no ceiling fans. – Jimmy Fallon

President Obama today spoke at the G7 summit in Japan. Bernie Sanders was like, “G7?! Bingo!” – Seth Myers

Eating two strips of Rapley’s award winning bacon for breakfast reduces your chance of being a suicide bomber by 100%. - A sign displayed at Rapley’s Midtown Quality Meats in Narooma, Australia, which went viral

Fleet Week is when members of the Navy do the bravest thing they’ve ever done: wear all white on the New York City subway. – Jimmy Fallon

One of the events for Fleet Week is the “Parade of Ships” along the Hudson River. That’s one more reason we love you guys — you found a way to have a parade in New York City that doesn’t [mess] up traffic. – Jimmy Fallon

Quotes



MORE QUOTES

Though the content of the quotes was reviewed thoroughly, the attributions clearly were not.- A Quaker Valley School District official to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review after a local high school’s yearbook quoted Hitler, Stalin, and the leader of ISIS

They cannot do a [expletive] thing. — Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, on U.S. complaints about his nation’s ballistic missile program

One of the winners of this year’s national spelling bee has an older brother who won the competition in 2014. Or as their dad put it, “I’m just going to throw these baseball mitts away.” – Jimmy Fallon

I just reject the results. I don’t agree with them, and I don’t agree that this is a valid way of surveying public opinion in Indian Country. — Lead plaintiff Suzan Harjo, 70, who belongs to the Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee tribes, on a Washington Post poll that shows nine in 10 Native Americans are not offended by the Washington Redskins’ name

Saturday was the 141st running of the Preakness, and it was won by a horse named Exaggerator. Apparently, he won just by promising to make horse racing great again. – Jimmy Fallon

Donald Trump tweeted that a Hillary Clinton presidency would be “four more years of stupidity.” As opposed to a Trump presidency, which would be one year of stupidity followed by three years of war with Mexico. – Conan O’Brien

It’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries. — Former McDonald’s USA chief executive Ed Renzi, warning of job losses from the push to increase the minimum wage

The NRA on Friday endorsed Donald Trump for president. I guess that reaffirms their commitment to absolutely zero background checks. – Seth Myers

It’s been reported that the head of security for the TSA has been officially removed from his position. That’s right – he was told to turn in his badge, his uniform, his shoes, his belt, his keys, bottles over 4 ounces, his laptop, and any coins in his pockets. (I repeat! There should be NOTHING IN HIS POCKETS!) – Jimmy Fallon

Donald Trump is holding his first-ever campaign fundraiser but says he’s only doing it because the Republican Party asked him to. Yeah. Trump thought he should do this for the Republican Party, since he turned down their first request: Don’t be our candidate. – Conan O’Brien

It’d be cool to fight people and shoot weapons and blow up stuff. - 17-year-old Hannah Carpenter of Alvord, on becoming one of the Army’s first two female infantry recruits from Texas

Quotes


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New Unit to Protect the North

The number of civilians on Israel’s Syr-

ian border has grown so much that the IDF is establishing a special liaison unit to man-age its growing contacts in the war-ravaged country. The northeastern border of Israel, known as the Golan Heights, touches large sections of Syria that are controlled by var-ious rebel and jihadi factions, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and Islamic State-affiliated Yarmouk Martyrs’ Brigades.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, which has claimed the lives of at least 250,000 people and displaced as many as half the country’s population, Is-

rael’s army has treated some 2,000 Syrians who arrived wounded at the border fence. Israel has also tracked — and occasionally responded to with airstrikes — a growing Iranian and Hezbollah presence on the Syr-ian Golan.

The new unit is said to be modeled on the Yakal, the IDF’s liaison unit in southern Lebanon during Israel’s military presence in the country that ended with Israel’s with-drawal in 2000. Yakal coordinated IDF and allied South Lebanese Army operations, and served as the army’s interface with ci-vilians living in areas controlled by the IDF

.The new unit is likely to help facilitate

easier access to Israeli medical facilities for wounded Syrians, as well as help the IDF keep a closer watch on developments across the border. With the exception of occasional reported airstrikes against Hez-bollah weapons smuggling convoys and other similar targets, Israel has maintained neutrality in the war on its northern border. The IDF is said to coordinate its strikes on the Assad-allied terror group with Russian forces fighting alongside Hezbollah to prop up Assad’s rule.

Bus Bomb Perpetrators Caught

A Shin Bet investigation has revealed that the six-member Hamas cell that carried out the attack on a Jerusalem public bus re-cently intended to carry out a series of ter-rorist attacks in and around Jerusalem. The cell planned to commit suicide with shoot-ing and car-bombing attacks.

The suicide attack on bus number 12 injured 20 civilians, and the 19-year-old bomber from Bethlehem was mortally wounded and later died from his wounds in the hospital. Now that the gag order has been removed from the investigation, it has been revealed that the cell members were between 19 and 30. Some of them were detained in the past in Israel after having been convicted of Hamas-related activities. Two members of the group were involved in a shooting attack in 2015 that ended without any injuries.

The cell had organized in recent months with the goal of carrying out a series of terrorist attacks. They sought to recruit other terrorists to carry out suicide attacks. The explosive device used in the Jerusalem bus attack was built by one of the cell’s members from over-the-counter products that could be easily purchased, and that same member learned how to pre-pare the device online. The other members helped him by purchasing the products.


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BDS Movement Gains Support in the U.S.

A growing and concerning number of Americans are displaying anti-Israel at-titudes. According to a recent poll, one-third or 33% of Americans believe that the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement presents a legitimate strategy against Israel; nearly two-thirds see it as anti-Semitic.

The poll sampled 1,100 people across the U.S. A similar survey in Britain found 40% see divestment as a legitimate mea-sure. Despite the growing numbers, there

was still majority support for Israel with nearly two-thirds (62%) in the U.S. and 50% in the UK saying that the BDS move-ment is anti-Semitism.

“We have no ally more important than the United States of America and we have no closer friends than the American com-munity in all its diversity,” Israeli Ambas-sador to the United Nations Danny Danon

said, according to the report. “None-theless, the young students of today are less committed to the special connection between the two countries than previous generations.”

“There is no doubt that the BDS move-ment doesn’t let up in its efforts to harm Israel,” Danon noted. “Together with our partners we will continue to stand firm in the face of any threat, and we will win.”

Ain’t Nothing but a Hot Dog

It is estimated that Americans down 20 billion hot dogs a year. That means that if you’re average (and we know that you’re not!) you consume around 70 dawgs an-nually. Being that Memorial Day is in the rearview mirror, the hot dog fest has begun. Eaten with relish, ketchup, mustard, or sau-erkraut, there’s nothing like a hot dog.

But while you’re eating your favorite frank, you must have wondered once in your life: is a hot dog a sandwich or just a hot dog? Deep questions to ponder while you’re enjoying your barbecue.

Now you can stop your ruminating. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictio-nary, the “most trustworthy dictionary and thesaurus of American English,” the hot dog is definitely a sandwich. They tweeted this essential piece of news on Friday.

“We know: the idea that a hot dog is a sandwich is heresy to some of you. But giv-en that the definition of sandwich is ‘two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between,’ there is no sensible way around it,” they wrote on their web-site. “If you want a meatball sandwich on a split roll to be a kind of sandwich, then you have to accept that a hot dog is also a kind of sandwich.”

Some were relieved to hear this news. Others were chagrined by the revelation.

User @JoeRoobol wrote, “This is ter-rorism,” while Kevin Morrell said, “This tweet made me an @OED convert,” in ref-erence to the Oxford English Dictionary.

You know what? Perhaps you should consider eating a burger instead.

A Fine Penny

Brett Sanders was caught speeding recently and was given a ticket. But the Texan was not going to take the fine sitting down. He duly contested the ticket but was found guilty.

Stuck with a whole lot of anger at the court and at the police, Sanders took his re-venge out in pennies.

In a dramatic video he created to doc-ument his vengeful act with small change, Sanders is seen going to the extra effort of branding his buckets with the slogans “Po-licing for profit” and “Extortion money.”

“I’m not a big fan of extortion,” Sanders explains in the video he post-ed to YouTube. “I was convicted by a jury for driving 39 in a 30 and was sub-ject to $212 at the barrel of a gun.”

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Sanders filled up his buckets with 22,000 pennies using a shovel and then hauled them to the county clerk to pay the fine. But Sanders didn’t just hand over the copper coins. In the video, he lifts up the buckets and then dumps the thousands of pennies on the desk.

The clerk, obviously, looks displeased. Sanders, though, felt the whole process was cathartic.

“It felt great. It really felt great,” he told NBC Chicago, who reported that the clerk’s employees used a local CoinStar machine to count the change.

It took them three hours. By the end of it, it appeared Sanders had overpaid by $7.81.

Finished making his point, Sanders said the clerk’s office could keep the change.

Perhaps he has an uncle named Ber-nie?

A Pie in the Sky

In Italy, pizza is so popular, it’s even looked at like currency.

Recently, a judge in Padua, Italy, ruled that it is acceptable for child support to be paid in the form of pizza. After being or-dered to pay his ex-wife €300 ($333) per month in child support for their daughter, a pizza chef decided to instead provide them with an equivalent amount of pizza.

But his former wife wasn’t pleased with the pies of pizza cluttering up her freezer and decided to take him to court. Instead of the verdict she expected, the judge ruled in favor of the pizza maker, saying, “Since he does not earn enough to make the full payment ... it was acceptable to continue paying the alimony with his culinary cre-ations instead.”

Guess what’s for dinner tonight?

Heimlich Performs the Heimlich

Choking on a pretzel? Well, if you’re

not Mr. George W. Bush, who would you like to have right near you when you’re gasping for breath? Dr. Henry Heimlich might come in handy.

The 96-year-old Cincinnati surgeon is credited with inventing the lifesaving technique named for him. Last week, he used the Heimlich Maneuver for the first time to save a fellow senior center res-

ident who was choking on a hamburg-er, a center spokesman said on Friday.

Heimlich, who in multiple national television appearances had demonstrated the “Heimlich Maneuver” to dislodge food from an airway, had never employed it in an emergency, said spokesman Ken Paley.

But on Monday, the doctor was sitting at a communal dining table at Cincinnati’s Deupree House, an upscale senior living center where he lives, and noticed fellow resident Patty Ris, 87, in distress while eat-ing an open-faced hamburger. He dashed out of his seat, put his arms around her and pressed on her abdomen below the rib cage, following his own instructions, which


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Revel.are on posters required to be displayed in most restaurants in the United States.

“After three compressions, this piece of meat came out, and she just started breathing, her whole face changed,” Heim-lich said. “I sort of felt wonderful about it, just having saved that girl,” he admitted.

Ris said she randomly selected the seat in the dining room on Monday because she is a new resident at Deupree.

“When I wrote my ‘thank you’ note to him for saving my life, I said, ‘G-d put me in that seat next to you, Dr. Heimlich, because I was gone, I couldn’t breathe at all,’” Ris said.

Whale Ale

I have to admit, I am not a beer drinker. But after this story, I am staying far away.

Recently, a team of Australian brew-ers announced that they have produced a new ale. The new flavor comes from the ocean depths. Moby Dick Ambergris Ale from Robe Town Brewery is brewed with a “pungent, musky substance” called am-bergris, which is also known as “whale vomit.”

Sounds yummy, no? Well, whale vom-it is considered a delicacy. To those un-familiar with whales, ambergris is a solid waxy material which scientists believe is formed in the intestines of sperm whales. It is said to aid in digestion but when the animal dies, it’s regurgitated into the ocean. Since it’s only available once the creature is no longer living and seldom washes up on shore, it’s very expensive—a one pound piece sold for $63,000 back in 2012.

The whale vomit doesn’t just add flavor to beers. In medieval times, the substance was used for medicinal purposes. Today, perfumers use it to enhance scents and give them staying power.

“When I heard that ambergris was used in the perfume industry, I thought, ‘I won-der if that could be used to flavor or spice up a beer,’” Maris Biezaitis, one of the brewer’s behind Moby Dick, said.

A few years ago, some friends found a 400-gram lump of ambergris on a nearby

beach. That inspired the brewer to add a lit-tle “zing” to a new ale. “It was a relatively fresh piece, quite a smelly piece, so it was airing and curing in the backyard before I got hold of it.”

The whale vomit brew was created as a special edition for a beer festival in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this month. It appeared alongside the infamous Belly Button Beer in which brewers used human belly button lint as yeast. Seems like beers of a feather flock together.

What does a brew seasoned with whale barf taste like?

“It tastes a little bit like the sea; it tastes a little bit like marine animals. It’s real-ly interesting, I think,” co-brewer Kristi Biezaitis admitted.

Some describe it as “surprisingly sweet”; others are disgusted by it.

I, for one, will never know. Whale vomit beer just doesn’t tickle my taste buds.

The Swarming Sedan

Talk about loyalty.Carol Howarth, 65, was driving around

in her car recently and picked up an inter-esting decoration: a swarm of bees. Ap-parently, the hive’s queen bee entered her car when she visited a nature reserve. She didn’t know she’d acquired an unwanted passenger — but the busy bees knew, and they followed her. When she parked her car and then came out from a store she no-ticed the back of her car was covered with hundreds of black and yellow insects.

A passerby noticed the strange mound and posted it on Facebook.

“It was spectacular. I was driving through when I spotted the big brown splodge,” Tom Moses said. “A lot of people were really amazed by it, cars were slow-ing down and people were taking pictures of it,” he continued.

Moses stopped to help and called the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association. They de-beed the car and Howarth drove home, seemingly bee-free.

But the next morning, they returned with a stinging vengeance.

“The swarm of around 20,000 had fol-lowed her and were sat around on the boot of the car,” said beekeeper Roger Burns.

After many tries, the bees and their queen were sent on their way. Howarth, fi-nally left with a bee-free car, was as happy

as can “bee.”

https://robetownbrewery.com/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120830-ambergris-charlie-naysmith-whale-vomit-science/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/120830-ambergris-charlie-naysmith-whale-vomit-science/

35The Week In NewsJUNE 2, 2016 | The Jewish Home Parenting

Dear Rachel,It is certainly challenging when there

are two competing, yet valid, claims on the family. Children, particularly very young children, need their parents; but parents need private time with each other. How can we accommodate both these needs?

I want to begin by clarifying what we all know and believe – that the needs of children trump the needs of parents. We give up our sleep to feed our babies, and abandon our agendas to take our children to the doctor, Uncle Moishe, etc. The hallmark of good parenting is maturity – the ability to put another’s needs before our own. So, though the answer is complex and multi-layered, never black or white, the good parent, as a general rule, does strive to delay gratification in the best interests of his children.

I want to take a moment to address your husband’s position that the children will not remember your absence; hence it’s a short term pain for a long term gain. While it is obvious that we generally have little cognitive recall of early events – little actual memory – we all have affective (feeling) memory. So, for example, while your child may not remember the details of his bedtime routine by the time he reaches adulthood, he will have a sense of how bedtime felt to him. The sense that he carries with him that he was put down lovingly, dispatched with haste, or sent off in anger – this will be his affective (emotional) memory. While your young children may not actually remember your leaving them, this disruption in attachment may become part of a reservoir of negative feelings that burden your children in the days to come.

On the other hand, parents do need to work on strengthening their marriage and attaining a relaxed, rejuvenated lease on

life. The wise parent attends to his mental health needs and the best interests of the couple: happy, healthy people make for good parents. And realistically speaking, sometimes parents must leave their children – for illness, a new baby, family emergency, a simchah, or much-needed time together.

So, what to do? There is no one size-fits-all solution; your decision is a unique, highly personal one that balances the conflicting needs of everyone in the family. Hopefully, it is a process that calculates the value of a vacation as a couple to your marriage versus the cost to your children at this particular moment in time.

Although your situation is unique to you, it represents the many choices – conflicting responsibilities and competing mitzvos – that we all face daily.

• A child’s homework or a much-needed shiur?

• A sudden levaya or chasuna of a very good friend?

• Monopoly with your son or a well-deserved rest?

Here are some additional, concrete factors to think about that may help you decide.

• Age – The younger the child, the harder it is.

• Temperament – Children differ: a content go-with-the-flow child is different from one who is anxious and high-strung.

• Time – A weekend is better than a week. Younger children have little concept of time, so the shorter the better.

• Location – Home is most comfortable; a familiar place is a runner-up. If possible, arrange for someone to come into

your home rather than sending the children “out.”

• Caretaker – A familiar person – relative, friend, nanny – is best.

• Routine – Routine is comforting. In every way possible, have the children follow their same routine. This includes diet, scheduling, extra-curricular activities, etc.

• Frequency – Are we talking once month? Once a year? Every five years?

• Keep in touch – Can you remain in touch through phone calls, Face Time, or Skype?

While there is no right answer, your attempt to make a decision that meets

everyone’s needs confirms the fact that as a parent you are doing the very best you can.

Book Nook: Parenting from the Inside Out by Daniel Siegel, MD, and Mary Hartzell, M.Ed describes how a deeper self-understanding can help us raise children who thrive. It offers parents a step-by-step approach to forming a deeper understanding of their own life stories, which will help them raise compassionate and resilient children.

Sara Teichman, Psy D. is a psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles and Clinical Director of ETTA, L.A.’s largest Jewish agency for adults with special needs. To submit a question or comment, email [email protected].

Proactive Parenting: Tantrums Sara Teichman, Psy D

Dear Dr. T,

I am looking forward to the summer – a relaxed schedule, a trip cross-country with the family, and then a week in the mountains with my husband. Here is my dilemma: my husband and I really do need a break and time alone together, but I don’t know if it is healthy to leave my children – ages three to seven – for a week. My husband feels that even if our going away is hard on the kids, it’s worth it, they’ll never remember it, etc., but I am not so sure.

Are there any guidelines for this kind of situation?

Rachel

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Once desolate swampland in Russia’s cold north, St. Petersburg today is Russia’s cultural and intellectual heart. Built by the visionary czar, Peter the Great, in the 1700s, the planned city of St. Petersburg is reminiscent of European cities such as Paris and Venice. Golden spires, gilded domes, awe-inspiring palaces, Italian-style mansions, meandering canals, and the bus-tling Nevsky Prospekt give this city a fla-vor unlike any other in Eastern Europe.

While Moscow has alluring, modern buildings and is the center of Russian po-litical power, it is safe to say that most visitors prefer the grandeur and tradition-alism of St. Petersburg. From the priceless artistic and cultural treasures stored at the world-famous Hermitage Museum to the awe-inspiring Winter Palace to ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg is a striking and elegant combination of East and West. After a full day of enjoying the beauty and diversity of this city, take a stroll along the Neva River and soak in the atmosphere of the “White Nights,” an exotic northern phenomenon (only in the summertime) where night is almost indis-tinguishable from day, and which inspired some of Russia’s greatest literary figures such as Dostoevsky and Gogol.

HistoryThe area now known as St. Petersburg

was once a Swedish fort called Nyenskans until it was conquered by Czar Peter the Great in 1703 and given its current name. Building an entire city on this cold marsh-land was no easy task; tens of thousands of serfs formed the construction corps, and many died from disease and exposure.

With the help of foreign engineers, the marshland was drained. The city’s first building was the Peter and Paul Fortress, which was a prison for many high-profile political and religious prisoners (including the first Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi) up until the Communist Revolution. Peter the Great’s grand vision

of a city to rival Amsterdam and Venice in the West aroused the ire of the Russian no-bility, and several attempts were made on his life.

Nevertheless, Peter’s vision came true, and St. Petersburg became the center of culture and learning that he had envi-sioned. Countless palaces such as Peter-hof, the Winter Palace, and Catherine’s Palace were built by him as well as by his daughter, Empress Elizabeth, and by Cath-erine the Great.

Despite the repression of rulers like Nicholas I, St. Petersburg in the early 1800s was a magnet for intellectuals and businessmen. With Alexander II’s eman-cipation of the serfs in 1861, the popula-tion of the city swelled. Tenements quickly sprang up on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, and city saw the beginnings of industry.

The assassination of Alexander II in the streets of St. Petersburg in 1881 marked the beginning of the city’s revolutionary phase. Underground socialist and anarchist movements popped up, and their activities culminated in the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. St. Petersburg was the focus of Le-nin’s crusade during the 1917 Revolution, but he made Moscow the capital in 1918. Several days after Lenin’s death, St. Pe-tersburg was renamed Leningrad both to honor Lenin and the communist revolution and to stamp out the memory of the czars.

Once one of Eastern Europe’s most prosperous cities, St. Petersburg was dev-astated by Stalin’s purges in the 1920s and 1930s resulting in millions of residents fleeing to Western Europe and America. However, even that paled in comparison to the utter catastrophe caused by the Na-zis in WWII. The Battle of Leningrad was one of most horrible in history, resulting in over one million civilian deaths, almost complete destruction of the city itself, and the looting of countless treasures, such as the famous Amber Room.

Leningrad was rebuilt after the war but

stagnated economically under the Soviet Union’s stifling economic and political system. The city’s original name was re-stored in 1991. With the end of the Sovi-et Union, St. Petersburg has made steady progress. While inequality and corruption remain big issues (as is the case in many other Russian cities), St. Petersburg has done a great job of modernizing and de-veloping its tourist infrastructure. It is now visited by millions every year and is one of Eastern Europe’s top destinations.

AttractionsThe Hermitage: Located within the

Winter Palace and situated along the Neva River, The Hermitage is St. Petersburg’s most popular attraction and undoubtedly one of the best art museums in the world. It had humble beginnings as an adjunct to the Winter Palace meant to house Cather-ine the Great’s small collection of cultur-al artifacts, but it has since grown into a beautiful baroque palace that holds three million treasures from around the world, dating from prehistoric times to the pres-ent. From priceless ancient Middle Eastern artifacts to original Da Vinci paintings to the greatest works of the Impressionists to jewels, sculptures, and the crowns of the czars, the scope and scale of the Hermitage is simply mind-boggling. There are over 1,000 halls and rooms to explore, each of which is sumptuously decorated and con-tains some of the world’s most valuable art. The Winter Palace itself was originally built for Peter the Great and was last used by Alexander II. Most visitors begin their Hermitage adventure by ascending the Jor-dan Staircase to the Winter Palace’s state rooms, which include the Great Throne Room, the main ballroom, the Music Room, and the shockingly ornate Golden Drawing Room.

The Hermitage Complex is not only the Winter Palace but also several oth-er buildings. One of these is the General Staff Building, which once housed gov-ernment offices during the Czarist period. One wing of this building showcases some of the unique diplomatic gifts given to the Imperial Court while another pays tribute to St. Petersburg’s famous Art Nouveau movement.

The Hermitage’s Menshikov Palace was built by Peter the Great for his close friend Alexander Menshikov. Peter used the home for his most formal occasions such as greeting foreign dignitaries and holding state parties. After Menshikov fell

out of favor with the Court and was exiled, the palace became the home of the Cadet Corps and was later reopened as part of the Hermitage’s art collection.

The beautiful Hermitage Theatre was originally built for Catherine the Great, a passionate theater lover, to entertain her-self and her friends. Today it functions mainly to entertain tourists with its wide range of classical music and ballet perfor-mances. If you’re coming to St. Petersburg in the summer when the Mariinsky Theatre is closed, then this is your next best bet.

Peterhof: Often compared to the Ver-sailles Palace in France, Peter’s Grand Pal-ace (aka Peterhof) is truly a marvel. Peter dedicated this awe-inspiring architectural masterpiece to Russia’s victory over Swe-den at the Battle of Poltava, Ukraine in 1809. The palace is surrounded by three parks and a stunning array of 150 foun-tains, all of which operate without pumps. The exquisitely decorated palace was built by Italian architect Francesco Rastrelli, who also built the Winter Palace and Cath-erine’s Palace. Highlights of the Grand Palace include the gilded ballroom, the white and turquoise throne room, and the Oriental-themed Western Chinese Study. Located nearby is the much smaller Mon-plaisir Palace, Peter the Great’s summer retreat. It was at Monplaisir that Catherine would cook for her guests and admire the view of the Gulf of Kronstadt and the city. A highlight here is the painstakingly creat-ed Lacquered Gallery, which required Rus-sian artists to spend many months studying the traditional art of Chinese lacquering.

Catherine Palace: Built for Peter the Great’s wife Catherine I (not for Catherine the Great) and located in the nearby village of Tsarkoye Selo, this palace is truly mag-nificent. Its blue, white, and gold exterior make it instantly recognizable and one of the most visually striking palaces in Eu-rope. Highlights of the interior include the White Dining Room, Portrait Hall, and a recreation of the legendary Amber Room. The original Amber Room was dismantled by Nazi troops when they took over the palace in 1941 and shipped to Konigsberg. The ultimate fate of the room is unknown to this day.

Yusupov Palace: Czars weren’t the only ones that had palaces in St. Peters-burg. Built for the incredibly wealthy Yu-supov noble family, this palace is most fa-mous as the site of the 1916 assassination of Grigori Rasputin, the mysterious peas-ant faith healer and close friend to Nichol-ar II’s family. The details surrounding the assassination are mired in controversy, but a display inside the palace tries to make some sense of things. You can also see the beautiful rooms the Yusupovs stayed in (which have the distinction of being in their original state unlike many other pal-aces in the city) and catch a show at the palace’s impressive rococo style theater.

Mariinsky Theatre: Built in 1783 and originally called the Bolshoi Stone The-atre, Mariinsky has hosted some of the world’s most talented singers, dancers and composers such as Tchaikovsky and Mus-sorgsky. It has become Russia’s premiere opera and music house and continues to

Travel

Travel Guide: St. PetersburgAaron Feigenbaum

Museum of the Defense and Siege of LeningradFaberge Museum

Peterhof

Catherine Palace


showcase the best of Russia’s performance art history in this elaborately decorated venue. An additional stage, the modernist Mariinsky II, was opened in 2013.

Museums: Besides the Hermitage, St. Petersburg has an abundance of world-class museums worth visiting. One of these is the Fabergé Museum, opened in 2013 and located in the Shuvalov Palace, which contains over 4,000 handcrafted eggs in-cluding a group of nine specially made for Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II.

The Cruiser Aurora, one of Russia’s most famous naval ships, took part in the Battle of Tsusima in the Russo-Japanese War and fired the blank shot that signaled the start of the October Revolution in 1917. It sits on the Neva River welcoming tourists onto its decks.

The Museum of the Defense and Siege of Leningrad is small but presents a mov-ing account of one of WWII’s darkest moments. The museum details the effects of the Nazi siege on the city through per-sonal diaries and video/audio. There are also newspaper articles and Nazi diaries recounting the feats of Soviet snipers.

Visitors can tour the WWII-era sub-marine Narodovolets to get a feel for the cramped conditions sailors lived in at that time, as well as its role in sinking four en-emy ships.

The State Russian Museum holds one of the finest collections of Russian art and is one of the country’s largest museums. The museum comprises three buildings and covers the entirety of Russian art his-tory, from Byzantine iconography to the avant-garde scene of the 20th century.

The Memorial Museum of Cosmonau-tics takes a look at the Soviet Union’s im-

pressive accomplishments in space explo-ration and astronomy. Some of the most fascinating pieces on display include a moon rover, Soviet space suit, rocket en-gines, a piece of moon rock presented to the Soviet Union by the crew of Apollo 11, and a capsule similar to the one used to transport Yuri Gagarin (the first person in space).

Daven and EatThe most recognizable Jewish land-

mark in St. Petersburg is undoubtedly the beautifully decorated Grand Choral Syna-gogue, the second largest shul in Europe. It runs several schools and is involved in many charitable efforts to help the Jewish community of the city. There is also a ko-sher restaurant and food store on site. For more info on Jewish life in St. Petersburg visit en.jeps.ru

Getting There and AroundCurrently plane tickets from LAX to

St. Petersburg start at around $800 per per-son round trip. From Moscow, St. Peters-burg can be reached either by plane or by the Sapsan Bullet Train (a 1.5 hour and 4 hour trip respectively). Getting around St. Petersburg is easy and cheap. The most popular way is to take the metro and enjoy the beautifully decorated stations. There are also buses, trolleys, taxis, Uber, and boats. Note that most means of transpor-tation shut down at night. Private vehicle taxis are quite popular with locals but not advised with tourists. It’s generally ad-vised not to step in a private taxi if it al-ready has passengers. And as in most other metropolitan cities around the world, be on guard for pickpockets. Otherwise, St. Pe-tersburg is a very safe city to tour.

Travel

Hermitage


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