jewish voice and opinion december 2010

Huckabee Speaks for Beit El ............ 3The Ima’s Dispute .......................... 3Kol Ami:Obama’s Next Move?....... 4The Current Crisis ......................... 5TEAM Scholarships .................... 16Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah Fair ....... 18Koshercruises.com ...................... 20

OHEL’s Camp Kaylie ................. 21Tours to Morocco and Italy ......... 23Apply Now .................................. 26The Log ....................................... 28Mazal Tov ................................... 32New Classes This Month ............ 38Mitzvah Ops ................................ 38

Ess Gezint: Newly Wed Kosher ..46Index of Advertisers .................. 49Arabs Celebrate Fire ................... 53 Law & Spirit of Outreach ........... 54Honor the Professional ................ 57Letters to the Editor .................... 57Walk to Shul ............................... 60

Inside the Voice

under control, 43 people had died; about 20,000 had been evacuated from villages, pris-ons, and hospitals in and around the Carmel Forest as well as in Haifa; and about 12,500 acres of forest and farmland had gone up in smoke, taking more than 5 million trees.

The worst such disaster to strike Israel in modern times, the fire plunged the country into chaos for 77 hours, from Thursday, Dec 2, through Mon-day, Dec 6, when finally some precious rain fell.

Colder temperatures and

Arab leaders, like the Jewish state, are far more concerned about Iran’s nuclear program than they are about the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

TruthColumnist David Frum

said that while the behavior of those responsible for the leaks is reprehensible, their “bad actions do not invalidate the information contained in the leaks.”

For example, while Saudi

When the winds blew, this inferno advanced at a rapid rate as a wall of fire reaching more than 130 feet high.

THE JEWISH VOICEAND OPINION

Promoting Classical Judaism

continued on page 33

December 2010 Vol. 24 • No. 4 Tevet 5771


A Chanukah Miracle: Aid from a Hostile World Helped Israel Survive Catastrophic Fire

It was no secret that this past November was the driest month in Israel since 1962. De-spite fervent prayer services conducted in the religious and secular communities, no relief came. The Kinneret remained at more than 700 feet below sea level, just 31 inches above the forbidden “black line.” It had lost almost eight inches in just the last month.

As a result, at the beginning of December, just as families were lighting Chanukah me-norahs, northern Israel suf-fered the country’s worst-ever wildfire. By the time it came

WikiLeaks Upshot: Israel and the Arab States Agree Iran Must Be Stopped with or without a PA State; Why Is Obama Lying?

As bad as the WikiLeaks scandal is for the future of trust between the US and governments throughout the world that must rely on American intelligence security, for supporters of the Jewish state, the more than 800,000 leaked classified US documents and 250,000 State Department cables lend credence and support to positions taken by the Israeli government. In fact, many observers agree that Israel is one of the few countries in the world that actually stands

to benefit from the WikiLeaks revelations. In contrast to Arab and even American leaders, Is-raeli officials have taken the same positions privately and publicly on issues such as Iran.

The leaks prove, however, that there is a great disparity between the messages Arab leaders give to their masses and what they say in private. Worse, the leaked documents indicate that President Barack Obama may have intentionally tried to mislead Israel when de-

manding that the Jewish state make substantial one-sided concessions to the Palestinians in order to gain Arab support to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

The leaked diplomatic cables, which were published on the WikiLeaks website, show that despite the Obama administration’s insistence that for the Muslim world there is linkage between the Iranian problem and a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,

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continued on page 6

Mike Huckabee at the Beit El Dinner Excoriates the “Freeze” and Asks: How Many Rockets Would the US Allow to Fall Here?

To former Arkansas Gov-ernor and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee, the “so-called freeze” President Barack Obama tried to force on Israel in Judea and Samaria “makes

Settling a Kashruth Dispute on Cedar Lane in a Menschlik Way

After several weeks of dis-sension, the issue of Ima’s

kosher restaurant on Cedar Lane in Teaneck may finally be set-tling down. All it will take is a meeting between the rabbis of the Rabbinical Council of Ber-gen County on one hand and the Brooklyn-based OK laborato-ries on the other. The meeting is scheduled for mid-December at the Englewood office of The Jewish Voice and Opinion.

At issue is who determines

whether a restaurant is suf-ficiently kosher for the com-munity to patronize it. Should it be the local non-profit vaad comprised of resident, often be-loved rabbis in the community; or, rather, a large, well-known, and internationally respected kashruth agency. Who makes the decision whether the owner of the restaurant is sufficiently reliable?

Caught in the middle of

no sense whatsoever.”“A cessation of the ability

of people who own their own land in their own country not to be able to do with that land as they please just in order to

extract peace out of an enemy who does not even recognize the authority of Israel to exist?

It’s counter-intuitive to every-thing peace is supposed to be

At the Beit El dinner, Mike Huckabee, center, conferred with ZOA’s Mort Klein (left) and

Eugen Gluck, honorary chairman of the dinner and a driving force behind American Friends of Beit El.


http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com Tevet 771 The Jewish Voice and Opinion Page - 3

Kol Ami: Economic Obama’s Next? Page - 4 The Jewish Voice and Opinion December 2010 Tell Our Advertisers “I Saw It in The Jewish Voice & Opinion”

President Barack Obama’s plan to force Israel into a second, much stricter construction “freeze” in Judea and Samaria has failed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier demanded that, before any additional “freeze,” the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish State (the PA refused). Although Mr. Netanyahu seemed interested in a US promise that, if he acquiesced to this new “freeze,” Israel would receive a promise of no more such construction bans as well as delivery of several new warplanes, it later turned out to be a “bait-and-switch” scheme. The promises were made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but once the “freeze” was declared, they would have been rescinded, citing Mr. Obama’s disapproval. At the ZOA dinner in Manhattan, the question was: What will Mr. Obama try next? Y

Obama has three faces: one for the US; another for the Israelis; and a third—his real face—for the Arabs. He will try to force Bibi to divide Jerusalem and, as a Holocaust survivor, I just pray Israel won’t give in.

Lilly RothNew York, NY

The negotiations failed be-cause the Palestinians won’t sit down unless all construction stops in the eastern part of Jerusalem, which they want, including the Old City and the Kotel. Obama might try to pressure Bibi into agreeing to divide Jerusalem, but Bibi won’t do it.

Netanella RefaelForest Hills, NY

It’s all a charade. Obama’s real agenda is to force Bibi to bring Kadima into the govern-ment, because that, Obama hopes, will be the prelude to “freezes” in Judea and Samaria and Jeru-salem. This must be countered by the right-wing of Likud.

Dr. Marvin BelskyNew York, NY

It doesn’t matter what Obama demands. Israel should not go to the negotiating table with a group that will not recognize it as the Jewish state.

Alan SternBrooklyn, NY

The Current Crisis: “Even in Laughter, the Heart Can Ache”

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Thousands of artifacts from the life of the late, unlamented PLO terrorist leader and all-around sheynkeit Yasir Arafat are being collected for a new $3.4 million museum being built in Ra-mallah on the site of the Muqata, the PLO’s headquarters where the man who literally invented modern terror, including air hijacking and suicide bombing, spent the last two years of his life.

The Yasir Arafat Foundation, which was inaugurated in Cairo in 2008 by a group that includes such luminaries as cur-rent PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Arab League Secre-tary-General Amr Moussa, are looking for relics that will let the world see “the real Yasir.”

We suggest the kiddush cup he received at his bris, his and Suha’s tenayim, his original shaving kit (still in mint condition), and his favorite keffiyeh with the New York Yankees insignia. And no one should forget the guest book from the Bill Clinton White House in which Arafat signed his name no fewer than 24 times in eight years, or the UN flag that few at half-mast when his death was announced. A choked-with-emotion UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it “a grave day for the world.” Hey, Annan spoke with an accent. Maybe he meant “a gay day.”

The source of funding for the museum still is not clear, but, somehow, we would not be surprised to hear that President Obama’s stimulus leftovers will be requisitioned. It wouldn’t be the first time American tax-payers forked over money to glorify Yasir A.

***When the Arafat Foundation goes trawling for funds in

Washington, the terrorist’s supporters might well run into some fellows from the Smithsonian who decided the holiday season was a great time to put up an exhibit depicting the Christian deity not in a manger, but, rather, on the cross covered with

ants—and worse.The Smithsonian called it “homoerotic,” which was not ex-

actly the way Gary Bauer, president of the American Values organization and board member of Christians United for Israel, described it. Last month, at the Zionist Organization of America dinner in Manhattan, where Mr. Bauer was not only the keynote speaker, but also the recipient of the Defender of Israel Award, he praised the soon-to-be Speaker of the House, John Boehner, who demanded that the Smithsonian remove the offensive ex-hibit or risk losing federal funding. It was promptly eliminated, leaving left-wing art lovers howling, “Censorship.”

Mr. Bauer dared left-wing artists to test their commitment to free speech by creating depictions of Mohammed in circumstances usually reserved for Christian sensibilities: ants, vats of urine, or elephant dung. “Try getting that displayed in the Smithsonian,” said Mr. Bauer.

Our friend Bill Donahue of the Catholic League asked, “If it’s wrong for the government to take taxpayers’ money to promote religion, why is it okay to take taxpayers’ money to as-sault religion?”

***Blogger DovBear asks us to guess Shlomo’s Jewish affiliation?

He’s an absolute whiz at Tanach, who also knows grammar and Ge-mara better than almost anyone else in the world. He’s got an encyclo-pedic knowledge of midrash, too, but at times he’s been caught being disrespectful towards it. There’s a rumor around the shul that his adult daughters are a little modern—Women’s Tefillah Groupies—but no one has any proof, and everyone’s too shy to ask him. Is Shlomo: (a) Yeshivish? (b) Modern Orthodox? (c) Conservadox?

In fact, friends, he’s Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki (Rashi).S.L.R.

don’t the Israelis just give up something in order to get peace. He suggests the questioner re-flect on what would happen if Canada decided to start lobbing rockets into Buffalo, NY.

“How many rockets would it take before every single living American would say: ‘Enough. We must stop this and do what-ever it takes to allow no more of those rockets into the peace and safety of our community.’ Anyone who hears the ques-tion says it would take just one. I tell them that Israel has endured thousands. Don’t you think it’s time that we rec-ognize their right to protect themselves against that level of violence?” he said.

He stressed that the rela-tionship between the US and the Jewish state “is not just organizational; it is an organic relationship, because there is no nation on earth that is more like us than Israel.”

That closeness, he said, should prompt the American administration “to make it clear to the whole world, with-out equivocation and without apology, that we will stand with Israel and offer our support—even if it means using military action against Iran—to make certain that nuclear capability is never in the hands of another maniacal madman.”


about,” he said, adding that he finds it “absolutely unbelievable that our own government would ask Israel to cease building bed-rooms in their own lands and in their own neighborhoods, when we have not been that strong in demanding that Iran quit building bombs that could target Israel and the rest of the world, includ-ing the United States.”

Mr. Huckabee made his remarks at the Beit El Din-ner on December 5, held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan.

Sponsored by American Friends of Beit El and the Beit El Yeshiva Center, the dinner celebrates the accomplishments of this Samarian community, especially its establishment of the Arutz Sheva News and Music station.

Where Peace BeginsAddressing the 1500 Beit El

supporters, Mr. Huckabee (who ran in the Republican primaries for President in 2008 and is con-sidered the frontrunner should he decide to run again in 2012) said if the US is really serious about “bringing the Palestinians to some sort of peace, it must begin with the recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state.”

“And then it must also happen with the understanding that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” he said.

That, he said, would exert pressure on the Palestinians to come back to the negotiat-ing table.

15th VisitMr. Huckabee, who said

he has been in Israel 14 times, is planning his 15th trip at the end of January, when he will be accompanying a tour of 200 Americans.

“The right of the Jewish people to a homeland did not originate with the Balfour Dec-laration nor with the UN, but with G-d Himself, and He is the one who set the boundar-ies,” he said.

Rather than asking Israel to cease building, Mr. Huckabee said peace would come when the Jewish state is asked “to accelerate the building as much as possible, which would result in placing more Israelis in those areas.”

“This is exactly what it should be like for every person who loves the freedom and the future of Israel,” he said.

Bordering ViolenceHe likened the situation

in the Israeli city of Sderot and elsewhere in the Jewish state to conditions between El Paso, Texas, and neighboring Juárez, just over the border in Mexico, which he described as “one of the most murder-ous places on the face of the earth.” El Paso, by contrast, is one of safest, and, he said, of-ficials in the Texan city work very hard to keep the Mexican violence at bay.

“Right at El Paso’s bor-der is a line of extraordinary violence, but they don’t have to welcome it into their own city,” he said.

Over the past few years, he has developed a response whenever someone asks: Why

Huckabee continued from page 3

continued on page 9

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WikiLeaks vs PollardCondemning the people

behind the WikiLeaks scandal in which thousands of classi-fied US documents have been published on the Internet, Mr. Huckabee said the one “positive impact is that we now know publicly what we always be-lieved privately, and that is that even the Arab nations of the Middle East recognize what a threat Iran is, and the Arabs are as interested in getting Iran out of the nuclear busi-ness as Israel is and as the US ought to be.”

He noted that while Jona-than Pollard has been in prison for 25 years for “giving some information to a friend [Israel],” WikiLeaks, which may have been assisted by an American soldier, has given some 250,000 top-secret documents to “our enemies.”

He said it was “ironic” that “some people aren’t as upset about [the WikiLeaks scandal] as they were about the Jonathan Pollard case.”

He praised Israel as the “stabilizer” of the Middle East and said the $3.5 billion the Jewish state receives from the US each year “is a lot less than the money we would have to spend if Israel were not there as a strong and stable nation.”

“Israel is the single great-est ally we have in that part of the world,” he said.

At Yad VashemRecognizing that many

of those attending the Beit El dinner were Holocaust sur-vivors or their children, Mr. Huckabee recalled a trip to Is-rael 17 years ago when he and his wife, Janet, first brought their daughter, now 28 and married, to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs’ and He-roes’ Remembrance Complex in Jerusalem.

Before taking her to the museum, Mr. Huckabee said he and his wife, who were comfortable bringing their two older sons, John and David, worried it might be too intense for Sarah, then only 11.

“We decided she needed to see what happens when people stand by and look the other way when all kinds of evil is being done to others. We wanted her to see it. We wanted her to know why people have to stand up and speak out and not allow evil to go unchal-lenged,” he said.

UnderstandingHe recalled watching his

daughter as she learned about little children who were forced to wear yellow Stars of David “not to distinguish them in a positive way, but to isolate and humiliate them and separate them from the other children,” and then went on to view pho-tographs of the concentration camps and the Warsaw Ghetto,

where Nazi soldiers took pic-tures of themselves “shooting children as if it were sport.”

“She was appalled. She could not believe something like this could happen. But it could not be denied,” he said.

When the tour was com-pleted, his daughter was silent, and Mr. Huckabee said he won-dered, “Did she get it? Does she understand? Does she fully comprehend why we never, never can allow this to happen again? If it happened there, it can hap-pen here or anywhere.”

His worries about her ability to integrate what she had seen were put to rest when his daugh-ter borrowed his pen to write in the guestbook: “Why didn’t somebody do something?”

No Palestine in IsraelWhile visiting Israel in

the summer of 2009, on a trip arranged by Shani Hikind of the Ateret Cohanim-Jerusa-

lem Reclamation Project, Mr. Huckabee visited a number of communities in Judea and Samaria, including Beit El. He told reporters at the time that while his visit to the Jewish state was not intended as a provo-cation, he would not hide his conviction that two sovereign nations could not control the same piece of territory.

He agreed that the Pales-tinians deserve a state of their own, however he stressed “it just can’t be in Israel.”

A former Baptist minister, Mr. Huckabee told supporters at the Beit El dinner that Israel is not just an issue for Jews.

“Many people with many different faiths believe in a strong Israel. They believe in Israel based on issues of security as well as promises made in the Bible. This land belongs to the Jewish peo-ple alone,” he said. S.L.R.

Huckabee continued from page 6


Noting the current poor econ-omy, TEAM Education

Services is offering men and women with bachelor’s degrees from yeshivas, seminaries, or rabbinic programs as well as those from secular institutions the opportunity to earn valid MBAs and Master’s in Educa-tion from accredited schools for under $6,100 in tuition.

An acronym for Teach-ing Education Assessment and Management, TEAM, a New York-based educational organization, takes an innova-tive approach towards helping members of the Jewish com-munity achieve valid higher-education credentials. TEAM provides students with the op-portunity to earn MBA’s and general Education Degrees at steep tuition discounts while addressing all student needs and concerns.

“In this economy, it doesn’t help to know that there is a pool

of hundreds or thousands ap-plying for the same position. Chances of getting a callback are dramatically reduced as a result. An accredited degree from a highly regarded univer-sity will propel students into higher salary brackets, enabling them to achieve financial goals previously beyond their reach,” said TEAM’s program director Aaron Braunstein.

A higher-education degree allows prospective employees “to stand out from the crowd,” he said. Other advantages, he said, include “receiving tax credits for college courses, meeting like-minded people, increasing knowledge base, and under-standing job functions from a better vantage point.”

“You may find out as you go that earning a degree was a personal dream just waiting to rise up inside you,” he said.

Scholarships To encourage qualified mem-

bers of the community to apply now, TEAM is offering additional $2,000 scholarships for programs leading to the MBA or MS Ed starting in February.

Those who take advantage of this opportunity can com-plete their graduate degrees in Business (MBA), education, or special education from fully accredited schools in as little as six months.

In addition, BA services are available to those who have been unable to apply the maxi-mum amount of credits toward a secular bachelor’s degree. TEAM guarantees 90 credits can be applied towards a secu-lar BA for any student who has credits from post-high school

yeshiva or who has a Talmudic law or Rabbinic degree.

Leveling the FieldAccording to Mr. Braun-

stein, TEAM was created to enable Jewish students with yeshiva or seminary back-grounds “to receive training and skill sets from top-tier schools in a positive yet ap-propriate environment.”

“TEAM balances the need for classroom experience with sophisticated technology train-ing which is essential in to-day’s workplace. In addition, TEAM receives thousands in tuition reductions from their partner colleges. Those sav-ings are passed directly to each

the dispute is Ofira Zaken, who last spring opened the Teaneck daughter-branch of Ima’s, an extremely popu-lar Jerusalem-based Middle Eastern meat restaurant run by her mother.

Opening the StoreThere are some facts with

which no one involved in the story disagrees. When Mrs. Zaken, who resides in Fair Lawn, opened Ima’s, she applied for and received supervision from the RCBC. For a variety of reasons, she was told she must have a mashgiach tmidi, a full-time kashruth supervi-

sor, and she agreed.The trouble started a few

weeks later when Mrs. Zaken and the mashgiach, provided by the RCBC, had a falling out. There are some indications that the mashgiach’s salary of $15 per hour was the problem, but there also may have been other difficulties that caused Mrs. Zaken to decide no lon-ger to employ him.

At this point, the story gets sticky. Mrs. Zaken says she was under the impression that she could find another mashgiach who was accept-


Ima’s continued from page 3


TEAM Education Services Offers $2,000 Scholarships for Fast-Track MBA and Education Masters Degrees Starting in February


and every student year after year. When scholarships are available, such as now for the February program, the application process is short and TEAM guarantees the scholarship award,” he said.

The MBA and MS Education pro-grams begin in February, 2011. Anyone who holds a degree from a yeshiva can apply with no other prerequisites needed. The total cost is approximately $8,100, but with the instant $2,000 available for the upcoming February start date, the tuition is only $6100.

TEAM students pay as they go and additional financial aid is available as well.

All TEAM education programs offer flexible times and locations. Separate classes for men and women are offered in Queens, Brooklyn, and NJ.

Fast-TrackAccording to Mr. Braunstein, as soon

as prospective students take the initial step by calling or registering online, a personal TEAM advisor will guide them on the fast-track for efficient application and preparation process.

“TEAM knows the workplace and the necessity of being supported while students embark on their new education direction,” he said, adding that a degree in Talmudic Law or a Rabbinic degree coupled with a Master’s in Education (MS Ed) or a Mas-ter’s in Business (MBA) can be “the ticket for many of our young, aspiring giants to land that first opportunity which will take him or her to the next level.”

For more information and to begin the process, call TEAM at 347-560-TEAM or go to www.GoTeamEd.com.

“TEAM has been a great success be-cause each and every student is cared for and supported. TEAM alumni will attest to it every time,” said Mr. Braunstein. Y


Koshercruises.com, a preeminent kosher cruise operator, based in Fort Lauder-

dale, has unveiled its summer 2011 cruise lineup. On the agenda, after its success-ful 2010 summer season, are glatt kosher cruises to the Baltic region, Alaska, the Greek Isles, and Spain and Italy. Dates, full itinerary descriptions as well as deck plans and pricing are available online at www.koshercruises.com. The website also features highlights from previous cruises to Bermuda and the Greek Isles to give potential clients a glimpse of the luxury kosher vacation experience.

Last summer’s Greek Isles sailing,

led in conjunction with Lasko Kosher Cruises and Yeshiva University, featured the preeminent London Beth Din for Kashrut supervision. Passengers came from throughout the US and Canada, as well as from South America, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK. Lectures were provided by YU’s Presi-dent Richard Joel, Rabbi JJ Schacter, and Dean Karen Bacon, as well as Dr. Steven Bacon from Touro College.

Among the highlights were special ex-cursions to Jewish points of interest in Bari/Trani, Italy; Rhodes, Greece; and Dubrovnik, Croatia. A delicious Oneg Shabbat with

singing and an outstanding Melaveh Malka BBQ capped off the seven-day cruise.

Appreciated Efforts“Our Rav HaMachshir, Rabbi Dome

and his staff of mashgichim did an incred-ible job supervising,” said Arlene Lasko, principal of Lasko Kosher Cruises and host of the cruise to the Greek Isles. “The rabbis were available 24 hours a day to answer any questions and were also at

Koshercruises.com Plans Summer 2011 Excursions

TEAM cont. from page 10


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the ready in the tea rooms and during all food preparation. We truly enjoyed hav-ing them as part of our team, as did our cruise passengers.”

Robert Epstein of Australia, who participated on the Greek Isles cruise, said his family appreciated “all the ef-fort that was made to make our vacation so enjoyable.”

“To know that every meal was abun-dantly and creatively prepared, served on time and with great style was wonderful. And your warm and friendly personalities added to our enjoyment,” he said.

The trip to Bermuda, which em-barked from Cape Liberty in NJ, drew a predominantly northeastern audience. The laid-back ambiance on this sailing focused on the beach. Families joined together as newly found friends for group jet-ski and snorkeling trips; and singles and teenag-ers challenged each other to card games. The stellar entertainment on board ranged from hilarious comedic acts to stunning Cirque de Soleil style performances. Each day, the tea room proved to be the most popular meeting spot for kosher cruise passengers, offering themed snacks that included make-your-own sundaes, sushi, falafel, and a burger bar.

Exotic Ports This summer, Koshercruises.com

will repeat the always popular Greek Isles itinerary, this year scheduled for August 22nd.

The season will launch on June 26th with the Baltics cruise (with stops in Den-mark, Sweden, and Russia); followed by Spain and Italy (among the ports of call are Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Rome) on June 27th. Another sailing to the Baltics is scheduled for August 21st. The season will end with an Alaska cruise on August 14th, which is always a breath-taking, thrilling adventure.

All cruises depart from various ports in Europe, except for Alaska, which em-barks from Vancouver, BC. This year, Koshercruises.com sailing will be aboard both elegant Costa and luxurious Ce-lebrity cruise liners. Another Yeshiva University and Lasko Kosher Cruises partnership for one of the listed sailings is in the works.

Luxury-at-SeaAll Koshercruises.com cruises offer

premium accommodations, three fresh, gourmet glatt kosher, cholov Yisroel

meals daily plus afternoon tea and late night snacks. Koshercruises.com staffs each cruise with a Rav Hamachshir and mashgichim who painstakingly kasher a designated portion of the galley in advance of the sailing and subsequently maintain 24-hour presence in the kitchen. In addition to glatt kosher dining, Koshercruises.com offers daily minyanim in a dedicated shul on board and memorable Shabbatot-at-sea in accordance with Orthodox law.

All Koshercruises.com vacations at sea include enriching programming, featuring lectures by esteemed rabbis and personalized tours that visit Jewish historical and cultural points of interest.

As an independent yet integrated group of each cruise, guests are always free to partake in all of the ship’s entertainment, activities, and exhilarating excursions.

Koshercruises.com is a family-owned tour operator catering to the discerning kosher traveler. The company partners with top-tier cruise lines to offer a myriad of vacation destinations with embarkations from different ports of call around the world. Koshercruises.com also designs and coordinates custom itineraries for large groups. For more information or to reserve a cabin for your next kosher cruise vacation, call 718-928-5554 or visit www.koshercruises.com. Y

Magnet CompetitionThe camp’s director is Rabbi Peretz

Hochbaum, who comes to Camp Kaylie with experience as a teacher and principal as well as having served as educational director of Camp Raleigh. The mashgiach ruchani is Rabbi Shalom Rosner who served as head of educational program-ming at Camp Mesorah.

The camp is currently registering campers as well as offering staff posi-tions. For more information, go to the website, www.camplaylie.org or call 718-686-3261.

To drive awareness of the unique op-portunity offered by Camp Kaylie, OHEL is holding a Bumper Magnet competition which will allow prospective campers to win $1,250 for camp. To enter, families must affix a Camp Kaylie magnet to their cars, and, each week, from Dec 3-24th, two winners will be announced on Na-chum Segal’s JM in the AM program on 91.1 FM.

Bumper Magnets can be ordered by calling 718-686 3261.


Snap out of it!

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Sit back & relax this year with Pesach at Pearlstone

After its successful pilot program last summer, OHEL’s Camp Kaylie, which

fully integrates campers with no disabilities together with high-functioning children with developmental disabilities, will open for summer 2011. In separate programs for boys, in July, and girls, in August, Camp Kaylie will provide children from 10-16 years of age with activities tailored to the specific abilities of each camper, including competitive individual and team sports.

“Camp Kaylie represents the fulfill-ment of a long-held vision by the board of OHEL to develop a camp for kids of all abilities, where typical campers with no disabilities, enjoy an exceptional summer camp experience with peers who have developmental disabilities,” said Moishe Hellman, president of OHEL.

Located in Wurtsboro, NY, in the Catskills, Camp Kaylie will also offer campers a challenging and stimulating daily learning program that will include chavrusas, shiurim, and parsha study.

Asked if Camp Kaylie will differ from camps, such as those run by the Hebrew Academy for Special Children (HASC), which already meet the needs of Jewish campers with developmental disabilities, Mr. Hellman explained that while other Jewish camps meet the needs of certain developmentally disabled children, Camp Kaylie has been designed to serve a dif-ferent population: those who are high functioning and can be integrated into a camp program with children who have no disabilities.

NJ BreakfastWhile OHEL Children’s Home and

Family Services is the parent organization behind Camp Kaylie, the social-services agency is involved in many other activi-ties as well. In New Jersey, for example, OHEL has made its presence felt through its new Regional Family Center, on Pali-sade Ave in Teaneck.

Last month, the center held a working breakfast to familiarize Northern NJ ye-shivoth and day schools with its services. Representatives from the Frisch Yeshiva High School, Yeshiva Ketana of Passaic, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, SI-NAI Special Needs Schools, the Moriah School of Englewood, Ben Porat Yosef, Yeshivat Noam, Jewish Educational Center, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Yavneh Academy, and the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy participated.

The breakfast provided an opportunity for the schools to understand the services OHEL provides and to explore how the agency can enrich the lives of students, parents, and educators.

Programs in NJFor example, Rabbi Meir Mark, OHEL’s

coordinator of NJ school-based services, ex-plained the agency’s Adolescent Leadership Program. Modeled on OHEL’s successful program in Long Island, the NJ program is designed to empower high school students to maximize their individual strengths, practical leadership ability, and team-building skills in order to impact relationships with their peers and the greater community.

In addition, OHEL has opened a NJ branch of its Teacher Training Program, which has been a robust success in New York. The program consists of eight ses-sions in which teachers explore diverse mental health issues, including developing student self-esteem, bullying prevention, and conflict resolution.

Hillel Sternstein, coordinator of OHEL’s Trauma Service, provided an overview of the agency’s clinical services, including individual and family therapy for all age groups and trauma treatment for victims of abuse.

Meeting NeedsOther OHEL representatives at the

breakfast included Arlene Ettengoff, di-rector of OHEL’s Institute for Training,

OHEL’s New Camp Kaylie Offers Scholarship Competition and OHEL’s Northern NJ Office Addresses Day School Educators

As part of Team OHEL in the NYC Marathon, Mor-dechai Bodek of Passaic enabled children with de-velopmental dis-abilities to attend camp Kaylie.

which offers programs and workshops for professionals, and Dr. Jessica Korn-wasser, a member of OHEL’s NJ Advi-sory Board.

Donny Frank, who serves as coor-dinator of the OHEL Regional Family Center of Northern NJ, said he welcomes inquiries about OHEL’s programs as well as OHEL’s general clinical services. He can be reached at 201-692-3972 or at [email protected].

OHEL’s CEO, David Mandel, explained that OHEL’s 40-year mission is to meet the growing and distinct needs of each com-munity. He also noted OHEL’s on-going efforts to secure a foster-care contract in NJ to provide for the needs of Jewish chil-dren in need of foster homes. Y

On Dec 23, Jewish Heritage Tours is sponsoring an exciting excursion to

warm and exotic Morocco. Just a few weeks later, Jewish Heritage Tours will conduct a remarkably low-priced tour of Italy.

Participants in the Morocco tour will arrive early Friday morning in Marrakech and return on Sunday, Jan 2, in the late afternoon, rested and ready for work on Monday. In nine-and-a-half days, they will discover a satisfying portion of this fasci-nating country and its Jewish history.

The trip offers the opportunity to daven at the tzion of the holy tzadik and Baal Mofeis, Rebbe Amram of Diwanne in Quezanne; the holy Rebbe Yehudah Ibn Attar in Fez; the holy Rebbe Chaim Pinto in Essouira; the holy Rebbe Rafael Ankawa in Sali (the birthplace of the holy “Or Ha’Chaim Ha’Kodesh”), and many other great Moroccan tzadikim.

Participants will visit the “Slat Laaza-ma” shul in the Mellah in Marrakech, es-tablished in 1496 by Jews expelled from Spain. According to local legend, a daily minyan has always been held at this unique shul. Another legend claims that the holy “Mechaber,” Maran Beis Yosef, visited the Mekubalim who learned in various rooms in the shul’s courtyard.

Ha Rav Nosson Dovid Rabinowich, prof of Medieval Jewish history, author, teacher, and noted Talmud chacham, will accompany the trip, serving as rav, mashgiach, lecturer, and Jewish guide. In addition, personable

and knowledgeable local tour guides will help the group appreciate this land of con-trasts, known for its magnificent imperial cities (Rabat, Meknes, Fez, and Marrakech), palaces, mosques, exquisite gardens, col-orful markets, white sandy beaches, rich culture and history, archeological wonders, and hospitable people.

Space on this trip is limited and res-ervations can be made by contacting [email protected] or 1-888-253-9167.

ItalyThe Jewish Heritage Tours tour of

Italy is designed so that active and retired teachers can participate during President’s

Week at the end of February. Although the trip is co-sponsored by the Association of Orthodox-Jewish Teacher, non-teachers are also welcome to take advantage of this low-cost trip.

Conducted by Rabbi Rabinowich, the trip will include Rome, Siena, Pisa, Florence, and Venice, including the fa-mous Carnival of Venice, celebrated at the end of Feb.

The special low price offer expires on Dec 31 and space is limited. For reserva-tions and a day-by-day itinerary, visit www.ahavathtorah.com or contact [email protected] or 917-753-5178. Y


Jewish Heritage Tours to Morocco and a Specially-Priced Trip to Italy

Kaylie cont. from page 14


Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates do not officially recognize Israel, the WikiLeaks documents show that, behind the scenes, there are rea-sonable relations between Arab and Israeli diplomats. In particu-lar, Arabs have asked Israelis to carry messages to US government officials and have urged tougher action against Iran.

A WikiLeaks cable from March 2009 quotes Yacov Ha-das, deputy director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, telling an American diplomat: “The Gulf Arabs believe in Israel’s role because of their perception of Israel’s close relationship with the US, but also due to their sense that they can count on Israel against Iran. They believe Israel can work magic.”

Qatar and IsraelThis is not to say that the

documents show any kind of relational consistency. In Janu-ary 2009, when Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza in order to stop the escalating number of Qas-sam rockets being launched at Israeli civilian targets, Qatar, the last Arab Gulf State to have open ties with the Jewish state, closed its Israeli trade office, essentially leaving Israel with no open diplomatic channels to the Persian Gulf states that it used during the 1990s.

But as a 2009 cable shows, by March of that year, the Qataris

were already inviting an Israeli delegation back to Doha to discuss reopening the trade mission.

Nevertheless, that same month, the queen of Qatar hired a US public relations firm to run a public-awareness cam-paign in America to highlight the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

High-Level TalksThe leaked documents

show that, over the years, Israel has had access to the highest levels of the Qatari govern-ment. According to one cable, in October 2006, the emir, also known as Prince Hamad, told Israeli officials “he believed Iran was determined to de-velop a nuclear bomb no mat-ter the cost.”

“According to Hadas, Hamad complained at the time that he felt the US would not listen to him and tended to be-lieve what it heard from Iran,” said the document.

Qatar was not Mr. Hadas’s only Arab contact. According to the leaked documents, he said the UAE was “increasingly hostile” to Iran, but also noted that the Emirates allowed Iran to launder money and had ex-tensive financial dealings with the country. The Emirates are “not ready to do publicly what they say in private,” the cable quotes Mr. Hadas as saying.

Quiet ConsultationsNeither are other Arab

countries, according to the WikiLeaks documents. For ex-ample, some cables show that Israel consulted with Egypt and the PA’s Chairman Mahmoud Abbas before initiating the Cast Lead campaign against Hamas in January 2009. The documented discussions in-dicate that, despite the fact that they issued public state-ment’s against Israel’s counter-terrorism program, Egypt and Mr. Abbas were pleased with any Israeli action that would weaken Hamas.

In telegrams to US Deputy Ambassador Luis Moreni, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak “explained that the govern-ment of Israel had consulted with Egypt and Fatah, asking if they were willing to assume control of Gaza once Israel defeated Hamas.”

According to Mr. Barak, the response from Egypt and the PA was no, no one wanted Gaza.

Many observers now re-call that, during the three-week Operation Cast Lead, Mr. Abbas was uncharacter-istically silent. Actions Based on Fantasies

The plethora of cables pub-lished by WikiLeaks show that US officials have been clearly listening to and recording what Middle Eastern leaders have to say about Iran. The ques-tion left unanswered is what the US is willing to do about

the information gleaned from the sources.

Thus far, the Obama ad-ministration seems content to deal with its own fantasies based on public pronounce-ments rather than act on the information offered privately by leaders in the region.

The official line maintained by the Obama administration is that ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, even at the expense of deeply held Jewish values and security, is the key to Middle East peace and the only way to bring other countries in the region on board to help stop the Iranian threat. Israel, on the other hand, suggests that Iran should be dealt with first be-cause managing Teheran’s two proxies in the region—Hamas and Hezbollah—will be easier if Iran is defanged.

FabricationAt his very first meeting

in the White House with Is-raeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Obama called for a complete halt to all Jew-ish construction in Judea and Samaria, suggesting that was the only way to mollify the Arab world so that they would magically come to see that Iran should be opposed.

Israelis say the WikiLeaks documents show that this argu-ment is a fabrication. They say there is no need to force Israel to consent to an unacceptable,

Wikileaks continued from page 1


anti-Israel solution to the conflict with the Palestinians in order to bring the “moderate” Arab nations to view a nuclear Iran as a serious problem. Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf States, Egypt, and Jordan already agree that Iran is a threat and are just waiting for the US to act against Teheran.

Jordan, for example, has voiced concern about the possi-bility that Iran would provide an umbrella for opposition groups

such as the Muslim Brother-hood. Egypt feels challenged by Iran’s continued nuclear development, as shown by the conviction in Cairo last April of 26 men who were spying for Hezbollah and plotting attacks in Egypt.No Israeli Warmongering

In addition, WikiLeaks has debunked the theory, pro-mulgated by many left-wing pundits close to the admin-istration, that only Israel is

pushing for military action against Iran.

The documents show that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul-lah is one of several leaders of US allies in the Muslim world who, like Israel itself, has been urging the US to cut Iran down to size.

In 2008, referring to Iran as “evil,” King Abdullah asked the US to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time before the completion of

the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program.

In a March 2009 discussion with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, King Abdullah reportedly said, “You as Persians have no business meddling in Arab matters.” Then the king told White House Counter-terrorism Adviser John Brennan and other US officials, “There is no doubt something unstable about them.”



2

Must Be StoppedAccording to another cable, the king of

Bahrain, who provides the base for the Ameri-can Fifth Fleet, told US leaders that the Iranian nuclear program “must be stopped.”

“The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it,” the king said, according to another cable.

The head of defense in the United Arab Emirates, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi, told US Gen John Abizaid that America needed to take ac-tion against Iran “this year or next.”

In July 2009, Mr. Zayed, echoing the sentiments of many Israelis and their

supporters, said, “Ahmadinejad is Hit-ler” and warned against the dangers of appeasing Iran.

No LinkageFor his part, Egyptian President Hosni

Mubarak has called the Iranians “big fat liars,” and his assistant defense minister, Maj-Gen Muhammad al-Assar, was quoted in a 2010 cable as saying that “Egypt views Iran as a threat to the region.”

The Emir of Qatar, Prince Hamad, who, judging by the leaked documents, seems to enjoy playing the US and Tehe-ran against each other, closed a meeting with the Americans by telling them that

“based on 30 years of experience with the Iranians, they will give you 100 words; trust only one of the 100.”

“Not one of these Arab leaders ever suggested that the US should act against Iran only after achieving some break-through on the Palestinian-Israeli front or linked the two issues,” said Israeli columnist Jonathan Rosenblum.

Die-Hard IdeologyBut despite the fact that the WikiLeaks

disclosures put paid to the fiction that Is-rael is behind the fuss over Iran’s nuclear weapons, the ideology has not died.

After the WikiLeaks documents were posted, Juan Cole, the anti-Isra-el conspiracy theorist favored by the Obama administration, published an article in The Guardian announcing that Israel is to blame for the Saudis’ fear of Iran. According to Mr. Cole, if the Arab public were not so upset over Israeli aggression in Gaza, the Saudi leadership would not have been so worked up over Iran.

“It is this sort of non sequitur that al-lows the Obama administration to continue pretending that the world is not a hard place and that there are no problems that cannot be solved by pressuring Israel,” said Caroline Glick, managing editor of the Jerusalem Post.

Why Is Obama Doing It?In light of the leaked documents, many

observers have questioned why Mr. Obama has made such broad overtures to Iran and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Last year, Mr. Obama taped a New Year’s mes-sage to the Iranian people and even sent a “friendship” letter to their “supreme leader,” the Ayatollah Khamenei.

Republican commentator, Gary Bau-er of the American Values organization, pointed out that virtually since assuming office, Mr. Obama “has used the existential threat of a nuclear-armed Iran as a cud-gel to force an ever-increasing number of concessions from our ally, Israel.”

“In recent months, the administration has repeatedly said it couldn’t act against Iran until an Israeli-Palestinian deal had been reached that would unite the Arab world. But if Arab leaders are themselves demanding tough action against Iran, why is Obama putting so much pressure on Israel?” said Mr. Bauer.



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His Own PlanMr. Rosenblum suggested that at least

part of the reason lies in Mr. Obama’s “determination to reach out to the Muslim world and his conviction that creating a Palestinian state is the key to doing so,”

Another part of the explanation, ac-cording to Mr. Rosenblum, is that Mr. Obama “sees fundamental justice on the Palestinian side.”

“Pushing a Palestinian state is thus his means of laying claim to the great deeds wor-thy of his vanity,” said Mr. Rosenblum.

Failed ProcessMr. Frum said it is now clear that the

peace process Mr. Obama has been pushing failed because the Palestinians were encour-aged to hope that if only they held out a little longer, they would be offered even more.

“We engage in these wearisome and elaborate proceedings because we assume that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute holds the key to regional peace. But now the whole world can see: It’s not true. Gov-ernments in the region do not in fact care very much about the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. They are transfixed by Iran. They are terrorized by the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon,” said Mr. Frum.

Mr. Frum said that not only is Mr. Obama “over-invested” in the Palestinian issue, but the WikiLeaks cables show he is “under-invested” in the problems of Iran, Pakistan (a major non-NATO ally whose legal status allows it buy sophisticated US weapons, but whose nuclear arms are not secure), and Turkey (a NATO ally that is allowing Iran to smuggle nuclear compo-nents across its territory, who closed its bases to the US during the first Iraq war and who enabled armed agitators to stage confrontations with the Israeli navy).

Leaks of TruthThe WikiLeaks cables should also

put an end to theorists who have argued that the “Israel Lobby” in the US, encour-aged by the Jewish state itself, has been single-handedly endangering geopoliti-cal stability by attempting to plunge the Middle East into a war with the US. The leaked documents show that a broad coali-tion of Arab countries, especially those in the Persian Gulf area, have been privately telling American leaders about their fear of Iran and, in some cases, the desperate need to take military action.

Many analysts have noted Arab lead-ers’ penchant for keep their true position

on Iran hidden from their people, obvi-ously fearing that if the Arab public knew how opposed their leaders were to Iran, it might lead to a backlash.

However, perhaps more in hope than expectation, some Israelis are wondering if, in light of the leaked documents, Arab leaders will now be more prepared to stop separating their private opinions on Iran from their public statements to their people. If that were to happen, it might set the groundwork for a regional coalition encompassing Arab states and Israel to stand against Iran, irrespective of whether or not there is a Palestinian state.

“Whatever the wider repercussions of the WikiLeaks cable deluge, it has exposed the hypocrisy of those Arab leaders who publicly blame Israel for their woes while privately pleading for military measures to thwart their true enemy, Iran. And it

has exposed the incompetence, too, or malice, of the analysts—many of whom may have had significant influence on the Obama administration—who took those Arab leaders’ public utterances at face value, and utilized them in a bid to ratchet up pressure on, and to besmirch, Israel,” said the Jerusalem Post in an editorial entitled “The WikiLeaks Effect.”

Scary GapPundit Lee Smith, in a piece called

“Deadly Fictions,” suggested sarcasti-cally that the WikiLeaks documents are so “good for Israel” that, perhaps, the site’s founder, Julian Assange, who has positioned himself as left-wing whistle-blower dedicated to exposing the evils of the US, may instead be “a clandestine agent of Dick Cheney and Bibi Netan-yahu.” Further, said Mr. Smith, Mr. As-



sange’s muckraking website may in fact be “part of a Likudnik plot to provoke an attack on Iran.”

While Mr. Smith was being face-tious, the Iranians have taken that argu-ment seriously, dismissing the WikiLeaks documents as Israeli-backed attempts to undermine their goals.

Turning serious, Mr. Smith recognized that the WikiLeaks documents do not re-veal a conspiracy of any kind, but, rather “a scary and growing gap between the private assessments of American diplomats and al-lies in the Middle East and public statements made by US government officials.”

“The publication of these leaked ca-bles is eerily reminiscent of the Pentagon Papers, which exposed a decade-long at-tempt by US officials to distort and conceal unpalatable truths about the Vietnam War, and manipulate public opinion. The dif-ference is that while the Pentagon Papers substantially vindicated the American left, the WikiLeaks cable dump vindicates the right,” said Mr. Smith.

Pro-Israeli PositionsIn addition to the realization that Ar-

abs are as concerned as Israelis about Iran’s march towards a nuclear program and that it is not just Jews who think Mr. Ahmadine-

jad is evil incarnate, Mr. Smith listed other examples of pro-Israel positions vindicated by the WikiLeaks documents.

The documents, for example, dispute the US government’s public assessment of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a model Middle Eastern leader who has adopted the middle ground be-tween religious enthusiasm and secular democracy. Rather, the documents show that, privately, the Americans see him as “an exceptionally dangerous” Islamist.

“US diplomats have concluded that Erdogan’s anti-Israel rhetoric is not pre-mised on domestic Turkish electioneer-ing or larger geo-strategic concerns, but rather on a personal, visceral hatred of Israel,” said Mr. Smith.

The leaked cables describe Mr. Erdogan as having “little understanding of politics beyond Ankara.” He had also surrounded himself with an “iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisers,” the cables said.

Respect for IsraelBy contrast, the cables suggest that

the director of Israel’s Mossad, Meir Da-gan, has been “sought out by almost every senior US official visiting Israel.”

Other Israelis also have the respectful ear of the Americans. In one cable, Israeli Military Intelligence chief Maj-Gen Amos Yadlin is quoted as saying that “covert means need to be used to stop Iran.”

In 2009, according to another cable, Mr. Dagan told Rep Robert Wexler (D-FL) that Israel was not in a position to under-estimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on 9-11.

Even earlier, in 2007. Mr. Dagan told Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns that Israel and the US needed to do more to recreate regime change in Iran. He told Frances Fragos Townsend, assistant to the US President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, that IDF operations against Hamas in Judea and Samaria were preventing the terrorist group from tak-ing over the Fatah-controlled territory, and he said he believed “nothing will be achieved” in the peace process.

Embarrassing DetailsThe leaked documents indicate that

Muslim and Arab leaders, on the other hand, spoke a great deal on subjects they may now find embarrassing. According to a report in the London-based Arabic



newspaper Al-Hayat, WikiLeaks docu-ments show that Turkish authorities al-lowed money and weapons to pass across Turkey’s borders with Iraq, en route to Al-Qaeda terrorists there.

In addition, the documents allegedly show that Turkey was involved both di-rectly and indirectly in carrying out ter-ror attacks in Iraq, including blowing up a bridge in Baghdad.

One of the reports mentioned by Al Hayat allegedly shows that an American intelligence agency wrote a cable saying that “large amounts of water have arrived from Turkey, large waves will hit Baghdad in a few hours. Some people are widening the irrigation canals.”

The message is believed to refer to the arrival of weapons from Turkey that were intended for terror and warfare in Baghdad. Al Hayat says the WikiLeaks documents show that ammunition seized in a terrorist’s home in Iraq in 2009 bore the markings “made in Turkey.”

What some analysts find baffling is that, despite American recognition of Mr. Erdogan’s policies, Mr. Obama is still supporting Turkish membership of the European Union. Further, Mr. Erdogan has been publicly assured that the White House will oppose any resolution recog-nizing the Armenian genocide.

“The administration continued to reaf-firm the friendship between the two countries even in the face of Turkey’s involvement in the terror flotilla and the country’s blocking of increased sanctions on Iran,” said foreign affairs specialist Seth Mandel.

Ignoring IntelligenceSome of the most damning information

contained in the leaked documents centers on Iran, but it is intelligence that the Obama administration seems eager to ignore.

For example, during the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hez-bollah, Iran, in violation of the Geneva Convention, used its own Red Crescent organization, which is a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, whose pledge of neutrality allows it access into war zones, to smuggle weapons and troops from the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force into Lebanon. It used the same ambulances to smuggle weapons and troops into Iraq to fight against US soldiers.

Although members of the Obama ad-ministration still believe they can woo the

Syrians away from Iran, America’s Arab al-lies do not think it is possible. According to one leaked cable, the UAE’s Sheik Bin Zayed “showed no confidence that Syria could be separated from the Iranian camp.” Mr. Bin Zayed was quoted directly as saying, “If you want my opinion, I think not.”

Syria and IranMr. Bin Zayed suggested that Syria

would continue hedging on key regional issues, including Iran, support for Hez-bollah, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, for the foreseeable future.

“What comes through most strongly from the WikiLeaks documents is that US Middle East policy is premised on

a web of self-justifying fictions that are flatly contradicted by the assessment of American diplomats and allies in the re-gion,” said Mr. Smith, pointing out that, ever since the second term of President George Bush, “Washington has ignored the strong and repeated pleas of its regional allies, from Jerusalem to Riyadh, to stop the Iranian nuclear program.”

Perhaps most disturbing, he said, is the extent to which both the Bush and Obama administrations have concealed Iran’s war efforts against the US and its allies in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and the Arab Gulf states.

“US servicemen and –women are continued on page 22


being dispatched to combat zones in Iraq and Afghani-stan where they are fighting Iranian soldiers and assets in a regional war with the Islamic Republic that our officials dare not discuss, lest they have to do something about it,” said Mr. Smith.

Doing NothingOther WikiLeaks revela-

tions that confirm pro-Israel positions include the fact that, despite the insistence of suc-cessive American administra-tions, Saudi donors remain the primary financiers of Sunni terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, and, protestations to the contrary, Israel will ac-cept a two-state solution; the Palestinians will not.

In addition, the documents confirm that one week after Syr-ian President Bashar al-Assad promised the State Department he would not send “new” arms to Hezbollah, the US complained it had information that Damas-cus was providing sophisticated weapons to the terrorist group. Nevertheless, the US govern-ment did nothing.

Similarly, the US ignored Israel’s repeated pleas to press Egypt to block smuggling of military equipment into the Gaza Strip.

According to a 2008 leaked cable, Lebanon’s defense min-ister, Elias Murr, offered US officials advice on how Israel

could defeat Hezbollah in a future war. Vowing to keep the Lebanese army out of the fighting, Mr. Murr suggested the Jewish state avoid bomb-ing bridges and infrastructure in the Christian areas, thus keeping public opinion from turning against them.

The memo also revealed that the US conducted secret spy flights over Hezbollah locations.

Venezuelan JewsThe WikiLeaks also re-

vealed concerns raised by Ven-ezuelan Jews in meetings with US diplomats regarding the increasingly hostile environ-ment created for them by the government of President Hugo Chavez. The Jews said they see a “dark horizon” for their community, according to a WikiLeaks document.

In the dispatch, a US diplo-mat described a gloomy meeting with members of the Confedera-cion de Asociaciones Israelitas Venezolanas, a local Jewish organization, who feared the leftist government’s growing ties with Iran, and the language chosen by Chavez to protest against Israeli policies.

“While Chavez’s rhetoric once clearly differentiated criti-cism of Israel from that of the Venezuelan-Jewish community, since 2004, they believe he has merged his anti-Zionist views with antisemitic ones,” wrote

US political counselor Robin D. Meyer.

Members of the Jewish community complained about having to meet with the foreign minister rather than the interior minister to raise their concerns, giving the impression that they were perceived by Caracas as foreigners. Jewish leaders sug-gested strengthening ties with the US Embassy in case of an outburst of violence against the community.

Another leaked confidential document from 2008, in which US Ambassador to Moscow John Beyrle recounted his meeting with senior Russian Rabbis Adolf Shayevich and Pinchas Gold-schmidt, touched on antisemi-tism, the community’s ties with the Kremlin, and Russian Jews’ relatively new affluence.John Kerry Splits Jerusalem

Supporters of Israel who, in 2004, voted for George Bush over Sen John Kerry (D-MA) may have felt a jolt of vindication from the WikiLeaks documents: Last February, Mr. Kerry told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria, that a Palestinian capital should be established in the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and that he was “shocked” by what he saw on a visit to Gaza.

As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Kerry endorsed the Palestin-

ians’ demand that control of the Al-Aqsa mosque and the estab-lishment of “some kind of capital in East Jerusalem” is “non-nego-tiable.” For Israelis, the senator continued, Israel’s character as a Jewish state would not open for negotiation. What could be resolved through negotiation, he said, is the “non-militarization of an eventual Palestinian state and its borders.”

Although Mr. Kerry re-sisted the Qatari leaders’ as-sertion that Hamas was ready to accept the State of Israel, he agreed that urgent action was needed to rebuild Gaza.

Keeping BusyWhile WikiLeaks docu-

ments will probably keep West-ern government officials and journalists busy for months, authoritarian governments and tightly controlled media in places such as China and across the Arab Middle East have suppressed virtually all mention of the documents, avoiding any public backlash that could result from such candid portrayals of their lead-ers’ views.

Thus, the Arab public has been kept in the dark on issues ranging from accounts of their leaders drinking alcohol and siding with Israel on advocating a US military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“Most Arabs don’t know what’s come out in these



WikiLeaks documents. If they did know, there would be an angry reaction,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center.

Fearing a BacklashHe noted that opposition

Islamist groups, such as the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt, might try to capitalize on doc-uments that underscore their arguments that Arab leaders are subservient to the US and do not reflect the interests of their own people.

In many Arab countries, criticizing a leader is a line that is not crossed; in Jordan, it is illegal to criticize the king. Most mainstream Arab media outlets are government-owned, and the portion of the public with Internet access is far lower than it is in the West.

In the Arab countries, those papers that did discuss the leaked documents concluded it was another conspiracy, a popular concept in the Muslim world.

“It’s all deliberate,” Mozah al-Malki, a prominent Qatari psychologist, told Qatar’s Penin-sula newspaper. “We can clearly see through the ploy. The idea of the so-called leaks is to further intensify tension between Iran and the Arab gulf states.”

SuingIn Turkey, Mr. Erdogan,

who suggested that Israel was behind the WikiLeaks scandal, demanded that the US “punish” diplomats who reported claims in the leaked cables that he and his family are corrupt. In a sometimes furious televised address at the start of an invest-ment conference in Ankara, Mr. Erdogan said he was “working to do what is necessary about these diplomats.”

He said the US had apolo-gized, but, he said, “It is not enough.”

One of Mr. Erdogan’s se-nior aides explained that law-yers from the Turkish justice ministry were examining the feasibility of suing the US

under international, US, and Turkish law.

Judging from the way he has been treated by the Obama administration, Mr. Erdogan has every reason to suspect he will be successful once again.

Saying It PubliclyAsked to comment on the

leaked WikiLeaks documents, Mr. Netanyahu said, “If only Arab leaders would say pub-licly what they say in private, there would be peace.”

He pointed out that, increas-ingly, countries in the region recognize Iran as the central threat, but they “have a gap be-cause, publicly, they are attached to the Israeli-Arab conflict but privately they realize that this narrative is not true.”

“They realize that the cen-tral threat is from Iran and now this has been revealed even though it was always known,” he said.

Who Is the Threat?The WikiLeaks docu-

ments, he said, may turn out

to be very good. “The question is where

this leads. If the Arab leaders continue to speak the truth only privately, it won’t help; but if they start saying it publicly, it can pave the road to peace,” he said. “It can eliminate the theory that Israel is the obstacle to peace and show that we have mutual interests. Our region has been hostage to a narrative that is the result of 60 years of propaganda, which paints Israel as the greatest threat. In reality, leaders understand that view is bankrupt. For the first time in history, there is agreement that Iran is the threat.”

But Israel’s Minister of In-dustry and Trade Benjamin Ben-Eliezer of Labor said the WikiLeaks may be good for Israel for a dif-ferent reason entirely.

“The US has stopped pres-suring Israel to freeze Jewish building in Judea and Samaria because Washington is busy con-trolling damage caused by the WikiLeaks,” he said. S.L.R.

Apply NowAlisa Flatow Memorial

Scholarship Fund Applications, for those planning to be spend the academic year 2011-2012 pursuing Jewish studies in Israel, Dr. Wal-lace Greene, deadline in Feb 15, 2011, www.alisafund.org

Bronfman Youth Fellowships in Israel Applications, for North American Jewish students who will be in 12th grade in Sept 2011 and are looking to spend five weeks of intellectually engaging study in Israel, summer 2011; deadline to apply online at www.bronfman.org is Jan 20, 2011, [email protected] or 518-475-7212

Yiddish Book Center Sum-mer Program, offers college stu-dents a tuition-free, six-credit, seven-week intensive course in Yiddish language, history, and culture, June 12-July 29, 2011, at the book center in Amherst, MA; no prior knowledge of Yiddish re-quired, deadline to apply is Feb 1, 2011, 413-256-4900

Holocaust Remembrance Project Essay Contest, for high school students, no more than 1200 words analyzing why it is vital that the remembrance, his-tory, and lessons of the Holocaust be passed on to a new generation and suggesting what young peo-ple can do to combat and prevent prejudice, discrimination, and vio-lence in our world today, spons by the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, prizes include college scholarships from $250 to $5,000, deadline is April 15, http://holo-caust.hklaw.com/index.asp

Orthodox Union Kosher Essay Contest, for grades 7-12;

essays should range from 750-1,000 words; suggested topics in-clude: “How Does Eating Kosher Enhance Your Jewish Identity?” “What Does the Kosher Symbol on the Label Mean to Me?” “Is Eating Kosher More Than Just a Way of Eating?” “Kashruth and Kedushah—A Connection?” deadline is March 24, 2011, [email protected]

Video/DVD Contest, 12th graders are invited, as a class, to produce a 15-minute video entitled “Going Kosher—What Do I Do? How Do I Do It?” whose purpose is to educate and guide individuals and families looking to become ko-sher. Videos must include hashkafa (philosophy) and halacha (Jewish law) as well as practical sugges-tions and instructions to accomplish the goal. The deadline is March 1, 2011, [email protected]

Fri., Dec 10Special Talents Art Show,

exhibit by individuals with spe-cial needs, JCC, Tenafly, through Tues., Dec 28, 201-408-1490

Technicolor Kabbalat Shabbat, using the tunes from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream-coat,” Hebrew Institute of River-dale, 4:30pm, 718-796-4730

Shabbat Dinner for Teens, with Rabbi Nathaniel and Rebbetzin Rachel Helfgot, for teens at Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, 5:30pm, [email protected]

“Post-Election Challenges,” Malcolm Hoenlein, scholar-in-res-idence, Cong Etz Chaim, Livings-ton, 5:30pm, 973-597-1655

Oneg Shabbat, for teens in grades 9-12, Cong Keter Torah, Tea-neck, 7:45pm, [email protected]

“The Sistine Chapel: The Hidden Jewish Messages of Mi-chelangelo,” Rabbi Benjamin Blech, scholar-in-residence, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 7:30pm

Rav Pinchas Teitz, z”tl, Yah-rtzeit Shabbos: “Living the Legacy of a United Torah Community,” spons by the Jewish Educational Center, featuring “Rav Pinchas Teitz and the Elizabeth Kehilla: A Daughter’s Recollections,” Dr. Rivka Blau, Cong Adath Israel, Elizabeth, 8pm; and “Elizabeth—Before It Was Elizabeth,” Rabbi Yaakov Blau, Elmora Ave Shul, Elizabeth, 8pm, 908-353-0029

“What Is this Midrash Tell-ing Us? VaYigosh,” Rabbi Geda-liah Jaffe, Cong Ohav Emeth, Highland Park, 8pm

“Freedom of Inquiry, Her-esy, and Orthodox,” Rabbi Jer-emy Wieder, Cong Bais Medrash of Bergenfield, 8pm

“A New Generation: Learn-ing from the Past, Growing into the Future,” Rabbanit Malke Bina, scholar-in-residence, spons by Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Ja-cob and David, private home in West Orange, 8pm, 973-324-0914 or 973-736-1407

“Sibling Rivary: Catho-lic-Jewish Relations in 2010,” Howie Beigelman, scholar-in-residence, Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn

Scholar-in Residence, Rab-bi Edward Davis, spons by the Community Synagogue of Mon-sey and Cong Bais Torah, at the Community Synagogue, through Shabbat, Dec 11

“Shabbat Gilad,” initiated by Ari Hagler, 12, in conjunction with his upcoming bar mitzvah; he is asking schools and synagogue rabbis to focus on Gilad Shalit and the mitzvah of pidyom Shvuyim, redeeming a captive, for their drashas, through Shabbat, Dec 11, [email protected]

Shabbat, Dec 11Young Couples and Family

Minyan and Luncheon, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 8:45am

Tefillat Esther: Women’s Tefillah, Hebrew Institute of Riv-erdale, 9am, 718-796-4730

“The Holy Jewish Treasures

in the Vatican: A Miracle on a Mission to Rome,” Rabbi Benja-min Blech, scholar-in-residence, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 10:30am

Rav Pinchas Teitz, z”tl, Yahrtzeit Shabbos: “Living the Legacy of a United Torah Com-munity,” spons by the Jewish Educational Center, featuring at 11am, “Welcoming,” Rav Avro-hom Herman, Cong Adath Isra-el, Elizabeth, and Rav Jonathan Schwartz, Elmora Ave Shul, Eliza-beth; at noon, “Rav Pinchas Teitz and the Whiskey Brouhaha,” Rav Yosef Blau, Cong Adath Israel, Elizabeth; “The Innovation of Daf Hashavua: The Other Side,” Rabbi Yaakov Blau, Cong Adath Israel, Elizabeth; and at 3pm, “Di-vrei Torah,” Rav Yosef Blau, Cong Adath Israel, Elizabeth, and Rabbi Yaakov Blau, Elmora Ave Shul, Elizabeth, 908-353-0029

“An Orthodox-Jewish Legis-lative Wish List,” Howie Beigelman, scholar-in-residence, Cong Shom-rei Torah, Fair Lawn, 11am

“Uniting against the Pha-raohs,” Malcolm Hoenlein, scholar in residence, Cong Etz Chaim, Liv-ingston, 11:30am, 973-597-1655

“Developments in Women’s Torah Learning over the Last 40 Years,” Rabbanit Malka Bina, scholar-in-residence, Cong Aha-was Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, noon

“Shiur Ramat Rachel—Ju-dah and Joseph: From Brother-hood to Nationhood,” CB Neugro-schl, in memory of Rochi Lerner, z”l, for men and women, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 3pm

Women’s Shiur, Susan Weiss-man, Cong Adath Israel, Pas-saic, 3pm

“What Your Name Reveals about You: Your Personality, Your Character, and Your Fu-ture,” Rabbi Benjamin Blech, scholar-in-residence, Cong Aha-vath Torah, Englewood, seudah shlishit

“Yosef: Dreamer or Inter-pretor?” Rav Aharon and Rab-banit Malke Bina, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, seudah shlishit

“Q&A,” Howie Beigelman,

The Log: “Separate Yourself Not from the Community” Page - 24 The Jewish Voice and Opinion December 2010 Tell Our Advertisers “I Saw It in The Jewish Voice & Opinion”

scholar-in-residence, Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, seudah shlishit

Motzei Shabbat, Dec 11Café Night, featuring come-

dian Elon Gold and Modi Rosen-feld, light dinner, coffee bar, cash bar, and Chinese Auction, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 8pm

Project Ezrah Dinner, hon-oring Rabbi Zvi and Rebbetzin Efrat Sobolofsky, Chaya and Mark Goldsmith, Dr. Michael and Fay-ge Novogroder, Patrice and Marc Shoenbrun, and Leah and Reuven Escott at Cong Keter Torah, Tea-neck, 8pm, 201-569-9047

Jewish Educational Cen-ter Elmora Ave Shul Dinner, honoring Rav Elazar and Reb-betzin Elisheva Teitz and Jeff Goldstein, commemorating the 15th Yahrtzeit of Rav Pinchas M Teitz, z”tl, JEC, Elizabeth, 8pm, 908-353-0029

Cantor Yehuda Green in Concert, Cong Shaarey Israel, Suffern, 8pm, [email protected] or 845-369-0300

Worldwide Women’s Audio-Visual Presentation: “Unleash the Potential within Each Mo-

ment—Monumental Moments,” featuring Rebbetzin Tehillah Jae-ger, Chanie Juravel, Rena Tarshish, and Seryl Berman, Reenas Bais Yaakov High School, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-572-4713

“Ethics in the Field: An In-side Look at the Israel Defense Forces—How the IDF Ensures Israel’s Security While Uphold-ing a Rigorous Military Code of Ethics,” IDF Col. (Res) Bentzi Gru-ber, multi-media presentation, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8pm

Sandy Shmuely in Concert and “A Night at the Auction” emceed by Nachum Segal, Cong Bnai Shalom, West Orange, 8pm, 973-731-0160

Chanukah Disco Ball, spons by Hillel, Rutgers Student Cen-ter, New Brunswick, 9:30pm, 732-545-2407

Sun., Dec 12Final Hours to Purchase a

Raffle Ticket, to support Jewish Family and Vocational Service of Middlesex County, prize is a seven-day cruise for two on a Celebrity Cruise Line ship to the destination of your choice, proceeds support JFVS’s kosher food pantry, Ko-

sher Meals on Wheels, and other programs, 732-985-7348

Bergen and Hudson UJA Super Sunday, making calls from Paramus, 9am-9pm, 201-820-3950

Shomer Shabbat Cub Scout Pack 613 Den Meeting: Respect, Cong Ahavat Achim, Fair Lawn, 9:30am, [email protected]

“Chevra Kadisha Practices and Procedures,” Rabbi Yosef Adler, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Tea-neck, 9:30am

Defensive Driving, River-dale Jewish Center, 9:30am, 718-548-1850

MetroWest UJA Super Sun-day, fundraising phone-a-thon, 9:30am-8pm; babysitting, for chil-dren and babies six months and up, 9:30am-12:30pm; vendors, 10am-6pm; Gift of Life Bone Marrow Registry Drive, 10am-3pm; blood drive, 11am-6pm; Community Ser-vice Projects for families, interactive story time, and Mama Doni Kids Concert, 2-4pm; Teen Program for grades 9-12, 5-8pm; includes canned food and children’s book drives, Aidekman Family Jewish

Community Campus, Whippany, 973-929-3010

Super Sunday, phone calls for the Jewish Federation of Greater Clifton-Passaic, 10am-2pm, 973-777-7031

“Keeping up with the Steins: Towards a Meaningful Bar/Bat Mitzvah,” Rabbi Mordechai Becher, spons by Gateways, at the Monmouth Torah Links Hebrew School, Mor-ganville, 10am, 845-352-0393

Adult, Child, and Infant CPR and First-Aid Training, including adult bleeding-control, splinting, and how to use an au-tomated external defibrillator, for men over the age of 12, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 10am, [email protected]

Chug Ivrit Hebrew Club, for intermediate to advanced Hebrew speakers, spons by Hadassah, for men and women, not necessarily members of Hadassah, private home in Highland Park, 11am, 732-819-9298 or 732-572-4701

Pre-Collegiate Learning Center of NJ Open House, for visitors to discover PCLC’s cus-

The Log: “Separate Yourself Not from the Community”



tomized, high-quality, $5,000-per-year tuition Jewish day school high school education, private location in New Brunswick, 2pm, 908-616-0321, www.pclcnj.com

Children’s and Teens’ Cir-cle, for special-needs children and teens, Zeesy Grossbaum, spons by the Friendship Circle, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, River Edge, 2pm, 201-262-7172

Yeshiva Passaic Torah In-stitute and Neve PTI Dinner, featuring Rabbi Paysach Krohn, honoring Rabbis Shlomo Singer and Baruch Bodenheim, Morde-chai and Rivka Golombeck, Chaim and Chava Pinchuck, and Gary and Marcia Schrager, Ohel Rivka Hall, Passaic, 6pm, 646-284-3377

Speed Dating for Frum Singles, ages 25-38, with shad-chanim, spons by the Associa-tion of Orthodox Jewish Scientists and the Torah Lishmah Institute, at Cong Ohab Zedek, Riverdale, 6pm, 347-275-7246

Film: “The Yankles,” for-mer pro-baseball player and ex-con finds redemption coaching an upstart Orthodox-Jewish baseball team, JCC, Rockland, West Ny-ack, 7pm, 845-362-4400

Hebrew Institute Commu-nity Choir of Riverdale in Con-cert, Hebrew Institute of River-dale, 7:30pm, 718-543-6527

Cong Beth Aaron Sister-hood Book Club, “Adjusting Sights” by Haim Sabato, pri-vate home in Teaneck, 7:30pm, 201-837-0651

“Fall is in the Air” Cook-ing Demonstration and Tasting, Executive Chef Jack Filipovich, spons by Cong Netivot Shalom,

private home in Teaneck, 8pm, [email protected]

“After the Announcement of Homosexual Unions, What Is All the Jewish News That Is Fit to Print?” Gary Rosenblatt, Sam Norich, Andrew Silow Carroll, and Rebecca Boroson, with Rabbi Law-rence Zierler, Jewish Center of Tea-neck, 7:30pm, 201-833-0515

“The Law and Spirit of Out-reach,” Rabbis Herschel Schachter and Ephraim Buchwald, spons by the Jewish Learning Experience and the RCBC, at Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8pm, 201-966-4498

Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey Dedication of Its New Building, featuring Malcolm Hoenlein, River Edge, 8pm, [email protected]

Young and Young-at-Heart Couples Chanukah Party, Cong Ohav Emeth, Highland Park, 8:30pm, 732-317-8182

Mon., Dec 13Online Shiur: “Are ‘the Set-

tlements’ the Problem?” Rabbi Mordechai Becher, 12:30pm http://www.projectsinai.org/presenter/rabbi_mordechai_becher/

How To Pass the Test to Become a Notary Public, pri-vate home in Chestnut Ridge, NY, 5pm, 848-525-1827

Webcast Workshop: “Net-working without a Network: Job Search Strategies for Job Seekers with Limited Contacts,” Lavie Margolin, spons by the Or-thodox Union’s Wall Street Initia-tive, register at www.oujobs.org or 212-613-8391, 5:30pm

Chopstix Kosher Party, to benefit Tomorrow’s Children of Hackensack University Medical

Center, organized by Elie Y Katz with food from Chopstix, Dou-gie’s, Pickleicious, Chickie’s, and Poppy’s, featuring live music and entertainment for the whole fam-ily, at the Moose Lodge, Teaneck, 6-9pm, 201-715-5179

“The Jewish National Fund’s Role in Building the New Com-munity of Halutza for Gush Katif Evacuees and JNF’s Role in Pre-senting a Positive Israel Story on US College Campuses,” Rabbi Eric Lankin, JNF Teaneck Council buffet dinner and dessert reception, honor-ing Bob Levine, Dr. Mark and Lorna Pascal, Betty Samuels, and Rabbi Steven Sirbu, private home in Tea-neck, 7pm, jsiskind@#jnf.org

Jewish Stuttering Associa-tion Support Group, for teenage boys, private home in Far Rock-away, 7pm, 347-855-7520

Israeli Defense Forces Mu-sical Ensemble in Concert, fea-turing music and a talk by an IDF Air Force pilot, Cong Adath Sha-lom, Morris Plains, 7pm, 212-244-3118 ext 14

Skills Needed to Manage Per-sonal Finances in Today’s World, for teens, Diane Nissen Friedman, Diane Sundermann, and Jonathan Newman, CareOne at the Cupola, Paramus, 7:30pm, 201-447-1137

“Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Agunah Crisis—Sec-ular Law and Halacha,” Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin, Riverdale Jewish Center, 8pm, 718-548-1850

“The Centurions—6th Cen-tury CE,” Rabbi Steven Pruzan-sky, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Tean-eck, 8:15pm

Tues., Dec 14Friendship Circle for Spe-

cial-Needs Children and Teens Sports Night, Zeesy Grossbaum, at the Moriah School of Englewood, 5:30pm, 201-262-7172

Camp Informational Meet-ing, Riverdale YMHA, 6:30pm, 718-548-8200

Jewish Stuttering Associ-ation Support Group, for men, private home in Boro Park, Brook-lyn, 7pm, 347-855-7520

Parent Bound Information-al Meeting about In Vitro Fer-tilization (IVF) in Israel, how to access it and save thousands

of dollars, halachic supervision by Puah, featuring a represen-tative of the Israel Ministry of Tourism and six major hospitals, 92nd Street YMHA, Manhattan, 7:30pm, 845-738-0050

Fair Lawn Diamond Jubilee Band in Concert, featuring works by Bach; Handel’s “Judas Macca-baeus;” “Fiddler on the Roof;” “Three Moods of Chanukah,” arranged by jazz saxophonist Lenny Niehaus; “Eine Kleine Yiddishe Ragmusik” by Adam Gorb; and Kol Nidre by solo baritone saxophonist Lew Archer, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Fair Lawn, 7:30pm, 201-794-2137 or 201-670-8383

Sisterhood Book Club: “Nemesis” by Philip Roth, pri-vate home in West Orange, 8pm, 973-669-0938

Refresher Course in Pregnan-cy and Childbirth, Yoetzet Halacha Bracha Rutner, Riverdale Jewish Center, 8pm, 718-548-1850

“Rosie and Shmuley Come Together,” Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Rosie O’Donnell, Bergen Per-forming Arts Center, Englewood, 8pm, 201-227-1030

“Sin and Sanctity in the Sub-urbs—A No-Nonsense Look at Par-shat Kedoshim: Dirty Money and Charity,” Rabbi Shalom Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8:30pm

Wed., Dec 15Friendship Circle Teen

Scene, for special-needs teens, at the Frisch Yeshiva High School, Paramus, 6pm, 201-262-7172

Book Club: “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein, facilitated by Arlene Sand-er, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 7pm, 845-362-4400

“Transforming Trauma to Resilience,” Dr. Irit Felsen, spons by Teaneck Second Generation, a monthly discussion group for children of Holocaust survivors, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 7:15pm, 201-837-9090

“Through Others’ Eyes: Pho-to Exhibit, Video and Talk,” Jew-ish and Palestinian high school stu-dents from the Givat Haviva Insti-tute, Riverdale YMHA, 7:30pm, 718-548-8200

“The Future of Judaism in Latin America,” Rabbi Alberto

The Log continued from page 25


Zeilcovich, spons by the Hispano Hebraico Club (Jewish-Spanish Club), Jewish Center of Teaneck, 8pm, 201-833-0515 ext 200

Yeshiva University High School for Boys Parlor Meeting, private home in Riverdale, 8pm, 212-960-5400 ext 6676

Rav Herschel Schachter, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 8pm, 973-736-1407

“The Evolution of Agga-dah: The Torah and the Nations of the World,” Dr. Tammy Ja-cobowitz, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 8:15pm

Zumba, for women, Yeshivat Noam, Paramus, 8:15pm, 201-261-1919

Thurs., Dec 16La Leche League of Bronx/

Riverdale, Mia Damond Padwa, preg-nant women, babies and small children welcome, healthy snacks, Riverdale YMHA, 9:30am, 718-543-0314

Last day for exhibit: “The Holocaust: Massacre of the Inno-cents,” by Grace Graupe-Pillard, Rider University Art Gallery, Law-renceville, 609-896-5168; Tues-Thurs, 11am-7pm; Sunday, 11-4pm

Personal Aliyah Planning Meetings and Counseling, spons by Nefesh B’Nefesh, UJA, Para-mus, 12-8:15pm, 866-4-ALIYAH (866-425-4924)

Jewish Bereavement Group, for widows and widowers, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 1:45pm, 201-837-9090

Orientation for Potential Friendship Circle Volunteers to Work with Special-Needs Chil-dren and Teens, Zeesy Gross-baum, Cong Beth Tefillah, Para-mus, 5pm, 201-262-7172

Shorashim Boys Swim and Gym, for grades 4-7, Jewish Cen-ter of Teaneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Kosher Cooking with Whole Grains, Chef Meredith Spiegel, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 7:30pm, 845-362-4400

“If You Knew Suzy: A Moth-er, a Daughter, a Reporter’s Note-book,” Katherine Rosman, JCC, Tenafly, 8pm, 201-408-1411Fri., Dec 17, Asara B’Tevet

Singles Shabbaton, for ages 22-32, Cong Anshe Chesed, Lin-den, through Shabbat, Dec 18, [email protected]

Last Day to Donate a New or Gently Used Coat, the Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School in South River is collecting coats for children and adult to be dis-tributed by the Staten Island Bi-kur Cholim, 732-613-7460

“A Taste of Shabbat,” for children 2-4 with adult, Aviva Kohl, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 11:45am, 845-362-4400

Seudah and Lecture: “Or-thodoxy in 18th and 19th Cen-tury America,” Rabbi Dr. Jacob Schacter, scholar-in-residence, and Oneg Shabbat, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 4:30pm, 732-247-0532

Family Shabbos Dinner, Chabad of Rockland, New City, 4:30pm, 845-638-2874

“What Is this Midrash Tell-ing Us? Va Yehi, Rabbi Jeremy Lebowitz, Cong Ohav Emeth, Highland Park, 8pm

Men’s Club Cholent Chal-lenge, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8pm, [email protected]

Cholent Cook-Off and Oneg, with divrei Torah, Cong Arzei Darom, Teaneck, 8pm, [email protected]

Leil Limud, a series of shiu-rim held simultaneously, spons by Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, in private homes, West Orange, 8pm, 973-736-1407

Oneg Shabbat, for teens, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:30pm

Rayim Yachad Shabbaton, hosted by Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, through Shabbat, Dec 18, 201-796-5902

Shabbat, Dec 18“Who’s Not in the Room?

Faith, Doubt, and Leaving Re-ligious Life,” Dr. Michelle Fried-man, Hebrew Institute of River-dale, 11am, 718-796-4730

Scholar-in-Residence, Rab-bi Dr. Jacob Schacter, drasha, 11am, and “Act and Emotion in the Service of G-d,” Cong Aha-vas Achim, Highland Park, seu-dah shlishit, 732-247-0532

Oneg for Girls in the Bat Mitzvah Program, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 3pm, 973-736-1407

Tot Shabbat, for children newborn to age 5 and a parent, Ali Blech, stories, songs, games, and a snack, spons by Cong Arzei

Darom, private home in Teaneck, 3pm, 201-836-0078

Bat Mitzvah Girls Learning Program, Rebbetzin Peshi Neuburger, private home in Bergenfield, 3:15pm, [email protected]

Parent-Daughter “Pearls of Prayer,” Rabbi Jonathan Rosen-blatt, Riverdale Jewish Center, grades 3-6 with a parent, seudah shlishit, 718-548-1850

Motzei Shabbat, Dec 18Recreation Night, grades

3-5, separate swim and gym, Jew-ish Center of Teaneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Friendship Circle Family Fun Night, for families with special-needs children and teens, at Bounce U, Paramus, 7pm, 201-262-7172

Movie Night, for grades K-4, Cong Keter Torah, Tean-eck, 7:15pm

Comedy Night, includes dinner, Cong Kehillat Bais Yehuda, Wesley Hills, 7:30pm, 845-202-0058

Jewish Learning Experi-ence Dinner, celebrating JLE’s 25th year, honoring Rabbi Michael Taubes, Sam & Judy Berkowitz, and Gary & Sharon Rubin, Jew-ish Center of Teaneck, 7:45pm, 201-966-4498

Bikur Cholim of Passaic Melave Malka, featuring HaRav Meir Stern and Dr. Dovid Lieberman, dinner and music, Cong Adas Israel, Passaic, 8pm, 973-249-8811

“An Evening of Comedy,” Elon Gold and Mark Schiff, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 8pm, 201-568-1315

“Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in 21st-Century America,” Rabbi Dr. Jacob Schacter, spons by the Orthodox Forum, at Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-247-0532

“The Return of the Lego Man: Bulding Jerusalem from Lego,” for the whole family, Cong

Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8pm, [email protected]

Film and Discussion: “Herzl and Gevatron,” Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 8pm, 718-796-4730

Chanukah Dinner and Cele-bration, featuring “Questions about the Rabbi” selected by Rebbetzin Karen Pruzansky, Cong Bnai Ye-shurun, Teaneck, 8:30pm

Sun., Dec 19The Hebrew Youth Academy/

Joseph Kushner Hebrew Acad-emy/ Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School Day of Learning, open to alumni, friends, spouses, and com-munity members, two learning ses-sions by Rabbis Joseph Reifman, Reuven Greenberg, and Shimshon Jacob, and Diane Bohs, spons by the schools’ Alumni Society, in-cludes babysitting for children 3-10 years old, brunch, and tours of the school, Livingston, 9am, [email protected] or 973-251-2008

Shomer Shabbat Cub Scout Pack 613 Trip to the Intrepid Museum, Cong Ahavat Achim, Fair Lawn, 9:30am, [email protected]

Caregivers Support Group, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 9:30am, 973-736-1407

Beginners Shabbos Morn-ing Service, followed by Kiddush, Rabbi David Pietruszka, spons by the Jewish Learning Experience, at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, 9:45am, 201-966-4498

CPR and First-Aid Train-ing, for men over the age of 12, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 10am, [email protected]

Film: “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” Lafayette Theatre, Suf-fern, 11:30am, 845-353-2568

Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah Fair and Speed Aliyah Meetings, Josh



The Log is a free service provided to the Jewish com-munity in northern and central New Jersey, Rockland County and Riverdale. Events that we list include special and guest lectures, concerts, boutiques, dinners, open houses, club meetings, and new classes.

Announcements are requested by the 25th of the month prior to the month of the event. Due to space and editorial constraints, we cannot guarantee publication of any announce-ment. Please email them to :

[email protected].

Sussman, “Introduction and Welcome: Aliyah Planning Workshop,” 1pm; “Navigating the Educational System in Israel” and “Retiring in Israel,” 1:30pm; “Job Search Strategies for the Israeli Market” and “Retiring in Israel,” 2:30pm; “The Israeli Health-care System” and “Your Taxes in Is-rael,” 3:30pm; “Aliyah Rights and Benefits” and “Social Networking in Israel,” 4:30pm; plus a series of “Speed Aliyah Meetings” on em-ployment, aliyah rights and benefits, and the Go North Program; at the UJA, Paramus, 1-866-4-ALIYAH (1-866-425-4924)

Sporkle Trivia Game, spons by Cong Beth Aaron Junior NCSY, grades 6-8, private home in Tea-neck, 1pm, 201-247-7961 or 908-414-4235

Conference: “Jobs, Mar-riage, and the Future,” spons by Yad HaChazakah-The Jewish Dis-ability Empowerment Center, for young Jewish adults with disabili-ties from 16-30 years old, parents, and professionals, Manhattan, reg-istration, 1pm; Welcome, Michael Levy, 1:30pm; “Job Preparation: What’s Involved?” Sharon Sha-piro, 1:40pm; “Machon L’Parnasa: A Frum-Friendly Way to Prepare for the Workforce,” Rabbi Joshua Cheifetz, 1:40pm; “Starting You Own Business: An Example of Success,” Yoek Yitzchok Bodek, 1:40pm; “Marriage: Ways to Find Your Bashert,” Yisroel Lacks, 2:50pm; “Preparing for the Fu-ture: Building Support Systems and Accessing Resources,” Gitel Brukman, 3:55pm; “Independence and Responsibilities: Legacies Passed from Parent to Child,” Mi-chael Levy, 3:55pm; “Next Steps,” Sharon Shapiro, 4:45pm; 212-284-6936 or [email protected]

Children’s and Teens’ Cir-cle, for special-needs children and teens, Zeesy Grossbaum, spons by the Friendship Circle, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, River Edge, 2pm, 201-262-7172

Girls Swim and Gym, for grades 6-8, spons by Cong Ket-er Torah, at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, 3:30pm, [email protected]

Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School Dinner Theater: “Death

by Dessert” by Nathan Harts-wick, includes dinner and Bnai Jazz during intermission, 5:30pm, 973-597-1115 ext 1164

Cong Ohr Torah (Edison) Dinner, honoring Rabbi Benjamin and Helen Kramer and Irwin and Mildred Goldblatt, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Somerset, 6pm

Alisa Chapter of AMIT Moth-er- or Father-in-Israel Evening at the Morris Museum, for men and women, includes a private docent tour of the Guinness Collection fol-lowed by a champagne-dairy des-sert reception, Morristown, 6:30pm, 973-731-1038

“Make Your Own Sister-hood,” Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 8pm, [email protected]

Girls Night Out Zumba Class, for women and girls ages 10 and up, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8pm

“Mesorah in a Changing World: Women Rabbis, Parnassa, Tznius, Etc,” Rav Mayer Twersky, spons by TorahWeb, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8pm

“Dina D’Malchusa Dina: Paying Cash, Domestic Help, Taxes, Backyard Camps, Etc,” Rav Hershel Schachter, spons by TorahWeb, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8:45pm

Mon., Dec 20“Songs of Kurt Weil,” Leona

Schwab, JCC, Tenafly, 11:15am, 201-408-1426


Tues., Dec 21Blood Drive and Double

Red Cell Donation, for those 17-75, Cong Shomrei Torah, Wayne, 3:30-9pm, 973-696-2500

“Sin and Sanctity in the Sub-urbs—A No-Nonsense Look at Parshat Kedoshim: Infidelity or Recommitment in the Suburbs,” Rabbi Shalom Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8:30pm

Wed., Dec 22Friendship Circle Cooking

Circle, for special-needs children and teens, Zeesy Grossbaum, Rosen-baum Yeshiva of North Jersey, River Edge, 5:30pm, 201-262-7172

Shorashim Girls Swim and Gym, for grades 4-7, Jewish Cen-ter of Teaneck, 6:45pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Confidential Abused Wom-en’s Support Group, Jewish Fam-ily Service, Teaneck, 7:15pm, 201-837-9090

“Chicks with Sticks Knitting Circle,” hats for preemies, children with cancer, and IDF soldiers in Israel, private home in Highland Park, 8pm, 732-339-8492

Teleconference: “Prophy-lactic Surgery for Breast and Ovarian Cancer: How Will It Affect Me?” Dina Roth Port and Shera Dubitsky, spons by Sharsheret, 8pm, to register call 866-474-2774

“The Evolution of Agga-dah: The Torah and the Nations of the World,” Dr. Tammy Ja-cobowitz, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 8:15pm

Zumba, for women, Yeshivat Noam, Paramus, 8:15pm, 201-261-1919

Thurs., Dec 23Support Group for Caregiv-

ers, Vivian Green Korner, JCC, Tenafly, 11am, 201-408-1454

Jewish Bereavement Group, for widows and widowers, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 1:45pm, 201-837-9090

Shorashim Boys Swim and Gym, for grades 4-7, Jewish Cen-ter of Teaneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Junior NCSY Snow Tub-ing, for grades 6-8, Cong Aha-was Achim Bnai Jacob and Da-vid, West Orange, 7pm

Fri., Dec 24Friendship Circle Yedid-

ainu, for special-needs children and teens, Zeesy Grossbaum, Yeshivat Noam, Paramus, 10am, 201-262-7172

Community Dinner, Riv-erdale Jewish Center, 5pm, 718-548-1850

Gateways Winter Retreat, featuring Rabbis Mordechai Bech-er, Jonathan Rietti, Mordechai Suchard, and Yonason Shippel, also Debbie Greenblatt, Chaya Reich, and Dr. Chaim Presby, Hanover Marriott, Whippany, through Sun., Dec 26, 845-352-0393

“What Is this Midrash Tell-

ing Us? Shemos,” Rabbi Tzvi Weiss, Cong Ohav Emeth, High-land Park, 8pm

Dr. Marc Shapiro, scholar-in-residence, Beis Medrash of Ber-genfield, through Shabbat, Dec 25, [email protected]

Shabbat, Dec 25Luncheon, for grades K-1, Cong

Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, noonMotzei Shabbat, Dec 25

Parent-Child Learning Ses-sion, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 6pm, 732-618-9473

Aryeh Kunstler in Con-cert, spons by the Jewish Edu-cational Center, at Bruriah High School, Elizabeth, 7:45pm, 908-355-4850 ext 118

Cong Ahavas Achim of High-land Park Chanukat Habayit, to dedicate the shul’s newly expanded building, includes guest chazzan, Kiddush, melave malka, Torah study with the Vaad Harabbonim of Raritan Valley, and a youth pro-gram, 8pm, 732-247-0532

“The Discovery Seminar: Multimedia Presentation Com-bining Psychology, Philosophy, History, and Computer Science into the Why of Being Jewish,” includes “Bible Codes” and what really happened at Mt. Sinai, spons by the Jewish Learning Experi-ence, at the Jewish Center of Tea-neck, 8pm, 201-966-4498

Film: “Against the Tide,” the story of the controversial Holocaust operative Peter Bergson, produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8pm

Film and Discussion: “Go-ing with the Flow: A Guide to Transcending Stuttering,” Dr. Phil Schneider, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 8pm, 718-796-4730

Sun., Dec 26Tefillah Workshop with Insights

and Singing: “Getting a Handle on the Words and Music of Tefillah,” Cantor Joseph Malovany, audio re-cording permitted, Cong Keter To-rah, 8:30am, 201-907-0180

Rabbi Pesach Raymon Ye-shiva Scholarship Breakfast, honoring Miri Gordon with the school’s Educator Excellence Award, Edison, 9am, 732-247-3073 or 732-572-5052 ext 207

Shomer Shabbat Cub Scout



Pack 613 Den Meeting: Respect, Cong Ahavat Achim, Fair Lawn, 9:30am, [email protected]

JACS Meeting, 12-steps meeting for Jews in recovery, Rabbi Steven Bayar, Cong B’nai Israel, Millburn, 7pm, 973-379-3811

Mon., Dec 27Winter Experience Jew-

ish Day Camp, for children 3-13, spons by the Chabad Center of Pas-saic County, Wayne, 9am-4pm, through Fri., Dec 31 (until 1pm on Friday), 973-694-6274

Friendship Circle Winter Camp, for special-needs children and teens, Yavneh Academy, Para-mus, 10am-3pm, through Thurs., Dec 30, 201-262-7172

Personal Aliyah Meetings, Zev Gershinsky, spons by Nef-esh B’Nefesh, UJA, Paramus, 12-8:15pm, 1-866-4-ALIYAH (1-866-425-4924)


Tues, Dec 28Shomer Shabbat Cub

Scout Pack 613 Tantaqua Dis-trict Bown-a-Thon, meet at Cong Ahavat Achim, Fair Lawn, 7pm, [email protected]

“Sin and Sanctity in the Suburbs—A No-Nonsense Look at Parshat Kedoshim: The 2010 Avoda Zara,” Rabbi Shalom Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Tea-neck, 8:30pm

Wed., Dec 29Friendship Circle Teen

Scene, for special-needs teens, at the Frisch Yeshiva High School, Paramus, 6pm, 201-262-7172

Thurs., Dec 30Shorashim Boys Swim and

Gym, for grades 4-7, Jewish Cen-ter of Teaneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Fri., Dec 31Manischewitz Cook-Off Cook-

ing Competition Deadline to Share Your Favorite Recipes and Compete for $25,000 in GE Profile Kitchen Appliances; recipes must include one of the Manischewitz all-natural broth flavors, have no more than a total of eight ingredients, and be prepared and cooked in one hour or less. Con-testants must be US citizens at least 18 years old. Entry forms at www.

manischewitz.comDeadline for Areyvut’s Bnai

Mitzvah Video Essay Contest, for students in grades 5-10, create a video that captures why and how you incorporated, or will incorpo-rate, the values of chesed, tzedaka, and tikkun olam into your bar or bat mitzvah celebration and how you have continued your project, deadline is Dec 31, 2010, [email protected] or 201-244-6702

Uncle Moishy and the Mitz-vah Men in Concert, spons by Areyvut, at Cong Beth Sholom, Teaneck, 10am, 201-244-6702

NCSY Yarchei Kallah Shabbaton for Jewish Public School Students, at Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, through Shab-bat, Jan 1

“What Is this Midrash Tell-ing Us? Va Yeira,” Justin Horn-stein, Cong Ohav Emeth, High-land Park, 8pm

Shabbat, Jan 1Carlebach Minyan, Cong

Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn, 8:45am

Bat Mitzvah Girls Learning Program, Rebbetzin Peshi Neuburger, private home in Bergenfield, 3:15pm, [email protected]

Sun., Jan 2Shomer Shabbat Cub Scout

Pack 613 Den Meeting: Positive Attitude, Cong Ahavat Achim, Fair Lawn, 9:30am, [email protected]

Beginners Shabbos Morn-ing Service, followed by Kiddush, Rabbi David Pietruszka, spons by the Jewish Learning Experience, at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, 9:45am, 201-966-4498

Mon., Jan 3Deadline to Apply for the

Yiddish Book Center Fellowship Program, for college graduates who are passionate about Yiddish language and culture and want to work at the book center in Am-herst, MA, with a stipend, for a year, beginning Sept 2011, 413-256-4900 ext 142

“Empowering Women with Power Tools,” especially for wom-en who are divorced, widowed, or single mothers whose budgets can-not handle professional electricians and plumbers, spons by UJA of Northern NJ’s Bonim Builders, can include transportation and child-

care, YJCC, Washington Twnshp, 7:30pm, 201-666-6610


Tues., Jan 4Contemporary Israeli Po-

etry Group, in the original with English translation and discussion, Atara Fobar, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 7pm, 718-796-4730

“Sin and Sanctity in the Sub-urbs—A No-Nonsense Look at Parshat Kedoshim: Holier Than Thou,” Rabbi Shalom Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8:30pm

Wed., Jan 5Confidential Abused Wom-

en’s Support Group, Jewish Fam-ily Service, Teaneck, 7:15pm, 201-837-9090

Zumba, for women, Yeshi-vat Noam, Paramus, 8:15pm, 201-261-1919

Fri., Jan 7“What Is this Midrash Tell-

ing Us? Bo,” Rabbi Motti Mill-er, Cong Ohav Emeth, Highland Park, 8pm

Motzei Shabbat, Jan 8Parent-Child Learning,

Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 6pm, 732-618-9473

Sun., Jan 9“Swab Your Cheek for Ezra,”

Ezra Fineman, 18 months, has a rare primary immune deficiency called Hyper IgM Syndrome and he needs a stem cell transplant. Those between 18 and 60 can join the registry, Tem-ple Emanu-el, Closter, 9am-1pm, [email protected]

Uncle Moishy Concert, Riv-erdale Jewish Center, 11am, 718-543-2553

“How a Trip to Israel Changed My Life and Made Israel My Cause,” African-American Pastor Rev Dr. Dee Dee Coleman, Detroit, and Jeff Mendelsohm, AIPAC na-tional outreach director, at the Frisch Yeshiva High School, Paramus, 7pm, 212-750-4110 Y

Mazal Tov to the Bar Mitzvah Boys: Sholom Becher, Adam Blank, Yechiel Mordecai Dovid, Andrew Gellerstein, Calev Glick, CJ Glicksman, Shlomo Greenberg, Alex Gross, Yaakov Aharon Heideman, Levi Jacob, Yair Knoller, Benjamin Lefkow-itz, Ben Lutz, Samuel Merkin, Ben Nissim, Natan Pittinsky, Yoni Pomper, Ben Prince, Mishan Rosenzweig, Isaac Stein, Jacob Tepler, Brian Tuch, Yehuda Tzvi Victor, Jacob Wein-stein, Noam Wieder, and Eitan Wolfson; and the Bat Mitzvah Girls: Lauren Aduculesi, Talia Chasen, Ariella Ciment, Anna and Julia Greenblatt, Jodana Hirt, Jordana Hornblass, Ne-chama Levie, Rebecca Meller, Talia Levie, Malki Rubin, and Olivia Schwartz

Mazal Tov to Rabbi and Rebbetzin Menachem Zupnik, Mr. and Mrs. Yonah Wolf, and Dr. and Mrs. Elliott Samet on being honored by Cong Bais Torah U’Tefilah at the shul’s 25th an-niversary dinner last month

Mazal Tov to Rabbi Yosef and Rebbetzin Sheryl Adler on the dedication in their honor of the new sanctuary at Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck

Mazal Tov to Joan Newman on being honored by the Sister-hood of the Community Synagogue of Monsey

Mazal Tov to NJ State Sen Loretta Weinberg on receiving the Hadassah North Jersey Region Myrtle Wreath Award for her work as a leading advocate for health care and women’s issues

Mazal Tov to the Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva for its winning Torah Bowl teams and E2K students, RPRY’s after-school math and science enrichment program. The E2K students in grades 5-8 took third place against 14 other yeshivots through-out the world. Mazal Tov to Miriam Rosenbluth, Shira Shalmon, Yaakov Siegel, Mira Simantov, Reva Lewitter, Rachel Zemble, Moshe Davis, Yair Tennenberg, Matthew Waizer, Aryeh Ber-man and the E2K facilitators, Harry Chefitz and Sari Shalm-


Mazal Tov

Sundays“The Power and the Glory: Learning the Book of Shmuel 1,”

Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, 8:30amBreakfast and Learn, for children in grades 5-8, Rabbi Shalom

Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8:30pm“Messianism in Chassidic Thought,” Rabbi Bryan Kinzbrun-

ner, private home in Highland Park, 9am, 732-247-0532Teenage Sewing Class, private home in West Orange, 9am, 718-473-7561Gemara Shiur, Rabbi Avrumy Fein, Riverdale Jewish Center,

9:15am, 718-548-1850Gemara, Zev Felsen, Cong Etz Ahaim Sephardic, Highland Park,

9:30am, 732-247-3839“Mesillat Yesharim,” for women, Rabbi David Bassous, Cong Etz

Ahaim Sephardic, Highland Park, 10am, 732-247-3839Children’s Sewing Class, private home in West Orange, 10:30am,

718-473-7561Boys Self-Defense Class, spons by the Cheder of Passaic, at the

Karate Studio, Clifton, 6pm, 862-485-4385Girls Self-Defense Class, for women and girls ages 10 and up,

Denise Cattaneo, spons by Cheder N’shei, at the Karate Studio, Clif-ton, 7pm, 862-485-4385

Chabura on Revadim Method of Talmud Study, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:15pm

Mondays“WISE: Women, Independent, Strong, Enriched,” confidential

program providing integrated employment and counseling for domes-tic-abuse victims, Sheila Steinbach, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 9:30am, 201-837-9090

Mommy and Me Music Class, for children 6 months-3 years, Keli Teichman, private home in Teaneck, 10am, 973-473-7515

“Tehillim with a Taste of Parsha,” for women, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 11am

The Gentlemen’s Kollel, Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, Riverdale Jewish Center, 1pm, 718-548-1850

Hebrew Crash Course, Sara Kinberg, Hebrew Institute of Riv-erdale, 6:30pm, 718-796-4730

Learn B’Chavruta, for boys in grades 7-8 to learn with Torah Academy of Bergen County juniors and seniors, refreshments, TABC, Teaneck, 7pm, 646-706-2553 or 201-663-0818, ends Dec 27

Women’s Tehillim Group, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 7pm, 973-731-7909

“Stories of Elisha and Eliyahu,” Rabbi Avi Weiss, private home in Riverdale, 7:30pm, 718-796-4730

“Haftorah Hesitations No More: Learn Haftorah Torahtrop,” for men and women, Lynn Cohen, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 7:30pm, 718-796-4730, begins Dec 13

“Go Learn, Love, and Live Torah,” Rabbi Lawrence Zierler, Jewish Center of Teaneck, 7:45pm, 201-833-0515

Navi Shiur, Rabbi Ian Shaffer, Young Israel of Fair Lawn, 7:55pm“Rav Chaim of Volozhin’s ‘Nefesh Hachaim’” Rabbi David Bas-

sous, Cong Etz Ahaim Sephardic, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-247-3839Advanced Hebrew Ulpan, Sara Kinberg, Hebrew Institute of

Riverdale, 8pm, 718-796-4730Advanced Talmud, Rabbi Jeff Fox, private home in Riverdale,

8pm, [email protected] Shiur, for women, Aviva Orlian, private home in New Hemp-

stead, 8:15pm, 845-364-5148Gemara Shiur: A New Chapter of Berachas, Rabbi Menachem

Genack, Cong Shomrei Emunah, Englewood, 9pmGemara Masechet Megillah, Rabbi Steven Miodownik, private

home in Highland Park, 9pm, 732-247-0532

Aruch Hashulchan Chabura, Bais Medrash of Bergenfield, 9pm, 201-637-7470

“Insights into the Siddur,” Rabbi Pinchas Weinberger, Young Israel of Teaneck, 9:15pm

TuesdaysGems of Torah, Rabbi Moshe Goldberger, Cong Ahavas Achim,

Highland Park, 8:30am, 732-247-0532Torah in the AM: Navi Chavura: Book of Kings, Cong Keter

Torah, Teaneck, 9amMishnayot Yoma/Rosh Hashana, Rabbi Avigdor Weitzner, Cong

Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 9:30am, 732-247-0532Gemara: Baba Metzia 49b-60b, Rabbi Menahem Meier, Cong

Keter Torah, Teaneck, 9:45amParshat HaShavua, for women, Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler, Cong

Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 10amKnitting Group to Make Woolen Hats for IDF Soldiers, private

home in Monsey, 10am, 845-426-2980Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale,

10am, 718-796-4730Parshat HaShavua, for women, Rabbi Ari Zahtz, Cong Bnai Ye-

shurun, Teaneck, 10:15amNavi Shiur: Sefer Trei Asar, Rabbi Shalom Baum, Cong Keter

Torah, Teaneck, 11am“Relationships in the Torah: The Good, Bad, and Ugly,” Sara

Hurwitz, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 11am, 718-796-4730“A Touch of Class,” Riverdale Jewish Center Rabbinical Team,

includes lunch, Riverdale Jewish Center, noon, 718-548-1850Gym Night, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West

Orange, grades 4-5, 7pm; grades 6-8, 8:15pmLego Boys’ Club, for ages 5-12, private home in Passaic, 4:30pm,

973-246-5223Beginners’ Hebrew, Tzipi Salzhauer, JCC Rockland, West Ny-

ack, 6:45pm, 845-362-4400, begins Jan 11Frum Boy Scout Troop, for boys 11-17, Rabbi Chaim Davis,

YMHA, Clifton, 7:45pm, [email protected]“Rabbinics and Beit Midrash,” Rabbi Moshe Silver, Cong Etz

Ahaim, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-247-3839Masechet Berachot, Rabbi Tuly Polak, Cong Bnai Yeshurun,

Teaneck, 8:15pmBasic Judaism, Sara Hurwirz, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale,

8:15pm, 718-796-4730Parsha Shiur, Rav Meir Goldwicht, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Tea-

neck, 8:30pm“Tehillim: More Than Just Tears,” Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, Young

Israel of Passaic-Clifton, Passaic, 8:30pmParshat HaShavua, for women, Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler, Cong

Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 8:30pmParsha HaShavua, Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, Riverdale Jewish

Center, 8:30pm, 718-548-1850Gemara, Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, 9pmIgros Moshe, Rabbi Dr. Mel Zelefsky, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 9pmMasheches Sukkah Shiur, Lieber Schachter, Bais Medrash of

Bergenfield, 9:20pm, 201-637-7470Wednesdays

Tefilla Shiur, Rabbi Shalom Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 7:45amMommy and Me Music Class, for children 6 months-3 years, Keli

Teichman, private home in Teaneck, 10am, 973-473-7515“Women and Jewish Law,” for women, Shayna Goldberg, Ma’ayanot

Yeshiva High School for Girls, Teaneck, 11am, 201-833-4307 ext 233Lunch and Learn, for seniors, Rabbi Michael Taubes, Cong Bnai

Yeshurun, Teaneck, lunch, 1pm; shiur, 1:30pm


New Classes this Month

Navi Shiur: Sefer Shoftim, Rabbi Steven Miodownik, Cong Aha-vas Achim, Highland Park, 2pm, 732-247-0532

Matan Bat Mitzvah Class, Rebbetzin Debbie Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 7pm

“Tehillim: Finding Ourselves in Conversation with G-d,” Rabbi Chaim Poupko, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 7:30pm

Tanach Shiur: Sefer Yehoshua, for women, Rachel Frazer, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 7:30pm, 201-836-4309

Chicks with Sticks, knitting (and learning how to knit) hats for Israeli soldiers, Riverdale Jewish Center, 7:30pm, 718-548-1850

Gemara Shiur, Rabbi Pinchas Weinberger, Young Israel of Tea-neck, 8pm

Gemara: Masechet Peah, Rabbi Duvie Weiss, Cong Keter To-rah, Teaneck, 8pm

Chumash, for men, Rabbi Guy Dvir, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David Sephardic Shul, West Orange, 8pm

“Ahavas Yisrael: The Women’s Project,” Ayelet Schabes, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 8pm

Shmooze on the News B’Ivrit, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 8pm, 845-362-4400

Intermediate Ulpan, Sara Kinberg, Hebrew Institute of River-dale, 8pm, 718-796-4730

Shiur on Mishna Berurah Hilchot Pesach, Rabbi Richard Wol-poe, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:20pm

Bava Kama Shiur, Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:30pm

“Hidden Secrets of the Three Mitzvot of Women,” Mandana Bolour, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 8:30pm

Topics in Masechta Brochos, Rabbi Yisroel Hoffman, Cong Agu-dath Israel, Highland Park, 8:30pm, [email protected]

Aruch Hashulchan Chabura, Bais Medrash of Bergenfield, 9pm, 201-637-7470

“Kitchen Kashruth,” Rabbi Mordechai Gershon, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 9pm

Women’s Tehillim Group, private home in West Orange, 9:15pm, 973-731-7909

Halacha Sugya Shiur, Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky, Cong Bnai Ye-shurun, Teaneck, 9:15pm

ThursdaysGemara Sukkah (Iyun), Rabbi Shlomo Nussbaum, Cong Ahavas

Achim, Highland Park, 8:35am, 732-247-0532Torah in the AM: Navi Chavura: Book of Kings, Cong Keter

Torah, Teaneck, 9am“WISE: Women, Independent, Strong, Enriched,” confidential

program providing integrated employment and counseling for domes-tic-abuse victims, Sheila Steinbach, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 9:30am, 201-837-9090

Chassidic Insights into the Parsha, Rabbi Mechel Horowitz, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 9:35am, 732-247-0532

Gemara: Baba Metzia 49b-60b, Rabbi Menahem Meier, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 9:45am

“Book of Joshua,” Rav Steven Exler, Hebrew Institute of River-dale, 10am, 718-796-4730

Speech-Related Shiurim, for women, Prima Pizza, Passaic, 10:30am, 973-471-9866

Study of Job, Rabbi Menahem Meier, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 10:50amMishmar, for 8th-grade Jewish boys in public, Jewish day school,

or yeshiva, regardless of learning background, Rabbi Herschel Gross-man, at Yeshiva Ohr Yosef, New Milford; fun dinner and a chance to mingle with the yeshiva’s high school boys, 6pm; learning program for each boy at his own level, 6:30pm; Ma’ariv, 7:20pm; pick up at the yeshiva, 7:40pm, 201-247-7667 or 201-836-1544

Beginners’ Ulpan, Sara Kinberg, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 6:30pm, 718-796-4730

“Crash Course in Judaism,” spons by the National Jewish Out-reach Program, West Orange Public Library, 7pm



Siddur Hebrew, Sara Kinberg, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 7:30pm, 718-796-4730

Chumash Shiur, Rav Eli Mansour, Cong Beit Tefillah, Paramus, 7:45pm, [email protected]

Informal, Down-to-Earth, English-Language Weekly Torah Portion, Rabbi Simcha Schwartz, Temple Beth Abraham, North Ber-gen, 8pm, 201-868-1813

Chabura on Sefer Nefesh HaChaim, Rabbi Herschel Gross-man, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 8:15pm

Gemara: Masechet Brachot, for men, Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 8:30pm

Chumash Shiur, Rabbi Yissocher Frand, via satellite, Cong K’Hal Zichron Mordechai, Monsey (845-356-7188);Young Israel of Fair Lawn (201-797-1800); Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck (201-907-0180); Cong Ohr Torah, West Orange (973-669-7320); Cong Tifereth Israel, Passaic (973-773-2552), Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park (732-247-0532), 9pm

Men’s Shiur, led by various rabbis, private apartments in Tea-neck, 9:15pm, [email protected]

Parsha and Chassidus, Moshe Weinberg, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 9:15pm

Masheches Sukkah Shiur, Lieber Schachter, Bais Medrash of Bergenfield, 9:20pm, 201-637-7470

Parsha Shmuz, for men, Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 9:30pm

“Halacha from the Parsha,” Rabbi Michael Taubes, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 10:15pm

FridaysMoed Katan, Rav Steven Exler, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale,

7:20am, 718-796-4730Women’s Tehillim Group, private home in West Orange,

10:15am, 973-731-7909

Beis Medresh Program, for men and boys, Rabbi Michael Zau-derer, Cong Ohr HaTorah, Bergenfield, 9pm, 201-385-1761

ShabbatClifton-Passaic Branch of B’nos, for girls in grades K-5, Cong

Adas Israel, Passaic, 2:30pmClass, for children ages 8-11, Rabbi Marc Spivak, spons by Cong

Ohr Torah, private home in West Orange, 3:20pm, 973-669-7320Mishna Berurah, for ages 11-15, Rabbi Robert Grosberg, Cong Ohr

Torah, West Orange, between mincha and ma’ariv, 973-669-7320Motzei Shabbat

Saturday Night Learning, for parents and children in grades K-6, Riverdale Jewish Center, 6:30pm, 718-548-1850

Bais Medrash of Bergenfield Parent-Child Learning, featuring sto-ries, pizza, and prizes, 6:30pm, 201-637-7470 or [email protected]

Parent-Child Learning, Young Israel of Teaneck, 6:30pmMishmar, for children and parents, includes pizza, donuts, prizes,

and raffles, Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva, Edison, 7pmNavi, Rabbi Yisroel Reisman, live via satellite, Young Israel of Fair

Lawn (201-797-1800); Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park (732-247-0532); Cong Tifereth Israel, Passaic; JEC, Elizabeth (908-591-5929); Cong Khal Zichron Mordechai, Monsey (845-356-7188); Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck; Cong Ohr Torah, West Orange (973-669-7320), 7:30pm

“Women in Halacha,” Rabbi Mordechai Willig, Young Israel of Riverdale, 8pm, 718-548-4765 Y

On-Line Courses“The Bible and History,” Prof Gary Rendsburg; “Introduction

to Rabbinic Literature,” Prof Azzan Yadin; “Jews Under Islam,” Prof Mark Cohen; “Israeli Political System,” Prof Yaacov Yadgar; “History of Zionism,” Prof Roni Stauber, Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, Rutgers University, 732-932-2033

New Classes continued from page 31



New MinyanimMincha Minyan, Bergen

Regional Medical Center Cha-pel, Paramus, 1pm, Mon-Thurs, [email protected] or 201-967-4000

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Mitzva OpsThe West Orange Gemach

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Mitzva Project to Help a Lo-cal Family with Many Children in Dire Need of Winter Cloth-ing, spons by the JCC of Paramus Hebrew School, looking for girls clothes sizes 6-12 and boys sizes 2-5 and 12-14 slim; the children need basics as well as coats, scarves, sweaters, and winter boots, drop off in Paramus and Teaneck, 201-833-4755 Y


possible rain showers were forecast for the next few days, which were expected to end the fiery nightmare.

Ill-Fated BusThe first news of the fire

came on Thursday morning when a Magen David Adom volunteer EMT from Ussefi-ya, a Druze community near Haifa, reported seeing flames from the valley. When wind shifts caused the fire to rage out of control in the Carmel Mountains, a bus carrying re-cruits training to become prison guards was sent to the Damon Prison near Kibbutz Beit Oren to help evacuate prisoners, most of them Arabs from the Palestinian Authority caught entering Israel illegally. The 40 recruits on the bus, Druze and Jewish Israelis, died.

According to a firefighter who witnessed the tragedy, one minute, the fire was well clear of the road through the mountains; the next, flames had engulfed the vehicle.

“The fire had moved almost a mile in less than three min-utes. The bus had no chance,” he said.

Some witnesses reported seeing flames rising more than 150 feet in the air.

Affected CommunitiesKibbutz Beit Oren, which

had just celebrated its 70th anni-versary, was heavily damaged,

but most of its residents, as well as those from Ussefiya, had been evacuated earlier in the day. The same was true of the religious Kibbutz Nir Etzion (home of a popular moshav hotel), the Ein Hod artists’ village, and the nearby Arab village of Ein Hud.

By Friday, billowing smoke could be seen by residents of Haifa, some of whom were also evacuated from their homes.

South of Haifa, in the an-cient beachside town of Atlit, residents expected to be evacu-ated, but they were not. The neighboring village of Nir Etzion, from which the Atlit fortress is visible, was evacu-ated, but residents were un-able to reach Atlit because emergency services, fearing flames could reach unsuspect-ing motorists, had cut off both north-south arteries.

The Denya neighborhood of Haifa, a well-to-do commu-nity of private homes abutting the university, was evacuated but was relatively undamaged after the fire.

“The guy at the supermar-ket where I shop for Shabbos joked that if the wind changes, his store would have a sale on barbecued chicken but without the need to put them on the grill. The other joke was about the sudden shortage of marshmal-lows,” said Prof Steven Plaut

of Haifa University.How Did It Start?For several days, specu-

lation ran high on just what caused the fire. While some immediately suspected arson, two Israeli-Arab teenagers—brothers, ages 14 and 16—were arrested on charges of having neglected to extinguish properly a campfire. According to press reports, the young residents of Ussefiya had made the fire as part of a nocturnal picnic.

On Monday, Dec 6, after the fire was finally extinguished, the Haifa District Court released the teenagers. The judge said he had chosen to be lenient because, in addition to their ages and the accidental nature of the incident, there was in-sufficient evidence connecting them to the fire.

Many Israelis—officials and laymen—pointed out that the teenagers’ indiscretion could not explain the numerous secondary fires that raged near Haifa.

“They were Arab terrorist attacks, and they were deliber-ately set,” said Dr. Plaut.

He pointed out that multiple fires were set in the industrial zone near Kiryat Bialik, north of Haifa and not far from Acre, as well as fires deliberately set near Tiv’on Nesher.

By mid-day on Friday, the University of Haifa was closed, prompting Dr. Plaut to consider hanging a banner

from his office window: “Ye-sha is here.”

“Copycat Arson”On Shabbat, there were

reports from firefighters and rescue workers that Arabs were throwing firebombs in differ-ent areas, such as the Druze village of Daliat al-Carmel on the slopes of the mountain, where the fire had already been extinguished. According to re-ports, the arsonists’ goal was to rekindle the flames.

An Arab resident of Naza-reth was arrested while trying to start a fire near his town, and several other Palestinians were caught while trying to start a fire in a wadi next to the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem. That fire was doused and no injuries were reported.

Police said these fires were “copycat arson,” blazes being set by individuals or, perhaps by organized groups.

“This is a full-fledged eco-logical terrorist assault against Israeli Jews,” said Dr. Plaut.

Ignored by the MediaThese concerns were largely

ignored by Israel’s predomi-nantly left-wing media.

“The Arab arson terror is a problematic topic because it raises questions the media aren’t comfortable with about Arab-Jewish relations, and it raises horrific questions about what we may face in terms of

Carmel Fire continued from page 1



internal Arab-caused chaos in the next war and what measures may be required to address it,” said Dr. Aaron Lerner of the IMRA news agency.

Dr. Plaut said it was ironic that the pre-dominantly left-wing Israeli media repeat, “without questioning, the lies about Jewish ‘settlers’ supposedly setting fires to Arab orchards in the West Bank, even after Arabs themselves and leftists have been photo-graphed in the act of setting those fires as provocations to blame ‘settlers.’”

“These are the same media playing coy about the causes of all these smaller second-ary fires around Haifa,” said Dr. Plaut.

Surprising AssistanceIf there could be said to be a bright

spot in the disaster, it was the outpouring of assistance offered to the Jewish state, despite ongoing diplomatic tensions due to Israel’s refusal to acquiesce to the Pal-estinians’ failure to compromise before resuming negotiations.

Help came to Israel from more than a dozen countries, including Greece, Cy-prus, Spain, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, France, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, and even the Palestinian Au-thority, which sent three firemen.

NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, in coor-dination with Israeli Acting Consul General Ido Aharoni, members of the New York Fire Department, and Tom Harbour, director of Fire and Aviation Management for the US Forestry Service sent a Boeing 747 loaded with fire-retardant chemicals.

Lack of EquipmentThe efforts of Israel’s 1,500 firefight-

ers working on their own had been ham-pered by the country’s lack of firefighting planes and fire-dousing chemicals. The assisting countries sent the necessary chemicals, as well as planes, helicopters, and fire trucks from which water could be dumped on the flames. They also sent hundreds of firemen.

“The irony of Greek planes flying over Israel helping to put out fires on Chanukah was not lost on Israelis,” said Israeli pundit Naomi Ragan, adding that Israelis were “very, very grateful for the help of some of our neighbors and all of our friends; truly a blessed and welcome surprise.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan-yahu agreed, calling the foreign aid “heart-warming” and assuring Israelis that there was “no shame in receiving foreign assistance in putting out a fire of this magnitude.”

“We’ve helped other countries in the past; now they’re helping us,” he said.

More ExperienceHe said, as soon as the fire broke out,

he had two goals: saving lives and extin-guishing the flames, “which effectively means aerial efforts with international cooperation.”

Most of the countries that came to Is-rael’s aid have had their own experience with massive brushfires, and, all, according to Mr. Netanyahu, received help from other countries during those catastrophes.

“I spoke with approximately 30 heads of state and government, presidents and prime ministers, in the first three days. I must tell you that their mobilization, the warmth of their remarks, their willingness, the desire to help immediately, sometimes even before we managed to request it, must warm the hearts of all Israelis. There is very great solidarity here and there is very great cooperation, of course in keeping with their abilities. Peo-ple brought what they have. Governments brought what they have, as per the distances which were often considerable; but not even this deterred people,” he said.



Super PlanesThe Ilyushin plane sent by Russia

carried approximately 10,000 gallons of water.

One of the planes ordered by Israel to help was the Boeing “Supertanker,” the largest plane of its type in the world with the added unique advantage of be-ing able to operate at night. Israel Aero-space Industries chairman Yair Shamir brought the plane to the attention of Mr. Netanyahu’s military secretary, Maj-Gen Yohanan Loaker. Within 15 minutes, Mr. Loaker had checked out the plane on the Internet and called the company in Arizona. Within an hour, Israel had con-tracted to rent the plane, whose capacity is 24,000 gallons.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said most of the foreign fire-fighting aid came as a result of efforts by his ministry, which included persuading Germany to ask for aid from Turkey. The Turks sent two planes, which came as a surprise to many Israelis given the crisis in Turkish-Israeli ties.

Mehmet Ersoy, head of Turkey’s emergency situations agency, told report-ers his government’s decision to send aid was a “humanitarian gesture” to the Jewish state.

Regional NetworkMr. Netanyahu said the “displays of

admiration and assistance,” especially from the Muslim countries with whom relations with Israel are strained, were “very important.”

After a “very good and warm talk” with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who reportedly expressed condolences for the Israelis who had died, Mr. Netanyahu said he told the Palestinian leader “we’re in the same neighborhood; the fire that affects us also affects you.”

Mr. Netanyahu said he intends in the next few weeks to acquire an aerial force for the State of Israel “which we need in the era of global warming and in the era of brushfires.”

“We are, in effect, creating a regional network. After we purchase the planes, the planes will join a regional network that I believe we can establish here for the benefit of all our people,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Abbas.

Honoring the Foreign FightersOn Monday, Dec 6, ceremonies were

held throughout the day at Israel Air Force

bases marking the departure of the inter-national fire-fighting teams. Nearly 200 foreign crewmen received IAF medals in appreciation for the services, and all the delegations received a special honorary greeting from IAF Commander Maj-Gen Ido Nechushtan.

“You have earned this honor for put-ting out the deadly fire in the Carmel. You have shown responsibility, determination, camaraderie, and courage,” he said.

Also on Monday, the Prison Service’s Nachshon Unit returned 200 inmates to the Damon Prison in the Carmel.

Helping Each OtherIn Israel, communities and individuals

opened their hearts, homes, and purses to

help their fellow citizens whose homes were damaged in the massive blaze. The Yesha Council, for example, set up a community operation to host families who had been evacuated from their northern homes.

As his own family made preparations on Friday Chanukah for the Sabbath, Rabbi Yehuda Dunin, director of the Achuzat Carmel branch of Chabad Lubavitch of Haifa, sent volunteers to the nearby fire lines with sandwiches, water, and boxes of Chanukah donuts.

The day before, in the collection of communities known as the Krayot that neighbor Haifa, Chabad Rabbi Shmuel Oirechman and his family hosted 50



Ess Gezint: Newly Wed Kosher

Cake Truffles1 box cake mix (or yellow or chocolate cake recipe)¾ (16 oz) container choco-

late or vanilla icing20 oz bittersweet choco-late

Bake cake according to directions or recipe. Let cake cool slightly. Break cake into small pieces. Then mix icing into the cake until fully combined. Use chocolate icing for chocolate cake; vanilla icing for yellow cake. Roll pieces of this mixture into half-inch balls. Should yield 40-50 cake balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then place balls in freezer bags and freeze. Do not cram too many in each bag or they will stick to one another. They can remain frozen for months, but at least for one day. Be-fore serving, melt 5 oz of chocolate for every 15 balls. Use the microwave or stove top, stirring constantly. Using a toothpick, dip each ball into the chocolate, making sure the entire ball is covered. Place on a cookie sheet or plate to cool. Refrigerate and serve.

Plum Sauce Chicken Legs8 chicken legs¾ of a 12-oz jar red plum preserves

⅛ cup plus 1 tsp rice wine vinegar3 scallions, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350º. Place chicken in a pan. Mix ½ of the jar of plum preserves, ⅛ cup of rice wine vinegar, and 2 of the scallions and pour over the chicken pieces. Bake covered for 20 minutes and then uncovered for another 40 minutes. Combine the remaining ¼ of the jar of plum preserves, 1 tsp vinegar, and 1 scallion. Serve as a dipping sauce with the cooked chicken. Serves 4-6.

Thai Pineapple Fried Rice1 Tbs vegetable oil2 cloves garlic, diced2 small shallots, chopped2 cups cooked white rice½ (20 oz) can pineapple chunks20 cashews or other nuts (op-

tional)½ small box raisins½ can peasGarlic powder and salt2 Tbs soy sauce½ tsp curry

Sauté garlic and shallots in oil over medium-low heat for 7 minutes. Add rice and cook another 2 minutes. Add pineapple chunks, cashews, raisins, and peas. Cook for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle with garlic powder and salt. Combine soy sauce and curry. Drizzle over the rice mixture. Serves 6-8.


Few communities boast anything cuter than Teaneck’s apartment dwellers. Predominantly young Orthodox couples, with a some lovely singles and adorable families mixed in, the Teaneck Apartment community not only has its own minyan, but now, thanks to Yael and Jason Gevertzman, it has its own cookbook as well. Newly Wed Kosher: A Marriage of International and Traditional Kosher Cuisine is the Gevertzmans’ consolidation of many of the recipes they have enjoyed preparing together since their wedding in 2009. This truly beautiful and highly useful book—with the authors’ adorable photo—is available from www.newlywedkosher.com.

Russian-born children from the Ohr Avner Chabad School in Kfar Citrin.

According to Michael Dor, an Ohr Avner supervisor, the children and staff left the school before they received the official evacuation order so that there would be no panic.

“We were in touch with their parents and also made sure there was something on Rus-sian TV to let everyone know they were okay,” he said.

More Than EnoughThroughout Israel, no-

tices appeared on newspaper websites, offering to accept families. “We have space for five families,” read one post on the website of Yediot Achro-not. “We have space for three,” read another.

Israeli organizations, such as the Jewish Agency, the Migdal Or Association, the Noar Ha’oved ve Halomed and Ezra youth movements offered assistance, sometimes going door-to-door to collect donations for evacu-ated families.

By the weekend, Israe-li authorities said they had more volunteers than they could use.

PoliticsBy Motzei Shabbat, when

the flames were coming under control, Israel’s media turned its attention to the politics of the fire. Reflecting the posi-tion of the Israeli left, many

members of the media blamed Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the Sephardic-religious Shas Party, faulting him for Israel’s lack of preparedness to deal with such a large fire.

“In a proper country, after such a failure, you simply go home,” said Yaron Dekel, host of a popular Israel Radio talk show, echoing the sentiments of many members of the Israeli left-wing press.

The Ometz good governance watchdog group called on Mr. Ne-tanyahu to fire Mr. Yishai, pointing to his “ministerial responsibilities for the failures.”

Ometz claimed the State Comptroller’s Office had re-cently given Mr. Yishai’s Interior Ministry a draft report pointing out the shortcomings in the Fire Service, which, the organization said, explicitly warned that the service would be hard-pressed in a national disaster.

In addition, there were reports that Mr. Yishai had refused a donation of a fire truck from a US Christian group due to ideology.

Stronger BibiWhile some on the left

tried to blame him, too, Mr. Netanyahu seems to have been strengthened politically by the ordeal. A new poll, conduct-ed by the Walla web portal on December 6, showed that while Likud currently has 27 seats, if elections were held

now, the party would win 32 seats. Mr. Lieberman’s Israel Our Home would rise from its current 15 to 18. Kadima, on the other hand, would fall from 28 to 26, and Labor would fall from its current 12 to a mere eight seats.

The Walla poll showed that while Shas currently holds 11 seats in the Knesset, if elections were held now, the party’s representa-tion would drop to nine.

Although prior to the Carmel Fire, the Israeli left had attacked Mr. Yishai for his position that foreigners and their children who had entered Israel illegally should be expelled, some ob-servers argued that the level of criticism after the fire seemed based on other concerns.

“If Yishai were somehow forced from office, the left hopes it would lead to Shas’s leaving the coalition, allowing Kadima to take their place. The interest in transforming

the Netanyahu government into a Kadima-Labor-Likud coalition is a much more likely explanation of the media cam-paign,” said Dr. Lerner.

Looking for BlameMr. Yishai, who termed

the calls for his resignation “a lynching,” is expected to ask for a governmental committee of inquiry to determine why Israel was unprepared for such a large forest fire and what should be done in the future to rectify the situation. Mr. Yishai said years of neglect had led to the current situation. In 2001, he said, the government of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voted to eliminate air support for firefighting.

According to Israeli Trea-sury Minister Yuval Steinitz, more than $27.5 million had been allocated for improve-ments in firefighting several months ago.




“The question was not financial, but operative,” said Shas MK David Azulai, who defended Mr. Yishai.

Mr. Azulai said the treasury had ig-nored Mr. Yishai’s demands for firefight-ing funds. Mr. Yishai, he said, wanted to make the firefighting service part of a national agency funded directly by the treasury. Until now, local authorities have funded the firefighters.

For their part, firefighters objected to losing their local funding, arguing that if a national “firefighting ministry” were established, they should be allowed to join a national union.

Assessing the LackIsraeli Foreign Minister Avigdor

Lieberman said it is no secret that Israel lacks large firefighting planes needed to spray water and firefighting chemicals from the air.

“There is no doubt we should have bought large planes without waiting,” he said, explaining that the cost of repairing the damage caused by the Carmel fire will far outweigh the cost of even the most expensive firefighting planes.

“And when it comes to human life, the issue of cost is, of course, irrelevant,” he said.

Young VictimsThe youngest of the victims killed

by the fire was Elad Riven, a 16-year-old volunteer fireman who died during rescue operations at Beit Oren. An only child, he studied at the science-oriented Re’ali High School in Haifa. When he saw the flames, he joined his unit at the site.

“Elad was a hero who ran toward the fire instead of running away from it and saving his life,” said his mother on IDF Radio.

According to a close friend, his mother, who had tried to dissuade him from go-ing, initially blamed herself.

“Later on, she realized he could not have been stopped. He would have found a way to get there,” said the friend.

Heroes and HeroinesLt-Col Lior Boker, 57, head of opera-

tions of the Police Northern District, who was driving behind the bus of prison-guard recruits, was killed when his car, too, was caught in the flames.

Lt-Col Ahuva Tomer, 52, the popular commander of Haifa Police, was in critical condition in Rambam Hospital for four days before she finally died of her burns. After expressing concern for mothers and chil-dren waiting behind for the prison-guard cadets, she had insisted on following the ill-fated bus, despite warnings from some of her underlings not to do so.

“Ahuva was a true example of a woman of valor, a true fighter, and a val-ued commander in the Israeli Police,” said Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch.

She had made history in Nahariya when, in 1997, she became the first woman to head an Israeli police station. In 2009, she was selected to head Israel’s largest municipal police district in Haifa.

Prison ChaplainAmong the prison-guard cadets who

died in the fire was prison chaplain, Rabbi Uriel Malka, 32, who is survived by his wife and five children, all under the age of 9. An officer in the IDF’s Paratrooper Commando Unit, Rabbi Malka, who studied at the Karnei Shomron Hesder Yeshiva, had taught in Winnipeg and Denver.

His last text message, sent to Rabbi Yehuda Vizner, chief rabbi of the Israel Prison Service, read: “I am on my way to rescue Jews. We’ll be in touch.”





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At his funeral, Rabbi Vizner said, “We’ll have to be in touch in this world through activities he would have done and will now be done in his memory.”

Many of the other victims were young Jewish and Druze men and women in their 20s and 30s. In addition to parents and siblings, many left preg-

nant wives, husbands, and young children.

High CostOnce the fire was extin-

guished, Israelis and their sup-porters around the world turned their attention to rebuilding. Mr. Netanyahu said it was his mission to rehabilitate not only the people who were injured,

but also the homes and forests that were damaged.

“Something very precious has been hurt in the Carmel forests. We can rehabilitate it, with the assistance of oth-er bodies, such as the Jewish National Fund and overseas agencies who have already expressed willingness to vol-unteer,” he said.

Estimates of the cost of the fire range from more than $825 million to over $1 billion, which will be paid by the state and insurance companies. Not included in those figures is the eventual development cost for restoring the forest to its former glory, which, officials said, will take decades.

In addition to allocating $16.5 million in aid for local councils and communities that were damaged, the plan calls for government compensation for the cost of evacuations, ab-sorptions, firefighting efforts, clean-up, and dealing with in-frastructures. The government has agreed to station mobile structures in communities where homes were burned.

Restoring NatureA comprehensive plan

will be formulated to restore animal and plant life damaged

in the fire, including animal parks, campgrounds, and the Carmel Farm.

The Society for the Pro-tection of Nature in Israel has called on the government not to replant, but, rather, to rely on the forest’s natural ability to rebuild itself. This includes leaving burnt trees where they are to prevent soil erosion and damage that would be caused by heavy machinery.

“The rehabilitation must be based on the area’s natural ability to renew itself given the seed bank in the soil, and not by bringing in saplings from outside. We have to give the area a chance to renew itself naturally, with intelligent inter-vention on our part. We should strive to create an ecologically-varied area,” said SPNI.

The group said this means not planning pine trees because “they are generally foreign to the Carmel and help fires spread.”

Throughout the Jewish world, Emergency Forest Fire campaigns have been initiated by charitable organizations, such as the Orthodox Union, the Jewish National Fund, Agudath Israel, and the National Council of Young Israel. S.L.R.

Arabs Celebrate Carmel Fire as “Punishment from Allah” and Condemn Muslim Governments That Helped “the Enemy”

Israel’s Muslim neighbors who sent firefighting equipment

and workers to help the Jewish state received little praise from many of their co-religionists. Instead, the rescue teams were jeered and cursed, while Israel’s suffering in the fire was cheered as an act of Allah.

In Lebanon, members of the Hezbollah terror organiza-tion celebrated the wildfire, underestimating Israel’s abil-ity to learn from its mistaken lack of preparedness.

“The great Carmel fire has embarrassed Israel’s firefight-ing capabilities and proved its almost complete incompe-tence,” crowed Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV network. “The enormous blaze that broke out on the Carmel proved that Israel is not prepared for war or a mass terrorist strike that would cause many casualties on the home front.”

Striking at the WeakPicking up the theme,

some readers, commenting

on Arab media websites, called for Muslim leaders to strike at Israel while the Jewish state was perceived as weak.

“This is the right time for Iran. If one fire has caused panic in the Zionist entity, where are Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [of Iran] and Hassan Nasrallah [of Hezbollah]? And where is Syria? One rocket could set thousands of fires,” wrote Ah-mad Sarrawi from Australia on Al-Jazeera’s Website.

Quoting liberally from a left-

ist Israeli daily, Al-Manar called the help Israel had requested “an opportunity that wouldn’t be offered to the Zionist entity in the case of war.”

“The disaster has shown that the Israeli enemy was unable to face the incident alone, pushing Israeli officials to ask for interna-tional help,” said Al-Manar.

“Punishment”Throughout the Muslim

world, it seemed a majority of those who commented on the fire were convinced it had



nothing to do with the negligence of two Israeli-Arab teenagers from the Druze village of Ussefiya. Rather, they wrote, it was Allah “punishing” Israel for occupy-ing Arab lands and killing Palestinians, especially during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said the fire was a divine expression of anger. “These are plagues from Allah,” he said in a Reuters video interview recorded on Sun-day, Dec 5. “Allah is punishing [the Israelis] from a place they did not expect it.”

Echoing that sentiment, Barir from Detroit wrote: “Allah gives time, but never neglects. The Israelis are being punished for their deeds. We hope their end is nearing.”

CondemnationWhile Israeli Prime Minister Benja-

min Netanyahu expressed appreciation for the “important assistance” the Jewish state received from Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and expressed hope that “perhaps something good will come of this disaster,” most Muslim post-ers bitterly condemned the Arab countries for agreeing to help extinguish the blaze. Only a tiny minority of Muslim readers and viewers expressed sympathy for Israel over the tragedy and loss of lives.

Most Muslim commentators on the Internet seemed to agree with Munif Munir who wrote, “May Allah punish all Arabs who helped put down the fire.”

“We pray to Allah that the fire will grow and spread to oil wells in the Arab world. O Allah, burn the Jews before the Day of Judgment,” said Sajjad Fadi.

Someone who identified simply as Latif asked Allah to “take revenge against [the Jews] and displace them together with our corrupt [Arab] governments.”

“This fire is the result of prayers from our prisoners held in occupation jails. The fire of Hell will be even stronger. May those Arabs who are helping the Jews burn with them in Hell,” said Latif.

Praising “The New Holocaust”Other posts that appeared on the

Internet included: “Sounds strange that Arabs are sending aid to our enemies. Allah is punishing the Jews by making the fire. No military force or US veto can stop the fire;” “Thank Allah for this new Holocaust and shame on the Egyp-tian authorities who rushed to save the

Zionists while continuing to lay siege against our brothers in the Gaza Strip;” and “Thank Allah for burning the Jews the same way they burned our Muslim brothers in Palestine.”

Noting that 40 of the Israelis killed by the fire were prison guard recruits, Qusay Rafid wondered “how many prisoners did the wardens torture?”

“Allah has answered the prayers of the oppressed,” Mr. Rafid continued.

From the UK, Zuheir Dabbagh wrote: Thank Allah, we bring the good news to the Muslims that the land has gotten rid of 40 criminals.”

Public JubilationIn and around Haifa, some Israe-

li Arabs joined in the cheering. Radio Haifa interviewed several people who witnessed celebratory car-honking and other acts of public jubilation in the Arab village of Furadis, south of Haifa, as the

fire raged.Although most Israeli newspapers

ignored the accounts, it was reported that a few Arab-Israeli citizens uploaded gruesome photographs of charred bodies of fire victims to a Facebook page. Other Arabs expressed their pleasure by click-ing “like.”

When Israeli police announced there would be an investigation into the matter, the Facebook page was reportedly closed.

However, the photos have already been sent throughout the Muslim world. A group calling itself “Mujahedeen of Palestine” uploaded the pictures of the bodies onto a YouTube video along with text that says “Mohammed’s lions came out at night to set alight the land of the occupiers.”

ArsonMost Israeli media also ignored the



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rash of arson attempts by Palestinian and Israeli Arabs during the fire. The Jeru-salem Post called these secondary fires “mind boggling” and “a cynical exploi-tation of Israel’s sorrowfully inadequate firefighting capabilities.”

“These local terrorists are willing to cause further ecological damage and en-danger the lives of both Jews and Arabs in the name of hateful and narrow political goals,” said the Post in an editorial.

According to the Israeli Police Inspec-

tor-Gen. David Cohen and Yoel Zilberman, head of “Hashomer,” a grassroots network of about 1,000 unarmed volunteer guards that operates in the Galilee, during the three days that the fire raged, there were between 30 and 40 arson attempts by Israeli Arabs in northern Israel. Several Molotov cocktails were thrown along Route 70, a highway in the coastal plain and Western Galilee in northern Israel.

Like the media, Mr. Netanyahu ap-peared intent on dousing any flames of

anger such reports might arouse in the Israeli public. He made no mention of the attempted arson attacks or the expressions of glee by Arabs while the fire raged.

Concerted EffortHashomer was originally created

two years ago to contest acts of arson and vandalism perpetrated by Arabs against Jewish farmers in the Galilee. According to the Jerusalem Post, arson attempts have been occurring throughout the past year at a rate of about two per day. The rate increased dramatically during the fire.

The Post called these incidents “part of a concerted effort by lawless Arab Is-raelis to take control of Jewish farmland in the Galilee.”

According to the paper, when crops are repeatedly burned down, the land is often left fallow, which, in some cases, allows Arab farmers to move in. Addi-tional tactics include killing livestock and perpetrating violence against the Jewish farmers themselves.

Noting that most Arab Israelis are not vandals, the paper recognized the “disturb-ing phenomenon of homegrown terrorism that has contaminated a small but violent minority.” This minority, the paper said, receives psychological backing from “a larger Muslim world with decidedly an-tagonistic attitudes toward Israel.”

More Divine PunishmentThe concept that the fire was a pun-

ishment from on high was seconded by the Shas party’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who implied that the fire raging on Mount Carmel was a chastise-ment from G-d for religious offenses, such as desecration of the Sabbath.

He recommended that Jews “study Torah, engage in good deeds, repent, ob-serve Shabbat, and know the entire hala-cha, and thanks to this, G-d will apply a full recovery.”

“When the people of Israel repent, G-d safeguards them with a wall of fire, but not of the incinerating type,” said Rabbi Yosef.

Personal AccountIn its editorial, entitled “Who by

Fire,” the hareidi newspaper Hamodia said that, in response to the wildfire, the people of Israel should scrutinize their actions and ask themselves if they had


Arab Celebration continued from page 41


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“Honor the Professional According to Your Need”http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com Tevet 771 The Jewish Voice and Opinion Page - 43

Guest Worker ProgramAs an independent Jewish conservative, I should state upfront that

I am a proponent of strong enforcement of our borders, including de-ploying the military to prevent illegals from entering the country, along with vigorous profiling at our airports and other points of entry.

That said, I think that a well administered “Guest Worker Program” would be a win-win situation for everyone. I say that because I lived and worked in Japan for eight years and have some hands-on experience as to how their system works.

My initial entry into Japan in the early spring of 1991 was le-gal. This is important. Prior to arriving, I was required to get a visa and have a sponsor to stay more than three months and work.

Within a short period of time after arrival, I had to go to the Municipal Office and be fingerprinted and photographed for an ID that I was required to carry at all times. I also had to inform the local authorities of where I was living and for whom I was working. For sure, the police did come and check that I was ac-tually living where I said I was.

This procedure of informing the locals as to where I was living and who was sponsoring me was an annual event. When I left the country on occasion to visit the States, I had to go to the immigration office and get a return visa so I could re-enter the country. An up-to-date ID Card was a necessary component to the trip to immigration.

All the time I was in Japan, I was never randomly asked to show my ID except when I once ran a stop sign. On that occasion, the police were extremely interested in seeing that little piece of information.

As a guest worker, I had to pay taxes, file tax returns, and was allowed to participate in their national health program. Of course, I could not vote.

Because there is no practical way, at this time, to round up and deport 12 million illegal aliens, we could and should imple-ment something similar to Japan’s system. Pragmatically, we have to accept the fact that they are here. We can offer them a choice: participation in the program, incarceration, or deportation.

Granting them citizenship is nonsense. It would be a slap in the face to everyone who had to work hard for the privilege, which required staying in line, often for many years.

Errol PhillipsReceived by email


Letters to the Editor Clemency for PollardLast month, I was joined by more than three dozen of my

colleagues in calling for clemency for Jonathan Pollard in a let-ter to President Barack Obama.

I have followed Mr. Pollard’s case from its beginning and I un-derstand the strong emotions related to his continued incarceration.

Imprisoned since 1985, Mr. Pollard was convicted in 1987 of passing classified information to an ally. At the time, concerns were expressed about the severity of his penalty—life in prison with no parole.

The fact that Mr. Pollard’s sentence has been unduly harsh compared to sentences of other individuals convicted of similar crimes is wrong.

Such an act of clemency would not in any way imply doubt about his guilt, nor cast any aspersions on the process by which he was con-victed. The crime he committed was very serious, but the time that he has served, 25 years, has fully met the needs of punishment and deter-rence. Also, Mr. Pollard has long expressed remorse for his actions.

Rep Steven Rothman (D-NJ)Washington, DC

Our representative in Congress, Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), recently co-authored a letter to President Barak Obama urging a grant of clemency to Jonathan Pollard. Congressman Pascrell has long ad-vocated on behalf of Jonathan, and visited him in prison in 1998.

The letter was co-authored by Reps Barney Frank, Steve Roth-man, and Anthony Weiner, and was signed by 39 other members of the House. The co-authors recently held a press conference to pub-licize Jonathan’s plight, and pointed out that while there is no ques-tion of his guilt, the life sentence which he received at the insistence and urging of then Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger is grossly disproportionate to any similar offense. The longest sentence ever handed down for such a crime was 6 years in prison.

Excerpts from the press conference can be viewed at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/140818

It is very important to contact Congressman Pascrell to ex-press our appreciation for speaking out on a matter of significant concern to the Jewish Community. All too often, our representa-tives in government hear from us when we express unhappiness, but rarely do they receive words of praise. The Congressman can be reached via e-mail at http://pascrell.house.gov/contact/

Needless to say, continued follow up with the White House on this matter is crucial.

Eliot TannenbaumWest Orange, NJ

The Raoul Wallenberg Stamp SheetIt was a wonderful idea to present readers who wrote the

best stories about Raoul Wallenberg with tickets to see “Wallen-berg the Musical.” I was very moved by the stories in October edition and, of course, especially by the story about our Raoul Wallenberg Stamp Sheet by Sylvan Zeidman of Linden, NJ [“Kol Ami: Thanking Raoul Wallenberg,” Oct 2010].

Raoul Wallenberg Unit of B’nai B’rith in Melbourne, Aus-tralia, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with the launch of the Raoul Wallenberg Stamp Sheet and Envelope set which appears to be the first of its kind in the world. It comes with photos of Wallenberg, his biography, and an envelope with a “Schutzpass,” similar to the “protective passport” he used to save thousands of Jews.

The Stamp Sheet and Envelope set is attracting attention

worldwide, and I thought it would be of interest to your readers, particularly philatelists and those who know about the righteous deeds of the Hero of our Time, Raoul Wallenberg. Many have never heard the story of Raoul Wallenberg and it is, therefore, worth repeating. His outstanding work in Budapest in 1944-45 in saving thousands of Jewish lives is an example for people every-where and makes him a role model for younger generations.

The Stamp Sheet ($20 per sheet plus $12 international post-age and handling; up to three can be sent for the same postage amount) is available by order. Checks can be sent directly to the Raoul Wallenberg Unit of B’nai B’rith.

Those who are interested may email me for further infor-mation: [email protected].

Judi SchiffKew, Australia

Hands Off Mother RachelIn October, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Sci-

entific and Cultural Organization) passed a decision that was any-thing but educational. Slapping history and logic squarely in the face, UNESCO declared the burial places of the Jewish people’s forefathers, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb outside Bethlehem, to be “Palestinian sites” [“UNESCO Recognizes Rachel Tomb as…a Mosque; New US Congressional Leadership Says It’s Time to Leave UNESCO,” Nov 2010].

This is so patently offensive and crudely insulting to Jewish belief that it borders on outright antisemitism. Ancient Jewish, Christian, and even Moslem sources all disprove UNESCO’s assertion.

So to UNESCO, all I have to say is this: keep your hands off Mother Rachel and our other illustrious forebears.

They belong to the Jewish people, whether you like it or not.Michael Freund

Jerusalem, IsraelThe United Nations has once again reared its antisemitic head. The executive board of UNESCO has declared two of Juda-

ism’s holiest sites (Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb) to be mosques and is demanding that Israel remove the sites from its National Heritage list.

In an effort to erase Jewish history and supersede Jewish re-ligious sites with Islamic institutions, Muslims have intentionally built mosques upon numerous synagogues and Jewish holy sites.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office decried the ludicrous nature of the UNESCO decision: “The attempt to de-tach the Nation of Israel from its heritage is absurd. If the nearly 4,000-year-old burial sites of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the Jewish Nation—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah—are not part of its culture and tradition, then what is a national cultural site?”

In cooperating with efforts to erase Jewish historical ties to Israel, UNESCO is aiding and abetting those who hope to obfus-cate Israel’s Jewish past and undermine Israel’s Jewish future.

Please take this seriously, go to the website, and sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/rabbiv/petition.htmlPlease also pass this on to as many people as you can. Let

our voices be heard.Ellen Zyroff

San Diego, CA

An End to Following Suicidal DemandsLet’s stop blaming Hamas, the PLO, the UN, Barak Obama,

or anything or anyone else, and identify the real reason Israel is dying the death of a thousand cuts, instead of becoming the respected super-power of the Middle East.

Every prime minister since Ben-Gurion has preferred weak-ness and self-abasement to manhood, honor, pride, self-respect, and loyalty to their land and religion. None learned anything from the Holocaust. All have been willing to bargain away, forever, the land and holy sites of the Jewish patrimony in exchange for worthless guarantees of “peace.”

They all disgraced Israel by holding “peace” talks with terrorists who murder Jewish men, women, and children, and they slavishly fol-lowed the suicidal demands of US State Department-driven policies that have the unchanging goal of replacing Israel with “Palestine.”

Benjamin Netanyahu could be the last prime minister of Israel. He refuses to take advantage of the historic rejection of Obama by the American people and continues to carry out Obama’s demands and those of Hillary Clinton that are result-ing in a defenseless, waterless, over-crowded Israel that could never survive in the Middle East.

George E RubinBronx, NY

Writing to Rabbi RubashkinRabbi Sholom Mordechai HaLevi ben Rivka Rubashkin

is being held in prison at the Otisville facility in upstate New York. He appreciates when people write to him, and he makes an effort to respond to everyone. His address is:

Rubashkin, Sholom 10755-029FCI Otisville Federal Correction InstitutionP.O. Box 1000Otisville, NY 10963Hashem should free all of us from this bitter golus now.

Yehudis FeinsteinNew York, NY


“Thought Is the World of Freedom” (R’ Dov Ber of Mazeritch)

The Jewish Voice and Opinion welcomes letters, especially if they are typed, double-spaced, and legible. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and style.

Please send all correspondence to POB 8097, Englewood, NJ 07631.

The phone number is (201) 569-2845. The email address is [email protected]

caused the disaster.Like Hamodia, other hareidi

papers, including Yated Ne’eman and Hamevaser covered the catastrophe extensively.

One of the stories covered by all three papers was an incident that occurred in Nir Etzion, a religious kibbutz south of Haifa, which fell directly in the path of the fire. Nir Etzion is best known for its factory which makes kosher TV dinners and other prepared foods.

The rabbi of the kibbutz

is also a PhD student at the University of Haifa. When the flames approached the kibbutz, he left his doctoral papers and rescued only the Torah scroll which was in the kibbutz synagogue.

Observers said that al-though fires repeatedly ap-proached the kibbutz from several directions, in each case, the flames stopped at the eruv. Although the kibbutz suffered smoke damage, there was no fire destruction. S.L.R.

Arab Celebration cont. from page 42

able to the RCBC, pay for his training, and then take him on at a mutually agreeable salary. The RCBC says they had never made such an agreement and that Mrs. Zaken was required to keep the original mashgiach they had selected for her.

Uniform StandardsLike many other hashga-

cha agencies, the RCBC insists that the mashgiach not be an employee of the food estab-lishment. Further, all RCBC mashgichim standards, sala-ries, and job descriptions are uniform.

For this reason, despite requests by some owners, an RCBC mashgiach is not allowed

to serve as a cashier or as part of the clean-up crew.

“A mashgiach always works for the agency,” said Rabbi Ste-ven Pruzansky, a past-president of the RCBC and the spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck.Relinquishing or Withdrawing?

At a rather contentious meeting the next day, the rabbis threw down the gauntlet. Mrs. Zaken was told that she would have to stay with her original mashgiach if she wanted to remain under the supervision of the RCBC. Asked if she ac-cepted those terms, she said she did not know, which, to Mrs. Zaken, meant that she was relinquishing the RCBC’s hechsher.

Almost immediately, she sought and received a hechsher from a Brooklyn-based rabbi who seems to have worked on his own. The RCBC issued

its usual notice to the com-munity that Ima’s was “no longer under the supervision of the RCBC.”

Although it is hard to tell exactly how successful her business was, by the end of the summer, Mrs. Zaken wanted to come back to the RCBC. She sent them a letter, ask-ing if she could reapply for a hechsher and was turned down. The local vaad said they were not interested in providing her with supervision.

Rabbinic AdviceUpset, she approached

her own rabbi, Rabbi Berel Zaltzman of Bris Avrohom, a Chabad shul in Fair Lawn, and asked for advice. Rabbi Zaltzman suggested she con-tact Rabbi Don Yoel Levy at the OK.

This, too, was complicated. According to Rabbi Levy, as a rule, the OK will not go into a



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of the community to avoid Ima’s was read aloud from the bimas of about a half-dozen local shuls.

The letter, which was writ-ten with the input of several RCBC rabbis, explained that the hashgacha originally grant-ed the store by the vaad had been “revoked after a number of substantive violations” of their agreement.

The letter recognized the OK as “generally reliable,” but, the community was told, “in this particular instance, its hashgacha does not meet the parameters of the RCBC nor the standards to which our community has become accustomed.”

Reminding members of the community that the RCBC has worked closely with other hashgacha agencies in the com-munity, the letter said, “We

respectfully urge everyone to respect the RCBC standard that has been the mainstay of kashrus in Bergen County for decades.”

“Ima’s Restaurant, de-spite the OK hashgacha does not meet that standard,” said the letter.

Other LettersIn the weeks since that

notice was read in shuls, sev-eral other RCBC rabbis have devised their own individual letters, all with essentially the same message, which have been sent to synagogue email lists throughout Bergen County and beyond.

A letter written by Rabbi Michael Taubes, who, as a member of the RCBC Kashruth Committee, participated in the conference call with the OK,

community for kashruth pur-poses if there is a local vaad that gives hechsherim. The agency makes an exception when it is invited into a community by a local rabbi. In the case of Ima’s, the OK was invited by Rabbi Zaltzman.

The OK’s next step was to contact the RCBC. Rabbi Levy explained that whenever the OK takes over supervision of a store or restaurant, he tries to arrange a meeting with the previous kosher supervisor.

Conference CallThe busy schedules main-

tained by the OK rabbis and the members of the RCBC permitted only a phone call, during which the RCBC claimed that they had withdrawn Mrs. Zaken’s hechsher for “cause.”

Mrs. Zaken then produced a tape recording of her meeting with the RCBC representatives which she had made surrepti-

tiously when they came to her restaurant after she had fired their mashgiach. The tape, in which all the parties spoke in Hebrew. showed that it was indeed she who had given up the hechsher.

The RCBC implied to Rab-bi Levy that there might have been other meetings between Mrs. Zaken and the rabbis of the vaad after the taped one, but, on the tape, it is clearly Mrs. Zaken who relinquishes the hechsher.

Convinced she was telling the truth, the OK gave Ima’s their hechsher.

Raising the TemperatureA flurry of ensuing let-

ters between the two rabbinic groups, accusing one another of misrepresenting the situa-tion, did nothing to calm the situation. Finally, on a Shabbat in the middle of November, a letter exhorting members

continued on the website at jewishvoiceandopinion.com


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