Jewish Voice and Opinion December 2013

THE JEWISH VOICEAND OPINION

Promoting Classical JudaismDecember 2013 Vol. 27 • No. 4 Tevet 5774

OU Job Board Tips ..................................5Kol Ami: Is Israel Free to Act? ............. 6The Current Crisis .............................. 7Nefesh B’Nefesh :“Think Israel” ...16Pesach in Palm Springs ..................18 Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein ..............19

Ganei HaEla in RBS ..................................20Girls Perform at Camp Maor ..............22Shia vs Sunni ..............................................23The Log .........................................................26New Classes .......................................34Mazal Tov ............................................34

Chesed Ops ........................................35Ess Gezint: (Not) A Balaboosta .......42Index of Advertisers .......................45Mendy Vim Pesach Luxury ...........46Honor the Professional ..................47 Letters to the Editor .......................48

Inside the Voice

In the Fight against a Nuclear-Armed Iran, Israel May Have Lost the First Round, but the Real Loser May be the Civilized World

Until the last week in No-vember, when an agreement was announced between Iran and the P5+1 (the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) regard-ing Tehran’s nuclear program, Israeli leaders seemed to be hoping they might still be able to influence the world powers not to accept the “bad deal” they feared was in the offing.

What the Israelis wanted was for the Obama adminis-tration to adhere to the red

lines for Iran that had been proposed by the UN Security Council. In its resolutions, the UN had called for a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, with all materials shipped out of the country. Most importantly, the UN stressed that Iran would not be permitted to enrich ura-nium to make a nuclear bomb.

Short of a military attack, the only way the internation-al community sought to ac-complish its goals was to make

continued on page 36

Continuing to Speak Out Against the Agreement Has Won Israel a

Place at the Table at the UN and at the Negotiations

While most israelis sup-port Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu’s out-spoken stand against the six-month interim agree-ment between the P5+1 countries (the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) and Iran, some Israeli leaders—as well as members of the Obama administration—have complained.

However, it seems that Mr. Netanyahu’s arguments and resolve to defend his country militarily and unilaterally if necessary, and the determination of many in Congress to support him on this, have given rise to indications from the White House that Israel is and will be very much involved in the West’s continuing negotiations with Iran.


It May Be Risky and Costly, But, if Necessary, Israel Is Prepared

to Take on Iran Unilaterallyno one doUbts that a mili-tary strike by Israel to pre-vent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is a real possibility. Despite deni-als from Tehran, Israel and a large part of the world believe that Iran intends to use such weapons against the Jewish state. According to a poll last month, most Israelis believe the IDF is sufficiently strong to carry out a strike against Iran, even without US sup-

port, a situation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said has not been ruled out.

In a survey conducted by Yisrael HaYom, 52.4 percent of respondents support an Israeli military strike against Iran, and 68.8 percent believe the IDF has sufficient military might to succeed on its own without any help from the US.

Sixty-five percent of respondents said Prime Minister


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THE JEWISH VOICE AND OPINION, Inc. © 2013; Publisher and Editor-in-Chief: Susan L. Rosenbluth Phone (201)569-2845Managing Editor: Sharon Beck, Advertising: Rivkie SternThe Jewish Voice & Opinion (ISSN # 1527-3814), POB 8097, Englewood, NJ 07631, is published monthly in coordination with

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Tips From the Orthodox Union’s Job BoardBy Michael Srulie Rosner, director, the Orthodox Union Job BoardtrUth be told, looking for a job can be terribly frus-trating. I’ve been there, done that. You may reach a point that you feel ready to walk away and give up. I have also felt that pain and it can take a toll. We humans do the cra-ziest things to compensate for the position in which we find ourselves. It can take the form of road rage or yelling at friends, loved ones, or even strangers at the slightest per-ceived provocation.

Although it is much eas-ier said than done, if you find

that happening, it is impor-tant to take a step back, look at the whole picture, take a deep breath in through the mouth and out through the nose, and try to move on and give the job search your all.

If you don’t, you will end up making mistakes that nega-tively affect your outcome and ability to find work, and will bring on a vicious cycle of even more anger and frustration.

Here are some examples of how not to get a job that I have come across at the Or-thodox Union’s Job Board:

Fill in the BoxesWhen you fill out the cat-

egories in your resume profile,

check all the boxes, whether they are appropriate or not. Some people think this will help them get a job, but let’s see what this means.

Say an employer is look-ing for an IT (information tech-nology) person by category, but you, an accountant, have checked all the boxes, includ-ing this one. You’re hoping the employer will see that you’re not an IT, but if he ever needs an accountant, maybe he’ll call you. But think about it. If your accountant’s résumé comes up when he’s looking for a IT, how exactly will that help you get noticed? If anything, should this employer need an

accountant in the future, do you actually think you will ever be approached by him?

Advice: Fill out the appropri-ate categories for your résumé. If your résumé is written for accounting, check off account-ing, finance, bookkeeper, etc. Anything else will harm you.

If you are one of those people who have many tal-ents, write and post another résumé highlighting these other talents, and check off those categories. On the OU Job Board, you can post five résumés covering different abili-ties—as long as you actually have those abilities.

continued on page 8


Kol Ami: Is Israel Free to Act?Before the Obama administration signed its quasi-agree-

ment with Iran last month, many supporters of Israel feared that the United States’ position regarding Tehran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons might depend on Israel’s agreeing to dan-

gerous concessions to the Palestinians. The question we asked four experts is: Now that the US has all but agreed to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, is Israel freer to stand firm during its negotiations with the Palestinians? Y

There is no linkage between Israel’s policies regarding the Palestinian-Arabs in its midst and the nod given by the P5+1, including America’s Obama, for Iran’s development of a nuclear bomb. The attempt to make the PA significant in the Iranian deal is a subterfuge. Israel must stand strong as a country, defining itself as a whole Israel, including Judea and Samaria. It must also stand strong against the Iranian threat, and ignore the platitudes and false promises of the Obama administration. Self-reliance is Israel’s strength today.

Helen FreedmanExecutive Director,

Americans for a Safe IsraelNew York, NY

The Obama administra-tion has been exposed. It has engaged in secret behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Iranians while deliberately lying about it to its allies, including Israel and Saudi Arabia, among others. It has blatantly aban-doned its oft-declared public position opposing Iran’s retain-ing its capability to produce nuclear weapons. For these rea-sons, the Israeli government no longer sees any point in bowing to American dictates in the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

Obama & Co cannot be trusted in the most critical matters. Added to this is the fact that the US Secretary of State openly bad-mouthed Is-rael in the US Congress and legitimized Palestinian vio-lence against the Jewish state if Jerusalem did not cave on Palestinian demands. As this is the case, Israel will stick to its guns. Mr. Obama can no longer claim to have Israel’s

back, except, perhaps to stick a knife into it.Yedidya Atlas

Journalist specializing in geopolitical and

geostrategic affairs Beit El, Israel

The linkage between the Ira-nian nuclear development and the negotiations between Israel and the PA has been bantered around. However, I was never convinced that the US was ever very serious about this round of Israeli-Palestinian talks. Even the Palestinians press is saying: “Look at the Iranian deal. See how quickly the US resolves issues when they want to resolve them.” On the realistic side, the Israeli-Palestinian agreement to return to the table never prohib-ited settlement activity. The US knew well and accepted the fact that Israel was to continue build-ing. The US, even this administra-tion, is fed up with the Palestin-ians, and even the Palestinians know it. Therefore, I am not too concerned about US pressure on Israel regarding concessions to the Palestinians. I am, however, deeply concerned about the dan-gers of the P5+1 deal with Iran.

Micah HalpernAuthor, syndicated columnist,

and political commentatorNew York, NY

Because President Obama does not see Iran’s continued abil-ity to enrich uranium under the current agreement (dubbed by us critics his “Chamberlain Mo-ment”) as an existential threat to Israel, I doubt very much that he realizes a forced withdrawal would be one, too. He and his ad-visors have as much as said they intend to force the Jewish state to withdraw to the pre-1967 bor-ders and to station UN observers on the Jordan River, two notions totally debunked as meaningless given Israel’s experience after the withdrawal from Gaza and Lebanon. Those vacuums were filled by Hamas and Hezbollah. Relying on international observ-ers is a bankrupt idea whose lack of value was confirmed by the UN forces’ inability to stop Ira-nian weapons from flowing into Lebanon in 2000.

continued on page 10Steven Emerson

Investigative Project on Terrorism

Washington, DC


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

If Israelis had been listening when President Barack Obama issued his “apology” to Americans for having misled them on ObamaCare, the Israelis would have understood that when the President told them they would be safer under his plan to negotiate with Iran on their nuclear weapons program, he was paying Israelis the complement of treating them as if they were his own subjects…uh citizens. It seems the only ones he was treating with disrespect were the Iranians, to whom he told the truth: “If you like your enriched uranium, you can keep your enriched uranium. Period.”

It’s not only Tea Party groups, the Zionist Organization of America, and other critics of the President who have been hit with politically motivated IRS problems from our veracity-challenged Commander-in-Chief. Last month, Bill Elliott, a cancer patient who voted to re-elect Mr. Obama chiefly because he believed the President when he promised that those who liked their insurance and their doctors would be able to keep them, got hit with a 900 percent increase in his insurance premium.

When Mr. Elliott told the media about his problem, adding that he was more likely to “let nature take its course” than pay the huge increase, he found that our kindly President did something to take his mind off his health problems. The Administration sent the IRS to audit Mr. Elliott.

Coincidentally, if you believe in such things, his story touched one C. Steven Tucker, a health insurance broker who tried to help Mr. Elliott get his insurance back. Tucker, who is something

of a “health policy wonk” then went on the radio to discuss the case, and the next thing he knew, he, too, received notice that he was being audited—all the way back to 2003.

If you like your IRS agent, you can keep your IRS agent.These stories—and others—must have prompted the wag

who sent us this tidbit that we’re quite sure is apocryphal:It seems the President went to visit a primary school and,

taking a chance without his cue cards, he told the children they could ask him some questions.

The first little boy identified himself as Walter and he had four questions for the President: First, why did you tell the American people that our consul in Benghazi was murdered because some fellow made a bad movie in California about the Prophet Mohammed and why is that filmmaker still in jail? Second, why do you keep saying you fixed the economy when it’s actually gotten worse? Third, why did you say that Jeremiah Wright was your mentor, then said that you knew nothing about his preaching and beliefs? Fourth, why are we lending money to Brazil to drill for oil, but America is not allowed to drill for oil?”

As if by magic, the bell then rang for recess, and Obama told the children he would see them when they returned. When they filed back in, he once again asked for questions.

This time, Steve raised his hand, and he had two questions: “First, why did the recess bell ring 20 minutes early? Second, what happened to Walter?”

The second one’s easy. He had to answer an audit. S.L.R.


Checking off categories just for the sake of getting no-ticed will backfire.

Cover LetterYou see a job notice and

you answer it with your résu-mé, but you don’t enclose a cover letter. Why? Your résu-mé is your sales tool. It sells your talent to the employer. But your cover letter is your mission statement. It sells your personality to the employer.

Even if the job does not require a cover letter, send one. Not doing so can affect you only in a negative way.

Oh, but sending a cover letter that only says, “Enclosed is my résumé” or “I can do this job with my eyes closed” or…. well you know what I mean, is just not acceptable.

Please take the time to tailor your résumé and cover letter for each job. This is your sales tool. This is your life.

Only the QualifiedYou apply for a job for which

you are totally not qualified, or, better yet, you see a job asking for ten attributes, six of which you possess, and you say to yourself: I can learn the rest, so I will apply.

Hello? This is not going to get you a job. It’s annoying to the employer, who actually spends time looking through your résumé; it’s annoying to you when you don’t get an answer.

It’s one thing not to have ex-pertise in a certain function, but you have the basics down cold; it’s quite another when you have no idea what the job is even talk-ing about. Please don’t answer these jobs. All that does is waste everyone’s time and energy.

Upgrade SkillsYou refuse to upgrade your

skills. Why? I know you think you are too old, too busy, or maybe you think you are sufficiently familiar with the software so that you think you can get by.

For example, suppose you “know” Excel; that is, you know it has columns and lines that you copy and paste or that you actually fill in with information, and that’s basically it. If the job you want to apply for is asking you to be fully familiar with “Excel,” including formu-las, spreadsheets, accounting techniques, etc., why are you bothering to answer this job? You will not get it.

My suggestion: Take a course for a couple of dollars. Sometimes it’s even free. Learn what employers are looking for and then answer the job notice. Your chances will be greatly maximized.

Appearance CountsYou answer a job post, you

actually get an interview, and then one or more of the follow-ing things happen: a) You come late. b) You have a cold and your

nose is running. c) Your appear-ance is only slightly better than that of a homeless person. d) You focus on everything else other than the person giving you the interview. e) You consistently interrupt the interviewer with questions, comments, or sug-gestions. f) The suit you chose is impeccable, but you didn’t shave or put on makeup. Your shoes are filthy (you stepped into a mud pile); your tie is on crooked; your sheitel looks like it’s on backwards; or you are wet from the rain. I could go on and on.

Here are a few things you can do to avoid these mishaps: First and foremost, try to be ear-ly for your interview (at least 15 minutes is good). Second, once you have signed in, ask nicely where the restrooms are. Go and check yourself out! Wipe off the sweat. Comb your hair. Take the mud off your shoes. Take a puff of your nasal spray to stop the running. Wash your hands and face. Remember that you are meeting with someone im-portant enough to change your life, and you want to look your best. Doing so will make the in-terview go much more smoothly.

Also, always smile and thank the receptionist. Employ-ers actually ask their workers, “So what did you think of this guy?” and their answers car-ries a lot of weight.

Eye contact is crucial. Practice, practice, and prac-tice again in the mirror before your interview.

Only the TruthNever lie on your résumé.

You will be caught. If you say you are an accountant, and the only experience you really have is counting to 10, you are not an accountant. Truth will set you free.

This doesn’t mean you can’t be creative and build yourself up to the max, but tell the truth. Employers check you out. They really do.

Spelling CountsPlease use “Spell Check,”

and then double-check your résumé/cover letter. “There,” “they’re,” and “their” will not be corrected on “Spell Check,” but these words mean differ-ent things. Have someone (a real live person) go over your spelling with you.

Although the one true source of our livelihood comes from above, what we do below can set our paths. Following logic and simple rules, shed-ding frustration and anger, and trying to think positive about the situation are good ways to get you started on your way back to success.

It’s also a great way to ask Hashem to help. I wish you all (myself included) much mazal, bracha, and compassion. Y

Tips continued from page 5


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In his speech before the UN General Assembly last September, Obama cited only two national security issues that were on his plate, the highest priorities of his presidency: better relations with Iran and a solution to the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. Because he has made clear that when the artificial nine-month deadline passes, he intends for his adminis-tration to impose a solution on the parties (read: Israel), there is no reason for the Pal-estinians to compromise now. They expect to receive a complete Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines with international forces stationed along the Jordan River.

Steven EmersonInvestigative Project on Terrorism

Washington, DC

While Mr. Netanyahu is still convinced allowing Iran to enrich any uranium, no matter how limited, is against the best interests of the civilized world, he recognized that the agreement is better than it would have been without Israeli pressure.

“I would be very happy if I could join my voice to those around the world who are praising this deal. Thanks to our efforts, it is a better agreement than it would have been had we not protested. But it is still a bad deal,” he said.

Shared GoalIn the days leading up to the signed

agreement in Geneva, relations between Mr. Netanyahu and the White House were apparently chilly. According to some reports, in a deliberate snub, President Barack Obama refused to accept the Prime Minister’s phone calls.

However, less than a day after the agreement was signed, the President adopted a more conciliatory tone, reportedly calling Mr. Netanyahu to discuss the deal.

According to White House Deputy Spokesman Josh Earnest, Messrs Obama and Netanyahu “reaffirmed their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

“Consistent with our commitment to consult closely with our Israeli friends, the President told the Prime Minister that he wants the United States and Israel to begin consultations immediately regarding our efforts to negotiate a comprehensive solution,” said Mr. Earnest. “The President underscored that the US will remain firm in our commitment to

Israel, which has good reason to be skeptical about Iran’s intentions.”

According to Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi, a close associate of Mr. Netanyahu, the Prime Minister did not merely listen to the President on the phone; he also issued “a stern warning that the practical result of the current policy could lead to the same failure the Americans suffered vis-à-vis North Korea and Pakistan.”

“North Korea acquired the ability to produce nuclear weapons while deceiving the West regarding its intentions. Pakistan is the only Islamic country known to have the ability to produce nuclear weapons. Iran could be the next nuclear threshold state in line,” Mr. Netanyahu reportedly told the President.

Invited to WashingtonDespite the blunt talk—or because of

it, some say—Mr. Netanyahu was invited to send an Israeli team headed by officials from Israel’s National Security Council to Washington to discuss the agreement with American officials.

Mr. Netanyahu said the joint goal of the US and Israel is to make the agreement effective. “It must, therefore, remove from Iran all possibilities of achieving weapons of mass destruction,” said Mr. Netanyahu.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made clear that Tehran will not take part in any nuclear talks attended by Israeli representatives.

“We will undoubtedly not enter a room where a representative of the Zionist regime is present,” he said.

Who Is the Threat?He described Israel as “the biggest

threat to the region and the world” and called on world powers to insist on the disarmament of the entire Middle East instead of exerting pressure on Iran.

While Israel has nuclear weapons, it maintains a purposefully ambiguous policy that it will not be “the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East.”

Israel has never threatened to use nuclear weapons. And in contrast to Iran, Israel has never suggested another country should be annihilated.

UNHRCA few days after their phone discussion,

Israel received word that it had been invited to join the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the international body that gained notoriety for condemning the Jewish state as part of the Goldstone Commission’s investigation of “Operation Cast Lead” in the December 2008-January 2009 incursion into Gaza.

Although the UNHRC concluded that Israel had committed “war crimes,” the entire Goldstone Commission was discredited when Judge Richard Goldstone rescinded most of his report in 2011. The US and most other European Union Countries publicly declared that the UNHRC was wrong for condemning Israel.

In its seven-year history, the UNHRC has condemned Israel more than 46 times, far outnumbering its condemnations of

Kol Ami cont. from page 6

Benefits of Speaking Out continued from page 1



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all other countries in the world combined. Toward countries such as Sudan, the council has expressed only its “deep concern.”

Given the stormy history of the UNHRC, many Israelis and their supporters wondered why the council suddenly reversed course and invited Israel to become a member. Analysts at Ma’ariv suggested Israel’s outrage at the deal struck between Iran and the P5+ may have prompted the United States to demand that the council reach out to the Jewish state.

Agenda Item 7During the Presidency of George W

Bush, the US boycotted the UNHRC because of its “disproportionate obsession with and bias against Israel,” and US funding for the council was suspended. The policy was reversed by President Obama who had the US rejoin the council.

In May 2012, Israel began a boycott of the UNHRC after the council demanded that Israel unconditionally retreat to the 1949 Armistice lines. The council then adopted its notorious Agenda Item 7, which stipulates that the UNHRC must debate Israel’s “human rights record” every time the council meets. No other country has a dedicated agenda item.

This past October, Israeli diplomats demanded that the UNHRC stop harassing the Jewish state, especially in light of more pressing conflicts, such as a nuclear Iran and the Syrian civil war.

ConditionsMr. Netanyahu and his national

security advisor Yaakov Amidror have set two conditions for Israel’s resumption of cooperation with UNHRC. The first is that the European Union states agree to join Israel, the US, Canada, and Australia in boycotting all council meetings which abide by the Agenda Item 7 mandate.

The EU has agreed to boycott the meetings at the next two UNHRC conventions. In the future, the EU has committed to participating in Agenda Item 7 discussions only if there is “a complete consensus over the issues at stake among every EU member state.”

Because of the near-impossibility of that ever happening, those meetings are now effectively stripped of their Western representation. As such, the Arab states will not be able to use the UNHRC meetings as springboards for anti-Israel activity.

Western BlocIsrael’s second condition is that the

Jewish state be accepted as part of the Western bloc in the UNHRC. In addition to Western European states, this group includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the US. Until now, Israel has not been assigned to any specific category, preventing it from taking effective action and singling it out as a pariah state.

According to Mr. Netanyahu, if these demands are not met, Israel will withdraw its involvement from the UNHRC permanently.

The UNHRC has expressed concern that a permanent Israeli withdrawal will encourage the other Western bloc countries to withdraw as well, which would result in the loss of major funding for the council and reduce its relevancy.

If its demands are met, Israel will be able to vote on UNHRC issues, including the selection of other member states, and will have the opportunity to defend itself against the claims brought against it.

Joint Military DrillCoinciding with the UNHRC invitation,

an announcement was made that the US will hold a joint-military drill with Israel next May. Coming at almost the same time that the interim agreement with Iran will be expiring,



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the drill is expected to serve as a message to Tehran from Washington and Israel.

“The wind from the Americans into the Israeli sails is: ‘We will maintain our capability to strike Iran, and one of the ways we show it is to train,’” a high-ranking Israeli officer told Time Magazine.

According to the officer, the drill “will send signals both to Israel and to the Iranians that we are maintaining our capabilities in the military option. The atmosphere is we have to do it big time; we have to do a big show of capabilities and connections.”

Although Israel and US have routinely held joint exercises, the Obama administration significantly reduced the number. Some say that was due to the countries’ disagreement on how best to deal with Iran’s nuclear program.

Nuclear Threshold StateAccording to Gen Michael Hayden,

former director of the CIA and National Security Agency, that may be doable, but it will not be easy. He said the deal reached with Tehran means Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium and be a nuclear threshold state. Because the US did not have “a whole lot of good choices with regard to Iran,” he said he is willing to let this deal “run,” but he stressed the importance of “being honest with ourselves.”

“It says in the agreement that, after the interim period, we will come to an agreement with regard to their right to enrich, which is very different from the UN Security Council resolution which says they do not have the right to enrich. At the end of the day, Iran is going to be a nuclear threshold state,” he said.

The challenge now, which will determine whether this was a good or bad idea, he said, is to “push that threshold back as far as possible.”

“Right now, the Iranians are far too close to a nuclear weapon. With this agreement, we have hit the pause button. Now we have to negotiate hitting the delete button,” he said.

A Better Bad DealIn Israel, Major General (res) Amos

Yadlin, the former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence and the current direct of the Institute of National Strategic Studies, said that thanks to the efforts of Mr. Netanyahu, pushing back the Iran threshold might be easier now. According to Mr. Yadlin, the interim agreement which was signed is “much better” than the original one that

was offered to and rejected by Iran a few weeks earlier.

For example, he said, the routine of daily inspections that Iran has agreed to is “much more intrusive” than what was expected.

He said he did not believe Iran would have signed the deal if the leaders meant to abrogate it within the next six months.

“They did it not to buy time, but to remove the sanctions,” he said,

adding that Iran would be exhibiting “a lack of logic and a lopsided strategy” if it chose not to honor the deal it signed.

Cannot Be PermanentHe did not deny that Tehran might

decide to “escape” from the deal at a later point or to try to make it a permanent agreement. If the interim agreement does become permanent, he said, “it would



indeed be a very bad deal.”“But (US Secretary of State John)

Kerry has given a commitment that the agreement is good only for six months, and if a final agreement is not reached at that time, the temporary deal will be voided,” he said.

Mr. Yadlin said he is convinced that without a deal, the Iranians would have continued to enrich uranium to 20 percent levels.

“The sanctions might have fallen apart anyway,” he said.

Paid a PriceEfraim Halevy, the former head of

Mossad, had even fewer reservations about the deal. He said it was “naïve” to think Iran would start dismantling centrifuges after just the first round of talks.

Like Mr. Yadlin, Mr. Halevy expressed confidence in the inspectors who will be visiting Iran’s nuclear facilities on a daily basis, according to the agreement.

“If the Iranians hide nuclear sites—and if that concealment is revealed—any agreement will crumble. The Iranians will be slammed for fooling the major powers, and the consequences will be far-reaching,” he said.

Israeli political analyst Ehud Yaari agreed. “The Iranians can celebrate all they want, but they know they have paid a heavy price,” he said.

National SupportAccording to a poll by the Rafi Smith

Institute, the overwhelming majority of Israelis supported Mr. Netanyahu’s outspoken criticism of the deal. Forty percent of respondents said Mr. Netanyahu’s critiques

were justified, and another 22 percent said they were justified “but excessive.” Thirty percent had “no opinion.” Only nine percent said Mr. Netanyahu’s response to the deal was “unjustified.”

The same poll found that 55 percent of Israelis believe Jerusalem cannot rely on the US to ensure the Jewish state’s security in negotiations with Iran, while only 31 percent believe Israel can rely on the US.

Asked if the Obama administration is telling Israel everything it needs to know about the Iranian nuclear program, only 24 percent said Washington was giving Israel an “accurate picture” of the state of the negotiations. Forty-two percent said such information was not being supplied. More than one-third of those polled said they did not know.

Not Judgment DayNevertheless, citing his public

arguments with Washington, two of the Prime Minister’s political opponents accused him of “seriously hurting Israel’s relationship with the US.”

The new Labor Party chairman, MK Yitzchak Herzog said Mr. Netanyahu had caused “unnecessary panic.” “It’s just an interim agreement, Judgment Day has not come yet,” he said.

He praised the Prime Minister for “putting the Iranian issue on the global map,” but, he said, Mr. Netanyahu went on “just to spoil the dish.”

“The mistake of the Netanyahu government is that he attempts to wage war on all fronts. You cannot fight with everyone all the time,” he said.

“Declaring War”Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

went even further, accusing Mr. Netanyahu of “declaring war on the US administration.”

“First and foremost, we must steer clear of anything that might give the impression that we want to lock horns with our biggest ally,” said Mr. Olmert. “There is one state in the world that votes for Israel in the UN throughout the years, systematically, even in cases when we were not necessarily 100 percent right. They always stood at our side. All of these attacks, all the attempts to sic Congress against the American administration—this is a very serious mistake. The only way is to cooperate with the US, modestly, with restraint, with wisdom, and not carry out the argument in unceasing attacks on the American administration.”

Perhaps buoyed by Mr. Olmert’s argument, Mr. Obama reportedly asked Mr. Netanyahu to “take a breather” from his clamorous criticism of the deal with Iran.

Who Is the Enemy?But Mr. Netanyahu refuse to stop

speaking out, and Mr. Hanegbi publicly took Mr. Olmert to task for “making it sound as though we have one enemy, Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Mr. Hanegbi accused Mr. Olmert of believing “that Israel should be the lowly slave of the United States.”

“What is this? We have our positions, even if it comes out in public sometimes. Netanyahu cannot whisper. He can’t send a personal e-mail to every one of Israel’s citizens and ask that the contents not be passed on to the US ambassador. There are differences of opinion and sometimes they become public,” he said.

Will Not Be SilentMr. Netanyahu himself made clear that

he has no intention of stopping his warnings against the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran.

“In contrast to others, when I see that interests to the security of Israel’s citizens are in danger, I will not be silent,” he said, noting that “it is easy to be silent; it is very easy to receive a pat on the shoulder from the international community, to bow one’s head, but I am committed to the security of my people.”

His made his remarks during a Chanukah candle-lighting held at the Great Synagogue in Rome. He spoke there




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Nefesh B’Nefesh “Think Israel” Conference Draws Hundreds, Including More Than 160 Medical Professionals—

and Israel Says It Needs Themlast month, hUndreds of Jewish stu-dents and young professionals at-tended the annual “Think Israel” conference co-organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh, the Israeli Ministry of Ali-yah and Immigrant Absorption, The Jewish Agency for Israel, and Keren Kayemeth L’Yisrael.

The conference, which took place at the Convene Conference Center in Manhattan, focused on careers and life in Israel. It featured various workshops, including “Breaking into the Israeli Job Market,” “Higher Education,” “Building Your Community,” “Israel Engagement,” and “Army Service in Israel.”

This year, the event included a special

workshop for physicians and paramedical professionals, allowing them to meet with Dr. Amir Shanon, the head of the Medical Professions Licensing Department of the Israeli Ministry of Health. Dr. Shanon was able to answer questions regarding licensing and certification. More than 160 medical professionals attended the event. Many of them said their participation in the workshop will enable them to expedite their medical licensing, which will lead to their aliyah.

Revitalizing AliyahNefesh B’Nefesh co-founder and executive

director Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor made special presentations as well.

Since 2002, Nefesh B’Nefesh, in cooperation with the Israeli government and The Jewish Agency for Israel, has been dedicated to revitalizing aliyah from North America and the United Kingdom by removing or minimizing the financial, professional, logistical, and social obstacles to relocating to Israel. The support and comprehensive social services provided by Nefesh B’Nefesh to the 38,000 Jews who have made aliyah under its auspices, has ensured that 97 percent of its olim have remained in Israel.

Rabbi Fass said that while he was “thrilled” by the hundreds of young professionals and students who attended the event, it was “impressive seeing so many medical professionals coming from all over North America expressing interest in making aliyah.”

“Inundated”He noted that Nefesh B’Nefesh has

been “inundated” with requests from the Israeli government and medical institutions “to help bring more doctors to alleviate the shortage of physicians in Israel.”

“Therefore, we are thrilled to be able to help expedite the medical licensing and aliyah process for physicians, making the transition to life in Israel that much more smooth,” he said.

For more information on Nefesh B’Nefesh, its website can be visited at www.nbn.org.il. Y

after a 25-minute closed-door meeting with Pope Francis. During the meeting, Mr. Netanyahu presented the Pope, who is originally from Buenos Aires, with a Spanish translation of “The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain,” written by the Prime Minister’s late father, Professor Bentzion Netanyahu.

At the Great Synagogue, Mr. Netanyahu said the threat from Iran is not the problem of Israel alone.

“We will act against it in time, if need be, but I would like to dispel any illusions. Iran aspires to attain an atomic bomb. It would thus threaten not only Israel, but also Italy, Europe, and the entire world,” he said. S.L.R.

Benefits from p. 14


Benjamin Netanyahu was right to oppose the deal between Iran and the P5+1 (the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) to reduce economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for a slight reduction in Tehran’s nuclear arms capabilities.

More than half of respondents (52.1 percent) supported Mr. Netanyahu in his disagreements with the US over Iran. In Israel’s religious sector, the number supporting the Prime Minister jumped to a staggering 84.4 percent.

Deserved ConfidenceMilitary experts in Israel say the

people’s confidence is well-placed.“An Israeli military strike on Iran’s

nuclear infrastructure would be a risky and militarily-complicated endeavor, but it is within reach,” said Prof Efraim Inbar, a leading strategic analyst who heads the Begin-Sadat Center at Bar-Ilan University. “Israeli ingenuity and determination could lead to a great operational and political success, and the international responses are likely to be bearable.”

Although it would be “a historic gamble,” he said, “history, necessity, and common sense point toward an attack.”

Little International ReactionAccording to Dr. Inbar, the attack would

require the capability to reach and destroy distant targets while overcoming aerial defense systems. However, he said, the number of facilities that would need to be struck in order to deliver a significant blow to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure “is generally overestimated.”

So, too, he said, is the expectation that the international community would seek retaliation against Israel for defending itself.

He noted that when Israel attacked nuclear installations in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007, there were few international repercussions.

Prepared Air ForceSince the essential ingredient for building

a nuclear bomb is uranium enriched to at least 90 percent, the enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow in Iran must be taken out, he said. The heavy water reactor at Arak—designed to produce plutonium, another fissionable material suitable for building a nuclear bomb—is not yet active, but is also “a necessary target.”

The Israel Air Force is reported to

have upwards of 400 fighter planes—more than the inventory of most countries—and includes the very advanced F-151, designed to carry many precision-guided weapons over long distances.

The IAF also reportedly has a number of aerial refueling tankers that give its fighter jets the option to extend their flight range as far as Iran. According to Dr. Inbar, the IAF has held exercises testing this ability.

Help from NeighborsHe said he is reasonably certain that

several Sunni-Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are at least as concerned as Israel about Iran’s nuclear capability. This should mean, he said, that they might well happily turn a blind eye “or even cooperate” with Israel when it is necessary for the IAF to cross their borders to reach nuclear targets in Iran.

According to strategic analyst Mark Langfan, national chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran’s first target would not be Israel, but, rather, the

Israeli Military Strike continued from page 1



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eastern oil fields of Saudi Arabia.“One electro-magnetic pulse (EMP)

nuclear bomb can knock out the Saudi and American defenses in Saudi Arabia,” said Mr. Langfan.

He predicted an EMP nuclear bomb could put Iran in control of the Shiite-majority areas in eastern Saudi Arabia, where almost 100 percent of Saudi oil is located.

In fact, he said, most of the world’s oil reserves are located within the so-called “black gold triangle,” which Iran could turn into a “Shiite Caliphate.”

PakistanFeeling betrayed by the US, which

seems to be supporting Iran over the rest of the Middle East, the Saudi government has reportedly arranged to obtain nuclear weapons from Pakistan in case Iran passes

the nuclear threshold. According to BBC, the Saudis have given Pakistan “generous” aid as part of an understanding between the two countries that if and when Saudi Arabia requires a warhead, the Pakistanis would provide it.

It is unclear if the Saudis expect the Pakistanis to sell them the weapons or if Pakistani nuclear positions would be deployed in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan, like the Saudi government, is Sunni. Both countries border Shia Iran.

Some analysts say neither scenario is plausible. The first would cast Pakistan as a rogue state, willing to sell its nuclear wares to the highest bidder. The second option would mean a foreign nuclear “protector” on Saudi soil, which would damage Saudi Arabia’s ambition to position itself as the

leading Sunni Muslim power.An Israeli mission to destroy the

Iranian nuclear sites would work better for both countries.

Israeli-Saudi Cooperation?According to a report in the London

Times, the operative scenario calls for Israel to carry out the actual strike with Saudi Arabia providing technical support.

Previous reports suggested that Saudi Arabia would merely allow Israel to use its airspace to stop Iran. Now the Sunni Muslim country is reportedly prepared to cooperate over the use of planes and drones as well.

“Once the Geneva agreement was signed, the military option was back on the table. The Saudis are furious and willing to give Israel all the help it needs,” an unnamed diplomat told the Times.

The paper reported that “as part of the growing cooperation, Riyadh is understood already to have given the go-ahead for Israeli planes to use its airspace in the event of an attack on Iran.”

Expected DenialOnce the report was published, Saudi

Arabia issued its expected denial, saying it “has no relations or contacts with Israel of any kind or at any level.”

A Saudi spokesman said the report was “completely unfounded,” but the country’s ambassador to the UK, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, told the same paper that if the world powers fail to halt Iran’s nuclear program, Saudi Arabia would “not sit idly by.”

“We are not going to sit idly by and





New Ramat Beit Shemesh Community with American Rabbi at Its Helm Has Already Attracted 20 English-Speaking Families

nestled in the foothills of the Judean Mountains, Ramat Beit Shemesh is only a 40-minute drive from Jerusa-lem and 60 minutes from Tel Aviv. It is now home to over 100,000 residents who make up the original city of Beit Shemesh and the newer neighborhoods of Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph and Bet.

Recently, 20 English-speaking families in Israel signed on to join Ganei HaEla, a new neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shem-esh. The prime suburban setting will be led by Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, a dynamic and well-respected spiritual leader who previously served Baltimore’s Congrega-tion Shomrei Emunah before relocating to Israel with his family in 2010.

“We will fill a compelling need for a cohesive community where families who share the values of commitment to Torah, the Jewish people, and the Land of Israel

can come together to support each other in a warm and friendly environment,” said Rabbi Gottlieb, whose lectures and articles can be found online at www.yutorah.org. “We are also excited to be a part of—to benefit from and contribute to—the full range of educational, communal, and recreational services located in the area.”

Designed to attract Religious-Zionist residents, Ganei HaEla will be built around a beautiful synagogue and beit midrash with nearby schools, religious institutions, and medical and commercial centers to service the communities.

Mostly ProfessionalsGanei HaEla’s first 20 families are

largely professionals, including doctors, accountants, educators, financial analysts, and others, mostly in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Those who keep an eye on real es-tate in Israel predict another 50 families

will join them in the next few months as development and construction begin.

“Greater Beit Shemesh is already Is-rael’s number one community for young American and Anglo families,” said real estate professional Shelly Levine. Her real estate firm, Tivuch Shelly, Ltd, has been a long-term marketer of the area.

“I am certain that Ganei HaEla will take Beit Shemesh to the next level of most-desired neighborhoods in Israel,” she said, noting that a variety of spacious top-of-the-line housing options are being offered, from apartments to single-family homes, all located within a meticulously cultivated, gated community.

More information on Ganei HaEla can be found on its website, www.ganeihaela.com, or by contacting Dena Wimpfheimer at Lone Star Communications in Israel, [email protected]. Y

receive a threat there and not think seriously how we can best defend our country and our region,” said Prince Mohammed, who is Saudi King Abdullah’s nephew. “Let’s just leave it there. All options are available.”

He noted that while both the Saudi and Israeli governments are eager to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons, Israel should also have to show that its nuclear program is peaceful.

Pulling Nuclear ChestnutsThe Saudi reaction did not surprise Dr.

Inbar. “Many hypocritical denouncements are likely, accompanied by private feelings of relief. Many countries, particularly in the region, are actually waiting for Israel to pull the nuclear chestnuts from the fire,” said Dr. Inbar.

To accomplish this, he said, the IAF has “a remarkable set of technological means that enable it to blind or paralyze air defense systems.” He hinted that reported IAF operations in Syria and Sudan “may be an indication of such capabilities.”

“Iran might have good air defense systems that could exact a price from the IAF, but it is unlikely that Tehran could prevent the air force from conducting a successful attack,” he said.

Dr. Inbar did not go into detail concerning Israel’s ability to destroy underground targets, but said that the US has provided the Jewish state with bunker-buster bombs. In addition, “it is likely that the Israeli military industries are also capable of developing and producing similar weapons,” he said.

Little DamageHe said Iran’s ability to punish Israel

is “quite limited.”“Iran’s missiles can at least partially

and perhaps largely be intercepted by Israel’s anti-ballistic missile system, which features the Arrow-2,” he said.

He was not too concerned about the damage Iran’s allies, Hezbollah and Hamas, can inflict. For starters, he said, “their full subservience to Iran remains to be seen.” Hezbollah has had its hands full fighting for Iran’s ally, President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. And Hamas, having lost its Muslim Brotherhood patron in Egypt and now facing a secular Egyptian military government that cracks down on terrorism, is having trouble providing its people with basic necessities.



Sephardic Minyan on Premises

Even if they do act as Iran’s proxies on Israel’s borders, he said the Jewish state has the military capability to invade the missile-launching areas “and limit the price they can exact from Israel’s home front.”

“In any case, preventing a nuclear Iran is an important objective that justifies Israeli losses,” he said.

No Permission NeededIsrael’s former national security

advisor, Yaakov Amidror, seemed equally confident. He said Israel is equipped to stop Iran’s nuclear arms program “for a very long time.” And he said Israel does not require permission or help from the US to accomplish this.

“We don’t need permission from anyone. We are an independent, sovereign state, and if Israel is in a position in which Israel must defend itself, Israel will do it,” said Mr. Amidror who, after serving as national security advisor for two-and-a-half years, stepped down last month.

He explained that the IAF has been conducting “very long-range flights, all around the world,” as part of its preparation for a possible military confrontation with Iran.

Not Like South KoreaVirtually all Israeli officials agreed,

echoing statements made by Mr. Netanyahu at the UN.

“We’ve said all along that if the world does not act, we will solve the problem alone,” said Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin (Likud). “We are able to act. It’s not easy. Our ability to cause damage to Iran’s nuclear program is not as strong as that of the Americans, but this ability is definitely there and we cannot sit back if we see that Iran is advancing towards a nuclear weapon.”

Israel, he said, has no intention of falling into the same situation endured by South Korea, which is the victim of a deal forged by the US, in which the North Koreans were not barred from achieving nuclear capability.

“When you talk with South Koreans, you see exactly what is the price of a bad deal,” said Mr. Elkin.

Reluctant AmericansAccording to many experts, if a military

strike is deemed necessary, it is very likely Israel will be on its own. Although former US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta released a statement last month suggesting the US may have to resort to military force on Iran, his successor Chuck Hagel argued for many years before his

controversial confirmation in 2013 that the US should reject all measures—military and economic—that would prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

According to ZOA president Mort Klein, during Mr. Hagel’s confirmation hearings earlier this year, he may have inadvertently exposed President Barack Obama’s true policy. Before an aide managed to correct him, Mr. Hagel said he supported Mr. Obama’s “containment” policy on Iran.

Mr. Hagel then had to correct himself and admit the public position of the Obama administration was to oppose containment and acceptance of a nuclear-armed Iran.

A Different StoryMr. Klein pointed out that while Mr.

Obama has publicly affirmed his understanding that Israel will legitimately decide how to defend its security, statements from several members of his administration as well as close advisors “tell a different story.”

For example, in April 2009, Vice-President Joseph Biden, a long-time supporter of Tehran, publicly warned Israel of the Obama administration’s opposition to any Israeli military action against Iran.

That same month, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that American support in countering the Iranian nuclear threat was conditional on Israel’s making concessions to the Palestinians.



Camp Maor, Performing Arts Sleep-Away Camp for Observant-Jewish Girls to Open for Summer 2014

Camp maor has been holding a series of parlor meetings and open houses through-out Northern New Jersey, and the reaction from pro-spective campers and their parents has been very posi-tive. Camp Maor is perhaps the only Jewish performing arts sleep-away camp for girls.

Open to girls in grades 5 through 9, Camp Maor is located on a beautiful campus in the heart of the Poconos. It offers campers the opportunity to learn from teaching artists with degrees in the fields of acting, voice, and dance.

“Camp Maor is a place where every camper will have a chance to shine,” said Dale Pianko, the owner and visionary behind the camp.

Majors, Electives, and Yiddishkeit

At Camp Maor, campers will select a major area of concentrated study, participating in advanced training and performance exercises designed to keep them active and excited every

day. The limited enrollment at Camp Maor will ensure that each camper receives individualized attention from the camp’s professional faculty and will allow instructors to tailor their approaches, eliminating the need to teach in a one-size-fits-all style.

In addition, campers will gain bonus skills from elective courses and specialty workshops that will vary throughout the summer and include special guest instructors.

All this will be accomplished while not compromising Jewish observance. Every day time will be set aside for tefillah and a shiur relevant to the themes of the camp’s program. At the end of each week, there will be a unique Shabbat experience in which every camper will feel part of a gathering of performance artists who make up the faculty and staff of Camp Maor.

Professional Staff“Our goal is to create a

non-intimidating, safe, and supportive environment so that all of our campers can

explore their expressive and performance abilities,” said Sari Kahn, Camp Maor’s director. “The increased interaction between campers and faculty from our smaller courses will allow campers to grow in confidence and handle themselves with professionalism whenever they have to step into the spotlight, whether in school or in any future career.”

As part of its summer program, the camp prides itself on its partnering with some very impressive professional performing artists and educators. One example is Rhonda Malkin, a New York-based professional dancer and dance teacher who joined Ms. Kahn at the Teaneck Open House last month.

“Camp Maor is the first of its kind to offer frum girls the opportunity to work with real showbiz professionals,” said Ms. Malkin. “These campers will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train like professionals and learn what it takes to put together a real, high-quality production. They will be able

to take that knowledge and share it with their schools, families, and friends.”

Shows and SportsCamp Maor’s summer will

be divided into two sessions. This year, the first session will conclude with a performance of “Alice in Wonderland” along with a “Glee”-style a capella performance. The second session’s final performance will be Disney’s musical “Mulan.”

According to Ms. Kahn, Camp Maor is not all about rehearsals and training. Campers will enjoy time every day at the camp’s beautiful sports and recreational facilities. The pool will be available for one to two swim periods each day for each camper, and all campers will participate in organized sports on the camp’s state-of-the-art basketball and tennis courts and on the ball fields.

“Even if you missed the open houses, you can learn more about Camp Maor on our website, www.campmaor.com, or call us at 516-662-6095,” said Ms. Kahn. Y

In September 2009, Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of Mr. Obama’s advisors and strong supporters who served as former President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor, suggested that if Israel were to launch a military strike at Iran, the US should confront the Israeli planes and “shoot them down.”

According to several re-ports, before the 2012 election, Mr. Obama himself privately warned Israel not to strike Iran, threatening that there would be penalties for doing so if he won re-election.

Military SupportIn contrast, General Martin

Dempsey, chairman of the Joint

Chiefs of Staff, told a regional summit of international business executives meeting in Washington that the US would back Israel in the event of a strike by the Jewish state on Iran.

According to the International Business Times, Mr. Dempsey said the US still has a “deep obliga-tion” to Israel, and although he declined to give details, he em-phasized that the two countries have “a special alliance during this period of heightened ten-sions in the region.”

“That is why we are in constant contact and collaboration with them,” he said.

According to CNN, Mr. Dempsey credited Israel as

“an example of what could be” in the Middle East. Do Americans Understand?

Mr. Klein said that reaction is reflective of the way most Americans feel. He pointed to a recent Pew poll in which two-thirds of Americans supported military action against Iran if it moves to arm itself with nuclear weapons.

“Americans understand the danger to our own country, not just to Israel and Europe,” he said.

“If Iran has killed thousands of American by terrorist attacks over the last few years in 25 different countries, what will they do once they have nuclear weapons?” he said. “I just hope Israel has

the strength and fortitude to do what’s right, not only for Israel, but for the entire world.”

Not Much TimeFormer American UN

Ambassador John Bolton said because Israel will probably have to act alone, it does not have much time to make the “fateful decision” about whether to strike Iran’s nuclear sites or allow the country to become an existential threat.

“Frankly, the Israelis should have done this three years ago because we all know intelligence is imperfect and Iran may have a more developed capacity that we know about, perhaps in cooperation with



North Korea,” he said.Despite the comments from

Mr. Panetta and General Dempsey, Mr. Bolton was skeptical about the

chances of Israel receiving any help from the US. “It isn’t going to happen under the Obama administration,” he said. S.L.R.

Israeli Military Strike from page 22

The Deadliest Middle East Conflict Is Shia vs Sunnito a great extent, the Mus-lim Middle East is separating into two camps. On one hand, there is Shiite Iran and its allies, the Syrian Alawite government of Bashar al-Assad (the Alawites are an offshoot of the Shiites) and the Shiite terror group, Hezbollah of Lebanon.

On the other hand, there are the Sunnis, led, some say, by Saudi Arabia. In the Syrian civil war, the Sunnis are represented by the rebels, many of whom are Syrian, but because this is a religious war, Sunni Muslim fighters have streamed into Syr-ia from throughout the world. Saudi Arabia supports the rebels.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi-ite Iran are still playing out the struggle for leadership in Islam that dates back almost 1400 years.

Vying for LeadershipAccording to Dr. Morde-

chai Kedar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar Ilan University, the Shiite-Sunni conflict, which he called “the most deadly in the Middle East,” dates back to the year 632 CE, when the Prophet Moham-mad died and the struggle over who would succeed to the most powerful position in Islam, the office of Caliph, began.

There were two contend-ers for the position of Moham-mad’s replacement. The first was Ali bin Abi Talib, Moham-mad’s cousin and son-in-law, husband of Mohammad’s daughter, Fatima.

While Mohammad was still alive, Fatima and the Prophet’s last wife, Aisha, did not get along. After Mohammad’s death, Aisha’s father, Abu Bakr, man-aged to be appointed leader of Islam, against Fatima’s wishes.

She saw her husband, Ali, as the natural successor.

The family feud over the leadership of Islam surrounded the first three caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman.

The Fourth CaliphWhen Uthman was murdered

in the year 656, Ali was finally ap-pointed the fourth caliph. Those who opposed him—principally members of the Umayya fam-ily—accused him of involvement in Uthman’s murder. Not surpris-ingly, for the five years that he ruled, Ali was continually fight-ing his adversaries.

Eventually, the governor of Syria, Muawiya, rose up and declared himself caliph. When his son, Yazid, succeeded his father as caliph, he ordered the murder of Ali’s son (the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson), Hus-sein. The murder took place in Southern Iraq, near the city of Karbala, and claimed not only Hussein’s life, but also dozens of his friends and family mem-bers. Only one baby survived.

Hussein bin Ali, was de-capitated, and his head was ceremoniously brought to Damascus as proof that the deed had been carried out. Caliph Yazid bin Muawiya placed Hussein’s head on his table and, left it there for a month, allowing it to serve as public warning of the fate that befalls a rebel.

AshuraThe murder, which occurred

on the 10th of the month of Muharram in 680 CE, is called the Ashura, and it remains the defining event for Shi’at Ali, the “sect of Ali,” which is the source of the name “Shia” or “Shiite,” the name of the stream of Islam

that supports the leadership of Ali’s descendants.

Sunnis take their name from the term “Sunnah,” which re-fers to the sayings and actions of Mohammad as recorded in Hadiths.

This family conflict, which has gone on for almost 1400 years, is the source of the civil war in Syria and many other struggles throughout the Mus-lim world.

Sunni CaliphsUntil 1258, when Bagh-

dad, the capital of the Abba-sid dynasty, fell, all of Islam’s caliphs—for over 600 years—were from Mohammad’s tribe, the Quraysh, but they were never the descendants of Ali. This situation placed the Shiites in continual opposition to the ruling regime, rendering them a harshly persecuted group throughout Islamic history.

The struggle between the two groups led to the devel-

opment of great differences between the two streams of Islam. Their religious laws, the-ology, and even basic scrip-tures are different.

The Shiites claim the Sun-nis omitted two chapters from the Quran in which leadership was promised to Ali and his descendants. The Sunnis, on the other hand, claim these two chapters were fabricat-ed by the Shiites. The oral law of the two groups is different because each side included stories about Mohammad to support their position.

In their prayers, the Shi-ites curse the first three caliphs for stealing the rule from Ali, and they include passages that praise and exalt him. Therefore, there are many Sunnis, espe-cially the fundamentalist Wah-habis of Saudi Arabia, who con-sider Shia as a kind of heresy. The Saudi regime forbids the



Shiite minority to recite the call to prayer aloud because even in their muezzin’s call, there is an extra part praising Ali.

Perpetuating FrictionShiites commemorate the Ashura,

with various customs of ta’aziah (conso-lation). In some places, Shiite men march in the streets, beating their backs with knives and chains until blood is drawn. In other places, the men meet to recite la-ments during which they weep. All these events carry a harsh anti-Sunni message which perpetuates the hostility between the two streams of Islam.

Shiites are persecuted in every Is-lamic country in which they are not the ruling majority. Saddam Hussein forbade Shiites to commemorate Ashura and, on that day, Shiites were forbidden even to gather in the streets. Any group of three or four Shiites who were caught in public on Ashura were jailed.

In Lebanon, the Shiites were marginalized, oppressed, and degraded. This treatment provided the social background for the de-velopment of Hezbollah, the party of Allah, which eventually took control wherever it could in Lebanon in revenge for hundreds of years of subjugation and persecution.

Banned and SlaughteredIn an Arab village in northern Israel,

a number of families were so impressed with Hezbollah’s “divine victory” in the 2006 Second Lebanon War that they switched to Shia. As a result, these families were banned by the Sunni Palestinian majority. Their chil-dren were expelled from school and the stores in the village were closed to them.

Just recently in Egypt, a leader of the small Shiite minority was slaughtered to-gether with several of his aides. In Europe, there are mosques that have been built with Saudi money on condition that Shiites not be permitted to enter the building.

In Sunni-majority Pakistan and Af-ghanistan, Shiites are considered unclean and their mosques are regular targets for terror attacks by radical Sunnis, especially members of al-Qaeda.

According to Dr. Kedar, who served for 25 years in IDF Military Intelligence, specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups, and the Syrian domestic arena, Iran’s current be-havior is emblematic of the Sunni-Shiite battle. The Iranian Shiite Ayatollahs’ dream is to control Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, he said, explaining that the Shiites would love to be able to expel the Sunni Wahhabis from these Islamic holy places and restore the Shiites, the descendants of Ali, the fourth caliph, to power.

“This is the great and real threat that Saudi Arabia feels when confronted with the Ira-nian military nuclear program,” said Dr. Kedar.

Muslim “Punching Bag”Israel, on the other hand, is the “punch-

ing bag” for both streams of Islam, he said. Sunnis see Jerusalem as their third holiest site, dating to political problems in the 7th century when the House of Umayya, which ruled in Damascus, adopted Jeru-salem as the religious and political center to compete with Mecca.

Traditionally, Shiites did not see Jeru-salem as holy because it had been “sanc-

tified” by the House of Umayya, the de-spised murderers of Hussein bin Ali.

Today, however, as Shiites and Sun-nis compete for religious legitimacy and the status of “best jihad fighters” against the Jews, Jerusalem, known in Arabic as al-Quds, the “holy,” became “holy” to the Shiites, too. Iran established the “Quds” force to spread terror throughout the world, and every year, Hezbollah orga-nizes “Jerusalem Day” in conjunction with the Iranians.

Modern Religious WarsThe struggle between Sunna and Shia

still results in untold numbers of deaths. The eight-year war between Sunni Iraq and Shiite Iran raged from 1980-1988 and consumed more than a million lives on both sides. Since 2003, Iraq has returned to sectarian war as Sunni jihadists set car and truck bombs in Shiite neighborhoods and, in revenge, Shiites blow up vehicles loaded with explosives in Sunni districts.

Shiite commemorative days, such as the Ashura, are often singled out by Sunni terror operatives. The mass pro-cessions and large gathering of Shiites in ta’aziah rituals make them attractive and effective targets for anyone inter-ested in harming them.

According to Dr. Kedar, merely a ru-mor that a terrorist has entered the Shi-ite crowd suffices to cause a stampede, causing hundreds of people to fall from bridges and be trampled to death.

SyriaOver the years, there have been at-

tempts to mediate and reconcile the two streams of Islam, but, according to Dr. Kedar, the bitter civil war in Syria has “reshuffled all the cards.” Mr. Assad, the Alawite ruler, is seen by the Syrian Sun-nis as running an “infidel regime,” sup-ported by Shiite Iranian weapons, funds, and fighters to slaughter Sunni citizens. Almost 200,000 people have been killed and more than a million have become refugees since the war began.

“Ali and Muawiya, the fourth and fifth caliphs from the middle of the seventh century, have been in their graves for some time, but the struggle between them for the rule of Islam continues to claim casualties among their supporters and adherents, who are all, every single one, Muslims,” said Dr. Kedar. S.L.R.

Shia vs Sunni continued from page 23



Do It NowSister Rose Thering Essay

Contest, for students in grades 9-12, after seeing the video, “Sister Rose’s Passion,” write 500 words on “How Does Sister Rose’s Pas-sion Relate to an Experience in Your Life,” deadline is Feb 4, 609-292-9274 or 973-761-9006

Creative Jewish Teens, 13-17 (as of July 31, 2014) can participate in Maccabi ArtsFest in acting-improv, dance, musi-cal theatre, rock band, culinary arts, vocal music, visual arts, and journalism. Maccabi ArtsFest will be held in Detroit, Mich, Sun, Aug 17-Fri, Aug 22. Interviews begin-ning now at the JCC, West Or-ange, 973-530-3421 and at the JCC, Tenafly, 201-408-1469

Jewish Teens, ages 13-16 (as of July 13, 2014) can try out in January for the JCC Maccabi Games 2014, in boys and girls basketball, boys baseball, boys and girls soccer, girls softball, girls volleyball, boys and girls swim-ming, boys and girls tennis, boys and girls golf, and boys and girls table tennis. Games will be held on Sun, Aug 10-Fri, Aug 15 in Cherry Hill, and on Sun, Aug 17-Fri, Aug 22, in Detroit, Mich. Tryouts will be held at the JCC, West Orange in January, 973-530-3425; and at the JCC, Tenafly, 201-408-1476

Applications Now Accepted for March of the Living, to be held April 23-May 7, for Jewish teens in grades 10-12 to participate in Yom Hashoah commemoration in Poland and then travel onto Is-rael for Israeli Memorial Day and Independence Day, financial as-sistance available, 201-408-1469

Fri., Dec 6Rabbi Jay Weinstein, on

Al Gordon’s Radio Show, “Jew-ish Highland Park/Edison Radio,” 1640am or 1640WJPR.com, 7:30am

Council of Holocaust Educa-tors Conference: “Meeting the Common Core: Teaching the Ho-locaust, Genocide, and Human Rights,” Brookdale Community Col-lege, Lincroft, registration, 8:15am; Welcome, Colleen Tambuscio and Dale Daniels, 9am; “The USC Shoah Foundation-Institute for Visual His-tory and Education,” Dr. Stephen Smith, 9:30am; “Implementing the Common Core,” NJ State Dept of Education, 11:15am; “The NJ Com-mission on Holocaust Education,” Dr. Paul Winkler, noon; “Human Trafficking and Slavery in our Back-yard,” Linda Michalski, 12:45pm; “Utilizing 9-11 Testimonies in the Classroom,” Noah Rauch, 1:50pm, 732-224-1889

Lunch and Learn: “Armchair Tour of Jewish New York,” Mar-tin Schneit, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 12:30pm, 845-362-4400

Older Driver Safety, Ste-phen Rajczyk, Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, 1pm, 877-HOLY-NAME

Carlebach Davening: Mu-sical Kabbalat Shabbat, Jewish Center of Teaneck, 4:15pm, 201-833-0515

“Meet Your Soulmate” Shabbaton, for Modern Or-thodox singles ages 30-45, with scholar-in-residence Dr. Gerald Zeitchik, includes Fri Night Oneg featuring scotch and wine tast-ing, dessert, and games, spons by the Shidduch Project of West Orange/Livingston, at Cong Aha-was Achim Bnai Jacob and David,

West Orange, through Shabbat, Dec 7, [email protected] or [email protected]

Prof Lawrence Schiffman, scholar-in-residence, Cong Anshe Chesed, Linden, through Shab-bat, Dec 7, 908-486-8616

“How Big is the ‘Big Tent’ of the Orthodox Community?” Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, schol-ar-in-residence, includes commu-nity dinner, Young Israel of East Brunswick, 5pm, 732-254-1860

“Israel United, Israel Divided,” Yossi Klein Halevi, scholar-in-res-idence, Young Israel Ohab Zedek of North Riverdale and Yonkers, includes community dinner, at the shul in Riverdale, 5pm, 718-548-0105 or 917-405-8634

“Making Sense of the Teen-age Experience,” Dr. Jerry Zeit-chik, scholar-in-residence, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 7:30pm, 973-324-0914 or 973-736-1407

“Commencement and Com-munity: A Discussion about the Graduation of the American Yoatzot,” for men and women, Yoetzet Halacha Bracha Rutner, includes a dessert reception, pri-vate home in Riverdale, 8:30pm, 718-548-1850 or 718‐548‐1884

Shabbat, Dec 7Rabbi Steve Klitsner and

Dr. Jennie Rosenfeld, scholars-in-residence, Davar, Teaneck, 201-837-1995 or [email protected]

Educational Prayer Service, spons by the Jewish Learning Ex-perience, includes discussions and commentary, prayers in English and Hebrew transliteration, at Cong Zichron Mordechai, Te-aneck, 9:45am, 201-966-4498

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, scholar-in-residence, Young Israel of East Brunswick, “Heroes to In-spire Us: A Personal List,” 10:30am; “My Visit with Pope Benedict XVI: What I Said and What He Said,” dur-ing seudah shlishit, 732-254-1860

“Turning Inward: The Emergence of a Domestic Is-raeli Agenda,” Yossi Klein Halevi, scholar-in-residence, Young Israel Ohab Zedek of North Riverdale and Yonkers, Riverdale, 11am, 718-548-0105 or 917-405-8634

Esther Wachsman, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 11am, 201-907-0180

“Crisis and Compassion: The Development of Yehuda as a Leader,” Yoetzet Halacha Bracha Rutner, Riverdale Jewish Center, 11am, 718-548-1850

“Empowering Israeli Women,” Devorah Evron, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 11:30am, 718-796-4730

Dr. Jerry Zeitchik, schol-ar-in-residence, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, “When Does Reli-gious Passion Cross into Fanati-cism?” noon; “The Struggles of Human Nature and Its Impact on Our Lives,” seudah shlishit, 973-736-1407 or 973-324-0914

“Reason to Celebrate,” for women, Rebbetzin Sorah Shem-tov, Chabad of Riverdale, 12:15pm, 718-549-1100

Bnai Akiva Snif Chadash Shabbat Afternoon Groups, for grades 1-6, with Hila Wides and Atara Bdolech, at Cong Netivot Sha-lom, Teaneck, 4pm, [email protected]

“The Strange Connection between Moshe Rabbenu and Chanukah,” Prof Avigdor Shinan, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 4:25pm, 718-796-4730

Motzei Shabbat, Dec 7Sibshops, for children ages

7-12 who have a brother or sister with a disability, Chani Herrmann, spons by NJ Yachad, includes pizza and ice cream, at Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 6:30pm, 201-833-1349

Dor L’Dor Program, for fam-ilies, includes pizza and prizes, Young Israel of East Brunswick, 6:35pm, 732-254-1860

Shiur, Rabbi Mordechai Wil-lig, Young Israel of Riverdale, 7pm, 718-548-4765

Hadassah Chanukah Party, includes kosher buffet dinner and music by Moshe Katzburg, New York Country Club, New Hemp-stead, 7:30pm, 845-362-5800

Mother-Daughter Simcha Dancing, for girls in elementary school and up with a parent, Tova Halpern, Cong Ohav Emeth, High-land Park, 7:30pm, 732-247-3038

Cong Adath Israel Dinner, Elizabeth, 7:30pm, [email protected] or 908-355-4850

The Log: “Separate Yourself Not from the Community”

Journey through Jewish History WITH DR. MARC SHAPIRO

spain June 30–July 10 • iTaLY Aug. 7-17

aFRiCan saFaRi June 29-July 10WITH RABBI NATAN SLIFKIN - THE “ZOO” RABBI

Jewish Medical EthicsBushkill Falls • July 24- 27, 2014

Dr. Aaron Glatt, Dr. Edward Reichman, Dr. Avraham Steinberg & more

www.torahinmotion.org • 1.866.633.5770


Heichal HaTorah Siyyum, for grandfathers, fathers, and sons, to honor the school’s students who finished their first perek of Gemara during Bekius Seder, with Rav Her-shel Schachter and Benny Friedman in concert, at the Jewish Center of Teaneck, siyyum, 7:30; concert, 8:15pm, [email protected]

Motzei Shabbat at the Movies: Films by the Israel Film School and Company, Ma’aleh, “A Shabbos Mother,” “A Jerusalem Tale,” and “A Pure Prayer,” Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 7:45pm, [email protected]

Sassi Shalom Jazz Trio, at Smokey Joe’s BBQ, Teaneck, 8pm and 9:30pm, 201-836-7427

Chanukah Ball, Rutgers Stu-dent Center, New Brunswick, 8pm, 551-404-7546

Melave Malka Geval-tic Gatherings, for singles, up group for age 35 and under, an-other group for age 36 and older, 8pm, to check where in your town, [email protected]

“The Yoetzet Halacha,” Yoetzet Halacha Prof Nechama Price and Rabbi Kenneth Auman, spons by the Orthodox Forum, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-247-0532

Jewish Experience in Amer-ica in Film: “The Jazz Singer” with Al Jolson and the voice of Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8pm, 201-836-8916

The Israeli Business Circle, in Hebrew, Prof Yossi Shiloh, JCC, Tenafly, 8:30pm, 201-569-7900

Café Night, comedian Joel Chasnoff, includes dinner, sushi, Chinese auction, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 8:30pm, 973-736-1407

Community Kashrus Event, with the OU’s Rabbi Yosef Gross-man, Cong Bais Torah, Suffern, “The Integrity of Kosher Meat after the Recent Meat Scandals,” Rabbi Moshe Elefant, 8:30pm; “The Production of Kosher Wine and Liquor: A Pow-erpoint Presentation,” Rabbi Na-chum Rabinowitz, 9:30pm; includes questions and answers, 212-613-8212 or 914-391-9470

Rikudiah: Inter-Yeshiva Girls High School Dance Competi-

tion and Tzedaka Fundraiser, for women, Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, Livingston, 8:30pm, [email protected]

Sun., Dec 8One-Day Trip to the US Ho-

locaust Memorial Museum in Washington, for educators and survivors, leave the Katz JCC, Cherry Hill, 9am, 856-424-4444 or 856-751-9500 ext 1249

“Are We All Fanatics?” Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, includes breakfast, Cong Bais Torah, Suf-fern, 9:30am, 845-352-1343

Teleconference: “Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh: Chaburah on the Energies of the Chodesh,” for women, Rabbi Itamar Schwartz, 9:30am, 973-246-5223

Super Sunday of the Jewish Federation of Somerset, Hunter-don, and Warren, includes breakfast and a silent auction, JCC, Bridge-water, 9:30am-1:30pm, 908-725-6994 ext 202

7-11, for children ages 7-11 who have difficulties reading social cues or navigating social situations, such as those with ADHD and Asperger’s, Dr. Avigael Wodinsky, spons by The Friendship Circle, Cong Rinat Yis-rael, Teaneck, 10am, 201-262-7172

Rockland Jewish Family Service Unsung Heroes Brunch, Rockleigh Country Club, 10am, 845-354-2121

Super Sunday Phone-a-Thon, for Passaic-Clifton, in memory of Morris Macy, z”l, Jewish Family Ser-vice, Clifton, 10am, 973-777-7368

Collage Art Workshop, for women, Tziporah Sharp, partial-ly for tzedaka, private home in Riverdale, 10am, 718-872-5875

Gift of Life Bone Marrow Drive, JCC, Whippany, 11am-4pm, 781-690-9205

Special-Talents Art Show Reception, exhibit by special-needs children and teens, JCC, Tenafly, 1-3pm, 201-408-1490

Super Sunday, for families, including a program for children with special needs and their families, JCC of Central NJ, Scotch Plains, 1pm, 973-929-3129

Kids in the Kitchen, for boys ages 5-8 and girls ages 5-10, spons by Anshei Lubavitch, private home in Fair Lawn, 1:30pm, [email protected]

Shirah Community Cho-rus on the Palisades Concert, songs in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino, and English, Mathew Lazar, JCC, Tenafly, 2pm, 201-569-7900

Friendship Circle Volunteer Kickoff, for those who want to work with special-needs children and young adults, spons by Chabad of Suffern, Sport-O-Rama Ice Rink, Monsey, 2:45pm, 845-368-1889

“Music and Dance: Which Came First? How Essential Is Mu-sic for Dancing?” for parents and children, in Hebrew and English, JCC, Tenafly, 4pm, 201-408-1427

Jewish-Russian Cultural Club, Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, South River, 4pm, 732-698-9213

Jewish Girls Club, for 8th grade girls, Rebbetzin Mussie Mangel, Chabad House, Cherry Hill, 5pm, 856-874-1500

“Charles Dickens’ Fagin: Villain or Victim?” Prof Benja-min Nelson, Englewood Public Library, 6pm, 201-568-2215

Dialogue for Doctors, Ta-lia Levanon, director of the Israel Trauma Coalition, spons by the

Maimonides Society of the Jewish Federation of Rockland County, at The Outside, Piermont, 6:30pm, 845-362-4200 ext 133

“Obama: A Weaker Amer-ica; A More Dangerous World,” Mona Charen and Lori Lowen-thal Marcus, Rutgers Chabad, New Brunswick, 7pm, 212-922-0839

Rockland and Bergen Coun-ty Adoptive Families Meet-Up and Support Group, for those who have already adopted or are in the process of adopting, internationally and domestical-ly, private home, 7:30pm, www.meetup.com/Rockland-and-Ber-gen-Adoptive-Families

Parlor Meeting for the Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Acad-emy of Rockland (ASHAR), for parents of children going into grades K-8, private home in Suf-fern, 8pm, [email protected]

“Preparing for Tevila on Friday Night and Yom Tov,” for women, Rabbi Larry Rothwachs, in anticipation of the near com-pletion of the Friday Night and Yom Tov Mikveh on Sterling Place,

The Log: “Separate Yourself Not from the Community”

FULL SERVICEI.T. NETWORKING



Teaneck, at Cong Beth Aaron, Te-aneck, 8pm, 201-836-6210

An Evening with Israeli Art-ist Ofra Friedland, private home in Englewood, 8pm, 201-862-9332

Yavneh Academy Parlor Meeting, for prospective parents of children from pre-K through 8th grade, Rabbi Jonathan Knapp, private home in Riverdale, 8pm, [email protected]

Mon., Dec 9“Pre-Aliyah Employment

Consultations: To Learn More about Job Opportunities and Career Development in Israel While Building a Profession-al Network,” Adina Schwartz, Nefesh B’Nefesh, Paramus, 12-6pm, 1-866-4-ALIYAH

Final Meeting and Kosher Buffet, Rabbi Ely Allen, Ramapo College Hillel, Mahwah, 1pm, 201-820-3905

Jewish National Fund Recep-tion, honoring Teaneck Council-man Yitz Stern, Philip and Marlene Rhodes, and Benjamin Gutman, with Mayor Davidi Perel and Shani Sim-kowitz of Gush Etzion, donations to be earmarked for the Gush Etzion Visitor Center, at Cong Beth Sho-lom, Teaneck, 7pm, 973-593-0095

“Life in the Balance: Jewish Perspectives on Everyday Medi-cal Dilemmas: Sanctity in Death: Autopsy and Medical Dissection,” Rabbi Shmuel Gancz, Chabad of Suffern, 7:30pm, 845-368-1889

Film: “A Dangerous Meth-od,” with Harold Chapler, JCC, Tenafly, 7:30pm, 201-408-1493

Parlor Meeting for the Rab-bi Teitz Mesivta Academy, for prospective students and their parents, private home in Edison,

7:30pm, 908-355-4850 ext 6254Bruriah High School for Girls

Parlor Meeting, for prospective students and their parents, pri-vate home in Teaneck, 7:45pm, 908-355-4850, ext6196

Yeshiva University High School for Boys Parlor Meeting, for prospective students and their parents, private home in Teaneck, 8pm, 212-960-5400 ext 6676

Middlesex County Yachad Parents Support Group, for par-ents of special-needs children, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-247-0532

Volunteer Orientation, for teens who want to work with spe-cial-needs children, spons by the Friendship Circle, Cong Beth Tefil-lah, Paramus, 8pm, 201-262-7172

“Great Decisions: Mamzerut Muddle: The Langer Children,” Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8:15pm, 201-836-8916

Tues., Dec 10Nosh ‘n’ Knowledge: Amer-

ican-Jewish Women at the Turn of the 20th Century,” Dr. Melis-sa Klapper, JCC, Edison, 10:30am, 732-494-3232

Final Meeting and Kosher Buffet, Chef Stu Sushi-Making, Rabbi Ely Allen, William Paterson University Hillel, Wayne, 12:45pm, 201-820-3905

Jewish Caregivers Support Group: The Azheimer’s Asso-ciation Safe Return Program, Beatman Center, Riverdale, 5pm, 718-601-9714

Collage Art Workshop, for women, Tziporah Sharp, partial-ly for tzedaka, private home in Riverdale, 6:30pm, 718-872-5875

Defensive Driving Class, Harry Schonfeld, Riverdale Jew-ish Center, 6:45pm, 718-339-1300

“For Girls Only,” for special-needs teenage girls, Shelley Levy, JCC, Tenafly, 7pm, 201-408-1489

“Financing Your Son’s Col-lege Education,” Torah Academy of Bergen County, Teaneck, 7pm, 201-837-7696

“Legal Services for Seniors,” Myra Metzger, Esq, Englewood Public Library, 7:15pm, 201-568-2215

“Parenting,” Michelle Good-man, Cong Ahavath Torah, Engle-wood, 8pm, 201-568-1315

“The Final Test: Six Ques-tions You’ll Meet in Heaven: A Series of Fortunate Events: Did You Watch the Consequence of Your Actions?” Rabbi Shalom Baum, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-907-0180

Halacha L’Maaseh Shiur for Shabbat, Chanukah, and “The Holiday Season”: “May a Jew Deck the Halls? Office Holiday Parties and Secret Santa in Halacha,” Rabbi Beni Krohn, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-837-2795

Ahavas Achim of High-land Park Sisterhood Book Club: “The Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Kline, private home in Highland Park, 8:30pm, 732-572-8925 or 732-247-0532

Halacha L’Maaseh Shiur for Shabbat, Chanukah, and “The Holiday Season”: “May a Jew Deck the Halls? Office Holiday Parties and Secret Santa in Halacha,” Rabbi Beni Krohn, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-837-2795

Wed., Dec 11Trip to Grace Kelly Exhibit

and James Michner Art Muse-um in Doylestown, PA, includes kosher lunch, leave JCC, Edison, 8:45am, 732-494-3232

Yiddish Nostalgia: Sharing Stories, Gloria Birnbaum, Riverdale YMHA, 10:30am, 718-548-8200

Jewish Bandleaders, Da-vid Aaron, JCC, Tenafly, 11:15am, 201-569-7900

Lunch and Learn: “The Dead Sea Scrolls: An Historical Drama,” Rabbi Dr. Jacob Reiner, Young Israel of Fort Lee, noon, 201-592-1518, 201-849-5382, or 201-944-6350

Final Meeting and Kosher Restaurant Outing, Rabbi Ely Al-len, Fairleigh Dickinson University Hillel, University Chapel, Teaneck, 1pm, 201-820-3905

Rabbinical College of America (Morristown) National Founders’ Dinner, honoring NJ State Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Sheila and Robert Benrimon, with Consul General of Israel Ido Aharoni, at the Hilton Meadowlands Hotel, East Ruth-erford, 6pm, 973-267-9404

Modern Orthodox Jewish Camping Fair, with directors, counselors, and parents, featuring day and overnight camps, Moriah School, Englewood, 6:30-8:30pm, [email protected]

JTech Meet Up Group, panel discussion of experienced startup investors discussing current market conditions impacting start ups and their investors, Eyal Bino, Charlie Fe-derman, John Frankel, and Loy Kerner, JCC, Tenafly, 6:45pm, 201-408-1427

Girls Swim and Gym, for grades 4-7, Jewish Center of Te-aneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Tomchei Shabbos of Passaic-Clifton Volunteers Needed, for packing and delivery, warehouse in Passaic, women and girls, 6pm; men and boys, 7pm; drivers, 8pm, [email protected]

Jewish Business Network, for Jewish business leaders, en-trepreneurs, and professionals, Chabad Center of Passaic County, Wayne, 7pm, 973-694-6274

Update on Arthritis, Dr. Alex-andru Kimel, spons by Holy Name Hospital, North Bergen Public Li-brary, 7pm, 1-877-Holy-NAME

JCC Book Club: “My Antonia” by Willa Cather, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 7pm, 845-362-4400

“Greenhorn,” Anna Olswanger, including an appearance by Rabbi Rafael Grossman whose childhood experiences after the Holocaust are featured in the book, and a book-signing, Englewood Public Library, 7:15pm, 201-568-2215

Mom’s Support Group, for mothers of children with special needs, Beth Giladi, LSW, spons by Jewish Family Service of MetroW-est, JCC, West Orange, 7:30pm, 973-765-9050 or 973-929-3129

The Log continued from page 27


Bruriah High School for Girls Parlor Meeting, for prospective students and their parents, pri-vate home in Monsey, 7:45pm, 908-355-4850, ext6196

“Life in the Balance: Jew-ish Perspectives on Everyday Medical Dilemmas: A Gift of Gen-erations: The Ethics of Uterine Transplants,” Rabbi Mendy Man-gel, Chabad, Cherry Hill, 7:30pm, 856-874-1500; Rabbi Chanoch Kaplan, Chabad, Franklin Lakes, 8pm, 201-848-0449

“Life in the Balance: Jew-ish Perspectives on Everyday Medical Dilemmas: Sanctity in Death: Autopsy and Medical Dissection,” Rabbi Asher Herson, Chabad, Rockaway, 7:45pm, 973-615-1525 ext 202

Sefer Shmuel I, Rabbi Marc Spivak, spons by Cong Ohr Torah, at private homes, West Orange, 8pm, 973-669-7320

“Jewish-American Experi-ence in Literature: ‘Bread Givers’ by Anzia Yezierska,” with Marshall Wilen, at Cong Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn, 8:15pm, [email protected]

Thurs., Dec 12Exhibit: “Sanctuary in Shang-

hai,” Lautenberg JCC, Whippany, through Jan 21, 973-929-3194

Jewish Business Network, for Jewish professionals and busi-ness owners, CASE Museum/Mu-seum of Russian Art, Jersey City, 8:30am, [email protected]

Lubavitch on the Palisades School Open House, for prospec-tive parents and children from 18 months to fifth grade, at the school in Tenafly, 9am, 201-871-1152 ext 505

Final Meeting and Kosher Buffet, Rabbi Ely Allen, Bergen Community College Hillel, Para-mus, 12:30pm, 201-820-3905

“Echoes and Reflections: Leaders in Holocaust Educa-tion,” for teachers, JCC, Cherry Hill, 3:30pm, 856-751-9500 ext 1249

Falafel and Films: “The Breakfast Parliament,” “The Ranch,” and “The Rabbi’s Daughter,” presented by the Ma’aleh School of Television Film and the Arts in Jerusalem, at the JCC, Bridgewa-ter, 6:30pm, 908-725-6994

Northern NJ Region of Ha-dassah Bergen County Introduc-tory Meeting, for Jewish women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, Shelly’s

Dairy Restaurant, Teaneck, 7pm, 973-226-1297 or 201-873-2476

Boys Swim and Gym, for grades 4-7, Jewish Center of Te-aneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Camp Koby Summer Experi-ence Open House Community Info Night, for students in 10th and 11th grades and their parents, with Roy Angstreich, Camp Koby participants tour Israel and serve as counselors at Machane Koby, a special camp for children affected by an act of terror, private home in Edison, 7:30pm, 732-819-8998 or 301-576-6235

Gemara Learning Program, for boys in grades 7-8, Rabbi Jona-than Kessel, Cong Beth Abraham, Bergenfield, 8pm, [email protected] or 201-384-0434

Fri., Dec 13Asarah (10th) BeTevet

Fast DayLast Day to Drop Off a Teddy

Bear for the Pediatric Oncology Ward at Ein Kerem Hospital in Israel, bears may be dropped off at the Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Academy of Rockland (ASHAR), New City, during school hours, 845-357-1515

New and Slightly Used Items Accepted for Holiday Sale, senior adult lounge, JCC, Tenafly, 10am-2pm, 201-569-7900

Jewish Alcoholics, Chem-ically-Dependent Persons, and Significant Others (JACS) Spiri-tual Weekend Retreat, will include plans for the free “Sober Israel Birthright” Tour, at the Ramada Conference Center, Fishkill, NY, through Sun., Dec 15, 212-632-4600 or [email protected]

Inspirational Shabbat, Cong Ahavath Torah, Englewood, 201-568-1315, through Shabbat Dec 14

Community Shabbat Din-ner, Chabad Ventnor Shul, 4:30pm, 609-822-8500

Tisch, with Rabbi Dr. Abra-ham Twerski and Dr. Elli Kranzler, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8pm, 201-837-2795

Shabbat, Dec 14Yossi Klein Halevi, schol-

ar-in-residence, Davar, Teaneck, 201-837-1995 or [email protected]

Shabbat Youth Program, for children ages 2-10, Hava Finkel, Cong Shomrei Emunah, Engle-wood, 9:30-11am, 201-567-9420

Herring Festival Kiddush, Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, noon, [email protected]

Young Members’ Luncheon, for families, Cong Beth Aaron, Te-aneck, noon, 201-836-6210

Unity Kiddush, for all min-yanim, Cong Ohav Emeth, High-land Park, noon, 732-247-3038

Study Group: “The Thought of Rabbi Tzadok from Lublin,” Prof Alan Brill, private home in Teaneck, 4pm, [email protected]

Pearls of Prayer, for girls, includes seudah shlishit, River-dale Jewish Center, after mincha, 718-548-1850

Motzei Shabbat, Dec 14Family Night Out, for spe-

cial-needs children ages 5-15 and their siblings, includes clowns from the Areyvut Mitzvah Clowning pro-gram, spons by The Friendship Circle, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, River Edge, 6:30pm, 201-262-7172

Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Academy of Rockland (ASHAR) Open House and Hamalach Ha-goel Chesed Program, at the school, New City, 7pm, 845-357-1515

Shma under the Stars, for toddlers and prospective pre-

schoolers, through age 6, and their parents, with Early Childhood spe-cialist Helene Lockspeiser, Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva, Edison, 7pm, 732-572-5052 ext 215

Chaya Newman, z”l Me-morial Lecture: “Turning Nega-tives into Positives,” Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, includes book-signing, Bruriah High School for Girls, Elizabeth, 7:30pm, 908-355-4850 ext 6214

Cong Beth Aaron Sister-hood Book Club: “Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Genizah” by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole, at a private home in Teaneck, 7:30pm, 201-837-0651

“Mideast Strategy and Eco-nomics,” Amb Yoram Ettinger, spons by Israel Bonds, includes dessert reception, at the Riverdale Jew-ish Center, 7:30pm, 718-548-1850

Saturday Night at the Mov-ies: “Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope,” followed by pizza, Young Israel of Fort Lee, 7:30pm, 201-592-1518

Frisch Yeshiva High School Class of 1993 Reunion, at Frisch,



Paramus, 8pm, 201-267-9100Project Ezrah Dinner, honor-

ing Aviva and Gershon Distenfeld, Chani and Jonah Fink, Faigi and Stanley Fischman, Nechama and Yoni Greenfield, Reshi and Yosef Isaacs, Sarah and Daniel Lerer, Lil-lie and Stuart Mentzel, Elana and Marc Rothenberg, and Nicola and Zvi Weiss, at Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, 8pm, 201-907-1080

Tiferes: Chofetz Chaim Heri-tage Foundation Program, for women, private home in Edison, 8:15pm, 732-572-4713

Robbie Harris and SR2, at Smokey Joe’s BBQ, Teaneck, 8pm and 9:30pm, 201-836-7427

Supper and Show in Support of Holocaust Survivor Services, featuring comedian John Pizzi and raffles, includes dairy dinner by Jeru-salem Pizza of Highland Park, spons by Jewish Family and Vocational Services, at the JFK Conference Center, Edison, 8pm, 732-777-1940

Bergen County Kosher Herring Festival, a chance to sample a variety of herrings, in-cluding Matjes, schmaltz, honey mustard, spicy Matjes, Texas-style, also smoked salmon and roes, breads, olives, potatoes, beets, hard-boiled eggs, and single malt scotch, to benefit the Teaneck Vol-unteer Ambulance Corp, at Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, 8:30-11pm, [email protected] or [email protected]

Sun., Dec 15“Psychological Insights

within the Pirush of the Chiz-kuni,” in Hebrew, Rabbi Dr. Yosef Priel, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8:30am, 201-837-2795

Davening and Bikur Cholim at Daughters of Miriam in Clif-ton, meet at Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, 8:15am; davening, fol-

lowed by breakfast and bikur cho-lim, 8:45am, [email protected]

Full Day Jewish Learning to Earn Doctor, Lawyer, or Dentist Licensing Credits: “Life in the Bal-ance: Jewish Perspectives on Ev-eryday Medical Dilemmas,” Rabbis Boruch Chazanow, Levi Wolosow, and Shmaya Galperin, includes break-fast and lunch, Chabad of Western Monmouth County, Manalapan, 9am-6pm, 732-972-3687

Jewish National Fund Break-fast, with Gush Etzion Mayor Davidi Perl, to support the revitalization of the Gush Etzion Visitor Center at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, Cong Shom-rei Torah, Fair Lawn, 9:30am, 973-593-0095 ext 823 or 201-791-7910

Adult/Child CPR and First Aid Training, Ari Lewitter, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 9am-4pm, 732-985-9161

Pre-College Learning Cen-ter Jewish High School Open House, for 7th and 8th graders and their parents, at the school, East Brunswick, 10am, 732-387-2693

On Our Own Trip, for special-needs teens 14-17 and 18-21, leave the JCC, Tenafly, 10am, 201-408-1489


Hilchos Shabbos Shiur, Rabbi Avrohom Herman, Jewish Edu-cational Center, Elizabeth, 10am, [email protected]

“Aliyah-Planning Workshop: Living in Israel, Immigrant Rights, Employment, and Education,” Adina Schwartz, Nefesh B’Nefesh, Para-mus, 10:30am, 1-866-4-ALIYAH

Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic Tea, for women, honoring Reb-betzin Manya Sacks and featuring Rebbetzin Baila Stern, private home in Passaic, 10:30am, 973-472-6100

Rep Ed Royce (R-CA), Chair-man, House Foreign Relations Committee, spons by NORPAC, private home in Teaneck, 10:30am, 201-788-5133

Rabbi Jacob Joseph School of Edison Ladies Luncheon and Chinese Auction, honoring Adina Pruzansky, featuring Leah Forster, at Cong Ohr Torah, Edison, noon, 732-985-6533

Children’s Circle, for special-needs children, includes music, art, baking, story-time, sports, and entertainment, spons by the Friendship Circle, Rosen-baum Yeshiva of North Jersey, noon, 201-262-7172

Teen Circle, for special-needs young adults 12-21, high school volunteers, spons by the Friend-ship Circle, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, noon, 201-262-7172

Friendship Circle Bowling, for special-needs children, their siblings, and Friendship Circle vol-unteers, Holiday Bowl, Oakland, noon, 973-694-6274

Winter Benefit Carnival, for children ages 4-12, to sup-port communities affected by the typhoon in the Philippines, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 1-3pm, 718-796-4730

Ametz Adoption Program, for adoptive parents or parents-to-be, Marci Schwartz, MSW, in-cludes childcare, Nanuet Hebrew Center, 1:30pm, 212-558-9949

Friendship Circle Bowling, for special-needs children, their siblings and Friendship Circle vol-unteers, Van Houten Lanes, Clif-ton, 1:45pm, 973-694-6274

“Music and Dance: What Came First? Essential Is Music for Dancing?” in Hebrew, for adults and families, Tal Adler Arieli, JCC, Tenafly, 4pm, 201-569-7900

Bat Mitzvah Club Interna-tional, for girls ages 11-13 from throughout NJ and NY, Chaya Kanel-sky, private home in Elizabeth, 4pm, 908-463-3347 or 908-662-2722

Adult and Child CPR and First-Aid Training, for adults and teenagers, Ari Lewitter, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 9am-4pm, 732-985-9161 or 732-247-0532

Yeshiva Passaic Torah In-stitute and Neve Passaic Torah

Institute Dinner, honoring Elimel-ech and Ruthie Berenson, Shmuel and Rivkie Avrahami, and Dr. Chaim and Shanny Gejerman, includes ad-dress by Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Ohel Miriam Hall, Passaic, 5pm, [email protected] or 973-594-4774

Young Israel of East Bruns-wick Dinner, celebrating 20 years in their building, honoring Judy Silber, Allison Schechter, and Reb-betzin Sharon Weinstein, at the shul, 5:30pm, 908-420-0923 or 908-421-0192

Community CPR Program, Teddi Levine, spons by Riverdale Hatzalah Volunteer EMS, at Chabad of Riverdale, 6pm, 718-549-1100 or [email protected]

“Talmud and Tacos with Sammy,” spons by NCSY, private home in Highland Park, 7pm, [email protected]

Parenting Seminar, for moth-ers of children ages 2-10, Rebbetzin Sima Spetner, Cong Beth Abraham, Bergenfield, 8pm, 201-232-2390 or [email protected], also Mon, Dec 16; Tues, Dec 17; Wed, Dec 18; Thurs., Dec 19, 8pm, and Sun., Dec 22, during the day

“Life in the Balance: Jew-ish Perspectives on Everyday Medical Dilemmas: Safeguard-ing Our Health: A Gift of Gen-erations: The Ethics of Uterine Transplants,” Rabbi Avrohom Bergstein, Chabad, Fair Lawn, 8pm, 718-839-5296

Camp Shoshanim Informa-tion Session, for girls entering grades 3-10 and their parents, also staff positions available, private home in Highland Park, 8pm, 973-575-3333 ext 171

Mon., Dec 16Deadline for Early Bird Rates

for the Foundation for Jewish Camp Leaders Assembly, for Jewish leaders, communal pro-fessionals, educators, researchers, philanthropists, overnight and day camp professionals, includes Tif-fany Shlain, Alexis Kashar, David Broza, creative plenaries, and the Shuk: Program Marketplace, to be held Sun, March 23-Tues, March 25, Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick, www.jewishcamp.org/leaders

“Personal Aliyah Planning Meetings, for those who plan to

The Log is a free service provided to the Jewish community 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 announcement. Please email them to :

[email protected]



move to Israel, includes personal pre-aliyah meetins, Adina Ben-nett, Nefesh B’Nefesh, Paramus, 8:30am-12:30pm, 1-866-4-ALIYAH

New and Slightly Used Items Accepted for Holiday Sale, senior adult lounge, JCC, Tenafly, 10am-2pm, 201-569-7900

Current Events, Stan Gold-berg and Buddy Tell, JCC, Tenafly, 1:30pm, 201-569-7900

Blood Drive, those who par-ticipate are eligible to win a pair of Super Bowl Tickets to the Feb 2 game at Met Life Stadium, Cong Sons of Israel, Manalapan, 5-8pm, 800-886-7007 or 732-446-3000

“Life in the Balance: Jew-ish Perspectives on Everyday Medical Dilemmas: A Gift of Generations: The Ethics of Uterine Transplants,” Rabbi Shmuel Gancz, Chabad of Suf-fern, 7:30pm, 845-368-1889

Tachles: Learn to Speak He-brew for Real Conversations, Avia Prins, Rutgers Hillel, New Brunswick, 7:30pm, 732-803-9184

Mom’s Night Out, for mothers of special-needs children, spons by the Friendship Circle, private homes in Bergen County, 8pm, 201-262-7172

Meeting for Parents of Young Adults with Disabilities Who Are in Transition, Chani Herrmann, NJ Yachad Office, Te-aneck, 9:15pm, [email protected]

Tues., Dec 17Holiday Sale: New and

Slightly Used Items, JCC, Tenafly, 9am-2pm, 201-569-7900

“The Music of Marvin Ham-lisch,” Marc Courtade, JCC, Edison, 10:30am, 732-494-3232

“Are You Ready for An-other Natural Disaster?” for synagogue leaders, Stephanie Hausner and Sheldon Schmidt, Jewish Federation of Northern NJ, Paramus, noon, 201-820-3904

Bereavement Group for the Death of a Spouse, Dr. Sherry Schachter, Calvary Hospital, Bronx, 1pm, 718-518-2125 or 718-518-2674

Collage Art Workshop, for women, Tziporah Sharp, partial-ly for tzedaka, private home in Riverdale, 6:30pm, 718-872-5875

Yiddish Club, for speakers on all levels, Rabbi Gerald Fried-man, JCC, Tenafly, 6:30pm, 201-569-7900

First-Time Home-Buyers

Seminar,” David Siegel, Max Stein, and Judah Fuld, Esq, Dougie’s BBQ, Teaneck, 7pm, [email protected] or [email protected]

Mah Jongg ABC’s for Chai Lifeline, Cong Ahavas Achim, High-land Park, 7:30pm, 732-828-4438 or 732-777-7326

“The Art of Persian Cook-ing,” for women, Reyna Simnegar, includes a buffet of Persian and Sephardic dishes, Chabad of Te-aneck, 8pm, 201-907-0686

West Orange Jewish Book Club: “The Middlesteins” by Jami Attenberg, private home in West Orange, 8pm, 973-669-0938

“What Is It Like to Be a Proph-et? Delivering and Composing the Word of Hashem, Seen through the Lens of Sefer Yonah,” for men and women, Rabbi Jeremy Donath, Cong Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn, 8:15pm, 201-773-4080

Halacha L’Maaseh Shiur for Shabbat, Chanukah, and “The Holi-day Season”: “What about a Double Fish Tail? Rainbow Looms, Puzzles, and Scrabble on Shabbat,” Rab-bi Beni Krohn, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-837-2795

Wed., Dec 18“The Jews of Spain,” Bruce

Tucker, spons by the JCC of Mid-dlesex County, held in the Com-munity Room at River Ridge in Highland Park, 1pm, 732-494-3232 ext 3614

Teen Scene: Sports and Ath-letics, for special-needs young adults ages 13-21, with high school volunteers and Coach Chanan, spons by The Friendship Circle, Torah Academy of Bergen Coun-ty, Teaneck, 6pm, 201-262-7172

“You’re Hungry, Sit Down, Eat,” for parents and children ages 10 and up, JCC, Tenafly, 6pm, 201-569-7900

Support Group: Strength to Strength, for parents whose children, 15-25, are dealing with chemical dependency, psycho-logical disorders, and/or co-oc-curring issues, Dr. Jeffrey Berman, JCC, Tenafly, 7pm, 201-408-1403 or 201-569-7900

“Shake It Up” Program, for special-needs adults ages 18 and up, spons by Yachad, at the Black Box Studios, Englewood, 7pm, 201-833-1349

Girls Swim and Gym, for

grades 4-7, Jewish Center of Te-aneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Bat Mitzvah Program, for girls in grades 5-8 and their moth-ers, Reyna Simnegar, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 7pm, [email protected]

Abused Women’s Confi-dential Support Group, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 7:15pm, 201-837-9090

“Life in the Balance: Jew-ish Perspectives on Everyday Medical Dilemmas: A Gift of Gen-erations: The Ethics of Uterine Transplants,” Rabbi Asher Her-son, Chabad, Rockaway, 7:45pm, 973-615-1525 ext 202

“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

Makhela Israeli-Style Choir, for those who can read Hebrew, Zev Klein, JCC, Tenafly, 8pm, 201-569-7900

Shomer Shabbos Boy Scout Meeting, for boys in 6th grade or 11 years old and up, Bais Medrash L’Torah, Rabbi Davis’s shul, Passaic, 8pm, [email protected]

Tehillim Group, Cong Shaare Tefillah, Teaneck, 8:15pm, 201-289-5474, 917-902-9303, or 201-836-3431

Thurs., Dec 19Somaich Achim Jewish Fam-

ily Services Food Pantry Program non-perishable food and consum-er items and produce available free of charge or for a nominal fee, volunteers needed, too, Cong Adas Israel, Passaic, 9:30am-1:30pm; 7-8pm, 973-246-7717

“My Family Story: A Col-laboration with Beit Hatzfutzot Israel,” in English and Hebrew, for ages 11-13, JCC, Tenafly, 5pm,

201-408-1427Mishmor, for special-needs

and normally developing boys and girls grades 2-5, includes study with rabbinic students, help with homework, stores, sports, and re-freshments, Friendship Circle, Liv-ingston, 6:30pm, 973-251-0200

Cooking: Creative Soups, Amalia Schneider, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 7pm, 845-362-4400

Boys Swim and Gym, for grades 4-7, Jewish Center of Te-aneck, 7pm, 201-833-0515 ext 205

Fri., Dec 20Early Bird Deadline to Sub-

mit a Film for the Montclair Film Festival/Montclair Art Museum, now accepting submissions, in-cluding 55-minute or longer films in drama, comedy, documentary, family and NJ Spotlight (which will also take shorts). Children in grades 4-12 can submit films no longer than six minutes in length. All must be playable on DVD. Regular Deadline is Jan 31. www.MontclairFilmFest.org

“Shabbat Connects,” hot kosher pre-Shabbat meal for se-niors, JCC, Edison, noon, 732-494-3232 ext 3603

Focused Singles Shabba-ton, for women 36-45 and men 43-53, will take only four men and four women, private homes in Monsey, through Shabbat, Dec 21, 845-537-5255

Oneg Shabbat: The Chul-ent Cookoff, Cong Arzei Darom, Teaneck, 7:45pm, [email protected]

Shabbat, Dec 21Prof Marc Brettler, schol-

ar-in-residence, Davar, Teaneck, 201-837-1995 or [email protected]



Educational Prayer Service, spons by the Jewish Learning Ex-perience, includes discussions and commentary, prayers in English and Hebrew transliteration, at Cong Zichron Mordechai, Te-aneck, 9:45am, 201-966-4498

Motzei Shabbat, Dec 21Sibshops, for children ages


Mother-Daughter Simcha Dancing, for girls in elementa-ry school and up with a parent, Tova Halpern, Cong Ohav Emeth, Highland Park, 7pm, 732-247-3038


Trivia Bowl, includes dairy dinner and dessert, Young Israel of East Brunswick, registration, 7:30pm; game starts, 8pm, 732-254-7888

Cong Rinat Yistael Din-ner, honoring Ilana and Moshe Wertenteil, Avi Katz, and Rena Zelig, includes siyyum in memory of Penina Neuman, z”l, at the shul, Teaneck, 8pm, [email protected]

Meet the Members, Cong Beth Abraham, Bergenfield, 8pm, [email protected] or [email protected]

Cong Beth Aaron Trivia Panoply, includes game, din-ner, raffles, and prizes, at the shul, Teaneck, 8pm, [email protected]

Melave Malka and Chessed Event, with Sew Adorable Fabric, pizza and making heart pillows for cancer patients at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba, spons by NCSY, pri-vate home in Highland Park, 8pm, [email protected]

Cong Ahavas Yisrael Sister-hood Melave Malka, for women, 8pm, [email protected]

Sun., Dec 22Last Day to See Exhibit:

“Lost Synagogues of Europe: An Exhibition of Print Illustra-tions by Andrea Strongwater,” Life Hall, Montclair State Univer-sity, 8:30am-4pm, 973-655-4428

Rabbi Pesach Raymon Ye-shiva Scholarship Fund Break-

fast, honoring Michal Falk, at the school, Edison, 9:30am, 732-572-5052


“The Land Was Theirs: The Story of the Jewish Farmers of Monmouth County,” Jewish Heri-tage Museum of Monmouth County, Freehold, 10am, 732-446-3000

“Mural of Miracles”: Work-ing together to Illustrate the Story of Yetziat Mitzrayim, for families, guided by Julie Wohl, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 10:30am, [email protected]

Mesivta of Clifton Dinner, honoring Rabbi Moshe and Reb-betzin Rivkie Halberstadt, Empire Meadowlands Hotel, Secaucus, 5pm, 973-779-4800

Parlor Meeting for the Zone Camp, separate camps for boys and girls in grades 4-9, scholarships available, private home in West Orange, 7:30pm, 973-495-5702

Mon., Dec 23“Jewish Life on Campus,”

Torah Academy of Bergen Coun-ty, Teaneck, 7pm, 201-837-7696

Girls Night Out: Cupcake Decorating, with Michelle Frohlich of Cakeabite.com, Cong Ahawas Achim Bnai Jacob and David, West Orange, 8pm, [email protected] or [email protected]

“Great Decisions: The Con-version Crisis,” Rabbi Steven Pru-zansky, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Te-aneck, 8:15pm, 201-836-8916

Tues., Dec 24Winter Camp, for special-

needs children ages 5-16 and volunteers in grades 8 and up, spons by the Friendship Circle, at the Frisch Yeshiva High School, Paramus, 10am-3pm, 201-262-7172

“Jewish Composers: From the Shtetl to Main Street,” Gar-ry Chattman, Riverdale YMHA, 10:30am, 718-548-8200

Breakfast and a Movie: “Hava Nagila (The Movie),” JCC, Edison, 10:30am, 732-494-3232

Men’s Bereavement Discus-sion Group, Dr. Sherry Schachter, Calvary Hospital, Bronx, 1pm, 718-518-2125 or 718-518-2674

Collage Art Workshop, for

women, Tziporah Sharp, partial-ly for tzedaka, private home in Riverdale, 6:30pm, 718-872-5875

Nittel Nacht 2013: Chinese Food and a Movie: “Casablan-ca” and “Saturday Night Live” Christmastime for the Jews,” Cong Sons of Israel, Manalapan, 7pm, 732-446-3000

Dinner and Movie: “The Yankles,” includes Chinese buf-fet dinner, Young Israel of Fort Lee, 7pm, 201-592-1518

Wed., Dec 25Father-Son and Mother-

Daughter Learning Programs, for grades 5-8 and a parent, Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva, Edison, 8:45am, 732-572-5052

Open House, for prospective children going into grades pre-K through 8, and their parents, Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva, Edison, 9am, 732-572-5052

“We’re Better Than Them, Right? Examining Our Attitude toward Other Segments of the Frum Community,” Rav Mayer Twersky, Cong Beth Aaron, Te-aneck, 9:30am, 201-836-6210

Trip to Chassidic Brooklyn, spons by Chabad at the Shore, leave the Chabad House, Vent-nor, 9am, [email protected]

Lubavitch on the Palisades School Open House, for prospec-tive parents and children from 18 months to fifth grade, at the school in Tenafly, 9am, 201-871-1152 ext 505

“Skills-Building for Parents: The Job That Never Ends,” Rabbi Naphtali Leff and Jewish Family Service clinicians, Cong Tifereth Israel, Passaic, 9:15am, 973-777-7638

Ma’ayanot Day of Study in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, including “The Surprising Intel-lectualism of Medieval Ashkenazic Jewry and Its Religious and Societal Roots,” Rabbi Dr. Ephraim Karanfo-gel, including Tamar Appel, Rabbi Donny Besser, Enid Goldberg, Leah Herzog, Mel Kapustin, Samantha Kur, Ariella Rosenbaum, and Gila Stein, at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Teaneck, 10am, 201-833-4307 ext 265

Family Movie Day, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, 10am, 845-362-4400

“Yeshiva Tuition, the Pew Research Study, and the Future of Our Community,” Rav Mordechai Willig, Cong Beth Aaron, Teaneck, 10:20am, 201-836-6210

“Bubble Mania,” for fami-lies, includes lunch, JCC, Tenafly, show, 11am; lunch, 11:45am, 201-569-7900

Tomchei Shabbos of Passaic-Clifton Volunteers Needed, for packing and delivery, warehouse in Passaic, women and girls, 6pm; men and boys, 7pm; drivers, 8pm, [email protected]

Second Generation, for children of Holocaust Survivors, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 7pm, 201-837-9090

Sefer Shmuel I, Rabbi Marc Spivak, spons by Cong Ohr Torah, at private homes, West Orange, 8pm, 973-669-7320

Thurs., Dec 26Winter Camp, for special-

needs children ages 5-16 and volunteers in grades 8 and up, spons by the Friendship Circle, at the Frisch Yeshiva High School, Paramus, 10am-3pm, 201-262-7172, also Fri., Dec 27

Gemara Learning Program, for boys in grades 7-8, Rabbi Jona-than Kessel, Cong Beth Abraham, Bergenfield, 8pm, [email protected] or 201-384-0434

Fri., Dec 27Carlebach Davening: Musical

Kabbalat Shabbat, Jewish Center of Teaneck, 4:15pm, 201-833-0515

Shabbat, Dec 28Carlebach Minyan, Cong

Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn, 8:45am, [email protected]

Tefilat Shlomo: The Car-lebach Tefila of Riverdale, in-cludes light and healthy Kiddush, at the Hebrew Institute of River-dale, 9am, 718-796-4730

Shabbat Youth Program, for children ages 2-10, Hava Finkel, Cong Shomrei Emunah, Engle-wood, 9:30-11am, 201-567-9420

“Don’t Touch My Kids: The Vaccine Debate Revisted,” Rabbi Lawrence Zierler, Jewish Center of Teaneck, 11:45am, 201-833-0515

Study Group: “The Thought of Rabbi Tzadok from Lublin,” Prof Alan Brill, private home in Teaneck, 4pm, [email protected]



Bnei Akiva Snif Chadash, for children in grades 1-6, at Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, 4pm, [email protected]

Pearls of Prayer, for girls, includes seudah shlishit, River-dale Jewish Center, after mincha, 718-548-1850

Bnai Akiva Snif (Shabbat Afternoon Groups), for grades 1-6, Cong Netivot Shalom, Teaneck, 4pm, [email protected]

Carlebach Minyan, after mincha, Torah Academy of Ber-gen County, 4:15pm, 347-443-2199

Motzei Shabbat, Dec 28Middle Schoolers Over-

night, from throughout NJ, at the Young Israel of East Bruns-wick, 7pm, 732-254-1860

Chinese and Goods and Ser-vices Auction and Casino Night, Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-572-2366 or 732-247-0532

Sun., Dec 29Davening and Bikur Cho-

lim at Daughters of Miriam in Clifton, meet at Cong Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, 8:15am; daven-ing, followed by breakfast and bikur cholim, 8:45am, [email protected]

Highland Park Community Kollel Breakfast, at Cong Ohr To-rah, Edison, 9:30am, 732-266-9354

Advanced-Beginners Chug Ivrit, for men and women, spons by Hadassah, to improve Hebrew reading and speaking skills, pri-vate home in Highland Park, 10am, 732-819-9298

Chug Ivrit, for men and wom-en, spons by Hadassah, chat in Hebrew and read a short Hebrew story, private home in Highland Park, 11am, 732-819-9298

Sholem Aleichem Yiddish Klezfest, Yiddish song and klezmer, Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center, Riverdale, 1:30pm, 917-930-0295

Bowling League, for spe-cial-needs children ages 5-15, spons by The Friendship Circle, Brunswick Lanes, Fair Lawn, 4pm, 201-262-7172

JACS Meeting, 12-steps meeting for Jews in recovery, Rabbi Steven Bayar, Cong B’nai Israel, Millburn, 6pm, 973-379-3811

Mon., Dec 30Yedidainu, for special-needs

children ages 6-12, spons by the Friendship Circle, Yeshivat Noam,

Paramus, 10am-3pm, 201-262-7172Smile on Seniors, for se-

nior men and women, includes brunch, Chabad House, Wayne, 11:30am, 973-694-6274

Adolph Schreiber Hebrew Academy of Rockland (ASHAR) Blood Drive, participants eligible to win a pair of tickets to Super Bowl XLVIII, at the school, New City, 3-9pm, 845-357-1515 or 845-354-2318

Tues., Dec 31Last Day to View: Photo Ex-

hibit: “BESA: A Code of Honor: Muslim Albanians Who Rescued Jews in World War II,” by Norman Gershman, Human Rights Insti-tute, Kean University, Union, Mon-Thurs, 11am-6pm; Fri, 11am-4pm, 908-737-0586 or 908-737-4670

Bereavement Group for the Death of a Spouse, Dr. Sherry Schachter, Calvary Hospital, Bronx, 1pm, 718-518-2125 or 718-518-2674

Mother-Daughter Learning Programs, for grades 5-8 and a parent, Rabbi Pesach Raymon Ye-shiva, Edison, 7pm, 732-572-5052

“What Is It Like to Be a Proph-et? Delivering and Composing the Word of Hashem, Seen through the Lens of Sefer Yonah,” for men and women, Rabbi Jeremy Donath, Cong Darchei Noam, Fair Lawn, 8:15pm, 201-773-4080

Wed., Jan 1Areyvut Carnival Extrava-

ganza, for families, includes me-chanical and inflatable rides, games, booths, kosher food, BMX Stunt Show, Gizmo Guys jugglers, and the Chicago Boyz, Garden State Exhibition Center, Somerset, 10am-6pm, 201-244-6702

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

Support Group: Strength to Strength, for parents whose children, 15-25, are dealing with chemical dependency, psycho-logical disorders, and/or co-oc-curring issues, Dr. Jeffrey Berman, JCC, Tenafly, 7pm, 201-408-1403 or 201-569-7900

Abused Women’s Confi-dential Support Group, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 7:15pm, 201-837-9090

Jewish 12-Step Meeting, JACS—Jewish Alcoholics, Chem-

ically Dependent Persons, and Significant Others, Jewish Family Service, Teaneck, 7:30pm, 201-837-9090, ask for IRA (Informa-tion and Referral) or 201-981-1071

Shomer Shabbos Boy Scout Meeting, for boys in 6th grade or 11 years old and up, Bais Medrash L’Torah, Rabbi Davis’s shul, Passaic, 8pm, [email protected]

Tehillim Group, Cong Shaare Tefillah, Teaneck, 8:15pm, 201-289-5474, 917-902-9303, or 201-836-3431

Thurs., Jan 2Somaich Achim Jewish Fam-

ily Services Food Pantry Program non-perishable food and consum-er items and produce available free of charge or for a nominal fee, volunteers needed, too, Cong Adas Israel, Passaic, 9:30am-1:30pm; 7-8pm, 973-246-7717

Friendship Circle, for adults with special needs, private loca-tion in Bergen County, 6pm, 201-262-7172

Mishmor, for special-needs and normally developing boys and girls grades 2-5, includes study with rabbinic students, help with homework, stores, sports, and re-freshments, Friendship Circle, Liv-ingston, 6:30pm, 973-251-0200

Fri., Jan 3Rabbi Hayyim Angel, scholar-

in-residence, Cong Keter Torah, Teaneck, through Shabbat, Jan 4, 201-907-0180

Shabbat, Jan 4Educational Prayer Service,

spons by the Jewish Learning Ex-perience, includes discussions and There Is Always Something Happening in the Jewish Com-munity. commentary, prayers in English and Hebrew translitera-tion, at Cong Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, 9:45am, 201-966-4498

Motzei Shabbat, Jan 4Sibshops, for children ages



Sun., Jan 5Teleconference: Bilvai Mish-

kan Evneh: Chaburah on the Energies of the Chodesh, for women, Rabbi Itamar Schwartz, 9:30am, 973-246-5223

“An Appreciation of Chazzo-nus: The Life and Artistry of Can-tor Yossele Rosenblatt,” Charlie Bernhaut, includes brunch, Cong Ohav Emeth, Highland Park, 10am, 732-572-5613

Children’s Circle, for special-needs children, includes music, art, baking, story-time, sports, and en-tertainment, spons by the Friend-ship Circle, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, noon, 201-262-7172

Teen Circle, for special-needs young adults 12-21, high school volunteers, spons by the Friend-ship Circle, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, noon, 201-262-7172

Kids in the Kitchen, for boys ages 5-8 and girls ages 5-10, spons by Anshei Lubavitch, private home in Fair Lawn, 1:30pm, [email protected]

Jewish Girls Club, for 8th grade girls, Rebbetzin Mussie Mangel, Chabad House, Cherry

There Is Always Something Happening in the Jewish Community! Check the Website www.JewishVoice-AndOpinion.Com for classes, shiurim, lectures, and Events That Came in

after issue went to print


Hill, 5pm, 856-874-1500 Y

New Classes This MonthSundays

Sefer Melachim, Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, includes textual read-ings, literary analysis, and historical data, Cong Netivot Shalom, Te-aneck, 8:30am, [email protected]

Breakfast and Gemara Shiur: Chapter 2 of Brachot, Rabbi Shmuel Hain, Young Israel Ohab Zedek of North Riverdale/Yonkers, Riverdale, 8:45am, 718-548-0105

Shiur, Rabbi Gershon West, Passaic Torah Institute, Passaic, 9:25am, 973-594-4774

Chabad Chai Sunday Central Hebrew School, for children ages 6-14 who are not otherwise receiving a formal Jewish education, in-cludes history, love for the land of Israel, and understanding of Juda-ism, Chabad of East Brunswick, 9:30am, 732-333-3220

Bar Mitzvah Club, Chabad of Riverdale, 9:45am, 718-549-1100Learn Gemara Kiddushim, Rabbi Shlomo Singer, Yeshiva Pas-

saic Torah Institute, 9:50am, 862-371-3186“Transitions—On Our Own,” for special-needs teens 14-17 and

18-21, JCC, Tenafly, 10am, 201-408-1489Kollel Learning, includes “Kabbalah and the Parsha,” “Practical

Jewish Law,” “Understanding Prayer,” “Reading Hebrew,” or “Talmud for Dummies,” Chabad of Riverdale, 10am, 718-549-1100

Zumba, for teenage girls, Cong Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, 4pm, 201-837-2795

Sukkah Chabura, Rabbi Binyomin Halberstam, Cong Tifereth Israel, Passaic, 9pm, 862-686-6748

Mondays“Music and Play,” for 12-24-month-olds and their caretakers, Morah

Roberta, Lubavitch on the Palisades, Tenafly, 9am, 201-871-1152 ext 505Beginner Israeli Dance, Sara Burnbaum, JCC Rockland, West

Nyack, 10am, 845-362-4400, begins Jan 6“Discovering Tammuz and Av through the vision of Yirmiyahu

and Yeshayahu,” for women, Rebecca Belizon, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 10:30am, 201-836-8916

Midrash and Mikra, for women, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 11am, 201-836-8916

Intermediate Israeli Dance, Sara Burnbaum, JCC Rockland, West Nyack, noon, 845-362-4400, begins Jan 6

Shiur, for men, Rabbi Yosef Strassfeld, Yeshiva Ohr Simcha, En-glewood, 11am, 201-816-1800

Story Time, for children ages 3-5, Chabad of Riverdale, 3pm, 718-549-1100

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

Shomer Shabbat Boy Scout Troop, for boys in grades 6-12, Scout-master Daniel Chazin, Jewish Center of Teaneck, 7:30pm, 201-836-7019

Continuing Jewish Education for Women, for those who did not experience a yeshiva education in their youth, includes Chumash, Rashi, holidays, Hebrew language, and general Jewish knowledge, Sara Yankelewitz, spons by Neve Passaic Torah Institute, at a private home in Teaneck, 7:30pm, 908-278-4059 or [email protected]

“Igret Hamussar by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter,” Rabbi David Bas-sous, Cong Etz Ahaim, Highland Park, 8pm, 732-247-3839

“Brotherly Love: The Story of David and Jonathan,” Rabbi Avi Weiss, private home in Riverdale, 8pm, 718-796-4730

Advanced Hebrew Ulpan, Sara Kinberg, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 8pm, 718-796-4730

“Ethical Dilemmas,” Rabbi Isaac Rice, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Te-aneck, 8:15pm, 201-836-8916

Advanced Talmud: “Topics in the Laws of Mourning,” Rabbi Jeff Fox, private home in Riverdale, 8:30pm, 718-796-4730

Shidduch Radio, with matchmaker Lori Salkin, includes ques-tions-and-answers, www.JewishTalkRadio.com, 9pm, 845-613-2525

TuesdaysGemara Shiur: Masechet Arachin, Rabbi Marc Spivak, Cong

Ohr Torah, 5:30am, 973-669-7320Walking Group, spons by Hadassah, brisk 3-mile walk, meet at

the Highland Park Post Office, 7:30am, 732-819-9298“Parsha and Parshanut: An Analysis of Biblical Commentar-

ies in Light of the Weekly Parsha,” Rabbi Yaakov Blau, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, Teaneck, 9:45am, 201-833-4307 ext 265

Bereishit: “The Genesis Narrative,” Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 10am, 718-796-4730

Sefer Devarim: “Power, Courage, and Faith,” Sara Hurwitz, He-brew Institute of Riverdale, 11am, 718-796-4730

“Ramban on Parsha,” for women, Rabbi Ari Zahtz, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 11:30am, 201-836-8916

New Moms Meet-Up, private home in Teaneck, 1pm, [email protected]

Tuesdays Torah and Fun, for grades 2-5, Menachem Menchel, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 4:20pm, 718-796-4730 ext 119

Hebrew School and Torah Tots, Cong Sons of Israel, Manala-pan, 4:30pm, 732-446-3000

Our Time, for children and teens who stutter, Taro Alexander, Montclair State University Center of Audiology and Speech Pathol-ogy, Bloomfield, teens (13-18), 5pm; pre-teens (8-12), 6:30pm, begins Jan 7, 212-414-9696, ext. 203

Inclusive Art Classes, for junior and high school students, in-cluding those with special needs ages 12 and up, spons by Yachad, The Art Place, Englewood, 7pm, 201-833-1349

“Bible and BBQ,” for NCSY, includes learning and dinner, at Park Place restaurant, Highland Park, 7:30pm, 732-565-1234

Mazal TovHaiyan in the Philippines. Funds will go directly to sup-port the relief efforts providing comfort, food, medicine, and other critical services in the Philippines, www.jfnnj.org/typhoon Y

Mazal Tov to the Bat Mitzvah Girls: Dalia Adams, Ari-ella Bak, Sophia Brodie-Weisberg, Miriam Fisch, Sarah Sima Frohlinger, Elyssa Lara Gerstel, Goldie Nora Goldberg, Kay-la Goldberger, Eliora Kruman, Bailey Lowy, Shira Michaeli, Shoshana Schiowitz, Orly Stark, Gabrielle Epstein Tony, and Jessica Zemble; and the Bar Mitzvah Boys: Yaakov Ainspan, Jacob Appel, Dylan Breen, Brian Bronner, Shamma Fox, Avra-ham Gellman, Isaiah Goldberg, Daniel and Shmuel Gross, Max Horowitz, Joshua Katz, Zev Kirsch, Benjamin Klahr, Yisrael Mey-er Lichtman, David Lipkin, Shlomo Luchins, Aryeh Margolin, Isaac Markovitz, Sean-Adi Michaeli, Natan Neugroschl, Eitan Pfeiffer, Eli Rand, Ari Leib Rosenbaum, Tzvi Schapiro, Naftali Silvera, Yehoshua Taitel, Aharon Tuchman, and Dov Tuchman

Mazal Tov to Jeff Braverman on being honored by NJ Y Camps

Mazal Tov to Len Knauer on being honored by the Holocaust and Genocide Institute of Raritan Valley Com-munity College at the “Make a Difference” event

Mazal Tov to Fair Lawn Mayor John Cosgrove, Na-than and Rachel Bednarsch, and Rabbi Jeremy and Rebbetzin


“Foundations of Judaism: Discovering Ourselves,” Rabbi Ari Hart, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, 7:30pm, 718-796-4730

Chavura on Ramban and the Parsha, Rabbi Jason Finkelstein, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8:15pm, 201-836-8916

Gemara, Rabbi Shlomo Nussbaum, spons by the Highland Park Com-munity Kollel, at the Young Israel of East Brunswick, 8:30pm, 732-254-1860

Parsha, Rav Meir Goldvicht, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, 8:30pm, 201-836-8916

Parsha, Rabbi Uri Goldstein Cong Ahavat Achim, Fair Lawn, 8:30pm, 201-797-0502

Learn Gemara Kiddushim, Rabbi Shlomo Singer, Yeshiva Pas-saic Torah Institute, 8:45pm, 862-371-3186

Daf Yomi B’Iyun: Exploring a Topic from the Week’s Daf Yomi, Rabbi Shlomo Landau, Young Israel of East Brunswick, 9:30pm or http://ourradio.org/daf, 732-254-1860

WednesdaysIn-depth study of “Sefer Yehoshua,” for women, Temima Shul-

man, private home in Passaic, 9am, 973-594-8585“The Thought and Theology of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik,” for wom-

en, Rabbi Jay Weinstein, Young Israel of East Brunswick, 9:45am, 732-254-1860Shiur, Rabbi Robert Pilavin, Levy’s Kosher Italian Restaurant,

Manalapan, 10am, 732-446-3000 or 732-683-9978Slower-Paced Walking Group, spons by Hadassah, Donaldson

Park, Highland Park, 10am, 732-249-4321“Exploring the Siddur,” for women, Rabbi Steven Miodownik,

Cong Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, 10:30am, 732-247-0532Parsha Shiur, for women, Esther Baila Schwarz, Adolph Schreiber

Hebrew Academy of Rockland (ASHAR), New City, 1:15pm, 845-357-1515 or 845-362-7799

Teen Scene, for special-needs 13-21 year-olds, with teenage volunteers, spons by the Friendship Circle, various Bergen County yeshiva high schools, 6pm, 201-262-7172

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

“Jewish Life in the Middle Ages,” Rabbi Nosson Schuman, Cong Beth El, Rutherford, 8pm, 201-496-0714

“Israel Weekly Event: A Celebration of Israel,” Avia Prins, Rut-gers Hillel, New Brunswick, 8pm, [email protected]

Parsha Shiur, for women, Rabbi Avrohom Herman, Jewish Edu-cational Center, Elizabeth, 8:15pm, [email protected]

Shiur in Machshava & Emunah: The Yud Gimmel Ikarim, Rav Aaron Lopiansky, Cong Bais Torah U’tefila, Passaic, 8:45pm, 845-709-9340

Hilchos Shabbos, Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, 9:15pm, 201-836-8916

ThursdaysBook of Shmuel, Rabbi Steven Exler, Hebrew Institute of River-

dale, 10am, 718-796-4730Ka’as-Savlanut (anger/patience) Tele-Workshop, for women,

Dina Schoonmaker, spons by The Women’s Mussar Vaad, 2pm, [email protected] or 732-360-7981

“Jewish Fun,” for children ages 3-5, Chabad of Riverdale, 3:15pm, 718-549-1100 ext 11

Biblical Hebrew and Siddur Study, Sara Kinberg, Hebrew In-stitute of Riverdale, 7:30pm, 718-796-4730

NCSY Latte and Learning, at Dunkin Donuts, West Orange, 7:30pm, [email protected] or [email protected]

In-Depth Talmud Class, Rabbi Jay Weinstein, Young Israel of East Brunswick, 8:30pm, 732-254-1860

Hachana Seder and Chaburah, Rabbi Pesach Skulnick, spons by Heichal HaTorah, at Beis Medrash of Bergenfield, Hachana Seder, 8:30pm; Ma’ariv, 9:15pm; Chaburah, 9:30pm, [email protected]

FridaysTractate Megillah, Rabbi Steven Exler, Hebrew Institute of River-

dale, 7:25am, 718-796-4730Zumba with Sorrolle, for women, Cong Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck,

9:45am, [email protected] or 201-836-8916Friday Night NCSY Oneg, private homes in West Orange, 7:30pm,

973-669-7320, [email protected] or [email protected] Night Shabbos Oneg, for men and women, Rabbi Yitz-

chok Eisenman, Cong Ahavas Israel, Passaic, 7:55pm, 973-777-5929Oneg, for boys in grades 6-8, Rabbi Ira Kosowsky, includes divrei

Torah, chollent, and zemiros, private home in New Hempstead, NY, 8pm, 917-363-5269, 845-362-8768, or 845-354-3103

“Midrash L’ma-aseh: What One Midrash Can Tell Us about Life Today,” spons by Cong Ohav Emeth, in private homes in High-land Park, 8pm, 732-247-3038

Shabbat“The Rabbi’s Perspective on Current Events,” Rabbi Yehuda

Halpert. Cong Ahavat Shalom of the Teaneck Apartments, at the To-rah Academy of Bergen County, 11am, 201-836-3828

Women’s Shiur, Rabbi Yosef Schwab, spons by Cong Knesses Yis-rael, private home in Spring Valley, 3pm, [email protected]

Halachos of Lashon Hara: Sefer Chofetz Chaim, for womem, Rabbi Eliezer Moskowitz, spons by Neve Passaic Torah Institute, pri-vate home in Passaic, 3pm, 973-614-8329

Bat Mitzvah Shiur, for girls turning bat mitzvah age, Rebbetzin Efrat Sobolofsky, Cong Ohr HaTorah, Bergenfield, 3:15pm, 201-244-5905 or [email protected]

Motzei ShabbatAvos U’Banim (Father-Son Learning), includes pizza and raf-

fles, Cong Agudah Yisrael, Highland Park, 6:45pm, [email protected] Melachim I, for men and women, Rabbi Yosef Viener, spons

by the Passaic-Clifton Community Kollel, at Agudas Yisroel Bircas Yaakov, Passaic, 9pm, 718-755-3515

New MinyanimShacharit Minyan, Young Israel of Fort Lee, Mon-Thurs, 6:30am,

201-969-0931Mincha Minyan, Mon-Thurs, 400 Plaza Dr, Secaucus, 2pm, glenn.

[email protected]’ariv Minyan, Cong Shaare Tefillah, Teaneck, Sun-Thurs,

8:15pm, 201-357-0613Shabbat Minyan, private home in Teaneck, Fridays, 4pm; Shab-

bat morning, 8:45am, includes sit-down Kiddush with hot chulent, followed by mincha at noon, [email protected]

Chesed OpsThe Rinat Chaim Gemach, established by the family of Renee

Chaya Levy, z”l, beloved wife of Yehiel Levy, accepts donations of medical supplies (motorized wheel chairs, conventional wheel chairs, walkers, portable commodes, canes, etc, in good condition) that can be used by others, [email protected] or 201-357-5495

The Jewish Federation of Northern NJ is accepting donations to assist with the widespread destruction caused by super Typhoon


pursuing nuclear weapons too onerous for Iran to continue. To that end, strict, economy-crippling international sanc-tions were applied. The re-sponse of Iran’s leaders was to allow the country to suffer economically, but to continue its nuclear program.

Many people, including most Israelis and their sup-porters, suggested increasing sanctions, ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran until the government agreed to come to the negotiating table where it would relinquish its nuclear-weapons program in exchange for lifting the sanctions.

New PresidentLast fall, there was evidence

this approach might succeed. Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, smiled a lot, did not deny the Holocaust as had his predecessor, and said he was eager to sit down with the P5+1 to find a negotiated solution.

However, he was not will-ing to relinquish Iran’s nuclear energy program, which lead-ers of Iran have insisted is for peaceful purposes only. Keeping the nuclear energy program is their “dignity,” they said, and even suggesting they give it up is a form of disrespect.

Iranian leaders said they wanted recognition of their “le-gitimate right to enrich uranium.” In fact, they said, they did not particularly care about the rec-ognition part, but, they said, they were not going to relinquish it.

Nor had the Iranians any intention of reducing the an-tisemitic rhetoric and terror activity coming from and sponsored by Tehran. Their Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, still made it clear that Iran intends to an-nihilate Israel.

Copying IsraelSome analysts say Iran’s

determination to become a

nuclear power lies in the fact that Israel has long possessed nuclear weapons, although the Jewish state’s policy on its nuclear capability is “nu-clear ambiguity,” also known as “nuclear opacity.”

Having never officially admitted to having nuclear weapons, Israel has said since 1965 it would not be the first country to “introduce” nuclear weapons to the Middle East. It is open to interpretation whether that means it will not create, disclose, or make first use of such weapons, or possibly some other construct.

The “not the first” formula-tion goes back to written memo-randum of understanding be-tween Israel and the US. The inherent ambiguity in Israel’s position prompted it to refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-Pro-liferation Treaty, claiming that to do so will be contrary to its national security interests.

Israel has never threatened to use nuclear weapons, and has never suggested another country should be annihilated, as opposed to Iran.“Inflammatory and Wrong.”

While no one knows how many nuclear weapons Israel possesses, Reza Najafi, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA used Israel’s secrecy in this matter to accuse the Jewish state of attacking its neighbors and “committing atrocities.”

“Israel, sitting on 200 nu-clear warheads all of them tar-geted at Muslim cities…is crying wolf about nuclear prolifera-tion. This regime (has) a long history of aggression against neighbors, atrocity against peo-ples under occupation, and clandestine development of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

In response, Joseph Mac-manus, the chief US delegate

to the IAEA, said Mr. Najafi’s anti-Israel comments were “inflammatory and wrong.”

US GesturesNevertheless, despite Iran’s

ongoing nuclear program and hostile intentions toward Israel, last June the Obama admin-istration began suspending some of the sanctions against Iran without Tehran or its new president making any conces-sions whatsoever. The Execu-tive branch took this step with-out Congressional approval or agreement of any kind

According to a report in the World Tribune, an unnamed House staffer said that “orders to stop the designations (for sanctions) came from the White House and State (Department).” Congressional sources told the newspaper that Mr. Obama’s policy allowed Iran to maintain its crude oil exports.

Just before the UN General Assembly meetings in Septem-ber, the Obama administration made another secret gesture of friendship to Iran. An ancient Persian chalice, hewn from sil-ver and featuring a mythical winged creature, was given to Tehran as a gift.

RhytonThe chalice had been seized

by US Customs officials in 2003 when it entered the country illegally in a deal that was sup-posed to net an antiques deal-er about $1 million. For more than a decade, despite con-stant Iranian demands for its return, the chalice, known as a rhyton, had sat in a warehouse in Queens, NY. Iran claimed the piece was a vital part of its cultural heritage.

When Mr. Rouhani an-nounced plans to attend the UN General Assembly meet-ing, the Obama administration decided that presenting him

The First Round continued from page 1



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with the chalice—a diplomatic gesture to ease US-Iranian relations—would bend but not violate rules regarding interac-tions between US and Iranian officials.

It worked. Two days after he re-ceived the chalice, Mr. Rouhani accepted Mr. Obama’s phone call, the first official contact between US and Iranian leaders since the Islamist-fundamentalist revo-lution in 1979.

Asked about the legitimacy of the gesture, Elliott Abrams, a foreign policy advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, said, “There is a thin line between gestures of friendship and ges-tures that display desperation to negotiate.”

Speaking OutBy the time the UN General Assem-

bly held its fall meetings in New York, it was clear to the public that the Obama administration was eagerly prepared to work with Iran.

The specter of a nuclear-armed Iran working with the US prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Eco-nomic and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett to start a full-court press, speaking to media, Jewish and non-Jewish groups, and members of Congress and the Sen-ate. The Israelis urged recognition that the only reason Iran was willing to nego-tiate was that the sanctions were work-ing. With a little more effort, the Israelis said, Iran would be willing to relinquish its nuclear-weapon program entirely.

Mr. Netanyahu pointed out that the sanctions, which had taken several years to

formulate and work, “were almost there.” “Iran was on the ropes. Its economy

close to paralysis. We were just at the point that we could get them to dismantle their nuclear weapons infrastructure,” said Mr. Netanyahu.

Unaware that Iran was already expe-riencing some sanctions relief without having relinquished anything, the Jew-ish state issued four conditions that Iran should meet before sanctions would be lifted: a halt to all uranium enrichment, the removal of all enriched uranium from its territory, the closure of an underground nuclear facility in the city of Qom, and a halt to construction of a plutonium re-actor. Mr Netanyahu stressed that none of these conditions were necessary for peaceful-use nuclear energy. They were required only if the goal was to make a weapon.

Nuclear Bomb Iran’s protestations notwithstand-

ing, virtually no one believes Tehran’s goal is anything but a nuclear bomb. At the beginning of November, the Bang-kok Post reported that last summer, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Ali Jafari, met with North Korean delegates in Tehran for Mr. Rou-hani’s swearing-in ceremony.

According to the report, Mr. Rouhani’s perceived conciliatory demeanor concerned the North Koreans who feared it might in-terfere with the two countries’ military co-operation. The North Koreans were report-edly relieved when Mr. Jafari told them the

Revolutionary Guards are subordinate not to the president but to Mr. Khamenei.

According to the report, which was not denied, Mr. Khamenei told the North Koreans that cooperation on “strategic matters,” presumably such as nuclear missiles, would continue.

Hateful RhetoricIranian credibility has also not been

served by its leaders’ rhetoric. At the be-ginning of November, Mr. Khamenei at-tacked Israel and the US on his state-sup-ported website, calling the Jewish State an “illegitimate and bastard” regime and the US alliance with Jerusalem “an in-dulgence.” America, he said, is Tehran’s “smiling enemy” who is not to be trusted because Washington has left open the option of a US and Israeli joint strike on Iran in the event of continued weapons development.

Later in the month, when the P5+1 was already negotiating with the Iranians in Geneva, Mr. Khamenei called Israel a “regime doomed to collapse.”

“The Zionist regime is one whose pil-lars are extremely shaky and is doomed to collapse,” he said, calling Israel “the rabid dog of the region” and saying that it, and not Iran, “poses a threat to the world.”

American SilenceThe American diplomatic team said

nothing until Israeli officials expressed disappointment that the only response from the US in the face of such incite-ment had been silence.

At that point, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power condemned the Ayatollah’s “abhorrent” comments. When asked, Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Well, obviously we disagree with it profoundly. It’s inflammatory and it’s unnecessary, and I think at this moment, when we are trying to negotiate and fig-ure out what can and can’t be achieved, the last thing we need are names back and forth.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Li-eberman said the Iranians’ rhetoric was reminiscent of “Goebbels and Hitler” and anyone who speaks in their terms, he said, “certainly does not intend to achieve a peaceful nuclear program.”

“The Real Iran”Mr. Netanyahu said the Ayatollah’s com-

ments were emblematic of “the real Iran.”



“The real Iran” was also on display on November 4, when the Iranians staged a street demonstration, complete with chants of “death to America” and “Death to Israel,” to commemorate the 34th anni-versary of their 1979 seizure of the Ameri-can Embassy in Tehran. Mr. Netanyahu called the rally “the true face of Iran’s government.”

In fact, since the fall of the Shah and the establishment of Iran as an Islamic Re-public run by Ayatollahs and mullahs, Iran has made no secret that the Jewish state

is to be eradicated. Iran has sponsored terrorists to murder Jews throughout the world, from Argentina to Bulgaria, and has financed and trained proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and, to a lesser extent, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza to attack Israel.

As a supporter of Bashar Assad and his Hezbollah allies in Syria, Iran has facili-tated the massacre of more than 100,000 civilians.

“If Iran achieves a nuclear weapon, we will be their first target, but, make

no mistake, we will not be their last,” Mr. Bennett said last month at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

He pointed out that Iran already has missiles capable of reaching Rome and Madrid, “and putting a nuclear suitcase bomb in New York wouldn’t be so hard for them either.”

Making an Impact In the weeks leading up to the Ge-

neva conference, Mr. Netanyahu spoke in many venues, denouncing any plan that



would allow Tehran to continue uranium enrichment, work on its heavy water plutonium re-actors, “or anything else that will make a peaceful solution less likely.”

The effectiveness of the ef-forts of Messrs Netanyahu and Bennett was apparent when Mr. Kerry, who had embarked on his own campaign to con-vince Senators that no new sanctions against Iran were necessary, used especially strong language to condemn the Israelis’ efforts.

Mr. Kerry advised Sena-tors to “stop listening to the Israelis” and warned the leg-islators that any fresh sanc-tions would send America on a “march to war.”

Testing IranIn a directive to Congress,

Mr. Obama portrayed the ne-gotiations with Iran as leading to “the possibility of an agree-ment in which Iran would halt advances on its program.”

“We can buy some addi-tional months in terms of their breakout capacity. Let’s test how willing they are to actu-ally resolve this diplomatically and peacefully,” he said.

He and Mr. Kerry have blamed the Bush adminis-tration for not taking similar steps with the Iranians when Iran had only 164 centrifuges. However, 75 percent of the cur-rent 19,000 centrifuges now

in Iran were put in place after Mr. Obama took office in 2008.

Military OptionAt a press conference, Mr.

Obama did not take the possi-bility of military action against Iran off the table, but he sug-gested it might fuel the Iranians’ desire for nuclear weapons.

“No matter how good our military is, military options are always messy, are always dif-ficult, always have unintend-ed consequences, and in this situation are never complete in terms of making us certain that they don’t then go out and pursue even more vig-orously nuclear weapons in the future,” he said. “If we’re serious about pursuing diplo-macy, there’s no need for us to add new sanctions on top of the sanctions that are al-ready very effective and that brought them to the table in the first place.”

He did not mention that his administration had already begun easing sanctions, or that he had given the Iranians the chalice, which they very much wanted.

36 Days to Nuclear Warheads

As details of the agree-ment became known, Mr. Ne-tanyahu furiously denounced the emerging plan as “danger-ous.” The deal allows Iran to continue to enrich uranium to a level of 3.5 percent, which is

sufficient for a peaceful pro-gram. However, Iran is also allowed to retain half of its existing uranium enriched to 20 percent. While that is not weapon-grade, it takes very little time and energy to enrich it to 90 percent at which point it could be used for weapons. This means that for the six months that the deal is in place, Iran could not pur-sue its weapon-grade nuclear program, but it could prepare for it so as to be ready to move forward when the six months are over.

According to a report pub-lished in Ma’ariv, Iran could be armed with a nuclear weapon in just over a month. Israeli experts have estimated that the agreement with the P5+1 could delay Tehran’s sched-ule for nuclear enrichment for about two weeks after the six-month agreement expires. The enrichment rate permitted to Iran during the six months is sufficient to produce five nu-clear warheads, which could be ready in as little as 36 days.

In fact, just as the plan was being finalized, Tehran announced that it is build-ing a second nuclear power plant in Bushehr, where one is already active. The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organi-zation, Ali Akbar Salehu, said the country has identified 34 potential sites for building ad-ditional nuclear power plants.

ParchinWhile the agreement

between Iran and the P5+1 mentions several plants, espe-cially the heavy-water reactor at Arak at which no further advances are permitted, the Parchin military base—long suspected as a site where nu-clear weapons are being de-veloped—is not included at all. According to the Wall Street Journal report based on sat-

ellite imagery from this past summer, it is suspected that nuclear weapons research is being conducted at Parchin. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said that the satellite evidence shows major alterations at the site, which were meant to hid possible tests of conventional triggers for a nuclear explosion.

The evidence followed sat-ellite images from August 2012 showing cleanup activities at the base, as well as images of suspicious activity at a building suspected of housing nuclear blast experiments.

Monitors from the Interna-tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have not been permit-ted to inspect Parchin since 2005, despite calls from the agency to allow inspections.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran never rat-ified an additional protocol to its IAEA agreement allowing on-demand inspections at Parchin and other sites. The Journal also noted that Iran could dismiss UN inspectors at any time, just like North Ko-rea did in 2009.

RestrictionsMr. Salehu said that while

Iran has agreed to allow IAEA monitors at the specified plants, the deal between Iran and the West does not oblige Tehran to introduce the IAEA to nuclear facilities the country intends to build in the future. He said the agency will be informed 180 days before the entry of nuclear substances.

Another point of conten-tion is the Iranian heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak. The agreement gives Iran the right to “continue building” the reac-tor, but not to produce nuclear fuel or use it. But monitoring this will not be easy.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said that while



he supports the agreement, his interpretation is that Iran can continue to facilitate building the Arak reactor.

White House spokes-woman Jen Paski said Wash-ington is “unclear” as to Mr. Zarif’s “intentions.” She em-phasized that while building is permitted according to the agreement, producing nuclear warheads is not.

According to reports from Iran, the agreement’s six months will begin in early January.

“Iran gives practically nothing and it gets a hell of a lot. That’s not a good deal,” said Mr. Netanyahu. “It is a bad and dangerous deal that af-fects our survival, and when it comes to the question of Jewish survival and the sur-vival of the Jewish state, I will not be silenced.”

Israel by ItselfHe and Mr. Bennett stressed

that if necessary, Israel was pre-pared to defend itself against Iran and any other enemy that threatened Israeli citizens.

“Israel will never outsource its security,” said Mr. Bennett at Brookings.

He pointed to the Israeli 1981 bombing of Saddam Hus-sein’s nuclear reactor in Iraq, an episode that was carried out despite world opposition.

“Allegedly, we did the same thing to a Syrian reac-tor in 2007,” said Mr. Bennett. Although Israel has never tak-en credit for that incident, it is widely acknowledged that the Jewish state carried it out.

“Twice we saved the world from nuclear weapons because we understand our place in history and our history,” said Mr. Bennett.

“Historic Mistake”When the announcement

was made on November 24 that a six-month interim agreement had been reached between Iran and the P5+1, the executive and the legislative branches

of the American government differed in their view of the agreement. While the Israelis had convinced Congress that Iran was not to be trusted with nuclear material, the Obama administration had made up its mind well in advance that Iran was to be allowed to de-velop nuclear weapons.

Mr. Netanyahu called the deal “an historic mistake.”

“For the first time, the world’s leading powers have agreed to uranium enrichment in Iran, and the world has be-come a more dangerous place. The most dangerous regime in the world took another step towards achieving the most dangerous weapon in the world,” he said.

He stressed that Israel not only disapproved of the agree-ment, it would not consider itself bound by it. To many observers, it sounded like an additional warning that Israel would act alone if necessary to destroy the Iranian nuclear weapons program as it had the ones in Iraq and Syria.

“The Iranian regime is committed to the destruc-tion of Israel, and Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself by itself against any threat. As Prime Minister of Israel, I would like to make clear Israel will not allow Iran to develop a military nuclear capability,” said Mr. Netanyahu.

Iranian ConfirmationMr. Rouhani, seemingly

without realizing that he was confirming Mr. Netanyahu’s sus-picions about who was at risk from the Iranian nuclear pro-gram, called on the West to ignore Israel’s warnings. “Is-rael is concerned only about its own interests, and it does not think about the interests of the world,” said the Iranian president.

But Mr. Bennett disagreed, explaining that Israel was very concerned about the fate of

the world. “Years from now, when an Islamist terrorist blows up a suitcase in New York, or when Iran launches a nuclear missile at Rome, it will have happened only because a bad deal was made during these defining moments,” he said.

Most Israelis agree with Messrs Netanyahu and Ben-nett, according to a poll of 500 Israeli Jews conducted by the daily Israel Hayom. According to the survey, 58 percent of Is-raeli Jews think the US harmed Israeli interests by signing the six-month temporary deal with Iran. More than 75 percent of Israeli Jews believe Iran will re-tain its nuclear drive despite the agreement, and 76.4 percent said no when asked if Iran will now stop its nuclear program.

But when asked if Israel should carry out a military ac-tion against Iran’s nuclear pro-gram, 45.8 percent said yes; 37.9 percent said no.

Deliberately VagueThe actual agreement

between Iran and the P5+1 seems deliberately vague. It allows Iran to continue enrich-ing uranium and building its nuclear infrastructure, taking the process to a point just be-fore Iran would be weapons-capable. The agreement’s op-ponents, including the Israeli government and many pro-Israel Congressmen and Sena-tors in Washington, recognize that when the agreement ex-pires in six months, Iran will be much further along in the process and virtually ready to “go nuclear.”

Tehran will have to allow monitors to make sure it stays within these generous boundar-ies, but, in exchange, the P5+1 countries will suspend some, but not all, important US and EU sanctions. For example, $4.2 billion in frozen overseas as-sets will be released as well as sanction reductions that will be worth about $1.5 billion. The P5+1 agreed not to im-



Ess Gezint: A Non-Kosher “Balaboosta”there is something very upsetting about a book called “Bala-boosta: Bold Mediterranean Recipes to Feed the People You Love” that is not in any way kosher. Einat Admony, an Israeli ex-pat, owns three successful Manhattan restaurants, which despite

their vaguely Jewish-sounding names, are also not kosher. In this book, published by Artisan, she happily offers some marvelous kosher dishes right alongside those that mix meat and dairy or call for fried squid that she thinks is the epitome of a romantic meal.Y

Moroccan Carrots2½ lbs carrots cut into ¼-inch-

thick coins¼ cup extra virgin olive oil¼ cup plus 2 Tbs white vinegar2½ tsp kosher salt1¼ tsp ground cumin1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

½ tsp sugarPinch of cayennePinch of freshly ground

black pepper3 garlic cloves, thinly

sliced1 Tbs tomato paste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. To blanch the carrots, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl and keep it next to the stove. Once the water starts to boil, throw in the carrots and cook just until tender but still crisp, about 8 minutes. While the carrots are cooking, whisk together 2 Tbs of the olive oil, the vinegar, salt, cumin, paprika, sugar, cayenne, pepper, and garlic. Set aside.

When the carrots are done, scoop them out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon and plunge into the ice bath. Once they are completely cooled, drain the water and allow the carrots to dry for 5-10 minutes. Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the tomato paste in it for about 2 minutes. This will sweeten the tomato sauce and make it less tangy. Add the carrots and sauté just until crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove the carrots from the heat, cool slightly, and add the vinegar mixture to the skillet. Toss everything together until coated very well. Serves 4-6

Coconut Milk French Toast

Cream cheese for spreadingFour 1½-inch thick challah slices5 eggs1 cup heavy cream⅓ cup coconut milk2 Tbs sugar

¼ tsp vanilla extract1 Tbs unsalted butterPowdered sugarMixed berriesMaple syrup

Preheat the oven to 375º. Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. While the skillet is heating, spread a layer of cream cheese on 2 slices of challah; then the slices with the other slices to make a sandwich. Whisk together the eggs, cream, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Transfer the mixture to a large baking dish and soak the sandwiches in the mixture for about 30 seconds on each side, allowing them to absorb the custard. Melt the butter in the hot skillet. Add the sandwiches and cook until golden brown on each side, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a baking dish and cook in the oven for another 5 minutes. Cut the French toast on the diagonal to make four triangles. Place two pieces on each plate, dust lightly with powdered sugar and top with a small handful of berries and syrup. Serves 2


pose any new nuclear-related sanctions for six months.

According to Mr. Kerry, only “a tiny portion” of Iran’s frozen funds will be thawed according to the agreement, while approximately 95 per-cent will remain.

“We had to do something to make it worthwhile for Iran to say, ‘Yes, we are going to lock our program where it is today,’” he said.

Financial DiscrepanciesLess than 48 hours after

the deal was signed, the Ira-nian government claimed the US had already released some $8 billion in blocked assets.

According to a US Trea-sury official, the new money Tehran will receive will have very little impact on the Ira-nian economy, which remains in deep recession.

“In relation to the depth of the economic distress that Iran is currently facing, this pack-age is really quite modest and economically insignificant,” he said, warning international busi-nesses that most sanctions on Iran remain in place and that, therefore, “no one should as-sume they can trade freely with the country now that a deal has been brokered.”

“Any business, any bank, any broker, anybody who thinks it’s open season to go into Iran today, I think is sorely mistaken. We will enforce these sanc-tions,” the official said.

The Iranians, reveling in their newly unblocked assets, disagreed. “The agreement will ease anti-Iran sanctions, which will have significant impacts on the Iranian economy,” said Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, a spokesman for the Iranian government.“The West Has Given Up”

Commenting on another point of disagreement, Marzi-yeh Afkham, a spokeswoman

for the Iranian Foreign Min-istry, said a fact sheet about the agreement posted on the White House website was inac-curate. She said the deal with the Western powers left Iran with more leeway on the nu-clear program than the fact sheet implied.

She called the White House fact sheet “a one-sided inter-pretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action.”

“This fact sheet has un-fortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by cer-tain media, which is not true,” she said.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chair-man of Iran’s Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Policy, agreed with the spokeswoman. Rejoicing in Iran’s “victory,” Mr. Boroujerdi told Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam TV, “By now, the Islamic Republic controls all aspects of nuclear science. From A-Z, from the very begin-ning all the way to uranium enrichment. After ten years, we have emerged victorious over the West. They want to prevent us from acquiring nu-clear technology, but we have reached that point.”

He said the agreement demonstrates “the West has given up on stopping Iran from producing enriched uranium.”

“The Americans reached the conclusion that it would be futile to continue their policy of confronting the Islamic Re-public,” he said, “Therefore, the Americans changed their policy.”

If there are any new sanc-tions, he warned, “we will not confirm the agreement, and will not abide by our commit-ments.”

Asked about the conflicting statements from the US and

Tehran, a senior State Depart-ment official said the reports from the Iranians were false.

Someone Is LyingA senior Republican aide on

Capitol Hill said the disparate reports from the White House and Iran are disconcerting. “It’s pretty clear the White House and State Department have been lying to the American people since the beginning of this process, so it wouldn’t shock me to learn they are lying now about how much sanc-tions relief and nuclear lee-way they’re giving Iran,” the aide said.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) disputed the Obama administration’s claim that eased sanctions can be easily reapplied if Iran de-faults on the agreement.

“It’s not that easy. The process would be long and slow—and Iran knows this. We have now let the door open to sanctions going away. We have said that we will ease up on sanctions which have taken years and years of progress to build and to be able to ap-ply the kind of pressure that it did,” he said.Anger and Understanding

Mr. Kerry’s reaction to the deal he helped forge vacillated. At times, he expressed rage at the “fear tactics” he accused the Israelis of using. At other

times, he seemed determined to understand Israel’s frustra-tion, recognizing, he said, that Israel has “every right” to voice its opposition.

Nevertheless, Mr. Kerry told reporters, Mr. Netanya-hu’s fear that this deal leaves Israel vulnerable is unfounded.

“Nothing we are doing here, in my judgment, will put Israel at any additional risk. In fact, let me make this clear, we believe it reduces risk,” he said.

“Make the World Safer”Mr. Kerry insisted that the

agreement presented “an op-portunity to try to put to test whether or not Iran really de-sires to pursue only a peaceful program and will submit to the standards of the interna-tional community in the effort to prove that to the world.”

The agreement, he said, “will make the world safer, in-cluding Israel.” And he rejected the argument that the deal allows Iran to keep all the es-sential elements of its nuclear program.

“This first step, I want to emphasize, actually rolls back the program from where it is today, enlarges the breakout time [before a nuclear weapon can be produced], which would not have occurred unless this agreement existed,” he said.




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The main goal, he said, is to require international inspec-tion of Iran’s nuclear program.

US and Israel AgreeHe described the bitter-

ness that had developed be-tween the US and Israel over the issue as “simply a matter of judgment and calculation.”

“There is no difference whatsoever between the US and Israel as to what the end goal is—that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. We stand firmly with Israel on this, 100 percent. There’s no distance between us about the danger of Iran’s nuclear program. We all agree on the goal; we dis-agree on a tactic to reach it,” he said, adding that it should be easy for Iran to prove to its critics that all its intentions are peaceful.

The concessions offered by the Western powers were necessary to keep Iran at the table, he said.

“Do you want to sit there and argue that you have to dismantle your program be-fore you stopped it, and while you’re arguing about disman-tling it, they would progress?” he said.

But when met by accusa-tions that the deal could lead to nuclear terrorism, Mr. Kerry said he did not believe he had any choice. Those who really dislike the deal, he said, should come up with a better alternative.

“Some might say we should simply have continued to in-crease pressure—just turn up the screws, continue to put sanctions on, and somehow that would have pushed Iran toward capitulation or collapse. Not by any interpretation that we have from all the experts and all the input that we have, and from all the countries. None of them believe that would have been the outcome,” he said.

Canadian DisagreementCanadian leaders, who

have no plans to remove the sanctions on Iran, disagree. Ca-nadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said he was “deeply skeptical” of the newly bro-kered nuclear deal with Iran.

“We will evaluate the deal reached not just on the merits of its words, but more impor-tantly, on its verifiable imple-mentation,” he said.

A great deal of Canadian skepticism is based on the hos-tile comments Iranian lead-ers have made about Israel, he said.

For that reason, Canada will maintain its sanctions against Iran, including restrictions on financial transactions, a ban on bilateral trade (worth about $135 million), and no Iranian diplo-matic representation in Canada. Canada has no representatives of its own in Iran either.

Last May, Canada increased its sanctions against Iran, adding

30 individuals and 82 entities to an economic blacklist and banning almost all exports to and imports from Iran.

“Past actions predict fu-ture actions, and Iran has de-fied the UN Security Council, and, simply put, Iran has not earned the right to have the benefit of the doubt,” said Ca-nadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Jubilation in Iran Since the agreement was

signed, the anti-Israel, anti-West rhetoric from Iran has contin-ued unabated. Echoing Mr. Ne-tanyahu’s complaint, but turn-ing it into a victory cheer, Mr. Rouhani said, “World powers have recognized the nuclear rights of Iran. The confirma-tion from the great powers is of huge value.”

On the streets of Tehran, jubilant Iranians greeted their negotiating team as heroes. Two days after the agreement was signed, Iran’s national cur-rency, the rial, recovered about three percent of its value against the dollar. Several months ago, the Iranian currency had plum-meted to an all-time low due to the sanctions.

Mr. Rouhani said he was overjoyed that the agreement left Israel “diplomatically iso-lated.” He did not refer to the Jewish state by name, but rather as the “occupier regime.”

Referring to Israel, Mr. Rou-

hani called the agreement a turning point for Iran because, he said, it symbolized that the “sanctions regime has been broken, whether others like it or not.”

US Senate ReactionHe might have been refer-

ring to the US Senate as well. A bipartisan group of fifteen leading Democrat and Repub-lican Senators have said, deal or no deal, they are determined to pass legislation calling for new sanctions on Iran as soon as possible.

“A nuclear weapons-ca-pable Iran presents a grave threat to the national security of the US and its allies, and we are committed to preventing Iran from acquiring this capa-bility,” said the group, which includes Bob Cardin (D-MD), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Bob Corker (R-TN), and John Cornyn (R-TX).

To some extent they were acting on the assessments they have been given by Israeli ana-lysts such as Israeli National Security Council director Yaa-kov Amidror. According to Mr. Amidror, the agreement “does not significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”

“Iran made only cosmetic concessions to preserve its pri-mary goal, which is to continue enriching uranium,” he said.

Like North KoreaMr. Amidror recalled that



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with North Korea, there were “talks and ceremonies and agreements—but then there was the bomb.”

“That is not an outcome Israel could accept with Iran,” said Mr. Amidror. “Harsh sanctions led Iran to the negotiating table. The easing of those sanctions will now send companies from around the world racing into Iran to do business, which will lead to the eventual collapse of the sanc-tions that supposedly remain. The deal will lead Iran to become more stubborn.”

Most important, he said, the deal al-lows Iran not only to retain its existing 19,000 centrifuges, but to continue de-veloping the next generation of centri-fuges, provided it does not install them in uranium-enrichment facilities. In other words, he said, Iran’s uranium-enrichment capability becomes no weaker.

No Military OptionMr. Amidror dismissed the Obama

administration claim that the military option “is still on the table” in case Iran

does not comply with the new accord.“That threat is becoming less and

less credible,” said Mr. Amidror, adding that the real problem in Geneva was that the Western powers wanted a deal more than Iran wanted one.

“The party that was targeted by the sanctions has achieved more than the parties that imposed them,” he said.

This seemed to be the concern that prompted the fifteen Senators to seek new and stiffer sanctions, which they say is the only way to guarantee that when the current deal expires in six months, a new one will be forged to remove Iran’s nuclear-weapon capability entirely. The Senators’ fear is that without new sanc-tions, the P5+1 will feel comfortable ei-ther simply renewing the interim agree-ment or letting its stipulations become permanent.

Certainly those are Tehran’s goals. When asked if Iran would dismantle its nuclear facilities as part of a final accord

with the West, Mr. Rouhani said, “One hundred percent no.”

Not “the Norm”Mr. Corker, the senior Republican on

the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said his greatest concern was that the Obama administration would not follow through on the terms of the deal, espe-cially the need for daily inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Mr. Corker said he did not want the interim deal to “become the norm.” “I think you are going to see on Capitol Hill, a bipartisan effort to try to make sure this agreement, which allows Iran to keep enriching, [will] not be the final accord,” he said.

Mr. Cardin agreed. “We will not stand by and just let this be the final deal,” he said.

Perhaps the Senator most critical of the agreement was Mr. Menendez, who serves as chairman of the Foreign Rela-




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tions Committee. “This agree-ment did not proportionately

reduce Iran’s nuclear program for the relief it is giving to Iran.

Given Iran’s history of duplic-ity, it will demand ongoing, on-the-ground verification,” he said.

Obama Will “Go Easy”It is a fear shared by former

Israeli Ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval. He expressed concern that the Obama ad-ministration, in an attempt to justify having forged the deal, will tend to “go easy” on Iran when it comes to evaluating violations.

“The Geneva agreement is a very bad one, and one of the many reasons is that it is open to wide interpretation, with the interpretations by the US and Iran diverging and even contradicting each other. What worries me is that the Obama administration may ‘discount’ violations of the agreement,” he said.

He added that without Mr. Netanyahu’s diplomatic efforts in the weeks before the agreement was signed, the deal “may have been even

worse.”Trying to Thwart Congress

The Obama administration has already begun its battle to thwart the move on Capi-tol Hill for more sanctions. In a message to the Senators, the President said, “Passing any ad-ditional sanctions before this six-month diplomatic window could be pursued would un-dermine our credibility about the goal of these sanctions.”

State Department spokes-woman Jen Paski said new sanc-tions would “violate the spirit” of the interim agreement and could divide the parties that brokered the deal “because other countries would think the US is not living up to our end of the bargain in terms of giving the negotiations a chance.”

It is not clear if the Sena-tors will cave to the pressure from the administration or stand firm in their conviction that Iran should not be allowed to have any enrichment capability.S.L.R.


Mendy Vim Offers Pesach Luxury in Cooperstown and Southburymendy Vim, of Mendy Vim’s Holidays, is offering two luxury Passover hotel ex-periences this year: one new and exciting, the other a perennial favorite. Either would make for a memorable Pesach vacation. Both reflect Mr. Vim’s 40-year tradition of caring, experience, and the “Mendy” personal touch.

For the first time, the Ote-saga Resort in Cooperstown, New York will be a glatt ko-sher Passover hotel destina-tion. The landmark Otesa-ga Resort, a member of the prestigious Historic Hotels of America, with its championship Leatherstocking Golf Course, superior accommodations, and many waterfront activities, is a great choice for Passover in

an inspiring lakeside setting, according to Mr. Vim.

Situated on the southern shore of Lake Otesaga (“Glim-merglass” of James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales”), the Otesaga Resort Hotel was built on the land the Iroquois Indians called “a place of meeting.” Since 1909, the hotel’s imposing Georgian structure on the nine-mile sce-nic lakefront has been one of the country’s premier all-year-round resorts, providing first-class accommodations and gra-cious hospitality. The 135-room hotel continues to receive the coveted AAA Four Diamond Award for excellence.

“In keeping with its Iroquois name, we decided it was an ideal meeting place for families

to celebrate Pesach together,” said Mr. Vim.

Joining guests at the Ote-saga will be Chazzan and Me-nagen Sherwood Goffin of Lin-coln Square Synagogue. The vacation package will include inspiring traditional seders, im-peccably served and delicious glatt kosher meals, daily shi-urim and thought-provoking lectures, nightly entertainment with singers and musicians, and exciting guided trips.

CooperstownCooperstown, sometimes

called “America’s most perfect village,” is home to the Base-ball Hall of Fame and Museum as well as the Fenimore Art Museum, The Farmer’s Muse-um, Smith Center for the Arts, and the Glimmerglass Opera.

In addition, there is Hyde Hall, the early nineteenth century fifty-room mansion, which is considered one of the finest examples of an American neo-classical country house.

There are historic walking or trolley tours, eclectic boutique village shopping, and numer-ous recreational activities on or around the lake. There are tours of Howe Caverns and the Herkimer Diamond Mines, as well as a ride on the Charlette Valley Railroad.

At the resort, Vim’s guests will enjoy the heated outdoor pool, fishing and pontoon boat-ing, tennis courts, fitness center, and skeet shooting, and the incredible view from the Ote-saga’s famed outdoor veranda.



“Honor the Professional According to Your Need”


Letters to the Editor “Thought Is the World of Freedom” (R’ Dov Ber of Mazeritch)Respecting the Fallen

Passaic’s Memorial Park, commonly known as Third Ward Park, was dedicated to the memory of Passaic natives who died fighting for freedom in World War I. The trees lining Passaic Avenue were planted in their memory with brass plates at their bases noting the fallen heroes’ names.

Last month, these trees were desecrated by Democratic Party District 36 campaign posters which were nailed to these living memorial trees. The vandals weren’t satisfied with illegally putting their campaign posters just on utility poles and traffic lights.

Being born in Passaic, the son of a veteran, and living here my entire life, I’ve watched these trees mature and often reflected on the heroes they symbolized.

The candidates named on these posters as well as their disrespectful supporters who perpetrated this desecration do not have roots in Passaic as deep as these trees. They owe the citizens of Passaic, veterans’ organizations, and the families of these heroes a huge apology.

Will there be any consequence for their disrespect and vandalism? Hopefully, the court of public opinion will hold them accountable.

Alan JuszcykPassaic, NJ

Three Hateful DocumentsThe Antisemitic “Protocols of Elders of Zion” is widely known.

I have never read this forgery; it was fabricated over a hundred years ago in Russia.

I want to share three recent racist documents, which I found on Polish websites. I translated them into English, for those who might be interested. You can read them at:

http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/racism/racism3.htmlThese three documents are probably more nonsensical

and more venomous than the Russian “Protocols.” This kind of propaganda is very dangerous; under suitable conditions for this type of thing, They could lead to repetitions of mass murders, and not only in Poland.

The first document quotes what was presumably said in 1945, by the leading Stalinist in Poland, Jakub Berman, who was Jewish. It is an obvious forgery. The second document was composed by someone who read my online autobiography, but the venomous content of the second translated document has nothing to do with what I wrote.

The third document, authored by Klimon Solowietski, is, as I recognized later, an expanded version of the second document.

Those who want to oppose racist ideology must know it. That is why I translated the encountered documents of hatred, and posted them at my university website. Those who are so inclined are free to quote my translations.

My book, “Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality,” is dedicated to my wife Linda, and to our relatives. May they never live under proletarian dictatorship. It is based on what I recorded in diaries, first as a teenager in the USSR and Poland, then as an adult, in Poland, France and the US. It traces my evolution from a dedicated Stalinist into an active anti-Stalinist. It can be found at http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html

A professor emeritus at Montclair State University, I am a Jew and I have interacted with many non-Jews, during my long life. I know that an average Jew is not very different from an average Gentile. How G-d’s commandments are interpreted in my synagogue is probably not very different from how they are interpreted in Christian churches. Each nation has both good and bad people.

It hurts to read declarations of hate; they remind me of similar declarations made by earlier mass murderers. Racist propaganda is a dangerous weapon. What else can I say?

Ludwik Kowalski, Ph.D.Fort Lee, NJ

To the LibrariansAs you may have heard, Scholastic Books, the world’s largest

publisher of children’s titles, has stopped all shipments of its book “Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt.”

This will give Scholastic time to reprint the books, which omitted the country Israel from their map of the modern Middle East.

I respectfully ask you to remove all copies of this book from circulation until you replace it with the corrected version.

The book’s catalog number is ISBN 9780545341042. Please share this information with anyone for whom it is appropriate.

Dr. Jill ButlerPassaic, NJ

With all due respect to Rabbi Jacob Eisemann (“Letters to the Editor: Of Chanukah, Yeshivas, and Dreams,” November 2013), I must take issue with a couple of his assertions.

First, he claims, “The Holy Land was occupied for 100 years by the Greeks, who ultimately forced the Jews to accept their philosophy of life...”.

Second, he states, “The Greeks forbade the Jews to keep Shabbos, did not approve the Jewish calendar, and then outlawed circumcision..”

Regarding the first statement, the philosophy of Hellenism was willingly accepted, without force, by the vast number of Jews at that time, and the leaders of Hellenism murdered their way to the political and religious leadership of Israel.

Regarding the second, while the rabbi is correct in that the Greeks forbade Jewish practices, how did the Greeks know which practices would go against the heart of authentic Judaism?

The obvious answer is that they had the support of the Hellenist Jews who told them what to outlaw.

However, the rabbi is absolutely correct in stating that “History repeats itself again in modern times.”

Today, the overwhelming majority of Jews happily assimilate and adopt decidedly anti-Jewish values. And while Jews are not forbidden to keep Shabbos, there are efforts around the globe to outlaw kosher slaughter and circumcision.

One wonders what role assimilated Jews have in these efforts.Of course, the worst disparagers of Israel today aren’t

the Arabs, but Jews in “Peace Now,” professors at Ben Gurion University (and other schools like it), and other left-wing groups.

And, just as rabbis (both ancient and modern) totally ignore the role of the Hellenist Jews in the story of the Hasmonian revolt, Jewish leaders, even the ones who are strong within the faith, focus their attention on the antisemites outside the Jewish fold rather than the ones who cover themselves with a veneer of Judaism to conceal their rabid hatred of Jews, Judaism,


“Thought Is the World of Freedom” (R’ Dov Ber of Mazeritch)Israel and the one, true, living G-d.

Thankfully, the Hashmonaim recognized all the enemies of Judaism, and dealt with them appropriately.

We celebrate the miracle of the oil—perhaps it’s time we celebrated how the Maccabees dealt with the Hellenists as well.

Ben FeigenbaumEast Brunswick, NJ

Nuclear Holocaust? Yes He CanWhatever terrific deal Obama, Ashton and Hague pretended

they had pulled off with Iran in Geneva, the Iranians wasted no time in showing that it was business as usual. Cuddly, smiley, moderate, Iranian President Rouhani stated that not only would Iran not dismantle any of its nuclear facilities but it would also now construct a second nuclear reactor at Bushehr. And it would enrich as much uranium as it needed.

Even the Washington Post noticed that the “fact sheet” put out by the White House was a trifle economical with the actualité. In particular, what it omitted from this deal that was supposed to limit Iranian uranium enrichment was that “the United States and its partners have already agreed that Iranian enrichment activity will continue indefinitely.”

Which is kind of what the Iranians have been saying the agreement said. It comes to something when the slippery Iranian regime is more reliable in reporting the facts than is the American Presidency.

Even more significant was the anticipated “sunset clause” in the comprehensive agreement, which would mean that “Iran thus could look forward to a time when there would be no sanctions and no special restrictions on its nuclear capacity; it could install an unlimited number of centrifuges and produce plutonium without violating any international accord.”

In other words, this is an agreement which accepts that Iran will eventually get nuclear weapons—and offers sanctions relief to show the Iran regime the good faith of the West in doing nothing to stop it, by using the global muscle of corporations slavering at the mega-bucks now due to come their way from the Iranian terror state.

Despite the fact that the ludicrous façade of the Geneva deal is explicitly crumbling by the day, this will make no difference to Obama. He intends that nothing—but nothing—will stop him from appeasing Iran and protecting it from military attack aimed at thwarting its psychotic aims.

He clearly decided long ago that the big danger was not nuclear weapons in the hands of the world’s principal terrorist

regime which is pledged to make war on the West. No, the big danger was that the country Iran has repeatedly singled out for total annihilation, Israel, might bomb its nuclear sites in order to prevent a second genocide of the Jews.

And so the United States finds itself with a new best friend in the most deadly enemy of the West, treating instead its erstwhile allies (also Iran’s putative victims) as the enemy. A new world order is being created, with a deadly enemy of civilization being allowed to develop nuclear weapons at its leisure, an arms race amongst some of the most unstable and anti-West countries on earth, and with the prospect of a nuclear Armageddon now immeasurably and horrifyingly increased.

This is what the President of the United States will have brought about—unless Congress finds the wherewithal to stop him.

Who can be surprised? We may not have known until last month about the back-channel negotiations being conducted with Iran by the Obama administration for heaven knows how long. There are reports that Obama’s last-minute decision not to bomb Syria arose from these secret Iranian negotiations. There is also renewed speculation that the Obama administration may have alerted the Iranian regime to the cyber-attacks on its computer networks.

Whatever the truth of these claims, Obama’s agenda has been clear from the start. To those like myself who warned about Obama from the moment he became a candidate for the US Presidency, it was clear that here was a man who believed that America was the world’s principal rogue state which needed to be shackled, and that its “victims”—Third World tyrannies and enemies of the West—needed to be empowered to even up the score.

As for Israel, well, these whinging Jews always behaved as if they were the only victims in the world, and if Israel was destroyed it would be all its own fault anyway.

But let’s get this in perspective. UK media pin-up Rouhani is now starring in a music video which is said to mimic an Obama campaign production.

Nuclear holocaust? Yes he can.Melanie Phillips

London, England

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The hotel offers the Leather-stocking Golf Course, including an eleven-acre driving range.

Guests will also receive complimentary passes to the Clark Sports Center with its indoor swimming and diving, racquetball and squash, indoor running track, aerobics studio, 30-inch high belayed indoor rock-climbing wall, boulder-ing wall, a ropes course 120 feet long by 30 feet high, and eight-lane Brunswick bowling.

“We were looking for a new and exciting Passover hotel experience to offer our guests, within driving distance of Metropolitan New York and New Jersey,” said Mr. Vim. “I think we found it.”

Heritage in SouthburyHis other choice is Vim’s

ever-popular program at the Heritage in Southbury, Con-necticut, where he has been

making Pesach for the past six years.

Only an hour from the Whitestone Bridge, this full-featured New England resort offers a world of amenities in a rural location extremely con-venient for travel from New York City or Boston.

Pesach guests at the Heri-tage will be joined by Chazzan Nachman Schneider, Rabbi Aaron E. Glatt, Rabbi Dovid Hirsch, Micah Halpern, Yoel Sharabi, and many new speakers and entertainment personalities.

The Heritage boasts an extensive facility with mani-cured grounds and spacious and contemporary rooms and suites, many overlooking the Pomperaug River or the resort’s challenging par-35, nine-hole USGA-rated golf course. There is a club house, courts, put-ting green, two championship

indoor racquetball courts, in-door and outdoor swimming pools, outdoor tennis and bas-ketball courts, hiking trails, a full-feature fitness club, sauna and hot tub, daily exercise and yoga classes, mountain bike rentals, and an on-site spa of-fering rejuvenating skin and body treatments.

Trips and SedersVim’s Holidays’ program

includes trips on a seal-watching tour on Long Island Sound, a guided tour of Connecticut’s first synagogue, a wildlife sanc-tuary, and tours of the Mark Twain Museum and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house. Nearby amusements include histor-ic mansions, museums, state parks, an indoor water park in neighboring Waterbury, several shopping malls, outlet shop-ping, and the New England antique trail.

At the hotel, the traditional seders and excellent food are beautifully prepared and el-egantly served, including tradi-tional Passover dishes, timeless favorites, and sumptuous des-serts. Vim’s chefs serve amazing meals made with the freshest local and regional ingredients.

Guests of Vim’s Holidays know Mr. Vim and his family treat everyone as part of their family, creating a warm and intimate atmosphere in which meticulous attention is paid to all needs.

For more information, go to www.vimsholidays.com or call 718-998-4477 or 410-484-5553.

“Whether it’s your first Pass-over with Vim’s Holidays, your second, fourth, or fortieth, you’re sure to have an incomparable Passover experience at either of Vim’s Holidays Passover lo-cations,” said Mr. Vim. Y

Vim Tours continued from page 46

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