How do you go about feeding a crowd of 5,600 hungry rabbis and other guests, many of whom have just traveled across the globe?

If you ask Greenwald Caterers, they’ll tell you to start with 2.5 tons of meat, 10 pallets of drinks and 40 cases of tomatoes. And don’t forget the 5,600 cups of coffee.

Greenwald was the caterer for November’s International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries in Bayonne, New Jersey. The largest event of the year in the Chabad world, the 44th annual Kinus Hashluchim (gathering of emissaries) drew a record-setting attendance of 5,600, including 4,700 emissaries. The participating rabbis traveled from as far away as New Zealand, Thailand and the Congo.

The Kinus tradition began in 1983, when Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, affectionately known as “the Rebbe,” appointed his longtime personal secretary Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky (now the chairman of the Chabad umbrella organization Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch) to chair a conference of Chabad’s North American rabbis. That October, some 65 of them gathered at Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn to share ideas, solutions and support.

Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin was there that day and he’s been to every Kinus since. As Wisconsin’s top Chabad rabbi for half a century, he has also seen the astronomical growth of both the event and the movement it represents.

“In the general sessions and individual workshops, you find a wealth of innovative new ideas for programs and solutions to the challenges we all face, plus a real sharing of experiences,” Shmotkin tells JNS.org. “It takes you out of your little shtetl, and all of a sudden you can see yourself as part of a huge mission engraved in the lives of each person that Chabad is able to touch. There’s an almost electrifying spirit of unity and enthusiasm.”

An announcement at this year’s conference highlighted the fact that, 23 years after the death of its leader, the movement continues to grow exponentially. Last month, Uganda became the 100th country to have a Chabad center. Rabbi Moishe and Yocheved Raskin, along with their young son Menachem Mendel, have now set up Chabad of Uganda in the capital of Kampala — adding to the 3,500 Chabad institutions around the globe. When buoyed by the Chabad.org website, these institutions reach millions of Jews every year.

Chabad-Lubavitch describes itself as the largest Jewish organization in the world and leading experts on Jewish communal life agree with that assessment.

“Nobody else comes close,” says Mark Rosen, an expert on Jewish institutions and a professor at Brandeis University’s Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program, who recently completed a study of Chabad’s campus programs.

And what’s behind Chabad’s growth? A major factor could be the preservation and dissemination of countless videos and recordings of the Rebbe’s sermons, as well as dozens of his Torah commentaries and 32 volumes containing a sampling of the hundreds of thousands of letters that he wrote in response to a constant stream of questions.

“It’s the first repository of a great Torah teacher’s wisdom to be kept alive by technology,” says Chabad spokesman Rabbi Motti Seligson. “So the Rebbe continues to teach us years after his passing.”

Another widely recognized ingredient is the personal dedication of the rabbinical emissaries, who move their families into remote corners of the world like India, Laos and Siberia in order to serve Jews wherever they are.

“For them, it’s not a job — it’s a mission,” Rosen said. “They’re not angling for a promotion and they don’t go home at 5 o’clock. Instead they’ve made a lifelong commitment to spread Judaism to every Jew, wherever they’re needed — so they can accomplish a lot.”

Chadad “loves and accepts every Jew wherever they are with no judging,” Rosen adds. “Their goal is not to get you to be just like them, but to help you take the next step in being Jewish, whatever that looks for you. That brings people who would otherwise never be attracted to Orthodox Judaism to Chabad.”

And the Rebbe still inspires the 4,700 emissary families around the world.

“It’s an ongoing relationship,” says Rosen. “Gone for more than 20 years, his teachings still guide them. They don’t insist on others having that same relationship with him, but in their lives he is a daily presence.”

Insiders and outsiders alike point to a third ingredient in Chabad’s formula: the effective transference of the passion to spread Jewish life to the next generation. The November 19 Kinus event included a junior emissary program for 1,100 youths, aged 8-14.

“It was fun. I played with kids from Switzerland and Denmark and France,” said 10-year-old Chaim Blesofsky. “I just like the idea of helping Jewish people connect and making big Jewish communities in places where there aren’t any yet.”

“The whole Chabad movement is about developing young leadership,” says Chaim’s mother, Naomi Blesofsky, who along with her husband and parents runs the Chabad center in Yorba Linda, California.

“When we were growing up, the message was always: ‘It’s not about what’s good for us; it’s about all Jews,’” she says. “And now our own kids know it’s on their shoulders going forward, not as a burden but as a privilege.”

Rabbi Yosef Kantor, who along with his wife Nechama runs Chabad centers in Thailand, tells JNS.org that, “At the Kinus, I was able to tell younger rabbis that the impact they have on every Jew they meet isn’t quantifiable, but it’s there.”

In Thailand, the Kantors have served more than 100,000 meals, many of them to traveling post-army Israelis who stop by for kosher food and a warm Jewish welcome.

“The Rebbe taught us that it’s not about having followers, but about bringing out the leadership in others,” Rabbi Kantor says.

At a time when Jews are becoming less connected with formal Jewish organizations, according to the Pew Research Center’s much-discussed “Portrait of Jewish Americans” survey of 2013, why haven’t other institutions implemented the Chabad playbook?

Chabad’s model “cannot be replicated, since you can’t do it if you don’t live it,” says Brandeis’ Rosen. He shares the insight of a fellow scholar from that university, Jonathan Sarna, that “no one would have predicted the greatest force in 21st-century Jewish life would be an Orthodox movement like Chabad.”

“It defies logic,” Rosen says of Chabad’s ascent. “So there must be some deeper truth that’s escaping our understanding — and that our social science skills don’t quite encompass.”

By: Deborah Fineblum
(JNS.org)

The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Tower of Hope Gala paid tribute to Actor Michael Douglas, Dean Blumenthal, Executive Vice President and COO of Lion Brand Yarn Company, and Dr. Morton Coleman, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Weill Medical College and the Director of the Center for Lymphoma and Myeloma at the New York- Presbyterian Hospital on November 28 at the Ziegfield Ballroom in New York. Benjamin Brafman, criminal defense attorney, served as Master of Ceremonies.

Close to $700,000 was raised during the evening, of which $240,000 is designated for the Immunotherapy Promise, a groundbreaking collaboration between ICRF and the Cancer Research Institute. The Israel Cancer Research Fund has an additional collaboration with The City of Hope in California.

A supporter of ICRF for more than 30 years, Mr. Brafman reminded the guests that “there isn’t anyone in this room who hasn’t battled cancer” and that “ICRF is supporting researchers who are developing treatments and therapies that will keep people alive longer and longer.”

The first honoree, Michael Douglas, is an actor with over forty years of experience in theatre, film, and television, branched out into independent feature production in 1975 with the Academy Award-winning “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. Since then, as an actor-producer, he has chosen projects that reflect changing trends and public concerns. Over the years, he has been involved in controversial and politically influential pictures—”The China Syndrome,” “Traffic” —and popular films such as “Fatal Attraction” and “Romancing the Stone”. Douglas is the recipient of numerous awards including the AFI Lifetime Achievement, Producers Guild Award, New York Film Society Charlie Chaplin Award, and the Israel Genesis Prize.

Upon receiving “The Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts” from Ben Brafman, Michael Douglas remarked: “It is a tremendous honor to be with ICRF this evening. I am a cancer

survivor—seven years since my diagnosis of tongue cancer. I congratulate ICRF for its important work in supporting cancer research.”

Dr. Coleman was awarded “The Lifetime Achievement Award in Medicine.” He has vast expertise in the treatment of lymphoma, myeloma, waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, and associated diseases. He has also played an instrumental role in devising the standard treatment for Hodgkin’s disease, the use of infusional chemotherapy in lymphoma, the concept of dose intensity and its use in myeloma and lymphoma, the combined use of thalidomide in myeloma, the role of PET scanning in lymphoma, the innovative applications of monoclonal antibodies in lymphoma and many other developments. Dr. Coleman is Chairman of the Medical Affiliate Board of the Lymphoma Research Foundation and is on its board of directors and scientific review committee. He is also a member of the scientific review committees of the International Waldenstrom Foundation and the Research Fund for Waldenstrom Ltd. Dr. Coleman originated and serves as Chairman of the largest conference on lymphoma, myeloma and related diseases in the United States. He has served as the chairman, consultant or member reviewer for many scientific committees and has authored hundreds of publications in the field of blood cancers. Dr. Coleman and has been designated one of the “Best Doctors in America.”

Dean Blumenthal accepted the “Lifetime Achievement Award in Business.” His family-owned company, Lion Brand Yarns, was founded in 1878 by his great grandfather. Dean’s parents were founding members of ICRF. His father, George, served as Vice President of the Board of ICRF; his mother, Rose, assumed George’s board seat after his passing. For Dean, accepting the ICRF honor is “his way of preserving his father’s legacy while helping to find treatments and cures for cancer.” He is the recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for New Jersey, and a board member of the Center for Retailing Excellence at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

“In Michael Douglas, Dean Blumenthal and Dr. Morton Coleman, we had the perfect portfolio of honorees,” said ICRF President Rob Densen. “Michael Douglas is a courageous and forthright survivor/advocate, Dean and his family have been spectacularly generous and were leaders of this organization for many years, while Morton Coleman is a physician, researcher, healer and humanitarian without peer. If humankind has reason to be hopeful about the fight against this dreadful disease – and we do — it’s because of people like Michael Douglas, Dean Blumenthal and Mort Coleman. It is a privilege to honor them.”

The Israel Cancer Research Fund is the largest charitable organization outside of Israel solely devoted to supporting cancer research in Israel. Grants issued by ICRF have gone to hundreds of researchers (ICRF grantees include the first two Israelis to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, multiple winners of the coveted Israel Prize and other global scientific awards) at two dozen leading research institutions, universities, and hospitals across Israel. The efforts of Israeli cancer researchers have resulted in significant cancer breakthroughs and in the development of breakthrough cancer drugs, including Doxil, Gleevec and Velcade. ICRF’s current collaborations with two major cancer research organizations, The Cancer Research Institute and City of Hope, demonstrate the global research community’s respect for ICRF.

Edited by: JV Staff

The America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL) honored Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat with its Partners for Democracy Award at its November 29th annual awards dinner, recognizing the mayors’ lifelong careers in public service and strong commitment to enhancing the friendship between the United States and Israel.

The highlight of the evening, taking place at The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, was a conversation with the honorees hosted by the newly elected AIFL President, Joel I. Klein.

“The world needs more individuals like Mike Bloomberg and Nir Barkat. Both men are successful businessmen and didn’t need the job as mayor of their city, yet they wanted to make life better for others,” said Joel I. Klein, AIFL President.

“The support for Israel throughout the world is diminishing; sadly, this is also true within the Jewish community in the U.S. Further, despite recent events, which clearly demonstrate that the war on terror is a worldwide struggle, Israel continues to lose international support and impact, including with its traditional supporters. We thank Michael R. Bloomberg and Mayor Nir Barkat for their outstanding contribution to the world and to the Jewish people,” said Kenneth J. Bialkin, AIFL Chairman.

As a longtime leader of the Jewish Community of the United States, in addition to serving as Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Chairman of the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL), Mr. Bialkin served as National Chairman of the Anti-Defamation League; Chairman of the American Jewish Historical Society; and President of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. He is presently of counsel at the prestigious law firm: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP.

The AIFL was established in 1971 to promote a strong and enduring friendship between Americans and Israelis. The friendship envisioned by AIFL’s founders continues to thrive on Israel’s and the United States’ mutual understanding and shared commitment to democracy. To this day, the America-Israel Friendship League remains committed to the vision of its founders who were a distinguished group of American civic, political, and religious leaders who foresaw the critical need for preserving America’s best interests in the Middle East.

Neither a political nor a sectarian organization, AIFL mobilizes broad support for people-to-people exchanges between Americans and Israelis of all ages and faiths, ethnic backgrounds, and political persuasion. Each Year, AIFL sends delegations to Israel to meet with their Israeli counterparts and visit religious, cultural and archeological sites. These delegations include State Attorneys General, business leaders, scholars, third year law school students, school superintendents, professors of law and Middle Eastern studies and many others.

Visit aifl.org to learn more about how we build America-Israel Friendship.

Edited by: JV Staff

Since the 10th century BCE Jerusalem has been the holiest city, focus and spiritual center of the Jews. Jerusalem has long been embedded into Jewish religious consciousness and Jews have always studied and personalized the struggle by King David to capture Jerusalem and his desire to build the Holy Temple there, as described in the Book of Samuel and the Book of Psalms. Many of King David’s yearnings about Jerusalem have been adapted into popular prayers and songs. Jews believe that in the future the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem will become the center of worship and instruction for all mankind and consequently Jerusalem will become the spiritual center of the world.

The earliest tradition regarding Jerusalem states that Adam, the first man, was created from the same place where in future the Altar would stand in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. After he was ejected from the Garden of Eden, he returned to this spot to offer a sacrifice to God. Cain and Abel also brought their offerings on this Altar. It is believed that Adam lived in Jerusalem for all of his life. The Altar in Jerusalem remained as a permanent shrine where all people could worship God until it was destroyed by the Flood. After the Flood, Noah rebuilt it. The Bible records that Noah blessed his son Shem, which indicated that Jerusalem would be included in Shem’s inheritance. Shem and his progeny lived in Jerusalem and set up an academy there where the word of God was taught. When the city became large enough to require government, Shem was crowned king and given the title “Malchi-Tzedek”. Tzedek, meaning righteousness, a name used to refer to Jerusalem.

In ancient times the city was divided, with the “Lower City” to the east and the “Upper City” on a higher elevation to the west. The eastern section was referred to as Salem, while the upper section which included the place of the Altar was called the Land of Moriah. 340 years after the Flood, Canaanite tribes began to invade the Holy Land and the Amorites occupied the western Upper City and subsequently destroyed the Altar. Shem and his people retained control of the Lower City and maintained the academy there.

Some legends tell that Abraham went to Jerusalem as a young child to study the tradition with Noah and Shem. God later instructed Abraham to leave Mesopotamia and return to the Promised Land. After he was victorious in a war he got caught up in, he was blessed by Shem. Shortly after, eastern Jerusalem – Salem – began to come under the domination of the Philistines who were occupying the area. In order to make peace with them, Abraham went to negotiate with their king Abimelech who assured him safety of Shem’s academy. When Abraham’s son and heir Isaac was born, Abimelech approached Abraham in order to make a covenant between them. The treaty stipulated that as long as a descendant of Abimelech dwelt in the land, no descendant of Abraham would wage war against them. This covenant was later to be the reason why the Israelites would not capture the eastern part of Jerusalem.

When Abraham was told to sacrifice his son, God directed them to Moriah. When the spot where the Altar had stood became apparent to Abraham he rebuilt it and prepared to sacrifice Isaac on it. It was after he passed this last test, he took Shem’s place as the Priest of the Altar on Mount Moriah. Abraham named the place “Yirah” or Yiru (Jeru), meaning awe. When this was united with the name of the eastern part of the city, the city got its present name JeruSalem, implying “complete awe of God”.

Straight after this Abraham purchased the Cave of Machpela in Hebron from Ephron the Hittite who made a treaty with Abraham that his descendants would not take the city of Jerusalem away from the Hittites by force. As a result, the western part of the city was eventually purchased from Ephron’s descendants by the Israelites.

The Talmud elaborates in great depth the Jewish connection with Jerusalem.

For example, the book of Psalms, which has been frequently recited and memorized by Jews for centuries, says:

• “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.” (Psalms 137:1)
• “For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning . If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof; O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repay eth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” (Psalms 137:3–9) (King James Version, with italics for words not in the original Hebrew)
• “O God, the nations have entered into your inheritance, they have defiled the sanctuary of your holiness, they have turned Jerusalem into heaps of rubble…they have shed their blood like water round Jerusalem…” (Psalms 79:1–3);
• “…O Jerusalem, the built up Jerusalem is like a city that is united together…Pray for the peace of Jerusalem…” (Psalms 122:2–6);
• “Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains as God surrounds his people forever” (Psalms 125:3);
• “The builder of Jerusalem is God, the outcast of Israel he will gather in…Praise God O Jerusalem, laud your God O Zion.” (Psalms 147:2–12)

In antiquity, Judaism revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin, which governed the nation, was located in the Temple precincts. The Temple service was at the heart of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur proceedings. The Temple was central to the Three pilgrim festivals, namely Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, when all Jews were incumbent to gather in Jerusalem. Every seven years all Jews were required to assemble at the Temple for the Hakhel reading. The forty-nine-day Counting of the Omer recalls the Omer offering which was offered at the Temple every day between Passover and Shavuot. The eight-day festival of Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple after its desecration by Antiochus IV. A number of fast days including the Ninth of Av, the Tenth of Tevet and the Seventeenth of Tammuz, all recall the destruction of the Temple.

Maimonides records a list of bylaws which applied to Jerusalem during the Temple period: A corpse must not be left within the city overnight; human remains must not be brought inside the city; its houses are not to be rented out; residence for a ger toshav was not granted; burial plots are not maintained, other than those of the House of David and Huldah which existed from ancient times; the planting of gardens and orchards is forbidden; sowing and plowing is forbidden due to the possibility of decaying produce; trees are not planted, except for rose gardens which existed in ancient times; garbage heaps are forbidden due to infestation; girders and balconies may not overhang the public domain; pressure ovens are forbidden due to the smoke; it is forbidden to raise chickens.

At the conclusion of the Yom Kippur service and the Passover Seder outside of Jerusalem the words “Next Year in Jerusalem” are recited. When consoling a mourner, Jews recite “May God comfort you among all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem”. In Jerusalem itself, the Passover Seder might conclude, “Next Year in Jerusalem, the rebuilt,” referring likely to the Temple that was destroyed over two millennia ago.

Some Jewish groups observe several customs in remembrance of Jerusalem. A tiny amount of ash is touched to the forehead of a Jewish groom before he goes to stand beneath the bridal canopy. This symbolically reminds him not to allow his own rejoicing to be “greater” than the ongoing need to recall Jerusalem’s destruction. The well-known custom of the groom breaking a glass with the heel of his shoe after the wedding ceremony is also related to the subject of mourning for Jerusalem. It is a custom for some that the groom recites the sentence from Psalms, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [her cunning].” (Psalms 137:5).

Another ancient custom is to leave a patch of interior wall opposite the door to one’s home unpainted, as a remembrance of the destruction (zecher lechurban), of the Temples and city of Jerusalem.

According to Jewish law, as an expression of mourning for Jerusalem, it is forbidden to listen to any form of music, other than on holidays and at celebrations such as weddings and inaugurations of new Torah scrolls. This prohibition, however, while codified in the Shulchan Aruch, is not followed by the vast majority of Orthodox and even Haredi Jews nowadays.

The Western Wall (kotel hama’aravi), in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem, is one of the holiest sites in modern Judaism. This is because it is the closest point to the original site of the Holy of Holies which is currently inaccessible to Jews. Until 1967, it was generally considered to be the only surviving remnant of the Second Temple from the era of the Roman conquests; there are said to be esoteric texts in Midrash that mention God’s promise to keep this one remnant of the outer temple wall standing as a memorial and reminder of the past. Hence also the name “Wailing Wall”, used by non-Jews because many Jews would traditionally cry when they came before it.

However, the capture of Eastern Jerusalem in the Six-Day War revealed that the retaining wall of the Temple Mount in fact survived in all places.

Modern History

Jerusalem has been the official capital of the State of Israel and the center of its government since 1950. Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s President, Knesset, and Supreme Court, and the site of most government ministries and social and cultural institutions. Jerusalem is the ancient spiritual center of Judaism and is also considered a holy city by the members of other religious faiths. Israel protects the holy sites of all faiths.

In 1967, Jordan rejected warnings from Israel and opened an aggressive war against Israel by bombarding Jerusalem. In response and in self-defense, Israel captured east Jerusalem, then controlled by Jordan.

As such, Israel’s status in eastern Jerusalem is entirely legitimate and lawful and accepted by the international community under the international law of armed conflict.

The 1967 unification of Jerusalem by Israel through the extension of its law, jurisdiction, and administration to eastern Jerusalem, while not accepted by the international community, did not alter the legality of Israel’s presence and status in, and governance of, the city.

The United States has consistently stated that the issue of Jerusalem must be solved by negotiation as part of a just, durable and comprehensive peace settlement.

Numerous politically-generated resolutions and declarations by the UN, UNESCO, and others, attempting to revise and distort the long history of Jerusalem and to deny basic religious, legal and historic rights of the Jewish People and the State of Israel in Jerusalem, have no legal standing and are not binding. They represent nothing more than the political viewpoints of those states that voted to adopt them.

The PLO and Israel agreed in the Oslo Accords that “the issue of Jerusalem” is a permanent status negotiating issue that can only be settled by direct negotiation between them with a view to settling their respective claims. The U.S. President, as well as the presidents of the Russian Federation and Egypt, the King of Jordan, and the official representatives of the EU are among the signatories as witnesses to the Oslo Accords.

Neither UN/UNESCO resolutions, nor declarations by governments, leaders, and organizations can impose a solution to the issue of Jerusalem, nor can they dictate or prejudge the outcome of such negotiations.

Edited by: JV Staff

President Trump’s announcement last Wednesday that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was both correct and prudent from America’s perspective. Much more remains to be done to relocate the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but this was a vital first step.

What is now critical is implementing Trump’s decision. Will the State Department actually carry out the new U.S. policy — which State’s bureaucracy strongly opposed — or will the entrenched opponents of moving the embassy subvert it quietly by inaction and obfuscation?

In 1948, the United States, under Harry Truman, was the first country to recognize the modern state of Israel upon its declaration of independence. Nonetheless, Truman, at the State Department’s urging, declined to acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a mistake continued by his successors. Trump has now corrected this error: Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital since 1948, and the sooner the American flag flies over the American embassy there, the better.

The expected protests and violence from the usual suspects in the Middle East have already begun, and more can be expected. Fear of these protests has deterred prior administrations from moving the embassy to Jerusalem. But it is wrong for America to bend to such efforts to intimidate us. Congressional support will be overwhelming, as it should be; over 20 years ago, the House and the Senate legislated almost unanimously that the president should relocate our embassy to Jerusalem. Given the inevitable bureaucratic obstructionism, however, Congress must continue playing an important role — by constantly prodding the State Department and by providing prompt and adequate funding for building a first-class new embassy.

At a stroke, Trump has also extinguished numerous fantasies still thriving at the United Nations and in many national capitals around the world. The first is that several General Assembly resolutions from the U.N.’s early days in the late 1940s still have any force or effect. Trump’s announcement, for example, means that Resolution 181 (creating an Arab and a Jewish state out of Britain’s Palestinian mandate and establishing Jerusalem as a corpus separatum — an independent city under U.N. Trusteeship Council authority) is a dead letter. Moreover, the so-called “right of return” for Palestinian refugees arising from Israel’s 1947-49 war of independence, long out of date and flatly rejected by Israel, is now also on history’s trash heap.

Trump’s embassy decision helps bring into focus the real issues that now need to be addressed. The Middle East peace process has long needed clarity and an injection of reality, and Trump has provided it. Palestinian leaders have for decades said that moving the embassy would bring negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to a grinding halt. That is true only if the Palestinians wish it, and would demonstrate that their commitment to true peace that recognizes the permanence of Israel was a snowflake, insincere from the start.

No lasting peace can be based on illusions, and Trump’s approach has made that objective more rather than less likely.

By: John Bolton
(Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

John Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, was the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations and, previously, the undersecretary of State for arms control and international security.

The Central Park Conservancy held its first annual Belvedere Ball in a tent in the middle of the Park at 72nd and 5th Ave. on Wednesday December 6, 2017 with cocktails beginning at 7 PM. The Conservancy, founded in 1980, is a private, nonprofit organization that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York and NYC Parks. The Founders of the Conservancy include Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Richard Gilder, Gordon Davis and Bill Beinecke. With contributions from residents, corporations and foundations the Conservancy contributes 75 percent of the Park’s $65 million annual operating budget and is responsible for the basic care of the 843-acre park. Central Park, situated between 59th and 110th streets, was built in 1857 by architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vauz. Olmsted, the father of modern American architecture, viewed the Park as a democratizing space with no central hub but many points of attraction. He wanted it to provide “healthful recreation for the poor and the rich, the young and the old, the vicious and the virtuous.”

His goal was to have large amounts of empty space directly inapposite to the crowded streets of the City. The Conservancy arose out of necessity during the Park’s rapid decline in the 1970’s where some were questioning whether to give it over to the National Park Service. Tonight the over 550-person crowd came to pay homage to President and CEO Douglas Blonsky who has led the Conservancy as CEO since 2004 and has spent a total of 33 years working in Central Park and making sure Olmsted’s vision would be fulfilled. Blonsky even met his current wife, Mai Allan, when she was working as a city landscape architect in the Park and they are celebrating their 30th anniversary this May.

Blonsky is a legend amongst the Conservancy crowd, and his devotion to the Park has ensured his legacy in the history books working his way up from landscape architect to CEO and President of the Conservancy. His friend, former parks commissioner Adrian Benepe, described Blonsky dutifully picking up garbage in the Park after the Hurricane Sandy disaster. Unfortunately, the irreplaceable hands-on Blonsky announced this past June that he would be stepping down as President after instituting unique programs such as the zone management system which identifies 49 zones in Central Park based on topography and use and appoints a manager to each.

Blonsky was given a standing ovation as he described the Park in the 70’s as one of the most dangerous places in NYC with graffiti covering its walls and no trees to be seen. In the early 1980’s there were 12 million visitors to the Park with about 1,000 crimes a year whereas now there are over 42 million visitors annually with fewer than 100 crimes a year. Kudos to Blonsky who has transformed this historic space to unimaginable heights after 30 plus years of 24/7 workdays where he ate, slept and breathed the Park-who can blame him for retiring. He correctly noted that Central Park has become one of the safest and most beautiful parks in the world because of the people in the room tonight. He concluded his speech by remarking that every day the Park must get better.

“The Park is all about the guy on the bench reading the paper and now it’s my turn to be that guy,” joked Blonsky, alluding to his imminent retirement. When I asked Blonsky what his favorite time of year in the Park was he said it was the winter, “where you can view everything without the leaves intruding just the undulating hills and valleys which are a masterpiece of design.” He noted that the entire Park was man-made and when he first arrived it was arid and barren. He has since raised $1 Billion towards its restoration including a $100 million gift from the Paulson Family Foundation. The most romantic part for Blonsky is walking through the Woodlands of the Park where he said in just two minutes you feel as though you are in the Adirondacks. Blonsky reminisced about the Great Lawn which used to be called the “Great Dust Bowl” and is now one of the most luscious lawns in the World.

When I asked if there were any talks of erecting an Amusement Park he looked horrified at the thought of ruining the pristine nature of the greenery. He was now focused on training and teaching other parks all over the world through the Central Park Conservancy Institute for Urban Parks which he established to provide parks around the world with a center for learning world-class urban park management and stewardship practices.

For Blonsky the speaking portion of the evening was his least favorite as he prefers to “just sit and hang out” with the 550 people who joined him this evening. While the entire socialite universe seems to be at Art Basel there were still plenty of illustrious attendees joining Blonsky tonight including: Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, Jeff and Liz Peek, Alexandra Lebenthal and Jay Diamond and Maria and Ken Fishel.

The evening’s event chairs were: Shelley and Michael Carr, Kitty and Tom Kempner, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter and Jenny and John Paulson-I didn’t see the Paulsons at the event. The tented cocktail party was followed by a delightful dinner of pot pie and brownies. Chairman of the Board of Trustees Tom Kempner announced that more than $2 million had been raised this evening and thanked Northern Trust for sponsoring the event for the past four years. “Pencils of Promise” donated the tent which had a winter wonderland theme containing snowy trees and white lighted arrangements. At 10:30 PM the DJ began to spin music as the younger crowd, including socialites Larry Milstein and Malcolm Gosling entered to dance with the older patrons and enjoy the delicious desserts. This evening was paradigmatic of the oasis known as Central Park-a joyful amalgam of all the great promise that awaits in the City of New York.

By: Lieba Nesis

Experiencing the joy of menorah-lightings, concerts and coins dropping from the sky

Sarah Barash and her husband, Rabbi Berel Barash, are getting ready to welcome a fleet of exuberant families to their annual Chanukah celebration. Since 2012, the co-directors of Chabad Jewish Center in Jupiter, Fla., have organized an event that has chocolate-coin gelt raining down from the sky—dropped from a helicopter, to be precise—with eager recipients just waiting to collect it.

“We say ‘go,’ and the kids can’t get enough of it,” she says. “There’s this frenzy; it’s exciting.” It gets children revved up for the holiday, but more importantly, about their Judaism, she says.

In addition to the Dec. 12 gelt drop, they’ll have a carnival for the entire community with people on stilts, laser tag, an obstacle course, balloon-twisting and Jewish music. As many as 400 people are expected to attend the festivities, which take place at the downtown Abacoa amphitheater.

We want everyone to feel the joy and light of Chanukah,” says Barash.

The eight-day holiday—also known as “The Festival of Lights”— starts this year on the night of Tuesday, Dec. 12 (the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev), and lasts through Wednesday, Dec. 20. The Hebrew word Chanukah means “dedication,” named because it celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the second century BCE. A small band of faithful Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, defeated the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who tried to force the people of Israel to accept Greek culture and beliefs instead of mitzvah observance and belief in G d. When they sought to light the Temple’s menorah, they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks. Miraculously, they lit the menorah and the one-day supply of oil lasted for eight days, u

ntil new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.

Chanukah will certainly be in the air, not only in Florida but around the world. Chabad of New Zealand will kick off the holiday by lighting the first menorah of the season in the easternmost part of the world. Thousands will attend the eight public menorah-lightings, and hundreds of holiday kits will be distributed across the country, including at the parliament in Auckland, as well as in Queenstown, Wellington and other cities. The very last lighting will be in Hawaii, far to the west, where residents and visitors alike will celebrate with Chabad of Kauai.

All told, Chabad-Lubavitch will be reaching an estimated 8 million Jews—more than half of the world’s Jewish population—with 700,000-plus menorahs and 2.5 million holiday guides in 17 different languages being distributed internationally. Some 15,000 large public menorahs will be erected, with public menorah-lightings and Chanukah events held in all 50 states and in 100 countries around the world, including at the most recent Chabad Houses in Uganda, Montenegro, Curaçao, Ibiza, Laos, Newfoundland and New Caledonia.

In the United States and Canada alone, Chabad plans to distribute 250,000 menorahs, 11,000,000 candles, 380,000 Chanukah guides and 200,000 chocolate-coin packets.

In New York City, which boasts the the largest menorah in the world—at 36 feet high (the lights are 32 feet high, the most permissible by Jewish law, with the center light reaching an additional 4 feet)—at Grand Army Plaza on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, some 300 menorah-topped cars and 55 mitzvah tanks (holiday-outfitted RVs) will drive down Fifth Avenue on Dec. 16 during the annual menorah parade. On the other coast, in San Francisco, thousands will gather for nightly lightings of the 25-foot “Bill Graham Menorah,” which was first lit in 1975 with funding from the late rock-music star.

And in Washington, D.C., as many as 5,000 people will gather on Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the National Menorah on the Ellipse in front of the White House lawn for the annual menorah-lighting ceremony and live music concert.

Festive in the Frigid Dakotas

Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz, who with his wife, Mussie, co-directs Chabad of South Dakota will spend much of Chanukah on the road. Joined by a pair of yeshivah students from New York, they’ve got seven events in the works across the state, including one at the iconic Mount Rushmore (Dec. 19). They’ll be there with a 9-foot menorah-lighting in front of the famous faces of America presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

“Our founding fathers and presidents established this great country giving everybody the freedom of religion,” says the rabbi. “There’s no better place to express that than in front of the memorial.”

This is Alperowitz’s second Chanukah spent with the community. “Thanks to the great vision of the Rebbe [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory], Chanukah has become one of the most centrally observed festivals among the Jewish people in America,” he says.

“It really resonates with people—the idea that you can add light to the lives of those around you,” adds Mussie Alperowitz. “Ultimately, we see that Jews like to demonstrate their Judaism with pride.”

Rabbi Yonah Grossman, who co-directs Chabad of North Dakota in Fargo with his wife, Esti, holds public menorah-lightings and community celebrations in four different cities. They’re expecting dignitaries and locals to attend the events, which the Grossmans will arrive at via pickup truck, complete with a 14-foot menorah attached to the back. The 12-hour circuit will also have the couple and their children—ages 1, 3 and 5—visiting people in their homes, and of course, stopping to pose for pictures with their conversation-starter of a vehicle.

“The menorah symbolizes the dominance of light over darkness, and the power that a small amount of light has to dispel much darkness,” states Grossman. It’s an especially important message to share this year, he adds. “With the recent uptick in lone-wolf and other terrorist attacks, the message of Chanukah has never been more pertinent.”

Being in such a chilly location—temperatures in North Dakota average 20 or so degrees in December, and commonly dip below 0—drives the message of warmth home even further. As he says: “We have to warm up even the coldest places on earth.”

In Capitals Around the World

Russia, too, will see the bright lights of the holiday in a frost-covered environment. In Moscow, about 5,000 people are expected to attend a Chanukah concert on Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Kremlin Theater. There will also be a public menorah-lighting at the Kremlin’s Revolution Square on the first night of Chanukah, which is expected to attract a crowd of more than 2,000 people. Fifteen large menorahs will be erected in central locations throughout the city. More than 35,000 menorah kits will be distributed, and dozens of menorah-topped cars will drive around Moscow promoting awareness of the holiday.

Berlin will erect 25 large public menorahs, including at the location of last year’s terror attack, as well as a nightly lighting at the Brandenburg Gate. A public lighting on the first night, Dec. 12, at the Brandenburg Gate is expected to draw numerous government officials, including the Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Muller and acting U.S. Ambassador to Germany Kent Logsdon. London’s Trafalgar Square will host a 30-foot, 13-ton menorah outfitted with specially designed environmentally friendly bulbs commissioned by the London Climate Change Agency.

A host of Chanukah events, including visits to senior citizens in centers or bedridden at home, are being planned in Manchester, where along with London was the site of terror attacks just months ago. Not far away in Paris, an annual menorah-lighting will take place on Sunday, Dec. 17, at the Eiffel Tower with an expected 7,000 participants, including the chief rabbis of Paris and France, as well as many government officials.

In Israel, Chabad-Lubavitch will hand out 300,000 sets of menorahs and candles to the public, as well as 430,000 traditional Chanukah jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot). Some 1,475 giant menorahs will be placed in city and town centers across the country, with another 5,350 menorahs featured in shopping malls, stores and offices.

And more than 1,000 people will celebrate the holiday at public menorah-lightings in 19 countries across Central Africa, including in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya; Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Luanda, Angola; Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; and for the first official time, in Uganda, the 100th country with a permanent Chabad presence. Thousands of menorah kits will be distributed by Chabad rabbis and rabbinical students visiting Jewish homes, many of them Israeli, throughout Central Africa.

Back in the United States, Chaya Yaras, co-director at Chabad of Northeast Coral Springs, Fla., with her husband, Rabbi Moshe Yaras, will add something new to their Chanukah party, which they expect will draw between 500 and 700 people on Dec. 19, the last night of the holiday. The fire department will come with a truck outfitted with a tall ladder, and the chief himself will drop 2,000 gold coins into an empty space in a parking lot, where kids can collect them. The firefighters will stick around so children can explore the truck and learn the importance of fire safety, she says. Chabad will also hold a concert and menorah-lighting during the event, which takes place at an outdoor shopping center.

“Once or twice a year, we try to do something that’s citywide,” she says. “There’s something so powerful about everybody joining together to celebrate one holiday, coming together to have a good time and just sharing the happiness of Yiddishkeit.”

Chanukah begins this year on the night of Tuesday, Dec. 12, and continues through Wednesday, Dec. 20. For information, insights and events at Chabad centers around the world, visit: Chabad.org Chanukah.

By: Karen Schwartz
(Chabad.org)

The Robert Kennedy Human Rights Organization celebrated 50 years at its annual “Ripple of Hope” awards dinner at the Hilton on Wednesday December 13, 2017 with cocktails beginning at 5:30 PM.  Last year the dinner had a funereal atmosphere as the liberal crowd was still trying to come to grips with the outcome of the presidential election.  This year there was certainly some angst but the crowd was reinvigorated by the defeat of Roy Moore in the Alabama election.  The Hilton has become an increasingly popular venue for large 1,000 person dinners such as this.  However, this midtown hotspot can take hours to get to during the Christmas season.  As my taxi stood on the same block for twenty minutes I found myself walking in the cold for a good six avenue blocks-I needed to vent a little.

The turnout this evening was truly miraculous with celebrities: Tony Bennett, Usher, Gloria Steinem, Lena Olin, Alfre Woodward, Peter Frampton, Whoopi Goldberg, Keegan Michael Key, Danny Glover, Van Jones, Chris Matthews, host Alec Baldwin and honoree Harry Belafonte gracing the event with enthusiasm.  The attendee who received the most attention was anthem kneeler Colin Kaepernick whose wild hairdo and significant height made him easy to spot.  Everyone wanted a picture with Colin and he was more than happy to oblige.  Alec Baldwin was a rather docile emcee; whereas last year he had the crowd in stitches with his Donald Trump impersonation this year he kept it pretty tame except for remarking numerous times that Fox News had a bulletin that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence were dating-something I have still not confirmed.  Alec’s wife Hilaria is pregnant and she sat with Hope Smith-wife of Chairman of the Board Robert Smith.

     The center table contained all the glitterati and was comprised of about fifty people with Harry Belafonte in the corner with Ethel Kennedy screaming that my purse was open-he seemed horrified at this happenstance.  Alec Baldwin enumerated the list of prominent attendees and then asked guests to tweet pledge their donations which would appear on screen-he meant text pledge.  Last year there was a live auction where he offered to do a Trump impersonation but this year a silent auction was held.  Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert Kennedy Human Rights organization then spoke about the horrible situation at Riker’s where 1,200 teenagers are left to flounder in cages because they cannot afford to post bail.  She spoke emphatically about getting rid of pretrial incarceration, cash bail and ending violence against women in these perplexing times.  One of those teenagers left in Riker’s, Pedro Hernandez, who was wrongfully accused of attempted murder spoke eloquently about how the Robert Kennedy organization saved him from incarceration.  

The highlight of the evening was the speech of Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya who recalled viewing a defunct yogurt factory in 2005 and deciding to buy the factory after its 50 workers were laid off.  Ulukaya spoke to his lawyer Mario who tried to discourage the broke Ulukaya who knew nothing about yogurt.  Ululkaya decided to purchase the factory anyway and after two years of perfecting his recipe he started Chobani yogurt which now has over $1 billion in sales and employs over 2,000 people.  Ulukaya had the crowd in stitches as he recalled his first cup of Greek yogurt being sold to a Jewish deli while currently being honored by the Irish Kennedy clan, “what could be more American than that” he joked.

Thirty percent of the Chobani workforce is made up of immigrants and refugees and the company recently distributed ten percent of its ownership stake to employees.  Ulukaya said it was time for Americans to stop fighting one another and start rooting for each other-a much appreciated sentiment.

After receiving a standing ovation, honoree Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson and Johnson was called to the stage to receive his Ripple of Hope award.  Gorky delivered a lengthy speech on the progress being made in the pharmaceutical industry which was currently testing an HIV vaccine and was proud to receive his award on behalf of his 135,000 employees.  Robert Kennedy has been a hero to Gorsky since he was in High School where he wrote a paper on his impact.

Gorsky an employee at Johnson and Johnson for 30 years who is in impeccable health told me he exercises one hour every single day and eats a small meal every three to five hours.  He was hopeful that cures would be found for cancer and HIV but said prevention of disease was the best antidote.  He was also excited about the advances in personalized medicine which was moving things from the treatment stage to concrete cures.  Whoopi Goldberg introduced Harry Belafonte with a couple of lapses in her speech which had her claiming she had two or three things on her brain at the same time.  A video was then shown documenting Belafonte’s activism in the Civil Rights Movement.

When Ethel Kennedy presented Belafonte with the award he spoke from his seat remarking that, “the best of us is still in front of us” and thanked Bobby Kennedy for leaving his beautiful family Ethel and Kerry.  We were then treated to the smash hit 1985 song “We Are The World” which Belafonte organized and which Usher and Gloria Reuben helped sing this evening while celebrities joined hands on stage.  Alec Baldwin told the crowd to save next December 12th when Bill Gates, Barack Obama and David Zaslav would be honored by the Robert Kennedy foundation-that sounds awesome. At 10:30 PM the crowd headed to the dessert table to enjoy the petit fours and socialize.  On my way out I bumped into Gloria Steinem who complimented my pants and remarked that everything is important; even fashion.

The congregational arm of Conservative Judaism has severed ties with the longtime director of the denomination’s youth movement after receiving “multiple testimonies” that corroborated an allegation of sexual abuse.

Allegations about Jules Gutin, 67, who in 2011 completed his 20-year tenure as international director of United Synagogue Youth (USY) and since 2012 had conducted tours of Poland for USY, first came to light Nov. 9 through a Facebook post by a man who claimed that someone who worked with thousands of teens had abused him in the 1980s. After confirming with the man that he was referring to Gutin in his post, JNS communicated with several other men who alleged that they were underage victims of unwanted sexual touch by Gutin during that decade.

“Two of my USYers have said very similar things to me over the years, and named the same name,” said Arnie Draiman, a former USY youth advisor.

According to an email dated Nov. 21 that was obtained by JNS, Gutin asked the man who made the initial accusation on Facebook not to name him or USY in communication with the media in order to “spare my family from pain” and avoid “any harm to an organization we both love.”

“Whatever points you want to make would be just as powerful without people knowing the specific individual,” Gutin wrote to his accuser. He also wrote that USCJ was “totally justified” in suspending him from staffing any of its programs, and concluded the email, “Once again I am sorry.”

Earlier this month, when The New York Jewish Week first reported that Gutin had been terminated by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) due to sexual abuse allegations, the casual reader might have missed the news.

The development on Gutin appeared in the third-to-last paragraph of an article about an entirely separate abuser, Bob Fisher, who has since admitted to misconduct with children who participated in USY during the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, the initial accusation of abuse was connected to Gutin, not Fisher, and the Gutin allegation was what prompted USCJ to set up a confidential phone hotline and email address in November with the goals of uncovering alleged instances of sexual abuse and investigating their veracity.

After its investigation, USCJ terminated the contract employing Gutin.

Rabbi Steven Wernick, CEO of USCJ, and his staff initially tried unsuccessfully to contact the alleged victim, but they have since been in touch with him and have had multiple conversations. The abuse allegedly occurred 33 years ago, when the victim was 17 years old and Gutin was 34.

When USCJ first learned of the allegation last month and had two conversations with Gutin, he was suspended from his duties. At that point, USCJ established its hotline.

“We had three communications with Jules. In the first two communications, there was equivocation and phrases like, ‘I do not recall,’” but in the final communication, an email, Gutin denied the allegations, Wernick told JNS.

Yet Wernick said there were “multiple testimonies that corroborated what was said to us originally. Jules answered those questions with statements such as, ‘By today’s standards, some of the ways in which USY handled sleeping arrangements would not be allowed today.’”

One alleged victim told JNS, for example, that Gutin had invited him to stay in his home while his family was away, and they slept in the same bed. The victim claimed that Gutin touched him, prompting him to leave the room abruptly. He said that he reported the alleged incident to people in his region, “but I was one small voice and it would have been his word against mine.”

“Our investigation led us to sever the relationship with [Gutin] permanently. We found the allegations to be substantive,” Wernick said. 

Gutin told JNS that under his guidance, USY instituted strict guidelines for staff and student contact during and around 1996-1997 following an incident that took place during USY on Wheels, a summer bus touring program. He expressed concern about people who felt that they had been wronged in some way and claimed he was not aware of any allegations other than the Facebook post that did not name him.  

USY, like the Orthodox Union’s NCSY and the Union for Reform Judaism’s NFTY, provides social programming and educational events for students primarily from ages 14-18. 

In the Orthodox Union’s youth arm, NCSY, strict protocols on this issue have been in place since 2001, following the guilty verdict and seven-year-imprisonment of former national NCSY director Baruch Lanner for child sexual abuse. The Reform movement’s NFTY also has such protocols in place, as do all accredited camps and schools. Gutin said NCSY had contacted USY when it was establishing its guidelines on abuse, and it utilized some of USY’s information in forming its own protocols in the wake of the Lanner case.   

According to Wernick, USCJ’s hotline—managed by Vivian Lewis, the organization’s senior director of human resources—received “heavy traffic” and allegations against Gutin as well as Fisher, former director of the Far West USY region. 

The allegations against Gutin and Fisher, Wernick stated, centered around the 1980s and early 1990s—before USY or any national Jewish youth organization had protocols and handbooks in place to appropriately prevent abuse or report it.

“We don’t have any records for that time period concerning these allegations,” said Wernick, noting that he tried to find a paper trail of anything discussed in the same Jewish Week article that revealed Gutin’s termination. That article primarily detailed allegations of Fisher’s misconduct that were reported in 2001 by David Benkof, a former USY international youth president, to Rabbi Jerome Epstein, then USCJ’s executive director. Gutin and Fisher had significant overlap in their years of employment for USY, but there is no evidence that Gutin was aware of any allegations against Fisher.

“I even went so far as to check if our general counsel at the time had the records, but that person is deceased. And this time period, in terms of what attorneys would have to keep…they would have long since destroyed these records,” Wernick said. 

Benkof, who now feels his comments fell on deaf ears when he reported the allegations to Epstein, expressed skepticism about USCJ’s new hotline.

“There needs to be a way for victims to come forward, but the address should be in the media, law enforcement, or an outside company or Jewish organization,” Benkof told JNS. “The organization that faces civil action is the last organization that should be in charge of gathering the information.”

“The United Synagogue has a financial interest in silencing victims,” he added. “I believe they are using the hotline to do to other victims what Rabbi Jerry Epstein did to me when I reported what I knew about Bob Fisher in 2001, while Bob still worked for the organization: He told me I was yotzei (a Hebrew word meaning that one’s obligation has been fulfilled), thus convincing me I need not act further.”

Epstein declined comment when contacted by JNS, referring the matter to an attorney who participated in the phone interview between JNS and Wernick.

(JNS.org)

Elizabeth Kratz is the associate publisher and editor of The Jewish Link of New Jersey and The Jewish Link of Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut. 

The post Conservative Branch of Judaism Severs Ties with Former Youth Director over Alleged Sexual Abuse appeared first on Jewish Voice.

The centrality of nature to the Israeli ethos is undeniable. Its citizens are infatuated with the country’s incomparable natural beauty and celebrate it constantly. Boasting some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes, diverse eco-systems, and unique wildlife, Israel’s abundant biodiversity serves as a key component of the population’s vibrant culture and history.

Still, many Israelis struggle with discerning the difference between loving nature and preserving it, which begs the question: How does a nation that so strongly values its natural resources lack such a basic understanding of conservation?

In 1999, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) began addressing this disconnect by establishing a Community Garden Initiative. With the support of municipalities across the country, SPNI coordinates community gardens and executes creative sustainability programs in neighborhoods that lack access to sufficient environmental education. Though there are now 70 community gardens in Jerusalem and hundreds throughout Israel, SPNI is actively implementing more targeted solutions to encourage participation among Israel’s diverse populations.

One of the highest priorities is the engagement of ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, where the concentrated educational curriculum pays little attention to environmental awareness. SPNI’s Community Garden Project is filling this educational gap by teaching green practices in a way that respects their limitations and embraces their distinctive culture.

“We focus on educating about nature and sustainability in a way that compliments their lifestyle,” explained Amanda Lind, the Community Gardens Coordinator for SPNI Jerusalem. The ultra-Orthodox community garden program is designed specifically to respect and support their deeply religious values, such as segregating gardening time for each gender and abiding by the laws of the Shmittah (Sabbatical) year. Thus far, these tailored programs have been very successful, bringing together segments of the ultra-Orthodox population that have never before had the chance to connect with nature or each other.

Though it is not part of SPNI’s mission to encourage every ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Israel to cultivate a community garden, the project is willing to take root wherever there is interest. “It is up to the community to approach SPNI when they are ready to partake in the initiative, at which time concrete plans are made to lay the groundwork for grassroots movements,” explains Lind.

“Creating green spaces requires work and dedication and presents an important opportunity for communities to take responsibility of their own area. In order for them to take ownership, it cannot be forced.”

Currently, the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhoods of Choma HaShlishit and Maalot Dafna boast thriving communal gardens. Having taken the initiative to contact SPNI for support, these neighborhoods continue to enjoy a healthier environment and a more cohesive community.

The project provides unique learning opportunities for all ages, especially for children. The gardens appeal to Cheder (ultra-Orthodox elementary school) students who spend all day inside studying and have never had the opportunity to connect with nature. “Instead of destroying trees, which is often the case for children in these neighborhoods who find themselves without a constructive activity, they’re planting trees and making positive contributions,” Lind said. “It gives them a sense of purpose and responsibility, and they love knowing that they have the ability to change a space and make it beautiful.”

The children engage in activities such as designing the layout of the garden and planting the trees, herbs and vegetables. This provides them with opportunities to interact with nature. At a young age, these students have begun to understand the importance of environmental sustainability and appreciate its value in their communities.

The project has also been successful in promoting inclusion, allowing teenage girls with Down syndrome from the ultra-Orthodox community to receive focused environmental education alongside their peers. A joint initiative with the local community center, this sister program teaches its participants how to grow and sustain plants and provides practical gardening experience in Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood. As a reward for their contributions to the community, SPNI staff members take the participants to the Botanical Gardens, where they can learn even more about the beauty and diversity of Israeli flora.

“After years of work with the ultra-Orthodox community, we are now seeing serious changes in terms of how these neighborhoods relate to nature. There is a desire to connect and preserve, as well as an understanding that they must share this knowledge with others,” Lind added. “SPNI will provide support to any community that is willing to take the initiative.”

Through its educational and hands-on programs, the project is transforming insular communities across the country into eco-friendly educators. By providing easy access to the tools and knowledge necessary to make a difference in their immediate surroundings, SPNI has motivated ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods to look beyond the fences that divide them and work together to cultivate the kind of growth that will help shape the future of nature in Israel

By Marlee Michelson

The post Orthodox Jews in Israel Becoming Rooted to the Land Through Nature appeared first on Jewish Voice.

The gleaming two-ton Chabad-Lubavitch menorah on the corner of Manhattan’s storied crossroads at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street—one of the busiest and most affluent thoroughfares on the planet—has long been an inseparable part of life in New York. Throughout the eight days of Chanukah, the dancing flames atop the world’s largest menorah cast a luminous glow upon the city, beckoning to and inspiring millions. Whether on foot or riding in cars, taxis, limousines, bicycles, in the horse-drawn carriages emerging from Central Park or peering down from the comfort of the neighborhood’s luxurious homes and hotels, this public work of art has become an essential part of New York’s wintertime landscape.

The 32-feet-high sculpted bronze branches soar diagonally in front of the world-famous Plaza Hotel, supported by a 28-foot-wide casing—noteworthy for its arresting design, even alongside some of the world’s most prominent architecture, expensive office spaces, and exclusive residences and shops. The importance of a profoundly spiritual symbol proudly and elegantly spreading its Chanukah message from “the center of the world” has not been lost on the international media, which annually spreads this menorah’s holiday message of light and hope to hundreds of millions of people.

But that wasn’t always the case.

How did it get there? Who designed, built and erected it—and why? How did the Big Apple get such an iconic and utterly unmissable menorah?

Design Matters

It traces back to a woman with vision and determination, and a deep understanding of what the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—saw to be the place of Judaism in general and Chanukah in particular in the 20th and 21st centuries.

That woman was Atara Ciechanover.

The global campaign to publicize the miracle and message of Chanukah began in earnest in 1973, when the Rebbe spoke of the need to shine the light of the menorah wherever there was darkness and encouraged every Jew to spread the light and practices of Chanukah to their brethren worldwide. Chassidim got to work immediately. Little tin menorahs were designed, molded and churned out by the thousands; then the car-top menorah was invented and attached to vehicles everywhere. In 1974, a small public menorah was first lit in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, followed the next year by a towering 25-footer in San Francisco, supported and promoted by legendary rock promoter Bill Graham. Soon, public menorahs sprouted up around the world.

Towards the end of 1977, Lubavitch Youth Organization activists in New York were inspired to erect a large menorah in Manhattan. They found a company to weld together a collection of pipes for $5,000 and, sure enough, they had a menorah. Then, through a series of providential phone calls and more than a little chutzpah, Chabad received permission from New York City’s Parks Department to set up the menorah at Manhattan’s Grand Army Plaza, where it has stood ever since.

The menorah was tall. It held the candles aloft. Mayor Abe Beame came to light it that first time. Who cared about aesthetics?

Atara Ciechanover did.

Ciechanover’s husband, Yosef, had held numerous Israeli government posts over the years, including director general of the Foreign Ministry, legal adviser to the Defense Ministry, head of Israel’s defense mission to the United States, and more. As a result of his work, the Ciechanovers spent years living in New York City—not far, in fact, from the site of the Fifth Avenue menorah.

During Chanukah of 1985, Atara Ciechanover passed by it and felt it was falling short of its goals. The rickety menorah’s tall stem—topped with the eight-branched candelabrum—was barely visible in profile, and seemed to fall short of the Rebbe’s desire to engage every single Jew and to spread Chanukah’s message of religious freedom beyond the Jewish community as well.

Ciechanover was quite familiar with the Rebbe’s vision. Within the capacity of his work for Israel, her husband served as a liaison between the Rebbe and the highest levels of Israel’s political and defense establishments, whose principals regularly sought the Rebbe’s counsel. The Ciechanovers’ relationship with the Rebbe stretched back to the 1960s, and over the years, the couple—together or individually—had spent tens of hours in conversation and consultation with him. As a designer and architect, she was also deeply aware of the Rebbe’s own concern and attention to aesthetics when it came to Jewish structures, symbols and buildings.

Moreover, the location—so central and attention-grabbing—was not being used to its fullest potential.

“She saw the menorah in front of the Plaza, and she didn’t like it,” recalls Yosef Ciechanover. “She felt it was not dignified enough to appropriately represent the Rebbe. She felt that such a central place like Manhattan—the center of the world—needs the most beautiful menorah of all.”

“Atara had extremely fine taste,” says a close family friend, Laya Klein. Klein’s husband, the late Rabbi Binyamin Klein, was a member of the Rebbe’s secretariat who served as a liaison for the Rebbe to Israeli government leaders and politicians, and became one of Yosef Ciechanover’s closest friends in the world. The friendship extended to the spouses, who spent much time together. “She was a very elegant woman. She had an eye for design, and she really, really cared.”

Beautiful and Dignified

Wasting no time, Ciechanover took her concerns, along with a suggestion for a new menorah design, directly to the Rebbe, while in private audience together with her husband.

“She told the Rebbe that she aimed to make a beautiful and dignified menorah,” says Yosef Ciechanover. “The Rebbe agreed with her concern and told her the new one should be built according to the design of the Rambam. He corrected her sketch to show what he meant by it.”

Menorahs had for a long time been built with curved branches, as famously depicted in relief on Rome’s Arch of Titus, which memorializes the Siege of Jerusalem. The Rebbe objected to the widespread use of this design to depict the Temple menorah—taken from a Roman triumphal arch meant to humiliate the Jewish people—that also contradicted a famous sketch of the Holy Temple’s menorah made by the Rambam (Maimonides), which clearly showed the menorah constructed with diagonal branches.

The Rebbe posited that curved menorahs were used to illuminate other parts of the Temple and were differentiated from the main diagonal one. Though the Chanukah menorah has more branches than the Temple menorah, in order to celebrate the eight-day miracle, it still meant to be evocative of the Temple menorah; therefore, the Rebbe preferred the design to be close to that of the original.

Following her meeting with the Rebbe, Atara Ciechanover met with the Lubavitch Youth Organization’s Rabbi Shmuel Butman, suggesting to him that she could ask her longtime personal friend, Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, to design a new menorah.

The Paris-based Agam was at the time already quite renowned, having just a few years earlier been the subject of a huge retrospective of his work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Today, the 88-year-old is Israel’s most widely-collected artist, living or dead. His colorful abstract work, often kinetic in nature, can be seen in sculptures in Buenos Aires, fountains in Israel, building facades in Miami and Tel Aviv, and in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York City.

Agam took the commission, although not without some trepidation, saying that while he “was excited to fulfill a request coming from the Rebbe,” he did have some “internal hesitation” due to what he saw as “the complexity of the project.”

Over the next months, Atara Ciechanover threw herself into the menorah’s design and construction. Considering it a great merit, Agam donated his services free of charge, while the Lubavitch Youth Organization footed the construction bill. When Agam sent Atara Ciechanover one round of his design sketches for the menorah, her husband remembers her promptly taking them to the Rebbe for his approval.

“The Rebbe made corrections on Agam’s plans as well,” recalls Yosef Ciechanover.

Finally, Agam arrived in New York with a miniature model of his design. Butman gave it to Rabbi Klein, so that he could then show it to the Rebbe for his approval. Three days the model sat on the Rebbe’s desk before an emphatic stamp of approval was given. Butman remembers Klein telling him that he had mentioned to the Rebbe that it was shaped differently than the Rambam’s classic menorah design.

The Rebbe responded that the primary emphasis of a menorah according to the Rambam is its diagonal branches. Within those parameters, however, an artist such as Yaacov Agam must be given the space to express himself.

Atara Ciechanover’s involvement with the menorah did not remain only on paper. Recently uncovered photos in the archives of Jewish Educational Media (JEM) show her touring the factory where the menorah was being constructed with Butman. “It was totally her project,” remembers Butman.

“The planning and production took a long time, and she was involved throughout,” says Yosef Ciechanover, adding that Agam personally oversaw construction of the menorah as well. “It was Agam’s design, and he had to approve every step of the process.”

‘Modern and Ancient’

On Friday, Dec. 26, 1986, Agam’s menorah was lit for the first time. The menorah has been lit every year since, this year marking its 30th in use.

“I didn’t only want to create something beautiful; the Romans could also create something beautiful. I wanted to create something that was beautiful and Jewish,” Agam shared with the Rebbe. “My goal was to make something beautiful, Jewish and true to its roots. That it should be modern while conveying the ancient.”

Millions of people have since seen and been inspired by Agam’s menorah—its “beautiful and Jewish” nature taking a place of prominence in a focal point of New York City. It could not have happened without the vision and dedication of Atara Ciechanover.

“She was very happy with how the menorah came out,” says her husband. “It’s beautiful, and that was her aim. She saw it as an opportunity to make a point by having the most beautiful Chabad menorah in the center of the world. It makes me happy every time I see it.”

Atara Ciechanover passed away in 2012, but her labor of love stands as a beacon of the timeless message of religious freedom—to New York City and the world, for generations to come.

By: Dovid Margolin
(Chabad.org)

The post The Woman Behind the Fifth Avenue Menorah appeared first on Jewish Voice.

Six decades later, recalling a time of hazard and hope

It was a moonless night: April 11, 1956, Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the new month of Iyar on the Jewish lunar calendar. Seventeen-year-old Leibel Alevsky, a Russian-born yeshivah student living in Jerusalem, clung to the bed of a small truck as it rumbled down the long road leading to Kfar Chabad, also known at the time as Shafrir. Hearing a snippet of a radio report of fedayeensightings in nearby Beit Dagan, he unscrewed a little light bulb illuminating his rear perch, hoping to make himself less visible. Orchards lined both sides of the dark road, their orange-filled branches making it nearly impossible to see any approaching threats.

Entering the village, the old truck passed Beit Sefer Lemelacha, Kfar Chabad’s vocational school geared mostly towards new immigrants, sitting on the right. School had restarted that evening following the Passover break, and the wooden structure’s windows blazed with light as those inside began evening services. The school’s staff had managed to recruit even more students over the vacation period; some were there for the first time.

Around 8 p.m., Alevsky’s ride pulled up at the village center. Climbing off the truck, he heard a sudden outburst of automatic gunfire. It came from the direction of the vocational school.

Sixty-one years later, 12 men in their 80s sat together on a dais in Brooklyn, N.Y. One has been an educator in Casablanca, Morocco, since 1958. Another served as a member of the Rebbe’s secretariat, while a third is the founding Chabad emissary in the state of Florida, today home to nearly 150 centers. Each of the dozen rabbis has accomplished much in their lives.

What brought them together for the first time in more than six decades was recalling the mission they were collectively sent on by the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—to lift the spirits of a broken Chassidic village and a fledgling Israel under daily terror attack.

On that Wednesday night in April 1956, Arab fedayeen (terrorists armed and trained mostly by the Egyptian government) entered and attacked the village, leaving five children and one teacher dead at Beit Sefer Lemelacha, murdered in cold blood while they prayed.

Speaking at a farbrengen one month later, the Rebbe stated that he would be sending a group of yeshivah students to Israel, whose mission would be to strengthen the traumatized community. The Rebbe chose the students, personally overseeing an itinerary that would take them through five European countries and then throughout Israel, their time filled with meetings, classes, speeches and farbrengens (Chassidic gatherings meant to educate and inspire), a schedule stretching from 15 to 18 hours a day.

It was to mark this groundbreaking mission that all 12 men gathered together as a group for the first time since 1956, on Oct. 15 in the main study hall of Educational Institute Oholei Torah in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., at an event organized by Vaad Talmidei Hatemimim and A Chassidisher Derher magazine. Some 1,500 people filled the hall—mostly yeshivah students—where silence reigned for two hours as the elderly men reminisced, with each other and the crowd, recalling the great mission they were entrusted with by the Rebbe when they were just boys, not much older than the audience members.

“The Rebbe made it clear that we were representing the Rebbe himself,” said one of the 12, Rabbi Faivel Rimler. “And that’s how we were greeted [wherever we went]. It was amazing.”

The Rebbe’s response of not attempting to explain the tragedy, but instead striving for the future—healing through growth and in this way, conquering death and evil itself—both saved a village and raised up a country.

Murder in the Village

Now a sizeable community in the heart of Israel, Kfar Chabad began as a tiny settlement. It was founded in 1949 on the ruins of an abandoned Arab village and populated, incongruously, by Russian Lubavitcher Chassidim, survivors of both the Holocaust and the Soviet Union’s decades-long assault on Jewish life and practice.

There, bearded men rose early to study and pray before heading out to work the fields, while their wives and children raised chickens and turkeys.

Life in this new place wasn’t easy. Nevertheless, at the Rebbe’s behest, the Chassidic villagers focused not merely on rebuilding their own community (almost all lost loved ones in the war, and most still had family members locked away behind the Iron Curtain), but had thrown themselves into Jewish communal work in their adopted homeland, with one of the results being Beit Sefer Lemelacha, a vocational school teaching carpentry and agriculture. The school drew teenage boys from across Israel, mostly from disadvantaged Sephardic immigrant families.

Then came the attack. That night the school’s three teachers and 50 students had been quietly reciting the words of the Amidah, the silent prayer. Suddenly, the lights went out—the fedayeen cut the electricity—and gunshots exploded through the synagogue doors. Everything happened quickly after that. One teacher, a young yeshivah student named Simcha Zilbershtrom, yelled for the children to hit the floor.

“When the door was breached, the bullets flew straight into the center of the room,” student Asher Kadosh would later remember. He and his younger brother, Meir, had emigrated from Morocco just six months earlier and arrived that day to the school for the first time. “I hid to the left, behind the room’s entrance door, and suddenly, I felt someone fall on me. It was a heavy darkness, but a few seconds later I moved aside, and I recognized our teacher, Simcha, lying on the floor. He was bleeding very badly.

“That moment I began to realize what was going on, and I started calling out my younger brother Meir’s name, but I heard no response. I crawled over to the place where he had stood before, and the teacher, Reb Meir Friedman, struck a bunch of matches, and that’s when I saw that Meir wasn’t hurt. The school’s director, Reb Yeshayahu Gopin, was throwing children out the window so they could get out until the storm passed. As soon as he saw me, he lifted me up in his hands and threw me out through the first-floor window, and from there I ran to our dorm rooms. We had no idea if the terrorists left or not.”

“Within a minute [of hearing gunshots], someone sped down the road on a bicycle, and said people were shot and that the Arab infiltrators were still there,” recalls Alevsky, today the head Chabad emissary in Cleveland. A group of men near a car in the village center grabbed the few odd firearms kept in a small defense locker nearby and rushed towards the school.

“We got there not five minutes after the shots; blood was everywhere,” he remembers. “No one knew what to do because no one knew where those guys were. The orchard was very close to the school’s structure; they could have been hiding there.”

School director Yeshayahu Gopin’s daughter, Raizel, was 14 at the time. She was at a Torah class for girls that evening when the shots rang out. Alarm swept through the village as the girls ran home through the pitch-black streets. “I got home, and my mother was in a panic,” she recalls. “She heard that there was a shooting, but she didn’t know what was going on and had no way to find out. It was a very primitive place then. No phones, hardly any electricity.”

Shortly after the attack, her father ran into the house with a few of the boys—scared 13-year-olds with wide eyes and blood stains on their clothes.

“My father’s hands and clothes were covered with blood,” she remembers. “After he checked that we were alright, he ran back to the school,” leaving the boys to be cared for by his family.

Kfar Chabad had one telephone, which they used to call the police, and two vehicles: the yeshivah’s truck (the one Alevsky had ridden in that night) and another driven by Velvel Zalmanov, who had it through his job with the Dubek cigarette company. Zalmanov’s house was right next door to Beit Sefer Lemelacha, and he was one of the first on the scene. The men grabbed the available vehicles, and drove the injured and dying to the hospital in nearby Tzrifin, guys holding old rifles hanging off the sides of the cars to try to prevent further attack.

Simcha Zilbershtrom, 24, and students Nisim Assis, 13; Moshe Peretz, 14; Shlomo Mizrahi, 16; and Albert Edery, 14, were declared dead at the hospital. Amos Uzan, 15, died two weeks later. Many more children were badly injured.

After the Shock, Build for the Future

Morning in Jerusalem came like any other. Simcha’s older brother, Aharon Mordechai, rose early and went to pray. On his way back home, he noticed a newspaper on the stoop, its front page screaming of murder in Shafrir-Kfar Chabad. There, black on white, read the names of the dead, his younger brother Simcha leading the list.

“That’s how we found out that it happened,” remembers Rabbi Eli Zilbershtrom, Aharon Mordechai and Simcha’s younger brother. (Eli Zilbershtrom later married Raizel Gopin.) “There were no phones to call; we read it in the paper.”

Most of the Zilbershtrom children, Simcha included, were born in Germany. The family survived World War II hiding in a village in southern France and arrived in British Mandate Palestine in 1945. Within a few months the family’s father, Binyomin Nachum, passed away, leaving behind his wife, Fradel, and their children. Both Zilbershtrom parents had lost relatives in the Holocaust; Fradel’s sister and mother had perished in Nazi concentration camps. Despite having survived the horrors of the Old World and making it to Israel, her son was now dead.

Simcha had devoted himself to the children of Beit Sefer Lemelecha, becoming a surrogate father to many. His knowledge of French, gained during the war years, proved valuable in befriending and relating to the school’s Moroccan-born students, and they were shattered by his murder. “ ‘Simcha Was Like Our Father’ ” read a headline in Maariv the day after the funeral.

Arabs were launching attacks on Israelis on a regular basis; that decade, 347 Jews were killed by fedayeen.In 1953 in the village of Yehud, a Jewish mother and her two young children were killed after a grenade was thrown into their home while they slept. A year later, the Ma’ale Akrabim massacre left 11 Jews dead, killed on an Egged bus heading from Eilat to Tel Aviv. The Beit Hanan attack in 1955 left four Jews dead, shot and stabbed as they worked the fields. Now, the attacks were becoming more and more frequent; between April 7-15, 1956, 15 Israelis were killed and 49 injured.

Shocked and horrified by this particularly brutal attack, Israeli society had reached its tipping point. Newspapers spent days capturing the country’s despondent mood. “Entering the school’s modest synagogue,” reported Yediot Achronot’s Hertzl Rosenblum shortly after the attack, “was like visiting Kishinev after the pogrom of 50 years ago.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett sent an urgent message to U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, informing him of the latest fatal raids by Egyptian terror commandos into Israel and highlighting the one on Kfar Chabad the night before. Ambassador to the United Nations Abba Eban met with the representatives of the Western “Big Three” on the Security Council—the United States, Great Britain and France—indicting Egypt “for the murder of Israeli children and their instructor in the sacred moment of prayer,” and calling the attack a “particularly revolting example” of Egyptian President’s Gamal Abdel Nasser’s increasing belligerence.

One jarring photo told the story: It showed a blood-stained prayer book splayed open on a white-washed floor caked in thick blood.

With the country turned towards them, the residents of Kfar Chabad were themselves unsure how to proceed. Just a year earlier, a yeshivah student disappeared while walking through the orchards to Kfar Chabad, his desecrated body discovered a few days later.

Now, the stunned Chassidic villagers—faithfully religious pioneers of the land, whose pale Eastern European complexions had bronzed with time under the sun—stood at a crossroads.

Maybe it was time to leave the village, many thought; wouldn’t it be safer in the bigger cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or Bnei Brak?

“What can be said, what can be spoken?” wrote key Kfar Chabad activist Rabbi Ephraim Wolff at the time. “We do not know what to do.”

There was only one place for them to turn. “We now await direction from the Rebbe . . . ”

Within days of the tragedy direction came in the form of letters and telegrams sent by the Rebbe in New York, giving blessings and instructions to the villagers of Kfar Chabad and the broader Chassidic community in Israel. His message? To remain strong, to rededicate themselves to the study of Torah and doing mitzvot, and most importantly, to build. Expansion projects that had begun earlier should be redoubled, new buildings should be erected and new schools opened. Not only were the people not to abandon Kfar Chabad, they were to grow, sink their roots deeper into the soil and continue to serve as inspirations for the entire country. At the same time, this message was reiterated to communal leaders across Israel.

At the end of the shiva mourning period, the Rebbe addressed a letter to “all of the Chassidim in the Land of Israel, to residents of Kfar Chabad, to Chabad’s institutions in the Holy Land, and in particular, to all those affiliated with Beit Sefer Lemelacha” (free translation):

It is my strong hope that with the help of G d, Who guards with an open eye and oversees with Divine Providence, that you will overpower every obstacle, strengthen both personal and communal affairs, [and] expand all of the organizations in both quantity and quality. With peace of mind may the study of our Torah, “the living Torah and the words of the living G d,” be strengthened and greatened, as well as the fulfillment of its mitzvos with joy, in a manner of v’chai bahem—“living with them.” From Kfar Chabad will spread out the wellsprings of Chassidus, and the Torah and works of our holy rebbeim, until they reach the “outside” . . .

Another telegram came later that day addressed to the directors of Yeshivas Tomchei Temimim in Israel, under whose auspices Beit Sefer Lemelacha fell, this one explicitly laying out what had been implied earlier. “[You] should begin with vigor the construction of the new building of the yeshivah and other buildings in the village… ”

At the shloshim—the period marking the end of 30 days after the passing—thousands of men and women from across Israel gathered in Kfar Chabad for the laying of the cornerstone of a new building for Beit Sefer Lemelacha, which would house its new printing school, to be named Yad Hachamishah (“Hand of the Five”) in memory of the slain students and their teacher. Among the dignitaries was Talmudic scholar Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin, who chaired the event; and the country’s two chief rabbis, YitzhakHalevi Herzog and Yitzhak Nissim.

A “who’s who” of the young country’s founding fathers was there as well. Speaker of the Knesset and Histadrut founder Yosef Sprinzak attended, as did Israeli declaration of independence signatory Moshe Kol (Moshe Shapiro, at the time minister of religion and welfare, who was also there, was also a signer). They were joined by National Religious Party founder Yosef Burg; Avraham Herzfeld (also a founder of Histadrut); judicial figure Gad Frumkin; minister of agriculture and Mapai stalwart Kadish Luz; Jewish Agency leader (and future president) Zalman Shazar; Poalei Agudat Israel’s deputy Knesset speaker Binyamin Mintz; future prime minister Menachem Begin; and then-Mapai secretary Yona Kesse, among other rabbis and political figures.

Fradel Zilbershtrom was also there.

“I was pleased to receive news of today’s groundbreaking for the Beit Sefer in Kfar Chabad, especially as you were there and participated in it,” the Rebbe wrote in Hebrew to Mrs. Zilbershtrom. “For all of Israel are ‘believers, the sons of believers’ that the most important part of man is his soul, which is ‘literally a part of G d above.’ Since the soul is everlasting, and the purpose of man’s creation and his being placed on earth is to have an effect on the world, including this world [below], therefore when the soul is connected with concrete action in this world—specifically an action that will continue and experience compounding growth, bearing more and more fruit—this is the greatest victory over death and the greatest satisfaction that can be experienced by the soul, especially when these things are being accomplished at the very place where the ‘event’ [i.e., murder] took place.”

By: Dovid Margolin
(To Be Continued Next Week)

The post Murder on a Moonless Night: How the Rebbe Responded to Terror in Israel – Part 1 appeared first on Jewish Voice.

How should Yeshiva University (YU) respond when a prominent faculty member takes public positions—against Israel—that directly contradict what the university espouses? Does the principle of academic freedom protect saying literally anything, even when it undermines the basic principles of an Orthodox, and avowedly Zionist, institution?

These are the some of the painful questions that YU, the flagship institution of modern Orthodoxy, needs to address, now that the associate director of its Center for Israel Studies has signed a petition denouncing U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and challenging Israel’s “occupation” of the city.

When President Donald Trump made his announcement, there was rejoicing in nearly the entire Jewish world. Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, the new president of YU, was so enthusiastic that he posted a video message on YouTube declaring, “We celebrate when other nations recognize Jerusalem’s status as the capital of the Jewish state,” adding that Trump’s announcement “speaks to our hearts and sings to our souls.”

But Jess Olson, an associate professor of Jewish history at YU and associate director of the university’s Center for Israel Studies, was not singing.

Olson was part of a group of Jewish studies scholars who signed a petition announcing their “dismay” that America has “endorsed sole Jewish proprietorship over Jerusalem.” There are 165 signatories on the petition. And there, at #106, is “Jess Olson, Yeshiva University.”

The petitioners would prefer if part of the city would be under the Palestinian proprietorship instead. They reject Israel’s liberation of eastern Jerusalem in 1967. They reject the reunification of the city. The city is in a “state of occupation,” they charge. They call for “the rights of…Palestinians to Jerusalem” and “Palestinians’ legitimate stake in the future of Jerusalem.”

Olson and his fellow petitioners also trot out discredited accusations by the radical group B’Tselem, falsely claiming Israel does not permit Palestinian Arabs to have “equal access” to Jerusalem. Their “proof” is that “Palestinians in the West Bank, unlike Jewish Israelis resident in that territory, require a special permit to visit Jerusalem’s holy sites.”

Apparently the petitioners believe Israel should be the only country in the world that permits foreign citizens to cross its borders without any kind of documentation. Every other country requires a non-citizen to have passport and a visa. But the minute Israel requires a permit, the critics accuse it of “denying equal access.” Outrageous.

If YU was an ordinary secular university, there would be nothing to discuss. Secular universities do not have an ideological or religious mission. Any faculty member can advocate anything he or she wants.

But Jewish colleges and universities are different. They have agendas. The mission statement of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) says its purpose is “educating intellectual and spiritual leaders for Conservative Judaism.” Obviously the JTS administration hires faculty whom it expects will advance that goal. Likewise, Hebrew Union College calls itself “the center for professional leadership development of Reform Judaism.” And YU’s mission statement declares, “We bring wisdom to life by combining the finest, contemporary academic education with the timeless teachings of Torah.”

No doubt there are a range of views regarding Israel among YU’s faculty members. Nobody is saying that every faculty member must march in political lockstep, or that dissidents should be fired. But there are parameters. YU professors who teach subjects related to Judaism have to be committed to “the timeless teachings of Torah.” Is redividing Jerusalem and spreading falsehoods about Israel consistent with “the timeless teachings of Torah?”

The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing several hundred Orthodox rabbis, is asking that question. In a letter last week to YU President Berman, CJV President Rabbi Pesach Lerner and his colleagues argued that Olson’s participation in the divide-Jerusalem declaration is so far outside the Jewish community consensus that he is “harming the university’s reputation in the eyes of the Jewish community.” The rabbis also asked whether the YU administration is keeping tabs on “what revisionist history he may be espousing in the classroom.”

Under ordinary circumstances, a university administration does not monitor what a professor teaches in his classroom. But if a university celebrates and advocates undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, while one of its professors (the associate director of its Center for Israel Studies, no less!) announces that he opposes U.S. recognition and considers Jerusalem to be under “occupation”—well, that is a different story. YU must consider whether such positions are consistent with the university’s mission.

Parents who send their sons or daughters to YU no doubt assume their children will not be subjected to anti-Israel professors, as is common at other universities. Therefore, parents of YU students have the right to know if Olson is teaching his students that Jerusalem is under Israeli “occupation,” or feeding them falsehoods about Israel “denying equal access.” How will the university assure parents that none of Olson’s extremist beliefs are seeping into his classroom remarks or influencing the syllabi he designs for his courses?

So far, Berman has not responded to the CJV’s letter. I hope he will do so, and soon. YU students, their parents and the rest of the Orthodox Jewish community have a right to know the answers to the questions the CJV has raised.

By: Stephen M. Flatow
(JNS.org)

Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is an attorney in New Jersey. He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. He can be reached at smflatow@gmail.com.

The post What Will Yeshiva U Do About Professor Who Denounced Israel? appeared first on Jewish Voice.

10. The U.N.’s Beirut-based agency of 18 Arab states, ESCWA, published a report accusing Israel of “Apartheid.”

In response, UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer took the floor to ask Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, and the others, a simple question: “Where are your Jews?” For once, the room was silenced. UN Watch’s speech went viral on the Internet, with the video viewed 5 million times worldwide.

9. The U.N. women’s rights commission condemned Israel as the world’s only violator of women’s rights. Real abusers of women’s rights, such as Iran, Yemen, and Afghanistan, were ignored.

The next month, UN Watch exposed the U.N.’s election of Saudi Arabia to this same women’s rights commission—and the fact that at least five EU states voted for the Saudis. The story went viral, and created a major scandal in Belgium, where the prime minister eventually admitted their vote and apologized, and sparked controversies in Ireland, Norway and Sweden. Click for video.

8. In June, 16 U.N. agencies signed an agreement with the “State of Palestine” to spend an unprecedented $18 million to fund lawfare attacks on Israel, couched in the language of human rights, international law and “accountability.”

The U.N. campaign seeks to erode Israel’s ability to defend itself from terrorist attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah. As noted by Fox News, “UN Watch, an independent monitoring group based in Switzerland, was one of the first places to highlight and criticize the U.N. spending; executive director Hillel Neuer called on the United States, Canada, and Australia and other democracies to ensure that their taxpayer contributions are not being misused to undermine U.N. institutions through an escalation of politicized attacks on Israel.”

7. In October, U.N. Palestine Rapporteur Michael Lynk issued a report advocating an economic boycott of Israeli companies.

When Lynk arrived at U.N. headquarters in New York for his annual press conference, he was startled when three different journalists challenged him over his biased report and mandate. The reporters were prompted by UN Watch’s complaint letter to the Secretary-General which objected to Lynk’s call for a boycott and his ignoring of human rights abuses by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Lynk falsely claimed to be “unaware” that he could reference Palestinian violations of human rights.

Thanks to UN Watch’s campaign, the U.S. government issued a statement saying that “Mr. Lynk’s remarks, and the very existence of this report, underscore the Human Rights Council’s chronic anti-Israel bias. The United States will continue to oppose attempts to undermine the UN system through actions that unfairly target Israel.”

6. The UN’s World Health Organization singled out Israel as the only violator in the world of “mental, physical and environmental health, ” and, under pressure from Syria’s Assad regime, deleted parts of a report on Israeli actions in the Golan Heights—because they were positive to Israel.

5. Dubravka Simonovic, the U.N. expert on violence against women, visited Israel and the territories and concluded: When Palestinian men beat their wives, it’s Israel’s fault.

UN Watch’s executive director took the floor to challenge the U.N. investigator’s report: “Why did you fail to mention that official Palestinian TV regularly broadcasts Islamic preachers who tell the people how to beat their wives?”

In reaction, the Egyptian chair of the meeting broke with parliamentary protocol:

4. In its ritual annual scape goating of the Jewish state, the UN General Assembly adopted 20 one-sided resolutions against Israel—and only 6 resolutions on the rest of the world combined. Last week an emergency meeting was called by the Arab and Islamic states to condemn the United States over its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and a 21st resolution was adopted criticizing the Jewish state.

3. UNESCO negated its mandate to protect world heritage by adopting a resolution recognizing Hebron—second holiest city in Judaism because of the Tomb of the Patriarchs—as a Palestinian world heritage site.

2. UN Watch revealed that UNESCO had rejected its own experts’ advice, who opposed the Palestinian nomination on account of failing to properly recognize Hebron’s Jewish and Christian heritage.

UNRWA launched a global campaign showing the picture of an 11-year-old girl, “Aya from Gaza,” in a bombed-out building—portraying Israel as a cruel oppressor of Palestinian children—but UN Watch exposed it as a fraud: the photo was actually from Syria. The story went viral online. UNRWA suffered massive embarrassment, and was forced to remove the photo worldwide.

1. The office of U.N. human rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein spent the past year preparing to inflame the anti-Israel boycott campaign by drawing up a blacklist of companies that do business in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and other Jewish communities over the 1949 armistice line. The report is due to be submitted this month, and presented before the council in March. UN Watch will take the lead in countering the blacklist—what Nikki Haley this week called the “ugly creation” of the UNHRC.

Edited by: JV Staff

The post Top 10 Most Insane U.N. Anti-Israel Actions of 2017 appeared first on Jewish Voice.

New Yorkers are always on the move – and watching where they’re going is one key to understanding the Big Apple’s ever-shifting real estate market.

Real estate listings web site StreetEasy has come out with its annual ranking of top neighborhoods to watch – and for 2018, they include some that were easy to predict, and others that were less obvious.

StreetEasy based its rankings on a quartet of factors: changes in median sale prices and rents during the previous year, increase in page views, and how many new buildings dotted the landscape during the previous 12 months.

Here’s where New Yorkers are busy searching for their place in the sun:

1. Sitting atop the list of up-and-coming neighborhoods this year is West Harlem — St. Nicholas Avenue and Broadway between 123rd and 135th streets — the web site says. The median sales price is $456,425, the ambience is comfortable, and access to trains is excellent.

2. Brooklyn’s bucolic Fort Greene neighborhood, already much beloved for its historic brownstone charm, is expected to generate still more buzz in the new year. The secret is apparently already out: with 15 new buildings ready and waiting, the median sales prices skyrocketed by 67 percent in 2017, according to StreetEasy.

3. Also on the rise is Flushing, Queens, where construction has been nearly non-stop and prices are said to be climbing: 24 percent for sales, and 6 percent for rentals.
4. Elmhurst in Queens is seeing both interest and prices rising. StreetEasy reports that the median sales price there was $590,201 last year, a 40 percent jump over the previous 12 months.
5. Rounding out StreetEasy’s top five is East New York in southeast Brooklyn, a surprising newcomer to the ranks of hot communities that some are calling 2018’s neighborhood to watch.
6. In the Bronx, Norwood is prized for its greenery, residing as it does in the midst of the New York Botanical Garden, Van Cortlandt Park and Woodlawn Cemetery. Sale prices are said to have risen by 59 percent during 2017.

7. Brooklyn’s picturesque Prospect Park South saw its median sales price explode by a whopping 75 percent in 2017, to $1.2 million, says StreetEasy.

8. Sales prices in lower Manhattan’s Chinatown reportedly rose by 50 percent in 2017, to $1.07 million, StreetEasy says, just four tenths of a percent below Manhattan’s overall level.
9. Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, sandwiched between Coney Island and Manhattan Beach and said to still be the largest Russian émigré enclave in America, experienced a 21 percent rise in its median sales price last year, to $489,000.
10. Woodside, Queens, remains a bargain in the eyes of many, with a median sales price of just $390,000 even including an 11 percent increase.

Those expecting prices to top out any time soon are almost certainly in for a disappointment. Real estate news source Inman recently noted that not only are additional price increases a distinct possibility, but that “some experts have opined that the housing market in NYC is still undervalued.”

By Howard M. Riell

The post Mapping the Hottest NYC Neighborhoods of 2018 appeared first on Jewish Voice.

Six decades later, recalling a time of hazard and hope

(Continued from last week)

His Personal Representatives

Even as the Rebbe wrote letters of consolation and encouragement, he at first refrained from discussing it publicly. The first time he addressed the events, about a month later on the holiday of Shavuot, he explained (in Yiddish) that while “we should not allow ourselves to be negatively affected by trials,” there were some who had attempted to explain the murders by quoting Moses’ words of comfort to his brother, Aaron the High Priest, in Leviticus, following the death of Aaron’s two sons: “Bikrovai ehkadesh—‘I will be sanctified through those near to Me.’ ” The Rebbe rejected this reasoning, alluding to the passage’s ending, Vayidom Aharon—“And Aaron was silent,” stating there could be no logical explanation for the horrific events in Kfar Chabad.

At that Shavuot gathering, the Rebbe went on to announce that he would be sending a group of yeshivah students as his personal representatives to the land of Israel, their mission to lift the spirits of the people there and imbue them with a new energy. Additionally, since the entire Jewish people had an obligation to assist their brethren in Israel, they would also travel on behalf of everyone who could not go themselves.

The next day, a sign was posted in the hallway of 770 Eastern Parkway—Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, where the central Lubavitch yeshivah is located—allowing students to volunteer their names for this special mission. In order to be considered for the journey, they would need to have their passports in order and the permission of their parents.

Yosef Rosenfeld was a student at the time and had not planned on putting his name on the list. Summer was approaching, and he wished to remain in the yeshivah, studying Torah throughout. Rosenfeld’s birthday took place a few days after the Rebbe’s announcement, and as was the custom, he sought a private audience with the Rebbe to mark the day.

“The Rebbe asked me if I had submitted my name to his secretariat, to which I replied that I hadn’t,” Rosenfeld said in an interview with A Chassidisher Derher, a story he also recounted at the reunion. “To my surprise, the Rebbe then instructed me to join the list of bochurim who registered for the shlichus. Naturally, I made sure to do so immediately following the audience.”

The final group numbered 12. There were nine representatives from the United States: Rabbi Avraham Korf, today regional director of Chabad in the state of Florida; Rabbi Dovid Schochet, since a prominent rabbinic authority and rabbi of the Lubavitch community in Toronto; Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, who became a longtime member of the Rebbe’s secretariat, and chairman of both Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch (the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement) and Machne Israel (its social-services arm); Rabbi Yosef Rosenfeld, now executive director of Educational Institute Oholei Torah; Rabbi Faivel Rimler, today a board member of the National Council for the Furtherance of Jewish Education; Rabbi Sholom Dovber Shemtov, now regional director of Chabad in the state of Michigan; Rabbi Sholom Dovber Butman; Rabbi Shlomo Kirsh; and Rabbi Shmuel Fogelman, later the principal of United Lubavitcher Yeshiva.

Additionally, one representative came from Canada, Rabbi Zushe Posner; another from Europe, Rabbi Sholom Eidelman, the educator in Casablanca; and one from Australia, Rabbi Shraga Herzog.

After being chosen, the nine students in Brooklyn were called in to the Rebbe’s office, where he outlined the nature of the trip they would be undertaking. They would visit Jewish communities in England, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy on their way to Israel. The Rebbe gave them detailed instructions, including, for example, that from that day forward until their return, the group must organize a daily study schedule in which all of the shluchimwould participate. In Israel, they would visit leaders and Jewish communities throughout the country, holding pre-arranged meetings throughout. Their base would be Kfar Chabad, and any extra time was to be spent studying Torah in the main synagogue, where locals would know they could always reach them. When encountering a speaking opportunity in any of the places they were visiting, they should not turn it down, and make sure to be prepared to share thoughts on both revealed Torah and chassidus.

The group took off on June 27, 1956, landing in London, where they were welcomed by the general Jewish community and held a press conference. In the U.K. they visited Jewish communities in Manchester, Sunderland and Gateshead, before continuing on to mainland Europe.

“My sincerest apologies on the lack of updates, because writing is very time-consuming and the time is very limited,” Krinsky, the group’s secretary, wrote to Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Aizik Hodakov, chief of the Rebbe’s secretariat, in a letter dated July 10 from Zurich. “Especially because of the many journeys in the last two weeks; almost each day we travel to a new city . . . ”

Days later they arrived in Israel, where throngs of men, women and children awaited them at the airport in Lod (now Ben Gurion International Airport). It was 7 a.m., a Friday morning, yet they had come by bus from Kfar Chabad, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Lod, Haifa, Petach Tikva, Bnei Brak, Rishon Letzion . . . The feeling in the crowd was electric. They strained to see the emissaries disembark. When the young men finally stepped off the tarmac, they were spontaneously lifted on shoulders, whisked into the air atop a whirl of dancing feet.

“He who was not at the airport in Lod on that bright morning has never see a great sight in his life,” reads one contemporary report.

“Even the airport personnel and other passengers were swept into the joy,” remembers Butman.

Israel of the 1950s was a very different place. Frequent travel between the country and the United States was unheard of at the time; few Chabad Chassidim there had ever seen the Rebbe (who had succeeded his father-in-law, the sixth Rebbe—Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, the founder of Kfar Chabad—just six years earlier); most had never even heard his voice. Many of the Chassidim had come from the Soviet Union, where the sixth Rebbe had escaped from in 1927, meaning that many had not seen their Rebbe, whether previous or current, in close to three decades, if at all.

The 12 representatives were thus a direct link to the Rebbe’s court, a sign of the Rebbe’s closeness to them and vice versa. At the airport that morning, an unexpected telegram arrived from the Rebbe:

To the shluchim of Chabad-Lubavitch: Welcome upon your safe arrival in the Holy Land. May your visit be with great success in fulfilling its mission, specifically in its main objective of spreading the wellsprings to the outside, and thus hasten the redemption. With many regards to Anash [a Hebrew acronym for anshei shlomenu, a term used to denote the wider family of Chassidim].

Inspiring a Country

The group spent that first Shabbat in Kfar Chabad, a weekend that set the tone for the 28 days they would spend in the country.

“When they came, we traveled to the airport to greet them. I’m not able to describe for you the joy at the airport, and then afterwards on Shabbat,” said Yosef Uminer, a young Israeli yeshivah student at the time, speaking at the Brooklyn reunion. “After they arrived, the atmosphere changed over completely, ‘the city of Shushan shouted and rejoiced . . . ’ I’ll never forget the farbrengen that took place in Kfar Chabad that week. The whole village was there . . . The newspapers, the whole country was speaking about it—this wasn’t just a Chabad thing, this was a country-wide tragedy . . . I just remember the joy. I was young, but it was ingrained in my mind, and I remember it until today… ”

The young emissaries, a quarter of the age of some of those who had come to see and hear them, brought with them the excitement and energy of the Rebbe’s environs in New York. They taught the assembled new Chassidic songs, reviewed recently-heard discourses, and spoke about the mission they had been given by the Rebbe. The farbrengen in Kfar Chabad lasted until the early hours of Sunday morning.

That week the group met with children at a summer camp in the village, the students and staff of Beit Sefer Lemelacha, the farmers working the fields surrounding Kfar Chabad, and the leaderships of each and every school and communal organization there. This schedule was replicated in dozens of other Israeli cities and settlements through the length and breadth of the country, from ancient Tiberias to dusty Beersheva, as they met with new immigrants in absorption centers, Torah scholars in yeshivot, and political figures and statesmen.

Even in Jerusalem, where the normally strait-laced Jerusalemites are punctilious about what time they begin and end prayers, and particularly about starting their Shabbat meals on time, a crush of people filled the Chabad synagogue in Mea Shearim, spending hours listening with rapt attention to the American yeshivahstudents. The gathering lasted until the long summer Shabbat was over.

That evening’s melaveh malkah, the meal that traditionally takes place after the conclusion of Shabbat, was broadcast live over Kol Yisrael radio, an evening hosted by Yediot Achronot’s Shmuel Avidor. (A few weeks later, the group appeared on Kol Zion LaGolah, the country’s national radio-station broadcast outside of Israel—which had a particular impact on Jews living in the Communist bloc—addressing listeners in Yiddish, French and English).

Over the duration of the trip, the Rebbe’s representatives met with more than 20 major rabbinical figures, including the country’s chief rabbis, with whom they discussed Judaism’s views on Israeli-owned shipping lines operating on Shabbat, a contentious subject at the time.

They met with the Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, a blind, famously ethereal man, who shook hands with each of them (bypassing the hand towel he usually used), and listening closely to the purpose of the shluchim’s mission. The Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Yisroel Alter—called the Beis Yisroel—was known as a particularly sharp man, yet stood for the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s young messengers during the entirety of their meeting. As the group left, the Gerrer Rebbe turned to his own followers, demanding “You are Chassidim?” before waving his hand towards the departing emissaries and exclaiming “ . . . these are Chassidim!”

By: Dovid Margolin
(Chabad.org)

The post Murder on a Moonless Night: How the Rebbe Responded to Terror in Israel – Part 2 appeared first on Jewish Voice.

In an exuberant display of holiday cheer, over 350 people gathered for the much anticipated 4th annual multi-cultural holiday celebration on Sunday, December 17th in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.

The holiday soiree was generously sponsored by The Bridge Multi-Cultural Advocacy Project (The Bridge MCP), an organization predicated upon shared humanitarian goals. Established in 2013 with the objective of uniting Brooklyn’s vibrant and diverse religious, ethnic, and cultural communities, The Bridge MCP has successfully championed the fight against racial divisiveness and has served to heal the wounds of

community polarization through its multiple educational projects and outreach programs.

The list of those distinguished individuals who were bestowed with special honors at the holiday party included  New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, 63rd Police Precinct Commanding Officer Captain Tito Romero, Community activist Carole Elias and Secretary General of the Moroccan American Council to Empower Women (MACEMW) Mina Asserrare.

In addition, a very special award presentation was held to honor Bob Kaplan of the Jewish Community Relations Council. Mr. Kaplan’s tireless efforts in bringing New Yorkers of all stripes together with a sense of unity and purpose in their respective communities has produced a dramatic improvement in race relations as well as community awareness.

Joining the festive holiday celebration was the Honorable Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who took the occasion to present a special proclamation that recognizes the valorous service of New York City Public Advocate, the Honorable Letitia James.  Ms. James, a universally esteemed figure on the New York political scene was selected as the honored keynote speaker and guest.

In a voice reverberating with palpable emotion,  District Attorney Gonzalez introduced Ms. James as an intrepid leader who has consistently been in the forefront of efforts focused on vanquishing  the kind of ignorance, hate and fear that has divided New York communities for way too long.

“Ms. James has made it her personal mission to bring diverse populations together here in New York City, and as a result has defied the angry chorus of naysayers and has successfully united all racial and ethnic groups. For that and much more, we owe her a sincere debt of gratitude,” he said.

Ascending the lectern to thunderous applause from the enthusiastic crowd, Ms. James said, “I am so proud and honored to be part of the very special work done here at The Bridge for unity. The message of love and coexistence must be spread throughout all communities in New York City.”

Other elected officials that were on hand included Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Flatbush, Ditmas Park) and City Council members Jumaane Williams, Chaim Deutsch, Council member-elect Kalman Yeger as well as district leader and community activist Josh Pierre.

Mark Meyer Appel, the founder and president of The Bridge MCP which is located on Flatbush Avenue, could not hide his emotions as he addressed the overflowing crowed of party attendees. Brimming with pride and appreciation for the dedicated people who selflessly give of themselves at The Bridge MCP, Mr. Appel made note of the organization’s impressive litany of  accomplishments  that were made in the relatively short time since its inception.

“I am both proud and very humbled to be standing before you tonight in this room of people who have sworn their unwavering commitment to transform our communities and our great city  into a better place to live for everyone, ” he said.

“Together, we have initiated special projects aimed at relieving the pain of our neighbors and turning suffering into joy. Through our ongoing educational programming and community outreach, we have had the opportunity to witness the fruits of our labor. Each day, community members who comprise the spectrum of Brooklyn’s diverse ethnic, racial and religious groups work hand-in-hand towards attaining the ultimate dream of creating one united people in this majestic County of Kings.”

With fervor etched on his face, Mr. Appel outlined The Bridge MCP’s exciting agenda for 2018.  Included therein will be the dedication of a new television studio at their Flatbush Avenue location which Mr. Appel said “would greatly enhance the dissemination of The Bridge’s message of unity, strength, tolerance, respect, understanding, compassion and love that is shared by so many people across the state.”

Making mention of The Bridge’s “Unity in Action Team” Mr. Appel recalled the humanitarian assistance provided by the team of emergency responders to the survivors of the unprecedented hurricanes that ravaged Houston,  Florida and Puerto Rico over the last year. In addition, Mr. Appel extended plaudits to those who saved countless

lives through the blood drives that they made possible and those who labored assiduously in organizing freedom seders on the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Also on The Bridge’s 2018 calendar of special events for the “Unity in Action Team” will be a unique trip to Israel in the summer months. The trip will not only include guided tours of all Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites in Israel but participants will have the opportunity to connect in historic ways with their co-religionists who reside in Israel on a face-to-face basis, said Mr. Appel.

Prior to and following the speeches, those in attendance ate, drank, made merry  and everybody intermingled with each other in the festive environs.  Also highlighting the party’s diversity were several excellent live bands that included Jews, Muslims, blacks and Hispanics. Attendees danced to such Jewish classics as Hava Nagila as well as reggae and soca music, which included a steel pan, several percussionists, string players and keyboards.

As the party was winding down, Mr. Appel observed, “The infectious positive energy and uplifting mood in this room tonight was beyond spectacular. Everyone joyously shared the beautiful music of all faiths and danced with zeal. It was truly heartwarming to see our city’s elected officials, along with rabbis, imams, ministers and priests and their congregants singing songs of peace.”

The event space included the traditional menorah used to commemorate the holiday of Chanukah as well as a radiant Christmas tree and festive Muslim decorations.

The post Brooklyn Celebrates Diversity as Hundreds Gather for Holiday Extravaganza at “The Bridge MCP” appeared first on Jewish Voice.

Love him or hate him, 2017 was a year dominated by President Donald Trump. The U.S.-Israel relationship was no stranger to that, ranging from Trump’s visit to the Jewish state in May to his historic decision on Jerusalem in December. At the same time, some of this year’s other major stories in the Israeli-American arena had little or nothing to do with Trump.

JNS takes a look back at the following five key moments in U.S.-Israel relations during the past year:

Trump’s policy changes on Jerusalem

On Dec. 6, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capitaland declared plans to eventually move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to that city. The president called the policy changes “long overdue” and said recognition of Jerusalem as the capital is “obvious” given that all of Israel’s government functions—from the Knesset to the prime minister’s residence—are located there.

“This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality,” said Trump. “It is also the right thing to do.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump’s decision reflects the “commitment to an ancient but enduring truth, to fulfilling his promises and to advancing peace.”

Trump’s Israel trip

Trump made Israel one of his first visits abroad as president when he touched down in the Jewish state in late May to much pomp and circumstance. Trump’s trip included the first visit to the Western Wall—one of Judaism’s holiest sites—by a sitting American president.

The visit did not come without controversy. A U.S. official’s remark that the Western Wall is part of the West Bank and not Israel stirred Israeli-American tension before the White House disavowed the comments.

The Western Wall prayer controversy

The Israeli cabinet in June decided to freeze an agreement for a permanent egalitarian prayer section, jointly overseen by non-Orthodox Jewish groups, at the Western Wall. The move by the Israeli government, which reneged on a January 2016 agreement, sparked a crisis between the government and Diaspora Jewry.

Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett admitted that “mistakes were made” by the government in its decision, but said the controversy largely resulted from a “campaign of misinformation claiming the [Western Wall] is being closed to Diaspora Jews…This is false.”

A ‘new sheriff in town’ at the U.N.

Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has been determined to change the culture of bias against Israel at the world body. At the AIPAC Policy Conference in March, Haley described herself as the “new sheriff in town” and vowed regarding anti-Israel elements that she would “kick them every single time” they display their bias.

Indeed, Haley has taken aim at U.N. bodies that have repeatedly and disproportionately targeted Israel, including the Human Rights Council and the UNESCO cultural agency. In October, the U.S. announced that it would pull out of UNESCO due to its “anti-Israel bias.”

In the wake of Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem, Haley blamed the world body for being the real obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace and vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for the withdrawal of the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem. When the same resolution was passed by the U.N. General Assembly, Haley said the vote “will be remembered.” Before the General Assembly vote, she said the U.S. would be “taking names” of countries that supported the U.N. condemnation of Trump’s Jerusalem move.

Haley’s series of moves defending Israel at the U.N. came after the departing Obama administration in December 2016 refused to veto a Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s settlement policy and described eastern Jerusalem as “occupied Palestinian territory.”

Israel declares advanced American-made fighter jets operational

Less than a year after receiving its first nine F-35 stealth fighter jets from the U.S., the Israeli military declared the fleet of aircraft fully operational in early December.

“The announcement of the operationalization of the ‘Adir’ aircraft comes at a time in which the IAF is operating on a large scale on a number of fronts in a dynamic Middle East,” said Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin.

Israel has agreed to purchase 50 of the F-35 jets from the U.S. and was the first foreign country permitted to acquire the advanced warplanes, at a cost of roughly $100 million each.

Tal Inbar, who heads the space research center at the Israel-based Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, told JNS regarding the F-35 that the “technological jump of the plane compared to all other planes in the [Middle East] is enormous, but the jump in operational capabilities is no less important. The freedom of maneuver that the air force gets has been significantly strengthened.”

By: Sean Savage
(JNS.org)

The post Five Key Moments in US-Israel Relations in 2017 appeared first on Jewish Voice.

Overall, in NYC for 2017, the luxury residential real estate market was nothing to write home about but rather on par with last year. A single Manhattan building made the year memorable for condominium sales. Central Park Tower, Gary Barnett’s 95-story tower, broke records becoming the first single Manhattan building to cross the $4 billion threshold. As per the Real Deal, here is the list of New York City’s most expensive condo offering plans accepted by the NYS Attorney General’s office in 2017.

1. Central Park Tower, developed by Extell, is poised to become the most expensive condo building in Manhattan’s history. The 179-apartment tower, located at 217 West 57th Street, filed a staggering proposed sellout price of $4,016,410,000. At the top of the list by a landslide, the tower will also become known as the city’s tallest residential building.
2. Second on the list is The Belnord on the Upper West Side with a target sellout price of $1.35 billion. The century old rental building has obtain permission to convert into 213 condominiums. Developer HFZ Capital Group will try to get an average price of $6.1 million per apartment.

3. Bizzi & Partners and New Valley are working on a new construction at 125 Greenwich Street. They are hoping for an $875 million sellout for the 77-story luxury tower. Apartment prices will range from $1.3 million to $6 million.

4. The next notable project on the list is a new construction at Two Waterline Square in Lincoln Square. The projected 38-story, 160-unit condominium tower anticipates a $653 million sellout. The tower will be part of a trio of residential buildings on Riverside Boulevard, with 263 units in all. GID Development Group and Henley Holding Co. say condo prices will start at about $2 million.
5. Tribeca’s landmarked clock tower building is undergoing a transformation by The Elad Group and Don Peebles’ Peebles Corporation. They hope to bring 151 condos to 108 Leonard Street, with a sellout price of $637 million.
6. Victor Group and Lendlease filed to construct a new 55-story condominium tower at 277 Fifth Avenue in Nomad. The projected sellout price is $535 million. With 113 apartments, that works out to an average of $4.7 million per unit.

7. The Chetrit Group is converting the landmark building on 49 Chambers Street in the Financial District. The planned 14-story building will have 99 residential apartments with a target sellout price of $334 million.

8. GID Development Group’s One Waterline Square also made the list. Part of a trio, the Lincoln Square building will have 56 units and a slated sellout price of $315.3 million.
9. The Toll Brothers’ new construction plans were accepted for a 111-unit condo building in Tribeca. The projected 20-story building has a sellout price of $314 million.
10. Last to make the list is Noho’s 40 Bleecker Street. Broad Street Development is converting two adjacent rental buildings into a 12-story, 61-unit condominium building. The ambitious sellout price is set at $288.5 million.

    By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

     

The post 2017’s Most Valuable Manhattan Condos Filed appeared first on Jewish Voice.

As we usher in 2018, let’s take a look at the year behind us and the biggest investment sales in New York City for 2017. The city recorded approximately $32.5 billion in investment real estate sales for the year, as per data from Cushman & Wakefield. The figure is down about 44 percent from 2016, when investment sales were close to $57.8 billion. As compiled by the Real Deal, here is a list of the most expensive investment buildings sold for the year in the Big Apple.

1. By far, the most expensive building sold was for $2.2 billion. Chinese conglomerate HNA Group paid one of the highest prices ever for a Manhattan tower when it purchased 245 Park Avenue between East 46th and 47th streets. In May, the 45-story, 1.8 million-square-foot building was purchased from Brookfield Property Partners and the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System.
2. The second largest sale was a partial stake of 60 Wall Street for $1.04 billion. GIC, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, purchased a 95 percent stake in the 50-story office tower from Paramount Group and Morgan Stanley.

3. WeWork and Rhone Capital made the third largest deal, acquiring 424 Fifth Avenue for $850 million. The former Lord & Taylor flagship store, has just been sold by the Hudson Bay Company amid store closures. The 676,000-square-foot property will serve as WeWork’s new global headquarters.

4. Next on the list was the sale of a partial stake in One Worldwide Plaza for about $840M from New York REIT. SL Green Realty and RXR Realty purchased 48.7 percent of the 50-story office tower, which is valued at $1.725 billion in the deal.
5. Blackstone Group purchased a 49 percent share in One Liberty Plaza for $759.5 million, in December. The 54-story, 2.3 million-square-foot Financial District office tower was sold by Brookfield Property Partners.
6. MetLife and Beacon Capital Partners sold a 1.1 million-square-foot office tower at 85 Broad Street for a price tag of $652 million. Canadian pension manager Ivanhoe Cambridge and its frequent partner Callahan Capital Properties purchased the former Goldman Sachs headquarter.
7. German insurer Allianz SE purchased a 43 percent share in 1515 Broadway for $628.9 million. The 57-story, 1.9 million-square-foot office tower, sold by SL Green, is valued at a massive $1.95 billion by the deal.
8. Tishman Speyer sold its 375 Hudson Street leasehold for $615 million. Trinity Real Estate, who already owned the base of the 1.1 million-square-foot, 19-story office building, acquired it all.
9. New York REIT also sold 1440 Broadway. CIM Group purchased the 25-story, 749,000-square-foot office building for $520 million.
10. The final sale in the list, is also the only one that isn’t an office tower. Metro Loft Management paid $416 million to purchase Vanbarton Group’s 90 percent stake in 180 Water Street. Metro loft now has full ownership of the 24-story, 573-unit rental apartment tower, which was recently converted from an office tower.

    By: Ilana Siyance

     

The post New York City’s Biggest Investment Sales for 2017 appeared first on Jewish Voice.