SUKKAH DEPOT AT JUDAICA PLUS See Back Page $1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM VOL. 8 NO. 2 9 TISHREI 5768 ruphf ouh SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 INSIDE FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK /h,rpf vz /h,run, vz /h,phkj vz Don’t Read This! BY LARRY GORDON Jonathan D. Herman, MD 8 Our Aliyah Chronicle Meaningful Fasts Shmuel Katz 18 MindBiz There’s got to be something intrigued, for example, how Esther Mann, LMSW 24 special about these fasts of healthy adults often catego- ours. We approach them with rize the different fasts on our Bring On The Bees awe and apprehension; it annual calendars. To many, Photo Hannah Reich Berman 34 seems that only when we they are either “big” fasts or Thomas Cr By Ira completely abstain from food “little” fasts. Lighting Candles intake are we able to feel the This thought was stimulat- Toby Klein Greenwald 74 eations depth and seriousness of a sit- ed by the recent observance of uation to its very core. And the Fast of Gedalyah that was there appear to be various lev- observed last Sunday. Fasting The annual pre-Yom Kippur kaparos ritual, sponsored by Yeshiva Siach Yitzchok, was held at the parking lot of the White Shul in Far Rockaway and els to even this aspect of care- is difficult, particularly when at several other locations in the Five Towns area this past Sunday, September ful observance of halachic 16. Hundreds of men, women, and children came and purchased the birds, Jewish life. I’ve always been Continued on Page 4 later to be donated to poor families in the area. WHEN HEROES DIE HEARD IN THE BAGEL STORE BY RABBI YAIR HOFFMAN sense of the word. A Transitional Sukkos DIRECTOR, TIFERET CHAYA There is a Midrash (Sh’mos Bar Mitzvah of Josh Wein. PROGRAM FOR GIRLS Rabbah 35:4) where Moshe BY LARRY GORDON expected ritual. After all, our See Page 63 asks Hashem what shall guar- parents worked so hard and They were known as RL 17 antee the future of the Jewish Not so many years ago, the sacrificed so much to get us to and RL 51. people in case they deserve to arrival of Yom Tov meant where we were, the least we Sadly, the Five Towns/Far be destroyed. packing up our stuff, then could do was show up and let Rockaway community has Hashem answers, “I will packing up the car, then mov- them enjoy—shep a little endured a most profound then take one of their right- ing in with whichever branch nachas—from the fruits of all loss, that of two of its finest eous men.” Dayan Weiss, zt’l, of the family we were invited their labor. sons: Mr. Ira Feigenbaum, z’l, (Minchas Yitzchak 9:135) con- to spend Yom Tov with. But And for most, it seems this and Mr. Mark Davidman, z’l, nects this Midrash to the those were the early years, the continues to be the drill, two men—no, two heroes— salad days when we were still though there is a noticeable who were givers in every Continued on Page 16 so attached to the place from shift and communal balanc- whence we had come, and going home was a smooth, Continued on Page 12 Far Rockaway benefit for Chai Lifeline. NORPAC In The 5 Towns See Page 50 Assertiveness MY SECRET Training BY IRWIN H. BENJAMIN BY MICHELE HERENSTEIN Until a few years ago, I I have a subscription to a thought it was my own discov- magazine which comes pretty ery, my own little secret, to be much every Wednesday or shared only with family and Thursday, except when it close friends. However, when comes on Friday or Saturday. my son Yosef brought this vort Okay, so it’s unreliable, to say to my attention, I knew the the least. But I do get it at secret would get out. There some point and always enjoy was no point in keeping it to Yeshiva of Far Rockaway’s 11th reading it over the weekend. A myself any longer. annual Kinnus Teshuvah. few months ago, however, the The secret is about daven- See Page 60 magazine didn’t arrive on ing. It has worked for me for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, many years, and I would now CANDLE LIGHTING Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in Lawrence on or Saturday. The magazine like to share this “secret” September 9 with leaders of NORPAC. (L–R): Vice-President Jerry Sept. 21 – 6:36 PM Gontownik, Senator McConnell, Long Island Chapter President Stanley just never arrived. When I with you. Hopefully, in some Sept. 26 – 6:27 PM Stern, event chair Trudy Stern, Vice-President Jason Muss, and President Dr. Ben Chouake. See Page 44 Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 14 2 September 21, 2007 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES September 21, 2007 3 FROM THE EDITOR kind of easy way out of a difficult fast. Continued from Front Cover The additionally intriguing thing FEATURES about Yom Kippur is who fasts on this contrasted to the overabundance of day. Sure, plenty of Jews don’t fast on P.O. BOX 690 LAWRENCE, NY 11559 food that is available everywhere these Yom Kippur, and certainly not on any Around The Five Towns 37 516-984-0079 days wherever we turn. I recall sitting of the other days that have been [email protected] Our Aliyah Chronicle in shul on Yom Kippur some years ago ordained as fasts long ago. On the [email protected] Shmuel Katz 18 with a friend’s father who was with other hand, there are a surprising LARRY GORDON ESTA J. GORDON Publisher/Editor Managing Editor him for the yamim tovim and listening number of Jews who may not do much Chassidic Masters YOSSI GORDON to him recall what life was like in the else to observe Yom Kippur, but they Yanki Tauber 30 Director of Sales Nazi concentration camps at this time do desist from eating for the entire CHANA ROCHEL ROSS of year. I remember him telling me long and difficult period. Classified Ads 80 Editorial Assistant that when he was in one camp, his Years ago, there was a very popular SIDI BARON Nazi handlers demonstrated an unusu- Israeli nightclub in Greenwich Village Five Towns Simcha 42, 63 YAKOV SERLE al type of additional cruelty at this time that was owned by an Israeli entrepre- JERRY MARKOVITZ of year: They fed the prisoners neur. The place was open 7 days a Insights On The Torah Sales Representatives absolutely nothing on the day prior to week, 24 hours a day, and it was Rabbi Yoni Posnick 28 SHMUEL GERBER MICHELE JUSTIC Yom Kippur and then a bit more food extremely busy. It wasn’t unusual for Luach 10 Chief Copy Editor Copy Editor than usual on Yom Kippur day. I asked the place to be filled with people wear- CONTRIBUTING EDITORS him how he and others in the camp ing yarmulkes on a Saturday night Howard M. Adelsberg, Irwin H. Benjamin MindBiz Hannah Reich Berman, Anessa V. Cohen handled the situation. His answer, I until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. Esther Mann, LMSW 24 Danny Block, Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginzberg believe, will stay with me forever—“We The place had kashrus certification Yochanan Gordon, Michele Herenstein fasted two days.” and I do not know the dynamics of the Real Estate Rabbi Yair Hoffman, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky I am continually amazed at how we certification, considering that the Anessa V. Cohen 26 Shmuel Katz, Esther Mann, Rochelle Miller Rabbi Yoni Posnick, Naomi Ross have integrated the half-dozen fasts place was open on Shabbos, Yom Tov, that dot our calendar. The major ones, and all other times in between. I know That’s The Way It Is! Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow, Eli Shapiro Hannah Reich Berman 34 MICHAL WEINSTEIN, ROB FILONUK so to speak, are Yom Kippur and Tisha that no meat was served there and I Staff Graphic Artists B’Av. Other than our seforim and books will go out on a limb and say that back IVAN NORMAN, IRA THOMAS of law referencing them as the so- in the 1960s and ’70s, kashrus was still Staff Photographers called important fasts, what is so big somewhat underdeveloped and was Due to Sukkos, FRANKEL & CO., CREATIVE DESIGN LLC and important about them? For not what it has blossomed into today. the deadline for placing ads Design & Production starters, they are our longest fasts of I met the owner in the early 1970s TALIYE CORLEY the year, beginning the night before because I was doing a story for a maga- in the next issue Art Director and running a full 25 hours. The oth- zine on Israelis living in New York. From of the 5TJT SUZETTE LEE ers begin at dawn and last through the time to time this man would play as part is Sunday, September 23 Assistant Art Director day, until nightfall. This type of sched- of a band at weddings and bar mitzvahs, at 5:00 P.M. The Five Towns Jewish Times is an independent weekly news- uling gives us an opportunity to rise, if and every so often I would see him at paper. Opinions expressed by writers and columnists are not we are so disposed, early in the morn- these functions. One of the last times necessarily those of the editor or publisher. We are not responsible for the kashrus or hashgachah of any product or ing and consume that mandatory cup that I saw him, I said, “Menachem, are Call establishment advertised in the Five Towns Jewish Times.