See Pages 3, 4 & 5 $1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM VOL. 10 NO. 13 8 TEVES 5770 adhu ,arp DECEMBER 25, 2009 INSIDE FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK MAKING OUR PRAYERS COUNT MindBiz BY LARRY GORDON Esther Mann, LMSW 30 Now What? Not Forgetting Jerusalem Hannah Reich Berman 31 There are people in Jeru- I first met Arieh King in New Selective History salem who just don’t like Arieh York a few weeks ago, and his Rabbi Avi Shafran 36 King. He makes them feel story, told in these pages, imme- Reflections uncomfortable, and their diately inflamed the passions of Steven Genack 58 attempts to vilify and deni- the Jewish National Fund as grate what he does were bound well as other organizations in The Price Of Gold to head in his direction sooner Israel who Mr. King insisted are Stuart W. Mirsky 62 or later. Mr. King, a resident of helping to facilitate the growth East Jerusalem, is on a mission of Arab housing throughout to restore housing justice in Jerusalem as well as in other the city while at the same time areas of Israel. I knew as soon as HaRav Moshe Weinberger, shlita, of Aish Kodesh in Woodmere addressing the joint Orthodox Union/Yeshiva University symposium on enhancing fortifying its Jewish character I met him that we would have our everyday prayers. The program was held on Sunday, December 6 at and population for many years DRS HALB and also featured Rabbi Eli Mansour to come. Continued on Page 5 and Rabbi Mayer Twersky. See Page 42 DOERS VS. BLOGGERS HEARD IN THE BAGEL STORE B Y RAV ARYEH Z. Yidden who live for others, For Argument’s Sake GINZBERG whether it’s delivery for CHOFETZ CHAIM TORAH CENTER Tomchei Shabbos, giving up BY LARRY GORDON experiences that have made a Bat Mitzvah of Elisheva Lichtman. their Shabbos and yom tov deep and lasting impression See Page 77 The world has always been menuchah to go on Hatzalah It seems that because of the somewhere in the area of my divided into two categories, the calls, or even dedicating the lit- nature of my occupation, when brain that, well, packages and doers and the non-doers: the tle free time that they have to I walk the streets of Israel and stores these things. minority who dedicate their work for their shul or local breathe its air I turn into a pack- We did many things in Israel days and nights for the commu- yeshiva. This minority compris- ager of experiences. (Granted, I over the last ten days, over nity at large, and the majority es, for the most part, passionate should take notes—and on Chanukah. I don’t know if it’s who are content to just sit on and concerned people who some occasions I do—but it just me, but I cannot find any the sidelines and be passive want to make a difference in the would look silly to walk around rest in Israel other than the half- observers to all that goes on world during their few years the streets of Israel’s cities with dozen sleeping hours used to around them. that Hashem has awarded them a notebook, jotting things simply recharge our souls so It is no different for K’lal down.) As a result, what you get Yisrael. There are a minority of Continued on Page 12 here is a series of situations and Continued on Page 11 Supermarket Sweep Senatorial ILLEGAL ARAB TAG dinner in memory of Rabbi Moshe Weitman, z’l. Candidate See Page 48 Bruce BUILDINGS Blakeman LEGITIMIZED B Y RABBI YAIR B Y SAMUEL SOKOL HOFFMAN ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT Bruce A. Blakeman, 54, the The Jerusalem municipality Republican candidate for New announced Monday that several York State comptroller in 1998, hundred illegal Arab dwellings recently announced that he will be granted retroactive per- would seek to run against mits as part of a plan to rezone Kirsten Gillibrand in next year’s the western slopes of the neigh- Preschoolers at the Hollander Early Childhood Center of Yeshiva of South Shore collecting food for Tomchei Shabbos and the Eliezer Project last election for U.S. Senator from borhood of Silwan. Structures HALB Dinner honorees. week. The children filled the wagon with food, just like Yosef HaTzadik did in Parashas Vayigash. Gourmet Glatt provided the wagon. Continued on Page 14 Continued on Page 16 See Page 73 CANDLE LIGHTING Dec. 25 – 4:15 PM Jan. 1 – 4:20 PM 2 December 25, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES December 25, 2009 3 FEATURES Around The Five Towns 42 P.O. BOX 690 LAWRENCE, NY 11559 516-984-0079 Book Review [email protected] [email protected] Israel Drazin 57 Fern Sidman 75 LARRY GORDON ESTA J. GORDON Publisher/Editor Managing Editor Classified Ads 68 YOSSI GORDON, YOCHANAN GORDON Sales Managers The Dish CHANA ROCHEL ROSS Elke Probkevitz 37 Editorial Assistant SIDI BARON Five Towns Simcha YAKOV SERLE Naomi Cohen/Glamorous Pics 77 Sales Representatives SHMUEL GERBER MICHELE JUSTIC Halachic Musings Chief Copy Editor Copy Editor Rabbi Yair Hoffman 72 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Hannah Reich Berman, Anessa V. Cohen, Insights On The Torah Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginzberg, Toby Klein Greenwald, R’ Ben Tzion Shafier 32 Rabbi Yair Hoffman, Miriam Horowitz, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, Shmuel Katz, Letters To The Editor 18 Phyllis J. Lubin, Esther Mann, Rochelle Miller, Martin Mushell, Elke Probkevitz, Naomi Ross, Rachael Schindler, Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow, Luach 22 Rabbi Avi Shafran, Eli Shapiro, Ari Sher, Samuel Sokol MindBiz DOV GORDON, ELISHEVA ELEFANT Esther Mann, LMSW 30 Staff Graphic Artists Mother’s Musings IVAN NORMAN, IRA THOMAS Phyllis J. Lubin 26 Staff Photographers FRANKEL & CO. Puzzle Design & Production Yoni Glatt 76 TALIYE CORLEY Art Director Real Estate SARAH GREENBAUM Anessa V. Cohen 33 Assistant Art Director The Five Towns Jewish Times is an independent weekly news- That’s The Way It Is! paper. Opinions expressed by writers and columnists are not Hannah Reich Berman 31 necessarily those of the editor or publisher. We are not responsible for the kashrus or hashgachah of any product or establishment advertised in the Five Towns Jewish Times. Travel 36 4 December 25, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES FROM THE EDITOR The big criticism of Arieh King from a Continued from Front Cover JNF official is that he is running a busi- ness and may be making a commission to meet in Jerusalem so I could see up on the sale of some of the properties. close what he is working on and talking That is hardly a legitimate accusation, as about. while it seems that King is motivated by King founded and runs the Israel Land great altruism, that doesn’t mean he is Fund. Its purpose is to purchase homes in not entitled to make a living to support Israel from current Arab residents and, where there is no cooperation, to have Arab squatters evicted from land and homes legally documented to be owned The carpets by Jews, sometimes for over a hundred years. And once you meet Arieh King on his turf in Jerusalem these locales do not were covering seem to be difficult to find. We met on a sunny and unusually warm winter day in his office in the cen- headstones ter of town. From there he whisked us over to the controversial Sheikh Jarrah with Jewish part of town—perhaps more familiar to many as the Shimon HaTzadik neigh- borhood. This is where the Israeli gov- names carved ernment began evicting illegal Arab ten- ants and bulldozing unauthorized struc- on them. tures as a result of the Israel Land Fund’s efforts. It is about this very neighborhood of East Jerusalem that the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said earlier this his family. year that she wants to see the demolition And indeed exciting things are hap- of Arab homes immediately halted. It was pening in Shimon HaTzadik. A once-Arab an indication at the time that the ulti- neighborhood that was probably dis- mate U.S. policy is to solidify the Arabs’ counted by Jerusalem officials now has hold on sections of Jerusalem. That might great promise to one day be a vibrant be a sentiment filled with honorable addition to the active and animated intent, but it is also contrary to the law. Jewish growth in Israel’s capital city. One So, King is busy going about his business, of those positive indications is a large securing these homes either for new resi- sign on a property there that says the dents or for the families of the rightful Jewish owners. Continued on Page 6 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES December 25, 2009 5 FROM THE EDITOR homes in what is also known as the “I later came to believe that it was an One discovery led to another. Continued from Page 5 Silwan area of the city. offense and desecration to the dead lying Headstones were taken from homes and “The residents of those two houses are here—that their place of rest should paired up with records of burials and site is the future home of Yeshiva Ohr the aunt and cousins of Yasser Arafat,” become a shortcut for shoppers and stu- their locations—work, Mr. King explains, Somayach. King says. He adds that they are very dents,” he says earnestly. But that’s not that still goes on today. He says that the Additionally, King points out, while grateful for the Jewish buildings that are what set him on his course to utilize his night before our meeting, there was van- there are frequent leftist demonstrations going up literally all around them.