$1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM !vfubj igfhkhhrp t VOL. 9 NO. 12 29 KISLEV 5769 .en ,arp DECEMBER 26, 2008 INSIDE FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK REBUILDING CHABAD OF MUMBAI MindBiz BY LARRY GORDON Esther Mann, LMSW 24 Asleep At The Switch Hannah Reich Berman 32 Left, Right, Wrong Letters To The Editor Do you know why there is outright repugnance at the Our Readers 45 no longer any tolerance in presence of Feiglin and oth- Israeli politics for so-called ers, and the impression is cre- Cooking Concepts extreme right-wing positions? ated that riding him out of Naomi Ross 50 And why democratically elect- contention for a Knesset seat, ed candidates like Moshe for example, will help save A Chanukah Rematch Feiglin and others are maneu- tiny Israel from being con- R’ Chaim Cohen 54 vered around so as to skirt the sumed by its very self. I think democratic process, under the the main reason for this is The Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) 5th-grade boys and girls ran a guise of implementing it, in that whether you are Labor, bake sale to raise funds for Moishe Holtzberg, whose parents were murdered in Mumbai. Rabbi Shmuel Klammer (second from right) and Rabbi Dovid order to keep them from Likud, or Kadima, when you Plotkin (far left) presented a check in the amount of $4,794 to Rabbi ascending to elected office? Zalman Wolowik (second from left), rabbi of the Chabad of the Five Towns, There is a virtual display of Continued on Page 6 accepting it on behalf of Chabad of Mumbai. At far right is Jeremy Feder. HEARD IN THE BAGEL STORE THE TIME IS NOW Nineteen Years B Y RABBI PESA CH Chabad lights up Long Beach. LERNER BY LARRY GORDON in Israel. It was raining and it See Page 75 was stressful. A year had For me, the story began This coming Shabbos— passed, but we were still at a about 17 years ago. I sincere- Shabbos Chanukah—I will be loss to understand how we as ly hope and pray that it ends observing the 19th yahrzeit for his children, and my mother soon. my father, Rabbi Nison as his wife of 44 years, were I joined the professional Gordon, may his memory be a going to deal with this very staff of the National Council blessing. It’s almost two painful void in our lives. I was of Young Israel (NCYI) in decades and, granted, that’s a comforted by the fact that I October 1991. One of the fairly long period of time. wasn’t the first or only person first things I began doing was I can easily recall how our to lose a parent and that this visiting the many Young Israel family observed that first was the natural, expected yahrzeit, all of us gathered at Continued on Page 11 Jonathan Pollard his graveside in Bet Shemesh Continued on Page 12 Kulanu Annual Scholarship Dinner. See Page 75 A Contrast In Scandals The Merkin KEEPING Affair WARM Madoff, Ponzi, and Another Mother’s Musings Halachah, Part 2 BY PHYLLIS J. LUBIN BY RABBI YAIR HOFFMAN Leaves Leaves fall Most of the yeshivas that Orange leaves lost money in the Madoff Soft leaves scandal did not lose it by in- Green leaves vesting directly with Bernard Yellow leaves Susan Settenbrino to be Madoff. Instead, they invested Leaves are so much fun! honored at Aleh Dinner. with Ezra Merkin’s Ascot —Yosef Lubin, Grade 3, See Page 55 Partners Fund, who, unbe- Room 207 Is it possible that not only the judicial system but also our very own Jewish knownst to them, invested it Yussie has been published! CANDLE LIGHTING community views the burgeoning scandals surrounding Bernard Madoff in Madoff’s “fund.” During the first week of (above, left) and the Rubashkin family with somewhat of a double standard? Dec. 26 – 4:16 PM While Mr. Madoff is under house arrest, Mr. Sholom M. Rubashkin (above, The question is, according school, I saw a flyer in Yussie’s Jan. 2 – 4:21 PM right) has been denied bail and is being detained in jail in Iowa pending trial. See story by Shmuley Boteach, Page 72 Continued on Page 15 Continued on Page 10 2 December 26, 2008 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES December 26, 2008 3 4 December 26, 2008 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES December 26, 2008 5 FROM THE EDITOR Jerusalem Post of December 23: FEATURES Continued from Front Cover “Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a meeting on Monday to review the use of Around The Five Towns 55 close your eyes at night and there are artillery in a potential conflict with P.O. BOX 690 LAWRENCE, NY 11559 no pollsters, diplomats, or anyone else Hamas. Ministry legal experts have rec- 516-984-0079 around, in your heart and in your mind ommended that Israel avoid firing shells [email protected] Ask The Sensei [email protected] your thoughts and feelings about the into populated areas used to launch Warren Levi 64 situation in Israel are the same as Kassam rockets [into Israel].” LARRY GORDON ESTA J. GORDON Feiglin’s thoughts and emotions. And So this is what we are dealing with Publisher/Editor Managing Editor Classified Ads 70 YOSSI GORDON, YOCHANAN GORDON that is troubling to those who have today in this absurd and deteriorated Sales Managers those feelings and ideas. CHANA ROCHEL ROSS Cooking Concepts Whether it’s Ehud Barak of Labor, Editorial Assistant Naomi Ross 50 Tzipi Livni of Kadima, or Benjamin SIDI BARON Netanyahu of Likud, there has not been It essentially translates YAKOV SERLE Hock Of The Rock a time in the careers of these people JERRY MARKOVITZ when they have not advocated the mer- Sales Representatives Eli Shapiro 33 ciless bombing or other militarily offen- to, “We know we should SHMUEL GERBER MICHELE JUSTIC sive operation aimed at locales from Chief Copy Editor Copy Editor Insights On The Torah which rockets were fired or from which be fighting to protect CONTRIBUTING EDITORS other terrorist activities were emanat- Irwin H. Benjamin, Hannah Reich Berman Rabbi Yanki Tauber 43 ing. And rightfully so. Unlike what the Anessa V. Cohen, Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginzberg Chevrah Lomdei Mishnah 44 out citizens, but we Toby Klein Greenwald, Michele Herenstein new Israeli thinkers maintain—that Rabbi Yair Hoffman, Miriam Horowitz Israel’s weakness is her strength—the Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky Letters To The Editor 45 continued reality is that Israel’s won’t do it.” Shmuel Katz, Phyllis J. Lubin, Esther Mann Rochelle Miller, Martin Mushell, Naomi Ross strength is precisely that: its strength. Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow, Eli Shapiro, Ari Sher Luach 8 Israel’s past as well as future leaders MICHAL WEINSTEIN, BINYAMIN RHODES (they happen to be the same people, it DOV GORDON MindBiz seems, for now) are not bent on fighting political nightmare in Israel. Hamas and Staff Graphic Artists Esther Mann, LMSW 24 fire with fire; rather, they seem commit- Islamic Jihad (is there a difference?) IVAN NORMAN, IRA THOMAS ted to fighting terror not with generals, orchestrate the launching of rockets Staff Photographers Quick & Kosher infantry, or tanks but with lawyers. In into Israel that crash into stores and FRANKEL & CO. the aftermath of the relentless firing of people’s homes on a bad day, and near a Design & Production Jamie Geller 27 rockets on S’derot over the last week- school yard on a good day. Today’s Israel TALIYE CORLEY end, Defense Minister Ehud Barak responds by gathering together legal Art Director Real Estate conferred with attorneys to get a legal opinions to ascertain specifically what SUZETTE LEE Anessa V. Cohen 30 opinion about where in Gaza Israel international law would say about Israeli Assistant Art Director could legally and properly return fire. liability for bombs landing errantly in The Five Towns Jewish Times is an independent weekly news- That’s The Way It Is! If I didn’t read of this conference pursuit of terrorists. paper. Opinions expressed by writers and columnists are not myself I certainly would have taken it to Ehud Barak has been at the helm of necessarily those of the editor or publisher. We are not Hannah Reich Berman 32 responsible for the kashrus or hashgachah of any product or be some kind of lurid or unsuccessful Israel’s military for a quite a few forays establishment advertised in the Five Towns Jewish Times. attempt at comedy. Here it is, from the throughout the West Bank, as well as 6 December 26, 2008 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES into Lebanon and other areas, in defense of Israel. Livni as well as Olmert, along with others, were inti- mately involved in the Lebanon war of 2006, in which Israeli planes dropped bombs and none of them knew pre- cisely where they would land or who they would kill or hurt. For his part, Bibi Netanyahu has overseen, at different levels of govern- ment over the years (including that of prime minister), military incursions that killed and wounded Palestinian men, women, and children who he did- n’t know to be necessarily guilty of any- thing specifically warranting this type of treatment. And the great irony in all this is that, yes, the Arab terrorists and rag- tag “security forces” that are really mil- itant groups, which are allowed to arm themselves and flourish in Gaza, the West Bank, and southern Lebanon, fire indiscriminately into Israel’s populated areas. Their goal is to kill innocents— women and children, if possible. But Israel does not function with that kind of reverse morality which is fueled by depravity and corruption.