$8 deals! See Page 49 I KNOW A GUY, INC. HOME RENOVATIONS See Page 49 $1.00 WWW.5TJT.COM VOL. 10 NO. 6 19 CHESHVAN 5770 trhu ,arp NOVEMBER 6, 2009 INSIDE FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK TORAH’S FIGHTING SPIRIT Biking In The Berkshires BY LARRY GORDON Michele Herenstein 17 A Worthy Thought WHY CAN’T WE WIN? Rabbi Avi Shafran 24 The wars in Iraq and have withdrawn to the periph- Kolatin At Kosherfest Afghanistan are eight years old ery of major population cen- Rochelle Maruch Miller 26 now, with no positive conclu- ters. They had to do this Anatomy Of An Illness sion or victory anywhere in because the emerging demo- Hannah Reich Berman 39 sight. In fact, the U.S. is on the cratic government of Iraq felt verge of committing an addi- that they could not sell this MindBiz tional 40,000 troops into the newfangled style of govern- Esther Mann, LMSW 53 Afghan military theater in an ment to their freedom-loving effort to overcome a tenacious people as long as they were and implacable enemy in the under American occupation. Taliban and their sponsors in That doesn’t change the fact the supposedly American-allied that suicide bombers are still government there. exploding themselves near The combination of Torah, tefillah, and soldiering expertise combines to produce a mighty soldier. The Nahal Haredi organization provides an Circumstances are only mosques and shopping areas to environment in the IDF to give chareidi youth the opportunity to serve in slightly different in parts of defense of their country without compromising the religious way of life. Iraq, where American forces Continued on Page 7 See Page 74 HONORING A HERO HEARD IN THE BAGEL STORE Bat Mitzvah of Studying Sharansky Hallie Peller. B Y RABBI YAIR See Page 73 HOFFMAN BY LARRY GORDON This past Sunday, the Jewish He blazed a trail that simply Community Council of the made things possible. He was Rockaway Peninsula honored just one man almost crushed by Sgt. Tim Smith of the 101st seemingly insurmountable Precinct at its annual legislative odds. But he pushed back stub- breakfast. Sgt. Smith was bornly and perhaps just a little injured in the line of duty while harder than others, and that protecting the citizens of Far served as a catalyst for what Rockaway. He sustained injuries would become a revolution. to the eye and brain in a horrif- I’ve followed the fashion in ic stabbing. The event was large- which Natan Sharansky has Sgt. Tim Smith and JCCRP Running the NYC Marathon Continued on Page 10 director Harvey Gordon. Continued on Page 12 Natan Sharansky for Chai Lifeline. See Page 66 Be’er HaGolah’s Big Night Changing REPUBLICANS The World, ON THE MARCH One Mishnah At A Time BY LARRY GORDON From our edge of Long Island BY RAV ARYEH Z. to the great states of New Jersey GINZBERG and Virginia, it seems that a CHOFETZ CHAIM TORAH CENTER political tide is taking a turn and sending a message to Mitzvos generate great Washington. And that message zechuyos for those who do them is that the people would like to At the Jerusalem Conference and for K’lal Yisrael as a whole. put a hold on the sleight of in Washington, D.C. For the mitzvah of Talmud hand that was once packaged See Page 43 Torah, the zechuyos generated and known as “change we can are significantly greater. And believe in.” CANDLE LIGHTING Above, a few of the hundreds of students at the Yeshiva Be’er HaGolah in Chazal teach us that, in particu- The Republican victories in Brooklyn. This Saturday night the yeshiva will present their fundraising Nov. 6 – 4:27 PM event with a concert featuring a Chinese auction, a sumptuous buffet lar, the learning of mishnayos the gubernatorial races in New Nov. 13 – 4:20 PM dinner, and a special musical guest. See Page 6 Continued on Page 15 Continued on Page 28 2 November 6, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES November 6, 2009 3 4 November 6, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES November 6, 2009 5 6 November 6, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES FROM THE EDITOR demn the Jews for defending themselves. Continued from Front Cover The recent Goldstone Report has declared in its finding that both Israel inflict maximum damage on the fragile and Hamas have committed war crimes. pseudo-stability that makes Iraq look far In some countries, those affiliated with more peaceful than Afghanistan. For our the military operation last year, and espe- part, we Americans have to appear victori- cially the political leaders, may be subject ous even while the death and destruction to arrest, trial on these so-called crimes, continue to wreak havoc on the people. and punishment. Some Israeli officials One would have thought that the COLOR American forces, with our far superior military power, training, and acumen, could have successfully ended the wars a Being a Hamas leader long time ago. And, though I’m not a mil- itary man, conventional military wisdom and being charged says that there is no reason for the U.S. to be so deeply stuck in these conflagrations with a war crime is without the ability to succeed decisively and withdraw. something Because of the advanced technological nature of today’s weaponry, it should be tantamount to a militarily more feasible to score quick and decisive victories. Unfortunately, badge of honor. however, the precise opposite is today’s reality. Such was the case with Israel last winter as she sought to put a halt to the constant firing of deadly missiles into have already been intimidated by the Israel from the Hamas/terror-controlled Goldstone findings and its acceptance by Gaza Strip. the United Nations. While the terrorists fired over 7,000 Interestingly enough, Goldstone found missiles into Israel’s population centers that both the Hamas terrorist group and over several years, there was hardly a the State of Israel committed these sound of protest emanating from the UN crimes for which they can be prosecuted. or, for that matter, from any of the great Hamas leaders, however, don’t appear to centers of morality and human con- be anywhere near as concerned as the science scattered around the world. Israelis are. It is more than likely that When Israel had incurred enough of a being a Hamas leader and being charged collective bloody nose, however, and it with a war crime is something tanta- was time to act decisively and effectively, mount to a badge of honor. It’s like saying this coincided with the UN raising its ugly head and leading the charge to con- Continued on Page 8 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES November 6, 2009 7 FROM THE EDITOR Continued from Page 7 that a snake crawls on the ground; of course it does. Or that a terrorist fires his illicitly acquired weapons at innocent targets and people. Just the other day, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution condemning the findings in Goldstone related to “Israel’s defensive war against Hamas.” The resolution said that Congress “opposes unequivocal- ly any endorsement or further consideration by the UN or any forum of the irredeemably biased UN Human Rights Council.” The idea that you may be brought up on international criminal charges because you direct the military to protect your citizenry is today woven into the corrupted fabric of a society that refuses to marginal- ize those bent on terrorist vio- lence. This is where the idea originates that allows the Palestinian Authority to claim they’ve done away with terror in the West Bank by giving the terrorists police uniforms and guns and calling them security forces. And this is how suicide bombers recently passed through four checkpoints in Baghdad that were manned by rigorously trained Iraqi forces. In 1967, Israel scored a quick victory over the enemy coun- tries that were determined to go to war by destroying the Egyptian air force while its planes were still on the ground. Today such a move by a military force could possibly be consid- ered what has become known as “disproportionate force.” Israel’s intelligence and radar as well as their air force was most likely far superior to that of the Egyptians. That’s why they were able to achieve what they did as quickly as they did. Today that thorough and dev- astating knockout punch would have to be studied, because apparently Israel had some kind of unfair advantage over the Egyptians in ’67. Perhaps it was military or quite possibly it was on the intelligence level; either way it could be problematic. Goldstone says that Israel used disproportionate force and that is a war crime. Hamas in Gaza really does not have an official army, so just about everyone in the fighting force is a civilian. That is coupled with the fact that if you can manage to identify a difference between the civilians and the fighters it has been conclusively demon- strated that the civilians are complicit with the terror army. Case in point was the fact that the Hamas leadership stationed themselves inside a Gaza hospi- tal during the recent war. Oddly still, Israel has to defend itself on these allega- 8 November 6, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES tions and demonstrate a dis- cernible difference between a defensive and offensive action. All I know is that when I was in yeshiva in Brooklyn a long time ago, our building was in a deteri- orating neighborhood and adja- cent to a public school with a couple of thousand students.