Dear Rabbi Swims in Hudson River on a Triathlon Relay Team

It happened on Sunday, July 14! We did it!

And believe me - it was tough!

Update: Yitz's dad (that's me) swam 1500 meters in the Hudson as part of a relay for Team One with teammates Harvey (bike) and Leiba (run).

Yitz completed all three legs of the tri in excellent time.

Yitzhak Zahavy's Team One Family Fundraising Triathlon Event. Help Celebrate Three Lives with Three Sports.

Yitz Tells What Happened
On October 27, 2002 my platoon in the IDF was attacked by a hamas suicide bomber outside the city of Ariel. Three soldiers, Amihud Hasid, Tamir Masad and Matan Zagron, where killed saving my life and the lives of my fellow soldiers. The One Family Fund is helping their families cope with the difficulties of life without their loved ones.



New York City Triathlon July 14
To celebrate the lives of the three brave Israeli soldiers who saved my life, I will compete in the NYC Triathlon. I will swim, bike and run to raise money for their families and for other families who lost their loved ones to acts of terror.
Helping Out
Please help support victims of terror and their families by donating as much as your can. Please donate.
Check out the story about my fundraising efforts  in the Jewish Standard.
My Goal
This year my goal is to raise $3600, that is $1200 for each man who saved my life.
The One Family Fund
The One Family Fund is at the side of Israel's terror victims – be they civilians or soldiers- from the moment of an attack through the many years of recovery. OneFamily provides victims and their families with the emotional, financial, legal and material assistance they need to rebuild their shattered lives. Through hospital visits, camps, retreats, holiday programs and one-on-one assistance, OneFamily is helping more than 2400 families.

Pledge / Donate

Thank you for your generous help.

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The Tie Rule is Bad and the Jacket Rule is More Nonsensical

We stirred up quite a controversy with our "Dear Rabbi" column where we offered advice regarding a rule requiring the wearing of a necktie in a local synagogue on the Sabbath in order to receive an aliyah - a Torah honor.

A local synagogue which has such a rule took this as a direct criticism and published an odd rebuttal letter in its bulletin, sent out to all its members. (Yediot Yeshurun, see the scans to the right.)

The synagogue action was strange because (a) they did not publish the original question and my answer, just the rebuttal; (b) they did not mention my name as author of the column; and (c) they did not identify by name the newspaper in which it appeared.

The shul bulletin called me "the columnist" and referred to a "local Jewish newspaper". As I understand the rules and norms of civility, the distributors of a communal bulletin are obliged by professional standards and by common courtesy and fairness to publish in their synagogue bulletin my original article under my name as the original author (Rabbi Dr Tzvee Zahavy) and to list the place of original publication, the Jewish Standard. It is clear that the synagogue has different norms.

The necktie controversy continues this week with this letter from a Rabbi Dr. Wallace Greene to the Jewish Standard.

The mark of a competent rabbinic authority is his/her capacity to seek the advice of another rabbinic authority in cases where the law may not be black and white since it is impossible to master the entire corpus of halakhic literature and keep up with all the responsa (“Dear Rabbi,” June 7). The current brouhaha over wearing ties on Shabbat ought not to be flippantly dismissed. Nor should a synagogue’s right to maintain certain standards be cavalierly denigrated. In fact, synagogue ordinances regarding how Jews ought to dress have a distinguished literary history. In addition, the spring 2013 issue of the “Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society” contains a detailed essay called “Casual Saturday? Dressing Down for Shabbat,” which makes the case, based on clear halachic guidelines, for wearing a jacket and tie on Shabbat.

Rabbi Dr. Wallace Greene
Fair Lawn

Greene misstates and wrongly characterizes the following.

My "Talmudic Advice" column does not purport to be a halakhic decision column. There is no "brouhaha over wearing ties on Shabbat." The question under discussion was addressed to a rule requiring a man to wear a tie to receive an aliyah. There was no flippant dismissal or cavalier denigration of synagogue standards or ordinances. There was no intent to review the "distinguished literary history" (whatever that means) of dress ordinances.

So again this Q and A was not about generally "wearing a jacket and tie on Shabbat." It was about a mean-spirited shul constantly denying without exception a Torah honor over a period of many years to one member who does not ever wear a tie.

Distorting and re-framing my question to "rebut" it and to cast aspersions on me because he does not agree with my advice is not Talmudic -- and well that surely is not the mark of "a competent halakhic authority." It's a rhetorical dirty trick. I am quite disappointed in Rabbi Dr. Greene for doing just that.

It is a shame that nonsensical petty rules in shuls are used under the guise of "halakhah" to "flippantly dismiss" and "cavalierly denigrate" the sensibilities and preferences of honorable and respectable members of a community and that there is so little empathy for that in our local rabbinic community.

But wait. One more thing. That reference by Rabbi Dr. Greene to "a detailed essay" should read as follows, because he wrote the article that he cites:

In addition, in the spring 2013 issue of the “Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society” I published a detailed essay called “Casual Saturday? Dressing Down for Shabbat,” in which I make the case, based on clear halachic guidelines, for wearing a jacket and tie on Shabbat.

Check Out Talmudic Books
See the Kindle Talmud in English
Ponder the Questions of Whence and Wherefore
Experience God's Favorite Prayers

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In Mommy Edith's Memory - Please Quit Smoking Today

In 2000 my mother Edith Zahavy passed away on the 4th day of Tammuz after six months of hospitalization at Mt. Sinai in NYC. She was 79. For 63 years she smoked, mostly menthol cigarettes. The corporate tobacco pushers hooked her into addiction by giving her free samples outside her school, Hunter College, when she was a teenager. They supplied her habit for six decades. For several years prior to her death she could hardly walk because of her profound vascular disease, heart disease and emphysema. Her last months in the hospital on a respirator were awful as all of the organs of her systems weakened and failed.

My mother was a beautiful, selfless, generous, creative, religious person who dedicated her whole life to her family, to her friends and to her students. She first brought us up (myself and my brother and sister) and then went on to teach in the NYC public schools. She stood behind my father, me and my siblings through thick and thin. But through the years she always smoked, mostly Newports and Salems.

As I remember her -- an active vibrant woman -- I plead with you -- if you smoke cigarettes -- QUIT TODAY. Please for the sake of the memory of my mother -- for your own sake -- for the sake of your spouse, your parents, your children, your friends -- please stop.

(Repost annually from 2006)

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jStandard: My Dear Rabbi Column of July 5, 2013

My July "Dear Rabbi" column.

Dear Rabbi,

I grew up in a religious home and attend synagogue all my life and kept a kosher home, observed all the holidays and mitzvot. I'm 55 years old now and I realize that I do not believe in God. I've have told just a few people about my loss of faith. One friend with whom I have discussed this insists that it is hypocritical for me to attend synagogue and recite the prayers. At this age I do not want to disrupt my life style. What should I do?

Perplexed,

Paramus, NJ

Dear Perplexed,

Your mid-life crisis of belief is not uncommon, and yet, it has no easy solution. You know how thick with activities a religious life can be. It is hard to walk away from your accustomed life, one which is filled with tasks and obligations and appointments in your home and your community and on your calendar.

Admittedly, there is an element of hypocrisy if you practice without belief, if you go through the motions of the prayers when you don't believe in God. However there are many dimensions to collective worship. The synagogue provides for a means of social expression and of interactions which are important to a vibrant life. Participation with family and friends within a community promotes general health and well-being.

Though hypocrisy is no virtue, it also is not a sin. It is a fact of life. And for you, it may be best to keep your doubts a private matter. You seem to have already decided on that course of action, and I agree. It is better not to broadcast your non-belief to the world.

You may know that some seem to disagree with the approach of remaining discreet about the lack of belief. Writing recently in the Times, T. M. Luhrmann, a professor at Stanford, argued aloud that belief is overrated as a main feature of religion in America ("Belief Is the Least Part of Faith," May 29, 2013). She says that, "you can argue that religious belief as we now conceptualize it is an entirely modern phenomenon."

Luhrmann describes what she learned in her studies of evangelical Christians, "I saw that people went to church to experience joy and to learn how to have more of it. These days I find that it is more helpful to think about faith as the questions people choose to focus on, rather than the propositions observers think they must hold."

Now, based on my years of shul-going, I am tempted to say (jokingly) that I saw that people go to synagogue to experience "oy" (rather than "joy"). But I do agree with Luhrmann that we should not get hung up on questions of "belief." With or without active credence, great positive value derives from participating together with your peers in your worship community.

Dear Rabbi:

I don't see the point of reciting blessings before eating at every meal. I understand that it is a mitzvah and a form of thanksgiving. But, this kind of constant practice feels rote and repetitive to me. Can you provide me with any insight or new motivation?

Bless me,

Englewood, NJ

Dear Bless Me,

Your question has a pragmatic flavor to it. Curiously, there's an anecdote about one of America's founding fathers asking a related question.

Benjamin Franklin described a boyhood memory of the barrel of salted meat that sat in a corner beside their family dinner table. When the family took their meat for their daily meals from the barrel, Franklin recalled, his father prayed at every occasion: "Thank Thee, Father, for the meat Thou has laid before us."

One day young Benjamin openly suggested that the family could save some time, "Father, why not say one prayer over the whole barrel, and then we don't have to thank the Lord at every meal for every piece of meat we eat." His father was displeased with that suggestion and he scolded Franklin for his ingratitude.

I won't scold you. I will offer you a somewhat novel motivation for the myriads of food blessings that we Jews are accustomed to recite.

Simply put, reciting blessings can help us foster a more thoughtful awareness of our eating. Blessings can serve as triggers for us and can tell us to put aside our distractions, to be mindful of our actions, to be meditative of what type of food we hold in our hands, how that food ought to be regarded and classified, and to recall what its prescribed berakhah is.

All forms of mindfulness heighten a person's experiences and elevate ordinary events from a background of passive awareness to a foreground of active thinking. A blessing can act as a cue to us to more mindfully savor the taste and texture of our foods.

Meir, a rabbi in the Talmud in the second century, spoke of his expectation for every Jew a life punctuated daily by one-hundred blessings. He expected a Jew to experience each day one-hundred triggers of mindfulness, via blessings, not just over foods that we eat, but in our prayers and in the performance of all our ritual acts.

To be a bit more theological, because a blessing invokes three names of a divine entity ("Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe…"), classical Judaism says that it can accomplish something we conventionally describe as the sanctification of the acts that the reciter performs after each blessing. By our actions of reciting a blessing and then eating, for instance, a blessing-reciter fulfills a commandment and performs a sacred act.

A mindful-berakhah-eater knows to associate the correct blessing that applies to each food category and to each specific food. The eater has to decide what species of food this is—where it came from, what category it falls into—and thereby to determine the proper berakhah to recite before putting it into his or her mouth and eating it. A mindful eater must be culturally analytical, a bit botanical or culinary or scientific, and religiously cognizant—all before he or she recites the blessing.

As I see it, blessings trigger a frequent flow of meditative mindfulness. And I have found that for me a more thoughtful and mindful life throughout the day is a more sacred life.

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Summer at the Teaneck Swim Club, the Tenafly JCC Outdoor Swimming Pool + 10 more world class dramatic pools to think about

The start of summer. With nice weather ahead we look forward to swimming outdoors every day in Tenafly or Teaneck.

TSC open every day starting.

JCC OTP open every day starting.

And here are some of the other pools that we'd like to swim in...We've been to some of them...[reposted from 08].

Cool pools: 10 favorite hotel swimming spots By Gary Warner

The Orange County Register

Some like it hot. I do not. After a steamy day of going from museum to shop to cafe to hotel, I am in dire need of something big, cold and relaxing. No, not a beer. Well, OK, a beer would be nice, too.

I'm talking about a pool. A hotel swimming pool. A beckoning oasis of deep, crisp blue.

Over 10 years, I've dived and dipped into hundreds of Olympics, kidneys, minerals and infinities, from Bali to Baltimore. Most are fine but forgettable, so I cling to fond memories of laps gone by on my short list of classic dips. Come dive into the deep end of my list of favorite pools. You don't even have to shower before entering.

Hotel Gellert — Budapest, Hungary

The Turks invaded then receded from this part of Europe, but they left behind a love of watery luxury. Bathhouses decked out with fountains and colonnades still offer a classic soaking experience, with a rubdown costing a little extra.

You can stay at the Hotel Gellert or simply pay less than $10 to play pasha in its art nouveau 27-meter indoor swimming pool ringed with butterscotch-colored marble columns and lion heads spitting water.

Hotel Inter-Continental — Chicago.

The liquid miracle of The Miracle Mile. Rooftop pools are all the rage today, but people were agog in 1929 when what was then the Medinah Athletic Club built a 129,000-gallon junior Olympic-size pool above the grand ballroom.

With its tiled walls, viewing stand and potted plants, what is now the Inter-continental's pool retains the feel of a Jazz-era hangout. After a long day of dirt, grime and noise wandering the exciting urban scene in central Chicago, the pool seems like a great secret oasis in the heart of the city.

Inexpensive splashes:
Great pools usually come with the steep price tag of a luxury hotel but here are a few of my favorite "cheap dips" from around the country:
Best Western Ramkota Inn, Sioux Falls, S.D., 605-336-0650. Great indoor water park with 130-foot slide.
Caliente Tropics Motel, Palm Springs. 888-277-0999. www.calientetropics.com. Poolside tiki and torches.
American Inn, Hardin, Mont. 406-665-1870. A 140-foot slide at a simple motel near the Little Big Horn National Historic Battlefield.
Days Inn, Memphis. 3839 Elvis Presley Blvd. 800-329-7466. www.daysinn.com. Guitar-shaped pool across from Elvis' Graceland mansion.
Chico Hot Springs, 1 Chico Road in Pray, Mont. 800-HOT-WADA (468-9232). A rustic spa with a large hot mineral swimming pool.

The Palace of the Lost City — Sun City, South Africa

The Palace of the Lost City is the epic top-end hotel of Sun City, the once-controversial gambling resort in an enclave within racially segregated South Africa. Today it's a swimmers' paradise open to anyone with a fat enough wallet.

The Valley of the Waves pool area has 13 waterfalls, 20 cascades, two man-made rivers and six ponds. A wave pool featuring six stone lions that spew fountains of water from their mouths can churn out 5-foot-high breakers. The Temple of Courage is topped by a crumbling stone rotunda from which a nearly vertical water slide sends the brave on a swift 210-foot descent into a pool. If you can't make it all the way to Africa, many of the same water effects are at its sister hotel, Atlantis, in the Bahamas.

Park Hyatt Tokyo — Tokyo

Long before "Lost in Translation" made the Park Hyatt Tokyo an international celebrity, it was my favorite hotel in Asia. The hotel occupies several high floors of the Shinjuku Park Tower, one of the city's tallest skyscrapers. The aerie atmosphere extends even to the hotel pool, which sits in a cathedral-like space on the 47th floor. The 20-meter pool is pretty in itself. But it's the setting that is so stunning. From lounge chairs at poolside I could gaze out at the forest of steel and glass of the business district's high-rises. In the evening, the neon of the Shibuya and Ginza districts shimmered in the distance. Mesmerizing.

Renaissance Esmeralda — Indian Wells, Calif.

Since the mercury here regularly gurgles above 100 degrees, it's little surprise that the desert resorts scattered around Palm Springs have one of the best collections of cool pools in the country. The Korakia Pensione's small, lovely Moroccan-style pool made the Travel Channel's national Top 10 list.

My personal favorite is the array of splash spots at the Esmeralda, also one of the area's top golf and spa resorts. Three adjacent pools, one with a gushing waterfall, create a kind of aquatic garden.

Kids are the key here. Nearly all the pools are no deeper than 3 feet, so Mom and Dad can hang around the central bar watching a ballgame while the offspring cavort a few feet away. A stretch of trucked-in beach is the spot to make sand castles in the desert.

Flamingo Las Vegas — Las Vegas

Vegas is one of the true pool Meccas of the world. You can choose from the wave pool at Mandalay Bay, the massive classical-tinged swimming areas at Bellagio and Caesars Palace, and the acres of shaded pools at the Tropicana.

But my choice is the Flamingo, boasting 15-acre grounds with four pools. The centerpiece is a massive lagoon with an 18-foot waterfall that is the hotel's party place on hot days. Kids like a linear pool that's connected by a series of small waterslides. My favorite is the small adults-only oval pool, with its fantastically shocking-pink world. It's ringed by tall flamingo statues in front of pricey cabanas that come with their own television and telephone. Be prepared: It can be very crowded on weekends.

Amandari — Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

In the quiet hills far from the tourist routes sits one of the heartbreakingly lovely Amanresorts of Asia. The luxuriously cool and shady cottages are hard to leave. But I loved spending a couple of hours lolling in and around the hotel's infinity pool, the tag put on pools that use a flat rim with a gutter just below to create the illusion that the water simply floats off into space.

The far wall dropped into a ravine with a green forest canopy sitting above some of Bali's iconic terraced rice fields. Palms swayed in the warm, humid breeze and a small river rushed down the hill toward the sea. I folded my arms over the edge and watched as a Balinese woman with a large kayak balanced perfectly on her head walked by. A remarkable travel moment experienced without even getting out of the pool.

Grand Wailea — Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

For pure "wow" factor, this ultra-expensive Maui resort can't be beat. My preteen son and his friends prefer the wild times of the Grand Wailea to any other hotel pool in the islands. The eye-catching Hibiscus Pool features 2.2 million Mexican tiles. It's the quietest pool — no one under 16 is allowed.

The kids won't squawk. All the real action is over at the Wailea Canyon Activity Pool. A series of interconnected pools feature six waterfalls, slides, swinging ropes, whirlpools, an infant pool, a swim-up bar and a poolside sandy beach. The Lava Slide is a 238-foot-long ride, while the churning Ana Puka Slide spins swimmers in circles.

Spending over $400 a night gives the guests a sense of entitlement, and the crowd at the Grand Wailea can get a bit testy when the lounge chairs near the pool run out around midmorning. Do try to tear yourself away from the pool for a dip in the beautiful beach that fronts the hotel.

Hyatt Regency Kauai — Kauai, Hawaii

There are other great pools on nearly every island, from the water-park atmosphere of the Westin Maui and Hilton Waikaloa Village on the Big Island to acres of water at the Marriott Kauai and Princeville Resort in Kauai to smaller jewel-like pools at the Halekulani in Waikiki and the Hotel Hana-Maui.

My favorite among these is the pools at the Hyatt Regency Kauai, on the sunny south side of the Garden Island. The Hyatt requires a major water-park-like experience, since it fronts the rugged, rough Shipwreck Beach, making ocean swimming an unwise proposition on many days.
Guests can splash in a five-acre saltwater lagoon or a couple of freshwater pools. But what gets the Hyatt Regency on my list is the wandering man-made river that flows from the hotel's terraced gardens down to a small pool next to the saltwater lagoon. Along the way are lots of inlets and grottoes for a watery version of hide and seek. On the downside, the channel is about 4 feet deep and covers a lot of territory, so keep an eye on the youngest of your swimmers.

The Biltmore Hotel — Coral Gables, Fla.

A gorgeous landmark in the town that dubs itself "the city beautiful," the Biltmore's 700,000-gallon pool is the largest hotel pool in the continental United States. It would be hard to feel crowded here. Sometimes the pool can be oddly empty — the high-end clientele seems to prefer sitting waterside to performing cannonballs or cherry bombs.

Before World War II, the pool was the site of spectacular water "galas" that would draw thousands of onlookers. Johnny Weissmuller, the future Olympic swimmer-turned-movie Tarzan, once taught swimming here.

If you are a pool fanatic, check out the nearby Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, which has been called the most beautiful public swimming pool in the United States.

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JStandard: Was the Supreme Court ruling on gene patenting good for the Jews?

Yes, the Supreme Court ruling on gene patenting is good for the Jews.

As the Jewish Standard science correspondent (and our sister) Dr. Miryam Wahrmann observes, "That case could have a dramatic impact on the development, cost, and availability of [life-saving] genetic tests."

See her in-depth cover story "Supreme Court ruling on gene patenting changes the landscape for BRCA testing" here.

And her related stories:

New website educates the Jewish community about genetic health issues

Sharsheret’s genetics for life addresses hereditary breast and ovarian cancer

Ponder the Questions of Whence and Wherefore
Experience God's Favorite Prayers

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JStandard Letters Continue Dear Rabbi Debates

JStandard letters continue the debates on issues raised by Rabbi Dr. Tzvee Zahavy in his column, Dear Rabbi.

Jeff Bernstein • Letters
Many thanks for Rabbi Zahavy’s and Mr. Sutton’s thoughtful responses to my May 24 letter on the issue of the efficacy of prayer, particularly the Kaddish (“More on angels,” June 2). I would be grateful if any reader would care to respond to my question concerning the Kedusha: Why, in the Kedusha, does the Creator of the Universe need to hear words of praise from angels, beings who have no free will, and therefore no choice in the matter?

Jeff Bernstein
New Milford

Shel Haas • Letters
“Our great minds are equally sure that God hears our prayers” illustrates how irrational those “great minds” were (“More on angels,” May 30). “Official theology”? According to a group of men of long ago that were unaware of the information regarding all aspects of life that is available today. The great Saadia Gaon’s writings illustrate his great reasoning powers. He could examine a problem from all aspects and then proceed to a conclusion. He professed that the Earth was the center of the universe. He obviously did not have the knowledge possessed in later years. Prayer answers a psychological need in humans. Sound from Earth is not heard in outer space. God is not limited to a particular place in a particular time. We do not listen to God’s messages. If God saw fit to enable the Temples built in Jerusalem to be demolished, finding them faulty in many ways, why do our people venerate what God has destroyed? God gave us the ability to think for ourselves. We have the past upon which to base our present and future. If the past has proven to be faulty in many ways, isn’t it time to acknowledge that conclusion and move on to approach the real path God has set forth for us. Justice, righteousness, and charity were the three themes expressed by our prophets as to God’s desires of mankind. All else, God said many times, is meaningless.

Shel Haas
Fort Lee

Emile Pincus • Letters
Thank you for printing the stimulating exchange between Rabbi Zahavy and correspondent Jeff Bernstein (Letters, May 24 and May 31).

Mr. Bernstein’s comments reflect a major tension inherent in modern religious life. There is an impressive intensity that he invests in solving the mystery of what to believe. However, his need to go beyond the emotional position — which, I submit, is a spiritual position — expressed in prayer, to an urgent need to find a factual type of reality seems misplaced.

The issue is not really whether the angels pray in Aramaic, or whether God needs our prayer, or indeed whether we really do intercede with God when we say prayers in memory of the departed.

There is a deep beauty and need that we humans experience when we try to give to others. When we remember the dead, and when we believe that they might actually need us to help them by doing so, in a way that they are unable now to help themselves; when we think of whatever they have given us, and how can we really express that to them today — religion gives us a means of expressing that. Others may believe they have found more meaningful ways of expressing that gratitude and debt. However, religion gets us started in the right direction, and provides a real reminder that we need to give something of ourselves to remembering those we owe to ourselves to remember on a recurrent basis.

What Judaism and prayers offer is an opportunity to adopt a posture toward life that is ultimately helpful for ourselves. A favorite image I have, on family yahrzeits: they are depending on me to remember them, to “do the right thing,” that just might help them. They’re cheering me on from the silent grandstand. Knowing that I might be doing something for them and that they need me and that actually I need them to need me makes the occasion and the observance “make sense,” which Mr. Bernstein insists upon. Perhaps these thoughts and imaginings will help.

Emile Pincus
Teaneck

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Please continue to write in to Dear Rabbi to agree or disagree. Rabbi Dr. Tzvee Zahavy looks forward to reading more of your questions, insights and challenges. His monthly column is on page 47 - link.]

Experience God's Favorite Prayers

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Is it kosher to bring a gun to the swim club?

Unless we are talking about a super-soaker toy, no, not in my backyard. It is not kosher to bring a gun into my swim club. I don't really care what the gold old boy yahoos in West Virginia do - see the story below. Just don't bring any gun to the Teaneck Swim Club or the JCC where my friends and relatives go to swim in safety.

And by the way even the toys are getting downright dangerous. Consider you can "ice" your friends with the NERF SUPER SOAKER ARCTIC SHOCK Water Blaster - about which we are told by Hasbro:

This powerful soaker lets you freeze your friends with icy blasts of water! The ARCTIC SHOCK soaker’s Ice Drum has a large 25-fluid-ounce capacity and you can fill it with ice for a super-chilled soak. Fill the drum and pump for a freezing blast of water at targets up to 30 feet away! The Ice Drum works with other Clip System SUPER SOAKER blasters (sold separately) and SUPER SOAKER Water Clips work with the ARCTIC SHOCK soaker. Fill additional Water Clips (sold separately) and use them to refill fast. Put the competition on ice with the ARCTIC SHOCK soaker!

From ProPublica, some dangerous summer news.

Now, You Can’t Ban Guns at the Public Pool
by Lois Beckett, ProPublica

If you feel unsafe at a public pool in Charleston, W.Va., you may soon have the right to lie there on a towel with a handgun at your side.

For 20 years, Charleston has been an island of modest gun restrictions in a very pro-gun rights state. But its gun laws — including a ban on guns in city parks, pools and recreation centers — are now likely to be rolled back, the latest victory in a long-standing push to deny cities the power to regulate guns.

Since the 1980s, the National Rifle Association and other groups have led a successful campaign to get state legislatures to limit local control over gun regulations. These "preemption" laws block cities from enacting their own gun policies, effectively requiring cities with higher rates of gun violence to have the same gun regulations as smaller towns.

Before 1981, when an Illinois town banned the possession of handguns, just a handful of states had preemption laws on the books. Today, 42 states block cities from making gun laws, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Even Illinois, which has long allowed its cities to pass gun control measures, is about to invalidate local restrictions on concealed handguns and ban any future local regulation of assault weapons.

Gun rights advocates argue that allowing cities to have their own gun laws creates an impossible situation for law-abiding gun owners, who cannot be expected to read ordinances for every town they might pass through.

The preemption campaign has racked up so many victories nationwide, it's now focusing on holdouts like Charleston, population 51,000.

Charleston's current gun restrictions include a three-day waiting period to buy a handgun, and a limit of one handgun purchase per month, as well as bans on guns on publicly owned property, such as parks and pools.

West Virginia Delegate Patrick Lane crafted an amendment to an unrelated state bill, now passed, that will likely force Charleston to erase those restrictions.

"Crime could happen anyplace. You obviously want to be able to defend yourself and your family if something happens," Lane said, when asked why anyone would want to bring a gun to a public pool.

The NRA did not respond to requests for comment, but its website calls Charleston's restrictions "misguided" and "unreasonable." Its site has closely tracked the progress of the repeal of the ordinances, which it states "would have no negative impact whatsoever on Charleston." The site has repeatedly criticized Charleston's Republican mayor for "speaking out publicly against this pro-gun reform."

It's not clear what effect the spread of preemption has had on public safety. "It's very hard to determine what causes crime to go up and down, because there are so many variables," said Laura Cutilletta, a senior attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

But in Charleston, Police Chief Brent Webster says he's worried about losing the city's current restrictions, in particular the law banning guns at city pools, concerts and sporting events.

"You will have some citizens say, 'I can do that now, so I'm going to do that,'" Webster said. "I am greatly concerned."

"When they're diving off the diving board, is that [gun] going to be in a book bag? Is that going to be lying under their towel and an eight-year-old kid is walking through the pool area and picks it up?"

Two of the city's former police chiefs also say they're worried about losing the ban on guns in public places that attract kids.

"That has nothing to do with the Second Amendment right. It has to do with public safety," former Chief Dallas Staples said.

Charleston's mayor, Danny Jones, who's fought to keep the gun restrictions, said the city now has no choice but to do what the state legislature wants and roll them back. The state legislature packaged the rollback requirement with a popular measure giving Charleston more leeway in how it raises taxes.

"I'm still reeling from all this, because it's going to affect us in a very negative way," Jonestold reporters after the law passed.

Keith Morgan, president of the West Virginia Citizen's Defense League, a gun rights group, said the group been pushing for an end to Charleston's ordinances for years, and that the change would protect law-abiding gun owners from a "minefield" of conflicting local laws.

Lane, the West Virginia delegate, also said that gun-owning commuters were put at risk as they traveled through different cities with different rules.

But neither Lane nor Morgan could cite an example of a gun owner being prosecuted for accidentally breaking the law during their commute, or by accidentally wandering into a city park. When Morgan himself once showed up at the Charleston Civic Center with a gun, he said, he was simply asked to leave, and he did. In lawsuits the West Virginia Citizen's Defense League filed against gun ordinances in Charleston and Martinsburg, the plaintiffs cited their fear of potential prosecution.

The main burden of Charleston's laws for gun owners has been the inconvenience of waiting three days to purchase a handgun, and only being able to buy one handgun at a time — something that can be particularly troublesome "if you're buying a present for your family and there happens to be a Christmas sale at the retailer," Lane said.

Former Charleston law enforcement officers say the handgun restrictions, passed in 1993, helped the city tamp down on the drugs-for-guns trade that was rampant at the time. But since then, gun stores have sprung up right at the city's borders, said Steve Walker, a former Charleston police officer and now president of the West Virginia branch of the Fraternal Order of Police.

"Honestly, I don't know whether with them repealing it, it is going to help them or hurt them," Walker said of the handgun restrictions.

State legislators said that city officials are overplaying their fears.

"I don't see everyone with a concealed carry permit deciding to go to a pool and carry a gun," said Democrat Mark Hunt, a state delegate, "So what if they do? They're law-abiding citizens."

Charleston’s mayor said he has a plan if somebody brings a gun poolside: “We're going to close down the pool."

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Dear Rabbi Controversy on Angels and Prayers

Here are this week's Dear Rabbi Responses and Discussions from the Jewish Standard.

Rabbi Zahavy’s response to my letter of May 23 ("Kaddish, Kedushah and Angels") concerning the efficacy of the Kaddish and the meaning of the Kedushah, is both confusing and incomplete. On the one hand he admits that our prayers, specifically the Kaddish, do not cause God to act regarding the souls of our departed and then immediately contradicts that by writing that God hears and answers his prayers (meaning the Kaddish and/or the El Maleh Rachamim) regarding the immortality of his parents' souls. He also completely ignores my question about why, in the Kedushah, does the Creator of the Universe need to hear words of praise from beings (angels who have no free will) who have no choice in the matter.

Perhaps Rabbi Zahavy can further clarify. Thank you.

Jeff Bernstein
New Milford

Jeff Bernstein, in his May 24 letter, asserts that “we are rewarded and/or punished for our own deeds and not for what anyone else does. My parents’ place in the World to Come does not depend in the least on what I or anyone does on their behalf.” In actuality, while Mr. Bernstein’s first sentence is accurate, his second sentence does not follow from the first, and is not correct.

When we conduct ourselves in a good and holy way, do good deeds, and yes, say Kaddish for our parents, we demonstrate that our parents were successful in passing Jewish ideals to their children. It is our demonstration of their merit that confirms and raises their place in the World to Come, not what we do on their behalf. In other words, the very fact of our desire to honor our parents by saying Kaddish for them is a sign of their good work in raising their children. And conversely, our neglect or unwillingness to say Kaddish would be a sign of their failure.

So yes, the place in Olam HaBah of Mr. Bernstein’s parents depends strictly on their own deeds; and Mr. Bernstein’s actions in this world are a clear demonstration of his parents’ deeds, at least in the area of child raising and fulfilling the mitzvah of teaching one’s children.

Leon Sutton
New York, NY

Dear Rabbi, Rabbi Dr. Tzvee Zahavy, responds:

My intent in my column is to encourage an open, non-denominational and non-judgmental discussion of basic Judaic issues. So I am grateful for the Talmudic questions from Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Sutton. Both writers take prayers seriously and they raise legitimate concerns. 

I wish I could give Mr. Bernstein a clearer description of how prayer affects God’s decisions. Our great philosophers and theologians agree on the one hand that our prayer does not force God to act. Belief that prayer compels God would be a heresy that equates prayer with magic. Yet our great minds are equally sure that God hears our prayers and takes them into account in determining our fate. Note well that the members of our congregations may have personal beliefs on this matter that are not based on our official theology or philosophy but are to them equally valid and meaningful.

On the second question, the idea that angels sing praises to God is biblical, as for example in Psalm 148. I confess to a lack of further expertise in matters between God and his angels.

Mr. Sutton’s meaningful and personal theological explanations remind me once again that ordained Rabbis do not have an exclusive franchise on our theology. Members of the community at large can be a great source of creative insights.

Please continue to write in to Dear Rabbi and agree or disagree. I look forward to reading more of your questions, insights and challenges.

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jStandard: Aramaic and Angels Redux

May 24, 2013
To the Editor:

Rabbi Zahavy’s column about kaddish (“Dear Rabbi,” May 3 Jewish Standard) and the letter responding to it (“Do the angels pray in Aramaic?,” May 10 Jewish Standard) raise a host of issues that must be dealt with rationally.

When my parents died, I, as an Orthodox Jew, said kaddish three times daily for 11 months for both. I did it out of respect for Jewish law and tradition and respect for them. Certainly not because I expected that my actions or inactions in this world would have any effect on their position vis-a-vis God in the World To Come. Rabbi Zahavy says that “to secure a place for the departed soul”… “many Jews believe” that by daily recitation of Kaddish, you will be “certain” about the departed’s immortal life “in the eternity of heaven.”

To begin with, our religion makes very clear that we are rewarded and/or punished for our own deeds and not for what anyone else does. My parents’ place in the World to Come does not depend in the least on what I or anyone does on their behalf.

Secondly, both he and the letter writer, Israel Polak, discuss whether angels do or do not communicate in Aramaic! One of my problems, relating to this and the Kedushah, has to do with the issue of angels praising God. It is established that 1) angels have no free will and 2) God has no need of our prayers nor of our praise of Him. We are the ones who need to pray and to praise God. Why then does the Creator of the Universe need to hear, as the Talmud states, the Kedushah illustrates, and Rabbi Zahavy argues, words of praise from beings who have no choice in the matter?

While it may be comforting and romantic to believe, as Rabbi Zahavy says “many Jews” do, that we can intercede with God “to gain heavenly immortality for the soul of a departed one,” it makes no sense that our intercession will, as it were, cause God to change His mind.

Jeff Bernstein
New Milford

Rabbi Dr. Tzvee Zahavy, replies:

Mr. Bernstein makes good points. I agree that we always must offer respectful performances of our ritual. And surely we do not expect our prayers will compel God to act. But my explorations seek to understand why we say this Aramaic or Hebrew prayer in this place and for this amount of time.

I do believe that God hears my fervent and humble prayers and that they do make a difference. That is why, during Yizkor on the second day of Shavuot, I said the El Maleh Rachamim, asking God to grant proper rest in heaven for the dear souls of my father and my mother, “O God, full of mercy, Who dwells on high, grant proper rest on the wings of the Divine Presence in the lofty levels of the holy and the pure ones, who shine like the glow of the firmament…”

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Teaneck's Cedar Lane Cinemas to Re-open

Indeed good news. We have missed our local movie house.

Teaneck's Cedar Lane Cinemas will re-open this summer under a new owner according to NorthJersey.com.

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Is Hawk Kosher?

Hawk is not kosher. It is a bird of prey.
Proof: Video above of a hawk eating its prey outside of the window of my den in Teaneck.

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Is Lena Dunham Jewish?

Yes, Lena Dunham is a Jew. She is creator and star of the controversial hit HBO series Girls, which "we hear" is edgy and entertaining.

Wikipedia reports, "Dunham's father is Protestant, and according to Dunham, a Mayflower descendant; Dunham's mother is Jewish."

Dunham told the Jewish Journal: “I went to Hebrew school for, like, two weeks, and then didn’t get the part I wanted in the play and quit,” she said. “But I’ve always had a great love of all the holidays that we celebrate together as a family: Passover, Chanukah. I’ve spent a good amount of time in temple, and I definitely feel very culturally Jewish, although that’s the biggest cliché for a Jewish woman to say.”

Dunham dates Jack Antonoff, also Jewish and a former neighbor of ours in Bergen County. JStandard reported in a cover story that, "Solomon Schechter’s Jack Antonoff is a Grammy Award winner!" He won for song of the year and best new artist.

Dunham Instagrammed the cover of the Jewish Standard (3/11/2013) observing that, "Jewish boys are best." Thank you Lena.

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Is Geraldo Rivera Jewish?

Yes, attorney, journalist, writer, reporter and former talk show host Geraldo Rivera is a Jew. Rivera has worked with distinction for 40 years in TV journalism and entertainment. He has hosted the program Geraldo at Large, and appears on Fox News Channel.

In February 2013 Rivera disclosed that he was considering running for the Senate as a Republican candidate in New Jersey.

Rivera was born July 4, 1943 at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City (where this blogger was born some years later). He is the son of Lillian (née Lillie Friedman), a waitress and a cashier for the E. J. Korvettes store in Massapequa, N.Y., and the late Cruz "Allen" Rivera (October 1, 1915 - November 1987), who managed a kitchen at Republic Aviation, formerly in Farmingdale, N.Y. Rivera's father was Puerto Rican of Spanish ancestry and his mother is of Ashkenazi Russian Jewish descent. According to Wikipedia, Rivera was raised "mostly Jewish" and had a Bar Mitzvah.

We met Geraldo's wife Erica one time {10/4/2010) at the JCC on the Palisades where she served on the board of directors (and swims laps in the pool). The couple resides in Edgewater, N.J., with their young child.

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Is Naftali Bennett Jewish?

New Yorker has a long rambling article ostensibly about Naftali Bennett, who is a Jew, and a right wing politician in Israel. The article is by David Remnick, editor of the magazine and also a Jew and politically a liberal. Remnick throws into the article his historical narrative about how Israeli politics has veered further and further to the right over the past decades.

Full of back-stories and color, as New Yorker articles must be, we wondered about the bottom line motives for this write-up. Our inquiry to a religious friend in Ra'anana asking whether he knows Bennett brought this response, "Bennett lives a couple of blocks away, but I do not know him nor have I ever met him. I am not sure that I have even seen him. He lives a minute away from another big shot, Yakov Amidror who is Netanyahu’s personal National Security Advisor... Bennett has made a big splash, although I haven’t a clew why."

I suppose Remnick went over to Ra'anana ostensibly to find out if and why Bennett matters. In the process he gives us this color with a surprising and strange local comparison:

...Bennett’s house is large, modern, filled with sunlight. He and his wife have four children, ranging in age from six months to seven years. There were toys and strollers scattered everywhere, and open packages of Huggies. The place didn’t have the ascetic feel of a settler outpost: there was a Viking stove, a Nespresso machine, laptops, flat-screen TVs. This was the style of the bourgeois pioneer.

Finally, Bennett came in. We made coffee and went out to the green back yard to talk. More toys, a barbecue. I’d heard people compare Ra’anana to Englewood, New Jersey—prosperous, good schools, close to the city—and it felt that way, but with better weather...

In effect this long combined profile and history lesson in New Yorker boosts Bennett's influence. So now we muse, Why would a left-leaning writer want to do that? Remnick seems to tell us why at the close of his essay:

...And so this is the moment of Naftali Bennett. I’ve rarely seen a novice politician so confident, and with such reason. Each day, he is climbing in the polls, skimming off votes from the Likud and Netanyahu...

You see the simple and overt Talmudic logic. Boost the more radical one to split the rightists and thereby to help the left.

Postscript: Wait just a sec. Isn't that why and how the radical rightist party Hamas came to power in Palestinian politics? Americans and Israelis thought that boosting them would split and weaken the Palestinian cause. Hmm, maybe that is not such a good logic after all. We believe that divide-and-conquer is not such a good strategy. You just end up shooting-yourself-in-the-foot.

An op-ed in the Daily Beast, "Why I Like Naftali Bennett," by Shaul Magid, spells this thinking out in another roundabout way.

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Teaneck gets The Shalom TV Channel

Optimum in Teaneck has The Shalom TV Channel on 138 now as a full time channel in addition to the previous On Demand service. Via PR:

Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) today announced the addition of the new Shalom TV Channel to Optimum’s comprehensive line-up. Shalom TV, available on channel 138, is America's Jewish television network with a strong array of shows covering the panorama of Jewish life and of interest to everyone.

Shalom TV programming addresses everyone with a sense of Jewish identity and those seeking their roots. Televised offerings resonate with anyone who has a passion for learning and a desire to gain a greater understanding of Jewish tradition, Jewish life and the land of Israel. Viewers can tune-in to daily news from the Israel Broadcasting Authority, timely interviews with the leading personalities in the Jewish world, live call-in programs, Friday evening Sabbath services and Jewish children's programming every morning and afternoon....

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The Talmud of Madoff and Wiesel: Review of a Drama at the Garage Theatre at FDU in Teaneck: Extended to November 18

We recommend that you go see the Madoff Drama at the Garage Theatre at FDU in Teaneck, now extended to November 18.

We saw it, and our instant review is that this is a worthy play and a spirited first-rate production by a polished professional group - and right here in our back yard!

Talmudic Review

There are Talmudic references in the script of "Imagining Madoff." But that is not what makes it a Talmudic play. No, it is Talmudic because it creates a drama of debate and dispute over cosmic issues brought down to earth as a dialogue between metaphoric characters. That is what the Talmud of Babylonia did for Jewish thought 1500 years ago.

This play is not about the real Bernie Madoff who was the greatest financial scammer in history, Nor is it about an Elie Wiesel type of character who represents a loud moral voice in an amoral world.

No this play is a work of Talmudic discourse where the playwright weaves into dialogues and discourses - a variety of dialectics about life. Deb Margolin has given the two main characters names, Madoff and Galkin. And she has created a third important woman character who sits and observes on the sidelines.

Throughout, this play has no real connection to actual persons living or dead. And that may be the case for much of the materials in the actual Talmudic literature as well. (But that is a topic for discussion in the learned world of academic publications.)

The Talmud is a long and engrossing work of literature that takes up numerous issues related to life and to Judaism, to men and to women, to emotions and to ideas, and puts them into the mouths of larger than life rabbinic figures.

And so is this play. Not quite as long as the Talmud, and not as comprehensive. Still playwright Margolin manages to raise penetrating moral, ethical, psychological and philosophical issues within the parameters of a three person drama.

Michael Bias dazzles in his understated and calm portrayal of the Bernard Madoff character, Though we never met the actual man, we imagine that Madoff must have put on a soft and remote persona to attract so much investment. Here Bias plays the busy earthy scheming human archetype, a foil for his lofty universal counterpart.

Thom Molyneaux excels as as that counterpart, the sage Solomon Galkin, with a persistent and learned character portrayal of a Wiesel substitute. We did meet Elie Wiesel and know him to be a masterful listener and a persistent voice of conscience. Molyneaux plays the rabbinic Galkin with such aplomb, we'd swear on a Bible that the actor is Jewish, if not Orthodox, though he is not.

And Mikeala Kafka shines as Madoff's secretary. She represents the perspective of the outsiders, both men and women, who watched as a great cosmic tragedy unfolded as the Madoff crisis unraveled. Here she stands in for the world at large - playing for us a single peripheral character who suffers stinging loss and humiliation when the tragic character falls. Many of us can identify with the perspective of the thoughtful and sensitive sideline casualty that Kafka creates. (And Kafka, what an ironic name for the actor that plays that character!)

Though this is a play mainly of monologues and dialogues, it moved quickly and never lagged or lost me. You'd be foolish to miss it. Hurry and get your tickets.

Go today and buy your tickets here. The Facebook page is here.

Summary from the Garage Theatre:

Our first play of the season is Imagining Madoff by Obie–Award winning playwright Deborah Margolin. It is a provocative, compelling and somewhat controversial piece. When Ms. Margolin sent Elie Wiesel the original version of the script that fictionalizes Wiesel’s real life betrayal by Bernard Madoff, the renowned author wrote back, threatening to take legal action against any production. Margolin revised the script, replacing the Wiesel character with the fictional Solomon Galkin, a poet, synagogue treasurer and translator whose moral bona fides and belief in Madoff's magic at once make for a crackling dramaturgical tension.

But above and beyond anything else, Imagining Madoff concerns itself with the terrible beauty and magnificent danger of absolute faith, either in God or in Men.

Imagining Madoff is a suspense drama crafted from a story that is already known. We share as an audience a sense, even to the end, that we can change what's already past.

It is a moral investigation.

Imagining Madoff is directed by Frank Licato and features Michael Bias as Bernard Madoff, Thom Molyneaux as Solomon Galkin, and Mikeala Kafka as Madoff's secretary.

There will be 12 performances of Imagining Madoff, Oct 25 – Nov 18. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm.
Every Thursday is Bergen County Night. If you live or work in Bergen County, tickets are just $20.

At the conclusion of each performance there will be a talk back with the audience. The talk back will include the actors, director and the playwright. By giving our audience, both young and old, this opportunity, we hope to inspire a new generation of theatre goers.

All performances are at the Becton Theatre, 960 River Road on the FDU campus in Teaneck.

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Back to Teaneck with Power and Gas

Power is back. Gas in car.

Great losses all around due to the forces of the hurricane and the surge of the sea.

We need time to process all of this.

Here is a summary news report from jpost of how the storm's events affected Teaneck's Jewish community.

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Is Paul Volcker Jewish?

No, we do not think that former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker is a Jew. According to reporter Roni Sofer of the usually reliable Israeli source YNet, he is a Jew. However this is disputed by credible evidence.

The 2004 biography by Joseph B. Treaster, Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend, says Volcker attended a Lutheran church on Sundays with his mother, while his father went to an Episcopalian church.

A member of our nearest Teaneck synagogue who has written a new book about Volcker confirmed to us that Volcker is not a Jew. William Silber has published, Volcker: The Triumph of Persistence

Volcker is a native son of Teaneck New Jersey and a graduate of Teaneck High School. His father was the township's first Municipal manager.

Volcker was appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter and reappointed in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan.

Volcker served on the Obama economic team. WSJ reports that his influence was substantial, "At least for the day, the most powerful man in the U.S. financial industry and for equities markets is 82 years old, a man who ended his leadership of the Federal Reserve more than 20 years ago."

Forbes reported in January 2011 that Volcker was retiring from public life, "Gone Fishing: Paul Volcker Retires From Public Life, Heads For the River," saying, "Later this week Paul Volcker, the man who helped guide the U.S. through two of its most serious recent economic crises, will step down as the chairman of the President’s Economic Advisory Board."   //augmented repost from 3/09//

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JStandard: Zalman Alpert Analyzes Teaneck Modern Orthodoxy

In JStandard Zalman Alpert analyzes Modern Orthodoxy in Teaneck. He muses in the interview article, "Speaking of synagogues, Alpert continues, Teaneck’s dozen modern Orthodox shuls, and a growing number in other Bergen County communities such as Bergenfield, Englewood, and Fair Lawn, is also a new phenomenon in American Orthodoxy."

We wonder how many modern Orthodox Jews live in our town. Twelve synagogues, so 12,000 families? More? Fewer? Even in the best estimate case, it seems the impact of modern Orthodoxy rests not in quantity but in quality.

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