Style & Living

President Donald Trump and his administration have long been on a path to diminish Palestinian declarations of statehood. The Trump administration recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and in a historic move relocated the American embassy to Yerushalayim. David Friedman, US Ambassador to Israel, is recognized for engaging the White House on such a transference, and must be commended for his painstaking efforts since assuming his position.

The recent comments by freshman Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib during a podcast have been discussed thoroughly in the Jewish, and non-Jewish, community. Tlaib, who spun an ahistorical lie that the surviving Jews of the Holocaust were welcomed with open arms by her Palestinian ancestors, has her defenders in the Democratic Party. The nefarious aspect of the defense tactics is not claiming that she is right; rather, they attack the criticizers themselves. By doing this, their goal is to silence their opponents, and this silence has a history all its own.

“Not only one has risen against us to annihilate us, but in every generation they rise against us to annihilate us.” These words, recited during the most emotional point of the Pesach Seder, still ring true, despite the incredible freedoms American Jews enjoy. Six months after the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, last week another shooting occurred at the Chabad in Poway, California. A few days earlier, The New York Times published a cartoon of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicted as a big-nosed dog with a Jewish star necklace leading a yarmulke-wearing, blind President Trump. Anti-Semitism rears its ugly head in many forms, and American Jews must be knowledgeable of who our enemies are and where they come from if we are to continue to survive.

New York News

 United Hatzalah of Israel’s annual New York Gala raised over $16 million with 1,200 attendees.

We pass our community shuls all the time. But how much do we know about what or who is inside them?

7100 Yellowstone Blvd., Forest Hills, NY 11375

Rabbi Elisha Friedman has been the Rabbi at the Young Israel of Forest Hills for the past three years. He grew up in a variety of places, including Israel, New Jersey, and North Carolina. Rabbi Friedman received s’michah from Yeshiva University, where he currently teaches Jewish philosophy, and is completing his PhD in Modern Jewish Philosophy. Rabbi Friedman also has a podcast, “It’s Genius,” where he focuses on making complex Gemara analysis understandable and accessible, and a podcast on Rav Chaim Soloveitchik’s Chidushei HaRambam. Prior to coming to Forest Hills, he was the Rabbi at a shul in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for six years.

Recap: Ada decides not to tell Aunt Annabelle about her worry that Galla overheard Mirhan say he was going to have a bris milah.

 The next morning, Erev Shabbos, I heard the jangle of horses. Saman and Jenna’s carriage pulled up to the palace. The marble floor sparkled. Aunt Annabelle’s silver candlesticks gleamed. The table was set with a white linen cloth and our best ceramic dishes. The scent of freshly baked challah wafted through the air.