Style & Living

 In 1942, two years after the German invasion of the Netherlands, Johan Van Hulst - the son of a furniture upholsterer - was the principal of a Christian training college in Amsterdam. The school was in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Plantage just east of the city center. Across the road from Van Hulst’s school was the Hollandsche Schouwburg, a former theater seized by the Nazis in 1941 to be used as a deportation center for the Jews of Amsterdam. In total, 107,000 Jews in the Netherlands were sent to death camps; only 5,200 survived. Historians believe about 46,000 people were deported from the old theater over an 18-month period, up until the end of 1943. Most of the Jews who were deported ended up at concentration camps in Westerbork in the Netherlands, or Auschwitz and Sobibor in occupied Poland. Sadly, most did not survive.

November third is past,

The voting is done;

Remaining, the tally,

To see who has won.

A real nail-biter,

It’s going to be close;

When the smoke clears, we’ll see

Which man Hashem chose.

The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 1500 traditional rabbis in matters of public policy, last week announced the launch of the Ultra Initiative, an outreach effort to urge both Jewish and secular media outlets and others to eliminate usage of the deprecatory term “Ultra-Orthodox” to identify the Haredi (traditional Orthodox) community. The rabbis pointed out that in today’s society, calling groups by demeaning names is universally regarded as hostile and bigoted.

Q Hi, Rabbi Fitness - with this crazy year of the pandemic and people getting sick, I keep hearing that some people are at more of a risk than others. I, like everyone else, want to emerge from this craziness in full health. I know everything is up to Hashem, but I want to know what hishtadlus I need to do in order for my risk to go down. Thanks!

– Dov

(Courtesy of Ten Yad)

In the wake of the historic COVID-19 pandemic many organizations have drastically scaled down their work. Logistical challenges and COVID regulations make it very challenging to continue “business as usual,” and many have simply shut their doors.

Recap: Bayla has to face her fear of animals, now living on the farm. She even has to learn to milk a cow. Mrs. Cantor disapproves of her writing and calls it a waste of time. Mrs. Cantor overhears Bayla complaining about her.