Remembering my friends the Holtzbergs
On "Black Friday," the news I so dreaded was confirmed. My close friend and classmate, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivki were brutally murdered by terrorists along with nearly 200 victims in Mumbai, India.
It is now more than a week later, and I am still numb. Gabi - as he was known to classmates in Yeshiva High School - was always giving of himself to everybody, as was evident in Gabi's mission in India. In 2003, Gabi and Rivki left the comforts of the United States to establish Chabad of Mumbai, India. Life was challenging and difficult. There was no available kosher food for purchase - everything had to be made from scratch. This couple prepared and koshered more than 100 chickens a week; Rivki would bake bread and bakery goods for the hundreds of people every week. All this for the travelers, needy, troubled youth, and businessmen that traveled through or lived in Mumbai. Gabi and Rivki greeted everyone with a smile, a meal, and a good word.
Gabi and Rivki's son, Moishe, was rescued by his heroic Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel. He turned 2 years old this past weekend. The cries of "eema, eema" ("mommy, mommy" in Hebrew) at his parents memorial service in India are heart-wrenching and cries that I will never forget as long as I live.
We do not always know or understand God's reasoning, and we may never, but one thing I am certain of is that the good deeds, kind acts, and endless flow of compassion and love that followed this tragedy is proof that a bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness.
As the Chabad representative to North and South Brunswick, I am asked "What can I do to help?" My response is that yes, there is something we can do. A mitzvah, a Godly deed, has the power to reach deep into the core of our being, where we are all one. At this core, a positive deed on our part can help bring peace and goodness to this troubled world.
What better way to honor little Moishe, and to salute the bravery of his courageous parents and all the other victims, than to perpetuate their lives - lives they devoted to bringing goodness and Godliness into our hurting world!
Take a minute and pledge a mitzvah today and tonight, hug your children and loved ones tighter, call a long-lost relative or friend, and rest assured that good will prevail!
To help rebuild Chabad in Mumbai, India, visit www.southbrunswickchabad.com and click on "donate". For more information, please call me at (732) 522-5505.
Rabbi Mendy Carlebach
Director, Chabad of North and South Brunswick
Controversy of the Shushan Grill of Highland Park
The Va'ad Harabonim of Raritan Valley has been withholding its endorsement of the kashrut of the Shushan Grill restaurant on Raritan Avenue in Highland Park ever since its grand opening several years ago. As I understand the situation, there was a circumstance that occurred on the first night the establishment opened and amends between the proprietors of the establishment and the Va'ad have not been made.
In my opinion, there comes a point in time when a kashrut-certifying agency must determine and reassess their denial of kashrut to a restaurant when the proprietors have proven to be upstanding members of the Orthodox Jewish community and honestly demonstrated their commitment to running a kosher establishment. The family of owners has committed themselves to running a kosher eatery that would be accepted by all members and factions of the Jewish community in Highland Park/Edison. There comes a point in time where the expression "water under the bridge" rings true.
I have personally come to know the owners, the Dror family, over the past few years and have witnessed their total transformation from Jews that were not fully observant of Orthodox Judaism to true ba'alei teshuva (returnees to observant Judaism). The family has become fully shomer Shabbat, shomer kashrut, are regular attendees at daily minyanim and Shabbat services, and establish set times for Torah learning on a daily basis. This transformation has occurred without any fanfare because they are honest about their desire to be Orthodox and are not doing so as a pretext to have the Va'ad certify their restaurant.
As an Orthodox rav myself, and one who has observed their kitchen in action, I would testify under oath in a beit din or Jewish court of law as to the veracity of this family's return to Judaism. Additionally, I would unequivocally testify that the owners honestly intend to uphold an eatery under the auspices of the Va'ads strictest kashrut guidelines - guidelines that would satisfy all members of the Highland Park/Edison Jewish community. (It should be noted that the Shushan Grill has been under the auspices of legitimate kashrut supervision from Rabbi Zushe Blech of Monsey, N.Y., a rabbi well respected in the world of kashrut.)
One of the members of the family has had a serious illness over the past year (a brain tumor) and without the advantage of health insurance the family has had to pay for the tumerectomy and subsequent radiation treatment out-of-pocket. A large percentage of the Highland Park/Edison kosher consumer public has been effectively enjoined not to patronize this establishment since the Va'ad does not certify the kashrut. As a result, the restaurant may be forced to close its doors. If the Va'ad would re-establish the certification, it may be the "shot in the arm" this restaurant needs to get back on firm financial footing once again. By their certification, the Va'ad may aid in this family being able to run a successful business and also defray the emotional and financial strain their personal problems have imposed on them.
Jacob G. Krief
Highland Park
Concerns about Hillary as secretary of state
Your column, "Why Hillary as secretary of state is a win for Israel," ignores Clinton's history and offers questionable support for your position. You think Hillary is a win for Israel because she has an "unshakeable commitment" to Israel and because she will undercut "Tehran Joe" Biden (whose long support for the Iranians is a matter of record)".
Look at Clinton's history: In 1993, she attacked the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for deporting some terrorists from Israel and jailing others.
In early 1996, Hillary started hosting and inviting the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the American Muslim Council (AMC) and the American Muslim Alliance (AMA) to the White House. Nearly all of the leaders with whom Mrs. Clinton elected to meet came from Islamic fundamentalist organizations. A review of the statements, publications and conferences of the groups Mrs. Clinton embraced shows unambiguously that they have long advocated or justified violence. By meeting with these groups, the first lady lent them legitimacy as "mainstream" and "moderate."
In May 1998, she told a youth conference on Middle East peace in Villars, Switzerland, that she supports the eventual creation of an independent Palestinian state.
In November 1999, while on a purported state visit to the Middle East, she publicly appeared with Yasser Arafat's wife Suha. With Hillary at her side, Suha Arafat made the deliberately false allegation that "Our [Palestinian] people have been submitted to the daily and intensive use of poisonous gas by the Israeli forces, which has led to an increase in cancer cases among women and children." Mrs. Arafat also accused Israel of contaminating much of the water sources used by Palestinians with "chemical materials" and poisoning Palestinian women and children with toxic gases.
Instead of reacting with outrage, Hillary Clinton sat by smiling and nodding - and gave her a hug and a kiss when she finished speaking. Later, many hours after the event, and only after a media furor put her on the spot for what many view as a bit more than a mere political "faux pas," Mrs. Clinton called on "all sides" to refrain from "inflammatory rhetoric and baseless accusations" - including Israel, whose leaders made no such accusations. Mrs. Clinton has yet to specifically contradict and denounce the monstrous lies uttered by Yasser Arafat's wife in her presence.
Of course, recently Hillary cancelled her appearance at an anti-Ahmadinejad New York rally staged by Jewish groups because Sarah Palin would also be there. Her "unshakeable commitment" to Israel and concern that Israel will be nuked by this Muslim evidently pales in comparison to her concern about sharing a stage with an American leader.
My prediction is that Hillary will browbeat and blackmail Israel into cutting a deal that will create an expanded terrorist state, with it's capital in Jerusalem, headed by a puppet government ripe for a Hamas takeover if, in fact, it isn't already a Hamas-run state.
Hillary Clinton will play Bad Cop on Israel while Obama gets to play Good Cop, and Hillary will be protected from charges of anti-Semitism because of this false perception of her "unshakeable commitment". It's an intolerable deception that honest journalists like yourself should have no part of.
Benjamin Feigenbaum
East Brunswick