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Friday, August 26, 2011 • 26 Av, 5771
Metro N.Y.C.
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After Escalation, Israel, Egypt, Hamas
Try To Hold Their Fire
Forty Days –
Forty Suggestions
By Roy S. Neuberger
By Marcy Oster
We stand at the threshold of the month of
Elul.
Each year when this season of repentance
comes, we think about how we can come closer to God, but it is often difficult to formulate a program. I would like to offer forty
suggestions, one for each day from the first
day of Elul through Yom Kippur. They are
designed to be practical. I hope they will
strike a chord.
JERUSALEM – For now, it seems, a tentative
ceasefire is holding.
But after five days of violence that saw a deadly terrorist attack near Eilat, intense rocket fire from Hamascontrolled Gaza into southern Israel and new tremors
in the Egypt-Israel relationship, Israeli leaders are
keeping an anxious eye on the state’s southern borders.
It is still unclear who exactly was behind the Aug.
18 attacks that left eight Israelis dead when terrorists ambushed two buses and two cars on Israeli
roads near the southern resort town of Eilat, on the
Egyptian border. Three Egyptian soldiers were inadvertently killed in the chaos as some of the assailants fled into Egyptian territory.
The Egyptian soldiers’ deaths sparked angry demonstrations in Cairo, where crowds converged on the Is-
• I like to daven so that I understand every word. After all, I am speaking to the Ruler of the Universe. He is listening to every
word, even though I may be davening among
a hundred other people. It takes a long time
for me to daven – but when I’m talking to the
Ruler of the universe, I’ve got to know what
I’m saying.
• Cry when you daven. When I’m trying
to concentrate on the meaning of every word,
sometimes the tears come naturally, because
I’m feeling I’m actually standing in front of
God.
• The morning berachot – don’t say them in
the car on the way to minyan! For example, “Po-
raeli Embassy, ripping down the Israeli flag and calling
on Egypt’s leaders to recall their ambassador to Israel.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces said the
gunmen came from Gaza but traveled through
Egypt’s poorly guarded Sinai Peninsula to reach their
target some 150 miles away, near Eilat.
The Gaza terrorist group the Popular Resistance
Committees, which works closely with Hamas, originally was identified as responsible for the attacks, and
Israeli jets responded by pounding targets in Gaza,
killing leaders of the group and blowing up their infrastructure. The IDF carried out more than 15 strikes in
Gaza, and several Palestinians were reported killed.
But the Popular Resistance Committees denied involvement, as did Hamas – rare for terrorist groups
normally eager to take credit for attacks against Israelis. On Tuesday, the Washington Times reported that
(Continued on Page 3)
(Continued on Inside Back Page)
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Smoldering ruins were all that was left of a bus after terrorists attacked
Israeli vehicles near the Egyptian border last week. Several people were
killed and injured. See story, above.
A Publication of
August 2011
News from the Front in the War on Cancer
By Yaakov Kornreich
not compatible
Pair 1
Prevent, Police, Prosecute .......................................... 6
David Mandel on responding to abuse in our schools
The Medved Alternative .............................................. 13
Media Monitor: Talk radio for intelligent conservatives
Community
Currents
Page 22
Travel
Section
Page 56
com
patib
le
Donor 1
Pnina Baim on an exemplar of courageous faith
le
patib
com
Zaidy’s Comfort and Inspiration ................................. 4
Pair 2
Recipient 1
not compatible
Donor 2
Recipient 2
The Greatest Act of
Tzedaka - A Lifesaving
Kidney Donation
By Yaakov Kornreich
What was the biggest single donation to Tzedaka (charity) or greatest act of Chesed (personal kindness) in your life? How much of a difference did it really make? Did it change a life? Did it save a life? How
do you know for sure?
Contributions to the most noble of causes do not
usually go entirely to the advertised purpose. Even when
we give Tzedaka to poor people face to face, whom we
encounter in the street, or who come knocking at our
door, we cannot be sure what they will spend it on.
Even if we invited them into our home and gave
them something to eat, we know that after eating from
our table, they were no longer hungry, but what will
happen the next day, when they will be hungry again,
and we will not be there to feed them?
But there is a way to give a gift of Tzedaka that
keeps on giving for many years. We can give someone in end-stage renal failure one of our healthy kidneys to carry out the vital functions that his own kidneys can no longer perform.
Continued on p.20
The nation’s war on cancer
declared by President Nixon 40
years ago is still being fought.
While medical science has recently won some small battles over
the disease, overall progress continues to be painfully slow. In particular, the results from some of
the newest treatments and diagnostic techniques for which there
had been high hopes have not
been as good as expected.
The total death rate for all
forms of cancer among Americans has been falling in recent
years, but mostly due to preventive factors. Specifically, the
incidence of lung cancer has
dropped due to the sharp reduction in the number of Americans
who smoke. The fall in the incidence of lung cancer was first
seen several years ago among
men, and is now beginning to
appear among women as well.
The decline in the overall cancer
death rate is also due, to a lesser extent, to recent advances
in the diagnosis and treatment
of breast cancer and colorectal
cancer.
These findings were reported in the latest annual survey
conducted jointly by the American Cancer Society, and the Centers for Disease Control and published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. For the
period between 2003 and 2007,
the latest for which statistics are
available, deaths fell from 10
of the top 15 forms of cancers,
which also include ovarian, prostate, kidney, stomach and brain
cancers. The most progress was
seen with those cancers which
can now be detected and treated at an earlier stage, when they
are easier to cure.
But the report also contained
some discouraging news. The
number of cases and deaths from
melanoma (a form of skin cancer)
and cancer of the liver, pancreas
and uterus are on the increase,
and the reduction in the rate of
lung cancer in woman has been
smaller than expected. The increase in melanoma is attributed to an increase in sun exposure, while obesity and hepatitis
are believed to be factors in the
rising incidence of liver cancer.
Samuel Epstein of the University of Illinois School of Public Health, expressed disappointment at the slow rate of progress
in the war against cancer. He suggested that better results might
be obtained if more resources
were allocated to cancer prevention, such as anti-smoking campaigns, which reduce known risk
factors, rather than concentrating
on developing new forms of diagnosis and treatment. But Donald
Berry, a professor of biostatistics
Continued on p.34
Extent of Gabby Giffords’
Recovery Still Uncertain
By Joel Mandel
Despite Gabrielle Giffords’ triumphant, surprise return to Congress to cast a vote in favor of the
debt ceiling compromise on August 1st, it remains unclear when
or even whether she will be able
to resume her regular duties, or
whether she will run for re-election to her House seat in November 2012. Giffords is still recuperating from a near-fatal bullet wound
to the head suffered in an attack
during an event with her constituents in Tucson, Arizona on January 8. Her dramatic appearance
to participate in the crucial debt
ceiling vote was an emotional moment that cheered her congressional colleagues from both sides of
the political aisle and uplifted the
entire country. Yet her spokesman,
C.J. Karamargin, said that “she still
has work to do on her recovery”
before she can return to her job
on a full time basis.
Giffords’doctors say that she has
made a remarkable recovery so far
from a wound which is often fatal,
and which usually results in lasting
disability. Nevertheless, during her
brief appearance on the House floor,
she seemed to be unsteady on her
feet and did not appear to have full
use of her right arm. Also, she did
not make a public statement, indicating that her verbal skills are probably still compromised. Her higher
intellectual functions, though, are
reported to have survived the injury.
According to her staff, Giffords
will continue to devote most of her
time to working towards
her recovery through a
vigorous course of physical and occupational rehabilitation, as well as speech
and cognitive therapy.
According to medical
experts, an injury to the
left side of the brain, such
as the bullet wound that
Giffords suffered, often
results in motor control problems
with the right side of the body.
Although the uninjured portions
of a brain will begin to take over
functions from the damaged portions, most people recuperating
from such brain injuries do not
see a full restoration of their former capacities.
Giffords’ spokesman said that
she had until Arizona’s filing deadline in May 2012 to decide whether to run for re-election to her
House seat. During her recuper-
Health Supplement
Continued on p.23
Page 6 THE JEWISH PRESS  Friday, August 26, 2011
OP ED
Sexual Abuse: Prevent, Police, Prosecute
By DAVID MANDEL
We play the odds all the time, don’t we? We may
not consciously think about it as such, but in effect
we do. Hashem rules the world and controls the
odds; we have to do our hishtadlus. We get behind
the wheel of a car, board a plane, or cross the street
knowing there are risks such as car accidents, plane
crashes and pedestrian injuries.
This is not meant to be morose; it is just a fact.
Still, the laws of probability work in our favor. We
go about our daily lives and while we are not oblivious to these statistics, we do not obsess over them.
We feel bad that people inevitably will be hurt or,
God forbid, die, but anonymity and distance enables us to continue our normal patterns of behavior and routine.
But would you play the same odds with your son
or daughter? Do their safety and well being follow
the same set of rules?
Tens of thousands of children attend yeshivas and day schools. They are taught by thousands of self-sacrificing rebbeim and teachers.
We rely on the schools to recruit and hire the
most talented, motivated people to teach and
lead our children.
Typically a school administrator or principal will
complete an extensive reference check prior to hiring.
This is all good. But there is one important missing
piece of information – a criminal background check
on the potential employee.
In every large group there may be a very small
number of individuals who engage or might engage
in unacceptable behavior. So the question becomes,
how do we identify such individuals and prevent
them from entering our schools?
Social service organizations have for many years
David Mandel is chief executive officer of Ohel
Children’s Home and Family Services. He can be
contacted at dm@ohelfamily.org.
been required to fingerprint and complete a criminal background check on all employees. It can take
from several days to a week to get results of a fingerprint check. Every now and then a hit comes back on
a prospective new hire showing a criminal record.
The system also sends information to employers of
any new criminal proceedings against a person already in their employ.
Which brings us to the point of Prevent, Police,
Prosecute.
There are several ways we can work to prevent
the sexual abuse of our children. Parents must speak
to their children at several different stages in the
child’s life, while schools must adopt a strong program to educate students, faculty and parents as
well as monitor and adhere to mandated reporting
protocols.
Another important factor whose time has come
is the fingerprinting of all people employed in yeshivas and day schools, as is currently required in public schools. A detailed proposal by Elliot Pasik, Esq.,
and other advocates is a sound template urging the
state legislature to enact laws requiring fingerprinting in private schools.
Why is this important? It comes down to playing
the odds. It’s only a matter of time before a hit will
come back on an employee of some yeshiva or day
school who has a criminal record and possibly a history of sexual abuse.
There are very few individuals in our community
who have been convicted of crimes related to child
sexual abuse, and even fewer on Megan’s List. It
may be a long shot, but we always want the odds to
be in favor of our children.
Years ago in an article for The Jewish Press, I
urged parents who had reason to believe their child
had been or was being sexually abused to report it
to the police.
“The concept of protecting one child (from shame
“The Jewish Press has emerged
as the most articulate Jewish
newspaper in America – a
newspaper that consistently gives
voice to clear anti-Jihadist
discourse.
“Week after week, The Jewish
Press publishes quality articles
undiluted by the muddled thinking
of the politically correct elite who
play directly into the hands of our
enemies.”
– Robert J. Avrech, Emmy Award-winning
Hollywood screenwriter and producer.
and stigma) by not reporting this to the police,” I
wrote, “virtually assures that other children will
be hurt in shul, in yeshiva or in the neighborhood
park.”
In a dozen subsequent articles in newspapers and
magazines I emphasized the importance of working
with police and district attorney staff to prosecute
child molesters. Only by pushing abusers into the
criminal justice system can we prevent them from
harming other children. Moreover, once child molesters are prosecuted and have a criminal record,
we will know who they are, and through fingerprint
checks can keep them from jobs that provide access
to children.
In Breaking the Silence: Sexual Abuse in the Jewish Community, a book I edited with Dr. David Pelcovitz, Rav Dovid Cohen, Ohel’s mara d’asra for 41
years, describes the imperative of adhering to mandated reporting laws including contacting the police
when sexual abuse takes place.
In the Mi Sheberach for a sick person, we refer to refuas hanefesh u’refuas haguf – healing
of the soul and healing of the body. The healing of the soul comes first. If someone were to
break into our home or car, or physically attack
us, we would without question call the police.
It is an attack on our person, our guf. Sexual
abuse has been described as an attack on the
soul as well as on the body. And if the Mi Sheberach gives priority to nefesh before guf, it is
a strong message to protect the soul. If murder
of the body can result in a life sentence for the
convicted killer, why not a similar sentence for
murder of the soul?
Playing the odds with lottery tickets is fine. Playing the odds with people who work with and to whom
we entrust our children absolutely is not. Prevent,
Police, Prosecute – three P’s to protect our children
from harm.