What do people do once their grown children are on their own and they’ve retired from their jobs? Travel, of course. Seniors have always been well represented in foreign and domestic travel. Now, Jewish seniors can also take advantage of an ever-expanding array of farflung – even exotic – travel experiences.

“In the good old days, seniors packed a peckalah, got in their car, and took off for the day. Now seniors can travel anywhere,” say Dave Broth of Caves Travel. He and his wife Nancy have been booking trips for clients and themselves for over 27 years.

During these years, the Broths occupied the familiar Caves Travel office on Reisterstown Road. At the end of 2017, they sold the property and moved the agency to their home on Shelburne Road. There, they continue to book trips by phone, email, and  fax.

President Donald Trump’s recent acknowledgement of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights thrust this otherwise sleepy part of the country into the international limelight. Next week, a handful of officials and local residents will celebrate the American recognition by laying the cornerstone of a new Golan town, which will be named after POTUS 45. Many have praised Trump’s decision, believing that it will secure Israel’s hold on this strategic 700-square-mile stretch of land, which buffers the country from Syria, provides a third of Israel’s water supply, and offers some of the most pristine nature sites in the region.

To be honest, I haven’t noticed anything different here since the big news.

In last month’s issue of the Where What When, I began the story of Menachem Begin, one of the great leaders of our people. To recap: Begin was born in 1913 and grew up in a shomer Shabbos home in Brisk. At age 13, he joined Betar, the youth movement of the Revisionist Zionists, and became enamored of Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky, its founder. Jabotinsky believed that the Zionist leadership under Chaim Weizmann and David Ben Gurion was too weak and too passive. The Revisionists had the same ultimate goal as the mainstream Zionists, a Jewish state, but they were willing to achieve their goal by force, if necessary, rather than depending on the goodwill of the gentiles.

In 1940, the Soviet authorities arrested Begin for anti-Soviet and anti-Communist propaganda and sentenced him to eight years. Fortunately, as a Polish national, he was soon released as the result of a Soviet-Polish treaty. He joined the Free Polish Army and ended up in Palestine, where he spent two years working for the Polish Army while at the same time building relations with the Betar cells there. After being let go by the Polish army, he became head of the military organization Etzel, Irgun Tzva Leumi, or the Irgun.

Summer is synonymous with vacations. And vacation means going somewhere. Folks, it’s a beautiful world out there, and exploring it expands our horizons and makes us appreciate the wonders we have been given. Being able to hit the road as a family is positive in many ways.

and offers invaluable lessons for children. This includes showing gratitude to our Creator for the glorious world we have been given. Another is the positive lesson that we can be frum anywhere and that mitzva observance does not hinder our aspirations and opportunities. Travel also offers such wonderful memories – and some great family photos – suitable for framing.

In addition to great family vacations, here’s an alternative travel idea: A parent might take one or two children on their own cross-country camping trip. This could serve as a reward for good school performance or any other goal. Imagine the child’s excitement at earning a Sunday-through-Friday trip with Dad to visit some of the national parks out west. It is not expensive (with credit card points) and can totally turn a life around.

Who among us has not longingly passed the colorful seed rack at the dollar store or the tomato plants in front of Giant, or had a hopeful little one come home from school with a lanky bean plant in a Styrofoam cup? Whether your gardening urges have been fleeting thoughts of free vegetables, a half-hearted response to an urgent five-year-old, or grandiose dreams of buoyant flower beds, there is a way to have a satisfying gardening experience without breaking your back or your budget.

I remember a family friend who spoke of listening to all the advice and marketing about double digging, soil amendments, fertilizer spikes, plant supports, and watering systems. After one season of such madness, he gave up in disgust. “At four dollars a tomato, it wasn’t worth it,” he said. He was right: It wasn’t worth it – and it wasn’t necessary.

Here are the keys to a cheap and successful vegetable garden:

1) Start small: A few tomato and cucumber plants in a one-by-six-foot area are more likely to give you satisfaction than an elaborate planting of many vegetables and flowers. You will have time to take care of them, which in turn increases chances for success. Next year, when you are full of confidence, is soon enough to add a few new items.

2) Plant vegetables, and most flowers, in full sun: Really keep track over the course of a whole day after the trees have leafed out. Your chosen spot should be in unobstructed sunlight for at least six middle-of-the-day hours (or eight hours if some of the sunlight time is early or late in the day). If you don’t have such a spot anywhere in your yard, stick with shade plants such as impatiens, ferns, and hostas. No, sorry, none of these are edible.

Who can forget the 1978 peace treaty between Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat of Egypt? Those of us without TVs in the house (no internet then) ran to neighbors to watch the signing ceremony on the White House lawn. We cried when Begin removed his yarmulke from his pocket to recite psalm 126, the Shir Hamaalot before benching – in Hebrew! This is the psalm that presages the return of the Jews to Eretz Yisrael, and Begin explained to the global audience that he had first learned it at his father’s table in Poland. He invited them to look it up in their English Bibles. What drama! What an emotional moment!

To most people under 60, the name Menachem Begin may as well be a part of ancient history. Ben Gurion is the famous one of Israel’s early days. Begin, with his diametrically opposing views, sat in the Knesset for years in seemingly permanent, albeit vocal, opposition. The Mapai Labor Zionists – a socialist, anti-religious, discriminatory (to Sefardim) party – ruled the government and dominated the society. The country was miserably poor and surrounded by implacable enemies.

Then, in 1977, in a surprise upset, Begin won the election and became prime minister. No head of the government before or since has been quite like Begin. He was one of a kind – a man of principle and resolve, steeped in Jewish tradition and feeling. In many ways, he changed the trajectory of Israeli history and laid the foundation for the strong and rich country we know today.

I want to review some incidents in his life which show the unique character of Menachem Begin so that we can have appreciation for one of the great leaders of our people.

Addiction is not a new phenomenon, but it has unfortunately become more “popular” in recent years, affecting all communities, including our Jewish community. The Twelve Step programs to conquer addiction are also not new. But, although eclipsed in the public view by all sorts of other approaches and treatment methods, they remain just as relevant and effective as in the past for those who choose to participate.

*  *  *

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was the first Twelve Step program, established in 1935. Its cofounders, Bill Wilson and “Dr. Bob” Smith, dedicated their lives to advancing the belief that alcoholism was not a result of poor upbringing or faulty morals but, rather, a spiritual malady that manifested itself in the form of a behavior driven by obsession and compulsion. They believed that the disease was incurable but that it could be arrested one day at a time – not by proselytizing to other troubled alcoholics but by sharing their struggles and successes with each other, and by relying upon a Higher Power (of their own conception). These means, they believed, would give them the power, wisdom, and protection they needed to deal with life without alcohol.

Today, there are Twelve Step programs for addictions not only to alcohol but also to drugs, food, gambling, codependency, debt and under-earning, workaholism, online gaming, nicotine, cluttering, among others. There are also programs, like Al-Anon, for those in a relationship with an addict, whose members admit to eventually taking on many of the unpredictable, codependent, or dishonest behaviors of the addicts themselves.

Last Spring, I was mesmerized by my first Waterfalls, a Chinese auction sponsored by Kollel Avodas Levi of Yeshiva Ner Israel. For several years, I had studied the Waterfalls catalog and purchased tickets from 700 miles away. I hoped I would win and wished that I could attend in person. Now, back in Baltimore, that wish came true – at least part of it. I didn’t win a prize – not the exciting ones displayed around the perimeter of the room. But something positive happened when I attended my first Waterfalls and gave tzedaka to a Jewish institution that I love.

My connection with Ner Israel began before my sons learned there. Growing up in Baltimore, I attended seventh grade at Garrison Junior High. One winter day, there was a fierce snowstorm that came down so heavily that we were let out of school early. Trudging through the snow on Garrison Boulevard in hopes of catching a ride home to Shirley Avenue, I remember walking by a huge mansion that was the Yeshiva’s first building. For a fleeting moment, I wondered what was going on inside.

To the Shadchan:

Our daughter came back from seminary very idealistic and in love with Eretz Yisrael. Her dream is to live in Israel forever. In the almost two years since she’s been home, she has been studying for an associate’s degree in a field that is practical in Israel. She is also working as much as possible and saving money for her eventual aliyah. I must say that she is very responsible – but she has not “settled down” or given up her dream as most of her friends have done. Whenever a suggestion for a shidduch comes our way, the first thing she wants to know is if he wants to live in Israel. If not, she refuses to go out with him.

My husband and I are worried that she is limiting her options to a very small group of candidates. I also wonder how realistic she is, since living in Israel requires a lot more money than she can earn in a few years or that we can help her with. But our main concern is that there seem to be very few young men who match her criteria. What should we do?

So, what do Baltimoreans Chavi Barenbaum, Esky Cook, Malky Goldstein, Rebbetzin Fredda Hopfer, Rebbetzin Judy Neuberger, and Chaya Zwick have in common?

Why, Rebbetzin Chana Wesel, of course!

The veteran teacher par excellence taught them all at the Bais Yaakov in Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, New York. The adage, “Teachers live forever in the hearts they touch,” is certainly true of Rebbetzin Wesel. And after having the pleasure of meeting and interviewing her, I understand how this beloved and inspirational protégé of Rebbetzin Vichna Kaplan – the founder of the first Bais Yaakov high school and teachers seminary in America – captured the minds and hearts of her students. Indeed, many of her former students – who are scattered around the world – still keep in touch with her over a half-century later.

Here is her story and theirs:

A Close Escape

Rebbetzin Wesel did not start life in America. Born in Vienna, she was only seven years old when her family left. But she clearly remembers the events that foreshadowed their escape.

“It was March, 1938, on Shabbos Parshas Zachor, when Hitler, y”s, marched into Vienna and annexed Austria to Germany,” recalls Rebbetzin Wesel. “We knew then that we had to get out; we were fortunate that we made it out.”

Rebbetzin Wesel explains that the word, “Jude” was painted on all the Jewish-owned stores, and signs were affixed to benches that said Jews were not allowed to sit there. Her mother was afraid for them to use their Jewish names, and her eight-year-old brother was only allowed to wear a cap instead of a yarmulke.