Let’s leave finance aside for one month and talk about some summer fun. I have written in the past about the great American West. I am truly sad to hear how few people have seen our fantastic national parks. Perhaps it is because many of us do not know how to choreograph trips to these far flung paradises. I would therefore like to plan a sample getaway for you.

Many people nowadays have accumulated frequent flyer miles, which allow you to fly for free. My favorite credit card for miles is the Southwest Visa card by Chase. It gives you the greatest flexibility when it comes to booking travel. This past summer, I used some of my miles to take a wonderful vacation to Arizona. This trip is not expensive when done with these free points, and collecting enough miles to pull it off is quite manageable.

You may have heard more and more talk recently about the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) movement against Israel. This radical, anti-Semitic movement is gaining strength and financial support in the United States. Its purpose is to delegitimize and denigrate Israel and its defenders, to isolate Israel and hold it to double standards, to cast Israel as an exiled pariah, and ultimately to wipe the Jewish country from the face of the earth.

The Notorious Durban Conference

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions began in 2001, at the UN World Conference Against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa. A policy was adopted by 1,500 NGOs (non-governmental organizations) “of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state,” and called for “the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation, and training) between all states and Israel.” This is referred to as the “Durban Strategy.” (Canada, the U.S., and Israel walked out as a show of protest against the one-sided anti-Israel charges.)

May is International Mediterranean Diet Month. In recognition of this little known event, I’d like you to answer these questions about your usual food choices:

• Do you use olive oil as your main culinary oil?
• Do you consume two to four cups of non-starchy vegetables per day, such as bell peppers, cabbage, celery, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, or onions?
• Do you eat at least two servings of fruit per day, such as apples, dates, grapes, or berries?
• Do you have a serving of beans or legumes two to four times per week, such as lentils or chickpeas?
• Do you include one to two ounces of nuts per day, such as walnuts, almonds, or pistachios?
• Do you enjoy two or more fish meals per week that feature salmon, tuna, or sardines?
• Do you eat breakfast every morning?
• Do you have one to two daily servings of yogurt or cheese, such as feta or mozzarella?
• Do you have a serving of whole grains at most meals, such as oatmeal, whole grain bread, or quinoa?

“So, how long have you been writing like that?” asked the meshulach. (charity collector) recently, when I carelessly revealed myself to be a lefty while making out his check.

“Voss fahr ah frageh (what kind of question) are you asking?” I responded – whereupon, he began to list the virtues of being right-handed. Did the amount about to be written on the check take a nosedive? you may ask. Ich gedenk nisht. (I don’t remember) – an old Reagan (another lefty!) response. However, the meshulach’s comment did prompt recollections of my life as a “lefty.” Here are a few episodes that come to mind:*

Hundreds of thousands of people from the charedi community gathered in Jerusalem late Sunday afternoon in one of the largest demonstrations in Israel’s history, to protest against a reform of the conscription law that would draft ultra-Orthodox men into the army or compulsory national service.

The huge crowd of people congregated from under the Bridge of Strings at the city entrance, stretching past the Jerusalem International Convention Center and down Shazar Avenue, branching off along large sections of Jaffa Road, Yirmiyahu Street, Sarei Yisrael Avenue, and other major thoroughfares.

                                                                  from the Jerusalem Post, March 2, 2014

Reading is one of the most important academic skills you can teach your early elementary-age child. As the school year comes to a close, here are some helpful tips to help your child grow and develop over the summer.

Fluency

Let your child read easy books to you: Many people think that children develop fluency solely by reading things above their reading level. This is not so! In fact, fluency is the art of building automaticity, and is significantly aided when a child reads the same material over and over again.

“You read to me, I’ll read to you”: Alternating reading with your child is a great way for the child to learn from your expression and tone of voice, and can motivate him to read. A great strategy is for you to read one page and for your child to read the next. In listening to your child, you’ll learn a lot about the way he reads.

Daniel Gordis has written a new book entitled Menachem Begin: The Battle For Israel’s Soul. What makes this book different from a number of other biographies is Gordis’ underlying thesis that Menachem Begin was Israel’s most “Jewish” prime minister. In order to understand why observant Jews related so much better to Begin than to any of Israel’s other leaders – and to perhaps find a way to resolve today’s imbroglio – I will review a number of significant events in Begin’s life that give us an idea of his “Jewishness.”

*  *  *The town of Brisk is famous in frum circles as the home of the Soloveitchik dynasty of rabbis. That was indeed an important part of Brisk, but it was not all of it. Many different movements and ideologies vied for the loyalty of the youth of Brisk when Menachem was born, in 1913, and throughout the 1920s and 30s. There were the very pious, of course, who looked upon Zionism as a danger to traditional Jewish life. And there were those who went all the way to the other side, such as the Hashomer Hatza’ir movement, which taught its members to revile religious practices and admire communism.

To the Shadchan:

I must preface this letter by saying that Hashem is really watching over me, b”H, and I am not having that hard a time in shidduchim. While I have not yet found my zivug (mate), I don’t have the horror stories that some girls have in dealing with shadchanim, weight, looks, boys’ mothers, etc. However, I did just come to a bump in the road.

My father told me that his Rav wants to know if I would go out with a certain boy. (We were redt once before by the same person, but I got sick when we were supposed to go out, and we never ended up meeting). My father and brother, who know this boy from shul, speak very highly of him and tell me that he is exactly like what I’m looking for.

When Pesach is over, I feel truly proud: I served 10 Yom Tov meals, and they were all good! Never mind that I felt overwhelmed beforehand, with planning, shopping, shlepping, and cooking. Never mind that I had to post a list on the wall to keep track of all the different meals and courses. The main thing is, I did it! But when I spoke to “Rabbi Yitzchak” and his wife “Rifka” about their Pesach sedarim, I was awed! Making Pesach in my own house was really a cinch in comparison to their seder experience.

Rabbi Yitzchak is a kiruv rabbi on the NYU campus in Manhattan and lives in Passaic. This year, he and his wife and their nine children – ages three months to 16 years – moved into a small apartment in Greenwich Village so that they could be near the NYU college campus.

This week we read the Torah portion Behar. In Parshas Behar, the Torah tells us of the mitzvah to help a fellow Jew who has come upon hard times. “And if your brother becomes poor, and his hand (means) falters with you (in your proximity), you shall strengthen him…” (Leviticus 25:35). This is the basic commandment to help a Jew. The Torah uses seemingly extra words when it describes the situation of this Jew who is in need of help. It is described as he is poor “with you”. What is the expression of “with you”? The Jew who is giving the help has not fallen upon hard times. Why would the Torah describe the person who is in need as being “with you”?