Art Basel Miami

Thursday, Dec. 5 through 8

1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach, FL 33139

Art lovers relish this event every year. Their reputation for showing high quality work has attracted leading international galleries and collectors, offering visitors the most important art from around the world. Art Basel focuses on modern and contemporary art and includes more than 250 galleries and 4,000 artists from across the globe. Have fun celebrity-spotting. There are also invitation-only days from Dec. 3 to 5. For more info.,visit www.artbasel.com.

Yuletide Parade

Thursday, Dec. 5. 6:30 p.m.

McNab Park

2250 E. Atlantic Blvd., Pompano Beach, FL 33062

Get ready for the City of Pompano Beach Annual Yuletide Parade on Atlantic! Enjoy over-the-top eye dazzling floats, holiday performers, dancers and a variety of other amazing entertainment. The parade theme is “The Polar Express.” It starts from Riverside Drive, heads west on Atlantic Boulevard and ends at McNab Park. For more information, call 954-786-4111.

Monthly Business Breakfast —

Beyond Arthritis

Thursday, Dec. 5. 7:30 to 9 a.m.

Wyndham Deerfield Beach Hotel

2096 NE 2 St., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Hosted by speaker Dr. Kojo A. Marfo. Are you cramming your exercise into weekend soccer games or tennis matches? Do your achy knees keep you from performing your best? Learn prevention tips and treatment options to keep you in the game. The cost is $25 for members and $30 for non-members. To register, visit www.deerfieldchamber.com.

Light Up Hillsboro Beach

Thursday, Dec. 5, 6 p.m.

Town Hall

1210 Hillsboro Mile, Hillsboro Beach, FL 33062

Christmas tree and Menorah lighting. School choir performance. Refreshments and more. For more information, visit www.townofhillsborobeach.com.

Movies in the Park

Friday, Dec. 6, 7 to 9 p.m.

Sullivan Park

1633 Riverview Rd., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

The City of Deerfield Beach Parks & Recreation Department will be hosting this event featuring the movie Grinch. Grab a blanket and lawn chair and come out for a night at the movies, in the park, under the stars. The event is free with a chance of snow. Popcorn and other refreshments will be available for purchase. Overflow parking at The Cove Shopping Plaza. For more information, call 954-480-4494.

Toys for Tots Holiday Luncheon

Friday, Dec. 6, 11:30 a.m.

Coral Ridge Country Club

3801 Bayview Dr., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308

Join the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Pompano Beach Branch. New members and guests welcome! The cost is $46. Bring an unwrapped toy. R.S.V.P. to 312-316-6229 or e-mail pompanoscholar@yahoo.com.

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday, Dec. 7, 9:30 to 11 a.m.

Butler House

380 E. Hillsboro Blvd., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Come out and join Deerfield Beach Historical Society. This event includes pictures with Santa and the Mrs, breakfast in the backyard, arts & crafts and face painting. The price for a family of four is $10, or $5 per person. For more information call 954-429-0378.

District 4 Saturday Office Hours

Saturday, Dec.7, 10 a.m. to noon

City Hall

150 NE 2 Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Vice Mayor Drosky, who is commissioner for District 4, will be available to meet with constituents on an appointment basis. To schedule an appointment, contact the City Manager’s Office at 954-480-4263.

WAGS & TALES Program

Saturday, Dec. 7, 11 a.m.

Deerfield/ Percy White Library

837 E. Hillsboro Blvd., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Readers ages 5 and up are welcome to read to Bentley the dog! Sign up with the Librarian at the service desk. For more information call (954) 357-7680.

Ocean Way Holiday Celebration!

Saturday, Dec. 7, 5 to 9 p.m.

Main Beach Parking Lot

149 SE 21 Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Come out for a family night of fun while walking the parade of lights display. Take your photo with Santa, step into a life-size snow globe, enjoy kid’s activities, an ice-skating rink and live entertainment throughout the event! Be sure not to miss the special Holiday Character Show from 7 to 8:30 p.m. followed by a character meet and greet. Arts and crafts, refreshments and food will be available for purchase. There will be several road closures related to the Ocean Way (see more, pg 4). Parking will be limited but there will be a free shuttle at The Cove Shopping Center running back and forth from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. For more information, call Special Events at 954-480-4429.

National Pearl Harbor

Remembrance Day Tour

Saturday, Dec.7, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

(Shuttles leave every hour on the hour)

Sands Harbor Resort Dock

125 N. Riverside Dr., Pompano Beach, FL 33062

Come out for a fun day at the lighthouse. Park at Sands Harbor and catch the boat. Registration/check-in starts 30 minutes prior to the first sail time and remains open until the last boat returns. The boat leaves every hour on the hour. Arrive 10-20 minutes before the departure time. Friendly members will register/check you in, provide you with a wrist band, and assist you with boarding for the boat ride to/from the lighthouse. A current HLPS membership or a $35 transportation fee is required. Call 786-251-0811 or visit hillsborolighthouse.org for more details.

Our Christmas Carol

Sunday, Dec. 8, 7 p.m.

Community Presbyterian Church

1920 SE 4 St., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Ballet presented by Many But One Dance Company. $10 donation at the door, 18 and under free. For more info., call 954-427-0222.

Garden Club Meeting

Monday, Dec. 9, 12:30 p.m.

Emma Lou Olson Civic Center

1801 NE 6 St., Pompano Beach, FL 33060

Come out for holiday designs by Flower Show School. Make new friends with a shared love of gardening, floral and landscaping design. Learn about environment, civic projects, different gardening techniques and creating your own sanctuary. First time guests are welcome free of charge. For more information, call Hilde at 954-782-4121.

Fascinatingly, a parallel concept exists in science, known as the wave function collapse. 
Contrary to common sense, quantum mechanics has shown that matter and atoms can exist in several states at one and the same time. For example, we now know that sub atomic particles move clockwise and counter clockwise simultaneously. Yes strange it is, but it is today the prevailing notion in modern physics.
But here is the catch: When a person observes the atoms, they collapse all the states and the atom settles into one state of being.  That is why when we observe an object we only see it in one state, because our observation of it defines its reality.
This is one of the most exciting, perplexing, and extraordinary ideas in modern physics. As it turns out, the Rogatchover Gaon, who passed away in 1936, sees the origin of the idea in the Talmud.
The Tree
We have another illustration of this in the Talmud. This case concerns a tree on a boundary line where two property owners claim ownership. The roots of the tree are exactly on the boundary line. Who owns the tree? Shmuel says, split it in half between the neighbors. Rav disagrees. He says that would be unfair. As in his mind, the roots of the tree on the border is in a limbo-state and is not owned by anyone of them. So what do you do? He says this: The direction that the branches of the tree lean is dispositive of who it belongs to. If some branches lean toward one neighbor, he owns them. The branches leaning in the other direction belong to the person living in that direction. Wherever the limbo state leans, there it will be placed. 

Jonah’s Strategy
So Jonah is living in this limbo city, not fully in Israel not fully out. G-d shows up one day giving him this mission that he does not want. He is afraid that the gentiles will listen, and it will cast the Jewish nation in a terrible light. What to do? 
Jonah knew he could not run from G-d. But he also realized that, being that Tzidon is a city in limbo as far as Jewish law is concerned, if he decides to run to outside of Israel, he collapses the limbo state and the city becomes a non-Israel city for him. So powerful is man’s choice in Judaism that it can actually determine the statutes of a city in limbo. So too, Jonah collapsed the limbo state of Tzidon by deciding to leave Israel, and hence the city of Sidon has not become a route taking him outside of Israel.
That is why the opening of Jonah states: “And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from before the Lord.” It does not say that he fled. It says that he arose to flee. What mattered here was his intention. He decided to leave from Sidon to Africa (Tarshish). As soon as his intention turned towards outside Israel, the city became non-Israel, and as a result, he was not considered a prophet since he was effectively not in Israel when he heard the voice. He was not a prophet once the limbo city was collapsed in favor of outside Israel!
What then did G-d do? G-d sent a storm and whale to fetch Jonah back. Once the fish spit him out in the waters of the land of Israel, it turned out that Jonah’s original destination when he boarded the ship in Jaffe was ISRAEL. Sidon, it turned out, was not a starting point to leave Israel, rather it was a route taking him ultimately back to Israel. Thus, retroactively Sidon became Israel, and he had the obligation to carry out the mission and message to the people of Ninveh, which he did effectively. 

The Message
of repentance
The Baal Shem Tov says: You are where your thoughts are. You are where your desire is. Do not underestimate the meaning of these words. If I am in a terrible, or not such terrible, lowly state, but I want to get out of it, then I am not in a lowly state any longer, even though I am technically still there.
It is not about where you are, but where you want to be. I may be suffering from addiction; from anger; insecurity; dejection; fear; or so many other difficult emotions. Granted. But at the end of the day what counts is where I want to be. If I want to be elsewhere, then I am elsewhere.
We often find ourselves on “borders.” We can go either here or there. Really every moment of our life we are standing on the border between truth and falsehood, holiness and profanity, good and evil, functionality or dysfunction, happiness or depression, connected to G-d, or disconnected, shallow or deep, real or fake. We get frustrated because we can’t define our state of being. We wish for more clarity.
Comes the story of Jonah and states that it all depends on your desire and intention. If your intention is truth, that is where you are.    
As we prepare for Yom Kippur we get in touch with a basic truth. G-d does not care so much about your spiritual bank account, how much you’ve saved up in your 401k. He simply cares about where you are intent on going. Are you moving closer or moving farther. Everything else is a weather report. 
The Rebbe Reb Yosef Yitzchak, as a child, was once standing in his class room, gazing outside. His beloved teacher, Rashbatz, told him a few words that stayed with him:
“It is far better to be on the outside looking wistfully in, then on the inside looking wistfully out. “
Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches, located in the Venetian Isle Shopping Center at 2025 E. Sample Rd. in Lighthouse Point. For all upcoming events, please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

This week, I snagged an article in the Styles Section of the New York Times about Pete Hamill, a huge hero of mine, and a now 84-year-old, somewhat disabled former hot stuff newspaper columnist, feature writer, editor and author of 21 masterful works  of both fiction and nonfiction  in which New York is a prominent backdrop. Currently, he is nostalgically existing back in time and presence in his home town of Brooklyn, while writing his next epoch, Back To The Old Country (of his youth).
This is an unapologetically long introduction to a segue into my own nostalgic memories of the same “old country” of my youth, and our several residences in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.  
In the early depression days, desperate landlords were giving “concessions” — a first month’s free rent. I remember moving three times in three months and most probably breaking leases, but who had the money for a lawyer? We moved always in the same neighborhood, so that my younger sister and I would not have to change schools when my father was unemployed and could not afford the $50 — a month’s rent. He finally straightened out his finances and risked borrowing $500 to invest in a run-down local property which he fixed and flipped and reinvested the profits in a domino roll of good fortune. He was lucky that he had tenants who — mostly — paid rent, though not without a struggle.
One of our domiciles was located a block from Ebbets Field, the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, where Friday was Ladies Day with a discounted admission, which made me and “my gang” avid baseball fans, until, of course, the team was lured to Los Angeles, and baseball was never again the same for me.
I rode my bike in Prospect Park, and, when I was cursed one day with a flat tire, I had no cell phone to call my mother. I rang the doorbell of what turned out to be a kind stranger who allowed me to make the call. Mom came 45 minutes later — by trolley car. She did not know how to drive, American Yankee though she was. Women just didn’t drive in those days, when we were lucky to have one car, which of course, belonged to Dad.  She helped me lug the bike onto the trolley car, where she paid the dime that I didn’t have with me, and she helped me steer it home from the trolley stop.
Coney Island, the beach and the rides were often our weekend teenage destinations, and Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater on Broadway was worth the subway ride on days we played hooky, to stand in line and scream when the skinny kid made virtual love to his microphone.
Christmas was not much of a holiday in our almost exclusively Jewish-immigrant neighborhood. But the family across the street, although Jewish, had a magically trimmed Christmas tree defiantly placed prominently at their window, so the world could see it. And much as we pleaded to our parents to have one, we were told regretfully no, since Jews did not celebrate Christmas. We could not understand what was wrong with the family across the street, but they had evidently done something very bad.
Many a year has passed and many a Christmas tree have I admired in homes of people of all faiths. I never really believed that the people across the street had done something bad, but belief systems are hard to figure out and almost impossible to change and most of all, need to be respected, even in the face of extreme disagreement. May that be one of the most important messages of this holiday season — and a Merry Christmas to all.