By Gary Curreri

If Highlands Christian Academy is going to make a deep run in the postseason, it will have to find a way to get past nemesis Jupiter Christian.

Highlands Christian is 6-2 this season, with its only two blemishes coming at the hands of the Eagles by a combined nine points. The Knights dropped a 73-68 decision in the 39th annual Highlands Holiday Classic and then fell 69-65 to Jupiter Christian in a District 7-3A game on Tuesday night. On Friday, the Knights will host district leader Boca Christian (5-3, 3-0 in the District) at 7 p.m.

Senior point guard Herman Robinson has been a member of the varsity team at the school since he was in the seventh grade. He averaged 15.0 points and 6.2 assists per game last year.

“Basketball means everything to me,” said Robinson, 18, of Deerfield Beach, who hasn’t decided on a college yet. “It’s my life. It has taken me through a great journey and taught me a lot of life’s lessons. It’s shown me no matter what I can do anything in life if I put my mind to it. The hard work is making me a better person.”

“I think we have a great team this year,” Robinson added. “We didn’t have a great year last year by our standards, but we have been working hard in the gym and preparing. It’s my senior year, so it is important for me to end my (long) career here on a good note. We have room up there for another banner.”

Highlands Christian has won 12 district championships in school history, however, none since winning in 2011. The Knights made it to the state final four in 1979 and 1994.

“Herman has been the face of Highlands basketball for about six years now,” said Knights head coach and athletic director Jim Good, whose team last season finished at 10-13. They finished third in the Holiday Classic. “He gets the guys to do things that I can’t do and has an incredible work ethic. I never question his intensity or his passion for the game. He is definitely going to be missed next year.”

“Our expectations and goals for the season is to compete for a district championship,” Good added. “We should be a little deeper, so we are trying to play more up tempo and press. We have placed much more of an emphasis on defense.”

It is an experienced group with seven seniors and several returners. Junior guard Matt Veynovich (8.9 ppg, made 60 3-pointers) improved during the offseason and Good called him the team’s sleeper player. Veynovich was the lone Highland’s Christian Academy selection to the All-Tournament team in the Holiday Classic.

Another top player back from last season that Good and the Knights will count on is senior forward Kyle Lassen (11.6 points per game, 5.5 rebounds).

“Matt has really worked on his game and gives us a lot of options,” Good said. “Herman is our leader and the focal point of the team, but he has a lot of help this year. The players have put in the time and we are going to be a little more balanced I think.”

Good knows this is a difficult district to get by. In addition to Jupiter Christian and Boca Christian, the Knights will also face stiff challenges from Village Academy and non-district foes like Canterbury (St. Petersburg), the opening round opponent in the Keswick Christmas Tournament.

“We play a tough schedule and tough district, so all of those games will prepare us for the postseason,” Good said. “It is a wide open district with very competitive teams. I am happy with where we are as a team and I see improvement in all of our players. I think they want to do something special this season. I am excited about the progress that we’ve made.”

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

For that past five years at The Spooky Empire, I have observed the teamwork between a mother and her son, Cheryl A. Thayer-Blackford and her son, Jarrad Walker. These two are cosplayers, and their costumes are eye catching and unique. Upon closer inspection, one realizes that Jarrad is in a motorized vehicle, for he did not have use of his legs. Over the summer and under consultation with medical doctors, Jarrad had his legs amputated to improve the quality of his life.

Yet, as early as April, Jarrad planned to attend The Spooky Empire Ultimate Horror Weekend as the Anti-Santa Claus – Krampus. When Hurricane Matthew forced the closing of Spooky Empire in October, Jarrad was more than prepared for Spooky Empire’s Halloween for Christmas. Cheryl and Jarrad’s perseverance paid off, for Krampus won The Spooky Empire Best Exhibition Costume Contest.

Best known for providing lumps of coal in the Christmas stockings of naughty children, Krampus represents the dark side of Santa Claus. By acknowledging his own tribulation through Krampus, Jarrad provided another lesson about the importance of the human spirit rising over adversity.

Happening this week:

Moana ruled the box office for the third weekend in a row. Moana has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, along with Moonlight, which is currently on the big screen in local theaters.

While lacking a Golden Globe nomination but with plenty marketing hype, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens tomorrow. Manchester by the Sea also opens tomorrow with much awards buzz. Already nominated for five Golden Globe nominations, Manchester by the Sea is on track to stay on the big screen until the Oscar ceremony in late February.

Stay-at-home holiday movies:

For those who seek a return to memory lane, there are always DVDs. Sitting on the shelf at your local library is the annual classic Miracle on 34th Street. Starring Maureen O’Hara and a very young Natalie Wood, this classic tale set in Manhattan feels as fresh today as it did when it was released 69 years ago. For his performance as Kris Kringle, Edmund Gwenn earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

While lacking the special effects of Disney motion picture, March of the Wooden Soldiers does feature a live action Mickey Mouse in a supporting role. Based on a Victor Herbert operetta, Babes in Toyland, March of the Wooden Soldiers stars Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy as toy makers who attempt to protect Little Bo Peep, the Three Little Pigs and the little old lady who lives in a shoe from the crooked man Barnaby Silas (Henry Brandon). This film is filled with much humor and charm that will surely put one in the Christmas spirit.

It was a crowded day at the mall and a woman just had to go to the mall and pick up one more Christmas present. The problem was that she was due at any minute and her husband, doctor, parents and friends told her that she shouldn’t go to the mall. But she insisted. Her best friend tried to talk her out of it, but then found herself driving her very pregnant friend to the busiest place at the busiest time.

The mall was loud and chaotic. People were in a hurry, hustling and bustling with a nervous, yet exciting, energy. And when she found herself in the right shop, it happened.

There was no way to get out of the mall in time. Her best friend told the owner of the shop that a baby was going to be born and, as good fortune would have it, there was a nurse in the shop. The store owner wasn’t sure that she could afford to take two or three clerks off the floor to assist the woman in need, but she did, knowing that this was going to put a dent in her sales. And then, in the back room, a beautiful baby girl was born with a nurse, three clerks and a best friend surrounding the mother and child. The child was wrapped in tissue paper and lying in an open cardboard container.

Her husband got word, via text message, and he drove as fast as he could and bobbed and weaved his way through the crowded mall to see his newborn daughter. When the father saw his beautiful daughter, it was love at first sight, and everybody in the room experienced the joy, including the owner of the shop.

When all was said and done, the owner was grateful for the “blessed distraction” that allowed her to put life in perspective, witness the miracle of birth and feel the bond with her customers, who shared the miracle with her. She may have lost some time and money; but she experienced something far more valuable. Thank God for “blessed distractions!”

I love the song “O Little Town of Bethlehem” as much as any Christmas-loving Christian. It is certainly not my intention to ruin the song, but I must point out that the “Little Town of Bethlehem” was called “The City of David” in the Christmas narrative of Luke. Now, the word “city” is relative, and it may not have been a booming metropolis; but it was booming. A mandatory census was put in place and people travelled to their ancestral homes. In Mary and Joseph’s case, that was Bethlehem and together they traveled back home from the place of their residence, Nazareth. No doubt, they travelled in a caravan with other relatives and, when they arrived at Bethlehem, there was no room for them in the inn. With “No Vacancy” signs on every hotel in the City of David, it was anything but “silent.”

And then, in the midst of the hurry and scurry, hustle and bustle in a city with a nervous, and yet, exciting energy, a “blessed distraction” occurred. Jesus was born.

When word got to the shepherds, not by text but singing angels filling the sky, they bobbed and weaved their way through the crowded streets of Bethlehem, maybe even with their sheep at toe. Can you imagine?

This reimagining of Christmas may change your perception, and I apologize if I ruined it for you. But I find this image to be more meaningful, especially in the context of our Advent season where we find ourselves so distracted in our preparation for Christmas that we forget to prepare ourselves for Christ. You may even say that sometimes Christmas stands in the way of Christmas. We need “blessed distractions” to reorient ourselves to that which is most important in life. We need to stop, pause and reflect upon the miracle of birth, the blessing of family and friends, and the bond that strangers feel when they witness a miracle together, and are strangers no more.

But this isn’t just another “blessed distraction.” This event transformed life as we know it. God enters into our chaos of shopping malls and city streets with a gift to all humanity. And, though it may be inconvenient to some, it certainly reminds us that we are loved by God.

May the “blessed distraction” of Christmas transform your life this year.

Pastor Gross is a pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, located at 959 SE 6 Ave., Deerfield Beach, FL 33441. For more information, contact 954-421-3146 or visit www.zion-lutheran.org.

By Gary Curreri

A week of heartbreak for the Deerfield Beach High School football team ended abruptly with a 26-7 loss to visiting Miami Southridge in the Class 8A state semifinal on Friday.

Despite forcing six turnovers, including five in the first half alone, the host Bucks were unable to generate much offense and fell to the Spartans in its first trip to the state semifinals since Denard “Shoelace” Robinson was the team’s quarterback a decade ago.

“I am proud of my team,” said Bucks coach Jevon Glenn, who was back on the sidelines after spending last week in the hospital and missing the team’s regional final win over Atlantic. “We came back. The program had slipped a little bit and we definitely got the program back – last year to the regional quarterfinals and this year to the state semifinals.”

Deerfield Beach sophomore linebacker Gemon Eafford returned a fumble by Southridge’s Bentavious Thompson 5 yards for an early 7-0 lead, however Mark Pope struck for a 98-yard kickoff return on the ensuing kickoff to cut the Bucks’ lead to 7-6. Keyon Martin blocked the extra point attempt.

The Bucks missed a field goal, hurt themselves with costly penalties and were unable to protect quarterback Nick Holm, who was sacked 10 times in the game.

After Antwan Collier scored on a 19-yard TD to give Southridge a 12-7 lead, Holm was driving the Bucks to the end zone to retake the lead. Southridge’s Shawn Davis intercepted Holm at his own 1 and returned it 99 yards for the clinching touchdown with 8:51 remaining in the game that put the Spartans up 20-7 after a two-point conversion. Collier added a late score for the final margin.

“We left plays on the field,” Glenn added. “It was tough. They are one of the best defenses in Florida…My hat goes off to them.”

For Alabama commit and senior Bucks wide out Jerry Jeudy, the game marked his final contest in a Bucks football jersey. It also ended a hard week personally as he had to cope with the passing of his 7-year-old sister Aaliyah to a lengthy illness. Jeudy finished the game with nine catches for 91 yards.

Highlands Christian Gridiron falls short

The Highlands Christian Academy football team recently lost the Florida Independent Football Conference (FIFC) championship contest to host Palmer Trinity Prep (Miami) 28-6 to close out its season.

The Knights (4-4) went down 14-0 in the second quarter and then was outscored 14-6 in the final quarter. The lone score came from eighth-grader Christian Opalsky, who finished the season with more than 1,000 yards on the ground.

Senior quarterback Dylan DiBello ran for 108 yards and two scores and completed 6 of 14 passes for 113 yards and one score to lead the Falcons (6-0-1) to the title. Sophomore running back Jalen Sloan also broke the century barrier on the ground with 101 yards and one score.

Highlands Christian coach Josh Harris, who completed his first year as head coach after assistant coaching stints at Miami Northwestern, Doral Academy and Somerset Academy was proud of his team’s season. The team finished 2-7 the previous two seasons.

“Last year, they really didn’t have a coach,” Harris said. “They had two former players who pitched in and helped out and (Highlands) was actually thinking about shutting the program down. The kids this year were scrappy and always found a way.

“I told the kids if they looked at the trophy case in the school, there was not a lot of representation of football in the gym,” Harris said. “Forty years from now, people will come back to the school and see their name or their accomplishment in there. Your kids will see your name or your legacy represented. You will live forever at the school. It is really cool. I think we’re starting to feel like we are accomplishing something here.”

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

A French language film with English subtitles, The Brand New Testament opens locally and may be talked about as a Best Foreign Language motion picture for awards season. This is an entertaining flick that confronts serious life issues, with a humorous bent. You will leave this screening with a smile on your face.

In the film, God is a curmudgeon who uses a computer to micromanage the affairs of humanity. Finding his behavior petty, God’s daughter talks to her brother J.C. (personified by a statue of Jesus), who encourages her to write The Brand New Testament for the 21st Century,

The sister recruits six apostles to spread the word of love. These people are not fishermen, lawyers, carpenters or doctors. Each apostle has a story to tell with French screen legend Catherine Deneuve having the wildest tale to tell. The Brand New Testament is a fresh, fun film for the holiday season.

With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, it’s time to return to the fairy tale world that J.K. Rowling took us to with her seven Harry Potter books and eight movies. Would Thomas Wolfe’s famous quote about “not returning home again” factor into one’s perception of Rowling’s world of witchcraft & wizardry? The box office returns of Rowling’s new project have proved Thomas Wolfe wrong.

The film opens with the familiar strains of John Williams musical score (composed this time by John Newton Howard) and title credit. You feel as if you have returned to Harry Potter’s magical world. However, this time, we are introduced to Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), an English immigrant who is visiting Manhattan during the Jazz Age of the 1920s.

Being a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry graduate, Newt has a magic briefcase that cages many fantastic beasts with mythical powers. When one creature jimmies the lock, chaos erupts and the wizard community is perplexed. The most disgruntled wizard is Graves (Colin Farrell), who masks a hidden agenda.

Fortunately for Newt, he makes friends with Tina (Katherine Waterston), a demoted bureaucrat who works for the Manhattan wizard community. Newt also gains street smarts from Kowalski (Dan Fogler), a man who would like to start his own business as a baker. Together, these three strangers form a unique partnership to protect the fantastic beasts in the United States of America.

Whereas the Harry Potter stories were about the rites of passage for an individual who goes from sixth grade to high school graduation, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the story about adults. Scamanger is a more traditional hero like Indiana Jones, Frank Buck and Marlin Perkins. With less emphasis upon growing maturity, Fantastic Beasts presents a series of adventures featuring mythical creatures in a familiar city like Manhattan.

With the exception of a plot reveal that ties into her last book (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Fantastic Beasts is a fresh look into Rowling’s world. Seeing Manhattan in 1926 broadens the magical world, yet Fantastic Beasts shows us the darkness revealed in human nature, like child abuse and social bigotry.

With four more Fantastic Beasts movies planned for the not too-distant future, you can see a bright future for Rowling’s new project. It is the weakest of the Harry Potter franchise, but, hopefully, the Fantastic Beasts franchise will improve upon each film in the future.

Legend states that ostriches bury their head in the sand when frightened. While this is a myth, we humans have a similar and very real coping mechanism for boredom: We bury our heads in the proverbial sands of technology, namely the smartphone.

Nonetheless, I recognize the significant value of such a device. It is not the enemy. This week, the Life. Church YouVersion Bible App surpassed 250 million downloads worldwide. Now virtually wherever a screen exists there is a way to connect with God’s Word. However, while we have an unprecedented capability to share the Gospel from our smartphone, say for example through social media, there is less sharing of the Gospel story that reveals our brokenness, and need of a savior, and more of the illusion that we’ve got it all together. We don’t need Jesus; we need likes.

Comedian Louis C.K. wisely notes that the cell phone has robbed us of our ability to be still — to be alone. He’s says that’s why when you look around, everyone is texting and driving, which for teenage drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is six times more deadly than driving while intoxicated.

He said, “People are willing to risk taking a life and ruining their own because people don’t want to be alone for a second.”

How important is it to find times of solitude? Luke 5:16 states that “Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.” Prior to preaching in Galilee, Jesus woke early and “went out to an isolated place to pray” Mark 1:35. Other times we read that He “prayed to God all night” Luke 6:12. And before He would be betrayed by Judas, Jesus “knelt down and prayed” experiencing such agony that “His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” Luke 22:41; 44. It was in this time alone that Jesus experienced rich and meaningful intimacy with the Father, becoming acutely aware of the needs of the world and gaining the necessary strength needed to fulfill His purpose of rescuing humanity.

What if Jesus had not sought retreat for prayer and neglected — or had been too weak or burnt out — to fulfill His call? Has the light of a screen become a distraction that has darkened our capacity to be the light of the world? Are we so uncomfortable alone — actually desiring distractions — that we’ve become blinded to the needs of those around us—our light covered (Matthew 5:14-16)?

Left unchecked, such distractions cheat us from time alone with God that strengthens us, prevents burnout and invigorates our desire to actively share the Gospel. In 1 Corinthians 7:35 Paul challenges us “to do whatever will help [us] serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.” Why? Because the stakes are too high to casually dismiss. What are the stakes? If you truly believe in God’s Word, eternal damnation is at stake—everyone from the barista who serves us your cup of joe to the guy who cuts us off in traffic, Scripture states “For the wages of sin is death”—separated from God forever (Romans 6:23).

Famous magician and atheist Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller, after having been approached by an audience member that he felt was genuinely concerned for his eternity, once said, “If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life… how much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

So here we are, with the greatest resource to share this message of everlasting life and we use it to keep our heads buried from the world around us — avoiding the discomfort of being alone. Let us — me included — take a cue from Jesus, that we fight for time alone with the Father recognizing that “life is too short and our purpose to great” (to quote Craig Groeschel) to allow the distractions of smartphone — or whatever our chosen vice — to keep us from being the Body of Christ. Heaven and Hell hang in the balance.

C.J. Wetzler is the NextGen pastor at First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach. Before transitioning into full-time ministry, CJ was a commercial airline captain and high school leadership and science teacher. For questions or comments he can be reached at cj@deerfieldfirst.com.

By Gary Curreri

The Deerfield Beach High School football team is whole again as head coach Jevon Glenn returned to practice this week after being hospitalized last week after missing his team’s 28-21 victory over visiting Atlantic in the Region 3-8A final on Friday night.

Jakari Norwood took a screen pass from Nick Holm and went 44 yards for the winning score with 2:20 remaining to send the Bucks (10-2) to the state semi-final game for the first time since 2006 when it lost a heartbreaker to the eventual state champion Miami Northwestern.

An emotional Norwood said after the game that he and his team rallied around Glenn, who had been hospitalized two days earlier and missed the game. Former Piper High coach Matthew Lewis, the team’s running back coach, filled in as head coach for the game. Deerfield Beach will host Miami Southridge (10-2) in the state semifinal at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

“This was hard, but we did it for him (Glenn),” said Norwood, a 5-10, 175-pound junior running back who also scored on a 7-yard run earlier in the game to give the Bucks a 14-7 lead. “We prayed hard and we came through. This is very big. We are trying to do something we have never done. We want to beat Southridge and go to state.”

“My number was called and I just did what I do,” Norwood said. He had 57 yards rushing and another 51 yards receiving.

“I saw the end zone and I just took advantage of it.”

“I am feeling much better,” Glenn said on Wednesday morning. He was released from the hospital on Sunday and back at practice on Monday. “I am back in the saddle.”

“I’m good now,” said Glenn, who was diagnosed with ‘some digestive issues.’

“I am most definitely proud of the team, and the staff, and what they accomplished Friday,” he continued.

The last time Deerfield Beach played in a regional final before Friday night was in 2008 when they lost to Miramar. A victory Friday would send the Bucks to the state championship game for only the second time in school history. Deerfield reached the state final in 2005 losing to Palm Beach Gardens.

Deerfield Beach lost to the eventual state champion Flanagan in the regional semifinals last season, while Atlantic lost to Flanagan in the regional final.

The Bucks opened the scoring with 6:41 remaining in the first quarter when senior defensive end Deslin Alexandre blocked Brian Litang’s punt and Bucks senior Jerry Jeudy scooped up the loose ball and raced 31 yards for the 7-0 lead.

Atlantic tied the game at 7-7 on a 3-yard scoring run by Lamar Brewster with 7:46 remaining in the half. The score capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive.

Holm, who finished the game 18 of 26 for 262 yards, also threw a 42-yard pass to Daewood Davis to give the Bucks a 21-7 halftime lead before the Eagles started to mount a comeback.

The teams traded turnovers to start the third quarter and the Eagles cashed in with 7:42 left in the period on a 17-yard run up the middle by Marquis Waters. The extra point failed and the Bucks led 21-13.

Atlantic pulled to within 21-20 on a quarterback sneak by Thompson from a 1-yard out with 11:10 left to cap a 67-yard, 12 play drive. The big play in the drive was a 29 yard toss from Thompson to Corey Gammage to the Bucks’ 1. Thompson and Gammage teamed up for the 2-point conversion on a slant play to tie the game at 21-21 setting up Norwood’s late game heroics.

Lewis said the team only has a state championship in mind. Lewis was the head coach for Piper in 2008-09 and finished 6-4.

“This is just another step,” Lewis said. “Deerfield Beach has been to the playoffs and deep into the playoffs and amongst all of the school with the winningest records in the state of Florida and we are the only one that has not captured a state championship. Until we get that, we are not done. We are not finished.”

Lewis said Glenn was brought in for a stomach virus and was hospitalized for the game, but the team rallied around him Friday and got him the victory.

“Before the game, we made sure we laid it on the line for our leader,” Lewis said. “Coach Glenn has turned this program around and the kids fought hard for him tonight.”

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

When I cover the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the first movie I try to see is the film with the best word of mouth. When I hosted the documentary, Conversations with Alan Ladd Jr., director Stanley Isaac expressed his admiration for Arrival, saying, “It’s always about the story.” The toughest critic I know is my big brother, who looked forward to seeing Arrival. The film lived up to his high expectation and we have been talking about this film throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.

Arrival is a classic science fiction about a problem on planet Earth. It uses the scientific method that used to be taught in middle-school science acknowledge the problem, study the problem, create a hypothesis and then proceed to apply a solution. Unlike Star Trek or Star Wars fantasy, Arrival is grounded by physical science fiction along the lines of The Day the Earth Stood Still and Contact. Fans of authors H.G. Wells, H.P. Lovecraft and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five will appreciate the Easter eggs related to the theory of time. Brush up on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity also.

We are introduced to Professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and her daughter. Within five minutes of screen time, we learn that the daughter dies of a rare form of Cancer and the mother grieves. Dr. Banks, a linguist expert, is then summoned by the military with the arrival of aliens from outer space. While the threat appears to be benign, the world reaction grows increasingly tense.

With the help of theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), Dr. Banks overcomes the language barrier and communicates with heptapods – seven limbed star creatures that look like giant squids. As the aliens and humans become more intimate with each other, Dr. Banks subconscious becomes affected in which her dreams, nightmares and reality intersect.

Arrival is a thinking person’s motion picture. To director Denis Villeneuve’s credit, he clearly expresses Arrival’s simple narrative, despite multiple character details filled with dreamlike imagery. This film demands rapt attention and it is a film best seen in the afternoon to grasp all the film’s nuances.

It is Amy Adams’ performance that acts as a conduit between academic theory and human emotion. Her grief is real, as is her initial fear of the seven limbed heptapods, who they nickname Abbott & Costello. Her growth is real and one appreciates Louise Banks’ good days when she smiles later in the picture.

In the next couple of weeks, there will be plenty of science fiction movies that will be used to sell toys, including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Star Wars Rogue One) Arrival is a special film that will appeal to one’s head as well as their heart.

I want to tell you a story about a little boy and a summersault.

When Sholom was 10 years old he was given a new suit that he was very proud of, especially its beautiful gold buttons. It wasn’t very easy to come by a new suit in 1930s Moscow, and certainly not one as nice as this one. Sholom wore his suit for the Jewish High Holidays that year and was extra careful to keep it nice and clean.

The climax of the High Holidays is on Simchat Torah when our joy knows no bounds. What was Simchas Torah like in Moscow during the height of Stalinist terror? If you would imagine that it was quiet and solemn, that would be an intelligent guess, but you’d be forgetting about Yonah.

That Simchas Torah Yonah had drank plenty in honor of the holidays and he was out in the streets dancing. He even grabbed a strangers to dance and drink with him. I’m not sure that we can even fathom the audacity and chutzpah!

To see Yonah make merry in the streets, you would never know that it was a Jewish community living under the state-run terror campaign and that arrest and even execution were a regular part of life. It was the Jewish Holidays and Yonah was in another world, a world in which Stalin and his secret police simply didn’t exist!

Then, Yonah took his joy to new levels and starting doing somersaults in the streets! A crowd gathered around him and Yonah got all the community Jews to do the same – somersaults in the streets.

Yonah noticed a 10-year-old boy standing cautiously off to the side. The boy was dressed in an obviously brand new suit with shiny gold buttons. There were no dry cleaners in 1930 Moscow. One tumble in the muddy street and that beautiful suit would never be the same. Yonah, the master educator and mentor knew exactly what the boy was thinking and also knew exactly what had to be done. You also know, yes?

This was what we call now days “a teachable moment.” You cannot plan for a “teachable moment;” you cannot engineer it. It is just an opportunity that arises where a teacher suddenly has a perfect, fleeting chance to endow the student with a lesson he or she will never forget. The teachable moment must be seized by the teacher or lost forever. Yonah knew what the suit meant to the boy, but Yonah also knew what the boy would need to learn in order to survive and thrive as a person living in dark times. Wanting to keep your suit nice and clean is the normal thing for a boy that age to want, but there are times when a person just has to do the abnormal thing – a somersault in the muddy streets even if it ruins your suit would be a great way to break free from the chains of communism.

“MACH A KULAH” (do a summersault) Yonah shouted at the boy. All eyes were now on him “ DO A SOMERSAULT” they all shouted with joy. There was no way out of this. The suit was about to get ruined. Ten-year-old Sholom took a plunge. It was a silly, crazy, defiant act, and it was very necessary – the defining moment of a young man’s education. Everyone cheered as Sholom tumbled head over heels in the muddy street!

Sholom survived the war, started a family and became a Rabbi and business man always teaching and inspiring along the way.

Sholom is my grandfather. He would eventually marry Yonah’s niece — my grandmother, Pesia. Incidentally, Yonah and his wife never had children. He eventually was caught by the KGB and passed away while in prison.

My grandfather, Rabbi Sholom, passed away this week at 89 years old in New York. He was surrounded by children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who are all proud Jews, and we are living the life he got dirty for. That “teachable moment” will forever be passed on through his family, most of whom are Rabbis and teachers across the globe.

You see getting dirty never felt so good! When you know getting dirty will help defy the challenges we face in this world so that we can be a free charitable and loving people, then getting dirty is just a pleasure.

MAY HIS MEMORY BE A BLESSING!

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches, located in the Venetain Isle Shopping Center at 2025 E. Sample Rd. in Lighthouse Point. For all upcoming events, please visit www.JewishLHP.com.

By Emily Rosen

ERosen424@aol.com

www.emilyrosen424.com

“Peace on earth. Good will towards man,” is probably the most favorite saying spoken or quoted during the Christmas holiday season. Even, it is said, the most liberal secularists who reject Biblical Christianity love to use this phrase and claim it as their own.

The “peace on earth” part, hopeful denial of reality that it is, is an eternal prayer that has yet to be answered. Certainly it is an aspirational “good,” and, though it may remain unanswered in all of our lifetimes, there is no more worthy goal for humankind despite that as individuals, it is a condition beyond our control.

So I have concerned myself with that which is within our control as individuals: “Good will towards man.”

Has there ever been a time when “good will towards man” is as far from the ‘collective consciousness’ as it is today? Well, probably historically, there has been, but I want to stay with the now. The residual “spill” from our recent past national trauma lingers in all the wrong places — in the hearts of those stuck in a mindset of righteousness, in people who sneer at the concept of being non-judgmental in a world filled with human beings who are more than one dimensional.

Many of us have difficulty with the concept that another person can have a belief system in total opposition to our own, with equal sincerity and purity of heart, and that such a person can indeed perform acts of kindness and can make positive contributions to their community.

This is what makes “good will towards man”such a challenge.

I am aware of how this past election cycle has torn families and friendships apart, and has caused serious rifts in some marital relationships. And, despite the innate wisdom of the mantra “Let’s agree to disagree,” the issues and circumstances for many of us were so deep-gutted as to have been symbolic of the very core of our beings. And disagreements along political lines can be perceived as rejections of who we are in the “I am what I believe” modality.

Somehow, we can more easily disagree about sports teams, movies, books, art, taste in clothes or home furnishings, or even, in the abstract philosophy than we can about politics, without impugning the basic character of another person.

So, in this relatively short–lived seasonal spread of overt loving and good cheer, I am “putting out” the hope that we can extend good will to the folks who voted whichever other way from your vote, that they did. And a reminder: This doesn’t make them bad people.

So, ho, ho, ho — it’s time for some levity. Here’s to a wonderful Christmas, Chanukah and whatever else you celebrate this month, and here’s to some serious “good will towards man.”