What Are Sinuses?

Every so often, you’ve probably heard people complain about a sinus headache or a sinus infection. Have you ever wondered what sinuses are?

Your sinuses are vital to the health and well-being of your body. Sinuses are pockets of air located within the bones of your head and face. They’re sometimes referred to as sinus cavities.

These sinus cavities are lined with soft, moist tissue, called mucus membranes, which help to moisten the air you breathe. They also make mucus, a sticky substance that helps trap dust and bacteria. As you breathe in air through your nose and mouth, the air moves through the sinus passages on the way to the lungs, and the mucus helps humidify and filter the air.

Very small hairs, called cilia,line the mucus membranes. Cilia move back and forth to push any mucus through tiny openings called ostia, which connect to the inside of your nose. Any fluid or mucus that collects in the sinuses will drain through the ostia into your nose and then down the back of your throat, where it will be either swallowed or coughed out. The draining of mucus helps keep your nose moist, and it filters out dust and bacteria. Sinuses also act as an insulator to help warm the air you breathe.

What Is Sinusitis?

Sinusitis, or a sinus infection, is when sinuses become infected or irritated. Doctors estimate that over thirty-seven million Americans develop sinusitis every year! These infections usually follow colds or bouts with allergies. When someone has a cold or allergies, his nasal passages become swollen and make more mucus…and so do the sinus tissues. The sinuses need to be able to drain regularly and freely in order to clear mucus and function properly. If the drainage gets blocked, it creates sinus problems that can lead to a sinus infection.

The sinuses extend through the cheekbones, the forehead, behind the nose, and between the eyes.

Sinuses are not fully developed at birth, but you have the following four sinuses by the time you reach your teen years:

* Frontal sinuses, which are in the bone of the forehead, above the bridge of the nose, close to your eyes. There is one frontal sinus on either side of the face (one by each eye).

* Maxillary (MACK-suh-lair-ee) sinuses, which are by your cheekbones. These are the largest of the sinuses. There is one maxillary sinus behind each cheekbone.

* Ethmoid (ETH-moid) sinuses, which are between the eyes, behind the bone at the inside corner of each eye. There are three small pairs of ethmoid sinuses.

* Sphenoid (SFEE-noid) sinuses, which are behind your nose. There are two sphenoid sinuses, and they are located behind the ethmoid sinuses.

True or False??

Sinus infections are contagious.

False. There is no evidence to suggest that sinus infections are contagious. However, you may get a cold from someone else, which can then lead to a sinus infection (if not cared for properly). Washing your hands regularly can help keep germs and colds away.

If you or a loved one needs help, call (718) GET-SAFE. All calls are confidential. For more information, visit www.thesafefoundation.org.

Every year, The Safe Foundation holds a single, vital fundraising event – one that fuels the lifeline we extend to individuals and families in crisis. With no other fundraising campaigns throughout the year, this annual event is not just important, it’s essential to the continued operation of our clinics, programs, and educational initiatives. As a community-based nonprofit serving Brooklynand Deal, we rely on the generosity of donors who believe in our mission: to support individuals coping with addiction and related challenges through comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally competent care.

Founded in 2003, The Safe Foundation has helped over 10,000 people reclaim their lives. What began as a small initiative to address substance use and gambling addiction in our local community has evolved into a multifaceted organization that treats addiction, nurtures families, educates youth, and promotes holistic wellness. Our impact is felt in schools, synagogues, clinics, and homes – and with your support, we can continue to meet the growing and urgent needs of the community we’re proud to serve.

A Holistic Approach to Healing

The foundation of Safe’s work is its client-centered clinical services. Our licensed outpatient clinics in Brooklyn and Deal offer substance use and gambling addiction treatment providing accessible and personalized care. Our experienced team of credentialed professionals creates tailored treatment plans that respect each client’s history, cultural background, and personal goals.

Addiction doesn’t happen in isolation and neither does healing. That’s why we offer robust support to the family members of those in treatment, recognizing that recovery is a journey best taken with a strong and informed support system. Through family therapy, psychoeducation, and counseling, we help loved ones navigate their own challenges and contribute meaningfully to the recovery process.

We don’t stop at treating addiction. At Safe, we view prevention and education as core to our mission. That’s where our extended programs come in, each one targeting different stages of life and areas of need, always with the goal of strengthening the community from within.

Our youth-focused initiative, Project Safe, delivers vital prevention education to grades five through twelve for one period per week throughout the entire school year in over ten schools in Brooklyn and Deal. This program helps middle and high school students understand the risks associated with substance misuse, vaping, and gambling, and equips them with the tools to make healthy choices. Through school partnerships, interactive sessions, and real-life stories, Project Safe empowers students to take control of their futures before problems begin.

Treatment, Empowerment, and Prevention

Prevention isn’t just about saying no to drugs – it’s about helping young people understand why they matter and how they can protect their mental and emotional well-being. Project Safe’s strength lies in its relatability: our educators speak the language of teens and meet them where they are, helping to create safer, more informed communities from the ground up.

Raising children in today’s world is not easy, and parents often feel unprepared to address the complex emotional and behavioral issues their kids face. Our Safe Parenting program offers educational workshops and events for parents seeking to raise confident, resilient children.

Safe Parenting helps families build strong foundations, enhancing communication, reinforcing boundaries, and promoting emotional intelligence. By focusing on empowerment, we help parents guide their children through life’s challenges without turning to harmful coping mechanisms like substance use or disordered eating.

Another essential component of our holistic model is The Mindful Eating Project. Eating disorders and body image struggles are deeply entwined with emotional health, and this program offers education, support, and healing for those who struggle in silence.

Through community events, workshops, and partnerships with credentialed professionals, the Mindful Eating Project opens up conversations about binge eating, dieting, movement, and body acceptance. It is designed to serve those who may be recovering from an eating disorder or simply seeking a healthier relationship with food, exercise, and self-image.

By integrating intuitive eating, mindfulness, and body-neutral language, the Mindful Eating Project helps people move away from shame and toward self-compassion. It’s another way Safe supports the community not just in crisis, but in building lifelong wellness.

Rooted in Community

What makes The Safe Foundation unique is our deep connection to the community we serve. Our staff, board members, and volunteers live and work in the neighborhoods where our clients live. We understand the unique cultural and familial dynamics that shape behavior and influence recovery, and we tailor our services accordingly.

Our programs are grounded in respect, trust, and cultural competency. Whether it’s a teenager attending a Project Safe class, a parent learning new tools through Safe Parenting, or a client receiving therapy at our clinic, every person who walks through our doors is treated with dignity and care. We don’t just serve the community – we are the community.

Why Your Support Matters

The Safe Foundation runs year-round programming and serves hundreds of clients at any given time. Every dollar raised directly supports clinical care, school outreach, parenting education, and wellness programs. Your donation enables us to say “yes” when someone calls for help. It ensures we can keep our doors open, our counselors available, and our services accessible to all who need them.

Please join us Friday morning, June 27^th, at 9am at the home of James and Ricci Haddad for our 22^nd Annual Breakfast Fundraiser, where every donation brings us one step closer to safeguarding our community’s future. Together, we can build a healthier, more resilient community.​

We invite you to be a part of our mission. Attend our fundraiser. Make a donation. Share our story. Together, we can continue to offer hope, healing, and holistic support to the people who need it most.

To donate Venmo @safe-foundation, or visit our website at www.thesafefoundation.org/donate.

If you or a loved one needs help, call (718) GET-SAFE. All calls are confidential. For more information, visit www.thesafefoundation.org.

Victor Cohen

In recent years,responding to plans to build a casino on Coney Island, right in our backyard, many throughout the community voiced their opposition to the project, and campaigned against it. Thanks in part to these efforts, the project has been struggling to receive the approval of the relevant municipal bodies.

The reason for the widespread opposition in our community should be clear and obvious. Easy access to a casino would, without question, lure many – particularly youngsters – to try out gambling. We all know that gambling is not only inconsistent with our Torah values, but also highly addictive, often destructively so.

Meanwhile, as this battle continues to be fiercely waged, a different gambling crisis has arisen – one which has already embedded itself deeply within our community: sports betting.

A Handheld Casino

Recent years have seen a surge of online sportsbooks and sports betting apps, which are promoted by torrents of advertisements. DraftKings, FanDuel, ESPNBet, BetMGM, and countless other sportsbooks offer free bets to ensnare newcomers. They also partner with celebrities and players, put out live promotions during games, and invest heavily in enticing users to keep betting on games. These sites and apps have, tragically, brought large numbers of youths into the clutches of gambling addiction, creating a whole generation of compulsive gamblers.

Let’s be honest about what many of these online sportsbooks are: a casino located in your pocket, or in the palm of your hand. They allow users to play the full range of typical casino games on their phone. Shockingly, every smartphone is now a Coney Island Casino.

This scourge of online gambling poses a grave threat to our community youngsters.

To learn more about this challenge, which has quickly become a full-fledged community crisis, I sat down with Ike Dweck, the founder of the SAFE foundation –an outpatient drug, alcohol, and gambling addiction facility, with clinics in Brooklyn and Deal. We spoke about the dangers of the sports betting apps, the tactics they use to get users hooked, as well as Ike’s own struggles with gambling and his heroic journey to break free of addiction. We also discussed potential solutions that are currently in the works, and warning signs for those concerned about a friend or child.

“They Don’t Really Care”

Already in 1992, Congress acted to protect our society from the dangers of sports betting, passing the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA, which prohibited states from allowing sports betting. But in 2014, the State of New Jersey, under governor Chris Christie, challenged the law’s constitutionality by legalizing sports betting within the state.

“People in New York would start gambling on their phones by just going over the bridge into New Jersey,” Ike recalled.

The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) sued the state, demanding that it enforce the federal law. The case continued under current New Jersey governor Phil Murphy and reached the Supreme Court in 2018. In Murphy v. NCAA, 584 U.S. 453 (2018), the Court voted to strike down PASPA, thus leaving the decision of whether to allow sports betting up to states. As more and more states followed New Jersey’s lead and legalized sports gambling, the industry of sports betting apps quickly surged, growing into the frightening behemoth that we unfortunately see today. In New York, due to lobbying from DraftKings and FanDuel, online sportsbooks became legal in January 2022.

And so when you turn 21, you are allowed to set up an account through an online sportsbook, which offers an enticing bevy of free bets. Most of the apps give you a few hundred dollars to “play” with. You cannot withdraw this money – you must spend it on a bet, playing their game. This is the primary method these online sportsbooks use to pull in innocent, unsuspecting users – they offer free bets, enabling the new customer to experience the thrill of gambling. This all but ensures that they will come back and continue playing with real money, and even long after these companies made back the money they “lost” by baiting the newbies.

“The website and casinos – they don’t really care,” Ike said. Why should they? They make loads of money off people’s addictions, hardships, and struggles – and will gladly continue to make money if left to their own devices. There is lots of money to be made from addicts. There is money to be made by placing all those expensive advertisements during sports games, given the potential for huge profit if they can get someone to sign up. There is money to be made by having a user place even just one too many bets.

The “free bets” convince your brain that gambling and betting is not just good, but exciting, something that gives you a high. Once that happens, you can easily get hooked and end up coming back again, again, and again – and the greatest thing any company can have is a repeat customer who uses its services frequently.

In other words, addiction is these businesses’ best friend. And so getting people addicted – and keeping them addicted – is their modus operandi.

A Minefield of Triggers

This brings us to their second important strategy –ubiquity. Flooding the internet and airwaves with advertisements helps not only to bring in new customers, but also to bring back customers who had succeeded in breaking loose.

A recovering alcoholic can avoid bars and liquor stores to protect himself from temptation. But a recovering sports betting addict has almost no way of avoiding the lure of gambling. An eye-opening essay in Scientific American(January 23, 2025) by Allison Parshalltitled,“How ‘Dark Patterns’ in Sports Betting Apps Keep Users Gambling” describes the difficult challenge faced by recovering gambling addicts trying to stay away from these apps: “A lapsed customer who receives a push notification, e-mail or text with an enticing ‘limited time’ offer for 10 ‘free bets’ might be someone with a gambling problem who is trying to quit.”

Parshall draws an analogy to a person dealing with alcohol addiction who, after several weeks of sobriety,is approached on his way to work by the fellow who runs his favorite bar, and he says, “Here, take a free shot of tequila!” It would be exceedingly difficult for the recovering alcoholic to decline. This is precisely what happens to recovering gamblers all the time.

“You can’t watch a baseball game without a commercial telling you to bet,” Ike said.

For a recovering addict, commercials promoting the online sportsbooks create a minefield of triggers that can easily get them sucked back in, especially considering the ease with which these apps can be accessed. One of the great benefits of modern technology – having everything at our fingertips, allowing us to check our email, write up proposals, fill orders, text, call, take pictures, work accounts, and do just about everything with just the tap of a few buttons – is a major pitfall for gambling addicts. The next bet is just a few button taps away. All it takes is the right advertisement during a football game, the right push notification at a time when the algorithm knows you’re looking at your phone, the right offer at the right time, to hook the recovering addict back in and get more money out of him.

It takes just a few taps on your screen to gamble away your entire week’s paycheck – and it takes the same amount of taps to lose a whole year’s paycheck, and even to bet away all your life’s savings. For a compulsive gambler, it is like a giant hole at the bottom of hisfinancial boat, which can cause it to sink at any moment.

Underage Gamblers

“Everybody’s desperate and thinks it’s easy to win,” Ike explained, further noting that although the apps ‘require’ you to be 21, it just does not work like that in practice. “People steal their parents’ credit cards, social security numbers, and open accounts as young as 13 or 14 years old. The email is in their name so their parents would never know.They’ll go on FanDuel and just open an account.”

Unfortunately, that is not the only way underage children can gain access to the online sportsbooks.

“They have friends who have brothers who have accounts who let them bet every night,” Ike says, and – just as in the case with drug addicts – once the money runs out to support their addiction, they find ways to get more. This could be by lying, manipulating those around them, or even stealing from their parents and pawning off jewelry. Once they are addicted, they will do whatever it takes to be able to continue their compulsively betting.

The SAFE foundation has, since its inception, always dealt primarily with alcohol and drug addiction, but this past year, the number of clinical assessments they conducted for gambling problems has risen by 48 percent. This dramatic increase offers a glimpse into how rapidly the issue has escalated.

It behooves us, then, to take a step back and ask ourselves: is this what we want for our future? Do we want the younger generation exposed to all this?

An Addict’s Recovery Story

In searching for solutions, there is perhaps no one better to listen to than Ike, who not only runs an organization that has been dealing with this issue for many years, but has also personally struggled with – and successfully overcome – a gambling addiction.

Ike began betting on sports when he was 12 years old. Back then, there were no sports apps, so he had to rely on other methods to place bets.

“When I was growing up,” he recalls, “there were no apps, so to bet you had to get a ‘bookie,’ who wasn’t the most honest guy in the world.”

He placed bets on all kinds of sports games, and as he got older, it took over his life.

“I couldn’t go on a vacation if it didn’t have a casino,”

His father asked him to join Gamblers’ Anonymous, and he was in and out for many years. However, he didn’t really listen to what they were telling him. This continued until he finally hit rock bottom at the age of 23. His life was out of control, he owed money to the bookies, and he was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” He went back into Gambler’s Anonymous– and began to listen.

They told him to stop watching TV and stop reading the newspaper, because the sports section in the back could cause him to relapse. He was advised to make a list of all the people he owed, and to pay them back little by little. He was also advised to stop hanging out with the people he used to gamble with. With the help of Gambler’s Anonymous, Ike managed to find his way out.

Later, in 2003, Ike founded SAFE to help those plagued by addictions. He speaks at high schools throughout our community, telling his story and helping as many people as he can.          

“Don’t Do This Yourself”

For those currently gambling who recognize that they need to stop, the most important thing is to reach out to a professional. Compulsive gambling is an addiction, and requires professional intervention to begin the path to recovery.

“Don’t do this yourself,” Ike pleads. “You need help. Even going to a Gambler’s Anonymous meeting could help.”

For the past nine months, SAFE has been lobbying New York State Senators, explaining to them the dangers of online sportsbooks and the prevalence of underage gambling, in an attempt to convince them to change the laws in New York. The problem, Ike says, is that the State makes a great deal of money from the taxes on the gambling companies’ revenue, and so the lawmakers are reluctant to impose restrictions.

Ike concluded by offering some helpful advice for those who are concerned about a friend or family member’s possible gambling addiction.  Some warning signs, he says, are “if they’re borrowing money, or there’s a friend that always wants to play cards on Saturday night, or they’re staying up late for all the games.”

If you are worried about your child, he says, look for “missing jewelry, the kid not doing well in school, or if he’s also always asking to borrow money.”

Technology, with all its extraordinary advantages, has also presented several enormous challenges, some of which have received more attention than others. Ike and the rest of the SAFE foundation hope to draw the community’s attention to the challenge of gambling addiction, and to inform everyone of its unique risks. The first step to curing this destructive ill is spreading awareness. By working together to inform our youngsters of this alluring but dangerous activity, we can begin to tackle the problem of sports betting and help ensure a bright future for all our community’s youth.

ELLEN GELLER KAMARAS

“My vision as a young adult? I always wanted to be a principal and make a big impact on education. Instead, after teaching for twenty-seven years, I became a teacher coach, principal mentor, and workshop presenter. I speak nationwide.” ~~ Etti ~~

Please meet Etti Siegel, an adjunct professor, a teacher coach, principal mentor, an educational consultant and workshop presenter, a master teacher, and a writer.  Etti radiates energy and passion for her work.

Roots

Etti grew up in Philadelphia and is one of nine children, the second to the oldest. It’s not surprising that she became an educator since both her parents, Shmuel and Khana Globman, were both teachers.  Etti learned sign language as a child since four of her siblings are deaf, their deafness ranging from moderate to severe.  Etti employs sign language in her classroom. For example, she has made pesukim (verses) in Humash come alive with sign language and often includes sign language when she teaches the Ma Nishtana.

The Globmans sent their children to yeshivot in Philadelphia.  When Etti’s high school closed during 10^th grade, her parents sent her to board with family friends in Brooklyn.  She studied at Prospect Park Yeshivah where her close friend from Camp Sternberg, Rivkah Cabasso Dahan, also was a student.  “It was a dream to be able to hang out with Rivkah.  I ate my first Syrian food at her house, yum!” 

As a child, Etti was either studious or a troublemaker, depending on her teacher.  She loved reading and drama, and was often pushed into the spotlight to interpret for her brothers.

Journey to Queens

After graduating high school, Etti began her college studies and taught in day schools in Philadelphia for two years.  On a visit to her sister in Queens, Etti’s naseeb, Chaim Siegel, was visiting a family on the same block.  Her brother-in-law thought it would be a good idea to set them up. They immediately clicked and the rest is history.  Etti moved to Queens and taught close to home at Bais Yaakov of Queens in the mornings for twenty-five years, and at Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe in the afternoon for six years. 

In addition to teaching, Etti held positions as head counselor at Simcha Day Camp for nine years and Camp Dina overnight camp for four years. She and Chaim worked together for approximately 13 years at these camps.  When Etti became a coach, she stopped running camps.

Etti is proud of her husband’s first position as a successful rebbe for 19 years and his second career as a Physician Assistant/Associate at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, a world-renowned trauma hospital.

Etti’s Evolution

After 18 years of teaching, Etti returned to school to complete her training and finally get her master’s degree in educational leadership.

It seems Etti was meant to be a teacher, as Hashem sent the Siegel’s their own little class to raise when Etti gave birth to triplets. Although their two-year-old little helper always underfoot, Chaim and Etti enjoyed this new challenge, and Etti gained a lot of insight into preemies, multiples, and the world of intervention. Though Etti and Chaim were so grateful for all the beneficial therapies, they were thankful that as the triplets grew, they no longer needed the extra help. This experience enabled Etti to help others later.

Chaim describes his wife as passionate, energetic, caring, a creative thinker, and a problem solver.  She is also dynamic, driven, organized, and outgoing. Etti says she’s an extrovert who is also an introvert at times.  When she comes home from a long day of work, she needs down time and a quiet break before she heads out again.

Fulfilling Etti’s Life Dreams

With six young children at home and almost two decades of teaching under her belt, Etti decided she wanted to complete her bachelor’s degree and then continue for a master’s degree specializing in teaching, learning, and educational leadership.

“The little girl in me always wanted to be a principal.  Instead, after many years of teaching, I became a teacher coach, principal mentor, and workshop presenter.  I am doing what I always wanted to do.  I just didn’t realize that principals don’t do what I do, they are too busy! They call me in to help them.”

Etti creates her own workshops and helps in the areas where principals need her expertise and vibrant style.  This includes observing the teachers, guiding them to make use of the best educational practices, modeling, creating exciting lessons, and managing their classrooms. Etti determines what might be going wrong and how to address the problem. She shows teachers how to make teaching more enjoyable for both the teachers and their students.  She creatively employs her knowledge of literacy, science, history, classroom management, and social and emotional learning.

“It’s lonely at the top for principals and they appreciate my support,”  Etti says. She greatly admires both the teachers who are very idealistic and want to be the best educators and the amazing principals she meets who want to run the best schools possible.

A Job Well Done

Her proudest accomplishment is helping struggling teachers become master teachers.

Etti has mentored and worked with many principals and teachers as well as parents to transform difficult experiences in the classroom. After her intervention there is a significant improvement, leading to a positive year of growth in learning. Her personal thirst for growth constantly benefits those who learn from her.

Etti currently works in several Sephardic schools including YDE, Ateret Torah, and Shaare Torah, in Ashkenaz yeshivot and day schools, and in Chassidish schools.  Etti also teaches lesson planning and classroom management at Sarah Schenirer College.

Etti gets fired up about kids, adults, and education and making learning and schools great.  “The coolest part? The schools apply for government grants for the services my fellow coaches and I provide.  My childhood friend Rivkah Dahan was a coach first and got me my first paying coaching job.”

Role Models and Mentors

Etti’s role models include first her parents and then her sister Khavi Rosenshein, who is a principal at Bnot Yaakov, a Persian school in Great Neck.  “Bnot Yaakov is the ideal of what a school should be.”

Etti’s other mentors and role models are Mr. Richie Altabe, former Head of School at Shaare Torah and current principal at HALB. Etti had the zechut of working for him at Simcha Day Camp for nine years. Rav Sholom Kamenetzky, Rosh Yeshiva of Philadelphia Yeshiva, has been Etti’s parents’ friend and neighbor ever since she was a girl. Etti felt that living so close to such an esteemed person and his wife affected how she perceives the world, and she feels blessed to have that connection.

Balance and Community

Etti appreciates that her children have absorbed meaningful messages by hearing her coaching teachers over the phone or on Zoom.  Chaim and their children are very proud of Etti’s achievements.  Several of her adult children followed in Etti’s path and became top-notch educators.

Etti thrives on going to local exercise classes with neighbors and friends. To relax and recharge, she also enjoys reading and catching up with friends.

The Siegels enjoy their small, friendly community in Kew Gardens, Queens. “Everyone celebrates everything with each other. Even though there are a few shuls, people walk over to each simcha, to each event, as one.”

Etti gives women’s Pirkei Avot shiurim in the summer in Kew Gardens. 

Challenges and Secrets to Success

Referring to herself as a wandering nomad, Etti explains her challenges and success. “[I have] no office, no place to put my stuff down.  New teachers can be intimidated to work with me, but as the culture of coaching has become normalized, this has gotten a lot better. Now teachers request help, a new and exciting development.”

Etti’s secret to success is that she loves people and especially loves helping them. “I learn so much from the people I meet and work with.  I don’t see my work as a job, but as a real privilege.  I am so fortunate!”

As a person who loves learning, Etti consistently strives to enhance her skills and is always growing professionally. When Covid hit, she learned to operate Zoom quickly, because she was suddenly teaching teachers how to use Zoom effectively.

Etti writes for The Jewish Home weekly newspaper to help schools to understand parents, and parents to understand schools, and she answers school-related questions.

Etti has also written for  HaMechanech Magazine, and the Journal of Jewish Day School Leadership.  She writes on a wide variety of subjects, including the benefits of collaboration between schools and parents that is necessary for promoting student success and allowing kids to fail.  Be sure to check her pieces out!

Career Advice

“There is nothing as rewarding as teaching! It gives you a wonderful community and keeps your neshama in a learning and growing place.”

You can connect with Etti at Professorettisiegel@gmail.com.

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Ellen Geller Kamaras, CPA/MBA, is an International Coach Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach.  Her coaching specialties include life, career, and dating coaching.  Ellen is active in her community and is currently the President of Congregation Bnai Avraham in Brooklyn Heights.  She can be contacted at ellen@lifecoachellen.com (www.lifecoachellen.com).