Blogs | Community Magazine

The Lighter Side – March 2022

-

March 2022

DOCTOR’S ORDERS

The patient was told by his dentist that he must floss his teeth every day. The patient said, “Flossing is a giant pain, it’s just so hard to reach some of my teeth.” “Okay, let’s compromise,” the dentist finally offered. “Just floss the teeth that you want to keep.”

Jack V. Grazi

CURIOUS DEFINITIONS

Teacher: David, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?

David: A Teacher!

R. G

BROKEN BONES

While leading a tour of kindergarten students through our hospital, I overheard a conversation between one little girl and an X-ray technician.
“Have you ever broken a bone?” the technician asked.
“Yes,” the girl replied.
“Did it hurt?”
“No, not at all.”
“Really? Which bone did you break?”
“My sister’s arm.”

Brenda Bawabeh

THE BETTER BARBER

A new barbershop opened up for business right across the street from the old
established hair cutter’s place. To drum up new business, the owners of the new
establishment put up a big bold sign that read: “We Give Ten-Dollar Haircuts.”

The next day, the old barbershop also had a new sign in their window, it read: “We Fix Ten-Dollar Hair Cuts!”

David Bergman

ACCOUNTING FOR TROUBLE

David just received his accounting designation, and he was looking for a job. He was being interviewed by Alan Goldfarb, a partner at the three-man firm Goldfarb, Applebaum, and Goldman. Alan came across as a very nervous man.

“I need someone with an accounting degree,” Goldfarb said. “But mainly, I’m looking for someone to do my worrying for me.”

“Excuse me?” the young accountant said.

“I worry about a lot of things,” Goldfarb said. “But I don’t want to have to worry about money. Your job will be to take all the money worries off my back.”

“I see,” David said. “and how much does the job pay?”

“I will start you at eighty-five thousand dollars.”

“Eighty-five thousand dollars!” David exclaimed. “How can such a small business afford a sum like that?”

“That,” Goldfarb said, “is your first worry.”

Ike F.

PICTURE THIS

An amateur photographer was invited to dinner with friends and took along a few pictures to show the hostess. She looked at the photos and commented, “These are very good. You must have a good camera.” A short time later, when the guests finished the meal, the photographer complimented the hostess saying, “That was a delicious meal. You must have some very good pots.”

Sari Azrak

TEACHER EVALUATION

When Esther came home from school on her first day, her mother asked,
“How was school today?” “It was very nice,” she answered, “but I don’t think my teacher is very smart.” “What makes you say that?” inquired her mother. “You might not believe it, but SHE was asking ME how to spell ‘cat.’”

Charles V

HYGIENE HIGH JINKS

At a recent lunch by the local sandwich shop, I watched the woman behind the counter spreading mayonnaise on my bread, and noticed the sleeve of her grubby work shirt was dragging across it. “Excuse me,” I called, “your sleeve is in the mayo.” “Don’t worry,” she assured me, “I need to wash it anyway.”

Abe Cohen

DOMESTIC VEHICLES

A new government study has found that the average American car now weighs 300 pounds more than it did ten years ago. However, this is only true if the average American is sitting in the car.

Ezra Cohen

THE REBBE AND HIS DRIVER

The Rebbe and his driver had a close relationship and the driver listened attentively to all of the Rebbe’s speeches.

For Purim, the Rebbe had an idea. The driver would dress up as the Rebbe and the Rebbe would dress up as the driver.

So, Purim came, and the driver dressed up as the Rebbe was giving a public shiur (speech). And he was doing pretty well until one of the senior rabbis asked him a highly technical question in Jewish law.

The driver thought about it for a moment and then said, “That is an extremely simple question. So simple, in fact, that even my driver could answer that, which is exactly what he will do.”

Morris D.

GREAT MINDS

I read that Lincoln studied by the fireplace, Mozart composed by candlelight, and Galileo did his inventing by the light of an oil lamp. I’m wondering, didn’t any of these guys think of working during the day?

Jack V. Grazi

WASHINGTON’S SECRET

Teacher: George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Billy, do you know why his father didn’t punish him?

Billy: Because George still had the ax in his hand.

Rachel Grazi

THE UNCOMMON CANINE

A man was amazed to see a dog buying meat for its owner in a butcher shop. Not only did the dog carefully check the quality of the meat, but the canine even noticed that it was short-changed by the butcher, and it growled until it was given the right amount of change. Intrigued, the man followed the dog from the shop and saw it help an old lady cross the street with her shopping bags. The man then followed the dog to its owner’s house and couldn’t believe his eyes when the dog stood up on its hind legs to ring the doorbell. After a few moments, the dog’s owner came to the door looking annoyed.
He grabbed the groceries and shoved the dog into the garden.

The man watching was horrified and called out to the owner, “I can’t believe
you pushed that amazing dog – it does your shopping, checks your change and
even helps old ladies across the road!” “I know all that,” the owner replied.
“But this is the third time this week its forgotten the keys!”

Albert C.

THE DOG ATE MOISHIE’S HOMEWORK

“Moishie, where’s your homework?” Miss Feinman asked sternly to the little boy while holding out her hand.

“My dog ate it,” was his solemn response.

“Moishie, I’ve been a teacher in this Talmud Torah for eighteen years. Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“It’s true, Miss Feinman, I promise,” insisted the boy. “I had to force him, but he ate it!”

Mordechai A.

GRANDMA KNOWS BEST

Rivky went to spend a few weeks with her Grandma Miriam. They had a lot of time together, so Grandma Miriam decided to teach Rivky how to sew. After the first day, having gone through a lengthy explanation of how to thread the machine, Rivky stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and said in disbelief, “Grandma, you mean you can do all that, but you can’t figure out how to use an iPhone?”

Cynthia L.

From the Files of the Mitzvah Man – Organization To The Rescue

Community Magazine

-

March 2022

0

From the Files of the Mitzvah Man – Organization To The Rescue

No one could have predicted the pandemonium and fear that would accompany Covid, with lockdowns, quarantine, the closures of businesses and schools, and sudden scarcity.

Yet, during the darkest of times, the Mitzvah Man Organization was like a beacon of light, reaching out and doing hesed wherever needed. The Mitzvah Man attributes the organization’s success to tremendous siyatta D’Shmaya. In the first two months of Covid, the Mitzvah Man Organization helped 800 people per week!

Calls came in from all over. Family members living in different states and countries called the Mitzvah Man regarding help for their elderly family members who were living alone, and had started to panic.

Organizations that delivered meals pre-Covid were in lockdown. Pharmacies could not deliver medications. Supermarkets were not taking phone calls.

Mitzvah Man Organization to the Rescue

The Mitzvah Man Organization is highly organized. Volunteers can sign up to visit patients in hospitals, the elderly in senior citizens homes, or individuals at home. Other volunteers cook or deliver meals. One group puts tefillin on elderly men. Drivers shuttle the injured or elderly. Others help with computer/administrative tasks.

The cooking group whips up meals in a pinch. Be it all or part of a meal, Mitzvah Man volunteers are ready to don their aprons and head to the kitchen. Messages are sent out describing the different needs and volunteers reply.

At the height of Covid, a Jewish councilman reached out to the Mitzvah Man for meal deliveries. The Mitzvah Man received calls from a food organization asking for volunteers to facilitate delivering food packages.

The group of driving volunteers is 130 members strong. Most deliveries of home-cooked meals, groceries, medicines, and medical supplies go to the elderly. Many of these recipients are Holocaust survivors living alone in apartment buildings.

Some logistics were required for pickups and deliveries. Many pickups to be delivered to the same building had different time requirements. For example, one neighbor would say, “Please don’t come until 3:00 p.m.” and another would say, “I can’t receive the meal until after 5:00 p.m.”

Many of the elderly were home by themselves, watching the news, and becoming depressed.

550 volunteers participate in the visiting group. During the lockdown, no one could make in-person visits. Instead, telephone visits became a lifeline. When a volunteer would first call, they could hear the nervousness, fear, and depression in the client’s voice. The volunteers worked hard to reassure the clients, especially by telling them to expect a friendly call every day.

One touching case involved the family of a blind woman who called the Mitzvah Man for help. The woman, in her 30s, lived alone. Her nurse was not there, and she could not function on her own. She needed meals and groceries. Arrangements were made. The client requested books be read to her. 35 volunteers responded. In addition to the physical help for meals and groceries, the client especially appreciated her readers. They helped her to escape her day-to-day worries and challenges through books. And the readers felt blessed to be helping.

Many clients needed supermarket deliveries. Coordinating this in the height of the Covid craziness was not simple. To facilitate these deliveries, the Mitzvah Man called the store owner on his cellphone. That hesed continued for months.

Nursing homes reached out to the Mitzvah Man when they ran out of masks, gowns, and hand sanitizer. In a blink, the Mitzvah man reached out to contacts in these businesses who were happy to help.

When clients’ ovens, refrigerators, and freezers broke down they feared how they would manage without these basic appliances. Lockdown made everything seem much more impossible. But, the Mitzvah Man specializes in making what seems impossible become not only possible, but taken care of. Among the Mitzvah Man volunteers there are plumbers, electricians, and handymen. When new appliances were needed, the Mitzvah Man’s contacts in the appliance business put a rush on shipping for urgently needed appliances. Arrival was two days later.

Family members were not allowed to accompany patients taken by ambulance to hospitals. How would their family members get basic items to the patient, such as clothing, seforim, and tefillin? The Mitzvah Man, of course! He arranged for family members to send a suitcase to their loved ones in the hospital, and for someone in the hospital to come out to the driver to fetch and deliver the suitcase.

Those were tough times for everyone, but in many situations, it was –

THE MITZVAH MAN ORGANIZATION TO THE RESCUE!

Business Insights – Hiring – HR

Community Magazine

-

March 2022

0

The Human Resources Department, commonly referred to as “HR,” is essential to the workforce and company culture of any business. Most companies use HR to handle recruiting and to assist in payroll services, but large-scale businesses utilize their HR department to help enhance employee performance and training, and as a bridge between leadership and the company staff. Some smaller companies that don’t have an in-house HR division may utilize an HR consulting service to help the company handle other important facets such as employee benefits and legal compliance of labor laws.

The recent shortage of goods in the market, combined with growing demand for merchandise, has been a challenge to rapidly growing companies that are in desperate need of workforce expansion. If you are currently looking to hire new employees, you may find it more difficult than usual to find the right people. In addition to the usual obstacles of sourcing, interviewing, and hiring someone who is the right fit for your company, there are several other factors that may keep the right candidate away, such as extended unemployment benefits, people relocating to other states, and people who would rather work from home than come in to the office. This can hinder the growth of a company that is trying to keep up with customer demands while maneuvering the extra work brought on by delays in shipping and delivery due to the pandemic. Zoom meetings and remote workspaces are becoming the norm for companies that are scrambling to keep their experienced employees.

In smaller businesses, the owner or manager of a company that is involved in the day-to-day operations may typically handle HR matters on their own. These matters may include hiring new employees and dealing with any basic conflicts that may arise. This is not a bad option, but it can get overwhelming very quickly, and may end up taking away time and energy from crucial decision-making when it comes to running other aspects of the company.

Larger companies that opt for a designated Human Resources division in-house find that this helps them run things more smoothly. The Human Resources Department handles many roles within a company, and in larger companies may be split up into separate divisions such as Chief Diversity Office, Chief People Office, Human Relations, or Recruiting Division. A company has many legal obligations that grow with the number of people that it employs. The HR Department is in charge of hiring and firing, oversees workplace safety, monitors and regulates employee benefits, pay, and confidentiality, and serves to protect against discriminatory practices and harassment. The HR Department also provides guidance in the event of workplace conflict or complaints. A good HR representative can help with troublesome employees that create a toxic work environment for everyone. Even a single “bad” employee can be detrimental to the growth of a company and can compel responsible and high performing employees to look for a better work environment elsewhere.

Training programs are available for anyone that would like to become more familiar with HR compliance or wants their current HR representative to be up to date with any new regulations. The HR associate may be seen as a sort of guidance counselor of the company. allowing employees to feel more comfortable expressing their feelings of discontent towards the company to the HR associate. HR needs to be adept at properly relaying these feelings and concerns to upper management levels, while making sure not to breach any confidentiality or legal compliance. That is one important reason to have an HR associate who has gone through proper training and has some type of certification. Most programs offer certification upon training completion that an HR rep can take with them wherever they go.

An important part of the Human Resources Department that is usually overlooked is how HR “manages up.” Managing Up is when an employee needs to indirectly “manage” their boss, who may be the owner of the company. Dana Brownlee, a well-known corporate trainer and speaker, classifies four main difficult boss personalities. “The Tornado” is the boss who rushes in with a whirlwind of demands and leaves everyone feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. “The Wishful Thinker” likes to idealize far-fetched and unrealistic goals. “The Clueless Chameleon” is vague in expressing what is really needed but still expects proper results. And “The MIA (Missing in Action) Boss” is never around and leaves employees to fend for themselves. A successful HR associate needs to understand who their boss is and how to “manage” them, while also properly representing the needs and desires of the staff to the employees.

A company’s staff is essential to running a business smoothly, and having the right HR processes and team in place to facilitate a good and productive work environment can be crucial to its success.

Deal Community: IV Infusions and Phlebotomy Services Now Available in Your Home

Community Magazine

-

March 2022

0

Deal Community: IV Infusions and Phlebotomy Services Now Available in Your Home

There is a mom next door who, because of a medical condition, needs IV infusions regularly. But each time she needs the infusion, she has to travel to the hospital, wait to be admitted, then wait again for four long hours as the IV drips before traveling home. In addition to having to arrange for her children’s care, she needs someone to take her to the hospital and bring her home, because she is often too weak to drive after a treatment.

And as she sits there, waiting for her medication to finish dripping and staring at the wall, she thinks, “If only I could do this at home. I could be right there when my children get off the bus. I could sit comfortably next to them while they do their homework…instead of first arriving home at bedtime.”

And now she can! Through Lakewood Bikur Cholim, Deal patients who need phlebotomy, IV infusions, and COVID tests can get the medical care they need right at home. A team of trained, licensed, medical professionals, including PAs, NPs, ICU nurses, RNs, IV techs, and paramedics are now standing by. They are available to help deliver care immediately to both the homebound and those who simply cannot spend all day in the ER for their chronic illness.

Volunteers are also needed. Training is available for licensed nurses who would like to be able to help administer these services. A prescription from the doctor is needed and all insurance is accepted, including Medicaid.

The service is available 24 hours a day. For services, call the hotline at 866-905-3020 of Lakewood Bikur Cholim, and you will be transferred to the Deal dispatcher, who will send the appropriate medical professional. This service has already been life-changing for so many!

You can also call the Deal Area 24 Hour Hotline at 732 905 3020. To Volunteer or Donate please call or text: 732 443 7065.

ATIME Shasathon – A Magical Event

On Sunday, February 6^th, over 300 people learned the entire shas in one day under one roof! ATIME’s annual Shasathon was once again a huge success – both spiritually and financially.

ATIME is devoted to assisting childless Jewish couples yearning for a baby of their own.

ATIME provides information, resources, and assistance at every step along the road to parenthood. Focusing on the larger picture of women’s health, they also address issues beyond the scope of infertility, touching hearts every step of the way. ATIME’s staff is at the forefront of reproductive technology, and our experts have access to major labs across the country and throughout the world.

When you support couples on the journey through infertility, you give them a priceless gift – the chance to build a family, to build their future. ATIME provides hope, medical guidance, and financial assistance to help couples finally attain their dreams of parenthood.

MDY High School’s Yom Iyun Shemitah Program

Last month, NCSY joined Magen David Yeshiva High School to conduct a yom iyun for the students on shemitah. After a speech about sacrifices (korbanot) from Rabbi Josh Grajower, MDY students rotated between three breakout sessions: letter writing to farmers keeping shemitah, trust workshops aimed to show us how much we must trust Hashem to put our parnasah in His hands, and the Urgent/Important Punnett Square, showing us that it is important to make time for the non-urgent responsibilities in your life. The MDY staff thanked Rabbi Gideon Black, Rabbi Josh Fagin, and Rabbi Josh Grajower, for bringing this program to their students.

Expo at Beit Yaakov of the Jersey Shore Spotlights Bitachon and Emunah

Community Magazine

-

February 2022

0

Expo at Beit Yaakov of the Jersey Shore Spotlights Bitachon and Emunah

Walk through the Arch of Bitachon in Bet Yaakov of the Jersey Shore and you will enter a world that depicts Hashem’s people holding on tightly to Him, growing through challenges, and coming out stronger and better.

The students at Bet Yaakov of the Jersey Shore, guided by their teacher, Mrs. Miriam Muller, created a world-class Expo, that amazes visitors. Untold hours were spent creating, planning, organizing, drawing, building, and putting the final touches on an extraordinary Expo, which focused on the middot of bitachon and emunah. While working on the Expo, the students felt they strengthened these middot in themselves, too! The project worked especially well in this close-knit school where teamwork came naturally, as everyone feels like part of a family.

The students served as tour guides, leading groups through the Expo. Each girl served as a docent, so they all got a chance to speak and to shine.

The Expo was divided into four main rooms. One room depicted the bitachon and emunah the Jewish people had during the Holocaust. Another room focused on the Jews in the midbar after leaving Misrayim. A third room featured the “natural” miracles that are part of the world. And the fourth room showcased the farmers in Eres Yisrael this year during shemitta.

The students cleverly integrated different materials into all of the exhibits. For example, the sign of the makka of shechin was made with bubble wrap, which looked like boils. The sign with the words “Ve’emunatecha Balaylot” in the Holocaust room was made out of ashes and candle drippings.

Considerable thought and sensitivity went into creating the Holocaust room. The soulful tune of “Ani Maamin” played in the background. However, visitors were left with a feeling of hope, viewing the beautiful wall that depicted the many yeshivot that were built following the war, with the words “uv’chol zot shimcha lo shachachnu” as the title. Yes, we suffered unimaginable torture, but despite that – “uv’chol zot,” we did not forget Your Name – “shimcha lo shachachnu.”

The room that depicted the midbar was incredible. A walkway featuring the Eser Makkot was at the entrance to the room, followed by Kriyat Yam Suf and the Ananei Hakavod – a large edifice made of thousands of pieces of cotton! Miniature tents rested on a floor of sand with little pieces of “mann” in front of the door of each tent. There was a true-to-life ancient jar, the Sinsenet Hamann, which has encouraged generations of Jews, including the BYJS students, to recognize how our parnassa is as assured, just as the mann that fell gently in front of the doorsteps of the Jewish people in the desert. There was a huge banner made of thousands of pennies depicting the similarity of the words “mann” and money!

A beautiful d’var Torah was hung near the tents. It conveyed that life was much happier in those times when we all got the same portion of mann (“omer lagulgolet”) so the competition and jealousy that we suffer from in today’s society were nonexistent.

The shemitta room resembled a real farm in miniature, with dirt covering the floor surrounded by a picket fence. An incredible video was shown depicting a miracle that happened to the courageous keepers of shemitta in the past cycle.

This project has served as a great inspiration for the Bet Yaakov students and the community women and girls who viewed it. The magnificent displays were a testament of the talented leadership, organization, and hard work by the students and staff of Bet Yaakov who happily put their all into this project.

Riddles – February 2022

Community Magazine

-

February 2022

0

Riddle: Shopping Spree

Submitted by Ronnie W.

Morris walked into a hardware store and asked the price of some items. The salesman said: One costs $1, Eight costs $1, Seventeen cost $2, One hundred four costs $3 and One thousand seventy two costs $4. What was Morris buying?

Previous Month’s Riddle: Coin Conundrum

I have a large money box, 12 inches wide, and 6 inches tall. How many quarters can I place in it until my money box is no longer empty?

Solution: Just one, after which it will no longer be empty!

Solved by: The Tawil Family, Lulu Saadia, Sophia H., Blimi Yoffe, Eliyahu Cohen, Morris Kabani, Herskovich Family, Leibowitz Family, and Big Mike.

Junior Riddle: What Am I?

Submitted by Simone K. If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back. What am I?

Previous Month’s Junior Riddle: A Hairy Situation

How can a man who shaves several times a day still sport a long beard?

Solution: He’s a barber!

Solved by: Yanky Greenberg, The Hidary Family, The Shmulster, and The Big Cheese.

Setting Its Sights on Mental Wellness, SIMHA Ushers In a New Era in Sephardic Community

Community Magazine

-

February 2022

0

Setting Its Sights on Mental Wellness, SIMHA Ushers In a New Era in Sephardic Community

“Our community has the resources needed to support people facing mental health challenges and to give them the help they need. The time has come for us to address this issue as a community.”   Mark Adjmi, President of SIMHA

 Sandy Yeller

Responding to the increasing need for high quality mental health care, the Sephardic Initiative for Mental Health Awareness, also known as SIMHA, will be opening its doors in March to provide the Sephardic community with a wide range of services and programming.

Like any other demographic, our community is not immune to the ongoing mental health crisis that has been significantly exacerbated by COVID.  Anxiety, depression, OCD, eating and bipolar disorders, addiction, and other issues have been on the rise everywhere, their prevalence far outpacing existing resources.  Rabbis, teachers, mentors, kallah teachers, and others in the Sephardic community often brought their concerns to Rabbi David Sutton, who understood that these sensitive matters needed to be better addressed by those on the front lines, most of whom had little, if any, training in the mental health arena.  Hoping to become part of the solution to the alarming trend, Rabbi Sutton began participating in a clinical pastoral education program at Harvard Medical School’s McClean Hospital, training under Dr. David H. Rosmarin, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and founder of Center for Anxiety.  

“It was clear that something had to be done to provide those needing help with access to the most professional people in the field,” said Rabbi Sutton.

Education and Awareness

Collaborating closely with rabbis and community leaders, Rabbi Sutton, Mark Adjmi, and Nathan Hoffman co-founded SIMHA, a boutique organization with a goal of providing a full continuum of care and specialized attention to those struggling with problems large and small. SIMHA’s focus on education and awareness will also help identify problems in their early stages and eradicate stigmas that prevent people from seeking much-needed help.  

Dr. David Katzenstein will be serving as SIMHA’s chief clinical officer. The former director of clinical care at Premium Health Center, Dr. Katzenstein also served as the clinical supervisor at Maimonides Medical Center’s Child and Adolescent Department of Psychology, and his writings, research, and presentations have made him a well-known figure in the global mental health community.  

“When people become educated and aware, they need a place to turn when issues arise and SIMHA is here to be the address for anyone dealing with a mental health issue, providing a robust help line, assessments, referrals, and full coordination of care,” explained Dr. Katzenstein.  

SIMHA will be partnering with Relief Resources, a mental health referral service that has made over 120,000 referrals to date, and will be tapping into its extensive referral system to provide clients with access to more than 8,000 clinicians that best suit their needs.  SIMHA will also be working with multiple community organizations including Hatzalah, OHEL, Sephardic Bikur Holim, and The Safe Foundation.

SIMHA’s trained clinical coordinators will draw on their years of expertise as licensed mental health professionals to identify patient needs and the best course of treatment for each one.  In addition to providing multi-faceted client care and supplementary support to their family members, SIMHA will also be focusing on spreading a greater understanding of mental health issues through a variety of educational initiatives.  It has already hosted three different lecture series for community rabbis and teachers featuring experts in the field, with Dr. Akiva Perlman

and Rabbi Dr. Zev Brown addressing the topics of anxiety and OCD.  Also underway are professional development days in all community schools, a mental health curriculum for students, and special classes for parents.

Mental health issues are sometimes swept under the rug because people don’t know where to go for services and are afraid of being stigmatized, noted Mr. Adjmi, SIMHA’s president.

“Our community has the resources needed to support people facing mental health challenges and to give them the help they need,” said Mr. Adjmi. “The time has come for us to address this issue as a community.”  

Focus on Youth

Adding an extra dimension to SIMHA’s services will be a network of trained certified peer specialists, who have faced their own mental health issues and will be available to speak about their own growth and share experiences.

“Listening without judging is extremely important,” noted board member Isaac Tawil.

The Wayz Foundation will become SIMHA’s youth division. Working with high school and post–high school students provides a unique opportunity to detect issues when they are smaller and more solvable, while also normalizing the concept of mental health care, explained

the Wayz Foundation founder and SIMHA board member Jobe Cabasso.

Treasurer Nathan Hoffman sees SIMHA as an end-to-end solution that will have a powerful impact in the Sephardic community.

“As Rabbi Sutton and I began speaking about SIMHA, we kept hearing from more and more people who approached us seeking help in regard to mental health issues,” observed Mr. Hoffman.  “Just over those few weeks of our discussions, it became pretty evident that the community had a significant void, one that SIMHA is being created to fill.”

ERP – What Is It and Do I Need It?

Community Magazine

-

February 2022

0

So, your business is set up and ready to go. Now you need to create orders, issue invoices, and track inventory. Handwritten order forms with carbon copies just don’t cut it anymore. Today, software programs are essential for running most any business. Enterprise Resource Planning tools, known as ERPs, are software programs that leading companies around the globe use for various facets of their business, including style creation, purchase order entry, stock receiving, inventory upkeep, sales orders, and invoicing. Some ERPs may even include a detailed accounting and financials section.

One Stop Shopping? Not.

ERPs are generally marketed as a one-stop solution to all business needs. However, it is not possible for any pre-set ERP to cover the totality of every business’s needs. After initial set-up, many owners find that their chosen ERP really only handles a portion of their business obligations, and they are left in the position of finding special consultants and developers to build out custom solutions to fill the gap.

Unfortunately, some ERPs tend to stretch the truth about all the features that they offer. It is very difficult to weed out issues with ERPs before going through the process of working with them. Many important details may not be apparent until after you have been all set up and are dealing with them yourself. You are led to assume that they have certain capabilities, when indeed all of the features are not yet built out. The reason for this is an ERP is ever evolving, and their general mode of operation is that a feature will eventually be available to you. Technically speaking, all ERPs can offer every feature imaginable, but it is financially in their best interest not to build everything out ahead of time, but rather, provide the basics and wait for your detailed, lengthy and ultimately expensive customization, which they can possibly offer their other customers once built out, and funded by you.

To give an example, a very popular and widely used ERP that will not be named, started in the late 90s and touts itself as being the #1 Cloud ERP. This ERP offers a pre-scribed on-boarding with a seamless set up. They give a general three-month implementation timeframe, but in actuality the go-live takes much longer and requires much more hands-on work. Their team is trained on the canned set ups, and customer service conversations seem to be read from out of a binder. They are largely built to have only about 30-40 percent pre-set capability for any particular business model. During go-live implementation you will see quickly that most of your needs are not provided for, and they will require customization as you go. Even basic reporting, such as a Profit and Loss report, is not readily available in the first implementation.

ERPs Struggle to Keep Up with the Times

Another main drawback of some of the more commonly used ERPs out there is that they are not very modern in themselves, where their user interface is more aligned with the era of Windows 95, and there are only a small handful of ERPs that are aimed at being more user friendly.

Decades ago, much of the apparel manufacturing was done domestically in the United States. There are few facilities that remain in the U.S. today. You can see still find them in places like California, Miami, and New York. But with time, the larger portion of apparel manufacturing moved overseas, and now businesses that were once considered manufacturers are now considered to be importers. So, the ERPs that were built around the 1990s era were originally aimed at manufacturers, and now, in order to not go bankrupt, they had to start adding special features to accommodate the needs of importers.

The quick rise of E-Commerce and Drop Shipping has also put pressure on the long-held ERPs that are trying to catch up. Almost all ERPs claim that they can handle the software burdens that come with drop shipping, but very few actually do, and the few that do only handle a small percent of the market.

What To Look For

When looking for the right software or ERP to help run your business, your focus should be on ERPs that have a long standing in the industry. They have the experience and the infrastructure to work with businesses such as yours and are willing to grow with you. Going for the flashy new ERP does not always work out best, as they may lack the intricacies and understanding of what your business truly needs.

Never Say, “I Should Have”

Community Magazine

-

February 2022

0

Someone who truly trusts Hashem does not live in the past, regretting decisions he had already made. We so often hear people lamenting, “I should have done this” or “I should have done that.” This is a dreadful curse – feeling distress and anxious over past mistakes. The Torah in Parashat Ki Tavo describes 98 curses, Heaven forbid, one of which is sheedafon, which refers to a kind of damaging wind that ruins vegetation. But it has been pointed out that the word sheedafon sounds like “should’ve.” There is a curse that we might call the “should’ve syndrome,” where people are constantly thinking of what they “should’ve” done. A person wants to sell his home, puts it on the market for $1 million, and receives an offer of $900,000, which he refuses. Three years later, when the house is not sold, he goes around thinking and saying, I should’ve sold it. A person goes to a doctor for treatment which is unsuccessful, and he thinks to himself, I should’ve gone to a different doctor.

This attitude is incorrect. If a person puts in his hishtadlut (effort), and made what appeared to him as the best decision at the time, then the reason why it did not work out as he wanted is because Hashem, in His infinite wisdom and kindness, did not want it to work out that way. Even if in the end it becomes clear that he could have made a much better decision, it is min haShamayim; the wrong decision was made because that is what Hashem determined would be best. He did not allow the better option to enter the person’s mind, because He knows what is best.

The Gemara (Berachot 32b) teaches, “Everything is in Hashem’s hands except for the fear of Hashem.” This means that Hashem gives us free will to decide between right and wrong, between doing mitzvot and aveirot, but that is all. All our other decisions are made by Him. The Sfat Emet comments that Hashem is involved even in our thought processes, and thus if he wants us to be in a certain place at a certain time for whatever reason, He will put the idea in our mind to get us there.

A woman recently told me that she was in Manhattan for a business meeting, and after the meeting she decided she wanted to go eat lunch. She passed a pizza shop, but decided she was not in the mood for pizza. She then passed a sushi restaurant, but did not feel like eating sushi. She was thinking of whether she wanted to eat meat for lunch, and decided she was not in the mood for meat. Then, suddenly, she felt a craving for a chicken salad. She headed over to Kosher Delight, and as soon as she walked in, she saw her best friend, who rarely comes to

Manhattan. She ran over to her friend to say hello and to ask what she was doing there, but she noticed that her friend was reciting Tehillim.

As soon as she finished reciting Tehillim, the friend turned to the woman, said hello, and explained that she was praying to Hashem to send her a ride to Brooklyn, because she did not want to take the train. As she was praying, her friend walked in. Hashem sent her to Kosher Delight. He is involved even in our thought process.

And so, the person who has firm faith in Hashem knows that once something happens, it is exactly what Hashem wanted to happen. As long as we do our hishtadlut, and try our hardest, doing what we genuinely feel is correct, we should not think twice about it. Once it is done, we believe with complete faith that the outcome was Hashem’s will. So, unless the decision has to do with mitzvot or aveirot, we should never say, “I should’ve,” and we should never second-guess ourselves. Everything that happens is precisely what is supposed to happen.

Skyrocketing! Community Members Weigh in on Inflation

Community Magazine

-

February 2022

0

Skyrocketing! Community Members Weigh in on Inflation

The 2020 pandemic brought us lots of “free” government benefits, regardless of whether you asked for it or needed it. Free boxes of food, free school lunches, unemployment checks, stimulus checks, rent breaks…the list goes on and on.

Already last year, many people were discussing the adverse, long-term consequences of these programs, but I for one didn’t expect to personally feel the effects so soon.

These “effects” have come in the form of a word that everyone seems to be talking about: inflation.

Google dictionary defines inflation as a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money. After giving out money for a year and a half, the American dollar – which was so strong not too long ago – has significantly decreased in value, and so prices have increased. Virtually everything has gone up.

I’ve already written about the cost of sending your kids to summer camps in the past. But now, with the price of food and equipment and gas and everything skyrocketing, camp prices, which I thought couldn’t get any higher, have gone up! There’s no such thing as a cheaper camp anymore. Another example that my friends have been discussing is the price of wigs. They are going for hundreds more than they used to, to the point where these days it pays to fix up an old wig rather than buy a new one. The same can be said about cars.

Let’s hear what some community members have to say about this charged subject, and what insight and analysis they can offer about the current inflation crisis.

Mollie Elbaz Briskma

This topic has me truly frustrated. It literally feels like it did around ten years ago, the days when the show Extreme Couponing was life. I’ve always “stockpiled” things and have a beautifully organized storage room full of household items such as tins, soaps, toilet paper and Ziplock bags. I always bought everything in bulk at a special discount or with some deal, and I NEVER ran out of supplies. I’m literally the GO-TO person whenever someone in my family runs out of something. But now, it’s gotten to a point where it isn’t even worth stockpiling, because everything is so inflated. Today’s “specials” aren’t very special.

Everyone who knows me knows that I love my disposables in the kitchen, especially my baking tins; dirty dishes are the enemy. But now’s I’ve gone back to using Pyrex and Corning ware, because I’m so annoyed with how expensive tins have become! And, just yesterday, I paid $7 for a pack of wraps.

I really hope something changes soon. I want my tins back!

Margo Shammah

My husband owns and operates a fire safety company called Ace Fire, which sells fire extinguishers, sprinklers and suppression systems to construction sites and homeowners. As a business owner, he’s had to raise his prices. These days, it’s near impossible to get goods, and when he can, shipping costs more, gas costs more, and the product costs more. He’s been forced to increase his prices, and unfortunately, he’s been losing business because of it, because his clients either can’t or don’t want to pay the higher prices. 

Danny Sabzehroo

My dad decided to give me his two cents about why things are so expensive. He’s been an importer for 25 years, and so he’s seen the supply chain at its best and also at its worst (now), so I was eager to hear what he had to say:

Back when things were normal, we importers were able to order, produce, and receive goods from overseas in about 2.5 months. Nowadays, it takes about 4-5 months to get the goods into the U.S. from start to finish. Many supply ships were taken out of the ocean during covid, and they haven’t been put back. Shipping companies are taking advantage and charging exorbitant prices for limited space on the ships. My personal opinion is that they’re purposely not putting the ships back in the water so that they can charge whatever rates they please. A big problem facing importers these days is really not knowing how much they’ll have to pay for shipping by the time goods are ready. I’m currently paying four times the amount I used to for shipping goods, and so there’s simply no way I can keep prices low.

The reason why you’re seeing empty shelves in stores is because the buyers are too scared to pay the higher rates. Stores are afraid to put out more expensive goods and potentially get stuck with them, and so in many circumstances they’re just not buying. Products I used to sell for $4 wholesale I now have to offer for $6, and the buyers are simply refusing to buy. The government has done nothing about all this, and unfortunately, we’re all feeling the effects. 

Another big part of the problem is that the prices for raw materials in China have risen 20 percent, and this affects not only Chinese production, but the production in all countries in the Far East that rely on China’s materials, such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. What this means, essentially, is that it takes more money now to produce these goods, and those rates are trickling down to us, the consumers. Clothing, textile, health and beauty, home decor, furniture, auto parts, and many more industries are feeling the burn. 

The auto industry is completely different now. Have you heard about the new car shortage? Thanks to the 2020 shutdown, the world is 4-5 months behind on car manufacturing. Once again, China is part of the problem, being a major contributor of the materials needed to produce cars. The effect we see is that now the prices of both new and used cars have gone way up.

Gina Halawani

This week, my husband went to his favorite produce store in Brooklyn. He spoke to the owner who was so upset by the amount of complaints he was getting from his customers about the high prices. He told my husband that he shouldn’t be doing this – but nevertheless showed him the wholesale prices he was paying for his produce. My husband was shocked to see that the owner was paying $6 for a carton of blueberries wholesale! Skyrocketing wholesale prices are taking a toll on business owners, who are being forced to pass down the high prices to their customers, losing a good deal of business in the process. 

Clearly, the issue is a lot larger than just our government. It seems as though the combination of the pandemic and a weaker America has resulted in a huge mess. Despite it all, I am optimistic about what the future holds, because, after all, Hashem runs the world, and history shows us that things never stay the same.

Until next time,

Frieda Schweky