Community Magazine October 2019

58 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE I am honored to introduce you to my colleague, Community columnist Karen Behfar of Home is Where the Heart Is. I was eager to meet Karen. Her articles are easy to read, not overly technical, and yet are spot on in assisting readers in navigating the rental and buyer’s markets and landscape. The Early Years Let’s step back in time to learn about Karen’s roots and get to know Karen as a child, student, and adult. Karen grew up in the lovely residential Marine Park section of Brooklyn. Her mother, Mazal Halifax, was born in Egypt and at the age of three moved to Israel. Karen’s father, Yaakov Daklo, is a Sephardic Jew and was born in Israel. His parents are originally from Bulgaria. Karen’s parents met and married in Israel. Her mother and maternal grandfather worked for El Al. Mazal and Yaakov originally came to the U.S. in 1980 to seek business opportunities and then decided to settle in Brooklyn. Karen and her family prayed at the Sephardic Center in Mill Basin. Karen has three sisters and a brother, and guess what! She is the oldest triplet, of two sisters and a brother. She also has two older sisters, one born in Israel and the other in the United States. Karen attended Ahi Ezer Yeshiva grade school and Yeshiva Ateret Torah high school. “I always had a creative bent. I ran Shabbat programs and creative baking workshops in day camp, throughout high school, and as a young wife.” She proudly shared that her children study at Ateret Torah, and she was recently invited back to Ahi Ezer to address the students. After Ateret, Karen entered Bais Yaakov seminary. She expressed how blessed she was to be introduced to her naseeb , Aharon Behfar, by Rabbi David Ozeri only two months after graduation. The couple was married in January (almost 17 years ago) and Karen continued with seminary. She then enrolled in Touro College and received master’s degrees in both Psychology and Special Education. Karen and Aharon have four sons, Eliyahu, Shmuel, Yehonatan, and Elchanan. The family lives in Midwood, and was fortunate to purchase their first home a few years ago. Shmuel, their second child, was born 13 years ago, a month after Karen completed her graduate degrees at the age of 21. “Hashem prepared me for my second son’s birth. Shmuel is a special needs child who was born with Down syndrome. Even though I hadn’t worked yet as a Special Education teacher, I was grateful that I had the education required to understand Down syndrome, as well as the special needs world, and to get Shmuel the essential services he needed.” Karen stayed home with Shmuel until he was three, and various Early Intervention therapists visited Shmuel at their home. Karen had to fight to get the therapies Shmuel needed. Aharon also pitched in with Shmuel’s care. “When Shmuel was born, I thought he was the only child in the community with Down syndrome. I had to create my own support group. Now parents are more open about their special needs children and there are wonderful organizations such as CARE to support these families and to run events for the parents and siblings.” Karen attends all of the CARE events. She half-jokingly said her next degree would be in marketing, as she has a passion for it. Karen’s fierce love and pride shine through when she speaks of Shmuel. “I believe he molded me into the person I am today.” My sons pick up on how I treat Shmuel like a regular kid, and they follow my lead.” Karen’s Special Essence I asked Karen to list adjectives that best define her. Karen responded that she always had a take charge and assertive personality, “in a good way,” and cultivated her creativity and resourcefulness from a young age. “I enjoy challenges and thinking out of the box.” Karen’s tenacity and perseverance were present in college and really ramped up when Shmuel was born and she had to make use of these traits to advocate for him. Woman Woman to One on One with ELLEN GELLER KAMARAS “My secret to success? Being genuine and resilient, and having deep emunah in Hashem. If I don’t close a deal after working on it for six months and another person sells that house in one month, I know that it wasn’t meant to be…” Karen B ehfar