55.3 F
New York
Sunday, May 12, 2024
type here...
Home Blog Page 1892

Parshas Devarim – Sense and Sensitivity

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Rav Chaim Shmuelovitz explains that the basis for this honor lies in the extraordinary potential that Hashem has planted in us. Our Sages explain a passuk {verse} in Vayikra in the following manner: “Kedoshim tih’yu {You shall be holy}[Vayikra 19:2].” I might think that we are commanded to be as holy as Hashem Himself… The passuk therefore continues and says: “Because I (Hashem) am holy”–My holiness is greater than yours–says Hashem. Photo Credit: Pinterest

By: Rabbi Yisroel Ciner

This week we begin the Sefer {Book} of Devarim {Deuteronomy}. “Aileh haDevarim asher debair Moshe el kol Yisroel {These are the things that Moshe told to all of Israel}.[1:1]”

The Ramban explains that in Devarim, also known as Mishne Torah, many of the mitzvos that Moshe had taught earlier to the generation that left Mitzrayim {Egypt} are now repeated (the root of ‘mishne’ is sheni–repeated) to the generation that will be entering Eretz Yisroel {the Land of Israel}. Some are repeated in order to further clarify the way to properly perform the mitzvah. Others are repeated in order to add on a warning that had not been previously mentioned.

Additionally, the Ramban writes, although all of the mitzvos had already been taught to Moshe during the first year of the Exodus, Moshe had not yet divulged all of these mitzvos to Bnei Yisroel {Children of Israel}. Some wouldn’t take effect until we’d enter the land and therefore there was no purpose in teaching them earlier. Others, because they were rarely occurring were only taught to the inheritors of the land. These commandments are introduced for the first time in Devarim.

However, before Moshe began to teach any of these mitzvos, he first rebuked Bnei Yisroel by gently and subtly pointing out how they had acted so rebelliously while Hashem was showering them with such overpowering acts of kindness. This would deter us from returning to such behavior while at the same time strengthening our realization that Hashem would always show us His kindness. It was crucially important for us to know now, as we were entering the Land of Israel, that Hashem would work with us even as we make mistakes. This realization brought the inheriting of the land within our reach.

As I mentioned above, this was done in a gentle and subtle way. The sins were not openly stated. Rather, Moshe mentioned places, some fictitious, which were actually plays off the words which described their sins. Rashi explains that Moshe offered his rebuke in such a way out of deference to the honor of Bnei Yisroel. In order to save them the embarrassment and humiliation of having their sins explicitly mentioned.

Rav Chaim Shmuelovitz explains that the basis for this honor lies in the extraordinary potential that Hashem has planted in us. Our Sages explain a passuk {verse} in Vayikra in the following manner: “Kedoshim tih’yu {You shall be holy}[Vayikra 19:2].” I might think that we are commanded to be as holy as Hashem Himself… The passuk therefore continues and says: “Because I (Hashem) am holy”–My holiness is greater than yours–says Hashem.

We who don’t recognize the heights that a person can reach don’t even understand the question that was posed. How could I have even imagined that we are commanded to be as holy as Hashem?! Why was there a need for the second part of the verse? Our Sages, however, who fathomed the potential of man, were unsure of just how much holiness was being demanded from this man. Perhaps, there was even a demand to reach a holiness equal to that of Hashem…

Moshe knew who he was speaking to. He understood who he was rebuking. He therefore showed the utmost respect for their feelings and honor by offering his rebuke in the way that he did.

Rav Mottel Hornisteipler was a holy man who, not wanting to indulge in physical pleasures, would eat very little. Once, however, while traveling, he stopped for a meal, tasted the soup and then quickly polished off the entire bowl. Those accompanying him were even further shocked when he asked the proprietor if there was any more soup.

Delighted that his guest was enjoying the food so much, he rushed into the kitchen and brought out another bowl, full of the same type of soup. Rav Mottel finished off that second bowl, asked for another refill and proceeded to clean out that bowl too. When he asked for his fourth serving, the proprietor apologized, explaining that there was no more to be had. Rav Mottel thanked him and then continued on his way.

Sensing the shocked curiosity of his disciples, the Rebbe explained that when he had tasted the soup, he realized that the cook had inadvertently poured kerosene into the pot. Had the proprietor tasted it, he would have been furious with the cook. “In order to save the cook that humiliation, I ate the entire pot…”

Every one of us have our daily encounters where we too can show sensitivity and honor to others by suppressing a laugh or even a grin. My brother who is a star when it comes to helping others and not causing others embarrassment once found himself in a situation where not laughing demanded superhuman strength.

When we were teenagers, we were going to be working at a hotel and needed a car. Our father, who was then working as a physical therapist, told us of an elderly couple he was treating who wanted to get rid of their car. They only drove it twice a week, from one side of the street to the other, in order to allow the street cleaners to do their job. It was solely an ‘alternate-side-of-the-street-parking’ car.

The car was about thirteen years old and needed some work before it would even pass inspection. We offered him a hundred bucks which he gladly agreed to and off the three of us went for a ‘test drive’.

“She may be old but she starts like a Caddy!” the seller exclaimed as we made our way to the car. “Always starts right up. Never gives any problems. Starts like a Caddy. You boys are getting yourself one great car. She starts just like a Caddy. Just wait and see.”

After a few minutes we reached the car. The seller eased his way into the driver’s seat while my brother, who already had his license, settled into the front passenger seat. I slid into the back seat as I heard once again that “she starts like a Caddy.”

With a smile and a flourish he inserted the key and attempted to start the car. AHEH AHEH AHEH HAaaa… AHEH AHEH AHEH HAaaa… AHEH AHEH AHEH HAaaa… AHEH AHEH AHEH HAaaa…

Not wanting to embarrass the man by laughing, I was literally pinching myself as I was ducking down behind the front seats. Then the thought hit me. I can hide back here but how was my poor brother in the front seat handling this!? I timidly lifted my head to get a look at him, while the sound of the starter grated in the background…

And then I saw him… Sitting with his head wedged upside down between the seat and the passenger door. When I crouched down and over to get a better look, I saw a constant drip of tears dropping from his eyes but not a murmur of laughter coming from his mouth. (The car finally did get started and actually made it through the summer.)

The seller ended up with his honor intact and we had a car which was almost intact. As I said–my brother’s pretty special when it comes to other people’s feelings.

“Aileh haDevarim asher debair Moshe.” Moshe showed the utmost concern for the feelings and honor of others. Only then could he teach them.

(www.Torah.org)

Parshas Devarim – Positive Criticism

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
If our repentance is sincere, G-d will always embrace us and we will merit seeing our Temple in Jerusalem rebuilt in our own days. “He who mourns for Jerusalem will be there to rejoice in her” Photo Credit: Chabad.org

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis

PARSHAS DEVARIM–ETERNAL LOVE

Is it possible for a person to really cleanse himself and start life anew?

And here too, the prophet assures us, “Let us reason together. If your sins be red as scarlet, I will make them white as snow” is the promise of G-d. In these prophecies we can discover the unconditional, eternal love of our Heavenly Father. Even as He instructs His prophet to admonish us, to rebuke us for our betrayal, in the same breath He also shows us how to return to Him, and He assures us of His total forgiveness. How can any of us resist such an offer?

Let this Shabbos Chazon, which ushers in Tisha B’Av, the most tragic day in the Jewish calendar year, the day when all our sins were visited upon us; the day when both Temples were destroyed and Jerusalem was razed; the day when all the major calamities that befell us throughout the centuries occurred – let that day once again become a Yom Tov” in which we are reunited with our G-d and rediscover our Divine calling. Perhaps it is because of this that this saddest Shabbos in our calendar year is called Shabbos Chazon which means “The Shabbat of Vision”, for even in the midst of our darkness, our vision of Jerusalem and our Temple rebuilt is never lost.

This week, we commence the fifth Book of the Torah – Devarim (Deuteronomy) This fifth Book is also called Mishna Torah – A Review of the Torah. Prior to his death, Moshe Rabbenu reviews the entire Torah and admonishes the nation. We learn from Moshe, the master teacher, how to rebuke without alienating and offending. We live in a culture that is not accepting of criticism. “People just don’t want to hear it.” The motto is “mind your own business, don’t interfere”, so even parents have refrained from voicing their criticism. There is no one to tell it as it is, and the damage is evident everywhere. Moshe teaches us that if you truly love someone, then admonishment is “a must”, but the words have to be couched in love. This teaching may be seen throughout our rabbinic literature which instructs those who would criticize to “push away with the left hand and simultaneously draw near with the right.”

But perhaps what is most telling is that even as Moshe recounts the names of all the places where the Jewish people angered G-d during their forty years of sojourning, he demonstrated to them the extent of G-d`s great love, for despite their rebelliousness, the Almighty always forgave them and the people flourished.“HaShem your G-d has multiplied you and behold, you are like the stars of heaven in abundance”. (Deut. 1:10)

Herein lies another lesson–we should never feel that, because of our sins, we have so distanced ourselves from G-d that we can no longer come back to Him. G-d is our loving compassionate Father, and is waiting for all of us to return to Him. Nevertheless, we dare not abuse this love. Never should we rationalize that it’s okay to sin, because G-d will forgive. Nor should we feel that we are doomed because of past mistakes. If our repentance is sincere, G-d will always embrace us and we will merit seeing our Temple in Jerusalem rebuilt in our own days. “He who mourns for Jerusalem will be there to rejoice in her”

(www.Hineni.org)

 

Av: Disaster and Consolation

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
The astral sign of the month is the lion. It symbolizes our encounter with raw force.

By: Rebbetzin Tzipporah Heller

By every measure the Jewish month of Av is tragically unique, one in which the worst disasters in our history took place.

Disaster is no stranger to us. In many ways it is part and parcel of God’s covenant with Abraham. When Abraham was told that his people would be chosen, God told him that there would be a price to pay. What is that price? One look at Jewish history tells us two pieces of information that make us unique. One is that we don’t disappear because we recognize that we are a people who are united in what the Vilna Gaon would refer to as “rectifying ourselves and rectifying the world.” The other is that the when we try to disappear, the results have been disastrous.

Abraham was a seeker. His search took him far beyond his one land, and even further from the assumptions that virtually everyone else in the entire world had about life. To Abraham, God was not only in the heavens, but very much here in the earth, with us. Abraham integrated the world of thought with the world of action. While other religious thinkers at the time would be deep in meditation, Abraham was chopping vegetables and serving platters of food to his innumerable guests.

He was not a glorified version of Conrad Hilton of the ancient world. What did Abraham have in mind?

Abraham believed that the world of thought, emotion, and action were never meant to be fragmented into three autonomous worlds, out of touch with each other. Life should be seamless. God promised him that his path would not disappear when he dies. He would father a nation, and they would preserve his heritage.

When God promised him a future, Abraham had one question. “How do I know that I will pass on this inheritance?”

Abraham did not doubt God’s power. He had followed God from Ur to Israel, Egypt, and back to Israel without ever once expressing the slightest reservation. He was concerned that his descendants might make choices that would in effect divorce them from their Creator. The fact that he was devoted, compassionate, and willing to make sacrifices was no guarantee that his children would not be self-centered materialists. After all, how many of us live lives that are really carbon copies of the lives of our parents and grandparents?

In reply, God said:

Bring me threefold heifers, threefold goats, threefold rams, a dove and a young pigeon. (Abram) brought all these for Him. He split them in half, and placed one half opposite the other. The birds, however he did not split. Vultures descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

When the sun was setting, Abram fell into a trance, and he was stricken by a deep dark dread. (God) said to Abram, “Know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs for 400 years. They will be enslaved and oppressed… A smoking furnace and flaming torch passed between he halves of the animals. On that day, God made a covenant with Abram saying, “To your descendants I have given the land.” (Genesis, 15:9-18)

God is telling Abraham that there are two ways that our identity will be preserved. One way is through the sacrificial offerings. It isn’t necessary to view sacrifices as archaic. The Hebrew word for sacrifice, “Korban,” literally means an object that brings something close. The animal self within us (and let us be honest, we have quite a menagerie tucked away in our psyche) can distance us from God by making us less and less aware of the part of us that is real, enduring, and ultimately most genuine — our spiritual selves. The way the animal self was uplifted during the time of the Temple was actually through touching and offering an animal that was, in a certain sense, our twin, and letting the experience change us.

Today, we uplift our inner selves through prayer, and the outer world through mitzvot (observing God’s commandments) that involve our relationship to our animal selves. Mitzvot like the laws of keeping kosher, take us along Abraham’s path of seamless devotion to God, uniting the physical and spiritual worlds.

Suppose we opt out? Free choice is never removed. But God will not allow us to choose, as a nation, spiritual oblivion. We will be exposed to beastly empires. The German wolf was no mascot. It was a symbol of everything German. We will suffer, be enslaved, and find alienation where we yearned for acceptance.

“Your descendants will be foreigners in a land which is not theirs….they will be enslaved and oppressed.” We have lived out this prophecy in Egypt (the first exile, and prototype of all future editions), in Babylon, Greece, and Rome. While these names seem distant and dusty, they are underpinnings of the civilizations that have attacked us with bestiality that almost defies words.

What words are there in human vocabulary that described what happened in Auschwitz, in Treblinka, in Eastern Europe? In York where a castle was burned along with the Jews hiding inside? In Spain where they burnt people at the stake for the crime of being Jewish?

We have not disappeared from the map. We have emerged from each confrontation with the vulture that seeks to consume us, shaken but alive. Whatever else we knew when we left the camps, it was that what we are and what we want to be cannot even remotely resemble what the Germans have chosen to make of themselves. This is not unique to the Holocaust, but rather is what has prevented us from disappearing into Babylon, Spain, or Greece. In each instance we rediscovered ourselves by facing the mirror and rejecting the image that we once thought was our own, knowing now beyond a shadow of doubt that it is not our image, nor it will ever be.

The month of Av is the time in which we confront this aspect of our history.

The astral sign of the month is the lion. It symbolizes our encounter with raw force. Interestingly, the first day of Av is the anniversary of the passing of Aaron, Moses’ brother, who was known as the ultimate man of peace. What this tells us is that that although we may currently be distant from God and from our higher selves, ultimately there will be the peace that he envisioned; peace that is based on the emergence of our higher selves and the part of us that is man not beast. Nothing can be further from this than the peace based on mutual fear that is all we can realistically aspire to if we see the current war in Israel without its historical frame.

The Talmud tells us that the Messiah will be born on the 9th of Av. This is the day in which both Temples were destroyed, the Spanish expulsion of the Jews took place, and World War One, the “parent” of World War Two, broke out. What this tells us is that the same covenant that promises suffering, promises redemption. They are two sides of one coin; labor and birth.

We may never allow ourselves to forget what we have suffered. The fact that God is committed to never allowing us to disappear does not exonerate those who have perpetrated history’s worst crimes against us. Their intentions were evil, their choices were made consciously, and most significant of all, their bestiality knew no bounds.

We must also not allow ourselves to forget who we are, and why we have survived. We are God’s people with a mission to fulfill Abraham’s covenant. We aim towards living seamless lives, elevating the physical, and having faith in God. The fact that we are here at all in the 21st century, that we have not forgotten who we are, and that we are committed to continuing to live out our covenant is nothing less than a miracle.

The 15th of Av was a time of joy. In ancient times it was a day in which marriages were arranged, and new beginnings celebrated. It was a time in which we began again, expressing not just who we don’t want to be, but who we can be.

May this Av bring us joy, fulfillment, and consolation.

(www.Aish.com)

Consummate educator and internationally acclaimed speaker, Rebbetzin Tzipora Heller has been a full-time lecturer at Neve Yerushalayim College in Jerusalem since 1980, impacting the lives of thousands of women worldwide. She is the author of six popular books, including Here You Are, Battle Plans, and This Way Up. She recently launched a daily video program based on the timeless Jewish wisdom of “Duties of the Heart.” Learn how to channel your emotions to experience every day with purpose, meaning, and joy at: dutiesoftheheart.com

Bari Weiss and the New York Times

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
The paper has lost sight of its “deepest responsibility to make readers think”.

By: Rabbi Benjamin Blech

Bari Weiss just learned her lesson.

A brilliant writer, winner last year of the National Jewish book award for How To Fight Anti-Semitism and staff editor for the op-ed section of the New York Times, she has this week regretfully sent in her letter of resignation in light of her recognition that the self-proclaimed “newspaper of record” no longer has room for journalists who refuse to fall in step with the far-left political narrative that has now become the New York Times Bible.

Weiss’s announcement follows shortly after the departure of editorial page editor James Bennett – another resignation that illustrates precisely the kind of new McCarthy-like policy that today governs a newspaper which once laid claim to our esteem for seeking truth and open inquiry.

Bennett permitted for publication an op-ed piece by Senator Tom Cotton that diverged from the Times’ approach to the post George Floyd riots that have so far been responsible for the deaths of at least 22 people. Senator Cotton expressed an opinion that reasonable people can debate; he agreed with the President that it was a good idea to send in the National Guard to maintain and restore order. He argued that the Insurrection Act could be invoked to deploy the military across the country to assist local law enforcement. And that was anathema to the current groupthink of the Times. As Bari Weiss notes, “It took the paper two days and two jobs to say that the Tom Cotton op-ed ‘fell short of our standards’” – and actually apologized for publishing it.

It was in 1896 that Adolph Ochs described the philosophy that would guide his newspaper and make it a paradigm for honest journalism: “To make of the columns of the New York Times a forum for the consideration of all questions of public importance, and to that end to invite intelligent discussion from all shades of opinion.”

Today’s readers need to know that that is no longer official or even permitted policy.

Opinions only have a right to be heard if they agree with the established orthodoxy of the publisher. The free exchange of ideas is not an ideal; it is a forbidden invitation to readers to come to their own erroneous conclusions.

As Weiss put it, “The Times has embraced the idea that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else… Intellectual curiosity – let alone risk-taking – is now a liability at the Times. If a person’s ideology is in keeping with the new orthodoxy, they and their work remain unscrutinized. Everyone else lives in fear of the digital Thunderdome. Online venom is excused so long as it is directed at the proper targets. Standing up for principle at the paper does not win plaudits. It puts a target on your back.”

Bari Weiss had another reason for having a target placed on her back. She was the victim of “constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m ‘writing about the Jews again.’”

How utterly amazing to be accused as both a Nazi as well as a too ardent supporter of Israel.

Last week the Times offered us yet another op-ed that apparently “met their standards.” Peter Beinart’s essay, “I No Longer Believe in a Jewish State”, beautifully echoed the paper’s intense antipathy to Israel as well as its ongoing prejudicial reporting.

The paper also had no problem a while back giving a half-page op-ed to arch terrorist Marwan Barghouti – a criminal serving five consecutive life terms after being convicted in an Israeli criminal court of premeditated murder for his role in terrorist attacks that killed five people – to author a diatribe against the Israeli system of justice. Just to make certain readers could identify the writer the article concluded with this note: ““Marwan Barghouti is a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian.”

It is well to remember that before the op-ed page debuted in the New York Times on September 21, 1970, John B. Oakes, the Times editor who willed the page into existence, remarked that, “A newspaper’s deepest responsibility is to make readers think. The minute we begin to insist that everyone think the same way we think, our democratic way of life is in danger.”

The page opposite the editorials, today home of the op-ed section, was originally occupied by obituaries, a fitting description of the demise of its dedication to truth which has now been replaced by a cancel culture that led to the resignation of a courageous editor. Hopefully Bari Weiss’s final act at the Times will help reveal the truth of a newspaper which no longer deserves our respect and support.

(www.Aish.com)

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a frequent contributor to Aish, is a Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University and an internationally recognized educator, religious leader, and lecturer. He is the author of 19 highly acclaimed books with combined sales of over a half million copies, A much sought after speaker, he is available as scholar in residence in your community. See his website at www.rabbibenjaminblech.com.

Rabbi Blech’s new book, Hope Not Fear: Changing the Way We View Death is available for sale.

Trader Joe’s to Ditch Racial Packaging on Ethnic Food

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Trader Joe’s is making an effort to rid its products of “racist” ethnic food branding. Photo Credit: AP

By: Kevin Shaughnessy

Trader Joe’s is making an effort to rid its products of “racist” ethnic food branding.   Amid an ongoing petition calling for the removal of ethnic brand names, the California-based grocery chain said it is working to phase out stereotypical names it has attached to foreign foods, such as “Trader José’s” for Mexican items, “Trader Ming’s” for Chinese foods, “Trader Joe San” for Japanese cuisine, and “Arabian Joe’s” for Middle Eastern selections.

The online petition on Change.org, which has drawn over 2,800 signatures, was launched by Briones Bedell, a California high school senior.   “The grocery chain labels some of its ethnic foods with modifications of ‘Joe’ that belies a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes,” wrote Bedell.  “The Trader Joe’s branding is racist because it exoticizes other cultures – it presents ‘Joe’ as the default ‘normal’ and the other characters falling outside of it,” she added.

Trader Joe’s said that for years it had been contemplating a way to ditch the ethnic-sounding variations and adopt a universal Trader Joe’s banner, and that this petition just sped up the process, as per the Washington Post.  “While this approach to product naming may have been rooted in a lighthearted attempt at inclusiveness, we recognize that it may now have the opposite effect — one that is contrary to the welcoming, rewarding customer experience we strive to create every day,” Trader Joe’s spokeswoman Kenya Friend-Daniel said in a statement.  She said the company hopes the transition will be completed “very soon”.   “We had hoped that the work would be complete by now, but there are still a small number of products going through the packaging change,” Friend-Daniel added.

As reported by the NY Post, Trader Joe’s is not the first company to discard racially insensitive brands amidst a country-wide movement against racism, sparked by the tragic death of George Floyd. Similarly, Quaker Oats announced last month that it will be abandoning the Aunt Jemima breakfast brand name, which it said was rooted in a “racial stereotype.” Also, Mars Inc. said it is “evolving” the Uncle Ben’s rice brand name, and also Conagra Foods is rethinking the name for its Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup line.

“The common thread between all of these transgressions is the perpetuation of exoticism, the goal of which is not to appreciate other cultures, but to further other and distance them from the perceived ‘normal,’” the change.org petition reads.

Despite the reassurance for a speedy remedy, Bedell persisted on Sunday calling on Trader Joe’s to announce a specific date for the completion of the rebranding, or in the interim for the removal of all products that are not yet “inclusive.”

Tesla Stock Rally Makes Elon Musk Richer by the Day

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
. Photo Credit: AP

By: JV Staff

On Monday July 20th, Elon Musk, the CEO and product architect of Tesla Inc, added $5 billion to his net worth.   This significant gain was led by Tesla’s continuous stock rally, and as a consequence the billionaire CEO found himself rising in the global list of the richest people.  The 49-year-old technology entrepreneur, engineer and philanthropist ended the day with a net worth of $74.2 billion, branding him the fifth-richest person in the world.

As reported by the NY Post, only a few weeks ago Musk was ranked number 20 in the world’s richest list, compiled by Forbes.  Now Musk stands behind only Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Bernard Arnault, who is the CEO of luxury goods giant LVMH, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Tesla Inc’s stocks have been soaring in anticipation of the electric automaker’s positive upcoming earnings report.  The company was up 9.5 percent, ending Monday off at an all-time high of $1,643 per share.  The stock’s uptick left Tesla’s market cap to end the day at $305.6 billion, which is close to $100 billion ahead of Toyota, the world’s second-largest automaker by market cap.

Tesla’s awaited quarterly earnings report will be released early Wednesday evening.  If the expected profit report does end up satisfactory, it will mean the company will have four consecutive profitable quarters, making it eligible to being added to the popular S&P 500 stock index.

Tesla Motors was formed in 2003, and hired Musk a year later. Tesla Inc. now also includes the subsidiary SolarCity, a solar energy services company co-founded by Musk.  Musk is also the founder, CEO and lead designer of SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company.  He also created OpenAI, a nonprofit research company that works to promote friendly artificial intelligence.  Musk has also co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company focused on developing brain–computer interfaces.   In 2016, Musk added to his portfolio founding The Boring Company, an infrastructure and tunnel construction company dedicated to making tunnels optimized for electric cars.

Musk also keeps busy with philanthropic goals.  He is chairman of the Musk Foundation, which aims among other things to provide solar-power energy systems in disaster areas.  Aside from other generous donations, Musk is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation, which aims to encourage technological advancement around the globe via public competitions.  In 2015, he also become a signatory of The Giving Pledge, which signifies that, along with other generous philanthropists around the world, Musk has pledged to donate more than half of all his wealth to charities.

10 Gorgeous Pocono Mountains Waterfalls You Need to See

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Raymondskill Falls holds the number one spot in PA for the tallest falls.

By: Jenny Willden

You’ll find hundreds of breathtaking waterfalls in Pennsylvania, and the Poconos is the epicenter of the action. From the towering “Niagara of Pennsylvania” to the Keystone State’s tallest waterfall, you’ll find many impressive cascades in this scenic region of the state. These ten spectacular falls will be the highlight of a trip to the Pocono Mountains.

  1. Raymondskill Falls
  2. Dingmans Falls
  3. Silverthread Falls
  4. Bushkill Falls
  5. Buttermilk Falls
  6. Luke’s Falls
  7. Shohola Falls
  8. Hawk Falls
  9. Tumbling Waters
  10. Paupack Falls
  1. Raymondskill Falls

Located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA), Raymondskill Falls is the state’s tallest at 150 feet, and only a few feet shorter than Niagara—if you add the height of its three tiers together. To reach it, follow a steep, uneven 0.3-mile trail to reach two epic viewing areas, one above the falls and one in the middle. A pool separates the top two drops from the bottom one, and it’s worth visiting both viewpoints to get different perspectives.

  1. Dingmans Falls
    Dingmans Falls is wheelchair and stroller accessible.

Pennsylvania’s second tallest waterfall, Dingmans Falls is found in the DWGNRA and is easy to reach and free to visit. Follow an easy, accessible boardwalk trail past lush rhododendrons and a canopy of hemlock trees that ends at a handicap accessible viewing platform. Follow a staircase .1-mile up for a vista of this cascading 130-footer from above.

  1. Silverthread Falls
    After a good rainfall, Silverthread Falls flows generously.

Impressive 80-foot Silverthread Falls flows through the DWGNRA. See two waterfalls along the trail! The same boardwalk trail leading to Dingmans Falls passes by Silverthread Falls at the park’s entrance. This nice, easy walk has stunning sights throughout the recreation area.

  1. Bushkill Falls
Bushkill Falls requires climbing some stairs, but you’ll be rewarded with a great view of one of the most impressive waterfalls in the state.

Nicknamed the “The Niagara of Pennsylvania,” Bushkill Falls is a group of eight natural waterfalls inside a 300-acre, privately owned park neighboring the DWGNRA. Pay an entrance fee to explore the park’s two scenic miles of trails, boardwalks, and bridges. Follow the trails to the Main Falls, which cascade down 100 feet into a gorge below surrounded by ferns, moss, and wildflowers. Bushkill Falls’ trails are welcoming to families, but the walks require some stair climbs due to the 300-foot drop from the first falls to the lower gorge.

  1. Buttermilk Falls
Buttermilk Falls is situated next to the Lehigh River.

See two waterfalls on this easy walk along the Lehigh Gorge Trail in the Lehigh Gorge State Park—just upstream from the Rockport Access Area in Jim Thorpe. First up is Buttermilk Falls, a 50-footer that cascades down a rocky ledge surrounded by lush vegetation. Park in the small lot and follow a .3-mile path across a bridge to get a wide-open view of the falls.

  1. Luke’s Falls
Luke’s Falls is nestled in the Lehigh Gorge just down from Buttermilk Falls.

After checking out Buttermilk Falls, continue back downstream past the parking area for .3 miles to Luke’s Falls. Stop on the bridge for a great view of this 50-foot fall descending a series of drops. Because of the thick vegetation, this cascade can be tougher to see in the summer, but you’ll find excellent views in winter and early spring. For those averse to long hikes, Buttermilk Falls and Luke’s Falls offer quick access from easy-to-navigate trails.

  1. Shohola Falls
This lake-fed fall is impressive year-round.

Thundering down the State Game Lands off Route 6 you’ll find this stunning, roaring waterfall along Shohola Creek below Shohola Lake. To get there, follow a lesser-visited 0.8-mile loop trail through the marshlands to one of the Poconos’ most impressive and underrated waterfalls. The sheer volume of water flowing from this lake-fed fall is impressive year-round, and the dam above it seems to play little role in how fast and fierce it’s flowing. The best views are found from a ledge in front of the falls, but you can also see it safely from both sides of the creek and at stone observation areas on the west side.

  1. Hawk Falls
Climb to the base of the falls for this close up.

The western Poconos’ Hickory Run State Park is home to the rushing waters of 25-foot Hawk Falls. To get there, park in the lot on Route 534 and take the 0.6-mile Hawk Falls Trail. This forested route was once used by wagons traveling from the town of Jim Thorpe and is thick with rhododendrons in summer. As you near the falls, cross a wooden bridge over Hickory Run. Continue downhill to a rocky area off the trail to see Hawk Falls. Hike to the bottom for another view, or to take a dip in the cool, refreshing water.

  1. Tumbling Waters

Find Tumbling Waters Trail in Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) in the DWGNRA. This was designated Pennsylvania’s best trail in 2019 by Outside Magazine. Tumbling Waters is a moderately difficult, three-mile trail; a series of switchbacks leads to the impressive waterfall. The Delaware Valley/Kittatinny Mountains overlook, hemlock ravine, pine plantation and pond are other points of interest on this trail.

  1. Paupack Falls
Paupack Falls has private viewing access from Ledges Hotel.

An architectural gem in the Pocono Mountains, the Ledges Hotel overlooks a series of natural waterfalls; Paupack Falls. Its multiple decks provide superior vantage points, but it’s important to note they’re for guests only. Why not book a room with a view, or check out the onsite restaurant?

(PoconoMountainsblog)

Written by Jenny Willden for Matcha.

Farmers Markets Provide Healthy Food Options for Patients & Staff at NYC Health + Hospitals Locations

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
3
The public health system has again partnered with GrowNYC and Harvest Home Farmers Market, two local non-profit organizations, to host farmers markets and fresh food box programs at patient care locations throughout the city and make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible for patients, staff, and the community. Photo Credit: Associated Press

Each farmers market will take precautions to avoid COVID-19 exposure by enforcing face coverings and social distancing, as well as facilitating contact-less shopping wherever possible

Edited by: JV Staff

NYC Health + Hospitals today announced its 2020 schedule for farmers markets hosted at public hospitals and community health centers across the city. The public health system has again partnered with GrowNYC and Harvest Home Farmers Market, two local non-profit organizations, to host farmers markets and fresh food box programs at patient care locations throughout the city and make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible for patients, staff, and the community.

Farmers markets offer a variety of affordable, regionally grown vegetables, fruits, and fresh juices in communities where residents sometimes lack access to quality produce at reasonable prices. Each farmers market will take precautions to avoid COVID-19 exposure by enforcing face coverings and social distancing, as well as facilitating contact-less shopping wherever possible. The access to conveniently located farmers markets builds on the public health care system’s continued commitment to support healthy eating options at and near its facilities.

“NYC Health + Hospitals takes a whole-person approach to care and wellness of our patients, staff, and community members, and that undoubtedly includes strong nutrition, which is foundation to good health and the management of a number of chronic diseases,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “We’re grateful for trusted partners like GrowNYC and Harvest Homes Farmers Markets who help our health system reach our communities and provide necessary resources to further enhance New Yorkers’ overall health and wellbeing.”

Various payment options are available to help New Yorkers take advantage of farmers markets, including EBT/SNAP, Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) coupons, and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) coupons. In addition, Harvest Home Farmers Markets offers Good to GO Bag, featuring a sample of the healthy produce featured in the weekly recipes.

In addition to their Greenmarkets, GrowNYC offers their Fresh Food Box program year round at NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter location, which is a food access initiative that enables under-served communities to purchase fresh, healthy, and primarily regionally grown produce well below traditional retail prices through the power of collaborative purchasing. Participants sign up for the service and visit their local Fresh Food Box location during the designated time to pick up their produce and order their box for the following week.

Farmers markets locations and scheduled for 2020 are as follows:

Brooklyn

NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island

Ocean Parkway between Avenue Z and Shore Parkway

Fridays: 8am – 4pm

Through November 25, 2020

NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County

451 Clarkson Avenue between E. 37thand E 38thStreets

Wednesdays: 8am – 4pm

Through November 25, 2020

Bronx

NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Belvis

545 E. 142ndStreet

Mondays: 9am – 3pm

Through November 26, 2020

NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx

Jerome Avenue and Moshulu Parkway North

Wednesdays: 8am – 4pm

Through November 25, 2020

NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi

1400 Pelham Parkway South at Eastchester Road

Fridays: 8am – 4pm

Through November 19, 2020

Manhattan

NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter

Community Plaza, E. 125th Street and Park Avenue

Wednesdays: 3pm – 7pm

Open all year

NYC Health + Hospitals/Gouverneur

Madison Street and Jefferson Street

Thursdays: 9am – 1pm

Through November 19, 2020

NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem

512 Lenox Avenue between 135thand 137thStreets

Fridays: 8am – 6pm

Through November 20, 2020

NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan

2ndAvenue between E. 97thand E. 99thStreets

Fridays: 8am – 4pm

Through November 20, 2020

Queens

NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst

41stAvenue between 80thand 81stStreets

Tuesdays: 8am – 4pm

Through November 24, 2020

NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens

82-68 164 Street between Gotham Avenue and Grand Central Parkway

Thursdays: 8am – 5pm

Through November 30, 2020

NYC Health + Hospitals offers a variety of primary and preventive care services to help New Yorkers control their weight, avoid or manage chronic conditions, and learn about healthy eating and lifestyles. All services are affordable and available to New Yorkers regardless of their ability to pay, immigration status, or insurance status.

For more information on the NYC Health + Hospitals Farmers Markets, visit https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/services/farmers-markets/.

About NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 42,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem or Twitter at @NYCHealthSystem.

AHA News: At Nonprofit Fitness Center, Women Find Strength in Numbers

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
1
A strength-training class at Boston-based HealthWorks Community Fitness in 2019. Photo: Kelsey Converse Photography

Edited by: JV Staff

After more than a decade of driving a Boston city bus, Lorene Thomas was exhausted, overweight and depressed.

“Sitting in that seat all the time, I gained weight and had high blood pressure,” Thomas said. The 64-year-old also felt traumatized after several scary incidents, including being threatened by a man with a knife.

A visit four years ago to HealthWorks Community Fitness, a nonprofit targeting lower-income women, turned her life around.

“It’s just a few blocks from my house and I’d always passed by there,” Thomas said. “I knew I needed to do something.”

Since starting to exercise, Thomas, who retired two years ago, has lost and kept off 57 pounds, lowered her blood pressure to a normal range and now has enough energy to walk 3 miles several times a week. Her favorite gym activities are the treadmill, elliptical trainer and yoga classes.

Beyond physical changes, Thomas said she feels better about herself and has increased her social connections.

“I could feel my confidence coming back and my insecurity disappearing,” she said. “That gym is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Thomas is the embodiment of what HealthWorks Community Fitness strives to do, said managing director Gibbs Jennifer Saunders.

“The exercise piece is, of course, huge,” Saunders said. “But it’s even more than becoming healthier and getting that adrenaline. It’s also about having that feeling of accomplishment. If I can do this, then I can do all these other things.”

The center, which opened in 2008, serves about 2,000 women and children a year from the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury, which have majority Black and Latino populations. After a four-month closure because of COVID-19, it reopens Monday with physical distancing and other safety features added.

“A lot of people come to us with chronic diseases, such as hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and also obesity and aging issues,” Saunders said. “We work on management of chronic diseases as well as intervention to prevent them in the first place. We also address basic lifestyle choices, including nutrition and smoking.”

More than a quarter of the members are referred through a prescription program from their primary care physicians, especially at the nearby Codman Square Health Center. For those referrals, the first three months are free. Membership fees, which are charged on an income-based sliding scale from $10 to $30 a month, include access to the 10,000-square-foot center and a variety of small-group training programs.

Saunders encourages women to start with an eight-week progressive program called Woman, Be Fit, which she started after she came aboard in 2013.

“Instead of saying, ‘Here’s your membership,’ where they might try something once and never come aback, this is a way of engaging people,” she said.

In Woman, Be Fit, which costs a one-time fee of $40, up to 20 women meet weekly and also pledge to work out on their own at least twice a week and keep a food journal. They receive individualized fitness training and nutritional guidance, including cooking demonstrations in the center’s community teaching kitchen. For women with diabetes, the program also works to lower blood sugar levels and increase insulin sensitivity.

An important component of the program is increasing aerobic capacity, Saunders said.

“In order to change the physiology of your body, you have to push your system out of its comfort zone,” she said. “Just chatting on the treadmill isn’t helping with that.”

More than 600 women have been enrolled in Woman, Be Fit since 2015, with a completion rate of 94%, Saunders said.

“So much of the success is due to bonding and accountability. They make friends. They call each other. There’s social cohesion,” she said. “And a lot of the ladies repeat the program.”

The center also runs the Fitspuration youth fitness program for boys and girls ages 8 to 12, as well as one for victims of domestic violence in conjunction with a women’s shelter.

HealthWorks’ activities are funded by membership fees and grants, as well as $100,000 in funding from the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Fund.

Regardless of the specific target groups, the goal of all adult programs is empowering women through health, just as retiree Thomas has done.

“I’ve seen so many women like me come a long way,” said Thomas, who volunteers at the front desk and gives tours to newcomers. “I see them changing and getting stronger. We’re building up our bodies and our minds.”

(HealthDay News)

What to Know & Expect When Severe Illness Hits Close to Home: A Guide – Part 1

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Honorable, top-quality hospitals will absorb the financial losses when Medicare patients run into complications that extend their stay and increase their needed treatment. Photo Credit: Hospitalnews.com

No point in keeping to myself all that I had to figure out these past five months.

By: Dov Fischer

This is the penultimate of a quadrilogy, I guess, for readers who have become my family over the years. In the aftermath of my losing my precious wife of 20 years, Ellen the love of my life, I share observations that, although sometimes personal and in some discrete instances unique to my Orthodox Jewish religious faith and practices, I think also are universal and will help many readers navigate your own future experiences. Even though, besides being an attorney of 26 years and a law professor of 16 years, I also am a rabbi of 40 years, it turns out that there was a great deal of significant information I simply did not know.

I just spent the past five months learning so much so rapidly, leveraging the lessons and precautions learned during decades of my legal experience to avoid major pitfalls along the way, that it seems a shame for me not to share guidance with my loyal family of readers. Even the two trolls who invariably comment on my writings will benefit here. Ellen was laid to rest in the Holy Land of Israel on 15 Tamuz, July 7, in a service that was live-streamed by two separate companies so that it could be viewed by more than 600 long-time friends, fellow synagogue congregants, coworkers, and family members in America who could not be there.

  1. Usernames and Passwords

Before my beloved Ellen, of blessed memory, went into the hospital for her third glioblastoma resection, she prepared a comprehensive list for me of all her computer-account usernames and passwords. She did not mention it to me, nor did I realize that she perceived the peril she was facing for the third resection, because the prior two resections of September 2017 and December 2018 saw her rebound famously. But she intuited that this time would be different. After she returned home, I happened to be looking for something, and I found the list. That enabled me to get into her credit card accounts and pay all bills timely, set them up thenceforth for auto-pay, and attend to a bunch of stuff she otherwise would have handled, respond to emails that had been sent to her, get back to callers who had left her voicemails on her smartphone, and such. She also gathered all her important documents in one place. As it happened, I later needed to find her passport because she was being laid to rest in the Holy Land of Israel, and she had made my finding it instantly facile.

  1. Medicare and Hospital Stays

Ellen was on Medicare, not because of her age but because of disability. For people under 65, Medicare health coverage begins after 24 consecutive months on Social Security Disability. People diagnosed with glioblastoma and certain other particularly perilous or disabling illnesses are accepted for Social Security disability benefits very rapidly without the hassle that many others encounter. Even so, the Medicare system wants to be certain that a disability will extend a long enough term to justify the administrative process of moving an under-65 disabled person onto Medicare.

When someone is admitted into a hospital and has Medicare coverage, the financial end works like this: The hospital certifies the illness or reason for hospitalization by assigning the matter a certain numerical code or codes that Medicare associates with that medical condition. Medicare then pays the hospital a flat lump sum for that patient’s hospitalization, based on Medicare’s institutional assessments of what such a code number typically should entail for hospitalization and treatment for that condition. The thinking is that Medicare does not want hospitals using Medicare patients to run up profits at government expense (because Medicare so carefully avoids waste and fraud … ). Therefore, if the hospital wants to maximize profitability, it will treat efficiently. If the patient is cured and discharged more effectively, efficiently, and rapidly than Medicare’s average anticipates, the hospital thereby earns the right to pocket the leftover lump sum payment. By contrast, if the patient lingers longer than the Medicare average, needs extra doctors’ care, and requires extra diagnostic procedures, that overage comes at the hospital’s own expense. Therefore, the hospital has an enormous incentive to move Medicare patients out the door. Again: Be aware that hospitals have a steep financial interest in speeding Medicare patients out the door and back home.

Honorable, top-quality hospitals will absorb the financial losses when Medicare patients run into complications that extend their stay and increase their needed treatment. First, because the hospital cares about its reputation. Second, because the longer stays ultimately get balanced out by the shorter stays. Less honorable or less competent hospitals are kept somewhat honest, too, because they know they will be sued for malpractice if they mess around. Nevertheless, all hospitals will try to get Medicare patients out the door and discharged as fast as possible, even when a dithering idiot can see that the patient needs more hospital time. The villain whose job it is to dump the patient back on the family is called the “Case Manager.” The Discharge Case Manager or Discharge Nurse or Discharge Doctor calls and is very nice, makes sugary-sweet small talk, and assumes you do not know that he or she is a mercenary. She or he presents that the patient really wants to be home now and hardly can wait. Be aware. You are dealing with a blood-sucker who would put Dracula to shame.

Therefore, ideally, every person should have a “Dov” in their back pocket, who is ready (i) to argue the ethics and morality of premature hospital discharge with the spiritual passion of a rabbi, (ii) to fight with verbal hammer and nails as a trained high-stakes litigator who never lost a case in 10 years, and — if necessary — (iii) is ready just to kill the damned Discharge Case Manager with such readiness that the Discharge Case Manager knows it. By your having a close relative or reliable life-long friend who really loves you, is not a sucker, and will not be cowed (whether Holstein or otherwise), you can extend a loved one’s hospital stay for longer until the loved one truly has been cared for as completely as is appropriate, Medicare or no Medicare.

Beyond your having a passionate and capable advocate, Medicare likewise has a backup system for those who do not have a “Dov.” In each state there is a Medicare-certified QIO (Quality Improvement Organization). You look online to find the one in your state. By law the hospital must give you a written notice two days before they intend to throw you out. You then can appeal by contacting the QIO by no later than noon of the day immediately after the hospital gives you the notice. Thus, if they give you the note on Tuesday, you have to appeal to the QIO by Wednesday 12 noon. If you have not read this article, how in the world would you know before your appeal deadline has passed that you are on such a deadline? (Yes, it is in the small type on the two-day discharge notice. But you will read that like you read the terms of the agreement you check off when you set up an online account or like when you check off some agreement to terms before downloading a computer program, and it gives you 10 pages of legalese to agree to. Or like when they give you 600 “disclosures” to sign when you get a home mortgage.)

(To be continued next week)

More COVID-19 Patients in ICUs Are Surviving Now: Study

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Even as new coronavirus infections soar in the United States, a study released Wednesday offered one piece of good news: Severely ill COVID-19 patients are significantly more likely to survive now compared to a few months ago.

By: EJ Mundell

Even as new coronavirus infections soar in the United States, a study released Wednesday offered one piece of good news: Severely ill COVID-19 patients are significantly more likely to survive now compared to a few months ago.

In fact, deaths for COVID-19 patients in intensive care units have fallen by nearly a third in North America, Asia and Europe since the start of the pandemic, researchers report.

Overall, ICU deaths fell from nearly 60% at the end of March to 42% by the end of May.

That translates to tens of thousands of lives saved and “may reflect the rapid learning that has taken place on a global scale” of what drugs work (for example, remdesivir and dexamethasone) or don’t (hydroxychloroquine) to beat back COVID-19, according to a team led by Tim Cook. He’s a consultant in anesthesia and intensive care medicine at Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust in England.

But just because fewer very ill COVID-19 patients are dying doesn’t mean societies can become complacent about the threat, experts said.

“Any successful treatment, when not coupled with good public health measures to keep the new case rate below the limit of existing health care resources, will erase any gains made over the last few months by simply overwhelming the ICUs that have just become better at treating COVID-19,” stressed Dr. Eric Cioe Pena. He directs global health at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y.

Indeed, COVID-19 death rates are beginning to rise again in the United States, despite improvements in care. By Wednesday, the U.S. coronavirus case count passed 3.4 million as the death toll passed 136,000, according to a New York Times tally.

And after plateauing earlier this month, U.S. death counts are rising again. By Monday five states — Arizona, California, Florida, Mississippi and Texas — broke records for average daily COVID-19 fatalities over the past week, the Washington Post reported. Still, if you are unlucky enough to land in an ICU with COVID-19, your odds of leaving alive are better now, Cook and his team found.

Their report was based on an analysis of 24 studies from around the world, involving more than 10,000 patients. All studies focused on ICU deaths among adults battling COVID-19 published up to May 31.

The data suggest that the credit for improved survival doesn’t rest with any one specific therapy, the researchers said. They published their findings July 15 in the journal Anaesthesia.

Still, something must have changed over the study period. Besides all the new data on what drug therapies may help beat COVID-19, “it may also be that ICU admission criteria have changed over time, for example, with greater pressure on ICUs early in the pandemic surge,” Cook said in a journal news release.

His team also noted that longer ICU stays for COVID-19 patients take time to be reflected in the published data. In fact, severe COVID-19 illness can last for long periods, with about 20% of COVID-19 ICU admissions in the United Kingdom lasting more than 28 days, and 9% for more than 42 days.

“The important message, however, is that as the pandemic has progressed and all these factors combine, survival of patients admitted to ICU with COVID-19 has significantly improved,” the researchers concluded.

Still, it’s too early for congratulations. As Cook’s group noted, even at around 42% the death rate for COVID-19 patients in the ICU is still nearly double the death rate of ICU patients battling other viral pneumonias (22%).

Even so, the findings suggest that “as the pandemic progresses, we may be coping better with COVID-19,” the team said.

For his part, Pena says the study “rightly concludes something that we expect: As we learned more about this virus and its effect on the critically ill, we became better at treating it and its complications.”

Dr. Syed Iqbal is an ICU physician at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills in New York City, which was hit hard by COVID-19 early in the pandemic. Reading over the study findings, he agreed that “the disease does have a prolonged course and some patients died after a prolonged ICU stay. It also shows that the death rate is much higher than other viral illnesses.”

     (HealthDay News)

Third of NYC Small Businesses May Never Reopen

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

(NEWSMAX)

A third of New York City’s small businesses may never reopen as a result of losses from the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reports.

The shutdown has also been hard on tourist attractions in the city, such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is struggling with no visitors for the past four months.

According to the not-for-profit Partnership for New York City, up to 76,000 of the city’s 230,000 small businesses might never see their doors open again because of the lost income.

That is because the majority of small businesses have less than three months cash reserves — which was the length of time businesses were shut down by the government.

“That means that funds to restart, pay back rent and buy inventory are exhausted, leaving tens of thousands of entrepreneurs at risk, particularly business owners of color,” the Partnership for New York City report reads.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral has lost about $4 million, a fourth of its annual income, and is now unable to pay its bills.

“We have never had anything like this before,” Msgr. Robert T. Ritchie, rector of the cathedral, told The New York Times. “All the traditional things we have had in the past, dinners and things like that, we can’t do.”

Bill Ackman Sets Out to Raise $4B for New “Mystery” Investments

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
- Bill Ackman, the high profile hedge fund manager, is planning to raise $4 billion from stock investors to be used on a mystery investment. Photo Credit: AP

By: Desiree DeBuque

Bill Ackman, the high profile hedge fund manager, is planning to raise $4 billion on Tuesday July 21.  As reported by the NY Post, the funds which the billionaire hopes to raise from stock investors is to be used on a mystery investment.  The 54-year-old founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management will try to sell 200 million units of his new blank-check company, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, at $20 a share on Tuesday.  His track record is good enough to invite confidence, but the caveat is that he is not divulging any information about what his planned investment target will be.  The only hint he will give potential investors is the boilerplate info, just to provide a rough idea of the types of companies that he may opt for.

Representatives for Ackman declined to comment or to add any information.  The Post reported that sources say Ackman has indicated that potential investment targets may range from the media empire of Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Airbnb, the vacation home rental platform, to DirectTV, which is AT&T’s struggling satellite Television provider.  “Ackman told me in the last few months that he would like to buy Bloomberg,” one anonymous source told The Post.  However, the source was quick to add that he didn’t think it was likely that Ackman could make a deal to invest in Bloomberg’s media giant, because if the namesake founder who owns 88 percent of the company valued at $50 billion, were interested in selling, he could easily get more funds from larger investors such as Warren Buffett.

Besides for the $4 billion Ackman plans to raise by selling shares of his blank-check company, more formally known as a special-acquisition vehicle, Ackman has also committed to invest $1 billion to $3 billion of investor capital from his current fund, Pershing Square Capital, into the mystery investment.

Pershing Square Capital, which he started in 2004, has been a widely successful hedge fund.   Ackman had placed hefty bets on a variety of stocks to grow the fund into an $11 billion giant in a span of only 10 years. Just in 2014 alone, Ackman made $4.5 billion in profits for his Pershing Square investors.  After that, Ackman did hit a brick wall, with a five-year losing streak.  Those losses were optimized by his outspoken $1 billion bet against Herbalife, the nutritional shake company which he was sure would be revealed as a scam.  By the end of 2017, however, Ackman had managed to bounce back with successful investments in Chipotle, Nike and Starbucks.  In 2019, the fund returned a respectable 58.1 percent.  Even in late March, just before the Coronavirus pandemic forced the economic shut down, he had announced his fund was up with a $2.6 billion profit.

Israel Exposes Iran-Backed PFLP Terror Cell That Planned Massive Attacks

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Israel’s combined security forces have exposed and captured a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror network that was financed and trained by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group. Photo by Majdi Fathi/TPS on 1 January, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

Israel’s combined security forces have exposed and captured a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror network that was financed and trained by Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group.

The Shin Bet (Israel’s Security Agency) revealed Tuesday that it had exposed in recent months the activities of a terrorist cell that operated under the guise of a civilian welfare organization called “Al-Shabab Alqumi Al-Arabi.”

The cell was exposed during the interrogation of Yazan Abu Salah, 23, a PFLP activist and resident of Araba in the north.

Yazan was arrested for questioning in April 2020, during which information was received about his involvement in planning terrorist attacks in the Judea and Samaria area. As part of his preparations for the attacks, he purchased weapons and recruited activists who headed two different squads, one in the Samaria area and the other in Ramallah.

During his interrogation, he said that he planned for the squads to carry out various serious attacks, including an attack in the city of Harish and the abduction of an IDF soldier as a bargaining chip for the release of terrorists from the Israeli prison.

Yazan said during his investigation that he drew inspiration for planning and carrying out the attacks from the August 2019 PFLP attack on Ein Danny, in which 17-year-old Rina Shnerb was murdered and her father and brother were injured.

Yazan’s interrogation revealed his connections to the Al-Shabab Alqumi Al-Arabi organization, under which the organization’s military wing, the Al-Kharas Alqumi Al-Arabi, operates. The military arm’s activities focus on operations in Syria against the Islamic State (ISIS), Al-Nusra Front and opponents of the Syrian regime.

The Shin Bet also exposed Iran and Hezbollah’s deep involvement in promoting terrorist activity against Israel.

Yazan was expected to leave for military training in Lebanon, including shooting, weapons production, drone operations and more.

Following Yazan’s interrogation, Muhammad Abu Salah, 29, Yazan’s cousin, a resident of Bir Zeit, was arrested for questioning. During his interrogation, it emerged that the organization conducts joint training with elements in Iran, as well as with Hezbollah and the Syrian army, and these also constitute funding bodies for the organization’s activities.

The organization is headed by Assad Al-Amali, known as “Du Al-Pakar”, who operates from Lebanon and is the organization’s liaison with Iran and Hezbollah. He operates on behalf of Iranian elements in Syria.

The Shin Bet subsequently arrested eight other activists who were involved in planning terrorist attacks against Israeli targets.

“The investigation into the affair once again emphasized the close ties that exist between Iran and Hezbollah and the Popular Front terrorist organization, in favor of promoting terrorist activity against Israel,” the Shin Bet stated. (TPS)

 

NYC College Student Speaks Out Against “Celebrity” Anti-Semitism

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Mark Shepard, a rising Vassar College sophomore, has been taking it upon himself to confront celebrity anti-Semitism on social media. The 19-year old from Manhattan faced off with former NBA player Stephen Jackson on Instagram Live in a head-to-head conversation. Photo Credit: Instagram

By: Mike Mustiglione

Anti-Semites have a new force to answer to.  Mark Shepard, a rising Vassar College sophomore, has been taking it upon himself to confront celebrity anti-Semitism on social media.  The 19-year old from Manhattan faced off with former NBA player Stephen Jackson on Instagram Live in head-to-head.   Earlier in the month, Jackson had publicly defended anti-Semitic posts on Instagram uploaded by DeSean Jackson, the Eagles wide receiver who is not related to Stephen.  The 14-season NBA star had also gone on to blast the Eagles organization for its condemnation of DeSean for his anti-Semitic comments.  Jackson was hosting an Instagram Live discussion on July 7th, and Shepard who is one of Stephen Jackson’s 894,000 Instagram followers, tuned in and called Jackson an “anti-Semite” in the video’s comments section.   As reported by the NY Post, this prompted Jackson to invite the college student to join the video discussion.

“We’re supposed to be having these conversations,” Shepard told The Post, about the obligation to openly converse regarding Black Lives Matter, following  George Floyd’s death while in police custody. “As a white person, mostly what I should be doing in this movement is learning, listening … but when it comes to issues of [Jewish people] especially, I do have a platform there and sort of an obligation to speak out and make sure there’s no collateral injustice.”  Shepard is Jewish and still deciding what to major in college.  “I have a great deal of respect for him,” Shepard said referring to Jackson. “I wanted to pick his brain.”

In early July, DeSean had taken to Instagram to share with his 1.4 million followers, an anti-Semitic quote falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler which denoted a Jewish “plan for world domination.”  Incidentally, after being critiqued DeSean later apologized, and even accepted a trip to go to Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi concentration camp with a Holocaust survivor.  Condemnation from the Eagles organization was central to his reform—he had been slapped with an unspecified fine from the Eagles, who called his “conduct detrimental to the team.”

“The fact that [DeSean] put the quote out there and Stephen Jackson basically said, ‘Yeah, you’re right,’ that was an endorsement,” said Shepard.  Shepard continued to explain that in calling out Jackson, his goal was to have “a constructive dialogue.” The teen admitted that over the past few months, he also had other public debates, mostly with white nationalists on TikTok.  “The reality is we don’t know each other’s experiences,” Shepard said. “If we pretend that we do, that’s not productive.”

Shepard’s discussion with Jackson had carried on open-mindedly and respectfully, even when Jackson had referred to Jews who “control all the banks”.  “I wasn’t going to excoriate him for echoing tropes that have been around [for years],” he said. “He didn’t say it in a hateful way … I feel like the better thing to do is explain to him why that’s not true.”  The discussion had ended peaceably with Jackson saying to Shepard, “Much love, bro”.

“He’s not a bad person at all, not even a little bit,” Shepard said of Jackson. “He’s literally openly trying to facilitate a difficult discussion at a time like this.”  A representative for Stephen Jackson didn’t return a request for comment, and Jackson has since apologized for the Jewish banks comment.

Nursing Home Vacancies in NY Jump During Pandemic; Cuomo Admits Mistakes

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
A report provided to the Centers for Disease Control revealed that NYS’s nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities now have dwindling occupancy rates. Photo Credit: AP

By: Cora McVeigh

The coronavirus pandemic has worked to empty out New York’s nursing homes in more ways than one.   A report provided to the Centers for Disease Control revealed that NYS’s nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities now have dwindling occupancy rates.   As reported by the NY Post, 146 of the state’s facilities experienced a drop in occupancy in excess of 20 percent since the end of 2019.  Most of the soaring vacancies are centered in New York City and the nearby suburbs.

As per the data filed with the CDC last month, some nursing homes detailed that occupancy rates had toppled by more than 40 or 50 percent through the first week of June.  In total, the count of patients inside New York’s 600 nursing homes fell by 13 percent , posting the seventh highest drop in the nation.  The state of New Jersey led the list, posting the largest drop in nursing facility residents, with a 22 percent decline.

New York State has admitted that over 6,300 patients died in nursing homes, just due to the COVID-19 virus over the past few months. Gov. Andrew Cuomo had defended the state saying that elders are just more susceptible, and that Coronavirus cuts down senior citizens “like fire through dry grass.”  Cuomo was on the defense for his controversial March 25 order, to which committed nursing homes to take in recovering COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals.  Critics claim that it was this order, which has since been repealed, which led NY rehabs and nursing homes to have such  escalated levels of the COVID-19 spread, and such high mortality rates.   In a recent report, the governor’s state Health Department contended that it was not the policy that drove up the numbers, but rather the incoming nursing home workers and visitors who were responsible for spreading the virus in nursing homes.

Coronavirus deaths are not the main thing causing empty beds at the facilities, however.  New York families, of the elderly who had resided at the nursing homes and rehab facility, are fearful that their loved one can be infected, and are rethinking their residency.  In addition, the new visitation restrictions have put a damper on the prospect for forthcoming nursing home residents, industry sources said.  The sources also added that nursing homes and rehab centers are getting less hospital referrals for patients who need post-surgical care.  Elective surgeries had formerly been halted, which may have also lent a hand to lowering incoming rehab patients last month.  “Three factors are driving the lower occupancy rate: lack of hospital discharges where the vast majority of nursing home placements come from; the high death rate of the people over age 75 in NYS (large majority of nursing home residents are over 75); and a general concern from the public about going to health care providers,” said Jim Clyne, executive director of Leading Age.

“With the worst behind us, everything we’re doing is focused on creating an even safer, more comfortable care environment for our residents and staff. Infection control is our top priority and we have taken extraordinary measures to guard against future spread of COVID,” said Richard J. Brum, general Counsel of the Allure Group, which operates the King David Nursing Home in Gravesend Brooklyn. “We are so grateful for those who stood with nursing homes during this unprecedented health crisis and join all New Yorkers in our readiness to keep moving forward.”

1...1,8911,8921,893...2,293Page 1,892 of 2,293
DONATE NOW
Subscribe Now

© The Jewish Voice. All rights reserved.

Website managed by Napollo

About Us

Popular Category

Editor Picks