48.5 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Home Blog Page 1999

Rivlin Speaks with King of Spain as Coronavirus Claims Hundreds of Lives Each Day

0
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin spoke on Sunday with King Felipe VI of Spain following the global spread of Coronavirus and the hundreds of fatalities from the virus reported daily in Spain. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 23 March, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin spoke on Sunday with King Felipe VI of Spain following the global spread of Coronavirus and the hundreds of fatalities from the virus reported daily in Spain.

Spain is one of the European counties to be hit hardest by the virus. It has registered some 30,000 cases, with at least 1,813 deaths.

Rivlin told King Felipe that “the Israeli public identifies with the Spanish people as they deal with the virus” and spoke about the demonstrations of solidarity in Israel with their Spanish twin cities, Tel Aviv and Tiberias.

The Tel Aviv Municipality lit up its façade with the colors of the Spanish flag last week “in support of our friends in Spain, bravely handling the Coronavirus crisis.”

He thanked the king “for the cooperation with the authorities” at Spanish airports in recent days, which have become a transit point for many Israelis returning home from South and Central America amid a general shutdown of borders around the world.

The two “enjoyed a good, warm and constructive conversation,” Rivlin’s office stated.

“The two leaders expressed messages of deep solidarity and reiterated the close relations and the support which brings the two peoples together,” the statement said.

In addition, Rivlin spoke with Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian and discussed possible cooperation and exchange of information regarding how the health systems in both countries are dealing with the virus.

Sarkissian thanked Rivlin and said that his country would be happy to receive information about how Israel is dealing with and limiting the spread of the disease.

He added that this is a battle that international leaders must fight together. Following the request of the Armenian president, the health ministries of both countries held follow-up conversations regarding information exchanges about dealing with the virus.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been leading an international effort to collaborate and share information on the fight against Corona.

In the meantime, the Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yuval Rotem Tweeted that “at such a difficult and challenging time in Italy, as we see and hear about tragedies and human bravery, I can only say this: Italy – you are in our hearts! We will overcome this together!”

Last week, the Tel Aviv Municipality, the Petah Tikva Municipality and Jerusalem’s Old City walls were lit up with the Italian colors of red green and white.

“Todà Rabà, Israel, for your closeness, solidarity & support in such challenging times!” the Italian embassy in Israel responded.

            (TPS)

Israel Ranks 14th in World Happiness Report, Tel Aviv 8th Happiest City

0
Last year, Tel Aviv was ranked as the best city in the Middle East and the 21st best in the world by Time Out Magazine. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 12 March, 2017

By: TPS Staff

Israel has been ranked 14th happiest country in the world in this year’s edition of the United Nations (UN) World Happiness Report while Tel Aviv was declared the 8th happiest city in the world.

Measuring subjective happiness around the world for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Israelis were said to be the 14th happiest people after Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

The ranking was based on polls conducted with residents of each country, with the surveys then split into categories including GDP, life expectancy, social support and freedom of choice.

The “World Happiness Report” is a survey of 153 countries about the state of global happiness. The report is released for the UN’s World Happiness Day.

Consisting mainly of European countries, the top 20 was complemented by Costa Rica, Ireland, Germany, the US, the Czech Republic, and Belgium.

The Top 20 remained unchanged from last year’s ranking, although Israel fell from 11th to 14th place.

The report’s 10 least happy countries included Afghanistan, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Tel Aviv was listed as the world’s 8th best city in “Subjective Well Being” with Jerusalem coming in at 33rd. Both ranked above cities such as London, Dubai, Paris, and Singapore.

Last year, Tel Aviv was ranked as the best city in the Middle East and the 21st best in the world by Time Out Magazine.

The magazine surveyed 34,000 city-dwellers to rank the best cities in the world and presented a list of its 48 best cities in the world for 2019.

The cities were graded for their “food, drink, culture, nightlife, community, neighborhoods, overall happiness and other factors, such as their city’s beauty, affordability and convenience.”

“Welcome to the city that never stops. Tel Aviv – the contemporary hub of Israel, the cultural capital, a culinary mecca and a beach bliss,” Time Out writes.

(TPS)

Police Enforce Corona Regulations in Ultra-Orthodox Communities in J’slm

0
Three people were arrested and fined as clashes erupted in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood on Sunday amid an effort by police to enforce the government’s regulations to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS on 15 September, 2016

By: TPS

Three people were arrested and fined as clashes erupted in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood on Sunday amid an effort by police to enforce the government’s regulations to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

The police crackdown came after reports emerged that several businesses and large numbers of residents were not abiding by the Ministry of Health’s rules on limiting physical interaction. With schools refusing to close, large weddings and gatherings taking place, and many shops open as usual, Mea Shearim was feared to become a hotspot for the further spread of the virus.

Crowds clashed with police, throwing stones and denouncing officers as Nazis. Individual policemen wore protective masks, while the vast majority of officers and rioters were unprotected.

The three people arrested were charged with violently disrupting a demonstration and disturbing the public order. They were additionally fined NIS 5,000 ($1,380) for disobeying the government’s Corona regulations, local media reported.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, himself Haredi, had called upon the ultra-Orthodox communities to follow the government’s regulations to help stop the spread of the virus.

The number of Corona patients in Israel rose to 1,238 on Monday morning, of which 24 are in serious condition and 34 are in moderate condition. Some are being treated with experimental medications.

Some 40 patients have recovered while about 75,000 Israelis are in a 14-day quarantine.

The government has been working to significantly boost the number of Corona tests carried out on a daily basis, and some 5,300 Israelis were tested in the past 24 hours.

The novel Coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 192 countries around the world.

At least 353,000 cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide, including at least 15,300 deaths. Some 100,000 have recovered.

(TPS)

Shame on Benny Gantz!

0
Benny Gantz, however, in his attempt to gain power has reached out to the Joint List (JL), a group of terrorist supporting Arab parties to join him in his attempts to rule the Knesset. We should all be concerned. There is very little desire the JL has for the survival of Israel. They want it gone! Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com

There is no other people on the face of this earth who should be more concerned and therefore, more tuned in to their survival than we Jews. Over countless centuries we have faced extermination and, luckily combined with the grace of G-d, we live on….barely. How long can we keep rolling the dice in this chancy game? Our Israeli cousins, with their indecisiveness in choosing a leader have thrown the black dotted ivory cubes against the wall, once again daunting fate and risking their very existence. In the recent unprecedented third election in just the past year, they have created political chaos in the nation by their indecision in supporting their current Prime Minister Netanyahu, who since his assuming the role of Prime Minister for the second time, in 2009, has led Israel boldly to its current position as a world leader in commerce, diplomacy with its Arab neighbors and in its successful fight for survival.

Combine this human common sense failure with the sweeping medical turmoil of the deadly Corona virus and we must come to the conclusion that the Jewish nation’s future is in peril. Throw in as well, the stupidity of the vast majority American Jews who choose to align themselves politically with the Progressives who openly have as their goal, the destruction of Israel and the problem becomes evident that our future is in doubt.

Israel and the United States, two of the world’s greatest democracies, also house most of the world’s Jewish population. Israel is a Jewish state and it must remain so. However, with Netanyahu not having garnered a majority in the most recent election, is apparently willing to compromise and share his leadership role with Benny Gantz who heads the minority Blue and White Party, thus forming a coalition government. Gantz, however, in his attempt to gain power has reached out to the Joint List (JL), a group of terrorist supporting Arab parties to join him in his attempts to rule the Knesset. We should all be concerned. There is very little desire the JL has for the survival of Israel. They want it gone! They basically represent the Palestinian Authority in the Knesset and will vote accordingly thus demanding an immediate two state solution, the right of return and the sharing of Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian nation. Any coalition having them as partners will doom the Jewish state.

Jews in the United States, for their part, have also gone suicidal by remaining silent in the face of growing anti-Jewish/Israel hatred within Congress, in the press and in our halls of ivy. We have never seen such dangerous, overt behavior in our lifetimes. Why do our Jewish and citizens not see the danger to our survival now growing in our midst? Why do they not speak out? We are faced now with two threats; the Corona virus which menaces all of humankind and open Jew/Israel hating. The latter threat must be handled by us. We must wake up, speak up and act up boldly to prevent our annihilation. silence on our part will destroy us.

Has China Been Criminally Negligent?

0
On December 31, the last day of 2019, China announced the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia like illness. Reports now indicate the Chinese were lying, dangerously so, to the world. Photo Caption–XIAOLU CHU/GETTY IMAGES

OK, we’ll come right out and say it: “China has been criminally negligent in its initial silence in reporting to the rest of the world the outbreak of the COVID -19 virus that originated in its own city of Wuhan.” No, we’re not being xenophobic. But leave it to the likes of cnn.com to claim that bigotry against China is worse than the disease it permitted to spread world-wide. “What’s spreading faster than coronavirus in the US? Racist assaults and ignorant attacks against Asians,” it blared on its site. The media’s goal is to deflect blame away from the culprit and blame the victim, in this case those who may become afflicted with this disease and want an answer to how it originated and how it was permitted to spread for months before China spoke out.

On December 31, the last day of 2019, China announced the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia like illness. Reports now indicate the Chinese were lying, dangerously so, to the world. The disease flared up weeks or months sooner than they claimed. The virus was already spreading among its own people, beyond the borders of Wuhan while they remained silent. They censored information and muffled and incriminated whistle-blowers who tried to sound the alarm.

Dr. Daniel Lucey, a professor of infectious diseases at Georgetown University Medical Centers claims that the virus could have been moving through Wuhan as early as October. The deadly virus was given a 3 months head start by the criminal leaders of China. China is a signer-on to the International Health Regulations which obligates nations to report public health events such as disease outbreaks in order to prevent a pandemic such as the COVID-19 one emanating from….China. They failed to follow regulations and now can and should be held responsible for the tens of thousands of cases panicking the globe and the many innumerable deaths to follow.

Throw into this gory tale, the fact that China’s one and only military biological warfare lab is located in Wuhan. Could there have been an “accident?” Add in that their leaders don’t give one damn about the lives of their citizens. The Washington Post reported on 11/30/2016 that between 30 and 60 million “missing girls” in China were apparently killed in the womb or just after birth thanks to a combination of preference for sons and the country’s decades old repressive one child policy. A nation with over 1.4 billion people, run by a dictatorship that seems to have very few human values will merely shrug their shoulders at a killer virus that may disable a world they hope to eventually dominate and rule even at the expense of its own people. And that’s not an xenophobic statement, that’s the truth, like it or not.

Letters to the Editor

0

Coronavirus and the MTA

Dear Editor:

There are other financial solutions to Metropolitan Transportation Authority looking for a $4 billion bailout from Washington due to unanticipated costs incurred by the Corona Virus. Washington has already accumulated $23 trillion in long term debt. With a $4 trillion plus annual budget, this debt was anticipated to grow by $1 trillion annually for years to come prior to the Corona Virus. The federal government will fund a stimulus package of $850 million. It will be paid for with more borrowed funds increasing our national debt once again. This legislation will deal with the growing Corona Virus. Every village, town, county, city and state along with many private sector businesses will look toward Washington for additional financial assistance. Just who is going to bail out Uncle Sam to pay for this?

All levels of government and the private sector must also make difficult financial decisions on how to use existing resources. Americans prioritize their own family budgets. They make the difficult choices in how existing resources will be spent. What can wait till later will be postponed. Now the MTA is looking for $4 billion in additional aid from Washington. This is on top of the annual $1.4 billion in assistance provided by the Federal Transit Administration. The MTA has budgeted $4 billion of local funding within the $51 billion 2020–2024 Five Year Capital Plan to be used toward paying for the $6.9 billion Second Avenue Subway Phase Two. This project benefits a handful of the 5 million daily transit riders.

Why doesn’t the MTA make the difficult financial decisions everyone else does? Given the current financial crises faced by all levels of government, the MTA should postpone funding this project until the next 2025–2029 Five Year Capital Plan. Use these funds Currently available under the $51 billion 2020–2024 Five Year Capital Plan toward dealing with additional $4 billion costs incurred by the Corona Virus.

Sincerely,

Larry Penner

(Larry Penner is a transportation historian, writer and advocate who previously worked 31 years for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for the MTA, NYC Transit bus and subway, Staten Island Rail Road, Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads, MTA Bus along with 30 other transit agencies in NY & NJ).

 

The Virus of Blaming the Jews

Dear Editor:

One would think this virus would give Jews and Israel a break from being blamed for the world’s woes but instead, we are witnessing the oldest virus in the world infecting and spreading its poison.

Social Media reeks with the stench of Jew hate, “Coronavirus was created by a cabal of Jews. Jews are using this virus as a means for profit. Jews manufactured it and are going to take advantage of the market collapse through insider trading.”

Abraham Cooper, Simon Wiesenthal Center, ‘An Ancient Virus Unleashes a New Pandemic of Hate’, “Odious conspiracy theories about Jews are alive and well in the 21st century. Consider as evidence a newly released study of attitudes towards Jews, in which 20 percent of European respondents believe that a secret Jewish cabal runs the world. This monstrous lie dates back 1,000 years to an English monk, Thomas of Monmouth, who falsely accused Jews of ritually murdering a Christian child, William of Norwich, on Easter. Every year, the monk charged that a council of Jews decided which country to target for the murder of another innocent child.

The devastating big lie, and 150 more like it over the next 900 years-plus, kept alive hate for generations of Christians and led to the murder of innocent Jews from England to Russia to Syria. Along the way came the publication of the Czarist Protocols of the Elders of Zion, with the conspiratorial spin that Jews are the source of all modern evil, plotting at secret meetings to control the world through economic manipulation and war.

In our time, Iranian websites and TV programs in the Muslim and Arab worlds have updated the big lie with catchy titles such as “Who are human history’s most bloodthirsty people?” to justify hatred for the Jewish people. In 1945, as the Allies liberated the Nazi death camps and the full barbarity of Nazi Germany was exposed to the world, no one would have predicted that Hitler’s legacy of hate would so quickly rise again from the ashes of the Holocaust. But it has — and with a vengeance, from Berlin to New York. “

It seems when it comes to Jew hate, nothing changes. Humans always need a victim to blame. If they sent all of us, all Jews to Mars, they’d still be blaming us for the world’s woes.

Sincerely

G. Claire Burstein

 

Did the Chinese Cover Up the Pandemic?

Dear Editor,

There are a few questions we our all asking ourselves. Did the Chinese government attempt to cover up the pandemic that they created or did they fabricate a deadly outbreak to panic the world? Have we been maliciously misled by the Chinese-controlled World Health Organization? Was it to cover the embarrassment or advance the fabrication? As the Chinese virus turns into an expensive exercise in tracking the progression of a common cold, the Chinese are grinning, and we are frowning–but will they smile for long?

Due to the President’s fair-trade policies, the Chinese economic model was already collapsing, and the companies and wealth they gained through trickery and deceit have been declining from poor management.

Apparently, the Chinese government released this virus on its own people to stop the Hong Kong protestors and crash the US economy. There is plenty of evidence to support this. For one you had to know that China wouldn`t take the trade war and sanctions lying down. Our Stock market was soaring, real estate was booming, unemployment reached historic low records, China’s economy was slowly crumbling and Pres. Trump was headed to a second term. The Left fearing prosecution for decades of criminality, and never returning back to power had to do something to stop this.

If this virus came about by people who consumed ill creatures, as some want you to believe – why would the Chinese regime conceal evidence?!?! what do they have to hide??? Why wouldn’t they share the medical information they have so to save the population of planet earth from this pandemic???? Why didn’t they notify us the second the breakout happened in Wuhan??? Don’t be fooled by stories of china men eating bats and rats. That is what the Chinese communist regime you to believe. It came from a lab that was making silent weapons of mass destruction.

The USA is waking up: China was a deal too good to be true, and we need to get out of it ASAP. Pres. Trump should turn around and start freezing assets to offset the cost of this virus. We need to get our industries to be self-sufficient from the Chinese and stop funding the Chinese Communist economy. We should strengthen our allies who believe in the principals of freedom and democracy such as the likes of India and Israel, by trading with them and not with China. We should severely restrict travel to and from China. Now is the time to act.

Best Regards,

Avraham Sharaby

Time to Hold China Accountable for Unleashing Hell on the World

0
Airmen assist one another in donning their personal protective equipment, while on-board an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III during transportation isolation system training at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. Engineered and implemented after the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014, the TIS is an enclosure the Department of Defense can use to safely transport patients with diseases like novel coronavirus. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Cody R. Miller)

Communist regime engaged in a massive cover-up — exposing the world to global pandemic and economic meltdown.

By: Ari Lieberman

Despite criticism from elements within the elitist establishment media and some radical progressives, President Donald Trump was correct to refer to the COVID-19 virus as a “foreign virus” or “Chinese virus.” Leading the charge of the president’s critics was none other than CNN’s Jim Acosta, who stated that reference to the virus as “foreign” may strike people as “xenophobic.”

In response, Fox’s Tucker Carlson accurately referred to Acosta as a “poisonous moron.” In fact, Carlson was being kind to Acosta, who works for an organization that has long abandoned actual journalism in favor of propaganda.

The Coronavirus, which has thus far killed at least 9,386 and infected 229,960 others, emerged from the city of Wuhan, which is the capital of Hubei province in the People’s Republic of China. Chinese authorities were well aware that they had a pandemic on their hands way back in December but maliciously suppressed information about it. Significantly, The Times of UK, citing a respected and independent Chinese publication, reports that in December Chinese labs identified the pathogen that caused viral pneumonia in patients infected with the coronavirus disease and described the pathogen as highly infectious. A regional health official in Wuhan ordered the compiled samples and related research destroyed. Chinese authorities belatedly acknowledged the highly infectious nature of the disease in late January.

When news of the Wuhan virus began to surface through desperate and often disquieting social media posts, the communist regime of the People’s Republic did what it does best and silenced those responsible for the posts by making them disappear. Needless to say, the regime deactivated their social media accounts as well.

China’s leader Xi Jinping does not handle criticism well. The latest victim of China’s crackdown on information is Ren Zhiqiang, outspoken property tycoon and government critic. After publishing an essay critical of the government’s handling of the outbreak, Ren Zhiqiang disappeared and has not been heard or seen since.

Trump’s national security advisor, Robert O’Brien noted that the calculated Chinese cover-up cost the world two months. Early intervention by virology experts of the CDC could have thwarted an outbreak, or at least minimized it. Affected nations could have stopped flights to and from China earlier, limiting exposure.

In addition to lives lost and disrupted, the Chinese virus has already taken an incalculable toll on the world’s economies. The Stock Market is down by 25 percent. Retirees have watched helplessly as their retirement portfolios dwindle. The unemployment rate in the United States is expected to rise to 6 percent by mid-2021, up from its current 3.5 percent. Businesses are shuttering and bustling metropolitan cities like New York look like ghost towns. It’s almost apocalyptic in scope and scale.

All of this could have been avoided had China been more forthcoming about its Wuhan flu. But there’s more to this story than a mere Chinese cover-up.

There are two theories as to the origin of the Wuhan flu. The first, is that it originated at a Chinese wet market, where live animals like dogs, cats, snakes and Kuala bears are slaughtered in the most filthy and unsanitary conditions. These wet markets are breeding grounds for animal to human virus transmission, and Chinese authorities were well aware of the risks associated with such wet markets.

The second theory is that the virus emerged from a hazardous level 4 bio-weapons facility in Wuhan, located adjacent to the wet market. The virus managed to migrate from the lab, perhaps from an infected bat, to the wet market.

Chinese wet markets are controversial not only because animals in such markets are badly mistreated, but also because they represent a known biohazard to humans. The deadly H7N9 strain, which surfaced in 2013, was believed to have come from one of these Chinese wet markets. The Chinese SARS virus, which surfaced in 2002 also originated from one of these markets.

Yet despite the known hazards posed by these wet markets, Chinese authorities did little, if anything, to shut them down. The Chinese government did eventually shut down the Wuhan wet market but others throughout China, and parts of Asia still operate without regulation or safeguards.

Instead of accepting blame for unleashing hell on the world, the regime has opted to change the narrative, insinuating that the United States was responsible. On March 12, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian wrote on twitter, “When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army [sic] who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe [sic] us an explanation!” In this regard, the communist government of China is no different that the mullahs of the Islamic Republic, who blamed the coronavirus on America, the Zionists and the Jews.

A government-run Chinese paper also advocated that China halt export of needed medicines to the U.S. to combat COVID-19 in the hope of plunging the U.S. into “the mighty sea of coronavirus.”. Over the years, pharmaceutical companies have opted to have their drugs manufactured in China because it’s cheaper. China now maintains a dominant position in the global supply chain for pharmaceuticals.

The West must make China pay dearly for its maleficence. As of December 2019, U.S. debt to China was $1.07 trillion. We can begin the process of just retribution and compensation there. We also have the option of imposing tariffs on China and earmark funds collected from those special tariffs to a selected account aimed at assisting those adversely affected by the Chinese coronavirus. Lastly, the United States must come to the realization that manufacturing jobs must be brought back to America’s shores and America must be restored to the manufacturing giant it once was.

For far too long, Democrats and even some Republicans took a soft approach on China, disregarding its abysmal human rights record, its theft of trade secrets and intellectual property, its unrestricted hacking activities, its illegal encroachment on the South and East China Seas and its attempts to undermine its democratic neighbors like Taiwan. Former Democratic candidate for president, Mike Bloomberg, even went so far as to deny that China was ruled by dictatorship. But the Wuhan virus has brought clarity to China’s malign activities. This is one thing that all Americans, Democrats and Republicans, should agree upon without equivocation.

            (FrontPageMag.com)

Lies, Transparency and Pandemics

0
We had bubonic plague in the 17th century and influenza in the 20th, to use just two examples—but never quite in this universal a manner. Photo Credit: Louisville.edu

When authoritarian regimes lie to their own people about a worldwide, contagious disease, their lies have an impact on those of us who are otherwise mercifully spared from living under their direct jurisdiction

By: Ben Cohen

Has the world ever been this perfectly synchronized? Whether you wake up in an isolated hamlet in one part of the globe or a teeming city in another, whatever your language or your time zone, whether your country has a functioning health-care system or one starved of resources, whether you are a corporate executive or in the middle of first grade, all the talk and all the focus has been consumed by the coronavirus and its associated disease, COVID-19.

I am far from being the only writer to observe that the current situation has a perilously novel feeling about it. True, we have been here before—we had bubonic plague in the 17th century and influenza in the 20th, to use just two examples—but never quite in this universal a manner. And true, the destructive character of the coronavirus is less deadly when compared with previous disease outbreaks, both old and more recent; but then again, what is so striking about this pandemic is not the (so far) relatively small proportion of deaths among those infected, but the abrupt manner in which the world has been forced to rethink its most basic assumptions.

In many ways, the 19th and 20th centuries were defined by what some historians have called the “conquest of distance,” a process combining technological ingenuity and sheer bravery that eventually enabled human beings to traverse, in hours or days, those land masses and oceans that would have taken weeks, months or even years to cross in previous centuries. This victory over time and space—achieved through ships, trains, the telegraph, the telephone, passenger aircraft, satellites, the Internet and much else—meant that more of us were spending more time together in ever-growing numbers, in closer proximity and in different parts of the planet, than ever before. And pretty much everyone agreed that this was what was meant by the word “progress.”

In a matter of weeks, however, this much-heralded interconnectivity has gone dark. Supermarkets have run out of basic goods and planes aren’t flying. Even our very own Judaism—at least as we have known it for three thousand years—is on ice, as we start exploring the meaning of religious practice in a world where those in charge of public-health protocols are increasingly empowered to regulate and even shut down private or social contacts between human beings.

As the world’s authoritarian states have demonstrated throughout this crisis, there are certain regimes who take these powers for granted, and whose behavior wreaks far more destruction than this particular strain of virus ever could. As unprecedented as this crisis may be, the playbook of these states is little changed.

Take Venezuela, where the regime of Nicolás Maduro has imposed a lockdown. Ironically, for a regime that has waged war on the propertied classes in the name of the downtrodden masses, those who are really hurting from the lockdown are those who can’t afford to stay inside—a vast number of people, when you recall the economic devastation that Maduro’s policies have brought down on Venezuela.

Jose Luis Nieves, a 32-year-old unemployed citizen of Caracas, spoke for many Venezuelans when he explained to a journalist from the Reuters news agency, “if we don’t work, we don’t eat.” Mr. Nieves, who makes $2 a month by recycling cardboard and plastic that he finds in the street, added the alternative was that “my kids are going to die of hunger. We have to head out like always.”

Venezuela is certainly in no position to cope with a steep climb in coronavirus cases. A recent survey by Médicos Unidos, an independent NGO, found that only 25 percent of doctors had access to regular, reliable supplies of running water in their hospitals and clinics. Nearly 70 percent said that they did not have adequate supplies of gloves, masks, soap, goggles and scrubs. At the University Hospital of Caracas alone, 80 percent of health workers are said to be without protective equipment to treat patients who could be contagious.

In these dire circumstances, authoritarian regimes will never move to reassure their citizens. Instead, they willfully increase the climate of fear and distrust, the key to regime survival. As has been the case with its ally China, where the virus first coalesced, and Iran, now the epicenter of the virus in the Middle East, doctors in Venezuela similarly face repressive measures for calling out incompetence, indifference and corruption among government officials, or—again as in China and Iran—for even being transparent about the number of coronavirus cases they have encountered. “It’s better to say you don’t have any cases of corona, even if you have your suspicions,” Dr. Jose Manuel Olivares, an oncologist and opposition congressman who fled Venezuela last year, told The Wall Street Journal. “Call it a cold, another flu, or H1N1, anything but corona.

For decades, powerful strands of opinion in the West have defended the principle of non-intervention in the affairs of sovereign states, variously make their cases by invoking national interest, or moral inconsistency, or global stability as reasons to let systemic, grave violations of internationally recognized human rights go unpunished. That very same principle has, not coincidentally, been the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign policy.

Now is precisely the time to question not only whether this principle is desirable, but whether it is tenable. Because when authoritarian regimes lie to their own people about a pandemic, their lies have an impact on those of us who are otherwise mercifully spared from living under their direct jurisdiction. Our leaders collectively failed to grasp this reality before the coronavirus hit; let us hope the right lessons are learned in advance of the next pandemic.

(JNS.org)

Ben Cohen is a New York City-based journalist and author who writes a weekly column on Jewish and international affairs for JNS.

Benny Gantz and the Pyromaniacal Cockpit

0
Caroline Glick writes: “How can Trump or his administration trust a man who flat out lied to the President in the Oval Office? What can explain Gantz’s irresponsible behavior? Did he lie to Trump – and the Israeli public – because he and his colleagues are secretly radical leftists who seek power to undermine everything Israel stands for? They wouldn’t be the first leftist politicians to do so.” Photo Credit: 5tjt.com

By: Caroline Glick

If Blue and White Party leader MK Benny Gantz forms a minority government with Avigdor Liberman’s Israel Beitenu Party and the Labor-Meretz party, based on the outside support of the Joint Arab List, Gantz’s success will torpedo Israel’s relations with the United States.

Gantz, Lapid, Yaalon and Ashkenazy are not ideologues – unless detesting Netanyahu with the single-minded venom of a rabid dog is an ideology. (Courtesy of the Blue & White Party)

This week, a senior official who was present during Gantz’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in late January revealed: “Gantz committed in the Oval Office that, if he became prime minister, he would form a government of people that would support the president’s peace deal.”

The Trump peace plan includes applying Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria. Labor-Meretz and the Joint Arab List are both violently opposed to the Trump plan. A Gantz government that includes them will be a government that is hostile to the Trump plan.

The only way for Gantz to keep the promise he made to Trump is to join a coalition government led by Netanyahu with Likud and its right-religious coalition partners. And that is an option that Gantz and his partners in the Blue and White “cockpit” – fellow former IDF chiefs of General Staff Moshe Yaalon and Gadi Ashkenazy and former media star Yair Lapid – will not support.

They are working feverishly to cobble together a radical government with the post-Zionists in Labor-Meretz and the anti-Zionists in the Joint Arab List. All of which will be hard-pressed to work with the Trump administration.

How can Trump or his administration trust a man who flat out lied to the President in the Oval Office?

What can explain Gantz’s irresponsible behavior?

Did he lie to Trump – and the Israeli public – because he and his colleagues are secretly radical leftists who seek power to undermine everything Israel stands for? They wouldn’t be the first leftist politicians to do so.

In 1999, their commander, former IDF chief of General Staff Ehud Barak ran against Netanyahu by presenting himself as ideologically indistinguishable from him. Barak insisted that he would implement Netanyahu’s center-right policies, but that he would do so with the support of the media and the leftist elite.

The public bought his act. Barak – the centrist – defeated Netanyahu and Barak – the leftist – offered PLO chief Yasser Arafat Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and the Temple Mount as well as the Golan Heights to Syrian dictator Hafez Assad.

Israel is a center-right country. Barak understood the only way for a leftist to win an election in Israel is to pretend to be a center-rightist.

Gantz’s willingness to effectively surrender Israel’s rights in Judea and Samaria to win the parliamentary support of politicians that seek Israel’s destruction as a Jewish state – shared by his partners in the Blue and White leadership – seems to indicate that they are rabid post-Zionists. But a brief consideration of their other positions and actions suggests that something else is motivating them.

Gantz and his colleagues present themselves as champions of the rule of law and democracy, which they insist, Netanyahu is destroying.

Blue and White is viciously attacking Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein for refusing to convene the Knesset’s Arrangements Committee, which is responsible for convening the rest of the Knesset committees. They insist that in acting as he is, Edelstein is colluding with Netanyahu to destroy Israeli democracy. But as Simcha Rothman, from the Movement for Governability and Democracy, explained in Israel Hayom Thursday, it is Blue and White that is blocking the Arrangements Committee from convening. (Photo by David Vaaknin/Getty Images)

But consider their actions: Presently, Blue and White is viciously attacking Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein for refusing to convene the Knesset’s Arrangements Committee, which is responsible for convening the rest of the Knesset committees. They insist that in acting as he is, Edelstein is colluding with Netanyahu to destroy Israeli democracy. But as Simcha Rothman, from the Movement for Governability and Democracy, explained in Israel Hayom Thursday, it is Blue and White that is blocking the Arrangements Committee from convening.

The Knesset rules provide that membership in the committee is determined by the size of each party. The parties in the Knesset receive one member in the committee for every four members in their Knesset faction. Under the prevailing rules, the blocs working with Netanyahu and Gantz would have equal representation in the committee.

Blue and White wants to break the rules in order to receive a majority of Arrangement Committee members. Edelstein insists on following the rules.

Why are Gantz and his colleagues fighting so hard to break the rules? Because they need a majority on the committee in order to have the procedural power to pass laws that will undermine Israeli democracy and the rule of law.

Blue and White and Israel Beitenu have submitted bills explicitly directed towards achieving one goal: Preventing Netanyahu – and only Netanyahu – from forming a government. These bills, if passed, would overturn Israel’s rule of law twice.

First, they are personal legislation – directed at Netanyahu alone. Personal laws are a concept antithetical to the rule of law and liberty. They open the door for full-scale repression and authoritarianism.

Second, if they succeed in passing their anti-Bibi laws, they will retroactively nullify the votes of 2.5 million Israelis who voted for parties that want Netanyahu to remain in office.

Blue and White wages its war against parliamentary rules to pass vindictive, anti-democratic laws at a time where Israel is facing the gravest health and economic crisis it has ever confronted.

The Wuhan coronavirus epidemic presents Israel with a choice between terrible and terrifying options.

Tuesday, Netanyahu announced that in a bid to lower the infection rate, Israelis should stay home and only go out to buy food and medicine and other critical activities. Schools are closed. Most government offices are closed. Businesses are closed. The only people still working are the ones who can work from home.

President Donald Trump waves to the crowd after speaking at Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2020, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Netanyahu and his colleagues in the government enacted this policy with the understanding that, if forced to treat thousands of coronavirus patients at once, the health system will collapse. Everything must be done to slow the infection rate.

But the quarantine strategy holds its own terrible risks. Israel can handle an economic shutdown for a few weeks. If the current situation goes on for months, the economy will collapse and bring the health system with it. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are being laid off. They will not be paying taxes. Without taxes, the government will be unable to maintain the health system or any other system for that matter.

What can be done? It appears that the only way to suspend the quarantine and so salvage the economy is by conducting universal coronavirus testing. Only universal testing can limit the quarantine to people who need to be isolated and enable the restoration of economic activity.

How quickly can Israel achieve the capacity to undertake such a program? What would it involve?

What other options are available?

Netanyahu, his ministers, the Health and Treasury Ministry officials and the National Security Council members have been working around the clock to try to come up with solutions.

Where are Gantz and his partners – Lapid, Yaalon and Ashkenazy – in their brandishing “cockpit” on these issues?

Blue and White has offered no recommendations for fighting the epidemic. Although Tuesday night, Gantz was nice enough to retweet Netanyahu’s warning to the public to stay home. His partners Yaalon and Lapid were not so disposed.

Instead, the two would-be national leaders belittled the threat – each in his own way – and insinuated that Netanyahu is colluding with the Coronavirus to destroy Israeli democracy.

Yaalon tweeted that Netanyahu is using the Coronavirus to avoid his criminal trial and destroy the Knesset. He later threatened Likud parliamentarians with legal probes for supporting Netanyahu’s efforts.

In a Facebook chat, Lapid insinuated that Netanyahu’s move to quarantine the public was unlawful and self-serving. In short, that Netanyahu isn’t interested in protecting the public from mass death. All he cares about is staying in power.

Blue and White has offered no solution on how to save the economy from collapse. But they can be counted on to blame Netanyahu for the high unemployment rates and negative economic growth if Israel finds itself in a fourth election.

Yaalon, who seeks to serve as Education Minister, has offered no suggestions for how to educate the 1.3 million schoolchildren who are at home with parents trying to keep up with their own work while homeschooling their children.

Then there is Iran. As the coronavirus rages through Iran, experts warn that the risk of an Iranian strike against Israel rises with the death toll. The theology of Iran’s ruling clerics holds that the Shite messiah, the Mahdi, is supposed to return at the end of days. To hasten his arrival, Iran’s ayatollahs believe that they need to start Armageddon.

Do the three former IDF chiefs at the helm of Blue and White have any concern over this? Do they have any suggestions for how to handle the threat as Iranians dig more and more mass graves for coronavirus victims?

Which brings us back to Washington: Three weeks ago, I traveled to Washington to speak on a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) – the largest conservative gathering in America. Most of the discussions were related to U.S. domestic issues. But Israel is so important to conservatives that organizers chose to hold a panel devoted to Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.

There were no calls for the partition of Jerusalem and the expulsion of Jews from Judea and Samaria either on the panel or from the audience. On the contrary, the sentiment shared by the audience and the panelists alike was that Israel should assert its sovereign rights in Judea and Samaria wherever it deems necessary.

This salutary state of affairs will be turned on its head if the Democrats win the presidency in November. In that event, Israel will find itself under assault from a hostile president who heads a party hostile to Israel. How would a Blue and White government handle such a challenge? Dependent on the Joint Arab List – which openly seeks Israel’s destruction as a Jewish state – for its survival, there can be little doubt that Blue and White would surrender to even the slightest pressure emanating from Washington.

Gantz, Lapid, Yaalon and Ashkenazy are not ideologues – unless detesting Netanyahu with the single-minded venom of a rabid dog is an ideology. They accuse Netanyahu of caring only for himself and pledge to put the country first. But we see that, as Netanyahu labors to save the country from medical and economic collapse, all they can think about is destroying him. Even at the expense of torching Israel’s relations with the U.S., endangering the lives and financial stability of its citizens, and disregarding strategic threats and opportunities. They accuse Netanyahu of destroying democracy as they contemptuously ignore Knesset rules in order to pass laws that would nullify both the rule of law and the votes of 2.5 million citizens.

So no, Gantz and his colleagues aren’t ideologues.

They are pyromaniacs.

(Originally published in Israel Hayom)

How to Teach the Lessons of the Holocaust in the School Classroom

0
Student ambassadors of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Bringing the Lessons Home” program tour the “Tour of Faces” in the permanent exhibition. The program trains high school students in the Washington, D.C. area to become museum docents. Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Questions of who should get taught, what students know and how they are learning have come to the forefront as the rise in anti-Semitism continues in North America and Europe

By: Faygie Holt

Imagine a teacher assigning a Holocaust-related project to a high school student in the United States, such as the creation of the “ideal concentration camp” or a Nazi cereal box. Or maybe the class spends just a single lesson on the complex subject matter as part of world or European history.

Christina Chaverria, program coordinator for education initiatives for the United States. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Levine Institute for Holocaust Education, leads a teacher training during the Conference of Holocaust Centers in 2018. Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

These are not fictionalized scenarios; they are some of the findings by researchers looking to understand the state of Holocaust education in America. Questions of who should get taught, what students know and how they are learning are coming to the forefront with the rise of anti-Semitism in North America and Europe, and as Western Europeans themselves acknowledge that don’t know specific details about the Holocaust, including how many Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazis during the years of World War II.

“I think there is a recognition that the Holocaust and the roots of hate have to be taught, and that we need to more consciously teach kids about it, given what’s happening in society,” said Howard Libit, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, who was among a group that lobbied the Maryland state superintendent of education to improve Holocaust education. With no state guidelines and educational markers to reach, Libit said some students weren’t being adequately taught what they needed to know.

“What we identified was in middle school, it was very nonspecific about what should be taught, and at the high school level, world history didn’t mention the word Holocaust, though it talked about genocide,” he said. “Our position is that [guidelines] need to be specific, so there’s no confusion among teachers or school districts. We’re not mandating how long it needs to be taught for, just that it needs to be specific.”

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the “Never Again Education Act,” which would provide additional funding to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The funds would be earmarked for resources and training to assist teachers in incorporating Holocaust into their curriculum to “ensure that students have access to accurate and engaging historical information about the Holocaust.” Such training would include local and national workshops and standards of pedagogy for teaching about the Holocaust, along with additional digital and print resource, as well as traveling exhibits.

The bill passed 393-5 with 32 House members not voting. A related bill is working its way through the Senate.

 

‘Momentum is moving in the right direction’

Ojibwe Charter School on a tour of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills. Mich. Credit: Holocaust Memorial Center.

According to Elisa Rapaport, chief operating officer of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York, the state of Holocaust education nationwide is “not sufficient, and there are some challenges, but the momentum is moving in the right direction.”

Her organization has been leading the charge for Holocaust education nationwide thanks to its “50-State Initiative.” She explained that “it’s an effort the Anne Frank Center has undertaken for several decades to expand Holocaust and genocide education across every state. Every single child ought to learn about the Holocaust and other genocides.”

While there has been more interest in Holocaust education in recent years, she acknowledged feeling “disheartened sometimes, especially when I see a study like the one in New Jersey that found [some] student teachers thought Ronald Reagan was president during World War II.”

The researcher who conducted that New Jersey survey of college students in 2016 is Jennifer Rich, executive director of the Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., whose grandparents survived the Holocaust.

Rich notes that 25 years ago, New Jersey was the first state in the nation to mandate Holocaust education. Yet when she polled 125 young adults—all graduates of New Jersey public schools and studying to be teachers in the Garden State—about the Holocaust using a series of open-ended questions, the results were shocking.

When asked to define the Holocaust, she received answers such as “it led to great advances in science” and was “a successful use in propaganda.”

“These are kids who are studying to become teachers,” she said, “There were definitely some answers that were good and some that were moving in the right direction.”

But many were flat-out wrong.

Rich also informally asked her own students how they learned about the Holocaust. “I heard things that were horrifying to me; one student told me she was asked to make an ‘ideal concentration camp’ out of popsicle sticks. I asked her what ideal meant, and she didn’t know. Another student had to make a Nazi cereal box.”

That’s when she became “really worried about how our students are learning about the Holocaust.”

 

‘There’s a lot of punting going on’

A young visitor examines a display in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story,” designed for children 8 and older. Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Part of the problem, she believes, is that there’s no definitive guide on how to teach it. Should the lessons be tied to reading the novel Night by Elie Wiesel in middle school or during world history class in junior year? Should it be a course in its own right or part of a greater anti-ethnic bias curriculum?

“There’s a lot of punting going on. No one is sure when or how Holocaust education is taking place,” said Rich. “There are no tests on the Holocaust, and teachers are busy, so sometimes the Holocaust is taught in one or two class periods, if at all.”

Rich has since conducted other surveys with similar results, and she is not alone in her findings.

In the spring of 2019, as anti-Semitic attacks nationwide were on the rise, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey both teens and adults to see what they know about the Holocaust. More than half of the 1,811 teens ages 13 to 17 who responded to the survey could not correctly answer how many Jews died in the Holocaust or identify how Hitler rose to power. (Adults who took the survey had similarly disappointing answers with 29 percent not sure how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and another 26 percent guessing the incorrect number.)

Currently, a dozen states nationwide mandate Holocaust education: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Several other states, including Maine, Nebraska and Arizona, are currently working to do so. Additionally, there are states that encourage Holocaust education, like Maryland, but defer to state educators to make any policy decisions.

Providing Holocaust education is something many Americans support. A 2018 study by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that 93 percent of Americans believe that students should learn about the Holocaust in school. That poll also found that 52 percent say current Holocaust education is “mostly historically accurate but could be better.”

In Arizona, a relatively new legislator, State Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democrat, is leading the charge for Holocaust education.

“A lot of young people don’t know anything about the Holocaust, which is really scary,” Hernandez, who is Jewish, told JNS. “We owe it to the Holocaust survivors and their families, especially those survivors who are still living, to push for this because they have gone through so much in their lives.”

She adds, “I was very fortunate that at my high school we had a Holocaust survivor as a teacher, and she always wanted us to learn about it. Not everyone has the same privilege I had of being around a Holocaust survivor, so that’s part of the reason we wanted to make it mandatory.”

Holocaust education is currently encouraged throughout the state, but Hernandez said that in some places, the lesson comprises teaching two or three lines in a textbook, which is hardly sufficient. “It’s important that students fully learn and understand what the Holocaust was and why it’s important that it never happen again.”

 

‘Teachers are worried to have these conversations’

Oregon, meanwhile, is currently working on implementing its newly mandated Holocaust curriculum into its schools. The legislation was spearheaded through the state government by State Sen. Rob Wagner, who credits Claire Sarnowski, all of 12 at the time, with bringing the issue to his attention.

It was Sarnowski, he said, who gave a copy of From a Name to a Number, an autobiography chronicling the life of a local Holocaust survivor, Alter Wiener. After reading the book and meeting with Sarnowski and Weiner, Wagner told the elderly man that “your story needs to be part of the curriculum, [along with] your message of perseverance and how you tie the lesson about ‘othering’ to genocide—and not just the genocide of the Holocaust.”

That’s when the legislator realized that his state didn’t have a good way to assess what schools were actually teaching. “Some schools weren’t talking about it at all,” he said. “It was beguiling. How do you talk about the mid-20th century and not talk about the Holocaust?”

Sarnowski, for her part, helped champion the legislation, even presenting written testimony to the state legislators.

“As a student, I was saddened by our education on topics such as the Holocaust and other genocides, which were merely glanced over and lacked depth. More importantly, I realized that my peers did not receive valuable lessons that accompany these teachings such as compassion, gratitude, perseverance, tolerance and acceptance,” she wrote. “In schools today, prejudice is as prevalent as ever since acts of racial, social and religious injustice occur in our classrooms. These teachings can combat this stereotyping and ensure students are equipped to be an upstander rather than a bystander.”

But before those lessons can happen in meaningful ways, stress those in the field, teachers must have access to the right materials and tools to teach the subject properly.

Rich, of Rowan University, noted that “there are pockets of teachers across the country who are really dedicated to Holocaust and genocide education, and there are teachers who are particularly afraid to teach about these things in this particular moment in history because we do see rising impulses and xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism. Teachers are worried to have these conversations with their students because they don’t know where it will go.”

The answer, she said, “is to educate. We need to give the teachers what they need, from pedagological tools to bring in Holocaust education in age-appropriate ways to giving them background knowledge and resource materials.”

Some are already working on that. In Maryland, for example, the Baltimore Jewish Council helps sponsor a teacher’s institute on Holocaust education. In the summer of 2019, more than three-dozen educators took part in the classes.

“Many teachers need quality professional development to support their efforts in teaching the Holocaust in their classrooms,” said Kim Blevins-Relleva, National Professional Development Programs for Educators at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which provides free teacher trainings and what are considered to be historically sound classroom resources. These include incorporating Holocaust-survivor testimony because it personalizes the history, emphasizes its impact on individuals and highlights the diversity of individual experiences.”

The current climate of divisiveness and rising anti-Semitism only make educating about the Holocaust more timely.

“The Holocaust did not begin with killing; it began with words and ideas,” said Blevins-Relleva. “It was made possible by longstanding anti-Semitism and the willingness of many people to actively support or acquiesce in the new form of racist anti-Semitism that underpinned the Nazi state. That’s why understanding the history anti-Semitism and its ultimate expression in the Holocaust is so important.”

(JNS.org)

‘Saving Israel’: The Tale of Unsung American Heroes

0
“Saving Israel: The Unknown Story of Smuggling Weapons and Winning a Nation’s Independence” (Stackpole Books, 2020) recreates the operation members’ sui generis journey in vivid scenes, capturing their multilayered stories and larger-than-life personalities. It documents the spirit as well as the facts of a mostly unknown mission to save Israel.

Edited by: TJVNews.com

As it prepared to ward off an invasion by five well-equipped neighboring armies in 1948, newborn Israel lacked the weapons to defend itself. Enter Al Schwimmer, an American World War II veteran who feared a repeat of the Holocaust. He created factitious airlines, bought decommissioned airplanes from the US War Asset Administration, fixed them in California and New Jersey, and sent his pilots—Jewish and non-Jewish WWII aviators—to pick up rifles, bullets and fighter planes from the only country willing to break the international arms embargo: communist Czechoslovakia.

For the crime of arming Israel with basic war instruments and battle-ready planes, including Messerschmitt fighters and B-17 bombers, Schwimmer and key members of his team paid a heavy price. They lost their civil rights in the United States after being convicted of breaking the arms embargo and the 1939 Neutrality Act. Years later, three presidents would pardon three of them.

The operation members risked their lives, freedom, and American citizenship to prevent what they viewed as a possible genocide. They evaded the FBI and State Department, gained the support of the mafia, smuggled weapons—mostly Nazi surplus—across hostile territories, and went into combat.

“Saving Israel: The Unknown Story of Smuggling Weapons and Winning a Nation’s Independence” (Stackpole Books, 2020) recreates the operation members’ sui generis journey in vivid scenes, capturing their multilayered stories and larger-than-life personalities. It documents the spirit as well as the facts of a mostly unknown mission to save Israel.

The Washington Times book reviewer Joshua Sinai describes “Saving Israel” as a “fascinating and dramatic account filled with lots of new information about a crucially formative period in Israel’s history.”

Giving it five stars, Historic Wings Editor Thomas Van Hare writes that “Saving Israel” is a “must-have” for fans of heart-pounding nonfiction.

“It is a masterwork of research, interviews, and first-hand accounts of what it was like at the very beginning of the IAF [Israeli Air Force], when nobody knew if Israel would live or die,” Van Hare writes. “Drop everything get this book today. You can thank us later.”

Saving Israel is written by Boaz Dvir, an award-winning filmmaker and journalist. He wrote, directed and produced “A Wing and a Prayer,” which tells this story. PBS released it in 2015 to critical acclaim. It won Best Feature Documentary at the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and has screened around the world at such venues as the American Jewish Historical Society in New York, the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, Columbia University’s Global Center in Paris, and the Library Film Festival in India. It is now available on streaming sites such as Amazon Prime.

Dvir teaches journalism at Penn State University’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. He has produced and directed “Jessie’s Dad,” “Discovering Gloria,” and “Cojot.” His films have been covered by the Huffington Post, The Guardian, MSNBC, the New York Post, Haaretz, The Miami Herald, Stars and Stripes, and other publications. Dvir has written for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Newsday, Tampa Bay Times, the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Salon, The Houston Chronicle, The Conversation, Explore, and many other publications.

Born and raised in Israel, Dvir spent more than a decade researching the secret 1947-49 operation that saved Israel. Besides “Saving Israel” and “A Wing and a Prayer,” he joined New York-based Retro Report last year to produce “Israel Survived an Early Challenge with War Planes Smuggled by US Vets.”

As part of his research, Dvir secured exclusive interviews with the operation’s leaders, including mastermind Al Schwimmer, chief pilot Sam Lewis and Christian crew leader Eddie Styrak. Their tell-all interviews provide rich detail about a group of Jews and Christians who, driven mostly by plight of Holocaust survivors, helped reshape history, yet have been largely forgotten by history books.

Schwimmer’s recruits thought they were done fighting after WWII ended in 1945, yet he convinced them to put their lives and U.S. citizenships on the line to give the Jews in Palestine – the only community eager to take in Holocaust survivors – a fighting chance.

Vowing to “push the Jews into the sea,” Israel’s neighbors anticipated weak opposition, since the Jewish state had a sparsely armed military, a wingless air force and no allies.

The morning after Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, five Western-equipped armies invaded. The Jews’ return to their ancient land appeared short-lived. But Schwimmer had a plan: create factitious airlines, buy and fix decommissioned transport planes, and smuggle in surplus Nazi weapons from behind the Iron Curtain.

“Drawing on over two-dozen interviews, Dvir’s book brings this incredible chapter in Israel’s early history to life,” writes Miriam F. Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network and associate professor of political science at Syracuse University. “What motivated these men to fly for Israel at a time when its survival hung in the balance? ‘Saving Israel’ is a must read for anyone interested in military history and learning more about America’s war heroes.”

Ralph Lowenstein, dean emeritus of the University of Florida College of Journalism, was the second youngest American volunteer in the Israeli army during its first war. He has chronicled the contributions made by thousands of others who put their post-World War II lives on hold to help create a Jewish state.

“The American Jewish and Christian role in helping Israel win its War of Independence in 1948 is little known in the US or Israel,” Lowenstein says. “ ‘Saving Israel’ is a revelation.”

Nat’l Library of Israel Offers Free Audio Books & Online Education Activities for Homebound Kids

1
Simulated image of National Library of Israel (NLI) being built next to the Knesset in the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem. The architects are by Herzog and de Meuron, with Mann-Shinar serving as the Executive Architect. The new campus is currently under construction and on schedule to be completed in 2021.

Edited By: TJVNews.com

With schools closed for the foreseeable future, the National Library of Israel (NLI) has announced that it will offer free audio books as part of “Pocket Library”, an initiative of its Israel National Center for Humanities Education, undertaken in partnership with the Ministry of Education. The audio books are offered through the ICast app and have been made available thanks to the authors’ consent.

The initial titles available are by some of Israel’s most beloved authors for children and youth.

Simulated image of Reading Room, New National Library of Israel, now under construction

The Moroccan Boy’s Love by Dorit Orgad, a work of young historical fiction released last year, tells the story of 14 year-old Amran who dreams of immigrating to the Land of Israel as pogroms against the Jews of Marrakesh dramatically change their lives, and the Mossad clandestinely works to bring them to the newly-founded State of Israel. The book is most appropriate for middle school students. Orgad has published over 70 books which have been translated into 11 languages over nearly half a century.

Uncle Arie’s Adventures in the Tibetan Ocean, from Yannets Levi’s extremely popular “Uncle Arie’s Adventures” series (known as the “Uncle Leo’s Adventures” in English), tells of Uncle Arie’s fanciful vacation during which he encounters people who live inside a sea monster, a particularly fragrant city, and much more. The book is most appropriate for elementary school students. Levi has published 11 consecutive bestsellers and his works have been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese, which is particularly popular.

Orit Bergman’s Diary of a Shark Catcher tells the tale of Gal, who goes to Eilat to try and find her father, learning about scuba diving and life along the way. The story is based on some of Bergman’s own experiences as part of the divers’ team at the underwater observatory in the Red Sea.

The Moroccan Boy’s Love by Dorit Orgad, a work of young historical fiction released last year, tells the story of 14 year-old Amran who dreams of immigrating to the Land of Israel as pogroms against the Jews of Marrakesh dramatically change their lives, and the Mossad clandestinely works to bring them to the newly-founded State of Israel. The book is most appropriate for middle school students. Orgad has published over 70 books which have been translated into 11 languages over nearly half a century.

Throughout the year “Pocket Library” offers over 50 audio books with accompanying enrichment activities to some 5,000 participating schoolchildren from 160 classes across the country.

According to Neta Shapira, director of the Israel National Center for Humanities Education, “Listening to quality works of literature is a great way to ensure children have meaningful and enjoyable educational experiences, which is especially important during this difficult period when everyone is spending many hours at home and out of routine.”

The Hebrew audio books are available for free to all, through the ICast app on smartphones and tablets. Code for The Moroccan Boy’s Love: 8665329. Code for Uncle Arie’s Adventures in the Tibetan Ocean: 1142112. Code for Diary of a Shark Catcher: 6559917.

More information and updates are available on the Israel National Center for Humanities Education website.

A range of other educational materials, activities and resources based on National Library treasures are also available on the NLI website in English, Hebrew, Arabic and French.

About the Israel National Center for Humanities Education

Founded in 2018 as a partnership between the National Library of Israel and the Ministry of Education, the Israel National Center for Humanities Education works to lead the country’s humanities education transformation by cultivating exceptional leaders and encouraging excellence in the education system; identifying, developing and implementing innovative pedagogical tools; and promoting collaboration between and among academic and cultural organizations and institutions and the National Library.

The National Library of Israel is committed to utilizing its treasures to generate meaningful in-person and online educational experiences for diverse audiences. Handwritten works by luminaries such as Maimonides and Sir Isaac Newton, exquisite Islamic manuscripts dating back to the ninth century, personal archives of prominent figures, the world’s largest collection of Jewish and Israeli music, and world-class collections of manuscripts, ancient maps, rare books, photographs and more present extraordinary assets for impactful educational programming for learners of all ages in Israel and around the globe.

The National Library of Israel and the Jewish People Worldwide

Uncle Arie’s Adventures in the Tibetan Ocean, from Yannets Levi’s extremely popular “Uncle Arie’s Adventures” series (known as the “Uncle Leo’s Adventures” in English), tells of Uncle Arie’s fanciful vacation during which he encounters people who live inside a sea monster, a particularly fragrant city, and much more. The book is most appropriate for elementary school students. Levi has published 11 consecutive bestsellers and his works have been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese, which is particularly popular.

Founded in Jerusalem in 1892, the National Library of Israel (NLI) serves as the dynamic collective memory of the Jewish people worldwide and Israelis of all backgrounds and faiths. While continuing to serve as Israel’s pre-eminent research library, NLI has recently embarked upon an ambitious journey of renewal to encourage diverse audiences in Israel and around the globe to engage with its treasures in new and meaningful ways. This is taking place through a range of innovative educational, cultural and digital initiatives, as well as through a new landmark campus designed by Herzog and de Meuron, with Mann-Shinar serving as the Executive Architect. The new campus is currently under construction and on schedule to be completed in 2021.

Unparalleled Treasures

The National Library has four core collections: Israel, Judaica, Islam and Middle East, and the Humanities. Highlights include significant handwritten works by luminaries such as Maimonides and Sir Isaac Newton, exquisite Islamic manuscripts dating back to the ninth century and the personal archives of leading cultural and intellectual figures including Martin Buber, Natan Sharansky and Naomi Shemer. The National Library holds the world’s largest collections of textual Judaica, Jewish and Israeli music, and maps of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, as well as world-class collections of manuscripts, ancient maps, rare books, photographs, communal and personal archival materials, and more.

The new NLI campus, currently under construction adjacent to the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) in Jerusalem, is scheduled to be completed in 2021. The building and its surrounding gardens and plazas will reflect the central values of democratizing knowledge and opening the National Library’s world-class collections and resources to as broad and diverse an audience as possible. Within its 45,000 square meters (480,000 sq. ft.) of space, it will provide venues for exhibitions, as well as cultural and educational programming in a secure, sustainable and state-of-the-art environment. Partners in the building renewal project are led by the Government of Israel, the Rothschild Family through the auspices of Yad Hanadiv, and the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Family of New York.

Mining for Hate in ‘The Plot Against America’

0
TV adaptation of the Philip Roth novel, The Plot Against America, started airing on HBO this week. Photo Credit: hbo.com

At times of apocalyptic dread, conspiracy theories invariably target the Jews.

By: Melanie Phillips

The coronavirus pandemic has produced an intensification of anti-Jewish paranoia.

John Turturro as Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf | HBO

One guest on Turkish television said “Jews, Zionists have organized and engineered the novel coronavirus as a biological weapon just like bird flu” to “design the world, seize countries and neuter the world’s population.”

Similar vile theories are circulating in the West. False claims are being spread that Israel hasn’t helped the Palestinians in this crisis. In fact, Israel, has distributed testing kits to the Arabs in Gaza and the disputed territories, while its health ministry has provided Arab Israelis with comprehensive advice on the virus.

In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League has reported that far-right extremists are hoping that the virus will kill Jews, while simultaneously claiming that Jews themselves are responsible for creating it, are spreading it to increase their control over a decimated population or are profiting from it.

The novel revolves around a fictional alternative history: that the isolationist and anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh defeated Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler, and unleashed bigotry, discrimination and violence against American Jews. Photo Credit: Getty Images

None of this is surprising. At times of apocalyptic dread, conspiracy theories abound and these invariably target the Jews.

Less remarked upon, however, is our era’s general loss of reason and impulse to make scapegoats. And, of course, one such figure has become for many an enemy of humanity.

In a piece for the online publication Alma, Rabbi Emily Cohen urged people to fight anxiety about the virus by thinking about good things rather than bad.

“Why would you want to think about Haman in the White House?” she asked.

This casual defamation would be abhorrent from anyone, but from a rabbi, it is stupefying. As recounted in the Purim Megillah, Haman intended to commit genocide against the Jews of Persia.

The August 2017 rally Charlottesville, Va. degenerated into violent clashes between white supremacists and anti-racist agitators and resulted in the death of a 32-year-old woman. Despite Trump’s clear condemnation of white supremacists, his attempt to defend people at the rally who were protesting the removal of Confederate statues but who were not far-right extremists was grossly misrepresented as support for neo-Nazis. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

However much U.S. President Donald Trump may be loathed, to liken him to a tyrant who intended to destroy the Jewish people suggests either ignorance of Judaism itself or a willingness to distort it in order to bash Trump. And this against someone considered by many Jews to be the most pro-Israel and pro-Jewish US president ever.

Unhinged hatred of him courses nevertheless through much of America’s Jewish community. Now it has also emerged as an undercurrent in the six-part TV adaptation of the Philip Roth novel, The Plot Against America, which started airing this week.

The novel revolves around a fictional alternative history: that the isolationist and anti-Semite Charles Lindbergh defeated Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler, and unleashed bigotry, discrimination and violence against American Jews.

Philip Roth himself never claimed any political analogy for his novel, which was published in 2004. But the narrative does carry echoes of something which American Jews have never subjected to proper critical scrutiny: the troubling record towards the Jewish people of President Franklin D Roosevelt. Photo Credit: Encyclopedia Brittanica

The show’s producer, David Simon, says he turned down the opportunity to make this TV series during the presidency of Barack Obama. This was because, he says, at that time “I was convinced that America was moving beyond that kind of demagoguery.”

With the election of Trump in 2016, however, he decided that America had now embraced it, empowering sections of society to turn on black and brown-skinned people, as well as Jews.

So the inescapable implication, seized upon by many commentators, is that Trump is a kind of reincarnation of Lindbergh.

As Vanity Fair put it: “Through these diverging and intersecting narratives we get a map of the whole country in the grip of a terrible epoch: a surge of white nationalism, a rise in authoritarian crackdown from law enforcement agencies, a presiding fear that something even worse is coming. Which is all to say, it seems awfully similar to life in the era of Trump: a celebrity president who has emboldened and empowered some of the worst people in America.”

Really? Is this a recognizable picture of America?

The show’s producer, David Simon, says he turned down the opportunity to make this TV series during the presidency of Barack Obama. This was because, he says, at that time “I was convinced that America was moving beyond that kind of demagoguery.” Photo Credit: Getty Images

Obviously, there’s been a frightening surge in anti-Jewish and other animosity. But to pin this on Trump is itself a grotesque example of irrational hatred.

Trump has many flaws. But the claim that he opened the floodgates for racism and anti-Jewish hatred is a shocking smear.

It rests principally on the distorted account of his remarks after the August 2017 rally Charlottesville, Va., which degenerated into violent clashes between white supremacists and anti-racist agitators, and resulted in the death of a 32-year-old woman. Despite Trump’s clear condemnation of white supremacists, his attempt to defend people at the rally who were protesting the removal of Confederate statues but who were not far-right extremists was grossly misrepresented as support for neo-Nazis.

Moreover, he can hardly be blamed for the surge in the far-right that is occurring across Europe as well, and is mainly a reaction to what is seen as an unaddressed threat from mass immigration.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Photo Credit: Biography.com

As for Simon’s “authoritarian crackdown from law enforcement agencies,” this is merely an attempt by the Trump administration finally to enforce the law of the land against illegal immigration that has been ignored for so long.

By contrast, the deliberate targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service under the Obama administration really was a sinister abuse of state power.

Simon’s highly selective indignation is not directed at the rise of anti-white and anti-Jewish racism in progressive causes such as Black Lives Matter or the Occupy movement.

It is not directed at the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish venom on campus that long predated Trump’s arrival in the White House. It skips over the two decades during which Barack Obama worshipped in the church of the anti-white pastor Jeremiah Wright.

It ignores Obama’s alliance with anti-Semites such as Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam; the high proportion of Judeopobes and anti-Zionists among his advisers; and his hostility towards Israel and ties with pro-Palestinian activists.

It skips over the two decades during which Barack Obama worshipped in the church of the anti-white pastor Jeremiah Wright.

And it is blind to the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bigotry in the current Democratic Party from members of “the Squad” of four congresswomen who continue to make headlines for their anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions.

Philip Roth himself never claimed any political analogy for his novel, which was published in 2004. But the narrative does carry echoes of something which American Jews have never subjected to proper critical scrutiny: the troubling record towards the Jewish people of President Franklin D Roosevelt, and the way in which the Jewish community slavishly supported him despite his appalling failure to provide a refuge for European Jews during the Holocaust.

In Roth’s novel, Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf, the religious leader of New Jersey Jews and the craven supporter of Lindbergh, resembles if anyone Rabbi Stephen Wise, the community leader who acted as Roosevelt’s cheerleader and thus sanitized his tacit acquiescence in the extermination of Europe’s Jews.

Bengelsdorf tells the Levin family, one of whose sons is sent to work the fields of Kentucky as part of the program of getting Jews to assimilate better into American society, that this is a great opportunity for the community. “The Jews of America can participate fully in the national life of their country. They need no longer dwell apart, a pariah community separated from the rest.”

The notion that supporting the president will make them blend into American society most certainly does not apply to American Jews today, the majority of whom oppose or even detest Trump. It is surely more of a comment on the community that followed Rabbi Wise in the 1940s, thus believing that they were protecting themselves by cozying up to those in power, and which largely continues to venerate Roosevelt to this day.

Through his art, Roth depicts eternal truths. His message—that Jews can count neither on government to protect them nor on their own community’s efforts to defend itself—is as valid today for the Diaspora as it has ever been.

Those mining his novel instead for partisan hatred show that they are themselves part of the problem.

(JNS.org)

Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a weekly column for JNS. Currently a columnist for “The Times of London,” her personal and political memoir, “Guardian Angel,” has been published by Bombardier, which also published her first novel, “The Legacy,” in 2018. Her work can be found at: www.melaniephillips.com.

Passover Seder-to-Go Kits Being Rushed to the Housebound

0
As the coronavirus sweeps the globe, Seder-to-Go kits are supporting thousands of families in quarantine or practicing social distancing, with more than 7,000 kits being shipped out in the United States alone.

By: Karen Schwartz

With people staying in place to celebrate Passover with immediate family only, in accordance with government guidelines for the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the number of Passover Seders taking place around the world will be greater this year than ever before. Hundreds and thousands of people cannot travel to gather together as guests with extended family and friends, or with their broader communities, and instead need to stay put and prepare and hold Seders in their kitchens and dining rooms.

As a result, many will be trying their hands at putting together a Passover Seder and sharing the Exodus story for the first time. With Passover beginning Wednesday, April 8, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries worldwide are racing to get fleets of “Seder-to-Go” kits assembled and on people’s doorsteps ahead of the holiday.

The program has expanded dramatically in only a few weeks. It had largely been used to bring Passover to those who are either hospitalized or homebound.

The kits, which come from Chabad on Call, a project of Merkos Suite 302, have until now largely been used by emissaries to bring Passover to those who are either hospitalized or homebound.

But as the coronavirus sweeps the globe, Chabad on Call rapidly expanded, translated and developed the kit in almost no time so that it can support thousands of families in quarantine or practicing social distancing, with more than 7,000 kits being shipped out in the United States alone. Most importantly, the kit enables emissaries to efficiently provide families with a full Seder, as opposed to complicated, costly and less effective do-it-yourself programs. International versions are being translated and locally printed in Taiwan, Japan, Romania, Malta, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, England, Scotland, Turkey, Australia, Spain, Ukraine, Montenegro, Cyprus, Serbia, Poland and Denmark.

Wherever these Seders take place, substituting community or large family Seders for smaller seatings means newly anointed hosts will need to quickly get their Seder basics up and running.

To assist them and answer some of the questions most frequently asked by first-time hosts, Chabad.org’s Ask the Rabbi Team has compiled a list of FAQs, detailing how to shop, plan and prepare for the Seder, with emphasis on those with limited time or access to groceries.

That’s also where the kits come in. They come with a Seder guide and Hebrew-English Haggadah, matzah bag and containers that can be filled with the various elements of the Seder plate. “This year, there’s a much bigger need,” said Rabbi Yosef Landa, regional director of Chabad of Greater St. Louis, which oversees five regional Chabad centers.

 

Essential Resources for Creating a Seder

Communal Passover Seders such as the one at Chabad on Campus at Washington University, above, have been canceled, Chabad is therefore stepping up to provide essential resources to those on and off campus so that at least they can celebrate the holiday in a meaningful way.

Communal Passover Seders that have been in the works for months, such as Chabad on Campus at Washington University—previously among the largest in the state—have been canceled, and people’s travel plans are on hold. That means that the holiday, which is a celebration of freedom and togetherness, is leaving many feeling somewhat “exiled,” stressed, alone and isolated, said Landa. Chabad is therefore stepping up to provide essential resources to people already burdened with worries about jobs, health, bills and schools, so that at least they can celebrate the holiday in a meaningful way. “The biggest message here is that you’re not alone. We’re in this together, and we’re with you every step of the way,” Landa told Chabad.org.

He is making Seder-to-Go kits available to anyone hosting a Passover Seder for the first time, whether because they’re in quarantine due to the coronavirus or just not able to be with family. Chabad of Greater St. Louis will also be running a public-service marketing campaign to let people know about other resources available for those unexpectedly running their own Seders, including DIY videos and other how-to, step-by-step information.

These efforts are part of a global Passover campaign that began in 1954, when the Reba—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—launched the Shmurah Matzah initiative to create awareness and promote observance of the holiday. More than a million pounds of hand-baked shmurah matzahs will also be distributed by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement this year.

 

‘To Be of Service to Every Jew’

Meanwhile, Rabbi Avi Zwiebel, co-director of the Chabad Jewish Center of Southern Oregon, is getting ready to deliver Seder kits to his community, which spans a 100-mile radius. Similar to other places around the country and the world, area public schools are closed, and people are staying hunkered down, so he’ll be bringing Passover—carefully and with appropriate social-distancing measure in place—to their doorsteps.

“Pesach is still happening this year, regardless of the coronavirus,” said Zwiebel, who together with his wife, Faigy, has been in the area 17 years and usually hosts a Seder of more than 100 at the Chabad. He’s used the kits on a smaller scale before, but where he tends to order about 20 of them, this year they will order enough materials to assemble as many as 300 to spread the holiday observance across the community, which includes retirees, a university and young families, he said.

“Our job is to be of service to every Jew in whatever capacity is needed,” he stated. “And today, this is the need.”

So far, he said, they’ve been getting a solid response. “People need more faith in this difficult time,” he said. “They have been moved by the service we’re offering them.”

Rabbi Leibel Korf, co-director of Chabad of Greater Los Feliz in Los Angeles, had 40 kits ordered and is aiming to at least double that given the current circumstances. It’s their third year using the service, which has in prior years helped them get Passover supplies to the major hospitals nearby, he said.

“It’s a very nicely packaged kit,” said his wife, co-director Dvonye Korf. “It comes with individual cups for the maror, the charoset, the egg and salt, it has containers with labels in it and also a guide so people know exactly what to do. And everything comes in a very pretty ‘to-go’ box, where everything fits in very nicely.”

The community will be together, even with the physical separation, he said. “We’re going to be given a challenge this year: of knowing that we’re all in our own homes, and yet we’re all connected with the same theme and the same idea, and with the same experience.”

It’s an unusual moment where people will be asked to take leadership roles, even if they haven’t in the past, he said of the annual festive meal. “We’re given the mantle, we’re put in the driver’s seat, and we’re told to drive, so we will hopefully reveal great strengths within ourselves we didn’t know we had and realize that we have the strength to do it ourselves.”

Chabad on Call has some 800 kits ready to go around the world and is making materials available so that emissaries can put their own kits together as well.

Rabbi Chanoch Kaplan, co-director of Chabad of NW Bergen County in Franklin Lakes, N.J., ordered 100 Seder-to-Go kits for the first time this year. He said that he wanted to be able to have something to give people, so they’ll be able to have a traditional Seder and participate in as many mitzvot as possible.

People will be out of their comfort zones, but that could present an opportunity, he said. “Hopefully, this can be a rewarding experience,” said Kaplan of the Seder. “Its usefulness is not diminished; it is an incredible event, an incredible tradition on whose backs the Jewish people have surfed the waves of history, managing to survive and thrive in all types of environments, and given all different types of challenges, including this one.”

(Chabad.org)

Reaching Out to Seniors Isolated and Frightened by Coronavirus

0
Moving online: Rabbi Levi Levertov, center, shown here last year with some of the hundreds of seniors he works with as co-director of Arizona's Smile on Seniors program. Levertov is adapting to the current crisis and is setting up online lectures, lessons and personal study sessions to keep people learning and engaged. (File photo)

Aiding the quarantined elderly in residences and at their homes

By: Aharon Loschak

The 19th district, or “arrondissement” of Paris, France, is home to a bustling Jewish community, dubbed by some as “Petit Jerusalem.” It is also home to four retirement facilities with a proportionally large number of elderly Jewish residents.

That gives Rabbi Yaakov Zerbib, who directs senior programming for Beth Chabad-Lubavitch of Paris, under the leadership of Rabbi Levi Azimov, much work to do on any given day. Not limited to the city’s Jewish corner, Zerbib is in contact with more than 400 senior homes throughout the country, regularly sending them communications for holidays and arranging personal visitations through the vast network of Chabad emissaries in France.

Just days ago, everything was all set for the holiday of Purim, and like every year, the Jewish senior community of France had much holiday cheer on tap.

That all changed overnight when the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) escalated dramatically. The day before the holiday, Zerbib was informed by many facilities that they were no longer allowing any visitors and keeping their residents from congregating together for fear of contracting and/or spreading the virus, which has proven to be disproportionately fatal with the senior demographic.

“We’re not letting this get in our way whatsoever,” Zerbib told Chabad.org. “Now, more than ever, they need us to be there for them, and we plan on adapting to the reality and doing whatever we can.”

Indeed, Zerbib has adopted a three-pronged strategy to best aid the community that needs it most. First, he—along with a veritable army of volunteers—has set up a war room for phone calls. Thanks to the extensive lists amassed over the years, there are plenty of people to call, and the plan is to reach every one of them, checking in and making sure they’re OK and offering to help.

Second, they are preparing “Shabbat in a Box” to be available to every Chabad rabbi in the country to bring to the senior homes in their communities. Neatly packaged and thoroughly sterile, the boxes will be delivered by the rabbis and their volunteers, who will stand outside the homes and deliver them to the personnel there, ensuring that no Jew is without their basic Shabbat needs.

Third, looking ahead to the holiday of Passover, Zerbib is spearheading a massive matzah campaign in the hope that every Jewish senior in France will receive his or her own box of shmurah matzah. While in regular times, the local rabbi would come in and lead a Seder for the residents, Zerbib has begun training sessions for the staff members of these retirement homes, training them how to lead one for their Jewish residents.


Tireless Efforts in Phoenix and Florida

Director of Chabad of Arizona’s Smile on Seniors program in the Phoenix area, Rabbi Levi Levertov and his wife, Chani, are good friends with hundreds of Jewish retirees, residents of senior homes and others in assisted-living facilities in the sunny desert state with a large population of retirees. On a regular week, Rabbi Levertov is busy with visitations, classes, lectures and Shabbat dinners for this particular demographic.

            (Chabad.org)

Quarantined: Diary of a Contemporary Pandemic

0
The Black Death or Bubonic Plague (really, the “terrible” death), decimated between 50-75 million people or more in Eurasia, in waves, over ten centuries. It was caused by infected black rats which fleas fed upon before they landed on humans. Photo Credit: Getty Images

What better task can a writer undertake than to keep a record of daily events given that she must practice “social distancing?”

By: Phyllis Chesler

(This article was republished with the permission of the Arutz Sheva editorial staff and was originally published on their web site; www.israelnationalnews.com)

Today, the streets in Manhattan are cold, sunny, and relatively empty as are the roads and highways. It is blessedly quiet here. I have been told that people have engaged in fist fights in supermarkets over cleaning supplies.

Yesterday, the shelves and climate controlled units in our local kosher supermarket were utterly and completely empty. No meat, no fish, no fowl were to be had in all the land…The next time we can order through Fresh Direct is two weeks away. However, we are already fully stocked.

New Yorkers are hardy souls and we have already experienced time suspended on 9/11. Back then, nothing felt as if it would ever be the same—and it hasn’t, not really—and yet, life returned to “normal.”

The Wuhan (Corona) Virus is not the first or even worst pandemic the world has ever known.

Between 1918-1920, 50 million people all over the world died of Spanish Influenza.

The Black Death or Bubonic Plague (really, the “terrible” death), decimated between 50-75 million people or more in Eurasia, in waves, over ten centuries. It was caused by infected black rats which fleas fed upon before they landed on humans.

From 1629 to 1631, it was known as the Italian plague and it humbled Italy. Northern Italians then—as now, were more susceptible than southern Italians. Venice lost about 33% of its population; Milan lost 46%; and Verona, 61%. Florence lost only 12% of its people. Quarantines were imposed and the penalties for disobeying the rules were exceedingly severe.

As Florentines died, they were carried to mass pits and buried one on top of the other. Petrarch, poet most divine, lived in Florence during these plague years. He wrote: “Oh happy posterity, who will not experience such abysmal woe and will look upon our testimony as a fable.”

And now, the world is again at the mercy of a new pandemic. My friend and colleague, Giulio Meotti, lives in Italy and has “barricaded” himself in his apartment, self-quarantined, as he tolls the rising infection and death counts in his country. As of March 13th, he writes that “we have exceeded 1,000 deaths in just two and a half weeks of contagion.” The are nearly 25,000 confirmed cases in Italy as of this writing.

Meotti describes his life: “I have been at home, taking care of my children, working and teaching them as well, because schools have been closed for a month. When I take out the garbage, I wear gloves. When I go to the supermarket, glove, mask, and antibacterial gel. I shop for my mother-in-law and leave the food at the door, to not endanger her just in case I get infected.”

Is it possible that I will never again visit the fountains of Rome, the Venetian canals, the museums of Florence, beautiful Sicily and Capri?

Arguably, the United States is behind Italy only by eight days.

On January 20th of this year, the first known case of Wuhan Virus was announced in Seattle. Over the last six weeks, 4,141 cases have been confirmed and 71 deaths have taken place across the United States.

Bit by bit, over time, people are beginning to self-quarantine; city after city are on lockdown; schools, churches, synagogues, temples, child care centers, libraries, museums, opera houses, movie theaters, Broadway—Disneyland!, the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade!—gyms, casinos, bars and restaurant (except for take out and deliveries) have been shut down; courts are contemplating skeleton staffs for emergencies only. Conferences, and professional meetings have been cancelled. Hospitals and pharmacies remain open; grocery stores too, except for fewer hours so that they have time to sanitize and re-sanitize their shelves.

Small business employers in NYC are worried sick about how long they will be able to pay their staffs if they themselves are not being paid and how quickly and efficiently the promised government coverage will kick in.

Employees are worried about how they will be able to pay their bills if their paychecks stop coming.

The parents quarantined at home with small children are trying to set up virtual play dates and praying for good enough weather so that parentally supervised playing in a park (with gloves on) can commence.

Friends and acquaintances are worried about whether their doctors will be able to see them for a routine test, for minor surgical procedures, or for non-virus related emergencies.

Last night, a cyber attack was launched against America’s Health and Human Services system that was meant to slow the agency’s response to the Wuhan (corona) virus but luckily, it failed to do so. And thus, terrorism and other evils have already reared their Satanic heads. Why am I not surprised?

As for myself: Since I’m walking disabled, I’m used to staying at home until I can hitch a ride to a movie, an opera, a play, or a restaurant. These diversions are now all closed. Thus, I’ve watched one or two movies every night (God Bless Roku which gets me to every conceivable platform, including that of the Metropolitan Opera House). I’ve also sought solace in a park along the East river which I’ve visited twice in the last few days.

On Friday, March 13th, life in Manhattan seemed suspended, the streets were blessedly silent, fewer pedestrians and fewer cars were on the streets and highways. The city was therefore far less stressful. It reminded me of how the city used to feel back in the day—in the decades immediately after World War Two.

Yesterday, March 16th, a Sunday, was brilliantly sunny with soft blue skies. Children had returned to playgrounds, dogs to dog-parks, amateur athletes to their games—and yet, nothing is really the same. Unless we are willing to risk our health and our lives, we cannot see our friends and family, except outdoors. We must practice “social distancing.”

This year, our Passover rituals and meals may be virtual.

Today, Manhattan streets are quiet again, almost, but not quite deserted.

Conservative estimates of the number of possible American deaths range from 163,500 to 1.6 million. Or a lot more if we do not keep our “social distance” very, very carefully.

For the moment, all our lives have changed.

(Israel National News)

Phyllis Chesler is a Ginsburg-Ingerman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, received the 2013 National Jewish Book Award,.authored 18 books, including Women and Madness and The New Anti-Semitism, and 4 studies about honor killing, Her latest books are An American Bride in Kabul, A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing and A Politically Incorrect Feminist.