Health Minister Litzman’s Failed to Explain the Pandemic’s Horrors to his Own Community

We don’t yet know for sure whether Health Minister Yaakov Litzman flouted his own ministry’s guidelines by participating in group prayer in recent days, after a ban on such gatherings had been instituted to prevent the spread of coronavirus contagion. 

Witnesses claimed to have seen him ignoring the regulations issued by his own ministry, and speculated that this is how he caught the virus; he denies it.

What we do know is that the leader of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, who has served for almost all of the past decade as Israel’s health minister (or deputy health minister with no minister above him), was strikingly reluctant to acknowledge and internalize the threat posed by the pandemic. He resisted the stringent limitations on public movement his ministry’s senior officials sought to impose — stalling regulations that might otherwise have come into effect early last month just before Purim, and pleading in vain with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just 10 days ago to allow synagogues to stay open for at least small groups of worshipers standing two meters apart.

Still more reprehensible, however, is the manifest failure of the healthcare hierarchy he has headed for so long to effectively communicate to his own ultra-Orthodox sector of the Israeli demographic the imperative to take the virus seriously.

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Reinfection unlikely among COVID-19 patients, say experts

While the medical community is still struggling to fully understand the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, there appears to be an emerging consensus that despite reports of victims catching the disease twice, becoming reinfected after recovering is actually highly unlikely.

Time magazine on Friday cited reports of cases of victims testing positive for the virus after being successfully treated and discharged from hospitals in several Asian nations, including a recent Chinese study of recovered patients in Shenzhen in which nearly 15 percent of discharged patients tested positive for coronavirus.

Time said, though, that these patients were mostly asymptomatic and that other preliminary research indicated that monkeys exposed to the disease had developed antibodies that prevented them from becoming infected again upon reexposure.

Experts who spoke with the US publication, as well as several other media outlets, said emerging data indicates that either the cases in question had not been fully resolved or that the discrepancies were due to insufficiently sensitive tests offering false positives.

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How did the Cast in "Unorthodox" Learn to speak Yiddish?

Esty, a haredi woman from Brooklyn, escapes the marriage that was arranged for her and the haredi community, and decides to open a new chapter in Berlin, where she meets a group of musicians, but just as she begins to find her way in the world, the past begins to haunt her.

The series “Unorthodox” premiered on Netflix just last month but has already become the most talked-about series on the platform. It stars Shira Haas, Amit Rahav, and Jeff Wilbusch, and others. The show includes language switching from English to Yiddish to German.

Eli Rosen, who plays the role of the Satmar Rebbe in the series, tells Arutz Sheva in an interview how he taught the other cast members to speak Yiddish and act like authentic Hassidim, similar to the ones who can be seen on the streets of Williamsburg.

Rosen grew up there, with the capote and the shtreimel, but later he moved away from the community, removed the Hassidic attire and became a movie and theater actor as well as a Yiddish artist who teaches actors all the haredi nuances that are required in Hollywood scenes.

Eli Rosen Playes the Satmar Rebbe

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The Snack Warning EVERYONE in Isolation Needs to See

As Israelis 7 Americans  adapt to a new life in self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, many are using the extra time at home as an excuse to snack more regularly than usual. 

But those 'mindless' treats can add up to as many as 5,000 extra calories at the end of the week - a frightening statistic that is likely doing your waistline no favours. 

Sydney founders of science-based nutrition program Equalution Jade Spooner and Amal Wakim recently shared a graph to highlight exactly what seven days of snacking can look like in calories by comparing healthy treats to cheeseburgers. 

The pair found the snacks consumed over seven days contain more calories than 16-and-a-half McDonald's cheeseburgers (4,966 calories). A single cheeseburger contains 300 calories.

The graph shows how you can add a further 722 calories to your daily intake just by snacking on a cookie, three tiny Easter egg chocolates, fruit and nut mix, and muesli, along with two cups of coffee with full cream milk.

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How to Make Disinfectant Spray and Wipes at Home

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Meah Shairim Residents Attack Magen David Adom Covid-19 Crew

A Magen David Adom team was attacked in Meah Shearim while trying to test for Coronavirus carriers in the neighborhood on Shabbos.

The attack took place on Zechariah HaRofeh Street in the neighborhood as one EMT put down the box of tested samples near the home of a patient whom they were testing.

He was hit by stones and household items that were thrown at him. He suffered minor injuries to his head and was taken to the hospital for care.

Additionally, a vehicle belonging to the city that was being used by MDA had its windshield smashed.

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Bnei Brak resident went to Daven while knowing he has coronavirus

A resident of Bnei Brak who tested positive for coronavirus was found on Thursday night staying with the city's Ponovitz Yeshiva, despite being told explicitly of the restrictions, according to Maariv, sister publication of The Jerusalem Post.

The man stayed in the yeshiva along with another 16 men in order to pray.
In a separate location in Bnei Brak, 18 people were found praying together, despite the restrictions on religious gatherings in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Bnei Brak has been hit particularly hard by the novel coronavirus, with over 1,000 people having been diagnosed with the illness. On Friday, the police enforced a total lockdown of the city, with over 1,000 officers being deployed there to enforce the shutdown with roadblocks at the entrances and exits to the city.

Armed troops from the IDF’s Paratrooper Brigade will be deployed in to the largely haredi (ultra-Orthodox) city to work with Home Front Command, as well.

"We will do everything it takes to support the civilian effort in general, and Bnei Brak in particular, during this challenging crisis,” said IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi.

One of the main missions of the IDF in Bnei Brak is to remove those known to be sick with coronavirus from the city, Ynet reports.

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Zera Shimshon Pesach

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Sasregen Rebbe of Flatbush Passes on

 

Rav Rubin zt”l, Sasregener Rebbe of Midwood, Brooklyn.

The rebbe was a son of Rav Yaakov Yisroel Yeshurun Rubin zt”l, Sulitza-Sasregen Rebbe who hailed from the Ropshitz dynasty, and Rebbetzin Alta Nechama Malka (Dachner) Rubin. Both of the rebbe’s parents were killed in the Holocaust.

The rebbetzin‘s wife shetichyeh is a daughter of Rav Yehoshua Eichenstein zt”l.

The rebbe carried on the legacy of Sasregen, a chassidishe dynasty from Szászrégen (Reghin), Transylvania, Romania.

The rebbe was the author of Kol Hamikra’os ShebeTalmud Bavli, which he began in 1955 and published in 1987, containing the full pesukim and location of any posuk mentioned in the Gemara. He led a popular shul, K’hal Sasregen, in the heart of Flatbush, Brooklyn.

The rebbe was a brother of the Muzhayer Rebbe, Rav Menachem Mendel Rubin, and the Sulitzer Rebbe, Rav Shmuel Shmelke Rubin,both of New York.

Yehi zichro boruch.

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R Avrahom Rubashkin Victim of Corona

Reb Avrohom Aharon Rubashkin Z”L unfortunately died from COVID-19. He was 92.

The Niftar was born in the 1920’s in the Russian town Nevel in the former Soviet Union. He is the son of Reb Getzel and Rosa Lubavicher Chasidim, who raised their two sons and daughters as observant Jews in spite of the anti-religious repression in the Soviet Union. When the Germans occupied Nevel in July 1941, the Rubashkin family fled east, eventually reaching the Uzbek city of Samarkand, where he married Rivka Chazanov of the Chein family of Nevel.

After the war, the Rubashkin family left the Soviet Union via Lemberg and spent time in Austria, before they settled in Paris in 1947. In Paris, his father ran a grocery shop and his mother served as a cook at a Jewish girls school, and he became a butcher. In 1953, the family moved to New York City, where he and his partner opened Lieberman & Rubashkin Glatt Kosher Butchers on 14th Avenue in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.

But he was best known for the slaughterhouse and meat-packaging factory Agriprocessors, that he founded in 1987 in Postville, Iowa. Managed by two of his sons and a son-in-law, it was the largest kosher meat operation in the country with distribution centers in Brooklyn and Miami, Florida.

The New York Times dubbed the family a “kosher meat dynasty.” With the operation of the plant, Rubashkin employed many Jews who moved with their families to the remote city, a 90-minute drive from the nearest shopping malls. He and his family built for there a vibrant Jewish community with a shul, schools and a host of institutions.

The Rubashkin family was also known for their generosity, giving tzedaka to many Jewish institutions and causes. This was in addition to the steep discounts he gave to families in need and shuls around the country.

Boruch Dayan HaEmmes…

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I’m an ultra-Orthodox rabbi. We are not criminals.

By Menachem Bombach

I am a Chareidie and I am the principal of a Haredi school network.

If you read the media both in Israel and around the world, you would conclude that I am a criminal who violates the rules of the state and doesn’t care about the lives of others.

I see the way people are writing about me and my community on social media. I hear the way people are talking about me and my community on the radio.

And it is extremely painful.

It’s painful to hear an entire community – a community that is filled with good-hearted people who view preserving human life as the most sacred value – portrayed as the most lowly, despicable people on Earth.

Let me first say that my entire school network of schools for Haredi boys and girls closed on the day that the Health Ministry ordered schools to close. Let me also say that my synagogue and synagogues throughout Beitar Illit, the Haredi city where I live, followed every single rule issued by the government from the moment they were announced.

I will now jump to the end of the story and then I will go back to explain the past week.

Now, at this time, with the exception of a small group of crazy extremists in Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh and Bnei Brak, the Haredi population is keeping to all the rules. So please stop bashing us now!

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Rav Tuvia Weiss Head of Eda Haredit, initially resistant on virus rules, is infected

The leader of the Eda Haredit, a hardline anti-Zionist Haredi group based in Jerusalem that initially sought to avoid some government regulations aimed at thwarting the spread of the coronavirus, has contracted the disease.

Rabbi Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss, 95, was diagnosed on Thursday after being tested the previous day. He had been admitted to the hospital on Wednesday with a high fever and low blood pressure, according to reports in Haredi media.

His positive test results were announced in a Yiddish audio message released by Rabbi Yitzchok Shlomo Bloi, the secretary to the Eda Haredit’s rabbinical court, calling for the ultra-Orthodox community’s prayers.

Weiss, 95, was a community leader in Antwerp before taking on the leadership of the Eda Haredit in 2004. He was born in Slovakia and arrived in Great Britain as part of the Kindertransport prior to the outbreak of World War II.

The group initially refused to shut down its affiliated educational institutions, closing kindergartens but keeping schools and yeshivas open in defiance of government guidelines. Its former spokesman said it did limit physical proximity there. 

On Monday, however, it released a notice instructing its followers in the ultra-Orthodox community to heed the Health Ministry’s orders or commit a “big sin.”

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J Street's "Haggada" Criticises Israel Even While the Virus Rages On!

Recently, many Jewish organizations have been sending out emails about the coronavirus. 

On March 19 J Street sent out a very different sort – they used their email to pitch their version of the Haggadah: A booklet that attacks Israel with the narrative of the alleged "occupation."  

While the email appears to be about the coronavirus crisis and Passover, 

J Street's intention was made clear by linking their Haggadah – which concentrates its focus on criticism of Israel over the "occupation" rather than the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

Shaina Wasserman, J Street's Director of Rabbinic and Community Engagement, signed the email. 

The email stated:

 "For Jews around the world, this will be a very different Passover than what we're used to. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, many of us are downsizing seders or attempting to do them virtually." Wasserman's email also provided a link to a 20-plus-page Haggadah where the word "occupation" was used twenty times.

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Charedi statistics show that social distancing works

The ultra-Orthodox sector has unwittingly served as a control group in the experiment seeking to combat the global pandemic.

 by  Ruthie Blum

The carry-on about the dangerous spread of COVID-19 within the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Israel is understandable. While the rest of us are cooped up at home, with increasingly severe limitations on our freedom of movement, certain ultra-Orthodox towns and neighborhoods have been conducting business as usual.

Indeed, the contrast between Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood and the city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv with the shuttered shops and empty playgrounds of cities from Metula to Eilat naturally causes rage on the part of a populace forced to comply with regulations aimed at flattening the curve of the coronavirus. 

Video footage from a funeral in Bnei Brak this past Saturday night – attended by masses of members of an extreme haredi sect all huddled together, yet not arrested by police for ignoring the two-meter-apart rule – elicited furious reactions from secular and religious Israelis alike.

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Will the Chinese Take Over the Entire World Very Soon

Ladies ..Watch out! Mikveh-peeping DC rabbi set for early prison release

Rabbi Barry Freundel, a once-prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in Washington, DC, who was convicted for secretly videotaping women in his synagogue’s mikveh, was scheduled to be released early from prison.

First, however, an assistant US attorney was asking his victims whether they object to Freundel getting his freedom on April 15.

Freundel, 68, who began serving his prison term in May 2015, was sentenced to 6.5 years after pleading guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism, a charge that carries up to a year’s incarceration. He was due out toward the end of 2021.

A message this week to Freundel’s victims from Amy Zubrensky of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said Freundel had accrued “good time” credit for “classes and/or other rehabilitative conduct.” She said he may be released even earlier because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Zubrensky said she wanted to hear from victims before deciding whether to oppose early release. She must register any objections by Friday.

JTA has reached out to Zubrensky and to Freundel’s attorney in 2015, Jeff Harris, for comment.

For at least six months and on dozens of occasions, JTA has asked Keena Blackmon, the spokeswoman for the District of Columbia Department of Corrections, for information on Freundel’s date of release. She has never returned calls.

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Chinese city bans eating dogs and cats in response to coronavirus

A city in southeastern China is reportedly banning the consumption of dogs and cats as well as wild animals due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dogs and cats as pets have established a much closer relationship with humans than all other animals, and banning the consumption of dogs and cats and other pets is a common practice in developed countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” officials in Shenzhen, which is about 16 miles from Hong Kong, said in an order Wednesday, according to Reuters.

“This ban also responds to the demand and spirit of human civilization,” the order said.

Experts believe the novel virus likely originated late last year at a wild animal market in Wuhan, China - the city at the epicenter of the crisis - before it spread through the country and across the world.

More than 926,000 have been sickened by the virus and more than 46,000 have died globally as of April 1.

In February, China’s central government temporarily banned breeding and eating wild animals to combat the spread, but Shenzhen’s order, which goes into effect May 1, is permanent, The Washington Times reported.

President Xi Jinping said in February the country should “resolutely outlaw and harshly crackdown” on the illegal wildlife trade because of the public health risks it poses.

Before the ban, 54 species, including pangolins and civets were legal as long as they were raised on farms and at least 3,700 markets across the country have been shut down amid inspections.

Dogs especially are popular in certain parts of the country, Reuters reported.

“There is no evidence showing that wildlife is more nutritious than poultry and livestock,” Liu Jianping, of the Shenzhen Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told state media, according to Reuters.

Turtles and frogs will still be allowed under the order.

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