A Year Of Loss: Orthodox Jewry Reels As Gedoilim Die During Covid-19 Pandemic

 

Funeral of Rav Soloveitchik

Three times on Sunday, Orthodox men carried the body of a beloved Torah scholar wrapped in a black and white prayer shawl through the streets of Jerusalem to a freshly dug grave.

First there was Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik, the 99-year-old heir to a vaunted tradition of Talmud study. A few hours later it was Rabbi Yitzchok Sheiner, the 98-year-old leader of a prominent yeshiva. And in the evening they took Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, a psychiatrist and scion of multiple Hasidic dynasties, to his final resting place near Beit Shemesh.

By nightfall, the Orthodox world could count three fewer rabbinic scholars than when the day began. All died of COVID-19, the disease that has killed well over 2.3 million people around the world, including more than 400,000 in the United States and nearly 5,000 in Israel. In Israel, 1 in 132 haredi Orthodox Jews over 65 had died of COVID-19 by the end of 2020.

The weekend’s losses were relentless in their pace, but they reflected a cruel fact of life in the Orthodox world over the past year. A long list of Orthodox rabbinic leaders have died, leaving communities reeling from their losses and at times wondering who will emerge to fill their shoes. The deaths from COVID — and from other causes during a pandemic that curtailed the mourning rituals that usually follow the deaths of major rabbis — spanned the range of the Orthodox community, from Modern Orthodox to Lithuanian, or non-Hasidic haredi, to Hasidic.

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Nearly Two-Thirds Of Chareidi Jews In UK Had COVID........HIGHEST IN THE WORLD:

 A study published on Tuesday shows that nearly two-thirds of the Chareidi population in London have coronavirus antibodies, one of the highest recorded rates in a community in the world.

The study, performed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), showed that 64% of Chareidi Jews have virus antibodies, which includes 28% of children under the age of five and over half of school-age children.

The number is staggering compared to the 11% infection rate in the general population in London and just 7% across the UK.

“Estimates are amongst the highest sero-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 described anywhere in the world to date,” the researchers stated.

According to the study, the main source of infection among Chareidi Jews in London was at Purim gatherings during the first wave and morbidity sharply decreased after a lockdown was imposed in the city.

The researchers noted that it cannot be assumed that the community has herd immunity despite its high infection rate and health regulations must still be strictly maintained.

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Jewish Man Leaves $2.4 Million To French Village Who Hid His Family From Nazis

 

Nazi soldiers march through Paris, France, October 24, 1940

A Jewish man who fled Nazi-occupied Austria with his family during the Holocaust bequeathed a large part of his personal fortune to the French village whose residents saved his family members from the Nazis along with thousands of other Jews.

Eric Schwam, who passed away at the age of 90 in late December, instructed in his will to give about $2.4 million to the remote mountain village of Chambon-sur-Lignon in southeast France. Schwam did not leave behind any children and the sum was a large part of his fortune.

“It’s a large amount for the village,” Mayor Jean-Michel Eyraud told AFP.

Schwam and his extended family arrived in Chambon-sur-Lignon in 1943 and were hidden by the villagers, along with between 3,000 to 5,000 other Jews. Village residents were later recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem in Israel, one of only two locales collectively honored by Yad Hashem. (The other is Nieuwlande, in the Netherlands.)

The village residents, who have been primarily Huguenot or Protestant since the 17th century, had a history of sheltering those in need even before the Holocaust, including sheltering priests fleeing the French Revolution and Spanish Civil War refugees.

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12 Year Old Jewish Boy that Believes He is a Girl .. Designs "non-binary" Bikini Bottoms

I know I know you didn't read the article yet... I have a word of advice before you do... Get a barf bag!

Did I read that this was a 12 year old? A 12 year old little "shtinker" is now designing bottoms that conceals the fact that the wearer is really a boy and made specifically to fool naive innocent girls into thinking that he is a girl ...What's even more bizarre  is that his father is crazier and more dangerous than him...The father relates in this article that the boy was thinking about this for 6 years ...? So when this kid was 6 instead of concentrating just being a kid he was consumed with having Purim all year round to fool his playmates..What a "sneak"

And believe it or not there is actually an altruistic side to this .....the father that should really be locked for child abuse says:

"All proceeds from sales of RUBIES t-shirts go to the goal of sending 1,000 pairs of bikini bottoms to trans girls from families in need."

Here I copied a comment from a reader on the original post that basically sums up these meshigina parents..

 Davenport Grolsch

This is one of the many reasons I could never again live in Toronto. To assume that a fifth grader could have a clue about sexual identity, and moreover have the sanction of her family to play games of permanence like this is still amazing to me. And then to describe the feeling of being in the wrong gender as, quote, "When I was little I would wear my mom’s high heels. I played with Bratz dolls and was obsessed with princesses." So what? Lots of boys play with dolls and princesses, why assume this means the poor boy was born into the wronig gender? My little girl likes trucks and buses, should I take her to the doctor to inject her with hormones? I just cannot believe how we have abandoned these children like this, in some arbitrary ad hoc aim for "self-affirmation." These are children, for god's sake. We are experimenting with them. The poor boy will wake up in a few years-- maybe as a healthy gay man, maybe not-- and hopefully it will not be too late. We will never be forgiven.

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Fauchi Now Backtracks and Says "Two Masks Will Not make a Difference"

 

Hold on...wait...Last Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that wearing two masks “likely” made it safer. But now this week Dr. Fauci said "there’s no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference." https://t.co/SmDz4aqxx9

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 1, 2021

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New York Assembly Looking to Allow He/She's To "Street Walk" ... Solicit Prostitution

 There is a law now in New York State that prohibits prostitutes to "street walk" to walk the streets to solicit sex for pay...

But that is only for real women...

Now the NYS assembly will vote next week to allow "transgender humans" to "street walk"

See here how your assemblyman plans to  vote..

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Now Its Kamala Harris that is Confused ...Warns Of West Virginia’s ‘Abandoned Land Mines’

 

Confused Kamala Harris Warns Of West Virginia’s ‘Abandoned Land Mines’ https://t.co/WYmxESG4yx

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) February 1, 2021

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After 440,000 Americans are Dead – Facebook and American Journal of Medicine Admit Their Stand on HCQ was Wrong

 

A new study posted in the American Journal of Medicine in January found that early treatment of coronavirus patients with hydroxychloroquine lowered the mortality rate for the disease.

The study found that immediate use of HCQ, while the patient was still at home, showed significant benefits.

This is just the latest study that shows the effectiveness of HCQ in treating the coronavirus.

For the past several months the website c19study.com has been tracking the HCQ-coronavirus studies.

According to c19study.com there have been 237 studies, 171 of which were peer reviewed that show 67% of patients improved in early treatment trials.

Also today the Facebook Oversight Board announced it was overturning a previous case on the effectiveness of HCQ.

Facebook’s previously removed a post on the use of hydroxychloroquine in France which it claimed, “contributes to the risk of imminent… physical harm.”

Today Facebook announced this was a mistake.

How many hundreds of thousands of victims were killed due to Dr. Fauci, the CDC and the tech giants’ false claims on hydroxychloroquine?

The jihad against HCQ was to get back at Trump. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are dead today!

When will these people face justice?

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Need for haredi communal life outweighs virus risks ....There should be no reasonable expectation that this will change.

 By JEREMY SHARON  

On Sunday, two of the most senior and revered rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox world died following complications they suffered from COVID-19.

Rabbi Meshulam David Soloveitchik, 99, a scion of the famed Soloveitchik family and rabbinic dynasty and dean of the Brisk Yeshiva in Jerusalem died Sunday morning after a series of medical problems including being diagnosed with the coronavirus three months ago. 

Both funerals were attended by thousands of ultra-Orthodox men despite the ban on outdoor gatherings of more than 10 people.

Rabbis Soloveitchik and Scheiner join a long list of other prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis to have died from COVID-19 in Israel and the US, as well as numerous other senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis and educators, including the grand rabbi of Kozlover hassidim, the grand rabbi of Amshinov hassidim in Borough Park, New York, the grand rabbi of Stanislaver hassidim, the grand rabbi of Novominsk hassidim, and the grand rabbi of Pittsburgher hassidim.

In October last year, the most senior Ashkenazi, non-hassidic ultra-Orthodox leader in the world Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 93, contracted COVID-19 as well after a failure to observe regulations, but incredibly did not suffer from severe symptoms.

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'Our fight against COVID mutations will take many years' .. Yoav Kish Deputy Health Minister

 

srael remains dangerously high, despite the ongoing lockdown and mass vaccination campaign.

“The situation is concerning,” Kish said during an interview with Radio 103FM. “We still aren’t seeing the decrease we have been expecting in the number of seriously ill patients.”

Kish pushed back on Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s criticism of the Prime Minister’s demand for additional extensions of the lockdown, calling Gantz’s opposition “political”.

“There is a political matter here. What I saw at the last government meeting was that Gantz is unwilling to compromise on his position. His position is different from that of the Health Ministry’s experts, and he is able to force it on the entire State of Israel.”

“The situation here is dangerous, different positions can create a situation of paralysis.”

Kish also warned that the new variants of the coronavirus will likely require serious government measures to combat them for years to come.

“The British mutation is far more infectious. And this won’t be the last mutation. We’re in a battle that will be with us for many years.”

“There is a political matter here. What I saw at the last government meeting was that Gantz is unwilling to compromise on his position. His position is different from that of the Health Ministry’s experts, and he is able to force it on the entire State of Israel.”

“The situation here is dangerous, different positions can create a situation of paralysis.”

Kish also warned that the new variants of the coronavirus will likely require serious government measures to combat them for years to come.

“The British mutation is far more infectious. And this won’t be the last mutation. We’re in a battle that will be with us for many years.”

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Again with the Chareidim...70 Chareidim Stuck In Morocco

"המבלי אין קברים בארץ ישראל?" 

I really have to laugh! 

When I was a teenager, I decided to visit Eretz Yisrael. There was a Yerushalmi Guy by the name of Geffner, and he gave tours..."Geffner Tours"

So where does a Yerushalmi Guy take a bunch of Bochrim and a bunch of Bais Yaakov girls (yes ... in those days it wasn't assur... whoever signed up, was on that trip)? 

To kevarim ..... 

yup, in fact some of those trips took 2 days and we even had to book rooms in hotels...

Yes yes ..he ,managed to sneak in Banias and Rosh ha'Nirkah in the north and Mazada ..... but basically it was kevarim kevarim and again kevarim..

I'm surprised he didn't take us to the kever of Moshe Rabbeinu, but I'll guess he didn't know where it was..

When I came back to the states, my father z"l, a Holocaust survivor, asked me "so what did you see?" so I enumerated all the kevarim I visited; he wasn't impressed at all, he said something so profound that I remember this decades later "At least they have a grave."

I digress.... 

so for 70 guys, the millions of graves in Eretz Yisrael wasn't enough ... In Israel, contractors need permission from the Asra Kedisha mafia before they put a shovel into the ground because chances are that wherever they dig they will find a body ...

But that wasn't enough for these "70 Chareidim" they had to go to "chutz Le'aartz" to Morocco during an epidemic, to go for the Yurzeit of Harav Abuchatzeira! 

I am certain that if someone would have asked Harab Abuchatzeira z"l for advice, he would have told them to sit on their derrières and donate those thousands of shekels to the Yerushalyim poor .. 

I guess they didn't daven hard enough because the way it looks they will be davening at the grave for another couple of weeks..

"zolin zei huben ge"poilt allas git!

Alluha Achbar ... G-d is Great!

About 70 Chareidi Israelis are stuck in Morocco without a way of returning to their families in Israel following the closure of Ben-Gurion Airport last week.

The Israelis traveled to Morocco to daven by the kever of HaRav Yitzchak Abuchatzeira, z’tl, on his yom hilula (yartzheit).

The Israelis, who had no inkling prior to their flight that the airport would be closed, planned on returning to Israel on Thursday or at the very latest on Motzei Shabbos, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. Instead, they were forced to scramble to find places to stay and are making frantic efforts to find a way to return home.

The Israelis in Morocco are not the only ones stranded in foreign countries without a way home following the closure of Ben-Gurion. Hundreds of Israelis are in the same situation in various countries worldwide.

Last week, the government began planning rescue flights to return Israelis stranded abroad to Israel, including an Israir flight from Frankfurt, Germany for hundreds of Israels that was scheduled to fly on Friday. However, the flight was delayed after legal issues arose regarding the Health Ministry’s plan to allow certain Israelis to return on rescue flights while not allowing others, Channel 13 News reported.

A cabinet meeting on Thursday to establish a committee to make decisions on which Israelis are eligible for rescue flights was canceled and is set to meet on Sunday instead. However, it is unclear if the plan can be implemented at all due to the legal issues.

The cabinet is also expected on Sunday evening to approve an extension of the closure of Ben-Gurion, perhaps for several more weeks, as well as the extension of the general nationwide lockdown for another week.

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Reporters Supporting Biden Are Frustrated With Getting "No Answers to Questions"

 

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Americans Dying From Virus Yet Clueless Biden Aide Says Climate Change ‘Most Significant Public Health Challenge Of Our Time’

 

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Biden administration can't account for as many as 20 million vaccine doses

 According to a report from the leftist news Politico, the Biden administration is struggling mightily to deliver on its promise to get a handle on the COVID-19 pandemic, and may have even lost track of as many as 20 million vaccine doses that were sent to the states.

The report notes that Biden officials are learning that a seamless, perfect pandemic response is easier to promise than deliver, and notes that the administration has largely jettisoned its ballyhooed coronavirus response plan as they discover that the challenges they face in getting the pandemic under control may have been more serious than they anticipated.

One administration official was even quoted as saying, "It's the Mike Tyson quote: 'Everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.'"

The report also indicates that the Biden administration cannot locate about 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine that have been sent to the states, and is concerned that "the crucial supply is boxed away in warehouses, sitting idle in freezers or floating elsewhere in the complex distribution pipeline that runs from the administration to individual states."

And as usual Biden administration officials blamed this problem on the Trump administration, which they claim was not tracking what happened to the vaccines after they were sent to the states.

The report also notes that administration officials have discovered that the available stockpile of vaccine is "mostly empty," and that they are struggling to find ways to boost production in order to even meet the administration's initial goal of 100 million vaccination doses in the first 100 days, which was widely criticized as being too modest and not even an improvement on the rate of vaccine delivery during the final days of the Trump administration.

The shortage of vaccine supply is said to have caught the Biden administration by surprise, and according to the Politico report, the shortage may not be alleviated even by as late as this summer, meaning that the administration's plans to help America return to normal activity may be much more stymied than previously anticipated.

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California Democrat Gov. Newsom Releases Convicted Killer

 

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Guess Who Composed the Famous Tune of "Hoshia Es Amecha" ? None other than R' Abraham Twerski

 

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Six Foot "Vashti" With Golden Eyeball Found in Ancient Persia

 

Bet she didn’t see that one coming.

I’ll see myself out. https://t.co/5dXNtMpDTK

— Whores of Yore (@WhoresofYore) January 31, 2021

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Watch Biden Say With a Straight Face "if Elected President He Will Cure Cancer"

 

This man stood in front of the world, referencing his own personal tragedy, and promised with a straight face that during his administration he would absolutely positively cure cancer. He said that. And you’re surprised when he lies? pic.twitter.com/6Ew2ftVWsR

— 🇺🇸Lionel🇺🇸 (@LionelMedia) January 31, 2021

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Rabbi Dr. A.J. Twerski ZT”L, Niftar From COVID-19 In Eretz Yisroel

 Petira of Rabbi Dr. A.J. Twerski – beloved author, Talmid Chacham, and psychiatrist. He was Niftar after contracting COVID-19 last week and had been hospitalized in a a hospital in Eretz Yisroel. He was 90.

Rav Twerski has authored more than 60 Seforim and books, and is a world-renowned expert on addiction who has helped thousands over the years.

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Twitter Troll Replaced ‘Trump’ With ‘Cuomo’ In Maxine Waters’ Infamous Call To Violence And Democrats Losing Their Minds

“If you see anybody from the Cuomo Administration in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere.” -Maxine CuomoWatch@melissadderosa pic.twitter.com/VbeTf7Rl7R

— Cuomo Watch (@CuomoWatch) January 28, 2021

 

Blue checkmarks and Democrats took to Twitter on Thursday to condemn a call for violence against Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the people in his administration. 

The quote in question, however, was actually a call to violence against former President Donald Trump and his supporters from U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., that a Twitter troll account called “Cuomo Watch” satirically modified to say “Cuomo.”

“‘If you see anybody from the Cuomo Administration in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.’ -Maxine CuomoWatch,” the tweet reads.

Soon after the tweet was shared, prominent New York politicians, blue checkmarks, and Democrats in other states took to Twitter to condemn the call to action.

Cuomo’s senior adviser Rich Azzopardi also spread the misinformation, retweeting people’s condemnations and even accusing Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and her staff, without presenting evidence, of condoning violence against the governor.

When confronted about the legitimacy of the tweet and the true source of the quote, the legislators either deleted their tweets or attempted to defend their double-standard on political violence.

“I see what they did,” wrote state Sen. Diane Savino, “but that was then and this is now, and 4 years of Trump has led to words becoming weapons. We can’t just ignore them anymore, people take them as a call to violent actions.”

Cuomo’s office did not respond to The Federalist’s request for clarification on whether they still condemn the comments now that they know who originally made them. Instead, in his press conference on Friday, Cuomo blamed the internet and the troll who created the post.

“When you see the ugliness being fomented for selfish political reasons, everyone should condemn it. … We all know who spreads the ugliness on the Internet,” Cuomo says.

Many Democrats have a history of calling for violence against Trump and his supporters including Cuomo, who recently said that he “would’ve decked” Trump if he weren’t a governor.

The outrage over the modified quote also follows a report from the New York attorney general’s office that found that Cuomo and his administration lied about the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes following his policy that sent infected patients into care facilities during the pandemic.

“This is appalling and dangerous. Encouraging violence must never be tolerated. Shame on whoever is behind this kind of garbage,” the speaker of the New York State Assembly wrote.

“This is beyond outrageous,” a state senator added in her retweet. “Two weeks ago we saw what happened when arsonists throw gas around. Twitter should ban this dude now!”

“This is dangerous, reprehensible and has no place in any public discussion. Oh, and spare me the ‘someone else did it too’ excuse. Someone else saying a variation of this doesn’t change the fact that this is seeking to incite violence against a public official and their staff,” another assemblyman shared.

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