Last Tuesday night I participated in an ambulance shift on one of United Hatzalah’s mobile intensive care units that was stationed in Tel Aviv. In addition to being a volunteer EMT, I’m a medical student, and in truth, I should have been studying for my final exam in organic chemistry, but participating as an EMT on an ICU ambulance is something that I love to do. I’ve been a volunteer EMT for six years and riding on the back of ICU ambulances for four of them. I have found that being out in the field gives me renewed energy for my studies as it makes me remember why I chose to study medicine in the first place.  During the shift, we had a CPR call. I was with a terrific team of first responders including Yagel Bar Kama, our first-time driver on an ICU ambulance but...
Israel’s aviation industry is on the brink of collapse after months of inactivity due to the coronavirus epidemic, CEO of the country’s largest airport Shmuel Zakay lamented on social media Friday. Ben Gurion Airport is just “days away from reaching the point of no return,” Zakay warned in his Facebook post, adding that the competency of aviation professionals, from pilots to ground crews, may have eroded to dangerous levels. Acknowledging that health restrictions were necessary to battle the spread of the “dangerous and lethal pandemic,” Zakay still accused the government of “stagnation” and lacking a coherent strategy that could help the private and public sectors manage the risks of the disease. “This week civilian flights resumed...
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Saturday it is halting its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine and HIV treatment lopinavir-ritonavir in patients hospitalized with the coronavirus after results showed the drugs did not reduce mortality rates. “These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,” the WHO said in a statement, referencing multicountry trials it is conducting. The WHO’s announcement comes two days after a study was released linking the use of hydroxychloroquine by COVID-19 patients to lower death rates. Read mor...
The saga of yeshiva and seminary students barred from entering Israel continues to aggravate institution heads and their students. At the start of the Corona crisis, the Interior Ministry banned foreign citizens  from entering the State of Israel. Chaim V’Chessed was instrumental in arranging a process for student visa holders to return to Israel. On May 21, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri issued directives allowing yeshivas to apply for entry permits on behalf of their students. However, several days later, the Ministry abruptly cancelled permission for single students to enter the country. Today, Chaim V’Chessed’s CEO, Rabbi Paysach Freedman, penned a scathing letter to Knesset officials regarding various irregularities in the current policies.  In his missive...
Far-left protesters burned an American flag near the White House on Saturday, chanting “America was never great,” just moments after President Trump finished delivering a speech at the “Salute to America” Independence Day celebration. Video shows the flag being burned in Black Lives Matter Plaza, just outside the White House. Activists can be heard chanting: “One, two, three, four, slavery, genocide and war. Five, six, seven, eight, America was never great.” Trump has criticized such protesters, including in his speech at the “Salute to America” where he called out the “radical left.” “We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many ...
Ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that would create a new national park to display statues and monuments dedicated to “American Heroes,” including those that have been torn down by protesters in the past month. The order lists specific criteria and examples of either names of potential persons to be honored or events from which historically significant persons may be honored, such as the “discovery of America” or the “abolition of slavery.” Neither the Confederacy nor the Civil War are mentioned in the order. In the past month, statues of George Washington, Christopher Columbus, and even Abraham Lincoln have been destroyed, as well as monuments dedicated to abolitionists and Africa-American s...
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan trended on Twitter today after he accused Dr. Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates of trying to “depopulate the Earth” through the development of vaccines aimed at ending the coronavirus pandemic. Speaking at Nation of Islam headquarters in Chicago, Farrakhan urged African leaders and his followers to avoid accepting vaccines and medications developed by Western scientists. This year’s speech drew particular attention after Fox Soul, a division of 21st Century Fox, came under fire for planning to stream the event online. Farrakhan has a history of making anti-Semitic remarks. Farrakhan proposed convening a team of virologists and epidemiologists to inspect whatever vaccines are developed to deal with the coronavirus. He then pushe...
What do Rock Cornish hens and golden doves have in common? For Fishel Gross of O’Fishel Kosher Caterers in Baltimore, Maryland, one bird inspired the other With pallets of thousands of Cornish hens to give away, a Baltimore caterer with huge ovens and an even bigger heart is making sure thousands of families have a Sunday supper that’s not Shabbos leftovers What do Rock Cornish hens and golden doves have in common? For Fishel Gross of O’Fishel Kosher Caterers in Baltimore, Maryland, one bird inspired the other. Galvanized by an important life lesson he learned during Eli Stefansky’s popular “8 Minute Daf” shiur on Berachos 53 (Fishel is a sometime-sponsor), the big-hearted caterer decided to pay his personal golden dove forward by giving homemakers a...
Baltimore, MD – July 4, 2020 - It is with sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petira of Molly Blackman, a’h, sister of Cecilia Jassinowsky. Shiva will be observed through Wednesday morning. Phone only: 410.624.8950 Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...  
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A weekly Kansas newspaper whose publisher is a county Republican Party chairman posted a cartoon on its Facebook page likening the Democratic governor’s order requiring people to wear masks in public to the roundup and murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. The cartoon on the Anderson County Review’s Facebook page depicts Gov. Laura Kelly wearing a mask with a Jewish Star of David on it, next to a drawing of people being loaded onto train cars. Its caption is, “Lockdown Laura says: Put on your mask … and step onto the cattle car.” The newspaper posted the cartoon on Friday, the day that Kelly’s mask order aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus took effect. It’s drawn several hundred comments, many of ...
An increasing number of U.S. covid-19 patients are surviving after they are placed on mechanical ventilators, a last-resort measure that was perceived as a signal of impending death during the terrifying early days of the pandemic. Early reports out of Wuhan, China, and Italy cemented the impression that the vast majority of patients who required the breathing devices ultimately succumbed to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. But as the pandemic has continued, U.S. hospitals are reporting much lower mortality rates, results on par with death rates for patients with similar severe lung problems caused by other diseases. Experts say that’s because clinicians have become more skilled and are deploying new tactics as they learn more about the course of covid-19; some are usi...
Hillary Clinton knocked President Trump Friday over his handling of the coronavirus, saying she would have done a “better job” as president. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast published Friday, Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee and a former secretary of state, said a response that focused more on battling the health impacts of the pandemic rather than reopening businesses could have ultimately blunted some of the economic fallout from the coronavirus. “We sure could have done a better job saving lives, modeling better, more responsible behavior,” she said. “I don’t think we necessarily should have had as deep an economic assault on livelihoods and jobs as we have. So I know I would h...
The effort to craft a clearer respo WASHINGTON — After several months of mixed messages on the coronavirus pandemic, the White House is settling on a new one: Learn to live with it. Administration officials are planning to intensify what they hope is a sharper, and less conflicting, message of the pandemic next week, according to senior administration officials, after struggling to offer clear directives amid a crippling surge in cases across the country. On Thursday, the United States reported more than 55,000 new cases of coronavirus and infection rates were hitting new records in multiple states. At the crux of the message, officials said, is a recognition by the White House that the virus is not going away any time soon — and will be around...
President Trump took aggressive swipes at the "radical left" and news media while defending his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic during a wide-ranging Independence Day address on Saturday. "American heroes defeated the Nazis, dethroned the fascists, toppled the communists, saved American values, upheld American principles, and chased down the terrorists to the very ends of the Earth," Trump said at the White House. "We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing," he added, alluding to the nationwide protests against police brutality and racial inequality that have been ongoing since the May 25 deat...
President Trump on Saturday signed legislation that extends the deadline for businesses to apply for aid under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The bill extends the deadline for businesses to apply for PPP loans until Aug. 8. The program, set up to assist businesses impacted by closures related to the coronavirus pandemic, had expired on Tuesday night with roughly $130 billion left unused. The Senate in a surprise passed the legislation by unanimous consent late Tuesday, extending the program hours before it was set to expire. The House took up the Senate bill and passed it by unanimous consent Wednesday afternoon, sending it to Trump’s desk. The lending program was established by the $2 trillion stimulus package negotiated by the White House and congressional leaders ...
Nearly 11,000 active cases of coronavirus, with 330 deaths, National Security Council reports. A full 977 coronavirus cases were confirmed since Friday, including 599 who were confirmed after midnight, the Health Ministry reported Saturday night. The new cases bring the total number of active cases to 10,929, with 84 of them in serious condition and 32 on ventilators. So far on Saturday, 9,692 people were tested for coronavirus. Four additional people died, bringing the death toll to 330. On Sunday, the Knesset's Coronavirus Committee will discuss renewing restrictions on restaurants and cafes. On Thursday, the government approved a series of restrictions limiting gatherings in event halls, bars, clubs, and places of worship to 50 people. However, the approval is dep...
Baltimore, MD - July 4, 2020 - The Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Park near Little Italy is gone. A witness said a group pulled the statue down during protests and pulled it into the harbor. Video seen on Twitter shows a group of people pulling the statue down and dumping it into the water. There's rope in the water that's still attached to the statues. Read more at WBALTV
Days after the Orthodox community worldwide raised an outcry against the elimination of all Masa grants and scholarships to religious programs for students under age 22, Masa Israel Journey has had a change of heart, much to the relief of yeshiva and seminary bound-students and their parents. As previously reported in The Jewish Press, coronavirus-related budget cuts had Masa drastically trimming its budget, the axe falling on its Jewish studies programs. Previously, qualifying American students had received nearly $3,000 in grants, with as much as $7,800 allocated to British students. After an initial outcry, Masa did agree to match funding raised to replace the grants, explained Rabbi Reuven Taragin, dean of overseas students at Yeshivat HaKotel, but even that amount still lef...
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