25 Wednesday Mar 2020
Posted in Health and Well-Being, Uncategorized
24 Tuesday Mar 2020
These decisive measures can prevent a decade of dislocation and extraordinary levels of deaths.
By Ezekiel J. Emanuel – NYT Op-ed, March 24
Dr. Emanuel’s comprehensive plan is the most cogent and comprehensive short-term and long-term road-map I have seen to confront the virus. Read not only what he wrote, but some of the initial comments.
I know that Trump will be disinclined to follow Emanuel’s thoughtful plan, but hopefully, somebody in the administration will read it and persuade our criminally stupid and self-serving President to stop thinking about the economic free-fall of his own hotel properties and re-election prospects and get real for the sake of the lives of American citizens and the country as a whole.
It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach the first 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases – and he’s preparing the ground to ease up on the restrictions that smart governors, mayors, and local authorities are taking to prepare for the worst to come in very short order.
20 Friday Mar 2020
As I watch the news, I am deeply impressed by leaders such as Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, NY City Mayor Bill De Blasio, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, governors, mayors, city councils, boards of supervisors, Democratic members of the House and Senate, as well as the nation’s doctors, nurses, health care workers, and regular citizens who are stepping up to help the sick, shut-ins, the elderly, poor, and incarcerated.
I am also grateful to the major news organizations who not only are reporting truthfully what is happening and asking the hard questions of the President and the federal government that need to be asked in order to understand what the government is doing and not doing, but using their air, digital, and print-time to educate the population about this crisis and what we can do to protect ourselves, our families, and communities. All of them exhibit our best angels of spirit, intelligence, decency, and will.
They are all filling a yawning chasm left by an irresponsible President Trump who denies the truth, makes false and self-serving exaggerated pronouncements, commands but doesn’t follow up, shirks responsibility (and admits it – “I am not responsible”) that any “war-time” president and administration would take, and blames everyone but himself for the state of this crisis.
I think of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Winston Churchill as the extraordinary leaders that they were in the darkest of times, and their memory reminds me that our leaders have the capacity to respond to this crisis if they utilize their intelligence, will, and common decency to do so. I exclude from this criticism people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and a few others in the Federal government who are trying to work around Trump to do what is right for the people of our nation.
On this Shabbat eve, I offer a few quotations from Jewish tradition and beyond on the themes of moral accountability and responsibility. Many of our leaders and citizens are rising to the occasion and fighting the good fight despite the overwhelming speed of the disease’s relentless spread. Their decisions and actions are turning out to be the difference between life and death, and we citizens ought to be enormously grateful to them.
“One who is able to protest against a wrong that is being done in his family, his city, his nation, or the world and doesn’t do so is held accountable for that wrong being done.” (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat 54b)
“The legal status of a person is always that of one forewarned, and [that person] is liable for any damage caused, both when awake and when asleep.” (Talmud Bavli, Bava Kamma 3b)
“Few are guilty, but all are responsible.” (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel)
“Alas, after a certain age every person is responsible for his face.” (Albert Camus)
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves.” (Cassius in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar)
“You take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.” (Erica Jong)
“The buck stops here!” (President Harry S. Truman)
13 Friday Mar 2020
As my wife and I practice “social distancing” to protect ourselves, our family, friends, and community, and as we feel the anxiety that so many share, I’ve sought words of comfort as together we face this terrible pandemic.
Martin Buber, quoting Rabbi Pinchas said: “When a person is singing and cannot lift his/her voice and another comes along and sings with him/her, another who can lift that person’s voice, then the first will be able to lift his/her voice too. That is the secret of the bond between spirit and spirit.” (Tales of the Hasidim)
How do we lift each other’s spirit as we isolate ourselves from one another? That’s a fundamental humanitarian question in these days.
Thankfully, we have the internet, social media, telephones, Face-time, streaming of religious services, and the media as a whole to connect us to our families, friends, fellow Jews, and to the world beyond our front doors.
The biblical prophet Isaiah said, “Nachamu, nachamu ami – Comfort, O comfort My people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her…” (40:1)
In times of trouble, Isaiah’s words have always inspired and comforted me. Interpreting “Jerusalem” as a Place of peace, comfort, compassion, empathy, and justice, we can extend the meaning of Yerushalayim shel ma-alah (The Heavenly Jerusalem) to include our world community confronting together this frightening pandemic.
“May the One Who dwells in this Place comfort you” is a message inscribed on Kings Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. In our own “places,” may we know good health and feel comfort as we connect with each other in new ways in these days.
Shabbat Shalom.
13 Friday Mar 2020
Posted in Health and Well-Being, Uncategorized
Politicians, Community Leaders and Business Leaders: What Should You Do and When? By Tomas Pueyo
THIS IS A MUST READ ANALYSIS OF THE SPREAD OF THE CORONOVIRUS.
I have posted a few of Pueyo’s conclusions, but read his entire piece. Link is below.
My gratitude to Chris Hayes of MSNBC who put this article on his twitter feed.
“The current scientific consensus is that this virus can be spread within 2 meters (6 feet) if somebody coughs. Otherwise, the droplets fall to the ground and don’t infect you.
The worst infection then becomes through surfaces: The virus survives for up to 9 days on different surfaces such as metal, ceramics and plastics. That means things like doorknobs, tables, or elevator buttons can be terrible infection vectors.
The only way to truly reduce that is with social distancing: Keeping people home as much as possible, for as long as possible until this recedes.
The US administration’s ban on European travel is good: It has probably bought us a few hours, maybe a day or two. But not more. It is not enough. It’s containment when what’s needed is mitigation.
Mitigation
Mitigation requires heavy social distancing. People need to stop hanging out to drop the transmission rate …
These measures [to effect social distancing] require closing companies, shops, mass transit, schools, enforcing lockdowns… The worse your situation, the worse the social distancing. The earlier you impose heavy measures, the less time you need to keep them, the easier it is to identify brewing cases, and the fewer people get infected.
So the question becomes: What are the tradeoffs we could be making to lower the R[ate of transmission]? This is the menu that Italy has put in front of all of us:
See entire article and forward to everyone you know and love – https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
09 Sunday Feb 2020
I can’t agree as a Jew with Arthur Brooks’ statement at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday in The Washington Post that we should now turn our contempt for the “other” into love. I don’t think this way as a Jew, especially as I ruminate about the cowardice of the Republicans to hold the President to account for his proven abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and about the President’s hubris, lack of empathy, and contempt for the constitutional constraints placed on the Executive branch.
For my complete statement, see my blog at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/coping-with-my-anger-and-contempt/
02 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in American Jewish Life, Health and Well-Being, Life Cycle, Uncategorized
Update: Pearl passed away earlier this year at the age of 114 years and 123 days, the 7th oldest living person in the world at her death and the oldest living Jew in recorded history. Pearl’s funeral at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and committal next to her husband Mark (z’l) was at once a sad event but also a celebration of an extraordinary woman. Her sons Allan and Robert both spoke as did her niece and great-niece, and I as her rabbi since I first arrived at Temple Israel of Hollywood in November 1988. Zichrona livracha – Our memory of Pearl is indeed a blessing. The following was written before Pearl’s death as indicated in the date.
Each year, for more years than I can recall, I have offered a blessing to our oldest congregant at Temple Israel of Hollywood, Pearl Berg. Pearl is the oldest human being I have ever known. I met her 31 years ago when she was a spry 79 years old.
As the LA Times story in Saturday’s edition (February 1, 2020) notes (link below), there are perhaps 1000 people in the world who reach 110 years of age.
Pearl is still sharp, though “slowing down a bit,” according to her son Bob Berg of Washington, D.C.. Either Bob (age 79) or his older brother, Dr. Allan Berg of Philadelphia (age 82), come to visit their mother most every week.
Pearl is a marvel not only because of her age, but because she remains a positive clear-thinking kind woman whose wit and sense of humor is a constant, who welcomes graciously all visitors, who reads every day, and plays gin rummy remembering the cards her opponent picks up – most of the time. Last June as I prepared to retire and assume Emeritus status at my synagogue, Pearl came to bid me farewell at my final service. Her appearance was one of the highlights of my last year of 40 years as a congregational rabbi.
My connection with Pearl and her family precedes my own birth. Pearl’s husband Mark (z’l) employed my mother in the early 1940s as an office worker in his Los Angeles scrap metal business when she was 25 years old. When Mark died 30 years ago and I prepared my eulogy, my mother told me that Mark was the kindest of bosses. When she departed from his business to volunteer at an army base in San Luis Obispo during World War II, Mark gave her a going-away office party. She never forgot it. My mother died 4 years ago at age of 98, and I thought that she was old – a youngster compared with Pearl.
Happy Birthday Pearl! We looking forward to celebrating your 111th birthday next year.
See – https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-01/pearl-berg-110-years-old-los-angeles
Updates: As of October 1, 2022, Pearl is still with us (Her real birth date) and is now 113 years-old. See article published in the LA Jewish Journal, “113 year-old Pearl Berg may be the oldest Jew in the world” – https://jewishjournal.com/cover_story/352205/cover-story-113-year-old-pearl-berg-may-be-the-oldest-jew-in-the-world/
Pearl is listed below as the 12th oldest American, but adjusted to her real birthday of October 1, 1909 (according to birth records) is the 8th oldest person in the United States and is the 2nd oldest in California. Pearl is likely the oldest Jewish person in the United States and possibly the world!
10 Sunday Nov 2019
Posted in Health and Well-Being
A rabbinic colleague posted the link to this article on the Reform Rabbi list-serve and I thought it so wise and useful that I wanted to pass it along. This piece was published this month in the Skeptical Inquirer by Gary M. Bakker, a practicing clinical psychologist and clinical lecturer at the University of Tasmania, Australia, who has published in both clinical (Practical CBT) and skeptical (God: A Psychological Assessment) fields.
https://skepticalinquirer.org/2019/11/nine-evidence-based-guidelines-for-a-good-life/
04 Wednesday Sep 2019
Posted in American Politics and Life, Ethics, Health and Well-Being, Life Cycle
This article in Monday’s NYT hit home with both my brother and me.
Our mother died three plus years ago at the age of 98. As macular degeneration, loss of hearing, and evolving senility diminished her capacities, we persuaded her that she could no longer live on her own in her own apartment. This meant moving her out of her apartment of forty years into assisted living.
The first home we chose had a great reputation and a number of facilities in the city of Los Angeles. It trumpeted all the bells and whistles that large assisted living facilities provide, but we found the place to be grossly inadequate in the healthy and safe care of our mother.
As we packed up her belongings and prepared to move her to a new and far less expensive home (the first home’s prices kept rising every few months), we discovered that the housekeeping had not done its job very well at all. Her closets and drawers were filthy. Her clothes were thrown haphazard out of sight. She was also constantly falling and had bruises all over her body.
We decided that enough was enough and that we needed to move her to a safer home. We chose this time a far smaller home with a staff of 6 men and women who gave to our mother everything she needed and everything we hoped she would have received in the first place. I have no idea what these angels of care were paid, but we told them how fortunate we felt that they were taking such good care of our mother and treating her with such dignity, compassion, and love.
The first home was all about the investors and money, not the care of the elderly. The second home was about my mother’s care. It also cost 60% of what we paid in the first facility thereby supporting the notion that sometimes you don’t get what you pay for.
What struck both my brother and me the most in the article is that the caregiver was fine doing all that hard and often unpleasant work on the front lines for minimal income because she knew the next of kin were demonstrably grateful. That says a lot about her, to be sure. Caregivers like this woman and those who cared for our mother deserve all the accolades they rarely receive.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/nyregion/home-health-aide.html
18 Sunday Aug 2019
My wife and I just spent a week with friends in Millsboro, Delaware, a lovely small town 15 minutes by car from the Rohovoth shore.
One morning our host went to the store to buy bagels and the daily Washington Post. While standing in the check-out line he struck up a friendly conversation with a middle aged woman standing behind him. After a few moments she said, “You are a very nice man!”
Everything changed, however, when, reading the paper’s headlines, he said, “We’re in a real mess – aren’t we?”
She asked, “What do you mean?”
Pointing to the paper, he said: “Trump’s erratic handling of the economy, his racism, white supremacy, and misogyny are changing the country for the worse.”
“You are a very bad man,” she barked.
Stunned, he said, “But you just told me I am nice.”
“You aren’t.”
My friend’s interchange with his neighbor is a reflection of the sorry state of civility and ethics in our nation. One moment he was a “nice man” shooting the breeze with a stranger in a supermarket check-out line, and the next he was the despised and demonized “other.”
One pillar of evil is when we become an extension of ideas and not individual human beings embodying the complexity of thoughts, feelings, backgrounds, interests, and values that we all share.
The President’s base relishes its hatred of the other at his political rallies as Trump stokes their hatred of his opponents and gives succor to the crowd’s lower angels. But we Democrats demonize Trump supporters as the despised “other” as well.
We all need to check ourselves and keep from falling into this dehumanizing trap not only for our own sake but for the sake of the soul of our nation.
Rabbi John Rosove's Blog 