Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 13, 2020

"Boycott" is a one-hour scripted, dramatic, historical-fiction, limited-series, written by Jeff Mustard, a multiple award-winning writer/producer/director. Inspired by the real-life events of the 1902 Kosher Meat Boycott protests when thousands of women "rioted and rallied" throughout the streets of the Lower East Side due to a planned increase in the cost of beef, Mustard leveraged the extraordinary highlights of the "rallies, protests, arrests and public outrage" (both pro and con) of this event, a mostly all-female led boycott, as the scaffolding upon which he created the series.

BOCA RATON, Fla., May 13, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --Project Intro | Overview: T.V. Series | Musical Stage Play

The show features co-female-leads, is braided with engaging fictional storylines and character arcs, and is constructed in six one-hour episodes as a prestige television series ideal for network, cable, or streaming platforms.

Mustard discovered the little-known 1902 Kosher Meat Boycott story more than three years ago, and since that time, has worked on creating the tv series. In early 2019, Mustard had an epiphany. "I decided the series had all the elements for a stage play musical - a hip-hop-style show, Hamilton-Esque," says Mustard. With this in mind, Mustard took the majority of 2019 (9 months) to write lyrics, find the right cast - 4 females, two males, who could sing/rap, and produced six songs, under the title, Boycott: A NYC 1902 Hip Hop Musical. The show album he produced, comprises sixty-minutes plus of music. The musical show's "tag line" -- "Resistance Never Sounded so Good" is an homage to oppressed women who break the bonds of patriarchy. These are prominent, recurring themes throughout the tv series, and the musical stage play. These sentiments and others reflecting "aggravation, agitation, and frustration" are prominently featured in lyrics throughout the music tracks.

THE STORY | THE PREMISE

In NYC, 1902, two unremarkable women take on one of the nation's most powerful business monopolies - the Meat Trust - a/k/a The Cattle Barons, during the last breaths of the Gilded Era, with results no one could have imagined - changing the course of U.S. history.

"Boycott" Website: http://boycott1902.com/ Facebook Page: http://www.Facebook.com/boycott1902

THE COMPELLING TALE - MUSTARD WAS DRAWN TO THIS EVENT.

Mustard's tv show, and musical, tells the tale of this fascinating story set in this extraordinary world - New York, City, Lower East Side (Ward 10 - to be exact), more than 100 years ago. "The land of pickled herring, borscht, street knishes, tzimmes, cholent, and all the food from Eastern Europe that gives Jewish people their identity," says Mustard. "Little did Fanny and Sarah, (who Mustard made the co-leads of the show), the two women who, in a spontaneous moment triggered this event, know at the time," says Mustard, "that their 'agitation, aggravation, and frustration'" (a lyrical refrain used in one of the songs), against the Big Six Cattle Barons, would have the impact on the country that it did." Says Mustard, "America and American's, to this day, enjoy their fruits of their labor and their hard-won battles against the Cattle Barons."

WHY THIS STORY, WHY NOW?

"There has never been a better time to tell this story," says Mustard. "Remarkably, so much of what these women went through more than 100 years ago, is as relevant today as it was then." Issues that were prevalent then are still remarkably, sadly, just as relevant. Profound cultural topics related to immigrants, immigration, patriarchy, bigotry, racism, as well as feminism, feminist activities, the ["proper" as defined by both the [religious] Jewish and the secular communities] role of women, Jewish women in society, are timely, poignant and powerful themes in the show.

Celebrate this Story Now - Anniversary of the 1902 Kosher Meat Boycott May 15 - June 5 - The Meat Boycott Anniversary & Three Weeks of the Meat Boycott Protests

Mustard is publicly launching the project now, in May, as a T.V. series (award-winning pilot written, and multiple other one hour episodes, written), as well as the Musical adaptation version, by design, coinciding with Jewish Heritage Month. Further, the anniversary of the actual Kosher Meat Boycott is May 15, a date that marks the 118th anniversary of the protests.

Story continues

Until now, few know the story of this extraordinary three-week, female-led battle, that by all accounts was a critical inflection point in female social activism. This family-friendly, four-quadrant, period thriller, in Mustard's view, has the makings of a Bechdel Blockbuster. Compared to other female cultural icons and feature films, Mustard says, "Before Norma Rae, before Karen Silkwood, before Thelma and Louise, before Erin Brockovich, there was Fanny and Sarah."

A GLOBAL-AUDIENCE: A PRESTIGE, FAMILY-FRIENDLY, FOUR QUADRANT, PERIOD-THRILLER

"Boycott," has all the elements to appeal to a global-wide audience, a trans-media entertainment product, ideally suited for network, cable, or streaming platforms," says Mustard. "Real-life stories with powerful female protagonists are in great demand," says Mustard, "this, combined with the visually sumptuous, time, place and setting of the story in New York City's Lower Eastside at the beginning of the 20th century has potentially great appeal to producers and studios."

"Boycott" Website: http://boycott1902.com/ Facebook Page: http://www.Facebook.com/boycott1902

WHAT:

The "1902 Kosher Beef Boycott," is singularly one of the essential historic female events to occur in NYC Lower East Side. This extraordinary historical incident has inspired the creation of a network or streaming-quality television series - "Boycott." The pilot episode is written, which has received numerous Hollywood contest recognitions. And lyrics have been written, and six hip-hop style songs produced for a musical adaptation of the tv series as a broadway-style musical.

WHEN:

THE ACTUAL (ANNUAL HISTORICAL) DATES OF THE "BOYCOTT" EVENT ARE MAY 15TH - JUNE 5TH - THIS YEAR IS 118 YEARS FROM EVENT DATE.

B.G.: THE DISCOVERY | THE RESEARCH | THE WRITING

After Jeff Mustard learned of the 1902 Kosher Beef Boycott about four years ago, from a framed newspaper article on the wall of a restaurant, he set upon a journey to learn more. Says Mustard, "I spent a year researching this project, and about a year writing. I approached this originally as a feature film," says Mustard, a born and bred Brooklynite. More than 200 pages later, it became apparent:

A. Too much story. B. Can't be a feature film - feature films are about 120 pages.

And so, "Boycott" became a Limited series tv show. "Not so terrible in our society's new Golden Era of "binge-worthy" Television." Mustard also has a limited series spinoff in mind. "In the sequel," says Mustard, "we follow the children, ten years later, who hopefully we love, are invested in, want to see more of, and are grown up, and now working in the burgeoning NYC garment industry." This story, says Mustard, is also based on powerful, authentic events that unfolded during this period.

"Boycott" Website: http://boycott1902.com/ Facebook Page: http://www.Facebook.com/boycott1902

ABOUT JEFF MUSTARD

Jeff Mustard is a prolific hyphenate, with an extensive credit roster as a writer, producer, director, including acting credits, for tv, film and theatre. An accomplished advertising, marketing and public relations professional, Mustard has been involved, in varying capacities, in the film, tv and production industries, not only as a writer/producer, but as publicist and marketer for high profile entertainment and business personalities.

Jeff Mustard's work has been published nationally in print, radio, television and the stage. He is the co-author/ghostwriter of aWall Street JournalBest-Selling Book,A Message from Garcia: Yes, You Can Succeed,published by John Wiley. He was head writer ofThe Best of Wine and Food, a television series hosted by George Hamilton, syndicated nationally on theFood Network,and the writer/producer/ director ofDeerfield Days, an award-winning documentary film.

The former President of the South Florida Screenwriters Guild, (not WGA-related), Mustard was the Creator/Executive Producer of the Make-A-Film Competition, a successful event for emerging filmmakers produced in conjunction with Independent Feature Project (IFP)/Miami and IFP/Los Angeles. Early in his career he performed as a stand-up comic, and appeared in television commercials, an HBO Comedy Special, Richard Jeni: Crazy from the Heat,and two made-for-cable movies,Miami Models,andInternational Tease.

Contracted by former"Miami Vice"co-star, Philip Michael Thomas, Mustard performed in two Edward Albee productions produced by Mr. Thomas at his North Miami Theater. Mustard was contracted by Alamo Rent-A-Car to write, produce and direct a stage play for the organization in Las Vegas.

Mustard's radio production company,Hysterical Comedy Servicesprovided comedy materials skits, sketches, fake commercials and song parodies to three of the nation's largest radio comedy syndicators Premiere Radio Networks, Pro-Media and Olympia Radio Networks. His material was broadcast by hundreds of radio stations to millions of listeners across the country.

Editors Note/Media Contact: For Interviews, Graphics, Posters, Logos, Use of Music Audio Files and Video Clips for Podcasts and Broadcast - Online and Offline Use.

Contact: Jeff Mustard | 954-801-8263 | jeff@thebambooagency.com "Boycott" Website: http://boycott1902.com/ Facebook Page: http://www.Facebook.com/boycott1902

SOURCE Jeff Mustard

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Jewish Heritage Month (May) Signals Launch of New TV Series - "Boycott" - Inspired by Real-Life Events of the 1902 Kosher Meat Boycott, Led...

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Posted By admin on May 13, 2020

The Great Neck Board of Education election, which will now take place on June 9, features both a contested and uncontested race for two spots on the board.

Trustees Rebecca Sassouni and Jeffrey Shi were elected to the board for the first time in 2017. The two took the former seats of Lawrence Gross, who served on the board for 35 years, and Susan Healy, who served for 10.

Shi is running unopposed, while Sassouni is challenged by John Jahng, who currently serves on the District Advisory Committee, according to board President Barbara Berkowitz.

Jahng declined to comment at this time.

Shi defeated Nikolas Kron in the May 2017 election after candidates Grant Toch and Michael Golden dropped out. Sassouni won unopposed after her opponent, Ilya Aronovich, dropped out of the race.

In her second time around and in the midst of an unconventional campaign due to the coronavirus pandemic, Sassouni, a mother of four and a lawyer, said she has lived in Great Neck for 26 years.

Sassouni touted the rest of the board, along with the staff, parents and residents that make up the school district. Sassouni said she is appreciative for the past three years of serving the community.

The first three years flew by, Sassouni said. There was a gradual learning curve to go along with it, but it has been an experience I am grateful for and I hope that I am re-elected again this year.

Sassouni touted her experience serving the community before being elected to the school board in 2017. She has served as parent co-chair for the Shared Decision Making Committee at Great Neck North High School and John F. Kennedy School, a past officer for the United Parent Teacher Council and chair of its legislative committee, and is the current president of the Sephardic Heritage Alliance Inc.

I have been involved with the community in some very gratifying, meaningful, and important ways, Sassouni said. I have a very procedural mindset when it comes to the Board of Education, and Im a strong believer that procedures have helped us more efficiently as a board the past three years.

Shi agreed with Sassounis sentiments and thanked the community and the board for the past three years.

[The board] works with a great team of administration, teachers, parents and residents throughout the district, Shi said. Im grateful for the opportunity to be running unopposed and to continue serving the entire school district.

Elections will take place on June 9 due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, everyone who resides in the district and registered to vote will be receive an absentee ballot, according to Berkowitz.

Berkowitz said the ballots are not applications to have an absentee ballot sent to them, but rather directly the absentee ballot with a postage-paid envelope included.

Berkowitz said the district is sending out more than 30,000 ballots, which must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9.

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Shi, Sassouni running for re-election in Great Neck Board of Education races - Great Neck News - The Island Now

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Posted By admin on May 13, 2020

What will it take to finally change the worldfor Good?

Three women had an idea, and Lets L.A.G. Together! was born.

Inspired by a recent endeavor, The Final Push, (LearnMoshiach.com/join), Z. Sasson of Jewish Women Influencers reached out to G. Stolik of The Joy Movement and B. Rubashkin of the Welcome Moshiach Learning Campaign, and together they decided to widen the circle of Geulah learning.

Reaching out to Litvish, Chassidish, Heimish, and Sephardic communities, they invited the women to join in an evening of Achdus, geared to Geulah. The womens resounding response? YES!!

And so, in honor of Lag BaOmer, an auspicious time for unity and respect, an unprecedented event will take place, women from communities across the globe, such as Crown Heights, Denver, Lakewood, Monsey, London, Melbourne, Johannesburg, and Sao Paulo, just to name a few, will share in an inspirational evening together of Learn, Achdus, Geulah.

The incredible lineup of speakers Miryam Swerdlov, Yemima Mizrachi, Leah Rubashkin and Chani Juravel ensures this evening will be one with lasting results.

To further build the lasting results we are preparing a follow-up Yearn-to-Learn 15-day program. Give five minutes daily to yearn for the Geulah inspired by Torah sources.

Details and access information to be announced at the event.

Join us Tuesday evening for Geulah inspired Achdus, and be a part of The Final Push!

To join:

Teleconference: 605-313-4166 pin 128067# or 701-802-5044 pin 3355393#Playback recording: 978-990-5090 pin 3355393#

Link:

Women to Join Global Lag BaOmer 'Together' - Yeshiva World News

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2020

Three upstate New York regions are ready to reopen.

In the most concrete step yet toward bringing his state back to life, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Monday that three upstate regions are set to partially this weekend, with limited construction, manufacturing and curbside retail.

We start a new chapter today in many ways, Mr. Cuomo said at his daily news briefing, held in Rochester. Its a new phase, if you will.

It has been nearly 10 weeks since the first case of the coronavirus was confirmed in the state. And while the virus has killed more than 26,000 people in New York and sickened hundreds of thousands people, New York City and its suburbs account for most of that toll. Upstate New York has recorded far fewer cases and deaths.

Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, laid out a detailed plan for reopening last week, requiring each of 10 regions to meet thresholds in seven health-related areas. The metrics include beefing up testing and contact tracing, ensuring adequate hospital capacity, and showing sustained declines in virus cases and deaths.

On Monday, Mr. Cuomo said that all seven metrics had now been met in three regions: the Finger Lakes, which includes Rochester; the Southern Tier, which borders Pennsylvania; and the Mohawk Valley, west of Albany.

The governor reiterated that the regions re-openings would be gradual and would be tied to infection rates remaining low. Officials, he said, would be able to pull the plug or slow down the increase in activity if the virus began to spread quickly.

Nonessential businesses have been closed and large gatherings have been banned across the state since March 22 under an emergency order issued by Mr. Cuomo that is set to expire on Friday.

The governor said the state would allow certain low-risk businesses and activities to resume operations on Friday, including landscaping and gardening work; outdoor sports like tennis; and drive-in movie theaters.

The number of new hospitalizations related to the virus was at its lowest number since March 19, before the states shutdown began, Mr. Cuomo said.

The governor also said that an additional 161 people in the state had died of the virus. It was the states lowest one-day death toll since March 27.

New York State will hold its presidential primary on June 23, the states Democratic Party told national party leaders on Monday.

New Yorks Board of Elections, citing public health concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak, had canceled the primary. But a federal judge subsequently ordered the primary restored to June 23 ballot after the former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang sued to block the move.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and his supporters also opposed the canceling of the primary.

Supporters of Mr. Sanders, who suspended his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination last month, can win key slots at the Democratic National Convention if he wins at least 15 percent of the vote statewide or in each congressional district.

New York Democrats formalized the June 23 primary date in a submission to the Democratic National Committee, whose rules committee is set to meet on Tuesday to grant waivers to states that have moved their primaries past the partys June 9 deadline because of the outbreak.

The partys rules committee is expected to enact no delegate penalties to Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York for delaying their primaries.

The committee will also vote to formally change the date of the Democratic convention from mid-July to late August and to allow convention officials full authority to alter key processes, like switching votes to be held virtually rather than in person, without the rules committees consent.

In another sign that Connecticut may return to something like normal sooner than neighboring states, officials there said on Monday that summer camps could open in June with stringent public health measures in place.

Beth Bye, the commissioner of Connecticuts Office of Early Childhood, said a reopening committee had decided camps could start by June 29. Most programs would be required to have no more than 30 children, said Ms. Bye, who cited a need to relieve pressure on working parents as a key factor in the decision.

Although Ms. Bye said that officials recognized the health concerns that could accompany an opening of camps, she added that I think were in a situation where theres not always a right answer there are often less worse answers.

For many families, she said, summer camp is their child care.

Front line workers will be able to apply for a three-week subsidy for child care under a new program, she said.

Mr. Lamont, like his counterparts in New York and New Jersey, has canceled in-person classes at public schools for the remainder of the academic year. He has indicated that he will make a decision about summer school later this month.

N.Y.C. is likely to stay closed until June, the mayor said.

A ban on large gatherings in New York City and the accompanying widespread closing of nonessential businesses are unlikely to end before June, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday.

June is when were potentially going to be able to make some real changes if we can continue our progress, Mr. de Blasio said at a daily news briefing.

City and state data have suggested that New York has made progress in containing the outbreak of the virus and in reducing its transmission. Mr. de Blasio specifically cited decreases in the number of those being hospitalized with the virus and the percentage of people testing positive in the city.

But he said that such progress must continue before officials would consider any reopening.

End of May, beginning of June is when well be able to start filling in the blanks, he said.

Mr. Cuomo said separately on Monday that New York City had only met four of his seven criteria for beginning to reopen.

In a glimmer of normalcy returning, the mayor announced that alternate-side parking regulations, which has been suspended for more than a month, would be enforced next week so that workers could clean the citys streets.

Street cleaning will start next Monday and will then be suspended again on May 25 for at least two weeks.

To beat back the virus in New Yorks hard-hit neighborhoods, Mr. de Blasio also said that officials were dispatching masks, gloves and medical workers to community health clinics.

The move was one of several Mr. de Blasio has announced in recent weeks in an effort to address how the virus has disproportionately affected black and Hispanic residents in low-income areas.

Nearly 5,300 New York City residents have died during the coronavirus pandemic for reasons that have not been directly linked to the virus, according to an analysis by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The analysis, which was released on Monday, seeks to offer a preliminary estimate of what epidemiologists call excess deaths or the total number of deaths, regardless of cause, above a normal or expected number.

From March 11 to May 2, the C.D.C. said, New York City experienced about 24,172 excess deaths; of those, about 13,831 were laboratory-confirmed virus deaths; 5,048 were deemed probable virus deaths. That left 5,293 excess deaths that were not either confirmed as related to the virus or probably caused by it.

The excess deaths, the agency said in its brief report, might have been directly or indirectly attributable to the pandemic.

Some of the excess fatalities may have involved people with chronic underlying health problems whose deaths could been brought on by but not directly attributed to the virus, the report said. Other deaths may have occurred because of an increased demand on hospitals caused by the outbreak or by a fear of the virus that may have led some people to delay seeking care they needed.

Tracking excess mortality, the C.D.C. report said, is important to understanding the contribution to the death rate from both Covid-19 disease and the lack of availability of care for non-COVID conditions.

Even as New Jersey has made progress in its fight against the virus, the number of cases and deaths at the states long-term care facilities continues to rise, Gov. Philip D. Murphy said on Monday.

As of Monday, the state had recorded 9,310 virus-related deaths, officials said. More than half, 4,890, involved people at long-term care homes.

We continue to work hard to mitigate these numbers, Mr. Murphy said.

State officials reported 59 new deaths on Monday. Although the number was significantly below the daily tolls of last week that topped 100, the governor cautioned that the data had been historically light on previous Mondays.

New Jersey health officials have also said the number of deaths reported on any given day includes many that are probably weeks old and are being newly classified as virus-related.

So far, 139,945 people in the state have tested positive for the virus, with 1,453 new confirmed cases reported on Monday.

Mr. Murphy said the percentage of positive tests had been decreasing steadily over the past three weeks. The number of people hospitalized also continues to decline across the state.

Still, the governor said it would be weeks before officials would consider reopening New Jersey. He also repeated again that the state needed federal aid to increase its states testing capacity and its ability to conduct widespread contact tracing.

Nearly a million people in New York City are at risk of becoming homeless because of the virus outbreak, according to one of the citys largest nonprofit operators of homeless shelters.

The group that offered the estimate, Win, urged city leaders to confront the looming problem with emergency steps like a new rental assistance voucher and converting vacant hotels into full-fledged shelters.

In a report released on Monday, Win, which provides shelter for about 4,700 children and their parents a night, said around 325,000 households, or nearly a million people, would probably be unable to afford their rents once the outbreak is over.

Among those at greatest risk, according to the report, are households that pay more than 30 percent of their income toward rent; people in vulnerable jobs like home health aides and custodians; and households with incomes below 50 percent of the area income, for instance a family of three earning less than $51,000.

Christine C. Quinn, Wins chief executive, said in a statement that the pandemic was devastating economically fragile populations.

Hundreds of thousands of moms and kids could fall into homelessness, turning a current existing crisis into a long-term calamity, she said.

There are an estimated 79,000 homeless people in New York City, including nearly 20,000 children, in the citys main shelter system; hundreds more are in specialized shelters, like those for victims of domestic violence.

Under a rental-assistance program proposed by Win, the city would cover past-due rent and up to six additional months of help. Another proposal would waive employment requirements for city housing vouchers so that recent job losses do not disrupt the help that some New Yorkers get.

A florist and a cemetery opened for one day only.

John and Denise Owens, whose family has owned OLoughlins Florist in Queens, since 1965, opened their shop for the first time in weeks on Mothers Day.

Throughout a sunny morning and afternoon, they helped customers, from a distance, pick out crosses and wreaths made of silk flowers to lay at headstones in nearby Calvary Cemetery.

The virus outbreak had upended OLoughlins busiest time of the year, the spring weeks from Easter to Mothers Day. Its been really tough, Mr. Owens said. As far as being open, this is a one-day deal.

The florist and the cemetery, both in Woodside, have been closed since late March. Then St. Patricks Cathedrals trustees decided to open the cemetery, which is under the cathedrals care, for visitations on Mothers Day. OLoughlins followed suit.

Richard Giglio, 82, had stopped by OLoughlins to buy a memorial candle to place at the grave of his wife, Maryann Giglio.

I dont know when Ill be able to come here again, Mr. Giglio said, holding back tears. Once at the cemetery, he lit the candle and pulled up fistfuls of long grass at the tombstones base.

He started to return to his car but then walked back to the gravestone, pulling down his surgical mask to kiss and press his hand to his wifes name, which is inscribed in the rock.

A man and a woman from Queens were charged with a hate crime on Sunday after they shouted anti-Semitic slurs and tried to rip face masks off three Hasidic men in Brooklyn, the police said.

The episode began around 8:30 p.m. in the South Williamsburg area, the police said, when Clelia Pinho, 46, and Paulo Pinho, 35, shouted slurs at the group. The couple then fought with the men and tried to remove their face coverings, the police said.

The virus has hit New Yorks Hasidic Jewish residents with devastating force, killing religious leaders and tearing through families at a rate that community leaders and some public health data suggest may exceed that of other ethnic or religious groups.

On Monday, Mr. de Blasio called the episode absolutely unacceptable in every way.

Its something that expresses hate, but also creates danger, he said, adding that the Police Department was treating the matter as a hate crime.

The Pinhos were detained on Sunday by the neighborhood Shomrim patrol until officers arrived. In addition to the hate crime charge, the couple were charged with aggravated assault.

Across the city, overall reports of hate crimes declined in the first months of the year, paralleling a general decrease in crime as New Yorkers stayed home because of the virus. Anti-Semitic incidents decreased 40 percent compared with the same period last year, police data showed.

Still, the police noted last week that they were investigating an increase in reported hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans related to the virus outbreak.

In what would later be recognized as a harbinger of things to come, part of New Rochelle was sealed off as a containment zone and more than 100 families with whom Mr. Garbuz had come into contact, mostly at his synagogue, were required to quarantine at home.

About three weeks later, with the virus spreading and more people becoming infected, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered all nonessential businesses in the state closed and anyone who could stay home to do so.

By then, Mr. Garbuz, 50, was out of the medically induced coma he had been placed in. Still, as he said on Monday in an interview with NBCs Today show, he was not paying close attention to all that was going on in the world around him.

I really have not focused on any of the media frenzy in terms of one of the first patients to get it, Mr. Garbuz said in the Today interview, the first time he had spoken publicly since being hospitalized on Feb. 27. He was released on March 31. But I have been focused more on, as I say, getting better.

Mr. Garbuzs wife, Adina, also appeared on Today. The couple work together as lawyers at a small Manhattan firm. Because Mr. Garbuz had not traveled internationally, she said that they initially believed he had pneumonia.

She described the challenges of having to confront an illness that was not widely understood at New York at the time.

Healthy, vibrant person, all of a sudden overnight gets so sick so quickly, Ms. Garbuz said. I know that at this point, were not so surprised by that. But at that time, it was shocking.

Reporting was contributed by Reid J. Epstein, Luis Ferr-Sadurn, Michael Gold, Elizabeth D. Herman, Jesse McKinley, Sarah Maslin Nir, Azi Paybarah, Matt Stevens, Nikita Stewart and Ali Watkins.

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Parts of Upstate New York Could Reopen This Weekend - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2020

Smart thermometers could be the secret to reopening schools

When used in cooperation with a school nurse, smart thermometers can be a way to track viral outbreaks in real time, potentially keeping sick kids home and preventing them from spreading infection. This story from Fast Company explains how it works.

Why has it been so hard to find flour on grocery story shelves during the pandemic? The Atlantic explores why Americans are heading back into the kitchen -- and why we left in the first place.

In this op-ed for Fortune, LeanIn.org co-founders Sheryl Sandberg and Rachel Thomas say women with full-time jobs and families are burning out during the pandemic. They write: "Leaders and managers should move any deadline that can be moved, take a second look at targets set before the pandemic, rethink the timing of performance reviews, and remove low-priority items from the to-do list."

New York's Hasidic Jewish community has been one of the hardest hit by COVID-19. Now they are among the largest group of survivors donating their plasma. The New York Times tells the story.

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What others are writing about COVID-19 - Chicago Daily Herald

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2020

About 100 children in N.Y. are suspected of having a rare illness tied to the virus.

New York State health officials are investigating about 100 cases of a rare and dangerous inflammatory syndrome that afflicts children and appears to be connected to the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Tuesday.

More than half of the states pediatric inflammatory syndrome cases 57 percent involved children ages 5 to 14.

Earlier the day, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that 52 cases of the syndrome had been reported in New York City, with 10 potential cases also being evaluated.

The dead included a 5-year-old boy, who died last week in New York City; a 7-year-old boy and an 18-year-old girl, Mr. Cuomo said.

This is a truly disturbing situation, Mr. Cuomo said at his daily news briefing. And I know parents around the state and around the country are very concerned about this, and they should be.

The governors announcement came as he reported 195 more virus-related deaths in the state, an increase from Mondays total but the second consecutive day that the toll was under 200.

The pediatric illness began to appear in the region in recent weeks, and doctors and researchers are still investigating how and why it affects children.

Connecticut reported its first cases of the syndrome on Monday. As of Tuesday, six children in the state were being treated for the ailment, officials said.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced three of the Connecticut cases at a briefing on Monday.

I think right now its a very, very tiny risk of infection, he said. It was not really ever detected in Asia, which, I dont quite know what that implies.

Three other children were being treated for the syndrome at the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford, a spokeswoman, Monica Buchanan, said on Tuesday. Two of the three were confirmed to have the illness, Ms. Buchanan said.

As of Monday, health officials in New Jersey said they were investigating eight potential cases of the syndrome.

With New York making steady progress in its battle against the virus and three upstate regions poised to start a gradual reopening by this weekend, Mr. Cuomo on Tuesday reiterated the importance of federal aid as the state charts its recovery.

The number of people hospitalized in New York continued to decrease, Mr. Cuomo said, one of the key metrics that officials are monitoring in assessing whether the outbreaks severity is waning.

The number of new daily hospitalizations has fallen close to where it was on March 19, just before Mr. Cuomo issued executive orders shutting down much of the state.

Were making real progress, theres no doubt, Mr. Cuomo said. But theres also no doubt that its no time to get cocky, no time to get arrogant.

While sounding that warning, Mr. Cuomo urged lawmakers in Washington to give state and local governments whose budgets have been ravaged by the pandemic the financial help they need to rebound.

To get this economy up and running, were going to need an intelligent stimulus bill, Mr. Cuomo said.

New York state needs an estimated $61 billion in federal support to avoid enacting 20 percent cuts to schools, local governments and hospitals, Mr. Cuomo said.

He also said it would be impossible for New York to resume business as normal without the money it needs to develop a sophisticated testing and contact tracing apparatus.

Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey began outlining plans on Tuesday for the testing and contact tracing that he said would be critical to reopening the states battered economy.

Still, Mr. Murphy made the case that New Jersey which, along with New York, has been an epicenter of the pandemic is currently the state most affected by the coronavirus outbreak. New Jersey, he said, had overtaken New York and Connecticut in the rate of new infections and deaths.

There are still thousands in our hospitals, and sadly an untold number more will perish, the governor said, while noting that the number of hospitalizations, deaths and new cases had plunged since the states peak in mid-April.

To continue to beat back the outbreak, New Jersey officials said they planned to test up to 20,000 people a day by the end of the month. The state would also be sending out hundreds of contact tracers to determine who has had a close interaction with a sick person, Mr. Murphy said.

Mr. Murphy said the goal in New Jersey was to recruit a racially diverse group of contact tracers who can speak various languages and identify with the communities in which they will work. The pay is about $25 an hour, he said.

The drop in the number of new coronavirus cases means that the state can consider a limited reopening, Mr. Murphy said, but he warned impatient residents about the risks of loosening restrictions too soon. After closing parks and golf courses in early April, the state reopened them on May 2; the governor did not say which businesses other places may open next.

Also on Tuesday, Mr. Murphy announced 198 new deaths 139 more than were reported the day before for a total of 9,508. About half of those fatalities were of residents of nursing homes. The daily report of new deaths in New Jersey may include deaths that occurred weeks ago and were only recently confirmed.

Those numbers dont lie, Mr. Murphy said. We are still the most impacted state in America.

The announcement was not a surprise. The coronavirus continues to kill more than 150 people a day in New York State, and Mr. Cuomo has said that businesses involved in the arts and entertainment would be among the last to reopen.

It was unclear when that might happen for Broadway houses, but many industry officials believe it will be well after Labor Day.

Broadway will be back when the governor tells us its safe to be back, said Charlotte St. Martin, the Broadway Leagues president. Were working closely with his office and with experts to know when that will be.

Theaters have been closed since March 12, when Mr. Cuomo barred gatherings of more than 500 people.

The closing has disappointed legions of fans, cost thousands of people their jobs and prompted the jettisoning of two productions that were in previews but had not yet opened.

Mr. de Blasio on Tuesday announced an expansion of coronavirus testing and tracing across New York City, but he warned again that a limited reopening of the city was weeks away at best.

Twelve new testing sites will be set up in the next three weeks in a push to double the public hospital systems testing capacity, the mayor said at his daily news briefing. The city was also training 535 contact tracers, with a goal of having 2,500 in the field by early June.

Still, the city, the pandemics U.S. epicenter, has met just four of the seven criteria required to start to reopen, Mr. Cuomo said on Monday while announcing that three upstate regions had achieved all of the necessary benchmarks.

Mr. de Blasio has said he is closely monitoring three measures in weighing the citys progress toward reopening: the number of new virus infections; the number of infected patients in intensive care units; and the percentage of residents testing positive for the virus.

Clearly, these indicators are not getting us the kind of answers we need to change our restrictions in May, the mayor said. Youve got to have 10 days to two weeks of consistent, downward motion. We havent had that in a sustained way at all.

They came in waves throughout the day, large groups in car pools and married couples taking advantage of their newfound health for a road trip through the mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania.

By the time night had fallen, more than 60 Hasidic Jews from New York had arrived to donate blood plasma, rich in the antibodies they generated when they were sick with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

There were probably never so many Hasidim in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the history of the world, and here theyre riding in literally to save lives, said Mordy Serle, an Orthodox Jew who made the trip from Brooklyn last month to donate blood. I think I was the only person there without a beard.

The coronavirus has hit New York State with devastating force, infecting over 340,657 people and killing more than 26,000. And public health data suggests the Orthodox and Hasidic community may have been affected at a rate that exceeds other ethnic and religious groups, with community estimates placing the number of dead in the hundreds, including beloved religious leaders.

But as people have begun to recover, thousands have donated blood plasma, which public health officials believe may be used to help treat people suffering from Covid-19.

As Connecticut continues to respond to a virus outbreak that has killed more than 3,000 people in the state, Gov. Ned Lamont said on Tuesday that he was replacing the public health commissioner, Renee Coleman-Mitchell.

Mr. Lamont did not provide a reason for the change, only saying that he had appointed the commissioner of the states Department of Social Services, Deidre Gifford, to act as Ms. Coleman-Mitchells replacement.

In a statement, Mr. Lamont said that Ms. Coleman-Mitchells service over the last year has been a great deal of help, particularly in the face of the global Covid-19 pandemic that has brought disruption to many throughout the world.

Ms. Coleman-Mitchell began her tenure in April 2019. Though she appeared at Mr. Lamonts daily news briefings in early April, she has been absent from them in recent weeks.

As The New York Times follows the spread of the coronavirus across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, we need your help. We want to talk to doctors, nurses, lab technicians, respiratory therapists, emergency services workers, nursing home managers anyone who can share whats happening in the regions hospitals and other health care centers.

A reporter or editor may contact you. Your information will not be published without your consent.

Reporting was contributed by Maria Cramer, Michael Gold, Michael Paulson, Azi Paybarah and Liam Stack.

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About 100 N.Y. Children Treated for Illness Tied to Virus: Live Updates - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2020

I think our community needs to hold a true cheshbon nefesh [soul-searching reckoning], said Interior Minister Arye Dery, who is also the leader of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas party, with breathtaking candor this weekend. Because to my regret, 70 percent of the patients in Israel are Haredim and not just in Haredi towns but in every place in Israel.

Derys admission came during an interview he gave to an ultra-Orthodox website, part of a memorial project for former Chief Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron, who died last month from the coronavirus.

Dery pulled no punches. He acknowledged the level of COVID-19 infection among his own community was disproportionate (about 12 percent of Israelis are ultra-Orthodox) and that it was directly related to mass gatherings on the Jewish holiday of Purim, at weddings and funerals, and in synagogues.

He probably would not have been as frank if he had been talking on a mainstream platform. Instead, he was brutally honest with his audience, urging them not to arrive in their hundreds of thousands at the shrine of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai during this weeks Lag Ba'omer festival. Dery has always fancied himself a spiritual guide to Shas voters, and there is a deep spiritual debate going on within the community: Why has the pandemic hit the Haredim with such ferocity?

I hope we will learn ... some lessons for our lives and behavior, Dery said. About our race for achievements, the masses and the madness. That has all changed. And then there was Gods account as well: God has been graceful to us. With everything that has happened in Israel, in comparison to other countries. Look at the number of deaths in New York and London, and you can understand Gods grace is with us.

Derys deflection is classic Haredi sophistry: If you cant explain why God has inflicted a terrible punishment on the faithful, make the point that it could have been much worse. But some, like Rabbi Gershon Edelstein the head of Ponevezh Yeshiva and one of the most influential rabbis of the Lithuanian (non-Hasidic) stream have a more nuanced explanation.

Theres something we have to understand here, he said in a televised sermon last week. Here [in Israel], the Haredim have died, in comparison to the general public, at a much higher percentage. Abroad as well, Haredim have died at higher percentage than the rest of the public. What does this mean?

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To answer, Edelstein referred to the concept of tinok shenishba literally, a baby taken captive which is used to describe secular Jews who were born secular and therefore do not know better. In previous generations, ultra-Orthodox rabbis relied on this concept to allow the Haredim to cooperate on various matters with secular Israelis, on the basis that they cannot be blamed for not observing Torah and mitzvot. Edelstein has now applied it to the realm of divine retribution.

Today, those who have not made teshuvah [repented] are inadvertent sinners, babes taken captive, he said. They are not guilty. They did not receive education. ... Their sins are inadvertent. But Haredim a Haredi who sins is not inadvertent. Which is why, Edelstein explained, when there is sin in the public, the midat hadin [strict divine justice] hits the Haredim more. Thats why.

The 97-year-old is regarded by many in the ultra-Orthodox community as either the most senior of rabbis, or the second-most after 92-year-oldRabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who in recent years has assumed a more prominent public role. However, Kanievskys ruling back in late February against closing the yeshivas and synagoguesclaiming that Torah protects and saves severely eroded his standing now the disproportionate number of Haredim infected by COVID-19 is beyond doubt.

Edelstein, who originally was in favor of complying with the closure but remained silent once Kanievskys ruling was published, has now established himself as the leading voice. Kanievsky, meanwhile, is taking a backseat.

Most of the Haredim now firmly follow the social distancing regulations, even adhering to them more strictly than many secular Israelis.

But even with many of the rabbis complying and enforcing the rules, there still remain lingering pockets of resistance. They are mainly in some Hasidic sects, especially those aligned with the small Eda Haredit grouping, which is ideologically opposed to any formal connection with the State of Israel. They have tried to keep synagogues open, even when police have arrived to close them down, and tried to hold mass bonfire-lightings on Lag Ba'omer.

Its clear by this point that they are a minority and that the further a Haredi group is detached from the state, the more suspicious they will be of public health guidelines.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the Haredi spectrum, the number of those defying the rabbis and going online is growing rapidly. Theyre not waiting for answers. The questions of why God chose to do this and why their community has been stricken so grievously will continue to be asked.

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Ultra-Orthodox Jews turn to God and the web, looking for answers to coronavirus losses - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2020

The Likud accused Yamina leader Naftali Bennett on Tuesday morning of "leaving the right-wing bloc" and refusing to help religious Zionist causes of his own party.Likud's attack came after a late-night phone conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bennett.

The Likud released the statement after Bennett burned bridges with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by harshly criticizing him in an online press conference. Bennett said Netanyahu would create a Palestinian state, missed his chances to annex Judea and Samaria and cared only about his own criminal cases, not reforms in the Justice Ministry.

"Tonight it became final that Bennett and Yamina have decided to quit the right-wing bloc," the Likud statement said. "Bennett's refusal of our generous offer for Yamina to control all the issues that are important to religious Zionist reveals that he cares about cabinet seats, not ideology. It is unfortunate that due to internal conflicts, Bennett and his colleagues in Yamina preferred to join the opposition with [Yesh Atid head] Yair Lapid and [Balad MK] Heba Yazbak."

The Likud also complained that Yamina did not officially recommend to President Reuven Rivlin that Netanyahu form the next government, despite the party's campaign promises.

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Likud: Bennett betrayed religious Zionism - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2020

In Israels April 2019 election, the main parties running to the right of Likud, including those that didnt make it past the threshold, garnered a total of 9.66 percent of the vote. In the September election, they received a grand total of 7.75 percent. In the recent March 2 election, their share was down to 5.66 percent of the vote. Within a year, the parties representing the religious right lost over 40 percemt of their support.

There are myriad personal, organizational and conjectural reasons for the dramatic crash of these parties, which aim to represent the interests of Jewish settlers in particular and religious-Zionist Israelis in general, but the leading factor is simple: They are no longer needed. Other than caring for proper funding for the religious-Zionist school network, these satellites of Likud have lost their purpose. The coalition agreement between Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz only highlights their redundancy.

For Israel and Palestine, annexation isn't the end of the world. Listen to Gideon Levy

Not only has their Weltanschauung been embraced by the right wing as a whole, and not only does Netanyahu and his Likud best represent their interests, but the Jewish settlers enjoy the unqualified support of a nationalist-clerical movement far more powerful and influential than Israels diminishing national-religious bloc: Christian evangelicals. When your lobby is a pivotal foundation of power and support for the president of the United States, religious-Zionist mainstays such as Yaminas Naftali Bennett or Ayelet Shaked, currently desperate to secure a spot in Netanyahus new cabinet, may seem a tad pathetic.

Its hard to overstate the extent and degree of Trumps reliance on evangelical voters. They are the ace of his base. A quarter of U.S. voters define themselves as white evangelicals. They gave Trump a whopping 76 to 19 percent advantage against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and seem on track to give him a similar push in 2020. In a Pew Research survey carried out in February, on the eve of the coronavirus outbreak, 81 percent of evangelicals said Trump fights for their cause: 76 percent said they agree with him on most issues; 69 percent said he was honest.

Trumps scandalous mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis makes his reliance on evangelicals absolute. Without their full and enthusiastic enlistment, up to and including the very last believer, not only does Trump stand a good chance of losing the swing states that enabled his victory in 2016, he could very well be beaten in longstanding Republican strongholds as well, including North Carolina and Texas, in which evangelicals comprise about a third of the voting public.

Which is why the very thought or hope that Trump will behave like a responsible statesman and stop the new Netanyahu government from annexing the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements in the West Bank is ludicrous. With a crumbling economy, an ongoing epidemic and the death of tens of thousands of Americans blamed on his mismanagement; with his back to the wall, polls in free fall and GOP colleagues starting to voice concerns about losing the Senate Trump wont dare disappoint his loyal evangelical legions. They want annexation, and annexation they will get.

Trump wont be deterred by the threat of Palestinian violence, the danger of rupture with Jordan, protestations by Arab states or punishment of Israel by the European Union. Such trifles, as well as the future of the peace process and the fate of Israeli democracy, couldnt interest him less, even on the best of days. The only thing that interests Trump is Trump, especially when his fate and his legacy are hanging in the balance in the November 3 ballot.

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Even if Netanyahu, Gantz and their colleagues are deterred at the very last minute by the irreparable harm they are about to inflict on themselves, it will be too late. Theres no turning back. If Israel hesitates, Trump will compel it to annex. Instead of putting on the brakes, as his predecessors would, Trump will hit the gas pedal. Netanyahu, who owes his life to Trump, wont dare stop him or say no.

But for settlers, annexationists and other enemies of the two-state solution, the obvious question is: With friends like these, who needs Yamina?

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Trump won't just 'allow' Netanyahus West Bank annexation he'll force it - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on May 12, 2020

(May 8, 2020 / JNS) If there was ever any doubt as to whether the BDS movement against Israel was anti-Semitic, the COVID-19 pandemic has put that to rest.

The pandemic has brought with it a wave of anti-Semitismthat stretches the globe. Dubbed coronasemitism, anti-Semitic incidents related tothe virushave been reported in theUnited States,the United Kingdom,Australia,France and throughout the Middle East. These incidents reinforced the systemic anti-Semitism found in countries such asIranandTurkey, andevidencesthe broaderhistoryof Jews being scapegoated in times of trouble, whether it wasplagues and epidemics,financial crises or tragic events like9/11.

While the BDS campaign brands itself as a peaceful social-justice movement, its really a political movement whose members often peddle in anti-Semitism. Recent social-media posts from BDS supporters during the coronavirus crisis are virtually indistinguishable from those of white supremacistsand others who subscribe to Jewish conspiracy theories. Merely replace the word Jew for Zionist or Israel, and it becomes evident that the BDS movement traffics in classic anti-Semitic tropes, whether modern-day blood libels, ritual murder accusations or happy merchant characterizations. We see BDS supporters depicting Jewish Israelis as viruses and diseases, and pushing conspiracy theories of Israel and Jews profiting from the crisis, while rejoicing in Jewish Israeli deaths.

In the same spirit of Hitlers 1920 Salzburg speech, which spoke of Jewish contamination and Jews poisoning the nation,Abbas Hamideh, co-founder of the BDS organization Al-Awda, released a series of tweets characterizing Israel as a zionavirus citing Jewish complicityin the coronavirus pandemic, andcelebratingthe closure ofThe Jewish Chronicle, the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world that recently went into liquidationbefore it was saved by a donordue to the pandemic.

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AnotherproponentofBDSabsurdly accused Israel of faking cases, claiming that the Zionists are behind spreading covid19.

When white-supremacist leader David Duketweeted, Does President Donald Trump have coronavirus? Are Israeli and the Global Zionist elite up to their old tricks? aBDS supporterresponded, Israel itself is more dangerous for human species than corona virus.

This same user posited, in a reply to a tweet by conspiracy-theorist and Holocaust-denierDavid Icke that Israel is spreading the virus. The BDS supporter stated, Isnt it interesting that Israel is the only place they havent found even one single case of this virus, despite the thousands of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country more than 100,000 deaths.

Singling out the Israel, the worlds only Jewish state, for condemnation,Ariel Gold, national co-director of leading BDS organization CodePink tweeted: Israel is culpable for every coronavirus death in Gaza, deliberately ignoring the border that Gaza shares with Egypt and the restrictions Egypt imposes on the enclave as well.

Maria Cristina Gutierrez, another supporter of the boycott movement, posted on Facebook that in addition to being behind 9/11, zionista and the united states [] created this coronavirus in a lab.

There is a coronavirus killing babies in Palestine, the virus is called the Zionist state of Israel, she added.

BDS activistRatiba Tibou Abdessemed similarly labeled Israel a lethal virus and accused Israel of facilitating the spread of COVID-19.

Resurrecting the medieval Jewish blood libel, Ratiba has referred to Jews as bloodsuckers, questioned the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust,retweetedan article from a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust-denier blaming Orthodox Jews for the spread of the virus, and claimed that world Jewry was the boss of Washington, D.C.

Finally, Ratiba charged Israel with creating genetically modifying viruses designed to attack non-Jews.

On Facebook, BDS supporter Sabrina Porrasblamedthe United Zionist snakes for COVID-19. Ms. Porras had previously employed the classic conspiracy theory about theRothchilds(i.e., Jews) controlling the world, claiming in 2016 that they rigged the American presidential elections.

BDS supporter and English teacher Ramez Alashqar called Israeli soldiers the worst virus in the world.

And even though Israels synagogues have closed its doors in light of the pandemic, proud BDS activist Saskia Whitfielda member of a Facebook group called Did the Holocaust Really Happen?peddled the falsehood that the entire west is banned from meeting with more than 5-10 people, UK is only two! Yet I read yesterday that the synagogues in Zitrael are exempt from this rule could speed things up there.

Just as we have seen white supremacists rejoice in the number of Israeli cases and deaths in response to news of the first Israeli death due to COVID-19that of 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Aryeh EvenBDS supporters took to twitter to either celebrate or express their indifference:

The boycott movements nefarious attempt to hide their true motives by merely replacing the word Jew with Zionist in some of these instances is not only troubling, but also a form of gas-lighting, when95 percent of American Jews support Israel and thus Zionism.

Members of the BDS movement have a longdocumented historyof anti-Semitism, which is why theGerman Parliament, theFrench National Assembly, theAmerican Congress and aU.N. Special Rapporteurhave all condemned the movement. Yet boycott activists continue to spread their vitriol during this global crisis. At a time when the world needs to join together and put political differences aside, they prefer to sow division and corrode civility.

Earlier this month, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, admirably declared that we must collectively reject anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance and discrimination now. Now, more than ever, we need to hold those to account who do not heed his call.

Ari Ingel is the director of Creative Community for Peace, a nonprofit entertainment industry organization that represents a cross-section of the creative world dedicated to promoting the arts as a means to peace. Karys R. Oschin is the organizations manager of strategic research and writing.

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