Nearing Its 50th Year, Laniado Hospital Looks Back On A Lifesaving Legacy
Approaching its 50th anniversary, Laniado Hospital – Sanz Medical Center reflects on five decades...
Approaching its 50th anniversary, Laniado Hospital – Sanz Medical Center reflects on five decades...
National Security Adviser John Bolton was wont to point out that the BDS movement was just a continuation of the United Nations resolution equating “Zionism with racism.” One of John Bolton’s greatest achievements was striking down that despicable and blatantly anti-Semitic canard that had lasted 19 years before Bolton came to town. We are still waiting for the day that the BDS movement is finally laid to rest. I know Bolton and the president are doing everything they can to make that happen. Unfortunately, there are universities and colleges like Swarthmore that keep propping it up. In March, the Swarthmore College student leaders voted to support the BDS movement. A pro-BDS dean was almost chosen at Dartmouth.
It is an honor and a privilege to write about great individuals, especially those who’ve tremendously impacted my own life and politics. Joe Mermelstein was one such individual. It is not a coincidence that his third yahrtzeit takes place on the very same day that his friend, his colleague, and his prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is up for re-election on April 9. Joe, if he were still alive, would be the first to pay for 747s to fly Israeli citizens living in America to Israel to make sure to vote in the election (of course, he would not tell them who to vote for, but they would know). He was a man of action. He was not a talker. He was a doer. He made me president of American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, and for that I am forever grateful. His life spanned most of the 20th century and was devoted to the Jewish people, his family, and his business. His story is truly an impressive history lesson.
At the end of any president’s term in office, we are able to look back and determine if they have delivered on the promises that they made when running for the position. President Joe Biden made many such promises while running for president - perhaps none more important that bringing the country closer together. After the divisiveness that has plagued us for the last four years (and let’s be honest, that was building for the previous sixteen), all Americans want right now is to feel like a country again. Sure, we may disagree on healthcare, foreign affairs, gun control, and a myriad of other policy-related topics, but if we can’t just accept that there are those who disagree with us without condemning them as morally depraved communists, or racist nutjobs, we are lost as a country. It is therefore with utmost imperativeness that President Biden succeed in uniting the country. And here’s how he can do it.
If history would have taught us anything, this question would be ridiculous. It was only about 85 years ago when white people were trying to wipe out Jews specifically for not being white. Obviously, there are other groups of people who fall under this category – Italians and Irish, just to name two. But in today’s day and age, the question needs to be answered. And for the ease of argument, let’s say that we are talking about all Jews. Ashkenazi, Sefardi, chasidic, Litvish, Orthodox, Reform, unaffiliated – all Jews regardless of whether we keep Shabbos, eat rice on Pesach, or have really long curls of hair tucked behind our ears. Are we white?
Breaking down 7 of the biggest talking points of the current BLM saga
In the wake of the tragic event in Minneapolis, where a police officer murdered a defenseless black man, we are now in the second national crisis of 2020. And just like the last one, there are a lot of arguments out there being made from all sides of the political aisle. I would like to take the opportunity to go through some of the less compelling arguments I’ve heard and explain why it’s a bad point. Of course, this will not be all-encompassing, so I apologize if I leave out your favorite.
Remember the Occupy movement? You, know, that 2011 protest wherein a group of people held a sit-in for a number of days to remind the world that people who earn less than $500,000 a year existed? Or what about Black Lives Matter? That was pretty popular for a couple of years. March For Our Lives? The protest against the gun lobby? Or what about the Tea Party? Remember that movement of Conservatives and Libertarians to fight for a smaller federal government and a reduction of the national debt? What ever happened to these movements? You hardly hear about them anymore. Well, the truth is that they all faded over time. That’s what happens with fads. You are able to catch lightning in a bottle, exploit it for a time, and eventually the novelty fades. The truth is that all of these “movements” still exist. They have founders, heads, and websites, and still are involved in activism - albeit not necessarily the activism with which they started. But by and large, these movements go by the way of the fidget spinner – the interest decreases over time.