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Milhouse: We have to go back to another President with a familiar middle name to find precedents for demands of TOTAL and ABSOLUTE fidelity by subordinates. I’m fairly familiar with the facts in this case and it is clear the transfer decision was a direct result of Dr. Brights insistence on using the objective criteria (as required under the appropriations bill language) in the allocation of BARDA grants. Reprogramming funds in response the the whims of a President (especially when all his own experts counsel against it) is contrary to HHS’ own guidelines. There is a process for reprogramming (that you probably are familiar with) that requires prior notice and consultation with the Chairs and ranking members of the relevant appropriations committees. That was not done here.
1. MAGA rallies….instead we have the Trumpkopf’s daily WH “Task Force Briefings” where he does the same circus show but with no live audience..
2. Asifahs for yidden to avoid the internet which now, even many frum mosdos have adopted for “distance learning”, and providing critical public health and life-saving information to the tzibur.
3. Double and triple parking on 13th Avenue and nearby shuls, and simcha halls
4. The Yellow Flag guys on Eastern Parkway
5. Uncle MoisheyLower Tuition”
A relatively high percentage, albeit among those who holdy by Rav Hadaya and other chashavuah rabbonim several decades ago who fervently argued in in favor of establishing a chag marking the establishment of the State of Israel. Similiar support for chag were expressed by Rav Meshulam Roth (a member of the Rabbanut) who wrote about the basis for a chag to celebrate the “geulah” for a large segment of the post-war jewish population in EY. For many rabbonim who held that creating a new chag was NOT contradicted by the Torah’s directive of “lo tosif” , saying hallel is a no-brainer.
For those with an historical interest, there was a great survey article in the Spring 1960 issue of TRADITION, where Rav Meyer Karlin presented an excellent summary of the halachic debate over the status of Yom ha’atzmaut and the arguments (pro and con) regarding the significance of their not being a singular “miracle” analagous to Chanukah etc.“The engagement is between the families”
Perhaps after consultation with the young woman and her fiance’. A couple can obviously speak and virtually meet (with or without the direct involvement of their mishpacha), make a decision on whether to marry and decide for themselves whether to find a rav willing to be mesader kiddushin under apprprriate guidelines. There will be soon B”YH plenty of time to hold a simcha when things return to some semblance of “normal”. Hopefully, their biggest problem will be find a simcha hall with an open date as all the delayed simchas are rescheduled.
Much hatzlacha in your search and stay healthy.Reb Yosef: Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully, other states will follow the NYS policy but my point was a more global concern. Insurance companies have substantial discretion to cancel policies for non-payment of premiums as long as they strictly adhere to the rules of the insured’s state. In most cases, that requires only one or two warning letters to the address on record, which sometimes may be an insurance broker or agent. Treat your insurance premiums like your home mortgage payment and don’t “assume” you have forbearance for a late payment unless you have confirmation in writing. A mistake can be very costly.
Millhouse: Several colleagues of Rick Bright (including former FDA Director Dr. Scott Gotleib who knows him very well) and industry research directors have all said he was an outstanding researcher with a great understanding of commercialization of new drugs. You don’t change fire chiefs in the middle of fighting a fire. He was “insubordinate” like so many others from the WH perspective, because he had the chutzpah to say that the stupidity of the Trumpkopfs rants at his daily WH press briefings should not influence funding decisions for clinical trials. That apparently upset some young “white house liason” at HHS who ordered him transferred. And yes, the lawyers he hired for the past 10 years have been rated as the top litigators in D.C. for the narrow issue he is raising. I suspect you would have hired a DWI lawyer to litigate a whistle blower lawsuit.
P.S. If you haven’t followed, the WH personnel office has been sending over its own Trump loyalists to monitor every agency in the role of “liaisons” for political conformance. They can overrule agency directors on personnel matters. Believe what you want.Most of us will be saying chatzi hallel on Yom Ha’atzmaut albeit without a minyan this year (except of course in parts of New Jersey with properly distanced porches).
Fire the messenger when you don’t like the message. Today, HHS removed Dr. Rick Bright the head of its Division that funds new and innovative vaccine research (called BARDA) for objecting to the priority being given to funds for the Trumpkopf’s favorite malaria drug cocktail for treating Covad 19 over other experimental drugs with equal or greater potential efficacy. So much for speaking truth to power. Tonight, at his news conference, he made the head of CDC grovel for stating that the virus would likely return in the Fall when the Trumpkop9f had predicted it “will be gone”….”disappear, as miraculously as it appeared”….etc.
Reb Yosef: Very helpful point. Does the CARE Act provision for deferring premiums with no penalty cover ALL forms of insurance and if so, for how long? I know that a number of insurance companies have offered to allow up to 60 or 90 day grace periods but I wasn’t aware that the statute mandated a blanket deferral for all life, health and P&C lines of coverage. Hopefully the statutory language is fairly broad and does not require individuals to affirmatively seek relief and demonstrate they have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
P.S. A number of auto insurance companies are reducing coverage premiums for 2-3 months since most of us are stuck at home with a rare driving trip to the supermarket. Some are even mailing our “refund” checks while others are crediting the amounts to remaining premiums due.RR44: You have likely confused apples, oranges and ‘levayos”. There have been substantially MORE than 3 deaths in Yerushalayim every week since the beginning of March when the virus pandemic spread rapidly through EY. For obvious reasons during this period, the number of confirmed deaths in Yerushalayim may have little correlation with the number of “levayahs” however that number is measured because many of the normal number of levayahs may include those who were niftar outside EY but are flown to EY for burial. Also, because of restrictions in place, many small graveside burials with only several family members attending may not be reported as a “levayah”. I wish you were right, but clearly the number of those who were niftar is considerably greater than three for any recent week.
CT Lawyer flags a related but critical issue that applies across ALL types of insurance. In these periods of financial stress on insurance companies, whether from claims related to life and health as well as property and casualty lines including storms, fires, business interruption etc. they seem even less forgiving regarding “LATE” payments for premiums and grace periods which may be as short as 15 days under some policies. They seem to be looking for any outs to cancel “out of market” policies and a late payment gives them the option to do so. Relying on third parties or brokers to make payments is a risk you need to consider and monitor payments carefully. For large employers, it may not be such a big issue but for smaller employers and those with challenging finances, its a disaster waiting to happen.
“There’s nothing wrong with the president mentioning something as a possible good thing. The president is there to give us hope”
Nothing “wrong” as long as he/she also gives us the full context of his “good things” and also provides the negatives or “bad things”. I’m not a big fan of Cuomo but every day at 11 AM he does exactly that……the good and the bad and lets you form your own judgement. Trump has been touting this malaria drug “cocktail” every day as a “gamechanger”, great results etc. leaving it up to the other experts on the podium to clean up after him by giving the warnings and downsides. When his own Veterans Administration comes out with an anecdotal report saying that more of its patients treated with this cocktail, DIED than those w/o the treatment and that report was all over the news networks (including FOX) and he ignores it and then claims to be unaware of it, you can see the dangers of being an uninformed “cheerleader”. I do hope this drug or one of the 15-20 others in clinical trials does work but STOP pushing just one unproven option that can kill many CV19 victims with coronary conditions. He can simply say that this and OTHER treatments are under study and we hope to have the clinical results soon.
Our gadolim, rabbonim and askanim are dropping lies flies and you guys are still debating the intricacies of “porch minyanim” ??? Hashem yarachem.
I’ll leave it to some of our resident experts on bio-statistics (aka Charlie Hall and others) to comment on the malaria drugs the President has been hyping for Corona 19. Aside from the anecdotal Veterans Hospital study released today, a Task Force of 12 federal agencies issued guidelines that said there is NO proven drug for treating Corona 19 and the various Malaria Drugs should only be used in the context of a supervised clinical study.
I don’t know anything about this “Dr. Brownstein and other holistic practitioners other than ANYONE who claims “a 100% success rate” for ANY novel viral infection is either treating a statistically insignificant (or skewed) sample or lacks the diagnostic skills to make such a claim.h
Not sure why you think life insurance is an “inexpensive” benefit to offer. It might be for a cheder or yeshiva katanah most of whose teachers/assistants are drawn from a younger and healthier demographic, Conversely, some of the yeshivos, kolels etc. employ fairly large numbers of older rebbeim (and moros in some BY’s) where even term insurance premiums may be more costly. Perhaps there could be some centralized purchasing entitiy where the risk pool would be larger and the underwriting for a more age-diverse demographic would lead to lower premiums. Another option used by some secular groups is to offer a “cafeteria program” of benefits where professional employees and staff can choose from a menu of options, including insurance within a given dollar range. In some cases, there are benefits to opting for insurance in lieu of direct salary dollars but each individual case is different and thus the cafeteria plans offer more flexibility. I’m sure we have some CR readers who are more knowledgeable about life insurance and can provide more informed advice.
Porch minyanim have become the yiddeshe version of the right wing “rebellion” against opening up the bars and beaches. Perhaps if some of this energy were focused on assisting first responders and front-line health workers we might ALL be able to return to some semblance of normalcy sooner than later. Certain issues become the obsession of a small cadre of the tzibur determined to manifest the “freedom” and “liberty’. We all want to get back to normal, but some seem more willing to do so by walking over the bodies of the elderly and infirm whose lives are at some incremental risk by premature relaxation of the social distancing rules that have been shown to work.
If you google the term “cycling in Rockland County” you will find 2 or 3 sites listing the multiple trails that are reasonably close. The New York social distancing rules do not prohibit biking or close any bike trails, although in most parts of the state, local governments may restrict groups of bikers that don’t live under the same roof from clustering.
“Many people have literally not stepped out of the house for over a month. (Yes, they’re allowed to go for walks, but won’t for whatever reason.)”
It doesn’t have to be a matter of extremes. I’m not sure what you mean that some individuals won’t go outside (with a mask and keeping away from crowds) for “whatever reason”? Obviously, they have to shop periodically, unless home food delivery is a lot more widespread and efficient in the NYC area than I’ve heard. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. A gradual transition to getting out makes sense. Hiding out in your apartment for months and than suddenly waking up one morning and hearing an “all clear” siren ain’t gonna happen. We are fortunate to live in an area where we can get out daily for an hour or so to walk/bike w/o having to deal with crowds but even in the more densely populated areas of the City there are still options if you care. For those very few with issues of depression etc., it might be a bigger challenge to get motivated. However, my reaction to the original topic of this thread dealing with summer camps is still the same. Unlikely to happen for most who are fairly risk averse given where we are now regarding infection rates, rapid testing capability, treatment protocols and what the experts are predicting. for these measures over the next several months.
YadleYad: Note that in EY, they will begin allowing OUTSIDE minyanim this week for up to 10 daveners with masks distanced as necessary. I’m not sure how you will get younger kids in a camp setting to follow such guidelines inside and out of their bunks within 60 days from now absent some breakthrough in vaccinations and testing. I’m sure there will be some parents willing to take some risk this summer just to get the kids out of the house, assuming the public health authorities upstate are willing. I’m wondering, however, how anxious Sullivan County will tradeoff the perceived health risks with the economic benefits that flow from yidden from NYC and their kids arriving in two months. Presumably, any relaxation of social distancing limits will be done on a statewide basis with some regional variations so not clear the towns and counties will individually have much control.
Sad that even after the most conservative gadolim and askanim have finally internalized the critical need for everyone to rigorously comply with the distancing and other guidelines, there still are some mindless yidden whining about the kids being home and looking for ways to circumvent the rules. What do these folks have between their ears??
If you want to see the future, watch the current WH briefing where in the course of 15 minutes he has contradicted himself repeatedly on just about every issue related to the virus. Yesterday, he insisted each governor should decide how to implement the guidelines for “reopening” their economies. Today he tweeted support for protestors against those governors. And now he just denied that he ever tweeted what is still on Twitter.
Perhaps time for the 25th Amendment?? Can we wait for Inaugeration day??badly. Perhaps lock himself in bedroom and not come out until inauguration day.
If you go on Netflix, you will probably find a half dozen grade B scifi movies about pandemics originating among a fish market in China or among chickens at a kapors pop up site in Bnai Brak. There was nothing especially “suspect” about the Gates Foundation and Gates having previously done what are called “table top” or simulation exercises about pandemics.
Dr. Birx at one of the early WH Task Force briefings before yom tov had observed that the few data streams they had so far from other countries showed younger children seemed to have the lowest infection rate of the various age groups although subsequent data here in the U.S. indicated that even children can become seriously ill and die from CV. She has stressed that NONE of these anecdotal studies are definitive. At this point, we have tested less than 1 percent of the U.S. population and most of those were symptomatic individuals in the upper age brackets.
New minhagim on “greetings” will be the least of our problems going forward. I think many are underestimating the changes that will be necessary for the near term in many aspects of our daily lives, some of which may be temporary changes and others, long-term. Does anyone really anticipate 80,000 yidden packing into MetLife stadium later this year to hear about the evils of the internet? Maybe they could do a “virtual asifah on Zoom”.
More seriously, there will be substantial challenges to many Mosdos that will have to deal with newly imposed costs at a time that revenues and fundraising will be challenged. More spacing and social separation, even in the short term, will require physical changes to facilities and possibly lower limits on attendance in schools and Simcha halls. New protocols in medical and dental offices will have costs as will more frequent testing and vaccinations (assuming we have one available next year). Even grocery stores may limit their “fresh” produce options and salad bars and move towards more pre-packaged foods and produce to limit handling. These all come at a cost.Several camps have already said they will be closed this summer but most are deferring any final decision until the next 2 weeks when the federal and state governments issues their new guidelines on social distancing and group activities. Even if they do reopen, some parents are likely to keep their kids at home this summer in an abundance of caution. The good news is that the incidence of infection is very low for younger kids and they generally seem to bounce back quickly. However, as any parent knows, it is very difficult to impose public health guidelines when they are under constant supervision, much less when they are with the chevrah in camp.
All conspiracy theories aside, there will never be definitive proof that China caused the virus albeit clearly responsible for the delay in communicating its severity. It may be entertaining to discussing reneging on PRC held debt but that also will never happen. What we should be doing is taking steps now, including some already proposed by the Administration, to reduce our reliance on China across all segments of the supply chain. Otherwise, enjoy your theoretical debate over what we might do in some imaginary world.
Couch: You say “once its OVER”….I’m not sure what that means since the virus is not going away. It will be substantially MITIGATED once we have both a vaccine with high efficacy (about 15-18 months away according to every expert except the Trumpkopf) and a real time ability to test and contact trace. Right now we have tested less than 1 percent of the population and public health officials acknowledge they the resources to do meaningful contact tracing.)
Yes, b’yh, we will return to some degree of normalcy but there will be some common sense changes in our behavior even after we have vaccines and testing.Forshayer: I suspect that for the indefinite future, we would be showing MORE kovod to our rabbonim and gadolim (as well as one another) by foregoing handshakes, kissing the hands, hugging etc. and simply engaging in a slight bow of the head or other non-contact recognition.
Media has it right an wrong. he was very slow to acknowledge the crisis but once the seriousness of the threat was finally internalized, he probably has done as well as any politician could have done to mobilize a dysfunctional federal government to respond. I wish he would suspend his constant need for adulation during the crisis (25 percent of the time at the daily Corona news conferences are wasted on useless statistics w/o any context and genuflection by his minions) but overall he media should stop looking backwards on what could have been done better. We are where we are, for better or worse.
If we are back to some semblance of “normal” within a few weeks, than Trump will clearly be the winner and they might as well cancel the election. If this drags on to the Summer, Joe can start measuring the Oval Office for new draperies.
Reb Yosef is correct: Kissing the Rebbe’s hand is a lot more efficient way of spreading any infectious disease rather than simply shaking hands.
In reality, there will obviously be real changes in salutation and recognition behaviors, at lease for the near-term. There are many ways to show kovod for your rebbe, w/o direct physical contact. That is just as much for the Rebbe’s well-being as your own.
Reducing our reliance on China for essential materials, ranging from the key ingredients for most of our drugs, a large percentage of our personal protective gear (masks, gowns, etc), rare earth materials essential to our technologies etc. is a no brainer and this pandemic will hopefully accelerate those steps. However, it is really not realistic to demand that China “pay” for the pandemic as politically attractive as that might sound to some on the far right and far left. In fact, we may need China to help finance the massive increase in U.S. deficits by purchasing even more bonds from the U.S. Treasury in the next year or two.
It is impossible to have zero public access to your lives and personal information. However, 90 percent of what is available online about you is information you have affirmatively placed in the public domain, perhaps without knowing it. There are multiple ways to minimize your public profile if you choose to use them
No evidence that it would. Closest real “experiment” is current practice in Sweden. Herd immunity, to the extent it is effective, varies considerably by virus and there is zero long-term information on CV19/.
Sam……in many families, the wives share interesting verts with their husbands….
Hope you have a chag sa’maach and why don’t you share with us some creative thoughts you heard curing the sedorim from your wife/daughters motzi yom tov.
Wolf: As noted previously, in addition to your Rav,
There is nothing funny about kiddush club.
Especially now.
Commonseychal: Your accusation against Chymee is itself a manifestation of sinas chinam and lashon haroh.
Given that brisket is still a relatively fatty/high cholesterol meat, even after cooking, a 4oz to 6oz portion should be plenty for a typical adult, ex=specially since you are likely to have a number of other dishes at the seder. Also, the brisket gravy itself is typically fatty if you allow the meat to “lose” its fat into the sauce while cooking and not skim it afterwards. Clearly, the fortunate younger folks or those with great metabolism and no cardio/health concerns can eat considerably more.
Chag kosher, vasameach u’bataovon!!The “lockdown” will obviously continue, albeit to a less restrictive set of rules, at least through the summer months. While they will take a economic hit, the year-round residents of the upstate counties, including many yidden, will NOT want to see a caravan of potential virus carriers heading up the NYS Thruway to the summer camps and bungalow colonies. Parents should now be planning how they will keep the yinglach occupied this summer and hopefully the yeshivos will reopen after the yamim noraim.
There is now documented evidence that in rare cases (a very strong/deep cough or sneeze) the viral droplets could be propelled up to 20 feet. Again, this is rare but we all know that we sometimes unexpectedly have such a cough/sneeze which has much greater “strength” and even if standing 6 feet away, could infect others.
Reb Elieizer: Sadly, this year, there will be no ayin to be mares…..the only ones at the seder are those already in the home who will know how it was cooked… For future years, hopefully moisiach will be around so we won’t be eating “chicken”. after the geulah.