Twenty Years Later: 9-11 Remembered By Saul Jay Singer and What's My Line? - Jack Lemmon; William Shatner & K Carlisle and Israeli Study: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Reverses Signs of Alzheimer’s & Dementia By Hana Levi Julian and "Motty Shteinmetz-Avinu Malkeinu-"Tzama and Rabbi Schwartz Terrible Train Jokes and These Unvaccinated 10% Fuel Israel's COVID Crisis
Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.
What do you call a locomotive that keeps sneezing? A choo choo train
All the ladies in town seemed to have a crush on the new train conductor. They say he's quite at-track-tive. Train drivers are quite clever and known for their engine-uity
Three Jews and three gentiles are traveling by train to a conference. At the station, the three gentiles each buy tickets and watch as the three Jews buy only a single ticket." How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?" asks one of the gentiles."Watch and you'll see," answers a Jew. They all board the train. The gentiles take their respective seats but all three Jews cram into a restroom and close the door behind them. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the restroom door and says, "Ticket, please." The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on. The gentiles saw this and agreed it was quite a clever idea. So after the conference, the gentiles decide to copy the Jews on the return trip and save some money. When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the Jews don't buy a ticket at all." How are you going to travel without a ticket?" says one perplexed gentile."Watch and you'll see," answers a Jew. When they board the train the three gentiles cram into a restroom and the three Jews cram into another one nearby. The train departs. Shortly afterward, one of the Jews leaves his restroom and walks over to the restroom where the gentiles are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, "Ticket, please."
Moshe is waiting on the platform at the station. He notices a Jewish man standing nearby and asks him for the time. But the man ignores him. Moshe then asks him again, and the man responds in the same way. Frustrated, Moshe asks "Excuse me, but I've asked you for the time twice, why are you ignoring me"Suddenly, the man looks up and says, "We're both waiting for the train, if I answer you, then when we get on the train you will come and sit next to me, we will probably start talking, and I may invite you to my house for Shabbat, there you will meet my daughter, you will probably like her, you may eventually want to marry her, and to be honest with you, WHY WOULD I WANT A SON IN LAW WHO CAN'T AFFORD A WATCH?"
On his way to work one morning, Nathan arrives at Penn station a bit early. While he's waiting for his train, he notices a new machine on the platform. The sign on it says it's a state-of-the-art talking weighing machine. So, Nathan stands on it, puts in a $1 bill and the machine says, "You weigh 160 pounds and you are Jewish." Nathan can't believe what he's just heard. So, he gets on it again and inserts another $1 bill. "You weigh 160 pounds; you are Jewish and you're waiting for the 7:35 am train to take you to your job at the Bank." He is totally shocked, but he's determined to beat the machine. He goes into the men's room, ruffles up his hair, puts on a pair of dark sunglasses, removes his tie, takes off his jacket and drapes it over his arm, and puts a first aid plaster on his chin. He then goes back outside, steps on the machine, and puts in another $1. The machine instantly says, "You're still Jewish and weigh 160 pounds. You're also a shlimazel, you just missed your train."
What's the difference between a teacher and a train? The teacher says, "Spit out your gum," but a train says, "Chew chew!"
My boss yelled at me the other day, "You've got to be the worst train driver in history. How many trains did you derail last year?"I said, "Can't say for sure, it's so hard to keep track!
"/"Motty Shteinmetz-Avinu Malkeinu-"Tzama
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
Israeli Study: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Reverses Signs of Alzheimer's & Dementia By Hana Levi Julian
A team of investigators from Tel Aviv University (TAU) has succeeded in reducing brain trauma by hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). This is the first time that non-drug therapy has been proven effective in preventing the core biological processes responsible for the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Using a specific HBOT protocol, cerebral blood flow improved or increased in elderly patients by 16-23 percent, alleviating vascular dysfunction and amyloid burden.
The study, part of a comprehensive research program directed toward aging and accompanying ailments as a reversible disease, holds promise for a new strategic approach to the prevention of Alzheimer's by addressing the core pathology and biology responsible for the development of the disease.
The study was conducted under the leadership of a team of TAU investigators that included Professor Shai Efrati, Professor Uri Ashery, Dr. Ronit Shapira, Dr. Pablo Blinder, and Dr. Amir Hadanny. All of them are members of TAU's Sagol School of Neuroscience and the faculties of Life Sciences and Medicine, as well as associates of the Shamir Medical Center.
The findings of the breakthrough study were published in the journal Aging.
Hyperbaric medicine is a form of therapy that requires patients to be kept in special chambers in which the atmospheric pressure is much higher than that normally experienced at sea level. In addition, they breathe air composed of 100 percent oxygen.
Hyperbaric medicine is considered safe and already is used to treat an extensive list of medical conditions. In recent years, scientific evidence has indicated that unique protocols of hyperbaric therapy are capable of inducing the repair of damaged brain tissue and renewing growth of blood vessels and nerve cells in the brain.
The first stage of the study was carried out on an animal model, in the course of which it was proven conclusively through examination of brain tissues that a certain therapeutic protocol brings about an improvement in vascular function and the creation of new blood vessels.
The protocol also prevents the deposit of new amyloid plaques on the brain cells and even leads to the removal of existing amyloid plaque deposits. Deposits of such non-soluble amyloid proteins in the brain are connected with severe degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.
At the next stage, the effects of the treatment were examined for people above the age of 65 with cognitive decline, with an emphasis on memory loss, a stage preceding Alzheimer and Dementia.
The therapy included a series of 60 HBOT sessions in pressure chambers over a period of 90 days. The effects on the brain were evaluated by high resolution perfusion MRI. The hyperbaric treatment protocol gave rise to increased blood flow in the range of 16 to 23 percent, significant improvements in memory by 16.5 percent on average, and significant improvements in attention and information processing speed.
"By studying and treating Alzheimer's disease in the animal model, we can implement our findings to include humans as well," Professor Ashery explains.
"After a series of hyperbaric treatments, elderly patients who were already suffering from memory loss showed an improvement of blood flow to the brain, as well as a real improvement in cognitive performance.
"Consequently, we succeeded in demonstrating the latent potential of hyperbaric medicine for treatment of neurologic conditions that originate from a deficiency of oxygen reaching the cells."
"This breakthrough was enabled thanks to a new research approach that employs multi-photon microscopes," Dr. Blinder says. "This allowed us to follow up improvements in indices taken from animal models before and after each chamber treatment. At the same time, we check blood vessel diameters and the formation of amyloid plaques in their brains."
"The combination of an animal model from which we could learn the pathology of the disease, together with existing and available therapy, raises the hope that we will now be able to fight one of the greatest challenges to the western world," Dr. Shapira adds. "According to our findings, hyperbaric therapy given at a young age is likely to prevent this severe disease entirely."
"By treating the root problem that causes cognitive deterioration with age, we are in fact mapping out the way to prevention," Professor Efrati said.
"It is likely that hyperbaric medicine can potentially provide the opportunity for living with good brain function without relating to chronological age.
"The idea is to commence therapy before the onset of clinical symptoms of dementia and before deterioration and loss of extensive brain tissue. This is the stage at which blood vessels become occluded and the blood flow and the oxygen supply to the brain are diminished — a phenomenon that can already take place at a relatively early age."
What's My Line? - Jack Lemmon; William Shatner & K Carlisle
Here's another rare episode that includes the original commercials, thanks to a second, unedited copy provided by epaddon. I preserved as much as possible of my original copy due to its somewhat higher a/v quality. Of special interest is the restored material starting around 27:15. There's an extra bit of John giving his spiel instructing viewers on how to contact the show. Being able to restore the old commercials is nice enough, but here we have almost a minute of extra pure, undiluted John Charles Daly, actual new WML content that's never been seen on GSN! MYSTERY GUEST: Jack Lemmon PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, William Shatner, Kitty Carlisle, Bennett Cerf
It is still dark in the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 8, 1981, as I slip quietly out of the house to travel to New York City, where I will daven atop the World Trade Center and watch the daily miracle of the sun slowly rising over the city in all its glory. But this particular sunrise is special: This morning, I will be joining Jews all over the world in reciting Birkat Hachamah, the most infrequent of all Jewish prayers. It is recited only once every 28 years, on the day when the sun completes a 28-year solar cycle and returns to the precise position in the firmament where it was initially established by G-d on the fourth day of Creation.
I take the elevator up to the Observation Deck with my fellow Jews, each silently carrying his tallit and tefillin and lost in thought. It is almost impossible not to be deeply moved by both the wonder and the rarity of this mitzvah. When we step out on the deck, there is just the glimmer of light appearing over the East River, but no sight of the sun yet.
Entrance ticket to Birkat Hachamah services at the World Trade Center (April 8, 1981)Advertisement
The davening began at 6:30 a.m. sharp, and it remains one of those tefillot that I will never forget. It turned out to be a remarkably beautiful day, with the guest of honor making its appearance right on schedule and dazzling one and all. My only regret is that I forgot to take my camera, so the sights of that day will have to live on only in my memory. Fortunately, however, I did manage to hold on to what has become a remarkable keepsake of that morning: displayed here is what may well be the only surviving admission ticket to the 1981 Birkat Hachamah services atop the World Trade Center, sponsored by the Wall Street Synagogue. I still get a chill whenever I look at it.
After the service, nobody seemed to want to leave. Some of the older men were telling grand tales of where they were and what it was like attending previous Birkat Hachamah ceremonies. But the story that I will never forget was told by a 92-year-old white-bearded rabbi, who merited to attend his fourth (!) such service. He described in detail how, as an eight-year-old, he was awakened in the middle of the night to join his family and all the Jews in his little town in Czechoslovakia as they walked together in the dark down to the river, where they stood in the morning chill waiting for the sun. As he shut his piercing grey eyes and began chanting a portion of the service from memory, we could all sense that he was actually transported back there through time and space . . . and the best part was that he was taking us with him.
Before leaving for my office, I pondered the famous thought expressed by the Aruch La-ner, Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger, upon reciting Birkat Hachamah in 1841: "How much the world has changed since I pronounced this praise for G-d's creation 28 years ago, and how will it look another 28 years from now?" I remember thinking, "With G-d's help, wherever in the world I happen to be in April 2009, I will do anything and everything within my power to return here to experience this again. Then, I will be the "senior citizen" (well, almost) who can tell the others what it was like to stand atop the World Trade Center 28 years ago, and I will tell them the story of the grey-eyed rabbi from Czechoslovakia . . .
As we now all know, it was not to be. And the world did, indeed, look a lot different in 2009. For one thing, the World Trade Center was gone.
*****
Original artwork for Israel's World Trade Center Memorial stamp (issued February 11, 2003)
Israel's reaction to the events of September 11, 2001, was immediate, unambiguous, and precisely what one would expect from a close friend: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a national day of mourning in solidarity with the United States. Shown here is a lovely and remarkable rarity, the artist's original drawing for Israel's "World Trade Center Memorial" stamp (issued February 11, 2003) and signed by its designer, Michael Gross.
Israel went on to build the 9-11 Living Memorial Plaza Cenotaph, which is the only monument outside of the United States to list the names of all the victims of the 9-11 attacks, to remember and honor America and the victims of the attack. Designed by award-winning artist Eliezer Weishoff, the monument was commissioned by the Jewish National Fund at a cost of $2 million.
Attendees at the poignant inauguration ceremony, which was held on November 12, 2009, included The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, James B. Cunningham; members of Congress; former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; members of the Israeli Cabinet and legislature and other dignitaries; and family members of the murdered victims. A delegation from the Israel Fire and Rescue Services attended to pay respect to their New York City counterparts who perished as heroes on that tragic day. The monument stands as a testament to Israel's kinship with the United States and its sense of shared pain with the American people.
Strategically located within view of Jerusalem's main cemetery, Har HaMenuchot, it was constructed on the slopes of Cedar Valley Park in the Arazim Valley of Ramot, Jerusalem. Made of granite, bronze and aluminum and measuring 30 feet, it takes the form of an American flag, waving and transforming into a flame at the tip. The folded part of the flag was designed to evoke memories of the collapse of the towers in a cloud of dust, and the flag morphs into a six-meter-high memorial flame representative of a torch. An actual shard of molten steel from the ruins of the Twin Towers forms part of the base on which the monument rests, and a glass pane over the metal facilitates viewing. The names of the victims are embedded on the metal plate and placed on the circular wall, including the five Israeli citizens who were murdered that day: Alona Avraham, Daniel Mark Lewin, Hagay Shefi, Leon Libor, and Shai Levinhar, a"h.
Israel 9-11 Living Memorial Plaza First Day Cover (issued April 14, 2010)
On April 14, 2010, Israel issued a postage stamp depicting the 9-11 Living Memorial Plaza as a further tribute to the World Trade Center victims. Shown here is an Israel First Day Cover franked with the stamp, which is inscribed, in both English and Hebrew: "Jerusalem's tribute to New York World Trade Center Victims." As the official flyer issued by the Israeli postage authorities accompanying the release of the stamp so beautifully concludes: "The dust has settled and we have survived, we live, we remember."
Following the October 27, 2018, Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, the JNF erected a stone plaque listing the names of the 11 victims of that attack adjacent to the 9-11 Memorial Plaza.
*****
The most prevalent anti-Semitic 9-11 conspiracy theory at the time was that 4,000 Israelis received advance warning not to report for work at the World Trade Center on September 11. One of the best-known public leaders promulgating this hateful drivel was then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who announced in an August 2010 speech that not a single Zionist had been killed in the attacks because, he claimed, they had been advised a day earlier not to report to work on 9-11.
The origins of this "4,000" figure is believed to be a September 12, 2001, on-line edition of the Jerusalem Post, which stated that "The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been in the areas of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attacks." Conspiracy theorists disingenuously transformed this unambiguous statement regarding Jews in the area of the attacks into Jews who did not report to work on 9-11 and Syria's government-owned newspaper, Al Thawra, is believed to be the first to make the "4,000 Jews" claim.
In fact, a substantial number of Jews died on 9-11. A survey of the 1,700 victims whose religion was listed found that approximately 170 were Jewish which, interestingly, tracks closely with the percentage of Jews amongst the population living in the New York area (10 percent). A survey of 390 Cantor Fitzgerald employees for whom public memorials were held (out of the 658 who died) found that 49 were Jewish, and one Manhattan synagogue alone lost six of its members in the attacks.
Moreover, not only was Israel not behind the deadly assault, but it provided valuable advance intelligence to the United States about the impending attack. In July 2001, the Mossad provided the CIA with a list of 19 terrorists living in the United States and warned that they appear to be planning an imminent attack against the U.S.
Snopes, regarded (deservedly or not) as perhaps the most trusted debunkers of conspiracy theories on the Internet, published a piece in which it methodically debunked the "4,000 Jews" or "4,000 Israelis" claim. Apoplectic haters took particular umbrage at Snopes's conclusion that the claim "scarcely merits the dignity of a rebuttal" and that "plenty of anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, and anti-Israeli groups are eager to use the horrors of September 11 as fodder for propaganda to serve their own political ends."
In Decade of Deceit: Antisemitic 9/11 Conspiracy Theories 10 Years Later, the ADL analyzed the conspiracy theories that continue to circulate regarding Israel's alleged role in the 9-11 attacks. It found that the most strident of these continuing conspiracists are not white supremacists and anti-Semitic leftists, as one might have expected, but rather the vociferous opponents of "Israel's war against Muslims." What has remained constant, however, are claims that Jews and Israel were responsible for planning and implementing the attacks. As the theory now goes, Jewish-American officials in the Bush administration conspired with the Mossad well before 9-11 to orchestrate the invasion of Iraq and to facilitate the ability of the United States and Israel to seize control of the important resources there.
The great irony, of course, is that on September 11, 2001, there were sensational celebrations taking place in the Palestinian territories and even in the U.S. For years, the media bitterly attacked President Trump for his declaration that he watched a television broadcast of Palestinians/Arabs in Jersey City, with a population of 15,000 Muslims, celebrating as the World Trade Center came down. In fact, the president was correct, although he may have been mistaken about the number of celebrants. For example, in a September 18, 2001, article, the Washington Post wrote that "law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river." The Jewish Press, meanwhile, published a photograph on its front page showing one such celebration in New Jersey.
Footage of the Palestinian celebration in East Jerusalem was aired by several news sources, including CNN and Reuters. Palestinian, leftist and other media outlets quickly circulated the false claim that the footage, which they claimed had been filmed ten years earlier, actually depicted Palestinians celebrating the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. However, that widely disseminated claim was emphatically debunked by CNN and Reuters, who guaranteed the authenticity of the films.
On September 12, 2001, Fox News reported that some 3,000 Palestinians had celebrated the 9/11 attacks by parading through the streets of Nablus in the West Bank, which was filmed by an Associated Press freelance cameraman but – surprise! – was never published because the Palestinian Authority detained the videographer and threatened his life. On NBC, Katie Couric – no friend of Israel, to say the least – said, "These are Palestinian celebrations in the wake of the terror attacks in the United States. Palestinians took to the streets saying [Allah] is great. People were throwing candy and distributing candy to passers-by."
In describing the video, Fox News reported that "The V sign for victory being displayed in East Jerusalem today among jubilant Palestinians that the United States had been subject to this attack. We're seeing people applauding, clapping, smiling, happy to know that thousands of Americans have died in this sneak attack."
Although, 20 years later, the media still refuse to air those clips of Palestinian rapture regarding the murder of 2,977 Americans, here is the television ad that I have always wanted to produce using those powerful images:
THE SCENE: There is joyous pandemonium in the streets. People of all ages are screaming and yelling with joy, children are dancing in wild circles, women are ululating, expressions of sheer ecstasy on their faces.
VOICE OVER (dryly): "These people are happy."
As the scene continues, adults are shown giving candy to children, makeshift musicians pick up a happy tune, guns are fired into the air, and the revelry continues.
VOICE OVER: These people are very happy."
The scene continues with more of the same, as the camera pulls back and pans the entire town, and now many thousands of celebrants may be seen.
VOICE OVER: "But what are they celebrating? Why are they so joyous?"
As the festivities continue, the following blurry words appear at the top of the screen, which slowly come into sharp focus and crystal clarity: "Palestinian Territories, September 11, 2001."
The scene then morphs into a shot of a plane slamming into the World Trade Center.
FADE TO BLACK.
These Unvaccinated 10% Fuel Israel's COVID Crisis
In Israel, COVID is fast becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated: Of the 644 patients in serious condition on Tuesday, 73 percent were from the small population of eligible Israelis who had not received any shots
Unvaccinated adults now account for the majority of severe COVID-19 cases and fatalities in Israel, with over six of every 10 new severe cases recorded on Tuesday linked to this group.
Around 15 percent of eligible Israelis over the age of 12 (some 1,105,000 people) are still unvaccinated. Of this group, 10 percent (755,000 people) are over the age of 20 and constitute nearly all of the country's serious cases and deaths.
According to Health Ministry data, 63 percent of 57 new serious cases on Tuesday were completely unvaccinated, while 12 had received two shots and nine had gotten a booster. Overall, there are 644 patients in serious condition, of whom 472 (73 percent) were unvaccinated; 123 patients had received two shots, while 49 had received a booster.
As of Wednesday, the ministry had only one serious case under the age of 20 listed on its official data.
The most prominent common denominator among seriously ill patients currently filling up Israel's coronavirus wards and intensive care units is that they are not vaccinated against COVID. Most of them are drawn from among the roughly 240,000 unvaccinated Israelis between the ages of 40 and 60. A smaller portion of seriously ill patients come from the 400,000 unvaccinated people aged between 20 and 40.
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Forty-seven coronavirus patients are currently on ECMO machines, which replace the function of the heart and lungs and are used in the most serious cases where lives are in danger. No one with all three doses of the vaccine is currently on an ECMO machine. Of the patients on ECMO machines, 43 (91 percent) are unvaccinated, while only two have received the first two shots.
ECMO machines are a very limited resource that require a large number of personnel, placing a heavy load on the system and often requiring the closing or restricting of the number of beds in other hospital units. A significant number of the cases attached to ECMO machines are unvaccinated young people, which has provoked criticism and anger among medical personnel – some of whom have termed their patients "COVID fools."
Over the past week, 129 Israelis have died of COVID. 65 percent were totally unvaccinated, 26 percent partially vaccinated (one or two doses) and 8 percent were fully vaccinated with a booster shot.
Prof. Eyal Leshem, director of the Center for Travel Medicine and Tropical Diseases at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, said such numbers could be used in misleading ways if one doesn't take into consideration that the vaccinated constitute the overwhelming bulk of the population.
"You can't really look at the total number of deaths and say what proportion is unvaccinated, because that doesn't give you the whole picture because most people are vaccinated," he said, pointing out that over half of all COVID deaths come from a small portion of the population.
Instead of looking at raw numbers, he recommended looking at comparative death rates per capita, which show the relative risks according to age and vaccination status.
According to Health Ministry data for the past week, the death rate among unvaccinated people over the age of 60 stood at 6.3 per 100,000, compared to 1.3 for double-vaccinated people and 0.1 for those who received a booster shot.
For those aged under 60, there were 0.04 deaths per 100,000 for the unvaccinated, 0.02 for double-vaccinated people, 0.01 for those who received a booster shot – meaning that the vaccine "absolutely" has a significant impact on mortality, Leshem said.
"About half of deaths arrive from a small minority in the population that is still unvaccinated," he added.
Haaretz also reported Wednesday that the latest coronavirus wave has hit Israel's Arab community particularly hard. Data shows that vaccination rates among Arabs are significantly lower compared to Jewish Israelis.
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