Sunday, October 25, 2020

This is not a parody--for real California wants you to keep your mask on between bites when eating and A Jewish artist hid hundreds of her paintings in a house near Prague during the Holocaust. Now the works need a home and Israel declares war as super termites invade and Cuomo Promotes Pro-Orthodox Discrimination Petition by "Rabbi" Who Prayed for Hamas and Dr. Zelenko: Masks don't stop COVID

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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.

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The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
Dr. Zelenko: Masks don't stop COVID

Orthodox Jewish doctor who popularized use of hydroxychloroquine, other drugs to treat coronavirus rips mask mandate. 'No basis in science.'

Arutz Sheva Staff , 12/10/20


Dr. Vladimir Zelenko


An Orthodox Jewish physician credited with popularizing the use of hydroxychloroquine and other medications to treat the coronavirus blasted government mask mandates Monday, claiming the use of masks to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus has "no basis in science".

In a tweet Monday morning, Dr. Zev Vladimir Zelenko wrote that due to the size of the virus and the holes in the fabric of the surgical face masks which have become ubiquitous since the pandemic began, masking has no effect on the virus' spread.

"The government is trying to shut our mouths and cover our faces with masks. No basis in science. Covid-19 is around 0.1 microns. Masks block particles of more than 0.4 microns. In other words, masks don't stop covid. End the tyranny and lies."

Dr. Zelenko first rose to fame in March, after his use of zinc, hydroxychloroquine, and azithromycin to treat coronavirus patients drew national attention. Dr. Zelenko claimed the combination of medications led to a 99% survival rate for his patients.

In a string of follow-up tweets Monday, Zelenko retweeted a thread of links to studies questioning the efficacy of masks in preventing the spread of viruses, writing: "Amazing compilation of mask data. If people want to know the truth then read the studies. The rest of you brainless automatons follow the false narrative into oblivion."

A third tweet turned to politics and the upcoming presidential election.

"This election will determine if our society remains G-d centered or will deteriorate into a socialist/Marxist hellhole. Today's brainless walking dead are the pawns of fanatical left. They are to stupid to see that they will be the first shot when these godless animals get power."

The use of masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus has remained controversial since the outbreak of the pandemic early this year.

While both the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization initially recommended against the use of masks by the general public, both have since endorsed the use of masks in situations where social distancing is not possible.

Though critics of masking have argued that fabric masks, including single-use surgical masks, are ineffective due to the size of the virus, both the CDC and WHO have backed their use, citing evidence that masks can reduce the spread of mucus and saliva globules which carry the virus.

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Cuomo Promotes Pro-Orthodox Discrimination Petition by "Rabbi" Who Prayed for Hamas

Fri Oct 9, 2020 Daniel Greenfield



They don't just hate Israel. They hate Jews.

Cuomo's aides tweeted a petition by "300 Rabbis" representing something called the New York Jewish Agenda which had been created earlier this year to fight for "social justice." None of them are members of the Orthodox Jewish communities targeted by Cuomo and De Blasio. None, for that matter, even live there.

The letter was headed by Sharon Kleinbaum of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, a gay temple, much of whose membership defected when it decided to pray for Hamas terrorists.

"Recent events have demonstrated that CBST is far more committed to a progressive political agenda than to the Jewish people," Bryan Bridges, a former board member, wrote. "I couldn't imagine raising a child in this congregation, and have that child hear, just before we recite Kaddish, the names of people who are trying to kill her grandparents."

But, to give Sharon Kleinbaum credit, a member of J Street's rabbinic cabinet, she doesn't limit her antisemitism to Jews in Israel.

Kleinbaum supported providing space to Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, but is quite happy to see apartheid implemented by her Democrat political allies against Orthodox Jews in America.

The petition also includes the usual anti-Israel suspects like Jill Jacobs of T'ruah.

A helpful reminder that the anti-Israel Left doesn't just hate Israel, it hates Jews.

Israel declares war as super termites invade

Formosal termite

11 Oct, 2020

Dror Feuer

Minister of Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel and Petah Tikva Municipality draw up battle plans. Can Israel eradicate the formidable Formosa subterranean termite?

Israel is on high alert after a colony of Formosan subterranean termites was found in Petah Tikva's Kfar Avraham neighborhood last month.

To understand how seriously Israel is taking the super-termite, ""Globes" was present earlier this month when a team from the Ministries of Environmental Protection, Agriculture and Health joined forces with representatives of the Nature and Parks Authority and the Petah Tikva Municipality's sanitation and pesticides departments to draw up a plan of action on how to combat the highly destructive insects. Present at the meeting were Minister of Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel and Petah Tikva Mayor Rami Greenberg.

Before the minister and mayor arrive, Minister of Environmental Protection senior director general natural resources Alon Zask drills holes into the ground and puts in monitoring points, which are then mistakenly referred to as traps. It is not exactly a mistake because they are trapped but that is not the aim.

Alon Bar, a senior pest control coordinator at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, found some examples and put them into a small test tube. He shows us them and we make comparisons with regular Israeli termites, which he shows us in another test tube. He explains that there are ten different types of termites in Israel, three of which come into the home.

But the Formosan subterranean termite is the most notorious of them all. It is the most ravenous known termite. A Formosan termite colony of several million individual termites can dig 100 meters into the soil and eat through 400 grams of wood per day. Entire structures can be damaged in less than three months and the termites can destroy underground electricity and communications cables. Trees are in danger. They can eat through railroad ties, insulation panels in walls, plaster, plastic, asphalt, and even thin layers of lead and copper. It's a serious termite.

Looking at them in the test tubes, we can see that the Formosan termite is three times the size of its Israeli cousins. The termites also have formidable reproduction qualities and a single colony can contain several million individuals. They have a caste system, including a king, queen, workers, soldiers, and winged termites. The workers provide the food, soldiers defend the nest, and others focusing on breeding. The queen lives about 15 years and can produce up to 2,000 eggs per day. The workers and soldiers may live 5 years and there are around 360 workers per 40 soldiers.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection team has set about 200 monitoring points around the area and marked each point with a barcode. They will return in several months to see how far they have spread. Typically Formosan termites are known to advance one kilometer per year.

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Gila Gamliel / Photo: Rafi Kotz , GPO

Israeli minister lied in Covid-19 infection questioning - report

Kfar Avraham in northeast Petah Tikva is coincidentally one of Israel's most high Covid-19 infection neighborhoods. But while the coronavirus is relatively new, estimates are that the Formosan termite has already been here for at least a year and maybe even three years judging by the distance between several buildings that are already infested.

Minister of Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel promises to try and eradicate the termites. She says, "The entry of all types of invasive insects to Israel will increase in frequency in the coming years as the climate crisis becomes more severe and trade increases."

The termites are native to southern China and Taiwan (formerly Formosa) but have spread as far as the US, South Africa, Japan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Gamliel acknowledges that no country has ever managed to eradicate them but insists that perhaps we can succeed whether other have failed if we cope better, know how to cooperate etc.

It all sounds a bit unlikely in the midst of the second Covid-19 lockdown considering how we have messed up coping with the virus and here we were in masks in one of the most infected neighborhoods in one of Israel's most infected cities. Several days later we were to learn that Gamliel had breached the lockdown rules and tested positive for Covid-19.

The pre-Covid-19 Gamliel talked about a law she wants to promote to prevent biological invasions by prohibiting importing, owning, trading, propagating or distributing foreign species. Enacting such a law has already been delayed by 10 years and in a country without a budget and plans for the future it is hard to envisage such a law passing now.

For his part Petah Tikva Mayor Rami Greenberg said, "I thank the minister and her staff for their cooperation and efforts to combat the pest. We have prepared a work plan focusing on use of wood products and building permits and reducing it to the minimum required."

Gamiliel said that we do not yet know how the termite found its way to Israel. Greenberg speculates it may have reached the neighborhood from a nearby wood warehouse. He says that there have been 20 complaints in his city where the presence of the termites has been found. There are even now fears that the presence of the termites could reduce the value of properties. Media reports about the "world's most dangerous termites" haven't helped, even though the pests at least are not life threatening.

Greenberg finds himself in an unenviable position, beset by complaints from residents but almost completely reliant on the government to deal effectively with the problem.

After the photo-op in which Gamliel drills the last fraction of a centimeter and puts the termite monitor in place and then drive off, the professionals do not paint an optimistic picture of Israel's chances of beating the bug. It seems that in Israel there is no one body responsible for preventing the invasion of such species. It seems that they can keep on coming and nobody is going to cause them problems, except for burying a few monitoring points. Instead of catching the termite at the port of entry, we are now trying to halt the invasion outside a pleasant apartment block in a Petah Tikva neighborhood.

So what happens now? We wait say the experts. In several months' time we'll come back to the monitoring points and see how far they have spread. But the best indication will come next spring when the 'nuptial flight' occurs. According to the number of queens and kings produced we'll know in just how much trouble we are.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 11, 2020

A Jewish artist hid hundreds of her paintings in a house near Prague during the Holocaust. Now the works need a home.

BY TOBY AXELROD OCTOBER 6, 2020 12:36 PM

Gertrud Kauders hid about 700 of her paintings in a classmate's house during WWII. (Amos Chapple/RFE/RL)



(JTA) – Plans are under way to find a home for a huge trove of works by a nearly forgotten Jewish artist that was uncovered 78 years after her death in a Nazi concentration camp.

The works of Czech artist Gertrud Kauders (1883-1942) were found during the demolition of an old house near Prague in 2018, when 30 paintings tumbled onto the head of a worker. Hundreds more canvases were found in the walls and under floorboards of the home where the artist had stashed them to keep them out of Nazi hands.

Only this summer did the dimensions of the collection become clear, after photojournalist Amos Chapple and his colleague Dana Katharina Vaskova tracked down Jakub Sedlacek, the owner of the demolished house, on behalf of relatives of the artist living in New Zealand.

What they thought would be a small collection turned out to be "enormous," said Chapple, himself a New Zealander, who works in Prague for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. They reported the find on the news organization's website.

"It was breathtaking," recalled his colleague Vaskova, who was born in Prague and grew up in Munich, Germany.

Gertud Kauders had studied with the well-known Czech artist Otakar Nejedlý (1883-1957) and painted many impressionist portraits and scenes from nature. In 1939, the year that the Nazis invaded the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, Kauders asked her classmate, the Russian-born Natalie Jahudkova, to hide her life's work. Since Jahudkova's house was under construction, it was relatively easy to slip the paintings into the walls.



"There were stacks and stacks, in perfect condition, torn hastily out of their frames and hidden," photographer Amos Chapple said.

The Nazis deported Kauders from Prague in 1942 to the nearby Theresienstadt concentration camp, and from there to the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland, where she was murdered.

Her artwork survived, hidden.

But the secret died with Natalie Jahudkova in 1977. In 2018, Jakub Sedlacek, whose grandmother was informally adopted in the 1920s by Jahudkova, had the derelict house torn down. It was then that the collection came to light.

But news reports at the time referred only to a few dozen unspectacular works that had tumbled on the foreman's head. The story slept for another year.

Then, in 2019, descendants of Kauders' nephew, Cornelius – who had fled to New Zealand in 1939 – saw the story and reached out to Chapple through his father, a friend.

"They said, 'Hey, we are at dead ends wherever we go when we try to find out what happened to the art,'" Chapple told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Chapple teamed up with Vaskova, who tracked down Sedlacek. He eventually invited the two to visit.

"I had come with the intention to photograph 30 paintings for the Jewish Museum of Prague," recalled Chapple. "Then Mr. Sedlacek said, 'Now I will show you the real collection.'"

"I will remember the moment for the rest of my life," said Chapple, who was standing behind Vaskova. "We came around a corner, and there was an enormous expanse of what was instantly recognizable as serious art. My mouth was hanging open."

"There were stacks and stacks, in perfect condition, torn hastily out of their frames and hidden," Chapple said. There were about 700 works in all. "To see these things was incredible, unforgettable."



The house near Prague contained several hundred of Kauders' works. (Amos Chapple/RFE/RL)

Vaskova said she was "amazed" by the artwork, which date from the 1910s to 1930s, and moved by the stories Sedlacek told about Jahudkova's friendship with Kauders.

Sedlacek, who himself had not seen all the works, invited them to return to photograph the collection. They did so last month.

"He left us alone with the paintings," said Vaskova. "He made coffee for us and gave us food and drink. It took us 5-6 hours."

Chapple described the scene as one of "frantic activity." They photographed one after another, largely without lingering.

But "there was one sketch that made us both stop," Chapple said. "It was a … beautiful image of a boy being comforted by an older girl, and the caption said, 'Were you frightened, little one?' It looks like the little boy had a nightmare. We are fairly certain that this was Gertrud and her nephew [Cornelius], the sole survivor from the family."



An image of Gertrud Kauders, who was killed in a Nazi concentration camp. (Amos Chapple/RFE/RL)

The paintings made the past – and Kauders' fate "at the hands of the worst evil that modern history has ever known" – seem very close, said Chapple. "Those people had the same feelings and fragility as we do."

Sedlacek told Chapple and Vaskova he wants to see the works housed together in the Czech Republic, with family portraits going to the Kauders family in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Kristýna Říhová, a spokesperson for the Jewish Museum in Prague, said in an email to JTA that she would get informed about the "whole intense process" and give a "concrete result as soon as possible" as to whether or not the museum could house some of the paintings.

Vaskova has since learned that Kauders was "well-regarded" though not famous; reviews of exhibitions in the 1930s "mention her as one of the better artists of the time."

"It would be nice for her to get the credit," she added. "Not only because she was Jewish, and died where she died — but as a woman. Women did not get all that much credit at the time… She should not be forgotten, since she was just found again."



California: Wear a Mask Between Bites While Eating

Tue Oct 6, 2020 Daniel Greenfield

If eating out weren't miserable enough already, California Democrat leaders have some thoughts on that.

"Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend? Don't forget to keep your mask on in between bites."

No, this is not a parody. But it is why satire is dead. How can you keep satire alive in the face of such overwhelming absurdity.

This isn't advice, it's a physical comedy skit. But it's also life in California where the authorities expect the populace to eat with their masks on. Mask down, food goes in mouth, and then the mask goes up again.

It ought to go without saying that the authorities themselves won't be doing any of this stuff. But the public is expected do not only do it, but enjoy it too.


See you tomorrow bli neder

We need Moshiach now

Love Yehuda Lave

Yehuda Lave, Spirtiual Advisor and Counselor

Jerusalem, Jerusalem
 Israel

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