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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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like the Chanukah miracle Israel approves using extra doses in Pfizer vials to vaccinate more persons

Health Ministry okays use of up to 6 doses per bottle, which could significantly boost vaccine supply; PM hopes that by next weekend, 100,000 Israelis will be immunized a day

The Health Ministry gave approval Thursday to healthcare providers to extract up to six doses from vials of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine rather than the five currently permitted, according to Hebrew media reports.

The reported change could significantly increase Israel's supply of the vaccine, allowing it to immunize a greater number of people. If all Pfizer vials set to reach Israel in the coming months have the extra dose, it could mean an additional 800,000 people can be vaccinated.

Earlier this month, the US Food and Drug Administration confirmed some vials of Pfizer's vaccine were overfilled and contained enough doses for seven people. It told health officials to use every full dose possible "given the public health emergency."

Each dose is supposed to contain 0.3 milliliters of the vaccine. Each vial was supposed to contain five doses, but many have been found to have more.

Chezy Levy, the director-general of the Health Ministry, said Thursday that 180,000 Israelis had been vaccinated against the coronavirus over the past five days.

In a press briefing ahead of a nationwide lockdown set to begin Sunday, Levy said 40,000 had so far been vaccinated Thursday and that 65,000 received vaccines on Wednesday.

"The goal is to vaccinate at least four million people during the first quarter of 2021," he said, according to the Ynet news website. "We have enough vaccines to do it, and I hope we'll fulfill that goal."

Levy also said Israelis won't be prevented from getting inoculated during the lockdown.

According to the Oxford University-based Our World in Data website, Israel is second in the world in the number of people per capita to receive the vaccine, trailing Bahrain.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

receives a coronavirus vaccine from his personal physician Dr. Tzvi

Berkovitz, at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, on December 19, 2020

(Amir Cohen/Pool/AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that he hoped up to 100,000 Israelis would be vaccinated every day by next weekend, while Health Minister Yuli Edelstein instructed Levy to meet that goal by having healthcare providers administer vaccines 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"I want to tell you that the combination of the marvelous vaccine campaign on the one hand, and a short and quick lockdown on the other, will allow us to get out of the coronavirus [pandemic] and we'll likely be the first country to get out of [it] in a few weeks," Netanyahu said in a statement.

On Wednesday the Health Ministry said hospitals would begin administering vaccines to the public next week, joining the country's health maintenance organizations that are leading the effort. A ministry statement said the move was aimed at "significantly" increasing the pace of the vaccine drive. It didn't say how Israelis could schedule an appointment to be vaccinated at hospitals or provide any further details on the move as of yet.

The national vaccination program began on Sunday, with medical workers getting the first injections. Starting Monday, vaccinations were opened up to those aged 60 and up, as well as those in risk groups.

The government has not yet specified when the vaccines will be made available to the wider public.

The Three Musketeers at the Kotel

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S REALLY AGING BIRTHDAY JOKES OF THE WEEK Not long after attending her grandson Paul's 12th birthday party, Rebecca has a heart attack. Whilst in hospital, she starts to plead with her cardiologist. "Oy, doctor David," she says, "you've just got to keep me alive for the next 12 months so that I can attend my bubbeleh grandson Paul's bar mitzvah. He's my first grandchild." "I'll do my utmost to get you there, Rebecca," says doctor David. "Thank you, doctor," says Rebecca. And 12 months later, Rebecca does indeed attend Paul's bar mitzvah. Ten years later, whilst Rebecca is seeing doctor David for a check-up, she says, "I have another request, doctor." "And what do you need me to do this time, Rebecca?" he asks. "In a year's time, please God, my grand-daughter Suzy is marrying a lovely, lovely, man, a real mensch, and I desperately want to attend their wedding. So please, doctor, please ensure that I stay alive long enough to attend their wedding." "I'll do my utmost to get you there, Rebecca," says doctor David. "Thank you, doctor," says Rebecca. And 12 months later, Rebecca does indeed attend Suzy's wedding. Over the next twenty years, Rebecca regularly visits doctor David for check-ups, and she always religiously follows his advice. Then one day, she suddenly phones doctor David. "Hello doctor," she says. "It's Rebecca here." "Are you OK Rebecca?" asks doctor David, sounding worried. "Is anything the matter?" "Nothing's the matter doctor," replies Rebecca, "I think everything is OK and I'm feeling fine. But I'm calling because I have another request to make. Do you remember when you enabled me to attend my grandson's bar mitzvah?" "Yes Rebecca, I do," he replies. "And do you remember when you enabled me to attend my granddaughter's wedding?" "Yes Rebecca, I do," he replies. "And are you aware that I've just celebrated my 80th birthday?" asks Rebecca. "Yes Rebecca, I know," he replies. "Well, I'm ringing you because I've just taken delivery of a new mattress," says Rebecca. "Mazeltov," says doctor David, "but why are you phoning me about your mattress?" "Because," replies Rebecca, "the mattress came with a 20-year guarantee!"

Old Moishe Applebaum goes to his doctor complaining of aches and pains all over his body. After a thorough examination, the doctor gives him a clean bill of health." Moishe, you're in excellent shape for an 85-year-old man. But I'm not a magician – I can't make you any younger," says the doctor."Who asked you to make me younger?" says Moishe. "You just make sure I get older!"

The Jewish Chronicle had heard that Benjy was coming up to his 108th birthday so they sent one of their reporters to interview him. "How do you account for your longevity?" asked the reporter. "You could say that I am a health nut," Benjy answered. "I have never smoked or drunk alcohol, I am always in bed by ten o'clock, I've been going to Israeli dance classes since I was a teenager and I've always walked three miles a day, even in rain or snow." "But," said the reporter, "my uncle Shlomo followed exactly the same routine and he died when he was 70. So how come it didn't work for him?" "All I can say," replied Benjy, "is that he didn't keep it up long enough."

Avrahom walks into a department store and goes straight to the perfumery department. He says to an assistant, "Today is my wife Sharon's birthday and I would like to buy her a nice bottle of French perfume. The assistant says, "That will be a nice surprise for her." Avrahom replies, "It sure will – she's expecting a diamond necklace."

At his 103rd birthday party, the Rubenstein family gathered around Zadie Hymie for cake and words of wisdom."So Zadie," asked little Stevie inappropriately, "Are you going to be around for your 104th Birthday party"?"I certainly will," Zadie replied."How can you be so sure?" Stevie asked."Well," Zadie replied, "Statistics show that very few people die between the ages of 103 and 104."

Herman Cohen was horrible with birthdays and anniversaries. He couldn't remember them for the life of him so he decided to compile a list so that every time he turned on his computer the dates would be highlighted on screen. Even this didn't work well enough so Herman went to a computer store to find a software program that would do the job. He approached one of the sales clerks who looked more senior. "Can you recommend something that will remind me of birthdays and anniversaries?" Herman asked."Have you tried a wife?" he replied.

RABBI SCHWARTZ'S REALLY TERRIBLE BAGEL JOKES OF THE WEEK

What kind of bagel can fly? A plain bagel

How do you hold a bagel back? You put lox on it

Why do seagulls fly over the sea? If they flew over the bay, they would be bagels!

Why did the bagel lose the election? He was the victim of a schmear campaign

What does a bagel do when it can't get into its house? Call a loxsmith

What do ghosts put on their bagels? Scream Cheese

What did the bagel say to the Rabbi? I'm holier than you

What does a Yeki bagel call its grandfather? Poppy!

What do you call a bagel in fancy dress? A donut

Why should you never start up with a Jewish Bagel maker? He knows Jew Dough

I had to take a drug test at work today. They said they found Opiates. I told them it was probably the poppy seeds on my bagel. But then they asked about the THC, methamphetamines, cocaine, and hallucinogens. I told them it was an everything bagel.

What kind of bagel did the camper eat? A Winnebago.

The German consulate is in NYC for a big UN meeting with his Israeli counterpart The clock hits 12:30 and the meeting breaks for lunch. Being that he's in New York, the consulate requests to go out to lunch at a local Deli. Yoav the intern is charged with taking him out. As they are sitting and eating the consulate turns to the intern and exclaims, "I have to admit, these bagels are really delicious! We don't have bagels like this in Germany." Well," the intern replies, "whose fault is that?"

An elderly couple is sitting in the living room, and the old man gets up, and says "I'm going to the store to get myself a soda, do you want anything?"His wife says "I'd like an ice cream sundae. Here, I'll write it down for you so you don't forget--" I'm not going to forget," he waves his hand at her dismissively. "Ice cream sundae."With cherries and chopped nuts. You'll forget, I'm going to write it down for you. "Woman I'm not senile! I won't forget! Sundae with cherries and nuts."And whipped cream. You're sure you won't forget all this? You forgot the last time. Please, I'll write it down so you won't forget."The old man gave an annoyed sigh and left the house. He returned and handed his wife a bag."Here you go, I didn't forget."She looked inside the bag and found a toasted onion bagel."Yes, you did! I told you you would forget, and you did!" The old woman threw a fit. "You forgot the cream cheese!"

A man is the head of a popular bakery in New York. The most popular thing they sell is their bagels, but the main bagel chef is out of town, so there are no bagels today. One old woman has asked repeatedly if there are bagels, to which the answer is always no. For some reason, she keeps going to the back of the line and asking over and over if there are bagels. The woman comes up to the front and once again asks for bagels. The man has had quite enough and asks her: "Ma'am, how do you spell cat as in Catastrophic?"She replies "C A T"He asks her "how do you spell dog as in Dogmatic?"She replies "D O G"The man then asks her "how do you spell stink as in Bagels?"The woman, confused, says "there is no stink in bagels" to which the man shouts"THAT'S WHAT IVE BEEN TELLING YOU THIS WHOLE TIME!"

Kamala Harris Explains What Hanukkah Is; Ben Shapiro Reacts

David HaMelekh May have been a Warrior, but he was NO PC Warrior

By Shalom Pollack

Every now and then I have a personal experience with Politically Correct thought.

Three times daily, we recite Psalm 145 (Ashrei). King David , in his conversation with God writes," God watches over the righteous and destroys the wicked." Many of David's appeals to God contain this theme.This prayer and similar ones make some Jews feel uncomfortable. Destroy the wicked? It sounds so judgmental, so vengeful. how distasteful is that!Perhaps because of this growing phenomenon, I make sure to read that passage aloud when I lead the service.I have a good idea as to which of the congregation behind me welcomes hearing the passage that makes a clear distinction between good and evil, and which ones cringe when hearing it.This morning one of them mocked aloud, "Shalom thinks that if he doesn't say the passage aloud, God won't act."I answered, " If David felt it was important enough to write it should not be hidden." God can also act without written prayer, but David thought it important to write for posterity and our daily awareness. "David was not PC. He was not as sensitive or sophisticated as some of our "progressive" teachers today. If King David lived in our generation with those same outmoded ideas, he would be shunned and mocked by "sophisticated" Jews.I am reminded of what I heard from a "Progressive" rabbi some years ago.He led a very liberal, Anglo congregation in Katamon.He said that he would love to delete the "Av Harachamim" prayer that we say on Shabbat.This prayer was written by the survivors of the massive Crusades massacres in Germany eight hundred years ago.Ashkenazi Jews say it every Shabbat since.The prayer recalls the suffering at the hands of the merciless Crusaders and calls for revenge for Jewish blood that flowed like water.The progressive rabbi wanted to shield his sensitive congregation from harsh words as these.After all, it was over eight hundred years ago, Let go!Talk about nice things. I wonder what progressive rabbis will say about remembering the holocaust in a few centuries( or decades) from now?No; I think I will continue to repeat the words of David's prayers aloud despite the sensitivities of my more sophisticated friends.

When Two-Year-Olds Are Thrown Off Airplanes, You Know America Has Changed

By Dennis Prager

You may have seen the video of the family thrown off a United Airlines airplane because the two-year-old daughter would not wear a mask. Though the family wore masks and the father promised to cover his daughter's face with a mask that he placed on her face, it made no difference.

Though the child was completely asymptomatic, and though it is exceedingly rare for a child to transmit Covid-19 to an adult – that is why Sweden kept its schools open all spring and summer, with its students not wearing masks – the airline had its orders, and the flight attendant duly obeyed them.

As I watched the video, I wondered what the flight attendant thought. For example, did he think this was absurd, not to mention cruel? Did he know that two-year-olds present virtually no health risk? Did he wonder why adults can sit without masks inches from other passengers while eating but a two-year-old seated only next to family needed a mask?

Or did he think he was performing a noble service in kicking a family off an airplane because their two-year-old wouldn't wear a mask?

I hope he thought he was enforcing an idiotic rule and had no choice. Then there is hope for him and for America. Otherwise, he's an irrational automaton, among the scariest people in any society.

Does United Airlines think it's enforcing a rational and humane policy, regarding two-year-olds as dangerous disease spreaders?

Here is what we can assume:

United Airlines has made the calculation that if it doesn't enforce every directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two bad things will result: 1) People will be too scared to fly United; 2) If anyone gets Covid-19 after a United flight on which a two-year-old was allowed to fly without a mask, the airline will be sued.

Regarding children and mask-wearing, the CDC website states, "Masks should NOT be worn by children under the age of 2." The CDC capitalizes "NOT."

So, while the CDC is adamant children under the age of two must NOT wear a face mask, a child who just turned two constitutes a mortal danger to others on the plane – and must be ejected from the plane if she just won't cover her face.

Welcome to America in 2020.

It is not overstated to declare the year 2020 the year it became legitimate to question whether America could still declare itself either "the Land of the Free" or "the Home of the Brave." Maybe it really is time to replace the national anthem with some other song that doesn't have us singing what so many of us no longer believe in.

When half of America sings those words, they are no longer referring to themselves or what they want America to be. About half of us – more or less, the half that voted Donald Trump for president – still believes that America should be the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. But half of us, including the entire elite – the major media; the entire educational system from elementary school through graduate school; national, most state and all major city bureaucracies; and the Democratic Party – neither value freedom nor seek to be brave.

When I see Americans walking outdoors with masks on, my first reaction is to mourn the death of reason and my second is to wonder what college they attended. Because one of the many other awful things colleges do to most of their students is make them afraid: afraid not only of dying if they pass another human being while walking their dog but also of dying from global warming, and afraid of any ideas not inculcated into them by their school.

That's why they and most of their professors object to conservatives speaking at their school. To the brainwashed, different ideas are frightening and make them feel "unsafe" (hence, "safe spaces" at so many colleges).

When viruses killed the equivalent of about 165,000 Americans in 1968 and about 225,000 in 1957 (numbers adjusted based on the current U.S. population), healthy Americans did not quarantine; no one hid behind masks; no school closed; no store or restaurant went out of business. Why? Because people understood that viruses and death are tragic parts of life, and it never occurred to them to deprive children of their studies, their friends, and their childhood.

It didn't occur to Americans that because some people contracted a virus and died, 99 percent of the population should stop living and earning livelihoods. In that America, the news media were not singularly dedicated to frightening Americans. And most important, the left had not yet succeeded in ruining the country; after all, far fewer Americans went to college at that time, and high school and elementary school teachers still viewed their vocation as a call to teach, not indoctrinate.

All of this explains how we got to the place where United Airlines could throw a two-year-old girl off an airplane while presumably, half the passengers supported her eviction and the other half was cowed into silence.

Chanukah 1917: Jerusalem is Liberated

By Larry Domnitch

On December 9, 1917, British forces accepted the Turkish surrender of Jerusalem. Two days later the British officially entered the walls of Jerusalem.

As the world was engulfed in brutal armed conflict of an unprecedented scope, fighting raged in the Holy land between Allied troops and the Ottoman-Turks (allied with the Central Powers) who had ruled the land for most of the past 400 years. On October 30 the strategic city of Beer Sheva fell to the allies who then drove towards Jerusalem.

A London dispatch on November 24, reported that the Mosque containing the tomb of the prophet Samuel was bombarded. The ancient site of Mitzpeh, 5,000 yards west of Jerusalem-Nablus road has been stormed by the British. (American Jewish Chronicle, November 30, 1917, p. 91)

The major battle for Jerusalem was in full swing. British cavalry fought their way into Jerusalem. In the words of a commander,

"When 'charge' sounded I think every man went stark mad. Guns were belching their shells at us in one sheet of flame and bullets by thousands swept past, but no man seemed to get hit as on we went, with drawn swords flashing in the sun, in a long straight line, horses going like mad and everyone shouting like fury. Now, we could see some of our pals falling, yet straight at the guns we charged." (American Jewish Chronicle, February 15 1918 p. 408)

In the battles for Jerusalem, twenty thousand Turkish soldiers, and three thousand six hundred British and allied troops lost their lives. On December 11, the second day of Chanukah, British troops marched into Jerusalem. British commander and chief, General Edmund Allenby respectfully entered its walls by foot through the Jaffa gate as the city's thirty-fourth conqueror.

Excited crowds lined Jerusalem's streets to welcome the city's liberators. Their very presence signified an end to the terrible suffering the people of Jerusalem had endured during the war.

One British officer described his entry into Jerusalem and the reception by its residents, "People of all ages and apparently of all nationalities, thronged the roadway, crowded at their doors and windows, and squeezed themselves on the roofs of their houses. Swarms of children, Arab, Jew, and Christian, ran with us as we marched along, and the populace clamored to any point of vantage, waving and clapping their hands, cheering and singing. Jews clad in European dress came running up, singled out any one of us, wrung him by the hand, and –talking excitedly in broken English-said that they, the people of Jerusalem, had been waiting for that two and a half years. (Bernard Blaser, Kilts Across the Jordan, H.F.& B. Witherby, London, 1926, p. 120)

A Jewish periodical, The London Jewish Chronicle, headlined the event as 'The Rising of Jerusalem," describing the allied conquest as an "Epochal event." Rabbi Hertz, chief Rabbi of the British Empire issued a statement linking the British entry into Jerusalem to the holiday of Chanukah, "Jerusalem which for ages has been the majestic pole of love and reverence of the world is now in British hands. And this soul thrilling news reaches us on the day that the Jews are celebrating the Maccabean festival. On this day 2,080 years ago the Maccabees freed the Holy City from the heathen oppressor and thereby changed the spiritual future of humanity. Who knows but that today's victory may form as glorious a landmark in the history of mankind."(London Jewish Chronicle, December 14, 1917, p.24)

Zionist leader Chaim Weitzman who played a significant role in the negotiations leading to the issuing of the Balfour Declaration just six weeks earlier, which called for a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel, phoned the London Jewish Chronicle and stated, "The news of the British victory will raise the hopes of Jews all over the world. It opens the prospects of the realization of hopes which have existed in their kinds for centuries."(Ibid.)

On the day of the taking of Jerusalem, the citizens of the city woke up early and went out to the streets; first with hesitation just to see if indeed the Turkish front had indeed fallen. Then as if in a dream, to see the crowds, emerging from their "holes" and all marching west (to the Jaffa Gate) to witness the ceremony in which the city is passed to the British conqueror. And then the city was joyful and rejoiced. (David Benveniste, HaGedud HaIvri: Bimei Milchemet HaOlam HaRishona: Yoman, B'iton HaTzibur HaSephardi Va'Edot HaMizrach, Jerusalem, 1977, p. 5)

It would take time for the city to recover.

In the first month after the surrender, not much had changed. The residents have not yet recovered from the famine which had devastated the city during the war and were not healed from their sicknesses. Young school students were still distant from their parents in the fighting countries. Everybody was waiting for additional aid that would hopefully come from afar. In the meantime, the communication with the Tel-Aviv Jaffa residents was renewed. They were liberated a few weeks before Jerusalem was freed.

However, the city began to be revitalized. New infrastructures and facilities were constructed. Significant quantities of wheat were imported from Egypt every month by the recently appointed military governor of Jerusalem, Ronald Storrs. Pipes were installed to allow water to be brought into the Old City of Jerusalem.

A noticeable sign of revitalization and growth was when the cornerstone to the future Hebrew University was laid upon its future site on Mount Scopus on April 10, 1918.

Jerusalem had yet again endured.

Seventy-five years later, on December 10, 1992, Jerusalem resident Anna-Grace Lind again watched Allenby stride into Jerusalem. This time, Viscount Allenby, the general's great nephew, entered the city with Jerusalem's Mayor Teddy Kollek. Events commemorated the 75th anniversary of Ottoman surrender to the British. Kollek stated, "The British were welcomed equally by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, all of whom suffered under 400 years of Turkish rule." (JTA, December 10, 1992)

Today, the Jaffa Gate is a reminder of the scene of the triumphant march into Jerusalem.

Life was restored but the terms of the Balfour Declaration calling for Jewish Statehood would not be honored necessitating a difficult struggle for the Jewish homeland.

Larry Domnitch and his family lives in Efrat