Let The Grifting Begin.....

 

Kushner Family to sell $100m. bonds in Israel - WSJ - The deal would be Kushner Companies’ first bond issue in Israel

 

It is not yet clear what role Jared Kushner will take in the company when Trump's term in office ends on January 20, the report noted.

 

The family business of White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner has filed papers to raise at least $100 million by selling bonds in Israel, The Wall Street Journal has reported.Kushner Companies filed papers earlier this month with the Israel Securities Authority to sell the bonds on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the report said. The sale would likely take place in the first quarter of 2021.

Jared Kushner played a leading role in the Trump administration’s Middle East policy, and was instrumental in negotiating Israel’s normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. His family’s connection to Israel and relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu go back decades.The deal would be Kushner Companies’ first bond issue in Israel, although the firm has received loans in the past from Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim, and investments from Psagot and Harel, the Journal noted. The company has also worked very closely with Israel’s Steinmetz family, which made its fortune as one of the world’s leading diamond traders.

The company did not say what it would do with the funds, but the Journal speculated that it could be stockpiling cash to take advantage of a wave of cheap real estate opportunities that the pandemic could force in the coming year. Earlier this month, the company put up for sale a Maryland property portfolio that could fetch $800m. Kushner Companies owns dozens of real estate properties in New York and New Jersey, with an estimated value of some $7 billion. The company was founded by Jared’s father, Charles Kushner, who was pardoned by US President Donald Trump earlier this month for crimes of tax evasion and witness tampering, for which he was sentenced in 2004.It is not yet clear what role Jared Kushner will take in the company when Trump’s term in office ends on January 20, the report noted.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/kushner-family-to-sell-100m-bonds-in-israel-wsj-653733?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Kushner+Family+to+sell+%24100m++bonds+in+Israel+-+report&utm_campaign=30+night&vgo_ee=GpJg07tMVeYHL7R3v4Zifm7%2BX%2FpMfSStElYb34Re%2FNg%3D

Oy Vey --- The Farkakte Victimhood Defen$e - When any community sees the majority of the world as a threat, as most in the Ultra-Orthodox community do, members of that community can always find ways to justify what others easily identify as illegal or unethical behavior, as long as those outside the community are the ones adversely affected.

... In the end, that approach will pretty much always allow the ones who participate in it, to justify their own bad actions.

Did An Ultra Orthodox Health System Illegally Give Out Covid Vaccines?

 

Sadly, there is nothing surprising about another story detailing a Haredi institution flouting Covid rules and restrictions. In this case, the story revolves around ParcCare Community Health Network, a group of six clinics which operate in religious enclaves of Brooklyn and Upstate New York.

ParcCare is accused of illegally acquiring Covid vaccines and of administering them to patients, outside of State-approved guidelines. They deny both claims, have shared paperwork confirming that the vaccines were shipped to them by the proper authorities, and claim that they have returned all of the vaccines that remained in their stock. But whatever they did or did not do, that is not the real story here.

It would indeed be easy enough to see this as yet another story of members of the Haredi / Ultra-Orthodox community once again circumventing public health rules, as examples already abound from the past 10 months — examples including schools and synagogues operating illegally, weddings and funerals attended by thousands of people, etc. But the fact is, that phenomenon is not limited to the Ultra-Orthodox community.

The fact is, that members of religious communities of most every faith have engaged in similar violations. How many ministers and Imams have also skirted the law, or worse, proudly proclaimed that their faith takes precedence over established public health norms? Too many. So no, this is not a “bash the Ultra-Orthodox” story, as popular as those stories may be with certain readers, offering people a chance to take advantage of a legitimate concern to “justify” what is often pre-existing hostility of a particular community.

In fact, the real story here is not even about the too-common invoking of freedom of religious expression, to justify illegal acts of gathering, even though it has been done far too often by far too many followers of different faiths. Again, those stories are typically reported at least as much to “prove” the dangers of fervent faith, and are rarely accompanied by parallel reporting about the kind of hostility to that faith that legislated that indoor dining could be legally protected as an “essential practice”, while indoor prayer was not.

The real story here is the serious moral hazard created by any communal narrative or faith which builds personal identity or communal solidarity based on a sense of otherness, victimhood, or grievance. 

When any community sees the majority of the world as a threat, as most in the Ultra-Orthodox community do, members of that community can always find ways to justify what others easily identify as illegal or unethical behavior, as long as those outside the community are the ones adversely affected.

It doesn’t matter if the grievance is well-rooted in the historic past, or even if it continues to be real in the present. It doesn’t even matter if mobilizing that sense of otherness — of being threatened by the dominant culture — actually succeeds in creating the very identity and solidarity which those who use it, seek to create. In the end, that approach will pretty much always allow the ones who participate in it, to justify their own bad actions.

And if we stop to think about it, there is almost no community which has not, and does not, too often fall prey to the moral hazard of the pursuit of victimhood, to the detriment of both others and ultimately to themselves as well. One way to measure if we are falling into that trap would be to measure how often we see those with whom we disagree as possibly being victimized by us. After all, victimization can be practiced by victims as well.

I admit that I don’t know the folks who operate ParcCare, but I do know plenty of people in the Haredi community, not to mention plenty of people in other fervently (fanatically?) religious communities, and by and large, they are good and decent people. There is plenty about which we do not agree, but that is not the point. The point is, almost none of them gets up in the morning and prays for help and guidance to harm others.

All too often though, the fervently faithful — regardless of the theology or politics for which they reserve their fervor — do get up in the morning each day, preparing to engage in an ongoing struggle with the forces — spiritual, political, cultural etc. — which they see and experience as threatening them and their way of life. And as this story reminds, that is pretty much never a good or useful way to start one’s day.

Yes, there are real victims in this world, and raising awareness of them is a genuinely sacred act. That said, when any community leans heavily and easily on a victimhood mind-set — a sense that is dominated by what has been done to them and what is owed to them, that excludes equal conversation about the obligations which are also theirs to assume — things go badly. Things go exactly as they seem to have gone with ParcCare.

http://thewisdomdaily.com/did-an-ultra-orthodox-health-system-illegally-give-out-covid-vaccines/

On Sunday night, Hershel Schachter, who has been an outspoken leader urging compliance with pandemic guidelines, said he had been told that his vaccination was above board. Hershel Schachter probably believes in Santa Claus as well...

Rabbi vaccinated at clinic under investigation, says he asked if shot was legal (Why ask Hershel - You smelled a rat & jumped the line anyway!)

"Schachter said he and Willig were photographed receiving the shot in order to inspire confidence in it. Some Jewish communities are wary of vaccines, and low vaccination rates have led to measles outbreaks. Schachter had also said on a podcast that jumping the queue to obtain a vaccine was not permitted under Jewish law."

 

Half-vaccinated patients at NY clinic under investigation unsure what’s next

 

As the Jewish-owned ParCare network undergoes what appears to be the US’s first inquiry into vaccine misappropriation, it promises to work with state to administer second dose

An Orthodox Jewish man walks past the exterior of Parcare's health care facility Sunday, December 27, 2020, in the Willamsburg section of Brooklyn in New York.

JTA — When David first saw the advertisement on his local Long Island community Whatsapp group inviting people like him and his wife, both over 65, to sign up to get the COVID-19 vaccine, he was skeptical. The ad linked to a nondescript Google form that asked him to answer a few questions and submit insurance information.

“At this point I got suspicious. Is this an attempt to steal my identity? A scam?” he said in an email sharing his experience with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

After doing some research, however, he found that the provider that created the form, ParCare Community Health Network, was well known and had contracted with New York City’s health authority to administer coronavirus tests to the Orthodox Jewish community.

Days after submitting their information, David and his wife headed to ParCare. On December 24, the couple, who are not health care workers, drove to one of the network’s facilities and received what they were told was the coronavirus vaccine — as well as a follow-up appointment to receive the second dose in January.

Whether and how David will receive that second dose, required to maximize the efficacy of the Moderna vaccine he received, is now unknown. That’s because days after his vaccination, the state announced a criminal investigation into ParCare over allegations that the Brooklyn-based healthcare provider fraudulently obtained the vaccine and distributed it to members of the public, in what appears to be the first inquiry into potential vaccine fraud in the United States.

 

 

Pfizer employees clap after line workers finished packing boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Portage, Michgan, December 13, 2020. (Morry Gash/AP)

“Anyone found to have knowingly participated in this scheme will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in a statement Saturday announcing the investigation.

A representative for ParCare said Sunday that the network had “proactively” returned its vaccine supplies to cooperate with the state health department.

“We will be working with the state to ensure that we provide the second dose for our patients,” ParCare said in a statement. “We will do everything in our power to make sure that the state understands that our patients are our priority and that everyone receives their second dose accordingly.”

State officials did not answer questions Sunday about how they planned to handle the second doses of people vaccinated by ParCare. Moderna’s clinical trial found that a single dose was 80 to 90% effective, compared to 94% for the two-dose vaccination.

David — who asked to use an alias because he feared repercussions for speaking about his experience — said he was anxious that he would have to go without a second dose because of the investigation into ParCare. He issued a plea on behalf of other patients who had been given the vaccine’s first dose: “Please do not leave them in a lurch and authorize their follow up shot.”

 

 

Illustrative: Sandra Lindsay (L), a nurse, is inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, on December 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York. (Mark Lennihan/Pool/AFP)

It’s unclear how many people are in David’s position. BoroPark24, a Yiddish news service, reported on December 21 that ParCare had obtained 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine and would vaccinate 500 people that day.

A representative for the network told JTA that the vaccines had been properly obtained and shared what it said were a packing slip and an email from the state health department showing that 2,300 vaccine doses had been delivered to ParCare in Monroe, New York, the upstate town that includes the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel.

But it’s clear that those vaccinated by ParCare include prominent Orthodox leaders. Rabbi Hershel Schachter and Rabbi Mordechai Willig, both head teachers at Yeshiva University, were vaccinated at ParCare last week, and the network tweeted a video of their vaccinations. Neither Schachter, 79, nor Willig, 73, is a frontline health care worker or nursing home resident or worker, the two categories currently eligible for vaccines.

On Sunday night, Schachter, who has been an outspoken leader urging compliance with pandemic guidelines, said he had been told that his vaccination was above board.

 

 

Illustrative: A pharmacist labels syringes in a clean room where doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be handled, December 9, 2020, at Mount Sinai Queens hospital in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

“If either of us would have been told that this was inappropriate, that it wasn’t legitimate, we would not have done that,” he said before delivering an online Torah lesson.

ParCare advertised that it would offer vaccines to people over 65 and with preexisting health conditions. But one Manhattan physician said he had reason to believe that people far younger had been vaccinated.

Dr. Mark Horowitz, a family physician with some patients in the Orthodox Jewish community, said he had seen a 36-year-old patient last week who said she had received a COVID-19 vaccine in Brooklyn the previous day, despite not meeting state vaccination standards. Horowitz tweeted about the patient three days before the state announced its investigation into ParCare.

Horowitz said he found ParCare’s alleged misconduct “morally repugnant,” especially as he said he sees patients with COVID-19 but has yet to receive the vaccine.

Illustrative. A syringe and a bottle reading ‘COVID-19 Vaccine’ next to the Pfizer company logo,

“I have little, if any, sympathy for people who jump the line, but I think the greater blame goes to the operators of this facility,” he said.

That’s who state investigators appear to be scrutinizing. The Centers for Disease Control’s vaccination program provider agreement, which New York requires private practices to sign, tells participants to “administer COVID-19 Vaccine in compliance with all applicable state and territorial vaccination laws.” Breaching the agreement risks suspension or termination from the program and federal criminal and civil penalties.

Gary Schlesinger, the prominent Hasidic businessman who owns the ParCare network, shared a picture of his own vaccination on Twitter late last week. He deleted his post after the state announced its investigation.

David, the man who was vaccinated at ParCare, said he assumed ParCare was distributing the vaccine early because of COVID-19 rates in Orthodox communities. Both New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo have called attention to lapses in the communities in compliance with rules designed to curb the spread of the disease.

And the city has collaborated with ParCare as it has worked to manage the pandemic. In October, the NYC Test & Trace Corps, the city’s contact tracing unit, announced that it was expanding the provider’s COVID-19 testing capabilities and offering additional resources and supplies.

Dr. Aaron Glatt

But while Orthodox Brooklyn experienced some of the first major outbreaks of the pandemic in the United States, neighborhoods with the most Orthodox Jews are not on the city’s list of areas experiencing the steepest toll throughout the entire pandemic. That list, de Blasio said last week, will determine where vaccines are sent first once vaccinations begin for the general public.

Dr. Aaron Glatt, the chief of infectious diseases and hospital epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau on Long Island and an assistant rabbi at the Young Israel of Woodmere, a large Orthodox synagogue, declined to comment on the ParCare investigation. But he said that he, along with other medical professionals, had no alternative but to follow state distribution schedules.

He also said that he personally has fielded many inquiries into vaccine availability since the first federal approvals earlier this month.

“People are very anxious, very excited, very interested in taking this vaccine,” Glatt said. “I think the sole concern at this time is ‘how can I get the vaccine.’”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/half-vaccinated-patients-at-ny-clinic-under-investigation-unsure-whats-next/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2020-12-29&utm_medium=email

“We won’t surrender. We won’t close down. And indeed, we didn’t close down, neither the boys’ schools, nor the girls’ schools, nor the yeshivas. Neither the large ones nor the small ones. Everything proceeded as usual,” he said. “God came to our aid, and the authorities realized they were dealing with a stubborn people.”

Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, Satmar Hasidic leader, tests positive for COVID-19

 

Teitelbaum said to have mild symptoms; his US community has been accused of holding mass events with little regard for social distancing

 Satmar Rebbe Zalman Teitelbaum

JTA — Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum, leader of a faction of the US Satmar Hasidic community, has tested positive for COVID-19, Yeshiva World News reported Sunday.

Teitelbaum, who is in his late 60s, is apparently showing mild symptoms, according to the site.

Teitelbaum, who is based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is not the first Hasidic leader to test positive for the virus. His own brother and leader of a rival faction of the Satmar Hasidic community, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, tested positive for COVID-19 back in March.

The Satmar community has been implicated in a number of large gatherings over the last several months, in defiance of state and city guidelines meant to minimize the spread of COVID-19. In November, a large wedding for one of Zalman’s grandchildren was downsized after plans for it drew public scrutiny.

Later that month, a grandchild of Aaron Teitelbaum married in a massive wedding that was held in secret — and later detailed in an article by his faction’s Yiddish-language newspaper. Even after both weddings were publicized and denounced by elected officials, large weddings continued to be held in Kiryas Joel, Aaron’s base.

Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum (C), the head of the Satmar Orthodox group, the largest Orthodox grouping worldwide, arrives at Ben Gurion international airport

In a speech given at a post-wedding celebration and printed on flyers posted in Hasidic neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Aaron struck a tone of defiance.

“We won’t surrender. We won’t close down. And indeed, we didn’t close down, neither the boys’ schools, nor the girls’ schools, nor the yeshivas. Neither the large ones nor the small ones. Everything proceeded as usual,” he said. “God came to our aid, and the authorities realized they were dealing with a stubborn people.”

On Sunday, WhatsApp alit with pictures of Zalman dancing with hundreds of his followers at the dedication of a new Torah scroll on Saturday night. Few if any in attendance could be seen wearing masks. 

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rabbi-zalman-teitelbaum-satmar-hasidic-leader-tests-positive-for-covid-19/

The more civilians we vaccinate and the faster we do so, the more lives we will save," Edelstein said. "The coronavirus endangers us all, the vaccines will save us all. There is no greater Pikuach Nefesh than this."

Vaccines on Shabbat? This is the position of Chief Rabbi David Lau

 

Chief Rabbi says permission to vaccinate in Shabbat will be considered when vaccinations are given in all hours of the day during the week.

(Of course, there needs to be a justification for Lau to keep his job. He is not smart enough to realize that the person getting vaccinated this Shabbat, could save his life in 2-3 months from now) PM

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi David Lau, on Thursday evening published his position regarding the administration of coronavirus vaccines on Shabbat.

"The Chief Rabbi of Israel considers it very important to provide vaccines to the general public and even got vaccinated in public in order to encourage the public to get vaccinated," said a statement from Rabbi Lau's office.

The rabbi determined that as long as there are vaccinations during all hours of the day and night during the week, which in practice indicates an urgency to vaccinate as quickly as possible, it will be possible to consider allowing vaccinations on Shabbat as well.

However, at this stage, when vaccinations are not performed at all hours of the day and night during weekdays, there is no permit to do so on Shabbat, said the rabbi.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein instructed the Director-General of his ministry to work to provide vaccines 24/7, recruit manpower for this purpose, and reach a rate of more than 100,000 vaccines per day.

"The State of Israel is in a health campaign that has not been the same since the establishment of the state. In recent days mutations have been identified that infect at a rapid and unusual rate that we have not yet encountered and we are in a race against time. 

The more civilians we vaccinate and the faster we do so, the more lives we will save," Edelstein said. "The coronavirus endangers us all, the vaccines will save us all. There is no greater Pikuach Nefesh than this."

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/293713

As time shows again and again, the most powerful way to protect our children is by shining light on abuse, and dealing with problems head on rather than allowing them to fester in the shadows. Many children do not tell their parents what they have been through because of the stigma and shame of concealed abuse

 

PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN:STOP ABUSE

 

AN IMPORTANT VIDEO MESSAGE FROM RAV YITZCHOK BERKOWITZ SHLIT”A REGARDING THE SAFETY OF THE CHILDREN OF KLAL YISROEL:https://youtu.be/wAI94moFI34

Together with the full public support of Rav Berkowitz, Rav Boruch Soloveitchik, and Rav Morgenstern, funds are being raised here for Jerusalem Eye, a grassroots effort to prevent incidents of assault on children in Jerusalem.

When the rabbanim started this effort in 2018 there were between 7-5 reported incidents of assault per month in the neighborhoods of Sanhedria. Since they installed cameras (cost of 750,000 ILS) they have seen a reduction in about 90% of the incidents, now only about 1 every three months. When abuse is caught on camera, they have evidence to catch the offender. With every incident caught on camera the attackers are dealt with accordingly.

The goal of this campaign is to cover all of Jerusalem with CCTV cameras to prevent assaults on children, and to catch offenders in action. As has been seen so far, the cameras serve as a major deterrent. In recent months, the community has not been able to afford to keep the cameras on. The plan is set to install cameras in the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo - the cost would be a staggering 4 million shekels. 

Our childrens’ safety and futures, however, is priceless. And so the rabbanim are turning to klal Yisroel for help.

As time shows again and again, the most powerful way to protect our children is by shining light on abuse, and dealing with problems head on rather than allowing them to fester in the shadows. Many children do not tell their parents what they have been through because of the stigma and shame of concealed abuse - This trauma has massive ripple effects on our communities, and on our future generations.

“For years, our neighborhood Sanhedria Murchevet was plagued with burglaries. Friday nights if someone was out you could be sure someone would break in to the apartment. Just a lot of loss of property, belongings. Aside from the financial loss, personal items that mean a lot to people. So we got together and set up a system of cameras, security cameras.

But in the process, we realized that there was something else going on. Perhaps Hashem had sent us the burglaries, for the sake of being able to discover. Throughout the week, all sorts of individuals from outside the neighborhood are driving in and did awful things to children. We had absolutely no awareness of anything like this going on.

Catching this on camera of course, meant that these people could be identified. People are in prison. The police appreciated it. But this is going on, on a constant basis.

 

https://thechesedfund.com/chessed-forever/jerusalemeye?aff=2

Someone who takes advantage of his or her position of authority to prey on subordinates for sexual gratification warrants no sympathy

The welcome extradition from Israel of Malka Leifer - It’s a far cry from the “ingathering of exiles” that Moses or the rest of us had in mind.

MALKA LEIFER, surrounded by Israel Prison Service guards, covers her face in Jerusalem District Court

 

 It appears that the extremely lengthy extradition saga of Malka Leifer is finally coming to an end. On Tuesday, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the accused pedophile against sending her packing to Australia, where she is wanted on 74 counts of rape and sexual abuse.

 

Though she still has another chance to appeal after Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn signed off on her extradition, there is little chance that such a move would bear fruit at this point. By now, Leifer’s lawyers have exhausted every avenue and used any lame excuse to keep their client from being sent back to the scene of her “alleged” crimes.

 

The reason that “alleged” should be in quotation marks here is that one of her defense team’s arguments over the past six years was that her sexual relations with the girls in the Adass Israel School in Melbourne – where she served as principal – were consensual. In other words, she acknowledges that the sex took place.

 

Adding insult to injury, one of her attorneys, Nick Kaufman, said, “It is simply unreasonable that [the alleged victims] did not know what those sexual acts were, and that they were not able to refuse.”

To lend credence to his argument, he peculiarly quoted one witness who stated, “I was afraid to say no. [Leifer] had a powerful personality. If I hadn’t done what she wanted, she would have become angry with me.”

 

Kaufman argued – ridiculously – that this meant her fear had been “subjective,” as opposed to the result of an actual threat.

 

Not only is the assertion of the students’ “consent” preposterous, but it’s completely different from what Leifer claimed when the first complaint surfaced in 2008. At the time, she not only denied the accusation, but got huffy about how it would ruin her reputation.

 

Well, she was right about that. But any damage to her name is well-deserved. Someone who takes advantage of his or her position of authority to prey on subordinates for sexual gratification warrants no sympathy.

 

Leifer’s conduct – if an Australian court deems her guilty – was particularly heinous, however. As headmistress of a religious school, which keeps girls and boys completely separate and teaches the strictest interpretation of Orthodox Judaism, she would have been able to groom her victims without raising suspicion.

 

Indeed, her womanhood would have given her an advantage in the context of her job and within the wider hassidic community. Particularly being the mother of eight children, her initial advances couldn’t possibly have raised the slightest red flag among the girls in her “educational” care.

 

Nor would the girls’ parents have considered any signs of affection on the part of a female educator to be inappropriate, in the way that they might have if Leifer had been a man. It is also unlikely that they would have believed their daughters if any had thought or dared to tell.

 

This is precisely how Leifer would have managed to get away with the alleged abuse for at least five of the eight years that she was employed at the school. It would have enabled her to pull the wool over the eyes of her victims, at least eight of whom have come forward.

 

THE FIRST of these, Dassi Erlich, revealed her story in 2007. After marrying in 2006 and moving to Israel, Erlich experienced post-trauma from the alleged abuse and sought therapy.

 

In February 2008, her therapist took the issue seriously, and contacted a colleague in Melbourne, who then spoke to a teacher at the school. That teacher then confronted Leifer, who dismissed the idea that she had crossed any boundaries with Erlich or anybody else. (As it happens, Erlich’s two sisters were among Leifer’s other alleged victims.)

 

The teacher also discussed the matter with senior Adass Israel rabbis and representatives of the school board. The latter then held a meeting in March 2008, during which they phoned Leifer to hear what she had to say.

 

Despite her angry denial and righteous indignation, she, her husband and four of her children were on a flight to Tel Aviv that very night. Their trip was funded by members of the school board.

 

Clearly, those paragons of religious virtue thought that helping a suspected sex criminal abscond, rather than informing the Melbourne police, was preferable to a public scandal. And this is how Leifer – a dual Australian-Israeli citizen – ended up back in the Jewish state.

 

Meanwhile, the Melbourne police conducted an investigation and issued a warrant for her arrest. For the many years since then, Canberra has been requesting that Israel extradite her to stand trial in Australia.

 

Leifer was arrested in Israel in the summer of 2014 as part of an Interpol operation, and placed under house arrest in Bnei Brak, where she was living at the time. It was then that the circus of her extradition hearings – and numerous postponements on the grounds of grave “mental-health issues” – began to take place.

 

Astonishingly, in 2016, the court not only bought her contention of being unfit to stand trial and suspended her extradition hearings, but removed her house-arrest restrictions, as well. This is when she moved to the settlement of Emmanuel, where her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Leifer, heads the Chust Hassidic community.

 

Unbeknownst to Leifer, private investigators caught 200 hours of her on video going about business as usual in Emmanuel, with no apparent incapacitation. She was re-arrested by the Israel Police in February 2018 and detained at the Neve Tirza Women’s Prison in Ramle.

 

But not for long. A few weeks later, she was released into the custody of a rabbi who later withdrew his support, and she was sent back to Neve Tirza for the duration of the extradition proceedings.

 

Yet again, she was given the benefit of the doubt, and sent for psychiatric testing to determine whether she was fit for the hearings. In the summer of 2019, a court-appointed medical committee came to the conclusion that she had been faking a mental illness.

 

And then came the coronavirus pandemic, which put a months-long halt on non-urgent court sessions. So Leifer was off the hook once more, giving her defense team additional time to invent pretexts to prevent her extradition.

 

One of these was the claim that their client would not be able to maintain her ultra-Orthodox lifestyle in an Australian prison. Presumably, they meant that she wouldn’t be treated to glatt kosher food in a jail Down Under, not that she couldn’t engage in the activities she’s accused of having perpetrated while heading an Orthodox school.

 

Thankfully, in May, she was deemed fit to stand trial for her extradition, which the Jerusalem District Court ordered in September. This week’s Supreme Court decision sealed her fate, and let’s hope it’s once and for all.

 

Leifer’s alleged victims aren’t the only ones heaving a sigh of relief after so many years. Israelis and Australians of all stripes agree that it’s high time she returned to Australia to face a jury of her peers.

 

What most people also concur with is that Israel must not allow itself to become a safe haven for Jews evading justice in the Diaspora, especially where cases involving multiple counts of child sex abuse are concerned.

 

Leifer’s long, drawn-out escape from Australian law enforcement is a stain on the Israeli judicial system that no white-washing can erase. It also serves as encouragement to others of her ilk.

It’s a far cry from the “ingathering of exiles” that Moses or the rest of us had in mind.

 

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/the-welcome-extradition-of-malka-leifer-opinion-652483?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Len+Khodorkovsky%3A+The+State+Department+s+secret+weapon&utm_campaign=Saturday+12+19+2020&vgo_ee=GpJg07tMVeYHL7R3v4Zifm7%2BX%2FpMfSStElYb34Re%2FNg%3D

Dangerous Anti-Vaxxer Frauds Exposed Yet Again!

 

The Corona Vaccine, purposeful lies vs. hard scientific facts

 

A guide for the perplexed: debunking false posts on the web, with explanations of the vaccine and answers to frequent questions.

 

Tags: Vaccine Coronavirus Porf. Chaim Gamliel

Prof. Chaim Gamliel , Dec 16 , 2020 12:00 PM

Translated from Hebrew and slightly abridged with the permission of the author.

Introduction:

On December 12, the FDA granted authorization to the corona vaccine developed by the Pfizer pharmaceutical company and its German affiliate BioNTech after it checked the results of the third stage of the vaccine trials.

This is an event of historic importance in the battle against the corona pandemic that has, in less than a year, killed close to two million people (1.7 m. so far) the world over and left millions of others with psychological and physical damage To that must be added the economic havoc the pandemic has caused.

This official authorization allows the vaccine to be given all over the world and with its 95% effectivity (as authorized by a specially augmented group of FDA scientists), there is no doubt it will cause a massive reversal of pandemic's spread and possibly even stop it completely.

The FDA check effectively erases all the arguments against the virus. The 92 page detailed and explanatory summary by Pfizer-BioNTech passed FDA muster on every facet of the third stage tests, including the efficacy of the vaccine and mainly in its description of the minor side effects to those vaccinated during the trial.

The FDA wrote: "The data provided by the Pfizer company passed our critical examination. The efforts to speed up the development of a vaccine did not negatively affect the scientific standards or trustworthiness of our investigative process." The FDA added that the vaccine may be administered to those over the age of 16. In Israel and the US, medical personnel and the elderly in nursing homes will be the first to receive the vaccine.

The FDA added that "the decision to authorize the vaccine was reached after an open and transparent process that included opinions of independent experts in health sciences, as well as a thorough in-depth evaluation of FDA scientists in order to ensure that this vaccination meets the strict and scientific standards of the FDA in anything connected to security, efficacy and quality of manufacture necessary to support it for emergency use."

On December 13, the New England Journal of Medicine published an applied science article by tens of the best scientists and doctors worldwide who took part in the third stage trials of the vaccine (no. BNT162b2 in the listing of clinical research trials). The article puts paid to the false attacks against the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech.

Part I: Questions and answers on the vaccine, explaining the facts in layman's terms:

Q. We are surrounded by all kinds of sources telling us how the vaccine works. How is it different from other vaccines?

Answer Many of us are familiar with the concept of chromosomes within cell nuclei which are made up of coils of genetic matter called DNA. This genetic matter is the "operating system" of every cell. For example, in an insulin-producing cell, the "program" for produing insulin is in a special part of the DNA of that cell. Special nuclear enzymes prepare the "program" and send it outside the nucleus to a part of the cell that contains ribosomes, organelles which know how to read the "program" and create the required insulin protein (it is the description of this ribosomal process that made Israel's Prof. Ada Yona a Nobel Prize Laureate)

What did the vaccine researchers do? In a brilliant scientific process they created a copy of the program (mRNA) that can produce one special coronavirus protein. That is why, when that mRNA compound is injected into someone, the muscle cells of the person inoculated know how to read the program and create one protein of the virus. This is identified by the immune system of that person as a foreign factor that has entered his body and its reaction is to activate immune system cells (T cells) to fight the invading virus protein and to create antibodies in large amounts against the virus protein. This alone turns the vaccinated person into someone protected against any virus whose outside membrane contains said protein.

The mRNA segment of "programming" cannot endanger cells because it cannot penetrate the nucleus to get near the cell's DNA. Since the original programmed segment disintegrates rapidly in the body, it is wrapped in liiposomes or micelles (fatty bubbles) which extend its life for 48 hours because although that is not much time, it is enough to trigger the immune system to produce antibodies. This process is nothing new, the liposome\micelles method to enhance absorption of various medicines\vitamins in our body both orally and intravenously has been in use for decades.

Once again, in contrast to those spreading false information, there is no new element here that can endanger those vaccinated.

Q. What does the vaccination package contain? Aren't there dangerous chemical substances in it?

Answer: In contrast to other vaccines, which are also found to be entirely safe, this vaccine has none of the adjuvant material added to vaccines for other diseases to enhance the immune response. It also has no preservatives. The solution has only a miniscule amount (30 micrograms) of mRNA wrapped in fat particles (those liposomes/ micelles) made of harmless inert fats to be found in injections and intravenous solutions for decades. Actually, the flu vaccine has adjuvants or preservatives - and there is no danger to anyone who is vaccinated against flu – while the corona vaccine does not have these additives or any others.

There is no justification for saying that it has foreign elements that endanger the body. Period.

Q. Why do we need to be given the vaccine in two stages?

Answer: The advantage of mRNA vaccines is that are not made of the virus itself or of particles of it and do not require growing the virus in the laboratory in order to manufacture them. This is the reason we can produce millions of vaccinations in a short time, as opposed to the time needed to create a vaccine containing weakened or dead viruses. That is also the reason there is no way the vaccine can infect anyone with the coronavirus.

The vaccine is given in two stages intramuscularly. The first portion (Prime) begins the process of stimulating an immune reaction (cell and antibody) against the corona virus protein and the second (Boost) given 21 days after the first, is intended to enhance the immune response and cause the production of a large store of antibodies in the body of the person vaccinated as well as to build a longterm immune "memory" that will cause the antibody producing cells to continue producing them the minute the vaccinated person is exposed to the real virus once again.

Q. Why be vaccinated, if the vaccine does not completely prevent contagion?

Answer: Vaccines are not administered to completely prevent contagion, because that is impossible unless a person is in an enclosed space cut off from the world That is why it must be made clear that even after vaccination, viruses may continue to infect those who are vaccinated if they are exposed to them, but with one major difference – someone who has been vaccinated will have an initial light and possibly unnoticed case, while his immune system will react immediately and powerfully, preventing the development of complications, because it has already practiced doing so due to the administration of the vaccine. It is comparable to an elite army unit practicing before it meets the enemy!

Part II The scientifically observed true facts regarding the vaccine and everything connected to preventing coronavirus and its resulting complications:

In the first stages of research, there was a controlled experiment with remarkable results using monkeys which were given live corona virus nasally – the vaccine prevented the virus from multiplying in their bodies almost entirely and prevented the development of complications such as pneumonia.

As far as humans are concerned, data collected up to now shows that after two vaccinations the efficacy of the vaccine is the highest ever discovered by scientists (an average of 95%!) and the vaccine prevented recurrent infection and complications. If we expect the vaccine to be the "Iron Dome" against corona virus, we can say that it deflected the virus, even if it cannot prevent its launching attempts

Who can and should receive the new anti-corona vaccination:

It is important to keep updated regarding the Israeli Health Ministry directives once they are published. For now, here is a summary of FDA and other health organization directives:

The results of research studies done so far on varied young and adult population groups have enabled professionals to recommend vaccinating securely most young people over 16 and adults of any age with slight background diseases. However:

Allergies: Those with a background of severe allergic reactions to any vaccinations, medicines or food and anyone who carries a prepared syringe with him for that reason must not be vaccinated for fear of developing an allergic reaction.

Young people under 16: There is not yet enough information for that age group so the vaccination is not given to them.

People with weakened immune systems: Because the vaccine is not made from live viruses, there is o fear of it multiplying in the body, therefore it can be given to those with weakened immune systems, if authorized by their doctor. Those with weak immune systems are in danger of dying if they contract the coronavirus, which is why vaccinating them is recommended. However, it is possible that their weak immune system will fail to produce enough antibodies, and the vaccine's efficacy in that case is lowered.

Pregnant and nursing mothers: Although there are no data showing that the vaccine affects pregnant and nursing women (and the foetus or nursing infants) in any negative way, until there is more data it is not recommended to be vaccinated while pregnant or nursing. It is recommended that vaccination be delayed until that period is over, as an extra precaution, as is done with any new medication or vaccine. Pregnant and nursing women are always the last to be allowed to receive new vaccines.

Part III Scientific responses to the lies filling the web.

Lie: The vaccination method (using mRNA segments) is new, experimental, insufficiently researched and dangerous.

The opposite is true. This is an old tried and true method, in use for over 30 years, and is also being used in the hopes of helping destroy cancer. The first publications of mRNA injection techniques were in the 1980s. My cancer research (Biotherapy) used the mRNA method.

Lie: The vaccine damages those vaccinated, causing fertility problems, miscarriages and other reactions, including death.

The vaccine does not harm those vaccinated, nor does it cause fertility problems or death. Those are total fabrications. On the contrary, this type of vaccination is as safe or safer than injecting weakened or dead viruses.

Lie: There is a claim circulating on the web saying that the vaccine can cause 22 kinds of diseases and syndromes.

The truth, once again, is just the opposite. The vaccine causes none of those 22 side effects. The fear mongers took the FDA list of side effects that the FDA looks for – but they did not publicize the fact that the FDA found no traces of them. The existence of the list is the little bit of truth on which they based their lies, but as I wrote here, this is what the researchers looked for, but the FDA repoorted unequivocally that none of the problems\diseases listed was found in those who received the vaccine as a result of vaccination.

The scientists who checked the third stage of the trials of the Pfizer vaccine reported that any side effects found in those vaccinated of all ages were relatively light and disappeared after several days (a reaction at the vaccination spot, tiredness, headaches, muscle and joint pain, shakes or fever)

Lie: Two people died of the Pfizer vaccine.

The two people who died and were mentioned over and over on the media were proven without a doubt to have died of heart attacks that had no connection with the vaccination.

Lie: The claim of fertility damage

This is the most unfounced fear of all because

a. there is no resemblance whatsoever between the corona proteins and those of the placenta, so that antibodies against the corona virus cannot affect the placenta and

b. corona itself does not affect fertility so a vaccine aimed against one of the corona proteins certainly won't.

Lie: There are claims that the vaccine changes the cells' genetic material and damages cells, tissues and organs.

This is an infantile claim whose source is people who know nothing of genetics, or of the vast difference between an RNA messenger and the DNA of the cell. (There are also people who know genetics and know they are mistaken, but are spreading the lie anyway)

Very briefly, an mRNA segment is a copy and is outside the cell nucleus, in the cell's liquid, while DNA is in the impenetrable nucleus protected by a membrane and other factors and cannot be affected by mRNA.

The mRNA segment heads for the ribosomes in the cell plasma outside the nucleus where proteins are formed and dies there in a matter of hours. It disintegrates rapidly and the liposome technique described previously keeps it alive for up to 48 hours so it can lead to the production of the antigen against corona.

After those 48 hours, mRNA disintegrates and disappears from the body. That is why the vaccine needs such low temperatures while stored and needs to be given twice.

Lie: A group of doctors filed a request with the EMA to recheck.

Contrary to posts on the web, a group of doctors did not file a request with the EMA (Europe's FDA) to recheck the Pfizer side effects reports. Two doctors, one of whom has been known for spreading disinformation about corona and was called to task for doing so, wrote a request and it was posted on the web before they were to submitt it to the EMA.

The FDA report is the final word on vaccines and the Health Feedback researchers whose job it is to find lies on the web also found all the points in that request to be false.

Lie: They are hiding the bad things from us.

There is no way the pharmaceutical companies can hide negative side effects from us as the trials are taking place in different locations, with unconnected researchers doing them who are closely monitored.

Note: tens of medical centers worldwide are doing clinical trials in inoculating people with the vaccine in the same time period, so that over a million people have been vaccinated. This is the largest number of people ever vaccinated in trials of a new vaccine. The labs in the West are under strict supervision which obligates them to report on each step before doing it, show complete results, their control, and then and only then, will they obtain permission for the next step. As we saw, Pfizer prepared a thorough wide-ranging report to the committee of world renowned scientists, statistic experts and physicians with much experience in vaccine research. It would not have been authorized had any of the stringent criteria not met their standards.

More lies and facts:

-The vaccine has no possibility of injecting dangerous viruses or other substances into our bodies, even theoretically. The fatty bubbles were authorized decades ago by the most strict research bodies.

-The vaccine has a 95% success rate if both injections are taken, while flu vaccine is at most 50-70% successful

-Results of vaccination trials usually depend on self-written reports from those vaccinated, which are often not accurate because by the time they report, they have forgotten details of any reactions.. In the corona vaccine trials, the reasearchers approached each person who was vaccinated, asking them detailed questions over and over and still found no side effects worthy of mention. Anything that came up was gone long before the second shot was to be administered.

-We are not vaccinating children now, but that is not because they do not suffer from after effects of the disease. There are long term effects, such as lack of concentration, in children who recovered from corona, as well as chronic breathing problems, aching muscles and more.

-And last but not least, as far as the imaginary science fiction-like scenario in which electronic chips are in the vaccine and will inform whoever wishes to know of our every move, control us and change our genetic makeup, I suggest sticking to reading science fiction. Man is as yet unable to do anything of the sort even if he wished to. Do not let these delusionary ideas affect your judgment.

An entire litany of lies has evolved about the corona vaccine, but an analysis of the practical scientific facts and the clear knowledge of the safety of this kind of vaccination, there is no doubt that the new vaccine exhibits high and impressive levels of efficacy and security. Only systematic vaccinations, organized and wide-ranging, of our population will bring this pandemic and the mad conditions under which we now live to an end. Medical history shows that 14 of the different plagues and diseases that killed a quarter of the world population were defeated only by vaccinations.

Run to be vaccinated (after your doctor clearly authorizes you do so) and make sure to keep to the guidelines and regulations from the Health Ministry and other official agencies which deal with the issue. I hope to be one of the first vaccinated – as a child I missed the polio vaccine because of my birth date and have suffered from it all my life.

Please send to everyone you know.

*Prof. Cham Gamliel heads the Rotem Medical Research Institute in Jerusalem today, as well as teaching at Bar Ilan University. He is a well-known professor of cancer research who taught at Chicago University and received international prizes for this work on microscope scanning of viruses as possible factors in developing cancer, especially blood cancers such as leukemia, as well as his work on oncologic nutrition. He authored an encyclopedic work on modern applications of Maimonides medical methods and chairs the Maimonides Research Institute in Kiryat Ono.

Partial list of sources:

[1] https://yourlocalepidemiologist.com/phase-iii-data/

[2] https://www.fda.gov/media/144245/download

[3] https://www.fda.gov/media/144246/download

[4] http://d9.ai/s/1f6ayn/7v2f

[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2672806/

[6] http://rotem.org.il/?p=2115

[7] http://rotem.org.il/?p=2115

[8] https://govextra.gov.il/ministry-of-health/covid19-vaccine/home

[9] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1737364/

[10] https://healthfeedback.org/claimreview/a-rise-in-the-number-of-covid-19-cases-and-deaths-starting-in-september-2020-contradicts-the-claim-by-michael-yeadon-that-the-pandemic-is-fundamentally-over-in-the-u-k/

[11] https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577

We Are Sick!

 

"The Torah obligation to preserve our lives and the lives of others requires us to vaccinate for COVID-19 as soon as a vaccine becomes available"

 

 COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance 

Presented by the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America

 

https://www.ou.org/assets/Guidance-re-Vaccines.pdf

Scientists worry that if vaccinated people are silent spreaders of the virus, they may keep it circulating in their communities, putting unvaccinated people at risk. Pfizer and Moderna seem to be remarkably good at preventing serious illness. But it’s unclear how well they will curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Here’s Why Vaccinated People Still Need to Wear a Mask

The new vaccines will probably prevent you from getting sick with Covid. No one knows yet whether they will keep you from spreading the virus to others — but that information is coming.

That’s because the Pfizer and Moderna trials tracked only how many vaccinated people became sick with Covid-19. That leaves open the possibility that some vaccinated people get infected without developing symptoms, and could then silently transmit the virus — especially if they come in close contact with others or stop wearing masks.

If vaccinated people are silent spreaders of the virus, they may keep it circulating in their communities, putting unvaccinated people at risk.

“A lot of people are thinking that once they get vaccinated, they’re not going to have to wear masks anymore,” said Michal Tal, an immunologist at Stanford University. “It’s really going to be critical for them to know if they have to keep wearing masks, because they could still be contagious.”

In most respiratory infections, including the new coronavirus, the nose is the main port of entry. The virus rapidly multiplies there, jolting the immune system to produce a type of antibodies that are specific to mucosa, the moist tissue lining the nose, mouth, lungs and stomach. If the same person is exposed to the virus a second time, those antibodies, as well as immune cells that remember the virus, rapidly shut down the virus in the nose before it gets a chance to take hold elsewhere in the body.

The coronavirus vaccines, in contrast, are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This appears to be enough protection to keep the vaccinated person from getting ill.

Some of those antibodies will circulate in the blood to the nasal mucosa and stand guard there, but it’s not clear how much of the antibody pool can be mobilized, or how quickly. If the answer is not much, then viruses could bloom in the nose — and be sneezed or breathed out to infect others.

“It’s a race: It depends whether the virus can replicate faster, or the immune system can control it faster,” said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “It’s a really important question.”

This is why mucosal vaccines, like the nasal spray FluMist or the oral polio vaccine, are better than intramuscular injections at fending off respiratory viruses, experts said.

The coronavirus vaccines have proved to be powerful shields against severe illness, but that is no guarantee of their efficacy in the nose. The lungs — the site of severe symptoms — are much more accessible to the circulating antibodies than the nose or throat, making them easier to safeguard.

“Preventing severe disease is easiest, preventing mild disease is harder, and preventing all infections is the hardest,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona. “If it’s 95 percent effective at preventing symptomatic disease, it’s going to be something less than that in preventing all infections, for sure.”

Covid-19 Vaccines ›

Answers to Your Vaccine Questions

With distribution of a coronavirus vaccine beginning in the U.S., here are answers to some questions you may be wondering about:

• • If I live in the U.S., when can I get the vaccine? While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put medical workers and residents of long-term care facilities first. If you want to understand how this decision is getting made, this article will help.
  •  
  • When can I return to normal life after being vaccinated? Life will return to normal only when society as a whole gains enough protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, they’ll only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens at most in the first couple months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to getting infected. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against becoming sick. But it’s also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they’re infected because they experience only mild symptoms or none at all. Scientists don’t yet know if the vaccines also block the transmission of the coronavirus. So for the time being, even vaccinated people will need to wear masks, avoid indoor crowds, and so on. Once enough people get vaccinated, it will become very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people to infect. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve that goal, life might start approaching something like normal by the fall 2021.
  •  
  • If I’ve been vaccinated, do I still need to wear a mask? Yes, but not forever. Here’s why. The coronavirus vaccines are injected deep into the muscles and stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. This appears to be enough protection to keep the vaccinated person from getting ill. But what’s not clear is whether it’s possible for the virus to bloom in the nose — and be sneezed or breathed out to infect others — even as antibodies elsewhere in the body have mobilized to prevent the vaccinated person from getting sick. The vaccine clinical trials were designed to determine whether vaccinated people are protected from illness — not to find out whether they could still spread the coronavirus. Based on studies of flu vaccine and even patients infected with Covid-19, researchers have reason to be hopeful that vaccinated people won’t spread the virus, but more research is needed. In the meantime, everyone — even vaccinated people — will need to think of themselves as possible silent spreaders and keep wearing a mask. Read more here.
  •  
  • Will it hurt? What are the side effects? The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is delivered as a shot in the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection into your arm won’t feel different than any other vaccine, but the rate of short-lived side effects does appear higher than a flu shot. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported any serious health problems. The side effects, which can resemble the symptoms of Covid-19, last about a day and appear more likely after the second dose. Early reports from vaccine trials suggest some people might need to take a day off from work because they feel lousy after receiving the second dose. In the Pfizer study, about half developed fatigue. Other side effects occurred in at least 25 to 33 percent of patients, sometimes more, including headaches, chills and muscle pain. While these experiences aren’t pleasant, they are a good sign that your own immune system is mounting a potent response to the vaccine that will provide long-lasting immunity.
  •  
  • Will mRNA vaccines change my genes? No. The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer use a genetic molecule to prime the immune system. That molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse to a cell, allowing the molecule to slip in. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. At any moment, each of our cells may contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules, which they produce in order to make proteins of their own. Once those proteins are made, our cells then shred the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules our cells make can only survive a matter of minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell's enzymes a bit longer, so that the cells can make extra virus proteins and prompt a stronger immune response. But the mRNA can only last for a few days at most before they are destroyed.

Still, he and other experts said they were optimistic that the vaccines would suppress the virus enough even in the nose and throat to prevent immunized people from spreading it to others.

Coronavirus Schools Briefing: It’s back to school — or is it?

“My feeling is that once you develop some form of immunity with the vaccine, your ability to get infected will also go down,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. “Even if you’re infected, the level of virus that you replicate in your nose should be reduced.”

The vaccine trials have not produced data on how many vaccinated people were infected with the virus but did not have symptoms. Some hints are emerging, however.

AstraZeneca, which announced some of its trial results in November, said that volunteers had been testing themselves regularly for the virus, and that those results suggested that the vaccine might prevent some infections.

Pfizer will test a subset of its trial participants for antibodies against a viral protein called N. Because the vaccines have nothing to do with this protein, N antibodies would reveal whether the volunteers had become infected with the virus after immunization, said Jerica Pitts, a spokeswoman for the company.

Moderna also plans to analyze blood from all its participants and test for N antibodies. “It will take several weeks before we can expect to see those results,” said Colleen Hussey, a spokeswoman for Moderna.

The trials have so far analyzed only blood, but testing for antibodies in mucosa would confirm that the antibodies can travel to the nose and mouth. Dr. Tal’s team is planning to analyze matched blood and saliva samples from volunteers in the Johnson & Johnson trial to see how the two antibody levels compare.

In the meantime, Dr. Bhattacharya said, he was encouraged by recent work showing that people who received an intramuscular flu vaccine had abundant antibodies in the nose. And a study of Covid-19 patients found that antibody levels in saliva and blood were closely matched — suggesting that a strong immune response in the blood would also protect mucosal tissues.

Only people who have virus teeming in their nose and throat would be expected to transmit the virus, and the lack of symptoms in the immunized people who became infected suggests that the vaccine may have kept the virus levels in check.

But some studies have suggested that even people with no symptoms can have high amounts of coronavirus in their nose, noted Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, who represents the American Academy of Pediatrics at meetings of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The first person confirmed to be reinfected with the coronavirus, a 33-year-old man in Hong Kong, also did not have symptoms, but harbored enough virus to infect others.

Vaccinated people who have a high viral load but don’t have symptoms “would actually be, in some ways, even worse spreaders because they may be under a false sense of security,” Dr. Maldonado said.

Dr. Tal said she was concerned by monkey studies showing that some vaccinated animals did not get ill, but still had virus in their nose.

But those monkeys were intentionally exposed to massive amounts of virus and still had less virus than unvaccinated animals, said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

“The more you reduce viral load, the less likely you are to be transmissible,” Dr. Moore said. But “all of these are things where data trumps theory, and we need the data.”

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/health/covid-vaccine-mask.html?surface=home-discovery-vi-prg&fellback=false&req_id=589481686&algo=identity&variant=no-exp&imp_id=406916803

The Murderous And Ignorant - Unrepentant Anti-Vaxxers - Should Be Recognized For What They Are - Genocidal Maniacs!

 

Da’as Torah and Anti-Vaxxers

In a recent article in the Forward, Rabbi Avi Shafran, the spokesman for Agudath Israel of America, the umbrella organization of American Charedi Jews, complained that the media was singling out the ultra-Orthodox as the prime culprits responsible for the measles outbreak in the United States. He implied that what underlay these media reports was not only anti-Charedi sentiment but actually unvarnished anti-Semitism. He pointed out that on the one hand there are many “anti-vaxxers” who are not Jewish, much less Charedim. On the other hand, what he called the “vast majority” of Orthodox Jews do have their children vaccinated.

On its face, Shafran is not incorrect. The problem is that he simply is not telling the whole truth. Indeed, it is the very leaders of his own organization who are telling their followers not to vaccinate their children if, for whatever reason, they don’t want to. Even more troubling, these same leaders are forbidding schools under their religious aegis to deny attendance to unvaccinated children.

Although ground zero for the outbreaks in America have been the Chasidic strongholds of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Borough Park neighborhoods, it is the non-Chasidic leaders of Agudath Israel who not only have justified opposition to vaccinations, but explicitly condemn schools that require vaccines as a prerequisite for attendance. They draw upon on mostly discredited studies and argue that the risk of complications from measles is minimal. They overlook the fact that the saving of life (pikuach nefesh) applies even in cases where the risk of death is minimal. Yet the risk is very real. I should know. Many years ago, my younger brother nearly died from complications of measles. It was only thanks to the proximity of a talented and energetic doctor that he survived the trip to the hospital.

The risk is very real. I should know. Many years ago, my younger brother nearly died from complications of measles.

And yet these rabbis assert their opinion is nothing less than what has come to be called da’as Torah, or Torah authority, elevating their erroneous and dangerous views to the level of near prophesy. No wonder ordinary Charedim are loathe to challenge the views of their respected leaders. To do so would be to risk expulsion from their tightly-knit communities.

Who are the men issuing these pronouncements? Two of them lead the Beis Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, N.J.: Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, its chancellor or Rosh HaYeshiva, and Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon, its moral tutor (to borrow a term employed at Oxbridge colleges) or mashgiach. They lead a yeshiva that is the most prestigious and the wealthiest school of its kind in the United Stares — in effect, the Harvard of yeshivas. No wonder their word is taken as law.

But these men are not alone among the rabbinical anti-vaxxers. Rabbis Shmuel Kamenetsky and Aaron Schechter are, like Rabbi Kotler, members of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah — the Committee of Torah Sages — that dictates Agudah’s religious and secular policies. Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a leading Israel-based decisor for thousands of Charedim worldwide, has also, in the words of Rabbis Kotler, Solomon and Kaminetsky, “explicitly ruled that schools cannot refuse such [unvaccinated] children.” These rulings are not merely flouting science; their da’as Torah is endangering hundreds, perhaps thousands of younger children and older people who are especially vulnerable to complications from measles.

In the previous century, Agudah’s rabbis invoked da’as Torah to urge Europe’s Orthodox Jews not to emigrate to America or Israel in order to escape the Nazi onslaught. Until May 1948, they invoked the same principle to oppose the creation of the State of Israel. In the 1970s and ’80s, they invoked da’as Torah again to counsel against public demonstrations on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Now they invoke it to oppose vaccinations. And once again, as before, they find themselves on the wrong side of history.

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/columnist/297876/daas-torah-and-anti-vaxxers/