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Illinois may boycott Ben & Jerry's, Israel set to give fourth COVID shot, man proposes in Yiddish library and lone Jew goes full-Hanukkah on street entirely of Christmas decorations.
OUR LEAD STORY
For decades, a little-known custom has barred parents from participating in the burial of babies who lived less than a month, as well as stillbirths or miscarriages. They were not even told the locations of the graves, or even knowing the location of the grave. Bereaved parents won some changes five years ago, but many are still fighting for information and actions.
Good intentions: The government covers the burial cost of every Israeli, and since Jewish law does not require full mourning rituals for babies who died within 31 days of birth, hospitals have whisked them away to help parents recover from their losses as quickly as possible. It “started as a nice thing, when families couldn’t afford a burial plot, when there was rampant disease in Israel, rampant poverty, and babies and children died often,” said Ziva Glanz, who lost an infant born at 24 weeks gestation.
But causing more pain: “They claim that keeping the details from parents helps them move on faster,” Glanz said, “but it doesn’t help.” Those who do not know where the graves are “get stuck in time,” she added. “It wears them down. It affects their mental health.” And some parents who have been able to locate graves have been horrified to find unmarked plots, some of them containing remains from multiple corpses – and in at least one case, adult bodies placed atop them.
A new way to mourn: Glanz now runs a support group to help parents avoid experiencing what she went through. “Obviously it’s very hard to watch your child being buried,” she said. “But there is beauty in grief. By putting one foot in front of the other, whatever way we can during early stages of grief, we’re building emotional muscles for ourselves.”
ALSO FROM THE FORWARD He brought Hanukkah to a street famous for Christmas lights. Antisemitism followed – but so did joy.It’s a holiday tradition in Baltimore: Visiting the Miracle on 34th Street, a city block where houses go all-out with Christmas displays in honor of the classic film. When Joshua Lamont saw a house for sale on 34th, he thought: “OK, cool, this is my shot to bring some of our culture and some visibility to the holiday on a larger scale.” Welcome to the “Hanukkah House.”Read the story ➤
In Paul Rudd’s extreme disappointment, a universal philosophy for 2022: While hosting the latest “Saturday Night Live,” Rudd scanned the rows of empty seats – the live audience and most of the cast was barred at the 11th hour because of the Omicron surge – and exclaimed: “I’m extremely disappointed.” Rarely have so few words captured so much of what so many are feeling. “Disappointment has become our collective default position,” writes Robert Zaretsky. Read the story ➤
The bizarre reason Christmas may be becoming more Jewish:Some have attributed the cream cheese shortage of recent weeks to a Christmas rush on cheesecake. But is the delectable dessert really a Yuletide yum? Andrew Silverstein, who last week revealed one key cause of the cream cheese shortage, was not convinced. What he discovered is that cheesecake has a rich Jewish history. Indeed, this may be the rare inversion of Christmas celebrants assimilating something Jewish. Read the story ➤
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🍦 The state of Illinois is expected to divest its pension funds of investments in Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, over the ice cream maker’s decision to stop selling in the occupied West Bank. Illinois joins a growing list of governments to consider such a move, including Florida, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee. In September, Arizona sold $93 million in Unilever bonds. (Jewish News Syndicate)
💉 Israel plans to give a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to senior citizens, immunocompromised people, and health care workers in an effort to stem the spread of the Omicron variant. Israel, which has been a trailblazer throughout the vaccine rollout, is believed to be the first country to authorize a fourth dose. (JTA)
📜 A centuries-old commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy was thought to be lost forever. But researchers are now piecing it back together using algorithms and artificial intelligence. “I have been working for many years on the literature of the classical rabbinical sages,” said Michal Bar-Asher Siegal of Ben Gurion University. “But I have a feeling that if I go down in history, it will be for this research.” (Haaretz)
🇮🇷 Several former top Obama officials are imploring the Biden administration to toughen its stance on Iran as indirect talks about returning to the 2015 nuclear deal stagnate. “Without convincing Iran it will suffer severe consequences if it stays on its current path, there is little reason to hope for the success of diplomacy,” the officials wrote in an open letter organized by The Washington Institute. (Forward)
⚓️ An Israel Antiquities Authority survey off the coast of Caesarea has recovered treasure from two ancient shipwrecks, including hundreds of silver coins, figurines and a gold ring engraved with the figure of the Good Shepherd, a well-known symbol of Jesus in early Christian art. (Times of Israel)
💍 A man proposed to his girlfriend in a Yiddish library. David Frisch told Pammy Brenner, who had studied at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, that there was a new cache of materials in the library he wanted her to see. “At first I thought it was the manuscript that I had come there for,” Brenner said. “But it was actually a scrapbook of the whole history of our relationship.” She said yes. (NY Jewish Week)
Shiva call > Baruch Levine, who helped grow Judaic Studies at NYU, died at 91. Jonathan Sarna, a historian at Brandeis University, called Levine “one of the great Jewish Bible scholars of his generation.” (JTA)
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Simcha Rotem, the last survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, died on Dec. 22, 2018. During the act of resistance, which lasted nearly a month, Rotem and his fellow rebels fortified themselves in bunkers and managed to kill 16 Nazis and wound nearly 100. Rotem led the last fighters from the ghetto through the sewers, saving their lives. He kept them in hiding in the forest and in various apartments until the end of the war. In 1946, he made aliyah and joined the Haganah, the precursor to the Israel Defense Forces, and fought in the War of Independence.
Last year on this day, we reported that Israel was on the verge of an unprecedented fourth election, which ultimately led to Naftali Bennett becoming prime minister. VIDEO OF THE DAY Yesterday, we shared the story of Rick Rosenthal, the Orthodox Jewish Santa who opened a school for other Santas. Today, we bring you the story of another Jewish Claus. Meet Dana Friedman, a New York attorney who was inspired to give back to police officers and firefighters after 9/11. A co-worker told him matter-of-factly: “You’re fat enough. Why don’t you be Santa Claus?”
Friedman attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush and went on to teach Hebrew School at Temple Emanuel on 14th Avenue in Boro Park. Asked which winter holiday he prefers, he replied: “I like Hanukkah better,” though he “can’t make latkes to save my life.”
––– Thanks to PJ Grisar, Jacob Kornbluh and Rudy Malcom for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
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