Struck Severely by the Coronavirus Pandemic, Ultra-Orthodox Jews Now Play a Crucial Role in Its Treatment

In their efforts to treat those suffering from COVID-19, doctors have been experimenting with injecting those with severe cases of the disease with the blood plasma of those who are convalescing. The antibodies contained in the plasma are thought to help patients fight the infection. The logistics of this simple treatment are in fact quite complex: suitable and willing donors must be found; the machines needed to extract the plasma do not exist in abundance; the process itself takes over an hour; and the plasma must be transported to those most in need. At the forefront of surmounting these difficulties in the U.S. are a group of Ḥasidim, who began their efforts when one of their own was ill and no plasma was available—but did not stop there. Yonoson Rosenblum reports:

Michael Joyner, [a physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, tasked by the FDA with leading experimentation with plasma treatment], early on came to view the ḥaredi community as a major ally. Because this community was so hard hit by the COVID-19 virus, it constituted a huge reservoir of potential donors. In addition, he understood the community’s ability to mobilize once it identifies a goal.

On [one] occasion, Dr. Joyner called Chaim Lebovits, [the ḥasidic shoe merchant involved in coordinating plasma donations], on a Friday and told him that he needed eleven donors in Brooklyn, Minnesota before the weekend. Lebovits, who wasn’t previously aware of the existence of a Brooklyn in Minnesota, reached out to his connections in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. An hour before the Sabbath began eleven Ḥasidim showed up at the blood center in Brooklyn.

Within two weeks, approximately 5,000 recovered coronavirus victims have signed up. . . . The existing donors are already sufficient to cover every current slot for donations.

In addition, [these] efforts have already had an impact in Israel. Lebovits relates with relish the discussion in his conference call with Joyner, Shmuel Shoham [an Israeli-born physician at Johns Hopkins University working with Lebovits], and senior Magen David Adom (MDA) official in Israel. The MDA official’s main question was, “Where do you find the donors?” Shoham answered him in . . . Hebrew: “What’s your problem? Do what we did! Get the Ḥasidim. You have plenty of Ḥasidim.” The next day, the MDA official called back to say that they had successfully followed Shoham’s advice.

Read more at Mishpacha

More about: American Jewry, Coronavirus, Hasidism, Ultra-Orthodox

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF