Queens Jewish Link
Connecting the Queens Jewish Community Approaching its 50th anniversary, Laniado Hospital – Sanz Medical Center reflects on five decades...
The war in Ukraine reminds me of one word: naiveté.
Far too often we see how countries naively have given up their strategic advantages and/or resources, in exchange for security guaranties.
Last week, as the Democrats pat themselves on the back for lifting their boot off the necks of New Yorkers long enough for the masks to be removed, they surreptitiously filed a brief with the Appellate Court of New York. The purpose? To keep the option open that they can “reinstitute masking requirements in schools or any other indoor location if needed.” As anyone who has paid attention knows, “if needed” depends entirely on the poll numbers, not the scientific necessity.
Even though Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria is fully supported by history and international law, and Russia illegally occupies large parts of Ukraine, accusations against Israel will continue.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has only just begun, yet the lessons for Israel are already obvious and they’re not very encouraging.
As Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine drags into its third week, imagine for a moment the terrible reality of the refugees who are being routed from their homes, and the homes of their ancestors, to avoid the devastation of war. The mothers who place their children on buses, hoping to see them again, the fathers who take up arms to defend their country, and the families that are torn apart in all the chaos. This is the reality of Putin’s aggression, but it draws a distinct parallel to many of the darkest hours in history.
As we prepare for Shabbos Zachor and Purim, a new Amaleik in Iran, the land of Haman, threatens the future of Israel, the Jewish people, and the civilized world. At the same time, war between two countries with long histories of anti-Semitism, Russia and Ukraine, carries the risk of drawing much of the world into a much larger conflagration. What can Megillas Esther, which tells us how our ancestors successfully defeated a plot to annihilate us in ancient Persia, teach us about how to deal with the challenges confronting us in today’s world?
January 2022 was one of the most profound months of my life lived thus far - and not for the reasons one might think. While it carried significance as the month prior to my three-year wedding anniversary and marked one year since Joe Biden’s ascension to the presidency, it was more importantly when I started learning EMDR. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a form of psychotherapy discovered by Dr. Francine Shapiro in 1987. I say discovered because Dr. Shapiro didn’t intentionally think about upsetting imagery while watching an object move across her visual field. Even psychotherapists aren’t that crazy. But accidental as it was, her discovery is to psychology what the New World is to geography. Perhaps uncontacted tribes practiced EMDR for millennia, but modern psychology accredits it to Shapiro nonetheless.
