ON THE
FENCE LONG NIGHTS
Fencer Maia Weintraub works toward her
goal of competing in the Olympics.

DECEMBER 3, 2020 / 17 KISLEV 5781
PAGE 22
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Page 4
OPINION Orthodox Rabbi
Discusses High
Court Ruling
Says little will
change for his
congregation. Page 16
OPINION Hunger Crisis
Often Overlooked
MAZON leader calls
on citizens to push
for added help.

Page 17
Volume 133
Number 34
Published Weekly Since 1887
Dentists See
Care Delayed
Due to
Pandemic SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
IF YOU HAVEN’T SET FOOT inside
a dentist’s offi ce this year due to anxiety
about COVID-19, you’re not alone.

Many of Dr. Frederic Barnett’s patients
haven’t scheduled an appointment since
the pandemic began, either.

Th e chairman of the Maxwell S.

Fogel Department of Dental Medicine at
Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia is
concerned. “Most dental disease develops without
any symptoms and without any signs. And
then, when fi nally something does begin
to hurt a patient, it needs more extensive
management and, of course, it’s always
more expensive as well,” he said.

Many Jewish dentists like Barnett have
seen their practices change in signifi cant
ways since the pandemic began, from
fl uctuating demand to stringent cleaning
protocols to increased cases of certain
dental problems.

Dentists in Pennsylvania faced intense
restrictions on their practices in the early
days of the stay-at-home order, and were
Left: The cover of a Congregation Mikveh Israel record book concerning marriages, births and
deaths between 1776-1843. Right: In one entry, Haym Solomon describes the circumstances under
which a prominent member of the community was nearly excommunicated.

Courtesy of Congregation Mikveh Israel and the Philadelphia Congregations Early Records Project
Mikveh Israel Archives ‘a
Mirror of Today’
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
TO READ THROUGH the archives
of Congregation Mikveh Israel, which
are slowly but surely being digitized and
transcribed by professional staff and
volunteers in a project concerning the
oldest congregations in Philadelphia, is
to encounter the repeated occurrence of
See Dentists, Page 14
Name: Joseph Levine & Sons
Width: 5.5 in
Depth: 1.231 in
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certain eternal practices.

Ledgers record births and deaths from
as long ago as the American Revolution.

Similar documentation is made of
marriages, britot milah and an applica-
tion to the city of Philadelphia requesting
permission to construct a mikvah.

But the archival records that seem to
most tickle Rabbi Albert Gabbai of the
See Archives, Page 15