Statue of Jewish Baseball Icon Sandy Koufax to be Unveiled
Jewish baseball legend Sandy Koufax will be immortalized this summer with
a statue at Dodger Stadium, JTA reported.

The Hall of Fame pitcher will join trailblazing teammate Jackie Robinson,
whose bronze statue was unveiled in the centerfield plaza in 2017. Artist
Branly Cadet, who made the Robinson statue, also created Koufax’s sculpture.

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced the statue in 2019, with its unveiling
originally planned for the summer of 2020. The new ceremony will be held
on June 18 before a game against the Cleveland Guardians. The first 40,000
ticketed fans will receive a replica of Koufax’s statue.

Koufax, now 86, became the youngest player to enter baseball’s Hall of
Fame when he was inducted in 1972 at the age of 36. That same year, the
Dodgers retired Koufax’s jersey number, 32, alongside Robinson’s iconic 42,
which is retired across the sport.

Among Jewish fans, Koufax is best known for a game he did not pitch.

Game 1 of the 1965 World Series fell on Yom Kippur, and Koufax famously
declined to play.

Idaho GOP Official Tried to install an Antisemite in Democratic
Leadership — as a Distraction
Dave Reilly is a longtime far-right activist with an extensive record of antise-
mitic, racist and misogynistic statements. So it would be hard to imagine him
as a Democratic Party leader.

But that’s exactly what a Republican Party leader in Western Idaho tried
to make happen, JTA reported, citing the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls Press.

Dan Bell, the youth chairman for the Republican committee in Kootenai
County, tried to rally fellow Republicans to switch parties to become Democratic
chairs in a majority of 73 local precincts. The faux-Democrats would then elect
Reilly as party chair — and the ensuing controversy would drain attention
away from the Republicans’ bad-faith takeover of the Democrats.

Reilly, who attended the white supremacist march in Charlottesville,
Virginia, in 2017, has said that “all Jews are dangerous” and that “Jews pre-
tend to be white when it’s expedient for them.”
Bell told another Republican in a 30-minute phone call that the local news-
paper reported, Reilly’s inflammatory record would make him a sacrificial lamb.

Israel Ranks as World’s Ninth-Happiest Country
Israel placed as the ninth-happiest country in the annual World Happiness Report,
an increase from 11th in 2021 and 14th in 2020, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The World Happiness Report is a publication of the UN Sustainable
Development Solutions Network.

The report takes into account GDP, social support, life expectancy, free-
dom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption in devel-
oping its rankings.

Finland placed first for the fifth year in a row, followed by fellow Nordic
countries Denmark and Iceland. The Netherlands and Luxembourg ranked
fourth and fifth, followed by the Nordic states of Sweden and Norway.

The United States ranked 15th.

Afghanistan maintained its last-place status out of the 146 countries included.

COVID Cases Climb in Israel
The number of coronavirus cases in Israel has climbed in recent days, The
Times of Israel reported, noting almost 7,000 new cases on March 17.

The transmission rate climbed to 0.97; the rate represents the average
number of people infected by a confirmed patient. Numbers over 1 indicate
the pandemic is growing.

As of March 18, there were 40,242 active cases in the country, although
cases considered serious continue to decline and totaled just 291.

The country’s death toll stood at 10,417.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on March 16 that the country will
keep its indoor mask mandate in place for, at minimum, another month. JE
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
FREE ESTIMATES
PERSONALIZED SERVICE
SENIOR DOWNSIZING
DECLUTTER / HOARDING CLEAN OUTS
ALL ITEMS SOLD, DONATED, OR REPURPOSED
RESPECTFUL OF HOMES WITH
ACCUMULATIONS OF 30+ YEARS
JOLIE OMINSKY
OWNER SERVING PA, DE, NJ
JOCSERNICA@YAHOO.COM 610-551-3105
Exclusive Women’s Apparel Boutique
Made in USA
Custom designs, color options and
free alterations available
Evening Gowns
Suits/Separates Cocktail Dresses
61 Buck Road
Huntingdon Valley,
PA 19006
www.elanaboutique.com (215)953-8820
Make an appointment today!
Consult with the designer to
explore your style options.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 15