H EADLINES
ISRAELBRIEFS Woman to Lead an Israeli Orthodox
Synagogue for First Time
SHIRAT HATAMAR, a congregation in the West
Bank settlement of Efrat, elected Rabbanit Shira
Marili Mirvis, 40, as spiritual leader on April 26,
marking the fi rst time a woman will hold that role in
an Israeli Orthodox synagogue, JTA reported.

“I truly hold in my heart all of the women, across
all of the generations, who are greater than me, and
smarter than me, and fear heaven and are students
of Torah that didn’t receive the recognition and love
that I have received,” she said. “I have a congregation
that is a group of people — men, women and children
— that come together to serve God in happiness,
simplicity and prayer.”
Mirvis’ election is considered historic. Unlike the
more liberal Conservative and Reform movements,
Orthodox seminaries have traditionally ordained
only men as rabbis.

Mirvis was elected with the support of 83% of the
synagogue’s membership.

nation’s two most-common snakes, Th e Jerusalem
Post reported.

Israeli company Kamada produces the antidotes
and sells them to the nation’s Health Ministry. Th e
company specializing in developing medicines to
treat people receiving organ transplants or suff ering
from rare diseases.

May is considered peak snake season in Israel. Th e
Health Ministry estimates that 58% of snake bites
occur in central Israel, while 33% are in southern
Israel and 9% in northern Israel.

Isolation Required for Israelis Returning From
Countries with High COVID-19 Rates
Israelis returning from countries with high levels of
COVID-19 infection will be required to isolate, even
if they’re already vaccinated or recovered, according
to a Health Ministry director Director-General
Chezy Levy signed on April 29, Th e Jerusalem Post
reported. Th e measure, which took eff ect May 3, was
prompted aft er 41 cases of the Indian variant —
including in four already-vaccinated people — were
Israel Prepares for Snake Season
In advance of snake season, Israel’s health system detected.

Th e high-risk countries include India, South
has bought antidotes that counter the venom of the
Africa, Turkey, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Mexico and
Brazil. Levy said outbound travel of Israelis to those
countries would be halted. Travelers spending less
than 12 hours in airport transit in those countries
will be exempt.

Most of those infected entered from India, the Post
reported. Israeli Cash Use Jumps 17.5% in 2020
Th e amount of cash in circulation in the Israeli
economy jumped by 17.5%, or about $5.7 billion, in
2020, compared to a 1.5% increase in 2019, Globes
reported. Th e Bank of Israel said the rise in cash use indicated
that the public needed to feel more fi nancially secure
in an uncertain era, noting that the biggest jump in
cash use came at the pandemic’s start. Globes said
it’s possible that businesses took cash to lower their
revenues so they could receive government grants for
COVID-19 compensation, and that people ostensibly
on unpaid leave were performing work for cash.

Th e increases have continued in 2021, with about
$1.9 billion more in circulation in the year’s fi rst two
months. ●
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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H eadlines
NEWSBRIEFS Birthright to Resume Trips to Israel
BIRTHRIGHT, WHICH FLIES young Jews to Israel for a free
10-day tour, will resume its trips because Israel is nearing herd
immunity, JTA reported.

“Dozens of trips are expected in May and June, and more than
400 tour groups are planned for July, August and October,” the
organization said in a statement.

Eligible people between the ages of 18 and 32 from the United
States must be vaccinated or recovered, the statement said.

Participants will be tested for coronavirus before boarding and
upon arrival,
The organization has brought more than 750,000 young Jews
to Israel in 20 years, including close to 46,000 in 2019.

Elie Wiesel First Jew honored With National Cathedral Bust
Washington’s National Cathedral is honoring Nobel Peace
Laureate and Holocaust memoirist Elie Wiesel with a bust,
making him the first Jew to be so honored, JTA reported.

Or maybe not.

“I would say he is the first 20th-century Jewish person,” the
cathedral’s dean, Rev. Randy Hollerith, said when asked how
Wiesel came to be the first Jew to earn a sculpted depiction at the
cathedral. Asked if he was referring to Jesus and some of the apostles, who
appear in statues and in busts in the landmark, known for its role
during presidential inaugurations, Hollerith said yes. There are
also depictions of Jewish prophets, including Noah, Joab, Isaiah
and Jeremiah, on the stained glass windows in the cathedral
Wiesel’s bust joins other luminaries on the Human Rights
Porch, along with Mother Teresa, Rosa Parks and Oscar Romero,
the El Salvador archbishop assassinated in 1980 while saying Mass.

Stray Bullet Kills Jewish Reporter in Kansas City
Aviva Okeson-Haberman, a reporter for the Kansas City NPR
affiliate, died April 23 after being struck by a stray bullet in her
apartment in Kansas City, Missouri’s Santa Fe neighborhood,
JTA reported. She was 24.

Okeson-Haberman had returned from apartment hunting
in Lawrence, Kansas, where she was about to start a new job
covering social services and criminal justice for the Kansas News
Service. She was found unconscious and rushed to a hospital,
where she was placed on life support.

Kansas City police are investigating the shooting.

“Social services is a tough beat, but I’m a tough reporter,” she
wrote in her application for her new job. “I’ll ask the hard questions,
dig into the data and spend time building trust with sources.”
She wanted to focus on foster care because she spent time in
foster homes in her teens.

NJ Township Sued For Second Time in a Year for
Discrimination Against Orthodox Jews
The state of New Jersey sued Jackson Township over alleged
discrimination against Orthodox Jews for the second time in less
than a year, JTA reported.

The township has selectively applied local laws and drafted
new ones in an attempt to push out Orthodox Jews and limit
their religious activities, the suit alleges, according to a report by
NJ Advance Media.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal wants the township
to overturn the allegedly discriminatory rules and pay a fine.

Terence Wall, the township’s business administrator, was
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM The Board, staff and residents of Federation Housing
are deeply saddened to acknowledge the passing of
Ron Rubin on April 12, 2021.

Ron was one of the original Board
members of Federation Housing,
and served as our second Board
president from 1975-1978. Ron
brought compassion, generosity
and great vision to our organization.

His expertise and philanthropy
provided Federation Housing with
a strong foundation, enabling us to
carry out our mission of providing affordable housing and
services to the low-income seniors throughout Philadelphia
and surrounding communities. Ron was greatly admired
and respected by the Federation family and the community
and residents that are served by Federation Housing.

Please join us as we remember this philanthropic,
hard-working and visionary gentleman.

May Ron Rubin’s memory be for a blessing.

Jay Weinstein
President Eric Naftulin
Executive Director
quoted by local media as saying that he was “surprised” to learn
of the lawsuit.

“Jackson Township is a community of over 60,000 residents,
including members of nearly every faith, and the township will
defend itself appropriately,” he said.

Idaho, West Virginia Pass Anti-BDS Laws
Idaho and West Virginia bring to 33 the number of states over
the past several years passing anti-Israel boycott legislation
aimed at outlawing businesses that support the boycott, divest-
ment and sanctions movement, JTA reported.

Idaho’s Anti-Boycott Against Israel Act prohibits public
entities from doing business exceeding $100,000 with companies
that do not expressly oppose the BDS movement. West Virginia’s
bill is similar.

“The State of West Virginia has an economic and a humani-
tarian obligation to denounce and reject the Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions Movement against Israel, and to prevent the state
or any of its instrumentalities from contracting with companies
that engage in the movement,” the measure reads. l
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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