O pinion
Wanger Continued from Page 23
overseas and hurt American
workers. Pre-COVID-19, Trump
brought back American facto-
ries and generated nearly a
half-million manufacturing jobs.

African-American, Latino and
Hispanic-Americans, Asian-
Americans, veterans, women and
youth employment were histori-
cally high.

Trump advocates expanded,
free market health care for all,
where pre-existing conditions are
covered. Veterans’ health care now
has choice and enhanced quality.

Biden wants government-run,
single payer health care for all. His
tax plan will increase taxes and
delay economic recovery. Biden’s
for open borders, and giving
health care and other benefits
Barasch Continued from Page 23
She made fierce friendships
with people of all ages and
enjoyed hosting in her apart-
ment, foisting chicken soup,
braised veal and her political
views onto her guests. Like
all of us, she would lose this
freedom and independence
in quarantine; unlike us, she
didn’t have the assumption of
many decades of her life to
regain it.

But she didn’t succumb to
gloom. She had the constitu-
tion of a survivor, a word that
takes on another meaning
when paired with the histor-
ical circumstances of her life.

Interestingly, throughout our
childhood, it was my grandfa-
ther’s story we focused on more,
perhaps because it was gendered
or simply because his story
fit better into the well-known
Holocaust narratives. And
indeed, it is common to define
a “Holocaust survivor” as
someone who endured concen-
tration camps as my grandfather
did. Compared to my grandfa-
ther, Oma’s story seemed almost
privileged: Her parents and
sibling lived.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM to persons entering illegally,
pandering to wealthy American
hypocrites, bleeding American
resources dry and betraying
hard-working American families.

Trump took swift action
about COVID-19, closing our
borders to flights from China
and Europe, despite Biden and
others calling him xenophobic
and racist. In a coordinated
operation not seen since World
War II, Trump rallied American
industry and government to work
together rapidly to manufac-
ture and distribute ventilators,
personal protection equipment,
therapeutics and vaccines.

Democratic governors made
bad decisions about COVID-19,
and this summer’s riots that killed
too many. They and the media
wrongly blame Trump, mischar-
acterizing and misstating facts
and putting politics above the
American people.

Still, Trump has worked
tirelessly for all Americans
despite the relentless wrath of
Democrats and much of the
corrupt political establishment.

He’s endured the hostility and
dishonesty of the mainstream
and social media, including
mass censorship by Big Tech.

Sadly, today’s Democratic
Party has dangerously tilted
anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.

Trump is neither. There’s never
been a better friend of Israel
and the Jewish community in
the White House, and a second
Trump term will only bring a
closer alliance between the U.S.

and Israel, and an even stronger
U.S. Trump deserves our vote. l
As we grew older, however,
we learned more and more
about my grandmother’s story.

And even putting aside the
insane and difficult details of
her displacement, the fact of
being a Jew in Europe at that
time makes her a survivor —
which is to say she survived.

In a different life, I like to
imagine Oma would have made
an excellent diplomat or foreign
dignitary. She is a language savant
who speaks eight languages:
English, French, German, Italian,
Romanian, Hungarian, Hebrew
and Yiddish. One quarantine
dinner, when all we wanted to
talk about was “the numbers,”
Cuomo and PPE on repeat, trying
to understand what the hell was
going on, Oma wanted to discuss
language — and particularly, how
pitiful it was that we Americans
could barely speak two. This
needling, in the time of COVID-
19, was refreshing.

Another time, she gently
suggested my husband shave his
beard and less gently suggested
that I might brush my hair once
in a while. She did not under-
stand my droopy sweatpants
or the tie-dye trend, as if she
could alone predict the fallacy
in the idea that sorbet colors all
bleeding together onto a T-shirt
could negate the hundreds of
thousands of people who have
died. We shared one crucial thing
in common: We couldn’t believe
we were living through this. A
little over two months into it,
shortly after George Floyd was
murdered and protests erupted
across the country, she looked
at me and said, “This may be
the craziest thing I’ve ever lived
through.” After what she’d been
through, it was surprising to
hear. But it was also strangely
validating to hear someone with
so much perspective express
that none of this was close to
normal. Though not sentimental,
another thing she said was, “I’m so
happy I got to know you.” Though
we’d been close my whole life,
we gained a new understanding
that comes with living with one
another, observing each other’s
rhythms up close without a place
to go or anything to do, under the
specter of a global health crisis.

I got to know her, too, and in
many ways, her life-must-go-on,
Jewish survivor ethos carried me
through. l
William Wanger is chair of the PA/
SNJ chapter of the Republican
Jewish Coalition.

Emily Barasch is a writer based in
the New York area. This originally
appeared in Alma.

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A RESOLUTION
OF ABRAMSON
SENIOR CARE
The Board of Trustees of Abramson Senior Care record with
sorrow the passing of their esteemed colleague and friend
Donald Rosen
whose commitment to philanthropy benefited the seniors served
by Abramson Senior Care, and whose life serves as an example
of kindness and generosity to the entire community.

Don joined Abramson Senior Care’s Board of Trustees in 2016.

Long before joining the Board, and dating back to 2003, Don and
his wife, Roni, were generous supporters of Abramson’s mission.

They were also among the very first supporters of Abramson’s
Birnhak Transitional Care at Lankenau Medical Center. In 2018,
Don and Roni served as Gala Chairs and in 2019 served on our
Gala Committee. Most recently, they contributed to our COVID
Crisis Campaign.

Don brought energy, passion and compassion to life. His
philanthropy and caring heart reached countless individuals and
causes. In addition to his generosity, Don will most definitely be
remembered for his “zest for life.” His legacy serves as a shining
example of the importance of celebrating life’s gifts and joys,
even in the midst of challenging times.

Abramson Senior Care and our entire Jewish community were
truly fortunate to have been the beneficiary of Don’s time,
leadership and enduring tzedakah.

To his wife, Roni; children David (Terri), Lynne (Steve), Julie (the
late Ira), Daniel, Donna (Mike), Blair (Lance) and Brett (Betsy);
his grandchildren and great-grandchild; and all who mourn his
passing, the Board of Trustees of Abramson Senior Care offer
this expression of profound sympathy. May they find solace
in the knowledge that his dedication, generosity and good
works will serve as a living tribute to him and will benefit future
generations. Lorraine Drobny
Board Chair
Carol A. Irvine
President and CEO
OCTOBER 29, 2020
31