Yad Vashem Designer Moshe Safdie Among Winners Of Israel’s Coveted Wolf Prize

January 16, 2019 By Marcy Oster

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The architect who designed the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem was among the winners of the 2019 Wolf Prize.

Moshe Safdie, 80, chosen for architecture, was one of five recipients honored Wednesday at the president’s residence in Jerusalem. The Wolf Prize is given by the president of Israel on behalf of the Wolf Foundation. About one-third of the winners have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize, most notably in physics.

Each year the Wolf Foundation awards $100,000 prizes in five fields.

This year’s other winners are:

Medicine: Jeffrey Friedman, Rockefeller University.

Mathematics: Gregory Lawler, University of Chicago; and Prof. Jean-Francois Le Galle, University Paris-Sud Orsay.

Agriculture: David Zilberman, University of California.

Chemistry: Stephen L Buchwald, MIT; and John F Hartwig, University of California, Berkeley.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin noted that no women were named this year.

“The Foundation would do well to make sure that each year they find a groundbreaking woman scientist and artist, who certainly exist, and award her a prize,” he said.

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Sackler Family Misled Doctors To Increase Sales Of Opioid Painkiller

January 16, 2019 By Marcy Oster

(JTA) Richard Sackler and other members of his family are accused of directing their pharmaceutical firm Purdue Pharma to mislead doctors and patients about the dangers of the opioid painkiller OxyContin produced by the company.

The Massachusetts attorney general on Tuesday filed internal company communications that provide the first evidence that the Sacklers made company decisions to aggressively market OxyContin even though it is highly addictive, The New York Times reported.

Richard Sackler, a former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma and son of the company founder, Raymond, in a 2001 email advised blaming the people who had become addicted to the drug, according to the filing.

We have to hammer on abusers in every way possible, Sackler wrote when he was president of the company. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in June sued eight members of the Sackler family and others alleging that they had misled doctors and patients about OxyContin risks. The Sacklers are among the richest families in the United States, with much of their wealth derived from sales of OxyContin, The Times reported. They are Jewish.

The filing also alleges that Richard Sackler urged sales representatives to advise doctors to prescribe the highest dosage of OxyContin because it was the most profitable.

More than 200,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses involving prescription opioids, and Purdue Pharma has been the target of numerous lawsuits. In 2007, the company and three of its top executives pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges that Purdue had misrepresented the dangers of OxyContin, and they paid $634.5 million in fines, but the Sackers were not accused of personal wrongdoing.

The company has downplayed the Sacklers’ involvement in the operations of the company. But emails as late as 2012 complain about Richard Sackler micromanagement of the company’s sales and marketing activities, according to The Times.

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Florida Commissioner: Rashida Tlaib Might ‘Blow Up’ Capitol Hill

January 16, 2019 By Alyssa Fisher

A Jewish commissioner from South Florida accused Representative Rashida Tlaib of being an anti-Semite who might “blow up Capitol Hill,” the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

Hallandale Beach Commissioner Annabelle Lima-Taub signed an online petition seeking to remove Tlaib, an American of Palestinian descent, from office five days after the Michigan congresswoman said she wanted to “impeach that motherf—ker,” referring to President Trump.

Lima-Taub posted the petition on her personal Facebook page.

“Proudly signed,” Lima-Taub wrote. “A Hamas-loving anti-Semite has NO place in government! She is a danger and [I] would not put it past her to become a martyr and blow up Capitol Hill.”

The post was removed Monday afternoon after the Sun Sentinel started asking questions.

Hallandale Commissioners Michele Lazarow and Mike Butler accused Lima-Taub of perpetuating a stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists, and Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana described the accusation as “outrageous.” None, however, demanded an apology.

“To say [the Congresswoman] could blow up Capitol Hill is really inappropriate,” Javellana said. “Congressman Steve King from Iowa has openly embraced white supremacy and I don’t see anyone condemning him. Maybe she’s being targeted because she’s a woman and because she’s a Muslim.”

Tlaib spoke out against Lima-Taub’s comments on Tuesday, Huffpost reported, and blamed Trump for creating a racially hostile environment.

This sort of hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric doesn’t happen in a vacuum - this President embraced it and Republicans have happily gone along with it.https://t.co/3THoHQmRVy— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 15, 2019

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Who Visited North Korea Says Don’t Follow Him

January 16, 2019 By Alyssa Fisher

A jet-setting Orthodox rabbi who spent five days in North Korea described hiding his religion as a terrifying experience, Insider reported.

Meir Alfasi is a rabbi, photographer and former photojournalist from Israel who has traveled to 80 countries wearing the traditional Lubavich black hat and bekishe, a long black coat.

“I travel with the uniform of a religious person, a Jewish person, because maybe someone will see me and ask a question, then I could tell them more about Judaism,” he told Insider.

It was bound to be a different experience in North Korea, where any non-state-sanctioned religious activities can lead to “executions, torture, beatings, and arrests” or other forms of “severe punishment, including imprisonment in political prison camps,” according to a 2017 report from the U.S. State Department.

Alfasi said he is the first Chabad rabbi to visit the communist country. He wore his traditional clothes, but he did not speak about Judaism and hid a prayer book, tallit and tefillin — the latter of which was inspected at the airport.

“I was scared because if they open it they’ll see the religious parchment and it would be very dangerous,” Alfasi said of the tefillin.

He soon realized he was being watched, but he prayed anyway.

Alfasi told Insider that he doesn’t recommend others go to North Korea: “It’s not so worth it because it’s dangerous.”

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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Hungry Furloughed Families Get Hot Meals And Groceries From Queens Jewish Group

January 16, 2019 By Alyssa Fisher

As the government shutdown reaches its fourth week, the Flushing Jewish Community Council in Queens, New York, has started feeding federal employees and their families, donating boxes of food items and hot dinners, Queens News and Community (QNS) reported.

The council is distributing food at a local synagogue, Temple Beth Sholom. Paul Engel, executive director of FJCC, told QNS that the organization has items such as canned fruits, canned vegetables, cereal, pasta, tuna fish and salmon.

“Mostly the people that come are Medicaid people, but I saw that there’s a food pantry in Long Island that is doing this,” Engel said. “There are people who could probably use some temporary relief, since they’re not getting paychecks and we also offer other services.”

FJCC is also providing services such as English classes, ESL/civics class and individual, couple, family and group therapy.

Masbia of Queens, a nonprofit soup kitchen and food pantry, is also offering hot meals and groceries, according to QNS. Its two other locations in Brooklyn will also have sit-down dinners.

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

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