(JTA) — An Israeli rabbi living in the Ukrainian city of Uman died of an infectious flu virus, raising fears that other members of his community there may also be infected. Rabbi Israel Pinto, the owner of Uman’s kosher Orot hotel, died Wednesday in Israel, where he was flown after being hospitalized with acute pneumonia…
Like Debra, I too am a “Dirty Dancing” fan and was deeply saddened to hear of Patrick Swayze’s death. But someone whose death this week had not yet been added to Wikipedia when I checked this morning is Bracha Feiga Williger, the 23rd victim of the H1N1 virus in Israel. While Williger’s death hasn’t caused…
Here’s a High Holy Day dilemma for the H1N1 era: You think you might have the swine flu, but you don’t want to miss your Rosh Hashanah aliyah. What to do? Forget about kissing the Torah or the ark covers, according to Israel’s health ministry. In an attempt to stem the spread of the sometimes…
The swine flu epidemic continues to rage in Israel. Referred to by its scientific name of H1N1 to avoid the stigma of the unkosher pig, swine flu (by whatever name) is flying through the population with 2,000 reported cases and five reported fatalities. To fight this, a group of rabbis and mystics took to the…
Israel’s ultra-Orthodox top health official earlier this week said that, within the Jewish state, “swine flu” would be called “Mexican flu.” Perhaps he thought that all the talk of the potentially deadly flu associated with pigs would cause a run on pork chops, bacon and deli-style ham — even though the outbreaks have been having…
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