Grapevine October 20, 2024: Hope and memory

There are more Jewish holy days during the Hebrew calendar month of Tishrei than at any other time of the year, making it an altogether busy period from a religious standpoint for President Isaac Herzog and first lady Michal Herzog. It has been a long-standing tradition for Chabad to bring a lulav and etrog to the president of the state just before Sukkot. In the past, there were usually two emissaries from Kfar Chabad, but this time around, there were four.

Just before Rosh Hashanah, the Herzogs hosted a slihot gathering with 929 guests. Then came the High Holy Days, and then, immediately after Yom Kippur, the president was back to visiting communities in vulnerable areas, where he went to offer comfort and support to families who had lost loved ones on October 7, 2023 – or in Gaza and Lebanon in the year that followed.

The first stop was Shlomit, where Herzog also participated in the writing and dedication of a Torah scroll in memory of the members of the security squad who fell in battle while defending their settlement.

The Herzogs then continued on to Kibbutz Nir Am where they chatted with the residents about rehabilitating the kibbutz and the return of all its evacuees. At the kibbutz, Herzog also participated in a tree-planting ceremony symbolizing rebirth and regrowth while also memorializing the fallen.

It was symbolic in another way that many people probably did not think of. The date was October 14, the 130th anniversary of the beginning of the saga of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish French artillery officer who was arrested on trumped-up charges of selling classified French military information to Germany. Among the journalists who covered his subsequent trial was Theodor Herzl. The antisemitic overtones of the case sparked Herzl’s imagination, and he conceived of a Jewish state which a little over a century later became a reality. Happily, Dreyfus was exonerated, but Herzl, who died at a young age 120 years ago, did not live to see the realization of his vision.

Listening from the Heart 

It's one thing for Jews and Palestinians who have lost loved ones at each other’s hands to come together and seek a path to peace when things are relatively quiet, but it’s a much more difficult exercise during wartime. Nonetheless, Robi Damelin, Layla Al-Sheikh, Yonatan Zeigen, and Arab Aramin recently completed an inspiring tour of Boston and New York as part of the latest educational initiative of the Parents Circle Family Forum (PCFF). For many years now, the PCFF has been promoting dialogue between former enemies who have suffered the same pain of loss. It condemns all forms of violence in the Middle East and encourages people on both sides to listen to each other. It makes no difference whether a mother who has lost a child to the violence in the region is Israeli or Palestinian. The pain is the same, and each can understand the other. This mutual understanding has led to the Listening from the Heart project.

The main focus was on college campuses where the quartet attempted to bridge divides and defuse polarization. They spoke to students and faculty members at New York University, Barnard College, Harvard Divinity School, Suffolk University, Amherst College, and Brandeis University. Reactions affirmed the importance of dialogue, but the most positive reaction of all came from Georgetown University which has partnered with PCFF in a new dialogue program to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and act toward reconciliation.

As always, good news is no news. Incidents of antisemitism capture news headlines. Dialogue, unless it involves something like the return of the hostages, seldom gets a mention, let alone a headline.

Concepts in longevity

There was a time when 40 was considered old, but these days, 70 is thought of as still young. This is not something out of the ordinary considering the number of people – including Holocaust survivors – who now live to a triple-digit age. This should not really surprise us. The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is nothing new under the sun and that what has been will be again. The Bible introduces readers to a number of triple-digit characters, not the least of whom is Moses, who lived to 120. Not so long ago, the explanation for this longevity was that time was measured differently during the biblical era. But that explanation no longer holds water. 

Regardless of what we succeed in achieving, we human beings are never satisfied. The more we attain, the more we want. The same goes for longevity. Instead of just being happy that we have lived many more years than did our parents and grandparents, we want to live even longer.

To explore concepts in longevity, Bar-Ilan University (BIU) will host an international conference dedicated to the advancement of research, development, and education in the field of healthy longevity. The conference, which will be held on the BIU campus in Ramat Gan on October 29-31, is titled Longevity Nation 2024 – Enhancing Research, Development and Education for Healthy Longevity.

Organized by Dr. Ilia Stambler from Vetek (Seniority) Association and the Graduate Program in Science, Technology, and Society at BIU, the conference will bring together leading voices in longevity research from around the world and will address the multifaceted challenges associated with an aging global population.

Participants will include leading researchers, developers, investors, educators, decision-makers, and public figures from Israel and around the world to foster collaboration and advance the science and technology of healthy aging.

Should we be thinking about the preservation of health in old age, the prevention of aging-related diseases, and the extension of healthy longevity during this period of conflict and hardship in Israel?

“Absolutely,” says Stambler. “We should continue to think about and work for healthy longevity even now, to improve national resilience that will help us overcome the present adversity and maintain the basis for positive development in the future.”

Key highlights of Longevity Nation 2024: Enhancing Longevity Ecosystems; Cutting-Edge Research and Innovations; Future Directions and Ethical Considerations; and the development of industries related to increased lifespans. There will also be discussions on promoting international cooperation, the societal implications of increased longevity, the health benefits of approved drugs, and the repurposing of old drugs, revitalizing the immune system, repairing DNA, public and government support, and a whole range of other issues.

At the present time, the government wants to reduce old age pensions, but perhaps new legislation will be introduced to make 80 the official retirement age – which for some people may be too young. On the other hand, if people live longer, they will work longer, pay more taxes, and contribute more to pension funds. There are a lot of subjects to think about.

What is missing from the long list of topics on the program is whether there will be a change in menopause that will allow women to conceive at a much more advanced age than is possible today. After all, Sarah the biblical matriarch was 90 when she gave birth to Isaac.