Grapevine June 30, 2024: Remembering Joe Lieberman

ONE OF Israel’s best friends in American politics was the late senator Joe Lieberman, who continued to be a stalwart supporter of Israel in all the time that he was out of office.

A special tribute to him will be held at the Begin Center on Monday, July 1, at 7:30 p.m.

Lieberman was the keynote speaker at the 2022 Begin Symposium.

Lieberman’s death in March of this year robbed the Jewish world of one of its most significantly loyal figures and robbed America of one of its most distinguished public servants.

Lieberman did not always agree with Israeli policies, but he was seldom openly critical of Israel, and he never stepped back from his support of Israel. A US senator for 24 years, Lieberman in 2000 became the first Jew to be nominated to a major party presidential ticket when he ran for vice president alongside Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore. He was an outspoken supporter of the State of Israel, the US-Israel relationship, and the liberal democratic values that underpin that relationship. He had friends across the political spectrum and was respected across the aisle for his generosity, decency, and his belief in putting country before party.

Lieberman was also a staunch friend and supporter of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

Jewelry safety

IT SEEMS like a simple problem, but it affects a lot of people, and it could develop into something very serious. Many individuals never remove their nose-rings, ear-rings, toe rings, or the rings on their fingers. Many religiously observant Jews remove the rings on their fingers whenever they engage in ritual hand-washing before eating bread, or prior to immersing themselves in a ritual bath. But a lot of non-religious people who go to sleep with their rings on may wake up to discover that their fingers are swollen and that it is very difficult to remove the ring.

Some use old-fashioned methods such as string or soap, but when these don’t work, there’s no choice but to seek medical help.

That’s what happened recently in the case of a 16-year-old girl whose finger was badly swollen in the ring area.

After all efforts to remove the ring had failed, the girl sought medical assistance. Dr. Saar Hashavya, head of Pediatric Emergency Services at Hadassah Ein Kerem, warns that a ring stuck on a finger can prevent the flow of blood, which could lead to severe, even fatal illness, or in another bad case scenario, the amputation of the finger.

Prof. Shai Luria, head of Hand and Microvascular Surgery at Hadassah, says his medical team uses a special device for the removal of rings from swollen fingers, but when this proves ineffective, the patient has to be sedated and surgery must be performed.

This is what happened to the young female adolescent whose ring was stuck on her finger. Part of the circle of the ring was cut away, after which it was relatively easy to remove what was left.

The moral of the story is don’t sleep with your rings still on your fingers, but if you can’t bring yourself to do that, at least remain alert to the ring becoming tighter on your finger. When this happens, take it off immediately.

A polarizing society

ISRAEL IS an extremely polarized society – both politically and in other ways. While young men of 19 and 20 are dying daily on the battlefield, people of the third age are passing the 100-year benchmark. The general birthday greeting in Israel following congratulatory remarks is “till 120” – that having been the age at which Moses died. But there are other biblical characters who lived for many more years than Moses. Abraham the Patriarch lived to be 175 and Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah, lived 969 years. Bible commentators explain this phenomenon, by saying that months and years were measured differently in ancient times. Maybe so, but even if the numbers were cut by 25% the ages would still be far in excess of average longevity during the 18th, 19th, and first half of the 20th centuries.

In the current century, people are living much longer and healthier lives.

Not allowing one’s biological age to hold one back is Marissa Teijo, a 71-year-old resident of Texas. Last weekend, Teijo made history as the oldest-ever contestant in the Miss Universe pageant. She competed for the title of Miss Texas. Although she didn’t win, she certainly did not look out of place among her 74 rivals. She has a fabulous slim figure and a gorgeous, young-looking face. In various interviews that she gave, Teijo said that she did not mind not winning. She just hopes that her taking the plunge will inspire others to be confident and to continue chasing their dreams regardless of how old they are. “I hope that people will look at us as older women as still being beautiful in our own way,” she said.

Perhaps that message got to Israel long before Teijo entered the Miss Universe contest.

The glut of luxury retirement homes with a bevy of diverse activities, first-class cuisine, regular outings to opera, concerts, plays, museums, sporting events, et al plus very attractive apartments that don’t look remotely institutional are all indicative of a growing third-age population that is expected to keep getting older. One of the benefits of living in a retirement complex or village is the sense of community, and also the opportunity to discover latent talents.

Nearly all retirement homes have occupational therapy workshops in which a surprising number of residents discover that they have artistic gifts. In a relatively short period, they learn to paint, sculpt, and produce beautiful pottery and glassware, and to spread their wings in other directions.

Senior entertainment

ON THE subject of the third age, the Tel Aviv Jaffa Municipality has been very good about consistently providing services and entertainment for seniors, and today, Sunday, launches a week for retirees with numerous activities all over the city plus concerts and theater shows brimming with nostalgia.

 Mayor Ron Huldai, who is also in the third age category, and who will next month celebrate his 80th birthday, has no intention of retiring. He will join other septuagenarians and octogenarians at Hangar 11 at the Port of Tel Aviv in which the Ra’anana Symphony Orchestra and others will play the greatest hits of Julio Iglesias, who will turn 80 in September.

On Monday, there will be a concert at another venue with presentations of the greatest hits from Broadway and Las Vegas musicals.

On Tuesday, Sassi Keshet, 76, who was born five days before the United Nations vote on the partition of Palestine, will sing the greatest love songs of all time at the Klatchkin Auditorium of the MUZA Center in the Eretz Israel Museum.

He will be joined by other singers.

The final concert on Sunday, July 7, will be a tribute to Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, with soloists Moses Si and Adam Lahav at the same venue, with veteran broadcaster Dan Kaner, 78, as master of ceremonies.

Tickets for all the concerts can be purchased by telephoning 03-765000.

Transporting reservists

LONG KNOWN as the unofficial ombudswoman for soldiers who have been unfairly or cruelly treated, prize-winning military reporter Carmella Menashe’s latest crusade is to get compensation for reservists who used their own cars and station wagons in an operation because no army vehicle was available and have since been unable to receive compensation for damages incurred to their vehicles. Reservists are paying a tremendously high price for contributing to the security of the nation. Some have been fighting since the beginning of the war, and have barely seen their children. Many have been wounded – some with permanent injuries; some who were self-employed have lost income and their businesses; and some from vulnerable areas around the Gaza Strip or near the northern border have also lost their homes. But the worst examples relate to reservists who have left pregnant wives, only to fall in the line of duty. In addition to dealing with the issue of all able-bodied young men and women doing some form of national service, be it military or civilian, the High Court, the government, and the army should introduce a rule whereby no soldier with a pregnant wife is permitted to go to the battlefield until after the birth of the baby. There are plenty of other jobs they can do in the army in the interim.

Smotrich's heartlessness

WHILE IT is understandable that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s goodwill is directed more toward West Bank settlers than with any other sector of the population, his attitude to the families of the hostages and to the residents of Sderot is incomprehensible and intolerable. Transportation Minister Miri Regev believes in the urgency of fortifying the train line to and from Sderot and has asked Smotrich for a budget for such a project. Smotrich refused. How could he be so heartless after all that Sderot has suffered not only in recent months but for years?

SDEROT MAYOR Alon Davidi has long complained about Smotrich turning a deaf ear. So has Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, who has found another means of raising money. Cars bearing a For Sale sign that are parked in the street will be fined NIS 250. This may be fair when the car’s owner lives in an apartment block in which there are parking facilities. However many of the older apartments in Jerusalem have no parking facilities.

In some places, the new rule might be called extortion.