By Diane Joy Schmidt In case you’ve become complacent after our year-long lockdown, opening the news- papers on any given day will reawaken you to the urgency of the pandemic. Sometimes personal stories hit the hardest - an anesthe- siologist writes about looking into the eyes of his terrified patients as he intubates them, knowing that some may not wake up again; in Brazil, where the president has followed no health policy, when the oxygen ran out at a hospital, the intubated patients suffocated and died. Now news reports are slowly beginning to surface revealing how President Trump, simply wanting to make states look bad, de- liberately slowed access to PPE last spring and then in the fall, refused funding to the states to prepare for the vaccination program. A radiologist, Dr. Yvette Bailey, who has been working with Covid patients since De- cember 2019, has been in touch with the Sephardic heritage program at the Jewish Federation of New Mexico while applying to become a Portuguese citizen. She offered to share her experiences as a radiologist, and the latest recom- mendations for what preventive measures we all can be taking now. She also has been personally and actively involved in trying to bring shipments of PPE here from overseas and relates how they were confiscated by the Trump ad - ministration. Dr. Bailey explained that as pa- tients come into the hospital with the Covid virus, they first will get a chest X-ray. But, she explained, “it’s very difficult, sometimes to actually discern what’s happening on a chest X-ray, the chest X-ray may look normal, but the patient is very, very symptomatic,” hav- ing difficulty breathing, “so they move on to a CT scan (a CT scan, or computerized tomography scan, often pronounced ‘cat scan,’ is a method of making multiple X-ray images of parts of the body with a computer). It’s not uncommon to have a normal chest X-ray and a very abnor- mal CT scan with the virus.” “We’re getting a lot of CT scans looking for thrombus (blood clots) in the lungs. This virus is an inflammatory disease, and so it attacks organs. Blood vessels are considered an organ system, and it’s causing clots. And so sometimes the shortness of breath may be more because you’re really having blood clots. So, the x-rays are followed by the CT of the chest, specifically looking not just for the Covid pneumonia, but also making sure that there’s no additional blood clots, you know, pulmonary embolus along with it. “When you get a clot, if it’s big, and if it’s sitting in the wrong place, people immediate- ly succumb to that because they can’t breathe, there’s something blocking their arteries. And, this can affect even younger people, it can affect all populations, because no one knows how this inflammatory disease will af - fect you. And we look at ultrasounds of the lower extremities, the legs, to see where those clots are coming from.” This reporter asked if taking baby aspi- rin might be a good preventative measure if Volume 52, Number 1 • Spring 2021/Aviv 5781 I N S I D E Still inspiring minds. No matter what. No matter what. G r a d e s 6 - 1 2 s a n d i a p r e p . o r g BAILEY continued on page 23 A Conversation with a Front-Line Radiologist and Sephardic Ancestry Seeker: Dr. Yvette Bailey Centro Centro Sefarad Sefarad NM NM page 8 Passover Passover During the During the Pandemic Pandemic page 9-11 Remembering Remembering Those We Those We Have Lost Have Lost pages 18-20 2 The New Mexico Jewish Link Spring 2021/Aviv 5781 By Rabbi Dr. Rob Lennick, CEO, Jewish Federation of New Mexico The Passover story focuses on the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. We recount this dramatic example of God working in history during the Pe- sach Seder – as we also celebrate the rebirth of spring. In addition to the historical and natural manifestations of liberation, the rabbis also offered a psychologi- cal interpretation of the Exodus from Egypt. In Hebrew, the word for Egypt is, mitzrayim , and the root of this word is, tzar , which means, narrow. Egypt, in this sense is not only a geographical place, but a psychic space of narrow- ness. We have certainly experienced the narrowing of our lives during Covid-19. The limits on freedom to come and go and our ability to gather, the important necessity of social dis- tancing and so many other aspects of our lives during Covid-19 represent a narrowing of our lives, for a good pur- pose, to keep each other healthy. The narrowing has also resulted in new opportunities for face-to-face en- counters on Zoom. Hopefully, distance has made all our hearts grow fonder and we feel more gratitude for the peo- ple who care about us and whom we care about. There is also the Egypt of the Soul that impacts all of our lives that is ex- pressed in narrowmindedness. We live in a time when so many people are stuck in the narrows of intolerance, anger, dismissiveness, fear, prejudice, racism and hate. Many of us remember a time in our civic life when people could disagree vehemently about issues and debate them responsibly, maybe reach com- promise or not, all the while maintain- ing respect for one another. All issues were not automatically politicized and polarizing. The primary standard against which public discourse was measured was through a widely held belief in the common good. Sadly, this kind of dignity in our social and polit- ical discourse has dramatically waned. Would that we recognized the hu- manity in each other, were able to listen empathetically to each other, and knew there is a person behind the opinion figuring out life just as we are. We can only overcome the othering that goes on in our society and create a culture of mutual respect and com- passion by beginning with ourselves. Diversity, equity and inclusion are not simply slogans. Each one of us can play a role in promoting these values if we choose. Listening is the first step. What makes our Jewish community exceptional is that we are diverse in experience, opinion and knowledge, and we are working together to create equity and inclusion. And while there may be opinions that we are unable to embrace, let our community always be a place where every individual is listened to and the humanity in every person is celebrated. A story: There was this perfect crys- tal that people venerated until one day it was dropped, and a crack ran through it, deeming it worthless. An artist looked at it for some time and said, “I see something here.” The art- ist then etched into the crystal along the crack, a thorn, then some leaves, and more thorns and at the top of the crack, a beautiful rose bud. The crack disappeared and became the stem of a beautiful rose etched into the crystal. We need to have the patience and vi- sion to see the beauty that is embedded in every person we encounter, even if they have what we think are flawed viewpoints. Our common humanity is found when we see beyond the flaws. The narrows we wish to avoid is a place where people refuse to even talk, stop listening to each other, and slip into villianizing those with different viewpoints. Sadly, we see so much of this across society. Can we return to the culture of civility where we may reject someone’s opinion while ac - cepting them as a person? One hopes. Is this a tall order? Yes. The first step requires listening to the other, and then responding respectfully and honestly. Learn as much as possible and dis- agree without malice. The saddest part of “cancel culture” is that it has led many people to can- cel other people because they simply disagree on issues or ideas. That is the narrows in which too many people find themselves these days. This Pesach, as we welcome Elijah into our homes, perhaps he might rep- resent the person with whom we dis- agree. While we may reject an opinion, principle, group or point of view, and certain people for their abhorrent be- havior, let that person with whom we simply disagree still be welcome to sit at our table. Let us listen and see the humanity in each other. CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S CORNER Rabbi Dr. Rob Lennick Avoiding the Narrows Event Draws Thousands: Standing Together Against Racism By Diane Joy Schmidt Standing Together Against Racism: Building on our Com- mon Heritage, sponsored by the Jewish Federation of New Mexico together with Burque Against Racism, reached a live audience of over 2,500 people across the country on January 24th, and made headlines at the international newspaper Haar- etz in Israel. The recorded we- binar can be viewed online at: TogetherAgainstRacismNM. org. The event featured Dr. Su- sannah Heschel and Dr. Ber- nice King, two daughters of the leaders of the civil right movement of the 1960’s, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Joshua Heschel, in a discussion moderated by Rabbi Capers Funnye Jr., chief rabbi of the International Isra- elite Board of Rabbis. The women were chil- dren when their fathers were friends, and both have found their own ways to carry on that legacy. In speaking together, they honor the bonds of that special friendship of their fa- thers, to give voice to what is needed at this troubled time, when the Covid pandemic has made us acutely aware of the inequities in our country, and a racist mob recently almost overtook the capital. Above and beyond the in- spiring and thoughtful remarks made, hearing these two wom- en warmly address each other as “sister” left a good feeling, and a reminder that personal relationships can make histor- ical change. Rob Lennick, CEO of the Jewish Federation, told Haaretz following the webinar, “This event was so much more than a review of history and thoughts about the future of Black-Jewish relations. It was a spiritual experience where all three shared personally about the imperative for peo- ple to learn to see each other as humans in God’s image... And [it is] motivating as we have already begun to discuss what programs need to follow this historic gathering and pro- found conversation.” Susannah Heschel, drawing on the religious background her father and King shared, recalled that her father had of- ten said that, because human beings were created in the im- age of God, “if we deny the humanity of another human being, then we are denying God. And if we deny God, we cannot pray.” Bernice King, who holds a doctorate in law from Emo- ry University, is the youngest of King’s children, and did not mince words. “We have a long way to go if we’re going to build on the legacy of Her- schel and King, we have a lot of work to do if African Amer- icans and Jews are going to work together.” She said that awareness of fighting a common enemy is what can bring us togeth- er. “We see these injustices as threatening an individual group of people, when, at the end of the day, they threaten all of us... Since my father said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and his reminder of our being inter- twined, and interconnected and interrelated with each other, and humanity in the single gar- ment of destiny.” Funnye added that mem- bers of the African American community had felt their souls were stolen and that he, as an African American Jew, found a synthesis in his own soul in studying the words of Heschel and King. King went on to say that be- fore us is “the heart work,” as her father would say, “the met- tlesome task is to discover how to do this, this organizing the strength.” She said it doesn’t take a mass movement, but just a critical mass of leaders. King pointed to the suc- cess of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, found- ed by a hundred “big egos, who still managed to come together in favor of the greater good, when faced with that common enemy” of oppression and hatred, and violence, and dis- crimination. She added, point- edly, “another sermon is not going to get us out. It’s gonna have to be the word that has be- come flesh.” Funnye and King talked about the example set by Sta- cey Abrams in Georgia, how there was evidence of voter suppression when Abrams ran for governor of Georgia, but, as King said, “She didn’t incite people to violence, she drew them together and galvanized them in a movement for polit- ical change.” Without having to point out the divisive tac- tics this country saw in the last months of the Trump era, she said, “You know, there’s noth- ing that’s sustainable about an- ger. And disillusionment, you have to channel it into positive action.” Lennick added, “This whole conversation is about coming back and carrying forward a story that continues to inspire.” Susannah Heschel, Dart- mouth professor of Jewish studies, whose scholarship fo- cuses on Jewish-Christian re- lations in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, Bib- lical studies and antisemitism, added a parable which related to her personal experience of meeting Dr. King as a child, and how she felt her father and Dr. King studying the Bible together helped Jews restore themselves to their souls. She said, “Today in the syn- agogue, we read chapter 10 of the Book of Exodus. And just a few days ago, I came across a commentary that I want to share with everybody. Because the first verse in chapter 10, says, God tells Moses, go to Pharaoh because I have hard- ened his heart. It’s a famous verse. But the commentary I read is so interesting—it takes the word hardened, and it says that in Hebrew, the root of that word also means honor, and dignity. And reinterpreted, it said, not that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but that God transformed Pharaoh’s heart to be capable of honor and digni- ty. “And then if you look at verse 17, Pharaoh says to Mo- ses and Aaron, I have sinned before God and before you.” So actually, it makes much more sense. And that, to me, is also so much of what Dr. King accomplished. He took hearts that were often quite hard, and he made them capable of honor and dignity, of repentance. And that’s the heritage for us.” Audience comments that followed the webinar came in from across the U.S. and Can- ada. Many expressed apprecia- tion for the program, and also great concern and questions about how best to bridge the current divide. One comment encapsulated this in a rhetorical question. Cantor Sheri Allen of Texas, asked, “I lead a small Jewish congregation, and have been criticized for focusing too much on racial injustice, and not enough on antisemitism. How can I communicate that it’s not one or the other —not us or them—that these issues affect us all?” Spring 2021/Aviv 5781 The New Mexico Jewish Link 3 IPS ARMED PATROL – ARMED RESPONSE – K - 9 SERVICES “ T H E R I G H T C O M P A N Y A T T H E R I G H T T I M E. ” w w w . i p s g l o b a l . c o m • 5 0 5 – 8 9 7 – 2 4 2 0 4 The New Mexico Jewish Link Spring 2021/Aviv 5781 By Todd Goldblum, M.D. As a pediatric physician, I would like to respond to Stanley Hordes’ recent opinion piece in the win- ter 2020 issue of the New Mexico Jewish Link regarding the United States House of Representative’s resolution HR 2407 which claims that the Israeli Defense Force abuses against detained Palestin- ian children. There is a reason why many in Congress will not support this bill, these claims are mostly from a report made by Defense of Children International – Palestine (DCI-P). This non-profit organiza - tion has ties to the terrorist orga- nization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which has murdered many civilians includ- ing children. DCI-P’s agenda is to vilify and delegitimize Israel, so it is not surprising that much of their claims are of course based on pro- paganda, rather than fact. For example, statistics show that from April 2015 to March 2016, the rate of arrest of Palestinian minors was 5.5 times less than England and Wales which are not in the midst of an armed conflict. Nearly all of DCI-P claims have been proven to be misleading or outright false. The blood-libel claim of solitary isola- tion and torture is outrageous and disgusting. It is what Stanley Hordes does not tell the reader about the plight of Palestinian children which is the most alarming. He fails to mention that in 2015 Palestinian authorities actively recruited Palestinian chil- dren to riot, including stabbings, shooting, and murder. These “mar- tyrs” were then hailed as heroes by the Palestinian authorities with encouragement to continue their vi- olent ways. He also fails to report Hamas’ horrific use of child com - batants – approximately 10,000 Palestinian children are trained in terrorist camps each year, and over 160 children have died digging ter- ror tunnels into Israel. Hamas places children on the front line in their riots and battles, routinely uses women and children as human shields, and most horrify- ing they recruit children for suicide bombings. Using child combatants is one of the most horrific form of child abuse, and DCI-P as well as Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) will not condemn this child ex- ploitation. Palestinian children are recruited for violence at an early age in schools. In 2016, over 240 approved textbooks, which called for children to kill Israelis and then martyr themselves, were distribut- ed to hundreds of UNWRA schools to children as young as in the first grade. Stanley Hordes represents JVP which actively endorses and sup- ports the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel. BDS does not support the internationally accepted two-state solution. They abhor any negoti- ations or reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. They masquerade as a human rights orga- nization, but their ultimate goal is the elimination of the world’s only Jewish state. History has consistently shown that peace requires mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation. We need to support reconciliatory and collaborative efforts between the two sides not violent and de- structive ones. All we have to do is look at the remarkable peace accomplishments made this year between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco to name a few. Most importantly, we must teach our children not to hate or commit acts of violence. Op-Ed: Stop Abuse of Palestinian Children Dear Editor, Stanley Hordes’ recent article, “Conflation of Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism Wrong” (Winter 2020) is the clearest illustration of the problem raised by Halley Faust in “Can you be Jewish and An- tisemitic?” (Fall 2020). To begin with, Dr. Hordes creates a straw- man, which he then happily knocks down: he mischaracterizes Dr. Faust’s position as stating that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. Faust’s position is that the two are often the same. Hordes accuses Israel of a policy of persecuting Palestinians with- out any basis in fact. He states that 700,000 Palestinians were ban- ished from their villages in 1948, without mentioning that they were not banished, but left home at the urging of their leaders in order to facilitate the Arab assault on the nascent state of Israel. Hordes describes Gaza as an open-air prison, without mentioning that the Gazans’ material shortages are due to Hamas’ diverting all aid to building tunnels into Israel instead of feeding the population or repairing the infrastructure. He accuses Israel of controlling who enters and leaves Gaza without mentioning that Egypt, on its side of Gaza, imposes the same restrictions on entry and exit. Kristina Harrigan, Santa Fe By Diane Joy Schmidt My mother told me about the Golden Rule when I was a very small child. I don’t remember what I did, but I must have done something wrong. I remember looking to see if she was holding a gold-colored rul- er behind her skirt. She recited, ‘Do onto others as you would have others do onto you.’ I didn’t get it. Then she tried reasoning. She said, kindly enough, ‘If you are nice to others, they will be nice to you,’ but that required an imaginary leap into the future, something that a four-year-old wouldn’t make. The version in Leviticus 19:18, “Love thy neigh- bor as thyself,” made even less sense to me, as I knew my mother didn’t even like our neighbor, an old man who made my father listen to his dirty jokes over the hollyhocks. Perhaps if she’d used the other version, “What is hateful to you do not do unto another,” that might have made a bigger impression. As in, ‘Don’t hit your brother if you don’t want him to hit you,’ or, ‘If you hit the dog, it will bite you.’ It would be a more commonsensical approach. For any family, tribe or country, for any society to hold together at all, it has to start with that most fundamental idea. A story that dates back centuries explains that this is a core tenet of Judaism. A non-Jew asked a rabbi to explain Judaism while standing on one leg. The rabbi, annoyed, sent him away. The man then went to Rabbi Hillel the Elder, who told him, “Whatever is abhorrent to you, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole of Torah. The rest is commentary. Now, go and study.” The positive version, “Do onto others as you would have others do onto you,” might be better for the grownups among us, as it instructs how to prac- tice making the world a better place. But Hillel’s version may be what’s needed right now, because it forces us to put ourselves in anoth- er person’s shoes. Do not do to others that which is distasteful to you. Don’t make up lies about some- one else—how would you like it if they did that to you? Don’t make fun of a person who looks differ- ent from you—what if that turned out to be someone in your group? Don’t exclude others from having the same rights as you. If we are all made in God’s image, all a spark of God, then it follows that you wouldn’t like to be excluded either. This extends to all living creatures, all of creation. It’s a teaching that is found in most religions and cultures in the world. It is the concept of reciprocity. But apparently some in this country are having to re- learn this. We seemed to have lost the finer points of common sense in a proliferation of made-up stories to bolster some wishful thinking, a false belief that the election was stolen. This is causing an erosion of our democracy. Fortunately, Dominion, the company that makes the voting machines, has sued Rudy Giuliani for bil- lions of dollars, using lawyers who have defended prominent conservatives. This set back the bullies in our country a bit who think, any made up claim, the more outlandish the better, will sell. The attack on the capital was led by right-wing extremists who wanted to overthrow the election and stop Biden from taking office. Period. When people want to believe the most poisonous conspiracy theories, and refuse to believe reality, we have slid down a most treacherous slope. The only way out, the antidote, is not to turn the other cheek, but we must instill in our country again this foun- dational teaching, however it speaks to you: Treat others as you want to be treated, don’t do something to others that you wouldn’t want done to you. Diane Joy Schmidt is a writer and photographer who was raised in the traditions of Reform Judaism and is an admirer of all things spiritually resonant. Visit her at www.dianejoyschmidt.com. Op-Ed: The Antidote By Sara Koplik, Ph.D. Editor We are a small people, 16 mil- lion souls spread across the globe, with a recent experience of geno- cide. Our population has not yet recovered the number of lives lost in the Holocaust. As Jews, we know that every life is precious, and any preventable death is its own tragedy. The Link does not normally print obituaries, and yet, in this issue, three pages are devoted to those who have recently died. Covid-19 means that grief is com- pounded and comforting the be- reaved is so much more difficult. Throughout the past year, the New Mexico Jewish Link has worked to provide our readers with the most accurate, up-to- date information about how to keep safe during this global Coronavirus pandemic. There is no higher value for Jews than pi- kuach nefesh – saving a life. As we enter the season of Pe- sach, we recall the lengths that the children of Israel took to make sure that the angel of death would pass over their homes and spare their first-born. Once again, we are called to protect ourselves and our community. This time, how- ever, blood on our doorposts will not save us, but rather a vaccine will. Now is the time to register for a Covid-19 vaccine. If you have computer access, go to: Vac- cineNM.org. If you don’t, please call (855) 600-3453, choose 0, and then 4. Being vaccinated is a way to protect our entire people. It is a life-saving act. We live in a state where there is a centralized vaccination reg- istration system and over 90% of current supply has been distrib- uted, the highest in the US. By mid-March, 29% of the popula- tion received at least one dose of a vaccine, with 82% of residents on the Navajo Nation vaccinated. Only Israel and the Seychelles have higher rates than our neigh- bors to the west. Throughout this difficult year, New Mexicans were fortunate that Governor Michelle Lujan-Grish- am, our departments of health and human services, tribal and local governments, our synagogues, schools and businesses all put for- ward strict regulations to stem the tide of Coronavirus. Without these measures, it is estimated that four times as many people would have died. In mid- March 2021, that could have been about 16,000 people, similar to the population of Los Lunas. Our health infrastructure would have been completely over- whelmed. This did not happen, because wise policies were put into place, and our population heeded the warnings. The sacrifices that were made, Protect Our Community: Register for a Coronavirus Vaccine VACCINE continued on page 5 Spring 2021/Aviv 5781 The New Mexico Jewish Link 5 By Barbara Crews It took my breath away. It made me angry. It brought me to tears. All the daily rage of the past four years bub- bled up and over. And now Trump’s followers were storming the Capital of the United States. I found I had no answers. How to make sense of these senseless and violent scenes at our Capital. Here is my attempt to understand recent events. We knew from day one, that Trump was a racist, a bigot, and a misogynist. Possibly an anti-Sem- ite. Deborah Lipstadt, the writer and American historian (best known for her books Denying the Holocaust , History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier and most recently, Antisemitism: Here and Now ) has said that she doesn’t be- lieve that Trump is an anti-Semite, but that he enables antisemitism. I believe that is a distinction without a difference. I remember hearing James Bald- win being interviewed in the 1960’s saying that he didn’t care what feel- ings people had in their hearts. “I don’t care if you love me or or hate me,” he said. What he cared about was how he was treated as a Black man. You can’t legislate feelings but you can legislate behavior. But what does race or even an- tisemitism have to do with the mob attacks on the Capital? Adam Serwer writes in The Atlantic that the riots were not so much “unprecedented” as they were in keeping with our country’s history of white backlash to racial equality. After all, Jim Crow followed Re- construction. The Tulsa riots deci- mated “Black Wallstreet.” And it is not a coincidence that on the same day of the riot, Georgia elected its first Black and Jewish Americans to two Senate seats. Where there is racism, there is usually anti-Semi- tism. It is how the KKK demonstrat- ed their power and spread fear for years. Racism is America’s original sin. It is fundamental to who we are and what America is. It is so ingrained in our institutions that it is part of the very fabric of our society. Every institution in this country, from gov- ernment, to housing, to health care, to education, criminal justice, bank - ing, and of course politics, main- tains systems and has for centuries, systems that favor whites and not Blacks. Trump’s appeal to mostly white males has always been about racism and fear. Their fear existed long be- fore Trump gave voice to it; before he sympathized with it and before he nurtured it. Looking at the faces of the terrorists who stormed into the Capital, it was appalling to see the incredible arrogance of their white- ness. They took selfies, they re - corded their atrocious behavior and criminal acts believing they would be immune from punishment. As if this were some kind of entitlement. As a woman outside the Capital was overheard telling her husband, they won’t shoot us, they are supposed to shoot BLM protestors. Hakeem Jefferson writes: “It is not by chance that most of the in- dividuals who descended on the nation’s capital were white, nor is it an accident that they align with the Republican Party and this president. Moreover, it is not a coincidence that symbols of white racism, including the Confederate flag, were present and prominently displayed.” He goes on to say that “They are a dangerous mob of grievous white people worried that their position in the status hierarchy is threatened by a multiracial coalition of Americans who brought Biden to power and de- feated Trump.” As Serwer explains this “violence claims no legitimate grievances, it is merely the perpetual retaliation to racial progress, as evidenced by the insurrectionists parading of Trump flags, Confederate flags, Gadsden flags, Blue Lives Matter flags and neo-Nazi symbols. This was not an uprising against a tyrannical govern- ment; it was an uprising against a multicultural government.” White backlash or “whitelash” as Sheryll Cashin describes it, is an old American ritual. When whites fear losing their power, their sense of superiority, or their control, there is a wave of pushback to bring back the old order of white superiority. The Tulsa riots are another hideous example. It won’t disappear soon or easily as we saw January 6th. I wrote this piece in an effort to understand the context of the horri- ble events of the past few weeks, in fact of the past four years. It was a daunting task to capture my thoughts and feelings and to read and to keep reading in search of answers. I am dismayed but not totally despairing. I keep telling myself that perhaps this cataclysmic event will be the last gasp of white racism in Con- gress and in the White House. I am hopeful that our increasingly mul- ticultural country will continue to bring about successful and exciting election results like those in Georgia. As Martin Luther King, Jr fa- mously said the “arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Barbara Crews served as Galves- ton’s mayor from 1990 to 1996 after spending several years on the city council. She currently a Taos Jewish Center board member. The Link is a community newspaper, published since 1971 as a service by the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. It focuses on Jewish life in New Mexico, and is committed to seeing Jewish life thrive. Publisher: Rob Lennick, CEO Jewish Federation of New Mexico (JFNM), 821-3214 Editor: Sara Koplik, Ph.D. Editorial Board: Marvin Gottlieb, Ph.D., Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D., Sabra Minkus Sarah Newman Halley Faust Contributors: Diane Joy Schmidt, Todd Goldblum, Barbara Crews, Devon Spier, Sabra Minkus, Phyllis Cohen, Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Judah Botzer, Frances Williams, Gilad Katz, Eli Follick, Rabbi Paul J. Citrin, Nancy Sohn Swatz, Jeffrey Paul, Emily Blaugrund Fox, Beth Cohen, Sue Parker Gerson, Lance Bell, Ron Duncan Hart, Robert F. Benjamin, Misha Sauceda, Sybil Kaplan, Beth Cohen, Harold Albert, David Blacher, Nathan Ari Fox, Marsha Berkowitz Johansen, Rabbi Lily Solochek et al. Production: Christine Carter, Envision Graphics Wire service: Jewish Telegraphic Agency Address: The New Mexico Jewish Link 5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE, Abq, NM 87109 Submissions: Letters to the editor, articles, or other information to be considered for publication must be sent with return address and phone number and signed by the author. E-mail submissions are preferred. The editor reserves the right to edit or deny publication to submissions. Materials sent to The Link will not be saved or returned unless accompanied by self-addressed, stamped envelope. All letters, readers forums and opinion pieces solely reflect the opinions of the authors and not the opinions of The New Mexico Jewish Link , nor of its publisher, the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. These serve as a forum for the New Mexico Jewish community and The Link strongly urges submissions. Send submissions via e-mail to sarakoplik@ unmhillel.org or via post to The New Mexico Jewish Link, 5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. The New Mexico Jewish Link is published quarterly. Postmaster: Send address changes to JFNM, 5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87109. All letters, readers’ forums, opinion pieces and advertisements solely reflect the opinions of the authors and not the opinions of the New Mexico Jewish Link. You’ve got a in the Business! BUDDY OFSANTAFE.COM MAIN LOCATION 1601 St. Michaels Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87505 1920 Cerrillos, Road, EXPRESS MAINTENANCE Santa Fe, NM 87505 505-982-1900 Op-Ed: January 6th, Day of Rage and continue to be made, are vital- ly important. Your actions protect those around you. Thank you for taking this mission so seriously. The Jewish community of New Mexico is significantly older than the general population. Many have underlying health condi- tions. Despite the terrible diffi - culties and pain of this year, our resolve must continue. It is crucial that everyone registers for a vac- cine and receives the necessary doses. The much more deadly variants have not yet arrived here. We do not know their impact, but vaccination is a pivotal defense. Even a month after the final in - jection, masking, social distance, and careful handwashing are still necessary as so many are still not vaccinated. Currently, none of our children are eligible. This year, when older adults have been at far higher risk, young people stepped in to help them. And now, as more older adults are fully vaccinated, the favor must be returned, so that all are protect- ed from this terrible scourge. If you know of someone who has not registered with the state, please encourage them to sign up, and help them fill out the simple form. Think of those you know who don’t have access to a com- puter or a vehicle. As members of a caring community, we can all make a difference. Everyone over age 18 is eli- gible. It is not necessary to have health insurance or documented immigration status. As we have learned time and time again this year, we are only as strong as our most vulnerable. VACCINE continued from page 4 you were meant to come alive in the time of great death you were meant to sit you were meant to cry you were meant to offer up your gloved hand to perfect strangers you were meant to repair and to break to break and then to repair you were meant to arrive this day exactly as you came you were meant to to draw near to the work of never-ending staying away by Devon Spier 6 The New Mexico Jewish Link Spring 2021/Aviv 5781 By Sabra Minkus In December 2020, 252 mem- bers of the B’nei Menashe com- munity made Aliya from India. It was a troubled process as usu- al. Once again, families were di- vided, refused at the last minute after being accepted, and in one case, turned away at the airport in Delhi with no reason given or funds for hotel and transport back to Manipur. These difficul - ties are just a small sample of the injustices inflicted on the B’nei Menashe who are trying to ful- fill their dream of going home to Israel. The Aliyah process for the B’nei Menashe has been in the hands of a Jerusalem non-profit, Shavei Israel since 2004. Like no other community, the B’nei Menashe’s Aliyah is handled by a monopoly given to a single or- ganization, which has a pattern of troubling behaviors. Degel Menashe, a new non-profit organization, founded to support the B’nei Menashe in Israel and India has been con- cerned for quite some time about the abusive treatment of its com- munity members by Shavei Is- rael. A year ago, Degel Menashe reached out to the Israeli gov- ernment asking that the monop- oly held by Shavei stop. The Israeli government agreed to shift practices to some extent, and now the Jewish Agency will be involved, in partnership with Shavei Israel. While this is not a complete victory for fairness and an equal chance at immigration for all B’nei Menashe, it is a significant improvement. In February, the B’nei Me- nashe Council submitted the pe- tition signed by 912 members of the Manipur community. It stat- ed: “We have had enough. We ask the Jewish Agency, the Min- istry of Immigration, and the government of Israel to assume direct responsibility for our Ali- yah by taking it out of Shavei Is- rael’s hands and freeing us from its tyranny over our lives.” As we approach Passover let us hope that the B’nei Menashe will be able to say, “Israel let our people go!” For more information about the B’nei Menashe, please go to Degel Menashe’s website: De- gelMenashe.org. The Struggle to Make Aliyah Equitable for the B’nei Menashe of India A Kaddish for 2020 By Rabbi Lily Solochek, Kohenet Shamirah, Rabbinical student May Ye, Rabbi Emily Cohen, Rabbi Raysh Weiss, Rabbi Noam Lerman We cannot count the losses of 2020. We lament the deaths of 2020. 1.8 million from the coronavirus. Deaths of healthcare workers, deaths of incarcerated people, deaths in refugee camps, deaths from homelessness during this pandemic. We lament the deaths from police violence. Deaths of Black and Brown people. Deaths of trans people, murdered for existing. We cannot count the losses of 2020. We mourn time lost from family and friends. Cancelled weddings, funerals in isolation. We mourn the loss of in-person education for our children and the socioeconomic barriers to education during a pandemic. We mourn jobs lost, increased hunger and poverty. Evictions and unpayable bills. We cannot count the losses of 2020. We cry and we cry out. We cry out against fascism. Against white supremacy. We cry out for stolen indigenous land. We cry out for those whose voices have been silenced. We cry out for the injustice of our race, gender, socioeconomic class, and location determining how we experience this pandemic. We cannot count the losses of 2020. We grieve. We grieve the damage humanity has inflicted on precious Earth. We grieve poisoned water, poisoned air, drought and erosion. Floods, hurricanes, wildfires. We cannot count the losses of 2020. We grapple with new phrases we’ve come to say daily: Unprecedent- ed. New normal. Pivot. Unforeseen. Abundance of caution. Surreal. Isolation. Difficult. Mute & unmute. Technical difficulties. Silver lin - ing. Streaming. Quarantine & shelter in place & Lockdown. Masks. Misinformation. We cannot count the losses of 2020. May the One who makes peace in the heavens give us courage and resilience to make peace amongst our communities, our nations, and our world. May the anguished learnings of this year lead to building better access for people on the margins of community. May the memory of this year spark a revolution within us to build a stronger, more just and loving world. May we know the privilege we hold by being alive as we say, Amen. Republished with permission from Ritualwell.org By Devon A. Spier G-d of swift justice and the wellspring of life Of long lines, delayed hopes, and dreaded hearts longing to take flight G-d who waits and who doesn’t Bring us our vaccine in time On holy time That we are nourished That we are safe That we are reminded of the purpose of our days That our wounds mending tending ache And are seen felt and heard By the health givers Who are around us every instant To align our worry with the Breath of the whole universe Sending us out each day To exhale and remember what it is Mundane moment to Mundane moment to Restlessly awake Who give us permission to source the profundity from the profane Inhale And so, to live. Amen. Republished with permission from Ritualwell.org. Devon Spier’s Whatever it is, ge