There have been 285 reported cases of measles in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community since October, 246 of which are children, the Department of Health reported in early April,. (Hannah Smith/KOMU/Flickr)

More measles cases, child abuse allegationsat D.C. synagogue, Ukraine’s new president

Israel’sHealth Ministry orders local airlines to vaccinate staff against measles

More than250 El Al airlines crew members have been vaccinated against the measles aftera flight attendant contracted the disease during a flight from New York. Theflight attendant, 43, was hospitalized earlier this month with the measles. On April18, Israeli media reported that she was in a coma with suspected brain damagedue to complications from the measles virus. She had only received one shot ofthe measles vaccine, instead of the recommended two, the Times of Israelreported. A 10-year-old boy who also contracted the measles virus on a planeride is hospitalized in central Israel on a respirator with suspected braindamage, according to reports. Israel’s Health Ministry ordered all localairlines to vaccinate their staff, especially those staff that come intocontact with travelers, against measles. El Al set up a special clinic at BenGurion Airport in order to ensure that all staff get inoculated. The HealthMinistry also called on Israelis to get fully vaccinated before flying out ofthe country. Many Israelis travel overseas during the Passover holiday. Some3,600 cases of the measles have been confirmed in Israel between March 2018 andFebruary 2019, according to the Health Ministry.–JTA

Meanwhile, a fourth case of measles has been confirmed in Maryland

Also see: How to Respond to the Measles Outbreak

Washington Hebrew Congregation
With a membership of approximately 3,000 families and individuals. Washington Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1852 and is the oldest synagogue in the nation’s capital. (Photo courtesy Washington Hebrew Congregation Facebook page)

Child abuse scandal at D.C. Synagogue

The attorney general of Washington, D.C., is investigating allegations made by eight families that a teacher at Washington Hebrew Congregation’s preschool repeatedly sexually abused their children over the past two years. In addition, the families are charging that the preschool’s top leader repeatedly ignored claims of “regular and systemic” abuse against the children, who ranged between the ages of 2 and 4 at the time of the alleged abuse, according to a civil lawsuit filed last week in D.C. Superior Court against WHC’s Edlavitch Tyser Early Childhood Center and its head of schools, Deborah “DJ” Schneider Jensen. Jensen, who earned her master’s degree in early childhood education from Towson University, joined WHC in July of 2014. She previously worked at Baltimore’s Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education as director of early childhood services. “We can confirm that the office of the attorney general is conducting an investigation of the Washington Hebrew Congregation preschool,” read a statement from the office of D.C. Attorney General Karl A Racine. “However, we will decline to comment further at this time.”

Read more: Prominent D.C. Synagogue Accused of Harboring Sexual Predator

Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky, a popular comedian, is the likely winner in presidential elections in Ukraine. (Courtesy photo)

Ukraine’s new president

If official exit polls from Ukraine’s presidential elections are to be believed, that country is set to become the only one in the world besides Israel whose president and prime minister are both Jewish. Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky’s dramatic lead in exit polls April 21 — in many of them he received more than 73 percent of the vote — was so overwhelming that it prompted a concession of defeat by incumbent Petro Poroshenko even before the official results were in, Radio Liberty reported. If Zelensky is sworn in as president, his prime minister — at least for a while and possibly until the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place sometime later this year — will be Volodymyr Groysman, a Jewish politician who was the mayor of the city of Vinnytsia.

Read more: Ukraine to Become 1st Country Outside Israel Whose President and PM are Both Jewish

President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner
President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, left, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, May 22, 2017. (Israel Bardugo)

What if Trump came to seder?

MichaelOlesker writes: With the recent arrival of Passover, my friend Jules joked thathe invited Donald Trump over for the first night seder but the presidentdeclined. He heard about the traditional Four Questions and worried they’d turninto a deposition. So what? Trump could order his lawyers to answer thequestions in written form. That’s what he did for the Mueller report. With theFour Questions, we ask, Why is this night different from all other nights?For President Trump, the answer is: On all other nights, we’ve been awaitingthe Muellerreport. Its arrival seemed to take longer than Elijah’s. When the reportwas finally released last week, we learned of a few things passed over untilnow. One was Trump’s lack of memory. This is a man who has told us he has “oneof the great memories of all time.” Or sometimes he’s called it “the world’sgreatest memory.” And yet … The president’s memory took an exodus when it cameto the Mueller deposition. At Passover, we recall 10 Plagues. In Trump’s case,plagued by the special counsel’s questions, he failed more than 30 times tooffer answers.

Read Michael Olesker’s blog post.

Manischewitz
Get your matzoh while you can and find out what to do with it in our Passover primer. (Photo by Amanda Krotki, Jmore)

Passover Primer 2019

Get through the holiday with:

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