Hospital Staff Dances and Sings for Covid Patient Leaving the ICU After 158 Days & Other Orthodox Jews in the News

Shabbat-Observant Youth Soccer Club Forms in Honor of Miami Teen’s Death
Sholem Benchimol was a talented soccer player with aspirations of one day becoming a professional, but he usually couldn’t play due to Shabbat. Sholem’s career was cut short in April when the 17-year-old, known for wearing his kippah on the field, died in a bike accident. His older brothers are honoring his memory by creating a team that will serve Jewish players like him and are partnering with Beitar Jerusalem to launch a youth soccer academy that will schedule its games around Shabbat.

New York Hospital Staff Sang and Danced for a COVID-19 Patient Leaving the ICU After 158 Days
Rabbi Yehuda “Yudi” Dukes spent nearly half a year in critical condition due to Covid complications, including four and a half months on a ventilator. He experienced double lung failure, a tracheotomy, septic shocks, and countless other life-threatening conditions. The 38-year-old father of six from Long Island, New York, is believed to be one of the longest-hospitalized coronavirus patients in the US. After 158 days, he finally left the ICU on Friday to begin rehab. Hospital staff lined the hallways to celebrate the next step in his recovery.

Aided by Modern Ingenuity, a Taste of Ancient Judean Dates
The harvest of the much-extolled but long-lost Judean dates was something of a scientific miracle. The fruit sprouted from seeds 2,000 years old.

At Popular Jerusalem Promenade, Archaeologists Find a First Temple-era Palace
Archaeologists have uncovered majestic column heads from a First Temple-era palace at Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv promenade, with the remnants of the ancient building going on public display for the first time. Archaeologists were able to date the finds back to the era of the Judean kings, due to the proto-Aeolic features of the soft limestone architecture. They include three complete medium-sized limestone “capitals” and items from lavish window frames.

HBO’s ‘Lovecraft Country’ Contains a Plot Point That Resembles An Age-Old Anti-Semitic Lie. Why?
Like more than 1 million Americans in each of the last three weeks, I’ve been appreciating “Lovecraft Country,” the new HBO series that adds monsters and other fantasy elements to the real-life horror stories faced by Black Americans. So I was surprised Sunday night to hear a typically Jewish last name applied to a character whose only appearance was as a ghost — and whose story instantly evoked one of history’s most durable anti-Semitic stereotypes.

Owner of The Humble Toast, a Kosher Restaurant in Teaneck, Will Compete on ‘Chopped’
Shalom Yehudiel, owner of Jewish deli The Humble Toast in Teaneck, will compete on a historic episode of the popular Food Network series “Chopped,” which will air on Sept. 22 at 9 p.m. A kosher chef, Yehudiel is the first contestant for whom the show had a rabbi come in to make sure the food and work station were suitable for cooking a kosher meal.

Israel Is Kicking Off An Unlikely Bid To Qualify For 2022 Winter Olympics In Bobsled And Skeleton
Arizona’s Alex Nataros is the owner of Robotic Networking Automation, Inc., which is a Texas-based group focused on robotic vision and AI for commercial and industrial uses. He is partially funding the bobsled and skeleton team through 2022, with the hope of taking on additional investors for the 2026 Milan Olympics, which are meant to be the culmination of a six-year plan.

This New 600-Page Book Contains Jewish Laws of Coronavirus, From Hand-Washing to Drug Trials
The answers to questions posed to Rav Asher Weiss — called “responsa” — relating to the virus have been collected alongside other prominent Orthodox rabbis’ in a 600-page volume on Jewish laws in handling the coronavirus. Entitled “Heviani Hadarav” (Hebrew for “Bring me into his chamber,” a verse from the Song of Songs) it was released in June by Israeli Tzof publishers, in Hebrew, and is available in religious bookstores.

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