SA JEWISH REPORT STAFF

New study: Sperm quality damaged by cell phones

HAIFA – A groundbreaking study suggests that regularly talking on a cell phone for more than an hour a day, and talking on the phone when it is connected to a charger, doubles the likelihood of a decrease in sperm concentration from 33,3 per cent to 66,7 per cent.

The study also indicates that sperm concentration decreases to an abnormal level in men who carry their phone at a distance of less than 50 centimetres from the groin. An abnormal concentration was found in 47,1 per cent of men who carry the phone at a close distance, compared with 11,1 per cent in the total male population.

The findings, reported in Reproductive BioMedicine Online, support a long-held suspicion of a link between cell phone use and male infertility due to radio frequency electromagnetic radiation emitted from the phones.

“In light of the research findings it is certainly recommended to shorten the duration of calls, not to carry the phone near the groin, not to sleep next to it, not to talk while it is being charged – in fact, it is better to turn it off while it is being charged – and to use a headset or hands-free kit whenever possible,” warned lead author Dr Ariel Zilberlicht, a gynaecologist at Carmel Medical Centre and a faculty member at the Technion Faculty of Medicine, both in Haifa.

Zilberlicht and his colleagues stress that further and larger studies are needed in order to confirm their findings. – Israel 21c

Oz Labour MPs told to spend time in Israel/Palestine Authority

SYDNEY – New South Wales Labour members will be encouraged to spend substantial time in both Israel and the Palestine Authority when visiting the region.

At the NSW Labour state conference in Sydney, a motion was carried stating that the party believes, as a strong supporter of a two-state solution, that it is important to understand the perspectives of Israelis and Palestinians and “encourages all party members visiting the region for the purpose of understanding the conflict to spend substantial time in both”.

It comes after a push within the party to ban Labour MPs, officials and Young Labour members from accepting subsidised trips to Israel.

The resolution also condemns the Abbott/Turnbull government for “failing to provide clear leadership on Australia’s contribution to progressing peace” between the two regions and endorses the resolution carried at the ALP national conference last year, which states that if the next round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians fail, the party will consider recognition of a Palestinian state.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President Jeremy Spinak said this was a “sensible outcome” that “rejects the anti-Israel bias and discrimination” promoted by a few party members. – Australian Jewish News

‘Orthodox children attend Jewish day schools’

PHILADELPHIA – How do we ensure the continuation of the Jewish people? This is the question that consumes Michael Steinhardt.

Steinhardt is this year’s keynote speaker at the Jack M Barrack Hebrew Academy’s gala. His connection to Philadelphia began with his education at Penn, where he earned a degree from Wharton.

After making his fortune on Wall Street, Steinhardt decided to focus fulltime on his passion for the Jewish world. He created the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. Among many other initiatives, he was one of the founders of Birthright.

Steinhardt sees a bifurcation in the American Jewish community today. “Virtually 100 per cent of Orthodox students attend day schools,” he said. “Among the non-Orthodox Jews, attendance is between five per cent to 10 per cent.”

He would love to see more non-Orthodox Jewish learners getting a really excellent education in day schools. It is his fervent hope that the future generations of Jews will care about Judaism and Israel, and will be able to express this in fluent Hebrew!

His grandchildren whose father is a South African Jew now living in New York City, attend Ramaz Jewish Day School in Manhattan but come to Cape Town every summer and attend Herzlia for a few weeks at a time.- The Philadelphia Jewish Voice

How two Holocaust survivors found romance

LOS ANGELES – In a way, their relationship began like so many others: a workplace romance.

Gabriella Karin, 85, was a docent at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH); Robert (“Bob”) Geminder, 80, was on the museum’s board of directors.

His wife, Judy, had died four years ago. Gabriella’s husband, Ofer, passed away two years later.

Neither one expected to love romantically again, but both seemed to understand that their long and fruitful marriages marked them as romantics.

“Is the pope Catholic?” Bob said. “I didn’t stay married for 52 years and she didn’t stay married for 64 years for no reason.”

Both are Holocaust survivors, deeply committed these days to a post-retirement career transmitting their stories to young people.

“We were trying to make menschen (upright citizens) out of young people,” he told the Jewish Journal. “We spoke in schools all the time – I did, Gabriella did – way before we even knew we existed.”

On February 17, they celebrated their first anniversary as a couple, on a speaking tour in Baltimore.

It started innocently. The two have known about each other for half a decade. They got to know each other a little better on the March of the Living, the annual youth pilgrimage to Poland and Israel, listening to the other’s stories of surviving the war. – The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

British government’s plan to battle Israel boycott

LONDON – A senior minister is due to announce more details this week of the government’s intention to stop local authorities boycotting Israeli goods.

Cabinet Office Minister Matt Hancock is expected to visit Israel to issue guidance which will be applied to councils, NHS trusts, universities and other British public bodies.

The new legislation would make it easier for the government to legally challenge organisations which boycott Israel.

The plans were first announced last October ahead of the Conservatives’ annual conference.

At that time, Communities and Local Government Secretary Greg Clark had said the move would be challenge to “the politics of division”.

The Tories are aiming to stop councils running divesting campaigns against UK defence companies and Israeli interests.

Ministers were said to be concerned about the actions of some Labour-led authorities which were threatening to “poison community relations and harm Britain’s economic and international interests”. – Jewish Chronicle

Expert on India research to win Israel Prize

JERUSALEM – Professor David Shulman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem will be awarded the Israel Prize for religious studies and philosophy, the Education Ministry has announced.

The Israel Prize is largely regarded as the state’s highest honour. In its decision, the prize committee stated that Shulman was a “brilliant and groundbreaking researcher of the religion, literature, and culture of Southern India”.

The committee added: “Prof Shulman is known for a variety of publications in these areas, which has bought him renown in Israel and in the world and has won co-operation with leading researchers in the field. One of the characterising aspects of his research work is the command over a wide variety of languages including Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.”

“His outstanding research in diversity deals with different literary issues and numerous research topics including: religion, myth, art, folklore and imagination. In Israel he founded the field of study of India and the majority of researchers of India in Israel are his students,” they wrote.

The prize is presented annually on Independence Day in a state ceremony in Jerusalem in the presence of the president, the prime minister, the Knesset speaker and the Supreme Court president.
– Jerusalem Post