SURVIVAL

Yesterday we sat and pondered why

The way was so steep and so many died

Why must we suffer, we do implore     

But when we see the final Geulah, we will agonize no more.

Dedicated to the ones who didn’t survive,

and to my parents, who believed I could write

 This story is written in loving memory of my father, Werner Victor Cohen (Avigdor ben Avraham Hakohen), who passed away on June 11, 2021.

My father, Werner Victor Cohen, was born in Essen, Germany, on December 8, 1921. In addition to himself, my father’s family consisted of his parents, Albert and Hedwig Cohen, and his sister, Lore.

During the Kristallnacht attacks on Jews, on Nov. 9 and 10, 1939, my dad and his father, Albert, were taken from their home by the Nazis. His father was incarcerated at a city jail and released, but my Dad was taken to Dachau concentration camp. He was one of the youngest sent there. He spent several brutal weeks in the camp while Hitler (yemach shemo) used this opportunity to test whether there would be any international condemnation. There was deafening silence.

On January 17, 1991, a coalition of armed forces from 34 countries led by the United States started operation Desert Storm to liberate recently-conquered Kuwait from Iraq. Iraq began its retaliation the next day. Over a period of several weeks, 39 modified Scud B (Al Hussein) missiles were fired at Israel, with 14 exploding in highly-populated residential areas of Tel Aviv and Haifa. (The remainder of the Scuds were either duds, or landed in the wilderness, in the Mediterranean, or were intercepted by U.S. Patriot anti-missile missiles.) Two Israelis were directly killed by these Scuds, and 11 were seriously injured.

In 1993, a scientific paper written by Fetter, Lewis, and Gronlund, entitled “Why Were Scud Casualties So Low?” was published in the prestigious British scientific journal Nature.[1] An expanded and more detailed version of the paper appeared a few months later.[2] The low casualty rate had attracted professional scientific interest. The paper uses a standard mathematical formula to predict the number of casualties expected in a missile attack. The formula is an extrapolation from past missile attacks and takes into account three parameters that modify the extrapolation: a) the size of the warhead, b) the population density, and c) whether there was warning of the attack.

“Do not scorn any person….for you have no person without his hour.” (Avos 4:3) The Rambam interprets Ben Azzai’s dictum as follows: It is wrong to mistreat anyone who may be of lowly status because the time will certainly come when such person will rise to a position enabling him to seek revenge. This mishna does not imply that it would ever be otherwise acceptable to malign or mistreat another. It simply provides an additional reason to avoid such behavior, namely, that the perpetrator may well find himself one day at the mercy of his victim.

Hi, let me introduce myself: I am Eli W. Schlossberg and I’m kind of new in town. How can I say that, you ask, when I was born at Sinai Hospital in 1950? Well, I’m talking about the “new” town of Baltimore. Let me describe the Baltimore I knew, and then you will understand.

Sinai Hospital? No, not the one off Northern Parkway; in those days it was located on Ann and Monument Streets. My family davened at a Shearith Israel – no, not the one on Glen Avenue. It was located on McCulloh Street off North Avenue. We shopped at Wasserman and Lemberger – no, not the one on Reisterstown Road; it was on Whitlock Street and then on Park Heights, and it was indeed owned by Mr. Bernie Wasserman and Mr. Sol Lemberger.

The ever-increasing complexity of our medical system has made accessing quality health care very challenging. This reality has given birth to a new field called independent patient advocacy. Many people have heard of patient advocates but have only a vague idea of who they are and what they do. Patient advocates are usually nurses, sometimes doctors, and, occasionally, savvy individuals with no medical training but extensive personal experience with the medical world. Having a patient advocate by your side reduces the stress of a health crisis, at the very least, and can save your life at the most.

I am a patient advocate, and the following stories will give you an idea of what I do.

Last year, we bought tickets to fly to Israel for Shavuos to celebrate my son’s bar mitzva. We couldn’t afford regular priced tickets and were grateful to see Dan’s Deals advertise an unbeatable deal through Air Serbia. I think it was around $260 round trip per person! Yes, it was inconvenient – we had to stay overnight in Serbia on the way back –but there were plenty of other Yidden in the same “boat,” and we all found each other and made arrangements to stay at Airbnbs and get food from Chabad.

Jews will do anything to celebrate simchas, even if it means creating a “drive-by” bar mitzvah, like the one my nextdoor neighbors planned for their son during the pandemic. Wearing his new black hat pushed back on his head and a personalized tee shirt, the star of the simcha stood behind a table in front of a balloon arch. As cars passed by, his parents gave out bags of wrapped sweets and mini-monogrammed basketballs. The boy’s friends jumped out of cars and ran up to the table to briefly wish their classmate mazel tov and, with an individual Sharpie, sign his board. When we walked out of our house, the bar mitzvah boy ran over and, from several feet away (maybe it wasn’t six, but only for a few seconds), he handed us a bag of those sweets. His face was shining.

About a year ago, just after the height of COVID intensity, a group in my shul gathered to consider what kind of COVID compliant activity we could do to enable people to socialize safely. We agreed that the activity should be outdoors to reduce the risk of transmission. After some discussion, I agreed to lead a Perek Shira hike along one of the local waterways.

Perek Shira is a beautiful text from Talmudic times which links items in creation with verses in the Torah. As we experienced nature together, we had so much to talk about regarding the water, the trees, and the wildlife that we encountered. About midway in the hike, we stopped to rest, and I introduced the group to a little sport I love, called “launching.”

I love wraps, and the Nine Days is an awesome time to work on – and eat! – them. First of all, they are easy to eat. Second, they are so flexible in terms of ingredients. Have a favorite roast vegetable? It can go in your wrap. Have a favorite dip? Roasted garlic? Baba ganoush? Spinach dip? Roasted red pepper dip? They can go in your wrap! Wraps can be made from whatever you have on hand; you can certainly make a peanut butter and jelly wrap or a cream cheese with cucumbers one. You can wrap your wrap like a cylinder or like a burrito. Wraps are quick, filling, and easy to take with you on a hike.