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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, April 29, 2020

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Israeli medical team of Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer wave national flags as Israeli Air Force (IAF) planes fly over the hospital during Israel's Independence day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) celebrations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Ramat Gan on April 29, 2020. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Photo essay

Israel at 72: A country under curfew salutes those fighting the coronavirus

With Independence Day events canceled due to lockdown, Israelis looked to the skies where the air force made a modest, but very pointed, gesture of appreciation for medical workers

Staff at Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer wave national flags as the Israeli Air Force aerobatic team fly over the hospital during Israel's Independence day celebrations in a salute to medical teams fighting the coronavirus outbreak, April 29, 2020. (JACK GUEZ/AFP)

Muted Independence Day celebrations salute medical staff fighting virus

Screen capture of Renee Abitbul, 92, lighting a torch during the annual torch-lighting ceremony at the start of Independence Day, April 28, 2020. (Twitter)

Veteran volunteerGreat-great-grandmother lights up Independence Day show

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

Thousands gather for the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Mertz, a COVID-19 victim, in Brooklyn on April 28, 2020, breaching social-distancing restrictions (Youtube screenshot)

NYC mayor warns ‘Jewish community’ as thousands at funeral of rabbi virus victim

Bill de Blasio slammed for generalizing in announcement of ‘zero tolerance’ of social distancing breaches; ultra-Orthodox congregation sorry for huge crowd at Chaim Mertz’s funeral

Hundreds of prayer shawls have been donated to the Hebrew Free Burial Association since Sunday. (Courtesy of Andrew Parver via JTA)

Coronavirus crisisAs NY Hebrew Free Burial Association runs out of burial shawls, hundreds donate

US Vice President Mike Pence, center, visits Dennis Nelson, a patient who survived the coronavirus and was going to give blood, during a tour of the Mayo Clinic Tuesday, April 28, 2020, in Rochester, Minn., as he toured the facilities supporting COVID-19 research and treatment. Pence chose not to wear a face mask while touring the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. It's an apparent violation of the world-renowned medical center's policy requiring them. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

US marks millionth COVID-19 case, more deaths than Vietnam, but lockdowns ease

By Ben Sheppard

The members of the Sandringham Gardens minyan, in a picture taken before social distancing protocols became stringent. (Chevrah Kadisha staff photographer)

Lone Johannesburg minyan, in old age home, names babies, says Kaddish for 1,200

By Yakira Shepherd

Sandringham Gardens residence for the elderly, locked down early, is COVID-19 free; ‘this miraculous little minyan’ is now caring for younger people’s spiritual needs worldwide

The atrium at the Beth Shalom nursing home in Amsterdam, which has been Dutch Jewry’s hardest-hit institution from the coronavirus. (Courtesy of BOP architecten via JTA)

Amsterdam’s Jewish nursing home loses over 20% of its residents to COVID-19

By Cnaan Liphshiz

American and Israeli soldiers salute Holocaust survivor Abba Naor as part of a project to mark the anniversaries of both Israel's independence and the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 2020. (Screen capture: Israel Defense Forces)

IDF, US Navy surprise Shoah survivor as independence, Dachau liberation coincide

By Judah Ari Gross

Abba Naor, 92, thought he was just going to talk about his time in the concentration camp, which was liberated 75 years ago today – then the soldiers pulled out musical instruments

Images of nitrogen oxide pollution over Israel from the SENTINEL-5 mission, part of the European Earth Observation Programme "Copernicus, "released on April 5, 2019 by the Environmental Protection Ministry.

Stuck at home, Independence Day revelers miss out on unusually clean air

The annual torch lighting ceremony to mark Israel's 72nd Independence Day is held at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on April 28, 2020. (Screen capture: Facebook)

Grounded Israelis begin subdued Independence Day with salute to medical staff

From the blogs

Yossi Klein Halevi

How Hebrew music made me an Israeli: 12 seminal songs for Independence Day

From ballads of war and peace, to the mix of west and east, and the way it treats a secular Hebrew ethos and re-Judaizes culture… Israeli music is simply extraordinary

Theodor Herzl on the balcony of the Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel, Switzerland, 1897. (CC-PD-Mark, by Wikigamad, Wikimedia Commons)

Independence Day

Book depicting a driven, fallible Herzl has fresh details on father of Zionism

By Rich Tenorio

Magen David Adom medical team members, wearing protective gear, handle a coronavirus test from patients in Jerusalem, April 17, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

For first time, Israelis recovered from coronavirus outnumber those still sick

Over half of the 15,782 people diagnosed with COVID-19 have regained their health; death toll climbs to 212, including Bnei Brak rabbi; condition of girl, 11, improves

Israel Border Police officers speak with a man at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City during the first day of Ramadan, April 24, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90/ via JTA)

Arab Israelis partner with police, IDF to avert Ramadan coronavirus surge

By Shira Rubin

Illustrative. In vitro fertilization (IVF) of an egg cell. (iStock by Getty Images/ man_at_mouse)

Israel will again permit IVF for women over 39 as virus wanes

By ToI Staff and Judah Ari Gross

The only known original copy of ‘HaTikvah’

The song that became Israel’s anthem led quite a romantic, well-traveled past, with several towns each claiming it was composed there — its sweet-talking author had said the same

Ilana Spitz Epstein

My first real Yom HaAtzma’ut

After 3 months in Israel we thought we knew how to celebrate. Then we saw our neighbors dragging sofas and dining room tables to the park

The real message of the International Bible Quiz

The annual contest is a celebration of the best of what unites the Jewish people — and a reminder that we are all here to do good

Holy chutzpah: The spiritual optimism of Israel

We have a sacred mission to create harmony and balance in our land and people, and offer a model of holy living to all of humankind

David Breakstone

‘We only think we’re Americans’ – a piece I never imagined writing

The worrying spike in anti-Semitism begs the question: Will the latent antisemitism depicted in Philip Roth’s Plot Against America prove to be fact or fiction?

Shayna Goldberg

Coming home and zooming out

While sheltering at home, I’d expect to long for elsewhere, but I find that there’s adventure to be had here in our homeland, and this extraordinary project of nation-building

Left to right: Oron Shaul, Hadar Goldin and Avraham Mengistu. (Flash90/The Times of Israel)

Live updates (closed)

Ministers said to have met to discuss possibility of prisoner swap with Hamas

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff

Virtual sit-down is first since Gaza-based terror group has expressed interest in reaching agreement to free captive civilians and soldiers’ bodies in backdrop of pandemic

8:31 pm

Goldin family: It would be irresponsible to miss this opportunity for a swap
8:10 pm

Palestinian crashes car into concrete block outside West Bank checkpoint
7:58 pm

Access for Israeli farmers to Jordan border enclave to end Thursday

Artwork for 'Miriam and Youssef' designed by Adish, Israeli-Palestinian fashion house operating in Tel Aviv and Ramallah; show creator Steve Waters. (Courtesy BBC World Service)

Independence Day

BBC dramatizes birth of Israeli nation in ‘balanced’ new 10-part radio play

By Jenni Frazer

Illustrative: A family wears face masks for fear of the coronavirus, on March 18, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

With masks and no touching: Education Ministry lays out back-to-school plan

Children in 1st-3rd grades to have class 5 days a week, with classes capped at 15 students; kindergartens and preschools to split into two groups, with each taught 3 days a week

Children wear protective face masks in Tel Aviv, March 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Next week’s school restart will make elderly more vulnerable, experts warn

By Nathan Jeffay

A woman and her son wear face masks as they walk on a beach in Badalona, near Barcelona, Spain, April 28, 2020 as the lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus continues. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Easing up: US and Europe grapple with when to reopen schools

By Angela Charlton, Elena Becatoros and Nick Perry

Analysis

Cathryn J. Prince

An endless hurricane: Study probes mental toll as medical staff battle COVID-19

ToI speaks with doctors on the frontlines who, after witnessing unprecedented horrors, must isolate from families. Duke University researchers seek to ease their unavoidable trauma

A man receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, March 16, 2020, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Anti-vaxxer groups sow doubt about coronavirus vaccine before one even exists

By David Klepper and Beatrice Dupuy

A doctor holds a container used to collect a sample from a patient during a demonstration of a drive-through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Fujisawa in Kanagawa prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, Japan, on April 27, 2020. (Philip Fong/AFP)

Waste not: Poop will be key in mitigating a second wave of coronavirus

By Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right), Blue and White leader Benny Gantz and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Esther Hayut at the memorial ceremony for the late President Shimon Peres, at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem, on September 19, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

High Court to hear petitions next week against Netanyahu becoming PM

Starting Sunday, and as election clock ticks, an expanded 11-justice panel will deliberate over six petitions against the Likud leader and his coalition deal with Blue and White

Knesset Speaker Benny Gantz lights a torch during the annual Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on April 28, 2020. (Screen capture: Facebook)

Lighting torch at Independence Day ceremony, Gantz pleads for unity

Yesh Atid-Telem MK Moshe Ya'alon addressing a rally against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Rabin's Square, Tel Aviv, on April 19, 2020 (Elad Guttman)

Lashing coalition deal, Ya’alon says Israel doesn’t deserve sacrifice of fallen

Dianne Lob, whose HIAS group has tangled with the Trump administration on its immigration initiatives, will have to wait a year to take over leadership of a coalition that aims to bring one Jewish voice on Israel-related issues. (Courtesy of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations via JTA)

Analysis

Row, and compromise, over chair of Presidents Conference show Trump era tension

Appointment of Dianne Lob delayed until April 2021, officially due to coronavirus, but mostly because of objections from a right-wing group over her past as head of refugee agency

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) holds a joint press conference with then-US vice president Joe Biden at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, March 9, 2016. (Amit Shabi/Pool)

Biden opposes West Bank annexation, will keep US embassy in Jerusalem, says aide

Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., listens to debate as the House Oversight and Reform Committee considers whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for failing to turn over subpoenaed documents related to the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 12, 2019. Rep. Amash is the only Republican in the House to call for President Donald Trump's impeachment. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Palestinian-American Justin Amash considers 2020 run for Libertarian nomination

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Jay Baruchel plays a heartbroken millennial trying to navigate the crazy modern world of dating in 'Man Seeking Woman.' (Screenshot from YouTube/via JTA)

Locked down? Open up to… ‘Man Seeking Woman’

By Arielle Kaplan

Feeling down about the lack of romance during quarantine? This adults-only Hulu program is your antidote

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More Headlines

Henry VIII (Hans Holbein the Younger) and Anne Boleyn (unknown artist). (Public domain)

UK ultra-Orthodox school glues history books to hide monarchs’ immodest behavior

Graffiti reading "the blood of the self-employed is not worthless" is seen on a building in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon housing offices of the Tax Authority and the National Insurance Institute, April 29, 2020. (Screen capture: Ynet)

Tax office hit in suspected arson attack amid economic protests

Police investigators at the scene of the fatal stabbing of a woman by her husband in Holon, April 28, 2020. (Israel Police)

After arrest, husband confesses to fatal stabbing of his wife in Holon

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

In this photo taken on September 28, 2019, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) walks with his partner Carrie Symonds at The Midland, near the Manchester Central convention complex in Manchester, northwest England, on the eve of the annual Conservative Party conference. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

British PM Boris Johnson, partner Carrie Symonds announce birth of baby boy

By AFP

Ramah in the Rockies, seen here, is facing state and local regulatory hurdles that would make opening difficult this summer, its director said. (Courtesy of Ramah in the Rockies via JTA)

US Jewish summer camps grapple with likely coronavirus closures, delays

Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo with Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, in Washington, on March 11, 2020. (Brazilian Foreign Ministry/ Flickr)

Brazilian foreign minister compares social distancing to concentration camps

By Marcus M. Gilban

A house that was hit by shrapnel during an alleged Israeli strike outside Damascus on April 27, 2020. (Syrian state media SANA)

Appearing to confirm Syria airstrike, Bennett says IDF will keep fighting Iran

By Judah Ari Gross

Yair Netanyahu, son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Flash90)

Yair Netanyahu slams ‘evil globalist’ EU for backing coexistence program

By Raphael Ahren and Jacob Magid

Seth Rogen in character for 'An American Pickle' (Instagram)

Say vat?Film image of Seth Rogen as a 1920s Jewish pickle maker emerges

By Gabe Friedman

At the opening of the 29th Jerusalem Film Festival, held, in the capital's Sultan's Pool venue. (Uri Lenz/Flash90)

Stream teamJerusalem Film Festival, others, to go online in YouTube event

By Jessica Steinberg

Pianist Marc Wielart and violinist Eduardo Paredes Crespo playing Israel's national anthem at the Concergebouw hall in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in April 2020. (Courtesy of Barry Mehler via JTA)

The show must go onIsrael’s independence celebrated in empty Dutch music hall

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Illustrative: Members of Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian suspected of hurling a pipe bomb at Rachel's Tomb, in the al-Ayda refugee camp in the West Bank, on October 4, 2018. (Israel Police)

Palestinian wounded as explosive device goes off in his hand near Hebron

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