Zackary Sholem Berger's Blog, page 4

The private and the public: pandemics, societal domains, and the Talmud

Was a great pleasure to chat with Netanel Zellis-Paley, technically made possible by Adina Karp, for the Interleaved: A Daf Yomi Discussion Group podcast. We talked about Shabbat — the day, the holiday, the observance, the tractate — and … life, in pandemics, economies, and societies.

http://zackarysholemberger.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/g1dggs8yano2p1h6mx9sgjocbhc5.mp3

Stop Suing Patients, Hopkins

It was an honor to participate at this event organized by Coalition For A Humane Hopkins- CAHH asking why Hopkins continues to sue poor patients; how such mistreatment is aligned with other blundering cruelty (railroading through armed private police; contracting with ICE); and what we can do to make change. There was an article about it too in the JHU News-Letter. 

Inspirational organization

Super Tuesday was dispiriting for a lot of us in the progressive camp. But I want to report I had a very positive experience that same day at my first Baltimore Democratic Socialists of America Health Justice Committee. We met at The Crown, which is exactly — in decor and general decrepitude – the esthetic you would expect for this group. But other stereotypes were not borne out.

The meeting was efficient, friendly, well-run, and more practical than ideological. A committee, not a brigade and not a revival. We talked about Baltimore Supports Bernie at Metro Gallery 3/6, about supporting those suffering with COVID–19 (the Coronavirus) many of whom are already ignored or oppressed by our cruel, broken systems. We talked about an upcoming press conference at Baltimore City Hall supporting Medicare for All, and about efforts to stop hospitals from suing their patients.

It wasn’t “bros”: it was a group of enthusiastic engaged people, presenting in various genders and from a range of ages. It felt really good. I hope to go back and be of help.

Daf yomi thoughts

Anyone interested in my daf yomi thoughts in English, and occasionally Hebrew and Yiddish, can find them here.

Report from a protest in DC

I posted this on Facebook a few days ago:

I should go to bed — my wife and children are snug in their beds, our house is safe in a way that so many living places in the US are not. No one is coming to get us, right now. I should luxuriate in that. But I want to write about the day I had. It was, of course, first of all, thanks to Celeste Sollod, who made dinner, drove the kids to school, worked a full day, put the youngest (who might be a little pissy on occasion!) to bed after supervising her homework, and welcomed me home. And thanks to my covering colleagues who kept patients satisfied and cared for.

I spent the day with colleagues from Doctors for Camp Closure – fulfilling the wise saying of Rie Del: “get in the way and stay in the way.” I was just a small part of the group, but together we are a bone in the throat of the marauding beast, a thorn in its claw, the flea in the emperor’s ear.

The back story: U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a policy in December concerning its lackadaisical and cruel neglect of migrants in its camps and detention. D4CC sent a letter, and CBP said they’d get back to us, which they didn’t. Our goal today was to show up, get in the way, make some noise, and demand attention for the human beings our government is abusing.

We split up into small groups and made our way into the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The CBP is housed there, with other random offices. I met Lawren, a med student at Georgetown, who had got up early today to study for Step 1, then came to join us in protest. (She is also running for AMWA president, I think? So vote for her, if you can.) I met Laura, a doctor from Maryland, who drove two hours each wy last night (!) to be at the Sudlerville hearing against the new ICE facility. These are heroic women.

Our first task was to make some good trouble by passing out cards (maybe Danielle, Bonnie or Rie has a copy to post) with the various statements by professional organizations about the effect of concentration camps on child health. We spread out in the food court and politely interrupted people’s lunch. I found most to be receptive. I put down one card in front of an important-looking white man with a lanyard. “That guy works for CBP,” said Laura.

Sometime this morning I got interviewed by a reporter for Univision, and by another one from Telemundo. Nothing tests the limits of language proficiency like expressing rage and frustration on the spur of the moment. Why the English-language media wasn’t there is anyone’s guess. Wait, I guess we know: most of them don’t give a shit.

Then the D4CC leaders had great news for the larger group: not half an hour after the group showed up, ready to chant and unfurl banners in the building atrium, CBP let them know they would schedule a meeting with us. A small step. Perhaps a useful step. To retain that usefulness, we decided to mount our demonstration not in the CBP building, but in Lafayette Park across from the White House.

It was cold. It was wet. But we chanted, inspired each other, carried signs, and knitted ourselves together even more tightly as chain mail to protect our patients.

I feel lucky to act in a small way to support this group and its efforts to make our nation and its citizens recognize the humanity of all people, migrants included. Kate and I, as co-chairs of Doctors for Camp Closure DC, Maryland and Virginia, are planning more actions. Please be in touch to get involved if you are in healthcare in any capacity.

A note for Tu Bishvat

The mishnah says there are four new years, and four is a symbolic number. Just like the four children in the Haggadah represent different kinds of people, and the four matriarchs represent different elements of parenthood, these four new years mark different kinds of human existence.

Rosh Hashanah, in Tishrei, represents the the world historical; the first of Nisan, the political, and the new year for tithing of animals, in Elul, represents the fecund, the sexual, the reproductive. This evening starts Tu Bishvat, new year of the trees. It is germinative, developing, ripening. May we merit such phenomena.

Second Thoughts on Self-Abnegation

Second Thoughts on Self-Abnegation
(a poem inspired by #dafyomi #berachot17a)

Let my soul be dust
If it must
But I’d actually prefer
If it weren’t

Caught in the Web — U.S. Immigration and Compound Disadvantage [our piece in the New England Journal]

Faced with gastroesophageal reflux disease, a behavioral health disorder, and difficulty navigating the U.S. health care system, a Honduran immigrant stops working and takes up a collection to return home. His compound disadvantage has profound ethical implications.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJM...

Here I Am in Texas, At the Gates of a Refugee Camp

All at once, I understood my duty to be present at a protest against the moral violations and inhumanity on the part of my government. How can I look on as a doctor while my patients are deported and their families imprisoned in camps? As a Jew, how can I ignore the verse from the Torah: “Don’t stand by the blood of your fellow”? Yes, some read the Hebrew word re’echa, your fellow, in an ungenerous way, as “fellow Jew” (or even worse, as just “religious Jew”). I read it broadly as “fellow human being.”

Read more: https://forward.com/culture/427658/he...

Translation Tuesday: Three Poems by Zackary Sholem Berger at the Asymptote Blog

Check out three poems of mine, originally translated from the Yiddish – now poems in English I’m quite pleased with.

https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog...