Uriel Heilman, head of JTA Hebrew, spoke to Arutz Sheva on Monday about the number of victims of the coronavirus in the Jewish communities around the world.
“I think Jews everywhere should care about one another and care about what’s happening, and it wasn’t clear to me the extent to which Israelis are aware of how much Jewish communities around the world are suffering,” explained Heilman in response to the question of why it is significant to present the Jewish death toll from the virus, especially to the Hebrew-reading audience.
“Outside of Israel there are between eight and nine million Jews and thousands of died. In New York alone, where I grew up, there are more than a thousand dead. It’s just been a devastating blow to Jewish communities,” he added.
“This really struck at the heart about what we are. We are communities that come together, every day, and this has just devastated us.”
Heilman pointed out that “there are more people dying every day in New York state than all of the people that have died of coronavirus in Israel since the virus began. People are afraid to go out, and justifiably so. The death rate of people who go on ventilators is in the 70-80% range.”
The difference between Israel and abroad, he added, is that “in Israel, people who have gotten ill from coronavirus have seen very early intervention. They’ve immediately been placed in the coronavirus hotels that we have or in the hospital for monitoring. In the United States, even people who are quite sick have not been able to get the care that they need.”