By Pearl Markovitz | December 24, 2020
The seemingly hackneyed phrase “The more things change, the more they stay the same” appeared to be the overarching theme in Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman’s recent Zoom presentation, sponsored by the Dr. Bertram z”l & Ann Newman Adult Education Program of the Young Israel of Teaneck. Throughout his lecture, Rabbi Dr. Reichman addressed the halachic issues that have been raised during the past almost 10 months as compared with discussions of these same topics as far back as the Black Death in 1347.
Rabbi Dr. Reichman is highly qualified to tackle a topic as overarching as “Precedented Times: The History of Pandemics in Rabbinic Literature.” Rabbi Reichman is a professor of emergency medicine and professor in the Division of Education and Bioethics in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. He received his B.A. from Yeshiva University and M.D. from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In addition to his full-time clinical practice in emergency medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, Rabbi Reichman lectures internationally on Jewish medical ethics and has authored many journal articles on Jewish medical ethics and Jewish medical history.