Remembering Englewood s Mordecai (Morty) Katz, z”l By Rabbi Kenneth Brander | April 08, 2021
The Jewish community has lost a gentle giant with the passing of Mordecai Katz, of blessed memory. Better known among both colleagues and friends as Mordy, he was a lifelong champion of Jewish education, working alongside his wife, Dr. Monique (Nicky) Katz, may she be blessed with a long life, to support key institutions in today’s Jewish world. Morty was a visionary of exceptional intelligence, someone who knew how to think strategically and turn dreams into reality. An engineer in the aerospace industry, Morty understood that the task of the Jewish people is to link heaven and earth. He was remarkably modest, especially considering both his tremendous professional accomplishments and his enormous impact on the global Jewish community.
For Hospital Chaplains, Being Vaccinated First Brings a Mix of Emotions
(RNS) Jennie has tried to keep it together, she really has.
Her job demands nothing less. As a hospital chaplain for a Catholic health association in the Midwest, she has spent the past year shouldering the weighty burden of working with COVID-19 patients amid a ruthless pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 300,000 Americans. Sometimes she gets to work with patients on the road to recovery, but with infection rates skyrocketing nationwide, she has too often found herself sitting next to a hospital bed her face obscured by an inhuman visage of mask and face shield softly singing the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” as a dying patient rattles out a final breath.
For hospital chaplains, being vaccinated first brings a mix of emotions
‘I felt such a sense of joy like Christmas really was here,’ said Daniel Russell, a hospice and hospital chaplain in Los Angeles. Chaplain Kevin Deegan prays for COVID-19 patient Pedro Basulto while on a video call with the patient s daughter, Grace, at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. These video calls have been a lifeline for families, said Deegan. It can be emotionally exhausting and very draining, but it also an honor to be a bridge for the family. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)