(Photo: ADF International)Julia Rynkiewicz, a student at the University of Nottingham in the U.K.
A 24-year-old Catholic undergraduate student in a midwife program was barred from placement in a hospital, reportedly due to her pro-life beliefs at the University of Nottingham in England but that decision was overturned last week.
The Telegraph newspaper reported that Julia Rynkiewicz, was blocked from entering her program’s hospital placement phase at Nottingham University after the institution learned of her pro-life beliefs and her leadership in a pro-life student group.
The newspaper said that Rynkiewicz underwent a “fitness to practice” hearing by the school.
The university overturned its decision and will allow Rynkiewicz to continue as a midwife student, but the investigation and temporary ban from the placement set her back a year in her studies.
‘FITNESS TO PRACTICE’
Concerns were raised by school officials about Rynkiewicz’s fitness to practice as a midwife after they saw her tending a booth at a school fair in her position as president for Nottingham Students for Life (NSFL), an approved pro-life student group that supports life from conception to natural death
The pro-life midwifery student, who faced suspension from midwifery studies and a fitness-to-practise investigation, also won an apology and a payout from her university.
Although university officials later back-tracked on their decision and dismissed the case against her, Rynkiewicz filed a formal complaint with the university, after believing that she was unfairly targeted for her beliefs.
“What happened to me risks creating a fear among students to discuss their values and beliefs, but university should be the place where you are invited to do just that,” Rynkiewicz said.
The Students’ Union had initially denied affiliation to NSFL, but overturned its decision in July 2019 following the threat of legal action.
Rynkiewicz said that she received a letter from officials at her midwifery school days after the fair, saying that a formal complaint had been filed against her.
A University of Nottingham spokesperson said: “While all universities take fitness-to-practice considerations extremely seriously, the university has offered an apology and settlement to Ms Rynkiewicz and is considering how we might approach such cases differently in future.
“The university and Students’ Union supports the rights of all students to bodily autonomy and access to safe, legal abortion services, which is the position in law.
“Universities should be spaces to debate, discuss and disagree points of view, and with more than 200 student societies, covering the full range of beliefs and perspectives, we are confident this is the case at Nottingham.”
The Supreme Court said Wednesday night that NY state restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic are a violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free religious exercise. After the ruling the Bishop of Brooklyn, whose diocese was a plaintiff in the suit, said that religious worship should be considered an essential during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is time — past time — to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues and mosques,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion in a Wednesday night decision, which temporarily bars restrictions on religious worship that were enacted Oct. 6 by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The court’s ruling is temporary, as lawsuits filed by the Diocese of Brooklyn and by Orthodox Jewish synagogues in New York will continue, though the Supreme Court’s Nov. 26 decision is likely to weigh heavily in the outcome of those cases.
The state’s restrictions forbade the attendance of more than 10 people at religious services in state designated “red zones, and 25 people in “orange zones.”
“In a red zone, while a synagogue or church may not admit more than 10 persons, businesses categorized as ‘essential’ may admit as many people as they wish. And the list of ‘essential’ businesses includes things such as acupuncture facilities, camp grounds, garages, as well as many whose services are not limited to those that can be regarded as essential, such as all plants manufacturing chemicals and microelectronics and all transportation facilities,’ the Court’s majority opinion found.
“These categorizations lead to troubling results,” the decision added.
“Not only is there no evidence that the applicants have contributed to the spread of COVID–19 but there are many other less restrictive rules that could be adopted to minimize the risk to those attending religious services. Among other things, the maximum attendance at a religious service could be tied to the size of the church or synagogue,” the court wrote.
“…even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten. The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty,” the decision concluded.
The 5-4 decision found newly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett deciding with the majority, while Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s three liberal judges in dissent.
In a statement Thursday, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said he is “gratified by the decision of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court, who have recognized the clear First Amendment violation and urgent need for relief in this case.”
“I am proud to be leading the Diocese of Brooklyn and fighting for our sacred and constitutional right to worship.”
““Our churches have not been the cause of any outbreaks. We have taken our legal battle this far because we should be considered essential, for what could be more essential than safely gathering in prayer in a time of pandemic.”
BRUSSELS, (Sputnik) – In the resolution adopted by 631 votes in favour, 3 against, and 59 abstentions, MEPs condemned Turkey’s illegal activities in Varosha and warned that its partial “opening” would weaken prospects of a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus problem, exacerbating divisions and entrenching the permanent partition of the island, the resolution published on the European Parliament’s website read.
“A sustainable solution to reunify the island of Cyprus and its people can only be found through dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiations, MEPs stress. They call on the European Council to maintain its unified position on Turkey’s illegal actions and impose tough sanctions in response,” the document said.
Following the 1974 military operation by Ankara to allegedly protect the Turkish Cypriot population, Cyprus has been essentially divided, with the Turkish part recognized solely by Turkey.
Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the northern Cypriot town of Varosha to mark the 37th anniversary of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Varosha, a once-popular tourist destination, was transformed into a ghost town following the Turkish invasion. In October, Erdogan announced the town’s reopening, saying he would go there for a “picnic.”
United Nations Security Council resolutions 550 and 789 condemn all resettlement attempts in the area.
On November 26, 2019, Albania woke up to the most severe natural disaster in recent history. A 6.3 magnitude earthquake left 51 people dead, injured at least 913 others and affected 220,000 people — roughly 10 percent of the population.
The earthquake devastated the Albanian economy and exacerbated the existing poverty rate by 2.3 percent and GDP dropped by more than one percent.
One year on, destruction is still visible, offering a stark reminder that life has irrevocably changed for many.
Based on the findings of the Post Disaster Needs Assessment, undertaken by the European Union, World Bank, United Nations (with UNDP as the technical lead) and the Albanian Government, UNDP’s long-term support has focused on investing in rebuilding public infrastructure, including education facilities, strengthening the country’s disaster preparedness, and helping local economies.
Education — the best investment for the future
Moza Shehu, her husband Jetim, and their two sons, have been living in a rented apartment for almost a year, while the Durres Municipality reconstructs their house. The family still remembers how the house started shaking near dawn, and then having to run for their lives.
The earthquake turned Moza’s son Liku’s usual excitement to go to kindergarten into anxiety and distress.
Fortunately, their rental apartment is close to “1Qershori” kindergarten.
“Two months ago — about one or two weeks before the new school year started — Liku and I were passing by the ‘1 Qershori’ Kindergarten and the colorful EU4Schools logo surrounding the kindergarten grabbed his attention. We were told that children in this neighbourhood will get a completely new and modern kindergarten, built to the highest international standards. When I explained this to Liku, he immediately said he wants to go there. Hearing him speak excitedly again could not make me happier,” she said.
The kindergarten is one among the 58 education facilities in the EU4Schools Programme, being implemented by UNDP in Albania. Funded by the European Union to the amount of US$77 million, and complemented with a contribution of $905,000 from UNDP, the programme will repair or reconstruct 58 education facilities in 11 municipalities, home to around 20,000 students, children and teachers. Around 440,000 will benefit from the construction work.
UNDP has held rounds of consultations with community members to get their ideas about the #SchoolIWant. Over 7,000 people took active part in the consultations. The communities have asked for the schools to be equipped with labs, gyms, libraries, access for people with disabilities and communal environments.
To promote transparency, a public online platform showcasing results and updates on construction works is ongoing.
The first 22 of these educational facilities will be available to safely welcome students and serve the community within this academic year.
Helping small businesses recover
On November 2019, Anilda Kostreni, the manager of the ‘Xhulio & Bora’ Shop, in Durres, lost her husband and then their business.
If the earthquake made one thing certain, it was that Anilda needed to adopt a new approach to revive her business so that she could look after her family. She became one of the 15 beneficiaries of UNDP’s pilot ‘In-Motion’ which aimed to stabilize the economic conditions of small businesses, help them to recover business infrastructure, and re-establish their economic activities in the market.
In-Motion brought together Anilda and 14 other small business owners and helped them improve their entrepreneurial skills and commercial image and to purchase new equipment.
They were trained by UNDP in situation diagnosis, accounting, marketing, and administration. All improved their commercial image through brand development, advertising and updated their infrastructure and inventory.
Consultants guided Anilda and the other owners to underscore the sales of local products and then applied promotions on these products to increase sales and attract new customers. To get a better idea of her profit, she began recording sales based on product classification and by putting a pricing policy in place, something critical for every business, but which she had never done before.
One year later, the 15 businesses have re-conceptualized their enterprises and enjoy a 10 percent increase of profits.
Small businesses account for more than 94 percent of all companies in Albania, and they employ around 38 percent of all private sector workers, making ‘In Motion’ an important programme which assisted the country’s most vital workforce.
Preparing the country to cope with natural disasters and putting people at the forefront
Following the earthquake, the country’s emergency response capabilities were overwhelmed, making clear the need to strengthen preparedness, prevention and recovery.
The Municipality of Lezhe is the representation of such risks, with hydrological, meteorological, climatological, seismic and geophysical dangers threatening its inhabitants, its nature, and economic prospects.
“Most Lezhe residents have problems with floods — they make a living through their crops and they never tire of sowing them. Sadly, these crops are not reaped due to regular floods. This house was built over 500 years ago on this hilltop, so we have not experienced floods, but we have reconstructed the house four times due to earthquakes. The Nov. 26 earthquake was the last blow, it made the house non-habitable,” said Mark Palaj, who lives in Spiten village.
UNDP, in partnership with Lezha Municipality and a think-tank specializing in urban development, established three instruments for adequately facing natural hazards: an assessment of natural disaster risks, a document setting out strategic priorities for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and a local civil emergency plan. The participatory Risk Assessment of the municipality has been completed, the Geographic Information System platform has been updated with relevant data to create the municipality’s multi-risk profile and a draft municipal Civil Emergency plan is already in motion. The Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategy for the municipality has been produced.
To ensure an all-inclusive approach and that the voices of all concerned were heard, UNDP held consultations with local government, businesses, civil society organizations, and citizens. The newly-established Commission for Civil Protection was a direct result of this process.
UNDP also initiated a national-level support programme. In the long-term, this will ensure Albania has in place a National DRR Platform for institutional dialogue, a National DRR Strategy and a National Emergency Plan, while at the same time providing a blueprint for local DRR instruments and organizational approaches which will be replicable to all 61 Albanian municipalities.
Post-earthquake
The same earthquake that caused destruction and hardship brought about strengthened partnerships, unwavering support for those in need and the opportunity to #BuildForwardBetter.
Modern-day democracies have transformed civilization by introducing innovative and powerful ideas, both about our personal lives as well as about the type of society we aim to establish. Overwhelmingly, the values of democracy harmonize with traditional Jewish religious values.Without question, the most indispensable value of democracy for Jews is the principle of freedom of religion. For the first time in two millennia, Jews have been allowed – under the protective eye of modern democracy – to freely worship our God and practice our rituals without fear of persecution or reprisal.Additionally, by guarding basic human rights, democracy preserves the dignity of human life in general – a sacred value within Judaism. Man is God’s masterpiece and the dignity of the human condition must be upheld as a tribute to God’s “investment.”Democracy also delivers a bold social vision: by allocating political authority through popular elections, democracy hopes to craft a more equal and fair society. This vision of a “level society of equal citizens” reflects the Torah’s mandate to craft a society of justice and ethical behavior.The many overlaps between democratic values and religious values have inspired Jews to overwhelmingly embrace the concept of democracy, actively participate in the democratic process and deeply engage in the general culture of democracy.This week Americans celebrated the holiday of Thanksgiving. This holiday enshrines numerous principles of democracy and morality. The values of Thanksgiving feel almost religious or sacred, and Jews across the religious spectrum deeply identify with this holiday and its cultural practices.At its root, Thanksgiving is founded upon the value of gratitude and of acknowledging the assistance we received on the road to our triumphs and successes.
if(window.location.pathname.indexOf(“647856”) != -1) {console.log(“hedva connatix”);document.getElementsByClassName(“divConnatix”)[0].style.display =”none”;}Famously, Rabbi Bahya ibn Pakuda, an 11th-century Spanish thinker, identified gratitude as the gateway to all religious thought and experience. Entitled people view their good fortunes as deserved and rarely sense their dependency on outside factors or the generosity of others; it is difficult for them to express gratitude to others. Their success is merely a “cashing in” on their natural entitlement.Stalin once wrote that “gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs”; certainly a moral degenerate and mass murderer such as Stalin would disdain the trait of gratitude. By contrast, humble and modest individuals appreciate the fragility of the human condition and the underlying state of dependency under which we all operate. Admitting our dependency heightens our reliance upon God and intensifies our faith in God. Additionally, on an interpersonal plane, gratitude helps us better treasure our successes and hopefully more freely share them with others. Entitlement often leads to greediness, while gratitude pries open the doors of selfishness and egocentrism. On Thanksgiving people aren’t just grateful for personal prosperity; many also express gratitude for modern democracies in general. From its inception, the United States was a modern experiment in building a “city upon a hill.” Consequently, the success of this experiment has ripple effects across the globe, validating the value of democracy. Thanksgiving provides an opportunity to be thankful that we live in our world of relatively enlightened forms of government. Beyond the trait of gratitude, Thanksgiving is pivoted upon the value of family; traditionally, families convene to celebrate this holiday.Sadly, the professional and cultural stressors of the modern world often afflict healthy family life. Life in our pressure-cooker known as the modern “city” is tense and frazzled, and the reassertion of family values on Thanksgiving is crucial.This Thanksgiving message about family also resonates deeply for Jews, who have perennially consecrated the family setting as a site of sanctity and service of God. By highlighting these numerous quasi-religious values, Thanksgiving and its life-affirming values remind us of the enduring power of Judaism to enrich the human condition and ennoble our lives. Thanksgiving can help us better appreciate the manner in which our religion improves our station in life. IS THAT all? Do we embrace religion solely because of the human value it offers? Do we embrace the service of God only because it improves the human condition?In addition to improving our lives, religion is meant to be transcendent – an encounter with a higher being on His terms. Judaism is a thrust into a higher realm – a leap into Heaven in ways that can’t be articulated or justified solely for their human value.Perhaps the most iconic image of the entire book of Genesis appears in this week’s parasha: a ladder, anchored to earth but scaling the Heavens, while angels ascend and descend. Have we pruned this ladder, retaining the lower rungs which are riveted to earth but cropping the upper tiers which penetrate the Heavens? Have we succeeded too well in anchoring religion to earth while amputating the steps of the ladder that are meant to catapult us to Heaven? Have we lost the transcendence of Judaism? In many ways our generation has been guilty of leveling or grounding religion.In the wake of the Holocaust, God seemed distant and fearsome. Additionally, the rapid technological changes of the post-World War II world cast religion as ossified and irrelevant in a bristling new world of transportation, communication, science and space travel.Responding to these dual challenges – a God who felt distant and religion that seemed detached from our world – we reformed the way people viewed Judaism by redefining religion as beneficial to our lives and enriching to human interest. After all, Judaism could provide meaning, values, nobility, moral behavior, community, purpose, vision and family life. Judaism and Torah study were showcased as a manner to fill the void in our modern lives, to reinforce family bonds, and to catalyze robust communal life. Judaism would heighten our moral conduct and improve our married life. In short, we dragged Judaism down from the Heavens and firmly fastened it to this world and to our human lives.Thankfully, we were highly successful, and Judaism became popular, and religious ambition more widespread. However, we paid a steep price, as religion became an endless Thanksgiving meal! What have we lost in this process? Have we lost the moments of transcendence, when we take leave of this world and search for something higher and something beyond? Has our entire language of Judaism been converted into mundane human terms? Does the term “avodat Hashem” – which literally means serving God – resonate as loudly as the agenda of tikkun olam, the prospect of employing Judaism to redeem the world at large? Do we think of Heaven and dream of angels, or are we trapped in the human sphere?Thanksgiving provides an opportunity to ponder the “human value” of Judaism and the supplementary values of modernity – each of which advances human progress. Parashat Vayetze reminds us not to flatten Judaism and to walk up the entire ladder until we reach the Heavens and encounter God in His sphere. Shabbat shalom and happy Thanksgiving!The writer is a rabbi at Yeshivat Har Etzion, a hesder yeshiva. He has semicha and a BA in computer science from Yeshiva University as well as a master’s degree in English literature from the City University of New York.
As unrest continues, the UN Children’s agency UNICEF is urging “parties to the conflict in Ethiopia to spare children from the impact of hostilities in the Tigray region.”
In a statement, the Executive Director of the agency, Henrietta Fore, says that “UNICEF is deeply alarmed that the two parties’ threat of a further escalation in the fighting would put their lives and well-being at immediate risk.”
Appeal to halt fighting
“We call upon parties to the conflict,” she says, “to cease the fighting and reach a peaceful settlement. Humanitarian agencies should be allowed urgent, unimpeded and sustained access to all affected areas.”
The Executive Director also expresses her concern at “the safety of hundreds of humanitarian workers” who are still in Mekelle and elsewhere across Tigray. “We call upon all parties to the conflict to take all necessary measures to ensure their protection,” she says.
Malnutrition
At present some 2.3 million children in the Tigray region need humanitarian assistance and cannot be reached due to restricted access and the current breakdown in communications.
UNICEF has expressed alarm at the rates of malnutrition in the region.
Acute malnutrition increased by one-third between 2019 and 2020 mainly due to Desert Locust infestation and Covid-19.
Refuge in Sudan
The Ethiopian Prime Minister announced a military offensive on Nov. 4 against the regional government in Tigray in response to an attack by Tigray forces, and since then tens of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring Sudan.
According to UNICEF, thousands of children – many without parents or relatives – are among those who have sought refuge in camps and registration centres and are at risk. Conditions for these children have been described as extremely difficult.
