In general, a virus becomes endemic when we [.] collectively decide that we’re okay with accepting the level of impact the virus has — that in other words, it no longer constitutes an active crisis. With omicron surging right now and many governments reimposing stricter precautions as a result, it’s clear we’re still in crisis mode.

The CDC says a disease is endemic when it is continuously circulating in an area at a baseline level and in a predictable pattern. A lack of social disruption is another hallmark of an endemic disease, some public-health experts said.

For an example of an endemic virus, look at influenza. The flu constantly circulates in the background, rising and falling seasonally each year. People get vaccinated regularly against it, helping them build up multiple layers of immunity over many years.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction for recruiting young girls to serve Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual desires set a marker: Enablers are not safe from criminal prosecution.

Either way, I think the lingering feeling, when the rush of this verdict fades, will be dissatisfaction. Because why, in the end, were we really watching this trial? The fact is, this sort of crime—enticing young girls into sexual abuse—happens all the time.

It’s encouraging to see Maxwell held accountable for her behavior. But this should only be the beginning. It’s time for law enforcement agencies to take a hard look at every single person and organization that facilitates sexual abuse — and hold them every bit as accountable as the perpetrators.

The jump in killings is sobering… we’re in danger of reaching 400 homicides by the end of the year. The city is in the midst of twin pandemics, both deadly, one killing us with a virus and the other, most often, with bullets.

…the actual numbers show that home invasions and burglaries are the lowest in more than a decade, according to Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism and editor of the data news site Crosstown.

Governor Gavin Newsom deflected criticism over a recent wave of “smash-and-grab” robberies in California, pointing out that crime is also rising in states that don’t get as much attention in conservative corners like Fox News.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s meeting in his Rosh Ha’ayin home Tuesday evening with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas neither heralds peace lurking around the corner nor portends a massive Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. What it does do is make good common sense.

… even if Abbas’ goal in the meeting was purely in the diplomatic realm, the economic bonuses that were promised, if fulfilled, are critical for the survival of the Palestinian leadership he heads. This is a message to which not only Gantz, but other ministers too, can relate.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly warned Defense Minister Benny Gantz that while he was committed to stopping violence in the West Bank, he was concerned that changes to the religious status quo on the Temple Mount…

No community can—or should—be completely homogenous. And there are considerable benefits to maintaining strong relationships in both political parties rather than being seen as captive to either one. But as the nation’s politics become angrier and uglier, the question is whether American Jews can find a way to avoid that type of polarization and balkanization.

Our entire world continues to live under a cloud of health uncertainty. However, the Jewish people face another challenge: an enemy called antisemitism, and sometimes that enemy comes from individuals within our own community.

There is a solution — unity among all Jews.

Do we feel the pain of our Jewish brethren when they are suffering? There is an inherent kinship and caring among the Jewish people. The sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai stated: “When one Jew is injured, all Jews feel the pain.” (Mechilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Exodus 6:19). That is a guiding principle behind Jewish unity.

What to resolve as 2021 gives way to 2022, when the very idea of resolutions—predicated, as it is, on a faint belief in human agency, in our own ability to shape reality—seems, in light of all the cosmic chaos, absurd?

The answer is simple: pray.

…this is, technically, a Jewish practice too. On our New Year, Rosh Hashanah, we also take on resolutions of things we’d like to improve. And ever since I was young, I was encouraged on my Hebrew birthday every year to take on a new mitzvah, something to work on.

My goal every year is to deepen my relationship with G-d in a way that speaks to my heart. My main practice is study.