A prominent Brazilian physician was suspended by Latin America’s leading Jewish hospital after comparing the fear of the coronavirus pandemic to the Holocaust. Nise Yamaguchi, an oncologist and immunologist at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, made the comparison in an appearance on the “Impressoes” television show on July 5. She was suspended by the hospital on Saturday after working there for 35 years. “Fear is harmful to everything,” Yamaguchi said. “First, it paralyzes you. It makes you easy to manipulate. Anyone. Do you think that a few Nazi soldiers would have been able to control the hungry Jewish herd if they did not subject them to that daily humiliation?” There was nothing offensive in what the doctor said, but what she said was taken out of context and distorted as her statements supported the policies of the conservative Brazilian President, the democratically elected Mr Bolsonaro. The brouhaha was a malicious attack coming from some feebleminded left-wing Jjews. Many people, confined to isolation and even solitude during these touch times of coping with the Corona virus, compare themselves with Jews who spent months and years hiding from the Nazis who hunted and killed Jews in 21 countries during World War II and realize that they have little cause to complain - although both situations involve fear. For those of us that are children of Holocaust survivors, we know well the hell our parents went through to survive. They hid, had no food, no clothes, no medical attention, and no help. They were cramped in hiding places with no fresh air and couldn' t make a sound or Nazis would kill them. It lasted a lot longer than this will last, some for up to 4 or 5 years. They lost their education, their souls, their youth. There were no supermarkets,no cell phones, no radios and no outside interference. What we can compare with deadly accuracy is 1933 Nazi Germany and the inaction of our Jewish leadership and the Stockholm Syndrome response of many liberal Jews in the face of rising, hateful antisemitism. Just as then when the voices of the leadership might have made a difference, but was barely heard, today most liberal leaders and clergy prefer to be politically correct and support our enemies. Had Hitler conquered America or the area that is now Israel but was then the British Mandate, no Jews would have been left alive. That means many of those reading this article would never have been born. What is it that left liberal and progressive Jews do not understand? When I hear the rabid antisemitic lies on videos and social media, I sense that another Hitler is coming - while you are sleeping, not 'woke,' dreaming about meeting the demands of the antisemitic Black Lives Matter. Rabbi Bernard Rosenberg is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth-El, Edison, N.J. and received his ordination and Doctorate of Education from Yeshiva University in New York. He is a prolific author and has received many awards, including the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award.
