4 | JULY 7 • 2022
for openers
Thinking Makes It So
H
ypochondria! This is
what you may be diag-
nosed as suffering from
if you are overly anxious about
the state of your health but are
not suffering any
real symptoms.
Anything might
bring this on. Read
enough about
viruses plaguing
sections of the
globe or be among
enough people
who are coughing and sniffling,
and you become susceptible to
such thoughts.
Have you ever considered that a
visit to the bookstore might bring
on a malady — or merely a per-
ceived one? Well, I did (of course)
and I would like to share with
you some of the more obvious
real book titles that may make
us sick even before the books
are read.
As we contemplate the vari-
ous poisons that may infiltrate
our blood, consider perusing
Blood Promise by R. Mead or Anna
Dressed in Blood by K. Blake. Aches
and pains are your complaint?
Try Bloody Bones by L. Hamilton or
Beastly Bones by W
. Ritter.
Who knows what may develop
from a general malaise? Could
you be susceptible to The Fever by
M. Abbott, An American Plague by
J. Murphy or Hurricane Fever by T.S.
Buckell.
Temperature disruptions may
not signify anything so Don’t Sweat
the Small Stuff by R. Carlson or Sweat
by M. Gillea. However, this may
lead to In Bitter Chill by S. Ward or
Be More Chill by N. Vizzini.
Operations may “cure what
ails you” but you may be left with
reminders. Consider Scar Night by
A. Campbell or The Scar by
C. Mieville.
Are you stubbornly resisting
getting glasses? Become anxious
with Blind Sight by C. O’Connell or
Blind Alley by I. Johansen.
Those not into severe suffering
might content themselves with
Someone Could Get Hurt by D. Magary
or Hurt Go Happy by G. Robby.
If you think that the above titles
might bring on a malady you have
not considered, then you are truly
too open to suggestions. Perhaps
you could better satisfy yourself
with something mild like Night of
the Walking Dead. Good luck!
Sy Manello
Editorial
Assistant
PURELY COMMENTARY
N
ational Council
of Jewish Women
(NCJW) believes
that public schools should be
inclusive and
welcoming places
for all students,
regardless of their
religious beliefs.
No student
should have to
choose between
their religious
freedom and being part of
school activities. But today’s
ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton
could force children enrolled in
public schools to do just that.
As Jews in America, we know
intimately that religion-state
separation is essential
to our ability to live and
thrive. Yet this decision
and two others this term —
Shurtleff v. City of Boston (in
which justices ruled that Boston
could not exclude religious flags
from its flag-raising program)
and Carson v. Makin (which
for the first time forces states
to fund religious education) —
have deeply undermined consti-
tutional law regarding church-
state separation.
Justice Sotomayor addresses
this in her dissent by stating that
with this decision, “the Court
sets us further down a perilous
path in forcing States to entan-
gle themselves with religion,
with all of our rights hanging in
the balance.
”
The Court is dismantling the
wall between religion and state,
and the impact on people —
especially children who practice
a minority religion or no reli-
gion — cannot be overstated.
NCJW vows to continue
to work with a coalition of
diverse religious and nonre-
ligious advocates to fight on
behalf of our democratic prin-
ciples, upon which this coun-
try was founded.
Jody Rabhan is the National Council of
Jewish Women Chief Policy Officer.
Jody
Rabhan
opinion
NCJW Calls Supreme Court
Decision a Dangerous Blow
to Religion-State Separation
Editor’s Note: In a June 27 ruling,
the U.S. Supreme Court said that
a Washington state school district
violated the First Amendment
rights of a high school football
coach when he lost his job for
praying at the 50-yard line after
games. The opinion was 6-3 along
conservative-liberal ideological
lines.
The court said coach Joe
Kennedy’s prayers amounted to
private speech, protected by the
First Amendment, and could not
be restricted by the school district.
The court clarified that
a government entity does
not necessarily violate the
Establishment Clause by
permitting religious expression in
public.