The US Department of Health and Human Services said that the reorganization would not affect “critical services.”

By Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA

Mass layoffs and a sweeping restructuring at the US Department of Health and Human Services could disrupt programs that deliver support for Holocaust survivors and kosher meals to homebound seniors and people with disabilities.

As part of the Trump administration’s move to slash federal spending, the department is reducing its workforce by 25% and eliminating the Administration for Community Living (ACL), which coordinates federal support for services such as Meals on Wheels, adult day care, elder abuse prevention, and independent living supports.

Jewish social services agencies throughout the country deliver kosher offerings to people’s homes as part of the Meals on Wheels program.

Holocaust survivors also receive other assistance from the ACL through a special program administered by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA).

An estimated 40,000 Holocaust survivors live in the United States today, and more than one-third of them are living in poverty.

JFNA, which has been fielding calls and emails about the federal cuts from concerned Jewish organizations, says it is advocating with the government to protect services.

“ACL serves a critical role in supporting the independence of people with disabilities and older adults, including Holocaust survivors, and Jewish Federations are focused on ensuring that the vital programs it oversees will continue uninterrupted through any potential administrative changes,” David Goldfarb, senior director at JFNA’s strategic health center, said in a statement.

Established in 2015, the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program aims to make welfare service providers more effective by training them in a healthcare approach known as person-centered, trauma-informed care.

The program has received strong bipartisan support in Congress, which most recently allocated $8.3 million for it, while cutting many other earmarks, in the budget resolution approved last month.

In announcing the move, the department said that the reorganization would not affect “critical services.”

It said essential programs housed under ACL will become the responsibility of other agencies in the department, including the Administration for Children and Families, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services come as a spending freeze at another federal agency puts security grants for synagogues and Jewish nonprofits in limbo.

Jewish groups and a group of lawmakers from both parties are calling on the Trump administration to resume the Nonprofit Security Grant Program that stalled as part of the freeze ordered at FEMA, the federal disaster relief agency.

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Kennedy listed several other things as possible causes of chronic diseases such as radiation from electronic devices, farming chemicals, processed foods, food allergies, tiny plastic particles in the environment, and chemicals used to make non-stick pans.

By Jewish Breaking News

A month ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat before a Senate hearing committee and declared, “I support vaccines. I support the vaccine schedule. I support good science.”

But this week, Kennedy struck a markedly different tone. His first act as Health Secretary was to announce an investigation whether childhood vaccinations might be linked to chronic diseases.

“We will convene representatives of all viewpoints to study the causes for the drastic rise in chronic disease,” Kennedy told the assembled workers at HHS headquarters on Tuesday.

“Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formerly taboo or insufficiently scrutinized.”

Kennedy made it clear he planned to redirect the agency’s vast resources toward questioning long-established medical consensus, noting that “nothing is going to be off limits.”

His investigation plans go beyond just vaccines and antidepressants.

Kennedy listed several other things as possible causes of chronic diseases such as radiation from electronic devices, farming chemicals, processed foods, food allergies, tiny plastic particles in the environment, and chemicals used to make non-stick pans.

“Whatever belief or suspicion I have expressed in the past, I’m willing to subject them all to the scrutiny of unbiased science,” he said.

“That is going to be our template — unbiased science. That’s something that will make us all proud of this agency and of our role in restoring American health.”

However, public health experts warn there’s a big difference between studying new environmental threats and re-examining vaccines that we already know are safe.

“It’s very disturbing that someone who has spent so much of his career trying to undermine confidence in vaccines, trying to tear down the infrastructure that approves and recommends vaccines, has the potential to be in a position of power over the infrastructure that has those goals,” infectious disease specialist Adam Ratner tells NPR.

“It is much easier to scare people than to unscare them,” he says. “And I think that just by elevating anti-vaccine views in the guise of RFK, I think that we risk a crisis in vaccine confidence in the U.S.”

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As Kennedy takes over the Department of Health and Human Services, he faces significant challenges, including shaping vaccine policy, managing Medicare and Medicaid, and preparing for future public health crises.

By Jewish Breaking News

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a 52-48 Senate vote, overcoming strong opposition from both Democrats and some Republicans. His confirmation follows a dramatic political evolution, from being a staunch Trump critic to becoming a key figure in the administration.

Kennedy, a longtime environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, once harshly criticized President Donald Trump, even comparing him to Adolf Hitler.

However, during the 2024 election, Kennedy initially launched a Democratic presidential bid before switching to an independent campaign.

As his poll numbers declined and financial struggles mounted, he suspended his campaign in August 2024 and endorsed Trump, citing alignment on key issues such as government health mandates and regulatory overreach.

Robert Kennedy walks out during a Trump rally. (Twitter Screenshot)

Trump rewarded Kennedy’s endorsement by nominating him for HHS Secretary in November 2024, a move that stunned both parties.

While conservatives saw it as an unconventional choice, Kennedy’s history of opposing vaccine mandates and public health restrictions resonated with many in Trump’s base.

Kennedy’s confirmation process was fiercely contested. Democrats unanimously opposed him due to his views on vaccines, while some Republicans were wary of his past support for abortion rights and environmental regulations.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor and staunch vaccine advocate, was the only Republican to vote against Kennedy.

Leading up to the vote, Senate Democrats staged an all-night protest, warning that Kennedy’s appointment could undermine public health initiatives. However, despite their efforts, Kennedy secured the necessary votes on Thursday morning.

As Kennedy takes over the Department of Health and Human Services, he faces significant challenges, including shaping vaccine policy, managing Medicare and Medicaid, and preparing for future public health crises.

His critics worry that his leadership could erode trust in scientific institutions, while his supporters argue he will bring much-needed reform to federal health agencies.

Kennedy’s appointment marks a major shift in the Trump administration’s approach to public health, setting the stage for contentious policy battles in the months ahead.

Whether he moderates his stance or doubles down on his past positions remains to be seen.

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Authorities are signaling that federal funding for medical research at these universities could be on the line if they fail to comply.

By Andrew Lapin, JTA

A tool for policing campus antisemitism, which since Oct. 7 had been largely limited to the U.S. Department of Education, is now expanding into other federal departments under President Donald Trump’s directive.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that it, too, will be conducting Title VI investigations into allegations of antisemitism.

The first investigations are into four elite medical schools — at Harvard, Columbia, Brown and Johns Hopkins universities — that the department said received “reports of antisemitic incidents during their 2024 commencement ceremonies.”

In a statement, HHS said it will seek to determine whether those medical programs “acted with deliberate indifference regarding events that may have impacted Jewish students’ rights to access educational opportunities and benefits.”

Authorities are signaling that federal funding for medical research at these universities could be on the line if they fail to comply. The release spotlights hundreds of millions of federal dollars that have reached the schools under investigation.

“The reviews come in response to reported incidents of antisemitism and displays of offensive symbols and messaging during the ceremonies, including alleged expressions of support for terrorist organizations,” a press release from the department announced Monday.

The expansion of Title VI investigations comes as Trump is reportedly taking steps to dismantle the education department, which also opened five new Title VI probes this week.

The two departments and the Justice Department are represented in Trump’s new federal task force that pledges to tackle campus antisemitism more aggressively.

At least one of the new HHS investigations appears to be inspired by a study published in an Israeli medical journal by two American Jewish doctors.

The study’s authors, Steven Roth and Hedy S. Wald, reviewed footage of recent commencement ceremonies at a range of medical schools, including Harvard, for signs of clothing or behavior they considered “either openly antisemitic or potentially offensive or insensitive.”

(The study was summarized in a New York Post article cited by HHS investigators in a letter to Harvard, according to the Harvard Crimson.)

Roth and Wald — the latter is a Brown professor and commissioner of The Lancet medical journal’s Commission on Medicine, Nazism and the Holocaust — found that 2.5% of the graduating cohort they studied wore “symbols representing antisemitic themes” and 1.7% wore buttons, banners or signs or engaged in verbal protests.

The doctors say in the study that they classified the wearing of a keffiyeh, or traditional Palestinian head scarf, as “antisemitic regalia.”

Among other examples the study classified as antisemitic: signs reading “Stop Bombing Hospitals,” “Honor Our Oath — Free Palestine” and “Harvard Med Funds Genocide.”

In response to the investigation, Harvard Medical School issued a statement saying that it “condemns antisemitism and remains committed to combating all forms of discrimination and harassment.”

Representatives at the other three universities under investigation did not immediately respond to Jewish Telegraphic Agency requests for comment.

Trump’s controversial nominee for health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has yet to be confirmed but recently won over key Senate votes that make his confirmation more likely.

Even without his confirmation, federal funding for medical research under Trump is facing significant cuts.

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Shortly before the election, Trump had assured him that, if elected, he would let the longtime vaccine skeptic ‘go wild on health.’

By Andrew Lapin, JTA

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine questioner and onetime presidential candidate, is President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trump announced his pick for the Cabinet position on Truth Social, his social network, on Thursday afternoon, saying he was “thrilled” to nominate Kennedy to lead the department.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump wrote.

“Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”

The nomination cemented the unlikely alliance between Trump and the scion of Democratic Party royalty, who suspended his third-party campaign to endorse the Republican this summer.

Shortly before the election, Trump had assured him that, if elected, he would let the longtime vaccine skeptic “go wild on health.”

In addition to his anti-vaccine views, Kennedy has also floated removing fluoride from drinking water.

Among the areas that would be under Kennedy’s purview at the department: the Food and Drug Administration; Medicare and Medicaid; the National Institutes of Health; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; agencies dealing with substance abuse, mental health and toxic substances; and the office of U.S. Surgeon General.

He is ardently pro-Israel and recently defended Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late leader of the Chabad Hasidic movement, from attacks leveled by far-right commentator Candace Owens.

Some prominent Jews have declared themselves in Kennedy’s corner. After Thursday’s nomination announcement, he gained another one: Jared Polis, the Democratic governor of Colorado.

“I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint Robert Kennedy Jr.,” Polis wrote on social media, saying Kennedy had “helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019.”

Polis outlined several health-related policy positions he said he agreed with Kennedy on, including reforming federal nutrition standards, curbing pesticide usage and capping international drug prices.

Polis concluded, “He will face strong special interest opposition on these, but I look forward to partnering with him to truly make American healthy again and I hope that we can finally make progress on these important issues.”

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