Some 3,680 residents walked away with a bowl of cholent in one arm and a slight ache in the other
Within 48 hours of each other, Bnei Brak and London’s Stamford Hill community, both in the center of recent media storms, finally found the recipe for positive headlines.
It began last Thursday night in Bnei Brak. Faced with falling vaccination numbers, the municipality cooked up a tasty incentive that — probably for the first time — had Israel’s medical community praising the wonders of kishke.
“Operation Cholent,” which saw free Shabbos lunch fare being distributed to residents who received the vaccine, was declared a success. Some 3,680 residents walked away with a bowl of cholent in one arm and a slight ache in the other.
Until then the number of vaccinated residents stood at just 37,000 out of a total population of nearly a quarter-million. But the culinary incentive means that Bnei Brak has now surpassed the national average of vaccinations for those under 60, with an inoculation rate of 38%. Meanwhile a drop in infections has shifted the city from the red to the orange category.
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