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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Ceasefire with Lebanon could come within days, new Harris ad films at same Jewish deli as Trump ad, and California café boots man in Star of David hat.

Plus: We unearthed Doug Emhoff’s velour bar mitzvah suit and learned how to talk about Halloween in Yiddish.

ELECTION 2024

Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan speaking at the Democratic National Convention this summer. (Getty)

The latest…

In one of the four races American Jews are watching very closely, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan, is vying for a seat in the Senate, where she would be the fourth Jewish woman senator in history if she wins. Her race is getting closer in the final days.

Watch: North Carolina may elect its first Jewish governor on Tuesday. Our Olivia Haynie shares a timeline of Jewish political firsts in the Tar Heel state.

The man suspected of setting fire to three mail-in ballot boxes using incendiary devices with the words “Free Gaza” on them “is an experienced metalworker and may be planning additional attacks,” according to police. (AP)

Democratic customers complained after Hymie’s deli in Philadelphia was the setting for a Trump ad targeting Jewish voters. Now, the deli has also let the Harris campaign film there. Related: Politicians love to campaign at Jewish delis — but is it good for the delis?

Fifty years ago, in the leadup to election day in Nov. 1974, the Lubavitcher Rebbe told his community in their native Yiddish to go out and vote. Some of those 1974 voters are part of a new campaign to mobilize Jewish voters in Crown Heights.

Doug Emhoff, left, and Scott Bermack, right, with Rabbi Henry Weiner at their Nov. 1977 bar mitzvah. Today, Bermack (top) and Emhoff are both attorneys. (Courtesy; Getty)

Bar mitzvah buddy

Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, has often spoken of the brown velour suit he wore to his 1977 bar mitzvah. The b’nai mitzvah calendar at the New Jersey shul where Emhoff grew up was so crowded, kids would often have to share their date with a partner. “We took turns,” said Scott Bermack about leading the services and reading from the Torah with Emhoff. Bermack, who shared with us a photo of the pair on the bimah, is hoping for an invite to the White House Hanukkah party. Go deeper ►

Isaac Asimov at a New York book festival in 1990. (Getty)

Story time

The media has a “never-ending pursuit of our postmodern unicorn — namely, the truly undecided voter,” writes Robert Zaretsky. That voter may be hiding in a 1955 short story by Jewish author Isaac Asimov, which imagines a future where, “with the goal of ending the partisan politics and wasteful spending, the government introduced an easier and sounder method. Now, only one man votes.” And in the story, that is a mild-mannered Indiana store clerk named Norman Muller. Go deeper ►

SPECIAL REPORT

Police and security guards stand outside an event to dedicate a new Torah in Berlin. (Jake Wasserman)

Across the street from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany, our Jake Wasserman saw a campaign poster hung on a lamp post as he approached the memorial site last month.

Gaining ground: The poster promoted the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which earlier in September became the first far-right party to win a plurality in a state election since the Nazi Party was banned in 1945.

Never again: “History, they say, doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes, and here was evidence,” writes Jake. “The slogan of a far-right party that traffics in antisemitism, Holocaust denial and xenophobia was plastered on a lamppost just outside a compound where Nazis forced 200,000 Jews, communists, gay people and other enemies of the state into hard labor and murdered them by the tens of thousands.”

What’s next: With a secret plan to deport undocumented immigrants and Germans of foreign birth, two-thirds of Germans believe AfD to be a threat to democracy. The federal antisemitism commissioner called the party a “threat to Jewish life.”

– From our Sponsor: JFNA–

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israeli security forces detain a Haredi Jewish protester during a demonstration Thursday against conscription outside an army recruiting office. (Getty)

On campus…

A chapter of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine was formed at George Washington University where they say students have faced “criminal and disciplinary charges” for their pro-Palestinian advocacy. (GW Hatchet)

A similar group at the University of Pennsylvania is calling for the ouster of the interim school president “following the execution of a search warrant at the residence of a pro-Hamas student activist who is suspected of vandalism.” (Algemeiner)

And elsewhere…

Iran plans to deliver a “definitive and painful” response to Israel’s recent attack, likely ahead of the presidential election on Tuesday, according to a high-ranking source. (CNN)

Former President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if he wins the election, he wants Israel to wrap up its war with Hamas before his inauguration, according to sources familiar with the matter. (Times of Israel)

The U.S. helped draft a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which could be implemented within a week. (Haaretz, Reuters)

Earlier this week, hundreds of prominent authors signed an open letter pledging to not work with Israeli cultural institutions. Now, roughly 1,000 pro-Israel advocates in the creative community — including Mayim Bialik, David Mamet and Ozzy Osbourne — signed a letter criticizing the first. (JTA, Guardian, New York Times)

ILGA, a prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy group, suspended its Israeli affiliate after they suggested Tel Aviv as a conference location. The suspension angered members of the queer Jewish community. (JTA)

The owner of a California café that serves a “Sweet Sinwar” drink to honor the slain Hamas leader kicked out a Jewish man wearing a hat with a Star of David on it. (Jewish Insider)

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke clashed with an anti-Israel heckler at an Australian concert. (Times of Israel)

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. (Getty)

🤷 Chicago's mayor condemned the shooting of an Orthodox man walking to shul on Shabbat, but did not mention the victim’s Jewish identity. It marks the latest chapter in the mayor’s rocky relationship with the local Jewish community. (JTA)

Related: Twenty-six Chicago alderpeople are calling for the resignation of the president of the Chicago Board of Education over a history of antisemitic posts, and are also criticizing the mayor for appointing him. (Jewish Insider)

🇺🇦 A Russian drone struck a Jewish school in Kyiv causing “significant structural damage.” The attack occurred early in the morning when no children were present, but the blast injured nine people in a residential building next door. (JTA)

😞 The Pennsylvania attorney general said Wednesday it is charging two people for vandalizing a Pittsburgh Chabad in July. One of the individuals referred to himself as a “Hamas operative.” (Dept. of Justice)

🇵🇱 More than 600 Jews were killed in a Polish forest during the Holocaust. On Wednesday, on the same spot, their descendants unveiled a memorial to honor them. (AP)

💩 Two new bronze statues have popped up next to the National Mall in D.C. The temporary art installations satirically honor white nationalists. (Forward)

They said it ► “Business is booming, and I’m the only one in the administration who wants a recession,” Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt talking in a new interview with Time magazine about how the rise in antisemitism is keeping her busy.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

In honor of Halloween, check out this new interview with actor Asher Grodman, who plays a Jewish apparition on CBS’ hit sitcom Ghosts. Grodman plays Trevor Lefkowitz, a Wall Street finance bro with no pants (it’s a long story), who is always there for an “oy vey” and other Yiddishisms. The latest episode airs tonight.

Bonus: Our Rukhl Schaechter shares how to pronounce spooky sayings in Yiddish.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh and Jake Wasserman for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Julie Moos for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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