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Seattle cop jokes about Holocaust, fashion model developing 'Robo Rabbi,' reviewing the pope's Netflix series, and why the goblin bankers from 'Harry Potter' are not antisemitic.
ANNIVERSARY OF AN INSURRECTION Workers clean up damage after the Capitol riot. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images) One year later, the Jewish legacy of Jan. 6 persists:In the hours before the storming of the U.S. Capitol one year ago today, antisemitic rhetoric swirled through the crowds in Washington. On this anniversary, we catch up with five figures with Jewish ties to that day – including the man who wore the “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt (he’s expected in court later this month) and a woman who lives in the shadow of the Capitol. It felt “as if a roundup was coming,” said the woman, Laurie Solnik, the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Read the story ➤
Meet the Hasidim who went to D.C. after Jan. 6 to give thanks — and chocolate — to the National Guard:Inspired to help after the riots, a group from New York headed south the weekend before President Joe Biden was sworn into office. They had a pickup truck stocked with $10,000 worth of energy drinks, chocolate bars and toiletries, and handed them out to the soldiers deployed to protect the inauguration and federal buildings. Aron Wieder, who was part of the mission, noted that his four grandparents were rescued by the U.S. Army during the liberation of the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in 1945. “I will never miss an opportunity to say thank you to you guys and what you are standing for,” he recalled telling the troops. Read the story ➤
Opinion | Jan. 6th could happen again. It’s up to us to stop it:“Perhaps instead of combusting all at once, our nation will fall into violence more gradually,” writes ADL chief Jonathan Greenblatt in an exclusive excerpt from “It Could Happen Here,” his new book. “The good news is that decent, upstanding Americans far outnumber the haters and insurgents.” Read the essay ➤
Plus: As we highlighted in yesterday’s newsletter, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland has a new book about the dual traumas he endured within a week – the suicide of his son and the storming of the Capitol. Our Irene Katz Connelly says its “the rare politician’s memoir that reads like a genuine exploration of self rather than a branding exercise.” Read her review ➤
ALSO FROM THE FORWARD Please shut up already about the Harry Potter Jew-goblins:The internet was all atwitter this week debating whether the goblins running the wizarding bank Gringotts are antisemitic because they look like Jewish caricatures and perpetuate stereotypes. Our Eliya Smith has a counter-point: Calling their depiction antisemitic … is antisemitic. “The Potter goblins are diminutive, hook nosed, saurian creatures, with creepy long fingers and crafty natures,” she writes. “They have exceptional financial skills and stop at nothing to acquire or protect money and precious objects. What is antisemitic is the fact that anyone would encounter such a character and think: ‘Aha, a Jew!’Read her essay ➤
Why it matters that the pope has his own Netflix show:Pope Francis, known as the people’s pope, is now a streaming television star. Our Mira Fox sees this as part of a broader digitization of religion including Facebook prayer groups and Zoom minyans – and part of the pope’s signature outreach to the unchurched. “We Jews don’t have any titular head of Judaism, Muslims don’t really have a titular head of Islam, same with Hindus,” said Diane Winston, a professor of media and religion. “But both the pope and the Dalai Lama have established themselves as authentic spiritual figures who, even if you aren’t part of their tradition, you know that they have a message that is more for the world than just for their own community.” Read the story ➤
But wait, there’s more… A Holocaust survivor is using TikTok to push back against anti-vaxxers who compare vaccine mandates to the genocide. Peru’s most-celebrated author was a great friend to the Jews — is he still? Eric Adams, the new mayor of New York City, has appointed a number of well-known Jews, including two who are Orthodox, to senior positions.WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🤖 International fashion model Lior Cole (pictured above) has a lot of downtime. She taught herself how to code and, in a new interview, revealed that she’s now developing Robo Rabbi, an artificial-intelligence tool. The software taps into the teachings of the Old Testament by offering users personal-development challenges based on the Torah portion from the week they were born. “Rarely does A.I. touch spirituality and religion,” she said. (Vogue)
👮 The mayor of a Seattle suburb has asked for the resignation of an assistant police chief who posted Nazi symbols on his office door and joked about the Holocaust. The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle called the chief’s behavior “an affront to the entire Puget Sound Jewish community and inexcusable,” noting that local Jews “rely on law enforcement to help protect them from violent, antisemitic attacks.” (The Seattle Times)
🎭 The board of the 2022 Sydney Festival confirmed that it would not end a sponsorship agreement with the Israeli embassy despite a boycott by some pro-Palestinian artists. The three-week arts festival, which has run every January since 1977, began today. At least 26 artists and groups have withdrawn from the event. (Sydney Morning Herald)
🇪🇸🇵🇹 More than 90,000 descendants of Sephardic Jews have become citizens of Portugal or Spain since 2015, when those countries passed laws offering a new naturalization process for such applicants. Tens of thousands of applications were denied. (JTA)
🍺 Drinking a pint of beer with friends is apparently not a new idea. Israeli researchers have discovered the first evidence of social beer consumption in the Middle East, dating back 7,000 years. L’chaim! (Times of Israel)
🚀 Fans of “Star Trek” are well-versed in how Leonard Nimoy used the priestly blessing recited in synagogue as the inspiration for his Vulcan salute. But a new exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles shows that there are many more connections to boldly explore the Jewish roots of the iconic sci-fi series. “We actually think the common values in the ‘Star Trek’ universe and Jewish belief are more powerful than that symbolism,” said the museum’s president. “That’s this idea of a more liberal, inclusive people, where ‘other’ and ‘difference’ is an embraced strength as opposed to a divisive weakness.” (New York Times)
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Bonnie Franklin, an actress best known for her leading role in “One Day at a Time,” was born on Jan. 6, 1944. Franklin played a divorced mother — a rarity on TV at the time — who was struggling to raise her daughters while striving for a fulfilling personal life. During her career, she was nominated for Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe awards. “Ms. Franklin helped define and illuminate the role of single working mothers within the cultural landscape,” CBS said in its statement upon her death, at 69, in 2013.
Also on this day: New Mexico was admitted as the 47th state in 1912. Did you know that some residents there add green chili to their matzo brei? Find out that and 5 other Jewish facts about the Southwestern state.
WANT SOMETHING NU? We’re growing our newsletter family! Last month, we unveiled our weekly Letter from California, and now we’ve launched Yiddish Brief, which publishes on Wednesdays and Sundays. It’s mostly in English and for readers who have spoken Yiddish their whole lives as well as those who know just a bisl – and even those who feel a connection to Yiddish but don’t speak or read it.
You’ll find links to subtitled music videos, cooking shows, Yiddish-themed online events, courses, book reviews and the latest research in Yiddish literature and Eastern European Jewish history — not to mention our popular Yiddish Word of the Day videos.
––– Thanks to Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter.
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