WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Netflix star injured in Gaza released from hospital, more campus upheaval at Columbia and Cornell, group fighting antisemitism to air Super Bowl ad, Carol Kane stars in new Sundance bat mitzvah movie, and Jon Stewart returns to The Daily Show.

OUR LEAD STORY

Corey Sheffa, left, and his husband Shavon Sheffa, on a recent Shabbat. The Tennessee couple are in the process of converting to Judaism. (Courtesy)

Amid war and rising antisemitism, these non-Jews are converting

Corey Sheffa expects to formally convert to Judaism later this year. He already wears a yarmulke, keeps kosher and observes Shabbat — and, shortly after Oct. 7, had antisemitic insults hurled at him at the grocery store. The experience strengthened his resolve.

Sheffa is one of more than a dozen soon-to-be Jews we interviewed with similar experiences. Rabbis are noticing that, despite the charged climate, interest in converting is only growing.

“When the going gets tough it seems to strengthen their conviction,” said Rabbi Yisroel Ciner, of Orthodox Congregation Beth Jacob in Irvine, California. “It inspires them to become part of something greater.”

Rabbi Sue Oren teaches an introduction to Judaism class for people from 13 Reform, Conservative and independent synagogues in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. “Current student registration is double what it was in past years,” she said.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Idan Amedi of Netflix’s Fauda speaks at a press conference as he left the hospital on Thursday. (Getty)

Idan Amedi, an actor on Netflix’s Fauda and an IDF reservist who was injured in Gaza, was released from the hospital. He says once he fully recovers, he hopes to return to acting, and “fighting in the war.”

Tensions mounted Wednesday at Columbia University, where pro-Palestinian protests resumed as winter break ends. Our Camillo Barone reports from the scene.

Voters in New York state are split on whether the United States should provide aid to Israel, according to a recent poll, a shift from the weeks following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

A new shawarma restaurant called “October 7” opened in Jordan that seems to celebrate the massacre, according to a video posted on social media.

When an Israeli soccer team plays in Belgium next month, the game will take place in an empty stadium out of safety concerns, amid a rise in antisemitism since the war began.

Israel’s version of Saturday Night Live provides much-needed laughs to a traumatized nation.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

A photo from the award-winning coffee table book Kibbitz and Nosh. (Marcia Bricker Halperin)

Among the winners of the 73rd National Book Awards announced Wednesday was Kib­b­itz & Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow’s Cafe­te­ria…

What New York lost when it lost the Jewish cafeteria: Photographer Marcia Bricker Halperin stumbled into Dubrow’s in Flatbush in 1975, where for much of the 20th century, Jews would catch up with friends, read the news, and even find love — all while noshing on a blintz or a Danish. She spent the next three years photographing what she sensed was a “vanishing world on its last legs.” She was right: It closed in 1978. We spoke with Bricker Halperin about her new coffee table book of photos from Dubrow’s, the characters she met there and why the cafeteria reminded her of her grandmother’s apartment. Read the story ➤

Related: Other winners included a novel about Black and Jewish communities in rural Pennsylvania and the true story of a secret mission to rescue a Polish artist’s work from the Nazis. And, in case you’re wondering, here’s our own list of the best Jewish books of 2023.

Plus…

One of Cornell University’s largest donors is calling for the ouster of the school’s president, saying antisemitism has flourished on campus due to her emphasis on DEI initiatives.

Jon Stewart is returning to The Daily Show, but will his old audience follow?

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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Robert Kraft is a Jewish philanthropist and owner of the New England Patriots. (Getty)

🏈 The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism will air a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl, at an estimated cost of $7 million. The group is funded by Robert Kraft, the Jewish philanthropist and owner of the New England Patriots … Relatedly, Connie Britton, Cindy Crawford and Lance Bass have joined dozens of celebrities in a series of new social media videos to combat antisemitism. (JTA/Wrap)

🤦 After a visit to Auschwitz this week, Elon Musk suggested that if social media was around in the 1940s, it could have stopped the Holocaust. Scholars call it a “fantasy scenario” and that Musk should “take an intro course on the Holocaust.” (JTA)

😞 The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stop Alabama from proceeding with the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas. Several Jewish leaders hoping to stop the execution have compared the method to a gas chamber. (NBC News, Southern Jewish Life)

🇧🇷 A leading politician in Brazil called for a national boycott of Israel and expressed interest in the boycott of “Jewish companies.” (JTA)

🤷 The head of the U.N. will not make his usual appearance at a prominent New York City synagogue’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day event this Saturday. A spokesperson for the U.N. said the service should be “focused on healing and the testimony of survivors.” (NY Jewish Week)

Shiva calls ➤ Jerry Mahrer, who, at age 13, was the youngest internee at Tittmoning, a Nazi camp in Germany for American prisoners, died Jan. 22 at age 94. His father, Paul, a famous Jewish soccer player, was arrested in 1942 and imprisoned at Terezin camp; Jerry, his brother and mother were arrested a year later and eventually sent to the U.S. in a wartime prisoner exchange. … Howard Golden, who was the Brooklyn borough president for a quarter-century, died at 98. … Naomi Feil, a pioneering gerontologist who revolutionized dementia care, died at 91.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Carol Kane is starring in a new movie that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this week in which she plays a retired music teacher who decides to have a late-in-life bat mitzvah. Jason Schwartzman plays her former student who is now a cantor. Read an interview with Kane, and watch a conversation above with the cast and filmmakers of Between Two Temples.

Thanks to Lauren Markoe and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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