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Mobilization underway to save Ukrainian Jews, Kentucky lawmakers make antisemitic comment, Orthodox school fined for endangering kids, and the heavy metal band headed to Israel.
FORWARD EXCLUSIVE Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker speaks to reporters two days after being held hostage at his synagogue. (Getty Images)
A Reform synagogue in Winston-Salem, N.C., plans to vote Thursday night on hiring Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who became an international hero after being taken hostage in his Texas synagogue during Shabbat prayer services last month.
Ringing endorsement: Gayle Goldsmith, a 20-year member of Temple Emanuel, said that she and others met with Cytron-Walker two weeks ago and were impressed. “I think everybody was very happy with him,” said Goldsmith about Cytron-Walker’s visit. “He’s just got so much to offer.”
From Texas: Cytron-Walker resigned as rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville last fall after the congregation’s board voted not to renew his contract. He was already looking for a new job when a British gunman, Malik Faisal Akram, entered the synagogue and held him and several congregants hostage for hours.
To North Carolina: Temple Emanuel, which was founded in 1932 and is Winston-Salem’s only synagogue, has a membership of about 280 families. Rabbi Mark Cohn is retiring after leading the congregation for 21 years. “He is a great rabbi and I am really sorry to see him go,” said Goldsmith. “There are going to be some big shoes to fill.”
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Black smoke rises from a military airport near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Thursday. (AFP/Getty Images) Explosions rocked Ukraine overnight as Russia began its invasion. Here’s the latest…
President Vladimir Putin of Russia said Thursday that his goal in attacking Ukraine is to protect its citizens from being “subjected to bullying and genocide” and that the Russian military will strive for the “denazification” of the country. His comments are the latest example of a disinformation campaign led by Russian media to portray Ukraine as aligned with Nazism – even though its leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish. (Times of Israel)
Israel’s foreign ministry condemned the Russian attack and advised the estimated 8,000 Israelis still in Ukraine to head to the west of the country and to leave through neighboring Poland. Yair Lapid, the foreign minister, called the attack “a grave breach of international order.” He noted that Israel has “long-running, good and deep relations” with both Russia and Ukraine, and that there are hundreds of thousands of Jews in the two countries, adding: “Keeping them safe is our top priority.” (Reuters, Jerusalem Post)
The chief rabbi of Moldova, which borders Ukraine, said “extensive preparations” were made in recent weeks “with the aim of absorbing thousands of Israelis and Jews fleeing the war zones.” Community members have been dispatched to the airport and border crossings to help evacuees. (Haaretz)
And now, let’s pivot to some other news…
💰 Two Kentucky lawmakers apologized after using the phrase “Jew them down” during a public hearing on Tuesday. The American Jewish Committee warned that use of the term perpetuates an antisemitic trope. “There are plentiful words and phrases in the English language to use in making a point,” said the AJC’s Melanie Maron Pell, “without succumbing to traditional, derogatory references to Jews.” (JTA)
🏔️ Across the pond, an Orthodox school in England was fined $40,000 for taking children hiking during an ice storm despite warnings that it was dangerous. During the field trip in the Helvellyn mountains, the group got lost and at least one boy suffered injuries. (JTA)
🚓 We reported yesterday on a month-long string of antisemitic and racist incidents at Curry College, a small liberal arts school near Boston. Another swastika was found in a residence hall there this week. “I am Jewish, and I don’t feel safe and protected here,” said Max Silverman, a student. (Algemeiner)
🎞️ Jerry Lewis, the late comedic actor who raised billions of dollars for muscular dystrophy research in annual telethons, is being accused of sexual misconduct by women who starred with him in movies during the 1960s. The allegations appear in a new investigative article, and a short film by the directors of a “Allen v. Farrow,” an HBO miniseries that examined sexual abuse allegations against Woody Allen. (Vanity Fair)
FROM OUR ARCHIVES In addition to advertising and subscriptions, the Forward of old experimented with other revenue sources, including selling dress patterns, as seen here in a March 1933 spread. We’ve yet to find one of these dresses in our archives, but you never know.
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO THE BINTEL PODCAST Our “Bintel Brief” podcast is coming back for Season 2 next month, with hosts Ginna Green and Lynn Harris giving advice on life’s thorniest questions. Send your queries to bintel@forward.com, or leave a voice message on (201) 540-9728. ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Abe Vigoda – a big-screen gangster, TV detective and real-life mensch – was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 24, 1921. In “Barney Miller,” Vigoda made audiences laugh; in “The Godfather,” he made them shudder. “Vigoda was so convincing,” Benjamin Ivry wrote when the actor died in 2016, “that film extras who were genuine minor underworld figures could not believe that he was a thespian, rather than a real thug walking through the part.”
Also on this day, in 1920, the Nazi Party was established.
ILLUSTRATION OF THE DAY Finding photos to go with articles is something we do everyday in our newsroom. Stories about President Biden or Gal Gadot or bagels are easy to illustrate. But what to do about PJ Grisar’s look at a team of Israeli scientists who taught goldfish to drive. Sure, we could’ve used a stock photo of a goldfish, but where’s the fun in that? So we hired an artist to create the image above. Read the story ➤
––– Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh, Adam Langer and Chana Pollack for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
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