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| Today's newsletter is sponsored by University of California Press JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Give a tax-deductible donation Undercover Muslim marries Orthodox Jew, Hebrew School teacher becomes Bollywood actor, Einstein's fridge gets a patent and meet Shmelf the Hanukkah elf. OUR LEAD STORY Eulogized for championing women, Reform leader now accused of abusing them
When Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk died in 2009, he was celebrated as a champion of women’s rights – the start of his New York Times obituary was about him having ordained the first female rabbis in North America and Israel. But a bombshell 37-page report details how Gottschalk, head of the Reform movement’s seminary for decades, sexually harassed and perhaps even assaulted female staff and students.
The incidents: Many of the reported incidents took place in the rabbi’s Jerusalem apartment, where several women told the law firm investigating the seminary’s history of handling misconduct that he touched them inappropriately. One said he held her against the wall. “You can help me feel better and make me less lonely,” one former student reported Gottschalk saying to her.
An ‘open secret’: Investigators wrote that several faculty members were aware of this behavior – yet there was no indication of any complaints in Gottschalk’s personnel files at the seminary, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Several women who graduated from the school said that Gottschalk’s behavior was widely known as early as the 1970s.
The context: The revelations come as the Reform and Conservative movements are undergoing a reckoning over past handling of sexual and other misconduct. H.U.C.’s investigation was spawned by an April report accusing Gottschalk’s successor of “sexually predatory behavior.” In October, the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly movement made public for the first time a list of rabbis it had expelled or suspended. “The real work is understanding that we have these issues everywhere” said one expert.
ALSO IN THE FORWARD Cheesy Hanukkah merchandise is everywhere. Is that good for the Jews?The fundamental issue with these products is that a lot of them are actually for Christmas, just clumsily rebranded to look Jewish. Like the stocking that says “Happy Hanukkah.” Or Walmart’s “Hanukkah Santa” figurine. And the storybook about a “Hanukkah elf” named Shmelf who works for Santa, but takes pity on the poor Jewish kids who Santa skips. Still, our Mira Fox argues that even the grocery-store matzah at Hanukkah is worth something. Read the story >
But wait, there’s more… Rabbi Schumer? Former N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, under investigation for sexual assault, attempted to discredit one of his questioners by referring to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as the man’s “rabbi,” according to newly released documents. The Nazis murdered more than half the Jews of Norway. Now, in the country’s second largest city, the Jewish community is experiencing a renaissance. Let’s remember that before Paul Rudd was named the sexiest man alive, he was a bat mitzvah DJ.
A message from our sponsor: University of California Press Ruth Bader Ginsburg's last book is a curation of her own legacy Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue is a collaboration between Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Amanda L. Tyler, a Berkeley Law professor and former Ginsburg law clerk. This book brings together materials that share details from Ginsburg's family life and long career including briefs and oral arguments, speeches, and her favorite opinions that she wrote as a Supreme Court Justice. LEARN MORE
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🇫🇷 A French court found a man guilty of murder in the killing of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor in 2018. The killer, Yacine Mihoub, will be eligible for parole in 22 years. The victim was Mireille Knoll, and the murder occurred about a year after the slaying of another French woman, Sarah Halimi, whose killer did not stand trial because a judge found that he was suffering a psychotic episode. (JTA)
⚖️ Two leaders of the extremist Jewish group Lev Tahor were convicted of child sexual exploitation and kidnapping by a federal court on Wednesday. The sect’s followers recently dispersed from their former haven in Guatemala and made a failed attempt to find refuge in Iran. (JTA)
🔎 Earlier this week, we mentioned a newlywed Orthodox woman in Brooklyn who thought her husband may be Palestinian. Turns out he’s a Lebanese Muslim who hid his identity over several years learning in a yeshiva and befriending a Texas Chabad rabbi, who attended the recent wedding. On a fake family tree, the husband, Eliyah Haliwa, included “Meir Lansky,” an incorrect spelling for the infamous Jewish mobster. (Times of Israel)
🕍 A synagogue destroyed by Nazis during Kristallnacht 83 years ago this week has been recreated – using computer animated 3D modeling. It is one of 18 such renderings made to commemorate the two-night pogrom. (Stars and Stripes)
🎭 Meet Richard Klein, who left behind his job as a Hebrew school teacher to become a Bollywood actor. “I’m in India, you know, the land of reincarnation,” he said. “But as far as I’m concerned, I have this one life that I’m dealing with. I want to make the most of it.” (NYT)
🗞 The San Diego Jewish World has just sold to a new owner – for $1. The new editor – Jacob Kamaras, 35 – is a former matzah ball-eating champion whose journalism experience includes covering the longest professional baseball game in history. (Times of San Diego)
Shiva call > Rabbi Earl Grollman, who ministered to the bereaved after 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing, died at 96. Throughout his long career, he appeared on both “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and counseled people of all faiths. “One touch of sorrow makes the whole world kin,” he once said. (NYT)
FROM OUR ARCHIVES From Chana Pollack, our archivist: The Forward front page of Nov. 10, 1938, looked the same as always. The corner boxes above the headline called on workers to unite for a better, more just world: in Yiddish, “Arbeter fun ale lender: fareynikt zikh.” The weather would be nicer, warmer even. But the headline was the opposite: “Pogroms throughout Germany.” Details of what would become known as Kristallnacht – the night of broken glass – ran down the page: synagogues on fire, stores robbed in broad daylight and mass arrests of Jews for what the paper described as “revenge for a diplomat’s death.”
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Albert Einstein, noted physicist and Nobel laureate, received patent number US1781541 on Nov. 11, 1930, for an invention he developed – a refrigerator. Known as the “Einstein refrigerator,” (yes, that was the actual name), it was supposed to solve a problem that Einstein and his student, Leó Szilárd, read about in the newspaper. A family in Berlin had been killed due to a failed seal in the back of a refrigerator that leaked out toxic fumes. So they set out to create a refrigerator with no moving parts, making it more reliable. Alas, it never took off. Although in the grand scheme of scientific history, Einstein seems to have come out OK.
In honor of Veterans Day, take a look back at how the Forward covered World War 1. In particular, we published letters from Jewish soldiers on the battlefield to their relatives in America. We’ve reprinted some of them here.
Tonight at 8 p.m. ET! After 25 years, He’Brew beer is making its final batch. Join Jeremy Cowan, the company’s founder, and Rob Eshman, Forward food editor, as we raise a glass and talk about the life and legacy of “The Chosen Ale.” Register now >
VIDEO OF THE DAY Around the world, there are 35 replicas of 770 Eastern Parkway, the world headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch in Brooklyn, with six more – one in Nigeria – under construction. Last week, our executive editor, Adam Langer, talked to an architect of one of the replicas, two photographers who have documented them all and the writer who explored the phenomenon in our pages. Watch the video >
Thanks to Mira Fox, Chana Pollack and Arno Rosenfeld for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. Support Independent Jewish Journalism The Forward is a non-profit 501(c)3 so our journalism depends on support from readers like you. You can support our work today by donating or subscribing. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law.
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