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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
| | | | | | | | In this issue: Drew Barrymore, Timothée Chalamet, Christopher Columbus, Alex Edelman, Doug Emhoff, Whoopi Goldberg, Joe Lieberman, Debra Messing, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gwyneth Paltrow, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, and Donald Trump. |
| | | | Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch calls anti-Zionist Jews an “uncomfortable reality.” (YouTube) |
| Is anti-Zionism a sin? We asked the rabbi whose viral Yom Kippur sermon begged the question
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a former IDF tank commander who has led the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York since 2004, has made advancing the Zionist cause a focal point of his work at the forefront of Reform Judaism.
But lately, Rabbi Hirsch has been wondering where it all went wrong with young American Jews. Since the Hamas attack, he has used his pulpit to reflect on the trend of Jewish anti-Zionism, and the “uncomfortable reality” that many anti-Zionists are products of Reform institutions.
Hirsch returned to that territory with a Yom Kippur sermon that charged anti-Zionist Jews with “turning your backs on our people.” As of last night, a clip from the sermon has appeared on social media millions of times.
Hirsch explains that with tikkun olam, the Jewish concept of repairing the world, “what we did well is we conveyed all of those values that we consider central to us — justice, righteousness, mercy, compassion, peace, freedom — but we did not convey well enough the essential bonds that Jews have to other Jews,” he told my colleague Louis Keene. |
| | | A student at Columbia University during a protest last fall wraps herself in an Israeli flag. (Getty) |
| Related…
An anti-Zionist Jew wants to know: ‘Am I even Jewish anymore?’“Jews have disagreed about Zionism as long as Zionism has existed,” writes Mira Fox in a new installment of our Bintel Brief advice column. “There is certainly a loud portion of the Jewish community that believes any criticism of Israel is un-Jewish, and calls anti-Zionist Jews kapos or fake Jews. But they’re not the majority, even if they’re among the loudest.” Read the story ►
Opinion | For the sake of Israel, it’s time to retire the word ‘Zionism’: “Doing so would only reaffirm Israel’s legitimacy,” write Alanna Cooper and Sharona Hoffman, two professors at Case Western Reserve University. “There are plenty of terms other than ‘Zionist’ that are more accurate and appropriate for the 21st century. These include ‘Israeli citizens’ as well as ‘supporters,’ ‘defenders’ and — yes — ‘critics’ of Israel.” Read their essay ►
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| | | | Isaac Bashevis Singer outside the Forward Building in 1968; a Forward truck is seen on the New York set of a new Timothée Chalamet movie. (Getty/Leah Strock) |
| Driving the news
Here’s a movie prop we never expected to see: A replica of one of our old newspaper delivery trucks with Forverts printed in Yiddish on the side was spotted this weekend on the set for a Timothée Chalamet movie. The film, also starring Fran Drescher and Gwyneth Paltrow, is loosely based on the life of the late Jewish Ping-Pong champion Marty Reisman, who began playing table tennis as a kid on the Lower East Side and won 22 major titles in the sport between 1946 and 2002. Our Beth Harpaz has the story. Go deeper ►
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| | Donald Trump’s office in Trump Tower, as seen in 2016. On the wall is an award from the Jewish National Fund with the Hebrew words “Etz Chaim,” meaning Tree of Life. (Getty) |
| Plaque buildup
Speaking of new movies and props … If you see The Apprentice, about a young Donald Trump, you’ll notice a Hebrew plaque hanging on the wall in his office. It’s there in real life, too. It’s an award given to him by the Jewish National Fund in 1983 and, as I discovered when I went down a rabbit hole, the story behind it involves two Israeli playgrounds, some mimes and a Liza Minnelli look-alike. Go deeper ►
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| | Vintage illustration of Christopher Columbus on the deck of the Santa Maria in 1492. (Getty) |
| Sea change
“To discover that Christopher Columbus, long whispered to have Jewish heritage, had markers of Sephardic DNA, is to me about as monumental as learning the Earth is round circa 1492,” writes our PJ Grisar of news that made international headlines. “This is no occasion for shepping nachas,” he adds, “as the country reckons with Columbus’ seafaring as the beginning of a centuries-long genocide of Native Americans.” Go deeper ►
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| | | | Mon. Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. ET: Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, will be in conversation with Adam Mansbach, author of The Golem of Brooklyn. The event will be in-person at Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and available to stream online. Register here ► |
| | | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| | Israeli security and emergency services at the site of a shooting today on the highway. (Getty) |
| Israel at war…
😞 A terrorist opened fire today on an Israeli highway near the city of Ashdod, killing one policeman and wounding four others. A passerby shot and killed the gunman. (Reuters, Times of Israel)
🇮🇷 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Biden administration it plans to only strike Iranian military targets — and not oil or nuclear facilities — “suggesting a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war,” according to two close sources. (Washington Post)
👮 Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, led by Jewish Voices for Peace, were arrested Monday outside the New York Stock Exchange. (AP)
🇮🇱 Pro-Israel celebrities — like Debra Messing and Ginnifer Goodwin — are turning to Hen Mazzig, a former IDF soldier-turned-social media influencer, for insight on the war. (Hollywood Reporter)
And elsewhere…
⛏️ Archaeologists unearthed a 2,000-year-old tomb in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, an Indiana Jones filming location. Such sites are usually found empty or disturbed, but they found 12 complete skeletons and several artifacts. (CNN)
🎥 The late Sen. Joe Lieberman participated in a documentary about his life and career. It has been updated to include scenes from his funeral, and will debut in November at the JCC in Washington, D.C. (Jewish Insider)
Quotable ► “I’ve tried cocaine, but I’ve never tried bacon,” comedian Alex Edelman joked about how kosher he is, while hosting the 30th anniversary gala of the USC Shoah Foundation Sunday night in New York. Other stars attending the event included Drew Barrymore, Whoopi Goldberg, Meryl Streep and the organization’s founder, Steven Spielberg.
What else we’re reading ► How Pennsylvania’s Jews could swing the presidential election … The draw of Netflix’s new interfaith romcom is “not that the show is so distinctive, it’s that it is so familiar” … All the Jewish NHL players to watch in the 2024-2025 season.
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| | | | Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, appeared on a podcast posted Monday hosted by Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL linebacker and author of a new book, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew, co-written with Noa Tishby, the Israeli activist and actress.
At about the 3:50 mark, Emhoff talks about the mezuzah he installed at the vice president’s residence, on loan from an Atlanta synagogue known for its involvement in the civil rights movement.
Emhoff’s dad cried as the mezuzah was hung. “He’s a Jew in his mid-80s,” Emhoff said. “He’s born in 1937. His family came from Europe in 1900, half of which died in the Holocaust. So, to see the journey of a Jewish kid — himself — and being the father of this Jewish kid, who is now the second gentleman, hammering a mezuzah into the vice president’s residence, I mean, that’s the American dream.”
Later in the conversation, at about the 13:50 mark, Emhoff talks about his Judaism, the Hamas attack in Israel and the historical trauma of antisemitism. |
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Dept. of Corrections: In Wednesday’s edition of this newsletter, we misstated who evacuated the Torahs from Temple Beth-El in St. Petersburg, Florida, ahead of Hurricane Milton. It was Josh Gamson, the shul’s director of teen and youth engagement, not Rabbi Amy L. Morrison. |
| Thanks to Louis Keene and Julie Moos 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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