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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
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Liberal Jews gather to ‘sit shiva’ after Trump win, Israel picks new defense minister, a must-see video from Yeshiva University women’s basketball game, the strange reason the pope is praying for the New Orleans Saints, and Seinfeld star gets role of a lifetime: Tevye. |
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Dutch police officers stand guard after antisemitic violence broke out Thursday night after a soccer match in Amsterdam. (Getty) |
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‘A classic pogrom’
Israel dispatched two planes to Amsterdam on Friday to rescue Israeli soccer fans beset by mobs after a game between a Dutch team, Ajax, and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show Israeli soccer fans being chased and attacked on the streets by men shouting “Free Palestine” and other slogans. One showed a man on the ground fending off blows as his assailants shouted “this is for the children.”
Both the Israeli and Dutch governments called the attacks antisemitic, and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt said the violence was “terribly reminiscent of a classic pogrom.” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog spoke with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on Friday, and said the king “condemned the attack in the strongest terms, comparing it to the Dutch failure to protect Jews during the Holocaust.”
Officials said at least 10 Israeli citizens were injured, five hospitalized, and that 62 people were arrested so far. |
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The latest… Opinion: Liberal Jews, who want to live in a country where immigrants dream of making new lives for themselves, and who embrace — rather than fear — multiculturalism, are outsiders in Trump’s America, writes our columnist Rabbi Jay Michaelson.
Late-breaking races: Sen. Jacky Rosen, the incumbent Democrat from Nevada and former shul president, won reelection. … Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and a Jewish philanthropist, will be the next mayor of San Francisco.
“More than half of Americans believe that Trump harbors some positive feelings for Hitler or his actions,” according to polling done days before the election. (Washington Post, YouGov)
At a Manhattan synagogue, Jews gathered to “sit shiva” following Trump’s win. “I feel a deep, physical sadness,” said one congregant. Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat who was reelected Tuesday, was also in attendance. America “seems like a strange land now,” he said. (NY Jewish Week) |
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Mourners gather Friday at the funeral for Sivan Sadeh, an 18-year-old farmer killed by a Hezbollah rocket. (Getty) |
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The latest… The Knesset approved the appointment of Israel Katz as the country’s new defense minister after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired the previous one, Yoav Gallant, on Tuesday. Katz was the foreign minister; he will be replaced in that position by Gideon Sa’ar, who is traveling to Amsterdam to deal with the aftermath of the attack on Israeli soccer fans. (Times of Israel)
Wikipedia added a section for “Gaza genocide” on its page called “List of genocides,” ending “a months-long disagreement among site editors over whether it should be included.” (Haaretz)
The White House said it will continue to seek a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, and an end to the war between Hezbollah and Israel, but many worry not much will happen in a lame duck Biden administration. (Reuters)
Related: Could Donald Trump’s win lead to the release of the hostages? Middle East experts weigh in. (JTA) |
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Jason Alexander, center, as Tevye. (Courtesy of La Mirada Theatre) |
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Tradition!
Jason Alexander, the Seinfeld and Broadway actor, showed up in a full beard for a Zoom interview with our PJ Grisar. Was it for a role? “If it’s not, I don’t know what I’m doing,” said the Tony winner and eight-time Emmy nominee. “It’s like a pet. You have to walk it and groom it and let it play with other beards.” Alexander is preparing to take on one of the greatest bearded, Jewish roles in the theatrical canon: Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, which opens tonight. Go deeper ►
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Adam Brody and Kristen Bell in a bat mitzvah scene from Nobody Wants This. (Netflix) |
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Couples therapy
With the election behind us, a perfect way to decompress this weekend is to watch (or re-watch) Netflix’s Nobody Wants This. The title of this romcom about a rabbi dating a non-Jewish podcaster, played by Adam Brody and Kristen Bell, “is silly on its face, when 72% of non-Orthodox Jewish marriages are interfaith,” writes Edmund Case, author of A New Theory of Interfaith Marriage. He adds that it’s wrong for the show to hold up conversion as the “solution” to the supposed “problem,” and hopes that the second season offers a more nuanced approach. Read his essay ►
Related: Real-life rabbis in interfaith relationships have thoughts about the series |
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Actress Demi Moore stares at her reflection in a scene from The Substance. (MUBI) |
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Fountain of youth
In The Substance, a new movie starring Demi Moore, an aging TV star takes an injection to allow her to experience life as her younger self for seven days at a time. The concept seems antithetical to Jewish tradition, which values the wisdom of the aged. “You look at me and you see white hair and you see wrinkles,” said Rabbi Laura Geller, a retired Reform rabbi and co-author of the book, Getting Good at Getting Older. “You should honor me when I walk into a room.” Go deeper ►
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READERS LIKE YOU SHAPE EVERY PART OF OUR WORKWhile the Forward is now free to read, it isn’t free to produce. As a nonprofit, member-supported newsroom, we answer to our readers, not to institutions. |
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
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When a married player on the Yeshiva University women’s basketball team lost her head covering, the opposing team surrounded her to ensure she had privacy while she put it back on. (David Yolkut/X) |
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🏀 At a basketball game Wednesday, the head covering fell off the married captain of the Yeshiva University women’s team. To ensure her privacy, the players on the other team, Rutgers-Newark, quickly surrounded her so she could put it back on. (X)
📉 There were 33 anti-Jewish incidents last month in New York City, according to NYPD data. That’s a 22% decrease from October 2023 and the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack. (NY Jewish Week)
🏥 The former healthcare worker who stole the medical records of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and posted them online in 2019, while some speculated if she was fit for the job, was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison. (AP)
🏈 The New Orleans Saints are one of the worst NFL teams this season, losing their last seven games. But it seems they still have at least one devoted fan. Pope Francis has inadvertently been tweeting about them. (AP)
Mazel tov ► To Deborah Strauss, the klezmer violinist and educator, on winning the 2024 Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish Award.
What else we’re reading ► When the Nazis attacked synagogues on Kristallnacht, they were targeting Judaism’s heart and soul … How Trump taps into a Christian love of the large … Meet the rabbi who advises the Marvel Cinematic Universe. |
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Singer-songwriter Alex Clare dropped his latest single overnight. It’s called “Shabbos Yom Menucha,” which means “Shabbat, the Day of Rest” — something we could all use after this long election season. The melody was originally composed by Elimelech of Lizhensk, an 18th century Hasidic rebbe in Poland, and has been modernized for 2024. Check out the music video above. |
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Thanks to PJ Grisar, Louis Keene and Jodi Rudoren for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Julie Moos for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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