Jewish comedian running for NYC mayor, Israeli spyware under scrutiny, rabbis who really love their dogs

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In today’s briefing: Colorado's 'Shul with Altitude' offers peak services, Anne Frank gets animated, NBA's first Israeli announces retirement and much more...

ONE BIG STORY 🗳

‘ I want to be the Jewish mother of New York City'

New York City is home to more than 1 million Jews, the largest concentration outside Israel. Which means that the Big Apple’s mayoral election is a race watched by Jews all across America.

The primary elections ended a couple weeks ago – with Eric Adams, a retired police captain and Brooklyn borough president, scoring the Democratic nomination (and the likely win, considering the city’s demographics and voting history).

But there are other candidates! This week, we’re profiling the Libertarian – a Jewish comedienne named Stacey Prussman. “I want to be the Jewish mother of New York City,” she told our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh.

As a vegetarian, Prussman said her dream is to see vegan Jewish delis stocked with all the delicacies of her childhood with no animals harmed in the process. “My favorite deli sandwich is vegan pastrami and cheese,” she said, noting that such a combination works also for kosher-observant Jews who do not eat meat and dairy together.

Read our profile of Stacey Prussman >

Read Jacob’s profile of the Republican candidate, activist Curtis Sliwa > Sliwa's platform includes homelessness and animal welfare. Jacob interviewed Sliwa, and recently visited him at his apartment, where the candidate lives with his 15 rescue cats.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE 🏔

Colorado’s ‘Shul with Altitude’ offers a spiritual community - 9,000 feet up: The ski resort town of Winter Park is home to a unique congregation – with no dues, no building and no denomination. “I think it’s really cool that you’re not tied to funding a temple and buying tickets for the High Holidays – everybody just pitches in,” said local resident Andy Chasin. Read the story >

Two Jewish nonprofits merge to combat climate change: In Portland last month, the daytime temperature reached 112 degrees. In Seattle, 111. Between June 26 and July 6, approximately 800 people died of heat-related causes in the Pacific Northwest. Hundreds more have died in extreme floods in Europe. Two climate-focused groups, Hazon and the Pearlstone Center, announced they’re joining forces. Combined, they will have a $12 million annual budget and employ more than 200 people in Baltimore, New York, Connecticut and Detroit. Read the story >

8 OTHER THINGS AMERICAN JEWS ARE TALKING ABOUT 👀

A woman uses her iPhone in front of the NSO Group building near Tel Aviv. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Governments from around the world spied on journalists and political rivals using software made by an Israeli company, the Washington Post and other news outlets revealed. Known as Pegasus spyware, the technology from the Israel-based NSO Group has the ability to not only gather the data that resides on mobile phones, but also to activate device microphones to secretly listen in on conversations. The software is normally used to root out potential criminals and terrorists. (Washington Post)

2. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has concluded its investigation into the actions of a teaching assistant who asked if she could lower the grade of “Zionist students” because of their support for “ethnic cleansing.” But the university has not disclosed its findings nor replied to those asking what is being done to prevent future incidents. (Forward)

3. “Iran is the sugar daddy of Hamas,” Nikki Haley said as she cautioned the Biden administration against returning to the nuclear deal with Iran. Haley, a former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and possible 2024 presidential candidate, made her remarks during a speech at the annual Christians United for Israel leadership summit. (Forward)

4. Director Nadav Lapid’s “Ahed’s Knee,” a drama about creative freedom in modern Israel, won the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday. (Times of Israel)

5. Harry Rosenfeld, who barely escaped the Holocaust as a child in Nazi Germany and who became an editor at the Washington Post during of the Watergate scandal, died at age 91. (Times Union)

6. Pope Francis has restricted the use of the Latin Mass, a form of liturgy favored by traditional Catholics that calls for the conversion of Jews. Francis was reversing the 2007 order of his predecessor, Pope Benedict. At that time, Jewish groups expressed concern because the Latin Mass recited on Good Friday included a “prayer for the Jews” that called for their conversion to Christianity and referred to their “blindness.” (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

7. Omri Casspi, the first Israeli-born player in the NBA, announced his retirement this weekend. He has played for many teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors. (Sports Illustrated)

8. What we’re reading: The New York Times profiles President Biden’s Jewish chief of staff, Ron Klain. … Tablet magazine explains why Yiddish has gained an enduring foothold in Australia … The Atlanta Jewish Times explores the favorite pets of local rabbis. “Dogs can help prepare us for Yom Kippur,” Rabbi Shalom Lewis said of his 13-year-old Shih Tzu, Jack. “Though occasionally wronged, they quickly move on with a lick and a wagging tail.”

FROM OUR CULTURE SECTION 🎬

At last week’s Cannes Film Festival in France, an animated movie about Anne Frank received a 15-minute ovation. It comes from the mind of Israeli director Ari Folman who, 13 years ago, brought to Cannes “Waltz With Bashir” — an innovative documentary about the Lebanon War which would go on to win a Golden Globe and land an Oscar nomination.

Folman hopes his lusciously animated portrait of Frank will spur a new generation of activists to help in other humanitarian crises. “If people watch ‘Where is Anne Frank’ and eight of them Google ‘refugees and Mali,’ I have done my job,” he told Karine Cohen-Dicker, who covered Cannes for the Forward from France. Read our interview with the director >

In our review of the film, critic AJ Goldmann says “it admirably and creatively meets the formidable challenges of bringing the poster child of the Holocaust to the screen yet again.” Read our review >

Read more about Anne Frank from our archives: Men explain Anne Frank to me by Talya Zax

PHOTO OF THE DAY 🐎

PHOTO BY IFAT ZOHAR

The Israeli equestrian team poses on their way to Tokyo the Olympics, which begin Friday. From left to right: Alberto Michan Halbinger, Ashlee Bond, Danielle G. Waldman, and Teddy Vlock. Riding is the only Olympic sport where men and women compete against each other. "It’s non-discriminatory," Waldman told us in an interview. "And as a woman, I do love kicking the men’s asses. It still feels really good."

🥇 Read our comprehensive coverage of Jewish Olympians >

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