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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Borscht Belt resorts are burning, AIPAC chief to retire, NFL player apologizes for antisemitic remark, Colorado shul becomes national landmark, and a famous neo-Nazi reveals he’s now an observant Jew.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Students walk near Sather Gate on the University of California campus in Berkeley. (Getty)

On campus…

A new bill in California would require public colleges and universities to ban students and employees from calling for genocide while on campus, as part of a wave of proposed legislation aimed at combating antisemitism in the state.

The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday opened an investigation into the University of California, Santa Barbara, a month after its student government president, who is Jewish, shared images of campus activists targeting her with inflammatory signs.

Police at UC Berkeley are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying five people who they believe committed crimes last month when pro-Palestinian activists stormed a presentation by an Israeli lawyer.

Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages demonstrated Tuesday in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

The latest…

Relatives of the hostages were among those arrested Tuesday night during a demonstration near a military compound in Tel Aviv calling for a deal to free the abductees.

Amit Soussana became the first former Israeli hostage to publicly say she was sexually abused by Hamas in captivity. “He dragged me to the bedroom,” she told The New York Times in a long feature story published Tuesday.

Eylon Levy, who became somewhat of a celebrity as the prominent English-language spokesperson for Israel since the war began, will now be permanently removed from his position after being suspended last week.

Children attend class on Tuesday in a makeshift classroom at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. (Getty)

Israel is deploying an expansive facial recognition program in Gaza, an experimental effort to conduct surveillance using proprietary technology and Google Photos.

An anthology of poems published by the IDF and distributed to soldiers to boost morale includes verses about vengeance and paints the combat in Gaza as a religious war.

A Palestinian American TV reporter sued a Detroit station, claiming he was fired after complaining about discriminatory treatment and what he saw as biased coverage of the war in Gaza.

Pro-Palestinian activists gathered to denounce Israel's war in Gaza earlier this month in Brooklyn. (Getty)

Opinions…

Opinion | Israel’s war is making American Jews unsafe. So why are so many still supporting it?“We are not just helpless victims, as in the past,” writes our senior columnist, Rob Eshman. “We are also perpetrators. What we do affects what is done to us. That’s not to say Jewish actions ever justify antisemitism — just to acknowledge that they can influence it. Which means that to a greater extent than ever before, we can fight antisemitism by how we choose to fight in Gaza.” Read his essay ➤

Opinion | The U.N.’s ceasefire resolution insults Israelis. So does Netanyahu’s feigned outrage: “Losing U.S. support for the war could have disastrous implications for Israel, and increases the likelihood of an end to the fighting that leaves Hamas somewhat intact as a military and political force in Gaza,” writes Alex Lederman of the Israel Policy Forum. “As unsatisfying as it may be to pay attention to what the world thinks, diplomatic isolation is a high price to pay for ‘total victory.’” Read his essay ➤

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Accused of violating the Comstock Act, activist Emma Goldman was arrested in front of our office. (Getty)

Why was Emma Goldman arrested at the Forward in 1916? Blame a law cited by the Supreme Court Tuesday: Amid debate over an abortion pill, the justices kept bringing up the Comstock Act of 1873, which made it illegal to mail “lewd” material, including any “article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing” used to induce abortion. Goldman was arrested in 1916 outside the Forward Building on the Lower East Side for a talk she had given about birth control. Our Beth Harpaz and Chana Pollack tracked down our Yiddish coverage of the event.

The Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park has a Jewish organist. His 22nd season starts Thursday: Josh Kantor has played 1,698 games and is arguably the best-known ballpark organist working today, partly because of his side gigs performing with rock bands. Also because he takes requests: Sure, he plays “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at every seventh inning stretch, but most everything else he plays during a game is because of requests he receives from fans on social media.

Plus: The Oscar-nominated Hester Street debuts as a play today, and includes lots of Yiddish. Meet the dialogue coach who trained the actors.

NEW FROM THE FORWARD

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Then-President Donald Trump poses with a bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church in 2020. (Getty)

🤔 In the lead-up to Good Friday and Easter, former President Donald Trump is selling “God Bless the USA” bibles for $59.99 as he faces mounting legal bills. “Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country,” Trump said in a promotional video. (AP, Religion News Service)

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😲 The neo-Nazi who inspired Edward Norton’s skinhead character in the movie American History X revealed that he is now an observant Jew after discovering his heritage through DNA testing. (NY Post)

🇺🇸 AIPAC said Tuesday that its longtime chief executive would retire at the end of the year after nearly three decades. The influential pro-Israel organization is gearing up to spend tens of millions of dollars on congressional races this year. (Jewish Insider)

🔥 Over the past two years, Borscht Belt resorts have been burning — and no one knows why. At least four formerly prominent hotels have caught fire since the summer of 2022. For longtime Catskills residents, the fires are resurfacing grief over a fading chapter in American Jewish history. (JTA)

🇩🇪 Those taking German citizenship tests could soon face questions including: What gives Germany its special responsibility for Israel? How is Holocaust denial punished in Germany? Those and several other Jewish-themed questions are now pending final approval. (Washington Post)

🏈 New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner says his “intentions were positive” when he said Jews “run the world” during a recent interview, adding the he did not know that he was echoing a common antisemitic trope. (JTA)

🎤 After spending six years revising his 90-minute set about attending a white supremacist meeting in New York, and performing it on Broadway and all over the world, comedian Alex Edelman is ending it with a run in Los Angeles — just before the April 6 release of the corresponding HBO special. (LA Times)

🕍 A Colorado synagogue dating back to 1889 had dwindling members and high maintenance costs, nearly forcing it to sell its building in 2016. Now it’s being preserved as a national historic landmark. (Colorado Public Radio)

🪔 A high school student on a hike in southern Israel recently discovered a 1,600-year-old oil lamp, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday. (Times of Israel)

Shiva calls ➤ Helma Goldmark, a Holocaust refugee who joined the resistance and helped produce false documents for other Jewish refugees, died at 98 … Lew Kreinberg, who marched to Selma with Martin Luther King Jr. and helped found the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, died at 87.

What else we’re reading ➤ Ben Shapiro’s split with Candace Owens reflects how Israel and antisemitism are also dividing the right … A year after a deadly Nashville shooting, Christian school relies on faith — and adopted dogs … When Stephen Colbert and Paul Simon talked about faith.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Our editor-in-chief keeps a wallet-sized card of Uriel Baruch, a hostage confirmed dead on Tuesday. (Jodi Rudoren)

Uriel Baruch was thought to be taken hostage from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. He was in fact killed that day, his family announced on Tuesday, after seeing a new video found by the IDF. His body remains in Gaza.

Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, has for months kept a small card with Uriel’s name on it in her bag and recites his name at shul during the prayer for captives. (As it turned out, they share a birthday.) She first shared the story of the 35-year-old construction worker who loved techno music in November, and then again in December when she caught up with his family as they lit Hanukkah candles.

Uriel is survived by his wife, Rachel, and their two sons, Ofek and Shalev.

A scheduling note: I’ll be speaking at the Palo Alto JCC Thursday, so my colleague Talya Zax will be hosting tomorrow’s newsletter.

Thanks to Jake Wasserman and Talya Zax 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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