| JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
| | | Jewish college students held at gunpoint on Rosh Hashanah, Harris meets with Arab leaders in Michigan, comedian Alex Edelman talks Torah on High Holidays, and did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blame the Jews for Hurricane Helene? |
| | | | Left to right: Julie Benko, Jonathan Greenblatt, Tiffany Harris, Rabbi Dovid Asher and Chloe Katz. |
| Helpless and horrified: An oral history of 5 Jews in America on Oct. 7, 2023
The iPhone buzzed on the nightstand, waking up Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. It was 3 a.m. in New York City on Oct. 7.
“My wife and I were in bed,” Greenblatt recalled. “It was the head of my Jerusalem office. She said, ‘Jonathan, I’m in my safe room with my family. There are missiles falling all over the country.’”
It was the first flicker of the unfathomable: a terror attack in which Hamas kidnapped roughly 250 people and killed around 1,200, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. As we mark the one-year anniversary, I interviewed Greenblatt and four others about how they experienced those first hours.
Rabbi Dovid Asher and his Orthodox congregation in Richmond, Virginia, huddled around the security guard in their synagogue parking lot for the latest updates. Chloe Katz, then a junior at Columbia University, was on campus for services and tried to balance the Simchat Torah festival and the fast-breaking news.
Tiffany Harris, who runs programming for the nonprofit Moishe House, spent the day checking in on employees and participants in Israel as she cleaned her D.C. apartment ahead of a visit from her in-laws. Julie Benko, a Broadway actress starring in a show about the Holocaust, did not hear the news until leaving rehearsal in the early afternoon, then spent the weekend alone and glued to her phone.
In their own words, read how they heard about the Hamas attack and what they did next ►
Related: We asked six high school students how the world has changed for them in the past year. Read their essays. |
| | The March for Israel on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 14, 2023. (Matthew Litman) |
| | | Friends and family of the victims of the Nova music festival massacre gathered Monday at the site to mark the one-year anniversary. (Flash90) |
| More on the anniversary… Israelis paused for a moment of silence at 6:29 a.m. to mark the start of the Hamas attack one year ago. “Searing grief and political tensions” were on full display.
Some hostage families gathered outside the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hundreds mourned at the site of the Nova music festival.
Memorial events took place this weekend in London, Melbourne, Paris and in other international cities.
Some pro-Palestinian campus groups across the U.S. are planning a “week of rage.” At several New York City universities — including Columbia — some students and professors are planning a walkout.
Heeding the call of Pope Francis, President Joe Biden, who is Catholic, said he plans to “pray and fast” today. He and First Lady Jill Biden are scheduled to participate in a yahrzeit candle lighting ceremony at the White House with Rabbi Aaron Alexander of Adas Israel Congregation in D.C.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will plant a pomegranate tree — a symbol of hope in Judaism — at their Naval Observatory residence today in memory of the victims. Former President Donald Trump will mark the day with an event for Jewish leaders at his Doral golf resort in Florida to “honor the 1,200 lives lost.”
The latest… The Israel Defense Forces said that Idan Shtivi, who was believed to be taken hostage from the music festival, died during the Oct. 7 attack, based on new evidence. His body is still in Gaza.
Hamas fired five rockets toward Tel Aviv Monday. Two women were lightly injured. At least five people were hurt in Haifa when air defenses failed to intercept a barrage of Hezbollah rockets.
A terrorist killed an Israeli border cop and wounded 10 others Sunday at a McDonald’s in a Beersheba bus station.
The majority of Israelis think not enough is being done to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza, a new survey reveals.
For the second time in five days, a blast went off near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen. |
| | We interviewed people on the streets of New York ahead of the anniversary. |
| Plus… Our interns Olivia Haynie and Samuel Eli Shepherd took to the streets of New York City, video camera in hand, asking people how their views on the terms “Zionism” and “genocide” have changed since Oct. 7.
Israel has been listening in on all Hezbollah communications since 2015, when it first “booby-trapped walkie-talkies,” The Washington Post reports.
What else we’re reading ► For Pittsburgh Jews, attack anniversary adds to an already grim October … To identify human remains after Hamas attack, Israel enlisted archaeologists … How Oct. 7 changed American Jews.
Tune in tonight…
► Vice President Harris is set to appear on a special Monday edition of 60 Minutes. In the pre-recorded interview, Harris was asked if the U.S. has a close ally in Prime Minister Netanyahu. Her response? “I think, with all due respect, the better question is: Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is, yes.” Watch a sneak peek here.
► Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, will be in conversation with Lee Yaron, the author of a new book about the Hamas attack, at 7 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Register here to attend in person or watch online.
Related: Israel — and American Jewry — should respond to the anniversary with integrity, humility, empathy and a long-term view, Jodi writes in a new column.
Check out more stories about the anniversary ► |
| | | 🎧 We’ve launched Make Art Not War, a podcast about how Jewish and Palestinian artists in Israel experienced this year of war, and how it has affected their work. In the first episode, host Libby Lenkinski chats with Shaanan Streett, the lead singer of one of Israel’s most successful hip hop bands. Listen and subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts. |
| | | | People in New York City demonstrate for a ceasefire in Gaza on Dec. 28, 2023. The ADL includes such rallies in its tally of antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7. (Getty) |
| Antisemitism hits record high in the U.S.; new report shows most-ever incidents in single year:There have been more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. since Oct 7, the highest number ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League. The new data, released Sunday, represents a 200% increase compared to the same period a year before, which saw 3,325 such incidents. “Antisemitism is raging like we’ve never seen before,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. Some context: The ADL has previously acknowledged that it significantly broadened its definition of antisemitic incidents following the Hamas attack to include anti-Zionism.
Weather patterns: Greenblatt tied the data to the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, where antisemitic conspiracies have been directed at the Jewish mayor of Asheville, Esther Manheimer.
Space lasers, the sequel: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of Georgia who once suggested a Jewish controlled space laser may be to blame for a California wildfire, posted on social media that, “Yes they can control the weather.” Joked Michael Che on Saturday Night Live: “I don’t know who ‘they’ is, but it has been a suspiciously nice Rosh Hashanah weekend.” |
| | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| | The University of Michigan campus. (iStock) |
| On Rosh Hashanah…
👮 A masked man entered the home of a rabbi hosting about 20 University of Michigan students for Rosh Hashanah dinner and held them at gunpoint. Nobody was injured, police are investigating. (University Herald)
🕍 A man was arrested for threatening to “shoot up” a Minnesota synagogue. He was spotted outside on Rosh Hashanah and fled, but was arrested the next day. (AP)
🇺🇦 Tens of thousands of Hasidic pilgrims travel annually to Ukraine to pray on Rosh Hashanah at the grave of Rabbi Nachman. The ongoing war with Russia did not stop them. (AP)
And elsewhere…
🗳️ Vice President Kamala Harris met Friday with Arab and Muslim leaders in Michigan, a critical swing state, “where roiling discontent over the United States’ backing of Israel’s war in Gaza and its escalating attacks in Lebanon could threaten her support.” (NY Times)
✝️ A new Oklahoma law requires a Bible in all public school classrooms. The only one that seems to qualify is a $60 leather-bound King James version, with a portion of the sales going to former President Donald Trump. (NY Times)
Shiva calls ► Eugene Gold, the Brooklyn district attorney who prosecuted the ‘Son of Sam’ case and helped Soviet Jews emigrate to the U.S., died at 100 … Marvin Schlachter, a record executive who championed the music of Dionne Warwick and others, died at 90.
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| | | | In case you missed it: Comedian Alex Edelman, who this year won an Emmy and and a Tony for his show about being Jewish in America, joined Rabbi Sharon Brous for a conversation in front of the IKAR congregation on the second day of Rosh Hashanah about the need for laughter in dark times. |
| Thanks to Ruty Klein, Jodi Rudoren and Jake Wasserman 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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