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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

IDF kills two Hamas leaders, Adidas to donate $150 million from Kanye West sneakers to fight antisemitism, remembering Albert Einstein’s favorite birthday present, and the secret Jewish history of pi. Yes, pi.

OUR LEAD STORY

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Camps cancel summer trips to Israel because of war, low enrollment

Changing itineraries: Enrollment in summer camp trips to Israel for Jewish American teens is down dramatically this year compared to last year, reports our Beth Harpaz. Some camps have canceled trips altogether. Some are combining trips with other camps to get a critical mass. Many are offering trips to Central America, Europe or U.S. destinations instead.

On the one hand: While safety is a concern in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, it’s not the only issue. Some parents think back to their own carefree adventures in Israel, and they worry that sending kids to a country at war and in turmoil won’t inspire the connection to Israel that these trips are designed to foster.

On the other: But parents who are all for the trips say there’s never been a more important time to support Israel. If being there in this fraught moment means kids learn about Israel’s challenges, they say, so be it.

WAR IN ISRAEL

Activists and families of Israeli hostages block a highway Thursday in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

In the region…

Families of the hostages are expected to meet today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time since January.

The IDF said on Wednesday it killed a Hamas commander in Rafah and a senior Hamas operative in Lebanon.

Hebrew University suspended a professor after she accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Now around 100 of her fellow faculty members are calling for the school to let her return, fearing an international academic boycott of the university.

Delta said it will resume flights to Israel beginning on June 7.

The cast of The Fall Guy — including Emily Blunt (third from left) and Ryan Gosling (fourth from left) at the movie’s premiere at the South by Southwest festival Tuesday in Austin. (Getty)

Around the globe…

More than 80 bands and several scheduled panelists have pulled out of the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, citing Israel defense ties among its organizers.

Hundreds of antiwar protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and calling for an end to U.S. military assistance for Israel blocked the international terminal at the San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday.

A tour promoting real estate in Israel and West Bank settlements that has become a flashpoint for controversy and pro-Palestinian protests canceled its final event in Brooklyn on Wednesday due to security concerns, an organizer said.

South Africa said that IDF soldiers holding South African citizenship would be arrested if they tried entering the country.

Israeli soldiers walk out from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. (Getty)

Opinion | It’s time to talk about the day after — but too soon to do anything about it:There is a “historical, practical, political, moral and Jewish” case for a two-state solution, writes Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, who recently returned from a visit to Israel. Every American president since Bill Clinton has endorsed it, as well as many Israeli prime ministers, including Netanyahu, back in 2009. “As Jews, if the promise of Israel is the right to be a free people in our own land, then how can we possibly deny another people that same right? Everyone deserves a place to call home. Nobody knows that better than us Jews.” Read his essay ➤

For Israel’s reservists, heading home from Gaza doesn’t always mean getting back to real life: Some have expressed frustration at being sent home with the war ongoing. When “you know that there’s still people in Gaza, you feel useless in some ways because when you’ve been doing probably the most important thing that you could be doing since the foundation of the State of Israel, and all of a sudden, you’re out of uniform,” said one reservist. “You find yourself kind of just roaming aimlessly, walking to go to the store to buy vegetables, and you feel that you should be somewhere else and everything is kind of in slow motion.” Read the story ➤

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

A new take on the Esther before Ahasuerus painting. (Photo illustration by Jake Wasserman)

Is Kate Middleton’s disappearance a modern-day Purim story? “It seems like everyone these days is buzzing about a hidden queen-to-be, her scheming husband and a master manipulator close to the throne hoping for a royal undoing,” writes our PJ Grisar. He’s referring to the plot of Purim, but also about speculation regarding the Princess of Wales. He wonders: Is Kate the Esther or Vashti of this story? And is there a Haman in the royal court causing trouble?

Is Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling a Holocaust denier now? The famed British author posted on social media that the Nazis did not persecute trans people. That’s false, writes our culture reporter Mira Fox. “In 2022, Germany’s parliament even released a statement affirming that fact, an outgrowth of yet another online dispute,” Mira writes. “And even if they hadn’t, we know that trans and queer people were targeted by the Nazis and many were murdered in concentration camps.”

The secret Jewish history of pi:Today is Pi Day (3.14 … get it?) and, as Seth Rogovoy writes, the relationship between a circle’s diameter and its circumference was originally mentioned in the biblical Book of Kings in reference to a ritual pool in King Solomon’s Temple. But wait, there’s more: The numerical value of pi is also debated by the rabbis of the Mishnah and the Talmud and by Maimonides.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Kanye West at a 2016 Adidas event in Hollywood. (Getty)

👟 Adidas said Wednesday that it’s donating more than $150 million to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate from the sales last year of Kanye West-branded shoes after it severed ties with the rapper. (AP)

🎒 More than 70% of Jewish high school students say they’ve experienced some form of antisemitic harassment since Oct. 7, according to a new study of BBYO members. (BBYO)

🎙️ Two AI-altered clips of Hitler’s 1939 Reichstag speech have recently racked up millions of views on social media. The clips show Hitler discussing the “annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe,” in English instead of the original German. (Wired)

🖼️ A Dutch panel ruled in 2007 to return a Nazi-looted painting to a Jewish family. But 17 years later, the family is still waiting because a notary refuses to turn over the painting until he gets all the paperwork. (New York Times)

Shiva call ➤ Gerald M. Levin, a former CEO of Time Warner who helped orchestrate its merger with America Online, died at 84.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Albert Einstein celebrating his 70th birthday. (Courtesy Albert Einstein Archives/Hebrew University)

Today is the 145th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth.

After escaping Nazi Germany and immigrating to the United States, Einstein did what he could to help save his fellow Jews from the Holocaust. He helped launch what would become the International Rescue Committee, which is still around today as one of the world’s largest refugee aid organizations, and served as honorary president of the Children’s Aid Society, a Jewish social welfare group in Europe.

Children who had survived the Holocaust and had been relocated to the U.S. from displaced persons camps in Europe visited Einstein’s Princeton home. It was March 13, 1949, the day before Einstein’s 70th birthday.

Einstein told The New York Times that it was a “magnificent birthday gift.” A photographer on hand to capture the event, Philippe Halsman, was, according to Time magazine, “one of several people who the scientist himself had helped come to the United States.”

Read more about Einstein’s work rescuing refugees ➤

Thanks to Chaya Becker 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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