|
 | JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
|  | | Today: Ukraine marks 1,000 days of war, Lebanon conditionally agrees to ceasefire, the neo-Nazi ‘soap opera’ happening every weekend in the U.S., Lufthansa employees get antisemitism training, and what it’s like being Barbra Streisand’s stepson. |
| | |  | The new Trump administration may consider cracking down on nonprofits that criticize Israel. (Getty) |
| Charitable deductions
Republicans and some Democrats want to give the incoming Trump administration the ability to strip tax-exempt status from nonprofits that officials think are supporting terrorists — without going to court or presenting evidence.
Our Arno Rosenfeld, who covers antisemitism, was a bit surprised to see the Anti-Defamation League joining AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition to lobby in favor of the bill. “Given that Elon Musk hates the ADL,” he told me, “it does seem like playing with fire.” Go deeper ►
Related… President-elect Donald Trump added Marc Rowan, a billionaire investor, to his shortlist for treasury secretary. Rowan made headlines last year for pressuring the president of the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, to resign over campus antisemitism. If selected for the treasury role, he would be in a position to strip nonprofits of their tax status for supporting a terrorist organization like Hamas.
An executive at the Jewish Federations of North America upset colleagues when she excitedly discussed resettling Gaza. “It underscored emerging fault lines within American Jewish organizations as they navigate a second Trump administration,” reports the JTA’s Ron Kampeas.
|
|  | | One nation under God
Opinion ► Trump floated the idea of bringing prayer into public schools, a threat to the separation of church and state. Robert Alter, who has written a translation of the Hebrew Bible, argues that the move “would take us back to benighted historical eras of the past,” when a “particular kingdom would adhere to the cult of that kingdom’s principal deity.” He warned that such eras offered countless examples of “intolerance fostered by monotheism.” Read his essay ►
Related ► The Texas State Board of Education is expected to vote this week on a measure that would allow Christian Bible lessons to be taught in elementary schools. (AP, NY Times)
|
| | |  | A building in Ramat Gan, north of Tel Aviv, was damaged by a rocket from Lebanon Monday. (Getty) |
| The latest… A top Lebanese official said Lebanon has agreed to a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, with some notes. Amos Hochman, the U.S. envoy, arrived in Beirut this morning and plans to travel to Israel on Wednesday. (Times of Israel)
Nearly 100 trucks loaded with food and other aid were stopped at gunpoint in the Gaza Strip and looted, a U.N. agency said. It was unclear who carried out the ambush. (NY Times, Times of Israel)
T’ruah, the rabbinic human rights organization, is calling on the United States to stop sending bombs and other non-defensive military aid to Israel. (Religion News Service)
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said the Senate will vote Wednesday on his resolutions to block more than $20 billion in arms sales to Israel. “As Americans, we are complicit in these horrific and illegal atrocities,” Sanders wrote in an oped. “Our complicity must end.” (Jewish Insider, Washington Post)
The Biden administration imposed a new round of sanctions on an Israeli settler group for causing violence in the occupied West Bank. Trump could reverse the decision. (JTA)
🎧 Tune in: The latest episode of our podcast, Make Art Not War, is out. Host Libby Lenkinski chats with Neta Weiner and Samira Saraya of System Ali, a Palestinian-Jewish band, about what creating and performing has been like during a year of war. Listen to it now, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. |
| | | | ISRAEL ALONE by Bernard-Henri Lévy |
| Weaving in fifty years of experience with Israel, Bernard-Henri Lévy analyzes global responses to October 7, the new virulent waves of the oldest hatred in the world: anti-Semitism, why Israel is waging this existential war against barbarism alone, and what’s at stake for Israel and the world. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | |  | | Hog wild
How did pigs become synonymous with treyf? That’s the question at the center of a new book, Forbidden: A 3000-year History of Jews and the Pig. The author traces how early Christians viewed both Jews and pigs negatively, and claims the modern tradition of Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas relies on the idea of “safe treyf” — where non-kosher ingredients like pork are chopped finely enough to allow for plausible deniability. Go deeper ►
Related ► A viral photo of Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. eating McDonald’s has somehow led to an antisemitic meme called “Goyslop.” Our digital culture reporter, Mira Fox, has all the details. |
|  | A neo-Nazi rally in September 2023 in Orlando, Florida. (Getty) |
| Marching orders
The neo-Nazi march in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday was not unusual; there have been hundreds of similar events over the past two years. “Almost every single weekend, white supremacists are rallying in some neighborhood,” said Oren Segal of the ADL’s Center on Extremism. I spoke with Segal about who’s behind these events and what they are trying to accomplish. Go deeper ►
Related ► Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, was on ABC News yesterday talking about the march, and explained how these types of antisemitic events differ from antisemitism around anti-Zionist activity on college campuses. Watch it here.
|
| |  | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
|  | Demonstrators shouting pro-Palestinian slogans stood outside Harvard Hillel during an event with a former IDF spokesperson. (X) |
| On campus… About a dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators shouted “Zionists are not welcome here” and other slogans outside Harvard’s Hillel Monday night to protest an event featuring a former spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. (Harvard Crimson, X)
Tufts University extended the suspension of its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter until 2027, citing “multiple violations of university policies,” including promoting violence. (Algemeiner)
The University of Arizona created an endowed chair in Holocaust studies with a $2 million gift from an anonymous donor. Leonard Hammer, a Judaic Studies lecturer, is the first to hold the position. (U. of Arizona)
The Jewish Student Union in St. Louis, which has been providing programs for middle- and high-school students for more than 20 years, unveiled a new 4,000-square-foot facility. (Spectrum)
And elsewhere…
🇺🇦 Today marks a grim anniversary: the 1,000th day since Russia invaded Ukraine. After an overnight drone attack on a residential building, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that President Vladimir Putin “is not interested in talking about peace.” (BBC)
🏆 Paul Coates, a publisher and the father of author Ta-Nehisi Coates, recently republished an infamous antisemitic tract. On Wednesday, the National Book Awards is set to give him a lifetime achievement award. (JTA)
📚 Elsewhere in the literary world, dozens of authors withdrew from the Giller Prize in Canada because its main sponsor is a bank with ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer. (JTA)
✈️ The American Jewish Committee held an antisemitism training for Lufthansa employees, a response to the airline’s removal of 128 visibly Orthodox passengers from a flight in May 2022. (eJewishPhilanthropy)
🎶 A priest who let pop star Sabrina Carpenter film a provocative music video in his Brooklyn church was stripped of his duties. Church officials said their investigation found other instances of mismanagement. (AP)
🏈 Sam Salz, likely the first Orthodox Jew to play Division 1 college football, made his debut Saturday night for Texas A&M. The team won 38-3. (JTA)
Shiva calls ► Arthur Frommer, whose seminal guidebooks helped people travel the world, died at 95 … Shel Talmy, the music producer behind the Kinks, the Who and the sound of the British invasion, died at 87.
What else we’re reading ► How a real estate mogul became Trump’s Middle East point man … Why religious themes make for such good horror movies … What’s it like being Barbra Streisand’s stepson? Ask Josh Brolin.
|
| | |  | | Ben Stiller emceed the Anti-Defamation League’s “In Concert for Hate” event Monday at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It featured performances from Sia, the Grammy-nominated singer; Eden Golan, Israel’s 2024 Eurovision contestant; and the National Symphony Orchestra, which played Jewish songs.
Also spotted at the event: Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, CNN’s Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, and music producer Scooter Braun, who was honored for his pro-Israel activism in the past year. (Jewish Insider)
|
| | Dept. of corrections: Monday’s newsletter incorrectly stated the role for which Trump intends to nominate Brendan Carr. It is for the Federal Communications Commission, not the Federal Trade Commission. |
| Thanks to Arno Rosenfeld for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Jodi Rudoren for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
| | Support independent Jewish journalism |
| With your help, the Forward will be ready for whatever news 2025 will bring. Make a tax-deductible gift and invest in the future of Jewish journalism. |
| |  | |
|
|
|
| |
|
