| Jewish summer camps ramp up security, antisemitism envoy headed to Saudi Arabia, Orthodox basketball phenom misses NBA Draft, bagel wars in Hong Kong and much more. Plus: Play today's Vertl puzzle, the Yiddish Wordle |
| Elvis Presley at the 1956 Mississippi-Alabama Fair & Dairy Show in his hometown of Tupelo. (Getty) |
| The day no one wanted Elvis — except my grandfather Baz Luhrmann’s long-awaited biopic, “Elvis,” arrives in theaters today, and promises to tell the musical legend’s life story. Pivotal to that story is the year 1956, when Presley released the first rock ‘n’ roll album to top the charts, starred in his first film and performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. But in January of that year, he was just a 21-year-old kid visiting New York, and no entertainment reporter there wanted to speak with him. No reporter, that is, except for Fred Danzig. ‘I knew that my grandfather interviewed Elvis. But until recently, that’s about all I knew’: Danzig was at the time a writer for United Press International, a wire service, and soon to be the father of a woman who would later give birth to our PJ Grisar. He grew up hunting for the afikoman in a room with a shrine to Elvis, but only recently dove in deep for the backstory. Discovering an article that Danzig — Papa Fred — wrote about his encounter with the King, PJ found “a remarkable document of a young star on the cusp of a supernova.” He chewed his nails: Observed by a reporter up close for perhaps the first time, Danzig noted how the future King’s “fingernails were chewed down to where there was no more biting room left.” The nervous habit had its onstage complement in Presley’s gyrations, which the singer said were unconscious. “One day I was singing and rocking along real good and I heard everyone out front screaming,” Presley said, “I looked down and saw my legs were shaking like crazy.” A second meeting: As part of his research, PJ learned that his grandfather actually met Elvis another time, at a party a few days after their interview. Presley had gone to Times Square and bought a hand-painted tie for $1. “He was very proud of this thing,” Papa Fred said of the accessory, which the King wore with an expensive ribboned shirt. Presley was also impressed with the appetizers at the party. Read the story ➤
In other movie news: PJ also reviewed “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” an AppleTV+ film about a non-Jewish “motivational dancer” for bar/bat mitzvah parties.
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| To avoid taking sides, this is neither a Mendel’s nor a Schragel’s bagel, but a stock image. (iStock) |
| The Hong Kong bagel wars are more intense than you could imagine:The Schragel’s vs. Mendel’s rivalry involves a legal dispute over ownership at the Joy Lox Club Ltd and who has claims to the legacy of a guy named Michael Mendel. Things got toasty recently when one bagel shop was accused of sending security guards to the other to intimidate customers. Meanwhile, a few Hong Kong residents have accused both stores of “offensive Jewish cosplay” because of their liberal use of bacon and pork products and schticky marketing. Read the story ➤ Jewish summer camp begins with renewed focus on security:With gun violence at schools top of mind after last month’s shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the Reform movement’s 15 summer camps have strengthened their ties to the Secure Community Network, the same group that trains synagogues to protect themselves from violent extremists. The goal, said a network representative, is to create “a security shield across the Jewish community in North America.” Read the story ➤ Yeshiva University basketball phenom left out of NBA Draft: Three months ago, it looked like Ryan Turell, who led his team on a 50-game winning streak that grabbed national headlines, might become the first Shabbat-observant player in the league. But an injury he reportedly sustained in a workout last month left Turell unable to compete at an important pre-draft showcase. Now, his dad told our Louis Keene, Turell is weighing offers from Israeli professional teams and the G League, the NBA’s development league. Read the story ➤ But wait, there’s more… Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia next week, in her first international trip.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine told students at Hebrew University he is considering an Israeli-style conscription for his country’s military.
The JetLAG music festival, which bills itself as the largest festival of Russian, Slavic, Balkan and East European music in the U.S., kicks off tonight in the Catskills. |
| WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| Pope Pius XII was head of the Catholic Church from March 2, 1939, until his death on Oct. 9, 1958. (Getty) |
| ✝️ Pope Francis has ordered the release of 170 volumes of Pius XII’s archives, including thousands of desperate pleas for help from Jews. A new book, “The Pope at War,” draws heavily on these documents, which were made available to historians in 2020 and will now be published digitally. (JTA) 🙏 A French journalist who converted to Judaism has become one of Israel’s few female Orthodox rabbis. “I had no choice but to become a rabbi if I wanted to study what fascinated me,” she said. (AFP) 🤝 A Jewish family helped another family open a new restaurant after their first one closed during the pandemic. It was their way of giving back to the people who sheltered their relatives in Greece during the Holocaust. (CBS News) ✍️ Several swastikas were found scrawled in what appeared to be ballpoint pen at a synagogue in Monsey, N.Y. Police are investigating. (Westchester Journal News) 👁️ An Israeli hospital has found a 20% rise in eye disease caused by stress during the pandemic. Doctors found the increase in central serous retinopathy, which can lead to visual impairment. (Times of Israel) 📚 What inspired a young Irishman to become a Yiddish translator? The writing of Forward founder Ab Cahan. “Reading Cahan led me to read Singer and the likes of Sholem Aleichem,” said Daniel Kennedy. “And I sort of tucked that away at the back of my mind and moved to mainland Europe. A few years later, I started learning Yiddish and forgot to stop.” (Minor Literatures) 🎬 Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical movie “The Fablemans,” about his post-war childhood in Arizona, now has a release date: Nov. 11 in New York and LA, and Thanksgiving everywhere else. (Hollywood Reporter) Long weekend reads ➤ Saving historic songs, and a Jewish culture in Morocco … Group builds community for lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women around the Shabbat table … Meet the first Israeli woman to crest Everest. |
| Each week we pull a few of our favorite stories into a printable magazine. You can download it today and savor it over Shabbat and Sunday with a cup of coffee and a danish. And why not share this one with a friend, by emailing or posting to your social feeds? Get your copy now ➤ |
| The building collapse happened in the middle of the night, when most people were at home. (Getty) |
| On this day in history: The Supreme Court ruled that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment on June 24, 1957. The plaintiff in the case Roth v. United States, was a Jewish immigrant who ran an adult book-selling business and was convicted of mailing obscene advertisements and selling a publication called“American Aphrodite” containing literary erotica and nude photography. The court modified its position in a 1973 case, Miller v. California, redefining obscenity from “utterly without socially redeeming value” to lacking “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
Last year on this day, a 12-story beachfront condominium collapsed in Surfside, Florida, killing 98 people. Many of the victims were Jewish. Revisit our coverage of the tragedy.
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| Eden Blecher and Shelly Bobrinsky, who participated together for Israel at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, competed in the women’s duet artistic swim on Thursday at FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. They lost to China. ––– Thanks to Samuel Breslow, Mira Fox, PJ Grisar and Rudy Malcom for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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