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Congresswoman mocks Orthodox guests at Capitol, Jewish couple suing adoption agency for discrimination, the neo-Nazi reading Jane Austen, and Jeff Goldblum celebrates 'Fiddler'
TEXAS ATTACK AFTERMATH As we close out the week and usher in what we hope will be a peaceful Shabbat, we have the latest developments from Colleyville and several new essays to help contextualize the attack.
‘I continue to wear my yarmulke proudly,’ says Texas rabbi: Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker joined the ADL and the FBI on a Zoom call Thursday afternoon to allay the fears of Jewish communities across the country. His Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville will be open for services tonight and tomorrow, he said, plus religious school on Sunday. “I don’t believe, in spite of the increase in antisemitism, this is necessarily a time of danger,” he said. “I would hope and I would pray that we’re able to get past the sense of fear.” Read the story ➤
What leads to hostage crises? My colleague Rob Eshman, the Forward’s national editor, made a terrific point in his “Letter from California” newsletter (subscribe here!) about how antisemitism was not the only social ill at play in last Shabbat’s synagogue siege. He highlighted how mental illness and guns were also key elements in the episode in Texas, as well as at earlier attacks in Pittsburgh, Poway and Monsey. Read his essay here ➤
Opinion | I’m a pulpit rabbi. This is the true cost to keeping synagogues safe: Rabbi Daniel Bogard leads a progressive justice-focused congregation in St. Louis where the term “radical hospitality” is part of the mission. But in the wake of Saturday’s attack, he’s redirecting thousands of dollars from community work to protecting the synagogue. “I’ve begun thinking of the security costs that the United States has placed upon Jewish communities as a Second Amendment Tax,” he writes, adding that if we have to spend all this money “to exercise our First Amendment rights, is it even a right at all?” Read the essay ➤
Opinion | Antisemitic conspiracy theories are at the root of anti-Jewish violence: Malik Faisal Akram, the hostage-taker ultimately killed by the FBI, apparently believed that Jews could exert their sway over the U.S. government to free an imprisoned terrorist. “At its core, antisemitism is fundamentally different from other types of hate,” writes Ken Jacobson of the Anti-Defamation League. “While stereotyping, discrimination and otherizing all contribute to antisemitism, the core of antisemitism is the notion of poisonous and secretive Jewish power and control. Read the essay ➤
Plus: Our opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, penned an OpEd in the Washington Post arguing that the myth that Jews are all-powerful is the biggest threat to Jewish lives.
Later today: Rabbi Cytron-Walker will speak to Jewish leaders ahead of Shabbat on a call arranged by the White House.
Our weekend magazine: We’ve curated some of our top stories on the aftermath of the Texas standoff into a free, printable publication. We’ve got an interview with Rabbi Cytron-Walker, a look at how other rabbis are grappling with how to balance security and hospitality, several opinion essays and a dispatch from Britain. Get your copy here ➤
SHIVA CALL Survivor of ‘train to nowhere’ dies at 94: Louis Sneh, who survived Dachau to become a successful businessman, a great-grandfather and a tireless activist for Holocaust commemoration, cheated death many times. He came face-to-face with Dr. Josef Mengele, and when a Nazi guard asked if any of the prisoners were electricians, Sneh immediately raised his hand — despite coming from a village with no electricity. As the war ended, the Nazis herded thousands onto a 70-car train with no food, water, toilets or windows. General Patton’s army caught up with the train in Bavaria and Sneh stepped out onto the platform a free man.
An avid photographer, he once decided to wait for a freight train to pass through Seeshaupt so he could capture a re-creation of his liberation. When he asked for a train schedule, the station manager said, “The last freight train passed here in 1945. It was filled with corpses.” Sneh replied: “You’re looking at one of those corpses.” Read an appreciation by Rob Eshman ➤ WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Rep. Lauren Boebert is no stranger to controversy: She's called vaccine workers 'needle Nazis.' (Getty Images) 🕵️ Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, left a group of kippah-wearing Jewish visitors to the Capitol confused when she inquired if they were doing “reconnaissance.” Our political correspondent, Jacob Kornbluh, spoke to Ezra Friedlander, the Orthodox lobbyist who organized the visit. “It was totally inappropriate to label a group of Americans, some of whom were visibly Jewish and of the Hasidic tradition, trying to insinuate something that does not exist,” he said. Boebert blamed Democrats for the misunderstanding, saying: “I’m too short to see anyone’s yarmulkes.” (JTA/Forward)
👶 A Jewish couple in Tennessee is suing a Christian adoption agency that refused to help them. It’s the first test of a 2020 state law that allows agencies to discriminate for “religious or moral” reasons that was initially aimed to allow such agencies to exclude same-sex couples. (JTA)
📚 You may recall a story we shared in September about a judge in England who punished Ben John – a 22-year-old Nazi sympathizer who downloaded bomb-making instructions – by making him read classic novels including “Pride and Prejudice” as well as Shakespeare plays. He could stay out of prison if he passed monthly tests on the readings. Well, it turns out that John is enjoying Jane Austen, but has continued to access Nazi content online. The U.K. prosecutor is now asking the court to review the “unduly lenient” sentence. (New York Post)
🇮🇱 The Israel Defense Forces is starting a program for recruits who don’t want to hold or fire weapons. It’s a response to what the military says is a 50% increase in draft-age men seeking exemptions for mental-health issues including anxiety and depression. (Jewish Insider)
🎶 Daniel Kahn is being hailed as the “Yiddish bard of the 21st century.” His new album is attracting rave reviews, and a music video he made for the Forward, a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in the mamaloshn has garnered more than 2 million views. Asked about his success, he’s quick with an answer: “I can’t account for it because I am terrible at accounting.” (Tablet)
🎬 The script for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” has been posted online. And this is the first sentence: “In the darkness, someone whistles the shofar call.” Indeed, this shofar theme is woven throughout Leonard Bernstein’s whole score. (Deadline, Forward)
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Robby Benson, an actor known for his career-defining role as a rebbe’s son in “The Chosen,” was born on Jan. 21, 1956. He almost didn’t get the part. Director Jeremy Kagan recently told the Forward during a video conversation honoring the film’s 40th anniversary that he had another actor in mind and thought Benson was too gentle to play such a complex character. But Benson was undeterred.
He rushed over to Kagan’s house and banged on the door. “This guy suddenly comes right at me,” Kagan recalled, “and he grabs a hold of my lapels and he throws me back against the wall. And he gets his face right next to me and he says, ‘Is that enough rage for you?’” He got the part. (Years later, Benson would channel that same gruff attitude when he voiced the Beast in Disney’s animated film “Beauty and the Beast.”)
Last year on this day, as seniors and healthcare workers began receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, we took a dive into our archives to showcase the time when, during the height of the smallpox outbreak in 1947, the Forward’s building became a mass vaccination site.
VIDEO OF THE DAY Miracle of miracles! A new documentary about how “Fiddler on the Roof” made its way to the big screen has just unveiled its trailer. And, as if that wasn’t enough to get your attention, the movie is narrated by the inimitable Jeff Goldblum! Featuring interviews with composer John Williams, director Norman Jewison (who, despite the name, is Protestant), lyricist Sheldon Harnick and members of the cast, the documentary is poised to take us through what made the film adaptation of the Broadway musical an international, interfaith success in 1971. “Over one billion people saw the film,” says the actor Topol in the trailer. “So they couldn’t all be Jewish.”
Check out our special coverage of the 5oth anniversary of “Fiddler” ➤
––– Thanks to PJ Grisar for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
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