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How a theme park became a symbol in the Mideast conflict, advice from the creator of Kwanzaa, and a Jewish mom celebrated as the matriarch of improv comedy.
SOME OF OUR FAVORITES FROM 2021 As the year ends, we’re looking back at some of our favorite Forward stories from 2021.
How Jewish is Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah?’Culture Reporter PJ Grisar discovered “Hallelujah,” like so many in his generation, by way of the movie “Shrek.” But as he absorbed the song’s ubiquity, he began asking around about its Jewish pedigree. He interviewed the cantor of Leonard Cohen’s home synagogue, Cohen’s rabbi, the manager of his estate and the journalist who literally wrote the book on “Hallelujah.” After months of research, Grisar constructed a spiritual profile of a man whose life was as holy and earthly as this, his most famous song. “It’s legacy is a messy chorus made up of countless voices,” he writes. “A soundtrack to life’s minor falls and major lifts.” Read the story ➤
An oral history of the most epic Jewish summer camp prank ever: When our intrepid reporter Louis Keene first pitched this story, we assumed it was about color war, or turning bunks upside-down, or skunks. But no, it was about a 672-page book. On July 18, 2005, two days after “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was released, a group of boys at Camp Ramah in Ojai, California, did the unthinkable: they chalked and painted a major spoiler all over camp. “It was a totally devastating, clinically precise, utterly hilarious assault on the innocence of youth,” Keene writes. Read the story ➤
ALSO FROM THE FORWARD What ever became of the Hasid from Japan?Jacob Margolies has met a lot of interesting characters during his career as a reporter in the New York Bureau of a Japanese newspaper. But perhaps none more intriguing than a man named Abe who kept showing up at the newspaper’s offices. “Abe’s apparent adoption of Hasidic garb and his confident sprinkling of Hebrew and Yiddish expressions in his speech seemed more than a little bizarre to me,” writes Margolies. What’s more, is what Abe was searching for: a nice Jewish girl. Read the story ➤
How one Jewish mother became the matriarch of improv comedy: Viola Spolin grew up in the 1920s playing “games of charades, dressing up together, falling down laughing and singing impromptu, Yiddish-flavored operas,” recalls author Sam Wasson. She developed theater games to help immigrant children get over performance anxiety and her work in Chicago inspired improv greats like Tina Fey, Steve Carrell and Martin Short. A new PBS documentary, “Inventing Improv,” highlights Spolin’s role in shaping a great American artform. Read the story ➤
But wait, there’s more… The creator of Kwanzaa modified a Hanukkah menorah — and gave advice to Black Jews. In Chile, Jewish writers fought bigotry in search of a literary utopia. A new book explores their struggle. Bible verses are now being sold as NFTs. It’s “like holding a valuable piece of rare Judaica,” said a cryptocurrency entrepreneur.WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Israel's new indoor amusement park has become the latest symbol in the conflict. (Photo courtesy Magic Kass) 🇺🇸 The U.S. State Department tapped Stuart Eizenstat Monday to return to the role of special adviser on Holocaust issues. Eizenstat, a veteran diplomat, held the post in the Trump and Obama administrations. He previously served as deputy Treasury secretary and ambassador to the European Union under President Bill Clinton and as an adviser to President Jimmy Carter. (Jerusalem Post)
💉 An Israeli heart surgeon became the world’s first healthy person to get a fourth COVID shot on Monday. But vaccination rates among the country’s Haredi Jews are about half that of the general population. “I’m not opposed to it,” said one member of the community. “It’s just laziness.” (Algemeiner, AP)
🚨 A college student wearing a sweatshirt with the logo of the Israeli Defense Forces was reportedly beat up outside a Foot Locker store in Brooklyn. He and his friend claim the assailant also yelled at them: “How can you support these dirty Jews?” The NYPD said Monday it is investigating the incident as a hate crime. (New York Post)
🇲🇦 Remains of a Jewish-Moroccan community that existed for centuries were recently found in a remote town in the Atlas Mountains, on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Researchers from Israel, Morocco and France have conducted excavations in its ruined synagogue. (Haaretz)
🇮🇱 Magic Kass is a massive new indoor theme park in Maale Adumim with a resplendent kosher food court and adjacent Design City mall. Some have mused that the complex resembles a crashed alien spaceship. But others have questioned why the fancy new complex was built on the site, which lies outside Israel’s 1967 borders, in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. (New York Times)
😍 Nominee for the feel-good story of the week: They met in 1999 through a mutual friend in the San Francisco chapter of Hadassah. They connected almost instantly over their shared interests, and have been roommates and best friends ever since. She’s 101, he’s 78. (JWeekly)
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Muriel Siebert became the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 28, 1967 – crashing the 1,365-member boys’ club. During her career, Siebert donated millions of dollars from her brokerage and securities underwriting firm to help other women get their start in business and finance. She often appeared in public with Monster Girl, her longhaired Chihuahua, with whom she claimed a kinship because they were “not intimidated by the big dogs.”
Also on this day: It’s my little sister Chanie’s birthday!
Last year on this day, we reported that venerable Jewish delis were struggling to survive amidst the pandemic.
PHOTO OF THE DAY Afghan refugees visited a halal butcher in Jersey City to pick up free, freshly slaughtered meat and poultry donated by Masbia Soup Kitchen Network, a Jewish organization. This event was put together in partnership with Welcome Home Jersey City, a nonprofit that assists refugees and asylum-seekers.
––– Thanks to Laura E. Adkins, PJ Grisar and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter.
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