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| JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Give a tax-deductible donation Netflix's new Holocaust drama, Bennett's first 100 days, Spotify's Nazi headache, Freud's favorite Yiddish joke, the secret Jewish history of Bruce Springsteen and more. Welcome back! Sukkot here in the mountains of Appalachia, as the crisp fall weather begins to arrive, is one of my favorite times of year. However, it was a little less serene for our flock of chickens, who quite loudly alerted us to the fact that a bobcat was lurking near the coop. Fortunately, we got there in time to scare the predator away and all the Co-Hens survived another Jewish festival unscathed.
If you were, like me, offline the past couple days, here’s some of what you missed from the Forward…
Naftali Bennett and his coalition have made it to the 100-day mark. “The spirit of cooperation is holding,” writes our senior political correspondent, Jacob Kornbluh. “The question is, for how long?” During a recent reporting trip to Israel, Jacob talked to more than a dozen top politicians, commentators and former government officials to assess the coalition’s strength, its chances of completing — or even outlasting — its four-year term, and the prospect of a Netanyahu comeback. Read the story >
Netflix debuted a new Holocaust revenge drama on Wednesday. In “Jaguar,” a crew of Spanish survivors in 1960s Madrid hunt down Aribert Heim, a real-life Nazi doctor who escaped justice for nearly half a century. But the first episode contains misleading information about Heim’s victims, claiming the roughly 300 he killed were Spaniards when the majority were not. Is the mistake a flubbed line of dialogue, or something more? Read the story >
Congressional Democrats originally stripped Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system from a stopgap spending bill. After mounting pressure on Wednesday, they pivoted and introduced standalone legislation to restore the $1 billion in funding. But Nora Berman, our opinion fellow, sees the whole incident as a misguided attempt by progressives to attack anything related to Israel. Read her OpEd >
Spotify is under fire for promoting a podcast by a donor to neo-Nazi causes. The podcast’s host, Sam Hyde, whose Cartoon Network show was cancelled after complaints, has been photographed giving the Nazi salute. And he gave $5,000 to a legal defense fund for Andrew Anglin, the founder of notorious neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer, after Anglin was sued for harassing a Jewish woman in Montana. Read the story >
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Kathryn Hahn, who previously portrayed a rabbi in 'Transparent,' will play Joan Rivers in a new biopic. (Getty Images) 🙋🏻 Mayim Bialik revealed her desire to host ‘Jeopardy!” full-time. “There’s no other job I would rather have,” she said. In a wide-ranging Q&A, Bialik, who is divorced and has two kids, shared that she’s dating her podcast co-host, Jonathan Cohen. (Glamour)
💉 Subsplash, a platform that helps synagogues and churches build websites, host podcasts and stream services, has become an anti-vax hotbed. Videos on the platform rail against vaccine mandates, show doctors saying “the Delta variant is not dangerous” and highlight the personality behind the “Plandemic” conspiracy theory. (Mother Jones)
🐄 Leonardo DiCaprio is investing in Israel’s Aleph Farms, a “cultured meat” company that produced the world’s first lab-grown steak. Unlike plant-based Impossible and Beyond burgers, Aleph’s are made from real bovine tissue cells. … Meanwhile, Impossible Pork is making its debut today. For now, it will only be available at one restaurant – David Chang’s Momofuku Ssäm Bar in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport – making it, um, nearly impossible to get. (Axios, Forward, The Takeout)
🏫 A new survey of members of the most prominent Jewish fraternity and sorority found that about half feel the need to hide their identity and are reluctant to share their views on Israel. Nearly two-thirds said they had witnessed some sort of antisemitism. (Inside Higher Ed, JTA)
📺 “My Unorthodox Life” has been renewed for a second season on Netflix. (JTA)
🍫 Speaking of Netflix, it has acquired the catalog of children’s book author Roald Dahl and plans a series based on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Last year, Dahl’s family apologized for his history of antisemitic comments. (NPR, Forward)
🎤 Actress Kathryn Hahn will play Joan Rivers in an upcoming miniseries, “The Comeback Girl.” The series mainly unfolds after the cancellation of Rivers’ late-night talk show and the suicide of her husband. While we wait for its release, have a laugh at Rivers’ most Jewish comedy moments. (Variety)
Shiva call > Actor Willie Garson, from “Sex and the City” and “White Collar,” died at 57 after a brief illness. Just this summer, Garson filmed scenes for the “Sex and the City” reboot. “He was there – giving us his all – even while he was sick,” said the show’s creator, Michael Patrick King. “His multitude of gifts as an actor and person will be missed by everyone.” (USA Today)
NEW EPISODE ALERT 🎧 On our advice podcast, the hosts contemplate a letter from “Unhappy Camper,” a mom coping with kids who feel they were only told about the Israeli side of the Mideast conflict while at Jewish summer camp. “There are a lot of people in that bunk,” co-host Ginna Green says. She, Lynn and some guests talk about how to hold both a love of Israel as a Jewish homeland and a true commitment to Palestinian human rights. Listen now >
FROM OUR ARCHIVES Does the man on the far right look familiar? That’s Moshe Duchovny, grandfather of actor David Duchovny. David’s zayde was a journalist for Der Tog, a Yiddish-language daily newspaper. This photo is from a newsletter for Yiddish farmers (!!) in June 1948. In celebration of the festival of Shavuos, they invited several Yiddish journalists to speak. David’s bubbe, meanwhile, ran a travel agency that advertised in our paper, as seen below in a promotion for Passover vacations. Speaking of the Duchovnys … Mark your calendar! David Duchovny is headlining our virtual gala on Oct. 20. It’s an evening celebrating Jewish American storytellers, with Etgar Keret, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Miz Cracker and more. Register now >
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, died at 83 on Sept. 23, 1939. Little-known fact: he spent years collecting and studying Jewish jokes. We asked comedian Leana Jelen to tell us one of Freud’s favorite jokes … in Yiddish. Watch it here.
Today is the birthday of actor Jason Alexander, best known for his role as George Costanza on “Seinfeld.” Before he became famous on the quintessential Jewish sitcom, Alexander starred in some hilarious commercials in the 1980s, when he actually had hair. Enjoy.
Bruce Springsteen turns 72 today so, without any further ado, here’s the secret Jewish history of the Boss. Did you know he occasionally sings Hava Nagila in concert?
PHOTO OF THE DAY Last spring, our culture reporter PJ Grisar was living at home with his parents, and his mother was busy crocheting enough Bernie Sanders inauguration lookalike dolls to fill a minyan (partial collection above, taken from this pattern by TobeyTimeCrochet). Somehow he kept this a secret from us until this week.
“The meme moment had passed when she started and it’s long gone now,” Grisar reasoned. “I only mentioned it now because someone sent an image of a Sexy Bernie Halloween costume idea. Frankly I’m not sure what’s more disturbing, the fact that someone would consider that costume or that my mother was special-ordering the miniature plastic chairs on Amazon for months – I will say, the dolls are masterfully done.” Sadly, Grisar’s mother is not taking commissions at the moment.
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