JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Happy Thanksgiving! This newsletter will be off until Monday, while I indulge in multiple servings of my wife’s out-of-this-world butternut squash casserole.

Today: Lawmakers want to withhold federal funds from universities that boycott Israel, New York State makes it a crime to grab someone’s yarmulke, Amsterdam bans Italian soccer fans, and the secret Jewish history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.

ISRAEL AT WAR

People return with their belongings to their homes in Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (Getty)

A truce, on one front

Israel approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Hezbollah, aiming to end more than a year of active conflict along its northern border with Lebanon. The truce went into effect early this morning.

President Joe Biden, in a Tuesday speech in the White House Rose Garden, called the deal “courageous” and said “it reminds us that peace is possible.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing criticism from his right-wing political base, was more cautious, saying sternly: “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack.”

The truce is likely to reduce the chance of a war between Iran and Israel. (Times of Israel)

Some 60,000 residents of Israel’s northern towns evacuated when Hezbollah started firing rockets after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack. They are now contemplating if and when to return home. Many of the 1 million Lebanese displaced by the fighting were already heading back to war-torn areas Wednesday. (Times of Israel, New York Times)

Experts believe that with Hezbollah retreating from the conflict, Hamas will feel isolated and more likely to come to the table for its own deal. (Reuters)

Some critics of Netanyahu argue that prolonging the war in Gaza serves his political goals. (Getty)

Deal (and no deal)

Opinion | “Hezbollah has been humbled,” writes our Israel-based columnist, Dan Perry, but Netanyahu’s resistance to a similar deal with Hamas “squanders a critical opportunity to reshape Gaza’s future.” The ongoing war in Gaza, he argues, is “not just a humanitarian disaster but also a strategic liability. Every day of fighting erodes Israel’s moral standing, strains relations with key allies, and deepens divisions within Israeli society.” Read his essay ►

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THANKSGIVING

The dreidel balloon at the 2013 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (Michael C. Dunne)

A Jew-ish holiday

Look closely at the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and you might find some Yiddishkeit. Remember 2013, when the rare convergence of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving led to an ill-fated dreidel balloon that began to deflate somewhere along Central Park West? And what about that time a Jewish couple crashed the parade and marched in front of Santa’s float for about 20 blocks before being caught. Discover more of the parade’s Jewish moments ►

Plus…

The Hebrew word for Jew is directly tied to the word for thankfulness, explains Aviya Kushner, our language columnist.

We tested five non-dairy milks to see which made the best pumpkin pie. And we dug through the Forward’s archives to find that pumpkin spice was popular long before Starbucks: We used it in a 1947 pie recipe.

Jews and pumpkins predate Thanksgiving. At least one piece of Yiddish literature suggests we were into pumpkin knishes.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

A poster from a Nazisploitation film and the cover of an Israeli erotic novel. (Collage by Mira Fox)

Nazi kink

“It’s obvious why people are uncomfortable with the idea that anything about the Holocaust might appeal or attract,” our Mira Fox writes about a new book, Bound Up by Leora Fridman, which tackles the taboo topic of Nazi kink. Fridman grapples with her own draw to the Holocaust genre as a complex question of identity, history and power. “What happens when generations upon generations of Jews are obsessed with their own victimhood,” the author asked. “What does it do to our understanding of our own bodies?” Read the story ►

When the American naval officer Richard Byrd was leading expeditions to Antarctica in the 1930s, he had a Jewish mechanic. (Courtesy Ohio State University)

First Jew in Antarctica

Fond of Jewish food but not particularly observant, airplane mechanic Bennie Roth took on the journey a tallit, tzitzit, tefillin and siddur given to him by his brother. The time he spent in Antarctica included both Passover and the High Holy Days. Naturally, he couldn’t get any matzah, but he recited the prayers alone in his cabin — the first Jewish holiday celebrated on the seventh continent. Read the story ►

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Rep. Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey, introduced a bill to pull federal financial aid from colleges that divest from Israel. (Getty)

On campus…

🏫 The House introduced a bill to withhold federal funding from universities that participate in Israel boycotts. (USA Today)

🎒 Occidental College in Los Angeles reached an agreement with the Department of Education to tackle antisemitism on campus, following a Title VI complaint alleging a hostile environment for Jewish students. (Jewish Insider)

And elsewhere…

🧕 New York State has made it illegal to forcibly remove someone’s religious garb, including a yarmulke or hijab. The law comes after a spike in antisemitism since Oct. 7. (NY Jewish Week)

🇺🇸 Adam Schiff, California’s senator-elect, said that he and other Jewish members of Congress worry that American Jewry “is more isolated and vulnerable than it ever has been.” (JTA)

⚽ Amsterdam said it would not allow soccer fans traveling from Italy to attend a Dec. 12 soccer match, hoping to avoid a repeat of the violent riots that broke out after a game against Israel earlier this month. (JTA)

🧑‍🚀 A Canadian businessman who took a quick trip to space wore a yellow ribbon pin to bring attention to the hostages still in Gaza. (National Post)

📺 The producers behind The Chosen, the hit TV series about Jesus, plans to expand its biblical universe with shows about Joseph and Moses. (Variety)

🎙️ After being hidden in a cantor’s basement for decades, documents for close to 4,000 musical works — including Hasidic melodies, Yiddish theater, klezmer and opera that aired on the Forward’s radio station — are now part of the collection at the New York Public Library. (NY Jewish Week)

Shiva calls ► Shalom Nagar, who performed the execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, died at 86 … Harris Rosen, a philanthropist who named a JCC in Florida after his parents, died at 85 … Jim Abrahams, co-creator of hit comedies Airplane! and The Naked Gun, died at 80.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Watch comedian Alex Edelman tell the story of the time he tried to prank his zayde at Thanksgiving dinner. It did not go well.

Thanks to Jake Wasserman for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Jodi Rudoren for editing it.

You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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