Ben & Jerry's back in West Bank, Israel dissolves government, New York's ‘most desperate single man’ gets married, and Sandy Koufax achieved greatness 60 years ago today. Plus: Play today's Vertl puzzle, the Yiddish Wordle |
Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice on the the Supreme Court, seen here in the bottom row on the far right. (Getty) |
A history of Jewish representation on the Supreme Court When Justice Stephen Breyer retires at noon today, Justice Elana Kagan will be the only Jew left on the Supreme Court. But history could have been markedly different. If President Barack Obama’s 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland had not been blocked, there would have been four Jews on the nine-person court. Frederic Frommer, a freelance journalist and author, took a look back at the history of Jews on the highest bench in the land. Breaking barriers: It was 106 years ago, in 1916, that President Woodrow Wilson nominated the first Jew to the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis. Prior to that, confirmation hearings for potential justices were closed-door affairs, but the choice of Brandeis was so controversial, it precipitated the first public one, which some people, including Brandeis himself, viewed as antisemitic. This seat’s taken: More Jewish justices followed – Benjamin N. Cardozo (1932-1938), Felix Frankfurter (1939-1962), Arthur Goldberg (1962-1965)– and by the time President Lyndon B. Johnson named Abe Fortas to the court in 1965, The New York Times was already referring to the “tradition of a Jewish seat.” That tradition didn’t last long: When Fortas resigned amidst a scandal in 1969, there was no Jewish justice for the next 24 years. A member of the tribe returned with Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993. Read the story ➤ More Supreme Court coverage… How a Holocaust survivor helped win the fight for abortion rights The Supreme Court ruled in favor of prayer at school. Is that bad for the Jews?For America, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a new kind of Jew
Plus: After the court’s decision last week that will loosen restrictions on gun ownership in New York, our opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, wrote a brave essay in The New York Times about why she, a self-described liberal, will be applying for a permit. Adkins has recently been stalked by a former partner, and slept with a sheathed hiking knife under her pillow. “It is exhausting to live in fear of someone who knows your habits showing up at your door,” she writes. “The unfortunate reality is that you are more likely to be shot and killed by a relative or someone you know than by a stranger if you are a woman.” Read her essay ➤
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Yes, it's black-and-white photo day here at 'Forwarding the News.' |
60 years ago today, Sandy Koufax became one of the greatest pitchers of all time: For nearly seven seasons, Koufax had struggled. But on June 30, 1962, he threw the first no-hitter of his career, leading his Los Angeles Dodgers to victory over the New York Mets in front of a crowd of 30,000. Fans gave him a standing ovation. When he woke up the next day, Koufax said, he was “walking on air.” Read the story ➤ Unilever sells Ben & Jerry’s Israeli operations, allowing West Bank business to continue: The company announced it was selling its local business to an Israeli, who can distribute ice cream with Hebrew and Arabic branding – not the English logo – across Israel and the occupied West Bank. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told the Forward Wednesday that Unilever had fulfilled her request to prove that it was not “engaging in BDS activity” by July 6, after which the state was planning to divest its funds from the company. Read the story ➤ Jewish New Yorker once known as city’s ‘most desperate single man’ gets married:The New York Post gave Yossi Rosenberg the moniker seven years ago and it stuck. But that didn’t stop him from eventually finding his bashert. “I sang a song to her at a Shabbat meal in front of about 50 people,” he said. “It was great.” His bride, Ivy Branin, said it was a moment she will never forget. “He was so sweet,” she said. “I was blown away. It was like something out of a movie.” Read the story ➤
And one more: A new exhibit in London explores how much of what we know about antisemitism comes from those fighting it.
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
A fire destroyed the dining hall at Campy Airy for Boys on Wednesday. (Frederick County Fire & Rescue) |
🔥 A fire raged for three hours at a Jewish summer camp in Maryland Wednesday. Using water from the camp’s pond, it took some 100 firefighters, including from neighboring Pennsylvania, to extinguish the blaze, which was limited to the dining hall. No injuries were reported. (AP) 🗳️ A Long Island man who painted a swastika on a yard sign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, who is Jewish, has been charged with a hate crime. “In the U.S.,” Zeldin posted on social media, “we settle our scores at the ballot box.” (NBC New York) 🇩🇪 Amy Gutmann’s father fled the Nazis. Now she’s the new U.S. ambassador to Germany. “It closes a loop,” she said, “while leading us forward into an era that my father never had the opportunity to witness.” (New York Times) 🎬 Reboot Studios, an arm of the Jewish arts and culture nonprofit Reboot, announced new theater, television, film, podcast and music projects. “If you are Jewish or you identify as Jewish,” said one board member, “or you have a Jewish story to tell, or thoughts around tradition, community, your religious experience in the world, that’s a project that we want to see and potentially be able to support.” Stay tuned: The Forward and Reboot Studios are partnering on a podcast aimed to launch this fall. (Deadline) 💃 A dance performance called “Song of Songs” will debut Friday in New York. In a wide-ranging interview, the show’s creators talked about how their work is informed by biblical poetry, Israeli folk dance and their Jewish heritage. (New York Times) 🍽️ A new Israeli reality show, “Hungry for Love,” has an intriguing premise: Every meal a participant eats must be on a date — they can never dine alone. (Times of Israel) Shiva call ➤ David Weiss Halivni – a Holocaust survivor, lifelong friend of Elie Wiesel, and pillar of Talmudic scholarship – died age 94. He was ordained as a rabbi at 15 and again decades later in New York; and taught at Hebrew University and Bar-Ilan University well into his 90s.
What else we’re reading ➤ Israel is set to be the first in world to pipe desalinated water into a natural lake … With sexuality and nudity, Vienna’s Jewish museum launches a daring new exhibit … Folk dance is a national pastime in Taiwan. Israeli songs are a big part of the tradition.
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Grab your headphones! The latest episode of our Jewish advice podcast was released overnight, and it’s a doozy. We hear from a listener with a very specific quandary: “My father wants me to go to his fourth wedding — and meet a half-brother from when he cheated on my mom. Do I have to go?” How will hosts Ginna and Lynn respond? Plus: Chana Pollack, the Forward’s archivist, joins the pod with a question sent to us in 1979 about another messy marriage. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or on our website ➤
Send your dilemmas about Jewish-American life, identity, culture, politics or your personal hopes and dreams to bintel@forward.com, or leave a voicemail at (201-) 540-9728.
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On this day in history: Albert Einstein introduced the theory of special relativity on June 30, 1905. It was the third of four revolutionary papers that Einstein, then 26, published in quick succession. It became known as Einstein’s Miracle Year, as he upended science’s understanding of the universe and laid the foundation for modern physics. “Thanks to my fortunate idea of introducing the relativity principle into physics,” Einstein said, “you now enormously overrate my scientific abilities, to the point where this makes me quite uncomfortable.” Related: The incredible story of Einstein and the Orthodox rabbi who saved the boys of Buchenwald Last year on this day, we reported that Gwen Goldman, 70, fulfilled a lifelong dream: becoming a bat girl for the Yankees. On this, the final day of Pride Month, we remember the lives of LGBTQ Jews who’ve died in recent years.
On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the first of Tammuz, traditionally considered both the date of birth (1562 BCE) and death (1452 BCE) of the biblical Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel.
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Naftali Bennett (left) and Yair Lapid embraced after Thursday's vote to dissolve the government. (Getty) |
The Knesset voted 92-0 on Thursday to dissolve the Israeli government and scheduled national elections — the fifth in three years – for Nov. 1, a week before the U.S. midterms. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will become interim prime minister at midnight. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that he will not run again, handing the reins of his Yamina party to Ayelet Shaked, now minister of the interior. A silver lining of Israel’s political turmoil? Bennett’s neighbors can finally get their driveways back. ––– Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh, Rudy Malcom and Arnold Markoe for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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