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Israel has first polio case in decades, more mezuzahs than Jews at Indiana University, Birthright closes trips to older participants, and the death of Mr. Entenmann, who didn't like dessert.
THE WAR IN UKRAINE Prayers for Volodymyr
There’s something unique about the way that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has entered the hearts of American Jews. In a week, the actor-turned politician has gone from “Who’s he?” to mishpacha, family. “I’m terrified for him,” said Stephanie Gold, a Los Angeles lawyer.
“The worry has led to a phenomenon almost unheard of in my lifetime,” our Rob Eshman writes in a new column. “Jewish unity.”
A New York-based Orthodox group raised $2 million to help Ukraine. Across the country, the Reform Temple Israel of Hollywood is also fundraising for refugees, and its rabbi, Mari Chernow, said affection and admiration for Zelenskyy resonates deeply with her congregation. “He has entered our hearts,” she said. Read the column ➤
Family connections
And beyond whatever kinship we feel with President Zelenskyy, many American Jews have actual blood relatives in Ukraine. And some with ancestral connections are struggling with exactly how they should feel about the conflict.
“Even now part of me is unsure if I’m even entitled to grief,” writes Brooklynite Michele Kirichanskaya, 25, whose parents and grandparents called Ukraine home. I’m “questioning whether my stakes in this conflict are even deep enough to merit comfort.” Read her essay ➤
Our man on the ground Larry Cohler-Esses during a layover in Paris Wednesday morning on his way to Bucharest. Larry Cohler-Esses, a former reporter and editor at the Forward, is en route to Ukraine’s border with Romania to cover the crisis and Jewish community response for us. We’ll have dispatches from him here each morning. He sent this from the Paris airport during a layover.
This wasn’t a trip I thought I’d be making even a week ago.
What I was doing a week ago is what we were all doing: Looking with horror at our computer screens and TVs as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine launched the largest land war in Europe since World War II. And like most of you, I was thinking, “What can I do?”
Bear witness. I’m a journalist, and that’s what I can do. It’s not much. But experience has taught me it’s not nothing, either.
Ukraine is home to anywhere between 43,000 to 300,000 Jews, depending on whom you ask. That’s a stunningly wide range, reflecting less about our knowledge of this historically important Jewish community than about the huge gaps in our knowledge.
Among those fleeing the carnage this week were a 1-month-old infant and 100 other foster children and frail Holocaust survivors who lived through the Nazis and Soviet repression that aimed to crush their Jewish identity.
I harbor no delusions about what my reporting might accomplish amid a tsunami of images, analyses and propaganda pouring out of Eastern Europe. But I’m here to tell some of these Jews’ stories as they struggle into the next chapter.
More on Ukraine…
The New York Times has a fascinating story from the capital of Moldova, where Jews who escaped a century ago have returned – “this time not as a victim, but as a rescuer.” They are helping thousands of Ukrainian refugees emigrate to Israel. “It’s like closure for me,” said Omer Hod, whose family survived a pogrom in 1903 and moved to Israel. “Back then, it was almost a shame to be Jewish. Now, people want to show they are Jewish so that they can be evacuated.”
Ukrainians are not the only civilians seeking refuge in Israel. Overnight, 440 Jews from Russia arrived at Ben Gurion Airport. Their exit is, in some ways, more precarious; officials involved in aliyah expressed concern that President Vladimir Putin of Russia might not let more Jews leave.
Plus: At the Moldova border, Jews from Odessa wonder when they’ll be able to return home. To help Ukraine, these Jewish bakers are making hamantaschen.As a public service during this crisis, we’ve removed the paywall from all our Ukraine coverage to make it free and accessible. Click here to support this with a tax-deductible donation. ALSO FROM THE FORWARD The vote to confirm Deborah Lipstadt as antisemitism envoy was postponed again on Tuesday. Senator blocks vote on antisemitism envoy, meets with truckers instead: Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, postponed a scheduled committee vote on the nomination of Deborah Lipstadt as the Biden administration’s global ambassador to monitor and combat antisemitism. Instead, Johnson and fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas met with a group of truckers visiting Washington, D.C. who were protesting COVID-19 mandates and supporting those imprisoned for participating in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Jewish groups expressed outrage at the hold-up, with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt calling Johnson’s behavior “disgraceful.” Read the story ➤
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🔨 Many of the dorm rooms at Indiana University now have mezuzahs on the door frame, thanks to a campus-wide solidarity initiative. The “Mezuzah Project” came in response to a string of antisemitic incidents on campus, including the removal of mezuzahs from the doors of several Jewish students. Now, hundreds of students have placed on their doors red mezuzahs with a sticker that reads “I stand with my Jewish friends.” (Algemeiner)
✈️ Birthright Israel is lowering its age limit back to 26, after a five-year experiment aimed at attracting older participants. One of the reasons? Extending the age range caused people to put off going. This summer will be the last time people aged 27-32 can participate in the program. (JTA)
🇺🇸 Former Vice President Mike Pence had dinner in Israel Monday night with Dr. Miriam Adelson, the GOP mega-donor and widow of Sheldon Adelson. The meeting at Adelson’s home has led some to speculate that Pence is preparing a 2024 run for the presidency. Pence is receiving an honorary doctorate today from an Israeli university in the occupied West Bank. (Jewish Insider)
📈 Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City are up significantly compared to a year ago. There were 56 incidents this February versus 11 in 2021, the New York Police Department reported. Overall hate crime numbers were also up. (New York Jewish Week)
💉 A 3-year-old in Jerusalem was diagnosed with polio, marking Israel’s first case in more than 30 years. A polio virus had been found in the country’s sewage system in 2013, which led to a mass vaccination drive in which nearly one million children got the shot. The boy in this new case was not vaccinated. (Haaretz)
👏 Update: The Anne Frank statue stolen from a Buenos Aires park has been recovered. Local officials believe the statue was taken by the “Bronze mafia,” a loose affiliation of thieves who have been stealing statues for their metal. The city’s mayor says he will host a rededication ceremony for the sculpture. (JTA)
Shiva call ➤ Charles E. Entenmann, who brought baked goods to supermarkets across the nation, died at 92. “I’m going to tell you something that’s been pretty much a secret, most of my life anyway,” his son told Newsday. “He didn’t eat Entenmann’s cake,” and “just wasn’t a dessert guy.”
ON THE CALENDAR Bobby Fischer photographed in New York in 1971. (Getty) On this day in history: Bobby Fischer, the chess grandmaster, was born on March 9, 1943. He learned to play the game that would define him when he was 6 years old, and by 14 he was already the U.S. champion and able to beat 10 players in separate games simultaneously. Eventually he became the best chess player in the world, but then things fell apart. “While his games were beautiful, his life away from the chessboard was often ugly,” writes Sofia Polgar. “The chess genius harbored a delusional side whose antisemitic and anti-American rants brought shame on not only the speaker but also the game.” (Fischer’s maternal grandparents were Polish Jews.) He died in 2008 at age 64 – the exact number of squares on the chessboard.
Last year on this day, we published a eulogy for Vernon Jordan, a civil rights hero, penned by the Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt.
PHOTO OF THE DAY President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany had lunch with Ukrainian refugees at the Chabad of Berlin on Monday. Among them were more than 100 Jewish orphans from Odessa, who had arrived safely after crossing six borders: Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and finally, Germany. “We were racing against the clock to arrive in Berlin before Shabbat,” said Rabbi Mendy Wolff, 25, who accompanied the minors.
––– Play today’s Vertl puzzle (aka the Yiddish Wordle)
Thanks to Larry Cohler-Esses and Eliya Smith for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
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