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Twitter sees 31% increase in antisemitic posts, rabbi on how she helped her dad end his life, Jewish comedian pens moral philosophy book and Stormy Daniels' religious beliefs going to trial.
OUR LEAD STORY Texas attack intensifies the debate on guns in synagogues
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker heroically engineered an escape for himself and three congregants held hostage last weekend by throwing a chair at their armed captor. But during the nearly 11-hour siege at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, he said, he was wishing that one of his fellow hostages was carrying a more potent weapon.
Differing approaches: Groups across Jewish denominations do not have a uniform policy about whether guns should be allowed in synagogues. Some have adopted a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. “It depends on the part of the country, it depends on state law, it depends on culture,” said Barry Mehl, director of synagogue operations for the Conservative movement.
Lone Star state: Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis, of Congregation Kol Ami, a Reform synagogue about 30 minutes north of Colleyville, said the culture informs attitudes on firearms. “We have a community of people who are gun enthusiasts,” he said. “There’s a comfort level that a lot of Jews in Texas have that maybe a lot of Jews in New Jersey don’t.”
Some experience necessary: “Firearms and the Faithful,” a report from a Jewish security nonprofit, analyzes six options for armed security, recommending hiring armed guards as the safest option and offering a lengthy warning about using “volunteer armed congregants.” Bullets and Bagels, a gun club, generally receives more inquiries in the aftermath of synagogue shootings, but those are almost always from Jews who already own firearms and want to increase their training – not converts to the cause. “I’m not seeing a lot of newbies,” said one organizer.
ALSO FROM THE FORWARD Opinion | I’m a rabbi and I helped my father end his life:Rabbi Rachel Timoner’s story is the subject of a new documentary, “Last Flight Home,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival Monday. Her dad lived in California, a state that has Right to Die legislation, and she led him in the recitation of the final vidui confession prayer. He “had soldiered on in this life for 92 years, uncomplaining, to be there for us and for his grandchildren,” she writes in a new essay. “Now he wanted to leave the world, and all I could do was honor his wishes.” Read her story ➤
Plus: Read our interview with Timoner’s sister, Ondi, who directed the new film.
In Baltimore, a museum captures the precariousness — and beauty — of American Jewish life:Danielle Durchslag is one of 15 artists whose work addresses antisemitism as well as the harm Jewish groups have done to marginalized communities. “The challenge for me in trying to present my work publicly is that in Jewish cultural output, there are two poles that are generally lauded and accepted,” she said. “One is content about our victimhood, and the other is content that is somehow promotional about us.” Read the story ➤
But wait, there’s more… A Holocaust course designed for Muslim students may soon be taught at more schools. Sheldon Silver, the legendary New York State Assembly Speaker who died Monday while serving a prison sentence for corruption, was an Orthodox Jew from the Lower East Side. Our Jacob Kornbluh has this obituary. Letter to the editor: We need a tenure system for American rabbis.WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 📈 Three new reports on antisemitism: Data released on Monday found a 31% increase in Jew-hating posts on Twitter in 2021 compared to 2020. Much of that occurred in May, during the 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza, when such content spiked six-fold … Another study found that 10 antisemitic incidents occur around the world each day … And at Tufts University, more than half of Jewish students surveyed said that have witnessed antisemitism on campus. (Times of Israel, Algemeiner, Tufts)
😷 While we’re on the topic of antisemitism … Hundreds of flyers were spotted in San Francisco and South Florida claiming the pandemic is a Jewish plot. The flyers in both places look similar and list names of Jews who work for the Biden administration, the CDC and Pfizer; they note that Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health, is also transgender. “You can’t sit idly by and assume it’s just harmless stupidity,” said Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach. “Let’s call it what it is, it’s hate.” (CBS, JWeekly)
🙏 The comedy writer behind “The Good Place” has a new book out today about moral philosophy and how to be a good person. The writer, Michael Schur, said he was hoping to mainstream classical ethical treatises for a general reader. “It’s like a chef had come up with a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that were both delicious and also helped you lose weight, but the recipe was 600 pages long and written in German, and no one read it,” he said. “And I thought, if we could just translate that to, like, a human language, this would be very helpful.” (New York Times)
💻 Holocaust survivors are thanking people who rescued them via a social media campaign. The campaign, organized by Yad Vashem and the Claims Conference, uses the hashtag #DontBeABystander and is tied to the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz – on Jan. 27, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Times of Israel)
⚾ The new Jewish president of the Baseball Hall of Fame is living out a childhood dream. “You walk into a baseball stadium and you feel the tradition. You walk into a synagogue and you feel the tradition,” said Josh Rawitch. “Knowing that there’s generations of people that came before you and did the same thing.” He will announce the hall’s 2022 inductees today. (JTA)
Mazel tov ➤ To Jane Yolen, the author of “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” for winning the Sydney Taylor Book Award for lifetime achievement in Jewish children’s literature.
Shiva call ➤Prof. Dianne Ashton, a scholar of American Jewish history at Rowan University, died at 72. She is the author of several books, including “Rebecca Gratz: Women and Judaism in Antebellum America” and “Hanukkah in America: A History.”
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: The “Wedding March” by Felix Mendelssohn was performed at the marriage of Queen Victoria’s daughter – also named Victoria – and Friedrich of Prussia on Jan. 25, 1858, vaulting it into the lasting canon of processional accompaniments. Due to Mendelssohn’s Jewish ancestry – he was the grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, the 18th century religious philosopher – the Nazis’ Reich Chamber of Music later rewrote some of the piece.
Last year on this day, we reported that Joe Biden’s first Sunday as president included a stop at a Jewish deli.
VIDEO OF THE DAY The story of Adam Neumann, the Israeli entrepreneur behind the rise and fall of WeWork, has been told in books, podcasts and documentaries. Now, thanks to a new series on Apple TV+, it is getting the television treatment. The miniseries stars Jared Leto, attempting a thick Israeli accent, and Anne Hathaway as Neumann’s wife, Rebekah. Read about the show here ➤
––– Thanks to PJ Grisar and Chana Pollack for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
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