Over the weekend, Al Gross, a Jewish physician and fisherman, Sarah Palin and two other candidates advanced to Alaska’s Aug. 16 special general election for U.S. Senate. And in Manhattan, protesters confronted Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida over his bill restricting discussion of sexuality in schools. “They can’t cancel me,” DeSantis said as he addressed the Jewish Leadership Conference at Chelsea Piers. “I’m going to speak my mind.” Here’s what else our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, is watching... |
N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke at the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council Women’s Brunch. (Kevin P. Coughlin) |
New York governor says she feels a ‘special calling’ to protect Jews New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams reiterated their commitment to fighting a wave of antisemitism in remarks Sunday evening to the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum in New York City. Hochul also announced that New York has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. In a recent interview, Hochul, who is facing a Democratic primary challenge at the end of the month, told us her affinity for Judaism and Israel dates back to her college days. She said government has a “moral responsibility” to stop the rise in attacks against Jews in real time. “The whole spectrum of antisemitism, I’ve never had to endure that,” she said. “But it hurts me as a human being to know that there’s someone out there who is vulnerable because of their own faith, their upbringing and their lifestyle.” Read our interview ➤
Tonight: U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin and the other three Republicans vying to take Hochul on in November will meet for a televised debate starting at 7 p.m. ET. Andrew Giuliani, a candidate and the son of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, refused to provide proof he is vaccinated against the coronavirus and thus will appear virtually.
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Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (left) and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. (Getty) |
This morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ambassador Deborah E. Lipstadt, the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, will address the American Jewish Committee Global Forum. Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid are marking today the first anniversary of the so-called “change” government that ousted Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 years in power. But while they outlasted many expert predictions, Bennett and Lapid have lost their majority in the Knesset and thus face a legislative stalemate and possible collapse of the government. Read Jacob’s analysis of the coalition at its 100-day mark, which predicted much of this. On Capitol Hill, members of the Abraham Accords Caucus introduced legislation that would boost defense aid to Israel and its Gulf partners to combat Iranian attacks in the region. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other left-wing Democrats sent a letter to Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging them to keep Israel out of a visa-waiver program due to its disparate treatment of Palestinian-Americans trying to enter the West Bank through Israel.
President Joe Biden is expected to formally announce a trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Mideast spots in mid-July. Last week, the administration acquiesced to fierce resistance from the Israeli government against its plan to reopen the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem to serve Palestinians; instead, it has renamed a unit in the embassy the Office of Palestinian Affairs.
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THE TONY AWARDS ... IN YIDDISH |
It was the most Jewish segment of an awards show in recent memory — or, for that matter, any show outside a shul or summer camp. Billy Crystal led the crowd at the 75th Annual Tony Awards in call-and-response “Yiddish scat singing,” with half the audience saying “Oy,” and the other half, “Vey.” Crystal, star of Broadway’s Mr. Saturday Night, included some familiar faces in the shtick, giving Samuel L. Jackson an impromptu lesson in the mameloshn. Crystal, who also co-wrote the musical based on his 1992 film, even made Lin-Manuel Miranda proclaim that his name is not, in fact, Alexander Hamilton, but “Alexander Rabinowitz.” As if that weren’t Jew-y enough, Crystal’s performance, as faded standup Buddy Young Jr., was preceded by a solo from Shoshana Bean, a featured-actress nominee, and honorary Jew Alan Alda singing Jason Robert Brown’s music. Introducing the whole number – which namedrops kugel – was Sarah Silverman, who has her own musical, The Bedwetter, playing downtown.
The evening saw big wins for Sam Mendes and The Lehman Trilogy, based on the eponymous banking family; Marrianne Elliott’s “gender-flipped” revival of Sondheim’s Company; Richard Greenberg’s baseball drama Take Me Out; and even an award for Bob Dylan musical Girl from the North Country.
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‘David with the Head of Goliath,’ by Caravaggio. (Getty) |
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Tamara Lahav in the outfit she was wearing when a driver refused to let her board a bus in Israel. (Amir Levy) |
🚌 A 13-year-old girl in Israel said she was barred from boarding a bus because the driver thought her cropped shirt and shorts were immodest. “The driver’s actions in public space are a violation of the basic rights that everyone has,” the girl’s mother complained, “and above all, a violation of human dignity.” The bus company said the driver will be summoned for an internal hearing. (Haaretz) 🏕️ A California summer camp was abruptly canceled after several staff members quit over a disagreement about a swastika. The original owners of the Bay Area campgrounds had decorated its buildings with Buddhist art they brought back from a 1913 honeymoon in Asia – before the Nazis co-opted the symbol. The swastika nonetheless made some staff members uncomfortable, and a months-long process over how to address it was so fraught that several quit, upending summer plans for 900 children. The situation comes amid discussion of a hate-crimes bill introduced in the state last month that would differentiate Nazi swastikas from the similar-looking symbol that has religious and peaceful meaning for Hindus, Buddhists and Jain. (Daily Beast, Los Altos Town Crier, J. The Jewish News of Northern California) 👉 A Jewish father has sued a private school in Los Angeles for creating a “racially divisive, antisemitic” curriculum that views Jews as “oppressors” after the 2020 police murder of George Floyd. The school calls the claim a “work of fiction.” (New York Post, Daily Mail) 💵 A Seattle suburb will pay more than $1.5 million to settle a dispute with a former assistant police chief it disciplined for posting a Nazi insignia on his office door and joking about the Holocaust. The city of Kent had originally suspended the chief without pay for two weeks, but community outrage prompted the mayor to demand his resignation, which prompted threats of a lawsuit and, now, the seven-figure payout. (Seattle Times) 🏳️🌈 Idaho police arrested 31 people affiliated with the white supremacist group Patriot Front on Sunday near a Pride Month event. The police chief in Coeur d’Alene said it was clear from the group’s U-Haul, clothing and gear that they planned to riot downtown. (CNN) 🕍 A new multimillion dollar effort aims to to preserve three Renaissance-era synagogues in Venice. The synagogues have been in continuous operation since the 1500s, save for the years of German occupation during World War II. “They are a testimony to the life that it was,” said the head of Venice’s Jewish community.” (AP) Mazel tov ➤ To Cheryl Fishbein, a member of the Forward Board of Directors, who will receive the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York’s Leadership Award Tuesday night.
What else we’re reading ➤ How Christian nationalism paved the way for Jan. 6 … In a first, a majority of books published last year in Israel were written by women … Wichita, Kansas, has renamed a street after its first Jewish mayor.
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Daniel Ellsberg being interviewed in 1976 about his leak of the Pentagon Papers. (Getty) |
On this day in history: The New York Times shocked the country on June 13, 1971, when it began to publish excerpts of the Pentagon Papers, which contained classified information on the origins of the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg, a Defense Department employee who was born to Jewish parents but raised as a Christian Scientist, faced charges for leaking them. After a judge dismissed the case, Ellsberg became “a leading voice in the battle against government prosecution of whistleblowers,” Nathan Guttman and Nathan Jeffay wrote in a 2013 Forward article. On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 14th of Sivan, the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, who died in 1821. He founded the yeshiva of Volozhin, a major center of Talmudic study in the 19th century.
Tonight at 7 p.m. ET: In preparation for Juneteenth, join us for a conversation about racial justice and the Jewish world. Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Tema Smith join the Forward’s editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, to talk about how to observe the holiday marking the end of slavery in the United States and the challenges facing Jewish communities around racism and inclusion. Register now ➤
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Have you ever heard an opera in Yiddish? In the video above, Yisroel Adler, a Hasidic singer, performs “Figaro.” He calls his rendition a “A Chasunah in Shtetel” (A Wedding in the Shtetl), which is more of a cultural re-interpretation of the famous aria in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” than a literal translation of it. No matter – get ready to tap your feet. ––– Thanks to PJ Grisar, Jacob Kornbluh, Rukhl Schaechter and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
Support Independent Jewish Journalism The Forward is a non-profit 501(c)3 so our journalism depends on support from readers like you. You can support our work today by donating or subscribing. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law. Make a donation ➤ Subscribe to Forward.com ➤ "America’s most prominent Jewish newspaper" — The New York Times, 2021 |
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