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| Today's newsletter is sponsored by ChaiFlicks JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Give a tax-deductible donation ADL offers advice to new Twitter CEO, Jewish inmate beaten to death in Illinois jail, why clergy are calling out Louis Vuitton, and Sarah Silverman's troubling Christmas show. FROM THE FORWARD Holocaust survivor’s kin gets an apology – and $80 in reparations back:A German official has apologized to Ayelet Gezow, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, for demanding she return the money that the government had mistakenly paid out to her mother after she died of COVID-19. The turnabout happened after the Forward reported on the situation last week. “If I succeeded in preventing pain for any other Holocaust survivors’ families, then it was 72.55 euros well spent,” she said. Read the story >
Opinion | ADL chief has 4 suggestions for Twitter’s new CEO on fighting hate speech:The social media network has made progress over the years, Jonathan Greenblatt acknowledges, but there are still plenty of instances of Jew hatred found on the platform. “Technological fixes alone cannot solve social ills like bigotry or discrimination,” he says in an open letter to Parag Agrawal. “But they can limit the visibility, reach, and normalization of extremist ideas and the lunatic fringe, forces that truly are existential risks to fair treatment and justice for all.” Read the OpEd >
A Jewish comedian crashed a white supremacist meeting. It left him grappling with his own spirituality:Alex Edelman grew up Modern Orthodox – “I’ve tried cocaine, but I’ve never tried bacon,” he likes to say – and his religion has always been part of his act. But his new show dives deeper into issues of race and identity. “Isn’t it interesting how our environments dictate how we feel? In a room of white nationalists, I’m plenty Jewish, but in a room of Hasidic Jews,” Edelman says, “I’m Episcopalian.” Read the story >orWatch a video of Edelman playing ‘Yiddish or Gibberish?’ >
A heartbreaking and inspiring film about the murder of a Jewish actress and screenwriter: Adrienne Shelly was killed in 2006, leaving her husband, director Andy Ostroy, to raise their 2-year-old daughter, Sophie. Ostroy has released a documentary that pays tribute to Shelly and explores his grief. In the film’s most powerful scene, Ostroy quietly confronts the killer in an upstate prison conference room. “There are no fireworks,” writes our culture critic Simi Horowitz. “He simply lays out photos of Shelly, some with him, others with Sophie, and lets him know what he stole from them.” Read the story >
Why did Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen make a Christmas show — and why is it so bad?What if Santa was a Jewish woman? That’s a question no one ever asked until the premiere of “Santa, Inc.,” a new stop-animation show on HBO. You might think that this Christmas series made by two famous Jews would have some greater message about antisemitism or Christianity’s hegemony in the U.S. But instead Silverman, who has recently taken movies to task for casting Jews as hokey sidekicks, has also reduced Jewishness to a handful of hackneyed stereotypes. Read the story >
But wait there’s more… The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the latest cultural institution to remove the Sackler name. Nora Berman spoke to former and current students at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Medical School who unequivocally believe it is a Jewish imperative to do the same. A prominent Muslim leader in San Francisco warned about ‘polite Zionists.’ Here’s what happened next. Lynn Brown Rosenberg writes that she is 78 and alone for the holidays but, thanks to her local JCC, looking forward to a whole new life.
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🇺🇸 What was former President Donald Trump’s response when he heard that Benjamin Netanyahu called to congratulate Joe Biden for winning the election? “I haven’t spoken to him since,” Trump said, adding, “f--k him.” That’s according to an upcoming book by an Israeli journalist. The Forward reported in July that Trump said Netanyahu’s call was “an ultimate betrayal.” (Haaretz, Forward)
⚖️ Two Illinois inmates belonging to a white supremacist group beat a Jewish inmate to death while a correctional officer shouted at them to stop, according to a federal grand jury indictment. The records also indicate that the inmates had in their cells a cup with a swastika on it, drawings of Hitler and other Nazi memorabilia. (Law & Crime)
🚔 Antisemitic graffiti was found on the campus of Mount Holyoke College, the third such incident at the prestigious women’s school in Massachusetts this fall. “We join you in both anger and grief,” Sonya Stephens, the school’s president, said in a letter to the community after a prior incident, in October. “And condemn in the strongest terms this provocation and all symbols of hate.” (AP)
🇮🇱 A Haaretz investigation involving classified documents revealed more details about massacres of Palestinians during the establishment of Israel in 1948, and what Israeli leaders knew about it at the time. In one location, an early-state politician testified, ‘they took as captives peaceful residents, among them women and children, ordered them to dig a pit, pushed them into it,” then shot and killed them. “There was even a woman with an infant in her arms.” (Haaretz)
👜 A group of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish leaders is urging luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton to stop using animal fur in its clothing and other products, calling the practice “cruel, outdated and unnecessary.” (AP)
Mazel tov > To Rachel Fishman Feddersen, the CEO and publisher of the Forward, for being named to the cohort of 2022 Fellows of the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Program at Columbia Journalism School. She joins colleagues from The Atlantic, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
What to watch this weekend > Robin Washington, our editor-at-large, is a self-described “60-something, straight, married, Black Jewish male.” In other words, not the typical audience for a Hallmark holiday movie. But he found time – and even enjoyed – watching the channel’s first-ever film entirely about Hanukkah (which is re-airing this Sunday at 2 p.m. ET). He wrote this essay as he watched.
YOUR WEEKEND READS We started the week talking about Hanukkah and ended it worried about cream cheese. As we head into Shabbat, we’ve curated some of our favorite stories of the week into an easy-to-read magazine you can download and print.
In this issue: What U.S. athletes can learn from the Nazi Olympics, Bob Dylan’s Yiddish lesson, a controversial Israeli documentary and a moving essay about how a JCC eased an older woman’s loneliness. And finally, don’t worry about the shmear shortage come Sunday brunch. The staff of the Forward has 12 alternative toppings for your bagel.
ON THE CALENDAR Sadat, Carter and Begin at a state dinner celebrating the signing of the Camp David Accords. (Photo: Robert A. Cumins) On this day in history: Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, 1978 in Oslo. The award honored the Camp David Accords, the first time an Arab state recognized Israel’s legitimacy.
It’s also Nobel Prize Day, the 125th anniversary of the death of the chemist Alfred Nobel. Accepting the peace prize at today’s ceremony in Oslo are Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, journalists from the Philippines and Russia honored for their efforts to safeguard free expression.
And it’s the birthday of Emmanuelle Chriqui, a Sephardic actress best known for her role as Sloan on HBO’s “Entourage.” She is now involved with the Black-Jewish Entertainment Alliance, which fights racism and antisemitism.
Last year on this day, we reported that at the White House Hanukkah party, Donald Trump said that he could stay in office “if certain people have wisdom and courage.”
Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET: Jodi Rudoren, our editor-in-chief, will be speaking at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston, N.J. The topic is “From the New York Times to the Forward: Practicing journalism in a polarized world.” This is a hybrid in-person and virtual event. Register here >
PHOTO OF THE DAY The original Hanukkah miracle was that some lights stayed on for eight nights. The next miracle will occur if my wife and I get around to taking these Hanukkah decorations off our chicken coop before Passover.
Thanks to Nora Berman and Eliya Smith 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.
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