In shadow of Trump, GOP presidential hopefuls lobby for Jewish vote

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Synagogues get help from infrastructure bill, touring Frank Lloyd Wright's only synagogue, Yeshiva University basketball's historic winning streak could be broken this week.

THE WEEK IN POLITICS

Each Monday, Jacob Kornbluh, our senior political reporter, shares what’s in his notebook this week in Washington, Jerusalem and elsewhere.

Road to the White House: Eight potential 2024 presidential candidates addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit in Las Vegas over the weekend, under the shadow of former President Donald Trump. Several made clear they’d be waving the Israel card.

Oops: Edward Durr, a truck driver just elected to the New Jersey State Senate, apologized for comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.

Antisemitism envoy: Several Jewish groups are calling on the Senate to speed up the confirmation of Holocaust historian E. Deborah Lipstadt, which Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is holding up because Lipstadt has tweeted criticism of him. “I am an equal-opportunity hater of antisemitism,” Lipstadt said in a recent conversation hosted by the American Jewish University.

Open house: Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid expressed their public opposition on Saturday to the reopening of a U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem to serve the Palestinians. The Biden administration had said it would move forward with the consulate after the new government stabilized with the approval of a budget, which happened last week.

Hot ice: Scott Stringer, the NYC comptroller, declared, “I stand unequivocally against BDS actions” after a New York Post article in which pro-Israel forces criticized him for not following New York State in divesting from Unilever over Ben & Jerry’s decision not to sell ice cream in West Bank settlements. “I cannot unilaterally divest the funds from any company,” Stringer tweeted.

And one more: This retired Jewish congressman wrote a book … and will soon open a bookstore.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

In Frank Lloyd Wright’s only synagogue, a masterful blending of color and light:Wright said that he designed Beth Shalom in Elkins Park, Penn., as a hexagon, mimicking the shape of two hands placed together in prayer, so that “people, in entering it, will feel as if they were resting in the very hands of God.” Laura Hodes, a contributing writer, visited to check out the building – and a new art exhibit the synagogue is hosting about Wright and Andrew Pielage. Read the story >

But wait, there’s more…

A message from our sponsor: University of California Press

Ruth Bader Ginsburg's last book is a curation of her own legacy

Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue is a collaboration between Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Amanda L. Tyler, a Berkeley Law professor and former Ginsburg law clerk. This book brings together materials that share details from Ginsburg's family life and long career including briefs and oral arguments, speeches, and her favorite opinions that she wrote as a Supreme Court Justice.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

🏀 With the start of college basketball season on Tuesday, ESPN looked at Yeshiva University, which has the longest-winning streak in men’s college basketball right now. “Practice on most days is at 6 a.m., before morning prayer services,” writes Gary Belsky. “The result is a team of players who present as notably thoughtful and balanced, sometimes to an almost unbelievable extreme.” (ESPN) / More on the team >

🎤 Vice President Kamala Harris headlined the opening session of an Anti-Defamation League conference on Sunday, with a full-throated support for fighting a rising tide of antisemitism. She discussed the anniversary of Kristallnacht, which is this week, and said, “We know, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us.” (Religion News Service)

🕍 America’s synagogues and other nonprofits could see as much as $50 million, thanks to a provision in the infrastructure bill passed Friday that offers grants to increase energy efficiency. The Orthodox Union and other Jewish groups supported the legislation. (JTA)

🇲🇲 Danny Fenster, a Jewish journalist imprisoned in Myanmar since May, was charged with spreading false or inflammatory information. But new testimony suggests the government has its information wrong. Prosecutors claim Fenster was working for a news site, but he hadn’t been employed there for at least seven months. (AP)

✍️ A contest that took place in the years before the Holocaust asked Jewish teenagers living in Eastern Europe to write about their lives. Now, these long-lost essays are being reimagined into a new graphic novel, titled “When I Grow Up” by a cartoonist in Chicago. (CBS)

Shiva call > Aaron Feuerstein, dubbed the “Mensch of Malden Mills” by “60 Minutes” because he continued to pay his workers after the textile factory he owned burned to the ground, died at 95. He said his life was guided by Jewish teachings. “When all is moral chaos, this is the time for you to be a mensch,” he said. (JTA)

What else we’re reading > Their same-sex rabbinical wedding was a historic first for the Conservative movement … Experiencing the vibrant Mexican Jewish community in San Diego … This might be the Jewish interfaith holiday movie you’ve been waiting for.

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: HBO premiered at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 8, 1972, with an NHL hockey game. What started as a movie and sports channel evolved into a home for premium TV shows. And one of those shows, “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” became one of the Jewiest places on television. Our PJ Grisar sees in ‘Curb’ “an extension of Borscht Belt subversiveness and the ongoing Talmudic debate over how to live according to a code — albeit an extremely petty one.” The 11th season, which started Oct. 24, has already featured a Yiddish lesson. And, as ensemble member Susie Essman reveals in this new interview, a shofar plays an integral role in an upcoming episode.

In honor of National STEM Day, read our profile of a Jewish astrophysicist at Harvard who is searching for aliens.

Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET: Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, will be in conversation with New Israel Fund CEO Daniel Sokatch. In his new book, “Can We Talk About Israel? A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted,” he dives into why many people – even those who don’t fully grasp the situation – feel so strongly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Register now >

One week from tonight: Join a Zoom conversation on “Antisemitism in America: Stories from the Front Lines.” Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, a former Forward writer and editor, will moderate, and our opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, is on the panel along with Nathan Diament of the Orthodox Union; Rabbi Eli Cohen of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council; and Rabbi Motti Seligson of Chabad Lubavitch. Register now >

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Looking for the perfect Hanukkah gift? Shop the seventh century. An ancient golden ring with an inset purple amethyst stone was discovered by archaeologists in Israel who were clearing the way for an expansion of the city of Yavne. “The small, everyday finds that are discovered in our excavations tell us human stories and connect us directly to the past,” said Eli Eskozido of the Israeli Antiquities Authority. The ring was found near a centuries-old winery that was also unearthed, leading them to wonder if the ring had been dropped while someone was intoxicated.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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