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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

IDF soldier believed to be hostage declared dead, Vice President Harris’ stepdaughter urged followers to donate to UN agency accused of aiding Hamas, Florida man sets fire to rabbi’s car, and why a Jewish legislator is trying to decriminalize adultery.

ISRAEL AT WAR

The latest: Israel launched a raid on Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital early Monday amid reports that Hamas wa using the hospital to plan a terrorist attack. A senior Hamas official was killed and over 80 suspects were detained; one IDF soldier died during the fighting … Israel sent a team today to Qatar to offer a six-week truce in exchange for 40 hostages.

A flag factory in Kfar Saba, Israel. (Getty)

Since Oct. 7, Stars of David and Israeli flags have been flying off the shelves: Interviews with Judaica shop owners, online vendors and manufacturers indicate that hamsas, mezuzahs and other Jewish ritual items — and especially items featuring the Star of David, a symbol of the Jewish state — have been hard to keep in stock. “I’ve been in business 15 years,” said Yafa Black, who runs a booth at a Florida jewelry market. “And I have never seen anything like this. Never.” Read the story ➤

How Jews are addressing the megillah’s bloodiest chapter during wartime this Purim: Some communities are choosing to address head-on the uncomfortable text of the Book of Esther’s ninth chapter — when the Jews took revenge and killed more than 75,000 Persians — at a time when the Jewish people are responding emotionally, spiritually and militarily to the deadliest attack on them since the Holocaust. “What is a Chapter Nine that could center peace,” asks Rabbi Nate DeGroot, “that could center the dignity and divinity of all of life and center nonviolence as a response?” Read the story ➤

Ramy Youssef, left, and Julian Sergi in a scene from the third season of Ramy, in which they traveled to Israel. (Hulu)

Opinion | Some Jews don’t want a Muslim comedian to host Saturday Night Live next week. That is not helpful: “Israel and the American Jewish community face real threats. Criticism in the public square from thoughtful people is not near the top of the list,” writes our senior columnist, Rob Eshman, of the campaign against Ramy Youssef. “If you want to live in a country where only certain opinions can be aired, just wait until your opinion is one of the unpopular ones.” Read his essay ➤

Related: Ramy Youssef opens up on filming in Israel, writing Jewish characters and reading Heschel

Meet the man sending $800 million in post-Oct. 7 donations to Israel: Jews in North America have donated in record amounts to local Jewish federations since the Hamas attacks, a fundraising drive on a scale unseen for 50 years. About half the money has been allocated so far by a committee co-chaired by Jeff Schoenfeld, a retired investment banker, who is funneling funds to farmers in need, soldiers suffering from PTSD and much more. Read the story ➤

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Getty)

Daniel Perez, an IDF soldier missing since Oct. 7 and thought to be among the hostages, was declared dead Sunday. His body remains held by Hamas in Gaza. Our colleagues at JTA covered his family’s decision to go ahead with his brother’s wedding 10 days after the attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed back at a call from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for new elections in Israel. “We’re not a banana republic,” Netanyahu said Sunday on CNN.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, declined to endorse Schumer’s recent call for Israeli elections to replace Netanyahu.

The Knesset on Sunday voted unanimously to annually mark the Oct. 7 massacre as a national day of remembrance on the Hebrew date of the 24th of Tishrei.

Ella Emhoff in February attending an event for New York Fashion Week. (Getty)

Vice President Harris’ stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, urged her social media followers to donate to UNRWA, the United Nations agency accused of aiding Hamas.

A theater that hosts London’s largest viewing party for the Eurovision Song Contest canceled the event because an Israeli singer is a contestant.

Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, writes in her latest column about when hate comes to town, after an anti-Israel rally was held in her neighborhood.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

A drag wedding in the Catskills circa 1910, when Jews would board with farmers for vacation. (Courtesy)

An online comedy course asks: Why did Jews get into the funny business? YIVO’s free, seven-part online class Is Anything Okay, starting March 21, gives students a primer in Jewish comedy in America. Featuring scholars and interviews with comedians Marc Maron, Jena Friedman and Judy Gold, the course will examine the unique factors that lead Jews to dominate comedy for much of the 20th century and why, in the words of Lewis Black, Jews so often self-deprecate in their acts. When Jews poke fun at themselves, Black says in the course, they’re telling antisemites “what you think is criticism is nothing compared to self-loathing I can bring to the table.”

Jewish content creators say the campaign against TikTok is misguided: They told our Beth Harpaz that the social media platform’s value outweighs concerns over a deluge of antisemitic and pro-Palestinian content that led some Jewish organizations to push for its ban. The House passed a bill last week that would force the Chinese company that owns TikTok to sell it to a U.S.-based entity or else lose access to U.S. users.

NEW FROM THE FORWARD

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. (Getty)

✍️ Sen. Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, is speaking to publishers about writing a book on antisemitism. (New York Times)

🔥 Police arrested a Florida man for setting fire to a rabbi’s car outside a Chabad Jewish center on Saturday. “It could have been much worse,” the rabbi told the local news. (WSVN)

💕 A Jewish legislator in New York is seeking to repeal a 1907 law that criminalizes adultery, arguing that the state has no business in regulating sexual behavior between consenting adults. (NY Jewish Week)

⛪ A majority of Americans (55%) said the government should enforce the separation of church and state, whereas 16% said the government should stop enforcing it and another 28% saying neither or had no opinion, according to a sweeping new survey of religion in the U.S. (Pew, Religion News Service)

🎞️ A new documentary explores the rise and fall of John Galliano, the controversial British fashion designer who made a series of antisemitic comments in 2010 and 2011 that got him fired and shunned. He has since mounted a comeback, and tried to educate himself on Jewish history. (AP)

Shiva calls ➤ Walter Blum, a Hall of Fame jockey who rode to victory in the 1971 Belmont Stakes, died at 89 … Sydell Miller, a philanthropist who along with her husband built the Matrix haircare empire, died at 86 … David Seidler, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The King’s Speech, died at 86.

What else we’re reading ➤ The real Jewish history of Lt. Robert Rosenthal, heroic pilot in Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air … Thousands of churches will likely close down. What happens to all that real estate? … A facility at JFK airport transfers animals like Icelandic ponies and dogs from the occupied West Bank.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

In this new episode of our “Yiddish Word of the Day” series, Rukhl Schaechter teaches how to say “on the contrary” and related phrases. Plus, she shares a humorous proverb about what to do when asking a rival for advice.

Thanks to Jaclyn De Bonis and PJ Grisar for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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