JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Today: Brown University rejects demand to divest from Israel, California cafe names drink after Hamas leader, FBI returns Nazi-looted Monet to Jewish family, why a website cataloging Yom Kippur confessions shut down, and much more.

IN THE FORWARD

Residents are rescued from an apartment complex this morning in Clearwater, Florida. (Getty)

Wild weather

Hurricane Milton crashed ashore last night on the west coast of Florida. The full scope of its devastation is being assessed as the sun rises this morning.

► Conspiracy theories have swirled online in the past two weeks — first with Hurricane Helene and now with Milton — which include accusing Jews of controlling the weather. Our digital culture reporter, Mira Fox, delves into the controversy. Read the story ►

► While it’s safe to say that Jews didn’t cause the hurricane, our biblical ancestors kind of did have a say in the weather. The prophet Joshua once got the sun to stand still; Elijah successfully prayed for rain to end a drought. Indeed, Noah may have been the world’s first meteorologist. Read the story ►

The Mets celebrate Wednesday after their playoff win against the Philadelphia Phillies. (Getty)

Pray ball

The Mets smacked a dramatic grand slam into the rafters last night, sending them to the National League Championships for the first time since 2015. Our Beth Harpaz writes how they are the quintessential Jewish team. Jerry Seinfeld is a lifelong fan. One of their players has a Hebrew tattoo. And they are a perennial underdog which, as one sports podcaster explained, represents a very Jewish kind of “inherited dread, a belief that the worst will always happen.” Read the story ►

YOM KIPPUR

On AtoneNet, people anonymously confessed their sins leading up to Yom Kippur. (Getty)

Dot con

For 11 years, the website AtoneNet asked visitors a single question each Yom Kippur: What do you want to ask forgiveness for? It posted the responses — no names attached — for public perusal. The confessions were often moving, and always human — until, one day last year, they weren’t. Our Louis Keene reports on how fake submissions from artificial intelligence caused the site to shut down. Read the story ►

More on Yom Kippur…

‘Who By Fire’: Leonard Cohen — and a Yom Kippur prayer — inspired a new coming-of-age movie.

Missing mensch: Read a Yiddish folk tale about a rabbi who was late to Kol Nidrei services.

New liturgy: Some rabbis have rewritten the Yizkor service to incorporate the tragedy of Oct. 7.

A reader asks: My friends’ wedding is on Yom Kippur. What should I do? Our Bintel Brief column offers advice — starting with skipping the buffet.

Did you know? According to a 202o survey from Pew Research, 46% of Jewish Americans say they fast on Yom Kippur.

– From our Sponsor: Martin Peretz–

ONE YEAR LATER

Natan Bahat, part of Kibbutz Nir Oz’s founding generation, fixes the lock on a door shot by terrorists on Oct. 7. Bahat moved back to Nir Oz as soon as possible after the attack. (Rina Castelnuovo)

Home away from home

American Jews gave more than $1 billion to Israel after Oct. 7. One year later, survivors of the Hamas attack are battling the Israeli government — and each other — over who deserves that financial aid. Jewish donors from the U.S. are being asked to insert themselves into these debates.

As hundreds of millions of dollars in donations remain undistributed, our Arno Rosenfeld spent two weeks in Israel reporting on a group of former residents from Nir Oz, where 30% of the community was killed or kidnapped on Oct. 7. They’re trying to raise $25 million to move to a new kibbutz.

But, so far, Jewish federations and other donors have only been willing to fund the minority of kibbutz members seeking to rebuild the devastated grounds. “If somebody says they want to go live in Tel Aviv, or for that matter New York, obviously we’re not going to give them money to relocate,” said Ofer Bavly of the Chicago Federation.

This explanation does not satisfy the families who are desperate to stay together — away from the Gaza border. “We have a solution so that people will not have to return to these horrible, bloody streets,” said Chen Itzik, who is leading the relocation effort. “But we need the money.”

More on Israel…

President Joe Biden “affirmed his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security” on a Wednesday call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden also led a High Holiday conference call with 5,000 attendees, including rabbis from Judaism’s major denominations.

Netanyahu said Israel killed the potential successor of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron have more in common than they’d like to admit, writes history professor Robert Zaretsky.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Brown University students called for divestment in April at their pro-Palestinian encampment. (Getty)

On campus…

🏫 Brown University rejected a student-led proposal to divest from companies that do business with Israel. “Baruch Hashem,” said Rabbi Josh Bolton, who runs the school’s Hillel. (JTA)

😲 Harvard’s Hillel temporarily suspended a Jewish student group after the club used Hillel funding to print and display flyers around campus that used Yom Kippur liturgy to atone for civilian deaths in Gaza. (Harvard Crimson)

And elsewhere…

☕ A Palestinian cafe in Oakland, California, added new menu items this week to coincide with the anniversary of attack in Israel, including a carrot juice called “Sweet Sinwar,” named after the Hamas leader, and a drink called “Iced In-Tea-Fada.” (X, Instagram)

💰 Manny’s Cafe in San Francisco, which is owned by an Israeli and was targeted by antisemitic graffiti earlier this week, raised more than $60,000 in a crowdfunding campaign thanks, in part, to celebrities Mayim Bialik and Alex Edelman spreading the word. (J. The Jewish News of Northern California)

✍️ Speaking of Bialik, she penned a new essay about her college experience as a member of UCLA’s Hillel, and now laments how the organization is under increasing attack across the country since the war broke out. (Atlantic)

🔫 U.S. Jews are buying more guns since Oct. 7. “My staff keeps joking it’s like the Jewish Community Center around here,” said Grant Schmidt, an observant Jew who runs a Philadelphia gun shop. (Washington Post)

🪨 Ten stones commemorating Holocaust victims went missing from a German town earlier this week, on the Oct. 7 anniversary. (JTA)

🖼️ The Nazis stole a Monet painting from a Jewish family, and it has been missing for 80 years. On Wednesday, the FBI said it had found it and was returning it to the family. (AP)

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Rabbi David Bashevkin, host of the popular 18Forty podcast, sat down with Matisyahu, the Grammy-nominated reggae star, in the latest episode. Ahead of Yom Kippur, they chatted about the singer’s Jewish journey — which included times when he was Hasidic and times when he felt little connection to his religion. Watch the conversation in the video above.

Thanks to Mira Fox, Louis Keene and Arno Rosenfeld for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

Jewish journalism you can trust!

Invest in the future of Jewish journalism. Become a monthly member during our High Holiday Donor Drive to support the Forward all year long!