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Synagogues wrestle with Omicron, high-tech dolphin may be spy for Israel, Prince Charles commissions Holocaust art, and the passing of a rabbi who marched with MLK.
FROM THE FORWARD Some of the Talmud 'is extremely not safe for work,' said Miriam Anzovin. Here’s some stories to set you up for the holiday weekend. Now, I’m off to prepare for a “bomb cyclone” of a winter storm headed toward my home in West Virginia…
On TikTok, she offers a spicy daily take on Talmud:Miriam Anzovin – coquettish and often profane – might not look like your typical Talmud teacher. Hers is a profoundly new take on the century-old practice of Daf Yomi, the page-a-day, seven-and-a-half-year study cycle that draws tens of thousands participants worldwide. Her mission is to make the long, dense, and often arcane texts more accessible and inclusive. Her approach is pretty simple — make it funny — and her process fully digital.Read the story ➤
Opinion | My home almost burned in the Colorado wildfires. Jews have a special responsibility to fight back: Shari Edelstein and her family fled the Marshall Fire, along with almost 35,000 of her neighbors, grabbing pets, valuables and anything they could carry. “As Jews, we have biblical and historical experience confronting existential crises, being displaced and reinventing the way we live,” she writes. “We need to bring the full power, people and spirit of the Jewish community to address climate change collectively.” Read the essay ➤
Sexy, vibrant and daring, this is not your typical Jewish film festival fare: “Sin La Habana,” playing this weekend at the New York Jewish Film Festival, tells the story of a Cuban couple that orchestrates a “90 Day Fiancé”-type ruse that ensnares a young Iranian-Jewish Canadian tourist. The cast is filled with first-time actors – one character’s father is played by his actual father. It’s “the work of a director searching for a style by trying all the ones available to him,” writes our PJ Grisar, adding that the “sampler-platter approach is always interesting, and often thrilling.” Read his review ➤
Becoming an ordinary American in the shadow of the Holocaust: “The past dominated our present,” Michael Fox, the child of survivors, writes in his compelling coming-of-age memoir. Now a professional psychologist, Fox describes the emotional process of trying to fit into the new world he was thrust into. His path to self-discovery was full of contradictions: between faith and secular culture, between his parent’s past in Poland and his experience in America, between Yiddish and English. He was incapable of resolving these contradictions, but eventually learned how to embrace them. Read the story ➤
Pay no attention to that big cross he’s wearing – Tom Jones really does have a secret Jewish history:The rock star has written songs about Samson and Delilah, and one with hints of the Yom Kippur liturgy. And for decades, his concerts have included a rendition of “My Yiddishe Mame,” which he sang with a cantorial flair. Read the story ➤
But wait, there’s more… As though borrowing a page from the Netflix show “The Chair,” a professor at Emerson College said he “sarcastically imitated a Nazi” when he gave a Hitler salute in class. His students say it wasn’t the first time he’s done something questionable. Nida Allam, a Muslim woman running for Congress in North Carolina, has been billed as a potential future member of “the Squad.” She’s courting the Jewish vote by apologizing for her past criticism of Israel. Would the Jewish writer of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” support filibuster reform?WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Fred Savage, center, directs a bar mitzvah scene in a reboot of 'The Wonder Years.' (ABC/Eliza Morse) 😷 Synagogues across the nation are taking a range of approaches to the Omicron surge. Some are requiring masks, while others have canceled services or moved, yet again, to Zoom. “I quoted ‘The Godfather’ in one of my newsletters,” said Rabbi Heidi Hoover who leads a Brooklyn congregation. “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” (JTA)
🐬 Hamas claimed it has captured a dolphin that was sent by Israel to spy on and assassinate fighters in Gaza. Camera equipment and weapons were allegedly mounted to the aquatic secret agent. (Jerusalem Post)
🎨 Prince Charles has commissioned British artists to paint portraits of seven Holocaust survivors; they’re slated to be unveiled on Jan. 27, Holocaust Remembrance Day. “As the number of Holocaust survivors sadly, but inevitably, declines, my abiding hope is that this special collection will act as a further guiding light for our society,” he said. In 2020, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, photographed two concentration camp survivors and donated the pictures to a Holocaust memorial exhibition. (Vanity Fair)
🇮🇷 File under someone should’ve checked the guest list: An Iranian official who is wanted by Interpol for his role in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish center in Argentina attended the swearing-in of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega this week. … And while we’re on the topic of Iran, 110 House Republicans urged the Biden administration to “immediately withdraw” from nuclear talks with the country. (Jewish Insider)
✍️ Susan Sarandon, Viggo Mortensen and Mark Ruffalo are showing support for their fellow actor, Emma Watson from the “Harry Potter” franchise, after backlash against her Instagram post expressing solidarity with the Palestinians. They are among the signatories of a letter organized by Artists for Palestine UK. (The Guardian)
📺 This week’s episode of “The Wonder Years” reboot featured a bar mitzvah, 33 years after such a ceremony was featured on the original show. The new series, which takes place in Alabama in 1968, focuses on the friendship between two boys – one Black, one Jewish – and how they bond over being bullied at school. (JTA)
Mazel tov ➤To the rapper Matisyahu and his wife, Talia, on the birth of a baby boy this week.
Shiva call ➤ Rabbi Israel “Sy” Dresner, a leader in the civil rights movement, has died at 92. He was one of 16 Reform rabbis arrested in 1964 in St. Augustine, Florida, where they had gone to protest segregation at the request of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at the end of 2021, Dresner spent the past few weeks checking off items from his bucket list, including a final pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Deli. He even picked out his casket, in which he will be buried on Sunday.
YOUR WEEKEND READS Check out the new edition of our printable magazine for some offline reading this weekend. You’ll meet David Ben Moshe, a Black Jewish convert who faced countless hurdles on his way to being accepted as an Israeli citizen. He even went on a hunger strike outside the government office that grants visas. You’ll also learn what an Orthodox episode of Netflix’s “Queer Eye” would look like and discover the Jewish predecessors to Wordle, the massively popular online puzzle game. Plus: A moving eulogy from Bob Saget’s rabbi. Get your copy here ➤ ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Nina Totenberg, the award-winning legal affairs correspondent for NPR, was born on Jan. 14, 1944 to Rotem, a famed Jewish violinist, and Melanie, a real estate broker. In addition to her distinguished career reporting on the Supreme Court, she is also the inspiration for the Nina Totin’ Bag and the namesake of one of my hens, Nina Toten-bird.
Last year on this day, we reported that Dr. Ruth Westheimer had gotten vaccinated.
VIDEO OF THE DAY Saturday is National Bagel Day and what better time to revisit the nail-biting competition between East and West coast bagels in the Forward’s “Great Bagel Off.” Prompted by a 2019 New York Times article crowning West Coast bagels superior, we gathered experts and bagels from both coasts for a Zoom tasting, with and without shmears. Ess-a-Bagel, Zabars and H&H Bagels repped the East, while Boychik, Courage and Gjusta came in from the West. Watch the video above to find out who reigned supreme.
And that’s just the beginning of our bagel oeuvré… Check out this episode of our Yiddish cooking show featuring homemade bagels. Looking for something a little more authentic? Here’s how to make a New York bagel outside of New York. Did antisemitism forge the bagel we know and love? The answer may lie in a centuries-old Polish law. What’s the best bagel in the world? The author of a book about delis has a surprising answer. Our intrepid correspondents ask: Is Everything Bagel Ice Cream bad for the Jews?
––– Thanks to Rob Eshman and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
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