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Indiana lawmaker calls for 'impartial' teaching of Nazism, Israeli scientists teach fish to drive, the best Jewish artist you never heard of, and a eulogy from Bob Saget's rabbi.
OUR LEAD STORY The CEO resigned after sending an antisemitic email. His company did more.
Rabbi Sam Spector of Congregation Kol Ami in Salt Lake City got a phone call last week that would change everything. A local tech company wanted to make the largest donation in the synagogue’s history.
The backstory: David Bateman, the company’s founder and one of Utah’s biggest Republican donors, had emailed a rant to leading figures across Utah claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine were part of a Jewish plot to euthanize Americans. He immediately resigned as CEO and the software firm, Entrata, invited the rabbi to visit its office. “They’re all just crying and saying this has been the worst week of any of their lives,” he later told our reporter, Arno Rosenfeld.
The gift: The synagogue “is falling apart, basically,” Spector said. The building is 50 years old. The bathrooms, seating and prayer books have not been replaced in decades. The six-figure gift – the rabbi declined to say the exact amount – includes $150,000 for a new boiler, as well as funds to restore several currently unusable Torah scrolls.
The aftermath: Spector said he was heartened when the company and political leaders across the state condemned Bateman, but never expected Entrata to do more. “We hear stories about people who hate us constantly,” he said. “I have never seen any company step up in this way to say, ‘We’re going to do what we can to be a good ally and train our company to be good allies to the Jewish community.’” ALSO FROM THE FORWARD Michael Lang with his neighbor Abbe Aronson, left, and their mutual friend, Laurie Osmond. (Photo: Phil Mansfield) To you, he was the man behind Woodstock; to me, he was a connoisseur of latkes and matzo balls:Michael Lang, co-creator of the famed music festival, died over the weekend. Abbe Aronson was his neighbor and the two bonded over her Jewish cooking. She was also his mule, schlepping poppyseed cookies from Moishe’s Bakery in Manhattan. A few weeks ago, she was on her way to drop off flanken when Michael texted: “I need holly breed,” an autocorrect of challah bread. It was one of the last texts she received from him. Read the essay ➤
Indiana lawmaker calls for ‘impartial’ teaching on Nazism: At a hearing on his bill to ban teaching on “divisive ideologies,” Republican State Sen. Scott Baldwin said teachers should not take a position when it comes Nazism or fascism. “I’m not sure it’s right for us to determine how that child should think,” he said. Baldwin has since apologized, but the ADL said it was insufficient. The controversy follows a similar one in North Texas, where a school administrator in October apologized after announcing that teachers had to present “opposing” views on “currently controversial” topics, including the Holocaust. Read the story ➤
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🐟 A team of Israeli scientists have taught goldfish to drive. Yes, you read that correctly. “They’re confused at first,” said Shachar Givon of Ben-Gurion University. “They don’t know what’s going on but they’re very quick to realize that there is a correlation between their movement and the movement of the machine that they’re in.” (Reuters)
😷 Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, joining several other Knesset members who have been infected in recent days. Lapid is quarantining at home, where he tweeted: “I feel great because I’m vaccinated.” Meanwhile, Israel hit a new record of 37,887 coronavirus cases recorded on Monday. (Haaretz, Times of Israel)
📺 A new book highlights the work of two Jewish men from Missouri who helped popularize professional wrestling. Their televised weekly event, which launched in 1959, was the third most watched show in St. Louis behind the local news and Cardinals baseball games. (St. Louis Jewish Light)
🛑 Yael Cohen Aris, a former Israeli soldier who is now an Instagram model with more than 1 million followers, is suing a Chinese company that made a sex doll in her likeness – including her name and a birthmark below her lip. “I don’t have anything against the sex-doll industry,” she said. “The problem here is they did it without my consent, without my knowledge.” (Times of Israel)
They said it ➤ “I view my Jewishness as cultural. There’s a weird deal with Jews where they will define themselves as Jewish even if they don’t buy a word. You don’t see too many Catholics or Christians or anybody Muslim saying, “Oh, I’m a Catholic, but I don’t buy a word of it!” – Harlan Coben, best-selling author of thrillers, in an interview with the Guardian.
Shiva call ➤Marilyn Bergman, who co-wrote the songs from “Yentl” and other Oscar-winning movies, died at 93. Bergman and her husband, Alan, were also the masterminds behind a number of memorable TV theme songs of the 1970s. “Barbra Streisand rightly revered the Bergmans and annually attended their Passover seders,” writes Benjamin Ivry. Read his appreciation ➤
Another shiva call ➤Carl Bennett, founder of the Caldor chain of retail stores, died at 101. Known as the “Bloomingdales of Discounting,” the company – whose name was a portmanteau of “Carl” and “Dorothy,” his wife – had 100 outlets at its peak in the 1980s. The couple retired to Connecticut, where they were known for philanthropy to Jewish causes.
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Grand Canyon National Monument was created on Jan. 11, 1908. The area around it is now home to a small but dedicated Jewish community. “I wanted someplace that was lower cost of living,” said Stan Coffield, who retired there from New York. “When my wife and I first moved out here, you would turn a street corner and really be tempted to just pull over to the side of the road and stare; it looks like a picture postcard.”
Last year on this day, we reported on a Hasidic doctor espousing conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine.
On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 9th of Shevat, the yahrzeit of Rabbi Eliezer Silver, who served the Jewish community of Cincinnati for four decades before his death in 1968.
In honor of National Milk Day, check out Molly Yeh’s recipe for hot cocoa with coconut milk.
PHOTO OF THE DAY I was Bob Saget’s rabbi. This is what made him special: “The hardest job he ever had, Bob Saget used to tell me, was when he would emcee our annual synagogue gala,” writes Rabbi Steve Carr Reuben, in a moving tribute to his congregant, who died on Sunday. “No matter how busy he was with his remarkable career, he was always there with his love, his humor and his giving heart for every event, celebration and important moment in my life as well.” Read the essay ➤
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Thanks to Rob Eshman for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
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