WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Jury awards damages after rabbi found liable for sexual abuse of children, Jewish summer camps caught in Gaza debate, Natan Sharansky opens up about his friendship with Alexei Navalny, Spielberg reminisces about Schindler’s List on 30th anniversary of Best Picture Oscar, and why George Santos is beefing with Jimmy Kimmel.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israeli security forces gather at the scene of a shooting attack Thursday east of Jerusalem. (Getty)

The latest…

Three Palestinian gunmen opened fire at Israelis stuck in traffic at a checkpoint near Jerusalem Thursday morning, killing an Israeli man and wounding 11 others.

Officials from the U.S., Israel, Egypt and Qatar are expected in Paris on Friday hoping to negotiate a hostage deal before Ramadan, which begins March 10, and when experts worry tensions can be inflamed.

Meanwhile, Israel is considering restricting some Palestinian access to the Temple Mount during Ramadan.

According to a new poll, most Israelis say that “absolute victory,” a phrase often used by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is unlikely in the Gaza war.

President Joe Biden in Detroit in 2022. (Getty)

President Biden may be losing Democratic support in Michigan, which has the largest Arab American population in the U.S., over his support for the war in Gaza.

StandWithUs, a pro-Israel advocacy group, filed a lawsuit against Columbia University and Barnard College over alleged antisemitism on campus. The group filed a similar lawsuit against Middlebury College earlier this month.

The Department of Education will investigate Chicago Public Schools and a K-12 district in Massachusetts, the latest in a flurry of federal probes into discrimination since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

United Airlines is set to join other airlines resuming flights to Israel in March.

Chef Moshe Basson preparing shakshuka at his Eucalyptus restaurant in Jerusalem. (Courtesy)

In the kitchen…

Opinion | Why did one of the best cookbooks of 2023 go unnoticed? Hint: It’s Israeli:The Israeli chef Moshe Basson worked for a decade on a cookbook to convey the recipes that made his Jerusalem restaurant, Eucalyptus, world famous. He drew on the recipes of his own Iraqi Jewish upbringing and the foods of Israel’s Jews, Muslims and Christians, some of whom worked side by side in his busy kitchen. “In a world that made Yotam Ottolenghi a household name and rightly celebrated a slew of new Palestinian cookbooks, Basson’s cookbook seemed destined to find a big audience,” writes our columnist, Rob Eshman. “Then came Oct. 7.” Read his essay ➤

As war rages in Mideast, Oberlin students revived a kosher-halal dining co-op: It used to be a place where Jewish and Muslim students cooked and ate together, but it shuttered in 2021 after the liberal arts college opened its own kosher dining hall — which also serves halal options. After a brief revival this January, organizers are now trying to bring the co-op back permanently as a model for peaceful, nutritive coexistence at the school. Read the story ➤

A Broadway nonprofit says it will increase transparency after backlash over donations to Gaza medical groups. (Getty)

Plus…

The philanthropic organization Broadway Cares said it would allocate funds to Israeli civilians in need after a New York rabbi filed a complaint against the theater charity for contributing to Gaza relief efforts.

A Jewish summer camp in northern California finds itself in unfamiliar territory as hundreds of campers and parents are calling on it to support a ceasefire in Gaza. It “seems to be a microcosm of the divide we are hearing about in Jewish communities all over,” said the camp’s director.

How can you be active on social media in a time of war without saying something you’ll regret? Our Israel Therapy column offers some advice: Before you post, take a breath, check your sources — and then take another breath.

READERS LIKE YOU SHAPE EVERY PART OF OUR WORK

Help us to provide Jewish news you can trust: reporting driven by truth, not ideology. Your support will make a real difference.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Alexei Navalny, right, corresponded with Natan Sharansky about life in a Russian prison. (Getty)

‘The freest person in Russia’ | Natan Sharansky on his letters with Alexei Navalny: “I felt that we are like kindred spirits,” Sharansky told our Nora Berman, who calls the famous refusenik “an elder statesman of the gulag.” Navalny, who died under mysterious conditions last week in a Siberian prison, read Sharansky’s memoir, Fear No Evil, and said that it inspired him. Said Sharansky: “I hoped that he would survive.”

Jury awards monetary damages after Baltimore rabbi found liable for sexual abuse of children: After the allegations came out, Rabbi Steven Krawatsky denied the charges and sued for defamation, seeking millions of dollars. But Krawatsky’s efforts to clear his name did not yield the outcome he’d hoped. “After six years of hell that he put them through with the defamation suit — and the community did with its harassment of the victims — this verdict vindicates them,” said Asher Lovy, founder of Za’akah, which fights child sex abuse in the Orthodox community.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Jimmy Kimmel, left, and former Rep. George Santos are involved in a lawsuit. (Getty)

🤦 Former Rep. George Santos — who was expelled from office and lied about his past, including that he’s a descendant of Holocaust survivors — is suing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, accusing the comedian of … checks notes … fraud. (CNN)

☀️ Oregon’s state Senate failed to advance a bill that would have abolished daylight saving time and switched it to standard time for the entire year. Keeping DST makes life easier for observant Jews; without it, morning prayers might take place after the workday has begun. (New York Times)

🍿 In Treasure, which debuted this past weekend at the Berlin Film Festival, Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham play a father and daughter who travel to Poland to retrace their family’s Holocaust history. (AP)

Quotable ➤ “Schindler’s List was never a cure for antisemitism. It was a reminder of the symptoms of it.” — Steven Spielberg in a new oral history on the 30th anniversary of the film winning Best Picture at the Oscars.

Shiva calls ➤ Julia Lieblich, a former religion reporter for The Associated Press and Chicago Tribune, died at 65. Her final essay, about trauma and grief after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, was published in the Forward … Steven Wise, a lawyer who worked to protect the rights of animals, died at 73.

What else we’re reading ➤ A reporter investigated neo-Nazis. Then they came to his house in masks … At Harvard, some wonder what it will take to stop the spiral … How the manager of Zabar’s spends a typical Sunday.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

A new movie called Terezín, based on real-life events, tells the story of a clarinetist and a violinist who fell in love during the Holocaust. The movie comes out Friday; watch the trailer above.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh, Lauren Markoe and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

Support Independent Jewish Journalism

Without you, the Forward’s stories don’t just go unread — they go untold. Please support our nonprofit journalism today.