WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

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Today: Florida school district bans Holocaust books and others by Jewish authors, teacher asks artificial intelligence chatbot for help solving the Israel-Hamas war, and Yiddishland California is in danger of closing by end of the year.

ISRAEL AT WAR

The Organization of Arab Students holds a pro-Palestinian rally in 1977. Students for Justice in Palestine emerged in the early 1990s, as OAS, plagued by infighting, was disappearing. (AP)

Special report | The secret history and uncertain future of Students for Justice in Palestine:Since Oct. 7, Students for Justice in Palestine has found itself at the center of controversies of Israel activism on college campuses. Four of its chapters have been banned or suspended, with more in peril. But despite its growing prominence, the loose national network’s operations and history are largely opaque. Arno Rosenfeld, the Forward’s enterprise reporter, brings new light to how SJP grew from a single club at UC Berkeley that supported a two-state solution to a sprawling network opposed to a Jewish state in Israel and testing the bounds of student activism. Read the story ➤

Bonus: Arno explains how he reported the story in this short video.

Rep. George Santos was expelled from Congress. The candidates looking to fill his seat are making Israel a campaign issue:Tom Suozzi, the Democratic nominee, landed in Israel on Friday morning to express support for the Jewish state. His Republican rival in the New York swing district is an Israeli-American. Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Orthodox Jewish county legislator, is touting her past service in the Israeli army. The special election is set for February. Read the story ➤

A soldier walks among pictures of victims of the Nova music festival. (Getty)

Opinion | Israel’s choices — not Hamas — are an existential threat to the Jewish state: “The true threat to Israel’s survival hides not in the shadows, but in the mirror,” writes Jerome Karabel, an emeritus professor at UC Berkeley. “Against the backdrop of its violent occupation of the West Bank and obstruction of Palestinian statehood, Israel’s apparent disregard for Palestinian lives in the current Gaza campaign risks not only global condemnation, but the fate of South Africa during apartheid: economic, political and cultural isolation — and, ultimately, collapse.” Read his essay ➤

What a chatbot taught me about resolving the Israel-Hamas war (and making matzo balls):When David Cohen, a retired elementary school teacher, asked an artificial intelligence engine to weigh in on the pressing issue of the day, it spat back a surprisingly thoughtful response: “There are no easy answers, and passions run very deep. But creative diplomacy, humanitarian action, and people-to-people dialog may gradually move the situation in a better direction. Compromise and patience will be required on all sides.” Read the story ➤

Family and Friends at the funeral of IDF Staff Sgt. Levi Gihassi on Thursday in Israel. (Getty)

Plus…

• A Jewish studies professor with a history of fighting antisemitism at Stanford resigned after being accused of not being pro-Israel enough.

  
  

• Len Blavatnik, a Jewish billionaire and Harvard alum has, in the past, given at least $270 million to his alma mater. He now says he will pause future giving in the wake of the congressional testimony by the school’s president about campus antisemitism.

  
  

• Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met in New York on Thursday with a delegation of young people whose parents or siblings are being held hostage by Hamas.

  
  

• A poll shows Palestinians overwhelmingly support Oct. 7. What does that actually mean?

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ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

A young Ruth Messinger looks ahead to a life filled with activism and a pair of bat mitzvahs. (Courtesy)

If you thought her first bat mitzvah was trailblazing, wait till you hear about her second: Ruth Messinger had the first-ever bat mitzvah at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Synagogue back in 1953. Now 83, she became the first congregant to celebrate the ritual of a second bat mitzvah. Messinger, who once ran for mayor of New York City, spoke with our contributor Stav Ziv about the differences between the two events, and the legacy she hopes to leave behind.

A new documentary contrasts Amsterdam in the Holocaust and the Amsterdam of today: In Occupied City, an over-four-hour film about the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, director Steve McQueen pairs contemporary footage of modern Amsterdam with voiceover detailing the many deaths, betrayals and acts of resistance that occurred seven decades earlier. As our PJ Grisar writes in his review, the experiment isn’t always successful. “This concept needn’t have been conveyed in so long a slog,” he writes, “and feels like it would be better realized in short form.”

Plus: If Yiddishland California, a museum and cultural center in San Diego, doesn’t raise $120,000 by December 31, it will be forced to move to another state.

– From our Sponsor: Spertus Institute –

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Temple Beth Am is one of the oldest Conservative synagogues in Los Angeles. (Wikimedia)

🕍  Congregants of Los Angeles’ Temple Beth Am who head to shul this Shabbat afternoon won’t be going to the synagogue that’s anchored their Jewish neighborhood since the 1950s. They will instead convene at a private home, the rabbi announced Thursday, due to safety concerns related to a pro-Palestinian protest expected at a park across the street from the synagogue. (Forward)

📚  An Orlando-area school district removed from classroom libraries nearly 700 books — including Holocaust books and those written by Saul Bellow and Philip Roth among other Jewish authors. (JTA)

🇮🇱  The Conservative movement is suspending its Israel gap year program for high school graduates, citing budget woes and “recruitment challenges.” (JTA)

😲  The Las Vegas family of an autistic Jewish teen who had a swastika carved on his back by classmates is suing the school. (NY Post)

🎵 A Yiddish rock supergroup plans to reunite for one show in Manhattan on Christmas. “I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” said the group’s lead singer. “And loud.” (NY Jewish Week)

Shiva call ➤  Robert Solow, an American economist who won the Nobel Prize in 1987, died at 99.

What else we’re reading ➤  The classic Christmas movie that offers a lesson about antisemitism in America … 20 Jewish celebrities who died in 2023 … A new play tells the true story of a former Hasid who translated the New Testament into Yiddish.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Where’s Noa? NBC News foreign correspondent Raf Sanchez examines the case of 26-year-old Noa Argamani, who became one of the faces of the hostage crisis after video of her abduction from the Supernova music festival spread across social media. Despite the release of more than 100 hostages in November in a deal that included most women and children, Noa’s whereabouts — and those of many of the hostages taken from the festival — remain unknown. Watch the short documentary above.

Thanks to PJ Grisar, Arno Rosenfeld 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.

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