 INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. SINCE 1897.  In today’s briefing: The Jewish response to a major climate report, Holy Land theme park gets new owners, gearing up for the Winter Olympics with Israeli bobsledder and much more. OUR LEAD STORY ✡️  PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES ‘So unexpected and so shocking’: Your personal antisemitism stories
Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, recently wrote a column about the most antisemitic thing that ever happened to her: when a drunk British barrister made an offensive remark to her at the buffet line during an event.
Jodi’s experience, perhaps benign in the grand scheme of Jewish history, is indicative of a larger narrative: Negative stereotypes and presumptions, based on looking at Jews as the other, as less than. Amid a national surge of antisemitic incidents, Jodi invited readers to share the most antisemitic thing that ever happened to them. Some 200 of you responded.
Jodi and our editorial fellow, Eliya Smith, compiled the responses. There are stories of swastikas painted on walls, of being called “Christ-killer” and “dirty Jew,” of physical attacks including a shooting.
One particularly memorable submission came from Rabbi Robin Nafshi, who leads a congregation in New Hampshire. Weeks after the 2018 shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, she was targeted by a white supremacist online and the local police warned her that a potential copycat was threatening to kill every Jew in her town.
“He’d call me ‘Despicable Jew of the Day’ or write about me being Jewish and lesbian,” she said of the online harassment. “He was eventually identified, arrested, and sent to our state psychiatric hospital for evaluation.”
GOODBYE TOKYO, HELLO BEIJING 🥇  AN ISRAELI BOBSLEDDER'S JOURNEY IS REMINISCENT OF THE MOVIE 'COOL RUNNINGS.' (COURTESY IBSF) Israel had its best Olympics ever with two gold and two bronze medals. Both golds came in gymnastics, courtesy of Artem Dolgopyat and Linoy Ashram; Ashram, a rhythmic gymnast, is the first Israeli woman ever to win Olympic gold. Bronze came in Team Judo and for Avishag Semberg in Taekwondo. “They inspired countless fans around the world with their determination on the field and their class off it,” David Wiseman, co-founder of the Follow Team Israel social media group, texted me this morning.
A message from our sponsor: Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning & Leadership  Jewish organizations need creative professionals who are educated and equipped with the skills to lead in changing times. Addressing this need, Spertus Institute’s MA in Jewish Professional Studies is a unique, accredited graduate program for those working, or seeking to work, for Jewish organizations. Next cohort begins January 2022. Generous funding available for qualified students. Applications accepted through September 23, 2021.
6 THINGS AMERICAN JEWS ARE TALKING ABOUT ☀️  ILONA ROYCE SMITHKIN WAS A MODEL AND MUSE FOR MANY ARTISTS. (PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES) 1. A United Nations climate panel released a report this morning with a “code red for humanity.” It said the window is rapidly closing to cut our reliance on fossil fuels and avoid catastrophic changes that would transform life as we know it. Prof. Ira Allen writes in the Jewish Journal: “We can – if we become sufficiently pragmatic, honest enough to live with that shimmer of horror at our horizons that Jews have already so long endured – diminish the extent to which coming consequences threaten our very species-survival.” (CNN, Jewish Journal)
2. A Long Island Jewish elementary school was about to close down. Until a group of dedicated parents stepped in and bought the school themselves. They plan to not only keep the school open, but retain the current teaching staff. (New York Jewish Week)
3. Five social media giants failed to remove 84% of antisemitic posts in May and June, according to a new report. And Facebook performed the worst, despite announcing new rules to tackle the problem. Relatedly, antisemitic merchandise persists on Pinterest, despite restrictions. (Axios, The Markup)
4. The Holy Land Experience – a Bible-based Orlando theme park founded by a Jewish convert who became a Baptist minister – has been sold to a Seventh-Day Adventist health system. Mark Pinksy, a Forward contributor and former religion reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, visited the park shortly before the pandemic and found it empty and in poor condition. “The Jerusalem Temple may soon crumble – again,” he wrote of the life-size replica. “You could hurl a Roman legionnaire’s spear into the painstakingly recreated Jerusalem Market without hitting a single paying customer. At lunchtime, Esther’s Banquet Hall restaurant was nearly empty.” (Religion News Service, Forward)
5. 18 Orthodox girls trying to fly to New York from Amsterdam were removed from two flights, with officials saying they violated COVID-19 protocols by eating outside prescribed meal times, when passengers are allowed to unmask. Their rabbi is claiming both incidents were antisemitic. “With antisemitism, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck,” he said. (Business Insider)
6. A new documentary highlights the debate over secular education at yeshivas in New York City. It focuses on a 2015 lawsuit by graduates alleging that the schools left them ill-prepared for college and careers. Molly Boigon, a former Forward reporter who covered the controversy, features prominently in the film. “An Unorthodox Education” is available to stream until Tuesday night. (JTA, Show&Tell Films)
Shiva call: Ilona Royce Smithkin, an artist and model known for her flaming red pixie-cut hair and short stature, has died at 101. She was a subject of the 2014 documentary “Advanced Style,” which dove into the personal lives of Manhattan’s most fashionable seniors. Born Ilona Rosenkranz in Poland, she sang cabaret, acted in movies and taught art. Eric Liberman, a Broadway actor, recalled the “spiritual experience” of sitting for a portrait with Smithkin. “She grew preternaturally still, and her observance plumbed the depths of who you were,” he said. “She could evoke the entire cosmos of someone’s being through the microcosm of their eye.” (The New York Times, Forward)
PHOTO OF THE DAY 📸  After a year-and-a-half of Zoom meetings, the Forward’s English leadership team put the newsroom on pause and spent last week in a deep dive focused on fine-tuning our strategy to deliver the best possible journalism to our audience. If we do our jobs right, you’ll see the fruits of our efforts in the weeks and months ahead. For several of us who were hired during the pandemic, it was the first time meeting offline. I knew Rob was taller than the rest of us, but Zoom just didn’t do it justice.
ON THE CALENDAR 🗓  EDITH STEIN BECAME SAINT TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS. (PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA) ✝️ On this day in history: Edith Stein, a German Jewish philosopher who became a nun after converting to Catholicism, died on August 9, 1942. Though Stein had renounced Judaism, the Gestapo arrested her and her sister Rosa and sent them both to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Pope John Paul II canonized her as a saint in 1998.
HAVE YOU HEARD OUR PODCAST? 🎧  The second episode of “A Bintel Brief: The Jewish advice podcast” has hit the airwaves. In it, hosts Ginna Green and Lynn Harris advise “Aunt Enemy,” a woman concerned by the discovery that her relatives have been radicalized by the far-right. This episode also features the Forward’s archivist, Chana Pollack, who shares a letter published in 1969 about a man who manages to wean his wife off her addiction to Bingo. Listen now >
Support Independent Jewish Journalism The Forward is a non-profit 501(c)3 so our journalism depends on support from readers like you. You can support our work today by donating or subscribing. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law.
  
Copyright © 2021, The Forward Association, Inc. All rights reserved. The Forward Association, Inc., 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter. To stop receiving all emails from the Forward click here. |