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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
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Progress made at hostage release talks, Iran funding pro-Palestinian protests in U.S., Facebook updates its policy on posting about “Zionists,” Jewish family sues NYC for $100 million after school brawl, senator says U.S. is a Christian nation, and a new book explores how Barbara Walters changed the world. |
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President Biden speaks at the NATO summit Tuesday in Washington, D.C. (Getty) |
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Opinion | Joe Biden is beginning to look a lot like the biblical Jonah. That’s bad news for all of us: Jonah “fails to understand that the story in which he is living is not just about him,” writes columnist Emily Tamkin. “There was something bigger and more important than one person’s sense of self at stake. And no matter how much we might respect Biden, his sense of fairness — and his desire not to move into the next phase of his life — can’t and shouldn’t be the top priority in determining the fate of our country.” Read her essay ➤
Should President Biden retire? Old Jewish men offer advice: Biden says he’s staying in the race, but some of his fellow octogenarians are wondering if it might be time for him to relax, take his grandchildren on a vacation and exercise. Rabbi James Rudin, 89, tries to play tennis daily with his wife since he retired 24 years ago from the Air Force, where he was a chaplain. Biden should keep moving, Rudin said, and do “word puzzles.” Staying fit, he added, is an “obligation to the voters of America.” Read the story ➤
Related… |
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An injured man arrives at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday. (Getty) |
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Opinion | Has Israel really killed up to 186,000 people in Gaza? How to understand the numbers war: A headline-making new study suggests the death toll in Gaza might be almost five times higher than reported. But there’s reason to be skeptical. “By failing to isolate civilian deaths from combatant ones,” writes Jessica Trisko Darden, a foreign policy scholar who studies civilian casualty counts, the study falls “into a trap set by Hamas.” She adds: “Striving for accuracy — including by openly acknowledging how much we still don’t know — is particularly important in cases, like this war, in which allegations of genocide are at stake.” Read her essay ➤
Related: An Israeli airstrike in Gaza Tuesday afternoon killed at least 25 people, according to local health authorities. The IDF said it was targeting a Hamas leader and is investigating the incident. Separately, the IDF warned all residents of Gaza City to evacuate.
Plus… The FBI is interviewing U.S. survivors and relatives of victims of the Oct. 7 attack as it builds a case against Hamas’ financial backers.
Iran has provided funding for pro-Palestinian protests in the U.S., the director of National Intelligence said on Tuesday. Related: Iran’s new president reaffirmed his country’s commitment to support anti-Israel groups.
Two Israeli civilians were killed Tuesday night when a Hezbollah rocket struck their car in northern Israel.
Israel’s defense minister approved a plan to start drafting Haredi men into the army, after a Supreme Court ruling on June 25 opened a legal path to do so.
There was significant progress made at hostage-truce talks Tuesday in Egypt, according to a U.S. official. Talks are set to resume today in Qatar.
A judge ruled on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must continue testifying in his corruption trial on Dec. 2, and that an ongoing war should not impact his ability to prepare for that.
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Barbara Walters in 1976. (Getty) |
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How Barbara Walters changed the world: Interviewing the likes of Vladimir Putin, Monica Lewinsky and Fidel Castro, the groundbreaking journalist remade television in her own image. But, a new book argues, Walters, the devoutly secular granddaughter of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, paid a high personal cost for her obsessive dedication to work. “In her personal life,” the author writes, “she would never seem to find firm footing.” |
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
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Photos of Israeli hostages on top of prayers placed at the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. (Luke Tress) |
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🪦 Tens of thousands of people, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, visited the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Queens to mark his 30th yahrzeit. (NY Jewish Week)
✝️ Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said in a speech this week that the U.S. is a Christian nation and advocated putting “In God We Trust” on every federal building. (Daily Beast)
🏫 A yearlong investigation at a Conservative rabbinical seminary in Los Angeles found sexism and homophobia on its campus. Now the school’s critics want the findings to be made public. (Religion News Service)
🎒 A Jewish family is suing New York City for $100 million after a brawl broke out at a public school’s fifth grade graduation where they say they “were punched, smashed in the head and dragged on the ground by their hair.” (WABC)
🇩🇪 Four congregations of different denominations will share a new synagogue in Potsdam. Germany’s president helped inaugurate the building. (JTA)
⚾ Minor league pitcher Jacob Steinmetz is eating kosher delivery, walking to the stadium on Shabbat — and staying focused on the game. “I had a kind of expectation going in of it being much harder,” Steinmetz said of being Orthodox in professional baseball. (JTA)
What else we’re reading ➤ Why Camp Ramah in New England drew a red line against anti-Zionism among its staff … Prominent law firm says that participating in anti-Israel protests could disqualify job applicants … She makes wigs for Hollywood supermodels, cancer patients and Orthodox women.
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Our deputy Yiddish editor, Zach Golden, joined cantors Judith Berkson and David Childs for a conversation — and a little singing — about the revival of this musical tradition among young Jews. |
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Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh 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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