Ukrainian refugee wins Jerusalem Marathon, rabbinical seminary slashing tuition by 80%, the religious controversy at the Academy Awards, and Netflix announces new Jewish dating series.

OUR LEAD STORY

Did Isidore Abramowitz, upper left in photo with his family, accidentally start the fire? (Courtesy Martin Abramowitz)

Today marks the 111th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, an 18-minute inferno that killed 146 workers – mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women and girls – in what remains one of the worst industrial tragedies in American history.

New details: A book published this week, “Talking to the Girls,” includes essays on the event and its contemporary relevance by activists, scholars and family members of the Triangle workers. One of the contributors is Martin Abramowitz, 81, who fears his father – Isidore, a cutter on the factory floor – might have been the one who accidentally started the blaze.

The spark and the regret: The fire marshal concluded that someone tossed a match or cigarette butt into Isidore’s scrap bin before it was completely extinguished. Isidore spilled a pail of water on it, but it was too late. “Regardless of whether or not it was his ash, I’m haunted by the fact that he must have been haunted for his entire life,” Abramowitz said in a recent interview.

Long legacy: Frances Perkins, a social worker who witnessed the fire and later became U.S. Secretary of Labor, famously said: “The New Deal began on March 25, 1911.” As for Abramowitz, he is a board member of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, a nonprofit that is raising money for a $3 million memorial. “I owe that to ‘the girls,’ in the name of my father,” he said.

Read an excerpt from the new book ➤

Read the Abramowitz interview ➤

Explore all our coverage of the fire’s aftermath ➤

Demonstrators mourn the deaths of victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. (Getty)

Here’s how the Forward reported the news that first day: “In dark tenement rooms, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grooms, brides, loved ones with eyes bugging out of their heads from searching, waiting for their children, sisters, brothers, loved ones; waiting for them to arrive from the shop, where they labored all week long, waiting for them to arrive bringing their paltry wages and resting from the week’s toil; but instead of them, the blackest news is delivered: they are no longer among the living, their bodies lie seared, a burnt-offering on the altar of capital.”

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. (Courtesy Mendel Abelsky)

Chabad in Moldova turns five resorts into refugee centers:Winter in Eastern Europe is not prime tourist season, which meant that when Russia attacked Ukraine, the region’s luxury resorts were mostly vacant. Rabbi Zushe Abelsky jumped into action, raising money to host thousands of people running from the war. “Our place is to give them a hug, soup, food, a place to sleep, and make sure that they are strong enough to make decisions for their future,” said Abelsky, who is affiliated with the Chabad movement. Read the story ➤

A way to forgive debts and leave fields fallow — even if you’re not a farmer in Israel: The shmita year, a biblically mandated agriculture sabbatical that occurs every seven years, is often ignored by greater society; in the most common interpretation, it only affects fields in Israel. But, “The Shmita Project,” a new art exhibit at a JCC in the Bay Area, “offers art and ritual objects that can still help ground us in the sabbatical year amidst our urban or suburban lives,” writes culture reporter Mira Fox. Read the story ➤

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Valentyna Veretska finished the race in 2:45:54. (Courtesy the Jerusalem Marathon)

🏃 A Ukrainian refugee won the women’s race Friday morning at the Jerusalem Marathon. Valentyna Veretska, who is 32 and fled the war with her daughter while her husband stayed home to fight, held up both Israeli and Ukrainian flags as she crossed the finish line. “I knew I needed to do my best,” she said. “That’s how my voice will be heard. It’s for them, for the people of Ukraine.” (Times of Israel)

⚖️ The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Messianic Jew in a religious-liberty case on Thursday. John Henry Ramirez, who is on death row for killing a convenience-store clerk during a robbery, sued the Texas prison system for denying his request to have his Baptist pastor lay hands on him and pray during his execution. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that “it is possible to accommodate Ramirez’s sincere religious beliefs without delaying or impeding his execution.” (AP)

💰 A Conservative rabbinical seminary is slashing tuition by nearly 80%. The Ziegler School, which is part of the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, hopes the move will attract more diverse applicants – and just more applicants: last year, it only ordained two new rabbis. (JTA)

🕍 More churches and synagogues are reopening across the U.S., but attendance has remained flat, according to a new Pew Research survey about religious life during the pandemic. “We’re not going to know the full impact for quite a few years,” said Scott Thumma, a sociologist. (Religion News Service)

💕 Netflix announced it would make a new series featuring “singles in the U.S. and Israel as they turn their dating life over to a top Jewish matchmaker.” The Netflix-affiliated site Tudum says no premiere date has been set and that the series is framed around the question: “Will using the traditional practice of shidduch help them find their soulmate in today’s world?” (JTA)

Shiva call ➤ Stuart Goldman, the award-winning political cartoonist at the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, died at 74. “We laughed a lot in the 35 years that we were together,” said his wife, Naomi Goldman. Read his obituary ➤

Long weekend reads ➤ Morgan Spector is the go-to actor for historical dramas on HBO, and his Jewishness is integral to his roles … A historic synagogue in Kyiv has spent $2 million evacuating Ukrainians from the war’s hot spots … An excerpt of a debut novel that centers on a Holocaust survivor and an L.A. detective living in an alternate 1958.

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: Howard Cosell, the legendary sports broadcaster, was born on March 25, 1918. The grandson of a rabbi, Cosell had the distinction of being both beloved and blustery; his nickname, intended ironically, was “Humble Howard.” He was “a man of many layers who reveled in his own attention,” wrote David Halberstam, publisher of the Sports Broadcast Journal. “He would proceed to harangue, decry and pontificate, all in the interest of telling it like it is.” The sports complex at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was named for Cosell and he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. Read more about Cosell’s life ➤

The second season of “Bridgerton” arrives on Netflix today. We spoke with an Orthodox therapist who says that watching the series, a romance set in Regency-era England, could improve your sex life.

Israel began daylight saving time this morning, so if you’re calling friends or family today, remember they’re now (again) seven hours ahead of ET.

Last year on this day, when a man found what he thought were shrimp tails in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch, we asked rabbis whether the cereal was still kosher.

The Oscars are Sunday: Our Rob Eshman looks at the recent controversy surrounding the Academy’s initial decision to not include an exhibit on Hollywood’s Jewish founders. “Why would the museum organizers, with $484 million and more than 300,000 square feet, decide to tell the story of the motion picture industry and neglect to mention the people who created it?” he wrote in the latest edition of the Forward’s California newsletter. (Read it here, and click here to get next week’s delivered to your inbox.)

YOUR WEEKEND READS

In this week’s edition of our free printable magazine: Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, reports from the Ukraine-Polish border; our opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, argues that AIPAC canceling its conferences and endorsing candidates who challenged the 2020 election results will irreparably damage the U.S.-Israel relationship; our intern, Rudy Malcom, spoke with a variety of Jewish leaders about how they are feeling at the start of this third pandemic year. Plus: A look at how virtual minyans and avatar rabbis will appear in the much-ballyhooed multiverse. Download your copy here ➤

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Thanks to Mira Fox and Eliya Smith for contributing to today’s newsletter.

You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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