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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

A violent weekend of antisemitic attacks, new poll shows Americans’ views of Israel worsened in the past year, why some are looking to a “kosher” phone to cure tech addiction, and how to make the perfect gluten-free matzo ball.

ISRAEL AT WAR: DAY 150

Pro-Palestinian activists gather at Harvard University in October. (Getty)

A federal investigation or lawsuit related to antisemitism on college campuses has been opened or filed nearly every other day on average since Oct. 7.

White supremacist flyers distributed at Montana State University. A drunken assault at the University of Tampa. Calls for violence against a student at the New School. These and other incidents have been the subjects of an unprecedented flurry of federal investigations and lawsuits related to antisemitism launched since the war began, according to a comprehensive Forward review.

A case every other day: The Education Department has opened 48 investigations into “shared ancestry” discrimination at colleges and universities, most dealing with antisemitism, since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. At least 10 lawsuits against schools have been filed. “This became an all-hands-on-deck moment after the terrorist attack,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said at a briefing last month.

New legal doctrine: These types of federal investigations began in 2004, but they’ve exploded in recent years — and especially since October — as advocacy groups seek to connect support for Israel to Jewish identity in the face of mounting anti-Zionist activism on campus. “Oct. 7 just poured fuel on a fire that was already out of control,” said Mark Ressler, an attorney who is suing several Ivy League universities on behalf of Jewish students.

Resources, resources, resources: The dozens of antisemitism investigations make up only a tiny fraction of more than 19,000 civil rights cases being handled by the Education Department, and officials say they don’t have enough staff to resolve them in a timely manner. Some are calling for more money to make sure that the antisemitism cases — which tend to be more difficult to investigate and resolve than other types of complaints — get the attention they deserve.

The flowers that bloom each year around Israel’s border with Gaza are drawing fewer visitors than the sites where the Oct. 7 massacres took place down the road. (Susan Greene)

Wartime wildflowers draw few visitors | ‘Now all their red makes me think of is blood’: Since 2007, a festival has drawn hundreds of thousands to the hills east of the Gaza Strip to celebrate the emergence of spring’s flowers. Now the festival’s hikes, bike races and poetry readings have been canceled, as expressions of grief seem to have surpassed nature appreciation. “Soldiers stationed here told me that only a few cars have stopped at the trailheads to the wildflower fields these last few weeks,” our Susan Greene reports, “while the parking lot down the road, at the site of the Nova music festival massacre, has been packed.” Read the story ➤

Opinion | 100 Gazans were killed trying to get food. Jews should be outraged: “I’m watching as the heartache that we as a Jewish people are going through is hardening our hearts toward the suffering of others,” writes Rabbi Marc Katz. He adds: “Protecting yourself, fighting Hamas, freeing the captives — these impulses do not mean that you cannot care about the humanity and dignity of the Palestinian people. And if we forget that, we forget it at our peril.” Read his essay ➤

Related: “Israel’s role in Gazans’ starvation is a profound violation of Jewish values,” writes Nora Berman, our deputy opinion editor.

Plus…

Families of the hostages held a silent processional outside the Knesset Monday, to mark 150 days since the kidnappings.

A missile from Lebanon killed one person and wounded seven others, all foreign laborers, working at an orchard in northern Israel.

Americans’ opinions of Israel have worsened in the past year, according to a new Gallup poll released this morning: 58% of Americans, down from 68% last year, have a “very” or “mostly favorable” view of Israel. This is the lowest favorable rating for Israel in over two decades. (Views of the Palestinian Authority are also down.)

Vice President Kamala Harris said a temporary ceasefire is needed to get hostages out. (Getty)

Vice President Kamala Harris called Sunday for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza. Harris is set to meet with Benny Gantz, an Israeli war cabinet official, at the White House today.

Ramadan starts Sunday, March 10. Israeli officials are working on security for the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where Muslims come to pray. Jewish protesters, as well as potential restrictions on which Muslims can pray there, could further inflame tensions.

Israel said on Sunday it would change the lyrics to its submissions for the Eurovision Song Contest, after officials at the competition said it was too political.

Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, argues in her latest column that Barnard College’s new ban on dorm-room door decorations is dangerous.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

A street in the Shanghai Jewish Ghetto, circa 1943. (Wikimedia Commons)

In a Romeo-and-Juliet musical set in WWII Shanghai, Chinese and Jewish refugees are star-crossed lovers: During World War II, while the United States limited immigration to the country and turned away a barge full of Jewish refugees, one port city kept its doors open to Europe’s persecuted Jews: Shanghai. From 1933 to 1941, Shanghai welcomed over 20,000 Jews fleeing the Holocaust. A new musical tells the story of star-crossed lovers, one Chinese and the other Jewish, who marry despite divisions between their people and a brutal war that is devastating both groups.

Plus…

The Supreme Court is mulling a case that might allow neo-Nazis to operate freely on social media.

Watch as our Yiddish editor, Rukhl Schaechter, shows you how to make gluten-free matzo balls for the perfect end-of-winter chicken soup.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Jenn Martin of the Forward drew this tribute to Iris Apfel, who died this weekend at 102.

😲 A teenager was arrested Saturday in Zurich after he stabbed a Jewish man in his 50s, who is in serious condition at a local hospital … Meanwhile, French police are hunting an assailant who attacked a man leaving a synagogue Friday night. (JTA, AP)

😞 A man with a Muslim name was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a Jewish dentist on Thursday in California. There is a growing call among Jewish groups to classify the murder as a hate crime, but for now police say the shooter was a “disgruntled” former patient; his family said he had been experiencing mental health issues in recent months. (JTA, NBC News)

🍞 A threatening postcard depicting Anne Frank saying “So much fun!” with an image of Auschwitz was sent to an Israeli-owned bakery in Atlanta. (Forward)

🍽️ Phil Rosenthal, the host of an award-winning food travel show on Netflix, is opening a diner in Los Angeles. He plans to name it after his parents, Helen and Max, and serve his mom’s matzo ball soup. (Kveller)

Shiva calls ➤ Iris Apfel, a fashion icon known for her eye-catching style, died at 102 … Rabbi Ellen Bernstein, known as the matriarch of the Jewish environmental movement, died at 70.

What else we’re reading ➤ In a southern Israeli city, a second chance for a first day of school … Meet the musician known as “the Jewish Ed Sheeran” … Can a “kosher” phone cure your tech addiction?

VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Phoenix Suns on Saturday night honored Amar’e Stoudemire, the Jewish former NBA star, and retired his jersey, No. 32.

“The number 32 is a special number,” Stoudemire told the crowd. “When you look at the lashon hakodesh, the Hebrew language, the letter lamed and the letter vet equals 32. You bring that word together, it’s lev. Lev in the Hebrew language means heart. As we all know, and you guys have seen, I play with heart, determination. fearlessness, focus.”

Watch his remarks at the 9:30-mark in the video above.

Thanks to Beth Harpaz, Jacob Kornbluh, Lauren Markoe, Jenn Martin and Arno Rosenfeld for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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