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| Today's newsletter is sponsored by Kripke Institute JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Give a tax-deductible donation Inside the White House Hanukkah party, Facebook allows Holocaust denialism, a Hasidic rabbi is taking away cell phones, and the world's most famous Jewish bowler. OUR LEAD STORY Gabby Giffords’ bat mitzvah was as joyous and tearful as you’d expect
Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords stood before the congregation in Tucson, Ariz., and kissed her tallit, preparing to chant from the Torah for the first time, Rabbi Stephanie Aaron placed her hand atop Giffords’ hand, her voice rising and falling along with Giffords’ own. It was an emotional moment two decades in the making.
The backstory: Giffords – whose Hebrew name is Gavriella, meaning “my strength is God” – is the granddaughter of a rabbi, descended from a long line of Lithuanian rabbis, but did not become bat mitzvah at the traditional age. She first thought about having an adult bat mitzvah in the early 2000s, but life – and a near-fatal shooting – got in the way.
The fateful day: In 2011, during a Saturday morning meet-and greet outside a grocery store, Giffords was shot in the head in an attack that left six people dead and a dozen others injured. She has spent the past decade in speech and physical therapy, and became a national crusader for gun-safety laws.
The event: Ten years later, on a very different Saturday morning, friends and family gathered at Congregation Chaverim, a synagogue that was defaced with a swastika and antisemitic slurs earlier this year. Others joined via Zoom. Near the conclusion of the service, Giffords played “Amazing Grace” on the French horn.
The parsha: “My Torah portion is from Genesis, from the story of Joseph,” Giffords explained to the Forward. “If you know Vayeshev, you know it begins ‘And he lived.’ Any story that begins ‘and he lived’ is good with me. I lived. Everything afterwards is a gift.”
ALSO FROM THE FORWARD Hanukkah at Biden’s White House felt like a family gathering: Why was this holiday event different from all that have come before it in a tradition begun in 2001? It was a more intimate affair, due to concerns about the coronavirus. Our Jacob Kornbluh, one of just 150 invitees, reports that for many of the attendees, it felt more personal. It was the first time that the menorah was lit by the Jewish spouse of a sitting president or vice president – Doug Emhoff – and a Jewish Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer. “This is a White House tradition,” President Joe Biden said, “but for the first time in history it is a family tradition.” Read the story and watch the service >
How a right-wing Jewish candidate is channeling de Gaulle, X-Men and ‘The King’s Speech’:Éric Zemmour, the racist and reactionary TV pundit, officially declared his campaign for president of France. Robert Zaretsky, our culture columnist, parsed the announcement video and found some odd elements, including rioting, Muslims kneeling in the streets and film clips of Joan of Arc – all orchestrated to the swelling climax of Beethoven’s Seventh. “It’s a streaming mess,” he writes. Read the story >
But wait, there’s more… Facebook continues to allow Holocaust denial, despite a policy change aimed at targeting it, the Anti-Defamation League reports. Does a $676 million sale mark the end of an era in Jewish art collecting? Hanukkah cookie houses: Delicious treats, or another way to Christmas-ify the holiday?
A message from our sponsor: Kripke Institute Hanukkah Homecoming is Nov 28 - Dec 5 Join a worldwide "open house" of Jewish communities inviting you to celebrate Hanukkah onsite and online together during Hanukkah Homecoming, November 28 - December 5, 2021.
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🕎 In Ghana for a “spiritual cleansing,” New York’s mayor-elect, Eric Adams, celebrated Hanukkah with the local Chabad. “As a member of the Brooklyn community, and the rich Crown Heights community, we know what the Rebbe did for all of us and how he spread the importance of Hanukkah,” Adams said from a cherry picker at the top of a 36-foot menorah. (JTA) 📚 The president of California State University at Fresno acknowledged this week that the campus library was named after a man “who held deeply antisemitic views and Nazi sympathies.” The Henry Madden Library was named in 1981 for Fresno State’s longtime librarian, whose views on Jews only recently came to light; the university has formed a task force to decide what to do. (Washington Post) 🤰 As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Washington on a landmark abortion case, Israel’s health minister said he wants to update Israel’s abortion processes, which he called “chauvinistic” and “ridiculously outdated.” (JTA) 📱 A Hasidic rabbi asked his followers to give him their smartphones for the entirety of Hanukkah – and said that doing so would bless them with children who are observant Jews. A number of businesses owned by people in his community posted on WhatsApp that they would not have access to their phones until after the holiday. (The Yeshiva World) 🗺 In 1909, treasure hunters sailed from England to Jerusalem. Their goal: to find and take possession of the Ark of the Covenant, the legendary gold-covered chest in which the shattered remains of the Ten Commandments were said to be stored. A new book, “True Raiders,” dives deep into the story. (Wall Street Journal) 🎤 Gefilte fish-loving gangsters who trade in horseradish meet up in a parking lot for a deal that goes awry. That’s the plot of the new video by a pop duo who are updating classic Yiddish songs for the modern times. “The importance of our project is to make this language accessible, to make it relevant,” said Michal Karmi, one half of the Vibers. (Haaretz) Shiva call > Mark Roth, a Hall of Fame bowler, died at 70. “I will never forget the first time I saw Mark bowl,” said Naz Laursen, the manager at Country Lanes in Staten Island. “Larger than life, unorthodox bowling style and big sweeping hook. I knew he would change the game forever and he did.” (SI Live) What else we’re reading > 10 Jewish books to read in December … A Jewish deli from a Wise Sons alum is coming to Northwest Portland … Disney nailed the Hanukkah TV movie back in 2003.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES During Hanukkah 1942, an ad for “The Breakers,” an Atlantic City hotel, promised visitors a “true yontef treat.” It billed itself as the only kosher boardwalk hotel offering both cold and hot ocean water at the guests’ disposal.
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: The first synagogue in what would become the United States was dedicated in Rhode Island on Dec. 2, 1763 – the first day of Hanukkah that year. President George Washington wrote a letter to the congregation pledging that the fledgling government of the United States would “give to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” It’s generally regarded as his most eloquent treatise on religious liberty. The building eventually became a national historic site and, in recent years, two congregations fought over ownership of the building.
Last year on this day, a Republican told us why he was voting for the Rev. Raphael Warnock to become the first Black U.S. Senator from Georgia.
VIDEO OF THE DAY Watch klezmer musicians Frank London, Sarah Gordon and Lorin Sklamberg prepare some of their favorite Hanukkah dishes, singing while they cook. The program was produced by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and will be streaming until the last day of Hanukkah.
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