Benjamin Netanyahu unfires defense minister, Orthodox group asks Pulitzers to snub New York Times, the inside story of the Rugrats Passover episode, and Lionel Richie's daughter converted to Judaism. |
Jonathan Roumie, right, stars as Jesus in 'The Chosen,' available to stream on Peacock. (Courtesy) |
The hit Christian TV show ‘The Chosen’ is all about Jesus. So why is it so Jewish?The disciples call Jesus their rabbi. They observe Rosh Hashanah and Purim. They talk about keeping kosher and women’s menstrual purity laws; the mikveh is at the center of a lengthy plot arc about a broken cistern in season three. Why did these Christian showrunners make their characters so Jewish, and what does it mean for their audience? Culture writer Mira Fox explores. Read the story ➤
Despite rising antisemitism, family proudly displays Jewish and Hebrew phrases on garage doors: The first Magna-Tiles message the Tuvin family posted on their garage doors in West Hartford, Connecticut, was simple and straightforward. It was March 27, 2020, two weeks into COVID lockdown, and it was a Friday. “Shabbat” read the colorful magnets on one door. “Shalom,” said the other. They’ve posted a new message each day for more than 1,000 days now, including gentle commentary on local happenings or national politics as well as holiday greetings. Read the story ➤
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How ‘A Rugrats Passover’ became an iconic holiday special: Had anyone asked Moses, back when, if he thought that a generation would someday learn his story through the exploits of a fictional band of toddlers known as the “Rugrats” — well, in comparison, that burning bush might not have seemed so shocking. Alas, this is what Nickelodeon begat. In one 22-minute episode broadcast in 1995, the beloved show gave life to the story of Passover so powerfully that decades later, Millennials still cite it as a formative influence. Our alumnus Aiden Pink got the inside scoop on how it came together. Read the story ➤ Related: Jonathan Greenberg won an Emmy Award for writing the Rugrats Passover episode, but he didn’t watch it with his son – until now. Read their conversation. Plus… Rabbi Leo Dee, whose wife and two daughters died in a terrorist attack in Israel this weekend, offered a message of hope to a grieving nation, writes Laura Ben-David in a new OpEd.
Rep. George Santos, under congressional and federal investigation for lying about his background, told two Hasidic reporters that recent genetic testing shows he has a significant percentage of Jewish ancestry. He did not, however, share the test results.
After a major character’s death on Succession, the hit HBO show, our PJ Grisar imagined the scene at a Roy family shiva. |
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a news conference on Monday. (Getty)
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🇮🇱 News from Israel: Israeli forces raided the occupied West Bank city of Jenin Tuesday morning and captured a terror cell they said was planning an “imminent attack” ... In a separate raid the day before in Jericho, clashes erupted and soldiers killed a 15-year-old Palestinian … Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reversed his decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Galant, a move seen as a victory for the mass protests that erupted after his firing. 🏆 We often share news of major artworks returned to the heirs of Jewish families who lost them during the Holocaust. Now, The New York Times reports that “some German institutions have begun to give back cups, candlesticks, teapots and other items of crafted silver that Jews were forced to surrender during the reign of the Third Reich.” (NYT) 📰 Agudath Israel of America, an umbrella organization representing Orthodox Jews, has asked the Pulitzer Prize Board not to give an award to The New York Times investigation of Hasidic yeshivas. The Pulitzers, the most prestigious prizes in journalism, are set to be announced May 8. Agudath said giving one to The Times for this reporting would be “a tacit approval and furtherance of offensive, antisemitic tropes.” (Agudath Israel) ✍️ A Virginia public high school is requiring one of its teachers to remove a New Testament verse from his email signature. A Christian legal group says the directive amounts to religious discrimination, noting that other teachers are allowed to include personal messages, including their pronouns. The verse, John 3:16, states: “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Religion News Service) 🎭 Fans of Rachel Brosnahan, aka The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, will now have the chance to see her portray another 1960s housewife. Brosnahan stars with Oscar Isaac in The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, a play headed to Broadway after a successful run in Brooklyn. (Hollywood Reporter, Plus: Read our review of the play) ✡️ Model and fashion designer Sofia Richie, the daughter of music legend Lionel Richie, converted to Judaism. “What a magical day,” she wrote on Instagram with a photo of her conversion certificate. Richie is engaged to Elliot Grainge, a music executive who is Jewish. (Popstar) Shiva call ➤ Al Jaffee, the legendary cartoonist who spent 55 years at Mad Magazine, died at 102. Jafee told us in a 2016 interview that his humor stemmed from the fact that he thought in Yiddish.
What else we’re reading ➤ Why are young Americans becoming less religious? … The real Jewish history behind Netflix’s Transatlantic and the WWII rescue mission that inspired it … Turning over the stones of England’s lost Jewish past.
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On this day in history (1909): Dozens of Jewish families gathered on sand dunes in Jaffa and parceled out the land that is now Tel Aviv. It is now Israel’s second-largest city, with more than 400,000 residents, known for its beachfront, Pride parades, active party scene and famed restaurants. The city has also been at the heart of the current mass protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan.
In honor of National Pet Day, here’s my essay about why you may not want to feed your dog kosher-for-Passover food.
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A Small Light is an eight-part series about the true story of a couple who hid Anne Frank’s family during the Holocaust. Bel Powley portrays Miep Gies and Liev Schreiber stars as Otto Frank. The series will air on the National Geographic channel, Disney+ and Hulu; watch the trailer above.
Related: Listen to our Playing Anne Frank podcast
--- Thanks to Mira Fox, PJ Grisar, Sarah Nachimson and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected]. |
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