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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Congress to vote on Israel aid package, pro-Palestinian activists block traffic in several U.S. cities, ADL says antisemitic incidents doubled last year, how to host a Seder when politics divide families, and the secret Jewish history of those kosher-for-Passover fruit-jelly slices.

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Students last month on the campus of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. (Getty)

USC cancels commencement speech from Muslim valedictorian after she shared link to anti-Israel website: An official at the University of Southern California, which had announced the selection only 10 days earlier, said in a campus-wide email Monday that the school made the decision out of safety concerns amid “an alarming tenor” of discussions related to her speech, including from many outside USC. Said the student: “I am surprised that my own university — my home for four years — has abandoned me.” Read the story ➤

How to host a Seder when everyone is talking past each other and strongly disagrees about the war: Rabbi Jay Michaelson writes that the Seder was “practically designed for this moment” because “the rituals and texts of the evening are designed to provoke conversation.” He offers up several resources to help ignite debate and dialogue this Passover. Read the story ➤

“We know that the world is watching us to see how we react,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson. (Getty)

The latest…

In the latest ripple effect of Iran’s attack this weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday that he planned to advance a national security package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies.

A new Hamas proposal provides for all hostages to go free — but only after Israel permanently ends the war and the IDF withdraws from Gaza. Hamas said it would need six weeks to locate the hostages.

The number of antisemitic incidents more than doubled last year, with a sharp rise after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit published Tuesday.

Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza shut down San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge Monday for several hours. Protesters also blocked traffic in Chicago, New York City and Seattle.

Israel’s representative at the Venice Biennale refused to open the country’s pavilion at the prestigious art show until a ceasefire in Gaza is reached.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani on Monday at the White House. (Getty)

Opinion | My tax dollars — and yours — are helping hold my sister hostage: Elisabeth Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University who published opinion articles in the Forward, was kidnapped in broad daylight last year in Baghdad and is still being held captive. That’s why her sister Emma saw Monday’s visit of the prime minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani, to the White House as a personal affront. “My blood boils each time I envision Sudani shaking Biden’s hand while the keys to my sister’s shackles are in his pocket.”

Opinion | Jewish teen who knew OJ recalls the family tragedy:Aryeh Shmuel knew O.J. Simpson and Nicole Brown Simpson as family friends, and was not surprised to learn of her murder. “The only thing we were surprised about is that it took so long,” he told our editor-at-large, Robin Washington. Now, some are calling for Simpson to rest in peace, while others want him to burn in hell. Shmuel takes a Jewish theological view of the afterlife. “There’s justice,” he said, “but the idea is to fix you, not to burn you forever.”

Plus…

A new documentary tells the story of a Honduran refugee family and the Jewish community that sponsored them.

How did a Newfoundland chef’s stew of smoked meat and split peas become a pastrami pea soup in Brooklyn? We’ve got the story, and the recipe.

David Zvi Kalman reveals the secret Jewish history of those kosher-for-Passover fruit-jelly slices.

NEW FROM THE FORWARD

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

A couple walks their dog past a polling place in Pittsburgh during the 2022 midterms. (Getty)

🗳️ Pennsylvania’s primary election, which includes the presidential primary as well as key statewide and congressional races, will be on the first day of Passover. Jewish groups and synagogues have been encouraging their members to cast mail-in ballots. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Related: A new political action committee in Pittsburgh plans to donate to candidates based on how favorable they are to Jews.

🇺🇸 A bill to create a national antisemitism coordinator is drawing rare bipartisan support in Congress. It is meant to advance President Biden’s national strategy to fight antisemitism, which includes demanding reforms in federal agencies like the Department of Education. (JTA)

👏 Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman of the U.S., is traveling to Missouri for a conference on antisemitism, and to mark the 10-year anniversary of the shooting at the Overland Park Jewish Community Center, where a former Klansman killed three Christians who happened to be on the campus. (Kansas City Jewish Chronicle)

🌊 Can a Christian community close the beach on Sunday mornings? That’s the question at the heart of a court case this week in New Jersey. (New York Times)

Shiva call ➤ Ken Holtzman, the winningest Jewish pitcher in Major League Baseball history, died at 78.

What else we’re reading ➤ How the war in Gaza mobilized the American left … Meet the first rabbi ever to be appointed as an ambassador to Israel … A visit to Streit’s matzo factory.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

(Getty)

A worker on Tuesday morning cleaned the cracks of the Western Wall and removed stuffed paper notes scribbled with prayers. It’s a twice-a-year ritual, before Rosh Hashanah and before Passover. The notes — an estimated one million are left each year — are not read to respect people’s privacy, and are buried in the cemetery on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives.

Thanks to Louis Keene 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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