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Israel to set term limits on prime ministers, the man suing neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, why the story of the Arab Schindler remains elusive, first excerpt of Mel Brooks' memoir and more.

THE WEEK IN POLITICS

'Israel has the right to exist, it has a right to its homeland,' said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).

Each Monday, Jacob Kornbluh, our senior political reporter, shares what’s in his notebook about New York, Washington, Jerusalem and beyond.

This congressman went to Israel. His leftist allies say he’s got some explaining to do.Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a Bronx Democrat, is linked to “The Squad,” five congresswomen known for their far-left views. But he diverges from the group on Israel, rejecting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Bowman argues that he can support both the Jewish state and Palestinian rights, but the backlash has been bigger than expected to his recent trip to the holy land, especially from the Democratic Socialists of America. He met on Friday with the group, which had earlier tried to oust him for his vote in favor of funding the Iron Dome missile-defense program. Read the story >

Building plan: The $1.7 trillion Build Back Better Act, which the House passed on Friday, includes several items that will affect Jewish institutions and families, including:

$100 million to enhance security at religious and other nonprofit organizations. Jewish groups had lobbied for $180 million to add to the existing $180 million.
A one-year extension of the child tax credit. The extension amounts to $3,000 per child ages 6 to 17 – $3,600 for those under 6 – in families earning up to $150,000 per year – a boon for large families like those common among Haredi Jews.
The amount families can deduct from their federal taxes for state and local tax payments was raised to $80,000 from $10,000, reversing a provision of the 2017 tax bill. The higher cap is particularly helpful for middle-class and working-class people in high-tax states like New York and New Jersey.
Yet unclear is the fate of a provision Orthodox advocacy groups are pushing that would allow Jewish day schools and synagogues to be part of the federally funded universal pre-kindergarten program. The House bill does not allow programs with religious content, such as gender-segregated classes, recitation of blessings and lessons about holidays, but lobbying will continue in the Senate.

Day one: Aaron Keyak, former Jewish outreach director for President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, is starting his role as deputy envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism today. He will serve as the acting envoy on antisemitism as long as the Senate Republicans continue to block confirmation of Deborah E. Lipstadt, President Biden’s nominee as antisemitism envoy. Ellie Cohanim, Keyak’s predecessor, told me she found the work “incredibly meaningful” though “combating antisemitism worldwide is a truly difficult challenge.”

No secret: Top Israeli and U.S. officials aired their differences on Iranian nuclear talks at an international conference on Sunday. “Iran won’t make concessions only because we ask them nicely,” said Israel’s national security adviser, Eyal Hulata. But Brett McGurk of Biden’s National Security Council said the administration is focusing on diplomacy for now, and that even if military action hurt Iran’s nuclear program, it would not change the regime’s behavior. Meanwhile, a former Mossad chief who pushed for the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal acknowledged that it had resulted in Tehran enriching more uranium.

Term limits: The Israeli Knesset is expected to vote on legislation to bar prime ministers from serving more than eight consecutive years. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister – 1996-99 and 2009-2021 – called the bill “undemocratic,” though it is not retroactive and thus would not prevent him from returning to the premiership.

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Meet the Jewish seminary chair suing Nazis in Charlottesville:Alan Levine has experience prosecuting the mob and organized crime. “Cross-examining Nazis isn’t any more difficult,” he told our reporter, Arno Rosenfeld, as closing arguments were heard in the trial against the organizers of the 2017 Unite the Right Rally. Throughout the month-long trial, Levine has been praying via Zoom with a minyan from his synagogue in New York. “Being a fierce advocate and a consummate mensch – that’s the double helix of Alan’s DNA,” said his rabbi. A verdict is expected before Thanksgiving. Read the story >

How an Arab Schindler saved Jews during the Holocaust but still eludes recognition:Egyptian doctor Mohamed Helmy, who saved Jews in Berlin during the Nazi era, became the sole Arab to be honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum.“We should use these stories to build bridges,” argues the author of a new book about Helmy. Read our Q & A with the author >

But wait, there’s more...

Will Hélène Cixous be the next Jewish winner of the Nobel Prize for literature?
How a Jewish woman from Baltimore found a new religion in Henri Matisse.
A 94-year-old Holocaust survivor makes her feature film debut – and a new star is born.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

📚 Mel Brooks’ memoir, “All About Me,” is set to publish next week, and the first excerpt is out. In it, the 95-year-old said he created the sitcom “Get Smart,” about a bumbling secret agent, in part to help pay for dates during his courtship of Anne Bancroft. “I was able to marry Anne and pay the bills,” Brooks writes. “I was not only able to take her out to dinner, but now she didn’t have to slip me money under the table to pay the check.” (Vulture)

🎖 The U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill to give the last living Nuremberg prosecutor, 101-year-old Ben Ferencz, the Congressional Gold Medal. “It’s important to highlight both the remarkable achievements of Mr. Ferencz and to again bring attention to the Holocaust,” said Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida. (Jewish Insider)

🍦 “Don’t Let Antisemitism Melt Your Brand,” says a new billboard near the New Jersey headquarters of Unilever. The pro-Israel group StandWithUs is spending $500,000 on such billboards denouncing the decision by Unilever’s subsidiary, Ben & Jerry’s, to stop selling its ice cream in the West Bank. (NY Post)

🏫 The ADL and Hillel have launched a program to help U.S. colleges find and fix gaps in accommodating Jews – like the availability of kosher food and allowing observance of Jewish holidays. The groups see this effort as different from past ones because it invites universities to participate in the process. (Times of Israel)

⛪️ A new survey of 15,278 religious institutions across the U.S. found attendance hemorrhaging at small and midsize congregations. The only groups to boost attendance over the past five years were Muslim, Baha’i and Jewish. (Religion News Service)

🍽 Yotam Ottolenghi, the James Beard Award-winning Israeli chef and cookbook author, has reinvented mac-and-cheese with what he says “has been missing all along” – za’atar, a Mediterranean spice. (Bloomberg)

📺 Jeff Wilbusch, an Israeli-German actor who starred in “Unorthodox” on Netflix, has been cast in the lead role for a new crime drama called “The Missing.” The series is based on an Israeli novel about a New York Police Department detective who begins to question his own humanity when a routine investigation turns south. (Variety)

What else we’re reading > This deaf Jewish dad taught the cast of Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ sign language … Babies emit smell to get aggressively loyal moms and mellow dads, Israeli study says … The film begins with a sex scene. It ends with a debate about Holocaust education.

FROM OUR CULTURE SECTION

Walter Matthau wanted to play Tevye — and at least 9 other things you didn’t know about ‘Fiddler on the Roof’:Before all the Tonys, the Emmys and the Grammys, a young Bette Midler made her Broadway debut in “Fiddler.” Actress Molly Picon, the Yiddish theater and film star who played Yente the Matchmaker, wore long johns and carried a flask of whiskey while filming because it was so cold on set in Yugoslavia. Barbara Isenberg, who spent four years collecting stories for her book about her favorite movie and musical, has more behind-the-scenes tales. Read the story >

Bonus: 5 more articles to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Fiddler.”

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: The actress Jamie Lee Curtis was born on Nov. 22, 1958, to Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz) and Janet Leigh. While filming in Europe this summer, Curtis announced that she would be paying to restore her grandparents’ synagogue in Mateszalka, Hungary. It “is empty now, as the entire Jewish population was exterminated,” she said, “but the building stands as a living tribute to those who lived there and continue to live there.”

Also on this day, in 1718, Blackbeard died during a battle aboard his ship. And while he was not a member of the tribe, there is a long history of Jewish pirates ruling the seas.

On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 18th of Kislev. On that day in 1793, the French district of Strasbourg prohibited circumcision and the wearing of beards, and ordered Hebrew books to be burned.

With only six more shopping days until Hanukkah, check out our guide to the best gifts for everyone you know.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Ehud Barak, the former prime minister of Israel, is a complicated historical figure. In a new documentary called “What if?,” Barak looks back on his life and career. Jacob Kornbluh recently sat down with the film’s director, Ran Tal, to chat about the historic moments that shaped Barak’s military and political career and his aggressive pursuit for peace. Watch it now >

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Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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