| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION | | | The latest: Hamas on Monday released 11 more hostages — nine children, including 3-year-old twins and two mothers. Several of the fathers of these kids are still being held captive. The fragile truce is set to extend for at least two more days with more hostage-for-prisoner swaps. | #GIVINGTUESDAY | It’s #GivingTuesday and a generous donor is DOUBLING all gifts up to $36,000 until midnight! | This is a great time to support the independent Jewish journalism you rely on, because your gift will go twice as far.
The Forward is a nonprofit news organization, which means we rely on the generosity of our readers to power all our work. If you’ve relied on our coverage for clarity amid the chaos, make your gift today when it will be MATCHED. | | | ISRAEL AT WAR | | Members of the Engel-Bart family reunite on Monday after the release of Karina Engel-Bart, 51, and daughters Mika, 18, and Yuval, 11. (Courtesy IDF) | Opinion | Hamas is not as popular in Gaza as it seems. But Israel’s tactics will ensure their survival: Many Gazans “have no illusions about Hamas’ nefarious intentions, incompetence and selfishness,” writes Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a U.S. citizen who grew up in Gaza and has a master’s degree in intelligence studies. “And they see the Israeli blockade as enabling Hamas to conveniently absolve itself from its responsibility to govern effectively and provide for their needs.” He argues that the only way to stabilize the Strip is through “unconventional and creative thinking.” Read his essay ➤
‘We won’t be intimidated,’ rabbi says after Molotov cocktail thrown at Montreal JCC: Nobody was injured in the Monday morning attack, the latest of more than 100 antisemitic incidents in the Canadian city since Oct. 7. Previous incidents include bullets fired at Jewish day schools and vandals striking Jewish-owned restaurants. “These continued acts of antisemitic violence are deplorable and unacceptable — and must stop immediately,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Read the story ➤
Related: Multiple synagogues across the U.S. — including in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York — were hit over the weekend with anti-Israel, antisemitic graffiti. | | The IDF is making sure Haredi soldiers’ working conditions — from the food they are served to the opportunities they are given to pray — are in strict accordance with Jewish law. (Getty) | Are Haredi Jews in the IDF the new normal? “Sitting at home is the worst thing you can do in these times,” said Ari Goldberg, one of hundreds of new recruits from the Haredi community, which is exempt from military service. As some herald a new era of integration into the larger Israeli society, others familiar with the community explain their enlistment as a response to a particularly harrowing terrorist attack — and not a harbinger of a sustainable shift. Our senior political correspondent, Jacob Kornbluh, reports from an IDF base. Read the story ➤
Plus… Jewish groups condemned Saturday’s shooting of three Palestinian college students in Vermont, an incident authorities are investigating as a possible hate crime.
Voting begins today at the University of Michigan on an anti-Israel referendum that accuses Israel of engaging in “genocide in Gaza.”
The body of Ravid Katz was identified. Believed to be a captive, he was killed on Oct. 7. Katz’s sister and two nieces were freed from Hamas captivity over the weekend.
As released hostages return home, they learn of relatives killed and homes destroyed. | | Posters of Israeli hostages in New York City’s Union Square subway station. (Luke Tress) | Two women in Manhattan were charged with hate crimes after allegedly attacking a passerby who confronted them while they were tearing down posters of Israeli hostages.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to return to Israel this week to help extend a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and get more hostages released, the State Department said Monday.
An Israeli Military Intelligence non-commissioned officer issued three warnings in the months prior to Oct. 7 that Hamas was preparing an attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza border, but her words were brushed off.
Antisemitism is spiking across Europe in the wake of the war. Some experts say Russia is spreading disinformation and stoking an already tense situation.
Volunteers are flocking to Israel to fill vacant jobs. “I don’t feel as helpless now that I’m going to do something,” said one. | | | | ALSO IN THE FORWARD | | Akiva and Chava Hart and their six children converted to Judaism this month. (Levi Lehman) | A former hip-hop dancer and makeup artist document their new Orthodox life online: Akiva Hart used to be a backup dancer for Stevie Wonder. His wife, Chava, worked in Hollywood. They’ve amassed tens of thousands of fans on social media who have been following their journey to Judaism. The family — including their six children, ages 6 months to 15 — converted this month, amid a war in Israel and rising antisemitism. “We are running faster than ever now,” Akiva said, “running to join our people.” | | Related: The real story behind Sammy Davis Jr.’s conversion to Judaism
How a few judiciously placed slices of New York Jewish cheesecake changed the world of rock ‘n’ roll:“There are many reasons that Richard Gottehrer has enjoyed six decades of success in the music business — a sharp ear for a good hook, a sharp eye for changing musical and technological trends, a natural ability to click with up-and-coming artists, and a lifelong passion for music itself,” explains our music critic. “But knowing how and when to leverage one of the Big Apple’s tastiest delicacies hasn’t exactly hurt, either.” | | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | | Javier Milei, who was elected president of Argentina this month, visited the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave on Monday in New York. (Courtesy Chabad) | 🤷 The newly elected president of Argentina, far-right TV pundit Javier Milei, picked an auspicious destination for his first trip to the U.S.: He visited the tomb of the Lubavitcher rebbe in Queens, New York. (JTA)
✍️ We previously reported that big corporations like Disney and Universal have paused advertising on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, after Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic post. Now comes word that the companies — and some of their subsidiary accounts like @StarWars and @MarvelStudios — have stopped posting content on the platform altogether. (CNN)
🏫 A human rights group sued the University of California, Berkeley on behalf of Jewish students, alleging that the campus is a “hotbed of anti-Jewish hostility and harassment.” (Jewish Insider)
📙 Congressman George Santos, Republican of New York, has lied about his career and his Jewish heritage, and now faces federal charges for, among other things, conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. A new book out today, The Fabulist, is the first full-scale biography of the embattled politician. (The Guardian)
Watch: Laura E. Adkins and I interviewed the author while he was working on the Santos book earlier this year.
Shiva call ➤ Shelley Akabas, a labor economist who trained social workers in helping people with disabilities, died at 92.
What else we’re reading ➤ Isaac Bashevis Singer’s younger brother, the forgotten giant of Yiddish fiction … A German actress said that to play a Nazi on screen, she withheld her empathy … Jewish joke in Broadway’s Spamalot led to “in-depth” backstage discussion.
| | VIDEO OF THE DAY | | “There is a God.” Watch Hadas Kalderon, an Israeli mother, react to the news that her two children — Erez, 12, and Sahar, 16 — were being released Monday after 52 days in Hamas captivity.
| Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected]. | | | Support Independent Jewish Journalism | Without you, the Forward’s stories don’t just go unread — they go untold. Please support our nonprofit journalism today. | | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
