Dispatches from the Ukrainian region, West Virginia debates critical race theory and the Holocaust, ADL develops algorithm to track antisemitism on social media.

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

How Jewish women pioneered the fitness movement (for better and worse):Lotte Berk, a German Jewish dancer who fled the Nazis, created an exercise technique that is still used to this day: barre. She’s one of the many women profiled – including the Jewish inventors of the sports bra and the Lycra leotard – in a new book by Danielle Friedman. Because of what Berk went through, “she was forced to reinvent herself entirely,” Friedman said. “She was forced to forge a new career, to make a home in a new country. The promise of exercise for many people is the promise, for better or worse, of reinvention.” Read the story ➤

This 100-year-old Holocaust survivor’s story needs no contemporary parallels to be relevant:Ella Blumenthal is the subject of a new documentary, “I Am Here,” that grew out of a Shabbat dinner 15 years ago where she met Jordy Sank, a director. One moment Blumenthal was telling the story of how she lost her entire family, the next she was singing and dancing. “Sank was so taken with Blumenthal’s glorious contradictions,” writes Benjamin Ivry, “that he felt he had to film her story and imbue it with a fresh, young perspective.” Read our review ➤

She’s been nominated for 13 Oscars – the most ever by a woman who has never won:Diane Warren has written nine No. 1 songs and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. She’s won a Grammy Award, an Emmy, two Golden Globes and three Billboard magazine Songwriter of the Year trophies. At the Academy Awards later this month, she’s up for best song – again – against some tough competition: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Billie Eilish and Beyoncé. Asked how she’ll react if she wins, Warren says she knows what she’ll do if she doesn’t. “I have that one down pat,” she said. Read our interview ➤

THE WAR IN UKRAINE

Israel Sabag (left) of the Joint Distribution Committee orchestrating aid on Friday in Romania. (Larry Cohler-Esses)

Larry Cohler-Esses, a Forward contributing writer, is on the Ukrainian border with Romania and just sent in this dispatch:

Two buses with 35 people each showed up early Friday morning. There were elderly men and women, some on crutches; middle-aged people who’d been plucked from middle-class homes; small children, two pet dogs and a 5-year-old cat.

Israel Sabag, the director of the Joint Distribution Committee in Romania, plunged into the chaos. “Who’s going to Israel?” he asked. About two-thirds raised their hands – these would be brought to the local office of the Jewish Agency, a few miles away.

The others would get what they needed – housing, clothes, food, cash and counseling – to get where they wanted to go, or at least to plan their next step.

On Thursday, Larry spent time at the JDC tent with Olga Gamzeynova, who had made it there after a harrowing week dodging mortar shells and sleeping on floors to escape the Russian assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Reporter and refugee found they had much in common: both are 69, atheists, and grew up with a mother and grandmother who spoke Yiddish to each other when they didn’t want the kinder to understand.

But the psychic gulf between them is vast: Gamzeynova’s son could not leave Ukraine because of its ban on men ages 18 to 60 fleeing, and her husband stayed behind with him. She has no idea when, or whether, she’ll see them again. Read the story ➤

Elsewhere in the region…

A woman walks by a damaged apartment building in the city of Kharkiv. (Getty)

They were trapped in Kharkiv. Jewish group chats showed a way out.Oleg Kosariev’s parents were trapped in their basement, cut off from the world because of Russia’s assault. Kosariev, on the other hand, was in Israel, unable to reach them. When they did reconnect after a few sleepless nights, he helped navigate their safe escape through an extensive network of Jewish contacts. Read the story ➤

Writers watch invasion with fear, dread – and recognition: Several Jewish authors from the former Soviet Union told our Irene Katz Connelly that the war is bringing up memories of how their families were treated in another era. “We were the underdogs, we were the unloved, we were the rejected, we were the ignored,” said Boris Fishman, a Minsk-born novelist, who now feels a closer kinship to Ukraine. “It’s a shared minority victimhood.” Anya Ulinich, a Moscow-born graphic novelist, is now documenting the Russian assault through illustrations she posts on Instagram. Read the story ➤ and sign up for Irene’s books newsletter ➤

And more…

Yad Vashem is suspending its ties to Roman Abramovich, a Russian Jewish billionaire close to President Vladimir Putin, who was giving the museum an eight-figure gift.
Ukrainian refugees who have papers proving their Jewish roots will have an expedited path to German citizenship.
Russian Jews are looking for ways to leave their increasingly isolated country. Wait times for appointments at the Israeli embassies in Moscow and St. Petersburg have grown recently and now can be up to eight months.
Two Jewish freshman at Harvard have created a website that matches Ukrainian refugees with hosts in neighboring countries. More than 2,000 hosts have already signed up.
The Orthodox Union on Thursday night sent an airlift to Ukrainian refugees that included 5,900 kosher meals; 1,500 pounds of canned tuna; and 7,500 pounds of cookies, candy, crackers and other snacks.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Bronia Brandman, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor, met with President Biden. (Courtesy the White House)

💻 The Anti-Defamation League developed a new algorithm to track antisemitism on social media. Called the Online Hate Index, the program deploys artificial intelligence to sift through millions of posts quickly, detect antisemitic comments and flag them to the platforms for removal. Among the 40 million posts reviewed in the first week, it found comments like “Jews are lizard people prove me wrong” and “Jew mind control magic.” (JTA)

🎭 Several Jewish groups sent a letter ahead of Purim warning members against wearing blackface and other costumes that are not culturally appropriate. The plea came a year after Purim photos of Jewish children in blackface drew widespread condemnation. The ADL sends out a similar letter annually before Halloween. (JTA)

⛷️ Sheina Vaspi, the one-legged skier who is Israel’s first-ever Winter Paralympian, came in 15th place in the standing giant slalom on Friday morning in Beijing. She was hoping to compete in multiple events, but the others were rescheduled for Saturday due to weather, and Vaspi, who is Orthodox, does not compete on Shabbat. “Please God, we’ll meet again in 2026 with much better results,” she said. (Times of Israel)

🗣️ A debate over critical race theory led to a conversation in West Virginia’s House of Delegates about Holocaust education. A teacher asked if she would be able to teach about Jews and the Holocaust. “That has nothing to do with race,” a legislator responded. It was a similar sentiment that got Whoopi Goldberg briefly suspended from “The View” last month. (JTA)

😮 Eight women accused Eric Zemmour, the Jewish, far-right TV pundit running for president in France, of sexual misconduct. The women say the abuse occurred between 1999 and 2019; one was a teenaged intern at the time. When she asked what he was doing, the woman said, Zemmour responded “What do you think interns are for?” (Wall Street Journal)

🤗 Bronia Brandman refused to talk about her experience at Auschwitz for decades. Now 90, she has changed course, telling her story in an HBO documentary, at school assemblies, and in a 90-minute conversation with President Biden at the White House. “I hope that by hearing my story of the horrors of the Holocaust, people remember the most horrible evil can start with words,” she said. … In related news, Nat Ross, another Auschwitz survivor, turned 100 this week. (People, Fox13)

Long weekend reads for Women’s History Month ➤ Hadassah Magazine has a package of stories celebrating 50 years of women rabbis … Meet the “sewing girls” of Oslo, a group of Jewish women who make traditional garments used for burials … One woman hiked over the Pyrenees Mountains to better understand her father’s escape from the Nazis.

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: Anton Yelchin, an actor who starred as Chekhov in the “Star Trek” movies and cult films “Alpha Dog” and “Charlie Bartlett,” was born on Mar. 11, 1989 to a pair of Russian figure skaters. His parents, who faced religious oppression, emigrated to the United States with Yelchin when he was just six months old. He died at 27 when his Jeep ran him over in his driveway in a freak accident. His parents filed a wrongful death suit against the manufacturer. Yelchin is the subject of the documentary “Love, Antosha,” which revealed that he had secretly suffered from cystic fibrosis.

Also on this day in 1946: Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz, was captured in Germany.

Last year on this day, we shared the story of three couples and their pandemic babies. And, no, none of them were named “Corona.”

YOUR WEEKEND READS

It’s Friday, time to slow down. We’ve curated some of our favorite articles from the week in a free, printable magazine. In this edition, you’ll find essays on the crisis in Ukraine, including Rob Eshman on why so many American Jews are treating President Volodymyr Zelenskyy like family and a pitch for Israel welcoming Ukrainian refugees based on the ways Jews from the Soviet Union helped establish its technology sector. Plus, an ode to Charles Edward Entenmann, the godfather of some of our most beloved baked goods. Get your copy here ➤

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Play today’s Vertl puzzle (aka the Yiddish Wordle)

Thanks to Zach Golden, PJ Grisar and Eliya Smith for contributing to today’s newsletter.

You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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