WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Six students sue Harvard over alleged antisemitism, how the Israel-Hamas war upended online dating, Anthony Hopkins stars as “British Schindler” in new movie, and why NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers is posing in front of a shelf of Hebrew texts.

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Children at The Epstein School in Atlanta. About two dozen Israeli children attended the school temporarily in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. (Courtesy)

More than 1,000 Israeli children enrolled in day schools in the U.S. and Canada after Oct. 7: According to new data out this month, 95% of 110 schools surveyed reported inquiries or enrollment from Israeli families seeking respite from the war. In Atlanta, The Epstein School hosted two dozen Israeli children, some of whose families had been impacted by the Hamas attacks on kibbutzim. “Many of them had been going through various trauma therapies, staying in hotels and were displaced,” said the school’s director. “There was a local effort to bring them to Atlanta to have some room to breathe.” Read the story ➤

Opinion | I didn’t understand Holocaust denial until the Hamas attack:“My grandmother and the other Holocaust survivors built monuments and museums, published books and recorded testimony,” writes Eric Silberman. “What was the point of telling the world of the horrors of the Holocaust?” he wonders, when “people who supposedly care for justice” call Israelis the Nazis of the 21st century? “What was the point of survivors reprising their traumatic memories? So that friends could stay silent when our intergenerational traumas are reawakened by this tragedy?” Read his essay ➤

Barrister Malcolm Shaw speaks on behalf of the Israeli delegation as it defended itself against claims of genocide on Friday in front of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. (Getty)

The latest in the war…

Israel defended itself today against claims of genocide in front of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Watch the proceedings here, and catch up on what happened in court Thursday.

The U.S. and its allies launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, in an expansion of the war in the Middle East.

Under pressure from the Biden administration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has “no intention” of removing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Plus…

The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times’ coverage of the war in Gaza showed they consistently favored Israel, according to an analysis of major media coverage.

Indiana University canceled an exhibition of an 87-year-old influential Palestinian artist.

The Israel-Hamas war has upended online dating.

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Anthony Hopkins stars as Nicholas Winton in One Life. (Courtesy Bleecker Street Media)

Anthony Hopkins stars as a ‘British Schindler’ in a heartbreaking story of Nazi-era heroism:The new film, One Life, tells the true-life story of a London stockbroker who helped rescue 669 children from the Holocaust. Decades later, in 1988, he had a televised emotional reunion with dozens of the children. “Opening the New York Jewish Film Festival at a time of resurgent antisemitism,” writes our reviewer, “with war ongoing in Europe, with a U.K. government that wants to send immigrants to Africa, and as the presumptive presidential nominee for the GOP vows to govern as a dictator, a single life may be the least this BBC co-production can hope for.”

A guide to the Talmud for all the haters: Thanks to all the online hubbub about a tunnel secretly dug under a Chabad synagogue, conspiracy theorists are resuscitating age-old antisemitic theories. Among them are conspiracies that the Talmud is full of secrets, and social media users are sharing graphics full of (often fake) quotes from the text, encouraging each other to read it to learn more about the evil they believe lies within. But understanding the Talmud is a daunting task that can take years — or even a lifetime. So our culture reporter Mira Fox decided to make a handy-dandy guide for the antisemites beginning their Talmudic journey.

Offsides: Aaron Rodgers, the star New York Jets quarterback, is under fire for espousing conspiracy theories on ESPN about vaccines and Jeffrey Epstein. In his latest appearance, he was sitting in front of a bookcase of Jewish texts. Our sports reporter, Louis Keene, breaks down what it might mean.

– From our Sponsor: The Association for Jewish Studies –

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Police block the entrance to the synagogue at Chabad headquarters due to safety concerns after the discovery of a secret tunnel potentially impacted the structural integrity of the building. (Luke Tress/JTA)

⛏️ The students who built the tunnel under the Chabad building started the process by digging a little and putting the dirt in their pockets, like the prisoners trying to escape in the Shawshank Redemption. When they realized the inefficiency of their plan, they allegedly hired migrant labor. (New York Post)

🏫 Six students sued Harvard Wednesday, alleging the university became a “bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment” during the fall semester. Harvard is also among a group of universities facing federal civil rights investigations into allegations of antisemitism. (New York Times)

🎒 The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into a New Jersey school district over what Jewish parents claim is a climate of antisemitism since Oct. 7. (JTA)

🤦 Bulgarian prosecutors opened a case to find out who posted flyers with Hitler’s obituary on the outer wall of the Sofia Central Synagogue. (Sofia Globe)

🏠 Kanye West is facing an uphill battle selling his $53 million four-bedroom beachfront house. A contractor who says he’s owed more than $1 million has filed a lien on the property. West lost a reported $1.5 billion of his net worth when he was dropped from endorsement deals after going on an antisemitic tirade in 2022. (Hollywood Reporter)

🕍 Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman of the United States, stopped by the Chabad of Charleston during a campaign stop in South Carolina. He also plans to attend an MLK Shabbat service tonight at a shul in D.C. (Jewish Insider)

Shiva call ➤ Edward Jay Epstein — an investigative journalist, political science professor and author of more than a dozen books, including an influential one on President John F. Kennedy’s assassination — died at 88.

What else we’re reading ➤ When a photojournalist took a bath in Hitler’s tub … Author’s new book reveals the power of saying “amen” in a broken world … Comedian Gary Gulman’s new special is “possibly his Jewiest yet.”

VIDEO OF THE DAY

We’ve been talking all week about the discovery of a bowling alley-sized tunnel under Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn. Our Rukhl Schaechter whipped up a brand new “Yiddish Word of the Day” video featuring various ways to say tunnel in the mamaloshn. Where else can you learn to say “carpal tunnel syndrome” in Yiddish?

Thanks to Mira Fox, Lauren Markoe and Talya Zax 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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