Laden...
| Today's newsletter is sponsored by University of California Press JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Give a tax-deductible donation The latest from the neo-Nazi trial in Charlottesville, Ben & Jerry's may lose its kosher certification, remembering the Jewish soap opera star who played a ghost. OUR LEAD STORY Paul Rudd, Will Ferrell and Marty Markowitz at 'The Shrink Next Door' premiere. (Getty Images) His psychiatrist took control of his house, his bank account and his life.
Marty Markowitz thought he was just going to see a psychiatrist for a routine appointment. Was he ever wrong. Over 30 years, the doctor inserted himself into every aspect of Markowitz’s life. The story is so wild that it became the basis for a true-crime podcast and, now, a TV series starring Will Ferrell as Markowitz.
Debra Nussbaum Cohen has been reporting on this case for years and offers up the clearest picture of what happened – starting when Markowitz was introduced to the doctor through a mutual friend, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.
The con: Markowitz paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to his psychiatrist, Isaac Herschkopf, who is played in the series by Paul Rudd (newly crowned People’s Sexiest Man Alive). Herschkopf named himself the sole recipient in Markowitz’s will and bought tables at big Jewish fundraising dinners with Markowitz’s money. He even hosted summer soirees for New York’s Jewish elite at the Markowitz Hamptons compound – guests like Gwyneth Paltrow thought poor Marty was simply a waiter.
The case: This year, New York State’s Department of Health took the rare step of stripping Herschkopf of his license to practice medicine, accusing him of fraud and gross negligence. But the doctor still has defenders within the Jewish community – including Richard Joel, president emeritus of Yeshiva University.
What’s next: “All I want is a nice quiet life,” Markowitz told the Forward. “I am going to retire and travel the world with my girlfriend.”
ALSO IN THE FORWARD Peter Simi is a researcher who once embedded himself with white supremacists. Israel, Jewish groups come up as white supremacy expert clashed with defense in Charlottesville: Organizers of the far-right Unite the Right rally sparred with extremism expert Peter Simi in court Thursday – and asked if he was being paid by “pro-Jewish” groups. Simi, a sociologist, argued that violence was integral to the defendants’ white-supremacist worldview. “We’re not talking about a random individual who might express a racist idea over the holidays with their relatives,” he said. Read the story >
An Israeli Indiana Jones searches for her Lost Ark – and finds a political fault line:Rutu Modan’s new graphic novel, “Tunnels,” imagines a farcical search for the Ark of the Covenant in modern-day Israel. The only problem: the mythic vessel containing the Ten Commandments is in Palestinian territory, past a border wall. “Stopping the Israeli crew from advancing toward their find, the barrier is a glaring metaphor for the country’s endless impediments to peace and understanding,” our PJ Grisar writes. “But, Modan suggests, a country where every patch of dirt might hold an antique claim to the land has no shortage of blunt-force symbolism.” Read the story >
A message from our sponsor: University of California Press Ruth Bader Ginsburg's last book is a curation of her own legacy Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue is a collaboration between Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Amanda L. Tyler, a Berkeley Law professor and former Ginsburg law clerk. This book brings together materials that share details from Ginsburg's family life and long career including briefs and oral arguments, speeches, and her favorite opinions that she wrote as a Supreme Court Justice. LEARN MORE
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🇲🇲 Danny Fenster, a Jewish-American journalist, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Myanmar, despite calls from U.S. officials for his release. Fenster, who was the managing editor of the news website Frontier Myanmar, was found guilty of breaching immigration law, unlawful association and encouraging dissent against the military. (CNN)
🍦 Ben & Jerry’s could lose its kosher certification over its decision to stop selling in the occupied West Bank. Kof-K, the agency that has blessed Cherry Garcia for years, said it may not renew the ice cream maker’s contract when it expires next year. Usually, certification depends only on a food producer’s adherence to Jewish dietary laws, not politics. (Jerusalem Post)
🌊 Yanai Rimon, a 25-year-old Israeli backpacker on a post-army trip with friends, is missing in Mexico after being sucked into a waterfall on Wednesday. Local and Israeli teams are searching for him. (Times of Israel)
💻 A woman in San Francisco has made it her mission to improve Wikipedia entries relating to Nazi history, removing biased sources and misinformation. She faced a blitzkrieg of opposition. (Wired)
🇮🇱 When Israeli officials opened their borders after a 19-month pandemic shutdown, I’m not sure this is what they had in mind: Thousands of pelicans are making a pit stop in the country. (Reuters)
🎅 Jewish comedians Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen are starring in “Santa Inc,” a new animated TV series. “Elves are Jews in this, because they can work Christmas,” Silverman said on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” “There’s no Christmas without Jews.” The holiday, she added, is “about the birth of the nicest Jewish boy ever. Jews are disappointed that he became a Messiah and not a doctor.” (YouTube)
Shiva call >Jerry Douglas, an actor on “The Young and the Restless” for more than three decades, died at 88. Born Gerald Rubenstein in Massachusetts to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, he went to Brandeis University on a football scholarship. Douglas’s character on the popular soap opera died in 2006, but he continued to appear on the show as a ghost. (Hollywood Reporter)
What we’re watching > Gal Gadot’s new action film, “Red Notice” co-starring Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, arrives on Netflix today.
FROM OUR KITCHEN Fried chicken and waffles goes kosher at L.A. restaurant: Our Los Angeles-based writer Louis Keene posits that the opening of a Southern-style fried chicken place — and the closure of L.A.’s oldest kosher deli — means a new era of Jewish dining has arrived. “Melrose Bite is offering a dish that kosher epicures could only find before as an hors d’oeuvre at fancy weddings and temple banquets,” he writes. Read the story >
But wait, there’s more… Can a bacon and bagel sandwich still count as Jewish food? A new Brooklyn eatery aims to find out. Bee’s water? Take a gander at these five unexpected products at Kosherfest 2021. In Northern California, climate change is hurting these Jewish winemakers.
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Ellis Island, the welcome station for thousands of Jewish immigrants, was converted at the start of World War II into a military base, mostly used to detain enemy combatants. The last of those detainees – a 48-year-old Norwegian named Arne Peterssen – departed on Nov. 12, 1954. A decade later, the island became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
PHOTO OF THE DAY A man stands in front of the “Shoah Wall of Names” in Vienna, after it opened to the public this week. The names of 64,440 Austrian Jews murdered during the Nazi era are inscribed on 160 stone elements. “The Republic of Austria is sending out a visible sign of its responsibility,” said an official at the unveiling. “The victims are given their names and thus at least part of their dignity.”
Thanks to Zach Golden, PJ Grisar, Louis Keene and Arno Rosenfeld for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected]. Support Independent Jewish Journalism The Forward is a non-profit 501(c)3 so our journalism depends on support from readers like you. You can support our work today by donating or subscribing. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law.
MAKE A DONATION / SUBSCRIBE TO FORWARD.COM / SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERS Copyright © 2021, The Forward Association, Inc. All rights reserved. The Forward Association, Inc., 125 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter. To stop receiving all emails from the Forward click here. |
Laden...
Laden...
