Black Jewish writers on MLK's legacy, book reveals new suspect in betrayal of Anne Frank, CUNY professors call union antisemitic, and watching the Jewish pros at the Australian Open.

TEXAS ATTACK AFTERMATH

(Photo: Haya Panjwani)

The Jewish world held its collective breath for nearly 12 hours this weekend as a British man with a gun held a rabbi and three others hostage at a Texas synagogue, demanding the release of a Pakistani woman imprisoned for shooting at U.S. soldiers.

On Sunday, with the suspect dead and the hostages safe, we sent two reporters to Colleyville and had others working the phones to learn more about the area, the attack and how it affects thinking on antisemitism. Here’s our latest reporting…

Near Texas synagogue, a ‘bubble’ is pierced:“This is not a neighborhood where anything happens,” one resident told our reporter, Arno Rosenfeld, who arrived there Sunday morning. The suburban swath of new mansions and manicured lawns was swarming with journalists, law enforcement officers and well-wishers on Sunday. Rabbi Levi Gurevitch, who runs the nearby Chabad, said that he learned of the attack during Shabbat services and was soon surrounded by some armed community members who showed up to protect the congregation. The two shuls are closely linked, so “it hit very close to home,” he said. Read the story ➤

Details emerge about hostage-taker as Jews upset by FBI remark on his motive:President Biden said the suspect, Malik Faisal Akram, had spent his first night in the U.S. in a homeless shelter and purchased weapons on the street; the man’s brother said he was mentally ill. But an FBI agent’s remark that the attack was “not specifically related to the Jewish community” baffled and angered many Jewish leaders. Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the ADL, urged law-enforcement to investigate antisemitism’s role, saying: “It seems apparent, given what we know so far, that the hostage-taker chose his target carefully.” Read the story ➤

Local Muslims show support:Khalid Hamideh of the Islamic Association of North Texas has spent years working on building bridges with Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and his synagogue. “There is no act that can justify going into a holy place of worship and holding people hostage,” he said. “I don’t care what your motivation is, it’s entirely wrong and unjust.” Read the story ➤

Catch up with our other related coverage, including:

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

The civil rights hero was born 93 years ago on Saturday, and there has been a federal holiday in his honor since 1983. For this year’s commemoration, we invited three Black Jews whose families had different experiences in the civil rights movement to write about one of their forebears. Here are their essays ➤

‘We have to speak the truth’: At a virtual summit Sunday evening hosted by the Atlanta Jews of Color Council, leaders urged a reckoning with history – and the present. “I don’t think it’s something we need to get back to doing as much as it’s something we need to start doing,” said Rabbi Shais Rishon, a Black author and educator. “One of the things we need to start grappling with, particularly in the white mainstream Jewish community, is how to interact with other communities without centering white Jewish narratives.” Read the story ➤

In case you missed it: Rabbi Israel S. Dresner, a civil rights activist who marched with Dr. King, died on Thursday night at 92. Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, recounts a visit with him two weeks before. “We joked about him pushing through to the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, the friend and mentor he often said he ‘followed around like a puppy dog,’” she writes in a tribute. “They were partners in struggle until King’s assassination, bonded by their respective ancestors’ enslavement and parallel faiths.”

Last year on this day, we shared Rev. Raphael Warnock’s Shabbat sermon in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He talked about the need for Blacks and white Jews to work together, to complete the unfinished work they started during the civil rights movement.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

🔎 Who betrayed Anne Frank? In 2016, a team of investigators led by a retired FBI agent began to apply modern technology and crime-solving techniques to one of the coldest of cases: how Anne’s hiding place was discovered. A book set to be published Tuesday tells the story and reveals a surprising suspect; its author was featured in a “60 Minutes” segment Sunday night that is going viral this morning. (CBS, Reuters, New York Times)

🏫 Youngstown State University in Ohio has laid off two professors who led the school’s Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies. The university said the move was to cut costs, and that it plans to maintain the center, which has a $750,000 endowment. More than 900 students have signed a petition protesting the decision. (JTA)

🇵🇸 A group of CUNY professors has sued the union that represents faculty for being “antisemitic, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israel.” As we reported in July, more than 200 professors have tried to quit the union since it issued a resolution of support for the Palestinian people. Now, six of them are suing the union and others over laws that require them to continue to pay dues. (Algemeiner)

🇮🇱 Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly negotiating a plea deal that could end his corruption trial. The agreement would have Netanyahu, 72, plead guilty to reduced charges and be sentenced to community service rather than jail. (NPR)

😮 Glenn Beck compared social media companies banning conservatives to Nazi-era ghettos. “This is like the Germans with the Jews behind the wall,” Beck said on Tucker Carlson’s show. “This is the digital ghetto. ‘You can talk all you want, Jews, do whatever you want behind the wall.’ That’s not meaningful. And that’s where we are.” (The Wrap)

🎾 Novak Djokovic’s vaccine scandal may be stealing the headlines ahead of the Australian Open, which starts today, but there are several Jewish players looking to win big at the year’s first Grand Slam. We have our eyes on Russian-Israeli Aslan Karatsev who made it to the semifinals last year before losing to eventual winner Djokovic. (JTA)

🏈 The U.S. Supreme Court said it will hear the case of a Seattle-area high school football coach who was fired because he refused to stop praying on the field. “No teacher or coach should lose their job for simply expressing their faith while in public,” a group representing the coach said in a statement. (Washington Post)

Shiva call ➤ Tova Berlinski, an artist who painted the pain of Auschwitz, died at 106. She dedicated dedicated her work to her parents and siblings, who were killed in the death camp.

What else we’re reading ➤ University of Michigan president fired over inappropriate relationship with subordinate, including flirty knish emails … In a first, Israeli player joins Moroccan basketball team … To boost tourism, Israel plans $35 million upgrade to Western Wall area.

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust, was taken into Soviet custody on Jan. 17, 1945, accused of spying for the United States. He was never publicly seen again. Over the years, “sightings of Wallenberg proliferated, most of dubious validity,” writes Julia M. Klein in a review of a 2016 book about his disappearance, calling it a “troubling, tragic story.”

Today would’ve been Betty White’s 100th birthday. We look back at her very Jewish century.

Thursday at 7 p.m. ET: New York City’s government is in the midst of major change after the 2021 elections. What will its new leadership portend for our communities? Join Ruth Messinger, the Marlene Meyerson JCC’s social justice activist in residence, and Matt Nosanchuk, president of the New York Jewish Agenda, for the third in a series of virtual conversations with newly elected officials. Register here ➤

VIDEO OF THE DAY

On the Hebrew calendar, it’s Tu B’Shvat, aka the New Year for Trees. It’s a custom to eat fruit on this day – which is great – but wouldn’t it be cool if you could identify the fruits by their Yiddish names? No worries. Our Rukhl Schaechter is here to help, with a special Yiddish Word of the Day teaching the names of various fruits, plus a relatively easy poem about the holiday.

And: Here’s our guide to Judaism’s most underrated holiday.

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Thanks to Robin Washington for contributing to today’s newsletter.

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