Student sues Yeshiva University over alleged rape, the Jewish stake at the Jan. 6 hearing, kosher agency sues airline over snack labeling, and happy 96th birthday to Mel Brooks! Plus: Play today's Vertl puzzle, the Yiddish Wordle |
| Coach Joe Kennedy kneels to pray in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. (Getty) |
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday that a public school’s football coach could pray on the field after games. The three liberal justices dissented, arguing that allowing a government employee to lead students in Christian prayer violated the separation of church and state and created pressure for students to pray. Many Jewish groups warned that the ruling would infringe on the rights of non-Chrisitan public school students. The Anti-Defamation League said it was “deeply disturbed” by the decision and that it “will have a negative impact in particular on students of marginalized faiths and non-religious students.” Other critics wondered if the court would have ruled similarly had the coach been Jewish or Muslim. Read the story ➤ Laura E. Adkins, our opinion editor, argues in defense of the ruling. “The most memorable parts of school are not the curriculum, but demonstrations of character,” she writes, recalling her own favorite public school teachers. “None of them kept their opinions to themselves. Some were religious, some avowed atheists. But all of them challenged our beliefs, and we loved them for it.” Read her essay ➤ Your turn ➤ What’s been your experience with religion in public schools? Share your stories with us here and we might include them in an upcoming article. |
A screen displays video from the Jan. 6 insurrection during a hearing of the committee investigating the attack. (Getty) |
Opinion | The Jewish stake in Jan. 6 is bigger than you think:The House committee abruptly scheduled a session for today to hear newly obtained evidence about the attempt to overthrow the government. While the riot was not an inherently Jewish story, Rob Eshman, our senior contributing editor, says that the quest for justice is a core Jewish principle. “Perhaps that’s why our tradition puts so much emphasis on truth,” he writes in a new column. “Look what else falls apart when it is subverted.” Read his essay ➤ Student sues Yeshiva University over alleged rape by basketball player: In the lawsuit filed Monday, the student accuses the school of conducting a “sham investigation” into her allegation that a member of the school’s basketball team raped her in 2021. The lawsuit also alleges that YU has, over decades, glossed over multiple incidents of sexual abuse and failed to protect its students. Read the story ➤
And one more: Our culture reporter, Irene Katz Connelly, reviews “1982,” a film about Lebanese children coping with an Israeli invasion.
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Gov. Kathy Hochul visited Eichler's, a Judaica store in Borough Park, earlier this month. (Jacob Kornbluh) |
Five states – New York, Illinois, Colorado, Utah and Oklahoma – have primary elections today, and there are runoffs in Mississippi and South Carolina. Here are some things to watch: In New York, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to wave off a challenge by Rep. Tom Suozzi and Jumaane Williams, New York City’s Public Advocate. But her running mate in November could be Antonio Delgado, who just took over as lieutenant governor, or Ana Maria Archila, a women’s rights activist. On the Republican side, Rep. Lee Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, is in a close race with Andrew Giuliani and facing two other competitors.
In Illinois, Republican donors have poured more than $60 million into the gubernatorial primary between Richard Irvin, the mayor of Aurora, and Darren Bailey, a far-right state lawmaker endorsed by former President Donald Trump. The incumbent, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Jewish Democrat, spent $35 million attacking Irvin, hoping to face a weaker candidate in November.
There are also two incumbent-vs.-incumbent primaries in Illinois House races. In the 6th district, west of Chicago, J Street and Democratic Majority for Israel are both backing Rep. Sean Casten against Rep. Marie Newman, who voted against the replenishment of the Iron Dome and who is the subject of an ethics investigation. In the Republican primary in the downstate 15th District, Rep. Mary Miller, who called the Supreme Court abortion ruling a “victory for white life” and once praised Adolf Hitler, is being challenged by Rep. Rodney Davis, who is more moderate.
Longtime Chicago Rep. Danny Davis, a Democrat who retained J Street’s backing after being pressured to repudiate antisemitic statements by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, has President Joe Biden’s endorsement in a close race against progressive challenger Kina Collins. Follow our senior political correspondent, Jacob Kornbluh, on Twitter @jacobkornbluh tonight for election updates. |
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Israeli lawmakers last week at the Knesset in Jerusalem. (Getty) |
🇮🇱 Israel’s Knesset agreed to dissolve itself by Wednesday. Once that happens, Yair Lapid will become interim prime minister until a new government is formed. Possible dates for the country’s next election – its fifth in three years – are Oct. 25 or Nov. 1. (Haaretz) 🛫 A kosher certification agency, Kof-K, is suing JetBlue, claiming the airline used its trademark to label an in-flight snack as kosher without its authorization. The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey federal court, centers on a pre-packaged bag of marinated artichokes. (Observer) 👶 Days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, Israel announced it was easing restrictions on the procedure. Israelis seeking to end pregnancies will no longer be required to appear before an approval committee, go to a hospital for medication or be asked why they want abortions. (Haaretz) 🏫 A student at Emory University claims she was harassed and defamed after returning from a Birthright trip to Israel. She said a fellow student accused her of “promoting war and genocide,” and of supporting “colonial murderers.” (Algemeiner) 🇺🇦 Ukraine is considering not allowing Israelis to make the annual High Holiday pilgrimage to Uman, the burial place of Reb Nachman of Breslov. The ban on entering the country would be in retaliation for what Ukrainian officials see as a too-strict policy on its war refugees seeking to enter Israel. (Haaretz) 🗳️ Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is running for Congress, said he no longer supports AIPAC, and would not accept its endorsement if offered. “They have changed in a way that is unacceptable to me,” he said, “because they have attacked people I believe in.” He was referring to Nina Turner, a Democratic candidate in Ohio who lost a primary last month after an AIPAC-affiliated Super PAC ran attack ads against her. The group has also endorsed dozens of Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. (Jewish Insider, JTA) 📈 Younger Jews in Los Angeles are more likely to be engaged in Jewish life than older ones, according to a new survey by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. “It was a total shocker to me,” said Rabbi Noah Farkas, the Federation’s CEO. The Jewish population in the area has grown 9% since the last survey, in 1997, to 565,000, and is the nation’s second-largest, after New York City. (JTA) Mazel tov ➤ To Yuval David, for winning an Emmy for his web series, which you can watch on YouTube. What else we’re reading ➤ How a kosher, gluten-free bakery creates some of New York’s tastiest bagels … Fans of a Jerusalem soccer team plan to buy it from an owner suspected of fraud … How two ‘yentas’ plus one senator led to a lifetime together.
Dept. of corrections ➤ Monday’s newsletter incorrectly identified the senator from Oklahoma. He is James Lankford, not Chris Lankford.
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DEPT. OF SELF-CONGRATULATIONS |
A big mazels to my colleagues and contributors here at the Forward, the recipients of 43 Rockower Awards for excellence in journalism from the American Jewish Press Association. That is a record-haul — for any publication. The aforementioned Laura E. Adkins was at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta to accept the awards, and live-tweeted the ceremony. See her photos from the event ➤ and Click here for a complete list of winners ➤ |
On this day in history: Led by Seymour Pine, the son of Jewish immigrants, police raided Stonewall Inn, a gay club in New York, on June 28, 1969. When officers became violent, Stonewall patrons and neighbors on the street fought back, leading to days of riots and protests that catalyzed the LGBTQ rights movement. The Gay Liberation Front was founded immediately after the uprising, in part by several Jewish women, including Brenda Howard. One year after Stonewall, Howard, often called “The Mother of Pride,” planned Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day, which evolved into Pride marches celebrated annually in New York and across the world. See a timeline of how the Forward covered LGBTQ history ➤ In honor of Mel Brooks’ 96th birthday, here are four ways he changed the world. Last year on this day, an Israeli rescue team arrived on the scene in Surfside, Florida, after a condo collapse killed dozens of Jews. Andin advance of the Summer Olympics, we reported on the Jewish community of Tokyo.
On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 29th of Sivan when Moses sent 12 spies to scout out the promised land before the Jewish people’s arrival, as described in the Book of Numbers. (In our editor-in-chief’s column on Friday, she said we should think of them as “reporters” who observed and gathered facts.)
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A conservator works on the Lod Mosaic ahead of its public unveiling in Israel. (Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority) |
After years on display in museums around the world – including the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Louvre in Paris, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg – the 55-foot-long Lod Mosaic has returned to Israel, where it was discovered in 1996 by archaeologists as they unearthed part of the floor of a third-century mansion. It will be on public display starting this summer in Lod, a city near Ben Gurion Airport. ––– Thanks to Laura E. Adkins, Jacob Kornbluh, Rudy Malcom and Jake Wasserman 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 ➤ "America’s most prominent Jewish newspaper" — The New York Times, 2021 |
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