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| JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Give a tax-deductible donation Israeli reality show contestant at center of bizarre N.Y. election, Germany's 'Meet a Jew' project, and the Jewish comedian who died on stage at the Friar's Club. OUR LEAD STORY Wampanoag activist Frank James speaks at one of the first National Day of Mourning protests in the 1970s. Thanksgiving and Hanukkah share stories of resistance: Similar to the story of the Maccabean revolt, Thanksgiving for Native Americans represents resistance against cultural assimilation. But one is a holiday celebrating cultural survival and the other – especially for the Wampanoag, whose first contacts with the colonists Thanksgiving mythologizes – a day of mourning. Jews “are no strangers to the hardships and displacement of colonialism,” writes Mahrinah Shije, a Sephardic Jew and member of the Tewa tribe. “Having felt the pain of cultural, religious, and language loss, we know how intolerable that is for anyone.” Read the essay >
Elsewhere at our pre-Thanksgiving buffet... Whether you’re at home or stuck on a plane, our PJ Grisar has curated a list of seven things to stream for Thanksgivukkah. Irene Katz Connelly scoured the internet – and surveyed our newsroom – for this year’s least cringey Hanukkah gifts. Jodi Rudoren, our editor-in-chief, on why she hates the holiday season (and just wants to be left out of it). Robin Washington, editor-at-large, recounts the time he was thrown off a replica of the Mayflower. 7 easy ways to add Jewish flavor to your Thanksgiving table. Do the ultra-Orthodox celebrate Thanksgiving? Like most things in Judaism, it’s complicated.
ALSO FROM THE FORWARD This is, hands down, the strangest election you will read about this week: Benny Goldstein made two unsuccessful bids for the Israeli Knesset and two unsuccessful runs on Israel’s Big Brother reality show, was arrested for failing to pay child support, created a cryptocurrency aimed at fighting vaccine mandates and now awaits the results of an election for town supervisor of Canajoharie, N.Y., where he may or may not be up by four votes. “Oy,” he said. “I can’t sleep.” Read the story >
Haunted by ‘monsters,’ a Jewish artist sees the Dark Ages in modern times: A multimedia collage artist snipped, glued and painted her way through the pandemic. “The pieces started out as almost journal entries,” Karen Kassap told us when we visited her studio in Connecticut. Those works, many with Jewish themes, are now on display in the gallery of the Westchester Jewish Center. Like the one based on the last Shabbat service she attended before entering quarantine, or the rise of antisemitism. “The way Jews were blamed for COVID-19 just as they were for plague,” she said. See her work and read our interview >
But wait, there’s more… Hannah Arendt’s reflections on the Nuremberg trial in Jerusalem evoke parallels to the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in Kenosha. Like Senate candidate Josh Mandel, Georges Mandel was an ambitious arch-conservative nationalist disliked by members of his own political party. Here’s what the younger Jewish politician can learn from the elder’s rise and fall. Meet Emma Rosenzweig-Bock, the dancer featured in Sia’s Christmas song video, ‘Pin Drop.’
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🪙 During an archaeological dig for tourists, an 11-year-old girl found a 2,000-year-old silver coin, which may have been minted in the Temple as part of the Jewish revolt against the Romans. “I was lucky to find it,” she said, “but I also want to say thank you to my sister for choosing the bucket we sifted.” (Jerusalem Post)
🇮🇱 Nearly a third of Israel’s Jewish population will be ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, by 2050, according to a new estimate prepared by the National Economic Council. The state’s overall population by then will be 16 million, the study predicts, up 70% from today’s 9.2 million. (JTA)
🏈 With two seconds left, Greg Joseph, the NFL’s only Jewish kicker, broke a tie to lead his Minnesota Vikings to victory on Sunday. Off the field, Joseph has shown up to a kid’s birthday party at a Jewish school and hung a mezuzah with Chabad. “You have people reach out and offer their support — Shabbat dinners, anything you need, home cooked meals,” he said. “I’ve always thought that’s a cool aspect of the community and support system that it brings.” (JTA)
🤝 Nearly half of German citizens say they have never had any contact with Jews or Jewish life, according to a survey released Monday. The country’s “Meet a Jew” program aims to fix that. “You go into classes, and for most people, you’re the first Jew they’ve ever seen,” said Arthur Friedler, a volunteer. “They see we watch Champions League soccer or go to the cinema. They think, ‘He’s not so different from us.’ That’s my mission.” (Algemeiner, WSJ)
🇬🇧 Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Prince Charles on Monday to discuss Holocaust education, regional issues and climate change. Hebrew University also announced a nursing scholarship dedicated to Charles’s grandmother, Princess Alice, who helped save Jews during the Holocaust and is buried in Jerusalem. (Times of Israel)
🍷 A beverage company created by the rapper Nicki Minaj is now selling low-calorie and low-alcohol wines that are certified kosher by the Orthodox Union. Oh, and they come in single-serve cans. (BrewBound)
Shiva call > Carol Zemel, a professor who studied the intersection of Yiddish and visual culture, died at 80. Zemel, a noted Van Gogh scholar, is famously said to have had an epiphany in an Amsterdam bookshop, where she found herself leafing through a volume of Roman Vishniac’s photos that led to her lifelong scholarship on Jewish diasporic visual culture.
FROM OUR OPINION SECTION The ultimate response to antisemitism? Learn Yiddish: “A Jew fights with his pisk (mouth), not his fists,” writer Florina Rodov’s Soviet grandfather would mutter, as her dad beat up the next neighborhood kid that bullied him for being Jewish. Yiddish was not just his native language, but the best expression of Jewish survival in the Holocaust’s aftermath. Now, she notes, secular Jews are turning to Yiddish more than ever before, not only as a means to get in touch with their relatives, but as a form of resistance to rising antisemitism. Read the OpEd >
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Harry Einstein, a comedian who went by the pseudonym Parkyakarkus (pronounced Park-your-carcass), died while performing at a Friar’s Club roast of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on Nov. 23, 1958. When Milton Berle shouted from the stage, “Is there a doctor in the house?,” the audience initially thought it was part of the act. (You can listen to Einstein’s 10-minute final set here.) Einstein, who broke into the national spotlight as a performer on Eddie Cantor’s radio show, left behind a wife and four children – including a son who would himself become a famous comedic actor, changing his name from Albert Einstein to Albert Brooks.
Last year on this day, we reported on how N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo was investigating a secret Hasidic wedding held in violation of pandemic restrictions with thousands of guests and the police seizure of two potted marijuana plants at an Argentine synagogue.
On the Hebrew calendar: In 1798, on the 19th of Kislev, the first Chabad rebbe was released from a St. Petersburg prison. The day is considered a holiday in the Lubavitch movement.
VIDEO OF THE DAY Tune in to “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” on HBO tonight for a profile of Amar’e Stoudemire, former NBA All Star turned Orthodox Jew. Stoudemire, who played in Israel after his NBA career, formally converted to Judaism last year, though he has been connected to the faith for much longer. As an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets, Stoudemire is excused from attending games on Shabbat. The show airs at 10 p.m. Eastern.
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Thanks to Nora Berman, PJ Grisar, Louis Keene and Chana Pollack 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.
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