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| Sponsored today by All Inclusive with Jay Ruderman JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. Give a tax-deductible donation Antisemitism at Northeastern University, popular rabbi fired, the Jewish sperm donor with nearly 100 kids, video from our gala featuring the best baseball story told in Yiddish. OUR LEAD STORY Rabbi Jason Weiner is the senior rabbi at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. (Photo: Yossi Percia) Rabbis fighting vaccine battles, pandemic fatigue — and a new set of mental-health challenges
Rabbis have reported heightened strain on their mental health in recent months, especially as vaccine hesitancy and variants force them to make contentious decisions about vaccine and mask mandates. They’re facing new backlash — and with it, new sources of stress.
Staggering stats: “OK Clarity,” an online mental-health platform for the Jewish community, has seen a 1,400% increase in engagement since the start of the pandemic. Many rabbis are performing double or triple the number of funerals they normally do.
Helping hand: In response, groups like the Rabbinical Assembly and the Board of Rabbis of Southern California have been offering mental-health resources like self-care workshops and weekly Zoom meetings. It’s “a chance for colleagues to be open and vulnerable with each other,” said Jason Wiener, senior rabbi at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Bottling it up: “I was trying to be uplifting and positive, but at the same time, I was seeing so many dead bodies, and suffering, and family members crying,” Rabbi Wiener said. “It’s inside of you and it stays there. If you don’t talk about it, it makes it even more difficult.”
An uncertain future: Amy Asin of the Union for Reform Judaism said she would not be surprised if some clergy take leaves of absence due to pandemic fatigue. “They are exhausted – and we need to give them a break,” she said. As Rabbi Benny Berlin, who helms an Orthodox shul in Long Beach, N.Y., put it: “If you’ve depleted yourself, you’re at a point where you have nothing to share.”
ALSO IN THE FORWARD Opinion | Palestinian textbooks are (still) teaching students to hate Jews: Palestinian textbooks have long been a source of debate, and a European Union-funded report documented ways they may incite violence. Muhammad Shehada, a Forward columnist who grew up in Gaza, wrote an essay criticizing the study for, among other things, ignoring bias in Israeli textbooks. In response, Marcus Sheff, CEO of a research and advocacy group focused on skewed curriculum, argues here that Palestinian school materials – in contrast to those in Jordan and Saudi Arabia – have grown more radical in recent years. “They have removed all references to Israel, Jews, and peace agreements with Israel.” Read the OpEd >
But wait, there’s more... Facebook is planning to change its corporate name. The late-in-life name change echoes some of the greats of our culture stretching back to our founders, Abraham (né Abram), Sarah (née Sarai) and Israel (né Jacob). Our PJ Grisar came up with seven potential Hebrew names for Mark Zuckerberg’s first publicly-traded baby.The D.C. chapter of an environmental group is boycotting a rally over Israel. Sunrise DC, an affiliate of the organization best known for promoting the Green New Deal, said it won’t participate in a voting rights rally because three pro-Israel Jewish groups are participating. Though the number of Ladino speakers has dwindled to about 60,000 people across the globe, the language of Sephardic Jewry is enjoying a bit of a renaissance — and last week, the Istanbul-based Ladino publication El Amaneser, published its 200th issue.
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, 34, had been working for Park East Synagogue for a decade. 👉 A popular assistant rabbi of a large Modern Orthodox congregation on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was fired after the 91-year-old senior rabbi rebuffed an effort by congregants to “revitalize the synagogue” and discuss its future. The firing is making waves in the venerable 133-year-old congregation, and has sparked a protest petition with more than 200 signatures. (JTA)
🚔 A mezuzah was torn down from the Hillel House at Northeastern University in Boston in what the school president called a “despicable act.” This is the latest in a string of similar incidents on college campuses including Tufts University and Indiana University this fall. (Algemeiner)
⚖️ A judge denied an Israeli company’s request for a retrial based on allegations that Amazon’s lawyers had played on antisemitic tropes in a patent case. One of those lawyers is a Jew who fled the Soviet Union. The judge took personal offense, saying: “You’re alleging I’m complicit in it.” (Bloomberg)
☀️ Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday established the Israeli Climate Forum, saying: “I hope that we will be able to place our concern for the future of our children and the fate of Planet Earth above arguments between us.” (Jerusalem Post)
🫒 Does the Palestinian village of Rameh have the world’s best olive oil? Some locals even use it for medicinal purposes. “You rub it on the chest if you’re coughing,” said one olive farmer. “You put a warm drop in your child’s ear if it hurts.” (NYT)
👶 Ari Nagel, a Jewish serial sperm donor nicknamed the “Sperminator,” had a prolific pandemic. While others were perfecting their sourdough bread-baking or watching the entire Netflix catalog, the Orthodox-raised Nagel did what he does best: donated sperm. He now has nearly 100 children to show for it. (JTA)
FROM OUR ARCHIVES With our annual gala last night, I asked Chana Pollack, our ever-resourceful archivist, to dig up how we’ve celebrated such events in the past. She reports back…
In the early days after the Forward’s 1897 founding, there were picnics out in Long Island City and folks got there by ferry. But by the mid 1900’s, our predecessors were hosting masquerade balls, with music, dancing, performances by Yiddish actors and prizes!
And the celebrations took place wherever we had readers. In the photo above, here’s St. Louis’s little Ida Zetcher in costume as a newsboy, holding a 1925 edition of the Forward. Our 1926 ball coverage described the lavish party, at Madison Square Garden, as the “gayest Jewish event of the year.” Well more than 20,000 people attended.
ON THE CALENDAR (Illustration: Lior Zaltzman) On this day in history: Judith Sheindlin, aka Judge Judy, was born on Oct. 21, 1942. The famous TV jurist, known for no-nonsense verdicts delivered in perfect Brooklynese, has her own book of Proverbs and once schooled fellow TV host RuPaul on his Yiddish. When the famously showy RuPaul told the lace-collared judge how he picked up the word geshikhte from watching her program, Scheindlin responded with another perfect – if perhaps too frank – judgment: “Incorporating Judaism into your personality is maybe something you don’t need.”
Also on this day: In 1879, Thomas Edison applied for a patent for an incandescent light bulb. The invention became verboten on Shabbat for Orthodox Jews.
In honor of National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day, check out this recipe for pumpkin tahini cheesecake bites.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT We had a blast at our virtual gala last night, Have I Got a Story For You: A Celebration of Jewish American Narratives. Guests met Forward journalists,and heard incredible stories from Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Etgar Keret, Miz Cracker and others. Actor David Duchovny discovered his Yiddish roots in a special interview with our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren. We’re sharing the video of the event above in case you missed it.
Thanks to Nora Berman, PJ Grisar, Chana Pollack 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.
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