Laden...
| Today's newsletter is sponsored by BBYO JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. ➤ Give a tax-deductible donation
Hillel building destroyed in Kharkiv, Orthodox high school headed to state championship, Jews restored Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, and a Biblical plague gets a scientific explanation.
THE WAR IN UKRAINE Rabbi Yaakov Bleich (left) and Rabbi Moshe Azman (right) both claim to be the chief rabbi of Ukraine. Russian troops continued advancing Thursday morning into major Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, where the offices of the local Hillel chapter were destroyed in an attack. The Jewish campus organization is now orchestrating a rescue mission to help the hundreds of students and employees left behind. We’re covering that story and much more in today’s briefing.
A tale of two rabbis
Ukraine and its large Jewish community have been under attack for a week and, amidst all the news stories, we began to notice something: There are two different men claiming to be the chief rabbi of Ukraine. And one lives in New York.
You may have seen Rabbi Yaakov Bleich in social media videos, with a Ukrainian flag draped behind him, explaining how he helped people evacuate and is with them, sheltering in place, in a refugee camp he set up. In reality, Bleich is sitting in his living room in Monsey, N.Y.
You may have also seen Rabbi Moshe Azman talking to the media on the ground in Ukraine, where he founded Anatevka, a safe haven for refugees named after the fictional shtetl in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Bleich was sort of chosen to lead the country’s Jewish community in 1992; Azman in 2005. (There’s also a chief Reform rabbi, Alexander Dukhovny, who also is posting emotional videos.)
Compounding the confusion, President Zelenskyy reportedly called on Bleich for assistance, while Azman is running Anatevka with the help of two disgraced associates of Rudy Giuliani – who he has named as the village’s honorary mayor. Bleich has been accused of sexual abuse and Azman appeared to endorse the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Meanwhile, Chabad and other Hasidic groups have, at one point or another, disavowed both men. Read the story ➤
Babyn Yar, the day after The signature menorah at the Babyn Yar complex was not damaged in the attack. (Getty) A clearer picture emerged on Wednesday about the damage to the Holocaust memorial complex from a Russian bomb aimed at a nearby TV tower. The missile struck about 100 yards from the new synagogue aimed at reviving Jewish life on the 140-acre site where the Nazis massacred nearly 35,000 Jews in 1941. “Thank God it’s not damaged,” Natan Sharansky, an Israeli politician and native of Ukraine who chairs the Babyn Yar board, told the Forward.
‘It leaves me speechless, numb and powerless’: Manuel Herz, the Switzerland-based architect who designed the synagogue, shared his initial reflections on the bombing, which killed five people who were in a Jewish cemetery on the site. “Within a horrendous war, the looming destruction of a memorial site of this scale and meaning is another horrific chapter debasing our humanity,” he wrote. “What is the point of commemorating history, if the lessons to be learned are forgotten and ignored so easily?” Here’s what else he had to say ➤
Aaron Keyak, the State Department’s deputy envoy to combat antisemitism, told American Jewish leaders on Wednesday that he is concerned for religious sites across Ukraine. “We are appalled,” he said.
Elsewhere in Ukraine The historic building in Kharkiv where Hillel operated was destroyed by Russian troops. (Getty) First person | I live in Ukraine. We’re under bombardment – but still working to serve our Jewish elders: In the town of Zaporizhia, a local organization is trying to care for 2,000 people – including a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor. “Despite hearing loss, the rockets overhead and sirens screaming around her cause panic,” writes Elena Proskurnja, a longtime Jewish community leader in the area. “She cannot sleep. Memories come flooding back.” Elena added: “We all live in terrible anxiety and concern — not just for tomorrow, but for what might happen in the next 15 minutes.” Read the essay ➤
‘The needs are so intense’: United Hatzalah medic speaks from Moldovan border: Linor Attias is one of 15 volunteers from Israel and the United States who have been in Moldova since Sunday helping Ukrainian refugees. Within 48 hours, her team had cared for more than 3,000 people. Many had been trapped on the road for days due to aerial bombardment, without food, water or adequate winter clothing. “Severe hypothermia is rampant,” Attias told my colleague, Nora Berman. “We are treating half-frozen pregnant women who tell us they can no longer feel their baby’s movement, or hear the fetus’ heartbeat.”Read the story ➤
Online, Zelenskyy has become a sex symbol. It’s getting weird: “During times of great crisis — and we’ve had plenty in the past two years — it is human nature to reach out, grasping for community, a strong leader, a sense of stability, a sexy older man,” writes our digital culture reporter, Mira Fox. “Yet when we’re cheering on a man trying to save his country from the powerful Russian military exactly the same way we would if we were watching a basketball game, we’ve lost sight of reality.” Read her essay ➤
And a few more… There are hundreds of Jewish students stuck in Ukraine. Hillel is attempting a rescue mission. Israel denied Ukraine’s request for weapons and did not blame Russia for the attack near Babyn Yar. The U.S. and other Western allies are losing patience. Roman Abramovich, the Jewish billionaire with ties to Putin, has agreed to sell his West London soccer team. He pledged that “all net proceeds” raised from the sale will go toward aid to “victims of the war in Ukraine.”As a public service, we have removed the paywall to make all of our coverage of the crisis in Ukraine freely accessible. Please share it on social media and encourage friends to sign up here to receive this newsletter in their inbox. WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Natalia Berezhnaya, left, of Ukraine, is one of about 120,000 Holocaust survivors who receive ongoing care subsidized by Germany. (Alexander Vdovichenko / Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) 🇩🇪 Germany plans to give $720 million to Holocaust survivors around the world in 2022, topping last year’s $653 million, and making it the largest amount ever allocated in a single year. The funds are earmarked for welfare services and will help an estimated 120,000 impoverished survivors. Since 1952, Germany has paid a total of $90 billion in Holocaust reparations. (AP, JWeekly)
🏀 The boys’ basketball team at a small Orthodox high school in Washington is playing for the state championship for the first time in its 48-year history. Northwest Yeshiva High School is so small that nearly half its male students are on the varsity squad. They won their opening game at the state tournament on Wednesday (60-48), and are scheduled to play again at 9 a.m. PT today. (Mercer Island Reporter)
🕍 The 91-year-old rabbi of the prestigious Park East Synagogue in New York is finally set to retire and is seeking a “worthy successor,” according to an announcement posted on a rabbinic jobs site. The shul made headlines in October when it abruptly fired its assistant rabbi, who many assumed would eventually take over. (New York Jewish Week)
🏺 American officials returned nine looted artifacts to Jordan that were seized from Michael Steinhardt, a Jewish billionaire and philanthropist. The items were among Steinhardt’s 180 stolen antiquities worth a total $70 million. He agreed to surrender the items and never again collect ancient artifacts in a deal to avoid prosecution. (AP)
🇺🇸 A new documentary film, “The Levys of Monticello,” tells the story of how a Jewish family saved Thomas Jefferson’s famous home – twice. For nearly a century after Jefferson’s death, the Levys owned and restored the estate, often while facing antisemitism and being viewed as outsiders. “I wanted to make a film with a narrow focus on a personal experience of a single family, but also a broader focus on the Jewish American experience,” said Steven Pressman, the director. (Times of Israel)
🐜 Could this be an explanation for a Biblical plague? A new study suggests why locusts form massive swarms. Researchers from Tel Aviv University found a bacterial species that proliferates in the insects’ guts when they join a group. The finding could lead to new means for combating outbreaks that decimate crops and cause famines. (Algemeiner)
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: Ira Glass, the Peabody Award-winning radio host, was born on March 3, 1959. Growing up in Baltimore’s Jewish community, Glass had aspirations of becoming a magician or an astronaut. (His parents hoped he’d go to medical school.) But he eventually landed an unpaid internship at NPR, which set the course for the rest of his career. He launched “This American Life,” and has been called the godfather of podcasting. His conversational voice – both dulcet and approachable – set the tone for all that would come after. Vogue magazine once referred to it as “the aural embodiment of the sensitive guy who is friends with all the girls.”
It’s alsoSoup It Forward Day, which may or may not be an infringement on our copyright.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we looked back in our archives to see what we could find about similar events in the country’s history. On Dec. 16, 1938, the headline of the Forverts read: “Hitler prepares first attack to capture Ukraine. America sends new sharply worded memo about Nazi murders.”
Germany openly stated that Carpathian Russia would be considered part of “Greater Ukraine,” our predecessors reported. Simultaneously, Goebels thundered thusly: “Germany doesn’t have enough space, not enough land” and he let it be known that Ukraine would be extremely useful.
Germany went on to invade the Soviet Union in 1941, including what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
––– Play today’s Vertl puzzle (aka the Yiddish Wordle)
Thanks to Nora Berman, Jacob Kornbluh, 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.
"America’s most prominent Jewish newspaper" — The New York Times, 2021 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...
