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N.Y. may nix fees on Holocaust reparations, Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks to white nationalists, Red Sox fire player over antisemitic tweets, Orthodox teen shines on 'American Idol.'
THE WAR IN UKRAINE Activists protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during a rally in Manhattan on Sunday. (Getty Images) Ukrainian and Russian officials arrived in Belarus Monday for high-stakes talks after a weekend of fierce fighting. Many of Ukraine’s tens of thousands of Jews spent Shabbat in bomb shelters. Our reporters and columnists have several new angles on the spiraling crisis…
26 miles West of Russia, Ukrainian Jews hunker down and wait: Kharkov, the second-largest city in Ukraine, is home to 45,000 Ukrainians of Jewish ancestry — and under attack by Russian forces. Fifty to 60 families are sheltering in the fortress-like Kharkov Choral Synagogue, because “to leave Ukraine is not a very practical option at this point,” Dovid Margolin, a senior editor at Chabad.org, said in an interview. Read the story ➤
Claiming “De-Nazification,” Putin’s actions recall other Nazi crimes: Vladimir Putin’s statement that his purpose was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine angered Ukraine’s first-ever Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, whose three great-uncles were murdered in the Holocaust. What’s more, 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews died at the hands of the Nazis. And Babi Yar, a ravine near Kiev, was the site of one of the largest mass murders of the Holocaust. Our language columnist, Aviya Kushner, says “Ukrainians on the ground saw eerie parallels between Putin’s early-morning invasion and the Nazis invading in 1941.” Read her essay ➤
Anastasia Shostak, a Russian Jew whose family now lives in Ukraine, became a U.S. citizen last week. As she took the oath Friday morning in Los Angeles, her family was hiding in a neighbor’s basement 6,337 miles away in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy. “It’s like having your hands and legs tied and your eyes wide open,” she said. “I can see and hear and feel everything, but I can’t do anything about it.” Read our interview ➤
“Jews worldwide should feel compelled to help Ukrainians stay in Ukraine if they can, flee from Ukraine if they can’t, and return home when it is finally safe to do so,” writes Mark Hetfield, head of HIAS, one of many groups supporting those caught in the crisis. Read his essay ➤
But wait, there’s more… The first Israel-bound immigrants crossed from Ukraine into Poland on Saturday. An estimated 200,000 Ukrainians with Jewish ancestry are eligible to receive automatic citizenship under Israel’s Law of Return. In Israel, some Russian speakers support Ukraine. Some back Putin. At the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, queer activists showed solidarity with Ukraine and criticized Russia’s treatment of marginalized groups. Some Ukrainian Jews have fled to Anatevka, a residential compound named after the fictional hometown of Tevye the Dairyman from “Fiddler on the Roof.” Here’s how you can help Ukraine’s Jewish community.To follow all our Ukraine coverage, bookmark this page. JACOB KORNBLUH’S POLITICAL NOTEBOOK Sen. Zellnor Myrie (left) and Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein (right) visit with a Holocaust survivor in Crown Heights. Exclusive | New York to consider waiving bank fees on Holocaust reparations:Two state lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require the government to maintain a list of banks that waive wire transfer and other processing fees for such payments. An estimated 20,000 Holocaust survivors currently live in New York, and the payments can be $15 to $40 per transaction.
“Survivors of the Holocaust should not at all be having to worry about fees that are tacked on to the reparations that they so justly deserve,” said State Sen. Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn. He said the bill is symbolically important also because of a spike in antisemitism. Read the story ➤
The Republican Jewish Coalition condemned “in the strongest possible terms” U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for speaking at the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference on Friday night. President Donald Trump praised Greene during his address Saturday night at a different gathering, the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Orlando, Florida. But the RJC also condemned Rep. Paul Gosar, who is from Arizona and appeared at the American First conference via video, saying: “This has absolutely no place in the Republican Party,” the group said. The American Jewish Congress called on Congress to expel Greene and Gosar.
Update to last week’s scoop about Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker’s new pulpit: Members of Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, voted unanimously on Thursday night to enter into contract negotiations with Cytron-Walker. William Reingold, the synagogue’s incoming president, said the search committee had interviewed the rabbi several times by Zoom before the hostage-taking at his Texas shul, and that Cytron-Walker’s heroism in that crisis “only solidified our belief that he was the right choice to be our next rabbi.”
The saga continues: The Jewish Agency’s 10-member selection committee failed yet again to pick its next chief in a vote on Sunday. Since none of the finalists have managed to muster the required nine votes, the organization said it would once again extend the search process, which started in July, “until the most suitable candidate for the position is found.”
New York’s Republican Party is set to nominate Rep. Lee Zeldin for governor at its convention on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of Long Island plans to kick off his primary challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul at the Sheraton Manhattan on Tuesday evening. WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 🎤 The new season of “American Idol” began Sunday night and one of the contestants is Danielle Finn, a Modern Orthodox teenager from Los Angeles. She credits her confidence to her Jewish high school, which let her sing the national anthem in front of men at a basketball game, something some religious schools do not allow. “I love my school because it’s a place where you can learn to be your own Jew and person.” (JTA)
🏀 Two people were wounded in a shooting at Indianapolis’ Jewish Community Center Saturday afternoon. The police said the shooting, which took place in the center’s athletic complex, is believed to be related to a basketball game that turned contentious, not antisemitism. (Forward)
⚾ The Boston Red Sox released minor-leaguer Brett Netzer on Saturday after he posted a series of racist, homophobic and antisemitic comments on Twitter. Netzer, 25, took aim at transgender and Black people, and said that Chaim Bloom, a Red Sox executive, is a “hypocrite and an embarrassment to any Torah-following Jew.” (Boston.com)
🥪 Jewish delis had their heyday in the first part of the 20th century, but saw a decline in recent decades (including some pandemic-induced closures). Now, thanks to delis being glorified in movies and TV shows like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” some are seeing a renaissance. (Untapped)
Shiva call ➤ Leonard Kessler, the beloved author of more than 200 children’s books, died at 101. Among his fans were Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Andy Warhol, who shared a studio with Kessler. (New York Times)
What else we’re reading ➤ How a Jewish debate coach contributed to Ketanji Brown Jackson’s path to Supreme Court nomination … Antisemitic and racist graffiti was spray-painted on a fire station in a small hamlet in upstate New York … Israeli grocery stores are some of the most expensive in the world, according to a new survey.
ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: The series finale of “M*A*S*H” was watched by 106 million people on Feb. 28, 1983 – it remains the most-watched single episode of a TV show ever. New York City reported that in the minutes after the episode ended, 1 million residents used their bathrooms (remember, this was in the days before you could pause a show), instantly flooding the city’s sewers. The cast and crew, including Allan Arbus, the actor who played the show’s Jewish Army psychiatrist, Dr. Sydney Friedman, had more than enough members of the tribe for a minyan. And Alan Alda managed to squeeze plenty of Yiddishisms – nebbish, nudge and tuchus were some of his favorites – into Hawkeye Pierce.
Twenty-five years ago this weekend, 65 million people watched “Schindler’s List,” when it was shown on NBC. “It was a staggering audience response for that subject matter and a black-and-white film,” said the network’s Warren Littlefield. The unprecedented commercial-free broadcast was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, whose founder, Henry Ford, was a well-known antisemite.
Today is the final day of Black History Month. The Forward’s editor-at-large, Robin Washington, wonders if people will heed its lessons. “So I’m asking you out there, people of all colors, and especially Jews, for whom the words ‘Never Forget’ is so ingrained in our identity: What sticks? What will it take for you to remember?,” he writes. “When will we as a people and all people learn to apply the lessons of the past, good and bad, to our hearts?” Read his column ➤
In honor of National Public Speaking Day … oh, wait, nevermind … it’s actually National Public Sleeping Day. 😴
VIDEO OF THE DAY In case you missed it: “Saturday Night Live” had a skit about life in the NYC subway whose musical parodies included a riff on Tevye’s famous “If I Were a Rich Man,” complete with half a dozen extras in Hasidic garb. Asked if that was the cast of Fiddler, host John Mulaney responded: “No, there’s just a lunch break at B&H photo.” Start watching at the 1:50 mark in the video above.
––– Here’s today’s Vertl puzzle (aka the Yiddish Wordle)
Thanks to Laura E. Adkins, Nora Berman and Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].
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