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 Twitter's new antisemitism problem, ADL suing Jan. 6 insurrectionists, world's most complex Talmud translated to English and a Jewish mayor pardons Christmas pigs.
OUR LEAD STORY  In the cream cheese fiasco of 2021, a new suspect emerges — is it the water? Climate change, COVID, cyberattacks and Joe Biden have all been blamed for the cream cheese shortage. But the true reason may lie in Lowville, N.Y.
Water, water, everywhere: Lowville, a village of 3,200 near the Canadian border, is home to one of the nation’s largest cream cheese factories. The Kraft Heinz plant has at times in the last months used more than 80% of the town’s water – more than 1 million gallons per day.
Cheese wisely: The village has asked residents not to water their lawns or wash their cars. The water levels were so dangerously low this summer that there were concerns the local hospital would be drained dry. In November, the village’s board of trustees took the drastic step of regulating the plant’s water access.
Let them eat cake: When the pandemic shuttered restaurants, sales of cheesecake online and in supermarkets soared. “People were looking for comfort food,” said Allen Rosen, the owner of Junior’s, which is famous for its cheesecake. But it’s perhaps less well-known as New York’s largest user of cream cheese: it goes through 120,000 to 160,000 pounds a week. Rosen’s cakes are sold at 8,000 grocery stores around the country and he usually does six times as much business in December as in other months. The water shortage was the perfect storm. Read the story ➤
ALSO FROM THE FORWARD  Opinion | Is the Christmas tree a religious symbol? What about a menorah? America is in the midst of its holiday season – a time for family, rest and hotly contested litigation over religious displays on government property. In California, one high school principal sparked controversy for responding to a Jewish parent’s request for a menorah display alongside the school’s Christmas tree by asking students to bring any symbol of their family’s “values, heritage and/or faith” they like — as long as it fits in a paper lunch bag and can be fashioned into a tree decoration. Read the essay ➤
The best Jewish (and Jew-ish) films of 2021: Some of us returned to movie theaters, and some streamed indie film festivals and Hollywood blockbusters from the comfort of our couches. Two of our culture gurus, Irene Katz Connelly and PJ Grisar, assembled a list of their favorites, including Paul Thomas Anderson’s first film with a Shabbat scene; an Israeli drama starring Shira Haas of “Unorthodox;” a dispatch from Hebrew school; and even a flick named for and starring the treyfest of creatures, the pig. Read the story ➤
But wait, there’s more…
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY  Rabbi Lila Kagedan was one of the the first Orthodox woman to adopt the title of rabbi. (Yeshivat Maharat) 👩 It’s been a dozen years since the modern Orthodox movement ordained its first female rabbi. Most of the 50 women who have since graduated from Yeshivat Maharat serve in assistant clergy roles, but now a handful are leading congregations. “It might take a generation or two, but it will become normative to have Orthodox women rabbis,” said one expert. (AP, Religion News Service)
🎧 Twitter Spaces, the social media platform’s new audio chat rooms, have virtually no moderation – leaving room for racists and antisemites. The service is akin to the Clubhouse app, which has encountered similar problems around hosting conversations that include hate speech. (Washington Post, Forward)
⚖️ The ADL is joining the District of Columbia in a lawsuit seeking to hold two groups accountable for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The suit, which targets the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, is the first by a government entity against the insurrectionists. (JTA)
✈️ Birthright Israel trips will reportedly resume next week, despite travel restrictions on foreigners due to the Omicron variant. Participants must have been vaccinated or have received a booster in the last six months. (Jewish Insider)
🇮🇱 A law student resolution expressing solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is the latest example of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict playing out across CUNY’s 25 campuses, raising tensions and stoking dissension. Said one Hillel executive: “The academic boycotts are just the most ridiculous, stupidest thing ever.” (The City)
🇩🇪 Berlin has 290 streets named for people who expressed antisemitic views, according to a new analysis. The study’s author suggested that not all should be renamed, but that adding a plaque about the street namesake’s antisemitic history might be a good step. (JTA)
🐒 More than 1,000 monkeys in Israel have found a new home. The macaques were moved from a farm where they were kept in cramped cages to a primate sanctuary in Ben Shemen Forest. The Jewish National Fund has offered wooded land so the sanctuary can expand to accommodate the new residents. (Times of Israel)
ON THE CALENDAR  On this day in history: Adolf Eichmann, one of of the architects of the Nazi’s “Final Solution,” was sentenced to death on Dec. 15, 1961 for crimes against humanity. Eichmann wrote a letter to Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi asking for clemency. Hours after that petition was denied, he was hanged, one of only two capital punishments carried out in Israel’s history. (The state had earlier executed Yechezkel Ingster, a Jew convicted for torturing prisoners as a kapo during the Holocaust.)
Improbably, Eichmann’s court case became the basis of a Superman comic book. Published in November 1961, at the height of Eichmann’s trial, the superhero is murdered by Lex Luthor. “Luthor’s capture and subsequent trial in Kandor, whose victims number six million, mirrors the Jewish people’s right to self-determination as the judges of their persecutor,” writes Roy Schwartz, the author of a book about Superman’s Jewish history. Luthor is even called “the greatest villain since Adolf Eichmann!” Read the story ➤
Last year on this day, we shared the video of Gal Gadot’s visit to the “Tonight Show,” during which she tried eggnog for the first time, while host Jimmy Fallon gagged on gefilte fish.
On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 11th of Tevet when, in 1648, legend has it that a tailor named Mordechai and his wife Esther, saved the town of Mezhibuzh from a Cossack invasion. It is known by many as a minor Purim festival.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY  Miami Mayor Daniella Levine Cava pardoned piglets Manchita, David, Shlomo and Sakura on Tuesday. Four Christmas pigs raised by Jewish farmers received a pardon from Miami’s Jewish mayor on Tuesday. Yes, you read that right. Pork is a popular holiday dish among Latin-American families, and so the South Florida city takes a page from the presidential turkey-pardon playbook to recognize its large Hispanic population.
This year’s babes are all descendants of previously pardoned pigs. “They’re very safe in a Jewish house,” said Yariv Mashav, who raised the pigs with his wife, Asuka. Read the story ➤
––– Thanks to Laura E. Adkins, PJ Grisar and Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter.
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