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Good morning! I’m Talya Zax, the Forward’s innovation editor and fanatic for a good cake. Benyamin Cohen is off this week, so I’m filling in on the Forwarding desk.
FROM THE FORWARD Zeno, a very good boy who loves challah, is not prepared for Passover. (Allan Ripp) In-person Seders return, but some vulnerable Jews are left behind. Jacob Speaks, 49, tells amazing stories about Seders past — like the time his niece couldn’t find the afikomen, though it was taped to a mirror she kept walking by. But this year, Speaks, who is immunocompromised, will miss what he calls the “really magical” experience of an in-person Seder for the third year running, left to Zoom into his family’s gathering. He’s one of many with health conditions that leave them vulnerable to COVID-19, and who feel left behind. He said he will miss the delight of “watching young people find the afikomen,” but “it’s just not safe for me.” Read the story ➤
My schnauzer fell in love with challah — just in time for Passover. Human Jews know the drill: For eight days each year, we live without challah — and babka, knishes, and sweet, sweet bagels — to celebrate the story of the Exodus. But if you happen to be a Jewish dog? Good luck experiencing the joys of tradition and community as a suitable balm for being starved of carbs. Here, Allan Ripp writes of the minor contemporary tragedy of his beloved schnauzer, Zeno, who has become newly obsessed with challah — just in time to be bereft by its disappearance. Read the story ➤
At the Lower East Side Passover Parade, immigrants created new American identities.Sure, you’ve heard about Manhattan’s Easter Parade: The glamour, glorious big hats and bigger to-do. What you may not know: in the first two decades of the 20th century, there was a Passover parade that occasionally outshined its Christian cousin. It was the grandest occasion in many immigrant Jews’ calendars, with a 1904 report in Cincinnati’s Jewish paper remarking admiringly that the diamonds worn on the route were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Take a walk through the archival coverage ➤
How ‘A Rugrats Passover’ became an iconic holiday special. Had anyone had asked Moses, back when, if he thought that a generation would someday learn his story through the exploits of a fictional band of toddlers known as the “Rugrats” — well, in comparison the Burning Bush might not have seemed so shocking. Alas, this is what Nickelodeon begat. In one 22-minute episode broadcast in 1995, the beloved show gave life to the story of Passover so powerfully that decades later, Millennials still cite it as a formative influence. Our alumnus Aiden Pink — now in training for the rabbinate, perhaps in part influenced by the episode — got the inside scoop on how it came together. Read the story ➤
Why I add a pomegranate to my Seder plate. Tradition calls for six standard elements, but for decades some Jews have been adding symbols to the table’s centerpiece. Many add an orange to represent inclusion of women or queer people, or a potato, for Jews around the world still facing poverty and oppression; this year, sunflowers are popular to show solidarity with Ukraine. Rabbi Abby Stein, a transgender activist and author, has a new item to recommend: A pomegranate, in honor of Jews who have chosen to leave their home communities and find their own way through the world. “I will celebrate those of us who have been told that we are ‘bad,’” wrote Stein, who grew up in Hasidic Williamsburg, “that we are sinners and heretics, and that we have no right to celebrate Jewish holidays in our own way.” Read the story ➤
Plus: Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will host the White House Seder tonight — virtually. It is the second year in a row for the Second Couple, whose interfaith family has inspired the increasing number of Jewish in similarly mixed households. Catch the livestream here at 5:30 p.m. ET. WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Mourners at the funeral of Palestinian Amer Elyan, shot during clashes with Israeli troops. (Abbas Momani/Getty) 🇮🇱 Israeli soldiers shot and killed five Palestinians in the West Bank over the last two days, reports the Palestinian Health Ministry. The military has stepped up operations in the area after a spate of attacks on Israelis that have killed 14. The AP estimates 23 Palestinians have been killed in the process. (Associated Press)
👀 Four Israeli Jews were arrested Thursday for preparing to sacrifice a goat on the Temple Mount, where prayer by non-Muslims is prohibited. An extremist Jewish group that aspires toward construction of a third Temple at the holy site has been offering cash prizes for attempting animal sacrifices there. The arrests came after a goat was found in one of the men’s homes. The site, part of the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, is a locus of tension, particularly around holidays, and the Islamist group Hamas said on Wednesday it would prevent sacrifices there “at any cost.” (Times of Israel)
😢 Barry Manilow will miss the premiere of his very Jewish musical “Harmony” after testing positive for the coronavirus. “This might be the cruelest thing that has ever happened to me,” Manilow said of missing the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s opening night, “25 years waiting for this show to premiere in New York and I can’t attend.” (New York Jewish Week)
😨 A police officer at the University of Colorado, Boulder, was placed on leave on allegations of antisemitism and racism. An internal affairs investigation found that the officer had made violent and hateful comments on Reddit. “This is a culture of law enforcement gone awry in our community,” said a local civil rights attorney. (KDVR)
🚨 In France, two men were arrested over the death of a Jewish man, whose family claims he was hit by a tram while trying to escape an antisemitic attack. Jérémy Cohen’s death last week became a flashpoint in the run-up to the first round of presidential elections Sunday, with candidates across the political spectrum demanding answers. (Times of Israel, New York Times)
🕍 Europe’s second-largest synagogue reopened after a painstaking renovation. In 2016, the Czech city of Pilsen returned its Great Synagogue to the Jewish community, having long used it as a concert venue and museum; the building was preserved during the Holocaust because the Nazis used it as storage for looted Jewish property. (Prague Morning)
👗 Get ready to shop Iris Apfel’s collaboration with H&M. Fans of Apfel, the centenarian Jewish style maven known for her signature bold glasses, will get a chance starting Friday to snag pieces inspired by her brightly colored wardrobe. One item? A bright orange one-piece swimsuit with “100” blazoned across the chest — the zeros made to resemble those famous glasses. (Hollywood Reporter)
Plus: We were tickled to see that our list of “The 150 greatest Jewish pop songs of all time,” which Gothamist deemed “bizarre, admirable and frankly insane,” made it all the way to Germany. No, we can’t understand this report in one of Frankfurt’s newspapers; we’ll just have to assume it’s glowing.
What else we’re reading ➤ A longform interview with Adam Michnik, Polish Jewish dissident, on the dangers of Putinism … Joel Grey on turning 90, and the joys of interior design … what Volodymyr Zelenskyy has to teach us about Passover. ON THE CALENDAR On this day in history: The Human Genome Project was completed on April 14, 2003, and many scientists see Jews as a particularly useful group to study. Michael Hammer, a geneticist at the University of Arizona, considers us an “unusual group,” explaining that many Jews have more extensive medical and historical records than is typical, and “have remained isolated genetically” despite “their widespread wanderings. Since the Human Genome Project’s completion, there have been several ambitious studies aiming to draw a genome-wide map of the Jewish people, including the Jewish HapMap Project. “Part of why that research is so fascinating is it’s telling us about aspects of Jewish history that are not recorded in texts or reflected in archaeology,” one expert explained.
VIDEO OF THE DAY Passover is about a lot of things: Slavery, liberation, community and, of course, wine. The bottles you choose to fill your four cups can help create your Seder’s sense of character. And: if you’re going to spend a long evening talking Torah with family and friends, it’s good to have something truly nice to drink while you do. Our Laura E. Adkins and Rob Eshman hopped on Instagram this week to recommend some of their new favorite bottles for the holiday. Watch the video ➤ ––– Play today’s Vertl puzzle (aka the Yiddish Wordle)
Thanks to Jodi Rudoren for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].
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