WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning. Today: Tensions in Jerusalem before Ramadan begins • Elon Musk boosts George Soros conspiracy theory • The Jewish significance of the very-much-not-Jewish Gene Hackman.

OUR LEAD STORY

What happens when a rabbi’s Facebook post sends shockwaves over the Israel-Hamas war? (Courtesy)

A congregational rabbi said there were no innocents in Gaza. The blowback was fierce. “All of the people living in Gaza are Hamas, regardless of how we want to spin it in the Western world,” a senior rabbi in St. Louis wrote on Facebook in late January, apparently in response to Hamas’ jarring display of force around the release of former hostage Arbel Yahoud. What came next was a furious local reflection of the tensions that have riddled Jewish communities since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, as congregants objected, local Islamic organizations spoke out and the synagogue’s president asked the rabbi to take down the inflammatory post. Read the story ➤

ISRAEL

Protestors in Tel Aviv chant and call for the ceasefire deal to continue. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Opinion | Hidden in the IDF’s damning report on its Oct. 7 failures, a stark story of political disarray. The Israel Defense Forces yesterday released a detailed report on the errors it made before and during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. But the report doesn’t acknowledge the ways in which those errors were connected to broad societal fractures in Israel as a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2023 effort to overhaul the judiciary, writes our columnist Dan Perry. And without that acknowledgment, accountability only means so much. Read his essay ➤

More on Israel:

Among the findings: The IDF received and dismissed signals of abnormal action in Gaza in the hours leading up to the attack, including the mass activation of cellphones with Israeli SIM cards. (New York Times)

With the first phase of the ceasefire expiring this weekend, and negotiations over the details of the next stage only just beginning, a senior Hamas political official said the group is “ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance” of Gaza. (Associated Press, NBC)

A car-ramming attack by a Palestinian man at an Israeli bus stop injured 13, leaving a 17-year-old girl in critical condition. (JTA)

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when tensions in Jerusalem traditionally rise, starts this weekend. As the city prepares, several hundred people attended a far-right rally advocating for U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to forcibly relocate Palestinian civilians in Gaza. (Times of Israel, times two)

At the same time, a new poll found that fewer than 20% of American Jews approve of Trump’s plan. (Times of Israel)

ELON MUSK AND GEORGE SOROS

Elon Musk has repeatedly targeted George Soros, and upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court elections have set the two at odds. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg and Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Posting yesterday on X, the social media network he owns, Elon Musk took aim at several prominent American Jews, including Rep. Jamie Raskin — whom he claimed has illicitly received millions of dollars in funds from the embattled agency USAID — and Norm Eisen, a lawyer leading high-profile legal efforts against Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

He also boosted a conspiracy theory about upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court elections — on which his own PAC has spent $1 million — alleging that “George Soros has dumped millions to buy the court.”

The Hungarian-born philanthropist has become, in recent years, a preoccupation for Musk. In a recent examination of the far-right origins of Musk’s approach to Jews, our Arno Rosenfeld wrote that “Musk’s obsession with what he views as malevolent Jewish forces in society — especially Soros and the ADL — seemed to emerge when they affected his personal fortune.”

Yet there’s a strong argument, a recent essay in our opinion section argues, that with his powerful role in Trump’s administration, Musk is actually doing everything conspiracy theorists accuse Soros of.

And: Why is the ADL encouraging Jews to invest in Tesla? Arno explains.

OSCARS WEEKEND

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain. (Searchlight Pictures)

As you make your final Oscars predictions before the Sunday ceremony, here’s a bit more to consider about the Jewish nominees. And make sure to check out our homepage during your popcorn breaks — we’ll be liveblogging the awards!

Is ‘A Real Pain’ the Jewish Oscar film we’ve been waiting for?The Holocaust tourism film — directed by and starring Jesse Eisenberg alongside Best Supporting Actor favorite Kieran Culkin — is a rarity, writes our editorial fellow Olivia Haynie. It’s about the Shoah, but “does not solely focus on Judaism as a traumatizing curse;” it’s got a deft comedic touch, but “avoids the kitschy Jewish stereotypes that are so prevalent in mainstream comedies.”

I’m an art historian who researches the Holocaust — here’s why I hated ‘The Brutalist.’Ok, Adrien Brody is “brilliant” in the movie, writes Laura Morowitz. But otherwise, “I hate it as a movie-goer, I hate it as someone who teaches architectural history, and I hate it as someone who writes about the Holocaust. As a narrative, as an investigation of the power of architecture, and as a look at how trauma might mark someone’s artistic work, the film is a failure.”

And even more of our thoughts on The Brutalist:

In the brutality of ‘The Brutalist,’ a misunderstanding of the Jewish architect’s experience

How the master builder behind ‘The Brutalist’ was inspired by her hometown synagogue

Adrien Brody’s performance in ‘The Brutalist’ hits home for descendants of immigrants and Holocaust survivors

And: In the wake of Gene Hackman’s death, I considered what his very WASPy role in The Birdcagesuggested about Jewish assimilation in the U.S., and our Benyamin Cohen wrote about how the actor helped his father become a better rabbi.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Nathan Fielder‘s The Rehearsal is back, and sure to spark more controversy. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+)

😞 An inquest found that a British teenager who died by suicide in 2022 had been radicalized online by an American far-right extremist, and had expressed a desire to “blow up a synagogue.” (BBC)

🎥 The second season of Nathan Fielder’s much-debated HBO series The Rehearsal will premiere on April 20. In 2022, our critic argued that Kabbalah had a profound role in shaping the first season. (Vulture, Forward)

💵 It’s gonna make him lonesome when it goes: A rare recording of a Greenwich Village performance by a 20-year-old Bob Dylan is set to hit the auction block. (New York Times)

🏢 Hebrew Union College, which is relocating within Manhattan after recently selling its downtown Manhattan building, is also selling part of its Los Angeles campus. (JTA)

✡️ From my inbox: Jewish teens from 64 countries will gather in Brooklyn this morning to strive for a new world record: largest-ever tefillin-wrapping event.

Shiva call ➤Michael Levine, a founding member of the LGBTQ+ New York synagogue Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, died at 81.

What else we’re reading ➤

How “a newer group of Jewish philanthropists has begun to challenge restrictions in funding to organizations critical of Israel” (Religion News Service)

“The Pope’s role has changed in our time. But has the church?” (New Yorker)

“Archaeology students excavating Warsaw’s main Jewish cemetery are uncovering a forgotten world” (JTA)

“The very Jewish backstory to Mikey Madison’s hair in ‘Anora’” (Hey Alma)

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Protesters outside Manhattan’s Barnard College on Thursday. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

Protests at Barnard College continued into a second day, as demonstrators objected to the expulsion of two students who protested in a Columbia University class on the history of Israel in January.

That incident “made me feel like a Jew in a way I had never felt before,” wrote Avi Shilon, the professor teaching that class, in an op-ed for us earlier this week. And it “also, crucially, demonstrated to me the differences in how an Israeli Jew perceives such events compared to an American Jew.”

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