This article is part of our morning briefing. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox each weekday. An old family photo of Sara Sherbill and her father. (Courtesy) |
As a rabbi, my dad helped others mourn. But I wouldn’t say kaddish for him: “I did not attend my father’s funeral. Nor did my family host a shiva,” writes Sara Sherbill, who describes abuse she and her siblings and mom suffered. “The worst part was trying to understand why my father, who was so kind to so many, was doing this to us.” But this Father’s Day weekend, one year after her dad’s death, the aroma of her father’s Shabbat cholent is bringing her comfort. Read her essay ➤ Why the literary world (and every single No. 2 pencil) is mourning the loss of Robert Gottlieb: He was a giant of American letters: the editor of Toni Morrison, Robert Caro, Chaim Potok and many more. Our innovation editor Talya Zax writes that what made Gottlieb, who died Wednesday at 92, so skilled at the quiet art of editing was his extraordinary ability to understand artists. “To him, there was not really such a thing as a good editor,” she writes. “There was only a good editor of the manuscript in front of him, or, more accurately, the person who wrote it.” Read the story ➤ |
Plus… - Ryanair apologized after a crew member aboard a flight to Tel Aviv referred to the destination as “Palestine.”
- Israel’s diaspora minister referred to Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, who he met with this week in Israel, as “a nice lady” and “a clerk.”
- The so-called “roast of antisemitism” that a group of comedians and other celebrities performed Wednesday night in Beverly Hills “felt like a standup special held at a shul banquet,” writes our Louis Keene.
- Two-time Academy Award-winner Glenda Jackson played Jews, acted for Jews and replaced a Jew in Britain’s Parliament. She died Thursday at 87.
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
A 2018 Pittsburgh rally; Mandy Patinkin and Barbra Streisand in ‘Yentl’; stray dogs in Israel. (Getty/MGM/Haaretz) |
⚖️ The jury began deliberating Thursday in the trial of the shooter charged with killing 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. A guilty verdict is likely after the defendant’s own lawyers acknowledged he carried out the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack. The phase to determine whether he is sentenced to death will follow. (JTA) ? Supporters of a candidate to run the schools in Naples, Florida, accosted a local rabbi outside a school board meeting last month telling him that he’s “on the path to sin” and that Judaism is “not a real religion.” The rabbi said he had gone to the meeting to speak out against the candidate for superintendent, who had said during his job interview that “unchurched” Americans were causing its “moral decline.” (JTA) ? Why did Israel kill more than 2,000 stray dogs in 2022? The official reason was to prevent rabies, but an investigation from our partners at Haaretz found only six of the dogs had the disease. (Haaretz) ? Pennsylvania is the only state that bans public school teachers from wearing religious garb on the job. Now the state legislature is looking to overturn the century-old law. (Penn Live) ⛪ There’s a law in Texas that you can’t shoot fireworks near a church. So when two frustrated residents wanted to curb noise from a local fireworks stand, they built churches on their property. One is called the Church of Peace and Quiet. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) ? Barbra Streisand’s dad is buried next to a fellow member of his synagogue, Anchel Arschin. The actress said that seeing Anchel’s grave inspired her to direct the movie Yentl, where her character’s name is Anshel. (Kveller)
Long weekend reads ➤ How a Jewish kid from New York became a Latin music giant … A Berlin rabbi fired amid mounting allegations that he preyed on young women … Sicily’s Jews, whose ancestors were forced to hide their religion during the Inquisition, have their first rabbi in 500 years. |
In this weekend’s edition of our print magazine: Former President Donald Trump was arraigned this week on 31 criminal counts relating to the Espionage Act. Since the Act’s inception in 1917, it has ensnared many Jews, some more well known than others. We’ve all heard of the Rosenbergs and Jonathan Pollard, but did you know about Robert Goldstein, the Hollywood costume designer? Plus: Stories about Nazi art, traveling rabbinical students, and tips from our Bintel Brief advice column for keeping busy in retirement. Download your copy now ➤ |
Joyce Carol Oates at the National Arts Club in 2009 in New York City. (Getty) |
On this day in history (1938): The industrious author Joyce Carol Oates was born. Raised Catholic, Oates learned late in life that she had Jewish heritage: Her grandmother had fled anti-Jewish persecution and moved to upstate New York, where she hid the family’s background. Upon winning the 2019 Jerusalem Prize, Oates told the Associated Press that her “whole cultural inheritance was lost.”
In honor of World Sea Turtle Day, check out this 2021 profile of a Borscht Belt comedian who volunteers at a local beach saving sea turtles. |
Is Elon Musk the most dangerous antisemite in America? Elad Nehorai posed that question in a recent Forward column, one of our most popular stories of the week. On the new episode of That Jewish News Show, Laura and I talked with Elad about how the Twitter CEO is using his power and platform to share dangerous conspiracy theories about Jews. Watch the show above, or listen on the go wherever you get podcasts. — Thanks to Matthew Litman, Lauren Markoe, Tani Levitt and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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