This article is part of our morning briefing. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox each weekday. A Jewish man was charged in a plot against synagogues. His parents want you to know the whole story.
Matthew Mahrer was arrested last year in New York’s Penn Station in connection with a plot to shoot up synagogues. The 23 year-old was called an antisemite and a murderer. But Mahrer’s family, Holocaust survivors among them, say it’s a more complicated story. Mental health issues: Matthew is autistic and has been under the care of psychiatrists and therapists since he was 3. He was homeless during the pandemic, and his parents believe that people he met during his time on the streets led to the charges he now faces. Family ties: Matthew’s grandfather, Jerry, 94, is a Holocaust survivor, as was Jerry’s father, Pavel Mahrer. Pavel was a Czech soccer star whom the Nazis kept alive in the Terezin concentration camp to play games for their entertainment.
Trial and error: Matthew is due in state Supreme Court today, but even if he is exonerated, his mom said the damage is irreparable. “In the world of the internet, Matthew has been given a life sentence for being a white supremacist-antisemite-monster-terrorist,” she said. |
Ronald Lauder at the 2020 ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. (Getty) |
A cosmetics billionaire pledged $25 million to fight antisemitism. Where did the money go? When Ronald Lauder created a new nonprofit and political action committee focused on antisemitism, he was heralded in the press: “Lauder v. Hate,” one tabloid headline read. But four years later, it does not appear that Lauder followed through on that commitment. His Anti-Semitism Accountability Project went dormant after just a few months, and while a spokesperson said Lauder has spent more than $40 million combating antisemitism since 2019, he won’t say where any of that money has gone. Read the story ➤
Campus beat: U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer is asking Princeton University to remove from a class syllabus a book whose author has written about Palestinian fears that organs are being harvested from their relatives’ corpses. He said it’s akin to an “antisemitic blood libel.” Bibi in the U.S. |
Elon Musk, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. (Getty) |
Fawning Netanyahu defends Musk against antisemitism allegations: At a Silicon Valley meeting on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly defended Elon Musk against allegations of antisemitism. Musk, who has allowed neo-Nazis back on his social media platform, has been fighting recently with the Anti-Defamation League, blaming the civil rights group for a $4 billion loss in revenue at Twitter. Read the story ➤ From our opinion section… - Despite being followed by protesters wherever he goes, Netanyahu may be able to use his U.S. trip to burnish his reputation back home, writes Michael Koplow of the Israel Policy Forum.
- Rabbi Angela Buchdahl spoke of the historic battle going on among Israelis during her Rosh Hashanah sermon and suggested a way for her congregation and American Jews to respond. Read an excerpt and watch it here.
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and President Joe Biden met in July in the Oval Office. (Getty) |
? Only about 3 in 10 Americans believe Israel is an ally that shares U.S. interests, according to a new poll released ahead of a meeting this week between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu. (AP) ☔ Tunisian President Kais Saied said Monday night that Storm Daniel — this month’s Mediterranean storm that killed more than 3,000 people in Libya floods, with more than 10,000 others still missing — had a “Zionist” influence because it was named after a Hebrew prophet. (Times of Israel) ⚖️ A judge in Australia ruled that five Jewish high school students were subjected to antisemitic bullying and ordered the school to pay damages totaling more than $430,000 for its negligence in enforcing a local law against discrimination. (Guardian) ? Israel’s right-wing government is advancing a bill permitting the police to place facial recognition cameras in public spaces and at protest demonstrations. (Haaretz) ? A Rhode Island Superior Court judge granted a stay to a local Orthodox congregation due to be evicted from Touro Synagogue, America’s oldest congregation, allowing them to remain there as tenants for a limited amount of time. (The Public’s Radio) ? Are self-driving cars kosher? San Francisco rabbis are weighing in as robotaxis flood the city’s streets. (J. The Jewish News of Northern California) What else we’re reading ➤ The rise of synagogues’ Yom Kippur appeal … Two towns, 6,000 miles, and one aging Torah scroll … Orthodox Jews are having a pop culture moment. |
James Lipton at the Emmy Awards in 2016. (Getty) |
On this day in history (1926): James Lipton, the Jewish writer, actor and lyricist most famous as host of Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio, was born. Lipton “was a meme-worthy figure before the advent of memes,” the Forward’s PJ Grisar wrote when Lipton died in 2020 at 93. “MadTV and Saturday Night Live skewered him, with cast members playing up his pretension; for The Simpsons, he satirized himself.”
In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, read about the time when Jewish pirates ruled the seas. |
Our Yiddish editor, Rukhl Schaechter, teaches how to say various phrases related to Yom Kippur in this short video. — Thanks to Ella Goldblum, Arno Rosenfeld, Ruchl Schaechter and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.
Hope you have a terrific day. |
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