Come home, New York! A new report from Comptroller Scott Stringer says three times as many New Yorkers — mostly affluent — fled the city than usual during the pandemic. By zip code, the largest residential losses in 2020 occurred on the Upper West Side.
HOSTILE OR HELPFUL?: A federal complaint by a pro-Israel organization alleges “a pervasively hostile campus climate for Jewish students” at Hunter College and its school of social work. (Ben Sales for The Jewish Week)
- But Jewish students paint a different picture: Anti-Israel invective can be fierce, they say, but the school has gone above and beyond in defending Jewish students.
CLOSE CALL: Long Island’s Lee Zeldin is among the House Republicans trying to keep the Biden administration from reopening the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem. (Ron Kampeas for JTA)
- At issue: Zeldin and the other Jewish Republican in the House, David Kustoff of Tennessee, say a separate consulate mostly serving Palestinians undermines Israel’s claims on Jerusalem.
WE CAN’T HEAR YOU: Yeshiva University’s men’s basketball team extended its win streak to 41 games. All they need now, writes Ami Eden, are fans as enthusiastic and creative as they are. (Jewish Week via JTA)
- Quotable: “Watching this Macs team should feel more like big-time soccer (sans the fighting and racism) and less like a yeshiva high school game.”
VARTN AF GODOT: New Yiddish Rep, the theater company in New York, brought its adaptation of “Waiting for Godot” to Sweden — the first ever Yiddish production in Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theatre. (JTA)
- The theater was filled almost to capacity for last weekend’s performances — described as “a triumph of a culture that was supposed to be wiped out” in the Holocaust.
MARRIED TO THE MOB: Meet Martin Stein, a former boxer and hugely successful gym manager whose late wife was the sister of a high-ranking mafia captain. Now he is at the center of a family battle over his life and finances. (New York Times)
AROUND THE JEWISH WORLD, WITH JTA
- Archaeologists say the ruins of a fortress near Hebron provide “tangible evidence” of the events of the Hanukkah story.
- Gabe Kapler, the Jewish manager of the San Francisco Giants, was named the National League Manager of the Year on Tuesday.
- Less than a mile from Auschwitz, a restored synagogue represents the last vestige of how Jews in the area once lived.
TODAY’S BIG IDEA
When the popular TikTok account “My Orthodox Jewish Life” posted a video of a boy putting on tefillin, the comment section filled up with antisemitic invective. The boy’s mother, Jessica Russak-Hoffman, writes in a JTA essay that she’s angry that hate thrives on social media — and sad that her son wasn’t surprised.
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Join the American Jewish Committee and Tablet Magazine for a conversation exploring French society, rising antisemitism, Islamism and challenges of integrating France’s Muslim population. Featuring filmmaker Caroline Fourest; Benjamin Haddad, senior director, Europe Center, The Atlantic Council; philosopher Bernard Henri-Lévy; and writer Marc Weitzmann. Register here. Noon.
Join the Museum of Jewish Heritage and The Olga Lengyel Institute for a conversation between humanitarian Caryl Stern and her mother Manuela Stern exploring the Holocaust’s impact on three generations of women in their family. Moderated by NBC’s senior legal and investigative correspondent Cynthia McFadden. Register here. 3:00p.m.
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Photo, top: Ofek Reef regularly scores in double-figures for the Yeshiva University men’s basketball team, currently enjoying the longest streak in men’s college basketball. (Courtesy Y.U.)
