A version of this piece first ran as part of the New York Jewish Week’s daily newsletter, rounding up the latest on politics, culture, food and what’s new with Jews in the city. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
🤝 Hochul endorses Lasher
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Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Micah Lasher, the Upper West Side State Assembly member, in his run for Congress in the heavily Jewish district of NY-12.
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Following the Park East Synagogue protest last November, Lasher, who is Jewish, has led the charge on statewide “buffer zone” legislation, which Hochul has backed.
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The latest polls, which came more than a month ago, have Lasher in third and fourth place. Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s “100% half-Jewish” grandson, led in both.
🤳 Nurse who yelled at Israelis gets online support
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Jennifer Koonings, the nurse who was fired after she filmed herself yelling at Israelis in Times Square, has now crowdfunded more than $32,000 since last week.
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The crowdfunding campaign, titled “support Jen’s free speech,” has drawn donations from 1,000+ supporters of Koonings, who called the men “baby killers” and “worse than Nazis.”
⚾️ Rosenberg v. Mr. Met
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Sid Rosenberg, the Jewish, right-wing firebrand radio host, has leveled accusations of antisemitism at a beloved public figure: Mr. Met, the New York Mets’ mascot whose head is a giant baseball.
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Rosenberg launched his attack on Mr. Met after Mamdani, whom Rosenberg has previously called a “cockroach,” posed for a photograph with the mascot.
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“Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse we found out today that Mr. Met is a raging antisemite!” Rosenberg wrote on X.
⛔️ No from Brad on Iron Dome
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After declining to give a definitive answer last week, Brad Lander said that he would vote against all military aid to Israel, including defensive aid for the Iron Dome.
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The pivot from Lander, who’s running for Congress in NY-10, came a week after progressive Congress members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna declared they’d vote against sending funding for the Iron Dome.
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In an interview with the New York Editorial Board, an informal group of veteran journalists, Lander also discussed the rise of antisemitism and attacks like the failed one on Temple Israel in Michigan, which he said he feels “really deeply.” One of the rabbis at Temple Israel was Lander’s co-counselor at a Jewish summer camp.
💯 days
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave his 100-day address Sunday evening, highlighting his early accomplishments on issues like childcare and filling potholes, and announcing new initiatives such as the first of five promised city-owned grocery stores.
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The event had a party-like vibe, according to our reporter Joseph Strauss, who was on the scene at the Knockdown Center, a concert venue in Queens. Attendees represented all manner of progressive groups, including Jewish organizations Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace. There were also attendees from the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg.
- The loudest applause of the night came at the surprise appearance of Bernie Sanders, the Jewish Vermont senator and democratic socialist, who joined Mamdani onstage to the sound of AC/DC and chants of “Bernie!” and “DSA!” Mamdani and Sanders’ remarks focused a fair bit on socialism, and how the word “socialist” is often used disparagingly.
- “Some say this is a radical idea,” Sanders said, referring to Mamdani’s city-run grocery store announcement. But Sanders pushed back, and alluded to the war in Iran in doing so. “What’s radical is starting a terrible war — that’s radical,” Sanders said.
🕯️ We remember
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Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins tonight. Congregations and communities around the city will hold commemorative events.
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Meanwhile, a global Holocaust film series is being held throughout this week, with screenings in all five boroughs of New York City, organized by the Claims Conference and the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
- Tonight at 7 p.m., our editor-at-large Andrew Silow-Carroll is moderating a virtual conversation with author Charlie Scheidt to discuss his memoir, “Inheritance: Love, Loss, and the Legacy of the Holocaust,” co-written with Kat Rohrer.
🕯️ Farewell
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Eliot Engel, a Jewish New York Democrat who served more than three decades in Congress and became one of the most prominent pro-Israel voices on Capitol Hill, died on Friday at 79.
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