Tom Suozzi to propose national protest ‘buffer zones’ around synagogues

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🕍 Buffer zones go bigger

• Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Long Island Democrat, will introduce a bill to establish “buffer zones” that restrict protests outside synagogues and other houses of worship, reports Politico.

• Suozzi is expected to announce the details at a press conference with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in Glen Cove on Friday. He is running for reelection in a heavily Jewish battleground district.

• This represents the first national push to mirror legislation from Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, following two pro-Palestinian protests outside city synagogues in the past year. The state-level push remains stuck in negotiations, while the city-level legislation passed after being watered down last month.

• Mayor Zohran Mamdani has faced pressure from his progressive Jewish allies to block the city’s “buffer zone” legislation. Although the City Council passed the bill limiting protests outside houses of worship with a veto-proof majority, another bill applying to protests outside educational facilities could still be struck down this week.

🕯 Jewish burial groups could be notified of unclaimed bodies

• A proposed bill in the New York State Senate would require hospitals and morgues to contact Jewish burial organizations before disposing of unclaimed bodies, reports the Jewish News Syndicate.

• If the deceased person is known to be of Jewish descent, officials would have to contact organizations such as Misaskim and Chesed Shel Emes about whether they are willing to assume responsibility for the burial. The legislation was introduced by Democratic state Sen. Sam Sutton, who is Jewish.

• The bill was modeled on a similar law recently passed in Kentucky, which aimed to ensure that Jews could be buried instead of cremated. Cremation is barred by traditional Jewish law.

🤝 Vernikov endorses Blakeman

• NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, a Jewish Ukrainian-born Republican, endorsed Bruce Blakeman — another Jewish Republican — in his bid for New York governor on Monday.

• Vernikov made her announcement at a grocery store “in the heart of the Syrian Jewish community” in Blakeman’s Nassau County, she said in a video with Blakeman, who wore a kippah. Vernikov, who has previously attacked Mamdani as a “terrorist-lover,” also said that Hochul “bends the knee to Mamdani.”

• “May God bless you, todah raba, spasiba,” Blakeman responded to Vernikov, using the Hebrew and Russian words for “thank you.”

🎙 Rachel Goldberg-Polin visits Jewish schools

• Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was abducted by Hamas and killed in Gaza, visited Jewish day schools in NYC this week. Goldberg-Polin spoke with students and faculty at Heschel High School on Monday and at SAR High School on Tuesday.

• Read our interview with Goldberg-Polin about her new book, “When We See You Again.”

🎶 ‘Musical memoir’ captures 20th century American Jewish life

• Catch the New York premiere of “Muriel’s songs,” by Eric Chasalow, a concert inspired by Chasalow’s grandmother’s memoirs about her life spanning the 20th century in Brooklyn in Newark. The program debuts at the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.