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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.
What you need to know today
- Brooklyn Democrats clash over antisemitism: Brooklyn Democratic district leaders aligned with party chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn are calling for Brooklyn district leader Carmella Charrington to resign after she blamed “Zionists” for deed theft in a recent podcast appearance. Charrington previously faced criticism for sharing a video referencing antisemitic conspiracy theories. “Antisemitism has no place in Brooklyn,” Bichotte Hermelyn told City & State. “Harrington (sic) was elected to serve this community and should know better. That kind of rhetoric is unacceptable from anyone entrusted with Democratic leadership, and it demands immediate accountability and reflection.”
- CUNY to disclose investments after pro-Palestinian group’s lawsuit: The City University of New York has agreed to disclose its stock and bond holdings as part of a public records request made by the pro-Palestinian student group CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine, JNS reports. The request was made as part of a campaign to pressure the university to divest from companies linked to Israel. “In unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, we demand that CUNY divest,” the group wrote in an Instagram post Wednesday. “We will not stop, we will not rest!”
- Jewish hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has announced plans to launch a brain research institute in Manhattan, inspired by his 26-year-old daughter Lucy’s recovery from a massive brain hemorrhage earlier this year. Seeded with a roughly $400 million gift of stock from Ackman’s asset management firm, the new Ackman Oxman Institute will focus on neuroscience and rehabilitation, and will occupy a planned 680,000-square-foot campus on the Upper West Side. “We have learned from Lucy that the brain can recover from even catastrophic injury,” Ackman wrote in a post on X. “There is so much more work to be done as the mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
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