Shabbat shalom! And just when you thought the Jewish holidays were behind us, Sukkot kind of sneaks up on us. So, if you haven’t already done so, get that sukkah erected post haste and enjoy some al fresco dining for a few weeks before the weather makes that impossible.
Sorry my Canadian friends, but I have to recognize our Schmuck of the Month as none other than Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota, who apparently didn’t vet the Ukrainian WWII veteran, Yaroslav Hunka, and instead introduced Hunka to Parliament as a “Ukrainian hero” and “Canadian hero” who fought against the Soviet Union during World War II. The whole of Parliament rose to give him a standing ovation. It later emerged that Hunka did indeed fight the Soviets—or, as Rota put it, the Russians—but alongside the Nazis. Oops. Rota has done the honorable thing and resigned, but the sordid affair added a bit more tarnish to golden boy PM Trudeau’s pitiful week which included Trudeau’s other recent catastrophe: his decision to blame India for an extrajudicial murder on Canadian soil. Yikes. Could these headlines be contributing to his slide in the polls among young Canadian voters? Inquiring JNR minds want to know.
Sandy and I have hit a show hole, and have recently taken to bingeing Hill Street Blues on Hulu as a way of avoiding the Red Sox disastrous season and/or the darkness that is our daily news cycle. The show holds up reasonably well, the colorful characters and ensemble cast created by Steven Bochco keeps us entertained, and I can’t help but wonder how the steamy sex scenes with Veronica Hamill (Joyce Davenport) and “Pizza Man” Daniel Trivanti (Captain Frank Furillo) cleared the network censors at that time. And I also wonder what Bochco was thinking when he made Joe Spano the cerebral, sympathetic Jewish Lt. Henry Goldblume, as he is the most un-Jewish looking character on the show. While we are now well into The Hill’s Season 2, we might be saved from further binge hell by the latest edition of The Great British Bakeoff!
Yes folks, the crazy cake-baking Brits are back at it, trying their best to demonstrate some competence in their baking abilities, and have put together a new season that is already getting praise from the critics. One such critic summarized the show thusly:
While some of the handshakes and soggy bottom shtick has been getting stale, season 14 has wisely injected the most lovable jolt of energy in the form of Alison Hammond, who replaces Matt Lucas to present alongside Noel Fielding. Hammond’s infectious cheeriness, which has melted everyone from Harrison Ford to Mariah Carey, is unparalleled.
Let’s hope they revisit last season’s babka challenge, as the last time they tried to master the fine art of babka, they clearly demonstrated they have never tasted real babka and, based on their commentary, apparently don’t have many Jewish friends. However, if you are in search of a great presentation of that gleaming pile of saturated fats braided with hazelnut, chocolate and cinnamon, I hear Bakey Babka in Boston is THE place to go for an excellent bake! Mmmmmmmm…..
Yom Kippur is now behind us. We enjoyed a sweet breaking of the fast at Dan and Ruth’s, who have now established a new family tradition: invasion for the leftovers. Ruth bakes a mean kugel, and created some kind of amazing apple noodle concoction that required an extra helping or two. Unfortunately for Israel, Yom Kippur was not as sweet, as the headlines were more about skirmishes in Tel Aviv between the orthodox and secular folks, the latter protesting the placement of physical barriers between the sexes in the public square, which was outlawed by Israel’s Supreme Court. However, on the good news front, Biden gifted Bibi with the formal approval of Visa waivers for Israelis. What the pro quo is for that quid remains to be seen, but rest assured, you will hear about it first on the JNR!
Now what about the rest of the news for Jews you may be asking? Where are those selective segments of savory semitic stories stolen shamelessly from the likes of The Forward, Haaretz, Kveller, Jewish Boston, and other fine Jewishy journals? Ask, and ye shall receive:
- Can the execution of a Jewish prisoner in Texas be stopped? Supporters are praying for a miracle Attorney Alan Dershowitz, known for his defense of controversial high-profile clients, has joined a last-ditch effort to stop the execution of a Jewish man on death row, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 10. Jedidiah Murphy, now 48, murdered 79-year-old Bertie Cunningham on Oct. 4, 2000. Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor, argues that very few cases in Texas merit the death penalty, and are usually “reserved for the most heinous repeat offenders,” which, he says, Murphy is not. He also cites Murphy’s history of mental illness. Dershowitz hopes to plead his case directly to the Texas governor, and says that he spent part of Yom Kippur working on the case. “I went to shul, I fasted, but the saving of human life — pikuach nefesh — is more important than davening.”
- The head of the Ford Foundation condemned antisemitism — here’s why that’s a huge deal: Hitler was reportedly inspired by Henry Ford’s antisemitic writings. So it was heartening to see the social justice nonprofit named after Ford take a principled stand, writes The Forward columnist Aviya Kushner. She suggests the group “take a hard look at current grant funding” to look for ways to “fund research on antisemitism in America’s cultural spaces” and “support conferences for those who are studying it.” Read her essay ➤
- 🤦 The Dark Side of Roger Waters – The former Pink Floyd frontman known for using Nazi symbols on stage and for his anti-Israel views, sent his staff antisemitic emails and taunted a musician whose grandmother was murdered in the Holocaust, a new documentary claims. (USA Today, Ynet)
- One jalapeno cheddar with schmear | Inside Mexico City’s hand-rolled bagel boom – During the early days of the pandemic, a Scottish-American baker hatched an idea to make bagels for homesick foreigners and donate the proceeds to people who were out of work. Her bagel store is one of several shops that have opened in recent years as part of a bagel renaissance in Mexico City. Read the story ➤
- 🛑 One hundred Jewish leaders are calling on Apple and Google to remove X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, from their app stores — effectively making it impossible to use on the majority of cellphones. The group, which blames Elon Musk for enabling antisemitism on the site, is also calling on companies like Disney to stop advertising on X. (XOutHate)
- 🤝 Quid pro Quo? Israeli officials are working to convince U.S. leaders that a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia could strengthen the United States well beyond the Middle East. One of Netanyahu’s aides called it a “reverse 9/11.” (Semafor)
- 🌊 Beach Battles In Ocean Grove, N.J. — known as “God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore” — Jewish and LGBTQ+ residents are fighting against the closure of a local beach on Sunday mornings, which they say is part of a “radical” Christian agenda of the church organization that owns the neighborhood. (Haaretz)
That’s all folks! And hey, as Sergeant Esterhaus from Hill Street admonishes the team every roll call – Let’s be careful out there!
Brad out.
Yes folks, the crazy cake-baking Brits are back at it, trying their best to demonstrate some competence in their baking abilities, and have put together a new season that is already getting praise from the critics. One such critic summarized the show thusly:
While some of the handshakes and soggy bottom shtick has been getting stale, season 14 has wisely injected the most lovable jolt of energy in the form of Alison Hammond, who replaces Matt Lucas to present alongside Noel Fielding. Hammond’s infectious cheeriness, which has melted everyone from Harrison Ford to Mariah Carey, is unparalleled.
Let’s hope they revisit last season’s babka challenge, as the last time they tried to master the fine art of babka, they clearly demonstrated they have never tasted real babka and, based on their commentary, apparently don’t have many Jewish friends. However, if you are in search of a great presentation of that gleaming pile of saturated fats braided with hazelnut, chocolate and cinnamon, I hear Bakey Babka in Boston is THE place to go for an excellent bake! Mmmmmmmm…..
Yom Kippur is now behind us. We enjoyed a sweet breaking of the fast at Dan and Ruth’s, who have now established a new family tradition: invasion for the leftovers. Ruth bakes a mean kugel, and created some kind of amazing apple noodle concoction that required an extra helping or two. Unfortunately for Israel, Yom Kippur was not as sweet, as the headlines were more about skirmishes in Tel Aviv between the orthodox and secular folks, the latter protesting the placement of physical barriers between the sexes in the public square, which was outlawed by Israel’s Supreme Court. However, on the good news front, Biden gifted Bibi with the formal approval of Visa waivers for Israelis. What the pro quo is for that quid remains to be seen, but rest assured, you will hear about it first on the JNR!
Now what about the rest of the news for Jews you may be asking? Where are those selective segments of savory semitic stories stolen shamelessly from the likes of The Forward, Haaretz, Kveller, Jewish Boston, and other fine Jewishy journals? Ask, and ye shall receive:
- Can the execution of a Jewish prisoner in Texas be stopped? Supporters are praying for a miracle Attorney Alan Dershowitz, known for his defense of controversial high-profile clients, has joined a last-ditch effort to stop the execution of a Jewish man on death row, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Oct. 10. Jedidiah Murphy, now 48, murdered 79-year-old Bertie Cunningham on Oct. 4, 2000. Dershowitz, a former Harvard law professor, argues that very few cases in Texas merit the death penalty, and are usually “reserved for the most heinous repeat offenders,” which, he says, Murphy is not. He also cites Murphy’s history of mental illness. Dershowitz hopes to plead his case directly to the Texas governor, and says that he spent part of Yom Kippur working on the case. “I went to shul, I fasted, but the saving of human life — pikuach nefesh — is more important than davening.”
- The head of the Ford Foundation condemned antisemitism — here’s why that’s a huge deal: Hitler was reportedly inspired by Henry Ford’s antisemitic writings. So it was heartening to see the social justice nonprofit named after Ford take a principled stand, writes The Forward columnist Aviya Kushner. She suggests the group “take a hard look at current grant funding” to look for ways to “fund research on antisemitism in America’s cultural spaces” and “support conferences for those who are studying it.” Read her essay ➤
- 🤦 The Dark Side of Roger Waters – The former Pink Floyd frontman known for using Nazi symbols on stage and for his anti-Israel views, sent his staff antisemitic emails and taunted a musician whose grandmother was murdered in the Holocaust, a new documentary claims. (USA Today, Ynet)
- One jalapeno cheddar with schmear | Inside Mexico City’s hand-rolled bagel boom – During the early days of the pandemic, a Scottish-American baker hatched an idea to make bagels for homesick foreigners and donate the proceeds to people who were out of work. Her bagel store is one of several shops that have opened in recent years as part of a bagel renaissance in Mexico City. Read the story ➤
- 🛑 One hundred Jewish leaders are calling on Apple and Google to remove X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, from their app stores — effectively making it impossible to use on the majority of cellphones. The group, which blames Elon Musk for enabling antisemitism on the site, is also calling on companies like Disney to stop advertising on X. (XOutHate)
- 🤝 Quid pro Quo? Israeli officials are working to convince U.S. leaders that a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia could strengthen the United States well beyond the Middle East. One of Netanyahu’s aides called it a “reverse 9/11.” (Semafor)
- 🌊 Beach Battles In Ocean Grove, N.J. — known as “God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore” — Jewish and LGBTQ+ residents are fighting against the closure of a local beach on Sunday mornings, which they say is part of a “radical” Christian agenda of the church organization that owns the neighborhood. (Haaretz)
That’s all folks! And hey, as Sergeant Esterhaus from Hill Street admonishes the team every roll call – Let’s be careful out there!
Brad out.
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