Good morning, New York. Here’s all you need to know to start your Jewish day — in fewer than 1,000 words.
LACTOSE INTOLERANCE?
Mayor Bill de Blasio joined critics of Ben & Jerry’s, saying Tuesday that he “will not be eating any more Cherry Garcia for a while.”
- De Blasio’s remarks came a day after Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, set off a chip-storm by saying it would not sell its ice cream in “occupied Palestinian territory.”
- Quotable: “That’s sad to me,” de Blasio said in response to a question about the fracas. “BDS is a movement that will undermine peace in the Mideast. It’s as simple as that. You cannot have peace if you undermine the economic reality and create divisions. I just believe that’s absolutely the wrong approach and Ben and Jerry shouldn’t be doing that.”
- Related: The ice cream cone-troversy (we promise, that’s the last one) could have legal repercussions in the United States, where 33 states have laws punishing businesses that observe a boycott of Israel, our partners at JTA report.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Ulster County officials are monitoring campers for COVID-19 at a Hasidic summer camp following the death last week of a 13-year-old Brooklyn girl.
- The county health commissioner says they don’t know the cause of the camper’s death, but are not yet ruling out the coronavirus, The Daily Freeman reports. Camp officials have told the county that campers and staff had all tested negative for COVID-19 earlier in July, and no other campers are showing signs of illness.
- The Rav Tov camp in Ulster Heights is affiliated with a branch of the Satmar movement. The girl, who has not been identified, died at her home in Brooklyn on July 14, one day after leaving the camp due to illness.
Three Brooklyn men were charged with a hate crime for harassing Jews outside a synagogue in Borough Park on May 22.
- The charges against Daniel Shaukat, 20, of Bensonhurst; Haider Anjam, 21, of Midwood; and Ashan Azad, 19, of Midwood include third-degree assault as a hate crime, criminal mischief, criminal obstruction of breathing and related charges, according to the Brooklyn D.A.’s office. The defendants face a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison.
- The three were alleged to have shouted “Free Palestine, kill all the Jews” while chasing children and adults into the synagogue. About 15 minutes later, they allegedly accosted two Jewish men on Ocean Parkway, demanding they say, “Free Palestine,” before punching the victims and putting one in a chokehold.
Advice for politicians courting the Hasidic vote: “Do not use Google Translate for Yiddish.”
- That’s according to Benny Polatseck, one of three seasoned Orthodox political operatives profiled in Mishpacha Magazine. The three have served as campaign liaisons between politicians and the haredi community.
- “You need somebody who can sell your message in a language that the community understands and wants to hear,” agreed Yoel Lefkowitz. He worked for former state comptroller Alan Hevesi and Antonio Reynoso, the Democratic nominee for Brooklyn borough president.
TODAY’S BIG IDEA
The Netflix reality series “My Unorthodox Life” promotes harmful stereotypes of those who leave their religious families, writes the formerly Orthodox CUNY prof Dainy Bernstein. “Most ex-Orthodox people struggle to find their feet in an unfamiliar world and might fail if not for a network of support, both financial and emotional,” Bernstein writes.
REMEMBERING
Harry Rosenfeld, a Washington Post editor who helped Woodward and Bernstein expose the Watergate scandal, has died at 91 from COVID-19 complications. A refugee from Nazi Germany whose family settled in the Bronx, Rosenfeld was The Post’s assistant managing editor for metropolitan news in 1972 when the reporters closed in on the scandal that would eventually bring down President Richard Nixon. Rosenfeld left The Post in 1978 to become editor of the Albany Times Union, where he worked until he retired in 1996 and to which he contributed until his death.
PEOPLE AND PLACES
Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle has launched an initiative to use music as a foundation for ritual and secular communal life.
- The Shoresh Halev Center for Jewish Music will support emerging Jewish artists and provide opportunities for established artists and composers of new Jewish music to serve as scholars and artists in residence. The Conservative synagogue will also serve as a venue for concerts, symposia, workshops and conferences, and foster events with other religious communities in the region.
- The center will be led by Jack Klebanow, music director at Beth El since 2017.
An unspecified grant from Deutsche Bank will allow the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island to extend its health and social services to the “near-poor” elderly. The grant comes from Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation as trustee for The John H. & Ethel G. Noble Charitable Trust.
NEWS QUIZ
OK, we lied. More ice cream puns on the way.
The Israeli division of Ben & Jerry’s has introduced a number of unique ice cream products in the country in recent years. Which of the following are actual flavors created by the company?
- “Matzah Crunch,” vanilla-flavored ice cream containing chips of chocolate-covered matzah.
- “One Sweet Vote,” an election-themed concoction filled with peace symbol-shaped chocolates, marking Israel’s third election in less than a year.
- “Judea and Samaraschino Cherry,” sold only in West Bank settlements.
- “Haroset,” a kosher-for-Passover ice cream flavored with apples, honey and walnuts.
- “Milk and Honey, I’m Home!” — a honey-flavored ice cream marking Israel’s 70th Independence Day.
- “Loaves and Fishes Food,” a version of its “Phish Food” flavor for the Evangelical market.
Answers below.
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Svivah’s HerTorah series continues with Rabbanit Devorah Zlochower, rosh kollel of Yeshivat Maharat, and Pamela Schuller, internationally known disability and mental health advocate, speaking from personal experience about re-working community values when thinking about “inclusion.” RSVP for Zoom link here. 8:00 pm.
NEWS QUIZ ANSWERS
The actual flavors are 1., 2., and 4.
Photo, top: Mayor Bill de Blasio samples ice cream (not Ben & Jerry’s) at Steve’s Craft Ice Cream in Brooklyn on March 20, 2014. (Rob Bennett for the Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio)
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