Good morning, New York. Today’s newsletter is a brisk 650 words.
#METOO RECKONING
The Conservative movement will investigate how its program officials have handled sexual abuse complaints, following decades-old allegations against a Long Island youth leader.
- The Times of Israel reported this week about allegations that Ed Ward, a former Nassau County divisional director for the movement’s United Synagogue Youth, allegedly fostered a hypersexualized environment for male teens at a summer camp and in other youth settings.
- The movement announced it would implement new safety measures and hire a third party to manage its reporting hotline, JTA reports. It will pay an independent consultant to investigate the allegations and the involvement of program officials or volunteers.
- The announcement comes several months after the movement’s Rabbinical Assembly launched an audit of its own process for handling ethical complaints, and a week after the Reform movement said it would also hire outside firms to handle current and historical complaints.
HAITI RELIEF
The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York is working with its partners in the local Haitian community to recommend organizations that are providing direct aid for survivors of this week’s deadly earthquakes there.
- The organizations include Ayiti Community Trust, CapraCare Haiti, IsraAid Emergency Response Fund, and the Joint Distribution Committee Haiti Earthquake Relief:
- The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty is also lending its expertise, resources and support to help Haitians impacted by the earthquake through its Haiti Emergency Relief Fund
REMEMBERING
Stanley Aronowitz, a sociology professor at the City University of New York who was hugely influential in the labor and civil rights movements, has died at 88, our colleague Ron Kampeas reports.
- Following a career as a labor organizer in the late 1950s and ’60s, when he organized union members to attend the March on Washington, the Bronx native moved into academia and wrote and co-wrote dozens of books on the labor movement, class, social movements and Jewish history. A frequent critic of Israel, he described himself as “a Jew who does not unreservedly follow the dictates of Israeli foreign policy, especially on the Palestinian question, and will criticize the Israeli and American governments’ policies.”
TODAY’S BIG IDEA
Elad Nehorai, a former member of Brooklyn’s Chabad Hasidic community, writes how an episode of “Schitt’s Creek” helped him cope with his decision to “leave a community that proved toxic to me.” Read his Alma essay here.
PEOPLE & PLACES
New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is scheduled to speak at the Hampton Synagogue on Sunday, days before she is expected to replace Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
- “The congregation is becoming a must-stop forum for New York pols,” reports Page Six. The Orthodox shul on eastern Long Island has recently hosted Brooklyn Borough president and Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) and Attorney General Letitia James.
Leaders of the Times of Israel, Jewish Journal, Atlanta Jewish Times and 70 Faces Media (The Jewish Week’s parent company) discussed Jewish journalism’s impact on the Jewish future with Mike Leven, co-founder of the Jewish Future Pledge. Watch the video of Monday’s webinar here.
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WHAT’S ON TODAY
Israel Therapy is for those who love the Jewish state — or “love to hate it, hate to love it, and wonder why it doesn’t always love them back.” Today’s discussion: Why does it seem like Israel expects us to keep sending money — yet have no say in how the country is run? Register here for this Streicker Center Temple Emanu-El NYC event. 11:30 a.m.
Join My Jewish Learning to learn about the history of the Jewish community of Rome, Italy – the oldest in Europe – from 161 BCE through today. Through pictures, maps, and videos, tour guide Sara Pavoncello will address the Ghetto, the Nazi occupation, as well as uniquely Jewish Roman traditions of food and language. Register here. Noon.
Photo, top: Brooklyn Borough president and Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams, left, visited the Hampton Synagogue for a breakfast forum led by Rabbi Marc Schneier, right, Aug. 15, 2021. (Hampton Synagogue)
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