Good morning, New York. Today’s newsletter is a brisk 400 words.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
President Biden will nominate Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Manhattan’s Congregation Beit Simchat Torah to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
- Kleinbaum has led the LGBTQ synagogue since 1992.
- The commission is an independent body that tracks religious freedoms overseas.
- Quotable: “Under her leadership as senior rabbi, CBST has become a powerful voice in the movement for equality and justice for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions,” reads a White House statement that announced her pending nomination.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Bay Ridge Saturday to “globalize the intifada.”
- The anti-Israel demonstration was sponsored by the group Within Our Lifetime.
- Reactions: “Their messages couldn’t be any clearer. Unleash violence against the Jews and eradicate the Jewish state. And all of this in the middle of New York!” — Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, general manager of the American Jewish Committee Europe
- “After a surge of violent #antisemitism perpetrated by extremists using the Gaza conflict as cover for their hate, this rally shows why Jewish people feel unsafe in our communities.” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO, Anti-Defamation League
FOOD STUFF
Sherry Herring, a Tel Aviv shop known for its herring sandwiches, is opening a New York branch at 245 West 72nd Street, the West Side Rag reports.
- The shop, featured on the Netflix show “Somebody Feed Phil,” is a fixture at Shuk HaNamal, a farmer’s market at the Tel Aviv port.
PEOPLE & PLACES
Rabbi Gideon Black is the new chief executive officer of the New York region of NCSY, the Orthodox Union’s youth group. Black previously worked as a campus rabbi at New York University and as director of professional recruitment and leadership development for OU-JLIC, the OU’s support group for secular college campuses. He succeeds Rina Emerson following her appointment as NCSY’s national chief operating officer.
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Dr. Stefanie Siegmund looks at the flow of information within government agencies in the wake of the Black Death in 16th-century Tuscany to see how these instruments led directly to the forms of identification we use today and more. Register here for this virtual Jewish Theological Seminary event. 2:00 pm.
Join UJA-Federation of New York and The Jewish Week Wednesday for a conversation with Robert Abrams, the former attorney general of New York and author of “The Luckiest Guy in the World.” He and moderator Sandee Brawarsky will discuss his journey in politics, his career and his life of public service. Aug. 4, 7:00 pm. Register here.
Photo, top: Artem Dolgopyat of Team Israel celebrates winning gold in the men’s floor exercise final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Aug. 1, 2021. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
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