Good morning, New York. If you or someone you know is looking for a virtual Yom Kippur experience, our colleagues at JTA have collected a non-exhaustive list of offerings arranged by the kind of experience you might be seeking.
NO VAX, NO SERVICE?: Days before NYC’s new vaccine mandates went into effect Monday, some kosher restaurants in New York City were still debating the consequences of complying — or not. (JTA)
- A kosher pizzeria owner in Brooklyn said he’ll “100%” lose customers if his restaurant starts asking for proof of vaccination.
FRONT AND CENTER: Rabbi Joanna Samuels was named as the next chief executive officer of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan.
- Samuels is the founding executive director of downtown’s Manny Cantor Center, a Jewish community center and settlement house, and former rabbi of Congregation Habonim in Manhattan.
- She succeeds Rabbi Joy Levitt, who is retiring at the end of December after nearly 25 years leading the Upper West Side arts, culture and fitness institution.
- Read the announcement from board chair Jeff Feig here.
BEYOND THE BOROUGHS
NABBED: Police in upstate Sullivan County say they made an arrest after someone fired paintballs from a moving car at a Woodbourne synagogue on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. (midhudsonnews.com)
AROUND THE WORLD, WITH JTA
- The sponsor of a bill that would have made Burlington, Vermont, the first city in America to divest from Israel is withdrawing his legislation, citing concerns that it would promote antisemitism.
- A suburban Minneapolis synagogue closed after receiving “a specific threat of violence” — about one day after 32 headstones were knocked down at a nearby Jewish cemetery.
- A rabbi in Surfside, Florida, the site of the deadly collapse of a condo tower in June, struggled to come up with High Holiday sermons that would help congregants wrest meaning from the disaster.
REMEMBERING
Art Metrano, a comedian and actor whose career rebounded after he was seriously injured in a fall from a ladder in 1989, died on Sept. 8 at his home in Florida. He was 84. Raised in Bensonhurst in a Sephardic Jewish family, Metrano appeared on “The Tonight Show” and starred in two “Police Academy” films. A son, Rabbi Howard Bald, performed the memorial service over the weekend. (New York Times)
Baruch Nachshon, an Israeli artist known for surreal, mystical works influenced by Hasidism, died Monday. He was 82. Nachshon’s career was kickstarted by the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who paid for a two-year scholarship for Nachshon to learn at NYC’s School of Visual Arts. (c0llive)
TODAY’S BIG IDEA
In her new book, “People Love Dead Jews,” Dara Horn explodes a recurring myth that Jewish names were changed at Ellis Island. In a Jewish Week essay, editor in chief Andrew Silow-Carroll recalls his own family’s name change, and what it says about Jewish survival and adaptability.
WHAT’S ON TODAY
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To mark the closing of Dana Arieli’s virtual exhibition, “The Zionist Phantom,” organized by Brandeis University’s Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Adriana Katzew will present her photographic work inspired and driven by the history of her own Mexican-Jewish family. Arieli will then join the discussion to address some of the similarities and differences between their works. Register here. Noon.
Join the Museum of Jewish Heritage for a program exploring psychotherapist Rene David Alkalay’s story of survival in Ustaša-run concentration camps in Croatia. Register here. 2:00 p.m.
Eleanor Bergstein was a teenage mambo queen whose family summers at Grossinger’s inspired her screenplay for “Dirty Dancing,” the 1987 film set in a Catskills resort in the summer of 1963. Bergstein will share stories from her life and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the creation of the film and stage musical. Center for Jewish History; register here. 6:00 p.m.
Photo, top: UN ambassadors Gilad Erdan of Israel, Lana Nusseibah of the UAE, Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the United States, Omar Hilale of Morocco and Jamal Al Rowaiei of Bahrain mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords at an event hosted by the Israeli Mission to the UN at Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, Sept. 13, 2021. (@AustraliaUN)
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