1.Join Me Tomorrow Night

If you know me even a little you would be surprised to see me in synagogue tomorrow or any other night. Enter The Beatles and all bets are off. I will be there and I will try not to sing out of key. A Jewish furniture salesman (Brian Epstein) walked into the Cavern Club more than 60 years ago and discovered the band that changed the world. It will be a great time to enjoy our culture and see how it blends into popular culture and for a couple of hours forget the other Jewish furniture salesman (Bibi Netanyahu) and the destruction of everything he touches. “When you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out [because] don’t you know it’s gonna be alright.”

2.Insulting Israel

Like many I watched the debate and like a few I was insulted to hear that an election in America can lead to the end of Israel. Have we no faith in Israel (even under Bibi)? Because it is a political hot potato, expecting solid answers would be silly. It is also silly to think that any American president will not at a very minimum supply Israel with all it needs to defend itself (not even Bernie Sanders is that crazy). Forward columnist Dan Perry watched too and he has some thoughts on why Trump and Harris presented vague answers on Israel.

"The public was offered formulaic boilerplate from Vice President Kamala Harris and blustering nonsense from former President Donald Trump, but also a pretty clear reflection of a choice that could hardly be more stark. Essentially, Harris will continue the Democratic Party’s tradition of balancing constituencies in its diverse coalition and nudging all combatants, in the Middle East and elsewhere, toward a negotiated peace. Trump will be pro-Israel, which in his world means supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."

Journalist Rob Eshman also weighs in with, "Debate makes it clear: Trump has zero good ideas about Gaza and Israel." "If you were looking for a serious discussion on America’s policy on a war that has exacted such a huge toll, you came to the wrong debate. What you got instead was a telling look at Trump’s fears heading into this final stretch of the campaign — about the support he needs to win an essential swing state, and the obstacles he faces in doing so. Which raises the question: Why didn’t Trump take the opportunity to score points with his pro-Israel supporters? 

"Why? One answer is Michigan.  

There are 105,000 Jews in Michigan, an absolutely crucial swing state, and two-thirds of the state’s Jewish electorate usually votes Democrat. The latest national poll of Jews shows 72% of them lean toward Harris, which means Jews are unlikely to swing Michigan to Trump. 

But the state, which President Joe Biden won in 2020 by 154,000 votes, also has 200,000 registered voters who are Muslim. They are largely unhappy with Biden’s support for Israel. Their vote may be in play. That explains Trump’s reluctance to hammer home his pro-Israel message — and one of the most bizarre statements of the night, Trump’s baseless claim that Harris 'hates the Arab population.' Trump didn’t need to worry about losing American Jews. He needed to win over American Muslims and Arabs."

3.Before I'll Have What She's Having

"In his new book, Jewish lawyer-turned-author Dan Slater details the immense scale of crime in the neighborhood at the turn of the last century, where famed Jewish gangsters like Meyer Lansky, Lefty Rosenberg and Dopey Benny got their start. But he doesn’t stop there.

"In The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld, Slater spotlights a group of wealthy Jewish reformers uptown who waged war on the Lower East Side’s pimps and gangsters. From the late 1800s to the 1920s, Jewish residents of Manhattan inhabited two vastly different worlds. The affluent, assimilated German Jews mostly lived on the Upper East Side, where many lived in luxurious mansions and summered in massive country estates. Meanwhile, their more recently arrived brethren from the Pale of Settlement lived below 14th Street on what was referred to back then as simply 'the East Side.' The immigrants struggled to make a living in crowded, impoverished conditions that inevitably bred disease, vice and crime."

Learn more here: "How 'uptown' Jews fought to clean up the criminal underworld of the Lower East Side"

4.Stamp in Advance

If you look at our Federation mailing envelope next month you may smile - and not just because we all love to make a contribution - but because we'll be using this stamp. (The Hanukkah stamp is the only Jewish stamp created by the USPS.)

"This year's USPS Hanukkah stamp is a simple menorah with a warm backstory. The postal service has issued Hanukkah stamps since 1996, more than three decades after it first started issuing Christmas stamps. Previous versions have drawn on traditional Jewish art forms — the 2022 stamp drew on a synagogue stained-glass look — included dreidel imagery and depicted a range of menorahs, real and illustrated.

"Antonio Alcalá’s stamp also showcases a menorah. But unlike the others that Americans have used to mail Hanukkah cards, his doesn’t feature any candles.

"That’s by design. 'The flames are shown, but the candles themselves are not present,' Alcalá said. 'They’re implied. And to me, that sort of alludes to this sort of aspect of faith that’s both tied to this and also to the larger sort of religious experience.' ”

5.Tickets, Please

Plot: A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student.

Looking for something to do on a a fine fall day? A movie is never a bad idea. Read Moment's "Jewish Film Review: Between the Temples" and watch the trailer below to decide if this one's for you. You can watch in local theaters (Plymouth, Providence, Brookline and more) or stream on AppleTV. Google for show times.

Meanwhile, "an Israeli court this week rejected a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to block a documentary about his legal troubles from screening at a Canadian film festival.

"The film, The Bibi Files, a reference to the prime minister’s nickname, contains video clips documenting Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and his son Yair, during police interrogations between 2016 and 2018 that sought to examine whether Netanyahu was involved in the corruption offenses attributed to him.

"The prime minister is on trial for allegedly granting favors to media moguls in exchange for gifts and favorable media coverage. He denies wrongdoing and has called the trial, which began in 2020, a witch hunt."

6.Three Weeks From Now

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Funny thing about adages - they're almost always true. With that in mind, I share below three appetizer recipes from Food52's "46 Celebratory Recipes to Make for Rosh Hashanah This Year." I think you'll find that all - Appetizers, Meat & Fish, Vegetables & Salads, Soups, Potatoes, Noodles & Breads, Desserts! - offer a fresh take on time-honored dishes. Check it out and let me know if you were persuaded to try something new.

7.General Assembly

If anyone is interested in attending JFNA's General Assembly 2024, November 10-12, in Washington D.C. our Federation is offering stipends toward the expense. On the first day a gathering of more than 20,000 Jews at the Washington Nationals stadium will open the three-day event that will have post-October 7th raging antisemitism panels and conversations that are not to be missed

For Your Calendar

Bristol Community College Holocaust & Genocide Center

Schedule of Events, Fall 2024:

Thursday, September 26 12:00 PM

Location TBA

Rachel Koppelman presents "The Holocaust in France: The Story of Rachel's Grandmother, Sylvia Saunders"

Thursday, October 31 12:00 PM

Location TBA

Dr Alex Kor presents "My Holocaust Legacy: A Blessing, Not a Burden" based on the book of the same name. It's the story of Dr. Kor's parents', Eva and Micky Kor, survival of Auschwitz and their lives moving forward, including their influence on their son.

Tuesday, November 5 12:00

UMass Dartmouth Library

Faris Cassell presents "Inseparable: The Hess Twins' Holocaust Journey Through Bergen Belsen to America." Based on the award-winning book about the incredible survival of the last-living twin Holocaust survivors. (In collaboration with the Judaic Studies and History Department, UMD.)

Tuesday, December 10 12:00

Location TBA

"Israel/Palestine: A Fishbowl Workshop" led by Leonard Mirra of Braver Angels, a nationwide group whose purpose is to bring together people on all sides of controversial issues to "work towards creating points of agreement (POAs) that can be shared by all participants."