1.Save the Date

With Passover (second half) this evening, the Bulletin schedule dates have been different this and last week. Next week we will go back to the regular schedule. On Monday, we gather at the Holocaust Memorial at Buttonwood Park for our Yom HaShoah commemoration. 

Yom HaShoah Commemoration at the New Bedford Holocaust Memorial

Monday, April 13, 5:00 PM

2.Giant Step Back for Mankind

For part of my childhood, I had a poster of the moon landing on my wall. In those days the space program was all the rockets I knew. In 1982 I became more intimate with the other kind: the one-ton short range that takes out a building, the RPG (rocket lite) that missed my Jeep, and the Russian Malyutka (we called it Sagger) that actually hit my tank and did not explode - phew.

For decades, missiles on civilian targets have become the norm - mostly in the very north and parts of the south of Israel, but for some time now everywhere. Taking shelter in a safe room, under a bridge on the highway or in a parking lot is a daily event (several times daily) for millions. My nephew is on leave from basic training today. He arrived yesterday and in the 19 hours since, he has taken shelter four times. Ironically, he is scheduled to join an artillery unit after his basic training later this year.

Last week, as many were getting ready for Passover, I was on a flight that left Palm Beach shortly before the Artemis launch. I had no idea it was launching at that time and passing Cape Canaveral moments after at 30,000 feet. I was reminded of the time when rockets were exciting and fun. Yes, Houston, we have a problem. A big one.

Chag Sameach.

3.Abu Ali

In the Hebrew vernacular someone who makes threats (often without backing them up) is Abu Ali. While the war has certainly been successfull from a military stand point, it has been very hard to see a plan. Was there ever a plan?

"US President Donald Trump on Monday expanded his threatened escalated strikes against Iran to include all of the country’s power plants and bridges, as his ultimatum to make a deal ticked closer after Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war."

Yes, within hours of reading this we could easily see a major escalation, but an extension or a total retreat is also possible. Heroic rescue and precision strikes aside, Israel is virtually closed for business and it doesn't look like Iran is any closer to a regime change or surrender. Remember they fought Iraq for eight years and no one is sure why? And don't start me on Hamas - remember them? They are alive and well in Gaza and in complete control of nearly half of it. After two and a half years. And so we wait, since, “'The entire country can be taken out in one night" and the Abu Ali deadline is 8:00 p.m. Tonight.

And I almost forget Hezbollah . . . "Israeli strikes rained down on Beirut and across southern Lebanon on Monday, as the Israel Defense Forces announced it had launched a new wave of attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in the Lebanese capital" Read, "Israel launches fresh strikes in Beirut as Hezbollah faces homegrown anger over new war."

4.When Caesar Was King

"In the middle of the 20th century, Sid Caesar, a Jewish comedian, introduced a new kind of comedy to the then-infant TV industry and an audience of enthusiastic critics and weekly viewers. He replaced traditional vaudeville acts, which featured one-liners, pratfalls and slapstick, with longer situation- and character-based routines, satires and parodies of foreign films and American fads. He brought a cultural context to the world of comedy and severed it from the socially irrelevant humor of the vaudeville stage. His famed 'double-talk' (mimicking the sound of half a dozen foreign languages) reflected the country’s new role in international affairs.

"Caesar’s wild facial expressions and powerful physicality dominated the small screen for only a few years. But his influence, buoyed by an amazing group of writers—many of them Canadian and virtually all of them Jewish—lives on today in contemporary sitcoms and in the work of comics like Eddie Murphy, Judd Apatow, Woody Allen and perhaps most notably in the films and crazy imaginings of Mel Brooks.

"For author David Margolick, as for other Jewish commentators, Caesar’s success mirrored the increased acceptance of Jews in American culture." For more, read the Moment Magazine article: "Book Review: A Hard-Drinking, Fast-Talking TV Giant."

5.'Cause He Likes the Name

Last year when Danny Wolf, a 7 ft. Jew, left for the NBA one had to wonder about what comes next for the program. Harrison Hochberg kept the Jewish flame going (from the bench) and along came a title.



For me, as someone who has never watched a men's college basketball game and picks Gonzaga to win every year because I like the name (I picked them to beat UConn who made the finals), it is mostly nice to have news from Michigan that doesn't include Nazi graffiti or a synagogue shooting.

6.How the Other Half Passes Over

"How did famous Jews celebrate Passover in 2026? With matzah pizza, matzah brei, delightful dress up and even in their Saturday Night Live promos! Here are just some of our favorite Jewish celebs who paid tribute to Passover on their social media feeds this year: 'How Jewish Celebrities Celebrated Passover 2026'."

To find out who served wine to their furry friend, you'll have to open the link. To see some recipes from one of the celebrities featured, Molly Yeh, see below.

For Your Calendar

Yom HaShoah Commemoration at the New Bedford Holocaust Memorial

Monday, April 13, 5:15 PM