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What you need to know today
Antisemitism in the arts: The Anti-Defamation League formally kicks off its “State of the Arts” initiative tonight at the Jewish Museum, with CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and special guests including Selma Blair and Alyssa Rosenheck on hand. A trio of new reports from the antisemitism watchdog examine what the ADL calls “systemic exclusion of Jewish and Israeli artists” in publishing, performance spaces and museums (including MoMA, the Guggenheim and the Whitney).
Anti-Zionism at the library: Speaking of controversies in publishing, the New York Public Library is taking some flak from Jewish leaders for hosting leftist Jewish author Benjamin Moser last week at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in Midtown. Per Jewish Insider, Comptroller Mark Levine and the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council are both slamming the library for the event featuring the author of “Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History.” At the event, Moser reportedly accused “almost all of the main Jewish institutions” of “supporting this genocide,” referring to Israel’s war in Gaza, and singled out Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Central Synagogue.
Farewell, ‘White Flame’: Today, Temple Beth El in Great Neck is holding a ceremony to send off “The White Flame of the Six Million,” a 55-foot-long bimah sculpture that has adorned the congregation since 1970. Crafted by celebrated artist Louise Nevelson and named to evoke the memory of the Holocaust, the sculpture is seeking a new home following the sale of the Beth El building to an Orthodox day school.
Columbia professor is Wolf Prize laureate: Geneticist Charles Zuker is one of the lauded recipients of the award known as Israel’s answer to the Nobel and bestowed by Israel’s president. Zuker received this year’s Wolf Prize for Medicine for his research into the cells that determine our perception of taste.
Cinema in the Catskills: The lineup for the third annual Borscht Belt Film Fest, celebrating the legacy of Jewish schtick, was announced today. Films will include “Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man!,” Judd Apatow’s recent documentary on the comedy legend (who has since turned 100), as well as Ben Stiller’s acclaimed ode to his parents, “Stiller and Meara: Nothing is Lost.” The festival will take place Nov. 6-8 at Shadowland Stages in Ellenville.
Repair the World expands: The Jewish social services project today announced staff expansions into three new communities, including Bergen County. The organization is partnering with Kaplan JCC on the Palisades, in Teaneck, to house staff there. Repair the World’s two other new homes will be in Orange County, California, and Houston.
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