The Met will start policing its collections for looted art. Holocaust restitution paved the way: The Metropolitan Museum of Art hired researchers to look into the provenance of objects in its collections. It’s a move that acknowledges controversy in recent years over the acquisitions processes that brings valuable artifacts from across the globe into collections in Europe and the U.S.; in the past few years, the Met has returned objects to Nepal, India and Egypt. Our Mira Fox writes that it all stems from decades of Jews fighting to reclaim art stolen from them by Nazis. Read the story ➤

The fate of a young Jewish children’s orchestra in Lithuania: There was an unusual concert broadcast in 1933 on a local radio station: A group of kids performing a version of a Haydn symphony with whistles, rattles and an instrument that may have been similar to a kazoo. A Yiddish newspaper’s coverage of the event offers a rare glimpse of a happy moment in prewar Jewish Europe. Read the story ➤

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Sarah Bernhardt in a 1913 production of Camille. (Getty)

Was Sarah Bernhardt the greatest Jewish actress of all time? She was born to a French-Jewish courtesan, self-identified as a Catholic, and nearly became a nun. Bernhardt’s Yiddishkeit was at once proud and conflicted, Benjamin Ivry writes on the centenary of her death. She played Shylock as an overdetermined villain and refused the role of Racine’s Esther for Ahasuerus. Yet, she was also a fierce defender of Alfred Dreyfus, subjecting her to antisemitism. She never denied being a “daughter of the great Jewish race.” Read the story ➤

For artists who bathe in its golden light, Israel continues to be an inspiration: Novelist Jon Papernick’s first book, a collection of short stories set in Jerusalem during the collapse of the Oslo Peace Accords, was published 20 years ago to minor acclaim. He returned again for his latest work, taking up residence just outside the Old City to, as he writes in a new essay, “coax my new characters into existence.” Read the essay ➤

Plus…

• A group of Republican House members have filed legislation that would punish colleges found to have promoted antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campus. The move comes after a graduating student harshly criticized Israel in a speech at the City University of New York’s law school last month.
  
  
• Many Jews believe the far left and far right are equally antisemitic. A new study finds otherwise.

Join us at JCRC-NY’s 58th annual CELEBRATE ISRAEL PARADE on Sunday, June 4, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 57th – 74th St. along NY’s Fifth Ave.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Former Adidas executive Eric Liedtke, left, and Kanye West, in 2016. (Getty)

?  Adidas resumed selling Kanye West-branded sneakers this week, with a portion of the profits going to the Anti-Defamation League and other advocacy groups. The German shoe brand is trying to get rid of the inventory left after it ended its partnership with West amid his antisemitic tirades last fall. (AP)

⚖️  Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, who led the New Light Congregation in the basement of the Tree of Life synagogue when it was attacked in 2018, testified Thursday about how he tried to rescue his congregants as they were being hunted during the massacre. (AP)

?  Roger Waters nixed his Nazi outfit and omitted a comparison of Anne Frank to slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh from his concert in the United Kingdom this week. Authorities in Berlin are investigating whether his inclusion of those elements in a recent show there constitute a violation of Germany’s laws against displays of Nazi symbols.  (Times of Israel)

??  Some Jewish groups are planning to disrupt Sunday’s Celebrate Israel Parade in New York over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and its plan to overhaul the judiciary. (Haaretz)

?️  The Illinois state legislature passed a bill requiring schools, prisons and hospitals to provide halal and kosher meals on request. (Guardian)

?  A Warsaw speech by a historian who is the son of a Holocaust survivor was abruptly canceled this week when a far-right Polish lawmaker with a history of making antisemitic comments stormed the podium, “smashing the microphone, knocking over loudspeakers, and yanking cables,” according to local news reports. The historian was quoted saying it felt like “Poland in the 1930s.” (JTA)

?  The Dominican Republic was a haven for Jews fleeing the Nazis. Now the descendant of one of those survivors is hoping a new museum in the Caribbean could tell that story. (JTA) 

??  Vice President Kamala Harris is slated to speak at the Israeli embassy in Washington next Tuesday at a celebration of Israel’s 75th anniversary. (Axios)

Shiva call ➤  Amitai Etzioni, an Israeli-American sociologist who advised U.S. presidents and other political leaders of the benefits of selflessness and the common good, died at 94.

Long weekend reads ➤ The complete ranking of every pop song to ever sample ‘Hava Nagila’ … Underage marriage, rape, excommunication and violence in a seemingly placid Hasidic community … Israelis flock to this tiny town in Peru for vacation — and psychedelic spirituality.

SHABBAT READING

In this weekend’s edition of our print magazine: Some Like It Hot is the most nominated Tony musical of the season. Our PJ Grisar spoke with the show’s creators about their inspirations, their initial fears in taking on the classic comedy and a very Jewish song that got cut in the process. Plus: A closer look at the Biden administration’s plan to combat antisemitism, a first-person essay by a man who bought a headstone for a Holocaust survivor he never knew, and Princeton’s chaplain on what Jewish life is really like on campus. Download your copy now ➤

ON THE CALENDAR

(Getty)

On this day in history (1953): Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of England. Over her seven-decade reign, Elizabeth had a curious relationship to Jews and Judaism; she declined to visit Israel and sometimes ignored crimes against Jews and antisemitism. On the occasion of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, Benjamin Ivry wrote that “chilly blankness was Queen Elizabeth’s unvarying attitude to the Jewish minority.”

Related: Long a friend of the Jews, King Charles is a mensch for all seasons

In honor of National Donut Day, check out my ode to Mr. Charles Entenmann.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

On the new episode of That Jewish News Show: Laura E. Adkins and I were joined by our colleague Mira Fox to chat about how religious groups – both Jewish and Christian – have embraced an old-fashioned medium to get their messages out: billboards. Plus, the bizarre news story of Peruvian police confiscating 58 bricks of cocaine covered in Nazi flags.

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Thanks to Nora Berman, Mira Fox, PJ Grisar, Tani Levitt, Jake Wasserman and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].