This article is part of our morning briefing. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox each weekday. Before Google and Wikipedia, this DIY almanac shaped a Jewish generation
In 1973, a group of idealistic 20-somethings published The Jewish Catalog, a sprawling tome arguing that Jews should take religious practice out of the synagogue and into their own hands — literally. The Catalog taught a generation to build sukkahs, tie tzitzit, braid challah, forage menorahs and carve shofars. For its 50th anniversary, our culture reporter Irene Katz Connelly explored the book’s enduring legacy.
By the numbers: The Jewish Catalog sold out a first printing of 15,000 copies in just under a week. It went on to sell half a million copies. Besides the Tanakh, the Jewish Publication Society said The Jewish Catalog is its all-time bestselling book. |
A chapter on Shabbat demonstrated how to braid challah dough. (Courtesy) |
Celeb authors: Many of the book’s contributors went on to become major movers and shakers in the Jewish world. Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, a founder of the Jewish Renewal movement, wrote a chapter about Shabbat. Rabbi Arthur Waskow, a civil rights and environmental activist, contributed a (very theoretical!) essay titled “How to Bring Mashiah.” The author of a briskly pragmatic guide to traveling in the Soviet Union is none other than Amb. Deborah Lipstadt, the antisemitism czar. (Then going by “Debby.”) ‘A Bible to me’: For people isolated from mainstream Jewish institutions, The Jewish Catalog was a lifeline. Because of her husband’s job, Carol Oko spent the 1970s moving among rural towns with few Jewish families. Lacking a synagogue or any in-person guidance, she learned to keep kosher and celebrate holidays at home from the Catalog, which she thought of as her Bible. |
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and President Joe Biden on Tuesday in the Oval Office. (Getty) |
Why such a fuss over a few members skipping Israeli president’s speech to Congress? President Isaac Herzog, writes our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, is not a polarizing figure like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “He is widely seen as a peacemaker and the presidency in Israel is a largely ceremonial role,” Jacob notes. So a “boycott of his speech, as opposed to Netanyahu’s, may seem more like a boycott of Israel itself.” Read the story ➤ Related… Why Fran Drescher is the union queen we all needed: Hollywood’s actors and writers are both on strike for the first time since 1960, when a then-socialist Ronald Reagan led the actors’ union. Now, the actors are led by Fran Drescher, best known for her 90s sitcom The Nanny, where she played the nearly-autobiographical Fran Fine, a loud, Queens-accented, very Jewish, very stylish woman. This, writes culture reporter Mira Fox, could be a game changer for the labor movement. Drescher has already brought her trademark sass to the picket line, comparing CEOs across industries to “land barons of a medieval time.” Read the story ➤ Related: The Screen Actors Guild is issuing strike waivers to independent productions unaffiliated with a major studio or streamer. One of the first to be allowed to continue filming is a popular, crowd-funded TV series about Jesus. |
The Borscht Belt is Back! Join us for the day-long festival taking place in downtown Ellenville and featuring stand-up comedy, art, live music, film, educational programming – and of course food. Visit https://www.borschtbeltfest.org/ to purchase tickets to the ticketed events and get more info about the event. |
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Rabbi Aryeh Dodelson, right, led a shul in Lakewood. He’s also known as Kyle Deschanel, a bachelor in Manhattan. |
?️ A recently divorced Orthodox rabbi from Lakewood, N.J., has reportedly been leading a double life – hosting posh Manhattan parties and dating several women, claiming he is a wealthy businessman who works for the Saudi government. (Daily Beast) ? After protesting outside an LGBTQ+ festival in Toledo, Ohio, a group of 18 neo-Nazis picketed Saturday night outside the headquarters of the local Jewish Federation, two synagogues and a Jewish community center. (JTA) ? Rebecca Weiner, the new NYPD anti-terror chief, said her work is inspired by her grandfather, a mathematician from Poland who escaped the Holocaust and worked on the Manhattan Project. (NY Daily News) ? Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel Entertainment at Disney, is planning to make a major donation to back the reelection bid of former President Donald Trump. Perlmutter gave $10.5 million toward a pro-Trump super PAC during the 2020 campaign. (CNBC) ?? Australia has the largest proportion of Holocaust survivors of any country besides Israel. Which may help explain why it is home to the world’s only secular elementary school that requires Yiddish lessons. (New York Times) ? Archaeologists believe a large cave near Beit Shemesh, a commuter town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, may have once been a gateway to the underworld and used for ritual magic some 1,700 years ago. (Harvard Theological Review) ? Russ & Daughters, the iconic Jewish appetizing store on the Lower East Side, opened a new 4,400-square-foot location Tuesday in Midtown Manhattan. (Grub Street)
Shiva call ➤ Aharon Ariel, a longtime journalist who fought in Israel’s War of Independence, covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann, and served as editor of the Encyclopedia Hebraica, died at 97. |
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko surveys a damaged building last month after it was hit by a Russian missile. (Getty) |
On this day in history (1971): Vitali Klitschko, the current mayor of Kyiv, was born. Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing champion, has spoken openly about his Jewish heritage since taking office in 2014; in his first year as mayor, he visited Israel and toured Yad Vashem. “I am proud to have Jewish blood,” he told the Jerusalem Post.
In honor of National Hot Dog Day, we’re remembering the 2012 lawsuit brought by consumers claiming Hebrew National hot dogs were not kosher, as advertised. (The suit was finally dismised in 2021.) |
Our Jacob Kornbluh, right, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s Ron Kampeas, both filed stories about President Herzog’s visit to the U.S. (here and here). The two veteran political correspondents can often be sighted palling around Washington or conferences. In this video from the White House briefing room on Tuesday, they imagined partnering on a podcast, but could not agree if it should be called “Kampeas & Kornbluh” or “Kornbluh & Kampeas.” Cast your vote! — Thanks to Irene Katz Connelly, Mira Fox, Jacob Kornbluh, Gall Sigler and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected]. |
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