A rallygoer winds up for a swing at a candy-filled Donald Trump piñata at Cal State Los Angeles on March 25. Protesters were voicing their concerns about ICE on campus, preserving trans rights, Palestinian rights, and having Cal State divest from funds harmful to the Palestinians. Photo by Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

By Benyamin Cohen March 27, 2025

– 1 – POLITICS

Campus antisemitism in spotlight at Senate hearing today

Jewish officials from a range of backgrounds are set to testify before the Senate this morning on the rise of antisemitism on college campuses. Among them: Rabbi David Saperstein, a prominent voice in the Reform movement and former U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom.

► He plans to criticize the Trump administration’s planned deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia protest leader, according to an advance copy of his testimony obtained by the Forward.

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► “The administration is rounding up people with no evidence of crimes or even of violating the standard of damage to foreign policy and national security they have cited,” Saperstein wrote in the 16-page document. “Antisemitism — the hatred of Jews as Jews — thrives in authoritarian environments where civil liberties are curtailed, not in spaces of robust, protected democratic discourse.”

► My colleague Arno Rosenfeld has the details.

Also set to testify is Chabad’s Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who I spoke with on Wednesday. “Speech that has been proven to turn to violence has to get a second look and more scrutiny,” said Shemtov, who oversees Chabad’s work on D.C. campuses, where he serves more than 10,000 Jewish students.

He added: “The Talmud teaches: Who is wise? The one who sees the outcome. We’ve seen too often that these types of words turn into action, and I think we better be careful about abusing protection of the First Amendment before people start abusing the Second Amendment.”

At Tufts…

► A Tufts University international graduate student was taken into federal custody on Tuesday by Homeland Security agents, who said she had engaged in activities supporting Hamas — grounds, they claimed, for terminating her visa. See video of the arrest. This is the eighth such campus arrest; you can catch up on them all with our tracker. (JTA)

► The student, Rumeysa Ozturk from Turkey, co-wrote an op-ed in the student newspaper last year calling on the school to divest from Israel and “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.” Critics say the arrest is an assault on free speech. (Times of Israel)

► Flashback: In 1992, a young Jonathan Greenblatt, the future head of the Anti-Defamation League, was the opinions editor at another Tufts student newspaper. (Forward)

Elsewhere on campuses…

► The Trump administration is considering a plan to block foreign students from certain colleges it deems too “pro-Hamas,” based on a program led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that has already revoked visas from more than 300 students in recent weeks. (Axios)

► The Trump administration is pressuring colleges to name student protesters and their nationalities, aiming to deport non-citizens involved in “pro-jihadist” demonstrations or alleged harassment of Jewish students. (Washington Post)

► The House is set to vote Thursday on two amendments from Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, aimed at scrutinizing universities’ ties to Israel in a bill on foreign funding transparency. (Jewish Insider)

Elsewhere in politics…

► A federal judge partially blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to halt refugee funding, handing a legal win to several aid groups — including the Jewish nonprofit HIAS. (JTA)

► A Republican Jewish Coalition board member is calling for the dismissal of Steve Witkoff after the Trump Middle East envoy praised Putin and admitted being “duped” by Hamas in failed hostage talks. (Jewish Insider)

Jeffrey Goldberg…

Opinion | Jeffrey Goldberg of  The Atlantic exposed a dangerous security lapse at the highest levels of government, but instead of being lauded, he’s been the recipient of a “tsunami of attacks, denials, lies and antisemitism,” writes our senior columnist Rob Eshman. “The attacks brought together left-wing anti-Zionists, Islamists and right-wing bigots, as only Jew-hatred can.” Read his essay ►

Plus: Before he was given access to insider information about the U.S. cabinet’s secret attack plans, Goldberg spent some of his early career at the Forward, where he wrote about the declining health of the Lubavitcher rebbe, the Reform movement’s embrace of same-sex marriage and his own shifting views on Zionism, among other topics. Go deeper ►

– 2 – THROWBACK THURSDAY

Becoming Berl

Transgender stories may feel like a modern phenomenon, but we’ve been covering them for nearly a century. In November 1936, the Forverts published a letter from a reader in Brooklyn about someone transitioning from female to male in their old shtetl. The headline, translated from Yiddish: At 23 this girl became a boy.

Our archivist, Chana Pollack, dug up the letter for readers of this newsletter. “Everyone knew Beyle — the herring seller, who had a side gig dealing in geese and various food products,” wrote Yeshaya Katovsky. “She was a tall red-headed girl, well built, with a deep voice and a confident stride. People felt weird around her, as though they were neither male nor female.”

Beyle’s father consulted rabbis, and the letter describes how one day, Beyle left for Odessa. “She was recommended to see a noted professor and under his supervision, Beyle became a man,” Katovsky continued. “News spread through all the newspapers in Russia. Back home in the shtetl, we awaited our guest impatiently. And when Beyle was supposed to arrive, practically half the shtetl waited on the bridge to greet them and take a look. And they were no longer Beyle, but Berl.”

Related: How the Forward covered LGBTQ+ stories throughout the decades

– 3 – ISRAEL AT WAR

Opinion | Rare protests broke out this week, with Palestinians in Gaza rising up against Hamas, suggesting a change in the status quo. The war has caused death, destruction and widespread hunger — creating “conditions beyond imagination,” writes our Israel columnist Dan Perry. “The protests — limited, scattered, but very real — may represent the emergence of a political agency that comes from desperation.” Read his essay ►

Plus…

► The Knesset passed a controversial bill giving politicians more control over how judges are appointed in Israel, as thousands protested outside. (Times of Israel)

► The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “refused” to publicly support Oscar-winner Hamdan Ballal after he was beaten in a West Bank village by Israeli settlers and then IDF soldiers while in custody, his co-director alleges. (Hollywood Reporter)

► A first group of 100 Gazans is scheduled to fly to Indonesia for work, part of a pilot program aimed at encouraging voluntary Palestinian migration from Gaza. (Times of Israel)

► A bipartisan group of U.S. House members urged the Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which advocates for those kidnapped on Oct 7. (Jewish Insider)

– 4 – WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

📉  Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults who were raised Jewish have left the religion, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. The survey also found that 14% of Jewish adults in the U.S. are converts to Judaism. (JTA)

👮  Disney hired extra security for Gal Gadot, a former IDF soldier who has been outspoken about the war in Gaza, when the Snow White actress received death threats after her co-star, Rachel Zegler, made pro-Palestinian comments. (JTA, Variety)

🕍  A new exhibit at the University of Pittsburgh opens today, giving visitors a sneak peek of what the reimagined site of the Tree of Life synagogue will look like as designed by star architect Daniel Libeskind. (Religion News Service)

📖  The Afghan Liturgical Quire, believed to be the oldest Jewish book in the world and dating to around the year 700 CE, is now on display in New York City. (New York Jewish Week)

Shiva call ► Rabbi Stanley Davids, a leading rabbi in the Reform movement, died at 85.

What else we’re reading ► Why right-wing social media influencers keep saying the Jews killed JFK (The Atlantic) … It was bacteria, not a miracle, on a Communion wafer in Indiana church (AP) … Leonard Bernstein faces his longtime rival in a new play (NY Jewish Week)

– 5 – VIDEO OF THE DAY

In a promo for this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, host Mikey Madison, the Oscar-winning Jewish actress from Anora, spots an odd piece of Judaica on the dressing room wall of Sarah Sherman, a cast member and fellow Jew: The Anora Menorah.

Thanks to Chana Pollack for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Julie Moos for editing it. You can sign up here to get this newsletter delivered to your inbox.

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