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20 Jewish celebrities who died in 2023
(JTA) — Jewish communal mourning was defined in large part this year by Oct. 7. But other notable losses occurred throughout the year, of people who have left outsized legacies on politics, the arts, sports and everything in between.
In chronological order, here is a selection of obituaries of 20 of the most famous Jews who died in 2023.
Dick Savitt
Dick Savitt at the Wimbledon Championship, July 6, 1951, in London. (Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Savitt became the first Jewish tennis player to win both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, in 1951. He also became the first Jewish athlete to appear on the cover of Time magazine, at a time when his Jewishness was looked down on by many in the blue blood sport. He died on Jan. 6 at 95.
Burt Bacharach
Composer Burt Bacharach (left) and lyricist Hal David hold Oscars they won for “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” at the Academy Awards, April 7, 1970. (Bettmann/Getty Images)
The legendary singer and songwriter — behind hits as big as “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” — came from a secular New York family and didn’t talk much about his Jewish identity. But Bacharach was seen as a Jewish icon by many in the industry. In the words of avant-garde pioneer John Zorn, he was “one of the great geniuses of American popular music — and he’s a Jew.” He died on Feb. 9 at 94.
Richard Belzer
Richard Belzer attends the 90th birthday of Jerry Lewis, April 8, 2016. (John Lamparski/WireImage vis Getty)
The comic actor’s career didn’t hit its stride until he was about 50, when he started his long-running role as detective John Munch — a character thought to be Jewish who became one of the most well-known on TV, in both “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1993–1999) and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (1999-2013). Obituaries largely omitted the fact that he was Jewish — and Jewish fans took notice. He died on Feb. 20 at 78.
Judy Heumann
Disability rights advocate Judith Heumann sits for a portrait in Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021. (Shuran Huang for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The “mother of the disability rights movement” spent decades fighting discrimination and bias from the local to the federal level, eventually advising the State Department. Much of her activism, Heumann said, was inspired by her parents’ experiences fleeing Nazi Germany and her drive to pursue tikkun olam. She died on March 4 at age 75.
Chaim Topol
Israeli actor Chaim Topol as Tevye in the movie “Fiddler on the Roof,” directed by Norman Jewison, 1971. (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
What are the most iconic Jewish film performances of the 20th century? Topol’s star turn as Tevye in the film adaptation of “Fiddler on the Roof” ranks among the top of that list. The Israeli first played the role on stage in London after fighting for his country in the 1967 Six-Day War, giving the character a Zionist-tinged masculinity that remains the story’s best-known performance. He died on March 9 at age 87.
Margot Strom Stern
Margot Stern Strom, the founder of Facing History & Ourselves, speaks to educators in 1990. (Courtesy Facing History & Ourselves)
While growing up in 1950s Tennessee, Margot Strom Stern recalled that “bad history” — including racism, antisemitism, parts of the Civil War and the Holocaust — was left out of schools. Her pioneering Facing History & Ourselves curriculum helped bring Holocaust history into classrooms for the first time in a structured, comprehensive way, in all 50 states and 100 countries around the world. She died on March 28 at 81.
Hedda Kleinfeld Schachter
Pictured left to right: Nancy Aucone, Hedda Kleinfeld Schachter, and granddaughter Chloe Schachter at the Wedding Salon of Manhasset. (Courtesy Ilana Schachter)
Before the popular TLC series “Say Yes to the Dress” brought the Kleinfeld Bridal brand to the attention of more than 1.5 million households across the United States every week, a Holocaust survivor named Hedda Kleinfeld revolutionized the bridal industry, bringing it to life with European designer gowns. She died on March 29 at 99.
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein with David Byrne and Madonna in 1996. (KMazur/WireImage/Getty Images)
The Talking Heads, Madonna, The Cure, Aphex Twin, Ice-T — those are just a few of the pioneering acts that the record executive Seymour Stein helped propel to fame. The Sire Records founder frequently mentioned his Jewish Brooklyn roots, writing in his memoir that he found camaraderie with fellow Jews in the industry, like Lou Reed. He died on April 2 at 80.
Mimi Sheraton
Mimi Sheraton’s books include “1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die.” (Eric Etheridge/Workman Publishing)
The first woman to serve as The New York Times’ chief food critic wrote over a dozen books, including a classic history of an iconic Jewish food: “The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World.” She also wrote about her own Jewish upbringing and her observations on the evolution of Jewish cuisines over the second half of the 20th century. She died on April 6 at 97.
Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer appears on his eponymous syndicated talk show, Dec. 17, 1998. (Getty Images)
Before hosting the most popular tabloid-inspired talk show in the country, Jerry Springer had a promising political career, serving as mayor of Cincinnati in 1977. Much of his family did not survive the Holocaust, but his German parents escaped to London, where he was born in a tube station in 1944. He died on April 27 at 79.
Sheldon Harnick
Lyricist Sheldon Harnick poses for the animation movie “Aaron’s Magic Village,” circa 1995. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
While Topol was the public face of “Fiddler on the Roof,” Sheldon Harnick was the lyricist behind the scenes of the show’s legendary songs. “We hoped with any luck that it might run a year,” Harnick said in 1981. “We were totally unprepared for the impact the show would have literally around the world.” He died on June 23 at 99.
Alan Arkin
Alan Arkin seen in 2007. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
The son of Ukrainian and German Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn knew he would be a movie star at age 5. Over a nearly seven-decade career, Alan Arkin imbued comic roles with pathos and serious roles with a touch of sardonic humor. He died on June 29 at 89.
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens performs as Pee-wee Herman in Chicago in 1983. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
The man behind Pee-wee Herman, one of the most bizarre and iconic on-screen characters of the 20th century, had a father who flew key missions as a pilot in Israel’s war of independence. At the height of his fame in 1987, Paul Reubens acknowledged that his act built on the Jewish comedians who came before him, including vaudevillian Eddie Cantor. He died on July 31 at 70.
Nechama Tec
University of Connecticut sociologist and historian Nechama Tec’s 1993 book “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” was adapted for a 2008 film directed by Edward Zwick. (Jewish Women’s Archive)
As a member of one of only three Jewish families from Lublin, Poland, to survive the Holocaust intact from a prewar population of some 40,000, Nehama Tec became a historian whose book about a group of partisan Jews in Belarus who successfully defied the Nazis was made into the 2008 blockbuster film “Defiance.” She died on Aug. 3 at 92.
Phil Sherman
Cantor Philip Sherman (Courtesy of Sherman)
Cantor Philip Sherman’s biggest audience might have been for his part as a judge on the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black.” But his most prominent role was as one of New York’s most in-demand mohels, performing, by his own estimate, more than 26,000 circumcisions during his 45-year career. He died on Aug. 9 at 67.
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein at a Senate Select Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, July 12, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
For decades before she was scrutinized for remaining in the Senate despite clearly diminished health, Dianne Feinstein was a Jewish trailblazer. She championed gun control as mayor of San Francisco in the wake of Harvey Milk’s murder and later became a women’s rights leader as the longest-serving Jewish senator from California. She died on Sept. 23 at 90.
Louise Glück
Louise Glück speaks at the 2014 National Book Awards in New York City, Nov. 19, 2014. (Robin Marchant/Getty Images)
The acclaimed poet won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020 for “her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.” Louise Glück didn’t talk much about her Jewish roots, but she turned to the Bible for occasional inspiration; one critic wrote that her Jewishness was “bound up with how she interprets canons both secular and sacred.” She died on Oct. 13 at 80.
Ady Barkan
Ady Barkan attends the Los Angeles Supports a Dream Act Now! protest at the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein in Los Angeles, Jan. 3, 2018. (Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images)
Ady Barkan, an Israeli-American lawyer and child of two Jewish academics in Boston, became one of the country’s most visible progressive activists for single-payer health care shortly after being diagnosed with ALS in 2016. His name was invoked in a Democratic presidential debate in 2019, when Sen. Elizabeth Warren cited his personal story as an example of the shortfalls of private insurance. He died on Nov. 1 at 39.
Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger and Golda Meir in Israel, Feb. 27, 1974. (AFP via Getty Images)
One of the most prominent secretaries of state of all time was reviled by just as many who worshiped his influential policy legacy. Henry Kissinger once said his Jewishness had “no significance” for him, but that part of his identity would play a part in his relationships with leaders ranging from Richard Nixon to Golda Meir. He died on Nov. 29 at age 100.
Norman Lear
Norman Lear attends the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony honoring Marla Gibbs on July 20, 2021 in Hollywood, California. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
The sitcom king — whose shows included “All in the Family,” “Sanford and Sons” and “The Jeffersons” — had as decorated a resume as any TV producer. But Norman Lear’s work is now also remembered as pioneering social commentary, inspired in part by the antisemitism he experienced as a child. He died on Dec. 5 at 101.
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The post 20 Jewish celebrities who died in 2023 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Ritchie Torres Blasts Columbia Over ‘Intifada’ Student Publication, Calls For ‘Revolution’ Against ‘Far-Left’
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) blasted Columbia University over the weekend over their lackadaisical approach to combating antisemitism, excoriating the Ivy League institution for allowing a terrorist-supporting student group to exist on campus.
“Columbia University is so embedded in anti-Israel propaganda that it has a publication entitled, quote, ‘The Columbia Intifada.’ What is needed in our society is a revolution of the responsible against the intifada idiocy of the far-left,” Torres said in a statement on Sunday.
Earlier this month, the prestigious university came under fire after it was revealed that ‘Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine’—a cohort of anti-Israel student activists—distributed a publication titled ‘The Columbia Intifada’ around campus. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) reportedly printed 1,000 copies of the publication, which included articles titled “Zionist Peace Means Palestinian Blood,”and “The Myth of the Two-State Solution.”
When pressed about the publication, Columbia University criticized the students involved and indicated that it would consider administering punishment.
“Using the Columbia name for a publication that glorifies violence and makes individuals in our community feel targeted in any way is a breach of our values,” Columbia said in a statement.
“As we have said repeatedly, discrimination and promoting violence or terror is not acceptable and antithetical to what our community stands for. We are investigating this incident through our applicable offices and policies,” the university continued.
Though the publication is not officially recognized by Columbia University, critics argue that it indicates a thriving anti-Israel sentiment on the prestigious campus.
This is not the first time that Torres has lambasted Columbia over their failure to protect Jewish students on campus. Over the past year, Torres has repeatedly condemned the campus for allowing pro-Palestine students to chant slogans perceived by many to be antisemitic. He has also called Columbia’s anti-Israel professors “pseudo-intellectuals.”
In addition, the congressman has commended New York University (NYU) for expanding its anti-harassment and non-discrimination policies to protect students who support the existence of Israel. NYU’s new hate speech policies state that deploying “code words like ‘Zionist’” do not necessarily shield students from violating the university conduct policies. He has called on Columbia to implement a similar policy.
In the year following the Hamas terrorist group’s slaughter of roughly 1200 people throughout southern Israel, Columbia has become a hotbed of pro-Palestine protests. Immediately following the Oct. 7 massacre, a litany of Columbia student groups issued statements expressing approval of the Hamas attacks and assigning blame exclusively to Israel. A mob of pro-Palestinian protesters held a demonstration in front of the City University of New York Hillel on Tuesday, shouting at Jewish students to get “out of the Middle East” and “go back to Brooklyn.”
Many Columbia campus groups have implemented policies banning self-professed “Zionists” from membership, effectively excluding the majority of Jewish students. Columbia University student Khymani James publicly stated that Zionists “don’t deserve to live.” The Ivy League university has not confirmed if James has been permanently expelled from the campus.
The post Ritchie Torres Blasts Columbia Over ‘Intifada’ Student Publication, Calls For ‘Revolution’ Against ‘Far-Left’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Destroy or Explode’: Anti-Isreal Jordanian Pleads Guilty to Bomb Threat and Sabotaging Energy Facility in Florida
An American flag waves outside the US Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC. Photo: Al Drago via Reuters Connect
A Jordanian expatriate who was federally charged in August for attacking an energy facility and threatening to bomb businesses that he deemed supportive of Israel has pled guilty to his crimes, the US Department of Justice announced earlier this month.
As The Algemeiner previously reported, Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 43, this past summer vandalized small businesses in Orange County, Florida, and left “Warning Letters” addressed to the US government in which he vowed to “destroy or explode everything here in America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.”
Later, he breached an energy facility in Wedgefield, Florida, where he “smashed” scores of solar panels and damaged other “electronic equipment.” The spree of infrastructure sabotage lasted “for hours,” the department added, destroying $700,000 worth of technology. In early July, Hnaihen left a final warning letter at an industrial propane gas distribution depot located in the city of Orlando., according to federal prosecutors. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department arrested him on July 11.
On Dec. 20, Hnaihen conceded to the federal government its case against him, pleading guilty to “four counts of threatening to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility.” His plea also contained a promise to “make full restitution” to his victims, a debt he will likely repay by working a job in prison, where he stands to spend as many as 60 years.
“With this plea, we are holding this defendant accountable for his threats to carry out hate-fueled mass violence in our country, motivated in part by his desire to ‘warn’ businesses because of their perceived support of Israel,” US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement announcing the news. “The Justice Department will fiercely protect the right over every person to peacefully express their opinions, beliefs, and ideas, but we have no tolerance for acts and threats of hate-fueled violence that create lasting fear.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray added, “The defendant is admitting that he attacked a solar power facility, damaged a number of Florida businesses, and left a series of threatening messages about perceived state of Israel. Violence, destruction of property, and threats are simply unacceptable.”
Hnaihen’s conviction is one among several that the Justice Department secured this year against offenders who committed crimes animated by anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish hatred.
In November, Adam Edward Braun, 34, pleaded guilty to repeatedly vandalizing a synagogue in Eugene, Oregon during a 2023 unrestrained bout of hate. Braun, graffitied the Temple Beth Israel synagogue twice in Sept. 2023, spraying “1377” for its resemblance to “1488,” a reference to Adolf Hitler and a white nationalist slogan. He came back several months later to vandalize the glazing of the synagogue’s entrance. A search of Braun’s home in Jan. yielded copious evidence of his guilt. Authorities also found “several items and writings” that were antisemitic, further implicating him in the crimes.
In October, federal prosecutors helped convict a gunman who shot two Jewish men as they exited a synagogue in Los Angeles.
Jaime Tran, 30 — an affiliate of the “Goyim Defense League” hate group — had attempted to murder two Jewish men in the Pico-Robertson section of Los Angeles in Feb. 2023. Prior to the crimes, Tran called Jews “primitive” and told a former classmate, “Someone is going to kill you, Jew” and “I want you dead, Jew.” According to the Justice Department, he even described himself as a “ticking time bomb,” broadcasting his murderous ideation to all who knew him.
After declining to fight the federal government’s case against him, Tran pled guilty in June to four charges the DOJ described as “hate crimes with intent to kill” and “using, carrying, and discharging a firearm” in the commission of an act of violence. His sentencing of 35 years ensures that he will not again be free until the year 2059.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Destroy or Explode’: Anti-Isreal Jordanian Pleads Guilty to Bomb Threat and Sabotaging Energy Facility in Florida first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Why Erdogan’s Turkish Empire Is an Emerging Threat
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad, Iraq, April 22, 2024. Photo: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/Pool via REUTERS
The world was once a series of empires. The British Empire, at its peak in 1922, covered about a quarter of the Earth’s land and ruled over 458 million people. The Russian Empire once covered about 8,800,000 sq/mi, roughly one-sixth of the world’s landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history, behind only the British and Mongols. An 1897 census recorded 125.6 million people under Russian control. Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire, while short, was the largest contiguous empire in history.
The Ottoman Empire lasted from 1301 to 1922, and at one point, included parts of Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon. It was, in some ways and at some times, a relatively benign occupation of other people, though decidedly not for Greeks, Armenians, or Kurds.
Why does it matter? We don’t do empires anymore. Do we?
That depends. Turkey now, under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is projecting its next empire — a scary combination of ISIS-related religious extremism, nationalist prejudice, and Western weaponry.
Erdogan gave a speech last week. The key paragraph is this:
Turkey is much bigger than Turkey as a nation. We cannot limit our horizon to 782,000 sq/km, Just as a person cannot escape from his destiny by fleeing it, Turkey as a nation cannot flee or hide from its destiny. We must see, accept and act according to the mission that history has given us as a nation. Those who ask, “What is Turkey doing in Libya, Syria, and Somalia?” may not be able to conceive the mission and the vision.
And, if you couldn’t “conceive the mission,” Bilal Erdogan, his son, clarified for you. At a massive rally, he exhorted the crowd: “Yesterday Hagia Sophia (once a Church in Istanbul), today the Umayyad Mosque (Damascus), tomorrow Al-Aqsa (the site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem).”
Today, Turkey illegally occupies a large swath of northern Syria, claiming only to have in interest in defeating the PKK –– considered by Ankara to be a Kurdish terror organization. [For the US, the Kurds were an essential partner in defeating ISIS in Syria and northern Iraq, and remain an ally.]
Between October 2019 and January 2024, the Turkish military carried out more than 100 attacks on oil fields, gas facilities, and power stations in Kurdish-held areas. According to the BBC in October 2024, Ankara cut off access to electricity and water for more than a million people.
Turkey has operated in northern Syria in conjunction with HTS, the ISIS-adjacent group that has been on the US terror list, but now appears to be seeking legitimacy as the ruler of Syria. According to a Turkish news source, as a new Syrian military establishment begins to take shape, “Turkey will actively provide consultant-expert support to the restructuring process of Syria’s sea, air, and land forces. In addition … Turkish military presence will be included in five different points of Syria.”
The new force will number 300,000, according to the Turkish report, including 40,000 fighters from HTS, and 50,000 from the Syrian National Army (SNA). The latter is actually an auxiliary of the Turkish Armed Forces. SNA forces have been deployed by Turkey as a proxy in Libya and elsewhere.
Ankara also hosts leadership of Hamas, earning a rare rebuke from the US State Department in November 2024, and Hezbollah. It should be noted that the dismemberment of Hezbollah by Israel was understood as a defeat for Iran, Turkey’s regional rival.
Turkey’s relations with Hamas, Hezbollah and the emerging Syrian military all threaten Israel. Turkey’s direct attacks on Israel — both rhetorical and military, going back to Turkish sponsorship of the Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2016 but increased after October 7 — also pose threats.
Turkey operates across Africa, as Erdogan noted in his speech. In January 2020, Turkey sent military forces to Libya in support of the Government of National Accord, the Tripoli government, followed by as many as 18,000 soldiers of the Syrian National Army (SNA — see above), which included child soldiers. Turkey has defense agreements with Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Ghana. Turkish drones have been recently delivered to Chad, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
Like many empire-driven military adventures, this one appears to have two purposes: first, to secure access to natural resources, and then to serve as a launching point for Turkish social and religious interests. Turkey has built 140 schools for 17,000 students, while 60,000 Africans are studying in Turkey.
Turkey has made clear its intention to play as a world power. It is coming up against Russia and China in Africa, and Iran in the Middle East (Iran is injured, but not defeated). While there is no mechanism for the Western countries to remove Turkey from NATO (that requires a unanimous vote, and Turkey won’t vote itself out), the United States and its allies in Europe and the Middle East should be very skeptical of Turkey’s intentions and leery of its capabilities.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly magazine.
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