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After I stopped an attack on the subway, the victim and I bonded over Katz’s pastrami sandwiches
(New York Jewish Week) — You definitely don’t want to have what she was having at that moment.
It was December, on a Friday. I was in the tunnel that leads to the subway that runs beneath the American Museum of Natural History on West 81st St. Walking just ahead of me were two women, chatting with each other. I didn’t know them, but I watched as a man, disheveled and bearded, wearing a black knit cap with a sparkly “NYC” on it, came from the other direction. He veered a little too close to the taller of the two. Suddenly, he shifted and grabbed her from behind.
I often wondered what I would do in this situation. Standing only steps away, I no longer had to wonder. After a moment’s hesitation, I sprang into action, grabbing the man and pulling him off her. Then the woman, her friend and I hightailed it through the turnstiles. All in a New York minute.
The woman said she was OK, just worried her attacker would hurt other women. I called 911 but the operator could only speak in subway platforms, not quite grasping it occurred under the museum. How could a visitor be expected to explain the location? And why was there no attendant or police patrol in one of New York’s most visited neighborhoods? I happen to be getting a PhD in tourism studies at Purdue University, but it’s a no-brainer how bad that is for visitors and locals alike.
The 20th Precinct and Transit District 1 responding officers were polite but seemed focused on whether the attack was sexual. Later, the woman would tell me she sensed they thought nothing actually happened, despite a clear crime. “I don’t know,” she said, “one moment I’m walking in the subway and the next someone grabs me from behind. But I wind up OK, so there’s no problem?”
They nabbed the guy, holding him against the tiled wall in the very place the attack occurred. One officer said something like, “He has no ID, no nothing. He’s babbling to himself and doesn’t seem to know where he is.” A sense of pity rose in all of us. The woman did not want to press charges. Even the police were sympathetic, expressing how helping the mentally ill is beyond their capacity. The consensus seemed to be that they would take him somewhere for mental help.
As we waited for the train — mine to Washington Heights, the women’s to Queens — we realized we all had just come from the New-York Historical Society’s “I’ll Have What She’s Having” exhibit on Jewish delis, named for the iconic Katz’s Delicatessen scene in the 1989 film “When Harry Met Sally.” We laughed about what struck us as an ironic way to spend a Friday Shabbat evening days before Hanukkah.
Still perhaps cautious of our surroundings, we shared thoughts about the exhibit. For instance, the surprising amount of Los Angeles material and the signage explaining terms someone Jewish or from New York might take for granted — like mohel or mikvah — and Yiddish words that have long entered the local vernacular, no matter your religion.
The woman who was attacked didn’t want to be identified here, saying “I don’t want people to Google me and this is the first thing they see” — something I understand, having myself been a crime victim in 2014. Later, she texted to say she arrived home safely, adding that, despite the attack, she was “grateful to live in New York, because you restore my faith that people are there for each other.” I don’t think of myself as a mensch or hero. I just did what had to be done. And, like I said, I had a moment’s hesitation.
The situation called for dinner plans. A Jewish deli, of course, considering the circumstances. And it had to be Katz’s.
I arrived at the deli, laden down with a few free Chabad menorahs I picked up along the way after coming from the Union Square Holiday Market. I almost rushed past her standing outside the restaurant, worried about being late. We encountered a chaotic, noisy scene inside, and I realized I had not been there since before the pandemic. A man behind us in the haphazard line, there for the first time, nervously wanted advice. Have what we’re having, I suggested: pastrami on rye with mustard. No cheese, a kosher nod in this place long without such restrictions.
If fate’s bad luck brought us together, serendipity now ruled. Our sandwich maker looked familiar, and I realized he appeared in a video at the deli exhibit. As Esteban pushed our sandwiches over the glass divider, the famous table from the fake orgasm scene in “When Harry Met Sally” suddenly emptied, a family bundling up to leave. I ran to grab it, even mid-sentence talking with Esteban about the exhibit.
Yes, it was touristy! But considering what we had encountered only days before, it was a relief to feel like a tourist in a crowd of tourists. There were locals too, of course, like a diminutive old couple, smiling and saying hello to select tables. We asked a gorgeous Greek tourist we at first thought was an influencer — her dress a one-of-a-kind, hair in flowing, pop queen curls — to snap our picture.
We talked for hours about jobs, travel, family, the men in our lives and how there is no city like New York, with its museums and culture and its ethnic and religious diversity. The ultimate way to say “to life,” l’chaim.
Crime impacts everyone differently, especially when it happens to you. Yet I also know the city is vastly safer than when I was young. At 54, I remember the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, when murders peaked at something like six a day.
If I learned anything from the subway experience, it is that our time on earth is a gift more precious than anything we might unwrap on Hanukkah or Christmas. And if anyone saw us sitting at that famous Katz’s table wondering why we laughed so much, they should ask to have what we were having: a profound appreciation that, like the sandwiches in front of us, life is delicious and should be enjoyed in big portions, despite what fate throws at us.
—
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5 things to know ahead of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are set to meet at the White House Wednesday in a highly anticipated discussion. The primary focus of the meeting is expected to be the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran, particularly regarding Tehran’s treatment of protesters and the possibility of a renewed agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.
But it also comes amid intensifying debates over U.S. military assistance to Israel, eroding bipartisan support for that aid, and recent controversial Israeli moves in the West Bank, all of which could shape the conversation.
How US military aid to Israel works
U.S. military aid to Israel has long been governed by a 2016 memorandum of understanding under which Washington pledged $38 billion in assistance over a decade — $33 billion in military grants and $5 billion for joint missile defense programs. Israel receives roughly $3.8 billion annually, including approximately $500 million earmarked for missile defense. The agreement is scheduled to be renegotiated in 2028.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, Congress has authorized at least $16.3 billion in additional aid. The flow of funds is subject to congressional review and measures such as the Leahy Law, which bars assistance to foreign security forces implicated in gross human rights violations.
US aid to Israel no longer enjoys the bipartisan support it once did
Amid the Gaza war and the rise of a U.S. anti-war, pro-Palestinian movement, American public support for Israel has declined significantly across both major parties.
A 2025 Pew Research Center study found that only 24% of Americans under 30 view the Israeli government favorably, compared with roughly half of those over 60. Among Republicans, negative views of Israel increased from 27% in 2022 to 37%, while among Democrats the rise was steeper — from 53% to 69%. Nearly 4 in 10 adults under 30 believe the U.S. provides “too much” aid to Israel, compared with one-third of adults overall.
The debate over U.S. aid to Israel played a significant role in last week’s Democratic congressional primary in New Jersey. A super PAC associated with the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC spent more than $2 million on negative ads that helped fuel the defeat of former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who describes himself as pro-Israel but who drew AIPAC’s fire because he is opposed to unconditional aid.
Why Netanyahu wants to reduce U.S. military aid
In recent weeks, Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have publicly expressed a desire to reduce Israel’s dependence on U.S. military assistance. Netanyahu has said he hopes to “taper off” U.S. aid over the next decade and has indicated that he does not intend to seek a full renewal of the 2016 agreement.
This push is rooted in frustrations during the Gaza war, when several allies, including the Biden administration, temporarily halted or delayed certain arms transfers over concerns that specific munitions could be used in ways that might cause excessive harm to Palestinian civilians. Israeli officials argue that these restrictions constrained Israel’s ability to fight at critical moments.
Israeli leaders also see strategic and economic value in redirecting the billions of dollars currently spent on U.S. weapons toward Israel’s own defense industry. At the same time, declining support for U.S. aid to Israel among both “America First” Republicans and Democrats concerned about Gaza casualties has made the Israeli government increasingly wary of relying on Washington for its long-term defense needs.
On Jan. 28, Netanyahu claimed that what he called an arms “embargo” under former President Joe Biden cost Israeli soldiers their lives — a statement former U.S. officials quickly condemned.
“Netanyahu is both not telling the truth and ungrateful to a president that literally saved Israel at its most vulnerable moment,” said Amos Hochstein, a former U.S. diplomat under Biden. Brett McGurk, who served in senior national security roles under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump, as well as Biden, said the claim was “categorically false.” Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides added: “He is wrong. Biden’s support for Israel has been rock solid, and he provided it at enormous political cost.”
For its part, the Trump administration published its 2026 National Defense Strategy at the end of January, which states, “Israel is a model ally, and we have an opportunity now to further empower it to defend itself and promote our shared interests.”
The meeting’s focus: Iran
Discussions regarding Iran are expected to dominate the meeting. Iran and Israel have long been adversaries, with Tehran openly committed to Israel’s destruction. The meeting comes ahead of months of increased tension between the two nations. During the 12-Day War in June 2025, Israel struck key Iranian military assets, and the U.S., buoyed by prior Israeli military successes, attacked major Iranian nuclear facilities. The present condition of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs after the strikes is unclear, and Israel remains determined to eliminate the security threat posed by Iran.
Following the outbreak of anti-regime protests in Iran in mid-January, Trump encouraged demonstrators in a Jan. 13 Truth Social post, writing: “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING—TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! … HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Shortly after the post, Netanyahu reportedly urged Trump not to strike Iran, citing fears of a major Iranian retaliation against Israel — an outcome Iranian officials have explicitly threatened. While Trump has repeatedly warned Iran of potential military action over Iran’s treatment of protesters, and moved a fleet of aircraft carrier strike groups to the Middle East, he has emphasized his preference for reaching a diplomatic solution with Iran, particularly focused on the country’s nuclear program.
The Trump administration met with Iranian officials in Oman over the weekend in the hopes that a deal might be struck. With talks expected to continue next week, Netanyahu is now seeking to broaden the scope of any potential agreement between the U.S. and Iran. According to a statement from his office, Netanyahu hopes the Trump administration will push for provisions addressing Iran’s ballistic missile program and Iran’s support for regional militant groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, as well as ensuring Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
On the sidelines, Israel makes controversial moves in the West Bank
Recent Israeli decisions regarding the West Bank may also surface during the meeting, following announcements on Sunday by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz of new measures expanding Israeli control over territory in the West Bank presently controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The steps will make it easier for Jewish Israelis to purchase land in the West Bank and could allow Israeli police to demolish homes in areas under PA jurisdiction — moves that would violate the Oslo Accords.
The recent Israeli decisions run counter to explicit Trump administration requests that Israel avoid controversial actions in the West Bank, particularly as Arab states have warned that steps toward annexation could jeopardize their willingness to help manage postwar Gaza or normalize relations with Israel.
Trump told Axios on Tuesday, “We have enough things to think about now. We don’t need to be dealing with the West Bank.” U.S. officials also reiterated Trump’s opposition to Israeli annexation of the territory, stating, “A stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration’s goal to achieve peace in the region.”
With a potential deal with Iran on the table, U.S. military aid to Israel under growing scrutiny, and Israeli actions in the West Bank complicating regional diplomacy, Wednesday’s meeting comes at a unique moment for the U.S.-Israel relationship. But as past meetings between Trump and Netanyahu have shown, there is a very real chance the meeting could veer off script.
The post 5 things to know ahead of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting appeared first on The Forward.
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Florida’s anti-Israel GOP candidate James Fishback is railing against ‘goyslop.’ What is he talking about?
(JTA) — At a campus campaign stop last week, Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate James Fishback dropped some unusual verbiage while inveighing against junk food in school cafeterias.
“I’m not saying that the test scores are the result of the Pop-Tarts,” Fishback told a crowd at the University of Central Florida, in remarks boosting locally grown produce over convenience foods. “But if you wanted kids to fail, if you wanted to set our kids up for failure, you would feed them the absolute goyslop in our cafeterias.”
Goyslop?! What was Fishback talking about?
The term has skyrocketed in use in recent months among the very online far right, the ecosystem that gave rise to the candidacy of the 31-year-old investment banker and political outsider. It’s a portmanteau of “goy,” the Yiddish word meaning non-Jew that white nationalist groups have increasingly repurposed into an antisemitic badge of honor, and “slop” — a popular way to refer to low-quality content, especially digital content.
The term is making the rounds among the largest white nationalist and antisemitic influencers. Clavicular, a popular manosphere influencer recently seen dancing and singing to Ye’s “Heil Hitler” at a Miami nightclub, appeared on a recent livestream with white nationalist Nick Fuentes to lament how “the entire grocery store is filled with goyslop.”
One popular X account known for spewing antisemitism recently defined the term “goyslop” as “fast food”; it has also been used by accounts to describe everything from the Super Bowl to the Epstein files.
It’s the sort of trolling language that Fishback has used frequently since entering the race last year. He has repeatedly praised followers of Fuentes and indicated familiarity with the antisemitic podcaster Myron Gaines. He has called U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, his opponent and the leading candidate in the GOP primary, a “slave to donors.” (Donalds is Black.)
Fishback has also embraced anti-Israel talking points. He opposed Florida’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism because — as he recently claimed to Tucker Carlson — it would make it “against the law to criticize Israel.” He has said he would “divest every penny from Israel on day one,” setting up an ideological battle in a state with a substantial Jewish population where lawmakers are on the verge of forcing the term “West Bank” to be replaced in educational materials with “Judea and Samaria.”
During the same UCF campaign event in which he uttered “goyslop,” Fishback also inveighed against politicians who “visit another country” and wind up “kissing a stupid wall,” a clear reference to Israel’s Western Wall.
Fishback’s goyslop comments came as he was responding to a question about whether he planned to remove fluoride from the state’s tap water system and replace it with creatine — the amino-acid compound beloved among health influencers for purportedly boosting athletic performance.
Fishback later winkingly professed ignorance about the word.
“I used a term recently this week that I got a lot of flak for, about referring to the food in our public cafeterias,” he told a crowd while eating a fried Oreo at the Florida State Fair. “I don’t know what that term was.”
But Jews in Florida knew. “Just last night, at a local event, he mocked efforts to bring quality education to Florida schools, using the slang ‘GOYSLOP’ in a context clearly meant to belittle,” Joseph Feldman, an Orthodox Jewish Miami resident, wrote about Fishback in the Hasidic publication VINNews. “These remarks are not accidental gaffes; they are calculated, designed to play on prejudice for political gain.”
Searches for “goyslop” have spiked over the last three months after being essentially dormant prior to that, according to Google Trends.
“Consume less goyslop, piggy,” the right-wing influencer Ian Miles Cheong posted on X last month, mocking heavy-set anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis. Cheong frequently engages on the platform with the site’s owner and multi-billionaire Elon Musk, and his account commands a following of 1.2 million on its own.
The term and a variant, “zogchow,” originated on message boards like 4Chan as early as 2019, and user-submitted definitions of the term appear on Urban Dictionary date back to 2021. In its original usage, “goyslop” refers to corporate fast food or other low-quality food, including school lunches, which antisemites believe is promoted by Jews to keep “goyim” unhealthy and dissatisfied. (“ZOG,” short for “Zionist-occupied government,” is an acronym that emerged in white supremacist circles in the 1970s and is now widely used in antisemitic rhetoric.)
Some who have employed the term “goyslop,” including leftists who have absorbed and adapted far-right talking points on Israel and Zionism, may not understand its origins. “Ever since I saw someone say they thought the goy part of goyslop was a combo of gay and soy, I’ve been wondering how many other people have no idea what the f–k they’re saying half the time,” the progressive author Ashley Reese tweeted last week.
But others are fully aware. The Anti-Defamation League’s online glossary of hate terms notes that antisemites have increasingly used “goy” in reference to antisemitic conspiracy theories.
For example, the phrase “The goyim know” — as in “shut it down, the goyim know!” — has circulated on antisemitic forums for years. It imagines the speaker as a Jew whose villainy has been exposed, and depicts Jews as “malevolent puppet-masters, manipulating the media, banks, and even entire governments to the benefit of themselves but to the detriment of other peoples,” according to the ADL.
“Slop,” meanwhile, is online slang that has caught on with the mainstream in a big way, most notably as a reference to junky or untrustworthy content generated by artificial intelligence. The dictionary publisher Miriam-Webster declared “slop” its 2025 Word of the Year, defining it as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
From AI, “slop” has spread to the real world as a catchall term for degrading quality control in all manner of institutions. The New York Times this week, in a trend piece about one-bowl, no-fuss meals called “boy kibble,” referred to the meal as “slop.” A conspiratorial fixation on “slop” foods also dovetails with the popularity of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement and various influencer podcasts.
Fishback’s inversion of Jewish terminology didn’t end with “goyslop.” At the UCF event, following a round of laughter and applause from the gathered crowd after he employed the word, the candidate added, “And that is on gentile, OK?”
That term — a seeming riff on “on fleek” — is even harder to parse. Most X users who noted the phrase seemed to be encountering it for the first time, and there is no online record of it being circulated by other figures or on other platforms.
Fishback is polling in the low single digits in the GOP primary, according to most current pollsters. The heavily favored, and Trump-endorsed, candidate is Donalds (whom Fishback, borrowing an insult once leveled by the left at Hakeem Jeffries, has also dubbed “AIPAC Shakur”). The state’s lieutenant governor and former House speaker are also in the race, with Casey DeSantis, Florida’s current First Lady, also reportedly mulling a run.
If Fishback’s meme-heavy campaign gains traction outside of the antisemitic fringe, he may prove a new political axiom: Slop sells.
The post Florida’s anti-Israel GOP candidate James Fishback is railing against ‘goyslop.’ What is he talking about? appeared first on The Forward.
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A course on the Yiddish proverbs collected through the An-Ski expeditions
אינעם קומעדיקן ווינטער־זמן פֿון די ייִדיש־קלאַסן בײַם „אַרבעטער רינג“ וועט מען הײַיאָר פֿירן דורך „זום“ אַן אייגנאַרטיקן מיני־קורס אויף ייִדיש: וועגן די אידיאָמען און שפּריכווערטער, וואָס דער סאָוועטישער פֿאָלקלאָריסט אַבא לעוו האָט געזאַמלט בעת זײַנע עקספּעדיציעס מיט ש. אַנ־סקין איבער מערבֿ־אוקראַיִנע פֿון 1912 ביז 1914.
דעם קורס וועט לערנען דער ייִדישער שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם אָנלײַן־זשורנאַל „ייִדיש בראַנזשע“ — באָריס סאַנדלער, און וועט זײַן געבויט אויפֿן יסוד פֿון יענע וועלטסווערטלעך און סאַנדלערס קאָמענטאַרן וועגן זיי.
דער קלאַס וועט זיך טרעפֿן יעדן דינסטיק פֿון 2:30 ביז 4:00, ניו־יאָרקער צײַט, אָנהייבנדיק פֿונעם 24סטן פֿעברואַר.
דאָס וועט זײַן צום ערשטן מאָל וואָס דער ברייטער עולם וועט האָבן צוטריט צו אַבא לעווס מאַטעריאַלן. דורך בליצפּאָסט האָט סאַנדלער דערציילט ווי אַזוי ער האָט באַקומען די זאַמלונג: נאָך דעם ווי אבא לעוו איז געשטאָרבן אין 1959 האָבן די העפֿטן מיט די ייִדישע אידיאָמען און ווערטלעך זיך געפֿונען אין דער רעדאַקציע פֿון „סאָוועטיש היימלאַנד“, און שפּעטער — אינעם אַרכיוו פֿונעם ייִדישן פּאָעט און פֿאָרשער חיים ביידער. נאָך ביידערס טויט אין 2003 האָט זײַן אַלמנה, יעווע ביידער, איבערגעגעבן די העפֿטן סאַנדלערן אין אַ קאָנווערט, וווּ ס׳איז מיט ביידערס האַנט געווען אָנגעשריבן „פֿאַר באָריס סאַנדלערן“.
ווי אַ צאָל אַנדערע זאַמלער אין אייראָפּע און אַמעריקע, איז אַנ־סקיס און אַבא לעווס אינטערעס צום ייִדישן פֿאָלקלאָר געווען פֿאַרבונדן מיט זייער איבערגעגעבנקייט צום „פֿאָלקיזם‟: זיי האָבן באַטראַכט די ייִדיש־רעדנדיקע פֿאָלקסמענטשן אין די שטעטלעך און דערפֿער ווי אַ שליסל צו שאַפֿן אַ נײַע וועלטלעכע אידענטיטעט, צוגעמאָסטן צו די שטאָטישע רוסישע ייִדן, אַזוי ווי זיי זענען אַליין געווען.
כּדי זיך צו פֿאַרשרײַבן אויפֿן קורס גיט אַ קוועטש דאָ.
דער אַרבעטער רינג וועט אויך פֿירן לענגערע קורסן אויף ייִדיש אינעם ווינטער־זמן. אָט איז דער אויסקלײַב:
• די ייִדישע קולטור־אינפֿראַסטרוקטור פֿונעם אַמעריקאַנער קאָמוניזם
• אונגעריש־ייִדיש צווישן די וועלט־מלחמות
• דער לשון־קודש־קאָמפּאָנענט אין מרדכי שעכטערס לערנבוך „ייִדיש צוויי“
• די דערציילונגען פֿון יצחק באַשעוויס
• דער אָנהייב פֿון מאָדערנעם ייִדישן טעאַטער: אַבֿרהם גאָלדפֿאַדען און די ערשטע אַקטריסעס אויף דער בינע
• שלום אַשעס ראָמאַן „אויף קידוש השם“
• מאַני לייבס סאָנעטן
• ש. אַנ־סקי, דער „בעל־תּשובֿה“ וואָס האָט פּראָוואָצירט אַ רעוואָלוציע אין פֿאָלקלאָר
• דאָס קול פֿונעם ייִדישן שרײַבער — רעקאָרדירונגען פֿון דערציילונגען און לידער פֿאָרגעלייענט פֿון די שרײַבער אַליין
• די קולטור־ירושה פֿון די ייִדישע שרײַבער אין אוקראַיִנע (1950ער ביז די 1980ער)
נאָך מער פּרטים אָדער זיך צו פֿאַרשרײַבן אויף איינעם אָדער מער פֿון די קורסן, גיט אַ קוועטש דאָ.
The post A course on the Yiddish proverbs collected through the An-Ski expeditions appeared first on The Forward.