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David Corenswet, the next Superman, has deep Jewish roots in New Orleans — where he was married by a rabbi

(JTA) — When David Corenswet was announced as the next Marvel Superman last month, Jewish movie and comic fans rejoiced: He will be the first Jewish actor to portray the hero in a blockbuster.

But one Jewish community in New Orleans has been particularly excited.

“The Corenswet family is well known and loved” in New Orleans, said Daniel Sherman, rabbi of the city’s historic Temple Sinai synagogue. “I have also heard a few groups talking about having some screening events to support David and are thrilled with the prospect of having not only a ‘Jewish Superman,’ but one with local roots.”

The Corenswet clan has long ties to Temple Sinai, Louisiana’s oldest Reform synagogue, founded in 1870. Although David Corenswet grew up in Philadelphia, many members of his family still attend Temple Sinai, including his uncle Jay, a past president of the congregation.

“It’s not the biggest issue in anyone’s life, but we’re very gratified that we’re going to have a Jewish Superman,” said Edward Cohn, a rabbi emeritus at Temple Sinai who is close to the Corenswets.

Corenswet also tapped Cohn when he got married in March. The ceremony took place at the Immaculate Conception church — one of the city’s historic Jesuit houses of worship, first opened in the 1850s — because Corenswet’s wife is Catholic. 

Cohn co-officiated the ceremony with a priest — and according to Julie Vanderbrook, Immaculate Conception’s longtime wedding coordinator, “the rabbi kind of ran the show.” 

It was the first time in at least two decades (possibly ever, according to Vanderbrook) that the church hosted a ceremony that included a chuppah, or Jewish wedding canopy. Other Jewish rituals, including the breaking of the glass, were combined with Catholic ones. Cohn said that Corenswet had a specific vision for how the day would go, and church staffers were delighted with how he carried it out.

“The bride and groom were just so determined to intersperse the Jewish traditions with the Catholic traditions, which to me just enhanced the beauty and the strength of both faiths,” Vanderbrook said. “I felt I got to know [the Corenswet family] pretty well, because they were delightful people.”

Multiple members of the New Orleans community who know David described him as quietly intense and intellectual, and he has successfully kept most of his personal life — including the details of his Jewish identity, and the very fact that he is married — private, even as the Hollywood spotlight has begun to shine brightly on him. (His publicists did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.)

Corenswet poses with Rabbi Edward Cohn at his wedding rehearsal dinner at Immaculate Conception Jesuit Church in New Orleans. (Courtesy of Cohn)

But Cohn said Jewishness is an important part of David’s private life, even if he doesn’t regularly go to a synagogue. David and his new wife, who is also an actor, have been living in Philadelphia, and Cohn said they are “definitely intending to affiliate with a congregation,” even though they regularly travel to Los Angeles and other filming locations.

In 2020, David spoke at a Zoom event organized by Jewish Pride New Orleans, a group under the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans umbrella.

“He was so generous with his time,” said Marc Behar, who founded JP NOLA. “A thoughtful, kind person.”

Cohn also knew David’s grandfather, Sam Corenswet, Jr., who Cohn described as a “bright, worldly, well-educated southern gentleman.” Like his own father, Sam Jr. was involved with the Temple Sinai board — and the New Orleans Mid Winter Sports Association, which runs the college football Sugar Bowl (previously an end-of-year championship game, now part of the annual NCAA football Playoff). The family ran a wholesale appliance distributor business.

An article on the Sugar Bowl website explains the many famous college football figures Sam Corenswet, Jr. met over the course of a 50-year tenure as president of the association: “He’s met many of the legendary college coaches, Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, Bud Wilkinson, Bob Devaney, Bobby Bowden and Nick Saban, through the years. He’s witnessed numerous Heisman Trophy winners and national championship squads.”

David Corenswet’s father John, who died of cancer in 2019 at 64, was an actor-turned-lawyer. The family did not have cable TV while David grew up, and they instead watched classic movies together. David caught the acting bug early and made his debut at age 9 in a local production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” He would go on to Juillard; in auditions, he kept an old New York City subway token in his pocket, a gift and good luck charm from his father.

Corenswet, 30, is still far from a household name. He has starred in multiple Netflix series developed by prolific producer Ryan Murphy, including “The Politician” and “Hollywood,” but a turn as Superman will exponentially raise his profile. “Superman: Legacy” is slated for release in 2025 and co-stars Rachel Brosnahan, of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” fame, as Lois Lane.

It’s unclear whether David will bake anything Jewish into his performance — Superman was originally created by two Jews and the character’s real name, Kal-El, is thought to be a nod to Hebrew — but the rabbi who stood under the chuppah with him said he’s sure the actor will make the role his own.

“For a guy who is an actor, he’s not looking to be on stage all the time,” Cohn said. “He can laugh at himself. He’s got a great sense of humor, which I think will be really important in this role that he’s going to play.”


The post David Corenswet, the next Superman, has deep Jewish roots in New Orleans — where he was married by a rabbi appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Iran Says Eight Arrested for Suspected Links to Israel’s Mossad Spy Agency

The Mossad recruitment ad. Photo: Screenshot.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had arrested eight people suspected of trying to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures to Israel’s Mossad, Iranian state media reported.

They are accused of having provided the information to the Mossad spy agency during Israel’s air war on Iran in June, when it attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.

Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

A Guards statement alleged that the suspects had received specialized training from Mossad via online platforms. It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized.

State media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the 12-day war with Israel, though they did not say what these people had been suspected of doing.

Security forces conducted a campaign of widespread arrests and also stepped up their street presence during the brief war that ended in a US-brokered ceasefire.

Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Human rights groups say Iran uses espionage charges and fast-tracked executions as tools for broader political repression.

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Body of Idan Shtivi, Murdered on Oct. 7, Retrieved from Gaza in Special IDF Operation

Idan Shtivi. Photo: Courtesy of the family

i24 NewsThe body of Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old murdered by Palestinian jihadists at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, was recovered in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet in central Gaza, it was cleared for publication on Saturday.

Shtivi’s remains were returned to Israel alongside the body of Ilan Weiss, another hostage killed during the October 7 massacre.

“Idan Shtivi was abducted from the Tel Gama area and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after acting to rescue and evacuate others from the Nova music festival on October 7th, 2023. He was 28 years old at the time of his death,” read an IDF press release.

“Following an identification process conducted at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, along with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, the Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters notified his family.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Shviti “was a gifted student of sustainability and governance, and a courageous individual” who acted heroically on October 7, helping others flee.

“He was killed in the process and his body was abducted to Gaza by Hamas. My wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Shtivi family. So far, 207 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive. We will continue to act tirelessly and decisively to bring back all our hostages—living and deceased.”

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Woman Stabbed at Ottawa Grocery Store in Latest Antisemitic Attack

A social media post by the alleged attacker, Joseph Rooke of Cornwall, Ontario. Photo: Screenshot via i24

i24 NewsThe stabbing of a Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery by a man with a long history of antisemitic posts on social media, the latest antisemitic hate crime in Canada, sparked outrage and prompted condemnation from officials including the prime minister.

Both the victim and the attacker are in their 70s. The woman is reportedly in serious condition.

The suspect was identified as Joseph Rooke, who has authored a series of lengthy rambling screeds on social media, ranting against Israel and Jews.

“Judaism is the world’s oldest cult,” he writes in one post, going on to say “over time jews have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying. Using their collective wealth they have become masters of reprisal.”

“I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”

Canada has seen a steep spike in antisemitic attacks over the past two years, including a recent incident in Montreal where a Hasidic Jew was beaten in front on his children.

After Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the incident, many, including former Israel’s ambassador the US Michael Oren, pointed out that Carney’s rhetoric and policies contribute to the increasing insecurity of Canada’s Jewish community through uncritical embrace of outrageous and easily disprovable allegations that Israel and its supporters were guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.

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