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Dugo Leitner, Holocaust survivor whose falafel ritual made him a social media star, dies at 93

(JTA) — David Leitner, one of the most famous lovers of falafel in a country full of them, has died at 93 in Israel, the country that became his home after he survived the Holocaust as a young teen.

Leitner’s death comes nearly a decade after his ritual of eating falafel to mark his survival broke into public view and was adopted by many in Israel and abroad.

Leitner fell in love with the chickpea fritters as soon as he encountered them in Shuk Mahane Yehuda in Jerusalem. The year was 1949.

“The fried balls immediately took me back to the march — and my mother’s kitchen — and I had two portions one after another,” Leitner told an Israeli news site in 2018.

He was referring to the death march that he and about 66,000 other prisoners of Auschwitz were forced to undertake in January 1945. Most of the prisoners died, but Leitner, then just 14, survived — a fortune he attributed to thinking about his mother’s bilkalach, small golden buns of bread made in his native Hungary and across Central Europe.

David “Dugo” Leitner, left, meets Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to have falafel together in Jerusalem, Jan. 17, 2019. (Mark Neiman/GPO)

The experience caused Leitner, who went by the nickname Dugo, to make a commitment: He would eat falafel every Jan. 18, the date that the death march began.

For most of his life, he undertook the ritual alone. “All those years, dad always went alone to have falafel to mark the day,” one of his daughters told the Israeli site, Srugim. “We knew Jan. 18 meant a lot to him and he needed to be alone and have falafel and get in touch with himself.”

But over time, word got out about the unassuming man who saw falafel as a symbol of his survival. After his ritual reached the Testimony House, a small Holocaust education institution in Nir Galim, a moshav, or cooperative village, near Ashdod whose founders include Leitner and his wife, Sarah, the institution shared his story on social media.

By 2019, Leitner’s story was so well known that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin invited him to have falafel at the president’s residence in Jerusalem. In 2021, Israel’s Foreign Ministry took what it termed “Dugo Day” abroad, offering free falafel at its embassies in Warsaw and London. Leitner’s inspiring story has been shared countless times on feel-good social media accounts, bringing his story and the falafel tradition to audiences around the world.

Leitner died on Thursday, leaving behind two daughters; grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and a Jan. 18 ritual that is expected to endure. It was Tisha B’Av, a fast day in the Jewish calendar, but some on social media declared that they would make falafel their first meal in Leitner’s honor.


The post Dugo Leitner, Holocaust survivor whose falafel ritual made him a social media star, dies at 93 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Trump Taps Fiery Pro-Israel Congresswoman Elise Stefanik for UN Ambassador

US Nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik addressing the Israeli parliament on May 24, 2024. Photo: Office of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.

US President-elect Donald Trump has selected Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations, a decision which, if confirmed by the US Senate, would ensure that a staunch pro-Israel advocate represents the incoming administration in the international body.

“I am honored to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as US ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump, who last Tuesday became the first former president elected to a nonconsecutive term in over a century, said in a statement first reported by the New York Post. “Elise is an incredibly, strong, tough and smart America First fighter.”

Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, confirmed the news and issued her own statement on the nomination.

“I am truly honored to earn President Trump’s nomination to serve in his Cabinet as US Ambassador to the United Nations,” he lawmaker said. “During my conversation with President Trump, I shared how deeply humbled I am to accept his nomination and that I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the United States Senate.”

Stefanik continued, “President Trump’s historic landslide election has given hope to the American people and is a reminder that brighter days are ahead — both at home and abroad … America continues to be the beacon of the world, but we expect and must demand that our friends and allies be strong partners in the peace we seek.”

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, Stefanik is one of the leading pro-Israel voices in Washington, DC, having defended both the US-Israel alliance and the civil rights of Jewish students on college campuses, where aggressive pro-Hamas activists have launched campaigns of violence, obstruction, and intimidation aimed at forcing Jewish life underground and severing higher education institutions’ ties to Israel.

Stefanik, 40, a Harvard University alumnus from Albany, New York, currently serves on the US House committees for intelligence, armed services, and education and the workforce. In May, she delivered what her office described as a “historic” speech to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, an address she used to express support for the Jewish state’s war with Hamas, as well as to explicate her views on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s destabilizing activities in the Middle East.

“I have been clear at home and I will be clear here: There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel — aid that was duly passed by the Congress,” she said. “There is no excuse to ease sanctions on Iran, paying a $6 billion ransom to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, or to dither and hide while our friends fight for their lives. No excuse. Full stop.”

She continued, “I’m proud to have sponsored, or backed, every measure to aid Israel that has come before the United States Congress. Every single on. It’s why, I, as a senior member on the House Armed Services Committee and Intelligence Committee, we have helped secure billions of dollars for the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, the Iron Beam, anti-tunneling technology, counter-UAS system, and further development of emerging technologies.”

At home, Stefanik has sharply interrogated university presidents over what many observers have perceived as indifference to antisemitic hatred on college campuses and a refusal to quell riotous demonstrations which disrupted academic activities for weeks on end during the 2023-2024 academic year. Several weeks before addressing the Knesset, Stefanik grilled Northwestern University president Michael Schill over the now-infamous Deering Meadow Agreement, which granted concessions to a pro-Hamas group that commandeered a section of campus and refused to surrender it unless the administration commenced a boycott of Israel. The agreement was a “unilateral capitulation,” Stefanik said, claiming that Schill’s actions created an impression that he opposed protecting Jewish students from violence.

“Let’s talk about what has occurred on this encampment,” Stefanik asserted. “Isn’t it true that a Jewish Northwestern student was assaulted?”

Stefanik went on to recount several more incidents of alleged antisemitic violence — including one in which a Jewish student was spit on — and harassment at Northwestern, pressing Schill to estimate when the school will complete its investigations of the criminal behavior.

In July, Stefanik sponsored legislation which would punish universities that fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. The University Accountability Act (UAA) proposed levying a tax on universities which, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, declined to punish perpetrators of antisemitic behavior. The Protecting American Students Act (PASA), prompted by reports that foreign students overwhelmingly contribute to antisemitism on college campuses, called for taxing the endowments of universities that admit more foreign students than American ones.

A rising star in the Republican Party, Stefanik’s record as a public servant has had some controversy. In 2022, she refused to withdraw her endorsement of a congressional primary candidate, Carl Paladino, who once lauded Adolf Hitler as “the kind of leader we need today … somebody inspirational.” While Paladino apologized for his comments about the Nazi leader after they were reported — saying, “I understand that invoking Hitler in any context is a serious mistake and rightfully upsets people. I strongly condemn the murderous atrocities committed against the Jewish people by Hitler and the Nazis” — he accused the organization which reported his remarks, Media Matters, of reaching a “new low.”

Stefanik had previously pledged support for Paladino in a tweet which described him as a “friend,” “job creator,” and “conservative outsider who will be a tireless fighter for the people of New York.” Following reports of his comments, her office declined to state unequivocally whether she would continue to support his candidacy, saying only that “Congresswoman Stefanik has one of the strongest records in the US Congress condemning antisemitism and led and passed bipartisan legislation to expand Holocaust education.”

Ultimately, Stefanik threw her star power behind Paladino, campaigning for him and sponsoring a tele-rally which promoted his candidacy.

Stefanik is also one of several Republicans who did not oppose then-President Trump’s effort to halt the transfer of power following his general election loss to Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in the Electoral College and won the popular vote. Echoing claims of widespread voter fraud in key battleground states, she voted against Congress certifying the results of the race in Pennsylvania, which Biden won by a slim 1.17 percent margin.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Trump Taps Fiery Pro-Israel Congresswoman Elise Stefanik for UN Ambassador first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Ex-IDF Soldier Becomes First Republican in 50 Years to Win New York State Assembly Seat in Long Island District

Daniel Norber of 16th District of New York

Daniel Norber was elected in November 2024 to represent the 16th District in the New York State Assembly. Photo: Screenshot

A former officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) became the first Republican to win a state assembly seat in northern Hempstead, Long Island in more than 50 years. 

Daniel Norber narrowly defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Gina Silitti to capture the 16th District of the New York State Assembly. The district encompasses most of Nassau County, an area which maintains a significant Jewish population. 

Norber’s victory came amid a huge surge in support for Republican candidates across the country. US President-elect Donald Trump won the 16th District by over 2,000 votes, assisting Norber, a dual US-Israeli citizen, secure victory in his history-making down-ballot race. 

The ex-IDF officer’s win also came in the midst of increasing antisemitism across the country. In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Jewish families in Nassau County have reported being targeted with hate crimes

In September, a Jewish family in Nassau County alleged that a suspect urinated on their front door and yelled antisemitic slurs. Months earlier in April, county officials denounced antisemitic graffiti which covered the faces of hostages taken captive by Hamas during the Oct. 7 onslaught. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is Jewish, has also accused Civil Service Employees Association Local 830, an 8,000-member local union, of antisemitism for distributing flyers depicting him with devil horns.  

Silitti, Norber’s opponent, found herself in hot water with the local Jewish community after one of her staffers bashed Israel on social media. 

“She wasn’t sensitive to what was going on. I felt she was out of touch,” Norber, 45, told the New York Post.

Though Norber focused his campaign on domestic issues such as bolstering law enforcement and cutting taxes, he believes that his support for Israel also helped him establish valuable inroads with the local Jewish community. Moreover, his grandparents endured the Holocaust and his mother ran away from communism in the Soviet Union.  

Norber was also on the ground in Israel during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks with his wife and four kids. 

“It was the worst atrocity to Jews since the Holocaust. Israel is not the same anymore,” Norber said, according to the Post.

Norber has also touted a series of policies which would likely bolster Jewish safety in Nassau County. In the New York State Assembly, he aims to implement a statewide mask ban with the goal of preventing anonymity during protests — a popular tactic employed by activists during anti-Israel demonstrations to hid their identity. The lawmaker also wants to repeal cashless bail, with the intention of reducing the number of violent criminals on the streets.

The post Ex-IDF Soldier Becomes First Republican in 50 Years to Win New York State Assembly Seat in Long Island District first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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‘Challah for Ceasefire’?: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching the political tightrope in women’s media

In the before-times, a personal essay in a women’s magazine about home-baked challah, in which the writer discusses how this ritual connects them to their Jewish roots, would be a […]

The post ‘Challah for Ceasefire’?: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching the political tightrope in women’s media appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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