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‘Emotional and intense’: Douglas Emhoff’s trip to Poland and Germany brings him back to his Jewish ancestral roots
BERLIN (JTA) — For second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, the final hours of a five-day working trip to Poland and Germany brought everything into focus.
It was here in the underground information center in Germany’s central Holocaust memorial that Emhoff sat down with several survivors, including two who had recently fled war-torn Ukraine.
Sitting in a small circle, they shared their stories. One of them “was saved in the Holocaust as a young baby, settled in Ukraine and then just had to flee again. And she was taken in by Germany,” Emhoff said in remarks immediately following the meeting. “It was a real emotional and intense way to finish the trip.”
The journey, which he undertook with Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, included visits to Krakow, Poland; to the nearby memorial and museum at Auschwitz-Birkenau; and to the Polish village of Emhoff’s ancestors, Gorlice.
It was all intended to feed into the design of a “national action plan against antisemitism” that Emhoff is working on with Lipstadt and others. The second gentleman has made combating Jew hatred his main focus since entering the White House, touring college campuses to talk on the subject and leading events with Jewish organizations.
But this trip, which began on Friday, aligning with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, took Emhoff’s efforts onto the international stage — and brought him back to his ancestral Jewish roots.
Emhoff’s two days in Berlin were a whirlwind. On Monday, he met with U.S. Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann, Germany’s commissioner of Jewish life Felix Klein and other leaders. On Tuesday, he and Lipstadt took part in an interfaith roundtable hosted by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, before visiting a historic synagogue in former East Berlin and meeting with members of the community. He also visited three Holocaust memorials in the city center: one dedicated to Sinti and Roma victims of the Nazis, another to homosexual victims, and finally Germany’s massive Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.
From left, shown at a meeting in Berlin, Jan. 30, 2023: U.S. antisemitism monitor Deborah Lipstadt, Emhoff, U.S. Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann, Germany’s commissioner on Jewish life Felix Klein and Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. (U.S. Embassy Berlin)
Speaking this morning to the small gathering of Muslims, Christians and Jews hosted at the Central Council headquarters, Emhoff said he could not help thinking of his grandparents, who had escaped persecution in Poland and settled in the United States.
“They found opportunity and freedom,” he said, “and now, 120 years later, their great-grandchild is the first Jewish spouse of a United States president or vice president, who is working to combat hate and antisemitism. That’s something isn’t it?” he said, as if pinching himself. “It’s a remarkable full circle.”
Abraham Lehrer, Central Council vice president, told the guests that interfaith relations between Jews and Christians are generally good, and that the groups have developed channels of communication “in case of heavy disputes.”
Relations with Muslims function well on the grassroots level, he said, “but it is quite difficult with heads of some organizations, because a lot of them still have connections to antisemitic or antidemocratic organizations.” Participants in the round table commented afterward on the “positive atmosphere.”
“I was very impressed by the young Muslim man [Burak Yilmaz], who is organizing trips for young Muslims to visit Auschwitz,” said Rabbi Szolt Balla, who serves a congregation in Leipzig and is rabbi for the German Armed Forces. “It was a very good and productive thing to meet in this circle,” he added
Emhoff told reporters the purpose of the trip was to share best practices and feed ideas into the “national action plan” that he is working on with Lipstadt, U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain and White House Liaison to the American Jewish community Shelley Greenspan.
“We are going to put our heads together and talk about what we learned and then put it into the pipeline so we can come out with the most effective national plan,” Emhoff told reporters after the day’s meetings. He added that he would be addressing the United Nations in early February.
Emhoff’s last official act here was his meeting with survivors. He changed his schedule “just in order to meet with them and listen to their stories,” said Rudiger Mahlo, Germany representative of the Conference for Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Sonja Tartakovska, who had survived a Nazi mass shooting operation in her village during World War II, told Emhoff how she had to flee Ukraine last year without a change of clothing. She is one of the Ukrainian Jews whom the Claims Conference brought to Germany last spring, said Mahlo, who took part in the meeting.
The fact that former Holocaust victims were now seeking refuge in Germany was not missed.
Emhoff speaks with 101-year-old Margot Friedländer during a meeting with Holocaust survivors in Berlin, Jan. 31, 2023. (U.S. Embassy Berlin)
“We have been talking about the Holocaust, talking about antisemitism, about violence and oppression and here in Europe all these years later these things are still happening through this unjust, unprovoked war,” Emhoff told reporters after the final meeting of the day.
From people like Tartakovska “you hear these stories of survival. A lot of it was a twist of fate, just some luck. A non-Jewish stranger deciding on a whim to do something, that then led to a life long-lived.”
“I was also struck: One woman” — German Holocaust survivor Margot Friedlaender — “was 101 years old. Imagine living with those memories for 80 years. Those are the kinds of things I take back with me,” Emhoff said.
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This Jewish Olympian prays with her mom before every race
Kamryn Lute’s Olympic ritual doesn’t start on the ice. It begins with a text to her mom: “Dear God,” she types. “Please help me do my best.”
Kamryn, 21, is the only member of Team USA’s speedskating squad to have had a bat mitzvah – or a beloved pug who shared her Hebrew name, Elisheva.
The pre-race prayer with her mother is the final buffer against the chaos of what’s to come. The words themselves are a contract with uncertainty. “My parents instilled in me that all that we can do is our best,” Kamryn said. “I just repeat that in my head. And then it’s out of my hands.”
As she bides her time in the athletes’ village — she’ll be making her Olympic debut on Saturday — Kamryn scrolls through messages from her mom and newsletters from her synagogue back home, grounding herself in faith and family.
Routine is everything. She wakes early and eats in the cafeteria with competitors from around the world. “We’re training every day,” she said via Zoom on Wednesday, sitting on the edge of her twin bed in the dorm-style room she shares with a teammate.
Born at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital and named at Central Synagogue, Kamryn spent her early years shuttling between New York and Washington, D.C., as her parents followed careers in government and diplomacy. Her dad, Douglas, worked in both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, and her mom, Jane, worked at the United Nations.
Her journey to Milan began in her living room. In the winter of 2010, short track speedskating phenom Apolo Ohno carved impossible lines across the TV during the Vancouver Olympics. Kamryn, then five, pointed at the screen. “I want to do that,” she announced ambitiously to her parents. They assumed her interest would fade. It didn’t.
Kamryn, who is 5′ 10”, has not stopped since. She won her first medal on a broken ankle at the age of 7. By eight, she was a national champion. She has set 10 national records.
At 17, she nearly made it onto the team for the Winter Olympics in Beijing. In Milan, Kamryn is competing in two events: the 3000-meter relay and, individually, in the 1500 meters.
Short track is a study in contradictions: grace pitched against danger, speeds nudging 35 miles an hour, each lap a negotiation with physics and fate. Kamryn has trained for 16 years to make the improbable look inevitable — a victory, if it comes, measured in centimeters and seconds.
“Actually,” she admitted, “I’m scared of heights, so I’m just happy we’re on the ground, compared to skiing and ski jumping.”
Kamryn’s pursuit of speedskating took her west, where she trains with the U.S. team. She’s a junior at the University of Utah, majoring in economics with a minor in French. When not training or competing, she’s focused on coursework and her long-term goal: to become a lawyer, a path inspired in part by her mother’s career in public service. “I’ve known for 10 years now that I want to go to law school,” Kamryn said.
The importance of faith
Kamryn is the youngest of four girls, and part of a blended, interfaith family. The family’s Jewishness is foundational: lighting Shabbat candles, memberships at both Central Synagogue in Manhattan, which is Reform, and the Conservative congregation Etz Hayim in Arlington, Virginia, just outside D.C.
“Being Jewish is a big part of our identity,” Jane Lute, Kamryn’s mother, said in an interview with the Forward. “It’s grounding. I tell my girls, courage is contagious in a crowd. You were born to a crowd. Never fear doing the right thing.”
Before the games began in Milan, Jane told Kamryn to recite the Shehecheyanu — the blessing for new experiences — during the opening ceremony, which Kamryn did. “I listen to my mom,” she said with a laugh.
On race day, Kamryn’s rituals are methodical: 90 minutes of warm-up, bike and stretches, hip hop and rap in her ears. “I always get nervous when I race,” she said. “But once the race starts, everything else disappears.”
Jane’s expectations are as precise as her daughter’s routines. “It’s impossible for you to disappoint anyone in your life at this stage,” she told her daughter. “Don’t put that pressure on yourself. Do pay attention to your character. Pay attention to how you conduct yourself.”
Whether the Olympics end in a blur of medals or missed turns, the duo will likely send the same post-race text they always do.
“God is good,” Jane usually types.
Kamryn’s reply is always the same: “Baruch Hashem.”
The post This Jewish Olympian prays with her mom before every race appeared first on The Forward.
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New York Democrat Comptroller Candidate’s Plan to Divest From Israel Is Imprudent, Republican Opponent Says
Joseph Hernandez, Republican candidate for New York State Comptroller, speaking with voters. Photo: Hernandez campaign
The plan of a Democratic candidate for New York comptroller to divest the state of its holdings in Israel bonds violates the fiduciary duties of an office which oversees the management of hundreds of billions of dollars in pension funds and other assets, his Republican opponent, Joseph Hernandez, told The Algemeiner during an exclusive interview on Monday.
Hernandez, a Cuban refugee whose family fled the Castro regime, explained that the proposal, promised by former Kansas state Rep. Raj Goyle (who moved to New York after a failed bid for US Congress in 2010), would amount to an endorsement of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel while alienating a country widely regarded as arguably the most reliable US ally.
Israel bonds, he added, are one of the safest assets a government could own. He has promised to invest $1 billion in them if he is elected.
“From a purely financial perspective, these are good investments. You would put your own money in this for sure, and you shouldn’t apply politics to the equation,” he said. “Imagine if we stopped investing the bonds of other foreign countries or vice versa because of disagreements over policy. That’s just bad decision making.”
“The economic rationale for investing in Israeli bonds is impeccable,” Hernandez continued. “Israel has an exploding technology sector producing giant leaps in artificial intelligence and the next generation of health care and biotech. We should be partnering with them in these areas, beyond the bonds. I think the relationship, from an investment perspective, should be broader. As the fiduciary and ultimately as the sole trustee of the New York State pension fund, I will seek ways not only to increase investment on the bonds side but also to collaborate on bringing the next generation of technologies to New York and promote a new era of job growth in the state.”
In New York City specifically, records show that Israel bonds, historically yielding approximately 5 percent annually, have outperformed many alternatives.
As for the state overall, Israeli firms pour billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs into the local economy, and business experts have warned that a push for divestment could lead Israeli-associated and Jewish-owned companies to leave.
A study released by the United States-Israel Business Alliance in October revealed that, based on 2024 data, 590 Israeli-founded companies directly created 27,471 jobs in New York City that year and indirectly created over 50,000 jobs when accounting for related factors, such as buying and shipping local products.
These firms generated $8.1 billion in total earnings, adding an estimated $12.4 billion in value to the city’s economy and $17.9 billion in total gross economic output.
As for the entire state, the report, titled the “2025 New York – Israel Economic Impact Report,” found that 648 Israeli-founded companies generated $8.6 billion in total earnings and $19.5 billion in gross economic output, contributing a striking $13.3 billion in added value to the economy. These businesses also directly created 28,524 jobs and a total of 57,145 when accounting for related factors.
From financial tech leaders like Fireblocks to cybersecurity powerhouse Wiz, Israeli entrepreneurs have become indispensable to the innovation ecosystem. The number of Israeli-founded “unicorns,” privately held companies with a valuation of at least $1 billion, operating in New York City has quadrupled since 2019, increasing from five to 20.
However, anti-Israel activists in the US have been pushing for state and local governments, in addition to businesses, universities, and various cultural forums to divest all assets from Israel-linked entities in accordance with the BDS movement.
The BDS movement seeks to isolate Israel on the international stage as the first step toward its elimination. Leaders of the movement have repeatedly stated their goal is to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.
Goyle’s plan would enact the divestment component of BDS by aiming to limit Israel’s capacity to issue bonds for the purpose of borrowing money, a core function of government which raises capital for expenditures such as roads and bridges while contributing to economic health, market stabilization, and a high credit rating.
The New York Post reported last month that Goyle wants to fully divest $338 million in foreign assets, including Israel bonds, from New York’s retirement fund.
“I’m here to tell you that when I am comptroller, we will not renew the foreign bond portfolio of the state comptroller’s office and that includes Israel bonds,” Goyle told a gathering of supporters of the left-wing Working Families Party. “We will not send a blank check for [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu’s war crimes in Gaza.”
The state comptroller’s office manages pensions for state and municipal workers and runs the Common Retirement Fund, one of the largest pension funds in the country with a $291 billion investment portfolio. It currently holds about $337.5 million in Israel bonds.
“I live in New York, the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. I see what this community contributes to America and to our society,” he said. “The relationship that we have is unbreakable and it is one we should continue to invest in both socially, politically, and financially.”
Across the political spectrum, Israel bonds are widely considered wise investments.
“They’re stable, they’re guaranteed, they’ve never had a problem, and it’s a good investment,” state Assemblyman David Weprin, a Democrat and former chair of the New York City Council Finance Committee, told the Post.
Goyle is not the only New York Democrat advocating a rupture in the state’s financial relationship with Israel. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who entered office last month, has been an outspoken supporter of the BDS movement.
Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist who has made anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career, has repeatedly accused Israel of “apartheid” and refused to recognize its right to exist as a Jewish state.
Such positions have raised alarm bells among not only New York’s Jewish community but also Israeli business owners and investors, who fear a hostile climate under Mamdani’s leadership.
His election came after former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander refused last year to renew some Israel bonds in the city’s pension fund, which is a separate entity. The office of then-Mayor Eric Adams accused Lander of pushing a political agenda by moving to withdraw millions of dollars in city pension funds from bonds issued by the Jewish state.
On Monday, Hernandez pledged to be beholden to New York’s taxpayers and not fringe ideological groups.
“There’s a reason that this is an independent elected role,” he concluded. “It’s supposed to be a role that doesn’t take political filters or use politics for decision making. This is about fiduciary duty and what it is in the best interest of the taxpayers, and I intend to execute to that effect.”
Both Goyle and Hernandez are vying to unseat incumbent state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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After 3-hour White House meeting, Trump says he ‘insisted’ to Netanyahu that Iran talks should continue
(JTA) — Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in an effort to push the U.S. leader to widen negotiation with Iran to include Israeli security priorities.
“Nothing definitive” came out of the highly anticipated meeting between the leaders, which lasted roughly three hours, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social immediately afterwards. But he signaled that he had resisted a push to end direct talks with Iran.
“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be,” wrote Trump.
Prior to boarding a flight on his way to Washington D.C. on Tuesday, Netanyahu told reporters that his meeting with Trump would center “first and foremost” on negotiations with Iran.
“I will present to the president our views on the principles in the negotiations, the important principles, and in my opinion they are important not only to Israel — but to everyone in the world who wants peace and security in the Middle East,” Netanyahu told reporters.
During Wednesday’s meeting, which was closed to the press, Netanyahu was expected to push Trump to widen negotiations with Iran beyond its nuclear program, including imposing restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and ending Iranian support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
The talks Wednesday were also expected to center on developments in the ceasefire in Gaza, with Netanyahu officially joining the Board of Peace during a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier in the day.
Met with U.S. Secretary of State @marcorubio at Blair House in Washington.
Ahead of my meeting at the White House with President Trump, I signed Israel’s accession as a member of the “Board of Peace.”
We will continue strengthening the unbreakable alliance between Israel and… pic.twitter.com/CJ4Lw92WdX
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) February 11, 2026
Netanyahu’s visit Wednesday was his sixth to the United States since the beginning of Trump’s term. Trump surprised him at an earlier meeting by announcing that he planned to open direct talks with Iran, which has vowed to destroy Israel.
The visit shortly followed talks in Oman on Friday between Iran’s foreign minister and Trump administration officials on reaching a potential nuclear deal. Those talks came a month after Iranian leaders ordered a crackdown on civil protesters in which an estimated 30,000 Iranians or more were murdered.
On Tuesday, Trump told Axios that he was “thinking” about sending another aircraft carrier strike group to the Gulf where he has already assembled a large military buildup, adding, “Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time.”
Iran has said it will retaliate if the United States strikes to curb its nuclear program, sparking concern of a war. Last June, the United States struck three nuclear sites in Iran amid the country’s 12-day war with Israel, damaging but not destroying them.
In an interview Tuesday with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow, Trump said that a good deal with Iran would mean “no nuclear weapons, no missiles.”
“We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal,” said Trump. “I think they’d be foolish if they didn’t. We took out their nuclear power last time, and we’ll have to see if we take out more this time.”
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