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Holocaust museum celebrates Rebecca Rubin, the Jewish immigrant and American Girl doll
(New York Jewish Week) – Born in 1905, Rebecca Rubin was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who lived on the Lower East Side. Typical of girls her age, she attended public school, lit Shabbat candles with her siblings, watched her father conduct business at his shoe store and loved going to the movies.
And now, this Sunday, the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust will host a family-friendly event designed to celebrate her life and that of other young Jewish immigrants. On the event’s agenda are special tours, crafts and a panel discussion about Rebecca’s story, as well as others like her who lived in New York in the early 20th century.
But here’s the thing: Rebecca Rubin is not a real person. She is an 18-inch tall American Girl doll — who, like the others in the brand’s uber-popular series of historical dolls, represents the life of a girl who lived during an important period of American history. The aim of American Girl, which launched in 1986, is to inspire “girls to grow up with courage, confidence and strength of character,” according to its web site, and invites young children to learn about history on their own terms.
That mission, as it happens, dovetails nicely with that of the Battery Park-based museum. “We celebrate Jewish life before, during and after the Holocaust, and immigration is a big theme of what we do,” said Joshua Mack, the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s vice president of marketing. “I had been thinking about our immigration pieces and ways to get people into the museum so that they can discover what we do, especially younger people. What’s amazing about American Girl dolls is how historically relevant they are. It’s a way for so many children to get proper history, so it totally fits into our lane.”
Sunday’s “Rebecca Day” is the museum’s first-ever event dedicated to a doll. The idea originated nearly 10 years ago when Mack took his own child, Willa, to the Tenement Museum — a Lower East Side “living history museum” that tells the story of New York’s immigrants by recreating the conditions they lived in — and they toted along their Rebecca doll.
“It seemed like a great way to celebrate Jewish heritage and get fans and enthusiasts to visit us and learn more about the museum,” Mack said of Rebecca Day, adding that when he pitched his team — who are mostly Gen-Z and millennials — they immediately latched onto it.
As one of 12 historical dolls in the active lineup of historical American Girls, Rebecca was the first American Girl doll with a Jewish story when she came on the scene in 2009. (This spring, American Girl released 1990s twin dolls Isabel and Nicki Hoffman, whose father is Jewish.) “The much-anticipated latest addition to the American Girl series of historical characters, Rebecca goes on sale May 31 along with six books about her life,” JTA’s Sue Fishkoff wrote at the time. “No cheap date, she costs $95 with one book, or $118 if accompanied by the complete set.” (Inflation has been kind to American Girl: The Rebecca set today costs $146.)
Each of the dolls in the series comes with period clothing and accessories to flesh out her life story, as well as a set of books that describes the year in their lives when they turn 10. Rebecca’s line includes props like a menorah, Shabbat candles and a Russian-style shawl, as well as a purple bouclé outfit and satin purple hat.
Sunday’s event is also also designed to get people in the building to view the museum’s new exhibit, “Courage To Act: Rescue in Denmark,” its first-ever exhibit geared towards children, Mack said. The interactive exhibit tells the story of how Jewish and non-Jewish communities in Denmark banded together to save 95% of the Danish Jewish population from the Nazis, including by transporting them on rescue boats to Sweden — an endeavor helmed by 22-year-old Henny Sinding Sundø.
Rebecca Day — which is free, though $10 donations are encouraged — includes kid-friendly guided tours of the museum’s exhibits, as well as a festive lunch of latkes for kids and their dolls at the Lox Cafe, the museum’s restaurant, and Hanukkah crafts like dreidel-decorating.
A highlight of the event is a discussion with Jacqueline Dembar Greene, the author of 11 American Girl novels featuring Rebecca Rubin. She plans to answer questions about Rebecca’s story and about what life was like as an immigrant in 1914. Some of the research she did for the books was conducted at the Museum of Jewish Heritage 15 years ago, Dembar Greene told the New York Jewish Week, adding that other stories were lifted from her own family’s experience as Russian Jewish immigrants in the 1920s.
“I tried to write it as if there were readers who didn’t know much of anything,” Dembar Greene said. “But then, for the kids who were Jewish, I wanted to make sure that they felt that they learned a little extra something and see their own lives reflected in some of the traditions.”
American Girl is not sponsoring Rebecca Day at the museum. But spokesperson Julie Parks said the company is “excited” about the event, particularly the fact that Dembar Greene “will be on hand to share how Rebecca, a first-generation Jewish American growing up in early 20th-century New York City, made her own positive mark on the world.
“American Girl is a brand rooted in story,” Parks said, “and each of our beloved characters, like Rebecca, has helped to create a sense of connection and community among our fans.”
Dembar Greene said one of the biggest challenges in writing the Rebecca books was nailing just how observant the Rubin family might have been — Rebecca’s father opens his shoe store on Shabbat, for example, but her parents wouldn’t let her go to a movie then — while acknowledging that part of the immigrant experience at that time was assimilating to American culture. It’s one of the themes that Rebecca contends with throughout the series.
“I tried to reflect that the most important thing in the families, that was not changeable, was the acceptance of moral traditions,” she said, adding that “tikkun olam, making the world a better place, and the way you treat other people,” are major factors in both Rebecca’s story and Jewish life in general.
“Partly why these books are still popular and still very relevant, even though the story is based so long ago, is that we have new immigrants coming in and contributing to the American story their energy, their drive, their fresh ideas and new ways of looking at things that drive progress,” she added.
“Rebecca Day” will take place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage at 36 Battery Pl. on Sunday, Dec. 3 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Register here.
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The post Holocaust museum celebrates Rebecca Rubin, the Jewish immigrant and American Girl doll appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.