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How Jewish New York is spending Martin Luther King Day this year
(New York Jewish Week) – This weekend honors the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Jewish communities around the city are using the opportunity to discuss Judaism’s relationship with social justice and the African-American community, and to organize volunteering events.
The New York Jewish Week has gathered a list of Jewish community events surrounding MLK Day, which is observed as a national holiday on Monday, Jan. 16:
Shabbat dinner and volunteering with Repair the World
Repair the World, a national Jewish volunteer movement framed around the pursuit of justice and tikkun olam, is organizing a number of events around the city this weekend. Join them for Shabbat dinners centered around social change in Manhattan and Brooklyn, or volunteer packing hygiene kits for asylum seekers, painting community murals, preparing meals and rebuilding community gardens and compost systems. Find all Repair the World MLK Weekend Shabbat and volunteer opportunities here.
Annual interfaith celebration Shabbat at Temple Emanu-El
Temple Emanu-El is celebrating an interfaith Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday, Jan. 13. For the fourth year in a row, the synagogue welcomes the Rev. Gary V. Simpson and the congregation of The Concord Baptist Church of Christ. Simpson will deliver a sermon alongside Senior Rabbi Joshua Davidson. The event will be in person and live streamed on the Temple Emanu-El website and Facebook page starting at 6:00 p.m.
Kabbalat Shabbat and interfaith services in Brooklyn with Congregation Beth Elohim
Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope will host an MLK Kabbalat Shabbat featuring testimonies from four participants of the congregation’s adult civil rights group who recently traveled to the South to learn about the country’s legacy of racism. The event will also be livestreamed starting at 6:30 p.m.; a Shabbat dinner will follow for those who attend in person. Find more information here.
At 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15, a cohort from CBE will also attend a special “In His Words” service at Antioch Baptist Church in Bed-Stuy (826 Greene Ave.). The service will feature excerpts from King’s speeches.
Cinematters Annual Film Festival
Taking place throughout the weekend at Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, the film festival presents three films in honor of Martin Luther King Day that explore themes of inequality, injustice and social responsibility: “Stranger at the Gate” (Jan. 16 at 4:00 p.m.), “Black Mothers Love & Resist” (Jan. 16 at 5:30 p.m.) and “Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life” (Jan. 18 at 7:00 p.m.). The films will be followed by Q&As with directors and producers of the movies. Learn more about the film festival here.
“Warriors Don’t Cry” theater production
On Sunday, Jan. 15, at 1:00 p.m., the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan will stage “Warriors Don’t Cry,” a play inspired by Melba Pattillo Beals’ memoir of the same name. Appropriate for ages 6-12, the play centers around a high school student named Ya Girl who learns about Beals’ battle to integrate Little Rock Central High School as a member of The Little Rock Nine in 1957.
The production is a collaboration between The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and TheaterWorksUSA and is a part of the Books That Changed My Life Festival at the JCC. Tickets are $10. Find more information here.
An afternoon of learning about volunteering and social justice
UJA-Federation of New York will host “In Service of All: An Afternoon of MLK Learning,” a virtual event on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 4:00 p.m. After a keynote address from Ruth Messinger, global ambassador of American Jewish World Service, breakout sessions and interactive workshops will address questions like, “What does service look like right now? How can volunteerism bring people of all backgrounds together? What do Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jewish texts have to say about changing the world?” Register for the free program here.
Additional volunteer opportunities with UJA
UJA has a helpful guide to the many volunteer opportunities taking place throughout the city on Sunday and Monday, from assembling care packages to organizing meal and grocery drives to donating blood. Take a look here.
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The post How Jewish New York is spending Martin Luther King Day this year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2025
In honor of The Algemeiner‘s 12th annual gala, we are proud to present our “J100” list — 100 individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life over the past year.
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Argentina’s Milei Visits Rebbe’s Ohel, Grave of Chabad Leader, in New York, Reaffirms Strong Support for Israel
Argentine President Javier Milei speaks during a Plenum session of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, in Jerusalem, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Argentina’s President Javier Milei visited the Rebbe’s Ohel, the resting place of Chabad-Lubavitch leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in Queens, New York on Sunday during his US diplomatic tour, reaffirming his strong support for Israel and solidarity with the Jewish community amid rising Middle East tensions.
Alongside Rabbi Simon Jacobson, chairman and publisher of The Algemeiner, the Argentine president visited the mausoleum of the world-renowned Jewish thinker and spiritual leader.
Over the years, the site has drawn not only devoted Jewish pilgrims but also leaders and public figures from around the world seeking guidance, inspiration, and a moment of reflection.
Milei’s visit to the Ohel marked his first stop in New York, a spiritually significant and politically symbolic gesture that comes amid surging antisemitism around the world and ongoing conflict in the Middle East, where the US and Israel continue to wage a military campaign against Iran.
Together with Foreign Secretary Pablo Quirno, Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni, and Secretary General of the Presidency Karina Milei, the Argentine leader began his diplomatic tour in Miami earlier this week, marking his 15th visit to the United States.
Organized by the Argentine Embassy as part of Argentina Week, in partnership with Bank of America and J.P. Morgan, this latest tour aims to strengthen diplomatic ties with allied leaders while attracting new investment to Buenos Aires.
On Saturday, Milei participated in the “Shields of the Americas” summit in Miami, which brought together political leaders and business figures from across the continent.
He also attended a luncheon hosted by US President Donald Trump and was honored with an award at the Hispanic Prosperity Gala.
While in New York, Milei spoke at Yeshiva University in Manhattan, delivering a speech that underscored his commitment to fighting terrorism and promoting stronger international cooperation.
“I feel like the most Zionist president in the world,” the Argentine leader said during his speech.
He also reaffirmed his support for Israel and the United States amid the current escalation in the war with Iran, declaring, “We are going to win.”
Since the start of the war, Milei has voiced strong backing for the US and Israel’s military campaign against Iran. At the same time, his government has heightened security alerts amid growing concerns that Iran and its terrorist proxies could activate sleeper cells abroad in retaliation.
While in New York, he is also set to attend The Algemeiner‘s annual gala, where on Monday he will be honored for his “unwavering moral clarity, principled leadership, and steadfast support for Israel and the Jewish people.”
Milei will conclude his tour with a visit to Chile to attend the presidential inauguration of newly elected president José Antonio Kast.
Since taking office over a year ago, Milei has been one of Israel’s most vocal supporters, strengthening bilateral relations to unprecedented levels and in the process breaking with decades of Argentine foreign policy tradition to firmly align with Jerusalem and Washington.
Last year, Milei formally launched the Isaac Accords with the aim of strengthening political, economic, and cultural cooperation between the Jewish state and Latin American governments.
The Argentine leader called his country a “pioneer” alongside the United States in promoting the new framework, emphasizing its role in fostering closer ties between Israel and the region across key strategic fields.
Milei also announced plans to relocate the country’s embassy to Jerusalem next spring, fulfilling a promise made last year, as the two allies continue to strengthen their bilateral ties.
Less than a year after the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Argentina became the first Latin American country to designate the Palestinian Islamist group as a terrorist organization.
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French Jewish Girl Assaulted Near Paris, Adolescents Arrested for Antisemitic Attack
Sign reading “+1000% of Antisemitic Acts: These Are Not Just Numbers” during a march against antisemitism, in Lyon, France, June 25, 2024. Photo: Romain Costaseca / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect
Three teenage boys assaulted a 14-year-old Jewish girl and threatened to kill her in the Parisian suburb of Sarcelles on Friday, police said, resulting in a trip to the hospital for the victim and arrests for two of the 12-year-old suspects.
The incident began when three younger boys approached an older teenage girl to ask why she failed to observe Ramadan, according to local media reports. After she disclosed her Jewish identity, the three reportedly began calling her a “dirty Jew” and one threatened, “I’ll kill you on the Koran.” They then allegedly beat her, especially on her face.
The assault required a trip to the emergency room, where hospital staff described her as in a state of shock.
Paris law enforcement arrested two suspects that evening and seek to identify the third.
Another suburb of Paris also saw an antisemitic incident on Sunday when vandals hit a Kosher restaurant in Levallois-Perret, spray-painting “dirty Jew” in red across the building’s windows.
A kosher restaurant in Levallois-Perret, near Paris vandalized with antisemitic graffiti reading “Dirty Jew.” Photo: Screenshot
Antisemitic vandals hit Kokoriko, another Kosher restaurant in Paris, just two weeks earlier. Investigators say the criminals sprayed acid on tables, walls, and the floor, rendering silverware and plates unusable.
That attack came just days after the French Interior Ministry last month released its annual report on anti-religious acts, revealing a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents documented in a joint dataset compiled with the Jewish Community Protection Service.
Antisemitism in France remained at alarmingly high levels last year, with 1,320 incidents recorded nationwide, as Jews and Israelis faced several targeted attacks, according to the data.
Although the total number of antisemitic outrages in 2025 fell by 16 percent compared to 2024’s second highest ever total of 1,570 cases, the newly released report warned that antisemitism remained “historically high,” with more than 3.5 attacks occurring every day.
Even though Jews make up less than 1 percent of France’s population, they accounted for 53 percent of all religiously motivated crimes last year.
Between 2022 and 2025, antisemitic attacks across France quadrupled.
The most recent figure of total antisemitic incidents represents a 21 percent decline from 2023’s record high of 1,676 incidents, but a 203 percent increase from the 436 antisemitic acts recorded in 2022, before the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
The surge in antisemitism appears to have carried into this year. Last month, a 13-year-old boy on his way to synagogue in Paris was brutally beaten by a knife-wielding assailant.
“How do you find the words to explain to a 13-year-old child that he is being attacked because he is Jewish? Who will be able to restore his confidence in the future tomorrow?” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), said of the incident.
One-third of last year’s antisemitic incidents in France explicitly referencing Palestine or the war in Gaza, indicting that anti-Israel rhetoric is fueling antisemitism.
The prominence of anti-Zionist forms of antisemitism has prompted French leaders to propose legislation combating this type of hate, as announced by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu last month at CRIF’s annual gathering,
“To define oneself as anti-Zionist is to question Israel’s right to exist. It’s a call for the destruction of an entire people under the guise of ideology,” Lecornu said, announcing that the government would introduce a bill to criminalize anti-Zionism. “There is a difference between legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and rejecting the very existence of the Jewish state. This ‘blurring’ must stop.”
Lecornu declared that “hatred of Jews is hatred of the Republic and a stain on France.”