Uncategorized
Itzhak Perlman gets personal in an intimate, anecdote-filled performance
(New York Jewish Week) — Like so many people, I feel like I’ve known Itzhak Perlman my entire life (thank you, “Sesame Street”). And now, I finally had the opportunity to see and hear the Israeli-American violin virtuoso perform in person.
And not just perform: At a fundraising event Tuesday for the nonprofit Amit Children, Perlman offered a touching, music-filled autobiographical monologue on his life on and off the concert stage.
The occasion was the kickoff campaign for a new, state-of-the-art campus in Raanana run by the education network that operates more than 100 schools in Israel. The event, which attracted some 400 supporters, was held at Sony Hall, a glamorous, Jazz Age-era event space tucked into the basement of the Paramount Hotel on West 46th St.
Augmented with photos and video, Perlman told a story that began with his Polish parents’ immigration to pre-state Israel in the 1930s. There, they lived in Tel Aviv and raised their son in a one-room apartment with a shared bath. Amid charming anecdotes — including one about enjoying his mother’s homemade gefilte fish despite befriending and losing the live carps kept fresh in their bathtub every Friday — Perlman, 77, played several pieces that launched and shaped his long career.
He detailed his bout with polio at age 4, his turn to the violin and how he auditioned and got his big break as a 7th-grader on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1958. That, he said, was his first-ever trip to the United States — a place he associated with “the Empire State Building, television sets and Polaroid cameras” — and he stayed, well, at the Paramount Hotel. At 13, he was accepted to New York’s elite Juilliard School and, to keep the family afloat, worked “the Jewish benefit circuit,” as he called it. “It’s 2022 and I’m still playing fundraisers,” he quipped. “Can you imagine that? Nothing has changed.”
Of course, many things have changed for Perlman since then: A winner of 16 Grammys, Perlman is the kind of classical music superstar known to people who don’t normally indulge in classical music (his performance on the “Schindler’s List” soundtrack has been streamed close to 40 million times on Spotify). In 1994, he and his wife Toby launched the Perlman Music Program for gifted string players, and he remains a disability rights activist.
“Mr. Perlman’s passion, creativity and drive for excellence are well known,” Audrey Axelrod Trachtman, the president of Amit, which largely serves children on Israel’s social and geographic periphery, said in a statement. “It is his unwavering commitment to Israel and mentoring young people that speaks to what Amit is all about.”
The evening concluded with the announcement that Amit is dedicating the Toby and Itzhak Perlman Music Studio in the couple’s honor, located at the Amit State Technological School, a “last-chance high school” in Jerusalem.
“Any organization that does anything for education,” Perlman said in response, “is the best and the greatest mitzvah.”
—
The post Itzhak Perlman gets personal in an intimate, anecdote-filled performance appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’
Rep Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, on Sunday likened the Trump administration’s immigration rhetoric to Nazi depictions of Jews.
“It reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany,” Omar said in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, commenting on a social media post by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, in which he suggested that “migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” Miller, who is Jewish, is the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
Omar called Miller’s comments “white supremist rhetoric” and also drew parallels between his characterization of migrants seeking refuge in the U.S. to how Jews were demonized and treated when they fled Nazi-era Germany. “As we know, there have been many immigrants who have tried to come to the United States who have turned back, you know, one of them being Jewish immigrants,” she said.
Now serving as Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Miller is central to the White House’s plans for mass deportations and expanded barriers to asylum. During Trump’s first term, Miller led the implementation of the so-called Muslim travel ban in 2017, which barred entry to the U.S. for individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and pushed to further reduce a longtime refugee program.
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “When I think about Stephen Miller and his white supremacist rhetoric, it reminds me of the way the Nazis described Jewish people in Germany.” pic.twitter.com/GAjIMqFq26
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2025
Miller’s comments echoed similar rhetoric by Trump after an Afghan refugee was accused of shooting two National Guard members near the White House last month, killing one.
Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting last week that Somali immigrants are “garbage” and that he wanted them to be sent “back to where they came from.” The president also singled out Omar, a Somali native who represents Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. “She should be thrown the hell out of our country,” Trump said.
In the Sunday interview, Omar called Trump’s remarks “completely disgusting” and accused him of having “an unhealthy obsession” with her and the Somali community. “This kind of hateful rhetoric and this level of dehumanizing can lead to dangerous actions by people who listen to the president,” she said.
The post Rep. Ilhan Omar says Stephen Miller’s comments on immigrants sound like how ‘Nazis described Jewish people’ appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Nigeria Seeks French Help to Combat Insecurity, Macron Says
French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has sought more help from France to fight widespread violence in the north of the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, weeks after the United States threatened to intervene to protect Nigeria’s Christians.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has witnessed an upsurge in attacks in volatile northern areas in the past month, including mass kidnappings from schools and a church.
US President Donald Trump has raised the prospect of possible military action in Nigeria, accusing it of mistreating Christians. The government says the allegations misrepresent a complex security situation in which armed groups target both faith groups.
Macron said he had a phone call with Tinubu on Sunday, where he conveyed France’s support to Nigeria as it grapples with several security challenges, “particularly the terrorist threat in the North.”
“At his request, we will strengthen our partnership with the authorities and our support for the affected populations. We call on all our partners to step up their engagement,” Macron said in a post on X.
Macron did not say what help would be offered by France, which has withdrawn its troops from West and Central Africa and plans to focus on training, intelligence sharing and responding to requests from countries for assistance.
Nigeria is grappling with a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast, armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest and deadly clashes between largely Muslim cattle herders and mostly Christian farmers in the central parts of the country, stretching its security forces.
Washington said last month that it was considering actions such as sanctions and Pentagon engagement on counterterrorism as part of a plan to compel Nigeria to better protect its Christian communities.
The Nigerian government has said it welcomes help to fight insecurity as long as its sovereignty is respected. France has previously supported efforts to curtail the actions of armed groups, the US has shared intelligence and sold arms, including fighter jets, and Britain has trained Nigerian troops.
Uncategorized
Netanyahu Says He Will Not Quit Politics if He Receives a Pardon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participates in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem on Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not retire from politics if he receives a pardon from the country’s president in his years-long corruption trial.
Asked by a reporter if planned on retiring from political life if he receives a pardon, Netanyahu replied: “no”.
Netanyahu last month asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, with lawyers for the prime minister arguing that frequent court appearances were hindering Netanyahu’s ability to govern and that a pardon would be good for the country.
Pardons in Israel have typically been granted only after legal proceedings have concluded and the accused has been convicted. There is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in response to the charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and his lawyers have said that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings, if concluded, would result in a complete acquittal.
US President Donald Trump wrote to Herzog, before Netanyahu made his request, urging the Israeli president to consider granting the prime minister a pardon.
Some Israeli opposition politicians have argued that any pardon should be conditional on Netanyahu retiring from politics and admitting guilt. Others have said the prime minister must first call national elections, which are due by October 2026.