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New Yorkers are buzzing about local honey this Rosh Hashanah
(New York Jewish Week) — Five years ago, Gadi Peleg, the owner and founder of Breads Bakery — an Israeli-style bakery with roots in Tel Aviv and stores around Manhattan — began to sell New York City-harvested honey in his stores in the weeks before Rosh Hashanah. It was an instant hit.
All the products at Breads (other than soft drinks) are prepared in-house, and it made sense to Peleg that the honey be proprietary, too. So Peleg turned to Andrew Coté, a fourth-generation beekeeper and owner of Andrew’s Honey, who has more than 100 hives around the city.
“Honey from the city is cleaner than honey from the countryside,” Coté, who is Jewish, told the New York Jewish Week. “Very few to no pesticides are sprayed in Manhattan.”
Beekeeping became legal in New York City in 2010, at which time 42 bee owners were registered. According to the New York City Health Department, there are currently 121 beekeepers registered with the city. Tom Wilk, New York City director of the Empire State Honey Producers Associations, estimates that there are probably twice that amount. “People are afraid of letting the government know what they are doing,” he said.
Interest in beekeeping continues to grow, and there are classes on beekeeping throughout the city. Brooklyn Grange, a leading rooftop farming business, holds a Beekeeping 101 class at its Brooklyn Navy Yard location. In Astoria, Queens, Nick and Ashley Hoefly, will soon open the city’s only dedicated honey shop, The Honey House at Astor Apiaries where you can try honey, take classes in beekeeping, gardening and cooking.
September is a busy month for New York City’s beekeepers. Rosh Hashanah, and its custom to put honey on the holiday table, jacks up demand — and demand in a city with 1.6 million Jews is steep. What’s more, September is a big harvesting month and, for the last 13 years, the Queens Beekeepers Guild has hosted a honey festival on the second Saturday in September on the boardwalk in Rockaway Beach.
Coté, founder of the New York City Beekeepers Association and the author of a book about urban beekeeping, is perhaps the best known of the beekeepers spread across the five boroughs. He and Peleg first became acquainted at the Union Square Greenmarket, where Coté sells his wares. The four-day-a-week market is just down the block from Breads’ original Manhattan location on West 16th Street. It was a win-win situation for the two businessmen: The beekeeper gained an additional revenue stream while the baker acquired an exclusive source of honey from a producer who’s landed on “best” lists.
Of Coté’s dozens of hives, four of them are earmarked for Breads. They are located on the roof of a building at 19th Street and Broadway.
“When people hear the honey comes from hives a few blocks away, they react with disbelief,” said Samantha Mele, logistics manager at Breads Bakery. She is referred to as its “Queen Bee” — both because of her focus on details and her involvement in the honey project. “Longtime customers will pre-order since they know we sell out.”
“We first prioritize jarring the honey,” Peleg said. “People really enjoy it obviously with apples and on our challah bread.” He added that Breads sells “ many, many hundreds of jars” of the stuff each fall.
Breads also uses honey — local, if available after jarring, as well as honey sourced elsewhere — in a variety of Rosh Hashanah baked goods, including honey cake, medovik (a caramelized biscuit layer cake made with buckwheat honey), honey rugelach and safta cake (a honey, cinnamon and apple cake).
The amount of honey harvested from Breads’ four hives changes year to year, and the flavor — which depends on where the bees collected their pollen, and when the honey was harvested from the hives — varies, too.
“Generally the earlier honey [of the season] is lighter and the later honey is darker,” Coté said. “That’s because of what is in bloom at different times of the year. The early harvest [in New York] is full of pollen from linden trees.” Pollen from these European lindens, according to the Central Park Conservancy, makes a delicately flavored honey.
Beekeeping is a full-time job for some New Yorkers, like Coté, who grew up keeping bees in Quebec with a Catholic and Native American father and a Jewish mother. “My mother’s family was thrilled to have beekeepers in the family, since it meant a relatively endless supply of fresh pure honey, for all occasions, but most especially for Rosh Hashanah,” he said.
For other urban beekeepers, it’s “a hobby that pays its own way,” according to part-time beekeeper Menachem Husarsky of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.
Husarsky began raising honey bees three years ago, at his wife’s request. She, along with their daughter, suffers from seasonal allergies, and many believe that ingesting locally sourced honey helps people build immunity to their pollen. (Alas, the medical community is divided on this.)
“Menachem took the idea and ran with it,” said Malka Husarsky, Menachem’s wife, who recalled her own mother eating local honey to help with her allergies.
Within a year, the family’s COVID-era hobby grew into a small business. In 2021, they began to sell their honey, The Birds and the Bees Brooklyn. Most of the sales are via Facebook, to the local communities of Ditmas Park and Kensington, but they also sell to their fellow Orthodox neighbors at their upstate home at Vacation Village in Monticello, New York.
So far, this year, the Husarskys have harvested 170 pounds of honey from four hives located in the modest side yard of their Brooklyn home. This season’s flavors are rare: “We have apple, cherry and peach trees on our property,” Husarsky said. “We have Meyer lemon and clementine trees in pots. A lot of our neighbors in the area grow mint and someone was growing hot peppers.”
By the end of this season, they expect to extract a total of 375 pounds of honey, which they sell for between $2 to $3 an ounce (the peach honey, which has a more limited supply, goes for $3 an ounce).
Sales, said Husarsky, “kick up in September around Rosh Hashanah,” and they usually sell out.
And at the Husarsky family’s celebration of Rosh Hashanah, “We intend, of course, to dip our apples in our honey,” said Menachem Husarsky. “We have apple trees on both our properties with apples ready for Rosh Hashanah.”
“We’re excited and blessed to spend the holiday with family,” Malka Husarsky added. “ It will be really special to have our family around the table, filled with items from Hashem and our urban farm.”
And there may be Jewish lessons to be learned from beekeeping, too. According to Rabbi Eitan Webb, director of the Chabad House at Princeton University: “Honey bees all work together in unity. They know that time is short and there is so much to do, and they run around as fast as they can, so they can create something good.”
“Bees make honey, but they also sting when they are threatened,” he added. The late Chabad rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, “suggests that, like bees, our primary role is to do mitzvahs, bringing sweetness to the world. Though we have the power to sting, we should reserve it for sparing use and only in defense of our treasure: Judaism.”
At Breads, the crew there has been preparing for Rosh Hashanah — which begins on the evening of Friday, Sept. 15 — since March. “We realize what a huge responsibility it is to ensure that people can celebrate the holiday,” Peleg said. “We take that responsibility very, very seriously.”
As for Coté, he and his family celebrate Rosh Hashanah by having — you guessed it — a honey-based feast. First, there is honey cake. “Our honey cake is always made with buckwheat honey for a much richer and more satisfying (in my opinion) honey cake,” Cote wrote to the New York Jewish Week.
Then, there is the honey and apple tasting. “Since I work at a farmers’ market, I always command a wide spread of different apples,” he said. “These are sliced and sorted and dipped in an almost equally diverse selection of honey.”
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The post New Yorkers are buzzing about local honey this Rosh Hashanah appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omer Fatah Criticized Israel After Oct. 7, Accused Jewish State of ‘Genocide’ in Gaza
State Senator Omar Fateh announces his candidacy for Minneapolis mayor during a press conference at City Hall, surrounded by supporters holding campaign signs.
Minneapolis mayoral candidate and Democratic Socialist Omar Fateh, who recently secured the Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) Party’s endorsement for mayor of Minneapolis, is drawing scrutiny over his statements regarding Israel amid a heated mayoral campaign.
Fateh’s victory at the DFL convention shattered expectations when he amassed a majority of delegate votes, surpassing incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey, who is Jewish. Moreover, Fateh’s unexpected victory has also drawn fresh attention towards his views on Israel-Palestine.
Following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, Fateh published a letter that was broadly critical of the Jewish state and called for an “immediate ceasefire.” Fateh drew an equivalency between Israel’s defensive military operations and the Hamas slaughter of 1200 people and abduction of 250 others.
“ I am overwhelmed with sorrow for the victims of this violence as well as anger towards both the Israeli Government and Hamas who have senselessly injured and killed thousands of people in a matter of days,” Fateh wrote.
“In the aftermath of the most deadly Hamas attack in Israeli history, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians, we have seen Israel respond with horrifying acts of violence and deprivation against the Palestinians of Gaza as well as an uptick in settler violence in the West Bank. Since the Hamas attacks, Israel has cut off water, power, fuel, food, and medicine to over two million people,” Fateh continued.
Critics also point to a protest vote Fateh cast in the March 2024 Minnesota presidential primary. He chose “uncommitted” rather than supporting President Joe Biden, citing dissatisfaction with the administration’s position on Israel’s conflict with Hamas. He warned the Democratic party that unless policy shifts dramatically on Israel, progressive ballots wouldn’t be guaranteed.
“With deep remorse for the actions of our country’s federal government, which shows no signs of wavering in its commitment to unconditional military and political support for Israel’s genocide in Palestine, announcing that I will be voting uncommitted on Super Tuesday,” Fateh wrote on X/Twitter.
Fateh and his supporters rebut these allegations, arguing his positions stem from advocacy for equitable policy and human rights, rather than animus toward Jewish people or Israel as a state.
Jewish and moderate voters have expressed concern that Fateh’s positions might undermine communal trust or openness to diverse city constituencies. At the same time, progressive activists and Somali-American communities, a key component of his support base, see his positions as principled and grounded in solidarity with marginalized groups.
Fateh’s growing influence in Minneapolis politics comes amidst Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s political ascent in New York City. Recent polls suggest that the success of the two Democratic Socialists point to a possible generational shift within the Democratic party which is increasingly shaped by left-wing views on economics and Israel.
The Minneapolis general election is set for November 4, 2025.
The post Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omer Fatah Criticized Israel After Oct. 7, Accused Jewish State of ‘Genocide’ in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Cruz Introduces Bill to Counter Violent Antisemitic and Anti-ICE Protest Groups
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Legislation introduced in the Senate on Tuesday by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) would empower Department of Justice prosecutors to use rioting as part of RICO (racketeering) charges to disrupt organizations fueling violence at college protests and demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies.
Cruz described how the Stop Financial Underwriting of Nefarious Demonstrations and Extremist Riots (Stop FUNDERs) Act intended to target international threats.
“Every American has the right to freedom of speech and peaceful protest, but not to commit violence. Domestic NGOs and foreign adversaries fund and use riots in the United States to undermine the security and prosperity of Americans,” Cruz said. “My legislation will give the Department of Justice the tools it needs to hold them accountable, and I urge colleagues to pass it expeditiously.”
Elevating the organization of violent protest riots to a RICO offense will enable joint liability and group prosecution, conspiracy charges, asset forfeiture, and enhanced criminal penalties, according to its proponents.
Co-sponsors of the bill include Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Josh Hawley (R- Mo.).
“Radical, left-wing groups who fund acts of violence, coordinate attacks against law enforcement, and spearhead the destruction of property must be stopped.” Cornyn said. “This legislation would add rioting to the list of racketeering offenses to crack down on this lawless behavior while ensuring the First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceful protest are protected.”
Last year, schools saw anti-Israel campus protests that in some cases devolved into riots, including at University of Texas at Austin, University of Florida, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania and California State University, Los Angeles.
On Thursday, Cruz put forward another bill intended to counter domestic subversion by radical organizations. He reintroduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 which would designate as a terrorist group the Islamist fountainhead founded by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, triggering the ability for the government to freeze assets, ban visas, and make support for the organization illegal.
Domestic groups associated with the Muslim Brotherhood such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) may also face increased government investigations. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Austria have already criminalized the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 2014, the UAE designated CAIR and MAS as terrorist organizations due to their roots in the Muslim Brotherhood.
On Friday, Cruz wrote on X, “The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. American allies in the Middle East and Europe have already labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and the United States should do the same. Let’s get this done.”
The post Cruz Introduces Bill to Counter Violent Antisemitic and Anti-ICE Protest Groups first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Europe Sees Sharp Rise in Attacks Targeting Israelis Amid Growing Antisemitism
Anti-Israel protesters march in Germany, March 26, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa via Reuters Connect
Across Europe, Israelis are facing a disturbing surge of targeted attacks and hostility, as a wave of antisemitic incidents — from violent assaults and vandalism to protests and legal actions — spreads amid rising tensions following recent conflicts in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, a group of Israeli teenagers was physically assaulted by dozens of pro-Palestinian assailants — some reportedly armed with knives — on the Greek island of Rhodes.
This latest antisemitic incident took place after the Israeli teens left a nightclub, when a group of pro-Palestinian individuals followed them to their hotel and violently attacked them, leaving several with minor injuries.
According to police reports, the group of 20 Israeli tourists were seen shouting pro-Israel slogans at a bar, which provoked a response from around 10 pro-Palestinian supporters who began calling them “murderers.”
This latest attack came less than a day after pro-Palestinian protests at the port of another Greek island, Syros, forced an Israeli cruise ship to cancel its stop, leaving around 1,600 Israeli passengers stranded and raising safety concerns.
Around 300 protesters gathered at the dock, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners reading “Stop the Genocide” and “No AC [Air Conditioning] in Hell,” while chanting antisemitic slogans.
Last week in Athens, a group of pro-Palestinian activists vandalized an Israeli restaurant, shouting antisemitic slurs and spray-painting graffiti with slogans such as “No Zionist is safe here.”
The attackers also posted a sign on one of the restaurant’s windows that read, “All IDF soldiers are war criminals — we don’t want you here,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents have surged to alarming levels across Europe. This recent attack is just one of the latest in a wave of anti-Jewish hate crimes that Greece and other countries have witnessed in recent months.
In Switzerland, a series of antisemitic attacks in Davos, a town located in the eastern Swiss Alps, has caused significant concern and outrage within the local Jewish community.
Jonathan Kreutner, secretary general of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), informed the newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine of three incidents believed to have been carried out by the same individual.
Local law enforcement is now investigating an unidentified assailant who verbally harassed a Jewish couple at a local store in Davos, spat on them, and physically attacked them in an attempt to force them out.
This same individual is alleged to have later spat on another elderly Jewish couple and insulted a Jewish person on a bus while making threatening hand gestures.
In Germany, four masked individuals vandalized a Jewish restaurant in Freiburg, southwest of the country, on Monday by throwing eggs at its windows and inside the premises.
In Berlin, the planned launch event for a new restaurant by Israeli chef Eyal Shani and entrepreneur Shahar Segal was canceled over the weekend amid an anti-Israel protest.
The restaurant Gila and Nancy, originally set to open this week, will now launch in about three weeks following a surge of online campaigns and boycott calls targeting Israeli-owned businesses.
In Belgium, two IDF soldiers were arrested and interrogated by local authorities following a complaint filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), an anti-Israel legal organization dedicated to pursuing legal action against IDF personnel.
According to HRF, the soldiers attending the Tomorrowland music festival were accused of involvement in war crimes.
The organization said they were seen waving the flags of the IDF’s Givati Brigade, which has been “involved in the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and in carrying out mass atrocities against the Palestinian population.”
In France, airport authorities acknowledged a breach of protocol earlier this month after a staff member was filmed chanting “free Palestine” while inspecting passports, reportedly of passengers from Israel.
The post Europe Sees Sharp Rise in Attacks Targeting Israelis Amid Growing Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.