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The New York Jewish Week’s 10 most-read stories of 2023
(New York Jewish Week) — We’ve made it to the last week of 2023, and before we start the new year, we’re looking back on all the stories that you engaged with most over the past 12 months.
This year, Jewish New Yorkers showed us what meant the most to them — from getting excited about best bites around the city to standing up in solidarity with Israel and against antisemitism to celebrating nearly lost pockets of New York Jewish history.
As the New York Jewish Week continues to grow as part of the 70 Faces Media family, we want to thank you for joining us throughout 2023. Here are the 10 stories you engaged with most this year.
1. Sammy’s Roumanian, iconic Lower East Side Jewish restaurant, mounts a comeback by Lisa Keys (April 27)
Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse owners David, left, and Stan Zimmerman, outside their restaurant at 157 Chrystie St. in 2005. (Julian Voloj)
You read that right: The iconic Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse — the Lower East Side eatery famous for chopped liver prepared table-side, carafes of schmaltz on the tables and its shticky, in-house entertainer, Dani Luv — is mounting a comeback. The Ashkenazi-influenced restaurant — which shuttered in January 2021 during the pandemic — has a lease “in the works” at 191 Orchard St., between Houston and Stanton streets.
2. This Bronx bakery and its Holocaust survivor founder have been making cheesecake the same way for 63 years by Julia Gergely (May 22)
Fred Schuster, left, smiles next to his son-in-law Yair Ben-Zaken. The two of them run S&S Cheesecake, a bakery in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx. (Julia Gergely, Design by Mollie Suss)
Near the northern terminus of the 1 train, just south of Van Cortlandt Park, S&S Cheesecake has been producing thousands of dense, delectable cheesecakes each day for more than 60 years, distributing to steakhouses all across the country. The proprietors are 98-year-old Holocaust survivor Fred Schuster and his daughter and son-in-law Brenda and Yair Ben Zaken.
3. 18-year-old pianist opens Carnegie Hall performance with Israeli national anthem by Luke Tress (Oct. 22)
Kevin Chen performing at Carnegie Hall on Oct. 19, 2023. (Screenshot)
After the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, Kevin Chen, an 18-year-old rising star in the world of piano, used his platform to show his support. He opened his performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall with a rendition of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem and Hebrew for “the hope.” While he played the melody on piano, members of the audience sang along.
4. The first-ever Borscht Belt Festival celebrates a bygone Jewish era by Leah Breakstone (July 3)
The Nevele Country Club Stardust Room in Ellenville, New York in its heyday. (Catskills Borscht Belt Museum)
The Catskills Borscht Belt museum launched “Borscht Belt Fest,”a one-day festival to honor the history and culture of the “Jewish Alps” this summer in Ellenville, New York. The festival, which included comedy shows, workshops, lectures, exhibits, film screenings, lots of food and a street fair, paid tribute to the legacy of the Borscht Belt — the colloquial name for the once-ubiquitous resorts and bungalow colonies in parts of Sullivan, Ulster and Orange counties that catered to Jewish families — and its influence on modern American culture.
5. Yeshiva University is left in mourning after a beloved gay alum dies by suicide by Jacob Henry (May 5)
Herschel Siegel, who was a beloved member of the Jewish communities at Yeshiva University and in his hometown Atlanta, died by suicide April 28. (Courtesy)
Herschel Siegel said he had struggled to reconcile his Jewish and queer identities, particularly as a student and 2021 graduate of Yeshiva University. Siegel died by suicide April 28 in Atlanta, where he grew up and had been living. He was remembered by countless friends and allies who felt connected with his struggle for acceptance in the Modern Orthodox world.
6. This Orthodox Jewish model made history at New York Fashion Week by Julia Gergely (Feb. 14)
Lily Brasch, who has muscular dystrophy, walked the runway at New York Fashion Week for the South Asian brand Randhawa. (Hilary Phelps)
Disability activist Lily Brasch didn’t know if she would be able to walk the runway as a model for New York Fashion Week — not because she has a rare form of muscular dystrophy, which weakens muscles and limits her ability to walk, but rather because the show was set for Friday evening, when the weekly Jewish holiday of Shabbat begins. But Brasch, who is Orthodox and goes by the stage name Lily B., quickly devised a workaround: She took her turn on the catwalk in Midtown at 5 p.m. and, instead of schlepping back uptown to her Morningside Heights apartment, quickly headed to a nearby hotel to welcome Shabbat with her sisters.
7. Falafel Tanami had its regulars. Then the New York Times declared it the best falafel in NYC. by Julia Gergely (June 14)
Galit Tanami, the owner of Falafel Tanami, is shown in her restaurant, which in April was named one of the 100 best restaurants in the city by The New York Times. (Julia Gergely, design by Mollie Suss)
Falafel Tanami is a tiny hole-in-the-wall kosher Israeli restaurant. Beloved by Midwood locals, it’s stardom was put on the map in April when the New York Times named it one of the best restaurants in New York City. Hundreds of people show up every day, creating lines that occasionally snake out the door. News stations from across the globe ask for interviews, catering requests come in from all over the city and, of course, the falafel often sells out before closing time. “It has been crazy, baruch Hashem,” Galit Tanami, who owns the store with her husband, Ronen, told the New York Jewish Week. “Everybody is so excited for us.”
8. A ‘not f-ing Jewish’ NYer is going viral for confronting a man who ripped down Israeli hostage posters by Ben Sales (Oct. 27)
A man confronts another man who was filmed removing Israeli hostage posters on a street corner in Queens, according to video shared by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism. (X)
As Israel began its retaliation against Hamas in order to eradicate the terrorist group and get back the 250 hostages who were kidnapped, New Yorkers began to spread awareness by putting up posters of the hostages across the city. While many videos of people ripping down the posters went viral, one in particular stood out. Like the others, this video featured someone tearing down the fliers. But unlike the rest, the man confronting the poster-ripper did not just urge the person to stop. Instead, he said the f-word. A lot. Another difference: The man confronting the person taking down the posters was, by his own admission, “not f—ing Jewish.” “You don’t have a f—ing right to touch that s—,” the man sporting a brown plaid shirt yelled in a thick New York City accent about halfway through the 43-second clip.
9. At a live event with Netflix’s ‘Jewish Matchmaking,’ fans of the show find their people by Julia Gergely (May 19)
The cast of Netflix’s “Jewish Matchmaking” met for a live event in New York, May 17, 2023. (Julia Gergely)
Aleeza Ben Shalom, star of the Netflix hit “Jewish Matchmaking,” visited New York earlier this year to dole out dating advice and promote her show. She stood in the middle of a tight circle of fans, both men and women, young and old, maintaining the same warmth she displays on her TV show and speaking to as many people as she could. More than a few single women were sent to the event at the behest of their worried Jewish parents. “I’m young, I’m 24, I have a lot of great things going on in my life,” said Yael Chanukov, a Manhattan-based actress. “But my parents are so concerned about me finding someone. They bought me the ticket, sent me the email confirmation and said I had to ask Aleeza for advice.”
10. The quest to replace Park East Synagogue’s 92-year-old rabbi is not going smoothly by Jacob Henry (Feb. 8)
The Star of David stands atop the Park East Synagogue, March 3, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
More than a year after it attracted attention for the abrupt termination of a popular assistant rabbi, Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue hadn’t hired a replacement for its longtime senior rabbi, Arthur Schneier. In February, one candidate, Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, came close, but after a heated squabble about his past outspoken opposition to same-sex relationships, Schochet withdrew his candidacy.
Bonus: NY Jewish Week’s 36 to Watch 2023
This year, our 36 to Watch was a dynamic group of Jewish New Yorkers, from bakers to business owners, athletes to artists, Broadway stars and TikTok stars, pulpit Rabbis and a prison chaplain. As we begin our search for 2024’s batch, take a look back on the New Yorkers we’ve recommended you keep an eye out for as they make their mark on the city.
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The post The New York Jewish Week’s 10 most-read stories of 2023 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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As Gaza War Continues, Hamas Calls for Global Protests While Israel Marks Breakthroughs in Medical Innovation
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
As the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas calls for global protests amid stalled Gaza ceasefire talks, Israel has broken new ground despite the ongoing conflict, achieving a major medical breakthrough in synthetic human kidney development.
The contrast illustrates a stark contrast between the priorities of Hamas, an international designated terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, and Israel, the lone democracy in the Middle East that has long been a leader in tech and medical innovation.
On Wednesday, Hamas urged worldwide protests in support of Palestinians, calling on the international community “to denounce Israel’s genocidal war and starvation policy in Gaza.”
“We call for continuing and escalating the popular pressure in all cities and squares on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday … through rallies, demonstrations and sit-ins outside the embassies of the Israeli regime and its allies, particularly in the US,” the statement read.
The Palestinian terrorist group also called to expose what it described as “the terrorism of the Zio-Nazi occupation against defenseless civilians.”
Hamas’s latest move against Israel comes amid stalled indirect negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal, which collapsed last month after the group vowed it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established — rejecting a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza.
In its statement, Hamas demanded the opening of all border crossings to allow immediate aid into the war-torn enclave and urged a global condemnation of “the international community’s inaction on the Israeli crimes.”
Amid mounting international pressure to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel announced new measures to facilitate the delivery of aid, including temporary pauses in fighting in certain areas and the creation of protected routes for aid convoys.
Israeli officials have previously accused Hamas of diverting aid for terrorist activities and selling supplies at inflated prices to civilians, while also blaming the United Nations and other foreign organizations for enabling this diversion.
Hamas’s statement also emphasized that the “global resistance movement must continue until Israeli aggression on Gaza ends and the siege on the coastal strip is lifted.”
Meanwhile, as Israel faces escalating hostilities and the heavy toll of war, the Jewish state continues to push the boundaries of innovation and resilience, achieving new medical breakthroughs while confronting ongoing challenges.
In a major medical breakthrough, scientists at Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University have successfully grown a synthetic 3D miniature human kidney in a lab using specialized stem cells derived from kidney tissue — one of the most promising advances in regenerative medicine.
Dr. Dror Harats, chairman of Sheba’s Research Authority, described this achievement as a reflection of Israel’s leading role in global medical innovation.
“Despite growing efforts to isolate Israel from international science, breakthroughs like this prove our impact is both lasting and essential,” he said.
In a landmark study, a team from Sheba’s Safra Children’s Hospital and Tel Aviv University’s Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine created synthetic kidney organs that matured and remained stable for 34 weeks — the longest-lasting and most refined kidney organoids developed to date.
Nearly a decade ago, the research team became the first to successfully isolate human kidney tissue stem cells — the cells responsible for the organ’s development and growth.
Previous attempts to grow kidneys in a lab using general-purpose stem cells were short-lived, typically lasting only a few weeks and often producing unwanted cell types that compromised research accuracy.
However, this Israeli research team used stem cells taken directly from kidney tissue — cells that naturally develop into kidney parts — allowing them to create a much purer and more stable model with key features found in real kidneys.
This medical breakthrough could have far-reaching implications, redefining the current understanding of kidney diseases and advancing the development of innovative treatments.
Researchers believe the model could help assess how medications impact fetal kidneys during pregnancy and move science closer to repairing or replacing damaged kidney tissue with lab-grown cells.
The discovery came days after researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and international partners discovered a way to boost the immune system’s cancer-fighting ability by reprogramming how T cells, which are white blood cells critical to the immune system, produce energy.
The researchers explained in a study published in the peer-reviewed Nature Communications that disabling a protein known as Ant2 in T cells greatly enhances their effectiveness against tumors.
“By disabling Ant2, we triggered a complete shift in how T cells produce and use energy,” Prof. Michael Berger of Hebrew University’s Faculty of Medicine, who co-led the study with doctorate student Omri Yosef, told the Tazpit Press Service. “This reprogramming made them significantly better at recognizing and killing cancer cells.”
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Netherlands to Push EU to Suspend Israel Trade Deal but Won’t Recognize Palestinian State ‘At This Time’
Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on April 1, 2025. Photo: ANI Photo/Sanjay Sharma via Reuters Connect
The Netherlands is spearheading efforts to suspend the European Union-Israel trade agreement amid rising EU criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, while simultaneously refusing to recognize a Palestinian state, contrasting with other member states as international pressure mounts.
On Thursday, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp announced that the Netherlands will push the EU to suspend the trade component of the EU-Israel Association Agreement — a pact governing the EU’s political and economic ties with the Jewish state.
This latest anti-Israel initiative follows a recent EU-commissioned report accusing Israel of committing “indiscriminate attacks … starvation … torture … [and] apartheid” against Palestinians in Gaza during its military campaign against Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group.
Following calls from a majority of EU member states for a formal investigation, this report built on Belgium’s recent decision to review Israel’s compliance with the trade agreement, a process initiated by the Netherlands and led by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.
According to the report, “there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations” under the 25-year-old EU-Israel Association Agreement.
While the document acknowledges the reality of violence by Hamas, it states that this issue lies outside its scope — failing to address the Palestinian terrorist group’s role in sparking the current war with its bloody rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli officials have slammed the report as factually incorrect and morally flawed, noting that Hamas embeds its military infrastructure within civilian targets and Israel’s army takes extensive precautions to try and avoid civilian casualties.
In a Dutch parliamentary debate on Gaza on Thursday, Veldkamp also announced that the government would not recognize a Palestinian state for now — a position that stands in sharp contrast to the recent moves by several other EU member states to extend recognition.
“The Netherlands is not planning to recognize a Palestinian state at this time,” the Dutch diplomat said.
“This war has ceased to be a just war and is now leading to the erosion of Israel’s own security and identity,” he continued.
This latest decision goes against the position of several EU member states, including France, which has committed to recognizing Palestinian statehood in September.
The United Kingdom has likewise indicated it will do so unless Israel acts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and agrees to a ceasefire.
For its part, Germany said it was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term, and Italy argued that recognition must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity.
Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia all recognized a Palestinian state last year.
Israel has been facing growing pressure from several EU member states seeking to undermine its defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
On Thursday, European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera strongly condemned Israel’s actions in the war-torn enclave, describing the situation as a “grave violation of human dignity.”
“What we are seeing is a concrete population being targeted, killed and condemned to starve to death,” Ribera told Politico. “If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning.”
Until now, the European Commission has refrained from accusing Israel of genocide, but Ribera’s comments mark one of the strongest European condemnations since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
She also called on the EU to take decisive action by considering the suspension of its trade agreement with Israel and the implementation of sanctions, while emphasizing that such measures would require unanimous approval from all member states.
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Graduate Student Unions Promoting Antisemitism, Reform Group Says
Students listen to a speech at a protest encampment at Stanford University in Stanford, California US, on April 26, 2024. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect.
Higher-education-based unions controlled by United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) are rife with antisemitism and anti-Zionist discrimination, according to a new letter imploring the US Congress’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce to address the matter.
“Tracing its roots to communism in the 1930s, the UE is a radical, pro-Hamas labor union that has a long history of antisemitism,” the National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW), one of the US’s leading labor reform groups, wrote on July 30 in a message obtained by The Algemeiner. “The UE openly supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is designed to cripple and destroy Israel economically. Today, the UE furthers its antisemitic agenda by unionizing graduate students on college campuses and using its exclusive representation powers to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. The hostile environment includes demanding compulsory dues to fund the UE’s abhorrent activities.”
NRTW went on to describe a litany of alleged injustices to which UE members subject Jewish student-employees in the US’s most prestigious institutions of higher education, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to Cornell University. At MIT, the letter said, “union officers” aided a riotous group which illegally occupied a section of campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” participating in the demonstration and even denying access to campus buildings. UE members at Stanford University, meanwhile, allegedly denied religious accommodations to Jewish students who requested exemption from union dues over that branch’s supporting the BDS movement. And Cornell University UE was accused of denying religious exemptions in several cases as well and followed up the rejection with an intrusive “questionnaire” which probed Jewish students for “legally-irrelevant information.”
The situation requires federal oversight and intervention, NRTW said, including Congress’s possibly clarifying that student-employees are not traditional employees and are therefore afforded protections under sections of the Civil Rights Act which apply to the campus.
“These continuing patterns of antisemitism are illegal, immoral, and must be stopped,” the letter continued. “We encourage you to do all that is in your power to investigate and help bring an end to the UE and its affiliates’ nonstop harassment and intimidation of Jewish students … The Trump administration can also use tools available to it under Title VI and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act against colleges who work with unions to create a hostile environment for Jewish students.”
July’s letter is not the first time NRTW has publicized alleged antisemitic abuse in unions representing higher education employees.
In 2024, it represented a group of six City University of New York (CUNY) professors, five of whom are Jewish, who sued to be “freed” from CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY) over its passing a resolution during Israel’s May 2021 war with Hamas which declared solidarity with Palestinians and accused the Jewish state of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. The group contested New York State’s “Taylor Law,” which it said chained the professors to the union’s “bargaining unit” and denied their right to freedom of speech and association by forcing them to be represented in negotiations by an organization they claim holds antisemitic views.
That same year, NRTW prevailed in a discrimination suit filed to exempt another cohort of Jewish MIT students from paying dues to the Graduate Student Union (GSU). The students had attempted to resist financially supporting GSU’s anti-Zionism, but the union bosses attempted to coerce their compliance, telling them that “no principles, teachings, or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees” to the union.
“All Americans should have a right to protect their money from going to union bosses they don’t support, whether those objections are based on religion, politics, or any other reason,” NRTW said at the time.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.