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This one-of-a-kind bagel shop is made entirely of felt

(New York Jewish Week) — Anyone walking into Feltz Bagels in Montauk, New York, could be forgiven for wanting to taste everything on the menu: There are 15 types of bagels; a variety of schmears, meats and toppings, as well as desserts like rugelach and babka by the slice.
But while everything in the shop is for sale, it won’t taste very good: Everything at Feltz Bagels, from the ticket machine to the challahs to the “We Are Happy to Serve You” cups of coffee, is made entirely out of felt.
Feltz Bagels, a complete recreation of a New York bagel bakery, is the invention of Lucy Sparrow, a 37-year-old, U.K.-based artist who specializes in felt. Since 2014, Sparrow has mounted a variety of installations around the globe that recreate everyday, interactive commercial spaces — markets, pharmacies, corner stores — out of the soft, fuzzy material.
Feltz Bagels — which is currently on view through Sept. 4 at TW Gallery in Montauk — came about as an outgrowth of her first show in the United States in 2017: “8 ‘Till Late,” a recreation of a classic New York bodega that drew crowds to the Standard, High Line hotel. In selecting items for her felt bodega,
“I chose designs that looked the best, to me: a simple label, classic design, not too much writing,” Sparrow told the New York Jewish Week, describing how she came to home in on Jewish foods.
It just so happened that many of these simple designs were used in the packaging for Ashkenazi Jewish staples: Streit’s matzah, gefilte fish, Manischewitz egg noodles.
“When I did that first show, I had loads of feedback from people, like, ‘Thanks so much for making these Jewish foods,’” said Sparrow, who is not Jewish and, at the time, had only been to New York once before. “The response was just amazing.”
Everything is made of felt at Feltz Bagels, created by Lucy Sparrow. (Michael DeTemple)
Recreating a bagel bakery, Sparrow said, seemed to be a no-brainer for her next New York show. “My favorite area of New York has always been the Lower East Side,” said Sparrow, who has since been to New York about 20 times. “The fact that bagels and the Lower East Side are really synonymous with each other; the idea gave birth to itself, in a way.”
“Everybody has this personal story, this personal preference of what [bagels] they eat, what it means to them, what memories it sums up,” she said. “That, depicted in art, seemed like a very strong idea.”
Sparrow drew upon classic New York delis and appetizing spots, including Russ & Daughters, Katz’s Delicatessen and Zabar’s — “these New York institutions that seem to be really imprinted upon New Yorkers,” she said. And while Feltz Bagels may be more colorful than a typical bagel store, Sparrow nailed the iconic “deli look.”
Bagels, Sparrow points out, are both highly universal and extremely personal. “Workers on a construction site go and get a bagel. Office workers also go and get a bagel — there seems to be no [single] demographic,” she said. “It’s a leveler. It’s universal, but it’s also very personal. There are not a lot of foods that have that. People have a lot of opinions about bagels.”
Sparrow, too, has her particulars: A vegetarian, her typical lunchtime bagel order is sun-dried tomato cream cheese, American cheese, mushrooms, peppers and lettuce on a salt bagel. “I absolutely love bagels — the last one I had was yesterday,” she said.
Everything is for sale at Feltz Bagels, whose punny name also pays tribute to British Jewish TV presenter Vanessa Feltz. An anthropomorphized rugelach is $10, while a whole bagel starts at $60 and a bagel with fixings is $250. (And like any proper, present-day Jewish eatery worth its, well, salt, there is Feltz Bagels merch, including stickers and sweatshirts.)
Nearly all the felt food items are adorned with eyes, adding another layer of whimsy to the experience.
“I think it’s lovely watching grown adults come in and they’re like, ‘Ohhh, it’s got a face!’” Sparrow said. “And then they make them, and they take them home. And these pieces of art that I’ve put so much love into live in people’s homes, and just go on living the rest of their lives in houses that I’ll never see the inside of.”
So far, the most popular order has been a classic combo: cream cheese, lox, onion, tomatoes and capers, Sparrow said. The type of bagel, however, tends to vary. A more unusual option is the salt beef, the British term for corned beef — rarely available at the standard bagel shop.
For those not able to make it out to Montauk before next weekend, don’t despair: Feltz Bagels will open in Manhattan in October, with a stop in Miami to follow. Sparrow has a team of three assistants in the United Kingdom working to get the New York show ready; at the moment, she said, they are creating more felt black-and-white cookies, another deli staple. Sparrow hopes to expand her offerings in New York, adding cinnamon babka (in addition to chocolate), dried fruit and maybe even a seder plate.
Sparrow, who lives in the “tiniest village” in England’s Suffolk County, added that the best part of her hard work is having customers “open their hearts” to her. Just the other day, she said, someone came in and shared a story about their grandmother’s bagel recipe.
“It’s the stories I love hearing,” she said. “I’m just overwhelmed that people want to share them with me.”
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The post This one-of-a-kind bagel shop is made entirely of felt appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran Says Eight Arrested for Suspected Links to Israel’s Mossad Spy Agency

The Mossad recruitment ad. Photo: Screenshot.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had arrested eight people suspected of trying to transmit the coordinates of sensitive sites and details about senior military figures to Israel’s Mossad, Iranian state media reported.
They are accused of having provided the information to the Mossad spy agency during Israel’s air war on Iran in June, when it attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and killed top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
A Guards statement alleged that the suspects had received specialized training from Mossad via online platforms. It said they were apprehended in northeastern Iran before carrying out their plans, and that materials for making launchers, bombs, explosives and booby traps had been seized.
State media reported earlier this month that Iranian police had arrested as many as 21,000 “suspects” during the 12-day war with Israel, though they did not say what these people had been suspected of doing.
Security forces conducted a campaign of widespread arrests and also stepped up their street presence during the brief war that ended in a US-brokered ceasefire.
Iran has executed at least eight people in recent months, including nuclear scientist Rouzbeh Vadi, hanged on August 9 for passing information to Israel about another scientist killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Human rights groups say Iran uses espionage charges and fast-tracked executions as tools for broader political repression.
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Body of Idan Shtivi, Murdered on Oct. 7, Retrieved from Gaza in Special IDF Operation

Idan Shtivi. Photo: Courtesy of the family
i24 News – The body of Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old murdered by Palestinian jihadists at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, was recovered in a joint operation by the IDF and Shin Bet in central Gaza, it was cleared for publication on Saturday.
Shtivi’s remains were returned to Israel alongside the body of Ilan Weiss, another hostage killed during the October 7 massacre.
“Idan Shtivi was abducted from the Tel Gama area and brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists after acting to rescue and evacuate others from the Nova music festival on October 7th, 2023. He was 28 years old at the time of his death,” read an IDF press release.
“Following an identification process conducted at the National Center for Forensic Medicine, along with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, the Hostages and Missing Persons Headquarters notified his family.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Shviti “was a gifted student of sustainability and governance, and a courageous individual” who acted heroically on October 7, helping others flee.
“He was killed in the process and his body was abducted to Gaza by Hamas. My wife and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Shtivi family. So far, 207 hostages have been returned, 148 of them alive. We will continue to act tirelessly and decisively to bring back all our hostages—living and deceased.”
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Woman Stabbed at Ottawa Grocery Store in Latest Antisemitic Attack

A social media post by the alleged attacker, Joseph Rooke of Cornwall, Ontario. Photo: Screenshot via i24
i24 News – The stabbing of a Jewish woman at an Ottawa grocery by a man with a long history of antisemitic posts on social media, the latest antisemitic hate crime in Canada, sparked outrage and prompted condemnation from officials including the prime minister.
Both the victim and the attacker are in their 70s. The woman is reportedly in serious condition.
The suspect was identified as Joseph Rooke, who has authored a series of lengthy rambling screeds on social media, ranting against Israel and Jews.
“Judaism is the world’s oldest cult,” he writes in one post, going on to say “over time jews have become insidious in governments, businesses, media conglomerates, and educational institutions in order to do what they do better than anyone else. Jews are the world’s masters of propaganda, gaslighting, demonization, demagoguery, and outright lying. Using their collective wealth they have become masters of reprisal.”
“I am under no obligation whatsoever, legal, moral, or otherwise, to like jews and I do not. If that means I meet the jewish definition of an anti-semite, so be it.”
Canada has seen a steep spike in antisemitic attacks over the past two years, including a recent incident in Montreal where a Hasidic Jew was beaten in front on his children.
After Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the incident, many, including former Israel’s ambassador the US Michael Oren, pointed out that Carney’s rhetoric and policies contribute to the increasing insecurity of Canada’s Jewish community through uncritical embrace of outrageous and easily disprovable allegations that Israel and its supporters were guilty of the worst crimes against humanity.