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A fashion show in Tribeca attempts to capture ‘The Jewish Uniform’
(New York Jewish Week) – Hip-hop music blasted through loudspeakers as about a dozen models strutted up and down a makeshift runway. Some of them wore cream knit loungewear, while others were clad in modest but elegant dresses accessorized with silk scarves.
The models, many of them student volunteers from Chelsea’s Fashion Institute of Technology, were donning “The Jewish Uniform,” at least as defined by the minds of Havurah, a cohort of self-described “frum” (religiously observant) New York-based 20-somethings aspiring to create a “renaissance of Jewish art.” In addition to the fashion show, Havurah has hosted readings, Torah study and concerts, and the group recently launched “Verklempt!,” a Jewish literary magazine.
Last Thursday evening, “The Jewish Uniform” highlighted 13 Jewish designers whose levels of experience ranged from amateurs to well-established brands like Batsheva, whose signature modest dresses and ultra-feminine womenswear first made a big splash in 2016. Directed by Havurah co-founders Daniella Messer and Eitan Gutenmacher — both 20-year-old students at New York University — the show’s looks were curated by Ashley Finkel, a 26-year-old e-commerce coordinator at La Perla and styled and staged by Lily Paige Sausen, 26, who runs an online vintage store.
Havurah’s motive is to create Jewish art and to understand the intersection of art and Judaism. The fashion show, in particular, aimed to celebrate and explore what makes an outfit Jewish — at least through an observant lens.
Ashley Finkel, left, one of the show’s curators, speaks with designer Elke Reva Sudin, May 11, 2023. (Saul Sudin)
“The intention of the show was to use fashion as a medium to bring together a community of creatives in NYC,” Finkel told the New York Jewish Week. “We’re very happy with how the evening turned out.”
Around 120 people attended the show, which took place in the outdoor space underneath the bulbous curve of the architecturally unique Tribeca Synagogue (49 White St.), an Orthodox congregation. The downtown neighborhood is now known for its hip loft buildings, but it was once a center of the textile and cotton trade industries in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The show’s creators, from left to right: Eitan Gutenmacher, Daniella Messer, Lily Paige Sausen, Ashley Finkel and Kayla Mantell, at the show on May 11, 2023. (Julia Gergely)
“I thought it was really cool to be able to show my looks in a Jewish show,” said Yarden Sopher-Harelick, a 24-year-old designer and FIT graduate who had three outfits in the show, including a blazer dress fashioned out of bubble wrap and a seatbelt.
Batsheva Hay, the Orthodox designer who runs the eponymous brand, donated four dresses to the show, though she wasn’t able to attend herself.
Each “Jewish Uniform” runway look had a tongue-in-cheek title and description that was presented in an accompanying program for the show, allowing the creative directors to build on their thesis about what makes an outfit Jewish — and to poke some lighthearted fun at Jewish customs as well. Take “The Yenta,” who wears a white blouse, pearls and a long black skirt: “She attends shul for one purpose: the tea. It’s piping hot, just like her outfit,” the program read.
The “Shabbat Snoozer” — a loose, comfortable, matching set in navy — was described as “the classic combination of a food coma and a few hours to spare before Havdalah,” while the “Cholov Yisroelnik,” described as “the kosher version of a milkmaid,” consisted of a headscarf, a pink gingham skirt and white top, with the model carrying a carton of milk instead of a clutch.
For first-time model Tara Dietzel, an 18-year-old first-year student at FIT, walking in the show and seeing clothes designed by Jewish designers was a way for her to envision how she might combine her Judaism, her love of modeling and her professional goal to become a fashion designer.
“It was so much fun and a good first step to figuring out how I can accomplish all of these dreams at once,” Dietzler told the New York Jewish Week after the show.
Tara Dietzler, left, models a design from Yarden Sopher-Harelick, right, May 11, 2023. (Julia Gergely)
Guests included many of the designers’ friends and family, who cheered enthusiastically as their models walked the runway. After the presentation, everyone came together over wine and seltzer. The designers posed with their looks and models walked through the crowd to show off their clothes’ texture and details up close.
At the event, Elke Reva Sudin, a Brooklyn-based designer and painter, launched “The Crown Collection,” a limited collection of silk head scarves. Nearly a decade ago, Sudin ran a similarly-missioned organization to Havurah called Jewish Art Now before founding Drawing Booth, a non-Jewish arts vendor where artists live-sketch guests at events. The scarves are her first foray into fashion.
Elke Reva Sudin, middle, stands with two models who donned her new line of headscarves, the Crown Collection, May 11, 2023. (Saul Sudin)
Sudin said that designing scarves — an item popular among Orthodox women, most of whom cover their hair after marriage, as per Jewish law — was a way for her to explore her own Jewish identity and spirituality as a married Orthodox Jewish woman. She found out about Havurah through a mutual artist friend.
“I’ve been out of the Jewish world for a while now and I appreciate that there was a Jewish space I could turn to launch my scarves, which are sort of my return to Jewish art while entering into the world of fashion,” Sudin, 35, told the New York Jewish Week. “Both my designs and Havurah have the same intent, which is to be inclusive and to create something not only beautiful, but meaningful to the Jewish community.”
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Iran appoints AMIA bombing suspect to National Security Council
(JTA) —
For the second time this year, Iran has named a wanted suspect in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires to a top security role.
A spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said Monday that Mohsen Rezaei had resigned as an adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, and would assume the role of secretary of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council. Rezaei is a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Rezaei is wanted by Argentina and is subject to an Interpol Red Notice issued at Argentina’s request over his alleged role in the 1994 attack, which killed 85 people and remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina’s history.
Earlier this year, Ahmad Vahidi, another suspect in the AMIA case and also the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, was appointed IRGC commander.
In a landmark ruling in 2024, an Argentine court held Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, responsible for the bombing, setting the stage for international legal action.
In June 2025, Argentina’s federal judiciary ordered that 10 Iranian and Lebanese suspects accused in connection with the deadly 1994 AMIA bombing be tried in absentia. Rezaei and Vahidi are among them.
The eight other suspects accused by the late AMIA special prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, are: former Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahijan, former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former Iranian ambassador Hadi Soleimanpour, former Iranian cultural attache in Buenos Aires Mohsen Rabbani and former Iranian diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari, as well as suspected Hezbollah operatives Salman Raouf Salman, Abdallah Salman and Hussein Mounir Mouzannar.
The post Iran appoints AMIA bombing suspect to National Security Council appeared first on The Forward.
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Israel and AIPAC on the ballot in the Minnesota Senate and U.S. House races
(JTA) — A pair of Democratic primaries in Minnesota on Tuesday are among a string of high-profile battles between progressive and moderate candidates, where Israel and the pro-Israel lobby serve as key wedge issues.
The state’s highest-profile race is the U.S. Senate primary between Rep. Angie Craig, who has been endorsed by the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, and Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who says she would reject AIPAC’s money and accuses Israel of committing a genocide.
The most recent data gathered in late July through early August has Craig with a 2-percentage point lead, within the 5.3% margin of error. Another poll, conducted in late July by a group supporting Flanagan, shows her with a 14-point lead. The Democratic nominee, whether it be Flanagan or Craig, is expected to win the general election in November.
The race, and the candidates’ sparring over AIPAC, comes as the lobby and Israel under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have become increasingly unpopular among Democratic voters. Israel is also an issue in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in neighboring Wisconsin taking place on Tuesday.
Flanagan has referred to Craig as “AIPAC’s candidate” in the Senate race, which prompted Craig to distance herself from the group’s spending during a TV debate in June.
“AIPAC has not contributed at all, the PAC, to my Senate campaign,” said Craig, whose wife, Cheryl Greene, is Jewish. “Not one penny.”
Flanagan countered that, while AIPAC itself has not donated to Craig’s campaign, it has held fundraisers for the four-term congresswoman. AIPAC did not respond to a request for comment.
Just last week in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, progressive Abdul El-Sayed defeated the moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, whose AIPAC endorsement was the frequent target of opposition attacks.
Flanagan has drawn the support of American Priorities, a pro-Palestinian super PAC that aims to counter AIPAC. The group spent about $54,000 on ads boosting her candidacy, according to FEC filings.
Flanagan’s platform includes blocking offensive weapons sales to Israel — a position that all but seven Senate Democrats voted for in April — and advancing a two-state solution that “allows for a secure Israel and Palestinian self-determination.”
Craig, who also backs a two-state outcome, voted against the recent amendment proposed by Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie that would have halted $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel.
In a statement explaining her vote, Craig panned Netanyahu and the war in Iran, but wrote that the amendment would endanger Israelis and American troops and allies in the region. After the vote, Flanagan wrote, “A vote to send $3.3 billion of taxpayer money to fund additional weapons of war to Benjamin Netanyahu is unconscionable. Enough.”
Craig has the endorsement of a number of Democrats in Congress and the Senate, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. She is also endorsed by lobbying group Democratic Majority for Israel, former Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, and Minneapolis’ Jewish mayor, Jacob Frey, who rose to national prominence for his response to the deadly results of the deployment of immigrant enforcement officials in his city.
Flanagan has drawn endorsements from a swath of major progressive figures including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and outspoken pro-Palestinian Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Flanagan is also endorsed by the state’s Democratic Party affiliate, the Democratic Farmer Labor Party.
On Sunday Sanders posted on X,”There is a reason why the super PACs and billionaires are flooding Minnesota with $20 million to defeat Peggy Flanagan. Same thing as Michigan. They do not want somebody in the Senate who will stand up for the working class.”
Spending by political action committees affiliated with AIPAC has also come to the fore in the Democratic primary race for the House seat that Craig is vacating.
The most moderate of the three leading candidates is State Sen. Matt Klein, who has expressed support for the U.S.-Israel relationship and is endorsed by DMFI. Last-minute spending by outside groups has sparked accusations that AIPAC is indirectly involved.
“AIPAC is coming after me,” said former Lakeville mayor Matt Little, one of Klein’s opponents, in a video.
Klein’s two opponents — Little and state Rep. Kaela Berg — both accuse Israel of committing a genocide, and have both speculated that AIPAC is behind some of the Klein spending.
Berg supports placing conditions on U.S. aid to Israel and halting weapons sales, and Little says the U.S. must end all military aid and weapons sales to the country. On the policy page of his campaign website, Little refers to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack as “an act of wanton slaughter against innocent civilians” and says that people should condemn “the anti-Semitism that followed.”
Berg is listed as “primary approved” by the liberal Jewish Middle East advocacy group J Street, while Little has been boosted by American Priorities, which has spent about $64,000 in his favor. He is also endorsed by the DFL and Congressional Progressive Caucus leader Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
The latest polling in the district — conducted at the end of May by a group that favors Klein — found Little leading Klein with a 7-percentage point lead, and Berg trailing by another 3 points. 39 percent of voters were undecided, and Little and Klein were about even after voters received more information about the three candidates.
Craig has declined to endorse any of the candidates to replace her.
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Sister of pro-Israel stalwart Lindsey Graham wins runoff slot
(JTA) — South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham and a second Republican candidate will advance to a special primary runoff in two weeks, when voters will decide which GOP candidate might take the vacant seat of her late brother Lindsey Graham.
Just over an hour after polls closed, at about 8:15 pm, the Associated Press declared that Darline Graham would advance to a runoff election, noting that “one additional candidate will also advance.” At that point Graham had secured 32.6% of the vote, with 39% of ballots counted.
Graham was up against nine fellow Republicans, with her biggest competition including U.S. House Reps. Ralph Norman and Russell Fry, who were closely vying for the second spot in the runoff at the time of the AP’s call. In South Carolina, the top contender would have needed to win a majority of votes in order to avoid the two-candidate runoff, scheduled for August 25.
In the November general election, the winner will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who is unlikely to prevail in this solidly Republican state.
Tuesday’s race marked the second time in two months that GOP voters came to the polls to select a Senate candidate, and now they will need to do so a third time. Longstanding Sen. Lindsey Graham, a top ally of Israel in the U.S. Senate and supporter of military action against Iran. won the original primary in June but died suddenly from an aortic dissection on July 11.
Graham, who was 71 years old, served 23 years in the Senate and eight in the U.S. House. He was a member of the Senate’s Armed Services and Budget committees and had traveled to Israel about a dozen times since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Heading into Tuesday’s primary, analysts expressed no doubt that the winner would be pro-Israel. They stressed, however, that matching Graham’s level of foreign policy experience and focus on Israel, a place he often visited, would be a formidable task.
“Whoever wins this is going to be an ally of Israel,” Christopher Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in the lead-up to the race. “The question is whether they will be the champion for Israel that Lindsey Graham was.”
A few days after Graham’s death, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, appointed Darline Graham to complete the late senator’s term. Despite having minimal policy experience, such as a past role on the South Carolina Commission for the Blind, she earned President Trump’s support and soon declared her candidacy in the full race.
While 10 candidates were running in the Tuesday primary, only about two others were considered serious competition for Graham, Norman and Fry: businessman Mark Lynch and Mark Sanford, whose governorship was plagued with scandals and who briefly ran against Trump in the 2020 presidential primaries.
The post Sister of pro-Israel stalwart Lindsey Graham wins runoff slot appeared first on The Forward.
