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Adir Michaeli, maestro of the babka, bakes his way into the heart of Manhattan
(New York Jewish Week) — In a city where love of babka borders on a religion, Adir Michaeli, founder of Michaeli Bakery, is the (you’ll pardon the expression) high priest of the confection.
You may not know his name, but if you love good babka, you probably know his product. Michaeli, 39, was once the pastry department manager and head pastry chef of Lechamim Bakery in Tel Aviv; there, Michaeli told the New York Jewish Week, he spent two years perfecting the babka recipe. When Lechamim founder Uri Scheft wanted to expand to the United States, he tapped Michaeli to help open Lechamim’s American cousin, Breads Bakery, in New York. Since opening in 2013, Breads has since become the gold standard for babka in New York.
After three years with Breads — which has since expanded to five locations in the city — Michaeli left the company to start his own business, which he said was a dream of his. Now, after a fitful start due to COVID, Michaeli Bakery has developed its own devoted following at two locations in Manhattan.
“People love these pastries,” said Michaeli, referring to New Yorkers’ embrace of the babka, rugelach and bourekas for which Breads, and now Michaeli, has become known.
Of course, it’s not like New Yorkers were suffering from a lack of babka prior to either bakery’s arrival. Lots of bakeries, notably Green’s Bakery of Brooklyn, had been making and selling the gooey, yeasted cake for decades. Local New York comedian Jerry Seinfeld even devoted an episode of his eponymous show to the sweet treat back in 1994.
But Breads brought a babka to New York unlike anything that New Yorkers had ever tasted before. It was made with a laminated dough, similar to croissants, and it was at once light, fluffy and rich, layered with butter, stuffed with Nutella and chocolate chunks, and glazed with a simple syrup. A couple of months after Breads opened on East 16th St. near Union Square in 2013, New York magazine food writers Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite anointed Breads’ babka as the best in the city.
“The business went boom!” Michaeli told the New York Jewish Week. Almost overnight, Breads went from a virtually unknown purveyor of Israeli pastries to an essential stop on the tourist food trail.
“Everyone starts to come and take pictures with the babka,” said Michaeli. During their first Rosh Hashanah, not long after the New York magazine article appeared, Michaeli said the bakery sold 3,000 loaves of babka in a single day.
(Co-founder Scheft left Breads in 2021 and now runs Bakey, a Boston bakery. As for Breads’ current ownership, a spokesperson said that Michaeli “had nothing to do with the creation of Breads Bakery’s Babka.”)
After leaving Breads, Michaeli considered opening up a bakery in Tel Aviv and briefly returned there, but, assessing the competition, he soon realized that his future was in New York.
“There was only one Israeli bakery in New York — more [of them] should come,” he said.
Living on the Upper West Side while working on his business plan and meeting with potential investors, Michaeli did some baking for Anat Sror, an Israeli-born caterer and owner of Cafe Petisco, a now-closed restaurant on the Lower East Side.
Sror knew that Michaeli wanted to start his own bakery, and though she had never invested in anybody before, she decided to back Michaeli. “He’s very talented, very passionate, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do,” said Sror. “He had a great business plan. Plus, we had worked together so I knew exactly what he is capable of. I felt it was a good risk to take.”
Sror helped Michaeli find a storefront not too far from Cafe Petisco. They both agreed it was not an ideal location, but it was within their budget. “We trusted that once people try his stuff and get to know the bakery, things will be easier,” Sror said.
Michaeli Bakery opened on Division St. on the Lower East Side in May 2019. Conceived as an “Israeli patisserie,” it sold pastries, cookies, cakes, cream cakes, cheesecakes, sandwiches and, on Fridays, challah.
Less than a year later, however, just as the bakery was developing a name for itself, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the city to its knees. As New Yorkers stayed home or left the city altogether, Sror shut her restaurant and catering concern. Meanwhile, Michaeli streamlined his bakery’s offerings, focusing on babka, rugelach and bourekas, dropping the sandwiches and cakes on his original menu.
During the long months of the pandemic, Michaeli said he worked round the clock, keeping the business open seven days a week and working as the establishment’s baker, barista and manager. On the bright side? “It gave me the flexibility to build the business over time,” he said.
His efforts paid off: Less than three years later, in March 2022, Michaeli and Sror opened a second location on East 90th St. and First Ave. “The decision to open on the Upper East Side was because customers kept saying it was too far to come to the Lower East Side,” said Sror.
Sensing “the vibe” uptown, according to Michaeli, he decided to make the bakery kosher. “My integrity is that if I’m kosher, I’m kosher,” he said, referring to his decision to have kosher supervision for both bakeries, and to close them on Saturdays and early on Fridays. “Uptown Sunday is super busy, we need the reset of Saturday. “
“My vision is that I do the best that I can,” he added. “Everyone on the team is the same. Every day should be 100%. There is no 99%. This is the DNA of the place.”
One loyal customer, art consultant Andrea Meislin, raves about the “chocolate-y, gooey and decadent” babka at Michaeli, what Meislin describes as “babka to die for.” In addition to the chocolate babka, Michaeli makes a vegan chocolate babka, cheese and cherry babka and halvah babka. His Galil bourekas, made with goat cheese, onion and za’atar, are very popular, too.
These days, the biggest challenge Michaeli faces, he said, is dealing with the enormous demand the holidays bring. “For Hanukkah, I sent the manager out to the line on the street, to say that we are sorry. We can’t catch up with demand,” said Michaeli. “We told customers [on line] to go away. It was horrible. It is a problem I am trying to solve.”
Moving forward, Sror is optimistic that the bakery will expand: “It will either be another location, perhaps on the Upper West Side, or we are thinking about making a bigger location to be able to produce a bit more,” she said. Sror hopes Michaeli will be able to expand his menu, perhaps by adding his classic, light Israeli cheesecakes, what Michaeli calls “Grandma Cheesecake.”
When asked what differentiates Michaeli’s baked goods from Breads’ or other bakeries’, the baker refused to compare, stating that he just aims to do the best he can, all the time. “If someone says this is better than this or that, I really don’t care,” says Michaeli. “There is no competition. This is what we do.”
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11-Year-Old Girl Succumbs to Wounds from Iranian Missile Strike
A photo of Nesya Karadi. Photo: courtesy of her family.
i24 News – An 11-year-old girl has died nearly three weeks after being critically injured by an Iranian missile strike on her family home.
Nesya Karadi passed away Friday at Sheba Medical Center, becoming the 21st civilian fatality in Israel since the current conflict began on February 28.
The attack occurred on April 1, just hours before the start of Passover. Officials confirmed the strike involved an Iranian missile equipped with a cluster warhead; a sub-munition directly hit the Karadi home, wounding 14 people.
Among the injured was Nesya’s father, a volunteer with the Magen David Adom paramedic service. In a final act of heroism before losing consciousness from his own injuries, he reportedly administered life-saving first aid to his daughter.
Hanoch Zeibert, the Mayor of Bnei Brak, expressed the city’s deep grief over the loss of a “pure child whose whole life was ahead of her,” pledging the municipality’s full support to the Karadi family during their ordeal
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Palestinian Local Elections Give Some Gazans First Chance to Vote in Years
A Palestinian woman votes during the municipal election at a polling station in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians voted in local elections on Saturday that for the first time in two decades include Gaza and are a gauge of the political mood.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has said it hopes the inclusion of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah will reinforce its claim to authority over the territory from which it was ousted by Hamas in 2007.
Some Gazans, who are struggling to meet their basic needs in the devastated enclave, welcomed the opportunity to vote.
“As a Palestinian and a son of the Gaza Strip, I feel proud that after this war the democratic process is returning,” said voter Mamdouh al-Bhaisi, 52, at the Deir al-Balah polling station.
Turnout, however, was low at 13.8 percent in Deir al-Balah by 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) and at 25.3 percent in the West Bank, according to official figures. Voting will continue in the West Bank until 7 p.m., while in Deir Al-Balah it ends an hour earlier due to electricity constraints.
Casting his ballot in a polling station in the Al-Bireh area, near Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said eventually elections will be held across the Gaza Strip.
“Gaza is an inseparable part of the state of Palestine. Therefore, we have worked by all means to ensure that elections take place in Deir al-Balah to affirm the unity of the two parts of the country together,” he said.
ISRAEL HAS EXTENDED CONTROL OVER GAZA AND WEST BANK
Since a US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza between Hamas and Israel took effect in October, intermittent talks led by the United States have made little progress towards a settlement that envisages international supervision of Gaza.
European and Arab governments broadly support an eventual return of Palestinian Authority governance in Gaza, together with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. It would comprise Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule.
Western diplomats say local elections could be a step towards the first national elections in nearly two decades and advance reforms to increase transparency and accountability that the PA says are under way.
“We hope that the procedure carried out today will be crowned with legislative and presidential elections,” said Munif Treish, one of the candidates in the West Bank.
Saturday’s vote is the first of any kind in Gaza since 2006 and the first Palestinian elections to be held since the Gaza war started more than two years ago with a cross-border Hamas assault on southern Israeli communities. Municipal elections were last held in the West Bank four years ago.
STRUGGLE TO PAY WAGES AS ISRAEL WITHHOLDS FUNDS
The Palestinian Authority has struggled to pay wages as Israel withholds tax revenues it collects on its behalf, raising fears of economic collapse. Israel justifies withholding the funds in protest at welfare payments to prisoners and families of those killed by its forces, which it says incentivize attacks.
The Israeli government has also taken steps to help settlers acquire West Bank land. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has repeatedly said: “We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.”
In Deir al-Balah, which has suffered less damage from Israel’s assault since 2023 than other Gazan cities, banners bearing candidate lists hang from buildings.
The Palestinian election committee cited widespread destruction among the reasons voting could not be held across the rest of Gaza, more than half of which is controlled by Israel, with the rest under Hamas rule.
HAMAS BOYCOTTS VOTE BUT SOME CANDIDATES ARE ALIGNED
Some Palestinian factions are boycotting the elections in protest at the PA’s request that candidates back its agreements, which include recognition of the state of Israel.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, has not formally nominated any candidates but one list in the Deir al-Balah election is widely viewed by residents and analysts as aligned with it.
Analysts say the performance of candidates linked to the militant group could gauge its popularity. Most candidates, including in the West Bank, are running under Fatah, the main political movement behind the PA, or as independents.
Hamas has said it would respect the results. Palestinian sources told Reuters ahead of the vote that the group’s civil policemen would be deployed to safeguard polling stations in Gaza.
The Palestinian Central Elections Committee said more than one million Palestinians, including 70,000 in Gaza, are eligible to vote, with results expected late on Saturday or on Sunday.
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Iran Says It Won’t Accept ‘Maximalist Demands’ as Islamabad Hosts Peace Push
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as Pakistan prepares to host the US and Iran for the second phase of peace talks, in a location given as Islamabad, Pakistan, released April 25, 2026. Photo: ESMAEIL BAQAEI VIA X/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi laid out Iran’s demands and its reservations about US positions on Saturday as Islamabad hosted a new push to end a war that has killed thousands and roiled global markets.
Though details of the talks were scant, Araqchi met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other high-ranking officials. The White House had earlier announced that President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner would travel to the Pakistani capital on Saturday, but Iran has so far ruled out a new round of direct talks.
Washington and Tehran are at an impasse as Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of global oil shipments, while the US blocks Iran’s oil exports.
IRAN SETS OUT ITS ‘PRINCIPLED POSITIONS’
The conflict, in which a ceasefire is now in force, began with US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on February 28. Iran has since carried out strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states, and the war has pushed up energy prices to multi-year highs, stoking inflation and darkening global growth prospects.
Araqchi “explained our country’s principled positions regarding the latest developments related to the ceasefire and the complete end of the imposed war against Iran,” said a statement on the minister’s official Telegram account.
Asked about Tehran’s reservations about US positions in the talks, an Iranian diplomatic source in Islamabad told Reuters: “Principally, Iranian side will not accept maximalist demands.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier told reporters that Iran had a chance to make a “good deal.”
“Iran knows that they still have an open window to choose wisely,” he said. “All they have to do is abandon a nuclear weapon in meaningful and verifiable ways.”
Araqchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday. But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson posted on X that Iranian officials did not plan to meet US representatives and that Tehran’s concerns would be conveyed to mediator Pakistan.
Trump told Reuters on Friday that Iran planned to make an offer aimed at satisfying US demands but that he did not know what the offer entailed. He declined to say who Washington was negotiating with, “but we’re dealing with the people that are in charge now.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US had seen some progress from the Iranian side in recent days and hoped more would come this weekend, while Vice President JD Vance was ready to travel to Pakistan as well.
CEASEFIRES IN PLACE, FEW SHIPS CROSSING HORMUZ
Days after Trump extended the ceasefire, international flights resumed from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Saturday, Iranian media said. The first passengers had departed for Medina, in Saudi Arabia, Muscat and Istanbul, with operations expected to accelerate in the coming days.
“Well, it’s a good feeling. When flights resume, trade is done, and people can do their jobs. It’s a good feeling,” said one passenger at the airport, where passengers were queuing at check-in desks.
Iranian airspace has been largely closed since the start of the war. Tens of thousands of flights have been canceled, rerouted and rescheduled worldwide, shutting much of the Middle East’s airspace because of missile and drone threats.
Trump unilaterally extended a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday to allow more time to reconvene the negotiators.
Oil prices surged this week, with Brent crude futures soaring 16 percent, on uncertainty over the fate of the peace talks and as violence flared in the region.
Shipping data on Friday showed that five ships had crossed the Strait of Hormuz in the previous 24 hours, compared to around 130 a day before the war. The ships included an Iranian oil-products tanker but none of the vast crude-carrying supertankers that normally feed global energy markets.
Data analytics firm Vortexa said this week it had recorded 35 total transits through the US blockade from April 13 to 22, involving Iran-linked or sanctioned vessels for inbound and outbound journeys.
“The enemy, whose objective of crippling Iran’s missile and military capabilities has failed, is now seeking an honorable exit from the quagmire of war,” Iranian media quoted a defense ministry spokesperson as saying. “Iran is today in firm control of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iranian state TV quoted the country’s top military command as reiterating that Iran would react if US forces continued their “blockade and piracy” in the region.
On Thursday, Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire for three weeks at a White House meeting brokered by Trump, but there was little sign of an end to the fighting in southern Lebanon.
Israel invaded its northern neighbor last month to root out Iran’s Hezbollah allies after the militant group fired across the border in support of Iran. Tehran says a ceasefire there is a precondition for talks.
Four people were killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, and Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel, the Israeli military said, in the latest challenge to the ceasefire there.