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After I stopped an attack on the subway, the victim and I bonded over Katz’s pastrami sandwiches
(New York Jewish Week) — You definitely don’t want to have what she was having at that moment.
It was December, on a Friday. I was in the tunnel that leads to the subway that runs beneath the American Museum of Natural History on West 81st St. Walking just ahead of me were two women, chatting with each other. I didn’t know them, but I watched as a man, disheveled and bearded, wearing a black knit cap with a sparkly “NYC” on it, came from the other direction. He veered a little too close to the taller of the two. Suddenly, he shifted and grabbed her from behind.
I often wondered what I would do in this situation. Standing only steps away, I no longer had to wonder. After a moment’s hesitation, I sprang into action, grabbing the man and pulling him off her. Then the woman, her friend and I hightailed it through the turnstiles. All in a New York minute.
The woman said she was OK, just worried her attacker would hurt other women. I called 911 but the operator could only speak in subway platforms, not quite grasping it occurred under the museum. How could a visitor be expected to explain the location? And why was there no attendant or police patrol in one of New York’s most visited neighborhoods? I happen to be getting a PhD in tourism studies at Purdue University, but it’s a no-brainer how bad that is for visitors and locals alike.
The 20th Precinct and Transit District 1 responding officers were polite but seemed focused on whether the attack was sexual. Later, the woman would tell me she sensed they thought nothing actually happened, despite a clear crime. “I don’t know,” she said, “one moment I’m walking in the subway and the next someone grabs me from behind. But I wind up OK, so there’s no problem?”
They nabbed the guy, holding him against the tiled wall in the very place the attack occurred. One officer said something like, “He has no ID, no nothing. He’s babbling to himself and doesn’t seem to know where he is.” A sense of pity rose in all of us. The woman did not want to press charges. Even the police were sympathetic, expressing how helping the mentally ill is beyond their capacity. The consensus seemed to be that they would take him somewhere for mental help.
As we waited for the train — mine to Washington Heights, the women’s to Queens — we realized we all had just come from the New-York Historical Society’s “I’ll Have What She’s Having” exhibit on Jewish delis, named for the iconic Katz’s Delicatessen scene in the 1989 film “When Harry Met Sally.” We laughed about what struck us as an ironic way to spend a Friday Shabbat evening days before Hanukkah.
Still perhaps cautious of our surroundings, we shared thoughts about the exhibit. For instance, the surprising amount of Los Angeles material and the signage explaining terms someone Jewish or from New York might take for granted — like mohel or mikvah — and Yiddish words that have long entered the local vernacular, no matter your religion.
The woman who was attacked didn’t want to be identified here, saying “I don’t want people to Google me and this is the first thing they see” — something I understand, having myself been a crime victim in 2014. Later, she texted to say she arrived home safely, adding that, despite the attack, she was “grateful to live in New York, because you restore my faith that people are there for each other.” I don’t think of myself as a mensch or hero. I just did what had to be done. And, like I said, I had a moment’s hesitation.
The situation called for dinner plans. A Jewish deli, of course, considering the circumstances. And it had to be Katz’s.
I arrived at the deli, laden down with a few free Chabad menorahs I picked up along the way after coming from the Union Square Holiday Market. I almost rushed past her standing outside the restaurant, worried about being late. We encountered a chaotic, noisy scene inside, and I realized I had not been there since before the pandemic. A man behind us in the haphazard line, there for the first time, nervously wanted advice. Have what we’re having, I suggested: pastrami on rye with mustard. No cheese, a kosher nod in this place long without such restrictions.
If fate’s bad luck brought us together, serendipity now ruled. Our sandwich maker looked familiar, and I realized he appeared in a video at the deli exhibit. As Esteban pushed our sandwiches over the glass divider, the famous table from the fake orgasm scene in “When Harry Met Sally” suddenly emptied, a family bundling up to leave. I ran to grab it, even mid-sentence talking with Esteban about the exhibit.
Yes, it was touristy! But considering what we had encountered only days before, it was a relief to feel like a tourist in a crowd of tourists. There were locals too, of course, like a diminutive old couple, smiling and saying hello to select tables. We asked a gorgeous Greek tourist we at first thought was an influencer — her dress a one-of-a-kind, hair in flowing, pop queen curls — to snap our picture.
We talked for hours about jobs, travel, family, the men in our lives and how there is no city like New York, with its museums and culture and its ethnic and religious diversity. The ultimate way to say “to life,” l’chaim.
Crime impacts everyone differently, especially when it happens to you. Yet I also know the city is vastly safer than when I was young. At 54, I remember the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, when murders peaked at something like six a day.
If I learned anything from the subway experience, it is that our time on earth is a gift more precious than anything we might unwrap on Hanukkah or Christmas. And if anyone saw us sitting at that famous Katz’s table wondering why we laughed so much, they should ask to have what we were having: a profound appreciation that, like the sandwiches in front of us, life is delicious and should be enjoyed in big portions, despite what fate throws at us.
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German government pledges record $1B in funding for Holocaust survivor home care
(JTA) — The German government has agreed to allocate $1.08 billion in funds for home care for survivors for 2026, marking the largest budget for home care in its history of Holocaust reparations, reflecting the growing needs of an aging survivor population.
The funding, which was secured following negotiations with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, will now enable all Holocaust survivors currently on waitlists for home care to receive it, according to Stuart E. Eizenstat, who leads negotiations on behalf of the Claims Conference.
“We really believe now that, with the largest home care budget in the history of the Claims Conference’s negotiations with Germany, which go back to 1952, that we will be able to cover all those on waiting lists,” Eizenstat said in an interview.
Last year, Germany also set a record for Holocaust reparations, spending $1.5 billion overall. But as the survivor population ages, with the median age now at 87, the need for home care has become the dominant expense.
Nearly all of the Holocaust survivors who are alive today will be dead within 15 years and half will die by 2031, according to a demographic analysis published by the Claims Conference in April.
“As we’re in the last phase now of survivors — in 10 years, half of the survivors, and there’s about 200,000 now, will be gone — so we’re dealing with people in the very last stages of their life and and it’s very rewarding to provide a measure of dignity, both through these payments, but again, through home care,” Eizenstat said.
One difficulty during the negotiations, according to Eizenstat, came from explaining to German officials that although the survivor population has dramatically decreased over the years, the needs among the remaining population are much greater and require additional funding.
“Yes, there are fewer survivors, but those who live into their 80s and into their 90s are by definition in greater need of care,” said Eizenstat. “So even though the numbers are down, the needs are up, and that was a very difficult concept to get across.”
Eizenstat said that of the remaining estimated 200,000 survivors, over 80% of the population in countries that made up the Soviet Union are living below or near the poverty line. In the United States and Israel, around a third are living in or near the poverty line.
“I’m hoping that this can prompt local federations to supplement what we’ve done and to make sure that survivors in their last years don’t live impoverished, that they have a dignity that was denied them when they’re young,” said Eizenstat.
He added that this year’s negotiations had been the “most satisfying” since he began helming the organization’s Negotiations Delegation in 2009 given the distance of current-day Germans from the atrocities and the challenge posed by Germany’s economic crisis.
“These are people who literally weren’t born during the war, or if they were, they were young children, and yet they still feel a moral responsibility,” Eizenstat said. “It belies the notion that there’s Holocaust fatigue in Germany because it’s coming at a time of crushing financial burdens from Ukraine, from the need to stimulate their economy because of slow growth. This really is a combination of what Germany deserves great credit for under difficult circumstances.”
The negotiation also secured funding for a group the Claims Conference referred to as “Righteous Rescuers,” or non-Jewish people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
“It demonstrates that we care deeply about making sure they get all the benefits of the Jewish survivors that they helped save,” said Eizenstat.
The German government also extended its support for Holocaust education programs through 2029, totalling $205 million over the next four years. The Claims Conference first negotiated support for Holocaust education from Germany in 2022.
“The survivors, the eye-witnesses, won’t be here, and we need Holocaust education desperately at a time of rising antisemitism, Holocaust distortion, denial and sheer ignorance,” Eizenstat said.
Eizenstat said he hopes the expanded funding for survivor care and Holocaust education will also carry a broader message about tolerance and empathy.
“I hope that these are the two major things that will draw as lessons and they remind us, at a time of traumatic intolerance in the United States and over the world, against minorities and others, that the real lesson of the Holocaust is to be tolerant of people who are different, to work out your differences and not to stigmatize,” Eizenstat said. “We need to be tolerant. We need to be humane. We need to all work together to solve our problems and not view each other as enemies.”
The post German government pledges record $1B in funding for Holocaust survivor home care appeared first on The Forward.
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German government pledges record $1B in funding for Holocaust survivor home care
The German government has agreed to allocate $1.08 billion in funds for home care for survivors for 2026, marking the largest budget for home care in its history of Holocaust reparations, reflecting the growing needs of an aging survivor population.
The funding, which was secured following negotiations with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, will now enable all Holocaust survivors currently on waitlists for home care to receive it, according to Stuart E. Eizenstat, who leads negotiations on behalf of the Claims Conference.
“We really believe now that, with the largest home care budget in the history of the Claims Conference’s negotiations with Germany, which go back to 1952, that we will be able to cover all those on waiting lists,” Eizenstat said in an interview.
Last year, Germany also set a record for Holocaust reparations, spending $1.5 billion overall. But as the survivor population ages, with the median age now at 87, the need for home care has become the dominant expense.
Nearly all of the Holocaust survivors who are alive today will be dead within 15 years and half will die by 2031, according to a demographic analysis published by the Claims Conference in April.
“As we’re in the last phase now of survivors — in 10 years, half of the survivors, and there’s about 200,000 now, will be gone — so we’re dealing with people in the very last stages of their life and and it’s very rewarding to provide a measure of dignity, both through these payments, but again, through home care,” Eizenstat said.
One difficulty during the negotiations, according to Eizenstat, came from explaining to German officials that although the survivor population has dramatically decreased over the years, the needs among the remaining population are much greater and require additional funding.
“Yes, there are fewer survivors, but those who live into their 80s and into their 90s are by definition in greater need of care,” said Eizenstat. “So even though the numbers are down, the needs are up, and that was a very difficult concept to get across.”
Eizenstat said that of the remaining estimated 200,000 survivors, over 80% of the population in countries that made up the Soviet Union are living below or near the poverty line. In the United States and Israel, around a third are living in or near the poverty line.
“I’m hoping that this can prompt local federations to supplement what we’ve done and to make sure that survivors in their last years don’t live impoverished, that they have a dignity that was denied them when they’re young,” said Eizenstat.
He added that this year’s negotiations had been the “most satisfying” since he began helming the organization’s Negotiations Delegation in 2009 given the distance of current-day Germans from the atrocities and the challenge posed by Germany’s economic crisis.
“These are people who literally weren’t born during the war, or if they were, they were young children, and yet they still feel a moral responsibility,” Eizenstat said. “It belies the notion that there’s Holocaust fatigue in Germany because it’s coming at a time of crushing financial burdens from Ukraine, from the need to stimulate their economy because of slow growth. This really is a combination of what Germany deserves great credit for under difficult circumstances.”
The negotiation also secured funding for a group the Claims Conference referred to as “Righteous Rescuers,” or non-Jewish people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.
“It demonstrates that we care deeply about making sure they get all the benefits of the Jewish survivors that they helped save,” said Eizenstat.
The German government also extended its support for Holocaust education programs through 2029, totalling $205 million over the next four years. The Claims Conference first negotiated support for Holocaust education from Germany in 2022.
“The survivors, the eye-witnesses, won’t be here, and we need Holocaust education desperately at a time of rising antisemitism, Holocaust distortion, denial and sheer ignorance,” Eizenstat said.
Eizenstat said he hopes the expanded funding for survivor care and Holocaust education will also carry a broader message about tolerance and empathy.
“I hope that these are the two major things that will draw as lessons and they remind us, at a time of traumatic intolerance in the United States and over the world, against minorities and others, that the real lesson of the Holocaust is to be tolerant of people who are different, to work out your differences and not to stigmatize,” Eizenstat said. “We need to be tolerant. We need to be humane. We need to all work together to solve our problems and not view each other as enemies.”
—
The post German government pledges record $1B in funding for Holocaust survivor home care appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Vance downplays ‘little skirmishes’ as Israel bombs in Gaza and Hamas fails to return hostages
(JTA) — Israel carried out a bombing campaign in Gaza on Tuesday in response to what it said was violations of the two-week-old ceasefire by Hamas.
Hamas, meanwhile, rejected the claim that it was behind an attack on Israeli soldiers and said Israel’s bombing was the ceasefire violation.
The two developments, plus Hamas’ continued holding of 13 hostages’ remains, represented the biggest threats yet to the U.S. brokered ceasefire in the two-year-long Gaza war. But U.S. Vice President JD Vance said he remained unconcerned.
“The ceasefire is holding,” Vance told reporters in Washington. “That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be little skirmishes here and there.”
Vance traveled to Israel last week as part of a U.S. pressure campaign to preserve the truce and set the region on a path toward a deeper peace. Both Israel and Hamas have tested the terms of the ceasefire.
Hamas has not released the remains of all of hostages as required by the ceasefire and on Monday night returned remains belonging to a murdered Israeli whose body had previously been returned to Israel. Video footage from Gaza appeared to show Hamas placing the remains underground before retrieving them to hand to the Red Cross for transport to Israel — a charade that the Red Cross denounced as “unacceptable” in a statement.
Hamas said it would halt the planned release of another hostage’s remains on Tuesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he ordered “immediate and powerful strikes in Gaza” following a meeting of his security advisors.
The strikes followed an attack on Israeli soldiers in Rafah, a portion of Gaza that remains under Israeli military control.
“The attack on IDF soldiers in Gaza today by the Hamas terror organization crosses a glaring red line to which the IDF will respond with great force,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. “Hamas will pay many times over for attacking the soldiers and for violating the agreement to return the fallen hostages.”
Hamas said it did not carry out the attack and that the airstrikes, which it said killed at least nine people in Gaza, represented a violation of the ceasefire. But it said it remained committed to the truce, which has so far allowed it to reassert control within Gaza. A second phase, required once all hostages are released, calls for Hamas’ disarmament.
Vance said he understood that an Israeli soldier had been attacked. “We expect the Israelis are going to respond, but I think the president’s peace is going to hold despite that,” he said.
The post Vance downplays ‘little skirmishes’ as Israel bombs in Gaza and Hamas fails to return hostages appeared first on The Forward.