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In my small town, ‘that Jewish hut’ has turned Sukkot into a cross-cultural shelter of peace
On the weekend between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, Waterville city workers put up the frame for our community sukkah. They were careful to make sure that tree branches did not obscure the view of the stars and the night sky, and that sufficient room was left for a Wabanaki storytelling festival in the town square scheduled during the same week.
This was the second year our municipal workers erected “that Jewish hut.” I never thought Waterville would support the Jewish community in building, hosting, and supporting our sukkah; it came about through an unexpected and somewhat painful discussion. For years, Waterville has hosted “Kringleville,” a community celebration of Santa Claus and Christmas. A non-Jewish member of the Waterville community challenged the practice, and demanded a menorah be placed next to the Christmas tree. Some community members supported this move; others wanted all public observances of religious festivals to end.
Our synagogue leadership was ambivalent about either option. I’ve never liked the idea of Hanukkah competing with Christmas, elevating a minor festival not because of its importance, but rather because of its proximity to a major holiday outside of our tradition. I also believe we should retain community events — religious or otherwise — that reinforce faith, community, and good will. I don’t believe that diminishing Christian festivals strengthens the Jewish community. In light of these values, we suggested a different path forward for the City of Waterville.
In a meeting with the city manager, our synagogue’s executive director, Melanie Weiss, suggested that rather than erect a menorah in the winter, we erect a sukkah in the fall. Why? Sukkot is a major Jewish festival in its own right, the city could provide support for our small synagogue that we actually needed and wanted (putting up a sukkah is hard work!), and we could leverage central Maine’s agricultural and multi-ethnic traditions to bring joy not only to the Jewish community, but to everyone in our region.
Sukkot is a festival about hospitality, joy and creative construction. In the wake of Oct. 7, our synagogue staff and board believed that inviting the greater community into our spaces was a better approach than pulling away behind walls. We wanted our public face to be welcoming, inclusive, beautiful, and proud. As such, in partnership with the Center for Small Town Jewish Life at Colby College, Waterville Creates (our local arts organization), Beth Israel Congregation, and the Waterville Public Schools, we spearheaded a citywide arts project so that everyone in town could contribute some kind of personal decoration to adorn our community sukkah.
In our first year, we organized an art project around “Welcoming our Ancestors,” teaching the greater community about ushpizin and providing a canvas for our neighbors to highlight their journeys from Lebanon, Quebec, Congo, Syria, Iraq, Lithuania and yes, Israel. This year (our second), our community art project charges participants to craft a “Map of Joy” depicting their personal journeys from origin points around the world to places of joyousness. Panels depicting heartfelt and arduous journeys from Homs, Syria, sit next to panels that highlight the vibrancy of Tel Aviv.
This year’s art project asked participates to create panels depicting personal journeys from places around the world. (Courtesy Center for Small Town Jewish Life)
On Erev Sukkot, we host a vegetarian potluck dinner with dishes from around the world, and we share the blessings of Sukkot with our neighbors. Before candle lighting, we show participants the lulav and etrog, and later we explain the story of Sukkot and its core values. In coordination with Waterville Adult Education and the Capital Area New Mainers Project, we invite translators to make our teaching accessible, and have printed materials in several languages that are spoken in local immigrant communities.
This project isn’t without its detractors. Some resent or oppose Jewish content and representation in public spaces, even if it is in equal measure to Christian, Muslim and Indigenous traditions. Some have asserted that our multifaith work is a way to evade discussions of Israel and Gaza Others fear that the sukkah will be desecrated or attacked. In essence, most of the opposition comes from antisemitic sentiment or the fear of it. And yet we have chosen to put up our sukkah with the support of city partners and with the vigilant protection of the Waterville Police Department. We refuse to acquiesce to the suspicion and hatred of others, or to the fear that it will be expressed.
The Waterville Jewish community and the Center for Small Town Jewish Life have chosen a unique response to this moment of increased Jewish vulnerability and alienation. We have reinforced local partnerships, introduced citizens from all walks of life to the beauty of the Jewish tradition, and invited them to participate, not just as observers, but as co-creators.
Even though there are potential risks, and deficiencies to this approach, it builds on the strengths and spirit of small town Jewish life. We affirm our place in our community through sharing our traditions, and placing them in a greater American and social context, one that emphasizes faith, family, and community. Building friendships and understanding may not protect us from all animus, but it does reduce suspicion and dehumanization. Our festival is made all the more joyous when we see our neighbors celebrating with us, and when we learn about their journeys, families and creative gifts.
Through constructing Sukkot in this way, our local Jewish community gains or develops or cultivates a greater sense of pride, happiness, fulfillment and “at homeness” in Waterville. And through erecting this temporary Jewish structure in shared civic space on Main Street, Waterville is stronger. Our prophets teach that when the world is ultimately redeemed on Sukkot, the Temple will become a house of prayer for all peoples. Although we are miles away from a rebuilt Jerusalem, we are beginning that redemptive process in Waterville, Maine, beam by beam, branch by branch, citizen by citizen.
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Trump Threatens to Hit Iran ‘Very Hard’ if More Protesters Killed as Supreme Leader Said to Be Prepared to Flee
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Dec. 29, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
US President Donald Trump on Sunday evening warned Iran that it will get “hit very hard” if the regime kills more protesters, as anti-government demonstrations enter a second week and the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is reportedly preparing an escape amid rising domestic unrest.
“We’re watching [the situation] very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump’s latest threat comes after he warned last week that Washington will intervene if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters.”
Sparked by a shopkeepers’ strike in Tehran last week, protests have swept the country, sparked by the soaring cost of living, a worsening economic crisis, and the rial — Iran’s currency — plunging to record lows in the wake of renewed United Nations sanctions.
For more than one week, anti-regime protests have shaken Iran, with violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces escalating amid intensifying domestic crises.
On Saturday, Khamenei accused “enemies of the Islamic Republic” of stoking unrest and warned that “rioters should be put in their place,” Iranian media reported.
Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, also said that while citizens have a right to protest, the government will show no leniency toward “rioters.”
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI), protests have spread to at least 78 cities, with the regime killing 20 people — including three children — arresting nearly 1,000, and detaining more than 40 minors.
Amid a deepening economic crisis worsened by a 12-day June war with Israel and the US that struck several of Iran’s nuclear sites, the regime has ramped up its crackdown on protesters and opposition figures trying to maintain stability.
Media reports indicate that anti-riot forces — including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Basij militia, local police, and the army — have used violent tactics such as live fire, tear gas, and water cannons to suppress demonstrations.
In widely circulated social media videos, protesters can be heard chanting slogans such as “Death to the dictator” and “Khamenei will be toppled this year,” while also calling for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to step down.
Videos sent to Iran International show security forces confronting protesting shopkeepers in central Tehran on Monday, with riot police deployed around the Grand Bazaar and tear gas used on Jomhouri Street near the Hafez underpass. pic.twitter.com/OyhQlyUJaN
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) December 29, 2025
Meanwhile, Khamenei reportedly has a backup plan to flee the country if his security forces fail to suppress protests or begin to desert, according to The Times.
“The ‘plan B’ is for Khamenei and his very close circle of associates and family, including his son and nominated heir apparent, Mojtaba,” an intelligence source told the British newspaper.
Khamenei would reportedly flee to Moscow, following the path of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
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Pro-Hamas Arson Attack Targets Home of Antisemitism Commissioner in Germany
An image of arson and vandalism near the home of Andreas Büttner, commissioner for combating antisemitism in the German state of Brandenburg. Photo: Screenshot
Investigators in Germany have started reviewing an arson attack on Sunday against the home of Andreas Büttner, commissioner for combating antisemitism in the state of Brandenburg, where assailants set fire to a shed at his property in Templin — a town located approximately 43 miles north of Berlin — and spray-painted an inverted red triangle, the symbol of support for the Islamist terrorist group Hamas.
“My thoughts are with Andreas Büttner and his family,” Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor posted on X. “Knowing him as I do, after this attack he will only stand up even more resolutely against antisemitism. For the radical part of the ‘Palestine solidarity’ movement is not only antisemitic, but terrorist.”
Prosor explained the significance of the red triangle, writing, “Attacks on those who think differently and attempted murder: That is what the Hamas triangle stands for — in Gaza as in Brandenburg. And the hatred of Israel goes hand in hand with hatred of our democracy. The rule of law must smash these terrorist organizations — and indeed, before they strike again.”
The red triangle vandalism appeared “on the neighboring house’s door entrance,” according to Germany’s DW media.
The home of Germany’s antisemitism commissioner, Andreas Büttner, was set on fire overnight in a targeted attack.
His family was inside the house at the time.
This is the second attack against Büttner in the past 16 months. His car was previously vandalized with swastikas. This… pic.twitter.com/cAbFnMIwQ7
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) January 5, 2026
“The symbol speaks a clear language. The red Hamas triangle is an internationally known sign of jihadist violence and antisemitic incitement,” Büttner said. “Anyone who uses such a thing wants to intimidate and glorify terror. This is not a protest, it is a threat.”
According to Büttner, his family was inside the house at the time of the arson, the second attack against him in the past 16 months. His car was previously vandalized with swastikas.
Büttner released a statement on X.
“This attack represents a massive escalation,” he wrote. “It is directed against me personally, against my family, and against my home. At the same time, it is an expression of hatred and intimidation. I will not be intimidated by this. Anyone who believes that they can achieve something through violence, arson, or threats is mistaken. Such acts do not lead to me becoming quieter or questioning my commitment — they strengthen me in what I do. I ask that you give us the necessary peace today and refrain from further inquiries at the present time.”
Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke also condemned the violence, saying that “violence against people or things is and remains absolutely unacceptable. The police have started the investigation, and I hope that the perpetrator or perpetrators will be caught quickly.”
Jochen Feilcke, chairman of the German-Israeli Society Berlin and Brandenburg, described the attack “as where Hamas’s terrorism was applied on a small scale, including the Hamas triangle, in order to ultimately intimidate all people who defend themselves against increasing antisemitism in Berlin and Brandenburg.”
“Especially the parties of the left camp have every reason to deal with it, because they tolerate this mood or still fuel it,” Feilcke told Tagesspiegel. “They are so jointly responsible for when debates turn into violence.””
The Jewish Virtual Library describes how the inverted red triangle symbol was originally used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners.
“According to Holocaust historians, this triangle was part of a dehumanizing classification system, where each prisoner was identified by different colored triangles depending on their ‘crime,’” writes Or Shaked, deputy director of the Jewish Virtual Library. “The red triangle identified political dissidents, including socialists and communists. After World War II, the survivors of Nazi persecution and their families reclaimed the red triangle as a symbol of resistance to fascism.”
Shaked explains the revival of the symbol in recent years, noting that following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, the symbol began appearing in Hamas-produced propaganda, marking Israeli military targets. Its use spread to anti-Israel protests, particularly on college campuses and social media, where demonstrators use it to show solidarity with Palestinians.
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Orthodox Jewish Judge to Preside Over Maduro Trial in New York
US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein presides at the Manhattan Federal Court hearing over former US President Donald Trump’s push to move his criminal case to federal court, in New York City, US, June 27, 2023, in a courtroom sketch. Photo: Jane Rosenberg via Reuters Connect
The US federal judge presiding over the criminal proceedings of deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is an Orthodox Jew from New York City whose 70 years as a legal professional has seen him work on a slew of major cases with historic implications, touching on matters from the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the felony convictions of Donald Trump.
Born in 1933 — a year in which Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed the US presidency, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, and the British Broadcasting Corporation aired the first ever televised boxing match — the future US district judge Alvin Kenneth Hellerstein graduated from Columbia Law School in 1956, the third year of the first Eisenhower administration and the year of the Suez Crisis.
Forty-two years later, after serving as a law clerk, achieving first lieutenant rank in the US Army, and becoming partner at the Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, Hellerstein was appointed to the federal bench by former US President Bill Clinton in 1998 at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, a first of its kind cable media event in which Clinton was accused of carrying on a torrid extramarital affair with a White House intern.
On Monday, Hellerstein lived through another moment of major historical significance, as he arraigned Maduro on narcoterrorism charges stemming from a federal indictment which alleges that he operated a gargantuan drug trafficking operation while administering a dictatorship over Venezuela.
Maduro was transported to New York City by the US military and federal law enforcement agents following an operation to extract him from Venezuela during the early morning hours of Jan. 3. He has since been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, whose list of recent high-profile inmates include Sam Bankman-Fried, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Ghislaine Maxwell.
“I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela,” Maduro, joined by his wife and alleged co-conspirator Cilia Flores, told Hellerstein when asked to confirm his name in court on Monday. “I am a decent man. I am still president of my country.”
Hellerstein responded, “There will be a time and a place to go into all of this.” He later notified Maduro of his right to remain silent and authorized the requests of the deposed leader and his wife to receive medical attention.
Maduro’s capture was described by the Trump administration as both a law enforcement action and an application of the Roosevelt Corollary, in which the US assumes the right to secure and stabilize the Western Hemisphere by directly intervening in the domestic affairs of states within it. The policy has shown several faces since its first utterance as the Monroe Doctrine which opposed European colonialism in the hemisphere, and in accordance with it the US has staged actions in Cuba, Haiti, and Grenada.
Hellerstein’s tenure as a federal judge has been eventful. Sept. 11, 2001, victims, narcoterrorists, presidents, and the US government all have sought favorable rulings in his courtroom. In one of his more recent cases, he presided over the trial of Charlie Javice, who was convicted of defrauding JPMorgan Chase of $175 million dollars by duping the firm, one of the oldest and most important in the history of US finance, into believing that she had discovered a way to “simplify” the process for college students to apply for student financial aid. A jury convicted Javice, and Hellerstein sentenced her to 85 months in prison.
As a former president and candidate for the White House, Trump asked Hellerstein to transfer a criminal case alleging that he paid money to quell accusations of an extramarital affair from state court to federal court, a request Hellerstein repelled twice.
Hellerstein has also ruled against the second Trump administration’s attempt to deport alleged illegal migrants of Venezuelan origin under the Alien Enemies Act and detain them in El Salvador, where they would await repatriation. Hellerstein argued that the administration failed to show cause and settled on a different remedy.
“The destination, El Salvador, a country paid to take our aliens, is neither the country from which the aliens came, nor to which they wish to be removed,” Hellerstein wrote in his decision, issued in May amid of flurry of actions taken by new president. “But they are taken there, and there to remain, indefinitely, in a notoriously evil jail, unable to communicate with counsel, family, or friends.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.