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Lily Henley, 31, Ladino singer/songwriter
Lily Henley, 31, is a Brooklyn-based folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose most recent release, an album of new Ladino songs, “Oras Dezaoradas” (“Hours Without Hours”), was named the album of the year by our partners at Hey Alma. “I grew up playing fiddle and singing often at home with my family in English, Hebrew and Ladino, and listening to a wide palette of music from all over the world,” Henley tells us. Influenced by traditional Sephardic songs and culture, along with Celtic, folk and pop music, the album, which was recorded in Brooklyn during the pandemic, “is an exploration of transience, heartbreak, autonomy and change, and includes both completely original songs and also new melodies which I wrote to cradle traditional lyrics as Sephardi singers have done throughout our history,” she says.
For the full list of this year’s 36 to Watch — which honors leaders, entrepreneurs and changemakers who are making a difference in New York’s Jewish community — click here.
Who is your New York Jewish hero?
There are so many, but I’m going to say my father, Eric Henley. It will surprise him, because he’s one of those rare people who never really looks for any sort of congratulations from anyone. He loves to be part of a team, and what he cares most about is having a meaningful effect in what he does every day. He’s an MD and MPH who has worked in public health for his entire career. He’s someone who is always educating themselves and who almost never gives advice without being asked. When he finally retired from full-time work a little while ago there were so many people I had never met who cried and said he had been their most important mentor. There’s almost nothing he enjoys more than music, and he’s always been supportive of the winding and uncertain path I’ve been on as an artist.
What’s a fun/surprising fact about you?
I am the proud owner of pet snails (not kosher, but very beautiful).
How does your Jewish identity or experience influence your work?
As a singer working in both English and an endangered Jewish language, Jewish identity is both a source of continued inspiration at the heart of everything I do artistically, and something which has caused a great deal of complicated self-examining. It is important to me to shine a light on underrepresented Jewish culture, history and experience, to connect to the wider Jewish world, and at the same time to continue to use my music and my voice to bridge the divide between Jewish and non-Jewish culture in a way that rejects assimilation and monolithic expressions of identity and creativity. I see pathways and parallels between my own complex Jewish experience and the experiences of people from a myriad of identities and backgrounds, and I see my music as an expression of my desire to connect to people regardless of our differences.
Was there a formative Jewish experience that influenced your life path?
When I was 8 my mother helped organize a community Pesach seder in Crestone, Colorado. It was attended by nuns from a local Carmelite monastery, the caretakers and attendees of the Hindu ashram, monks from the neighboring Buddhist temple, members of a nearby Protestant church and a myriad of community members. The seder was lead by a 70-year-old Holocaust survivor from Germany, and in preparation, our Hebrew-speaking neighbor taught my sister and me the four questions along with a handful of beautiful Hebrew songs, many with Sephardi melodies. My sister and I still sing these on Shabbat with our family.
What is your favorite place to eat Jewish food in New York?
Historically, all the best Jewish food has been found on my grandmother’s table!
How can people follow you online?
@lilyhenley on Instagram or at lilyhenley.com
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The post Lily Henley, 31, Ladino singer/songwriter appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israeli man indicted in attack on Catholic nun in Jerusalem’s Old City
(JTA) — An Israeli man was indicted on Thursday in connection to the violent assault of a Catholic nun in Jerusalem last month, after prosecutors said he targeted her over her Christian identity.
Yona Schreiber, 36, from the West Bank settlement of Peduel, was arrested last week and has since been indicted on charges of “assault causing actual injury motivated by hostility toward the public on the grounds of religion, as well as simple assault,” the state attorney’s office said in a statement.
According to the indictment, Schreiber, who is Jewish, attacked the nun just outside of the Old City in Jerusalem because he identified her as a Catholic nun. Schreiber allegedly pushed and then kicked the nun as she was lying on the ground and also attacked a passerby who attempted to intervene.
תקיפת הנזירה אתמול באזור קבר דוד בירושלים – שוטרי מרחב דוד איתרו את החשוד (36) ועצרו אותו בחשד לתקיפה ממניע גזעני >>> pic.twitter.com/agRpznR84X
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) April 30, 2026
The nun, a researcher at the French School of Biblical and Archeological Research, suffered bruises on her face and leg due to the attack, the state attorney’s office said.
The attack, which drew condemnation from Catholic leaders as well as faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, comes amid mounting concern over hostility toward Christian clergy and holy sites in Israel.
Cases of Jews harassing Christians have risen sharply in recent years. Last month, the IDF punished a soldier who was filmed bludgeoning a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon. This week, the IDF also announced that it would discipline a different soldier who was seen placing a cigarette into the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in a photo posted on social media.
Israel’s attorney general asked the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, where the indictment was filed, to hold Schreiber in detention for the duration of the legal proceeding.
The assault carries a maximum prison sentence of three years, which could increase to six years if prosecutors prove the attack was motivated by religious bias.
The post Israeli man indicted in attack on Catholic nun in Jerusalem’s Old City appeared first on The Forward.
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Jewish real estate magnate Steven Roth likens Mamdani’s ‘tax the rich’ rhetoric to ‘from the river to the sea’
(New York Jewish Week) — Jewish real estate mogul Steven Roth compared New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “tax the rich” rhetoric this week to racial slurs and pro-Palestinian rhetoric on an earnings call for his company, Vornado Realty Trust.
“I consider the phrase ‘tax the rich’ when spit out with anger and contempt by politicians both here and across the country, to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs and even the phrase, ‘from the river to the sea,’” Roth said, referring to the phrase commonly used at pro-Palestinian protests that many Jewish groups consider antisemitic.
The remark by Roth, who has long been a notable philanthropist to Jewish causes, adds to mounting tensions between New York business leaders and Mamdani over his recently announced “pied-à-terre” tax on second homes valued at more than $5 million.
During the call Tuesday, Roth also expressed support for Ken Griffin, the CEO of Citadel, whose $238 million dollar penthouse was featured in a video by Mamdani announcing plans for the tax last month.
“We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken’s home and single him out for ridicule,” Roth said. “The ugly, unnecessary video stunt is personal for Ken and sort of personal for me.”
Roth’s comments touched on a longstanding source of friction between Mamdani and some New York Jewish leaders, who have criticized the mayor over his views on Israel and his previous defense of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” another common pro-Palestinian slogan viewed by some as a call to violence against Jews.
In the wake of Mamdani’s election, some Jewish business leaders, including Dave Portnoy, the Jewish founder of Barstool Sports, said that they planned to leave the city altogether, citing the mayor’s fiscal policies and concerns about antisemitism under his leadership.
In a statement responding to Roth’s comments, Mamdani’s office said that he wanted all New Yorkers to succeed, including “business owners and entrepreneurs who create good-paying jobs and make this city the economic engine of America.”
“That does not negate the fact, however, that our tax system is fundamentally broken. It rewards extreme wealth while working people are pushed to the brink,” the statement continued. “The status quo is unsustainable and unjust. If we want this city to become a place that working people can afford, we need meaningful tax reform that includes the wealthiest New Yorkers contributing their fair share.”
The post Jewish real estate magnate Steven Roth likens Mamdani’s ‘tax the rich’ rhetoric to ‘from the river to the sea’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Man who firebombed Boulder Israeli hostage march sentenced to life in prison
(JTA) — The man charged with carrying out a deadly firebombing attack on a march for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado, last year was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Thursday after pleading guilty to muder and dozens of other charges.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national who was arrested at the scene of the attack on the demonstrators last June, pleaded guilty to 101 charges, including 52 counts of attempted murder and one count of murder for the death of Karen Diamond, an 82-year-old victim of the attack who later died of her wounds.
During the June attack, Soliman shouted “free Palestine” and threw two molotov cocktails at the group, Run for Their Lives, injuring over a dozen people. According to an earlier court filing, Soliman said that he had staged the attack, which prosecutors said he planned for a year, because he “wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead.”
Soliman has separately pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges, for which prosecutors could potentially seek the death penalty.
“If I went back, I would not have done this as this is not according to the teaching of Islam,” Soliman said during the sentencing hearing, adding that he wanted federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty. “What I did came out of myself and only myself.”
During his remarks, Soliman argued that he had not been driven by anti-Jewish animus. He later said that Zionism was “the enemy” and that it was his “right” to be against Israel.
Chief District Judge Nancy W. Salomone rejected Mr. Soliman’s arguments, telling him that his “choices were acts of terror, and they victimized an entire community,” according to the New York Times.
“You chose to victimize these people because they were members of the Jewish community,” she said.
In a statement read earlier in court by a prosecutor, Diamond’s sons, Andrew and Ethan Diamond, asked that Soliman not be allowed to see his family again “since he is responsible for our mother never seeing her family again,” according to the Associated Press.
They said that Diamond had suffered “indescribable pain” for over three weeks before her death, adding that “in those weeks, we learned the full meaning of the expressions ‘living hell’ and ‘fate worse than death.’”
The post Man who firebombed Boulder Israeli hostage march sentenced to life in prison appeared first on The Forward.