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Our communal definition of Jewish security is too limited. We need a wider one.
On Saturday mornings, I walk through metal detectors on my way into synagogue. I’m aware of why they’re there, and I feel grateful they exist.
My husband, who works at a Jewish day school, is grateful too for the security and cameras keeping an eye on the campus. In 2025, our places of faith require us to invest thoughtfully in safety.
These actions make us more safe, but is that all we need to feel more secure? If you ask me, the way we talk about “security” falls short.
In July, Jewish leaders applauded when Congress approved $274.5 million in federal security funding for nonprofits, including synagogues and Jewish community centers. The applause was deserved. In an era of heightened antisemitism, these dollars matter.
And yet, if our definition of “Jewish security” starts at cameras and locks, and stops with security guards, then it is incomplete. True security must also mean that Jews can afford to see a doctor, put food on the table, and secure a living wage.
The same budget Congress passed in July also cost Jewish households billions of dollars in security, literally. Alongside countless cuts, the administration eliminated more than $1 trillion from healthcare programs that make it possible for millions of Americans to fill a diabetes prescription or access preventative care like a mammogram. The largest of those programs is Medicaid.
I remember when my grandfather’s care needs for his Alzheimer’s ramped up, and I wondered, who was paying for this? For so many families, including mine, the answer in that moment is Medicaid. Today, one in 11 American Jews relies on it. Medicaid is the insurance that provides Holocaust survivors with home health care aids, covers therapy for young queer Jews at Jewish Family Service agencies, and ensures Jewish babies are born without their parents adding the bill to their credit card debt. For more than 650,000 Jews, Medicaid is security. For them, a cut to Medicaid is not abstract; it’s a threat to their lives.
When I read the results of a new study on American Jewish finances, I had to read them again. Twenty-nine percent of Jews say they are struggling or just barely making ends meet, up from 20 percent in 2020. If you’re feeling stretched right now, it is not just you.
And painfully, while 66% of Jews with financial stability believe the community takes care of people in need, only 39 percent of low-income Jews agree. We are a community that prides itself on mutual responsibility, but we are falling short.
For generations, Jews were at the forefront of labor movements, fighting for fair wages and economic justice. Today, that spirit continues with groups like the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies, which organized for months against the healthcare cuts embedded in HR 1. But the issue seemed to be missing or swept aside from the radar of the broader Jewish community.
Despite our people’s history being marked by our lack of access to assets, I sometimes feel like I’m inside an antisemitic cartoon when I jokingly remind people that yes, low-income Jews do exist and at high rates. I myself grew up in a household that at times relied on government assistance like SNAP and free school lunch. I know how it feels to sit in synagogue and wonder if anyone sees you, and your or your friends’ financial fears.
As a former case manager, CEO of a national hunger organization, and now Jewish poverty expert, I have learned that change does not happen alone. Our rabbis, our philanthropists, our institutions, and yes, our government partners must all widen the definition of Jewish security.
We recently marked Sukkot, a holiday that puts front and center how fragile security can be. We should remember that our ancestors never defined security by walls alone. They defined it by covenant—by the promise that no one would be left to wander alone. As philosopher Michael Waltzer reminds us, “wherever you are, there too is Egypt,” a place where someone is oppressed and burdened.
Waltzer reminds us that a better world is possible, and the only way to get there is by joining together.
When I walk through those metal detectors on Shabbat, I’m grateful. And I know that for many, security requires not just protection but stability. Jewish security means that every person in our community can live with healthcare, access to a thriving Jewish life, and someone to call when things get hard. That is the covenant we renew each time we care for one another.
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The post Our communal definition of Jewish security is too limited. We need a wider one. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas, Islamic Jihad Announce Hostage Body Handover
A Red Cross vehicle, escorted by a van driven by a Hamas terrorist, moves in an area within the so-called “yellow line” to which Israeli troops withdrew under the ceasefire, as Hamas says it continues to search for the bodies of deceased hostages seized during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in Gaza City, Nov. 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alk
The armed wings of Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said on Thursday they would hand over the body of a hostage at 8 pm local time (1800 GMT), though Israel said it had not received any official notification of a planned transfer.
Islamic Jihad, which is allied with Hamas and also seized hostages during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that precipitated the Gaza war, said the body was recovered in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Under an October ceasefire deal, Hamas released all 20 surviving hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and wartime detainees held by Israel.
The agreement also provided for the return of the remains of 28 hostages in exchange for the remains of 360 militants.
Until Thursday, the remains of four hostages were still held in Gaza.
An Israeli government spokesperson told reporters Israel was unaware of any planned return, despite media reports suggesting the handover could take place later on Thursday.
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Coalition Led by Iraqi PM Sudani Comes First in Iraq’s Election, Commission Says
A man holds a flag of Iraq from a car with an election poster featuring current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, as supporters of the Reconstruction and Development Coalition celebrate after preliminary election results were announced in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 12, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Saad
A coalition led by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani came first in Iraq’s parliamentary election, the Independent High Electoral Commission said on Wednesday.
His coalition received 1.317 million votes in Tuesday’s election, the commission said.
Reuters reported earlier that Sudani placed first, citing two electoral commission officials with knowledge of the results.
Sudani was seeking a second term in Tuesday’s election, but many disillusioned young voters saw the vote simply as a vehicle for established parties to divide Iraq’s oil wealth.
However, Sudani tried to cast himself as the leader who could make Iraq a success after years of instability, arguing he had moved against established parties that brought him to power.
No party can form a government on its own in Iraq’s 329-member legislature, so parties build alliances with other groups to become an administration, a fraught process that often takes many months.
The final total turnout in Iraq’s parliamentary election reached 56.11 percent, the electoral commission said earlier on Wednesday.
“The voter turnout is clear evidence of another success, reflected in the restoration of confidence in the political system,” Sudani said in a televised speech following the announcement of the initial results.
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At Grossinger’s in the Catskills, Jews learned how to be American
Jewish resort culture in the Borscht Belt peaked in the mid-1950s when there were 538 hotels, 50,000 bungalows, and 1,000 boarding houses. Among the best known was Grossinger’s where Jewish singles mingled with the likes of Lucille Ball, Milton Berle and Elizabeth Taylor over the course of the resort’s more than seven-decade existence.
We Met at Grossinger’s, a documentary directed by Paula Eiselt (Under G-d, 93 Queen), explains how Grossinger’s became so successful despite the fact that its founder had only a sixth grade education. In 1900, at the age of 8, Jennie Grossinger immigrated with her family from Galicia, Austria to New York. She dropped out of school and began working as a buttonhole maker to help support her family, until her father became sick and they moved to the Catskills. Her father hoped to start a farm, but the family found the rocky land was better suited for a boarding house than crops. Jennie managed the inn while her mother oversaw the kitchen, and she eventually made enough money to purchase a larger building down the road.
The documentary features a range of interviewees, including Grossinger’s descendants, historians, and celebrities, such as Jackie Hoffman and Joel Grey, who frequented the resort. With its snappy editing and in-depth approach to the history of the culture, the film brings the past back to life and captures how the resort became ingrained in people’s personal lives.
Grossinger’s grandson Mitchell Etess estimates that thousands of couples met there. Hoffman says it’s where she had her first makeout session with a boy. Former employees say Grossinger’s elite guests motivated them to pursue better education and careers. Multiple interviewees say the resort was a home away from home.
Archival footage of people dancing, swimming, dining, and being entertained takes viewers back to the glitz and glamor of the Catskills in its heyday. Although Jewish resorts were founded in response to antisemitic exclusion at other places, the joy Jews were able to create for themselves diminishes the darkness of this bigotry.
The resorts gave Jews a place to escape antisemitism and be among people with a shared culture. For Holocaust survivors it provided the opportunity to connect with others who could understand their trauma. Jewish athletes like boxer Barney Ross (born David Rosofsky) relied on Grossinger’s as a place where they could train and get kosher food. Jews also got a crash course on assimilation, learning how to engage in American social activities like golfing and playing tennis without fear of judgment.
It wasn’t just Jews that fled to the Catskills. Bard College professor Myra Armstead’s grandparents moved there during the Great Migration and opened the Gratney M. Smith, a boarding house for Black workers and vacationers. Jackie Robinson was an invited guest at Grossinger’s and became friends with Jennie. The Jewish Vacation Guide, which pointed Jews to safe housing and dining in the area and around the country, inspired the Green Book, which provided the same functions for Black people.
But in the 1970s, when it became easier for Jews to vacation with non-Jews, the resorts became less of a necessity. Buildings in the city now had air conditioning, so people didn’t have to escape to the mountains for cooler weather. Teenagers and young adults began to prefer to spend their vacations with friends or doing activities that didn’t involve being attached at the hip to their parents or grandparents.
In 1987, a year after Grossinger’s closed, the lost culture it had once embodied was given renewed attention in Dirty Dancing. Although the film avoided explicit mentions of Judaism, the fictional Kellerman’s was based on Grossinger’s and the script was written by resort regular Eleanor Bergstein.
Now, younger generations are starting to take an interest in the Borscht Belt culture. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has exposed new audiences to this old form of Jewish vacation culture. Photographers Marisa Scheinfeld and Isaac Jeffreys have created photography collections of abandoned Catskill resorts. The Borscht Belt Museum teaches visitors about this bygone period.
But unlike fictional media and photos of the past, We Met at Grossinger’s offers firsthand accounts of life in the Catskills from those who lived it, adding a personal dimension to this new wave of Jewish nostalgia.
We Met at Grossinger’s will have its world premiere at DOC NYC on November 13, with subsequent screenings on November 16 and 19.
The post At Grossinger’s in the Catskills, Jews learned how to be American appeared first on The Forward.