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The first and second Jewish mayors of Providence, Rhode Island, just had a shared bar mitzvah
(JTA) — It is not every day a sitting mayor celebrates his bar mitzvah. But last Saturday, as more than 700 people packed the pews at Temple Beth-El in Providence, Rhode Island, that’s exactly what unfolded.
At the center of the ceremony at the Reform synagogue on the East Side of Providence was the city’s mayor, Brett Smiley; the former mayor and congressman, David Cicilline; and 11 other adults who, for the last 16 months, had been studying Hebrew, parsing Torah portions and preparing together for a long-awaited rite of passage. (The ceremony was first reported by the Providence Journal.)
For Smiley, who was raised in a Protestant household and converted to Judaism in 2024, the ceremony was the culmination of a years-long spiritual journey that, until recently, had been a largely private endeavor.
“My grandfather was Jewish, and I have been surrounded by a Jewish community for much of my life,” Smiley said in an interview. “So I felt like I had both familial bonds and then what ended up being a real spiritual connection that just felt really comfortable and natural to me, and has turned out to be a source of great strength and joy for me.”
Among those in the audience was a cousin of Smiley’s on his grandfather’s side from Haifa, Israel, who had traveled to the United States a week earlier for another commitment. (Smiley’s cousin’s wife was unable to make the trip due to the war in Iran disrupting air travel.)
“To know that all these years later, his grandsons or grand-nephews were sitting together in a synagogue in Providence, Rhode Island, was really sort of a beautiful statement about the survival and perseverance and resilience of our community,” Smiley said.
Cicilline, who served as the mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011 and the U.S. representative for Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District from 2011 to 2023, is Jewish through his mother and has been a part of Temple Beth-El for decades. But he had never marked the rite of passage traditionally celebrated at age 13.
“This past Saturday marked a deeply personal milestone for me as a member of a community of 13 adults called to the Torah as part of the Adult B’nei Mitzvah program at Temple Beth-El,” Cicilline wrote in a post on Facebook. “In times of tumult, faith calls us back to our traditions — and to each other.”
For Smiley, studying alongside Cicilline, who paved a path for him in many ways, created an added layer of meaning.
“I view him as a role model and a mentor for me in my professional capacity,” Smiley said. “The first openly gay mayor of Providence, the first Jewish mayor of Providence — I sort of joke that he took all the superlatives.”
The b’nai mitzvah cohort on Saturday spanned generations, from their mid-30s to their 70s, and, beyond the mayoral participants, included a veteran, an equine veterinarian and the head of a local Holocaust educational center.
“We hold different political views, professional identities, and life experiences. And yet, we stand together,” one bar mitzvah student, Jay Potter, said during the opening reading Saturday. “In a time when the broader world feels fractured by division, rhetoric, violence, and isolation, this gathering is not small. It is a statement that we are all B’tzelem Elohim, created in the image of God.”
For Rabbi Sarah Mack, the leader of Temple Beth-El, the timing of the ceremony took on a special significance following the attack on another Reform synagogue, Temple Israel near Detroit, just days earlier.
“The culmination of a year and a half of study was just a beautiful thing to witness, especially in the wake of the attack in Michigan,” Mack said. “It felt like a really joyful, proud embrace of Jewish life and tradition, quite publicly, unabashedly and I would say that that felt really like a beautiful response to antisemitism and hatred in the world.”
On Monday, Smiley said he came across a photo of a teenage congregant at Temple Israel celebrating her bat mitzvah in the aftermath of the attack, a scene that struck him personally.
“To see her there reading the same parsha [Torah portion] that I had read, you know, with her tallit and 30 years in between us, 35 years in between us, but that same shared experience made me feel as much a member of the community as I’ve ever felt in a really lovely and warm and embracing way,” Smiley said.
Cantor Judith Seplowin, who served as the main teacher for the cohort, said the ceremony was “bittersweet” for her as it marked her last adult b’nai mitzvah class before her upcoming retirement.
“It was a beautiful event, and I think it really made us shine,” Seplowin said. “It was just wonderful that we could all be doing this, and thank God, you know, nothing happened security wise. I knew that we were in good hands, especially with the extra security because of the mayor being here.”
But while the timing of the celebration in the wake of the attack loomed large for those gathered at Temple Beth-El on Saturday, the b’nei mitzvah culminated in the way they always do: with a party.
On Saturday night, the cohort convened at The Dorrance, a local hotel, for a celebration that featured a photo booth, a DJ set with an “80s and 90s heavy playlist” and the customary chair lift — the mayor included.
“The ceremony itself was meaningful, but happy and joyful, and then we had a party on Saturday night, which was like the 13-year-old version of ourselves, the party none of us ever got to have,” Smiley said. “It was just a really joyful day, and I think that’s something we all need.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post The first and second Jewish mayors of Providence, Rhode Island, just had a shared bar mitzvah appeared first on The Forward.
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Iran’s President Says Immediate Cessation of US-Israeli Aggression Needed to End War
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that there needs to be an “immediate cessation” of what he described as US-Israeli aggression to end the war and wider regional conflict, Iran’s embassy in India said in an X post on Saturday.
Pezeshkian spoke with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi by phone earlier in the day.
Pezeshkian told Modi that there should be guarantees to prevent a recurrence of such “aggression” in the future. He also called on the BRICS bloc of major emerging economies to play an independent role in halting aggression against Iran.
The Iranian president proposed a regional security framework comprising West Asian countries to ensure peace without foreign interference, according to the country’s embassy in India.
In a separate post on X earlier on Saturday, Modi said he condemned attacks on critical infrastructure in the Middle East in the discussion with Pezeshkian.
The Indian Prime Minister further reiterated the importance of safeguarding freedom of navigation and ensuring shipping lanes remain open and secure.
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Trump’s Peace Board Hands Hamas Disarmament Proposal, Sources Say
US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff attend the inaugural Board of Peace meeting at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 19, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has presented Hamas with a written proposal on how it could lay down its weapons, two sources said, a step the Palestinian terrorists have thus far refused to take as the US president pushes on with his plan for Gaza’s future.
The proposal, first reported by NPR, was submitted to Hamas during meetings in Cairo over the past week, one of the sources said. The talks were attended by Nickolay Mladenov and Aryeh Lightstone, the two sources familiar with the matter said.
Mladenov is the Trump-appointed Board of Peace envoy to Gaza. Lightstone is a US aide to Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump’s Gaza plan, to which Israel and Hamas agreed in October, sees Israeli troops withdrawing from Gaza and reconstruction starting as Hamas lays down its weapons.
Mladenov on Thursday said that serious efforts were underway to bring relief to war-torn Gaza, with a framework agreed by the mediators that could advance reconstruction in the enclave, much of which lies in ruins.
“It is now on the table. It requires one clear choice: full decommissioning by Hamas and every armed group, with no exceptions and no carve-outs. In this season of hope, may those responsible make the right choice for the Palestinian people,” Mladenov said on X in a post for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
Representatives of Hamas were not immediately available for comment on Saturday, the second day of the holiday. Talks on disarmament had been placed on hold at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran which began on February 28.
AMNESTY OFFER MAY BE ON THE TABLE
US officials have said that Iran-backed Hamas could be offered amnesty in any deal under which they agree to lay down any heavy weaponry and light arms including rifles.
Sources close to Hamas say the group would likely refuse to give up their rifles for fear of attacks by rival militias in Gaza, some of which have backing from Israel. Hamas and its rivals have staged deadly attacks on one another since the October ceasefire.
One of the sources said much would depend on what is acceptable to Israel, which demands the group’s complete disarmament.
Some of Hamas’ prominent officials have outright rejected any disarmament over the past few months.
Israel has shown no sign of withdrawing its troops who are in control of around half of Gaza’s territory, with Hamas keeping a firm grip on the other half of the enclave and its two million population, most of which has been rendered homeless by two years of devastating war.
The source said that amnesty and targeted investments in Gaza were being offered as incentives for Hamas, but said that it was unclear whether the Board of Peace would have funds to pay for it.
Trump garnered some $7 billion in pledges in February from countries, including some in the Gulf, before those same countries came under attack by Iran in a widening Middle East war.
The source said that only a small amount of those pledged funds had actually been provided, without specifying sums.
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Iran War’s Energy Impact Forces World to Pay Up, Cut Consumption
Prices are seen at a gas station on Capitol Hill amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, in Washington, D.C., US, March 19, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The war in the Middle East has triggered a nightmare scenario for the global energy system, slashing so much supply that consumers around the world must both pay up big and lower consumption.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel along the Iranian coast, has stopped the passage of 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas since the US and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on February 28.
Meanwhile, ongoing strikes by Iran and Israel have targeted Middle East energy infrastructure, doing damage to gas fields, oil refineries, and terminals that industry representatives say will take years to repair.
All of that adds up to what the International Energy Agency has already called the worst global energy disruption in history, eclipsing even the Arab oil embargo of 1973 that caused fuel shortages and triggered widespread economic damage.
“You’re not going to conserve your way around this. What it’s going to translate to is price rises high enough that people stop consuming,” said Dan Pickering, chief investment officer for Pickering Energy Partners.
So far, the crisis has removed about 400 million barrels – about four days of world supply – from the market, triggering price increases of around 50 percent.
Oil, gas, and their refined byproducts are critical to many parts of the modern world, from fueling cars, trucks and planes, to powering homes and industry, to producing plastics and fertilizers.
“The breadth of what is at risk here in fuels, chemicals, LNG and fertilizer inputs is what makes this moment qualitatively different from previous episodes of Gulf tension,” said Aditya Saraswat, senior vice president at consultancy Rystad Energy.
Energy price shocks also fuel inflation, hitting consumers and businesses hard. This has become a major political liability for US President Donald Trump as he seeks to justify the war to the American public.
Trump has assailed NATO allies over their lack of support for the US-Israeli war against Iran, calling the longtime US allies “cowards.”
PRICE SHOCK
Global benchmark oil prices have already risen more than 50% to over $110 a barrel since the war started. The impacts are more pronounced for Middle East crudes – a staple for Asian economies – with prices hitting records near $164.
That has translated to soaring prices for transport fuels, pressuring consumers and businesses across the globe, and triggering government action to conserve supplies.
Thailand, for example, ordered civil servants to conserve energy by suspending overseas trips and using stairs instead of elevators, while Bangladesh closed its universities.
Sri Lanka has imposed fuel rationing, China has banned refined fuel exports, and the UK government’s energy contingency plan includes a cut in speed limits to save fuel.
On Friday, the International Energy Agency outlined other proposals to reduce demand, such as working from home and avoiding air travel, which has already been severely disrupted after the war forced the closure of key Middle Eastern hubs.
The IEA earlier this month agreed to make a record 400 million barrels of oil available from emergency stockpiles. But analysts say the measure is too small since 400 million barrels covers only about 20 days of the war’s impact.
Natasha Kaneva, a JP Morgan analyst, said reducing demand is the only solution when supplies fall short.
“The market is facing an acute shortage of products (…) that cannot be consumed simply because they are not available,” she said.
For everything that remains, prices are surging.
Jet fuel prices in Europe, for example, hit a record of around $220 per barrel – a cost that is likely to filter down fast in the form of more expensive airline tickets. In the US, which imports very little Middle Eastern oil, retail gasoline prices are up more than a dollar a gallon since February 28 to around $4 a gallon.
Natural gas prices in Europe and Asia are soaring after tit-for-tat strikes by Israel and Iran in recent days slammed Gulf gas installations. Consumer power costs could also leap.
Israel struck Iran’s South Pars gas field on Wednesday, and Iran hit Qatar’s massive Ras Laffan LNG complex the day after. QatarEnergy’s CEO Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters Iranian attacks will knock out 12.8 million tons per year of LNG – about 3 percent of world supply – for three to five years.
The situation is critical since oil and gas products are vital to everything from pharmaceuticals to plastics and fertilizers, said Menelaos Ydreos, secretary general of the International Gas Union, a grouping of world gas producers.
“We, again, call for an immediate stop to the targeting of energy facilities and for the resumption of cargo traffic through the Strait of Hormuz as fertilizers, petrochemicals for the pharmaceutical industry, oil, grain, and gas are all critical to our existence,” he said in a statement.
FOOD THREAT
The war also threatens food supply. It has severely disrupted fertilizer markets because about a third of global trade in fertilizers typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz and is now stuck.
Prices for nitrogen-based products like urea, the most critical fertilizer product, have risen 30 percent to 40 percent since the conflict began. US farmers were already reporting empty shop shelves ahead of spring planting.
Fertilizer factories in India, Bangladesh and Malaysia are moving to halt orders, cut production or shut down altogether because of a lack of feedstocks.
If the conflict lasts just a few more weeks, global food supplies will be significantly disrupted, said Maximo Torero, chief economist with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“This will affect planting… There will be a lower supply of commodities in the world – of staple cereals, of feed, and therefore of dairy and meat,” he said.
About half the world’s food is grown using fertilizers, which in some countries account for up to half the cost of grain production.