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The Jewish holiday of Purim has gone to the dogs
(New York Jewish Week) — The American Kennel Club’s Museum of the Dog, just two blocks south of Grand Central, can boast many things, including an extensive library about dog breeds and one of the world’s largest collections of dog-themed art.
As of this past weekend, it’s also a place where dogs and their owners can celebrate Jewish holidays together.
As part of the museum’s “Furry Fridays” program — a biweekly-ish event in which four-footed friends are welcomed inside the galleries — Sarah Moshenberg, the museum’s manager of learning and engagement, created the institution’s first-ever Jewish event: A “Pawrim” party for Purim, in which humans and canines were invited to dress up in costumes, socialize with one another and eat hamantaschen (yes, there were hamantaschen for dogs).
“Being Jewish myself, I was really excited to do a Jewish event,” Moshenberg, dressed in a bright pink homemade flamingo costume, told the New York Jewish Week. “I would love to do more holidays; more opportunities for all sorts of folks who celebrate all different types of holidays to come here and enjoy them with their their dogs — that’s the excitement.”
“I have three human children,” she said. “My oldest is 8, so I love taking them to the Purim celebration at shul, and then getting to do the parade, watching them in their costumes, showing off… Being able to do that here, but with your dog, is really fun.”
The Purim party, Moshenberg explained, was an outgrowth of an upcoming Furry Friday that happened to fall on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. In planning the events calendar, Moshenberg had the idea for a “St. Pawtrick’s” party and, from there, the punny themes came easily — Feb. 17, for example, was “Mardi Paws” in honor of Mardi Gras.
Pawrim, as it happens, was inspired by my best girl Shayna Maydele, the adorable Upper East Side-dwelling white coton de Tulear with a charming Instagram account whom the New York Jewish Week called “possibly the most Jewish dog in New York” last year.
“I saw the article on Shayna Maydele and I really wanted to do something with her,” Moshenberg said. With a Furry Friday scheduled just three days ahead of Purim (which begins tonight!) — and once Shabbat availability was cleared with Shayna Maydele’s “manager,” Heidi Silverstone — the party was a go.
On Friday evening, Shayna Maydele, dressed as an aviator for the occasion, took to her first-ever party hosting duties with aplomb. She and her pal Vito, a shih-poo dressed in a penguin costume, gamely posed for the “paw-parazzi” on the museum’s stairs.
“We came for Shayna Maydele!” said Vito’s owner Mina Kim, a dentist who lives in Midtown. “She’s just the sweetest dog.”
Kim, who is not Jewish — “I grew up in Bergen County; I’ve been around Jewish people my whole life!” — added that “doggie hamantaschen” was the second major draw.
Henry, a mixed-breed pup wearing a bark mitzvah outfit, enjoys the Purim festivities. (Courtesy The AKC Museum of the Dog)
As Kim and I chatted, an adorable mutt named Henry — dapper in a very “Wall Street”-esque pinstriped suit — entered the scene and immediately demanded belly rubs. “I couldn’t find his costume,” his owner, Robyn, who declined to provide her last name, told me. “I just grabbed a shirt — he wore it to a bark mitzvah.”
Robyn, who lives in Murray Hill, said she and Henry had previously been to a Furry Friday event before. “He needs to learn his Jewish roots,” she said, adding, “it’s something to do.”
Upstairs, in the museum’s spacious third-floor gallery, klezmer music played quietly in the background as dogs sniffed one another’s tushes and owners gushed over the adorable panoply of costumed canines. Among them was Finley, a papillon who was dressed as an airplane — unintentionally twinning with the dog of the hour! — and Loli, a tiny shih-poo who was dressed as was Sulley from “Monsters, Inc.”
Liz Karpen and her sister, Rebecca, were there with their Havanese, Allen Bader Ginsberg, who was dressed in a homemade hamantaschen costume. “I was already going to make her a costume, but it was just going to be to wander around in the house — maybe I would strut her around the street in it,” said Liz, who learned about the party from Shayna Maydele’s Instagram. “This gave me an excuse to make something that people are going to see.”
The sisters have additional plans for the holiday, but this was their only opportunity to celebrate Purim with Allen. “I tried finding other things for dogs, but there’s not much,” Liz said. “I also didn’t want to assume this costume would last more than one night.”
Sisters Rebecca, left, and Liz Karpen with their Havanese, Allen, in a homemade hamantaschen costume. (Courtesy The AKC Museum of the Dog)
Shara Safer, a law school student who lives in the Village, had learned about the party while at a dog park with her shih tzu, Clem, and immediately knew they had to attend. “I really need to get more involved in Jewish events,” she said, adding that she’s “not super practicing” right now. For Purim itself, Safer said she may visit her family and make some hamantaschen.
“I would love it if I could bring him to shul,” she said of Clem, who was dressed as Cerberus — the three-headed dog that guards the underworld in Greek mythology. (The clever costume, handmade by Safer, took “too long” to make, she said.)
Indeed, much like Moshenberg pointed out, being able to celebrate the Jewish holiday with their dog — instead of having to leave him or her at home — was a draw mentioned by several partygoers. Upper West Siders Andres and Nicole Gannon said they came to the party because they were excited by “the opportunity to have him in costume and celebrate Purim,” said Andres Gannon. Their pug, Monster, had been dressed as the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast,” but they had removed his costume before heading out into the drizzly evening.
When asked about other plans they had for the holiday, they said: “This is our Purim celebration.”
As for Shayna Maydele, Silverstone said in an email after the event that her pup “loved interacting with the other dogs. It was very different than her regular playing in a dog park — all of the dogs were leashed, and it was in a museum setting. Since it was new to her, she had so much fun exploring.”
“It definitely made me feel good about what I am doing on social media, since sometimes I wonder whether it is a productive use of my time, posting photos of my dog,” Silverstone said. “However, when I see the happiness it brings to people, and the awareness it brings about the goodness of Judaism, I realize that it is definitely worthwhile.”
As for future Jewish events at the museum, Moshenberg said she’s open to departing from the Furry Fridays routine. “I would love to do this again,” she said. “I also think I wouldn’t have it on Shabbos next year — I would plan something around it so we wouldn’t have a conflict in that case, and we could definitely invite more of the Jewish community.”
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The post The Jewish holiday of Purim has gone to the dogs appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘A Bushy Beard and Easy Smile’: Western Media’s Grotesque Framing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Death
A woman holds a poster with the picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as people gather after Khamenei was killed in Israeli and U.S. strikes on Saturday, in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was only the second Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He assumed power in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and ruled for decades as the ultimate authority over a regime defined by repression, regional destabilization, and violent ideological extremism.
His tenure was marked by:
- The systematic crushing of political dissent
- The imprisonment, torture, and execution of dissidents
- The violent suppression of nationwide protest movements
- The arming and financing of proxy militias across the Middle East
- The institutionalization of chants of “Death to America” and repeated threats to destroy Israel
Under his leadership, Iran’s security forces opened fire on protesters during successive waves of unrest in 2009, 2019, and during the nationwide demonstrations that followed the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. In January of this year, fresh nationwide protests were again met with force.
Independent analysts estimate that at least 30,000 people were killed in the crackdown, a figure the regime has never credibly refuted. Across these cycles of repression, human rights organizations have documented thousands more deaths and tens of thousands detained.
Yet when Iranian state media confirmed Khamenei’s death nearly 24 hours after US and Israeli airstrikes struck his compound in Tehran, segments of Western media coverage adopted a tone that bordered on reverential.
The most notable example appeared in The Washington Post, which described Khamenei as known for his “bushy white beard and easy smile,” noting that he cut a “more avuncular figure in public” than his predecessor. The obituary highlighted his fondness for Persian poetry and classic Western novels, including Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.
The New York Times summarized him as a “hardline cleric” who had made “Iran a regional power” while maintaining hostility toward the United States and Israel.
Sky News labeled him the “arch foe” of President Donald Trump, framing the moment as a personal rivalry.
The Wall Street Journal observed that he “nurtured the country’s global ambitions but struggled at home with a withering economy.” Reuters referred to his “fiery ambitions” toward Israel and the United States. The BBC aired images of mourners drawn from regime-controlled broadcasts with little scrutiny of their staging.
Across outlets, the pattern was consistent.
The man who presided over decades of repression was reframed through aesthetic detail and political positioning. His beard. His smile. His literary tastes. His “ambitions.”
His victims were secondary.
This is not about demanding polemics from obituary writers. It is about proportion.
When authoritarian rulers die, the moral weight of their record should not be softened by lifestyle detail or neutralized by euphemism. Calling a regime ideologue a “hardliner” obscures the reality that he headed a theocratic state apparatus that jailed journalists, executed political prisoners, funded Hezbollah and Hamas, and ordered violent crackdowns against his own people.
Headlines shape historical memory. The first paragraph matters more than the 12th. In death, reputations are distilled and authoritarian rulers should not be granted the luxury of dilution.
So while newspapers fawned over what they chose to highlight, from his wry smile to his love of literature and carefully cultivated image, the rest of us should remember him for what he was: a brutal dictator who deserved the fiery end he met.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Hezbollah Opens a Second Front and Israel Gets the Blame
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 2, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
While the question of whether or when war between Israel and Iran would break out, so too was the question of whether Iran’s proxy Hezbollah would join the fight and act as a layer of protection for the Iranian regime.
Since Hezbollah and Israel agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024, the terrorist organization has worked to rebuild its infrastructure and regain its status as Iran’s strongest terrorist proxy in the Middle East. In doing so, it has consistently and relentlessly broken the ceasefire, committing at least 1,925 violations up to near the end of 2025.
The threat posed by Hezbollah has been greatly diminished after the year-long war, as Israel destroyed much of its infrastructure and forces, thus stripping the terrorist organization of its ability to conduct large-scale operations it was once capable of. But the danger persists.
Hezbollah still maintains considerable political influence inside Lebanon, which results in direct leverage over policies and daily life in Lebanese society. It has effectively been recognized as a state within a state, threatening the very existence of the Lebanese state itself. For this reason, Lebanon has failed to fully disarm Hezbollah, despite the Lebanese Army’s claim that the first stage in the process was completed.
Since its inception, Iran has funded Hezbollah, making the organization the most prominent proxy in Iran’s regional power structure. In fact, Hassan Nasrallah, the late leader who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September 2024, had referred to himself as a “soldier” in the Iranian regime’s army. Thus, Israeli and US intentions to collapse the Iranian regime are a direct threat to the very foundation on which Hezbollah is built.
Despite repeated warnings by Israel not to join the fight (as well as the pleas from Lebanon’s fragile government), in the early hours of Monday morning, Hezbollah fired rockets towards Israel. This marked the first time since the full-scale war with Hezbollah that the terrorist organization fired rockets into Israeli territory.
Similar to Hezbollah’s reaction of launching what it called a “solidarity” front for Hamas following the attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah claimed that the firing of rockets into Israel was “revenge for the blood of the Supreme Leader of the Muslims, Ali Khamenei,” who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.
Despite even Hezbollah acknowledging it was the party to fire first, the narrative in the media reversed the order of events, referring to Israel’s “attack” on Lebanon as the cause for the widening conflict.
Yet the timeline of events remains abundantly clear: Hezbollah opened a second front in the war — breaking the ceasefire to do so — by firing at least six rockets and two drones.
Immediately after Hezbollah joined the war by attacking Israel, the IDF responded with a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including targeting senior leadership. While Israel has responded to previous ceasefire violations, the firing of rockets into Israeli territory crossed a clearly defined red line set by the IDF. As a result, Israel initiated direct kinetic action aimed at further degrading Hezbollah’s operational capabilities and deterring escalation.
Shifting the attention away from Hezbollah’s initiating actions and instead framing Israel’s response as the catalyst for escalation obscures the reality of the war Israel is now fighting on two fronts.
Although the dangers posed by the Iranian regime have been the primary target of the war, Israel’s commitment to deterring and removing the threat of any terrorist actor remains steadfast. When media coverage downplays Hezbollah’s responsibility, Israel’s defensive measures risk being perceived as unprovoked aggression. This reframing not only distorts the sequence of events but also seeks to undermine Israel’s ability to maintain deterrence.
In this war, accurate reporting of terrorist organizations and the sequence of events is not optional — it is essential to understanding the realities shaping the conflict and the decisions that follow.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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In Gaza, Palestinians and Hamas Now Face a Moment of Choosing
A Hamas Police officer directs traffic in Gaza City, Jan. 28, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
With Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei now dead, all eyes are naturally on what comes next for the Iranian people, as the Iranian regime veers between desperation and collapse.
The war in Iran is also stoking unease among the Islamic Republic’s proxies, as terror groups like Hamas figure out how to proceed without Iranian support.
Hamas still refuses to disarm — but its situation is growing more perilous.
Prior to Khamenei’s killing, Israel had already struck an unprecedented blow to Hamas’ military infrastructure. Now stripped of its sponsor, Hamas’s weakening posture should leave Palestinians questioning if Hamas really has their best interests at heart.
The strategic and economic opportunities for building a healthy society for its citizens have never been greater.
Less than two weeks before the US military and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began striking Iran, US President Donald Trump convened the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace, as member states from nearly 48 nations gathered to discuss the future of Gaza.
Chaired by President Trump, the newly established international body is tasked with overseeing Gaza’s reconstruction and transitional governance.
Trump announced at the summit that the United States would donate $10 billion to the Board, with other countries participating in the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip contributing an additional $7 billion combined.
In an interview on Fox News’s My View with Lara Trump, Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff reaffirmed the government’s commitment to “jump-starting” construction in Gaza and plans for a “renaissance” in the seaside area.
After launching the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust, members of the international community are still willing to give Gazans a chance to forge a future rooted in prosperity and dignity.
By dispensing with failed frameworks and outdated Oslo-esque accords, the current US administration is not only creating the conditions for a freer Iran, but it is also unshackling Palestinians from Hamas rule and creating economic enticements to liberate Gazans from their terrorist trappings.
The responsibility now rests with Palestinians to embark on an earnest campaign of deradicalization and abandon their armed struggle against Israel.
It’s worth noting that, to date, much of the history of the region has been driven by an embrace of radicalism and violence.
Following Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza and the eviction of 9,000 Israelis from their homes, billions of dollars in foreign financing flowed from international entities to the Gaza Strip.
The money meant to bolster the lives of Gazans was instead used to foment terror against Israelis.
The latest poll released by People’s Company for Polls and Survey Research (PCPSR) is similarly discouraging and illustrates that “support for Hamas’s decision to launch the [Oct. 7] offensive, while declining from its peak, remains a majority at more than 50 percent, with recent gains in Gaza and sustained high support in the West Bank.”
The goodwill shown to Palestinians by Israelis living in the Gaza envelope — which included numerous peace initiatives and work opportunities — was repaid in blood on October 7, as familiarity and friendship were used as fuel to achieve maniacal aims.
As Palestinians watch what is happening to Iran — a state that trafficked exclusively in terrorism — the Palestinians are now seeing they have their own choice — to choose peace over terrorism, encouraged by economic incentives by the US and the international community.
What happens to Palestinians in Gaza going forward largely depends on their motivation to confront and eliminate their fixation on eradicating Israel, and for their leaders to reorient their energies around building better lives for their citizens.
The Trump administration’s refreshing and untested approach to accelerate Gaza’s recovery is not packaged in empty two-state platitudes but rather wrapped in historic strategic changes and tangible economic benefits to Palestinian society.
Palestinians in Gaza now have the daunting duty of proving their readiness for reform.
For regional stability to be achieved, let’s hope that Palestinians in Gaza renounce their prior path of demonization and terror, and are indeed ready for rational governance that will ultimately yield long-term success for their people.
Irit Tratt is a writer residing in New York. Follow her on X @Irit_Tratt