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This kosher-for-Passover apple vodka lets New Yorkers drink local this holiday
(New York Jewish Week) — When it comes to alcoholic beverages and Passover, the most common association is wine — consuming four cups of wine, after all, is an essential element of the Passover seder. But at Ilya Mavlyanov’s home in Forest Hills, Queens, there will be cocktails on offer, too.
That’s because Mavlyanov, 31, is the founder of Upstate Vodka — a vodka that is both certified kosher and certified kosher for Passover. Unlike most popular vodkas in the United States, which are made from grain, Upstate Vodka is made from New York apples.
“New York is the Big Apple and New York is the second largest apple growing state in the country,” Mavlyanov told the New York Jewish Week when asked how he landed on creating vodka from apples.
Just because a food or beverage uses kosher ingredients, however, doesn’t automatically mean it’s certified kosher. For Mavlyanov, who moved from Moscow to New York as a teen, the decision to seek kosher certification was integral to Upstate Vodka’s launch in June 2022. “I am Bukharian Jewish — kosher blood runs in my veins,” he said. “The first market I looked at was the kosher market. I started selling mostly to kosher liquor stores.”
Most vodkas on the market today are made from the fermentation of cereal grains like wheat or rye — ingredients considered “chametz” and not kosher for Passover. That is why some popular vodka brands, like Absolut or Smirnoff, may be certified kosher but not kosher for Passover. Kosher-for-Passover vodka can be made from potatoes, sugar or fruits, like an apple, a key ingredient in Ashkenazi recipes for that seder plate staple, haroset.
Each 750 ml bottle of Upstate Vodka is made from the fruit of 75 apples. The variety depends on the year but can include Spy Gold, Cortlands, Liberty or Kingston Black apples. “Each year we evaluate the juice so it might be a different blend,” said Upstate Vodka marketing director Susan Mooney. “Our distilling team has learned a lot about how to work with apples with different sugar content.”
“The owner is Jewish and he feels like the kosher products that were available were made from sugar or beets and were not of a high enough quality,” said Mooney, describing Mavlyanov’s decision to make a kosher-for-Passover vodka, in particular. “He felt he wanted to make a really good kosher for Passover vodka for the kosher and Jewish population.”
This year, the company will turn out 5,000 bottles of kosher for Passover Upstate Vodka. Sold in stores all over New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut, with shipping available to 30 states, Upstate Vodka’s kosher for Passover batch has a light gray label — in contrast to the black label used on the product for the rest of the year — and it clearly states that it is kosher for Passover on the front of the bottle.
Aside from the label, however, there is no difference between the Passover apple vodka and the year-round drink, said master distiller Ken Wortz. “From the first pressing of the juice from the apples, to fermentation, distillation and bottling — all are done under the supervision of a rabbi from OK Kosher,” he said, noting the rabbi even has his own room at the distillery.
Upstate Vodka is currently the only product produced by Sauvage Distillery, which is located in Charlotteville, New York, just north of the Catskill Mountains. And while Mavlyanov lives with his family in Queens, he is “very into farm products and farmers markets,” he told the New York Jewish Week. “I was always impressed with the quality of products, and wanted to contribute to what upstate has to offer.”
Mavlyanov’s efforts seem to be paying off. New York City-based mixologist Will Hadjigeorgalis, who is now a brand ambassador for the line, said he normally doesn’t get excited about vodka — until he tasted this product. “It is supposed to be flavorless, but this has a hint of apple,” he said. “It has a wonderful, creamy mouth feel.”
Food influencer and cookbook author Jake Cohen is a fan, too. “I come from a family that loves a diversified l’chaim portfolio, from weed to wine and plenty of vodka drinkers, so I always want to be stocked on the best kosher for Passover variety,” he wrote in an email to the New York Jewish Week, using the Hebrew word for the toast said over spirits. “Upstate Vodka stands up to every other bottle on my top shelf.”
There’s more to come from those upstate apples — in addition to vodka, the company is also making a local version of apple liqueur a la calvados. “We already have apple brandy in the barrels,” said master distiller Wortz. “It will also be kosher.”
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The post This kosher-for-Passover apple vodka lets New Yorkers drink local this holiday appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Exhibit: How the horror of the Holocaust impacted American artists
דאָס איז איינער פֿון אַ סעריע קורצע אַרטיקלען אָנגעשריבן אױף אַ רעלאַטיװ גרינגן ייִדיש און געצילעװעט אױף סטודענטן. די מחברטע איז אַלײן אַ ייִדיש־סטודענטקע. דאָ קען מען לײענען די פֿריִערדיקע אַרטיקלען אין דער סעריע.
אַ נײַע אױסשטעלונג אינעם עסקענאַזי קונסט־מוזײ אין אינדיאַנער אוניװערסיטעט באַװײַזט װי אַזױ אַמעריקאַנער קינסטלער האָבן רעאַגירט אױפֿן גרויל פֿונעם חורבן. ס׳רובֿ פֿון זײ זענען געווען ייִדן, סײַ אימיגראַנטן סײַ הי־געבױרענע.
„דערמאָנונג און באַנײַונג׃ אַמעריקאַנער קינסטלער אונעם חורבן, 1970-1940“ איז די ערשטע אױסשטעלונג װאָס קאָנצענטרירט זיך אױפֿן חורבן אין דער אַמעריקאַנער קונסט בעת די 30 יאָר נאָך דער מלחמה — װען די ווירקונג פֿון דער שחיטה פֿון די אײראָפּעיִשע ייִדן איז נאָך אַלץ געװען פֿריש. די קינסטלער האָבן אױסגעדריקט טיפֿן שאָק און צער אױף פֿאַרשײדנאַרטיקע אופֿנים. דער אױסשטעלונגס־קאַטאַלאָג באַשרײַבט אַלע 74 װערק פֿון איבער דרײַ טוץ מאָלערס, סקולפּטאָרן און גראַפֿישע קינסטלער, און שטעלט זײ אינעם ייִדישן און אַמעריקאַנער קאָנטעקסט.
די אױסגעשטעלטע װערק פֿון איליאַ שאָר, רות װײַסבערג און פֿראַנק סטעלאַ באַהאַנדלען, דער עיקר, די פֿאַרטיליקונג פֿון דער ייִדיש־רעדנדיקער קולטור אין מיזרח־אײראָפּע. יעדער קינסטלער רעפּרעזענטירט אַ באַזונדערן קוקװינקל׃ שאָר ברענגט אַרײַן דעם פּערספּיקטיוו פֿון אַ ייִדישן אימיגראַנט; ווײַסבערג — פֿון אַ הי־געבױרענער ייִדישקע; און סטעלאַ — פֿון אַן אַמעריקאַנער נישט־ייִד.
שאָר (1961-1904) איז געבױרן געװאָרן בײַ אַ חסידישער משפּחה אין זלאָטשאָוו, גאַליציע, און האָט אימיגרירט אין די פֿאַראײניקטע שטאַטן אין 1941. אין דער אויסשטעלונג געפֿינען זיך אַ פּאָר פֿון זײַנע אילוסטראַציעס פֿון The Earth Is the Lord’s — אַ פּאָפּולער בוך פֿון אַבֿרהם יהושע העשל פּובליקירט אױף ענגליש אין 1950. דאָס בוך פֿאַראײביקט דעם אָנדענק פֿון דער פֿאַרשװוּנדענער חסידישער װעלט, װאָס האָט געבליט במשך פֿון 200 יאָר אין מיזרח־אײראָפּע.
דזשעניפֿער מאַקאָמאַס, די אױסשטעלונגס־קוראַטאָרשע, האָט מיר דערצײלט אַז שאָרס אילוסטראַציעס רופֿן אַרױס טראַדיציאָנעלע פּאַפּירשניטן, װאָס ייִדן מאַכן שוין הונדערטער יאָרן לאַנג אין שײַכות מיטן יום־טובֿ שבֿועות. שאָר אַלײן האָט געשאַפֿן זילבערנע יודאַיִקאַ, אַזױ װי תּורה־קרױנען און קידוש־בעכערס, און זײַנע בילדער אין העשלס בוך באַװײַזן די השפּעה פֿון מעטאַל־װערק. די אילוסטראַציעס מאָלן אױס טעמעס אַזױ װי אַ רבֿ מיט אַ ספֿר־תּורה, מענער און ייִנגלעך װאָס טאַנצן עקסטאַטיש אין אַ שיל, און אַ ייִד װאָס לייגט תּפֿילין אױפֿן קעפּל פֿון זײַן קלײנעם זון. דאָ זעט מען שאָרס זכרונות פֿון דער פֿרומער חסידישער װעלט פֿון זײַנע קינדעריאָרן. די מאַסיװע, שװאַרץ־װײַסע פֿיגורן רופֿן אַרױס אַ פֿאַרשװוּנדן ייִראת־שמימדיק שטײגער לעבן.
רות װײַסבערג, וואָס איז געבױרן געװאָרן אין שיקאַגע אין 1942, האָט געטרױערט איבער אַ װעלט װאָס זי האָט נישט פּערזענלעך געקענט. אין 1971 האָט זי געשאַפֿן „דאָס שטעטל׃ אַ נסיעה און אַן אָנדענק“, אַ קינסטלערס בוך מיט נײַן בילדער װעגן דער אויסראָטונג פֿון מיזרח־אײראָפּעיִש ייִדיש לעבן. מאַקאָמאַס האָט מיר דערקלערט אַז װײַסבערג האָט זיך אינספּירירט פֿון אַ יזכּור־בוך געשאַפֿן פֿון איר באָבען פֿון דער מוטערס צד. „ווען זי האָט אַנטדעקט דאָס דאָזיקע יזכּור־בוך האָט עס ממש טראַנספֿאָרמירט איר לעבן און קונסט,“ האָט מאַקאָמאַס געזאָגט.
נאָך אַ װיכטיקער קװאַל פֿון ווײַסבערגס „שטעטל“ אַלבאָם איז געװען ביכער פֿאָטאָגראַפֿיעס פֿון פֿאַרמלחמהדיק ייִדיש לעבן ווי למשל „די פֿאַרשװוּנדענע װעלט“, אַ באַנד מיט 530 בילדער אַראָפּגענומען פֿון פֿאָטאָגראַפֿן װי ראָמאַן װישניאַק און אַלטער קאַציזנע, פּובליקירט פֿונעם פֿאָרװערטס־פֿאַרבאַנד אין 1947 (און װאָס איז אַלײן אין דער אױסשטעלונג). װישניאַקס „פּױלישע ייִדן׃ אַ בילדער-פּינקס“ פֿון 1947 האָט זי אױך אינספּירירט; װי אױך „הילצערנע שילן“, אַ פּױליש בוך פּובליקירט אױף ענגליש אין 1959, װעגן די אַלטע שילן װאָס זענען אַלע אָפּגעברענט געװאָרן פֿון די נאַציס. װײַסבערג האָט אָנגעהױבן מיט די דאָזיקע פֿאָטאָגראַפֿיעס און זײ איבערגעמאַכט.
למשל „נסיעה-1“ פֿון „שטעטל“ איז באַזירט אױף אַ פֿאָטאָ פֿון „הילצערנע שילן“. אַ שיל פֿאַרנעמט כּמעט דאָס גאַנצע בילד, אָבער ווערט געשילדערט װי אַ מיראַזש. דער הימל זעט אױס צעשמאָלצן פֿון פֿײַער אָדער פֿון אױפֿרײַסן. אין דער פֿאָדערגרונט איז דער דורכזעיִקער פֿיגור פֿון אַן עלטערער פֿרױ — אַ פּנים אַ פֿאַנטאָם אָדער געדעכעניש. לעבן איר שטײען עטלעכע שװאַרצע געשטאַלטן, אפֿשר פֿאַרברענטע בלומען אָדער שטעכלדראָט. אין „1938“ האָט װײַסבערג געניצט אַ פֿאָטאָגראַפֿיע פֿון װישניאַקס „פּױלישע ייִדן“. אין דער פֿאָטאָ גײן דרײַ מענער אין שװאַרצע מאַנטלען אין דער גאַס; אין װײַסבערגס באַאַרבעטונג זענען צװײ פֿון זײ נעלם געװאָרן. עס בלײַבט איבער נאָר דער שאָטנדיקער פֿיגור אױף די טרעפּ. עס האָט זיך שוין אָנגעהויבן די פֿאַרשװינדונג פֿון אַ פֿאָלק.
פֿראַנק סטעלאַ (2024-1936), אַ באַקאַנטער אַבסטראַקטער קינסטלער, איז געװען אַ קאַטױל פֿון מאַסאַטשוסעטס. מאַקאָמאַס האָט דערקלערט אַז דער ייִדישער אַרכיטעקט ריטשאַרד מײַער האָט געשאָנקען סטעלאַן אַן עקזעמפּלאַר פֿון „הילצערנע שילן“, װאָס האָט אינספּירירט סטעלאַס „פּױליש דאָרף“ סעריע פֿון 1974-1971 (נישט געקוקט אױפֿן װאָרט „פּױליש“ האָט סטעלאַ באַשטעטיקט אַז די װערק באַהאַנדלען צעשטערטע שילן). די סעריע באַשטײט פֿון 130 אַבסטראַקטע געאָמעטרישע געשטאַלטן. דאָ קען מען זען דאָס בילד „לונע“, װאָס איז אין דער אױסשטעלונג. לױט מעקאָמעסן רופֿן די הילצערנע פֿאָרעמס פֿון „פּױליש דאָרף“ אַרױס דאָס האָלץ פֿון די שילן, און די העלע קאָלירן דערמאָנען אין די פֿאַרביקע װאַנט־מאָלערײַען אינעװײניק.
די קונסטװערק פֿון שאָר, װײַסבערג און סטעלאַ היטן אױף דעם זכּרון פֿון אַ ברוטאַל פֿאַרטיליקטער קולטור, װאָס האָט געבליט אין מיזרח־אײראָפּע במשך פֿון הונדערטער יאָרן. „׳זכור׳ („געדענקט“) איז צװישן די יסוד־פּרינציפּן פֿון דער ייִדישער אמונה“, האָט מאַקאָמאַס געזאָגט. „די קינסטלער האַלטן מיט אָפּשײַ דעם דאָזיקן פּרינציפּ דורך קונסט. זײ מאַכן פֿאַר אומפֿאַרגעסלעך אַ װעלט װאָס איז כּמעט אָפּגעװישט געװאָרן.“
The post Exhibit: How the horror of the Holocaust impacted American artists appeared first on The Forward.
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Mike Johnson denounces Young Republicans’ group chat that praised Hitler as JD Vance downplays uproar
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday said Republicans “roundly condemn” a leaked group chat in which Young Republican officials joked about gas chambers, praised Adolf Hitler and used racist, antisemitic and homophobic slurs, as well as an American flag with a swastika that was found in a Republican congressman’s office.
When asked whether he feared extremist or pro-Hitler views among young Republicans, Johnson replied, “No.”
“Obviously, that is not the principles of the Republican Party. We stand for the founding principles of America,” Johnson said in a press conference. “We have stood against that. We fought the Nazis. We roundly condemn it, and anybody in any party who espouses it, we’re opposing that.”
Johnson’s remarks capped two days of intensifying fallout from a Politico exposé that published thousands of messages exchanged over months by rising Republican operatives around the country.
In the cache reviewed by Politico, participants joked “Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber,” celebrated “Great. I love Hitler,” and traded demeaning references to Black people, Jews and LGBTQ people.
State and local leaders appeared in the chat, including one Vermont state senator. The revelations have already cost several participants their jobs and prompted the deactivation of the Kansas Young Republicans chapter, with the Young Republican National Federation itself calling for implicated officials to “immediately resign from all positions” within the organization.
Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell, who heads the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, reacted saying, “Antisemitism on the right is just as dangerous as antisemitism on the left.”
Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance has sought to downplay the severity of the situation.
Vance posted on X with a screenshot of texts in which Jay Jones, a former Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, suggested a prominent Republican deserved “two bullets to the head.”
“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance wrote. “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”
Vance later said in an interview on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” “The reality is that kids do stupid things. Especially young boys, they tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, that’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is the cause of ruining their lives.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, praised Republican leaders who condemned the messages, which he called “offensive and very concerning.”
“I’m also glad that many leaders, including @EliseStefanik and @RepMikeLawler, spoke out strongly and swiftly against these hateful statements,” Greenblatt wrote on X.
Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Congress to investigate the scope of extremist sentiment within Republican-aligned youth networks, arguing that the chat logs were “neither fringe nor humorous.” In a letter to the House Oversight Committee chair, Newsom contrasted GOP scrutiny of campus antisemitism with what he characterized as muted responses to hate inside party infrastructure.
Reactions to the messages were building up as a separate controversy ricocheted through the Capitol: a photograph circulating online showed a swastika integrated into the stripes of an American flag displayed in a Republican lawmaker’s office. Capitol Police opened an investigation after Rep. Dave Taylor called the image “vile and deeply inappropriate” and suggested it was the result of vandalism.
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The new Anne Frank musical wants you to laugh at ‘woke culture’ — but is it funny?
Reactions to Slam Frank, Andrew Fox’s musical satire in which Anne Frank is rewritten as a Latinx pansexual girl named “Anita,” have been mixed. Some have called it a timely, comedic takedown of cultural hypersensitivity while others see it as a shonda to the memories of Holocaust victims. In interviews, Fox has refused to break the character of a playwright obsessed with woke culture, so there is no insight from him to understand the musical. Somehow, the show resists fitting neatly into any understanding of humor, making it hard to know exactly who — or what — you’re supposed to be laughing at.
In his 1655 book The Element of Law Natural and Politic, Thomas Hobbes explains humor through what he calls “superiority theory,” which argues that “laughter is nothing but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others.”
There’s also self-deprecating ethnic humor, where one makes jokes about their own ethno-racial group, often highlighting historically demeaning stereotypes or characteristics. In his book Ethnic Humor in Multiethnic America, scholar David Gillota describes it as a “psychological defense mechanism” that takes the power of aggression away from the dominant group since jokes about a minority community are being made by its own members.
Then there’s “culturally intimate humor” which SUNY Farmingdale professor Evan S. Cooper defined in his dissertation “I don’t get It?: Culturally Intimate Humor and Its Audiences,” as a familiar use of culturally specific stereotypes in a positive manner. Contemporary scholars have argued that some ethno-racial humor is a way for minorities to create group solidarity and make fun of the dominant culture, a tactic which Cooper calls “protest humor.”
Because Slam Frank pokes fun at so many identities using a diverse cast and crew, it is impossible to put it neatly into any one category of humor.
Take the scene where the cast members, wearing black hats and plastic hook noses, rub their hands together under red lights as they sing about colonizing Palestine and being able to charge high rent. Is it self-deprecating humor — a Jewish writer making fun of those who have turned the search for a holy land into a capitalist cash grab? Is it protest humor, using a caricature of how some anti-Zionists might imagine a Jewish cabal making fun of the ridiculous fantasies of antisemites? Is it superiority humor that is painting religious, Zionist Jews as somehow morally inferior? It’s impossible to know — and that’s part of what makes it so hard to know how to react, making for an awkward viewing experience.
If you understand the jokes about neurodiversity and pronouns as a form of protest humor against “woke culture,” does that mean the playwright sees political correctness as the dominant narrative in our society right now? In an age where diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are being targeted by the federal government and political lobbyists have suggested trans people should be considered a terrorist group, the idea that fighting inclusive culture is punching up feels ignorant. But at the same time, even among the left and among those whose identities are under attack — people who make up the cast and crew of Slam Frank — there seems to be an exhaustion with identity politics’ overpolicing of who can say what.
The jokes take on a whole new life in some of the merchandise. Among the items available for purchase in the lobby are t-shirts featuring a photoshopped image of Anne Frank as a nightclub DJ, trucker hats that say “Problem Attic,” and kippot with the Slam Frank logo — a yellow Star of David where the top point has been replaced with a silhouette of Frank, a la Hamilton’s iconic symbol. Unless you confront a wearer on the street, it will be hard to know why the person feels the need to advertise the show. Did they love the musical so much because of its mockery of antisemitism? Or were they enthralled by the takedown of Zionism? Or are they just celebrating a show that made them laugh?
When it comes to Slam Frank, it seems that the only true conclusion is that there is no certain message, which is frustrating for audiences who want to understand what they’re watching. It is particularly hard when we’re living in a time where society seems to constantly demand we proclaim a socio-political opinion on everything.
As a musical, Slam Frank actually holds its own, with pretty catchy — if not politically correct — songs and good performances. But every time I was compelled to laugh with the audience, my amusement was mixed with apprehension and guilt. I knew why I thought the overdone Black American Accent and caricatured Jewish stereotypes were funny; but it’s hard to relax when you don’t know if the rest of the audience is laughing with you or at you.
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