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When a Jewish paperboy played Santa — and the journalist who never forgot him
On a blizzardy Chicago night in December 1967, a reporter named Leonard Fisher happened upon a 10-year-old boy dragging a newspaper sack and buying an item at a Magnificent Mile gift shop.
“Looks like you’re playing Santa Claus this Christmas,” Fisher said to the youngster.
“No, this is for my mom,” the boy replied. “She’s Jewish — it’s a Hanukkah present. I’m Jewish too. See, if your mom is Jewish, you are too.”
The boy went on to explain that his father wasn’t Jewish, so he bought him a Christmas present, as well as gifts for other members of his interfaith family. He also had a present from a customer on his newspaper route, and a pocketful of holiday tips.
I know that story well because I was that kid.
I also know details I may have otherwise forgotten because of the article Fisher wrote about our encounter for United Press International. It ran in newspapers nationwide, under headlines like “Jewish Boy Becomes 10-Year-Old Santa Claus.”
The response was overwhelming, with readers across the country sending me cards and checks. I picked them up at the UPI office, and visited Fisher a few times after that.
Eventually, however, we lost touch — until 2017, 50 years later.
While searching online, I came across my name in The East Hampton Star, a community paper near Fisher’s Long Island home. After retirement, he’d rewritten the story, calling it one of the most memorable of his career.
By then, I too had become a journalist, and Fisher’s son, Ari, found my byline in The Boston Globe.
There weren’t many Lenny Fishers listed on Long Island. I called the first one I found.
“Hello, I’m looking for Leonard Fisher,” I said.
“This is he.”
“This is Robin Washington.”
“Oh, you’re kidding! I’ve been meaning to call you to see if you were the same guy. You fit all the descriptions and that kind of stuff. You’re the same guy, yes?”
“I’m the same guy.”
“Incredible. Fifty years later!”
Fisher recalled our first meeting.
“I watched you walk down the street that day,” he said, recalling my 4-foot-4 frame braving the elements. “The wind was howling. And I said to myself, you know, ‘If ever” — and I’m Jewish — “if ever there was a Santa Claus, man, there he goes, right there.”
He also said he was blown away by the mail that came in. “I’ve never seen such a response. For people to send money in on a story, you know, a lot of people were moved by it.”
A large part of that was in the way Fisher told it: Describing every detail, capturing me perfectly, as in this exchange:
“Is there anything special you want Santa to bring you?” the man asked.
The boy smiled: “I’m Jewish, remember?”
“Well, is there any one thing you wish for, or do you want a lot of things?”
“I wish people would stop having wars.”
That had to strike a nerve in 1967.
Fisher’s wife Susanna said the story stayed with him because it broke from the corruption and calamity more typical of his career, most of it at the Newark Star-Ledger.
“He covered 9-11, but he was really kind of shell-shocked by that. Couldn’t stand loud noises and stuff,” she said. “The story about you was a really positive thing. And, as you know, in the news business, there aren’t a lot of really positive stories.”
He framed a copy, which his daughter Rachel has on her apartment wall.
“He had particular stories that he would tell us as kids over and over again,” Rachel said. “It was like a holiday movie. I could really just picture it.”
Fisher asked if he influenced me in going into the business. I usually answer that I had few mentors, but if there was anyone, it was him. Those visits to the UPI office were formative, and as paperboys, I said, “we always felt we were in the newspaper business. You didn’t disabuse me of that notion.”
And making up for a half-century, we swapped journalism tales, including stories we both covered and people we both knew in the business. Most importantly, we planned to meet in person.
We never did.
Lenny Fisher died in 2024. A tree-planting and celebration at his favorite restaurant in the Village was planned for his yahrtzeit last June, but postponed; I’m sure it’ll happen in due time.
Because we were both journalists, we knew to record the call, by the way.
“Go ahead, record,” he said. “This is the perfect Christmas/Hanukkah story,” he said. “You can’t make this up.”
The post When a Jewish paperboy played Santa — and the journalist who never forgot him appeared first on The Forward.
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Downed Planes Raise New Perils for Trump as Tehran Hunts for Missing US Pilot
Traces of an Iranian missile attack in Tehran’s sky, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 3, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Two US warplanes were downed over Iran and the Gulf, Iranian and US officials said on Friday, with two pilots rescued and a third still missing and being hunted by Tehran’s forces.
The incidents show the risks still faced by US and Israeli aircraft over Iran despite assertions from US President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that their forces had total control of the skies.
The first plane, a two-seat US F-15E jet, was shot down by Iranian fire, officials in both countries said.
The second plane, an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft, was hit by Iranian fire and crashed over Kuwait, with the pilot ejecting, two US officials said.
Two Blackhawk helicopters involved in the search effort for the missing pilot were hit by Iranian fire but made it out of Iranian airspace, the two US officials told Reuters.
The degree of injuries among the crew of the aircraft remained unclear. The status and whereabouts of the missing F-15E crew member was not publicly known.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing an area near where the pilot’s plane came down in southwestern Iran and the regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed “forces of the hostile enemy.”
Iranians, who have been pummeled by American air power for weeks, posted gleeful messages celebrating the plane downings. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on X that the U.S. and Israel’s war had been “downgraded from regime change” to a hunt for their pilots.
Trump has been in the White House receiving updates on the search-and-rescue operation, a senior administration official told Reuters. The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
NO SIGN OF END TO WAR
The prospect of a US service person being alive and on the run inside Iran raises the stakes for Washington in a conflict with low public support and no sign of an imminent end.
Iran has officially told mediators it is not prepared to meet with US officials in Islamabad in coming days and that efforts to produce a ceasefire, led by Pakistan, have reached a dead end, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The US and Israel opened the campaign with a wave of strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28. The war has killed thousands and threatened lasting damage to the global economy.
So far, 13 US military service members have been killed in the conflict and more than 300 have been wounded, according to the US Central Command.
Iran has rained down drones and missiles on Israel. It has also taken aim at Gulf countries allied to the US, which have so far held back from joining the war directly for fear of further escalation.
In a security alert on Friday, the US embassy in Beirut said Iran and its aligned armed groups may target universities in Lebanon and urged US citizens in the country to leave while commercial flights are still available.
Israel has been waging a parallel campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon after the militant group fired at Israel in support of Iran.
TRUMP THREAT TO STRIKE BRIDGES, POWER PLANTS
On Friday, as Trump threatened to hit its bridges and power plants, Iran struck a power and water plant in Kuwait, underlining the vulnerability of Gulf states that rely heavily on desalination plants for drinking water.
On Thursday, Trump posted footage on social media showing dust and smoke billowing up as US strikes hit the newly constructed B1 bridge between Tehran and nearby Karaj, which was due to open this year, and said more attacks would follow.
“Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” he wrote in a subsequent post.
On Friday, a drone hit a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of Iran’s southern Bushehr province.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery had been hit by drones. Other attacks were also reported to have been intercepted in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Missile debris landed near the Israeli port of Haifa, site of a major oil refinery.
Oil markets were closed after benchmark U.S. crude prices gained 11% on Thursday following a speech by Trump that offered no clear sign of an imminent end to the war.
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US-Iran: Diplomatic Push Falters as Qatar Steps Back and Pakistan Talks Stall
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani speaks after a meeting with the Lebanese president at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
i24 News – Diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran appear to have reached an impasse, as key regional mediators pull back and broader talks stall.
According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Qatar has informed US officials that it does not wish to take a central role in mediating between the two sides. Officials familiar with the matter said Doha has made clear it is “not willing” to lead negotiations or act as the primary broker.
At the same time, Pakistan-led efforts to bring Iranian and American officials together have also stalled. Mediators say Tehran has refused to attend proposed meetings in Islamabad, calling Washington’s conditions “unacceptable,” further underscoring the widening gap between the two sides and the growing difficulty of restarting dialogue.
Despite the deadlock, diplomatic channels have not fully closed. Turkey and Egypt are continuing parallel efforts to revive talks, with discussions underway about potential alternative venues, including Doha and Istanbul.
US President Donald Trump downplayed the impact of recent military developments on diplomacy, including the destruction of a US fighter jet during operations in Iran. Speaking in a brief exchange with an NBC News journalist, he said: “No, not at all. It’s war. We are at war.”
He further fueled speculation with a cryptic social media post on Truth Social, writing: “Keep the oil, anyone?” criticising international allies on Friday over rising fuel prices. Trump appeared to mock allies such as the United Kingdom, writing that they should “keep the oil.”
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Report: Iran Retains Significant Missile Capability Despite Weeks of US-Led Strikes
Iranian missiles are displayed in a park in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 31, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
i24 News – Despite weeks of sustained airstrikes by the United States and its allies, Iran has reportedly managed to retain a substantial portion of its military capabilities, particularly its ballistic missile arsenal.
According to a report by The New York Times citing US intelligence assessments, Tehran has developed methods to mitigate the impact of the strikes, allowing it to preserve and restore key parts of its missile infrastructure.
While the Pentagon has claimed responsibility for striking more than 11,000 targets over five weeks and reducing the rate of Iranian missile fire, intelligence officials now caution that the actual damage may be more limited than initially assessed. Iranian forces are reportedly able to rapidly repair or reactivate missile launchers stored in heavily fortified or underground facilities, sometimes within hours of being hit.
Analysts also point to the widespread use of decoy sites, which may have drawn strikes away from operational assets. Many of the targeted locations are believed to have contained dummy installations, complicating efforts to accurately gauge the degradation of Iran’s ballistic capabilities. Combined with deep underground bunkers and dispersed storage networks, this approach is seen as enabling Tehran to maintain a higher level of readiness than publicly estimated.
US intelligence officials assess that this resilience reflects a deliberate strategy: preserving a credible long-range strike capability as both a deterrent and a bargaining tool in any future negotiations, while ensuring regime survival and continued regional influence.
Despite sustained air dominance claimed by Washington and its allies, Iran’s adaptive tactics continue to complicate battlefield assessments, leaving the true balance of power in the conflict uncertain.