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With investors like Paul Rudd, a new bagel baker takes a bite of the West Village
(New York Jewish Week) — Like many people stuck at home during the pandemic, Adam Goldberg, who worked at a flood-mitigation systems company in Westport, Connecticut, decided to try his hand at baking. But unlike most amateur bakers, Goldberg turned his pastime into a thriving bagel-delivery service that built a loyal following and drew the attention of celebrity investors like actor Paul Rudd.
And now, PopUpBagels, which touts itself as a “‘not famous but known’ bagel and schmear subscription club,” announced this week that it will open a brick-and-mortar store in Manhattan at the corner of Bleecker and Thompson streets.
The Greenwich Village store, along with a forthcoming shop in Greenwich, Connecticut, will be PopUpBagels’ first foray into permanent storefronts. This transition comes on the heels of raising “more than a couple million” dollars in seed funding in November 2022, attracting celebrity investors like Rudd, actor Patrick Schwarzenegger and swimmer Michael Phelps. But bold-faced names aren’t the only thing that sets PopUpBagels apart: Unlike most bagel bakeries, PopUpBagels only sells bagels by the dozen, at $38 a pop (which includes two tubs of “artisan schmears” — unique flavors like Caramel Apple, Dill Pickle, Red Pepper and Black Sesame Miso).
“Think of us as your private bagel bakery,” Goldberg, 48, told the New York Jewish Week. “When you feel like you want bagels, you’ll be able to go on our website and order a dozen bagels for a specific pickup time and hot, fresh bagels will be waiting for you when you get there.”
PopUpBagels will not be selling individual bagels, sandwiches or any “old and colds,” which is how Goldberg refers to “anything that’s been sitting out for more than 45 minutes.”
For now — until both stores open in mid-March — PopUpBagels operates via pre-orders only. Customers reserve their orders at the beginning of the week through the bakery’s website, selecting a 15-minute time slot on weekend mornings for pickups at a variety of locations in the tri-state area, including Redding, Connecticut and Tenafly, New Jersey. (Overnight mail orders — 18 bagels for $60, plus schmears — are also available anywhere in the United States on Thursday nights.) City dwellers can pick up their advance-ordered bagels on Saturday mornings at Scampi, an Italian restaurant in Flatiron.
Goldberg said he and his team fill some 700 to 800 pre-sale orders each week, which are baked at two Connecticut bakery locations. The emphasis is on freshness and quality, Goldberg said, which is why the bagels are made-to-(pre)order.
Once the storefront opens, bagels will be baked on-site and available “five to six days a week,” he said. Walk-up orders of half-dozen or a dozen bagels will be available, he added.
“Our flavor is just a little bit different than every other bagel out there,” Goldberg said of his creations, which are about two-thirds the size of an average New York bagel. “We have this saying: ‘We’ve got a little chew in the crust without the lead in the belly.’ It’s refreshing.”
For the last two years, PopUpBagels has taken home the “Best Overall Bagel” award at Brooklyn Bagel Fest, judged by a panel of 20 industry experts. (The competition has only been in existence for three years.)
“PopUp creates some intention around your bagel routine; you have to put intention towards getting their simply perfect bagels when they have a drop,” said Jake Cohen, a chef and baker who has been a contest judge at Brooklyn BagelFest the last two years and voted PopUpBagels for Best Overall Bagel. “To me the magic of their bagels is that you’re only able to get them at peak freshness and then alongside their inventive schmears,” he added.
“The response has been amazing,” Goldberg said. “People are so excited. We’re hearing from customers and people who have been following us for a couple of years and saying, ‘I can’t wait.’”
“I love supporting any establishment honoring the sanctity of a perfect bagel,” Cohen said. “I can promise when they open it will be the main reason I schlep to the Village.”
“Watching people eat our bagels for the first time and seeing their smiles and their faces light up is just an amazing feeling for me,” Goldberg added. “I’m so excited to come to New York and have the opportunity for millions of people to get their hands on our bagels and to be able to see that awesome look for the first time from so many people.”
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UK Court Rules Palestinian NGO Can’t Appeal Decision Allowing Sale of F-35 Parts to Israel
An Israeli F-35 aircraft is seen on a runway during ‘Blue Flag,’ an aerial exercise hosted by Israel with the participation of foreign air force crews, at the Ovda military air base, southern Israel, Nov. 11, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Amir Cohen
A Palestinian NGO was on Wednesday refused permission to appeal a court ruling that Britain lawfully allowed F-35 fighter jet parts to be indirectly exported to Israel, despite accepting they could be used to breach international humanitarian law.
Al-Haq, a Palestinian rights group based in the West Bank, unsuccessfully challenged Britain’s Department for Business and Trade over its decision last year to exempt F-35 components when it suspended export licenses for arms that could be used in the war in Gaza.
The group last month asked the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge a lower court ruling that found Britain’s decision was lawful and dismissed Al-Haq’s challenge.
The Court of Appeal refused permission, ruling that it was a matter for the government to decide whether national security issues relating to the supply of F-35 components outweighed an assessment that Israel was not committed to complying with international humanitarian law.
When it suspended export licenses in 2024, Britain assessed that Israel was not committed to complying with such law in its military campaign, which targeted Hamas terrorists after their Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israeli communities.
But Britain did not suspend licenses for British-made F-35 components, which go into a pool of spare parts Israel can use on its existing F-35 jets.
London’s High Court rejected the challenge in June, saying in its ruling that then-business minister Jonathan Reynolds was “faced with the blunt choice of accepting the F-35 carve-out or withdrawing from the F-35 program and accepting all the defense and diplomatic consequences which would ensue.”
The Court of Appeal heard Al-Haq’s application for permission to appeal as Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas signed an agreement last month to cease fire and free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
In a similar case earlier this month, a Dutch appeals court confirmed a decision to throw out a case brought by pro-Palestinian groups to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.
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Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s ‘100% half Jewish’ grandson, is running for Jerry Nadler’s seat in Congress
Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy family scion whose father’s side of the family is Jewish, is officially running for Congress in one of the most Jewish districts in the United States.
He entered the race on Tuesday night after months of speculation and an initial dismissive reaction from the seat’s current occupant, Jerry Nadler.
Schlossberg, the 32-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy who has risen to prominence recently as a progressive social media darling, posted an announcement Tuesday night that focused on Donald Trump and the cost of living.
“We deserve better, and we can do better, and it starts with the Democratic Party winning back control of the House of Representatives,” Schlossberg said.
Schlossberg, 32, is running to represent New York’s 12th Congressional District, which covers the Upper West and East Sides and all of Midtown Manhattan, where he said he was “born and raised, where I took the bus to school every single day from one side of the district to the other.”
His mother is the author and former U.S. ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy; Schlossberg’s father is Jewish artist Edwin Schlossberg. His paternal grandfather, Alfred Schlossberg, worked in what he said in his announcement was the “shmatte business,” making men’s dress shirts.
The younger Schlossberg was raised with some Jewish traditions at home, such as incorporating Hanukkah traditions into their holiday parties.
“I feel I’m at least 100% half Jewish ;),” he told Hey Alma last year, as he broke out as a social media star.
Schlossberg was born in 1993 — one year after Nadler was first elected. Nadler, Congress’ most senior Jewish member, announced in September that he would not be running for reelection to make way for the next generation. Nadler’s retirement opened up an already-crowded race to represent a “crown jewel” of New York politics, with a number of others rumored to be exploring their own candidacies.
Other candidates officially running include Alex Bores and Micah Lasher, both members of the state Assembly, as well as 26-year-old non-profit founder Liam Elkind.
Schlossberg has worked as a political correspondent for Vogue and endorsed Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention. He has never held public office — a fact that Jerry Nadler himself hammered home in an interview with CNN following his retirement announcement, when Schlossberg was considering running.
“Well, there’s nothing particularly good or bad about a Kennedy holding my seat. But the Kennedy, unlike Schlossberg, should be somebody with a record of public service, a record of public accomplishment, and he doesn’t have one,” Nadler said. “And so, I don’t think he’s going to be a candidate in the end, and he certainly is not going to be a major candidate. There will be major candidates,” Nadler continued, pointing to Lasher as one example. “I’m sure there’ll be other candidates.”
Schlossberg took Nadler’s criticism in stride, writing on Instagram, “Honestly no offense taken whatsoever ! As a New Yorker, a progressive and an American, I have nothing but thanks and respects to offer Rep Nadler.”
Schlossberg endorsed Zohran Mamdani ahead of the Democratic mayoral primary, and said on Instagram that he didn’t “give a f–k” that he would “piss off” former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, his cousin by marriage. In an Instagram post responding to people who ask why he supports Mamdani as a Jew, Schlossberg said, “If you think that Zohran doesn’t like Jews, you’re f–king brainwashed.”
He added, “We cannot have this thing where if you disagree with Israeli policy, you hate Jews. That’s not good and that’s not fighting antisemitism. That’s horses–t and that’s a cop-out.”
In an interview with the New York Times the day after Mamdani’s election, he said he thought Mamdani’s victory — including his wide margin among young voters — was a positive omen for his own campaign.
Schlossberg defended Mamdani against allegations of antisemitism in that interview. “New York needs to be a safe place for Jewish people,” Schlossberg said. “I’m very sensitive to the Jewish community’s concerns, because I feel them, too. It bothers me.”
While a supporter of Mamdani, he disagreed with the mayor-elect’s pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in New York, and, unlike Mamdani, chose not to describe the conflict in Gaza as a “genocide.”
“I think it’s painfully clear that Israel’s committing atrocities in Gaza,” Schlossberg said.
In an interview days before Schlossberg entered the race, Democratic strategist Trip Yang said the 12th district race is “wide open.”
“Jerry Nadler is an icon, trailblazer. Nadler is one of the most popular figures in Manhattan history,” Yang said.
“This is one of the most important congressional districts — a lot of wealth, a lot of power in this district. But it’s an open seat,” Yang said. “So you can have a lot of big names enter right now. It is wide open.”
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Trump Asks Herzog to Pardon Netanyahu in Letter, Israeli President’s Office Says
Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks during a press conference with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics in Riga, Latvia, Aug. 5, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has received a letter from US President Donald Trump urging him to consider granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzog’s office said on Wednesday.
Netanyahu has been facing a long-running corruption trial, and Trump has repeatedly asked for a pardon for his close ally. Netanyahu denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.
“While I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli Justice System, and its requirements, I believe that this ‘case’ against Bibi, who has fought alongside me for a long time, including against the very tough adversary of Israel, Iran, is a political, unjustified prosecution,” Trump said in the letter shared by Herzog’s office.
The office said that anyone seeking a presidential pardon must submit a formal request in accordance with the established procedures.
During Trump‘s visit to Israel in October, he had also urged Herzog to pardon the prime minister in an address to parliament in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases, including allegations of receiving nearly 700,000 shekels ($211,832) in gifts from businessmen.
Despite the largely ceremonial role of the Israeli presidency, Herzog has the authority to pardon convicted criminals under unusual circumstances.
However, Netanyahu‘s trial, which began in 2020, has not yet concluded, and he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Netanyahu has cast his legal ordeal as a left-wing witch-hunt aimed at toppling an elected right-wing leader.
($1 = 3.3045 shekels)