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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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The post With investors like Paul Rudd, a new bagel baker takes a bite of the West Village appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Lindsey Graham urges Israel not to strike Iranian oil depots even as he says he helped make war happen
(JTA) — Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has called on Israel to rein in its attacks on Iranian oil infrastructure, marking a rare note of caution from a Republican lawmaker who has said he helped push the United States to join Israel in waging war against Iran.
In a post on X on Sunday, Graham praised Israel for its role in the war before adding that “there will be a day soon that the Iranian people will be in charge of their own fate, not the murderous ayatollah’s regime.”
“In that regard, please be cautious about what targets you select,” continued Graham. “Our goal is to liberate the Iranian people in a fashion that does not cripple their chance to start a new and better life when this regime collapses. The oil economy of Iran will be essential to that endeavor.”
Graham’s post linked to an Axios article that reported that the United States was alarmed by Israeli strikes over the weekend that targeted 30 Iranian fuel depots. On Monday, U.S. gas prices rose to their highest levels since 2024.
The warning from Graham, an ally of President Donald Trump and staunch supporter of Israel, comes days after the Republican hawk told the Wall Street Journal that he had played a key role in urging Trump to strike Iran.
Prior to the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, Graham made several trips to Israel where he met with members of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whom he said he coached on how to lobby Trump to strike Iran.
“They’ll tell me things our own government won’t tell me,” Graham told the newspaper.
On Monday, Graham also directed his criticism at Saudi Arabia’s decision to stay on the sidelines of the campaign against Iran.
“It is my understanding the Kingdom refuses to use their capable military as a part of an effort to end the barbaric and terrorist Iranian regime who has terrorized the region and killed 7 Americans,” wrote Graham in a post on X Monday. “Question – why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
The post Lindsey Graham urges Israel not to strike Iranian oil depots even as he says he helped make war happen appeared first on The Forward.
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Belgian officials investigating synagogue explosion as possible act of terrorism
(JTA) — Belgian officials are investigating an explosion in front of a synagogue in Liège early Monday as a possible act of terrorism.
The explosion, which took place at 4 a.m., damaged the door of the historic neo-Romanesque synagogue and blew out the windows of multiple buildings across the street. No injuries were reported.
A range of Belgian politicians, including the prime minister and the mayor of Liège, characterized the explosion as act of antisemitism.
“Antisemitism is an attack on our values and our society, and we must fight it unequivocally,” Prime Minister Bart de Wever said in a statement. “We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community in Liege and across the country.”
The explosion comes amid a surge of concern about possible attacks by agents associated with the Iranian regime, against which the United States and Israel launched a war last week. Iran has a long record of supporting attacks on Jewish targets abroad, including two bombings in the 1990s in Argentina that killed more than 100 people at the Israeli embassy and a Jewish community center. Now, with Iran being pummeled at home, watchdogs are warning that it might lash out through its Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, responsible for attacks abroad.
Azerbaijan said Friday that it had foiled multiple terror attacks planned by Iranian agents on Jewish sites. In London, four men were arrested last week for allegedly spying on the Jewish community for Iran, with the intent of planning attacks against the community. And a string of shootings at synagogues in Toronto has ignited concern in Canada, too.
Iranian agents have taken aim at non-Jewish targets, too. On Friday, a Pakistani man who prosecutors said had been directed by Iran’s IRGC was convicted of plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump.
The attack in Liège, in the primarily French-speaking Wallonia province, comes amid a range of recent developments that have unsettled Belgian Jews, who number approximately 30,000. They include antisemitic carnival caricatures in the city of Aalst; a ban on ritual slaughter preventing the local production of kosher meat; and an ongoing row between U.S. and Belgian officials over Jewish circumcision practices. The attack also follows a 2014 shooting in which a gunman associated with the Islamic State, a rival to Iran’s Islamic Republic, shot four people to death at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.
A spokesperson for the Liège police described the effects to the area as “only material damage” to the 1899 building. Rabbi Joshua Nejman told local media that he was hoping that security footage would reveal the perpetrator.
“I’m going to try to calm my heart, because it is beating faster and faster this morning,” said Nejman, who said he had been at the synagogue for 25 years.
“Liege is home to a very small but vibrant Jewish community where I personally grew up,” Eitan Bergman, vice president of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organisations in Belgium, told Reuters. “Today, the feelings among our community members are a mixture of sadness, worry and profound shock.”
Liege’s mayor, Willy Demeyer, praised the synagogue community to RBTF, Belgium’s French-language national broadcaster. He added, “We cannot allow foreign conflicts to be imported into our city.”
The post Belgian officials investigating synagogue explosion as possible act of terrorism appeared first on The Forward.
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The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life, 2025
In honor of The Algemeiner‘s 12th annual gala, we are proud to present our “J100” list — 100 individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life over the past year.