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Yiddishkayt LA and New Lehrhaus merge — but is this good for Yiddish?
For most Jewish institutions, “partnership” might mean a shared event or a guest lecture. But for Yiddishkayt LA and the Bay Area’s New Lehrhaus — two organizations separated by 370 miles and decades of distinct histories — this merger represents something far bolder. They are fusing identities, communities and visions of what West Coast Jewish culture can become.
Rob Adler Peckerar, formerly a key figure at Yiddishkayt LA, has now been appointed director of New Lehrhaus. In an interview he said that the merger strengthens both institutions rather than diluting either one.
Aaron Paley, the founder of Yiddishkayt LA, agrees. “We’re not amplifying one approach at the expense of the other; we’re amplifying both,” he said, adding that he first encountered the Lehrhaus tradition as a UC Berkeley student in the 1970s. The merger, he added, “immediately felt like a homecoming.”
Officially launched November 1, the merger wasn’t born of crisis. It grew from two organizations with parallel instincts: Yiddishkayt LA’s eclectic cultural programming and New Lehrhaus’s commitment to text, dialogue, and community learning.
A celebration — but not without concerns
But some Yiddish fans are concerned about the merger. “We’re 114 neighborhoods in a trench coat pretending to be a cohesive city,” said Aaron Castillo-White, director of the Yiddish culture organization Kultur Mercado and a former member of the Forward’s development staff.
“Yiddishkayt LA was one of the few forces stitching its Yiddish community together.” Now that it will no longer be a separate institution, he’s worried that the “already fragile cohesion” might suffer even more.
The question is: If Yiddishkayt LA becomes absorbed into New Lehrhaus’s broader educational framework, what will happen to LA’s uniquely local Yiddish culture — the concerts, neighborhood pop-ups, cross-art collaborations, and street-level programming? They may not easily transplant into a text-centered institution.
But Adler Peckerar isn’t worried, noting that, in recent years, newer groups like Der Nister and Kultur Mercado have already begun organizing on-the-ground Yiddish programming. Yiddishkayt LA, on the other hand, had moved away from local, place-based events toward livestreamed programs, online archives, virtual learning and broader national audiences who would never attend in-person Los Angeles events.
To understand the stakes, it’s important to understand who these two merging organizations are.
Two genealogies, one experiment
Yiddishkayt LA, founded by Paley in the 1990s, helped define a distinct West Coast model of Yiddish culture: contemporary, experimental and rooted in doikayt — “being present” in one’s milieu. Its Helix Fellowship shaped young artists who saw Jewish culture not as nostalgia, but as creative raw material.
New Lehrhaus, launched in 2021 by Rachel and David Biale, has different roots: In the early 20th century, the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig founded an informal educational institution in Frankfurt, Germany, called Lehrhaus, that brought assimilated German Jews into engaging Judaic study without demanding any background knowledge or religious observance.
In the new incarnation, based in the Bay Area, the New Lehrhaus became a home for Jews seeking text and dialogue across denominations and backgrounds.
Last year, after Rachel Biale stepped down as director of the New Lehrhaus, the incoming director, Adler Peckerar, saw the joining of forces as a natural evolution. “Merging two strong organizations isn’t about defeat or one absorbing the other,” he said. “It’s strategic thinking about how to build something that can weather today’s volatile nonprofit landscape.”
But that innovation also sharpens Castillo-White’s concern: What disappears when two distinct ecosystems become one?
Diverging visions of the merger’s impact
Castillo-White described Yiddishkayt as “one of the only cultural bridges” in Los Angeles. He worries that a merger, even one made in good faith, could dilute that hyper-local energy.
Adler Peckerar disagrees. Unlike Castillo-White, he argued the merger will expand — not shrink — opportunities for Yiddish. “We’re broadening the ecosystem,” he said.
Biale framed the merger around a larger question facing Jewish institutions: How do they stay relevant without losing depth? She believes that the merger could bring Yiddishkayt LA fans into a much larger orbit of learning, featuring sessions with scholars like the University of Toronto professor Naomi Seidman who writes about the relationship between Judaism, literature, gender studies, translation studies and sexuality.
The new organization plans to dive into an eclectic range of fields in contemporary culture — physics, poetry, Leonard Cohen — as a doorway into Jewish texts. Adler Peckerar believes this approach could make Jewish learning feel relevant for Jews who may otherwise have little or no connection to Jewish learning.
They’re also planning intimate reading circles on radical Jewish thinkers such as Isaac Deutscher, Rosa Luxemburg and Gustav Landauer; classes on endangered Jewish languages and Hasidic history and experimental Yiddish theater and new one-act plays.
What remains to be seen is how the new Lehrhaus-Yiddishkayt will balance its broadened reach with the local energies that shaped each institution. Many in the community will be watching to see which parts of the old ecosystems endure, and what new forms of Yiddish culture might emerge.
The post Yiddishkayt LA and New Lehrhaus merge — but is this good for Yiddish? appeared first on The Forward.
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California Judge Blocks Challenge to State K-12 Antisemitism Law
Illustrative: Anti-Israel protesters in Los Angeles, California, US, Oct. 2, 2025. Photo: Daniel Cole via Reuters Connect.
A US federal judge in California has struck down a challenge to the state’s new K-12 antisemitism law, a measure which established a new Office for Civil Rights and other protections for Jewish students.
The law, also known as Assembly Bill 715 (AB 715), is California’s response to an epidemic of antisemitism in K-12 schools, which, as The Algemeiner has previously reported, has produced a slew of complaints alleging civil rights violations. It calls for creating an Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator, setting parameters within which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be equitably discussed, and potentially barring antisemitic materials from reaching the classroom.
Since its signing by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, the law has been challenged by individuals and groups who argue that it violates the First Amendment. One such party is middle school teacher Andrea Prichett, who sued the state government in November to halt the law’s implementation. She was joined by the “LA Educators for Justice in Palestine” group, which has advocated adding “ethnic studies” programs to K-12 school widely criticized for not only teaching a biased, anti-Israel history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but also allegedly promoting other concepts that foster racial division and grievance.
In the suit, Prichett argued that the K-12 antisemitism law was “hastily written” and “singled out for punishment” anti-Zionist viewpoints. She also criticized the law because it “empowers anyone to file a complaint claiming classroom content and instructional materials criticize Israel and Zionism,” preventing teachers “from freely discussing these critical issues.”
Writing in Wednesday’s decision, Judge Noël Wise, appointed by former US President Joe Biden in 2024, said the plaintiffs’ argument is specious.
“With the enactment of AB 715, this yet to be appointed Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator will eventually be involved in how local schools ‘handle’ antisemitism. While this may include the administration of antisemitic discrimination complaints, it does not follow that the complaints will be judged more harshly than current complaints,” she wrote. “Plaintiffs have not shown that the mere existence of AB 715, even with its forceful precatory language about antisemitism, means public school administrators will be more likely than they are now to find that antisemitism complaints are meritorious.”
Furthermore, Wise noted that even if what Prichett and LA Educators for Justice in Palestine is true, it fails legally for asserting public teachers’ right to unfettered free speech, which does not exist for government employees while they are at work. Teachers may comment on matters of public interest, she explained, citing past jurisprudence by the US Supreme Court, but it cannot interfere with government’s advancing its “legitimate interests.” When they speak in the classroom or on a public school campus, Wise stressed, they do so not as private citizens but as state officials speaking “with the voice of the government” — a fact which allows government to steer or proscribe what is said on its behalf.
She continued, “As public school education belongs to the government, the government may regulate Teacher Plaintiffs [sic] speech to accord with the government’s education goals. It is of no significance that the curricula and the attendant speech required to teach it may advance a single viewpoint to the exclusion of another.”
Jewish civil rights groups on Wednesday commended the decision for drawing on established legal precedent and affirming California’s right to fight discrimination.
“The court correctly acknowledged that public school teachers do not have free speech rights in the classroom, because when they deliver lessons to students they are speaking on behalf of the government,” said Carly Gammill, director of legal policy and litigation at StandWithUs Saidoff Law. “While teachers can speak freely in their private lives, they cannot use K-12 public education as a platform for bigotry against Jews or other groups. School districts and state officials have both a right and a responsibility to protect students from instruction that crosses the line into antisemitism.”
The American Jewish Committee also issued a statement, with its chief executive officer Ted Deutch saying, “Public schools need to be welcoming to all, including Jews, and must not be used as platforms for teachers to express individual political views. Bias and discrimination that can lead to outright antisemitism has no place in California — or any — classrooms.”
Antisemitic incidents in California schools include vandalism and assault. The list of outrages includes a student group chanting “Kill the Jews” during an anti-Israel protest and partisan activists smuggling far-left, anti-Zionist content into classrooms without clearing the content with parents and other stakeholders.
Elsewhere in California, K-12 antisemitism has caused severe psychological trauma to Jewish students as young as eight years old and fostered a hostile learning environment.
In Berkeley United School District (BUSD), teachers have allegedly used their classrooms to promote antisemitic stereotypes about Israel, weaponizing disciplines such as art and history to convince unsuspecting minors that Israel is a “settler-colonial” apartheid state committing a genocide of Palestinians. While this took place, high level BUSD officials were accused of ignoring complaints about discrimination and tacitly approving hateful conduct even as it spread throughout the student body.
At Berkeley High School (BUSD), for example, a history teacher forced students to explain why Israel is an apartheid state and screened an anti-Zionist documentary, according to a lawsuit filed last year by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The teacher allegedly squelched dissent, telling a Jewish student who raised concerns about the content of her lessons that only anti-Zionist narratives matter in her classroom and that any other which argues that Israel isn’t an apartheid state is “laughable.” Elsewhere in the school, an art teacher, whose name is redacted from the complaint for matters of privacy, displayed anti-Israel artworks in his classroom, one of which showed a fist punching through a Star of David.
California is not alone in dealing with the issue. Pennsylvania has a significant K-12 antisemitism problem as well, a fact acknowledged recently by a surrogate of the administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro following the US Congress announcing an investigation into antisemitism in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and a disturbing anti-Israel statement at a high school in the Wissahickon School District.
“Governor Shapiro takes a back seat to no one on these issues, and as he has repeatedly spoken out about antisemitism, and this kind of hateful rhetoric is unacceptable and has no place in Pennsylvania — especially not in our classrooms,” Rosie Lapowsky, a spokesperson for Shapiro, said in a statement first shared with Fox News Digital in Dec. “This is a matter the governor has made clear the district needs to take very seriously.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Florida Sees Three Antisemitic Incidents in One Week as State Pushes Back
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis participates in a Fox News Channel’s Democracy 2024: Fox News Town Hall ahead of the caucus vote in Des Moines, Iowa, US, Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Scott Morgan
Communities in Florida’s Jupiter and West Palm Beach saw three acts of antisemitic intimidation last week, part of a trend of hate targeting local Jews this year as the state government moves to respond forcefully.
At the Jupiter Civic Center Beach, a vandal used bright orange spray-paint to write “Kill Jews” on two beach crossovers, according to a report from WPTV, West Palm Beach’s NBC affiliate, which confirmed two instances of the genocidal slogan vandalized in the town, both on government property. Each case of vandalism has been covered up, though not fully removed, according to video footage.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office also said that its Targeted Violence Unit was investigating a “suspicious call” at a Kosher restaurant in West Palm Beach.
“You don’t know who that individual is who’s going to take it upon themselves to act and move beyond words,” Josephine Gon, executive director of the Palm Beach Center to Combat Antisemitism and Hatred with the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, warned WPTV in an interview. “That’s what is so serious right now. It’s a very fertile environment for bad actors.”
Florida has seen multiple efforts in recent weeks and months to counter those who target Jewish citizens.
On Dec. 8, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
“Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,” DeSantis said of the designations on social media.
CAIR-National and CAIR-Florida responded in a joint statement.
“From the moment Ron DeSantis took office as Florida governor, he has prioritized serving the Israeli government over serving the people of Florida,” the statement read. “He hosted his very first official cabinet meeting in Israel. He diverted millions in Florida taxpayer dollars to the Israeli government’s bonds. He threatened to shut down every Florida college’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, only to back off when CAIR sued him in federal court.”
CAIR compared DeSantis to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (whose state also designated the group as a terrorist organization this year), describing him as “an Israel First politician who wants to smear and silence Americans, especially American Muslims, critical of US support for Israel’s war crimes.”
On Dec. 15, CAIR announced the filing of a lawsuit against DeSantis in response to the terrorism designation.
The legal system in Florida has prosecuted several individuals accused of antisemitic acts this year.
In October, Florida state Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the arrest and prosecution of Nicholas Ray of Spring, Texas who allegedly had made death threats under a ”zionistarescum” X account against Jews he believed responsible for the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk the prior month.
In August, John Kevin Lapinski, Jr., 41, received a 25-year federal prison sentence from US District Judge Rodney Smith in Miami due to his terrorist plans to attack Jewish Americans and Black Americans in Florida. US Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said at the time that “this defendant stockpiled weapons, tactical gear, and detailed attack plans to terrorize Jewish and Black Americans in our communities. His intent was not abstract — it was written on his maps, his targets, and his so-called hit list.”
Also in August, police charged a Florida State University (FSU) graduate student for an alleged assault of a Jewish peer captured on video.
In April, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism announced it had found that Phoenix Ikner, 21, the alleged attacker behind a shooting at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee which caused two deaths and six injuries, had expressed an interest in Nazism, using Third Reich terminology to name himself in online games.
“What we’re seeing — if in fact this individual has extremist views, and it seems at the very least he was exposed to extremism — is the continued crossover between extremism and the glorification of violence that eventually leads to violence,” said Carla Hill, a senior director of investigative research at the ADL’s Center on Extremism
A hearing for Ikner occurred on Nov. 13 in Tallahassee. His trial has been pushed back to March 30 due to a change of counsel.
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London Denies Star of David Removed From Israeli Flag During New Year’s Eve Special After Facing Backlash
Flags displayed on the London Eye during the British capital’s New Year’s Eve celebration on Dec. 31, 2025. Photo: Screenshot
A spokesperson for London Mayor Sadiq Khan denied speculation that the British capital deliberately removed the Star of David from the Israeli flag that was displayed during the city’s New Year’s Eve fireworks spectacle on Wednesday night.
Flags from around the world were projected onto the London Eye Ferris wheel to form the European Union flag, in an effort to celebrate the diversity of people in London and “send a message of unity for 2026,” according to the mayor’s office. It was displayed as part of the city’s celebration to welcome the new year, but some viewers noticed that Israel’s flag appeared simply as a white rectangle with two blue stripes. The iconic Star of David that is typically in the center of the flag was not clearly visible, which prompted some social media users to claim the symbol of Jewish identity was “removed” or “erased.”
However, City Hall quickly released a statement insisting that the animated flags were very small and moved too quickly to appear clearly to all viewers. The visibility issues affected other blue and white national flags as well that were included in the sequence, including those of Guatemala, Argentina, and Honduras.
“A range of flags were displayed on the London Eye to represent the wide variety of countries of origin of people who live in and contribute to the success of London,” said a City Hall spokesperson, as cited by The Standard. “These animated flags were small and moving so were not all entirely clear at every point as they gradually formed into the Union Flag.”
The group London Jewish Forum (LJF) shared a video on social media that showed the Star of David very faintly on the Israeli flag in the New Year’s Eve display. In a released statement, LJF agreed with City Hall that the issue with the Star of David was because “elements were not always clearly visible at every moment due to the scale and motion of the animation.”
“There is no evidence that this was antisemitic or that the Israeli flag was singled out,” the group added. “The footage and the organizers’ explanation are consistent on this point. We also understand why people are watching these details closely right now. When antisemitism is rising, symbolism carries weight and scrutiny is natural. In this case, though, what we are seeing does not suggest intent or targeting.”
Other images projected as part of London’s celebration for 2026 on Wednesday night honored England’’ women’s rugby team the Red Roses for winning the Rugby World Cup, the Lionesses soccer team being victorious in the Euros, and Europe’s triumph over the US in the Ryder Cup. It also featured visuals and songs from “Wicked: For Good,” as well as a message from the film’s Grammy, Emmy, and Tony-winning actress, London native Cynthia Erivo.
Roughly 100,000 people lined the banks of the River Thames on Wednesday night to watch what was considered the largest annual firework display in Europe, according to the mayor’s office. The event featured more than 12,000 fireworks and over 400 lights.