Travel and Food

Police are searching for an unidentified African-American woman seen on surveillance video pouring gasoline in front of a Jewish school in Brooklyn, N.Y., before setting the liquid on fire. The incident occurred Thursday night at Yeshiva of Flatbush in a heavily Jewish neighborhood. [JNS.org]

Last week, at Friday night services, I had the great joy of watching dozens of second graders singing Hinei Ma Tov and Oseh Shalom while their parents and grandparents practically jumped out of their seats to get a better view. It was a truly joyful (and utterly chaotic) scene; the kind of community moment we have had so little of over the past 18 months. It has been quite a few years since my own children stood on the bimah singing their hearts out with their classmates, but I felt those parents’ joy; I felt the pride of the congregation in those 7 and 8 year olds. I felt what it meant to everyone in that room to have a beautiful, lively, multi-generational, chaotic, communal Jewish experience. And that experience was only possible through the tireless work of our Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders, who have continued to hold our community close and are bringing so much energy and creativity to Jewish experiences. [Heidi Gantwerk]

A car belonging to a campus Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Santa Monica, Calif., was defaced on Friday morning at the synagogue parking lot. [JNS.org]

SAN DIEGO (Press Release) — StandWithUs San Diego strongly condemned antisemitic conspiracy theories and demonization of Israel during a recent panel hosted by the San Diego County Democratic Party (SDCDP) Central Committee. One panelist falsely accused Israel of being complicit in the horrific murder of George Floyd, simply because some senior U.S. law enforcement officials

This coffee table book weighing 3¾ pounds offers 312 stellar photographs of 50 bookstores in eight countries by Frankfort born, Munich educated, and London based Horst A. Friedrichs. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]

What athlete, actor, celebrity or other famous person was in the news this past week because of Sukkot? [Mark D. Zimmerman]