Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz has quit Israel’s three-person war cabinet, repositioning himself as a potential replacement for his longtime rival Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to The Forward. Gantz’s departure from the coalition on Sunday, June 16, along with that of Gadi Eisenkot and another six Knesset members, came one day after an Israeli operation freed four hostages held by Hamas.

Professor Rebecca Kobrin, the Russell and Bettina Knapp Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University, was a special guest at Congregation Tifereth Israel’s Tikkun Leil Shavuot event, held on Tuesday, June 11. Professor Kobrin joined Rabbi Gadi and two other speakers, all of whom connected their remarks to receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, the focus of the Shavuot observance.

Professor Kobrin talked about the protests and violence on the Columbia campus in the aftermath of the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on many scores of Jews in Israel. Encampments by Palestinians protesting Israel’s retaliation were common on college campuses across the U.S.

Rabbi Gadi tops the Jews In The News column this month. Our rabbi has successfully completed his final project, “Jews From Arab Countries,” and has earned a master’s degree in Modern Jewish Studies from a joint program sponsored by the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University. A graduation ceremony was held on May 16 at JTS. In addition to his rabbinical ordination, Rabbi Gadi now holds two master’s degrees and two undergraduate degrees.

 The Shofar joyfully shares the news that Rebecca Rothman,  daughter of shul members Ron and Madelyn Rothman of Peconic, and John Divoll, son Richard and Barbara Divoll of Key West, were married on May 4, 2024, at the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden. The couple will live in Key West.

Mazel tov to all.

The actor Jesse Eisenberg has applied for Polish citizenship. In a recent interview with the Polish publication Glos Wielkopolski, he said his family and his wife’s family are from Poland, and that he was looking for a way to create better relations between Jews and Polish people.

He applied for citizenship nine months ago and is now “waiting for the final signature.”

Shul member Graham Diamond was one of the invited speakers at the Riverhead Free Library on Monday, May 6, to mark the observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The writer had collaborated with Holocaust survivor Aron Goldfarb on a memoir, Maybe You Will Survive, first published in 1991, in which Goldfarb tells the story of his experiences as a 12-year-old in Nazi-occupied Poland, his escape from a labor camp, his life in hiding, and his survival.

Following those boyhood years, Goldfarb immigrated to the United States, founded a leather outerwear company that grew into a publicly-traded organization with a portfolio of name brands.

“If someone like Aron could build a $3 billion business, think what six million of us could have done,” Graham Diamond said to the gathering.

Shul members will recall the dramatic story as the writer related it in a Lunch and Learn program held at our shul a few years ago.

Ted Comet, creator of New York City’s Israel parade, celebrated his 100th birthday on May 23. This year’s parade will take place on June 2, and Comet will be an honorary grand marshal.

He has played leading roles in Jewish organizations for more than 75 years, including the Joint Distribution Committee, American Zionist Youth Foundation, Council of Jewish Federations, Israel Folk Dance Festival, and the first large demonstration in support of Soviet Jewry.