Steven Spielberg won his third Golden Globe at the ceremony held Tuesday, Jan.10, this time for directing The Fabelmans, a semiautobiographical film about his own upbringing. The Fabelmans also won for best drama, Spielberg’s fourth in that category.

Composer Justin Hurwitz won his fourth Golden Globe, this time for the score of Babylon, about the final days of the silent era of film. In his acceptance speech at the Jan. 10 ceremony, he thanks his parents, Gail Halabe Hurwitz and Ken Hurwitz, and the public schools he attended for offering music classes.

When Josh Shapiro was sworn in as Pennsylvania’s governor on Jan. 17, he took the oath of office on a stack of three Hebrew Bibles, including one that was on the bimah at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue during the 2018 mass shooting that killed 11 worshippers.

“The Bible survived without damage, and Tree of Life is honored by its presence at the inauguration,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, spiritual leader of the synagogue.

Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s outgoing attorney general, also used the same family Bible present at each swearing-in since he was first elected to the Statehouse in 2004. The third Bible — a copy of Readings From the Holy Scriptures for Jewish Soldiers and Sailors, belonged to Herman Hershman, a WWII veteran who earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star on D-Day. The Bible was on loan from the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

A group of four interfaith leaders — Community Leader Shamshul Huda of Lansdale’s North Penn Mosque, Rabbi Greg Marx of Maple Glen’s Congregation Beth Or, Monsignor Stephen P. McHenry of St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Ambler, and the Rev. Charles W. Quann of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Spring House — delivered the invocation.

The biggest scandal to shake the crypto-currency world became a criminal matter on Dec. 12 when Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the crypto exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas and charged by the Department of Justice with eight criminal counts, including lying to investors, wire fraud on lenders and customers, and conspiring to violate campaign finance laws.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges alleging that he misled investors while defrauding customers from the company’s inception, transferring customer deposits to his trading firm, Alameda. When a rush on withdrawals revealed an $8 billion shortfall, FTX declared bankruptcy. A hearing to extradite Bankman-Fried from the Bahamas is scheduled for February.

U.S. Representatives Lois Frankel (D-FL), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Jim McGovern (D-MA), and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) were joined by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in announcing their bipartisan bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Ferencz, the last living Nuremberg Trials prosecutor.

The bill was supported by 296 House co-sponsors and 81 Senate co-sponsors. It was endorsed by the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee.

The Congressional Gold Medal is Congress’ highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. The first award was given to George Washington, and it has been awarded 184 times to America’s national heroes.

According to information released by the Jewish National Syndicate, over the course of his life, Benjamin Ferencz has advocated for the rule of law and international justice. During WWII, he served in the U.S. Army and helped to collect evidence of Nazi war crimes. Following the war, he was awarded five battle stars for his service. Later, he was appointed chief prosecutor in the proceedings that convicted 22 former Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) officials.

“I am so honored to have secured the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Ferencz, a champion for human rights,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Mr. Ferencz’s life exemplifies what it means to dedicate oneself to compassion, empathy and righteousness. Few people have been more deserving of this tremendous honor.”

Our own Rabbi Gadi served as guest speaker at the Greenport Ecumenical Ministries (G.E.M.) interfaith service to celebrate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The event was held on Sunday, Jan. 22, at the Cutchogue Presbyterian Church, also the home of the North Fork Reform Synagogue.

Rabbi Gadi was the go-to speaker when, at the last moment, the Rev. Natalie Wimberly, pastor of the Clinton Memorial AME Zion Church, was unable to participate. Rabbi Gadi embraced the theme “Envisioning the Beloved Community.”                                                                                      G.E.M. photo

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was named Time’s Person of the Year, the magazine announced. Zelensky, 44, shot to international recognition when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Almost 10 months later, he remains a symbol of the nation’s stoicism and spirit in the face of the incursion.

The Time honor, first awarded to aviator Charles Lindbergh in 1927, annually selects the person who has had a particular impact on events of the past year.

Illustration by Neil Jamieson