Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, was sworn in as Nassau County executive on Jan. 3, the first Jewish person to hold that office. Blakeman had been serving as councilman of Hempstead, the county’s largest town, since 2015. He defeated the incumbent Democrat, Laura Curran, by 2,150 votes in the November elections.

Prior to his official inauguration, Blakeman hosted a number of local rabbis and Jewish community leaders for a mezuzah installation at his new office. In a Zoom interview with the Forward, Blakeman, 66, said, “Hashem and spirituality are important parts of my life. That’s where I derive my strength.”

He is a member of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, an Orthodox congregation. Despite his Orthodox affiliation, Blakeman said he feels a connection to Jews of all denominations.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced that it will recognize Jon Stewart as the winner of its 23rd annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The ceremony will be held on April 24.

Steward, who was host of “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” on Comedy Central for 16 years, stepped away in 2015 to pursue filmmaking and social activism on behalf of 9/11 first responders. Last fall, he debuted a biweekly comedy show on Apple TV+ to discuss global issues and the way forward.

Deborah F. Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center said in a statement: “For more than three decades, Jon Stewart has brightened our lives and challenged our minds as he delivers current events and social satire with his trademark wit and wisdom. For me, tuning into his television programs over the years has always been equal parts entertainment and truth.”

Justice Stephen G. Breyer, 83, the senior member of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing, has announced his retirement, providing President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with an opportunity to name a new justice.

Justice Breyer, the oldest member of the court, was appointed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. On the bench, his demeanor was often studded with colorful hypotheticals, demonstrating a lively curiosity and an open mind. His goal, he has said, was always to reinforce democracy and to supply workable solutions.             Speculation has already begun on who might succeed Justice Breyer.

Michael Steinhardt, a billionaire philanthropist for Jewish causes, has agreed to surrender stolen antiquities valued at $70 million and to never again acquire antiquities, according to an agreement filed Dec. 6 in Manhattan Supreme Court. In return, Steinhardt, co-founder of Birthright, an organization that sends young Jews on free trips to Israel, will not face criminal charges for illegally smuggling the items.

Steinhardt, 81, is not the only billionaire to have faced scrutiny over antiquities trafficking. So too has Steve Green, the evangelical founder of the craft store Hobby Lobby, who amassed 40,000 artifacts from the Middle East for the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. Green helped launch the museum and is a major benefactor.

Steinhardt has funded some of the most prestigious Jewish nonprofits. He and Charles Bronfman, a billionaire heir to the Seagram liquor fortune, co-founded Birthright Israel, which has sent more than 700,000 young Jews on free trips to Israel. Steinhardt also financed a network of Hebrew charter schools, and a natural history museum in Tel Aviv that bears his name. A gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is named for him, and he has given millions to New York University, which named its Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development after him.

Steinhardt said in a prepared statement issued by his attorneys that the items “wrongfully taken by others will be returned to their native countries,” The Associated Press reported.

Elie Wiesel died in 2016 at the age of 78. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 40 books, including seven collections of profiles of Jewish sages. Filled With Fire and Light, a posthumous eighth volume, was released in November. It is a treasury of previously unpublished lectures about the lives of biblical prophets, talmudists and leaders of the Hasidic world.

Curt Schleier, writing for The Forward, described the lectures as “simply told tales of intelligence, perseverance and miracles.” Wiesel was a scholar and a teacher, he said, but his writing is a “conversation with the reader…leavened with a sense of humor.”

Sarah Aroeste — American singer, musician, composer, author, educator, Sephardic culture activist — has recorded the world’s first-ever all-Ladino Hanukkah album. “Hanuká! was released on Nov. 19 in plenty of time for this year’s super-early start to the Festival of Lights. From board books for babies to middle-grade novels, animated videos to Carnegie Hall performances, Aroeste showcases contemporary Sephardic culture on many platforms. Driving her projects motivation to increase interest in and connection to her ancestral language of Ladino, a Judeo-Spanish linguistic. “How do I do that? With joy,” she says.

The actor, Paul Rudd, 52, is People magazine’s 2021 “Sexiest Man Alive.” Audiences have fallen in love with the actor over the years. This month alone, he’s returning with Will Ferrell for the new Apple TV+ series “The Shrink Next Door,” and is taking on one of Hollywood’s most treasured franchises with “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.”

Despite his rise to leading man superstardom, Rudd insists he’s most happy at home with his wife of 18 years, Julie, and their kids Jack, 17, and Darby, 12.

Now that he’s officially sexy, Rudd anticipates his life changing a lot, he says. “I’m hoping now that I’ll finally be invited to some of those sexy dinners with Clooney and Pitt and B Jordan. And I figure I’ll be on a lot more yachts. I’m excited to expand my yachting life. And I’ll probably try to get better at brooding in really soft light.”