Studio Libeskind, led by Jewish architect Daniel Libeskind, has released renderings of a 2.5-story building for a Jewish Museum in Lisbon. The project, called Tikvah, consists of a 41,645-square-foot structure created in collaboration with local architect Miguel Saraiva, to be built in Lisbon’s Belém area along the Tagus River.

Libeskind has designed a number of similar museums, including the Jewish Museum in Berlin, San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum, and Copenhagen’s Danish Jewish Museum, as well as Holocaust memorials in the Netherlands and Canada. Many, like the Lisbon design, feature angled walls.

The establishment of a Jewish museum in Lisbon is to promote Portuguese Jewish life and its contributions to the history of Lisbon and beyond, said Architectural Record magazine, which published the renderings in its April 2021 issue. Lisbon’s Jewish community originated in the early 1800s, 300 years after the Edict of Expulsion and almost a century after the Inquisition, with Sephardic Jews mainly from Gibraltar and Morocco settling there.

Libeskind: closer to home

Closer to home, Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life congregation has chosen Daniel Libeskind to design a new building for the site where 11 Jews were gunned down on Oct. 27, 2018, in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history.

Tree of Life expects to retain the 1952 concrete building with modern stained-glass windows, where the main sanctuary is located. The rest of the building likely will be torn down and a new space built to house the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, a small space dedicated to the study of hatred, and a place of remembrance for the 11 Jews killed when a white nationalist spewing anti-Jewish anti-immigrant sentiments entered the building and began firing.

Scott M. Stringer is a candidate in the 2021 New York City Mayoral election. Since Jan. 1, 2014, he has been the 44th New York City Comptroller. Previously, he served as a New York State Assemblyman (1993-2005), and as the 26th borough president of Manhattan, (2006-2013.)

Elie Kligman is a switch-hitter with power. He has pitched no-hitters and immaculate innings, and he can snatch the ball with cool precision from any spot in the infield. He is a star in every way at Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas, with dreams of reaching even greater heights. He is also shomer Shabbas and will not play ball on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons before the sun goes down, The New York Times said.

Based on talent and desire, Kligman is good enough to realistically entertain his dream of playing Major League Baseball, or at least top level college ball. But he knows his devotion to his faith could shatter that dream before it starts, and he is ready to accept that.

Even if a big league team were to offer him a $10 million signing bonus, with the promise that he would be playing in front of 40,000 people later this summer — provided he agrees to play on the sabbath — he insists he would stand firm in his conviction.

“No,” Kligman said, when asked if he could be enticed to break his religious obligations. “That day of Shabbas is for God. I’m not going to change that.”

Lee Zeldin, a Republican from Long Island, has announced that he plans to run for Governor of New York in 2022, opposing Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who is serving his third term as Governor. Cuomo has come under fire in recent weeks for questions alleging mismanagement of nursing-home residents in connection with Covid-19 infections and numbers of deaths and also inappropriate behavior toward several women.

Zeldin was sworn in for his fourth term as a member of the House of Representatives in January. He represents New York’s 1st Congressional District encompassing central and eastern Suffolk County, including the North and South Forks of Long Island.

Israeli actress Shira Haas, best known as the star of the Netflix four-part series “Unorthodox,” and for her role in the popular Israeli TV drama “Shtisel,” has been tapped to play Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in an upcoming American TV series. The 25-year old actress has won two Ophir Awards – the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards — for which she was nominated five times. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. 

The series is based on the nonfiction work Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel by Francine Klagsbrun. The book chronicles the life and career of Meir, one of the most influential figures in the history of Israel.

Barbara Streisand is executive producer. Head writer is Eric Tuchman, writer and producer of the TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Makua Rothman, the Hawaiian-Jewish surfing star, rode the largest recorded wave on Jan. 16, a swell reportedly more than 100 feet tall. The surfing world and major media outlets were stunned by this phenomenal achievement.

Of his record-riding wave, Rothman said, “I didn’t actually know it at the time, but I could tell it was a special wave. It felt different. Those waves, they create their own wind.”

Rothman is considered one of the best surfers in the world.

Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former president Donald Trump, and Kushner’s deputy, Avi Berkowitz, have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in negotiating four normalization deals between Israel and Arab nations, known as the “Abraham Accords.”

Kushner and Berkowitz hammered out the details between Israel and the United Emirates and Bahrain, and later negotiated the deals with Sudan and Morocco. Kushner also laid the foundations for future agreements with other Arab countries.

The two were nominated by American attorney Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz defended former president Trump during his first impeachment trial.

The nomination does not imply an endorsement by the Nobel committee, which has received numerous other nominations for the prize, including Russian opposition leader Alexei Nevelny and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.