Harvey Weinstein, currently on trial for sex crimes, was indicted in Los Angeles on charges of rape and sexual assault in separate incidents over two days in 2013. Weinstein’s lawyers have vowed to mount an aggressive defense against the allegations he faces, which spurred the #MeToo and Times Up movements against sexual impropriety, the BBC reported.

Adam Lehman has been appointed president and CEO of Hillel International. Lehman had been serving as interim chief executive officer when he was tapped for the top position. Fork four years prior, he was chief operating officer.

In his new role, Lehman said he will build on Hillel’s success in fostering Jewish life on 550 campuses across 18 countries. “We will work to engage and inspire even more Jewish students on campus, and further strengthen Hillel’s role as a platform for Jewish values, social justice, volunteerism, and relationship building that serve the broader campus community and world. At the same time, we will work with college administrators and other partners to combat anti-Semitism and ensure a safe campus climate in which Jewish students can feel comfortable expressing and deepening their Jewish identities.”

If you can, think back maybe 35 years or so to children you might have known at that time. Maybe they were neighborhood youngsters, or friends of your children or grandchildren. Now, picture yourself opening up the New York Times and finding one of those youngsters on the front page, a major contributor to one of the most compelling political stories of our time.

That’s just what happened to shul member Ann Hurwitz, who on Nov. 20 opened up her copy of the New York Times, as she has done every morning for as long as she can remember. Expecting the usual follow-up to the world’s lead stories, she stared in astonishment at a photo of  one of the twins her friend Carol Kitman had photographed 35 years earlier for a book the two women were developing, titled One Mezuzah.

The book, published in 1984, has been popular with Jewish families through the years, helping early childhood youngsters, typically ages 4 to 6, learn to count using Jewish symbols — one mezuzah, two candles, three hamantaschen, four questions, five books of Moses, etc. up to the bar mitzvah age of 13.

Ann provided the concept and the text, which offers young readers a lesson on every page. Parents certainly value the education, but preschoolers like picture books, and pictures of children are especially helpful in engaging youngsters in the storybook activity.  So, how to illustrate the book…

Carol Kitman, Ann’s neighbor at that time in Leonia, NJ, was acquainted with a family of Russian-Jewish émigrés living in Brooklyn with their children, including twin boys. The twins were only about 4 or so when Carol first met them. She remembered they were dressed in matching blue sailor outfits with navy caps and, to her, a photographer, they were bright, engaging, and extremely photogenic. In fact, Carol would take many photos of the twins for her work, and she thought of them immediately as models for the book she and Ann were producing. As it turned out, the boys were not only willing to make the many trips from Brooklyn to Leonia that the photo sessions would require, they seemed eager to have their pictures in a book. One can almost hear them saying, “We’re going to be famous.” Well, that comes later.

On Oct. 29, 2019, one of the twins testified in a closed session before the Intelligence Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. The House was conducting an inquiry into the impeachment of President Donald Trump. But three weeks later, on Nov. 19, that same witness testified in a televised public hearing that propelled his story into the Nov. 20 issue of The New York Times and made his name one for the history books.

Imagine Ann Hurwitz’s surprise to see a photo of one of the youngsters pictured in her book, now grown up and in his dress uniform as a United States Army officer, who currently serves as director for European affairs for the National Security Council. He was one of many official listeners on the infamous July 25 telephone call between President Trump and Ukraine’s newly-elected President, Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky for “a favor.” It is alleged that U.S. military aid was contingent upon “the favor” — an announcement of an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. If true, it would be a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution that Mr. Trump had sworn to uphold.

Likely, many Shofar readers have already guessed the surname of the youngster who posed for photos in a children’s book and, 35 years later, served his adopted country as a high-ranking military officer and witness to a possible impeachable offense by the President of the United States. If you’re still pondering the identity of the witness, you might want to consult Ann’s book, where you will see photographs of several young people, among them a youthful Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and his identical twin brother, Lt. Col. Eugene Vindman, also serving on the NSC.

One Mezuzah is currently out of print, but the shul’s Gift Shop still has one copy of the book, should anyone want to peek inside.

—Sara Bloom

Veteran TV correspondent Ellie Cohanim has been named deputy special envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism by the U.S. State Department, working with special envoy Elan Carr. Previously, she was senior vice president and a special correspondent for the Jewish Broadcasting Service, and has served on the boards of Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee.

Abigail Pogrebin, the author of multiple books on Jewish subjects, will become director of Jewish outreach for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has announced his candidacy for President of the United States.

[Cohanim photo, left, Twitter; Pogrebin photo, Jewish News Service]

Billionaire philanthropist Ronald Lauder is funding a $25 million campaign against political candidates in the United States who support or normalize anti-Semitism. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said the Anti-Semitism Accountability Project will include a nonprofit organization and a super PAC.

The launch comes in response to a documented surge in anti-Semitism across America, according to a statement from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which noted that 14% of Americans hold anti-Semitic beliefs, as compared to 7% from a survey released by the Anti-Defamation League in 2014.

Pamela Karlan, a professor of public interest law at Stanford Law School, and Noah Feldman, a professor of law at Harvard University, testified on Dec. 4 before the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry regarding President Donald J. Trump. Karlan and Feldman were two of three law professors Democrats called as witnesses to testify. They joined Michael J. Gerhardt, a professor of jurisprudence at the University of North Carolina for the Democrats. The Republicans called Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at the George Washington University Law School.

All four professors were called to testify on the constitutionality of the president’s behavior in connection with activity in Ukraine, including abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and obstruction of Congress.

[On Dec. 18, 2019, the House of Representatives passed two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, who is only the third U.S. president (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton) to be impeached. Richard Nixon faced impeachment, and resigned. The impeachment process now moves to the Senate, where a trial is expected to be held in January.]

Israeli athlete Alon Leviev, 17, won a gold medal at the Ju-Jitsu World Championship in Abu Dhabi in November, beating an athlete from the United Arab Emirates’ capital city in the final after competing against athletes from Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

Once the medals had been distributed, “Hatikvah” was blasted in the arena. Before the UAE changed its policy, Israel’s national flag and anthem were banned. Public outrage and the International Judo Federation intervened, forcing the UAE to treat Israeli athletes equally with their competitors.

Leviev participated in the junior division, 55-kilogram-and-under weight category.