President-elect Donald Trump has announced the appointment of two prominent Jewish allies to major positions in his incoming administration.

Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman elected to serve New York’s 1^st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023, has been named to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. He has vowed to remove barriers to fossil fuel production, advocate for U.S. energy dominance, and explore the development of artificial intelligence within the EPA’s operations.

          Stephen Miller is to become deputy chief of staff. In the first Trump administration, Miller played a pivotal role in shaping Trump’s immigration policies, and is expected to continue his hardline approach for deportations and immigration restrictions.

In a related move, Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist pastor and former Arkansas governor, has been named by Mr. Trump as the next ambassador to Israel. Mr. Huckabee, who is not Jewish, backed the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and has worked to fight attempts by the BDS movement to isolate Israel.

Claudia Sheinbaum took office on Oct. 1, the first woman and the first Jewish person to lead Mexico in the country’s more than 200-year history as an independent nation. “For the first time, we women have arrived to lead the destinies of our beautiful nation,” Ms. Sheinbaum said during her inauguration ceremony. “And I say we arrived because I do not arrive alone. We all arrived.”

The former mayor of Mexico City, Ms. Sheinbaum triumphed in June elections with the largest margin of victory since Mexico transitioned to democracy, and a sweeping mandate to follow through on her promise to continue the social policies of her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Barbara Streisand kicked off a virtual “Jewish Women for Kamala” fundraiser on August 15. “It’s been said that Jewish women are known to speak out and tell you what they think, and I’m one of them,”  Streisand said. Organizers said 35,000 people tuned into the 90-minute event.

Speakers at the event included U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, comedian Judy Gold, and actresses Shaina Taub and Emmy Rossum.

Rabbi Michael Beals, who is known as “Joe Biden’s rabbi,” delivered the benediction on opening night of the Democratic National Convention. The evening’s program was running long, but at 11:20, six hours after Rabbi Beals and his wife Elissa has been inside the convention hall, he stepped to the stage and, for his first time at a political convention and his first time using a teleprompter, delivered the closing prayer. Rabbi Beals is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, DE.

Other Jewish speakers included Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Rabbi Sharon Brous delivered the invocation on the second night of the convention, held at the United Center in Chicago.

Best ‘Jews in the News’ item this issue: Our own Miriam Gabriel, golfer extraordinaire, won the Match Play tournament at Pine Hills Golf and Country Club in Manorville. According to Adrianne Greenberg, a pretty nifty golfer herself, the championship was a three-step challenge: Miriam first had to qualify. Then, she won the semifinals. And on July 9, “she trounced her opponent,” Adrianne said, for the big win.

[Miriam is co-editor of The Shofar, and this editor’s golf mentor. During a round with her at Par 3 in Cutchogue, after sinking a long putt and feeling pretty full of myself, I boasted that one of these days, I’d best her after nine holes. What are the chances? Her golf just gets better and better. And mine…]

“Chaver,” an honorific with origins in ancient Jewish history, has been awarded traditionally to rabbinical scholars and pillars of the religious community. But the title has evolved over the centuries, and on June 30, it was awarded to Tobi Kahn, an Orthodox artist, at the Museum at Eldridge Street in Manhattan.  Kahn’s ceremony coincided with the unveiling of “Memory & Inheritance: Paintings and Ceremonial Objects,” a solo exhibition of Kahn’s art, which draws modern imagery from deep-rooted tradition.

“Each person who is awarded the title is recognized for a different kind of leadership, but all were recognized for leadership that encompassed spirituality, a sense of unity, and a sense of responsibility,” said Rabbi Saul Berman, professor of Jewish studies and Talmudic law at Yeshiva University and Columbia University.

Kahn’s career focuses on fusing art, Jewish spirituality and healing. “My being an artist, to me, is a religious act,” Kahn said.