Good morning, it’s Monday.
A while back I warned about the impending deluge of holiday content. Fall is a very big season for Jews, starting with the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) and then extending into Sukkot, which starts at sundown tonight and runs through sundown on Monday, Oct. 13.
After that there’s Shemini Atzeret (Oct. 13-14) and Simchat Torah (Oct. 13-15), and then we make the headlong dash toward two big secular holidays – Halloween and Thanksgiving – followed by the winter holidays: Chanukah (Dec. 14 -22), Christmas (Dec. 25), Kwanza (Dec. 26-Jan. 1) and before you know it, the New Year is upon us.
I feel exhausted just thinking about all that.
One day at a time. Let’s focus on Sukkot, which is a lovely holiday – a welcome break from all the heaviness of Yom Kippur. For the uninitiated, it’s sort of like an extended Jewish Thanksgiving in so much as it’s a festival of the harvest. But there’s a few twists.
The most notable involves eating all one’s meals outside in a wooden booth called a sukkah, which traditionally features a roof made of branches or reeds. The sukkah is supposed to be made at least in part of natural materials, and some families not only eat their meals in it, but also sleep there – weather permitting.
Historically speaking, Sukkot commemorates the 40 years that the Jews wandered in the desert after escaping from Egypt (that story is the one that we tell during Passover) and living in temporary shelters. The word “Sukkot” actually means “booths” and sometimes you might hear this holiday referred to as the Feast of the Tabernacles, though that never made much sense to me.
It is common practice to decorate the sukkah with a wide variety of gourds, dried corn, and paper chains or kids’ artwork. I have a lot of fond memories of gathering with in the backyard of a family friend and watching the sukkah go up while making decorations with my friends.
This holiday doesn’t have as many requirements as some others on the calendar, but there is a ritual that involves something called the “lulav”, which is a bundle of branches from three plants – the date palm, myrtle, and willow – and an “etrog“, a yellow citrus fruit that resembles a lemon but isn’t and MUST have its stem-like bump, the “pitom“, in tact.
Together, this assemblage is the “Four Species.”
The ritual is as follows: Hold the lulav in our right hand and the etrog in your left, recite a blessing, and then put your hands together and shake the branches and the fruit in six directions. This both symbolizes the diversity of Jewish people and God’s dominion over creation. It also does double duty as a prayer for rain.
In an interesting juxtaposition, just as the Jews of the world are poised to build booths and eat/sleep in them, the UN today will commemorate World Habitat Day, which was created to “reflect on the state of towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter.”
Something to think about there.
The spate of summer-like throwback weather continues today, with temperatures reaching up into the low-to-mid 80s (!) There will be abundant sunshine throughout the day, and a very light wind that might help cool things down a touch.
In the headlines…
Israeli and Hamas negotiators were preparing for talks in Cairo today, which mediators hope will pave the way for the end of the war in Gaza. But the mediators will face numerous roadblocks that could delay or undermine the chances for a quick cease-fire.
An unnamed official briefed on Gaza talks taking place in Egypt says negotiations kicking off today will likely not be quick, despite Israeli and US demands that the process be wrapped up within days.
Deadly strikes continue to batter Gaza despite President Donald Trump’s call for Israel to pause the bombing. Gaza hospitals said at least 15 people were killed yesterday and dozens of others were killed Saturday by Israeli strikes.
The release of the remaining 48 hostages within 72 hours and the agreement to relinquish power in Gaza were two of the key demands of the Trump proposal. Hamas’ agreement to these two conditions provides a way forward for a ceasefire proposal.
France’s new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has tendered his resignation, barely 14 hours after appointing his new cabinet, after allies and foes alike threatened to topple his government, driving French stocks and the euro sharply lower.
Lecornu was France’s fifth prime minister in less than two years. The country has been mired in political paralysis since inconclusive snap elections called by Macron in 2024 resulted in no party having an absolute majority in parliament.
With the prospect of a state budget being passed now in doubt, French markets reacted strongly to the news, with the yield on the 30-year government bond, or OAT, hitting a one-month high of 4.441% before retreating slightly.
With Trump and lawmakers having made no progress on a deal that would reopen the government, one thing was clear as the shutdown headed into its second workweek: There was little sense of urgency in Washington about cleaning up a mess.
Trump remained focused on blaming Democrats and repeating his threats to carry out mass firings of federal workers yesterday, the fifth day of the government shutdown.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) cancelled previously scheduled votes this week, as Republicans look to force Democrats into accepting a GOP-crafted “clean” bill to end the government shutdown.
Congressional Democratic leaders gathered on the steps of City Hall, warning that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers could lose access to healthcare and millions will see their premiums spike as the government shutdown stretched into its fifth day.
A federal judge on Saturday blocked the Trump administration from using Oregon National Guard soldiers in response to nightly protests at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Ore.
The Trump administration had tried to send hundreds of California National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., while mustering hundreds more from Texas, despite a ruling from Judge Karin Immergut that sought to block military forces.
Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois blasted recent federal immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago, dismissing assertions by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that the city was a “war zone” and blaming federal agents for escalating a sense of conflict.
“President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate,” Pritzker said on X.
Federal prosecutors have charged a woman who was shot by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on Saturday morning in Broadview, Ill., after authorities say she “boxed in” the law enforcement officers.
Judge Karin Immergut, of the U.S. District Court in Oregon, sided with Democrats who run the state government when she issued a temporary restraining order blocking the mobilization.
Trump revealed a new detail about the hyped UFC fight set to take place on the South Lawn of the White House: It’ll occur on June 14, which is also his 80th birthday.
Trump’s administration has reversed $187 million in cuts to counterterrorism and security funding for police departments and programs in New York state.
Trump was blindsided by the decision to defund the police, not learning of the cuts until Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York called him to protest the change after the fact, according to three people with knowledge of the call.
Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on X to thank Trump for reversing the cuts and helping ensure the safety of state residents. She posted an image of a headline from The New York Times, which first broke the news that the administration had reversed course.
Hochul is in the middle of a massive funding fight with Trump as the federal government remains shuttered. In the short term, it’s a politically advantageous battle for the Democrat as she gears up her reelection campaign.
Hochul has extended a disaster declaration that lets pharmacists keep giving COVID-19 vaccines without prescriptions in hopes of preserving access as the federal government continues to delay its own vaccine rollout.
The executive order, renewed yesterday, comes amid confusion and concern over federal changes that have slowed the distribution of updated COVID-19 shots, especially for children.
Matt Damon stepped onstage at Jimmy Kimmel’s show disguised as Frankie – Hochul‘s big green mascot for a campaign to get kids to stay off their phones in school.
State mental health officials have authorized the opening of 13 new certified community behavioral health clinics, federally approved facilities that integrate mental health and substance-use treatment under one roof, Hochul announced.
The state’s gambling czar says nothing has been preordained by the Gaming Facility Location Board, the state panel tasked with picking which among four remaining downstate casino-gambling proposals will be awarded one of three full-scale casino licenses.
The state has reached a $3.1 million settlement with real estate giant LeFrak over the company’s charging of illegal water-usage fees on several of its rent-regulated tenants, the Hochul administration announced Friday afternoon.
Oklahoma’s governor claimed in a social media post that reached more than 5.7 million people last week that New York issued a commercial driver’s license to an undocumented immigrant.
Margaret Markey, a former New York State legislator who successfully championed a law allowing victims of molestation to seek restitution from predators — and even from a predator’s employer — years after the crime, died on Sept. 24 in Queens.
The Democratic Socialists of America expect Mamdani to be a party apparatchik who will strictly adhere to their radical agenda, power-hungry members of its NYC chapter declared at a meeting attended by The NY Post this week.
New York City Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, a key Mamdani ally, has emerged as the latest member of Gotham’s socialist millionaire’s club, a fact she’s worked to keep on the down low.
Top Democratic Party officials are increasingly frustrated with their leadership for not doing more to support Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor of New York City, several people familiar with the situation tell Axios.
With Mamdani’s victory looking inevitable, New York’s best hope of safeguarding its two essential assets—its wealthy tax base, which funds expansive basic and social services; and its sense of public safety—is that checks and balances curb his ambitions.
Among some Jewish New Yorkers already on edge from the spike in antisemitism and attacks in recent years, some of Mamdani’s positions and perceived lack of sensitivity to their concerns have bred suspicion and anxiety.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on Mamdani to explicitly condemn the phrase “Globalize the Intifada” ahead of planned protests marking the second anniversary of the October 7th Hamas terror attack against Israel.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee in New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill is once again declining to endorse her party’s nominee for mayor in neighboring New York City.
Mamdani flashed a beaming smile in a cringeworthy photo with a top Ugandan official who pushed harsh anti-LGBT policies — that included life imprisonment for gay people.
Mamdani, joined Friday by party leaders, called Trump’s decision to freeze funding meant for two major NYC transit infrastructure projects an attack on the city.
Cuomo launched a new line of attack against Mamdani on Friday, denigrating him as “a shorter” version of ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio, citing the two men’s shared policy prescriptions on housing, education and taxation.
Cuomo raised more than $390,000 for his mayoral run in the immediate aftermath of Mayor Adams’ suspension of his reelection campaign, indicating the incumbent’s exit from the race is giving Cuomo a boost as he scrambles to catch up with Mamdani.
New York City Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa is projecting his strongest fundraising stretch so far, reporting more than $421,000 raised in the last filing period.
The “anti-cop” head of the agency that oversees NYPD discipline stands lockstep with anti-police candidate Mamdani and should be fired, NYC’s largest police union said.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has a more nuanced position on addressing New York City’s housing crisis that is often overshadowed by his uncomplicated pledge to freeze rents on rent-stabilized homes.
Just outside New York City in the suburbs, Republicans are using Mamdani as an attack line for the 2026 midterms, much as they vilified the city in 2022.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop — who previously defended Mamdani’s controversial plan to open government-run grocery stores and said “I don’t live in NYC nor do I want to” — is in talks to become the next CEO of the Partnership for The City of New York.
Two teenage girls were discovered dead on top of an incoming J train at a Brooklyn subway station early Saturday and appeared to have been subway surfing, the deadly, social-media-fueled trend popular among some New York City youth, the authorities said.
A city correction officer hailed for her courage in February after suffering a brutal assault on Rikers Island is now under fire by the Correction Department for alleged breaches of strict rules that mandate exact hours when an officer on sick leave must be home.
At the busiest hours in Central Park, pedestrians, cyclists and horse-drawn carriages compete for space with e-bikes, e-scooters, skateboards, unicycles and pedicabs on the three-lane corridor that connects the east and west sides of Manhattan.
Even as LIPA recently fired one of its most experienced utility officials and a second announced his resignation, newly named chief executive Carrie Meek Gallagher told employees that she’d hired a “special assistant” who has extensive Long Island political ties.
The trial that begins today for three former correction officers in the beating death of Robert L. Brooks will focus, in part, on a directive that was issued by DOCCS requiring employees to intervene and “prevent the use of unreasonable force” by others.
The Lake George Association has released research showing the herbicide ProcellaCOR remained in Lake George sediments for over a year at levels that LGA said have the potential to harm the lake’s ecology.
The plane crash that killed New England Patriots great Russ Francis and a pilots’ association executive in Lake Placid more than two years ago was likely caused by a partial loss of engine power, according to a final report issued by the NTSB.
The sudden resignation of Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen, more than a year before her term’s end, has set up a scramble to find candidates for an unscheduled race to replace the top prosecutor.
Employees at 24 human services organizations will be able to get their nursing licenses for free under a new partnership with Maria College in Albany.
Taxes would remain flat under Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman’s budget proposal for next year, which he unveiled last week.
One of the three men who allegedly shot two teens on a rural road in Fort Ann pleaded guilty to two counts of murder on Friday in Washington County Court, District Attorney Tony Jordan said.
Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to just over four years in prison on Friday after being convicted of transporting women to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons.
Judge Arun Subramanian said in delivering the sentence of 50 months that a substantial sentence was required “to send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.”
Combs’s lawyers said they will make a recommendation by today regarding the prison in which their client wishes to serve his sentence.
Mark Sanchez, the former N.F.L. quarterback who is a Fox Sports commentator, was arrested on Saturday after he was stabbed during a confrontation with a truck driver outside an Indianapolis hotel, according to court documents.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
