Good morning, it’s Monday. There are 10 days remaining until Christmas, and 11 days until Kwanzaa. We are coming down to the wire here, people, so if you haven’t gotten all your shopping/prep done, you better hop to it.
For all you Jews out there, thankfully you have eight full days to get your shit together, because you’re already out of time. Chanukah started last night!
For all the count-downing I’ve been doing here, you would have thought I would not be caught by surprise when my father-in-law texted me yesterday morning to wish me a Happy Chanukah. But the holiday had, in fact, completely slipped my mind, even though I spent two hours on Saturday trying to teach non-Jewish kids how to play dreidel at the Troy YMCA’s inaugural Winter Funderland.
I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of the kids who came to my table did, in fact, have an inkling about the dreidel and that it was somehow connected to Chanukah.
They had no idea about the Chanukah origin story, though, or that the panels on the dreidel – Nun, Gimel, Hey, Shin (נ, ג, ה, ש) – stand for “Nes Gadol Haya Sham”, which is Hebrew for “a great miracle happened there”. If we were in Israel, we would say “Nes Gadol Haya Poh”, replacing the “ש” with a Pey (פ), which translates to “a great miracle happened HERE.”
It’s kind of tough to explain the Maccabees, the Holy Temple and the miracle of how one day’s worth of oil stretched to more than a week – allowing enough time to prepare more and keep the menorah lit, as Jewish law required – while “Jingle Bells” is blaring in the background and a bounce house and Santa and Mrs. Claus and ga ga ball and cookie decorating are all serving as distractions.
I did my best. The kids seemed to be more interested in chocolate gelt than anything else, though a trio of two brothers and a sister really got competitive with me, all of them chanting “Lose! Lose!” at my dreidel as it spun. Some kids simply did not have the finger dexterity to spin the dreidel, though a lot of them were naturals right off the rip.
The refreshments on offer were ice cream and hot cocoa, (thank-you Stewart’s!) There was nary a latke nor a sufganiyot (Israeli jelly-fulled doughnuts) to be seen. Oil-fried treats, which keep the whole “oil-related miracle” theme going during Chanukah would be difficult in a gym, I think. This is sad because nothing hits better, in my humble opinion, than a hot latke with applesauce and sour cream.
And yes, I am team onions, thank you very much.
Before you come at me on my chosen spelling of “Chanukah”, know that the interwebs inform me there are at least 24 different variations (!), which is what happens when you try to transliterate a Hebrew word that is spelled “het” “nun” “kaf” “hey” into English.
It makes me sick to my stomach to have to end what should be a happy ushering in of the Holiday of Lights post with a mention of yet another deadly antisemitic incident – the mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach that killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more. It’s not the first time that Jews celebrating a holiday were targeted, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
If there is one redeeming thing to come out of this tragedy, it’s the video of a man who put his own life at risk to save countless others by sneaking up on one of the gunmen and single-handedly disarming him. This person, who reportedly is not a Jew himself, is 100 percent a hero. I just wish with all my heart that the incident that spurred him to act so selflessly never happened.
And the fact that this shooting came on the heels of yet another deadly shooting, this one much closer to home – at Brown University in Providence, RI – adds insult to injury. Two senseless and life-altering attacks in one weekend. I have no more words.
May the memory of all the victims be a blessing.
It’s going to be cold, with highs in the low-to-mid 20s, and partly cloudy today. A few flurries or snow showers could be in the mix. I feel like I keep writing the same thing over and over when it comes to the forecast. Maybe we can all agree that I’ll just say “ditto” until further notice? No, OK, never mind then.
In the headlines…
The death toll in antisemitic terror attack on Australia’s Bondi Beach has surged to at least 15 — with 40 injured in the harrowing onslaught, which lasted more than 10 minutes. The victims include a 10-year-old girl, a popular rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.
Australian police said today that they expected to bring criminal charges against the surviving gunman in a deadly shooting spree that targeted a Jewish holiday celebration in Sydney, after determining the incident was an act of terrorism.
Chris Minns, the premier of the state of New South Wales, posted a picture on social media with the bystander who tackled a gunman, whom authorities have identified as Ahmed el Ahmed.
Among many of the members of the Jewish community who gathered near the site of the shooting, there was anger over what they said had been the failure of the federal government to do enough to address concerns about rising antisemitism in Australia.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani decried the “vile act of antisemitic terror” that unfolded during a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach, Australia and vowed to “keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.”
New York City’s outgoing Mayor Eric Adams called the devastating terror attack at Australia’s Bondi Beach an “actual application of the globalization of the intifada” as he and the city’s top cop rolled out plans to increase security for Hanukkah.
Mamdani says he won’t change his positions on Israel, despite threats of opposition from leaders of the city’s Jewish community.
The NYPD increased its presence at public Hanukkah celebrations and synagogues after the Bondi Beach shooting, as New York City elected officials condemned the attack.
“This is not an isolated incident,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “It is part of a wider assault on Jewish life. Jewish communities are being forced to confront a threat that is persistent, adaptive and, as evidenced yet again today, global in scope.”
A person of interest was detained in connection with the Saturday shooting at Brown University in which two people were killed and nine people were injured, officials said yesterday morning.
A 24-year-old man who authorities apprehended in connection with the Brown University mass shooting was released from custody and the real gunman is still at large, authorities announced during a surprise press conference late last night.
Two people were killed and nine others injured in the Brown University shooting. Of the victims taken to the hospital, seven were in a stable condition, one was in critical but stable condition, and another had been released.
In the wake of Saturday’s Brown University mass shooting, Mamdani, in a lengthy post on X, decried America’s “epidemic of gun violence” — pointedly noting it was the day before the 13th anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre.
The NYPD announced Saturday that it’s deployed extra cops to local universities in response to the deadly mass shooting at Brown University.
Six teenagers were wounded in a mass shooting at a Brooklyn “Sweet 16” birthday bash early yesterday morning – with a pair of gunmen still on the loose, according to police.
Director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were the two people found dead yesterday at a Los Angeles home owned by Reiner, according to the Associated Press, which cited a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The police said they were investigating “an apparent homicide” after the couple were found dead in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Their family confirmed the deaths through a spokesman.
Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, and Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, also confirmed the deaths in social media posts.
Reiner was a well-known champion of liberal causes, and a growing list of Democratic Party leaders mourned the news of his death, along with his wife.
“Together, he and his wife lived lives defined by purpose,” former President Barack Obama said on social media. They will be remembered for the values they championed and the countless people they inspired.
Newsom plans to announce today that California has hired two former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who accused the Trump administration of abandoning scientific standards.
Trump is expected to soon push the government to dramatically loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, reducing oversight of the plant and its derivatives to the same level as some common prescription painkillers and other drugs.
The tension between the MAHA activists and the E.P.A. threatens to create a rift within Trump’s base. Some of the movement’s leaders say they will work to make children’s exposure to pesticides and other toxic chemicals an issue in the midterm elections.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is demanding the feds ramp up a probe into alleged Hochul administration bid-rigging on a $1 billion Medicaid homecare contract, after new emails revealed state officials met with reps for the winner two weeks before bidding began.
A Brooklyn state legislator and a former North Country lawmaker are teaming up with an audacious goal: bring the Winter Olympics back to New York, this time statewide.
With affordability and energy costs looming large as political issues, Gov. Kathy Hochul is less focused on going green.
Licensed cannabis retailers have an extra few weeks to get inventory ready for the launch of a delayed digital tracking system known as seed-to-sale, state regulators said, after they announced moving the date from Dec. 17 to Jan. 12.
Hochul and her top aides will soon launch a new search to decide who should be the next leader of the state Office of Cannabis Management, according to the governor’s office.
Hochul said she anticipates that the Medical Aid in Dying Act will be one of the last bills she reviews before the end of the year.
Profanity in politics isn’t as taboo as it once was – especially at the state Capitol in Albany – although there have been many notable pottymouths stretching back to the nation’s founding fathers.
State Assemblyman Alex Bores, D-73, who is leading an effort to enact tighter safety regulations in the state for the country’s largest artificial intelligence developers, has attributed pressure from Big Tech to Hochul’s decision to rewrite his bill.
Earlier this month, Hochul vetoed legislation that would have revoked the mayor of New York City’s prerogative to bounce any City Council-proposed changes to the City Charter off the ballot.
Children, dogs and dedicated runners were out early to disturb the blank canvas of snow covering Central Park yesterday morning, where trees, meadows and pathways were frosted in a wintry icing after New York City’s first substantial snowfall of the season.
Airports across the New York City area — and the northeast — faced horrendous delays after a snowstorm dumped up to eight inches of snow on the tri-state.
Interviewed as he prepares to leave office, Mayor Eric Adams said that he hadn’t gotten the credit he deserved during his tenure and that certain forces had always been arrayed against him.
Adams said he won’t miss his current job and warned of “dark days ahead” with Mamdani in office, adding that he hopes the incoming mayor will “rethink some of the Democratic Socialist Party’s ideas and policies.”
Adams schooled Mamdani over the democratic socialist’s rent freeze proposal — saying they can actually make the city less affordable for working class residents.
Mamdani brought together a panel of over 100 New York elected officials intended to help execute his ambitious affordability agenda, but excluded politicians who didn’t support his campaign for City Hall, including incoming City Council Speaker Julie Menin.
Big Apple business leaders are “committed” to helping deliver universal childcare, Mamdani said last week, but offered scant details for his $6 billion promise other than it’ll take cues from Quebec.
Nomiki Konst left Michael Blake’s congressional campaign following a series of “strategic” disagreements between the progressive political operative and the candidate, with former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s endorsement spiraling into a top issue.
Over the past five years, after decades of growth, New York’s creative sector has shrunk as the cost of living has soared, according to a report to be released today by the Center for an Urban Future, a think tank.
There are fewer dancers and fashion designers, video editors and graphic designers than there were in 2019, the report found. New York’s share of people working in creative industries compared with the rest of the US declined during the same period.
The Archdiocese of New York says it has agreed to sell the land beneath the Palace Hotel on Manhattan’s East Side to the hotel owner for $490 million — part of a real estate haul meant to fund a global settlement for church sex abuse survivors.
Buried in the news cycle on the night before Election Day, New York City released new data: Close to 22,000 fewer students had enrolled in public schools this fall – the first significant enrollment decline since the school system stabilized after Covid.
The homeless woman accused of stabbing a tourist at Macy’s Herald Square was released from a psychiatric hospital hours before the attack — and bought the knife she used at the store after hearing “voices” in her head telling her to “kill,” prosecutors revealed.
Quemuel Arroyo, the New York transit system’s chief accessibility officer, has used a wheelchair for half his life. He understands how difficult it is to navigate the subway.
The chair of the Columbia County Democratic Committee, Sam Hodge, 39, is planning to run against six-term Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, 75, in next year’s Democratic primary.
A Schenectady County jury has awarded $54.2 million in damages to more than 1,100 former employees of the now-closed St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady, whose pension plan was shut down in 2018 with a $50 million shortfall.
New York utilities are spending more than $4 billion to modernize the grid for those facilities. They are investments for which New Yorkers — many of whom are already struggling with utility costs — will have to pay for in the coming years.
With above-average snowfall and frigid temperatures in the Albany area, this year’s ski season has gotten off to “a nice start.”
There were 360 participants in this year’s Santa Speedo Sprint, an annual 800-meter race down Lark Street that raises funds for Albany Damien Center and the HIV/AIDS program at Albany Medical Center Hospital.
After its first middle school robotics team made it to the world championship this year, a local company is hosting a competition in Albany to encourage more students to get into robotics.
Two people were injured after a fire broke out Friday night on Garfield Place in Albany and displaced 18 people, fire officials say.
The Albany County-backed body that owns the former College of Saint Rose campus voted last week to sell five of the former school’s buildings to Albany County for $6 million.
Parents were enraged when Fonda-Fultonville Central Schools abruptly canceled one of the elementary school winter concerts without explanation.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
