The Lakers cost $12.5 billion

Judge dismisses Trump's Harvard antisemitism suit. Richard Stearns, a federal judge in Boston, threw out the administration's Title VI case against Harvard on Wednesday. The government's evidence, he wrote, was "too isolated and episodic" to show the university is still out of compliance. The suit, filed in March, followed the freezing of more than $2 billion in federal funds last year. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the government is "assessing next steps." ¹

Kushner and Iger buy the Lakers for $12.5 billion. Joshua Kushner, 41, and Bob Iger, 75, are buying the team from Mark Walter, who paid a then-record $10 billion for it a year ago. Kushner, raised Orthodox in New Jersey and a grandson of Holocaust survivors, has to sell his minority stake in the Miami Heat to close. Twelve and a half billion dollars, and it comes with a hostage. ²

Tel Aviv makes "Hostages Square" official. The plaza outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art has carried the name informally for nearly three years. Mayor Ron Huldai unveiled the signage Wednesday. The square's clock stopped at 844 days; the last hostage, Ran Gvili, came home January 26. "History cannot be erased," Huldai said, "and we must not allow it to be forgotten." ³

Larry David has a sketch show. Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness (HBO Max) drops him into American history in five-to-six-minute bits: a kvelling mother to Jonas Salk, an Orthodox rabbi opposite Ike Barinholtz's Henry Ford, and a Curb reunion with Susie Essman as Lawrence and Susan B. Anthony. Kveller's Leah Grisham picked the five most Jewish moments; the Ford sketch is the one to watch, because it is the one that isn't fully a joke. ⁴

Rosh Chodesh Elul is this weekend. Elul is the month before Rosh Hashanah, and the custom is to blow the shofar every weekday morning until the day before the holiday. Consider it the four-week warning. ⁵