America's First Kosher Fridge Opens

Skokie, Illinois dedicates America's first kosher community fridge to Hersh Goldberg-Polin. About 500 people turned out Wednesday for sealed meals, home cooking, and groceries, 50 visits a day. Hersh's father, Jon Goldberg-Polin, said his son "sought to make the world a better place in small ways" and did it "without speaking about" it. ¹

Rahm Emanuel tells Democrats to stop hedging on Hasan Piker. On CNN, Emanuel said of the streamer, who's claimed pro-Israel Jews invite violence on themselves: "I can give him a two-by-four upside his head." Democrats, he said, go "tongue-tied when it comes to antisemitism." Piker is tied to Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who's recently sought distance from him. ²

A Belgian union is threatening to strike over flights to Tel Aviv. ACV Puls wants Brussels Airlines crew allowed to refuse its three weekly Tel Aviv flights without penalty, citing "physical safety" and "ethical impact." The airline resumed the route in August after a five-month pause. ³

Cafe Basimta in central Jerusalem is weighing closing on Saturdays after weekly ultra-Orthodox protests since July 4, protesters banging on windows, overturning tables, and gluing the locks. The cafe is run by Jews for Jesus, a group whose purpose is converting Jews to Christianity, and Hapoel Jerusalem pulled its ad sponsorship once that came out. The backstory →

Our take: none of that justifies mob tactics against a legal business. You can find the mission offensive, and we do, and still say the people gluing the doors shut are the ones behaving badly. Haredi leaders who want Shabbat observed have real tools: organize, boycott, write the op-ed. Every week police let this slide, they're saying a missionary storefront doesn't deserve the same protection as the falafel stand next door. ⁴

It's 21 Elul, nine days before Rosh Hashanah opens the evening of September 11. The custom is to blow the shofar every weekday morning through the month, so nobody arrives at the new year caught off guard. ⁵⁶