Wednesday, July 22, 2026
United Jewish Teachers urges increased NYPD security for Tisha B’Av attendees after Mamdani video
Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, urged New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Wednesday to increase police patrols and security at Jewish institutions during Tisha B’Av, saying a recent video by Mayor Zohran Mamdani has heightened concerns within the city’s Jewish community.
In the video, Mamdani called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal,” said he had explored all legal avenues but lacked the authority to arrest him, and concluded by urging viewers to “examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people.”
Spern told JNS the mayor’s remarks contribute “to a dangerous atmosphere for New York’s Jewish community.”
“Just in the past week we’ve seen attacks on two synagogues in Queens, on top of rising antisemitic incidents, vandalism, protests targeting Jewish sites and harassment since he took office,” he said.
With Tisha B’Av beginning Wednesday evening and continuing through Thursday, Spern said thousands of Jews would be gathering at synagogues, schools and camps, making the need for visible security especially urgent. Tisha B’Av, the annual Jewish day of mourning, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies in Jewish history.
“Tisha B’Av historically has been a day of tragedy for the Jewish people,” Spern told JNS. “I’m nervous that the community will face threats specifically on this day.
“I urgently call on NYPD Commissioner Tisch to implement heightened patrols and visible security at all Jewish facilities immediately,” he said. “The Jewish community simply wants to feel safe practicing our faith without fear from those being incited by the mayor’s rhetoric.”
In a letter to Tisch, Spern wrote that Mamdani’s video, “disseminated through official channels, has heightened fears within the Jewish community.”
He asked the NYPD to provide “extra rounds by uniformed officers and coordination with NYPD Special Ops” at synagogues, Jewish schools, summer camps and community centers, and requested that the department treat the appeal as “a time-sensitive matter.”
In the video, Mamdani called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal,” said he had explored all legal avenues but lacked the authority to arrest him, and concluded by urging viewers to “examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people.”
Spern told JNS the mayor’s remarks contribute “to a dangerous atmosphere for New York’s Jewish community.”
“Just in the past week we’ve seen attacks on two synagogues in Queens, on top of rising antisemitic incidents, vandalism, protests targeting Jewish sites and harassment since he took office,” he said.
With Tisha B’Av beginning Wednesday evening and continuing through Thursday, Spern said thousands of Jews would be gathering at synagogues, schools and camps, making the need for visible security especially urgent. Tisha B’Av, the annual Jewish day of mourning, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and other tragedies in Jewish history.
“Tisha B’Av historically has been a day of tragedy for the Jewish people,” Spern told JNS. “I’m nervous that the community will face threats specifically on this day.
“I urgently call on NYPD Commissioner Tisch to implement heightened patrols and visible security at all Jewish facilities immediately,” he said. “The Jewish community simply wants to feel safe practicing our faith without fear from those being incited by the mayor’s rhetoric.”
In a letter to Tisch, Spern wrote that Mamdani’s video, “disseminated through official channels, has heightened fears within the Jewish community.”
He asked the NYPD to provide “extra rounds by uniformed officers and coordination with NYPD Special Ops” at synagogues, Jewish schools, summer camps and community centers, and requested that the department treat the appeal as “a time-sensitive matter.”
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Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Abuse prompts Jewish congregants to conceal identity
Jewish Australians are concealing signs of their own religious identity to avoid abuse, a senior rabbi has told a royal commission investigating anti-Semitism.
Rabbi Moshe Kahn, president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, said personal safety had significantly deteriorated in the past year, with many in the community falling victim to hatred and violence.
Rabbi Moshe Kahn, president of the Rabbinical Council of Victoria, said personal safety had significantly deteriorated in the past year, with many in the community falling victim to hatred and violence.
The commission heard evidence on Tuesday that 90 per cent of rabbis surveyed by the council in April had observed congregants concealing or minimising outward signs of their Jewish identity.
Of the rabbis surveyed, 85 per cent had personally experienced anti-Semitic conduct.
"Rabbis are very visibly Jewish ... and many live in communities which they are the only visibly Orthodox people, therefore are easily identifiable," Mr Kahn said.
"Rabbis are very visibly Jewish ... and many live in communities which they are the only visibly Orthodox people, therefore are easily identifiable," Mr Kahn said.
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Auschwitz survivor, 96, in NYC forced to hide Star of David as he gives Dems history lesson on antisemitism
It’s a dire case of deja vu!
A 96-year-old Auschwitz survivor said he now hides his Star of David chain because of spiraling antisemitism in the Big Apple as he gave Democrats a brutal history lesson about anti-Jewish hatred.
Jerry Wartski said the Democratic Party and the liberal Democratic Socialists of America are being infiltrated by antisemites who are fueling an environment that has Jews feeling unsafe in the streets as if it were Europe during the rise of the Third Reich.
A 96-year-old Auschwitz survivor said he now hides his Star of David chain because of spiraling antisemitism in the Big Apple as he gave Democrats a brutal history lesson about anti-Jewish hatred.
Jerry Wartski said the Democratic Party and the liberal Democratic Socialists of America are being infiltrated by antisemites who are fueling an environment that has Jews feeling unsafe in the streets as if it were Europe during the rise of the Third Reich.
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Sunday, July 19, 2026
Montreal police make arrests in connection with incidents targeting Hasidic Jews
The Montreal police have arrested two suspects in connection with a string of incidents targeting Hasidic Jewish men in the city’s Outremont and Mile End neighbourhoods.
According to the community, several men were accosted and harassed as they left synagogues on the evening of July 3. At least three had their traditional fur hats, or shtreimels, stolen from them.
“Such acts have no place in Montreal, in Quebec, or anywhere,” the Jewish Hasidic Council of Quebec said in a statement Wednesday. “While these arrests mark an important milestone, the judicial process must now take its course.”
According to the community, several men were accosted and harassed as they left synagogues on the evening of July 3. At least three had their traditional fur hats, or shtreimels, stolen from them.
“Such acts have no place in Montreal, in Quebec, or anywhere,” the Jewish Hasidic Council of Quebec said in a statement Wednesday. “While these arrests mark an important milestone, the judicial process must now take its course.”
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Sunday, July 12, 2026
Blogger in Vilnius spits at 3 Israeli rabbis, shouts antisemitic epithets
A rare antisemitic incident in Lithuania: A local blogger and social media activist was arrested after being filmed spitting at three Israeli rabbis visiting Vilnius and urging others to do the same.
According to Lithuanian authorities, the suspect, Gintaras Liutkevičius, posted a video on social media showing him approaching the three Jews, who were wearing traditional religious clothing, spitting toward them and encouraging others to follow his example.
“I heard you love to spit on Christians ... what if I spit on you?” he is heard saying in the video. “You need to go home. This is not your home. This is Lithuania — go home.”
Police opened an investigation on suspicion of inciting hatred on national and religious grounds after receiving a complaint alleging that the suspect had publicly humiliated the victims and encouraged hatred against Jews. He was arrested and later released from custody. Following his release, he launched a fundraising campaign to cover his legal expenses.
Police opened an investigation on suspicion of inciting hatred on national and religious grounds after receiving a complaint alleging that the suspect had publicly humiliated the victims and encouraged hatred against Jews. He was arrested and later released from custody. Following his release, he launched a fundraising campaign to cover his legal expenses.
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Jewish doctor in Sweden fired for complaints about antisemitism
A Jewish physician working at a healthcare center outside Stockholm says he was subjected to antisemitic abuse by a colleague before his contract was terminated, prompting him to speak publicly about the incident amid growing debate over political activism in Sweden's healthcare system.
Gregory-Zvi Wirschubsky, 69, said the incident occurred last year while he was working as a consultant physician at a Meliva health center. According to his account, a colleague approached him during a coffee break and asked whether he was Jewish. After he answered yes, she allegedly accused him of "killing Palestinian children."
Gregory-Zvi Wirschubsky, 69, said the incident occurred last year while he was working as a consultant physician at a Meliva health center. According to his account, a colleague approached him during a coffee break and asked whether he was Jewish. After he answered yes, she allegedly accused him of "killing Palestinian children."
According to the Swedish publication Expressen, Wirschubsky said he responded that he had no connection to the Israeli military and had lived in Sweden since the age of seven. He alleges the colleague then cursed at him, telling him, "You can go to hell, you fucking Jew," before he ended the conversation. He said several coworkers witnessed the exchange but did not intervene.
The physician reported the incident to his manager, arguing that it constituted discrimination and noting that staff had previously agreed not to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the workplace. According to Wirschubsky, management told him the matter would be handled internally. Shortly afterward, he was informed that his consulting assignment had been terminated.
Wirschubsky was employed through a staffing agency rather than directly by the health center. Documents reviewed by Swedish media indicate the client had the contractual right to end the assignment with one month's notice without providing a reason. He said the health center's medical director supported him and wrote a letter to management seeking answers, but he claims he has received little explanation beyond being told that the incident had been exaggerated.
The physician reported the incident to his manager, arguing that it constituted discrimination and noting that staff had previously agreed not to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the workplace. According to Wirschubsky, management told him the matter would be handled internally. Shortly afterward, he was informed that his consulting assignment had been terminated.
Wirschubsky was employed through a staffing agency rather than directly by the health center. Documents reviewed by Swedish media indicate the client had the contractual right to end the assignment with one month's notice without providing a reason. He said the health center's medical director supported him and wrote a letter to management seeking answers, but he claims he has received little explanation beyond being told that the incident had been exaggerated.
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Friday, July 10, 2026
He was barred from hosting a home minyan now the Supreme Court will hear his case
Who gets to decide when a home is considered a synagogue?
A question fit for Talmudic scholars or, in this case, U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
The nation’s High Court effectively agreed to consider that question last month, after an Ohio city told an Orthodox Jewish man he needed a permit to host Shabbat prayers in his home.
The dispute began in 2021, when the plaintiff, Daniel Grand, invited 15 friends to his home in University Heights, Ohio, to mark the Sabbath. Neighbors — including some Jewish residents — complained to the city that the proposed gathering would turn Grand’s home into a synagogue, violating residential zoning laws.
The city quickly escalated the matter, sending Grand a cease-and-desist letter and telling him to apply for a special-use permit, according to court documents.
Outraged by the idea that he would need the government’s permission to pray in his own home, Grand sued the city in federal court. The lower court declined to hear Grand’s case, saying he first had to exhaust the city’s permit process before asking the courts to intervene. An appellate court upheld that ruling, with the Supreme Court now set to hear his case in its next term.
“This is not a Jewish issue. This is an American issue,” Grand told the Forward. “Next thing they’ll tell you is eight people sitting at a dining room table makes you an illegal restaurant.”
The case’s origins
When Grand moved into his home in 2019, he faced a recurring inconvenience: The nearest Orthodox synagogue was nearly a mile away.
In keeping with Jewish law, Grand doesn’t drive on Shabbat. With prayers held in the morning, afternoon and evening, that meant a six-mile round trip on foot if he went back and forth from his home to the shul for each service. In bad weather, the schlep could be taxing, he said, especially since Orthodox Jews do not open umbrellas on Shabbat.
In 2021, Grand, who lives with his wife and five children, began to explore another option: Could he gather a minyan — the quorum of 10 Jewish men required for certain prayers — in his home?
He emailed 15 of his friends.
“You are cordially invited to join us this Shabbos for the inauguration of the Shomayah Tefillah Beis Hakeneset,” Grand wrote, using Hebrew that roughly translates to “house of prayer and assembly.”
“You will see the shul entrance — keep a look out for the orange windows,” Grand continued. “And please spread the word to whomever you feel might be interested in coming.”
Grand noted a rabbi would be in attendance and wrote that “the shul” would be a place “where people come to really, seriously daven to Hashem.”
But before Grand had the chance to host, a neighbor thwarted his plans.
Ben Feldman, who identified himself as “a supporter of the Jewish community in town” and “a member of one of the official zoned synagogues,” forwarded the invite via Facebook Messenger to then-University Heights Mayor Michael Brennan.
Feldman expressed concern that “non-zoned makeshift synagogues” like Grand’s could harm “official synagogues.” It being 2021, he also alleged “they are not practicing any Covid protocols.”
“If there is anything you could do to put a stop to this, it would be greatly appreciated,” Feldman wrote to Brennan. Feldman did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment.
That same day, Brennan personally called Grand and told him the city would be sending a cease-and-desist letter, court documents allege. Grand said he was shocked that the mayor would intervene in what seemed like a private matter, and he pushed back on the idea that his residence had become a house of worship.
“I said, ‘You mean to tell me if 10 Jews come to my house, you classify that as a synagogue?’ And he says, ‘Essentially, yes,’” Grand said. “So I was taken aback.”
Brennan, who decided not to run for re-election after completing his second term in office last year, referred all questions to a lawyer who did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment.
The fallout
At first, Grand was willing to go through with the city’s permit process. He submitted an application seeking permission to use his soundproof music room, where he played drums during the week, for “periodic religious gatherings.”
A public hearing over the permit application followed, during which neighbors raised concerns about traffic and noise. Grand countered that those fears reflected a misunderstanding of Orthodox Jewish practice: Prohibited from driving on Shabbat, worshippers would walk to his home, so parking couldn’t possibly be an issue. And the Sabbath prohibits music and amplified sound.
But some neighbors like Adrienne Yelsky, who had lived in her house across the street from Grand’s for 46 years at the time of the hearing, expressed their concerns about changing the residential character of the neighborhood.
“We don’t want a bank on this block; we don’t want a car wash on this block,” Yelsky testified at the hearing. “We don’t want a grocery store on this block; we don’t want a church.”
Some comments turned ugly. One neighbor sent a letter to the University Heights Planning Commission with the following statement: “I am not Jewish and I do not want our neighborhood labeled as Jewish.”
“I felt very offended, and I felt very hurt,” Grand said. “I look at this as bigotry to me.”
But Yelsky, who is Jewish, rejected the characterization of the dispute as antisemitic across the board. Suspicious of renovations at Grand’s home that made room for extra parking, Yelsky said she didn’t buy that Grand only planned to hold services on Shabbat.
“Believe me, for us as Jews, it was very difficult to even participate in this, because you don’t want to look like you’re against your own people,” Yelsky told the Forward. “On the other hand, what’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong.”
After the hearing, Grand said he discovered another problem: The special-use permit prohibited “sleeping or residential use” on any property covered by the permit. In other words, if Grand wanted to convert his home into a house of worship, he could no longer live there.
Unwilling to move out of his home, Grand withdrew his application.
But the matter was far from resolved. The city Planning Commission held another meeting, during which then-Mayor Brennan issued a warning.
“To the community members who are here, let there be no question. There is no permission granted here to operate a house of assembly or conduct activities consistent with one,” he told the crowd on Zoom. “If you observe such activities — and I hope you do not — but if you do, you may report them to the city, and the city will enforce its laws, which exist for the benefit of the entire community, and we will seek all appropriate remedies in court.”
Grand said the mayor’s directive kicked off a campaign of surveillance and harassment.
According to the lawsuit, Grand’s neighbor installed surveillance cameras pointed at his house, and a police lieutenant instructed officers to “make frequent drive-bys” past Grand’s home and issue citations for any parking violations.
The complaint also alleges police twice approached a driver wearing a yarmulke sitting in a parked car outside Grand’s home and asked, “Are you here for the shul?”
“It was like all hell broke loose,” Grand said. “It was nightmarish. It was terrible.”
The legal issues
According to Michael Helfand, a professor at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law who studies the intersection of law and religion, this isn’t the first time zoning laws have clashed with religious practice. For instance, Chabad houses have run into trouble with local municipalities who have alleged that the centers of Jewish life are synagogues, not homes.
In 2000, Congress responded to concerns that local governments were using zoning laws to restrict religious activities by passing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act., known as RLIUPA.
The federal law prohibits zoning laws that substantially burden religious exercise. It also requires religious assemblies to be treated on equal terms with comparable secular ones. As Helfand put it, a city cannot prohibit 10 people from gathering for a minyan if it allows 10 people to gather for a yoga class.
But in Grand’s case, Helfand said, the Supreme Court will not directly decide whether the city’s zoning code violated federal law.
Instead, the justices will answer a procedural question: Did Grand have to exhaust the city’s permit process and receive a denial before he could bring his challenge to court? Or did the procedural hoops themselves constitute a violation of Grand’s religious liberty?
“You can see how procedure in these circumstances can really undermine somebody’s religious rights,” Helfand said. “Being stuck in the Kafkaesque process of a zoning board that goes on for years and years before you can ever walk into court.”
A lawyer for the City of University Heights did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment. In legal filings, the city has argued it never actually took an enforcement action against Grand because he abandoned his permit application before the city reached a final decision.
But Grand’s lawyers argue the cease-and-desist letter and subsequent surveillance of Grand’s home created a chilling effect, deterring Grand from hosting the Shabbat gatherings and thus violating his religious liberty.
Grand said he has been unable to observe Shabbat on several occasions since receiving the cease-and-desist letter. Even if he prevails at the Supreme Court, he said, he’s unsure whether he will resume inviting people over to pray because his friends are now “afraid of retaliation.”
Five years later, Grand said he’s stunned that an invitation to Shabbat has turned into a case before the Supreme Court.
“What was the city doing in my life at all? What did I ever do that they showed up at my door?” Grand said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
A question fit for Talmudic scholars or, in this case, U.S. Supreme Court Justices.
The nation’s High Court effectively agreed to consider that question last month, after an Ohio city told an Orthodox Jewish man he needed a permit to host Shabbat prayers in his home.
The dispute began in 2021, when the plaintiff, Daniel Grand, invited 15 friends to his home in University Heights, Ohio, to mark the Sabbath. Neighbors — including some Jewish residents — complained to the city that the proposed gathering would turn Grand’s home into a synagogue, violating residential zoning laws.
The city quickly escalated the matter, sending Grand a cease-and-desist letter and telling him to apply for a special-use permit, according to court documents.
Outraged by the idea that he would need the government’s permission to pray in his own home, Grand sued the city in federal court. The lower court declined to hear Grand’s case, saying he first had to exhaust the city’s permit process before asking the courts to intervene. An appellate court upheld that ruling, with the Supreme Court now set to hear his case in its next term.
“This is not a Jewish issue. This is an American issue,” Grand told the Forward. “Next thing they’ll tell you is eight people sitting at a dining room table makes you an illegal restaurant.”
The case’s origins
When Grand moved into his home in 2019, he faced a recurring inconvenience: The nearest Orthodox synagogue was nearly a mile away.
In keeping with Jewish law, Grand doesn’t drive on Shabbat. With prayers held in the morning, afternoon and evening, that meant a six-mile round trip on foot if he went back and forth from his home to the shul for each service. In bad weather, the schlep could be taxing, he said, especially since Orthodox Jews do not open umbrellas on Shabbat.
In 2021, Grand, who lives with his wife and five children, began to explore another option: Could he gather a minyan — the quorum of 10 Jewish men required for certain prayers — in his home?
He emailed 15 of his friends.
“You are cordially invited to join us this Shabbos for the inauguration of the Shomayah Tefillah Beis Hakeneset,” Grand wrote, using Hebrew that roughly translates to “house of prayer and assembly.”
“You will see the shul entrance — keep a look out for the orange windows,” Grand continued. “And please spread the word to whomever you feel might be interested in coming.”
Grand noted a rabbi would be in attendance and wrote that “the shul” would be a place “where people come to really, seriously daven to Hashem.”
But before Grand had the chance to host, a neighbor thwarted his plans.
Ben Feldman, who identified himself as “a supporter of the Jewish community in town” and “a member of one of the official zoned synagogues,” forwarded the invite via Facebook Messenger to then-University Heights Mayor Michael Brennan.
Feldman expressed concern that “non-zoned makeshift synagogues” like Grand’s could harm “official synagogues.” It being 2021, he also alleged “they are not practicing any Covid protocols.”
“If there is anything you could do to put a stop to this, it would be greatly appreciated,” Feldman wrote to Brennan. Feldman did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment.
That same day, Brennan personally called Grand and told him the city would be sending a cease-and-desist letter, court documents allege. Grand said he was shocked that the mayor would intervene in what seemed like a private matter, and he pushed back on the idea that his residence had become a house of worship.
“I said, ‘You mean to tell me if 10 Jews come to my house, you classify that as a synagogue?’ And he says, ‘Essentially, yes,’” Grand said. “So I was taken aback.”
Brennan, who decided not to run for re-election after completing his second term in office last year, referred all questions to a lawyer who did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment.
The fallout
At first, Grand was willing to go through with the city’s permit process. He submitted an application seeking permission to use his soundproof music room, where he played drums during the week, for “periodic religious gatherings.”
A public hearing over the permit application followed, during which neighbors raised concerns about traffic and noise. Grand countered that those fears reflected a misunderstanding of Orthodox Jewish practice: Prohibited from driving on Shabbat, worshippers would walk to his home, so parking couldn’t possibly be an issue. And the Sabbath prohibits music and amplified sound.
But some neighbors like Adrienne Yelsky, who had lived in her house across the street from Grand’s for 46 years at the time of the hearing, expressed their concerns about changing the residential character of the neighborhood.
“We don’t want a bank on this block; we don’t want a car wash on this block,” Yelsky testified at the hearing. “We don’t want a grocery store on this block; we don’t want a church.”
Some comments turned ugly. One neighbor sent a letter to the University Heights Planning Commission with the following statement: “I am not Jewish and I do not want our neighborhood labeled as Jewish.”
“I felt very offended, and I felt very hurt,” Grand said. “I look at this as bigotry to me.”
But Yelsky, who is Jewish, rejected the characterization of the dispute as antisemitic across the board. Suspicious of renovations at Grand’s home that made room for extra parking, Yelsky said she didn’t buy that Grand only planned to hold services on Shabbat.
“Believe me, for us as Jews, it was very difficult to even participate in this, because you don’t want to look like you’re against your own people,” Yelsky told the Forward. “On the other hand, what’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong.”
After the hearing, Grand said he discovered another problem: The special-use permit prohibited “sleeping or residential use” on any property covered by the permit. In other words, if Grand wanted to convert his home into a house of worship, he could no longer live there.
Unwilling to move out of his home, Grand withdrew his application.
But the matter was far from resolved. The city Planning Commission held another meeting, during which then-Mayor Brennan issued a warning.
“To the community members who are here, let there be no question. There is no permission granted here to operate a house of assembly or conduct activities consistent with one,” he told the crowd on Zoom. “If you observe such activities — and I hope you do not — but if you do, you may report them to the city, and the city will enforce its laws, which exist for the benefit of the entire community, and we will seek all appropriate remedies in court.”
Grand said the mayor’s directive kicked off a campaign of surveillance and harassment.
According to the lawsuit, Grand’s neighbor installed surveillance cameras pointed at his house, and a police lieutenant instructed officers to “make frequent drive-bys” past Grand’s home and issue citations for any parking violations.
The complaint also alleges police twice approached a driver wearing a yarmulke sitting in a parked car outside Grand’s home and asked, “Are you here for the shul?”
“It was like all hell broke loose,” Grand said. “It was nightmarish. It was terrible.”
The legal issues
According to Michael Helfand, a professor at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law who studies the intersection of law and religion, this isn’t the first time zoning laws have clashed with religious practice. For instance, Chabad houses have run into trouble with local municipalities who have alleged that the centers of Jewish life are synagogues, not homes.
In 2000, Congress responded to concerns that local governments were using zoning laws to restrict religious activities by passing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act., known as RLIUPA.
The federal law prohibits zoning laws that substantially burden religious exercise. It also requires religious assemblies to be treated on equal terms with comparable secular ones. As Helfand put it, a city cannot prohibit 10 people from gathering for a minyan if it allows 10 people to gather for a yoga class.
But in Grand’s case, Helfand said, the Supreme Court will not directly decide whether the city’s zoning code violated federal law.
Instead, the justices will answer a procedural question: Did Grand have to exhaust the city’s permit process and receive a denial before he could bring his challenge to court? Or did the procedural hoops themselves constitute a violation of Grand’s religious liberty?
“You can see how procedure in these circumstances can really undermine somebody’s religious rights,” Helfand said. “Being stuck in the Kafkaesque process of a zoning board that goes on for years and years before you can ever walk into court.”
A lawyer for the City of University Heights did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment. In legal filings, the city has argued it never actually took an enforcement action against Grand because he abandoned his permit application before the city reached a final decision.
But Grand’s lawyers argue the cease-and-desist letter and subsequent surveillance of Grand’s home created a chilling effect, deterring Grand from hosting the Shabbat gatherings and thus violating his religious liberty.
Grand said he has been unable to observe Shabbat on several occasions since receiving the cease-and-desist letter. Even if he prevails at the Supreme Court, he said, he’s unsure whether he will resume inviting people over to pray because his friends are now “afraid of retaliation.”
Five years later, Grand said he’s stunned that an invitation to Shabbat has turned into a case before the Supreme Court.
“What was the city doing in my life at all? What did I ever do that they showed up at my door?” Grand said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
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Tuesday, July 07, 2026
‘Destroy Israel’ banner displayed at Spanish festival
Thousands of demonstrators displayed a banner reading “Destroy Israel” during the annual San Fermín bull-running festival in Pamplona, Spain, drawing a sharp rebuke from Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
Footage shared by Al Jazeera showed the banner, which also featured the initials “EHKS,” held aloft amid large crowds attending the high-profile cultural event. EHKS refers to Euskal Herriko Kontseilu Sozialista, a Basque socialist organization.
“Five hundred years after the Inquisition, calls for the destruction of the Jewish state in the streets of Spain. Shame on you,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.
Footage shared by Al Jazeera showed the banner, which also featured the initials “EHKS,” held aloft amid large crowds attending the high-profile cultural event. EHKS refers to Euskal Herriko Kontseilu Sozialista, a Basque socialist organization.
“Five hundred years after the Inquisition, calls for the destruction of the Jewish state in the streets of Spain. Shame on you,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.
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Friday, July 03, 2026
Two men who filmed themselves abusing a Jewish man for TikTok learn prison fate
Two men who filmed themselves subjecting a Jewish man to antisemitic abuse in east London for social media content have been spared immediate imprisonment.
Adam Bedoui and Abdelkader Amir Bousloub, both 21, received a six-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The pair were convicted of an antisemitic hate crime, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed.
The incident occurred on 7 May when the duo travelled to a predominantly Jewish area of the capital, Clapton Common in Hackney, specifically to record antisemitic material for TikTok.
They pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated intentional harassment just days later.
Police were alerted around 9pm that evening after the men targeted a Jewish individual.
Bousloub approached the man, shouting abuse and filming the encounter on his mobile phone, while Bedoui stood by, laughing, and also harassed the victim, according to the Metropolitan Police.
Adam Bedoui and Abdelkader Amir Bousloub, both 21, received a six-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The pair were convicted of an antisemitic hate crime, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed.
The incident occurred on 7 May when the duo travelled to a predominantly Jewish area of the capital, Clapton Common in Hackney, specifically to record antisemitic material for TikTok.
They pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated intentional harassment just days later.
Police were alerted around 9pm that evening after the men targeted a Jewish individual.
Bousloub approached the man, shouting abuse and filming the encounter on his mobile phone, while Bedoui stood by, laughing, and also harassed the victim, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The pair attempted to flee upon the arrival of officers but were apprehended.
During interview, Bousloub told police he had gone to the Stamford Hill area to film with a fishing rod, aiming to provoke a reaction, emulating a video he had seen on Instagram.
During interview, Bousloub told police he had gone to the Stamford Hill area to film with a fishing rod, aiming to provoke a reaction, emulating a video he had seen on Instagram.
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Thursday, July 02, 2026
Jewish Realtor Brutally Attacked in Toronto as Antisemitic Violence Intensifies Across Canada
A Jewish real estate agent has been brutally assaulted while on his way to meet a client at a Toronto commercial center, marking the latest in a string of targeted antisemitic hate crimes as hostility toward Jews and Israelis continues to intensify across Canada.
In a Facebook post, Joseph Bitton described the incident, alleging that a man identifying himself as a Shiite Houthi Muslim from Yemen threatened to kill him, shouted antisemitic slurs at him over his Jewish identity, and then physically attacked him.
According to Bitton’s account, the suspect accused Israel of “killing babies and committing genocide against Palestinians” before launching into a barrage of antisemitic insults, issuing threats, and escalating the confrontation into a violent attack.
The assailant then allegedly threw a parking ticket dispenser, bricks, stones, and metal bars at Bitton, then struck him with a thick wooden branch.
Bitton said he sustained only minor scratches and physical injuries after escaping the attack, but noted that the experience left him shaken and deeply unsettled.
“This is not the Canada where I grew up and lived for the past 64 years,” he wrote in the Facebook post.
Local police responded after Bitton called for help, arresting the suspect at the scene and opening an investigation, with authorities treating the attack as a suspected hate crime.
Like most countries across the Western world, Canada has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Antisemitic incidents in Canada surged to a record high in 2025 for the second consecutive year, with 6,800 acts of anti-Jewish hate reported nationwide, underscoring a persistently hostile climate for Jews and Israelis across the country.
The Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada released its annual report on antisemitism in April, documenting a 9.3 percent increase in hate crimes last year that surpassed the previous record total of 6,219 set in 2024.
Early 2026 data already indicate the country is on track to see its most violent year against the Jewish community in recent memory, with more violent antisemitic attacks recorded so far this year than during all of 2025. In total, 11 violent antisemitic attacks have already been recorded across the country since the start of 2026, surpassing the 10 violent incidents documented during all of last year.
Last month, a gunman opened fire in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, the heart of the city’s Jewish community, killing a police officer and a local rabbi in one of the latest violent attacks raising alarm over the safety of Jewish residents.
In May, a group of Jewish worshippers standing outside the Congregation Chasidei Bobov synagogue in Montreal was targeted in a drive-by shooting, leaving one person with minor injuries. A week earlier, three visibly Jewish residents were targeted in a separate antisemitic attack when suspects opened fire with a gel-pellet gun, causing minor injuries.
Two synagogues in Toronto were also targeted by gunfire earlier this year, marking the third shooting targeting Jewish institutions in less than a week and intensifying fears of a rapidly deteriorating security climate for Jews and Israelis across Canada.
In a Facebook post, Joseph Bitton described the incident, alleging that a man identifying himself as a Shiite Houthi Muslim from Yemen threatened to kill him, shouted antisemitic slurs at him over his Jewish identity, and then physically attacked him.
According to Bitton’s account, the suspect accused Israel of “killing babies and committing genocide against Palestinians” before launching into a barrage of antisemitic insults, issuing threats, and escalating the confrontation into a violent attack.
The assailant then allegedly threw a parking ticket dispenser, bricks, stones, and metal bars at Bitton, then struck him with a thick wooden branch.
Bitton said he sustained only minor scratches and physical injuries after escaping the attack, but noted that the experience left him shaken and deeply unsettled.
“This is not the Canada where I grew up and lived for the past 64 years,” he wrote in the Facebook post.
Local police responded after Bitton called for help, arresting the suspect at the scene and opening an investigation, with authorities treating the attack as a suspected hate crime.
Like most countries across the Western world, Canada has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Antisemitic incidents in Canada surged to a record high in 2025 for the second consecutive year, with 6,800 acts of anti-Jewish hate reported nationwide, underscoring a persistently hostile climate for Jews and Israelis across the country.
The Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada released its annual report on antisemitism in April, documenting a 9.3 percent increase in hate crimes last year that surpassed the previous record total of 6,219 set in 2024.
Early 2026 data already indicate the country is on track to see its most violent year against the Jewish community in recent memory, with more violent antisemitic attacks recorded so far this year than during all of 2025. In total, 11 violent antisemitic attacks have already been recorded across the country since the start of 2026, surpassing the 10 violent incidents documented during all of last year.
Last month, a gunman opened fire in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, the heart of the city’s Jewish community, killing a police officer and a local rabbi in one of the latest violent attacks raising alarm over the safety of Jewish residents.
In May, a group of Jewish worshippers standing outside the Congregation Chasidei Bobov synagogue in Montreal was targeted in a drive-by shooting, leaving one person with minor injuries. A week earlier, three visibly Jewish residents were targeted in a separate antisemitic attack when suspects opened fire with a gel-pellet gun, causing minor injuries.
Two synagogues in Toronto were also targeted by gunfire earlier this year, marking the third shooting targeting Jewish institutions in less than a week and intensifying fears of a rapidly deteriorating security climate for Jews and Israelis across Canada.
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