Must see: "Liberation" off-Bway. Punchy takedowns of DJT by French MK; U.S. Senator; NFL Hall of Famer. Jews duped again. Enola G*Y. Books. Events. Women's History Month.

Newsletter #171

THEATER

*Do Not Miss This Play! Only three weeks left to see the off-Broadway smash, Liberation, at the Laura Pels Theater. In the first act, playwright Bess Wohl reveals the yearnings, fixations, disputations, mishigoss and marvelousness of a group of intrepid feminists, who are shown doing their thing in the 1970s, but through the eyes of a young woman today. The second act — which delves deeper into the experiences of those once young now long-lived women — is a stunner. Powerful enough to inspire you to start your own consciousness raising group. Motivating enough to make you sit down with your spouse or partner and renegotiate a more equitable division of household labor. Inspiring enough, especially if, like me, you’re a veteran of the second wave of the women’s movement (the first wave was the fight for suffrage), to get you to dig up your old “Sisterhood is Powerful” button and sing a few bars of “I am woman, hear me roar.” Take your bestie, or any over-12-under-50 person you love to see the show in celebration of honor of Women’s History Month. Buy tickets now. Closes 4/6.

POLITICS

*Many of us are having politically induced nightmares, literal and metaphoric. One friend awoke in a sweat after battling unrecognizable creatures who kept trying to cut out his tongue. A teacher dreamed ICE agents broke into her classroom and dragged away her star pupil. For the first time in years, my Holocaust nightmares are back. Per Steve Bannon’s strategy, MAGA is flooding the zone so fast even news junkies have stopped trying to keep up with Trump’s transgressions of democratic norms. But the flood can’t drown us unless we quit swimming. Or sa my friend, Ruth Messinger, puts it, “We don’t have the luxury of being overwhelmed.” We need more news not less to get us the point where we’re “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” With that in mind, watch these three short videos and, with facts in hand, get pissed and resist.

*Before Elon Musk takes it down, click on this 8-minute sobering yet electrifying speech delivered earlier this month by Claude Malhuret, a center-right Senator in the French parliament . Best summation I’ve seen about Trump/Musk’s feverish assault on democracy.

* NFL Hall of Famer, Chris Kluwe, testifies before a local CA city council with eloquence and passion, enumerating numerous Trump initiatives that have already caused serious harm, and accusing MAGA of being "an explicitly Nazi movement" despite having “replaced a swastika with a red hat.” With that, the former football star was arrested, restrained, and hauled out by police. If you have one minute, watch it.

*Then watch Chris Murphy (D-CT) give his Senate colleagues a point-by-point tutorial on the brazen, self-serving schemes perpetrated on the American people by billionaire bros with an insatiable greed for even more money and power.

*The bottom line on the above meme may be hard to read but you need to know the quotation is not from an AOC Squad member but from a 2020 GOP candidate for President, Congressman Joe Walsh, a Republican turned Independent. Possibly the last of a dying breed.

WOMEN

*Nearly 30 years ago, Congress dedicated the month of March to efforts to honor women’s history. Many feminists believe women’s struggles and achievements should not be isolated into a 31-day curriculum but integrated into the entirety of the human story, a worthy goal no doubt. For me, something is better than nothing, and nothing is what we’ll get if Testosterone Trump is allowed to keep erasing from the government website women’s (and Black’s and LGBTQ people’s) signal contributions to American history, including our victories in wartime.

*Now more than ever, it’s up to us to keep the flame alive. Before March is over, test your WHQ (Women’s History Quotient). Name three women trailblazers in each — or at least five — of the following categories: Suffragists. Civil Rights pioneers. Nobel Laureates. Labor activists. Feminist leaders. Notable women in law, politics, or government. Olympic athletes. Scientists. Poets. Playwrights. Inventors. Entrepreneurs. Biblical foremothers (other than Eve or Mary).

*Reductio ad absurdum. In its zeal to expunge women and homosexuals from government websites, Humpty Trumpty’s Dept. of Defense algorithms deleted important historical images because they contain the banned G-word. “Some of these images include Paul Tibbets, the US Air Force pilot who piloted the plane that dropped the first of two atomic bombs on Japan during World War II. The plane's name? The Enola Gay, named for Tibbets's mother.”

*While Conservatives are intent upon ending reproductive rights and rolling back American women’s progress in the workplace, women and girls in hyper-patriarchal societies are suffering flagrant indignities and even death at the hands of their husbands and fathers. See NYTimes stories on two such incidents: “Six Women Were Elected. So Why Were Their Husbands Sworn In?” And, “Father Slays New York Girl, 14, in TikTok ‘Honor Killing.”

SPORTS

*Ron Filipkowski wrote this last month on the politicization of hockey: “After dooming the KC Chiefs in the Super Bowl by picking them to win before they lost big, Trump was back at it last night before the US national hockey team’s game against Canada, giving them a pep talk before their game: “I’ll be calling our GREAT American Hockey Team this morning to spur them on towards victory tonight against Canada, which with FAR LOWER TAXES AND MUCH STRONGER SECURITY, will someday, maybe soon, become our cherished, and very important, Fifty First State.”

Canada won 3-2. After the game, then PM Justin Trudeau posted on X: ‘You can’t take our country - and you can’t take our game.’ Canadians in the crowd didn’t seem like they were interested in becoming our 51st state either. (see above)

UKRAINE

* Wondering how to help Ukraine since Trump reneged on America’s promises? Yale history professor, Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny and his latest, On Freedom, suggests these recipient groups: Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian NGO that supports battlefield soldiers and veterans; United 24, the Ukrainian state platform redirects donations to many excellent projects; or two organizations that are tax-deductible for American donors, RAZOM, or BlueCheck Ukraine, both of which cooperate with local NGOS to support civilians on the ground. (Contact me if you want a Ukrainian flag lapel pin.)

ANTISEMITISM

* Jews duped again. Under the sardonic title, “As an American Jew, I Feel Completely Reassured for My Safety Now That Trump Has Targeted the Epicenter of American Antisemitism, Columbia University,” Andy Schocket’s brilliant piece in McSweeney’s, unmasks the ironies and cynicism behind the President’s charges against Columbia. We know he’ll say anything to justify whatever he’s done or wants to do. What’s shocking is the gullibility of American Jews and their willingness to allow exaggerated claims about antisemitism at Columbia to be politicized so the Liar-in-Chief can accomplish his goal—which is to starve elite universities of funds, control their curricula, and crack down on professors who refuse to sanitize our history. He punished Columbia not because of its handling of anti-Israel demonstrations, but to trump us in the blame game. When Americans start noticing that their kids’ educations are being short-changed and blaming him for colleges’ budget shortfalls and inadequate services, or that free speech of all sorts has been curtailed on campuses around the country, mark my words, he’ll put it on us. “The Jews made me do it,” he’ll say. “You know how they’re always complaining about antisemitism.” Then what?

*A recent story in the NYT posits yet another devious motivation: Revenge. He could simply be using antisemitism as cover for a vendetta dating back decades when Columbia was considering buying land to expand its campus. “It considered, and rejected, property owned by Donald Trump. He did not forget it. . .Donald Trump was demanding $400 million from Columbia University. When he did not get his way, he stormed out of a meeting with university trustees and later publicly castigated the university president [Lee Bollinger] as ‘a dummy’ and ‘a total moron.’” Interesting that $400 million was the amount in question in both instances.

*This time, Trump got his way. “Columbia University has yielded to a series of changes demanded by the Trump administration as a pre-condition for restoring $400m in federal funding the government pulled this month amid allegations that the school tolerated antisemitism on campus.” I’m not celebrating. Because by forcing Columbia to comply with his demands, Trump has established a quid pro quo sure to be trotted out to threaten other colleges with defunding from now on.

BOOKS

*On Thurs April 3 at 7 PM I’ll be interviewing acclaimed journalist Stephen B. Shepard live at the JCC of Manhattan about his new book Salinger's Soul: His Personal & Religious Odyssey. We’ll do a deep dive into the life of the iconic author of such classics as The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, exploring his childhood, traumatic experiences in World War II, relationships with (very) young women, his spiritual arc from Judaism to Vedanta Hinduism, and how these events influenced his writing. And also led him, at the height of his fame, to spend his last 57 years in seclusion. Buy tickets here, and get a copy of the book, too.

*Perfect for Women’s History Month. Beyond Division: The Resilient Lives of Thirty Diverse Israeli Women Leaders by Dr. Bilha Chesner Fish, introduces readers to a dazzling array of purpose-driven, enterprising, inspired and inspiring women who’ve made impressive contributions to Israeli life. Studded with gem-bright personal detail and rooted in her era’s political, social and cultural contexts, each woman’s chapter is as rich as a full-fledged biography.

* International Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on April 24th this year. A deeply intense way to remember the victims of the Shoah is to revisit their experiences through the eyes of poet/lawyer Menachem Z. Rosensaft. His new book Burning Psalms: Confronting Adonai after Auschwitz is both a searing memorial to those who faced the Nazi slaughter with prayers on their lips and a furious indictment of the God who abandoned them. Holocaust poems are not for the faint of heart, especially when they chronicle the sins of the Almighty. These are psalms of screaming rage, not quiet supplication. Read them, ruminate on them, and repeat after me, “Never Again.”

* Richard Michelson, Renaissance man, author of books for kids, teens, and adults, poet, radio host, and proprietor of an art gallery in Northampton, MA, has two new children’s books I love: Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama’s First Presidential Seder, published in time for you to buy the book for the kids at your Passover seder, is the delightful true story of how a 2008 seder in a basement hotel room with three of his Jewish staffers inspired the president to host the first-ever seder in the White House in 2009.

*A sweet, sly, kid-friendly introduction to the sage Maimonides’ Golden Ladder of Giving, More Than Enough follows a boy named Moses around his neighborhood as he discovers the joy of helping others.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

*Israel has resumed bombing Gaza but I’m still haunted by the heart-wrenching plea posted on Facebook, during the temporary cease fire deal, by Yoav Peck, a New York-born Israeli psychologist, blogger, and director of the Sulha Peace Project. Because his desperation was so vividly expressed and his observations made so much sense, I’m reprinting key excerpts here:

“Gaza is a ruin, trauma reigns, both here and there. . .We must be willing to look, to truly take in the ruins, the devastation of these 17 months, and to scream, in one voice that knows no borders, ‘ENOUGH!!!’ Israel has invaded Gaza five times over the past twenty years. We have nothing to show for it. No peace, no security, no release from the physical and psychological prison of war. Collectively, we have enabled this ongoing disaster, and now we must take responsibility for how it is going to play out…

“Enemies worked together to enable movement forward. We showed that there IS a partner for working through this morass, even if we despise and mistrust him. . . But now, in limbo, here we are, in the hands of dark men who serve only themselves and who wish none of us well. We tremble at the thought of renewed fighting, which Netanyahu covets, as he eagerly seeks to provoke Hamas into justifying our re-entry into Gaza.

“We must not allow this. The reservists must not agree to return to pointless battles. They must insist on getting their lives back, when that is still possible. We cannot relinquish control over our lives once again, we must fight for the realization. . .that our future will only brighten when the Palestinians’ future also sees light.”

Click here to follow Yoav Peck on Facebook.

PURE PLEASURE

*My daughter, Robin, sends me the most wonderful feel-good videos. This one made me tear up and smile simultaneously. Every kid deserves a dad like this.

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NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS: Tomorrow, March 25th, marks a year since the death of my beloved husband. A book about Bert and our 60-year marriage is now taking shape in my mind, so I’m putting the Newsletter on hiatus while I try to wrestle a few chapters onto the page. Until then, please know how grateful I am to you for subscribing. (Special thanks to those who’ve pledged money up front should I ever decide to add a pay option to the Newsletter.)

For now, I send all good wishes for a Happy Passover, Easter, and Eid al-Fitr.

May the triple confluence be a harbinger. . .

— Letty