DECEMBER 26 • 2019 | 31

irony” and described the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah as
“friends.
”
He has passionately argued that there is no place for anti-Semi-
tism in his party, but recently apologized for “everything that’
s hap-
pened” in Labour over the past few years.

#METOO HITS JEWS
Michael Steinhardt, the Jewish megadonor who helped found
Birthright Israel and supports a wide range of Jewish institutions,
was accused of a pattern of propositioning and sexually inappropri-
ate remarks to women.
According to an investigation by the New York Times and
ProPublica, the journalism nonprofit, seven women alleged that
Steinhardt made sexual requests of them while they were seek-
ing his financial support. Steinhardt denied the accusations but
acknowledged a pattern of comments “that were boorish, disre-
spectful and just plain dumb.
”
In the wake of the accusations, the organized Jewish community’
s
longtime focus on encouraging endogamy and child rearing —
long among Steinhardt’
s favored philanthropic objectives — drew
increasing scrutiny.

MEASLES OUTBREAK
A measles outbreak that began with a trickle in haredi Orthodox
communities in Israel and New York last year exploded into a full-
on public health crisis in 2019. Hundreds of cases were reported in
New York and thousands in Israel.
New York officials took aggressive measures to contain the
outbreak, declaring a public health emergency and ordering that
unvaccinated people living in four heavily Orthodox zip codes in
Brooklyn be vaccinated or pay fines up to $1,000. The state also
banned religious exemptions for vaccines and at least 10 Jewish
schools in New York City were shuttered for admitting unvaccinat-
ed students.
At least three fatalities were attributed to the disease in Israel,
one of them a 43-year-old El Al flight attendant who contracted the
disease on a flight from New York. By September, New York had
declared the epidemic over.

TIFFANY’
S BAT MITZVAH
Tiffany Haddish’
s breakthrough year may have been 2017, when the
40-year-old actress and comedian starred in the successful comedy
Girls Trip and released her memoir, The Last Black Unicorn. But
2019 was her Jewish breakout year.
Haddish, who only learned she was Jewish in her 20s when
she met her Eritrean Jewish father, released a Netflix special,
Black Mitzvah, in December on the same day she celebrated her
bat mitzvah, with Sarah Silverman’
s rabbi sister presiding. She
also sang “Hava Nagila” on The Tonight Show in the same week.
“I feel like a lot of African-Americans have been stripped of their
history,
” Haddish said. “
A lot of us don’
t know [our] origins. We
don’
t know what our origin story is because that was taken from us.
And it talks about that in the Torah. I think it’
s so powerful.”

TOP: Sheila Katz, now vice president of Hillel International, accused
Michael Steinhardt of sexual harassment.
MIDDLE: A sign warns of measles in the Orthodox Jewish community of
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, April 10, 2019.
BOTTOM: Rabbi Susan Silverman, left, with Tiffany Haddish at Haddish’
s
bat mitzvah at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Dec. 3, 2019.

COURTESY OF KATZ/GETTY IMAGES
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES FOR NETFLIX