Good morning, New York. Today is Veterans Day, and the New York City Veterans Day parade, the country’s largest, will step off between 12-12:30 p.m. today after an opening ceremony at Madison Square Park. The National Museum of American Jewish Military History has released this video celebrating Jewish men and women who served in the military.

STANDING FIRM: In her first speech to a Jewish audience as New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul vowed to fight hate crimes and criticized fellow Democrats over their positions on Israel. (Jewish Week via JTA)

“As a member of Congress a decade ago, I stood firm with Israel when they were under assault,” Hochul said in a virtual speech to the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York on Wednesday night. “And even more recently, as a Democrat, now, I reject the individuals in my party who are making this an issue and questioning our commitment to Israel.”
She promised that she was “working very hard to make sure that the resources are there from the state government to fund security programs.”
Watch the video here.

GUILTY: Two leaders of Lev Tahor, a fundamentalist Jewish sect, were found guilty on Wednesday of kidnapping and child sexual exploitation crimes by a federal jury in White Plains. (Jewish Week via JTA)

Nachman Helbrans and Mayer Rosner face up to life in prison after a four-week trial for abducting two underage siblings in 2018 in upstate Woodridge, New York and transporting them to Mexico.

FOOD BIZ: Kosherfest returned to the Meadowlands this year, showing off new products and celebrating the kosher food industry’s resilience after nearly two years of pandemic. (Jewish Week via JTA)

Crowds milled for free samples of products like kosher charcuterie from Florida and a maple creme spread from Vermont.

SHOP TALK: The first-ever Susan Alexandra store, selling signature beaded handbags, is a bold, bright tribute to the Lower East Side’s rich Jewish history. (Jewish Week via JTA)

Owner Susan Korn tells us she grew up on lore about the Jewish immigrant enclave, and wants to honor that legacy in her new location at 33 Orchard Street.

SALUTE: The U.S. Navy launched a ship in San Diego named for the slain LGBT icon and Woodmere, Long Island native Harvey Milk. (The Hill)

Before becoming the first openly gay politician to be elected in California, Milk was drummed out of the Navy after being questioned about his sexual orientation and later lived and worked in New York City.

AROUND THE JEWISH WORLD, WITH JTA

An 18-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection to a fire set at an Austin, Texas synagogue on Oct. 31.
A French court sentenced a man to life in prison for what it termed the antisemitic murder of a Holocaust survivor in Paris in 2018.
Israel is preparing to speed up its evacuations of some of the relatives of Ethiopian Israelis who remain in the country in the midst of an escalating civil war.

WHAT’S ON TODAY

The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Other Israel Film Festival concludes tonight with a screenings of “200 Meters,” a feature film about a Palestinian family separated by Israel’s border wall. Followed by a live Q+A with director Ameen Nayfeh, moderated by Yona Shem-Tov. Buy tickets here for this in-person event or stream online.

Explore the Shmitah year, when the land is to rest one year every seven years. The Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning digs into the purpose of this rest and the texts that tell the story of this cyclical phenomenon. Register here. Noon.

Join the Museum of Jewish Heritage for a Veterans Day screening of “Bagels Over Berlin,” a documentary from filmmaker Alan Feinberg focusing on the U.S. Army Air Corps, which suffered the highest mortality rate among branches of the U.S. armed forces but which nonetheless attracted Jewish volunteers in disproportionately large numbers. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Feinberg and Gerald Gersten, who flew 35 bombing missions over Germany between 1943 and 1945. Register here. 5:00 p.m.

The Theater Project presents a live streaming production of playwright Joseph Vital’s ‘The Interpreter,” depicting the complex relationship between a young, Jewish U.S. Army interpreter at the Nuremberg trials and Nazi Hermann Göring. The play runs Nov. 11-14; Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. A Zoom talkback with the playwright, actors and director follows each broadcast. Buy tickets and get more information here.

Photo, top: N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul chats with Gideon Taylor, executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, after a video address by Hochul, her first major speech to a Jewish group as governor, Nov. 10, 2021. (Via YouTube)

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