BRIEFS NETFLIX TO PRODUCE A JEWISH MATCHMAKING SERIES Matchmaker, matchmaker—are you going on Netflix? The streaming giant announced a new Jewish Matchmaking series modeled after its hit Indian Matchmaking. Details are scant, and there is no premiere date, but Netflix’s companion site Tudum says it will feature “singles in the US and Israel as they turn their dating life over to a top Jewish matchmaker.” “Will using the traditional practice of shidduch help them find their soulmate in today’s world?” the show asks. Indian Matchmaking was nominated for an Emmy after premiering in July 2020, but was also criticized by many who said it promoted stereotypes and classism. The show’s production group, Industrial Media’s The Intellectual Property Corporation, will also produce Jewish Matchmaking. Netflix has also sustained criticism for some of its other shows such as Unorthodox and My Unorthodox Life, for their negative portrayals of Orthodox Jews. Significant drama has also occurred within the Haart family, who is at the center of My Unorthodox Life, during filming of the show’s second season. (JTA) RUTH BADER GINSBURG’S “DISSENT” COLLAR, JUDICIAL ROBE, BOBBLEHEAD, AMONG OBJECTS HEADING TO SMITHSONIAN The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s children have donated dozens of objects that symbolize her time on the court and her role as a pop culture icon to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The objects include her famous “dissent” and “majority” collars, which she famously liked to wear to telegraph her votes on cases; her judicial robe; a bobblehead and Legos of her likeness; as well as various documents and awards. The museum, which has enshrined the donations in its permanent collection, posthumously awarded the late justice with its Great Americans Medal on Wednesday, March 30 at a ceremony
honoring her achievements. The medal “has honored those who have not only made a lasting impact in their fields but those whose philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors set them apart,” read a press release from the Smithsonian. Past recipients of the award include Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Tom Brokaw, Cal Ripken Jr., Billie Jean King, Paul Simon, and Dr. Anthony Fauci. The virtual tribute for Ginsburg featured a biographical film narrated by Gloria Steinem and testimonials from President Jimmy Carter, Chief Justice John Roberts, Barbara Streisand, and Oprah Winfrey, as well as a conversation between the museum’s director, Anthea M. Hartig, and the justice’s children, Jane and James. Ginsburg was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 and served until her death on Erev Rosh Hashanah in 2020. The Washington Post reported that Ginsburg’s family invited curators from the Smithsonian to her chambers a few weeks after she died. “There was always an understanding there, that the Smithsonian would be a big part of where some of the more significant items would go,” James Ginsburg said. “That Mom kept all of this stuff does not surprise me. That was in her nature. She was someone who preserved things.” (JTA)
SECURITY GUARD AT OHIO JEWISH SCHOOL THREATENS SCHOOL ON SOCIAL MEDIA A security guard at a Jewish day school in Columbus, Ohio, was arrested and charged with making terrorist threats against the students and parents at the school. Thomas Develin, 24, worked as a security guard at Columbus Torah Academy, a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school for students from kindergarten through high school, until his arrest Wednesday, March 30. The arrest came after local law enforcement was alerted to photos shared to social media platforms showing Develin
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threatening the school community. “I’m at a Jewish school and about to make it everyone’s problem,” read the caption of one picture of Develin holding a gun posted to his social media account on March 11. Another photo posted that day was captioned: “The playground is about to turn into a self-defense situation,” according to the Columbus Dispatch. JewishColumbus, a community organization that replaced the Columbus Jewish Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Columbus, released a statement crediting law enforcement for responding swiftly to Develin’s posts: “Securing our community is the top priority at JewishColumbus and we remain in close contact with our law enforcement partners as the investigation continues. We want to express our gratitude to the quick-thinking law enforcement officials at the local, state and national agencies. Their training, planning and professionalism stopped the threat. We believe strongly that those implicated in this threat will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” Develin, who previously served in the National Guard, is being held on $1 million bond. (JTA)
SHOOTING AT MIAMI-DADE JCC LEAVES 1 DEAD. POLICE: AN ACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE A woman was killed at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in Florida’s Miami-Dade County Sunday, April 3 in what police are calling an act of domestic violence. Police said the woman was killed by her husband while she attended her daughter’s swimming lesson. In a statement, the JCC said police believed there to be “no known threat to the Jewish community.” Across the country, Jewish community centers are widely used by Jews and non-Jews alike. A different shooting at an Indianapolis JCC in February stemmed from a dispute during a basketball game and did not involve Jews or represent a threat to the Jewish community, authorities there said.
The statement by the Miami-Dade JCC also credited the safety trainings taken by the organization’s staff for keeping others in the building safe. “Thankfully, years of drills and numerous safety protocols ensured the safety of our members, staff, and community,” the statement said. (JTA)
ZELENSKY: UKRAINE WILL LOOK MORE LIKE ‘BIG ISRAEL’ THAN EUROPE IN THE WAKE OF RUSSIA’S WAR Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s Jewish president, said his country will look more like Israel, a democracy on constant military alert, than like their more relaxed European neighbors, given the prospect of long-term tensions with Russia. “We will become a ‘big Israel’ with its own face,” Zelensky said Tuesday, April 5 at a briefing for Ukrainian media, Haaretz reported. “We will not be surprised if we have representatives of the armed forces or the national guard in cinemas, supermarkets, and people with weapons. I am confident that the question of security will be issue number one for the next ten years. I am sure of it.” Armed soldiers are ubiquitous in Israel, where there is a mandatory draft for men and women and where men may do weeks of reserve duty every year into their 40s. Zelensky clarified that he was not anticipating an autocracy. “An authoritarian state would lose to Russia,” he said. “People know what they are fighting for.” Russia’s war against Ukraine, in its second month, has drawn into battle civilians who have been rapidly trained in the use of rifles and other means of combat. “Ukraine will definitely not be what we wanted it to be from the beginning. It is impossible,” Zelensky said. “Absolutely liberal, European—it will not be like that. It will definitely come from the strength of every house, every building, every person.”
