💸 Fink or Swim: Financial Times’s Robin Wigglesworth chronicles the career of Larry Fink from the son of a shoe-store owner and English professor to the “undisputed king of Wall Street.” His profile traces Fink’s successful career through the bursting of the dot-com bubble to the financial crisis, and his subsequent rise as a key player in financial circles. Detailing the beginning of Fink’s career in finance, Wigglesworth writes, “Many of his team were Jewish, leading some at the firm to dub Fink’s desk ‘Little Israel’. In the 1970s and 1980s, Italians and Jews were still sometimes held at arm’s length at Waspier Wall Street firms like First Boston… Despite the awful, casual xenophobia of the era, Fink loved it at First Boston, which was at its core scrappy and meritocratic. The reality was that no one cared who you were, as long as you made money. And Fink made money.” [FT]

👈 Unsurprising Antisemitism: Writing in The Jerusalem Post Friday, Mark Regev, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Kingdom and former spokesman to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, uses the recent attempts by far-left members of Congress to halt the supplementary Iron Dome funding proposal to explore the historical roots of antisemitism on the left. “How can the Left, which proudly champions the equality of all, be bigoted against Jews? Hating Jews was often presumed to be the prerogative of the radical Right, while progressives were ostensibly committed to the fight against racism in all its forms…. Yet over the generations, antisemitism has existed and even flourished on the Left. Historic Christian teachings about Jewish money changers defiling the Temple and medieval myths about manipulative Shylock-type money lenders provide fertile soil for modern left-wing antisemitism. It was all too natural to portray the Jews as the evil capitalists living off the sweat and suffering of the poor.” [JPost]

👂 Deafening Silence: Author Gil Troy argues in the Wall Street Journal that Vice President Kamala Harris’s response to a George Mason University student’s claims last month that Israel was committing ‘ethnic genocide’ was most alarming because of her silence. “Kamala Harris’s inability to reject a student’s agitated slurs against America was disturbing. But Ms. Harris’s response was especially alarming because she wasn’t alarmed. Her answer proclaimed that, in her world, hearing someone falsely accuse Israel and America of genocide is unremarkable… What little reaction there was from the media quickly faded. Yawns are as revealing as shouts. What we don’t notice is as noteworthy as what we do. What doesn’t scandalize us is as scandalous as what does… Ms. Harris is not anti-Semitic. She is not anti-Zionist, anti-Israel or anti-American. Her reaction is a weather vane, indicating where the Democrats’ conversation might be heading.”[WSJ]

✍️ By the Numbers: The New York Times’s Ezra Klein does a deep dive into data scientist David Shor’s analysis of Democrats’ unlikely chances of keeping the majority in future elections. “This, to me, is the most important of Shor’s argument: He is right to insist that the Democratic Party is an institution that is composed, at the top, of a narrow group of people and that is afflicted by many of their blind spots. Whether he is right about what those blind spots are or his critics are right that he is adding some of his own is a secondary concern. For the Democratic Party to chart any course out of the peril it faces, it must first accept that in the minds of most Americans, it is a party, a singular entity. And before that party can shape what voters think, it must find a way to see itself clearly and act collectively.” [NYTimes]

🗳️ Lasting Leadership: The Atlantic‘s Ronald Brownstein examines a study by the Way to Win group, a leading Democratic Party fundraising organization, which analyzes the electoral landscape and how the Democrats can secure sustainable, long-term leadership. “The study, from the group Way to Win, provided exclusively to The Atlantic, argues that to solidify their position in Congress and the Electoral College, Democrats must increase their investment and focus on Sun Belt states that have become more politically competitive over recent years as they have grown more urbanized and racially diverse. ‘The majority of new, likely Democratic voters live in the South and Southwest, places the Democratic establishment have long ignored or are just waking up to now,’ the group argues in the report.” [Atlantic]

⚖️ Religious Freedom: A New York judge will issue a ruling within a week on a lawsuit brought by healthcare workers seeking religious exemptions from the state’s vaccine mandate.

🥇 High Honor: Scientist David Julius was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in studying how individuals respond to temperature.

👨🏻‍⚖️ In the Courts: Shareholders in medical startup Autonomous Medical Devices Inc. are suing the board and majority owner, Larry Ellison, over the terms of the firm’s Series B financing.

🌱 Vegan Food Wars:In the Washingtonian, Nancy Scola dives into D.C.’s vegan food scene, and the competing ideologies about who should be at its forefront.

🔨 Case Dismissed: A judge in Argentina dismissed charges against the country’s former president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, over her role in an alleged cover-up of Iran’s involvement in the attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994.

🚢 Gulf Trouble: Iranian television reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps intercepted American vessels in the Persian Gulf.

🇺🇸 New Numbers: A new survey from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs finds that 53% of Americans would support U.S. intervention if Israel were attacked, consistent with numbers from 2015.

🙅‍♀️ Bombshell Allegation: Former Israeli ambassador and Labor Knesset member Colette Avital alleged that former President Shimon Peres sexually harassed her in the 1980s.

📽️ Silver Screen: Israeli filmmaker Evgeny Ruman’s new film “Golden Voices” tells the story of a Soviet Jewish couple who emigrate to Israel in 1990, where they work as voice actors.

✡️ Roots: In The Wall Street Journal, Andrew Porwancher writes that years of research has led him to believe that “Alexander Hamilton, a Caribbean orphan turned financial visionary,” was Jewish.

✉️ Fallout: Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) sent a letter to Vice President Kamala Harris criticizing her over an exchange with a student at George Mason University who accused Israel of “ethnic genocide.” They urged her to apologize and “pledge to fight antisemitism, and work strongly to support Israel.”

💰 Cited: Israeli-American Hollywood producer and billionaire Arnon Milchan, a witness for the prosecution against former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was named in the Pandora Papers.

➡️ Transitions: Fernando Lottenberg was named the Organization of American States’ commissioner to monitor and combat antisemitism. Marshall Project founder Neil Barsky is stepping down from his role as chairman of the board. Jordan Colvin has joined Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)’s office as legislative director. h/t Playbook

🕯️ Remembering: Neuroscientist Mortimer Mishkin, who received the National Medal of Science in 2010, died at 94.

Noam Neusner reviews the DS Tayman 12 Year Linkwood:

“DS Tayman is a fresh and independent brand from Danny Saltman, who works actively in the United Kingdom in the wine and spirits industry. He spent time traveling across Scotland looking for single-malt whiskeys that hit a certain flavor profile, and after finishing them in wine barrels from Flam, an Israeli boutique winery, has produced some interesting and flavorful offerings. I tried the 10 Year Caol Ila and the 12 Year Linkwood — both first editions and both carry kosher supervision — and was impressed with both. The Caol Ila really carries the earthy and rich fruitiness that you’d expect after being finished in wine barrels. For kosher whiskey drinkers normally closed out of sherry cask-finished whiskeys, this is a good approximation of what happens when a whiskey is rounded by a gentle grape but without the preening sweetness of the sherry.

“But it’s the 12 Year Linkwood that really stands out. As you’d expect from a mature 12-year-old whiskey, the Linkwood has a crisp and peppery profile that stands on its own. It hits the palate the way you’d expect a mature whiskey to, but it really distinguishes itself on the way it continues to open up once it gets past the roof of the mouth. I compared it to a Yamazaki 12 year, and it was definitely on par, at roughly a third the price.”

Appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” comedian and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Susie Essman name-checked famed Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan. “So few late-night shows make Moshe Dayan references these days,” Colbert joked in response. “I was doing my impression of David Ben-Gurion last night.”

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 28: Director Shira Piven attends TimesTalks presents an evening with Kristen Wiig and Shira Piven at The TimesCenter on April 28, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/WireImage)

Movie director, writer and filmmaker, Shira Piven turns 60…

FRIDAY: Leah Koenig turns 94… Founder and chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Isadore “Issy” Sharp turns 90… General surgeon in Tempe, Arizona, Agustin Estrada, MD turns 90… Columnist and businesswoman, Rona Barrett turns 85… Author of more than 300 horror fiction novels that have sold over 400 million copies, R. L. Stine turns 78… Attorney general of Maryland, Brian E. Frosh turns 75… Academy Award-winning film producer and director, Edward Zwick turns 69… CEO of Heart of a Nation, Jonathan Kessler turns 65… One of two Jewish Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives, he represents Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District, David Kustoff turns 55… Scholar-in-residence at UJA-Federation of New York, Rabbi Menachem Creditor turns 46… Entertainment reporter and sports commentator, Ben Lyons turns 40… Magazine editor and daughter of Wolf Blitzer, Ilana Michelle Blitzer Snider turns 40… Freelance communications specialist, Aliyana Traison turns 39… Founder of Knock Knock, Give a Sock, Adina Lichtman turns 29…

SATURDAY: Founder and executive chairman of C-SPAN, Brian Lamb turns 80… Retired federal government manager and analyst, Charles “Chuck” Miller turns 76… Burbank, California resident, Richard Marpet turns 74… Former U.S. ambassador to Canada in the Obama administration, he is now an executive at Bank of Montreal, Ambassador David Jacobson turns 70… Commissioner of Major League Soccer, Don Garber turns 64… VNOC engineer at Avaya, David Gerstman turns 61… Director of Jewish learning at the Brandeis School of San Francisco, Debby Arzt-Mor turns 59… Managing director and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management and co-chair of DMFI, Todd Richman turns 52… Best-selling author, motivational speaker and marketing consultant, Simon Sinek turns 48… Rabbi at Ohev Shalom Synagogue in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld turns 47… Musician and singer, Neshama Carlebach turns 47… Israel’s minister of energy, Karin Elharar Hartstein turns 44… Executive coach and founding President of The Ringel Group, Rae Ringel… VP for Jewish Education at Hillel International, Rabbi Benjamin Berger turns 42… Partner at Left Hook Strategy, Justin Barasky turns 40… CEO at Denver-based energy firm Nexus BSP, he is the board chair of Moishe House, Ben Lusher turns 38… Associate director of legislative affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, David Meyerson turns 37… VP at JBG Smith Properties, Lily Goldstein turns 34… Associate at Brunswick Group in San Francisco, Julia Schechter turns 29… Instock manager at Amazon in NYC, Kayla Levinson Segal turns 28… CEO at Tel Aviv-based Keese, Daniel Rubin… SVP at SKDKnickerbocker, Jason Kaplan… Physical therapist in Montreal, Chaya Notik…

SUNDAY: Professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard Law School, he has argued 35 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, Laurence Tribe turns 80… Past chairman and CEO of KB Home, Bruce Karatz turns 76… Physician, philanthropist and the majority owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Miriam Adelson turns 76… Long-time IDF Chaplain, Yedidya Atlas turns 68… Award-winning writer and photographer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Diane Joy Schmidt turns 68… Vocalist and songwriter best known as the lead singer of Van Halen, David Lee Roth turns 67… Co-chairman and chief investment officer of Oaktree Capital Management, Bruce Karsh turns 66… Former NASA astronaut who flew on five Space Shuttle missions, John M. Grunsfeld turns 63… Shareholder at the Bethesda, Md., law firm of Selzer Gurvitch, Neil Gurvitch turns 63… Founder and principal of Freeman Group and Metro Properties, Rodney Freeman turns 59… Governmental relations and strategic communications principal at BMWL & Partners, Sam Lauter turns 58… Israeli comedian and actor, Asi Cohen turns 47… Jerusalem-based author and writer, Matti Friedman turns 44… White House Jewish liaison, Chanan Weissman turns 38… President at the Alliance to Combat Extremism Fund, Ian Sugar turns 36… Director of government relations and public affairs at Equinor, Seth Levey turns 35… VP in the Chicago office of Goldman Sachs, Avi Davidoff turns 35… Director of campus programming and strategic relationships at CAMERA, Hali Haber Spiegel turns 29… Adviser for human rights at Israel’s Mission at the United Nations, Or Shaked…