State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale

It seems almost comically overdetermined that Kesha Ram Hinsdale, a progressive state senator and former assemblywoman in Vermont, is now mounting a bid for Congress that in many ways embodies the worst fears of her old high school classmate, the former Trump administration advisor Stephen Miller. “I hope to be able to advance the experience of immigrants in the United States, of Black and brown people in the United States,” Ram Hinsdale, 35, said in a recent interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, “but first we have to undo a lot of the damage that people like Stephen Miller have caused.”

‘HinJew’: The 35-year-old state lawmaker of Jewish and Indian descent — and who describes herself as a “HinJew” — wants to upend the status quo in historic fashion as she seeks to dismantle what for generations has been an unbroken chain of congressmen who have exerted their dominance over federal politics in the Green Mountain State. Should Ram Hinsdale prevail in the upcoming general election, the Chittenden County legislator would not only become Vermont’s first congresswoman but also the first member of a racial minority ever to hold the state’s lone House seat.

Hat trick: Rounding out the list is another unprecedented achievement that, in something of an unexpected inversion, would represent what no other state in the country seems to have done before at the congressional level, according to a variety of Jewish leaders, professors and activists who were consulted by JI. If elected, Ram Hinsdale would enter the House as the first Jew of color, a possibility that has so far flown under the radar.  For her part, Ram Hinsdale said she only recently made the discovery herself, and while she is still actively mulling what it means for her personally, not to mention the state and the country, the Vermont lawmaker suggested that the insight has helped underscore what she regards as a key tenet of her campaign.

‘Critical moment’: “This is a critical moment in our nation’s history,” Ram Hinsdale told JI. “I believe we need to truly meet the moment and think about how, particularly the Democratic Party, works to align around the most marginalized and unheard voices.” Ram Hinsdale occupies somewhat rarefied political territory in Vermont, which has long been defined by a lack of diversity. She believes her background speaks to a pressing need. “Even though it’s a truly unique story, it’s also a very American story,” she said, “and one that Vermonters really resonate with as they think about the complicated backstories they may have.”

Motivational mittens: Jen Ellis, a Vermont public school teacher better known as the woman who crafted Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) mittens, told JI that Ram Hinsdale is the kind of legislator who “shows up for people.” Last April, Ellis recalled, Ram Hinsdale was “the only senator” to appear alongside public school teachers who were rallying against proposed pension cuts in the state capital of Montpelier. “She brought letters that her constituents had sent to her and she read them out loud,” said Ellis. “I was so moved by her speech that I actually gave her the mittens I was wearing.”

Eye on Israel: On Middle East foreign policy matters, Ram Hinsdale largely aligns with J Street’s approach to the region. By way of example, she expressed support for Rep. Andy Levin’s (D-MI) Two-State Solution Act, which, among other things, would bar Israel from using U.S. military assistance to annex the West Bank, while also endorsing legislation sponsored by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) that would place additional restrictions on American aid to Israel.

Read the full profile here.

Camp Confidential

It sounds like the plot of a farfetched war film: A group of young, mostly German-Jewish refugees who became U.S. soldiers and served in military intelligence toward the end of World War II were taken to a top-secret location near Washington, D.C., known as P.O. Box 1142. It was not a prison camp, but something like a bungalow colony, complete with a swimming pool, tennis courts and Ping-Pong tables. The soldiers were soon shocked to learn that they were to interrogate high-ranking Nazi POWs there. The story of P.O. Box 1142 is laid out in “Camp Confidential,” a 36-minute film by Israeli directors Mor Loushy and Daniel Sivan — now shortlisted for an Oscar for best short documentary subject — that mixes interviews, archival footage and animated sequences to reveal a strange incident in American history that was classified until about a decade ago, reports Hannah Brown for Jewish Insider.

Haunting topic: When Loushy and Sivan first heard about the story, they were incredulous. The duo, who have been a pair personally and professionally for 17 years, are two of Israel’s most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, the directors behind “The Oslo Diaries,” a behind-the-scenes look at the Oslo peace negotiations and an examination of the agreement’s legacy. Loushy and Sivan were surprised when Austrian filmmakers Jono and Benjamin Bergmann, who were working on a scripted series, told them about the strange goings-on at P.O. Box 1142 during and after the war. “I was finishing up ‘The Devil Next Door’ and our first reaction was, ‘We don’t want to hear anything about it, we are done doing films about the Holocaust.’ We had nightmares, it haunted us,” Sivan told JI. But the Bergmanns  — who produced “Camp Confidential” with Loushy and Sivan — persisted.

Uncovered: The more Sivan and Loushy heard, the more intrigued the Israeli filmmakers became. They learned the camp itself (formerly part of Fort Hunt in Alexandria, Va.) was bulldozed in 1946 and everything to do with its existence was classified. But the National Parks Service had done extensive interviews with veterans of the unit in 2006, as well as with some of the German prisoners. When they listened, they were blown away. “We realized it’s quite a big, important story, so we are glad we had the opportunity to tell this story that was censored for so many years.” They were saddened to learn, however, that since the interviews had been done, all but two of the veterans had died. “It’s heartbreaking, you feel like you know the person, you’ve been listening to their voice and their stories,” said Sivan. But they were able to use the tapes of their interviews in the film, and extensive new interviews with Arno Mayer and Peter Weiss, the two surviving veterans, whose evocative, honest and no-nonsense testimonies color the film.

Recreating history: Few photos of the compound could be unearthed, so the directors decided to use animation when recreating the soldiers’ memories, which they mixed with archival footage. “We like working with recreations and archives. But when it comes to the Holocaust, we know it has to be very, very clear and accurate because Holocaust deniers are everywhere, fake news is everywhere,” Sivan said. “Anything to do with the story of the Holocaust, you can’t tweak it at all. We need to be very honest with the viewers and say, ‘This is us recreating the memories and these are the real images.’ So animation was a very good path to show we are narrating the memories.’”

Read the full story here.

HaMakom’s hot chicken sandwich

Washington, D.C., residents excited about the rare arrival of a new kosher restaurant in the District will have to wait a little bit longer. After originally planning to open late last year, HaMakom — a new all-day restaurant with meat and vegan options in George Washington University’s new Hillel building — will not open until at least the fall semester, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Tough month: The delay follows the closure earlier this month of Schmaltz Brothers, a popular kosher food truck and catering company operated by the same owner as HaMakom. Schmaltz Bros. was launched in June 2020; throughout the pandemic the truck made stops at synagogues, JCCs and bars around the region.

Pandemic problems: “Unfortunately, COVID has taken a rough toll on many businesses. The restaurant industry in particular has felt some of the worst effects,” Yehuda Malka, co-owner of HaMakom and Schmaltz Bros., told Jewish Insider on Tuesday. “We hope to have the cafe at the GW Hillel open, G-d willing, before the start of the fall semester.”

Friendly competition: Washington’s only other kosher meat restaurant, CharBar, is located less than half a mile from HaMakom’s planned location. Local Jewish community members believe the addition of a second kosher meat restaurant will promote competition and raise the quality of both establishments. Located in Foggy Bottom, HaMakom will cater both to GWU students and to people who are not affiliated with the university.

Read more here.

Pennsylvania US Senate candidate Dave McCormick joined by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) hold a campaign rally Tuesday, January 25, 2022, at Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in Coplay, PA. (Official campaign photo by Jonathan D Williams | www.politicalshoots.com)

Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick appeared yesterday before 300 attendees at Lehigh Sporting Clays, a gun-shooting range in Coplay, Pa., alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Quotable: “I’ll fight to bring back manufacturing to the Commonwealth. I’ll fight to push back on China and return supply chains to the United States,” McCormick pledged. “I’ll fight to keep our borders secure, and I’ll fight for Pennsylvanian parents and kids dealing with school-enforced mandates. That’s what I’ll fight for if I’m your senator.”

On foreign policy: “As a combat veteran, when I saw what happened in Afghanistan under Joe Biden that really made me think, ‘What can I do,’” McCormick, a West Point graduate who served in Iraq during the first Gulf War, told the crowd. “Because it’s not just Afghanistan, there is weakness showing up in a lot of different ways that is undermining America.”

State of play: McCormick, former CEO of the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund, is facing off against Dr. Mehmet Oz, Kathy Barnette and Jeff Bartos in the GOP primary. State Republicans have been fielding straw polls in recent days. In straw polls in Harrisburg, Allentown and Northeastern Pennsylvania, Oz received one vote out of 100, finished third in one and forth in another, according to Politico. Bartos, a real estate developer active in the Jewish community, finished first in each of the straw polls.

Elsewhere: Morgan Ortagus, a former State Department spokeswoman in the Trump administration, posted a statement from former President Donald Trump last night touting her possible candidacy for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. Trump vowed to endorse Ortagus if she enters the race. Ortagus was the subject of a Jewish Insider profile in 2020 headlined, “For the State Dept’s top spokeswoman, her journey to Judaism began in Baghdad.”