Amb. Tom Nides in Jerusalem

An estimated 50,000 people gathered at Jerusalem’s Western Wall Plaza last night for the septennial Hakhel celebration, during which three new Torah scrolls were dedicated. The event, which occurs every seven years in accordance with the keeping of the shmita — a year of rest observed by farmers that dates back to biblical times — drew Israel’s top brass, including President Isaac Herzog, who spoke at the event.

Notables in attendance: U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who raised the Torah) and his wife Sara Netanyahu, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Suli Eliav, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, Conference of Presidents’ Malcolm Hoenlein (who wrapped the Torah that Netanyahu raised), Yitz Applbaum, Sander Gerber, Jake Gerber, Tzachi Braverman, Simon Falic, Leon Falic, Yogi Loshinsky and Elly Kleinman.

Jeremy Shaffer, Chris Deluzio

In 2018, the political world was riveted to Western Pennsylvania as voters elected a moderate Democrat, Rep. Conor Lamb, in a special election upset in what was once a reliably Republican area. Now, national attention has returned as the contest to decide who will replace the retiring Lamb in this critical swing district — which pits a Democrat with strong union ties against a centrist Republican who decries the political pull toward the “extremes” — comes down to the wire, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

In the race: In Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District, which runs from the outskirts of Pittsburgh to the state’s western border, Democratic Navy veteran and cyber- and election-security expert Chris Deluzio faces Jeremy Shaffer, a local Republican official and software engineer. The district is rated as a toss-up by the Cook Political Report and has become a magnet for attention and spending from both sides of the aisle, as well as a barometer for working-class voters.

Union emphasis: In an industrial area of the state, Deluzio — a Bernie Sanders delegate at the 2020 Democratic National Convention — is playing up his support for unionized labor, which has boosted his campaign, and domestic manufacturing. “I want to see us, as a region, as a country, bring our supply chains back home and start making more stuff here with strong union jobs. We’ve all seen the cost of all this outsourcing and bad trade deals; we’re feeling it when we buy anything, whether it’s housing, groceries, you name it,” Deluzio told JI. “So I think we’ve got to do more to get our supply chains back here, but also take on the price-gouging corporations that are doing it and heavily consolidated industries.”

Play for the middle: Shaffer, meanwhile, repeatedly emphasized his centrist positioning in written responses to JI, saying he would “always put our country first over my party” and said he’d work across the aisle to implement term limits, end gerrymandering and implement campaign finance reform. “As an engineer, small business owner, and former Ross [Township] Commissioner I have a strong record as a bipartisan problem-solver that works with both sides to deliver common-sense solutions and real reforms,” Shaffer wrote. “We need to stop gravitating toward extremes and work together as a country to provide opportunities, defend our freedoms, drive down inflation and protect our country in a very dangerous world…  You won’t see me on heated cable talk shows arguing either extreme.”

Eye on foreign policy: Despite his past support for Sanders, Deluzio, who served in Iraq, takes a more conventional approach to Middle East policy issues than the progressive firebrand senator. His time in the Navy, he said, demonstrated “the limits of American power, but also how often we are the indispensable power abroad to maintain and ensure security and peace and stability.” “The Middle East is a good example of this,” Deluzio, who has been endorsed by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, J Street and Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania, continued. “I saw both at sea and on the ground in Iraq the destabilizing influence of Iran and what a threat they are to regional and… global security… I’m very aware of problems [the Iranian] regime can cause and the importance of having a strong policy that recognizes that.”

Two-state obstacles: Shaffer, backed by the Republican Jewish Coalition, said he is supportive of U.S. efforts to broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, describing the Palestinians and countries hostile to Israel globally as roadblocks to that peace. “Before a two-state solution can even be considered, Palestinians and their government need to admit that Israel has a right to exist,” he said. Shaffer did not specify if he personally supports a two-state solution as an ultimate goal. “The United States can use our influence with our allies and others in the world to ensure that a fair solution is achieved and stable peace [is] ensured.”

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President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the economy after touring Volvo Group Powertrain on Oct. 7, 2022, in Hagerstown, Maryland.

President Joe Biden unveiled his administration’s long-delayed National Security Strategy on Wednesday, laying out a vision for American foreign policy that places global alliances and shared democratic values at its core — and setting the stage for how the U.S. may navigate partnerships with non-democratic allies, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Decisive decade: The 48-page document describes a “decisive decade” ahead, in which the U.S. expects strategic competition with China — “America’s most consequential geopolitical challenge,” according to the report — to ramp up, and the worsening of transnational threats such as climate change and food insecurity that affect people around the world and Americans at home. The strategy offers a vision of an America that views diplomacy and alliance-building as a key path forward, with military engagement only as a last-case scenario. 

Broad base: “We will work with non-democracies in service of defending these principles, as well as working with countries of every stripe when it comes to challenges like climate change,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who added that promoting international cooperation in an era of great-power competition requires a “dual-track approach.”

Peace offering: “On one track, we will cooperate with any country, including our geopolitical rivals, that is willing to work constructively on shared challenges,” Sullivan explained. “Then on the other track, we’re going to deepen and sharpen our cooperation with like-minded democracies.”

Mideast integration: The strategy called for de-escalation and regional integration in the Middle East, criticizing American foreign policy to this point as too reliant upon military force. Instead, the strategy laid out a five-part approach to the Middle East: strengthening partnerships with countries that “subscribe to the rules-based international order”; protecting freedom of navigation in regional waterways; reducing regional tensions through diplomacy; advancing regional integration; and promoting human rights. 

Obvious omission: The document pledges to “extend and deepen Israel’s growing ties to its neighbors and other Arab states, including through the Abraham Accords, while maintaining our ironclad commitment to its security.” It also reasserted the Biden administration’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Notably, the strategy does not mention Saudi Arabia, long a key American partner in the region. Its release comes a day after Biden pledged to reevaluate Washington’s relationship with Riydah after OPEC+, over which Saudi Arabia exerts significant power, cut oil production to the lowest levels since the start of the pandemic. 

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Dylan Field

It’s shaping up to be quite the year for Dylan Field. The 30-year-old Jewish tech entrepreneur, and new father, said goodbye to his first “baby” last month when he agreed to sell his cloud-based design software company, Figma, to software giant, and Figma rival, Adobe, Jewish Insider’s Tori Bergel reports. The deal, which is set to close in 2023, is one of the largest of its kind to date at $20 billion — Figma is currently valued at $10 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Field will also receive a sizable retention package, which, in addition to holding a large stake in the company, will enable the CEO and co-founder to continue running its operation (and propel him to billionaire status), according to Forbes.

Making the list: On Sept. 28, right after Rosh Hashanah, Field was named one of Time magazine’s Time100 Next for “enabling creativity.” Much like the magazine’s annual Time100 list, Time100 Next is a yearly spread celebrating “rising stars from across industries and around the world.” Driven largely by the Adobe merger, Field was grouped alongside over a dozen other innovators. “Field has a classic Valley tale,” Don Steinberg wrote in Field’s Time100 Next profile, referencing the tech hub of Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area. “[H]e dropped out of Brown after winning a ‘20-Under-20’ fellowship from [billionaire venture capitalist] Peter Thiel, then raised over $3.8 million in seed financing at 21.”

Family first: Throughout Figma’s creation, the California native never forgot his roots. Former employee Carmel DeAmicis told Bloomberg that, unlike the work-hard-play-hard mentality other startups were touting, Field oriented his company around family. And like the good Jewish son her boss is, DeAmicis added that Field had his mother present for many of Figma’s key moments.

Read more here.