📓 A Journalist’s Identity Crisis: In The New Republic, Sam Adler-Bell dives into the life and work of the late journalist Janet Malcolm, whose family fled Nazi-occupied Prague to the U.S. in 1939. “In the United States, Malcolm’s parents changed their name from Wiener to Winn for ‘fear of an anti-Semitism that was not limited to Nazi Germany.’ Malcolm and her younger sister, Marie, didn’t learn they were Jewish until one of them ‘brought home an anti-Semitic slur’ from school. By then, Malcolm notes, the girls had internalized the (milder but still palpable) Jew-hatred of their adopted home, and she ‘resented and hid’ her Jewishness through adolescence. Malcolm’s parents had concealed their Jewishness out of uncertainty about whether they had actually ‘found a refuge’ in New York. ‘By the time they understood that they had,’ Malcolm writes, ‘their children’s imaginative life had been deeply affected by their dread.’” [TheNewRepublic]

✡️ Marking Moments: In Smithsonian Magazine, historian Flora Cassen, author of the book Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy: Politics, Religion, and the Power of Symbols, shares some of her research into the history of forcing Jews to wear badges, the subject of her Ph.D. “Though the yellow badge has come to symbolize Nazi cruelty, it wasn’t an original idea. For many centuries, communities throughout Europe had forced Jewish residents to mark themselves. In lands under Muslim rule, non-Muslims had been required to wear identifying marks since the Pact of Umar, a ruling attributed to a seventh-century caliph, though scholars believe it originated later. For Jews, these were usually a yellow belt called zunnar or a yellow turban. In Europe, forced markings for Jews and Muslims were introduced by Pope Innocent III at the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. The pope explained that the markings were a means to prevent Christians from having sex with Jews and Muslims, thereby protecting society from ‘such prohibited intercourse.’ But he didn’t specify how Jews’ or Muslims’ dress had to be different, resulting in various distinguishing signs.” [Smithsonian]

🖊️ Mad About Milton: TheNew Yorker’s Adam Gopnik explores the mark made on America by the late graphic designer Milton Glaser. Glaser’s passion, as his published notebooks reveal, was drawing. “No art director’s work was more influential or instantly identifiable than that of Milton Glaser. The extent of that style, which adorned books and records and movies — and is revealed in a new anthology from Monacelli, courtesy of Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber, titled simply ‘Milton Glaser: Pop’ — is astounding. Glaser was famous as the co-founder and original design director of New York and as a creator of two images that helped define two decades. One was the 1966 poster of Bob Dylan that showed him with snakelike hair blossoming into a skein of rainbows. The other was the 1976 ‘I❤️NY’ logo—which was commissioned by the State of New York but promptly adopted as a local symbol of the city, and, being keyed to the city’s unexpected revival, is the closest thing there has ever been to a logo that changed social history. But Glaser’s real achievement lies in what the book lays out: a breathtaking empire of imagery that encompassed both decades and more.”
[New Yorker]

👕 Dress Codes: In The New Yorker, Hua Hsu delves into the history and evolution of the J.Crew brand and preppy fashion. “Perhaps because [Ralph] Lauren, like [Arthur] Cinader, was Jewish and Bronx-born, he was alert to the codes and customs that the Greenwich set took for granted. Although sometimes described as more of a stylist than a designer — he had little hands-on experience in the making of clothes — Lauren was, above all, a visionary salesman: he understood how to extract Americana out of American history. His looks alluded to outdoorsmen and boarding-school culture, American frontier myths and even the Indigenous legacies displaced in the name of those myths. The story told by a Lauren jacket — maybe the one worn by Robert Redford in ‘The Great Gatsby,’ or maybe the one worn by Diane Keaton in ‘Annie Hall’ — could dissolve all manner of historical contradictions in a dreamy nostalgia.”[New Yorker]

✋ ESG AOK: President Joe Biden vetoed a measure — his first veto as president — that would have overturned a regulation allowing human resources officers to consider environmental, social and corporate governance guidelines (ESG) when investing in retirement plans.

🗳️ Santos Challenger: Democrat William Murphy announced a 2024 bid for Congress in New York’s 3rd Congressional District to unseat Rep. George Santos (R-NY).

❌ Not Running: Lansing, Mich., Mayor Andy Schor ruled out a run for Congress in the state’s 7th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who is mounting a bid for Senate.

☕ Coffee Break: Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz stepped down from the company’s top job, two weeks ahead of his anticipated April 1 departure. Schultz was previously scheduled to testify before a Senate committee over a conflict between the company and baristas seeking to unionize.

🏈 Magic Bid: Magic Johnson joined Joshua Harris’ bid to purchase the Washington Commanders NFL franchise. 

🐦 Musk’s Mess: A new study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that antisemitic tweets more than doubled following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.

👀 Morgie and The Donald: In The New York Times, Robert Morgenthau biographer Andrew Meier reflects on the former Manhattan district attorney’s relationship with former President Donald Trump.

🪖 Farewell to Arms: The Eisenhower Media Network, for which Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen serves as president, is behind a media campaign advocating for an end to U.S. military support to Ukraine; Cohen’s foundation has given the organization more than $1 million.

🥪 The Last Pastrami on Rye: Kornblatt’s Deli, which has operated continuously for more than three decades and is the oldest Jewish deli in Portland, Ore., will close at the end of the month.

🥬 No Waste: NPR interviews Tamar Adler about her new cookbook The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z. 

⚖️ A Time to Influence: The New York Times takes a deep dive into the Kohelet Policy Forum, the Israeli think tank founded by two New Yorkers that is one of the prime architects behind many of the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms.

🛬 Facing the Music: Asaf Zamir, Israel’s consul general in New York, was summoned to Jerusalem over comments critical of the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms.

😃 Happy News: Israel was ranked No. 4 on the U.N.-sponsored World Happiness Report, having placed ninth the previous year.

☢️ Nuke Omission: Semafor’s Jay Solomon reports that the Beijing-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran did not address the nuclear ambitions or programs of either country.

🇸🇦🇮🇷 Iran Invite: King Salman of Saudi Arabia has invited Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi for an official visit, a senior Iranian official said. 

🙏 Praising the Protestors: President Joe Biden paid tribute to Iranian women and girls who have taken part in the anti-regime protests at a White House event to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year. 

🏦 Big Loss: A $1.5 billion Saudi investment in Credit Suisse is almost wiped out following the latter’s merger with UBS Group AG, The Wall Street Journal reports.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides and “Tehran” series star Liraz Charhi celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, at an event held on Sunday at the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv, hosted by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and attended by  senior officials from the Israeli security, political and cultural world. The gathering was held in solidarity with the Iranian people in light of the ongoing protests against the regime.

Israeli rock musician and record producer, he is best known for being the guitarist and one of the songwriters in the rock band Mashina, Shlomi Bracha turns 61… 

In 1978 she became the first woman appointed to the Connecticut Supreme Court, Ellen Ash Peters turns 93… Rabbi emeritus of Manhattan’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (active 1958-2015) and principal of the Ramaz School (1966-2015), Rabbi Haskel Lookstein turns 91… Harvard professor, biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer and winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Walter Gilbert turns 91… Scholar of Jewish mysticism and founding dean of the non-denominational rabbinical program at the Hebrew College in Boston where he serves as the rector of the rabbinic school, Arthur Green turns 82… Far Rockaway, N.Y., resident, Samuel Gross… Istanbul-born entrepreneur, hotelier and real estate developer, he is president of NYC-based Alexico Group LLC, Izak Senbahar turns 64… First Jewish member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire, later on the boards of the ADL and NJDC, he is of counsel to the law firm of Shaheen & Gordon, Paul Hodes turns 72… Former executive director of The Charles Bronfman Prize, Jill Collier Indyk… President of NYC and Singapore-based Asia-focused consulting and business development practice KWR International, Keith W. Rabin… Retired director general of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was previously Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem turns 64… Co-founder of Wynnefield Capital Management, Joshua H. Landes… Award-winning film, stage and television actor and singer whose roles include the title role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Matthew Broderick turns 61… Hedge fund manager, philanthropist and former chairman of the board of the New York City Opera, Roy Niederhoffer turns 57… Partner in the Los Angeles office of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Michael Blacher… Founding editor of The Dispatch and author of three NYT bestsellers, Jonah Goldberg turns 54… James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef from Miami, Michelle Bernstein turns 53… Emmy Award-winning CNN anchor, John Berman turns 51… IDF general, he is one of the highest ranking Druze ever in the IDF, Ghassan Alian turns 51… President and founder of Bully Pulpit Interactive, Andrew Bleeker… Stage and voice actress, Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld turns 36… Director of government affairs at the American Psychedelic Practitioners Association, Hadas Alterman… Staff attorney at Dayton, Ohio-based Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Addison Caruso…