🗳️ DeSantis’ Decisions:Politico’s Sally Goldenberg spotlights Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts to woo blue-state donors, including a recent meeting in New York in Ronald Lauder, as he entertains a 2024 presidential bid. “DeSantis’ message was simple: He is the only Republican who could defeat President Joe Biden in a general election. In meetings with other wealthy businessmen, DeSantis has been even more explicit, portraying himself as an obvious choice for anyone frustrated by the former president Donald Trump’s legal troubles and antics. In the case of Lauder, DeSantis’ audience was well-chosen. The businessman has not been shy about his frustration with Trump, whom he backed in past races… The outreach by DeSantis provides a window into the early calculations he and his team have made as they ready themselves for a presidential run. The governor has made a name for himself castigating corporate America, while also leaning on top finance figures for financial support. His team sees New York donors as prime turf, not only for their deep pockets but also because many of them backed Trump out of convenience rather than a shared ideology with his MAGA base.” [Politico]

🏦 Banking on It: The New York Times’ Rob Copeland and Maureen Farrell look at how JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon is leading the effort to save First Republic from collapse, 15 years after the executive played a similar role in 2008. “Mr. Dimon is the only current chief executive of a big bank to have held that position during the 2008 financial crisis, giving him a long history with federal regulators and officials at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. He is ‘acting as a senior statesperson who is helping to shore up the financial industry in a time of crisis of confidence,’ said Mike Mayo, a longtime banking analyst. ‘With that comes potentially higher prestige but also potential backlash.’ Although Mr. Dimon got a lot of publicity for orchestrating the $30 billion rescue plan for First Republic, he was hardly acting solely of his own volition. Both in 2008 and this month, the JPMorgan boss acted at the behest of the federal government. ‘When the Treasury secretary suggests you do this, you have to think pretty hard before saying no,’ said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economics professor who has written on financial crises.” [NYTimes]

🌐 New World Order:Semafor’s Jay Solomon observes how recent agreements and restorations of ties have changed Iran and Syria’s political positioning in the region. “Current and former Iranian officials have hailed its recent diplomatic developments as key wins for Tehran in its global chess match with the United States. In a column in Iran’s Mashregh news site, a senior military advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called the Saudi deal “a political earthquake and an end to American hegemony” in the Middle East. An exaggeration? Sure. But there’s also a grain of truth beneath the boasting. The U.S. has spent years erecting a network of sanctions and diplomatic blacklistings that up until just a few weeks ago had increasingly isolated Iran as well as Syria, with whom Tehran controls a network of regional militias and proxies. Thanks to these recent deals, those walls are threatening to crack, giving Iran leeway to advance its nuclear program and crack down on months-long anti-regime protests.” [Semafor]

❓ What’s Next?: The Wall Street Journal’s Elliot Kaufman considers how Israeli leaders could proceed following a halt in moving forward on judicial reform and the onset of negotiations between different Knesset factions. “In the wreckage lies more than right-wing dreams of comprehensive reform. Israel’s reputation has suffered, even among friends. Further, precedents have been set: If Israelis resent a political change enough, they can threaten the country’s military readiness. They can call on foreign allies to pressure their government. They can block the country’s key nodes and menace its economy. They can turn to the military brass to intervene in nonmilitary matters. Will Israel’s rising right-wing, ‘national-religious’ officer corps take note? What will its rapidly growing Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, population have learned about democratic norms from this affair? Judicial reform has stalled, and it could sink altogether if it requires agreement on a formal constitution. Most likely, the right will settle for modest changes, which may have been what Mr. Netanyahu preferred all along. Conservatives, after all, are supposed to understand the advantages of reform over revolution. Changes made over a longer period, in a process of trial and error, are more likely to last and succeed.” [WSJ]

🙏 Prayer Reflection: In an interview with The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg, actor Ben Platt, who stars as Leo Frank in the Broadway revival of “Parade,” explains how he approaches the role, which includes the recitation of the Shema prayer just before his character’s lynching. “I went to Jewish day school and summer camp, and so the Shema is so reflexive. For me, that moment just becomes a moment of pure instinct. Even I, who have tried to get as much into Frank’s mind space as possible to play the role, obviously could never imagine what that moment might feel like. But what I can guess is that a lot of your facilities go and what’s left is just what’s truly reflexive and instinctual in your mind. What’s nice is that the Shema really is that for me. I know it like the back of my hand, the way that all my family does. So it feels like a comforting, just impulsive thing to get to do, in the sense that I get to lean back on the comfort of this prayer and know that it’s in the annals of my mind all the time, always. When you have no facility to be making choices or to wrap yourself up in any kind of satisfying way, what’s left is what’s always just kind of repeating in your mind, and I certainly can relate to that being the Shema.” [TheAtlantic]

👍 Backing Bibi: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) released a statement announcing his support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the California Republican described as “an Israeli statesman, a patriot, and most importantly, a great friend of the United States of America.”

👨 In This White House: Axiosobserves White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients’ management style as he settles into his new role at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

☎️ Call Time: A State Department readout from Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s call with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said the two “discussed shared challenges including Iran, as well as efforts to advance mutual interests, such as Israel’s further regional integration.”

📖 Passover Passage: In The Wall Street Journal, Ruth Wisse reflects on key passages in the Passover Haggadah.

👎 Peach State Politics: Legislation in Georgia to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism failed to garner the requisite support ahead of the end of the legislature’s session.

🎓 Campus Beat: Yale University is changing the name of its Judaic Studies program to Jewish Studies, reflecting what its undergraduate director described as an emphasis on “the social and global aspects of Jewish life.”

💸 ESG Ethos: In the Washington Examiner, Melissa Braunstein considers the concerns about anti-Israel bias in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing.

🥘 Roman Holiday: Food writer Alison Roman shares her Passover recipes ahead of the holiday next week.

📺 Coming Soon: Netflix will premiere “Jewish Matchmaking,” the streaming service’s latest reality TV dating show, on May 3.

✍️ Letter of the Law: In The New York Times, Yuval Levin suggests that Israel could learn from the U.S.’ experience in drafting its own constitution.

🇮🇱 Looking Ahead: In Foreign Policy, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Aaron David Miller and former Amb. Daniel Kurtzer lay out potential scenarios for Israel amid ongoing negotiations over judicial reform.

🎖️ Still Here: Despite the announcement of his firing on Sunday night, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant remains in his role, with his future uncertain.

💥 Syria Strategy: The Pentagon said that eight militants were killed in airstrikes aimed at Iran-backed fighters in Syria last week in response to attacks that killed one U.S. contractor and injured seven servicemembers, six of whom suffered traumatic brain injuries.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield attends a mock Seder hosted by Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan this week in New York. Seventy ambassadors attended the event, which featured readings from the Passover Haggadah and food traditionally served on the holiday.

President of Baltimore-based HealthSource Distributors and chairman of the Orthodox Union’s Advocacy Center, Jerry L. Wolasky turns 65 on Saturday… 

FRIDAY: Music producer, band leader of the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert turns 88… New York Times best-selling novelist, poet and social activist, Marge Piercy turns 87… Former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts for 32 years, Barnett “Barney” Frank turns 83… U.S. senator (D-VT) for 48 years until this past January, Patrick Leahy turns 83… Former syndicated talk radio host on 400+ stations under the name Michael Savage, he is also a best-selling author and nutritionist under his real name, Michael Alan Weiner turns 81… U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME) turns 79… Comedian, actor and professional poker player, Gabe Kaplan turns 78… Retired professor of special education at Long Island University, Joel E. Mittler… Emmy Award-winning actress, Rhea Jo Perlman turns 75… Ice dancing coach and former competitive ice dancer, Natalia Dubova turns 75… Chairman of Apple, Inc. since 2011 and CEO of Calico, Arthur D. Levinson turns 73… New Jersey attorney, Steven L. Sacks-Wilner… Scottsdale, Ariz., resident, David L. Freedman… Chairman of Danaher Corporation, Steven M. Rales turns 72… Israeli singer and songwriter, Ehud Banai turns 70… Former deputy chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, David Breakstone, Ph.D. turns 70… Author and advertising executive, Joseph Alden Reiman turns 70… President at the Detroit-based Nemer Property Group, Larry Nemer… Rabbi of Kehillas Ohr Somayach and lecturer at Ohr Somayach Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz turns 69… Show-jumping equestrian and 10-time American Grand Prix Association Rider of the Year, she is a 2009 inductee into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Margie Goldstein-Engle turns 65… Emmy Award-winning writer and producer, Howard Gordon turns 62… Consultant for synagogues, Judah E. Isaacs… Two-term mayor of Chattanooga, Tenn., he is now a special representative for broadband in the U.S. Commerce Department, Andy Berke turns 55… Chief economic correspondent for Politico and co-author of its “Morning Money” column, Ben White turns 51… Rabbi of the Jewish community of Turkey, Menachem Mendel Chitrik turns 46… Chief legal correspondent at MSNBC, Ari Naftali Melber turns 43… Footballer for Beitar Jerusalem, who has also played for Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham United in the English Premier League, Tal Ben Haim turns 41… Tal Meir Levine… Co-founder and former CMO of Tinder, Justin Mateen turns 37… British-French journalist, author of This Is London and Fragile Empire, Ben Judah turns 35… 2010 contestant on “America’s Next Top Model,” she went on to join the IDF, Esther Petrack turns 31… Howie Keenan… John Jacobson…

SATURDAY: Physicist and 1997 Nobel Prize laureate Claude Cohen-Tannoudji turns 90… Psychotherapist in South Florida, Annie Schlachet Garfield, LCSW… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, he is a nephew of Moshe Dayan, Uzi Dayan turns 75… Research associate and lecturer at Harvard University noted for her studies in animal cognition, particularly in relation to parrots, Irene Maxine Pepperberg, Ph.D. turns 74… Former president and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, Gilda Z. Jacobs turns 74… Singer-songwriter best known as the original lead guitarist for Sha Na Na and as the youngest person, at age 18, to play on the main stage at Woodstock in 1969, Henry Gross turns 72… Producer and director including the “Men in Black” trilogy, Barry Sonnenfeld turns 70… Retired NYC-based attorney, Freddie Berg… Lecturer at Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism, Jonathan P. Friedman… Six-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida, he is the founder of the Ben Gamla Charter School network in Florida and now lives in Ra’anana, Israel, Peter Deutsch turns 66… Author of over 200 children’s books, Mark Shulman turns 61… Former member of the Knesset for the Kadima party, Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich turns 59… VP of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress and a leader of the Jewish community of Kyiv, Alexander (Aaron) Levin turns 55… Lawyer turned political thriller novelist, Brad Meltzer turns 53… Principal deputy director in HHS’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, Jessica “Jess” Smith turns 46… Four-year star basketball player at the University of Maryland including a national championship in double overtime against Duke, she was drafted by the WNBA but played mostly in Israel, Shay Doron turns 38… Associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, Noah L. Schwartz… Former deputy White House communications director in the Trump administration, now on the staff of Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Julia Aviva Hahn turns 32… Ronald Lippman…

SUNDAY: Olympian, holder of the world record in the 50-mile walk which stood since 1972, he is a concentration camp survivor via the Kastner train and a professor emeritus at Ben Gurion University, Shaul Paul Ladany turns 87… National security advisor under President Clinton, then executive director of UNICEF, he converted to Judaism in 2005, William Anthony Kirsopp Lake, best known as Tony Lake, turns 84… Israeli businessman, with a portfolio in mining, energy, diamonds and real estate, Beny Steinmetz turns 67… Deputy U.S. attorney general (and later acting AG) during the Trump administration, now a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Jeffrey A. Rosen turns 65… Academy Award-winning film director, screenwriter and producer, David Frankel turns 64… Acting Supreme Court judge in Brooklyn, she is the founder of Ezras Nashim all-female volunteer ambulance corps in NYC, Rachel “Ruchie” Freier turns 58… On-air ice hockey analyst for NESN during pre-game, post-game and intermissions of the Boston Bruins, Billy Jaffe turns 54… Singer, songwriter, guitarist and composer, he is a founding member of the Jewish rock band Moshav, Duvid Swirsky turns 47… Producer and screenwriter including for “Breaking In” and “The Goldbergs,” Adam F. Goldberg turns 47… Actress, producer and singer, she and her husband, Guy Nattiv, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2019, Jaime Ray Newman turns 45… Metro reporter for the NYT covering NYC politics, Dana Rubinstein… Director for international economics at the White House’s National Security Council, Brian Janovitz… Ph.D. candidate at NYU, Isaac Roszler… Chief field officer at the Israel on Campus Coalition, Elisabeth Rosenfeld… Rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Evan Lerner Traylor… Officer of both the annual Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival and the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival, Magda Strehlau… Attorney and strategic counsel at Medtronic, Rhona Shwaid… Miriam Rosen… Judith Berman…