With 'Homanity,' dissident Iranian artists are making their voices heard - Jewish Insider
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A P R IL 16 , 2021 ♦ 4 I YAR 5781
THE WEEKLY PRINT
With ‘Homanity,’ dissident Iranian artists are making their voices heard; Oliver
Sacks in full; The Kahn family’s long, strange trip to the D.C. pot business; Andrew
Garbarino, Long Island’s heir to Pete King; and Leah Soibel is bridging the gap
between Israel and the Spanish-speaking world.
APRIL 14, 2021
With ‘Homanity,’ dissident Iranian artists
are making their voices heard
The compilation album, organized by Iranian Jewish activist Marjan
Greenblatt, will release original songs to highlight Iran’s censorship of
the arts
By Gabby Deutch
M
usic runs in Marjan Greenblatt’s and culture in the Islamic Republic, will be tangible change,” Greenblatt explained.
blood. The Iranian Jewish released on May 7, with two singles coming “Yes, it will have a powerful statement, but
human rights advocate plays the out later this week. The title comes from the it will also echo the sentiment that we are
piano and her mother is a lifelong violinist; mythical phoenix Homa, which “promotes hearing from many people inside Iran, that
her paternal grandfather played the tar, freedom and protects those who fight for they really do not know the purpose of this
an Iranian long-necked instrument that freedom from oppression,” according to its year’s elections, because all the choices have
resembles a guitar. At various points in website. already been made.” The other single being
Iran’s history, all non-liturgical music was The music represents a range of styles: released this week comes from Justina, an
forbidden to Muslims, while exceptions hip-hop, pop, rock, traditional Persian Iranian rapper who sings about women and
were made for the country’s Jews, Christians music, even heavy metal. “Incredibly women’s rights. Her new song is about love,
and Zoroastrians. talented Iranian artists are adopting these which in Iran “is not expressed publicly,
The Jewish community has been Western styles of music, and they’re also especially not by women,” Greenblatt told
preserving the musical traditions [in Iran], putting in something that is inherently JI.
because it was permitted for the Jews, even very, very Persian — that is the power of The dissident artists participating in
though it was banned for the Muslims,” Iranian poetry, which really dates back “Homanity” are not the only musicians
Greenblatt, 49, told Jewish Insider in a Zoom thousands of years in Iranian culture,” said using music to spread a political message:
interview this week. Greenblatt. Many of the songs included Music has been used as an instrument
Greenblatt’s love of music was cultivated in the compilation are distinctly political, of state propaganda since the Islamic
in Iran, but it stayed with her after she fled following in the footsteps of past efforts Revolution in 1979. “The biggest practitioner
the country to France in the mid-1980s linking music and activism like the Human of using music for political messages is
and later came to the U.S. Now, with the Rights Campaign’s 2002 Being Out Rocks. the Islamic government itself,” Greenblatt
nonprofits Crowdsourcing Human Rights Behrouz Ghaemi, a British-Iranian guitarist noted. “They are commissioning Iranian
and Democracy Council, she is spearheading and singer, will have a song out this Friday artists [and] Iranian writers to write music
a project called “Homanity,” a compilation about the upcoming Iranian elections that elevates their values, elevates their
of original music by Iranian artists, most of scheduled for June. “The song is about the practices, elevates their political agenda, in
whom are living abroad as political refugees. insignificance of the Iranian elections and order to influence the subliminal thinking of
The compilation album, which is meant to the inconsequential nature of what they the Iranian people.”
highlight the continued censorship of music deem as a theatrical exercise, without any All but one of the musicians whose
1music will appear in the “Homanity” years earlier, bringing with him strict consequences,” Greenblatt said, “but you
compilation have fled Iran and now live religious requirements for everyone in the cannot kill creative expression.”
in countries including the U.S., the U.K., country. “I had to start wearing the hijab, Stories about Iran that appear in
Sweden and Austria. But artists living even from a young age. I had to line up every Western media often focus on the country’s
abroad still face risks — as do their family morning and chant lots of slogans that did government and military. “Iran has always
members who remain in Iran — from not necessarily represent what I believed, or been a big part of American policy and the
participating in the project. “The ones who I didn’t even understand what they meant, American news cycle,” Greenblatt pointed
have accepted our invitation,” Greenblatt like, ‘death to America, death to Israel,’” she out, but “a lot of it is being told from the
said, “are those who have calculated the risk, said. “For girls and women, there was extra perspective of people who are not from Iran.
and they understand that it is still important pressure. We could not wear any makeup. A lot of those policies are being decided by
to spread the message about the persecution We couldn’t even have nail polish.” pundits in Washington who do not have the
of artists inside Iran.” Music, movies and art were censored, personal perspective of what Iran is really
Greenblatt has a personal understanding but Greenblatt saw the beginnings of an like.”
of the risk to Iranians who dare to express underground resistance form. Now, “the Iranians attempt to share their stories
themselves freely or read literature not musicians have found a community for abroad when they can bypass the country’s
approved by the religious government. themselves,” she said. “In an underground Internet filters. One place where Iranians
When she was 14, she brought a poem to world, they are creating music. They’re have been able to gather? Clubhouse, the app
school that expressed hostility toward Iran’s having underground concerts, they are that hosts audio-only conversations that
government. “It had profanity directed at releasing albums, but none of this is on anyone can join, and that are not recorded.
leaders of the Islamic Republic. It was one the surface. It remains a very clandestine, “Iranians are finding ways to bypass some of
of the most dangerous things that a 14-year- secret, almost dangerous operation to the filters that were so quickly imposed on
old could be caught with in the very highly create [and] express themselves.” Iranians Clubhouse,” Greenblatt noted. “Some rooms
charged Islamic atmosphere of my public access censored music in a variety of ways: are open 24 hours in a row, and they’re
school,” Greenblatt recalled. She kept the bypassing Internet filters, using VPNs having these very intense, very passionate,
poem hidden in the pages of a textbook, (virtual private networks) to pretend to be heartbreaking conversations about their
but she dropped it on the floor, where it was accessing the Internet from abroad, passing lives.”
picked up by a dean. around flash drives of music among trusted The hope is that “Homanity” will “shed
“It was not unheard of for teenagers — friends. If a taxi driver trusts a passenger, he some light that might enlighten both the
14-, 15-, 16-year-old girls — to be put in jail, might play unapproved music. policymakers [and] also my American peers,
either because of bad hijabs or because of All of this comes at great personal risk. whose opinion about Iran is mainly shaped
activism or because of stupid mistakes, Most Iranian musicians use pseudonyms, by one-sided media stories,” Greenblatt said.
like carrying an anti-government poem in or stage names, to try to stay anonymous. What gets lost in the coverage of Iranian
their backpack,” said Greenblatt. The dean People who pass music around or attend current events, she argued, is that many
told Greenblatt she would likely be kicked concerts can face legal consequences. Iranians do not feel represented by the
out of school, but she didn’t stick around to “I’m hearing from people who have country’s government. “The Iranian people
find out: Her family smuggled her out of the attended those concerts or organize those have beliefs, have desires, have traditions
country, alone, to live with her grandparents concerts that at least half the time, they that are not necessarily honored by their
in France. She was a child when Ayatollah would be raided and they would be arrested, government.” ♦
Ruhollah Khomeini came to power seven and they would face terrible, terrible
2APRIL 9, 2021
Oliver Sacks in full
A new documentary takes a painstakingly intimate look at the famously
private British writer and neurologist, who died in 2015
By Matthew Kassel
I
Shortly after the British writer Orthodox Jewish upbringing. Sacks many of the issues to which Sacks was
and neurologist Oliver Sacks was largely concealed that he was gay until attuned throughout his life.
diagnosed with terminal cancer his mid-70s, when he met his partner, “I would say the guiding insight of
in the winter of 2015, he summoned the writer and photographer Bill Hayes, Oliver is that we’re all locked in,” Burns
a small group of close friends and who survives him. said. “We all have this unique, special
colleagues as well as a film crew to his By the time Burns, a seasoned access to our own perception and
West Village apartment for what was documentarian, showed up with his consciousness. Nobody else has access
to become a kind of marathon seminar camera, Sacks had managed to find a to that — only each of us does. So we’re
in deep personal reflection. Over five measure of personal stasis thanks to kind of locked in, but we also have these
days, stretching 12 hours at a time, he his late-in-life relationship. Despite means of communication. I think that
reminisced, in painstakingly intimate the unwanted diagnosis, he was moments like the pandemic — where
detail, about his long career in science approaching death with an attitude that we’re all locked in but have means of
and journalism while musing on the suggested he was at peace with himself. communicating — are accelerators of
nature of mortality. “He had some kind of enormous empathy.”
Sacks, who died that summer at grace and trust,” Burns observed. “In this moment,” he added, “the
82, was heralded for imbuing a sense The film bears the hallmarks of the empathy that Oliver felt because of his
of humanity in the curiously afflicted Burns style, featuring talking heads, sense of shared vulnerability somehow
people and patients he wrote about in scenes with patients and depictions of hits harder.”
such popular books as Awakenings, The Sacks speeding down the highway on Kate Edgar, an early editor of
Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and his motorcycle after he left England and Sacks’s work who became his personal
An Anthropologist on Mars. But in his moved to California in the early 1960s. assistant, said she often discussed the
final months — having just completed Burns’s portrait presents Sacks in looming prospect of a global pandemic
a highly personal memoir, On the Move: many modes. At one point, the typically with her longtime friend.
A Life, which was yet to be published — reserved doctor smiles mischievously Sacks was perhaps hyper-attuned
Sacks was at last ready to look inward as he tucks into a Tupperware to such grim realities thanks to his
and, in a sense, hold himself up as his container of Jell-O, then launches into experience, in the 1960s, tending to a
final subject. an unexpectedly raunchy anecdote that group of catatonic patients at a Bronx
The filmmaker Ric Burns, who is revealing both for its eccentricity as hospital who had fallen victim to the
captured the week-long session — well as the wry, almost clinical manner encephalitis lethargica epidemic — the
ultimately gathering 90 hours of footage in which it is told. subject of his 1973 book, Awakenings,
he condensed into a documentary, Oliver “Time was — it doesn’t occur now, later adapted into a feature-length film
Sacks: His Own Life, which airs tonight but it used to occur until a few years starring Robin Williams and Robert
on PBS — immediately recognized that ago — when I would wake up at night DeNiro.
he was bearing witness to a rare and with an erection,” Sacks tells his rapt “The message that I picked up — and
unusual event. audience, winding up for a personally that he often spoke about — is this is
“It won’t happen again,” he told embarrassing punchline. “It was coming again,” Edgar, who serves as the
Jewish Insider in a recent interview. “Not sometimes irritatingly persistent, and I executive director of the Oliver Sacks
for me.” would sometimes cool my turgid penis Foundation, told JI. “I think he would
For most of his life, Sacks led a in orange Jell-O.” have been outraged at some of the ways
monkish existence dedicated almost “He was painfully shy or explosively this was handled by our government
exclusively to writing, research and self-revelatory,” said Burns. and just shocked by how vulnerable
medical work. But privately, he struggled Though the documentary was we were, especially certain parts of the
with crippling self-doubt, amphetamine filmed six years ago, Burns believes it population.”
addiction and discomfort with his own has only become more relevant as the She suggested that his voice,
homosexuality compounded by his coronavirus pandemic has highlighted particularly at this moment, would
3likely have proved essential. “I feel decidedly unaccepting of his homosexuality: — and nature was his god, in some way.
sure,” she told JI, “he would have written at 18, his mother found out he was gay — So I think he follows a tradition of Jewish
some really interesting pieces about it.” and, devastated by this revelation, cursed atheism, if you wish, in that sense — and
Burns seconded that view. “It would the day he had been born. that’s a noble tradition.”
have been really interesting to know “The matter was never mentioned Sacks was extremely productive in the
what Oliver made of this because he felt again,” Sacks recounted in an essay shortly lead-up to his death, and some of his pieces
two things,” the filmmaker said. “We’re before his death, “but her harsh words made took on a wistful, elegiac tone as he delved
all irreducibly different, and we’re all me hate religion’s capacity for bigotry and into his Jewish past. He wrote movingly
linked to each other by dint of that cruelty.” of observing the Sabbath as a child as well
uniqueness.” Though he was raised observant, as his early fondness for gefilte fish, which
Still, while he developed an intensely Sacks was a nonbeliever and rejected the he rediscovered in his 80s when cancer
loyal fan base, Sacks didn’t reveal all that possibility of an afterlife. He found great weakened him and restricted his diet.
much about his own unique story as he meaning, however, in his Jewish identity, “Gefilte fish will usher me out of this life,”
published book after book of elegantly which was something he “cherished,” he wrote in a short but poignant essay,
rendered case studies focusing on other according to Edgar. posthumously published in The New
people with rare conditions like visual “He might not have said it in so many Yorker, “as it ushered me into it, eighty-two
agnosia and color blindness. Even when words, but part of growing up as an Orthodox years ago.”
he inserted himself into his writing, as he Jew is he had a huge, very close family, and “He always loved his fish,” said Edgar,
often did, it was with a sense of cerebral he loved that,” she said. “He loved the ritual who is now working to assemble Sacks’s
detachment. and he loved the family and he loved the correspondence for a forthcoming volume
“It was kind of a persona that said, ‘No food. The whole cultural part of being Jewish of letters, adding to a growing list of books
need to ask any other questions,’ and to a he did love. He certainly had ambivalences, that have been released since his death.
large degree, people didn’t,” Burns told JI, and I think part of that revolved around his Whatever subject he took on after his
noting that he was unaware Sacks was gay sexuality and his mother sort of laying down diagnosis — and there were many — Sacks
until he began filming him. this biblical curse on him.” wanted to leave behind a sense of who he
But when Sacks found out that his life Not that he rejected spirituality was after years of neglecting that project.
had a firm expiration date, he became more altogether. “He was constantly reading “This was his last opportunity to share his
self-assured about his own identity and philosophy and thinking about these thoughts about his own life and all of his
was even willing to revisit his traumatic spiritual questions,” Edgar told JI. “The work,” Edgar said, “and he made use of every
childhood. Sacks, who was born in London, difference is he didn’t believe that there was second of that time.” ♦
grew up in an Orthodox household that was a god. He believed that there was nature
APRIL 12, 2021
The Kahn family’s long, strange trip
to the D.C. pot business
The ‘Pot Rabbi’ views medical marijuana through a very Jewish
lens
By Gabby Deutch
E
A rabbi, his wife and their son go Yet Kahn is now back in the U.S. and three years after medical marijuana was
into the drug business together: serving as another kind of rabbi: the Pot legalized in the city, it took up one small
It sounds like the plot of a Rabbi, as his ID badge from the Takoma storefront in a building that Jeffrey
television show. For the Kahn family, Wellness Center — Washington, D.C.’s admits is not pretty. “It wasn’t the most
it’s real life. first and largest medical marijuana beautiful building. Probably to some
When Jeffrey Kahn left the rabbinate dispensary — reads. folks not the ideal location. But nobody
after three decades, he moved with his When the Kahn family opened the else would rent to us,” Jeffrey, 68, told
wife Stephanie, a nurse, to Israel, hoping Takoma Wellness Center in Washington’s Jewish Insider on a recent tour of the
to enjoy retirement in the Holy Land. Takoma Park neighborhood in 2013, building.
4The center has since expanded into Ill., a conservative city about an hour outside
the former Chinese restaurant next *** Chicago. “There was so much poison in the
store and the church upstairs, filling Jeffrey and his wife Stephanie had air about AIDS and the people who had it,
between 200 and 300 orders of cannabis seen the medicinal benefits of marijuana and why they had it, and whether or not that
products daily. Before the COVID-19 decades before the drug was legal anywhere was just their deserved fate,” Jeffrey told
pandemic, Takoma Wellness hosted in the U.S. Stephanie’s father suffered from JI. “In a conservative town, liberal clergy
regular educational seminars in the multiple sclerosis and struggled to relieve usually ended up on the side of helping
upstairs space to teach people about the his constant pain. Stephanie’s “parents people with AIDS when nobody else would
medical benefits of cannabis. “There’s are really the reason why we started the see folks at the hospital, Jewish or not, or
definitely people that know what they dispensary,” Jeffrey told JI. bury them or sit with their families.”
want, or think they know what they Jeffrey and Stephanie recently celebrated Many of the AIDS patients — and their
want. Others have no idea,” said Josh 45 years of marriage, and their wedding families — whom Jeffrey got to know were
Kahn, 36, who serves as operations day is “the last time I can remember him curious about whether marijuana would
manager for the business. walking — down the aisle,” Jeffrey recalled. alleviate the virus’s symptoms. “I was the
The business employs 45 people, most “For the last 20, 30 years of his life, he was right person for people to say, ‘Given this
of whom are not Jewish, but the inside of wheelchair- and bed-bound. But when he is against the law, do you think that God
the shop is decorated with Judaica. Takoma was still vibrant in the ‘70s, he traveled the thinks it’s okay?’ And it’s not hard to figure
Wellness’s logo is a hamsa, and dozens of world looking for a cure, looking for relief. He out, whether you’re a rabbi or not, that God
images of the hand-shaped symbol (thought tried just about anything you can imagine: thinks it’s okay,” Jeffrey said. He pointed to
to fend off the evil eye) dot the walls. Several snake venom, all kinds of pharmaceuticals Yom Kippur and the Jewish requirement
Israeli flags appear throughout the building, that he had to go to rehab to get off of.” to fast on that day — which can be avoided
including an Israeli flag bumper sticker Someone suggested that he try if, for health reasons, a person needs to
that says, in Hebrew, “Peace Now,” referring marijuana. But it was the 1970s, and the eat. “There’s practically no law that stands
to the Israeli anti-war advocacy group. drug was affiliated with hippies and the between you and your health. It’s really a
A framed photo of former Israeli Prime counterculture, and it was illegal; where was primary principle of Judaism,” he argued.
Ministers David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir a respectable middle-aged man supposed Years later, when his mother-in-law was
is perched atop rows of different strains of to go to find it? Eventually, his caregiver diagnosed with cancer, Jeffrey immediately
“flower,” as the Kahns say — marijuana. was able to procure some. “It made a thought about medical marijuana. Her
For the Kahns, operating a medical tremendous difference for him. It was almost doctor even recommended it. “But this was
marijuana dispensary is more than just a instantaneous the first time,” Jeffrey said. in New Jersey in 2008. Now recreational
business. Besides, they say, no one can make But his father-in-law did not have regular [marijuana] is legal in New Jersey, but it was
real money from it anyway; ever-evolving access to marijuana, often leaving him in impossible for us to find anything for her
regulations, a persistent stigma against pain. “Now looking back, we know,” Jeffrey [at the time], and she never had the chance
marijuana and a punishing tax code have explained. “We see lots of people with MS, to use it. It really would have really helped,”
made it hard to really profit at a mom-and- and we know how little can really be done Jeffrey said. She died two months after her
pop shop. pharmaceutically, and how much cannabis diagnosis, and Takoma Wellness Center is
They view the business as the still is a lifesaver for so many people.” dedicated to her and her husband, Libby
manifestation of their Jewish values, His father-in-law’s marijuana use was no and Jules Reifkind.
particularly tikkun olam, repairing the shameful secret. “My kids grew up knowing
world. “Growing up as the son of a rabbi and that grandpa had a bong in the basement,” ***
a hospital administrator, and being part of Jeffrey remarked.
a family that has always seen the good side The lessons he learned about the drug When the Kahns first considered
of humanity and worked to make it better, through his father-in-law would later prove opening a dispensary, Americans remained
it was an honor and also a privilege,” Josh useful during the AIDS epidemic. very skeptical of marijuana. Polling from the
explained. “Tikkun olam and all of that was “Coincidentally, the day I was ordained Pew Research Center found that, in 2010,
the essence of who I was and what I wanted in 1981 was the same day that [Dr.] Anthony just 41% of Americans wanted to legalize
to do.” Fauci shared the Morbidity and Mortality the drug; after all, it was illegal at the federal
Josh had made aliyah a few years Report discussing the first three cases of level, and people were serving life sentences
before to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. AIDS,” Jeffrey said. That report would for selling the drug. By 2019, more than two-
He wanted to stay in Israel, but family change the world, and Jeffrey’s career. “The thirds of Americans believed marijuana
beckoned. “To see my family in this position first 15 to 20 years in my rabbinate in the should be legal.
to be able to do such good, I knew I had to ‘80s and ‘90s, really, was very much touched California became the first state to
be a part of that. [Leaving Israel] was painful by and involved with people trying to cope legalize medical marijuana, in 1996, and
for me,” he explained. with AIDS in their families.” 36 states and Washington, D.C., followed.
He spent 11 years as a rabbi in Rockford, But legalizing medical marijuana in
5Washington was more complicated because error; unlike Tylenol, for example, marijuana Some people — including federal employees
of the District of Columbia’s non-state is not a chemical with the same properties — worry about the government having a list
status: Residents of the city first voted in every batch. “The main part of how it all of people who are approved to use medical
to legalize medical marijuana in 1998, works is that it does work. There are people marijuana, even though they are protected
but congressional Republicans kept the who come once and never come back, but by HIPAA privacy laws. The legalization of
city from implementing the policy. The they’re few and far between. Most people do recreational marijuana “could allow them
Home Rule Act of 1973 requires Congress find some satisfaction,” he noted. the opportunity to get access,” Josh added.
to approve or reject all legislation passed Medical professionals do not prescribe Of course, these challenges all came after
by Washington, D.C., and it was only in a dose or form of cannabis. Patients discuss the business was created; before that, the
2010, with a Democratic president and their symptoms with the Kahns and their Kahns had to win the support of Takoma’s
Democratic Congress, that the city could colleagues at Takoma Wellness, who then residents, many of whom were skeptical
finally legalize medical marijuana. (Former make recommendations. Jeffrey likened about having a marijuana business in
Georgia Rep. Bob Barr, the Republican who it to the way prunes might be used to treat the neighborhood. “A lot of people had
sponsored the annual amendment to keep constipation. A doctor would urge a patient negative experiences with cannabis, not
D.C. from legalizing marijuana, did a policy to first try one, and then two, and so on, until because something bad happened to them
U-turn and joined a marijuana lobbying finding the right dose. from the cannabis, but because something
group when he left Congress.) Takoma Wellness was the first bad happened to them as a result of using
With Democrats in control of both dispensary in D.C., so the Kahns watched cannabis — like, they got arrested. There are
chambers of Congress and the White House, the city create regulations from scratch, a lot of grandmas here who have a grandson
Washington is now confronting a similar a process they said was not smooth. So who was busted, and think cannabis is a
issue as it attempts to legalize recreational few doctors were willing to comply with terrible thing,” Jeffrey noted.
adult use of marijuana. The city voted in the city’s strict rules around the issuance The Kahns had to teach neighbors that
2014 to allow recreational marijuana, but of medical marijuana cards that at first, their business would not be a headshop but
Congress prohibited the sale of the drug one stepped in, saying she would require a legitimate community institution, and it
— adults in the District can possess small patients to see her multiple times in a 90- would actually help people. In the beginning,
quantities of the drug, but they cannot day period only if they paid $900, without a the whole family was “working with the
legally purchase it. Washington Mayor guarantee that she would recommend they neighbors and having tons of meetings,”
Muriel Bowser introduced a bill in February receive a card. Now, any licensed medical Jeffrey recalled. It didn’t all go well, he said:
to legalize sales of the drug, timed to coincide professional — including nurses and even “There were screaming matches.”
with another Democratic administration dentists — can recommend that a patient One group that never gave his family a
and Congress. (A “Statehood for the people receive a card; patients must then pay $100 hard time? The Jewish community. “Jewish
of D.C.” poster was taped to a window in the and submit an application to the city, which support has been tremendous,” Jeffrey said.
Takoma Wellness storefront, next to a Black still might deny them. Women of Reform Judaism, the women’s
Lives Matter sign.) “Until two years ago, we didn’t have a arm of the Reform movement, passed a
After going to the city for permission bank [willing to work with us],” Jeffrey said. policy statement in support of medical
in 2011, it took until 2013 for Takoma Legally, banks could serve them — they marijuana in 1999, long before it was
Wellness to gain the necessary approvals were, after all, an established business — but widely popular in the U.S. Israel is known
to set up shop. Since then, Jeffrey, Josh many feared harassment from the federal as a global cannabis research hub, and the
and Stephanie have had to contend with government. The Kahns’ dispensary also country legalized medical marijuana in the
a series of seemingly endless challenges: could not accept credit cards for a long time. early 1990s.
neighborhood hostility, evolving municipal Marijuana cannot be carried across “This whole journey has been super
regulations and changing presidential state lines, so everything sold at Takoma scary,” Josh admitted. But, he joked, “I’m
administrations. They also had to teach Wellness must be grown in D.C., “which is sure it was scarier for my mom when I was
themselves the basics of cannabis, such as not the agricultural capital of the world,” in the [Israeli] army.” ♦
the differences among the nearly 100 strains Jeffrey quipped. “There isn’t a lot of room.
they have on offer (with names like “Sour There aren’t a lot of warehouses. That’s not
Diesel” and “Gelato”) and the different forms what D.C. is about.” They make do with
they offer: edibles, topicals (like lotion), the supply they have, although he fears
tinctures or straight-up “flower.” that when the city does allow recreational
“There’s some that keep you up and marijuana, there won’t be enough supply.
some that put you to sleep, and some that “We already have some of the highest
are great for pain and others that are great prices in the country,” Josh added. Still,
for anxiety,” Jeffrey explained. Discovering the Kahns see recreational adult use as
which strains can treat which symptoms a big opportunity: It can be difficult and
involves a significant amount of trial-and- expensive to get a medical marijuana card.
6APRIL 15, 2021
Andrew Garbarino, Long Island’s heir to
Pete King
First-term Long Island Rep. Andrew Garbarino believes his party’s
‘big tent’ accommodates new voices even as the former president
maintains influence
By Matthew Kassel
W
hen former Rep. Peter King (R- district, a traditionally conservative enclave figure out what we can work together on and
NY) announced in November including sections of Nassau and Suffolk try to get it done, because getting something
2019 that he would retire at the Counties on Long Island’s South Shore done is better than getting nothing done.”
end of his term, the 14-term congressman that have been trending blue in recent Jones described Garbarino as a “friend”
from Long Island confessed that his years. Garbarino defeated his Democratic in a December interview with JI, but his
decision was driven in large part by what he opponent, Jackie Gordon, by nearly seven office did not respond to a request for
described as a “toxic” political atmosphere percentage points in the general election, comment about the current status of their
in Washington. but victory by no means seemed a sure relationship.
His sentiment proved more prescient bet, with one influential forecaster having “It seems like right now there’s such
than perhaps he could have imagined as deemed the race a toss-up. hatred on both sides,” Garbarino said. “‘If
rioters stormed the Capitol building in an “During the campaign, I didn’t realize we don’t agree on this, we have to hate each
effort to overturn the election for former how terrible I was until I saw some of other. You’re my enemy.’ Too many people
President Donald Trump just three days those commercials against me,” Garbarino feel that way now, and it’s not the case.”
after King left office in early January. quipped. Garbarino recalled the day of the Capitol
King’s successor, Rep. Andrew Garbarino Defending the seat next cycle may prove attack, when his friend Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-
(R-NY), was locked in his office in the even more vexing. “Garbarino’s district is NY), who presides over a deeply conservative
Longworth House Office Building for eight likely to be competitive going forward,” said district of Long Island, objected to the ballot
hours that day, watching with growing Craig Burnett, an associate professor in the certification in two contested states. Though
alarm as the protests devolved into a violent department of political science at Hofstra they disagreed on that matter, “He gave up a
siege. “You couldn’t believe what you were University. “To be successful in that district, lot of time to talk to me about my thoughts
seeing,” Garbarino, a 36-year-old former I think you have to be a moderate Long on the day,” Garbarino said of Zeldin, with
attorney, recalled in a recent interview with Island Republican.” whom he previously served in the New
Jewish Insider. Garbarino — who touts his membership York State legislature. “He didn’t push any
But according to Garbarino, that in the Problem Solvers Caucus and says agenda.”
tumultuous introduction to the Hill only he has already co-sponsored bills with In a statement to JI, Zeldin described
strengthened his resolve to return that night a Democratic member of New York’s Garbarino as “a fighter for his constituents
to the House floor and certify the election congressional delegation, Rep. Kathleen and a stalwart advocate for the issues most
results in favor of Joe Biden. Rice — seems eager to present himself as important to them.”
“The goal was to stop us and it didn’t,” he one. Zeldin, a four-term congressman
said. “Whether people were for objection or In conversation with JI, he emphasized and former state senator who recently
for certification, the fact that we went back his connections with a variety of lawmakers announced his bid for New York governor,
in that night and finished our job, I think, across the ideological spectrum, including “knows both Washington and Albany,”
with all the broken glass and everything, Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), the newly according to Garbarino. “Lee is a very smart
that was the best part about that day.” elected progressive congressman from person and a very thoughtful person, and I
The freshman congressman’s somewhat Westchester. “I love Mondaire,” said don’t think he would be getting involved if
measured assessment of a deeply divisive Garbarino, adding that they met during he didn’t see a pathway to victory.”
moment in American politics — ultimately, freshman orientation and made plans to Asked to assess the Democratic
147 Republicans objected to the Electoral collaborate on restoring the state and local candidates competing in New York City’s
College count — underscores the tightrope tax deduction, otherwise known as SALT, in crowded mayoral race, one of whom is likely
moderate Republicans like Garbarino must New York. “We just hit it off.” to be the next mayor, Garbarino was more
navigate in a party still very much in thrall “He and I don’t agree on a lot of stuff, circumspect. “I don’t know how many of
to Trump. but it doesn’t stop us from trying to work them are saying what they’re saying just to
It also suggests a calculation tailored together on stuff we do, and I think that’s win the primary,” he said.
to the dynamics at play in Garbarino’s what’s great,” Garbarino elaborated. “We’ll Still, he was willing to offer praise
7for at least one contender. “McGuire is of President Joe Biden’s approach so far. He “Listen, I’m an attorney by trade,” Garbarino
interesting,” Garbarino mused, referring to approves, for instance, of Biden’s faith in said. “Anytime an outside group tries to force
Ray McGuire, the former Citigroup executive international aid as a meaningful foreign a settlement on somebody, it doesn’t work.”
who has earned the support of a number of policy tool. “A lot of Republicans tend to go “The U.S. shouldn’t be forcing terms,” he
prominent business leaders in New York. “I against foreign aid,” Garbarino said. “I’m not, added. “No country should be forcing terms.
think he understands that you need certain because we’re not playing in a vacuum here. Israel and the Palestinians need to figure it
industries in New York to keep New York If we don’t get involved, China and Russia out because, unless they both come to terms,
going.” are, and we need to compete with that.” it’s not going to work. You can’t force it, can’t
Garbarino grew up in the Long Island But he also believes there is room force a settlement on one or the other. If
hamlet of Sayville and worked in his family’s for improvement, arguing that Biden somebody feels like they’ve gotten screwed,
law firm until deciding to pursue elected should increase funding for cybersecurity if they’ve been bullied into something,
office. He served in the State Assembly from protections while expressing concern with they’re going to be very, very upset, and it’s
2013 to 2020 before ascending to Congress. the president’s effort to bring back the Iran not going to work. It’ll fall apart. The deal
As a new member of the House, nuclear deal. “I think we need to keep the always falls apart.”
Garbarino, who has vowed to tackle crime pressure up,” he said. “I think sanctions But Garbarino seems to have more
and security issues in his district, sits on work.” immediate concerns amid growing tensions
the Homeland Security Committee, an Garbarino was optimistic that Biden in his own party, particularly as Trump
assignment he regards as a particularly would expand on the Trump administration’s sets his sights on the small number of
important one for his constituents. “They push to establish diplomatic relations House Republicans who voted in favor of
just arrested an MS-13 gang leader at the between Israel and several Arab nations impeaching him just before he left the White
border the other day,” he said of the violent including the United Arab Emirates and House.
Salvadoran street gang. “We have MS-13 in Bahrain. “I was just talking to somebody Garbarino, who isn’t among that group
my district.” recently, it might have been an AIPAC call, of vulnerable incumbents, acknowledged
“It was awful what they did here,” but they were talking about, just between that Trump “is going to have an effect on the
Garbarino added. “The concern is now, UAE and Israel now, the amount of travel party” going forward, but said the GOP was
with the border, with the crisis there, with and investment that’s happened since,” he a “big tent” and could make room for a wide
people coming across, you don’t want MS- said. “I hope it continues and more nations range of voices.
13 bringing more members from South and jump on.” “I think he’ll be around for a while,”
Central America up.” The first-term Republican said the Garbarino said of the former president. “But
Garbarino has a number of other Israelis and the Palestinians would have to he’s not the only leader left.” ♦
geopolitical concerns in mind as he enters his work out their conflict among themselves
first term, and he offered a mixed evaluation if they have any hope of easing tensions.
APRIL 15, 2021
Leah Soibel is bridging the gap between
Israel and the Spanish-speaking world
Her nonprofit, Fuente Latina, aims to bring information about Israel
to the world’s Spanish speakers — all half billion of them
By Gabby Deutch
L
ess than two months before the 2020 Jews? They’re always talking about the paper, even though it was paid advertising.
U.S. elections, the Spanish sister- Holocaust, but have they already forgotten But because it was an advertisement, El
publication of The Miami Herald Kristallnacht, when Nazi thugs rampaged Nuevo Herald’s editorial staff had not read
published an advertising section sponsored through Jewish shops all over Germany? So it before it was published. In the aftermath,
by a Cuban American political activist. The do the BLM and antifa, only the Nazis didn’t the paper’s managing editor resigned and its
40-page insert in El Nuevo Herald had a full- steal; they only destroyed,” wrote the author publisher was demoted.
length column called “American Jews and of the insert. This was one of many incidents of
Israeli Jews,” which made deeply antisemitic For the readers of El Nuevo Herald’s political misinformation, some of which
and racist statements. print edition, this insert could easily have were also antisemitic, targeting Latino
“What kind of people are these been confused for a normal section of the voters last year.
8For Leah Soibel, these falsehoods in a Catholic neighborhood of St. Louis, that time — obviously, there was a sense of
directed at the Latino community were and people were often confused about her concern,” she recalled.
nothing new; they were just finally reaching identity. “At that time,” she recalled, “people After leaving Egypt, her first week in
the mainstream media. just had no clue. They were like, ‘How can Washington as a master’s student at The
“It’s something that we see all the time. It you be both?’ There’s no way.” George Washington University coincided
just became much more apparent, because Soibel was born to Argentinian with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
of its timing prior to the elections,” said immigrants who had moved to St. Louis, “The culmination of all of that left me
Soibel, founder and CEO of Fuente Latina, which had a sizable Jewish community with a deep and desperate yearning to get
a nonprofit organization created in 2012 but very few other South American Jews. back to not only the Middle East, but Israel
that seeks to bring pro-Israel information “I always asked the question as a kid, ‘Why specifically,” Soibel said. For her master’s
to Spanish-language media. Fuente Latina did the boat stop in St. Louis?’ Every other thesis, she visited several Arab countries to
organized virtual educational events for Argentinian that I know went to Chicago, try to answer the question, “Why does the
Latino media in the wake of the El Nuevo New York, Miami, even L.A. We stopped in young generation in the Arab world dislike
Herald incident. St. Louis,” she said. America so much?” It was 2002, a dangerous
Fuente Latina’s potential audience In Argentina, her mother had worked for time to be an American woman traveling
is enormous; nearly 600 million people the chevra kadisha, the group of people who alone in the Middle East.
worldwide speak Spanish. Yet many of care for the bodies of the deceased before That project was her first foray into
them know little about Israel and the Jewish they are buried. Her father was a police the world of “public diplomacy” — the
community — many don’t see an obvious officer in Buenos Aires, where he at one point way a nation or political entity gets its
reason to care about a country several worked with officers who were monitoring message across through cultural means,
thousand miles away and a religious group Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi leader who was using informal educational methods to
with very few adherents. captured in Argentina and brought to Israel communicate with citizens of another
The enormity of the task does not deter to stand trial for war crimes. “He wasn’t part country. At the time, the U.S. had launched
Soibel, who lives in Miami. After studying of the capture, but he was involved in the the Arabic-language Radio Sawa in the
public diplomacy and researching how the monitoring of Eichmann,” Soibel explained. Middle East, modeled on the Radio Martí
U.S. spreads its message to foreign nations, “He was tasked to monitor [Eichmann’s] network that broadcasted to Cuba and
Soibel took what she learned about cultural home.” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that
messaging and applied it to Israel. Soibel grew up as a proud Zionist; she brought American music and culture to the
In a recent interview, Soibel spoke with studied in Israel in high school and attended former Soviet Union. As Soibel recalls, “the
Jewish Insider about what she views as the Camp Young Judaea. By the time she started modern-day public diplomacy was, ‘How do
crucial project of bringing information at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, she we win Arab hearts and minds?’”
about Israel to Spanish speakers, including wanted to learn about the Middle East She took that goal with her to Israel,
the rapidly expanding Latino population beyond Israel. But this was the 1990s. The where she enrolled in a public diplomacy
in the U.S. “Hispanics, in general, don’t September 11 terrorist attacks, which would doctoral program at Bar-Ilan University.
understand the importance of the U.S.-Israel spur a generation of young people to learn While in grad school, she served in an
relationship,” Soibel said. Part of the reason, Arabic and enter the field of foreign policy, intelligence unit. “I don’t like to be bored,”
she claimed, is that Jews and Latinos view had not yet occurred. “At that time [people she offered as an explanation.
each other as unrelated communities, with wondered], what is a Jew at a small liberal “I was really fascinated by the element of
little in common: “The Hispanic media aren’t arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, doing communication and how different countries
covering what is going on in the Jewish studying Arabic?” she asked. Her line of were good at it, or how different countries
community and the Jewish community thinking, she said, was “if I’m going to be were bad at it,” she noted. She was again
isn’t talking about what’s happening in the a Middle East expert, I can’t only know studying the Arab world, but she began to
neighboring Hispanic community,” she Hebrew. I obviously have to know Arabic. I ask the same questions of Israel: “How is
argued, but “we have so much in common.” have to understand both sides to this huge, Israel getting its message out amidst the
In a promising sign for Soibel, many complex story.” sea of other countries that dominate the
U.S. Latinos have not yet made up their After graduating, she spent a year narrative?”
mind on Israel. A 2017 survey found that studying Arabic at the American University A couple years into her graduate
28% of Hispanic Christians in the U.S. had in Cairo. It was a tumultuous time: “I saw studies, Soibel’s then-boyfriend, at the
no opinion on the Jewish state. But that protests on the campus there, and I saw time a reporter with The Washington
same survey found that a sizable number animosity towards the United States in the Post, attended the first press conference
of Hispanic Christians harbor somewhat type of video footage that you always see — that The Israel Project (TIP), a U.S.-based
antisemitic beliefs, with 42% agreeing that of an angry mob in the Arab world, burning Israel advocacy group, hosted in 2005, at
“Jewish Americans have too much influence an American and Israeli flag, that type of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel. He came
in American society.” stuff. But to see it as a Jew — and again, home and told her about the group, which
Soibel is a Latino Jew who grew up there were very few Jews on the campus at was created during the second intifada to
9educate people in America and Europe of evangelical Christians we actually see to counter foreign disinformation about
about the Jewish state. The organization within the global Hispanic population,” Israel. HispanTV, a Spanish-language
was looking for a researcher; Soibel took the Soibel explained. Among many Latino broadcasting network operated by the
role and dropped the doctorate. Catholics, she said there’s a desire to visit Iranian government, employs journalists
For her first few years with TIP, which the Holy Land. “They may not know much across Latin America. HispanTV launched
ceased operations in 2019, Soibel’s work about Israel, but the Holy Land they know a in 2011, during the Arab Spring. Soibel noted
did not focus on Spanish-language media. lot about, and it speaks to them in a spiritual that the launch happened around the time
She was a generalist, and a good one, said and an emotional way,” she noted. that “the Spanish community was kind of
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, the organization’s TIP’s Spanish division was eliminated waking up and getting more interested in
founder. shortly after Mizrahi left the organization in what was happening in the Middle East,”
“She has a perspective: She’s pro- 2012. Rather than staying on in a different Soibel said. With the weight of an entire
Israel, but she doesn’t pretend that Israel is role, Soibel took a couple of the project’s government propaganda apparatus behind
perfect, which some people try to do, and it donors and went out on her own, creating it, HispanTV has a wide reach in Latin
eliminates all credibility. And I do think she Fuente Latina. The organization has staff in America.
has a lot of empathy for people on all sides Miami, Los Angeles, Spain and Mexico City, For years, Fuente Latina has been
of the equation,” Mizrahi told JI. In 2010, five and consultants scattered through Latin conducting outreach to journalists, both
years after joining TIP, Soibel launched the America. proactively and in response to Iranian and
organization’s Spanish media program. “We know exactly [how] each country other anti-Israel falsehoods. But come this
Soibel would bring journalists on tours and each outlet that we engage and work summer, Fuente Latina will be launching
of Israel — something she now does at with covers Israel,” Soibel said. As an its own digital media publication. “Think
Fuente Latina — to try to show them, in example, she cited El Pais, “our equivalent of a Latin Jewish AJ+ with a twist,” she
real geographic terms, the nature of Israel’s of The New York Times, [which] is out of said, referring to Al Jazeera’s digital media
borders, relative to Gaza and Lebanon and Spain. They have a correspondent in Israel.” brand that targets young people. “We need
Syria. When reporters were not in Israel, But, Soibel said, Spain is home to growing to create a new digital brand, to engage
Soibel would bring the country to them by antisemitism. (At a neo-Nazi march in Hispanics, because this is an incredible
producing video segments during conflicts. Madrid in February, one speaker said, “The opportunity for us — and I think for the
“You have to be pretty gutsy that when Jew is the culprit.”) And since Spain has U.S. Jewish community in general — to now
there’s sirens and people are being told, you a small Jewish population, Fuente Latina engage Hispanics that maybe we didn’t have
know, go into your bomb shelter, that you’re steps in to provide resources to the country’s access to in the pre-pandemic era.” ♦
going to leave your safe office in Jerusalem reporters.
and go up north to where the rockets are, or Soibel insists that Fuente Latina’s role is
when there’s an issue going on with Gaza, not to promote Israel unequivocally, or be an
go down to Sderot and be on the front lines, apologist for the country on an international
where the where the rockets are coming in,” stage. “We’re not the spokespeople of Israel,”
said Mizrahi, who said she made sure Soibel she said. “We, in essence, are giving Israel a
always took a flak jacket and a helmet. voice in the global Spanish-language media,
Soibel noticed that unlike English- which is distinct [from] us constantly
language publications, many Spanish- promoting the Israeli side,” she said.
language news organizations did not have During the early days of the COVID-19
foreign correspondents stationed in Israel. pandemic last spring, Soibel recalled,
She had to work to interest them in stories “Nobody was interested in international
about Israel. “The first big one, when she was stories. Everybody was looking local.”
able to bring in Spanish-speaking journalists Fuente Latina’s response was to create a
was when [Pope Benedict] came to Israel” in network of Jewish medical professionals
2009, Mizrahi recalled. “The pope is always from around the world and give them media
a big story in Spanish-speaking countries, training to speak to Spanish-language
because obviously the Catholic Church is media. Soibel and her team would also
the predominant religion.” point to Israel and say, Israel “has overcome
In large part, the decision to launch TIP’s the same challenge you have in L.A., or you
Spanish division came from the reality that have in Mexico City.” Fuente Latina would
many people in Spanish-speaking countries then make Israeli experts available to talk
are deeply religious, as Mizrahi noted. “This about technology they were using to fight
was at a time when Israel was starting to the virus, or about how they handled COVID
realize allies in the evangelical Christian lockdowns.
world, and some of the largest numbers Part of Fuente Latina’s objective is
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