i'm 800 free subscribers away from a huge milestone for the handbasket. think we can do it? www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe

First, a progress report from the International Jewish Labor Bund that discusses local and international organizing successes, what the Bund is working on now, and the challenges it faces as it soldiers on toward the future. www.derspekter.org/whether-the-...

Genuinely wonder how K-Hive types will grapple with Harris herself openly saying that being associated with her rabidly pro Israel boss and his rabidly pro Israel political impulses was a net negative.

Along with everything else that's wrong here, I'm SUPER upset this is going to be a lot of people's first exposure to Bukharian jomahs. Which are actually pretty fab when they're worn where it's appropriate, and have a cool, but possibly apocryphal, origin.

make the shofar your co-star at the synagogue of success

A #RoshHashanah custom is eating apple slices dipped in honey. The sweet nourishment of apples & honey signifies healing and optimism. The hope that the new year will be sweet. "George", an apple harvester from NYs Cahoon Farms is optimistic about his new UFW contract. #WeFeedYou

UN experts call for suspension of Israel from international football amid unfolding genocide in occupied Palestine 23 September 2025

Chair of Israeli human rights org B'tselem's board: "The Gaza holocaust was made possible by the embrace of the ethno-supremacist logic inherent to Zionism. Therefore it must be said clearly: Zionism, in all its forms, cannot be cleansed of the stain of this crime. It must be brought to an end."

Shaun King backing up Tucker Carlson that Jews killed Jesus. It is important to state this bluntly (I should actually write a piece about it): Antisemitism is close to getting mainstream. One thing preventing it on the right is Trump's support of Israel, but Carlson and others are pushing it.

Shana Tova khaverim! History shows no signs of stopping this week and neither is Der Spekter as we continue to deliver bundist content for you. We bring in Rosh Hashanah with two pieces this week.

So I need to do an embroidery anatomical heart because I want to do that for a project with a friend but I have *also* decided I want to do a mixed embroidery/watercolor night sky with the words לא בשמים היא Because I apparently love making embroidery Judaica

NEW: Air Force jets are doing ICE flights to Africa with transponders turned off, making them nearly un-trackable. This includes the third-country removal to Ghana and another secret flight. We figured out where it landed. From me for @rollingstone.com: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

If there's a silver lining to this anti-constitutional nonsense under which the President can unilaterally dismantle agencies, all Democratic presidential candidates have a new litmus test. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Abolishing ICE is just minimal human decency.

Remember that MLK said America suffers not just from "the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people."

Oh yea...some great pieces in @derspekter.bsky.social www.derspekter.org

NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com

Berlin was the home of the Institute for Sexual Research, one of the oldest centers for queer and trans people, with so much research into gender transition. Nazis burnt that down as fast as they could www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

If you’re mad about Jimmy Kimmel, wait til you hear what they’ve been doing to immigrants, trans folks, and Palestinian rights activists for the last several months.

#OtD 19 Sep 1952 musician, producer and former Black Panther, Nile Rodgers, was born in NYC. He said: "being a Panther was making breakfast, fixing people’s houses, washing the streets. That's what we really did" stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1249...

First, YIVO fellow Daniel Carkner shares the history of NYC's Jewish immigrant klezmer musicians and their role in radical labor politics. Klezmorim "were present at every twist and turn of immigrant Jewish radicalism and labor organizing." Read it alongside the songs we've embedded in the piece!

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Charlie Kirk’s record. archive.ph/2025.09.16-2...

My organization, the Peretz Centre in Vancouver, is doing a membership drive for the new year. If you're interested in Yiddish culture & literature, Jewish secular humanism & social justice, consider checking out the programming or becoming a member. It's the organization's 80th year!🥺⏳

Netanyahu loved October 7th because it gave him the opportunity to launch a never-ending war and thus stay in power indefinitely. Trump loved Kirk being killed because it gave him an opportunity to justify all his worst authoritarian impulses. To fascists, tragedy is opportunity.

So right-wing oligarchs now control X, Facebook, TikTok, WaPo, Fox News, CBS...and others not controlled by them are capitulating. Do I have that right?

Did you know Der Spekter has a shop? If you want to support us AND get some cool stuff, get yourself DS merch! Magazines are running low so get one while you can! 👻 Also, stickers have free shipping 👀 derspekter.bigcartel.com

Einbinder on saying 'free Palestine' during her Emmys speech: "It is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel. Our religion and our culture is such an important and long-standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethnonationalist state."

Join us Thursday - head to jfrej.org/iceout for more information 📣

Now (via Trump) pro-Israeli Zionists are going after a prominent Jewish professor at UC Berkeley, accusing her of being “antisemitic”. Think about the insanity of this— www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Kash Patel fired the 'legendary' special agent in charge of Utah's FBI division a month ago. Her colleagues say she was “absolutely the best” agent in the bureau but she was a woman of color so she had to go: www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...

The fact that MSNBC contributor Matthew Dowd was fired for accurately (and honestly being rather soft by simply calling him "divisive") describing Charlie Kirk's bigotry is actively concerning.

Both of the co-founders of Turning Point USA died from things that were preventable, but which they mocked and urged this nation to ignore. Bill Montgomery was killed in 2020 by COVID and Charlie Kirk was killed in 2025 by gun violence.

Question for our Chicago based khaverim... One of our editors will be in Chicago this weekend and would love to drop off some zines in some friendly space, or even have a beer or some nosh with you all. Drop some locations in here and hit us up in the DMs in you want to meet up!

Sholem aleykhem Khaverim! Der Spekter has been posting lightly the past few weeks but we've remained busy platforming Bundist work from across the diaspora and editing some forthcoming work that we know you'll enjoy. This week we have two great pieces...

Please enjoy this history of klezmorim in radical Jewish organizing in pre-war NYC:

sad to see Jan Grabowski on here & a few other people who I would consider real scholars but who for some deluded reason signed onto this & Jonathan Brent the executive director of YIVO, where I did a fellowship earlier this year, sadly not surprising based on his past comments about Palestinians.

Meanwhile, at the other place....

“There’s no real safe zone in Gaza [City] and all of the Gaza Strip,” says Eyad Amawi, who joins us for an update from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces move deeper into Gaza City to forcibly evict 1 million residents. www.democracynow.org/2025/9/8/gaz...

I was looking up old cartoons and discovered that Jewish caricatures were more common in New York produced cartoons. It's due to a number of animators coming from Jewish communities and gags like these were simply the animators poking some fun at their community.

My first piece for @derspekter.bsky.social 👀

There’s a reason Joe Arpaio was a popular figure amongst the GOP activist class in the early 2010s. The MSM story about him was that he’d been “disgraced.” In reality, he never went anywhere and was rallying the troops for the next battle.

Hey, new followers! Since I have your attention, I published a book last year! As we face another Trump administration, it's increasingly important to make a forceful case for the moral worth of sexual divergence, and that's what I do in "When We Collide: Sex, Social Risk, and Jewish Ethics:"

A story from this week. Me: *explains that I can't have a trial on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur* Landlord Lawyer: Judge that's obviously just an excuse, Ms. Weikal is trying to get more time for her client. No one honestly thinks she's Jewish when she's representing all those Palestine protesters.

Please enjoy this history of klezmorim in radical Jewish organizing in pre-war NYC:

It's from Getty Images. The photographer is Majdi Fathi. There are a bunch of other shots from the burst:

Finally, we'd like to leave you all with an update on California's #AB715, the Project Esther inspired "Don't Say Genocide" bill to censor discussion of Israel's genocidal campaign under the guise of antisemitism education pushed forward by the CA Jewish Legislative Caucus.

The interview is full of sharp analysis and clear insights for resistance in our current moment as well as building the movements that will help bring forth the world we all deserve. Give it a read, and make sure to subscribe to @thefirethesetimes.com wherever you get your podcasts.

My friend Deena Prischep did a story for NPR on the Yiddish album “Lider mit Palestine” (“Songs with Palestine”) that came out last month. The story ran in “All Things Considered” yesterday. www.npr.org/2025/09/01/n...