nation / world
A before and after
photo depicts
how a painting of
Jesus at the U.S.

Merchant Marine
Academy in Kings
Point, New York, is
now obscured by a
curtain. Before: U.S. Coast Guard, via
JTA.org After: U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy, via JTA.org
US Merchant Marine Academy Obscures Massive Painting of
Jesus at Sea
The painting in a key room in the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy was as striking
as it was massive: Jesus, his arms outstretched, hovered over a lifeboat packed
with grateful sailors, lost at sea, according to JTA.org.

Eighteen people — including five Jews — among the school’s thousands of
midshipmen, alumni, staffers and faculty decided they did not want to see such
a sectarian symbol in a room that is home to events, classes and ceremonies
where attendance is mandatory. Earlier in January, they asked the Military
Religious Freedom Foundation to appeal on their behalf to the academy, which
reports to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In a Jan. 10 letter, Mikey Weinstein, the foundation’s Jewish founder, said the
role the Elliot M. See room played at the academy made the presence of the
massive painting especially inappropriate. It has served as a classroom, a venue
for advisory board meetings, the room where incoming classes have their IDs
processed, and as a court for disciplinary hearings, among other uses.

“I have asked my staff to purchase a curtain to be placed in front of the paint-
ing,” Academy Superintendent Joanna Nunan said. “This will completely block
the painting from view, but also allow those who wish to view it the opportunity
to do so. Second, I have asked the director of the American Merchant Marine
Museum to prepare a plaque that explains the history of the painting, which will
be installed near it. Given the size of the painting, there is no other location to
which it can be moved.”
Michael Twitty’s ‘Koshersoul’ Named Jewish Book of the Year
“Koshersoul,” chef Michael W. Twitty’s memoir about his career fusing Jewish
and African American culinary histories, was named the Jewish book of 2022 by
the Jewish Book Council, JTA.org reported.

Subtitled “The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew,” Twitty’s book
provides “deep dives into theology, identity, and, of course, food — giving readers
the impetus to reflect on their heritage and religion in a new way,” the council said in
naming “Koshersoul” the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year.

The winners of the 72nd National Jewish Book Awards were announced Jan.

18 at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan.

Apple to Inaugurate New Development Center in Haifa
While U.S. tech giant Intel is canceling the construction of a new development
center in Haifa, another U.S. titan, Apple, plans to open a new facility in the same
industrial zone soon, jns.org reported.

The Matam East #1 development, which will house Apple’s new development
center, obtained an occupancy certificate last month, according to Globes. The
structure has 495,000 square feet of space. Matam East #2, with 54,000 square
feet of space, will also be handed over to Apple.

Meanwhile, Intel will build a new parking lot for staff instead of its planned
development center. ■
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
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