H eadlines
NEWSBRIEFS Jewish Mayor of Anchorage Resigns After
Sexting Affair with Television Anchor
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz
resigned on Oct. 12 after admitting to a sexting affair
with a local news anchor who falsely accused him of
pedophilia and left a voice message with anti-Semitic
epithets, JTA reported.

Berkowitz’s affair became public on Oct. 9
when the anchor, Maria Athens, posted a video to
Facebook, accusing him of pedophilia. That same day,
she posted two photos to Facebook that she claimed
were of Berkowitz’s bare buttocks and left Berkowitz
a voicemail in which she used anti-Semitic language
and threatened to kill him and his wife.

Athens said she planned to air a story about the
allegation, but got into a physical altercation with her
boss and was arrested for assault, the Anchorage Daily
News reported. Both police and the FBI said there was
no evidence that Berkowitz engaged in criminal activity.

“I apologize to the people of Anchorage for a major
lapse in judgment I made several years ago when I
had a consensual, inappropriate messaging relation-
ship with reporter Maria Athens,” Berkowitz said in
a statement. “I’m embarrassed and ashamed for the
hurt I’ve caused my family and our community. I take
responsibility for my actions.”
RBG to Get Statue in Brooklyn
The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
will be memorialized via a statue in her native
Brooklyn, New York, JTA reported.

“Her legacy as a jurist, professor, lawyer and
scholar will endure for generations, and we are
honored to erect a permanent statue in memory of
Justice Ginsburg,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
said. “Lord knows she deserves it.”
The New York Times reported there will be several
other initiatives to honor Ginsburg, including a
bronze statue set for 2021 at a Brooklyn development.

The city named a municipal building in Brooklyn for
Ginsburg in September.

Jewish Economist Wins Nobel Prize
Jewish American economist Paul Milgrom won the
Nobel Prize in economics along with fellow econo-
mist Robert Wilson for their work in auction theory,
JTA reported.

Milgrom, 72, earned a Ph.D. in economics from
Stanford University in 1979; he is now the university’s
Shirley and Leonard Ely Jr. Professor of Humanities
and Sciences. Wilson was his thesis adviser.

Milgrom and Wilson “used their insights to design
new auction formats for goods and services that are
difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequen-
cies. Their discoveries have benefitted sellers, buyers and
taxpayers around the world,” the committee said.

Milgrom joins scientist Harvey Alter, who shared
the prize in medicine, and poet Louise Glück, who won
the prize in literature, as Nobel laureates this year.

Poland to End Kosher Meat Exports in 2025
The Polish senate passed a law Oct. 14 that will end
its $1.8 billion kosher and halal meat export industry
in 2025, although religious communities will still be
able to slaughter meat without prior stunning if the
meat is not for export, JTA reported.

There are about 20,000 Jews and a similar number
of Muslims in Poland, and most of its kosher and
halal slaughterhouses produce meat for export. Critics
contend that killing animals without stunning them
is cruel, while proponents argue that it is relatively
painless. The law was changed a bit compared to the law
introduced last month in the government’s lower
house; that version was originally intended to go
into effect in 2022. Farmers and meat producer
unions sought to have the law postponed because of
economic issues created by the pandemic. l
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb
Name: Jewish Fed. of Greater Phila. (
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The 9.25 Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia honors the memories of these individuals who passed away during the
Depth: 5.5 in
year 5780
and made a vital contribution to our Jewish communities. They reached beyond their own lives to enrich
Color: Black
Comment: future
JE-Endowments generations through their legacies to the Jewish Federation. May their memories forever be a blessing.

Ad Number: 00091846
They left the world better than they found it.

Visit jewishphilly.org/memorial-tributes to read the reflections that were lovingly submitted by
families and friends to honor the memories of their loved ones.

Joseph Bender
Eugene Block
Ida Eileen Eidelson
Evelyn L. Ettinger
Janet G. Felgoise
Louise and Alfred A. Gilbert
Carolyn and
Edgar R. Goldenberg
Mildred and Edward Gottfried
Florence E. Hanker
Alan Lipkin
Maurice Hertzfeld
Dorothy Litz
Theodore Isaacson
Marvin Lundy, Esq.

Kenneth and Meta Joy Jacoby
Irma and Louis G. Malissa
Jeanne and Richard Kaskey
Leah Mazer
The Honorable Leon Katz
Judith Miller
L. William Kay II
Sylvia Novick
Elayne Lemanow
Frankie Rubinstein
Henry Rudolph
Judith Schlank
Frances Hazel Schwartz
Harold Slotnick
Albert and Leonore Toll
Irving L. Wyman
Marlene and
Norman Zarwin
Berton Zaslow
Contact Jennifer Molish Brier to discuss how you can plan your legacy:
jbrier@jewishphilly.org or 215.832.0528
8 OCTOBER 22, 2020
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