In her acceptance speech, Kolsky reflected: “I am acutely aware that for many I am the representative of our tribe. I hope that by showing up with integrity, honesty, good humor, and care for others, I’m representing well. I am grateful and proud to be able to honor God and my faith in every aspect of my life.”

Know another Jewish creator, leader, or public servant worthy of recognition? Nominations for the 3rd Annual Jewish Media Awards are now open! Submit yours today at https://jewinthecity.com/2025/05/nominate-for-jitc-awards/

The post Orthodox Jew, Shifra Kolsky, Discover’s Chief Accounting Officer Wins at JITC’s 2nd Jewish Media Awards appeared first on Jew in the City.

That’s the story of Mitchell Silk, who served as Assistant Secretary for International Markets at the U.S. Department of Treasury — the first Hasidic Jew to hold a presidentially-nominated, Senate-confirmed position. His new book, A Seat at the Table: An Inside Account of Trump’s Global Economic Revolution (out September 16, 2025), offers a rare inside look at providence, perseverance, and faith in the corridors of power.

Silk’s path to Washington began far from Capitol Hill. He grew up in a Chicago suburb, and in high school, worked full-time in a Chinese restaurant to help support his family. To succeed, Silk taught himself Cantonese in the kitchen, later adding Mandarin through study in Taiwan and Beijing — a skillset that propelled him into decades of work as a China expert.

That determination fueled three decades of legal practice in banking, finance, energy, and infrastructure, where he became a recognized authority on complex, cross-border projects across Asia and Latin America. At Treasury, he advanced U.S. interests in financial stability, trade, and development; spearheaded América Crecé, an initiative that spurred infrastructure growth in the Western Hemisphere through private capital; and led a $94 billion airline relief package during COVID.

Colleagues often remarked on his unusual diplomatic style. While many defaulted to hard bargaining, Silk leaned on patience, respect, and what he calls the “personal touch.” This may have started as a professional strategy, but perhaps it was rooted in his awareness of what it meant to stand out visibly as a Hasidic Jew in the halls of power. 

“I went into the Treasury Department and into the White House every day of the week, looking exactly as I do,” he recalled, referencing his beard, black hat, yarmulke, black suit, white shirt, and tie — garb worn by many Orthodox Jews. “People wouldn’t mistake me for anything else. And because of that reality, I knew that all eyes were on me at all times…every little facial expression, every word that I said, every movement, every action was the difference between creating a positive impression or less than positive impression.”

That sense of scrutiny, he explains, was the essence of kiddush Hashem, sanctifying God’s name through how he carried himself in the most high-stakes environments.

But beyond the policy wins, Silk insists his career has always been about service. Inspired by his immigrant grandfather’s devotion to family and community, he frames his legacy simply: “Doing work for the community, serving the public, is in our DNA,” he says. “Giving time, giving energy, giving what we have. And really, that is one of the most fundamental and basic underpinnings that drove me.”

Looking back, Silk says he “very much saw God’s hand in all of the twists and turns and events and progression” of his career. Perhaps that is the truest meaning of his story: he was given a seat at the table — against all odds — and he knew exactly how to use it.

The post Mitchell Silk’s New Book as the First Hasid in a Senate-Confirmed Government Role appeared first on Jew in the City.

I do not profess to know everything he said, and what I heard I certainly did not always agree with, but Charlie supported Israel, and I don’t take that for granted in this climate. His videos would sometimes come across my feed, and it was comforting to see him debate Jews haters on the far right and far left about Israel’s right to exist, Israel’s right to prosecute a war against Hamas, and conspiracy theories about Jews. (Though I will say that his recent platforming of people like Tucker Carlson and Dave Smith was of growing concern to me with their unabashed Jew hatred.) Love him or hate him or feel somewhere in between, not only is it horrific to murder an innocent person and celebrate his death (as many on social media are doing), Charlie, a devout Christian, spent his life respectfully debating people across the country, an act that should be celebrated and emulated.

Civil discourse is the most Jewish thing out there. The Talmud is compiled of thousands of pages of civil discourse. Engaging in dialogue is not only about self-expression. Human beings have the attribute of “dibur”  in Hebrew – literally “speech.” Like God Himself, we are the only creatures on this planet who are able to speak words. And speaking words with people from different perspectives allows a person to pursue truth.

The most famous of rabbis of the Talmud to disagree with one another were Hillel and Shammai. Despite vehemently debating constantly, they shared a mutual respect and a passion in reaching the truth. In fact, the Talmud (Yevamos 14a) explains us that their heated arguments did not prevent them from marrying into one another’s families. They never backed down on their positions, but they also didn’t dehumanize the other side.

Because the US was founded on Judeo-Christian values, free speech and open dialogue are the bedrock of this nation. I spoke to several people who were not even the biggest fans of Charlie Kirk who explained that they felt that his assassination hit differently than other violence. It occurred to me that what we just experienced is similar to what singer songwriter Don McLean might have been feeling when he wrote “American Pie.”

According to McLean, on February 3, 1959, the tragic plane crash of Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens was the day the music died. The tragic murder of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, may have been the day that civil discourse died. We don’t only mourn for a father, husband, son and brother. We mourn the moment that it became fatally dangerous in the United States of America to express an opinion.

We can’t let that happen. We can’t allow speech to lead to violence. In recent times a new phrase has come into popularity “words are violence.” This is a twisted perspective that must be vigorously countered. Jewish law prohibits gossip, hateful speech, and lying (unless it is a white lie that will preserve peace) but it does not categorize these types of speech as violence. Considering speech violence is a call to violence and once we get there, people with opinions we don’t agree with can end up shot dead in broad daylight.

When the news of Charlie’s murder broke yesterday, I couldn’t believe it was only Wednesday. This past week has been one of the most event filled weeks in recent memory. I woke up to news of a Hamas sponsored bus shooting on Monday morning in Jerusalem, killing six Jews and injuring dozens. Then it was reported that thousands of film workers signed a pledge to boycott Israeli institutions. After that was the targeted assassination attempt of Hamas leadership in Doha by the IDF. And of course today is 9/11. While these events might seem unrelated, I see a through line. There is deep moral confusion in the world right now (especially in younger generations) about what is right and what is wrong, so I will break it down:

1. Killing random civilians on a bus is morally repugnant, as there is never an excuse to target non-violent people.
2. Boycotting an entire country’s art is racist and morally repugnant. It is OK to disagree with individuals and not want to work with them. Lumping an entire country together is highly problematic and against the free expression for which art stands.
3. Targeting terrorists, who have blood on their hands and are planning more violent attacks is just. We have a moral responsibility to prevent people from physically harming others and holding them accountable when they do.
4. Gunning down a political pundit, whose views you disagree with is morally repugnant. Engage in respectful debate or just walk away.
5. Flying planes into the World Trade Center, murdering thousands of citizens is morally repugnant.
6. And for good measure – two more issues that did not specifically come up this week but people seem to be confused by – collateral damage in war is tragic and is mourned by all good people. But it is NOT the same thing as targeting innocent people, as terror attacks do.
7. Calls to incite violence – like globalizing the intifada – is not “civil discourse,” and people who incite violence should be handled by law enforcement, so that violence doesn’t ensue.

Charlie Kirk knew all of these things. He used his platform to educate youth on issues like these, issues that used to be self-evident to people of all ages and political persuasions. There are no platitudes that will help grieving family and friends, but good, moderate people around the world can make sure that we never dehumanize the people with whom we disagree. We can and should respectfully engage all those we encounter. The extremists of the world hate this kind of nuance and grace, and so we all must defeat them by practicing radical moderation.

The post Charlie Kirk’s Assassination: The Day The Civil Discourse Died appeared first on Jew in the City.

Loew is not exactly sure where the inspiration to become a police officer came from.”When I was twelve years old I decided I wanted to be a cop. When I was little I always wanted to be a builder, but I just liked playing with Legos…and then one day I realized I needed math to be a builder…and I’m terrible at math, so I decided I’d be a cop instead.” Loew notes that September 11th occurred when she was twelve and it is very conceivable that witnessing the heroic efforts of the police on that day impacted her decision.

Though a BA is not necessary to become a police officer, Loew went to college where she studied Criminal Justice so she’d have a back up plan. Every summer during college, she did an internship. Her first one was with her hometown police department. “That summer sealed the deal for me. I loved every moment that I was working with them. I liked the adrenaline rush. I liked the different calls we went on.” Even though she wasn’t always allowed out of the car by the officer training her, she still remembers how much these early runs impacted her. “I had been driving around on a midnight shift, a ride along…some car had his headlight out going the opposite direction. The officer I was with busted a U-Turn, and went after him. We went to pull the car over, and the car…took off down the road…The officer knew that there was a cul-de-sac about two blocks down, so the car would have nowhere to go. He went after it, and …we found out that it was a stolen car. So then just as we caught him at the cul-de-sac, three guys popped out of the car and went running. I wanted to get out of the car, unfortunately (probably also fortunately) I couldn’t.”

“It is a long process to apply. You have to take a test, a fitness test…a polygraph, a psych evaluation… an interview… a conditional offer. In Chicago you can’t go to a police academy unless you are sponsored by a department. I went to the Chicago Police Academy…which is about sixteen weeks long.”

While the response from her department and immediate family has been supportive, Loew has encountered naysayers. “I know that a lot of people weren’t thrilled with the idea, ‘…it’s dangerous, there are other things you could do.’ My grandmother specifically was very unhappy and spent from when I was age twelve until I graduated from Police Academy trying to convince me to be a kindergarten teacher…until she came to my graduation she was saying ‘maybe you’ll change your mind.’ But then at the graduation she was pretty proud of me and enjoyed showing me off after that.”

In terms of the halachos involved, Loew has done her homework. “I had a ton of people say to me ‘good luck getting Shabbos off, you’re never going to be able to get that’ and I actually spoke to a rabbi before I seriously started applying to jobs, just to find out what I could and couldn’t do. I know that some rabbis say being a doctor is pikuach nefesh (saving a life) and you can work on Shabbos. Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz was the person I spoke with who said it was okay. There are things I couldn’t do and things that I could do in the application process.”

Shabbos remains the main challenge within observance as an officer, but there remain vast differences between Loew and her colleagues. “My ideals and background are completely different from them…the way we speak…we still have the same end goals in mind, but how we [get there] is quite different.” For other would-be Orthodox trailblazers out there Loew advises people to take it slowly and work out the kinks, “You have to have the determination to do it.” When you encounter negativity, she says “Use [it] to prove them wrong.  Use it as more of a challenge then anything else.”

The post The Orthodox Jewish Girl Who Became A Cop Because of 9/11 appeared first on Jew in the City.