The confusion of Amish or Mennonites for ḥasidic Jews, and vice versa, is the subject of numerous jokes and anecdotes. But in real life, the two groups have found a common cause: Orthodox Jews who adhere to the strictest standards of kashrut seek only to drink milk that has remained under careful Jewish supervision from the moment it comes forth from the cow’s udder (known as ḥalav Yisra’el); the farming practices of the Amish happen to be particularly well-suited to producing such milk. Mike Andrelczyk describes the resulting cooperation, now the subject of research by the anthropologist Rachel Feldman:

Feldman observed an uptick in Orthodox Jewish tourism in and around Lancaster County, including trips to Hersheypark, which offers kosher food and holds a day of kosher festivities in September, and visits to dairy farms. The increased tourism led to collaborations between the Amish and Orthodox Jews to produce kosher dairy products.

The kosher milk operations range from large dairies such as Kreider Farms in Manheim, [Pennsylvania] to what Feldman describes as a small-scale “informal grassroots economy” occurring among Amish and Old Order Mennonite dairy farmers producing small batches of pasteurized and unpasteurized milk products for Orthodox Jewish communities coming in from areas like New York City.

Kreider Farms produces a line of kosher dairy products and is the sole provider to the Pride of the Farm—a nonprofit distributor of ḥalav Yisra’el milk and dairy products. “The fresh milk is immediately transported in dedicated tanker trucks to the processing plant, which is a short distance from the milking parlor. The self-contained operation lends itself perfectly to the meticulous supervision required for Cholov Yisroel certification,” Hope Graby, a spokesperson for Kreider Farms wrote in an email. . . . “A rabbi lives on the farm and observes the milk from the time of milking until it is sealed in a container.”

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.