Your Daily Phil: New leadership at Jerusalem Foundation Inc.
Good Monday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on last week’s interview with Naama Klar for “Get Your Phil” and on growing academic boycotts of Israel. We feature an opinion piece by Ron Wolfson about a new book that he co-authored about Jewish communal leadership. Also in this issue: Shaul Kelner, Natan Sharansky and David Sklar. We’ll start with the new leadership of the Jerusalem Foundation Inc.
Rabbi Joy Levitt stepped into the role of CEO of the Jerusalem Foundation Inc. at a tumultuous period for the organization, first in the midst of the ongoing war in Gaza and fighting along Israel’s northern border, and then through the sudden death of the Jerusalem Foundation’s president, Shai Doron, in late July, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
“I officially started in June, getting oriented. Now I have my feet on the ground, running,” Levitt told eJP on Friday. “Nothing is more important right now than supporting Jerusalem and its people.”
In an obituary written two days after Doron’s death, Levitt described him as a close friend and the “spiritual mayor” of the capital — a designation that she said he would hate being a “self-proclaimed secularist” — whom she had first met back when he was the director of the city’s zoo.
Levitt noted that the foundation planned to launch “a fund in Shai’s memory [to support] future leadership.”
“He saw the power of people launching NGOs from all communities: east Jerusalem and west Jerusalem, Haredi and Palestinian. They want their city to thrive and they are relentless in their insistence that the city needs to not just thrive but to appear not only as pictures that people see on their iPhone of iconic sites but as a place where people actually live,” she said.
The Jerusalem Foundation Inc. is the U.S.-based affiliate of the Israeli organization of nearly the same name — not an “American friends of,” but is dedicated to supporting its counterpart’s efforts to create “parks, libraries, community centers and archaeological, health, social and cultural activities” in the Israeli capital.
In addition to Levitt’s appointment as CEO, Steven Scheinfeld was selected to serve as the organization’s chair. Scheinfeld, a partner with the Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP law firm, succeeds Alan Hassenfeld, who has served in the role for decades and will now hold the title of chair emeritus.
Levitt said she was drawn to the organization’s work as it focused on the actual city of Jerusalem, rather than an imagined, ideal version.
“Too often Jewish professionals see Jerusalem as a theme park. We have an idealized vision of it. We fly in, stay in fancy hotels, have meetings and go to the key spots and we leave,” she said. “Jerusalem is so much more than that. It is very complicated but also beautiful and significant.”
Reflecting on her background as a rabbi, Levitt said that she believed that creating a vibrant and peaceful Jerusalem was a fulfillment of the line from the Book of Isaiah: “Ki miZion tetze Torah” — “For instruction shall come forth from Zion.”
“I believe that if we can support a vision of shared society, that’s what those words mean,” she said. “That’s how I feel about the work.”
MARKING OCT. 7
‘Get Your Phil’ with Naama Klar
How can Jewish communities around the world commemorate the Oct. 7 terror attacks? When should they commemorate them — on Oct. 7, on Tisha B’Av, around Simchat Torah? What are some historical precedents to guide us? And what are some potentially fraught areas to avoid? To answer these questions, eJewishPhilanthropy Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross spoke with Naama Klar, director of the Koret International School for Jewish Peoplehood at ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, in the latest installment of “Get Your Phil.” Below are some of Klar’s responses from the hour-long conversation.
When to do it?: “There was a consensus that the shared memory needs a shared date. And there is a consensus that it’s extremely difficult to craft a shared date… The problem is that Oct. 7 — the name of this period — that will be used widely by American Jewry this year… in the next five years, Oct. 7 is [often] on an ‘irrelevant’ date [when it would be difficult to hold commemoration ceremonies], and that will be a problem. One time it’s on Yom Kippur, one time it’s Rosh Hashanah… we don’t know what date should be the date. We know it has to be shared. Unfortunately, today, we don’t even have the leadership platform to have those conversations.”
What we lost: “The trauma of Oct. 7 is basically, ‘Nobody’s coming’… For a couple of hours, we had this vacuum that nobody came. And it’s very true for so many people who lost their lives. They were waiting for rescue to come, and they died alone in the safe room. But this trauma is now everyone’s trauma… Also, I think, outside of Israel, all those friendships, those relationships, those investments in places who were supposed to respond, who were supposed to help and didn’t. What is often referred to as the silence of our friends is that nobody’s coming, and we are all alone. And now we have to help ourselves.”
Nobody came, but we did: “The Jewish people and here in Israel… we’re coming for each other, and we’re there for each other. And that’s also the story of Oct. 7, the civic heroism, the people who got out of their houses and helped even without being [asked]. Gali, a child of 15 who directs IDF forces in [Kibbutz] Kfar Aza for them to rescue people. This is also the story. Even when nobody’s coming, our mutual responsibility, arevut hadadit, which served us so well for thousands of years without sovereignty, also served us now.”
BOYCOTT BLOWBACK
American Association of University of Professors under fire for reversing opposition to academic boycotts
Just weeks after the American Association of University Professors reversed course and dropped its longtime opposition to academic boycotts, faculty members on several campuses, days into the new academic year, have started implementing aspects of a boycott of Israel by not assigning articles written by Israeli scholars, refusing to invite Israeli academics to conferences or declining to write study abroad letters for students wishing to spend a semester in Israel, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen for Jewish Insider.
Actions speak louder: The policy change is “not just speech and words,” Miriam Elman, executive director of the Academic Engagement Network, told JI, outlining various steps she said are already being taken on some campuses. “There has been wall-to-wall condemnation from academics and organizations that aren’t even [necessarily] in the pro-Israel space, they are just in the academic freedom space,” Elman said, adding that “this is the wrong move for a storied organization.”
Crisis response: “If I were 20 years younger, I might [start a new group]” with more moderate leaders, said Cary Nelson, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor emeritus in the English department who served as the AAUP president from 2006-2012. “But it’s a huge project to start something like that.” Instead, Nelson said he’s focusing his energy on leading the academic boycott blowback and “to build a movement so that faculty members who are Zionist — and others who aren’t Zionist but just support academic freedom — get some stiffening to their spines. We need a sense of solidarity and collective support.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
A NEW RESOURCE
A collection of lessons from Jewish communal leaders can serve as a resource for the field
“How many Jewish organizations do you think there are in North America? Two thousand? Three thousand?” writes Ron Wolfson, Fingerhut Professor of Education at American Jewish University and president of the Kripke Institute’s Center for Relational Judaism, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “According to Leading Edge, there are an estimated 9,500 Jewish organizations — synagogues, federations, schools, Hillels, camps, social service agencies and more — led by thousands of CEOs, clergy and executive directors, 30,000 board members and an astounding 120,000 Jewish communal employees serving their members and clients.”
Exploring the leadership pipeline: “These nonprofit organizations are led by Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders. My questions are: How did these individuals learn to lead? What are the stories of their leadership journeys? What lessons have they gleaned from these experiences?… For my most recent book, Jewish Communal Leadership: Lessons Learned from Leading Practitioners, I invited nine of these leaders to share the stories of their leadership journeys and the principles they have gleaned from their careers and volunteer work. These were no-holds-barred interviews, and everyone involved offered thoughtful, honest, challenging and inspiring insights.”
Worthy Reads
Empty Chairs, Empty Tables: In The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Moshe Taragin of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel expresses his mixed feelings at the start of a new year of learning. “As summer turns to autumn, the Hebrew month of Elul sweeps in, bringing with it a tide of hope and renewal. This month marks the onset of the new year of study in yeshivot worldwide, ushering in a period of reflection and rejuvenation… This year, my yeshiva — along with all other yeshivot and mechinot (pre-army seminaries) whose students serve in the IDF — is immersed in sorrow. On the one hand, there is great excitement, as a record number of yeshiva students have enrolled… However, there is a profound shadow that hovers above us like an ominous cloud, a dark sadness on the edge of the beit midrash, and a pervasive melancholy that drifts through the building… But I owe it to these younger men to be as dedicated, kind, and loving as possible. This past year has proven how fragile and precious life can be. I owe it to the students who perished to give everything I can to those who now sit in their seats.” [JPost]
Echoes From the Past: Author Shaul Kelner argues that the Cold War-era fight against Soviet anti-Zionism and antisemitism shapes the Jewish American response to campus protests today. “Outside the Jewish community, few Americans remember the movement to free Soviet Jews. It is not taught in high schools. Only one American university offers a course on it. (Vanderbilt. I teach it.) Most protestors who liken their demonstrations to the student activism of 1968 don’t even know that this other movement existed. But Jewish American Gen Xers and Boomers remember this history. They lived it, and it shapes how they respond to the campus protests. If you want to understand their concerns, their fears, and their counter-movement, look to their decades-long Cold War-era fight to defend millions of Jews from antizionism [sic] in the USSR. It explains a lot about why they are so quick to defend their children and themselves from antizionism here and now in the USA.” [NYUPress]
You Are Not Alone: In the New York Post, Natan Sharansky considers French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy’s new book about Israel’s isolated status in the world. “These days, witnessing the very same Western world I once regarded with such admiration cheer for the murderous marauders of Hamas, I — like Israel — feel more lonely than I have felt in a very long time. My friend, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, captured this feeling eloquently in his new book, which he sadly and wisely called ‘Israel Alone.’… It’s tempting to abandon hope and argue that there’s little hope of Western civilization surviving this onslaught… But Lévy is neither gloomy nor bitter. He knows — like his great fellow countryman, Albert Camus — that doing the right thing is often a sadly solitary task, but that anyone who stands up and fights is never truly alone… It won’t happen overnight. Don’t expect the masked zealots on campus, for example, to shake off their keffiyehs tomorrow, apologize and stand with the Jews as we resist the rise of a movement no less murderous and no less hateful than the Nazis. If there’s one thing you learn in the gulag, it’s that justice is served, but it takes its time. And yet, it always comes.” [NewYorkPost]
Around the Web
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and actress Gal Gadot took part in the launch event for The Voice of the People initiative on Sunday with a video conversation about antisemitism, resilience, hope and the power of unity. (Read eJP’s coverage of the initiative here.)…
The 15th Annual Bel Air Affaire hosted by the Western Region of American Friends of the Hebrew University in Beverly Hills, Calif., raised over $2 million for scholarships to assist Hebrew University of Jerusalem students impacted by the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks…
The Maimonides Fund and the Constructive Dialogue Institute launched a new suite of programs to support viewpoint diversity and dialogue across differences in Jewish organizational settings…
The Israeli Knesset approved yesterday financial assistance, legal support and retroactive subsidies for families of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas; the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles will also provide the families with a NIS 3,600 ($960) grant…
Among those to take home Emmys at last night’s awards: Alex Edelman for Outstanding writing for a variety special for “Just For Us” and Ebon Moss-Bachrach for supporting actor in a comedy series for “The Bear”…
David Sklar returns to the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council as its new executive director beginning Sept. 23…
OneTable launched three inaugural hubs for its Shabbat meal program for Jewish adults aged 50+, in Palm Beach, Fla.; Atlanta; and Colorado…
Donald Trump will speak at the Israeli American Council’s national convention. Vice President Kamala Harris was also invited to speak but has not confirmed that she would. The date for the former president’s appearance at the conference, which will take place in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 19-21, has not yet been set…
The Jewish Museum in Prague celebrated the 30th anniversary of the return of the museum into care of the Czech Jewish community on Sunday, hosting a theatrical and musical party at the city’s Spanish Synagogue…
Plans for the Jewish Family Service of San Diego to operate a transfer center and respite shelter for migrants for the city of San Diego fell apart after two months of negotiations when the two sides failed to reach a sustainable plan for the center…
Members of the Boston Jewish community are protesting the handling of the arrest of Scott Hayes, an American Iraq War veteran who allegedly shot an anti-Israel protester who tackled him at a pro-Israeli rally in Newton, Mass. Prosecutor Laura Miller said the unnamed shooting victim will be charged with assault and battery on a criminal complaint…
Police in Ann Arbor, Mich., are investigating a bias-motivated assault against a Jewish student at the University of Michigan…
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation, State Rep. Lisa Subeck and others denounced and labeled as antisemitic a controversial mural on a privately owned building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin showing a Nazi swastika intertwined with a Jewish Star of David with the text “the irony of becoming what you most hated”…
The San Francisco Unified School district canceled mandatory antisemitism workshops for staff at four San Francisco high schools scheduled to be provided by the American Jewish Committee on Sept. 11, after a group of parents and local community groups accused it of supporting Israel…
Business magnate and philanthropist Barry Zekelman and Toronto lawyer Jay Kellerman are among large donors withdrawing their financial support of the University of Windsor in Ontario, after the university’s controversial deal with pro-Palestinian protesters to end the “Liberation Zone” encampment they set up on campus on May 9. Zekelman has pulled out a $1 million gift and future support, while Kellerman has retracted his pledge to donate tens of thousands of dollars to the law school…
The Washington Post interviews Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris about the challenges he faced in his first year overseeing the team…
The Shem Tov Bible, a rare illustrated 14th-century Hebrew Bible, sold for $6.9 million at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York last Tuesday. The anonymous purchasers of the bible, which was completed by Rabbi Shem Tov Ibn Gaon in 1312 and has been described as “a tour de force of biblical and kabbalistic scholarship,” plan to put the codex on public display…
The Forward recounts how the Jewish values of Sabbath observance and pikuach nefesh were balanced when Los Angeles’ Jewish Orthodox Shalhevet High School faced a wildfire in the San Bernardino Mountains during a retreat at Moshava Alevy, a Jewish summer camp about 90 miles northeast of L.A., last weekend…
The U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle ended its relationship with freelancer Elon Perry, after an internal investigation found that Perry had misrepresented parts of his background and fabricated claims in his reporting of the Israel-Hamas war…
Martin Resnick, Baltimore philanthropist and owner of the popular event venue Martin’s West, died last week at 93…
Philanthropist, Safe Horizon board member and advocate for survivors of domestic violence Joann Lang died in New York earlier this month at 98…
Pic of the Day
A Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund firefighter extinguishes a blaze in northern Israel, in an undated photograph.
This week, KKL-JNF announced that it was providing $5.1 million to firefighting teams in northern Israeli communities as tens of thousands of acres of forests and open areas have been burned by fires sparked by attacks from Lebanon. “Some communities will also receive additional equipment, such as firefighting ATVs, to assist teams in battling the fires,” the organization said.
Birthdays
Israeli actress who played the lead role in Apple TV’s spy thriller “Tehran,” Niv Sultan…
Argentinian physician and author, Esther Katzen Vilar… Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives for multiple terms, in 2015 she became the president of Plaza Health Network, Elaine Bloom… New York City-based real estate investor and the founder of Cammeby’s International Group, Rubin “Rubie” Schron… Defense policy advisor to Presidents Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43, Richard Perle… Montebello, Calif., resident, Jon Olesen… Pompano Beach, Fla., resident, Shari Goldberg… Israeli playwright and screenwriter, Motti Lerner… Sheriff of Nantucket County, Mass., James A. Perelman… Founder and CEO of OurCrowd, Jonathan Medved… Fern Wallach… Award-winning illusionist, known professionally as David Copperfield, David Seth Kotkin… Anthropology professor at Cornell, his work centers on Jewish communities and culture, Jonathan Boyarin… Director of stakeholder engagement at the National Council of Jewish Women, Dan Kohl… President and rabbinic head of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, N.Y., Rabbi Dov Linzer… Writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine, Jason Zengerle… Israeli windsurfer, he won bronze in Atlanta 1996 and gold in Athens 2004, Israel’s first Olympic gold medalist, Gal Fridman… Mayor of Kiryat Motzkin, Tzvi (Tziki) Avisar… Vice president of public affairs and corporate marketing at Meta/Facebook, Josh Ginsberg… President of basketball operations for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, Koby Altman… National field director at the Israel on Campus Coalition, Lauren Morgan Suriel… VP of customer success at Simplified, Suzy Goldenkranz… Actor, best known for starring in “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” Daren Maxwell Kagasoff… NYC-based wealth reporter at The Wall Street Journal, Rachel Louise Ensign… Winner of an Olympic bronze medal for Israel in taekwondo at the 2020 Games, Avishag Semberg…
