Your Daily Phil: Who’s a rabbi these days? Inside Atra’s controversial study
Add EJP on GoogleGood Friday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we break down a recent study by Atra – Center for Rabbinic Innovation of American rabbis and rabbinical students. We review the contents of the World Zionist Congress power-sharing agreement and report on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s controversial reaction to a demonstration outside Park East Synagogue last night. We feature an opinion piece by Josh Schalk about the untapped potential of grandparents in formal Jewish education, and one by Ophelie Namiech reflecting on her experience over the past two years as an Israeli working in the field of humanitarian aid. Also in this issue: Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, Elliott Broidy and Mark Mellman.
Shabbat shalom!
What We’re Watching
President Donald Trump will meet with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at 3 p.m. ET today at the White House.
The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center will seek tonight to dethrone the Jewish community of Berlin as the host of the Guinness World Record’s largest Shabbat meal, with plans to welcome some 3,000 people for its certified kosher, vegetarian dairy dinner at the Javits Center.
The World Zionist Congress’ executive committee will vote on Sunday on a new power-sharing agreement between the center-left and center-right blocs. More on this below.
The National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education is honoring the Department of Justice’s Harmeet Dhillon on Sunday at its 85th Annual Awards Dinner in New York City.
What You Should Know
A recent study by Atra – Center for Rabbinic Innovation has been making waves in the Jewish communal world since its release last week, for reasons that its authors hoped and for ones they didn’t, report eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher and Judah Ari Gross. The report sheds light on the so-called pipeline challenges facing the American rabbinate, where rabbis are — and aren’t — applying to work and why. But the survey also raised eyebrows with the finding that 51% of current rabbinical students identify as LGBTQ+, including 12% who identified as trans or nonbinary.
There are caveats and criticisms of these statistics, namely that they do not include Modern Orthodox rabbinical students and that they bunch together substantially different seminaries that do not necessarily belong in the same group. Yet the findings of the study indicate a non-Orthodox rabbinate whose demographics are substantially different from the non-Orthodox Jewish population that it will serve.
Several leading figures within the Jewish communal world told eJP that these findings are both a symptom of and a contributor to a progressive drift among non-Orthodox denominations, which may put them at odds with mainstream Jewish communal organizations. They added that it will make it far more difficult for rabbinic programs to receive the philanthropic support that they require.
The study, which was performed by Rosov Consulting, has significant flaws, especially related to information on the Orthodox community, experts said, but they stressed that it includes important findings that offer a critical window into understanding the non-Orthodox American rabbinate. While 97% of current rabbis find their work rewarding, the workforce is aging, with only 6% under 35, and more rabbis are choosing non-congregational roles over pulpit roles, despite lower pay. This is because pulpit positions are seen as emotionally taxing with blurred boundaries and unrealistic expectations. The study also showed that 66% of current rabbinical students are entering the field after leaving another career.
Still, it’s the LGBTQ+ statistic that is gaining the most attention, even though the study cautions it “may be an overestimate.” From a demographic standpoint, the 51% figure does not align with the Jewish community’s overall makeup. A 2020 Pew study showed 9% of American Jews identify as LGBTQ+, and 25% of those under 30 identified as such. The study also shows that 12% of current students identify as trans or nonbinary — a figure that has quadrupled over the past 10 years — while less than 1.6% of Americans identify as such, according to a 2022 Williams Institute study. In contrast, the study found that there is near gender parity among non-Orthodox rabbis — 53% male rabbis, 46% female rabbis — bringing the figure closer in line with the share of women in the population.
Senior figures within the Jewish community raised concerns to eJP that the results may make it more difficult for non-Orthodox rabbinic programs to receive funding. Rabbi Shua Brick, who is considered the first openly gay Orthodox congregational rabbi, disagreed with the concerns. “I think anyone who actually was donating or cared about these rabbinical schools or anyone who’s been in these classes anytime recently will not be surprised by any of these statistics,” he said. “I don’t think it’ll change any donor’s minds.”
That these statistics won’t change the minds of donors may precisely be the problem, however, as most of the seminaries mentioned in the report are facing increasingly dire funding shortages, with many forced to sell off property and dip into their endowments to stay afloat in recent years. Indeed, Atra was formed in large part because of the lack of interest in the rabbinate by Jewish philanthropy.
EXCLUSIVE
Full World Zionist Congress power-sharing agreement shows bloat, no plans to address voter fraud
The full World Zionist Congress power-sharing agreement, which will be put to a vote on Sunday, shows significant budget increases for existing offices and a major expansion in the number of departments. It also includes no plans to address the rampant voter fraud that plagued this year’s elections, according to a copy of the document that was shared exclusively with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Growing scrutiny: The agreement comes as the so-called National Institutions — namely the World Zionist Organization and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund — are facing growing scrutiny for waste and corruption. The criticism, which is coming increasingly from figures within the Zionist system, particularly focuses on allegations of cronyism, inefficiency and pork-barrel spending, particularly by creating well-paying positions with little to no demands. Earlier this month, the centrist Yesh Atid party announced that it was withdrawing from the WZO and KKL-JNF, calling them “corrupt.”
MANHATTAN MELEE
Mamdani: Nefesh B’Nefesh event at New York synagogue promotes ‘violation of international law’
Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, distanced himself from a widely criticized demonstration outside a prominent synagogue in Manhattan on Wednesday night, where anti-Israel protesters were heard chanting “Death to the IDF” and “Globalize the intifada,” among other slogans, even as he suggested that the event, which provided information on immigrating to Israel, violated international law, reports Matthew Kassel for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Condemnation with a caveat: “The mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so,” a spokesperson for Mamdani, Dora Pekec, said in a statement to JI on Thursday. “He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law.” The protest, organized by an anti-Zionist group, took place outside Park East Synagogue, a historic Modern Orthodox congregation, at which an event was being held by Nefesh B’Nefesh, a nonprofit that assists in Jewish immigration to Israel from North America. Asked to clarify the concluding caveat from Pekec’s statement, Mamdani’s team said it “was specifically in reference to the organization’s promotion of settlement activity beyond the Green Line,” which “violates international law.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
DOR L’DOR
Leveraging intergenerational wisdom in formal Jewish education
“We spend so much time talking about the future of Jewish education — how to make it stronger, more engaging and more relevant. We pour resources into schools, revamping camp programming and reinventing Hebrew school from the ground up. All of that matters, but in the process, we’ve overlooked one of the richest, most personal resources we already have: our grandparents,” writes Josh Schalk, executive director of the Jewish Youth Promise, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
All aboard: “Grandparents carry the lived memory of what Jewish life actually is. They carry family traditions, community struggles and migration stories, and a passed-down story can teach just as much — and sometimes more — than a textbook or worksheet. … We need to stop thinking of grandparents as bonus features and start viewing them as core faculty in Jewish education. Let’s build actual frameworks where their voices aren’t just heard, but expected. If we care about Jewish continuity, we can’t just look forward. We have to look back and bring the past with us.”
SPEAKING OUT
Can’t Israelis be humanitarians?
“Recently, I have been going back and forth on LinkedIn about which country to list as my location,” writes French Israeli Ophelie Namiech, managing director of Mindset-PCS and a member of SID-Israel, the umbrella organization of the Israeli professional community in the fields of international development and humanitarian aid, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “For the past eight years, I have been based in Israel, so I initially listed Israel as my location on LinkedIn. However, with the geopolitical backlash and my very own ideological crisis in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023, combined with a clearly antagonistic stance in the humanitarian sector towards everything Israel, I switched my location to France. But I am not comfortable with that choice. I do not want to hide where and who I am.”
Still a believer: “There is something I struggle painfully to understand. If external elements, which are often very disconnected to our realities, are so eager to see a change here and in the region, why don’t we — the liberal and humanist changemakers — get the support we need to push forward? Why do we feel like we have to hide to continue doing our jobs as humanitarians? … Not long ago, amidst the physical, emotional and ideological chaos of life, I tried to leave Israel. I even left a few times. But this Israel — the Israel of change, the Israel of tomorrow — brought me back, each time. I believe in this Israel, the one that exists not only within the humanitarian sphere but in every corner where people still dare to shape a better future. So here I am. I am an Israeli humanitarian — and it’s not antinomic.”
Worthy Reads
Isaac’s Arc: In the Jewish Journal, Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz observes a lesson about building on the legacy of the past rather than trying to imitate it in the story of the biblical patriarch Isaac, which continues in this week’s Torah portion. “From day one, Isaac was a mini-Abraham. What is fascinating is that the Torah makes it clear that Isaac must find his own path. … Every generation leaves behind unfinished business for the next generation to pursue. The Talmud challenges all of us to go a step beyond what our ancestors previously did; it tells us that, ‘Our ancestors left us room wherein we can achieve our own greatness.’ And that requires an appreciation of our own unique perspective. Imitation fails because it is static. True continuity builds upon the work of previous generations.” [JewishJournal]
Research Methods: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Zahir I. Latheef shares advice for better survey design, but also encourages nonprofits not to let survey results be the sole driver of program decisions. “A member engagement pyramid is a useful framework for categorizing different levels of meaningful participation in a nonprofit. At its base are the observers and followers of the organization, and at higher levels are the individuals who are more deeply involved: those who endorse, contribute, take ownership, and ultimately lead your group. While less engaged voices matter, too often surveys lump all levels of the pyramid together, ignoring key differences in knowledge and investment. Gather insights from highly informed people at the top of your pyramid — your subject-matter experts, long-time volunteers, and donors — through interviews, focus groups, or advisory councils.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Word on the Street
A Washington Post report that the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika as a hate symbol under a new policy set to be implemented next month garnered condemnation from Jewish groups and Democratic officials, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports; Coast Guard spokesperson Jennifer Plozai told the Post that the Coast Guard would be “reviewing the language” of the new policy and later published a new policy specifying that it sees swastikas and nooses as hate symbols and that they are prohibited…
The Senate passed, by unanimous consent, legislation to ensure that Jewish soldiers buried under other religious markers receive the correct religious markers; the House already passed a separate version of the bill…
A group of Democratic lawmakers is launching a political action committee to support candidates who have prioritized tackling antisemitism, alongside standing up against other forms of hate. Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH), Laura Friedman (D-CA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA) will be chairing the committee, called the Alliance Against Antisemitism PAC. The PAC filed a statement of organization with the Federal Election Commission in October, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Elliott Broidy, a co-chairman of the Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism and Hate, explains that he purchased the original plans for the crematoria at Auschwitz in order to preserve proof of the Nazis’ “genocidal intent”…
The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle spotlights a new tuition discount program being offered by Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, Kan., to families with at least one parent or guardian employed full-time as a Jewish communal professional…
An analysis of Elon Musk’s Grokipedia by two Cornell University researchers found that the online encyclopedia cited neo-Nazi and conspiracy theorist websites, including Stormfront and Infowars, dozens of times…
The New York Times reports on Bill Ackman’s now-viral dating advice to young men: the four-word prompt, “May I meet you?”…
Chicago White Sox co-owner Justin Ishbia met this week with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, where he invited the Illinois-born pontiff and noted White Sox fan to throw the first pitch at the team’s eventual new stadium…
CNN interviews former Israeli hostage Bar Kupershtein, who was shot and then taken from the Nova music festival after he stayed at the site to assist others who had been wounded during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks…
Israel is moving forward on efforts to expropriate the West Bank archeological site of Sebastia, under which the ancient Israelite kingdom of Samaria is believed to have been located, with plans to develop the 450-acre site as a tourist attraction…
The National Book Awards awarded its top nonfiction prize to author Omar El Akkad, who railed against Israel in his acceptance speech; El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This takes a critical approach to American and European responses to the Israel-Hamas war…
Mark Mellman, a longtime Democratic political strategist and former president of Democratic Majority for Israel, died on Wednesday after a long illness, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…
Transitions
Shalom Orlando has hired Marni Mandell as its next CEO…
The International Association of Jewish Free Loans elected Terry Borer as its next president, Nancy Weissmann as executive vice president, Mindi Frankel and Kim Kaplan as vice presidents, Selwyn Isakow as treasurer and Anna Koenig as secretary…
Penn State Hillel appointed Robyn Markowitz Lawler as its next executive director, effective immediately…
Todd Warner was hired as JewishColumbus’ next director of community-wide security…
Scott Selig is joining Alpha Epsilon Pi as the fraternity’s new associate director of development for the Northeast region…
Jayne Zirkle is joining The Lawfare Project as its director of communications and outreach…
Pic of the Day
President Donald Trump speaks yesterday in the White House with a group of freed Israeli hostages — most of whom were released under the ceasefire agreement that he brokered — as the group wrapped up a week of meetings and events in New York and Washington.
During the meeting, Trump told the group that they “are not a hostage anymore… today you’re heroes.”
Birthdays
President of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and only the fifth person to serve in this role in the federation’s 120-year history, Erika B. Rudin-Luria…
FRIDAY: Director-general of the Mossad from 1982 to 1989, Nahum Admoni turns 96… British entrepreneur and philanthropist, Baron Harold Stanley Kalms turns 94… Academy Award-winning actress, director, producer and occasional singer, she founded The Hawn Foundation to help underprivileged children, Goldie Hawn turns 80… Founder, chairman and CEO of Men’s Wearhouse for 40 years, currently holding these same positions at Generation Tux, an online tuxedo rental platform, George Zimmer turns 77… Beverly Hills, Calif., resident, Julie Shuer… U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California, she is a past president of Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, Calif., Judge Beth Labson Freeman turns 72… Chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group including Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Screen Gems, Thomas Rothman turns 71… Israeli media personality, Avri Gilad turns 63… Business development officer at the San Francisco office of Taylor Frigon Capital Management, Jonathan Wornick… Vice president of planned giving and endowments at UJA-Federation of New York, William Samers… CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Jonathan A. Greenblatt turns 55… Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and editor-in-chief of Sapir, Bret Stephens (family name was Ehrlich) turns 52… Founder and publisher of the business magazine The Real Deal, Amir Korangy turns 52… Former NFL running back for the Raiders, Rams and Bears, he is now a schoolteacher, Chad Levitt turns 50… Political director of ABC News, Rick Klein turns 49… Director of global government relations at the Hershey Company, she was previously a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Joanna Liberman Turner turns 49… Consul General of the U.S. in Quebec, Danielle Hana Monosson… Reporter at Bloomberg News and Businessweek, Max Abelson… Member of the New York City Council from the Bronx, Eric Dinowitz turns 40… MLB pitcher in five organizations, now playing for the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos of the Mexican League, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Robert Stock turns 36… Director of sports engagement at the American Jewish Committee, Alexander Freeman… Judy Brilliant… Ruth Shapiro…
SATURDAY: Majority owner of MLB’s New York Mets for 33 years ending in 2020, he was a high school teammate of Sandy Koufax and went on to a successful career as a real estate developer, Fred Wilpon turns 89… Professor at NYU Law School, she worked at OMB and the National Economic Council in the Clinton White House, Sally Katzen turns 83… Novelist and screenwriter, he is editor-at-large for The Epoch Times, Roger Lichtenberg Simon turns 82… Born to a Jewish family in Tunisia, he served as a member of the Canadian House of Commons until 2006, Jacques Saada turns 78… President emeritus of the 1.9 million-member Service Employees International Union, now a senior fellow at the Economic Security Project, Andy Stern turns 75… Senior vice president of development for Hillel International, his bar mitzvah was at Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh, Tim R. Cohen… Television personality, previously an advertising executive, Donny Deutsch turns 68… IT specialist at the IRS, Martin Robinson… Chairman of Dynamo Kyiv (Kyiv’s soccer team) since 2002, Ihor Surkis turns 67… Author of multiple New York Times bestsellers, Peggy Orenstein turns 64… Classical composer, conductor and pianist, Benjamin Yusupov turns 63… President and CEO of Paramount Pictures, known professionally as Brian Robbins, Brian Levine turns 62… Israeli film and television actor, Ishai Golan turns 52… Senior editor at The City and columnist and editorial writer for the New York Daily News, Harry Siegel turns 48… Former State Department spokesperson and deputy to the U.S.’ United Nations ambassador, Edward “Ned” Price turns 43… Actress, she is the highest-grossing female box office star of all time, Scarlett Johansson turns 41… Vice president of communications and media relations for theSkimm, Jessica Sara (Turtletaub) Pepper… Actor, who has appeared in films directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, the Coen brothers and Warren Beatty, Alden Ehrenreich turns 36… Actor and comedian, he was on the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” Jon Rudnitsky turns 36… Social media personality known as Baby Ariel, she has 36 million followers on TikTok, Ariel Rebecca Martin turns 25… Former chief of staff to Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Yarden Golan…
SUNDAY: Former Mayor of Pasadena, Calif., Terry Tornek turns 80… Senior U.S. District Court Judge in Massachusetts, Judge Mark L. Wolf turns 79… Senate minority leader (D-NY), Chuck Schumer turns 75… Phoenix resident, Richard S. Levy… Board member of the Yitzhak Rabin Center and former member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Andrea Lavin Solow… President of Eastern Savings Bank in Hunt Valley, Md., Yaakov S. Neuberger… Emeritus professor of Jewish studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, Elliot R. Wolfson turns 69… Long Beach, N.Y., resident, Ellen P. Shiff… Graduate of Hebrew University, he is a Los Angeles-based cost and management accountant, Simon Ordever… Israeli-born entrepreneur, Raanan Zilberman turns 65… Television personality and author of both fiction and nonfiction books, Keith Ablow turns 64… Founder of Union Main Group, a private holding company focused on platform buildups of small companies, Marc Hanover… Professor of chemistry at Northwestern University, Chad Mirkin turns 62… Former owner of the NFL’s Washington Commanders, Daniel Snyder turns 61… Neurosurgeon specializing in the treatment of brain tumors and aneurysms, he is a professor at Indiana University School of Medicine, Aaron Cohen-Gadol turns 55… Senior vice president at Glen Echo Group, Amy Schatz… Berlin-based journalist on the Bloomberg News Automation team, Leonid Bershidsky turns 54… Executive at Hakluyt & Company, Keith Lieberthal… Senior vice president and financial advisor at UBS Financial Services in Baltimore, P. Justin “P.J.” Pearlstone… Partner at Blueprint Interactive for digital strategy, Geoff Mackler… Senior tribal policy manager in the office of the Attorney General of Washington State, Erin Ross… Independent art dealer, Hillel “Helly” Nahmad turns 49… Associate at Herbst & Weiss, Shmuel Winiarz… New England regional director for J Street, Jasmine Gothelf Winship… Rapper, singer, songwriter and recording artist, better known under her stage name Lanz Pierce, Alana Michelle Josephs turns 36… Former pitcher on the Israeli National Baseball Team, now working in renewable energy in Seattle, Corey A. Baker turns 36… Development and grant writer for Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans (Beit Halochem), Elise Fischer… Toronto-based lyricist, author and playwright, Naomi Matlow…
