Your Daily Phil: Inside the Weinberg Foundation’s big bet on Baltimore
Add EJP on GoogleGood Tuesday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine the rising likelihood of full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah. We interview Sarah Manekin of the Weinberg Foundation about the organization’s work in Baltimore, and get the scoop on the Wexner Foundation‘s decision to spin off its fellowships into a separate organization. We feature an opinion piece by Zack Wainer, Isaac Kurtz and Doron Kenter identifying an information gap regarding male involvement in Jewish life (and why it matters), and a piece by Melissa Garlick that spotlights the role Jewish employee resource groups can play in the workplace. Also in this issue: Avi Issacharoff, Ivanka Trump and Ziva Haller Rubenstein.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
The Ruderman Family Foundation is hosting its annual conference on Israel-U.S. relations today in Tel Aviv.
We’re monitoring emerging reports of a potential framework for a lasting ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
For more than a month, Israelis have lived in a state of dissonance. While the vast majority of the country has returned to some sense of routine since ceasefires were declared with Iran and Lebanon, ending the large-scale attacks, Israel’s North has remained under regular attack by a threat that the military has not been able to effectively defend against: fiber-optic drones.
Most of these attacks by Hezbollah have targeted Israeli troops positioned in southern Lebanon, killing at least 10 soldiers over the past month. Increasingly, these attacks have targeted Israeli civilians, including drone strikes yesterday on a home in the northern town of Metulla and at a school bus stop in the border-adjacent community of Shomera, neither of which caused injuries.
In light of these attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military have indicated plans to expand attacks on the Iran-backed terrorist group. Yesterday, Netanyahu released a video statement in which he said he instructed the military to strike Hezbollah “decisively.” “Yes, they are attacking us with drones, cyber-enabled drones, and we have a special team working on this — and we will solve that too. But what this requires of us now is to intensify the blows, increase the force,” Netanyahu said.
The rising drumbeats of war come amid grave concerns about the future of Israel’s North, which has long been one of the country’s weakest regions, even before Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at the area on Oct. 8, 2023.
There is wide consensus in Israel that without addressing the severe security threats facing the North, the region will not be able to reverse emigration trends, improve the education system and boost the local economy.
As Israel prepares for a possible renewed, full-fledged war with Hezbollah, the ultimate question is if this will indeed neutralize those threats or just mark yet another bloody round of fighting in a region still struggling to rebuild after the last one.
Q&A
Inside The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation’s big bet on Baltimore
The Baltimore-based Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is one of many large Jewish foundations with local footprints. Last month, the foundation participated in the Rockefeller Foundation’s “Big Bets for America: Baltimore” conference, which focused on planning for the future and celebrating accomplishments, including the city’s plummeting homicide rate. “We are really proud of some of the great work that has happened in Baltimore, and that is getting recognition,” Sarah Manekin, the foundation’s managing director for Baltimore grantmaking, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher in a recent interview.
JD: How do you, as a large foundation, keep your ears close to the ground to find local partnerships in the communities you serve?
SM: We’ve been here for a long time. We have a lot of longstanding, deep relationships with organizations and organizational leaders. The Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore, for example, we’ve been in partnership for a very long time. Some of it is staff-to-staff — that’s one way that we kind of keep abreast of what challenges their clients are seeing, what the community is facing.
As we develop our refresh of a Baltimore strategy, we are doing two community listening campaigns, where we work with consultants around trying to make sure that we are proactively connecting with neighborhood leaders and community activists around things that matter to them.
SCOOP
Wexner Foundation to spin off North American leadership programs into new nonprofit
The Wexner Foundation told alumni last week that it will spin off its flagship leadership programs into an independent nonprofit, marking a major development within the Jewish philanthropic landscape that comes as the foundation’s benefactor, Les Wexner, continues to face pushback for his past ties to financier Jeffrey Epstein, reports Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy. The new organization is launching with a $40 million gift from Wexner and his wife, Abigail.
Long time coming: “We have long imagined a time when our leadership programs would operate on their own and pursue new opportunities for growth and impact. That time has come,” Wexner Foundation President Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson wrote in an email to alumni, which was obtained by eJP. When asked if the change was prompted by the “listening sessions” that the foundation launched earlier this year about Wexner, a spokesperson pointed to the letter, which said it had been under consideration for a long time.
BOY, OH BOY
Engaging men and boys in Jewish life: What we know, what we don’t know and what we can do
“Over the past decade, a growing body of data has forced Americans to confront an uncomfortable truth: On many of the measures that matter most for a flourishing life, men are falling behind,” write Zack Wainer, Isaac Kurtz and Doron Kenter of Maimonides Fund in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Yet even as this conversation continues to mature nationally, the American Jewish community has largely remained quiet about how men are faring within it.”
A missing metric: “Whether accidental or intentional, the spottiness of reliable data on gender participation in Jewish communal life is an indication that this measure is not widely valued by our communities. … If we want Jewish spaces to be welcoming to all, we need to know who is showing up, who is not, why, and how those patterns are changing over time.”
BEYOND AFFINITY
Resilience and belonging at work: The importance of JERGs in a challenging time
“Earlier in my career, I came to the social justice advocacy space believing deeply in the promise of collective action — the idea that when people organize together around shared values, institutions can be moved toward justice,” writes Melissa Garlick, associate vice president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Center for Combating Antisemitism, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Systems failure: “For a long time, that work felt aligned with who I was and what I believed. But over time, I began to notice a quiet tension. … Many of these spaces relied on narrow ways of understanding identity that failed to account for Jewish experience as an ethno-religion, a people, a culture or a community with an enduring connection to Israel. The absence was not always intentional, but it mattered.”
Worthy Reads
Covenant Over Count: In The Jerusalem Post, David Magerman contends through a biblical framing that Israel’s future should not be measured by demographic numbers or migration statistics, but by the refinement and dedication of those who view themselves as active soldiers in a divine mission. “As uncomfortable a truth as it may be, this winnowing process eliminated the weakest links. The Jewish people were not formed by numbers, but through a long and painful process of refinement, in which a nation of former slaves became capable of freedom, responsibility, faith, and sovereignty. In fact, the Jewish nation coming out of the wilderness was roughly the same size as the nation that entered it, but was infinitely more prepared to conquer the Land of Israel, the same land the generation of the spies was afraid to enter.” [JPost]
Legacy by Design: New York Times columnist Ross Douthat urges the next generation of wealthy AI philanthropists to move beyond social interventions and instead build enduring physical infrastructure that enriches the human experience. “[Take] a Waymo from your tech HQ or frontier A.I. lab over to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, part of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, which was funded partially by public money, but partially by that era’s gilded rich. Like other such expositions, most of the buildings were dismantled, but the Palace was beloved and endured, with a later reconstruction enabling its permanence. Sit there for a while, in a space that’s relatively ‘useless’ and yet essential to its city. Figure out what the people who funded its construction understood about beauty and the good life. Now go thou and build likewise.” [NYTimes]
Proving Israel’s Enemies Right: In an The Atlantic piece headlined “Israel’s Human Wrecking Ball,” Avi Issacharoff accuses Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who last week was filmed taunting Gaza flotilla participants, of providing ample fodder to Israel’s enemies. “The latest provocation by Ben-Gvir proved something that many Israelis have suspected for years: Ben-Gvir is not merely a nightmare for Israeli liberals, but the fulfillment of the fantasies of Israel’s enemies. He provides them with precisely the ammunition they need to argue, time and again, that Israel, in its fight against Hamas and Hezbollah, is the aggressor, and a cruel one at that. Ben-Gvir is a gift to the terrorist groups and the countries that seek Israel’s destruction.” [TheAtlantic]
Word on the Street
Boxer Floyd Mayweather is suing his former investment manager Jona Rechnitz, who also connected the former world champion to a number of Jewish and Israeli charities, for allegedly defrauding him of $175 million in assets…
Ynet interviews Dr. Jonathan Halevy, president of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, about the Koum Family Foundation’s $200 million gift to the hospital; describing how a decade of trust-building, digital-first communication and extreme discretion culminated in the largest-ever gift to an Israeli hospital…
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced plans for a last-minute spending campaign against Maureen Galindo, an antisemitic Texas Democratic candidate who garnered condemnation this week for comments calling to imprison and castrate Zionists, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
New York state lawmakers have revived the “Not on our Dime” legislation, a previously unsuccessful bill supported by Mayor Zohran Mamdani that aims to penalize nonprofits with ties to Israeli settlement activity…
Activists are urging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to deploy the National Guard for Sunday’s Israel Day on Fifth Parade to bolster security amidst growing concerns over antisemitic incidents…
The Bank of Israel lowered its interest rate to 3.75%, citing cooling inflation and reduced geopolitical tensions to stabilize the economy while warning that fiscal pressures and regional instability remain significant risks…
Ivanka Trump was the target of a reported assassination plot by Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, an Iranian-linked Iraqi militia commander who was recently extradited to the U.S. on terrorism charges…
The Wall Street Journal examines Asher Luzzatto‘s efforts to reverse the decline of downtown Denver by converting thousands of square feet of cheap office spaces into a massive residential and community hub…
Jeremy Jacobs, a former senior executive of the London’s United Synagogue, has announced his family’s decision to make aliyah to Israel due to deep-seated fears regarding the future of the British Jewish community amid rising hostility…
The National Library of Israel acquired a cookbook published in 1846 — likely authored by Lady Judith Montefiore — that is believed to be the earliest known English-language kosher cookbook, featuring cheesecake recipes and Victorian-era household advice…
The Jewish Standard profiles Naomi Eisenberger, the founder of the Good People Fund, who is retiring after a career defined by investing in passionate individuals and their grassroots, mission-driven projects…
Wix is cutting up to 1,000 jobs as it struggles with high operational costs and a strategic pivot toward generative AI…
Research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy finds that 46% of nonprofit leaders are now “very concerned” about burnout — up from 29% last year…
Alex Miller, a 23-year-old American-born lone soldier in the IDF who survived a 2022 terror attack, died last week by apparent suicide in Miami after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder…
Clarence B. Jones, a lawyer, strategist and confidant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who helped plan the March on Washington and draft the “I Have a Dream” speech, died at 95…
Stanley Lehman, a Tucson, Ariz.-based philanthropist known for his deep commitment to his family and community, died at 96…
Major Gifts
Cheryl Halpern donated a mikveh to a central Israeli Border Police base in memory of her late husband, Fred Halpern, which appears to be the first time that a ritual bath has been installed on an Israeli military base…
Oakland University President Ora Hirsh Pescovitz is donating $1 million of her own money to fund the institution to address her growing frustrations regarding the long-term decline in state and federal funding for higher education…
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are giving $1.48 million to Wilcox Medical Center on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to support advancements in medical imaging technology…
Transitions
Ziva Haller Rubenstein has been hired as director of philanthropic engagement at the Jewish Funders Network…
Jesse Primerano is joining UJA Federation of Toronto as its new vice president of mobilization, activism and engagement…
Alexander Dubrau was named director of The Leo Baeck Institute Jerusalem…
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has named Douglas J. Kahn as an at-large member of the state’s Holocaust Council…
Kevin Warsh was inaugurated as the chair of the Federal Reserve…
Pic of the Day
President Isaac Herzog (front row, fifth from left) hosts the Jerusalem Unity Prize 2026 awards ceremony on Sunday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. The annual event, held in honor of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Sha’er and Naftali Fraenkel, three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped and killed by terrorists in 2014, honors national and local initiatives that encourage social solidarity.
This year’s laureates were: the Religious Division of the Israeli Scouts Movement in the national category; the Negev-Hebron Hills Covenant Initiative in the local category; the Straus-Amiel Institute in the international category; Netur Integration Beit Midrash in the educational institutions category; and the Municipality of Eilat in the local authorities category.
Addressing the audience, Herzog denounced Israeli extremist violence in the West Bank, recent cases of vandalism by Israeli troops against Christian sites in Lebanon and appeared to criticize Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for taunting and abusing detained anti-Israel activists.
“Our people is a magnificent people, with tremendous strengths,” Herzog said. “But in order to act with those strengths, we must draw red lines. It is forbidden to abuse detainees, however contemptible they may be. It is forbidden to take the law into one’s own hands. It is forbidden to harm people of other faiths and their symbols. And we cannot tolerate this brutalization that is emerging from the margins of our society and threatening us all.”
Birthdays
Catcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Garrett Patrick Stubbs turns 33…
Public speaker, teacher and author of dozens of books on the English language, he writes a weekly column that is syndicated in newspapers throughout the U.S., Richard Lederer turns 88… Journalist and educator, the mother of Janet (anthropologist and UCSF professor), Anne (co-founder of 23andMe), and the late Susan (former CEO of YouTube), Esther Hochman Wojcicki turns 85… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-IL) since 1999, she is not seeking reelection this year, Janice Danoff “Jan” Schakowsky turns 82… Former senior vice president of news at NPR, after a lengthy career at the New York Daily News, The New York Times and the Associated Press, Michael Oreskes turns 72… Co-founder and CEO of Mobileye which he sold to Intel in 2017, he is also a professor at Hebrew University, Amnon Shashua turns 66… NYC real estate developer, past chair and board member of The Charles H. Revson Foundation and a former commissioner on the NYC Planning Commission, Cheryl Cohen Effron… Former brigadier general in the IDF, she has been a member of the Knesset for the Likud since 2009, currently serving as minister of transportation, Miriam “Miri” Regev turns 61… Counsel in the government affairs practice of Paul Hastings, Dina Ellis Rochkind… Photographer, her work has appeared in galleries and been published in books, Naomi Harris turns 53… Communications strategist at O’Connell & Goldberg, Eileen Esther Alkabes… South Florida entrepreneur, Sholom Zeines… Senior program officer for media and communications at Maimonides Fund, Rebecca Friedman… Former minor league baseball player, he has become one of the leading agents for NBA players, with five contracts of over $100 million each, Jason Glushon turns 41… Author of a book on the 1929 origins of the current Israeli and Arab conflict, Yardena Schwartz… CEO and director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, Mark Goldfeder… Co-founder of Stories Abroad Tours and consultant on policy and advocacy for progressive causes, Arielle Gingold… Assistant professor of law at Wayne State University Law School, Benjamin L. Cavataro… Toronto-born Israeli actor and singer, best known as the protagonist of the Israeli television series “Split,” Melissa Amit Farkash turns 37… Senior manager of strategic partnerships and engagement at U.S. Pharmacopeia, Morgan A. Jacobs… Eytan Merkin…
