The past 16 months have been particularly challenging for the universalist interpretation of the concept of Tikkun Olam as in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, the Jewish world’s attention focused inward and began more warily eyeing international human rights organizations as many adopted potently anti-Israel stances. Add to that the decision by the White House last month to freeze the USAID program, the largest financial supporter of international development programs in the world. To better understand the field of Jewish and Israeli humanitarian relief work, eJewishPhilanthropy Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross spoke with Dyonna Ginsburg, CEO of Olam, a network of Jewish and Israeli organizations and individuals in the fields of aid and development.  

Judah Ari Gross: It seems like this has been a very hard year for Tikkun Olam, at least for the term and the way that it’s been used in a lot of cases in the United States. There’s this tension that people see between the universalist elements of the Jewish community and the particularist aspects of it. A lot of the universalist ideas have come out in this term of Tikkun Olam, that ‘What does it mean to be Jewish?’ That you go and help the world writ large. And over the past 16 months… there’s been a shift… a move towards particularism and more of an interest in focusing on Israel, on the Jewish community… What have you been seeing over the past 16 months and what is this doing for the field overall? 

Dyonna Ginsburg: Like most of Israeli society, our network was deeply impacted [by the Oct. 7 attacks]. Within our network, one of the founders of one of our partner organizations, Vivian Silver, was killed on Oct. 7 in her home in Kibbutz Beeri. She was a personal friend and colleague of mine. Another partner, [Fair Planet, which assists African farmers,] their founder and president [Shoshan Haran], was taken hostage and was released in November 2023…. It hit us really hard very soon and it was clear that, while those were the two most extreme examples, almost all of our partner organizations were impacted… In terms of our Jewish world partners, we also saw them face a lot of challenges as a result of Oct. 7. In certain cases, there were partnerships that they had that were strained with local partners.

We also have seen major philanthropic shifts. As you said yourself, Jewish philanthropy has shifted mostly to supporting Israel and combating antisemitism… And then in tandem, we were seeing examples of general philanthropy, non-Jewish philanthropy that was distancing itself from Israeli organizations or even Jewish organizations that are not Israeli. Some may call that antisemitism, others may see that as just wanting to keep out of the political fray, but we saw both of those things happen at the same time. 

For many Jews who are working in the broader sector and secular organizations, the past 16 months have been a time of isolation, a strange relationship with colleagues, of feeling out of sync with the communications that were coming out of their organizations, that even putting aside their own politics or loyalty or allegiance to Israel, they felt violated some basic tenets of humanitarian principles around impartiality and neutrality. And so we saw a major growth in Jews who were working in the broader sector and secular organizations looking for a Jewish space where they could brainstorm with others and seek support and be in community with others who were facing similar challenges. 

JAG: Going into the USAID funding freeze… Obviously, [even if this is] a temporary situation, it is having real-world ramifications… lives are being lost. But [is there a sense in the field if this] is a temporary situation or that this is the start of a new reality in the international development world?

DG: I think the general sense is that this represents a pretty serious dismantling and not just something temporary… The general sense in the sector is that this is not just a reorganization or trying to figure out ways to make it more efficient, but this is a serious shift in terms of US policy. 

JAG: What role do you see philanthropy playing considering it’s not going to be able to match what was being given by the federal government?

DG: In terms of the Jewish and Israeli sector, I think the case is the same case that we’ve been trying to make since Olam has existed, over the last 10 years. My own background is that I was first involved in domestic social change work in Israel and I am somebody that my instinct is that charity or justice work begins at home, whether that’s in the Jewish community or in Israel. In more recent years, up until Oct. 7, something clicked for me, and it was the confluence of COVID-19, climate change and [the war in] Ukraine, in which it became very clear that, as a Jewish community, we’re not immune to larger forces in the world, and it was much easier for Olam to make the case that a Jewish philanthropist should be supporting this work, from a values place or an interest place, but also just realizing that the Jewish community is part of a larger world.

Creating relationships don’t always translate into high-level diplomacy but I do believe that those relationships are significant in the long run, and so I think the case is for philanthropists who want to see the Jewish people stepping up and showing up in the world in the best possible way to ensure that those organizations who have been doing this work over the last 16 months and have been beset by numerous challenges are still able to do that work, and philanthropy can play a really significant role there.

[Also,] not every young Jew is going to come to Israel, either for safety or security concerns or for other reasons, they are not going to come. And there’s data that proves that being in an immersive, well-done volunteer program can be deeply impactful for their Jewish identity and also positively impact the communities that they serve… A lot of Olam partners that offer global volunteering opportunities [provide] the opportunity to be serving alongside young Israeli peers in a third location… While not as impactful as being in an immersive experience in Israel, the experience of actually volunteering side by side with young Israelis or young Jews from around the world can be a very powerful both Israel engagement and Jewish peoplehood tool.