Your Daily Phil: ADL chief stresses ‘rule of law’ in deportation cases
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new fund to offset tuition costs for those affected by the Los Angeles wildfires and on the recipients of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s inaugural Resilience Award for Children and Youth. We feature an opinion piece by Jonathan Greenblatt about the recent targeting of students with a history of anti-Israel activity by federal authorities, and one by Dan Ostrower revealing the ways unaffiliated Jewish families are actually interested in being engaged according to recent research commissioned by the Jim Joseph Foundation. Also in this newsletter: Seth Cohen, Adam Milstein and Darius Jones.
What We’re Watching
The Israeli volunteering organization Yahel and Repair the World are hosting a summit tomorrow morning in Bat Yam, Israel, outside of Tel Aviv, focused on “advancing the field of International Service in Israel.”
Three released Israeli hostages will share their stories tonight at Washington’s Adas Israel Congregation.
The National Hillel Basketball Tournament kicks off today at the University of Maryland and will continue through the weekend. More than 400 Jewish student-athletes are expected to participate, with some 1,500 fans expected in the stands.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco is hosting a “Freedom Seder” tonight, with guests including San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, California state Sen. Jesse Arreguin and state Assemblymember Catherine Stefani.
Women of Reform Judaism and other faith organizations are holding a prayer vigil today outside of the Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments regarding a petition from a number of religious organizations against the Department of Homeland Security’s repeal of a policy preventing officers from searching and arresting people in houses of worship.
The 14th International Jerusalem “Winner” Marathon will be held tomorrow morning in the Israeli capital. Tens of thousands of people are expected to run in the event, including many raising money for dozens of registered nonprofits.
What You Should Know
Jewish Federation Los Angeles, along with Emily Kane Miller, the founder and CEO of Ethos Giving, has launched a new multimillion-dollar fund to cover half of the tuition costs for Jewish preschool and summer camps for people affected by the L.A. wildfires, the organization announced on Wednesday, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
The Helping Uplift Generations (HUG) Fund can be used for the 2025 summer and the upcoming 2025-2026 school year. The L.A. federation has invested an initial $2 million in the fund from its Wildfire Crisis Relief Fund and has enlisted Jewish celebrities to help spread the word about it.
“The HUG Fund will provide fire-impacted families tuition reduction for Jewish early childhood centers and Jewish overnight summer camp not only to preserve Jewish life, but also in the hopes of welcoming new members into the community, regardless of prior involvement,” the federation said in a statement.
Miller, who developed the idea for the initiative with the federation, lost her home in the Palisades Fire in January. “As someone who is personally living through loss and feelings of displacement, the thing I know we all need right now – and what the Jewish community does best in times of crisis – is a big hug,” Miller said in a statement. “These funds have the dual value of wrapping our arms around each other today and focusing our resources on the future at the same time.”
According to the L.A. federation, some 1,000 Jewish families lost their homes or have had them deemed uninhabitable in the wildfires, which devastated Los Angeles earlier this year. Several synagogues were also destroyed or damaged in the blazes.
“When disaster strikes, it can alter life trajectories and weaken communal bonds,” said Rabbi Noah Farkas, CEO of the L.A. federation. “This strategic fund is designed to address the urgent needs of Jewish families and uphold our collective commitment to Jewish life as a valuable cornerstone that supports our families to rebuild with dignity, resilience and hope.”
CHILDHOOD HEROES
Jewish Agency honors 26 kids for wartime efforts, including teens who helped soldiers during Oct. 7 attacks, advocates for hostages
Gali Eilon, 16, guided soldiers under fire during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. Rajwan Safadi, a 10-year-old from Majdal Shams, warned friends of an incoming missile attack despite being injured. Harel Handin, an 11-year-old living with cerebral palsy, advocates for hostages. These are a few of the 13 recipients of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s inaugural Resilience Award for Children and Youth, which was given in recognition of “their efforts during the war” at a ceremony in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening. Other winners include children and teenagers who volunteer with displaced people, advocate for Israel on social media, memorialize those killed in the war and more, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross. In addition to the 13 recipients of the award, who received a scholarship of NIS 4,000 ($1,100), another 13 received “commendations” at the award ceremony.
In memoriam: The Resilience Award for Children and Youth was launched earlier this year by the Jewish Agency’s Fund for the Victims of Terror in honor of Ofir Libstein, the mayor of the Gaza-adjacent Sha’ar Hanegev region, and his son, Nitzan, who had overcome post-traumatic stress disorder as a child, both of whom were killed, separately, during the Oct. 7 attacks on their home kibbutz of Kfar Aza. “The Resilience Award for Children and Youth is a tribute to the legacy of Ofir and our son Nitzan, may their memories be for a blessing,” Vered Libstein, Ofir’s wife and Nitzan’s mother, said at the event. “It emphasizes education, leadership, personal example, and, above all, resilience that flows from the individual to the broader community. Our recovery as a society and a nation rests on the shoulders of this young generation, whose actions, even at a young age, inspire admiration and appreciation.”
RESIST FALSE BINARIES
We must fight for Jewish students — and our values — amid deportation crackdown
“‘When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves,’ wrote Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl almost 80 years ago. This insight has captivated his readers, and to me it means that even in the most difficult of circumstances we need to stay true to our principles,” writes Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “This feels like one of those moments.”
Hanging in the balance: “As an organization that has fought for a minority community for more than 100 years, ADL is incredibly sensitive to the importance of allowing all views to be expressed — even those that we or the majority of Americans disagree with. We should be holding people accountable for actual crimes, not Orwellian thoughtcrimes. We can hold perpetrators of unlawful antisemitism accountable while maintaining a commitment to the Constitution… No one should minimize the hateful, violent acts committed against Jewish students. But if we sacrifice our constitutional freedoms in the pursuit of security, we undermine the very foundation of the diverse, pluralistic society we seek to defend.”
Bonus: Greenblatt spoke with Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider about his organization’s initial support for the Trump administration’s deportation efforts followed by concerns with how they were being carried out.
DATA DIVE
Reinventing Hebrew school? Think about your audience first
In late 2024, the Emergent Strategy Team at the Jim Joseph Foundation commissioned research “to understand the unmet needs of unaffiliated Jewish families with school-aged kids,” writes Dan Ostrower, founder of 3rd Horizon LLC, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “While the research project was known as ‘Reinventing Hebrew School,’ the clearest takeaway was simple: families today want individualized and varied opportunities to engage in Jewish life. Even as many congregations have worked to improve their Hebrew school, with many making real strides toward positive outcomes, the findings show that for Jewish families like those in our study, even a reimagined Hebrew school isn’t the answer.”
An opportunity revealed: “Through a literature review, a series of expert discussions and ethnographic interviews with families, the researchers were able to learn about families who are Jewish but, according to them, are not served by Jewish communal institutions. To be clear, these unserved Jewish families — about 70% of American Jews — aren’t a monolith. They are diverse in terms of upbringings, family makeup, socioeconomic status and sense of Jewish identity. But the research does show that they tend to fall into three broad groups… The research uncovered an opportunity bigger than elementary-age education alone. Rather than focusing on reinventing Hebrew school — an education strategy — the real opportunity is for an integrated family strategy. This shift directly reflects the diversity of the needs, desires and pain points of the majority Jewish population.”
Worthy Reads
A Stitch in Time: On his blog, “Notes From An Optimistic Tribe,” Seth Cohen sees this as a critical moment to secure the post-Oct. 7 “Surge” firmly in the fabric of Jewish life alongside “the Core.” “In my hometown of Atlanta… [the] city is not only metaphorically, but also physically and economically, divided… Led by some visionary leaders (including my fellow Wexner Heritage alumnus, AJ Robinson), there is a bold initiative to stitch together its fragmented downtown neighborhoods torn apart by the 75/85 connector by creating a park built over the highway that will create a walkable park and new opportunities to create social and commercial connection. This project, referred to as ‘the Stitch,’ is still in its early phases, but has captured many an imagination, including mine. Which is why I am more and more convinced we must do the same within Jewish life — literally and figuratively overcoming the roadblocks that keep us apart. I call this strategy The Weave — a deliberate, tactical approach to tightly weave together the surge and the core, ensuring that our current momentum doesn’t unravel into isolated moments, but instead forms durable, interconnected networks that also stem the momentum of the aforementioned Switch [Jewish disaffiliation].” [NotesFromAnOptimisticTribe]
Resisting Trump on the Quad: In The New York Times, former Harvard President Lawrence Summers raises concerns about the Trump administration’s approach to universities, following the recent deal between Columbia and the government to work toward restoring hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding. “The White House has not confined its efforts to claims about discrimination. The administration seeks to dictate what universities do on matters ranging from student discipline to academic organization to campus policing. Universities facing those threats should make clear they are willing to negotiate with government officials only over matters covered by statute and through the procedures laid out in the law. … And to maintain the moral high ground, which universities have in large part lost, they need a much more aggressive reform agenda focused on antisemitism, celebrating excellence rather than venerating identity, pursuing truth rather than particular notions of social justice and promoting diversity of perspective as the most important dimension of diversity. That will not happen through universities’ usual deliberative processes, which give too much power to faculty members who have political agendas. It will require strong, determined leaders backed by confident and competent trustees.” [NYTimes]
Strategic Advice: In his eponymous Substack, Adam Milstein calls for transformative action in the Jewish philanthropy sphere. “The current moment is not merely another crisis point in Jewish history — it represents a fundamental shift in the nature of threats facing our community. The sophistication of modern antisemitism, combined with the emergence of what I term the ‘Islamo-leftist Alliance,’ presents challenges that traditional philanthropic models are ill-equipped to address. While Jewish Federations of North America demonstrated remarkable capacity by raising approximately $1 billion in response to Oct. 7, the subsequent challenges in deploying these resources effectively highlighted systemic inefficiencies that demand innovative solutions… As we consider the path forward, I encourage all leaders in Jewish philanthropy to embrace these four principles. Stay mentally sharp by challenging conventional thinking and developing sophisticated analytical capabilities. Stay physically strong by building robust institutional defenses and security protocols. Maintain sustainable resource allocation to ensure long-term impact. And above all, dedicate your time and energy to what you believe in most deeply.” [AdamMilstein]
Word on the Street
Dozens of Jewish Federation leaders met with members of Congress in Washington yesterday to address the financial challenges facing the Jewish community, urging lawmakers to continue providing assistance through vital federal funding for human services…
While condemning antisemitism, Hillel CEO Adam Lehman warned in a statement that the Trump administration’s plan to deport students involved in pro-Palestinian protests and freeze funding to schools over campus antisemitism could unfairly affect Jewish students and worsen the issue. He called for due process, emphasizing that legal actions were not a “cure-all” to combat campus antisemitism and a “multi-faceted” approach is needed…
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel was formulating the “necessary steps” in response to the Trump administration’s imposition of import tariffs; Israel faces a 17% tariff on exports to the United States…
Jewish Insider interviews a Gazan man who took part in recent protests in the Palestinian enclave against the Hamas terror group…
Sharona Nazarian was sworn in as Beverly Hills mayor on April 1. In her inauguration remarks, Nazarian — who is not to be confused with philanthropist Sharon Nazarian — noted that her family had come to the U.S. from Iran because of religious persecution…
New York’s Frick Collection hosted a gala on Monday night to mark its reopening, raising some $3.7 million for the museum. Attendees included Christine and Steve Schwarzman, Jo Carole and Ronald Lauder, and Nathalie Kaplan…
Neil and Emily Kishter donated $1 million to Boca Raton Regional Hospital…
Hillel Ontario is reviewing its incident reporting system following the March 26 arrest of a 17-year-old who sent more than 100 violent threats to Jewish students in Waterloo and Guelph through the Hillel’s online system…
Chabad emissaries and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine have distributed Passover kits and shmura matzot to tens of thousands of Jewish households in 169 communities. For the first time, specially designed “smallest in the world” matzot were provided to hundreds of Jewish soldiers on the front lines…
Professor Avi Domb has been appointed president-elect of the Jerusalem College of Technology, replacing the current president, professor Chaim Sukenik, who will be retiring after three terms in October…
American Jewish University has launched a free online college-level course course titled “American Jewish Ethnic Studies,” which is designed to fulfill California’s mandated ethnic studies requirement for high school students while including the Jewish-American history that is omitted or misrepresented in some programs…
Doon and John Foster donated $6 million to the College of Wooster to support the restoration and modernization of Otelia Compton Hall and enhance residential improvements on campus…
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is dropping out of the Democratic primary and will run for reelection as an independent…
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg purchased a home in Washington’s Woodland Normanstone neighborhood for $23 million in cash…
A district judge in California ruled that a lawsuit filed by Jewish students against the University of California, Berkeley can move forward; the plaintiffs alleged that university administrators did not act to address antisemitic harassment of Jewish students…
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen is mounting an effort to buy the ice cream producer back from Unilever, which purchased it in 2000, amid disagreements over the compnay’s social activism…
Officials at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis removed items from a display commemorating female Jewish graduates ahead of a visit earlier this week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as part of a broader pattern in the federal government of taking down exhibitions recognizing women and minority groups; a spokesperson for the academy said the items had “mistakenly” been removed…
An Israeli toddler hiking with her family near the town of Bet Shemesh found a nearly 4,000-year old amulet believed to be affiliated with the Canaanites…
Pic of the Day
Darius Jones, founder and president of the National Black Empowerment Council, signs a memorandum of understanding last week, on behalf of a group of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with Chaim Hames, the rector of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The MOU was signed as part of a visit to Israel by 18 senior leaders of HBCUs, who signed a similar agreement with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, while discussions with Tel Aviv University are ongoing.
“At a time when misinformation clouds judgment and antisemitism gains ground in elite academic spaces, this delegation cut through the noise,” Jones said in a statement. “What they discovered was a country rich with innovation, diversity, and democratic resilience. And in response, they extended a hand not just in solidarity — but in collaboration.”
Birthdays
Author, speaker and vice president at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson…
Democratic political strategist, founder in 2014 of GenderAvenger, Gina Glantz… Member of the Los Angeles City Council until 2022, he was previously a three-term member of the California State Assembly, Paul Koretz… Dean at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University and a contributing writer of The Atlantic, Eliot Asher Cohen… Singer, songwriter and music producer, Craig Reid Taubman… Jazz pianist, arranger and composer, best known for his film and television scores, James Gelfand… CEO of Phase 2 Media, he is the former chairman of the Fox Television Entertainment Group, Sandy Grushow… President and CEO of MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays, Mark Shapiro… Defense attorney and CNN commentator, he has represented five U.S. governors facing impeachment proceedings, Ross H. Garber… Associate justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, Raquel Montoya-Lewis… Member of the Knesset for the New Hope party, Ze’ev Elkin… Chief public affairs officer at Jewish United Fund – Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Daniel Goldwin… Washington correspondent for Israel’s public broadcasting corporation, Nathan Guttman… Author of two books and senior legal analyst for CNN, Elie Honig… Award-winning Israeli classical pianist who currently lives in NYC, Ran Dank… Israeli screen, stage and television actress, Dana Ivgy… NYC-based independent filmmaker, who, together with his younger brother Benjamin, directed and wrote the 2019 film “Uncut Gems” starring Adam Sandler, Joshua Safdie… Retired television and film actress, Amanda Bynes… Emmy Award-winning actress, comedian and writer, Rachel Bloom… Television personality, she was the lead on 10th season of “The Bachelorette,” Andi Janette Dorfman… Manager of developer programs at Block, Eva Sasson… Harry Zieve Cohen… Professional tennis player, Madison Brengle… Freelance director and journalist, Daniel Lombroso… Analyst at Balbec Capital, Zach Pearlstone…
