Your Daily Phil: After many happy returns: Schusterman holds final ROI Summit
Add EJP on GoogleGood Monday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we cover the opening of the final ROI Summit in Jerusalem. We spotlight the launch of the Shalom Hartman Institute’s yearlong celebration and consideration of America’s 250th anniversary, and we report on a $17.6 million gift to a Toronto Jewish day school honoring two slain philanthropists. In the latest installment of eJP’s exclusive opinion column, “The 501(C) Suite,” Mark Charendoff challenges some conventional wisdom about Israel education, and we feature an opinion piece by Stephanie G. Wapner laying out how to better engage mid-level administrators and staff in the fight against antisemitism on campus. Also in this issue: Yolanda Savage-Narva, Rabbi Rolando Matalon and Rep. Josh Gottheimer.
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 Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies’ final ROI Summit kicked off last night in Jerusalem and continues through Wednesday celebrating the conclusion of the program’s 20-year run. More on this below.
In Jerusalem, the Jerusalem News Syndicate’s policy summit continues into its second day, after an opening plenary on Sunday that included remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Today’s program includes Israeli President Isaac Herzog; Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana; Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon; Rafael Chairman Yuval Steinitz; Aryeh Lightstone, advisor to White House Envoy Steve Witkoff; and Caroline Glick, advisor to Netanyahu.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JUSTIN HAYET
Two decades and 1,700 participants later, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies will sunset its ROI Community on July 1. But before the lights dim on the program, which has cultivated many of the Jewish world’s top leaders, some 300 ROIers from across the world and its 20 years gathered one last time in Jerusalem. The summit kicked off last night and runs through Wednesday.
The evening opened with Beri Rozenberg and Tamar Gil Menachem, ROI’s co-directors, praising its creator, Lynn Schusterman: “You chose to trust leaders before the outcomes were totally clear.” The night’s theme, they said, was hope and new beginnings. ROI is closing, Rozenberg told those gathered, but the work, the relationships, and the responsibilities this community shares are not: “This may be the last ROI Summit, but the beginning of the next era of what you will accomplish, both individually and collectively.”
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
AMERICA 250
Shalom Hartman’s Beit Midrash for America offers a ‘more complex form of patriotism’
The Shalom Hartman Institute’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of America will last an entire year, seeking to answer a single question: “How does the story of American Jewish success intersect with thousands of years of Jewish wisdom to inform how American Jews tackle today’s challenges and imagine the years to come?” reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
Time to reflect: The yearlong program, titled Hartman Beit Midrash for America at 250, launched earlier this month and will include in-person events, podcast episodes, holiday guides, educational resources and a special issue of Shalom Hartman’s Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, to coincide with July’s semiquincentennial. “The 250th is a moment for reflection on American Jewish life, American Jewish thriving, and also on America itself and what Jews owe America,” Claire Sufrin, director of research and publication at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, told eJP.
MAJOR GIFTS
Daughter of slain philanthropists endows fund to lower Toronto day school tuition in their honor
Kaelen Sherman has donated CAD 25 million ($17.6 million) to establish a fund to provide tuition assistance to students of the Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, in honor of her parents, Honey and Barry Sherman, who were killed in 2017, according to the UJA-Federation of Toronto, which facilitated the gift, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
In memoriam: “This initiative is a fitting tribute to Honey and Barry’s legacy. As community leaders who grew up in modest homes, Honey and Barry always approached their leadership with the belief that everyone who wants to be a part of the community should be welcomed in, without facing financial barriers,” the federation said in a statement.
Opinion
THE 501(C) SUITE
On the virtue of not meeting learners where they are
“There’s a phrase that has quietly become the governing philosophy of Israel education: Meet learners where they are,” writes Mark Charendoff, president of Maimonides Fund, in the latest installment of eJewishPhilanthropy’s exclusive opinion column, “The 501(C) Suite.” “It sounds humble. It sounds learner-centered. It has the ring of progressive pedagogy and good pastoral instinct. It is also, if taken seriously as an educational principle, a recipe for going nowhere.”
What’s the problem?: “The crisis is a deficit of conviction — conviction that Israel literacy matters, that certain texts and practices and historical memories are worth transmitting even to people who did not ask for them, that education has goals that exist prior to and independent of what any given learner shows up wanting.”
CAMPUS SCENE
The missing piece in combating campus antisemitism
“American higher education is confronting a significant crisis regarding Jewish student life, yet much of the national conversation about campus antisemitism has focused on presidents and chancellors, which keeps it at a level far removed from the staff who actually shape daily student life: deans, provosts, diversity and inclusion directors, counseling center staff and spiritual life leaders,” writes Stephanie G. Wapner, director of administrator engagement programs at the Academic Engagement Network, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
What’s missing: “The mid-level administrators with whom I have had the privilege to work care deeply about their students, including Jewish students. But empathy alone cannot substitute for the knowledge and skills required to recognize antisemitism, support Jewish students effectively and respond appropriately when incidents occur.”
Worthy Reads
Walk the Walk: In The Times of Israel, Rabbi Mary Zamore, the soon-to-retire executive director of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, reflects on areas of progress and remaining challenges for achieving equity in the rabbinate. “I have learned that agreement is not the same as implementation. Policies do not automatically become practices. Statements of values do not automatically become workplace cultures. And institutional commitments often fail to translate into lived experience. Today’s challenge is no longer convincing people that equity matters. It is ensuring that our commitments are reflected in lived experience.” [TOI]
Nostalgia Is Not Enough: In Philanthropy Roundtable, John Altman argues that universities risk losing philanthropic support as younger, debt-burdened graduates grow increasingly disenchanted with their alma maters. “The largest intergenerational wealth transfer in American history is about to unfold…. institutions that wish to preserve the philanthropic support on which they depend must recognize that the donor landscape is changing rapidly. Nostalgia alone is no longer enough. Universities that embrace accountability, affordability, intellectual seriousness and reform will continue to earn support. Those that do not may discover that donor patience, like donor capital, is finite.” [PhilanthropyRoundTable]
Beyond Belonging: In the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Union for Reform Judaism’s Yolanda Savage-Narva cites Juneteenth to argue that Jewish communities must move beyond symbolic inclusion. “Juneteenth reminds us that progress comes not from a single moment but from ongoing acts of recognition and respect. The future of Jewish life depends on whether we are willing to widen the circle of leadership and invest in people whose gifts have too often been overlooked. If we do, we will create communities that are more vibrant, more resilient and more reflective of who we already are.” [JTA]
Major Gifts
The parents of an 8-year-old Israeli boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy crowdfunded $3.2 million for gene therapy in one month from over 42,000 donors, following the government’s refusal to cover the cost…
The Canadian Jewish News spotlights Beit Rayim Synagogue in Vaughan, Ontario, whose members have donated 7,000 school lunches over the past two years…
Transitions
The Jewish Federation of Upstate South Carolina appointed a new executive leadership team with Mitch Wolin serving as president, alongside Larry Pearlman as vice president, Randy Vogenberg as treasurer, Yelena Trepetin as secretary and Miki Karni as director of Jewish family services…
Hillary Aiken has been named head of philanthropy and development at the 23andMe Research Institute…
Word on the Street
Keir Starmer stepped down as U.K. Prime Minister and Labour leader as he was expected to lose the confidence of his party; Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, is expected to succeed him…
Vice President JD Vance cautioned pro-Israel advocates against conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism, while also warning against prioritizing Israeli interests over American interests, Jewish Insider‘s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports……
Israelis overwhelmingly believe Iran won the war against the U.S. and Israel and view its conclusion negatively, a new survey by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found. More than 9 in 10 respondents (92%), surveyed between June 17-20, said Tehran emerged as the victor, according to The Times of Israel, and nearly 70% said President Donald Trump’s management of the war was “failed” or “poor,” Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports…
Nefesh B’Nefesh announced the eight recipients of the Sylvan Adams Bonei Zion Prize, which recognized immigrants’ contributions to the State of Israel: Danielle Abraham, the co-founder and executive director of Volcani International Partnerships and ReGrow Israel; Ami Baran, head of the Israel Athletics Association; former Strategic Affairs Minister and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer; Rabbanit Chana Henkin, the founder and chancellor of Nishmat; Philip Klipstein, senior principal scientist at SemiConductor Devices Ltd.; Naomi Stuchiner, the founder of Beit Issie Shapiro; Barak Swarttz, founder of GRIT for Good; and neuropharmacology professor Marta Weinstock-Rosin…
The Adelson family has restructured its majority stake in the Las Vegas Sands across four newly established Nevada trusts; the company was recently valued at $19.6 billion…
Israel’s National Insurance Institute projects that the state will exhaust its financial reserves by 2035, a decade earlier than expected, due to a poorly planned 2018 reform that dramatically expanded eligibility and tripled expenditures without proper actuarial oversight…
A threatening letter containing a bullet was sent to an Italian mayor in the Piedmont region warning against further settlement of Israeli families in the area, claiming violence will follow if the community continues to grow…
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency interviews Rabbi Rolando Matalon of B’nai Jeshurun on his 40-year tenure at the Manhattan synagogue in advance of his upcoming retirement…
Delegates at the United Auto Workers convention in Detroit voted on Thursday to divest from Israel Bonds, citing the war in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
A Birmingham, Ala., preschooler was disenrolled from the city’s Levite Jewish Community Center after her father accidentally left a firearm in her backpack, which security quickly recovered before any children were aware of the incident…
Rabbi Philip Lazowski, a Holocaust survivor and rabbi in Hartford, Conn., who authored 16 books, died last Thursday at 96…
Yaacov Agam, Israeli kinetic art pioneer whose motion-based sculptures and paintings earned him the Israel Prize and left a mark on public spaces from Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square to the Pompidou Center in Paris, died on Sunday at 98…
Alan Greenspan, the legendary chair of the Federal Reserve who served under four presidents, died today at 100…
Pic of the Day
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) speaks with students last week at Yavneh Academy in Paramus, N.J., about the “importance of standing up against hate, leading with courage and working together to build stronger, more inclusive communities,” his office said.
“I’m proud to see the dedication these students bring to the challenges facing our communities,” Gottheimer said in a statement after the visit. “Their willingness to engage, ask tough questions, and lead by example is truly inspiring, and gives me tremendous hope for the future.”
Birthdays
Past president of the UJA-Federation of New York, Alisa Robbins Doctoroff (seen with Glenda Grace)…
A leading securities, corporate and M&A attorney, he is a founding partner of the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Martin Lipton turns 95… Washington-based senior representative of Israel Aerospace Industries from 1969 to 2017, Marvin Klemow turns 89… Jerusalem-born 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, she is the director of a research center at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Ada Yonath turns 87… U.K. judge who chaired high-profile hearings on ethics in the media, currently serving as the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Commissioner, Sir Brian Henry Leveson turns 83… Winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for physics, he is a professor at Brown University, J. Michael Kosterlitz turns 83… Justice on Israel’s Supreme Court until 2014, she was previously the Israeli state prosecutor for eight years, Edna Arbel turns 82… Member of the California state Assembly until 2022, now a judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Richard Hershel Bloom turns 73… Partner at Shibolet & Co., one of Israel’s largest corporate law firms, Yoram Raved turns 70… AIPAC director for Greater Washington, Deborah Adler… Chair of the kindergarten and pre-K division of Bowman Ashe/Doolin K-8 Academy in Miami, Fla., Cynthia Rosenbluth Huss… U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) turns 66… Former member of the Knesset for the Hatnuah and Zionist Union parties, Robert Tiviaev turns 65… Creator of the Android operating system, which he sold to Google, Andy Rubin turns 64… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, now serving as deputy prime minister and minister of justice, Yariv Gideon Levin turns 57… SVP at Red Banyan PR, Kelcey Kintner… Writer, director and film producer, he is a two-time Israeli Academy Award winner and the founder of Hey Jude Productions, Dani Menkin turns 56… Program director at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Rafi Rone… Senior correspondent and columnist for Haaretz and author of a biography of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Anshel Pfeffer turns 53… Israeli jazz vocalist and composer, Julia Feldman turns 47… COO of TR Capital Management, Ahron Rosenthal… Retired MLB second baseman, he played for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics and managed the team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Ian Kinsler turns 44… Russian-Israeli Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of Russia’s largest social network VK.com and the Selectel data network center, Lev Binzumovich Leviev turns 42… Baltimore-based endodontist, Jeffrey H. Gardyn, DDS… Israeli Muay Thai kick boxing champion, Ilya Grad turns 39… Israeli-born basketball player with 10 NBA seasons, Omri Casspi turns 38… Former outfielder for Team Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier round, now a real estate investor based in Nashville, Tenn., Rhett Wiseman turns 32…
