Your Daily Phil: Anu Museum taps storytelling to build post-10/7 resilience
Good Friday morning.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent eJewishPhilanthropy and Jewish Insider stories, including: Camp Simcha, a refuge for American kids with chronic illnesses, offers sanctuary and a chance for fun to war-weary Israelis too; Why Camp Ramah in New England drew a red line against anti-Zionism among its staff; Israel’s Olympic team prepares for sport and security. Print the latest edition here.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the first six graduates of a bachelor’s degree program at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University for people with intellectual disabilities and on the impact of the Jewish Funders Network’s Israeli youth philanthropy program. We feature an opinion piece by Julie Marzouk about learning from efforts to combat anti-Israel measures in local government settings across the U.S. Also in this newsletter: Rabbi Sarah Rensin, Mark Pincus and Judy Friedman-Rudzki. We’ll start with a conference at Anu — Museum of the Jewish People. Shabbat shalom!
Some 180 Israelis from a wide variety of fields, locations and positions gathered in Tel Aviv’s Anu — Museum of the Jewish People on Wednesday to learn how the stories we tell ourselves can help people overcome traumatic experiences, both personally and as the Jewish people, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross from the event.
For the team at Anu, developing and appreciating these narratives in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terror attacks and the ensuing rise in global antisemitism also serves as a critical step toward its goal of uniting Jews around the world.
“Oct. 7 was not an Israeli event, it was a global Jewish event,” Na’ama Klar, the head of Anu’s education department, told the attendees.
The program, the Jewish Resilience Project (JRP), was created and is run by the museum’s Tisch Center for Jewish Dialogue, based on on the work of Marshall Duke, a psychology professor at Emory University, following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. According to Duke, ascending narratives — things are getting progressively better — and descending narratives — things were once great and are getting worse — are far weaker than so-called “oscillating” narratives: Sometimes things are improving, then they’re getting worse, then they’re getting better again and then worse and so on.
It is the knowledge of both the ups and the downs that builds resilience, as people know that when times are tough, they tend to improve, and it isn’t so jarring when bad things happen during good times because there’s historical precedence for that kind of downturn and even those bad times tend to give way to better ones.
The Tisch Center had begun developing programs around this oscillating narrative concept before Oct. 7. It was workshopping the concept and rolling it out during the turmoil around the Israeli government’s contentious plans to overhaul the country’s judicial system, in a bid to encourage unity among Jewish people during that divisive period.
Tracy Frydberg, the director of the Tisch Center, told eJP that nearly 4,000 people have gone through the Jewish Resilience Project so far, most of them from outside of Israel, and that roughly 500 of them have been trained to administer the program. The participating organizations have included, among others, BBYO, Young Judaea, the Conservative Movement’s Rabbinical Assembly and the American Jewish Committee.
The event in the Anu museum on Wednesday is meant to kickstart JRP’s deployment in Israel. The attendees included teachers, representatives from the military and police, informal educators and other professionals involved in Jewish peoplehood activities.
“The numbers will start to quickly rise as we work more in Israel following today,” Frydberg said.
The event opened with an address by Sarit Zussman, whose son, Ben, was killed in battle in Gaza in December, leaving behind a poignant will that demanded of his family to have a joyous and not mournful shiva.
“It was clear to me that what the Jewish people need right now is to have the tears, to cry them, but also to stand upright,” Zussman recalled thinking shortly after her son’s death. “Because we are in a war, because we are good. We need to be strong, and we will win. Because our story is much longer than this painful and difficult period that we are in right now.”
STUDENT EMPOWERMENT
First cohort graduates from ‘first-of-its-kind’ Israeli university program for people with intellectual disabilities
Six Israeli students with intellectual disabilities earned bachelor’s degrees from Israel’s Bar-Ilan University on Wednesday evening through the school’s Empowerment Project, making them some of the only people with such disabilities to do so, according to the university, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
And they are: The six graduates who received multidisciplinary bachelors degrees in social sciences are: Ruti Bar-Or, 46, from Jerusalem; Tomer Gad-Barak, 35, from Petach Tikva; Hofit Gilad, 41, from Ramat Gan; Henia Greengarten, 42, from Kfar Saba; Oded Naftali, 34, from Rishon Lezion; and Lior Shmualevitz, 35, from Hod Hasharon. Their disabilities include Down syndrome, Williams syndrome and cerebral palsy. “To date it is believed that only three additional [similarly intellectually disabled] individuals in the entire world have reached this milestone,” the university said in a statement.
‘Shattering the glass ceiling’: The Empowerment Project, which the school says is the “first of its kind,” was created more than a decade ago by professor Hefziba Lifshitz of Bar-Ilan University’s Education Department and now serves over 120 students with all levels of intellectual disability. Lifshitz said the idea was based on her theory that chronological age, as opposed to mental age, plays a key role in determining the cognitive ability of adults with intellectual disabilities. “These students have succeeded in breaking stereotypes, shattering the glass ceiling, and against conventional wisdom graduated for the first time, obtaining a degree after 10 years of study,” Lifshitz said at a pre-graduation event.“The goal has been reached and you have achieved it.”
Prove it first: Lifshitz told eJP that when she came up with the idea for the program, she decided to start it without significant funding support to first prove that it was viable. “I knew that people wouldn’t believe in me if I came and asked for money for something that didn’t exist anywhere yet, and so it was,” Lifshitz said. “I scratched out some money from here and there [to start the program].” In 2014, the program was awarded the Ruderman Prize in Inclusion, which came with $50,000. “People saw our project and were impressed, and in that way we were able to get funding,” she said.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Israeli offshoot of JFN teen philanthropy program convinces disadvantaged participants that they can make a difference, study finds
The Jewish Funders Network’s Honeycomb program, which introduces philanthropy to Jewish teens, has long been convinced of its usefulness for Americans, with internal studies showing that exposure to charitable giving is “incredibly empowering” for young people, according to its executive director, Danielle Segal. But does that translate for Israelis as well, particularly those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, for whom fundraising and financial philanthropy are uncommon? It turns out that it does, according to a new survey of Israeli teens who participated in Honeycomb’s Israel program, Magshimim (achievers), reports Judith Sudilovsky for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Teen empowerment: The study, which was released last month, identified a host of benefits from charitable work, with Israeli teen participants saying they feel they are developing new leadership skills, believing they are becoming agents of change and gaining knowledge of the Israeli philanthropic ecosystem. “Especially with this new research on the Israeli side, we have seen how empowering the young people find the program and how they have not been given other opportunities to be trusted with this level of responsibility before,” Segal said. “I think it’s one of the few moments where young people are given real responsibility. This is a moment where young people really are given the responsibility for granting money, and the adults who run the program trust them to make the decisions.”
Survey says: The study included a survey of 400 teen participants of Magshimim, which has been running in Israel since 2018, who were interviewed four months, 10 months and two to three years after joining the program, as well as a comparison group of teens that did not participate in the program but participated in other activities at the same community centers that hosted Magshimim. Four months into the program, 65% of the participants said they believed tikkun olam is an important Jewish value, while only 3% of non-participants surveyed said they felt the same way. After two years, 82% agreed with the statement. The overwhelming majority — 90% — of the veteran participants also said they felt they had the power to make a difference and to spur a change as a teen in their community.
Know thyself: In Netanya, she said, one group of Ethiopian-Israeli teens –— some of whom had dropped out of school — began a birthday party-organizing venture as an offshoot of a project against cyberbullying and now arrange birthday parties for a minimal fee for children who otherwise would not be able to afford it. “to make a long story short, they raised NIS 100,000 [$27,500] this year,” said Adi Romem, director of the Magshimim program in Israel. With NIS 20,000 ($5,500), they purchased material for next year and with NIS 80,000 ($22,000) in their pocket, Magshimim arranged for a handful of nonprofits to present proposals to them. “They never saw NIS 100 in their pockets let alone NIS 100,000 and the nonprofit people are sitting, presenting their data and asking for their money,” Romem said. “Now they know they can do big things. They can make a difference in the world.”
NAIL IT AND SCALE IT
We need to study our successes
“Open meeting laws in many states, like California, make city councils easy targets for those who wish to spread propaganda and hate,” writes attorney Julie Marzouk, founder of Evolve Advocacy Consulting, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “‘Protesters’ claim that speaking up at city council meetings is simply exercising their First Amendment rights, but what they are actually doing is using cracks in state civil rights laws, ambiguous local decorum codes, lack of judicial oversight of city attorneys and vague jurisdictional authority in local government bodies to undermine pluralism, destabilize communities and weaken equal protection under the law.”
Note what works (and what backfires): “If we look closely enough, however, we will see we have the appropriate advocacy tools to protect not only the rights of the Jewish community but of our whole pluralistic society… [For example, in] cities like Irvine, Palo Alto, San Bruno, Berkeley, Chino Hills and Claremont, local grassroots advocates effectively made the case to city councilmembers that resolutions on the Israel-Hamas war were outside of the city’s purview. In Irvine, activists quoted the city’s own law prohibiting actions on non-municipal manners… [A]ctivists should [also] be strategically thinking about accepting ‘defeats’ in particular jurisdictions where doing so might further a plan to win a larger contest of ideas.”
We have the means: “Utilizing tools of democracy – law, strategic civic engagement and grassroots advocacy — Jewish communities have worked and continue to work to ensure that America’s democratic principles and the rule of law prevail. It is time to take stock of our successes, evaluate the factors that led to wins and create a deliberate advocacy road map for the challenges that lie ahead.”
Worthy Reads
An Opportunity to Unite: In The Jerusalem Post, Avinoam Bar-Yosef calls upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to use his upcoming speech before the U.S. Congress to unite American Jews, whom he observes splintering in their attitudes toward Israel since Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza. “[T]he wake-up call came from a friend who has dedicated most of his life to the prosperity of the Jewish community of New York. He excitedly told me that there are Jewish leaders who are encouraging members of Congress to leave the hall during Netanyahu’s speech. They are asking them to leave and join the demonstrations against him outside the Capitol. ‘When Israel wobbles, all of Judaism trembles,’ said my friend, ‘Many American Jews fear Trump and worry that Netanyahu will play into the Republicans’ hands. They hate Israeli meddling in American politics, even if they admit that the US administration does not hesitate to step into the Israeli political arena. The USA is a superpower. Not everything that the administration allows itself is also allowed for an Israeli politician.’… Netanyahu must take advantage of the opportunity in Congress to strengthen the unity of the Jewish people. To recall the apples that have fallen far from the tree back to the roots. To tiptoe smartly between Biden and Trump. To make it clear to the Americans and the free world that even though the Israeli Samson had a haircut on Oct. 7, he is not a nebbish.” [JPost]
Hungry For Change: In Inside Philanthropy, Martha Ramirez spotlights funders focusing on policy advocacy related to food insecurity in the United States. “Though the U.S. is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, food insecurity remains altogether too prevalent, with 12.8% of households — 17 million — being food insecure at some point during 2022, according to the most recent data from USDA. Earlier this year, the Urban Institute published a brief that found that food insecurity increased further in 2023, largely due to high food prices and the lapse of nutrition support programs… [W]hile support for direct services through food banks and pantries can make a big difference, it fails to address the root causes of food insecurity… The Center for American Progress aptly notes that hunger is ‘further exacerbated by policy decisions that reduce funding, restrict eligibility, put time limits on participation, and create other onerous burdens that force low-income people to prove need.’ These policy decisions undermine food and nutrition safety net programs. With that in mind, one way philanthropy can potentially make a big difference is by supporting relevant policy advocacy efforts, including policies that address the root causes of food insecurity, as well as policies that provide assistance for families experiencing food insecurity.” [InsidePhilanthropy]
Around the Web
Representatives from the U.S. government and Jewish organizations from around the world will travel to Argentina next week for a number of events marking the 30th anniversary of the deadly bombing of the Associación Mutual Israelita Argentina by Hezbollah and Iran, in which 85 people were killed…
Rabbi Sarah Rensin was named the next community chaplain of Portland, Ore., by the local Jewish federation…
The New York Times looks into the Hollywood donors who are pushing for Democrats to replace Joe Biden as the party’s presidential nominee, and the Financial Times focuses specifically on tech billionaire Mark Pincus’ role in the effort…
Stephen Ross, the billionaire real estate developer, Miami Dolphins owner and philanthropist, is launching a new Miami-based property firm, Related Ross…
Judy Friedman-Rudzki was nominated the next board chair of the Los Angeles Jewish Health nonprofit, which provides health care to local seniors…
The Cleveland Jewish News spotlights a local Jewish federation task force focused on the needs of “Jewish adults ages 65 and older and their caregivers”…
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee approved a bill this week that would cut $10 million from the Department of Education office that investigates antisemitism claims over the objections of Democrats…
The Israeli startup Vee, which provides artificial intelligence support to nonprofits, raised $7 million in a fresh round of funding, following two years of struggles, which saw 70% of its team laid off…
The Biden administration imposed a fresh batch of sanctions against three Israeli individuals and five organizations, including the anti-miscegenation Lehava group and the heads of the already sanctioned Tzav 9 group, which have been blocking aid shipments to Gaza…
A new survey of California college students by the Anti-Defamation League found that roughly 20% said that it’s appropriate to boycott a local Jewish businesses for the actions of the Israeli government and that 73% believed that Palestinian suicide bombings against Israeli civilians can be justified…
Pic of the Day
Seven children with their guardians today prepare to return to Rwanda, Zambia, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Somaliland tonight after receiving lifesaving cardiac procedures at Israel’s Wolfson Medical Center through Save A Child’s Heart.
Birthdays
President and CEO at the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, Renee Wizig-Barrios, celebrates her birthday on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Rita E. Hauser… Former Rep. (R-OK) for 16 years, Marvin Henry “Mickey” Edwards… Former executive director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, Dan Botnick… Canadian journalist, social activist and author, Michele Landsberg… Former member of the Florida House of Representatives for eight years, Franklin Sands… Best-selling author, screenwriter, and playwright, Delia Ephron… Professor of religion at the University of Vermont, he was an adviser to Bernie Sanders on his 2016 presidential campaign, as an undergraduate at Yale his roommate was Joe Lieberman, Richard Sugarman… Co-founder of Imagine Entertainment, Brian Grazer… Board certified lactation consultant in NYC, Rhona Yolkut… Founding executive director (now retired) of Newton, Mass.-based Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, Arlene Remz… Co-owner of the Midland Group with holdings in steel, shipping, real estate, agriculture and sports, Eduard Shifrin… Former member of the Knesset for the Blue and White party, he grew up in Raleigh, N.C., as Albert Rosenthal, Alon Tal… Chief television critic for The New York Times, James “Jim” Poniewozik… Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, Jessica Rosenworcel… Israeli journalist and former member of Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Anastassia Michaeli… Founder of Innovation Policy Solutions, a D.C.-based health care consulting and advocacy firm, Jennifer Leib… Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ)… Israeli news anchor, television presenter and journalist, Yonit Levi… Winner of an Olympic gold medal (Athens, 2004) and a silver medal (Sydney, 2000) as a freestyle swimmer, Scott Daniel Goldblatt… Co-founder of Aspiration online banking and investing firm, Joseph N. Sanberg… Senior reporter at CNN, Edward-Isaac Dovere… Partner in the Des Moines-based public relations firm AdelmanDean Group, Liz Rodgers Adelman… Israeli media personality, sociologist and fashion and jewelry designer, Ortal Ben Dayan… President of executive communications firm A.H. Levy & Co based in NYC, Alex Halpern Levy… Registered nurse now living in Jerusalem, Rena Meira Rotter… Benjamin Birnbaum… Actress, she is well known for playing a Jewish character on television (the title character in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), though she herself is not of Jewish descent, Rachel Brosnahan…
SATURDAY: Scottsdale, Ariz., resident, retired teacher, Howie K. Kipnes… Actor whose films have grossed more than $9.7 billion, his maternal grandmother was Anna Lifschutz, a Jewish immigrant from Minsk, he is best known as the title character in the “Indiana Jones” film series, Harrison Ford… Clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Michael W. Cohen, MD… Ridgefield, Conn., resident, Louis Panzer… Lecturer on the federal budget process following 37 years at various federal agencies, Johnny Cahn… Co-host of “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN since 2001, Anthony Irwin “Tony” Kornheiser… Actress, best known for her role as Frenchy in “Grease,” Edith “Didi” Conn… Author of crime and suspense novels, Andrew Klavan… Guide and educator at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Rabbi Dr. Eric Marshall Lankin… Senior manager of regulatory and legislative affairs at PJM Interconnection, Stuart Widom… Country music artist, Victoria Lynn Shaw… Television executive and producer, Carolyn Strauss… Film director and screenwriter, Shari Springer Berman… Television writer, David X. Cohen… Author and journalist, Katie Roiphe… Chief legal officer and chief policy officer at HackerOne, Ilona Cohen… Owner of the D.C. area franchises of SafeSplash Swim Schools, Jennifer Rebecca Goodman Lilintahl… Founder of Omanut Collective and COO of Shefa, Sarah Persitz… Director of major gifts at American Friends of Magen David Adom, Yishai Mizrahi… Creator, writer and producer of the TV show “Casual” which ran from 2015 to 2018, Alexander “Zander” Sutton Lehmann… Aspen, Colo.-based neuro-linguistic programming coach, she is also the CEO and founder of entertainment agency Art of Air, Ariana Gradow… Managing director at BDT & MSD Partners, Nicholas Avery Newburger… Managing partner at Surround Ventures, Jared Kash… Television and film actor, Wyatt Jess Oleff (family name was Olefsky)… Managing partner of KGS (Kohlmann Grünstein Shmulevich) Ventures, he serves on the N.Y. metro board of American Technion Society, Eric A. Kohlmann… Reporter at Punchbowl News, Max Cohen…
SUNDAY: Architect and urban designer, identified with Habitat 67, a housing complex built in conjunction with Expo 67 (the 1967 Montreal World’s Fair), Moshe Safdie… MLB pitcher for 11 seasons, now a sportscaster and author, he won the Cy Young Award and was an MLB All Star in 1980, Steve Stone… Los Angeles resident, Susan Farrell… Film producer, best known for the “Lethal Weapon” series, the first two “Die Hard” movies and the “Matrix” trilogy, Joel Silver… Co-founder and managing director of Beverly Hills Private Wealth, Scott M. Shagrin… Chairman and CEO of both Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners, Howard Lutnick… Venture capitalist at Breyer Capital, James W. Breyer… Media columnist for the Chicago Tribune until 2021, Phil Rosenthal… U.S. permanent representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council, she is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Ambassador Michèle Taylor… Principal at Full Court Press Communications, Daniel Eli Cohen… Member of the Washington State Senate until 2023, David S. Frockt… Rapper and record producer from Brooklyn known as “Ill Bill,” he is the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records, William “Bill” Braunstein… Professor in the department of genetics at the Harvard Medical School, David Emil Reich, Ph.D…. Fashion designer and cast member on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Dorit Kemsley… Retired mixed martial artist, now a life coach, Emily Peters-Kagan… Editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon, Eliana Yael Johnson… Interior designer and owner of Tribe By Design, Tehillah Braun… Professional golfer with four tournament wins in the Asian and European tours, David Lipsky… Founder at Bashert Group and head of a NYC-based family office, Daniel B. Jeydel… Program officer at Crown Family Philanthropies in Chicago, Rachel Giattino… Reporter covering housing and the home-building industry for The Wall Street Journal, Nicole Friedman… Director of Chabad Georgetown, Rabbi Menachem Shemtov… Creator of the Instagram feed called Second Date Shadchan, Elizabeth Morgan (Lizzy) Brenner…
