Your Daily Phil: As fighting escalates, JFNA allocates $43M to Israel’s north
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: Charles Bronfman: ‘There’s no doubt that we’re under threat. And there’s no doubt that we’ll come through it’; Chabad on Campus invests over $500,000 in Jewish joy with Let Here Be Light! Initiative; and Israelis from Tel Aviv to Haifa brace for Hezbollah attacks. Print the latest edition here.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the expansion of the Jewish Agency’s campus emissary program. We feature an opinion piece by Aviva Klompas and Rachel Fish with research-based advice for strengthening students’ connections to Israel; and one by Steven Windmueller reflecting on his impressions of Jewish life in South Africa following his participation in two major Jewish convenings there this summer. Also in this newsletter: Scott Levin, Jonathan Holloway and Alan Edward Potash. We’ll start with JFNA’s recent allocation of $43 million to Israel’s north. Shabbat shalom!
The Jewish Federations of North America — both the umbrella organization and its individual members — have allocated a total of $43 million to northern Israeli communities as the fighting along the Lebanese border has intensified in recent days, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
“Since shortly after Oct. 7, we have been providing support to those who’ve been evacuated and to those who have remained,” JFNA President and CEO Eric Fingerhut told eJP yesterday. “Within the last few months, the possibility of escalation became pretty [apparent]. So we began to prepare for that, setting aside some funds to make allocations to fortify shelters and help people prepare for [the conflict by] stockpiling goods and such.”
Until now, Jewish federations have allocated more than $32 million to communities and initiatives in the north from their emergency Israel funds, bringing the total to $75 million out of the $854 million that the federation system has raised for Israel since Oct. 7.
According to JFNA, the $43 million in additional funds for the north have gone toward security — improving bomb shelters and other infrastructure, as well as supporting civilian security teams — as well as to the Jewish Agency’s Fund for Victims of Terror, to medical and mental health support, to food and housing for displaced people, to reconstruction and to aiding local businesses affected by the war.
Jewish federations have faced criticism for the pace of their allocation of the $854 million that it has raised for Israel since Oct. 7 — as of last month, $597.9 million had been allocated, roughly 70% of the total — with critics saying that the group should move more quickly in light of Israelis’ significant needs.
Fingerhut pushed back on this, insisting that they are balancing speed with thoroughness, noting that since JFNA is acting on behalf of its donors, it must be even more considerate. “They expect us and we need to steward the funds they provided very, very carefully,” he said.
While he stressed that JFNA has not refused to make allocations in order to have money on hand for future emergencies, the organization’s slower, methodical approach has allowed that to happen. “We haven’t said, ‘No, we’re not going to fund this now because we’re saving money for something else.’ We’ve met the needs. But we understood that even with meeting those requests, there are still some funds remaining,” he said. “Having some funds available for the ongoing emergency is a positive and not, in any way, a negative.”
Asked if he was concerned that JFNA’s donors were flagging after a year of war in Israel, Fingerhut said the opposite was true. “We survey and we talk to our donors all the time, and the message [from them] is clear: We understand this is an existential crisis for the State of Israel; we understand this is one of the most challenging moments in recent history; and we’ll be there when additional funds are needed,” he said.
Fingerhut added: “You don’t have a choice in Israel to get tired. Well, you can get tired, but you don’t have a choice to opt out — and we don’t have a choice to opt out either.”
BACK TO SCHOOL
Raising additional funds, Jewish Agency expands Campus Israel Fellows to 90 emissaries across U.S.
The Jewish Agency for Israel has expanded its campus emissary program by 20% in the United States, up to 90 representatives at American universities for the 2024-2025 academic year, in response to growing antisemitism on college campuses, report eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen and Judah Ari Gross.
Donor support: The expansion was made possible by a “record” number of donations — “large and small” — from a variety of sources from the United States, including “federations, foundations and individual donors,” Nati Szczupak, the director of the Jewish Agency’s Campus Israel Fellows program, told eJP. Six of the 15 new Campus Israel Fellows were funded through a “very generous challenge grant” that the Jewish Agency was able to match “in a matter of weeks,” Szczupak said.
A better picture: “The Jewish Agency will not stand idly by as Jewish students in North America and worldwide continue to shoulder much of the load when it comes to the wave of antisemitism associated with the Israel-Hamas war,” Mark Wilf, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, said in a statement. “By dramatically expanding the presence of the Israel Fellows, we are bolstering one of Jewish students’ first lines of defense against hate and allowing them to feel safer expressing their identity, while also enabling campus communities to discover an accurate picture of Israel.”
SURVEY SAYS
A little bit of education goes a long way in fostering connections to Israel
“For teachers, schools and community organizations to meet this moment, they must have access to the best available data and insights on how Oct. 7 — and the terrifying and heartbreaking events since then — have impacted individuals’ connections to Israel and their Jewish identity,” write Aviva Klompas and Rachel Fish, co-founders of Boundless Israel, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Armed with that knowledge, they can even more effectively prepare young Jews to maintain those connections today, tomorrow and into the future.”
Data dive: “To nurture this understanding, our think tank, Boundless Israel, in partnership with research firm BSG, conducted a national survey of Jewish 18-to 40-year-olds this summer. We spoke with more than 1,000 regionally, ideologically and religiously diverse individuals, exploring their perspectives, connections and how they were impacted by Oct. 7 and the months that followed.”
High-impact opportunities: “For example, we found that when you ask young Jewish adults if they would describe themselves as a Zionist, 31% say they would. When you take a moment to explain what Zionism actually is — ‘a movement that supports the Jewish people having a state in their ancestral homeland, Israel’ is the language we use in our survey — that number jumps to 53%. A swing of this magnitude — 22 percentage points — indicates just how little information young American Jews have about the term Zionism and how much of a difference even a little bit of education can make in reclaiming ideas that are vital to understanding the Middle East. Educators should embrace such high-impact, teachable moments.”
DIASPORA DISPATCH
Encountering South Africa: A distinctively Jewish journey
“South Africa doesn’t spring to mind as a high-priority Jewish destination — especially at this moment, as its government pursues its case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, but also because of South Africa’s largest political party’s long-standing criticism of Israel and targeting of the South African Jewish community’s deep ties to the Jewish State,” writes Steven Windmeuller, professor emeritus of Jewish communal studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “And yet South Africa was my destination this summer, where I participated in not one but two major Jewish convenings in August.”
Learning opportunities: “My journey began in Johannesburg, where I participated in Limmud South Africa. Around 800 people joined us for part or all of a weekend of study, prayer and community-building… Next I joined American, Israeli, South African and Mexican Jewish scholars and a group of more than 30 young leaders from across the globe at the 34th annual Nahum Goldmann Fellowship, held outside Cape Town, for a week of exploring all that has and continues to unfold since Oct. 7 of last year.”
Representing us all: “We often forget that small, isolated communities are representing global Jewish interests as they wage these battles in defense of Israel and on behalf of Jewish security and unity. Individual leaders and institutions representing the Jewish community in South Africa must be seen as exemplary defenders of Jewish interests. Jewish communities such as that in South Africa deserve and need the visible and active support of our larger Diaspora constituencies.”
Worthy Reads
A Complex Picture: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Sara Herschander reports on the findings of a collaborative research effort to map the landscape of philanthropic giving in the U.S. across time, geography and donor types, among other variables. “The newly released study by GivingTuesday, Candid, and Network for Good combines multiple datasets to piece together a nuanced — if not yet complete — picture of charitable giving across the United States. The analysis reveals stark contrasts between individual and institutional giving priorities, distinct geographic concentrations of philanthropic dollars, and the significant influence of economic factors on giving patterns… ‘Nonprofits are often so under the gun to meet their mission every day, to bring in enough resources to pay their people, and to constantly be chasing the next grant cycles,’ said Asha Curran, CEO of GivingTuesday, who cited barriers to collaboration and outdated fundraising norms as reasons for the declines in everyday giving. ‘There can be so little time left over to pursue innovation, business development, new best practices, and experimentation.’” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Getting Creative: With its international donors distracted by violent conflicts, facing economic downturns or shifting gears to climate change mitigation, Gavi, an organization focused on vaccinating populations in low-income countries, is experimenting with “vaccine bonds,” reports Michael Peel in the Financial Times. “Gavi’s work extends from inoculations for common diseases to responses to emergencies such as the mpox epidemic centred on the Democratic Republic of Congo. ‘Now we have the widest portfolio of vaccines available to us,’ [Gavi chief executive Sania] Nishtar said in an interview. ‘The irony is that this is also a time when the donors are fiscally constrained and there are many other competing priorities.’ … It has pitched to prospective donors in Western and Gulf countries to give as much as two-thirds of their funding in some cases via vaccine bonds, which are backed by legally binding sovereign commitments. These allow Gavi to raise money on international markets to fund routine immunisation programmes or respond quickly to crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic.” [FT]
Around the Web
Jewish Houston has launched B’Yachad, a first-of-its-kind inclusion initiative for interfaith families in Jewish communities across North America, led by 18Doors and in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston…
The Jewish Education Project moved to a new office in New York City’s Theater District this week and marked the occasion with a gathering of board members and key stakeholders…
The first 53 graduates of the Adelson School of Medicine at Ariel University, founded by Dr. Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon Adelson, received their medical degrees on Wednesday; Adelson delivered the keynote address…
The Washington Post spotlights the economic impact of the Israel-Hamas war on Israel…
Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hill, Calif., is helping provide psychological support to two of its sister Jewish communities in the Ukrainian cities of Poltava and Odesa following Russian missile attacks earlier this month…
The Halperin Foundation will donate $23 million to the Southern Gateway Public Green Foundation for the construction of a bridge park over Interstate 35E in Southern Dallas…
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has agreed to postpone its New York New Member Reception scheduled for Oct. 7, following outcry by Jewish members, who opposed the event being held on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack in southern Israel…
Bari Weiss’ The Free Press raised $15 million in a new round of funding that gave the startup media company a $100 million valuation…
The Anti-Defamation League’s Mountain States regional director Scott Levin is retiring…
The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School published its donor roll for 2024, which was far shorter than in the previous year, apparently indicating a significant decrease in donations following the uproar over the university’s handling of campus antisemitism in the past year…
The New York Times interviewed outgoing Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway about his decision to resign from his position…
Alan Edward Potash, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of the Desert in Palm Springs, Calif., died unexpectedly on Sunday at 64…
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew (center-right) and his wife, Ruth Schwartz, stand with Tikkun Olam Makers – Israel’s director, Roy Goldenberg (left), and its partnership director, Ofer Gips, at the launch of the renovated America Hub Israel “maker space” on Wednesday at the U.S. Embassy’s cultural center in Jerusalem.
The hub, which contains 3D printing machines and an array of tools, represents a partnership between the U.S. Embassy and TOM, an Israel-based nonprofit that develops and distributes open-source solutions for people with disabilities. TOM’s founder and president, Gidi Grinstein, said his organization hoped to expand the partnership to other U.S. embassies around the world.
“In these difficult days, more than ever, [America Hub Israel] is a place to find solutions through people-to-people engagement across diverse communities,” Lew wrote about the center on X after the opening. “Featuring innovative new tech, the Hub connects future leaders with U.S. experts and values, providing a safe space to identify creative solutions to shared challenges.”
Birthdays
CEO at Chain Link Services and past treasurer of the Board of Trustees of JFNA, Harold Gernsbacher, celebrates his birthday on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Co-founder of The Home Depot and owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Arthur M. Blank… Of counsel, antitrust and business litigator at the Locke Lord law firm, Stephen J. Landes… Board member of the Milken Family Foundation, Ellen Sandler… Chairman of the Victoria Beckham fashion brand, Ralph Toledano… Author and longtime Washington correspondent, Dan Raviv… President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond until 2017, now chair of the Richmond Jewish Foundation, Jeffrey M. Lacker… President of public relations at Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, Jeffrey H. Birnbaum… Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2002, he is married to a Minneapolis rabbi, Marcia A. Zimmerman, Frank Hornstein… Comedian and author, Marc Maron… Chief rabbi of France since 2014, Haïm Korsia… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005, Debbie Wasserman Schultz… Literary and film publicist based in Israel, Judy Tashbook Safern… President and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Michael Balaban… President of NBC News Editorial, Rebecca Blumenstein… Hockey reporter for Sportsnet and as an insider for the NHL Network, Elliotte Friedman… Rabbi and kabbalist, Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto… Deputy mayor of Jerusalem, she was appointed in 2023 as Israel’s special envoy for innovation, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum… Author of four books on North Africa and the Middle East and president of The Center for Peace Communications, Joseph Braude… Musician, actress, writer, director and comedian, Carrie Rachel Brownstein… Former state treasurer of Ohio, Josh Mandel… Architect, entrepreneur and author, Marc Kushner… Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the D.C. suburbs, Daniel Isaac Helmer… Senior vice president for community relations at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Rori Picker Neiss… Advisory manager for cyber and strategic risk at Deloitte, she was previously a Hebrew teacher and coordinator of Jewish programs at Zeta Beta Tau, Alexa Wertman Brown… Actor best known for his role as Geoff Schwartz on “The Goldbergs,” Sam Lerner … CEO of the ECI Group, he sits on the board of governors of the Jewish Agency, Seth Greenberg…
SATURDAY: International Emmy award-winning Scottish television producer, Sir Jeremy Israel Isaacs… Former governor of Vermont (the first Jewish woman elected to govern any state), she was also the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Madeleine May Kunin… Physician and theoretical biologist, he was a 1987 MacArthur genius fellow, Stuart Kauffman… Former president of Warner Home Video, Warren Lieberfarb… French businessman who, with his brother, own the controlling interest in the House of Chanel and several famous vineyards, Alain Wertheimer… Real estate agent in New York’s Hudson Valley, Jerry Weiss… Teaneck, N.J.-based real estate attorney, Gary E. Miller… U.S. senator (R-LA), Bill Cassidy… Pediatrician and author of Winning A Debate with An Israel Hater, Dr. Michael Harris… Best-selling author and journalist, Ben Greenman… Area director for San Diego and Orange counties for AIPAC, Elliott Nahmias… Winner of four Olympic gold medals in swimming for the USA (2000 and 2004), Leonid “Lenny” Krayzelburg… News editor and correspondent at Voice of America, Michael Lipin… Israeli Ironman triathlete, Nina Pekerman… Senior vice president at the Katz Watson Group, Lauren France… Director of field marketing for the Anti-Defamation League, Samantha Collidge… Regional director for the OU’s Teach Coalition, Hadassa Levenson Korn… VP of operations at Tel Aviv-based iAngels, Ayelet Cohen… 2023 graduate of Yale Law School and author of a coming-of-age novel set in the Modern Orthodox community, David Hopen… Former NFL, XFL and CFL wide receiver and kick returner, Daniel Braverman…
SUNDAY: Professor of physics emeritus at MIT, he is a 2017 Nobel Prize laureate in physics, Rainer Weiss… President of New York University from 2002 to 2015, he is the author of Baseball as a Road To God, John Edward Sexton… Israeli author, translator, journalist and restaurant critic, Avital Inbar… Retired CEO of Southern Calif.-based LinQuest Corporation, he is the vice president of innovation and technology at Temple Sinai, Leon Biederman Ph.D…. Former member of the Knesset, he serves as the executive director of Beit El Yeshiva and as chairman of Arutz Sheva, Ya’akov Dov “Katzele” Katz… Tony Award-winning actor and singer, Roger Bart… Composer and pianist, he is the winner of the 2020 Azrieli Foundation Prize for Jewish Music, Yitzhak Yedid… Chief strategy officer for national affairs at AIPAC, Brian Shankman… Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s office of global affairs, Aviva Rosenthal… City controller of Philadelphia until 2022, Rebecca Rhynhart… YouTube-based yoga instructor with more than 1.5 billion views, Adriene Mishler… Program manager at NYC’s Neighborhood Restore, Aron Chilewich… Research director at DC-based S-3 Group, Shawn Pasternak… Film and television actress, Clara Mamet…
