Your Daily Phil: At GA, freed hostage shares harrowing escape attempt
Add EJP on GoogleGood Monday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we cover the first day of the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in Washington, including the testimonies of freed hostages, and report on the termination of the editor of New Jersey’s largest teachers’ union magazine for pro-Hamas social media posts. We feature an opinion piece by David Bryfman about laying the groundwork for a Jewish educational ecosystem today that will support the needs of tomorrow, and Or Mars explores why a cadre of volunteers in the Wexner Foundation alumni mentorship program keeps coming back to guide emerging Jewish leaders. Also in this issue: Seth Siegel, Lev Mazur and Tua Tagovailoa.
What We’re Watching
The Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly kicked off yesterday in Washington. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Commentary’s John Podhoretz and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) are among the speakers slated to take the main stage in today’s plenaries. If you’re there, say hi to eJP’s Nira Dayanim!
Also in Washington, the Meltzer Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies at American University is hosting the 2025 Meltzer Trone Conference today on “American Jews and Israel: A complicated relationship.” Speakers include: Yehuda Kurtzer, Michael Koplow, Jonathan Sarna and Joshua Cohen.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH EJP’S NIRA DAYANIM AND JUDAH ARI GROSS
Just over one month into a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas — with all of the living and all but three of the slain hostages returned — the Jewish Federations of North America is marking its pivot from two years of crisis funding to a new kind of normality, at its General Assembly, which opened yesterday in Washington. “Today, in this room and across the Jewish People, we stand united at an inflection point,” JFNA’s board chair, Gary Torgow, announced at the opening plenary on Sunday evening.
This includes an end to the organization’s Israel Emergency Campaign, which raised $907.5 million and distributed more than $839.6 million to Israeli causes following the Oct. 7 terror attacks, in favor of a new “Rebuild Israel” initiative. “Our federations mounted the largest emergency campaign in Jewish history. We supported more than 500 NGOs throughout Israel. We advocated in city councils and state legislators, in the halls of Congress, and we protected our people from thousands of threats through LiveSecure and now our frontline effort, led by our terrific leader and my dear friend, Julie Platt, who is here today,” Torgow said, referring to his predecessor, who has continued to oversee the LiveSecure initiative that she helped create.
Nearly a year into a new administration, JFNA is also prioritizing Jewish day schools, buoyed by a new federal tax credit for private religious schools that was included in the latest budget bill. “Formal Jewish education has now been lifted to be one of the Jewish Federation of North America’s highest priorities,” said Torgow, who has long supported Jewish day schools in his hometown of Detroit. “Jewish Federations of North America’s public affairs committee, led by Jason Wuliger, has urged every state to opt into the new federal education tax credit, a step that can transform Jewish education accessibility nationwide.”
Initially, no national politicians were scheduled to speak, but Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) were added to the lineup for today. There are currently no Israeli officials speaking at this week’s gathering, unlike last year when Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the gathering.
While the focus of this year’s General Assembly is on this pivot to a new set of priorities and circumstances, JFNA also invited four freed hostages — Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal — to the event to share their experiences, reminding those in attendance of how we got here. More on this below.
The program then shifted to a distinctly North American lens, with a panel on antisemitism across the political spectrum, featuring CNN contributor Scott Jennings, a conservative, and longtime Democratic operative and diplomat Rahm Emanuel, which was moderated by Fox News host Jessica Tarlov. More on this below.
The opening plenary closed out with a panel consisting of former White House speechwriter and author Sarah Hurwitz, Israeli thought leader Micah Goodman, and vice president of Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Richard Marceau, who analyzed the impact of the last two years in America, Israel and Canada, respectively. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that the kind of content-less ‘bagel and lox Jewish mother joke’ identity that many American Jews have just doesn’t cut it anymore,” said Hurwitz. “When your Jewish identity is a big empty void with a few ethnic jokes rattling around in it, it will be filled by what is around you.”
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Freed hostages share harrowing accounts of Hamas captivity at JFNA GA
Four former Israeli hostages — Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal — shared accounts of their time in Hamas captivity, some of which had never before been revealed, before a crowd of 2,000 Jewish communal leaders at the Jewish Federations of North America’s opening plenary in Washington. Or, David and Gilboa-Dalal were released in the ceasefire deal in October, after two years in captivity, while Argamani was rescued by the Israeli military in June 2024. David, Gilboa-Dalal and Argamani gave brief remarks, while Or offered the most detailed and harrowing testimony of the evening, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim from the assembly.
‘This too shall pass’: At one point in his captivity, he recounted, Or tried to escape, tunneling his way up to the surface over several weeks, hitting a tree root and even reaching the surface before his captors discovered the attempt, and beat him brutally for it. “It felt like touching life in the place of death,” he said. “Then one night, I reached the outside, I saw stars for the first time in years. I wrote ‘Hostage’ on a white sandbag, planning my next step. But they found out [and] they beat me for days and tied me to a chair for weeks. I was sure I would die there. But even then, I wrote three things next to my bed: ‘This too shall pass,’ ‘Patience’ and ‘Let it be.’ Those words kept me.”
Bonus: Longtime Democratic official Rahm Emanuel offered a word of warning on Sunday night to the thousands of Jewish communal leaders gathered in Washington to kick off the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly: Don’t expect 2028 presidential candidates to visit Israel like his old boss, Barack Obama, did on the campaign trail in 2008, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
EDITED OUT
N.J. teachers’ union fires editor after Jewish officials denounce pro-Hamas posts
New Jersey’s largest teachers’ union, the New Jersey Education Association, cut ties with an editor of its magazine on Friday, following criticism from top state officials over her antisemitic and pro-Hamas posts on social media, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Letter-writing campaign: Ayat Oraby’s since-deleted posts on X, screenshots of which were viewed by JI, voiced her support of Hamas, praising its actions on social media as “resistance,” among other views. Local Jewish elected officials voiced concern about her appointment last month, sending a letter on the matter to NJEA with 24 signees, which was followed by a similar missive from Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). Oraby told the New Jersey Globe that Gottheimer was unfair to condemn her for a post she deleted that compared Israel to Nazi Germany, a claim she said “reflects public opinion and legitimate criticism, not hatred.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
NO TIME TO WAIT
What will Jewish education look like in 2050?
“We have to reimagine Jewish education if we want to be relevant in the lives of young people today and the young people to come over the next 25 years. I believe that Jewish education is up to the challenge, but it needs bold, proactive leadership to reach its full potential,” writes David Bryfman, CEO of The Jewish Education Project, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Four areas to start: “Over the next three years, The Jewish Education Project will work toward establishing our Vision 2050 for Jewish education: a connected Jewish educational ecosystem that supports educators to empower all youth and their families with meaningful learning that fosters pride, purpose and resilience. Focusing on bold ideas, cutting-edge technology, world-class training and deep partnerships will enable us to reinvent Jewish education for tomorrow’s youth. Our efforts will cut across all boundaries of Jewish life … We can’t anticipate the experiences that will upend our lives, for good or bad, once more; but our community can adopt a new mindset — one that also leads to new actions.”
A SACRED CYCLE
Why Wexner alumni mentors keep coming back
“Within the Wexner Foundation’s professional mentoring program, which has paired over 300 seasoned alumni of Wexner fellowships with newer ones for a yearlong mentoring relationship, a small but steadfast group of alumni has chosen to volunteer not once but repeatedly, returning year after year to guide emerging Jewish leaders,” writes Or Mars, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropyeJewishPhilanthropy.
Give and gain: “In conversations with our volunteers who have said yes to mentoring more than three times, we’ve found that their reasons differ but a throughline emerges: mentorship guides the mentee, but it also renews the mentor. This give-and-take is an act of gratitude, continuity and service, and it’s a way of ensuring that Jewish leadership remains grounded in reflection, empathy and purpose.… Each new mentee [also] brings new insights and perspectives. It allows mentors to stay connected to emerging voices and evolving workplace norms. Many mentors find that their mentees’ questions help them stay grounded in purpose. Far from a one-sided act of giving, mentoring becomes a reciprocal exchange. Each generation sharpens the leadership skills of the other, and in doing so rediscovers its own relevance and hope.”
Worthy Reads
A Different Train to Auschwitz: In The Times of Israel, Alexandra Ell ponders the line between remembrance and dark tourism as she recounts her experience attending a seminar for journalists organized by the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland. “Because of a tight schedule and the lack of direct flights to Kraków, I had little choice but to take the train. So, as so many of my people once did, I took the train to Auschwitz. The ticket confirmation arrived: Your train to O?wi?cim, Ms. Alexandra Ell, seat 102 as selected. … The organizers, in an attempt to reassure me, mentioned that if I missed the last bus, it’s only a twenty-five-minute walk from the station to the camp. Even that sentence, meant to be helpful, landed with a different weight than intended.” [TOI]
Water Woes: In The Wall Street Journal, Seth Siegel, author of Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World and Troubled Water: What’s Wrong with What We Drink, looks back at the role that Israel played in building water infrastructure in Iran prior to the 1979 revolution. “The first few water engineers to arrive in Iran were followed by dozens, and ultimately hundreds. So many Israeli water experts worked on Iran’s water restructuring and rethinking of agricultural practices that by the late 1960s Hebrew-language schools for their children were established in several locations in Iran. Shops in some areas had signs in Hebrew. I interviewed several Israeli water engineers who worked in Iran before the 1979 revolution. They described a warm environment in which Israelis and Iranians worked together. Other than at a soccer match involving a visiting Israeli team, none of the interviewees had any memory of anti-Israel or antisemitic conduct or speech.” [WSJ]
Food-System Focused: In Inside Philanthropy, Dawn Wolfe spotlights Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, an affinity group for foundations, impact investors and others whose missions intersect with the food system in the U.S. “Every meal we consume is the product of an extremely complex, interwoven system of individual workers, farm owners, food packagers, and more that has evolved to bring that food to our tables. These systems extend beyond consumption and also include those who manage excess food, spoiled food and food waste. … ‘I’ve been in this work for about 15 years, and it’s so interesting to watch people go through that “Aha!” moment’ when realizing that their work in labor justice, for example, is intimately connected with issues including hunger, health and the environment,’ [SAFSF Executive Director Clare] Fox said. ‘Our work is really to help funders realize that.’” [InsidePhilanthropy]
Word on the Street
The Israeli government passed a resolution calling for the creation of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Oct. 7 terror attacks, though not a state commission of inquiry, as many Israelis have demanded…
The Jewish Federation Los Angeles launched a new initiative to combat antisemitism in Hollywood, the Jewish Entertainment Alliance, which includes industry insiders such as actor Ginnifer Goodwin and showrunners Howard Gordon and Joel Fields…
A group of Holocaust survivors is calling on a German auction house to call off the auction of a large cache of Holocaust artifacts, including yellow cloth stars, letters and other personal documents…
Lev Mazur, the U.S.-based founder of the fintech firm Quantfury, purchased the majority stake in the central Israeli Ironi Ness Ziona basketball team…
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, speaking at a press conference in Madrid following the NFL’s final international game for this season, said “it would be pretty cool to go play in Jerusalem” after being asked where the league should play its next international game…
The American Jewish Committee signed a new partnership agreement with the Jewish Community of Japan, strengthening ties between the two groups…
Columbia University’s Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing, which advises the school’s board of trustees on issues related to investments, rejected three proposals calling on Columbia to divest from Israel; the committee found that the proposals failed to secure a broad consensus…
Israel’s GDP rose 12.4% in the third quarter of 2025, rebounding from the second-quarter drop attributed in part to the Israel-Iran war in June…
Rabbi Shlomo Porter, executive director of Baltimore’s Etz Chaim Center and former president of the Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals, died on Saturday at 78…
Major Gifts
The Leon Levy Foundation donated $10 million to the Prospect Park Alliance to sustain and restore the Brooklyn park…
Pic of the Day
Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams (second from left) meets yesterday with freed Israeli hostages Bar Kuperstein, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Yarden Bibas during a visit to Israel this week.
Later in the day, Adams spoke at a reception in his honor that was hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement, where he received an award. “If I were a Jewish New Yorker, I would be concerned about my children,” Adams said, referring to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and avowed anti-Zionist. “[The] Free Palestine Movement was never about land. It was, and is, about the destruction and eradication of Jewish people,” he added. “If this were happening to the African American community, you would not be silent. So why are others silent now?”
Adams also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog yesterday and is meeting today with a number of Israeli officials.
Birthdays
Philanthropist and director of the William Davidson Foundation, Karen Davidson…
Rabbi of Agudath Israel of Baltimore and rabbinic administrator of the Star K Kosher supervision service, Rabbi Moshe Heinemann turns 88… Original creator and producer of “Saturday Night Live,” Lorne Michaels (born Lorne Lipowitz) turns 81… Editor-at-large for Washingtonian Magazine and author of a biography of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Harry Jaffe… Film and television director, writer and producer, Jon Avnet turns 76… Founder and principal of ourCovenant, Diana Aviv… Operations manager at NPC Global, Daniel Gastaldi… Author and journalist, he lectures in the graduate journalism program at Stanford University, Gary M. Pomerantz turns 65… Attorney and business executive who once played on the South African national teams in both cricket and field hockey, Mandy Yachad turns 65… Former director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Biden administration and former national security advisor in the Obama administration, Susan Rice turns 61… Attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi turns 60… “The Travelling Rabbi” of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies who serves 11 sub-Saharan countries, Moshe Silberhaft turns 58… U.S. ambassador to Switzerland during the Obama administration, Suzan Gail Davidson (Suzi) LeVine turns 56… Editor at large of Talking Points Memo, David Kurtz turns 56… Segment producer at HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Michele Tasoff… Chief communications officer at American Hotel & Lodging Association, Ralph Posner… Human resilience coach, Michael Ostrolenk… President of Stanford University, Jonathan David Levin turns 53… Former president of NBC News, Noah Oppenheim turns 47… CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Halie Soifer… President of Thematic Campaigns, Isaac Baker… MLB player for 14 seasons, NL Rookie of the Year, five-time NL All-Star and NL MVP in 2011, Ryan Braun turns 42… NFL fullback for six seasons with the Bucs and Saints, he has since earned an MBA from Wharton, Erik Lorig turns 39… Diplomatic correspondent at Politico, Felicia Schwartz… Mortgage lender at River Holdings, Zack Teichman… Chief of staff at America250, Aidan Golub…
