Your Daily Phil: At Lion of Judah in Atlanta, hope for hostage deal
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the Jewish Federations of North America’s Lion of Judah conference, on Moishe House’s rebranding to Mem Global and on Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt’s final briefing to journalists. We feature an opinion piece by David Contorer, Rachel Grose, Cindy Rogoway and Rabbi David Rosenn about the utility of free loans in addressing poverty in the Jewish community. Also in this newsletter: Eric Fingerhut, Robert Spitzer and Gary Weisserman.
What We’re Watching
Israeli, American and Arab officials are indicating that a cease-fire and hostage-release deal is expected to be signed imminently.
This afternoon, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, will hold a final discussion with the Jewish community before she leaves her position next week. (Read about her final briefing to journalists below.)
What You Should Know
Over 1,700 female donors, community leaders and allies convened in Atlanta this week for the Jewish Federations of North America’s Lion of Judah conference, which concluded yesterday. The event featured addresses by members of hostage families and those who lost loved ones since Oct. 7, communal leaders, U.S. officials and Israeli politicians — specifically Amos Hochstein, the White House’s special envoy, and Israeli First Lady Michal Herzog, who received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award for her work in exposing Hamas’ sexual crimes, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Given the rapidly developing news about a hostage-release and cease-fire deal currently on the table, a mix of emotions rippled throughout the event, according to Dena Rashes, chair of the Lay Leadership Development Committee at JFNA. “You could feel the place starting to vibrate, in a way, with both hope and trepidation, as more and more news started to leak out over the last couple days,” Rashes told eJP.
Julie Platt, chair of JFNA’s board of trustees, echoed the sentiment. “We have the great good fortune of hearing from Amos Hochstein, and he gave us hope that we are on the brink, but honestly, none of us will believe it until it’s here. I think we’re all cautiously, cautiously, very optimistic,” Platt told eJP.
The conference also offered a rejuvenating pause amid a sequence of challenges the Jewish community has faced the past few years: the COVID-19 pandemic; Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel and ensuing war in Gaza and rise in global antisemitism; and now the raging wildfires in Los Angeles, Platt told eJP. “I think we all felt that and felt surrounded by love, and as 1,700 strong, felt the need for a shot in the arm, the rejuvenation, the re-inspiration to go back and do what will be needed in the year ahead,” she said.
TIME FOR A CHANGE
Moishe House rebrands as Mem Global, establishing umbrella name for its young adult programming
After a decade of sustained growth, Moishe House is launching an umbrella brand, “Mem Global,” to house its expanding suite of programs, including its former namesake, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Responding to growth: Launched as an organization in 2008 following the success of its 2006 pilot program, the number of post-college young adults participating in Moishe House programming has nearly doubled since 2020, with over 130 Moishe House “pods” around the world, according to CEO David Cygielman. Over the last decade, the organization has also expanded to provide additional programming — many spearheaded by Moishe House alumni — including Moishe Pods, Moishe House Without Walls, Embark, Camp Nai Nai Nai, Base, Learning Retreats and the Jewish Learning Collaborative. These programs will all continue without interruption under the new parent brand. According to Cygielman, the rebrand to Mem Global (referring to the Hebrew letter) was largely because of that growth; as Moishe House continues to expand the number and reach of its programming, establishing brand clarity to accommodate that breadth was necessary, he said. He also hopes it will allow the organization to develop infrastructure to support the growing number of programs.
PARTING WORDS
Lipstadt: U.N.’s Guterres said U.N. Special Rapporteur Albanese is ‘a horrible person’
The U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, told reporters at a roundtable on Tuesday — her last before departing her role — that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres had condemned Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation on human rights in the Palestinian territories, who the U.S. has repeatedly criticized for antisemitic comments, in a one-on-one conversation with her. The outgoing envoy said that, during an event at a synagogue during the Munich Security Conference, she had spoken to Guterres about the U.S. government’s concerns with Albanese. In Lipstadt’s retelling, Guterres responded, twice, “She’s a horrible person,” reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider from the discussion.
A barn-builder: Lipstadt declined to comment on some of the controversial names, such as Shmuley Boteach, Alan Dershowitz and Dov Hikind, who’ve been floated to replace her, but said that she hopes President-elect Donald Trump will nominate “someone who will be a barn-builder, not a barn-burner,” and can build on the progress she has made. “I would hope it would be someone who would command the respect and the attention of the foreign governments with which they’ll be dealing,” she continued. Lipstadt said she “certainly hope[s]” that the incoming administration is up to the task of combating the global surge in antisemitism.
Read the full piece here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
A HELPING HAND
No need to reinvent the wheel in responding to Jewish economic vulnerability
According to a recent report on Jewish poverty in the United States commissioned by the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, two-thirds of Jews in the U.S. who are facing financial hardship are not trapped in a multigenerational cycle of poverty — rather, they are experiencing “situational vulnerability,” write David Contorer, Rachel Grose, Cindy Rogoway and Rabbi David Rosenn, the leaders of the four largest Jewish free loan organizations in the United States, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Their financial challenges, while very real, tend to be episodic rather than long-term, caused by unexpected events like job loss, family changes or natural disasters.”
A powerful tool: “[W]e know that situational financial vulnerability comes from the struggle of many full-time working people to afford the basics, leaving them living paycheck to paycheck and unable to accumulate savings for emergencies. When emergencies arrive, people without savings often turn to payday loans or subprime credit cards. Because these ‘solutions’ come with interest rates from 25% to 400%, they quickly find themselves caught in a cycle of unmanageable debt, and what started out as a modest and temporary financial setback threatens to turn into a full-blown financial crisis… Thankfully, the American Jewish community already has a powerful tool that appears to be a perfect fit for some of these kinds of challenges; and as talk about Jewish poverty instigated by this new report moves forward, we want to reintroduce interest-free lending into the conversation.”
Worthy Reads
Ticking Time Bomb: In an opinion piece in The Times of Israel, Eric Fingerhut argues in favor of the so-called TikTok bill, arguing that restricting the social media platform is necessary on both national security grounds and to prevent antisemitism and hatred. “The TikTok bill was developed and passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support in both houses of Congress and signed by President Biden. Its supporters saw the documented harm that the deliberately biased content developed and disseminated by entities closely associated with the Chinese government is doing to the national security of the United States… This reason is good enough on its own to uphold this legislation. But there is another, equally important benefit. The same interests that are working to undermine the national security of the United States are also tearing apart our civil society by sowing hate and division, especially aimed at our children… TikTok’s contribution to this problem is particularly egregious. One study found that people who use TikTok for 30 minutes or more daily are significantly more likely to hold antisemitic or anti-Israel views than comparable users of Instagram and X. Another study found that in just one-year, antisemitic comments on TikTok rose 912%… We do not support or seek censorship of any kind, but we have every reason to hope that a different ownership of this important information source – one not controlled by a dictatorship that has shown hostility to America, to Israel and to Jews – would be more accountable to its users and the marketplace of free information and ideas.” [TOI]
(Nonprofit) Work-Life Balance: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Eden Stiffman examines how nonprofits are handling the increasing desire by employees to have remote work. “Nearly five years removed from the beginning of the pandemic, there’s a whole spectrum of ways to work at nonprofits. As organizations balance their recruiting needs, financial pressures, the demands of delivering their mission, and the preferences of leaders and staff, they’re coming up with a variety of ways to work. Job seekers are increasingly looking for flexible work arrangements. And organizations that can offer fully remote or at least hybrid work arrangements have a leg up in recruiting and retaining staff… But leaders of organizations that have gone remote recognize the value of some level of in-person connection for their teams. Candid, which formed in 2019 through the merger of GuideStar and the Foundation Center, landed on an arrangement [Ann Mei Chang, CEO of Candid,] calls ‘activity based’… One week each month is designated as ‘connect week’… ‘We didn’t want to just say, “You have to come to the office on these days,”’ Chang says. ‘We want to bring people together because there was something that we wanted to do that would benefit from people being in person.’” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Word on the Street
The Anti-Defamation League released its Global 100 survey of attitudes around the world regarding Jews and antisemitism, finding that nearly half of adults around the world hold views that could be deemed antisemitic…
Warner Bros. Discovery has committed $15 million; Comcast has donated $10 million; and Paramount Global has pledged $1 million to support wildfire relief efforts in Los Angeles…
The Annenberg and Wasserman foundations have jointly pledged $1 million to the Los Angeles Fire Department…
The Israeli government offered to send firefighting teams to assist the State of California with the Los Angeles wildfires…
Argentinian President Javier Milei has been selected to receive the 2025 Genesis Prize — which comes with $1 million — in recognition of his support of Israel, making him the first non-Jewish person to receive the award…
B’nai B’rith International elected Robert Spitzer to serve as its next president at its triennial meeting, which concluded last Friday…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy examines the state of the “donor revolt” and the expectations for political tensions between funders and organizations going forward…
Shari Redstone, the chair Paramount Global, applauded the appointment of Susan Zirinsky as interim executive editor of CBS News on Monday — after the media mogul publicly criticized the network’s leadership last fall for its handling of internal divisions over its Israel coverage…
The Community Security Service has hired Beth Grafman as the organization’s inaugural chief development officer; Grafman has worked as a fundraiser for a number of American and Israeli organizations, including Sheba Medical Center and PJ Library…
R&R: The Rest of Our Lives announced the five latest grantees for its leader sabbatical program, in which organizations receive a $30,000 grant so their leader can take a three-month sabbatical…
Gary Weisserman has been named CEO of the Holocaust Museum Houston beginning in late June. Weisserman, currently the head of school at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in Chicago, succeeds Ivan Wolkind, who died suddenly weeks after starting in the position; Linda Burger will continue to serve as acting interim CEO until mid-April…
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh broke ground this week on a major expansion of its day camp…
The Israel Policy Forum hired Rachel Brandenburg to serve as its Washington managing director and senior fellow…
A new study by the Israeli nonprofit Fresh Start found that some 39% of the country’s adult population spends more each month than its income…
Jesse Cogan, an ad executive who coined a number of slogans for Jewish causes, including “Turn Friday night into Shabbos” and “Their fight is our fight,” regarding Soviet Jewry, died last Thursday at 74…
Dr. Robert Daroff, a distinguished neurologist who during the Vietnam War made history as the first in his profession to serve in a combat zone, died at 88…
Pic of the Day
Representatives from the Minority Business Development Agency and the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce sign a joint memorandum of understanding on Monday that — for the first time — recognized Jewish businesses as minority-owned, at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.
“This historic MOU signing marks a monumental achievement for the Jewish community and is a testament to the visionary leadership of all involved,” Duvi Honig, founder and CEO of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement after the signing.
Birthdays
Senior counsel at Covington & Burling, he was previously the domestic policy advisor to President Carter, U.S. ambassador to the EU and deputy secretary of Treasury, Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat…
Partner in BECO Management LLC and vice chair of the Jewish Policy Center, Michael David Epstein… University professor at Columbia University, he won the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Martin Chalfie… President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for 16 years, then a member of the Knesset for nine years, Avishay Braverman… Longtime member of Congregation B’nai B’rith in Santa Barbara, Calif., Madelyn Silver Palley… Founder of Prospect Global, Toni G. Verstandig… Chairman and CEO of Stagwell Global, Mark Penn… Football head coach and general manager, he has worked in both the NFL and CFL, Marc Trestman… President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David M. Zaslav… Rabbi at Bar-Ilan University’s Institute of Advanced Torah Studies, he holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics, Michael Avraham… Rabbi of Rumson (N.J.) Jewish Center at Congregation B’nai Israel, Douglas Sagal… Cryptographer, computer security specialist, writer, he is a fellow and lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School, Bruce Schneier… Trial lawyer and white-collar criminal defense attorney in the NYC office of Gibson Dunn, Barry H. Berke… White House deputy press secretary in the Bush 43 administration, now a podcast host, Adam L. Levine… Filmmaker and educator, her films are aimed at an audience of Haredi women, Tali Avrahami… Israeli journalist for Maariv, based in Poland, Nissan Tzur… Former deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Belgium, she was elected as a member of the European Parliament in 2024, Sophie Wilmès… Basketball analyst for Fox Sports, he is also the men’s basketball head coach at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, Doug Gottlieb… Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Steven Menashi… Israeli-Italian model, television personality and actor, Jonathan Kashanian… Editor emeritus of the Daily Wire and political commentator, Ben Shapiro… Investigative reporter at The New York Times, Sarah Kliff… Real estate investor, Hershy Tannenbaum… CNN’s Jerusalem correspondent, Jeremy Diamond … Actress, singer and writer based in NYC, she starred as Hodel in Bartlett Sher’s acclaimed revival of “Fiddler on the Roof,” Samantha Massell…
