Your Daily Phil: Behind the Mandel Foundation’s $90M donation to local day schools
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the last of three World Zionist Congress debates hosted by eJewishPhilanthropy last night. We review a new Haggadah by New York Rabbi Avi Weiss, speak with the heads of the Mandel Foundation about its recent $90 million donation to local Cleveland Jewish day schools and interview Deborah Lipstadt about the Trump administration’s approach to combating antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Jamie Geller about the impact of small donations, and one by Ally and Hannah Karpel-Pomerantz about helping kids build interpretive muscles. Also in this newsletter: Michael Bloomberg, Josh Shapiro and Penelope Steiner.
What We’re Watching
Today marks Education and Sharing Day, which is celebrated on the 11th of Nissan, the Hebrew birthday of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneerson, who died in 1994. Events for the day will be held throughout the country, including a “Mitzvah Tanks Parade” in New York City.
New York Times columnist and editor of Maimonides Fund’s Sapir Journal Bret Stephens will interview Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik at noon today about the rabbi’s recent essay, “Jewish Identity vs. Identity Politics.”
The American Jewish Committee is hosting its annual Ambassadors Seder tonight in Washington. Former hostage Keith Siegel, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova are slated to speak at the event.
An immigration judge in Louisiana set a deadline of this evening for the Trump administration to produce evidence in its deportation case against Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate whose green card was revoked by the government over his anti-Israel campus activism.
Rabbi Jessy Dressin will interview Jewish studies professor Marc Dollinger and Ilana Kaufman, CEO of the Jews of Color Initiative, about Black-Jewish relations today at Third Space at Shaarei Tfiloh in Baltimore.
What You Should Know
The third and final installment of eJewishPhilanthropy’s World Zionist Congress election debate took place last night, bringing together representatives from five slates to discuss some of the Jewish community’s most pressing issues. All of the slates united around the importance of unity, stressing the importance of collaborating across ideological divides when faced with mounting antisemitism. However, conversations about anti-Zionism, the two-state solution and the WZC’s role in Israeli domestic affairs pushed the limits of the slates’ openness to plurality and “big tents.”
Approaches to education and the future of Jewish youth were also addressed in the debate, as well as politics, with several slate representatives claiming to be apolitical while actively engaging in a political debate.
The final debate featured Rabbi Yehuda HaKohen representing Vision; Rabbi Doron Perez for Orthodox Israel Coalition – Mizrachi; Kenneth Bob representing Hatikvah; Elan Carr representing the Israeli-American Council; and Edwin Black representing Americans4Israel. Rachel Kohn, eJewishPhilanthropy’s opinion editor, moderated the debate.
Rabbi Yehuda HaKohen, representing VISION — a right-wing slate focused on putting “the young generation in the driver’s seat” — opened the debate by acknowledging the importance of the budgetary responsibilities of the WZC, while calling for the congress to be a forum for conversation about the biggest issues facing world Jewry, adding that “capitalism has grown too big for our planet.”
“What is the official Zionist movement going to do to make itself relevant for things other than budgets? And actually being the address for where the Jewish people debate, the course the Jewish people should take at this moment in history,” said HaKohen. “We don’t have to all agree on what the goals of this chapter of Jewish history should be, but we should be focusing less on defending the State of Israel and its policies or training young Jews to defend the State of Israel and policies, and more on defining what is a provision for Israel’s future.”
That collaborative tone was carried through most of last night’s debate, which leaned more abstract and philosophical than practical and policy-focused. Overall, the slates described their efforts to create a big tent for Zionism, save for Perez, who emphasized the slate’s “ideology of integration,” and interest in collaboration alongside representing the specific interests of his slate — which caters to voters aligned with Orthodox institutions, such as Mizrachi, the Orthodox Union and Yeshiva University.
“You’ve got from the most progressive left in the Zionist camp to the most ultra-Orthodox and political right, all sitting together — there’s a tremendous opportunity for us to forge a Zionism of understanding,” said Perez after the slates were asked how they intend to approach intercommunal polarization. “This congress is built on power sharing, it always has been. It’s not a winner take all, in that there’s relative power to everybody, and therefore this organization’s DNA has to be that respect for each other.”
Perez also highlighted his slate’s focus on funding for shlichim (Israeli emissaries), supporting educational content and media, and providing funding for gap-year programs.
Bob, from the progressive Hatikvah slate, emphasized the overall budgetary needs of underserved Jewish groups, and prioritized the communities impacted by the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks in the western Negev over settlements in the West Bank. When participants were able to ask each other questions, Perez asked Bob if Hatikvah had any “red lines” regarding criticism of Israel, if some views went from being critical of Israel to being openly opposed to the concept of Israel. Bob said that there were indeed boundaries to “who we can identify with in the Zionist camp.” He described Hatikvah as an entry point into the Zionist movement for those who are critical of the current Israeli government’s policies. “Come inside the tent, be part of this vibrant organization,” said Bob. “You can be critical of Israeli politics and policies, but still be part of the family.”
On behalf of Americans4Israel, a general Zionist slate, Black called for support for Jews across the “English-speaking world.” Asked by IAC’s Carr what Americans 4 Israel intended to do to combat campus antisemitism, Black, a historian, answered that a “muscular” approach is needed.
“We need to fight for the survival of our people. So when you say, ‘What do you intend to do?’ Educate, educate, educate… litigate, litigate, litigate, affiliate, affiliate, affiliate.”
Carr, representing IAC, which launched a slate for the first time this year, called for proactive approaches to combating antisemitism on campus, education that imbues young Jews with pride and initiatives to stoke “philosemitism” — what he described as an actively positive feeling toward Jews among non-Jews. Asked why IAC decided to create its own slate instead of joining with another, Carr spoke of the importance of an Israeli-American voice.
“This is a Jewish organization that brings the Israeli voice into the Jewish community. It represents the ultimate sign of that integration that we are now in this race, and we expect to be represented in the World Zionist Congress in order to help shape the Zionist project. And who better to help shape the Zionist project than a united Jewish community with Israel at heart,” he said.
Halfway through U.S. voting in the 2025 World Zionist Congress election, turnout has already surpassed the total number of votes from the previous election, with 123,788 votes cast as of Monday, 213 more than in all of 2020. Voting ends on May 4.
Recordings of all three debates are available here.
DONATION EXPLANATION
Making local Jewish day schools affordable was ‘unfinished business,’ Mandel Foundation board chair says
The $90 million matching grant recently awarded by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Supporting Foundation to help the Cleveland’s five Jewish day schools to boost their educational system was not intended as a response to rising antisemitism following Oct. 7 — and yet, its significance in the current climate is undeniable, Jehuda Reinharz, the Mandel Foundation’s president and CEO, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky. “It is important for [Jewish youth] to know who they are. I know from my own kids’ experience [with Jewish day schools] and also from their friends, that they are proud of being Jews,” he said. “It is important to them and they know how to respond and behave when they’re attacked. They don’t run away. We think giving young people this kind of resilience today is important.”
The difference is resources: Two years in the making, the matching grant program came about as a result of ongoing discussions with the Cleveland federation’s president, Erica Rudin-Luria. “The Cleveland Federation has been supporting day school education since 1940 when the Hebrew Academy was taken in as a beneficiary agency,” said Steve Hoffman, the foundation’s board chair. “We’re in constant discussion with the Jewish Federation of Cleveland about our areas of interest, and this was on my list of unfinished business. We kind of batted things back-and-forth and [to] see what takes hold.” The foundation’s initial $90 million will be matched by other donors, bringing the total project to $180 million. “The challenge of financing day school education has been there for decades. What’s new is that we now have the resources because of the generosity of the [Mandel] brothers.”
BOOK REVIEW
With new Haggadah, Rabbi Avi Weiss offers Israel-focused, anecdote-filled view of the Passover Seder
With Haggadah Yehi Ohr: Let There Be Light, New York Rabbi Avi Weiss — best known for his religious and political activism — has created a touching, accessible and considerate guide to the Passover Seder, offering fresh analyses of its structure, additional readings and a plethora of personal anecdotes, writes eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross in a review of the volume.
For kids and parents: Modern Zionism and Israel are highlighted throughout the Haggadah, which Weiss told eJewishPhilanthropy was a deliberate effort to assert Passover’s standing as an Israel-focused holiday. According to Weiss, while Sukkot with its references to harvests is more commonly associated with the Land of Israel, Passover should be as well. “That is one of the themes of the book,” he said. “I think that all through the Haggadah there is Israel.” Weiss also provides two ways of understanding the structure of the Seder, dividing it into two sections — a “Children’s Haggadah” and an “Adult Haggadah” — and breaking down sections of the Haggadah into three sections: past, present and future.
WEIGHING IN
Lipstadt says Trump admin ‘weaponized’ antisemitism in higher ed policy
Two weeks after Donald Trump was reelected president in November, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt — then the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism — said she believed the Trump administration would take antisemitism seriously. Now, in her first public comments about Trump’s recent actions to address the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, Lipstadt is raising concerns about the way the president is tackling the issue. “I think it’s been weaponized,” she told Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider in an interview on Monday. “I think [the administration takes] it seriously. But I think the approach has not been as productive as it should be.”
Making martyrs: Lipstadt described herself as being “a schizophrenic person in the middle” in her assessment of Trump’s approach to antisemitism at American colleges and universities. She called the recent actions taken by Columbia University in response to demands from the White House “important steps,” ideas that Jewish students had first raised to indifferent administrators a year ago — with little progress until Trump stepped in to pressure Columbia. “I think that a lot of the issues that the Trump administration are addressing are serious issues, and some of the people they are targeting have done wrong things, bad things, potentially illegal things, or at least broken campus rules,” Lipstadt said. “I have concerns because I think that the impact in certain cases has been to make people who don’t deserve to be look like martyrs.”
Read the full interview here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
Bonus: The American Jewish Committee warned yesterday that the Trump administration’s cuts to federal funding for universities “pose a profound threat to the survival of America’s leading universities,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
SMALL BUT MIGHTY
The beautiful chaos of microgiving
“In our post-Oct. 7 world, everything feels simultaneously urgent and impossible. We scroll through devastating headlines while sitting in carpool lines, wondering how on earth we as individuals can possibly make any difference at all,” writes author Jamie Geller, now chief communications officer and global spokesperson for Aish, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
An antidote to helplessness: “When we create crowdfunding campaigns where every dollar is matched, something extraordinary happens. Suddenly, the $18 donation your aunt’s neighbor’s friend makes — the one she almost didn’t give because ‘What difference would it really make?’ — becomes $36. And when combined with hundreds of other small gifts, it transforms into something substantial. I’ve discovered that there’s something psychologically powerful about telling potential donors their contribution will be doubled. It’s like finding out the grocery store is having a BOGO sale. Instantly, your brain recalculates the value proposition… In times of crisis — and let’s be honest, post-Oct. 7 has been exactly that — people desperately need to feel effective, to believe their actions matter. When they can contribute within their means and see their gift multiplied, it creates a powerful antidote to the feeling of helplessness. Every time someone makes a small donation and watches our campaign thermometer rise, they experience a moment of agency in a world that often feels out of control. They become part of a collective effort, a community of givers making waves together.”
A PRE-PASSOVER CHALLENGE
Interpretation is a creative skill we need in the age of generative AI
“As Jewish educators and future rabbis, we see the ability to interpret as a gift. When we empower students to make their own meaning of the symbols they encounter, they will feel more personally connected to the material they are studying and see it as relevant to their lives,” write rabbinical students Ally and Hannah Karpel-Pomerantz in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Too often, our Jewish classrooms prioritize right-versus-wrong assessments, reducing learning to regurgitation rather than exploration; but Jewish education at its best fosters personal and communal meaning-making, an interpretive practice embedded in our tradition.”
Your homework: “As Passover approaches, we have the opportunity to flex these creative interpretive muscles. The Seder is ripe with symbolism. How often do we teach that the items on the Seder plate represent fixed meanings? The bitter herbs for the bitterness of slavery; the charoset represents the mortar the Hebrew slaves used to build. But these symbols are not set in stone. They have evolved over time, and they can continue to evolve in our classrooms. What if, this year, we invited our students to make meaning for themselves? How much richer would their relationship be to the holiday, and to the ritual of the Seder itself, if they were asked to create their own symbols and share their interpretations with their family and friends? By doing so, we not only reinforce the creative spirit of interpretation but also deepen the personal and communal relevance of our traditions.”
Worthy Reads
Diaspora Philanthropy: In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Alex Counts lays out an alternative approach to international development aid. “Current models of private philanthropy alone can’t make up for the sudden reduction of American development assistance (which itself follows on a more gradual reduction in aid from the United Kingdom), and we need to acknowledge that effective organizations as well as entire sub-sectors, such as the work to control and eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases, may collapse in the months ahead. However, those of us involved in international solidarity need to look past the current retrenchment to search for new ideas and sources of resources. One of the most promising new ideas is to improve the amount and the quality of diaspora philanthropy, while concurrently ensuring that younger generations of those whose parents and grandparents immigrated from the Global South engage in this important work. The growing wealth and influence of diaspora populations around the world can become a vital new resource for solving vexing transnational problems.” [SSIR]
Bracing For Impact: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Drew Lindsay shares an analysis of how the Trump administration’s tariff policies could impact giving. “Economic forecasts turned ominous in recent days, a reaction to the Trump administration’s tariffs and the stock market selloff. JPMorgan estimated the chance of a recession at 60 percent in a report titled ‘There Will Be Blood.’ But what would a downturn look like for charitable giving and nonprofits? We turned to experts and research for clues based on how donors responded to the four U.S. recessions in the past 40 years: the 1990-91 downturn, sometimes known as the Gulf War Recession; the 2001 dot-com bubble collapse; the Great Recession of 2007-9; and the pandemic-related downturn of 2020.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Word on the Street
A new Pew Research Center survey found that a majority of Americans (53%) have an unfavorable opinion of Israel; the survey also found that a near-equal share of Republicans under 50 have a negative view of Israel as have a positive one…
The New York Times spotlights Michael Bloomberg‘s plans to spend $10 million through his gun control group to back Democratic attorney general candidates over the next two years as part of an effort to push back against President Donald Trump…
The Jewish Exponent profiles Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and how his religious upbringing and the Jewish value of tikkun olam has shaped his political career and the way he and his wife Lori are raising their four children…
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency examines how Jewish cultural groups are responding to the Trump administration’s gutting of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the anticipated closure of the National Endowment for the Arts…
The original ornate Moss Haggadah is on display for the first time at the National Library of Israel after it was donated to the library in August by Trudy Elbaum Gottesman and Robert Gottesman…
The Miami Herald reports on the new Jewish Miami: A 2024 Community Study by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation showing a 25% growth in Miami-Dade’s Jewish population over the past decade…
Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America and the Israel Land Authority have refused to reveal full details of a land deal that would allow construction of a new neighborhood in western Jerusalem, replacing existing green spaces. Construction in the forest area, which is home to many animals including gazelles, birds and reptiles, is opposed by the Jerusalem municipality and environmental groups…
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is set to visit the United States after Passover to meet with U.S. officials in Washington and Florida, after being blacklisted by the Biden administration for his extremist views and ties to Jewish terrorism…
Arnold Ventures has committed up to $10 million in a new public-private partnership with the State of Oklahoma to support the state’s “Be A Neighbor” initiative. Matching state funding over four years, the potential $20 million investment will back community-based programs proven to help students thrive…
Penelope Steiner, a longtime supporter of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and vice chair of its board of directors, has made a $25 million, unrestricted gift to the opera, one of the largest individual contributions in the company’s history…
Pic of the Day
Israel Tennis & Education Centers hosted its inaugural Women’s Luncheon on Tuesday, a sold-out event highlighting the organization’s work in Israel. The gathering focused on the organization’s Girls’ Empowerment Program, an initiative that leverages tennis to equip at-risk girls ages 11-14 with essential life skills, knowledge and opportunities. In a panel discussion, Liron Tazazo (far right), Ravid Dorin (third from left) and Rakefet Binyamini (third from right) each shared their personal journey and how the program has impacted their lives.
Birthdays
Dean at Reichman University in Herzliya and emeritus professor at Tel Aviv University, Zvi Eckstein…
Retired singer-songwriter, satirist and mathematician, Thomas Andrew “Tom” Lehrer… Board certified internist, he is a consultant at the Disney Family Cancer Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank, Calif., Lester Simon Garfinkel, MD… Retired fighter pilot and brigadier general in the Israeli Air Force, credited with 7.5 enemy fighter jets shot down and listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest-ever and longest serving combat pilot, Uri Gil… Former president of CNN Worldwide, Jeffrey Adam “Jeff” Zucker… Executive vice president at nationwide homebuilder KB Home, former chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Albert Zane Praw… Gail Kritz… CEO at Nationwide Investigations and Yale Brokerage Corporation, Jeffrey H. Rosenberg… Former chair of the board of Goucher College, she is retired from a 36-year career as an officer of Citigroup, Ruth Shapiro Lenrow… Rabbi, author, and environmental activist, Nina Beth Cardin… Executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, Asaf Romirowsky… Fashion designer for his own worldwide chain of eponymous stores, he was previously the creative director for Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs… Visual artist, performance artist and co-founder of Processional Arts Workshop, Alex Kahn… Attorney, author, political commentator, movie critic and blogger, Debbie Schlussel… Clinical psychologist in Boca Raton, Fla., Dr. Lori Gutmann Fineman… Arts marketing manager at the JCC in Washington, Jill Gershenson-Cohen… Program director of the Sonabend Center for Israel at JCC Manhattan and a facilitation associate with Resetting the Table, Moshe Samuels… Founder and CEO at NYC-based Wall to Wall Communications, Ross M. Wallenstein… Actress and writer best known as the model for a series of RGX body spray commercials, Rachel Sarah Specter… Israeli actress who has appeared in Israeli films, Italian films and U.S. television programs, Moran Atias… Former associate at White & Case, now the owner of DC’s Baked by Yael, Yael Krigman… Film, television and stage actress, Lili Mirojnick… Corporate strategy and development official at NextSilicon, Soraya Hoberman Alden… Figure skater, she competed for Israel at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang in pairs skating and a team event, Paige Conners… Zurich resident, Jonathan Marc Bollag… Herbert Levine…
