Your Daily Phil: ‘Big, beautiful’ tax bill may be a ‘double whammy’ for philanthropy
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we break down a new Pew study on Israeli attitudes toward peace with Palestinians and examine how Jewish foundations and funders are responding to the budget bill in the Senate, which may have a profound impact on charitable giving. We interview the author of a new academic paper on the “traumatic invalidation” that some American Jews feel regarding their grief around the Oct. 7 attacks, and report on the Trump administration’s threat to revoke the accreditation of Columbia University over its response to campus antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Meredith Englander Polsky about the next horizons for disability inclusion in the Jewish community and one by Naomi Lipstein about the impact of going into the field (in her case, to Rwanda) to experience an organization’s work firsthand. Also in this issue: Judith Weinstein-Haggai and Gad Haggai, Dan Gilbert and Orit Shaham Gover.
What We’re Watching
President Donald Trump issued a new travel ban against 12 countries — most of them with Muslim majorities — and placed restrictions on seven more; during his previous term, his move to ban people from seven Muslim-majority countries was opposed by a wide range of Jewish groups.
Voting starts today for the World Zionist Congress in Canada…
Leaders of the World Zionist Organization are expected to meet today to discuss what to do about the mass voter fraud in the American WZC elections, which concluded last month, The Times of Israel reports…
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
A new survey released this week by the Pew Research Center reveals the tensions in Israeli society surrounding the prospect of peace with Palestinians and the prospects of a two-state solution.
Israelis’ belief that a peaceful two-state solution is feasible has been decreasing since Pew first started tracking it in 2013, when nearly half of Jewish Israelis and 74% of Arab Israelis said that they believed that an independent Palestinian state could coexist alongside Israel.
Following the Oct. 7 terror attacks, levels of belief among Jewish Israelis dropped precipitously, from 32% in the spring of 2023 to 19% in 2024. Today, it is at its lowest level; Arab Israelis remain more hopeful than Jews, with 40% saying that a peaceful two-state solution is possible, compared to 16% of Jewish Israelis.
But while the belief that Israel and a theoretical Palestinian state can peacefully coexist has become rare, the belief that they cannot coexist has not become significantly more common. Today, 50% of Israelis say that a peaceful two-state solution is not feasible, nearly the same level as in 2023 before the Oct. 7 attacks (46%) and as in 2014 (45%). Instead, a growing number of respondents say either that they “don’t know” if it is possible (10% now, compared to 3% in 2023) or that “it depends” (19% today, 15% in 2023).
Most respondents, 56%, say that the Israeli people are “somewhat” or “very” committed to “lasting peace” with Palestinians, though they are less sure about the Israeli government, with 47% say that it is committed to peace, compared to 49% who say that it is not. Most Israeli respondents also don’t believe that Palestinians are committed to peace, with 54% saying they aren’t and 41% saying they are.
Nearly all of these responses are closely aligned with political and religious affiliations, with more right-wing and more religious respondents being more skeptical about the prospects of peace than their more left-wing and more secular counterparts. Most left-wing Israelis, 54%, believe a two-state solution is feasible, compared to 7% of right-wingers and 29% of those in the political center. A quarter of secular Israelis say it’s possible, compared to 9% of Haredi and national-religious Israelis and 11% of traditional Israelis.
The overwhelming majority of respondents — 75% — cite a lack of trust with the other side as a major obstacle to peace, along with 14% who say that it’s a minor obstacle; a similar number — 70% and 14% — say that the status of Jerusalem, to which both Israelis and Palestinians maintain religious and historical ties, is a major and minor obstacle, respectively. A slim majority of Israelis, 52%, say that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are a major obstacle to peace, and 19% say that they are a minor obstacle to peace. Internal Israeli political turmoil and internal Palestinian political turmoil were also cited as potential obstacles.
Israelis are also clear on their belief that the United States is helpful in creating lasting peace with the Palestinians, with 81% of respondents saying so (compared to 15% who said Washington was unhelpful). They are similarly clear on which foreign actors are unhelpful for the cause of peace: Iran (87%), the United Nations (66%) and Qatar (61%).
FEELING THE SQUEEZE
As budget bill heads to Senate, philanthropy readies for possible ‘double whammy’ of a tax hike for foundations and greater need
As the Trump administration’s “big, beautiful bill” approaches the Senate, some philanthropic experts are ringing alarm bells about tax provisions that could ultimately curtail charitable giving. The impacts of the bill could be felt broadly, experts told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim, uniting Jewish philanthropy with the broader sector. “This affects the entire philanthropic community, Jewish and not Jewish,” Andres Spokoiny, president and CEO of the Jewish Funders Network, told eJP. “There are a lot of conversations taking place in the secular field. So what is happening isn’t a specific Jewish response. It’s bigger than us, and it’s affecting people with much more firepower than us.”
Here comes the taxman: The bill, which cleared the House with a slim majority, is likely to change somewhat as it makes its way through the Senate, according to reports. But for now, the legislation would, among other things, raise the excise tax on the investment income of large private foundations from the current flat rate of 1.39% to a tiered system ranging from 1.39% to 10%, depending on a foundation’s assets. According to Avrum Lapin, CEO of the nonprofit consulting Lapin Group, a tax increase is unlikely to change the core funding plans of larger foundations, but it would likely be felt deeply by grantees. “For a foundation that’s giving out $200 million a year and has a core strategy, if you take 5% out of it, that’s a lot of money. It may mean somebody at the end of the day might not get funded,” Lapin told eJP. “Or it may mean that they have to dig deeper into their principal.”
Do more with less: According to David Goldfarb, senior director of the Jewish Federations of North America’s Strategic Health Resource Center, a potential drop in funding would also come as nonprofits are being asked to do more in light of the Trump administration’s cuts to some federal welfare programs, such as SNAP and Medicaid. Goldfarb noted that Jewish nonprofits are also dealing with specific additional costs related to antisemitism, namely those related to security. Spokoiny described this as a potential “double whammy” for the philanthropic field, which will be pushed to do more with less. “You risk a double whammy in which there’s more philanthropic need because of the cuts, the federal spending and what have you — and you have restrictions to philanthropy,” said Spokoiny. “Precisely now that we’re going to need more philanthropy, we should make it easier for funders to operate.”
SOUND OF SILENCE
‘Traumatic invalidation’: New academic article gives weight to experiences of U.S. Jews whose post-Oct. 7 grief was dismissed
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in Israel, many Jews in the United States reported not only grief over the attack itself, but also from the chilling silence from many of their peers, institutions and even their therapists. A new academic article has put a name to what has become a widespread psychological wound: traumatic invalidation, reports Efrat Lachter for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Nine-for-nine: After the attacks, Miri Bar-Halpern, an expert in trauma psychology and Harvard-affiliated clinician, started offering treatment to Israeli expats and the broader Jewish community. As she listened to clients, she began to notice disturbing patterns. Many Jews weren’t just traumatized by the events of Oct. 7, but also by the response, or lack thereof, from the people and systems around them. Friends went quiet. Social groups became hostile. Therapists failed to engage. She partnered with fellow clinician Jaclyn Wolfman to study the phenomenon formally, collecting firsthand accounts and organizing them into thematic patterns. Their paper, “Traumatic invalidation in the Jewish community after October 7,” which was recently published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, categorizes traumatic invalidation into nine distinct forms: being ignored or dismissed, experiencing emotional neglect, facing overt criticism, being unfairly blamed, having one’s intentions misinterpreted, being told your perception of reality is inaccurate, controlling behavior, social exclusion and discriminatory or unequal treatment. The authors found evidence of all nine forms in the testimonies they collected.
ACCREDITATION ESCALATION
Trump admin warns Columbia University at risk of losing accreditation
The Trump administration’s battle with higher education escalated on Wednesday with the announcement that Columbia University is at risk of losing accreditation for violation of the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
What is said: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights “determined that Columbia University acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students, thereby violating Title VI,” the Education Department said in a statement, noting that the Ivy League institution “no longer appears to meet the Commission’s [sic] accreditation standards.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD
Disability inclusion is Jewish inclusion — and we’re not done yet
“Twenty-five years ago, I co-founded Matan with a clear vision: that Jewish education, and Jewish life, must include every child regardless of ability,” writes Meredith Englander Polsky in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy following the news of her new role as the organization’s executive director. “We have helped to shape a culture shift in which more synagogues, camps, schools and community centers are recognizing that inclusion is not a favor we do for people with disabilities; it makes our community stronger… These shifts are meaningful. They are sacred. They matter. And yet, 25 years later, I still find myself repeating a simple truth: We are not done.”
Let’s go further: “As we look ahead, our vision must be expansive. Disability inclusion must be embedded in rabbinical training, in board development, in youth group curricula, in lifecycle rituals, in hiring practices and in community planning. It must be visible and unapologetic — not tucked away as a quiet accommodation, but embraced as a reflection of our deepest values. Let’s stop asking if inclusion is possible, and start asking what’s possible because of inclusion. Let’s ensure that the next 25 years bring not just more awareness, but transformation — where every Jewish person, in all their complexity, finds a home in our shared story. Because when we build a community for everyone, everyone benefits.”
CIRCLES OF COMMUNITY
Reimagining responsibility: How Jewish values drive global action
“What happens when Jewish communal professionals step outside their usual, familiar spheres and immerse themselves in a reality that challenges and expands their understanding of Jewish global responsibility? That was the question we set out to answer during Olam’s recent InterACT Global Study Trip to Rwanda,” writes Naomi Lipstein in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
How change happens: “As OLAM’s communications manager, I’ve spent years writing about Jewish responsibility to the broader world and our partners’ impact. But this was the first time I’d stood in the fields where farmers are rebuilding their livelihoods or sat face-to-face with those young people whose lives are being reshaped by the very initiatives I so often describe from a distance. This experience helped me grasp, in a tangible way, how a funder in London, an NGO in Tel Aviv and a grassroots organization in Rwanda are all part of one interconnected story. How real change doesn’t happen through philanthropy alone, but through partnerships rooted in dignity, mutual respect and long-term commitment.”
Worthy Reads
Who Do You Serve?: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, David Callahan explores the question of how much funders should concern themselves with public opinion. “[The philanthropic] sector is vulnerable for many of the same reasons as higher ed, if not more so. It sits on big piles of federally subsidized wealth and hasn’t much bothered to justify its tax breaks or otherwise explain itself to the American public… This insularity helps explain polls showing that philanthropy is out of step with public opinion about how it operates. A strong majority of survey respondents say they’re against the idea of perpetuity foundations, the model followed by most grantmakers. Americans also favor much higher payout by foundations than the current required minimum of 5%, as well as mandatory payout by donor-advised funds… Philanthropy’s lack of accountability is, in fact, one of its greatest strengths. At a time when many institutions — starting with government — face constraints from powerful stakeholders and public criticism, foundations are unique in their freedom of action. We want to be careful about crimping that freedom… Big questions about philanthropy are likely to come up with growing frequency. And just as foundations need to engage more politically to defend priorities now under attack, they also need to engage on challenges to how they operate — and on whose behalf.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Speak Up: In The Times of Israel, American Israeli Chaya Houpt, who became Orthodox as a young adult, shares the personal turning point that led to her practice of attending the Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance every year. “In 2015, 16-year-old Shira Banki was stabbed to death at the Jerusalem Pride Parade. The deranged extremist who took her life was a self-identified Orthodox Jew. In the wake of Shira’s murder, people of all religious persuasions gathered in Jerusalem’s Zion Square on a Saturday evening to hear speeches and participate in dialogue circles. That evening, Rabbi Benny Lau spoke words that changed me forever… Everyone has their own reasons for failing to speak up. I dislike confrontation and disharmony in general. I didn’t want to create awkwardness and discord. When it came to homophobia, however, there was another reason. I was still confused. The old dissonance remained within me, the sense that I couldn’t reconcile the Torah’s prohibitions with my own sense of what was right and true. So I didn’t speak up when I encountered homophobic speech in my community. I just let it happen around me, over and over again… I’m no longer willing to allow hatred to grow unchallenged. And each year since, I have tried to honor Shira Banki’s life, and Rabbi Lau’s clarion call, by participating in the annual Jerusalem Pride March.” [TOI]
Jewish Pride: The Washington Post’s Marc Fisher reflects on a visit to the new LGBTQ exhibition at the Capital Jewish Museum, which opened on the same day as the museum reopened following the deadly terror attack the week prior. “Jewish museums chronicle the centuries-long tension among Jews between insisting on belonging to the culture where they live and accepting the outsider status foisted upon them by dominant forces in their society. The Capital Jewish Museum has jumped into the fray by taking on its own community’s checkered, complicated history of rebuffing and then coming to support gay Jews — a process that lagged the civil rights movement by more than a generation. The exhibit confronts contradictions, which are at the heart of Judaism. People like the shooter cannot bear such nuance; to them, it somehow makes sense to take out one’s wrath toward Israel against a Jewish American institution — one that barely mentions Israel. The museum, like all good encounters with history, cherishes clashes between past and present, but the shooter can only see the binary: us and them. You are not one of us, he says. You are the other, to be excluded, removed, rejected.” [WashPost]
Word on the Street
The Israel Defense Forces found and returned the bodies of American Israeli citizens Judith Weinstein-Haggai and Gad Haggai, who were killed in the Oct. 7 terror attacks, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports…
The Wall Street Journal interviews victims and witnesses of the terror attack on marchers at a Boulder, Colo., walk on Sunday to call attention to the plight of the hostages in Gaza…
In an opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan calls for “moral clarity” in the face of rising antisemitism in the U.S., rejecting efforts by some to lump it in with islamophobia…
A Chronicle of Philanthropy survey of over 350 nonprofit leaders finds a growing technology gap — nearly 90% say technology is vital to fundraising, yet most spend under 3% of their budgets on it…
Billionaire philanthropist Michael Steinhardt has finalized the $21 million sale of a home in Jerusalem’s tony Talbiah neighborhood in one of the city’s largest real estate transactions in recent years…
Bloomberg profiles Cleveland Cavaliers owner and philanthropist Dan Gilbert, who suffered a debilitating stroke in 2019, about his plans to donate all his fortune while still living, with a focus on urban development in Cleveland and Detroit, as well as research into strokes and neurofibromatosis…
JEWISHcolorado in Boulder, Colo., launched an emergency fund to support the community and victims of Sunday’s attack at a peaceful pro-Israel rally, which injured 12 people — two of whom remained hospitalized…
Three Serbian nationals were arrested in France after five Jewish sites in Paris were vandalized over the weekend, with authorities suspecting Russian involvement in efforts to stir unrest in France citing parallels to past incidents in Paris…
In a New York Post opinion piece, Rachel Sapoznik writes that she is ending her donations to legacy Jewish groups over what she describes as an unwillingness to address left-wing antisemitism…
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel spotlights the Lauder Impact Initiative’s support for the Donna Klein Jewish Academy as part of a national pilot program aimed at boosting Jewish day schools. Read eJP’s coverage about the program here…
The Australian Financial Review reports on the bidding war for philanthropists Marc and Eva Besen’s home in the wealthy Toorak neighborhood of Melbourne, Australia, which reportedly sold for more than $32 million…
Tal Ramon, the son of Israel’s first astronaut Ilan Ramon, opened an exhibition honoring his father at the Houston Holocaust Museum, fulfilling the wish of his late mother, Rona, who headed the Ramon Foundation. The exhibit includes one of the diary pages written by Ramon that survived the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle disaster…
Aaron Bandler is joining the Jewish News Syndicate as U.S. national reporter, based out of Los Angeles…
Pic of the Day
Crowds inspect the self-portraits of 20 20th-century Jewish female photographers whose work is on display alongside 20 21st-century Jewish female photographers in a new exhibit, titled “A Lens of Her Own,” which opened last night at Anu Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. The exhibition, which was mainly funded by the Dan David Foundation and foreign donations, pairs each of the European female photographers who mainly worked during the 1920s with contemporary female photographers, who employed similar styles or explored similar subject matter.
“If we say today that women in the 21st century need to ‘break the glass ceiling,’ these female photographers had to break the ceiling of the basement where women had been imprisoned for thousands of years,” Orit Shaham Gover, the museum’s chief curator, said at the opening. “And then came the Nazis. The Nazis didn’t love modern art, didn’t love Jews and even less Jewish women. These Jewish female photographers had to flee for their lives.”
Shaham Gover explained that the exhibition is meant to bring those early photographers the recognition they deserve and — by pairing them with modern ones — to show the timelessness of Jewish history. “The exhibit is full of stories… through these stories, it presents the Jewish destiny in the 20th and 21st centuries.”
Birthdays
Film and television actress, she has a recurring role in the Fox series “The Cleaning Lady,” Liza Rebecca Weil…
Lithuanian-born Holocaust survivor, co-founder of the Virginia Holocaust Museum in Richmond, Va., known for his ever-present cowboy hat, Jay M. Ipson… Training director and broker associate of the Santa Monica, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services branch, Saul Bubis… Owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots, Robert Kraft… The first woman to serve as international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Judy Yudof… Senior project manager in the AI field, Dan Yurman… Israeli politician, diplomat and businessperson, he served as consul general of Israel in Philadelphia from 1988 to 1992, Israel Peleg… Vice president of new business development at Maresco & Partners, Linda Greenfield… Author of 11 personal finance books, financial advisor, motivational speaker and television host, Susan Lynn “Suze” Orman… Staff member at Burbank Temple Emanu El, Audrey Freedman-Habush… Portrait photographer and visual anthropologist, she is the author of The Jews of Wyoming: Fringe of the Diaspora, Penny Diane Wolin… Former commissioner on the U.S. International Trade Commission, now a consultant, Dean A. Pinkert… Best-selling instrumental musician, the saxophonist “Kenny G,” Kenneth Bruce Gorelick… Columnist for the New York Post, Andrea Peyser… Senior associate general counsel at Compass real estate, Sam Kraemer… Executive vice president and managing director at Washington’s Burson Cohn & Wolfe, Michael Heimowitz… Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for eight years until 2022, Gila Deborah Martow… Vice president of government affairs at Invenergy, Mark S. Weprin… First-ever Jewish speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, she served from 2020 until 2022, Eileen R. Filler-Corn… Manager of the Jeff Astor Legacy Fund, Beth Astor Freeman… Member of Congress (D-PA-6), her father is a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Poland, Christina Jampoler Houlahan… Member of the British House of Commons for 15 years, now a member of the House of Lords, Baron Ed Vaizey… Entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author, he holds more than 100 granted and pending patents, Nova Spivack… Professor of Israel studies at UCLA, Dov Morris Waxman… Actor, voice actor, comedian, writer and producer, Nicholas Kroll … Co-founder of BlueLabs and director of analytics for the campaigns of both Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Barack Obama in 2012, his father and grandfather were both rabbis, Elan Alter Kriegel… Research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, he was previously a member of the New Hampshire state Legislature, Jason Bedrick… Humorist, novelist and screenwriter, Simon Rich… Partner relationship manager at Voyant, Arielle Levy Marschark… Account director on the corporate PR team at M Booth, Maya Bronstein… Clara Moskowitz… Susan Stein…
