Your Daily Phil: Building overnight camps in Israel in the shadow of war
Add EJP on GoogleGood Friday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we interview Shawna Goodman Sone, the founder of Summer Camps Israel, about the state of Israeli camps in the shadow of war, and report on a restructuring in the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s racial justice programs. We feature an opinion piece by Brian Amkraut encouraging non-Orthodox institutions of Jewish professional education to consider teaming up rather than competing; and one by Jon Falk offering insight into campus conversations about Israel. Also in this issue: Guy Miasnik, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin.
Shabbat shalom!
| 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: Experts champion Jewish education as the key to thriving Jewish communities; New Brandeis study finds university faculty more heterodox, less anti-Israel than generally presumed; and Israeli Druze women working to aid victims of rape in Syria. Print the latest edition here. |
What We’re Watching
We’re keeping an eye on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, as Israel and the U.N. accuse each other of holding up distribution efforts in the enclave amid broader concerns of worsening malnutrition among the Strip’s most vulnerable. Jewish Federations of North America is hosting a webinar on the topic today at noon.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People initiative is hosting an event on Sunday about Jewish of color, featuring members of the Voice of the People global council, as part of a new program about underrepresented Jewish communities called Kolot (voices).
The Israel on Campus Coalition’s National Leadership Summit kicks off on Sunday afternoon in Washington.
And in Aspen, Colo., on Sunday, Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s PJ Library is launching a multiday conference.
What You Should Know
Every year since Summer Camps Israel was launched in 2020 has been a crisis-laden year. First, there was the COVID-19 pandemic, then a multiday battle between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, then the political turmoil in Israel in 2023 and now the ongoing war in Gaza and lingering effects of the wars against Hezbollah and Iran.
“There’s never been a quiet summer,” Shawna Goodman Sone, the founder of SCI, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross recently.
Extended sleepaway camps, those lasting more than a few days, are a rarity in Israel (and most countries outside of North America), but Goodman Sone — a general evangelist of the merits of Jewish camping — has sought to change that, helping build the industry in Israel through grants, networking and general support. This year, SCI will provide more than NIS 7.5 million ($2.2 million) in funding to 19 Israeli summer camps, which must run for at least 9 nights and require campers to surrender their phones for the duration.
eJP spoke with Goodman Sone recently to better understand the state of the Israeli overnight camping field in the wake of Israel’s war with Iran and its ongoing war in Gaza.
Judah Ari Gross: It’s been a difficult year in terms of everything summer program-related. Much of the focus has been on the international trips — the Americans coming to (or not coming to) Israel and the Israelis being delayed in coming to America or not being able to travel elsewhere. How has the Iran war and the ongoing fighting in Gaza affected summer camps within Israel? Has there been increased demand because of the cancellation of these other summer programs?
Shawna Goodman Sone: Since we started this five years ago, there’s never been a quiet summer. Every case study has been thrown at us, which is great because it makes us sharper and it reminds us that we’re not building North American overnight camps. We’re building Israeli overnight camps that respond to the outside forces that are greater than us in order to bring the same elements that North American camps have that are “sticky.” That is belonging, a love for being Jewish, learning how to be a friend, learning how to live with people who are different than you. And I can’t overestimate the value of fun, because I think our [Israeli] kids here have more seriousness. My 54-year-old self is craving some more fun, also, so I don’t underestimate the power of that.
JAG: What were the specific needs for this summer?
SGS: There are approximately 11,000 families that lost their [homes in the war with Iran]. So we called the municipalities and said, “If you want, we’re happy to take these kids.” So we’ve been very actively doing that. We secured money specifically, so that if any kid from any of these areas wants to go, we [can provide] that.
Also, the north is hardly finished and hardly healed. So we’re very focused with many of the Canadian federations, as well as UJA-Federation of New York, to provide camp for [kids from northern towns] as well. I just want to build the scale. I would argue that every Israeli child is suffering mentally. And so anybody who wants [to go to camp] and applies for it, we’re there with them.
ORGANIZATIONAL RESTRUCTURING
USCJ rejiggers racial inclusion program, cutting part-time role as it beefs up social justice work
Since President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January against diversity, equity and inclusion programming in the federal government and the social sector, such initiatives have been gutted across the country, with federal funding slashed and major corporations, such as Disney, Google and Target ending programs, along with many nonprofits. When the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism dismissed Tony Westbrook Jr., its part-time racial justice and inclusion specialist at the end of last month, some in the movement worried that the umbrella group was following suit. But racial justice advocates in the movement are hopeful that Westbrook’s dismissal represents only a “bump in the road” caused by a shift in funding and that the movement will not only continue its racial inclusion work but increase it going forward, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
Commission on a mission: USCJ recently received a surge of funding towards its social justice work in the form of a $3 million grant, paid out over five years, Rabbi Ashira Konigsburg, the chief movement strategy officer for USCJ and the Rabbinical Assembly and the chief operating officer for the Rabbinical Assembly, told eJP. The Conservative movement is about to hire a full-time director of social justice and public policy who will oversee its volunteer Social Justice Commission, which includes a committee for racial justice, Konigsburg said. The commission will decide how to allocate the funds. “I can assure you that these changes have nothing to do with anything going on in the political arena whatsoever,” Konigsburg said, adding that Westbrook’s position was “somewhat of an anomaly.”
CONSIDER CONSOLIDATION
One people, too many campuses: It’s time to rethink Jewish professional education
“Across the landscape of American higher education, institutions are grappling with declining enrollments, rising costs and shifting demographics. Perhaps nowhere is this more acutely felt than among the Jewish colleges, seminaries and graduate programs dedicated to training Jewish professionals for service, especially those in the non-Orthodox community,” writes Brian Amkraut, vice provost at Mount Saint Vincent University in the Bronx, N.Y., and founder and principal at Higher Ed Alternatives consulting, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Real talk: “[T]he current model — multiple (increasingly) small institutions offering overlapping programs with limited resources — is not just inefficient; it is unsustainable. We must ask ourselves: What might be possible if we pooled our intellectual capital, administrative infrastructure and financial resources? What if, instead of competing, we collaborated? The classic joke about the man on the desert island who builds two synagogues to have one that he does not attend is not a good enough reason to avoid a conversation long overdue.”
POINT OF ORDER
Are we talking about 1948, 1967 or Oct. 7, 2023: Understanding campus conversations about Israel
“On college campuses across the country, conversations about Israel are louder and more emotionally charged than ever. And amid the protests, student government resolutions and classroom disputes, it may be easy to miss a fundamental disconnect: Not everyone is having the same conversation,” writes Jon Falk, vice president of Hillel International’s Israel Action and Addressing Antisemitism Program, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “In fact, I believe there are three different conversations about Israel playing out in parallel and unless we name them clearly, we risk misunderstanding each other entirely.”
Where the confusion lies: “Too often, Jewish students and even Jewish professionals on campus assume they’re entering a 1967 conversation. They believe they’re participating in a good-faith debate about two states, peace processes and the future. But many of their peers are actually having a 1948 conversation, one that fundamentally denies the basic premise of Jewish self-determination in their ancestral home… For much of the last two decades, the debate on campus oscillated between 1967 and 1948, between questions of policy and questions of legitimacy. But since Oct. 7, 2023, a third conversation has emerged. I call this one ‘the 10/7 conversation.’”
Worthy Reads
Reports of Their Death Exaggerated: In The Times of Israel, current and former heads of the Association for Israel Studies rebut a recent report on the alleged decline of Israel studies programs. “A recent position paper published by the Jewish People Policy Institute describes the hostility and resulting challenges to Jewish students and to the field of Israel Studies at large. This is but one of a flood of such reports, but unlike most others, it falsely characterizes the field as in decline and advocates a retreat from the campus. … Anecdotes are not research. Strong statements are not a substitute for rigorous analysis. The report blinds itself to successful impact and ignores critical metrics. … There are now four journals publishing significant scholarship. Each has published many hundreds of scholarly articles about Israel. Many universities, including Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, and Indiana, continue to produce and welcome solid scholarship. The Association for Israel Studies attracts more scholars than ever. … This would not happen without a sufficient and even growing cadre of scholars and readers.” [TOI]
Listen Well: In a blog post for Candid, Seara Grundhoefer and Melinda Tuan reflect on the documented disparity between how well funders report understanding the needs of the people they seek to benefit versus how well nonprofit leaders report funders understand those needs. “The practice of listening to — and deeply understanding — the people and communities that a funder or nonprofit seeks to serve is not just about checking a box or ‘virtue signaling’; it’s a fundamental first step toward effectiveness. Without a deep understanding of the strengths, challenges, needs, and opportunities within a community, how can a nonprofit aim to support that community? How can a funder direct resources effectively? The gaps between how funders see themselves and how they’re perceived by grantees, and between what funders say they value and what they choose to support, won’t come as a surprise to most funders or nonprofits. But we also see a growing number of funders and nonprofits working to address those disconnects.” [Candid]
Capturing Impact: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, George Anders spotlights the multilayered approach adopted by Reimagining the Civic Commons — a sprawling multicity project supported by multiple foundations — to gauge its effectiveness in meeting its goals. “Determined to gauge Reimagining’s impact in ways that went far beyond tracking park visitors, the program hired Interface Studio, a Philadelphia consulting firm, to create metrics that spoke to bigger goals such as civic engagement, environmental sustainability, and socioeconomic mixing. … Key to this metrics push was bold use of in-person surveys, including a proposal that canvassers approach residents in their homes and in public spaces… It soon became clear, as Interface senior analyst Ben Bryant recalled, that ‘if you’re asking college students to stand around with a clipboard, glancing here and there to try to catch somebody — that’s an approach that people will avoid at all costs.’… Trusted members of the community could elicit answers far more effectively than outsiders.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
J’Accuse? Non: In The Times of Israel, Zev Stub reports from Paris on the state of antisemitism in France. “Walking through the bustling cobblestone streets of Le Marais, the historic heart of Jewish Paris, it’s easy not to think about antisemitism. Once the center of Jewish life in the capital of France, Rue des Rosiers still pulses with trendy kosher and kosher-style restaurants, Judaica shops, and Hebrew signs. … ‘People walk around freely in their kippot here,’ a local Jew, Levi, mentioned in passing. ‘Parisian Jews don’t live in fear.’ Others would differ on that point. … Jews make up under 1% of France’s population but are the target of over 60% of religiously motivated hate crimes, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau noted in May. … ‘We live in a period when French Jewry is thriving, and we have more friends than we ever had,’ [Yonatan Arfi, president of CRIF,] said. ‘However, at the same time, we also have more enemies than ever.’” [TOI]
Word on the Street
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter are trying to distance the Israeli government from recent comments by Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, who said that the government “is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out” and that Jews would settle in the Gaza Strip…
The Jewish News of Northern California interviews Guy Miasnik, an American-Israeli tech entrepreneur who is connecting Israeli expats with the American Jewish community…
Israeli-American venture capitalist Elad Gil is raising a $1.5 billion fund for young startups; if closed, it would be one of the largest funds raised by a solo VC…
MIT Technology Review examines how nonprofits are stepping in to address climate change after the Trump administration pulled federal programs aimed at tackling the issue…
Two Jewish comics slated to perform at the upcoming Edinburgh Fringe next month had their shows canceled due to what organizers said were safety concerns…
Archaeologists working at the Tinshemet Cave site in central Israel discovered what they believe to be, at 100,000 years old, one of the oldest burial sites in the world…
Israel Hayom spotlights the southern Israeli city of Beersheva’s reconstruction efforts, including its philanthropic support from the American Jewish community, after it was hit by Iranian missiles during last month’s war…
A Spanish airline “categorically [denied]” claims that its staff removed dozens of Jewish passengers from a flight because of antisemitism, maintaining that the 44 minors and eight adults were taken off the plane after they “engaged in highly disruptive behavior and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct of the flight”…
Eighteen young British Jewish professionals climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as part of an effort with United Jewish Israel Appeal to raise $134,500 for a new medical center in the northern Israeli city of Safed…
The British social services nonprofit Jewish Care dedicated a new wing in honor of Patsy Bloom, the co-founder and co-chair of the organization’s Bridge Extravaganza, which has raised more than $3.4 million for the group…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy profiles Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), a former camp director, who has championed the nonprofit sector during his time in Congress, including during the debates over the recent tax bill…
The FCC signed off on the $8 billion merger between Skydance Media and Paramount; The New York Times said that the merger “effectively ushers in the beginning of a new family dynasty for Paramount, which has been controlled by the Redstone family for decades. David Ellison, son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison, plans to take control of the company when the deal closes”…
Costa Rica adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance‘s working definition of antisemitism yesterday, which the American Jewish Committee noted came after meetings between government leaders and a delegation from AJC’s Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs…
Major Gifts
Hillel International will award nearly $350,000 to more than 60 students across 12 scholarship categories next year in its largest-yet cohort of scholarship recipients…
The Kamin Family Foundation donated $65 million to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to construct the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Tower, a 636-bed facility next to the current hospital…
The Heising-Simons Foundation has awarded three grants totaling $5 million for projects forecasting the effect of ice sheet loss on global sea levels…
Transitions
Jayne Perilstein has joined the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism as its executive director of development…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar (left) and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha (right) visit a monument at Babyn Yar in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday honoring the memory of the Jews murdered at the site by Nazi Germany’s forces during the Holocaust.
Birthdays
An heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, now a film producer, Jean “Gigi” Pritzker, celebrates her birthday on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising participant and Holocaust survivor, she is the subject of the 2021 documentary “I am Here,” Ella Blumenthal turns 104… Former publisher and editor-in-chief of Jewish Lights Publishing, he is an economist and religious scholar best known for his interfaith work, Stuart M. Matlins… Cinematographer, whose work includes “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” Peter Suschitzky… Member of the New York City Council from 2014 to 2021, Alan N. Maisel… Born in Casablanca, nightclub owner, entrepreneur and film producer, he produced “The Woman in Red” and “Weekend at Bernie’s,” Victor Drai… Former IDF brigadier general (he was part of Operation Entebbe in 1976), then a member of Knesset, Efraim “Effi” Eitam… Voiceover artist, he is also the writer, producer, director and narrator of a documentary about the restoration of a NYC synagogue, Peter Grossman… Chairman of Vibrant Capital Partners and chair emeritus of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, Philip Darivoff… Screenwriter, director and producer, best known for creating “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Sex and the City,” Darren Star… Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, she is a staff writer at The Atlantic, Anne Applebaum… Retired MLB pitcher from a small Jewish community in the Dominican Republic, he maintains a kosher home, José Bautista… Israeli journalist, television news anchor and author of a nonfiction book and a novel, Oshrat Kotler… CEO of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces until earlier this week, Rabbi Steven Weil… New York City-based criminal defense attorney, Arkady L. Bukh… Head coach of the men’s basketball team at Kent State University since 2011, Rob Senderoff… Radio personality on Baltimore’s WBAL and 98 Rock, Josh Spiegel… Vice president of communications and PR for the National Association of Healthcare Quality, Erin Seidler… Experimental electronic music producer, composer and singer, known professionally as Oneohtrix Point Never, Daniel Lopatin… Film and television actor, Michael Welch… Pitcher for Team Israel at the 2020 Olympics and at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he is also a real estate broker at CBRE, Joseph “Joey” Samuel Wagman… Senior policy advisor at Nelson Mullins, Jake Kohn…
SATURDAY: Former mayor of Las Vegas for 12 years, who was succeeded by his wife who served for 12 more years as mayor, Oscar Goodman… Former administrator at the University of Illinois and the University of Houston, chancellor of the California State University system and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Barry Munitz… Journalist and author or co-author of nearly two dozen books, both of her parents were killed in Auschwitz, Paulette Cooper… Author, podcaster, columnist and rabbi, Shammai Engelmayer… Member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2020, Richard Stark… Chief medical officer at F|42, Alan H. Spiro, MD, MBA… Actor, comedian and producer, Jeremy Samuel Piven… Film and television director, she is best known for her work on the Showtime drama series “Homeland,” Lesli Linka Glatter… Sports columnist, author, television and radio personality, he works for ESPN’s Charlotte, N.C.-based SEC Network since 2014, Paul Finebaum… Venture capitalist, James W. Breyer… Former correspondent at ABC News for 23 years, now a founder at Ten Percent Media, Daniel B. “Dan” Harris… Physician and attorney, he is the founder and chairman of the DC-based consulting firm Stonington Global, Nicholas Muzin… U.S. senator (R-OK), Markwayne Mullin… Actress best known for her role in the “Spider-Man” trilogy, Mageina Tovah Begtrup… Managing partner of the D.C. office of ColdSpark, Nachama Soloveichik… Political correspondent at Israel’s Walla News, Tal Shalev… Israeli-born classical music composer, Gilad Hochman… Israeli born R&B singer and songwriter, Hila Bronstein… Manager of advisor communications at Cetera Financial Group, Lauren Garfield-Herrin… Actress and filmmaker, Hallie Meyers-Shyer… Member of the comedy group “The Try Guys,” with almost 2.9 billion YouTube views, Zachary Andrew “Zach” Kornfeld… Associate policy director for complex care at United Healthcare, Drew Gerber… NFL running back who retired in 2024, Tarik Cohen… Pitcher on the Israeli Women’s National Softball Team, now a curriculum designer at Great Hearts Academies, Tamara “T” Statman Schoen… President at B&B Digital Media, Tomer Barazani…
SUNDAY: Real estate developer who founded Aspen Square Management, he heads an eponymous foundation known for its flagship program PJ Library, Harold Grinspoon… Forensic pathologist known for his HBO show and his work investigating high-profile deaths, Michael M. Baden… Managing partner of Access Fund Management Company, he is a past president of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Harold Zlot… Former deputy secretary of defense and then CIA director in the Clinton administration, now a professor emeritus at MIT, John Mark Deutch… Steven M. Mizel… Former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Stephen M. Greenberg… Artist and museum founder focused on Fusionism, Shalom Tomáš Neuman… Israeli author and television producer, he is best known for his documentaries of Israel’s intelligence agencies, Yarin Kimor… Israeli-born fitness personality, Gilad Janklowicz… Comedian, writer, producer and actress, Carol Leifer… Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, Linda Feldmann… Former vice president of global communications, marketing and public policy at Facebook, he previously held a similar position at Google, Elliot Schrage… U.S. Army colonel (retired), Jeffrey Brian Carra… Israeli television and radio personality, Erez Moshe Tal… Former CEO of the Rabbinical Assembly, she is now the founder of Insight Eldercare, Rabbi Julie Schonfeld… Member of the Hungarian Parliament for 20 years, then a member of the European Parliament since 2009, Tamás Deutsch… Rabbi at Kesher Israel: The Georgetown Synagogue, Rabbi Hyim Shafner… Former national platform director for the Democratic National Committee, now a political consultant and recruiter, Andrew Grossman… Former chief of staff of the House Republican Conference, he is now the managing partner at Capitol Venture, LLC, Jeremy Deutsch… Head of marketing at Jumplight and winner on “Jeopardy!” in 2019, Aaron Lichtig… D.C.-area political activist, Benjamin Rothenberg… Senior vice president at Upland Workshop, Jeremy Adler…
