Your Daily Phil: Can a board game predict American Jewry’s future?
Add EJP on GoogleGood Tuesday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we cover the Tzomet Games‘ new report, the latest developments in the Camp Lavi saga and why D.C. is, once again, down to only one kosher sit-down restaurant. We feature an opinion piece by Tamar Krieger Kalev about what American young adults need to succeed in Israel, a goal — and for some, the goal — of Zionist education; and we continue our preview of essays from the latest edition of the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education’s Peoplehood Papers series, “Cultivating Jewish Peoplehood at Camp,” produced in partnership with the Foundation for Jewish Camp, with a piece by Natana Shek. Also in this issue: Patti Lipoma Kraft and Jonathan Kraft, Terri Ludwig and Joseph Sitt.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
The Greater Miami Jewish Federation launched an emergency relief fund after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in western Colombia on Monday rocked more than 20 municipalities across the country, killing more than 100 people. In a post on X, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar offered the Colombian government “any assistance that Israel can provide.”
Tomorrow afternoon in Israel, the Jewish Theological Seminary will present President Isaac Herzog with an honorary degree at a ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, formalizing a degree awarded to him in May.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM eJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
For more than a year, hundreds of Jewish professionals across the United States and around the world have been playing a game forcing them to consider: What will American Jewry look like in 2050?
Launched last May, Tzomet Games — the brainchild of Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist Phil Siegel — aimed to inspire its players to think beyond solving today’s crisis or even devising a short-term strategy, and to make long-term plans to advance a desired future — something few Jewish organizations do on a regular basis.
Tzomet Games is now releasing its report based on its first year of operation, examining both what key topics emerged from the future-focused games and how that compares to what contemporary Jewish leaders are speaking about in their public remarks.
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
NO SALE
Drazin backs out of Camp Lavi sale, leaving camp in limbo — source
On Sunday night, mental health nonprofit Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services, Inc. agreed to hand its winning bid for Camp Lavi in Lakewood, Pa., to the second-place bidder, ensuring that the Modern Orthodox camp would continue operating in its current format. But just before the tentative agreement was to be legally recognized on Monday morning, the second-place bidder said he would not offer his original bid, scuttling the deal and throwing the fate of the camp into limbo, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher has learned.
Bidding war gone awry: Late Sunday night, negotiations between Ohel and Shlomo Drazin, owner of Montreal-based real estate company Rester Management, allegedly grew tense. According to a source, it was hoped that Drazin would match Ohel’s $8.75 million bid, but Drazin didn’t follow through. His second-place bid had been for $8.5 million, but now he was offering $7 million, the source said.
KOSHER CORNER
D.C. has a kosher restaurant problem. Owners say to blame the math
For years, people had been clamoring for more kosher dining options in D.C., so when sushi restaurant Oro Nami opened last year — and even offered the luxury of kosher dining out after 8 p.m., a rarity in this town — it seemed their prayers had been answered. That was until the restaurant shut down in May, after less than a year in business, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy‘s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Location, location: While demographics usually bear the brunt of the blame — just 5% of the Washington area’s Jews are Orthodox and most of them live in Maryland, according to a 2017 study — Dani Klein, who runs the popular blog “YeahThatsKosher,” said that the layout of the city doesn’t help. ‘There isn’t a concentrated district [in D.C.] where all the Orthodox Jews work. There isn’t a district where everybody is going to a particular museum,” he told JI.
Opinion
ANSWERING THE CALL
When Zionism becomes an educational outcome: 5 shifts to prepare our students for a future in Israel
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Tamar Krieger Kalev, executive director of the Tzemach David Educational Foundation, where she leads The Future Is Calling, proposes how educational institutions and the wider community can address the gap between “what students are increasingly choosing and what their education has prepared them to do” when it comes to making a successful move to Israel.
“Taken together, these five shifts represent a movement from exposure to ownership. None requires abandoning existing Israel programming. Instead, all require treating readiness — linguistic, academic and personal — as an explicit, measurable institutional outcome, rather than an assumed byproduct of connection.”
PEOPLEHOOD PAPERS
Philanthropy with purpose: Building endowed capital for generational impact
Natana Shek, chief Jewish identity and engagement officer at Federation CJA of Montreal, reflects on the impact of the federation’s decision 20 years ago to create an endowment fund dedicated to Jewish overnight camping in an essay to be featured in the latest edition of the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education’s Peoplehood Papers, which was produced in partnership with the Foundation for Jewish Camp and previewed exclusively in eJewishPhilanthropy.
“The lesson for Jewish communities everywhere is clear: to build vibrant, resilient Jewish life, we must think long-term. This is philanthropy with purpose — not simply reactive generosity, but strategic investment in the future of Jewish peoplehood. We must invest in experiences that deeply shape identity and belonging; and we must ensure those investments are secure, endowed for generations, so that our children and grandchildren inherit not only our institutions but also our values, pride, purpose and connection to the Jewish People.”
Worthy Reads
Break Less, Give More: In Fortune, tech founder Max Simkoff and JVS Bay Area CEO Lisa Countryman-Quiroz urge the new wave of AI millionaires to fund existing nonprofits rather than rebuild the sector in tech’s image. “There are countless other nonprofits across the country with a track record of doing this kind of nimble and effective work on a range of urgent social issues. What they share is a funding gap that AI philanthropy could close.”
Age as an Asset: In the Jerusalem News Syndicate, Steve Rosenberg argues that older American Jews represent an underused communal asset. “Your grandchildren are not counting on you to solve every problem they face. They are counting on you to leave them with stronger roots, wiser counsel, deeper relationships and the confidence that comes from knowing that they are part of a people that has faced difficult chapters before — and always found a way to write the next one.”
Major Gifts
Rice University trustee Patti Lipoma Kraft and her husband, Jonathan Kraft, the president of The Kraft Group, have given a gift to fund the university’s football practice pavilion as well as endow the Kraft Family Professorship in Jewish Studies…
The Gates Foundation awarded $540 million to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation — the largest charitable gift in the university’s history — to expand its Global Burden of Disease study over a 10-year period…
Transitions
Dan Blaser was named president of the board of directors of the Jewish Communal Fund…
Jamie Field, who first sought career help from the U.K. Jewish employment charity Resource in 2007, has been appointed chair of its board of trustees…
Rabbi Dan Ross is returning to Yale University to serve as a Jewish chaplain; he was previously a senior Jewish educator at the Slifka Center For Jewish Life at Yale from 2018-2019…
Mesila International, a global nonprofit providing financial counseling and education to Jewish communities, has named Moshe Schapiro its next CEO…
Word on the Street
A group of rabbis spanning denominations privately urged New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a meeting on Monday to weigh how his rhetoric on Israel affects New York Jews’ safety amid rising anti-Jewish hate crime…
Israel’s Ministry of Social Equality slashed funding for LGBTQ programs across 20 local authorities by more than 90%…
The Times of Israel spotlights Safe for Jews, Israeli developer Shay Yaish’s Hebrew and English website that uses AI, government advisories and open source information to rate countries and cities on safety for Jewish travelers…
A campaign sign for Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), one of Congress’ only Jewish Republicans, was defaced with a swastika as he faces antisemitic primary challenger Dan Bilzerian, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The San Francisco Standard profiles Anthropic‘s eight co-founders — each of whom reportedly owns 1.7% of the AI company and stands to gain roughly $16.6 billion in a long-rumored IPO — spotlighting their pledge to give away 80% of their wealth in what could become the Bay Area’s largest philanthropic windfall in years…
Inc. profiles Ballmer Group CEO Terri Ludwig, who is helping Steve and Connie Ballmer split their economic mobility philanthropy into three independent local nonprofits in Michigan, Los Angeles County and Washington state…
Thor Equities’ Joseph Sitt makes the case for Israel to donate a plot of land in Jerusalem to house the “Abraham Organization”…
Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen highlights a new app called Sabbath, built by Jewish founder Ben Springwater, that lets users lock away distracting apps for one day each weekend for what he calls “Shabbat with training wheels”…
In a new interview, British actress Hannah Waddingham, who hosted the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, praised that year’s Israeli entrant, singer Noa Kirel…
Holly Sue Engelman, former president of Silver Academy Jewish Day School in Harrisburg, Pa., and a fixture of the local Jewish community, was struck and killed by a car on Saturday. She was 55…
Pic of the Day
Nadav Goldstein-Almog’s parents embrace beside the portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer inaugurated in his memory at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Nadav, a university graduate, served as vice president of business development and innovation at Kafrit, an Israeli company founded at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. He was murdered with his eldest daughter, Yam, 20, at their Kfar Aza home on Oct. 7, 2023. The device, donated by Kafrit and the Goldstein family, is now used by students and researchers across geology, archaeology and other fields.
Birthdays
Ilana Marcus Drimmer, senior advisor for communications and engagement at the Aspen Strategy Group and the Aspen Security Forum, she is an Emmy Award-winning producer with over 20 years of experience in broadcast television…
Doris Feder, longtime Democratic Party activist in N.Y.’s Orange and Rockland counties, turns 94…
Peter David Eisenman, architect best known for the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin and the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., turns 94…
Elizabeth Holtzman, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, she also served as Brooklyn DA and NYC comptroller, turns 85…
Jacob S. Segal, principal of Investors Research Group based in Los Angeles…
Lois Weinsaft, former senior vice president for international affairs at the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles…
David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, in 2024 he became the principal owner of MLB’s Baltimore Orioles, turns 77…
Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, U.S. trade representative during the Clinton administration, she is chair of Parkside Global Advisors, turns 76…
Linda E. Rosenzweig, senior counsel for benefits and employment at the Wagner Law Group…
Lenore Solomon…
Carolyn Dorfman, artistic director and choreographer of an eponymous dance company based in Union, N.J.…
Leonid Mikhelson, CEO, chairman and major shareholder of the Russian gas company Novatek, turns 71…
Jeffrey Snyder, board member emeritus of AIPAC…
Daniel A. “Dan” Wolf, former member of the Massachusetts Senate, he is the founder of Cape Air, turns 69…
Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, publisher of Yated Ne’eman, a weekly English-language Haredi newspaper and magazine based in New Jersey, turns 68…
David “Dudi” Amsalem, Israeli minister of regional cooperation, turns 66…
Isaac “Yitz” Applbaum, co-founder and partner of MizMaa Ventures and wine columnist for Jewish Insider…
Simon Falic, chairman at Duty Free Americas, his family owns Israel’s Psagot Winery…
Nadav Argaman, former chief of the Shin Bet, turns 66…
David Brooks, staff writer at The Atlantic, turns 65…
Sharon Kam, clarinetist who performs internationally as a soloist, turns 55…
Andrew Lorraine, MLB pitcher for seven teams, he has also been the pitching coach for Team Israel, turns 54…
Alex Bernstein, NFL offensive lineman for four seasons, he is now the managing partner of Oakland, Calif.-based North Venture Partners, turns 51…
Marc Bistricer, chief investment officer and CEO of Toronto-based investment firm Murchinson…
Yoni Bloch, co-founder and CEO of Israeli interactive video firm Eko, turns 45…
Adam Podlesh, NFL punter for seven seasons with the Jaguars and Bears, he was then a financial advisor in the Jacksonville office of Merrill Lynch, turns 43…
Avraham Yaakov Tarkieltaub, reporter for Mishpacha Magazine known as Jake Turx, turns 40…
Yelena Shuster, Ukrainian-born and San Francisco-raised journalist and copywriter…
Daniel Weitz…
Sara Ginzberg, M.D., complex general surgical oncology fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center…
