Your Daily Phil: Center for Jewish History gets $25M matching grant
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we cover the 25th anniversary of the Center for Jewish History, which announced a $25 million matching grant at its gala Tuesday evening. We report on a $1 million donation from UJA-Federation of New York to a shared-society center being built in Beersheva named for a peace activist killed in the Oct. 7 attacks, and the latest findings of the Columbia University Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Alla Aronov spotlighting the Russian-speaking Jewish community in the U.S. as an engine of Jewish resilience, and one by Rabbi Daniel Alter, Rabbi Ari Ginian and Rabbi Mordechai Schwersenski about an opportunity to shape a federal program that could ease the financial burden on day school families. Also in this issue: Naya Lekht, Joanna Landau and Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay.
What We’re Watching
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting the second in its series of “Lox and Legislators” breakfasts featuring federal, state and local elected officials this morning in Falls Church, Va.
Indian-Israeli shaliach (emissary) Tom Eyal Rizman will discuss Indian Jewry’s long and rich history and how Indian Jews in Israel have preserved and reshaped their traditions this afternoon at the David R. Kahn Community Campus in Raleigh, N.C.
Nova survivor and former hostage Almog Meir Jan and injured IDF soldier Ben Ladany will discuss what it means to face trauma, rebuild identity and return to the world with renewed purpose at a community event in Philadelphia this evening co-hosted by the Philadelphia Hostage Family Forum and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in partnership with American Friends of Oketz.
What You Should Know
The Center for Jewish History, located in New York City, marked its 25th anniversary last night with a gala and a gift — a $25 million matching grant from Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman and his wife, Neri Oxman, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
The grant, announced at the event, secures the center’s future, its president, Gavriel Rosenfeld, told eJP. “That will put us in a position for the next quarter century to be able to be as mission-focused as we can be.”
The gala, which featured a conversation between historian Sir Simon Schama and author Dara Horn, took place on what would have been the 90th birthday of the center’s founding chairman, lawyer, businessman and philanthropist Bruce Slovin, who died in August.
The center is “the Library of Congress for Jewish history and historical culture,” CEO Rio Daniel told eJP. It houses the second largest Holocaust collection in the world after Yad Vashem, and the second largest collection of documents related to Jewish history and culture after the National Library of Israel.
“In my experience, you should allocate your philanthropic resources based on how important the cause is,” Ackman, who couldn’t attend the gala due to a prior engagement, said in a pretaped video shown at the event. Ackman, Oxman and their daughter have attended the Anne Frank exhibit, he added, which brought “history to life in a very powerful way.”
After overcoming a $30 million debt through a successful capital campaign, the center’s leadership is now focused on building an endowment, which received a massive boost at the gala: several donors have already responded to Ackman and Oxman’s challenge grant, pledging a total of $16 million, the center told eJP.
ADVANCING A VISION
N.Y. federation donates $1M toward building shared-society center named for peace activist killed on 10/7
A $1 million gift from UJA-Federation of New York will help support the creation of the Vivian Silver Center for Shared Society, which will act as the headquarters for the Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Economic Development, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim. Silver, a Canadian-Israeli activist for women’s rights and Arab-Israeli peace who co-founded AJCEEC-NISPED, was murdered in her home in Kibbutz Be’eri by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.
A hub for learning and collaboration: Located in Beersheva’s Science Park, the center will eventually hold classrooms, training spaces, a shared society hub and an auditorium for Arab-Jewish cultural events, AJCEEC-NISPED co-CEO Ilan Amit told eJP. The center is expected to open next year and will support thousands of young adults each year, equipping them with mentors, career skills and avenues to collaborate across cultures. “We’re proud to support AJEEC-NISPED in advancing Vivian’s vision — building bridges, fostering equality, and creating opportunities for partnership that strengthen Israel’s social fabric,” said Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York.
ACADEMIC ADVERSITY
Columbia antisemitism task force report: All our Middle East faculty are anti-Zionist
Students at Columbia University have shared that classes at the institution more often than not treat Zionism as entirely illegitimate, according to the fourth and final report, released on Tuesday, from the university’s internal task force to combat antisemitism, Haley Cohen reports for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. “Columbia lacks full-time tenure line faculty expertise in Middle East history, politics, political economy and policy that is not explicitly anti-Zionist,” says the report, with the absence of ideological diversity impacting course offerings.
Insufficient resources: The report claims that “academic resources available for teaching and research on Jewish and Israeli topics at Columbia are insufficient, especially in comparison to the resources available for teaching and research on other parts of the Middle East.” It also cites numerous instances in which the academic freedom of Jewish and Israeli students was not protected in classrooms, and suggests remedies that attempt to strike a balance between allowing for free expression and cracking down on discrimination.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
PEOPLE POWER
The stories we carry, the future we build
Daniel Finkelman in discussion at a screening of “One Day in October” on Dec. 3 2025. Kravets Photography
Born in a Brooklyn living room 10 years ago, the Jewish Parent Academy began “when a handful of Russian-speaking Jewish, or RSJ, parents gathered because we were raising children who asked questions we didn’t know how to fully answer: questions about Judaism, Israel, tradition and identity,” writes Alla Aronov, a member of the board of JPA and the JewishERGs Leadership Council, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “More than a program, JPA has become a blueprint for scalable community-building founded on intellectual curiosity and unwavering Zionism. It fills a void for Russian-speaking Jewish families who never saw themselves reflected in mainstream American Jewish life.”
Fast-forward: “On Oct. 7, 2023, the world changed. For many Jewish families in America, it was a wake-up call, but for those of us who grew up in the shadow of Soviet erasure, the attacks didn’t just ignite fear: they activated a core memory, one of forced silence and invisibility. … Many RSJs stepped up in the painful days and months that followed in unprecedented ways, mobilizing thousands across the country to support Israel. They marched in the Israel Day Parade for the first time, educated their neighbors, joined weekly walks for the hostages and spoke up in school districts, local governments and corporate spaces. I know this, because I am one of them.”
ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITY
Jewish education is too important to sit this one out
“In recent months, many have heard about a significant new federal development related to nonpublic schools and scholarship support,” write Rabbi Daniel Alter, head of school at The Moriah School in Englewood, N.J.; Rabbi Ari Ginian, executive director of Yeshiva Katana Long Island; and Rabbi Mordechai Schwersenski, head of school at Katz Hillel Day School of Boca Raton, Fla., in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “What many may not realize, however, is that this is not simply a program to monitor — it is a program that invites action. Our community now has a real opportunity to help shape how this initiative will serve Jewish students and schools.”
Make your voice heard: “For the first time, the federal government has created a scholarship tax credit program that allows individual donors to receive a credit of up to $1,700 on their federal income tax when contributing to qualified ‘scholarship-granting organizations.’ … For Jewish day schools, this is far more than a technical change. It is a potential lifeline for thousands of families already stretched by the cost of Jewish education … The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have formally asked families, educators, donors and community institutions to comment on how the program should be designed. Regulators are seeking guidance on which scholarship granting organizations should qualify, how states should oversee them, how multi-state organizations should function, what documentation should be required and how scholarship funds should be used. They have made clear they want community voices to help shape the outcome.”
Worthy Reads
Reframe the Conversation: In the Jewish Journal, Naya Lekht observes a weakness in the way Zionism is often taught that is contributing to today’s fraught discourse and synagogue protests. “Many Jews describe Zionism as a political movement because that is precisely how it has been taught. As a result, antizionism is often misinterpreted as a legitimate political debate about Israel’s government rather than an assault to Jewish peoplehood itself. No comprehensive study currently documents how Jewish schools, summer camps, or youth movements teach Zionism. Yet surveying existing curricular materials and publicly available content paints a rather bleak picture. The dominant frameworks continue to present Zionism as a set of ideological options or political ‘streams,’ obscuring its foundational role in Jewish identity and its historical continuity long before the modern state.” [JewishJournal]
A Noteworthy Increase: In her Substack “Reputation Nation,” Joanna Landau sees significance in the allocation of 2.35 billion shekels ($728 million) toward hasbara in the Israeli government’s budget. “Israel’s defense budget exceeds 112 billion shekels. Narrative security receives about 2% of that. Given the impact of reputational collapse on alliances, legal exposure, military deterrence and economic cooperation, 2% is hardly extravagant. But the significance is psychological. For the first time, Israel has adopted the mindset that reputational security requires billions, not millions. That shift alone is a meaningful precedent.” [ReputationNation]
From Handout to Hand-Up: A blog post on Philanthropy Roundtable’s website shares the story of True Charity CEO James Whitford’s night going incognito among the homeless population his charity was serving and how it impacted his approach to philanthropy. “Whitford recalls one cold November night when he met a homeless man named Ralph who selflessly offered him part of his sandwich. He was deeply moved, and that moment sparked transformation of the mission of Watered Gardens to birth True Charity. ‘My hunger broke through my egoism, and I sat on that curb and I broke bread with Ralph. When I did something happened. I realized that I had been treating Ralph and thousands of other people as objects of my good intentions, objects of my benevolence, rather than subjects who have autonomy and agency and capacity to contribute. … He ignited a change in our mission. We were a ministry that was toxic in its handouts and transactions, and we shifted over to be something much more empowering, with a laser sharp focus on the connection between human dignity and work,’ Whitford said.” [PhilanthropyRoundtable]
Word on the Street
Jewish Insider reports on legislation aiming to place stricter guidelines for the Department of Homeland Security’s management of grant programs, including the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, after concerns about slow progress, lack of transparency and lack of accountability…
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency profiles Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, who is running for State Assembly on the Upper West Side in New York City in 2026 and would be the first female rabbi to hold elected state office in American history if she wins…
Reconstruction is set to begin in Kibbutz Kissufim, one of the communities devastated by terrorists during the Oct. 7 attacks…
Semafor spotlights the key role that White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff plays in the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts, while the Washington Post looks at Jared Kushner’s “indispensible” role working alongside Witkoff…
The mother of journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, requested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allow her to review Israeli intelligence that might provide information on her son…
The Providence Journal spotlights the feud that has divided the Touro Synagogue community in Providence, R.I., for more than 13 years
A 15th-century mahzor — owned by the Rothschild family before it was looted by the Nazis in 1938 and then finally returned to the family last month — will be put up for sale next year, where it is expected to fetch between $5-$7 million…
Helen Nash, a kosher cookbook author and philanthropist credited for pioneering modern kosher cooking in the 1980s, died at 89…
Major Gifts
In an essay on her website, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott shared that she donated $7.1 billion to nonprofits in 2025, an increase in her giving from previous years…
Pic of the Day
David Bryfman, CEO of The Jewish Education Project, moderates a conversation with Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, the parents of slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in which they explored hope as a driving force behind Jewish education and communal transformation at an event Monday evening in New York City hosted by TJEP in collaboration with the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center, UJA-Federation of New York and RootOne.
“When we think about hope we must remember it’s mandatory. True courage to do the right thing, even when it’s hard, requires strength and action,” Rachel told the audience of 2,400 people at the Streicker Center. “We’re in a real Chanukah moment, because today, like in the story of Chanukah, asking ourselves who we are, who we want to be, what we want to project to the world, and our why, are the most important questions. The real message of Chanukah is when you have darkness, just know that light exists, and each day that light intensifies. It’s up to us to add to the miracle.”
Jon Polin added, “For the Jewish educators who are in the trenches every day, I hope we can zoom out and remember that we are part of a 3,500-year chain of history. The core piece is education, giving people the tools to understand what they are a part of and what they can be proud of.”
Birthdays
Co-founder and co-CEO of single-origin spice company, Burlap & Barrel (a public benefit corporation), Ethan Frisch…
Retired hedge fund manager, champion squash player, bestselling author and statistician, Victor Niederhoffer turns 82… Baltimore-based dairy cattle dealer, Abraham Gutman turns 81… Chairman and CEO of Verizon until retiring in 2011, Ivan Seidenberg turns 79… Owner of Judaica House and Cool Kippahs, both in Teaneck, N.J., Reuben Nayowitz… Progressive political activist, she headed the AmeriCorps VISTA program during the Carter administration, Margery Tabankin turns 77… U.S. senator (R-AR) since 2011, now serving as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, John Nichols Boozman turns 75… Founding rabbi, now emeritus, of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Md., Stuart Weinblatt turns 73… Founder and CEO at Seppy’s Kosher Baked Goods in Pueblo, Colo., Elishevah Sepulveda… Real estate entrepreneur based in Palm Beach, Fla., Jeff Greene turns 71… Senior fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, she was the deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism during the Trump 45 administration, Ellie Cohanim turns 53… Former rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, he was held hostage in the synagogue in January 2022 and then rescued, Charlie Cytron-Walker turns 50… Head of Bloomberg Beta, Roy Bahat turns 49… Actress since she was 10 years old, known for her later roles in HBO’s “Entourage” and CBS’ “The Mentalist,” Emmanuelle Chriqui turns 48… Managing director for private-equity firm TPG, he is the husband of Chelsea Clinton, Marc Mezvinsky turns 48… General partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he was an senior vice president and general manager of Cisco’s security business, David A. Ulevitch turns 44… Screenwriter, best known for co-writing “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014), “Captain Marvel” (2019) and “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” (2019), Nicole Perlman turns 44… Assistant managing editor for national security and justice at NBC News, Alex Koppelman… Assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health, Ari Daniel Ne’eman… R&B, jazz and soul singer and songwriter, she performs as “Mishéll,” Irina Rosenfeld turns 37… Director of communications at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Mitchell Rubenstein… Rabbi at Stony Brook Hebrew Congregation and the campus rabbi at Stony Brook Hillel, Philip Kaplan… Co-founder of Dojo, recently acquired by OfficeSpace Software/Vista Equity Partners, Daniel Goldstern… Actress, musician, fashion model and radio talk show host, Rachel Trachtenberg turns 32…
