Your Daily Phil: Fighting antisemitism in Davos

Good Thursday morning. 

In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on an antisemitism panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. We examine the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s Arabic-language PJ Library spinoff Maktabat al-Fanoos and speak with the designer who made Dr. Miriam Adelson’s inauguration dress adorned with yellow ribbons in support of the hostages. We feature an opinion piece by Jennifer Lazlo Mizrahi highlighting meaningful steps funders, nonprofits and communal leaders can take to respond to climate change, and one by Michael Feuer examining the role of schools of education in campus antisemitism. Also in this newsletter: Michael Bloomberg, Yuval Raphael and Jesse Rosen.

What We’re Watching

The Voice of the People initiative announced the selection of the 150 members of its council. The representatives — 50 from the United States, 50 from Israel and 50 from elsewhere — will each serve two-year terms.

What You Should Know

Three different visions for combating antisemitism got an airing this morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: one by former Treasury Secretary and ex-Harvard University President Larry Summers, focused more on universities, who argued for using existing legal protections to address antisemitism; another by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who advocated for a robust communal effort to tackle the issue from the top down; and a third by by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who called for a grassroots coalition effort, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.

All three of the speakers on the panel — “Confronting Antisemitism amid Polarization,” which was moderated by Jennifer Schenker, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Innovator — agreed that antisemitism is a growing threat in the United States and around the world, with Greenblatt noting the findings of his organization’s recent global survey of antisemitism, which found that nearly half of all adults maintain antisemitic views. 

“We found an equal proportion of antisemitism on the political left and right. These are extremists; you see classic antisemitism from the far right and intense anti-Zionism from the far left. This plays out in harassment of individual Jews, vandalism of buildings, defacement and violence,” Greenblatt said. “We’ve seen an explosion of over 200% of real-world acts of hate.”

Summers, who has been a vocal critic of the Ivy League’s response to antisemitism on its campuses, noted that while there have been “inexcusable failures of protection” of Jewish students, he maintained that it is both false and unhelpful to say that these universities are now dangerous for Jews.

“I am frequently asked if it’s safe to send a child to Harvard or an Ivy League school. The answer is yes,” he said. “It would be a mistake in our outrage at what is real moral failure to suppose that somehow the typical Ivy League campus is a physically dangerous place to be on a typical day if you are Jewish. That would be to exaggerate the problem in a way that would — in my view — undermine our credibility. That is not to excuse what have been manifold failures of enforcement and to apply discipline.”

Summers called for extensive use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin, to combat antisemitism on college campuses, calling it a “potent and effective tool” to address the issue.

Weingarten faced criticism from Summers over a statement by the American Association of University Professors — which is affiliated with her AFT — that suddenly changed the group’s stance to be more accepting of academic boycotts “when the only academic boycotts under discussion were academic boycotts of Israel.” The union leader largely refrained from responding but said that the solution is to build coalitions and to educate other groups about antisemitism. 

“Unless you become a trusted emissary, you’re never going to get through to people,” she said. “Many of my members don’t know Jews anymore, except for me… I say, ‘You think I am privileged,’ and I think we are one government away from my going to the gas chamber.”

In an indication of the ADL’s plans going forward, Greenblatt highlighted the risks of antisemitism on social media and the need for a two-pronged effort to address it: through government regulation and by swaying public opinion about the companies.

“Our ability to affect social media is limited. These companies are colossal… [they] are immune to market pressures because of their scale. They’re also immune to shareholder pressure. Regulatory pressure really matters, and there’s not enough of that. There’s a loophole in U.S. law called Section 230, which exempts them from liability,” he said. “Reputational pressure matters because these companies need to hire the best engineers. If their engineers feel like going to these companies is participating in something evil, they don’t want to do that. These engineers want to get paid, but they also want to coach their kids’ soccer games. If they feel social pressure, they might not want to do it.”

10-YEAR REVIEW

The PJ Library’s Arabic version has supplied a decade’s worth of free ‘culturally appropriate’ books — but what fits the bill?

A father reads a Maktabat al-Fanoos book with children in a daycare center. Courtesy/Maktabat al-Fanoos

Maktabat al-Fanoos, which distributes children’s books to Arab Israelis in public preschools and elementary schools, launched in 2014 as a partnership between the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the Israeli Ministry of Education and Price Philanthropies, providing eight “culturally appropriate” books per year to every recipient. But what is deemed “culturally appropriate” is open to debate, and unlike PJ Library books, which outwardly feature religion, Maktabat al-Fanoos’ books avoid it, even though religious identity is considered by many to be central to Arab Israeli identity — something critics say represents at least a missed opportunity, reports Jay Deitcher for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Keep it general: Because several authors come from the Arab Israeli community, characters in the books may wear hijabs or dress in garb that implies a certain religious background, but religion will never be overt, Asma Aghbarieh Zahalka, an activist and the director of Maktabat al-Fanoos, told eJP. This is because the program does not focus on differences, she said, but rather on commonalities. “We are all Arabs here. We have the same culture, the same language, and we want to strengthen the things that are in common and not the things that separate,” she said. But Fida Shehada, an Arab Israeli activist, says religion is an important aspect of the culture. “We are born into a religious identity,” she said. “Arab society is still conservative in many aspects, and the decision to exclude religion seems detached.”

Read the full report here.

FASHION STATEMENT

Miriam Adelson’s hostage-ribbon dress makes an impression

Dr. Miriam Adelson (second from left) with USIEA Staff Heather Johnston, Joan Leslie McGill, and Julie Collier at the Republican Jewish Coalition Inauguration Ball during this weekend’s festivities in Washington, D.C. U.S. Israel Education Association/X

First Lady Melania Trump’s navy blue boater hat, Second Lady Usha Vance’s pink coat and Ivanka Trump’s Audrey Hepburn-inspired black-and-white gown made fashion headlines on Inauguration Day in the U.S. But in Israel, Dr. Miriam Adelson’s rose-gold and yellow-ribbon adorned dress at a Republican Jewish Coalition bash sent the fashionistas into overdrive. A photo of the dress, covered in the yellow ribbons showing support for release of the hostages held in Hamas captivity, made waves in Israel, reports Lahav Harkov for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. The woman behind the dress is Tova Chasin, known in the Israeli fashion industry as “Tovale,” the name of the brand she founded in the 1980s. She now runs the label with her daughter, Naama Chasin.

Land-based: All of Chasin’s designs are “very, very Israeli, very connected to the land and the Jewish people,” she told JI. “I make everything with inspiration from the place where I was born, and every item has something Israeli behind it, whether the army, or family — I get all of my inspiration here, and I’m proud of it,” she said. Chasin said she and Adelson have been friends for about 35 years. “She has excellent taste and it is a pleasure to dress her,” Chasin said. “It all started with her love for the State of Israel, and that of her husband Sheldon. That is the connection between us, because I love the Land of Israel.”

Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.

STEPS YOU CAN TAKE

Jewish philanthropy can and must act on climate — before it’s too late

Birds fly overhead as the sun sets through smoke from the Hughes Fire in Castaic, a northwestern neighborhood of Los Angeles County, Calif., on Jan. 22, 2025; a new wildfire erupted north of Los Angeles on Jan. 22, exploding in size and sparking thousands of evacuation orders in a region already staggering from the effects of huge blazes. Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images

“Los Angeles is still burning,” writes activist and philanthropist Jennifer Lazlo Mizrahi in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “This is not a metaphor but a stark reality. The fires persisting there, like the hurricane damage in Asheville, [N.C.] are a grim reminder that climate catastrophes are escalating, threatening lives, livelihoods and the planet. For Jewish philanthropists like us, the question isn’t whether we should respond but how — and how urgently.”

Feeling the urgency: “Three years ago, I knew little about climate solutions. Like many of you, my philanthropy focused on other causes I deeply cared about — Israel, disability inclusion and strengthening Jewish life. I thought climate issues were best left to scientists and environmental policymakers. But their efforts alone aren’t enough, and now all of us are at risk. From rising seas threatening Israel’s coastline to extreme heat, rain and wind endangering vulnerable communities everywhere, the climate crisis demands our attention. Polls show that many Jews have long cared about climate issues. If you, like me, are newer to this work, know that if I can learn how to make a difference, so can you.”

Read the full piece here.

TEACHING TEACHERS

Campus antisemitism and the role of schools of education

Bust of George Washington on the campus of George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Bust of George Washington on the campus of George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Robert Knopes/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

“If the murder of George Floyd sparked a needed national reawakening about racial injustice, then the eruption of protests against Israel after Oct. 7 sounded the alarm on resurgent antisemitism, horrifying in its own right and symptomatic of other problems besetting the academy,” writes Michael Feuer, the dean and a professor of education at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy“I ask myself if our field is especially culpable for the current crisis — and, regardless, if we can lead the way toward alleviating it. My answers, respectively, are ‘probably not’ and ‘hopefully yes.’” 

A path forward: “Is our professional goal to instill values and preferences or to equip people with analytical tools to help them reach their own judgments? Of course, the answer is some of each. But self-conscious attention to that binary is essential, and the fine work of education scholars can guide our colleagues across the academy. By interrogating ourselves voluntarily, perhaps using an imagined scale of neutrality and indoctrination, we might stanch the flow of poisonous dogma in academic discourse generally (and curb the spread of antisemitism specifically).”

Read the full piece here.

Worthy Reads

The Disillusioned Faithful: In The New York Times, Jessica Grose explores the origins and impact of Americans’ downward-trending faith in religious institutions — even among people who identify as religious. “Religious institutions are certainly not the only potential avenue for meaning, purpose and value in society. But we can’t underestimate the power of their reach, even in an increasingly secular world. When they have epic moral failures, it affects all of us, because it makes everyone more suspicious of potentially welcoming communities. Religious organizations are one of the few kinds of groups left in America that are free to join and have few barriers to entry. Faith groups are among vanishingly few organizations that are meant for people of all ages, where the entire family can ideally feel welcome… As Steven Tipton, a professor emeritus at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, points out in his new book, In and Out of Church: The Moral Arc of Spiritual Change in America, millions of Americans who say they have no religion in particular are actually ‘liminal’ in that they may leave religious communities ‘only for a season.’ It would help bring these liminals back if religious communities pursued ‘a truer, wider path toward the common good.’”  [NYTimes]

Back to the Future: In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Carolina Nieto and David Mayoral examine the communal and personal benefits of returning to a more collaborative rather than individualistic society. “[I]n recent decades, we have seen the evolution towards celebrating individualism over cooperation: In school, we are taught to excel as the best student or athlete, and later we transfer this mentality to the marketplace to be the biggest, best, or only. Lack of cooperation has systemic consequences, as we see in a world filled with armed conflicts and societies polarized by decisions that affect public life. As the world reinforces competition and individual capabilities, mistrust can become systemic and permeate the willingness to solve crises… Collaboration, more than a theory, is a way of living and a strategic framework that implies transforming our mentality and actions towards empathy, openness, and joint work, since it breaks with competition to join efforts towards the common good.” [SSIR]

Word on the Street

A survey by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany — published ahead of Monday’s 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — found that the majority of people in seven countries — including 75% of American respondents — believe a Holocaust-like genocide could happen today. It also revealed a global decline in awareness of basic Holocaust facts…

Michael Bloomberg announced that his Bloomberg Philanthropies will pay what the United States owes for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — in 2024, that was $7.4 million — after President Donald Trump again called for the country to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords

The New York Times looks at whether diversity, equity and inclusion programs are “good for the Jews,” as some Jewish students report feeling excluded by them rather than protected. DEI offices have long been opposed by conservatives but now face growing concerns that they foster division, rather than connection, between groups. Colleges are preparing for more restrictions on diversity initiatives under a second Trump administration…

The Financial Times interviews Alex Soros, chair of the Open Society Foundations, which was founded by his father, George, about his vision for the liberal megadonor and view of world politics…

Ballmer Group donated $2.6 million to the Michigan Science Center to upgrade its planetarium theater and associated space exhibits…

Yuval Raphael, a singer and survivor of the Nova music festival massacre, was selected to represent Israel at the next Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland…

College Possible, a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing college access and success through near-peer coaching, received a $1 million grant from Salesforce to scale career coaching and AI-powered support for students from low-income families…

Gratz College outside of Philadelphia will begin a new doctoral program for “experts in rabbinic, educational, nonprofit and public policy positions in the Jewish community,” beginning in the spring…

Jesse Rosen has been appointed as the new president and CEO of the Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland effective March 10…

The multimedia installation, “Anne Frank the Exhibition,” which opens on Jan. 27 at the Center for Jewish History in New York will include the first full-scale recreation of the secret annex the Frank family shared with four other Jews in Amsterdam and is meant as a reflection by the Anne Frank House on how to continue the memory of the Holocaust into the 21st century…

Over 60 nonprofit associations have formed the Community Impact Coalition to lobby Congress and highlight the social and economic value of tax-exempt organizations. The coalition aims to address potential new taxes on nonprofits, particularly those with for-profit counterparts like hospitals, insurance companies and trade associations…

Nearly 1,600 antisemitic acts were recorded in France last year, according to CRIF, the country’s main Jewish organization. This represents a slight reduction from the record-high levels of 2023, but still well above normal amounts…

The town of Guildford, outside of London, marked the 750th anniversary of the expulsion of its 13th-century Jewish community with a “Day of Reconciliation and Understanding,” organized in collaboration between the diocese of Guildford, the borough council, Guildford Mayor Sallie Barker and the rabbi of Guildford, Alexander Goldberg

Football legends from the ArsenalBrighton & Hove AlbionTottenham HotspurWest Ham and Chelsea football clubs interviewed Holocaust survivors to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in an initiative by the Jewish News in partnership with Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, the Football Association and Dangoor Education

Several Israelis, including journalists Lee Yaron and Amir Tibon, influencer Noa Tishby, novelist Yael van der Wooden and the National Library of Israelwere among the winners of the Jewish Book Council’s 74th National Jewish Book Awards

American-Israeli academic Clinton Bailey, who extensively documented Bedouin culture, died at 88…

Pic of the Day

Courtesy/Hadassah

Dr. Yoram Weiss (second from right), the CEO of Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center, stands over a man who had a heart attack on board a flight to Miami last night shortly after takeoff from Ben Gurion Airport.

Weiss, who was traveling to the U.S. on a fundraising trip, was called to help when the man experienced severe chest pain. 

“Weiss got the man connected to oxygen and gave him medication and even ordered an emergency landing for the flight in Athens in order to get the passenger treatment and monitoring in a local hospital. Without a doubt, the passenger’s life was saved,” Hadassah said in a statement.

Birthdays

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for JITC Hollywood Bureau

Founder and executive director of Jew in the City, Allison F. Josephs… 

Real estate developer and former minority owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, Bruce Ratner… Professor of biological chemistry at Weizmann Institute of Science, David Wallach… Educational consultant, trade association and nonprofit executive, Peter D. Rosenstein… Manager of Innovative Strategies LLLP, he is a board member of the Baltimore-based Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund, Howard K. Cohen… U.S. senator (D-DE) from 2001 until three weeks ago, Tom Carper… Israeli archaeologist and professor at the University of Haifa, Estee Dvorjetski… Former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa… President of Lazard, he was a 2021 candidate for mayor of NYC, Raymond J. McGuire… Political consultant and media advisor for the Democratic Party, Madeleine “Mandy” Grunwald… Broadway theater owner, operator, producer and presenter and president of the Nederlander Organization, he is a 13-time Tony Award winner, James L. Nederlander… CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp for 15 years, he will retire on March 1, Jeremy J. Fingerman… Former president of Staples Inc., she serves on the boards of Burlington Stores, CBRE and CarMax, Shira Goodman… Journalist for NBC News and MSNBC, co-author of “Game Change” and “Double Down: Game Change 2012,” John Heilemann… Palm Beach, Fla., resident, Hilary Bangash Cohen… Journalist, screenwriter and film producer, in 2009 he wrote and produced “The Hurt Locker,” for which he won two Academy Awards including for Best Picture, Mark Boal… Film director, comic book artist and musician, S. Craig Zahler… Israeli set and production designer for the television and film industries, Arad Sawat… Fourth rebbe of the Pittsburgh Hasidic dynasty, Rabbi Meshulam Eliezer Leifer… Strategic communications consultant, Arielle Poleg… Head of Meta’s Instagram, Adam Mosseri… ??Israeli musician, comedian and director, Daniel Koren… Former dean of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem, Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch… Manhasset, N.Y., native who competed for Israel in figure skating, she was the 2014 Israeli national champion, Danielle Montalbano… Retired in 2024 as a soccer player for DC United, he also played on the U.S. men’s national soccer team, Steven Mitchell Birnbaum… NYC native who competed for Israel in pairs figure skating, she and her partner won silver medals in the 2008 and 2009 Israeli championships, Hayley Anne Sacks