Your Daily Phil: From crisis to resilience: Rabbi Marc Baker on CJP’s Israel funding strategy
Add EJP on GoogleGood Friday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we commemorate 20 years since “lone soldier” Michael Levin was killed in the Second Lebanon War, and interview Rabbi Marc Baker about Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ Israel-funding shift nearly three years after the Oct. 7 attacks. We feature an opinion piece by Tessa Veksler in advance of next week’s Israel on Campus Coalition National Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., where she will serve as host, and a piece by Elana Riback Rand proposes a role for the Talmudic concept of “teiku” in how we approach today’s divided world. Also in this issue: Jeffrey L. Bradach, Israel Schachter and Maor Shlomo.
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.
Shabbat shalom!
What We’re Watching
The Israel on Campus Coalition National Leadership Summit kicks off on Sunday in Washington. More on this below.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM eJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
For 20 years, Michael Levin has been a symbol — of sacrifice, of idealism, of determination, of heroism, of a unique brand of American Israeli Zionism. But first, he was a Philadelphia Flyers fan, a Ramah in the Poconos camper and, by all accounts, a bit of a pain in the butt.
Growing up in Bucks County, Pa., and within the Conservative movement, Levin made aliyah shortly after completing the movement’s Nativ gap-year program and enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces. On leave in the U.S. when the Second Lebanon War broke out, Levin flew back to Israel and forced his commanders to let him serve alongside his comrades in the ground invasion. On Aug. 1, 2006 — 20 years ago tomorrow — he was killed by a Hezbollah fighter during a fierce battle in the southern Lebanese village of Ayta ash-Shaab. He was 22.
Yesterday evening, dozens of American and Israeli dignitaries, friends, comrades, former teachers and current foreign-born Israeli soldiers-to-be joined Levin’s parents, Harriet and Mark Levin, for a memorial ceremony in Section Dalet of Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. Speaking next to Levin’s grave, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee praised Levin for “giving his life, not just for Israel, but… for America as well” and also hailed Levin’s parents, who built a network of organizations that supports thousands of “lone soldiers,” servicemembers without families who care for them in the country.
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
Q&A
From emergency response to resilience: Boston’s CJP reimagines its Israel funding
Nearly three years after the Oct. 7 terror attacks set off a historic surge in emergency giving to Israel, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston is recalibrating. After raising nearly $60 million in a post-Oct. 7 emergency campaign, CJP — along with many other Jewish federations across North America — is shifting its grantmaking from acute crisis response to what many federation leaders across the country are calling “resilience funding.”
Rabbi Marc Baker, CJP’s president and CEO, spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayetthis week, discussing how CJP had to become “a sophisticated, almost venture fund overnight,” the new way it has to think about its giving in Israel after the past three years, and what it takes to make resilience funding more than a buzzword.
Justin Hayet: You’ve made “resilience” the organizing idea for CJP’s Israel funding, and you set it apart from just sustaining the status quo and from the emergency response after Oct. 7. What does resilience funding demand?
Rabbi Marc Baker: A lot of the emergency response and the mobilization in the face of the acute crisis of Oct. 7 was almost a visceral crisis response, and that is also powerful and unifying and mobilizing. To me, resilience is what happens after all of that. Resilience is the ability to sustain and continue to move forward in the face of significant challenges, often in the face of trauma, and not only to stay in place and weather it but to actually grow and rebuild through it, to come out the other side stronger. I would argue resilience has been one of the spiritual and cultural hallmarks of the Jewish People for the past few thousand years.
Opinion
WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT
On campus, Jewish students are standing up
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, University of California, Santa Barbara graduate Tessa Veksler, now a consultant at Hiltzik Strategies, reflects on her post-Oct. 7 campus experience and the role students are taking in responding to antisemitism in higher education.
“At the beginning of 2024, Jew hate was running rampant on University of California, Santa Barbara’s campus, and I was one of its targets. I was 21 years old, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and the president of the student government at UC Santa Barbara. Handwritten signs began appearing outside my office falsely accusing me of supporting genocide. They declared that ‘resistance is justified.’ They warned me: ‘You can run, but you can’t hide, Tessa Veksler.’”
LET IT STAND
The power of uncertainty
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, applied researcher and consultant Elana Riback Rand observes that Jewish communal responses to contemporary antisemitism have coalesced around two primary impulses but that neither alone nor together are they sufficient.
“In conversations with 30 Jewish undergraduates, I encountered a third path — one that lives in the tension between outward engagement and inward investment, embracing uncertainty in a way that feels distinctly Jewish.”
Worthy Reads
Odysseus Has PTSD Too: In Haaretz, Eitan Leshem argues that Christopher Nolan’s new film “The Odyssey” lands hard in Israel, casting Odysseus as a trauma-scarred veteran whose guilt and estrangement mirror those of soldiers returning from Gaza and giving Israelis a rare outside look at a society he sees as corroding after a long war. “Look at why our greatest victories, with the benefit of hindsight, come to resemble devastating defeats, and who ultimately pays their price.”
Strings Attached: In Quillette, Juliet Moses explores how arts institutions are increasingly caught between artists with one set of politics and funders with another. “It is like conducting an orchestra in which the percussionists insist on marching to the beat of their own drum, the brass section all blow their own trumpets, none of the strings will play second fiddle, and all of them demand that everyone else dance to their tune. Arts and cultural institutions can help themselves by articulating their purposes, principles and policies clearly and enforcing them through robust governance and strong, strategic leadership.”
Slow Money: In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Bridgespan Group co-founder Jeffrey L. Bradach writes that ultra-wealthy Americans give far below their ambitions and he credits bequests, donor-advised funds and the Founders Pledge with moving money faster by letting donors commit a gift before deciding where it goes. “I’ve been in more than one conversation with donors over 75 years old who assert they are going to give most or all their money away but have no plan for doing so. Delay is a feature, not a bug, of contemporary philanthropy.”
Transitions
Emmanuel Navon, former CEO of European Leadership Network’s Israel office, will begin his tenure as Israel’s ambassador to Japan next week…
Word on the Street
In a post on social media, Charity Bids’ Israel Schachter wrote that he met briefly with Pope Leo XIV at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo and told him: “I believe you have a unique ability, and a unique responsibility, to remind the world that disagreement with the policies of Israel’s democratically elected government must never become hatred toward Jews around the world. That distinction has never mattered more.”…
The share of Israelis who believe President Donald Trump is “highly committed” to protecting Israel’s security interests has dropped to a new low, according to a new survey from Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…
Indiana University‘s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars won a $6 million National Endowment for the Humanities grant to co-lead a three-year study of antisemitism’s historical roots and global resurgence…
The Hackney Council in the U.K. gave initial approval to begin ending the city’s 58-year partnership with its sister city Haifa…
Columbia University will open a global center in Tel Aviv later this summer, reviving a plan first floated in April 2023 that drew faculty petitions and student protests amid the Gaza war…
In the conservative Philanthropy Roundtable, Kylan Olson argues California’s Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on resident billionaires, would depress charitable giving and drain the state’s nonprofit sector even as backers pitch it as a $100 billion healthcare boost…
A Haaretz investigation found that a single anonymous account controls about a quarter of the Polymarket bets on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu winning the next election and repeatedly buys in after his odds slip, raising suspicion that someone in his circle is propping up his standing on the thinly traded market…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that federal grants to nonprofits fell nearly 38%, from $35.4 billion to $21.4 billion, during the first eight months of President Donald Trump‘s second term…
In Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette, Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who led his Tree of Life congregation through the 2018 synagogue shooting, bids an emotional farewell to the city ahead of his July 31 retirement and a move to New Jersey to be near his granddaughter…
Base44 founder Maor Shlomo launched a cancer research fund and has already backed seven treatment startups after losing his mother to the disease…
The Orthodox Union‘s kosher division urged mashgichim to tighten oversight of incoming meat after a Chicago-area slaughterhouse closure and a fire at Postville, Iowa’s Agri Processors triggered a kosher meat shortage, warning that scarcity invites fraud…
Indiana University closed its Muslim Philanthropy Initiative after lawmakers demanded an investigation into the program’s ties to Hayat Yolu, an Istanbul nonprofit the U.S. Treasury sanctioned in March for allegedly funding Hamas‘ military wing…
Pic of the Day
Models walk the runway in avant-garde looks of lace, veils and layered fabric at the University of Haifa Fashion Design Department’s Class of 2026 graduate show on Monday in Haifa. Twenty-five emerging designers present collections drawn from their own stories, capping four years in the university’s fashion design program, the only academic degree in Israel devoted solely to the field.
“This year’s graduating collections represent the remarkable work” of the department, “created from within a complex reality and shaped by a period of change and uncertainty,” department head Rachel Getz Salomon told eJewishPhilanthropy. “The projects reflect the unique strengths of our program, where fashion is a medium for exploration and expression. Through the body, garment, fabric and material, our graduates present fashion as a broad field of research, cultural interpretation and critical thinking.”
Birthdays
Sheila Katz, chief Jewish life officer at the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), celebrates her birthday tomorrow…
John Anthony Dyson, British judge and barrister, he served as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and later as Master of the Rolls, turns 83
Sherry Lansing, actor, who went on to become CEO of Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox, turns 82
Robert C. Merton, Nobel laureate in economics in 1997, known for his quantitative analysis of options pricing, longtime professor at both Harvard and MIT, turns 82
Michael Berenbaum, scholar, professor, rabbi, writer and filmmaker, who specializes in the study of the Holocaust, turns 81
Leon David Black, co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, in 2015 he bought a 16th-century copy of the Babylonian Talmud for $9.3 million, turns 75
Kenneth Bob, software entrepreneur, he was president of Ameinu, which merged with Americans for Peace Now in 2024 to form New Jewish Narrative, and serves on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency
Faye Kellerman, author of more than 30 best-selling mystery novels, many with Jewish themes, turns 74
Ronald L. Kuby, Manhattan-based criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host and television commentator, turns 70
Guido Benjamin Pardo-Roques, chairman at Haifa-based Twin Digital Healthcare, turns 70
Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks until its partial sale to Miriam Adelson in 2023, he was a “shark” investor on the ABC reality program Shark Tank from 2011 until May 2025, turns 68
Ilan Shavit, Israeli attorney, real estate developer and entrepreneur, turns 68
Helene Miller-Walsh, COO at Leenie Productions, she serves on the board of directors of the Northbrook, Ill.-based Haym Salomon Center, turns 67
Yadin B. Kaufmann, technology investor and social entrepreneur, he is the founder and chairman of Tmura and A Good Option, turns 67
Moshe Zalman Feiglin, Israeli libertarian politician and activist, he was previously a member of the Knesset, turns 64
Dan Schnur, adjunct professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, he was previously the director of the Los Angeles office of the American Jewish Committee
Tom Gores, born into a practicing Catholic family in Nazareth, Israel, billionaire investor and owner of the Detroit Pistons, turns 62
Gabe Kapler, general manager of MLB’s Miami Marlins, he was an MLB outfielder for 13 seasons, the first player known as the “Hebrew Hammer,” turns 51
Benjamin Joseph, author, actor and comedian, turns 47
Ben Ostrower, founder and CEO at Wide Eye Creative
Michal Slawny Cababia, the representative of the World Zionist Organization Executive in North America
Sean Simcha Eldridge, political activist and the founder and president of Stand Up America, a progressive advocacy community, turns 40
Danielle Meister Lurie, head of global communications, social and film at Zipline
Aryeh Samet Canter, technical account manager at CREW
Adam Rosenberg
David Goldenberg
Richard Rosenstein
SATURDAY
Allene Prince, Culver City, Calif., resident
Henry R. Silverman, formerly CEO of multibillion-dollar travel and hotel franchisor Cendant Corporation, then CEO of 54 Madison Partners, turns 86
Joseph Cayre, founder and principal of NYC-based Midtown Equities, a major developer of nationwide real estate projects, turns 85
Jed S. Rakoff, U.S. district court judge for the Southern District of New York, now on senior status, Judge, turns 83
Jehuda Reinharz, former president of Brandeis University, now president and CEO of the Cleveland-based Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, turns 82
Ronald Mourad Cohen, British businessman, he has been described as “the father of British venture capital,” Sir, turns 81
Avi Arad, Israeli-born businessman and film producer, later CEO of Marvel Studios, he won the 2019 Academy Award for best animated feature, turns 78
Eric Kalman Biren, second-generation owner of a Los Angeles flooring business
Rhoda Smolow, immediate past president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America
Eric Horodas, founder and president of Greystone Hotels, the IHA Group and Markev Realty Corporation
Howard Kurtz, media analyst and former host of “MediaBuzz” at Fox News, now a Fox News contributor, turns 73
Yeruchim Silber, director of New York government relations at Agudath Israel of America
Philip Seth Goldberg, U.S. career diplomat who served as ambassador to South Korea during the Biden administration, turns 70
Douglas James Burgum, United States secretary of the interior, turns 70
Richard Scott Gordon, attorney, political strategist and former president of the American Jewish Congress
Terri E. Bonoff, former CEO of Atlanta’s Jewish Family & Career Services, where she served for six years, she served for 11 years in the Minnesota state Senate, turns 69
Rachel Yehuda, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, turns 67
Andrew C. (“Drew”) Littman, policy director in the D.C. office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Laura Naomi Janner-Klausner, former senior rabbi of the British movement for Reform Judaism, now a rabbi at London’s Bromley Reform Synagogue, turns 63
Daniel B. “Dan” Shapiro, U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, turns 57
Shachar Bar-On, producer for CBS’ “60 Minutes,”
Elon Lindenstrauss, professor of mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton and at Hebrew U, he was the winner of the 2010 Fields Medal, turns 56
Ari Zoldan, CEO of NYC’s Quantum Media Group, he is a HAFTR and YU graduate
Asaf Epstein, Israeli film director, writer and producer, turns 48
Jessica Alter, venture partner in Leap Forward Ventures, she is also chief marketing and revenue officer at Blue Flame
David Cygielman, founder and CEO of Moishe House (now known as Mem Global)
Noam Gilboord, chief community relations officer at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York
David Helfenbein, SVP of communications at Burford Capital
Mor Toledano Shapiro, M.D., board-certified family physician
Roey Kruvi, CEO of PeaceWorks Foundation
Noah Hoffman, cross-country skier who competed for the U.S. at the Winter Olympics in 2014 (Sochi) and 2018 (Pyeongchang), now serving as an assistant attorney general fellow in the Consumer Protection section of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, turns 37
Yael Rabin, client relations specialist at Pacific Libra Insurance Agency
Benjamin “Ben” Rosenfield, television, stage and film actor, turns 34
SUNDAY
Henry Elghanayan, co-founder and chairman of NYC-based real estate development firm, Rockrose Development Corporation, turns 86
Jonathan David Magonet, professor emeritus of Bible at London’s Leo Baeck College, turns 84
Uzi Landau, former member of Knesset for 28 years, he then served as chairman of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems until 2023, turns 83
Jack H. Jacobs, retired colonel in the U.S. Army and a recipient of the Medal of Honor and seven other medals, he serves as a military analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, turns 81
Irene Seff, longtime librarian
Dennis Prager, nationally syndicated radio talk show host, author and public speaker, turns 78
Robert Keith Rae, former ambassador and permanent representative of Canada to the United Nations, turns 78
Roger Cohen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, he is international writer-at-large for The New York Times, turns 71
Jacklyn Sheryl “Jacky” Rosen, U.S. senator from Nevada, turns 69
Yoram Yovell, psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and brain researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, turns 68
Amy Aronoff Blumkin, strategic advisor at Breaking Through, Inc.
Richard David “Rick” Kriseman, mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., for eight years until 2022, now executive vice president and principal of the U.S. Cities Practice at Shumaker Advisors, turns 64
Elliot Mael, owner of Newton, Mass.-based MPG Promotions
Andrew J. “Avi” Lauer, senior vice president of operations and general counsel of Yeshiva University
Aaron Krickstein, professional tennis player, who was once ranked No. 6 in the world, now the director of tennis at St. Andrews country club in Boca Raton, Fla., turns 59
Leon Litinetsky, former member of the Knesset, first for the Labor party and then the Yisrael Beiteinu party, turns 59
Steven A. Cook, senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, turns 58
Eric J. Meyrowitz, EVP for Hearst Television and past chair of the NBC Television Affiliate Board
Jay Eizenstat, senior director for global trade and public affairs at confectionery, food and pet care firm Mars Inc.
Jonathan Andrew Kaye, professional golfer, he won a PGA tournament in both 2003 and 2004, turns 56
Matthew Rosenberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning, D.C.-based national security reporter for The New York Times for 13 years until 2024, now doing investment research, turns 52
Stephen L. Rabin, senior executive communications lead at Adobe
Aron Zwi Karabel, labor law attorney in the Nashville, Tenn., office of Holland & Knight, he served on the national board of JFNA
Tamar Poupko Smith, program director at the Jewish Fertility Foundation
Isaac William “Zevy” Wolman, CEO of Make It Real, he is also the co-founder and chair of The Jewish Entrepreneur (a mentoring program)
Julia Nayfeld Schulman, director of philanthropy (Israel) at The Paul E. Singer Foundation
James David (JD) Vance, vice president of the United States, turns 42
Hallie Kate Eisenberg, actor best known for her 1999 “Pepsi Girl” role as a 7-year-old, and later for subsequent teen roles, turns 34
Kenny Koplove, baseball pitcher, he played for Team Israel in 2017 and now manages a baseball training facility for young players in Philadelphia, turns 33
Aaron Goodman, CEO of Petra Power in Solon, Ohio, turns 32
