In the U.S, 44 million people don’t know if they will have access to breakfast tomorrow morning. To recognize several lawmakers — Reps. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Jim McGovern (D-MA) — helping those who struggle with hunger, some 200 concerned philanthropists gathered last Tuesday night at the annual Mazon gala, held at Union Station in Washington, D.C., reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen from the event.

SNAP to it: This year’s gala, dubbed “Hunger Bites,” was Mazon’s first in Washington and it took place just days before the House Agriculture Committee voted on a divisive Farm Bill proposal, which authorizes federal nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known by its acronym SNAP. “The week we did this turned out to be the biggest focal point for anti-hunger policy in the country,” Leibman told eJP, pointing to the Farm Bill. “It’s a moment of great focus on our work so [hosting the event in DC] made great sense to us.” (Two days after the event, the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee passed its version of a $1.5 trillion farm spending bill, which shrinks funding for SNAP.)

You are what you eat: Also honored at the “Hunger Bites” gala were Josh Protas, the group’s former vice president of public policy who is now chief advocacy and policy officer at Meals on Wheels America. Protas, whose work focuses primarily on food insecurity among military families, said at the event, “food is foundational to who we are as people.” He told the story of his grandmother, who immigrated to the U.S. from Poland at a young age after her father was killed in a pogrom. “She was full of stories,” Protas said, recalling her first bite of food after arriving at Ellis Island. “It was a chance to move past tragedies… for her that bite meant the world…what we fight for, food, is just that.”

Read the full report here.

The Israeli government yesterday approved a plan — spearheaded by the Ruderman Family Foundation and the World Zionist Organization — to commemorate people killed in antisemitic attacks around the world as part of the country’s Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.

In the works: Both the Ruderman Foundation and the WZO had been developing the idea independently before joining forces. They approached Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry about the concept, who embraced it and presented it to the government. Last May, the cabinet approved the formation of a committee to consider the measure and determine what exactly it would entail. (Read eJP’s reporting on the initiative here.)

Resolution 492: Yesterday, the government signed off on the committee’s recommendations, which includes constructing an official monument to the victims of antisemitic attacks and compiling a database — similar to the one that exists for fallen soldiers and victims of terror in Israel — with the victims’ names, personal information and the circumstances of their deaths. These victims of antisemitic attacks will also be included in state ceremonies on Memorial Day. The Diaspora Affairs Ministry has been tasked with implementing the decision, Resolution 492.

Bonds of destiny: Shira Ruderman, executive director of the Ruderman Family Foundation, hailed the move, calling it “courageous” and saying it “strengthens the bond of shared destiny between Israel and the Jewish world, which has become more evident than ever since October 7.”

After Deborah Lipstadt was sworn as the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism two years ago this week, she began to travel the world to ask countries how the United States could help them fight antisemitism in their borders. But something has begun to change since the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel, Lisptadt said Friday at a virtual hour-long briefing for members of the Jewish community, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.

Two steps away: Lipstadt, who was nominated to the ambassador-level position by President Joe Biden, said the good news of the past nearly eight months has been the support of the U.S. government in fighting antisemitism. But she expressed deep concern about rising antisemitism around the world and in the U.S. “I’m often asked, as a historian, ‘Is this 1939?’” Lipstadt said. “I say, ‘No, that’s a bit of an extreme position.’ I think it’s more like the early 1930s, maybe the late 1920s, with the destabilization of society.”

Double duty: As a diplomat at the State Department, Lipstadt’s work is focused on international antisemitism, rather than what’s happening at home. But she raised concerns about American antisemitism and, in particular, a lack of leadership at U.S. universities. “Leaders, whether they be leaders of countries, leaders of states, leaders of cities, leaders of public institutions, leaders of universities, must speak out, directly, unequivocally and expeditiously. No froufrou-ing, ‘Well, it depends on context, and what happened,’” Lipstadt said, offering a not-so-subtle dig at the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT.

From both sides: Since Oct. 7, she said, Lipstadt said the language she uses to talk about antisemitism — and where it appears on the ideological spectrum — has changed. “I talk about a horseshoe. If you think about a horseshoe, the two ends meet together and often are magnetized and attracted to one another. It’s a question of extremism,” said Lipstadt. “Very few prejudices come from different ends of the political spectrum, virtually none. They’re either one side or the other, but they’re not coming from both. And here, they come from both, they share the same template, because the antisemitic template is so old and so malleable, and they share that extremism. And that makes this harder to fight and a more frightening phenomenon.”

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“Right now is the season when many rabbis and educators are planning for the next school year. I know many of my colleagues are toying with how to tweak their religious school programs to entice families to either join or stick around. For those who find themselves in this boat, I hope you’ll seriously consider incorporating a service-learning model,” writes Rabbi Amanda Schwartz — family life director for Judaism Your Way in Denver and co-creator of its service-learning program for children and parents, Changing the World Together — in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Getting the littles involved: “Jewish service learning is nothing new. Organizations like Avodah, American Jewish World Service and Repair the World have been using this model and deeply impacting lives for decades. The catch is that these organizations work with adults. In fact, it’s often very challenging to even find volunteer opportunities for youth. Most organizations have a minimum age requirement, typically anywhere from 14-18 years old. Another challenge is families can usually only volunteer on weekends, when most organizations are closed.? Luckily, we realized a workaround: Many organizations have projects that can be done off-site by even the youngest members of our communities.”

Recipe for meaning: “In every CWT program… we root our service work in first learning about an important Jewish value. Then, we explore the work of our partner organization and why we chose the organization in connection with the value we are investigating. Only after this learning do we do our service project. Finally and perhaps most importantly, we ensure time for reflection so that the students and their parents can process and internalize what they learned during the day.”

Worth noting: “Last year, the Jewish Education Project released a report demonstrating that religious school enrollment has declined by almost 50% since 2000. At a time when more and more people are choosing not to give their children a Jewish education, CWT has had a wait-list both years… I’ve noticed that the parents who do not come from Jewish backgrounds are more comfortable participating in CWT than attending religious services or more traditional Jewish educational opportunities. The service-learning model offers an environment where the entire family unit can meaningfully participate.”

Read the full piece here.