Your Daily Phil: Holocaust Remembrance Day lessons
Good Monday morning. Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new study about Jewish families by Rosov Consulting and on the poignant meeting between the family of a survivor of the Nova music festival and the Bedouin Israeli man who saved his life. We feature an opinion piece by Jodie Goldberg and Dan Fast about how to approach the sense of loss that often accompanies change; and one by Rabbi Mark Goldfeder and Karen L. Berman about combating antisemitism through the legal system. Also in this newsletter: Deborah Lipstadt, Danyelle Neuman and Steve Witkoff.
What We’re Watching
The United Nations is hosting an International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony this morning at its Turtle Bay headquarters. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and Holocaust survivor Marianne Miller are due to speak.
Over 200 Holocaust survivors will attend an International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City this morning. At the event, the museum will also launch a new initiative, Survivor Stories: An Interactive Dialog.
The JCC Association of North America’s annual Mifgash Executive Leadership Forum is kicking off today in Owings Mills, Md. Senior executives from across North America will be attending the three-day conference.
JLI’s Jewish Leadership Summit continues today in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Eli Saulson, a board member of the William Davidson Foundation; David Heller, national campaign chair of the Jewish Federations of North America; and Terry Kassel, a board member at the Paul E. Singer Foundation, are among those slated to speak.
What You Should Know
Dozens of Holocaust survivors traveled to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in O?wi?cim, Poland, today to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the death camp, with the main ceremony scheduled for later today (4 p.m. CET; 10 a.m. ET). Save for brief remarks from Polish President Andrzej Duda at a wreath-laying event earlier today, no politicians will speak at the ceremony, which will instead be addressed by survivors, historian Piotr Cywi?ski, who serves as president of the state museum, and philanthropist Ronald S. Lauder, a major donor to the site, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Events and memorial ceremonies to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day have been and are being held around the world, from one yesterday at the Babyn Yar killing field in Kyiv, Ukraine, which was attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, to the U.N., as mentioned above. (One place where there won’t be a large-scale event is Israel, where Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked in spring, on the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan.)
This year may mark the last major, round-number anniversary of the liberation of the camp in which survivors of its atrocities will be able to attend the ceremonies. This fact is of growing concern to those tasked with preserving the memory of the Holocaust and teaching the lessons that it has to offer — lessons that are widely seen as simultaneously more needed and under greater threat than ever.
See: Elon Musk’s recent remarks at a rally for the far-right German party, AfD, in which he decried multiculturalism and said Germans should not feel guilty for the sins of the Nazis.
“There’s frankly too much of a focus on [Germany’s] past guilt, and we need to move beyond that. Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents or even — let alone their parents — their great-grandparents maybe even,” Musk said.
The remarks drew criticism from Yad Vashem Chair Dani Dayan, who said that Germany ought to acknowledge its “dark past” as it goes forward. “Failing to do so is an insult to the victims of Nazism and a clear danger to the democratic future of Germany,” Dayan said.
Former Anti-Defamation League CEO Abe Foxman referred to a hand movement made by Musk last week, which was seen by some as a Nazi salute, saying that his remarks “place the hand gesture in perspective!”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) also denounced Musk, who is now an advisor to President Donald Trump.
“Holocaust deniers are full of crap. I’m worried that we’re losing 80 years on that, that we’re rewriting history here,” the senator said on Sunday on CNN. “There are 15 million Jews on the planet because every generation seems to want to go after the Jewish people so they can’t grow and survive. So the last thing I want facing the [anniversary] is to be equivocal.”
SURVEY SAYS
Jewish families are increasingly diverse, and increasingly seeking community, study finds
Despite economic, ideological and geographical barriers, modern Jewish families with young children are increasingly seeking inclusive communities, according to a new study by Rosov Consulting, conducted with support from Crown Family Philanthropies, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the Jim Joseph Foundation. “There is a popular perception that young Jews today have less interest in forming Jewish community than their predecessors,” Alex Pomson, principal and managing director of Rosov Consulting, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim. “Against the backdrop of a broader sense of fragmenting community, we found that parents with young children really do want their children to be part of something larger,” he said.
Barriers to entry: “When looking for community, some of those institutions that were previously seen as less relevant than in the past, such as synagogues or Jewish early childhood centers often provide what it is that families are looking for,” Pomson told eJP. “One shouldn’t write those institutions off as having potential to offer something to young Jewish families today. But having said that, many families simply can’t access those institutions.” For families that carry multiple cultural or religious identities, electing which aspects of Jewish community to engage with can be a trade-off, Pomson told eJP. While many families want their children to be connected to their Judaism, they don’t want it to come at the expense of a broader cultural competency and are seeking environments that can embrace it all.
LIFE SAVERS
Parents of Nova survivor meet their son’s savior, a Bedouin Israeli, for first time
When Tamar Biton met Yunis Alkarnawi for the first time, at the Bedouin Israeli’s home in the southern Israeli town of Rahat last week, she cried. “I don’t know how to thank this man,” she told Tamara Zieve for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. “He saved my son’s life. It’s a gift.” Yunis saved the life of Shalev Biton, 25, along with seven other young adults who had escaped from the Nova music festival, as well as 24 Thai workers who were working on the farm he manages when the Hamas massacres began on Oct. 7, 2023. Yunis’ family hosted a group of some 140 representatives from the Israel Educational Travel Alliance at his family’s home on Wednesday, as part of a leadership summit aimed at discussing how to adapt educational trips to the country in the new post-Oct. 7 reality.
Highlighting complexity: Anna Langer, IETA acting executive director and vice president for North America-Israel strategies at the Jewish Federations of North America, told JI the story of “heroism and love” highlighted Israel’s complexity. In hearing the story, Langer said, “we received a gift and gave one back in return by painting for Yunis and his family a picture of the fields of Israel that he chose to save lives on.” The art project was signed off with the words “thank you,” in Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
NAVIGATING TRANSITIONS
Rituals and mindsets for approaching organizational change
“Adaptive leadership theories remind us that while change is hard, it’s not the feelings of change that we so often resist — rather, it’s the feelings of loss that make change so difficult,” write Jodie Goldberg, founder and principal of Fleurish Consulting Inc., and Dan Fast, principal of Ives Consulting LLC, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
The struggle is real: “[T]he introduction of new project management software streamlines workflows in the long run, but it also disrupts employees’ routines and requires time to learn. Similarly, leadership transitions might inspire a fresh direction while upending established practices… The first step in approaching any change process is acknowledging where there is change, there is loss. This sentiment is true whether your organization is undergoing an incremental change, like the implementation of a new performance review system, or a transformational one, such as shifting from in-person to a hybrid working model. Recognizing loss is an essential component of any change process, and it is one that is often given very little time or space to explore.”
ON THE CASE
Turning plans into action: Effective tools for combating antisemitism
“The work being done to research, analyze and track antisemitism is invaluable in illustrating the scope of the problem, but the fight requires more than data alone — it requires action,” write the National Jewish Advocacy Center’s founder and director, Rabbi Mark Goldfeder, and its chief operating officer, Karen L. Berman, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Accountability matters: “For too long, efforts to combat antisemitism focused on monitoring incidents and issuing condemnations, while legal and systemic solutions lagged… Through strategic impact litigation, we are holding individuals, institutions and corporations accountable when they cross the line from free expression into illegal, harmful actions. Our cases against organizations like UNRWA US, National Students for Justice in Palestine, the Associated Press and Binance are setting transformative legal precedents and ensuring that hate has consequences and that support for terrorism, even under the guise of advocacy or financial transactions, will not go unchecked. But NJAC’s approach extends beyond the courtroom.”
Worthy Reads
Beating Bipartisan Bigotry: In The New York Times, Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration’s antisemitism envoy, warns against viewing the fight against antisemitism through a political lens. “As the new administration begins and I leave this position, I have come to see, more clearly, that this oft-debated left/right question — that is, which side is worse — often serves as a political smoke screen. The problem is that many on both the left and the right fail to call out antisemitism when it appears on their side of the political spectrum: Too many on the left are silent when it rears its head on university campuses. Too many on the right fail to condemn the overt antisemitism expressed by white nationalists. When I encounter this, it is clear to me that the intent is not to fight antisemitism but to use antisemitism as a cudgel against political opponents… But antisemitism poses a threat beyond the threat to Jews.It also threatens democracy and the rule of law… Anything that erodes the rule of law and undermines our national security must be confronted collectively. But when antisemitism is viewed through a left/right lens, we risk making it the subject of a partisan debate. In doing so, we obscure the global threat it poses.” [NYTimes]
Set the Record Straight: In The Times of Israel, Allan Chernoff reflects on the juxtaposition of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the accusation of genocide being leveled at Israel. “As defined by the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, this crime of crimes is the ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical [sic], racial or religious group.’ Intent is all important when discussing genocide… Israel’s war is against a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, rather than against the Palestinian people. How very sad then that Hamas’s greatest victory during the war has been its depraved manipulation of public opinion to convince so many — both gentiles and Jews — that Israel is engaged in genocide! … Given this vile and spurious accusation, Holocaust Remembrance Day must become more than merely another sad commemoration of man’s inhumanity against man. It is now also a moment to firmly reject the misappropriation of the term ‘genocide,’ a day to loudly declare that there never will be an equivalency between murderers who intentionally try to exterminate another people and those who are forced to defend their right to live safely and securely in their own land.” [TOI]
Stand Together and Fight: In Time, Irwin Cotler and Jay Rosenzweig ask what we have learned and what we are doing to prevent the horrors of the Holocaust from repeating. “The Holocaust teaches us the danger of silence in the face of hate. Indifference allows bigotry to spread unchecked, often with devastating consequences. Governments, civil society, businesses, and individuals must speak out against antisemitism and protect the rights of all vulnerable people. Education is critical. Hatred is stoked by words and ideas, not violence alone. Teachings about the Holocaust are vital — not just for Jewish students, but as part of a global effort to build empathy and combat intolerance. Forming deeper alliances across communities is also essential. By standing together against extremism and fostering understanding through dialogue, we can create a stronger, united front against hate. The 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation is a time to reflect, but it should also serve as a call to action. The rise of antisemitism demands a decisive response.” [Time]
A Daunting Task: In Haaretz, documentary filmmaker David Wilkinson recalls being invited in 2022 to speak on an Iranian talk show — to prove to viewers that the Holocaust actually happened. “Even though I’m not Jewish, I knew that to have such a request was seismic and, for me, a challenge… Iran International Television reaches 50 million Iranians inside and outside of Iran, its viewers trusting it for its independence from the regime. I know they invited me to speak because I myself am not Jewish. I was told it would have to be a short interview. However, when I was asked how I could prove the Holocaust actually happened, I started — and don’t think I drew breath for 20 minutes. Having spent 18 years making and researching a film demonstrating the almost-total lack of justice for the victims of the Shoah, I had become a world expert on the subject.” [Haaretz]
Word on the Street
Several Jewish protesters were removed from an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Dublin when they stood up and turned their backs to Irish President Michael Higgins when he mentioned Israel and the war in Gaza during his speech…
Danyelle Neuman has been appointed chief development officer of the Jewish Agency for Israel…
Debate over Israel and the role of Zionism played a strategic role in elections of the new Harvard Hillel student board, with candidates taking a more pluralistic and inclusive stance winning over those representing a more hard-line Zionist view…
Erica Brown, vice provost at Yeshiva University and the director of the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership, reflects on how Israel has adopted the American tradition of bumper stickers to memorialize those who have died since Oct. 7, with these tributes collected on the website Stickers of Meaning…
A Polish woman and her son recently donated over 500 items recovered from Auschwitz more than 80 years ago to the Foundation of Memory Sites Near Auschwitz-Birkenau on the condition of anonymity. The items, collected by the woman’s father after liberation when he went to help with cleaning at the concentration camp, were stored in his attic. Some of the items from the cache will be on display today at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy highlights 16 emerging voices in the nonprofit and donor communities who are poised to make an impact in 2025, including Alex Soros, Brenda Solórzano, Susie Buffett, Vice President J.D. Vance and Jim Shelton…
In the Polish town of O?wi?cim, just outside of Auschwitz where all of her grandmother’s family was gassed to death, Israeli Hila Weisz-Gut, the only Jewish resident of the town, has reclaimed a Jewish presence where Jews were once 69% of the population and in the face of growing European antisemitism…
Jackie Saxe Soleimani has been named chief advancement officer at Birthright Israel Foundation…
Delta Airlines will restart daily nonstop service to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport from JFK Airport in New York on April 1…
Local elected officials, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), came out in support of Miriam, an Israeli restaurant in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood that was vandalized over the weekend…
In The Wall Street Journal, Rabbi Elie Abadie, whose parents fled Syria in 1947, considers the future of religious pluralism in a post-Assad Syria…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog speaks yesterday at the dedication of the Altneu synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
In his remarks, Herzog commended another speaker at the event, Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s newly appointed Middle East envoy, for his role in brokering a hostage-release deal with Hamas. “I can attest to the fact that you have already saved seven souls out of Gaza,” Herzog said. “And six more hopefully will come out this week.”
Witkoff, who is visiting Auschwitz today, warned that the cease-fire deal is still fragile. “Without the implementation correct, we’re not going to get it right, we’re going to have a flare-up,” he warned.
Also spotted at the dedication event: philanthropists Rubin Schron and George Klein; Michael Herzog, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S.; Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations; Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York; Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation of New York; Malcolm Hoenlein, former executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; and several Jewish members of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration including Moshe Davis, senior liaison of community affairs; Menashe Shapiro, senior advisor to the mayor; and Richie Taylor, deputy NYPD chief.
Birthdays
Founder, chairman and former CEO of Och-Ziff Capital, now investing through Willoughby Capital, Daniel Och…
Auschwitz survivor, retired professor of child psychiatry at Harvard and the University of Cincinnati, Anna Ornstein… Senior counsel focused on mergers and acquisitions in the NYC office of Fried, Frank, Arthur Fleischer… Businessman and real estate investor, Paul Sislin… Winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics, he is a professor emeritus at California Institute of Technology, Barry Clark Barish… Builder and operator of luxury casinos and hotels, Steve Wynn (born Stephen Alan Weinberg)… Corporate venture capitalist and scientist, he served as VP at Intel Corporation where he co-founded Intel Capital, Avram Miller… Topanga, Calif., resident, Joseph Helfer… Columbia, S.C., resident, Charles Geffen… VP at Elnat Equity Liquidity Providers, following 20 years as COO at the Orthodox Union, Eliezer Edelman… Professor of medieval Judaism and Islam at the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, Reuven Firestone… Cookbook author and attorney, she is a co-founder of Foundation for Jewish Camp, Elisa Spungen Bildner… Chief justice of the United States, John Roberts… Member of the Missouri State Senate until 2023, Jill Schupp… President and CEO at MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, Abby Jane Leibman… Television writer and producer best known as the creator of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” more recently he stars in the Netflix series “Somebody Feed Phil,” Philip Rosenthal… Communications director at C-SPAN and author of When Rabbis Bless Congress, a history of rabbinical invocations in Congress, Howard Mortman… Founder and managing member of Liberty Peak Capital and co-founder and lead investor of Multiplier Capital, Ezra M. Friedberg… Chief growth officer at Coordinated Care Services after 5 years as CEO of the JCC of Greater Rochester, Josh Weinstein… Editor-in-chief of The Foreign Desk, Lisa Daftari… Jerusalem-born rapper and YouTuber with 502 million views, Rucka Rucka Ali… English fashion model, Daisy Rebecca Lowe… Former basketball point guard including for the Israeli women’s national basketball team, she is now a coordinator at Herzl Camp in Wisconsin, Jacqui Kalin… Community engagement coordinator at the Raleigh-Cary (N.C.) JCC, Grace Fantle Kaplan… Managing partner of Kerem Capital, Lia Michal Weiner Tsur… Manager at Deloitte, Joshua Henderson…
