Your Daily Phil: How a little-discussed grant-maker brought bomb shelters to the Druze
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation for an Israeli project combining the latest science of forgiveness with Jewish wisdom, and feature an opinion piece by Rabbi David Adelson about the skills and strengths that the rising generation of Jewish clergy needs to cultivate. Also in this newsletter: Mike Igel, Shari Redstone and Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt. We’ll start with how PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Inc. went out of its comfort zone when it saw the need to install bomb shelters in Druze communities in northern Israel.
The usual procedure for grant-making goes like this: Someone identifies a need, finds a potential funder, makes a request; the funder considers the proposal and, if convinced, issues the grant. But that’s not what happened with a recent initiative to provide bomb shelters to vulnerable Druze communities in northern Israel.
Instead, a comparatively little known grant-maker — PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Inc. — was watching where money was being donated and noticed an omission: the Druze community.
“We’re a clearinghouse, and we see where the money is going,” the organization’s president, Geoffrey Stern, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross recently. “We were seeing all the grants coming in, and there were grants going for trauma and for the [displaced] people. We didn’t see many grants coming in for that group.”
Seeing that Druze Israelis in particular, many of whom live in areas of northern Israel that have come under attack by Hezbollah and had not been evacuated (in some cases because they’d refused to do so on ideological grounds), lacked public bomb shelters, PEF — specifically board members Rafi Musher and Ariella Raviv — sought to find an organization that could spearhead such a project to provide shelters. (This was before Hezbollah’s rocket attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights, in which 12 children were killed.)
At 102 years old, PEF Israel Endowment Funds — originally Palestine Endowment Funds, Inc. — is one of the oldest Zionist charities in the United States, having been founded by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Rabbi Stephen Wise, Robert Szold (third cousin to Hadassah founder Henrietta). Today, it functions effectively as a go-between for U.S. donors and Israeli nonprofits of all stripes, typically those that are too small to warrant a dedicated “American friends of.” But while it administers grants totaling some $160 million in an average year — this ballooned to $289 million in 2023, according to its latest 990 filing — PEF Israel Endowment Funds tends to fly under the radar as it maintains a small number of employees and volunteer leadership and does not have a particular guiding ideology beyond supporting “needy persons” and the sick, as well as educational and religious institutions in Israel.
PEF had facilitated grants for a Druze organization in the past, Ofakim Le’Atid (Horizons for the Future) — though the group had never before run a bomb shelter installation program. Until the beginning of this year, Ofakim Le’Atid had mainly been focused on running social and education projects in the Druze community, the executive director of the organization, Sleiman Abbas, told eJP.
“In December, Ariella [Raviv] got in touch with me, and we met in [the Druze town of] Hurfeish with [Stern] in February-March,” Abbas said.
The bomb shelters that Ofakim Le’Atid has been installing are a simple design known as a migunit — effectively a reinforced concrete box that can be moved on flat-bed trucks and installed with a crane — and despite being a limited solution to the shortage of bomb shelters in northern Israel, they can be far more easily and cheaply than larger, more permanent structures. They can fit up to 15 standing people and are installed based on the military’s assessments of where the greatest need is, such as near bus stops and markets, according to Abbas.
“So far we’ve distributed 19 miguni’ot, and we are waiting for the latest contribution to do another 11,” he said last month, noting that dozens more are needed in the community. “Hopefully, there won’t be a war, and there won’t be a need [for bomb shelters]. And ultimately this really shouldn’t be our job, but we are dealing with this because there’s a great need.”
During his meeting with Ofakim Le’Atid in Hurfeish, Stern also met with a number of other Druze organizations in a “‘Shark Tank’-type situation,” to see how PEF could assist them as well, Stern said. He stressed that this — actively looking for Israeli nonprofits to solve a particular problem — was not what PEF normally does. “But it seemed to us that this was too blaring a need [to ignore],” he said, encouraging other grantmakers to also proactively look for problems to solve and not only wait for requests.
“For us and for our donors, [that meeting] was an access ramp that enables us to be more thoughtful and more generous in terms of supporting the Druze,” he said, adding that, despite the Druze community’s many strengths, “I don’t think they are great fundraisers.”
Abbas, who does have experience raising money for his organization from American donors, agreed. “The American Jewish community really shows a desire to help and empathy for what’s happening here. There’s just not the knowledge [in the Druze community], and there aren’t the relationships. That’s the whole story,” he said.
DAYS OF ATONEMENT
With a new $220,000 grant, Israeli researchers look to teach spiritual leaders the latest science of forgiveness
As Jews around the world consider the concepts of forgiveness and justice during the 10 Days of Atonement leading up to Yom Kippur, a group of Israeli researchers will be considering the topics somewhat more academically, looking to see how the latest science about forgiveness meets principles of Jewish wisdom. This two-year project was recently awarded $220,000 grant from the U.S.-based Templeton World Charity Foundation. The researchers will explore how Judaism — which requires the offending party to confess his transgressions and express regret for his actions before being forgiven by the offended party — can also embrace the concept of unconditional forgiveness for the benefit of one’s own psychological well-being, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky.
Empowering rabbis: Through development of a training program that integrates forgiveness principles from scientific perspectives with Jewish teachings, the program aims to empower rabbis and Jewish spiritual leaders to share their knowledge of Jewish forgiveness, along with evidenced-based content on forgiveness with their respective communities.
‘A forgiveness way of life’: Bar-Ilan University criminology professor Natti Ronel emphasized that though such a forgiveness project in Israel is needed now more than ever, the initiative will not focus on societal impacts created by the war. Instead, forgiveness will be discussed as a tool and a way of life to use within the family and community. “We are not looking toward forgiveness of Oct. 7,” said Yitzhak Ben Yair, a lecturer at Zefat Academic College. “But I think since Oct. 7, we are all already carrying a bag full of stones. It is hard as it is. So if we can manage to establish some way of life, a forgiveness way of life here, maybe we can prevent adding more stones to our bag.”
JEWISH LEADERSHIP PIPELINE
How to support the spiritual leadership of the next generation of rabbis
“For many clergy members, this can feel like an almost impossible time to be a faith leader – and possibly even more so a Jewish leader,” writes Rabbi David Adelson, dean of the New York campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Rising tensions: “While the American political fabric is pulled so tight it feels like it might rip open at any moment, the tension is even more intense in the American Jewish community, which is also holding the trauma and heartbreak of Oct. 7 and the ongoing and expanding war. Too often, we are seeing disconnect, discomfort and even open hostility between clergy and the people to whom they are working to bring comfort, guidance and spiritual sustenance. As rabbis and educators, we have been taking a hard look at how we got here and how rabbinical and cantorial education needs to continue to evolve.”
Data dive: “As part of the renewal of the rabbinical curriculum for Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), we spoke over the past year with more than 100 Jewish leaders within and beyond the Reform movement: thought leaders and practitioners, rabbis and cantors, lay leaders and movement leaders, as well as seminary and leadership experts. We were charged with identifying core leadership skills and spiritual preparation rabbis and cantors need to flourish… During our conversations, we were inundated with stories and celebrations of courageous acts, pastoral excellence and beautiful moments of transmission of Jewish wisdom and values. We also heard that the moments of greatest leadership by clergy featured a depth of presence, strong relationships and the ability to hold loss, discomfort or division.”
What leaders want: “[R]abbis need deep Torah knowledge coupled with ongoing spiritual practice and reflection and strong leadership skills. At their best, our clergy need to be able to integrate a high level of textual facility and authenticity as translators of the sources of Judaism as part of their practical and applied spiritual leadership. We also learned that leadership and spiritual development, like other skills, can be taught and intentionally cultivated.”
Worthy Reads
A Pilgrimage of Thanks: In Tablet, Armin Rosen recounts tagging along on an unusual family trip led by a remarkable family patriarch. “Rav Nissen Mangel’s 90th birthday on the Hebrew calendar, the 11th of Cheshvan 5784, fell on Oct. 26, 2023. For over 20 years his children and grandchildren had discussed the possibility of a family trip to Auschwitz. The idea was for everyone to gather at the site of the miraculous survival to which they all owed their existence, and to thank Hashem for the life of their tatty, their zaide — or, as time went on, their alter-zaide. Rav Nissen’s vitality into his 70s and then his 80s was no guarantee that it would ever be possible to get 50 and then 60 and then eventually nearly 100 people to Poland at the same time… After the COVID pandemic, Rav Nissen’s children and a few of the more enterprising grandchildren and in-laws, the women in particular, took on the steep logistical challenge of making the trip a reality… The trip would be a mass transmission of the family’s story across four generations and beyond, with everything this implied about the looming, inevitable loss of a living connection to Jewish Europe, the Holocaust, the Lubavitcher rebbe, and everything else contained within Rav Nissen’s remarkable and ever-telescoping life.” [Tablet]
Not a Bug But a Feature: The 900% increase in reported antisemitic incidents in the United States recorded in the past 10 years is not an aberration but rather a return to a historical norm, argues Rabbi Daniel M. Cohen in The Times of Israel. “‘This latest surge of antisemitism did not suddenly surface out of nowhere,’ writes former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. ‘It is part of the historical continuum that was only briefly interrupted following the Second World War. In the wake of the Holocaust that killed two out of every three European Jews… firewalls were thrown up, and the bonfires of antisemitism were, for a time, reduced to flickering embers. But those firewalls, weakened by the passage of time and willful neglect, have been breached. Cloaked in the armor of free speech, fueled by hate, and stoked by the oxygen of the internet and social media, those fires now burn out of control.’ … Regardless of our personal approach to and understanding of Judaism, Israel, and the relationship between them, the path forward has to begin with our standing together as a Jewish people. It’s time we got serious about ensuring that the Jewish community today and tomorrow will be safe, secure, and able to thrive. But that can only happen if we embrace the opportunity presented to us by this challenging moment, take it seriously, and act upon our commitments and responsibilities as members of this community.” [TOI]
Lessons from the Past: In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mike Igel, the chair emeritus and interim CEO of the Florida Holocaust Museum, calls for the American public to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust amid the current rise in antisemitism. “Last year, on Oct. 8, a reporter asked me — in good faith — why Oct. 7 should matter to the general public. A year later, the answer should be obvious. The Holocaust didn’t start with murder. It started with the ostracism and demonization of Jews. That path might not end in genocide, but that shouldn’t be our standard. Society should not accept even one step down that path… In 2014, Elie Wiesel said: ‘I thought the memory of the Holocaust would shame those boasting antisemitic opinions. I was wrong.’ As wrong as I was when I thought the same of Oct. 7 on Oct. 8. Thankfully, we don’t have to stay wrong forever. As a parent, teacher, student, friend — as a human being — you can choose between hate and understanding… The next step is taking action — whether by donating, volunteering, or even just being willing to have an uncomfortable conversation… We’ve been living in the world of Oct. 8 for the past year. Together, let’s turn the page.” [AJC]
Around the Web
President Joe Biden will hold a rescheduled High Holy Days call with Jewish communal leaders this afternoon, after the conversation had to be postponed from its original time last Tuesday as Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel…
Shari Redstone is scheduled to address the Adweek conference at 11 a.m. today, where she is expected to discuss her frustration over CBS executives’ recent handling of a critical interview with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new book, which includes a section that is seen as hostile to the notion of Jewish state…
Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced the first recipients of the newly created “President’s Medal for Civilian Bravery” for their actions during the Oct. 7 terror attacks: Moshe and Eliad Ohayon from Ofakim (awarded posthumously); Youssef Ziadna; Lion Bar (awarded posthumously) and his son Omer Bar; Oz Davidian; Tali Hadad from Ofakim; Amit Man (awarded posthumously), Nirit Honwald-Kornfeld, and Dr. Daniel Levi (awarded posthumously) from Be’eri; brothers Noam and Yishai Slotky (awarded posthumously); Moti Ezra; Dahish, Ismail, Rafi, and Hamad Alqrinawi; Ben Benjamin Shimony (awarded posthumously), and in a special category for children’s bravery: the Idan family children from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the Taasa family children from Netiv HaAsara, and the Suisa family daughters from Sderot. The medals will be presented in a ceremony on Oct. 30…
The family of Abera Mengistu marked 10 years since he was taken captive after entering the Gaza Strip…
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on an international Hamas fundraising network involving four people, the Al-Intaj Bank in Gaza and nine businesses owned by a Yemini national living in Turkey…
Chyna Bowen was hired as the next executive director of St. Louis’ LEAD STL (Leadership, Empathy, Advocacy, and Diversity) social change nonprofit, formerly known as Cultural Leadership, which focuses on the city’s Black and Jewish communities…
In a USA Today opinion piece Daniel Lifshitz, grandson of Israeli hostage 84-year-old Oded Lifshitz, outlines his tragic year after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on his kibbutz Nir Oz, trying to secure the release of his grandfather and the 100 other hostages and calls for a deal for their release…
In an opinion piece in The Hill, Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt recalls the antisemitism he experienced growing up in Moscow and demands policies that will address the antisemitism he sees today…
The University of Pennsylvania is looking to hire a project manager to implement the recommendations drafted by the school’s antisemitism task force as well as its Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community…
Lily Ebert, who together with her grandson Dov Forman chronicled her story of survival of Auschwitz concentration camp in her book Lily’s Promise, died today at 99…
Pic of the Day
A copy of an Orit, the Torah of the Beta Israel community, is held by Liqa Kahenat Chief Kes Berko Tegegne, alongside (from left) Naftali Avraham, director of the Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center; Chaim Neria and Raquel Ukeles of the National Library of Israel; and Dalit Rom-Shiloni of Tel Aviv University.
The meeting, which was held recently, is part of an ongoing project between the National Library, the Ethiopian Jewry Heritage Center and the Orit Guardians program at Tel Aviv University. Through the project, the library has digitized 17 copies of the Orit, which is written in the sacred language of Ge’ez and comprises the five books of the Torah, the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth, the Jewish apocryphal texts of Jubilees and Enoch, the Book of Psalms and other prayers.
Birthdays
Security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am on Oct. 7, 2023, first made famous for being the first woman in Israel to hold that role and now an Israeli heroine because her team killed 25 terrorists and the kibbutz suffered no casualties, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman…
Founder, executive chairman, and now retired CEO of C-SPAN, Brian Lamb… Retired federal government manager and analyst, Charles “Chuck” Miller… Associate professor of Jewish history at the University of Maryland, Bernard Dov Cooperman… Burbank, Calif., resident, Richard Marpet… U.S. ambassador to Canada during the Obama administration, Ambassador David Jacobson… Commissioner of Major League Soccer since 1999, Don Garber… VNOC engineer at Avaya, David Gerstman… Director of Jewish learning at the Brandeis School of San Francisco, Debby Arzt-Mor… Managing director and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management and co-chair of DMFI, Todd Richman… Best-selling author and motivational speaker, his 2010 TED Talk about leadership is one of the most popular talks of all time, Simon Sinek… Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshivas Elimelech following 17 years as rabbi at Ohev Shalom Synagogue in Washington, D.C., Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld… Musician and singer, the protégé of her late father, singer-songwriter Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Neshama Carlebach… Member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid, Karin Elharar Hartstein… VP for Jewish education at Hillel International, Rabbi Benjamin Berger… Partner at Left Hook Strategy, Justin Barasky… CEO at Denver-based energy firm Nexus BSP, he was the national board chair of Moishe House until 2022, Ben Lusher… Director of state and international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, David Meyerson… Stand-up comedian and Emmy Award-winning television writer, Ian Karmel… VP of portfolio management for LEO Impact Capital, Lily Goldstein… Counsel in O’Melveny’s NYC office, he was an executive assistant and advance associate in the Obama White House, David Cohen… Physical therapist in Montreal, Chaya Notik… Head of corporate communications at L’Oréal, Jason Kaplan… Manager of corporate communications at Apple, Julia Schechter… Senior associate at JP Morgan Payments, Daniel Rubin… Senior in-stock manager at Amazon in NYC, Kayla Levinson Segal… Foil fencer, he won a team bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics (Tokyo) and an individual bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics (Paris), Nick Itkin … Y.O. Gross…
