Your Daily Phil: How can Israel shore up diminishing American Jewish support?
Add EJP on GoogleGood Wednesday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we interview Ted Sasson, a scholar at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies and co-author of a new report on how Israel can shore up American Jewish support, and report on a new aerospace prize at Israel’s Technion that was endowed by alumnus Max Blankfeld with the goal of boosting Israeli security and international standing. We feature an opinion piece by Shelley Rood Wernick and Liv Mendelsohn spotlighting a caregiver crisis in the U.S. and Canada; Lisa Eisen and Dawne Bear Novicoff identify priority areas for investment based on Reimagining Israel Education’s framework for the field; and Audra Berg shares what it takes to build and sustain Jewish community in America today. Also in this issue: Fay Twersky, Andrew Berger and Debbie Wasserman.
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.
What We’re Watching
The Knesset unanimously advanced a bill to dissolve the parliament, which would move up elections that are slated to take place no later than Oct. 27. The bill still needs to go through several more readings and votes before it is passed.
The American Innovation Forum is hosting an event this evening at the American Hub in Jerusalem featuring a panel with Tamir Goodman, Orit Greenbaum Lipski and Muawyah Akash.
Also in Jerusalem, HaGal Sheli, the Israeli nonprofit that uses surfing to combat post-traumatic stress disorder, is hosting a gala event tonight at the Tower of David, featuring leaders from Israel’s high-tech community. If you’re there, say hi to eJP’s Justin Hayet!
The Jewish Federations of North America, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Combat Antisemitism Movement and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History are hosting a congressional breakfast to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
The Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee gathered this morning for a lively debate on a bill that would effectively criminalize egalitarian and women-led prayer at the Western Wall, including areas that currently permit it, by designating any practice in violation of the Chief Rabbinate’s rulings as “desecration,” punishable by up to seven years in prison.
There are several reasons to believe that the bill will not be voted into law on technical grounds. But another reason why the bill, which was backed by nearly every member of the coalition, may end up buried is that its passage would deeply alienate the vast majority of Diaspora Jews, particularly American Jews, at a time when American popular support for Israel is waning.
It is therefore fitting that as this bill, which is nearly universally opposed by mainstream American Jewish organizations, was being debated in the Knesset, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross was speaking with Ted Sasson, a scholar of American Jewry now at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, who is the co-author of a new report, “American Jewry Is Changing: What Israel Must Do to Preserve the Partnership,” examining how the Israeli government can shore up its increasingly strained ties with American Jewry.
JAG: We’re having this conversation as a Knesset committee discusses a bill that would effectively criminalize non-Rabbinate-approved practices at the Western Wall — something that most American Jews would oppose but that the ruling coalition supported. Are your recommendations feasible for this government or a similar one, or are you effectively saying that new leadership is necessary to shore up American Jewish support for Israel. If this coalition is reelected, is there still a way to maintain that support?
TS: You’re right that the report is geared toward a new government, but we try to imagine that it could be a new Netanyahu-led government that seeks to repair some of the damage that accumulated during this very long war.
I think a new Israeli government has to be able to articulate a moral commitment, a strategic vision that enables us to see beyond the permanent integration of millions of Palestinians into Israeli society [without citizenship]. That might be a two-state solution, it might be a federation, it might be a confederation, who knows? But an incoming Israeli government has to be able to enunciate a vision of an Israel that is secure, with a Jewish majority and a democratic polity, in order to continue to benefit from strong support that extends beyond the Orthodox and the right wing of American Jewry.
JAG: In addition to those higher policy recommendations, what else can Israel do?
TS: In the report, we recommend that Israel focus on the areas where it’s uniquely capable of supporting American Jewry, and that’s especially in the area of education. … So with Birthright, we gotta get the numbers back up. Masa and university-based programs are an opportunity for Israel to build upon and expand the role it plays in educating Jewish young adults who are facing universities that are increasingly hostile.
Gap-year programs are [also] a part of that. So it’s not just a matter of restoring Birthright to the numbers that existed previously, but let’s expand gap years and make it as normative a part of the Jewish life course as Birthright had been for many years. I think there’s an opportunity there.
TAKING OFF
Technion alum endows new aerospace prize to foster global innovation at his Haifa alma mater
Looking to bolster Israel’s national security and national standing, as well as provide a springboard for promising students in aerospace engineering, Houston-based businessman and proud Technion alumnus Max Blankfeld has endowed an international prize at the Israeli school to help transform the aerospace field, bringing in foreign researchers one year and boosting local students the next, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet.
Reaching new heights: “Aerospace in Israel plays a very important role in the security of Israel,” Blankfeld told eJP, explaining his decision to split the prize’s impact. “The idea was to have an international prize that would bring and honor the best minds… and allow them to share ideas and knowledge [with students and faculty].” The prize in the alternating year “will be to encourage students at the Technion who are very promising to develop their own ideas in the field.”
CRITICAL CARE
The care crisis reshaping Jewish life
“In both Canada and the United States, 1 in 4 adults provides care to a family member, friend or neighbor,” write Shelley Rood Wernick, associate vice president of the Center on Aging, Trauma and Holocaust Survivor Care at the Jewish Federations of North America, and Liv Mendelsohn, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, a program of the Azrieli Foundation, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “[C]aregivers are holding families and communities together while facing serious financial, emotional and health pressures.”
Falling short: “Care is essential to Jewish communal infrastructure. That fact was front and center at the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies PowerNET conference May 4-7 in Toronto. … But that belief has to inform institutional practice. … And Jewish philanthropy must continue to be a core partner by calling for better care policies in workplaces and by funding what public systems often overlook.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
Building on ‘Reimagining Israel Education’: Moving forward with shared purpose and shared investment
“Nearly two years ago, our foundations embarked on Reimagining Israel Education, an ambitious initiative to reshape how the Jewish community delivers Israel education and meets this challenging moment for young Jews. The need was clear: Despite real progress over the past two decades, the last five years — especially after Oct. 7, 2023 — showed that many Jewish learners need a more holistic, realistic and relevant approach to Israel education, woven across Jewish learning at every age and setting,” write Lisa Eisen, co-president of Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and Dawne Bear Novicoff, executive vice president of the Jim Joseph Foundation, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
From insights to action: “Last month, we released this framework and its 10 core principles for more authentic Israel education. It builds on the field’s strengths, while also calling on us to center learners and to invest in educators, leaders and high-quality content so that Israel education can be deeper, stronger and more impactful and enduring. … [I]t is urgent that the field put this work into practice now, responding strategically and at scale, by equipping educators to deliver. Here are some of the areas we believe require immediate investment.”
LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP
Holding a Jewish community together, consistently and over time
“I have spent my career inside the Jewish community — as a professional, a leader and someone deeply invested in its future — and it is hard to remember a moment that feels quite this unsettled,” writes Audra Berg, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Broward County (Fla.), in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “The headlines are relentless: war on and off in Israel, rising antisemitism, deepening political divides and a growing sense that the institutions we once trusted are no longer steady. There are days when it feels as if things are spinning beyond anyone’s control.”
And yet: “When I look at the world, it is easy to feel discouraged, but when I look at how people are responding — reaching toward one another rather than turning away — the horizon feels hopeful. Jewish life feels both fragile and fiercely alive. In Broward, we have seen that when we lean into the kind of connection that builds trust, our community responds. What follows are four lessons about deepening and growing community, shaped in partnership through an initiative we call Ignite Broward.”
Worthy Reads
Post-Aid Glow-Up: In the Wall Street Journal, the American Enterprise Institute’s Daniel Samet argues that phasing out U.S. military aid is a strategic imperative that would protect Israel from Washington’s political volatility and restore its full strategic independence. “Unlike other American security partners, Israel can get by without a check from Uncle Sam. The Jewish state now has a higher per capita gross domestic product than Germany or Qatar. Assistance from Washington accounts for about 8% of Israel’s approximately $45 billion defense budget, a smaller share than before… If Democrats win in 2028, expect them to punish Israel…What will happen if a Democratic president or a Democratic Congress suddenly cuts off assistance, shocking the Israeli system? Better to begin before then so Israel can wean itself off on its own terms.”[WSJ]
Anything Goes: Days after The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof published a piece alleging numerous abuses of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli security officials, Kristof’s colleague on the Opinion desk, Bret Stephens, observes the documented history of news outlets publishing falsehoods about Israel without basic fact-checking. “The common thread in these and many other stories is that they all involve strenuous, if ultimately embarrassed, efforts to prove that Israelis deliberately seek to kill the innocent and maim the vulnerable, apparently for no other reason than gratuitous cruelty. This isn’t a matter of reporters’ impartially trying to expose wrongdoing wherever they find it — if that were the case, the errors wouldn’t invariably lean in the same ideological direction. It isn’t speaking truth to power. It’s feeding narratives to the credulous.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
A newly launched super PAC with ties to Republicans has spent nearly half a million dollars to help boost a Democrat running for a competitive open House seat in Texas who is facing growing bipartisan furor over a series of virulently antisemitic social media remarks, including calls to detain American Zionists, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports…
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has in recent days held a series of meetings and listening sessions with Wall Street executives, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, after Mamdani angered business leaders by filming a video outside the home of Citadel’s Ken Griffin in which the mayor announced a plan to tax second homes in the city…
The Forward examines the controversy surrounding an opinion piece by a pro-Israel Jewish writer that was published in an Oklahoma news outlet comparing the underdog Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team to Israel, which drew threats against the newspaper’s Jewish owner…
British Airways has extended its cancellation of all flights to and from Israel until at least August due to ongoing security concerns and regional operational assessments…
The University of Haifa launched “Northern Radiance,” a new transition program designed specifically for discharged Druze IDF soldiers…
In a post on X, Rabbi Avi Weiss, the founder of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and Yeshivat Maharat in the Bronx, N.Y., announced that he and his wife made aliyah…
The Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg (Pa.) plans to sell its six-acre campus and rely on private donations to cover roughly $500,000 in debt and an outstanding mortgage to avoid filing for bankruptcy…
The Department of Justice’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is debuting a 15-city national tour aimed at increasing incident reporting, enhancing local law enforcement collaboration and protecting students in schools…
Police in New York are investigating the death of a Jewish bakery owner and former Hatzolah volunteer whose body was found in the Queens neighborhood of Flushing after he was shot in the neck and back…
Irish author Sally Rooney has arranged to publish the Hebrew translation of her latest novel, Intermezzo, through an Israel-based publisher aligned with the BDS movement…
Media executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro are acquiring individual minority stakes of less than 10% in the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders…
Comedy writer Barry Blaustein, a longtime collaborator of comedian Eddie Murphy who worked on the screenplays of “Coming to America” and “The Nutty Professor,” died at 71…
Bernie Ghert, a Toronto-based businessman and philanthropist, died on May 4 at 86…
Major Gifts
Hillel International’s seventh annual Global Giving Week raised over $5.5 million through 11,000 donations to support Jewish campus life across 170 locations worldwide…
University of Richmond alumni Carole and Marcus Weinstein donated $6 million to expand the university’s Wilton Center to support expanding interfaith campus programming…
Transitions
Fay Twersky has announced her upcoming retirement as president of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation…
Cincinnati’s College for Contemporary Judaism has selected its inaugural board of trustees, which will be led by Board Chair Andrew Berger: Gary Greenberg, James Greenberg, Rabbi Micah Greenstein, Mark Kanter, Jerry Kathman, Amy Katz, B.H. Levy Jr., Lynn Rosenberg Mayfield, Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and Rick Seibold..
King Solomon High School in the U.K. has selected Jonathan Harris to serve as its interim head teacher starting in June…
The International Council of Jewish Women has inducted Debbie Wasserman as its new president…
Pic of the Day
Jewish Federations of North America Board Chair Gary Torgow addresses Jewish community leaders and lawmakers yesterday on Capitol Hill, where he led a coalition of more than 400 leaders from 82 communities in over 200 meetings with Congress. The lobbying effort focused on advancing the bipartisan Jewish American Security Act to secure increased federal funding for Jewish institutional safety.
Sponsored by Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK), the proposed legislation would increase Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding to $1 billion for houses of worship and community centers. The bill also includes provisions requiring the Department of Education to appoint an antisemitism coordinator, establishing new regulations for colleges receiving federal funding and mandating new disclosures from online platforms regarding the moderation of antisemitic content.
Birthdays
Emmy Award-winning singer and songwriter, Rachel Platten turns 45…
CEO at Kings’ Care – A Safe Place, operator of multiple drug and alcohol rehabilitation and treatment centers, Ilene Leiter… Canadian businesswoman and elected official, she served in the Ontario Assembly and in the Canadian House of Commons, Elinor Caplan turns 82… Former member of the New York State Assembly until 2020, representing the 97th Assembly District in Rockland County, Ellen Jaffee turns 82… Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-CT) for 20 years, he was born in a DP camp in Germany after WWII, Sam Gejdenson turns 78… Chagrin Falls, Ohio, attorney, Robert Charles Rosenfeld… CEO emeritus of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Michael S. Miller… Seamstress and weaver, Bernice Ann Penn Venable… Retired in 2022 as a federal judge for the Southern District of Texas, she is now a mediator and arbitrator, Judge Nancy Ellen Friedman Atlas turns 77… Five-time Emmy Award-winning producer and writer who has worked on “Saturday Night Live,” PBS’ “Great Performances” and “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” Alan Zweibel turns 76… Former director of international affairs, policy and planning at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, following 12 years at the ADL, Michael Alan Salberg… Professor at Tulane, he was president of the Aspen Institute, CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time, Walter Isaacson turns 74… Born in upstate New York as Michael Scott Bornstein, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and then member of the Knesset, Michael Oren turns 71… Actor and singer, known for her work in musical theater, Judy Kuhn turns 68… CEO and founder of Abrams Media, chief legal analyst for ABC News and the founder of Mediaite, Dan Abrams turns 60… New York City location scout and unit production manager for feature films, TV and commercials, David Brotsky… Co-founder and CEO of Breitbart News, Larry Solov turns 58… Senior advisor at Majority Democrats, Ami Copeland… French singer and actor, at 13 she became the youngest singer to ever reach No. 1 in the French charts, Elsa Lunghini turns 53… Co-president of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, Matthew Silverman turns 50… Principal of public policy at Amazon, Philip Justin “PJ” Hoffman… Program officer of Jewish life at the Michigan-based William Davidson Foundation, Vadim Avshalumov… Founder and CEO of Berkeley, California-based Caribou Biosciences, a genome engineering company, Rachel Haurwitz, Ph.D…. Senior director of government relations and strategy for the ADL, Lauren D. Wolman… Executive communications leader, Susan Sloan… Vice president of digital advocacy at McGuireWoods Consulting, Josh Canter… Beauty pageant winner who was awarded the title of Miss Israel 2014, Doron Matalon turns 33… Master of public policy candidate at Oxford University, Aylon Berger turns 26… Conservative political activist, he is a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Kyle Kashuv turns 25…
