Your Daily Phil: In shadow of UAE rabbi’s killing, Chabad emissaries gather in NYC
Good Monday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new exhibit about Franz Kafka opening at the National Library of Israel and interview Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt as she concludes her tenure as the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Shayna Kreisler and Rabbi Mike Uram about the relationship between boosting access to Jewish life and investing in Jewish leaders. Also in this newsletter: Daniel Swartz, Omer Neutra and Candida Gertler. We’ll start with this weekend’s International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.
On Sunday, over 6,500 rabbis and Jewish leaders gathered in Edison, N.J., for a gala concluding the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim), billed as the largest rabbinic conference in the world, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Since the 1950s, through a vast network of emissaries around the globe, the Chabad-Lubavitch movement has facilitated Jewish life in places with little to no Jewish infrastructure. This year, as global Jewry faces rising antisemitism and the impacts of Israel’s wars against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the grinding conflict between Russia and Ukraine — both of which maintain strong Chabad communities — Chabad’s emissaries, stationed in 5,200 centers across over 100 countries, have been thrust onto the front lines.
The event took place less than a week after the funeral of Rabbi Zvi Kogan, the 28-year-old Israeli-Moldovan Chabad emissary who was killed last week after being abducted in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Rabbi Levi Duchman, the top Chabad rabbi in the UAE, addressed the conference, alongside Rabbi Kalman Meir Ber, Israel’s newly elected Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also sent recorded remarks. The gala featured the announcement of several new Chabad appointees, notably, Rabbi Kuty Kalmenson, the first permanent rabbinic presence in generations in Andorra, a tiny country between France and Spain.
“For many of the rabbis, this conference was a family coming together after a very tough year, after many tragedies, and one that was very fresh and raw,” Rabbi Motti Seligson, director of media at Chabad, told eJP. “But it was also a moment of collective resolve,” he said.
Duchman and several other speakers echoed this sentiment, calling for the expansion of Chabad programming and outreach as the community faces mounting threats. “Our response will have to be to grow even more,” Duchman said during a video tribute to Kogan on Sunday.
As in many Jewish communal spaces this year, the war in Israel was a prominent theme throughout. According to Seligson, there are 1,400 Chabad emissary families in Israel, many of whom have been deeply affected by the war. “What’s going on there is on everyone’s minds,” said Seligson.
Prior to the gala, the Chabad-Lubavitch “Kinus” brought together over 3,000 emissaries over five days for workshops, seminars, general sessions and farbrengens around the movement’s world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, New York.
The topics spanned supporting emerging Jewish communities, the Jewish response to rising antisemitism, the future and present of European Jewry, Jewish student life on campus, the unique challenges of Israeli expat communities worldwide and navigating complex halachic situations.
On Sunday, several emissaries also participated in pre-conference panels, focusing on the war in Ukraine, campus antisemitism, the attack on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam and the Israel-Hamas war. Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, an emissary in Kharkiv, Ukraine, was interviewed in one pre-event panel. When Moskovitz was initially stationed in Kharkiv in 1990, shortly after the Iron Curtain was lifted, the city was 40 minutes away from the border with Russia. As the war has dragged on, Russian military control has drawn closer. Now, Moskovitz said, the de facto border is only a four-minute drive away.
“There are those who walk between the drops of rain. We in Ukraine are walking between the bombs,” said Moskovitz.
THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED
New Kafka exhibit at Israel’s National Library offers rare glimpse into the author’s personal life, including his Zionism
Franz Kafka worked hard to remain elusive and mysterious, burning most of his unfinished manuscripts and asking for all of his writings to similarly be destroyed after his death. But the Czech-Austrian Jewish author’s posthumous wishes were not fully honored, and a new exhibition — “Kafka: Metamorphosis of An Author” — made up of some of his notebooks, letters and manuscripts will open on Wednesday at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, offering a personal glimpse into Kafka’s life — including his little-discussed connection with Judaism and Zionism, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky, who was given a pre-opening tour of the exhibit.
A restaurant in Palestine: Kafka was part of a large and active group of Zionist Jewish friends, which also included Austrian-Israeli philosopher Martin Buber. Though he never belonged to a formal Jewish organization, in 1917, Kafka began earnestly learning Hebrew. Shortly before his death Kafka began dreaming of moving to then-Palestine and opening a restaurant. “We want to allow our visitors here to get to know different perspectives of [Kafka’s] life, the different tracks, which were interrelated to each other. We do hope that at the end visitors are not stepping out with even more questions—but that could happen with Kafka,” said Stefan Litt, humanities curator for the National Library and director of the Kafka Archive.
More to come: The exhibit is sponsored by Joyce and Daniel Straus in honor of Stefanie Gabel and in memory of Jack Gabel and Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus, and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tel Aviv and will continue until June 30, 2025. The more than 200 documents in the archives have all been digitalized and are accessible to the public online. A series of gallery talks with the curators, cultural events and an international conference are also planned as part of the centennial.
EXIT INTERVIEW
How Deborah Lipstadt used diplomacy to fight antisemitism
In light of her past criticism of Republicans, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt’s insistence that the incoming Trump administration will be well-equipped to handle antisemitism represents a strong, if surprising, marker of the goodwill that the president-elect has generated on combating antisemitism. “I don’t know what the next administration’s policies will be. Nobody does, and I certainly can’t speak to that. But I have no doubt that they will take this issue very seriously. All the signs point to that,” Lipstadt told Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider in an interview last month at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia.
‘We have a problem’: Since taking office in the spring of 2022, she has visited more than 30 countries, with the simple mission of communicating to other nations that combating antisemitism is an American priority. “A lot of it was done quietly. Quiet conversations with foreign ministers, quiet conversations with justice ministers, with police, authorities, saying, ‘We’re really worried about this,’” Lipstadt said, looking back on her time in the position. In those conversations, she leaned on relatability: America doesn’t have it all figured out, either. “I didn’t say, ‘You have a problem.’ I said, ‘We have a problem.’”
Canary in a coal mine: “I think one of the things that university presidents outside the United States and inside the United States have learned from last year’s experience is that you’ve got to respond, and respond strongly,” Lipstadt said. “Leadership at universities are beginning to recognize that these protests that are ostensibly about Gaza, about Israel, about Israel-Palestine really are a foil or an entry point for a much bigger issue of anti-democracy, anti-capitalism, anti-Western values that we often see campuses latching on to. But it’s got bigger implications.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
READERS RESPOND
Nurturing the next generation of Jewish leaders
“A recent article published in eJewishPhilanthropy by Rabbis Meesh Hammer-Kossoy and Leon A. Morris of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies (“Focusing Solely on Scale and Access Won’t Cultivate Future Jewish Leadership,” Nov. 14) takes the organized Jewish community to task for focusing excessively, in their opinion, on increasing access to Jewish life among laypeople instead of nurturing the next generation of rabbis and other Jewish leaders,” write Shayna Kreisler and Rabbi Mike Uram, vice president of lay leadership development and chief Jewish learning officer for the Jewish Federations of North America, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
On the contrary: “There is no necessary contradiction between increasing access to Jewish life — as we are investing heavily in these days in the wake of Oct. 7 and the well-documented ‘surge’ in participation in Jewish organizational life — and nurturing the next generation of Jewish leaders. Indeed, they are two sides of the same coin. Many of those who are attracted to Jewish life today, often for the first time, will be the future leaders of our communities.”
Cultivate deeply and broadly: “To foster a resilient and vibrant Jewish future, we need a multidimensional approach that values both depth and breadth. Breadth allows widespread access to leadership development, while depth ensures robust, skillful leadership at every level, from emerging voices to senior leaders. Accessibility and shared ownership of Jewish tradition must work in concert with structured leadership cultivation… By nurturing the next generation of leaders in both the lay leader and professional realms, we can build a broad, inclusive and enduring foundation for Jewish life and leadership.”
Worthy Reads
Divided We Fall (Again): In his substack, “Vahaviotim” (meaning “And I will bring them”), Daniel Swartz reflects on the internal divides in the Jewish community and what’s being done to bridge them. “The contemporary Jewish community — whether in Israel or in America — makes first century Judaea look like a model of civic harmony… And we know exactly what we’re doing. We choose factionalism over community despite knowing full well that we will be overrun by our enemies, because we understand what it takes to live in community with one another. And in our defense… I sort of get it… Try forging a community with people you consider to be sinners, fundamentalists, parasites, vultures, bigots, or snobs (and who think the exact same of you)… [Yet] as my friend and teacher Dr. Yoav Heller puts it: Nobody is going anywhere… And so if we can’t retreat and if we can’t conquer, we’ve really got no choice but to try and live together… [There] is a growing field of leaders here who are working on radical models that do the hard work of cultivating community. Could this be a path forward for Israel? I’m certainly betting on it.” [Vahaviotim]
Time is Money: In Kiplinger, Emily Glassman recommends five ways donors can maximize their end-of-year giving — including donating their time. “Though every charity requires funding, donating your time can help strengthen your commitment to a cause. In addition to writing a check, consider other potential ways to give back. Do you have a skill that might be of use to the organization? Pairing financial giving with volunteering is also a good way to create relationships that can further your future business and philanthropic endeavors. I’ve known many people, who after starting as a regular volunteer, began to become more involved in the organization, rising to the level of a board member — roles that have had a profoundly positive impact on their lives.” [Kiplinger]
Knowing Whom You Serve: In The New York Times, columnist David French recounts his experience volunteering for Room in the Inn, a Nashville, Tenn., “homeless ministry” serving the local population, regardless of faith, by providing food, a place to sleep and more at local churches. “The model for the ministry was simple. In the late afternoon, homeless and vulnerable people would arrive at a central location in downtown Nashville, and dozens of church buses, vans and other vehicles would take them in small groups to a participating church in the city. Once our guests arrived, we’d make them a good meal and we’d hang out while they washed their clothes or showered or just relaxed… No one claimed in those days that Room in the Inn was fixing homelessness. It was, however, doing more than meeting immediate needs. Night after night, over meal after meal, those of us who volunteered also learned. The model for the ministry created relationships, and those relationships meant that we had a better and deeper understanding of the men and women we served.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
The Israel Defense Forces announced that it determined that Israeli-American hostage Cpt. Omer Neutra had been killed in the Oct. 7 terror attacks and his body was brought to Gaza, where it remains in captivity…
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has awarded a $27.5 million grant to the Atlanta Opera, with $25 million of the gift allocated for the development of the Molly Blank Center for Opera, named after Arthur Blank’s mother. An additional $2.5 million will go toward the opera’s Discoveries Series, a program designed to introduce opera to new audiences…
The Times of Israel spotlights Yossi Hoffman, a volunteer for the ZAKA emergency response organization, who was among the first volunteers to respond to the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre and spent two months recovering bodies. Hoffman now copes with his trauma by organizing barbecues for Israeli soldiers and sharing his eyewitness testimony on tours of southern communities…
The Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation in Sarasota, Fla., has awarded grants totaling $3.2 million to local organizations supporting vulnerable families and environmental sustainability and helping expand access to early education…
In an opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a coalition of Georgia rabbis voiced concern about the recent votes by Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) to limit arms sales to Israel…
Some 2,000 pro-Israel protesters demonstrated in front of Amsterdam’s City Hall Thursday night despite threats and bans after the city’s mayor, Femke Halsema, canceled a rally in Dam Square, citing security concerns following violent attacks there on Israeli Maccabi soccer fans last month…
Carin and Roger Ehrenberg donated $3 million to expand the Human Dimension program at New Jersey’s Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, which connects students with underserved communities to better understand how social factors such as financial and housing instability affect health. The couple previously contributed $1 million to launch the program in 2022…
Footsteps, a New York nonprofit that helps its 2,400 members who have left Haredi communities, is starting a new program to help members acquire stable housing as a key component for their successful transition to secular life…
President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as ambassador to France. Trump previously pardoned Charles Kushner in 2020 after his guilty plea to charges of tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations…
Candida Gertler, prominent British Jewish philanthropist and co-founder of the Outset Contemporary Art Fund, announced her resignation from all her positions within British art institutions in protest over growing antisemitism, after Goldsmiths’ Centre for Contemporary Art at the University of London said it would remove her and her husband’s names from one of its galleries…
In a quickly scheduled meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to discuss the “abhorrent rise in antisemitism,” British Jewish communal leaders urged him to support efforts to promote unity and address extremism whether it arises from the far right, the far left or Islamist groups…
Antisemitic incidents in Australia have quadrupled since Oct. 7 with a record number of more than 2,000 cases of verbal or physical abuse and vandalism, according to a report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. The report did not include cases of anti-Israel incidents unless there was a “clear and specific anti-Jewish element”…
Lucien Gubbay, 93, is retiring as the head of the Sephardi charity Montefiore Endowment. He will remain as the association’s life president…
In The Jerusalem Post, Noah Farkas, president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, argues that Jewish communities must ensure their own safety and presents the Community Service Initiative (CSI) being implemented in the Los Angeles Jewish community in coordination with local law enforcement agencies as a model that can be replicated in other Jewish communities…
Devex looks at how food banks can help get some of the 1.3 billion tons of food that are lost or wasted annually to the approximately 733 million people facing food insecurity worldwide...
Former Soviet Jewry activist David Selikowitz died in Paris on Wednesday at 83. Recalling his love of dance, good food and good company, former COO of Meta Sheryl Sandberg paid tribute to her family’s lifelong friend whom her parents, Dr. Joel and Adele Sandberg, met through their work on the Soviet Jewry movement…
Writer and director Marshall Brickman, who collaborated with Woody Allen on several films including “Annie Hall,” for which they won an Oscar, died on Friday at 85…
Longtime New York state Sen. Manfred Ohrenstein, who fled Nazi Europe as a teenager, died on Nov. 18 at 99…
Pic of the Day
The Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel celebrates the Sigd holiday on Thursday in Jerusalem.
Sigd, a holiday that is unique to the Beta Israel community, is marked on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan with a fast, a pilgrimage to a mountain (to represent the receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai), readings from religious texts and recitations of prayers. Sigd was celebrated early this year as to not coincide with Shabbat.
Birthdays
Emmy Award-winning actress, her late father was an Orthodox rabbi, Rena Sofer…
Former director of the Mossad and then head of the Israeli National Security Council, Efraim Halevy… Professor of rabbinic literature at Yeshiva University’s Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff… Real estate executive and founder of the Sunshine Group, she was an executive vice president of The Trump Organization until 1985, Louise Mintz Sunshine… Sociologist and human rights activist, Jack Nusan Porter… Partner at Personal Healthcare LLC, Pincus Zagelbaum… Former drummer for a rock band in France followed by a career in contemporary Jewish spiritual music in Brooklyn, Isaac “Jacky” Bitton… Executive vice president at Rubenstein Communications, Nancy Haberman… Author of more than 15 volumes of poetry, he is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Pennsylvania, Bob Perelman… French historian, professor at Sorbonne Paris North University and author of 30 books on the history of North Africa, Benjamin Stora… Retired associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Barbara A. Lenk… Professor at Montana State University, she was a member of the Montana House of Representatives and a board member of Bozeman’s Congregation Beth Shalom, Franke Wilmer… Canadian fashion designer and entrepreneur, he is best known for launching the Club Monaco and Joe Fresh brands, Joe Mimran… Partner in the Madison, Wisconsin law firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, she is a class action and labor law attorney, Sarah Siskind… Rabbi of Baltimore’s Congregation Ohel Moshe, Rabbi Zvi Teichman… Celebrity physician and author of diet books, he is the president of the Nutritional Research Foundation, Joel Fuhrman… Advertising account executive at the Los Angeles Daily Journal Corporation, Lanna Solnit… Cleveland resident, Joseph Schlaiser… Identical twin sisters, known as The AstroTwins, they are magazine columnists and authors of four books on astrology, Tali Edut and Ophira Edut… Lecturer of political science at Yale, she was formerly a White House staffer, Eleanor L. Schiff… Television writer and producer, Murray Selig Miller… Former member of the Knesset, now serving as Israel’s ambassador to the U.K., Tzipi Hotovely… Actress best known for playing Special Agent Kensi Blye in 277 episodes of CBS’s “NCIS Los Angeles,” Daniela Ruah 1… Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, Annie Fixler… Senior director with Alvarez & Marsal in Atlanta, she was a sabre fencer at the 2004 Summer Olympics, Emily Jacobson Edwards… Actor, best known for playing Trevor in the coming-of-age film “Eighth Grade,” Fred Hechinger…
