Your Daily Phil: In the Year 2050: Gaming out Jewish life in the next generation
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we cover the opening of Anu Museum of the Jewish People’s permanent exhibition of the Codex Sassoon and report on “war games” held in New York last week aimed at getting Jewish leaders to consider the community’s long-term future. We spotlight an Israeli dog rescue shelter and rehabilitation center set up in honor of an Israeli commando killed in the Oct. 7 attacks; report on a new partnership bringing Israeli teens on Jewish summer programs; and interview the director of one of the Israeli hospital departments that is working to rehabilitate freed hostages. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Jonathan Berkun, Rabbi E. Samuel Klibanoff and Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg about giving rabbis across denominations what they need to nurture and lead proudly Zionist communities; one by Rabbi Hannah Dresner about using the arts to enrich Jewish practice; and one by Sandra Lilienthal and Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin about the birth of Jewish pluralism. Also in this issue: Nico Slobinsky, Sergey Brin and Dr. Amit Korah.
What We’re Watching
The Capital Jewish Museum will reopen today, a week after a deadly attack in which two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed after attending an American Jewish Committee event held at the museum. The museum will hold a program this morning that includes addresses from museum officials, local clergy and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Charedi Impact Philanthropy and Giving Daily are holding a joint event today in Jerusalem focused on Israel’s Haredi community.
The Holocaust Museum Boston is holding its official groundbreaking ceremony today.
What You Should Know
Just a few days before Shavuot, when the Jewish People celebrate receiving the Torah, Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum of the Jewish People is celebrating the reception of a specific Bible, the Codex Sassoon, a more than 1,100-year-old tome that, at long last, has been put on permanent display at the institution, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross from an event at the museum marking the display’s opening.
The codex was purchased for the museum by one of its longtime benefactors, former U.S. Ambassador Alfred Moses, for $38.1 million when it went up for auction at Sotheby’s in May 2023. It is the oldest, most complete copy of the Hebrew Bible in existence, lacking 12 pages out of roughly 800. (There are older, less complete copies, and less old, fully complete ones.) It is a Masoretic text, meaning it includes not only the words of the Bible — like a Torah scroll — but also the punctuation marks, as well as pronunciation guides. It is how we know that we are reading the Bible the same way today as Jews did more than a millennium ago.
It was due to go on permanent display in October 2023 — as noted in the Oct. 6 edition of Your Daily Phil — but this was put on indefinite delay after the Oct. 7 terror attacks, as the museum was first closed and then refrained from celebratory events and as the insurance for the priceless object demanded a more secure display than had originally been planned.
“The codex, which had already seen a lot [in its 1,100 years], saw — like the rest of us — the events of Oct. 7, so it stayed in the safe,” Oded Revivi, Anu’s CEO, said at the event. “Now we are opening the door and bringing it out.”
Revivi added that while the codex is now being put on display, the war that forced it to stay in the vault is still raging and 58 captives remain in Gaza. Freed hostage Agam Berger was invited to the opening, and Revivi noted that last August, the museum held a birthday commemoration for her while she was in captivity. “We hope here that we will soon celebrate the release of all the hostages,” he said, prompting a resounding, “Amen,” from the audience.
He reflected on the significance of the codex — and the Tanach in general — referring to it as “an anchor” and as “the soundtrack of Jewish history.” He added: “And today it is here.”
While the codex itself was purchased for the museum by Moses, the display and the accompanying educational programing that Anu is building around it was funded by Israel’s government-owned lottery company, Mifal HaPais.
During the event, Revivi also held an onstage conversation with Shira Shapira, the mother of Aner Shapira, who was killed in the Oct. 7 terror attacks by the eighth grenade after he threw back seven that terrorists had thrown into the roadside bomb shelter where he and others had sought refuge. Shapira, who is also the deputy director-general of Israel’s Heritage Ministry, discussed her son’s life — and “not just the last hour of it” — as well as her office’s work preserving the memory of the Oct. 7 attacks.
Irina Nevzlin, board chair of the museum, noted that she is not particularly religious — “I’m traditional” — but the codex and the Tanakh still have a profound influence on her.
“Everyone feels something. Everyone feels something different, but everyone feels something. There’s something in this book, in this object, in this text, in this experience that touches us,” she said. “And that’s what the Anu Museum is about. We’re not telling the story of a specific group or a specific population or a specific language. I heard something once that was meant to be criticism but I took it as a compliment, they said we are a very eclectic museum, and we’re very eclectic because we want to touch the heart of everyone.”
GAME TIME
‘War Games’ bring together Jewish leaders, thinkers to imagine U.S. Jewry in 2050
It’s 2050, and the American Jewish community is popular — so much so that its primary concerns are no longer antisemitism, assimilation, Israel advocacy, but gatekeeping to keep out those with only tenuous claims of Jewish identity. It’s 2050, and Jewish religious and cultural life is thriving — so much so that American Jews are increasingly siloed because non-Jews just can’t understand them. It’s 2050, and American Jews are under attack by both left-wing and right-wing groups, leading to effective digital and physical ghettos, albeit well-resourced ones. It’s 2050, and antisemitic fervor grips America, rooting out all but the most devoted communities, making Haredim the largest denomination and prompting a Jewish spiritual revival amid rising poverty. These are the four scenarios — some more utopian, others dystopian — that dozens of American Jewish leaders and experts contended with last week as part of “war games” organized by Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist Phil Siegel, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
A 25-year plan: “The type of game we settled on is called a target state game, where you write future scenarios and you make the players work their way backward. How did we get there?” Siegel told eJP this week. “One of the hopes is that people will spend more time thinking about what we want to have happen over the next 25 years. … We need to be starting to think about our 25-year plan so that we can control our own destiny.” For the project, Siegel recruited Rabbi David Wolpe and author Dara Horn, who was tasked with creating the scenarios. He also brought in David Bernstein and his North American Values Institute; Adina Poupko, executive director of the Natan Fund; and Jared Stone, a researcher with NAVI. Some 50 people took part in the event, dubbed Tzomet Games, which included Jewish leaders, political figures, academics, businesspeople and philanthropists.
OF BLESSED MEMORY
The living memorial for an animal-loving police officer, slain on Oct. 7, where dogs — and people — can heal
In another life, Chen Nahmias might have become a veterinarian. He studied animal sciences and marine biology, and his love for animals was evident to all who knew him. But Nahmias chose a different path — one of service and sacrifice. After completing his studies, he returned to combat and joined one of Israel’s most elite and dangerous counterterrorism units, the Special Police Unit, better known by its Hebrew acronym, Yamam, reports Efrat Lachter for eJewishPhilanthropy. That decision would ultimately define his legacy. On the morning of Oct. 7, Chen was among the first responders who rushed to the south. At 6:30 a.m., he sent a message to his wife, Tal, letting her know he had been called up. At 7:20 a.m., after a firefight, he sent Tal another message: “I love you, my neshama,” using a Hebrew term of affection literally meaning “soul.” It was the last thing she would ever hear from him. As the team returned to their vehicle, five more terrorists emerged from an ambush. Chen was killed.
A living memorial: After his death, during the shiva, Nahmias’ friends from his former IDF unit, Duvdevan, looked for a way to honor him. They remembered the man who, in the middle of a mission, would stop a vehicle to move a hedgehog off the road. The man who brought home stray dogs and cared for them. They knew that any tribute to Nahmias had to reflect not only his bravery but also his gentleness — his love for animals and for his fellow soldiers. Together, they started a foundation and established Nekudat Chen — a dog shelter and rehabilitation space in Kibbutz Ein Gedi. The center rescues and rehomes dogs and offers animal therapy to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. “Third — and this is my selfish reason,” said Nati Azulay, Nahmias’s closest friend from his military service, “it’s a living memorial for Chen, my best friend.”
ALL ABOUT CONNECTION
As Israel travel programs struggle, RootOne and Mosaic United look to bridge the gap by sending Israeli teens abroad
As some Jewish teens opt for summer travel experiences outside of Israel in light of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, RootOne and Mosaic United, an initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, are partnering to connect Jewish teens with Israel — by bringing Israeli teens to Europe, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
This summer only: In March, in response to security and flight unpredictability, RootOne decided to expand their vouchers to cover trips to locations outside of Israel — including Greece, Belgium, Costa Rica and Spain— for this summer only. Now, Mosaic United is providing $2 million to increase the number of Israeli teen participants on the trips — half of which will go towards Israeli teens participating in standard Israel trips, and half of which will support Israeli teens on alternative trips. Through matched funding with RootOne and diaspora philanthropists, a total of $6 million will be allocated towards the initiative, Alana Ebin, division director of Mosaic United told eJP.
AFTER CAPTIVITY
Hostages’ long-lasting mental and physical scars of Gaza captivity are treated at ‘Returnees Ward’
When Israelis held hostage by terrorists in Gaza are released, there is a flurry of attention. Members of the media descend on the hospitals to which the newly freed hostages are sent. Soon after, however, the public no longer hears much from most of them. Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, in central Israel, treated and continues to treat hostages released in the ceasefire that took place earlier this year: female soldiers Naama Levy, Karina Ariyev, Agam Berger, Liri Albag and Daniella Gilboa, as well as Tal Shoham, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen and Omer Shemtov. Dr. Michael Bahar, director of the Rehabilitation Unit at Beilinson, who has been overseeing their recovery, told Lahav Harkov for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider in the hospital this week that his department “built rehabilitation programs based on each patient’s specific needs. It’s a multidisciplinary process, working with physical therapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, nurses and psychologists. For the rehabilitation of the female soldiers, “we work with the IDF,” he added.
Meaningful connection: The Rehabilitation Unit at Beilinson also treats many wounded soldiers, and Bahar said they and the former hostages have found it meaningful to undergo joint treatment and exercises together, including in the department’s pool. “The soldiers felt that they were fighting to free the hostages, so we connected between them,” Bahar said. “One evening the [female soldier hostages] went to visit the wounded soldiers in the department. It was an indescribable moment. They couldn’t speak, they were so excited … It was very significant, very powerful for the soldiers and the returnees.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
WHAT TODAY’S RABBIS NEED
A new conversation and a shared commitment
Since Oct. 7, 2023, the roles of congregational and campus rabbis have expanded and they are faced with new questions and challenges, write Rabbis Jonathan Berkun, E. Samuel Klibanoff and Brigitte Rosenberg in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “This moment demands more — more clarity, more compassion, and more connection. It also demands spaces where we, as leaders, can come together across geographic and ideological lines to reflect, learn from one another and grow in ways that strengthen our leadership and the communities we serve.”
A noteworthy model: “Zionism: A New Conversation [a conference held in Miami in March] brought together a diverse array of thought leaders to speak to rabbis about new strategies, language, tools, approaches and partnerships to re-center Israel and rediscover Zionism in our communities… This conference didn’t provide all the answers, but it offered a model of what’s possible when we come together without pretense, united by a common goal. It allowed us to return to our communities with fresh perspectives, pragmatic guidance and a deeper commitment to speak proudly and unapologetically about Israel. As we count the Omer this year, we hope that more philanthropists will lean into this methodology, looking to the grassroots network of rabbinic leaders around the country and imbuing us with the skills, training and confidence to lead unapologetically Zionist communities. When they do, they will find there is so much that unites us.”
CREATIVE COMMUNITY
On being an artist-rabbi: Bringing ‘play’ into Jewish communal practice
“In a television interview shortly before his death, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel was asked if he had a message for young people. Watching live with my parents, I was a young person at the time, and Heschel seemed to speak directly to me when he responded: ‘Build your life as a work of art.’ My rabbinate is an artistic practice. The spiritual community I serve in all its complexity is a creation under continuous construction,” writes Rabbi Hannah Dresner, a member of the national mentor team of the Clergy Leadership Incubator (CLI), in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Putting principle into practice: “If we focus on art as a way of being, as process rather than product, the arts provide a great playground in the most serious sense of what ‘play’ is… My teacher Reb Zalman Schachter taught: ‘Be practiced in your practice.’ The more we exercise the muscle of art practice, the more curious and sensitive we become; the more facile in our expression, the more flexible in our thinking, the more connections we make. We surprise and delight one another as individuals, as a community, as Jews and as spiritual beings.”
A LEGACY OF PLURALISM
The Jewish People stood together at Sinai. Can we today?
Since Oct. 7, 2023, the roles of congregational and campus rabbis have expanded and they are faced with new questions and challenges, write Rabbis Jonathan Berkun, E. Samuel Klibanoff and Brigitte Rosenberg in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “This moment demands more — more clarity, more compassion, and more connection. It also demands spaces where we, as leaders, can come together across geographic and ideological lines to reflect, learn from one another and grow in ways that strengthen our leadership and the communities we serve.”
A noteworthy model: “Zionism: A New Conversation [a conference held in Miami in March] brought together a diverse array of thought leaders to speak to rabbis about new strategies, language, tools, approaches and partnerships to re-center Israel and rediscover Zionism in our communities… This conference didn’t provide all the answers, but it offered a model of what’s possible when we come together without pretense, united by a common goal. It allowed us to return to our communities with fresh perspectives, pragmatic guidance and a deeper commitment to speak proudly and unapologetically about Israel. As we count the Omer this year, we hope that more philanthropists will lean into this methodology, looking to the grassroots network of rabbinic leaders around the country and imbuing us with the skills, training and confidence to lead unapologetically Zionist communities. When they do, they will find there is so much that unites us.”
Worthy Reads
Changing Spaces: With 15,000 churches predicted to close in the U.S. in 2025 alone, Ryan Eller and Hollie Russon Gilman report in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on how some of these institutions are choosing to repurpose their facilities to meet the needs of their communities. “Churches have long served as gathering places where people connect, share, and solve problems together. However, with a decline in traditional church attendance, thousands of churches across the United States are closing their doors. These empty churches are leaving a profound void in communities in a time when America faces a crisis of connection… Inside rural America, regions often overlooked by philanthropy and historically underserved, we are seeing a rise in faith-based organizations responding creatively and opting to transform their spaces to meet the needs of their communities. They are quietly modeling a new civic future — one rooted in local collaboration, shared spaces, and reimagined purpose. These often-unseen efforts hold powerful lessons for philanthropy to tap into the energy, creativity, and wisdom of people in local communities if they want to find innovative solutions to pressing social challenges.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Footing the Bill: In the Vancouver Sun, Nico Slobinsky argues that government security funding needs to be an ongoing resource for the Jewish community. “One year ago, Vancouver’s Jewish community awoke to shocking news: An individual had poured an accelerant on the front doors of Congregation Schara Tzedeck, the oldest synagogue in the city, and set them ablaze… Since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, Jewish-owned businesses, homes, schools, and synagogues across Canada have been vandalized, defaced with antisemitic graffiti and, in the most shocking cases, targeted with gunfire. To the public, these may just be dramatic headlines, but for the Jewish community, each incident is a terrifying reminder that the places where our children gather and where our most vulnerable community members access services could be next… There are also significant financial costs to this new reality. Over the past 19 months, the total security costs for Jewish institutions across Metro Vancouver have risen to more than $100,000 a month — an increase of more than 1,300%… In Canada, communities should not have to pay to gather safely, yet those targeted by hate are often forced to shoulder these costs. In 2023, the provincial Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General announced a one-time anti-hate community support fund… These programs have now ended, but the security needs of the community remain… That’s why the provincial government must make the anti-hate community support fund permanent.” [VancouverSun]
Word on the Street
Sergey Brin’s recent donation of almost $700 million worth of Alphabet Inc. shares went to three charitable foundations: more than $500 million to Catalyst4, his nonprofit focused on central nervous system diseases and climate change solutions; roughly $100 million to his family foundation; and the rest to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which supports research into Parkinson’s disease…
The Times of Israel investigates the roles of the myriad organizations in the U.S., Israel and around the world dedicated to combating antisemitism…
CNN interviews freed hostages Omer Shem Tov and Keith Siegel about their time in Gaza and efforts to raise awareness about the plight of those who remain in captivity, including Omri Miran and Matan Angrest, with whom Siegel was kept for long periods of time…
The Detroit nonprofit Mezuzah is teaming up with Hebrew Free Loan in its effort to restore the Jewish history and life of the city’s NW Goldberg neighborhood…
The San Francisco Standard spotlights the challenges facing Shorenstein Properties’ heir and CEO, Brandon Shorenstein, in a commerical real estate market which has taken a downturn since the COVID-19 pandemic…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy examines a growing number of right-of-center climate conservation groups, which may be the key to “radical collaboration” on environmental policy with left-leaning eco-groups…
Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective has laid off 10% of its staff in what The New York Times describes as “one of the first widespread layoffs” of the organization…
Richard Barry Slifka, a Boston-based philanthropist and business leader, died on May 25 at 85…
Bernard (Bud) Levin, a former vice president and world chair of Jewish National Fund’s national board and major donor to a variety of Jewish and Zionist causes, died on May 26 at 88…
Chicago real estate lawyer Morrie Much, a longtime donor to the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Jewish United Fund of Chicago who also supported the construction of the Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Ill., died on April 30 at 88…
Educator and fundraising professional Henry Saltzman died on May 11 at 95…
Pic of the Day
Doctors at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem on Sunday remove a 63-year-old man’s heart and replace it with an entirely artificial one made of titanium, advanced sensors and animal biological material. The surgery, which took seven hours and cost some $460,000, was the first of its kind in Israel and the 115th in the world. The heart was made by a French firm, Carmat, and the procedure was funded by the Israeli health-care provider Clalit.
According to the hospital, the man was in a severe and deteriorating condition and required a new heart too quickly to wait for a transplant. “To our great joy, the surgery was a success, and we can see that the heart is fully functioning and the patient is in good condition. He is getting better each day and his vital signs show good and satisfying results,” Dr. Amit Korah, the hospital’s director of cardiac surgery, said in a statement.
Birthdays
Television writer, producer and actor, best known as the creator of the sitcom “Arrested Development” as well as the co-creator of “The Ellen Show,” Mitchell Hurwitz…
Montreal-based businessman and philanthropist, Marvin Birnbom… Professor emerita of marine biology at Rutgers University, Judith Shulman Weis… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party and then Israel’s ambassador to Japan, Eli Cohen… Winner of three Emmy Awards and a Grammy, actor, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer, Danny Elfman… Retired senior diplomat in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was previously a brigadier general in the IDF, Ruth Yaron… Immediate past president of Ahavath Achim Congregation in Wichita, she is a trustee-at-large on the board of JFNA, Ellen Ginsburg Beren… Professor at the University of Chicago, co-author of the best-selling books in the Freakonomics series, Steven Levitt… CEO and executive editor of 70 Faces Media, Amiram (Ami) Eden… Policy analyst at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Yaakov Feinstein… Founding partner of Blandford Capital, Nathaniel Jerome Meyohas… Founder and creative director of the fashion label Shoshanna, style director for Elizabeth Arden, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss… Chief communications officer and global spokesperson at Aish, she is also a cookbook author with over 100,000 cookbooks sold, Jamie Geller… Film producer and former corporate lawyer at Skadden Arps, Edward Frank “Teddy” Schwarzman… Senior political reporter at The Forward, Jacob Kornbluh… Swedish-born pro-Israel activist, commentator and reporter, Annika Hernroth-Rothstein… Managing director at Hudson Bay Capital Management, Alexander Berger… Assistant secretary for constituency affairs for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Jacob “Jake” Adler… Israeli-born assistant pitching coach for the Miami Marlins, he pitched for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Alon Leichman… English actor, his bar mitzvah was at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Gregg Sulkin…
