Your Daily Phil: Israel trips see less-than-expected boost after Iran wars
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine an Israel Education Travel Alliance survey showing a less-than-expected bump in enrollment in Israel trips this year compared to 2025, and report on a new $45 million Foundation for Jewish Camp investment in New England camps. We feature two opinion pieces calling for a communal response from the American Jewish community: one by Noa Peri-Jensch about the wide release of the film “NAZA,” and one by Aaron Dorfman drawing attention to the end of the public comment period for a U.S. Treasury Department proposaltargeting private schools’ tax-exempt status. Also in this issue: David Zalik, DanielLubetzky and Rhoda Smolow.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Israel Editor Justin Hayet and Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
American Friends of ELEM, which supports Israeli at-risk youth, is hosting its annual Ray of Hope gala this evening in New York City.
What You Should Know
After a precipitous drop in participation in Israel trips in 2025 due to the 12-day June Iran war, enrollment is expected to bounce back somewhat this year, albeit significantly less than initially projected, according to a new survey from the Israel Educational Travel Alliance released today, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Participation is expected to increase by 14% this year compared to 2025, according to the poll by IETA, an umbrella group representing the largest Israel trip providers. While the average program saw a 20% decrease from original participation projections, attendance among less-engaged Jews is expected to land 40% below original forecasts, and non-Jewish and interfaith programs 50% below. This lackluster enrollment comes as costs for Israel trips have increased significantly, putting further stress on the field, the survey found.
Still, with an increase expected for the coming year, the field has remained optimistic and relatively resilient, Rabbi David Levy, IETA’s executive director, said, relaying a line from one provider that he said captured the field’s attitude. “We’ve had seven years of famine,” he told eJP. “God willing, we’re going to have seven years of plenty.”
News
CRITICAL MASS
Foundation for Jewish Camp invests $45 million in New England camping access and excellence
With enrollment in Jewish summer camps surging in recent years, Foundation for Jewish Camp is pouring $45 million over five years into Jewish overnight camps in New England — the bulk of it going toward tuition assistance for financially strapped families, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher. Titled “Access & Excellence,” the pilot program, which the foundation announced on Thursday, will run from 2027 to 2031 at 11 New England camps with the goal of expanding to other states in future years.
Make it worth it: “If we’re going to drive enrollment to these camps through these great affordability programs, we want to make sure that they’re the best camps,” Jamie Simon, CEO of FJC, told eJP.
Opinion
SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT
A lie only needs enough people to believe it
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Noa Peri-Jensch, chief communities officer of the Israeli-American Council, argues that American Jews should respond to the wide release of the film “NAZA” with a sustained campaign of civic action.
“For too long, we have comforted ourselves by saying it doesn’t matter what people think, because we know the truth. But it does matter. It matters what teachers teach, what students learn and what elected officials believe. It matters whether our children feel proud of who they are or afraid to show it. Knowing the truth ourselves does not relieve us of the responsibility to explain it to others.”
SPEAK UP
As Jews focus on Israel and America, a consequential rule is taking shape in Washington
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Aaron Dorfman, founder and executive director of A More Perfect Union, makes the case for why a Treasury Department proposed rule impacting the tax-exempt status of private schools could put Jewish schools and communal organizations at risk, regardless of which party is in power.
“[T]he rule rests on a dangerous premise: that the Treasury Department may decide for itself what counts as ‘fundamental public policy.’ Jewish institutions, other faith communities and the nonprofit sector as a whole, should oppose it before the comment period closes on Nov. 3.”
Worthy Reads
Impactful Terms: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Matt Watkins recommends that nonprofits stop using ambiguous terminology about donations and instead describe gifts in terms of impact. “People already know that $1 billion is a lot of money. Funders should tell them how much will actually leave the institution, who will receive it, who decided where it will go, and what will change for people with far less money and power.”
Pivoting to Purpose: In his Substack “If Not Us,” philanthropist David Zalik introduces a podcast and newsletter on American Jewish life, rooted in his boyhood as one of three Jewish students in Auburn, Ala., and his wife’s push to turn his fortune toward the Jewish future. “Knowing that somebody hates you does not tell you who you are. Knowing what you’re against is not the same as understanding what you’re fighting for. And worrying about the Jewish future is not the same as building one.”
Success After Landing: In the Jewish Journal, RootOne senior managing director Jonathan Fass writes that Jewish teen trips to Israel should be judged by how teens carry the experience home. “This is not simply an argument for better programming. It is an argument for a different measure of success.” ause I trust.’ Those six words crystallized everything I had come to believe about philanthropy.”
Major Gifts
Nancy and Stephen Grand donated $25 million to Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology for advanced research into aging…
The U.K. arm of the New Israel Fund raised a record £6.7 million ($8.9 million) in 2025, nearly double the previous year…
Airbnb is committing $500 million over five years to its nonprofit arm, Airbnb.org, to provide 1 million nights of emergency lodging a year…
Accenture is giving the Global Opportunity Youth Network $5.9 million over three years to boost job prospects for disadvantaged young people in 18 communities across Brazil, Colombia, India, Mexico and South Africa…
Transitions
Word on the Street
Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND Snacks, accused the global news publication Semafor of compromising its journalistic independence through its financial ties to Qatar, alleging that the outlet was receiving outsized resources from the Qatari government for programs that did not require that level of funding, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
The Dallas Jewish Community Foundation has topped $500 million in assets, halfway to its $1 billion goal…
JewishAkron, the Jewish federation serving the Akron, Ohio, area, has put its Schultz Campus, home to the Shaw JCC and Lippman School, on the market for $2.5 million and is weighing a sale-leaseback, which would let it sell the building and rent it back, because the campus costs more to run than it brings in…
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Modi Rosenfeld, who sold out Radio City Music Hall this year, is the subject of a new documentary executive-produced by Mayim Bialik…
The New York Times reports that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democratic megadonor, has “taken a liking” to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as donors begin to line up behind potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates…
More than 70% of Jewish employees surveyed by U.K. consultancy Pearn Kandola say they have stayed quiet about antisemitism at work, even at employers with diversity programs…
A new Anti-Defamation League and Boundless study found that younger Americans often fail to spot antisemitic posts online, especially ones aimed at Israel and Zionism, reports Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen…
Fortune magazine reports that only 8% of nonprofits have a formal AI plan even though most see real opportunity in the technology, as groups such as the American Cancer Society and City Year begin tying AI to their missions…
Washington Post executives met earlier this week with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter to voice concern over the recent extremist settler attack on Post photojournalist Heidi Levine in the West Bank…
Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who recently oversaw the government’s case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, died yesterday at 92; in his New York Times obituary, it was noted that he “was known to hold sentencings on Fridays so he could reflect on his decisions over the Sabbath”…
Pic of the Day
Rhoda Smolow (right), Hadassah immediate past national president, and other members of the organization cut the ribbon yesterday on the Rhoda Smolow Building for Educational Excellence at the Hadassah-supported Meir Shfeya Youth Village in northern Israel.
“As a reading teacher, I knew that teaching a child to read was about so much more than reading words on a page. It was about opening doors, building confidence and giving the children the tools to discover a world of opportunities,” Smolow said at the event. “To think that this building will continue this work for generations to come is deeply meaningful to me.”
Birthdays
Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor and longtime leader of the German Jewish community, turns 94
Ralph Bakshi, Haifa-born director and screenwriter of animated and live-action films including “The Lord of the Rings,” turns 88
Jeffrey E. Garten, dean emeritus of the Yale School of Management, he has served in the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations, turns 80
Richard Dreyfuss, Academy Award-winning actor, who played Yoni Netanyahu in the 1976 film “Victory at Entebbe,” turns 79
Dimitri Simes, retired CEO of the Center for the National Interest and publisher of its namesake foreign policy magazine, The National Interest, turns 79
Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling, former director of the social justice organizing program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, turns 78
David Remnick, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and editor of The New Yorker since 1998, turns 68
Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Sun City, Ariz., turns 66
Evan Sayet, author, satirist and public speaker, turns 66
Susan Merdinger, classical pianist, turns 64
Drew Rosenhaus, sports agent who has negotiated billions of dollars of player contracts, turns 60
Grayson McCouch, actor who starred in the daytime soap opera “As the World Turns,” turns 58
Andrea Dorfman, screenwriter and film director based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, turns 58
Daniel Bernstein, mathematician, cryptologist and computer scientist, turns 55
Michael Schur, Emmy Award-winning television producer, writer and actor, best known for NBC’s “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” turns 51
Moses Hacmon, Israeli collaborative artist, designer and photographer, turns 49
Rachel Barinbaum, VP for strategic communications and business development at Anchorage, Alaska-based Northern Compass Group
David Cohen, jockey inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, turns 42
Leigh Shirvan Helfenbein, marketing director for Fox Lifestyle Hospitality Group
Samantha Zeldin, director of product management at Audible, an Amazon company
Seth Schuster, former national spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, now an AVP for public affairs at the NYC Economic Development Corporation
Leora Eisenberg, Ph.D. candidate in Russian and Eastern European history at Harvard
David Siegel, booking producer at NBC Universal
