Your Daily Phil: Israeli LGBT group won’t ‘grovel’ after umbrella org suspends them
Good Friday morning.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent eJewishPhilanthropy and Jewish Insider stories, including:JNF-USA pledges $250,000 to Stephen Wise Free Synagogue to connect young American Jewish to Israel; Study finds 37% of Jewish groups got new donors post-Oct. 7; will they hold onto them?; and Trump sends mixed messages on Mideast policy in final days of campaign. Print the latest edition here.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the Loeb family’s funding of a Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle leadership program and on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s report on universities’ responses to antisemitism over the past year.We feature an opinion piece by Matthias J. Becker on Jewish institutions’ failure to adapt to the current rise in antisemitism, and another by Steven Windmueller about liberal Judaism’s trajectory and how to alter it.Also in this newsletter: Mijal Bitton, Tiffany Haddish and Rabbi Kalman Ber.We’ll start with the Israeli LGBTQ group The Aguda’s reaction to its suspension from the ILGA Worldumbrella organization. Shabbat shalom!
Israel’s umbrella group for the LGBTQ community has “zero intentions of groveling or begging” to be reinstated as a member of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA World), even as it prepares to present its case at a hearing about its suspension from the group at some yet to be determined date, The Aguda’s chairwoman, Hila Peer, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky.
ILGA announced that it was suspending The Aguda from its ranks on Wednesday, after also rejecting its bid to host ILGA’s upcoming conference either in 2026 or 2027 in Tel Aviv and apologizing to other members for even allowing the proposal to be introduced.
“I feel like it should be very obvious once we state our case [that we should be reinstated] and if it’s not clear, then as much as they don’t want us there, I will not agree to stay under an umbrella organization… that is so narrow minded,” said Peer.
Beyond the personal offense that many in Israel felt by the ILGA decision, Peer said that she is more concerned about what the ramifications of the decision could be on the Jewish queer community outside of Israel, given the current political climate and fears it could be used as a weapon against queer Jews in the Diaspora, with organizations abroad refusing to give services to LGBTQ Jews. “I’m afraid that the organizations that were not in favor of Israel will use this as another bullet in the chamber, [so] the declaration can be harmfully used against some of us…[giving] a narrative where we are the bad guys, saying ‘Do not go there, do not communicate with them,’” she said.
Ethan Felson, executive director of the Jewish LGBTQ group A Wider Bridge, said he has already spoken with the leadership of The Aguda and was standing by the group. “We are communicating with, and asking others to communicate with, elected officials, LGBTQ organizations that belong to ILGA and the supporters of ILGA that may not know that they are underwriting bigotry,” Felson told eJP.
“The Aguda serves a community in need. Like many of the other members of ILGA, they run hotlines, they support social services, and they fight for LGBTQ equality. Like many groups in ILGA, they don’t have a foreign policy. They don’t act on domestic foreign policy. They are there to support and assist an LGBTQ community that is Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Israeli, Palestinian, Druze. They assist in supporting Palestinian refugees. I hope that doesn’t get lost in this story,” he said.
Peer said the suspension status is liable to negatively affect fundraising and international outreach efforts — which have already taken a hit since the outbreak of war after Oct. 7. It will also affect the amount of people who will be exposed to the LGBTQ community in Israel, she said. Still, the organization has been reaching out to partners and friends abroad, she said, and some of the reaction has been “amazing.”
Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, wrote on X that he was in “full solidarity” with The Aguda, saying that boycotting liberal voices “achieves nothing for the Palestinian cause.” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who is typically highly critical of Israel, also criticized the suspension, saying it did not “advance peace or justice or the Palestinian cause” but rather “marginalized progressive voices within Israel.” The African Human Rights Coalition, which maintains offices in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Toronto and Nairobi, Kenya, forfeited its ILGA membership in protest of The Aguda’s suspension.
It is likely that some of the criticism from ILGA may have stemmed from The Aguda’s distribution of aid packages to Israeli reserve soldiers, Peer said, but the organization stands behind that campaign. She noted that The Aguda strives to be apolitical because it represents members from all sides of the political spectrum, and its core mandate is as a human rights organization defending the rights of the LGBTQ community of Israel regardless of their religious, ethnic or political affiliations.
“I don’t even feel the need to start justifying [ourselves] by speaking out about the activities that The Aguda is undertaking and what projects we have,” she said. “Our credits are right there to be seen, so I don’t really understand what their investigation is. Reality is complex. It’s hard and challenging to be Jewish in this time. It’s even more complicated to be Jewish and queer in this time. It is also the responsibility of queer people across the globe to be able to see and comprehend complexity. And if they cannot do that, [ILGA] is not a place that I can be in or am interested in being a member of.”
EXCLUSIVE
Loeb family grant to fund Seattle Jewish federation leadership institute in perpetuity
A “seven-figure investment” from the Loeb family will fund the Seattle Jewish Federation’s flagship leadership institute, renamed the Francine R. Loeb Leadership Institute, for years to come, the federation told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim this week.
Making the tent bigger: The Loeb family’s grant was made in honor of the legacy of Francine “Frankie” Loeb, the Seattle Federation’s first woman board chair in 1981. The Loeb family, longtime supporters of the federation, was drawn to the former Courageous Leadership Institute because of its potential to develop long-lasting and critical infrastructure for Seattle’s Jewish community, a fairly young community relative to others across North America, according to Steve Loeb, Frankie Loeb’s son and a director and treasurer of the Loeb Charitable Foundation. “My mother was a big-tent Jewish leader, and this gift should help the federation embody that big tent, the biggest tent we can be,” he told eJP.
Connected leadership: Launched as the Courageous Leadership Institute in 2022, the institute provides new and emerging community leaders with two years of training. The first year is focused on networking opportunities, professional coaching, education and vision building. The second year places cohort members as ex officio board members at local Jewish institutions. “When we have leaders and organizations across the community who are connected to each other, who have done deep learning together, who have built relationships…we’re all better off for it,” Seattle Jewish Federation’s CEO and president, Solly Kane, told eJP.
CAMPUS BEAT
House Education Committee: University leaders ‘turned backs’ on Jewish students
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce released its more than 100-page report on its year-long probe of antisemitism on U.S. college campuses yesterday, painting a vivid portrait of missteps at some of the country’s leading universities as antisemitism and anti-Zionism mounted. The report comes after months of hearings, transcribed interviews, document requests and unprecedented subpoenas targeting some of the country’s most prestigious colleges and universities, reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Scot-free: The committee found that the incidents investigated reflect “a broader environment on these campuses that is hostile to Jewish students,” in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. “And while university leaders publicly projected a commitment toward combating antisemitism and respect for congressional efforts on the subject, in their private communications they viewed antisemitism as a PR issue rather than a campus problem,” the report states. The community notes that the “overwhelming majority” of students involved in antisemitic activity at each of the schools the committee investigated faced minimal, if any, discipline.
Poison ivy: At Harvard, the committee’s report reveals new details about an Oct. 9 statement in which the school failed to explicitly condemn the Hamas attack and drew equivalences between the attack and Israel’s response. Internal communications and draft versions of the statement show that school leaders considered, and ultimately removed, language specifically condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel and expressing condolences for those taken hostage. Administrators also decided not to include language disavowing a statement by Harvard student groups blaming Israel for the Hamas attack.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
COME TOGETHER, RIGHT NOW
How 10/7 changed everything — except the way Jewish groups fight antisemitism
“Over the last decade, my team and I at Technical University Berlin, along with various international academic networks, have conducted copious research about online hate directed at Jews and Israel. Based on that research, we developed a lexicon of digital antisemitism that governments and organizations around the world can rely on to help counter antisemitic narratives that dominate the digital landscape. Yet even with my 10-plus years of research in this field, nothing could have prepared me for what took place in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre,” writes Matthias J. Becker, a social media and antisemitism researcher at the University of Cambridge, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Not thought experiments: “The past 12 months have shown not only how alarmingly little the non-Jewish majority and decision-makers in the West have learned from Oct. 7 and its consequences for Jewish life worldwide, but how much they lack pragmatism. I was blindsided as I joined discussions and debates about the correct definition of antisemitism… and the legitimacy of the apartheid analogy and boycott, divestment and sanction demands. Those who initiated these discussions did not seem to understand that what we saw after Oct. 7 were not just some variations of definitional thought experiments, but the unmistakable display of what antisemitic thinking and feeling ultimately aims for: the uncompromising destruction of Jewish life.”
Get to work: “A new online ecosystem must be created through the collaboration of the research community, the private sector, elected officials, and civil society to ensure a future free from antisemitism — or, at the very least, one where it is more effectively contained. To address this urgent situation and to raise awareness of the issue through initial studies, it is crucial for Jewish stakeholders worldwide to find ways to bridge their differences and adopt a more unified, collaborative approach.”
WINDS OF CHANGE
Reimagining liberal Judaism: some reflections
“Religions have always experienced renewal, change and transformation. Over the centuries, religious movements have also encountered periods of downsizing, loss and displacement. One should not underestimate the power, place and purpose of religion in shaping individual belief, communal practice and global values. The creativity and vision of its leaders will be critical in reinvigorating the message and content of religious institutions and the ideas that shape religious belief and practice,” writes Steven Windmueller, professor emeritus of Jewish communal studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Leave the institution, take the cannoli: “While our values are eternal, our institutions must be seen as transitory. We are living in an ecosystem that celebrates and promotes individualism and social media connectivity. The marketplace in this new century must be seen as fluid.”
Make it happen: “We can either plan for or merely await the emergence of new Jewish delivery schemes.All of this is happening from outside in or from the bottom up as we will see a series of new Jewish religious institutional forms of synagogue life emerging… Identifying the engaging questions and unfulfilled expectations will represent the first tasks that will need to be addressed. Let this sacred work commence!”
Worthy Reads
Wake of the Flood: In The Times of Israel, Mijal Bitton considers what we can learn from this week’s Torah portion, Noah, about living not during a disaster but in one’s aftermath. “The story of Noah and the flood is well-known… But much less discussed is Noah’s final chapter after the flood. He plants a vineyard, drinks wine, and lies naked in his tent, eventually cursing his son Ham, who exposed his nakedness… The Torah, however, does not leave us with Noah’s tragedy. It offers another survivor: Noah’s son Shem… But the rabbis did not just see Shem as Noah’s son — they present him as the antidote to despair… Shem’s legacy lives on. Just this week, we glimpsed this same extraordinary courage to rebuild amid pain. One of the fallen reservists [who was killed last week] was Rabbi Avi Goldberg, of blessed memory — a beloved educator, musician, and father of eight, renowned for his warmth. After R’ Avi’s death, his widow Rachel and their children made a powerful request. They invited Israeli politicians to visit the shiva — not simply to pay respects, but to come with someone from across the aisle, fostering unity in a time of deep division. Rachel’s response shows us what it means to repair a world that is both broken and blessed. Where Noah’s shattered hopes led him to despair, Rachel and her family teach us how to carry the world’s pain without succumbing to it. In doing so, they free themselves — and inspire others — to take heroic action.” [TOI]
On the Brink: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Eboo Patel examines the state of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, finding that they are overwhelmingly failing and risk tarnishing the whole concept. “In quick succession during the past month, three major pieces of research and reporting have portrayed a field that is falling short in too many ways. This is a travesty, especially at a time of rising prejudice and growing polarization. The goals of diversity work — respect for diverse identities, relationships between different communities, and cooperation for the common good — are more critical than ever… The DEI movement is at a crossroads. If its leaders double down on defending the movement in its current form, I believe funders will pull money, thoughtful staff members will quietly quit, allies will start to jump ship, and enemies will pounce. That will be a tragedy. America needs high-quality diversity work that facilitates both social mobility and cooperation among diverse groups… I for one am rooting for DEI. I want campuses, nonprofits, and corporations to maintain their DEI programs, and for funders to continue to support them financially. But the status quo is simply not good enough. It’s time to become the movement that the nation needs it to be.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Around the Web
The number of family foundations with assets over $10 million has grown by 67% in the past decade, from 30% to 50%, according to a new study by the National Center for Family Philanthropy; the number that pay out more than the required 5% each year has also increased during this period, from 55% to 71%…
Rev. Mitchell Johnson, the newly appointed Chicago Board of Education president who has been under fire since eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider unearthed his past antisemitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial social media posts, resigned from the position yesterday…
The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations announced the lineup for their “Stand Together” rally for Israel on Nov. 10 in Washington, D.C.; comedian Tiffany Haddish will emcee the event, which will feature speeches and performances by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Rep. Virgina Foxx (R-NC), Israeli musician Idan Raichel, Olympic gold medalist Amit Elor, John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting, Israeli singer Ada Pasternak and Israeli musician Idan Haviv…
Rabbi Kalman Ber, who has served as the Ashkenazi rabbi of Netanya, was elected yesterday as Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi; he will serve alongside Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef, who was elected in September…
The Times of Israel examines the growing rift between Israel’s religious-Zionist community and its Haredi community…
More than 150 runners participating in the New York City Marathon on Sunday will dedicate their race to five hostages who have themselves completed marathons and triathlons in the past: Naama Levy, Doron Steinbacher, Evyatar David, Ohad Yahalomi and Edan Alexander…
The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey raised over $1.6 million, which it will send to its sister city of Nahariya in northern Israel for the construction of additional bomb shelters and to the city’s Western Galilee Medical Center…
The Chicago Police Department announced that it will add felony terrorism and hate crimes charges to the counts that Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi is facing for shooting an Orthodox Jew walking to synagogue in Chicago…
Outlook Traveller magazine spotlights the David Sassoon Library in Mumbai, India, which is named for the Baghdad-born Jewish philanthropist who largely funded its construction after he moved to the city and became the leader of its Jewish community in the early 1800s…
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas launched the “task force on Jewish identity and inclusion” yesterday, which it tasked with developing a plan to improve the “visibility, safety, vibrancy and inclusion” of the Jewish community at the school…
Manhattan synagogue B’nai Jeshurun will remove the name of its former rabbi, Marshall T. Meyer, from a prestigious rabbinic training program after concluding that a sexual assault allegation against him from the 1980s was legitimate…
The Anti-Defamation League, Louis D. Brandeis Center and StandWithUs launched a helpline offering pro bono legal assistance to parents whose children experience antisemitism in K-12 schools in Massachusetts and New York…
Arc magazine editor Mark Oppenheimer spotlights antisemitic and homophobic texts published by Paul Coates as he examines the National Book Foundation’s decision to award the founder of Black Classic Press a lifetime achievement award…
The Weiser Charitable Foundation donated $25 million to the University of Michigan’s Rogel Cancer Center to improve the care of breast cancer patients…
The Jerusalem Post interviews Ariel Muzikant, president of the European Jewish Congress, about his concerns for European Jewry in light of the rise of far-right parties across the continent…
The British Jewish sexual abuse nonprofit Migdal Emunah (tower of belief) has renamed itself JSAS: Jewish Sexual Abuse Support…
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced she was allocating an additional £2 million ($2.6 million) toward Holocaust education, saying she was doing so in honor of British-Hungarian Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert, who died last month at 100…
Pic of the Day
Ariel Bem, the former director of speechwriting for Israel’s Permanent Mission to the U.N., speaks on Monday night at an event — Optimism[dot]IL — hosted by the Israeli Hug Center at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City that focused on stories of resilience and innovation after the Oct. 7 terror attacks.
“Israel has one of the highest concentrations of nonprofit organizations per capita. And in the aftermath of Oct. 7, more of these life-changing initiatives… have emerged both in Israel and in the Jewish communities worldwide,” Bem said at the event. “Many of these organizations mobilized overnight, and they rushed to support hundreds of thousands of people impacted by this war. This is really the Israeli spirit in action.”
Birthdays
Professor of Jewish history at UCLA and immediate past president of the board of the New Israel Fund, David N. Myers, celebrates his birthday on Saturday…
FRIDAY: French economic and social theorist, he is the author of The Economic History of the Jewish People, Jacques Attali… Rabbi-in-residence of Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh Congregation, Mitchell Wohlberg… Pioneering investor in the personal computing industry, founder of Lotus and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mitch Kapor… Founding rabbi, now emeritus, at Beit T’Shuvah, a nonprofit Jewish addiction treatment center and synagogue community in Los Angeles, Mark Borovitz… Retired management analyst at the U.S. Department of Energy, Les Novitsky… Serial entrepreneur, Warren B. Kanders… Real estate developer and philanthropist, Sylvan Adams… Special assistant to NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Pinchus Hikind… President of an eponymous auctioneering firm specializing in the appraisal and sale of antique Judaica, Jonathan Greenstein… The next CEO at AIPAC, Elliot Brandt… Actress, best known for her roles on All My Children and General Hospital, Alla Korot… Principal at Calabasas, Calif.-based CRC-Commercial Realty Consultants, he is a vice-chair of the real estate and construction division of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation, Brian Weisberg… Israeli director, screenwriter and actress, Dikla Elkaslassy… Member of the Knesset, she is the first Ethiopian-born woman to hold a Knesset seat and the first to serve as a government minister, Pnina Tamano-Shata… Associate in the DC office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Clare F. Steinberg… Israeli video blogger, journalist and business executive, Idan Matalon… Chief advancement officer at The Leffell School in Westchester County (NY), Annie Peck Watman… Reporter for CNN, Marshall J. Cohen… Associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman, Mitchell Caminer… Pitcher for Team Israel, Gabe Cramer… Derek Brody… Actor since childhood, Max Burkholder …
SATURDAY: Former NASA astronaut who made five flights in the space shuttle and is currently a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, Jeffrey A. Hoffman… County Executive of Montgomery County, Md., Marc Elrich… Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink… Former chair of the Maryland Democratic Party and vice chair of the DNC, Susan Wolf Turnbull… Professor emerita of Jewish studies at the University of Virginia, Vanessa L. Ochs… Research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Alan D. Abbey… CNN special correspondent, Jamie Sue Gangel… Former head of school for 29 years at Weizmann Day School in Los Angeles, Lisa Feldman… Deputy commissioner of Maine’s Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, Joan F. Cohen… Financial planner at Grant Arthur & Associates Wealth Services, he is the author of a book on the complicity of Lithuania in the Holocaust, Grant Arthur Gochin… President of global content at Viva Creative, Thomas Joseph (Joe) Talbott… Marc Solomon… Head of U.S. public policy at Workday, John Sampson… Actor, director and producer, best known for playing Ross Geller in the sitcom “Friends,” David Schwimmer… Assistant attorney general for antitrust at the Justice Department during the Trump administration, now a partner at Latham & Watkins, Makan Delrahim… Professor of economics at MIT, she won a MacArthur “Genius” fellowship in 2018, Amy Nadya Finkelstein… Founder and CEO of Spring Hills Senior Communities, Alexander C. Markowits… Journalist and bestselling author, he is the publisher of The Lever and a columnist at The Guardian, David Sirota… Eastern director at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Michael Cohen… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Alexander Kushnir… Deputy editor of The Morning Newsletter at The New York Times, Adam B. Kushner… President and CEO of Birthright Israel Foundation, Elias Saratovsky… Marc B. Rosen… Former director of government relations at the Israel Policy Forum, now a staffer on Capitol Hill, Aaron Weinberg… Two-time Emmy Award-winning video producer, now working as a messaging editor for The New York Times, Celeste B. Lavin … Major gifts officer at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Rebecca Rose…
SUNDAY: Chancellor emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary where he also served as a professor of Jewish history, Ismar Schorsch, Ph.D…. Senior U.S. district judge in California, he is the younger brother of retired SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer, Judge Charles Breyer… U.S. senator (D-Hawaii), Mazie K. Hirono… Resident of Great Barrington, Massachusetts and a part-time researcher at UC Berkeley, Barbara Zheutlin… Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in medicine, professor at Yale University, James Rothman… Rabbi emeritus at Temple Anshe Sholom in Olympia Fields, Ill., Paul Caplan… Actress, comedian, writer and television producer, Roseanne Barr… Comedian, talk show host, political and sports commentator, Dennis Miller… Manuscript editor and lecturer, author of books on the stigma of childlessness and on the Balfour Declaration, Elliot Jager… Award-winning Israeli photographer, Naomi Leshem… Regional director of development for The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Jeanne Epstein… Clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, Scott Galloway… Co-founder and former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, now CEO of Dreamhaven, Michael Morhaime… Entrepreneur-in-residence at Loeb Enterprises, Edward Stelzer… Vice president for federal affairs at CVS Health, Amy Rosenbaum… Director of development for States United Democracy Center, Amie Kershner… Partner at political consulting firm GDA Wins, Gabby Adler… Agent at Creative Artists Agency focused on talent working in television news, Rachel Elizabeth Adler… Actress who won three Daytime Emmy Awards for her role on ABC’s “General Hospital,” Julie Berman… Director of corporate responsibility, communications and engagement at Southern Company Gas, Robin Levy Gray… Senior managing director at Guggenheim Securities, Rowan Morris… General manager of NJ/NY Gotham FC, a women’s soccer team based in Harrison, N.J., Yael Averbuch West… Former Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, he is a co-founder of D.C.-based Compass Coffee, Michael Haft… New York state senator, Michelle Hinchey… Deputy coordinator for global China affairs at the State Department, Julian Baird Gewirtz… Recent MBA graduate at The Wharton School, Ben Kirshner… Marketing manager at American Express, Caroline Michelman… Founder and CEO of Noyse Publicity Management, Noy Assraf… Actress and model, Diana Silvers… Stu Rosenberg…
