Your Daily Phil: Israeli Scouts’ North American expansion post-Oct. 7
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we look at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center’s support for Druze-led initiatives, how the Israeli Scouts have expanded in North America over the past year and a new survey by Hadassah about Jewish women’s experiences of antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by David Raphael sharing lessons he learned at the start of his career from the late Arnie Weiner. Also in this newsletter: Sara Chodosh, Queen Elizabeth II and Courtney Tessler.
What We’re Watching
The Hillel International Global Assembly continues today in Boston, after kicking off on Sunday. The gathering continues through Thursday.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff are hosting their final Hanukkah reception tonight at the vice president’s Naval Observatory residence.
What You Should Know
Nearly two-thirds of Jewish women — 64% — reported feeling personally affected by antisemitism in their workplaces or personal lives and 33% said they had experienced hate speech because of their Jewish or Zionist identities, according to a new survey by Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, which was released today, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
More than three-fifths, 62%, reported feeling physically or psychologically unsafe as a result of antisemitism, and 52% said that they hid their Jewish identity. More than a fifth — 22% — said that they had been excluded from groups or events because of their Jewish identity.
The findings of the survey, in which 800 Jewish women were polled, largely aligned with similar studies that have been conducted of the American Jewish community over the past year. A study commissioned by the Combat Antisemitism Movement found that 61% of American Jews reported experiencing some form of antisemitism since Oct. 7, 2023.
“Antisemitism rose by 140% last year, so Hadassah asked, ‘What does that really mean?’ Now we know the heartbreaking truth,” Hadassah National President Carol Ann Schwartz said in a statement. “It means that here, in America, in 2024, nearly two-thirds of Jewish women we surveyed feel unsafe because being Jewish makes them a target and nearly half have taken steps to hide who they are. Every day, Jewish women are suffering in silence, isolation, and fear as they live in the shadows of hate.”
The survey included open-ended questions, with respondents describing their experiences over the past year, with many describing friends and family members cutting them off because of their views on Israel. “The biggest way I’ve been affected is losing lifelong friends over being Jewish and supporting Israel. It’s been a lonely, isolating year,” one respondent said.
Others reported losing business over their Jewish identity and support for Israel. “I have felt excluded and unsupported due to anti-Jewish sentiment. People I interacted with online found out I was Jewish and blamed me for deaths in Gaza. One left my business a bad review on Yelp saying that non-Jewish students would not be safe at my music studio,” another respondent wrote.
Some reported experiencing physical threats and violence, including having swastikas drawn on their desks, being harassed on public transportation and having their synagogues vandalized.
“This is a call to action for us all. We must urgently strengthen policies against rising antisemitism and empower our communities to rise up, together and confront hatred in every form,” Schwartz said.
BUILDING BRIDGES
Israel’s Sheba hospital backs Druze-led education startup in bid to deepen ties with, support the community
After decades of experience both as an educator and in the high-tech world, it was distressing for Bayan Farhat, from the Golan Heights Druze village of Buq’ata, to watch as his youngest son struggled to stay engaged with his studies after the distance learning of the COVID-19 pandemic and then more recently as a result of the war with Hezbollah along the Lebanese border, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky. Now, the artificial intelligence-powered education technology startup founded by Farhat with his two partners — Majd Thabit and Seif Ibrahim — AIBRID has received NIS 300,000 ($84,300) in initial investment funding to continue developing and testing its AI-powered product as part of a partnership initiative between Sheba Medical Center and the nonprofit Ofakim LaAtid, which supports social change and entrepreneurship in the Druze communities.
An innovation ecosystem: The startup-funding initiative was created one month before the Oct. 7 attacks last year, following meetings between the Sheba Medical Center leadership and the leaders of the Druze community with the goal of developing a new relationship between the two. “We are very strong believers that innovation in general and innovation in health care is an excellent way to create bridges, and to allow for diversity and inclusion,” Avner Halperin, CEO of Sheba Impact, the hospital’s entrepreneurship and commercialization arm, told eJP. “Naturally our expertise and our unique added value is in the health-care field, but we can also help in general entrepreneurship because we’ve gone through creating a whole ecosystem of innovation around Sheba.”
BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
In North America, Israeli Scouts see major growth post-Oct. 7
Since the start of the war in Gaza, life for Tzofim — the iconic, khaki-clad Israeli Scouts — looks different. In Israel, members of the youth group in the north and south of the country have evacuated their homes, while other chapters have pivoted from their typical activities to cook meals for Israeli soldiers and participate in other community service opportunities. The impact of the war has also ricocheted through the group in North America, now over 5,000 scouts strong and rapidly expanding, Yaniv Biran, chair of Tzofim North America, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Seeking community: The organization is looking for opportunities to develop bonds with North American Jewish communities, and to provide support to Israelis across the country, at a time when many Israelis are looking for a sense of community. “Usually they’re more secular. They don’t go to synagogues, and they’re not part of a religious community here, and so Tzofim really answers that specific need,” Biran told eJP. This past year, Tzofim of North America has seen a participation increase of about 10%, said Biran, around twice what they see in a typical year. That growth, and increasing need, has inspired the organization’s goal of starting 10 new chapters within the next three years.
IN MEMORIAM
Remembering Arnie Weiner, a remarkable Jewish professional
“I was 23, in Detroit pursuing a relationship that ended three months after my arrival. One day, I sauntered into the local BBYO office and inquired whether they had any part-time jobs available. Esther, the secretary, said no — but they were looking for a full-time AZA director… Esther introduced me to Arnie Weiner, the BBYO regional director. It was the first day of my career in Jewish community service, which has now spanned close to a half-century,” writes David Raphael, co-founder and executive director of the Jewish Grandparents Network, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy in memory of Weiner, who died Nov. 24 at 79.
“The two years I had the great privilege of working with Arnie were among the most important two years of my life. It was Arnie who helped me understand our responsibility to our community, and to the professionals I supervise… I think of Arnie and I am reminded that we are not in the programming business — we are in the people business. If our programs are a quantitative success but the process of nurturing relationships, elevating people and building community is a failure, what have we achieved? We bring together professionals and volunteers and collaborate with organizations. Together, we seek to elevate Jewish life and our Jewish community. And as professionals and as human beings, we learn and grow together.”
Worthy Reads
Maintain Perspective: The recent arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue should not overshadow the fact that Australia is one of the safest places in the world for Jews, writes Ron Levy in The Times of Israel. “Yes, there has been a several-fold rise in verbal or — less common — physical antisemitic encounters since October 2023 in Australia. (Assaults were 3% of the total.) Jewish and other commentators on the situation are right to cite key cases that should give us pause – slogans chanted at a rally, picketers at a synagogue, etc. But the rise in antisemitic incidents is a rise from a very low number to another, still low number. This is critical context. Any rise is regrettable. But rather than overreact, we must look at the whole picture. The rate of risk remains mild, especially in comparison with other countries. This may be little comfort to those who have been targeted. Here in Australia any act of antisemitism is regrettable, of course, even if the rate is low. But not every act is a sign of our worst histories returning. Many Jewish leaders, both in Israel and Australia, have tended to catastrophize acts and statements to the extreme. This is not only unwarranted, but it is self-defeating and even dangerous.” [TOI]
Word on the Street
The Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity is partnering with the Community Security Service to provide its members with advanced security training, including developing “situational awareness, de-escalation skills and security expertise to prevent threats to Jewish campus activities”…
In an illustrated opinion piece in The New York Times, Sara Chodosh examines the increased rates of homicide among women while and after they become pregnant, particularly among women under the age of 25, who are twice as likely to be murdered as non-pregnant women of the same age…
Keith Black was reelected for another three-year term as chair of the British Jewish Leadership Council…
Former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin described to a British crowd Queen Elizabeth’s mistrustful relationship with Israel at a gala dinner commemorating 100 years of the Technion Institute of Technology. “The relationship between us and Queen Elizabeth was a little bit difficult, because she believed that every one of us was either a terrorist or a son of a terrorist,” Rivlin recalled…
World Central Kitchen fired roughly 60 of its 500 employees in Gaza following Israeli background checks that flagged security issues with dozens of the nonprofit’s staffers, a week after an Israeli strike that killed a WCK employee who had participated in the Oct. 7 terror attacks…
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency checks in with some of the largest North American Jewish groups to assess their views regarding Israeli ministers’ growing calls to resettle the Gaza Strip, finding that most opposed the idea and some refused to respond…
Greenville (S.C.) News interviews the head of the local Jewish federation, Courtney Tessler, ahead of Hanukkah…
San Francisco Hillel, located near San Francisco State University, was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti…
Jewish Insider interviews University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker whose home was vandalized on Sunday night for the second time in six months by anti-Israel protesters…
Washington, D.C.’s Adas Israel Congregation canceled a talk by former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant because of security threats to the synagogue…
Dr. Miriam Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corporation donated $15 million to the University of Las Vegas to create a new institute for Chinese language and culture…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy considers a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies that is critical of donor-advised funds, speaking with proponents and detractors of the charitable giving vehicle…
Pic of the Day
A resident of the ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran center in southern Israel helps cultivate organic and insect-free strawberries last week. The agricultural effort was done in partnership with Chasalat, an insect-free produce company in Israel, whose techniques allow those who adhere to strict kosher guidelines related to avoiding tiny insects that can grow in berries to also consume the fruit.
“Strawberries are so difficult to rid of pests, because the mites that infest them are tiny and look exactly like the seeds on the berries themselves, so the [Haredi] community tends to avoid them entirely. Our challenge was to grow pristinely clean berries that would satisfy this important population, and we succeeded in just two months!” said Yosef Morano, an ADI rehabilitation patient, who oversees the organic farm’s special projects, in a statement.
Birthdays
Founding rabbi, now emeritus, of Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Md., Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt…
Retired hedge fund manager, champion squash player, bestselling author and statistician, Victor Niederhoffer… Baltimore-based dairy cattle dealer, Abraham Gutman… Former Chairman and CEO of Verizon, Ivan Seidenberg… Owner of Judaica House and Cool Kippahs, both in Teaneck, N.J., Reuben Nayowitz… Progressive political activist, she headed the AmeriCorps VISTA program during the Carter administration, Margery Tabankin… Founder and CEO at Seppy’s Kosher Baked Goods in Pueblo, Colo., Elishevah Sepulveda… Real estate entrepreneur based in Palm Beach, Fla., Jeff Greene… NYC real estate investor and developer, Joseph Chetrit… Senior fellow with the Independent Women’s Forum, she was the deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism at the U.S. Department of State, Ellie Cohanim… Former rabbi of Temple Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, he was held hostage in the synagogue in January 2022 and then rescued, Charlie Cytron-Walker… Head of Bloomberg Beta, a venture fund backed by Bloomberg L.P., Roy Bahat… Actress known for her roles in HBO’s “Entourage” and CBS’s “The Mentalist,” Emmanuelle Chriqui… Managing director for private-equity firm TPG, Marc Mezvinsky… General partner at Andreessen Horowitz, David A. Ulevitch… Screenwriter, best known for co-writing “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Captain Marvel” and “Pokémon Detective Pikachu,” Nicole Perlman… Assistant managing editor for national security and justice at NBC News, Alex Koppelman… Co-founder and co-CEO of single-origin spice company, Burlap & Barrel (a public benefit corporation), Ethan Frisch… Assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard School of Public Health, Ari Daniel Ne’eman… R&B, jazz and soul singer and songwriter, she performs as “Mishéll,” Irina Rosenfeld… Senior manager of communications at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Mitchell Rubenstein… Rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Metairie, La., Philip Kaplan… Co-founder at Dojo, helping companies design healthier workplaces, Daniel Goldstern… Actress, musician, fashion model and radio talk show host, Rachel Trachtenburg…
