Your Daily Phil: JDC survey: European Jewry’s leaders are worried, resolute
Good Monday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on Jewish leaders’ reflections on President Joe Biden’s legacy after his announcement that he is withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, and cover a new collaboration between JewBelong and two Christian organizations aiming to combat antisemitism together. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Moshe Hauer responding to last week’s discussion in eJP about transformative gifts. Also in this newsletter: Rabbi Joshua Rabin, Mala Tribich and Safra Catz. We’ll start with the results of a comprehensive survey of European Jewish leaders by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Nearly 8 in 10 European Jewish leaders think that antisemitism is the leading threat to Jewish life and combating it should be their top priority, according to a survey conducted by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee International Centre for Community Development (JDC-ICCD), the results of which were released today.
While 78% of respondents said they feel less safe living as Jews in their cities compared to before Oct. 7, 85% expressed commitment to fighting back against antisemitism and ensuring the continuity of Jewish life in the region, reports Efrat Lachter for eJewishPhilanthropy. Notably, younger respondents (age 40 or under) expressed the most optimism about European Jewish life and about Europe in general.
The JDC-ICCD has conducted its survey of European Jewish leaders every three to four years since 2008, enabling researchers to track trends and shifts in attitudes over time. Conducted online between March and April in 10 languages, with 879 respondents across 32 countries, the 2024 offers a panoramic view of the state of Jewish communities in Europe. Participants included executives and board members; communal professionals and activists; rabbis, educators, significant donors and more.
“The grim impact of Oct. 7 on Jewish communities in Europe is fully reflected in this study, but so is the commitment of local Jewish leaders to help their communities brave the storm,” Ariel Zwang, CEO of the JDC, said in a statement. “Since the attacks, we have worked hard to foster safe environments for thriving Jewish life, aid the most vulnerable and develop the next generation of Jewish leadership. This survey provides crucial data for guiding our ongoing efforts to strengthen European Jews, something that is ever more critical in the face of spiking antisemitism and political unrest.”
“How I would define antisemitism in Europe after what happened on Oct. 7 is a more psychologically destabilizing combination of feelings, frustration, anger, anxiety, and betrayal by close people,” Marcelo Dimentstein, project director for the JDC survey, told eJP. “Many responses reflect feelings of loneliness and sadness, a search for closeness to communities and Jewish friends.”
Despite all of these concerns, 73% of respondents reported they still feel safe living and practicing as Jews in their cities. Additionally, approximately 78% of respondents felt their governments were adequately addressing security concerns, a slight increase from previous years. This confidence stems from constant police threat assessments, ongoing communication with community leaders and efforts to secure Jewish facilities.
Resilience and the importance of solidarity were also recurring themes in the survey’s findings. For instance, 97% of respondents underscored the importance of strengthening relationships among Jews across Europe, and 89% emphasized the significance of belonging to European Jewish organizations. Additionally, 84% agreed that European Jews have a special responsibility towards one another, while 80% believe that interdenominational tensions are either minor or manageable.
As one Jewish leader from the Netherlands wrote in their survey response: “It’s been like a roller coaster dealing with the situation in Israel as well as the situation in the Netherlands, both personally and as a leader. We are constantly thinking and discussing necessary safety protocols and threat awareness, waiting for something horrible to happen — some kind of attack on our own community. But personally, I refuse to hide. I am proud, I am strong, I represent. My arms ache for wanting to embrace the victims in Israel. I am comforted by the sense of strength, unity, connection and solidarity we feel as a community.”
Another significant finding was the shift in attitudes toward Israel among younger Jewish leaders. In the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks, 82% reported a stronger commitment to Israel, with respondents 40 and under now more likely than in 2021 to strongly agree that “Israel is critical to Jewish life in the Diaspora.”
‘A TRUE ALLY’
Jewish leaders praise, reflect on Biden’s legacy
Highlighting his support for Israel, his administration’s efforts to address rising antisemitism and his 50 years of committed public service, Jewish leaders offered largely positive reflections on President Joe Biden’s legacy in the wake of his announcement on Sunday that he is no longer seeking reelection, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen for eJP’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Thank you for being a friend: Mark Mellman, CEO of Democratic Majority for Israel, praised Biden in a statement “for his lifelong support for the U.S.-Israel alliance, and for ensuring the Democratic nominee for President has a strong pro-Israel platform on which to run in November.” Nathan Diament, the executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, noted in a tweet that Biden’s legacy will include “unabashedly self identifying as a Zionist & lover of Israel even in the most difficult times.” Biden’s trip to Israel shortly after Oct. 7 made him the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Jewish state during wartime, the Jewish Federations of North America pointed out their statement.
A selfless move: Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the progressive Israel advocacy group J Street, called Biden’s decision to leave the race “difficult and selfless” in a statement. “We’re proud to have endorsed President Biden’s election and re-election campaign and to have supported one of the most consequential presidencies in modern history. Israel could have asked for no more true and dedicated friend in peacetime and in wartime,” Ben-Ami said. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs commended Biden as “an extraordinary president & public servant… From the historic national strategy to counter antisemitism, to his broader leadership to protect democracy and fight hate, we are enormously grateful to him for this unparalleled legacy.”
Messages from Israel: “I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to POTUS Joe Biden for his friendship and steadfast support for the Israeli people over his decades long career,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog wrote on X. “As the first US President to visit Israel in wartime, as a recipient of the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor, and as a true ally of the Jewish people, he is a symbol of the unbreakable bond between our two peoples.” Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant tweeted that Biden’s “steadfast backing, especially during the war, has been invaluable,” and called the president’s support of Israel “unwavering.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not commented on Biden’s decision as of Sunday afternoon. The two leaders are still scheduled to meet on Tuesday.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
A SHARED MESSAGE
Coming to a billboard near you: A JewBelong collaboration with two Christian groups
Ad guru-turned-JewBelong CEO Archie Gottesman, responsible for the hot pink billboards that have become part of the public discourse around combating antisemitism and pro-Hamas propaganda, has teamed up with non-Jewish organizations for the first time for a new billboard campaign, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy.
An origin story for our times: JewBelong’s campaign with the October 7th Coalition (O7C), a network of Christians who condemn the rise of antisemitism, and the Philos Project, a nonprofit that seeks to promote positive Christian engagement, grew out of the concerns of O7C founder, actress Patricia Heaton, a two-time Emmy Award-winner for her role as Debra Barone in the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.” “This is a pivotal time in history and it’s more important than ever that Christians stand up for our Jewish neighbors and voice our concern over the divisive, hate-filled rhetoric and demonstrations that have infected our campuses, institutions and our democracy,” said Heaton in a statement.
Keep an eye out: The summer campaign will run across seven states including California, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Texas and Florida, with the first 14 billboards going up this week. Neither O7C nor the Philos Project has provided funding towards the JewBelong billboards, but the signs will bear the Christian organizations’ names. Some of the new slogans will include, “Jewish students deserve to be safe on campus” and “You don’t have to be a Jew to protect Jews.” For Gottesman, the new partnership symbolizes a larger unity that is needed in the U.S. “This country is so divided,” she said. “I’m a historical Democrat and Patricia is a historical Republican, but the idea that two people who are different are working together against antisemitism is one of the points we are making.”
READER RESPONDS
Transformational gifts for our schools and homes
“Last week, Lisa Popik Coll and Gail Norry of Prizmah penned an excellent essay in eJewishPhilanthropy discussing ‘the next billion-dollar gift.’ Calling attention to the epic donations of Ruth Gottesman and Michael Bloomberg to the Einstein and Hopkins medical schools to permanently eliminate tuition, they challenged the Jewish community to consider how such super-philanthropy could similarly transform the accessibility of Jewish education,” writes Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Zooming out: “The authors appropriately focused on the many Jewish children who are tragically missing out on a Jewish education due to the barrier to entry posed by the cost of tuition. But that critical issue is only part of the problem, because even those families who do send their children to day schools at all costs experience an attendant strain on household finances that has a profound impact on individual and family life.”
An atmospheric shift: “Homes and parents are the ultimate models of pure giving… Rather than an isolated act of charity, the home’s protective care is continuous, as charity begins and never ends at home. Can you imagine if that was what schools, shuls and other Jewish community institutions could be made to feel like? If, like our homes, they were places where we were unconditionally embraced rather than having to pay to play? To date, we have had no choice and institutions must charge real money to cover their costs. But if transformative philanthropy could begin to change that school by school and community by community, it will not only impact access, enrollment and family budgets, but will bring the feeling of home and family to our community institutions.”
Worthy Reads
Art to Imitate Life: Supported by a $3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Monuments Project, Boston’s Office of Arts & Culture is awarding grants to fund temporary works of art “celebrating people and events from the past that have historically been ignored or overlooked,” Mark Shanahan reports in the Boston Globe. “The initiative was motivated in part by a study, also funded by Mellon, that researched some 50,000 monuments in the U.S. and found that, of the 50 historical figures most often honored with a monument, 88% are white men, half of whom were slave owners. The study determined that just 6% of statues celebrate women — who are sometimes represented as mermaids — and only 10% celebrate Black or Indigenous figures from history. Since 2020, the Mellon Foundation has spent about $173 million to fund new monument projects in 37 states.” [BostonGlobe]
Law of the Instrument: Just because it is good to explore new ideas does not mean that every new idea we discover is good, writes Rabbi Joshua Rabin in the latest edition of his Substack, “Moneyball Judaism.” “[T]ell me if this situation sounds familiar: Someone you work with attends a conference, hears a guest speaker, reads a new book, or completes a fellowship. All of a sudden, they want everyone and everything in your organization to reshape itself around the brilliant new idea they ‘discovered’ that ‘transformed’ his/her/their thinking. (I can see you nodding glumly.) The above situation reveals a complicated tension… When we learn an appealing new approach or spend years developing expertise in a particular approach, we tend to see uses for that approach everywhere, even when it’s not the best option… While I’m no better at monitoring this tendency than anyone else, I think of the ideas I learn as going into a mental toolbox, rather than searching for a single, magical tool. As I get more experienced, I learn where to pull out which tool in which situation, as many, if not most of them, are valuable for someone at some point. So before you freak out the next time your boss learns a magical idea, or before you impose that magical idea on everyone in your workplace, ask yourself, ‘In what situations will this tool really provide value?’” [MoneyballJudaism]
Around the Web
Billionaires George and Alex Soros announced their endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris following the news that President Joe Biden has exited the 2024 race…
The Associated Press reports that the Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $4.3 billion to fund 25 projects in 30 states targeting greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electric power, commercial and residential buildings, industry, agriculture and waste and materials management…
The Washington Post is under fire for a story perceived as “scolding” the parents of Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra for focusing on the plight of their son rather than the toll of the war on Gaza’s Palestinians…
Significant disparities in reproductive care and women’s health exist between states in the U.S., according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund…
David Ganek was appointed to the board of directors of the Hanley Foundation in West Palm Beach, Fla. …
Holocaust survivor and educator Mala Tribich, 93, was awarded the Council of Christians and Jews’ Bridge Award at a ceremony at the UK’s House of the Lords on Thursday in recognition of her work to build bridges between faith communities…
The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel has appointed IDF Col. (Res.) Miri Eisin as the incoming chair of its board of directors…
Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle, stepped down from the board of directors of Disney after six years…
A massive fortification thought to date back 3,800 years was uncovered just outside the walled Old City of Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Sunday…
Barney Greengrass, an iconic Upper West Side Jewish deli, is featured in Nordstrom’s new advertising campaign…
Folk musician Happy Traum died on Wednesday at 86…
Pic of the Day
Counselors and campers around North America, like the pair pictured here at URJ 6 Points Sports Academy in Asheville, N.C., celebrated Camp Kindness Day on Wednesday, part of Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Character at Camp Initiative.
Character at Camp is a three-part initiative combining research, programs and communication to further understand how Jewish camps develop young people’s character and provide resources that empower camps to expand on their existing success. The initiative is focused on the development of relational strengths including kindness, compassion, empathy, inclusion and teamwork.
Birthdays
Executive director of the American Sephardi Federation since 2014, Jason Guberman-Pfeffer…
Israeli theatre, television and film actress, Gila Almagor… British Conservative Party member of Parliament for 36 years until 2010, Anthony Steen CBE… Historian, author and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Judith Walzer Leavitt… British biochemist and professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland, Sir Philip Cohen… Actor, director and comedian, Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein)… Past president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Detroit, owner of Nodel Parks, Richard Martin Nodel… Winner of eight Academy Awards and eleven Grammy awards, pianist and composer of many Disney movie musical scores, Alan Menken… Owner of Baltimore’s Seven Mile Market, Hershel Boehm… Managing director of a German public affairs firm, he works to ensure that the Holocaust and its many victims are not forgotten, Terry Swartzberg… Publisher of The 5 Towns Jewish Times, Larry Gordon… Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2011 (senior status since May 2023), Judge Amy Berman Jackson… Canadian sports journalist, radio host and mental health advocate, Michael Elliott Landsberg… Member of the board of governors of the American Jewish Committee, Cindy Masters… Former secretary of veterans affairs in the Trump administration, David Jonathon Shulkin… Director of government relations at the Zionist Organization of America, Dan Pollak… Federal prosecutor for 25 years, she was the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama throughout the Obama administration, Joyce Alene Vance… Founding partner of the D.C.-based intellectual property law firm, Greenberg & Lieberman, Stevan Lieberman… Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates since 2018, Evan Hansen… Television journalist and news anchor, David Shuster… CEO of Leviathan Productions, Jack Benjamin (Ben) Cosgrove… Pentagon speechwriter, Warren Bass… Owner of West Bloomfield-based Saltsman Industries and Saltsman Financial Group, Daniel A. Saltsman… Former Pentagon official, now a contractor for CISA, Jonathan Freeman… Contemporary artist living in Brooklyn, he is best known for sculptural paintings that use multiple layers of glass to create three-dimensional collages, Dustin Yellin… Manager of global issues for ExxonMobil, Elise Rachel Shutzer… Associate justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court, Rachel Wainer Apter… Former White House assistant press secretary, now the executive producer for politics at Crooked Media, Reid Cherlin… White House correspondent, Andrew Grant Feinberg… Member of the House of Representatives (D-RI) since 2023, Seth Michael Magaziner… Actor best known for his role in the Freeform series “Pretty Little Liars,” Keegan Phillip Allen… Director of growth operations at Valera Health, Maor Cohen… Talia Joyce Thurm Abramson… Serial entrepreneur and product strategist, Yoela Palkin… Actor and voice actor, Skyler Gisondo…
