Your Daily Phil: Jewish security spending topped $1 billion in 2025, JFNA finds
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we speak with Jewish Federations of North America CEO Eric Fingerhut as his organization finds that Jewish security spending topped $1 billion last year. We report on the launch of Chabad’s renewed Machne Israel Development Fund, and on a $6 million donation to boost the Richmond, Va., Jewish community and its day school. We feature an opinion piece by Stephanie G. Wapner challenging the way the Jewish community frames financial support for Jewish day schools, and a piece by AssaelRomanelli making the case for dedicated time and space for synagogue leaders — clergy and laypeople — to explore and develop their relational skills. Also in this issue: Michael Brooks, Rabbi Joe Wolfson and Alexander Berger.
Ed. note: In celebration of Labor Day, the next edition of Your Daily Phil will arrive on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
Shorashim‘s Roots of Israeli Folk Dance Nostalgia Weekend runs Saturday through Monday on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Hope of Israel Congregation in Charlotte, N.C., will host the 31st annual Karmiel USA weekend, mixing new Israeli folk dances with old favorites plus a documentary screening and Hebrew lesson.
What You Should Know
The American Jewish community spent over $1 billion on security in 2025, according to a new Jewish Federations of North America study — a record high and a 33% increase over 2024. The results, published yesterday, showed that on average, Jewish communal organizations, including Jewish community centers, synagogues, schools, summer camps and nonprofits, spend roughly $225,000 on security per institution, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
“Even the old number, $765 million [spent in 2024], was just a demonstration of the impossible situation that the Jewish community is being put in,” Eric Fingerhut, JFNA’s president and CEO, told eJP. “To have to raise extraordinary sums of money and dedicate extraordinary sums of money to security just to be able to fully live a flourishing Jewish life in this great and free country.”
News
COLLECTIVE ACTION
With leading $1M gift from Gutnicks, Chabad relaunches membership model for its development fund
Four decades after its founding, Chabad’s Machne Israel Development Fund has relaunched a membership-based funding model that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, established in 1985, which fell out of use in the early 1990s, when the Rebbe’s health declined, Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky, executive director of the fund, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Membership model: Krinsky emphasized that what’s being revived is narrower than “relaunch” might suggest, because “the fund was never dormant.” What ended in the 1990s, he said, was specifically Chabad’s model of convening donors in annual gatherings. The new version will keep the membership model intact, he added, through a tiered contribution system in which the minimum annual contribution is $18,000. This version will also include an online platform where donors can browse projects, choose which causes they direct their contributions to and track their gifts, said Krinsky.
MAJOR GIFTS
Josh, Elly Goldberg commit $6M to boost Richmond, Va., Jewish day school, wider community
Josh and Elly Goldberg committed $6 million over the next five years to the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond (Va.) to expand and subsidize its Jewish day school and generally support the city’s Jewish community, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports. The $6 million donation will primarily go to Richmond’s Rudlin Torah Academy. The funding will both help improve the school and provide scholarships to local families.
Betting on Richmond: An unspecified portion of the Goldbergs’ donation will also go to the federation’s annual campaign, endowment, Israel partnership work and engagement with younger Jews. “This extraordinary commitment reflects a powerful belief in the future of Jewish Richmond and federation’s role in strengthening that future,” Daniel Staffenberg, CEO of the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, said in a statement.
Opinion
PRIORITY CHECK
The ‘great wealth transfer’ has a disconnect, and Jewish philanthropy needs to find it
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Stephanie G. Wapner, board chair of Columbus Jewish Day School, argues that funders and communities should stop treating investment in Jewish day schools as merely a local educational expense.
“Decades of research have found that day school graduates are more likely to possess strong Jewish literacy, participate actively in Jewish communal life, support Jewish organizations, raise Jewish families and assume leadership roles in their communities…. When philanthropy treats schools primarily as organizations that need help balancing next year’s budget, we focus on closing financial gaps. When we recognize them as essential infrastructure for Jewish continuity, we begin asking very different questions.”
PRIORITY CHECK
The investment American Jewish philanthropy can’t afford to underfund
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, therapist Assael Romanelli responds to Rabbi Joshua Rabin’s recent op-ed about investing more in synagogues (“Why do we ignore the synagogue,” Aug. 6) with a proposal: the next investment “should be specifically in applied relational Judaism,” he writes.
“Since arriving in the U.S., I have met with over a hundred Jewish clergy and professionals. Every time I mention relational Judaism, they tell me the same thing: Yeah, Ron Wolfson is great. We loved his ideas. That was big 10, 12 years ago. We tried that. We tried small groups. We tried name tags. But have we equipped our clergy and professionals with pragmatic relational skills?”
Worthy Reads
Teach a Man to Fish: In The Times of Israel, Robert Lichtman presents what he learned from Michael Brooks, who died this week, and his rationale behind giving University of Michigan students the tools to host their own Shabbat dinners. “This is what he said, ‘If Hillel only hosted one Shabbat dinner for everyone, then when the students come back for their 25th reunion, one might say to the other, “Hey – Remember those great Shabbat dinners we had at Hillel?” But since so many of the students take charge of their own Shabbat dinners, when they come back for that 25th reunion, they will be able to say, “Hey – Let me tell you about the great Shabbat dinner I hosted last week!”’”
Not Ours to Give: Reflecting on this week’s parashah, Mijal Bitton considers the ongoing controversy surrounding Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s remarks encouraging Jews to put the “greater good” above their survival. “Read [the Torah portion] against Nessel’s speech. She offered up ‘the very future of our own people’ as something we might trade away. Nitzavim says the future of our people is not ours to trade. It was pledged before we got here, and it belongs to people who don’t exist yet.”
Unlikely Friendships: In the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action, Howard Blas spotlights the relationship between Tel Aviv’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, led by Rabbi Joe Wolfson, and the secular Kibbutz Nir Am near the Gaza border, whose displaced residents were aided by the JLIC community in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks. “Throughout, Rabbi Wolfson has been careful not to focus on religious differences. ‘The fact that we are religious and they are a secular community—I would not say it is incidental—is never what we lead with. It comes back to the orchim [guests] element. I said this line time and time again: This isn’t chesed, this isn’t tzedakah; we have this tradition of hachnasat orchim. In our eyes, you are not evacuees, you are guests.’”
Philanthropy’s Role: In Semafor, Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith interviews Coefficient Giving CEO Alexander Berger about the nonprofit’s investments in developing checks on artificial intelligence. “[Creating] guardrails for fast-moving artificial intelligence is ‘a really natural role for philanthropy to play, because it’s not something where government is going to move as fast,’ he said. As for companies, ‘you don’t necessarily want them regulating themselves.’”
Transitions
Rebecca Schalit-Newman was hired to be the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis…
Rachel Weiss-Berger is leaving Hillel International to work at BBYO as its senior vice president of philanthropic engagement…
Rabbi Danielle Leshaw is joining the Hadar Institute as vice president of institutional advancement…
Calle Schueler was named the next executive director of Hillel at Ithaca College…
Sasha Beder-Schenker joined The Charles H. Revson Foundation as its new senior program officer for urban affairs and education…
Word on the Street
EHillel International is opening its first stand-alone undergraduate office at Clemson University, where Jewish enrollment has quintupled in recent years…OpenAI pledged $1 billion in subsidized cybersecurity tools and support for utilities, banks and governments as AI-enabled attacks mount…
Jewish Insider reports on President Donald Trump’s meeting with leading Hasidic rabbis — including the long-feuding leaders of two rival Satmar sects — at the White House yesterday ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the first meeting of its kind since 1979. Sources familiar with the matter said the discussion focused on prison reform and issues related to raising large families, including housing difficulties and requests to expand earned income tax credits for those with more than three children…
New York City logged its safest summer on record for shootings and murders through August, even as hate crimes rose nearly 16%, with anti-Jewish offenses making up half of the crimes…
Former NBA player turned investor Omri Casspi closed a $250 million fund for his Swish Ventures, bringing the total assets under management to $800 million after nine portfolio companies reached unicorn status…
Seventy-five Chabad emissaries from 15 countries gathered in Taipei, marking 40 years of growth from one Southeast Asia outpost to 60 centers and launching a fund to seed more Jewish infrastructure regionwide…
Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood and Israeli musician Dudu Tassa will open Jerusalem’s International Oud Festival this November…
Barilla, the world’s largest pasta maker, acquired Goodles, the mac-and-cheese brand partially owned by Gal Gadot, for an undisclosed sum…
Billboards for Jews[dot]com have spread across New York City and heavily Jewish parts of New Jersey in an effort to steer Jews toward a ministry that invokes Hebrew scripture to encourage Jews to convert to Christianity…
David Pudles, a central Florida businessman and volunteer who served as governor of Optimist International’s Florida district and board chair of the Arbor School of Central Florida, died at 62…
Pic of the Day
Rachel Goldberg-Polin stocks Hersh’s Fridge, an outdoor kosher community fridge in Skokie, Ill., named in honor of her son, on Wednesday at a dedication ceremony, two years after he was murdered in Hamas captivity. Organizers say it is the country’s first kosher fridge stocked by neighbors and open to anyone who needs food.
“I love the ease with which everyone can be involved in this mitzvah,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said at the event.
Birthdays
Ezekiel Jonathan “Zeke” Emanuel, oncologist and bioethicist, he is the older brother of former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Hollywood talent agent Ari Emanuel, turns 69 on Sunday
FRIDAY
Judea Pearl, award-winning computer scientist and philosopher who is a pioneer in artificial intelligence, he is the father of slain WSJ journalist Daniel Pearl, turns 90
Meir Nir, Israeli architect renowned for designing public buildings across Israel and internationally over six decades, turns 87
Lester Brickman, emeritus professor of law and former acting dean at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, turns 86
Edmundo N. Kraiselburd, retired professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, turns 83
David Liebman, saxophonist, flautist and jazz educator, in 2010 he received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts, turns 80
Mark Steven Ament, attorney and political consultant who has served as board president of Louisville, Kentucky’s Jewish Family & Career Services
David Broza, Israeli singer-songwriter, his music mixes modern pop with Spanish music, turns 71
David Drew Pinsky, M.D., celebrity doctor, he is a board-certified internist, addiction medicine specialist and media personality, known as “Dr. Drew,” turns 68
Mark Schulman, musician, music producer, audio engineer and corporate speaker, turns 65
Anthony Weiner, former member of the House of Representatives (D-NY), turns 62
E. O’Brien “Obi” Murray, real estate strategic advisor, political strategist and commentator
Barry Louis Levy, screenwriter best known as the writer of the 2008 film “Vantage Point,” turns 54
Yehiel “Hilik” Bar, former member of Knesset for the Labor / Zionist Union party, he was the secretary general of Israel’s Labor party until early 2017, turns 51
Andrew Levitas, painter, sculptor, filmmaker, actor, writer, producer, photographer and restaurateur, turns 49
Marni Kottle, EVP and chief corporate affairs officer at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, turns 48
Jared Weinstein, general partner in Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, he was a special assistant and personal aide to President George W. Bush, continuing on in Dallas even after GWB left office
Max Greenfield, television and film actor, he has also written four children’s books, turns 46
Guy Pnini, Israeli former professional basketball player and coach, currently serving as an assistant coach for Maccabi Tel Aviv, turns 43
Melissa Horen Kaplan, development officer at Atlanta’s Jewish Home Life Communities, she was previously the associate area director for AIPAC in Atlanta
Marharyta Dorozhon, javelin thrower, she won the Israeli national championship seven times, turns 39
Carter Mark Jenkins, television and film actor, turns 35
Saturday
Jonathan Kozol, author, educator, and activist, best known for his books promoting public education, turns 90
Rabbi Yosef Adler, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck, N.J., and rosh yeshiva of the Torah Academy of Bergen County, turns 75
JoAnne Fishman Kloppenburg, judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, turns 73
Iris Weinshall, COO of The New York Public Library, she has been married to Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer since 1980, turns 73
Stuart Shlossman, principal at Watershed Associates, he is a negotiation consultant
Jacob Frydman, New York-based real estate developer, turns 69
Laurel Myerson Isicoff, judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, turns 69
Yevgenia Albats, Russian investigative journalist, she is active in the Russian Jewish Congress, turns 68
Orna Barbivai, member of the Knesset until 2023, she is the first woman in the IDF promoted to Major General (the IDF’s second highest rank), turns 64
Mitch Garber, Canadian lawyer, investor and business executive, he is the co-founder and chairman of Israeli AI company Aiola, turns 62
Jacob Z. Sullum, nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and a senior editor at Reason magazine, turns 61
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, chief assistant district attorney in Manhattan until 2021, now a criminal defense attorney, turns 60
Eric Aroestry, entrepreneur and investor, he is the chairman of Mentored, an education technology platform
Holly Rosenkrantz, managing editor for politics and legal affairs at USA Today
Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, senior rabbi of Temple Sholom in Vancouver, B.C., and past chair of Reform Rabbis of Canada, turns 56
Ari Devon Sandel, Academy Award-winning filmmaker, turns 52
Yulia Malinovsky, member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, turns 51
Jeremy C. Frankel, payroll specialist at Topaz Financial Services
Maxwell Braden Mittelman, voice actor for English versions of anime, animation and video games, turns 36
Jeremy Furchtgott, director in the Washington office of Baron Public Affairs LLC
Anthony “Tony” Klor, founder of Bangalore-based Catoff
Shanie Reichman, NYC-based director of strategic initiatives and director of IPF Atid, both at Israel Policy Forum, turns 31
Sunday
Rabbi Binyamin Y. Marwick, rabbi of Baltimore’s Congregation Shomrei Emunah since 2009
Congressman Sander Levin, retired 36-year member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-MI), turns 95
Norman Sturner, co-founder and chairman of Murray Hill Properties in NYC, turns 86
Helene Weinstein, member of the New York State Assembly from 1981 until the end of 2024, turns 74
Adena Karen Berkowitz, co-founder in 2008 of Kol HaNeshamah: The Center for Jewish Life and Enrichment and co-author of a siddur
Daniel R. Mintz, founding managing director at Olympus Capital
Elisa Morton Palter, Toronto-based publisher and entrepreneur, she serves on the board of governors of Shalem College
Rabbi Beth Jacowitz Chottiner, rabbi of Temple Shalom in Louisville, Ky., since 2016, turns 62
Irv “Moishe” Lowenberg, city treasurer of Southfield, Mich.
Ben Finegold, chess master since age 14, now a FIDE grandmaster, turns 57
Joseph S. Richards, national director at AIPAC
Jennifer Mamlet, chief development officer at the Ad Council and former acting president and CEO of the JCC Association of North America
Jason Schechter, chief communications officer at Bloomberg LP
Amos Tamam, Israeli film, television and stage actor, turns 49
Joshua Cohen, author, he won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel The Netanyahus, turns 46
Rabbi Avi S. Olitzky, former rabbi at Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis for 14 years, now a consultant
Daniel Flesch, senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, he is a veteran of the IDF and an AIPAC alum
Ari Schaffer, communications director at the William F. Buckley Jr. Institute at Yale University
Ben Pasternak, Australian-born entrepreneur, now living in NYC, he is the co-founder of two startups, turns 27
Asher Dov Angel, actor whose career started at 8 years old and continues through the present, turns 24
