Your Daily Phil: JFNA makes first allocation of the Israel-Iran war
Good Monday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the Jewish Federations of North America’s first allocation of the Israel-Iran war. We look at the closure of Israel’s airspace, which is preventing hundreds of Israeli counselors from reaching Jewish summer camps on time, and at mainstream Jewish groups’ reactions to the United States’ bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities this weekend. We feature an opinion piece by Sam Aboudara about integrating meaningful Jewish enrichment into camp culture and beyond, and one by Rabbi Na’ama Levitz Applbaum about the ways camp staff can step into the role of bridge-builders in the absence of Israeli shlichim (emissaries) unable to attend due to the war. Also in this issue: James Ogunleye, Keith Seigel and Craig Newmark.
What We’re Watching
Olam’s Focal Point conference kicks off today in New York City. The gathering, which was also meant to mark the group’s 10th anniversary, was forced to alter its schedule in light of the closure of Israeli airspace, preventing the organization’s CEO and dozens of participants from attending in person.
The Jewish Funders Network is hosting an “emergency briefing” today about the Israel-Iran war.
What You Should Know
The Jewish Federations of North America has made its first allocations to Israeli organizations since the start of the Israel-Iran war, designating $10 million for a number of causes associated with the ongoing Iranian ballistic missile and drone strikes, eJewishPhilanthropy Judah Ari Gross has learned.
“Once again, Israel is facing new and unexpected challenges as it defends itself against a ruthless aggressor, and once again Jewish Federations are mobilizing to provide critical support and relief,” Jeff Schoenfeld, the incoming vice chair of JFNA’s board of trustees, who until recently co-chaired the group’s Israel Emergency Fund allocation committee, said in a statement.
The $10 million allocation was made through JFNA’s central Israel Emergency Fund. A JFNA spokesperson told eJP that it comes as the organization is assessing how to proceed with the fund, which has so far raised more than $873.4 million since Oct. 7, 2023, of which $742.9 million has been allocated. As the underlying needs change — from the specific emergency needs following the Oct. 7 attacks to the new demands from the Iranian bombardments, along with Israel’s deeper, structural issues — JFNA will likely change the way that it raises and distributes funds.
In the new allocation, some $2.5 million has been given to the Jewish Agency for Israel, with $2 million going toward its new initiative, the Rising Lion Fund, that provides grants to victims of the Iranian attacks, and the rest split between support for new immigrants ($200,000) and for elderly Israelis through the organization’s Amigour program ($300,000).
Another $2 million was allocated to Israeli hospitals, primarily Beersheva’s Soroka Medical Center, parts of which were heavily damaged in a recent Iranian missile strike.
A total of $1.5 million was awarded to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to be evenly divided between three of its programs: one that recruits and deploys emergency workers for essential services; one that distributes basic search-and-rescue and first aid equipment to local authorities; and a third that assists local authorities that have sustained a major missile strike provide aid to affected residents, including the hiring of case workers for their elderly population.
The remaining $4 million was split between more than a dozen other organizations focused on a wide array of issues such as the repair and improvement of bomb shelters, mental health programs, support for disabled and elderly Israelis and community resilience initiatives. (The allocations ranged from $50,000 to $500,000). This also includes $85,000 for an Israel Midwives Association hotline for pregnant women in under-fire areas and $200,000 to the food rescue group Leket for the distribution of prepared food and produce to needy Israelis.
“We want every Israeli to know that the North American Jewish community has their backs, and will continue to step up in meaningful ways, whether that means supporting hospitals, upgrading conditions in public bomb shelters, or helping evacuees and victims of terror,” Schoenfeld said.
HELP WANTED
As Israeli staff delayed by sky closure, Jewish summer camps scramble for (hopefully) temporary replacements
Nearly 1,000 Israeli summer camp staff are stuck in Israel after the country’s airspace was closed following the Israel Defense Forces’ strikes on nuclear and military facilities in Iran earlier this month, sending the North American Jewish camps where they were meant to work into a last-minute frenzy to find temporary replacements, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross. Yet Yehuda Setton, CEO of the Jewish Agency, which sends the vast majority of Israeli emissaries, or shlichim, to Jewish summer camps, told eJP that while there is an immediate need for camp staff, the situation is not necessarily as extreme as it sounds, more of a temporary challenge than a permanent issue.
When, not if: “I’ll give you numbers. We have 2,065 Israelis expected at American summer camps. Twelve hundred departed before the skies closed. Just this weekend, we were able to send another 93. They are already on their way,” Setton said on Sunday. “I believe that by the end of the week, we will have another 600 that will fly to North America,” he said, adding that he expected the remaining 172 to make it as well. “There is no reason that the summer camp shlichim will not arrive this summer. They may be delayed by a week, a week and a half, but they will be there,” Setton said.
Stepping up: Jamie Simon, the acting CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, which has been spearheading the search for replacement staff, told eJP that the Jewish summer camp movement is “cautiously optimistic” that the Israeli staff would soon arrive. And yet, she said, most of the summer camps waiting for Israel staff are either in the midst of their staff training weeks or are already opening now. “Camps need [counselors] now. They needed them yesterday,” she said. So far, more than 1,000 people have signed up to work for camps filling in for the waylaid Israeli staff, she said. “We’ve received over 1,000 responses from Jewish community members saying, ‘I want to help. I can come for one week, two weeks, three weeks,’” Simon said. “ It’s actually been really inspiring to see people raise their hand and say, ‘I love Jewish camp and I want to help.’”
COMMUNAL REACTIONS
Jewish groups hail president for ‘historic’ order to strike Iranian nuclear facilities
American and international Jewish organizations hailed President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s subterranean nuclear facilities on Saturday, calling it a “historic” move that improves global security, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Praise and precaution: In the hours after the attack, mainstream Jewish groups universally lauded the strikes, which came just over a week after Israel launched a series of attacks on Iran’s nuclear and military facilities in the opening salvo of an extensive military campaign dubbed Operation Rising Lion. Since then, Israel and some Jewish organizations have pushed the United States to join the war as its military has access to the “bunker busting” bombs needed to strike some of Iran’s more extensively fortified nuclear facilities. Alongside the praise for the attack, security-focused organizations also said that they were increasing their vigilance amid concerns of potential attacks on Jewish sites in response to the strikes.
CAMP CULTURE
The case for Jewish joy: A communal imperative
“Psychologists have long understood what Jewish tradition has known for millennia: joy builds resilience,” writes Sam Aboudara, chief operating officer and executive director of NJY Camps, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z”l expressed it beautifully in his book Future Tense: ‘To be a Jew is to be an agent of hope in a world serially threatened by despair.’ Jewish joy is not about ignoring the darkness. It is about insisting that the darkness will not have the final word.”
Balance vs. wholeness: “Too often, we treat joy and depth like two sides of a scale. We add a little more fun here, a little more substance there, and hope it balances out. But that often leads to dilution or compromise. … This is not about adding programs. It is about reimagining design. … Jewish joy is not a luxury. It is not a bonus feature. It is the energy source for everything we hope to build. If we neglect it, treat it as fluff or forget to nurture it altogether, we risk raising a generation that sees Jewish life as one more source of stress instead of a wellspring of meaning.”
PEOPLEHOOD IN PRACTICE
Israel education without Israelis?
“Operation Rising Lion led to the closure of Israel’s airspace, and overnight, more than 1,000 shlichim (emissaries) who had planned to spend their summer in Jewish camps across North America, were stranded in Israel. While the staffing shortage is significant, the greater concern is the absence of a lived connection to Israel that these young adults bring to the camps they serve,” writes Rabbi Na’ama Levitz Applbaum, director of Wellspring camp and experiential education initiatives at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
It’s your turn: “This year, in the absence of shlichim, North American camp staff have a unique opportunity — and responsibility — to step into the role of bridge-builders. That might mean taking ownership over how Israel shows up at camp, through thoughtful integration into culture, ritual and everyday conversations… And most importantly, camps can teach about the moral and emotional complexities Israelis are living with right now… During the pandemic we learned that while physical presence matters, connection can still be nurtured without it. The barriers preventing shlichim from arriving are complex and real, and I don’t have a simple solution. But the absence we’re feeling this summer deserves more than passing acknowledgment. It deserves attention, recognition and a commitment to keep showing up.”
Worthy Reads
Defiant Resilience: In The Times of Israel, James Ogunleye reflects on the toll of Friday’s missile attack by Iran on the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot and the efforts of the institution’s researchers to save what they could in the aftermath. “Take Prof. Eldad Tzahor. Twenty-two years of heart biology research — samples, slides, DNA, RNA, irreplaceable data — gone in an instant. And yet, what did he do? He climbed over rubble. He opened a refrigerator full of precious samples with his son-in-law. He tried. He acted. Because sometimes, resilience is simply refusing to give up — even when it looks like everything is lost. … This is what innovating the future of Israel looks like. Not just writing code or launching satellites, but choosing hope over helplessness. Choosing action over anger. Choosing to build again, and again, and again. ” [TOI]
For Everyone’s Sake: In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Brian Hooks urges funders and nonprofits to unite in defending each other from political attack and interference, regardless of their own differences, for the protection of the sector as a whole. “Today, the United States is the most generous nation in the world, with more than 1.5 million charitable organizations contributing well over $1 trillion in goods and services every year. … When politicians threaten to exclude or regulate nonprofits based on perspectives or lawful activities with which they disagree, they put all of this at risk. Rather than running with the freedom to experiment and try new things, groups become cautious and fearful of the repercussions that come from falling out of favor with those in power. It’s not hard to see how quickly the nonprofit sector could become a hollowed-out appendage of the state and a reflection of the people who control it. Indeed, this is what we see in many other countries. When that happens, we all lose.” [SSIR]
Word on the Street
The Israel Defense Forces recovered the bodies of three hostages — Ofra Keidar, Jonathan Samerano and Shay Levinson – from the Gaza Strip; all three had been killed on Oct. 7, 2023, and their bodies brought to Gaza…
AFP interviews former Israeli American hostage Keith Siegel about the torture and abuse he suffered and witnessed while in Hamas captivity…
The New York Times examines the curious case of a law student at the University of Florida who received an academic award for a paper touting white supremacist ideology and who has advocated for Jews to be “abolished by any means necessary”…
A suspect has been arrested for threatening a mass shooting at a JCC in San Antonio, Texas…
The Times of Israel explores the rising need for food aid in Gaza, and the Israeli and Palestinian nonprofits scrambling to meet it…
The World Central Kitchen has resumed its operations in Gaza after a 12-week pause due to lack of supplies…
A third survey conducted by Columbia University’s antisemitism task force has found that the majority of Jewish students at the school have experienced discrimination and feel personal danger for supporting Jews or Israel…
Britain’s home secretary is planning to label Palestinian Action as a terror organization following the vandalizing of a Royal Airforce aircraft and Israel-linked Jewish charities…
The board members of Shtetl, a news site founded to encourage accountability in the Haredi world, have resigned in response to the founder’s disavowal of his activism due to “a growing distrust of progressive politics,” the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports…
The San Francisco JCC held its second annual Erev Juneteenth event, celebrating bonds between the Black and Jewish communities and commemorating the end of chattel slavery in the United States…
El Salvador has extradited two members of extremist cult Lev Tahor to Guatemala and Israel for alleged crimes including child abuse, human trafficking and rape…
The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously to allow lawsuits to proceed against the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization for their support “pay-for-slay” programs, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
At least 22 people were killed and 63 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a Greek Orthodox church in Dweil’a, Syria, in the first attack of its kind in years…
The New York Times interviews Barbra Streisand about her penchant for duets ahead of the release of her upcoming album, “The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two”…
New York City architect and author Nathan Silver, who chronicled the history of the city’s since-demolished buildings, died last month at 89…
Major Gifts
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation donated $10 million to the First Tee Junior Golf nonprofit…
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark has pledged $500,000 to The Forward…
Pic of the Day
In a still image from a security camera, an Israel Police officer is seen on Friday documenting the damage caused to a Colel Chabad daycare center by an Iranian missile strike in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva. No one was injured in the attack as it took place after the center’s normal operating hours, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
Birthdays
Film and television actress, Selma Blair Beitner…
Professor emeritus of medicine and health care policy at Harvard, he was previously president of Brandeis University and Massachusetts General Hospital, Samuel O. Thier, M.D…. Real estate developer and co-founder of Tishman Speyer, Jerry Speyer… Senior advisor at Eurasia Group and author of 23 books on foreign affairs, global politics and travel, Robert D. Kaplan… Novelist and journalist, Roy Hoffman .. Los Angeles-based socialite, restaurateur and breast cancer fundraiser, a 2008 Lifetime Television movie starring Renée Zellweger portrayed her cancer fighting efforts, Lilly Tartikoff Karatz… Klezmer expert, violinist, composer, filmmaker, writer, photographer and playwright, Yale Strom… Senior director of health policy at the National Consumers League until 2024, Robin Strongin… President of the Harrington Discovery Institute at Case Western Reserve, Dr. Jonathan Solomon Stamler… Sports memorabilia marketer, his firm sold all of the seats, signs and lockers from the old Yankee Stadium in 2009, Brandon Steiner… Member of the Pennsylvania State Senate until 2020, now president of Cannabis GPO, Daylin Leach… Editorial director of Ben Yehuda Press, Lawrence Yudelson… Former teacher for 19 years at Golda Och Academy in West Orange, NJ, Stephanie Z. Bonder… Israeli-American professor, journalist and filmmaker, Boaz Dvir… U.S. special envoy for hostage response with the rank of ambassador, Adam Seth Boehler… Executive vice president and general manager of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, Howie Roseman… President of D1 Capital Partners, he was deputy director of the White House National Economic Council in the Trump 45 administration, Jeremy Katz… Founder of Innovation Africa, Sivan Borowich-Ya’ari… Actress and comedian, best known for playing Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on CBS’s sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” Melissa Rauch … Actress, singer and model, Marielle Jaffe… Operations manager at LimitlessCNC, Gila Bublick… Ethiopian-born Israeli model who won the title of Miss Israel in 2013, Yityish Aynaw… Senior director of major gifts at OneTable, Ely Benhamo… MBA candidate at Columbia Business School, Josh Lauder… T.C. Gross…
