Your Daily Phil: JGive survey finds rise in Israeli crowdfunding
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new study from Israeli philanthropic platform JGive charting the growth of Israeli crowdfunding, we cover a new prize from the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable celebrating quiet bridge-builders combating antisemitism and follow an open letter from Jewish leaders marking America’s 250th anniversary. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Mendy Chitrik drawing from his work with small Jewish communities across Africa, and a piece by Dror Stein arguing for a broader institutional approach to Israel engagement. Also in this issue: Joe Lonsdale, Jesse Eisenberg and Seth Wise.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the death of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Tens of thousands of visitors are expected to gather at his resting place, known as the “Ohel,” in Queens, N.Y.
The Lab/Shul will celebrate its 13th anniversary this evening at the Brooklyn Bowl, where Harry Otterman will receive the Jodi Cohen & L Michael Graver Legacy Award.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JUSTIN HAYET
Half of all Israelis donate to charity every year — a fact that’s often overshadowed by the larger focus on Diaspora giving to Israeli causes — and they are increasingly doing it online.
According to the Israeli Giving Report, a new study by the Israeli crowdfunding platform JGive, roughly 1 in 5 Israeli donors now give through a website. The platform’s Israeli donor base has expanded by roughly 70% over five years, total giving on the platform has grown by close to 167% and the number of nonprofits raising funds through JGive has grown sixfold in seven years, climbing from about 500 organizations to upward of 3,000. Among Israel’s top donors, 6 in 10 are under 50.
Ori Ben Shlomo, JGive’s founder and CEO, doesn’t see any of this as a coincidence. He started building the platform in 2014, during his own military reserve service in the early days of that summer’s Gaza war, Operation Protective Edge, after concluding that Israelis’ desire to give was real, but the country lacked the infrastructure to make it happen. “The heart was there, but it was a mess,” he told eJewishPhilanthropy.
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
FEELING THE LOVE
Progressive ‘36 Awards’ aim to fete those who combat antisemitism, not shame those who spread it
The progressive Nathan Cummings Foundation, in partnership with the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable umbrella group have launched a new prize for individuals who combat antisemitism — the 36 Award — that shifts the focus away from shaming bigots to instead celebrating those who build bridges, even during fraught times, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
Common folk: The two organizations named the initiative the 36 Award in reference to the idea that in every generation there are 36 righteous people, hidden in their communities, whose goodness sustains the world. “We felt like that concept from Jewish tradition really was the North Star for what we’re looking for with giving this award to individuals,” Abby Levine, CEO of JSJR, told eJP. “We don’t want the famous or the credentialed, but the people who are doing what’s right, even when it’s unpopular or unnoticed or far from the spotlight. This is our attempt to go find some of them and to say, ‘We see you and we support you, even if you haven’t been recognized up to now.’”
WE THE PEOPLE
‘The single best Diaspora experience’: Jewish leaders mark America’s 250th with open letter
As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, American Jewish leaders have signed an open letter expressing gratitude to a nation “unlike so many others through Jewish history [that] did not merely tolerate Jewish life, but made possible its flourishing,” while also highlighting Jewish contributions to the country’s founding, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
What it says: “From the earliest days of the American experiment, Jews were drawn to the promise of a nation founded not on bloodline, monarchy, or established religion, but on liberty, covenant, and the dignity of the individual,” the letter reads. “Having known the weight of persecution and exclusion, Jews recognized in America’s founding ideals something rare in human history: the possibility of belonging without surrendering our identity.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
Opinion
SHARED INVESTMENT
Beyond politics, a well still needs water
“The future of Jewish-Muslim relations may depend less on what we say to one another in conference halls and more on what we build together in places of need — schools, hospitals, wells and quiet acts of charity,” writes Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States and Ashkenazi Rabbi of Turkey, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Not only possible, but already happening: “There is enormous room for this kind of partnership to grow. Across Africa and beyond, religious communities often possess something governments and international institutions lack: trust at the local level, long-term presence and a moral obligation deeply rooted in communal life. If Jewish and Muslim organizations can work together to provide food, medicine, education and dignity, all while remaining fully faithful to their own traditions, they may help model a different kind of coexistence — one built less on slogans and more on responsibility.”
OUT OF THE SILO
Beyond Israel programming: The case for institutional redesign
“For decades, the North American Jewish community has invested enormous resources into what became known as ‘Israel education,’” writes Dror Stein, director of content and leadership at the Z3 Project, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “This investment created a jargon and built generations of educators deeply committed to helping North American Jews form meaningful relationships with Israel. I am part of that story myself.”
Unintended problem: “As it became a distinct field, institutions came to see Israel as a discrete domain rather than intrinsic to Jewish identity. Over time, ‘Israel’ became a program on the calendar, or a designated staff member — in well-resourced institutions, even a department. And when Israel became siloed rather than integral to an institution’s mission, institutions responsible for building thick, layered Jewish identities inadvertently created fragmented ones instead.”
Worthy Reads
New Wealth, New Rules: In his blog, investor Joe Lonsdale argues that legacy institutions have grown dysfunctional and urges a new wave of tech philanthropists to build bold new institutions rather than funding old broken ones. “A lot of people are about to become very rich because they bet on new models, new institutions, new ways of organizing talent and risk. Human instinct is to work on things that are lauded rather than controversial, to find the version of engagement that gets you praised rather than attacked. We must resist this. The things worth doing almost by definition require running toward the hard problems, the ones others will not touch.” [JoeLonsdale]
The Ultimate Gift: In Jweekly, Dr. Jerry Saliman shares his cousin’s life-saving heart and kidney transplants to advocate for organ donation. “A major principle in Judaism called pikuach nefesh asserts that life is essential and that it is our obligation to save a life in jeopardy. In the Talmud, it is mentioned that if you save one life, it is as if you saved the entire world. Taking into account your own health, what are you willing to do to save a life? [J. The Jewish News of Northern California]
Hineni Moment: In the Times of Israel, World Jewish Relief USA’s David Weisberg recalls organizing Mother Teresa’s 1995 visit to his Pennsylvania town. “In the Torah, when Abraham is first called by God, he responds with a single word: Hineni. Here I am. Thirty-one years later, I still think about those words. Despite my being a young town manager from central Pennsylvania and her being a selfless sage who focused her work in Calcutta, we shared a belief that people in crisis deserve to be lifted up. Not because they are like us. But because they are human.” [TOI]
Major Gifts
Transitions
Word on the Street
At the G7 summit, President Donald Trump said that Iran will be allowed to retain some ballistic missiles, retreating from an earlier U.S. war aim, while framing the nuclear restrictions in the U.S.-Iran MOU as the real victory for Israel and touching on regime change, Lebanon and Gaza. Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…
Jamie Dimon and Stephen Schwarzman were spotted at the dinner French President Emmanuel Macron hosted for Trump at Versailles…
The United States announced over $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to UNICEF and the World Food Program, split between roughly $218 million and $800 million respectively…
Finchley Progressive Synagogue has become Britain’s first Synagogue of Sanctuary, earning the new HIAS+JCORE and City of Sanctuary UK designation for its decade-long work supporting asylum seekers…
U.K. Charity Commission Chair Julia Unwin urged Britain to stop being complacent about philanthropy and instead build public trust and a more celebratory culture around charitable giving…
The Chicago Sun-Times discloses the donors behind the Obama Presidential Center led by nine-figure gifts from Jeff Bezos and Brian Chesky as well as dozens of contributions from business leaders and Chicago philanthropists…
Hedge fund manager John Paulson was provisionally awarded nearly $48 million in his ongoing legal battle with former Puerto Rico business partner Fahad Ghaffar, after an arbitrator found that Ghaffar committed fraud and breached his fiduciary duty…
A Calcalist investigation reveals that one year after Israel’s June 2025 war with Iran, the Israeli government is still working through nearly 40,000 building damage claims and billions of shekels in repair, including the costly and yearslong restoration of Tel Aviv’s Da Vinci Tower and Ramat Gan’s Elite Tower…
Israeli fintech company Payoneer has been acquired by Canada’s Nuvei for $2.75 billion…
A new Leger poll shows roughly 1 in 3 Canadians, particularly young adults, men and English speakers, sense a rising tolerance for antisemitic attitudes in the country…
A new report from Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism found more than 8,700 reported cases of antisemitism in the country in 2025, roughly equivalent to the number of reported instances the prior year…
Austin-based tech entrepreneur Josh Baer, 50, was killed yesterday in a plane crash near Laredo, Texas…
Pic of the Day
Tom Wasserstein hangs a mezuzah to inaugurate the “Quiet Tent” at the Afeka College of Engineering in Tel Aviv last week alongside the college’s president, Yossi Rosenwaks. The tent, which was donated by Northwestern University Professor Emeritus David Seidman and his wife, Shoshanah, is meant to provide a calm, relaxing atmosphere for students grappling with post-traumatic stress, with comfortable seating areas.
The idea for the initiative arose after Wasserstein’s brother, Afeka student Roi Wasserstein, committed suicide after battling post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Over the past year, we have seen firsthand the emotional burden many students are carrying,” Rosenwaks said at the inauguration. “The Quiet Tent was created out of a simple but important understanding: Resilience is not only about pushing forward. It is also about knowing when to pause, when to ask for help, and having a safe place to do so.”
Birthdays
Executive of the William Pears Group, a large U.K. real estate firm founded by his father and grandfather, Sir Trevor Steven Pears (family name was Schleicher) turns 62…
Chicago-based attorney, he is the first ordained rabbi to have served as an alderman on the Chicago City Council, Solomon Gutstein turns 92… Former Washington Post editor, reporter and London bureau chief, Fred Barbash turns 81… Retired IT management advisor at Next Stage, Steven Shlomo Nezer… Croatian entrepreneur, he was previously the minister of economy, labour and entrepreneurship in the Croatian government, Davor Stern turns 79… Rebecca Diamond… Best-selling author and journalist, she was editor-in-chief of USA Today, Joanne Lipman turns 65… Retired professor of English at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, she was on the editorial board of Shofar, a peer-reviewed academic journal of Jewish studies, Helene Meyers… White House senior aide during the first Trump administration, he is a principal of Cordish Companies, a real estate and gaming empire, Reed Saunders Cordish turns 52… Film director and screenwriter, Jonathan A. Levine turns 50… Actor, comedian, satirist and writer, known professionally as Ben Gleib, Ben Nathan Gleiberman turns 48… Television producer and writer, Jeremy Bronson turns 46… Baseball pitcher for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he is now assistant general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jeremy Bleich turns 39… Of counsel at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Esther Lifshitz… Israeli musician, producer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by his stage name Dennis Lloyd, Nir Tibor turns 33… Director at Silver Point Capital, Jacob E. Best… Rachel Hazan…
