Your Daily Phil: JNF Canada readies to fight revocation of tax-exempt status
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on Yehuda Setton being tapped to serve as the next CEO of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and feature an opinion piece by Rabba Yaffa Epstein on identifying what unites us rather than stressing our differences. Also in this newsletter: Trent Spoolstra, Stephen A. Schwarzman and Lynda Ben-Menashe. We’ll start with Jewish National Fund Canada’s plans to fight the revocation of its charitable status by the country’s tax authority.
Jewish National Fund Canada will launch a legal appeal after the country revoked the charitable status of the group earlier this week “in a manner contrary to the [Canada Revenue Agency’s] standard practice,” the organization announced yesterday, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen.
“In the coming days we will be advising the court of the severe damage the CRA is causing us and asking for an application for judicial review until our case is heard on its merits,” JNF told supporters in a letter.
Canada’s tax authority announced the decision to revoke the status of JNF, as well as the Ne’eman Foundation — another nonprofit that funds philanthropic projects in Israel — on Saturday in notices published by the Canada Gazette, the government’s official newspaper.
The CRA did not publicly disclose a reason for the revocations, but the announcement came weeks after JNF said that it was facing revocation after the CRA determined that its mission was inconsistent with Canadian laws governing charitable activity, apparently for its support of the Israeli military and Israeli activities in the West Bank.
Still, JNF said that it was “blindsided” to learn of the decision over Shabbat. “The norm is that the CRA would hold the revocation until the legal proceedings conclude and a decision is delivered from the court,” JNF Canada said.
The Ne’eman Foundation has not publicly addressed the revocation and did not respond to a request for comment from eJP. Its Canadian website is still accepting donations.
JNF declined to release the CRA document explaining the revocation, but said the decision was a result of “many vociferous antisemitic detractors who we believe have influenced the decision-making process in this matter.”
Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of Jewish Federations of Canada, said in a statement that the group would support JNF’s appeal.
“We believe JNF has a compelling case to make in light of a troubling experience with CRA, which is mandated to work with charities rather than adopt an adversarial approach,” Fogel said. “CIJA remains hopeful that JNF and CRA will ultimately identify a constructive resolution, permitting JNF to continue its important work ranging from relief from poverty to environmental reclamation.”
TRANSITIONS
Yehuda Setton to succeed Amira Ahronoviz as Jewish Agency CEO in October
Yehuda Setton, the COO and chief program officer of the Jewish Agency for Israel, was selected to serve as the organization’s next CEO, succeeding Amira Ahronoviz, who will step down in October after some six years in the role, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Top priorities: Setton told eJP that as he enters the role he will focus on advancing the organization’s role in the country’s reconstruction process, working with other groups and the Israeli government to create a “global resilience network” for all Jews and building up “Jewish cohesion” at a time of growing polarization within the Jewish people.
Time to rebuild: “[Jews are] looking now to the State of Israel and feel that they have a purpose,” Setton said, speaking over the phone while on a work trip abroad. “This is definitely a moment in time that people want to engage with the State of Israel. We need to harness the power of the Jewish people to rebuild the State of Israel. For the next five to seven years we will be in a deep rehabilitation process.”
No Jew left behind: In addition to boosting its role within Israel, Setton said he planned to build up the Jewish Agency as a unifying force for Jewish communities around the world. “We need to expand the network of mutual responsibility, create a global resilience network, [from which] no Jew will be left behind or disconnected,” said Setton. “The Jewish Agency is well-positioned to be in this specific role, to be the influencer of the Jewish world network,” he said, noting the group’s deep ties to the Jewish Federations of North America, Keren HaYesod, the World Zionist Organization and the State of Israel.
NOT UNIFORM BUT UNITED
Instead of red lines, let’s draw 12 paths
“As a Jewish educator, I am regularly asked to share Judaism’s perspective on the issues of the day. Recently, people have consistently asked me to teach what Judaism has to say about ‘red lines,’” writes Rabba Yaffa Epstein, senior scholar and educator-in-residence at The Jewish Education Project, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Biblical paradigms: “[W]e are all capable of creating divisive rhetoric or polarizing categorizations. Yet if we look to our most precious shared heritage, the Torah, we see that the Jewish people have never done well when we adopt an us vs. them attitude… It is only when we get to the last family in the book of Genesis, that of Joseph and his brothers, that the Torah branches out from a good vs. evil narrative to the possibility of multiple tribes and thus multiple perspectives. This same message continues when the Jewish people shift from a tribal family relationship to a national relationship. We do not suddenly become one nation without differences; rather, we maintain the idea that there are 12 separate and distinct tribes.”
Lessons for today: “I am not naïve. I understand that red lines will be drawn, and clear boundaries are necessary for a people to understand itself and its values. What is happening today, however, is that so much focus, so much energy and so much of the discourse revolves around identifying the ways in which we differ, feeding distrust and highlighting reasons to discount one another. What if we began instead with the reasons why it is imperative for us to find common ground and the windows to see into each other’s worlds?”
Worthy Reads
Help Newcomers Connect: Connecting new hires to the right people within an organization can kick-start their path to success, advises Julia Phelan in the Harvard Business Review. “A standard operating procedure for onboarding is to front-load new employees with presentations and written resources, such as handbooks, e-learning modules, or manuals. These can be helpful — but only to a point… New employees who haven’t had a chance to develop sufficient strategic relationships may struggle to integrate into your organization. They often don’t know who to turn to for relevant information, may not feel confident enough to contribute in meetings, may demonstrate a slower than expected learning curve, or show overall low levels of engagement. This isn’t just about cultivating office friendships (those are certainly valuable); it’s about helping employees engage in internal networking to cultivate connections with allies who can provide information, relevant resources, and support.” [HarvardBusinessReview]
It’s the Economy, Stupid: In The Wall Street Journal, Anat Guetta and Eliot Penn argue that not despite but because of the challenges Israel is facing, now is the time for foreign investments in the country’s firms. “Israel is tiny, surrounded by enemies and engaged in a protracted multifront war. Its conflict with the Palestinians seems inextricable. The United Nations and much of the media are immensely biased against the Jewish state, distorting public perception worldwide. Who would invest in Israeli companies today? We would…. Investing in Israel today may seem counterintuitive, but it is resoundingly attractive. The case for Israel starts with high-quality companies at low valuations and extends to social and environmental progress along with the advancement of regional prosperity. Our ultimate goal is for Israel’s success not only to benefit our investors but to bring peace, freedom and prosperity to all residents of the Middle East.” [WSJ]
Around the Web
The Israeli Defense Ministry’s rehabilitation department announced today that it has treated over 10,000 soldiers since Oct. 7. Of these, approximately 35% are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or other trauma-related disorders and another 37% sustained physical trauma to at least one of their limbs…
Fitch Ratings downgraded Israel’s credit rating, citing geopolitical risk factors, the war with Hamas and “political fractiousness”…
Trent Spoolstra, an assistant regional director at the Anti-Defamation League’s Chicago office, has been hired as the next director of the Louisville, Ky., Jewish Community Relations Council…
Town & Country reports on investor and philanthropist Stephen A. Schwarzman’s plan to convert his Gilded Age-era mansion into a public museum after his death…
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign selected Jerusalem-born Ilan Goldenberg, a Middle East policy expert, to serve as its Jewish outreach director…
The Good People Fund announced 75 grants to grassroots nonprofits in the United States and Israel…
The United Kingdom’s Jewish Family Centre is opening the country’s first “Jewish child contact center” in Golders Green, allowing Jewish parents who can only visit their children under supervision a place to do so…
A federal judge in California ordered UCLA to ensure Jewish students’ freedom of movement on campus and denounced the school’s response to anti-Israel campus protests, describing its acceptance of demonstrators’ blocking Jewish students from parts of campus as “so unimaginable and so abhorrent”; this is first time a court has ruled against a university in such a case…
The former Cornell University student who was arrested for making antisemitic death threats against the school’s Jewish community was sentenced to 21 months in prison…
Southwest Connecticut Jewish Federations have partnered with the Community Security Initiative, a program of UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, to improve security resources in the Jewish communities in the area…
Lynda Ben-Menashe was elected the national president of the National Council of Jewish Women Australia…
The Financial Times examines the feud between investor Marc Rowan and residents of Montauk, N.Y., over his purchase and management of the beloved local seafood spot Duryea’s Lobster Deck…
A group of Jewish synagogue leaders in Pittsburgh, joined by the city’s Jewish federation, filed a legal challenge to a proposed BDS referendum barring companies and groups from doing business with Israeli entities…
Comedy writer and producer Bob Tischler, who served as head writer on “Saturday Night Live” in its early years, died at 78…
Queenie Hallegua, the second-to-last Jewish resident of Jew Town in Kochi, India, and managing trustee of the city’s Paradesi Synagogue, died on Sunday at 89…
Aaron Fleck, an investor and prominent member of the Aspen, Colo., Jewish community, died last Friday at 103…
Pic of the Day
Thousands of Jews spent Monday night fasting and praying next to the Kotel, some even camping out in sleeping bags or prayer shawls on the flagstones, to mark Tisha B’Av, the national day of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and other calamities that have befallen the Jewish people.
Birthdays
Ukrainian-born actress, Mila Kunis…
American-born British novelist, biographer, journalist and Oscar-winning screenwriter, Frederic Michael Raphael… Former attorney general of New Jersey and chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson… Honorary president of the Hampton Synagogue and former board member of the UJA Federation of New York, Carol Levin… Historian and VP of alumni relations for MLB’s New York Mets, the press box at Citi Field is named in his honor, Jay Edward Horwitz… Member of the New York State Assembly since 2005, Charles D. Lavine… Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Ester R. Fuchs… Chairman of the department of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, Henry Brem, M.D…. U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina, he is the co-author of a book on the early Jews of Columbia, S.C., Judge Richard Mark Gergel… Turkish-born economist and professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Dani Rodrik… U.S. senator (R-TN) since 2021, Bill Hagerty… Home fragrance and décor guru, Harry Slatkin… Lecturer at Purdue University, Martin J. Sweet… Filmmaker and producer, she is the executive director of DOC NYC film festival in NYC, Raphaela Neihausen… Financial adviser at UBS Financial Services, Jeremy Scott Wynes… Professional tennis player for 15 years, Scott Lipsky… Director of Haifa University’s Ruderman Program for American Jewish Studies, David Barak-Gorodetsky… Adviser on the Trump campaign, Boris Epshteyn… Retired lacrosse player, he played for ten seasons in Major League Lacrosse and for Team Israel in 2018, Maxwell (Max) Oren Seibald… Principal at Marcus & Associates Executive Recruiters, Jacob Lefkowitz… Member of Knesset for Otzma Yehudit, he serves as the minister for the development of the periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, Yitzhak Shimon Wasserlauf… eJewishPhilanthropy opinion editor, Rachel Kohn… Ryan Smith… Dylan Cooper… Tim Carney…
