Your Daily Phil: LGBT Jews want more than a Pride Shabbat, JFNA survey shows
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine a new Jewish Federations of North America study about the needs of LGBTQ+ Jews. We also explore how Israel’s upcoming elections could affect the increasingly strained relationship between Israel and American Jewry and consider how the Department of Education‘s transferring of most civil rights investigations to the Justice Department could affect Jewish students’ cases. We feature an opinion piece by Jonah Halper about harnessing AI in the service of donor relations, not as a replacement for it; and a piece by Jaimie Krass highlights investments nonprofits can make to show staff that wellness and safety are serious priorities. Also in this issue: Barry Finestone, Abby Stamelman Hocky and Amir Tibon.
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
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is convening a daylong summit for more than 50 leading litigators and legal experts today at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington to address the legal challenges of defending Jewish students and employees.
UJA-Federation of New York and Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan are hosting an event this evening with cookbook author Jake Cohen in conversation with former UJA President Jeff Schoenfeld about Jewish identity and food in a post-Oct. 7 world.
Also in New York, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan is holding a ticker tape celebration for kids to celebrate the New York Knicks’ NBA championship win over the weekend. Amy Schumer and Jessica Seinfeld are set to serve as the parade’s grand marshals.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JAY DEITCHER
Last June, the Jewish Federations of North America held its first LGBTQ+ Pride mission to Israel in nearly a decade, with almost 100 participants making the trek, 15 of whom were visiting Israel for the first time. Most of the attendees didn’t have a relationship with their local federation, but yearned for one.
This realization prompted a study, the 2026 LGBTQ+ Jewish Engagement Report, the first of its kind, released last week by JFNA, which looked at how the Jewish community can better connect to and support LGBTQ+ Jews. This includes programming geared specifically for the community, but it shouldn’t end there, the survey found.
“It’s nice to have a Pride Shabbat, but they’re hungry to see the engagement year-round and not just limited to one month,” Nate Looney, JFNA’s director of safety and belonging, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “The Pride Shabbat gets them in the door, but it doesn’t retain them; what keeps them coming back is small-group interactions.”
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
CAMPAIGN CONUNDRUM
How the Israel-Diaspora relationship is the major issue not on the ballot in the upcoming Israeli elections
The bill to dissolve Israel’s Knesset passed its first reading earlier this month with 106 lawmakers in favor and none against, setting in motion a process that could move national elections up from Oct. 27 to as early as Sept. 8. Seemingly on the ballot is something that extends far beyond Israel’s borders: the high-stakes relationship between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, particularly American Jewry, reports Rachel Gutman for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Causes and symptoms: To some, a change in Israel’s leadership is a necessary first step to addressing the rifts between the Jewish state and American Jewry. “If this government gets voted out, there’s a chance to get the younger generation back,” veteran Jewish communal figure Jeffrey R. Solomon told eJP. To others, however, this is mistaking the symptoms for the cause. “There’s a bigger crisis here that doesn’t depend on the government. There are significant ideological and value gaps between the majority of the Jewish public in Israel and the majority of the Jewish public in the American Diaspora,” said Ariel Moav of the Shalom Hartman Institute.
TRANSFERRING RESPONSIBILITIES
Education Department to hand civil rights investigations to Justice Department
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will transfer many of the responsibilities of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, the division that investigates civil rights violations at American schools and universities, to the Justice Department, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
What this means: The move marks a major step in the White House’s efforts to dismantle the Education Department and significantly reduce or distribute its work. The move sparked criticism from the left, which sees it weakening civil rights protections, and praise from more conservative voices.
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
Opinion
NO SUBSTITUTE
Consider the soul of donor relationships
“AI can help a fundraiser review giving history, summarize prior interactions, identify likely interests and prepare thoughtful questions before a donor meeting. A fundraiser who walks into a conversation informed, attentive and prepared is honoring the donor’s time. But preparation is not a substitute for a relationship,” writes Jonah Halper, founder of Altruicity and author of Magnetic Mission: A Fundraiser’s Guide to Finding Donors Who Share Your True North, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
For example: “Personalization is: ‘Dear Sarah, because of your generous support of our scholarship campaign last year, here is another scholarship appeal…’ Relationship is: ‘Sarah, last time we spoke, you told me your grandparents risked everything so their children could receive a Jewish education. I thought of that when I met a family this week who is making sacrifices for the same reason…’”
PRIORITY CARE
Invest for success: How our organization avoids professional burnout
“In a powerful op-ed last year calling upon the Jewish communal sector to respond to the impending crisis of widespread professional burnout, Barry Finestone wrote: ‘We ask people to work in a storm that’s battering all of us from every angle. If we don’t start protecting and replenishing them now, there won’t be enough of them left to rebuild whatever comes next,’” writes Jaimie Krass, president and CEO of Keshet, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Proof in the numbers: “Looking back, especially at the past year and a half, I do not want to imagine what might have happened if we [at Keshet] had not invested in our team’s well-being as a top priority. The real danger we might have experienced. The talent we would have lost. The setbacks our work would have suffered. Instead, I get to marvel at what this investment made possible.”
Worthy Reads
Trust Before Treaties: In the U.K.’s Jewish News, Amnon Be’eri-Sulitzeanu of the Abraham Initiatives argues that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and building a shared Jewish-Arab society within Israel are inseparable goals. “Political agreements without social trust are fragile. Shared society initiatives without a political arrangements are limited in what they can achieve. Peacebuilding cannot be outsourced to diplomats only, nor can coexistence be reduced to local projects disconnected from larger realities.” [JewishNews]
Bagpipes and Baseball: In The Boston Globe, Barry Finestone reflects on his two worlds colliding as soccer fans from his native Scotland descended on Fenway Park in Boston in his adopted United States. “Watching Scots apply football energy to a baseball game is like bringing bagpipes to a chess match. It shouldn’t work, but it did. Immigration does strange things to your identity. You never stop being from Glasgow, but you’re also shaped by the place where you raised your family, by your wife, and the kids who call you Dad. Most days, those identities live side by side quietly. At Fenway, they crashed into each other in the best way possible.” [BostonGlobe]
Betting on Baltimore: In the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Alex Daniels details how Baltimore’s failed $100 million fund for Black-led nonprofits pushed CLLCTIVLY’s Jamye Wooten toward small donors and community-driven funding. “[Baltimore nonprofits] are off the radar of many foundations and wealthy donors who live in Baltimore’s suburbs. ‘The nonprofit sector in Baltimore is just supremely weak,’ he says, ‘and philanthropy is a big reason why it is weak.’ Black-led groups in many places across the country face similar challenges to those in Baltimore. They have long been excluded from philanthropy and little effort has been made to reach out to them.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Major Gifts
The family of former NFL star Aldon Smith, who died suddenly, at 36, hours after volunteering at a homeless charity, donated his brain to Boston University‘s CTE Center to be studied while lawyers investigate the cause of death…
Transitions
Former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is launching the Dermer Consulting Group, a Jerusalem-based strategic advisory firm focusing on the U.S., Israel and the Middle East, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss has learned…
Teach CA, the California branch of Teach Coalition, has appointed Neuriel Shore as its new executive director…
Abby Stamelman Hocky has retired after 22 years leading Interfaith Philadelphia as its executive director and founder…
Ohr Torah Stone hired Yaakov Ribner as its next director of development and Rabbi Avi Fried as chief development officer of North America as part of a broader expansion of the organization’s fundraising team…
Word on the Street
Israeli journalist Amir Tibon won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for The Gates of Gaza, his firsthand account of surviving the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz with his family and his father’s dramatic rescue effort, Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports…
The Youngstown Area Jewish Federation will receive $200,000 to upgrade its food-pantry operations from a new Ohio capital budget signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, which in total includes $2.3 million in capital funding for Jewish organizations in the state…
The Wall Street Journal’s “Tech News Briefing” podcast explores how upcoming AI-related stock debuts could direct major new sums toward charitable causes…
Toronto Police linked at least 28 shootings, including the U.S. Consulate attack, to “gun-for-hire” networks that pay young people through encrypted apps to carry out and film attacks…
The Times of Israel examines the recent sale of a 100-year-old stone villa in Jerusalem’s upscale Talbieh neighborhood that was previously owned by philanthropist Charles Bronfman…
On her podcast, “Unholy,” Yonit Levi interviews Nir Bar Dea, CEO of Bridgewater, about his Israeli Air Force service, life as an Israeli in New York since Oct 7, and his praise for Israel’s younger generation as its greatest asset…
The Dan David Prize awarded nine historians and archaeologists $300,000 each for research spanning Balkan violence, medieval time, Inca roads, transgender history and Romani genocide memory…
Salesforce has acquired AI customer service company Fin, previously Intercom, for roughly $3.6 billion…
Rabbi Jonathan Cohen, longtime assistant director of admissions for Yeshiva University’s Israel admissions team, died this week after a battle with cancer…
Bennett Aaron, Philadelphia trusts and estates attorney and longtime Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia president, died at 92…
Alvin Libin, Calgary Flames co-owner and philanthropist who funded the Libin Cardiovascular Institute and led the Calgary Jewish Community Council, died at 95…
Pic of the Day
Two combat-wounded members of the Brothers for Life community speak at the organization’s 18th anniversary gathering last night at Rishon LeZion’s Live Park in central Israel, which brought together over 3,000 wounded members for the Brothers for Life community ranging from soldiers, their families, partners and funders from around the world. The organization’s activities and fundraising has grown dramatically since Oct. 7, rising from roughly $6 million annually before the war to $20 million in each of its last two reported tax years (2023 and 2024).
“In Hebrew, the number 18 carries a meaning: chai – life,” Rabbi Chaim Levine, co-founder and Seattle chapter president, said in a statement. “For eighteen years, that has been our commitment, our mission, and our promise to every brother and sister wounded in the line of duty. To stand beside them. To walk with them. To choose life.”
Birthdays
Former member of the U.S. Ski Team’s alpine program, he competed for the USA in both the 2014 (Sochi) and 2018 (PyeongChang) Winter Olympics, Jared Goldberg turns 35…
Diplomat and attorney, under secretary of state for international security affairs in the Carter administration, former longtime U.N. special representative, Matthew Nimetz turns 87… Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, professor at Georgetown and UC Berkeley, he is married to former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, George Akerlof turns 86… One of the world’s bestselling singer-songwriters over the course of seven decades, born Barry Alan Pincus, Barry Manilow turns 83… Former member of the Knesset for the Zionist Union and Labor party, Eitan Broshi turns 76… Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission during the Obama administration, Jonathan David (“Jon”) Leibowitz turns 68… Deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration during the first two years of the Biden administration, Stephanie Pollack turns 66… President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors until earlier this year, Aaron Dan Peskin turns 62… Singer and composer, a pioneer of the Turkish and Arab music genres in Israel, Ofer Yoel Levy turns 62… Fashion designer, daughter of Reva Schapira, Tory Burch turns 60… Active in interfaith peace initiatives between Judaism and Islam and in encounters for Jews with Eastern religions, Rabbi Yakov Meir Nagen (born Genack) turns 59… Founder and chairman of Shavei Israel, Michael Freund turns 58… British historian, columnist and musician, Dominic Green, Ph.D. turns 56… Comedian, actor, director, writer and producer, Michael Showalter turns 56… International human rights attorney who serves as managing director of the law firm Perseus Strategies, Jared Matthew Genser turns 54… Screenwriter, television producer, director and voice actor, Matthew Ian Senreich turns 52… Advocacy, philanthropic and political counsel and founding partner at LAVA Strategies, David Elliot Horwich… Senior vice president for the economic program at Third Way, a center-left think tank advancing a pro-growth economic agenda, Gabe Horwitz… Chief philanthropy officer of the Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Federation of Broward County (Fla.), Keith Mark Goldmann… VP of government affairs for the Conservation Lands Foundation, David Eric Feinman… Former rabbi of the Elmora Hills Minyan in Union County, N.J., now an LCSW therapist in private practice, Rabbi Michael Bleicher… NYC-based senior editor for The Hollywood Reporter, Alexander Weprin… Professional surfer and musician, his family owns Banzai Bagels on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Makua Rothman turns 42… Founder and executive director of the Zioness Movement, designed to empower progressive Zionists, Amanda Berman… Director of national outreach for the East at the New Israel Fund, Alexander Willick… Award-winning college football and basketball analyst for NBC Sports and SiriusXM, Nicole Auerbach… Senior art director at Business Insider, Rebecca Zisser… Shortstop for Team Israel at the 2020 Olympics, Scott Burcham turns 33… Actor known for her roles in the CBS series “Fam,” the Netflix series “Grand Army,” the HBO series “I Love LA” and the film “Marty Supreme,” Odessa Zion Segall Adlon turns 26… D.C.-based freelance foreign media consultant, she is also a real estate agent, Mounira Al Hmoud… center fielder for the San Francisco Giants, Harrison Bader turns 32…
