Good Wednesday morning!

For Israel’s Independence Day, which begins there in several hours, the usual activities are planned along with some new ones — official ceremonies, unofficial gatherings, street dancing, a collective firestorm of barbecues at homes and parks across the country. There will be corresponding celebrations in Jewish communities across the Diaspora and even in the online gaming world, where Lost Tribe Esports, a Jewish group for teens and young adults, will be hosting a Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration on the platform Twitch with a popular Israeli gamer named Snacksss.

But two major Jewish groups in the U.S. are looking beyond this year — to Israel’s 75th birthday in 2023. Though predicting anything in Israel a year out is famously a fool’s errand, the American Zionist Movement and Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations are beginning to prepare for its next Independence Day — no matter who is prime minister or where COVID-19 stands — and they want to make sure American Jews coordinate their celebrations in a way that’s accessible to the spectrum of those who want to celebrate the state.

The initiative’s goal is to coordinate between Jewish umbrella groups —  JCCs, Jewish federations, religious denominations, youth groups and so forth — to make sure events don’t conflict. The goal is to create a range of options that “micro-target” different segments of Jews, in Conference of Presidents CEO William Daroff’s words — a nod to the reality that American Jewish opinion on Israel, even among the vast majority who feel an affinity with the Jewish state, is increasingly diverse. 

“Part of organizing nationally is understanding that old models may not work,” Daroff told eJewishPhilanthropy. “In the past, there might have been one event at Madison Square Garden… As a community we have a more nuanced understanding of where the community is and how the community operates, and also more flexibility in terms of allowing for more creative ways to engage.”

There will be a master calendar, shared branding and a speakers’ bureau as well. AZM Executive Director Herbert Block told eJP that one big difference between the 75th anniversary and Israel’s 50th birthday in 1998 is “the ability to reach people through many platforms.”

Beyond that, Block and Daroff did not provide specific examples of what programming might look like. The website at present is relatively bare-bones; Block and Daroff stressed that the initiative has just launched, and that they’re hoping for a big lineup of celebrations, come what may. Block recalled that when Israel marked its 40th Independence Day, it was amid the First Intifada.

“A lot of the celebratory mood was tempered a little bit because of what was going on in Israel,” he said. “We hope we’ll be in a better situation this time.”

TECH EXIT

Many of the most valuable Israeli tech companies have major offices in the U.S., study finds

SMITH COLLECTION/GADO/GETTY IMAGES

For decades, supporters of Israel in the United States have highlighted the Jewish state’s tech industry as an example of the country punching above its weight and benefiting the world. Now, on the eve of Israel’s Independence Day, a new study shows that a large number of Israel’s most valuable tech companies are seeking a home in a new location: the United States, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Ben Sales.

A financial boost: Research by the United States-Israel Business Alliance has found that there are 80 Israeli tech unicorns, privately owned companies valued at $1 billion or more, with global or regional headquarters in the United States. The study counts companies with at least one Israeli founder. The 80 companies appear to be the vast majority of all Israeli unicorns. “What we’re really seeing here is the next generation of Israeli tech founders descending on U.S. cities,” Aaron Kaplowitz, president of the business alliance, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “This infrastructure helps new companies raise [money] much more quickly.”

Brain drain: Israeli officials may not be as excited to see valuable companies decamp across the Atlantic. A 2019 study by the Shoresh Institution, an Israeli think tank, found that Israel had lower-than-average labor productivity, low wages and expensive cities. As of 2017, 5.8% of Israelis with a bachelor’s degree, and 11% of those with a Ph.D., had been living abroad for at least three years. The emigration rates “should ring alarm bells in all of the corridors that determine Israel’s national priorities,” that study said.

Read the full piece here.

CAMPUS POLITICIZATION

Why are Jewish and Israel studies programs different from all other studies programs?

Public domain

“There are a growing number of people worried about the narrowing of methodological and political perspectives in the academy, especially in the humanities. This is true for Jewish studies as well,” writes Scott A. Shay, co-founder and chairman of Signature Bank of New York, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Basis of the problem: “As Jonathan Sarna wrote in the Sapir Journal (July 2021), the goal of the early Jewish and Israel studies programs was the objective study of Jewish history and civilization. Many scholars today would claim that even if previous generations were committed to objectivity, they failed to live up to this claim as they had all kinds of unrecognized biases. Today most Jewish and Israel studies scholars would argue that their new revisions are based on the questions and sources previous scholars missed. One could have imagined that such questions would have led to more vigorous debates and more pluralistic syllabi, as well as a range of faculty distinguished by their politics and methodology. But this is not what happened, though it is important to understand what the basis of the problem is and what it is not.”

Faculty position: “The core of the problem is not simply that scholars have become increasingly politically active and almost exclusively on one side of a party line. In May 2021 there was only one petition signed by over 200 scholars that expressed an opinion on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Neither the petition itself nor the fact that scholars expressed critical views of Israel are the fatal problem. I and many people in the Jewish community disagree with these positions, but there is no question of the right of faculty to take such a stand. Theoretically even a highly and uniformly politicized faculty could do a good job teaching Jewish and Israel studies.”

Read the full piece here.

JUST DO IT

The fount of overflowing love

iStock

“Years ago, I was taking a private tai chi lesson. It was a freezing, late winter afternoon in New York City’s Riverside Park. Like many Jews of my generation, I was attracted to practices of the East. Martial arts have been a lifelong pursuit… The mystical exercise taught to me that cold afternoon by my teacher, Stephe, was called the ‘Wellfont of Overflowing Love.’ The idea was that rather than meet a threatening opponent in kind, with reptilian aggression, one should shower unconditional love on the would-be assailant,” writes Rabbi Andrew Hahn, known as the Kirtan Rabbi, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Moment in time: “‘Set yourself in a stance, and I want you to attack me and get me,’ Stephe instructed. I fully intended to spring on him and hit him. But, just as I was about to move, I felt a warm stream of air pierce the cold. I could not move. I could not attack. We both started to laugh. ‘How did you do… that?’ Stephe answered, ‘Just imagine with all your heart that you are someone who represents unconditional love, such as Jesus or the Buddha — or, since you’re a rabbi, someone from Judaism.’”

The Baal Shem Tov: “Years later, I realized that I could have thought of the Baal Shem Tov… Perhaps the major inside question asked in Hasidic circles is: How did the advent of the Baal Shem Tov change the world? How is all of history, the fabric of being itself, different since the Besht appeared?”

Read the full piece here.

Worthy Reads

Philanthropy and Fast Fashion: The production of clothing has had a big impact on climate change, but “with its ability to take risks and move quickly, philanthropy can lead the way to carbon-neutral clothing,” Lewis Perkins writes in an article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy: “The most significant portion of carbon emissions [in the clothing industry] — 96 percent — happens in the clothing-manufacturing supply chain. This involves the farms that cultivate the raw materials, the factories that process them, and the facilities that go on to produce the actual garments. But many of these suppliers are small to medium-size enterprises that are typically deemed too risky for traditional sources of capital. That poses challenges to attaining funding to address climate issues. Most clothing brands and retailers also cannot take on the risk of investing in early-stage climate-solution efforts. That’s because fashion brands produce clothing from a shared third-party supply chain of farms and factories, making it difficult for one business to directly invest in environmental upgrades… Philanthropy, however, is particularly well suited for that role. By funding this work now, grant makers can demonstrate what’s possible and then attract financing from commercial lenders and private equity.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]

Roblox Bucks for Mental Health: The creator of the online game and social media platform Roblox, David Baszucki, has decided to turn his philanthropy toward mental health causes, particularly treatment of bipolar disorder, which affects 45 million people, Chase Peterson-Withorn writes in Forbes:  “To millions of tweens, Baszucki is better known as his avatar, ‘Builderman.’ He built Roblox into an addictive combination video game and social-media site that rivals YouTube and TikTok for engaging children. The $1.9 billion (revenues) business provides tools for kids to make and sell their own games, and sells a virtual currency, called Robux, that can be spent on games and digital trinkets, like avatars and in-game items. So far the 59-year-old Baszucki has publicly shifted little of his gaming fortune to charity–his known donations represent just a fraction of his estimated $2.1 billion net worth. But the relative newcomer to the world of philanthropy, who has not signed The Giving Pledge, has said both to Bloomberg and in regulatory filings that he will donate the proceeds from his Roblox stock awards to charity. And, thanks to his 9% stake in the company, there could be billions more to come.” [Forbes]

Pic of the Day

RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

Israelis stand in silence in Jerusalem this morning, as sirens sound for two minutes to mark Remembrance Day for fallen Israeli soldiers.