Your Daily Phil: Mandel Foundation’s matching $90M for Cleveland day schools
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s upcoming trip to New York City, on a $90 million matching grant by the Mandel Foundation to support Cleveland Jewish day schools and how Yad Vashem is preparing for a time without living Holocaust survivors. We feature an opinion piece by Ami Moyal encouraging funders to invest in the human capital behind Israel’s high-tech and defense sectors, and one by Shuki Taylor about using the power of stories to help others process their Oct. 7 experiences — and in processing our own. Also in this newsletter: Alex Ryvchin, Mark J. Pincus and Sergio DellaPergola.
What We’re Watching
The Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy is hosting a webinar about the expected trends in the field for the coming year.
New York City’s Park Avenue Synagogue will host a launch event this evening for a book of poetry by Menachem Z. Rosensaft, Burning Psalms: Confronting Adonai after Auschwitz, in which he will be interviewed onstage by the congregation’s rabbi, Elliot Cosgrove.
What You Should Know
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is heading to New York City this weekend for a two-day visit, in which he will speak at the United Nations’ memorial service for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Before the U.N. event, the president is also scheduled to attend the dedication of the Altneu synagogue’s new building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Sunday evening.
Herzog’s office said that while in New York City he will also meet with bereaved families who lost loved ones in the Oct. 7 attacks or during the past 15 months of war. His office did not identify the specific families whom he would be meeting.
Herzog is currently in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, where he spoke onstage yesterday, describing how the Oct. 7 terror attacks have shaken his faith in the two-state solution.
The Israeli president — who technically holds a ceremonial position but has become a key player in the country’s foreign policy — will also meet with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres for the first time since the Oct. 7 attacks and with additional international officials. “The meeting will focus on advancing international efforts to secure the release of hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” Herzog’s office said.
MAJOR GIFTS
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Supporting Foundation donates $90 million to strengthen Cleveland’s day schools
The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Supporting Foundation has awarded a $90 million matching grant that is meant to boost the Jewish day school system in its home city of Cleveland, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim. “Part of Mort Mandel’s philosophy was investing in leaders,” Rachel Lappen, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s chief development officer, told eJP. “The Mandel Foundation was ready to help make this investment, knowing that that significant amount of money leveraged as a match would really create an opportunity for our community to step up. Even in our early conversations with community donors, we’ve seen some of the largest commitments that any of the families have ever made.”
Growing interest: Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, hailed the foundation’s investment, saying it reflects a growing interest in Jewish day schools nationwide. “We think that these kinds of investments will have major impacts on excellence, on affordability and ultimately in growing enrollment in the schools,” Bernstein told eJP.
INT’L HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
As 80th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation approaches, Yad Vashem prepares for the ‘day after’ survivors
As the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Russian army is commemorated on Jan. 27, the responsibility to tell the Shoah story looms even heavier as fewer survivors are left to bear witness to the Nazi atrocities, Yad Vashem Chair Dani Dayan told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky, in an interview focused on the new steps to expand the museum’s reach in a time of rampant Holocaust denialism. Dayan will lead a large Israeli delegation including former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor and chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, to the central commemoration, which will take place on Monday at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.
The importance of being earnest: “I think that the key word we should base ourselves on is authenticity: authentic testimonies, authentic stories, authentic artifacts, authentic photographs and not try to build a new world even as tempting as it may be with the modern technology and the new tools that AI [provides],” Dayan said. “On the other hand, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use AI…we should be very careful in [how] and what we use it.” Still, he said, as the “crossroad of generations” is reached, he is convinced that denialists and distortionists will begin having a field day and in order to combat that, it is vital to continue growing the body of over 200 million pages of documentation in Yad Vashem’s holdings with ever more authentic artifacts, photos and documents, he said.
HUMAN CAPITAL
Securing Israel’s future by supporting the people behind its technology
“Israel’s ‘secret weapon’ — and the resource that needs more philanthropic support in this moment — is the human capital driving the country’s technology-driven economy,” writes Ami Moyal, president of Afeka Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
A critical gap: “According to a survey of 73 Jewish organizations conducted by CCS Fundraising and released in September, 64% of organizations reported an increase in crisis-related funding since Oct. 7, 2023. The primary concerns for donors were identified as ‘supporting Israel’ (24%) and ‘combating antisemitism’ (23%), with other priorities including ensuring the security of Jewish institutions, addressing campus antisemitism and anti-Zionism, enriching Jewish life and Jewish youth education. The words ‘economy,’ ‘technology,’ and ‘higher education’ are nowhere to be found in this survey’s findings — but they should be.”
PART OF THE PROCESS
Healing widespread trauma with narrative theory
“In times of trauma, our stories often feel fragmented, overwhelming or paralyzed, leaving people with a sense of powerlessness,” writes Shuki Taylor, founder and CEO of M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Narrative theory helps reconstruct those stories, providing a powerful framework for processing trauma and regaining a sense of control and hope. It emphasizes that the way we understand and structure our personal narratives shapes how we perceive ourselves, our relationships and our ability to move forward.”
We need this, too: “For Jewish educators operating in a post-Oct. 7 world, embracing tools like narrative theory not only helps our learners process their trauma but also equips us to navigate our own. Doing this self-reflective work is essential; we cannot help others heal if we have not begun to heal ourselves. This understanding led to the creation of Yated, a two-and-a-half-day program by M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education. Yated integrates psychology, education and storytelling to empower educators and their learners to process their Oct. 7 experiences and regain a sense of agency over their stories. With concrete tools and skills, Yated focuses on cultivating resilience and helping participants find stability in uncertain times. Adi Yagel, a school principal under the Israeli Ministry of Education in Kfar Adumim, described it as transformative, saying: ‘Every Israeli citizen who experienced the traumas of Oct. 7 deserves a moment to pause their hectic routines, process, acknowledge and embrace what they’ve been through and who they’ve become as a result.’”
Worthy Reads
Forget Restoration: In The Jerusalem Post, Batsheva Shulman reflects on what comes next for Israelis as the cease-fire holds and more hostages are returned. “Without diminishing the joy of the hostage families or addressing the controversy over the high price paid for their release, the hostages and their family members have a long recovery ahead of them. So does everyone affected by this war: the bereaved family members, survivors, victims, soldiers, and even citizens. No one can go back to normal life as if nothing happened. Many will require years of therapy and treatments, probably for a lifetime. Although we are a resilient people, we have been shaken to our core. We are a nation of amputees — literally and figuratively — with the loss of a loved one as painful as the loss of a limb. With so much suffering in our nation, how can we even begin to heal or restore our society? Is ‘restore’ even appropriate? It implies that things will go back to the way they were. But life won’t simply return to the way it was. This is neither possible nor a good idea. It’s precisely what we don’t want. To move forward, we have to examine life before the war. Pre-Oct. 7, our society was highly polarized, as large-scale protests and social unrest rattled the nation in response to the contentious judicial reform proposals, with both sides going head-to-head. We were so at war against each other, caught up in our fury and demands, that we completely missed the signs of the ominous attack.… Instead of ‘restoring’ our nation, let’s repair and refine it. Let those who have fallen not die in vain, as we continue volunteering, donating funds, engaging in advocacy, joining the army, or even being a shoulder to lean on. Let’s do better.” [JPost]
Hate Rising Down Under: In The Free Press, Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry whose former home was targeted in an antisemitic attack, reflects on the government’s response to the rise in antisemitism in Australia. “The common refrain is that these attacks are ‘un-Australian,’ as if they run contrary to who we are as a country. I’d like to believe that. After all, my parents were Soviet refuseniks, who arrived in Australia from Kyiv in the late ’80s, when I was 4 years old. I grew up being told stories about what it is like to live in a place where Jews were treated with suspicion, where it was not safe to even speak about being Jewish… But the Jews I speak to today don’t recognize our country anymore. The children of Holocaust survivors have told me they’re glad their parents aren’t alive to see what Australia has become. Members of my community have beefed up the security around their homes, putting bars on windows, fearing an attack. Some are nervous about wearing a Star of David necklace in public. Others wonder if they should take down the mezuzahs from their front doors. They debate removing their kids from Jewish schools, or at least telling them to change out of their uniforms before walking home. My youngest daughter is now 5, but until recently, I was picking her up from a preschool that has an armed guard. No one wants to live this way.” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
The controversy over Elon Musk’s hand gesture continues: Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), the new co-chair of the House bipartisan antisemitism task force, said that the movement “can only be interpreted as a Sieg Heil salute that is synonymous with Nazi support for Hitler”…
Philanthropist Ronald S. Lauder defended Musk, calling the allegation “absurd” and saying that Musk is a “great friend of the Jewish people”…
The Chronicle of Philanthropy examines how donor-advised fund providers, which have already altered the philanthropy playing field, could further change giving habits with their offerings made available at banks and as common as savings and retirement accounts — to the consternation of critics who worry that DAFs could hurt nonprofits…
Weeks after the presidential election, a Dunham+Company’s Donor Confidence Survey revealed a surge in economic confidence among donors, though their giving hasn’t fully reflected this optimism. According to the survey, 39% of donors expected economic improvement within a year, up from 24% in January and the highest optimism since 2021. More donors also indicated plans to maintain or increase their support, suggesting a promising outlook for giving…
Mark J. Pincus, founder of the social gaming company Zynga, donated $5 million to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. The grant is the largest contribution yet to the business school’s Generative AI Labs and will support the launch of the Pincus Artificial Intelligence Lab for Organizational Innovation…
The Trump administration ordered the closure of diversity, equity and inclusion departments within federal agencies…
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations renewed its call for the U.S. to push for the extradition from Jordan of Ahlam Tamimi over her role in the 2001 bombing of a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem that killed 16 people, including three Americans; Tamimi has resided in Jordan since being released in the 2011 deal to free Gilad Shalit…
In Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron said that Israel’s regional relationships will increase stability and promote growth…
An advisory committee at Johns Hopkins University dismissed a proposal to call for a Board of Trustees vote on divesting university investments from companies with ties to Israel…
A Columbia University course on modern Israeli history taught by visiting Israeli professor Avi Shilon was disrupted yesterday by anti-Israel protesters. University Interim President Katrina Armstrong said the university would “move quickly to investigate and address” the act. She said antisemitism, discrimination, harassment, or intimidation against the university community would “not be tolerated.” More demonstrations also took place elsewhere on the campus…
Harvard University settled two Title VI lawsuits in federal court in Boston by agreeing to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and agreeing to publish annual reports on its response to violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination and harassment based on national origin, for five years. It also agreed to clarify on its website that Jewish and Israeli students are protected under the university’s existing Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying Policies…
The Kohelet Forum, the Israel-based think tank that shaped the Israeli government’s contentious judicial overhaul program, was removed from a list of nonprofits approved for tax benefits by the Knesset Finance Committee in light of allegations of prohibited “partisan political activity”…
The historic Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery owned by the West London Synagogue will undergo restoration after receiving a £190,731 ($235,869) grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund…
The Times of Israel spotlights the second cohort of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue’s Amplify Israel Rabbinic Fellowship, which visited Israel earlier this month…
Sergio DellaPergola, chairman of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research’s European Demography Unit, looks at Israel’s changing demography with its population nearing 10 million and how it has been affected by Oct. 7 as Israel faces a negative migration balance for the first time since the 1980s…
Prominent labor leader Jay Mazur died on Jan. 14 at 92…
Pic of the Day
Volunteers from Repair the World Bay Area prepare and serve hot meals at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco over the weekend. They were joined by members of the local Jewish federation and Diller Teen fellows, and led in service-learning by Bay Area service corps alumni.
Birthdays
Jewish hockey player, he was a first-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2014, Josh Ho-Sang…
Professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, she is regarded as a founder of cancer immunology, Eva Klein… Co-founder in 1965 of the Japanese video game company Sega, David M. Rosen… Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry in 2000, he is a professor emeritus at the University of California Santa Barbara, Alan J. Heeger… Los Angeles resident, Ruth Lynn Kopelove Sobel… Managing director and founder of Brave Warrior Advisors, an investment advisory firm, he is the son of Hall of Fame baseball star Hank Greenberg, Glenn H. Greenberg… Rabbi who has served in New York, New Jersey and California, Mark Samuel Hurvitz… Brooklyn-born conductor, who during his tenure as artistic director of the Kraków Philharmonic became friends with Pope John Paul II for whom he later conducted multiple Papal concerts, Gilbert Levine… Senior political law counsel and consultant at Akin Gump, Kenneth A. Gross… Founder and executive director of the Brooklyn-based Bridge Multicultural and Advocacy Project, Mark Meyer Appel… Publisher at Chicago Public Square, Charlie Meyerson… Partner in the Cleveland law firm of Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis, Lisa Arlyn Lowe… Former director-general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, he is a retired major general in the IDF, Ehud “Udi” Adam… Member of the Knesset for Likud, Katrin (Keti) Shitrit-Peretz… Justice on the Supreme Court of Israel since 2012, Noam Sohlberg… Michael S. Marquis… President of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Gideon Taylor… American-Israeli composer, pianist and music producer, Roy Zu-Arets… Actor best known for his role as Harvey Specter on the USA Network series “Suits,” Gabriel Macht… Play-by-play broadcaster for the Washington Commanders, Bram Weinstein… Rabbi at the Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, N.Y., Joel Mark Levenson… Director of the Chabad House in Kathmandu, Nepal, Rabbi Yechezkel “Chezki” Lifshitz… News editor at Mishpacha Magazine, Yochonon Donn… Acting project director for the International Rescue Committee, Heidi Rosbe… Managing director at SKDKnickerbocker, Kendra Barkoff Lamy… Financial services editor at Politico, Zachary Warmbrodt… Houston native and philanthropist, Serena Hines Steinberg… Music composer and winner of two Academy Awards and two Grammys, Justin Hurwitz… Senior advisor at Blue Laurel Advisors and of counsel at Grossman Young & Hammond, Mark Donig… New York City-based managing director at Politico, Jesse Shapiro… Tax reporter for the Washington Post, she is also a professional balloon twister and was a 2018 contestant on “Jeopardy!”, Julie Zauzmer Weil… Israeli singer known by the mononym Netta, she was the winner of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal, Netta Barzilai… Actress, best known for her role as Nicky Reagan-Boyle in the CBS series Blue Bloods, Sami Gayle Klitzman… Associate in the Chicago office of Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, Matthew Lustbader…
