Beit Hatfutsot, literally “the House of the Diasporas,” opened on Tel Aviv University’s campus in 1978, with a focus on the past, on how and where Jews lived before the founding of the State of Israel. In 2012, the museum’s board hired Dan Tadmor as CEO to spearhead a total overhaul of the institution, changing its name to Anu Museum of the Jewish People, renovating the building and updating its ethos, from one primarily fixed on the past to one that highlights the present, not only how Jews once lived around the world but how they live there today. The museum reopened its doors in 2020, and now, five years later, Oded Revivi — who reached his 100th day in office today — is tasked with developing a strategic vision to take the institution into the future.

To understand his vision for the museum, and how it will grapple with the immediate challenges facing the institution amid diminished Israel travel, as well as larger issues facing the Jewish people, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross sat down with Revivi for a wide-ranging interview in his office in the basement of the museum.

JAG: Anu tries to be more than just a museum that you come and walk through and look at the exhibits. What’s the goal for it moving forward?

OR: For the last 10 years, the vision was to rebuild the museum. And that’s why really the board said, “Now that we’ve completed the rebuilding, the rebranding of the museum, let’s see what’s the next stage.” So for that we’re actually in a process with the team, with the chairwoman of the board, Irina Nevzlin, to try and figure out in writing what is the new vision. And when that will be completed, then it will also be able to be presented. And that’s why this is a long answer to maybe a short question. I can tell you that the guidelines that I received from the board is to write a new vision. I can say to you that the guidelines that I received were that they would like to see Anu becoming an even more dominant place.

Read the full interview here.

Like many Israelis, Asaf Bar Natan woke up from the blare of air-raid sirens in the early morning of Oct. 7 2023. Bar Natan, then a special forces commander in the reserves living in Yaffo, had a sense that something major was taking place. But at 8:29 that morning, between fielding messages from his unit and preparing his gear before heading to the battlefield, he sat down to complete his application to Rice University’s MBA program, due days later. “I sent them an email, saying ‘I’m sorry there is an emergency. This is my application. I know this is not perfect, but it is what it is. I’m going to the battlefield. And from now, my wife will be in touch with you regarding everything,’” Bar Natan told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim. Now, Bar Natan is the first recipient of a full scholarship to Rice University through the Gibborim (Heroes) Scholarship — a Rice University-managed $1 million endowment fund to support Israeli veterans through Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business.

Mutually beneficial: Jay Zeidman, co-founder and managing partner of Altitude Ventures and the scholarship’s creator, said he hopes that the scholarship will not only help the Israeli student but the Houston Jewish community as well. “It’s not just the scholarship. It’s the network. With Asaf, we’re helping him with internships, and having him for Shabbat dinners,” said Zeidman. “He’s plugged into the community. He’s been speaking publicly to communities around the city, like about what he experienced in Gaza and what his troops went through. This is more than just a scholarship. This is, you know, really integrating somebody into Houston’s community.”

Read the full report here.

President Donald Trump’s move to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate who was an organizer of last year’s anti-Israel encampment on campus, escalates Trump’s long-standing commitment to deport foreign students who support terrorism, which he made a priority in a January executive order on combating antisemitism. While Khalil, a 30-year-old who grew up in Syria but is of Palestinian descent, first came to the U.S. on a student visa, he now has a green card. As a lawful permanent legal resident, Khalil has a stronger claim to due process protections than he would as a foreign national in the U.S. on a time-bound student visa — which has raised questions for some legal experts about the legality of Trump’s move to arrest and deport Khalil, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. 

Constitutional questions: “I consider myself on the right, and I wouldn’t have any objection to student visa action,” said Paul Rosenzweig, a former Republican Department of Homeland Security official and a national security lawyer. “Maybe this guy shouldn’t have gotten a green card in the first instance. But he’s got one now, and that means he has rights.” Central to the issue is a debate over whether Khalil’s activism, as one of the encampment’s lead negotiators and an advocate for divestment from Israel, should be considered free speech, protected by the First Amendment, or whether it should be viewed as support for terrorism.

Read the full story here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.

“[I]n 1999, I was fortunate to join the first-ever Birthright Israel trip,” writes Elias Saratovsky, president and CEO of the Birthright Israel Foundation, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “The experience set me on a lifelong path of Jewish meaning, purpose and connection. Today, I have the privilege of paying it forward by sharing the miracle of Birthright Israel with the next generation.”

Ongoing ripple effects: “My story is not unique – far from it. Over 25 years, Birthright Israel has impacted 900,000 participants and created ripple effects on their friends, family members and communities. How do we know? From the beginning, we’ve been committed to rigorous evaluation by independent researchers. In 2009, the Cohen Center at Brandeis University launched the Jewish Futures Project, a longitudinal study that measures Birthright Israel’s long-term impact on our participants, comparing them to their peers who applied for a Birthright Israel program but never participated. The results demonstrate that Birthright Israel is shaping the Jewish world in ways we had only imagined.”

Read the full piece here.

“NCSY’s Jewish Student Union (JSU) facilitates extracurricular Jewish culture clubs at over 400 public and non-sectarian private middle schools and high schools across the United States, now working with 20,000 students, a number that has increased by over 40% since Oct. 7, 2023,” writes Rabbi Micah Greenland, international director of NCSY, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “More than half of JSU students have reported experiencing or witnessing antisemitic bullying, threats, intimidation, or physical violence in the past 17 months.” 

Protect, support, educate and connect: “The rise of antisemitism in middle and high schools is a serious issue that requires urgent and sustained action. By learning from the experiences highlighted in the [Anti-Defamation League]’s report on universities, schools can implement practical strategies to protect Jewish students and foster more inclusive environments. With clear policies and enforcement, educational initiatives and student empowerment, strong reporting systems and community collaboration, we can make meaningful strides toward eradicating antisemitism in our schools and ensuring that all students feel safe and valued.”

Read the full piece here.