Your Daily Phil: Noa Tishby rolls into college campuses on ‘Jewish pride’ tour
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we preview eJewishPhilanthropy’s upcoming World Zionist Congress election debate. We report on Noa Tishby’s new nonprofit, Eighteen, which is bringing Oct. 7 survivors to U.S. audiences, on Jewish and Israeli humanitarian aid groups’ responses to the recent earthquake in Myanmar, and on an antisemitism conference at UCLA sponsored in part by the Anti-Defamation League and Academic Engagement Network, which featured anti-Zionist speakers. We feature a response by Benji Davis and Ari Y. Kelman to Noam Weissman’s recent opinion piece on Israel education, and Eliana Light shares her approach to teaching Jewish liturgy and prayer practice. Also in this newsletter: Zahava Feldstein, Judah M. Cohen and Irene Butter.
What We’re Watching
PJ Library is continuing its annual international conference today in Springfield, Mass. This year’s event, which kicked off on Monday, focuses on the power of stories as “mirrors and windows” and features speakers from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Hillel International, Upstart, Brandeis University and other organizations.
The National Council of Jewish Women, Hadassah and parts of the Reform and Conservative movements are rallying today outside of the Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments regarding the Trump administration’s recent cuts to health programs.
Rabbi Marc Schneier of Hamptons Synagogue is hosting former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running in the New York City mayoral race, for a conversation today on “Combatting antisemitism and anti-Israel extremism in New York” with senior congregational rabbis.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is hosting back-to-back sit-downs this evening with Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and County Controller Corey O’Connor. O’Connor is mounting a Democratic primary challenge against Gainey in the city’s mayoral election.
The European Commission is holding its second annual Civil Society Forum on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life in Brussels.
The Israeli volunteering organization Yahel and Repair the World will host a summit tomorrow morning in Bat Yam, Israel, outside of Tel Aviv, focused on “advancing the field of International Service in Israel.”
What You Should Know
Voting for the American representatives of the World Zionist Congress kicked off last month in what is shaping up to be the largest election in its history both in terms of the number of voters and the number of slates: 22. There are right-wing slates, progressive ones, some that represent specific demographic groups (American Israelis, Russian-speakers or Haredim), others that represent specific religious denominations, as well as new slates and slates that have been running for decades.
Whom should you vote for? What can those slates do once they are in power? Why should you vote at all?
To help answer some of those questions, next week eJewishPhilanthropy will host an election debate, in coordination with the American Zionist Movement, featuring 17 of the 22 slates (all were invited but some declined to participate). Due to the large number of slates running, the debate will be held over three evenings — Sunday, April 6; Monday, April 7; and Tuesday, April 8 — at 6:30 p.m. ET on Zoom. To maintain impartiality, the lineup for each night was chosen randomly. We strongly encourage you to watch all three.
The debate will be organized in four stages: First, the representatives of the slates will be able to introduce themselves with an opening statement. Then, all of the slates will answer the same two questions. In the third stage, each candidate will be asked a question specifically about their slate. Finally, the candidates will deliver a closing statement. The debate will be moderated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross.
What should we ask the candidates? You tell us. When you register to watch the events, you can write in a question — one that can be posed to all candidates or one directed toward a specific slate.
‘VOICES OF OCTOBER 7TH’
Noa Tishby launches national campus tour with her new nonprofit, Eighteen, bringing Oct. 7 survivors to U.S.
As Jewish students continue to feel the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on campus, Israeli activist Noa Tishby’s nonprofit media company, Eighteen, is bringing survivors of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attacks to campuses across the country. The six-stop tour — “Voices of October 7th” — is a partnership between Eighteen, which is producing the event, and Hillel International. The national tour also serves as a launch point for Eighteen, a nonprofit started last year by Tishby, Israel’s former special antisemitism envoy, to “combat antisemitism, defend Israel and inspire Jewish pride,” reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim.
An intergenerational bridge: Tishby, a leading figure in the Jewish social media sphere in terms of both following and reach, has operated in the space for years. With Eighteen, she wants to be the bridge between the younger generation of Jews and legacy Jewish institutions. With data and knowledge of social media algorithms, Tishby and her team can act nimbly and quickly, she said, responding to events before even the first wave of press releases land in Jewish journalists’ inboxes. “We are the speedboat to the legacy organization’s oil tankers. The world today needs quick reactions, quick responses, thinking on your feet and working sound bites,” Tishby told eJP. “For a certain age and below, there is no such thing as social media. It’s just media. For funders and organizations, that’s a very important distinction that needs to be made. It’s not this external thing. It’s the only thing that matters for our young generation.”
HUMANITARIAN AID
Jewish and Israeli relief organizations on the ground in Myanmar after quake
Jewish and Israeli relief organizations are responding to a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, which dealt a severe blow to the war-torn country’s infrastructure over the weekend, killing over 2,000 and injuring thousands more. Fatalities are likely to climb significantly as the dust settles and more aid reaches the area, according to Avital Sandler-Loeff, executive director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s disaster relief and international development unit. “The magnitude of this disaster is huge,” Sandler-Loeff told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim. “People are lying on the streets in the rubble. There are no refugee camps yet and no tents, nowhere for them to sleep. We hope that things will get better because in about two weeks, the rainy season is about to start.”
‘Tectonic changes’: Dyonna Ginsburg, the CEO of Olam — a network of 78 Jewish and Israeli aid and international development organizations — said that a number of organizations in her network, including JDC, are responding to the natural disaster. “Because of the sheer size of the crisis, it’s one of the first times in many years that the local government has actually asked for international aid,” said Shachar Zahavi, the founding director of the relief nonprofit SmartAid. According to Ginsburg, relief efforts in Myanmar have been complicated by government cuts to foreign aid in both the United States and the United Kingdom, which are shaking the sector. “There are tectonic changes that are happening in the larger international development and humanitarian aid ecosystem,” said Ginsburg. “It’s definitely impacting the larger sector, and we’re very much in the thick of it. There are large philanthropic shifts that are currently underway, and the dust has not yet settled.”
CONFERENCE CONTROVERSY
ADL, AEN sponsor UCLA antisemitism conference featuring speakers tied to anti-Zionist groups
The Anti-Defamation League and Academic Engagement Network helped sponsor a conference on combating antisemitism in law at UCLA last week featuring speakers affiliated with anti-Zionist organizations, whom attendees said used the event — the fourth annual Law vs. Antisemitism conference, which was held this year at UCLA for two days beginning on March 23 — to promote anti-Israel and antisemitism rhetoric. The ADL said afterward that it was “pleased to co-sponsor the conference,” while the head of AEN said she would have pulled out of the event had she known of the speakers’ list, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Blood libel or differing views?: Participants included University of Toronto law professor Mohammed Fadel; Thomas Harvey, a civil rights lawyer representing Faculty for Justice in Palestine; and Ben Lorber, a former campus coordinator for Jewish Voice for Peace. One panel was moderated by Duquesne University law professor Rona Kaufman, who said that the discussion became charged when Fadel “defined Zionism as an ideology of Jewish ethnic supremacy,” which she said equated it with white supremacy and Nazism.“For me, this conference is a place to go to for people who recognize that there are aspects of antisemitism spread about the Jewish people and are working to combat it, not a platform to spread the very blood libel [I am] working to deconstruct,” she said. The conference’s co-founder, Diane Klein, an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law and Loyola Law School, defended her selection of speakers. Klein told JI that Fadel approached her earlier this year and advocated that events such as the conference “needed to include perspectives from people who he described as ‘victims of Zionism.’”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
READERS RESPOND
Vibes are not enough: Israel education needs research
“In yesterday’s op-ed in eJewishPhilanthropy (“Israel education: What’s next?” April 1) OpenDor’s Noam Weissman celebrated the growth and evolution of the field’s commitment to complexity. While he quotes important scholarship, his piece actually reflects a long-standing tendency in Israel education to choose vibes over research,” write Benji Davis, Israel Institute teaching and research fellow at George Mason University, and Ari Y. Kelman, the Jim Joseph Professor of Education and Jewish Studies in the Stanford Graduate School of Education, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
The answers we seek: “Despite some important studies on vision and teaching, we still know surprisingly little about how Israel education actually functions in the lives of its participants. How do young Jews apply what they’ve learned in Jewish settings when they face real-world challenges — on college campuses, in conversations with friends or when scrolling social media? What helps them feel equipped, and what leaves them feeling adrift? What happens when students who spent years in Jewish day schools, attended summer camps and youth groups or went on a Birthright Israel or RootOne trip find themselves confronted with anti-Israel protests or rising antisemitism on campus? Do they feel prepared to respond? What responses do they think are warranted? What do they understand about Israel? Do they draw on their Israel education? Do they question it? Do they even remember it? We don’t have enough answers. And we should.”
‘TEFILLAHSOPHY’ FOR OUR TIMES
Tefillah as TORAH: Tools of Resilience and Hope
“Research shows that a strong spiritual core is key to surviving and thriving in our increasingly fraught and disconnected world, for all of us. Tefillah, in form and content, is a powerful pathway for spiritual core building,” writes Eliana Light, founder and head “tefillahsopher” of the Light Lab, a center for transformative tefillah education, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Let’s get spiritual: “One helpful metaphor is imagining tefillah as a spiritual gym. At the gym, each piece of equipment targets a particular muscle group. While it’s important to learn how to properly use each machine, the ultimate goal is not ‘to get really good at using this exercise machine.’ The ultimate goal is to build strength so it impacts your life positively outside the gym… How can we make tefillah into this exercise of spiritual core building? The first (and key) step is inviting pray-ers to do the exercise that each piece of liturgy lays out. This is the core of how I lead tefillah and central to our educator training… Being able to say the words is important, and so is knowing what they mean; but none of that is a substitute for actually doing the spiritual work the liturgy is inviting us to do.”
Worthy Reads
Definitions Differ: In Moment Magazine, Zahava Feldstein is one of four young American Jewish adults who tell Jennifer Bardi about what being pro-Israel means to them. (Feldstein left her Ph.D. program at Stanford University last year and is now director at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.) “I’m not sure what pro-Israel means. Pro the country? Pro its policies? Pro the idea of a Jewish state? It’s an interesting choice not to use the word Zionist instead. I grew up a rabbi’s daughter attending Jewish day school, BBYO and Jewish summer camp, then teaching at a Hebrew school. So, deeply invested in the Zionist Jewish-American educational program. And then I went to Scripps College in California, where the worst thing you could be was a Zionist. As an American studies major, I was learning a framework for understanding the world where everything is about systems of power, where the residue of imperialism, colonialism and racism covers every facet of our society. Under those paradigms, it made sense that no Western country had the ‘right’ to exist. But what my classmates and professors demanded of me, as a Jewish student, was more than that. They needed me to denounce not just the right of a Jewish state to exist but the need for a Jewish state to exist… So to me, being pro-Israel sounds like a response, an antagonism to being anti-Israel. But if someone asks me if I’m a Zionist, I also hesitate, because everyone’s definitions are different. I never said I was pro-Israel to my Stanford classmates. In fact, I went out of my way to show that I was trying to be in solidarity with them and that I was trying to have nuanced conversations, considering complexity and counterfactual information. But even bringing scholarship or Jewish identity into the classroom made me a target for their anti-Zionist activism.” [Moment]
Self-Imposed Slow-Mo: In an opinion piece for Inside Philanthropy, David Callahan explores a question that bothered him while working on a recent news article on foundation giving. “The longer I hang around the world of foundations, the more I’m struck by their unrealized potential. On the one hand, few institutions in U.S. society can match the freedom of action enjoyed by foundations, which don’t have to answer to shareholders or voters or donors or, really, anyone. On the other, these institutions aren’t nearly as dynamic as you might expect given their wide latitude to take risks. They tend to be cautious and aren’t known for pivoting rapidly as conditions change. What explains the chasm between the potential and practice of institutional philanthropy? … Ultimately, my best answer to that question is that foundations behave like most other institutions despite their seeming uniqueness. While they don’t have to grapple with powerful external stakeholders, they do have internal constituencies with often competing agendas, along with long-established pathways of work. This can make it hard to shift gears dramatically, even when the stakes are high. As a rule, all institutions tend to keep doing what they’re doing — unless or until some shock forces them to change.” [InsidePhilanthropy]
Temporary Relief: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Kate Bernyk makes the case for interim leaders for nonprofits searching for new leadership, not as a stopgap measure but as a tool for improving organizations. “Let’s face it — leadership transitions can make or break a nonprofit. And yet too often, organizations stumble through them, scrambling to replace key leaders while keeping everything from falling apart. It’s a recipe for burnout, missed opportunities, and mission drift. But a key solution can keep organizations stable through the chaos: hiring an interim leader… Increased stability is particularly important right now, as nonprofits struggle with burnout, staffing shortages, and declining interest in leadership positions. Various pressures from the Trump administration — from federal funding cuts to heightened regulatory scrutiny — will only exacerbate such problems. These headwinds underscore the need for consistent leadership to navigate turbulent times… An interim leader brought in specifically for the transition period is well-suited to that stabilizing role, while also providing a fresh perspective… Instead of holding its breath and hoping for the best, nonprofits should embrace interim leadership as an essential tool rather than a stopgap measure.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Word on the Street
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza that will include a “large-scale evacuation of Gaza’s population from combat zones” as well as the seizure of “large areas that will be incorporated into Israel’s security zone”…
A new report from Giving USA and the fundraising firm Dunham+Company reveals that Millennial donors are increasingly becoming an essential source for charities, contributing 18% more to charity than Gen Xers. In 2024, Millennials gave an average of $1,617 annually, compared to $1,371 from Gen X. This marks a growing gap, as Millennials were already giving more in 2021…
The Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments yesterday in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, a case to determine if American victims of Palestinian terrorism can sue the PLO and Palestinian Authority for their payments to terrorists and their families…
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne, awarded a $5 million endowment to Dr. Chi-Yuan Hsu, chief of the division of nephrology at University of California San Francisco Health…
Judah M. Cohen has been named provost of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, while Karen E. H. Skinazi has been appointed director of the Louchheim School of Judaic Studies, HUC-JIR’s undergraduate program at the University of Southern California…
The Wall Street Journal examines the efforts of hostage families to draw White House attention to their efforts to secure the release of their loved ones, utilizing relationships with high-profile individuals including Dr. Miriam Adelson and commentator Ben Shapiro…
National Council of Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz spoke on Tuesday to the new House Jewish Caucus, discussing reproductive rights; Katz was the group’s first guest speaker since the caucus was formed…
Irene Butter — a child Holocaust survivor, educator, peace activist and author — has been awarded the 2025 Anne Frank Award for Human Dignity and Tolerance…
David Piegaro, a Jewish pro-Israel Princeton University senior accused of assault during an anti-Israel campus demonstration last year and the only student from the school to face criminal charges related to the protests, was found not guilty after a two-day trial…
The Capital Jewish Museum is collecting and displaying artifacts highlighting Jewish federal employees as federal layoffs stir job insecurity in Washington. The exhibit also explores how Jewish employees integrated their faith into daily work, such as participating in agency minyans…
UnMaskHateNY, a coalition of Black and Jewish advocacy groups, launched an advertising campaign backing New York legislation that increases penalties for crimes committed by masked offenders. The campaign seeks to counter “misinformation” which claims that the bill is a “mask ban,” emphasizing that it only applies to criminal acts committed while wearing a mask…
The New York Post spotlights the work of Chicago-based Jewish nonprofit Secure Community Network…
Police in Aurora, Colo., are investigating a case of vandalism at the Ohr Avner Community Center after windows were reportedly broken on March 31. According to a spokesperson the Aurora Police’s Bias-Motivated Crimes detective had been informed, following standard procedure…
Australian parliament member Andrew Wallace, who has spoken forcefully against an uptick of antisemitic incidents in Australia, called on Australians to “stand up, speak up, and show up for the Jewish community” after his campaign signs were defaced with swastikas over the past weekend…
The Israeli Interior Ministry introduced stricter citizenship criteria for conversions outside the state-sanctioned Orthodox system in Israel, sidestepping a High Court ruling from four years ago recognizing such conversions. Immigrant advocates charge that the requirements are nearly impossible to meet, while the ministry says they prevent foreigners from exploiting conversions for immigration benefits…
Pic of the Day
Some 400 fellows of Birthright Israel’s Excel program from 10 countries gather in Battery Park City in Manhattan last weekend for the fellowship’s Excelerate25 Summit.
Speakers at the summer — whose theme was “Building Bridges. Building Business. Building the Jewish Future.” — included former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides; Shaun Maguire, a partner at the Sequoia Capital VC firm; Gal Bukshpan, an Excel fellow from 2021 and Oct. 7 survivor; podcaster and business leader Dan Senor; and Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal.
Birthdays
Ice hockey goaltender for the New York Sirens of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, Abigail “Abbey” Levy…
Olympian, holder of the world record in the 50-mile walk, which has stood since 1972, he is a concentration camp survivor via the Kastner train and a professor emeritus at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Shaul Paul Ladany… National security advisor under President Clinton, then executive director of UNICEF, he converted to Judaism in 2005, William Anthony Kirsopp “Tony” Lake… Writer best known for being the first public editor of The New York Times and the inventor of Rotisserie League Baseball, Daniel Okrent… Israeli businessman, with a portfolio in mining, energy, diamonds and real estate, Beny Steinmetz… Deputy U.S. attorney general (and later acting AG) during the first Trump administration, now counsel at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Jeffrey A. Rosen… Academy Award-winning film director, screenwriter and producer, David Frankel… Publisher, president and chief executive of Simon & Schuster, Jonathan Karp… New York Supreme Court justice and the first Hasidic woman to hold public office in the United States, she is the founder of Ezras Nashim, the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in NYC, Rachel “Ruchie” Freier … On-air ice hockey analyst for NESN during pregame, postgame and intermissions of the Boston Bruins, Billy Jaffe… Singer, songwriter, guitarist and composer, he is a founding member of the Jewish rock band Moshav, Duvid Swirsky… Producer and screenwriter for the stage, television and film, best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series “Breaking In” and “The Goldbergs,” Adam F. Goldberg… Attorney and strategic counsel at Medtronic, Rhona Shwaid… Actress, producer and singer, she and her husband, Guy Nattiv, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2019, Jaime Ray Newman… Reporter for The New York Times covering NYC politics and government, Dana Rubinstein… Partner at DLA Piper, during the Biden administration he served as chief counsel for China trade enforcement in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Brian Janovitz… Ph.D. candidate at NYU, he was a law clerk on the Israeli Supreme Court and a corporate attorney at the NYC office of Dechert LLP, Isaac Roszler… Chief field officer at the Israel on Campus Coalition, Elisabeth Rosenfeld… Rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Evan Lerner Traylor… Executive director of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival, Magda Strehlau… Miriam Rosen… Judith Berman…
