Your Daily Phil: Repair the World finishes a decade’s work in six years
Add EJP on GoogleGood Friday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we look at how mainstream Jewish groups rallied around New York City Comptroller Mark Levine after he backed off a campaign pledge to reinvest city pension dollars in Israel bonds, and report on Repair the World reaching 1 million acts of Jewish service. We feature an opinion piece by Anita Friedman spotlighting an effort to expand Holocaust education in California to encompass more about Jews than just the Holocaust and a piece by Rabbi Daniel Brenner about the importance of offering Jewish boys and young men healthy models of masculinity. Also in this issue: Raj Patel, Scott ShleiferandElena Shleifer and Jeffrey Kress.
Shabbat shalom!
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Israel Editor Justin Hayet and Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
Hebrew University will host the opening reception of its 89th Board of Governors meeting Saturday evening on the Edmond J. Safra campus in Jerusalem, with former hedge fund manager and philanthropist John Paulson as the guest of honor and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion also slated to attend.
Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund’s World Leadership Conference kicks off Sunday and runs through Thursday in the Galilee with about 100 leaders from 33 countries and Israeli President Isaac Herzog meeting northern residents and officials to plan the region’s recovery.
What You Should Know
A day after New York City Comptroller Mark Levine sparked criticism by backing off a campaign promise to reinvest the city’s pension dollars in State of Israel bonds, mainstream Jewish groups rallied around the historically pro-Israel Democrat — though sources said they expect a change in his investment policy in the months ahead, reports Will Bredderman for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Sources told JI that a rule change instituted by his predecessor, Brad Lander, which barred investment in multiyear bonds of the sort Israel makes available to New York City to buy — and not the allusions to domestic and geopolitical issues confronting Israel — was the reason why Levine had not made good on his pledge to recommit city pensions to Israeli treasuries.
Jewish community groups responded positively to the comptroller’s post, with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York praising his “thoughtful statement” and “his commitment to honoring his promises,” and UJA-Federation of New York thanking him for “this important clarifying statement and for the work you do on behalf of all New Yorkers.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff.
News
TONS OF TIKKUN
Repair the World marks 1 million acts of Jewish service
The acts of service piled up slowly, one at a time, starting in 2019 — cleaning up a park, helping kids after school — each time tying the hands-on work to a Jewish text. By the time stakeholders of the nonprofit Repair the World gathered on Tuesday night in Atlanta, the tens of thousands of volunteers that fuel the organization had completed a staggering 1 million acts of service and learning, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports. The goal, set six years ago, was expected to take 10 years. Repair achieved it four years early.
Remote control: In the past six years, Repair the World grew drastically: in 2019, the organization had 35 full-time staff; today it has 59. The budget increased from $6.2 million in 2020 to $15.5 million in 2027.Locations chosen for embedded employees are decided based on funder appetite, the readiness of organizations to increase service work and the potential audience in each location. Often, embedded partners start out by participating in national campaigns, such as the recent National Days of Jewish Service, which ran from Sept. 10 to Oct. 10. Funding for the new embedded employees was provided by the Samuels Family Foundation, the Russell Berrie Foundation and the Samueli Foundation.
Opinion
THE MORE YOU KNOW
California is rethinking Holocaust education. The nation should pay attention.
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Anita Friedman delves into the effort to improve Holocaust education in the largest public school system in the U.S. Friedman is the executive director of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, board president of the Koret Foundation and co-chair of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education.
“The Jewish community has invested heavily and for decades in museums, curricula, teacher institutes, films, books, survivor testimony and educational programs. These efforts have had an important impact — but even the finest curriculum changes little if most teachers never receive it, if schools lack the resources to use it or if no one measures whether it is reaching students and deepening understanding. A statewide strategy helps answer a question our community has not always asked rigorously enough: What actually works?”
MODEL BEHAVIOR
Have we given up on addressing sexual assault on campus? A Jewish educator’s perspective
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Daniel Brenner, vice president of education for Moving Traditions, reflects on recent news items about sexual assault on campus, including one involving a Jewish fraternity, and the opportunity and obligation Jewish educators have to support the moral development of boys and young men.
“To break this cycle, teen boys and young men often need to hear from other men about alternative ways to embrace masculinity. That is why we have trained over 300 men to lead Shevet in their communities and have continued to train mentors even as #MeToo-related grant money and communal support for this type of gender-aware educational approach has pretty much dried up.”
Worthy Reads
Sounding the Alarm: In The Wall Street Journal, historian Tevi Troy writes that pervasive antisemitism Promises, Promises: In The Atlantic, Suleiman Maswadeh, the senior U.S. correspondent for Israel’s Channel 13 News, posits that Gadi Eisenkot, who is leading in the polls in the race for Israeli prime minister, can’t assemble a 61-seat majority without the Haredi or Arab parties he has vowed to shun, meaning Israel’s next government will likely rest on a broken campaign pledge. “One thing is already clear: Whoever becomes Israel’s next prime minister will have to break a promise or two to get there. It may be the hardest decision of that person’s career. Unless that person is Netanyahu, whose political career is on the verge of ending: He will do anything, and that means anything, to save it.”
Bad Harvest: In the Financial Times, Raj Patel, a professor at the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs, argues that foundations owe the public an honest reckoning when their initiatives fall short, pointing to the Gates Foundation’s continued funding of an African farming initiative that has absorbed more than $1.5 billion without reducing hunger. “Philanthropy is most defensible when it enlarges public possibility, not when private judgment displaces democratic choice. Philanthropists should recognise that the rent due on their moral high ground is accountability.”
Conflicted Constituents: In MS NOW, publisher of the newsletter “Truth and Consequences” and podcast host Michael A. Cohen examines why many lifelong Democrats among Michigan Jews are agonizing over whether to back Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, with some crossing over to Republican Mike Rogers. “The soul-searching moment for Michigan Jews is that they are being put in this position at all. And the tragedy is that the party they’ve called home for most of their lives no longer feels so welcoming.”
Major Gifts
Scott Shleifer and Elena Shleifer donated $20 million to the University of Pennsylvania to provide undergraduates with financial aid and scholarships…
Transitions
Jewish Theological Seminary Provost Jeffrey Kress announced he will end his role at the end of the academic year and return to his role as the Dr. Bernard Heller professor of Jewish education…
Rebecca Shiner started a new role as vice president of planning operations at UJA Federation of Greater Toronto…
Nadav Benjo joined MAOZ as its director of business development and strategic partnerships…
American Friends of Magen David Adom appointed Anat Barber as its director of strategic philanthropy in the Northeast region…
Brian J. Hertz announced he joined the Israel Policy Forum as deputy director of itsyoung leadershipnetwork of Jewish and foreign policy professionals…
Word on the Street
The Washington Post reports on a leaked list of the donors footing the bill for President Donald Trump’s $333 million White House ballroom, including Jewish donors such as Miriam Adelson’s Adelson Family Foundation ($25 million) and the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation ($20.3 million), along with Paul Singer, Jeff Yass and Stephen Schwarzman who each donated $5 million…
Beit Halochem opened a post-traumatic stress disorder treatment center in Ashdod, Israel, funded in part by £13 million ($17.35 million) from British donors, which will serve about 10,000 wounded veterans…
A record 35 women could be sworn into Israel’s next Knesset, largely due to centrist parties’ gender quotas, even as no viable political party has a female leader…
Harvard’s endowment posted a $100 million surplus for fiscal 2026, cutting staff to offset lost federal research money while its endowment returned 27.1% and donors gave a record $684 million in immediately spendable gifts…
Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport is poised to buy McDonald’s Israel franchise’s 230 branches for roughly 1 billion shekels ($320 million)…
The MacArthur Foundation is asking prospective grantees whether their advocacy opposes Trump administration positions as part of a broader tightening of foundation vetting amid fears of federal retaliation..
A Hamburg court jailed two men for plotting, on Iranian intelligence orders, to kill Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and pro-Israel German politician Volker Beck; one received an 8 ½-year sentence, the other a 4 ½-year sentence…
A Nazi-looted painting by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky, which was returned to its heirs in 2023, sold for almost $42 million at an auction in London on Wednesday…
Jerusalem News Syndicate reports Paraguay announced that it will pursue full membership in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and adopt its IHRA working definition of antisemitism, making it the eighth country in Latin America to do so…d a Jewish man in Surfside, Fla., cursed the victim and his wife and threatened to kill them…
Pic of the Day
Supporters of the Israeli nonprofit Shalva, which supports people with disabilities, attend a poker fundraising event for the group last night in New York City.
Birthdays
Sue Bird, retired basketball player for the Seattle Storm of the Women’s National Basketball Association, she has five Olympic gold medals, turns 46 on Friday.
FRIDAY
Shimon Mizrahi, Israeli attorney, chairman of Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball, turns 87
Alfred Altschul, retired CFO of Amtrak, Midway Airlines and Airlines Reporting Corporation, turns 87
Morton A. Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), turns 79
David Zucker, film director, producer, screenwriter and creator of “The Naked Gun” franchise, turns 79
Andrew S. Zimbalist, professor emeritus of economics at Smith College and author of 28 books, turns 79
Marvin C. Feuer, vice president for strategy at AIPAC
Elinor Lipman, novelist, short story writer and essayist, turns 76
Shmuel Slavin, chairman of Sela Capital Real Estate Ltd., he previously served as the director-general of Israel’s Ministry of Finance, turns 73
Jeff Narod, executive director of Clark University Hillel
David Linsky, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 1999, turns 69
Daniel Benjamin, president of the American Academy in Berlin, he was the coordinator for counterterrorism during the Obama administration, turns 65
Marc Levy, bestselling French novelist, one of whose books was made into Steven Spielberg’s “Just like Heaven,” turns 65
Howard David Krein, otolaryngologist who also specializes in facial and reconstructive surgery, turns 60
Scott Tobin, senior advisor at Battery Ventures’ Israel’s office
Adam Fetterman, attorney in North Palm Beach, Fla., he served in the Florida House of Representatives, turns 56
Gil Kenan, filmmaker, best known for directing “Monster House” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” turns 50
Kala Savage, actor best known for her television roles in “Undressed,” “Santa Barbara” and “8 Simple Rules,” turns 48
Brandon Jared Perlman, founder and CEO at Social Studies, Inc., he is also the founder of The Gramlist
Boyd Melson, three-time U.S. Army light-middleweight boxing champion, he boxed with a Star of David on his trunks, turns 45
Jason Langsner, vice president of data at The Atlantic
Margalit Rosenthal, West Coast regional director at Foundation for Jewish Camp
Avi Fink, senior vice president for financial planning and analysis at Vibrant Emotional Health
Devora Kaye, senior director of communications at Mark43
Sam Ginsberg, business analyst at LWF Group and project manager at Aqualinq
SATURDAY
Jody Gottfried Arnhold, chair emeritus of the board of directors of NYC’s 92nd Street Y, turns 83
Ronald Murray Gould, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1999, turns 80
Michael L. Tolkin, filmmaker and novelist, turns 76
Robert Neil Chatigny, U.S. district judge for the District of Connecticut since 1994, he took senior status in 2017, turns 75
Lawrence Bender, movie and television producer, his films have won eight Academy Awards, turns 69
Peggy Futerman, Rochester, N.Y., resident
Jeffrey Shallit, number theorist and professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, turns 69
Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff, shareholder in Becker & Poliakoff, she has been a member of both houses of the Florida legislature, turns 67
Rabbi Mayer Twersky, rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University, he is a son of Professor Isadore Twersky and a grandson of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, he also serves as the rebbe of the Talne Hasidic dynasty, turns 66
Andrew Straus, Oakland, Calif.-based former Northwest regional director of J Street, turns 66
Jeremy C. Stein, professor of economics at Harvard, he served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, turns 66
Shemsi Prinzivalli, N.J.-based licensed professional counselor
Josh Newman, former member of the California State Senate, turns 62
Cliff Asness, hedge fund manager, he is the co-founder of AQR Capital Management, turns 60
David Halbfinger, Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times, turns 58
Michael Granoff, founder of Maniv Investments in 1997 and Maniv Mobility (Israel’s first venture capital fund dedicated exclusively to the new mobility future), turns 58
Martin Heinrich, U.S. senator (D-NM), turns 55
Kenneth Baer, CEO and founder of Crosscut Strategies, a D.C.-based public affairs firm
Shari B. Diamond, rheumatologist and director of the rehabilitation division of Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates in the D.C. area
Ariel Levy, author and staff writer at The New Yorker, turns 52
Michael Beckerman, head of public policy for the Americas at TikTok, turns 48
Jessica Goldin, CEO of Wellbel, turns 47
Nicholas Britell, Emmy Award-winning film and television music composer, turns 46
Tomer Kagan, chief strategy officer of Relationship Labs, turns 43
Katharine Nasielski, D.C.-based director of federal affairs for New York University
Caroline Mehl, co-founder and executive director at the Constructive Dialogue Institute
Dalya Attar, member of the Maryland State Senate following seven years in the House of Delegates, turns 36
Adam Greenspan, staff software engineer at Zocdoc
SUNDAY
Irwin M. Jacobs, co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, turns 93
Marius Job Cohen, former mayor of Amsterdam and leader of the Dutch Labour Party, turns 79
Victor A. Friedman, linguist, he is a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, turns 77
Marc Ginsberg, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, the first Jewish ambassador to an Arab country, he is president of the Coalition for a Safer Web, turns 76
Max S. Maizels, physician and political activist in Henrico County, Va., turns 76
Joshua B. Sinai, professor of practice in intelligence and global security studies at Capitol Technology University
Marc Widelock, Bakersfield, Calif.-based attorney focused on adoption and reproductive law
Chuck Lorre, television director, writer, producer, composer and actor, turns 74
Bob Weinstein, film producer and founder of Watch This Entertainment, turns 72
Jonathan Tasini, president of the Economic Future Group, a consulting firm, turns 70
Eugene Yelchin, award-winning illustrator and writer of books for children, turns 70
Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during almost all of the Biden administration, turns 69
Leon Calvin Murray, retired NFL running back, he writes of his conversion in From Rose Bowl to Rashi: My Unique Journey to Judaism, turns 68
Ben Caspit, Israeli journalist, political commentator and author of two books highly critical of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, turns 66
Andrew Getraer, former longtime director at Rutgers Hillel, followed by a year at the Harvard Hillel, he is now an adjunct professor at Sy Syms School of Business
David Fisher, founder of Coalesce Advisors, he is a former president at Birthright Israel Foundation
Steven Phillip Weitzman, professor and director of Jewish studies at the University of Pennsylvania, turns 61
David M. Price, weather anchor for NBC 4 New York, turns 60
Rachel Nichols, former ESPN television host, sports reporter and anchor, turns 53
Amy Lynn Webb, CEO of Future Today Strategy Group, she is an adjunct professor of strategic foresight at NYU, turns 52
Maryna Asauliuk, fashion designer, stylist and art director, turns 46
Suzanne Gershowitz, senior vice president and COO at the American Enterprise Institute
Graham Moore, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and author, turns 45
Julia Ioffe, founding partner and Washington correspondent for Puck News, turns 44
Annie Karni, congressional correspondent for The New York Times
Ayal Kellman, support team leader at Moovit
Idan Yaniv, popular Israeli singer, turns 40
Emma Green, staff writer at The New Yorker
