Your Daily Phil: Report gives Jewish groups failing grade on disability inclusion, despite best intentions
Add EJP on GoogleGood Wednesday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine a new study of Jewish organizations’ inclusion of people with disabilities by the nonprofit Matan. We report on a new endowment for a Yeshiva University national scholarship program for Jewish high schools, and on comments by a top Justice Department official defending Tucker Carlson’s platforming of neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes. We feature an opinion piece by Shai Assulin with a personal message in honor of International Day of Persons with Disabilities and one by Itamar Hayun about his grassroots effort to help fellow IDF reservists find affordable homes. Also in this issue: Samuel J. Abrams, Sarah Hurwitz and Carrie Lipton.
What We’re Watching
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is hosting its annual Lox and Legislators event in Rockville, Md., this morning. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Democratic Reps. April McClain Delaney and Glenn Ivey are slated to speak.
In New York, Israel Policy Forum is honoring Bob Elman and Bob Sugarman this afternoon at the group’s annual gala. The event will also feature a discussion with Ambassador Michael Ratney, Elisa Ewers and Rachel Brandenburg on the future of U.S. leadership in the Middle East.
SKDK is hosting a small gathering today in Washington with the parents of slain Israeli Americans Omer Neutra and Itay Chen and their supporters as the effort to return the hostages winds down.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH EJP’S JAY DEITCHER
A new study by the disability inclusion nonprofit Matan released today — the International Day of Persons with Disabilities — found that Jewish organizations are lagging behind secular ones in making their spaces accessible for people with disabilities, despite intentions to be welcoming.
The study, “Closing the Inclusion Gap,” which was conducted from 2018-2025 through surveys, interviews and focus groups of 15 communities across the U.S., showed that inclusion is “a very solvable problem,” Meredith Polsky, Matan’s executive director, told eJewishPhilanthropy, but it’s a problem that if left festering will cost the Jewish community not only Jews with disabilities, but the families who care for them. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 American adults have at least one member with a disability.
“There are a lot of Jewish individuals and families who have become somewhat disenfranchised with the Jewish community because of lack of access, but it’s really not because of any ill intent on the part of the Jewish community,” Polsky said. “It’s really because of what we see as lack of structure and attention to it.”
One of the main issues, the study found, is that disability inclusion work is often siloed, sometimes being lumped into “diversity inclusion committees” that bundle disparate, different communities together. Disability advocacy may even fall on one lay leader, and if that person moves on from the role, it can be left unfilled, especially when an organization is focused on other causes that are also urgent.
“Disability spans every aspect of Jewish community life,” Polsky said. “If you work with individuals who identify as LGBTQ, there’s going to be people with disabilities. If you work with Jews who are multiracial, there’s going to be people with disabilities. If you work in a synagogue, there’s going to be people with disabilities. I don’t know anyone who this doesn’t touch, who doesn’t have a family member or a friend with some form of disability.”
One of the core reasons Jewish organizations lag behind secular institutions is that they are not legally mandated to accommodate members of the community in the same way non-Jewish organizations, such as public schools, often are.
The key to changing organizational culture around the inclusion issue isn’t just about money, especially since some Jewish organizations have minuscule budgets. It’s not about getting everything done at once, Polsky said, but rather about being explicit that an institution is prioritizing the issue and soliciting feedback, especially from individuals with disabilities and their families. “A lot of people are concerned to get started or do anything because they’re worried about doing it, quote, unquote, incorrectly,” she said. “But we really want to encourage people to take that first step.”
EXCLUSIVE
With $37M endowment, Yeshiva U. launches national Jewish day school scholarship
Yeshiva University is launching a new national scholarship program for Jewish high schools, offering four-year scholarships for one ninth-grade student from each school annually, through a $37 million endowment from the Gruen family, the university told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross ahead of the program’s announcement on Wednesday.
Three-pointer: The goal of the Gruen Fellows Program is three-fold: reducing the cost of a Jewish education for recipients, building a leadership pipeline for Orthodox teenagers and creating a network of “mission-aligned” Jewish high schools. “The Gruen Fellows Program is more than a fellowship — it is a movement to support Jewish families, strengthen Jewish schools and develop the next generation of leaders grounded in Torah values,” Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University, said in a statement. “This initiative will create a long-lasting impact across communities.”
HOLDING FIRE
Harmeet Dhillon declines to criticize Tucker Carlson for hosting antisemites on podcast
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, defended Tucker Carlson’s hosting of neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes at the Israel Hayom summit on Tuesday. Dhillon took part in a conversation at the gathering, which took place in Manhattan, with the Israeli daily’s senior diplomatic correspondent, Ariel Kahana, about the Trump administration’s efforts to combat domestic antisemitism, reports Emily Jacobs for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Tucker talk: Asked about Carlson’s interview with Fuentes and what tools the U.S. had to prevent the spread of the antisemitic ideas from the far right, Dhillon distanced herself from Fuentes while calling Carlson a “friend.” Dhillon said, “What we say in First Amendment world is: The antidote to speech that you don’t like is more speech. It isn’t shutting down speech. So, I don’t agree with a single word that Nick Fuentes says or has to say, and the decision of whether or not to platform that person is one for my friend and former client, Tucker Carlson.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
Also speaking at the summit: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of the influence of social media in shaping young people’s perceptions on Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Don’t speak for us — speak with us
“Today, on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, I want to remind us all that equality begins with attitudes,” writes Shai Assulin, an employee in the Jerusalem Municipality’s Special Needs Department and a member Israel Elwyn’s National Self-Advocacy Leadership Group, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
See the person, not just the disability: “I live independently and manage my own life, but like many other people with disabilities, I still find myself having to remind those around me of something very simple: People with disabilities are equal human beings. … [The National Self-Advocacy Leadership Group was] created to ensure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can speak for themselves, demand their rights and influence the policies that shape their lives. … We are your friends, neighbors, co-workers. Don’t be afraid and don’t pity us. We are not strange, scary or fragile. We are simply part of society. Anyone can contribute and be part of the change — with a smile, a conversation, a job opportunity or any interaction based on respect.”
ON THE HOME FRONT
Fighting for my home, struggling to buy one
“As an active reservist in the Israel Defense Forces, I’ve always been ready to defend my country. But today, life at home presents another kind of battleground — one defined by a soaring cost of living and housing prices that feel increasingly out of reach,” writes Itamar Hayun, founder of Homes for Warriors, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Vision of a community: “I reached out to commanders, fellow reservists, news outlets, members of the Knesset and government ministers, all with one goal: to find a location in Israel’s periphery where fighters can build lasting homes and thriving communities. … We are now on the verge of establishing a temporary camp of caravans — a first step toward permanent housing — so fighters can stop burning their salaries on rent and begin building real community and a real future. … I want a home for my son. I want to plant trees and watch them grow taller than him. I want a community that stands together. I want to fight — not just on the battlefield, but for a future that belongs to those of us who have given everything.”
Worthy Reads
Path to Improvement: In The Algemeiner, Samuel J. Abrams offers a variety of action items from the recent Atra report on the present and future of the rabbinate in America. “We don’t have to choose between tradition and inclusion, between excellence and accessibility, between past and future. These are false choices designed to paralyze us. We can have — we must have — rabbis formed in the deep grammar of Jewish thought who can lead diverse communities with wisdom and grace. The Atra report should be read not as a warning of inevitable decline, but as an invitation to institutional courage. It surfaces truth. And truth creates possibility.” [Algemeiner]
Get Organized: In Blue Avocado, Amanda ReCupido encourages nonprofit leaders to establish “foundational processes” and clear roles within an organization, which will ultimately free them up from a lot of daily management tasks. “Resentment and confusion often spark from a lack of clarity when someone assumes someone else is assigned an initiative or if there is overlap on work being done, which can lead to a feeling of disorganization and lack of trust in leadership communication. When everyone is aligned and speaking to each other, you can spend less time talking about who’s doing what and more time firing on all cylinders. You go faster when everyone’s in the correct spot, with the correct task, and rowing in the same direction.” [BlueAvocado]
Optimize for AI: In a post for Candid, Kyoko Uchida spotlights new research on how the use of AI tools to search for information is expected to affect online giving. “Based on analyses of traffic data on 24 nonprofit websites and responses to a donor survey, ‘Brand Discovery in the Age of AI’ suggests organizations could lose both online revenue and future donors. … Large organizations that have relied on organic search as a high-volume traffic source should definitely do a strategy review, [noted Blue State’s head of integrated strategy, Chris Maddocks]. ‘For smaller organizations, change doesn’t need to be disruptive,’ he said. ‘Simple changes to website content, like adding more quotes and featuring data points on impact, can make a tremendous difference. For example, many organizations post PDFs to their website, but the stories, data points, and quotes are the type of content the AI platforms rely upon.’” [Candid]
Word on the Street
OneTable told its staff yesterday that it was laying off 25% of its employees; a spokesperson for the group told eJewishPhilanthropy that this was a “planned, strategic shift in staffing” as it launches new programs and initiatives. “We are committed to treating everyone impacted with compassion, clarity and support,” the spokesperson said…
In a Jewish Telegraph Agency opinion piece, former White House Jewish liaisons Jarrod Bernstein, Shelley Greenspan and Chanan Weissman defend former White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz against a flood of online criticism over a misleadingly edited video clip from the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in which Hurwitz discussed how Holocaust education has impacted conversations about the Israel-Hamas war…
The Anti-Defamation League denounced Sen. Bernie Moreno’s (R-OH) bill to ban dual citizenship, saying it revives an antisemitic “dual loyalty” charge that has historically been used to target Jewish Americans…
The Athletic examines why the upcoming World Cup won’t be held in Washington despite a tradition of the tournament being held in the host country’s capital city, namely because of the efforts of Robert Kraft, who had built a relationship with FIFA, to have the games held in his native Boston…
Major Gifts
The family of Holocaust survivor Erno Spiegel donated the pen he used to falsify records to save dozens of sets of twins who were subject to medical experiments at Auschwitz…
Transitions
Carrie Lipton will serve as the JCC Association of North America’s new chief financial and administrative officer, effective Dec. 16; she will be the first woman to hold the position in the organization’s history…
The Jewish Federation of Cleveland hired Kari Blumenthal as its next chief financial officer…
Miriam Seidenfeld has resigned as CEO of St. Louis’ Jewish Family Services after seven years in the role…
Joel F. Brown was elected the next chair of the Forward Association’s board of directors…
Pic of the Day
Representatives from six of the seven countries that make up the J7, an international task force led by the Anti-Defamation League that is focused on combating antisemitism with Jewish communal organizations from the seven largest Jewish communities in the world, meet yesterday in Sydney, Australia, for the group’s first-ever in-person gathering, the J7 Task Force Summit.
At the conference, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) released a new survey on antisemitism, which showed that while the number of incidents last year decreased slightly from a record high the year before, the number of “serious” events — namely arson attacks against synagogues, preschools and other Jewish institutions — was the highest ever documented.
“What is happening in Australia is not an exception; it should be a wake-up call to communities worldwide,” Marina Rosenberg, ADL senior vice president for international affairs, said in a statement. “When synagogues can be firebombed in Melbourne and Jews threatened and attacked in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Toronto, this is a threat not only to Jewish safety but to democratic stability itself.”
Pictured above (from left): Gérard Unger from France’s CRIF, Richard Marceau from CIJA, Daniel Bottman from the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Peter Wertheim from ECAJ, Marina Rosenberg from the ADL, Betsy Berns Korn from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Michael Wegier from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Daniel Aghion from ECAJ.
Birthdays
Former member of the House of Representatives (D-NC) until January, now chair of Democratic Majority for Israel, Kathy Manning turns 69…
Close associate of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and influential leader within Chabad, Rabbi Chaim Yehuda “Yudel” Krinsky turns 92… Founder of a successful wedding gown business and a lifestyle coach, Sandy Stackler… 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winner for his book on Arabs and Jews in Israel, he was a long-serving foreign correspondent and Washington bureau chief for The New York Times, David K. Shipler turns 83… Member of the New York State Assembly since 1994, Jeffrey Dinowitz turns 71… Former Argentinian minister of foreign affairs, Gerardo Werthein turns 70… Miami-based criminal defense attorney whose clients have included O.J. Simpson and Charlie Sheen, Yale Lance Galanter turns 69… Painter and art teacher residing in Maryland, her teaching career started in Petach Tikva, Heidi Praff… Former editorial page editor at USA Today, William “Bill” Sternberg… British publicist, music manager and former tabloid journalist, Rob Goldstone turns 65… President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 2023, Sally A. Kornbluth turns 65… Aerospace and technology executive, entertainment attorney and media mogul, Jon F. Vein turns 62… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Eli Avidar turns 61… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, she won Adam Schiff’s House seat in 2025, Democrat Laura Friedman turns 59… First vice president at Adat Ari El Congregation in Valley Village, Calif., Malinda Wozniak Marcus… Cellist and associate professor at McGill University, Matt Haimovitz turns 55… Senior vice president of strategic initiatives at NBC News until 2024, now a communications consultant, Alison “Ali” Weisberg Zelenko… Associate professor of Jewish history and chair of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, Joshua M. Karlip, Ph.D. turns 54… French journalist, author, television and radio personality, Marie Drucker turns 51… Emmy and Grammy Award-winning comedian and actress, she discovered her Eritrean Jewish roots as an adult, Tiffany Haddish turns 46… Financial trader and founder of XTX Markets, Alex Gerko turns 46… CEO of Solar One, he was a member of the New York City Council through 2021, Stephen T. Levin turns 44… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Rachel Sarah Bloomekatz turns 43… Hasidic singer, his music videos have 120 million views on YouTube, Benzion Hakohen “Benny” Friedman turns 41… Professional tennis player with a WTA doubles ranking that reached as high as 21, Sharon Fichman turns 35… Founding partner and head of business strategy at Triadic, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Edelman…
