In a city of striking writers and actors, the Anti-Defamation League gathered industry professionals, local community leaders and representatives of partner organizations at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. The occasion was the formal announcement of the ADL’s new Media and Entertainment Institute, created to engage directly with industry leaders and partner organizations toward improving societal perceptions of Jewish people and understanding of antisemitism, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Esther D. Kustanowitz from the event.

No more caricatures: At the event, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said he was there to commemorate Jewish storytelling and “to talk about ADL’s harnessing the power of culture and media to address the very real crisis in this moment.” The ADL said its new institute would work directly with industry leaders and partner organizations to advocate for content that illustrates the full diversity of Jewish life and the nuanced characters that Jews embody, to offer a well-rounded portrayal of Jewish culture, religion and history.

Then and now: “As we witnessed an alarming rise in antisemitic sentiment and crime across the US, it’s clear to us that this is an essential time to tell Hollywood’s origin story, more than ever,” Academy Museum CEO Bill Kramer said in his speech. “It is so important to focus on the Jewish trailblazers who founded Hollywood to discover how they seized an incredible opportunity in a rapidly growing film industry to make a name for themselves as well as to entertain and to innovate… at a time when many doors in America remain close to Jewish individuals due to widespread antisemitism.”

Read the full report here.

A leading Israeli psychotrauma expert addressed the third Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen in Kyiv, Ukraine, last Wednesday, having been invited to the annual event by its organizer, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska. This year’s event had the theme “Mental Health: Fragility and Resilience of the Future,” and was hosted by Ukrainian TV news anchor Hanna Homonai and TV personality and journalist Stephen Fry. Also in attendance were actor and film director Sean Penn, who attended in person, and Richard Gere, who appeared virtually, reports Jay Deitcher for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Take it seriously: The focus on trauma at this year’s summit was important, Danny Brom, the founding director of Metiv: The Israel Psychotrauma Center, a nonprofit based out of Jerusalem’s Herzog Hospital, told eJP. “It’s critical that there is a recognition that this is a long-term issue. Once the war is over, people can start to recover. And then we’ll see what the damage is about. It’s very critical that the heads of state realize that this is not something that’s going away easily… You will always find between 5 and 10% of children who will really get stuck in their development.”

Don’t pathologize, don’t ignore: In his presentation, Brom warned against pathologizing normal reactions to stressful situations, which he referred to as going “into survival mode.” At the same time, he stressed the severity of the psychological damage caused by war, taking issue with a comment made by U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken earlier in the evening, who said that some Ukrianians are suffering “in ways we cannot fully see.” Brom disagreed with referring to the psychological effects of war as “invisible wounds,” saying they are “totally visible and it’s our individual responsibility to see [that].”

Read the full report here.

New Year’s celebrations unofficially kicked off on Tuesday evening at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, where Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a poolside Rosh Hashanah reception in conjunction with the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. Roughly 150 attendees including rabbis, senators, activists, Jewish communal professionals and actors — notably “Will and Grace” star Debra Messing and comedian Alex Edelman — mingled over a menu of kosher hors d’oeuvres designed by cookbook author Adeena Sussman, whose new Shabbat-themed cookbook was published last week. Sussman’s lamb kebabs and tahini blondies were a hit among attendees, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider from the event.

Wake-up call: Standing in front of an American flag and an Israeli flag with her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Harris touted the Biden administration’s efforts to combat hate and its national action plan to counter antisemitism to great applause. “This is one of those times in the history of our country and the world, where we are being presented with a wake-up call — the blast of the shofar — to challenge ourselves, to ask, ‘What are we doing? What can we do?’ And know that we can do so much,” said Harris.

Judaism’s fun: Emhoff, who has made fighting antisemitism a key focus of his tenure, described his travels this year to Poland and Germany, and to his old Jewish summer camp in Pennsylvania. “Rosh Hashanah is a time to reflect, not only on the past year, but on what we hope to do in the next one. So this coming year, I’m committed to doing even more, pushing back even more, building more coalitions and bringing more people together in this fight with us, this fight that affects all of us,” said Emhoff. “I also want to remind you all: It’s great to be Jewish. Live with joy. Live with happiness. Live with passion. And enjoy that food.”

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“At this moment, I am on a flight to Morocco with a nurse and two logistics experts; we are the vanguard Rapid Assessment Team who will work with local authorities and medical staff to assess the on-the-ground situation in Marrakech and its surroundings,” writes Dr. Elhanan Bar-On, director of the Sheba Humanitarian & Disaster Response Center (HDRC), in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Perception vs. reality: “I can say wholeheartedly that lending a hand to people in need extends beyond politics. Politics do play a role, it’s true: Our field hospital in Ukraine, for example, was established in concert with the Israeli government as a way of supporting Ukraine. Perhaps 99% of our missions, however, have no political thrust whatsoever. They originate when partner organizations and individual contacts reach out to let us know about a need, the product of a simple phone call from a friend or colleague.”

Measuring impacts: “I was recently asked whether I have seen the work we do affect the perception of Israel and Israelis among the people we serve. This is a difficult question. … One thing I can impart very clearly is that when I meet people who have been subjected to a disaster of this magnitude, I see starkly how their world has collapsed. Worse, they think the world has forgotten them. We get there. We treat them for free. … From past experience I can tell you that the gratitude I have felt personally in these types of situations is unequal to any other experience I have had in my life. At the end of the day, a helping hand is a helping hand, and I am grateful for the privilege to be in my role.”

Read the full piece here.