Your Daily Phil: Study: Post-10/7 Birthright participants more engaged; their peers are losing ties
Add EJP on GoogleGood Monday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine a new survey of Birthright Israel participants and what the findings mean for the 10-day trips to Israel, and preview the Leffell Foundation’s upcoming conference for rabbis on Zionism. We feature an opinion piece by Danyelle Neuman urging Diaspora Jewry not to sit this one out — Israelis are resilient but they still need support as missiles from Iran and Hezbollah continue to pummel communities across the country; plus Noam Weissman offers a vision for scaling Jewish literacy, and Lee Tanenbaum spotlights the role of the Joseph Bau Museum in preserving its namesake’s remarkable legacy. Also in this issue: Steven Ingber, Meredith Polsky and Julia Tobias.
What We’re Watching
We are keeping an eye on the security situation in Israel. More than 100 people were injured in Iranian missile attacks in southern Israel over the weekend, and one person — northern Israeli farmer Ofer “Poshko” Moskovitz — was killed in an errant Israeli artillery strike amid ongoing fighting along the Lebanese border against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.
Police in London are investigating a series of overnight fires that damaged four Hatzola Northwest emergency vehicles in Golders Green, one of the city’s most heavily Jewish neighborhoods…
The Leffell Foundation’s fourth annual “Zionism: A New Conversation” conference is taking place in Florida today and tomorrow. Read more here.
Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger is kicking off a week of lobbying activities today, pushing Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address hunger amid plans to cut food security programs.
In New York tonight, 92NY is hosting Canadian Israeli author Matti Friedman, who will sit in conversation with Abigail Pogrebin to discuss his new book, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe, a look at the young Jews from then-Mandatory Palestine who parachuted into Nazi Europe in an effort to assist Allied forces and rescue Jews.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
A new study of Birthright Israel participants indicates that in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, the free 10-day trip to Israel is performing a markedly different function for the Jewish community than it did in the past. Instead of serving as an entry point for young Jewish adults into the Jewish world, the trips today are attracting far more engaged participants, deepening their Jewish identities and ties to Israel, according to the report from Brandeis University.
“Brandeis University has released an alarming finding: Jewish connections among young Jews are declining at an unprecedented rate. But the good news is that with philanthropic investment, we can prevent decline and inspire growth,” Elias Saratovsky, president and CEO of Birthright Israel Foundation, said in a statement. “We are at a crossroads. If our community does nothing, we risk losing the younger generation. But if we invest in an effective intervention — Birthright Israel — we can win them back. Birthright Israel works, and the entire Jewish community must support it. Our future depends on it.”
“A Summer Of Uncertainty: The Impact on Birthright Israel’s Summer 2025 Cohort,” which was released today, examines the participants in last summer’s 10-day trips, comparing them to both the previous year’s participants and to those who attended trips in the summer of 2023, before the Oct. 7 attacks. The study found that the 2025 and 2024 participants were far more engaged, Jewishly educated and politically conservative than those in 2023. “October 7 continues to shape American Jewry in numerous ways, and the 2025 Birthright Israel trips illustrate that,” wrote the report’s authors, Leonard Saxe, Graham Wright, Micha Rieser, Shahar Hecht and Samantha Shortall.
The study — which was largely funded by Birthright Israel — found that the trips were particularly influential for liberal participants, deepening their connections to Israel. Meanwhile, among liberal nonparticipants — people who expressed interest in a trip but decided not to attend one — the level of connection to Israel decreased over the same period, from 31% saying they had a connection to 23%. The degree of connection to Israel did not change dramatically for conservative and “moderate” participants and nonparticipants, the study found.
“During the last several months of the war, young Jews who applied to Birthright but did not go became more disconnected from their own Jewish identity, and those who identified as politically liberal became less connected to Israel. Never before in our research on Birthright have we seen such notable declines among nonparticipants,” the authors wrote.
RABBINIC REFLECTIONS
150 rabbis congregate for Zionism confab amid fraught moment for Jewish identity
One hundred fifty Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis — who represent synagogues, schools and major Jewish organizations — will congregate at a luxury Florida resort Monday and Tuesday to discuss how to bring Zionism to the pulpit at a time when pro-Israel spaces can be increasingly difficult to find, even in Jewish communities, reports Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy.
For us, by us: “This is a conference that’s for rabbis, planned by rabbis,” Stacey Popovsky, executive director of the Lisa and Michael Leffell Foundation, told eJewishPhilanthropy ahead of the event. “They have identified what the most critical issues are facing their rabbinate. These rabbis represent the gamut of the political, religious, geographic and gender diversity of the conference. They’ve put together something that speaks to their needs.” In addition to rabbis, several prominent speakers will present at the conference, including author Dara Horn, Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Mohammed Darawashe, an expert on Jewish-Arab relations, and Darius Jones, the founder and director of the National Black Empowerment Council.
ISRAELIS NEED YOU
When the headlines move on, but the missiles don’t
“In past crises, Jewish donors around the world often called us first. They saw what was happening in Israel and asked, ‘How can we help?’” writes Danyelle Neuman, chief development officer of The Jewish Agency for Israel, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Today, we often find ourselves making the call instead, explaining that the needs are significant and still growing.”
Immediate and personal: “There are many reasons for this. Some people feel exhausted after years of crisis. Others assume that because Israelis are resilient — and they are — the situation must be under control. Still others are simply struggling to understand the scale of what Israelis are experiencing from thousands of miles away. … If you feel you have already done so much to support Israel since Oct. 7, you are not alone — and your commitment matters deeply. But there are still families today who are beginning the difficult process of rebuilding their lives after a missile strike. There are children who need psychological support after months of sirens. There are elderly people who have suddenly lost the homes they relied on for stability. For them, the crisis is not an abstract geopolitical event. It is immediate and personal.”
A TIME TO BUILD
Owning our story: A blueprint for scaling Jewish literacy
“Many of our institutions excel at building community, identity and belonging. Far fewer are designed to build cumulative knowledge,” writes Noam Weissman, executive vice president of OpenDor Media, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “The result is an ecosystem full of powerful moments but limited depth of literacy. What we have is not a lack of offerings, but a lack of orchestration — of structured, scalable Jewish education.”
The mission ahead: “Can we help more of the 1.4 million non-Orthodox Jewish teens and young adults become culturally literate Jews? To me, the answer is yes. … At OpenDor Media, we are beginning to build what this looks like in practice: a digital platform called Judaism Unpacked that applies the methodology we developed teaching Israel’s story to millions, now directed with a greater sense of urgency toward the story of Judaism itself. … The Jewish land and the Jewish story are not a yerusha [inheritance]; they are a morasha [heritage], a gift that must be claimed and carried forward. To honor that responsibility, to activate the next generation, we must marshal our institutions and creativity, working together across our entire ecosystem.”
HERITAGE SITE
Joseph and Rebecca Bau’s love story is now a global film. Can we save the museum that preserves their legacy?
“I first visited the Joseph Bau House Museum in Tel Aviv in March 2024 during a volunteer trip to Israel,” writes Lee Tanenbaum, an Atlanta-based writer, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Surrounded by Joseph Bau’s original drawings, experimental animation equipment, self-designed Hebrew fonts, poetry and handmade film projectors, I encountered a story that was deeply human, creative and defiantly joyful. It was not a conventional Holocaust museum experience. It was alive.”
Meet the Baus: “Like many people, I was not initially familiar with Joseph Bau beyond learning — later — that his secret wedding to fellow prisoner Rebecca Tennenbaum held in 1944 inside the Plaszów concentration camp was depicted in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Schindler’s List.’ With a veil made of scraps and fellow prisoners standing watch, their whispered vows were an act of defiance against Nazi terror. But Joseph and Rebecca Bau’s cannot be contained in a single cinematic scene that, powerful as it is, offers only a narrow glimpse of far larger lives.”
Worthy Reads
Pride and Prejudice: In the Detroit Free Press, Steven Ingber, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, writes about the resilience, determination and disappointment displayed by the Jewish community in the wake of this month’s foiled terror attack at a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich.“The night before the attack, I heard from members of our community who had just been at Temple Israel for a Jewish Federation Women’s Philanthropy event… Earlier that day, I had been in meetings with FBI personnel in Washington D.C. to discuss the need for Jewish security measures in our community… For that is our reality: Jewish life today is lived with two truths at once. One is the joy and pride of building community… The other is the terrible burden of knowing that at any moment, simply gathering as Jews can make us targets. … Antisemitism is not invincible. It can be confronted and defeated. We have seen what happens when moral courage rises to meet it. That is our charge now: to act with confidence, to stand with purpose, and to prove — once again — that hate does not get the final word.” [DetroitFreePress]
Narrow Straits: In an opinion piece for Religion News Service, Jeffrey Salkin and Menachem Z. Rosensaft explore the convergence of political extremes around antisemitism. “As Passover approaches, the Jewish people revisit the true moment of liberation, when the Israelites traversed the parted waters of the Red Sea: “The waters were split, and the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left” (Exodus 14:21-22). Many Jews feel like, today, we are walking between similar walls — except the waters pressing in on us are not from a sea, but from antisemitism that emanates from both extremes of the political spectrum. … But the Exodus story also offers guidance for how to walk through that narrow corridor.” [ReligionNewsService]
The Role of Funders: In Nonprofit Quarterly, Meredith Polsky, the executive director of Matan, calls on the philanthropic community to support disability inclusion as government funding has been cut. “The enormous progress our country has made on disability inclusion risks being completely decimated, and philanthropy has a uniquely powerful role to play here: Quite simply, fund disability inclusion. Funders shape what is possible. They influence what gets measured, prioritized, and sustained. Funders, together with cross-sector and grassroots leaders, can create the conditions where every child, every adult, every family has access to the resources they need to thrive. For too long, disability inclusion has been funded as a side project—a ‘special needs’ program or a single accessibility grant. One in four adults lives with a disability, but only 2 percent of grant funding goes toward disability-related work. That approach is not only outdated; it’s strategically flawed. Disability is not a side issue. It’s a systems issue — and systems are philanthropy’s domain.” [NonprofitQuarterly]
Give of Yourself: In The Free Press, Tyler Cowen examines the growing criticism of the Giving Pledge. “I have an unpopular position on the decline of the Giving Pledge: I believe this is a good thing, not because I don’t support charitable giving, but because I do not think the pledge has improved either philanthropy or the world, or is likely to do so moving forward. … A lot of America’s most effective giving was done by the early ‘robber barons,’ such as Carnegie, Mellon, and Rockefeller. … None of this was done with any kind of pledge. … So allow me to propose an alternative. Instead of a Giving Pledge, how about a ‘Doing Pledge’? … ‘What have you done for us lately?’ is a tougher question to answer than ‘What money have you given away?’ And likely a better one, too.” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
The Canada Revenue Agency revoked the tax-exempt status of the Canadian Zionist Cultural Association because the organization had allegedly provided support for the Israeli military; CZCA is one of several Jewish and Zionist organizations to lose their nonprofit status in what Canadian Jewish leaders see as a politically motivated campaign…
The Forward highlights the relationship between Temple Israel, the suburban Detroit synagogue targeted in a terror attack earlier this month, and Shenandoah Country Club across the street, which serves the local Chaldean community and was the reunification site for families after the attack…
The Trump administration filed a new lawsuit against Harvard University on Friday, claiming that its leadership violated the civil rights of Jewish students by failing to address ongoing antisemitism that has roiled the Ivy League campus since the Oct. 7 terror attacks, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff rejected a recent Student Assembly resolution calling for the university to boycott its partnership with an Israeli institution, the Technion in Haifa, stating that doing so would “fundamentally conflict with our core commitment to academic freedom” and noting the “political bias” within the resolution “is deeply disturbing”…
A new report by The Blackbaud Institute found that charitable giving remained strong last year, but that most of the donations came from large funders and went to large organizations…
Fox News spotlights Magen Am, the Jewish security group providing self-defense classes and training for security guards…
Politico examines the congressional campaign of GOP candidate Brandon Herrera, who has faced widespread criticism for regularly making jokes about the Holocaust; in 2024, AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition actively campaigned against him, but they have gone quiet as he squares off against a Democrat in the general election, with the latter only saying that it “will not support” him…
A new tax credit is being proposed in New York to encourage restaurants to donate the food that they can’t sell in an effort to both curb food waste and combat hunger…
Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen and Israel Canada controlling shareholders Barak Rosen and Asaf Touchmair are investing in the Israel-based UAV company Aerodrome Group…
The Alexander brothers, who were convicted of sex-trafficking this month, are reportedly working to secure pardons from the Trump administration, including contacting the Jewish-run Tzedek Association, which has secured clemency for at least three people, though the organization declined to help them…
Transitions
Julia Tobias has joined the Israeli youth movement Krembo Wings, which connects children with and without disabilities, as its next vice president of resource development…
Jonathan Margolin was hired as the next director of educational research at Taglit-Birthright Israel…
The Anti-Defamation League hired Lexi Meyerowitz as its director of development for Texas and Oklahoma…
Pic of the Day
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More than 250 Jewish leaders from more than 30 European countries — along with a few other communities — hold discussions last week at the sixth European Jewish Leadership Summit in Athens, Greece, which was organized by the European Council of Jewish Communities, in partnership with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and a number of other global Jewish organizations.
The three-day conference included participants from across the continent, as well as the United States, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico (but not Israel, as most of the Israeli participants were unable to make it out of the country due to the shuttering of the country’s airspace because of the ongoing war with Iran.)
Birthdays
Three-time Grammy Award-winning record producer, audio engineer and songwriter, Ariel Rechtshaid turns 47…
Actor, film director, television director and producer, Mark Rydell turns 97… Former NFL referee for 23 seasons, he is the only NFL head referee to officiate four Super Bowl games (1983, 1987, 1992 and 1995), Jerry Markbreit turns 91… Together with her husband, Theodore, she pledged $25 million to BBYO in 2019, Harriette Perlman turns 86… Mandolinist and composer of acoustic, instrumental, bluegrass and newgrass music, David Grisman turns 81… Writer and producer of television series, creator of “Deadwood” and co-creator of “NYPD Blue,” David Milch turns 81… Tel Aviv native, she has been a professor of music at the Juilliard School since 1993, Yoheved “Veda” Kaplinsky turns 79… Los Angeles-based psychologist and author, her first book is The Blessings of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children, Wendy Mogel turns 75… Designer of men’s and women’s footwear, clothing and accessories, Kenneth D. Cole turns 72… Former mayor of Austin, Texas, first elected in 2014 and reelected in 2018, Stephen Ira Adler turns 70… Former director of business development at Fannie Mae, she was also the president of the Jewish Federation of Howard County (Md.), Beth Millstein… Investor, author, financial commentator and radio personality, Peter Schiff turns 63… Russian-American businessman with holdings in oil, he is also a winemaker, Eugene Shvidler turns 62… Senior writer for “The Daily Show,” he is also the creator of 2018’s television series “Liberty Crossing,” Daniel Radosh turns 57… Managing partner of D.C.-based Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner, Jonathan Missner turns 57… French actress who has appeared in more than 30 films, her Holocaust survivor grandparents changed their name from Goldreich, Judith Godrèche turns 54… Client partner at Meta/Facebook working with the financial services and real estate industry verticals, Scott Shapiro… Member of the Maryland General Assembly since 2011, initially as a delegate and since 2016 as a state senator, Craig Zucker turns 51… Israeli actress, comedian and television host, Adi Ashkenazi turns 51… CEO and founder of Moore Connected Communications, Rachel Moore… Writer and teacher in Los Angeles, Yehuda Martin Hausman… Staff reporter for The New York Times, Sarah Maslin Nir… Israeli singer-songwriter, actress and musician, she performs in Hebrew, French and Arabic, Riff Cohen turns 42… Chief of staff for the Commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax County, Virginia, Benjamin Shnider… Former tennis coach at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, as a player she won five singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit, Julia Cohen turns 37… Former member of the National Israeli Rhythmic Gymnastics Team, she competed in the 2012 Olympic games, Moran Buzovski turns 34… Television and film actress, Victoria Pedretti turns 31…
