Your Daily Phil: The fraught fight over funding reproductive rights
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine the police raids of mohels’ homes in Belgium. We report on a $10 million donation to establish an advanced nursing program at the University of Haifa and on Sarah Abramson being hired as the next CEO of OneTable. We look at Ronald Lauder’s diplomatic efforts in Qatar and how the Jewish communities in Australia and Canada are reacting to their new, liberal-leaning governments. We feature an opinion piece by Guila Franklin Siegel responding to Jewish actress Hannah Einbinder’s public statement of support for the “Fund Abortion Not War” campaign. Also in this issue: Eldan Kaye, Alan Garber and Igor Pivnev.
What We’re Watching
Bret Stephens will host a discussion tonight between Rahm Emanuel and Jason Greenblatt at 92NY on the topic “Is Donald Trump good for the Jews?” as part of a new debate series organized by the Sapir journal.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
Belgian police raided the homes of three mohels in Antwerp, seizing the knives and other equipment they use to perform ritual circumcisions and demanding lists of children whom they recently circumcised, as part of an investigation by the city’s public prosecutor. The raids have again raised concerns about religious freedom in the country, which recently upheld a ban on ritual slaughter.
Jewish and Israeli leaders have condemned the investigation, which some noted was launched as a result of complaints filed by a local Jewish figure with a protracted history of antagonism and legal battles against European Jewish communities.
“That the principles of democracy, child rights, law or modern medicine are sadly being weaponised to assault this ancient Jewish practice is no surprise. Values within our Western society can also be wrapped for hostility,” Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Council of European Rabbis, said in a statement to eJewishPhilanthropy.
“The heavy-handed approach of Antwerp’s police force, instead of an informed engagement with community leaders and experts, is an expression of this damaging weaponisation in a physical way. Freedom of religion must apply to Jews too,” he said.
Israeli officials also sent letters to Belgian lawmakers decrying the raids. “A police raid conducted in such a blunt manner constitutes a severe violation of religious freedom and further destabilizes the foundations of the Jewish community in Belgium, which is already navigating a difficult period,” Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote in a letter to Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
Israeli Knesset Member Rabbi Moshe Roth sent a letter to the Belgian ambassador to Israel, calling on him to investigate the matter. “It is imperative that these events be thoroughly examined, the sacred implements be returned to their owners and assurances be provided that religious freedom will be fully protected,” Roth wrote.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights upheld bans on ritual slaughter — both Jewish and Muslim — that two Belgian regions had put in place on the grounds that the practice causes unnecessary pain to the animals as they cannot be stunned beforehand; this has also strained ties with the local Jewish community.
Circumcision is legal in Belgium, though it is typically carried out by doctors in hospitals, not mohels. There is no specific law on the books regarding the legality of religious circumcisions, and local authorities generally turn a blind eye to the practice. Michael Freilich, a Jewish Belgian parliamentarian, has been working on a piece of legislation to enshrine the right to circumcision in law, but this has not yet been voted into law.
In Belgium, the practice of brit milah has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, particularly after members of a government bioethics committee ruled in 2017 — albeit not unanimously and with no legally binding authority — that circumcision “cannot be ethically justified.”
Adding to the Jewish community’s frustrations over the case is the source of the original complaint that sparked the investigation, Moshe Friedman, a U.S.-born man whose claims of being a rabbi have been questioned by Israeli and European religious authorities and who first made waves in 2006 when he traveled to Iran to speak at a Holocaust denial conference and embraced then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Friedman previously lived in Austria but eventually left after his children were barred from the Jewish schools. When he moved to Antwerp and his sons were again not allowed to enroll in the religious boys’ schools, he filed a lawsuit, forcing the religious girls’ schools to accept them — further straining ties with the community. In November 2023, he submitted a police complaint in Antwerp alleging that the three rabbis whose homes were raided yesterday had practiced metzitzah b’peh, the practice of using the mouth to directly draw a small amount of blood from the brit milah wound.
It is not immediately clear if the public prosecutor is investigating this aspect of the circumcisions or the fact that they were carried out at all.
“The investigation focuses on medical procedures carried out by individuals without any medical training,” the prosecutor’s office told local media. “In other words, the circumcisions are allegedly being performed without a doctor.”
MAJOR GIFTS
Azrieli Foundation gifts $10M to University of Haifa for advanced nursing program
The Azrieli Foundation donated $10 million to the University of Haifa this week to establish the Azrieli Advanced Nursing Center, expanding the school’s nursing program, the university said on Wednesday, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Time to act: Though the growing physician shortage is more generally discussed, Israel also faces a looming nurse shortage. According to Israel’s Health Ministry, there are 5.3 nurses for every 1,000 people in Israel — well below the OECD average of 9.9 per 1,000 people. Without significant intervention, this is expected to get worse as a large percentage of nurses are nearing retirement age. “We believe that investment in advanced nursing roles will be key to shaping healthcare services in the country for all population groups. This is crucial, in particular during this challenging time, given the impact of the war and the shortage of available medical professionals,” Danna Azrieli, chair of the Azrieli Foundation Israel and of the Azrieli Group real estate firm, said in a statement.
TRANSITIONS
OneTable taps Boston federation’s Sarah Abramson as next CEO
The Shabbat meal platform OneTable has hired Sarah Abramson as its next CEO, succeeding Aliza Kline, who stepped down at the end of last year after helping found the organization 10 years ago, the group announced yesterday. Abramson, executive vice president at Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the city’s federation, will begin her role later this summer, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Setting the table: Abramson, who oversees grantmaking and partner relationship at CJP — including overseeing the federation’s $60 million Israel emergency fund in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks — has worked with a number of American and British Jewish organizations over the years, including the British Board of Deputies umbrella group, Yad Chessed, Jewish Care, Jewish Women’s Aid, and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. “I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the exceptional team at OneTable, following in the shoes of the incomparable Aliza Kline,” Abramson said in a statement. “At a time where there seems to be more ‘oy’ than ‘joy’ for us as a global Jewish people, OneTable represents a future filled with hope, a table full of new and old friends, and a path forward at an incredibly painful time.”
WARM WELCOME
Ronald Lauder greets Trump in Qatar
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress and a prolific Jewish philanthropist and GOP donor, appeared among other guests at the Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday to greet President Donald Trump and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, report eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross and Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen.
A history of engagement: Lauder, who will be in Israel next week for the 17th plenary assembly of the WJC, has met with Qatari leadership several times since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, largely to advocate for the release of hostages held in Gaza. In addition to Lauder, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman — another prominent Jewish philanthropist — also participated in Trump’s visit to Qatar, meeting with the governor of the Qatar Central Bank, Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani. Qatar is facing growing scrutiny and criticism over its support for Hamas and other terrorist organizations around the world, as well as antisemitism.
COMMUNITY CONCERNS
Jews in Canada and Australia warily eye the future after liberal party electoral victories
In Australia, the much-publicized video of anti-Israel protesters shouting “Where’s the Jews?” soon after Oct. 7 was not an anomaly but rather the beginning of a rapid increase in antisemitism in this country whose small but proud Jewish community had previously taken pride in Australia’s welcoming, pluralistic nature. Now, Australian Jews are making sense of a recent election in which the center-left Labor Party that has governed throughout the aftermath of Oct. 7 and the war in Gaza was reelected, giving Prime Minister Anthony Albanese — whose ties to the Jewish community have come under strain — another term in office. Meanwhile in Canada, which also has a sizable Jewish vote and a record of growing antisemitism, another left-learning party recently notched an even more unexpected victory. For Jewish community leaders in both countries, the recent elections present an opportunity to rebuild ties that have frayed. But it won’t be easy, with wounds still raw and antisemitism still elevated, reports Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Looking ahead: “Some mistakes were made, and there were some oversights made, but we certainly think that there’s a willingness to make some improvements and to do what they can to improve the lives of Jewish people here in Australia,” said Naomi Levin, CEO of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, which includes Melbourne, of the Australian government. “We didn’t have the leadership that we needed to crack down on it. Now it’s very hard to go back. Once that genie is out of the bottle, it’s very hard to put it back in.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
OUR DOLLARS, OUR CHOICE
Jews support reproductive rights, not activists who demonize us
Fund Abortion Not War — a campaign alleging that abortion funds, a critical network of support for women who cannot afford reproductive care, are being targeted by “Zionists” in the abortion access space — “is built on a fundamentally false and flawed premise: the idea that organizations that have received Jewish dollars in the past are entitled to those dollars at all,” writes Guila Franklin Siegel, chief operating officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and a member of the national leadership council of the Red Tent Fund, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
No one to blame…: “American Jews are keenly aware of their philanthropic agency, carefully choosing where and how to direct their charitable giving. What’s more, they give generously, both to support their own community’s institutions and to promote justice, compassion and equity in American society broadly. Recent studies indicate that 75% of Jewish households make charitable contributions averaging over $10,000 per year, two-thirds of which go to non-religious organizations and causes. But no one is inherently entitled to our philanthropy or political support… If [DC Abortion Fund] and some of its sister funds have lost donations because they engaged in antisemitism thinly masked as advocacy, they have no one to blame but themselves.”
Worthy Reads
Calling For Backup: In The Times of Israel, Eldan Kaye highlights the economic toll of repeated rounds of reserve duty as the war in Gaza continues. “While the military system is designed for repeat mobilization, the financial infrastructure that supports reservists and their families has not evolved to meet the current demand. The impact of this strain is being felt across the country. Many reservists are self-employed or work in small businesses that cannot easily absorb their extended absences. Families are forced to juggle increased costs with reduced incomes. Savings are quickly depleting, and for those whose financial situation has worsened, traditional credit options remain largely inaccessible due to the instability of their earnings. Although the state does provide some compensation, the current support mechanisms were not designed for a reality where tens of thousands of people are repeatedly called up in a single year. This patchwork system is simply insufficient for what has now become a prolonged national effort. What we need is a financial infrastructure that matches the scale and frequency of these call-ups.” [TOI]
Teachable Moment: In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Savannah Baum, Olivia Rosen, Sean Sellers and Billy Silk examine the rise and fall from favor of environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds and share takeaways for catalytic capital. “On the heels of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, [ESG] standards exploded onto the scene as a way for companies to focus on sustainability in business decisions and for investors to prioritize socially responsible companies. In the years that followed, trillions of dollars poured into ESG funds. But cracks started to emerge… The ESG movement may be too far gone to revive. But its fate can help shape the development of another type of impact financing: catalytic capital. A sharper, shared understanding of this form of risk-tolerant investment, which takes on risk to validate a new business model or market with the aim of ultimately drawing in more capital, can dramatically increase the volume and scope of funding for social impact.” [SSIR]
Word on the Street
The House of Representatives voted 421-1 for a resolution honoring Jewish American Heritage Month and calling on elected leaders to combat antisemitism, with only Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) voting against it…
Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, announced its 2025 list of “18 American Zionist Women You Should Know,” including Muslim American activist Anila Ali; DAZN sports broadcaster Emily Austin; South African-born Black transgender Jewish social media advocate, dancer and model Bellamy Bellucci; Hadassah executive Suzanne Patt Benvenisti; Ethiopian-Israeli American politician Mazi Pilip; and Christian Zionist activist, philanthropist and actress Patricia Heaton…
The U.K.’s Charity Commission watchdog has launched investigations into eight Jewish charities suspected of issuing checks that were made out to cash, raising concerns that the funds were used inappropriately…Harvard University President Alan Garber is taking a voluntary 25% pay cut for the upcoming fiscal year as the school faces fiscal challenges in the wake of the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts to the university…
One of the first white South Africans to enter the U.S. through a refugee program was found to have made antisemitic comments on social media; Charl Kleinhaus said one of the posts, calling Jews “untrustworthy” and “a dangerous group,” was a mistake, and distanced himself from other posts by saying he had shared them, not written them himself…
South African Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, who has in the past praised President Donald Trump, called the White House’s decision to accept white South Africans as refugees “a mistake”…
Master Sgt. Igor Pivnev, a 32-year-old Israeli police officer who fought Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, committed suicide on Tuesday. The National Security Ministry allowed him to keep his firearm although he had been deemed unfit for continued service and placed on leave. He is the third police officer who took part in the battles of Oct. 7 to die by suicide…
Paul Strassmann, who as a teenager was a Resistance fighter in Nazi Europe and would go on to become an IT whiz in the corporate world, died at 96…
Pic of the Day
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Birthdays
First lady of Israel, Michal Herzog…
Principal of Queens-based Muss Development, Joshua Lawrence Muss… Chairman emeritus of The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States, Rachel Oestreicher Bernheim… Chairman of the Religious Zionists of America, he was born in a DP camp as a child of Holocaust survivors, Martin Oliner… Retired major general in the IDF, he served as Israel’s national security advisor and is now a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, Yaakov Amidror… Israeli diplomat who served as Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechay Lewy… CEO of Emigrant Bank, real estate developer, financier and philanthropist, Howard Philip Milstein… Professor of pathology and genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, he is the author of Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People, Harry Ostrer… Professor of Jewish studies at Dartmouth College, she is the daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Susannah Heschel … Owner of Midnight Music Management and one of the founders of The Happy Minyan in Los Angeles, Stuart Wax… Associate editor and columnist at the Washington Post until two months ago, Ruth Allyn Marcus… Five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer, filmmaker and Latin media marketing entrepreneur, Giselle Fernandez… Founding rabbi of Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim in New York City and a member of the Talmud faculty at Yeshivat Maharat, Adam Mintz… Former member of the Nevada Assembly, she served as secretary of the National Association of Jewish Legislators, Ellen Barre Spiegel… Owner/President of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, he is the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Mark Wilf … Director, screenwriter and former film critic, Rod Lurie… Actor and filmmaker known for his collaborations with George Clooney, Grant Heslov… Vice chancellor of Brown University, she is the founder of Reeves Advisory, Pamela Ress Reeves… Actor and comedian, David Krumholtz… Executive director in the Office of Crime Victim Services at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Shira Rosenthal Phelps… Noam Finger… Director of the center for civics, education and opportunity at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, Daniel M. Rothschild… Actress best known for her role as Tony Soprano’s daughter, Meadow, Jamie-Lynn Sigler… Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author, Eli Eric Saslow… Senior editor at Vogue, Chloe F. Schama… Director of career services at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, Lisa Dubler… Rochelle Wilner… Ofir Richman…
