Your Daily Phil: Touting Israeli tech and tikkun olam at development conference
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new nonprofit and an initiative announced at the annual conference of the Society for International Development-Israel, a “60 Minutes” news segment drawing criticism from Jewish organizations for its anti-Israel bias and Wendy Berger’s new role as chair of Secure Community Network’s board of directors. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Joshua Rabin about the rabbi shortage and one by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer about a new program to support and empower Jewish lay leadership. Also in this newsletter: Michal Herzog, Wendy Singer and Jesse Cogan.
What We’re Watching
The Jewish Fertility Foundation’s “A Decade of Hope” 10th anniversary gala is tonight in Atlanta.
What You Should Know
On the same day that Yosef Abramowitz accepted Israel’s highest international development award on behalf of his solar energy company EnergiyaGlobal, he and his colleagues Weldon Turner and Aryeh Green announced the launch of Gigawatt Impact, a new U.S.-based nonprofit, report eJewishPhilanthropy’s Rachel Kohn and Judith Sudilovsky.
Gigawatt Impact will share Israeli expertise in agro-voltaic technology — which utilizes land for the dual purposes of solar energy production and agriculture — with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the American South in collaboration with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. It will also offer donors the chance to support smaller-scale projects in African countries along with community initiatives and studies that will pave the way for larger installations.
EnergiyaGlobal was recognized for its work — which includes the financing of sub-Saharan Africa’s first utility-scale solar field, located in Rwanda — at the Annual International Aid and Development Conference, held yesterday in Bat Yam by the Society for International Development Israel (SID Israel). SID Israel is an umbrella organization that brings together members of civil society, government institutions, academia and private companies, along with independent experts, to foster a cross-sector community in the field of development and international aid.
Abramowitz is an American-Israeli solar energy entrepreneur and humanitarian. Nominated by 12 African countries for the Nobel Peace Prize, he has created and led teams responsible for nearly $1 billion in green energy pipelines. He is co-founder of the Arava Power Company, Israel’s leading solar developer, in addition to EnergiyaGlobal, which provides affordable green power to underserved populations.
The award was a “supreme honor” for the EnergiyaGlobal team, Abramowitz told eJP.
“We figured out a unique relationship between philanthropy and impact investment… and have shown that you can turn a million dollars of philanthropy into $25 million in impact investing, which completely transforms the ability for a poor country to have access to affordable and clean power,” he said. “Our team has created a proven business model that can scale for tikkun olam to be able to empower, in all senses of the word, the most vulnerable people on the planet. What we hope this represents is a revolution in raising human dignity and in the fulfillment of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.”
In this vein, Abramowitz also announced the “Abundance Initiative” at the conference. The initiative aims to combine EnergiyaGlobal’s solar expertise with Israeli agricultural know-how to help subsistence farmers in western Uganda (most of whom are women) reduce crop loss by creating a solar field next to an agro-processing zone. This will power refrigeration for storage, as well as roasting, drying, juicing and canning facilities.
“EnergiyaGlobal’s work exemplifies Israeli innovation in international development, combining innovative business models with advanced technologies and a commitment to climate justice,” said Ayelet Levin Karp, executive director of SID Israel. “Their success demonstrates how Israeli expertise can create substantial impact in addressing global challenges, setting an inspiring model for the Israeli international development community.”
TRANSITIONS
Secure Community Network picks Wendy Berger for new chair of board of directors

After a year of growth in response to unprecedented security threats since the Oct. 7 attacks, the Secure Community Network has tapped Wendy Berger as chair of the organization’s board of directors, eJewishPhilanthropy exclusively reports. “Wendy Berger’s deep commitment to our mission, paired with her proven leadership and community engagement, positions SCN to continue adapting and excelling in the face of ever-evolving challenges,” Michael Masters, SCN’s national director and CEO, told eJP’s Nira Dayanim.
First line of defense: Berger served on the board of directors of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago (JUF) for over two decades and “has experienced SCN’s transformative impact firsthand,” she told eJP. “SCN has not only built a proactive and robust security framework across North America, but it has also reinforced safety at the local level. In many ways, SCN serves as our first line of defense,” she said. Under outgoing board chair Harold Gernsbacher, SCN announced a series of new partnerships establishing and expanding support for Hillel International, the American Jewish Committee and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, among others. The organization anticipates that Berger, who was previously chair of SCN’s governance committee, will continue that work.
BAD PRESS
‘60 Minutes’ slammed for ‘shockingly one-sided’ segment on Gaza war

CBS News is facing renewed accusations of anti-Israel bias over a “60 Minutes” segment criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, reports Matthew Kassel for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. The segment, which aired on Sunday, drew almost exclusively on interviews with Hala Rharrit and Josh Paul, two former officials who resigned from the State Department in protest of President Joe Biden’s support for Israel amid the ongoing conflict; and who each have ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group whose leader has praised the Oct. 7 attacks.
No balance, plenty of bias: Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, tweeted on Monday that he was “outraged” CBS News “would air such a biased and one-sided piece, villainizing Israel and berating U.S. support for its ally. ‘60 Minutes’ is supposed to be the gold standard for broadcast journalism, but they completely dropped the ball last night. Where are the counter perspectives to those interviewed? Where is the mention of the nearly 100 hostages — including Americans — STILL in captivity!? What kind of journalism is that?” The American Jewish Committee added in a statement that it was “deeply disturbed by the segment,” saying it was “shockingly one-sided, lacked factual accuracy and relied heavily on misguided information.”
Read the full piece here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
NUMBERS GAME
The real rabbinic crisis

“We can’t anticipate when someone will deepen their commitment to Jewish life; kal va’homer, all the more so, if and when they decide to enter the rabbinate,” writes Rabbi Joshua Rabin, author of the weekly newsletter “Moneyball Judaism,” in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “But the longer a person goes without Jewish engagement, the less likely they are to start. Thus, our time and money should be spent intervening as early as possible with the largest number of Jews before we start falling behind in the count.”
Where our priorities lie: “In Bava Batra 21a, our Sages credit Joshua ben Gamla with ensuring the vibrancy of Torah learning when he decreed that Jewish children should begin their studies at age 6. In Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein’s The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History, they argue that over time, this decision to start requiring education at an early age is what allowed the Jewish people to become ‘a small population of highly literate people, who continued to search for opportunities to reap returns from their investment in literacy.’ Non-Orthodox Judaism operates in an environment similar to the one Joshua ben Gamla encounters: There is institutional decay coupled with a Jewish populace largely deficient in Jewish literacy. Like in Joshua ben Gamla’s era, we will not innovate our way out of this problem, because the problem is not about innovation — it’s about our collective negligence of the institutions whose success or failure hold the key to whether or not we will find a solution.”
YOUR TRIBE WITHIN THE TRIBE
A new approach to lay empowerment in the Jewish community

“For millennia, Jews have gathered in large institutions to express their commitments,” writes Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, CEO of the Hadar Institute, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “We pray and study together with those in our community, and this has always been a critical part of being Jewish. But coming together in large groups is not the only way lay people want to gather. Relationships are hard to forge in the context of big-box institutions; people want to meet others in smaller affinity groups as well.”
A new experiment: “At Hadar, we have spent many years supporting a vision of empowered Judaism — where lay people take Jewish learning and commitment into their own hands. We have fostered the growth of dozens of minyanim across the country and opened new frontiers in Jewish lay learning such as Project Zug, where two people can learn on their own with resources curated by educators. But there is so much more potential in the world of lay empowerment. We believe a Judaism with small affinity groups coming together is a more dynamic and relational Judaism. If we grow this model, it will deepen the experience of Jewish life for thousands across the country.”
Worthy Reads
Moving On Up: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Lisa Schohl offers advice from experts on reaching career advancement goals in the nonprofit sector. “The old days of following a defined set of steps to move up in an organization’s hierarchy are long over, [career and pay-equity consultant Katie Donovan] says. ‘It just doesn’t work that way. You have to figure out how you want to get there.’ Sometimes that means getting promoted at your current employer, and other times the only way to get the next level of experience is to go elsewhere. This is why you shouldn’t just focus on managing up to your boss or nonprofit, but through your industry, Donovan says. ‘It’s a much broader perspective you have to have nowadays.’… Don’t assume that your higher-ups know what you are achieving or wait for them to ask, says Merv Antonio, senior director of learning and convening at the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, which runs a leadership training program for nonprofit professionals. Instead, document your successes and communicate them regularly. If you don’t already have regular one-on-ones with your boss, consider asking for them, he says. Use those check-ins to seek constructive feedback, too, and make it easier for your manager to give you that by asking specific questions if you have them.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Word on the Street
The Biden administration and Israeli sources are expressing optimism that a hostage deal with Hamas is on the brink of being finalized…
Israeli First Lady Michal Herzog was presented with the Ruth Bader Ginsberg Award on Sunday at the Jewish Federations’ International Lion of Judah Conference in Atlanta. Herzog, an attorney, has been recognized for her work to expose the systematic sexual crimes perpetrated by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks…
Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman was announced as one of the faith leaders slated to give a benediction at next week’s presidential inauguration…
The U.K.’s Charity Commission issued an official warning last week to Chabad Lubavitch Centres North East London and Essex following its investigation into the congregation’s fundraising efforts in 2023 on behalf of an Israeli soldier; raising money for a soldier of a foreign military is illegal under British law…
WESPAC, a Westchester County-based nonprofit that serves as a financial clearinghouse for major anti-Israel groups, is sending supporters urgent requests for donations because “well-funded forces of darkness are now waging legal warfare against us”…
The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest, named for the 20-year-old woman killed in a terrorist attack in 1995, is restarting after a seven-year hiatus. It is awarding $60,000 in tuition scholarships to Israeli educational institutions with core programs to support women in need…
Dr. Sivan Spitzer of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University is part of an international team that secured a five-year, €22 million grant for the development of an innovative platform aiming to improve drug treatment adherence for patients with cardiometabolic diseases…
HaShomer HaChadash is spearheading efforts to clean and revitalize public spaces in Kiryat Shemona, Israel’s northernmost city, as part of a broader project to rebuild the city in preparation for the return of its residents…
Israeli budget airline Arkia announced new nonstop flights between Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and JFK Airport in New York…
A New Yorker report calls the movement to make school vouchers available for private school students — they are presently universally available in 12 states, regardless of a family’s income and whether the private school is parochial or secular — “a billion-dollar drain on the public school system”…
Wendy Singer has been appointed to the Russell Berrie Foundation board of trustees…
Brooklyn real estate investor Mendel Steiner died at 33…
Jesse Cogan, a New York City ad man who coined iconic Jewish slogans — “Their Fight is Our Fight” for the movement for Soviet Jewry, “The Courage to be Modern and Orthodox” for Edah, and more — died Thursday at 74…
Rabbi Ishak Haleva, Turkey’s chief rabbi since 2002, died at 84…
Pic of the Day

A delegation of over 20 rabbis, imams and sheikhs from all over Israel arrived in the Israeli Bedouin city of Rahat on Monday to console the family of hostages Youssef and Hamza Al Zayadni, whose bodies were recovered last week from Gaza. The delegation was led by the Ohr Torah Interfaith Center, part of the Ohr Torah Stone network; the Forum of Interfaith Leaders in Israel; and the Interfaith Initiative of the Negev.
Birthdays

Orthopedic surgeon, medical inventor and philanthropist, Gary K. Michelson, M.D. …
Screenwriter, director and producer, best known as co-writer of the films “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Return of the Jedi,” Lawrence Kasdan… Chairman emeritus of the publicly traded Empire State Realty Trust, he is the father-in-law of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Peter L. Malkin… Retired travel counselor, Barbara Singer-Meis… Washington Nationals baseball fan known as Rubber Chicken Man, he waves a rubber chicken over the Nationals dugout and is one of the few fans for whom Topps has issued a baseball card, Hugh Kaufman… Award-winning legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio since 1975, focusing primarily on the U.S. Supreme Court, Nina Totenberg… Painter, editor, writer and book artist, Susan Bee… Co-founder and chairman of the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, which he manages with his wife Penny Pritzker, Bryan Traubert… Shaul Saulisbury… Former president of the Sprint Foundation and Sprint’s 1Million Project Foundation, Doug Michelman… Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, she holds a Ph.D. in criminology, Anat Berko… President of AIPAC, he is a founding member of LA-based law firm, Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern, Michael L. Tuchin… Actress best known for her movie roles in the late 1980s in “The Goonies” and “Lucas,” she later became a film producer, Kerri Lee Green… Author and staff writer at The New Yorker, Susan B. Glasser… Venture capitalist, Adam R. Dell… Movie and television producer and co-founder of Electric City Entertainment, Jamie Patricof… Sales associate in the Montclair, N.J., office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, David Frey… Attorney at Toronto-based Sokoloff Lawyers, Aryeh Samuel…