Your Daily Phil: Tuition tax breaks mainly help day school parents, new study finds
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new Teach Coalition study on the efficacy of state-funded scholarships in bringing down tuition costs for Jewish day schools. We speak with Simon Amiel as he begins his tenure as Birthright Israel’s executive vice president of North America, and spotlight judaica artist Debra Band. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg celebrating his friend, philanthropist Harold Grinspoon, on the latter’s 97th birthday; another by Joshua Ladon proposes a paradigm for Jewish citizenship; and a piece by Yos Tarshish about the timelines we place on success. Also in this issue: Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, Karl-Anthony Towns and Ashley L. Jackson.
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took off earlier today for Washington, where tomorrow he’ll both meet with President Donald Trump and attend the funeral for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Jewish National Fund-USA is holding its David Frank Memorial Golf Classic today in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
What You Should Know
In recent years, there has been a growing push to secure government funding for Jewish day schools. But even with these rebates and tax breaks, day school tuition remains out of reach for many in the Jewish community, leaving some to question whether they are as effective as they seem — is that money actually bringing down tuition for families, or are schools just raising their rates to match the new incentives?
To answer that, Teach Coalition, the Orthodox Union’s division that advocates for government funding for Jewish day schools, conducted a study, “The Effect of State Scholarships on Affordability in Jewish Schools from 2012 to 2022,” which was shared exclusively with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher ahead of its publication today. The study, which surveyed the states where there are already tax incentives for private schools, found that while a portion of the funds does benefit the schools, the majority does indeed bring down costs for families.
News
Q&A
Leaving behind a well-grounded RootOne, Simon Amiel looks to build Jewish identity at Birthright
For the last six years, as executive director of RootOne, Simon Amiel has been at the center of conversations about how young American Jews connect to Israel. As of last month, Amiel succeeded longtime educational leader Liz Sokolsky as Birthright Israel’s executive vice president, North America.
One month into his new role, Amiel spoke with eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim in Tel Aviv about his decision to leave RootOne, the lessons of steering an organization through a period of collapsing and rebounding participation, and his vision for how Birthright and RootOne might work together to build a more continuous set of Israel experiences across a young person’s life.
ND: You mentioned how the goal isn’t to target the people who are looking at Israel sideways, but those who view it more ambiguously or don’t really have an interest. But what do you think should be the approach for those who might be teetering on looking at it sideways?
SA: Among young people in North America, most of them are learning about Israel in a post-literacy environment. … There’s no nuance, there’s no patience for nuance, and there’s no capacity for it. So, to me, I think among the most important things that we could be doing is connecting North American Jews, that notion of peoplehood, feeling like… we’re the same people and being able to see Israel for Israelis, and not necessarily for its policies, or its military action, or any of those things, I think opens up doors for people listening.
BEE’S KNEES
How Debra Band revives a dying Jewish art form
For 30 years, Debra Band built a career in health policy — but in her Maryland studio, surrounded by kosher parchment, gold leaf and an unfinished manuscript or three, she’s spent the last quarter-century quietly reviving a Jewish art form: the illuminated manuscript. Five of her books now sit in the Library of Congress’ permanent collection, reports Christina Sher for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Illuminating tradition: When Band first brought her Song of Songs book to the library to show its then-head of the Hebraica section, she watched him lay all 65 pages out on a long table and pull out a jeweler’s loupe. She assumed he was hunting for errors in her calligraphy, and started speaking quickly, over-explaining the iconography. In an interview with JI, Band recalled him cutting her off and saying: “Don’t worry, if anyone in the country reads this book when it comes out, it will be me. Right now, I just need to look for the honeybees.” The bees are Band’s signature; her Hebrew name is Devorah — honeybee. As a private joke with herself, she tucks a small painted bee into nearly every manuscript page she makes.
Opinion
AD MEAH V’ESRIM
Harold Grinspoon: When a Jewish philanthropist is also a role model
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, scholar and activist Rabbi Yitz Greenberg marks the 97th birthday of Harold Grinspoon not only with praise for the work of the philanthropist’s eponymous foundation but with insights into Grinspoon’s leadership and his approach to the causes he cares about.
“Amazingly, Harold is as curious and engaged in his 90s as he was in his 50s. Deeply concerned about Israel, this past year he concluded that there should be special investments in the Jewish state to rebuild life after the Oct. 7 massacre and three years of war and evacuations. He searched and found a renewal program in northern Israel, where Kibbutz Misgav Am, damaged by Hezbollah, was rebuilding, and became a partner in that effort to the tune of a $5 million special grant. What new project will he come up with at 98, or 100?”
PARADIGM SHIFT
Envisioning Jewish citizenship
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Joshua Ladon, West Coast vice president and senior faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, posits that the Jewish world needs a new framework for participation in collective Jewish life.
“For decades, the goal has been to cultivate a strong sense of Jewish identity based on the assumption that if Jews felt Jewish, commitments would follow. … I argue for a vision of Jewish citizenship based on four facets: belief, practice, understanding and connection. These four domains are broad enough for the majority of Jews to situate themselves inside while also creating some sense of shared norms.”
READER RESPONDS
The ‘Are we there yet?’ mentality
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, educator and community strategist Yos Tarshish responds to Ben Ehrenkranz’s recent op-ed on Jewish political organizing (“How to beat the anti-Israel machine,” July 16).
“People often mistake successful advocacy campaigns for breakthroughs, overlooking the years of work that preceded them. The visible victory may be the first moment when years of invisible investment become impossible to ignore. We admire the outcome while overlooking the long, repetitive and largely unremarkable work that made it possible in the first place. I think Ehrenkranz is right about organizing. I also think organizing is only part of the story.”
Worthy Reads
Steward or Accumulator: In The New York Times, Ian Frisch reports that as blockbuster IPOs from AI companies mint a new class of ultrawealthy, nonprofits are angling for a giving windfall that some estimate could channel more than $100 billion a year into philanthropy. “The psychological transition of becoming a world steward, rather than an accumulator, is the hardest aspect.”
Foundations In Retreat: In Proximate, Jan Masaoka argues that philanthropy’s reform debate is fixated on foundations even as charitable wealth flees them for donor-advised funds, LLCs and family offices that answer to far weaker disclosure and payout rules. “Reformers are essentially looking at the small streams of water going out over the dam instead of how the reservoir itself is being used. Put another way, we are attempting to improve institutions that are becoming less central to the system.”
Graham’s Last Gift: In The Times of Israel, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s David Makovsky contends that Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (SC-R) funeral offers a final chance for the late senator to close the daylight between Washington and Jerusalem. “If his funeral prompts the two leaders to narrow that daylight, it would be a fitting final contribution to the US-Israel alliance from one of its most steadfast champions.”
Major Gifts
Philanthropist Bernard Osher donated $2.1 million to the University of Cincinnati to expand its integrative health and wellness programs…
Children’s art startup Pixyit has pledged a portion of its equity to charity through A Good Option. Read eJP’s interview with A Good Option’s founder Yadin Kaufmann here…
Transitions
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who led Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation through the 2018 synagogue shooting that killed 11 worshippers in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, is retiring this month…
The Koby Mandell Foundation, which runs therapeutic camps and retreats for Israeli families bereaved by terror, has named Jonathan Nierman as its next executive director…
Amy Newman is leaving her role as chief development officer at Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit…
Josh Blatt stepped into his new role on the Jewish Federations of North America’s board of trustees as Cincinnati’s representative…
Michael Bresler joined the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore‘s board of directors…
Word on the Street
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns appeared at a Manhattan fundraiser last Monday for Chazaq, a group that provides Torah education to Jewish children from the Bukharian community…
The Menomadin Foundation, established by businessman Haim Taib, has rebranded itself as the Taib Foundation…
Israeli students won 13 medals, including five gold, at the international Science Olympiads, capping a record 26-medal season with teams supported by Maimonides Fund‘s Future Scientists Center. Read eJP’s coverage of the program from last year…
ABC News profiles Lox and Loaded, a Jewish firearms training group now backed by the National Rifle Association that has grown to more than 1,800 members across 59 chapters in 24 states amid rising antisemitism since the Oct. 7 terror attacks…
Jewish Telegraphic Agency interviews journalist Amir Tibon as he prepares to accept the 2026 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for his Oct. 7 memoir “The Gates of Gaza” and move his family back to Kibbutz Nahal Oz…
In The Washington Post, Ashley L. Jackson, daughter of the late civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, reflects on her conversion to Judaism two years ago and her dual identity as a Black and Jewish woman amid strained ties between the two communities…
Temple B’nai Sholom in Huntsville, Ala., the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the state, is marking its 150th anniversary this weekend…
Rabbi Yaakov Farber, who two years ago founded Ma’alot Tzur, a program combining IDF service with vocational training to encourage Haredi enlistment, died at 32…
Ida Schmertz, the founding director of Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics, died earlier this month at 91…
Pic of the Day
Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi (left) shakes hands yesterday with Sylvan Adams, president of the World Jewish Congress’ Israel branch, in Paris. During the meeting, Adams presented Pahlavi with two mezuzot made of Jerusalem stone, one to be hung in Iran’s future embassy in Jerusalem and the other to be hung in Israel’s future embassy in Tehran.
“I’m a real estate man. This is how I made my living,” Adams said during the meeting, according to a readout. “My hope is to come to Tehran in the very near future and look for a piece of real estate on which will sit the Israeli embassy in Tehran. I brought two mezuzahs, one which I hope to hang with you at the Israeli embassy in Tehran, and the second which will be at the Iranian embassy in Jerusalem.”
Birthdays
Harold Grinspoon, real estate developer who founded Aspen Square Management, he heads an eponymous foundation known for its flagship program PJ Library, turns 97
Michael M. Baden, forensic pathologist known for his HBO show and his work investigating high-profile deaths, turns 92
Harold Zlot, managing partner of Access Fund Management Company, he is a past president of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco
John Mark Deutch, former deputy secretary of defense and then CIA director in the Clinton administration, now a professor emeritus at MIT, turns 88
Steven M. Mizel turns 87
Shalom Tomáš Neuman, artist and museum founder focused on Fusionism, turns 79
Yarin Kimor, Israeli author and television producer, he is best known for his documentaries of Israel’s intelligence agencies, turns 74
Carol Leifer, comedian, writer, producer and actor, turns 70
Linda Feldmann, Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor
Elliot Schrage, former VP of global communications, marketing and public policy at Facebook, he previously held a similar position at Google, turns 66
Jeffrey Brian Carra, U.S. army colonel (retired)
Erez Moshe Tal, Israeli television and radio personality, turns 65
Jean “Gigi” Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, now a film producer, turns 64
Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, former CEO of the Rabbinical Assembly, she is now the founder of Insight Eldercare
Tamás Deutsch, member of the European Parliament since 2009, turns 60
Rabbi Hyim Shafner, rabbi at Kesher Israel: The Georgetown Synagogue
Andrew Grossman, former national platform director for the Democratic National Committee, now a political consultant and recruiter
Jeremy Deutsch, former chief of staff of the House Republican Conference, he is now the managing partner at Capitol Venture, LLC, a boutique public affairs firm
Aaron Lichtig, head of marketing at Employee Navigator and winner on Jeopardy! in 2019
Benjamin Rothenberg, D.C. area political activist
Jeremy Adler, senior vice president of communications at CBS News
