Your Daily Phil: Two rabbis reflect on how 9/11 shaped them
Add EJP on GoogleGood Thursday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the launch of a national fund to help families claim a new $1,700 federal tax credit for day school tuition. We also spotlight Footsteps’ microgrants for formerly Orthodox Jews to mark the High Holy Days. We report on Robert Kraft’s $10 million naming gift to Brandeis University’s Hillel center, and profile Rabbi Ronald Kaplan whose doctors connected his laryngeal cancer diagnosis to his work as a Sept. 11 spiritual first responder. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks tomorrow, and a piece by Rabbi Josh Joseph about seeking spiritual mentorship. Also in this issue: Jonathan Haidt and Tamar Remz, Rabbanit Ravit Kalech and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Ed note: In observance of Rosh Hashanah, the next Your Daily Phil will arrive on Monday, Sept. 14. Shabbat shalom and shana tovah!
Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, with memorial ceremonies planned across the country.
Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow evening, as Jews around the world mark the end of 5786 and the start of 5787.
What You Should Know
A consortium of Jewish groups is launching a national fund to allow American taxpayers to take full advantage of a $1,700 tax rebate that will reduce private school tuition costs, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
To facilitate the income tax credits, Jewish Federations of North America, Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools and the Orthodox Union and its day school-focused Teach Coalition, announced the creation of The Opportunity Fund for Jewish Education, a national scholarship-granting organization that will allow Americans to donate to a single SGO that will dispense funds locally to Jewish day schools across the U.S.
“We realized we are much more likely to be successful if we work together across the entire community,” Paul Bernstein, Prizmah’s CEO, told eJP. “This really does have the potential to have a huge impact, but it depends on us mobilizing the Jewish community to really participate in the tax credit and support our schools.”
News
BABY STEPS
Footsteps marks 10 years of High Holy Days microgrants supporting formerly Orthodox Jews
For many practicing Jews, the accumulation of holidays from Rosh Hashanah to Simchat Torah can be a heavy load, emotionally and physically. But for those thinking of leaving the Orthodox community, the High Holy Days can be the last straw before taking the leap of faith toward a new life. And after leaving, the holidays may symbolize both freedom and loneliness. For the past 10 years, Footsteps, a nonprofit serving individuals who have left the Haredi community, has provided members with microgrants, allowing them to honor the holidays in a way that is meaningful to them, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
Religious autonomy: “The beauty of the microgrant program is that it allows individuals autonomy to determine how they want to celebrate and who they want to celebrate with,” Lani Santo, Footsteps’ CEO, told eJP. “A lot of our folks are living at the edge of the poverty line. Affordability is a big issue in this country, in this city and for this community. You have people [who] are coming out of a community that doesn’t have a lot of resources, but then when they leave that, they have lost the social and economic safety net that exists in those communities.”
MAJOR GIFTS
Robert Kraft donates $10M to name new Brandeis Hillel center
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has donated $10 million to Brandeis University to name a new 28,000-square-foot facility for Jewish life, expected to open in spring 2028, the school said on Wednesday, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports. The donation is the “cornerstone” gift of a long-term $25 million fundraising campaign — a partnership between Brandeis and Hillel announced last year — to repurpose Kutz Hall, a vacant university building into a center for Jewish life on campus, according to the university.
All in the family: Kraft cited his family’s longtime ties to the university, which include the 1964 graduation of Kraft’s late wife, Myra, and her later tenure as a trustee and honorary degree recipient, a path her father, Jacob Hiatt, had also followed decades earlier. Their son, Joshua Kraft, has also served on the university’s board. Over the years, the family’s philanthropy has funded several endowed professorships and scholarships at Brandeis, along with broader support for faculty and academic programs.
BEYOND WORDS
A rabbi answered the call at Ground Zero. Two decades later, it cost him his voice
A rabbi answered the call at Ground Zero. Two decades later, it cost him his voice
For more than four decades, Rabbi Ronald Kaplan’s primary tool for his work was his voice. But this year, as the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — a commemoration that falls as the major Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah begins on Friday night — that work of speaking and remembering holds particular resonance for Kaplan, whose service as a spiritual first responder at Ground Zero during the aftermath of the attacks ultimately cost him his “greatest sacrifice” — his voice, reports Matthew Shea for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Paying the price: Kaplan describes the scene as “ancient liturgy for modern horror”: the acrid air, pulverized concrete, twisted steel and battered office furniture strewn amid the rubble, punctuated by sudden cries when recovery teams found human remains or fragments of clothing. He was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 2020. During an early consultation, Kaplan’s physician ran through the usual risk factors — smoking, heavy drinking and HPV. “When my answers were all in the negative, he looked at me and asked: ‘Did you ever work at Ground Zero?’” Kaplan recalled. “He immediately connected my rare cancer to my exposure on the pile.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
Opinion
ZACHOR
I am a proud 9/11 rabbi
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Jewish Future Promise’s Mike Leven and Hadara In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein of Congregation Shir Shalom in Buffalo, N.Y., reflects on how the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and their aftermath impacted not only his experience at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College but his rabbinate going forward.
“The lessons learned from that horrific day have helped determine the type of work I have taken on, my approach to Judaism and my understanding of my role as a rabbi in the greater world.”
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT
A personal board of directors for the soul: Why everyone needs a spiritual mentor
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Josh Joseph, CEO of the Orthodox Union, writes that alongside therapists, coaches and professional mentors, we need spiritual mentors to help us reflect on who we are and who we aspire to become.
“My own personal board of directors includes both rabbis and non-rabbis, my late father and my mother, dear friends and people that I find somewhat intimidating. Each offers a unique perspective, and I turn to different people for different types of questions.”
Worthy Reads
Line in the Sand: In his Substack “Identity/Crisis,” Shalom Hartman’s Yehuda Kurtzer praises a Michigan campaign — rabbis and Jewish leaders daring Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed to earn their support rather than assume it — as a model of Jewish political agency, arguing the same red lines should bind the right, whose antisemitism he calls as dangerous as the left’s. “But let’s make sure that in rejecting one illiberalism, we don’t capitulate to another. Let’s make sure that our nonnegotiables cut both ways.”
Funding America’s Future: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, author and professor Jonathan Haidt and The Palm Collective’s Tamar Remz write that university self-examinations, a wave of new campus dialogue centers and neutrality policies at nearly 150 institutions signal a turnaround in American higher education, arguing sustained philanthropic investment will determine whether the shift toward open inquiry endures. “The institutions and leaders who step forward now will shape not only the future of higher education, but the future of the American experiment.”
Guardians of Essaouira: In the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle, founder and CEO of Shin Tours Asaf Peled describes Essaouira — a Moroccan Atlantic port town that was once nearly half Jewish — as the most moving stop on a Jewish heritage trip through Morocco, where more than 1,000 pilgrims gather each September for Rabbi Haim Pinto’s hiloula, though almost no Jews remain. “Partly it is the scale of what was here. Mostly it is the care with which a country preserves a heritage almost none of whose people remain.”
Transitions
The Constructive Dialogue Institute appointed Tamar Remz, founder and president of The Palm Collective and former longtime director at the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, as chair of its board of directors. See Worthy Read above…
Anti-Defamation League appointed Sasha Benjamin, Meyer Cusnir, Matthew Devaney, Dalton Ercolano, Ella Kotok, Gali Polichuk, Samantha Przybisiki, Lily Rashes, Logan Reich, Jack Schell and Maddie Stoller to its inaugural NextGen Advisory Council; the body will advise the organization’s board and senior leadership on antisemitism and Jewish life…
Julie Yaker began a new role at the Jewish Federation of Detroit as its director of leadership development…
B’nai Brith Canada hired Michelle Hoidas as its new national director of philanthropy as well as Jordan Kerbel as its head of national communications and corporate affairs…ted as the first-ever Jewish president of the Catholic Biblical Association of America…
Word on the Street
Ahead of Israel’s October election, a new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that foreign affairs and security are at the top Jewish voters’ considerations with Arab voters primarily focused on crime in Arab society. Meanwhile, 68% of Jewish Israelis say Oct. 7 is a central consideration that will shape their vote…
A new Jewish Voters Resource Center poll found American Jewish voters are staying with Democrats heading into November with 67% backing Democratic congressional candidates and 26% Republicans despite the party’s rift with Israel…
J Street‘s University of Michigan chapter severed ties with Michigan Hillel after being told to cut ties with its national parent, a split left-leaning Jewish students say signals shrinking room for their views on campus…
New data from Jgive, Israel’s largest donation platform, shows seasonal giving on the platform rose 53% over four years to NIS 68.5 million ($22.6 million), with the share of gifts made in foreign currency falling from 54% to 16%…
DreamWorks Animation co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, Bill Peebles, the former head of OpenAI’s Sora app, and former Dropbox CFO Sujay Jaswa are planning to launch a new AI video startup that would train its own models for filmmakers, and are in talks with potential investors including Andreessen Horowitz to raise funding, The Information reports…
The world-famous Carnegie Deli is reopening in Manhattan, and will be located in the space of the former Stage Deli, which closed in 2012…
Israeli-American defense startup Covenant emerged from stealth with more than $250 million at a valuation above $1 billion to mass-produce Anthem, a low-cost long-range cruise missile. The company’s founder is Michael Kaufman, a Jewish American who previously worked for Peter Thiel’s foundation and made aliyah to Israel in 2024…
CBS News follows the Pittsburgh Jewish community’s efforts to add police patrols and armed guards for the High Holy Days after a rise in threats, though officials report no specific threats to synagogues at this time…
Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption announced more than 20,000 Jewish immigrants from about 100 countries made aliyah over the past year…
Rabbanit Ravit Kalech, an attorney who left law to become an ordained halachic authority and a leading figure in Orthodox women’s religious study, died this week…
Pic of the Day
Hundreds gather at Jerusalem’s 9/11 Living Memorial in the Arazim Valley yesterday to mark 25 years since the terror attacks that killed 2,977 Americans. The memorial is the only one of its kind outside the U.S. bearing every victim’s name. Each year, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, JNF-USA and the U.S. Embassy come together to host a memorial event. This year, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, KKL-JNF Chairman Eyal Ostrinsky and JNF-USA CEO Russell F. Robinson all spoke at the event, alongside Suri and Harvey Morgenstern, whose daughter Nancy died in the attacks, and actor Patricia Heaton.
“Today’s memorial, at which the United States and Israel mourn together and stand together, is a testimony to our enduring solidarity and shared resolve to confront terrorism and protect innocent life – a bond that time cannot erode and terror can never sever,” Huckabee said in a statement.
Birthdays
RoRichard Behar, award-winning journalist and author, he wrote a 2024 book on Bernie Madoff
Stanley Gold, chairman of Shamrock Holdings, Roy Disney’s private investment company, turns 84
Dianne Varon, retired real estate agent in Southern California
Gerald Fishman, former EVP and general counsel at Chicago’s futures broker Rosenthal Collins Group
Howard Penner, past president of Congregation Ahavas Israel in Passaic, N.J.
Henri Goettel, retired coordinator at Truman Heartland Community Foundation, she was a Hebrew teacher at Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, Kan.
Gary M. Polland, Houston attorney and Republican Party activist, turns 76
Joel Judd, Denver attorney and politician, he served in the Colorado House of Representatives for eight years, turns 74
Nancy Finkel, executive assistant to the office managing partner of the E&Y office in Tampa
Matthew Fried, retired VP at Goldman Sachs, now a part-time elementary school teacher
Steven Greenspan, real estate attorney in South Florida
Amity Ruth Shlaes, writer, columnist and author of three New York Times bestsellers, turns 66
Charles Rosenberg, former acting administrator of the DEA, now a senior counsel at D.C.’s Crowell & Moring, turns 66
Andrew Shapiro, founder and managing director at Beacon Global Strategies, he serves on the New Leadership Council of the Jewish Democratic Council of America
Lawrence Garbuz, NYC trusts and estates attorney
Jonathan Soros, co-founder and partner of One Madison Group, he is a son of George Soros, turns 56
Eric Kaplan, television writer and producer whose work includes “The Big Bang Theory,” turns 55
Ariel Sadwin, executive director of the Maryland / Mid-Atlantic region of Agudath Israel
Sarah Schneider, writer, actor and comedian, she was a writer for “Saturday Night Live,” turns 43
Charles Szold, principal at Blue Zone Partners and managing partner at Precision Infrastructure Management
Joshua A. Nass, PR strategist, crisis manager and media analyst
Trey Yingst, chief foreign correspondent for Fox News, his 2024 book, Black Saturday, covers the events of Oct. 7 and the war that followed, turns 33
Jennifer Meyer
