Your Daily Phil: U.S. Jewish groups uneasy as Trump signs MOU with Iran
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine how the Jewish community is reacting to the emerging agreement between the United States and Iran. We report on Project Shema’s transition into an independent nonprofit poised to tackle antisemitism in progressive spaces, and on a new partnership between Meta and the Blinded Veterans Association being championed by Ivanka Trump. We feature an opinion piece by Tamra L. Dollin, who shares insights gained over a decade of consulting for the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s Life & Legacy initiative, and a piece by Raeefa Shams reflecting on her experience at a recent University of Cincinnati conference on the Abraham Accords. Also in this issue: Ahmir Lerner, Nina Bruder and Noah Aminoah.
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
The Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute announced the winner of the annual Sami Rohr Prize today, presenting the award for nonfiction to Amir Tibon for his personal account of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, The Gates of Gaza.
Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan is hosting a rededication ceremony today to celebrate the completion of its $18 million restoration and the 100th anniversary of its Amsterdam Avenue location.
Keren Olam HaTorah, which finances yeshivas and kollels throughout Israel, is hosting an event this evening at Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens, N.Y.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
For many in the Jewish communal world, as the United States and Iran enter advanced talks to formalize and expand the current ceasefire, the moment will feel somewhat familiar, with many similarities to the lead-up to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal alongside fresh obstacles and complexities to navigate.
Without the full details of the agreement, it is impossible to assess its merits, yet Jewish leaders and organizations have expressed unease at the proposed MOU, which the White House is describing not as a final agreement but as a framework for negotiations. Some groups — those more hawkish on Iran and those more critical of President Donald Trump — have already denounced the arrangement, while more mainstream groups have adopted a “wait and see” approach, expressing concern but withholding judgment.
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
LISTEN UP
After years of growth, Project Shema officially becomes an independent nonprofit
After Oct. 7, the surge in antisemitism and anti-Zionism in progressive circles upended relationships between traditional liberal Jewish groups and those further to the left. Now that Project Shema — an antisemitism education group that deals specifically with that progressive community — has become an independent nonprofit, it stands poised to play a larger role in today’s fraught conversation, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
Origin story: As early as 2015, progressive organizer Oren Jacobson realized that the conversation around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and antisemitism in progressive spaces was breaking down. “The biggest challenges were lack of context, a lack of shared language and sometimes just the ability to slow down enough for people to hear or be heard,” Jacobson, Project Shema’s co-founder and CEO, told eJP. The idea for Project Shema arose in 2018 but became a reality in 2022 after disputes around the actions of Israel in Gaza the previous year again brought the issue to the fore.
EYE ON THE PRIZE
Ivanka Trump unveils Meta partnership with Blinded Veterans Association to distribute AI glasses to visually impaired veterans
Ivanka Trump on Friday announced a collaboration between Meta and the Blinded Veterans Association that aims to donate Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses to all legally blind American veterans, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates number roughly 130,000, Christina Sher reports for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
Partnership for patriots: The initiative was spearheaded by Trump alongside Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, who served as deputy national security advisor for strategy in the first Trump administration. Speaking at the reception, Powell McCormick said that Meta believes “superintelligence is going to help people find their purpose in life.” On “CBS Morning,” Powell McCormick said she “can’t think of a better way to honor America’s 250th birthday than by giving those who have sacrificed so much a way to make their lives better.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
Opinion
PARTING GIFT
When it comes to legacy giving, success demands a decade
“For the past decade, I’ve served as a consultant with Life & Legacy, a Harold Grinspoon Foundation initiative that helps Jewish communities build endowments through legacy giving,” writes Tamra L. Dollin in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “In looking back on this work as I ready for retirement, one lesson stands out clearly: Durable legacy success takes about a decade. Not because donors are unwilling. Not because planned giving is overly complex. But because culture change takes time.”
Out of alignment: “Jewish communities across North America are searching for sustainable financial models amid demographic shifts, leadership transitions and growing competition for philanthropic dollars. Legacy giving, my area of expertise, is often cited as part of the solution. But here is the hard truth: Legacy success does not align with the short-term culture of Jewish philanthropy. … If we want culture change, we must design our funding models, governance expectations and leadership commitments to match the horizon of the work. Here are four outstanding examples that illustrate this point…”
CAMPUS SCENE
When academic inquiry requires a police escort
“In April, the University of Cincinnati hosted a multiday conference, proudly supported by the Academic Engagement Network, exploring the Abraham Accords and the possibilities for regional collaboration and cooperation that may emerge from those agreements,” writes Raeefa Shams, AEN’s director of communications and programming, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “[T]he conference featured a heavy police presence — the “Jewish tax” that organizations are forced to ensure safety in an increasingly antisemitic society. The importance of such a presence, and the investment needed to maintain it, was made clear on the last day of the conference.”
Isn’t it ironic: “[I]t is a jarring experience to have a program of learning, connection and intellectual engagement marred by propaganda, or to be a small person surrounded by people shouting angry, hateful slogans. But I was more struck by the contrast between the goals of the conference and the rhetoric and actions of the protesters.”
Worthy Reads
Holy Compassion: In J. The Jewish News of Northern California, Robb Layne, board chair of Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region, recalls how San Francisco Reform rabbis responded to the AIDS crisis with compassion rather than condemnation in the 1980s, a history he says deserves remembering as antisemitism and anti-LGBTQ hostility rise once again. “Judaism said ‘yes’ before civil law did. This is not Northern California history. It is not LGBTQ history. It is Jewish history, full stop. And it belongs to all of us. Antisemitism is rising. Attacks on LGBTQ people are rising. The way anti-gay messages are delivered have changed, but the message has not. There are gay Jewish kids right now listening to adults debate their existence as they try to figure out who they are. They deserve to know their tradition was already saying ‘yes’ to them before they could say ‘yes’ to themselves. History that stays forgotten cannot protect anyone.” [J.]
Execution Gap: In Alliance Magazine, philanthropy commentator Mahak Agrawal argues that funders underinvest in the delivery infrastructure needed to transform good programs into lasting results. “In practice, much philanthropic funding replicates the short-termism of more constrained capital. The reasons are not mysterious: accountability to boards, pressure to demonstrate impact within reporting periods, the inherent difficulty of attributing long-term institutional strengthening to any single funding decision…Philanthropy has invested substantially in being better at identifying the right problems. The more demanding frontier is being honest about whether the conditions for solving them are being built with equal seriousness. Ambition sets the direction. Implementation determines whether anyone arrives.” [AllianceMagazine]
The Boundaries of Belonging: In Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Rabbi Asher Knight contends that while anti-Zionists should be welcomed in Reform synagogues, the movement shouldn’t ordain rabbis who reject Jews’ right to self-determination. “Rabbinic leadership is about transmission and relationship. A rabbi helps Jews locate themselves within a people, a history, a covenant and a future. That work rests on a basic recognition that the people are worth transmitting. That the story is worth carrying forward. That Jews remain responsible for one another even when we are angry, ashamed, afraid, or divided.” [JTA]
Transitions
Israel Policy Forum elected a number of new board executives and members: Daryl Messinger and Rick Rosen will serve as board chair and vice chair, respectively, and Wendy C. Abrams, Steve Kersten and Avi Gelboim will join the board…
The JCC of Greater Albuquerque hired Gal Stav as its next CEO…
Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould joined University of Chicago Hillel as its executive director…
Joel Scanlon was announced as the new president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington…
Word on the Street
The Jewish New Teacher Project, focused on a research-based approach to teacher induction and leadership support, is becoming part of Prizmah, the organizations announced in a joint statement. JNTP’s core programs are planned to continue without interruption; Nina Bruder, JNTP’s CEO, will join the Prizmah leadership team; and most of JNTP’s staff will join Prizmah as well…
At last night’s United Hatzalah gala in New York, Ron Dermer, former advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the crowd that Iran and Hezbollah have been badly weakened since the Oct. 7 terror attacks, while expressing doubts Iran will give up its nuclear program…
Pope Leo XIV met on Monday with a delegation from UJA-Federation of New York at the Vatican. Outgoing UJA CEO Eric Goldstein presented the pontiff with a menorah and an inscription expressing hope that the pope’s leadership “will shine a bright light” and bring “dignity for all.”
El Al inked a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide free high-speed internet to passengers traveling with the airline, beginning in 2027…
The Council on Foundations, which represents over 1,000 charitable foundations, has launched a campaign called “Generosity Builds” aimed at countering perceptions that nonprofits are wasteful or politically driven…
Clalit, the medical services provider to over 50% of Israel’s population, has been chosen to join the international consortium behind the European Pandemics AI Observatory, or PANDAI, an initiative to establish Europe’s first AI-based platform for the early detection, prediction and management of pandemics…
Ahmir Lerner, CEO of the Israeli disability nonprofit Beit Issie Shapiro, addressed the United Nations’ Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities last week. In his remarks, Lerner criticized the UN and its member states for drawing false equivalencies between Israel and terrorist organizations…
The New School cut nearly 90 jobs, including 19 full-time faculty, as part of a broader restructuring meant to close a roughly $50 million annual deficit
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir canceled a planned family trip to the U.S. amid challenges in obtaining a visa; Ben-Gvir, who has a history of criminal convictions in Israeli courts that could render him ineligible for a common ESTA visa, chose to forgo the trip after he was summoned to the U.S. Embassy to be fingerprinted…
In Jmore, Melinda Michel remembers her friend Pam Platt as a steady mentor who helped guide her through her son’s unexpected turn toward a more religiously observant lifestyle…
Noah Aminoah, former chair of the Talmud department of Tel Aviv University, author of Torah: The Oral Tradition and great uncle of Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov, died at 95…
Pic of the Day
During the first day of his first official visit to Israel on Sunday, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (left) plants an olive tree in Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund’s Grove of Nations in Jerusalem on Sunday with the help Ilan Shohat (center), CEO of KKL-JNF, and Yuval Yenni, the group’s CFO.
“The Grove of Nations inspires leaders and citizens alike to build a more peaceful and compassionate world,” Abdullahi said at the event. He also expressed interest in learning from KKL-JNF’s experience in environmental conservation.
In December 2025, Israel was the first country and U.N. member state to extend recognition to Somaliland as a sovereign state, and the president’s first official visit to the country will include the inauguration of Somaliland’s Embassy in Jerusalem and meetings with Israeli leaders.
Birthdays
Pitcher for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he is now in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, Zachary D. “Zack” Weiss turns 34…
Professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, Leonard Susskind turns 86… Brigadier-general (ret.) in the IDF, then a member of Knesset, then chairman of Ha’aguda Lema’an Hachayal, a nonprofit IDF veterans group, Avigdor Kahalani turns 82… Former dean of Yeshiva College, U.S. ambassador to Egypt for President Bill Clinton, and U.S. ambassador to Israel for President George W Bush, Daniel C. Kurtzer turns 77… Professor at Nanjing University and China’s leading professor of Jewish studies, Xu Xin turns 77… Rickey Wolosky Palkovitz turns 77… Investigative reporter who worked for Newsweek, NBC News and then Yahoo News, Michael Isikoff turns 74… Principal executive at Kohn & Associates and chairman of the board of directors at ARMR Sciences Inc., he was the volunteer varsity and junior varsity boys and girls basketball coach at Farber Hebrew Day School in Southfield, Mich., for a total of over three decades, Kenneth I. Kohn turns 73… UC Berkeley professor, Alison Gopnik turns 71… Professor of Jewish studies at the University of Freiburg (Germany), Gabrielle Oberhänsli-Widmer turns 69… Distinguished fellow in Jewish studies at Dartmouth College and visiting professor of modern Jewish studies at Harvard Divinity School, Shaul Magid turns 68… Southern California resident, Roberta Trachten-Zeve… Senior project executive at Kansas-based Stuart & Associates Commercial Flooring, Matthew Rafael Elyachar… Pulitzer Prize-winning business reporter and bestselling author, he is a past president of Washington Hebrew Congregation, David A. Vise turns 66… Former chair of the Broward County, Fla., JCRC, he is the co-founder of The Alliance of Blacks & Jews, Keith Wasserstrom… Actor, screenwriter, producer and director, Daniel Zelman turns 59… Senior correspondent for military and intelligence affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth, Ronen Bergman Ph.D. turns 54… Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, Julie Rikelman turns 54… CEO and founder of NYC-based Marathon Strategies, Philip Keith (“Phil”) Singer… Israeli photographer, digital artist and artificial intelligence researcher, Dina Bova turns 49… Geographer and writer, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro turns 47… Singer and songwriter, Benjamin Lev Kweller turns 45… Comedian, actor and YouTuber with almost 100 million views, Adam Ray turns 44… Senior portfolio manager on the Jewish life and Israel grantmaking team at One8 Foundation, Alyssa Bogdanow Arens… Chencin, Perry … Former catcher on Israel’s National Baseball Team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, now a business transformation consultant for EY, Tal Erel turns 30… Israeli artistic gymnast who won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Artem Dolgopyat turns 29…
