Your Daily Phil: U.S. Jews usher in 2025 feeling safer, worried about future: poll
Good Thursday morning. Today is the final day of Hanukkah.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new initiative by the Jewish Agency to support businesses in northern Israel and on the recent death of philanthropist Dr. Felix Glauchman. We also speak with outgoing Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) about the fight against antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Einat Hurvitz about the nature and trajectory of Jewish practice among secular and traditional Israelis post-Oct. 7; and one by Rabbi Matthew J. Rosenberg about the value of seeking future Jewish leaders from among a less obvious pool of candidates. Also in this newsletter: Eliana Mandell Braner, Ellen Finkelstein and Susan Weiss.
What We’re Watching
We’re monitoring the fallout from a deadly car-ramming in New Orleans yesterday that is believed to be a terror attack and a possibly related blast outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, both of which have Jewish groups calling for increased security at community institutions. “We call on all government officials to increase alertness and anti-terror security measures,” the Jewish Federations of North America said in a statement. “All Jewish Federations will continue and deepen their commitment to community security and we will continue working with our partners and policymakers to ensure that we have access to appropriate security in the face of this threat.”
What You Should Know
American Jews are entering 2025 feeling more confident about their personal security than they were at this time last year, but also concerned about the prospects of the incoming U.S. administration, with most lacking confidence that President-elect Donald Trump will effectively combat antisemitism and support Israel, according to a new study by the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy Institute, writes eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Over a third of the 582 American Jewish respondents — 36% — said last month that the war in Israel has caused them to feel less secure and 46% said that the war has “somewhat affected” their sense of security. Yet this marks an improvement from the weeks following the Oct. 7 terror attacks, when both numbers were higher. (For more about antisemitism in the United States, read Jewish Insider’s interview below with outgoing Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning, who took a leading role on the issue in the House.)
The survey, which was conducted in mid-December, found that approximately 25% of respondents said that they have strong confidence that Trump will do “the right thing” — a phrase left intentionally ambiguous — regarding the fight against antisemitism, while 42% of respondents are “not at all confident” that he will. Not surprisingly, the figures highly correlate with the respondents’ political and religious affiliations, with the majority of “leaning” and “strong” conservatives (63% and 84%, respectively) having confidence in the president-elect. Modern Orthodox and Haredi respondents were more likely to say this as well, with 44% of both saying so.
In addition to his ability to combat antisemitism, the respondents were asked about their confidence in Trump’s handling of U.S.-Israel relations, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Though there were still sizable differences along religious and political grounds, the respondents were most in agreement on Trump’s ability to do “the right thing” as it relates to U.S.-Israel relations. On average, they expressed the least confidence in his future handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The pollsters also asked the respondents about the perceived generational divide in connection to Israel and Judaism. They found that this is — perhaps predictably — a concern solely of the older generation.
A majority of respondents who had children — from those who identified as strong liberal to strong conservative — said that they were more connected to Israel than their children, while a slightly smaller number said that their children were as connected to Israel as they were. Only a smaller percentage — less than 5% across all political affiliations — said that their children were more connected to Israel than they were.
Meanwhile, among the “children” respondents, between 38% and 57% — depending on political affiliation — said that they were more connected to Israel than their parents, while between 37% and 48% said that they were as connected as their parents. Few said that they were less connected to Israel than their parents, with the only double-digit percentage coming from those who identified as strong liberals (14%).
A similar disconnect appears when asked about their connection to Judaism, with sizable percentages of the “parent” respondents believing that the next generation is losing its Jewish identity, while the “children” generation mainly sees no change or even a deepening of their connection to Judaism compared to their parents.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Jewish Agency, local and American donors establish new fund to support northern Israeli businesses
The Jewish Agency has joined forces with Israeli and American donors to establish a new relief fund for small businesses in northern Israel that have been affected by the war, offering thousands of businesses loans through a fast-track application process. The low-interest loans — worth on average of NIS 200,000 ($54,8000) and up to NIS 650,000 ($178,000) — will also include an interest-free grace period for the first two years of the six-year loans, Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judith Sudilovsky.
Economic reconstruction: The initiative is being supported by Israeli businessmen and philanthropists Idan Ofer and Udi Angel, the Jewish federations of Detroit and Pittsburgh and Bank Hapoalim. Most of the businesses are in the tourism and tourism-related sector, which has been one of the hardest-hit sectors in northern Israel, where the economy is largely based on businesses in agriculture and tourism. “It is really important for us in the Jewish Agency to not only think about emergencies,” Tamar Day, the organization’s director of business development, told eJP. “Now we are seeing how we can rebuild the economy in the north.”
BARUCH DAYAN EMET
Dr. Felix Glaubach, major donor to Israeli and Orthodox causes, dies at 93
Dr. Felix Glaubach, who co-founded a successful home care corporation and became a major funder of Orthodox institutions, died last Thursday at 93, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Jewish and Israeli causes: Raised in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Glaubach attended Yeshiva University’s MTA high school, graduating in 1946, which marked the beginning of his decades-long relationship with the Orthodox institution, to which he donated $10 million in 2021 for the university’s career center, which was renamed the Shevet Glaubach Center for Career Strategy and Professional Development. With his wife, Miriam, Glaubach has also supported the Orthodox Union’s NCSY youth group, the women’s learning nonprofit Nishmat, Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center and other Jewish and Israeli causes.
EXIT INTERVIEW
Rep. Kathy Manning says Jews are feeling increasingly insecure in American life
In her two terms in Congress, Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) has risen to become the chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism and vice ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, roles that have put her at the center of work over the past year responding to spiking antisemitism in the United States and the global fallout from the Oct. 7 attack, reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
All together now: Manning said that the past decade has significantly changed the way American Jews perceive their place in American society. She said that her conversations have led her to believe that the Jewish community needs to come together and work on building new strategies to combat antisemitism. “Right now, we’ve got all kinds of different groups working as hard as they can to address antisemitism in their own different ways,” Manning said. “I’ve had a variety of conversations with people who say, ‘Perhaps we need to be rowing in the same direction.’”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
SURVEY SAYS
Israeli Judaism post-Oct. 7: Where are we heading?
“For those committed to fostering a pluralistic Jewish Israel and supporting diverse expressions of Jewish life, the aftermath of [Oct. 7] has sparked deep introspection about how this event and the subsequent ongoing war reshape personal and communal understanding of Jewish identity,” writes Einat Hurvitz, the former head of the Israel Religious Expression Platform (iRep) of the Jewish Federations of North America, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Conceptions of ‘Jewish content’: “When asked about their connection with Judaism, 25% of Israeli Jews reported they felt closer to Judaism and 15% said they felt more distant from Judaism. Among the secular population in particular, 24% said they felt distant from Judaism. But when asked about Israeli Judaism, which in the survey was defined as Jewish activities that are not necessarily within a religious or an Orthodox framework, the response shifted for this group: 59% of secular Jews said they are somewhat or very interested in Israeli Jewish identity, and 31% of secular Jews reported they would like to add Israeli Jewish content or activities for themselves or their families… Secular Israeli Jews, it turns out, are very open to Jewish content, as long as they don’t perceive it as something foreign that requires them to be someone they are not.”
THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
From ‘Moneyball’ to Maccabees: Reimagining the young Jewish leadership pipeline
“When looking for leaders, it’s not how you recruit but whom you recruit,” writes Rabbi Matthew J. Rosenberg, senior rabbi and chief operating officer at JGO: The Jewish Grad Organization (formerly JGSI), in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Under the radar: “Over the last nine years that I’ve been privileged to lead the Sloan Fellowship, I’ve reviewed thousands of applications and conducted hundreds of interviews. Typically we will receive a good number each cycle from impressive individuals who have already completed every Jewish leadership program out there and appear destined for greatness. But here’s what’s surprising: Sometimes, these candidates paradoxically have less to offer their cohort — and vice versa — than others with zero prior experience. Though it may be tempting for Jewish organizations to go after the low-hanging fruit when populating their young leadership programs, we take a different approach. When we recruit for the Sloan Fellowship, we purposefully seek talented, under-the-radar young people who don’t yet identify as Jewish leaders, or don’t even realize they could be.”
Worthy Reads
Are You There, God?: In his latest book, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg offers an updated take on why, if God is all-knowing and good, he still lets terrible things happen to the Jewish people, writes Matthew Schultz in the Jewish Journal. “Rabbi Greenberg, now in his early 90s, is a renowned scholar, teacher, author and spiritual leader. He is famous throughout the Jewish world for his radical suggestion that the covenant between God and the Jewish people was broken by the Holocaust, an idea that he softens and develops in his new book, The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism (Jewish Publication Society, 2024). In this work, Greenberg backs off from the idea that the covenant is broken. Rather, it has entered a new phase, a phase in which God has contracted Himself, so to speak, in order to give humans more freedom. Like a parent taking their hand off the back of the bicycle, God is letting us ride on our own, which means, of course, that we might fall… God is not hiding His face to punish us, but rather to push us. God wants us to grow up and reach our full potential as ‘managing partners’ in the work of this world. For Rabbi Greenberg, this means that it is our job to make sure that human life is valued on earth. When confronted with the forces of death, we mustn’t despair or fall into nihilism. Rather, we must go all in on life.” [JewishJournal]
Driving Out Darkness: In the Jewish News Syndicate, Eliana Mandell Braner, whose brother, Koby, was murdered by terrorists and who now serves as the executive director of the foundation that her parents established in his honor, reflects on her personal experiences as a bereaved sister whose organization supports other bereaved families.“The state of our nation has changed. We have stabilized to some degree, and we feel more secure, but the road ahead is still long. A hundred hostages still wait to return home, we all pray and hope for their return. The rift within our people hasn’t healed. Many men leave their families for 70 days or more, and their absence is felt even more strongly during the days of Chanukah. In too many homes, there are empty chairs at the table… In the past year, while men and women were drafted into reserves, we, too, were drafted to support the newly bereaved families who joined the circle of pain. We were privileged to be part of the light fighting darkness, aiming to ease the pain that bereaved families feel every day… As we stand in front of the burning Chanukah candles and reflect on the past year, we can clearly see, along with the immense pain, and despite the darkness surrounding us, that light prevails.” [JNS]
Word on the Street
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America named Ellen Finkelstein its new CEO and executive director. Finkelstein, who has served as chief strategy officer at Yeshiva University, succeeds Naomi Adler, who stepped down to become CEO of the American Cancer Society in November…
Jewish Insider spotlights Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s plans for his office’s projected $150 million budget for public diplomacy, or hasbara, which is some 20 times higher than its previous level of funding….
The Israeli Center for Women’s Justice, which has fought for greater freedom from the country’s religious institutions, is shutting down in the coming months as Susan Weiss, its founder and executive director, retires…
An opinion piece in The New York Times highlights how transformative education initiatives by organizations like The National Education Equity Lab and The Teagle Foundation can empower underserved students, promote mobility and challenge elite privilege by making quality education more accessible to bridge inequities and inspire diverse talents…
Satmar Hasid philanthropist Rabbi Yoel Landau announced an unprecedented 30% salary increase for hundreds of rabbis and teachers in Satmar institutions. The philanthropic initiative, taken in collaboration with philanthropist Rabbi Yaakov Schwimmer and the Satmar administration, is the largest salary boost ever for Torah educators in America…
Rabbi Rick Kellner, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Tikvah in Worthington, Ohio, near Columbus, has been chosen as president-elect of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He will begin his term in March 2025, transitioning to the role of president in March 2027, and serve for two years…
Barry Feldman and the Feldman-Wehn Family of Cleveland donated $500,000 to JNF-USA’s Israel Resilience Campaign, which supports Israelis displaced from their homes and communities impacted by the war in Israel…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent emergency surgery earlier this week to remove his prostate…
Craig Newmark donated $100 million to strengthen cybersecurity efforts, establish a grassroots network to safeguard critical infrastructure and provide technology training for military families…
The Associated Press reports on Syria’s nine-member Jewish community, following restored access to Jewish sites around the country after the fall of the Assad regime last month…
The Wall Street Journal profiles Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie, the new mayor-elect of San Francisco who comes to the position with no political experience, as he prepares to take office Jan. 8 and tackle the myriad of problems facing the tech-mecca city…
Elad Strohmayer, previously the spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington and director of congressional affairs at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, was announced as Israel’s next consul general in Chicago…
Hillel Day School in Detroit will offer a 30% discount on tuition for children of eligible Jewish communal professionals beginning with the 2025-26 school year similar to discounts available to Jewish communal professionals in cities such as Atlanta and Seattle…
The trustees of the Conservative Solomon Shechter Day School of Queens (N.Y.) voted to make the school Orthodox and rename the school the Queens Hebrew Academy in light of its increasingly traditional student body…
A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco ruled that a kashrut inspector at the Orthodox Union played a religious role and therefore cannot pursue a job-related lawsuit against the organization under the “ministerial exception” doctrine, which bars lawsuits against religious organizations by workers with religious duties…
Indianapolis-based Glick Philanthropies has donated more than $1.86 million in grants to 40 nonprofits, especially those helping immigrants…
Almost half of the Haredi respondents to a Shtetl Haredi Press survey comparing ways Haredim and former Haredim were impacted by Oct. 7, 2023, said that they knew someone who was a victim of antisemitic hate or violence…
Former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday at 100, is remembered by Jewish and Israeli leaders in Jewish Insider as the man who forged a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, despite his later criticism of Israel’s policies…
Rabbi Matthew Bellas, the lower school principal at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md., died on Tuesday… Friends of the Arava Institute CEO Emerita Miriam S. May died on Dec. 31 in Newton, Mass., at 67… Arlene Agus, a New York Orthodox feminist pioneer who popularized rosh chodesh rituals for Jewish women, died last month at 75… Philanthropist and corporate troubleshooter Richard D. Parsons, who was frequently the only Black executive in the boardroom, died at 76… Cleveland-based philanthropist and Jewish community activist Dr. Jack W. Jaffe died on Dec. 23 at 89… Philadelphia philanthropist Arlene Epstein Ginsburg died on Dec. 23 at 92… Pennsylvania businessman and philanthropist Sidney Friedman died on Dec. 20 at 96… Nazi hunter and Holocaust survivor Josef Lewkowicz, whose efforts included tracking down concentration commandant Amon Göth, died last month at 98… Agnes Keleti, the Hungarian-born Israeli gymnast who won five Olympic gold medals and 10 Olympic medals in total, was one of the founders of artistic gymnastics in Israel and has been dubbed the “greatest Jewish athlete,” died today at 103 in Budapest…
Pic of the Day
Israeli actor and singer Idan Amedi performs for some 400 children at a Hanukkah camp for children from bereaved families that was held on Kibbutz Rivivim in southern Israel by the nonprofit OneFamily.
The show was one of Amedi’s first performances since he was seriously injured last January while serving in the reserves in an elite combat engineering unit that was destroying Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
“Amedi, who inspired everyone, was clearly inspired himself. In addition to waiving any fee for his appearance, OneFamily was surprised to find that the next morning he had made a generous donation to the organization,” the group said.
Birthdays
Former CEO of Loews Corporation, who served in the role from 1999 to 2024, James Tisch…
Co-owner of The Wonderful Company, which operates POM, Fiji Water, Teleflora, Wonderful Pistachios and other businesses, Lynda Rae Resnick… Founder and CEO of Boston-based investment firm, Weiss Asset Management, Andrew M. Weiss… Pulitzer Prize-winning ex-reporter for The New York Times, she went to jail to protect her source in the Valerie Plame matter, Judith Miller… Longtime journalist for The New York Times, also author of two books including a memoir about fighting cancer, Joyce Wadler… Prime minister of the Czech Republic from 2009 to 2010 and then minister of finance, Jan Fischer… President of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum until 2022, Alice M. Greenwald… Cantor at Agudath Achim Synagogue in Shreveport, La., Neil Schwartz… Commissioner of Israel’s Civil Service Commission, he is a congregational rabbi in Haifa, he was previously the president of Bar-Ilan University, Daniel Hershkowitz… Former Israeli ambassador to Denmark and Sweden, Benny Dagan… Graduate of Yale Law School, she is of counsel at Shulman Rogers, Anita J. Finkelstein… President of the D.C.-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, he was a member of Congress (D-FL) until 2010, Robert Wexler… Actress best known for her role in the 1990s television series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” in 2016 she was elected president of SAG-AFTRA trade union, Gabrielle Carteris… Former financial advisor at Citi, First Manhattan and then Ally, Julia Beth Rabinowitz… Justice on the Supreme Court of Israel since 2012, she was previously dean of Tel Aviv University’s law school, Daphne Barak-Erez… Russian oligarch and founder of Basic Element, Oleg Deripaska… Executive director of The Charles Bronfman Prize, co-founder Momstamp and a co-founder of Ikar, Paulette Light… Writer, artist, baseball player and coach, he was the bullpen coach for Team Israel at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Nate Fish… President of the Colorado State Senate until this past Tuesday, now term-limited, Stephen Fenberg… Film and television actress, Lauren Storm… Founder and CEO of the women’s health-focused Briah Foundation, Sara Tancman… VP of growth at the Consello Group, a financial services advisory, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Langer… Network analyst at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Tandameshia “Kensi” Hastings…
