Your Daily Phil: Voice of the People takes on ‘most urgent matters’ facing Jews
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the first in-person gathering of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People council in Haifa. We examine the Jewish Agency’s updated mission and spotlight a pro-wrestling show raising money for Maccabi USA featuring the group’s president reprising his role as the Mighty Maccabee after 28 years. We feature an opinion piece by Sara Wolkenfeld about harnessing artificial intelligence to make Jewish text-based learning more accessible; and one by Steven Windmueller about the proliferation of organizations focused on dialogue. Also in this newsletter: Rachel Sharansky Danziger, Menachem Rosensaft and David Cohen.
What We’re Watching
Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA is announcing a $20 million investment to help “rebuild and create regional engines of growth” in Israel’s north today at Tel Hai College in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.
What You Should Know
Actors, activists, rabbis, venture capitalists, Jewish communal professionals, high-tech startup founders, philanthropists, influencers, academics, soldiers and at least one video game designer. All 150 of them Jewish, the vast majority under 50, but ranging in age from 19 to 82. Some of them are lifelong, active participants in the Jewish world, others whose Jewish identity was only lit after the Oct. 7 terror attacks. A third from Israel, a third from the United States and a third from everywhere else. They are the first cohort of the Voice of the People, an initiative launched last year under the auspices of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross from the organization’s gala dinner last night in Haifa.
The 150 members of the Voice of the People council, who will serve two-year terms, were chosen by “a special algorithm,” according to the organization’s CEO, Shirel Dagan-Levy, based on some undisclosed criteria that was meant to create a group that is diverse in background and in opinions.
Their modest task, she said: “Tackle the most urgent matters of the Jewish people.”
“There has to be a place where we can detach a little bit from the organized Jewish world and arrange a program that enables people to think together and dream big and meet each other without strings attached and be able to produce outputs that the organized Jewish world can use,” Herzog told reporters last night, as the members met in person for the first time for a five-day summit in Haifa, which kicked off on Sunday.
The Israeli president first announced the Voice of the People initiative at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly in April 2023, when Israel and the Jewish world in general were embroiled in an argument over the government’s plans to significantly overhaul the country’s checks and balances, which opponents saw as a blow to Israeli democracy and supporters considered a necessary corrective for judicial overreach.
After the Oct. 7 terror attacks, the initiative was put on ice. Six months later, those involved returned to the project, convinced even more of the need for a forum of debate, discussion and action for the Jewish people. “In hindsight, it was foresight,” Herzog quipped.
Based on questionnaires, the Voice of the People decided to focus on five core issues: antisemitism; relations between Jews and non-Jews; polarization; heritage and education; and Diaspora-Israel relations. The council members are divided into 10 groups, with two groups dedicated to each topic.
During their terms, the council members are expected to develop actionable plans for addressing these issues. To implement them, the Voice of the People has the support of the Jewish Agency for Israel — which Herzog led until he became president — the World Zionist Organization and three philanthropic partners: the Wilf Foundation, the Azrieli Foundation and the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation,” Dagan-Levy said.
The eclectic background of the council members has made the group discussions lively, participants told eJP, both in terms of differences of opinion — Orthodox members and non-Orthodox members not necessarily agreeing on who is even considered a Jew — and in terms of operating methods — the strategic-minded Jewish communal professionals wanting to think things through and consider all possibilities, while those coming from the high-tech world are more inclined to adopt a “move fast and break things” approach.
“Some very, very interesting discussions have happened in the rooms for the past four days, and you already see the tension. But we want the tension. I met all of the council members one-on-one [before they came], and I told them that sometimes they will feel uncomfortable in the room because they’re going to hear opinions that are very different than theirs. But that’s exactly what we need,” Dagan-Levy said.
“It’s really not the usual suspects,” according to one of the council members, Roei Eisenberg, who is involved with the Israel Policy Forum, the Jewish Federation Los Angeles and now the World Zionist Congress, as the head of a new slate, Anu, which is running in its upcoming election. “They picked an eclectic group. None of us are the same.”
Mark Wilf, whose family foundation supports the program, told eJP that the eclectic background of the participants was one of the things that struck him the most about this initiative. “I go to a lot of conferences, and I already know everyone, like an echo chamber. Here I don’t,” he said.
The participants — and the Voice of the People itself — don’t yet know what will come out of this project or how it will develop. For now, Dagan-Levy told eJP that the organization has sufficient funding to support itself for three years, through this first cohort and then to launch a second one. That will also take it until Herzog’s presidential term is up in 2028, at which point the next Israeli president will have to decide if the program is worth continuing. “We will have to prove ourselves. It’s exciting,” she said.
THE FUN IN FUNDRAISING
Maccabi USA President Jeff Bukantz defends his pro-wrestling title at Maccabiah Mania 3
After a friend died of a heart attack a year and a half ago, Maccabi USA President Jeff Bukantz decided he needed to get back into shape. For seven months, he walked daily, cut carbs and ate salmon and veggies for dinner, chiseling himself into the leanest shape of his life. And then, the former fencing champion realized, it was time to get back in the competition… as a pro wrestler. For the first time in 28 years, last Sunday, Bukantz stepped into the ring as the Magen David-masked Mighty Maccabee, a persona he first donned 32 years ago at “Maccabiah Mania,” a Maccabi USA pro-wrestling fundraiser he promoted in his New Jersey backyard, and then donned again in 1997 at the “Shekel Slam,” in which he beat WWE Hall of Famer Iron Sheik for the World Maccabiah Championship, reports Jay Deitcher for eJewishPhilanthropy.
‘Something fun’: Last Sunday’s event, “Maccabiah Mania 3,” was held at Livingston High School in Livingston, N.J., the same location as the second event, featuring most of the living performers from the first two events. In the main event, the 67-year-old one-time wunderkind made his final wrestling appearance, defending his never-defended championship against former World Championship Wrestling superstar Crowbar, with all proceeds going to the Maccabiah Games. After expenses, which added up to nearly $20,000, the event netted over $25,000, Bukantz estimates, between sponsors, ticket sales, merchandise sales and donations through the livestream. “Nowadays, everyone does the same old fundraisers, whether it be a bake sale or a candy sale or a car wash,” Tommy Fierro, CEO of International Superstars of Pro Wrestling, who co-promoted the event, told eJP. “This is something unique, something different, something fun. It’s family friendly.”
FUTURE FOCUS
Jewish Agency brings ‘aliyah’ to the fore, calling it a ‘core value’ in updated mission
The Jewish Agency for Israel Board of Governors updated the 96-year-old organization’s mission during its three-day meeting in Jerusalem this week reprioritizing Jewish immigration to Israel as a “core value,” CEO Yehuda Setton told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross. In 2019, when the organization last overhauled its mission, it included in it “[providing] the global framework for aliyah.” But according to Setton, the organization has now put “aliyah on top,” seeing its role not as a mere facilitator of immigration but as a far more active advocate of it. “Being ‘a platform for aliyah’ — we said, ‘No, no, no. Aliyah is a core value of the Jewish people,” Setton told eJP. “Aliyah is Zionism. Aliyah is part of us.”
Jewish people-focused: Yet he stressed that the organization was dedicated not only to Israel but to the Jewish people wherever they are. “Every decision we make and action that we take has to take the Jewish people forward,” Setton said. The other three elements of the Jewish Agency’s updated mission are: security and resilience; developing Jewish engagement, education and building connections; and ensuring that every Jewish person feels empowered to play a role in rebuilding Israel. Mark Wilf, chair of the Board of Governors, told eJP during the group’s meeting that boosting Israel-Diaspora ties and “building peoplehood across boundaries is a huge priority for the Jewish Agency.”
A TRADITION OF INNOVATION
Moses set the table — can AI help serve the Torah?
“Ever since Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai, Jews have been developing ways to distill its wisdom,” writes Sara Wolkenfeld, chief learning officer at Sefaria, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Generations of educators have wrestled with the same questions: How do we not only transmit knowledge but also ignite curiosity and deepen understanding?”
New AI-powered tools: “I work alongside a team that harnesses technology to advance Torah learning every day. Over 800,000 learners visit [Sefaria’s] library every month, and it’s our job to make sure the texts of our heritage are as accessible as possible. With the adoption of AI, we can now do this faster and with a broader swath of literature than ever before. One might think that AI models have nothing to contribute to the sacred domain of Torah learning, but that is not the case. With great care and reverence for the texts at hand, Sefaria’s engineers have been experimenting with machine-learning tools for the past decade. The result? A number of exciting projects striving to inspire that elusive combination of awe and curiosity.”
FACILITATING DIALOGUE
Conversations that need to happen
“Confronted as we are by divisive national politics and serious generational and policy divisions around Israel, along with an array of religious and cultural differences among us, this is the moment for serious and managed conversations that Jewish Americans, among others, have been craving,” writes Steven Windmueler, professor emeritus of Jewish communal studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Talking to ourselves and others: “One of the significant new operational realities in the Jewish community is the array of initiatives designed to foster and promote such dialogue and civil discourse. They can be categorized into two groups: the first group seeks to create Jewish spaces for essential conversations in an environment of separation and division, and the second is designed to bring prospective leaders and future decision-makers together — Jews and non-Jews alike — to share insights and possibly build consensus. The former is important to the health and viability of building community, while the latter is committed to leadership formation.”
Worthy Reads
Choosing to Keep Teaching: Even though Menachem Rosensaft doesn’t take issue with any of the reasons Deborah Lipstadt has publicly expressed for declining an invitation to teach at Columbia University, he feels compelled to take a different path, he writes for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “In the final analysis, this is why I continue to teach at Columbia: the students… They deserve to be taught that antisemitism was the malignant cause of the Holocaust just as anti-Muslim bigotry caused the genocide of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica, and just as ethnic hatred caused the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. They deserve to be taught that Hitler admired an American antisemite named Henry Ford and that the Nazis’ antisemitic jurisprudence was largely and directly cribbed from American Jim Crow and anti-miscegenation laws. They deserve to be taught that Zionism is not racism but a multifaceted response to centuries of antisemitic oppression and persecution, that Jews are as entitled to have a nation of their own like other peoples across the globe, and, yes, that the Palestinians are entitled to these very same rights as well. The vast majority of Columbia’s student body is made up of decent individuals who are neither antisemitic nor pro-Hamas. The same holds true for the university’s faculty, administrators and staff. I do not want to abandon them at the very moment when they are most in need of support.” [JTA]
Words of Chizuk: In The Times of Israel, Rachel Sharansky Danziger offers an impassioned response to the accusation that Israeli Jews are colonizers and the denial of a Jewish connection to the Land of Israel — but directs her message to her fellow Jews, not “the haters.” “We are not crusaders or invaders or Europeans. Our roots are here, in the land that shaped our language, our beliefs, our history, our names, our metaphors, our everything. The ancient paving stones our children walk on? Our ancestors were the ones who placed them on the ground. We were forcefully torn from this land and exiled to many countries. These countries left their mark on us, and we have left our mark on them. The skin you see when you look at our bodies was colored by them. The languages we speak, the perspectives we adopted, were shaped by them. But throughout our years in exile, we never stopped yearning for our homeland. The same ancestors who have paved the physical pathways of this land left us a spiritual pathway made of words to live by. We walked upon it, dreaming of the land, for millennia. And now, after years and years of loss and longing, these pathways can finally converge. We’re home..” [TOI]
A Cautionary Tale: Recovery efforts after devastating wildfires swept through Los Angeles County in January have been stymied by poor coordination across the public and private sector as well as local, state and national government, report Maeve Reston and Reis Thebault in The Washington Post. “When catastrophic fires still burned across this vast metropolis, local leaders pledged they would respond with one voice, sharing a mission as they steered the region through a complex recovery process. But a much messier reality has emerged since the Jan. 7 firestorms: one of colliding egos, differing political agendas and a tangle of task forces all jockeying to lead Los Angeles at a moment of deep crisis… In all, there are at least nine separate recovery groups, some of which do not appear to be coordinating with one another as others devolve into open hostility, complicating the response and undercutting the message of unity that officials had initially hoped to project… ‘At times it feels like there’s too many people in charge,’ said Traci Park, a Los Angeles city council member who represents Pacific Palisades. ‘And other times it feels like nobody is in charge.’” [WashPost]
Word on the Street
Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group, donated $100 million to the U.S. Olympic team, marking the largest donation in its history. The funds will provide $100,000 and matching life insurance benefits to anyone who secures a spot on Team USA beginning next year…
Rabbi Dan Horwitz has been named the Jewish National Fund-USA’s next executive director for the Midwest States…
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich met yesterday in Washington with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; the meeting comes after the Biden administration — along with many parts of the American Jewish establishment — refused to meet Smotrich, of the Religious Zionism party, over his far-right views…
Legendary British comedian John Cleese, famed for his work with Monty Python, will hold three performances in Israel this June, bringing his new tour, “An Evening with John Cleese” to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem…
David Cohen has been appointed as the new executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis effective March 31…
An interfaith Ramadan iftar dinner attended by 200 people and hosted by Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis embraced themes of renewal as Ramadan overlaps with Passover and Easter this year; the event was held in conjunction with the Parkway United Church of Christ and the Turkish American Society of Missouri as part of their decades-long Intertwine Interfaith Initiative…
Aish, the Ohr Torah Interfaith Center and the Interfaith Encounter Association hosted an interfaith event last night at the Dan Family Aish World Center in the Old City of Jerusalem, overlooking the Temple Mount, with Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Druze leaders focused on the role of religion in “coexistence and healing in the wake of conflict”…
The Justice Department is opening an investigation into whether the University of California system engaged in patterns of discrimination against Jewish students and faculty…
Princeton’s board of trustees will not consider a proposal to divest the university’s financial investments from companies that operate in Israel, following a decision by a university committee not to advance the proposal over a lack of campus consensus on the issue…
Numerous pro-Palestinian protesters at Barnard College were detained by New York police on Wednesday after a bomb threat at an academic building. Pro-Palestinian protesters held a demonstration outside the Milstein Center, demanding the reinstatement of three students who they said had been expelled after they had previously interrupted a university class on Israel. A day earlier the protesters had stormed a college building with the same demand…
Podcaster Joe Rogan hosted antisemitic conspiracy theorist Ian Carroll on his show, where Carroll claimed that convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was an Israeli agent, spread other claims that Israel and the Jewish people are involved in a malign global conspiracy theory and invoked claims that Israel had foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks…
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain and the Jewish Community of Madrid condemned an attempted arson attack on the kosher Rimmon Restaurant on Tuesday, calling the attack antisemitic…
The all-Jewish three-member team with the tongue-in-cheek name Four Opinions won the U.K. Only Connect BBC quiz show Monday night. Team members are Rafi Dover, Aron Carr and Jacob Epstein…
After 24 years with the Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo (Ohio), Paul Causman is retiring from his final role at the organization as marketing director and editor of the Toledo Jewish News…
Pic of the Day
Released Israeli hostages Iair Horn, Eli Sharabi, Omer Shem Tov, Keith and Aviva Siegel, Noa Argamani, Doron Steinbrecher and Naama Levi meet yesterday with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
According to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which helped organize the meeting, the delegation came to Washington “to thank the Trump administration for its commitment to securing the release of all the hostages and to share firsthand accounts of the horrors of Hamas’ tunnels.” The forum said that a priority of the meeting was to “stress the necessity of bringing all the hostages home immediately and at once.”
The delegation gave the president a gold plaque inscribed with the Hebrew saying: “Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world.”
Birthdays
Musical theater lyricist and composer, he is the winner of three Oscars, three Grammys and received six Tony Award nominations, Stephen Schwartz…
Former chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States for 18 years, Alan Greenspan… Writer, lecturer and professor emeritus of Jewish communal service at HUC-JIR, Steven Windmueller… Actor, writer, director, producer and political activist, he directed “When Harry Met Sally” and “A Few Good Men,” Rob Reiner… Television personality, author and libertarian pundit, he is a winner of 19 Emmy Awards, John Stossel… Member of the New York State Senate since 2018, Shelley Mayer… Actor, comedian and sports show host, Tom Arnold… Aliza Tendler… Senior leadership development manager at Momentum Unlimited, Judy Victor… Israeli swimmer, who competed in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, he is the founder of a sports ticketing and travel company, Yoav Bruck… Founder of Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto which he sold to Unilever in 2014, he has since co-founded Iris Brands, Joshua Hochschuler… Head of innovation communication at Bloomberg LP, Chaim Haas… VP of philanthropic services at NYC-based Jewish Communal Fund, Michelle Lebowits… Former football quarterback who played on six NFL teams, he is member of the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Sage Rosenfels… Israeli journalist and author of the book Revolt: The Worldwide Uprising Against Globalization, Nadav Asher Eyal… Managing director at Berkshire Partners, he was the body man and then deputy chief of staff for former President George W. Bush, Blake L. Gottesman… Fourth generation developer, owner, and operator of commercial real estate throughout the Eastern U.S., Daniel Klein… Natalie Lazaroff… Artist, Tova Suissa… Israeli fashion model, Esti Ginzburg … Associate at Freedman Normand Friedland, Riley Clafton… Film actor, he finished in second place on season 27 of “Dancing with the Stars,” Milo Manheim… Sandra Brown…
