Your Daily Phil: What is the Reform movement fighting about?
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine an ongoing dispute within the Reform movement regarding particularism and universalism, and cover the first day of the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference, where some of that debate was playing out. We also report on the American Jewish Committee’s sale of its Manhattan headquarters for $39 million. We feature an opinion piece by Karen Kollins spotlighting Canada’s small Jewish communities and a piece by Orna Siegel about how to stem the tide of early childhood educators leaving the field. Also in this issue: Alex Ryvchin, Tali Farhadian and Carolyn Rowan.
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 Israeli humanitarian assistance nonprofit IsraAid is sending a delegation to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to help address a growing Ebola outbreak.
The Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan is concluding its third Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference today. More on this below.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is slated to deliver the commencement address at Yeshiva University at the school’s graduation ceremony this afternoon.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM EJP’S JUDAH ARI GROSS
There is a vigorous debate, potentially even a fissure, taking place within the Reform movement around Zionism, whose dividing lines are in some ways eminently clear — Zionism vs. anti-Zionism, universalism vs. particularism — but in others are entirely inscrutable, with the different sides often arguing past each other and employing nomenclature that can be defined in markedly different ways.
All of that is on display this week at the still-underway Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference at New York City’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, which is being spearheaded by the congregation’s senior rabbi, Ammiel Hirsch, who has emerged as one of the Reform movement’s most prominent critics of what he describes as a betrayal of its Zionist commitments. See coverage from the event by eJP’s Nira Dayanim below.
The day before Hirsch addressed the conference — railing against anti-Zionism and an abandonment of Jewish particularism — the Union for Reform Judaism published a blog post by Rabbis Jonah Dov Pesner and Josh Weinberg, respectively the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the vice president of the URJ for Israel and Reform Zionism, who also serves as executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America.
Hirsch’s speech and the blog post by Pesner and Weinberg were, in many ways, remarkably similar. Both stressed the necessity of and tension between universalism and particularism, that Jewry must both care about its members and about everyone else as well. And yet despite this fundamental agreement, the argument appears to center around a matter of balance and degrees. Both might matter, but which takes precedence: universalism or particularism? Pesner and Weinberg indicate the former, while Hirsh seems to favor the latter.
This is a significant and fundamental discussion not only for the Reform movement but for world Jewry in general: What are our commitments to one another? To what extent is Judaism a personal religious matter, and to what extent is it a people that we are duty-bound to support? Yet it is more difficult to have those debates when the terms can be understood and interpreted by each side differently. Embracing nuance and rejecting false binaries are eminently worthy goals, but in order for organizations and movements to truly stand for something, they must first articulate it.
ON THE SCENE
In fiery address, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch rails against HUC ordaining anti-Zionist rabbis
In a fiery keynote address opening the Re-Charging Reform Judaism conference on Wednesday morning, Ammiel Hirsch, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue’s senior rabbi, denounced Reform seminaries that ordain anti-Zionist clergy members and doubled down on the importance of Jewish particularism, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim from the event, which drew over 300 lay leaders, rabbis and educators to the Upper West Side’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue.
Back to school: “Any seminary that either in word or deed, in principle or impression, acquires the reputation of being hostile to Zionism – a seminary that ordains anti-Zionist clergy – has no future in America,” he said, to wide applause.
PROPERTY LISTINGS
AJC sells its longtime Manhattan headquarters for $39 million
The American Jewish Committee is selling its longtime Manhattan headquarters to real estate developer Gary Barnett’s Extell Development for $39 million, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Big Apple based: “We took this step with an eye toward both the prudent management of our assets and to maximize our ability to engage in our vital advocacy work on behalf of the Jewish people and Israel,” an AJC spokesperson told eJP. “[We] are not going far. We look forward to continuing our work here in New York, including engaging with local elected officials, partner communities and diplomats from around the world as we step into this next chapter.”
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
The story of Canadian Jewry: middle powers, small communities, big impact
“Countries like Canada, [Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney argued in a speech in Davos in January], are not defined by overwhelming size or hard power alone, but by their geopolitical positioning. Their ability to shape world affairs comes from the unique perspective, relationships and values they bring to the table,” writes Karen Kollins, director of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Canada, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “Though Carney was speaking about geopolitics, the same idea applies to Canadian Jewry, particularly to its smaller communities.”
Left out: “Too often, public discourse around Jewish life in North America is reduced to that of Jewish communities in the U.S., and Canada’s unique place in the story of North American Jewry is unfortunately often lost; and when Canada’s story is told, it is typically solely through its largest population centers, Toronto and Montreal. … If we want to understand the Canadian Jewish story in its full breadth and depth, its significance to the larger North American Jewish conversation and where Canadian Jewish life is headed, we need to look beyond its largest hubs and toward its smaller communities.”
SURVEYS SAY
Burnout is driving Jewish early childhood educators out of the field
“During Mental Health Awareness Month, the Jewish communal world rightly turns attention to the well-being of our leaders: rabbis, cantors and nonprofit professionals. These conversations matter. But there is a group we keep leaving out, and the consequences of that omission are catching up to us,” writes Orna Siegel, executive director of ElevatEd, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
The struggle is real — so is the solution: “Research examining early childhood educators across the country finds their levels of perceived stress, depression and workplace challenge consistently exceed the national average for other professions… The good news is that we already know what works: educators who are supported through sustained mentorship and professional development stay and grow in their roles.”
Worthy Reads
Worth a Thousand Words: In Haaretz, Talia Slonim explores what prompted celebrated Australian painter Michael Zavros’ portrait of Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which is currently in the running for a prestigious annual prize. “Zavros’ work has engaged with controversial figures and themes of vanity, masculinity and status, while Ryvchin has led Australia’s Jewish community through the most politicized and scrutinized period in its 238-year history. But it was a more recent discovery – a DNA test revealing Jewish ancestry – that made the connection feel more than skin-deep. … In drawing on this identification with Ryvchin, the piece invites Australians to recognize a shared humanity with the Jewish community rather than viewing it as something separate or abstract.” [Haaretz]
The Golem’s Lesson: In The Times of Israel, Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weiss acknowledges that Pope Leo’s new encyclical on AI draws from Jewish philosophy but says it also misses something critical. “The document places immense faith in what the Vatican calls ‘Algor-ethics’ — the concept that we can somehow embed moral values, justice, and spiritual boundaries into the design of the AI itself, programming the machine to act ethically. From a Jewish perspective, this avoids a fundamental truth about creation.” [TOI]
Major Gifts
The New York Knicks are giving away 250 tickets to the NBA Finals to the city’s underprivileged youth through the Garden of Dreams Foundation…
Transitions
Former federal prosecutor Tali Farhadian was named the CEO of New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage…
Michael Perlmuter, chair of ORT America, and Robert Grey, chair of World ORT, concluded their tenures, and Jon Levine was named board chair of a unified World ORT, after the two organizations merged earlier this year…
The Dupree Conference and Education Center in Sandy Springs, Ga., hired Dana Sender-Mulla as its founding executive director…
Dennis A. Kerbel was appointed to the board of directors of Jewish Community Services of South Florida…
The Heritage Foundation announced that Mollie Hemingway, Yoram Hazony, J.C. Huizenga and Lawrence Blanford are joining the think tank’s board of trustees…
Word on the Street
Authorities in London determined that a fire at a grocery store in the heavily Jewish suburb of Golders Green, an area that has faced several arson attacks in recent months, was “non-suspicious”…
The British Museum postponed an event slated for today to celebrate Jewish Culture Month, saying that “a significant proportion of registered attendees were individuals intending to deliberately disrupt the event, preventing others from participating in good faith and undermining the purpose of the programme”; the museum said it intended to reschedule the event “when it can take place in an environment that properly safeguards both the audience experience and the integrity of the programme itself”…
Chicago Jewish leaders raised concerns about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan, released Tuesday, for the city to combat hate crimes; Alderwoman Debra Silverstein, the only Jewish member of Chicago’s City Council, called Johnson’s plan “a watered-down version” of a proposal recommended by the city’s Commission on Human Relations…
The Wall Street Journal profiles Baron Capital’s Ron Baron, the longtime tech skeptic who has in recent years made significant investments in Elon Musk’s ventures, including X and SpaceX…
Ephraim Rubenstein, the founder of the Keren Shmuel charity that provided assistance to needy British Jews, died last week at 69…
Pic of the Day
Mount Sinai trustee Carolyn Rowan and leaders from the Manhattan hospital cut the ribbon yesterday on the new Carolyn Rowan Center for Women’s Health and Wellness.
The 11,000-square-foot facility on Manhattan’s Upper East Side is meant to improve and unify healthcare for women. “Women’s health and health in general in our healthcare system can feel focused on different symptoms, isolated moments and care can happen across different rooms, offices, health systems. It’s kind of difficult to navigate, so we are here to collect those dots,” Dr. Anna Barbieri, who developed the center’s care model, said at the opening.
Birthdays
Founder and CEO of At The Well, a women’s wellness organization rooted in Jewish spirituality and women’s health, Sarah Michal Waxman…
American oncologist whose work has contributed to major developments in childhood leukemia treatment, he was the president of the Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, N.C., John Laszlo turns 95… Founding rabbi of both Lincoln Square Synagogue in NYC and later the city of Efrat in the Judean Hills, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin turns 86… Director of UCSF’s Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, he won the 1997 Nobel Prize in medicine, Stanley Benjamin Prusiner M.D. turns 84… Executive director of Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Jerome H. Kadden… Author of 14 novels and a children’s book, Millions of Maxes, Meg Wolitzer turns 67… Winnipeg-born attorney, previous campaign chair for Winnipeg’s Combined Jewish Appeal and governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Gail Sheryl Asper turns 66… British comedian, screenwriter and singer, he is the author of a 2021 book on antisemitism titled Jews Don’t Count, David Lionel Baddiel turns 62… Secretary of state of the United States, he is also serving as acting national security advisor, Marco Rubio turns 55… Four-time U.S. national fencing champion and a two-time Olympian, then an attorney who clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Eric Oliver “Nick” Bravin turns 55… Longtime member of the Knesset on behalf of the Likud party, now serving as Israel’s consul general to New York, Ofir Akunis turns 53… Guitarist, composer and leader of the bands Rashanim and Zion80, Jon Madof turns 52… Rabbi of Boston’s South Shore Congregation Sha’aray Shalom, Eric M. Berk… Dancer and choreographer, Brian L. Friedman turns 49… Senior manager in the executive office at The Pew Charitable Trusts since 2015, Lauren Mandelker… Singer-songwriter, artist and filmmaker, Adam Green turns 45… Entrepreneur focused on real estate, technology, media, consumer products and manufacturing, he is a member of the Pritzker family of Hyatt Hotels, Matthew Pritzker turns 44… Former Jewish liaison for New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, he is now the managing principal of Asher Strategies, David A. Lobl… Fashion designer and the founder of WeWoreWhat, Danielle Bernstein turns 34… Founder and CEO at Vista Nexum, Adelle Malka Nazarian… Freelance journalist writing about culture, she was previously an associate editor for The Forward, Thea Glassman… Named for his father, a Wall Street Journal bureau chief who was kidnapped and murdered by Pakistani terrorists a few months before he was born, Adam Daniel Pearl turns 24… Israeli swimmer, she competed in the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, Aviv Barzelay turns 24… Irwin Weiss…
