Your Daily Phil: Where are the billion-dollar gifts to Jewish causes?
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a $1 million grant from the Aviv Foundation to expand Eshel‘s Orthodox LGBTQ inclusion work and David Rubenstein‘s effort to hang replicas of the Declaration of Independence in sports stadiums across the country. We also cover Jewish Federations of North America’s push for the bipartisan KIDS Act to protect children online, including from antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Jonah Halper about what needs to change to attract more mega-gifts to Jewish causes from Jewish philanthropists, and a piece by Avi Tilonsky reflecting on what we know of the day-to-day operations of the Temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago as we enter the annual period of mourning for its destruction. Also in this issue: Steve Grossman and Alan Solomont, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen.
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 Christians United For Israel Summit continues today in Washington, with its annual Night to Honor Israel dinner set for tonight.
In Jerusalem, the National Library of Israel is kicking off its U.S. semiquincentennial commemorations with an evening event focused on “Celebrating America at 250.” Wendy Singer, the library’s director of global affairs & digital futures, will moderate a conversation between Rabbi Abi Dauber Sterne, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren and Rabbi Felicia Sol of New York City’s B’nai Jeshurun.
Allen & Co.‘s annual Sun Valley retreat is taking place this week in Idaho, with a guest list expected to include David Ellison, David Zaslav, Barry Diller, Bob Iger, Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Karp, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Bari Weiss, and Jared Kushner and Josh Kushner.
Tonight in Tel Aviv, Momentum will host its opening program as the organization welcomes 200 participants — 100 mothers from the U.S., alongside 100 educators from Israel, the U.S., Mexico, Australia and South Africa.
The Contemporary Antisemitism 2026 conference, which kicks off tomorrow morning at the University of Haifa, will first host a pre-program event at the city’s Tikotin Museum, with professor Shelly Zer-Zion interviewing boycotted Israeli author Maya Tevet-Dayan.
What You Should Know
Once a strictly taboo topic, the inclusion of LGBTQ Jews in the Orthodox world has become a far more commonplace concept in the 16 years since Miryam Kabakov co-founded Eshel. But there is still more work to be done, Kabakov, the group’s executive director, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
A new $1 million grant from the Aviv Foundation, shared exclusively with eJP today, will jump-start Eshel’s efforts to expand its work supporting traditionally observant Jewish communities in cultivating welcoming spaces for LGBTQ Jews and their families.
Eshel is a “flagship investment” for the Aviv Foundation, Adam Simon, the foundation’s CEO, told eJP. “It’s an anchor investment for us that aligns with our goals around ensuring queer Jews are full participants in Orthodox institutions in Orthodox life.”
News
‘PATRIOTIC PHILANTHROPY’
David Rubenstein gifts Declaration of Independence replicas to stadiums nationwide
David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm Carlyle Group and owner of the Baltimore Orioles, will distribute replicas of the Declaration of Independence to be displayed in every baseball and basketball stadium in the country as part of what he has dubbed “patriotic philanthropy,” reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
Informed citizenry: In an interview with Bloomberg on Saturday to mark July Fourth, Rubenstein acknowledged that “patriotic philanthropy” is somewhat redundant — ”All philanthropy is probably patriotic in some way,” he noted — but said that he believes that his efforts to educate Americans about their country’s history are critical for American democracy. “What [Thomas] Jefferson said is that a democracy is dependent on informed citizenry. And if we have an uninformed citizenry, democracy isn’t going to work that well.”
ONLINE ACTION
JFNA helps push for passage of major bipartisan children’s online safety bill
In response to rampant antisemitism on the internet, the Jewish Federations of North America is pushing lawmakers to support the KIDS Act, a major bipartisan package of legislation focused on children’s safety online that passed the House late last month by a 267-117 vote, reports Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.
About the effort: Omer Yarden-Oppenheim, director of government relations at JFNA, told JI that online antisemitism has been a major conversation and challenge for Jewish families, especially since the Oct. 7 attacks. However, Yarden-Oppenheim said the Senate and House remain divided on how best to approach the issue, so roadblocks remain.
Opinion
SYSTEM UPDATE
Jewish donors are giving billions. Why don’t more of those gifts reach Jewish institutions?
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Altruicity founder Jonah Halper argues that the disparity between mega-gifts by Jewish philanthropists to secular causes versus Jewish ones does not reflect a lack of talent or conviction among our fundraising professionals or a lack of compelling Jewish needs.
“Secular institutions that attract nine and ten-figure gifts have spent decades engineering a specific kind of fundraising operation. Much of the organized Jewish world is still running a different one, and the two were designed to produce different results. … What it requires is the willingness to run a second model alongside the first, a genuine major-gift architecture for the handful of relationships capable of changing an institution’s trajectory.”
JEWISH VALUES
What modern nonprofits can learn from the Temple
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, communal professional Avi Tilonsky identifies three lessons that today’s Jewish nonprofits can learn from how the Temple, “the first major Jewish nonprofit organization,” operated.
“Mourning the loss of the ancient Temple does not only mean missing the physical presence of a building but, to me, means learning about its significance and considering its relevance to our lives. As we enter the period of the Three Weeks, I encourage us to reflect on how today’s Jewish nonprofits are the same (or different) than the Temple of 2,000 years ago. We may be surprised to hear the ancient stones of Jerusalem speaking to us in today’s boardrooms.”
Worthy Reads
History Lesson: In The New York Times, Nicholas Lemann reflects on what he calls American Jewry’s “collective identity crisis” and recommends greater text study as a remedy. “Our patriarchs and matriarchs were all deeply flawed people, and the consistent failings of our people were collective as well as individual. Understanding that makes for a much better vantage point from which to contemplate the situation of Israel today than being subjected to litmus tests about Zionism from people who don’t understand how deeply embedded it is in most Jewish hearts.”
Unlikely Common Ground: In the Boston Globe, former AIPAC President Steve Grossman and J Street’s chair emeritus, Alan Solomont, argue that most American Jews share common ground supporting Israel’s security while opposing occupation, and call for accountability over unconditional support and a two-state solution as the only sustainable path to peace. “Many people assume the organizations we have led represent irreconcilable visions of the American Jewish relationship with Israel. We do not.”
Rebuking the Rabbi: In The Forward, New York City Democratic House candidate Brad Lander responds to Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove’s recent op-ed in the New York Daily News. “It seems to me the real danger is that young Jews will conclude there is no room for them inside Jewish institutions unless they silence their conscience. A community cannot thrive if the choices it offers the next generation are hypocrisy or excommunication.”
Not Just Exile: In the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Hadar’s Rabbi Ethan Tucker contends that despite rising antisemitism, American Jews shouldn’t see the U.S. as just another chapter of persecution. “We are not living under the protection of a foreign sovereign. We are part of the sovereign people by whose consent the government governs. Passive pessimism is not an option.”
Major Gifts
Sinai Hospital in Baltimore opened its new three-story cancer facility, named after Mandy and Dennis Weinman following the couple’s $5 million gift…
The Springfield (Mass.) Jewish Community Center received a $100,000 grant from The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation to fund an early literacy program for young children…
After a leak forced its closure four years ago, the second pool at Boston’s pioneering Mayyim Hayyim mikveh has reopened through a donation from Paula Brody, known as one of the “Mikveh Mamas,” and her husband, Merrill Hassenfeld…
Ahead of their wedding this past weekend, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce donated $26 million total across 20 charities nationwide this week, including City Harvest, Feeding America and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library…
Transitions
Yishai Fraenkel was appointed Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s vice president for advancement and external relations…
Rabbi Arnie D. Samlan has been named the next executive director of Neshama Association of Jewish Chaplains…
Menachem Rosensaft has been elected a vice president of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture…
Goel Jasper was hired by the Yael Foundation as its new head of communications…
Matthew Levin joined Israel Friends as its national director…
Steven A. Paletz was appointed co-chair of the Jewish Federations of North America’s National Young Leadership Cabinet…
Word on the Street
Former Israeli hostages Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen, who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, were married on Sunday outside of Netanya. The couple walked down the aisle to Idan Raichel’s “Mi’Ma’amakim” — “Out of the Depths.”…
Philanthropists Steve and Connie Ballmer are spinning off three independent charities in Michigan, California and Washington state to continue local economic-mobility work while the Ballmer Group refocuses on larger national initiatives…
Calcalist interviews British philanthropist and Jewish communal leader Sir Mick Davis about the risks posed by what he sees as cracks in Israel’s economic and social foundations…
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has canceled a scheduled visit to the United States — his second cancellation in a month — amid planned protests and calls for his prosecution over alleged prison abuses…
The New York Times spotlights the mixed circumstances facing European Jewish museums in the nearly three years since the Oct. 7 attacks, with the Jewish Museum of Belgium facing declining attendance and rising threats over a perceived link to Israel, while the Museum of Art and History of Judaism in Paris has maintained stable visitor numbers…
The Israeli Cabinet approved a three-year NIS 60 million ($20 million) plan to expand medical mental health and employment assistance for about 3,600 recognized survivors of the attacks on the Nova and other music festivals on Oct. 7, 2023…
Dr. Joel Morganroth, a Sarasota, Fla.-based cardiologist and philanthropist who was a major supporter of the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee as well as Sarasota Memorial Hospital, died on June 25 at 80…
Martin Greitzer, a Philadelphia-based lawyer who was president of the Philanthropia Trial Lawyers Association and chair of Philadelphia’s AIPAC’s chapter, died on June 12 at 94…
Isaac Wakil, a Baghdad-born philanthropist and businessman who immigrated to Sydney and later became a major supporter of the University of Sydney and the Sydney Jewish Museum, died on July 1 at 104…
Pic of the Day
Sir Leonard Blavatnik (second from right), the founder of Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family Foundation, appears yesterday with the 2026 laureates of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel — Sergey N. Semenov (left), Uri Ben-David (second from left) and Paz Beniamini — at a ceremony held at the Peres Center in Tel Aviv.
Blavatnik flew into Israel for the ceremony on Monday after attending the UEFA Champions League final in Budapest this weekend. “It was a private trip for the award ceremony, as [it is] very close to his heart,” a spokesperson for this foundation told eJewishPhilanthropy.
Leading figures from the academic and business worlds in attendance included: Michael Kagan, CTO of Nvidia; Eyal Waldman, the founder of Mellanox Technologies; David Harel, president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Nicholas Dirk, president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; Danny Cohen, president of Blavatnik’s Access Entertainment; Avi Fischer, founder and CEO of Clal Industries; Eyal Greenberg, CEO of Golf & Co; and Yochanan Locker, chairman of the board of Clalit Health Services.
Birthdays
Jill Zuckman, partner at SKDK, she served as a board member of Jewish Foundation for Group Homes (now known as Makom)
Jeffrey Robert Gural, chairman of NYC-based GFP Real Estate, turns 84
George W. Bush, 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009, turns 80
Yitzhak Levy, former member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party, turns 79
Marshall Aaron Brachman, lobbyist and former president of AIPAC
Robert Michael “Mickey” Kaus, journalist, pundit and author, known for writing the blog “Kausfiles,” turns 75
Adi Shamir, Israeli cryptographer, he is a co-inventor of the RSA algorithm and one of the inventors of differential cryptanalysis, turns 74
Avigdor “Avi” Maoz, sole member of the Knesset for the Noam party, turns 70
Rabbi Shaul Alter, founder of Kehilas Pnei Menachem, a breakaway in 2019 from the Ger Hasidic dynasty, turns 69
Benjamin D. Sommer, professor of Bible at JTS and former senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, turns 62
Beth Kean, CEO of Holocaust Museum LA
Hallie Olivere Biden, widow of first son Beau Biden, she is the board chair of the Beau Biden Foundation, turns 53
Mark Moshe Kasher, stand-up comedian, writer and actor, turns 47
Louisa Clein, British actor, turns 47
Shira Siegel, former chief of staff on the Hill, now CoS at Blue Frontier
David Karp, founder of Tumblr, which he sold to Yahoo in 2013 for $1.1 billion, turns 40
Ilana Kratysh, Israeli freestyle wrestler, she was born on the day her parents made aliyah, turns 36
Josh Lipson, postdoctoral research fellow at Emory University
