Your Daily Phil: Who’s in, who’s out and who’s still looking as 2024 ends
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the year-end turnover at local and national Jewish organizations, on Enter: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance’s programs in Israeli schools and on the most recent violent attack on the Montreal Jewish community. We feature an opinion piece by Sara Himeles and Noam Weissman responding to the recent NAIS conference controversy, and one by Philip Keisman encouraging the incorporation of Jewish studies scholarship into Jewish education. Also in this newsletter: Rabbi Avi Killip, Chelsea Rego and Sir Naim Dangoor.
What We’re Watching
Torah Umesorah, the Orthodox day school education nonprofit, kicks off its annual Presidents Conference today at the Trump Doral in Miami. It is being chaired by Zevi Kohn, Yaakov Polatsek and Shalom Stein.
The Israeli humanitarian relief nonprofit IsraAid dispatched an emergency team to Juba, South Sudan, today in response to a cholera outbreak in the country. The group told eJewishPhilanthropy that it may also soon send a team to Mozambique after a cyclone hit the country, killing dozens of people.
One Israel Fund, which supports Israeli nonprofits in the West Bank, is hosting its annual gala in New York City tonight.
What You Should Know
The end of the calendar year brings with it the regular churn and turnover of top positions, with several CEOs and executive directors of national and local organizations leaving their roles at the end of this month and many of their successors taking their posts on Jan. 1. A number of positions will remain vacant as boards and selection committees continue to search for suitable candidates, writes eJewishPhilanthropy Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross.
A partial list: After nearly three decades in the role, AIPAC CEO Howard Kohr will retire at the end of this month. He will be succeeded by the organization’s vice CEO, Elliot Brandt. OneTable’s CEO, Aliza Kline, will step down at the end of this month as she sets off to find her next project. No successor has yet been named for her. After Doron Krakow stepped down as president and CEO of the JCC Association of North America in March, the organization’s vice president, Jennifer Mamlet, was named acting president and CEO. Nearly nine months later, that remains the case, with no permanent successor in place.
Renee Kutner began her role as CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta last month, as did Rachel Greenspan, the new executive director of Shalom Orlando, the umbrella Jewish organization of Orlando, Fla. In Charleston, S.C., Tair Giudice will enter the position of CEO of the city’s Jewish federation on Jan. 1. Dan Tadmor, the previous CEO of ANU: Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, will take the reins at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia beginning next month after the previous CEO, Misha Galperin, stepped down earlier this year. Tadmor, in turn, is being succeeded by Oded Revivi, the former mayor of the Efrat settlement.
Last month, Daniel Horwitz, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville, Tenn., stepped down from the role. Mark Freedman, who led the organization as executive director until his retirement in 2018, came back to serve as interim CEO until Horwitz’s successor could be found. The Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas is also looking for a successor for its president and CEO, Igor Alterman, who will leave at the end of next month to take the role of president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, Fla., beginning in February. Birmingham, Ala., will have to do the same as Danny Cohn, CEO of its federation and community foundation, moves to become CEO of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, as will the Jewish Federation of San Antonio, Texas, as its president and CEO, Nammie Ichilov, takes the same title at the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples, Fla.
Going into the new year, the Jewish Federation of MetroWest, N.J., will continue its search for a successor for Dov Ben-Shimon, who stepped down in September, becoming CEO of the Community Security Service. The Jewish Federation of Central New York is also still looking for a successor for its previous president and CEO, Michael Balanoff, who died in September. Palm Springs, Calif., is searching for a successor for the head of its federation after the CEO, Alan Potash, died that month as well.
According to the Jewish Federations of North America, this level of turnover at Jewish federations is not out of the norm, representing a comparably small fraction of the 146 federations on the continent. Those entering new positions by and large are coming from the federation system and wider Jewish communal world, despite anecdotal evidence of a rise in outside professionals looking for work in Jewish spaces post-Oct. 7. JFNA told eJP that it should have some statistics about this trend in the coming months.
DIASPORA DISCOURSE
Schools in Israel see uptick in interest in Jewish peoplehood education post-Oct. 7, nonprofit finds
In the 14 months since the Oct. 7 terror attacks, Enter: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance has seen a marked rise in interest in global Jewry among the Israeli schools that it works with to promote stronger Israel-Diaspora ties, representatives from the organization and an external pollster told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
A place for people: “The findings revealed that, in light of the security situation, there was an unprecedented desire and motivation to initiate Peoplehood-related activities,” said Hadar Franco of Israeli evaluation firm Research Success Technologies Ltd., who conducted the evaluation alongside the firm’s CEO, Ezra Kopelowitz. According to Kopelowitz, this is not the case in secular Israeli schools in general. “In the average Israeli school, there is actually no connection in an organic way to the Jewish people,” he told eJP recently. “[There is the] teaching of Jewish history, which tends to be modern Zionist Jewish history, where the Jewish Diaspora is not [really a part of it].”
Making lemonade: Enter’s other flagship program, One2One, which pairs Israeli teenagers with Jewish teenagers abroad for a series of Zoom conversations, has taken a major hit in the past year. For the Israelis, the main draw is that the program allows them to practice their English, while most of the Americans come to the program as a way to fulfill the requirements for a RootOne voucher for an Israel trip; as RootOne trips decreased by some 90% this past summer, One2One saw a significant drop in participants. Alon Friedman, founding executive director of Enter, said the organization was using the relative downtime to improve its platform, with the goal of developing it into something that could be licensed to other organizations that are looking to do so-called “mifgash,” or encounter, programs of their own. “We are seeing how we can turn Enter from [having] a program that enables teens to meet online into Enter having a technological platform that can master the mifgash, which for us is the culmination of peoplehood education,” he said.
CANADIAN CHAOS
Montreal synagogue attacked for second time since Oct. 7 attacks
Donald Weber/Getty Images
A synagogue in Montreal was targeted with arson early Wednesday morning for the second time since the Oct. 7 attacks. The incident marks the seventh instance in the last 14 months where a Jewish institution in Montreal, Canada’s second largest city, has been attacked, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. As a result, Jewish leaders criticized elected officials on Wednesday for what they say has been a muted response in the face of rising antisemitism and warn that Canada is becoming increasingly unsafe for Jews, spiraling into “total chaos.”
Nip it in the bud: Henry Topas, Beth Tikvah’s cantor and B’nai Brith Canada’s regional director for Quebec and Atlantic Canada, told JI that the attack comes as the government of Canada has failed to address anti-Israel protests. “Montreal Mayor [Valérie Plante] has virtually handcuffed the police. She doesn’t let the police do their job and she has allowed threatening — verging on violent — [anti-Israel] demonstrations to go on and people feel free to do whatever the hell they want,” Topas said. “It’s total chaos.” Yesterday, Federation CJA echoed that the fire is a “brutal reminder of what happens when politicians don’t denounce antisemitism and the escalation of violence in our streets.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.
MOVING FORWARD
After the NAIS speech: Why education is the real solution
“As leaders of ConnectEd, a new educational initiative created to help independent schools effectively engage students in topics like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, antisemitism and other complex issues, we work closely with administrators at 20 independent schools across the country,” write Sara Himeles and Noam Weissman in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “While each school community has its own unique culture, a common thread we’ve observed is the challenge of navigating these tensions while fostering cohesion and a sense of unity in diverse communities, particularly in a post-Oct. 7 world.”
Beyond statements: “In those highly sensitive moments where leaders are often asked to take sides by issuing statements or taking positions on polarizing symbols, the critical work of education often goes overlooked. We are certainly not trying to minimize the importance of statements and symbols. They carry weight in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, but they cannot replace the long-term, transformative work of teaching and learning. Education — grounded in transparency, history, knowledge, credibility and the thoughtful presentation of multiple viewpoints — is what equips communities to navigate complexity, bridge divides and foster understanding. This is the hard work, the real work, and it is precisely what we are helping schools to do.”
READER RESPONDS
True unity of Jewish studies and Jewish education demands openness to new ideas
“??One afternoon in the early 1800s, a group of Jewish teens, students in a yeshiva in Western Lithuania, eagerly awaited the arrival of the bookseller’s cart. They were hoping to find copies of Zalman Hanau’s Tzohar Hateiva (‘The Window of the Box’ or ‘The Opening of the Letter’), a 1733 treatise on Hebrew grammar. They were disappointed to learn that the bookseller did not carry books like this, anticipating that the Jews of Lithuania would be uninterested in the academic study of the Hebrew language,” writes Philip Keisman, director of teen education at the Jewish Theological Seminary, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “This story, recounted in Eliezer Lipman Silberman’s 1875 autobiography, immediately came to mind when I read Zev Eleff’s recent excellent call to bring Jewish studies into Jewish education (‘Jewish studies and Jewish education in tandem, not at odds,’ Nov. 21).”
Don’t fear challenging ideas: “[T]he change that Eleff seeks is coming. For this shift to continue, Jewish institutions in America must remain open to new methods and perspectives. Unfortunately, Jewish studies scholarship is not always welcome in Jewish institutions… Openness is also modeling for students the capacity to encounter difficult facts and opinions and retain a sense of belonging. Bringing contemporary historiography into Jewish educational spaces means that young Jewish people encounter difficulties within the Jewish community and learn that we are strong enough to hold that plurality. Without this, I worry they will continue seeking truth without us. It is in our capacity for nuance that historians are best served to support Jewish students.”
Worthy Reads
To Be a Leader: In Sources, Rabbi Avi Killip, executive vice president of the Hadar Institute, reflects on how leaders can cultivate a distinctively “Jewish religious vision.” “This kind of leadership centers neither the leader nor the people, but it is instead deeply rooted in Torah, our inherited texts and tradition. Having a religious vision means living according to a set of core values and commitments drawn from something bigger than me, something outside of myself. Leading with religious vision means sharing these commitments with others by modeling, teaching, and inviting people into these practices and values… So how do we lead with Jewish religious vision? I want to offer and then unpack three answers, each of which I think is a necessary component for effective religious leadership. (1) We need to stand for something. We need to take the time to discern which key values are most important to us, and then share those values in everything we say and do. (2) We need to offer something, by which I mean we cannot merely accompany people, but must help people see the fullness of what Judaism has to offer. It is the role of the leader to help people access parts of Torah and Judaism they couldn’t otherwise find or access. (3) We need to ask something of people. Religion is not passive, and it doesn’t exist just to make us feel better. A values-based life, a life rooted in Judaism, means striving to be better people and to make our broader world better. Judaism is a gift, but it is also a tafkid, a calling, a mandate, a charge.” [Sources]
Beware the False Summit: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Ted Ko urges funders to see the passage of climate legislation through to the end. “In mountaineering, a false summit is an apparent peak below an actual one where climbers, believing they’ve reached the highest point, mistakenly turn back. In the energy policy world, where I work, stopping short in the face of false summits is all too common. Foundations and nonprofits begin the process of policy change but often don’t finish. While significant sums of philanthropic money go toward passing climate legislation — and passing new laws is indeed a crucial step — turning these victories into real change often takes years, if it even happens. Philanthropy, which has long been criticized for acting too slowly on the climate crisis, needs to do better at following through on the laws they spend so much money to get passed… My point isn’t to throw shade. Every legislative victory is worth celebrating and none happen without diligent, concerted effort. The policy staff at state utility commissions who turn legislation into regulation are among the smartest, most dedicated people I know. But they work in a broken system, and we’re losing precious time to fix it.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]
Word on the Street
A total of 1.98 million Israelis — 20.7% of the population — were living below the poverty line in 2023, according to the country’s National Insurance Institute annual report that was released yesterday, with the highest rates of poverty in the Arab and Haredi communities. This places Israel second to last in the ranking of OECD countries, with Costa Rica at the bottom…
The South African Jewish community has urged the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to condemn an attack on a Cape Town Jewish community center last week in which an improvised explosive device was thrown over the front wall but failed to detonate, causing no damage or injuries. The South African Police Service said the investigation is ongoing…
Dov Ben-Shimon, CEO of the Community Security Service US Jewish security group, urged the Jewish community to “refresh and recommit” to security protocols for Hanukkah, emphasizing the need for coordination with law enforcement…
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority estimated that it will cost some NIS 100 million ($27.6 million) to rehabilitate the more than 55,000 acres of land in northern Israel that were burned by fires caused by Hezbollah rocket attacks from Lebanon…
A Tel Aviv University study found that Arab Israelis have a growing sense of ‘shared destiny’ with the country, with 57.8% expressing a sense of solidarity with Israel this month compared to 51.6% in a similar survey in June. According to the study, Arab Israelis’ main priority is combating violent crimes in their community…
Los Angeles Jewish Health raised more than $500,000 at its annual gala last month, in which the organization honored longtime supporters Izzy and Marilyn Freeman…
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has made a rare third donation of $50 million to Undue Medical Debt (formerly RIP Medical Debt). Since 2020 Scott has donated a total of $130 million to the organization, which purchases medical debt in bulk from hospitals and debt collectors amidst growing anger over high health-care costs…
Bryan Doreian, an officer at the cryptocurrency-focused donor-advised fund SDG Impact Fund, was sentenced to one year in prison for tax evasion…
The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles awarded $4.3 million in grants to 87 organizations, roughly half to L.A.-based nonprofits, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Beit T’Shuvah, Jewish Family Service of LA and Bet Tzedek, Pico Union Project, Fuente Latina, JIMENA and Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles…
Chelsea Rego has been appointed the new executive director of Hillel at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. ….
Israel’s first quantum computer, featuring advanced superconducting technology, is now operational, boosting the country’s leadership in quantum tech. The 20-qubit system was developed by the Israel Innovation Authority, Israel Aerospace Industries, Hebrew University, and its tech transfer company, Yissum…
The New York Times examines the possibility of the United States creating a restitution commission to review claims for art stolen during the Holocaust, as most European countries have…
The Yiddish Book Center has received a $2.4 million ($2,488,152) grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative to expand its Public Libraries Program, launched in 2020 and aimed at deepening understanding of Jewish history, religion, and identity through Yiddish literature…
The New York Times looks at a long-running lawsuit accusing 17 leading universities of admitting students based on their parents’ wealth and donation potential…
Jami’s Children and Young Person’s Service in London is being renamed the Dangoor Children and Young Person’s Service following a significant donation from the family of British-Iraqi entrepreneur Sir Naim Dangoor, who died in 2015…
Pic of the Day
Members of the Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command examine the damage to a school in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan that was hit by a ballistic missile fired by the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen in the predawn hours of Thursday morning. No one was in the building when it was struck.
The missile attack triggered sirens throughout the Tel Aviv area, sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis to bomb shelters. The military initially said that it had intercepted the missile but later determined that the explosive warhead had not been shot down and caused the extensive damage to the school, which is estimated in the millions of dollars.
In retaliation for the attack, the Israeli Air Force conducted extensive strikes on Houthi facilities in Yemen.
Birthdays
Film and television actress, Marla Sokoloff…
Co-chair of the Democratic Majority for Israel, she was the communications director in the Clinton administration, Ann Frank Lewis… Journalist and playwright, he worked as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times based in Saigon, London, Nairobi and New Delhi, Bernard Weinraub… NYC-based real estate investor, Douglas Durst… Ardsley, N.Y., resident, Ruth Wolff… Israeli computer scientist and high-tech entrepreneur, she is a director of technology at Google Cloud, Orna Berry… Former town justice in Ulster, N.Y., and a past president of Congregation Ahavath Israel, Marsha Solomon Weiss… Host of RealTalk MS Podcast, he was previously the publisher of Long Beach Jewish Life in California, Jon Strum… Senior vice president at the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, Eli Schaap… CFO at wine importer and distributor, New York Wine Warehouse, Jane Hausman-Troy… Former U.S. senator (R-OH), Rob Portman… British cellist, distinguished for his diverse repertoire and distinctive sound, Steven Isserlis… Author of 25 best-selling thriller and espionage novels whose main protagonist is an Israeli intelligence officer, Daniel Silva… Member of the Knesset for the Meretz party until 2022, Moshe “Mossi” Raz… Israeli high-tech entrepreneur, he is the founder and CEO of MyHeritage, Gilad Japhet… President and chief creative officer of Rachel G Events, Rachel L. Glazer… Executive vice president of global government affairs at American Express, Amy Best Weiss… Acclaimed actor, his mother is Jewish, he reports that on his 13th birthday he performed a “bar-mitzvah-like act without the typical trappings,” Jake Gyllenhaal… Deputy Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe, Tal Kopan… Head of scaled programs at LinkedIn, Callie Schweitzer… Co-founder and CIO of Aption, Aaron Rosenson… Actress, best known for her role in Amazon Prime’s “Sneaky Pete,” Libe Alexandra Barer… Member of the Minnesota Senate, she is a daughter-in-law of former Sen. Norm Coleman, Julia Coleman… Consultant at Boston Consulting Group, Haim Engelman… Reporter for The New York Times focused on the impact of billionaires on society, Theodore Schleifer… Freshman at the University of Chicago, Sarah Wagman… and her brother, exactly two years younger, a senior at the Dalton School, Daniel Wagman… David Ginsberg…
