Your Daily Phil: Why is this community fighting so hard for Camp Lavi’s future?
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In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we explore concerns over the fate of Camp Lavi, report on hate crimes data recently released by the FBI and cover a new campus-based Project Shema program funded by a grant from the Ruderman Family Foundation. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Na’ama Levitz Applbaum about helping students navigate complexity rather than default to binary thinking, and a piece by Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jim Berk shares a success story that can serve as a playbook for getting Israeli narratives in front of audiences. Also in this issue: Rabbi Tali Zelkowicz, Brian Hermelin and David Hofstedter.
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What We’re Watching
Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, is slated to address the Sephardic Rabbinic Conference during its final day in New York City.
The Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society at the University of Denver is hosting Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Stuart Halpern today for a talk on his book Jewish Roots of American Liberty.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD FROM eJP’S JAY DEITCHER
Camp Lavi is one of a handful of Modern Orthodox camps serving New York City, Westchester and Long Island, an area home to 430,000 Jews hailing from Orthodox households — 249,000 adults and 181,000 children, according to a 2023 UJA-Federation of New York Jewish community study. Kids travel from across the East Coast to attend the camp as well. Established in 1977, it presently serves 600 campers and 200 junior staff members per season.
After news broke that the owners of the camp, David and Michael Shabsels, had declared bankruptcy, Camp Lavi families began asking a difficult question: Where would they send their kids if it closes? While camp ran as planned this summer, there was a looming possibility that it would not exist in its current form in the future.
As eJewishPhilanthropy has reported, the mental health nonprofit Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services won the property at auction this month with plans to use the campgrounds to serve its clients, not the current Camp Lavi families. Debate raged through the community, with many showing appreciation for Ohel’s work but sending a firm message — find another location — and ultimately turning to crowdfunding to try to save the camp themselves.
Interviews with parents offered insight into the affinity kids and parents feel for the camp; the conflicting feelings over an organization that does good and important work in the community possibly taking away something they love; and why a distinctly Modern Orthodox camp is something worth fighting for.
Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.
News
HATE BY THE NUMBERS
Nearly two-thirds of 2025 religious hate crimes in U.S. were antisemitic, FBI data finds
Jews remained the most-targeted religious group in the U.S. in 2025, according to hate crimes data released by the FBI last week, Marc Rod reports for eJewishPhilanthropy‘s sister publication Jewish Insider. Anti-Jewish hate crimes constituted nearly two-thirds of all religious hate crimes in the country last year, but the total number of anti-Jewish hate crimes declined by more than 20% from 2024 (the year with the highest number of such crimes since the FBI started collecting data).
The chosen people: According to the FBI, anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2025 included three incidents of murder or non-negligent manslaughter; one incident of rape; 50 incidents of aggravated assault; 112 incidents of simple assault; 505 incidents of intimidation; 920 incidents of destruction, damage or vandalism; 68 incidents of theft, burglary and robbery of various kinds; and six incidents of arson. A total of 1,685 anti-Jewish offenses were recorded in 2025, committed by 866 perpetrators and impacting 1,746 victims.
EXCLUSIVE
Ruderman, Project Shema team up to boost awareness of antisemitism’s impact on mental health on campus
An 18-month, $220,000 grant from the Ruderman Family Foundation to antisemitism education nonprofit Project Shema will fund a new program on 25 campuses to bring training sessions to college campus administrators, counseling center staff and educators to help them understand how antisemitism impacts students’ mental health, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.
Educating, not scolding: The foundation liked that Project Shema — whose name comes from the Hebrew word for “hear,” in reference to its mission to teach skills that will help others hold productive dialogue about difficult topics like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — didn’t get “in your face” and scold people about antisemitism, said Sharon Shapiro, community liaison and trustee at the Ruderman Family Foundation.
Opinion
THE WAY FORWARD
Carrying the broken tablets: Jewish education in a fractured moment
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Na’ama Levitz Applbaum, director of educational leadership and engagement at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, shares takeaways from last month’s Hartman Summit for Educators.
“Through our learning and conversations, five educational anchors became clear as essential tools for helping students move beyond binaries and remain in relationship amid complexity.”
READER RESPONDS
The boycott is breaking — now we must see it through
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Jim Berk, CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the organization’s Museum of Tolerance and Moria Media, SWC’s storytelling arm, responds to Isaac Zablocki’s recent op-ed “Beyond Making Films: The Next Challenge for Israeli Cinema” (Aug. 4).
“Isaac Zablocki described what he heard from Israeli filmmakers at this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival: the hardest part of telling an Israeli story is no longer raising the money. It’s getting the film seen. That’s true. And I want to share what it took, just recently, to make sure one of those stories reached an audience, a story I’ve watched closely because my own organization helped tell it.”
Worthy Reads
It Goes Both Ways: In Haaretz, an anonymous Arab doctor at Israel’s Rambam Hospital charges that racism should be condemned by the same standard regardless of who commits it, describing daily exposure to eliminationist comments about Palestinians while allegations against Arab staff draw swift public uproar. “I’m not writing this to justify anyone’s racism. I’m writing this because I’m tired of the fact that sensitivity, empathy and the right to speak freely always belong to only one side.”
A Board’s Sacred Duty: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Susan Berresford argues that nonprofit boards too often botch their most important job — hiring a CEO — by leaning on a familiar search firm, ceding the candidate list, sidelining the full board and skipping their own reference checks. “Yet some finalists never meet the full board, or see it only socially. … When exposure is limited, members can be unsure of the choice, not fully behind the new CEO, and their doubts become backroom talk.”
Before the Shift: In Candid, Sam Fankuchen suggests that nonprofits can improve volunteer retention by fixing the full volunteer experience, starting with clear communication before the first shift rather than relying on post-event thank-yous, noting that the estimated value of a volunteer hour hit $36.14 in 2025. “As the value of a volunteer hour continues to rise, nonprofits should ensure their volunteer programs are designed to maximize every hour that’s contributed. … By using AI thoughtfully at each touchpoint, you can turn volunteer interest into consistent, sustainable participation.”
Major Gifts
The Lake Worth Playhouse, Palm Beach County’s oldest theater, secured a $1 million anonymous gift to seed an endowment that will fund repairs to its 103-year-old building…
Transitions
Rabbi Tali Zelkowicz has joined Spertus Institute as its first-ever dean of Jewish leadership…
Nuseir Yassin, the Israeli Palestinian influencer known as Nas Daily, was named to the Genesis Prize Foundation‘s advisory board…
Nechama – Jewish Response to Disaster hired Amanda Reffsin as director of disaster operations and Andrew Feuerstein as director of development…
Leslie Black Yarmush was hired by the Maimonides School as its director of development…
Word on the Street
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen won the Likud primary, taking the top elected slot behind party leader Benjamin Netanyahu and ahead of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Transportation Minister Miri Regev…
Israel and the U.S.-led Board of Peace will form two working groups on Gaza disarmament and public health after talks among Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jared Kushner and board head Nickolay Mladenov, who agreed reconstruction can’t start until the demilitarization of Hamas is completereports Emily Jacobs for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider…
Hannan Lis, Rob Orley and Jewish Federation of Detroit President Brian Hermelin are hosting a fundraiser next week for former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) as the GOP Senate candidate courts Jewish Democrats in Michigan alarmed by nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s approach to Israel, reports Matthew Kassel for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider…
Israel Hayom highlights how Canadian developer David Hofstedter steered his family foundation toward Torah learning and Jewish education, extending the Dirshu study movement he founded in Toronto in 1997 and grew worldwide…
The New York Post profiles Chaim Galbut, a 6-foot-7 Miami native who this fall will join Duquesne University‘s Division I men’s basketball team, becoming the first yarmulke-wearing and Sabbath-observing player at that level since Tamir Goodman…
The Israeli government covers just 13% of Israeli food-aid charities’ budgets, according to a Hebrew University and Sheba Medical Center study that mapped 2,289 active groups and warned that gaping geographic and sectoral gaps leave Arab communities and the North badly underserved…
Israel’s economy grew 15.4% on an annualized basis in the second quarter though the Central Bureau of Statistics puts first-half growth at just 3.2% as domestic consumption weakened…
Israeli airline Israir has secured approval to begin selling tickets to the U.S., with sales opening next week ahead of an Oct. 19 launch…
Bank Leumi is suing Meta for 26.6 million NIS ($8.89 million), alleging it knowingly profited from fraudulent Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ads that impersonated the bank…
A New York judge has dismissed professor Mohamed Abdou’s discrimination lawsuit against Columbia University; Abdou’s social media comments in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks included support for Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad…
Elliott Franks, a British theater and ballet photographer who, in his final years, documented Stop The Hate pro-Israel protests, died at 62…
Pic of the Day
Volunteers pack 55 care kits for distribution by Jewish Family Service of Metro Detroit. The event was the first in Repair the World Detroit’s four-part series honoring the month of Elul, and included a mindfulness activity and journaling to reflect on the month’s themes in addition to the opportunity for hands-on service.
Birthdays
Sonia Wolff Levitin, Holocaust survivor, novelist, artist and producer, turns 92
Barbara Bluhm-Kaul, art collector, museum trustee in Chicago, Aspen, Colo., and Orange County, Calif., and former member of Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the State Department, turns 86
Jerome Seaman, Baltimore resident
Rabbi Noam Gordon, Ph.D, retired teacher of Talmud at Jerusalem’s Yeshiva Torat Shraga
Susan G. Golding, former two-term mayor of San Diego, the first Jewish mayor of the city, turns 81
John D. Goldman, businessman and former chair of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, turns 77
Cindy Chazan, partner in Chazan-Leipzig Consulting
Gary Silow, retired judge of the Montgomery County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, turns 75
Winnie Holzman, dramatist, screenwriter and poet, turns 72
Raphael Schwartz, president at Wyckoff, N.J.-based Benefit Connections
Alan H. Kadish, M.D., president of Touro University, turns 70
Stuart Tochner, employment law attorney in the Los Angeles office of Ogletree Deakins
Timothy Geithner, Treasury secretary in the Obama administration, now chairman of Warburg Pincus, turns 65
Jules Polonetsky, CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, a D.C.-based think tank and advocacy group focused on issues of data privacy, turns 61
Kenneth Goldin, auctioneer, television personality and sports card collector, he is featured on the Netflix TV series “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch,” turns 61
David Brog, executive director of the Maccabee Task Force established by Haim Saban and the late Sheldon Adelson, turns 60
Dayvid Figler, criminal defense attorney and media personality in Las Vegas, turns 59
Brian Michael Bendis, award-winning comic book writer and artist for both Marvel and then DC Comics, turns 59
Jason Furman, professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, he served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, turns 56
Andrew Wilkow, conservative political talk radio host on the Sirius XM Patriot channel, turns 54
Gabriel Naddaf, Greek Orthodox priest, he serves as a judge in Israel’s religious court system and encourages Christians to enlist in the IDF, turns 53
Nicole Krauss, best-selling author, her novels have been translated into 35 languages, turns 52
Jessi Ruth Klein, writer, actor and stand-up comedian from NYC, turns 51
Roger Zakheim, director of the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, he was previously a partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling and general counsel of the House Armed Services Committee
David A.J. “Andy” Samberg, actor, comedian, writer, producer and musician, turns 48
Zachary Iscol, former commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, turns 48
Noah Slepkov, fellow at The Jewish People Policy Institute and managing partner of The Madad
Sarah Breger, editor of Moment Magazine
Sadie Gurman, reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering the Justice Department and federal law enforcement
Laurie Segall, founder and CEO of Mostly Human, a New York-based entertainment media company, turns 41
Olga Rubin, mixed martial artist, she competes in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, turns 37
Or “Ori” Sasson, Israeli judoka who won Olympic bronze medals at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, turns 36
