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Your Daily Phil |
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JULY 9, 2026
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we get the scoop on Evan Bernstein being selected as the next CEO of B’nai Brith International. We cover the launch of a new global consortium for the study of contemporary antisemitism and the opening of a new Sylvan Adams-sponsored Sport Science Institute at Tel Aviv University. We also report on mostly positive Jewish communal reactions to the National Education Association's efforts to root out antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Gary Zola about the role of rabbis in the AI age, and one by Jason Feld calling for the creation of a Jewish day school scholarship fund in honor of the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks. Also in this issue: Rahm Emanuel, Maya Natan Mozer and Sen. Ted Cruz.
What We're Watching
The Contemporary Antisemitism conference at the University of Haifa wraps up today with a keynote speech from philosopher and author Bernard-Henri Lévy. More on this below. If you’re there today, say hi to eJP’s Justin Hayet!
The Jerusalem Film Festival opens tonight.
What You Should Know
In a generational change at the top of B'nai B'rith International, the organization has tapped Evan Bernstein as its next CEO, the group exclusively told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher today, as the longtime communal professional looks to breathe new life — and a spirit of innovation — into a 182-year-old legacy organization.
Bernstein, 51, will take the reins of B'nai B'rith on Aug. 24, succeeding longtime CEO Dan Mariaschin, 77, who has led the organization since 1999. Bernstein brings with him 25 years of Jewish nonprofit experience at a host of communal organizations, most recently at Jewish Federations of North America, as well as the Community Security Service, Anti-Defamation League and AIPAC.
In his first interview since accepting the position, Bernstein discussed how he will use his connections at past agencies to cultivate new partnerships for B'nai B'rith and how he will bring a startup mentality to the world’s oldest Jewish service organization.
News
INTELLECTUAL PURSUITS
New global consortium launches to advance academic study of contemporary antisemitism
Antisemitism has gone global, and the newly established Contemporary Antisemitism Studies Association is bringing an international reach and a sense of academic rigor to the study of the world's oldest hatred. The international academic group dedicated to the study of contemporary antisemitism was launched this week at the University of Haifa, as leading scholars across disciplines from around the world gathered there this week for the Contemporary Antisemitism Haifa 2026 conference, one of the field's largest gatherings, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet.
International effort: More than 150 academics have already signed on as founding members, and an advisory board of senior scholars in the field has been established to help guide the organization going forward. The new organization grew out of a partnership among three institutions that have jointly organized this expanding conference series: the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Gratz College in suburban Philadelphia and the Elizabeth and Tony Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism at the University of Haifa.
ATHLETIC COMPETITION
Sylvan Adams bets $35M on Israeli Olympic success with cutting-edge Sport Science Institute at TAU
It's part gym, part science lab. A motion-capture system tracks how an athlete moves. A climate-controlled chamber can recreate the heat and humidity of a competition venue anywhere in the world. Welcome to the Sylvan Adams Sport Science Institute at Tel Aviv University, where Big Data meets big athletic dreams, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet from the opening event yesterday.
Winning combination: The institute is a new research and training hub built to give Israeli athletes a scientific edge on the world stage. The center was funded by a $35 million gift from the Canadian-born businessman, philanthropist and cyclist who immigrated to Israel in 2015. It merges academic research with hands-on athletic support, aiming to translate lab findings into medals, records and lasting national sporting achievement.
Opinion
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
The fundamentally human act of presence: A renewed commitment for the American rabbinate
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Gary Zola, the founding president of the College for Contemporary Judaism, reflects on his time as a student rabbi in Williamson, W.Va., where despite his initial reservations, he would visit congregants at their businesses on Shabbat.
“The members of B’nai Israel of Williamson taught me an invaluable lesson about American Jewry: Rabbinic leadership begins with a willingness to meet people where they are. Only then – once a relationship is forged – can a rabbi build a community grounded in Jewish learning and living.”
IN THEIR MEMORY
1,195 souls, 1,195 futures: A post-Oct. 7 call to action for American Jewry
In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Jewish day school professional Jason Feld calls for establishing a fund to provide full, one-year tuition for 1,195 Jewish children annually in memory of those killed in the Oct. 7 terror attacks.
“Think about what 1,195 represents. Each name. Each life extinguished by pure, genocidal hatred. There can be no greater tribute to their memory than the gift of Jewish life and Jewish continuity to 1,195 children who might otherwise never set foot in a Jewish classroom. This is not only a philanthropic opportunity. It is a moral obligation.”
Worthy Reads
Rahm’s Way: In the Jewish Insider, Melissa Weiss reports on remarks yesterday by presumptive 2028 presidential candidate Rahm Emanuel at Tel Aviv University where he criticized far-left Democrats as well as the Netanyahu government while pitching his "23-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “American policy towards Israel operated under the assumption that the best thing Washington could do for Jerusalem is to blindly, to silently stand behind your government without conditions, without demands, without consequences, even when we disagree,’ Emanuel said. ‘That has been our mistake, and it’s been not a favor to you.”
Startup Nation 2.0: In the Times of Israel, Keshet’s Maya Natan Mozer argues that Israel has a chance to lead the AI revolution while also building the civic institutions society needs to keep pace with it. “Israel stands before an important opportunity: not only to lead the development of future-shaping technologies, but also to build the social, community, and philanthropic frameworks that will enable society as a whole to grow alongside technological progress.”
Her Moment: In Alliance Magazine, Katherine Hayes contends that women inheritors are uniquely positioned to redirect the coming $100 trillion wealth transfer toward closing the racial wealth gap. “The coming decades have the potential to reshape American wealth distribution. If women inheritors embrace this moment, the greatest wealth transfer in history could indeed become the greatest wealth redistribution in history.”
Community Comms
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Transitions
Word on the Street
Major Jewish organizations expressed “reason for optimism” that the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, is taking meaningful steps to address rising antisemitism following its annual Representative Assembly, which concluded in Denver on Tuesday, reports Jewish Insider's Haley Cohen...
A new 501(c)(4) group called The Front Line is being launched by allies of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) with attorney Arielle F. Klepach at the helm, aiming to push antisemitic candidates out of Republican politics and counter far-right antisemitism online, Jewish Insider's Emily Jacobs reports…
More than 300 of the world’s most powerful executives have trickled into Idaho for Allen & Co’s invite-only, closed-door Sun Valley conference, where media moguls, tech titans and financiers gather every year, Jewish Insider’s Christina Sher reports…
HaGal Sheli (My Wave) has opened its 12th surf therapy center in Onot Beach in Netanya, expanding access to surf therapy for at-risk populations and people coping with trauma across the city and surrounding area...
Content creator Nuseir Yassin — also known as Nas Daily — spoke to students in Reichman University's Brandon Korff Influencers Program about building an online following and using storytelling to reach global audiences…
Inside Philanthropy examines how the generational wealthy transfer is reshaping Florida's philanthropic landscape with new players like the Paul J. DiMare Foundation and Betty Wold Johnson Foundation now among its top foundations…
Elisha Wiesel, chairman of the Elie Wiesel Foundation, was interviewed on MSNBC's “Squawk Box” about the urgency of confronting antisemitism today…
Australia’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, testifying before the government’s royal commission into antisemitism, called for the creation of an independent oversight committee to monitor the Australian public broadcaster’s compliance with its charter obligations; her comments came after numerous complaints over the broadcaster’s airing of falsities around the Israel-Hamas war and slowness to issue corrections…
A £6 million ($8 million) project, backed by the U.K.’s National Lottery Heritage Fund, Welsh Government and Merthyr Council, will restore Merthyr Tydfil's historic synagogue — Wales' only surviving purpose-built synagogue — into a new Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre set to open in 2028…
With summer break offering teachers a chance to level up their skills for the year ahead, Illinois educators will be able to spend three days in Chicago this month learning about “the dangers of the Anti-Defamation League's influence in our schools” — and earn credit toward the professional development needed to renew their teaching licenses, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports…
Attorney William Zabel, a prolific celebrity divorce lawyer who was instrumental in distributing some $2.2 billion to the victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, died at 89…
Photo of the Day
GUY YECHIELI/JEWISH AGENCY
Former Israeli hostages David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Bar Kupershtein, Elkana Bohbot, Eliya Cohen, Or Levy and Eitan Horn receive gold medals yesterday following an exhibition basketball game with leaders from the Jewish Agency for Israel and former Israeli basketball stars on the sidelines of the 2026 Maccabiah Games.
Birthdays
KRISTINA BUMPHREY/WWD VIA GETTY IMAGES
Brandon Uranowitz, Tony Award-winning theater, film and television actor, turns 40
Iosif Begun, former Soviet refusenik, prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, author and translator, turns 94
Floyd Abrams, constitutional law expert focused on the First Amendment and free speech, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel where he has practiced since 1963, turns 90
David Zinman, retired conductor and music director of symphony orchestras in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Rochester, N.Y.; Baltimore and Zurich, turns 90
Robert Morris Rubin, Huntington Woods, Mich., resident
Howard Cohen, Arizona resident
Theodore “Ted” Leitner, play-by-play announcer for the MLB's San Diego Padres from 1980 to 2020, turns 79
Rabbi Ilan D. Feldman, rabbi of Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta, turns 72
Jordan Ross Belfort, author, motivational speaker and former stockbroker, his autobiographical memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street, was adapted into a film and released in 2013, turns 64
Michael Alan Chelst, mortgage professional and owner of D.C.'s Char Bar
Sarah Koenig, public radio personality, former producer of "This American Life" and the host and executive producer of the "Serial" podcast, turns 57
Timothy "Speed" Levitch, actor, tour guide, poet, speaker, philosopher and author, turns 56
Marc Lowell Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape and co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, turns 55
Eli Jon Lake, host of The Free Press' "Breaking History" podcast, turns 54
Lori Rothman, anchor and reporter for Fox Business Network, turns 53
Peter Webb, member of the URJ North American board of trustees
Yehoshua Fass, co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B'Nefesh, turns 53
Omer Dagan, brigadier general (res.) in the IDF, he held many military leadership positions in digital transformation and computer science, turns 50
Guy Davidi, Israeli documentary filmmaker, turns 48
Vanessa K. Selbst, retired poker player, now an options trader, she is the only woman to ever reach the number one ranking on the Global Poker Index, turns 42
Samantha Hea Marks, renewable energy and climate specialist
Jake Kalish, pitcher for Team Israel at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, turns 35
Kenny Rosenberg, pitcher in the Los Angeles Angels organization through 2024, now a free agent, turns 31
Shoshana Bedrosian, spokeswoman and communications specialist for foreign media in the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel, turns 29
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