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Good Thursday morning.

In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on a new study by M² indicating a lack of hope among Jewish communal professionals. We examine fresh figures from Jewish Federations of North America about “the Surge,” showing that it is slowing more for marginalized Jewish communities, and speak with New York Jewish leaders as they reckon with the growing likelihood of a Zohran Mamdani mayoralty. We feature an opinion piece by Jessica McCormick on making Rosh Hashanah more accessible for young families, and another by Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman about the tough questions the Jewish community needs to ask itself about fighting antisemitism. Also in this issue: Ronald Lauder, Karen Parry and Rafael Brinner.

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M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education wanted to give the Jewish world a gift for the new year. It surveyed 950 North American Jewish communal professionals this summer about what gave them hope for the future, expecting the results to be inspirational, something positive to share ahead of next week’s Rosh Hashanah holiday. What they found instead was that many of these professionals don’t have much hope at all. Instead of a sweet gift of apples and honey, the results were a wake-up call, a jarring shofar blast, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher.

Today, M² released the findings of its first-ever Hope Study, showing that a small minority of Jewish communal professionals — 24% — “often” or “very often” feel hopeful about the future. This is in stark contrast to the 82% of the general U.S. population that felt hopeful about their future, according to a 2024 study performed by the Human Flourishing Labs.

The M² results were collected in the wake of June’s Iran-Israel war. If the data had been collected weeks later, as images of food shortages in Gaza flooded the news, the results probably would have been harsher, Shuki Taylor, founder and CEO of M², told eJP. Though he hoped for more uplifting results, the findings about the lack of hope didn’t completely surprise him, Taylor said. He knew the situation was dire post-Oct. 7, with Israel at war in Gaza and antisemitism skyrocketing, but didn’t know it was this bad. The results were “a reckoning,” he said.

In an open-ended question, internal communal division was identified as the top professional challenge, followed by leadership failures and then antisemitism. One respondent said they were “watching our community tear itself apart.” This division has been heightening as the war in Gaza drags on, according to Taylor.

Although the results seemed grim, the survey showed that Jewish professionals believed their work had impact: 55% of respondents said they often feel energized by their work, and 85% said that their most important source of hope was knowing the impact of their work on others. Nearly 75% said they feel strongly connected to the Jewish People, and 73% found hope in support from peers.

The study offered recommendations, including building Jewish communal belonging through rituals and learning and helping staff recognize their impact. The report suggests, for instance, that organizations not simply provide reports of success to the board and funders, but also share results with the staff. “Your staff are as significant a stakeholder as your board and funders. You have to go to your staff and say, ‘Here is the return on your investment,’” Taylor said.

Read the full report here.

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In the aftermath of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks two years ago, many American Jews were pulled off the sidelines and got much more involved in Jewish life — a trend, dubbed “the Surge,” that has continued into a second year, according to a survey released this spring. But a further breakdown of that survey data, shared this week by the Jewish Federations of North America, shows that the impact of “the Surge” is waning more quickly among Jews from minority populations, including LGBTQ Jews, Jews of color, Jews with disabilities and financially vulnerable Jews, than it is among the broader Jewish community, reports Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Higher, but not as high: “We’re sad and disheartened to see that these marginalized groups are engaging so much less than they were at this time last year,” JFNA’s chief impact and growth officer, Mimi Kravetz, told eJP on Wednesday. “It’s still higher than baseline. There’s still people showing up more. But there has been a more significant drop among these most marginalized groups.” Across these different populations, there is no single answer as to why there was a sharper decline in engagement than among the broader Jewish community. The Jewish leaders analyzing this data have not yet identified what they think accounts for the disparity, but they have some ideas — and suspect that some of the difference can be explained by simmering tensions over Israel.

Read the full report here.

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As Jewish leaders reckon with the increasing likelihood that Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City, many who have voiced anxiety over his avowedly anti-Israel policies are reacting with a mix of fear and resignation. Their concerns have been mounting as Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, has continued to hold a comfortable lead in the race, where polling shows him handily prevailing over the divided field, reports Matthew Kassel for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. 

Community concerns: Andres Spokoiny, who leads the Jewish Funders Network but emphasized that he was speaking only in his personal capacity, said that he was “extremely concerned and extremely fearful” about what he regards as a likely Mamdani mayoralty. “His views make the majority of Jews unsafe and unwelcome,” he told JI. More broadly, Spokoiny said his worries had less to do with particular policies than what he called “the breaking of a taboo” around anti-Zionist sentiment that did not ultimately serve as an “impediment” to Mamdani’s rise, even in a place that is home to the largest Jewish community of any city in the world. “That fact that it is in New York is highly symbolic,” he said. “It shows that our society doesn’t have the antibodies to reject somebody with a very divisive message.”

Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here.

Bonus: Philanthropist and GOP donor Ronald Lauder injected $750,000 to the Fix the City PAC, which is backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his bid to defeat Mamdani as an independent…

COURTESY/PJ LIBRARY

Many non-Orthodox families in North America “think of Rosh Hashanah as a holiday that requires hours in synagogue or hundreds of dollars in groceries, balk at the idea and then opt to do nothing,” writes Jessica McCormick, director of family experience at PJ Library, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “What is the organized Jewish community’s role in acknowledging this all-or-nothing mentality and providing an accessible alternative?”

Meeting a need: “Working in tandem with [PJ Library’s new holiday] guides is PJ Library’s newly expanded Get Together microgrant initiative. We provide $100 microgrants to help families host gatherings of three or more Jewish households, creating space for Jewish experiences that might otherwise feel too daunting or expensive to organize… Whether it’s a neighborhood apple-picking adventure before Rosh Hashanah, a collaborative sukkah-building pizza party or a simple Shabbat dinner with friends, these grants remove barriers and give families permission to experiment with Jewish community-building.”

Read the full piece here.

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“For those spending time in Jewish communal convenings or spaces with Jewish funders, there’s a question you are nearly guaranteed to hear: If we have so many organizations fighting antisemitism, why do we still have so much of it?” writes Meggie Wyschogrod Fredman, the American Jewish Committee’s director of U.S. Jewish communal engagement and partnership, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Wrong question: “The problem is, as well-intentioned as it may be, we’re asking the wrong question. That question presumes that we — the Jewish community — have the sole agency to turn the tide of antisemitism; but millennia of Jewish history, under various empires, regimes and governments, have taught us otherwise. … ”

Read the full piece here.

Putting in the Work: In The San Diego Tribune, Karen Parry, CEO of Hillel San Diego, hails her organization’s oft-overlooked “quiet” work on behalf of Jewish students over the past two years of increased antisemitism and anti-Israel demonstrations. “In San Diego, we’ve learned that the most important work in this fight is often the work no one sees. The truth is, much of it is quiet and behind the scenes. … In the past year alone, on four campuses in San Diego County, we’ve helped over 100 students navigate reporting systems, advocated for stronger university responses to hate and bias, and supported student mental health in a climate where they often feel isolated. … And here’s the larger lesson: This approach works not because it is flashy, but because it is human. Behind every debate about ‘the state of higher education’ are real students with names, faces and futures. Meeting their needs requires more than outrage. It requires infrastructure, persistence and community.” [SanDiegoTribune]

Hear Them Out: In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, BridgeUSA CEO Manu Meel describes an emerging “counterculture” of constructive dialogue on college campuses. “This counterculture was brewing after the Hamas October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel and the subsequent Israel-Palestine protests… By investing in campus dialogue now, philanthropy isn’t just preventing the next tragedy — it’s seeding a cultural transformation that will strengthen democratic norms for decades. … Promoting constructive dialogue is not a naive attempt at compromise. After discussions about Gaza, students don’t emerge with peace treaties. But they do emerge seeing each other as human beings worthy of respect, even in profound disagreement. In our current climate, that’s revolutionary.” [ChronicleofPhilanthropy]

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Rebecca Taibleson, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, is facing criticism in her confirmation from conservative groups in part due to her donations to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation…

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s goal is not to engage in a prolonged legal battle with Harvard University and expressed hope that the federal government would be able to reach a settlement that delivers meaningful reforms to the elite campus, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports…

Members of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center also met with McMahon yesterday to discuss federal efforts to counter antisemitism and new legislation promoting school choice, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

J. The Jewish News of Northern California interviews Rafael Brinner, senior director of community security at the Jewish Federation Bay Area and a former counterterrorism analyst for the U.S. government…

An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil must be deported to Syria or Algeria for omitting details from his green card application, despite another court ruling in New Jersey blocking his deportation. Khalil’s lawyers said they intend to appeal the decision but do not expect the appeal to be successful…

On the Fox News website, philanthropist Harley Lippman decries what he calls a misappropriation of Jewish genocide activist Raphael Lemkin’s name by the anti-Israel Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention. Read eJP’s coverage of the matter here…

Restaurateurs Emily and Alon Shaya, along with Tulane University Professor Mara Force, recreated dishes from a recipe book of the Fenves family, saved as they were taken to Auschwitz in 1944, in a project dubbed “Rescued Recipes”...

Rabbanit Miriam Amital, the wife of Rabbi Yehuda Amital, co-founder of the influential Yeshivat Har Etzion, died this week at 98…

The estate of Louise A. Strauss, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, donated $21 million to her alma mater; the funds will go toward the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, as well as the Rare Judaica Acquisitions Endowment Fund and Morris Arboretum & Gardens…

COURTESY/GOV. SHAPIRO’S OFFICE

The Philadelphia JCC Maccabi 17-and-under boys basketball team, which took home the gold medal at the 2025 JCC Maccabi Games in Pittsburgh earlier this summer, meets with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Monday to celebrate its victory at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa.

During the visit, the team presented Shapiro with an honorary JCC Maccabi yellow ribbon medal, as part of a campaign to raise awareness about the hostages still being held captive in Gaza.

SCREENSHOT/FORBES

Founding partner of Shore Capital Partners, he is a part-owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury along with his brother Mat Ishbia, Justin Ryan Ishbia turns 48... 

Marina Del Rey, Calif., resident, Kathy Levinson Wolf... Retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, he served as U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump 45 administration, Dr. Ben Carson turns 74... Business executive who served as co-CEO of SAP and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Léo Apotheker turns 72... Harvard professor of psychology, specializing in visual cognition and psycholinguistics, Steven Pinker turns 71... Former CEO of The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, Howard Tevlowitz... Former executive director of the Los Angeles Westside Jewish Community Center, Brian Greene... Attorney general of Israel, Gali Baharav-Miara turns 66... Professor of economics at MIT and a 2021 Nobel Prize laureate in economics, Joshua Angrist turns 65... One of the earliest Israeli tech entrepreneurs, he is best known for starting Aladdin Knowledge Systems in 1985, Yanki Margalit turns 63... Founder and executive chairman of Delek US, Ezra Uzi Yemin turns 57... Classical pianist, Simone Dinnerstein turns 53... Chief policy officer at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Karen Paikin Barall... NBC and MSNBC legal analyst, she was a 2021 candidate for Manhattan district attorney, Tali Farhadian Weinstein turns 50... Comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter, Billy Eichner turns 47... Rome bureau chief of The New York Times, covering Italy and the Vatican, Jason Horowitz... Director of operations at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, Robin Anderson... Co-host of Bloomberg Surveillance every morning on Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio, Lisa Abramowicz turns 46... Founder of the Jerusalem Journal, Avi Mayer... Professional poker player whose total career live tournament winnings exceed $24.5 million, Nick Schulman turns 41... Baseball broadcaster for the Washington Nationals, Dan Kolko... Television and film actress, Shoshana Bush turns 37... Senior director at TLG Communications - the Levinson Group, Zak Sawyer...