Good Friday morning.
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we raise questions about a new memo from the House Judiciary Committee on funding for Israeli protest organizations. We report on a first-of-its-kind Israeli-led trip by Moroccan educators to Germany and Poland to learn how to teach their students about the Holocaust, on the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces board’s efforts to remove its chair and on Columbia University students’ tepid reactions to the expected agreement between the school and the federal government to address campus antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Rabba Sara Hurwitz marking the ordination of 100 rabbinic leaders by Yeshivat Maharat, and one by Joelle Keene about the role journalism education can play in Israel
education. Also in this issue: Rachel Honeyman, Rose Horowitch and Gal Gadot.
Shabbat shalom! Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.👇 |
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For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent eJewishPhilanthropy and Jewish Insider stories, including: Amid generational shifts in giving, Jewish groups need new types of engagement, fundraising consultant says; Foundation for Jewish Camp taps interim CEO Jamie Simon to take full reins; and Alan Hassenfeld, third-generation Hasbro executive and Jewish philanthropist, dies at 76. Print the latest edition here.
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Reut USA and The Rabbi Sacks Legacy are hosting a daylong conference in New York on Monday titled, “The Great Diaspora: Visioning American Jewry at America’s 250th – Inspired by Rabbi Sacks zt”l.” Speakers include Ted Deutch of AJC, Eric Goldstein of UJA-Federation of New York, Mark Charendoff of Maimonides Fund and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides, among many others.
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The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is holding a three-day solidarity mission to Israel beginning on Monday.
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A QUICK WORD WITH EJP'S JUDAH ARI GROSS |
Two Jewish grantmakers have been caught in the crossfire as a pair of House Republicans take aim at the Biden administration’s funding for nonprofits with a new memo alleging improprieties with donations to Israeli civil society organizations. The allegations appear to be based on scant evidence and flawed understandings of the organizations involved and funding mechanisms.
After four months of investigation, the report by Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Brian Mast (R-FL) for the House Judiciary Committee, which was obtained by eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider, alleges that federal funds may have indirectly been used by Israeli civil society groups for their protests against the government’s contentious judicial overhaul plan. There is no evidence presented of direct funding for the protests, nor is there clear-cut proof of indirect support for them. There is no smoking gun, and there are plenty of denials.
“No state entity, administration or government body – American or otherwise (USAID included) – has ever provided funding to the organization, whether directly or indirectly,” a spokesperson for one of the organizations, Blue and White Future, told JI.
In Israel, the memo, which relies primarily on innuendo and suggestion, has already been seized by supporters of the government as evidence that the demonstrations against the judicial overhaul measures — which were regularly polled as unpopular by the majority of Israelis — were not grassroots protests but foreign-funded operations. The memo hinges on the fact that federal grants have been allocated to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a philanthropic services organization that manages hundreds of millions of dollars of charitable giving from a large number of clients. On behalf of some of those clients, RPA has issued grants to PEF Israel Endowment Funds, amounting to $187,000 from 2021 to 2024.
PEF Israel Endowment Funds, as has been discussed in these pages, is a small, relatively little-known grantmaker that serves as a go-between for donors in the United States and nonprofits in Israel. “We’re a clearinghouse,” the organization’s president, Geoffrey Stern, told eJP last year, transferring American donations to a wide array of Israeli organizations.
“U.S. nonprofit PEF Israel Endowment Funds provided over $884 million to groups involved in anti-democracy protests in Israel,” Jordan and Mast wrote in their report, omitting the fact that PEF Israel’s beneficiaries also include many, many organizations that were not involved in the protests and even some that may have been involved in counter-protests in favor of the judicial overhaul. (The section heading where that appears also claims that all of the $884 million went to protest groups — an obvious, ludicrous falsehood.)
The congressmen provide no evidence that the $187,000 in funding for PEF Israel from RPA came from federal grants, which the report notes were specifically intended to “ensure the viability of public interest media in low and middle-income countries” — nothing connected to Israel’s judicial overhaul. Similarly, there is no indication that PEF Israel’s donations to groups involved in the anti-judicial overhaul protests came from the RPA funds.
Jordan and Mast allege that in providing support to Israeli nonprofits that protest against the government’s judicial overhaul, PEF Israel may have violated U.S. tax law and the terms of its tax-exempt status. They make this claim based on an IRS rule that “an organization that attempts to influence and advocates changes in the laws of a foreign country does not qualify for exemption from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Code.”
While it is far from clear that this rule would even apply — such advocacy, if it existed at all, would have to amount to a “substantial part” of PEF Israel’s activities — this interpretation of the rule would have profound, likely unintended consequences on Jewish nonprofits of all types. (Revoking tax exemption for attempting to influence Israeli law would mean that the Zionist Organization of America, for instance, would be at risk of losing its 501(c)3 status because it has advocated for changing Israel’s Law of Return to reduce the number of immigrants to Israel who are not Jewish according to halacha.)
Speaking to eJP today, Stern flatly denied the allegations and implications in the memo. “Regarding the concerns and questions raised in the staff memorandum, we categorically reject any suggestion of impropriety. PEF operates with the utmost transparency and adherence to all applicable laws and regulations. We will be formulating a formal response in the days ahead to address these matters directly and provide the necessary context and facts,” he said. “Unfortunately, the organization’s name has been associated in recent publications with claims that are both misleading and harmful — not only to us, but to the Israeli nonprofit sector as a whole. We remain committed to our mission, our legal obligations, and the communities we serve.”
“The multiplicity of organizations that PEF supports address the broad spectrum of social needs in the State of Israel ranging from health care, hunger, religious institutions (both houses of worship and religious seminaries [yeshivot], higher education, special needs, culture, poverty relief, displaced communities, including not-for-profits on both sides of the so called ‘Green Line,’” Stern said, referring to the demarcation between Israel and the West Bank, adding: “We are extremely proud of the referenced $884 million of support that PEF provided to every sector of Israeli society between 2021-2024.”
Even more curious than the allegations against PEF Israel is Jordan and Mast’s decision to include the Jewish Communal Fund in the memo. The New York-based JCF, which functions as a donor-advised fund for Jewish donors, denied receiving federal funding of any kind in its communications with the House Judiciary Committee, and Jordan and Mast do not offer proof to the contrary. Indeed, in two flowcharts showing the alleged movement of government funds to anti-judicial overhaul protest groups, JCF appears outside that “flow,” with no arrows connecting it to the U.S. government’s coffers.
But perhaps most baffling of all is that while the bulk of the memo — 10 of its 14 pages — is focused on unsubstantiated claims of federal funding for anti-judicial overhaul protests in Israel, Jordan and Mast dedicate just three pages to their seemingly far more credible finding that the Biden administration appears to have provided direct funding to Palestinian nonprofits with apparent ties to terrorists and terrorist organizations.
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In first trip of its kind, Moroccan teachers explore Holocaust memory in Germany, Poland |
WIKIMEDIA/GEORGFOTOART/CC BY 2.0 |
After nine months of quiet preparation, 25 Moroccan educators stepped off a plane in Berlin on Thursday and into history. They have embarked on a journey through Auschwitz, the Warsaw Ghetto, and other Holocaust sites, which the trip organizers described as the first Arab-world teachers trained to bring this history home. “The Journey From Hate to Hope” is a weeklong program aimed at equipping them with the tools to teach the Holocaust in Arabic through a distinctly North African lens. Organized by the Israel-based WeAreMENA regional network in partnership with Morocco’s Mimouna Association, the initiative is not only a milestone in Holocaust education — it is also a rare example of Israeli-Arab cooperation at a time of deepening regional strife, reports Efrat Lachter for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Something serious: The delegation is being led by George Stevens, an American-born educator living in Israel, who has spent the past two and a half years developing the program through WeAreMENA, which connects youth organizations across the Middle East and North Africa. “There has been institutionalized ignorance around the Holocaust in much of the Arab world,” Stevens said. “Our aim was to build something serious — not just handing teachers new textbooks, but giving them deep historical grounding, personal connection and the ability to teach with meaning.” Stevens recruited a team of Israeli and Moroccan experts, including Holocaust educators, North African historians and professional guides experienced in working with Arab and Druze groups. The mixed team — Muslim and Jewish, Israeli and Moroccan — met in advance to prepare the itinerary, translate materials and align pedagogical approaches.
Read the full report here. |
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FIDF Chair Morey Levovitz expected to step down under threat of removal, sources say |
The board of the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces is moving to force Morey Levovitz, the organization’s embattled chair, from his post in response to growing controversy surrounding his tenure, including allegations of mismanagement and creating a noxious work environment, sources connected to the organization told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
What’s next: According to two sources familiar with the discussions, the board did not vote out Levovitz, which would have required a 75% supermajority. Instead, the board members appear to be seeking an agreed-upon settlement that results in Levovitz’s resignation, but with an understanding that if such a mutual arrangement is not reached that a removal vote would be on the table. As of Thursday, no final decision has been announced, apparently due to some sticking points over Levovitz’s conditions for stepping down. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said that the board is also planning to significantly scale back CEO Steven Weil’s role in the organization, giving more of the responsibility to FIDF National Director Maj. Gen. (res.) Nadav Padan. According to one source, this may also come with a pay decrease for Weil, who would focus on fundraising.
Read the full report here. |
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Columbia Jewish students, alumni critique school’s commitments to combat antisemitism as ‘bare minimum’ |
JEENAH MOON/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES |
As Jewish students and alumni at Columbia University await the final details of the university’s prospective deal with the Trump administration, some are expressing skepticism that a list of commitments announced by the school this week to address antisemitism on campus would have a significant impact on protecting Jewish students, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. The steps were publicized Tuesday by Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, as the school works to reach a deal with the Trump administration to restore some $400 million in federal funding that was cut by the
government in March due to the university’s record dealing with antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel.
Student reactions: According to a draft deal, Columbia would be required to pay a $200 million fine and commit to releasing admissions and staffing data to the federal government. “The deal as it stands now lets Columbia off the hook relatively without a scratch,” Inbar Brand, who graduated in the spring from Columbia’s dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University, told JI. “The school gets its money back without resolving the core issues in its governance and administrative structure that allowed for antisemitism to fester openly for so long on campus.” Noa Fay, a graduate student entering her last year in Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, described the university’s latest commitments and prospective deal as “an immense disappointment.”
Read the full report here and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff here. |
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Blessings revealed: Reflections on Yeshivat Maharat’s Semicha 2025 |
“The Gemara in Bava Metzia (42b) teaches: ‘A blessing is not found in something that is counted. Rather, it is found in something that is concealed from the eye (ha-samui min ha-ayin).’ This is not a prohibition against noticing goodness, but a reminder that true blessing often unfolds quietly. For far too long, female rabbinic leaders have been ha-samui min ha-ayin — concealed from view, not counted, not fully seen,” writes Rabba Sara Hurwitz, co-founder and president at Yeshivat Maharat and rabba at the Bayit in Riverdale, N.Y., in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Cause for hope: “Now there are 100 Maharat graduates, and each one is a blessing. In a dark and fractured world, these scholars are a force for healing, hope and transformation… Just days after this celebration, we rejoiced again when, in a landmark decision, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the Chief Rabbinate to permit women to sit for the Rabbanut’s halachic exams, an unprecedented step toward gender equality in religious leadership. Two of Maharat’s graduates, Rabbanit Avital Engelberg (’15) and Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz (’25) are cited in the brief submitted to the court… [A]t Yeshivat Maharat’s graduation in New York, when I looked at these nine Israelis and the 14 other graduates, the many alumnae in the room and the nearly 600 people in the audience, their faces shining with joy and wonder, I felt immense pride. Pride in the contributions these women have already made and will continue to make in the world.”
Read the full piece here. |
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This just in: Let day school students teach themselves, and each other, about Israel through journalism
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SHALHEVET BOILING POINT/INSTAGRAM |
“Shuki Taylor's thoughtful, solutions-oriented piece about Israel education in eJewishPhilanthropy (“From ambiguity to clarity: What Israel education must confront now,” June 26) describes a problem that both frightens and inhibits educators in Jewish high schools and youth programs chutz la'aretz (outside Israel) worldwide, positing that clear boundaries as to what may and may not be said will help teachers relax about what they can teach without worrying about what they can't,” writes Joelle Keene, executive director of the Jewish Scholastic Press Association, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy.
Reality check: “Unfortunately for all of us, the situation in Israel grows more complicated every day, so neither education nor public discourse is likely to be contained for long by a protocol of red lines to avoid. Moreover, such protocols bypass what is probably the best, most proven way for students to understand any subject — that is, investigating, discovering and wrestling with the facts on their own. Instead of regulating what our teachers can teach, our schools should openly and officially help students investigate both history and current events in Israel for themselves. Fortunately there is another pedagogical tool that a growing minority of Jewish schools are working with already: high school journalism, which can be naturally enlisted at this critical moment and whose techniques should be adaptable to the classroom of any teacher.”
Read the full piece here. |
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Everyone Has a Role: In Kveller, Rachel Honeyman reflects on how the struggle with infertility she and her husband experienced led her to question her place and that of other childless individuals and couples in the “chain” of Jewish continuity. “Maybe Jewish peoplehood was never meant to be a chain at all. Maybe it’s a lattice. A lattice isn’t linear. It doesn’t require one link to produce another to hold it together. Instead, it’s a strong, interconnected web, made of many shapes, many paths, all woven together to hold each other up. Each of us can be a thread in that lattice… The single man who went through hell to find a Jewish egg
donor and surrogate. The couple who suffered multiple miscarriages trying to have a third child, while no one would have imagined they were dealing with infertility. The woman whose marriage didn’t survive IVF, but who is now raising a Jewish child on her own... We all deserve to feel like part of the Jewish story. Because we are.” [Kveller]
DEI Gets an F: In The Atlantic, Rose Horowitch expresses concern that universities such as Columbia and Harvard are using the DEI playbook to address antisemitism despite the criticisms leveled at that model for effecting change. “University leaders may be implementing reforms that aren’t proven to work, or are proven not to work. Giving anti-Semitism the DEI treatment is also ironic: Universities are instituting these policies under pressure from the Trump administration, which is simultaneously engaged in an effort to root out DEI from governing and educational institutions across the country… Universities have built up their antidiscrimination apparatuses
for decades now. Yet they seemed utterly ill-equipped to address anti-Semitism on their campuses… Ineffectiveness is one concern. Here’s another: As the university sets up a new anti-Semitism bureaucracy, it runs the risk of repeating the overreach of the DEI movement. What began as a well-intentioned effort to address real issues of discrimination resulted in a proliferation of administrators who, in certain instances, evolved into a sort of speech police.” [TheAtlantic]
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Lead with purpose and confidence. Applications for the 19th cohort of the Spertus Institute’s Certificate in Jewish Leadership, offered in partnership with Northwestern University, are now open! Gain tools to navigate challenges, inspire action, and make a difference in your organization. Fall cohort will be online only. Find out more.
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Coca-Cola could become permanently Passover-friendly, after President Donald Trump pressed the company to pivot from corn syrup to cane sugar…
In a letter to Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned that he could publicly declare Israel not welcoming to Christian visitors, an escalation in an ongoing diplomatic row over Christian Zionists who have experienced complications traveling to Israel; Arbel, from the Haredi Shas party, has for years clashed with Christian clergy and groups who have sought visas to travel to Israel…
Israel apologized for a strike on a Catholic church in Gaza that killed three people and said it is investigating how “stray ammunition” struck the building; the official statement came following a call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump, during which the president reportedly pressured Netanyahu to release a statement…
Kenneth L. Marcus warns about “decolonizing therapy,” and antisemitism in the mental health field in an opinion piece in USA Today…
Forbes spotlights Daniel Nadler, who has raised $210 million at a $3.5 billion valuation for his company OpenEvidence, which uses artificial intelligence to help simplify the process for doctors to comb through extensive medical research…
A new survey on antisemitism in Ontario schools has found a significant spike in incidents, over 40% involving Holocaust denial, Nazi salutes or explicitly antisemitic rhetoric, the Canadian Jewish News reports…
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and other local Jewish groups issued a letter expressing concerns to the School District of Philadelphia after the director of the district’s social studies curriculum made statements seemingly supporting Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks…
The Associated Press spotlights efforts by two Republican senators and a bipartisan coalition of funders and nonprofits that successfully eliminated a proposed tax increase for large philanthropic foundations from the Trump administration’s tax legislation…
Laura Ben-David, an American-born Israeli writer, photographer and aliyah advocate, died at 56… |
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A coalition of funders, led by the Gates Foundation and the Ballmer Group, have committed $1 billion to develop artificial intelligence tools for front-line workers…
The Edmond de Rothschild Foundation (Israel) and Jewish Federation Los Angeles, working with the Jewish Funders Network, have launched a $2 million matching program to encourage young professionals to move to northern Israel… |
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Deborah Lyons has retired from her post as Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism three months early… |
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Hadassah National President Carol Ann Schwartz presents the organization’s Power of Our Dreams Award to Israeli actor Gal Gadot last night for her “courageous advocacy on behalf of Israel” at the opening night of the Jerusalem Film Festival. Gadot is the second person to receive the award, which was first given to Gwyneth Paltrow in 2016. The award is meant to honor women whose “vision and actions mirror those of Hadassah’s founder, Henrietta Szold,” according to Hadassah.
“The decision to honor Gal Gadot was a natural one,” Schwartz said in a statement. “At a time when Israel faces complex and painful challenges, her voice offers clarity and strength. This award is not just about dreams fulfilled. It is about the responsibility that comes with influence and the hope it will continue to inspire.” |
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ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES |
Former CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, he owned the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics from 2001 to 2006, Howard Schultz, celebrates his birthday on Saturday...
FRIDAY: Israeli nuclear physicist and professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University, Jonas Alster... Theoretical chemist, 1981 Nobel laureate in chemistry, he has also published plays and poetry, born Roald Safran, Roald Hoffmann... Founding partner of NYC-based law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, he was one of 20 people on Nixon's “Enemies List,” Sidney Davidoff... President of the
Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County, Jan Meisels Allen... Former three-term mayor of Edmonton, Alberta, Stephen Mandel... Former prime minister of Peru, Yehude Simon Munaro... Executive director of the MLB Players Association for 26 years and then the same post at the NHL Players Association for 12 additional years, Donald Fehr... Beverly Hills resident, Felisa Bluwal Pivko... Finance, real estate and nursing home executive, Leonard Grunstein... Antisemitism scholar and one of the authors of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, he is the COO of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, Mark Weitzman... Former Israeli Police spokesman, he is now a senior national radio broadcaster in Israel and an international talk-show host, Elihu Ben-Onn... Seattle-area consultant, Elihu Rubin... Former finance chairman of the RNC, Elliott B. Broidy... Former minister for congressional affairs at the
Embassy of Israel to the U.S., he was previously the Israeli ambassador to Belarus, Martin Peled-Flax... Partner at Clifford Chance, Philip Wagman... CEO and co-founder at Let's Bench, a publisher of customized keepsake prayer books and benchers, Yitz Woolf... Associate professor of cybersecurity law at the U.S. Naval
Academy and formerly an attorney at Covington & Burling, Jeffrey Michael Kosseff... Deputy director of the White House National Economic Council until 2022, now a professor at NYU law school, David Kamin... Co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alexander Ryvchin... Reporter for
“NBC Nightly News” and “Today,” Gadi Schwartz... Editor of Kveller and Hey Alma, Molly Tolsky... Lauren Friedlander... CEO of Moving Traditions, Shuli
Karkowsky... Senior spokesperson at the U.S. Treasury until 2023, now the head of U.S. public affairs at Coinbase, Julia Krieger... Senior manager of content strategy at Gauntlet, Philip Rosenstein... Foil fencer who competed for the U.S. at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympic Games, she won a team gold medal at the 2024 games, Jacqueline
Dubrovich... Director of Hillel at Queen's University of Canada, he is the incoming director of campus and youth impact at CJPAC, Yosef Tarshish... Istanbul resident, Izi Doenyas... Ted Rosenberg… Dog enthusiast, N.R. Gross…
SATURDAY: Retired Israeli airline pilot, he successfully thwarted an in-flight hijacking by Leila Khaled in 1970, Uri Bar-Lev... Interactive designer, author and artist, in 1986 he married Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late JFK, Edwin Arthur "Ed" Schlossberg... Retired professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University, he served in the Dutch Senate and then as the minister of foreign affairs of the Netherlands, Uriel "Uri" Rosenthal... Hotelier and real estate developer, the creator of the boutique hotel concept, he was the co-founder of NYC's Studio 54 in 1977, Ian Schrager... Co-founder of Limmud FSU, she co-founded UJA-Federation of New York's Women's Executive Circle, Sandra F. Cahn... Former co-chairman of the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County, Conn., Linda Meyer Russ... Sportswriter for The Athletic and author of three books on baseball, Jayson Stark... Retired judicial assistant at the Montgomery County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas, Deenie Silow... Rabbi of Congregation Beth Abraham in Bergenfield, N.J., and rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University in NYC, Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger... Head of the Kollel at Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Rabbi Ezra D. Neuberger... Former chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings (owner of retailers Sears and Kmart), Edward Scott "Eddie" Lampert... Israel's ambassador to Canada until 2023, Ronen Pinchas Hoffman... Pulitzer
Prize-winning New York Times reporter until 2017 and author of The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men, Eric Lichtblau... Israeli actress, model and film producer, Yael Abecassis... Spokesperson to the Arab media in the Israel Prime Minister's Office from 2010 until 2023, now a consultant, Ofir Gendelman... Co-chairman and CEO of CheckAlt, Shai Stern... Senior writer and NBA Insider for ESPN, Ramona Leor Shelburne... Former soccer star at the University of Virginia, recently a director of administrative operations at Hopscotch Health, Chad Prince... Former deputy mayor of the city of Haifa, now a real estate developer, Shai Abuhatsira... Ultra-marathon runner, he performs as a mentalist and magician, Oz Pearlman... Associate partner at McKinsey & Company, Alexis Blair Wolfer... President of Clever Bee Academy in Hewlett, N.Y., Ezra David Beren... Israel editor at Jewish Insider, Tamara Zieve... Director of operations at Tide Realty Capital, Yanky Schorr... National political reporter for The Washington Post, Isaac Arnsdorf... Venue coordinator at JW3 London, Caroline Mendelsohn Lawrence...
Former executive vice president and CEO of the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, Dr. George Ban... First-ever Orthodox Jewish player selected in the MLB Draft, picked No. 77 overall in 2021, now on the minor league disabled list, Jacob Steinmetz… Zach Houghton…
SUNDAY: Retired president of the National Endowment for Democracy, Carl Gershman... Longtime Israeli diplomat, he served as Israel's ambassador to Germany, Yoram Ben-Zeev... Former commissioner on the Civil Rights Commission, assistant secretary of HUD in the Clinton administration, presently vice chair of the Bank of San Francisco, Roberta Achtenberg... Senior U.S. District Court judge
in Massachusetts, Judge Patti B. Saris... New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Thomas Loren Friedman... Molecular geneticist at NYC-based Rockefeller University and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Jeffrey M. Friedman... Broadcast and digital media executive, Farrell Meisel... Professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Barbara Risman... Past president of the Women's Department at the Jewish Federation of Detroit, Marcie Hermelin Orley... British-born volunteer English tutor and former special education teacher now living in Israel, she and her husband run Zichron Yaakov’s second-hand English bookstore, Sylvia Harwood… Los Angeles-based wardrobe consultant, Linleigh Ayn Richker... Public policy expert and author, Jane S. Hoffman... Former member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, she is a brigadier general in the IDF (reserves), Nira Shpak... Member of the Knesset for the United Torah Judaism party, Yitzhak Ze'ev Pindrus... Attorney, Jack Achiezer Guggenheim... Senior vice president, Washington bureau chief and political director of CNN, David Marc Chalian... Co-author of Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame, he is a staff writer at The Atlantic, Franklin Foer... Southern states director at AIPAC, David Fox... Singer who burst on the scene as a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol, Efraym Elliott Yamin... Commissioner of the community affairs unit for NYC Mayor Eric Adams, Fred Kreizman... Co-founder
and managing partner of Main+Rose, Beth Doane... Co-founder and co-executive director of the progressive Indivisible movement, Ezra Levin... Former MLB player, he was a third baseman for Team Israel in 2023, Ty Kelly... Comedian and regular player on “Saturday Night Live,” Chloe Fineman... Software engineer at Home Chef, Ashley Abramowicz Gibbs... Anesthesiologist, Dr. Sheila Ganjian Navi... VP of business development and operations at Thyme Care, Etan Raskas... SVP and head of investor relations at Vintage Investment Partners, Jonathan Tamir Alden... Actor and comedian, Joey Bragg... Associate in the trademarks and copyrights practice group at Ballard Spahr, she was president of USC Hillel as a college senior, Goldie Fields...
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