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Good Thursday morning!

In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we reflect on the end of the High Holy Days season. We report on the ongoing toll that the Israel-Hamas war has taken on the families of Israeli reservists and on the death of Orthodox Union Executive Vice President Rabbi Moshe Hauer. We examine the Trump administration’s new “compact” for higher education and academia’s opposition to and apprehensions about it. We feature an opinion piece by Jonathan Greenblatt about unapologetically focusing on the safety of the Jewish community, one by Shuki Taylor about how to mark the return of the hostages and another by Gilad Peled about caring for versus caring about the Jewish state. Also in this issue: Joshua Kushner, Arthur M. Blank and Beth Oppenheim.

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After more than three weeks of holidays and weekends, the time that Israelis refer to as “acharei hachagim” — after the holidays — kicked off in Israel yesterday and in the rest of the world today. This ushers in a period of productivity as Jewish professionals look to plow ahead and clear through the past month’s backlog — after one more Shabbat, anyway.

This year’s “after the holidays” period comes as the Jewish world looks ahead to an optimistic but uncertain future as the war in Gaza appears to wind down (though Israeli officials have threatened to renew active fighting if Hamas violates the ceasefire deal by refusing to hand over the remains of slain hostages). 

Now that all 20 known living hostages have come back and the bodies of slain ones are starting to return and be buried as well, the Jewish communal world, which has rallied around the plight of the captives for the past two years, must find a new way to stick together going forward. As the immediate crises in Israel and around the world begin to abate, the politics and policies and pop culture ephemera that so often divide the Jewish community will come roaring back.

Speaking last night at the funeral for his son, Capt. Daniel Peretz, who was killed in the Oct. 7 attacks and whose body was held captive in Gaza until it was returned to Israel on Monday, Rabbi Doron Peretz, chairman of the World Mizrahi movement, issued a “call for unity, like the one we saw on Oct. 7,” noting that Israelis of all political stripes fought together that day and in the days after, with reservists flying in from around the world to serve. 

In the wake of the attacks, “we learned that the Jewish People is maybe the smallest nation in the world, but it is the largest family in the world,” said Peretz, speaking beside his son’s grave on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. 

“Political, ideological rivals with the deepest and most poignant differences in worldview are never an enemy,” the South African-born rabbi said in Hebrew, adding in English. “There is no ‘us’ and ‘them.’ … With all of our differences, we are one.” 

Even within the coming weeks, that oneness will be tested. Next week, Jewish leaders from the U.S. and around the world will start to gather in Israel for the World Zionist Congress, which kicks off on Oct. 28, and the following week will see a fraught Election Day in the United States, with several candidates on the ballot who have deeply divided the Jewish community, chief among them Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York City.

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here.

MICHAEL GILADI/FLASH90

As Israel's longest-running war in recent history appears to wind down, the toll on reservist families is far from abating. Israel's military policy has long been based on a reserve model, with a relatively small number of active-duty troops for day-to-day operations that can be joined by a far larger number of reservists as needed. But ordinarily, this model would only pull in large numbers of reservists for a few weeks — not two years — leaving tens of thousands of families struggling with a crisis that nonprofits and the government are still scrambling to address. And as Rachel Azaria, founder of HaOgen for Reservist Families, is careful to point out, even the current armistice is not a sure thing. "It's a ceasefire. It's not peace accords. Even in the best-case scenario, reservists will continue serving for months to come,” Azaria told Rachel Gutman for eJewishPhilanthropy.

Mothers of the year: Of the hundreds of thousands of reservists called up since Oct. 7, 2023, approximately 118,000 are parents with children at home. Many of these reservists have served multiple stints, totaling an average of 136 days per year, putting major stress on their spouses and children. "In many ways, the wives have been through a more difficult time than the men," said Lavi Zamir, CEO of Bshvil Hamachar (“Path for Tomorrow”), a nonprofit that helps IDF combat reservists process battlefield trauma and reintegrate into civilian life through nature-based group retreats. "We've got each other, we've got our camaraderie, while they need to pick up kids from school, go to work, leave early, come home late and live with the knowledge that someone can die," Zamir said.

Read the full report here.

SCREENSHOT

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, died this week after suffering a sudden heart attack, his organization said. He was 60. Jewish communal leaders remembered Hauer as a friend, a bridge-builder, a faithful and committed leader and a source of wise counsel, reports Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod for eJewishPhilanthropy.

‘Leaves a deep void’: William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told eJP that he was “shattered by the sudden passing of my dear friend and partner, Rabbi Moshe Hauer.” “We just spoke this past Friday and texted on Monday, when he was overflowing with joy at the miracle of the hostages’ freedom and the unmistakable hand of Hashem in it. Rabbi Hauer was a trusted advisor, cherished colleague, and wise counselor to me, a bridge-builder whose faith, humility, and moral clarity inspired all who knew him. His loss leaves a deep void for all who loved and learned from him,” Daroff continued.

Read the full obituary here.

DAVID L. RYAN/THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES

As the Trump administration ratchets up its efforts to influence higher education, the latest White House proposal for colleges and universities is being met with skepticism from academics — even as its authors say its implementation should be a no-brainer. That’s in reference to a White House document called the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” a 10-point plan that the federal government is asking universities to sign in order to get preferential treatment for the federal funds upon which research universities rely. If they don’t agree to the terms in the compact — which include commitments to end race-based hiring and admissions, limits on foreign enrollment and a pledge to foster greater ideological diversity — they risk losing billions of dollars. Gabby Deutch of eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider talked to professors from across the country about the compact, which says next to nothing about antisemitism.

Nonpartisan? Nuh-uh: The compact reflects an evolution of a familiar Trump administration argument: that America’s preeminent educational institutions have strayed from their mission, letting politics interfere with their raison d’etre as centers of academic excellence. A White House official who worked on the compact called it a “basic, basic easy low hurdle,” telling JI that the document is “a nonpartisan, neutral concept.” Many academics, including several who have spoken out against antisemitism and against universities’ handling of it in recent years, don’t agree. 

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

ALEXI J. ROSENFELD/GETTY IMAGES

“This week, a chapter closed in Jewish history. Our hostages are home,” writes Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “For so many of us, it’s a moment of intense joy and immense relief. Now, the difficult process of healing can begin within Israeli society, across the region and throughout the Jewish community around the world. As we look ahead, we as a Jewish people need to be clear-eyed about what this war has taught us.”

All in: “For years, the ADL has used its voice and resources to help the public understand the broader landscape of social issues and hate. We are proud of that history; but sometimes we have ranged far from our core purpose. Today, as antisemitism becomes more pervasive and anti-Jewish hate becomes more intense, we simply need to lock in with relentless, unswerving focus like no time in recent memory. … That means expanding our efforts, making more investments, driving more innovations and building more partnerships. Simply put, this is the fight of our lives.”

Read the full piece here.

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“[O]ur team at M² gathered in the days following Oct. 7, 2023, to do what we know best: create resources to help educators bring meaning and language to what was happening around us,” writes Shuki Taylor, CEO of M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “The series, called ‘From This Moment, For This Moment,’ reached thousands of Jewish educators, helping them and their students to find grounding, reflection and hope amid uncertainty.”

A new collection: “Now, as the world feels shifts once again, new questions arise: How do we mark this time? How do we move from one chapter of history to the next — carrying both joy and sorrow, pride and exhaustion — and begin to make meaning of arrival, just as we once did of loss? So our team gathered again. This time in awe, in trembling, in disbelief that perhaps we had reached the other side. We began by saying Shehechiyanu — the blessing we recite upon reaching a new moment … From there, we began to create again.”

Read the full piece here.

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“Educational philosopher Nel Noddings distinguishes between caring for and caring about,” writes Israel educator Gilad Peled in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “To care for is to engage directly — to be attentive, receptive, empathetic and responsive. To care about is to express concern from a distance, with less immediacy. The relationship between Diaspora Jews and Israel today echoes this distinction: For some, Israel is cared for — deeply, personally, with dialogue and engagement; and for others, Israel is cared about — still important, but increasingly abstract, conditional and fragile.”

What love’s got to do with it: “For much of its history, Israel was an ‘easy sell’ to Diaspora Jews who longed for a state that embodied their values and nurtured their national pride. Often, Jews projected their own ideals onto Israel, perhaps guided by confirmation bias; and Israelis — both leaders and citizens — embraced those projections with enthusiasm. … The sages put it starkly: ‘Any love that depends on something — when that thing ceases, the love ceases. But love that depends on nothing will never cease’ (Pirkei Avot 5:16). … If we can cultivate this deeper, unconditional care, then our bond with Israel can weather the current storms and lay the groundwork for a future defined not only by survival, but by moral renewal and shared purpose.”

Read the full piece here.

There’s Still Time: In The Times of Israel, Steven Windmueller reflects on the legacy baby boomers are leaving for the next generation. “We had come to believe that as with all prior generations our children would find themselves in an even better place, only to uncover that their socio-economic fate will likely reflect a decline. … Maybe what is more concerning for our geriatric generation is the leadership bankruptcy and moral abyss that we are collectively experiencing. In some measure, at least for my peers, the penetrating question [is], how did we get to this point? And can we still make a difference? … In the years that we, as a generation, will still enjoy, is it possible to influence certain outcomes and behaviors? Possibly we can construct an ethical will that will provide some guidance or inspiration for those who will follow us.” [TOI] 

An Inclusive Education: In Distinctions, Ty Alhadeff calls for the addition of content focused on Sephardic contributions to American and global Jewish existence to the Jewish day school curriculum. “This issue of Distinctions highlights the work of educators advancing Sephardi and Mizrahi inclusion by addressing antisemitic bias in curricula, promoting inclusive Middle Eastern perspectives, and emphasizing the importance of Sephardi and Mizrahi education in Jewish schools. It underscores the necessity for all Jews to broaden their knowledge of Sephardic and Mizrahi traditions as essential to understanding Jewish law, culture, and identity, while affirming that these communities are integral to Judaism, not peripheral or exotic. The issue also explores the richness of Jewish life, including the paradoxes and multiple forms of intelligence reflected in its stories, and demonstrates how the teachings of Sephardi hahamim can inform modern Jewish learning.” [Distinctions]

Join Spertus’ Institute’s Assistant Director of Jewish Studies, Dr. Daniella Farah, on Interreligious Encounters: Jewish Education in Modern Iran. This talk will explore the themes of upward mobility, interreligious encounters, and assimilation. Thurs. Nov. 6, 12:30-1:30 CT (on zoom). Reserve your spot.

Be featured: Email us to sponsor content with the eJP readership of your upcoming event, job opening or other communication.

Last night, Hamas returned the remains of Inbar Haiman, the last remaining female hostage, and Muhammad el-Atrash, who was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, while serving in the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade. In total, nine bodies of slain hostages — out of 28 — have so far been released by the terror group…

A group of 10 philanthropic foundations led by the MacArthur Foundation and Omidyar Network have committed $500 million over the next five years for an initiative dubbed Humanity AI, which will put human interests at the focus of artificial intelligence research…

Colossus profiles Thrive Capital’s Joshua Kushner, doing a deep dive into his family’s history, stemming from the survival of Kushner’s grandmother during the Holocaust…

A new Washington Post poll found that 42% of American Jews reported avoiding wearing, carrying or displaying anything that might identify them as Jewish in the past year, up from 26% who said so in 2023…

Vice President JD Vance has repeatedly rejected the idea of condemning a Young Republicans group chat where members joked about the Holocaust and made racist remarks. He described the response as “pearl clutching” and those involved as “kids” who “do stupid things” and were telling “edgy, offensive jokes.” Several of the individuals involved were well-established professionals in their 30s…

Capitol Police are investigating a swastika that was first observed in the office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) during a webcast; the congressman has claimed that the swastika, which appeared in the red stripes of an American flag on the cubicle wall of a staffer, was an act of “vandalism”…

Cornell University professor Eric Cheyfitz, who was suspended following the filing of a complaint alleging that he asked an Israeli student to leave his course that covered Gaza because of the pupil’s nationality, will retire amid a probe into the incident…

Naomi Verber, the CEO of EcoJudaism, and Rabbi Yonatan Neril, the founder of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development in Israel, were the two Jewish representatives invited by Pope Leo XIV to take part in his interfaith climate summit in Italy earlier this month…

The Missouri Independent found that nearly all of the state’s school vouchers were used for religious schools…

The New York Times spotlights Vienna’s Café Centropa and its founder, photographer and archivist Edward Serotta, who for decades has worked to preserve the history of European Jews…

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the Israel Gymnastics Federation’s appeals to be allowed to compete in the upcoming International Gymnastic Federation championship in Indonesia; Jakarta refused to grant visas to members of the Israeli delegation, effectively banning them from competition…

Aharon Mizrachi, a 76-year-old Israeli man who was wounded in an Iranian ballistic missile attack during the 12-day war in June, died of his injuries this week…

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation announced a 10-year, $50 million commitment to four of Atlanta’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities — Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College and Spelman College — for scholarships for an estimated 10,000 students… 

Roe Green donated $1 million to Kent State University to establish the Roe Green Musical Theatre and Porthouse Artistic Directorship…

The Louisville, Ky.-based Jewish Heritage Fund provided a $500,000 grant to the Volunteers of America’s community care campus in the city, which will offer transitional housing for young people…

Beth Oppenheim has been named the next CEO of the Jewish refugee aid organization HIAS after previously serving as the organization's chief advancement officer and chief external relations officer…

The International Legal Forum named Michal Cotler-Wunsh, the former Israeli envoy to combat antisemitism, as its new CEO, effective Nov. 1; Cotler-Wunsh succeeds outgoing CEO Arsen Ostrovsky, who is taking up a senior leadership role at the Australia & Israel Jewish Affairs Council in Sydney…

Rabbi Josh Franklin will step down as senior rabbi of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons (N.Y.) in May 2026…

COURTESY/ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES

Tal Kupferstein stands from his wheelchair to hug his son, Bar, who was released on Monday after two years in Hamas captivity. Tal Kupferstein suffered a debilitating stroke some five years ago and relearned to speak and to stand while his son was held hostage in Gaza, telling reporters that he did so in order to more effectively advocate for his son’s release.

“Two years during which Tal kept moving forward, doing everything possible despite his own challenges — all so he could be ready for that hug with Bar,” the family said in a statement. “We knew that Bar too was full of faith, courage, and strength. Thank God, he survived the horrors. Now it’s time for him — and for us — to heal.”

COURTESY/FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMP

West Coast regional director at Foundation for Jewish Camp, Margalit C. Rosenthal...

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