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Good Friday morning!

In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the Koum Family Foundation’s endowment of a new, permanent Israel studies program at Stanford University and on an $8 million donation by Nancy and James Grosfeld to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. We also examine a new study by Robert Kraft’s Blue Square Alliance Against Hate showing that antisemitic incidents have plateaued in the United States following a post-Oct. 7 spike. We feature an opinion piece by Cantor Vladimir Lapin about the exclusion of cantors from studies like the one recently published by Atra, and one by Jaimie Krass reflecting on the difference decades of advocacy and education have made on the relationship between Jewish communal institutions and queer Jews. Also in this issue: Mijal Bitton, Benjamin Tisch and Dana International.

Shabbat shalom!

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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: Toys for Hospitalized Children hosts pre-Hanukkah party for cancer patient families in N.Y.; Marc Rowan declares Mamdani ‘our enemy’ at 50th UJA-Federation Wall Street Dinner; and ‘Half the children in Israel are receiving a third-world education,’ warns economist Dan Ben-David. Print the latest edition here.

WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum’s philanthropic foundation has endowed a permanent Israel studies program at Stanford University, doubling down on American academia at a time when many Jewish donors are increasingly eyeing the field warily over perceptions of anti-Zionist and antisemitic biases.

The Jan Koum Israel Studies Program was announced last month following a three-year pilot program, led by Stanford professor Larry Diamond, which was deemed a success, Yana Kalika, the Koum Family Foundation’s president, and Alexandra LaForge, the foundation's director of programs, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross recently, speaking on behalf of the organization.

In the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks and the major spike in antisemitic incidents around the world that followed them, many Jewish donors have begun questioning their support for elite universities. Some have pivoted to supporting explicitly Jewish or Israeli schools, while others have shifted to fund institutions that are considered more welcoming to Jewish students and others have invested in new universities, such as the University of Austin. 

The multidisciplinary program, which focuses not only on Israeli history and politics but on Israeli contributions to other fields, such as business, technology and environmental science, is based in the university’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law in its Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Amichai Magen, who previously worked at Israel’s Reichman University and took part in the pilot program, will serve as its inaugural director. 

The program’s role as a conduit for Israeli academics to partner with American universities is particularly significant in light of what Magen described as a coordinated and “pernicious” effort to harm Israeli academia. “There are concerted efforts on the part of Israel’s detractors to isolate Israeli academia out of the understanding that weakening Israeli academia weakens the Israeli economy and Israel’s national security,” he said. “So at a time when there are these efforts to boycott, to break off academic ties with Israel, the fact that Stanford is doubling down on Israel and the fact that we received the support of the leadership of this university to open a new and permanent and endowed Israel studies program, is a ray of light in this darkness.”

Read the full report here.

COURTESY

The nearly 70-year-old American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee campus in Jerusalem was in such a state of disrepair that a former executive director recently nearly lost a finger closing a window. There were discussions within the organization about moving to a new location, but the idea was stifled because the campus was seen as the heart of the JDC, which was originally founded in 1914 to help poor Jewish Jerusalemites. Instead, JDC embarked on a $27.75 million fundraising effort to renovate the headquarters, a lofty goal that has been made more attainable after an $8 million donation from Detroit-based Jewish philanthropists Nancy and James Grosfeld, JDC exclusively told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher. 

If not her, who?: The campus will be renamed the Nancy and James Grosfeld JDC Campus, with a June 2026 ribbon-cutting that will serve as a “a celebration,” David Zackon, JDC’s chief advancement officer, told eJP. “A celebration of [Nancy and James Grosfeld], a celebration of the Joint and a celebration of the partnership.” The Grosfeld/JDC partnership began over 20 years ago, after Nancy Grosfeld, who has a background in nursing and social work, was drawn to JDC’s work. In the years since, Grosfeld has served multiple senior roles in the organization, where she is currently a member of the executive committee. “I had never considered naming the building,” Grosfeld said. “I was thinking of something more in the programmatic area.” Her husband urged her to consider the idea. “After much thought, I realized that this was about my legacy,” she said.

Read the full report here.

ERIK MCGREGOR/GETTY IMAGES

Antisemitism in America has plateaued after a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate incidents in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel — yet fewer Americans are pushing back against it, according to a survey released Thursday by the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, reports Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider. 

Findings: About 25% of the population has consistently held antisemitic attitudes since June 2024, the 2025 Antisemitism Landscape Survey reported. That’s a notable rise from the recent past, but the survey found that the growth of antisemitic views has slowed significantly. The survey, which has been conducted twice a year since June 2023, polled 7,028 American adults from Aug. 1-Sept. 30. It found that 58% of respondents think antisemitism is a minor problem or not a problem at all, a sizable majority, though one that has remained fairly steady for the past two years. 

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

Bonus: As anti-Israel demonstrators increasingly target synagogues in protests that have turned violent and used antisemitic rhetoric, some Jewish leaders and state lawmakers are now calling for more expansive legislative safeguards to help bolster protections for houses of worship, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

COURTESY

“I open a government form, and the cursor hovers over the title field. A little dropdown menu appears,” writes Cantor Vladimir Lapin of Congregation Mishkan Or in Beechwood, Ohio, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “I scroll, waiting to see my own title appear. It never does. There is no “Cantor.” No “Hazzan.” It looks like a small omission, but it lands with weight. I exist in the world as clergy, but the world does not always know what to call me.” 

Data distortion: “That same feeling washed over me when I read the newest study on the American rabbinate, a serious piece of research by Atra on the state of rabbinic leadership in the United States. … [Cantors] are a large, organized, professional clergy body. Many of us are fully ordained, with graduate level training in liturgy, education, pastoral care and Jewish text. We do not simply ‘sing the services.’ We create the spiritual arc of prayer, shape communal ritual, teach at every age level and show up whenever people are most vulnerable. Cantors are not assistants. We are not musical accessories to rabbinic leadership. We are clergy. Fully trained. Deeply formed. Called to serve. When a major study examines Jewish clergy and only counts rabbis, it does more than overlook a few colleagues. It distorts the actual landscape of Jewish spiritual leadership.” 

Read the full piece here.

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“Robust representation of marginalized identities in leadership is a signifier of communal strength and health. It is a mark of pride that our rabbinic leadership increasingly reflects the diversity of our community,” writes Jaimie Krass, president and CEO of Keshet, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy responding to reactions to the recent Atra report finding that 51% of students within non-Orthodox rabbinical training programs identify as LGBTQ+. 

What belonging looks like: “Today, we are on the other side of over 25 years of institutional change work, of tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ inclusion trainings for Jewish professionals and lay leaders. These trainings and consultations have taken place in synagogues, JCCs, Jewish day schools, youth movements, summer camps, Hillels, among others — exactly where rabbis today are seeking employment. It is no surprise that the outcome is that more and more LGBTQ+ Jews feel embraced by their Jewish communities and called to serve as leaders in the Jewish community — that is what moving ever-closer to belonging looks like. … Today’s LGBTQ+ rabbinical students are preparing themselves to answer the call to lead the Jewish community toward an affirming, vibrant future for all. Is the rest of our Jewish community ready to pursue that future with them?”

Read the full piece here.

The Danger From Within: In The Times of Israel, Mijal Bitton draws a lesson for our times from this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vayishlach. “Vayishlach is the closing chapter on Jacob’s external enemies. After this, Genesis turns inward: Joseph and his brothers, jealousy, betrayal, the collapse of trust. The Torah devotes more time, more emotion, and more moral depth to the fractures within the family than to the enemies beyond it. Genesis is warning us: We Jews are far more capable of destroying ourselves than our enemies are. External threats are real. They demand response. But they’re not what will break us. What breaks us is what we do to one another.” [TOI]

Data are all around us and can also be very confusing. Do you want to understand data collection and how data can enhance your work? Join us for Spertus Institute’s next free online workshop, Building Your Curiosity Around Data. Thursday, Dec. 18, 12:30-1:30 CDT on Zoom. Reserve your spot.

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Benjamin Tisch, the brother of NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, referred to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as an “enemy” of the Jewish People in a speech at an event hosted last night by the anti-poverty nonprofit Met Council, echoing a similar remark made earlier this week by Marc Rowan at the UJA-Federation of New York’s Wall Street Dinner; Jessica Tisch later reached out to Mamdani to apologize for the comment…

Outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced two executive orders yesterday at the Combat Antisemitism Movement summit in New Orleans, one prohibiting city agencies and mayoral staff from boycotting and disinvesting from Israel and another other barring harassment outside houses of worship; both of these could be overturned by Mamdani when he enters office, but would require active efforts…

The Israeli government approved its 2026 budget, including a 112 billion shekels ($34.63 billion) allocation for the Defense Ministry…

Several major Jewish organizations rallied around Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, after a spokesperson for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) attacked Halber as an “apologist for the Netanyahu government” and unrepresentative of his community, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

Jewish Insider spotlights nursing home magnate and GOP donor Benjamin Landa as he strives to become the next U.S. ambassador to Hungary…

Jewish Family Services of Western New York opened its expanded offices in Buffalo, N.Y., following a $2.2 million renovation…

BBC staff will have to take courses aimed at preventing antisemitism following an internal investigation that found bias in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war; employees will also be required to take a course on Islamophobia…

UCLA’s library finalized the processing and digitization of extensive archives — including interviews, membership directories and yearbooks — from the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center; the century-old synagogue’s campus and much of its paper records were destroyed in the Altadena wildfires earlier this year…

Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia pulled out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest after the European Broadcasting Union determined on Thursday that Israel will be allowed to compete…

Responding to their decision, Israeli Eurovision winner Dana International wrote an English-language Instagram post condemning the move, noting that past victors would have been hanged in Gaza by Hamas, and published a Hebrew post blaming Israel’s right-wing government and long-running war in Gaza for the backlash…

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began the claims process for Jewish students and faculty at Columbia University who reported having experienced antisemitism on the campus between Oct. 7, 2023, and July 2025; the payments will come from a $21 million class claims fund established by the university as part of its $221 million settlement with the Trump administration reached earlier this year…

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by a Jewish Harvard Business School graduate who claimed the school violated his civil rights in its decision not to discipline two student-employees involved in an incident at an anti-Israel protest on campus in October 2023…

The New York Times spotlights artist Cornelia Foss, whose new exhibit, “Little Red,” was inspired by her childhood escape from Nazi Germany in 1939…

A court in Vilnius, Lithuania, fined the leader of the country’s populist Dawn of Nemunas party €5,000 after finding him guilty of inciting antisemitism and downplaying the Holocaust; among the comments made by Remigijus Žemaitaitis, whose party is in a coalition with the ruling Social Democrats, was a social media post blaming Jews for the “destruction of our nation”...

ROD MORATA/MICHAEL PRIEST PHOTOGRAPHY

More than 1,000 New Yorkers brave the frigid temperatures last night to participate in a solidarity gathering outside Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue, organized by UJA-Federation of New York, in response to a Nov. 19 protest outside the Modern Orthodox congregation. Park East was hosting a Nefesh B’Nefesh event providing information on immigration to Israel, in which demonstrators’ chants included “death to the IDF” and “globalize the Intifada.”  

Thursday night’s event drew a diverse coalition of participating Jewish groups, including more than 70 synagogues, schools and Jewish institutions, representing a wide range of denominations and political leanings. Other major Jewish groups acted as co-sponsors, including the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the New York Board of Rabbis.  

“The stakes in this moment could not be higher, because how we act will define our community for years to come,” Eric Goldstein, outgoing CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, told the crowd. “We gather outside the sacred space that was targeted weeks ago, standing together to defend our rights as Jews to worship safely and to support Israel’s right to exist as our Jewish homeland.” 

JOHN LAMPARSKI/GETTY IMAGES

Co-founder and CEO of Axios, Roy Schwartz… 

FRIDAY: Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist, emeritus professor at Harvard and professor at Boston University, Sheldon Lee Glashow turns 93… St. Louis-based luxury senior living developer, Charles J. Deutsch turns 76… Professor in the school of journalism at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Stuart Neil Brotman turns 73… Former U.S. ambassador to France and Monaco, she was a co-owner and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jamie Luskin McCourt turns 72… Mediator and arbitrator for JAMS and J Street board member, Michael D. Young… Golfer on the PGA Tour and later a golf teaching professional, Anthony Irvin (Tony) Sills turns 70… Professor of Jewish history at Ben-Gurion University, she is focused on Sephardic heritage, Haviva Pedaya turns 68… Venture capitalist, speaker and investment advisor, Pascal Norman Levensohn turns 65… New York City-based author and clinical psychologist with specialties in aging and cancer, Mindy Greenstein, Ph.D.... Film, television and theater actress, Ilana Levine turns 62… Professor at the University of Chicago Law School, Eric A. Posner turns 60… Former manager of the Israel national baseball team including at the 2020 Olympics, Eric Holtz turns 60… Professor and dean emeritus of Columbia Law School, he served as CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and was once a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David M. Schizer turns 57… Urologist in Westchester County, N.Y., Judd Boczko, M.D.... Ontario-born supermodel and actress, Shalom Harlow turns 52… President of The LS Group and political fundraiser, Lisa Spies… Emmy Award-winning author and reporter, he is the chief national correspondent for ABC News, Matthew A. Gutman turns 48… Israeli-born, acclaimed video game developer, Neil Druckmann turns 47… Musical songwriting and producing duo, identical twins Ryan and Dan Kowarsky turn 46… Communications and marketing consultant, Adam S. Rosenberg… Senior managing director at Liberty Strategic Capital, Eli H. Miller… Emmy Award-winning senior personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Joanna Stern turns 41… Media correspondent for The New York Times, Michael Mendel Grynbaum… Israeli film and television music composer based in Los Angeles, Naama "Nami" Melumad turns 37… Reporter on the obituary desk of The New York Times, Alexander E. Traub… Chess master and commentator, his YouTube page has 5.7 million subscribers and over 3 billion views, Levy Rozman turns 30… Principal at Envision Strategy, Jonathan Shabshaikhes… Israeli model, Adar Gandelsman turns 28...

SATURDAY: Moshe Hochenberg… Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for 20 years until 2014 and active in a range of Jewish organizations, Lawrence S. Bergman turns 85… Renowned artist whose sculpture, photography, neon and video works appear in museums worldwide, Bruce Nauman turns 84… Israeli-born art collector and producer of over 130 full-length films, Arnon Milchan turns 81… Founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure (named after her late sister), she also served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary and chief of protocol of the U.S., Nancy Goodman Brinker turns 79… Professor emeritus of Talmudic culture at the University of California, Berkeley, Daniel Boyarin turns 79… Senior U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Ohio, he has served as a trustee of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Judge Dan Aaron Polster turns 74… Cell and molecular biologist, he is a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, David L. Spector turns 73… Founder of Craigslist, Craig Newmark turns 73… Film, stage and television actress, Gina Hecht turns 72… Faculty member at Harvard Law School since 1981, she served as dean from 2009 until 2017, Martha Minow turns 71… Author of a bestselling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, with over 4 million copies sold, Arthur Sulzberger Golden turns 69… Senior vice president and general counsel at United Airlines, Robert S. Rivkin turns 65… Former executive vice president and COO of the Inter-American Development Bank, Julie T. Katzman turns 64… Emmy Award-winning producer, writer, director, actor and comedian, Judd Apatow turns 58… Israel's minister of education, he was a fighter pilot for the IDF and then a civilian pilot for El Al before entering politics, Yoav Kisch turns 57… Professor of economics at the University of Chicago, he previously served as the chief economist for President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, Michael Greenstone turns 57… Professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, he is a son and grandson of rabbis, Julian E. Zelizer turns 56… Editor-in-chief of J. The Jewish News of Northern California, Chanan Tigay turns 50… Communications advisor at nexos.ai and host of the “The Dejargonizer” podcast, Amir Mizroch turns 50… Managing director in the New York City office of PR firm BerlinRosen, Dan Levitan… Editor-in-chief at The Air Current, Jon Ostrower… Venture capitalist in Israel, Ilan Regenbaum… Licensed community association manager in South Florida, now a regional associate at Bozzuto, Beth Argaman… Assistant professor in international relations and global politics at the American University of Rome, Andrea Dessì… Joe Blumenthal...