In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report from RootOne’s first Big Tent event in Israel since summer 2023, we spotlight the Russell Berrie Foundation's final Making a Difference Awards honoring its 30th and last class of New Jersey changemakers and we follow the money linking Florida’s far-right GOP candidate James Fishback to donors who also back progressives, with opposition to Israel connecting them. We feature an opinion piece by Rabbi Joel Seltzer about seizing an opportunity to do right and witnessing the impact, and a piece by Jonah Feiglin highlights how Jewish student leaders in communities worldwide are opting to build rather than back down. Also in this issue: Eyal Waldman, Michael Geller and Sen. Lindsey Graham.

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What We're Watching

Israelis will go to the polls in new elections on Oct. 27, the Knesset announced yesterday, kicking off a 106-day countdown to what is expected to be a deeply contentious national election.

A Trump administration proposal to give federal agencies broader power to cut off grants to nonprofits deemed out of step with what they define as the "national interest" has drawn nearly 100,000 comments ahead of its deadline for public response, which ends today.

Today, the American Muslim & Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council is convening Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders at the National Press Club in Washington for its second National Coalition Against Antisemitism & Hate Conference. 

The Claims Conference is hosting a 75th anniversary cocktail reception at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan this evening. If you’re there, say hi to Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen!

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD FROM eJP'S JUSTIN HAYET

Bernie Marcus, the Home Depot co-founder and major Jewish donor, dreamed of a generation of Jewish teens falling in love with Israel. On Sunday night in Rishon LeZion — notwithstanding the enormous challenges of operating Israel trips over the past three years — that dream came roaring back to life.

As the song “Golden” from the Netflix hit “KPop Demon Hunters” — "I'm done hiding, now I'm shining, like I'm born to be” — blasted from speakers, thousands of teens jumped and danced at an outdoor venue that regularly hosts Israel's biggest stars like Omer Adam and Eden Ben Zaken. In total, some 4,000 Jewish North American teens, joined by 500 Israeli peers, filled the venue for RootOne's Big Tent event. Last night marked the first time since 2023 that RootOne was able to hold the Big Tent event.

“It sounds so simple, but when you see it out there, it comes to life,” David Bryfman, RootOne’s interim executive director, told eJewishPhilanthropy at the event. “Watching thousands of Jewish teens singing together for the first time since Oct. 7 was to witness history, healing and hope all at once.”

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

News

RIPPLE EFFECT

At a May awards ceremony at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, the Russell Berrie Foundation honored the 30th and final class of recipients of the Russ Berrie Making a Difference Awards, recognizing the state’s unsung heroes who are transforming their communities. This year’s awards recognized Gen Z leaders creating positive impact.

485 stories strong: Over the past three decades, the awards have invested over $4.7 million in 485 changemakers, many whose impact has been felt far beyond New Jersey’s borders. “Each one of those numbers is a story, and for us, each of those stories reveals more than just the awardee, it’s the impact that the award has on the person, on their neighborhood, on their community and others,” Idana Goldberg, CEO of the Russell Berrie Foundation, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “That ripple effect that that award makes possible.”

Read the full report →

HORSESHOE FUNDING

James Fishback, the GOP candidate for Florida governor whom critics call “openly racist” and “openly antisemitic,” ostensibly sits at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the likes of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. But the far-right and far-left politicians share more than just an aversion to Israel — they also overlap in donors, reports Will Bredderman for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider.

Money matters: As a candidate, Fishback has embraced and celebrated neo-Nazi podcaster Nick Fuentes’ “groyper” movement and told a Black Floridian they should be lynched. The radical right candidate has also called the Western Wall “stupid,” referred to fast food as “goyslop” and released an ad vowing that no one would be “convicted of antisemitism” for criticizing the Jewish state under his leadership. But his campaign has proven a magnet for donors to progressive candidates, who have poured tens of thousands of dollars into a PAC supporting his election.

Read the full investigation →

Opinion

MY ‘WHY’

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Joel Seltzer, the new CEO of American Friends of Leket Israel, reflects on his decision to leave his role as chief advancement officer at the Jewish Theological Seminary to lead the American arm of an Israeli food bank.

“A rabbinical student becomes a community's anchor for generations. That work matters immensely, and I am honored to have served these institutions and am personally invested in their continued success in training the leaders of tomorrow. In these complicated times, there is also something clarifying about an organization whose impact is measured in meals delivered this week, to people who are hungry today.”

Read the full piece →

NEXT-GEN LEADERSHIP

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Jonah Feiglin, vice president of the World Union of Jewish Students, shares why he feels “profoundly hopeful” after conversations with his peers from around the world over the past year.

“What I have witnessed is not a generation retreating from Jewish life, but a generation fighting for it. In almost every country, I see students searching for the same thing: community, belonging and the ability to live openly as themselves.”

Read the full piece →

Worthy Reads

From Brothers to Enemies: In Bloomberg, Ethan Bronner examines a new lawsuit backed by Israeli billionaire and peace activist Eyal Waldman against his former close friend, Palestinian developer Bashar Masri, whom he now accuses of secretly enabling Hamas, which led the Oct. 7 terror attacks in which Waldman’s daughter Danielle was killed. “Waldman today says his views on coexistence haven’t changed. … But he dismisses the notion that Masri might ever again be a partner. Convinced that Masri helped Hamas build the infrastructure that was set loose to such devastating effect, Waldman is doing everything he can to bring down his old friend through the US lawsuit.”

Canadian Playbook: In the Wall Street Journal, Eugene Kontorovich and Mark Goldfeder examine a new probe by Democratic lawmakers against American nonprofits that promote activities in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, following similar efforts in other countries. “While such efforts have failed in the U.S. so far, they have advanced in Canada, where the Jewish National Fund was stripped of its charitable status, and the U.K., where the government has pledged to investigate such charities. The GAO action could set the stage for a massive assault on such nonprofits under a Democratic president.”

One is the Loneliest Number: In The Times of Israel, Daniel Goldman argues against an emerging worldview in Israel’s religious Zionist community that sees the country’s diplomatic isolation as a virtue to encourage rather than a burden to overcome. “A principled indifference to world opinion, including toward broad segments of the Jewish people itself, does not stop at the border of foreign policy. When external recognition is dismissed in advance as irrelevant, and the internal recognition of Jews who do not share the outlook is treated as weakness, the moral restraint toward minority populations within the State of Israel falls away as well.” 

Community Comms

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Transitions

Michael Geller, the global spokesperson for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is stepping down at the end of the month after 17 years with the organization; he is joining the Claims Conference’s communications team as a senior director… 

Raquel Weintraub is returning to CADENA International to serve as its next CEO…

Rabbi Joel Seltzer, the Jewish Theological Seminary’s chief advancement officer, was hired as the next CEO of American Friends of Leket Israel. Read about his decision to join the Israeli food security nonprofit above… 

KleinLife CEO Andre Krug announced he will be leaving his position in 2027…

The Jerusalem Foundation U.K. has hired Lesley King-Lewis to serve as its next chief executive following the retirement of Susan Winton…

Word on the Street

In The Atlantic, reflecting on decades of road trips across the U.S., Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid argues that American loneliness isn't a flaw but a defining feature that fuels the country's individualism, reinvention and resilience…

On Andreessen Horowitz’s “a16z” podcast, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan discuss how their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is using AI to build predictive "virtual cell" models aimed at speeding up disease research and treatment…

In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Linda Saleh and Elizabeth Daniel Vasquez argue philanthropy is treating AI as a technical issue when it's really a political fight — leaving communities outmatched against Big Tech's lobbying and legal machine…

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jason Smith (R-MO), Republican chairs of the House Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees, are accusing the New Israel Fund of improperly funding political campaign activity in Israel's 2019 elections, a claim the grantmaker calls meritless and politically motivated; Republican members of the committee have previously made unsubstantiated claims of illegal activities against donors to Israeli causes whom they accuse of undermining the Israeli government…

Deutsche Welle spotlights efforts by Dennis Baum, the Jewish heir to the Simson automobile manufacturing empire, to fight back against the use of Simson vehicles in political materials distributed by the far-right Alternative for Germany party…

The United Kingdom’s Home Office is committing over £250 million ($335 million) and 500 additional officers over three years to protect Jewish communities in England and Wales following a rise in antisemitic attacks…

France unveiled a permanent statue of Alfred Dreyfus outside the Court of Cassation 120 years after his wrongful treason conviction was overturned, as French President Emmanuel Macron warns that antisemitism still lingers in the country…

Israel's Foreign Ministry, in collaboration with the Center for Jewish Impact and the Israeli education nonprofit SASA Setton, is establishing educational centers in children's hospitals in two Ukrainian cities to support hospitalized children's learning and emotional well-being during the war…

Daniel and Bonnie Tisch, whose family co-owns the New York Giants, bought a $12.5 million penthouse in Palm Beach, Fla.’s Leverett House…

Jayson Conner and Jeffrey Newman, a couple who built a nonprofit distributing over 180,000 supply-filled backpacks to unhoused New Yorkers, died within days of each other in late June and early July at 48 and 58, respectively…

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a longtime Senate supporter of Israel who made at least 10 trips to the region since Oct. 7, died Saturday at 71 after a reported cardiac arrest at his Capitol Hill home. His death prompted tributes from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and a number of other Israeli leaders, as well as from leading Jewish organizations… 

Photo of the Day

EDI ISRAEL/KKL-JNF PHOTO ARCHIVE

Maccabiah Games participants cycle under a “Ride Together, More Than Ever” banner at KKL-JNF's Eshkol Park in the Western Negev last Thursday, part of a day of remembrance and volunteering that drew more than 3,000 participants, including athletes, Gaza border-area residents and local families, honoring victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

“This is a defining chapter in the history of the State of Israel, and it is impossible to truly understand our country without experiencing it. We gave our guests the opportunity to experience firsthand, through the remarkable local communities, the stories of resilience and heroism that have shaped the Western Negev from Oct. 7 to the present day,” Assaf Goren, chairman of Maccabiah Israel, said in a statement.

Birthdays

FILMMAGIC/FILMMAGIC FOR HBO

Carolyn Strauss, television executive and producer, she was the president of HBO‘s network’s entertainment division until 2008 and was responsible for commissioning “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and other hit shows, turns 63

Harrison Ford, actor whose films have grossed more than $10 billion, his maternal grandmother was Anna Lifschutz, a Jewish immigrant from Minsk, turns 84

Louis Panzer, Ridgefield, Conn., resident

Johnny Cahn, lecturer on the federal budget process following 37 years at various federal agencies

Anthony Irwin "Tony" Kornheiser, co-host of “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN since 2001, turns 78

Edith "Didi" Conn, actor, best known for her role as Frenchy in “Grease,” turns 75

Andrew Klavan, author of crime and suspense novels, he is also a conservative commentator, turns 72

Rabbi Eric Marshall Lankin, guide and educator at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center

Stuart Widom, senior manager of regulatory and legislative affairs at PJM Interconnection

Victoria Lynn Shaw, country music artist, turns 64

Shari Springer Berman, film director and screenwriter, turns 63

Howie K. Kipnes, television writer, turns 60

Katie Roiphe, author and journalist, turns 58

Ilona Cohen, chief legal officer and chief policy officer at HackerOne

Jennifer Rebecca Goodman Lilintahl, owner of the Washington-area franchises of SafeSplash Swim Schools

Sarah Persitz, founder of Omanut Collective

Yishai Mizrahi, director of major gifts for the Southeast region at American Friends of Magen David Adom

Alexander "Zander" Sutton Lehmann, creator, writer and producer of the TV show “Casual,” which ran from 2015 to 2018, turns 39

Ariana Gradow, former CEO at Art of Air Events and Entertainment

Nicholas Avery Newburger, managing director at BDT & MSD Partners

Jared Kash, managing partner at Surround Ventures

Wyatt Jess Oleff, television and film actor, turns 23

Eric A. Kohlmann, technology investor and executive

Max Cohen, reporter at Punchbowl News

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