In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we speak with Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick about her organization’s efforts to engage with teachers’ unions to address antisemitism. We cover a rare gathering at Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum that brought together non-Orthodox Diaspora rabbis and Israeli religious Zionist leaders, and spotlight Yadin Kaufmann’s efforts to transform tech leaders into philanthropists through Tmura and A Good Option. We feature an opinion piece by Mina Rush about The iCenter’s legacy for the field of Israel education, a piece by Marina Rosenberg reflecting on the 32nd anniversary tomorrow of the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires and a piece by Rabbi Abi Dauber Sterne about what it takes to meaningfully engage with the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Also in this issue: Daniel Lubetzky, Michael Koplow and Rabbi David Bashevkin. 

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Shabbat shalom!

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: In his final term as WJC president, Ronald Lauder looks for the next generation to step up; Marcus Foundation invests $27 million in Hillel International professional development; and Tributes pour in after death of Lindsey Graham, Israel’s staunch defender in the Senate. Print the latest edition here.

What We're Watching

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD FROM eJP'S JUDAH ARI GROSS

As some organizations, institutions and movements have become increasingly anti-Zionist and alienating for Jews in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks and the war against Hamas in Gaza, two distinct approaches have emerged in response: one (call it Circle the Wagons) called out their leaders and, in some cases, cut all ties with them; the other (call it Seat at the Table) engaged with them, encouraging them to see the error of their ways.

That latter strategy scored a victory this month, getting the National Education Association — the country’s largest labor union — to adopt new rules ahead of its convention last week to prevent a repeat of last year’s event, in which members voted to cut all ties with the Anti-Defamation League. In addition to preventing measures that would alienate Jewish members, at this year’s convention, members also passed resolutions that were “good for the Jews,” including one that recognized Jews as a protected ethnic minority, according to Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which worked closely with NEA and its Jewish caucus over the past year and spearheaded the effort to change the rules and pass the new resolutions.

“We need to offer solutions that incentivize and help leaders do the right thing,” Spitalnick told eJewishPhilanthropy this week. “Beating union and other leaders over the head just hasn’t worked. Not only has it not worked, it’s just made it harder.”

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ →

News

 TISHA B’AV PREPARATION

In an all-too-rare occurrence, roughly a dozen American non-Orthodox rabbis and a similar number of figures from Israel’s religious Zionist community gathered on Thursday night at Tel Aviv’s Anu Museum of the Jewish People to share their lived experiences and worldviews ahead of next week’s Tisha B’Av fast, when Jews mourn, among other things, the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem because of sinat hinam, baseless hatred, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross from the event. 

Quiet understanding: At any point, their conversations could have turned into a debate, even a nonconfrontational one — about who is responsible for the deaths of Palestinian civilians or whether Diaspora Jews are justified in feeling alienated from Israel — but they didn’t. Instead, they just listened to each other. “We were sharing our lived experiences,” Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of New York City’s Park Avenue Synagogue told eJP after the event. “No one was confrontational.” 

Read the full report →  

ISRAELI PHILANTHROPY

Israeli tech founders, the conventional wisdom has it, are cash poor but potentially equity rich. Inside that simple truism, Yadin Kaufmann found a model for how the drivers of wealth in the Startup Nation could also become philanthropists and spread some of that wealth: Instead of asking a startup founder for money from his own wallet, Tmura asked for a sliver of equity from startups while it was still cheap enough — and abstract enough —  to give away. If the company eventually exits, then the proceeds from the liquidated equity gets donated to Israeli nonprofits, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet. 

Going global: Twenty-four years later, 978 companies have donated equity, 200 companies had “exits”, and Israeli nonprofits have collected $37.8 million in philanthropic funds. And Kaufmann didn't stop with Israeli tech founders. Two years ago, he founded an American version of Tmura — A Good Option — in his hometown of New York City, where he grew up before making aliyah in 1985. Now, the nonprofit has attracted 10 companies that have already donated equity.

Read the full report → 

Opinion

HAKARAT HATOV

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Mina Rush, executive director of classroom education for StandWithUs — and creator of the IsraelLINK interactive Israel education platform, a project supported by The iCenter — looks back on The iCenter’s formative impact on the field of Israel education as we know it today.

“When The iCenter was founded nearly 18 years ago, Israel education occupied a very different place within Jewish education. Israel was often taught through isolated historical events, current events or celebrations. Educators cared deeply about Israel, but few had opportunities to study Israel education as a discipline or to develop a sophisticated pedagogical approach for helping learners build meaningful, enduring relationships with Israel. The iCenter recognized this need long before much of the field did.”

Read the full piece →

ZACHOR AND MORE

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, one day before the 32nd anniversary of the suicide bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded more than 300, Marina Rosenberg, senior vice president for international affairs at the Anti-Defamation League, notes that the Argentine Jewish community, like others in the Diaspora, has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Violence never appears out of nowhere. First come words that dehumanize, then conspiracy theories that erode public trust and narratives that turn the ‘other’ into a threat. That violence finds fertile ground when the lessons of history, from the Holocaust to the AMIA attack itself, are no longer passed on with the force they demand.”

Read the full piece →

SWEAT EQUITY

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Abi Dauber Sterne, co-director of For the Sake of Argument and a member of the Field Advisory Committee for the Reimagining Israel Education framework, observes that Israel education must help students develop the capacity to engage with complexity, not just expose them to it

“A student can learn that Israel contains multiple narratives and still emerge with a simplistic way of thinking. In the Reimagining Israel Education framework, complexity is not merely the recognition that an issue has many sides. It is the willingness to hold competing truths in tension, to remain open to ambiguity, to question one's assumptions and to revise one's views when confronted with new evidence.”

Read the full piece →

Worthy Reads

Peace Tank: In a post on X, philanthropist Daniel Lubetzky warns against growing calls discouraging cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. “Real progress comes from building bridges, not burning them. Lasting peace is built through dialogue, cooperation, and the courage to see one another’s humanity, not through division or extremism.”

Reset Nation: In Israel Policy Forum’s “Koplow Column,” the organization’s chief policy officer, Michael Koplow, argues that beneath the political chaos in Israel and the U.S. the potential political shake-up could lead to somewhere better. “A reset is coming… If policymakers who want to right the ship and Israeli and American Jewish leaders who want to build a more enduring partnership focus on the structural realities that extend beyond the tenure of any given government, then the current moment can be one of hope rather than despair.” 

Shomer Shabbat: In The Wall Street Journal, Rabbi David Bashevkin explains why a weekly “digital detox” is insufficient for improving our collective attention spans. “The answer isn’t simply that we’re addicted to our phones. It’s that unplugging isn’t enough. A Sabbath isn’t merely the absence of technology. It is the presence of something richer.”

Voucher Blind Spot: In ProPublica, Jennifer Smith Richards, Megan O’Matz, Mollie Simon and Jennifer Berry Hawes report that states are pouring public funds into private-school voucher programs while doing little to vet who operates them, monitor curricula or track student welfare. “And while the majority of American students still attend public schools and the largest share of funding goes to public districts, EdChoice estimated that last year alone, states allocated $10.6 billion to programs that can be used to pay for private schools — a 29% increase over the previous year.” 

Leading Roles

American Zionist Movement — Programs & Operations Manager, NYC. Supports AZM programs, events, operations. $80 – 90K. Apply

ABD Direct — Account Executive, DC. Supports digital strategy for nonprofit clients, including Israeli education, culture and medical institutions. $80 – 90K. Apply

NEW ON FRIDAYS | On Fridays, we share sponsored job listings for senior leadership and specialized roles. Email us to post a position.

Major Gifts

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s Ministry of Defense have signed an agreement to build Israel's first rehabilitation center dedicated solely to IDF veterans with moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries. FIDF is contributing $10 million to the project, which is slated to open by 2030...

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation unveiled a five-year, $100 million initiative funding independent groups tackling AI, biotechnology and quantum computing security risks…

Transitions

William Foster was selected to serve as the next president and CEO of the Pew Charitable Trusts…

Word on the Street

In an interview with Al-Arabiya, Israeli President Isaac Herzog described peace with Saudi Arabia as his ultimate aspiration while warning that Iran's repeated violation of agreements makes deals with Tehran untenable…

Maccabi USA announced that its 900-member delegation returned from the 2026 Maccabiah Games in Israel with over 300 medals, led by Minnesota swimmer and Female MVP Isla George's eight medals, Louisiana's Gavriella Smith sweeping three tennis golds and New York's Brendan Miller setting three Junior Maccabiah records in swimming…

The Jewish News spotlights “Nabatele,” an inflatable synagogue hovering above the Venice Lagoon that its creator, Jewish Ukrainian artist and architect Anna Kamyshan, said is modeled on the wooden shtetl synagogues of Europe but is airborne to evoke the centuries when Jews had no nation of their own on which to build…

CBS News reports that a federal grand jury in New York is criminally investigating Neville Roy Singham, husband of Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans, over potential foreign-agent registration violations and tax fraud linked to nonprofits under his control…

Former U.S. National Security Council coordinator Brett McGurk will release his book “Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages” in October…

Judith Myers Langenthal, a longtime Baltimore Jewish community leader who was a founding member of the Jewish Women's Giving Foundation and served as president of the Jewish Museum of Maryland, died on July 14 at 90…

Photo of the Day

COURTESY/SAVE A CHILD’S HEART

A new heart-lung machine is inaugurated on Wednesday at the National Heart Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. The $200,000 machine, which is expected to double the number of children treated locally for heart conditions, was provided by the Israeli nonprofit Save a Child’s Heart and the American Jewish Committee.

The event was attended by AJC's Wayne Sussman, SACH Executive Director Simon Fisher, Israeli Ambassador to Zambia Ofra Sarig, Dr. Chabwela Shumba, senior medical superintendent at the National Heart Hospital, along with senior Zambian health officials.

Read eJP’s coverage of the donation here.

Birthdays

ELSA/GETTY IMAGES

Ian Seidenfeld, para table tennis player, he won medals at the 2020 (gold) and 2024 (bronze) Summer Paralympics, turns 25

FRIDAY

Joyce Goldstein, chef and two-time James Beard Foundation Award winner, now a consultant to the restaurant and food industries, turns 91

Harry Hauser, retired executive director of the North American Association of Synagogue Executives, turns 83

Shlomo Ben-Ami, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv U, he served as a member of Knesset, minister of foreign affairs and ambassador to Spain, turns 83

Charley Steiner, Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer on radio for the Los Angeles Dodgers, turns 77

Rabbi Moshe Waldoks, co-editor of the classic The Big Book of Jewish Humor, turns 77

Peter J. Neufeld, civil rights and criminal defense attorney, he is the co-founder with Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, turns 76

Robert K. Yass, former chairman of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, he is now a lecturer at UConn law school

Lance Jonathan Sussman, Ph.D., rabbi emeritus at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, Pa., turns 72

Nechemia “Chemi” J. Peres, managing GP and co-founder of Pitango Venture Capital, he serves as chairman of The Peres Center for Peace & Innovation, turns 68

Stacy Helen Schusterman, CEO of Samson Energy Company, co-founder of Granite Properties and chair of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies

Steven Lebowitz, business development team lead at Quorum

Joshua Seftel, television and film director, turns 58

Elizabeth Natalie "Bitty" Schram, actor best known for playing Sharona in the television series "Monk," turns 58

Rabbi Shalom Axelrod, rabbi of the Young Israel of Woodmere (Nassau County, N.Y.), turns 57

David A. Steinberg, founder and CEO of Zeta Global, turns 57

Gary Gulman, stand-up comedian, he was a finalist on the NBC reality-talent show "Last Comic Standing" in two seasons, turns 56

Joshua Anthony "Josh" Frydenberg, treasurer of Australia until 2022, now chairman of Goldman Sachs Australia and New Zealand, turns 55

Cory Efram Doctorow, blogger, journalist and science fiction author, turns 55

Naomi Knopf, chief impact officer at the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey

Matthew E. Berger, president and CEO of Mashber Strategies, developing campaigns to fight antisemitism and respond to different types of hate

Shannan Butler Adler, public television host

Boaz Toporovsky, former member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, turns 46

Brett Goldstein, Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian, podcaster and writer, turns 46

Josh Nathan-Kazis, news director at Jewish Currents, previously at Barron's and the Forward

Jared Sorhaindo, senior account manager at Red Banyan

Melanie Ettleson, growth strategy and operations lead and executive director at JPMorgan Chase

Arabella Rose Kushner, daughter of Jared and Ivanka, turns 15

Saturday & Sunday birthdays will be posted on the web version — have a great weekend. See this weekend's birthdays →

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