In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we consider the convergence of 1,000 days since the Oct. 7 attacks, the 17th of Tammuz fast and the upcoming July Fourth celebrations. We speak with Toronto philanthropist Kaelen Sherman about her recent landmark gift to Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto in honor of her parents. We also examine how American Jews are approaching a fraught yet meaningful 250th birthday for the United States. Today’s opinion pieces by Rabbis Charles E. Savenor and Matt Berkowitz explore themes of memory, responsibility and civic participation through a Jewish lens. Also in this issue: Rona Sheramy, Gal Stav and Julie Fisher. 

Ed. note: In commemoration of Independence Day, the next edition of the Your Daily Phil will arrive on Monday, July 6. 

Have an easy fast, a Shabbat shalom and a happy July Fourth!

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For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s special Independence Day edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent eJewishPhilanthropy and Jewish Insider stories, including: Shalom Hartman Institute’s Beit Midrash for America offers a ‘more complex form of patriotism’; After Trump proclamation, Jewish groups scramble to plan ‘Shabbat 250,’ even as some have concerns; and How Jews reinvented themselves — and America. Print the latest edition here.

What We're Watching

The October Council, a group of bereaved families and Oct. 7 survivors, has organized memorials, protests and a moment of silence across Israel today to mark 1,000 days since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks.

Americans will celebrate the country’s semiquincentennial with events around the U.S. through the weekend. President Donald Trump is slated to speak tomorrow at Mount Rushmore.

In Washington, Jacob Helberg, the under secretary of state for economic affairs, and Trump administration antisemitism envoy Yehuda Kaploun will host a Shabbat dinner tomorrow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. More below on how the Jewish community will commemorate the anniversary.

In New York on Saturday, former Israeli hostage Alon Ohel will play the piano alongside Five For Fighting singer John Ondrasik on the USS Nimitz as part of the International Naval Review 250.

Christians United For Israel’s annual summit kicks off on Sunday in Washington. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, former Israeli hostage Yair Horn and Judge Roy Altman are among those slated to speak.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD FROM eJP'S JUDAH ARI GROSS

Today marks two things: It has been 1,000 days since the Oct. 7 terror attacks in southern Israel, a cataclysmic event in the history of Israel and the Jewish People, a dividing line between how things were and how they are. And it is the 17th day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, a minor fast day, that kicks off a three-week period of gradual mourning until Tisha B’Av, when Jews remember the worst calamities that have befallen us. And on Saturday, it will be July Fourth, when America celebrates 250 years since its founding, an event that fundamentally changed the Jewish People and its standing in the world.

As we mark these momentous occasions — the ancient and contemporary; terrific and terrible — we are offered a chance to reflect on the past and chart a course for the future.

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

News

NEXT GENERATION

Last month, Kaelen Sherman announced a CAD 25 million ($17.6 million) donation to establish a fund for a leading Toronto Jewish day school in memory of her parents, Honey and Barry Sherman. She told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher that she hopes her donation models altruism to her children the same way her parents’ largesse did for her, in her first media interview since her parents were killed in 2017.

In their footsteps: “My parents believed deeply in the power of education,” Sherman said in a speech last Wednesday at the Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto’s graduation ceremony, where she announced the donation to the high school. “They cared deeply about the Jewish community and understood that one of the greatest investments we can make is in the next generation. They knew that a strong Jewish future begins with a strong Jewish education.”

Read the full interview →

AMERICA 250

In the run-up to America’s 250th anniversary, the Jewish community finds itself navigating a best-of-times, worst-of-times, head-spinning paradox — standing nervously between the promise of an ideal America and the peril of today’s America. In conversation after conversation, Jewish thinkers who spoke to Gabby Deutch for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider about this unique moment expressed fear and concern about the increasingly precarious situation facing American Jews in one breath. In the next, they spoke glowingly about the unique gifts this country’s democracy has given to the Jews who live here.

The long view: “Think about the 150th anniversary of the United States, 100 years ago. 1926. Think about the situation of the Jewish community in America then. Pretty crap,” author Dara Horn said. Congress had just, essentially, closed the borders. Henry Ford was spreading The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. “It didn’t magically go away. It’s not because people were so good … and they rejected hate. That’s not what happened. This is the height of the [Ku Klux] Klan. What happened was American Jewish activism.”

Read the full story →

PHOTO ESSAY

Tens of thousands of athletes, coaches, chaperones and spectators filled Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium on Wednesday night, celebrating the opening of the 22nd Maccabiah Games, which will be held across Israel over the next week and a half, report eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross and Nira Dayanim, who captured the event through the lens of the camera. The event, full of song and cheer, marked a rare moment of open, raucous Jewish joy after nearly three years of war in Israel and rising antisemitism around the world. Yet the ceremony also captured the complicated moment facing Israel and the Jewish People.

Check out the full photo essay here →

Opinion

AMERICA AT 250

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Charles E. Savenor, executive director of Civic Spirit, highlights the inspiration America’s Founding Fathers drew from the story of the Exodus from Egypt and how the Jewish approach to ritual and memory can shape how we mark the country’s semiquincentennial.

“We do not simply remember our defining moments. We use them to shape the next generation. Every year at the Passover Seder, we retell the story of the Exodus. The Haggadah asks questions, invites debate, welcomes multiple voices and challenges every participant to see themselves as participants in the story, as if they had personally left Egypt. Its purpose is not to live in history, but to learn from it and prepare for what comes next. Memory becomes responsibility, and the past becomes a guide for the future. That may be Judaism’s greatest civic contribution to this American moment.”

Read the full piece →

TORAH FOR THIS MOMENT

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Matt Berkowitz, president of the Schechter Institutes, spotlights the story of the daughters of Tzelophehad in this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Pinchas.

“The daughters of Tzelophehad are not rebels standing outside the community. They love their people. They honor their tradition. They appeal through its institutions. Their courage is rooted not in rejection, but in belonging. That may be one of the greatest lessons for our own time.”

Read the full piece →

Worthy Reads

Beyond the Tribe: In Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas, the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women’s Rona Sheramy argues that Jewish philanthropy shouldn't retreat inward as supporting broader civic causes has long expressed Jewish values and served Jewish interests alike. “The friction at the core of allocation decisions (inward/outward; particular/universal; parochial/nonsectarian) is not a problem to be solved but an enduring characteristic of the American Jewish experience.” 

Back to the Roots: In The New York Times, Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Ari Berman, traces Zionism back to an ancient Jewish claim to self-determination, arguing that denying Jews that right — not criticizing Israeli policy — crosses into antisemitism. “Just as America’s founding democratic ideals continue to unfold imperfectly, the promise of Zionism is not one that is finished in its creation but an ideal that is refined and built upon each generation.”

Ulpan with a Twist: In Haaretz, Yahel Gazit interviews teachers at "This Is Not an Ulpan," a Tel Aviv co-op teaching Hebrew and Arabic together with a goal of deeper Jewish-Palestinian dialogue and connection. “Learning Arabic doesn't make me imagine another country. Quite the opposite. It allows me to imagine living here differently.”

Community Comms

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Major Gifts

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund approved a NIS 15 million ($5 million) agritech center in Kiryat Shmona in partnership with the University of Kiryat Shmona (formerly Tel-Hai College) as part of a larger effort to boost innovation in Israel’s northern border communities…

Transitions

Lior Simcha, the secretary general of the Kibbutz Movement, was appointed this week to the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel… 

Gal Stav started her new role as the CEO of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque…

Yonatan Hammerman was promoted to be the World Jewish Congress’ director of U.S. advocacy and future leadership development…

Doron Spielman was named the international spokesperson for Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate…

Columbia University has hired Michelle Greenberg-Kobrin to be its Jewish life liaison…

Yeshiva University appointed Elad Granot to be its dean of the undergraduate Sy Syms School of Business…

Gil Hoffman is stepping down from his role as executive director and executive editor at Honest Reporting…

The Air Force Museum Foundation has named Seth R. Baron as its next CEO; Baron previously served as vice president of Friends of Israel Defense Forces for the Atlanta region…

Julie Fisher officially began her role as the executive director of the Good People Fund, succeeding founder Naomi Eisenberger, who will stay on as executive director emeritus and “master mentor”…

Word on the Street

The human rights nonprofit sector has systematically ignored or suppressed employee complaints of antisemitism for years, according to a new report published on Wednesday by EiGHT, an organization based in Israel that was created after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks to provide oversight of humanitarian NGOs, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports… 

Israel’s Ministry of Defense warns that its rehabilitation system could collapse without reform, reporting 26,200 wounded soldiers treated so far — 65% for psychological care — with cases projected to hit 90,000 in 2026 and 100,000 by 2028…

The International Monetary Fund lowered its 2026 growth forecast for Israel's economy to 3.5%, down from 4.8%, citing high defense spending, regional conflict and labor shortages tied to the country’s military mobilization…

Calcalist reports that Israeli tech companies raised $7.6 billion in the first half of the year, a 52% increase from the same period last year…

As the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary this weekend, a new study by the Combat Antisemitism Movement reveals a stark reality for American Jews: 57% reported experiencing antisemitism — frequently manifesting online — in the past year, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…

The New York Times profiles Adina Sash, an Orthodox social-media activist known as "Flatbush Girl," who uses aggressive tactics — including public shaming and a nude-photo campaign — to pressure men who withhold the religious divorce document known as a gett from their “chained” wives…

The Forward examines the state of the Middle East studies department at Columbia University a year after the university's antisemitism settlement with the Trump administration, finding that it has remained largely unreformed, with the only course on Israel being taught by a professor who hailed the Oct. 7 terror attacks…

A 1926 villa in Jerusalem's Talbieh neighborhood, once owned by philanthropist Charles Bronfman, sold for about NIS 45 million ($14.7 million) despite needing significant renovations…

Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, the man convicted in the November 2023 death of Jewish protester Paul Kessler during a clash between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators in California, was sentenced to one year in jail plus probation…

Photo of the Day

OR GEFEN

Former hostage Eliya Cohen (second from right) and his fiancée, Ziv Abud (second from left), celebrate their henna ceremony in preparation for their upcoming wedding, alongside fellow former hostages Or Levy and Noa Argamani. Abud fought tirelessly for Cohen’s release during his 505 days in Hamas captivity. Wearing a galabiya inscribed with ‘Thank You, father,’ Cohen pays homage to a phrase that sustained him during captivity and is now a symbol of gratitude and resilience. The couple's wedding is set for Aug. 19.

Birthdays

ROD MORATA/ MICHAEL PRIEST PHOTOGRAPHY

David Bryfman, CEO of The Jewish Education Project and interim executive director of RootOne…

Richard Axel, Nobel laureate in medicine in 2004 and a professor at Columbia University, turns 80

Larry David, co-creator of the "Seinfeld" television series and creator of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," comedian and producer, turns 79

Annika Thor, Swedish author and screenwriter, she wrote a novel about Jewish children who escaped the Holocaust, turns 76

Hannah Rosenthal, former CEO of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, she also served as a State Department's special envoy on antisemitism, turns 75

Aaron Issar Back, Montclair, N.J.-based philanthropic consultant

Akram Hasson, Israeli Druze politician who serves as a member of Knesset for the New Hope party, turns 67

Cheryl C. Kagan, Maryland state senator since 2015, turns 65

David G. Kabiller, founder and head of business development of AQR Capital Management, turns 63

Ya'akov Asher, member of the Knesset for the United Torah Judaism alliance, turns 61

Peter E. Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, turns 59

Stephanie Rubin, reading specialist at Wayne Thomas School in Highland Park, Ill.

Shai Held, Ph.D., co-founder, president and dean at Mechon Hadar in Manhattan, turns 55

Jonathan Schanzer, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, turns 54

Michele Gershberg, global industry editor for health and pharma at Thomson Reuters

Alma Har'el, music video and film director, turns 51

Charlie Harary, motivational speaker, media personality and EVP at RXR Realty, turns 49

Elisa Albert, author of fiction and non-fiction on a variety of Jewish topics, turns 48

Sivan Rahav-Meir, Israeli journalist, TV anchor and popular lecturer, turns 45

Elise Stefanik, member of Congress (R-NY) who is stepping down after this term, turns 42

Ashley Tisdale, actor, singer and producer, she appeared in her first films as a 14-year-old, turns 41

Barbara Dunkelman, actor and internet personality, turns 37

Alexa Swinton, actor, singer and songwriter, she played a lead role in the 2019 ABC series "Emergence," turns 17

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

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