In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we reflect on the start of the Israeli school year today, and report on Israel's Bank Hapoalim $1.7 million donation to a nonprofit therapeutic farm network. We feature an opinion piece by Menachem Z. Rosensaft in response to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s speech at a Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus event on Sunday; and Laurie Goodman and Nanette Goodman share their parents’ approach to philanthropy in a tribute to their mother, Pearl C. Goodman, a Broward County, Fla., philanthropist who died last week at 97. Also in this issue: Michael Milshtein, Batya and Idan Ofer and Ambassador Marcy Grossman. 

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What We're Watching

City Harvest kicked off its High Holidays Food Drive yesterday as it attempts to stock New York City food pantries and kosher community programs with shelf-stable kosher goods. 

This evening, Temple Emanu-El’s Streicker Center in Manhattan will host released Russian prisoner and journalist Evan Gershkovich for a conversation with The New Yorker’s David Remick about Gershkovich’s new book, This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-American Story. 

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD FROM eJP'S JUDAH ARI GROSS

Millions of Israeli parents breathed a collective sigh of relief this morning: School is back in session. 

But alongside the excitement and pride as some 2.6 million Israeli kids made their way to roughly 28,000 schools today — including some 180,000 kids starting first grade (one of them being this proud reporter’s son) — there are also grave concerns about the state of the country’s education system in general and particularly its ability to handle the growing emotional and social needs of Israeli children following nearly three years of continuous war and stress.

Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' →

News

MAJOR GIFTS

It started with a cold email to a general inbox for Israel’s largest bank — a shot in the philanthropic dark. But it worked. Some six months after Nir Amitay clicked “send” on his email requesting support for his network of therapeutic farms in southern Israel, Bank Hapoalim announced that it was donating NIS 5 million ($1.67 million) to his Rimon Farms, which specifically caters to survivors of the Oct. 7 attacks struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet reports. 

Philanthropic worlds colliding: The donation typifies a growing overlap between Israeli philanthropy — both corporate and individual — and organized American Jewish philanthropy is “a trend to notice and [also] an opportunity to expand philanthropy in Israel and professionalize it,” said Galia Feit, the executive director of the Institute for Law and Philanthropy at Tel Aviv University.

Read the full report →

Opinion

OUT OF BOUNDS

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Menachem Z. Rosensaft condemns Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's statement that the Jewish community has “a moral imperative to place the needs of the world above even our own self-interest and, yes, even our own survival.”

“This is not about partisan politics. Nor is it about endorsing or voting for [Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, Abdul] El-Sayed. … I write because, at a time of surging antisemitism, including antisemitic violence, there can be no excuse for anyone suggesting even obliquely that any threats to Jewish safety or to Jewish survival should ever be condoned or, in Nessel’s case, actually justified.”

Read the full piece →

IN MEMORIAM

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Laurie and Nanette Goodman, the daughters of philanthropists Dr. Stanley and Pearl C. Goodman (the latter of whom died last week at 97), reflect on their parents’ approach to supporting their Broward County, Fla., community — a legacy that lives on, they write.

“Their philosophy of philanthropic giving — give locally, give to causes you care about and be involved — has been passed from our parents to their children and eight grandchildren, who are now in their 30s and 40s. Their six great-grandchildren are still too young to have had many conversations with Pearl and Stanley about philanthropy, but we have begun family conversations with our children about their own giving and the values behind it.”

Read the full piece →

Worthy Reads

Crisis of Purpose: In USA Today, Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman argues that higher education's deepest crisis is one of lost purpose and casts Education Secretary Linda McMahon's call to action as a chance for each institution to redefine why it exists. “Americans have not stopped believing in higher education. They are asking universities to once again believe in themselves.” 

Breaking the Paradigm: In Ynet, Middle East scholar Michael Milshtein argues that former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz's alliance with Mansour Abbas breaks with past Jewish-Arab pairings and is a rare and unique partnership where neither side is forced to shed its identity. “It is a display of leadership that could challenge the dominance of suspicion and hatred that has taken root since Oct. 7. It offers the possibility of a partnership that does not require either side to surrender its identity or demand that the other change. Instead, it emphasizes common ground and presents a clear-eyed model of tolerant coexistence.”

Community Comms

Today’s young leaders will shape tomorrow’s Jewish community. Nominate a Slingshot Fellow today!

APPLY NOW TO MEET THIS MOMENT! Join Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership’s inaugural Conflicts of Interest cohort designed to empower Jewish educators and leaders to engage more effectively with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in their classrooms and communities. What Makes This Program Different? Through an immersive learning experience, participants will: Explore the historical foundations and contemporary realities of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Engage with multiple narratives, perspectives, and primary sources; Develop practical approaches for facilitating difficult conversations; Strengthen their ability to navigate disagreement with empathy, curiosity, and intellectual integrity; Reflect on their own relationship with Israel and how it informs their educational practice; Experience pedagogical models that can be adapted for classrooms, camps, congregations, campuses, and community organizations. Application deadline: Friday, September 25, 2026

Learn More & Apply: https://www.spertus.edu/conflicts-of-interest/

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Major Gifts

Michael Bloomberg has gifted $155 million to Boston's Museum of Science to fund a new public science venue named for his late parents, William and Charlotte Bloomberg…

Long Island philanthropist Dr. Harvey Manes has donated $8 million through his Manes American Peace Prize Foundation to renovate the Mid-Island Y Jewish Community Center in Plainview, N.Y., which is being renamed the Manes JCC…

Israeli philanthropists Batya and Idan Ofer are increasing the number of Harvard Kennedy School leadership scholarships their foundation provides, funding five to eight recipients at up to $82,000 each, despite the couple's resignation from the school's board after Oct. 7…

Transitions

Former Canadian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Marcy Grossman was named director of the American Jewish Committee’s Abu Dhabi office…

The Harold Grinspoon Foundation has hired Julie Earne as director of its life and legacy program…

Edith Lubetski has retired as head librarian of Yeshiva University's Hedi Steinberg Library after 62 years and will be succeeded by Rina Krautwirth…

Hebrew Union College has named historian Ayelet Brinn to the Milton and Hattie Kutz Chair in American Jewish History at its Louchheim School, which houses the University of Southern California's undergraduate Jewish studies department…

Adina Goldstein was appointed director of educational programs at Gratz College…

Gal Primak began his new position as head of community and partnerships at the Israel Strategic Futures Institute…

Sarah D. Feinberg entered the role of chief financial officer at Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice…

Brittany Stevens was named the next chief advancement officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas…

Ashley Donohue is joining Leading Edge as its new vice president of marketing and communications…

The Forward appointed Julie Moos as its next editor- in- chief & chief content officer and hired Stacey Bosworth as its new vice president of development…

Word on the Street

The Jerusalem Press Club, an organization that provides international journalists based in Israel with workspace, briefings and direct access to Israeli newsmakers, is shutting down effective today after 13 years…

French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi’s Altice has received approval from Israel’s Ministry of Communications to sell Israeli cellular provider HOT MOBILE to a consortium led by Delek Retail and Keystone for 1.8 NIS billion ($600 million)...

President Donald Trump is expected to host leaders of several major Hasidic communities at the White House on Thursday for Rosh Hashanah greetings, drawing objections from some allies over the anti-Zionist Satmar sect's inclusion reports Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel… 

The Bender JCC of Greater Washington in Rockville, Md., has become the first U.S. fitness center to install RightHear, an Israeli-founded audio wayfinding system that gives blind and low-vision visitors spoken navigation guidance throughout the building…

Israel has launched a NIS 5 million ($1.67 million) government program to recruit AI experts and entrepreneurs from abroad…

Birthright Israel Foundation president and CEO Elias Saratovsky was interviewed on MS NOW's “Morning Joe,” saying that the organization has brought 60,000 participants to Israel since Oct 7…

The Detroit Jewish News spotlights four University of Michigan alumni who have launched Bam Dot Crack, a mobile app for four-person American mahjong that aims to keep far-flung players connected between in-person games…

The campaign of Michigan Senate Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed is working to hire a Jewish community liaison, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports, as he seeks to make inroads with the state’s Jewish community following his apology for equivocating on a violent terrorist attack targeting a Michigan synagogue in March…

Ada Yonath, who became the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize when she received the prize in chemistry in 2009 for her work on the structure of the ribosome, died at 87…

Photo of the Day

COURTESY/ISRAAID

IsraAid staff pack red buckets with hygiene supplies — towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste and toilet paper — for families displaced by the flooding in Nepal last week. Immediately following the flood, the Israeli humanitarian aid group sent disaster-relief specialists and former local staff to distribute hygiene kits and provide mental health support after a glacier collapse triggered deadly flash flooding north of Kathmandu.

Mai Leshem, IsraAid’s head of mission in Nepal, said in a statement, “[We] arrived in Nepal just two days after the flooding and landslides and immediately got to work meeting local partners and delivering urgent relief. We are doing everything we can to aid and amplify their efforts and make sure that the support we bring reaches those who need it most.”

Birthdays

LAURA ASHBROOK PHOTOGRAPHY

Esther Safran Foer, former director of Sixth & I historic synagogue, she is the matriarch of a literary family (her sons are Franklin, Jonathan and Joshua), turns 80

Alan Dershowitz, retired Harvard Law School professor and constitutional scholar, turns 88

Leonard Slatkin, conductor, author and composer, turns 82

Shalom Hanoch, Israeli rock singer, lyricist and composer, he is often referred to as “The King of Israeli Rock,” turns 80

Linda Feldman turns 77

Nadia Ficara, director of donor travel programs at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, turns 70

Susan Berry Miller, national president of NA'AMAT USA, turns 69

Joe Straus, former member and speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, the first Jewish House speaker in Texas, turns 67

Dee Dee Myers, White House press secretary during the first two years of the Clinton administration, turns 65

Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor  and rabbi of Kehillat Etz Chayim synagogue, turns 62

Malca Resnick, former clinical sciences group lead in the global product development group at Pfizer, turns 62

Charlotte Fonrobert, associate professor of religious studies at Stanford specializing in Talmudic literature, turns 61

Elana Broitman, former SVP of public affairs at the Jewish Federations of North America, now principal at the Roosevelt Group, turns 60

Craig Caplan, Capitol Hill producer for C-SPAN, turns 59

Harris Vederman, VP of programs at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, turns 56

Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig, fashion designer, businesswoman and writer, she uses only her first and middle names professionally, turns 55

Jesse Kellerman, novelist and playwright, his parents, Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman, are both best-selling authors, turns 48

Samuel Salkin, turns 40

Shauna Ruda, Denver-based therapist, turns 39

Lauren Kiel, head of Bloomberg Media's global community innovation team, turns 37

Itay Milner, spokesperson and consul for media affairs at the Israeli Consulate in New York

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