In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we examine a new study on Diaspora Jewish leaders’ views on their engagement with Israeli politics amid rising violence in the West Bank by Israeli extremists. We report on hedge fund manager John Paulson’s record $250 million gift to Hebrew University over the weekend, and spotlight a nonprofit, Future Holders, aimed at empowering Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli girls to work in environmental science. We feature an opinion piece by Sandy Cardin about how we frame and respond to fracture within the Jewish community; a piece by Lynde Rosario and Jesse Bernstein spotlights the role of Jewish theater companies and performers; and a piece by Rabbi Morey Schwartz and Robyn Teplitzky about incorporating Jewish learning into gatherings of volunteer lay leaders. Also in this newsletter: Haym Salomon, Rabbi Brian Lurie and Dorothy Saxe.

Have a tip? Email us here.

What We're Watching

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund is holding a conference in Israel’s Jezreel Valley focused on recovery efforts in Israel’s North this week, as it marks NIS 1 billion ($322.8 million) allocated to the region. 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People is hosting its final convening for its inaugural cohort in Budapest through Wednesday. If you’re there, say hi to eJP’s Justin Hayet!

In Philadelphia today, local and national Jewish organizations are holding a commemoration ceremony for Haym Salomon, the Jewish financier who helped fund the American Revolution.  

And in New York City, the city will officially co-name the corner of East 47th Street and Second Avenue as “Jewish Community Relations Council of New York Way,” in recognition of the group’s 50th anniversary.

Also in New York, 92NY is hosting a Sapir Debates session this evening in whicho former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren and Foundation for Defense of Democracies Vice President Jonathan Schanzer will be joined by Sapir’s Bret Stephens to discuss whether Israel would be better off without U.S. aid.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD FROM eJP'S JUDAH ARI GROSS

For 76 years, American Jewish leaders have sought to maintain the “Ben-Gurion-Blaustein Agreement,” a framework reached by Israel’s then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the American Jewish Committee’s then-President Jacob Blaustein in 1950, under which American Jews refrain from weighing in on domestic Israeli politics and vice versa. 

But realities on the ground in Israel — particularly Israeli extremist violence in the West Bank and Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas in Gaza — along with major shifts in American politics and concerted efforts by liberal Zionist activists, appear to be spelling the end of this long-struggling, arguably anachronistic arrangement. But what new modus operandi, if anything, takes its place is far from clear.

Though these conditions have been simmering for years, this weekend gave them fresh urgency after Israeli extremists carried out multiple attacks in the West Bank, including against an American Jewish journalist and European diplomats. This was given voice in a new report from Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, which was published yesterday and argues that the direct impact that Israeli policies have on Diaspora Jews is fundamentally altering their engagement with the country and its politics.  

Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ →

News

MAJOR GIFTS

Hedge fund manager John Paulson announced a $250 million gift to Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Saturday night, the largest donation in the school’s 101-year history, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet reports. “This gift is also meant to show support and international solidarity with Israel,” Paulson, founder and chairman of the Paulson Family Foundation, said in a statement provided to eJP.

Mega-gifts go mainstream: Paulson joins a growing list of donors making eight- and nine-figure commitments to Israeli institutions. This record-breaking donation also comes days after the university announced that it had received a $30 million gift from Steven H. Lavin.

Read the full report →

COEXISTENCE CONUNDRUM

A year after its founding, Future Holders, a nonprofit focused on engaging Jewish and Arab girls from Israel’s periphery in the environmental technology field, won a roughly $30,000 grant, setting the nascent coexistence STEM organization on a solid course — or so believed its founders, Amna Freg and Zada Haj. But that was in September 2023. The following month, Hamas launched its devastating terror attack in southern Israel, followed a day later by Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel — the two key regions in which Future Holders planned to operate, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim. 

Uphill battle: The past three years have been a tumultuous time for Future Holders, during which its character as both an Arab and Jewish organization became a major limitation, Freg and Haj told eJP, even as they insist that it is critical.

Read the full report →

Opinion

MEETING THIS MOMENT

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Global Jewry founder Sandy Cardin reminds us that “in every generation, the Jewish People have faced moments that test our ability to remain connected.” 

“Today, we find ourselves at such a moment: one defined by deep disagreements, changing political realities and questions about identity, belonging and our relationship with Israel. The challenge before us is not whether differences will exist; they always have. The challenge is whether those differences will lead us toward greater understanding or toward deeper fragmentation.”

Read the full piece →

TICKET TO ENGAGEMENT

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Lynde Rosario and Jesse Bernstein, the executive director and immediate past president of the board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre, note that Jewish theater offers a low-threshold form of engagement that doesn't require religious affiliation, institutional membership or in-depth prior knowledge about Judaism.

“The most recent Pew research study on Jewish life in the United States found that 50% of Jewish Americans engage with their Judaism through arts and culture. A recent AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research study found that 30% of U.S. Jews engage culturally with their Judaism… In other words, there are a significant number of people who find meaning in Jewish arts and culture without ever setting foot in a religious or traditional Jewish space. The spaces they are setting foot in cannot be ignored.”

Read the full piece →

FRESH SPARKS

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Morey Schwartz, international director of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, and leadership consultant Robyn Teplitzky propose that lay leaders can benefit from incorporating time for Jewish learning into their high-level meetings.

“People rarely volunteer to sit on boards or committees because they feel 100% ready. They step up out of commitment to the cause, peer pressure or because no one else stepped forward. Once they’ve claimed a seat at the table, they are challenged with the heavy lifting: endless meetings, balancing budgets, fundraising goals — and keeping everyone happy. Without a deeper framework, leadership starts to feel like an exhausting obligation rather than an inspiring mission.”

Read the full piece →

Worthy Reads

Of the People: In J. The Jewish News of Northern California, Sue Fishkoff interviews Rabbi Brian Lurie about the San Francisco Jewish community, including his concerns that while the local federation is raising more money than ever, it is losing touch with the people on the ground by focusing on wealthy donors. “To my mind, the $1,000 gift is more meaningful in almost every case than the million-dollar gift. So they’ve lost that profound sense of community we had before. And as a consequence, they’re afraid to take on controversial subjects.”

Progressive Problems: In The New York Times, Bernard Avishai addresses what he sees as the shortcomings of American progressives’ views on Israel and Zionism. “They don’t see, in short, that a democratic Hebrew Republic, while not yet fully realized, is plausible, or that Israelis advancing the political and religious Zionist ideas that Americans default to continue to obstruct it. The tragedy of this lack of understanding of cultural Zionism is that instead of American progressives expressing fellow feeling for Israeli progressives, they assume that the latter, owing to their Zionism, cannot exist.”

Community Comms

Everyone dies. Are you and your Jewish community prepared? Join Shomer Collective at our annual online Convening on Oct 21.

SPONSORED | Email us to place an advertisement to the eJP readership of your upcoming event, job opening or other announcement.

Transitions

Milken Innovation Center-Van Leer Jerusalem Institute named Beth deBeer as its chief operating officer and Jonathan Mohr as its chief of staff…

The U.K.’s Clore Tikva pluralistic primary school appointed Leigh Wertheim as its permanent head teacher…

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies promoted Max Meizlish to the role of deputy director at its Center on Economic and Financial Power…

The Association of Advancement Services Professionals appointed Vered Siegel, Jeff Baynham and Heather Johnson to its board of directors…

Word on the Street

Jewish-owned shops in Marseille were burned, and rioters broke into a Paris synagogue amid weekend riots across France, though congregants believe they were primarily looting. The Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive, which oversees security for French Jewish institutions, urged the community not to spread unverified claims of antisemitism…

Israel’s Cabinet approved NIS 2.6 billion ($840 million) in budget cuts — to the Education, Health and Welfare Ministries, among others — to pay for classified defense purchases…

President Donald Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nine days before Israel’s Oct. 27 election…

In the aftermath of an attempted terror attack on a Hindu temple last week, Jewish leaders are drawing on a shared experience of confronting religious hatred to strengthen ties between the two communities — including by expanding sustained advocacy to protect houses of worship, reports Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen… 

Anthropic is committing 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund, with 2% more possible for each 50% rise in the company’s value, bringing the share of the company pledged to the “public good” to roughly 20%...

Color of Change and other progressive groups handed Fidelity Charitable a 50,000-signature petition demanding it resume donor grants to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which faces federal charges that its supporters call politically motivated, with a trial set for February…

The University of Pittsburgh’s antisemitism working group issued an eight-page report without seeking input from its roughly 1,400 Jewish undergraduates…

Police in northern England visited pro-Israel influencer Holly Passmore after an anonymous tip referred her to Britain’s counter-extremism program over a June press trip to Israel…

Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev opened Lev Jewish Academy, a block-long Chabad school campus in Lawrence, N.Y., which will serve the Bukharian community and other Jewish students in the Five Towns…

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro launched a federal PAC to back Democrats in congressional swing districts in a possible sign he’s eyeing a 2028 presidential bid, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…

The Canadian government awarded the Montreal Jewish Museum more than CAD $3.2 million ($2.27 million) to renovate its century-old building that will become the museum’s permanent home…

Bloomberg reports that Arab Israeli political parties, energized by anger at Netanyahu’s government, are pushing for record turnout in the Oct. 27 election that could make them kingmakers in a tight race…

A Haifa court ordered seven officials of Keren L’Chaim and its offshoot, Keren L’Chaim L’Yeladim V’Noar, to repay NIS 1.85 million ($595,000) from their own pockets after finding they improperly redirected a bequest meant for young cancer patients…

Elon Gliksberg, a 25-year-old Unit 8200 veteran, is selling HexAI, the self-funded Israeli startup he founded a year ago, to Belgian software firm Hex-Rays for more than $30 million…

Brazilian Jewish textile magnate Ricardo Steinbruch bought 20% of Israeli cleantech startup Sonovia to bring its ultrasonic dyeing technology to his factories…

The Jewish Grandparents Network established a partnership with the European Council of Jewish Communities to develop programming for Jewish grandparents in Europe… 

Dorothy Saxe, a Bay Area philanthropist who helped found San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum and gave most of her 700-piece studio glass collection to museums, died at 100…

Photo of the Day

COURTESY/NBN

Eight immigrants from English-speaking countries are awarded the Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion prize last night in a ceremony in Jerusalem, in recognition of their contributions to Israeli society. The awards were presented by prize-funder Sylvan Adams (center) and Nefesh B’Nefesh founders Rabbi Yehoshua Fass (fourth from right) and Tony Gelbart (fifth from right). 

This year’s recipients (from left) are: Barak Swarttz, founder of Grit for Good; Rabbanit Chana Henkin, the founder and chancellor of Nishmat; professor Marta Weinstock-Rosin, inventor of the Alzheimer’s drug, Exelon; former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer; Danielle Abraham, executive director of ReGrow Israel; Naomi Stuchiner, founder of Beit Issie Shapiro; Ami Baran, president of the Israel Athletics Association and CEO of the Israel Softball Association; and Philip Klipstein, senior principal scientist of the research and development division of SemiConductor Devices.

Birthdays

COURTESY/JDC

Evan Majzner, executive director of JDC Entwine

Kenneth Harrison Keller, professor emeritus and first-ever Jewish president of the University of Minnesota, turns 92

Joseph Neubauer, former CEO of Aramark Corporation for more than 30 years, he is a past chairman of the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees, turns 85

Paul Binder, founder and former ringmaster of the Big Apple Circus, turns 84

Kenneth L. Toppell, pulmonologist in Plano, Texas, he is also the author of six mystery novels, turns 84

Yoram Ettinger, writer, scholar and former Israeli ambassador, turns 81

Lawrence D. Platt, obstetrician and gynecologist at the Center for Fetal Medicine in Los Angeles

Michelle Fischler, retired hospitality executive

Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former director of the journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, turns 72

David Cera, retired supervisor for Minnesota's Pollution Control Agency

Nir Barkat, Israel's minister of the economy and former mayor of Jerusalem for 10 years, both positions following a successful high-tech career, turns 67

Avram Glazer, co-owner of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers and English soccer club Manchester United, he is a son of the late Malcolm Glazer, turns 66

Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist and professor at New York University focused on the psychology of morality and moral emotions, turns 63

David Cynamon, Canadian business executive and board member of Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital, turns 63

Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, one of two chief rabbis of Ukraine, turns 62

Jay Footlik, founder of Global Policy Associates where he is now an advisory board member, he was the White House Jewish liaison in the Clinton administration

Shira Moses, ritual coordinator at Congregation Emanu El in Houston

Jon Favreau, award-winning actor, director, producer and screenwriter, known for his involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, turns 60

Ethan King Strimling, former mayor of Portland, Maine, now a non-profit executive, turns 59

Joshua Topolsky, technology journalist and record producer, turns 49

Jason R. Reitman, film director, screenwriter and producer, turns 49

David Ochs, executive at Nefco

Lindsay Applebaum, Pittsburgh-based founder and head of brand of Mamalux

Elie Litvin, founder of iTrade[dot]TV, equities trader and financial marketer

Zack Gelof, infielder in the Athletics organization, he played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, turns 27

Jim Vespe

You are receiving this email because rachel@ejewishphilanthropy.com signed up for updates from eJewishPhilanthropy.

Submit an op-ed   •   Send a tip   •   Advertise With Us   •   Subscription questions

© 2026 eJewishPhilanthropy • 228 Park Ave S • PMB 40660 • New York • NY 10003

Manage Email Preferences  •   View in Browser  •   Tracking Preferences