In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we preview the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly, which kicks off on Sunday. We report on a new Israeli venture health fund focusing on pediatric medicine out of Schneider Children’s Medical Center, and on the future of the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on campus antisemitism. We feature an opinion piece by Jessica Zmood and Shelly Steinwurtzel about holding the American Jewish community together as members react to the midterm results in sharply different ways; plus Peter Samuelson reflects on his philanthropic endeavors, current events and more. Also in this issue: Yakir Englander, Adam Karst and Matt Levitt.

Shabbat shalom!

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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: Inside the slow, convoluted demise of a beloved L.A. Jewish day school; Philly Jewish restaurant owners say they won’t be scared off by antisemitic boycott campaign; and Democratic sweep raises questions for U.S.-Israel ties and Iran war. Print the latest edition here.

What We're Watching

More than 500 Black American and African Christian leaders are visiting Israel this week to honor the pilgrimage that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. planned for 1967 but was never able to complete, with organizers aiming to bring 5,000 pastors next year.

The San Mateo County (Calif.) Historical Association will open the Taube Family Carriage House and Automobile Gallery on Saturday, as part of “History in Motion,” a free grand-opening celebration of the museum’s $25.5 million campus expansion. Dianne Taube and the late Tad Taube provided the project’s lead gift through Taube Philanthropies.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will hold additional consultations today as he determines who will get the first mandate to form a government. This comes despite Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party getting endorsements from parties representing 67 seats of the 120-seat Knesset, in an apparent push by Herzog to form a “unity government,” which would include at least some members of the outgoing coalition.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is organizing a lunch today in support of the Jewish-owned restaurants being targeted by an antisemitic bike rally on Sunday that has drawn criticism from local and statewide officials. Mayor Cherelle Parker on Thursday condemned the bike ride, days after she was asked about the event and pointed reporters to a statement from the city’s Commission on Human Relations rather than issuing a response of her own.

The Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly kicks off on Sunday in Washington. The opening plenary will feature a sit-down with former Secretaries of State Tony Blinken and Mike Pompeo in their first public conversation together. If you’re there, say hi to eJP’s Jay Deitcher!

Some 6,500 Chabad emissaries from 100 countries are gathering this weekend in Brooklyn for the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Shluchim.

On Monday morning local time, the city of Jerusalem will host EduNation Jerusalem – Israel's first international education conference.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD FROM eJP’S JAY DEITCHER

From across North America, Israel and even Australia, nearly 2,500 people will flock to Washington for this year’s Jewish Federations of North America annual General Assembly, hoping to network with fellow Jewish professionals, drum up interest in their initiatives and influence the agenda of the Jewish federation system for the coming year.

The event, which kicks off on Sunday and runs through Tuesday, takes place at a time when JFNA sees the Jewish community as standing at “an inflection point,” according to the event organizers. It’s been a common theme from past years’ gatherings, which were also held during periods of crisis and change for the Jewish world — from the COVID-19 pandemic to the 2023 GA that was held in the shadow of the judicial overhaul protests and, for the past three years, wars in Israel and rising antisemitism around the world. This year’s gathering also comes days after the midterm elections in the United States, and less than two weeks after Israel’s parliamentary elections.

“There is an energy at the General Assembly that is hard to express in words when 2,500 leaders come together who are committed to the work of strengthening Jewish life day in, day out,” Shira Hutt, executive vice president at JFNA, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “There's a chance for people to be inspired, to be connected, and it's also strengthening to be together as a community.”

Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' →

News

HEALTHY RETURNS

Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest HMO, and its Schneider Children’s Medical Center announced its $50 million venture fund earlier this week. A third of the interest that the fund generates will go back to Clalit and Schneider for research, and the fund is working with donor-advised funds to allow funders to invest — and potentially grow — their charitable donations, reports eJewishPhilanthropy’s Justin Hayet.

Charity’s not enough: Schneider Children’s Venture Capital spent eight months in “stealth mode” before its public debut earlier this week. The fund has raised $20 million from private and institutional investors so far, managing partner Ronen Gadot told eJP. “Philanthropy is great, but it’s not sufficient to cross the chasm between research and clinical use,” he said. “What the hospital and Clalit bring to the table are significant assets to enhance the chances of success.”

Read the full report →

CAMPUS CROSSROADS

The Trump administration’s campaign against campus antisemitism may be entering a new phase, Jewish advocates and a former administration official told Haley Cohen for eJewishPhilanthropy’s sister publication Jewish Insider — one complicated by a Democratic takeover of the House, the departure of a key Justice Department official and growing questions about the White House’s commitment to enforcement.

Sanders in: One key enforcer of the Justice Department’s efforts to crack down on campus antisemitism, Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, resigned from the agency on Thursday, just as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is set to return as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the committee with jurisdiction over universities.

Read the full report and sign up for Jewish Insider’s Daily Kickoff →

Opinion

WHAT COMES NEXT

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, Jessica Zmood and Shelly Steinwurtzel, co-founders of Gesher Community Care, acknowledge that the Jewish community’s reactions to the results of this week’s midterm election are both mixed yet also deeply felt, whether someone is celebrating what they see as a victory for the values that keep their family safe, or alarmed at what they interpret as signs that antisemitism is no longer an obstacle but a stepstool to political office.

“As clinical psychologists, we help people navigate relationships, conflict and the complicated emotions that emerge when people see the same situation differently. This election has us thinking about what happens when those differences move beyond individual relationships and into the institutions that hold our communities together, because the challenge facing American Jewish leadership isn't simply how to respond to the election results — it’s how to keep our communities from fracturing over them.”

Read the full piece →

BIRTHDAY REFLECTIONS

In an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy, veteran film producer and philanthropist Peter Samuelson takes the occasion of his 75th birthday to share reflections on his nonprofit work, this week’s “blue tsunami” and the importance of fostering a society of kindness.

“The tool kit of a film producer turns out to transfer directly to creating new charities to address old challenges. First, you have to be able to tell the story of something that doesn't yet exist, whether it's a film or a cause. The seven nonprofits that I've had the privilege of founding all started with the ability to tell the story.”

Read the full piece →

SPONSORED

The Nuremberg Women: The Untold Stories of History

Bestselling author and historian Natalie Livingstone tells the story of the Nuremberg trials through the eyes of eight extraordinary women.

From a brilliant American lawyer and pioneering journalists to an Auschwitz survivor and a young Russian translator, The Nuremberg Women offers a compelling new perspective on one of history’s most consequential trials.

“Livingstone’s deeply researched, unfailingly fascinating book gives the many extraordinary women at or near the centre of the Nuremberg trials their proper, important, and often ignored place in history” — Salman Rushdie

Buy the book!

Worthy Reads

Ears and Evidence: In Stanford Social Innovation Review, Sasha Dichter of 60 Decibels and Kate Labeille of Root Capital make the case that social impact groups should pair what participants say about their experience with hard outcome data, pointing to a Kenyan farmer training program that drew high marks from users yet left their knowledge unchanged. “Outcome evidence is what justifies the capital in the first place, but a satisfied customer is a necessary condition for impact, not a sufficient one. How organizations handle the gap between those two things is, in our experience, one of the more consequential measurement questions in the sector.”

Kol Nidre Coalition: In The Wisdom Daily, educator Yakir Englander draws on Yom Kippur’s Kol Nidre prayer to argue that Israel’s anti-Netanyahu bloc boxed itself in by ruling out Haredi and Arab parties as partners, urging leaders to treat rivals as part of the community instead of existential enemies. “This is the enduring lesson of Yom Kippur for political life: A healthy community is not one without conflict, nor is it one without sin. A healthy community is one that remembers how to sit with its transgressors — without turning them into enemies, and without shirking its share of responsibility for the whole.”

Deli Drama: In The Wall Street Journal, filmmaker and screenwriter Stuart Creque slams New Jersey’s kosher fraud regulators for fining a Cherry Hill kosher-style deli $1,000 over its “Jewish Cheesesteak,” arguing the word “Jewish” makes no kashrut claim and the citation protects no observant diner. “Business is tough enough without a pointless enforcement effort — especially one that doesn’t actually protect the people it purportedly serves.”

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Leading Roles

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Major Gifts

The Farmer Family Foundation pledged up to $100 million to Miami University’s business school, a school record that lifts its capital campaign past $1 billion...

Transitions

Foundation for Jewish Camp named Matt Levitt as its new chief operating officer…

Adam Karst joined the Community Security Service as its inaugural Los Angeles-based regional director of training and security, the group told eJewishPhilanthropy…

Michael Basch is returning to Harvard’s Kennedy School as a research fellow at the Center Public Leadership’s Social Innovation and Change Initiative to investigate how to take full advantage of the incoming wave of centimillionaires emerging from the artificial intelligence boom…

Word on the Street

Mimimelon, a Jewish-owned kosher bakery in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent neighborhood, was destroyed this week in a suspected arson attack, its second fire in 48 hours, prompting police to assign hate crimes investigators despite finding no evidence yet of an antisemitic motive…

Two months after John Galliano withdrew from a planned Met exhibition and gala amid donor backlash over his antisemitic remarks, the Costume Institute will instead build its spring show around high fashion’s take on everyday staples like jeans, T-shirts and puffer jackets…

In partnership with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, 10 JCCs will join an effort, launched in Tampa, Fla., to connect community members with Parkinson’s research, a priority given genetic risks common among Ashkenazi Jews; the JCCs are those in Boston; New York City; Pittsburgh; Denver; Hartford, Conn.; Charlotte, N.C.; St. Paul, Minn.; Tucson, Ariz.; Oceanside, N.Y.; and North Miami Beach, Fla…

Inside Philanthropy tallies the foundation and nonprofit veterans who won office in the midterms, led by Ohio Gov.-elect Amy Acton, a onetime Columbus Foundation grants manager…

Anthropic’s stock match of employees’ charitable gifts generated more than $660 million in noncash expenses over six months…

Kol Hadash, Northern California’s lone secular humanistic Jewish congregation, is winding down its formal operations after four decades as its leaders, all of whom are over 70, step aside and members shift to an informal mailing list…

Oklahoma’s incoming schools Superintendent Robert Franklin said he opposes the proposed Ben Gamla Jewish online religious charter school on church-state grounds, even as the state charter board presses its federal appeal…

Vanity Fair covers Ye’s first runway show in four years where celebrities and fans packed his new Los Angeles Yeezy flagship store despite his string of antisemitic incidents…

Salon, the pioneering online magazine launched in 1995, shut down yesterday after 31 years, saying its publishing model could no longer survive the economics of independent digital journalism..

Eva Geller, a Holocaust survivor wounded in last December’s Hanukkah massacre at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, died yesterday from injuries sustained during the terror attack. She was 90…

Photo of the Day

MURTADHA AL-SUDANI/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES

A visitor examines the exhibits yesterday at the new Jewish museum in Baghdad focused on the ancient Jewish community in the Iraqi capital, which once totaled more than 120,000 people, nearly all of whom fled to Israel in the early 1950s amid rising antisemitism.

The museum features portraits of rabbis and community leaders, historical documents, school records and educational diplomas of former students.

Birthdays

MICHAEL SIMON/GC IMAGES

Joy Bauer, founder of Nourish Snacks, nutrition expert on NBC and author of 15 New York Times bestsellers, turns 63 today

Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter, leading teacher in the Breslov Hasidic movement in Israel, turns 96

Ruth Messinger, former president and CEO of American Jewish World Service until 2016, now the organization’s inaugural global ambassador, turns 86

Andrew Saul, former commissioner of the Social Security Administration until 2021, turns 80

Sidney Blumenthal, former advisor to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, turns 78

Barbara Volsky turns 76

Joseph Shenker, senior chair of Sullivan & Cromwell, turns 70

Lori Singer, actor and cellist best known for her lead role in the 1984 film “Footloose” and the television series “Fame”

Ira Fishman, former managing director of the NFL Players Association for 15 years, turns 69

Nicholas Goldberg, editorial page editor and op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times until 2023, turns 68

Erik Seidel, professional poker player from Las Vegas, he has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, turns 67

Laurene Powell Jobs, philanthropist, she is the founder of the Emerson Collective and co-founder of XQ Institute, turns 63

Andrew S. Weinberg, principal and COO at Douglass Winthrop Advisors

Seth Radow, SVP of investments in the Beverly Hills office of Raymond James

Geoffrey Rochwarger, chairman at IDT Finance, he is a partner in Covenant Winery, turns 56

Dan Senor, host of the “Call Me Back” podcast, chief public affairs officer at Elliott Management and co-author of The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation, turns 55

Kari Alterman, founder of Good Name Advisors

Susan Downey, film producer, together with her husband Robert Downey Jr., turns 53

Earl Campos Devine, South Florida entrepreneur

Yaakov “Yanky” Lemmer, head cantor of Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City, turns 43

Robert Eric "Robbie" Widlansky, former outfielder in the Orioles and Angels systems, he played for Team Israel in 2012 and is now a manager of business development at Robson Forensic, turns 42

Jake Pollack, producer on “The Ben Shapiro Show,” turns 31

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

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