Good Wednesday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report on the Jewish National Fund-USA raising $10 million since the outbreak of the American-Israeli war against Iran. We cover this week’s Leffell Foundation rabbinic conference in Florida and a security briefing for Jewish communal organizations ahead of Passover. We also recap last night’s “Get Your Phil” discussion on Israel-Diaspora relations in light of the Iran war. We feature an opinion piece by Alison Gardy encouraging Jewish communal institutions to host blood drives, and one by Emma Strongin about the inspiration for StrongerVoices, which features interviews and testimonials from teens who have experienced post-Oct. 7 antisemitism. Also in this issue: Jesse Brown, King Charles III and Bridget Griswold.
What We’re Watching
Jonah Platt will host tonight’s 75th National Jewish Book Awards Gala in New York City.
In Washington, Ruth Wisse is slated to deliver the annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities tonight at the Kennedy Center.
What You Should Know
In the nearly four weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, Jewish National Fund-USA has raised $10 million to meet urgent and long-term needs in Israel, providing bomb shelters, fire trucks, resilience centers and civilian security equipment, the organization’s CEO, Russell Robinson, told eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher yesterday.
Every few days since the war broke out on Feb. 28, the organization has held emergency briefings on Zoom featuring Israeli politicians, community leaders, civil society officials and high schoolers. Sessions have drawn increasingly large numbers, peaking at Tuesday’s event, which had 1,400 attendees. According to Robinson, the community is motivated to help and ready to mobilize. “All of our people activated, calling on their friends and getting them together,” he said.
The funds were raised from over 2,500 individual commitments — some big, some smaller. “Did we have a million-dollar gift? Yes,” Robinson said. “But did we have a lot of $10,000 and $25,000 [gifts]? Yes. We had a lot of $1,000 and $500 [gifts] as well.”
The $10 million is being spread across the “ecosystem” of “affiliates on the ground” in Israel, Robinson said, including Makom, HaShomer HaChadash and Adam V’Adama. The funds are being used to purchase bomb shelters, supplies for first responders and protective vests and helmets for park rangers. JNF is backing mentoring support for 1,120 children and adults with disabilities whose programs were closed because of the war, and JNF has ordered 55,000 packages from 162 small businesses in Israel’s North and South that are being delivered to lone and injured soldiers, supporting both the soldiers and the local businesses.