JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Loose Change: Jews become more dependent on evangelicals, parents worry anew about college costs, an

By Jacob Berkman · October 24, 2008

This week in the Jewish media:

• The economic downturn is forcing Jewish agencies to become more dependent on giving from evangelical Christians, reports the New York Jewish Week.


• Local agencies in Maryland could suffer from Gov. Martin O’Malley’s $300 million budget cuts, reports the Washington Jewish Week.


• Parents are getting nervous about being able to afford college for their kids, according to the Forward.


• Rabbis in Wisconsin agree with IRS rules that prohibit religious non-profits form endorsing politicians, says the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.


• Brandeis University’s Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education is trying to stop the brain drain in Jewish education by creating a new generation of Jewish teachers, reports the Boston Jewish Advocate.


• The Jewish community in Cleveland tackles domestic violence, according to the Cleveland Jewish News.


• In San Francisco, Jews fight breast cancer, according to j.


• After four years of debate, Montclair State University in New Jersey will start a minor in Jewish studies, reports the New Jersey Jewish News.


• The Jewish Women’s Foundation in Detroit marked its tenth anniversary by giving away $75,000, says the Detroit Jewish News.


• A group in Los Angeles is creating a hechsher to certify businesses as ethically kosher, says the LA Jewish Journal.

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Digesting the Jewish News:Y.U. has a big deficit, new Jew publications are failing and homeless in L

By Jacob Berkman · October 17, 2008

Here’s what’s happening in the Jewish news during the holiday season:

• Yeshiva University will trim its budget but will not make huge rollbacks to deal with a $24 million budget deficit that is in part due to expansion over the past several years and is exacerbated by the economy, reports the New York Jewish Week. The paper also reports that in the Big Apple, the working poor have borne the brunt of the market downturn.


• New Jewish publications started over the past 10 years to much fanfare have had to close shop recently because of the economy, reports the Forward. And the elderly have seen their savings hit hard by the meltdown.


• The L.A. Jewish Journal looks at homelessness on Skid Row during the holiday of Sukkot.


• Leaders at the UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey are planning a strategy to deal with the economic downturn, reports the New Jersey Jewish Standard.


• The Southeastern division of the Jewish National Fund has generated $3.3 million in 2008 to help make the Negev desert bloom – an increase of $600,000 over the previous year – reports the Atlanta Jewish Times.


• The Jewish Community Foundation of Cleveland gave a $10,000 grant to help Ohio’s food banks, according to the Cleveland Jewish News.


• Philly residents have tried to help Galveston, Texas, recover from Hurricane Ike, reports the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.


• A 13-year old Schechter student in New Jersey and others have raised $250,000 to fight diabetes by running in road races and marathons, reports the New Jersey Jewish News.


• Domestic abuse often comes in the form of financial abuse, reports the Washington Jewish Week.


• A Jewish neighborhood in Milwaukee has been hit with a spate of robberies, according to the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.

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LOOSE CHANGE: Prince Charles finds a Jewish cause, ex-NFL-ers to donate their brains, and stripping

By Jacob Berkman · September 26, 2008

I think the headline for this post speaks for itself:

• The Broad Foundation gave $44 million to Harvard for the creation of a new education research school, according to the WSJ.
• Portfolio.com recounts an event where Muhammad Yunis explains the difference between micro-lending and sub-prime lending. “It’s extreme greed. You misled people into getting involved. It’s irresponsible capitalism,” said the Nobel Prize winner.


• Prince Charles will become a patron of the Jewish Museum in London, making it his first Jewish cause.


• Germany has increased its financial support of the Jewish community there, boosting its annual gift to the Central Council of Jews in Germany by about $2.9 million this year.


• The Ellis Island Museum will get a $20 million expansion. Fund raising is about 75 percent complete and includes a $1 million gift from the Annenberg Foundation, according to the New York Times. But the president and CEO of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Stephen A. Briganti, is concerned about raising the rest.


• Gold medalist Michael Phelps returned home to Baltimore to pick up a $250,000 check for his foundation from Kellog’s, says the AP.


• I hope this is not a trend: A charity ball in Sussex, England, was called off because organizers could not sell enough tickets due to the economic downturn, reports BBC.


• Twelve athletes, including several former NFL players, will donate their brains to Boston University Medical School after their deaths, for a study on the effect of concussions. Is there any irony in athletes donating their brains? That would be like journalists donating money.


• Move is afoot in Ft. Lauderdale to start a foundation to help deal with housing foreclosures.

And now from the Jewish media:

• New York Jewish organizational officials are calling the current economic situation a real crisis, as the UJA-Federation of New York allocated $400,000 to help the situation and another former official calls for a national summit to deal with the non-profit crunch.


• The Wall Street crisis is forcing shuls, which count among their congregants large numbers of bankers, to deal with the issue, according to the Forward.


• The Baltimore Hebrew University, which has been wracked with financial woes, will be taken over by Towson State University, according to the Baltimore Jewish Times.


• Milwaukee may become the first Jewish community to adopt a new way of engaging young Jewish families, says the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.


• Brandeis University is offering an MBA program in Green business management, reports the Boston Jewish Advocate.


• Jewish food banks in Seattle are in trouble, according to the JTNews of Washington.


• The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania tapped Jill M. Michal as its new president and chief executive officer, reports the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.


• Jewish leaders in San Francisco are fighting legislation that would ban gay marriage, according to j.
• Natalie Portman, Colin Farrell and others showed up for a Heeb Storytelling event in L.A. that turned a little naughty, reports the LA Jewish Journal. And in more traditional news, the Westside Jewish Community Center is building a $4 million aquatic center.

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Mid-day roundup: Dell ups his giving, Lauder in Ashkelon, Spielberg props gay marriage, and Bill Cli

By Jacob Berkman · September 23, 2008

Since the weekly digest of news in the Jewish media seems to be a hit, I’m going to start offering a daily update on what is going on in the philanthropic world according to the general papers – including a quick-hit look at grants of interest to the Jewish non-profit world, trends in the general philanthropic world, and other news of note.

(And of course I will still focus on the important items in separate posts as well.)

Here’s what’s happening today:

• Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell computers, announced that his company would increase its corporate and employee giving to 1 percent of Dell’s pre-tax profits, according to Marketwatch.com. Dell, who is Jewish and was in London for a conference on IT development in emerging countries, said that he and his company would focus on a global youth initiative. “The next billion Internet users coming online will largely live in emerging countries, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China,” he said. “Our new giving strategy is rightly focused on equipping youth in these areas, and around the world, for success.”
• Steven Spielberg and his wife have given $100,000 to help fight legislation in California that would ban gay marriage, according to AFP.
• In London, two longtime Jewish charities are merging. The Fed, formerly the Manchester Jewish Federation, a welfare agency for people in greater Manchester, and Heathlands, the Manchester Jewish Homes for the Aged, will join forces, according to the London Jewish Chronicle.
• Countries that are donor nations to the Palestinian government are urging Israel to lift restrictions on the Palestinian territories. Those countries have so far this year pumped $1.3 billion dollars into the Palestinian economy, but they are saying Israel is strangling the economy, according to AFP.
• Meanwhile, Ron Lauder and the governing board of the World Jewish Congress are set to meet in Ashkelon, just across the Palestinian border on Wednesday, reports the European Jewish press.
• This just in from the Chronicle of Philanthropy: On the eve of his foundation’s annual forum on philanthropy, Bill Clinton tells the Washington Post that he is worried that the economy could undermine philanthropic giving around the world. “Around the world, the thing that I worry most about with other stock markets going down and the American market here is that it will reduce the availability of capital . . . to do things that otherwise make good sense,” Clinton said, according to the Post. Participants in the fourth annual conference must pledge $20,000 to global philanthropic initiatives.
• Also from Marketwatch, non-profit health care facilities are expected to take a hit because of the staggering economy.
• On a nice note, the Viterbi Family Foundation has contributed $2 million to the University of Southern California’s (and Spielberg’s) Shoah Foundation Institute Web site, which documents genocide survivors, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

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Digesting the Jewish media: Palo Alto invests $147m in Jewish campus, N.J. puts $20m in day schools

By Jacob Berkman · September 12, 2008

The summer is over and the Jewish papers bounced back in a big way this week, with a lot going on in the charity world.

• The New York Jewish Week sets the bar high with a special section on giving. There’s a lot here that I’ll unpack in the coming days.
• In Palo Alto, a 8.5-acre, $147 million complex is taking shape that will be a campus for Jewish life and, planners hope, the center of the Bay Area’s Jewish world, reports J.
• The Washington Jewish Week takes a look at the JCPA’s Fighting Poverty With Faith effort, a non-profit dedicated to propagating fair news coverage of Israel and the problem of teenage pregnancy.
• The Baltimore Jewish Times has a cover story on a fascinating affordable housing project in inner-city Baltimore started by Jewish Funds for Justice and a church group.
• The synagogue at Eastern State Penitentiary is getting a face-lift, reports the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
• A community wide drive in New Jersey to build an endowment to help make Jewish day schools more affordable has reached $20 million, reports the New Jersey Jewish News.
• Alvin Goldfarb, a major philanthropist in St. Louis, passed away, the St. Louis Jewish Light writes.
• The New Jersey Jewish Standard has a story about Shalva, the Association for Mentally & Physically Challenged Children in Israel.
• And for my final trick of the roundup, let’s veer off-course a bit: The L.A. Jewish Journal has a story about the evolving role of the rabbi’s spouse and what it means to be a rebbitzen these days – male or female.

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Digesting the Jewish media: Day school enrollment is up in Boston, homes for rent in Jerusalem and R

By Jacob Berkman · September 5, 2008

I know, I know, you only want to read about Agriprocessors and the election (or, as I call them, “meat and potato-heads") but here’s what’s happening in the rest of the Jewish world:

• Rhoda Weisman, the head of the Professional Leaders Project, talks philanthropy with the L.A. Jewish Journal. She tells the paper why Michael Steinhardt trusts her with his money and says she has the “sexiest job.”
• The Jewish News of Greater Phoenix has more on Irv Shuman, the philanthropist who was murdered this week in his real estate office.
• Day school enrollment in Boston is on the rise, says the Boston Jewish Advocate.
• The Jewish Journal of Boston North touts Teachers to Israel, a Birthright Israel-type program for Jewish educators. Also, the paper notes that even small Jewish organizations are feeling the financial crunch, with the Jewish Federation of the North Shore having to make cutbacks. In laying off three part-time employees, the federation lopped 17 percent, or $75,000, off its payroll.
• The JNF in San Francisco pushes environmental issues at an eco-farm dinner, says J. The Jewish Weekly of Northern California.
• The St. Louis Jewish Light reports on a St. Louis man who got into the business of helping inner-city kids through his own experiences as a youth at a Reform synagogue.
• A Philadelphia synagogue is in danger of being closed because it has been deemed unsafe, says the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. Also, the Jewish federation in Philly is launching an emergency hunger drive.
• Christmas carols, Chanukah songs and Ramadan tunes are still not kosher in a New Jersey school district after a judge threw out a case charging that the policy was discriminatory, reports the New Jersey Jewish News.
• New York Jewish Week editor Gary Rosenblatt weighs in on Marc Schneier’s push for an eruv in the uber-posh Hamptons.
• Americans who own homes they don’t inhabit in Jerusalem should rent out their Israeli places to students, says Bob Sklar, the editor of the Detroit Jewish News.
• Forget Sarah Palin. The Atlanta Jewish Federation has a new Sr. VP, says the Atlanta Jewish Times.

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Digesting the Jewish media: Are Jews ready to fight poverty?, A shul for the deaf in D.C., Jerry Spr

By Jacob Berkman · August 29, 2008

I know you’re caught up in the VP picks, presidential conventions and the looming start of the NFL season… but here’s what’s in the Jewish newspapers this week:

• Despite recent JCPA efforts, is the Jewish community really ready and willing to take on the poverty issue?, asks the New York Jewish Week.
• A Reconstructionist shul in Washington is seeking a $250,000 grant from the Covenant Foundation to start a congregation for the deaf. It would be one of the few such congregations that have ever operated, reports the Washington Jewish Week.
• The Orthodox Union joined a coalition of faith-based groups supporting California’s Proposition 8, which would overturn the state’s decision to allow gay marriages, reports the Forward.
• After the Solomon Schechter school in Cranford closed because of financial difficulty – the second New Jersey Schechter to do so in the past year – Schechter of West Orange is absorbing the majority of its faculty and student body.
• The ADL leans on quid pro quo lawyers for legal support, says the New Jersey Jewish Standard.
• In Cleveland, the Center for Social Justice assists financially strapped law students who wish to pursue careers in social justice, says the Cleveland Jewish News.
• Young charity givers were on display in Philadelphia, reports the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
• Former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin, the first Jewish woman governor of a state, will give the keynote speech at next week’s opening of the Jewish Book & Culture Fair in Milwaukee, which is part of the Adelman Political Awareness Series of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Women’s Division, according to the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle.
• On the flip side, Jerry Springer will be the keynote speaker at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival in November, the St. Louis Jewish Light reports. Springer is the child of Holocaust survivors who escaped from Nazi Germany in 1944.

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Digesting the Jewish media: The end of the landsmanschaften, CLAL says Jewish tribe is dead, and Heb

By Jacob Berkman · August 22, 2008

I can’t wait until school starts. It was slim pickings in the Jewish news world this week.

• We are seeing the last of the landsmanschaften, the aid societies set up by Jews at the turn of last century to help those from their own countries of origin who immigrated to the U.S., reports the Forward.
• A congregation in New York is offering free religious school, reports the New York Jewish Week.
• The leader of CLAL, Irwin Kula, tells the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle that Jewish tribalism is dead – and its time to “take Jewish wisdom public.”
• Maryland’s Commission for Human Relations found probable cause that a condo association in which the majority of board members are black discriminated against Orthodox residents, over the use of a “Shabbos elevator.”
• The Boston Jewish Advocate looks at the Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston.
• Religious schools are on the rise in Arizona, says the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix.

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Digesting the Jewish papers: Micro-giving in Baltimore, less state funding for NJ survivors and inne

By Jacob Berkman · August 21, 2008

I read ‘em, so you don’t have to, but here’s what’s happening in the Jewish news. (Sorry it’s a bit late this cycle – but not sorry I took a vacation.)

• A young Baltimore millionaire has started a micro-giving Web site to help match up small donors with charities, reports the Baltimore Jewish Times.
• A ruling by an influential federal judge could open the door for more government funding of religious education, says the Forward.
• A Philadelphia synagogue put Nikon cameras in the hands of African American, Hispanic and Asian students at an inner city elementary school as part of a cultural enrichment program, reports the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
• New Jersey cut $500,000 in funding to programs for survivors, says the New Jersey Jewish News.
• The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta has a new top lay leader in Carol Zaban Cooper, according to the Atlanta Jewish Times.
• The Jewish National Fund will hold its annual conference in Phoenix this year, reports the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix.
• The Intermountain Jewish News is going green.
• The Cleveland federation will expand its program to send Jewish tutors into Cleveland’s public schools. (The Fundermnetalist wishes the Cleveland Jewish News would expand this story beyond three paragraphs. It looks interesting.)
• A Bar Mitzvah boy in St. Louis is trying to improve literacy in the inner city, according to the St. Louis Jewish Light.

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Digesting the Jewish news: Jewish orgs seek Far East donors, it’s too expensive to die, and Andy nee

By Jacob Berkman · August 8, 2008

After a slow couple of weeks, the Jewish papers made a comeback with some interesting fare:

• Jewish charities have found a new funding source: Expatriate Jews now living in the Far East, according to the New York Jewish Week.
• Don’t die. It’s just too expensive to get buried these days, reports the L.A. Jewish Journal.
• Six of the 10 Washington-area charities receiving grants from the Office of Homeland Security for security upgrades are Jewish organizations, reports the Washington Jewish Week.
• A new Jewish day school grows in Madison, reports the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. (A Fundermentalist tip to the Madison Community Day School: When providing the local Jewish paper with a head shot of your new Head of School, try to find one that makes him look less scary.)
• Speaking of scary, the Baltimore Jewish Times reports that several of the benefactors of the Fundermentalist’s alma mater, the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community Day School, are suing the heck out of each other over a failed real estate deal involving the school. The school is already suing one of those benefactors for $25 million over the botched deal. If the school needs to rename anything, may I suggest “The Fundermentalist Chapel.”
• The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, L.A.’s oldest Reform shul, is trying to raise $100 million, the Forward reports.
• The David Project has a new leader, according to the Boston Jewish Advocate.
• Only one Jewish organization in Ohio received faith-based government money this year, according to the Cleveland Jewish News.
• A JCC camp in St. Louis used part of its summer to collect some 2,000 cans of food for an ailing food pantry, the St. Louis Jewish Light reports.
• Please add New Jersey Jewish News editor Andy Silow Caroll as a Facebook friend. He is feeling a little Facebook lonely.

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