Uncategorized
Some thoughts on Netanyahu’s speech before Congress – and the Jewish Federation allocations to agencies
By BERNIE BELLAN After just having watched Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, I’m left wondering – as are probably most pundits, just who it was that Netanyahu was trying to reach?
There certainly wasn’t anything new in what he had to say. He offered his oft-repeated litany of warnings about the dangers posed by Iran and its surrogates in the Middle East and insisted that Israel will continue its war in Gaza until it has achieved its aims.
By now though, Netanyahu has backed down from his initial goal of “totally eradicating” Hamas to instead pressing for the removal of Hamas from power – to be replaced by some sort of Palestinian civilian administration (of course, without even giving a hint of which Palestinians could be expected to form that administration).
The timing of Netanyahu’s appearance before Congress was indeed strange. No doubt, he expected to be coming to America when President Biden was still determined to continue his hopeless quest to defeat Donald Trump, so Netanyahu was for sure anticipating that he could coddle up to a soon-to-be-elected President Trump by issuing heaps of praise in his speech for how much Trump had done for Israel.
There have been many reports that even Netanyahu – who has bent over backwards to flatter as supreme a narcissist as Donald Trump, had angered Trump when he issued congratulations to President Biden over his winning the 2020 election. (Anyone who refused to go along with Trump’s insistence that the election was stolen ended up on the wrong side of Trump.) Netanyahu’s coming to the US was meant largely to patch up those damaged feelings – especially when until Sunday, July 20, it seemed all but certain that Trump was headed to victory this coming November.
Then that darned Biden had to go and throw all of Netanyahu’s calculations into the dumpster. Now, instead of being able to offer a non-stop series of remarks intended to flatter the man who was all but certain headed to a sweeping victory in November, Netanyahu had to modulate his speech to also thank President Biden for the strong support he had shown Israel since October 7. Better to keep one foot in the Democrats’ camp too, Netanyahu realized.
Still, will Netanyahu’s speech make any difference at all in the coming US election? Not at all. Anyone who knows Trump understands that he really could care less about the Middle East – unless there’s money to be made for the Trump organization there.
What about Trump’s much ballyhooed “deal of the century,” which he kept talking about back when he was President – and on which his son-in-law Jared Kushner was working (quite constructively, I’ll admit) to bring about a larger peace deal that would have included Saudi Arabia, but which also got stuck on the thorny issue of creating a Palestinian state? Is there any likelihood that a Trump administration would want to revisit that plan? Not while Netanyahu and the right-wing fanatics who are keeping him in power are still calling the shots.
While the Republican Party is sure to give staunch support to Israel – no matter who is in charge in Israel, what can be said about the Democrats?
Kamala Harris is likely to try and steer clear of enunciating any kind of clear policies when it comes to providing support for Israel. Sure, she’ll repeat the standard mantra of America standing behind Israel, but when it comes to translating that policy into concrete action, I expect that Harris will bob and weave. The mere announcement that Biden was dropping his determination to remain in the presidential race – thus leaving the floor clear for Harris to step into the role as candidate, led to a huge torrent of support from among American Jews for Harris.
So, if Harris can count on the roughly 80% of American Jews who voted for Biden in 2020 to come around again – what does that mean for her working to gain back some other constituencies who had lost interest in voting for Biden? Are Arab Americans in Michigan – where they form a sizeable group of voters, now likely to return to the Democrat fold? We’ll have to wait for polls to tell us how likely that is – and just how much Harris’s entering the race instead of Biden will have narrowed the fairly large gap that existed between Trump and Biden. I rather tend to think that Harris will be able to continue building momentum and that the 5% of Americans who, to this point, have remained undecided about which presidential candidate they will vote for will largely swing her way. On top of that, large numbers of voters who indicated they would vote for Trump – largely because they found him less unattractive than Biden, will begin to switch over to Harris.
And, where does that leave Netanyahu and his Machiavellian calculations? Based on what has happened to date, when he has consistently torpedoed deals that would have led to a cease fire, he is likely simply to procrastinate – which will keep him in good stead with those two right wing fanatics who are propping him up: Smotrich and Ben Gvir.
Switching gears – there will be many interesting stories in the days to come on this website about different members of our Jewish community – both current and former – in particular, stories that Myron Love has written about relatively young members of our community who have stepped up to assume leadership roles, including brothers Harley and Bradley Abells, Jonathan Strauss, and Elena Grinshteyn. (So, if you’re reading this on July 24, keep an eye out for new stories soon to appear.)
I have to add a note of caution though – which I’m prone to doing when it comes to discussing the long term health of our Jewish community. And that note emanates from my own report on allocations to the beneficiary agencies of the Jewish Federation in this issue.
As I observe in my story about those allocations, while the total amount to be distributed has remained fairly constant the past two years, it is somewhat lower than what it was three and four years ago, and when inflation is taken into account, it is far less than what it was 10 years ago.
While the Combined Jewish Appeal has been successful in realizing its goals each year for the past many years, again, when inflation is taken into account, what the community is raising relative to what it raised 10 years ago is far less.
But, as I’ve also noted in my reports about the Jewish Foundation each year that it announces the total value of grants it has distributed, it is the Foundation that has been very much stepping into the breech between what the needs of the community are and what has been raised by the Combined Jewish Appeal.
This past year the Foundation distributed just under $7 million in grants. That was also approximately how much the Foundation distributed the previous year, but it was a huge increase from just two years prior (2020) when the Foundation distributed a little over $5 million in grants.
And, as I reported in the July 3 issue, the Foundation is now committed to distributing 5% of the total value of its investment portfolio next year. Considering that the portfolio is now valued at over $160 million, that means the Foundation is likely to distribute over $8 million in grants in the coming year. Add to that the fact that the Foundation continues to receive a very large number of contributions each year ($5.8 million this past year), and the Foundation has become the bedrock of the financial sustainability of our Jewish community. Where would be without the Jewish Foundation? I’d hate to think.
Uncategorized
My Path to Being More Observant: Building a Jewish Life on Love, Not Fear
Reading from a Torah scroll in accordance with Sephardi tradition. Photo: Sagie Maoz via Wikimedia Commons.
I love connecting Jews to Judaism. There’s a big part of the Jewish world where people don’t know what they’re missing out on. If people have only ever been exposed to one stream of Judaism from a young age, their worldview will be shaped by that experience. We have access to knowledge, spirituality, and meaningful ways to connect to G-d, and we should be sharing this with all Jews.
I try to show them love by inviting them to Shabbat dinners and powerful experiences. These are all very important things to me. But I wasn’t always this way.
I grew up in Sharon, Massachusetts, surrounded by a rich tapestry of Jewish life. I attended Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue, spent summers at Camp YJ in Amherst, New Hampshire, and was involved in BBYO throughout high school. Between Hebrew school three days a week and my parents hosting many Jewish holidays, Judaism was woven into the fabric of my daily life.
Yet despite this strong foundation, my journey to Aish’s yeshiva program wasn’t something anyone might have predicted. I was always connected with Judaism growing up, and I had many Modern Orthodox friends in college, but yeshiva wasn’t initially on my radar. That changed when I got to the University of Michigan.
At Michigan, I connected with Michigan Hillel and became deeply involved in Israel activism and Jewish student leadership. I also developed a meaningful relationship with Rabbi Fully Eisenberger, at the Jewish Resource Center, who taught me for four years. The Jewish Resource Center at Michigan became instrumental in my growth, supported my learning journey, and gave me confidence in my decisions.
The Jewish Resource Center was tremendous to me. I really felt supported in my journey and my learning, and that allowed me to feel confident in my decisions to go to Aish.
I had visited Israel four times before that point, starting with a five-week trip through Camp YJ in 2019. After I graduated from Michigan, I had a consulting job lined up in Manhattan starting in February, which gave me a perfect window of time in between. I decided Israel was my best option to increase my Jewish knowledge and set up my Jewish future for success. Ultimately, that meant yeshiva.
Having arrived at Aish in September 2025, I dived headfirst into intensive Jewish learning. While my studies have been overwhelmingly positive, the transition hasn’t been without its challenges. I’ll admit that my biggest hurdle is wanting to run before I know how to walk.
I wish I could read Gemara all day, but translations are hard for me. Sometimes you just have to take your time and say the words correctly and with intention. Time is my challenge. That’s my hurdle.
Despite these mild frustrations, I have found incredible support among my rabbis. Rabbi Daniel Schloss has been particularly influential in helping me understand halakha, Jewish law. The way he gets me to think through the principles of Shabbat is very powerful, because it shows I have the ability to interpret halakha and use it correctly. He’s an incredible teacher.
Rabbi Ethan Katz has also been instrumental in my growth, as he’s helped me learn to study at a pace that I desired, and I’m grateful for that. He has such positive energy, and I really appreciate that.
Throughout my journey, my family has been remarkably supportive. My parents have embraced this increasingly observant path I have been traveling, catering to my needs and ensuring I can build the Jewish future I envision. While they haven’t necessarily followed the same trajectory themselves, their gift to me was the foundation that made everything else possible.
Even as I learn, I’m always looking for ways to give back. Before arriving here, I led a Birthright Israel trip, and will be leading another one. I look forward to the day when I can host people regularly and get involved with outreach organizations back in New York.
People often ask me if I’m wary of being in New York, but I refuse to let others define my Jewish identity. Our Judaism is made up of things we love. We love being Jewish, celebrating the holidays, and connecting with the community. I’m looking to find positive ways to build my Judaism.
Thanks to my upbringing and studies, I feel confident and proud of my Judaism. I want to bring that confidence and passion with me, ready to share what I’ve learned and continue growing in my connection to the most fulfilling Jewish life.
The author holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a minor in Entrepreneurship and Judaic Studies from the University of Michigan, and recently attended Yeshiva in Israel at Aish.
Uncategorized
Holocaust Survivor, 96, Celebrates Aliyah to Israel With Five Generations of Descendants
Charlotte Roth’s aliyah ceremony, attended by five generations of her descendants. Photo: Nefesh B’Nefesh
Holocaust survivor Charlotte Roth formally immigrated to Israel on Wednesday and celebrated with an aliyah ceremony attended by her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren who live in the Jewish state.
“It is a truly wonderful moment in my life to be able to call myself Israeli, a citizen of our Jewish state,” said Roth, 96. “Walking these streets with five generations of my family fills my heart with deep joy and strength, especially when I see Israeli soldiers and feel safety and pride where there was once fear.”
Aliyah refers to the process of Jews immigrating to Israel.
Roth made the move to Israel with help from Nefesh B’Nefesh — a nonprofit organization that promotes and facilitates aliyah from the US and Canada — and the Israeli government’s Population and Immigration Authority, in cooperation with the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and three nonprofits: The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, and Jewish National Fund–USA.
The Holocaust survivor was born in Czechoslovakia. In 1944 during Passover, at the age of 14, Roth’s family was forced into a Jewish ghetto. Weeks later the family was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in a cattle car and faced horrific conditions during their transportation. Upon arrival at the Nazi death camp, which was the second day of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Roth was separated from her mother and siblings, and never saw them again.
Roth did forced labor in Auschwitz. She survived the Nazi concentration camp, a death march, and imprisonment in another camp before she was liberated at the end of World War II. Her mother and siblings did not survive the Holocaust and before she had a chance to reunite with her father, he committed suicide, thinking that his whole family had died. Roth met her future husband in a Displaced Persons camp, where they married and had their first child before immigrating to the United States. They had four children together and today Roth is the matriarch of nine grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and 11 great-great-grandchildren.
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B’Nefesh, said Roth’s life journey “is a testament to the extraordinary resilience of the Jewish spirit.”
“From unimaginable darkness emerged a light that has shone for over five generations,” he added. “Her aliyah, surrounded by her family in the Jewish homeland, is profoundly moving and represents courage, renewal, and the enduring triumph of our nation. We are deeply privileged to share in this remarkable moment.”
Roth continues to wear one possession that she still has from before the Holocaust, which is a ring engraved with the initials “IS,” for Ilanka Shvartz, the name she was given at birth.
Uncategorized
DePaul University Denounces Antisemitic Harassment, Targeting of Jewish Students
Students walk into the student center on the campus of DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, US, Oct. 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jim Vondruska
DePaul University in Chicago has denounced an antisemitic incident which took place near its grounds last Wednesday, with President Robert Manuel saying he is “outraged.”
According to the university, a group of its students, as well as others from Loyola College and Roosevelt University, were harassed at the local Olive & Oak Café during a regular outing hosted by Hillel and the Jewish United Fund. During a verbal onslaught, the perpetrators demanded that the students leave for being Jewish while a JUF staff member was subject to battery, according to a description of the incident told by the Chicago Police Department.
“While this incident occurred off campus, I am outraged that our students were targeted and harassed because of their Jewish identity,” Manuel said in a statement on Monday. “These actions are inexcusable. DePaul University condemns antisemitism in all its forms and will continue to stand firm in doing so, in line with our Catholic, Vincentian values.”
He continued, “We are working to determine whether any of the offenders are affiliated with DePaul community, and we will take swift, consistent action if any violations of university policy are identified … Acts of hate and violence has no place at DePaul — or anywhere. Our commitment to foster a campus environment rooted in dignity, care, and respect for all remains unwavering.”
Last Wednesday’s incident is not the first time Jewish DePaul students have been subject to alleged battery and discrimination.
In November 2024, two Jewish students participating in a pro-Israel demonstration at DePaul University were “brutally” assaulted by two ruffians who concealed their identities with masks. At least one of the men, Adam Erkan, involved in the assault has since pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery. According to court documents, he approached the victims, Max Long and Michael Kaminsky, in a ski mask while shouting antisemitic epithets and statements. He then attacked both students, fracturing Kaminsky’s wrist and inflicting a brain injury on Long, whom he pummeled into an unconscious state.
Law enforcement identified Erkan, who absconded to another location in a car, after his father came forward to confirm that it was his visage which surveillance cameras captured near the scene of the crime. According to multiple reports, the assailant avoided severer criminal penalties by agreeing to plead guilty to lesser offenses than the felony hate crime counts with which he was originally charged.
His accomplice, described as a man in his age group, remained at large as of late last year.
“One attacker has now admitted guilt for brutally assaulting two Jewish students at DePaul University. That is a step toward justice, but it is nowhere near enough,” The Lawfare Project, a Jewish civil rights advocacy group which represented the Jewish students throughout the criminal proceedings, said in a statement responding to the plea deal. “The second attacker remains at large, and Max and Michael continue to experience ongoing threats. We demand — and fully expect — his swift arrest and prosecution to ensure justice for these students and for the Jewish community harmed by this antisemitic hate crime.”
Antisemitic incidents on US college campuses have exploded nationwide since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
The 2025-2026 academic year has seen a continuation of that pattern.
Earlier this month, a non-student graffitied Nazi insignia on the campus of Northwestern University. The Schutzstaffel (SS) symbol representing the notorious paramilitary group under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany was spray-painted on Northwestern’s campus in Evanston, Illinois. The SS played a central role in the Nazis’ systematic killing of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
In January, a right-wing influencer and University of Miami student upbraided her Jewish peers in a tirade in which she denounced them as “disgusting” while accusing rabbis of eating infants.
“Christianity, which says love everyone, meanwhile your Bible says eating someone who is a non-Jew is like eating with an animal. That’s what the Talmud says,” the social media influencer, Kaylee Mahony, yelled at members of Students Supporting Israel (SSI) who had a table at a campus fair held at the University of Miami. “That’s what these people follow.”
She continued, “They think that if you are not a Jew you are an animal. That’s the Talmud. That’s the Talmud.”
The Talmud, a key source of Jewish law, tradition, and theology, is often misrepresented by antisemitic agitators in an effort to malign the Jewish people and their religion.
Mahony can also be heard in video of the incident responding to one of the SSI members, saying, “Because you’re disgusting. It’s disgusting.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.