I have dedicated my life to the security of Israel — as a citizen, a soldier rising to deputy chief of staff of the IDF, and now as the leader of one of Israel’s main opposition parties committed to being part of our next government; one of repair and rebuilding.

The barbaric massacre inflicted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 was the biggest disaster ever to befall the State of Israel. That day I, like many other Israelis, did what I could: I headed south into the fight to save as many lives as possible.

As we reflect this Rosh Hashanah, nearly two years into Israel’s longest war, we have yet to heal from the trauma of that day and everything since. A majority of Israelis agree it is time to end the fighting, bring the hostages home and begin the process of rebuilding our embattled and brutalized country and region.

To do that we need the support, solidarity and partnership of Diaspora Jewry. Israel is the national homeland of the Jewish people and Oct. 7 was not just an Israeli tragedy but a Jewish one. Brutal extremists massacred 1,200 mostly, but not only, Jewish men, women and children. It triggered an ongoing wave of antisemitism starting even before Israel had responded, driven by those who share, sympathize with and justify the same murderous, antisemitic ideology as Hamas. It has brought hatred, violence and even murder to Jewish communities worldwide.

Since Oct. 7 it has been crystal clear: The wellbeing, security and fates of all Israeli citizens and world Jewry are intertwined and inseparable. In the spirit of the High Holidays, therefore, we must reflect on, renew and strengthen our relationship. Israel’s citizens need your support and I pledge that any government of which I am a part will always respect the values and interests of world Jewry.

Historically, the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jews has been asymmetrical. It was formulated in a 1950 agreement between Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, and the president of the American Jewish Committee, Jacob Blaustein.

World Jewry would provide material and diplomatic support. Israel would do nothing to undermine the loyalties of Diaspora Jews to their countries of citizenship. Dirty laundry about Israel and the relationship would not be publicly aired.  It was not a partnership of equals but in those early decades it served its purpose. And throughout those decades, Israel was overwhelmingly a source of pride for the Jewish people.

But what made sense in 1950 no longer makes sense today. Israel and the Jewish people’s worst crisis in decades has been presided over by the most dangerous, reckless and extreme government in Israel’s history. A government that cynically includes the likes of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir cannot possibly uphold the Jewish and democratic values of the overwhelming majority of world Jewry or, for that matter, of Israel’s citizens.

And just as this government sows division in Israel, it is exporting division to your communities. The poison-machine that attacks legitimate democratic dissent in Israel now extends to attempting to silence Diaspora dissent. Israel’s own government is alienating the liberal majority of world Jewry when our partnership is most vital. This is a betrayal of Zionism and Jewish Peoplehood. We need to resist it together. Any government I join will not ignore, patronize or take for granted world Jewry but work in partnership with it. And when we disagree, we will not accuse you of treachery but will hear what you have to say.

Israel’s democracy is under attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prioritizes his own political survival over and above upholding the values on which Israel was founded as set out in the Declaration of Independence.

Just as we Israelis request and need Diaspora support when Israel is attacked by external enemies, be they Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran or the Houthis, so we need Diaspora Jews to support us in withstanding the assault from within. Our partnership is urgent and strategically consequential. Israelis of diverse backgrounds defending our democracy are more likely to succeed if Diaspora Jewry steps up.  You have a right and an interest in doing so. If Israeli democracy is destroyed it will not only be a catastrophe for Israel but for world Jewry.

That is why I am calling on Diaspora Jews to be more vocal. Now is not the time to distance yourself from Israel and Israelis, however repellant you find our current government, but to draw closer in unprecedented liberal partnership.

Our new partnership must be one of equals, built on mutual dignity, consideration for our very different circumstances and complete honesty. World Jewry needs to understand the challenges faced by all Israelis and that the need for security in our turbulent region necessitates tough actions. Likewise, Israelis must better understand the challenges facing pluralistic and vibrant Diaspora communities, as minorities facing an onslaught of antisemitism while their own countries grapple with threats to democracy and security.

Our new partnership must also recognize that while Israel is and will always remain the national homeland of the Jewish People, 20% of Israel’s citizens are not Jewish. Israel’s Arab minority — mostly Sunni Muslims — must be included within our partnership. This community is not only an important political partner for changing Israel’s internal trajectory and for forging peace, but a potential ally for better interfaith relations for Jews around the world.

World Jewry can and must distinguish between the policies of this government of which the great majority — like a majority of Israelis — disapprove, and Israel’s citizens and society. Israelis like me who oppose this government must do a better job proving what has long been lost on Netanyahu — that he is not the state.

More Israelis than ever, many driven by despair at the lack of prospects for a better future. are living around the world. There is an unprecedented opportunity for them to work in closer partnership with Diaspora communities. This partnership can be a bridge to greater mutual understanding, confidence and decisive action. And when the election comes, we need every likeminded citizen of Israel back home to vote.

Diaspora philanthropists who support Netanyahu’s attack on democracy, who support expanding the settlement movement and the ongoing judicial coup have put their resources, voices and energy into doing so. They have done this in complete disregard of the Blaustein-Ben-Gurion agreement. Now we need Diaspora philanthropists who support Israeli democracy to step up and invest in our civil society in the face of the government’s ruthless attacks. We need you to stop playing the current game by outdated rules that this government’s supporters brazenly flout themselves but aggressively demand from others to silence dissent.

We also all need hope: hope this war will end, that we will bring home the hostages and that we will save Israeli democracy from the brink. And that we will repair and strengthen the relationship between Israel and Jews worldwide.

A better shared future is possible, but only after this government is confined to history, where it belongs. Jews around the world need to confidently and boldly speak up now for the Israel they love and need, in solidarity with millions of Israelis who have had enough of this extremist government. You are not outsiders. You are legitimate partners and we need to hear your voice. That is my message to rabbis across the Jewish world as they prepare their Rosh Hashanah sermons and to every Jew reflecting on the their contribution to Israel and the Jewish people over the past and coming year. Kol Yisrael arevim zeh lazeh. Speak up and speak out!

I stand for election to serve all the citizens of Israel but also to serve the people of Israel — all the People of Israel, of which Diaspora Jewry is an inseparable part. Together as never before, all like-minded citizens of Israel and world Jewry need to join forces to strive for what we all so desperately need and want: a much better year.

The first draft of the survey of sentiment among Jewish professionals contained an unexpected stumper: Where do you find hope?

The question on the survey drafted by M², The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education was conceived as a way to surface solutions at a tough time for those on the frontlines of Jewish communities. But as the draft circulated within the organization, founder and CEO Shuki Taylor said the feedback was almost unanimous: “Why are you assuming that people have hope right now?”

The response spurred a revision. “We kind of changed the assumptions behind the study,” Taylor said. The new first question was different: “Are you feeling hopeful?”

And the results were gutting: Less than a quarter of Jewish community workers report often feeling hopeful about the future, according to the poll. In contrast, recent research has shown that 82% of the U.S. population reports feeling hopeful about the future.

The respondents — nearly 950 employees of Jewish organizations in the United States — said their hopelessness was not primarily driven by antisemitism or Israel’s multifront war. Instead, the most frequent answer was “internal communal division,” comprising nearly twice as many answers as other concerns.

After that, respondents listed “leadership failures,” followed by “external hostility/antisemitism” and “navigating Israel discourse.” They also described feeling “caught between competing factions,” “unable to navigate constituency expectations,” and “watching our community tear itself apart,” according to the report.

The survey was fielded between July and August, following Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran, but before the focus of media coverage on Israel’s offensive in Gaza shifted to reports of widespread starvation in the enclave.

It was taken as tensions in Jewish spaces broke into public view. In one salient example in early August, two British rabbis were jeered off stage at a rally in support of the Israeli hostages in Gaza by members of the crowd who objected to them calling for an end to the war.

The dustup surfaced internal tensions that had been playing out behind the scenes within Jewish organizations, particularly but not only about Israel. In December, 14 staffers of New York City’s Museum of Jewish Heritage wrote a letter obtained by Jewish Currents objecting to the display of the American and Israeli flags in the museum’s lobby, writing that they signify an “endorsement of Israeli politics.” But that was just one example: In Hebrew schools and synagogues, social media discussion groups and on WhatsApp, tensions among employees of Jewish organizations have been rising along with angst about the war in Gaza.

According to Clare Goldwater, the chief strategy officer of M², it became very clear from the responses to the survey that discussions about Israel had become a “very polarizing factor” in Jewish community spaces.

“People don’t feel safe saying what they think in their workplaces,” said Goldwater. “They feel that there’s a culture in which debate and discussion about complex issues is very hard to have, and the culture does not cultivate places for processing discussion and constructive debate.”

Taylor said that he had filled out the survey himself and identified with the results.

“I think that especially when it comes to my own sentiments and internal communal divisions, there’s a time in which being an ardent Zionist and a strong supporter of Israel, where it rubs up against certain elements of progressive values, and that’s really, really challenging,” he said.

Indeed, while fears over rising antisemitism and a recent spate of antisemitic attacks, including in Washington, D.C. and Boulder, Colorado, contributed to the sentiment, the study found that the greatest obstacle of sustaining hope among respondents was internal division within Jewish communities, including political disagreements and sensitivities around Israel, according to the survey.

Two-thirds of the survey’s respondents said the situation in Israel affects their personal well-being, and 59% worry extensively about antisemitism, but just a quarter said that antisemitism significantly affects their work performance.

The study listed four recommendations for Jewish organizations to better support their workers: “Develop principled leadership,” provide dialogue and conversation training to address internal communal division; make the impact of their organizations more visible; and “strengthen Jewish identity and belonging.”

“In terms of the culture that can be created, the recommendation is to clearly create a culture in which people can process how they’re feeling, feel safe to say what they need to say and have constructive dialogue,” said Goldwater.

But she said the survey also suggested a paradox — while some workers sought strong statements from their leaders, taking a clear stance could also sow further divisions.

“On one hand, it’s very clear that people want moral clarity from their leadership. They want people to say something, to mean it, to stand for something,” Goldwater said. “But we also see here that sometimes people find it challenging when their leaders say things they don’t agree with.”

This piece first ran as part of The Countdown, our daily newsletter rounding up all the developments in the New York City mayor’s race. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. There are 47 days to the election.

📝 The definition of antisemitism

• Two congressmen, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York and Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, have slammed Mamdani for opposing a definition of antisemitism published by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

• In June, Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order recognizing the IHRA definition in city agencies. But Mamdani said in a Bloomberg News interview that he would stop using the definition as mayor because it conflates anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

• The IHRA definition does not mention Zionism, though it identifies some forms of Israel criticism as antisemitic. Read more about why the IHRA definition is controversial.

• Lawler and Gottheimer, who is Jewish, called Mamdani’s stance on the definition “shameful, dangerous, and completely disgusting” in a joint statement. They added, “Let’s be extremely clear: the BDS movement is antisemitic.” Mamdani told Bloomberg that he continues to “support BDS and nonviolent approaches to address Israeli state violence.”

• The House members are pushing in Congress for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would legally codify the IHRA definition.

• A spokesperson for Mamdani said he will “approach antisemitism in line with the Biden Administration’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism,” which “emphasizes education, community engagement, and accountability to reverse the normalization of antisemitism and promote open dialogue.”

🎬 Cuomo nabs the Woody Allen vote

• Woody Allen shared his vote in an interview on the “Honestly with Bari Weiss” podcast.

• “I’m going to vote for Cuomo,” said Allen. “I feel Mamdani is perfectly nice. I think he’s fine. His heart’s in the right place, he wants nice things, but I think Cuomo will do a much better job.”

• Allen, the archetypal New York Jew of film who has been sidelined in recent years over allegations of sexual misconduct, is a longtime Democrat who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

• Nonetheless, he praised President Donald Trump as “a very good actor” earlier this month on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast. He directed Trump in the 1998 film “Celebrity.” “If he would let me direct him now that he’s president, I think I could do wonders,” said Allen.

🤝 Mamdani and Sanders chat foreign policy

• Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of his most prominent Jewish allies, talked all things mayoral in a conversation released by his campaign. Sanders was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont, for eight years.

• Mamdani, who is well-known for his pro-Palestinian advocacy and criticism of Israel, asked Sanders about speaking against U.S. foreign policy as a mayor. A photo in the video depicted Mamdani wearing a T-shirt that said, “Stop arming Israel.”

• Sanders started with a caution. “First of all, you’ve got to do your job. You’re not running for president of the United States. You’re running for mayor of New York City,” he said. But he added, “Sometimes, as the leader of a great city, you do have the right to reflect the views of the people in your city on some of the important issues facing the country.”

• Sanders also said, “The American people do not want to continue to spend billions of dollars supporting Netanyahu’s extremist government, which is wreaking havoc and destruction on the Palestinian people.”

• On Wednesday, Sanders became the first senator to join Mamdani in saying that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The Anti-Defamation League has filed a new lawsuit on behalf of the families of victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

The lawsuit, which follows another filed in July 2024 against Iran, Syria and North Korea for abetting terrorists, includes claims against eight foreign terrorist groups for their efforts in orchestrating the Oct. 7 attacks.

The terror groups added to the new lawsuit include Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, Popular Resistance Committees and Hezbollah.

The lawsuit makes use of two federal statutes: the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which allows victims to sue state sponsors of terrorism, and the Anti-Terrorism Act, which enables lawsuits against foreign terrorist organizations. It was filed by the ADL alongside Crowell and Moring, a top-earning law firm which employs dozens of former federal government officials.

“The victims of the October 7 massacre deserve justice, accountability and redress,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the ADL, in a statement. “This lawsuit seeks to do that by holding those responsible for the carnage accountable, from the state sponsors who provided the funding, weapons, and training to the terrorist organizations who carried out these unspeakable atrocities.”

The lawsuit joins a slew of cases attempting to use American courts to seek redress following Oct. 7. It seeks compensation for victims of Oct. 7 as well as punitive damages meant to deter future attacks, according to the ADL release.

The new lawsuit also includes additional families who were not included in the initial lawsuit, which is ongoing.

“The world must never forget what happened on October 7,” said plaintiffs David and Hazel Brief, whose son, Yona, was killed as a result of injuries sustained during the attack. “Our son’s life was senselessly cut short. We believe it is critical that those responsible for the horrific terror inflicted that day are held accountable in a court of law, to ensure the record is clear as to who helped support, plan and carry out the violence that day.”

Working at MTV is not typical training for a Jewish day school teacher. But Oren Kaunfer is no ordinary Jewish teacher.

The New England native had a successful career in television before deciding he wanted a more meaningful job. Kaunfer, the son of a prominent Conservative rabbi from Providence, Rhode Island, enjoyed the creativity of the entertainment business. But working on animation for shows like “Celebrity Death Match” just wasn’t checking his fulfillment box.

Friends suggested Kaunfer consider working at the Jewish Community Day School in Boston’s suburbs, where his daughter was about to enter kindergarten. 

He attended a retreat for the pluralistic Jewish community school, warmed up to the idea and in 2012 applied for a job as madriach ruchani, or spiritual educator. School administrators liked his nontraditional career experience, combined with his day school background and musical talent. 

“I went from producing promos earlier in the summer to being on lunch duty in September,” Kaunfer recalled. 

Fast forward 13 years and Kaunfer plays a unique role at the K-8 school of approximately 170 students. Leading the Jewish life team, Kaunfer works with children of various ages and uses technology and creativity to teach Judaism and get students to think imaginatively about their spiritual life and practices. 

In fourth-grade Bible study, Kaunfer has students use stop-motion animation to create films with their own midrashic interpretations of a Jewish text. He has co-taught a class where students develop a coding project to enhance the experience of Jewish prayer. 

During COVID, Kaunfer used virtual reality headsets (delivered to students via contactless delivery) to facilitate joint prayer services while students were sequestered at home. An accomplished musician who plays guitar, mandolin and harmonica, Kaunfer re-imagined Kabbalat Shabbat on Zoom as a live TV variety show.

“Tefilah does not reside solely inside the prayerbook,” Kaunfer said.

Kaunfer’s career journey isn’t merely a feel-good story. It highlights one possible solution to a growing challenge faced by Jewish day schools across North America: how to fill a critical shortage of teachers, particularly Judaic studies teachers. 

The dearth of teachers is a national challenge, and it’s even more pronounced at Jewish schools, where Judaic studies educators need additional qualifications such as Jewish knowledge and Hebrew proficiency. A recent report from the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) and Prizmah, two groups that support day schools, put the problem bluntly: “School and field leaders are struggling with recruiting, training and retaining talented educators.”

Sharon Freundel, managing director of JEIC, whose mission is to improve the quality of Jewish education in day schools across North America, said the COVID pandemic worsened the problem. Some veteran teachers retired to avoid remote teaching, while others did not feel comfortable returning to the classroom when in-school learning resumed.   

“We need to figure out a variety of ways to attract more people to Jewish teaching–and to keep them–and we need to be operating on multiple tracks simultaneously,” Freundel said. “Identifying and motivating talented individuals currently working in other professions is one important piece of the puzzle.”

Prestige and pay are part of the challenge. Kaunfer is an example of someone whose career trajectory carries the potential to change perceptions related to the prestige of teaching in a Jewish school. 

To enhance the pipeline of Jewish teachers, JEIC, together with Touro University, is launching a pilot program this month that aims to spark interest in day school teaching from a young age: among high school seniors in Jewish day schools. Students from four prominent day schools are taking a pedagogy class at Touro University for college credit and then student-teaching at their own schools, including the Ramaz School in New York City, North Shore Hebrew Academy on New York’s Long Island, Atlanta Jewish Academy, and Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts. 

JEIC is also surveying communities across North America to see how it can improve benefits for Jewish day school teachers, including facilitating special discounting at such institutions as synagogues, Jewish camps and even kosher markets — similar to how US military service members are eligible for special discounts.

The Prizmah day school network, which includes about 315 Jewish day schools and yeshivas across North America, launched a pilot program in Boston using a recruiter to fill open Judaic studies positions at local Prizmah-affiliated schools. For this school year, the program will be expanded to Jewish schools in Chicago. 

“There’s no silver bullet to solve the Jewish teacher pipeline issue,” said Rabbi Marc Wolf, Prizmah’s chief program and strategy officer. 

JEIC and Prizmah are not alone in trying to recruit more teachers to the profession and support them with incentives. National and local foundations, Jewish federations and local Jewish institutions also are involved. 

For its part, JEIC receives support from Touro and the Mayberg Foundation for its fellowship program. Prizmah is partnering with Boston’s federation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and the Beker Foundation, a Jewish family foundation in Boston. Chicago’s Jewish federation, the Jewish United Fund, and Associated Talmud Torahs of Chicago are helping with Prizmah’s efforts in the Windy City. 

Investing in Jewish education is a communal must, Freundel said, because Jewish day schools are the single-most important institution for building a positive Jewish identity among the next generation of involved Jews. 

Kaunfer says his career switch was an incredibly meaningful Jewish choice, and he speaks reverently about the growing pile of student thank-you notes he has received over the years. Jewish teaching also brought Kaunfer into the family business: His family helped establish a Jewish day school in Providence, his mother is an award-winning day school teacher, and his brother Elie Kaunfer is president and a founder of the Hadar Institute, which trains Jewish educators, rabbis and others.

Prayer is one of Kaunfer’s main areas of focus, and he approaches it in unconventional ways. He screens different versions of TV ads to demonstrate to students how people reciting the same text can send different messages. Using the childhood classic “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” he gets students talking about their own “prayer journeys.” He draws connections between the physical elements of Jewish prayer – bowing, kissing, standing on one’s toes – and improvisational dance. 

The head of school at JCDS, Shira Deener, hailed Oren Kaunfer as a boon to the school’s Jewish culture and character.

“Oren is an extraordinary educator and an unbelievable musician,” Deener said, adding that his musical talents have helped transform the school’s weekly Friday Kabbalat Shabbat services. 

Susie Tanchel, who hired Kaunfer when she was head of school at JCDS and now is vice president at Hebrew College in Boston, said people like Kaunfer are evidence that Jewish educators can be found in all kinds of unexpected places. Finding other motivated and talented professionals looking for meaning in their careers can be an important part of the solution of addressing the Jewish day school teacher shortage, she noted. 

“Oren is a special guy, but there are other special people in the world,” Tanchel said. “He’s not the only one.”

The politician expected to become the city’s top financial manager in January is dismissing concerns that Zohran Mamdani, if elected mayor, could divest from Israel.

Mamdani is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. He has publicly backed a permanent end to investing the city’s pensions funds in Israel bonds. 

But Mark Levine, the Democratic candidate for comptroller, said in an interview that there is “no real track record of the mayor driving significant investment decisions” in the city’s pension funds — and that if Mamdani or anyone else tried, they would have a hard time making an impact.

The mayor “certainly couldn’t act singlehandedly,” said Levine, noting that investment decisions are made by boards on which the mayor has just a single appointee. “Just doesn’t have the votes for that.”

Meanwhile, Levine, who is Jewish and a fluent Hebrew speaker, said months ago that he intends to invest in Israel bonds and has doubled down since.

“Israel bonds have never missed a payment in 80 years. They pay excellent interest,” he said.

Levine’s comments come as Mamdani, the Democratic candidate, solidifies frontrunner status ahead of the November election. As attention turns to how the 33-year-old democratic socialist might try to put his progressive ideas into reality, Levine’s assurances highlight the checks in place within city government that could prevent him from doing so. 

Since the 1970s, Israel bonds had been part of the city’s investment portfolio. But in 2023, the current comptroller, Brad Lander, decided not to reinvest after the $39 million in Israel bonds matured. Mamdani, who cross-endorsed Lander in the mayoral primary, said earlier in September that he supported the “current comptroller’s approach” to Israel bonds.

Separate from the money in Israel bonds, New York City pension funds hold more than $300 million in Israel-based assets. 

Mamdani has stopped short of saying he would divest from all Israeli businesses, and has said that his platform is “not the same as national DSA,” the Democratic Socialists of America party of which Mamdani is a member. The DSA has made BDS support a “litmus test” for candidate endorsement.

Still, some are concerned that a Mamdani administration could at some point seek to divest from Israel entirely. A recent op-ed in the Jerusalem Post treated the prospect as a given, speculating that Mamdani would “move on to the private companies” after divesting from Israel. The piece concludes that there is “no other way to look at it, because he would have the option to act as he pleases once in office.”

That’s not right, according to Levine. “The comptroller has outsized influence over the investment decisions that we make,” he said. 

For each of the city’s five pension funds to pass any investment decisions, its board of trustees must vote in favor. Those boards vary in size, but typically consist of the comptroller, an appointee by the mayor, and a number of labor representatives. Recommendations are made to those boards by the comptroller’s in-house Bureau of Asset Management.

“The mayor has only one vote, and there’s no real track record of the mayor driving significant investment decisions in our pension funds, for that reason,” Levine said. He added that investment decisions are “generally led by the comptroller, in consultation with municipal labor trustees.”

Elizabeth Holtzman, who was New York City’s comptroller from 1990 until 1993, said in an interview that the comptroller typically has a leg up when communicating with the pension fund boards.

“The mayor isn’t spending a lot of time dealing with pension issues and with the boards — the comptroller is,” Holtzman said. “So you have a much closer working relationship.”

There are more obstacles to divesting from a country’s businesses than just the governance structure, Holtzman added. During her term as comptroller, Holtzman and Mayor David Dinkins were aligned on the idea of divesting from South African companies to protest that country’s racial apartheid. Even with both parties in agreement, she said, the process was arduous, she recalled.

“The mayor and I, even though we despised the policies of South Africa, couldn’t just snap our fingers and divest from stocks in South Africa,” Holtzman said.

The move to divest needed to pass a “serious legal analysis” assessing that it met fiduciary standards by the Corporation counsel, the city’s top lawyer.

“You’re supposed to make the decisions on investments based on a professional analysis of the risk versus return,” Holtzman said. “So if you’re going to divert from the standard risk-versus-return analysis — you are a fiduciary, so you better have facts to back you up.”

Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani’s foremost challenger in the election, touched on Lander’s divestment from Israel bonds in a speech at a synagogue during the mayoral primary, hinting that Lander was part of the problem of rising antisemitism.

Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running against Mamdani, has said Lander’s decision not to reinvest in Israel bonds echoes the goals of the BDS movement — but the comptroller rejected that idea, insisting that his decision was fiduciary, not political, and that unlike Mamdani he does not support the movement.

“The BDS Movement asks investors to treat Israel worse than other countries; I oppose this effort,” Lander wrote in response. “You appear to be asking that the city’s pension funds treat Israel better than all other countries. That would also be politically motivated, and inconsistent with fiduciary duty.”

Levine said he believes investing in Israel bonds is a “sound financial decision,” and that “almost every pension fund in America” has money invested in Israel bonds. (Palm Beach County in Florida has invested $700 million, making it the single largest bond-holder.) Holtzman said she was inclined to agree.

“I don’t know the history of what’s happened with the Israel bonds,” Holtzman said. “But I’m pretty sure that they’ve been paid over all these years, which might be an indication of how to evaluate the risk.”

Despite their differences on Israel, Levine endorsed Mamdani shortly after his primary victory in June. The pair’s politics are overlapping in some respects — Levine was a member of the Progressive Caucus while on the City Council and they both spoke at a pro-union rally outside a hotel in August, where they confirmed their mutual endorsement. 

“I’m proud to support the full Democratic ticket, and, yes, that also includes our soon-to-be comptroller,” said Mamdani, who’d backed Levine’s opponent, Justin Brannan, in the primary.  

Levine said their differing positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should not get in the way of the bulk of their work.

“I don’t believe that has to interfere with policy on transportation, sanitation,” Levine said. “I think mostly the core functioning of government is more technocratic, if you will. It’s just about delivering good services in a way that is transparent and gets the most for taxpayer dollars.”

The city pension funds, which serve more than 750,000 public servants, hold $294 billion in assets; the $300-plus million invested in Israeli companies comprise about 0.1% of that total.

Mark Levine, the Jewish politician who’s expected to be New York City’s next comptroller, has heard it all. 

Having served two terms on City Council and one as Manhattan borough president, Levine said he’s experienced overt antisemitism on the campaign trail, going back to his first-ever campaign in 2001. Sometimes, he said, it has come with a friendly sheen.

“I’m voting for you because Jews are good with money,” one New Yorker told him this year.

After winning the Democratic primary, Levine will in all likelihood assume the position of comptroller in January, making him the highest-ranking Jewish official in city government. The comptroller, who is the city’s top financial manager, is often seen as a check on the mayor — a dynamic that many anticipate will play out if Zohran Mamdani, who, unlike Levine, supports divesting from Israel bonds, wins the mayoral election.

In a wide-ranging conversation in Lower Manhattan, Levine talked about how he’d work with the city’s next mayor, why the Jewish community needs to build more coalitions, and his deep love of pickles.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

First off, I’m curious: You speak a number of different languages, including Hebrew. When did you learn Hebrew?

Not until I was an adult. I had what you absorb by osmosis as a kid, but I really began a concerted effort to study, probably by the time I hit 30. I reconnected to family in Israel, and I forbade them speaking to me in English so that I could really force myself to improve. It’s been a really enriching part of my Jewish journey to emerge as a conversant Hebrew speaker, who’s able to watch the news in Hebrew, some social media in Hebrew. 

And when you forbade family to speak to you in English – were you living with them in Israel?

No, just on visits. I’ve never actually lived there, but I’ve had the chance to visit many times.

For some, there’s a new sense that comes with speaking Hebrew in public, where one might feel more comfortable whispering —

— After Oct. 7?

Yes, and I’m curious how you think about that when you speak Hebrew?

The sad reality is that outward signs of Israeliness and Jewishness now are often met with hostility. A symbol as simple as a Jewish star. And I think it’s been a source of a lot of trauma for Jewish New Yorkers. 

I remember after Putin invaded Ukraine, there were hostile acts directed to Russian cultural sites in New York, and I made a big show one night of going to eat at a Russian restaurant, to say that we can separate out our love for Russian culture and cuisine and language and Russian people in New York, from our objections to the actions of the Russian government.

We are living through that same challenge right now with Israeli and Jewish culture. It’s critical that people are able to separate objections to the Israeli government — which I myself have — and the willingness to still embrace so much of what’s beautiful about Israeli culture and the Hebrew language and the Jewish people. But sadly there are people who are failing to make that distinction.

I want to talk about your potential next job. What are your top priorities as New York City’s next comptroller?

This is a more important job than most people realize. It’s the second most powerful job in the city government, with major influence over the fiscal and economic health of the city. It is overseeing a $300 billion pension fund — one of the largest institutional investment funds on earth. [The comptroller] also oversees issuances of debt, $100 billion debt. Managing cash for the city, $15 billion in cash. I mean, these numbers are almost hard to wrap your head around. New York City government will not function well unless you have a well-run comptroller’s office. And as we’re entering into difficult economic circumstances, the stakes are much higher. 

Also a very important component of the role is to bring accountability to the mayor, to support the mayor when they do the right thing, and push back when that’s necessary. And I plan on using those powers to fight for the city, fight for the economy, for the budget, and to stand up for the Jewish community, too.

How are you thinking about working with the two frontrunners in the mayoral election, Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo?

In either case, the comptroller must be totally independent. And to me what independence means is that you are both helping them succeed for the sake of the city, and also that you won’t hesitate to push back and bring accountability when that’s necessary. I don’t think a comptroller should wake up every morning and say that I’m automatically going to oppose or automatically going to support the mayor. I think it has to be based on the merits. Whoever the mayor is, that’s going to be my approach.

Where do you envision yourself not seeing eye-to-eye with the frontrunners in the mayoral election? Let’s start with Cuomo.

I’m not sure about specific policy differences, but I will hold the next mayor — including Andrew Cuomo — to the highest ethical standards. And I plan to use the powers of audit to get inside city agencies to make sure they are delivering for people. That is not necessarily a left-right question, but there has to be accountability whoever the next mayor is.

And with Mamdani?

We have articulated different positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And I don’t believe that has to interfere with policy on transportation, sanitation. I think mostly the core functioning of government is more technocratic, if you will. It’s just about delivering good services in a way that is transparent and gets the most for taxpayer dollars. 

I’m sure you’re going to ask about Israel bonds, and I was clear in the campaign that, in a globally diversified portfolio which has probably more than 10,000 different investments and stocks and bonds and more, that that should have a place because it’s a long-term safe and secure investment. That’s an issue that we would have a difference on, for sure.

The city’s current comptroller, Brad Lander, did not reinvest in Israel bonds in 2023 and has said that past comptrollers invested in Israel bonds for political reasons, rather than fiduciary reasons. Do you view that at all as a political decision?

Israel bonds have never missed a payment in 80 years. They pay excellent interest. They are a very sound investment. And a good, diversified portfolio should allocate a component to Israel bonds. It’s what every comptroller going back to Abe Beame has done in New York City in the ‘70s, what almost every pension fund in America does even today. I think it is a sound financial move.

While Mamdani has said he wants to permanently end the city’s investment in Israel bonds, he has stopped short of calling for a complete divestment from Israeli businesses — but some constituents worry that that remains a possibility if he becomes mayor. How plausible is it that a mayor could divest from Israeli companies entirely, and could a comptroller get in the way of that?

There’s been a lot of discussion about Israel bonds, but we have approximately $300 million of other forms of investments in Israel equity, real estate, et cetera. It’s actually much more significant of an investment than Israel bonds were, even at their peak.

As for the governance structure, the comptroller has outsized influence over the investment decisions that we make, because we have a large in-house Bureau of Asset Management that makes recommendations to the boards of each of our pension funds. The comptroller also serves as the trustee. The mayor has only one vote. And there’s no real track record of the mayor driving significant investment decisions in our pension funds, for that reason. It’s generally led by the comptroller, in consultation with municipal labor trustees.

So, in terms of the plausibility of what a mayor could actually do —

[The mayor] certainly couldn’t act singlehandedly. Just doesn’t have the votes for that.

Have you met with Mamdani and Cuomo, and what have those conversations looked like, particularly with regards to Jewish issues?

Haven’t met with Gov. Cuomo. Met once with Assemblymember Mamdani. I talked to him about the trauma that many Jewish New Yorkers are feeling right now as antisemitism has risen in New York City — more hate crimes are directed to Jewish New Yorkers than all other categories combined. And as we’ve seen violent acts this year in D.C. and Colorado, people are rightly and understandably fearful about those trends. I shared with him what New Yorkers are feeling, and what they’re expecting their city government does to keep them safe.

In terms of your personal Jewishness, where do you and your family go to synagogue?

Our home base has been a Reform congregation in Washington Heights called Hebrew Tabernacle, historically a Jewish German congregation. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, may her memory be a blessing, had been a stalwart member since, gosh, the ‘70s, maybe even before. That’s where my kids did Hebrew school, two boys, and where they were bar mitzvah’d. And they went to a URJ camp as well.

I’m a shul hopper. I hit everything from Chabad to Reconstructionist, and everything in between. Partly because I enjoy the richness of the diversity of all the forms of Jewish liturgy, but also as a Jewish borough president, I think it’s important for me to show up. And particularly since Oct. 7, I’ve made a real effort to be present in synagogues all across Manhattan, of all types. I think there’s been a real hunger for that type of connection. 

What’s your favorite place to get Jewish food?

I like good old-fashioned Jewish deli food. I am practically a pickle addict. If there was an entire tub here, I could eat the whole thing. I love — I still call it Ben’s — it’s now called Mr. Broadway, in the Garment District. It’s just a classic Jewish deli where, when you sit down, before you order, there’s a plate of pickles on the table.

You grew up in Maryland. What years did you live there, and was there much of a Jewish community?

I was there from age 2 to 18. I was not so Jewishly involved at that phase in my life, it was mostly through going to cousins’ bar mitzvahs and stuff. I became more active in synagogue life as an adult, so an unusual path. But there are a lot of Jews in Columbia, Maryland. I had a lot of Jewish friends and classmates, enough so I never felt isolated. And enough that I didn’t have to endure a lot of overt antisemitism.

When have you encountered overt antisemitism?

My first real encounter with overt, old-fashioned antisemitism was the first time I ran for office, in 2001, where I was directly told by voters they wouldn’t vote for me because I was Jewish. That was kind of a shock to the system, and I realized how insulated I had been growing up in Columbia, and even being a young adult in New York City. Politics in New York is still very tribal, even in 2025. And there was no escaping it. It also pushed me to get more involved Jewishly — I kinda realized, if they’re going to hate me for it, let me understand what this is all about.

By the way, I encountered philosemitism in that campaign, too. I had echoes of that through to my comptroller’s race, where there were people who made it clear — sometimes in ugly ways, sometimes in more positive ones — that my Jewish identity influenced their vote. Up to and including being told, literally, “I’m voting for you because Jews are good with money.” This actually occurred on the streets of New York City in 2025.

You mentioned that New York City politics are tribal. Can you talk more about what that means?

We still think about voting blocs as defined by ethnicity and demography here, and it’s always more complicated than that. I desperately want this to be a city where we have more coalitions that bring people together, and more leaders who are willing to do that often very difficult work. 

The Jewish community’s not doing enough coalition building in politics. I have talked to a lot of leaders. My message is: If you wait until there’s a crisis to try and partner with non-Jewish communities, it’s too late. Build those relationships before it’s a crisis. So the synagogue and the Black church should have an effort to provide meals on Thanksgiving to hungry families, or clean up a neglected park. Build those ties so that then when there’s a racist attack or antisemitic attack, and the community needs to come together, we have existing relationships.

On this idea of building coalitions — what was your thinking in endorsing Mamdani early on after his victory in the primary? And how are you thinking about fellow Democrats who haven’t gotten there?

I am a proud Democrat. I stated very clearly before we knew the results of the primary that I would endorse the Democratic nominee for mayor, and I stood by that. I also happen to think that he is highly likely to win, and I think it’s important that the Jewish community have a relationship with the next mayor.

I’m not going to criticize other leaders, everyone’s on their own timeline. I expect there are more endorsements coming for him. That doesn’t mean we don’t have policy differences. And it doesn’t mean I won’t be ready to push back, because I’m up for that if necessary.

Bernie Sanders has become the first U.S. senator to label Israel’s conduct in Gaza as a “genocide,” in an essay posted Wednesday to his Senate website.

“The intent is clear. The conclusion is inescapable: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” Sanders wrote.

The essay came the same day that another Jewish member of Vermont’s delegation in Congress, Rep. Becca Balint, published her own op-ed calling Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide.

“As the granddaughter of a man murdered in the Holocaust, it is not easy for me to say that,” Balint wrote in the Courier, a nonprofit outlet focused on democracy. “But the trauma of the Holocaust serves as a reminder of the power of speaking out.”

Sanders and Balint, both progressives, are the first Jews in Congress to use the “genocide” term, as the war in Gaza nears its two-year mark. Previously, Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib and Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene were the only members of Congress to have done so publicly.

Sanders, an independent who leads the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, is a longtime critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right ministers he has empowered in his current government. Sanders introduced legislation to halt arms sales to Israel, but he also drew criticism from some of his allies for being relatively slow to call for an end to the war, and since doing so he had refrained from using language about genocide even as it became widely used among his followers.

In his essay, Sanders says Israel had the right to defend itself after Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when it invaded southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 and taking 250 hostages. But he cites Israeli civil rights groups, a scholarly group and a United Nations panel that recently issued genocide pronouncements in saying that the war had gone beyond self-defense and become a campaign with the intent to harm the Palestinian people.

He also cites public comments throughout the war by Israeli leaders that he says provides evidence of intent, required under the legal definition of genocide.

Israel rejects the allegation, saying that it is only trying to dismantle Hamas and noting that if it wanted to kill more Palestinians, it could have. Critics have also argued that both the scholarly group and U.N. panel cited by Sanders and Balint are starkly biased against Israel, and hundreds of genocide and Holocaust experts have called on the scholars’ group to retract its resolution.

Sanders nods to the critics in his essay. “I recognize that many people may disagree with this conclusion,” he says. “The truth is, whether you call it genocide or ethnic cleansing or mass atrocities or war crimes, the path forward is clear. We, as Americans, must end our complicity in the slaughter of the Palestinian people.”

He also notes that “this issue goes beyond Israel and Palestine” at a time when “hatred, racism and divisiveness are on the rise.” Upholding the rule of law around what happens in wars is essential, he writes.

“The very term genocide is a reminder of what can happen if we fail. That word emerged from the Holocaust — the murder of six million Jews — one of the darkest chapters in human history,” Sanders writes. “Make no mistake. If there is no accountability for Netanyahu and his fellow war criminals, other demagogues will do the same. History demands that the world act with one voice to say: enough is enough. No more genocide.”

In her essay, Balint wrote that she believes too much attention to the term is misplaced. “I don’t think it’s useful to fixate on getting other leaders to use the specific word ‘genocide,'” she wrote. “Many Americans do see the profound suffering that Israel is causing but are hesitant to use the label because many Jews still live with the trauma of the Holocaust. More important than the word itself is that we change the conversation and change our policy. That’s what Americans want.”

Jerry Greenfield, one of two founders of the iconic progressive ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, has stepped down citing political pressure from the brand’s parent company, Unilever.

The Ben & Jerry’s brand has clashed with Unilever over Israel in recent years, and Greenfield’s co-founder Ben Cohen has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. But Greenfield’s resignation letter, which Cohen posted to social media, does not mention Israel issues at all. Instead, it cites domestic political issues on which Greenfield said Ben & Jerry’s had been “silenced.”

In the letter, Greenfield writes that a guarantee of political independence was the bedrock of his agreement to sell to Unilever two decades ago.

“It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence … is gone,” he wrote. “And it’s happening at a time when our country’s current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community.”

He said he felt he had no choice but to step aside. “Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important, and yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power,” Greenfield wrote. He later added, “If I can’t carry those values forward inside the company today, then I will carry them forward outside, with all the love and conviction I can.”

The surprise announcement follows years of tension between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, which started in 2021 when the company board announced that they no longer wanted to sell ice cream in “occupied Palestinian territory.” The move — which Cohen and Greenfield endorsed in a New York Times op-ed in which they noted that they were “Jewish supporters of Israel” — touched off a years-long legal battle that ended with its Israeli brand splitting off and being sold to a different entity that continued to do business in the West Bank.

Greenfield has since been quiet on Israel issues compared to Cohen and the company itself. In March, Unilever removed the company’s CEO (who was neither Ben nor Jerry) over what both parties agreed was pro-Palestinian activity — including planned donations to the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace and social media posts calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of pro-Palestinian protest leader Mahmoud Khalil. 

In May, the Ben & Jerry’s board called Israel’s military campaign in Gaza a “genocide.” In July, Unilever cut off funding to the company’s charitable foundation. Unilever has also moved ahead with plans to spin off the brand into a separate venture, a move Cohen has publicly attempted to head off.

Unilever also reportedly took issue with planned company stances opposing President Donald Trump and celebrating Black History Month.

The spun-off venture, Magnum Ice Cream Company, said in a statement on Greenfield’s resignation that it “disagrees with Greenfield’s perspective and has sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world.”

Cohen and Greenfield’s role at Ben & Jerry’s had become largely ceremonial since the Unilever sale, though they still attended numerous meetings and store openings and functioned as jovial mascots. They have also served as company figureheads on political matters.

In recent months, prior to Greenfield’s resignation, Cohen was arrested on Capitol Hill while demonstrating against the Gaza war and sat down for a solo interview with Tucker Carlson, another vocal opponent of the war. A spokesperson for Cohen told the Wall Street Journal that he would remain in his role at Ben & Jerry’s.

For the first time, Cohen will occupy that role without his business partner of 48 years.

“From the very beginning, Ben and I believed that our values and the pursuit of justice were more important than the company itself,” Greenfield wrote. “If the company couldn’t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all.”

Earlier this year, the National Endowment for the Humanities was shedding staff and canceling hundreds of grants to the museums, libraries and scholars that have traditionally relied on federal funding to help Americans engage with history, culture and ideas.

The Trump administration said the agency was a waste of taxpayer money and suggested eliminating it entirely.

By August, however, the NEH was announcing new awards, including its largest one ever: $10 million to the University of Virginia for a project tied to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. In its 60-year history, NEH had rarely given more than a few hundred thousand dollars to any single project.

That record lasted just six weeks. On Monday, the NEH announced an even larger, $10.4 million grant for a nationwide “Jewish Civilization Project” aimed at combating antisemitism. The group behind the project is Tikvah, a New York-based think tank and education center dedicated to advancing “Jewish excellence and Western civilization.”

Tikvah, which means “hope” in Hebrew, is identified with the conservative movement in American politics. Right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro, Free Press co-founder Bari Weiss, and ex-GOP strategist turned pro-Israel author Dan Senor are slated to receive awards at its upcoming conference. Among the prominent alumni of Tikvah’s programs is Jacob Reses, chief of staff to Vice President J.D. Vance. 

In Israeli politics, Tikvah is associated with its Conservatism Conference, and with the Kohelet Policy Forum, the intellectual force behind controversial efforts to curb the power of Israel’s judiciary. Kohelet’s founder, Moshe Koppel, serves on Tikvah’s board. The group is also known for helping Benjamin Netanyahu publish his autobiography during his most recent campaign for office in 2022.

But Tikvah’s reach and influence extend well beyond the right. Its education programs have been taken up by a wide array of Jewish schools. Last year, it launched Emet Classical Academy, a selective Jewish day school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that emphasizes “the great intellectual history of the West.” The school opened with about 40 students and offers Latin and Greek alongside Hebrew and Jewish studies. 

According to the NEH, the new project will create K-12 curricula, university courses, fellowships for students and journalists, a slate of public programs and a series of scholarly books that emphasize Jewish contributions to Western and American civilization.

The initiative is designed to trace Jewish civilization across time, from ancient scripture to modern culture. It will highlight the Bible and the Talmud alongside Jewish contributions in literature, art and philosophy, while taking up themes such as Zionism’s development, the role of Jewish ideas in shaping Western democracy, and the dilemmas Jews face today.

Tikvah CEO Eric Cohen called the grant “an ambitious educational project” that answers “the perverse ideology of anti-Semitism with the enduring majesty of Jewish civilization.” 

In an interview, Cohen said the NEH invited Tikvah to apply and that the proposal then went through “multiple rounds of rigorous review” with staff and outside experts before approval. He declined to say who issued the invitation, adding that NEH should “speak for their own processes.” The NEH did not respond to a request for comment.

The NEH’s press release frames the project as part of a broader push to fight antisemitism through the humanities. “While it is essential to combat the rise of anti-Semitism in the political and legal arenas, the humanities also have a vital role to play in this fight,” the agency’s acting chair Michael McDonald said. 

McDonald also linked the grant to one of the new priorities outlined by the agency earlier this year: the promotion of American exceptionalism. He said the project would demonstrate that “the sinister and hate-filled attacks on Jewish people that we have been witnessing on American campuses and streets are, at a deeper level, also attacks on the very foundations that have made the United States the exceptional nation that it is.”

The unprecedented award for Tikvah comes amid a period of dramatic growth for the organization. Cohen noted that Tikvah’s U.S. program budget grew from roughly $19.3 million in 2024 to a pre-NEH 2025 budget of $24.5 million, and said the grant will accelerate, not initiate, expansion. 

The award also comes months after the NEH terminated grants for dozens of Jewish programs, as part of the cuts mandated by the White House. The Klezmer Institute lost its federal funding for an archive of klezmer compositions. Translators working on Yiddish women’s writing, Ukrainian-Jewish poetry and Soviet Holocaust literature were told their support was ending. A Psalms project at Duke Divinity School was canceled along with hundreds of others. Many recipients said they learned of the cuts from form letters stating that their projects no longer fit “the President’s agenda.”

Writing at the time, historian Pamela Nadell attempted to take stock of what could be lost due to the cuts. She noted that her own forthcoming book, tracing the history of antisemitism in the United States, received NEH funding and lamented the Jewish stories that won’t be told absent public funding. 

“This history is more essential than ever today to counter the rising tide of antisemitism in this nation,” she wrote. 

Asked to comment on the Tikvah announcement, she invoked the story of a 19th-century Jewish movement called Wissenschaft des Judentums, a German name meaning the scientific study of Judaism.

“Two hundred years ago in Germany, a group of young Jews also planned to educate the world about Jewish civilization to eradicate Jew hatred,” she said. “That they and those who followed them with similar proposals failed does not bode well for mitigating antisemitism with Tikvah’s ‘Jewish Civilization Project.’”

For many scholars in the field of Jewish studies who had seen the funding slashed, it felt that the grant to Tikvah came at the expense of their own work. 

“Every Jewish Studies colleague I know who had an NEH grant saw their funding cut earlier this year. Now we know where the money went,” Samuel Brody, a professor of religion at the University of Kansas, wrote in a post on Bluesky. 

Cohen declined to address the cuts, saying he was focused on his own project and humbled by the award to Tikvah. 

“The NEH clearly felt that our distinctive approach and our educational capabilities are much needed in the current cultural moment,” he said, adding, “I’m excited about our approach. That’s where my focus is.”

Some are welcoming the break with the past. 

“The usual formula of diversity training and Holocaust education has not succeeded. The Tikvah Fund has a different approach. It believes that people should know something about the Jews beyond that others have tried to kill us,” said Elliot Kaufman, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board who participated in Tikvah educational programs as a student at Stanford, in an email.

Steve Mcguire, a conservative scholar and commentator on higher education, said the grant is important because it will allow Tikvah to offer university students something different from what they can get on campus. He believes that antisemitism spreads through the pervasive teaching of “anti-American and anti-Western ideologies.”

“We must give Americans, and especially American students, opportunities to learn about the great history of Jewish ideas and the contributions those ideas, and Jewish people, have made to America and Western civilization,” he said in an email. “True education can be a powerful antidote to the stunted ideological perspectives that too many students hear.”

Others say they see the award as evidence of favoritism and the politicization of federal funding for the humanities.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah, a left-wing Jewish advocacy group, said the grant elevates a group that is not representative of the majority of American Jews, while sidelining other Jewish initiatives. 

“Tikvah has a long history of pushing conservative ideas into American Jewish spaces, presenting them as Jewish ideas, when these are really ideas that are coming out of the either secular or Christian right-wing world,” Jacobs said in an interview.

She argues that the Trump administration’s commitment to fighting antisemitism is insincere and instead advances an authoritarian agenda, using the grant to enlist Tikvah in the effort.

“The Trump administration is saying, we are giving money to the Jewish think tank that is going to support us in our goals of undermining democracy and liberal democratic institutions and feminism and diversity and pluralism,” Jacobs. 

Yehuda Kurtzer, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, argued that the grant should be understood as part of a broader authoritarian attempt to reshape education that some Jews have acquiesced to at their own peril. 

“Authoritarians cannot win in a free marketplace of ideas in a healthy liberal democracy,” he wrote in a new essay. “Their methods – to coerce, to deceive, to violate norms, or to inflame populist sentiment – are a confession of their weakness. This is the real story of the Trump administration’s approach to remaking education in America in its own ideological image, a battle it cannot win on the merits.”

Asked to respond to the criticism, Cohen insisted the project is rooted in traditional humanistic study and rejected the idea that it promotes a narrow ideological aim of the right. 

“The categories of my critics are not of interest to me. What’s of interest to me is Jewish civilization,” he said. “The best response to them is the seriousness of the work that we do and  the intellectual and educational mission of the institution.”

In an email, he also shared an excerpt from Tikvah’s grant proposal, an elaboration of the argument that the best antidote to antisemitism is the illumination of Jewish contributions to Western history. 

“My answer to the critics: come learn with us,” he wrote.