There’s one critical question many are failing to ask as they scramble to rescue our institutions and shore them up financially: whether the Jewish world is ready for the spiritual transformation this plague is going to unleash.

Last Rosh Hashanah, when you heard the familiar Unetaneh Tokef liturgy about who will live and who will die, especially the part of “who by plague,” did it occur to you that in the coming year a pandemic might kill hundreds of thousands of people and turn our entire world upside down?

Jewish Funders Network mourns the untimely passing of our board member Ilia Salita. (Donate to the Ilia Salita Memorial Fund here.)

Ilia, the president and CEO of Genesis Philanthropy Group, died today of cancer.

"The saying timing is everything has never been truer."

In this piece, JFN Board Member Dafna Meitar Nechmad explains why she made an "infrastructure" gift to the Israeli art museum, and how it paid off during the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the article in eJewish Philanthropy.

In the aftermath of the corona crisis, what forces and trends are shaping the new social landscape in Israel? Which global processes has the crisis accelerated, and how might these affect the social fields in Israel where philanthropy plays a role? What are the long-term changes we can expect?

These large and ongoing questions continue to accompany day-to-day philanthropic work and influence our ability to make decisions about both the “here and now” and the long-term.

You're never too young to learn about giving. Get the tools you need to start engaging your children (or grandchildren) in philanthropy in this June 16, 2020 webinar with Jewish Teen Funders Network's Wayne Green, Alana Hollander and Danielle Segal.

An analysis by Yohanan Plesner, president of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute.

When Israel's 35^th Government was finally sworn in on May 17, many breathed a collective sigh of relief. After a year and a half of deadlock – and three contentious elections – it appeared that the much sought-after political and governmental stability had been achieved. Yet, there is no doubt that the Likud – Blue and White partnership is a tenuous relationship that has left a lot of both party’s supporters disappointed. 

The Covid-19 pandemic is producing major upheaval, and we don’t yet know where all the chips are going to fall. We do know, however, that the world will be transformed, and the Jewish community will confront momentous changes.

That’s why we recently convened a group of 15 funders and other leaders to help us embark on a scenarios design process that imagines how the United States and the world will look in the next two years. We can’t predict, but we can imagine alternative futures that will affect the Jewish community in different ways — which we can then use to help prepare.

Jewish Funders Network awarded the 2020 JJ Greenberg Memorial Award to Shayna Rose Triebwasser, senior program officer of the Righteous Persons Foundation.

JFN stands with all those who peacefully demand justice and equal rights, which is nothing but the essence of the American democracy.

We hope that in these times of sorrow and unrest, we can raise above the fray and build a better society, inspired by the values of justice that Judaism gifted to the world.

In these trying times, leadership is critical. Now, funders can and should exercise leadership in their communities by listening humbly to the needs and pains of the community and then working collaboratively with others to address the root causes of injustice and build a more just future.