The 2026 Lamplighter Awards drew a diverse crowd of Washington's philanthropic, communal, corporate, and political circles to the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on September 23rd, where American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) honored Jeff Miller, Chairman of the US Holocaust Memorial Council, and gave Senator Ted Cruz the evening's Leadership Award. The Mayberg Foundation was well represented, with Rising Trustee David Mayberg, fellow members of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's Young Leadership Cabinet, staff from the Foundation and JEIC, and other guests in attendance, reflecting support for Chabad's work drawing Jews from across the spectrum closer to their heritage and helping Jewish life flourish in Washington and beyond.

Mayberg Foundation Executive Director Todd Sukol is entering the home stretch of his doctoral journey. Learn about his final summer residency at IU's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy — a week of mentoring newer cohorts, learning from top scholars, and advancing his own research — plus a look at the research behind the leadership methodology he's been building for years.

At the OU Women's Tzom Gedalia Lech Knos program, "From Inspiration to Action – Stepping Forward for Klal Yisrael," Mayberg Foundation President and Trustee Manette Mayberg and former Moscos Rebbetzin Dara Goldschmidt joined Rebbetzin Emma Katz for a candid conversation about leadership, legacy, and stepping up for Jews who could easily be overlooked. Watch the recording to hear Manette's personal journey from religious disconnection to co-founding Momentum and developing the Mayberg Foundation's MyZuzah and JEIC programs, and the ripple effects she's witnessed firsthand.

This past schoolyear, Pedagogy of Partnership brought its chavruta-centered approach to new communities in Miami and Los Angeles, launched a groundbreaking parent learning program, and piloted a fellowship for the next generation of Jewish educators — all made possible through a growing network of national and local funding partners.

Over the past three years, the Jewish Day School Standards and Benchmarks Project (JDSS&B), a Mayberg Foundation grantee based at JTS's William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, worked with 23 day schools across North America, spanning denominations, sizes, and locations. Through 39 days of in-person coaching and nearly 500 professional development engagements, JDSS&B trained teachers to root Jewish text study in Big Ideas and Essential Questions, core concepts from the Understanding by Design framework (Wiggins & McTighe). This approach helps students uncover a text's lasting takeaways and explore them through engaging, debatable questions, strengthening students' connection to Judaism and the lessons they carry into their lives.

On August 13th, MyZuzah joined the housewarming for a new Lone Soldier Center home in Tel Aviv, part of its ongoing Israel Pilot bringing mezuzah installations to those rebuilding after trauma. The new residence gives 28 lone soldiers — from countries including France, the U.S., Australia, and South Africa — a place to call home while serving far from their families. Following speeches from Lone Soldier Center CEO Leora Rubinstein and others, the group affixed mezuzot throughout the home, with board member Efrayim Cohen given the honor of putting one up in memory of his grandson, a soldier killed in combat last year.

Colleagues from across the Jewish foundation world joined the Mayberg Foundation team for Navigating Grantmaking Through a Torah Lens, a three-part learning series led by Rabbi Yehuda Chanales of Lifnai Vlifnim. Using Torah texts and Lifnai Vlifnim's reflective learning framework, participants explored loneliness, boundaries, and hope in the work of grantmaking — walking away with fresh perspective and a shared sense of purpose.

Mayberg Foundation support helped Lomdei, a DEEP Consortium member providing High-Quality Professional Development (HQPD) coaching for Judaic studies teachers, more than double its reach this year — growing from 12 to 26 partner schools and 42 to 94 coached teachers. By subsidizing the cost that too often keeps schools from investing in sustained coaching, the Foundation helped open the door for teachers and administrators to build a lasting, growth-minded culture of professional development.

Mayberg Food & Friends, a grantee of the Mayberg Foundation, held a groundbreaking ceremony on July 13 for an 18- to 24-month expansion, which will double the organization's medically tailored meal production capacity and give "Food & Friends the space to welcome more neighbors into that community and to support the staff and volunteers who make it possible," as Mayberg Foundation Rising Trustee and Food & Friends volunteer David Mayberg noted following the ceremony.