Mayberg Foundation Volunteer Day 2025: A Hands-On Lesson in Supporting Community Members with Dignity

Mayberg Foundation Volunteer Day 2025: A Hands-On Lesson in Supporting Community Members with Dignity

Last week, Mayberg Foundation rolled up their sleeves at Yad Yehuda of Greater Washington, experiencing firsthand how this trusted partner brings dignity and care to the local Jewish community. From emergency financial aid to the Capital Kosher Pantry and beyond, Yad Yehuda’s impact reaches families in need with warmth and respect. Our staff learned about their extensive network of resources—including free clothing, support groups, and more—and walked away inspired by the powerful ripple effect of community-driven chesed.

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Connecting for Action: Rabbi Joe Wolfson and JLIC Tel Aviv Strengthen Community Resilience in Uncertain Times

Connecting for Action: Rabbi Joe Wolfson and JLIC Tel Aviv Strengthen Community Resilience in Uncertain Times

“We always pride ourselves on being a community which has at its core a real muscle and identity of being there to help people in need, whenever that may be," Rabbi Joe Wolfson said in a recent eJewishPhilanthropy recent feature about him and JLIC Tel Aviv who are mobilizing volunteers to support their community in times of crisis.

In our latest blog post, we reflect on our evolving grantmaking priorities in Israel to support partners like Rabbi Wolfson and so many others, in times of stability and crisis -- a commitment that was reaffirmed at last week's board meeting.

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Philanthropic Giving During a Time of Crisis

Philanthropic Giving During a Time of Crisis

“In times of peace, grantmakers spend their time cultivating relationships with partners on the ground and slowly developing expertise in areas of their foundation’s investment. These familiar areas, however, are simply too narrow to apply to moments of crisis.”

Seven months after October 7, Mayberg Foundation Grants Officer Tyler Green shares his reflections on balancing the need to respond to emergent needs on the ground such as immediate physical needs of displaced, injured, and traumatized Israelis, with an approach that also anticipated how needs would develop.

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Connecting the Connectors: Developing and Supporting Jewish Outreach Professionals

Connecting the Connectors: Developing and Supporting Jewish Outreach Professionals

Mayberg Foundation Managing Director Amanda Mizrahi convened a meeting of six staff members from AISH, OU, and M54 (Chabad) to discuss their collective vision for enhancing professional development in the Jewish outreach field. This diverse group of colleagues grappled with their common challenges while respectfully learning from, and with, each other to further their shared missions. The participants deeply valued this collaborative opportunity and are considering how to continue this work to benefit their peers – and themselves.

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Congratulations to Yeshiva University and Erica Brown

The Mayberg Foundation congratulates our esteemed colleague and friend, Dr. Erica Brown, on her selection as director of Yeshiva University’s new Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks Center for Values and Leadership. We are pleased for Dr. Brown as she takes this next step in her professional and personal journey, and we look forward to a continued close connection with her as she continues to make important contributions to the Jewish people.

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The Case for Operational Support

The Case for Operational Support

Amanda Mizrahi, program officer for Aish from the Mayberg Foundation, and Dan Hazony, Chief Information Officer of Aish, discuss why an operational framework for giving is so important. According to Mizrahi, outward signs of an organization’s major growth, like a new building or program, are flashy and fun, but they only work if they continue to stand on a strong foundation, which has to grow with the organization. “I would think that anyone who cares about the success of any nonprofit would want to understand the base’s stability before adding onto it,” she writes. “A new program that aligns with an organization and donors’ mission is exciting, but only if that success is sustainable because the organization’s baseline operations (fundraising, data, and communications) are all in good shape.”

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The Backstop: An Underused Tool for Overcoming the Chicken and Egg Challenge

The Backstop: An Underused Tool for Overcoming the Chicken and Egg Challenge

In this piece by Rebecca Weisman, The Backstop: An Underused Tool for Overcoming the Chicken and Egg Challenge, she lays out a dilemma many nonprofits know all too well – the organization cannot secure funding until they launch the project, and at the same time, cannot start the project until they secure funding.

During moments of uncertainty, like a global pandemic, finding creative solutions to funding challenges is even more necessary.

Enter, a creative tool that the Mayberg Foundation found to be particularly effective in funding an initiative as an early investor and mitigating risk. The “backstop,” which was successfully implemented in its funding of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC), allowed the organization to build a track record while seeking other funding sources.

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The Power of Difference

The Power of Difference

In this blog by Momentum COO Ruth Baars, she relates, “Over this past decade, and our intensive work in partnership, I’ve discovered that there is so much to gain from coming together with those who think differently and there is much to lose from being comfortable with the like-minded. The Jewish people are a kaleidoscope of differences and these differences can be used to collectively shape and strengthen our Jewish future.”

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Telling Your Story: A multilane highway

Telling Your Story: A multilane highway

In this blog post by Amanda Mizrahi, she uses the motif of a multi-lane highway to describe the differing and changing needs of donors, end users, community members, colleagues and potential partners, and how they interact with information that an organization shares. “They need different ramps to get on or off of your highway, rest stops and safe shoulders, fast and slow lanes and definitely lots of appropriate signage to help them make good choices along the way,” she states. “Whether it is in the boardroom, on your website, or at the point of service, each individual needs to have access to the right sets of information at the right times to ensure their journey is comfortable and gets them where they want to go.”

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Mayberg Foundation Grantee-Clients Embrace the Value of Collective Effort

Mayberg Foundation Grantee-Clients Embrace the Value of Collective Effort

In this blog post by Tyler Green, Associate Manager of Grantmaking, he describes how Mayberg Foundation grantees have embraced the value of Collective Effort, especially during the pandemic. This past year, he related, “by continually listening to our grantee-clients, we have had the opportunity to see the broader effects of their collective efforts, meeting the communities they serve where they’re at and addressing communal needs as holistically as possible.”

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Not Locked Up During Lockdown: Appreciating the Value of Volunteers

Not Locked Up During Lockdown: Appreciating the Value of Volunteers

Rising Trustee of the Mayberg Foundation Yacova Mayberg explains why she, as part of a group of Israeli and international participants on a preparatory gap year program, went door to door in an Arab village during the climax of the global pandemic, offering support. The answer lies, she relates, in the “culture of the state of Israel and the value it places on volunteering.”

“I feel blessed to be involved with the Mayberg Foundation, which values collective effort and foundational Judaism,” she continues. “This means having an impact on communities we care about and on the world through our instilled Torah lens. I have had some incredible, expansive volunteer opportunities this past year, which further shape my understanding of philanthropy.”

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Bringing a Spirit of Innovation to Town

Bringing a Spirit of Innovation to Town

Learn about Mayberg Foundation grantee JEIC’s work to reimagine Tefillah in this piece by Rabbi Arnold Samlan - originally published in eJewish Philanthropy - titled “Bringing a Spirit of Innovation to Town.”

JEIC’s program to ‘reimagine tefillah’ is in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Broward County at Brauser Maimonides Academy and Shaarei Bina Torah Academy for Girls.

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Leadership, Passover and Maintaining Our Humanity

Leadership, Passover and Maintaining Our Humanity

In Dr. Erica Brown’s blog, on “Leadership, Passover and Maintaining Our Humanity,” she argues that collaboration can be a form of liberation from old notions of power. Ironically, she pointed out, “being a slave to power is one of the ways we injure our freedoms.”

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The seeds of Jewish community are planted on the front door

The seeds of Jewish community are planted on the front door

MyZuzah Director Alex Shapero writes that in the wake of COVID-19, MyZuzah ”has managed to weather the inhospitable climate of the past year, and thanks to some introspection, quick pivoting and collaboration with fellow educators, has not only emerged into a beautiful flower, but has encouraged a field of other seedlings to flourish.”

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Values that have encouraged Jews to allocate their charitable dollars to the Jewish future 

Values that have encouraged Jews to allocate their charitable dollars to the Jewish future 

As Jews, we are encouraged to pass on our values through the generations, l’dor v’dor. From the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, our values have endured, and sustained our people. We review our histories to do just that, such as at the Passover table, when we are instructed to recount the Exodus story with our family during the seder, and glean valuable insights into what being Jewish means to us, and how that guides our actions.

Today, we continue to pass along our values to the next generation through our traditions and mitzvot/commandments and through our tzedakah/charity. Every Jewish family actualizes their values in different ways, and one recently launched initiative, Jewish Future Pledge, provides a platform for Jews to express their values through a lasting gift to the Jewish people. The pledge calls on global Jewry, young and old, to allocate in their estate plans at least half of their charitable dollars to Jewish and Israel-related causes. But more than just giving, the pledge asks donors to share their pledge with friends and family, sparking conversations about Jewish legacy and the values that can be expressed through philanthropy.

Motivations for signing the pledge vary like the Jewish people itself.

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The Value of a Jewish Day School Education is far Above Rubies

The Value of a Jewish Day School Education is far Above Rubies

What is the case for day school besides that they are less worse than the alternatives? What is their special value proposition? The answer is rooted in their promise of deep and ongoing learning that integrates multiple dimensions of the child’s identity; their nurture of thick relationships between children, and between children and adults; and — above all — their embeddedness in the local community.

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Cynicism and Sarcasm - A Not So Silent Killer

Cynicism and Sarcasm - A Not So Silent Killer

Never before in Jewish history have so many children been enrolled in Jewish day schools. Thousands of young Jewish men and women travel every year to Israel to study their heritage. Tens of thousands of Jews study a page of Talmud every day. In short, there is no comparable era in Jewish history for the amount of Torah being studied around the globe. Yet, there is a silent, growing problem which is only being spoken about in darkened corners. For all of the Torah being studied and the commandments being kept, many of the practitioners are sorely lacking a relationship with the Almighty.

The irony is that Torah and Mitzvot (commandments) are a means to an end. They should direct a person into the arms of the Almighty. Unfortunately, something seems to be lost in translation. I recently spoke with a young woman from a very religious seminary in Israel. She had come to Aish HaTorah to attend some classes that discussed G-d. She told me that having gone to a Jewish school her whole life, she knew the intricate laws of the Sabbath. That having been said, she wasn't sure she believed in G-d! She quipped, “It's not like G-d was on the test!”

The ramifications to this issue are felt far and wide. The result is a large population which is socially Orthodox. They have grown up Orthodox, their friends and family are Orthodox, so they feel at home being Orthodox. This is a dangerous phenomenon. Religion untethered to G-d doesn’t last and certainly won't exist when the community is absent. Hence these Jews tend to be lax on vacation or if they go away to university. Absent the community, there is no incentive to “stay Jewish.”

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What We Can be Certain of Even in Uncertain Times: Using the New Year to Find our Inner Voice 

What We Can be Certain of Even in Uncertain Times: Using the New Year to Find our Inner Voice 

This past year has been one of unprecedented challenge. No matter one’s personal circumstances, the shifts and pivots we have all had to make on an individual, communal, nationa,l and global scale have been enormous. And perhaps, even greater than the changes we have had to undertake, is living with the uncertainty of not knowing what will come next.

While often the High Holidays are a time of self-reflection and a commitment to change, this year’s Holiday season affords us an opportunity to look anew at these Days of Awe, and utilize them to examine what we are certain of in this uncertain world.

Rosh Hashanna liturgy contains the sentiment, “Hayom Harat Olam”, today the world was born, and we often conceptualize Rosh Hashanna as the first day of creation. Yet, there is an important Rabbinic understanding that Rosh Hashanna commemorates not the creation of the world, but rather, the creation of the human being.

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Tapping Students' Passions about their Judaism through the Inquiry Beit Midrash

Tapping Students' Passions about their Judaism through the Inquiry Beit Midrash

Three years ago, as part of the Hakaveret initiative, in which the Mayberg Foundation brought together teams of educators to design innovative models, Michal Smart, Rina Hoffman and I developed The Inquiry Beit Midrash (IBM), a project-based learning model for Judaic Studies. I have had the good fortune to bring this model to life at the Idea School in Tenafly, NJ. The idea behind IBM is to find out what the students are passionate about in their Judaism and to use that passion project as the basis for some of their Judaic learning.

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