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Instilling Jewish pride, building courage and fostering brotherhood

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Although we are less than 0.2 percent of mankind, the Jewish People have been able to accomplish extraordinary things because of our belief that the impossible could be achieved.

Hanukkah, our Festival of Lights, is fast approaching.

In recounting the heroic story of the Maccabees, the Jewish rebel group that lived in the Land of Israel in the second century BCE, we are reminded that our freedom isn’t guaranteed. And as we look out at a world filled with serious challenges facing the Jewish People, the lessons of history call us to action.

During the time of the Maccabees, the Land of Israel was dominated by Greek armies. Many Jews, especially the cosmopolitan elite, sought to assimilate into the Greek culture as a road to political and economic power.
The Maccabees – a small group of Jews determined to protect their Jewish identity and homeland – used their wits, courage and determination to defeat the Greeks and establish a free Jewish nation in our homeland, notwithstanding their tiny numbers and inferior weapons.

Today, in the face of challenges, how can we find inspiration in the Maccabees’ example? How do we redouble our commitment to strengthen and secure the future of the Jewish People and the State of Israel? During this season of giving, what are the most important gifts that we can give to each other – so that future generations will live in freedom, security and prosperity? With these questions lingering in my mind this holiday season, I have put together a list of the eight greatest gifts – one for each night of Hanukka – that we must give in every Jewish family so that our people will continue to thrive.

Gift one: Pride 

There is nothing more powerful than understanding who you are and taking pride in where you come from.

If we can’t instill Jewish pride in our next generation, there will no one left to carry on our tradition and face our future challenges.

Every day, I feel incredibly fortunate to be a Jew – to come from a tradition that is the original source of the Western values, and to be a part of a people who, while tiny in numbers, have accomplished extraordinary things in so many fields.

I am proud to be connected to Israel, our Jewish homeland, a country that became independent against all odds and serves as a beacon of light and innovation, making the rest of the world a better place. Through education, community involvement and family heritage, we must foster a sense of pride in being Jewish and a pride in the State of Israel, in our children and grandchildren.

Gift two: Courage

The State of Israel, the Jewish People and the Jewish faith have only survived because Jews were willing to stand up and fight for what they believed in when our Jewish homeland, our people, our traditions and our values were threatened.

It’s not always easy or convenient to be a Jew, or to be a supporter of Israel. Yet, when enemies like Iran and Hamas threaten the existence of Israel, or antisemites seek to spread vile hatred against the Jewish people, we need the courage and conviction to stand up and speak out.

Gift three:

Persistence Alongside courage, the Jewish People also need to be consistent and persistent. It’s not enough stand up once; we need to cultivate a next generation that has the strength and will to stand up, again and again, and fight against our detractors. Whether you are building a business, working toward a degree, raising a family, or advocating for your community, the ability to work hard and keep going strong in the face of adversity may be the single most valuable skill.

Gift four: Knowledge

Over the course of centuries wandering as a small and stateless people, we learned to invest in the greatest resource: knowledge. The Jews have prioritized education above all else. Although we have been the underdog for much of our history, our infatuation with learning has enabled us to succeed. Today we must continue this investment, imparting the knowledge that not only gives our children the ability to thrive in 21st-century careers, but also that grounds them in Jewish wisdom, provides a moral center and makes them committed to family and community.

Gift five: Innovation 

The Jewish propensity to innovate has driven inventions ranging from ethical monotheism to the Theory of Relativity to Waze. This has been the secret sauce of Jewish survival, allowing us to adapt and succeed in a wide range of cultures, countries and eras. Empowering our children to think outside the box will be critical for their success in our modern information era, and for the survival of our communal institutions, which must adapt to remain relevant for the next generation.

Gift six: Belief in the Impossible 

Although we are less than 0.2 percent of mankind, the Jewish People have been able to accomplish extraordinary things because of our belief that the impossible could be achieved. From Joshua’s conquest of the land, to the Maccabees overcoming the Greeks, to the newly formed State of Israel defeating six Arab armies in 1948, we have held the belief that the impossible can be achieved against all odds. We must empower our children with this perspective, as they go out to fight for their dreams and contribute solutions to the challenges facing Jews worldwide.

Gift seven: Brotherhood

In the Talmud it says that each member of the Jewish People is responsible for the rest.

In times of persecution, the Jews always knew how to unite and support one another. In response to the many threats facing the State of Israel, the Israeli people join together as one big united family that cares for and protects each other, in times of war and peace. We are infinitely stronger when we are united – religious and secular, in Israel and in the Diaspora, old and young.

Instilling this sense of brotherhood in our children gives them confidence that their extended family – the Jewish family – is behind them and compels them to action when other Jews need their help.

Gift eight: Passion 

Discovering and channeling your passion in life to make a difference in the world is the key to personal fulfillment. If you don’t make each day matter and don’t have passion for how you spend your time and resources, you don’t have much at all. Each and every day – not just on Hanukka – I strive to give my children and grandchildren the encouragement to discover their passion and purpose, and the support to channel that passion into careers, families, leadership, community and the country in which we all live.

This Hanukka, let us give and inspire all eight of these gifts – and many more – to enrich the lives of our young generations, strengthen our families and secure our common future. By uncovering and unleashing the light in all of us, we can continue the miracle of Hanukka, year after year, writing a new chapter in the ancient story of the Jewish people.

The author is an Israeli-American philanthropist, national chairman of the Israeli-American Council, real estate entrepreneur and president of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation.
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Transforming a Complicated Past to A Promising Future: Why Christians and Jews Must Come Together to Battle Surging Anti-Semitism

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By Pastor Samuel Rodriguez and Adam Milstein 

Christianity and Judaism are different branches on the same family tree. Built on the teachings of Jesus Christ – a Jew living in the land of Israel – Christianity shares with Judaism the sacred text of the old testament, a set of values rooted in ethical monotheism, and a belief in the infinite value of every human life. Despite these commonalities, the historic relationship between Christianity and Judaism has been marked by conflict, prejudice, persecution and tragedy.

For centuries, many parts of Christendom rejected Jews and perpetuated anti-Semitism. Jews were blamed for the death of Jesus Christ and for much of Christian society’s maladies. Across Christian lands, Jews were subject to prejudicial restrictions, violence, and worse – from the Crusades to the Spanish Inquisition to pogroms to the Holocaust.

The second half of the 20th century marked a turn for the better in the Jewish-Christian relationship, as a wide range of Churches and Christian leaders began moving away from Replacement theology, which claimed that the Christian Church has succeeded the Israelites as the chosen people of God. At the same time, they started to acknowledge their faith’s past persecution of the Jewish people and apologize for it, removed and renounced official church doctrine rooted in anti-Semitism, and embraced Jews as members of a sister faith.

The bonds of brotherhood that have been nurtured in recent decades are a blessing for both Jews and Christians. Yet, the challenge of fully healing the divides between our communities cannot be achieved with words and gestures alone. It will take joint action. One clear area for collaboration is a unified campaign against the forces of hate that now threaten our world.

For instance, in recent years, we have seen an unmistakable resurgence of anti-Semitism in nations where many thought it had been confined forever to the margins of society. Anti-Semitism in Europe is at its highest levels since immediately before the Holocaust with a quarter of Europeans holding anti-Semitic views according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The surging antisemitism in Europe has also begun to wash up the shores of America. Last year, there was a 50 percent rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks in the United States. Jews are the largest target of religious hate crimes in America, accounting for 60% of those reported.

Jews and Christians, as two rich and diverse faith communities with a shared commitment to protecting the value and life of every human being, have a duty to join together to fight all other forms of racism and hatred, including anti-Semitism.

This work should begin by standing against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement — a campaign led by radical leftists and radical Islamists to delegitimize, isolate, and eventually, eliminate the Jewish State from the face of the earth. BDS seeks to impose boycotts of Israel in cultural, academic, economic, governmental, and religious institutions — and has gained increasing prominence in recent years on college campuses, among trade unions and NGOs, and in certain corners of the media.

Jews and Christians who regularly study our shared sacred texts know that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people. In Genesis, G-d states Israel’s boundaries and offers the land to Abraham and his descendants as an eternal and unconditional promise. BDS seeks to erase this unbroken and unbreakable bond between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. This hate movement takes a page from a centuries-old playbook, advocating for boycotts of Israel in the same way that anti-Semites advanced boycotts of Jewish businesses and pogroms in Europe throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Our shared struggle against the BDS Movement should be anchored by the understanding that BDS is not just anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic. It’s anti-Christian, anti-American and anti-Western, driven by an alliance between radical leftists and radical Islamists who hate the Judeo-Christian values that bind together our two great countries.

Their alliance is built around a shared disdain for our belief in individual liberty, our dedication to democracy, and our capitalist system. Hatem Bazian — the founder of the Students for Justice in Palestine and one of the founders of the BDS Movement — publicly called for an Intifada, a violent uprising against American citizens, inside of the United States. If we don’t draw a clear line in the sand today to protect our ally Israel and the Jewish people, the tactics that the BDS Movement uses against Israel today will be used against America and Christians tomorrow.

At the same time, we should stand against the demonization of the Jewish people and others now taking place on the fringes of politics, where we have seen hate groups and bigots coordinate attacks against Jews and Latinos on social media channels, generate anti-Semitic and racist memes, and reintroduce anti-Semitic and racist epithets that had nearly left the American lexicon.

What’s the bottom line? We must all readily take responsibility now — before it’s too late. We need to be united — liberals and conservatives; Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and atheists — to fight against anti-Semitism and racism when it rears its ugly head no matter which political ideology it uses to mask its hate.

This isn’t just about anti-Semitism. It isn’t just about Jews and Christians, or Israel and America. It’s about fighting for what’s right. By joining forces at this critical moment, Jews and Christians can realize the promise of a brighter future for both our peoples and others around the world.

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

Adam Milstein is an Israeli-American philanthropist, real estate entrepreneur, and the Chairman of the Israeli-American Council.

Originally posted in The Huffington Post
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Antisemitism in America is rising on the Right and the Left

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Israel and the Jewish people are not necessarily the ultimate objectives of their campaigns, but it’s more convenient for them to start with the Jews.

For thousands of years Jews have been targeted, persecuted and hated for a range of irrational and paradoxical reasons. We have been blamed for the crucifixion and killing of Jesus, even though Jesus was a Jew. We have been hated for maintaining our distinct Jewish identity – and, when we do assimilate, for threatening the racial purity of the society where we live. We have been criticized as pacifists and as warmongers, as capitalist exploiters and as revolutionary communists.

During World War II, the Nazis and their allies exploited this age-old hatred to carry out the Holocaust, systematically murdering six million Jews, while others around the world didn’t act, or couldn’t act to prevent this horror from taking place.

In recent years, we have seen a clear resurgence of antisemitism in nations where many thought it had been confined forever to the margins of society. Antisemitism in Europe is at its highest levels since immediately before the Holocaust. According to the ADL, around a quarter of Western Europeans are anti-Semitic.

Jewish immigration from Western Europe to Israel reached an all-time high in 2015 – and a third of European Jews are thinking of emigrating, according to the European Jewish Congress, mainly because of the rise in antisemitism.

The antisemitism surging in Europe has also begun to wash up the shores of America. Last year, there was a 50 percent rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks in the United States. Today Jews are the largest target of religious hate crimes in America, accounting for 60% of those reported.

American college campuses, where anti-Semitic incidents doubled in the past year, have become an epicenter for this activity. For the past 15 years, the radical Left has joined forces with radical Islamic groups to promote the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement commonly referred to as BDS. BDS spreads vile anti-Semitic stereotypes, demonizing the Jewish state in the same way that bigots have long demonized the Jewish people.

The BDS movement takes a page from a centuries-old playbook, advocating for boycotts of Israel in the same way that anti-Semites advanced boycotts of Jewish businesses and pogroms in Europe throughout the 19th and 20th century. In the US, the same boycotts were advanced by Nazi supporters led by Father Charles Coughlin in the late 1930s.

BDS groups are targeting and harassing Jewish and pro-Israel students on both sides of the political spectrum. Students have a difficult time speaking out against these hate groups for fear of becoming targets.

In many cases, BDS has found willing allies among faculty and sometimes, in university administrations.

Yet, we have seen that antisemitism like this is not just confined to the Left or to radical Islamists.

On the Right, America’s current presidential campaign has brought new visibility to the growing “alt-right” movement, which has coordinated attacks against Jews on social media channels, generated anti-Semitic memes and reintroduced anti-Semitic epithets that had nearly left the American lexicon. The use of triple parentheses “((()))” to indicate the Jewish heritage of journalists and activists reiterates the age-old lie that Jews control the world through a secret network of power.

For the first time, young Jews are experiencing the antisemitism much more familiar to their parents and grandparents, and it’s emanating simultaneously from the far Left, radical Islam and the far Right. The Jewish-American community and the pro-Israel community – liberals and conservatives alike – need to unite to fight this frightening phenomenon.

For these radicals, antisemitism is a glue that holds together the coalitions that form their hate movement.

Israel and the Jewish people are not necessarily the ultimate objectives of their campaigns, but it’s more convenient for them to start with the Jews.

History shows that the hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews. Hitler wanted to get rid of the Jews of Europe, and while he killed six million Jews, an estimated 60 million people died in the war that he caused. While the new antisemitism today tends to manifest itself as opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel, the proponents of BDS also promote an ideology that is virulently anti-American and anti-Western.

In an op-ed for the International Socialist Review titled “Palestine, BDS, and the battle against US imperialism,” Purdue University professor Bill Mullen, one of the BDS leaders who lobbied the American Studies Association to adopt a boycott of Israel, writes, “We can build a still-stronger BDS movement beginning in the name of Palestinian freedom and ending in a permanent blow against American empire.”

Another professor, Hatem Bazian of Berkeley, the founder of Students for Justice in Palestine, also called for an armed insurgency or an intifada in the United States, a call to action that was nothing short of inciting violence against the American people.

So what to do in the face of these developments? First and foremost, we need to be united – both the American Right and the Left; Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and atheists – to fight against these forces. We need to call out antisemitism when it rears its ugly head no matter which political ideology it uses to mask its hate.

We need to recognize that anti-Zionism is often a politically correct way to advance antisemitism, and maintain a zero-tolerance policy when groups seek to delegitimize the Jewish state in the same way that anti-Semites have long sought to delegitimize the Jewish people.

And we must make clear that while these hate groups may begin with the Jews, their campaign will never end with the Jews.

The fight against antisemitism also extends to how we educate our next generation. If young Jews can’t connect to their heritage, how can we expect them to defend it when faced with antisemitism? And if non-Jews don’t understand the vile history of antisemitism how can we can expect them to recognize this evil in its modern form? 

Winston Churchill said, “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” So it goes with antisemitism. This hate is nothing new – and neither is our failure to recognize this danger. 

We Jews must know our history, be proud of our heritage and teach our children the importance of supporting Israel. And we must stand together with non-Jews in America, helping them to recognize that the rise of antisemitism is not just a danger for the Jewish people, but an existential threat for us all.

The writer is an Israeli-American philanthropist, national chairman of the Israeli-American Council, real estate entrepreneur and president of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation.

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Being ourselves: How Israeli-Americans have cultivated a new movement

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Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

It is a sentiment that I have taken to heart over the past decade, as I have worked to cultivate an Israeli-American identity for myself, my family, and my community. The process of building this identity as a co-founder and, for the past year, as Chairman of the Israeli-American Council (IAC) has been empowering, inspiring, and perhaps most of all, revealing, illuminating the vast possibilities that emerge when you proudly embrace who you are.

For many years, Israeli-Americans couldn’t figure out who we were. We identified ourselves as Israelis that lived in America, maintaining — at least outwardly — that we would return to Israel one day soon in the future. We lived for decades with “our suitcases packed”, as we obtained U.S. passports, built successful businesses in cities like Los Angeles and New York, married American spouses, and raised children that primarily spoke English and too often, no Hebrew.

We quickly adapted to the way of living in America, without realizing what was required to live a Jewish life in the diaspora — which is a very different than Israel — where Jewish identity and practices are integrated into everyday life, taught in schools and the army.

While few of us joined Orthodox synagogues, mostly for the high holidays, the majority didn’t engage with the broader Jewish community. Our largely secular group couldn’t understand why we should pay for religious or educational services, and were not comfortable in religious services that were different from what is typical in Israel. As a result, we had no formal mechanism to connect with Jewish life and with others of Israeli descent.

Living American lives, while outwardly maintaining an Israeli identity distanced us from the Israeli government and people, from our non-Jewish American neighbors, from the Jewish American community, and perhaps most importantly, from our children, who often sought to distance themselves from their parents’ immigrant culture, and quickly began assimilating into the American culture, intermarrying at very high rates.

It took me merely 15 years to realize that I was living in the Diaspora. The turning point came when I realized that my daughters, who went to a non-Jewish private high school, spoke fluent Hebrew and had Jewish friends, but were mostly dating non-Jewish boys. My wife and I realized that, without a Jewish education or a connection to Jewish life, our daughters would not maintain their heritage.

At that point it was clear that I had a duty to get closer to Jewish life. I had to demonstrate to my daughters that I was proud of my Jewish heritage and that my family’s Jewish identity was of central importance.

My reconnection with Jewish Life came through AISH HaTorah, a Jewish outreach organization in Los Angeles, and I started learning with one of the rabbis on a weekly basis, which I continue to this day. AIPAC was next. Soon, my wife and I became philanthropists and activists, joining the boards of many different pro-Israel and Jewish organizations. In 2007, with several leading Israeli businessmen in Los Angeles, I co-founded an organization to bring together others of Israeli descent into one united community.

Originally named, the “Israeli Leadership Council,” our new organization grew quickly in Los Angeles, attracting hundreds and thousands of families.

The sea-change, however, came in 2012, when we changed our name from the “Israeli Leadership Council” to the “Israeli-American Council”. The name change signified something much bigger. At that pivotal movement, I and others in our leadership saw that continuing to define ourselves as Israelis weakened our self-image, our public image, and our ability to prosper as an American community and become a strategic force in supporting the state of Israel. Moving forward, we, as Americans of Israeli descent, would loudly and proudly embrace our Israeli-American hybrid identity — that we loved our home in America, and would always remain deeply connected to our homeland in Israel.

Supported by the visionary leadership and remarkable generosity of Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, the IAC took off, expanding across the country on the foundation of this powerful identity. We are now the fastest-growing Jewish organization in the country, with hundreds of thousands of participants in 27 states, 10 regional offices, and a bright future as we continue to grow.

IAC programs engage our young people from birth until they are professionals, providing our next generation with a clear and easy pathway to embrace where they come from, fostering pride in Israel and an embrace of Israeli and Jewish identity.

With an awakening of Israeli-American identity, we have become much more involved in schools, temples, JCCs, and local and national Jewish organizations. Now we are leaders in the broader Jewish American community, serving as living bridges to the Jewish state and bringing Israeliness to the Diaspora across the country. America’s Jewish leaders have taken note, with many of them attending the IAC’s annual conference, and partnering with us on programs across the country.

By engaging Israeli-Americans as one united community, we have been able to mobilize ourselves as a strategic asset to strengthen the State of Israel. Across the country we have built new partnerships between American and Israeli businesses, academic institutions, and state and local governments. And we have led the effort to fight against BDS and other attempts to delegitimize the state of Israel; for instance, by driving forward anti-BDS legislation in California and across the country.

If you don’t know who you are, it’s impossible to understand where you should be going. By resolving years of confusion around Israeli-American identity, we have unleashed a movement, with vast untapped potential to strengthen America, Israel, and the Jewish people.

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The writer is national chairman of the Israeli-American Council. Follow him on Twitter @AdamMilstein.

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The IAC’s Third Annual Conference: Embracing a New Identity, Building a Movement and Changing Jewish Future

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By: Adam Milstein

Last month, in our nation’s capital, the Israeli-American Council (IAC) hosted the largest gathering of the Israeli-American community in history. The IAC’s Third Annual National conference brought together more than 2,100 Israeli-Americans and Jewish-Americans of all ages and backgrounds, alongside dynamic leaders from Israel and the Jewish American community, lawmakers from across the entire political spectrum and thinkers changing the conversation about Jewish life.

The remarkable three-day gathering made it clear that the Israeli-American community is stronger than ever before. In 2014, the first year the IAC held a national conference, 650 people attended. Last year, that number doubled to 1,300. This year, more than 2,000 people from across this country and across the ocean.

What is driving this rapid growth?

We have not just been building an organization, but a Movement, rooted in entirely new Israeli-American identity.

Before we founded the IAC, no one used the term “Israeli-Americans” or “Americans of an Israeli descent.” Now we proudly embrace our Israeli-American identity, which is centered on the idea that we love our home in America at the same time remaining deeply connected to our Jewish homeland, which will always be in Israel.

And around that identity, we have united, energized and engaged the Israeli-American community like never before, with a unified vision, a clear mission, and a powerful voice.

Over the past three years, with the support and visionary leadership of Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, the IAC has grown from Los Angeles to 10 regional councils, with activities in 27 states, engaging 250,000 Americans of Israeli descent nationwide.

Just this past year, we added three regional offices, opened our first IAC community center in America, and added IAC Eitanim and IAC Lead, two unique and impactful programs for the next generation. The Israeli-American Coalition for Action (IAC for Action), our sister advocacy group, in partnership with other major Jewish organizations, championed legislation to prevent companies engaging in discriminatory boycotts from doing business with the state of California. At the conference, I broke the news that California Governor Jerry Brown had just signed the bill into law.

We have been able to leverage our unique hybrid identity to bring Israeliness to the Jewish community in America, reinforce the ties between the Israeli people and their American counterparts, and actively support the State of Israel in its campaign against the growing tide of delegitimization and antisemitism.

“The Israeli Diaspora is an idea whose time has come,” Gidi Grinstein, president and founder of the Reut Institute, said at the Closing Sunday Plenary at this year’s conference. “Israeli-Americans are the fastest rising force in the Jewish community and the IAC is the fastest growing organization of our time.”

At our Saturday afternoon plenary, Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark said Israeli-Americans, who comprise 15 percent of America’s Jewish population, are a key asset in helping American Jews connect to Israel. In his remarks, Barry Shrage, CEO of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston, summed up the IAC’s impact best: “I feel like I am at the crossroads of Jewish history here.”

Two distinguished American politicians spoke about the importance of that relationship: former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Chuck Schumer, who said in his speech, “The Israeli-American community has made our country, and particularly my home state of New York, the vibrant, ascendant and optimistic place that it is today.”

Leaving Washington, D.C., one thing was clear to me: Israeli-Americans are becoming a living bridge between the Israeli and American people. By embracing our unique identity, Israeli-Americans are no longer on the fringes of the Jewish American community, but a core pillar of its strength.

By building deeper partnerships between Israeli-Americans and Jewish- Americans, we will make Jewish life in America more vibrant and we will strengthen the Jewish community to stand up and fight against the growing antisemitism in America and all over the world.

Brick by brick, program by program, city by city, we are creating a movement that will last generations. We are building our new identity. We are building our Israeli-American community. For Israel, for America and for the Jewish people: We are changing Jewish future.

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Jerusalem Post 50 Most Influential Jews: Number 39 – Adam Milstein

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As co-founder of the Israeli-American Council based in California, Adam Milstein’s mission has been to strengthen and support the State of Israel and the Jewish people, as well as the US-Israel relationship.

The IAC has been doing so by connecting American Jewry (about 5.5 million) and the Israeli-American community in the US (about half a million).

Under Milstein’s helm, the IAC has been called the fastest growing Jewish organization in the US.

Milstein was born in Haifa in 1952 and moved to California with his wife, Gila, in 1981, where he became a top real estate agent. Today, he is managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties, which specializes in industrial, retail, office and multi-family properties. He and his wife, who have three daughters, established the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation in 2000, which encourages young Jews to identify with their Jewish roots and connect with Israel.

In June 2015, Milstein brought together Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson for the first Campus Maccabbees Summit in Las Vegas, which convened more than 50 organizations to “harness the full might of the pro-Israel community to defeat hate groups spreading antisemitism and lies about the Jewish state on America’s college campuses.”

A prominent Jewish philanthropist, Milstein sits on the board of several key organizations, including StandWithUs, Israel on Campus Coalition and Hasbara Fellowships, as well as the Jewish Funders Network, Birthright Israel, Stand By Me and the AIPAC National Council.

Milstein has said he feels “lucky” to be a philanthropist and have the opportunity to make an impact on the Jewish community and the State of Israel. Since Milstein founded the Israeli-American Council, it has grown to 10 regional councils, with active volunteers in 27 US states and a range of innovative programs to engage Israeli-Americans nationwide of all ages, such as IAC Eitanim, which teaches practical leadership skills to groups of Jewish American and Israeli-American high school students.

“Before we founded the IAC, no one used the term ‘Israeli-Americans’ or ‘Americans of Israeli descent’,” Milstein wrote in a Jerusalem Post op-ed. “Now we proudly embrace our Israeli-American identity; we love our home in America, while remaining deeply connected to our Jewish homeland, which will always be in Israel. As that identity grows stronger, so does the entire Jewish American community.”

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The Bizrael Bridge to Israeli Tech and Entrepreneurial Innovation

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The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation proudly supports Bizrael, which organizes professional business trips to connect people with Israel’s leading startups, international companies, academia, and other key players behind the Startup Nation. Below, Co-founder and Director Jason Weiss shares how Bizrael harnesses the power of Israeli entrepreneurship to change people’s perceptions. 

When we started Bizrael in 2012, we wanted to do something no one else had done in the Israel advocacy world — create a way for students to experience Israel’s thriving startup economy. Since then, thanks to the support of great organizations like the Milstein Family Foundation, more than 1,000 students and young professionals from 10 different countries have learned about the innovative business landscape in Israel through Bizrael programs. By doing so, we have created a new way to experience the Jewish State.

The nickname “Startup Nation,” now common, wasn’t so well-known when Bizrael was founded. In the summer of 2012 we recruited 30 students from across the U.S. for our first Bizrael Elite trip, and went on a two-week whirlwind tour, meeting over 25 startups, investors, corporations, government agencies, and more to learn what, how, and why Israel has become one of the most innovative countries on the planet. From the chief scientist at a medical company to the founder of Waze, and from water desalination technology to cyber security, we showed participants a side of Israel they had never seen before. We also learned how open, excited, and engaging the companies were to opening their doors and getting behind our mission.

After we held the Bizrael Elite trip four times, something interesting started to happen. After partnering with other Israel trips and programs, they started asking us if they could add a Bizrael day to their next trip or make a custom Bizrael trip for their students. Learning from the startups we surrounded ourselves with, in 2014 we decided to shift our focus to meet this new demand. Instead of working with students directly, we became a content provider for groups, offering Bizrael trips through other organizations bringing young adults to Israel. This enabled us to focus on what we do best — creating trips with our unique Startup Nation content — while enabling us to grow in new ways and reach thousands more people globally.

Through our experience and network, Bizrael brings student groups insider access that was previously only available to well-connected professionals. Over the past several years, Bizrael has become a valued partner to dozens of groups including the Israel Experience, J Internships, Tamid, the Union of Jewish Students, MBA trips, young entrepreneurs, leadership trips, and more.

What has been most inspiring is the feedback from students. From first timers to Israeli-born regulars, everyone is amazed and excited about Israel when they learn about its vibrant business landscape and culture of innovation. We have helped dozens of students return to Israel to study or intern, start clubs on their campus (Bizrael alumni started two Tamid clubs), and experience a newfound appreciation for and connection to the Jewish state.

Our vision is to change the way people perceive and experience Israel, especially the next generation of business leaders. It’s also my story — I came from an unaffiliated religious background and started getting involved through the business side of Israel. I know how powerful and important our message is because it’s what inspired me. Now, I have seen it inspire many others.

We have a new tool for engaging Jewish Youth and advancing the fight against the BDS movement: the magnetic power of the Startup Nation. We look forward to continue growing and partnering with more groups and students this year as we show the power of Israeli entrepreneurship and innovation.

To learn more about the philanthropic work of Adam Milstein and the Milstein Family Foundation, visit http://milsteinff.org. Also — check out Adam Milstein and the Milstein Family Foundation on Facebook!

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Congressman Brad Sherman’s Letter to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block in defense of Milan Chatterjee

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Dear Chancellor Block,

I am writing you to express serious concern over the ongoing campaign to defame the UCLA law student, Milan Chatterjee, who served as the Graduate Student Association (GSA) President in this past academic year. As a result of the unanimous decision of the GSA cabinet, Mr. Chatterjee, stipulated to the "Diversity Caucus" in October of 2015 that GSA discretionary funding could only be used in a politically neutral manner at a “Diversity Town Hall" event. This decision was made so that the "Diversity Caucus" would use GSA discretionary funding neither to support nor oppose the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a highly polarizing movement that has led to controversial anti-Zionist forms of anti-Semitism on University of California campuses.

After the "Diversity Town Hall" was held in November of 2015, Palestine Legal, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other pro-BDS organizations began accusing Chatterjee of making unconstitutional decisions, of anti-Arabism, and Islamophobia, leading Chatterjee to seek legal counsel. Pro-BDS group members wrote defaming articles in the Daily Bruin and called for his resignation from the GSA. It is an appalling scenario that the campus atmosphere has degraded to the point where students require legal representation in order to fulfill duties as student elected representatives.

For years to come, Mr. Chatterjee will have a tarnished reputation, simply because he chose to remain neutral towards a highly divisive issue on the UCLA campus. This may cost Mr. Chatterjee financially throughout his professional career in law. A rudimentary internet search by prospective employers and clients will reveal allegations of unconstitutional decision making and discrimination to include anti-Arabism, and Islamophobia. 1

This is not the first time students in the UC system have been vilified by the pro-BDS community. In May 2014, the SJP filed a complaint on undergraduate students Lauren Rogers and Sunny Singh for participating in trips to Israel with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Anti-Defamations League (ADL), respectively. The SJP accused these students of a "conflict of interests" in May of 2014 and launched a campaign demanding that all students running for the Undergraduate Students Associate (USAC) would not participate in trips to Israel sponsored by Jewish organizations.

As you know, the UC Board of Regents adopted the Principles Against Intolerance in March of this year, an important step towards combating discrimination on campus.

Section G of the ruling states that "Candidates for University leadership positions are entitled to consideration based on their stated views and actions, and in a manner consistent with the University's nondiscrimination policy. Efforts to discredit such candidates based on bias or stereotyping should not go unchallenged." The public shaming of Mr. Chatterjee as a student government officer clearly contravenes the Board of Regents' ruling, Mr. Chatterjee was undoubtedly targeted, and for attempting to enforce a policy of nondiscrimination. His responsible actions should be praised and he should be protected, not ignored.

On June 1, I wrote to the University of California, Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman over anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic events at UCI in the month of May 2 I urged Chancellor Gillman to enforce the Principles Against Intolerance and have yet to receive a response. The university of California system, and in this case UCLA, must take stronger actions to protect students from orchestrated pro-BDS harassment campaigns.

What does the University's Administration intend to do to fully enforce the Principles Against Intolerance? How will the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) ensure that disagreements over university sponsored forums are handled appropriately?

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Brad Sherman

Member of Congress 

 

 

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Empowering the Israeli-American Identity

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Ten years ago, I was both an Israeli and an American. Now, I’m an Israeli-American. Embracing this unique hybrid identity makes all the difference in the world for more than a million people living in America.

A decade ago, Israeli-Americans were, at best, afterthoughts within the Jewish American community. Even though we had US passports, built American businesses, lived in American homes, had English-speaking kids in schools and colleges, we lived “with our suitcases packed.” We assumed we would return to Israel one day and saw little need to cultivate a community.

We were disconnected from synagogues, Jewish education and Jewish community organizations, but deep in our hearts, we knew we were also disconnected from our Jewish homeland. 

Over the past decade, all of this has changed dramatically. More and more, people like me – born in Israel, but residing in the US – along with our spouses, children and grandchildren, are proudly embracing an Israeli-American identity. This is largely a result of the Israeli-American Council (IAC), which has grown to 10 regional councils, with active volunteers in 27 states and a range of innovative programs that meaningfully engage Israeli-Americans nationwide at all stages of life.

Our new identity has provided a centerpiece for the IAC to build a united community. We have moved from isolation to integration within the Jewish American community, from irrelevant to a game changer. And we are using our unique identity to not only get involved in American Jewish life, but to strengthen the broader Jewish-American community in the process. The fact that we speak both “Israeli” and “American” has positioned us to become a living bridge between Israel and US, and to inject what we call “Israeliness” into the broader mix of American Jewish communal institutions.

Later this month, at the IAC National Kenes in Washington, DC, will mark a major milestone in the Israeli-American community’s emergence as a significant and fast-growing player within the broader Jewish Diaspora. It will be the largest gathering of Israeli-Americans in history – and represent a meeting of many of the most important figures in Jewish life today from both the US and Israel.

This three-day conference will bring together community and political leaders, academics, editors, journalists, authors and artists from both Israel and the United States. Leaders of major organizations, such as the Jewish Federations, the Jewish Community Centers of America, Jewish National Fund and AIPAC will explore how Israeli-Americans can strengthen the American Jewish community and its connection to Israel, joining many of the world’s most visionary philanthropists, including Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson.

Together, we will examine how Israeli-Americans can be unleashed to strengthen the three pillars critical for the Jewish future: the next generation, the American Jewish community and the friendship between the American people and Israeli people, as well as the relationship between their governments.

Over the past year, the IAC has already shown significant progress in building these three pillars for both Israeli-Americans and the broader Jewish community. We have been able to strengthen the next generation through programs like IAC Eitanim – which teaches practical leadership skills to groups of Jewish American and Israeli-American high school students, and we have been instrumental in the overwhelmingly passage of an anti-boycott bill in both the California Senate and Assembly.

At the conference, we will explore how to engage and support the next generation in conversation with thought leaders like Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark and Gidi Grinstein, the president of the Reut Institute and the author of Flexigidity.

We will explore how “Israeliness” – the Hebrew language, Israeli culture and entrepreneurship, our unique sense of family, and our connection to and love for Israel – can strengthen the Jewish identity of Americans, young and old, and not just those with Israeli parents, but those throughout the broader Jewish community.

And we will look for ways to leverage Israeli-Americans as a strategic asset to strengthen the relationship between the US and Israel.

Israeli-Americans are knowledgeable and passionate about this subject.

They can speak from personal experience – it’s much easier to explain Israel’s security challenges when your family lives in Jerusalem or you have served in the Israel Defense Forces.

Israeli-Americans – instilled with our culture’s characteristic boldness – can form an army of activists who are unafraid to stand up and speak out against the lies about the Jewish state and the Israeli people.

This month’s conference marks just how far the Israeli-Americans have come: we are not on the fringes of the Jewish American community, but a core pillar of its strength.

Before we founded the IAC, no one used the term “Israeli-Americans” or “Americans of Israeli descent.” Now we proudly embrace our Israeli-American identity: we love our home in America, while remaining deeply connected to our Jewish homeland, which will always be in Israel.

As that identity grows stronger, so does the entire Jewish American community.

The author is an entrepreneur, Israeli- American philanthropist and the chairman of the Israeli-American Council

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My Personal Philanthropic Journey: Why giving is the greatest joy of all

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The Talmud tells us: “More than the calf wants to suckle; the cow wants to nurse.” For people who are actively involved in philanthropy, this makes a lot of sense. They know that the donor often ends up receiving as much, if not more, than the people and organizations that they support.

Jewish laws of charity, or Tzedakah, obligates us to give 10% of our income back to the community. It was David, my longtime business partner, who helped me discover the magic of charity about twenty years ago. As a Modern Orthodox Jew, David brought a unique perspective to our partnership.

He would often repeat the wisdom that charity makes perfect business sense – as the upside is much bigger than the downside – the giver gets much more than he gives. It’s not that we give 10% of our income to charity, but whatever we give, God returns to us tenfold. In practice, we have found this charitable concept to be true in our lives and business.

Back then, we had a large vacant warehouse with minimal leasing activity. Eventually we got an offer to lease from a local tenant, a paper cutting company. Over the following few months we negotiated a lease and sent it to the tenant to sign.

Weeks went by and we didn’t get the signed lease back. We were told that their Chief Financial Officer was reviewing it, that their Chief Executive Officer was travelling in Europe, and other nonsense that was clearly meant to delay on their end.

At the same time, we were approached by a Jewish non-profit organization that was looking for substantial funding to help them build a school. After careful consideration, we decided to make a donation of $100,000 in support of this project.

The day after we informed them about our commitment, our tenant, the local company, called to say they had signed the lease and they would send it along with the prepaid rent and deposit via Federal Express.

The reason they couldn’t sign the lease before was that they were in the process of being acquired by a very large company and had signed a confidentiality agreement so they could not divulge any information. The fact that now we had a Fortune 500 company as our tenant and not a local company meant that the value of the building increased by about $1,000,000.

Can you see the connection? We had just given a $100,000 donation, and the very next day we got $1,000,000 in additional valuation. This sort of undisputable financial outcome is not always common, and is certainly not the reason to donate money to good causes. That “ten times” return can also come in a spiritual or personal way—you see how your gift makes a huge impact, inspires others, and benefits our communities –  and that is the reward ten times bigger than the gift.

But this time, the return was literal – and it made me sit up and become a believer! It forced me to rethink my role in society, and about the best ways that I could make an impact. In particular, I realized that I could play a role in inspiring and engaging my fellow Israeli-Americans in philanthropic work.

In Israel, where I lived before coming to the U.S. for my Masters in Business Administration, the government provides for all social needs, and supports a strong Jewish community. The culture of giving is not present in the same way that it is in the U.S. For decades, many Israelis viewed giving money to charities as naïve, reserved for freiers (the word for suckers in Hebrew).

When we founded the Israeli-American Council, a primary goal was to instill this commitment to philanthropy in the Israeli-American community. We came up with the motto, “I aspire to be a freier,” and required that all early members of the IAC support at least one charitable cause outside of the IAC. We have made great progress on this front, raising unprecedented sums from the Israeli-American community in support of communal needs. Yet, we still have only raised a fraction of our community’s capacity — and have a long way to go to realizing our full potential and impact we can make on our community.

To this end, in September we will host the National Israeli-American Conference in Washington, D.C. – the largest gathering of the Israeli-Americans in history, which will engage and inspire our community to give their time, money, and passion in unprecedented ways.

Jewish institutions will only exist if we support them financially. The onus is on us, as members of the broader Jewish-American community, to support synagogues, Jewish schools, and other Jewish organizations.

Today, my wife Gila and I dedicate a large portion of our earnings, and invest about 80 percent of our time in philanthropy through the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation. And the gifts that we give certainly come back to us tenfold: in the good we see being done to strengthen our community, in the joy that it brings to our lives, and in the sense of satisfaction that we have about our legacy.

Thousands of years ago, wise Rabbi Hillel said, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? “But, If I am only for myself, who am I? And if not now, when?"

These simple words drive me every single day, reminding me that our responsibility to make the world a better place cannot be left for others and cannot wait until tomorrow. By fully embracing the joy and responsibility of giving back, my life has been enriched in more ways that I could have ever imagined.