Good Thursday morning!
In today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we report from this year’s Israel on Campus Coalition conference in Washington, D.C., and feature an opinion piece from Shoshannah D. Frydman. Also in this newsletter: Jonathan Brent, Josephine Sittenfeld and Philip Sherman. We’ll start with Jewish groups remembering businessman and philanthropist Robert Beren.
Robert Beren, a prolific philanthropist, oil magnate and Republican donor who funded Jewish schools, yeshivas, agencies and synagogues in the United States and Israel, died on Wednesday, reports eJewishPhilantropy’s Haley Cohen. He was 97.
Beren’s grandson Jonah Platt reflected on Wednesday afternoon on his grandfather’s “tremendous” impact, telling eJP, “He instilled in all of us such a sense of responsibility to the Jewish community, to give back always and to always put an emphasis on philanthropy and education and Jewish values.”
Family, Platt said, was central to his grandfather’s values. “He really set the tone, the way he revered his family and those who came before him so much. So we try with everything we do to honor him and his legacy.”
The Robert M. Beren Academy, a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school in Houston; Yeshiva University; the Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, whose campus is named for Beren; and the Ohr Torah Stone network in Israel, including its Robert M. Beren Machanaim Yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz, are among the numerous beneficiaries of Beren’s charitable giving, many of which bear his name or those of his family members.
“The worldwide Jewish community mourns the loss of a true champion, Robert M. Beren, a man of unwavering principles, of a dedication to the Jewish people, and of extraordinary generosity,” Rabbi Kenneth Brander, the leader of the Ohr Torah Stone network, said in a statement to eJP. “Mr. Beren was more than just a philanthropic donor — he was an involved partner whose strategic insights guided our growth, and he will be missed.”
Beren is survived by daughters Nancy Beren, an active member of Jewish organizations in Houston; Julie Platt, board chair of Jewish Federations of North America; Amy Bressman; former president of UJA-Federation of New York; and son Adam Beren, a former president of the Mid-Kansas Jewish Federation, member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and founder of the Combat Antisemitism Movement. His grandchildren, in addition to Jonah Platt, include actors Ben and Henry Platt, Hollywood writer Theodore Bressman, Sophie Beren, Irene Beren Jefferson and Punchbowl co-founder Jake Sherman (by marriage).
Read the full story here.
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