Lila Corwin Berman
Open Letter | Brandeis University Press is silencing debate
We are a group of scholars whose research is connected to American Jewish history and experience. We read the preface that Marc Dollinger submitted.
Jeffrey Epstein Has Tainted Jewish Philanthropy. Now What?
If Jewish philanthropies continually rely on individual very-wealthy donors for support, they lose power to do what they set out to do.
Why Federations Funding Canary Mission Shouldn’t Surprise You
The fact that Jewish federations and other Jewish public charities fund Canary Mission is simply business as usual.
How Jewish Academia Created A #MeToo Disaster
American Jewish communal institutions have empowered a specific form of knowledge about Jewish life that hinges upon counting marriage and offspring.
Donors Beware: Jewish Organizations Can Spend Your Money Pretty Much However They Please.
Jewish communal institutions often claim that the diverse list of organizations that their funds support prove that they are “big-tent,” non-political actors— but the proof is in actions, not words.
The Cowardly Reasons Jewish Organizations Won’t Speak Out Against Trump Appointees: And Why We Must Demand That They Do
I recognize this response as, at best, a misunderstanding of what it means to be part of the American nonprofit complex, and, at worst, a cowardly lie.
How Norman Sugarman Became $50B Godfather of Charitable Funds
If you asked most people why the year 1969 was important in American life, few would mention that year’s federal Tax Reform Act. But Norman Sugarman’s fingerprints on that document may have had as much of a lasting effect on this country’s history as Neil Armstrong’s feet on the moon.
On Fellowship
I had to apologize to my younger self when I agreed to teach a course at the National Havurah Summer Institute a few years ago. My parents were part of a Havurah — a Jewish fellowship group with roots in the hippie era — and although we never attended the institute, my brothers and I spent countless Friday nights, Saturday afternoons and even some summer vacations with my parents’ Havurah friends. Ours was a childhood shaped by their peculiar dances, melodies and culinary habits.