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May 9, 2018

Adam Milstein Has Been Featured in the Most Comprehensive Zionist Collection to Date

This article was originally published in the Times of Israel by Jacob Maslow on May 8, 2018.

A new anthology of Jewish thought called The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland – Then, Now, and Tomorrow was recently published. It is being hailed by many as the most comprehensive Zionist collection ever published because it includes over 170 different Jewish visionaries. This book, written by Gil Troy, includes a forward by Natan Sharansky and recognizes Adam Milstein as a torchbearer of cultural Zionism.

The Zionist Ideas builds on a classic Jewish book, The Zionist Idea by Arthur Hertzberg. Troy’s new book includes visionaries from the 1800s and includes women, mizrahim, and others who were left out in The Zionist Idea. This comprehensive book on Zionist thought traces the works of Jewish pioneers, builders of the modern day Zionist blueprint, and torchbearers who are carrying on cultural traditions and beliefs.

Adam Milstein is featured as a torchbearer along with other influential Zionists such as A.B. Yehoshua, Saul Singer, Sharon Shalom, and Rachel Sharansky Danziger.

About The Zionist Ideas by Gil Troy

Troy’s comprehensive look at Jewish visionaries looks at three different time periods, starting in the 1800s. He then breaks it down further into six different schools of Zionist thought:

  •         Political
  •         Revisionist
  •         Labor
  •         Religious
  •         Cultural
  •         Diaspora

The first part of this book explores the legacies and backstories of the pioneers who founded the Jewish state. This section includes people like Theodor Herzl, A.D. Gordon, and Abraham Isaac. Each of the pioneers in this section is from the pre-1948 era.

The next section covers the builders and influencers of Zionism between 1949 and 2000. These are the leaders and visionaries who implemented and modernized the Jewish state and blueprint. Zionists featured in this era include David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Leon Uris, and Mordecai Kaplan. The third section, where Adam Milstein is featured, is about today’s Jewish “torch leaders.” These are the people currently making an impact on the Jewish culture by reinvigorating the state and reassessing it where needed.

Adam Milstein’s Work Included in The Zionist Ideas

Israeliness is the Answer (2016) by Adam Milstein was included under the category of Cultural Zionism in part three of the book on Torchbearers. The focus of Cultural Zionism is the revitalization of the Jewish heritage and culture.

In Adam Milstein’s 2016 article in The Jerusalem Post, titled Israeliness Is the Answer, he discusses how many American Jews have become disconnected with their faith, particularly millennials. Milstein writes about the value of engaging younger generations with the State of Israel. He argues that even though many people claim that Israel is a source of conflict that drives these young adults away from their heritage, it is actually what connects them to it. Adam Milstein is a big supporter of programs such as the Birthright, which sends young people to Israel on a 10-day trip. Milstein believes that this exposure to their heritage and culture gives them a new sense of identity and connection to where they came from, leaving them in a state of “Israeliness”, which is a good thing.

This “Israeliness” reminds them of where they came from and where the Jewish people are going. They see the contributions that their people have made to the world and that being Jewish extends far beyond attending synagogue. By visiting Israel, Jewish Americans can gain a new sense of their own identity.

Adam Milstein strongly believes that Israeli-Americans are an untapped resource in maintaining the culture and traditions of the Jewish people. He is on a mission to bring “Israeliness” to America. The Israel American Council (IAC), an organization that Adam Milstein co-founded and serves on as the Chairman of the Board, is now the fastest growing American Jewish organization in the nation.

The IAC has started numerous programs to connect people to Israeliness and Jewish culture and traditions. Some of these programs include Sifriyat Pijama B’America, which sends children’s books written in Hebrew and about Jewish values to families to read, or IAC Michelanu, which is a Hebrew-language Jewish program that is on college campuses.

Adam Milstein’s Background

Adam Milstein is a philanthropist, activist, and co-founder of the IAC. He is also a real estate developer and managing partner at Hager Pacific. Adam Milstein was born in Haifa. During the Yom Kippur War he served in the IDF. Milstein graduated from the Technion in 1978 and moved to the United States in 1981 to pursue his MBA at the University of Southern California (USC). After graduating from USC, he found success in commercial real estate and continues to work in this industry. However, he dedicates much of his time to charitable causes that promote the Jewish culture and Israel.

In addition to his role as Chairman of the Board for the IAC, Adam Milstein and his wife, Gila founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Foundation, where they support numerous pro-Israel organizations. Milstein is also the co-founder of Sifriyat Pijama B’America. He also serves on the boards of many other pro-Israel organizations including Stand With Us, Hasbara Fellowships and Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC). Milstein is also a National Council member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

With his lifetime dedication to furthering the causes and values of the Jewish people, it comes as no surprise that Adam Milstein would be considered an important figure in carrying on the traditions and values of the Jewish people here in America and in Israel. Or, that he would be included in the most comprehensive collection to date of visionaries and influencers in the Zionist movement.

According to a recent interview in the Jewish Journal, Adam Milstein states that “there is nobody better than an Israeli American to be an advocate for the state of Israel.” He wants people to understand that being Jewish is more than just being a part of a synagogue. It includes the culture, the food, the dancing, and so much more. ‘Israeliness” is a heritage that he works tirelessly to preserve – unconditionally and unapologetically.

April 11, 2018

Adam Milstein: Promoter of Israeliness

This article was originally published in the Jewish Journal by RYAN TOROK on April 11, 2018.

Photo by Ryan Torok.

Adam Milstein is a managing partner at Hager Pacific Properties but is probably best known as the co-founder and chairman of the Israeli-American Council (IAC), a national organization that engages Israeli Americans through a variety of programming, including annual Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations, young adult groups, and children’s educational communities.

He and his wife, Gila, run the Adam and Gila Milstein Foundation, which, among other activities, provides subsidies for high school students to attend the annual AIPAC (America Israel Public Affairs Committee) Policy Conference.

Born in Haifa, Milstein, who is in his mid-60s, arrived in the United States 37 years ago to pursue an MBA at USC, and he never left. After finding success in real estate, he has devoted himself to various charitable causes, the majority of which are focused on support for Israel.

Milstein met with the Journal to discuss why charity plays an important part in his life; how the IAC has nurtured a culture of philanthropy among Israeli Americans, “Israeliness,” and the dangers facing Israel today on the eve of its 70th anniversary.

Jewish Journal: What have been the IAC’s greatest successes since its launch in 2007?

Adam Milstein: Before we started the IAC, you did not have any Israeli philanthropy. The Jewish community said, “If you are a philanthropist, then you are a Jewish philanthropist, and if you are not a philanthropist, you are Israeli.” Eleven years later, at [the IAC galas], we raised millions of dollars. In March, we [had] a gala here in Los Angeles, and not counting contributions from Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson, we raised $2.5 million.

Today, the Israeli-American community is considered a very philanthropic community. So, we created a culture of giving. We took a small idea and became a nationwide movement.

JJ: Why is engaging Israeli Americans important to the greater mission of supporting Israel?

AM: There is nobody better than an Israeli American to be an advocate for the State of Israel. We have the information; we have been there; we have fought in the army; we know it is a very dangerous neighborhood. We are Americans, and we think like Americans, and I think there is nobody that can be better spokespeople for Israel than people who are Israeli Americans.

Milstein served in the IDF from 1971-1974.

The Yom Kippur war was in October of 1973, the last year of his service.

JJ: What are the biggest threats facing Israel today?

AM: I think the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement against Israel is growing. Anti-Semitism is growing, and the fact we are passive and defensive is not helping us because it is intensifying.

JJ: Do you mean on college campuses specifically?

AM: Every place. BDS and anti-Semitism are related. Maybe on campus, you call it BDS. Outside, it is anti-Semitism.

JJ: There are those who argue that BDS is not anti-Semitic.

AM: I understand you care about human rights and social justice, but if the only country in the world you have a problem with is the State of Israel, or the Jewish people, then it is related to the Jews and the State of Israel. If you have a problem with [Syrian President Bashar] Assad killing people with chemical weapons, if you have a problem with Iran hanging gays and lesbians from cranes, then I agree, it has nothing to do with Israel. But if every second resolution in the U.N. is about Israel, if in UNESCO every resolution is about Israel, then you understand there is anti-Semitism behind it.

And even though we say it is about the occupation, or the policies of the government, or it’s about Israel shooting someone who is trying to penetrate Israel from the outside, it is about Israel, and it is about the Jews, because we don’t hear any complaints about North Korea or China or Russia or anywhere else.

So, anti-Semitism is growing in the United States. I think, again, it is mostly growing — it is growing from the white supremacists — but mostly from the radical left and radical Muslims. And we need to think out of the box and come up with new strategies, because we clearly are not winning.

JJ: To what extent is Jewish identity connected to support of Israel?

AM: In the Israeli-American community, we don’t say you have to go to synagogue every day, pray and put on teffilin. We say you can connect to Israel and to your Jewish heritage through what we call “Israeliness.” Israeliness has to do with the culture, the food, the dancing, the fact that I met you one time and the next time I say, “You’re in town? I have an empty room. Come stay with me.”

JJ: What role do you see the IAC playing 10 years from now?

AM: I believe that we will become more and more the pro-Israel community in the U.S. This is in our mission, and we made it clear our support for Israel is unwavering, unconditional. And I think that this will separate us from the other organizations that are unsure if they need to criticize Israel or support Israel. They don’t see what we see. This is the only country we have. If you look at Israel, at the 70 years that have passed since independence, there are no other countries in the world that have accomplished so much.

April 9, 2018

The Zionist Ideas by Gil Troy

Adam Milstein has been dedicated in a few pages in this new book called: The Zionist Ideas, Vision for the Jewish Homeland – Then, Now, Tomorrow.

It was written by Gil Troy, a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University.

The book received a forward by Natan Sharansky. 

The most comprehensive Zionist collection ever published, The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow sheds light on the surprisingly diverse and shared visions for realizing Israel as a democratic Jewish state. Building on Arthur Hertzberg’s classic, The Zionist Idea, Gil Troy explores the backstories, dreams, and legacies of more than 170 passionate Jewish visionaries—quadruple Hertzberg’s original number and now including women, mizrachim, and others—from the 1800s to today.

Troy divides the thinkers into six Zionist schools of thought—Political, Revisionist, Labor, Religious, Cultural, and Diaspora Zionism—and reveals the breadth of the debate and surprising syntheses. He also presents the visionaries within three major stages of Zionist development, demonstrating the length and evolution of the conversation. Part 1 (pre-1948) introduces the pioneers who founded the Jewish state, such as Herzl, Gordon, Jabotinsky, Kook, Ha’am, and Szold. Part 2 (1948 to 2000) features builders who actualized and modernized the Zionist blueprints, such as Ben-Gurion, Berlin, Meir, Begin, Soloveitchik, Uris, and Kaplan. Part 3 showcases today’s torchbearers, including Barak, Grossman, Shaked, Lau, Yehoshua, and Sacks.

This mosaic of voices will engage equally diverse readers in reinvigorating the Zionist conversation—weighing and developing the moral, social, and political character of the Jewish state of today and tomorrow.

https://jps.org/wp-cont…/…/2018/02/Zionist-Ideas-excerpt.pdf

April 5, 2018

Diaspora Jews Will Rise to Meet Our Challenges With Israel in Our Hearts

This article was originally published in the Times of Israel on April 5, 2018.

Jewish history teaches us that it takes great leaders to overcome major challenges.

At the turn of the century, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, founder of Revisionist Zionism Ze’ev Jabotinsky, World Zionist Organization president Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first female prime minister Golda Meir, and Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold saw growing antisemitism and acted to lay the foundations for an independent Jewish state.

During World War II, Mordechai Anielewicz led Jews to fight Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, at the same time that Peter Bergson (a disciple of Jabotinsky) managed a heroic campaign to form a Jewish army to fight for the allies, while raising awareness about the destruction of European Jewry.

A few years later, Col. Mickey Marcus, a tough Brooklyn street kid who built a strong reputation as an American military leader in WWII, left his home in America to help save Israel in 1948 and become its first modern general.

Today, the Jewish people face a new set of challenges.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which seeks to eradicate the State of Israel, is being waged around the world. It is working to divide the State of Israel from the Jewish family around the world, transforming from the glue that unites the Jewish American community into a wedge that separates it.

These extreme challenges demand action. They demand great leadership from us the Jewish people in the Diaspora.

The Jewish American community needs to identify, encourage and support heroes of our time: our Mordechai Anielewicz, our Ben-Gurion, our Henrietta Szold, our Mickey Marcus and our Golda Meir. We need leaders who will ensure the Jewish future in America by engaging and inspiring the next generation to be courageous Zionist leaders, fight antisemitism and support the Jewish people in America and the Jewish homeland, which will always be in Israel.

I have great hope and optimism that these high-caliber leaders will emerge. This is because I meet them every day.

In my work as a pro-Israel philanthropist and activist, I meet with the next generation of pro-Israel activists – passionate, innovative and incredibly hard-working leaders – who are rising to meet the challenges of our time.

I see these leaders in the young people who return home from Birthright, energized by their new connection to Israel, with a new understanding about the necessity of instilling a strong Jewish identity in their children.

I see them in Israeli-American Council, where young Israeli-Americans are being activated as a living bridge between America and Israel, as they work to strengthen our American Jewish community.

I see them in the teenagers participating in the Tzofim and B’nei Akiva youth groups – many of whom eventually make aliya and serve in the IDF.

I see them around the U.S. and around the world, fighting against antisemitism and for the global Jewish community.

These are the people who will shape the Jewish future.

Our job is to give them the platform to develop and the tools to succeed. All of us must support and empower the next generation of leaders with pride, courage, and resources. Why? If you are proud of your Jewish identity and heritage, you will be willing to fight and defend it. When you understand the history of your people, then you understand why it is so important for us to defend your community.

The task of being a great leader is not easy: leaders face isolation, ridicule and tough decisions. For instance, Jabotinsky was often condemned for his efforts to create a separate Jewish nation. But great leaders are necessary. We must invest in them, cultivate them and support them. This is how we support the next Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Henrietta Szold. This is how the next generation will be stronger than the last. And this is how the Jewish future will be secured.

February 28, 2018

Why I’m Optimistic About the Jewish Future in America

This article was originally published in The Jerusalem Post on February 27, 2018.

Jewish history teaches us that it takes great leaders to overcome major challenges.

At the turn of the century, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, founder of Revisionist Zionism Ze’ev Jabotinsky, World Zionist Organization president Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first female prime minister Golda Meir, and Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold saw growing antisemitism and acted to lay the foundations for an independent Jewish state.

During World War II, Mordechai Anielewicz led Jews to fight Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, at the same time that Peter Bergson (a disciple of Jabotinsky) managed a heroic campaign to form a Jewish army to fight for the allies while raising awareness about the destruction of European Jewry.

A few years later, Col. Mickey Marcus, a tough Brooklyn street kid who built a strong reputation as an American military leader in WWII, left his home in America to help save Israel in 1948 and become its first modern general.
Today, the Jewish people face a new set of challenges.

Antisemitism is on the rise on the Right and on the Left. In the US alone, antisemitic incidents rose 67% in 2017 compared to 2016 – and in Europe, increases in antisemitic messages in media and social media has fostered a reality in which only half of Jews feel safe wearing visible signs of their Jewishness. A poll released in February 2017 by the Jewish Federation of San Francisco found that only 21% of millennials in their community are very emotionally attached to Israel, and only 26% think it is very important to be Jewish, reflecting disturbing trends we saw in the 2013 Pew Survey of Jewish Americans and other research studies.

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which seeks to eradicate the State of Israel, is being waged around the world. It is working to divide the State of Israel from the Jewish family around the world, transforming from the glue that unites the Jewish American community into a wedge that separates it.

These extreme challenges demand action. They demand great leadership from us the Jewish people in the Diaspora.

The Jewish American community needs to identify, encourage and support heroes of our time: our Mordechai Anielewicz, our Ben-Gurion, our Henrietta Szold, our Mickey Marcus and our Golda Meir. We need leaders who will ensure the Jewish future in America by engaging and inspiring the next generation to be courageous Zionist leaders, fight antisemitism and support the Jewish people in America and the Jewish homeland, which will always be in Israel.

I have great hope and optimism that these high-caliber leaders will emerge. This is because I meet them every day.
In my work as a pro-Israel philanthropist and activist, I meet with the next generation of pro-Israel activists – passionate, innovative and incredibly hard-working leaders – who are rising to meet the challenges of our time.

I see these leaders in the young people who return home from Birthright, energized by their new connection to Israel, with a new understanding about the necessity of instilling a strong Jewish identity in their children.

I see them in Israeli-American Council, where young Israeli-Americans are being activated as a living bridge between America and Israel, as they work to strengthen our American Jewish community.

I see them in the teenagers participating in the Tzofim and B’nei Akiva youth groups – many of whom eventually make aliya and serve in the IDF.

This month, I will see them in Washington among the hundreds of college students that the Milstein Family Foundation brings to the AIPAC Policy Conference.

These are the people who will shape the Jewish future.

Our job is to give them the platform to develop and the tools to succeed. All of us must support and empower the next generation of leaders with pride, courage, and resources. Why? If you are proud of your Jewish identity and heritage, you will be willing to fight and defend it. When you understand the history of your people, then you understand why it is so important for us to defend your community.

The task of being a great leader is not easy: leaders face isolation, ridicule and tough decisions. For instance, Jabotinsky was often condemned for his efforts to create a separate Jewish nation. But great leaders are necessary. We must invest in them, cultivate them and support them. This is how we support the next Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, and Henrietta Szold. This is how the next generation will be stronger than the last. And this is how the Jewish future will be secured.

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.

January 31, 2018

You Can Now Experience Israeli Tour Spots On Virtual Reality

If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit major Israeli tour spots, you can now experience some of them through virtual reality tours on the Virtually Israel 2.0 website.

A project of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation and the MERONA Leadership Foundation, Virtually Israel 2.0 features the following videos:

Philanthropist Adam Milstein told the Journal in a phone interview that the idea for virtual reality videos came about three years ago, when virtual reality was becoming “very, very popular” and was clearly where the future is headed. They initially produced two virtual reality videos two years ago and they were very well-received among various Jewish organizations.

“We wanted to give people a much wider variety,” said Milstein. “We wanted to give them all the different things in Israel that will interest Jews and non-Jews, so we’re giving them a lot of tourist attractions.”

Milstein explained that they had a team of volunteers that went to those specific areas in Israel that took footage and pictures of the tourist sites from different angles in order to create the virtual reality videos. He added that more videos could be on the way.

“Based on our success, we’ll do more things that people feel we didn’t cover in the first ones,” said Milstein.

Milstein hopes that the videos cause people to understand the truth about Israel.

“Israel is not a war zone. It’s not a place of the conflict between the Palestinian and the Israeli,” said Milstein. “It’s a place of peace and prosperity and happiness and innovation, a place that anybody should go and enjoy. We’re showing Israel the way it is, the real colors, we don’t let the media contaminate the image that we have on Israel.”

“The main takeaway is we’re using innovation to tell the truth about Israel.”

The videos are all available on 2D and can be seen in 3D on platforms like Google Cardboard.

Original post: Jewish Journal

BY AARON BANDLER | PUBLISHED JAN 31, 2018

December 26, 2017

Pride and Courage: Gifts for our Children in 2018

This month, we recounted the heroic story of the Maccabees, the Jewish rebel group that lived in the Land of Israel in the second century BCE, which makes clear that we must have pride, courage, and passion to fight for our survival and freedom as a people.

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 existential 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 most important gifts that we must give in every Jewish family in 2018 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 relatively few 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 proud Jew or to be a supporter of Israel. Yet, we need the courage and conviction to stand up and speak out against those that threaten the future of the Jewish state.

Gift three: Persistence

Alongside courage, the Jewish People also need to be consistent and persistent. It’s not enough to 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. 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. During challenging times, the proud and committed 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 united family that cares for and protects each other. We are infinitely stronger when we are united – religious and secular, in Israel and in the Diaspora, old and young.

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 the passion for how you spend your time and resources, you don’t have much at all. Each and every day, 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.

As we look to begin anew in 2018, 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. In doing so, together we can write a new chapter in the ancient story of the Jewish people.

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

Original article featured in The Huffington Post

December 18, 2017

Israeli Americans can be the glue that builds a stronger Jewish community

The Israeli-American Council’s Fourth Annual National Conference in Washington, D.C., held last month felt like a long-overdue family reunion. Enveloping warmth and a powerful sense of togetherness, the love for Israel was infectious, radiating to and from all the participants.

In the corridors of the Washington Convention Center, teenagers spoke with unique pride about their hybrid Israeli-American identity, rooted in the idea that they are deeply connected to their home in America while maintaining a strong affinity to their Jewish homeland in Israel.

Groups of Jewish-American and Israeli-American young professionals exchanged business cards and then headed to a packed dance floor, moving and shaking the steel floors of the convention center to the beat of Israeli music. A young Jewish couple —  the man from New York, the woman from Tel Aviv — joined with their 2-year-old and hundreds of other young families in a circle with picture books in Hebrew and English.

Groups singing Israeli songs blended with panel discussions about what it means to be Israeli and Jewish in America, centered around the idea that we were connected by the Israeliness in our character and the love for Israel in our heart. Many echoed the sentiment that Israeli Americans and Jewish Americans are one family, need each other and complement each other.

This sense of unity extended to the event’s political conversations. The politicians at the conference held views that spanned the ideological spectrum. They shared these radically different views on stage – in very frank conversations. All received thundering applause from the mixed crowd. In the many conference sessions and events, it was clear that Israeliness is a unifying force that can overcome political disagreements.

We live during a time of growing gaps and serious challenges in the Jewish community — both inside American Jewry and between Israel and the Diaspora. How do we address a declining Jewish population in the face of assimilation? How do we overcome divides among our different denominations, political orientations, ethnic backgrounds and geographic centers? How do we ensure that Israel is not a wedge that divides our community, but rather the glue that holds us together and strengthens us?

The nearly 3,000 participants in the Washington conference suggested the role that Israeli Americans can and do play as important partners for American Jewish institutions in addressing these questions and as bridge builders to the State of Israel and its people.

There are three unique value propositions that Israeli Americans — and groups like ours that represent them — can bring to the table for the Jewish community.

The first is our Israeliness, a character and multifaceted quality that brings together many aspects of our identity: Jewish values, the Hebrew language, Israeli culture, pride in our history and heritage, the unique accomplishments of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and above all, a belief that “All the people of Israel are responsible for one another.”

Through Israeliness, our community is bringing new people into our communal conversations and re-engaging others from a wide variety of backgrounds. We understand the importance of Israel not just as a vibrant country and proud culture, but as a crucial part of our spiritual beliefs as Jews. We speak Hebrew at home and at shul — the same language with two unique and intertwined purposes. Our community offers new ways to engage with Israel and Judaism itself.

The second value proposition is our deep love for Israel, rooted in personal experience and an appreciation that it is not just the homeland of the Jewish people, but a source of our pride, common history, culture, courage, and strength. We recognize that Israel isn’t perfect but accept and support it without any preconditions.

As a result, Israeli Americans are uniquely equipped to advocate for Israel. The Israeli-American Council, for example, has worked to advocate for laws that keep states like California, Nevada, and Texas from allowing taxpayer funds to support groups that discriminate against Israelis with economic boycotts. In partnership with existing organizations like AIPAC and Jewish federations, the Israeli-American Coalition for Action and the Israeli-American community have acted to advance bipartisan support for the Taylor Force Act, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and other important pieces of legislation.

The third value proposition is our willingness and ability to think outside the box. Israeli Americans have much to learn from the American Diaspora community about how Jewish culture and community can flourish outside of a Jewish state. Yet we are also contributing fresh perspectives that have brought a range of programs to American Jewish life – initiatives that are engaging not only Israeli Americans but also Jewish Americans of all ages.

By uniting Israeli Americans and partnering with existing Jewish-American institutions, we believe that we can strengthen the American communities we live in and build their connection to Israel. Our vision for the coming decades is optimistic: Where some see challenges and gaps, we see promise and opportunity to reignite Jewish life, re-inspire Jewish pride, and courage, and re-imagine our existing institutions so that they serve the next generation in our community.

By working together as one big Jewish family, Israeli Americans and Jewish Americans of all backgrounds can forge the future we desire.

(Adam Milstein is a co-founder and the chairman of the board of the Israeli-American Council.) 

Original post: JTA

November 28, 2017

Milstein Meme Competition Launches Today

The Milstein Family Foundation will award cash prizes to meme creators who show the fun and funny side of pro-Israel activism by creating entertaining and shareable images.

Milstein Meme Competition Logo

The Milstein Meme Competition will give a chance for hundreds of pro-Israel meme creators to show off their skills and win cash prizes.

This contest is a fun and funny way for us to express our love and support for Israel. Our panelists are young people who are the foremost authorities in making and sharing memes.

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) NOVEMBER 28, 2017

The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation began accepting submissions to its worldwide competition for the pro-Israel memes today. The second Milstein Meme Competition will give a chance for hundreds of pro-Israel meme creators to show off their skills and win cash prizes totaling $2,000.

Whether funny, dramatic or poignant, memes are a cultural touchstone for Millennials and Gen Z. The contest will solicit image macros, one of the most popular forms of internet memes, which are images, websites or hashtags that spread virally over social media, often with slight variations. The contest will add to the pro-Israel “meme stash” generated by the first Milstein Meme Competition, which in 14 days had more than 110 people from a dozen countries on six continents submit over 300 memes, which received over 16,000 votes during the weeklong voting period.

“This contest is a fun and funny way for us to express our love and support for Israel,” philanthropist Adam Milstein said. “Our panelists are young people who are the foremost authorities in making and sharing memes.”

The contest’s public voting period will begin on Dec. 1. Each participant can submit up to three memes. The public voting will take the form of Facebook “reacts” — like, love, haha, sad, wow or angry. Both submissions and voting will end on Dec. 8 at midnight Eastern Standard Time.

After the period of public voting, the final winners will be chosen by a panel of 10 college and high school student pro-Israel activists. Cash prizes will be awarded to one first-place winner, two second-place winners, five third-place winners, and 10 runners-up. Winners will be determined by a group of student judges who were selected by the Milstein Meme Competition’s partner organizations. All of the winners will be announced Dec. 14.

“I saw how successful this competition was this summer and I am excited to be part of this impactful campaign,” said contest judge Melanie Ross, a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “I am looking forward to seeing a lot of creative ways to not only promote Israel as a fun and exciting place but to spread some light streaming from the pro-Israel community, showing that being pro-Israel doesn’t always mean dealing with cold politics.”

The Milstein Family Foundation partnered with more than a dozen Jewish and pro-Israel organizations to sponsor the contest. To sign up or vote, go to milsteinmemes.org.

About the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation: The Milstein Family Foundation works to safeguard and strengthen the Jewish People and the Jewish State by igniting Jewish pride in the next generation, providing pro-Israel Americans with knowledge and expertise to advocate for the State of Israel, and bolstering the critical U.S.-Israel Alliance. Learn more at: http://milsteinff.org/

November 21, 2017

Ascending Israeli-American group seeks to be the ‘glue,’ not the ‘wedge,’ for US Jewry

As Jewish communal organizations throughout the U.S. struggle to maintain membership levels and hefty annual budgets, a rapidly growing group with the energy of a well-funded Israeli start-up is challenging the Jewish communal world and its relationship to the state of Israel.

Earlier this month, the Israeli-American Council (IAC) hosted its fourth annual national conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center—the D.C. venue known well to many pro-Israel Jewish and Christian advocates for hosting the larger annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Christians United for Israel (CUFI) conferences. While IAC’s 2,700 participants are dwarfed by the numbers that attend the AIPAC and CUFI gatherings, it is IAC’s rapid growth that has major Jewish organizations and philanthropists, as well as the Israeli government, taking notice.

IAC caters to the nearly 1-million-strong population of Israelis that have emigrated to the U.S.—many of them in the 1990s. It is a population that came to America primarily seeking financial opportunities, but like many immigrant communities, the majority of Israelis living in the U.S. never stopped speaking their native language, Hebrew, and never stopped loving their mother country.

For the Israeli-born co-founder and chairman of IAC, Adam Milstein, the organization seeks to take advantage of the best qualities that Israelis have to offer, and use them to strengthen the Israeli-American relationship.

“The focus of this organization and this convention is about the identity of the Israeli community living in the United States. Most of the lectures are about our identity, what is unique about us, all the benefits we are giving to the American people, to the American economy,” Milstein told JNS.org.

Regarding IAC’s rapid growth, Milstein said, “I think we have two secrets. One is our character, our ‘Israeliness,’ which means that we are very similar to the character of the people in Israel.  We have the same culture, we have the same language. We are proud Jews. We have special values of family and friendship, and we are willing to stand up for each other.”

“The second thing that is unique about us is our love for the state of Israel,” said Milstein. “We are not only accepting Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, but we view Israel as the source of our history, the source of our culture and the source of our strength. And we accept and support Israel without any preconditions.”

During the past several years, members of the American Jewish community have become increasingly critical of Israeli policies. This past year, U.S. Jewry has taken issue with Israeli social and domestic policies as they relate to issues of religious observance.

In particular, the Israeli government’s insistence on only officially recognizing conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis, and the government’s unwillingness to change the access point to an egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall plaza, have recently become wedge issues for many Jewish Americans.

The American Jewish community may well be at a crossroads with the state of Israel, and detractors of Israeli policies in America—including Jewish communal leaders and clergy—tend to be vocal with their criticism. The growing rift is an issue that both the state of Israel and the U.S. Jewish communal structure are struggling to solve.

“It is very important to understand. Any organization that is taking Israel, and instead of making Israel the glue is making it the wedge, they are losing everything. Basically, they are making us fight each other, and weakening the Jewish community. By doing that, they are actually increasing anti-Semitism,” Milstein said.

Referring to the open dialogue, where many Jewish organizations suggest that criticizing Israel is actually a form of support, Milstein contends, “Once you allow Israeli detractors into your big tent or into your small tent, it’s over.”

“What we believe as an organization is exactly the antidote,” Milstein counters. “What we believe is that Israel is in our heart. Israel is not perfect, and nobody claims that it is, but we support the state of Israel officially. We encourage, we cherish the state of Israel, and we believe the source of power of the Jewish people is the state of Israel.”

Due to this unflinching support, the IAC has been surprised to see growth also come from Jewish Americans who were not born in Israel.

“We are able now to attract a lot of Jewish Americans,” said Milstein. “We are the pro-Israel family community in the United States. We welcome anyone who is pro-Israel into our home.”

The American Jewish community has seen stagnating growth, and rampant assimilation, while the Israeli Jewish community is growing rapidly due to low intermarriage rates, exceptionally high birthrates and immigration from Jewish communities around the world—which outpaces the emigration that has made the IAC possible.

Now, just 70 years after the creation of the fledgling state of Israel, there are two Jewish strongholds with similar populations. It is a historical moment that neither the Israeli nor American Jewish communities anticipated coming so quickly, and it has arrived with some tension. Israel’s government has had a difficult time of late explaining and bridging the growing gaps between American and Israeli Jewry.

Sam Grundwerg, Israel’s consul general to Los Angeles, told JNS.org that the IAC is “ensuring that the Israel-American alliance will continue to thrive.”

Grundwerg was a participant on a panel at the IAC conference specifically geared toward bridging the gaps between Jews in Israel and the diaspora. A week later, the consulate co-hosted an event with IAC, featuring an address by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

Noting that the IAC “provides important programs” and “keeps the community connected with Israel,” Grundwerg said that the organization “is extremely instrumental to the Israeli-American community nationwide.”

Yet IAC is also pushing its members to participate in the existing Jewish communal structure, in the hopes that the “Israeliness” of IAC participants will positively impact their American-born neighbors.

“We encourage our members to get involved in the federations, in the JCCs, in the schools, in national organizations,” Milstein said. “We have people that are on the board of their federations, we have people that are on the board of Birthright. We definitely encourage synergy in Jewish life and Jewish institutions, with us and with everybody else.”

At the annual conference’s opening plenary, IAC co-founder and CEO Shoham Nicolet told the audience, “I see the power of Israeliness all over the United States of America and in everything the IAC does. We came all the way to DC not to discuss gaps, but to go back to the basics of togetherness. We are here to demonstrate what one family looks like, which transcends religious denomination, political affiliation, and nationality.”

Milstein said of the conference’s growing participation, “You can see the warmth.  Everyone you meet here, they hug you, they say, ‘It’s so great to be here.’ You don’t see this type of excitement and electricity from the Jewish American community.”

Original article in JNS