Thank All Those Who Donated And Volunteered For Jewish Causes

As the Children of Israel walked the desert, they built a home, a mishkan, for God. Exodus 36: 2-7 introduces us to the work:

“²Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. ³They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. ⁴So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing ⁵and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.” ⁶Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, ⁷because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.“

The Torah relates that there was such an outpouring of donations to help build the mishkan, that it overwhelmed those skilled craftsmen performing the actual construction work.

Alas, we do not have that kind of over-enthusiasm for causes today, but we definitely have many foot soldiers in trying to stem the tide of antisemitism in the Jewish diaspora.

Consider those fighting the rampant antisemitism at Columbia University. The university finally took action on March 21, 2025, announcing a plan that basically aligned with the demands of the Trump administration to protect Jewish students and faculty on campus. It did not happen in a vacuum.

Columbia’s Hillel had been trying to get the Columbia administration to make changes since the October 7, 2023 massacre of Jews in Israel and riots against Israel and Jews and at the university since then. Alums For Campus Fairness issued a 33-page report about antisemitism at Columbia in 2019. Countless alumni wrote letters to the school administration and withheld donations.

*Announcement from Columbia Hillel on March 21, 2025*

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) held many committees about antisemitism on campus where Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) lambasted the failure of university leadership to protect Jews.

Leaders of the Jewish philanthropic world like Dan Loeb, Bill Ackman and David Magerman very publicly shifted their donations from their alma maters to Jewish schools like Yeshiva University and some in Israel. Some not so wealthy but public voices like Alan Dershowitz announced that they were shifting all of their philanthropic activities and pro bono work to Jewish causes.

All of these activities helped pivot public thought. It made former Republicans switch to the Democratic Party to help oust politicians perceived as antisemitic like Jamaal Bowman. It was part of what led a decades-long record percentage of Jews to vote for Donald Trump for president in 2024 with his promise to clean up the widespread failures in American schools.

Do not think that the work is done but take a moment to thank the many people who fought to stem the horrific tide of Jew hatred. We need them to keep putting money into Jewish institutions instead of naming buildings at disgraced universities. We need groups like StandWithUs and Brandeis Center to continue to advocate for Jews on campus. We need politicians like Rep. Ritchie Torres and Rep. Mike Lawler in the House, and Sen. Josh Hawley and Sen. John Fetterman to continue their principled work on behalf of Americans. We need the Trump administration to continue to pressure universities to stop enabling a toxic environment for Jewish and other students on campus.

Many people have been working for years to end Jew hatred and it should not be taken for granted. Now is a moment to thank them for their noble efforts.