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How do you galvanize a community that has forgotten its heritage? As Adam Milstein realized 15 years ago, it takes passionate determination and tireless effort.

Milstein emigrated from Israel with his wife and daughters in the early 1980s, became an American citizen in 1986, and built a thriving real estate development business. Around the year 2000, his daughters started dating young men who weren’t Jewish. He told his daughters he hoped they’d marry Jewish husbands. They asked him why.

Faced with this question from his daughters, Milstein realized he didn’t have an answer. As an Israeli, he’d spent his time in America sitting on his suitcase, always thinking he’d go back home. He’d sent his daughters to Jewish day schools, but faced with limited options, he’d sent them to a secular high school. Most of their friends were non-Jewish. They hadn’t formed deep bonds with the American Jewish community.

Milstein realized he hadn’t been sitting on a suitcase; he’d been sitting on a time bomb. He looked at Israelis like him in his community, realizing their identity as Israelis would be gone in one or two generations. He started by reconnecting with his culture on his own, attending Aish LA events and studying with Aish HaTorah Rabbi Dov Heller. Through these events, he found a new purpose: to transform his fellow Israeli-Americans into a community.

A Two-Pronged Approach

Milstein approaches his philanthropic efforts from two angles: conducting age-specific outreach and focusing on common interests. His goal was to reach second- and third-generation Israeli-Americans and through them, to reach their parents and grandparents.

Former Israeli-American Council (IAC) CEO Sagi Balasha, another Israeli-American, explains his generation’s thinking. “People come here with the intention to go back, and that creates a special psychology. You will not really try to be part of a Jewish community; you will not try too hard to integrate into American society; you will not spend your money on sending your kids to Jewish day schools because you’ll just speak Hebrew at home.”

Whereas American Jewish life centers around synagogues, Israelis rarely join these communities. Because they’re always ready to go home, they feel no need to assimilate into American Jewish culture, and they don’t want to pay to join the synagogues.

Milstein started reaching out to his community by founding the Sifriyat Pijama B’America. In keeping with his philosophy, it’s age specific, designed for 2- to 8-year-olds. It’s also built around a common interest, which is teaching children to read.
By the time children start gaining exposure to written Hebrew language through Sifriyat programs, they already have a strong oral base in English. If their Jewish parents speak Hebrew in the home, they also have an oral and aural command of Hebrew. These foundations make preschool the perfect time to start reading in both languages. Instead of reading “Goodnight Moon” one more time, Israeli-American parents receive free storybooks written in Hebrew.

Milstein also started with the Sifriyat program for another strategic reason. In addition to building a foundation on Hebrew language, these storybooks stir strong feelings of nostalgia for parents. The stories are the same stories they read when they were children growing up in Israel. The books begin to stir connections to their culture, building a desire for what they’ve lost.

Why Hebrew Matters

Americans tend to view learning a foreign language in terms of either utility or cultural literacy. American businesspeople learn Chinese to gain a foothold in the global marketplace, or healthcare workers learn Spanish to speak to patients in their communities. Also, learning a foreign language has always been a pillar of a classical liberal arts education. Unfortunately, few Americans who take second-language classes put their new skills into practice.

For the Jewish community, the Hebrew language has a much deeper meaning, especially for Israeli-Americans. While nearly seven in 10 American Jews practice Judaism, many Israeli-Americans live secular lives. The Hebrew language becomes a way of reconnecting to Jewish roots among a community in which faith is less relevant. By exposing children to Hebrew through stories they enjoy, learning Hebrew becomes a joy, not a parental directive.

Based on the success of Sifriyat, Adam Milstein expanded his outreach to Israeli-Americans in other age groups. He created programs that connected elementary school students, through online lessons and video conferencing, to Hebrew language teachers in Israel. Milstein also supports Friends of Israel Scouts, which is an American version of Tzofim, an Israeli program with some similarities to the Boy Scouts of America. The program has four Schvatim, or tribes in Southern California, and programs are conducted in Hebrew. Students learn about Israel and, after graduating from high school, have an opportunity to spend a gap year in Israel.

On College Campuses

College campuses tend to be a place where herd mentality reigns. Students gravitate toward labels instead of thinking deeply about the movements they join. On campuses, BDS sentiments have gained a foothold by aligning with progressive causes, like LGBT equality and environmental preservation. Students sometimes adopt anti-Israel sentiments without thinking deeply about anti-Semitism.

The Milstein Family Foundation, through the IAC, is a foundational supporter of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program. Taglit-Birthright sends young adults, ages 18 to 26, who have at least one Israeli parent, to visit the state of Israel. On these trips, young adults explore their heritage and over 3,000 years of Jewish history.

When asked why Birthright trips were limited to Israeli-Americans, Milstein said, “When an Israeli-American comes on Birthright, the impact is probably five times more than the impact on Jewish-Americans. The reason is simple — Israeli-Americans are connected to Israel already.” Even Israeli-Americans who’ve visited family back in Israel don’t necessarily know the land of Israel. “They know the house of their grandma,” says Milstein. “They know the beach in Netanya.”

In addition to funding trips to the homeland, the Milstein Family Foundation sponsors groups like Mishelanu, which gives Israeli-Americans a home away from home on college campuses. The Milsteins also support Hillel, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and the Merona Campus Leadership Foundation.

Networks for Young Professionals

After graduating from college, Israeli-American young adults find themselves where Milstein’s daughters were 15 years ago. They’re thinking about building careers and starting their families, and it’s tempting to drift away from Jewish culture.

Although it’s not clear which causes the other, there’s a clear correlation between lack of religiosity and intermarriage. According to Pew, 79 percent of Jews who are non-religious have a spouse who isn’t Jewish. In intermarried families, one-third of parents raise their children without any introduction to Jewish faith.
To give Israeli-American young adults the chance to meet other young Jewish professionals, Milstein encourages participation in programs like B’Nai B’Rith. It’s a young professionals network designed to build community among working Israeli-Americans and American Jews ages 12 to 40. Milstein is practical; he understands that after three or four generations, Israeli-Americans rarely maintain a unique identity. “We will not exist as Israeli-Americans 20 or 30 years from now,” Milstein said candidly in an interview with Jewish Journal.

Through groups like B’Nai B’Rith, Milstein wants young Israeli-Americans to assimilate into the American Jewish community. However, he also wants them to take their Israeliness with them, including an unabashed pride in their homeland. In the future, Milstein hopes, “the Jewish people of America will be by us, and will not be the Jewish-Americans that you have today.” He believes Israeli-Americans have a duty to merge with the American Jewish community and focus its members on their connection with Israel.

For All Generations

The IAC’s flagship event, for the past few years, has been its Celebrate Israel festival. Instead of being age-specific like Milstein’s other programs, it brings together Israeli-Americans of all ages.

Celebrate Israel includes opportunities to eat Jewish food, listen to Jewish music, and enjoy traditional Jewish dances. It started in Los Angeles, but has since spread to several cities throughout the U.S., attracting thousands of enthusiastic participants.

At a recent Celebrate Israel festival in Pembroke Pines, Florida, attendees wandered through a replica of Jerusalem’s sprawling, bustling marketplace. They also had the chance to reflect while visiting a replica of Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall. Celebrate Israel isn’t just open to Israeli-Americans and American Jews; it welcomes Israel’s supporters from the wider community.

Unfortunately, it also attracts attention from groups that are inherently anti-Semitic. At Celebrate Israel’s New York event this year, the New Israel Fund, a BDS group, was allowed to march.

The New York Post spoke out strongly against the NIF and its presence at Celebrate Israel. “The Celebrate Israel Parade is a place for friends of Israel,” Ronn Torossian said in an editorial. “It should reject extremists of all kinds.”

The Ultimate Goal: Building Support for Israel

By launching a series of age-specific programs built around common Israeli-American interests, Adam Milstein has infused the Israeli-American community with new passion and cohesiveness. In a world environment increasingly hostile to the Jewish state, Milstein and his family work tirelessly to bring Jews and their allies together.

More than anything, Milstein believes that he and his fellow Israeli-Americans have a responsibility to promote Israel’s interests in America. “Israeli-Americans are knowledgeable and passionate about this subject,” Milstein wrote in an editorial for Jewish Journal. “They can speak from personal experience.”

When you look at the success of Silicon Valley, you see that most of it began at Stanford University. Starting with David Packard and William Hewlett’s little garage-founded electronic company in 1939, Stanford talent generated some of the Valley’s biggest successes, including Google and Cisco Systems. Every year, companies founded by Stanford alumni pump $2.7 trillion into the American economy. Since the 1930s, Stanford alumni have created over 5.4 million jobs.

Israel has a similar talent incubation system, but it’s not a university. It’s Unit 8200, the elite cybersecurity niche of the Israeli Defense Forces. Eighteen-year-old whiz kids go into the 8200 to complete mandatory service for the IDF. They leave ready to start their own tech companies.

Life in the IDF

Most young Israeli men and women complete mandatory service in the IDF. Some receive exemption through a national youth service program, and some ultra-Orthodox Israelis avoid service when completing religious studies in a yeshiva. In the early days when Israel was fighting for survival, mandatory service was worn as a badge of honor. Israeli-American real estate developer and philanthropist Adam Milstein says, “We grew up in Israel, most of us served in the army, and our character was galvanized by the time we served.”

These days, it’s getting tougher to conscript young Israelis into the IDF. About 12 percent of Israelis avoided the draft in 1980; by 2007, the number had jumped to 26 percent. In 2020, the IDF predicts 43 percent of Israeli youth will avoid the draft. “In my time everyone served in the Israeli army, and we understood the importance of a Jewish State,” says Milstein. “Today, an unprecedented portion of Israeli youth in large metropolitan areas such as Tel Aviv tries to avoid the draft.”

For parents in Israel, having a child accepted into an elite IDF unit is like having an American child accepted to Harvard. In fact, some wealthy Israelis provide their children with special training, like Arabic language lessons, to improve their chances of scoring an elite gig. Unit 8200 targets students with outstanding analytic abilities, good decision-makers, and team players. In fact, the 8200 handpicks its new recruits by the time they graduate from high school.

Thinking Outside the Box

Unit 8200 teaches students a lot about technology, but more than anything, it teaches them how to think like entrepreneurs.

“Success required out-of-the-box thinking, the courage to contradict conventional wisdom, and an ability to stave off hubris,” explains Idan Tendler, a former Unit 8200 lead agent who became CEO and co-founder of Fortscale, a global cybersecurity provider. “We learned to question authority and traditional ways of thinking in order to continuously improve outcomes.”

Tendler isn’t the only CEO who got his start in Unit 8200. The founders of companies like Outbrain, Waze, CheckPoint, Imperva, Gilat, Wix, and Palo Alto Networks all got their start in this elite cybersecurity unit. “We were a bunch of 18-year-old kids who, in a couple of months, would be leading complex intelligence technological operations in Israel’s equivalent of the NSA,” says Tendler.

Unit 8200’s recruits learn sophisticated data mining techniques and incorporate advanced machine learning, mostly to uncover cybersecurity threats and to conduct intelligence investigations. “This correlation between serving in the intelligence Unit 8200 and starting successful high-tech companies is not coincidental,” says one Unit 8200 alumnus, who only identifies himself as Brigadier General B. “Many of the technologies in use around the world and developed in Israel were originally military technologies and were developed and improved by unit veterans.”

Veterans Old and New

Adam Milstein came to the U.S. to earn his MBA after he finished compulsory IDF service. After enlisting in 1971, he’d fought in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, where he was part of then General Ariel Sharon’s unit chasing Egyptian forces across the Suez Canal.

These days, Milstein is in his 60s, with married daughters and grandchildren. He spent his career rehabilitating and repurposing commercial and industrial real estate, amassing a portfolio of over $1 billion in holdings for his company, Hager Pacific. He’s also one of the key members of America’s Israeli-American council, where he works hard to instill a love for the homeland in Israeli-American youth.

There’s something special about Israel’s entrepreneurial spirit, and it’s something from which young Israeli-American professionals can benefit. Despite requiring compulsory military service, Israel isn’t a highly regimented and authority-driven society. It’s a country filled with independent spirit in which everyday workers are unafraid to question authority.

IDF veteran Yaron Carni, who founded Maverick Ventures, thinks military service creates an excellent mindset for young entrepreneurs. “One of the most unique traits of the IDF is that smart people get heard and promoted based on their skill sets,” says Carni. “Some of the greatest achievements were accomplished by regular soldiers.”

In addition, Israel is a country of immigrants, filled with diverse and highly skilled workers. When companies come to Israel to launch international operations, it only takes days to assemble a skilled workforce. When you look for job ads, you’ll often see want ads that say specifically, “Meant for 8200 alumni.”

International Perspective

In 2014, the Milstein and the IAC’s Los Angeles-based BINA network for young professionals hosted “Israel’s High Tech Heroes.” It was a salon gathering featuring former members of Unit 8200, where young Jewish professionals could ask candid questions about Israeli entrepreneurship. In addition to attending the IAC’s BINA salon, Unit 8200 Alumnus Association members spoke at the Global Tech Summit at Microsoft. “We were happy to share our own experiences as entrepreneurs, as well as present our perspectives about the benefits and challenges this unique path has,” said Guy Katsovich, Chair of the Young Alumni of the 8200 Unit.

After leaving active service, Unit 8200 members benefit from an established and enthusiastic alumni network. The Unit 8200 Alumni Association helps its veterans make connections in banking, business, and high-tech companies all over the world. Within their new work environments, they mingle among other Unit 8200 veterans and work with the same advanced technologies.

For example, one Israeli tech company that helps match people with clothing based on their unique tastes operates using the same kinds of algorithms Unit 8200 devised to track and thwart suicide bombers. “It’s more the mindset than the actual technology,” says Noa Levy, chief executive for mobile app startup Rompr. “Then, you can go out and do it on a completely different series of tasks, using the same methodology.”

The Value of Service

Over four decades after the Yom Kippur war, military service is still as formative as ever. One 22-year-old veteran who recently served in the Golani infantry brigade told the Washington Post, “I was drafted as a child with a head of a kid, and now I feel different, if it’s the music I listen to, if it’s in my behavior, even if in the clothing that I wear.”

For Adam Milstein, 8200 alumni, and other IDF veterans, the obligation to serve Israel and make a difference in the world doesn’t end after military service. Milstein says continuing to honor Israel, whether through reserve service, in the high-tech sector, or in the philanthropic sector, is every IDF veteran’s desire. “Whatever you give, you get more,” Milstein says. “Not necessarily 10 times more, but you just get more.”

Serving in Unit 8200 means getting more than just military service under one’s belt. It means a lifetime of innovation, business partnership, and economic development. In some ways, it’s the Stanford of Israel, and it’s poised to create an Israeli version of Silicon Valley.

For Israeli-American real estate mogul and philanthropist Adam Milstein, building on-campus alliances in support of Israel has become a top priority.

Within the past year, Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campus groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), have added 40 campuses to their roster, giving them a presence on 150 campuses. According to the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), SJP and similar groups gain ground by building alliances with progressive on-campus organizations such as those promoting environmental causes, LGBT advocacy, immigration reform, race relations, and prison reform.

Although BDS hasn’t sparked a frightening level of anti-Israel backlash on college campuses just yet, ICC documented 1,630 anti-Israel events at 181 U.S. campuses during the 2014-2015 academic year. The group reported more than twice as many pro-Israel events during the same academic period, but many still worry about growing anti-Israel sentiment.

The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation has worked for years to build pro-Israel alliances at colleges and universities. Milstein wants to keep sentiment moving firmly in a pro-Israel direction. “As philanthropists and pro-Israel activists, my wife and I have engaged for many years on the front lines of the fight,” Milstein recently wrote in a Jewish Journal op-ed. “[We’re] working with a range of organizations that seek to defend Israel and the Jewish people.”

Fighting Anti-Semitism: Campus Maccabees

For Milstein and his allies, the main concern about BDS is its singular focus on the state of Israel. “Masquerading as social justice activists, this small group of dangerous radicals has been able to brainwash large numbers of students on campus after campus,” Milstein has noted. He has also pointed out that the movement has largely ignored other divisive regional conflicts, like China-Tibet or Russia-Crimea, in favor of targeting Israel.

This summer, Milstein and two other prominent pro-Israel magnates, Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban, launched a new task force called Campus Maccabees. “We believe that this new task force will be a game changer in this fight, coordinating the work of the very best pro-Israel organizations in unprecedented ways,” Milstein said.

The organization’s name originated with Rabbi Schmuley Boteach, who first used the term in an op-ed written for The Observer. In his opinion piece, Boteach said American campuses need “Campus Maccabees,” pro-Israel students who aren’t afraid to stand up to anti-Semitism spawned by BDS politics.

In the U.S., anti-Semitism related to BDS hasn’t reached levels of violence seen in other parts of the world. However, on-campus tensions related to BDS have mobilized anti-Israel faculty and university administrators. According to Boteach, over 2,000 American college and university professors have signed petitions asking their administrators to boycott Israeli universities. They’ve also asked their schools to sever ties with companies that do business with Israel, and some have even passed resolutions condemning Israel.

Anti-Semitism has also trickled down to infect student government organizations. No example makes this clearer than the case of Rachel Beyda, a second-year economics major seeking appointment to UCLA’s student council Judicial Board.

The previous November, the student council had passed a resolution endorsing the BDS movement. At Beyda’s confirmation meeting, student Fabienne Roth asked whether Beyda’s activism in Hillel and Jewish sorority Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi would allow her to remain “objective” when facing decisions as a member of the board. After Beyda left the meeting, the student council engaged in a 40-minute debate about her appointment. At the end of the meeting, four student members voted against adding her to the Judicial Board.

After a video of the incident became public, UCLA administrators moved swiftly to Beyda’s defense. Chancellor Gene Block spoke strongly against the council’s actions, saying it was inappropriate to assume that people from certain groups or heritages were motivated by hatred and incapable of being impartial.

In a subsequent interview with Jewish Journal, Block called BDS’s on-campus effects “corrosive” and said the incident was a “teaching moment” for the entire UCLA community. “I think that all student governments in discussions like this going forward will be alert to the fact that you’ve got to avoid questions that really end up being anti-Semitic,” Block explained. “Maybe not anti-Semitic in intent, but anti-Semitic in impact and in outcome.”

Campus Allies: Visiting the Homeland

In addition to being a force behind Campus Maccabees, the Milstein Family Foundation supports AIPAC’s Campus Allies Mission. The Campus Allies initiative offers non-Jewish, pro-Israel college students and young professionals the chance to visit Israel. For young adults with Judeo-Christian beliefs, a visit to the Holy Land provides a deeply spiritual experience.

Caroline Wren, who visited Israel through Campus Allies in 2012, said that her trip to Israel gave her not only an incredible experience but also shaped her career path. “I prayed at the Western Wall. I was baptized in the Jordan River. My visit to the Holy Land exceeded all of my expectations,” Wren reported. “The 10 days I spent in Israel with AIPAC were the most incredible of my life.”

After returning home, Wren worked on multiple political campaigns for pro-Israel candidates, including Jon Huntsman’s presidential bid. In 2014, she became finance director for Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) re-election campaign. “Senator Graham wakes up every day and fights for Israel and expects his staff to do the same,” said Wren. “He has taught me that being a champion for Israel doesn’t mean just talking about our support, but acting on it.”

Wren isn’t the only alumnus who has built important connections through Campus Allies. Former University of Kentucky student body president Micah Fielden formed close ties with Mitt Romney staffers during the 2012 trip to Israel.

Fielden went on to serve as a digital project manager and trip coordinator for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. Through the campaign, he met a mentor who encouraged him to attend law school at Georgetown. After graduation, Fielden has a commitment to join a firm in New York City. “My AIPAC trip not only taught me about the Jewish State,” Fielden wrote. “It catapulted my career to new heights.”

University of Texas: Building Bridges Between Latino and Jewish Students

The David Project, in 2012, sponsored a two-week trip to Israel for students at the University of Texas at Austin. The trip was part of an alliance between Project Interchange, the National Hispana Leadership Institute, and the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which receives financial support from the Milstein Family Foundation.

According to surveys conducted by AJC, 59 percent of U.S. Latinos say they have no relationships with Jews. Also, 41 percent report no awareness of the Jewish religion and its tenets. At the same time, 61 percent of Latinos think Jews bring positive cultural contributions to America. At UT, these statistics prompted the David Project to create the Latino-Jewish Student Coalition (LJSC).

In addition to taking the Israel trip together, LJSC unites students around community service projects, like teaching and mentoring. They also want to unite Latino and Jewish students in the face of racially motivated crimes that have plagued UT, such as the carving of swastikas on a Jewish student’s door and the throwing of bleach-filled balloons at students of color.

It’s a prescient move in the face of demographic change; within 40 years, 30 percent of the U.S. population will be Latino. Milstein, the AJC, and their allies recognize that building friendship now between the Latino and Jewish communities will benefit pro-Israel causes for decades to come.

The Battle for Public Opinion

Although SJP did add 40 student groups to its rolls last year, ICC reported the emergence of 100 new pro-Israel on-campus groups. Also, at the six campuses in which BDS advocates tried to get students to vote on anti-Israel resolutions, none of the resolutions passed.

To keep BDS sympathizers from gaining excessive influence on campuses, Adam Milstein and fellow pro-Israel influencers are working harder than ever to build and sustain friendships between non-Jewish students and their Jewish allies. “With strength, determination and unity,” Milstein wrote, “We can show the anti-Semites taking over America’s universities that tsunamis travel in more than one direction.”

Today’s American Jewish community is a mix of Orthodox and non-Orthodox, a blend of multi-generation Americans and emigrants from modern-day Israel. A recent Pew Research release, for example, suggests that Orthodox Jews have more in common with American evangelicals than with other ethnic Jews.

As American Jews diverge on matters of faith, increasing numbers are finding unity in what Israeli American Council COO Miri Belsky calls “Israeliness.” Israeli-American philanthropists like Adam Milstein advocate for the homeland by uniting religious and secular Jews in America around their common heritage.

BDS and the New Anti-Semitism

The pro-Palestinian BDS movement has gained favor by describing itself as a non-violent alternative to intifada. But by encouraging American businesses, universities, and other organizations to sever ties with Israel, BDS has created a groundswell of anti-Semitism, particularly on college campuses.

In a region filled with regimes trampling on human rights, BDS singles out the state of Israel, the Middle East’s only functional democracy, calling for boycotts and divestment from the Israeli government and Israeli businesses. BDS advocates, according to Milstein, gain a foothold on college campuses by aligning themselves with progressive causes, like LGBT advocacy and environmental protection. “Masquerading as social justice activists, this small group of dangerous radicals has been able to brainwash large numbers of students on campus after campus,” Milstein wrote in a Jewish Journal op-ed. “[They’re] forming alliances with groups working to promote rights of minorities, women, and LGBT members.”

Because BDS allies itself with popular progressive causes, students sometimes embrace it without truly understanding the movement. They’re caught up in a herd mentality that causes them to associate being progressive with being anti-Israel. The case of UCLA sophomore Rachel Beyda demonstrates how embracing BDS without thinking critically causes even well-meaning students to drift into anti-Semitism. “The last thing [a Jewish student] will be interested in is being a pro-Israel advocate because you’re being named and harassed, intimidated, and shamed,” says Milstein. “For a young person, they just don’t want to be involved. It’s too much harassment, too much of a headache.”

Anti-Semitism at UCLA

In November 2014, UCLA’s student council passed a resolution in support of the BDS movement. A few months later, when interviewing Jewish student Rachel Beyda for their Judicial Board, they asked whether her participation in Hillel and in Jewish sorority Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi made it impossible for her to be “objective” when considering issues before the council. Four student council members voted against Beyda’s addition to the board in spite of her outstanding qualifications. They were concerned about whether Beyda’s involvement with Jewish groups might make her disloyal to the student council.

The students might not have overtly understood their anti-Semitism when they asked the questions, but their actions eerily recalled questions Jews have been asked through history about their loyalty to rulers or governments. “The overall culture of targeting Israel led to targeting Jewish students,” said Natalie Charney, student president of the UCLA chapter of Hillel.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called BDS influence “corrosive” and said the incident was a “teaching moment” for all involved. “To assume that every member of a group can’t be impartial or is motivated by hatred is intellectually and morally unacceptable. When hurtful stereotypes—of any group—are wielded to delegitimize others, we are all debased.

“There is no way you should be inferring people’s prejudices or their political views from their religion,” Block said in an interview. “I think this was a wakeup call, and in some sense I think [the students] were snapped out of it.”

Coming Together Around the Homeland

As a place to call home, Israel exists as a pair of bookends in the timeline of Jewish history. Between Biblical Judaism and the restoration of Israel in 1948, Jewish identity had less to do with the homeland itself as people bonded together around faith and local communities.

Some blame decreasing fervor for Israel on rising secularism among American Jews. Among the Orthodox community, which makes up 10 percent of American Jews, 84 percent believe the Jews have a God-given birthright to Israel. Pew reports 22 percent of American Jews—including 32 percent of Jewish millennials—now describe themselves as non-religious. Only 35 percent of all American Jews say they believe Israel was given to the Jewish people by God, and only 30 percent describe themselves as very attached to Israel.

Milstein, whose Milstein Family Foundation supports a wide range of pro-Israeli causes, including the Israeli-American Council (IAC), believes that American Jews, even without a strong allegiance to faith, can come together around a new appreciation for their Israeli heritage. Milstein has called on his fellow Israeli Americans to strengthen ties to the Jewish community and strengthen their pro-Israel advocacy efforts.

“It’s much easier to explain Israel’s security challenges when your family lives in Sderot or you have served in the Israel Defense Forces,” Milstein says. “Instilled with our culture’s characteristic boldness, [we] can form an army of activists who are unafraid to stand up and speak out.”

Toward an Israeli Identity and Away From Helplessness

Miri Belsky says the American way of practicing Judaism centers around synagogues and religious congregations. For Jews who are drifting away from their faith, a focus on Israeli heritage and culture can become a uniting force.

Milstein is one of the central figures within the Israeli-American Council, which hosts annual Celebrate Israel festivals in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Las Vegas, and Pembroke Pines, Fla. In Los Angeles alone, the 2015 festival drew over 15,000 attendees; in Florida, over 8,000 attended.
Celebrate Israel draws equal numbers of Israeli-Americans and American Jews. The Pembroke Pines festival featured a Mahane Yehuda Market designed to imitate the giant open market in downtown Jerusalem. It also featured a replica of the Wailing Wall, a deeply meaningful symbol even to non-practicing Jews.

In addition to uniting Israeli-Americans and American Jews around celebrating their cultural heritage, Milstein and the IAC have given Jews in America the chance to demonstrate real support for Israel. During last summer’s Gaza operation, IAC sent care packages and letters to Israeli soldiers. As another way to show support, they also sponsored a program called “Bring Back the Summer,” which sent Israeli soldiers who’d finished their tours to relax at a Red Sea resort in Eilat.

Milstein and others like him want philanthropic gestures like this to unite Israeli-Americans and American Jews around positive ways to support Israel. Los Angeles Jewish Community activist Tal Rubin said of the Gaza struggle, “At every gathering, there was a palpable feeling of people wishing they could do something.”

Facts on the Ground

It’s not always easy to express pro-Israel sentiment when so many Americans don’t understand what’s happening in the homeland. IAC CEO Sagi Balasha, a native of Haifa, noted that last summer, American protesters shouted slogans like “Free Gaza” because they didn’t know Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

According to Adam Milstein, Israeli-Americans of his generation are neglecting their duty to educate American Jews about the homeland. “Expatriate Israelis keep thinking they are going back to Israel someday,” Milstein explained. “They have to realize that they are here for good. As the saying goes, they’re sitting on their suitcases. They don’t realize that they are actually sitting on a time bomb.”

The challenge Israeli-Americans face, says Milstein, is that unlike many American Jews, they have no religious infrastructure to pass on to their children. Also, the cost of joining a synagogue deters many Jewish young adults from becoming members of religious congregations. Milstein and his family founded Sifriyat Pijama B’America to give young Jewish children in America the chance to receive high-quality Hebrew books for free. Milstein hopes that when parents read classic Hebrew stories to their children, the tales and tongue of the homeland will woo them back to the Jewish community.

By uniting both religious and secular Jews in America around Israeli heritage, Milstein is working to preserve the future of the homeland he left. He hopes other members of the yerida, the Israeli-Americans who’ve moved away from Israel, will join him in his quest.

“Adam is strategic and he has become a tremendous role model for other philanthropists to follow,” says Roz Rothstein, CEO of the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs. “He is a good listener who recognizes the strengths of each organization and helps bring organizations together for the greater good of Israel and the Jewish people.”

Adam Milstein emigrated from Israel to America in the early 1980s. He finished his MBA, became a real estate developer, and earned his American citizenship in 1986. He stayed in America for 20 years without building deep connections with the American Jewish community. He sent his two daughters to Jewish day schools in Los Angeles, but both girls attended secular high schools.

Around 2002, Milstein realized how much he and his family had assimilated into American life and how little of his Israeli identity had been passed on to his daughters. “Kids don’t want to be Israelis or immigrants,” Milstein explained. “They want to assimilate into American culture and get as far away from their ‘foreign’ roots as possible.”

For Milstein, the first step was to re-establish his own Jewish identity. He started studying with Aish HaTorah Rabbi Dov Heller, and he started attending Aish L.A. events. As he surveyed his fellow Israeli-Americans, it became clear he wasn’t the only one who had assimilated. Despite the presence of a thriving American Jewish community, Israeli-Americans had struggled to find their tribe. Milstein wanted to help his fellow Israeli-Americans build their own unique communities, and he saw an opportunity to unite his people around the Hebrew language.

The Pull of Home

Most Israeli-American live secular lives, so they don’t form bonds around the local synagogue. It costs money to join a congregation, and many Israeli-Americans avoid the investment because they assume they’ll go home someday.

It’s a phenomenon the Israeli-American community calls “sitting on suitcases.” Because they always assume they’ll return to Israel, they don’t make an effort to develop strong ties in Israeli-American communities. They assume it’s easy enough to speak Hebrew and observe holidays at home, especially because they don’t feel 100-percent American. Even with dual citizenship, Israeli-Americans like Milstein feel the tug of the homeland. “We grew up in Israel; most of us served in the army,” Milstein says. “Our character was galvanized by the time we served in Israel.”

The thought of going home has been historically reinforced by a vague guilt for leaving Israel. To move to Israel is called aliyah, the ascent; to move away is called yerida, the descent. Israeli-Americans don’t have to accept a yerida identity if they continue to say they’re going home. Yet by failing to plug into the American Jewish community, they end up assimilating by default. “As the saying goes, they’re sitting on their suitcases,” Milstein explains. “They don’t realize that they are actually sitting on a time bomb.”

Uniting Around Language

The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation founded the Sifriyat Pijama B’America, a charity devoted to providing free Hebrew language storybooks for kids aged 2 to 8. Milstein wanted to woo young minds to Hebrew at a young age by exposing them to written language, helping them develop oral fluency, and instilling a love of traditional Jewish stories.

He also had a second motive: to call Israeli-American parents back to their heritage. “We are trying to reach out to Israelis and embrace them and bring them back to Jewish life, Jewish education, and the Jewish people,” Milstein said. “This process doesn’t just happen through listening to bedtime stories in Hebrew. We hope that once they read the books to their children, it will create an appetite for more Jewish life.”

Milstein isn’t the only person who’s argued in favor of more Jews in America developing Hebrew fluency. Speaking to American Jews, David Hazony, author of “The 10 Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life,” says that it’s impossible to participate in Jewish cultural life without knowing Hebrew.

“By learning Hebrew en masse, American Jews just might find a great deal of what they’ve been looking for to help cure their own inner cultural malaise,” Hazony has written. “We can’t be united by religion or geography or politics, but our common ancient language opens unlimited doors to deepening, enriching and ultimately creating new, exciting expressions of Jewish life.” American Jews feel fondness for Israel, he says, but they know nothing of its popular culture or modern spiritual struggles. They want to hear about political issues, but they don’t feel connected to the culture or artistic achievements of Israelis.

Merging Two Cultures

Adam Milstein is also one of the founders of the Israeli-American Council. It’s an organization dedicated to helping Israeli-Americans come together as a community.

In a way, the IAC is adopting the American Jewish model of community-building. It’s forming a network of voluntary, self-funded groups around the country to unite Jews and to advocate for Israel. For example, the IAC’s Meetchabrim meetings in Boston have helped the Israeli-American community in that city develop community-oriented projects. First, the community launched an Israeli LinkedIn group to help young Israeli-Americans build their professional networks. Second, they’ve started organizing events for different age groups, from children to families with children to Israeli-American empty nesters.

Nearly one-third of Jewish millennials are also “nones,” meaning they have no religious affiliation. Building activities around the Hebrew language helps Milstein unite communities that don’t necessarily practice Judaism.

In addition to programs like Sifriyat, the Milstein Family Foundation and the IAC support programs like Hebrew language programs for elementary school students and Hebrew sleepaway camps for older kids. Milstein is also working to create a dedicated social media platform for Israelis in America.

Building Support for Israel

One of Milstein’s biggest initiatives — and an important initiative for IAC as a whole — is to advocate for the state of Israel. He is deeply concerned that anti-Zionism, both within the Jewish community and without, is becoming a form of anti-Semitism.

Both Jews and non-Jews have political disagreements about the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum, and both Israeli-Americans and American Jews land on all points of the left-right political spectrum. Unfortunately, many young Americans, out of a desire to be labeled as progressive, develop an anti-Israel herd mentality. They decide all pro-Israel arguments are wrong without developing a deep understanding of life in the state of Israel.

For example, when conflict escalated in Gaza in 2014, former IAC CEO Sagi Balasha says Americans, particularly young Americans, would chant slogans like, “Free Gaza!” They didn’t know, that Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, and they didn’t understand that Gaza was also being blockaded by Egypt on the other side.

Additionally, Jewish students on American college campuses have found themselves facing discrimination from students with anti-Israel sentiments. “Many students, I think, they view Jews as just part of the ‘white majority,’” says Gene Block, chancellor of UCLA. “And that is not the way Jewish students view themselves. Some of them are two generations from Holocaust survivors. It’s a very difficult feeling than maybe what some individuals looking at them feel they represent.”

To help the young adult children of Israeli-Americans learn to advocate for the homeland, the Milstein Family Foundation supports Taglit-Birthright Israel, an organization that provides free trips to visit Israel. While in Israel, young Israeli-American adults aged 18 to 26 learn about their history and immerse themselves in Israeli culture and Hebrew language. Milstein hopes they return with a new appreciation for what’s being accomplished at home and also with a deeper knowledge of Israel’s struggles.

Toward a Single Identity

The Hebrew language is helping Israeli-Americans build their own community. At the same time, Milstein acknowledges that within 20 to 30 years, Israeli-Americans won’t really exist as a separate community. He wants them to merge with American Jews, but he also wants them to reshape Jewishness in America by building a connectedness through the Hebrew language to the Jewish homeland in Israel.

Jews living in America face less discrimination than their counterparts in Europe and Russia, yet growing anti-Israel sentiment makes it tougher for them to advocate for their homeland. Israeli-Americans, according to Milstein, are in a unique position to combat pockets of anti-Semitism in America.

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

Newfound Appreciation

Even in Israel, politicians have realized the value provided by those who came to American in the yerida. They are no longer those who left; they’re respected as ambassadors whose influence will shape the future of the state of Israel. Adam Milstein and his fellow Israeli-Americans aren’t just passing Hebrew to a new generation. They’re ensuring the Hebrew language — and those who speak it, even if they live in America — will always have a home in Israel.

The concept of tzedakah isn’t directly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but it’s one of the biggest reasons why so many people of Jewish descent get involved in philanthropy. Tzedakah isn’t charity, exactly; charity implies giving from generosity of spirit or compassion. Tzedakah is an obligation, borne from an ancient understanding that your money belongs to G-d anyway, and he expects you to give some to others as part of good stewardship.

Some argue that tzedakah is as much about giving time as it is about giving money. According to Maimonides, the highest form of tzedakah gives others the ability to become self-sufficient. Religiosity isn’t a prerequisite, either. Giving back is simply ingrained in Jewish culture. These five Jewish and Israeli Americans have made tzedakah part of everyday life.

1. Adam Milstein: “Whatever We Give to Charity, God Gives Us 10 Times More”

After coming to America and graduating with his MBA from the University of Southern California, Israeli-American Adam Milstein became a multi-millionaire thanks to his work as a real estate developer. He had a business partner who taught him about the concept of ma’aser, or tithing. It’s a custom of giving 10 percent of your income away as part of tzedakah.

Milstein isn’t married to the 10 times figure; he just knows that what you give comes back to you, multiplied. “Whatever you give, you get more. Not necessarily 10 times more, but you just get more.”
The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation supports a wide range of local charities in Los Angeles, including Bikur Cholim, a charity devoted to providing companionship and activities for the homebound, and Beit T’Shuvah, a residential facility for addiction treatment. Milstein also co-founded the Israeli-American Council and supports a number of on-campus groups, for Jewish and non-Jewish students alike, to build awareness about Israel and Middle East policy.

For Milstein, tzedakah is about helping Israeli-Americans and American Jews embrace their Jewish identities. One of his efforts, Sifriyat Pijama B’America, gives Jewish children access to high-quality Hebrew storybooks and music. Milstein gives money, but he also devotes 80 percent of his time to his philanthropic efforts. “[It takes] more time to spend your philanthropy money than to make it,” he says.

His biggest contribution, according to Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, is his ability to bring groups together to work for a common cause. “He is not only generous and makes good work possible, he is a good listener who recognizes the strengths of each organization and helps bring organizations together.”

2. Natalie Portman: “It’s Not Charity. It’s Just Widening Opportunity”

When Natalie Portman was a senior at Harvard, something happened to a friend back in Israel. Although the Jerusalem-born actress has never publicly specified what happened, she said it gave her a newfound drive to contribute something to the world. Fresh off her success as Padme Amidala in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” she called Queen Raina of Jordan to discuss Middle East peace. Queen Raina had another topic on her mind: microfinance.

She told Portman about an organization called Foundation for International Community Assistance, or FINCA, which championed microfinance in South America, Central Asia, Africa, and the former Soviet Union. Portman agreed to visit some of the countries helped by FINCA, so she trekked to Guatemala and Uganda. She realized how getting small loans to bolster their business prospects made women self-sufficient.

“When the women talk to me, they say how good they feel about themselves,” she told The New York Times. “When you ask what’s the best thing about this, they say, ‘I can kick out the man who was beating me.’”

Portman began advocating for FINCA and microfinance during public appearances and in prominent magazine interviews. She also became patron of the UN’s Year of Microcredit and spoke about her experiences at her alma mater as well as at NYU and Stanford University.

In many countries, the poor have little access to banking, and banks hesitate to make small loans because they make little profit after they incur loan processing costs. Portman says FINCA loans have a 97 percent repayment rate, and the recipients are almost always women.

FINCA now serves 1.8 million clients in 23 countries, and its success has made even larger banks reconsider microlending. “There is no better gift than giving women living in poverty the ability to provide for themselves and their families,” says Portman.

3. Steven Levitt: “We Should Be Rewarding Philanthropists Based on Their Results”

Steven Levitt was born to Jewish parents and became famous as co-author of the bestselling book “Freakonomics.” In addition to serving as the University of Chicago’s William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, he has co-founded an effort to improve worldwide philanthropy by helping not-for-profits increase ROI.

His Greatest Good partners include Jewish Nobel laureate and economist Daniel Kahneman, physician Atul Gawande, and Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker. According to Levitt, The Greatest Good is founded on five bedrock principles:

1. Figuring out how to do good in the world generates the most important questions we ask ourselves.
2. Humanity’s biggest questions call for dedicated, truth-seeking minds.
3. Solving big problems like obesity, drug addiction, and low-performing schools requires a commitment to long-term, prolific, and daring experimentation.
4. Real problem solving requires humility and a willingness to reject hypotheses that don’t stand up to experiments.
5. Large-scale problems require experimentation on a grand scale with large upfront investments.

Levitt likens the type of experimentation advocated by The Greatest Good to R&D within the pharmaceutical industry. He says pharmaceutical companies spend a lot of money upfront to experiment on medications, many of which never come to fruition. The ones that do make it out of the pipeline, however, have a tremendous positive effect. “Even if 99 percent of the projects fail, the 1 percent that succeed could yield super scaled impact.”

The Greatest Good hopes to encourage philanthropy from a deeper set of values, not from guilt. He wishes more donors espoused what Adam Milstein calls “active philanthropy,” which is a commitment to spend time ensuring that your charitable investment pays off. Levitt argues that like private sector investors, philanthropists should be judged on the ROI of what they give. “This would keep them engaged in the process and have them focus their efforts on generating super scaled impacts and positive return.”

4. David Geffen: “You’re Making the World a Better Place”

Recording industry giant and DreamWorks SKG co-founder David Geffen has always been passionate about HIV/AIDS and LGBT equality. The David Geffen Foundation has given millions to these causes, but lately, Geffen is focused on fixing America’s looming doctor shortage.

According to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the U.S. will face a shortage of as much as 90,000 doctors by 2025. One of the biggest deterrents to entering the medical profession is the high cost of education. Seventy-nine percent of medical students graduate with over $100,000 in student debt. Almost half owe $200,000 or more on student loans.

In 2002, Geffen donated $200 million to UCLA’s medical school. A year later, he donated an additional $100 million to fund scholarships for incoming medical students. Thanks to Geffen’s donation, one in five UCLA medical students will graduate debt-free, and his efforts have caused medical schools around the country to find ways to help their own students graduate free.

For his work, Geffen was recently presented with the prestigious UCLA Medal. “Your national movement to relieve medical students of debt has prompted more young people to pursue careers as physicians,” the medal citation read.

5. Miriam Adelson: “By Treating One Person, We Can Save Many Lives”

Miriam Adelson, wife of billionaire Sheldon Adelson, met her husband after becoming a medical doctor. She still puts on her lab coat every day to conduct research and treat patients for substance abuse.

Adelson’s parents fled Poland in the wake of the Holocaust, eventually settling in Haifa. She graduated from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Medical School, specializing in chemical dependency and drug addiction. After marrying her casino magnate husband, Adelson founded a research clinic and treatment center for substance abuse at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv. She also opened the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Research Clinic in her new home, Las Vegas. She and her husband, along with Adam Milstein, are strong backers of the Israeli-American Council.

For Miriam Adelson, helping a person beat drug addiction is the equivalent of saving 20 lives. “Treating one drug addict reduces his criminal activity, reduces his arrests…reduces him being infected with HIV and Hepatitis C while sharing needles, and reduces his infecting others if he is already infected,” she said in an interview with Fortune. “It also improves his general medical condition, improves his behavior at home and in the environment, improves his work habits, and has a positive impact on his family by having a normal person around them.”

To Adelson, her signature white lab coat is worth far more than any designer suit she’s ever worn. “Ask me which one I prefer,” she says, “and I will tell you that with no doubt, it is the white one.”

Tzedakah in Action

For Jewish philanthropists and visionaries like these, tzedakah isn’t done out of religious obligation or guilt; it’s simply a way of life. By devoting their lives to empowering others, they’ve embodied the highest ideals of Jewish culture.