The Glue, with Eric Fingerhut

This year’s General Assembly marked 30 years since the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister and Peacemaker Yitzhak Rabin. With so much that has happened in these decades, and the past two years in particular, we partnered with SAPIR Journal to host a debate about the future of the two-state solution.  Arguing in favor of it was Michael Koplow, the Chief Policy Officer of Israel Policy Forum. In...

Over the course of three years, a period that saw the war in Ukraine, the October 7th attacks, and a sharp spike in antisemitism, Julie Platt helmed Jewish Federations of North America's board, leading the communal response. This summer, she passed the torch to Gary Torgow, Chair of Huntington Bank and until recently the Chair of Detroit's Jewish Federation. In this episode, Eric Fingerhut speaks...

Jewish Federations have long played a critical role in securing our community, whether advocating for the creation of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in the wake of 9/11, helping create the Secure Communities Network, or launching LiveSecure, the $130 million initiative to ensure that every Federation community has a professional security director to help all our institutions protect themselv...

How do Jewish communal professionals go about the work of building community in this complex time? How is the community dealing with grief, antisemitism, mental health, and also focusing on the positive draws that bring people together? In the episode--recorded in front of a live audience of 1,300 Jewish communal professionals at the "Leading Edge Presents JPro25 , in Partnership with Jewish Feder...

Studies show that in the aftermath of natural disasters such as hurricanes and tsunamis, indicators of resilience were better predictors of how well a community recovered than the things you might expect, like wealth or physical infrastructure. Amazingly, communities with stronger social relationships and more informal, grassroots networks had higher survival rates and were able to rebuild faster....

Two weeks ago, Jewish communal leaders from across North America convened in Washington DC for Federations' annual General Assembly , where we tackled the biggest issues facing our community.  In this episode of The Glue, we bring you the conversation between Eric Fingerhut, Pulitzer-prize winning commentator George Will, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) as they discuss antisemitism, how Israel...

Over the summer, Jewish Federations joined with many other organizations to urge universities to make some changes in order to prepare for the onslaught we knew would be coming in the fall. While we’re happy to report that we’ve made some significant progress. there is still so much more work to be done, and unacceptable levels of vitriol and harassment of Jewish students.  Earlier this month, at...

Last month, a delegation of North American Jewish leaders quietly arrived in Kyiv for a first-of-its-kind mission to take stock of the war and its effects on the Jewish community. During that trip, the group was granted a last-minute audience with Ukraine's (Jewish) president Volodymyr Zelensky. In this episode, we discuss what happened in that meeting and talk to Ukrainians on the ground about ho...

TikTok has an antisemitism problem. One study found that people who use TikTok for 30 minutes or more daily are 17% more likely to hold antisemitic or anti-Israel views, compared with 6% for Instagram and 2% for X (formerly Twitter). In late January, TikTok's top government relations professional in Israel Barak Herscowitz resigned in protest, alleging antisemitism on the social network's platform...

Congressman Ritchie Torres, who built his career on progressive causes, has proven to be one of the most vocally pro-Israel members of Congress while also managing to be a unifying figure, building bridges between and among his diverse constituencies. In this episode of The Glue, we talk to Torres about  shoring up ties between the Black and Jewish communities, how we should think about DEI in an...

In this episode, Jewish Federations of North America President Eric Fingerhut discusses how the March for Israel came together with William Daroff, who heads the Conference of American Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The Cleveland Crew is joined by Erika Rudin-Luria of Cleveland's Jewish Federation to explore what drove so many people to show up, the obstacles they faced, what t...

In this episode, Eric speaks to two incredible colleagues working on the ground in Israel: Rebecca Caspi, Director-General of Israel and Overseas, Jewish Federations of North America, and Aaron J. Goldberg, Director, Israel Office, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, to get their insight into the communal response to the horrific Hamas attack on Israel. " The Glue , with Eric Fingerhut,"...

In this episode, we speak to New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose about her fascinating 5-part series exploring how Americans are moving away from religion. and what it means for society. Study after study shows the rise of "nones," people who identify as having no religion. But there's also a plethora of evidence that religion plays a special role in community building. Eric and guest host...

As one of the lead negotiators for President Isaac Herzog's team in the talks over judicial reforms, Yaniv Cohen had a front row seat to the discussions between government and opposition on the future of Israel's democracy. Cohen, who is Founder and Chairman of Tachlith (The Israeli Institute for Public Policy), breaks down the challenges Israel's society faces, how the controversy may play out, a...

As editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News and the media critic for the New York Times, Ben Smith had a front row seat to (and a significant role in) the social media-zation of news media. On this episode of “The Glue, with Eric Fingerhut,” Eric and Ben discuss what went wrong, how our fragmented media and social media landscapes pull communities apart and fuel hate, and what we can do about it. Guest Ho...

It's been nearly five years since the deadliest antisemitc attack in US history, the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh. As the trial of the shooter is set to begin, we sit down with Jeff Finkelstein, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and Maggie Feinstein, director of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, to learn how the community has held together in the face of a horrific trauma, as...

At a time when so many powerful forces are working to pull us apart, it’s more important than ever to take a step back and talk about the things that hold us together. Jewish Federations are proud to present The Glue, with President and CEO Eric Fingerhut.  The Glue is an exploration of what hold us together in divided times.  Join Eric in each episode for riveting conversations with experts and t...