Mosaic United
Israeli public-benefit company set up by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry to fund Jewish identity programmes abroad, with Chabad on Campus among its main grantees
| Mosaic United
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Israeli public-benefit company (hevra le-to'elet ha-tzibur); government–philanthropy partnership |
| Founded | 2014–2015 (as the Israel-Diaspora Initiative) |
| Founder(s) | Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs under Naftali Bennett |
| Location | Israel (earlier run from the United States) |
| Area served | Jewish communities outside Israel, especially university campuses |
| Key people | Amy Holtz (first CEO); Benji Levy (CEO, 2020); Meir Holtz (CEO from 2021; president in 2024); Gary Torgow (steering committee chairman, 2021); Dvir Kahana (ministry director-general) |
| Website | https://www.mosaicunited.org/ |
| Remarks | Criticised for funding Orthodox outreach groups, including Chabad, without a public tender[1] |
Mosaic United (formerly the Israel-Diaspora Initiative) is an Israeli public-benefit company created by Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to fund Jewish identity and pro-Israel programmes abroad. About one-third of its money comes from the Israeli government and two-thirds from Jewish philanthropists and partner organisations.[2] Its first and largest programme funded campus work by three groups: Hillel International, Chabad-Lubavitch's Chabad on Campus International and the Orthodox outreach network Olami.[3] In 2026 it said about $350 million had been invested "together with the Government of Israel and its philanthropic partners" over its first decade.[4]
Origins
The Jerusalem Post wrote that the project "was launched in 2014". According to Gary Torgow, chairman of its steering committee, the idea came from Naftali Bennett, then Diaspora Affairs Minister, and his ministry director-general Dvir Kahana. The plan was a government fund with matching dollars from Jewish philanthropists.[5][6] The Israeli investigative site Shakuf dates the company to 2015. It was set up as a public-benefit company, and the Justice Ministry gave it special approval to get around the ban on giving government money to bodies less than two years old.[7]
In August 2015 Haaretz reported that the founders of the company approved to run the programme "include key activists in settler and other right-wing groups". It said the Jewish Agency had asked the attorney general to examine the tender process.[8] Shakuf reported in 2018 that the project was run by the ministry under Bennett and promoted by Kahana, "in his previous role CEO of the Elad association".[1]
The 2016 campus grants
Mosaic United launched in August 2016. Its press release said Hillel, Chabad on Campus and Olami "will each be awarded more than $7 million in grants", which they would match 2:1, for "an overall impact of $66 million into Jewish life on campus over the next two years".[2] JTA reported in November 2016 that each of the three would receive $22 million over two years.[3] A Haaretz report, republished by eJewishPhilanthropy, put the programme's cost at about 250 million shekels ($65.6 million), "one-third of which – approximately 80 million shekels – will be paid out of the state budget".[9] The Haredi news site Kikar HaShabbat added that the money would be divided equally between the three organisations.[10] On these figures, Chabad on Campus received more than $7 million from Mosaic United over two years, about a third of the money that came from the state, and was expected to raise twice that itself.
In November 2016 Chabad on Campus hosted Bennett at Chabad House Bowery in New York. He told the audience: "We are using taxpayer money to invest in the future of the Jewish people." Bennett also said his wife had been drawn to Judaism through George Rohr, who chairs Chabad on Campus's international advisory board.[11] In July 2017 Haaretz reported that "Sixteen new Orthodox outreach centers" had been set up on campuses in the previous year as part of the programme, run by Chabad and Olami.[12]
Later funding
| Year reported | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Annual turnover of about 92 million shekels; contract framework of about 720 million shekels, of which about 241 million from the taxpayer | Shakuf[1] |
| 2018 | Total cost of about 570 million shekels, a third (190 million) direct from the Israeli taxpayer | Shakuf[7] |
| 2020 | More than 400 million shekels in the first four years for Hillel, Chabad on Campus and Olami; 25 million shekels from the ministry and 50 million from philanthropists for the campus programme's fifth year | Israel National News[13] |
| 2021 | $165 million invested to date, $55 million of it from the Israeli government | The Jerusalem Post[6] |
| 2022 | Cabinet allocation of 180 million shekels, the government half of a 360 million shekel two-year partnership | The Jerusalem Post[5] |
| 2024 | 48 million shekels (about $12.8 million) from the government for campus outreach that year | The Guardian[14] |
| 2024 | 151 million shekels requested for the Diaspora Ministry, including the "Mosaic" project | Walla[15] |
| 2026 | About $350 million over a decade; new strategy worth nearly $40 million | Mosaic United[4] |
No source found gives an audited total for Chabad. In May 2022, after Chabad on Campus met Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai, its chief executive, Rabbi Yossy Gordon, said that "tens of millions of dollars have been distributed to campus shluchim around the world" through the partnership.[16] Mosaic United has also funded Chabad's teen network: in 2024 eJewishPhilanthropy listed Chabad's CTeen among the partners in a $4.8 million voucher scheme for teen trips to Israel, half of it paid from Mosaic United's government funding.[17]
Recent strategy
In July 2026 Mosaic United announced a new strategy, "in partnership with Israel's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism", worth nearly $40 million. It covers innovation, meetings between Israeli and Diaspora teenagers (about $16.5 million) and training for informal Jewish educators. It said its programmes had reached nearly 300,000 young Jews in more than 50 countries through over 200 partner organisations.[4] In August 2026 it launched a $12 million innovation platform with the ministry. Established organisations may apply for up to $1 million, "subject to a requirement for 50% in nongovernment matching funds".[18]
Criticism
Reform and Conservative leaders objected in 2016 that no non-Orthodox movement had been funded. Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism said the choice "continues the Orthodox monopoly in Israel and extends it to the Diaspora". He called it problematic "not only because most students don't want to turn into Chabadniks".[3][9] Rabbi Steven Wernick of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism said: "If this is a semi-private, semi-government company, there should be transparency and there wasn't any."[9] The student group Open Hillel urged Hillel to refuse the money.[3]
Shakuf wrote in 2018 that the company acts "in practice [as] a pipeline for transferring money", tens of millions of public shekels a year, to Chabad, Olami and Hillel "without a tender". It said this structure let public money flow onward with no public oversight. It reported that the first CEO, Amy Holtz, had been paid 1.1 million shekels a year. Mosaic United replied that she had lived in the United States, that her pay was at the low end for American Jewish organisations, and that "only a third" of its activity was government-funded. The reporter disclosed that he had previously worked for Hillel.[7] In 2024 The Guardian placed Mosaic United within a wider Israeli government effort to shape US debate over the Gaza war. It reported that its president, Meir Holtz, told a Knesset hearing about the 48 million shekels of government funding.[14]
See also
- Ministry of Diaspora Affairs
- Chabad on Campus International
- Moshe Kotlarsky
- Levi Shemtov
- Chabad emissaries
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Idan Binyamin, בפגרה ורחוק מהתקשורת מתנהלים חברי הכנסת (לעיתים) באופן אחראי ומכובד Shakuf, 20 September 2018, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mosaic United, Mosaic United Announces Official Launch, First Major Project PRWeb, 12 August 2016, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Josefin Dolsten, Open Hillel calls on Hillel to reject funding by Naftali Bennett project Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 3 November 2016, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Mosaic United team, After a Decade of Impact: Mosaic United Launches a New Strategy Mosaic United, 5 July 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Zvika Klein, NIS 360m. to be spent connecting Diaspora youth to Israel The Jerusalem Post, 10 April 2022, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Alan Rosenbaum, Mosaic United, the most significant Jewish org you don't know The Jerusalem Post, 25 November 2021, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Idan Binyamin, סיפור קטן על שכר של מיליון שקל ומידע שמגיע בדיסקים Shakuf, 10 December 2018, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Or Kashti, The Right-wing Cronies Behind Bennett's Diaspora Project Haaretz, 16 August 2015 (Wayback Machine capture of 24 May 2026, opening paragraph only), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 eJewishPhilanthropy, Jewish Identity Plan Raises Ire of non-Orthodox Jews in U.S. eJewishPhilanthropy (from Haaretz), 19 August 2016, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Israel Cohen, בנט יחזק את התפוצות עם חב"ד, "עולמי" והלל Kikar HaShabbat, 16 August 2016, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Chabad.edu Staff, Israel Diaspora Affairs Minister Lauds Mosaic United Campus Program Chabad.org, 24 November 2016, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Judy Maltz, Controversial Israeli Program Helps Finance 13 New Orthodox Centers on U.S. Campuses Haaretz, 20 July 2017 (Wayback Machine capture of 23 May 2026, opening paragraph only), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Arutz Sheva Staff, Over $20 million allocated to support Jewish university life across 6 continents Israel National News, 16 September 2020, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lee Fang and Jack Poulson, Israeli documents show expansive government effort to shape US discourse around Gaza war The Guardian, 24 June 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Walla, זה מה שצריך עכשיו? תקציב ענק ועובדים ל"חיזוק הזהות היהודית בתפוצות" Walla! Kesef, 17 December 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ COLlive, Major Jewish Funders Partner with Chabad on Campus COLlive, 23 May 2022, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Judah Ari Gross, Mosaic United expands vouchers for Israel trips for teens from outside the U.S. eJewishPhilanthropy, 6 February 2024, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Jerusalem Post Staff, Mosaic United launches $12 million platform to rethink Jewish youth engagement The Jerusalem Post, 2 August 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.