JewBelong

Background

JewBelong was created by Archie Gottesman and Stacy Stuart for outreach to Jews who are less connected to their Jewish roots or less educated in Jewish belief and practices, as well as to non-Jews who are curious about Judaism. ³ The group strives to provide community and education through explainers on Jewish holidays and rituals, including keeping kosher. In addition, JewBelong’s website has a list of other Jewish groups that may be of interest to JewBelong constituents, and a page dedicated to promoting Israeli businesses. ^{4  5}

JewBelong created what it calls “the New Ten Commandments,” which include statements such as “Belief in God is not required,” “Get to Israel,” and “Send your kids to Jewish summer camp and Hebrew school,” generally encouraging emotional and financial investment in the Jewish community. ⁶

Countering Antisemitism

JewBelong sponsors distinctive billboards and billboard trucks featuring a pink background with white text ⁷ that feature slogans such as, “Does your church need armed guards? ‘Cause our synagogue does,” “Cultural Jews died in the gas chambers too. Speak up,” and “For a town that loves social issues, you’ve been pretty quiet on antisemitism.” ⁸ Billboards have appeared throughout the United States in major cities from San Francisco to Miami, ⁸ as well as many college towns, including Tallahassee, Florida, home to Florida State University; ⁹ Madison, Wisconsin, home to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ¹⁰ and Norman, Oklahoma, home to Oklahoma University. ¹¹

Leadership

Stacy Stuart and Archie Gottesman co-founded JewBelong. The two are advertising professionals most notable for work on ad campaigns for Manhattan Mini Storage NYC. ³ Gottesman has sat on several pro-Israel liberal groups’ boards, including that of Democratic Majority for Israel, the Israel on Campus Coalition, and Zioness. ³

Board members include Yuval David, Hen Mazzig, and Noa Tishby. Yuval David is an actor and filmmaker, who has been in “Madam Secretary” and “Beauty and the Beast.” He has also worked with the Jewish National Fund, StandWithUs, and the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change Conference. ¹²

Hen Mazzig has been named among the top 50 pro-Israel influencers and has appeared on the BBC, has been quoted by the Washington Post, and has presented at a TEDx conference. ¹³

Tishby is an actress and writer whom the Israeli government named as its first Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel. ¹⁴

Financials

In 2023, JewBelong reported $6,822,941 in revenue and $5,059,520 in expenses ¹⁵ and received funding from several family and community foundations. ¹⁶ Nearly half of the group’s 2023 revenue, $3 million, was donated by the Paula and Jerry Gottesman Family Supporting Foundation. ¹⁷ The California-based Sophie Stenbeck Family Foundation also contributed $50,000 to the group that year. ¹⁸

In fiscal year 2024, JewBelong received $112,304 from Jewish Communal Fund, ¹⁹ $100,000 from the Levity Impact Charitable Foundation, ²⁰ $10,000 from the Cleveland-based Michael and Deborah Ratner Salzberg Family Foundation, ²¹ $10,000 from the Community Foundation of Louisville, ²² and $5,000 from the New Jersey-based David and Eleanore Rukin Philanthropic Foundation. ²³