In Final Gesture, Bernie Marcus Gives RootOne $60M
The gift brings his investment in the four-year-old program to $140 million.
Two months ago, with his health failing, Bernie Marcus made the decision to donate another $60 million to RootOne, the program he started to develop a greater understanding of Israel among Jewish teens. The gift, which was made though his Marcus Foundation in Atlanta, more than doubles the funding he has provided for the program since it was founded in 2020.
The president of the Marcus Foundation, Jay Kaiman, indicated that the $140 million the foundation has provided for the program since its beginning is one indication of how important the Atlanta philanthropist considered the program.
“The RootOne vision was very close to Bernie Marcus’ heart,” Kaiman said. “He recognized long ago the crisis of antisemitism in America – particularly on college campuses – and was committed to innovative solutions to ensure the safety and future of the young Jewish population.”
The program provides rising Jewish high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a voucher for $3,000 toward the cost of a three-week stay in Israel. Over the past four years, RootOne has partnered with five important youth organizations — BBYO, USY, Ramah, Union for Reform Judaism and NCSY to send 15,000 young people on the trip. Participants are also required to take part in a minimum of eight hours of pre-trip online learning around Jewish history and Israel.
Simon Amiel, who directs the RootOne program, said that Marcus saw 10 years ago that there was a groundswell of anti-Israel and antisemitic activity developing among young students. Marcus saw his support for the RootOne program, Amiel says, as a way to prepare Jewish high school students for the very real challenges they would face in life and on the nation’s college campuses.
“He really saw this as something that people needed to take more seriously. And he invested in ensuring that he was doing everything he could to help prevent antisemitism, but more importantly, to ensure that he was strengthening teens as the future of the Jewish people and future of the State of Israel.”
The RootOne initiative was first developed with the help of The Jewish Education Project, which, for over 100 years, has developed transformative Jewish educational experiences. The CEO of the organization, David Bryfman, welcomed the additional funding as a means of supporting an alternative narrative to what many Jewish young people are hearing these days.
“We know that Israel is so much more than this war or this moment,” Bryfman emphasized. “This grant is allowing RootOne to continue to disrupt the sector and show teens just how incredible Israel is.”
According to a survey released in September by Mosaic United, a project of Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, there has been a sharp rise in both the perception and direct experience of antisemitic incidents by Jewish teens.
Seventy-eight percent of these incidents occurred within school settings. Additionally, antisemitism was also prevalent on social media and in public spaces. One of the most disturbing findings of the survey was that almost 69 percent of teens pointed to their fellow students as the source of hostility. As a consequence, more than 30 percent have stopped wearing Jewish symbols, 35 percent are hesitant to post Jewish or Israeli content online, and 22 percent have gone as far as to conceal their Jewish identity since Oct. 7.
According to the survey. “These changes reflect a deep-seated fear and a lack of sufficient support, as 78 percent of respondents felt that their concerns were dismissed or minimized, particularly in the U.S.”
For Amiel, the statistics point to an important change in how Jewish teens relate to others.
“I think it’s an existential issue right now for young Jews,” Amiel says. “Many of them are questioning their own identity, and they’re certainly questioning whether or not Israel should be part of who they are. I don’t think, in recent history, it’s ever been harder for them to express anything about Israel or even their Jewish identity on social media for fear of being canceled or losing friends.”
With this new funding, RootOne expects to be particularly focused on expanding its outreach to young people who may be less affiliated with Judaism, are not affiliated with a Jewish youth organization or synagogue or who may not otherwise consider travel to Israel.
RootOne is committed more than ever to changing that experience, according to Kaiman, particularly as these Jewish teens prepare for the rigors of college life.
“It’s more urgent than ever to bring more teens to Israel,” Kaiman points out, “and instill in them the knowledge, understanding and pride they need to be confident, unabashed advocates for the State of Israel and Jewish people.”
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