ByZVIKA KLEIN

JULY 17, 2026 14:08

Conversations with Jewish community leaders often follow predictable patterns. A public relations contact, scripted remarks, a photographer, and months later little changes.

Gary Torgow arrives without an entourage and speaks in such a quiet voice that listeners must lean closer.

Multiple encounters with the chairman of the Jewish Federations of North America over recent years create a consistent picture. He welcomes visitors from every corner of Detroit's Jewish world into his home, including Orthodox and Reform members, major contributors and young families, and somehow each one develops a genuine connection with him. Colleagues describe him as a mensch, and in this circle that term carries real weight. What they add next, often with surprise, is that this reserved individual can reach nearly any prominent figure in America by phone. He never mentions this ability himself, and no photographs of such meetings ever appear.

He seldom speaks to the press. On the rare occasions he agrees, the goal is always to advance an initiative for the Jewish community rather than to draw notice to himself. Therefore when he consented to questions from The Jerusalem Post, the key issue was identifying the project he intended to advance.

The effort proves substantial. During the past year Torgow has arranged support for Jewish day schools from two national governments simultaneously.

Washington and Jerusalem

The United States portion came first. The tax legislation signed by President Donald Trump in July 2025 introduced an unprecedented federal tax credit for contributions to scholarships. Beginning in January 2027, any taxpayer may donate as much as $1,700 to a scholarship organization and subtract the full amount from their federal tax obligation. The funds support families whose income falls below 300 percent of the local median, which includes the majority of day school households.

JFNA is creating a nationwide scholarship entity to direct those resources toward Jewish institutions. Torgow does not manage the daily operations alone; that responsibility falls to president and CEO Eric Fingerhut. Their collaboration follows a proven model: the chairman opens access, while the professional team constructs the programs that follow.

Precision matters here because this arrangement differs from traditional philanthropy. The $1,700 represents funds already owed to the government. The credit simply allows the taxpayer to direct that amount toward a child's education instead. No additional gift is required, only a decision on allocation, and that difference changes everything: requests for donations have boundaries, yet this option requires only an official form.

"This should be an easy victory for education," Torgow said, "by utilizing taxes that are owed directly to the Federal government, and shifting them legally into the coffers of education for all of our children."

Next, on June 28, the Israeli cabinet gave unanimous approval to a NIS 200 million initial plan supporting Jewish education in the Diaspora through a partnership with JFNA. Torgow and Fingerhut attended the cabinet session for the decision. The moment quietly alters a long-standing pattern of Jewish resource movement. For a century funds traveled from the Diaspora to Israel. Now resources move in the opposite direction, from a nation engaged in conflict, based on the view that a Jewish school in New Jersey represents a strategic priority.

Government data clarify the rationale: 1.8 million Jewish children of school age reside in the United States. Only a limited portion attend Jewish classrooms, and that group is largely Orthodox. Both funding sources aim primarily at the larger number of American Jewish families who never considered day school seriously because cost always seemed prohibitive.

Anyone familiar with cabinet actions regarding the Diaspora recognizes that most such decisions fade between announcement and actual funding. This plan includes a committed partner across the ocean and did not arise suddenly. Torgow previously led the steering committee of Mosaic United, the government's earlier Diaspora initiative, so he already understood the relevant processes well before the vote.

The awkward part

The American funding carries a complication, and The Post raised it directly. The tax credit originates from a Trump administration school choice measure that most American Jews did not support. Teachers' unions oppose it. Two Democratic senators seek its repeal. Individual states must choose to participate, and current participation largely follows partisan lines, although Colorado's Jared Polis has joined and New York's Kathy Hochul has indicated she will. JFNA continues outreach to Democratic governors. The question remains how to encourage liberal Jews to accept a measure tied to Trump.

"We aren't asking anyone to claim victory; we only ask that they embrace our shared responsibility," he said. The law, he maintained, "reflects the support for education across the political spectrum."

Anyone who has attended a federation event recognizes that type of response. It is often evasive. With Torgow the statement carries more weight, because he has lived his entire career bridging divides that others avoid. He is the Orthodox yeshiva president who chaired the NAACP's Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner and received its Lifetime Achievement Award.

He raised $250 million for Detroit neighborhoods while leading Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, the city's largest Jewish day school. Perhaps he genuinely views the political divide as bridgeable, given that he continues to cross it.

Fingerhut, who has worked with him since Torgow assumed the chair a year earlier, stated at the time that the federation system "could not be more fortunate" to have Torgow leading during a period of historic antisemitism and increased Jewish involvement. One year later, that evaluation remains accurate.

His motivation is straightforward. "In light of the significant rise in antisemitism," he said, "it has become more clear every day that a critical antidote to this terrible scourge is by providing our next generation with the tools to stand as proud, educated and engaged Jewish citizens."

He correctly identifies the remedy. It is also fair to note that the tuition challenge is longstanding. Every study and committee has identified it for four decades, yet the wealthiest Jewish community in history has not resolved it. Whether this moment marks a turning point remains unknown. Still, it is the first occasion when federal resources, Israeli resources, and a chairman capable of navigating both systems have converged in a single year.

The stipend from Heaven

When asked what he would say to a parent considering the tax credit, he did not cite figures. He referenced the Talmud. Tractate Beitzah states that a person's annual income is determined on the High Holy Days, with the exception of amounts spent on Shabbat, festivals, and children's Torah education. Such expenditures, Torgow explained, represent "a fully additional stipend from Heaven." Every dollar directed to Jewish education "will be fully reimbursed by the Almighty."

He has authored two books, neither focused on himself. One concerns his grandfather, M. Manuel Merzon, who arrived in America from Russia at age 16 with no companions. The other profiles Rabbi Avrohom Abba Freedman, the Detroit rabbi with whom he studied Torah for three decades. When asked what this reveals about his view of leadership, he offered the lesson those two figures imparted: "None of the important work we will do in our lives is for or about ourselves." He even incorporated his grandfather's name into the title of his first bank. Talmer. Merzon.

When his grandchildren eventually inquire what he accomplished as chairman during this period in Jewish history, he responded first with two Hebrew words: Kiddush Hashem, the sanctification of God's name.

The date he chose

In the cabinet room on June 28, following the vote, Torgow explained the origin of the effort to the ministers. He first raised the idea of Israeli investment in Diaspora Jewish education with Netanyahu during a private discussion on July 5, 2022. He selected the date intentionally: the sixth of Tammuz, the yahrzeit of the prime minister's brother Yoni. Then he waited. Four years, a war, and the most severe wave of antisemitism in recent memory passed before the concept returned for formal consideration.

The Government Press Office captured an image of him that morning, positioned among the ministers next to the prime minister. It remains one of the few publicly available photographs of him.

He did not distribute it. He never does.