Targum Shlishi Grant

Targum Shlishi Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Targum Shlishi
Last Updated: December 28, 2025

Summary

The Targum Shlishi Grant supports innovative projects that promote positive change within the Jewish community. Founded in 1992, this philanthropic foundation emphasizes funding unpublicized initiatives that may not attract traditional funding. Their focus areas include education, women's issues, and Holocaust awareness, aiming for solutions that are creative and replicable. Targum Shlishi believes in the importance of strong leadership and effective management in the projects they support, ensuring that their contributions lead to meaningful impact.

Overview

NOTE: The application process begins by contacting us with a brief description of your organization and the specific project(s) for which you are seeking funding. If we are interested, we begin a dialog with you and if it progresses, we ask you to fill out a formal application. We do not have deadlines; you may contact us at any time. About Targum Shlishi is a philanthropic foundation devoted to supporting positive change. Effecting positive change in the world is a creative act, an often noble endeavor that deserves attention, imitation, and support. There are many daunting problems facing world Jewry today, and those problems must be addressed. At Targum Shlishi, we believe in working toward solutions. Our goal is to find and support organizations dedicated to innovative problem solving. We celebrate the art of positive change by funding initiatives we believe will make a difference in a variety of areas related to Jewish life. Targum Shlishi seeks innovative, unpublicized, and behind-the-scenes initiatives working for meaningful change that otherwise might not attract funding. Such are the causes that need our support most, and it is where our funding can have the greatest impact. The projects we fund range in scope from local to international; our goal is not to fund the highest profile projects but to fund those that are creative and, when possible, replicable. We give strategically and we give knowledgeably, extensively researching the initiatives and their supporting organizations. Many of the projects Targum Shlishi supports are initiated by us, and we then work with others to implement the ideas. In addition, Targum Shlishi has partnered with other funders in collaborative endeavors several times. Further, Targum Shlishi also generates several of its own projects, such as producing books and websites. Where practicable, Targum Shlishi promotes its ideas to other communities and distributes information and guidelines for establishing similar programs. Targum Shlishi was founded in 1992 by Aryeh and Raquel Rubin and is based in Miami. The majority of our funding initiatives have been remarkably successful. On some occasions, projects have not lived up to the promise we saw in them, but such situations are learning experiences; the insight generated is applied to future projects or shared with other organizations. There is no blueprint for the type of organization or the type of project we support. In a very meaningful way, our choices are subjective—we need, quite simply, to sincerely believe in the project and its ability to make a difference. And while there is no overriding formula that dictates our funding, successful projects tend to be a complex mix of vision and practicality. We invest in management. We look for strong, committed leaders with senses of purpose, realistic work plans, concrete goals, and abundant optimism. We look for the promise of creative change. Primary Areas of Giving Education Jewish education is the key to our future, and Targum Shlishi is deeply committed to furthering causes, programs, and initiatives related to education. Providing the best possible schooling for our children, lifelong learning opportunities for adults, and advancing scholarship are all of urgent necessity. Targum Shlishi’s support for education is wide-ranging and encompasses a diversity of projects. Examples include units of study at day schools, research grants for academic books, film projects, conferences, and websites. On the day school level, there are many challenges facing Jewish education and educators today. One is the challenge of fully incorporating progressive educational practices and theories; another challenge is the emergence of technology. Targum Shlishi is an active supporter of projects related to the digital era, and the foundation nurtured and funded many technology-related projects in the educational arena, including websites, podcasts, blended learning, and more. Women’s Issues For women this is an exciting time of growth and change. True, lasting, positive change must be nurtured, tended, and enthusiastically encouraged over time for it to take root. The women of today are increasingly questioning the status quo, assuming leadership roles, and making critical contributions, in contrast to what was expected in the past, when women typically were relegated to supporting roles. Targum Shlishi is wholly dedicated to supporting the changing roles that women and girls are assuming in spiritual, religious, communal, and social settings. It is essential that our women and girls receive the same rigorous intellectual and spiritual training and support that men and boys receive. The foundation has supported several initiatives designed to enable the voices of Jewish women to be heard loudly and clearly, from within the synagogues and without. Projects supported vary widely, from educational programs that ordain Orthodox women to organizations that advocate for the rights of agunot. Israel Causes related to Israel are of core concern to Targum Shlishi, from promoting understanding among factions within the country to encouraging peace in the Middle East to countering the growing worldwide propensity to delegitimize Israel. In its early years as a foundation, Targum Shlishi took part in several fact-finding missions to the country, both privately and with official delegations. The foundation’s support has traditionally included programs that provide aid to Israeli educational institutions and its citizens, such as educational and spiritual initiatives for children and adults free loans, food rescue, and food for the holidays. Additionally, in recent years Targum Shlishi has turned its focus to supporting urgent issues related to the well-being of Israel both at home and abroad. Holocaust Awareness Support of projects related to Holocaust awareness, education, and combatting denial is critically important; Targum Shlishi believes that in the face of steadily rising anti-Semitism, increasing knowledge of the Holocaust is essential. In its first two decades as a foundation, Targum Shlishi’s commitment in this area focused on bringing the remaining Nazi war criminals to justice, in the belief that these individuals must be held fully accountable for their crimes, regardless of the passage of time. To that end, Targum Shlishi provided ongoing support for the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, working closely with its director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, and often assuming an active role in initiatives. In more recent years, the foundation has increasingly turned its focus to research and academic and community programs that promote accurate knowledge of the Shoah.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Several of the programs Targum Shlishi has funded are applicable in communities throughout the U.S. and the world.Targum Shlishi thinks and acts both locally and globally.

Ineligibility

We do not award general support.