How did Steven Weil get his job with FIDF? It helps to have a friend (cousin?) by the name Elazar Stern who is a retired General of the IDF school from the Dati Zionist camp in Israel’s Knesset. Steven Weil has always done a great job cultivating the rich and powerful. While at Beth Jacob, he would regularly meet with the machers (big shots) in a cigar club in Beverly Hills. The farm boy from upstate NY who started as a little rabbi in Detroit ended up in Beth Jacob and then the OU and then he earned millions of dollars with the FIDF.
The board of the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces is moving to force Morey Levovitz, the organization’s embattled chair, from his post in response to growing controversy surrounding his tenure, including allegations of mismanagement and creating a noxious work environment, sources connected to the organization told eJewishPhilanthropy.
Last week, the FIDF national board organized a meeting to debate Levovitz’s future with the organization. A decision on the matter was postponed to this week.
This came after an internal investigation report was leaked to the Israeli news outlet Ynet, detailing questionable practices at the organization, including Levovitz serving as the de facto head of the organization instead of CEO Steve Weil since Oct. 7, 2023. Since the report was leaked, former and current employees and lay leaders have come forward, telling eJP that the organization has also mismanaged sexual harassment complaints and used misleading fundraising techniques, leading to tensions with donors.
According to two sources familiar with the discussions, the board did not vote out Levovitz, which would have required a 75% supermajority. Instead, the board members appear to be seeking an agreed-upon settlement that results in Levovitz’s resignation, but with an understanding that if such a mutual arrangement is not reached that a removal vote would be on the table.
As of Thursday, no final decision has been announced, apparently due to some sticking points over Levovitz’s conditions for stepping down.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said that the board is also planning to significantly scale back Weil’s role in the organization, giving more of the responsibility to FIDF National Director Maj. Gen. (res.) Nadav Padan. According to one source, this may also come with a pay decrease for Weil, who would focus on fundraising.
This would put the organization back closer to its traditional leadership arrangement, in which a former IDF general serves as the chief executive. That system, which the organization used for nearly 40 years, was upended in 2020 when the board brought Weil on board as CEO, assisted by a former Israeli general serving as national director.
