IIn today’s edition of Your Daily Phil, we consider the importance of in-person experiences in building Jewish identity. We spotlight Seed the Dream Foundation’s role in helping to fund and build out Maccabi USA’s Israel Connection program, and report on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s meeting with rabbinical leadership. Today’s Your Daily Phil was curated by eJP Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross, Opinion Editor Rachel Kohn and Israel Editor Justin Hayet. Each in its own way, the news stories and opinion pieces making up today’s edition of Your Daily Phil demonstrate a profound, if somewhat banal, truth about the creation and reinforcement of Jewish identity: There is no substitute for significant in-person experiences. This is clearest with Jewish day schools — it’s hard to beat roughly seven hours a day, five days a week, for 13 years.