A Snippet from the JFNA GA 2016

Celebrating Mordy’s JPRO Young Professionals Award at the Wexner Reception at the GA. Pictured (from left to right):  Rabbi Jay Moses (Director, Wexner Heritage Program; WGF Alum, Class 5), Jordanna Birnbaum Amsel (WGF Fellow, Class 27), Cynthia Bernstein (WGF Alum, Class 22), Rabbi Elka Abrahamson (President, The Wexner Foundation), Mordy Walfish (WGF Alum, Class 22) and Or Mars (Director, Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program; WGF Alum, Class 6).

The following is an excerpt from Mordy’s acceptance speech:

As I’ve spent the last eight years working in this field, I’ve been incredibly blessed and lucky to have had people – leaders – along the way who have believed in me, saw some potential in me, elevated me sometimes before I was ready, let me take risks…let me fail and let me learn. I want to especially acknowledge The Wexner Foundation, whose gift of a graduate fellowship has given me invaluable leadership tools and opens me up daily to incredible professional and personal possibilities.

I feel especially grateful that as someone who in many ways should be at the margins: Canadian, gay, didn’t go to youth group, has been given so many opportunities to lead at the mainstream of Jewish life.

Mordy Walfish, a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alum (Class 22), is Vice President for Programs at Repair the World. He oversees Repair’s work nationally to mobilize the Jewish community to volunteer. He joined Repair in May 2012, following four years with the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Mordy holds a BA in Contemporary Studies and German from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia and an MA in Comparative Literature from Northwestern University. As a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar, Mordy also completed an MPA in non-profit management from NYU. He has also studied at Alma: Home for Hebrew Culture in Tel Aviv. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY and can be reached at mordecai.walfish@gmail.com.