8000 Walton Parkway, Suite 110
New Albany, Ohio 43054
614 939-6060
Jun 2013
I joined the board of the JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) in 2004 and am now in my third year as president. For more than 90 years, the JTA has been the definitive supplier of national and international news to Jewish print publications (as the AP is to local newspapers). Today, however, our main growth is online, as we reach far more people directly via JTA.org, our daily e-newsletter and social
For our last session of the Wexner Heritage Program, we were challenged to create an 'ot' (a sign / symbol) that could be presented to each member of our cohort as a marker or remembrance of our last two years. The genesis of this idea stems from the tradition of a Siyuum, a celebration that takes place upon the conclusion of something important like the conclusion of the writing a
Jun 2013
Nathalie Kaspy Shtern is a member of the Montreal Wexner Heritage 09 group. Nathalie is the President of Akiva School, the Founder and Executive Director of The Comfy Cozy Fund, and involved in and a member of various organizations in the Montreal community. She is a Criminologist by profession. Nathalie can be reached at natshtern@gmail.com. The best lessons are learned through unexpected opportunities. We often do not realize the breadth
Jun 2013
Josh Dinar is a Wexner Heritage Alumnus, Denver 08. Josh is the co-founder of DiningOut Magazines,and a hotel/nightclub/restaurant operator. He can be reached at josh@diningout.com. My wife’s family happened to be visiting us during Passover this year. We’d been graciously invited to several families’ celebrations, but we were a large crew – siblings, significant others, children, etc. – so crashing another dinner would have been pushing the boundaries of the
Jun 2013
Dr. Sherry Israel is a social psychologist, who was a member of the faculty of the Hornstein Program at Brandeis University from 1991 until her retirement two years ago. She has been on the faculty of the Wexner Graduate Fellows/Davidson Scholars Program Winter Institute since 2000. She can be reached at israel@brandeis.edu. A number of years ago, one of our daughters and a friend were hanging around in our living
May 2013
As part of Women’s Philanthropy from the Miami Jewish Federation Outreach project, this past Thursday more than 100 women got together to assemble 600 Deluxe Toiletries Kits that will be distributed to our Seniors and Holocaust Survivors in Miami. This was a month long effort and presented quite a challenge as we needed to collect over 5400 items. We partnered with JCS (Jewish Community Services) who highlighted this need in
May 2013
It has been thirteen years since I graduated with a degree in Jewish Communal Service as a Wexner Fellow. During this time I have sometimes struggled with guilt over my decision not to pursue my career in the Jewish world, especially since my education was paid for by the Wexner Foundation. Last summer I received tenure as a Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International Development, where I
May 2013
I awoke on May 14th to emails from friends and family sending me links to Angelina Jolie's New York Times article about her decision to undergo preventive mastectomies because she is BRCA1 positive. I identified with the article because, like Jolie, knowledge of my BRCA mutation put me on a collision course with the same decision. Jolie’s announcement and the attendant flurry of media attention has brought discussions about
Last week, The Wexner Foundation held a day of activities at the Knesset to welcome the seven new Wexner Israel Fellows who will begin their studies this fall in Cambridge, MA at Harvard’s Kennedy School (HKS). Prior to the public ceremony, Deborah Housen-Couriel, Director of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program (WIFP), held a leadership learning session. The fellows reflected on their definitions of leadership and shared their hopes and aspirations
May 2013
Go down this checklist and see if your worship community is facing the same challenges as the one in which I participate: You are growing so fast that finding appropriate spaces is a problem. 20 and 30-somethings are being drawn to your mix of innovative and accessible services and programs and spreading the word virally by social media and by word of mouth. Jews-by-choice, intermarried couples, LGBT and simply disaffected