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Yoav Shoam is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program. He is a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, a high tech entrepreneur, and active in Jewish and Israeli matters. His most recent project, the Jewish Peoplehood Closeness Index, is co-led with Nimrod Goor, also a Wexner Heritage alumnus. The project's interim home is the Re'ut Institute, led by Gidi Grinstein, a Wexner Israel Fellowship alumnus. Yoav can be reached
Two weeks ago, Cindy Chazan and I had the pleasure of visiting Baltimore for Wexner Heritage interviews right in the middle of not one but two snowstorms of the century. Who knew it was possible to have 2 snowstorms of the century in one week? So much mazel in three days. Six feet of snow in 25 minutes does have a way of making travel for interviews impossible, even for
Feb 2010
Jeremy Kalmanofsky is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program and rabbi of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City. He can be reached at rjk.nycac@gmail.com I don’t mean to be morbid, but I love funerals. Over 9 years in the pulpit I have discovered the particular gratifications of helping people say farewell to their loved ones, reflect on their lives, and place their bodies in the earth. Religion
Feb 2010
David J. Rudis is a Wexner Heritage Alumnus from Chicago. David has been a banker for over 30 years (he assures us he isn’t the fat cat everyone is talking about). He has been active in a variety of Jewish leadership positions and is currently working with fellow Wexner Heritage alums Elisa Bildner and Danny Krifcher to make the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) the pre- eminent objective voice of the
Feb 2010
Howard Lichtman is an Alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program in Toronto. Howard is President of The Lightning Group, which provides two primary services: "Paths to New Revenue" strategies and "Virtual Chief Marketing Officer" services. The number of volunteer organizations that Howard has worked for and with are numerous. He is currently President of The Harold Green Jewish Theatre. Howard can be reached at howard@lightning-group.com Three years ago we formed
Feb 2010
Jodi Mansbach is an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program. When she is not volunteering, Jodi is a wife, mother and now student. Leaving the working world after 18 years, she is working for her Master’s in urban planning at Georgia Tech. She can be reached at jodi.mansbach@gmail.com Endless meetings. Excessive email. Too much time away from the family. I was reaching leadership burn out, something I’m sure readers of
Feb 2010
Rachel Nussbaum is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumna and the Rabbi and Executive Director of the Kavana Cooperative in Seattle (www.kavana.org). She can be reached at rabbi@kavana.org. I am the oldest of five children, and since recently giving birth to baby number two of my own I’ve been marveling at my parents’ child-rearing skills. I’m particularly struck by the fact that having reached adulthood, my brothers and I have taken
Feb 2010
Shoshana Boyd Gelfand is Executive Director of the Movement for Reform Judaism in the UK and an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 1). Shoshana can be reached at: shoshana123@hotmail.com. “Are all of your friends so interesting?” This question emerged from the mouth of one of the British university students who I recently took on a leadership trip to NYC. The purpose of bringing these 10 young people
Jan 2010
Joshua Cypess is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumnus and a graduate student at Brandeis University. He can be reached at jcypess@yahoo.com. In August 2008, I embarked on a leap of faith in my career and bid a (temporary) farewell to my life as a pulpit rabbi to start a doctoral program in Jewish Studies and Sociology at Brandeis. I am no stranger to academia, so the transition was mostly smooth.
Jan 2010
Wendy Amsellum is a teacher at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, and she directs the Dr. Beth Samuels Drisha High School Programs. She is completing a PhD in Rabbinic Literature at NYU and is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program. Wendy can be reached at: wamsellem@yahoo.com. Towards the beginning of this week’s parsha, parshat B’shalach, Pharoh is told that the people of Israel had fled: ויהפך לבב