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May 2008
Deb Housen-Couriel, an alumna of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program, is now its Director. An attorney and former senior official in Israel’s Communications Department, she made aliyah from Massachusetts to Israel following her college graduation. She can be reached at dhousencouriel@wexner.net. For many years I have felt that this day, or more precisely, the hours leading up to this day, are an exercise in ambiguity. There is no Erev Chag
Searle Mitnick, a Wexner Heritage alumnus from Baltimore, is Chair of the Jewish Federation's Hillel Council and a board member of JESNA. A real estate and business attorney, he is the former president of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School and Beth Tfiloh Congregation. He can be reached at smitnick@gfrlaw.com The Parsha for this coming Shabbat is Emor. In this Parsha, all of the biblical holidays are enumerated and described.
Apr 2008
Ellen Kagen Waghelstein, an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program from Washington, DC, is the founding president of Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning, former chair of UJC National Young Leadership Cabinet and of Panim, and on the faculty of Georgetown University. She can be reached at ebwags@aol.com. I recently found myself flying out to Portland, Oregon where I was to be part of a meeting hosted by a Native
David Arnow, a Wexner Heritage alum from New York, recently co-edited My People’s Passover Haggadah (Jewish Lights, 2008) with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman. He is the author of Creating Lively Passover Seders: A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts & Activities (Jewish Lights, 2004). He can be reached at darnow@aol.com The notion that an “authentic” Passover Seder does not necessarily require a precise recitation of an unchanging text year after year
Apr 2008
Asher Lopatin, an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, is the rabbi of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation. He has rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik and from Yeshiva University and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army with the rank of Second Lieutenant after serving over two years in the Army reserves. He can be reached at rabbi@asbi.org. My wife Rachel always laughs when I complain about my six-week
Shifra Bronznick is the founder and president of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community (www.advancingwomen.org), and Didi Goldenhar serves as the senior program director. Marty Linsky, a frequent faculty member for the Wexner Foundation, teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School and is co-founder and principal of the consultancy, Cambridge Leadership Associates (www.cambridge-leadership.com) They have co-authored the newly-released "Leveling the Playing Field: Advancing Women in Jewish Organizational Life". To reach them,
Nadine Greenfield, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is Associate Director of the American Jewish Committee’s Washington, DC Chapter. She can be reached at nadinegreenfield@yahoo.com Thanks to the Wexner Foundation, we all know what it means to “network”—to be able to pick up the phone/keyboard and call on someone for guidance, expertise or just more information. We also have had the opportunity to deepen our understanding of Jewish
Mar 2008
Or Mars is an alumnus and Director of the Graduate Fellowship Program. He can be reached at omars@wexner.net. The first word of this week’s parasha, Vayikra, asks from us to explore a different mode of interpreting Torah. It is a mode that taps into our aesthetic appreciation before we are allowed to delve into our intellectual capacity. The opening line begins, “Vayikra el Moshe vayidaber Adonai eilav.” (God called to
Jessica Marglin is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar. She is studying for a PhD in Judaic Studies at Princeton University. Jessica can be reached at jmarglin@princeton.edu. This past summer, I spent two months in Morocco studying Arabic. The students lived in close quarters with our Moroccan teachers and I delighted at the opportunity to spend so much time speaking Arabic. My desire to practice Arabic constantly, combined with my limited
Penina Grossberg, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, lives in Teaneck, NJ and mentors new teachers. She can be reached at peninag@optonline.net As we enter the month of Adar II some of us may be preparing masks and costumes in anticipation of Purim. Even though Purim is a masquerade holiday, it also has a message about unmasking ourselves. The same is true of this week’s Torah readings. While