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I was privileged to spend five days last week in Snowmass, CO with the new Wexner Heritage Program classes — Philadelphia 16, New York 16 and New York RSJ 16 — the Wexner team and an amazing group of teachers. We arrived in Colorado excited and a bit nervous at the prospect of meeting so many new people. Too short a time later, we left having made deep connections with dozens of
It was an exciting, challenging and moving summer conference this year for Israeli Wexner Alumni and program participants, one in which we examined current problems and future opportunities for change in Israeli society. The underlying conference theme, "Directions Towards a New Israeli Cultural Identity," elicited much curiosity, discussion, heated argument, engagement and especially a sense of responsibility among our WIF Alumni. What are the implications of our current national challenges
As Jews, we don’t agree on much. Two Jews, three opinions, or the old joke that two Jews stranded on a desert island build three synagogues — one for each of them, and one synagogue that no one will visit on principle. The one thing we do agree on is that we send our kids to college. There are roughly 400,000 Jewish undergraduate students in North America, with an additional
Jul 2016
I recently had the privilege of helping lead an Encounter trip to Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah. I came away with the strong belief that all communal leaders should participate in one of these trips. Encounter is an organization near and dear to many Wexner alumni and, in fact, many alumni were on my trip. Started 10 years ago by two WGF Alumni, Rabbi Melissa Weintraub (Class 14) and Rabbi
Jul 2016
This is the patrol car of Sgt. Michael Smith who was laid to rest today. He was stationed at the North Central Command Station, which provides service to the vast majority of Jewish institutions in Dallas. Although you can't see it, there are notes, drawings and messages from many Jewish organizations — day camps, congregations and community members. There is even an Israeli flag with a note attached declaring that
WHP Alumni (Montreal 09) Joel Shalit, Andrea Rosenbloom and Monica Mendel-Bensoussan together with other UTT-Herzliah and YM-YWHA execs at the closing transaction, made complete with champagne and strawberries. For well over a decade, the 106-year-old Montreal YM-YWHA Jewish Community Centers (the “Y”) and United Talmud Torah-Herzliah (“Herzliah”), a mainstream Jewish day school founded over 120 years ago, have considered the possibility of building a new high school immediately adjacent, and
Jul 2016
During his time at Harvard Kennedy School, Gil Avriel, WIF Alum (Class 26) and Legal Adviser to the Israeli National Security Council at the Office of the Prime Minister, published an innovative theory in the Harvard National Security Journal that hopes to change the way we understand ISIS and terrorism. A year after his graduation, Gil's Civilitary Theory is cited and commended by world experts, discussed at leading national security conferences
Sue Fendrick, WGF Alum (Class 2) — Newton, MA I’ve always found it funny when people have said they no longer see the purpose of mourning on Tisha B’Av, arguing that the Jewish diaspora is now entirely a voluntary one and not the result of tragedy or lack of power; and even that the destruction of the ancient Temple and the end of the sacrificial cult was the best thing
With the passing of Elie Wiesel this week, I lost a dear teacher and mentor of over 30 years. I will always be his student. From the first time I heard him speak when I was a teenager until our last meeting just two years ago, he asked me questions that I needed to ask myself, supervised my graduate theses, taught me how to teach and lived and sang and