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Jul 2015
Dear Danny, I write to you on the Friday before 9 Av, 5775. I have spent this past week in Cape Cod, where I have been absorbing world events while cushioned by the natural beauty of the land that gave birth to American democracy. As one of your Wexner Heritage students (Cleveland 2), I take very seriously your prediction that this Av could be known in our history as the
Quick – name three things that come to mind when you think of a mid-life crisis? If you answered a convertible, a hairpiece and an affair with a younger woman, you got the most popular answers. But how many of you said, “leaving your corporate job and becoming a Jewish communal professional”? Once upon a time that answer was a rarity. But increasingly more of us are doing just that.
Jul 2015
Reprinted with thanks to ejewishphilantrhopy.com Why is Tisha B’Av, you may wonder, important to a secular Russian Jew? I grew up with little knowledge of major Jewish holidays, let alone an obscure Jewish fast day observe mostly by the Orthodox today. It is a reasonable question. It has a reasonable answer. The timing of Tisha B’Av is particularly sensitive in my family. You see, two days after Tisha B’Av was
The WIF alumni band led by Tsachi Mushkin (Class14). From left to right: Chava Erlich-Roginsky (Class 10), Eleanor Amid-Zabar (Class 10), Sharon Offer and Itamar Offer (Class 12). The annual Wexner Israel Fellowship Alumni (WIFA) Institute ended a few Fridays back (July 10th). I had the honor of chairing the Alumni Institute planning committee, and during those three days some two hundred WIFA and their partners were introduced to success
Jul 2015
Beneath the massive stone of the southwestern wall of what remains of the Second Temple, Rabbi Elka Abrahamson granted us permission to invite others into our personal prayer space by way of our imagination. I was joined by my late grandmother — for if I had found pleasure here, she would be rejoicing, and she never had the opportunity to delight in this magnificent country. I felt her presence. Lost
Jul 2015
With thanks to HaYideon, the Ravsak Journal, we reprint this article on leadership written by Wexner Foundation staff Or Mars, Director, Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program, and Rabbi Jay Henry Moses, Director, Wexner Heritage Program. Both are Alumni of The Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Cultivating excellence in the next generation of Jewish leaders can be compared to the work of a casting director in Hollywood. Through the course of her day the casting
The annual Wexner Israel Fellowship Alumni (WIFA) Institute met last week in Haifa. It was a full program, including an in-depth look at municipal turnarounds in cities such as Akko, Karmiel, Yeruham and Hura. Another topic discussed, following Rabbi Elka Abrahamson's opening remarks, was the fraying relationship of North American Jews and Israel. The new chair of the WIFA Council, Nadav Tamir, drafted this call to action in response. The
Jul 2015
Israeli President Shimon Peres met with the graduating Wexner Heritage Members at their Israel Institute last week. "Hear the whisper from the angel that compels you to grow." Rabbi Elka Abrahamson, who helped lead our visit to Israel, and whose leadership and humanity I admire and adore, offered the advice above before we set out to explore this country. I took the advice, "to hear the whisper from the angel
I always felt passionate about living Judaism in a meaningful way, but following my graduation from the Wexner Heritage Program something shifted deeply within me. There was more to do, more to discover. It seemed that my experience, together with so many others I had until that point, were mere preparation. They had combined to focus me in a new way, toward a new pursuit in my life. The teachings
Jul 2015
The Wexner Heritage Israel Institute, entitles "Israel: Complications and Inspirations", is off to an amazing start. Here are a few impressions from our first few days. Feel free to add your own posts below. From ISIS fighting and a drone landing next to us on the Syrian border today, to the brewery in the West Bank yesterday, this has been one crazy whirlwind. Danny Kates New England 14 Today,