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Jan 2014
(Pictured) In Ashkelon, a wall with ”Path to Peace” written on it in Hebrew -- a message of peace, which protects a community of Jews (some of whom save Palestinian lives for a living) from sniper fire out of Gaza. On the recent Israel Institute I learned that the issues impacting Israel are very rarely black and white. There is a whole lot of gray. In that gray however, hope
Jan 2014
An excerpt from a seventeen-year-old’s college application essay: “I want to go to a college…where the academics dictate the social climate, where discourse and debate are encouraged not for the sake of convincing the other, but to teach the other, and where scholarship – my core value of Judaism – is the core value of the institution.” This was the conclusion to my answer responding to the prompt, “Why Swarthmore?”
Jan 2014
Six months ago on a stage in Tel Aviv, with the sun sinking into the Mediterranean behind us, I and several dozen classmates from San Francisco, Columbus and my hometown of Miami, received our certificates of completion from the Wexner Heritage program. A few months prior, sitting in a bank boardroom, our Heritage classroom for the past two years, we had been told that our Jewish experiences were rare and
Dec 2013
Wexner alumni from around the world write in a few words on how they plan to bring in the New Year “In Israel, New Year's Eve is hardly felt. Some go out and party, but for most it's just another day in the office or at home. Luckily, it somehow happened that two of my sons, Daniel and Ziv, were born on the 24th and on the 31st of December.
Dec 2013
While the American Studies Association (ASA) was deciding to help put Israel into an academic ghetto, something was happening behind our backs – something by no means insidious, but, rather, redemptive. The academic world did not stay silent. Quite the contrary. To date, twenty-five American universities have refused to join the ASA boycott. In many cases, they have also issued strongly worded protests against the Association’s actions. (Editor's Note: this
Philanthropic work can be tremendously rewarding if done right. As lay and pro-leaders, we are trying to figure out how to maximize the meaningfulness -- the joy of giving -- for others. We'd love to have a conversation with Wexner fellows and alumni about positive (and negative) experiences and what you are hoping for when you get involved in philanthropy. It's so important that we get this right! Here are
Dec 2013
Together with the global Jewish community, The Wexner Foundation mourns the death of Edgar Bronfman, zichrono livracha, of blessed memory. Edgar was a rare and wise leader, a giant in the field of Jewish philanthropy as he was in business. He was a treasured colleague and friend to our chairmen, Abigail and Leslie Wexner. Find his full obituary here. Edgar and Les shared a long-time and enduring commitment to Jewish
Ten years ago, not even college admissions officers knew the term “gap year”. Now, everyone’s doing it, especially Jews. And there is a gap, a real lack, of substantive, authentic, well organized, and safe Jewish programming for these teens, so many go off and do service programs or other gap year programs in a non-Jewish context. Now they don’t have to. Do you know (or know people who know...) high
Dec 2013
This piece was originally published on Learning About Learning, the blog of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. In the blizzard of articles, reactions, and blog posts about the Pew Research Center study of American Jews, the most unexpected came from the prominent public intellectual Noah Feldman. Writing in Bloomberg, Feldman’s column jumps from the Pew study to some observations about,
Pictured: Repair the World Philadelphia Fellows In one of the climactic scenes from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Queen Amidala (played by the oh-so-Jewish actress Natalie Portman) exasperatedly argues for help and presses her colleagues to immediate action: “I've come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now!” she declares. “I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this