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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Feb 2015
I came home from the alumni institute this week feeling a small pit of sadness at saying good-bye to such a special experience, like it was the end of camp. I still find it a little incredible that I actually met people, made friends, and was able to participate in meaningful conversations despite my fears that none of these hopes would really materialize for me. But they did. I reconnected
Feb 2015
To be a rabbi in the small town of Waterville, Maine where 80 percent of children are on federal food assistance is a different kind of work than I was ever used to. I’ve had to get used to working in a congregation where families come to me and tell me that buying health insurance is going to break their family financially. Even though I’m paid less than many of
Feb 2015
Over the past week, pictures of Mardi Gras revelry have been popping up in my newsfeed. These are photos of dear friends, decked out in impossibly imaginative costumes, posing in front of colorful shotgun houses, bedecked with beads and smiles. I lived in New Orleans for more than two years, and left the city to attend rabbinical school in Philadelphia. The choice to leave was wrenching. Over the months and
Feb 2015
When the email came from my Wexner cohort member and friend Bryan Kort (Phoenix 09) about a gathering, I immediately placed the date on my calendar. Like many of you, I'm on too many boards to name and I'm overextended and burnt out and trying to juggle Jewish leadership with Jewish motherhood and family life. I am so caught up in the mundane (securing one last item for the shul
Feb 2015
On January 23, the Wexner Heritage Washington DC 13 class had the wonderful opportunity to join more than 450 members of the DC community in welcoming home Alan Gross, who was imprisoned for five years in Cuba. Gross, an international development contractor, was convicted for crimes against the Cuban state while delivering computer equipment to Cuba’s small Jewish community. He was released on December 17, 2014 as part of a
Feb 2015
Pictured: “a selfie we took while campaigning in the Machne Yehuda Market last week” Campaigning is a roller-coaster, with days of good momentum and days of crisis…I am happy to be a part of the Kachlon Kulanu team as I believe in Moshe Kachlon and think he is an honest and brave politician who sees people and their needs. It is not easy gaining trust of people for a new
Verdi at Terezín tells the story of the Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt concentration camp who performed Verdi's Requiem 16 times with only a single smuggled score. Their conductor, Rafael Schächter, told the choir, "We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them." As an alum of the Wexner Heritage Program in New York, I looked to engage myself with a program that was important to me and
It Isn’t About Hashtags I was asked to write about the phenomenon of “Hashtag Activism,” in light of “#JesuisCharlie”; “#JesuisJuif”; “Je suis George Clooney, the hippest celeb activist at the Golden Globes wearing a ‘Je suis Charlie’ button on stage.” So I understand in view of all this hashtag activism why I was asked to write about the subject, however, I was asked to write about the wrong thing. Yes, hashtagging is
Feb 2015
Pictured: Yehuda Bernstein and Mijal Bitton at the final Wexner Graduate Fellowship Institute Class 24 in Sanibel, Florida Wrapping up our last class workshop as participants in the Wexner Graduate Fellowship on Wednesday morning, I couldn’t help feeling as blue as the clear waters of the Sanibel coast. Each of my classmates had accomplished great things over the past four years. All had contributed in one way or another
Jan 2015
Many Jews will ring in the new year of the trees this weekend and next week with the celebration of Tu B’Shevat (Tuesday night, February 3rd and Wednesday February 4th). These festive seders, where tasty fruits are passed around the table, are a reminder of spring even as we are in the dark skies of winter. In California, Wilderness Torah, a nonprofit organization that connects Jews to the outdoors, will
Wexner Heritage Program nominations are now open for its upcoming cohorts in Northern New Jersey, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Nominate a Jewish lay leader today!