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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Oct 2014
Teen philanthropists award grants to deserving nonprofits (Jewish Community Youth Foundation, Princeton, NJ). It doesn’t look like much at first: a garden, just a pile of dirt. With the right natural elements and people to tend to it, that pile of dirt transforms; its space turns into a gathering place for community, its food turns into sustenance for families, its process turns into a learning experience for young and old.
Nearly two years ago I began research for the Jewish Funders NetworkGreenbook on Jewish Day School Financial Sustainability and Affordability. The publication, sponsored by the AVI CHAI Foundation, offers a landscape study of initiatives designed to buttress the financial picture of day schools. Conveniently, the Greenbook was published in January, concurrent with my beginning work at UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Education. Since then it has
http://www.jewishjournal.com/the_jewish_world_watch_blog_one_life_at/item/the_high_holiday_sermon_that_saved_thousands_of_lives_and_changed_mine#.VCxYYgfIzhs.mailto
Oct 2014
I was brought up in Haifa, Israel, a symbol city of Jewish-Arab co-existence. During all my adolescent life I used to meet with Palestinians, either on personal occasions or within my military capacity. In late September 1996, I was leading the Israeli team of the Regional Security Committee (RSC) in the West Bank. After almost a year of mutual efforts to implement the security annex of the Peace accord, a
“The Wexner Israel Fellows spent the first two Sundays of September together with 75 Center for Public Leadership (CPL) fellows from around the world who are all studying at the Harvard Kennedy School. The first Sunday was an Outward Bound Experience on Thompson Island where fellows engaged in a number of physical and mental challenges in mixed teams – including scaling a 60-foot alpine tower. It was the first time
Sep 2014
More than 150 Jewish investors gathered in San Francisco for a Shabbat discussion at the end of SOCAP, an annual conference on “impact investing.” Wexner alums besides myself, the event organizer, included Don Abramson (WHA, SF2), David Arfin (WHA, SF3), Vanessa Bartram (WHA, Miami 11), Matt Gershuny (WHP, SF 14), Estee Solomon Gray (WHA, SF3), Doug Mandell (WHP, SF 14), Toby Rubin (WHA, SF2), Aviva Sufian (WGF, Class 14), Wendy
Sep 2014
I founded ACHOT, an innovative B’nai Mitzvah program for mothers and daughters, as my daughter’s upcoming Bat Mitzvah year sparked my desire to celebrate with her the vital role of Jewish women in community life. I am actively engaged with my synagogue and other Jewish institutions that play a variety of roles in community life but found that they offered no programs that focused on the relationship between women and
Sep 2014
The 2014 siyum (culmination ceremony) of the Wexner Heritage Program was historic. It marked the graduation of 20 extraordinary North American Jewish leaders, all born in the Former Soviet Union. The Wexner Heritage Program has had Russian-born members take part in previous Heritage classes. These few individuals represented the tiny percentage of the few Russian Jews who had become involved with the Jewish community and Jewish communal leadership. For more
The Wexner Foundation is piloting a way for our alumni, members and fellows to meet, learn, discuss and refresh their leadership toolbox. “36 Minutes LIVE: The Elul Series”, which consists of six stand-alone videoconferences during the month of Elul, already has RSVPs approaching 100 people per session. Last week, Member of Knesset Ruth Calderon challenged participants to go beyond “rote forgiveness” through an exploration of a Talmudic story about Rav
Sep 2014
The secular New Year in the middle of winter never made sense to me. In contrast, Fall, with its themes of return (of people to school, to work and seriousness from the frivolity of summer; of leaves and flowers back to the earth after their rich and glorious bloom) and dying/retreating (of plants, and birds, insects; people and other animals hunkering down, seeking shelter and going inside) is a much