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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
When King Faisal I came to Iraq in 1925, Shashou, an Iraqi Jew, invited him to stay in his palace until the King would be ready. "My homeland is not a suitcase; And I am not a passenger." With this quotation from the Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish, I started my testimony regarding my personal nakba (catastrophe, in Arabic) at a UN conference marking the plight of Jewish refugees in NY,
Mar 2014
On Passover, we celebrate the Jewish story of our release from bondage. Our seders often conclude with the sweet taste of chocolate. How bitter to think that much of the world's chocolate comes to us via dangerous child labor practices around the world akin to slavery. By eating Kosher for Passover Fair Trade chocolate on the holiday, we heighten our awareness about an issue deeply bound into the fabric of
Mar 2014
Nones Drinking L’Chaim to Purim, the celebration of the Jewish People Against All Odds As we approach the festival of Purim, we would like to mention an obscure study recently conducted by the Pew Research Group about the Jewish Community. Alas, as significant as the findings are, it has come to our attention that nobody in the Jewish communal world seems particularly interested in this study. For the purpose of
Mar 2014
Love the "shtick" happening at G-dcast! #jewishisfun. TheLearningShuk.org (my project) is connecting you to good stuff! Virginie Polster (WHA, Phoenix 09) is a core contributor at her shul, serves on the board of the Jewish Tuition Organization, and is Vice-Chair of the Jewish Community Association of Greater Phoenix Local Funding Council. Her primary focus is experimentation and innovation to support families’ Jewish learning journeys. She is the Co-Founder and Chief
Mar 2014
We began the Wexner Graduate Alumni Institute with a Talmudic text from Masechet Ta’anit. The passage offered us a framework for thinking about change through the lens of teshuva: One who has sinned and confessed, but has not done teshuva is like a person who holds a sheretz, an impure creature, while in the mikveh. All of the waters of the world cannot wash away your impurity so long as you continue
Mar 2014
As part of the selection process for the Wexner Israel Fellowship, all of us were asked to write an essay discussing our connection to American Jewry. The exercise was spot on, as it signaled two issues that would be at the center of our “Wexner” experience this year at Harvard. The first is the fact that our actual previous interaction with and knowledge about the vastly diverse Jewish community in
“Good news and bad news. The good news is that The Purim Superhero is officially a PJ Library book. The bad news is that PJ Library is not distributing the book as it does with ALL other PJ books. This second class status is tremendously disappointing to me. This isn't the full inclusion and equality that Keshet and its supporters work towards. Let's hope that PJ will realize that this
The Sunday of President’s Day Weekend, The Wexner Foundation brought Rabbi Yitz Greenberg to Columbus to share his thoughts and his legacy through a day long filming session meant to capture his seminal message, The Triumph of Life. The video will be shared with the Wexner network when ready, as well as other organizations and future generations. As the film is meant to celebrate Yitz’ life work, I thought I
Feb 2014
There’s a lot of talk about how initiatives like Birthright and Hillel successfully engage young people and forge greater self-awareness of their Jewish identities while identifying ways they can contribute to our communities locally, throughout the United States, and in Israel. Given some of the discouraging findings from the recent Pew Research Study, successful initiatives like these and others to come must be supported. But what about people like me?
Wexner Israel Fellows from the current class at the Harvard Kennedy School (Class 25) spent 2 days in New York City over President’s weekend as part of a series of intensive learning about the North American Jewish Community (NAJC). The workshop included conversations on identity, peoplehood, and service with Heritage alumni from the metro area. Pictured here are some of the participants engaged in conversation at the Museum of Jewish
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!