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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
“Shadow in Baghdad” is a new documentary film that traces the story of the Jewish community and its disappearance from Baghdad by focusing on the narrative of Wexner Israel Fellowship Alum, Linda Menuhin Abdel Aziz (Class 6), who escaped from Iraq to Israel in the 1970’s. Duki Dror, one of the most prolific documentary filmmakers in Israel, set out to tell the story of Iraqi Jewry through this film. On
Sep 2013
Rabbi Alan Lew z’’l wrote that “when we put the charged words or phrases or sentences together with the charged moments , we may find a significant rhyme, we find that one instructs us about the other, and that both taken together are extremely significant for us, telling us something we really needed to know.” In his memoir Be Still and Get Going, Rabbi Lew
Sep 2013
Photo credit from TabletMag.com. Mechon Hadar was launched 7 years ago by 3 Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumni (myself, Rabbi Ethan Tucker, Class 11, and Rabbi Shai Held, Class 7). We have often been asked to bring the compelling Torah taught by our faculty (including many more Wexner alumni!) to a much wider audience. The three of us have also had the honor to serve at various times as Wexner faculty
On Sukkot, we reap what we have planted. We celebrate community. There is great potential in working together – whether cooperating, coordinating, or collaborating. Working together across agencies presents tremendous opportunities to leverage individual expertise into greater impact. Why don’t we work together more? Why do some collaborations succeed and others fail? We know planting some fruits and vegetables together creates greater growth. Similarly, there are planting practices that create
CORE18 Leaders Lab, a new and exclusive social entrepreneurial boot camp for Jewish leaders ages 19-25, is being co- chaired by actor Mayim Bialik, of The Big Bang Theory, UK Chief Rabbi Emeritus Lord Jonathan Sacks, and Dr. Tal ben-Shahar, who taught Harvard’s hugely popular course “Positive Psychology and Leadership.” CORE18 gives young Jewish leaders a platform to build themselves, their ideas and their communities through a high-powered
Sep 2013
The following is excerpted from Michelle’s Presidential Address on Rosh Hashana to Congregation Anshai Torah in Plano, Texas. Here is a question for you to ponder as we enter the holiest time of the year, a time of soul-searching and teshuvah: Have you EVER seen ME at a loss for words???!!! I know! Many of you are hoping that it will happen right now and I’ll just sit down and
Sep 2013
Occasionally we are with someone who mistakenly hurts themselves by tripping or dropping something on their toe and we instinctively blurt out “I am so sorry.” This response is usually met with “don’t worry, it is not your fault that I am clumsy!” We colloquially use the words “I am sorry” in situations that are beyond our control but that we wish would be different. We attempt to become closer
As a Wexner Heritage Alumni Delegates Council project, Michele Sackheim-Wein is launching a virtual book salon to further knit together the Wexner Alumni Network through substantive learning and conversation. Read The Aleppo Codex,by Matti Friedman, and join us for an intimate discussion and Q & A with the author, who will join us from Jerusalem for this discussion on Sunday, October 6th, 5 pm ET. Please email me to receive
Aug 2013
Pictured: Wexner NY I “kids” Sara Waxman (daughter of Spencer and Bettina Waxman); Ben Gargano (son of Laura Spitzer and Michael Gargano); and Benjamin Perla (son of Danny and Valerie Perla); at the JDC/Lauder Camp Szarvas, outside of Budapest, Hungary. Camp Szarvas, founded in 1990, offers a unique international experience for 1500 youth each summer, including 75 U.S. Fellows, with campers hailing from over 25 countries. Szarvas, central to Jewish
Aug 2013
The expression “Rosh HaShana” never appears in the Torah. Instead, the Torah refers to Rosh HaShana as “Yom Truah” or “Zichron Truah”. “Truah” – the broken blast of the shofar – is the essence of the day. Maimonides writes that the blast of the shofar comes to wake us up, a shock forcing us to engage more fully with reality. What is the shofar waking us up to? The wake-up