8000 Walton Parkway, Suite 110
New Albany, Ohio 43054
614 939-6060
Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Aug 2013
(Pictured) Some of the most influential Jewish experiences are happening in the woods, on the lake, and in the cabin – so too are some of the most impactful professional development opportunities. Last Shabbat I danced Israeli rikkud with 300 teens on the banks of the Delaware River in New York. A week later I joined a different set of campers in song and prayer deep in the woods of
As Saeb Erekat and Tsipi Livni flew to Washington, 17 intrepid Wexner Heritage Members participated in the overnight trip “An Inconvenient Truth: Israel and the Environment,” where they learned how Israel grapples with some of its environmental challenges. 9 miles north of the Gaza strip, at the Ashkelon Desalination Plant, the cubic equivalent of 16 million one-liter plastic bottles are converted into drinking water every hour, supplying Israel with 17%
(Pictured) Rabbi Asher Lopatin (Orthodox) with Rabbi Michael Siegel (Conservative) and Rabbi Richard Jacobs (Reform) at Milt’s BBQ for the Perplexed, a local kosher restaurant in Chicago. As an avowed pluralistic Orthodox Jew, I have long appreciated the different movements in Judaism who have contributed so much to the Judaism we observe and celebrate today. Recently, non-denominational Judaism has begun to come into its own, with creative services on Friday
Jul 2013
What a relief! Finally (and none too soon), I can stop brainstorming and thinking “out of the box” in order to be innovative in my work, in my society, and maybe in my private life as well. Guess what! Brainstorming doesn’t work. For years we have been told that in order to innovate, to create something new, to create new paradigms and models for identifying solutions to public needs, for
Jul 2013
When I was growing up, it was a truism: apartheid would end, but not in our lifetime. And when it did end, it would be bloody, a civil war. I heard about the African National Congress and the Afrikaaners, learned about Stephen Biko, and listened to the music of Miriam Makeba. But I honestly don’t remember when I first heard the name Nelson Mandela. My parents had moved to the
Jul 2013
Israel’s 1.6 million Arab citizens represent an under-tapped engine for the country’s economic growth I’ve learned a few things during my decade at the helm of The Abraham Fund, an Israeli/international nonprofit dedicated to advancing a shared society of coexistence and equality among Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens. One of them is to anticipate the most common objections posed to me by people who oppose our work; or, to be
Jul 2013
Most children are not enthralled about going to Hebrew school. Imagine my son’s reaction when I told him last year that he’d be going to not one, but two, Hebrew schools each week. To be fair, neither of the programs is actually called Hebrew school. The first is at our conservative synagogue and is called Machanei Shai because the program is structured much like a camp with activities such as
Jul 2013
On a beautiful July evening, about 80 people from the Los Angeles Wexner mishpacha gathered for an evening of learning and sharing at the home of dual Wexner Heritage Alumni Dana (LA/Bank of America) and Evan (LA 05) Schlessinger. We were blessed to engage in a very intimate discussion with Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky, the leader of B’Nei David, a vibrant Modern Orthodox shul in Los Angeles, and Rabbi David Woznica
Jul 2013
Here’s the advice I received before starting my position last year as the Senior Jewish Educator at Hillel at UCLA: “Forget about your own passions and interests, at least at first. If you think you’re going to get to campus and it’s going to be the “Aaron Lerner show” – that you’re going to dazzle them with your openness and ability to talk about sex, drugs and rock and roll,
“Jerusalem has greatly sinned, therefore she is become a mockery. All who admired her despise her, for they have seen her disgraced; and she can only sigh and shrink back.” –Eicha (Lamentations) 1:8 The first 9 days of Av are seen in traditional Judaism as days of, if not mourning, then solemnity. We do not feast, we do not celebrate; we are once again living through the days leading