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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
May 2013
It has been thirteen years since I graduated with a degree in Jewish Communal Service as a Wexner Fellow. During this time I have sometimes struggled with guilt over my decision not to pursue my career in the Jewish world, especially since my education was paid for by the Wexner Foundation. Last summer I received tenure as a Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International Development, where I
May 2013
I awoke on May 14th to emails from friends and family sending me links to Angelina Jolie's New York Times article about her decision to undergo preventive mastectomies because she is BRCA1 positive. I identified with the article because, like Jolie, knowledge of my BRCA mutation put me on a collision course with the same decision. Jolie’s announcement and the attendant flurry of media attention has brought discussions about
Last week, The Wexner Foundation held a day of activities at the Knesset to welcome the seven new Wexner Israel Fellows who will begin their studies this fall in Cambridge, MA at Harvard’s Kennedy School (HKS). Prior to the public ceremony, Deborah Housen-Couriel, Director of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program (WIFP), held a leadership learning session. The fellows reflected on their definitions of leadership and shared their hopes and aspirations
May 2013
Go down this checklist and see if your worship community is facing the same challenges as the one in which I participate: You are growing so fast that finding appropriate spaces is a problem. 20 and 30-somethings are being drawn to your mix of innovative and accessible services and programs and spreading the word virally by social media and by word of mouth. Jews-by-choice, intermarried couples, LGBT and simply disaffected
In this season of graduations, many parents take stock of themselves. Have we conveyed good values to our children? Has our exhausting and completely love-filled child-rearing been net positive? Here are a few choice quotes from the tradition, offered by Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alum, Rabbi Justus Baird (Class 15), to help us think about the enterprise of bringing children into the world: It takes three to make a child
When the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that 11 more wealthy individuals and families have signed on to the Giving Pledge, I am moved. Not simply because I have dedicated my professional career to the pursuit of philanthropy and making the world a better place. Or because many of those who have pledged to give away at least half of their wealth to charity - inspired by Bill and Melinda Gates'
Rabbi Judd Kruger Levingston, Ph.D., is an alumnus of The Wexner Graduate Fellowship (Class I) and serves as Director of Jewish Studies at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy (formerly Akiba Hebrew Academy) in the Philadelphia area. He is the author of Sowing the Seeds of Character: The Moral Education of Adolescents in Public and Private Schools (Praeger/Greenwood, 2009). He is incoming Vice President of Education at the Germantown Jewish Centre.
May 2013
When Tishrei comes early Wexner members, fellows, and alumni help each other. The high holidays fall early this year, with Rosh Hashanah beginning on September 4th. Some Wexner Alumni have realized their college kids will have just arrived on campus. In cases when that campus is cross country, it is unlikely they will turn around and come back home for the high holidays. Thankfully, many Wexner Alumni who live
May 2013
My wife and I arrived in Budapest, Hungary days for an unforgettable Shabbat and three day World Jewish Congress (WJC) Plenary Assembly held on May 5 - 7, 2013, which we attended as part of the 18-person Canadian delegation. This was our first time visiting Budapest and although it seems to be a rather cosmopolitan city, certain of its elements were reminiscent of a past Soviet era. The WJC
This past weekend, nearly 80 percent of our Wexner Heritage SF ’08 group came together for the third year in a row to learn, celebrate and enjoy Shabbat together with spouses, significant others and families. On location at the beautiful Mayacamas Ranch retreat center in Sonoma, CA, our Shabbaton has evolved into annual tradition rooted in our group’s desire to stay connected despite hectic lives and considerable geographic distance between
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!