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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Feb 2012
Allison is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class XIV, and a Jewish Educator. She is currently working with a fellow Class XIV Graduate Fellowship alumna, Orit Kent, on the Beit Midrash Research Project at Brandeis University, developing, researching, and teaching a “Havruta-Inspired Pedagogy.” Allison can be reached at alltcook@earthlink.net. Last month I made what felt like a triumphant return to Israel after too many years. This time I
Feb 2012
Jamie Borstein is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship (Class 18). Jamie is the Assistant Director of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, North America, and can be reached at james.bornstein@gmail.com. If Roger Schwarz had a dollar for every marital spat he’s helped me to avoid, he’d be a wealthy man. Roger, President of Roger Schwarz and Associates, and a master of effective communication strategies, taught my class during
Feb 2012
Jacob is a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis. He is writing his dissertation on Jewish-state relations in communist Czechoslovakia. He lectures regularly at the St. Louis Holocaust Memorial and Learning Center. Jacob can be reached at labendz@gmail.com. The results of a recent study shocked the Israeli Army (http://tinyurl.com/7337tob). It seems that their program of sending officers to visit Auschwitz backfired among a significant cohort, actually diminishing their
Jan 2012
Rabbi Edward S. Boraz is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, (Class I) and is the Rabbi for the Upper Valley Jewish Community and is the Michael Steinberg ’61 Rabbi of Dartmouth College Hillel, now in his 14th year of service. He can be reached at Edward.S.Boraz@darthmouth.EDU. For the past two years, we had approximately 20 people attend our Simchat Torah celebrations. This year, with Meira, a new Educational
Jan 2012
Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumna, (Class 13) who works at Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish Life in Glencoe, Illinois. She also serves as the Director of the Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism and is the Executive Director of the National Organization of American Mohalim. She received master’s degrees from the University of Judaism and from Harvard Graduate School of Education and was ordained as
Jan 2012
Barat Ellman is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class XII). A rabbi, she received her Ph.D. in Bible from JTS this past spring. She is teaching as an adjunct professor at JTS and Fordham, and is actively looking for a full-time position. Barat can be reached at barat@mindspring.com. As we begin the book of Shemot this week, my thoughts have turned to Moses. Not the Moses of
Jan 2012
Jacob is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship (Class VII), and Rabbi of Shaare Torah in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Rabbi Blumenthal can be reached at rabbijacob@shaaretorah.org. I was at a “call back” interview with a rapidly-growing congregation that was seeking its first assistant rabbi. After a lovely and warm Shabbat, the search committee organized an “ask the candidate” session on Sunday morning. It turned out that this involved sitting in
Jan 2012
Tamra is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship (Class I) and the Current Project Director of the new Ramah in the Rockies. Tamra can be reached at tdollin@ramahrockies.org The day school’s board of directors was seated around a large dining room table at the home of one of the school’s founders and major donors. The young school was at a precipice, not yet having reached a sustainable size, and
Rachel Alexander is an alumna of The Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class XIII). Rachel is currently the Midwest Regional Consultant for Jewish Federations of North America. Rachel can be reached at Rachel.Alexander@JewishFederations.org. When I was interviewed for the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, I was asked if I would like to be entrepreneurial and create my own nonprofit or, if I was willing to work in the Belly of the Beast. As
Jan 2012
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class XV, and the Executive Director of Mechon Hadar (www.mechonhadar.org). Elie served as scholar-in-residence at this year’s General Assembly. He can be reached at kaunfer@gmail.com. Years ago, when I was preparing for my Wexner interview, I gathered a few friends in my apartment for a mock interview. One of the questions my friend asked was: If you could address