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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Sep 2011
Don Seeman is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumnus of Class IX. He is an Associate Professor at Emory University, and holds a joint appointment in Jewish Ethnography with the Department of Religion and the Rabbi Donald A. Tam Institute for Jewish Studies. His publications include: "'Where is Sarah Your Wife': Cultural Poetics of Gender and Nationhood in the Hebrew Bible," in Harvard Theological Review 91:2 (1998); "'One People, One Blood':
Sep 2011
Tara is a Wexner Heritage Westchester 07 alumna and is the founder of Marketing Matters, Ltd., a N.Y. based marketing consulting firm specializing in non-profits. Tara also serves as a parent advisor to J-Teen Leadership, a teen-led community service and leadership organization. J-Teen Leadership was founded by Amanda Bilski and her mom, Tracey Bilski, a Wexner Heritage alumna from NY. Tara can be reached at tara@marketingmattersltd.com Can you imagine leaving
Aug 2011
Benjamin Samuels is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class VI and has served as the rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefillah of Newton Centre, Massachusetts for the past sixteen years and teaches widely in the Greater Boston area. He can be reached at ravbensam@shaarei.org. This summer, I have been leading a Shabbat afternoon Tanakh study, “Responding to the Call: Divine Commission and Reluctant Prophets.” In our sessions, we have
Aug 2011
Tricia Hellman Gibbs, alumna of the 2008 San Francisco Wexner Heritage Program, is the co-founder of the San Francisco Free Clinic, a clinic providing free care to the medically-uninsured. In the fall of 2011, she will begin the Masters program in Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. She can be reached at triciagibbs@comcast.net “He (who delights in Torah) is like a tree planted beside streams of
Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen is a Professor Emerita of Sociology and the Past President of Baltimore Hebrew University. She can be reached at Rela1@aol.com. My son Ami, now himself a father, was a very active and social child. From quite an early age, and certainly by the time he was in elementary school at Solomon Schecter Day School in Philadelphia I would caution him about certain behaviors with the rabbinic
Aug 2011
Pam is a Wexner Heritage Toronto alumna. She is a lawyer and artist, who now edits ”think: The Lola Stein Institute Journal” (http://www.lolastein.ca/050~Think_Magazine/). She can be reached at pamelams@mac.com. Girls are female beings, b’tzelem elokim. They are not adaptations of men. Thinking about bat mitzvah rituals, I was uncomfortable guiding my daughters towards any reworking of the male model. My sons had had b’nei mitzvah, and it felt disrespectful to
Aug 2011
Searle, a Wexner Heritage alumnus from Baltimore, is outgoing Chair of the Jewish Federation's Hillel Council and a Vice Chair of JESNA. A real estate and business attorney, he is the former president of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School and Beth Tfiloh Congregation. He can be reached at smitnick@gfrlaw.com Three years ago, I was in Hell. I managed to escape. Why would I voluntarily return in early May, 2011?
Aug 2011
Gordon Hecker is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program in Columbus 2000. He currently serves as Campaign Chair for Columbus Jewish Federation and is on the Executive Committee of Jewish Federations of North America. When not engrossed in Jewish lay leadership, he is the Sr. VP of Corporate Marketing at Nationwide Insurance. Gordon can be reached at:ghecker@columbus.rr.com The flight lasted just four and a half hours and, for me,
Aug 2011
Misha Zinkow is the senior rabbi of Temple Israel, Columbus, Ohio. He can be reached at rabbizinkow@templeisrael.org. Our friend Ezra said, "of course I'll help you find his grave, I love cemeteries." That's when Elka and my visit to the Mount of Olives cemetery began 2 weeks ago. The grave we were determined to find is that of my father-in-law Alvin Abrahamson's grandfather. Born in Jaffa around the time that
Aug 2011
Beth Cousens is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class 14 and a consultant in the areas of strategic planning, leadership development, and project management to Jewish educational organizations. She can be reached at bethcousens@gmail.com. I confess, this isn't really "my" leadership moment. But I've been thinking about it since it happened during a small meeting I was part of a few weeks ago. While I was in my University
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!