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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
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
Jul 2011
Amy Deutsch is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, Class XIX. She can be reached at amyleahdeutsch@gmail.com. In the week before my Wexner Graduate Fellowship interview, I took a cruise with my husband (then fiancé—we had just gotten engaged). We were about three days into the cruise when, in the middle of the night, the ship alarm went off. Before we knew it, we were being told to
Jul 2011
Mara Benjamin is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship (Class X). She is Assistant Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. She can be reached at mbenj@stolaf.edu I am one of four Jewish faculty at a private, historically Norwegian, Lutheran liberal arts college, and I am the first person to occupy a permanent position teaching Judaism. For me, teaching Jewish texts (and texts like the Hebrew
Jul 2011
Rabbi Ruskay is the Director of Alumni and Community Engagement at AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. She also serves on the Social Justice Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly. Stephanie can be reached at sruskay@avodah.net. When was the last time you volunteered? Did you do it alone or with others? What motivated you? Did you return to volunteer there again? Why or why not? For over a decade the Jewish community
Scott is the Executive Vice President of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. He has provided Jewish professional and volunteer leadership for over 30 years. Scott can be reached at sbrown@hillel.org. I have Bieber Fever! I admit it. The difference is that I am looking for the next great Jewish professional Rock Star. One of the greatest single failings of Jewish organizations over my career has been the way
Jul 2011
Jessica Kate Meyer is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumna of Class XX. She can be reached at jessicakatemeyer@gmail.com In January I was offered the opportunity to perform in “Divine Sparks”—an evening of sacred Jewish music and improvisation with two of the most exciting musicians making noise in the Jewish and jazz music worlds. But there was a catch: the singer headlining the evening observes ‘kol isha’ (a prohibition against listening
Jul 2011
Alan is an alumnus of the Los Angeles/Bear Stearns (1997-99) Wexner Heritage Program. He can be reached at alan.abrahamson@gmail.com. I am a sportswriter. My specialty is the Olympics. The question I get asked the most goes like this: “Since the Olympics take place every four years, what do you do the rest of the time?” I gently explain that for nearly 20 years now the Olympics have been taking place
Jon Levisohn is an alumnus of Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class X. He is Assistant Academic Director of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University, where he is also Assistant Professor of Jewish Education. He is the author of The Interpretive Virtues: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Teaching and Learning of Historical Narratives (Wiley Blackwell, forthcoming) and the co-editor with Sue Fendrick a Wexner Graduate Fellow, Class
Jerry H. Herman is an alumnus of the DC Wexner Heritage Program and was the former Chairman of PANIM and is the current Chair of the Advisory Committee of the PANIM Institute. As of June 1, 2011, Jerry became the Chief Operating Officer of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Jerry can be reached at jerryhherman@comcast.net. A buzz word of Jewish organizations and philanthropists is “Collaboration”, a concept which ranges from
Jun 2011
Dr. Erica Brown is the scholar-in-residence at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation. Her latest book is In the Narrow Places: Daily Inspiration for the Three Weeks (OU/Maggid). Erica can be reached at erica@leadingwithmeaning.com. About 25 years ago, I went to the Kotel, the Western Wall, at about midnight on the night of Tisha B’av, the fast of the 9th of Av.