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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Karyn Grossman Gershon is an alumna of the Chicago Wexner Heritage Program and the Executive Director of Project Kesher, the largest Jewish women’s organization and one of the fastest growing human rights organizations in Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. In 2009, Project Kesher expanded to the Russian-speaking community in Israel. Karyn can be reached at projectkesher@projectkesher.org. In 1993, I heard that a tiny non-profit called Project Kesher was convening
Ari Guass is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, Class XIII. Ari is the Executive Director of North Carolina Hillel in Chapel Hill, NC. He can be reached at ari@nchillel.org. When I was 24 and in my first stint working for Hillel – before taking a nine-year hiatus and returning to the organization eighteen months ago – my boss, the Hillel director, was known as a maverick and
Mar 2011
Lisa Shapiro Strauss is a Wexner Heritage Alumna, Houston ‘08. She is a practicing Criminal Defense Attorney in Houston, Texas. Lisa can be reached at lisstrauss@sbcglobal.net. The funny thing about a dream is that you really don’t realize it is coming true until the moment has come and gone and you have a chance to reflect back on it. In the summer of 2007, our Houston Wexner Heritage Group was
Mar 2011
Stephen Gynberg is a member of the Wexner Heritage Program Los Angeles 09 group. Stephen is a filmmaker and writer. His latest film is the award winning feature documentary, A Life Ascending. He can be reached at sgryny@me.com. My parents flew to Los Angeles this past Yom Kippur to be with my family. My mother brought her mandel braut as usual and my father brought his Torah. That was a
Mar 2011
Robert Bank is a a lawyer, activist, and the Executive Vice President for American Jewish World Service. Prior to joining AJWS, Robert served as Chief Operating Officer at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), a national AIDS advocacy, service, and education organization. He can be reached at rbank@ajws.org. After working for over twenty years on a variety of social justice issues in the secular “non-Jewish world,” I was privileged to meet
Beth Cousens is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumna and the outgoing Associate Vice President of the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Experience at Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. She is a consultant to a variety of Jewish educational organizations, focusing on vision, strategy, and evaluation. Beth can be reached at bethcousens@gmail.com. Many of us are deep in our Jewish educations. We have participated in a program of the Wexner
Feb 2011
Emily Walsh is an Alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program. Emily is the Assistant Director of Education, Youth and Family at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan. She can be reached at emiwalsh@gmail.com. A week after I moved to New York City, a friend was playing in a concert at Carnegie Hall. I looked up directions online and got there very quickly; proving much easier to get to Carnegie Hall
Feb 2011
Rabbi Joe Kanofsky is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, Class XI. Joe is the rabbi of Kehillat Shaarei Torah in Toronto, Canada
Feb 2011
Ed Rettig is an Alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, Class II. He is the Director of AJC-Jerusalem, the Israel office of the American Jewish Committee. Ed can be reached at rettige@ajc.org.il. In those classic movie scenes the officer cries “follow me” and leads the charge. For rare individuals that is an option. For me, leadership seems more a process (I speak as a balding, overweight, middle aged, Jewish
Feb 2011
Jenny Solomon is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, Class X. Jenny serves as a rabbi, teaching, counseling, and leading prayer at Beth Meyer Synagogue in Raleigh and in the greater Triangle Jewish Community. She is also building the first community mikveh in Eastern North Carolina. She can be reached at rabbijsolomon@gmail.com At a recent colloquium on the pursuit of happiness at Emory University, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
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!