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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Very quietly, and with little international attention, one of the most delicate and interesting engineering projects in the Middle East took a big step forward this month: the mutual Jordanian/Israeli Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Project was published to investors for the development and execution of the project’s first phase. The project includes a large desalination plant which will be built in Jordanian Aqaba, near Eilat, and will eventually result in
We’ve completed building our new facility, following a successful multi-million dollar capital campaign for the Ida Crown Jewish Academy, the premier coeducational modern Orthodox high school in the Midwest. As if that weren’t challenging enough, we now turn our attention to the challenge of bringing our educational experience in line with the challenges of the modern world. To adequately inspire our future students, it’s no longer sufficient to educate children in
Dec 2015
After a transformative Wexner experience led me to question my work in the secular world, I “crossed the line” to become a Jewish communal professional in 2002. By 2008, when I became founder/CEO of UpStart, I had been a lay leader on eight boards of directors. During my lay experiences, I had often heard expressions of dissatisfaction with the board experience. Upon becoming a professional, I now heard executive directors
Dec 2015
This past summer, the Boston area vegetarian restaurant chain Clover became certified kosher by Rabbi Barry Dolinger, an Orthodox rabbi in Providence, Rhode Island. A controversy erupted, both because Rabbi Dolinger’s standards differ from many mainstream kashrut-certifying organizations and because a Clover employee mistakenly tweeted that the restaurant was under the supervision of the Rabbinical Council of New England. Often such incidents have a tendency to turn political and nasty.
Dec 2015
For me, leadership, besides making empires rise and fall, is also about being able to communicate with both the dark side and the resistance and hoping the Force will always stay on your side. The Star Wars movies have a great deal of it all: love and trust, continuity, innovation, robust friendships, hard choices and strong female leadership, which reminds us that we all are born Jedi, and definitely capable
Dec 2015
Reprinted with permission from Harry Nelson’s blog “Harry Nelson: Healthcare,Leadership,Strategy.” In every organization, there are moments of crisis when something goes extremely wrong. This December marks the second anniversary of such a time for me personally and for our firm. It was a nerve-racking period, when it looked like a bad turn of events might upend our firm. While it was a stressful time, looking back two years later, it
Dec 2015
Israel has successfully branded itself as a “startup nation” but can it continue being one when only 20% of employees in its high-tech industry are women? Last winter, 40 senior executives from the Israeli civil service took part in the first class of the Wexner Senior Leadership (WSL) Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Participating in this four-week program was an amazing experience: learning from the best teachers in the
Dec 2015
As we close Hanukah, we want light to spill over into life. In the prayer “Al Ha-nisim” , we articulate how the unexpected turned into reality. In theological terms, we call these miracles. When the weak overcome the strong, the few defeat the many, and righteousness presides over evil, we feel profound relief that along with random acts of terror, life can sometimes throw us unpredictable goodness. This sliver
Dec 2015
From the Winter 2015 issue of HaYidion, on Athletics; reprinted by permission of RAVSAK At the end of a long workday, I dragged my heels up the staircase to the cafeteria of my children’s day school for the JV basketball team parent orientation. Expecting a review of schedule and logistics, I wasn’t totally present as Coach D began addressing the parents, although I tucked my phone away out of respect.
Everything changed in one day. On September 2nd Americans woke up to see a photograph of Aylan Kurdi, a small boy whose body washed up on the Turkish beach after his family tried to reach safety by boat. For many, this picture broke open our hearts to a crisis that had been underway for years. As Jews, we were further awakened by the images and stories that immediately followed of