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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Jun 2015
Faye with her brother Gordon and nephew Mitchell The hardest film shoot I ever produced was one I was mostly absent for. Just before Shavuot two years ago, I sat shiva for my brother, Gordon. He had suffered for 14 months with terminal cancer, holding on through a combination of remarkable support from his shul community, high-level care at Johns Hopkins, and his iron will to imprint more memories
May 2015
This article is reprinted with permission from The Jewish Week. It is in vogue to say that liberal Zionism is in crisis. Last summer’s war in Gaza provoked a spate of essays purporting that the confrontation between liberal values and the policies of a hawkish Israel were making the ideology untenable. In this portrayal, liberal Zionism was a precarious political ideology that entailed support for the State of Israel while
By way of introduction, on Tuesday night, May 26, our current class of Wexner Israel Fellows (Class 26) prepared a lovely end-of-the-year thank-you dinner for all those in Boston who had welcomed them so warmly. This was followed the next day by a graduation brunch for the Fellows and their families, as well as key staff and faculty, including President Elka Abrahamson, Vice President Cindy Chazan, Program Manager of the
The holiday of Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Among the traditions of the holiday is reading the Book of Ruth, one of the five “scrolls” of the Bible which are read on Jewish holidays (the others being Lamentations on the 9th of Av, Ecclesiastes on Sukkot, Esther on Purim and Song of Songs on Passover). Why do we read Ruth on Shavuot? The first-millennium CE
A can’t-miss event. That’s what our SF ’08 Shabbaton reunion felt like this past weekend, as we came together in Sonoma for the sixth year in a row to rest, relax and study together. Nearly 90 percent of our class was present, with spouses (who have long been integrated as part of the group) and children (who are now friends). Those who couldn’t be there had excellent reasons: living far
Some of the participants of the Wexner Senior Leadership Program during their month at Harvard (after the fifth snow storm). From left to right: Alon Levavi – Deputy Commander of the Central District of the Israel Police, Michal Shalem – Chief of Staff in the Jerusalem Municipality, Kobi Barak – Commander of the IDF’s Technology and Logistics Branch, and Michal Fink – Senior Director of Strategy and Policy Planning at the
May 2015
As a fighter pilot who flew 35 years to protect the State of Israel from an external threat, I realized after my retirement that our internal lack of unity was an even bigger threat. For the last three years I’ve dedicated most of my time (voluntarily) to the mission of creating unity among the different factions in the Israeli society. Everyone in Israel knows that we have a big problem
Apr 2015
In the words of our founder Leslie Wexner, “Make an impact. Change the world.” Watch these three brief videos as we honor our visionary funder’s dreams becoming a reality today. Feel free to comment below if these videos or your experience at the 30th have sparked any ideas about where to go from here (or, as Les says, “what got us here, won’t get us there”). Below is another brief
Tammy Dollin, WGF, Class 1 What struck me immediately was the magnitude and the import of the event. I entered the ballroom filled with 1200 people, all gathered in gratitude to recognize and communicate the impact of the nearly $1 billion investment in Jewish leadership made over the last 30 years by Les and Abigail Wexner. The room was filled with enormous potential, an electric energy, ideas born and nurtured,
Apr 2015
This week, Jewish World Watch (JWW) – an organization that I co-founded with Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, z”l, just over a decade ago – brought together more than 3,500 people in Los Angeles for our Walk to End Genocide. It was incredible to look out from the stage and see so many faces of all backgrounds and faiths (many of whom are Wexner alums!) – united around the idea that