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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
WHA David Rudis (Chicago 3-99) comments on the win-win merger of JTA and My Jewish Learning. “The combined entity will touch more than 1 million readers monthly. Our board has made a priority of reaching and communicating with as many Jews as possible. We are a people who become a community with a minyan. 70 Faces Media (our new name) is a journalistic minyan.” David Rudis, a Wexner Heritage Alum
As the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumni (WGFA) Community continues to grow and evolve, colleagues are tackling more and more “Big Issues” in their local, national and international Jewish communities. As we endeavor to do so, extra resources have been developed to fortify our Wexner community’s internal health and strength. Thanks to The Wexner Foundation’s partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation, a year-long mentorship program was launched two years ago to
Mar 2015
Reprinted with thanks to The Jewish Theological Seminary. Please feel free to post a link to your shpiel below. The Shabbat prior to Purim, known as Shabbat Zakhor, takes its name from the first word of the special maftir (additional Torah reading) for the day, which retells the story of the first post-enslavement attack against the newly freed Israelites: Remember (zakhor) what Amalek did to you on your journey, after
Feb 2015
I came home from the alumni institute this week feeling a small pit of sadness at saying good-bye to such a special experience, like it was the end of camp. I still find it a little incredible that I actually met people, made friends, and was able to participate in meaningful conversations despite my fears that none of these hopes would really materialize for me. But they did. I reconnected
Feb 2015
To be a rabbi in the small town of Waterville, Maine where 80 percent of children are on federal food assistance is a different kind of work than I was ever used to. I’ve had to get used to working in a congregation where families come to me and tell me that buying health insurance is going to break their family financially. Even though I’m paid less than many of
Feb 2015
Over the past week, pictures of Mardi Gras revelry have been popping up in my newsfeed. These are photos of dear friends, decked out in impossibly imaginative costumes, posing in front of colorful shotgun houses, bedecked with beads and smiles. I lived in New Orleans for more than two years, and left the city to attend rabbinical school in Philadelphia. The choice to leave was wrenching. Over the months and
Feb 2015
When the email came from my Wexner cohort member and friend Bryan Kort (Phoenix 09) about a gathering, I immediately placed the date on my calendar. Like many of you, I’m on too many boards to name and I’m overextended and burnt out and trying to juggle Jewish leadership with Jewish motherhood and family life. I am so caught up in the mundane (securing one last item for the shul
Feb 2015
On January 23, the Wexner Heritage Washington DC 13 class had the wonderful opportunity to join more than 450 members of the DC community in welcoming home Alan Gross, who was imprisoned for five years in Cuba. Gross, an international development contractor, was convicted for crimes against the Cuban state while delivering computer equipment to Cuba’s small Jewish community. He was released on December 17, 2014 as part of a
Feb 2015
Pictured: “a selfie we took while campaigning in the Machne Yehuda Market last week” Campaigning is a roller-coaster, with days of good momentum and days of crisis…I am happy to be a part of the Kachlon Kulanu team as I believe in Moshe Kachlon and think he is an honest and brave politician who sees people and their needs. It is not easy gaining trust of people for a new
Verdi at Terezín tells the story of the Jewish prisoners in the Theresienstadt concentration camp who performed Verdi’s Requiem 16 times with only a single smuggled score. Their conductor, Rafael Schächter, told the choir, “We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them.” As an alum of the Wexner Heritage Program in New York, I looked to engage myself with a program that was important to me and