The Latest From The Foundation

Shalom all — Thank you all for responding to our Wexner Hospitality app survey!  We had 137 respondents, both North American and Israeli.  We are listening.  Our Wexner Summit working group has been hard at work this summer exploring options for powering our vision to build an online platform for North American and Israeli Wexner alumni (and others) to connect IRL (“in real life”) when we are traveling in each

From 1958 to 1971 around Sukkot Israelis from all different segments of society used to go on a two-day walk from Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem.  The 30-kilometer walk was connected to the ancient custom of making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year — on Passover, Sukkot and Shavuot.  Before there were social networks or even the term “networking”, Israelis would get to know about different Israeli life experiences

On August 23, 1950, the President of the American Jewish Committee and US industrialist Jacob Blaustein visited Israel.  In an historic meeting at the King David hotel in Jerusalem, Ben Gurion and Blaustein issued statements expressing their mutual understanding about the relationship of American Jews and Israel, in what became known as the Blaustein-Ben Gurion accord.  Three issues were at the focus of that accord — representation, dual loyalty and Aliyah.

ReachOut! is A Project of the JCRC of Boston I.     Introduction: A New Program for Engaging Jewish Young Adults in Community Service ReachOut! is a program created by the Jewish Community Relations Council (“JCRC”) of Boston in 2010 for the purpose of engaging Jewish young adults in their 20’s and 30’s in meaningful community service.  The JCRC believed that participation in such service could become a transformative rite of passage

The P2P (People to People) working group from the Wexner Summit “Stronger Together” has been busy working on multiple projects that connect Israelis and North American Jews.   While at the Summit, we realized what a gift it was that alumni from four of the Wexner programs were meeting and working together.  Right there, within the Summit group, was a P2P experience.  To expand on that and utilize the potential

Where’s George? An online Campaign to Pressure JNF to Provide Transparency About Its Funding I. Introduction – In 2015, T’ruah: The Rabbinic call for Human Rights, decided to run a campaign targeting JNF-USA for providing support to Israeli settlements in the Territories and for obscuring this fact from its North American donors. This case describes how T’ruah chose and carried out an advocacy campaign aimed simultaneously at making policy change and

Our “Stronger Together” Wexner Summit working group identified the lack of institutional recognition and tolerance of non-orthodox Jewish ritual, practices and beliefs in Israel as one important factor wearing away the North American Jewish Community’s feeling of connection to Israel.  Our concern was actually twofold — from the Israeli perspective, Israel was illustrating a true lack of religious freedom for non-orthodox Jews and creating a distancing of non-orthodox Israeli Jews from

SparkShare: Identifying positive opportunities for at-risk youth in the Boston area I. Introduction SparkShare focuses on increasing youth opportunities based on understanding individual and group experiences that they see as holding them back, helping them realize that they are in charge of their future, and forming strategic partnerships to support them and build change. This case study describes the basis for establishing a new organization in Boston, the steps that

When your husband is the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic and your son is ready to become a Bar Mitzvah, what do you do when the Torah in your congregation is found to be pasul (not kosher)?  If you are Tamar Newberger, you find your way to Project Kesher.  For the past twelve years, Project Kesher has placed Torahs throughout eastern Europe, working to maximize access for women whether

 אם-אשכחך ירושלים תשכח ימיני תדבק לשוני לחיכי אם לא אזכרכי אם לא אעלה את ירושלים על ראש שמחתי “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget . May my tongue cling to my palate, if I do not remember you, if I do not bring up Jerusalem at the beginning of my joy.” Psalm 137 Jerusalem holds a uniquely special significance for the Jewish people, playing a central role