The Latest From The Foundation

I published a book this past December called The Lieberman Case – The Indictment That Was Never Served, documenting how Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beyteinu party, an MK and twice Minister of Foreign Affairs, maintained questionable connections with multimillion dollar corporations that he had owned previously.  The police gathered overwhelming evidence proving that, for more than a decade (from 1998-2009) while Lieberman served in various portfolios in the Israeli government, vast amounts of

About ten years ago, I was having my regular Indian lunch with Artie Isaac (WHP alum, Columbus 00), when he suggested that I come to a Torah study class being led by Danny Maseng, who was serving as artist-in-residence at Temple Israel in Columbus, Ohio.  With the possible exception of some of my family members, no one before Danny and no one since has had such a meaningful impact on

There is a famous line in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams: “If you build it, he will come.” Fast forward 27 years.  In two short months, Camp Ramah in Northern California will open its gates to more than 230 campers (and counting) who have signed up for our inaugural summer.  Dayenu.  We have built it together as a community, and campers and staff are really coming. After literally walking the

Rabbi Abby Sosland explores shame in our society and the Jewish community in this honest and engaging ELI Talk about achievement, failure, leadership, narcissism and courage.  Shared here with thanks to ELI Talks. Abby Sosland, an alum of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship (Class 6), is Morah Ruchanit (Spiritual Advisor) of Schechter Westchester, where she teaches Bible, Talmud, prayer and philosophy.  Her writing has been published widely, including the chapter on

Two guiding tenets of “Wexnerism” are teaching and learning.  As members of the Wexner Heritage Program, we were privileged to study with the best Judaic studies teachers in North America.  We didn’t learn just for the sake of learning; we learned so that we could teach others.  Teaching and learning are two of the most venerated values of Judaism.  The ultimate source text for this is, of course, the first

We met when we were both in the Wexner Heritage Program and became friends when our daughters attended the same Jewish day school.  Since we’re both actively involved in Jewish life, we had a deep understanding that Judaism embodies rich content for how to live a meaningful and holy life and how to raise children with a deep sense of values and purpose.  We wanted to share that rich content

The Wexner Foundation has always focused on developing talented leaders. In the last few years we have expanded our reach, launching Wexner Senior Leaders, for Israel’s most influential senior leaders in the public sector, and Wexner Summits: the Network in Action, allowing our alumni from all programs to work together to tackle major problems in the Jewish world.  We have also piloted an important program to support emerging young professionals working

Link to photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/48256970@N00/sets/72157663753137944

Purim is a festival of inversion, a time when the lowly are honored, the esteemed are mocked, the serious is parodied, and the forbidden is — for a moment — permissible.  By turning things upside down for a day, Purim reaffirms what right-side-up should look like.  It is only in this context of inversion that there is a religious mandate to drink until one is so drunk that one does

Reprinted with permission from The Jewish Week.          Growing up in Israel in the 1950s as a child of Yemenite émigrés, I learned the standard Zionist Israeli narrative. It was of the great sacrifices made by Ashkenazi European Jews — settling and cultivating the land, building kibbutzim and the city of Tel Aviv out of the sand. All of this, decades before the State of Israel won independence