The Latest From The Foundation

One of my favorite lines regarding the urgency of Big Data adoption in the Jewish community comes from Gordon Hecker, Executive Director of the Columbus Jewish Federation and former SVP of Marketing at Nationwide Insurance: “Big Data is the way all large businesses are going. The Jewish community can hop on this train now or get left in the dust.” How right he is. Fortunately, Jewish organizations across the country

The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards celebrates exceptional Jewish teen community service leaders. Hundreds of teens from across the United States apply each year.  Ten receive a $36,000 award from the Helen Diller Family Foundation to further their vision for tikkun olam and/or to support their college education. How do we go from hundreds of applicants to just 10 recipients? You, that’s how. Join other Wexner alumni already volunteering as

Pictured: Rodney Freeman, WHA LA/Bank of America, and his wife Beth at the finish line of the Tour de Summer Camps  A couple of years ago while cycling down the coast of California, I thought of creating a cycling event for our community to help send every child that wants to experience Jewish Summer Camp, to do so regardless of their family’s financial capabilities. Jewish camping has proven to me

Students from San Francisco’s Jewish Community High School of the Bay use moving images to express their feelings and reactions to the Holocaust, in Kol HaOt’s powerful ‘Processing Yad Vashem and Mt. Herzl Cemetery’ workshop. I recently had the privilege of teaching an adult Birthright-style group from St. Louis. When the group first booked Kol HaOt’s ‘Mapping the Journey’ program three years ago, it was unchartered territory for the Jewish Federation

Slingshot has released its ninth annual guide to North America’s top 50 innovative Jewish organizations and a number of organizations directly influenced by Wexner Alumni were recognized.  The following organizations and/or their leaders have received professional development from our own Wexner Graduate Fellowship and Wexner Heritage programs, including organizations in the Slingshot ’13-’14 and in the supplements.  They are:   Wexner Graduate Fellowship and Alumni     Ask Big Questions AVODAH:

Some of the Wexner Mishpacha who attended the day.  Top Row:  David Rosenn, (Class 5), Marty Linsky (Faculty), Megan Goldman (Class 22), Jill Jacobs, (Class 11), Amber Powers, (Class 9), Cindy Chazan (Staff), Rafi Rone, (Class 10).  Bottom row:  Ruthie Warshenbrot (Class 23, Staff), Yehuda Kurtzer, (Class 15), Julie Finkelstein (Class 23), Justin Rosen Smolen (Class 23), David Bryfman, (Class 17) The energy and urgency was palpable as change-makers dedicated

“Shadow in Baghdad” is a new documentary film that traces the story of the Jewish community and its disappearance from Baghdad by focusing on the narrative of Wexner Israel Fellowship Alum, Linda Menuhin Abdel Aziz (Class 6), who escaped from Iraq to Israel in the 1970’s. Duki Dror, one of the most prolific documentary filmmakers in Israel, set out to tell the story of Iraqi Jewry through this film. On

Photo credit from TabletMag.com. Mechon Hadar was launched 7 years ago by 3 Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumni (myself, Rabbi Ethan Tucker, Class 11, and Rabbi Shai Held, Class 7). We have often been asked to bring the compelling Torah taught by our faculty (including many more Wexner alumni!) to a much wider audience. The three of us have also had the honor to serve at various times as Wexner faculty

CORE18 Leaders Lab, a new and exclusive social entrepreneurial boot camp for Jewish leaders ages 19-25, is being co- chaired by  actor Mayim Bialik, of The Big Bang Theory, UK Chief Rabbi Emeritus Lord Jonathan Sacks, and Dr. Tal ben-Shahar, who taught Harvard’s hugely popular course “Positive Psychology and Leadership.”       CORE18 gives young Jewish leaders a platform to build themselves, their ideas and their communities through a high-powered

As a Wexner Heritage Alumni Delegates Council project, Michele Sackheim-Wein is launching a virtual book salon to further knit together the Wexner Alumni Network through substantive learning and conversation.  Read The Aleppo Codex,by Matti Friedman, and join us for an intimate discussion and Q & A with the author, who will join us from Jerusalem for this discussion on Sunday, October 6th, 5 pm ET. Please email me to receive