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Lessons in Leadership


Rabbi Smuly Yanklowitz is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class XIX.  Shmuly is the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Director of Jewish Life and the Senior Jewish Educator at the UCLA Hillel, and a 6th year doctoral student at Columbia University in Moral Psychology & Epistemology.  Shmuly can be reached at Rabbi Shmuly@utzedek.org. There were times, when I was one of three students that would stay

Artie is a Wexner Heritage Program alumnus from Columbus.  Artie teaches creativity to corporations and at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.  He leads brainstorms at artieisaac.com. Artie can be reached at artieisaac@gmail.com. Excerpted from a sermon presented at Temple Israel, Columbus Ohio.  The folks in my congregation think I understand prayer. Kippah topped, tallit swaying — boy, do I have them fooled.  I have nearly no idea

Shuli Passow is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class XVI.  She is a second year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary and serves as boardchair of the Jewish Meditation Center of Brooklyn, www.jmcbrooklyn.org,  She can be reached at shuhead@gmail.com Facing a difficult challenge at work, I launched an effort to solve the problem.  I thought things over for several days.  Wrote in my journal.  Consulted with friends

Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen is a Professor Emerita of Sociology and the Past President of Baltimore Hebrew University. She can be reached at Rela1@aol.com. My son Ami, now himself a father, was a very active and social child. From quite an early age, and certainly by the time he was in elementary school at Solomon Schecter Day School in Philadelphia I would caution him about certain behaviors with the rabbinic

Scott is the Executive Vice President of Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. He has provided Jewish professional and volunteer leadership for over 30 years. Scott can be reached at sbrown@hillel.org. I have Bieber Fever! I admit it. The difference is that I am looking for the next great Jewish professional Rock Star. One of the greatest single failings of Jewish organizations over my career has been the way

Chana Zelig is a visual artist and Wexner Heritage Alumna from Chicago. She works on large public installations and private commissions, and is a speaker and writer on advancing a new generation of Jewish art and aesthetics. Chana can be reached at chanazelig@gmail.com, or through her website, chanazelig.com.  “The root of creativity is discontent with mere being, with just being around in the world.” (Abraham Joshua Heschel) I started my

Shoshana Friedman is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class XXII and studies at the Hebrew College Rabbinical School. She can be reached at  shoshana friedman@yahoo.com.  Mordy Walfish is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class XXII and the Assistant Director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive (www.bjpa.org) and an MPA candidate in Nonprofit Management at New York University.  He can be reached at mordecaiwalfish@gmail.com. This past WGF Winter Institute, many

Apr 2011

The Decade of No

Lisa Schlaff is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program and Assistant Principal of SAR High School in Riverdale, NY. She is a co-founder of Darkhei Noam, a partnership minyan in Manhattan.   Lisa can be reached at lisaschlaff@gmail.com. My life ten years ago: I lived on the Upper West Side and was deeply involved in the founding of two new Jewish organizations, both of which were cutting-edge in the

Allison Shapira is the Coordinator of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. She can be reached at: ashapira@wexner.net At the beginning of this year, I participated in a week-long personal leadership development program in northern California called the Hoffman Process. The program came highly recommended by my colleagues and classmates at the Harvard Kennedy School who had attended over the past five years. Feeling curious and

Ari Guass is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, Class XIII. Ari is the Executive Director of North Carolina Hillel in Chapel Hill, NC. He can be reached at ari@nchillel.org.  When I was 24 and in my first stint working for Hillel – before taking a nine-year hiatus and returning to the organization eighteen months ago – my boss, the Hillel director, was known as a maverick and