The Latest From The Foundation

Jessica Kate Meyer is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumna of Class XX.  She can be reached at jessicakatemeyer@gmail.com In January I was offered the opportunity to perform in “Divine Sparks”—an evening of sacred Jewish music and improvisation with two of the most exciting musicians making noise in the Jewish and jazz music worlds.  But there was a catch: the singer headlining the evening observes ‘kol isha’ (a prohibition against listening

Dr. Erica Brown is the scholar-in-residence at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and a faculty member of the Wexner Foundation. Her latest book is In the Narrow Places: Daily Inspiration for the Three Weeks (OU/Maggid). Erica can be reached at erica@leadingwithmeaning.com. About 25 years ago, I went to the Kotel, the Western Wall, at about midnight on the night of Tisha B’av, the fast of the 9th of Av.

Sarah is a Wexner Graduate Fellow alumna, Class XI; she is an Associate Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She has published widely on Jewish language and identity, and her book, Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism, is forthcoming with Rutgers University Press. She can be reached at sbenor.huc@gmail.com. Continuity. Outreach. Pluralism. Innovation. Linking the

Dr. Yossi Chajes is an alumnus of Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class IV, and he is a professor of Jewish Thought and History at the University of Haifa.  He can be reached at chajes11@gmail.com. Over the past decade, I’ve led High Holiday services in stunningly diverse religious contexts. My challenge has been to distill and express what is most meaningful to me in the dovening within very different pre-existing frameworks.   Recently,

By Rabbi Shira Stutman, a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumna, and the Director of Community Engagement at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington, DC. Shira can be reached at sstutman@gmail.com. Thirty weeks at 1½ hours per week may sound like a long time, but it’s really nothing when it comes to a conversion class. What to include, what to leave out? When planning the Jewish Welcome Workshop 5771, it was

Emily Walsh is an Alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program.  Emily is the Assistant Director of Education, Youth and Family at B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan.  She can be reached at emiwalsh@gmail.com. A week after I moved to New York City, a friend was playing in a concert at Carnegie Hall.  I looked up directions online and got there very quickly; proving much easier to get to Carnegie Hall

Beth Cousens is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumna and the outgoing Associate Vice President of the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Experience at Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.  She is a consultant to a variety of Jewish educational organizations, focusing on vision, strategy, and evaluation. Beth can be reached at bethcousens@gmail.com. Many of us are deep in our Jewish educations. We have participated in a program of the Wexner

Rabbi Esther Reed is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program and the Associate Director for Jewish Campus Life at Rutgers Hillel.  She wrote the chapter on Conservative Judaism in the second edition of Jewish U: A Contemporary Guide for the Jewish College Student (2010).  Esther can be reached at rabbireed@rutgershillel.org . Lately several different congregations in my area have asked me to speak to juniors and seniors in

Stu Seltzer is an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program, Westchester/New York ’07. Stu is currently Co-chair of the UJA Federation campaign for Westchester County, NY. He can be reached at stuseltzer@aol.com. “Donate a Torah in Germany? I can’t even bring myself to buy a German car.” This was my reaction when my friend Jon Spielman first invited my family to join him on his trip to dedicate a Torah

Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah, 25 years after its release, remains the most powerful Holocaust film ever made. Reprinted With Permission From The Tablet Magazine Deborah Lipstadt is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University. She is the author of History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving. Her latest book, The Eichmann Trial, will be published by Nextbook Press in 2011.