The Latest From The Foundation

WHA David Rudis (Chicago 3-99) comments on the win-win merger of JTA and My Jewish Learning.  “The combined entity will touch more than 1 million readers monthly. Our board has made a priority of reaching and communicating with as many Jews as possible. We are a people who become a community with a minyan. 70 Faces Media (our new name) is a journalistic minyan.” David Rudis, a Wexner Heritage Alum

To be a rabbi in the small town of Waterville, Maine where 80 percent of children are on federal food assistance is a different kind of work than I was ever used to.  I’ve had to get used to working in a congregation where families come to me and tell me that buying health insurance is going to break their family financially.  Even though I’m paid less than many of

Over the past week, pictures of Mardi Gras revelry have been popping up in my newsfeed. These are photos of dear friends, decked out in impossibly imaginative costumes, posing in front of colorful shotgun houses, bedecked with beads and smiles. I lived in New Orleans for more than two years, and left the city to attend rabbinical school in Philadelphia. The choice to leave was wrenching. Over the months and

Our first encounter with the Aberdeen Hebrew Congregation was iconic: on our way toshul for Erev Shabbat services, thinking we might have taken a wrong turn, I suddenly saw two men on the other side of the street, walking with particular urgency. Both wore long dark coats and fedoras. “This is the right way!” I declared with renewed confidence. Sure enough, when we arrived at the small, barely-marked synagogue —

The Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly (GA) gathers together Federation volunteer leaders and professionals and those involved in the business of Jewish philanthropy from across North America and around the world. JFNA represents 153 Jewish Federations and more than 300 Network Communities, which together raise and distribute more than $3 billion annually for social welfare, social services and educational needs in their local communities and around the

The current issue of the Peoplehood Papers published by the Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education (CJPE), includes many provocative and constructive essays by fellow Wexner alumni, as well as Larry Moses, Senior Philanthropic Advisor and President Emeritus of The Wexner Foundation. You can access their insightful writing by clicking here. CJPE is seeking a few select board members for our international board of directors, so if you are passionate about deep

One of our local journalists compared metropolitan St. Louis to the fictional “Mayberry,” the setting of the Andy Griffith Show.  While that’s a stretch – metropolitan St. Louis encompasses 11 counties, and St. Louis County is an amalgam of 90-plus municipalities, including Ferguson – so many of us have had contact with some of the major “players” in this far-reaching tragedy. I know many of the individuals who have been at the

  (Pictured): Seattle 12 at their graduation ceremony this past July in Utah.  There is a mystical tradition that the world has 36 hidden tzadikim. These are special and humble people and legend explains they are usually unknown to us. At our new member retreat in Aspen, Colorado (now two years ago) we were privileged to meet and be inspired by Dr. Rick Hodes. He has dedicated his life to

(Pictured) Camp Pembroke, a participating BunkConnect Camp As a Wexner Heritage alumna and a lay leader in the Jewish communal world for more than 20 years, I’m always on the lookout for social and philanthropic innovation. So when Joseph Hyman, the founder of The Center for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy (CEJP), an organization that is seeking to change the Jewish philanthropic paradigm, approached me last summer, I saw an opportunity to

It is my pleasure to share this photo from our latest alumni learning session with Rabbi David Ingber, the founder and Rabbi of Romemu, in New York City. Since our graduation from the Wexner Heritage Program in 2011, our Westchester 2009 class has continued to learn together, meeting around 5 times a year at various people’s homes. I took the lead in organizing these sessions the past two years. Last