The Latest From The Foundation

Beth Cousens is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, Class 14 and a consultant in the areas of strategic planning, leadership development, and project management to Jewish educational organizations.  She can be reached at bethcousens@gmail.com. I confess, this isn’t really “my” leadership moment.  But I’ve been thinking about it since it happened during a small meeting I was part of a few weeks ago. While I was in my University

Rabbi Ruskay is the Director of Alumni and Community Engagement at AVODAH:  The Jewish Service Corps. She also serves on the Social Justice Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly.   Stephanie can be reached at sruskay@avodah.net. When was the last time you volunteered?  Did you do it alone or with others?  What motivated you?  Did you return to volunteer there again?  Why or why not?  For over a decade the Jewish community

Robert Bank is a a lawyer, activist, and the Executive Vice President for American Jewish World Service. Prior to joining AJWS, Robert served as Chief Operating Officer at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), a national AIDS advocacy, service, and education organization. He can be reached at rbank@ajws.org. After working for over twenty years on a variety of social justice issues in the secular “non-Jewish world,” I was privileged to meet

Etta Zimmerman is a Wexner Heritage Alumna, Boca Raton 07. She serves as a member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and is a past Chair of the Board of Director’s for the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.  Etta can be reached at ezboca@bellsouth.net. I often wish that Oprah was Jewish, hence the Oprah effect of bringing to light the significant needs of our times and helping

Annie Tucker is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program  (Class 12) and Associate Rabbi of The Jewish Center, a Conservative congregation located in Princeton, NJ.  From 2005-2006, Annie served as student rabbi to congregation Beth Israel in Biloxi, MS, witnessing some of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina firsthand.  She may be reached at atucker@thejewishcenter.org. Every so often a very special thing happens at the bi-weekly meeting of the

Francine Wiseman is a member of the Wexner Heritage Program, Montreal 09. She is a tax partner at Spiegel Sohmer Inc. and the President of Solomon Schechter Academy in Montreal, Quebec. Francine can be reached at fwiseman@spiegelsohmer.com. My parents separated when I was a child and I was raised by three lovable, wealthy and eccentric uncles. They had risen from the poverty of Montreal’s Main and over the years, through

Rebecca Gold is an Alumna of the Metrowest, NJ Wexner Heritage Program. She is the VP of Training & Education for the Metrowest UJC Women’s Philanthropy Board and sits on the Executive Committee of UJC. She can be reached at rbgold@optonline.net. “Where tzedakah is a gift or loan of money, hessed is the gift of the person. It costs less and more: less because its gestures often cost little or

Naomi Gefen is an alumna of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program (Class 19).  Naomi is the Director of External Affairs and Project Development for ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem.  She can be reached at nogefen@gmail.com. We all take for granted, whether in Israel on in the US, our access to water, food, electricity, education and more. For Haitians, these have never been a given. Since January 12th’s earthquake, they have none.

Michael Alon is founder of the Let All the Children Play Foundation and an alumnus of the NY Wexner Heritage Program. He is a businessman living in Long Island, NY.  For more information on how you can get involved with LATCP, go to www.latcp.org.  Michael can be reached at Malon7@aol.com. Summer 1992 I am in Israel, along with a group of other Wexner Heritage members at our Wexner Heritage Program

G. Rayzel Raphael is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 2) and a rabbi at Beth Israel Congregation/InterFaithways in Woodbury, NJ.  She can be reached at shechinah18@mindspring.com. I recently I attended the JACS retreat, (Jewish Alcoholics and Chemically Dependent Persons & Significant Others). I can honestly say it was one of the most profound weekends of my rabbinic career.   Rabbis go as guests to be educated to the