The Latest From The Foundation

Reprinted with thanks to The Jewish Theological Seminary. Please feel free to post a link to your shpiel below. The Shabbat prior to Purim, known as Shabbat Zakhor, takes its name from the first word of the special maftir (additional Torah reading) for the day, which retells the story of the first post-enslavement attack against the newly freed Israelites: Remember (zakhor) what Amalek did to you on your journey, after

This blog originally appeared in eJewishPhilanthropy on November 16, 2014. ‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding. Alice Walker Gratitude. We learn from an early age that it is important to be grateful, to appreciate what we have – to say thank you.  Indeed, a national survey on gratitude found that more than 95

The secular New Year in the middle of winter never made sense to me.  In contrast, Fall, with its themes of return (of people to school, to work and seriousness from the frivolity of summer; of leaves and flowers back to the earth after their rich and glorious bloom) and dying/retreating (of plants, and birds, insects; people and other animals hunkering down, seeking shelter and going inside) is a much

In honor of Shavuot, when you may have some extra time to study, here is a Dvar Torah by WGFA Rabbi Shai Held (Class 7) about something most of us do: bless people. It was originally sent out by Mechon Hadar, an organization founded by three Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumni, as a weekly email. To download a recording, click here.  To subscribe to Shai’s weekly dvar, click here. Pictured above:

The following address was given last night at the Class 27 Graduate Fellowship Orientation by WGFA Shaul Kelner (Class 8, and Chairman of The Wexner Graduate Fellowship and Davidson Scholars Selection Committee): This Shabbat we begin reading B’midbar, the sociologists’ parashah — when my colleagues and I all get a special aliyah, and we claim Biblical mandate for our work: “On the first day of the second month, in the second

With Passover on my mind, it’s worth contemplating that expressing oneself through generosity is an ultimate manifestation of liberation. The Biblical command to have tithing obligations taken care of before Passover could be a concretization of that generous impulse. I’d like to briefly explore what a contemporary, universal tithe might look like, but first a story. In 1965, I was eleven years old and living in Canton, Ohio. We had

“In every generation all of us are obliged to regard ourselves as if we ourselves went forth from the land of Egypt” Exodus 13:8 These words we read on Passover ring especially true to me through my work on human trafficking as the Chair of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Most of us believe that slavery is something of the past, or happens in lands

HEARD ‘ROUND WEXWORLD I am inviting people from the embassy community to my seder in Islamabad — plus a Pakistani academic who researches perceptions of the Holocaust in Pakistan and Iran, and a Pakistani Jew I read about through a posting of Jeremy Bandler’s (WGFA, Class 10) and reached out to via twitter @Jew_Pakistani.   I got matzah via Amazon.com, and the USAID Mission Director supplied me with matzah meal for

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks held a conference call exclusively for our constituents yesterday, to give them some deep material for their Passover seders. In a close reading of the “Rasha” (the wicked child), Rabbi Sacks explored 4 different interpretations and ideas. Rabbi Sacks has agreed to answer questions posted by April 7, so please post them below once you listen to the recording. Click below to listen:    A global

On Passover, we celebrate the Jewish story of our release from bondage.  Our seders often conclude with the sweet taste of chocolate.  How bitter to think that much of the world’s chocolate comes to us via dangerous child labor practices around the world akin to slavery.   By eating Kosher for Passover Fair Trade chocolate on the holiday, we heighten our awareness about an issue deeply bound into the fabric of