Summit Seeds: Combatting Antisemitism

Summit Seeds 1:

Antisemitism: Exercising Leadership to Address the “Oldest Hatred”

Participant Information

Summit Seeds 2024 Bio Book

Summit Seeds 2024- Participant Roster with Application Response

Goals

  • To bring together alumni who share interests on crucial issues facing Israel and the Jewish world today and stimulate meaningful connections between them.
  • To generate energy and ideas that leverage alumni strengths and passions to make progress on those key issues.
  • To create low-commitment opportunities for Wexner network members to find their natural thought partners across generations, geography, and programs.
  • To seed potential projects, initiatives, or collaborations that might benefit from an in-person gathering.

The Topic

The recent worldwide surge in Antisemitism is of great concern to those who exercise leadership of the Jewish People. It is an enormously complex and multi-faceted issue, spanning the realms of politics, media, technology, religion, psychology, academia, law enforcement, and more.

In order to make the conversation maximally productive, our Summit Seeds program will focus on two key dimensions of the topic:

  1. Stay or Go? One of the challenges for anyone exercising leadership in an environment where Antisemitism emerges involves the fundamental question of whether to “stay and fight” or withdraw support and engagement. How do we decide if we speak out and work for change in the environment where Antisemitism exists or if the effort is futile? Staying and fighting risks giving Antisemitism more oxygen and thereby more power, while exiting forfeits our ability to have a voice. How do we weigh the competing considerations in such a situation where we are exercising leadership?
  2. Coordinated Approach? The “shape-shifting” nature of Antisemitism means that it crops up in many different ways in various environments. An astonishing array of organizations and efforts to fight it have emerged; in some cases they tackle the issue in very different ways and contexts, while in other cases they seem to overlap and duplicate efforts. What would a strategic “balcony view” approach to this issue look like? How should efforts be streamlined for maximum impact AND maximum efficiency? What are the benefits and drawbacks of collaboration vs. divide and conquer? Who should be deciding on this strategy and how do we engage all of the relevant players in the conversation?

When will the program take place?

Zoom: May 1 @ 12pm ET

Zoom: May 29 @ 12pm ET

Possible In-person: August 25-26, 2024 in Columbus, OH

March 27- Session #1 Preparation Materials

Prep material

We have all been reading, watching, and listening obsessively since October. Amidst the endless sea of content we wanted to share a few pieces that would ground our conversation in a shared dialogue. Please read/watch the following in advance of our time together:

  1. WATCH: Dara Horn from ADL Never is Now Conference, March 2024:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94B7kadhiv4

[Note: this talk is a follow-up to Horn’s seminal article in the Atlantic from February. That article is linked here—it is long, but also very much worth reading if you have not already].

  1. READ: A view of Global Antisemitism since October 7th from the Israeli perspective:

https://www.inss.org.il/publication/pro-palestinian-rallies/ or PDF version here.

  1. READ: Bret Stephens in Sapir Journal, a speech originally delivered in November 2023—related to our theme of “Should we stay or should we go?”

https://sapirjournal.org/war-in-israel/2023/11/the-road-to-a-second-kristallnacht/

Summit Seeds Overview

Who will participate?

Summit Seeds will bring together up to 20 alumni of The Wexner Foundation’s initiatives for volunteer leaders in the North American Jewish Community, professional leaders in the North American Jewish Community, and leaders in Israel’s public service.

What is the commitment?

Summit Seeds participants will commit to participate in three Zoom calls of 90 minutes each. These conversations will entail building connections and trust among group members, exploring the topic at hand, and pursuing possible connections to work together on addressing the topic moving forward.

By the end of the third call, members of the group will determine together if they wish to meet in person to dig more deeply into possible collaborations or partnerships to deepen their work on the topic.

If the group does decide to meet in person, the meeting will be a day-long gathering at The Wexner Foundation’s headquarters in Columbus, OH. Participants will cover their own travel expenses up to $500; The Wexner Foundation will cover all additional expenses.

BACKGROUND ON SUMMITS

Wexner Summits: The Network In Action  is a platform for Alumni of all Wexner leadership initiatives to connect, learn and collaborate across our network. Through Summits, Wexner Alumni are exercising leadership by strategizing and stacking hands to take action that moves the needle on the key challenges facing the North American Jewish Community and the State of Israel. As with all Wexner Summits, regardless of topic, an additional purpose is to connect Wexner Alumni to other extraordinary leaders across the Jewish world and Israel, drawing wisdom, insight and new collaborative possibilities from our network.  

To date there have been six Wexner Summits fostering substantive action:

  • (Re)Imagining the Israel-North American Jewish Community Relationship (launched 2016)
  • Social Justice (launched 2016)
  • Civil Discourse (launched 2017)
  • Accelerator – for those robust projects from the first 3 Summits electing to continue after their obligatory year of work (launched 2019)
  • Gender Safety and Equity (launched 2019)
  • Leadership Skills (launched 2020)
  • Climate of Change (launched 2021)