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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Mar 2010
Joel Alperson is a Wexner Heritage Chicago alumnus. Joel lives in Omaha, NE and is a past national campaign chair of the United Jewish Appeal campaign. Joel can be reached at joel.alperson@omahafixture.com. Imagine attending a pro-Israel event in a large venue filled with thousands of supporters. The evening includes emotion filled speeches, inspiring performances, and fundraising to serve Jews in need around the world. Picture dozens of these events being
Mar 2010
Gary S. Cohn is the Assistant Director of the North Pacific Region of the American Technion Society. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area American Red Cross. He is a past president of the National Association for Temple Administration and a former Board Member of the San Francisco Food Bank. He can be reached at gary@ats.org It was back in 1970, at the age of
Mar 2010
Nir Buchler is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar (Class 22) and graduate student at Brandeis University. He is a candidate for a dual degree in Jewish Professional Leadership and Public Policy. Nir is currently doing field placement at the Combined Jewish Philanthropies working on the Boston-Haifa Connection. He can be reached at nirbuchler@gmail.com. Last month, at the African-American History Museum of Boston we were twenty-nine individuals, all coming from different
Mar 2010
Steven H. Klinghoffer is a Wexner Heritage Program alumnus from MetroWest, NJ. Steve is President of WPI Communications, Inc., a marketing communications firm located in Springfield, NJ. He has served in a wide range of Jewish communal leadership positions including President of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest. Steve can be reached at sklinghoffer@wpicommunications.com I look back at my thirty plus years of involvement in the organized Jewish community and marvel
Mar 2010
Jason Rodich is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College. He can be reached at jrodich@gmail.com In January I participated for a second time on a trip to Bethlehem with Encounter, an organization founded by an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program that brings Diaspora Jewish leaders to the West Bank to meet with various Palestinian leaders. During this trip, I was asked to
Mar 2010
Lewis Dobrin is a Wexner Heritage Alumnus from Montreal. Lewis is a member of the Quebec Bar and Law Society of Upper Canada and since 1991 has been an investor in a family office. Lewis can be reached at lewis@dbrn.ca. The story of Joseph and his Brothers is prominent in the biblical narrative because of its length, its beauty and its incredible depth. It initiates the chain of events that
Yoav Shoam is an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program. He is a professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, a high tech entrepreneur, and active in Jewish and Israeli matters. His most recent project, the Jewish Peoplehood Closeness Index, is co-led with Nimrod Goor, also a Wexner Heritage alumnus. The project’s interim home is the Re’ut Institute, led by Gidi Grinstein, a Wexner Israel Fellowship alumnus. Yoav can be reached
Two weeks ago, Cindy Chazan and I had the pleasure of visiting Baltimore for Wexner Heritage interviews right in the middle of not one but two snowstorms of the century. Who knew it was possible to have 2 snowstorms of the century in one week? So much mazel in three days. Six feet of snow in 25 minutes does have a way of making travel for interviews impossible, even for
Feb 2010
Jeremy Kalmanofsky is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program and rabbi of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City. He can be reached at rjk.nycac@gmail.com I don’t mean to be morbid, but I love funerals. Over 9 years in the pulpit I have discovered the particular gratifications of helping people say farewell to their loved ones, reflect on their lives, and place their bodies in the earth. Religion
Feb 2010
David J. Rudis is a Wexner Heritage Alumnus from Chicago. David has been a banker for over 30 years (he assures us he isn’t the fat cat everyone is talking about). He has been active in a variety of Jewish leadership positions and is currently working with fellow Wexner Heritage alums Elisa Bildner and Danny Krifcher to make the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) the pre- eminent objective voice of the