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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Have you ever “meltzed” (waited/bussed) a table? Gotten a band-aid at the “marp” (infirmary)? Or selected an elective for “Shabboptions” (Shabbat options) or “t’floptions” (tefilliah options)? Then you most likely attended or worked at a North American Jewish overnight summer camp. These words stem from Hebrew (and English) but have developed uniquely in the rustic settings of Jewish camp. Over the past two summers, along with our colleague Sharon Avni,
Aug 2015
During my trip to Israel with the Wexner Heritage Program in 2013, I extended my travels so I could attend the LGBT March in Jerusalem. I was moved to see the diversity of that event. Religious, secular and transgender people marching under a sea of rainbow flags, hand-in-hand, through the ancient city of faith. It was a beautiful experience. I felt safe with the security surrounding us despite knowing that
Aug 2015
I became Executive Director of Hillel at Drexel University by accident. Sometimes you look for captivating leadership opportunities – sometimes they find you. I graduated from rabbinical school in June of 2010 poised to spend a year treading water while I waited for my wife to graduate. I would work for Hillel of Greater Philadelphia, where I had interned, in a one-year position created for me, coordinating regional programming.
Jul 2015
“We can’t solve our problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein This quote was posted throughout The Wexner Foundation’s 30th Anniversary celebration in April. While it’s easily accessible on the surface, the truth within this statement is quite profound, and deeply complex. It is worth our attention as leaders to understand its implications for our leadership. As leaders in the Jewish community
Jul 2015
Perhaps I’ve been living among the redwoods and Patchouli oil in Santa Cruz for too long, but I’ve discovered an easy way and happy way to help Israel. I’ve found that where I live, most people have one of three perspectives of Israel – either they 1. Don’t like it, or 2. Don’t really know about it, or 3. Both. It’s a mystery to me why this incredible “Start-Up Nation,”
From her first WGF Institute at Ocean Edge in 1997, Jenny (Solomon, Class 10) was asked if she knew WGFA Michelle Lynn-Sachs (Class 6). After all, we both hailed from Dallas, Texas. Each of us attended college at Brown University. Raised in actively engaged Reform Jewish homes, we both began our graduate education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. And, if that wasn’t enough, we even share a physical
Jul 2015
Dear Danny, I write to you on the Friday before 9 Av, 5775. I have spent this past week in Cape Cod, where I have been absorbing world events while cushioned by the natural beauty of the land that gave birth to American democracy. As one of your Wexner Heritage students (Cleveland 2), I take very seriously your prediction that this Av could be known in our history as the
Quick – name three things that come to mind when you think of a mid-life crisis? If you answered a convertible, a hairpiece and an affair with a younger woman, you got the most popular answers. But how many of you said, “leaving your corporate job and becoming a Jewish communal professional”? Once upon a time that answer was a rarity. But increasingly more of us are doing just that.
Jul 2015
Reprinted with thanks to ejewishphilantrhopy.com Why is Tisha B’Av, you may wonder, important to a secular Russian Jew? I grew up with little knowledge of major Jewish holidays, let alone an obscure Jewish fast day observe mostly by the Orthodox today. It is a reasonable question. It has a reasonable answer. The timing of Tisha B’Av is particularly sensitive in my family. You see, two days after Tisha B’Av was
The WIF alumni band led by Tsachi Mushkin (Class14). From left to right: Chava Erlich-Roginsky (Class 10), Eleanor Amid-Zabar (Class 10), Sharon Offer and Itamar Offer (Class 12). The annual Wexner Israel Fellowship Alumni (WIFA) Institute ended a few Fridays back (July 10th). I had the honor of chairing the Alumni Institute planning committee, and during those three days some two hundred WIFA and their partners were introduced to success