The Latest From The Foundation

I am taking this opportunity to reflect on my experience during the second Wexner Senior Leadership (WSL) Program, earlier this year at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS).  As a select group of 39 senior civil servants from government ministries and agencies in Israel, we participated in a month-long tailor-made leadership program in one of the most prestigious academic surroundings in the world. During the program, nine public issues were addressed:

On the lovely spring day of April 6th, Wexner Israel Fellowship Class 27 traveled from Cambridge to New York City for a two-day institute.  This was a unique opportunity for grasping new perspectives on our public service-inspired journey. Our first day was dedicated to an enlightening engagement between our class and NY-area Wexner Heritage Program alumni, and the second day included meetings with leaders from various sectors in NYC who

I spent the afternoon in Hebron today with ‪#‎CCAR16. It was a powerful, holy, agonizing day. On the bus ride up, we were stopped at Gush Etzion where a stabbing had just taken place. To see the soldiers, the murdered army reservist, the workers cleaning up the blood on the side walk, was a horror. In Hebron, we met Yishai Fleisher, a settler who offered a potent perspective on the

Reprinted with permission from HaYidion. Can the students in your school name Israel’s capital? Its most populous city?  A way it has brought technological advancement to the world?  The religions that view Jerusalem as holy? When students can correctly answer these factual questions, it is often assumed that they have achieved Israel literacy.  But there’s a big difference between knowing facts about Israel and knowing how to participate in its

This past Shabbat, ten leaders from across the Boston Jewish community opened their homes to the Wexner Senior Leaders ’16 for Shabbat dinner.  Everyone had a wonderful time meeting, eating and conversing late into the night.  At a point in the program when the participants are very much missing home, the Bostonians made them feel that they have a home away from home. In the words of two of the

We are bombarded from every side with requests to give our time and money to support worthy organizations.  Considering the overwhelming number of requests we receive, we begin to question why we are supporting those organizations.  What is the motivation?  Other than a “love of humanity” (or the Jewish people), what drives our giving?  Is it the sense of responsibility that our parents instilled in us?  Or perhaps our religious

Top row, from left to right: Ra’anan Avital, Director General – The Wexner Foundation, Israel; Tal Winbrom, Manager, Wexner Senior Leaders; Ido Nehushtan, Chair, Advisory Committee for The Wexner Foundation, Israel Office; Tania Boguslavsky, WSL (’16); Bottom row, from left to right: Moshe Dayan, Civil Service Commissioner; Reuven Rivlin, President of Israel. The second cohort of Wexner Senior Leaders (WSL ’16) cohort was hosted last week by the President of

Reposted with thanks to The Forward  Sunday was the 12th of Cheshvan, a grim anniversary: 20 years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. He was shot on a Saturday night after the world’s synagogues read the Torah portion Lech Lecha, the first night of the week looking toward the next reading, VaYera, the “binding of Isaac.” But in real life, unlike in the biblical story of human sacrifice, no angel

I invite all WHF members, past, present and future, to our first NYC area Sacred Rights, Sacred Song, Concert of Concern.  Come and support the creative activism of your fellow WHF member.  Let me give a bit of background about the Sacred Rights, Sacred Song Project. Looking at Israel, from numerous vantage points, there is much to be concerned about.  I founded SRSS in 2010 with the mission to use

Looking at Israel, from numerous vantage points, there is much to be concerned about.  I founded The Sacred Rights, Sacred Song Project (SRSS) in 2010 with the mission to use choral music to spotlight abuses of power by narrow-minded religious authorities in Israel, with the goal of strengthening the voices of moderate democracy within our Jewish conversation.  In the past 5 years, SRSS has done important work for the Modern