Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson is President of The Wexner Foundation.  She oversees the Foundation's full range of activities and, in partnership with Foundation chairmen Abigail and Leslie Wexner, imagines how the Foundation might further strengthen and education Jewish professional and volunteer leaders in North America and public service leaders in the State of Israel. Rabbi Abrahamson has been associated with the Foundation for many years. For close to a decade she served as a member of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship's faculty and selection Committee.  She was the Director of the Graduate Fellowship Program and Vice President prior to assuming her current role in 2011.
 
A proud member of the Frozen Chosen, Elka, a native Minnesotan, earned her teaching degree from the University of Minnesota. Elka spent the early years of her career creating curriculum for Religious Schools and Informal Jewish Educational settings, particularly Jewish camps. Her Jewish soul sprang to life at Camp Herzl in Wisconsin and her Jewish leadership blossomed at Camp Swig in Northern California. She was ordained at HUC-JIR, New York, in 1985. She began her career as associate rabbi at Peninsula Temple Beth El, San Mateo, CA. and then, with her husband, Rabbi Martin (Misha) Zinkow, she served as co-senior rabbi at Mount Zion Temple, in St. Paul, MN.
 

Here are some things Elka has enjoyed in her professional life.. She co-chaired the Women's Rabbinic Network convention twice, participated in "The Conversation", 2008, a dialogue between 65 American Jews about the future of Jewish life in this country, travelled to Muchucuxcah, Mexico as Scholar-in-Residence for the 2009 Rabbinic School Delegation [RSD] for the American Jewish World Service, nearly passed out from anxiety when she gave an ELI talk at JFNA's General Assembly, and is the High Holiday Rabbi-in-Residence every year at Chicago Sinai Congregation. In her personal life Elka enjoys her book club, her Mussar group, theater, and likes the idea of organic gardening but until she actually grows one is grateful for the shul's CSA. Elka is a serious football fan.

Rabbi Abrahamson has been published in magazines, books, and journals including Moment, Shma and the CCAR Journal.  Rabbi Abrahamson received the Bernard Reisman Award as an outstanding member of the professional Jewish community.  She serves on the Faculty of the URJ as a resource and speaker on leadership. She was twice named one of the 50 most influential rabbis in North America and is a popular teacher and public speaker.

Her husband, Rabbi Misha Zinkow serves as senior rabbi at Temple Israel in Columbus where Rabbi Abrahamson once baked hamantashen for the entire congregation. They are the parents of 4 twenty-somethings who conveniently reside in Jerusalem, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.