Posted on Thursday, November 05, 2009 by Rabbi Jethro Berkman
Rabbi Jethro Berkman is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumnus. He teaches Tanakh and creates experiential education programs at Gann Academy – The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston. He can be reached at jethroberkman@yahoo.com During my last two years of rabbinical school I worked as the Jewish Student Advisor at Swarthmore College. As the only official Jewish presence on campus, I had a wonderful opportunity to exercise leadership and build community…
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Posted on Thursday, October 29, 2009 by Rabbi Brett Krichiver
Rabbi Brett Krichiver is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumnus. Brett is the Senior Jewish Educator for Hillel at UCLA. He can be reached at brett@uclahillel.org. Recently I was reminded of a famous statement made by Abraham Joshua Heschel: “What we need more than anything else is not textbooks but textpeople. It is the personality of the teacher that the pupils read, the text they will never forget.” I find this statement to be at once illuminat…
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Posted on Thursday, September 03, 2009 by Rachel Lerner
Rachel Lerner is a Davidson Scholar in the Wexner Graduate Fellows/Davidson Scholars Program. Rachel is pursuing an EdD in the Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She can be reached at rachelalerner@gmail.com. I watched in awe as students ran community-wide Israel education programs, brought new members into their clubs, led hikes for other students at the school-wide Shabbaton and most of all, slowly began to empower each other. Facult…
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Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 by Zev Eleff
Zev Eleff is a Wexner Davidson Scholar who will begin his studies at Columbia Teachers College this fall. He can be reached at Eleff@yu.edu The fact of the matter is that teaching and reaching second-semester high school seniors is a nearly impossible task. And, for a 23-year-old collegian in his first attempt at managing a classroom, the attempt appeared to be a fool's errand. Nevertheless, I had to try. During my first few weeks on the job, I experienc…
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Posted on Thursday, July 30, 2009 by Terry Rubenstein
Terry Rubenstein is the the Executive Vice President of the Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds. She has held many lay appointments and was formerly a home builder and newspaper reporter. She has three children and three grandchildren. She can be reached at TMR@magnajm.com A few years ago I was asked to chair an initiative for United Jewish Communities called Gender Equity and Organizational Effectiveness. Supported by Shifra Bronznick, her organization, Advanci…
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Posted on Thursday, July 02, 2009 by David Strulowitz, JD, LLM
David Strulowitz is a member of the Wexner Heritage Program, Chicago 2006. He is a financial advisor on the North Shore of Chicago and teaches spirituality classes in the Jewish community. He can be reached at dstrulow@pinfs.com. I can’t pinpoint the exact time but around 5 years ago I began a process that can best be described as an awakening. My perspective broadened, adding greater meaning and fulfillment to my life. It led me to participate in Wexner Heritage program, an…
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Posted on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 by Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick
Jonathan Rudnick is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. He is the Jewish Community Chaplain in Kansas City. He can be reached at RabbiJonathanR@jfskc.org I heard my chaplaincy training supervisor say to me “So why are you doing this to your family?” Like a punch in the stomach, I was out of air immediately, physically and emotionally (and as I would come to understand, spiritually as well). Having traveled from Israel to Kansas City, I had b…
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Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2009 by Michelle Lynn-Sachs
Michelle Lynn-Sachs, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is an assistant professor of Jewish education at The Jewish Theological Seminary. She can be reached at milynnsachs@jtsa.edu In May, 1996, I had just celebrated my 24th birthday, I was looking forward to graduating from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC, and I was preparing to take up a position as the senior educator at a 2,500 member synagogue. I was excited but quite nervous. I went into Pr…
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Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2009 by Rabbi Maurice S. Corson
Rabbi Corson is President Emeritus of The Wexner Foundation and its founding President, Past President of the National Jewish Book Council, member of the Board of Directors; The Jewish Publication Society and the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary. He can be reached at mscrac@aol.com Leadership moments can come in unexpected ways throughout life Becoming the first President Emeritus of the Wexner Foundation presented to me many new challenges. Some …
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Posted on Thursday, February 05, 2009 by Ari Gordon
Ari is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/ Davidson Scholar, Class XXI in his first year at Harvard Divinity School working toward a Master of Theological Studies. Ari is focusing his study on comparative theology and interreligious relations. He can be reached at agordon@hds.harvard.edu. At age 18 I spent a year in Israel studying at a pre-college yeshiva program. I was quite impressionable and eager to shape the early stages of my adulthood in an institution committed entirely…
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