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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
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
Feb 2010
Howard Lichtman is an Alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program in Toronto. Howard is President of The Lightning Group, which provides two primary services: "Paths to New Revenue" strategies and "Virtual Chief Marketing Officer" services. The number of volunteer organizations that Howard has worked for and with are numerous. He is currently President of The Harold Green Jewish Theatre. Howard can be reached at howard@lightning-group.com Three years ago we formed
Feb 2010
Jodi Mansbach is an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program. When she is not volunteering, Jodi is a wife, mother and now student. Leaving the working world after 18 years, she is working for her Master’s in urban planning at Georgia Tech. She can be reached at jodi.mansbach@gmail.com Endless meetings. Excessive email. Too much time away from the family. I was reaching leadership burn out, something I’m sure readers of
Feb 2010
Rachel Nussbaum is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumna and the Rabbi and Executive Director of the Kavana Cooperative in Seattle (www.kavana.org). She can be reached at rabbi@kavana.org. I am the oldest of five children, and since recently giving birth to baby number two of my own I’ve been marveling at my parents’ child-rearing skills. I’m particularly struck by the fact that having reached adulthood, my brothers and I have taken
Feb 2010
Shoshana Boyd Gelfand is Executive Director of the Movement for Reform Judaism in the UK and an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 1). Shoshana can be reached at: shoshana123@hotmail.com. “Are all of your friends so interesting?” This question emerged from the mouth of one of the British university students who I recently took on a leadership trip to NYC. The purpose of bringing these 10 young people
Jan 2010
Joshua Cypess is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumnus and a graduate student at Brandeis University. He can be reached at jcypess@yahoo.com. In August 2008, I embarked on a leap of faith in my career and bid a (temporary) farewell to my life as a pulpit rabbi to start a doctoral program in Jewish Studies and Sociology at Brandeis. I am no stranger to academia, so the transition was mostly smooth.
Jan 2010
Wendy Amsellum is a teacher at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, and she directs the Dr. Beth Samuels Drisha High School Programs. She is completing a PhD in Rabbinic Literature at NYU and is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program. Wendy can be reached at: wamsellem@yahoo.com. Towards the beginning of this week’s parsha, parshat B’shalach, Pharoh is told that the people of Israel had fled: ויהפך לבב
Jan 2010
Aaron J. Hahn Trapper is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumnus and the Co-Executive Director and Founder or Abraham’s Vision , a conflict transformation organization working with Jews, Muslims, Israelis, and Palestinians. He is an Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he is the founding director of the school’s new Jewish Studies and Social Justice program. He can be reached at aaron@abrahamsvision.org “The Muslims are
Jan 2010
Julie Potiker is a Wexner Heritage alumna. Julie is currently president of the San Diego Jewish Community Center. She can be reached at Julie@potiker.com Recently I had the opportunity to really reflect on what the Wexner Heritage education has meant to me. I was fortunate to be having a very substantive conversation with Harold Kushner when he all of a sudden asked, "So, what did you do with it?" I
Jan 2010
Rabbi David Rosen is a Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumnus and the founding Executive Director of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps - www.avodah.net. He can be reached at davidrosenn@gmail.com Ever since I began to work in the field of Jewish service programs, I’ve been encouraging the establishment of my own competition. I’ve spent countless hours advising people who are thinking of starting new service ventures. I’ve asked my staff to turn