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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Dec 2008
From Vayeshev to HaTikvah They call me Anatol. In prison I do lie. My little window looks out on the Russian sky. I've been arrested here for crimes they have not named. But all my people know the charge will be a frame. What do these lyrics from the song “Leaving Mother Russia” by Safam have to do with this week’s Parshah? How do the mournful laments of Anatol,
Leslie Ginsparg, a Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumnus (Class 16), is a Professor of Jewish History at Touro College. She can be reached at Ginsparg@comcast.net When I announced to family and friends that I was going to Germany as part of a Germany Close Up/American Jewish Committee student trip, I kept hearing the same response: don’t spend any money there. The reasoning behind and the implication of that imperative was obvious.
Dec 2008
Yehuda Kurtzer is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 15). He is Visiting Professor of Jewish Communal Innovation at Brandeis University, and a co-coordinator of the Independent Minyan Conference. Yehuda can be reached at kurtzer@gmail.com The juxtaposition of Noah and Abraham as adjoining narratives in the Torah makes for a clear study in contrasts. Both represent paradigms of obedience: Noah acts as the sole obedient listener to
Ariel Beery is the founder and co-director of PresenTense (www.presentense.org), an organization dedicated to fostering innovation and solving problems facing the Jewish People and the World through educating individuals and organizations with cutting-edge tools and business practices. He can be reached at arielbeery@presentense.org As much of the United States basks in the afterglow of a historic election campaign, and as Israel prepares for its own election in only a few
Jonathan Schreiber is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program. He can be reached at jonathanschreiber@sbcglobal.net I must be part zealot and part masochist. A few months ago, I was listening to a phone message telling me our daughter had just been accepted to one of the most difficult magnet schools to gain admittance to in the Los Angeles Unified School District – and we turned it down.. When
Laura Lauder is a Wexner Heritage alumna from San Francisco. She would be delighted to receive comments and questions, and/or to assist any Wexner alumni regarding their personal strategic philanthropy. She can be reached at: Laura@Lauderpartners.com Writer’s Note: The piece below is an excerpt from a 12-page Retrospective with charts and photographs that can be seen in its entirety at:http://www.lauderfoundation.org Realizing the need for a philanthropic self-evaluation Our family created
Pam Medjuck Stein, an alumna of the Wexner Heritage Program from Toronto, is a lawyer by training and artist by habit. She chairs the Lola Stein Institute, edits Leadership in Education, the Lola Stein Journal and serves on the Canadian Jewish News Editorial Advisory Board. She can be reached at pamelams@mac.com. Each generation faces a journey to transmit values to its children. Parashat Lech Lecha deals with journey, guidance and
Oct 2008
Justus Baird, an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is the Director of the Center for Multifaith Education at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York and the Rabbi of Congregation Shaarey Hayam in Barnegat, NJ. He can be reached at jnb@auburnsem.org Someday I hope to discover why the Tower of Babel captivates me so much. More than the story of Noah and his ark, these nine verses from Genesis
Oct 2008
Rabbi Carl M. Perkins, an alumnus of the first class of Wexner Graduate Fellows, is spiritual leader of Temple Aliyah in Needham, MA and an instructor in rabbinics at the Hebrew College Rabbinical School. He can be reached at rabbiperkins613@yahoo.com “In the beginning....” That’s where it all begins. One year ago, our congregation gathered with a sofer (scribe) to begin writing a sefer torah (Torah scroll). I had never experienced
Oct 2008
Rachel Alexander, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is Director of Development at Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County and High School of Long Island. Although she works in Long Island, she proudly resides in New York City in her temporary shelter. She can be reached at ralexand@aol.com In 1999 I moved to New York after spending the year at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. I had