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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
David Arnow, a Wexner Heritage alum from New York, recently co-edited My People’s Passover Haggadah (Jewish Lights, 2008) with Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman. He is the author of Creating Lively Passover Seders: A Sourcebook of Engaging Tales, Texts & Activities (Jewish Lights, 2004). He can be reached at darnow@aol.com The notion that an “authentic” Passover Seder does not necessarily require a precise recitation of an unchanging text year after year
Apr 2008
Asher Lopatin, an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, is the rabbi of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation. He has rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik and from Yeshiva University and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army with the rank of Second Lieutenant after serving over two years in the Army reserves. He can be reached at rabbi@asbi.org. My wife Rachel always laughs when I complain about my six-week
Shifra Bronznick is the founder and president of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community (www.advancingwomen.org), and Didi Goldenhar serves as the senior program director. Marty Linsky, a frequent faculty member for the Wexner Foundation, teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School and is co-founder and principal of the consultancy, Cambridge Leadership Associates (www.cambridge-leadership.com) They have co-authored the newly-released "Leveling the Playing Field: Advancing Women in Jewish Organizational Life". To reach them,
Nadine Greenfield, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is Associate Director of the American Jewish Committee’s Washington, DC Chapter. She can be reached at nadinegreenfield@yahoo.com Thanks to the Wexner Foundation, we all know what it means to “network”—to be able to pick up the phone/keyboard and call on someone for guidance, expertise or just more information. We also have had the opportunity to deepen our understanding of Jewish
Mar 2008
Or Mars is an alumnus and Director of the Graduate Fellowship Program. He can be reached at omars@wexner.net. The first word of this week’s parasha, Vayikra, asks from us to explore a different mode of interpreting Torah. It is a mode that taps into our aesthetic appreciation before we are allowed to delve into our intellectual capacity. The opening line begins, “Vayikra el Moshe vayidaber Adonai eilav.” (God called to
Jessica Marglin is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar. She is studying for a PhD in Judaic Studies at Princeton University. Jessica can be reached at jmarglin@princeton.edu. This past summer, I spent two months in Morocco studying Arabic. The students lived in close quarters with our Moroccan teachers and I delighted at the opportunity to spend so much time speaking Arabic. My desire to practice Arabic constantly, combined with my limited
Penina Grossberg, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, lives in Teaneck, NJ and mentors new teachers. She can be reached at peninag@optonline.net As we enter the month of Adar II some of us may be preparing masks and costumes in anticipation of Purim. Even though Purim is a masquerade holiday, it also has a message about unmasking ourselves. The same is true of this week’s Torah readings. While
Joe Stone, a Boston alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program, is a Financial Planner and on the executive board of the New England Region of the Jewish National Fund and the American Liver Foundation. He can be reached at joe@stonefinancialgroup.net. For the past 27 years a group of friends have taken a 10-day bicycle trip all around the US and Europe. This past year several of us decided to make
Rabbi Seth Goren, an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is a project consultant with Hillel's Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Learning in Washington, DC. He can be reached at swgoren@gmail.com. In at least one regard, Aaron had it easy: he knew exactly what to wear to work every day. The details of Aaron's wardrobe were very specific: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a fringed tunic, a headdress, and
Feb 2008
Barbara Lerner Spectre is the Founding Director of Paideia, The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden. She was formerly on the faculty of the Hartman Institute of Advanced Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and is the author of “A Theology of Doubt” (Hebrew) and, together with Noam Zion, the two-volume “A Different Light: The Hannukah Book of Celebration.” In 2007, she received the Max M. Fisher Prize for Jewish Education