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Dispatches from the network and updates from the Foundation.
Shira Reifman, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program, is the Director of Operations for Lamdeni Educational Services, an organization dedicated to helping North American olim integrate into the Israeli educational system, and a fund raising consultant to several non-profit organizations. She lives in Yad Binyamin with her husband and four daughters. She can be reached at shirareifman@gmail.com. Parashat Mishpatim opens with the laws of the Eved Ivri, a
Mark Charendoff is the President of The Jewish Funders Network, an international organization dedicated to advancing the quality and growth of philanthropy rooted in Jewish values. JFN’s members include independent philanthropists, foundation trustees and foundation professionals. JFN is not a grant-making institution, but seeks instead to provide funders with the means to enhance their intellectual capital, energize their giving, and form powerful new collaborations. www.jfunders.org. Mark can be reached at
Jan 2008
Harry Nelson, a Wexner Heritage alumnus from Los Angeles, is an attorney specializing in healthcare law. He co-chaired the strategic planning team for LimmudLA (www.limmudla.org), which is taking place February 15-18, 2008 in Costa Mesa, California. He can be reached at harrynelsonltd@hotmail.com. Parshat Beshalach explodes with the disquietude of Israel. Elation over leaving Egypt dissipates in the face of the terror of Pharaoh’s pursuing army. Moses, the people ask, why
Jan 2008
Harry Nelson, a Wexner Heritage alumnus from Los Angeles, is an attorney specializing in healthcare law. He co-chaired the strategic planning team for LimmudLA (www.limmudla.org), which is taking place February 15-18, 2008 in Costa Mesa, California. He can be reached at harrynelsonltd@hotmail.com. Parshat Beshalach explodes with the disquietude of Israel. Elation over leaving Egypt dissipates in the face of the terror of Pharaoh’s pursuing army. Moses, the people ask, why
Jan 2008
Avi Narrow-Tilonsky is a member of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Class XX. He is a first year student at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and also studying Public Administration at Baruch College. Avi can be reached at avint2@gmail.com. A youth group counselor once wrote in my yearbook “It is special kids like you that keep me coming back.” Among the hundreds of “KIT, have an awesome
Lisa Mandel, a Wexner Heritage alumna from Los Angeles, is an attorney who is currently the Child and Welfare Policy Deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. The following are her reflections from a recent trip to Israel on a child welfare mission with the LA Tel-Aviv Partnership. She can be reached at lmandel@bos.lacounty.gov. In my first forty-six years, I had never been to Israel. In the last year
Michelle Kleinert, a Wexner Heritage alumna from Los Angeles,. “We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service relationship to humanity.” --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King’s quote could have been written with Hollywood in mind. Even with the best of intentions we get caught up in our own insular world.
Geoffrey Lewis, an alumnus of the Wexner Heritage Program from Boston, is an attorney; he is active in numerous Jewish communal organizations and is involved in a variety of business activities in Israel. He can be reached at GHLewis@plgt.com Vayechi, translated “and he lived,” paradoxically records the last years and death of the Patriarch Jacob. Having lived in Egypt for 17 years, Jacob, at the end of his life, calls
Elisa Spungen Bildner is an alumna of Wexner Heritage from MetroWest. She is a member of the Wexner Heritage Alumni Council and she and her husband Rob, also a Wexner Heritage alumnus, are founders of the Foundation for Jewish Camping. Elisa was one of ten women honored by Jewish Women International in Washington, DC last week. Tucked away in the chaos that is my closet, in a white felt jewelry
Dec 2007
Naomi Katz-Lulav is Senior Deputy to the State Attorney in the Israeli Ministry of Justice, and an alumna of the Wexner Israel Fellowship Program. She is a participant in the Kolot program, aimed at bringing religious and non-religious Israelis together, and has given lectures abroad regarding Israel-Diaspora connections and the Jewish Identity of the Jewish state. She is currently on her first maternity leave, at home with her seven-month old son, Elisha