The Latest From The Foundation

Nearly two years ago I began research for the Jewish Funders NetworkGreenbook on Jewish Day School Financial Sustainability and Affordability.  The publication, sponsored by the AVI CHAI Foundation, offers a landscape study of initiatives designed to buttress the financial picture of day schools.  Conveniently, the Greenbook was published in January, concurrent with my beginning work at UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Education.  Since then it has

More than 150 Jewish investors gathered in San Francisco for a Shabbat discussion at the end of SOCAP, an annual conference on “impact investing.” Wexner alums besides myself, the event organizer, included Don Abramson (WHA, SF2), David Arfin (WHA, SF3), Vanessa Bartram (WHA, Miami 11), Matt Gershuny (WHP, SF 14), Estee Solomon Gray (WHA, SF3), Doug Mandell (WHP, SF 14), Toby Rubin (WHA, SF2), Aviva Sufian (WGF, Class 14), Wendy

I founded ACHOT, an innovative B’nai Mitzvah program for mothers and daughters, as my daughter’s upcoming Bat Mitzvah year sparked my desire to celebrate with her the vital role of Jewish women in community life. I am actively engaged with my synagogue and other Jewish institutions that play a variety of roles in community life but found that they offered no programs that focused on the relationship between women and

This year I’m teaching an informal elective class for 7th-12th graders called “Jews Who Changed the World”.  The class is six weeks long, and I’d like to go over one personality each class.  I’m interested in not only “teaching history” but also raising the question: How do we think the “Jewishness” of prominent Jewish individuals influenced their achievement?  As such, I’m inclined not to focus on Jews who rocked the

The Wexner Foundation is piloting a way for our alumni, members and fellows to meet, learn, discuss and refresh their leadership toolbox. “36 Minutes LIVE: The Elul Series”, which consists of six stand-alone videoconferences during the month of Elul, already has RSVPs approaching 100 people per session. Last week, Member of Knesset Ruth Calderon challenged participants to go beyond “rote forgiveness” through an exploration of a Talmudic story about Rav

  The Wexner Foundation is proud to present Ruth Calderon as part of the “36 Minutes LIVE – The Elul Series” which was recorded August 28, 2014.

I wanted to let the Wexner Network know about a fortuitous overlap of events. For those planning to attend the General Assembly this year in Washington, D.C., taking place November 9 – 11, you will be in town during National Education Week. I am involved in National Education Week through some pro bono work I do trying to close the achievement gap,  and know many in the Wexner Network also

For centuries, Jews have turned to the Mourner’s Kaddish upon experiencing loss.  For three years, I co-edited an anthology, Kaddish: Women’s Voices, that explores what the recitation of Kaddish means specifically to women.   I am delighted to share a bit about this special project. In Kaddish: Women’s Voices, women from around the world share their relationships with the family members they lost, how they struggled to balance the competing

Throughout my life, I have listened to the stories my grandmother has shared of her Jewish life in New York City growing up in the 1930s. I have listened to the tales my mother has told about growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950s. I’ve reflected on how their experiences were similar to and different from my own Jewish life growing up on Long Island in the 1990s. Three generations

It was a snowy day in February, but that did not deter forty Jewish communal professionals and rabbis from coming together for a retreat sponsored by The Wexner Graduate Fellowship Alumni Collaboration Grants created in partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation. In Philadelphia, a team of Wexner Graduate Fellowship alumni convened a day of learning and sharing of professional expertise stretching across denominational lines and loyalties. When the call for Wexner