The Latest From The Foundation

Reposted with thanks to the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs  “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” The all-too-familiar opening of Charles Dickens’ nineteenth-century classic A Tale of Two Cities could not have better encapsulated the current state of the Jewish world. As the international community is rocked by political and economic turbulence, the Jewish People—an international people if ever there was one—has not been

If we are awake to our heritage and history, we must at least consider that the recent confluence of events involving our holiest site – The Temple Mount — and the tensions between different groupings of Jews in Israel and between Israeli and Diaspora Jewry are hardly “coincidental.”  Often, near Tisha B’Av, the Creator presents us with a spur to review our priorities and learn deeply our texts, which provide

Reposted with thanks to Sh’ma Now and The Forward In the abstract, love is about as good as it gets. Yet Jewish wisdom seems to know just how hard it is to love, how inclined we are to move in the opposite direction. In the book of Leviticus, we learn: “You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart.” (19:17) The Torah seems to understand that each of us will

Reposted with thanks to Times of israel  Although the burkini affair was definitely put to rest by France’s highest administrative court, it left many Americans wondering about the level of islamophobia in France. Understandably, the media coverage relied heavily on the voices of influential French Muslim activists who have been at the forefront of the fight against islamophobia. The message of these activists has been especially damaging to the French

I was privileged to spend five days last week in Snowmass, CO with the new Wexner Heritage Program classes — Philadelphia 16, New York 16 and New York RSJ 16 — the Wexner team and an amazing group of teachers.  We arrived in Colorado excited and a bit nervous at the prospect of meeting so many new people.  Too short a time later, we left having made deep connections with dozens of

Reposted with thanks to The Jim Joseph Foundation’s blog.  During the summer of 2014, a recent graduate of our high school experienced one of the preeminent rites of passage of those pre-college months — learning the identity of his soon-to-be-roommate.  The excitement of the moment wore off quickly, however, as our graduate looked up his roommate on Facebook and found that his page was full of virulent anti-Israel rhetoric.  One might

Some of the Montreal Wexner Heritage alumni recently brought Rabbi Jonathan Sacks to town for several teaching engagements that were shared with the greater Jewish community.  Additionally, we were fortunate enough to get to study in an intimate group with him over breakfast. Rabbi Sacks shared with us a very empowering message that he had learned as a child from his father.  He would ask many questions about Judaism, and

Last week, the Portland Heritage Class, which graduated in 1997, got together as a group for the first time in about 15 years. We have all seen each other informally and at various communal events, even board meetings over the years, but this was the first time we gathered intentionally as Wexner alumni to think about the future of the Portland Jewish community. We also reached out to Graduate Fellowship

I’ve heard that for those who come to use the mikveh (ritual bath) with ImmerseNYC and other community mikvaot across the country, one of the most powerful aspects is the embodied experience of feeling fully accepted and enveloped in the warm water. Our lay-led planning team for Water and Wine, ImmerseNYC’s launch event, attempted to replicate that experience for attendees.  We wanted to send the message that through various life