The Latest From The Foundation

“Shoftim v’shortrim titen lecha” “And you shall appoint judges and guards for yourselves throughout the Land and they shall judge the Nation with justice.” We are not simply to appoint judges but rather to appoint judges FOR OURSELVES.  The Kli Yakar commentator suggests we are commanded to draw ourselves to introspection and self evaluation.  Our sages understand the use of this reflexive text as if it said “before you ensure

Rabbi Jill Jacobs is the Rabbi-in-Residence of the Jewish Funds for Justice and the author of There Shall be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law and Tradition (Jewish Lights 2009) and is an alum of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program (Class 11).  She can be reached at jjacobs@jewishjustice.org. The following is an excerpt from Rabbi Jacobs’ book: There Shall be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice through Jewish Law

Daniel Perla is a former stock analyst and money manager currently studying in the beit midrash program at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He is President of The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, and he can be reached at danperla@gmail.com In preparation for last week’s fast day in commemoration of Shiva Asar B’Tamuz (the 17th of Tamuz), I re-read the Talmudic story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza (Gittin, Chapter 5). A certain man

Josh Fine is a member of the Wexner Heritage Program in Denver. He is a co-founder of Minyan Na’aleh, a grassroots, independent minyan, and is Vice President & General Counsel of Focus Property Group, a Denver-based commercial real estate development company. He can be reached at jfine1024@yahoo.com. Reading Parashat Beha’alotkha, I couldn’t help doing a double take. Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of Numbers describe a God miraculously present in

Mara Benjamin, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 10), received her Ph.D. in modern Jewish thought from Stanford University.  She is Assistant Professor of Religion at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.  Her first book, Rosenzweig’s Bible: Reinventing Scripture for Jewish Modernity, was published in March by Cambridge University Press.  She lives with her partner and daughter in St. Paul, Minnesota and can be reached at mbenj@stolaf.edu.

Rabbi Laura Sheinkopf, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 9), is a graduate of Hebrew Union College and Columbia University. Raised and educated in Massachusetts, she now lives in Houston, she is a writer, a teacher and the mother of two. She can be reached at rabbilms@yahoo.com In this week’s Torah portion, we read about “the Shabbat of the land,” otherwise known as Shmitah, when the Torah

Lisa Grushcow, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 12), serves as Associate Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City. She was ordained by HUC-JIR and received her doctorate from Oxford University. She can be reached at rabbigrushcow@crsnyc.org  My annual seder table question is simple but good. “Here’s what I want you to bring,” I tell my guests in advance. “Bring something that represents freedom to

Sarah Gershman, an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program (Class 9), is a presentation skills trainer (greenroomspeakers.com) and the author of a blog: sarahgershman.blogspot.com She can be reached at sarah.gershman@gmail.com What can Tazria-Metzora teach us about how to be a better speaker? In this week’s parasha, we learn about the mysterious skin condition called tsaarat. Often mistranslated as “leprosy,” tsaarat is traditionally understood as a physical manifestation of a

1960 – Montreal My father is carrying heavy, worn boxes of dishes, pots, pans and silverware back and forth from some deep back room closet in our flat. Both of my grandmothers and my mother are battling for their territory in the kitchen. An enormous silver thing gets clamped onto the counter top that morphs fish into gefilte fish in one grind. “Don’t get near it, you’ll hurt yourself!” Not

Dr. Erica Brown is the Director for Adult Education at The Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning and the Scholar-in-Residence for The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. She is the author of the book, Inspired Leadership: A Jewish Perspective and Jewish Boredom (forthcoming) and co-author of The Case for Jewish Peoplehood. She can be reached at ebrown@pjll.org Fire is both attractive and repellent, mesmerizing and useful, an instrument of danger