New LA Grants Expand Five Innovative Programs

The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (The Foundation) has awarded a total of slightly more than $1 million in Cutting Edge Grants to five nonprofit organizations whose programs seek to address social issues, strengthen Jewish identity and add vibrancy to local Jewish life. Programs receiving funding span arts and culture festivals for young, unaffiliated Jews; free children’s books with Jewish themes for families with youngsters; an independent living program for young adults with special needs; and a community-wide effort to address the issue of hunger in Los Angeles. Recipients include the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’s Fed Up with Hunger/Netiya program, $250,000; Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, which provides funding for artists to create their work and... Continue Reading

Visionary Jewish Leaders Selected to be Mandel Jerusalem Fellows

The Mandel Leadership Institute is pleased to announce the 28th class of Mandel Jerusalem Fellows (MJF), 2010-2011: Rabbi Daniel Greyber – Executive Director of Camp Ramah California, Los Angeles. Dr. Daniel Moses – Director of Delegation of Leaders program, Seeds of Peace, Jerusalem and Maine. Tanya Podolnaya – Head of the Informal Education Center and Deputy Director for Strategic Planning at the Education Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel, St. Petersburg. Ruthie Rotenberg – Executive Director of LimmudLA, Los Angeles. Rabbi Ofer Sabbath-Beit Halachmi – Rabbi and Executive Director of the Tzur Hadassh Congregation; Co-founder, ‘Aspaklaria Center’, Jerusalem. Madel also congratulates the graduating MJF Fellows on the completion of their individual projects: Rabbi... Continue Reading

Pursue: A Jewish Social Justice Partnership

American Jewish World Service (AJWS), and AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, a domestic year-long service program for Jewish young adults, have announced a new name and website for their partnership. Their 4-year-old joint venture for engaging Jews in their 20s and 30s in social justice issues will now be know as “Pursue: Action for a Just World – A project of American Jewish World Service and AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps.” AJWS and AVODAH began their partnership in 2006 with support from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Family Foundation with the goal of recruiting young Jews, including alumni of their respective programs, to build a community around civic engagement and activism that integrates their Jewish and social justice values. Over the... Continue Reading

Jewish Federations Names New Senior Exec

The Jewish Federations of North America announced today the appointment of Paul M. Kane as senior advisor to the President and CEO of the organization. In this newly created position, Paul will drive philanthropic strategic planning for the organization, build a vision for global fundraising achievement and program development, strengthen relationships with Jewish Federation partners and stakeholders, and lead JFNA’s Financial Resource Development department. He will work with the National Campaign Chair, Michael Lebovitz, and with Jerry Silverman to develop the FRD strategy for JFNA and work closely with Federation professionals and volunteers across the movement to strengthen their fundraising capacity. Paul is a widely known Jewish communal professional, who has enjoyed a distinguished 35-year... Continue Reading

Jim Joseph Announces $33m. to Train Educators

As part of a continued concentrated effort to increase the number of credentialed future Jewish educators and to improve the quality of professional preparation and Jewish education they receive, the Jim Joseph Foundation (JJF) has announced that $33 million in grants have been awarded to the three leading training institutions for Jewish educators. With these grants, JJF has now gifted a total of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to Jewish education and Jewish youth causes since it was established in 2006 as a private foundation. The $33 million in grants JJF awarded will support The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC), and Yeshiva University (YU). JJF gave the three institutions an initial $12 million of this funding in September 2009, at... Continue Reading

Jim Joseph Funds New Stanford Doctoral Program

Stanford University Receives $12 million to Establish New Concentration and Professorship Committed to the creation of a new generation of scholars in Jewish education, the Jim Joseph Foundation has announced a $12 million grant, awarded to Stanford University’s School of Education (SUSE) to create a doctoral Concentration in Education and Jewish Studies. A key component of the new concentration is the establishment of an endowed Jim Joseph Professorship in Education and Jewish Studies. The gift is the largest in the history of Stanford’s School of Education. Stanford previously offered a concentration in Jewish education from 1992 – 2002, establishing a track record for preparing scholars of Jewish education at the doctoral level. By using the JJF grant to renew its concentration, Stanford... Continue Reading

Premiering 2011: The Jerusalem Season of Culture

An annual new summer season of culture will take place in Jerusalem beginning in 2011. This new season will focus on supporting arts and culture with a cutting edge, contemporary feel by integrating existing art, introducing new programs and facilitating collaborations among local and international artists, arts organizations and venues across the city, while helping to establish the city as a global center of creativity. Itay Mautner, the season’s artistic director, said, “Jerusalem’s social, ethnic and religious diversity has fueled the imagination of generations of artists. We are here to encourage this voice to thrive and flourish and to make the arts and culture accessible to all in Jerusalem.” Naomi Bloch Fortis, the season’s senior strategic advisor, added, “Today Jerusalem is home... Continue Reading

Reinharz to Head Mandel Foundation

Once he steps down as president of Brandeis, Jehuda Reinharz will become president of the Mandel Foundation, an internationally recognized philanthropy that provides leadership to non-profits in the United States and Israel. Morton L. Mandel, foundation chairman and chief executive officer, made the announcement Wednesday at a meeting of the foundation’s Board of Trustees in Cleveland, Ohio. Mandel, who will continue to lead the foundation, said Reinharz is the first person to be named to the new position of president and will be his eventual successor and CEO. … Reinharz will remain in office until a new president is selected and arrives on campus, or as late as June 30, 2011. Reinharz will also return to The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis. The Mandel Foundation... Continue Reading

Putting Jewish Women on the Map

From Emma Lazarus’ poem engraved on the Statue of Liberty, to the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, to Barbra Streisand’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – Jewish women’s history is written on the streets of North America. Just in time for Women’s History Month, the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA) has created On the Map, a new way to collect and explore Jewish women’s history using the powerful combination of crowdsourcing and Google Maps. There is a human impulse to connect with history in a physical way, one that compels us to build monuments that mark the place of historically significant stories. Traditionally, these have been the stories of “great men.” Many important stories – women’s stories – go unheralded. The Jewish Women’s Archive... Continue Reading

Expanded Survey of New Jewish Initiatives Launched

2010 Survey of New Jewish Initiatives Focuses on Startup Leaders, Expands to Europe Jumpstart, The Natan Fund, and The Samuel Bronfman Foundation announced the launch of the 2010 Survey of New Jewish Initiatives. The survey builds on the successes of the ground-breaking partnership that produced the 2008 Survey of New Jewish Organizations and The Innovation Ecosystem: Emergence of a New Jewish Landscape. This year, it will include a special focus on the leaders of Jewish startups. Also, for the first time, the survey will be conducted in Canada and Europe as well as the United States. “New initiatives, whether they are independent startups or intrepreneurial ventures at established institutions, are the building blocks for 21st-century Judaism,” said Shawn Landres, co-founder and CEO... Continue Reading

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