By Dan Segal For decades, the relationship between the Jewish communities in Israel and North America has been of critical importance. In the past few years, however, that relationship has seriously deteriorated; there may no longer exist consensus about even fundamental principles. Symptoms of the depth of the divide range from rabbis in America being so fearful of conflict that they refrain from speaking about Israel from the pulpit to the propensity of many college-aged students, viewing the strife, intentionally distancing themselves completely from any concerns about Israel. If not aggressively addressed, the relationship crisis risks reaching a point of no return. In spring 2016, a group of eleven North American and Israeli Wexner alumni - part of the first Wexner Summit ("Stronger … [Read more...]
Introducing the Inaugural Cohort of the Wexner Field Fellowship
The Wexner Foundation has announced the inaugural cohort of the newly-expanded Wexner Field Fellowship. Built on the success of the pilot Wexner Field Fellowship, incubated within the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, the program was developed in partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation. Fifteen outstanding professionals were selected through a highly-competitive process for this three-year intensive program. Utilizing the cohort-based learning that is the hallmark of Wexner Foundation programs, Field Fellows will be exposed to different approaches to leadership and tools for addressing pressing issues in the Jewish community, while being integrated into The Wexner Foundation’s vast network of professional and volunteer leaders in North America and Israel, including the ten outstanding professionals … [Read more...]
More Than Managing: The Wexner Foundation’s First Book
By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman It is actually possible not just to be part of history but to make history happen. That, indeed, is the Jewish mandate in a nutshell (“partners with God in creation,” tikkun olam, and so forth); and if you are reading this article, you surely take that mandate seriously. Why, I ask myself, do I insist on remaining so deeply involved in the Wexner vision, if not because that vision is the insistence on making history happen. I mean that claim with all due seriousness. What Les Wexner gave us some thirty years ago was more than a Jewish education for adults, more than leadership training and more than just a network of friends and a life-changing experience personally. He offered a vision of a better community, a better country, a better world and a chance to matter … [Read more...]
Applications Open: Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program
The Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program is a unique opportunity for leadership growth for students entering, or in their first year of, graduate programs designed to train them to become Jewish professional leaders (rabbis, cantors, educators, academics, administrators, etc.). In addition to financial assistance for graduate study, Fellows join a diverse professional community that encourages learning about one’s self as a leader though interactions with others with different points of view. Throughout the four-year leadership program, Fellows engage with expert faculty members in the field of leadership education and expert scholars in Jewish studies. The extensive Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program alumni network then serves as a professional community throughout … [Read more...]
Announcing the Wexner Field Fellowship
Applications are now open for the Wexner Field Fellowship, a leadership learning opportunity for high-potential full-time Jewish communal professionals to deepen their leadership skills and develop a rich network of colleagues. Up to 15 exceptional professionals will be selected for a three-year program focused on enriching their ability to exercise leadership as Jewish professionals. Wexner Field Fellows are matched one-on-one with an executive coach, as well as a Jewish educator, to expand their leadership skills and Jewish knowledge respectively, based on their individual needs. Additionally, Wexner Field Fellows will be eligible to receive financial reimbursement towards individualized professional development. Fellows join a diverse professional community that encourages learning about one’s … [Read more...]
Announcing the Expansion of the Wexner Field Fellowship: Investing in Our Talent Across the Jewish Communal Sector
By Ruthie Warshenbrot The Wexner Foundation has always focused on developing talented leaders. In the last few years we have expanded our reach, launching Wexner Senior Leaders, for Israel’s most influential senior leaders in the public sector, and Wexner Summits: the Network in Action, allowing our alumni from all programs to work together to tackle major problems in the Jewish world. We have also piloted an important program to support emerging young professionals working in Jewish organizations and are now proud to announce the launch of the expanded Wexner Field Fellowship, a full-fledged program to develop Jewish professional leaders. We will be accepting applications in July 2016 for our first cohort of 12 - 15 Field Fellows, whose first Institute will be in March 2017. The need for the … [Read more...]
Wexner Foundation announces Staff Changes
As 2016 begins, the Wexner Foundation, has announced several staff transitions and changes: Cindy Chazan, Vice President of the Foundation, has transitioned to the reduced-time position of Senior Advisor and Or Mars and Rabbi Jay Moses have been promoted as Vice Presidents of The Wexner Foundation. Or and Jay have each been associated with the Foundation for many years, starting with their graduate school years as Wexner Graduate Fellows. Most recently, Mr. Mars served as Director of the Graduate Fellowship and Rabbi Moses as the Director of the Wexner Heritage Program. They will continue their work with these successful programs and expand their responsibilities. Moses and Mars will be co-leading a series of “Wexner Summits,” a new initiative which will bring together Wexner alumni for … [Read more...]
Sinai in Columbus
By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, Ph.D. That’s exactly how it felt for those of us who gathered to revisit 30 spectacular years of the Wexner Foundation, my vote for the experiment with the greatest vision and long-term promise for 21st-century Jewry. The brain child of Leslie Wexner in Columbus, the Foundation has quietly but systematically been establishing a coalition of partners who can change the world: a generation of young Israelis brought to Harvard to learn leadership and business entrepreneurship; a cadre of young adults about to enter careers in Jewish organizational leadership; and a massive cohort of Jewish men and women in every major city in North America, who have been given the Jewish education they always wanted paired with vision to lead the communities that they serve. Just two … [Read more...]