Since Jewish philanthropist and retail mogul Les Wexner’s congressional deposition last week regarding his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, his eponymous foundation has started holding “only listening” Zoom calls with the past participants of its various fellowships, the president of the foundation, Rabbi Elka Abrahamson, told its alumni network yesterday, in a letter that was shared with eJewishPhilanthropy.

In the letter, which cited eJP’s reporting on the dearth of public debate about Wexner’s ties to Epstein, Abrahamson told the alumni that the organization was actively facilitating discussions about the issue, believing that the foundation needed to “place the responsibility for finding solutions onto the stakeholders — to empower a community.” 

“We are refraining from issuing statements for now so we can listen more closely. While not public, we are engaging in a robust network-wide discussion, and we hope you will choose to be a part of it,” she wrote. “When our listening calls are completed, we will collect the information and, using outside advisors, consolidate key learnings and communicate back to you. We are sincere in this effort and want to include as many of you as possible in this process.”

While the foundation shared its letter to alumni with eJP, it added that it would not be commenting further on the matter at this time. 

While the connections between Wexner and Epstein have been known for decades, the release of millions of documents connected to Epstein — some of which mention Wexner, who employed him as a financial adviser — has renewed scrutiny of their relationship, including by some current and former Wexner fellows. Wexner cut ties with Epstein in the mid-2000s, when he was first indicted for having sex with a minor and as Wexner accused Epstein of stealing millions from him. 

Since then, and particularly after Epstein was indicted for sex trafficking in 2018, Wexner has regularly denied knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes, insisting that his relationship with him was purely professional and that he never participated in his financial adviser’s unsavory activities. Wexner did the same last week during his congressional deposition — a full five hours of which were released to the public, including a “hot mic” moment in which Wexner’s attorney forcefully told the nearly-nonagenarian client to keep his answers to less than five words.  

For decades, the Wexner Foundation’s fellowships have been one of the most prominent and popular professional development programs available for Jewish nonprofit workers and lay leaders. In addition, its Israel Fellowship helped train hundreds of Israeli civil servants and public figures — from high school principals to IDF generals — until the master’s degree program ended in 2023. The closure came after, first, parts of the Israeli government barred employees from participating and then after the foundation cut ties with Harvard University, which administered the academic program. In total, there are some 4,000 alumni of Wexner’s various fellowships.

Several alumni have told eJP that they believe Wexner’s account and thus have no qualms with participating in his foundation’s programs. Others have expressed varying degrees of misgivings and concerns about the matter, believing that even if Wexner was unaware of Epstein’s activities, he nevertheless enabled them by employing Epstein. A smaller number are demanding a full, deep and no-holds-barred public reckoning on the matter, with an even smaller number cutting ties with the foundation and removing the fellowship from their resumés.Abrahamson noted that the discussions so far are being opened to North American alumni, first from its professional programs and then its volunteer leaders. Its Israeli alumni — who are bracing for the possibility of another war with Iran — are, for now, otherwise occupied. “We will pursue further opportunities to hear from Israeli alumni once the understandable focus on grave and immediate security threats has passed. And we pray they remain safe and secure,” she said.