Two years ago, the Wexner Heritage Foundation chose San Francisco as the place to test drive a new education program. For the first time, the foundation invited Jewish professionals working in Jewish institutions to participate in the two-year program.
This year, many of those professionals are returning to the seminars for an optional third year.
“I saw it as part of my professional development and a wonderful opportunity to form alliances,” said participant Sandy Phillips Britt, executive director of the American Committee for Shaare Zedek’s San Francisco office. “I think it does a lot to inspire you to continue in your work.”
The program, which started in 1985, is the brainchild of Leslie Wexner, chairman of the board of the Limited Inc. clothing chain. Jewish leaders are chosen for a free two-year program that teaches them about current issues and the history of Judaism. Held each year in selected U.S. cities, the program brings in top Jewish educators in the world for biweekly seminars.
In the past, fellowships had been given only to Jews working outside the Jewish community.
The third year is optional and paid for by the participant. Eight of the 20 San Francisco students in the pilot program for Jewish-community professionals returned for a third year when the group reconvened last week.
Whatever the topic for the seminar is, “they basically fly the expert in that field out to give the lecture,” said participant Gary Cohn, executive director of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco.
Though the rabbis, scholars and lay leaders have taught him about the Jewish past, he said, the interaction with his peers in the seminars has taught him the most about the future of his community.
“We all have common grounds, but we don’t always know what those are,” Cohn said. The seminars allowed people “to get to know about each other, where we came from and what our goals are.”
Cohn said he enjoyed learning from “the superstars” of the international Jewish community and kept open ears for new ways to relate their teachings to his job as Emanu-El.
In particular, he said that meeting with the executive director of Boston’s Jewish federation energized him to develop new ways to bring more Jews back to the synagogue.
One way to accomplish that, Cohn said, would be to take the Wexner model and “continue with some kind of program that would bring [the Jewish public] together.”
For Phillips Britt, the seminars have added to the meaning of holding a Jewish job.
She described the result of the seminars as “getting a painless master’s degree” since there were no tests or papers. Participants simply showed up to the meetings which were held on workday mornings.
The seminars taught her more about the meaning behind certain prayers, and the contemporary layout of Jewish American life.
“It really put Judaism in context for me in a very exciting way,” Phillips Britt said. “It will enrich me all of my life.”