The Wexner Foundation

The Wexner Foundation is a Jewish-American philanthropic organization founded in 1980 by Leslie and Abigail Wexner. Over the decades, it has built a broad network of educational, fellowship, and leadership-development programs. Its work has focused on two closely connected arenas: strengthening Jewish communal leadership in North America and preparing professionals and senior officials for public service in Israel.

The foundation's distinctive contribution lies not only in providing financial support, but in creating intellectual and professional communities of fellows and alumni. Participants study Jewish history, Zionism, Hebrew, Jewish thought, public administration, and leadership. They then carry that learning into government, security, health care, law, education, local authorities, and the nonprofit sector.

Origins and Jewish philanthropy

The foundation was established in Columbus, Ohio, by Leslie and Abigail Wexner. Leslie Wexner, a Jewish businessman and founder of The Limited, later known as L Brands, directed much of his philanthropy toward two principal areas: education and science in his home city, and leadership development in Israel and Jewish communities.

The foundation is headquartered in New Albany, Ohio, with additional offices over the years in New York, Jerusalem, and at Harvard University. In the Jewish sphere, its work has sought to connect communal commitment, Jewish knowledge, and the preparation of leaders able to address contemporary challenges. In doing so, it has contributed to the professional infrastructure of Jewish life in North America and Israel.

Programs in the United States: Jewish knowledge and communal leadership

The Wexner Heritage Program

The foundation's first core program was established in 1985 by Leslie Wexner and Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, formerly chief executive of the United Jewish Appeal. The Wexner Heritage Program was designed to educate Jewish communal leaders in Jewish history, Zionism, Hebrew, and Jewish philosophical thought, while engaging with the contemporary challenges facing the Jewish people.

The program's practical significance is its connection between Jewish identity and public responsibility. Participants do not study the past in isolation; they develop tools for leading Jewish institutions, communities, and initiatives in the present. Jewish knowledge thus becomes a resource for sustained communal action and leadership.

The Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program

Established in 1988, the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Program provides fellowships to approximately twenty outstanding candidates each year. While pursuing graduate degrees, fellows prepare for careers in Jewish education, the rabbinate, cantorial work, professional Jewish leadership, and Jewish studies.

Alongside their academic studies, fellows explore leadership and North American Jewish communal life and receive personal guidance and mentoring. The program's long-term purpose is therefore broader than student aid: it seeks to help develop leaders who will shape Jewish institutions and influence future generations.

Israel: preparing leaders for public service

The Wexner Israel Fellowship Program

The Wexner Israel Fellowship Program was established in 1989 as a joint initiative of the foundation and Harvard University. It enables Israeli public administrators to pursue a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The program's vision is to prepare the next generation of Israeli public leaders, improve administrative and leadership capacity, and strengthen the institutions of the Israeli public sector. An admissions committee that includes a representative of the Civil Service Commission selects up to ten fellows each year. After completing their studies, fellows receive a Master in Public Administration degree and commit to continuing to work in Israel's public sector for at least three years.

As of 2018, the program's alumni community numbered approximately 300 people. Graduates entered government ministries, the security system, public health, government corporations, local authorities, and the nonprofit sector. Those named among the program's alumni include Supreme Court Justice Uzi Vogelman, Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, former Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan, Generals Shai Avital, Noam Tibon, Amos Yadlin, and Uri Gordin, General and Rafael CEO Yedidia Yaari, State Attorney Moshe Lador, Science Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen, former IDF commander and public leader Ami Ayalon, and professionals in law, security, health, media, and civil society.

The size and professional diversity of this alumni community illustrate the program's cumulative influence. An investment in a relatively small group of professionals created a network of managers and decision-makers who went on to serve in important Israeli institutions. The foundation therefore contributed not only to individual careers, but also to the exchange of knowledge, cooperation across organizations, and the capacity of public systems to address complex challenges.

The Senior Leadership Program

In 2013, the foundation launched the Senior Leadership Program for senior figures in Israel's public service, including deputy director-generals and other senior officials in government ministries and equivalent ranks in the security services. The year-long program includes a month of executive education at Harvard's Kennedy School.

Approximately forty senior officials participate each year. The program emphasizes more than management knowledge: it encourages cooperation across institutions. Officials from government, security, health, law, and local government study together and develop a shared professional language. Alumni named in the source material include General Yossi Baidatz, General Tamir Yadai, Military Advocate General Sharon Afek, Brigadier General Michal Tashuva, Knesset Legal Adviser Eyal Yinon, Dr. Hezi Levi, Yossi Sharabi, Deputy Commissioner Eran Kamin, Supreme Court Justice Ofer Grosskopf, Dr. Masad Barhoum, Judge Dafna Avnieli, Judge Khaled Kabub, and Professor Itamar Grotto.

Alumni networks and cumulative influence

One of the foundation's important assets is the continuing relationship among its alumni. In 1999, Israeli graduates established their own alumni association, which closed in 2019. Even apart from that organization, the existence of a substantial alumni community reflects the foundation's model: concentrated training, professional relationships, shared intellectual frameworks, and a commitment to continued work in public and communal institutions.

In the Jewish sphere, the American and Israeli programs connect two major centers of Jewish life. They develop communal leaders in North America alongside public-service professionals in Israel, while encouraging an understanding of the historical, cultural, and ethical ties between Jewish communities worldwide and the State of Israel.

Why the Wexner Foundation belongs in Moreshet

The Wexner Foundation merits inclusion in Moreshet because for decades it has built Jewish and public leadership infrastructure rather than limiting its philanthropy to isolated projects. The Heritage and Graduate Fellowship programs have helped prepare leaders in Jewish education, the rabbinate, cantorial work, Jewish studies, and communal leadership. Its Israeli programs have trained professionals who went on to serve at the center of the country's government, security, legal, health, and administrative systems.

The foundation's legacy is especially visible in its connection of Jewish learning, communal responsibility, and public service. Through fellowships, study, mentoring, and alumni networks, it has influenced people who in turn shaped institutions and communities. This is the kind of cumulative institutional contribution that belongs in Moreshet.com: an achievement not confined to one individual or one event, but one that has helped shape the quality of Jewish and Israeli leadership and the relationships linking Jewish communities around the world.