At a young age, Leslie Wexner was challenged by his parents to open up a clothing store that improved on their own business model. Rabbi Elka Abrahamson examines Wexner’s life from the success of his store, The Limited, to his involvement in the Jewish community. Rabbi Abrahamson demonstrates how Wexner applied his business savvy to building a philanthropic foundation, the Wexner Foundation, by investigating the ingredients that have made the Wexner Foundation so successful in the field of Jewish leadership, collaboration and innovation.
Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson is President of The Wexner Foundation, where she oversees the Foundation's full range of activities and, in partnership with Foundation chairmen Abigail and Leslie Wexner, imagines how the Foundation might further strengthen and educate both Jewish professional and volunteer leaders in North America and public service leaders in the State of Israel. Previously, she served as a member of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship's faculty and selection Committee, and was Director of the Graduate Fellowship Program and Vice President prior to assuming her current role in 2011. She earned her teaching degree from the University of Minnesota, and spent the early years of her career creating curriculum for Religious Schools and Informal Jewish Educational settings, particularly Jewish camps. Upon receiving rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College, she served as associate rabbi at Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, CA., and then co-senior rabbi at Mount Zion Temple, in St. Paul, MN. with her husband, Rabbi Martin (Misha) Zinkow.
