Graduates of the Jewish management applications funded by Leslie Wexner have lengthy grappled with the Jewish philanthropist’s ties to the late convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
At the least two rabbis have already donated to organizations supporting victims of sexual violence to make amends for benefitting from Wexner’s largesse. Now, a brand new Jewish fund dedicated to the problem has launched — and raised greater than $30,000 in its first day.
The announcement of the ASHRU Fund comes as the continued launch of paperwork from a federal investigation into Epstein has renewed scrutiny on Wexner, one in all his earliest and most vital benefactors, and others with ties to the disgraced financier. Wexner has not been charged with any crime in reference to Epstein’s sex-trafficking offenses and has repeatedly denied information of Epstein’s felony conduct.
The fund’s title is drawn from a educating from the prophet Isaiah and stands for Advocacy for Survivors, for Therapeutic, Restore and Understanding. Its architects say whether or not Wexner actively endorsed Epstein’s habits is immaterial.
“No matter what you imagine was finished or identified, those that have been harmed by sexual trafficking and violence must know that Jewish leaders care about them,” an outline on the fund’s web site reads. “This fund represents what we imagine Jewish leaders should do in a time of disaster — even when the subject could also be uncomfortable and hits near house.”
The fund was based by Josh Feigelson, the CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality; Guila Benchimol, a gender-based violence advocate; Rachel Faulkner, the senior director of program and occasion engagement for the Nationwide Council of Jewish Girls; Rebecca Kobrin, an affiliate professor of American Jewish historical past at Columbia College; Rabbi Jon Spira-Savett, the chief of Temple Beth Abraham in Nashua, New Hampshire; Michael Rosenzweig; and Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg.
Ruttenberg was one of many two rabbis who already publicly introduced a donation to make amends for her personal oblique Epstein ties. In 2022, she mentioned she donated greater than she had obtained from the Wexner Basis to the Nationwide Survivor Community, an advocacy group led by survivors of intercourse trafficking. (The opposite rabbi, Raysh Weiss, mentioned in 2019 that she would direct her charitable giving towards organizations supporting survivors of sexual abuse.)
“For many years, one prestigious website of coaching for Jewish leaders was … the Wexner Basis,” Ruttenberg wrote in a submit on Fb saying the brand new fund. “Within the years since Julie Ok Brown’s reporting* + particularly because the Information, many who benefited from it have struggled with What To Do. Many in our broader neighborhood have additionally appeared for a approach to have interaction with all of those horrors in productive approach. Meet AshruFund.com.”
On its web site, the ASHRU fund pledged to donate the primary $100,000 raised to World With out Exploitation, a human trafficking advocacy community, and the Nationwide Survivor Community. After that, it mentioned, it will hearken to survivors about what they want earlier than deciding the place to provide.
“By donating, we are able to collectively affirm our opposition to sexual exploitation and abuse, and show our Jewish dedication to responding with accountability, care, and justice,” the web site reads. “Funds raised can be directed to offer essentially the most direct help attainable to survivors of sexual exploitation and trafficking by way of the organizations that serve them.”
Roughly 3,000 folks have participated in varied applications provided by the Wexner Basis, based mostly in Wexner’s hometown close to Columbus, Ohio. They embrace rabbis, nonprofit executives and communal leaders throughout the US and Israel. The ASHRU Fund’s creators hope a lot of them will donate — and so they’re completely satisfied if the giving comes from a fair wider community.
“If, like me, you’re a Wexner alum, or in case you’re merely somebody who needs to assist the victims of Jeffrey Epstein particularly and sexual violence usually, I hope you’ll contribute what you possibly can,” Feigelson wrote in a submit on Fb.
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