To New Beginnings

Back in June, we raised a glass and said our goodbyes to a Jerusalem powerhouse, a young woman with an infectious laugh and a penchant for motorcycles. She spent three years as the Director of Jnext Hi-Tech & Entrepreneurship Program, overseeing the emerging tech ecosystem and helping Jerusalem start-ups connect to investors and mentors. She was headed to Harvard for her Masters, she made us proud, and we wished her well.

She moved to Jerusalem at the age of 10, graduated from one of Israel’s most prestigious high schools, Israel Arts and Sciences Academy, and after serving in the IDF, studied architecture at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, where she has since taught technology paradigms and architecture (yeah, I don’t know precisely what that is). Don’t ask her about 3-D printed housing on Mars because in less than 30 seconds, you won’t understand a word she says, but her final thesis on the subject, “Bubble Base,” earned her a NASA award.

On her way to Harvard, she stopped off for the summer at the International Space University (yes, there is such a thing) that develops the future leaders of the world space community and rotates at various universities around the world. And so she waylayed in Ireland for a rainy summer and continued to develop her Mars project for the NASA Centennial Challenges.

Alas space university was over and the time had come to board the plane, time to take her thirst for science, innovation and exploration to Harvard, where discovery and truth is part of their centuries’ old slogan, “Veritas.”

But Helen Wexler’s truth and discovery is here, in Jerusalem. She said no to Harvard — at least temporarily — and returned home, to Jerusalem, to pursue her Mars project. Yes, she came back to an ancient city to work on her futuristic project. What could #Jerusalem possibly give her that Harvard could not? “A different perspective on time, a place where you are so deeply connected to the past that it allows you to look to the future,” said Helen.

A remarkable young woman deferred an opportunity offered to so few, repossessed her motorcycle, and came back to Jerusalem because home is where our history is and where our story begins. And for that, Helen Wexler is #MyJLMHeroes especially today as we usher in the Jewish New Year, look toward the heavens, to new beginnings, and hope for our future.