• News
    • Business
    • Canada
    • Health
    • International
    • Israel
  • Perspectives
    • Ask Ella
    • Ask The Love Rabbi
    • Features
    • Jewish Parenting Wisdom
    • Opinions
    • Ideas
    • Letters
    • Personal Essays
  • Food
  • Culture
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • The Arts
    • Books & Authors
    • Canada 150
    • Jewish Learning
    • June 1967
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Events
    • Contests
  • Supplements
    • Spotlights
  • Other Communities
    • En Français
    • Russian
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre
  • Log Out
Search
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre (eCJN)
  • Log Out
  • Newsletter
  • FaceBook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
CJN - Canada’s largest Jewish newspaper
April 19, 2018 - 4 Iyar 5778
CJN - Canada’s largest Jewish newspaper
  • News
    • ‘The world has lost a bright light’: Prominent rabbi’s son dies unexpectedly at 15

      Crowdfunding campaign raises $3 million for Toronto day schools

      Holocaust museum postpones exhibit over concerns about Polish law

      Canadians to go to Israel for 50th anniversary of Grade 10 year spent abroad

      Gala will raise funds for supportive housing for people with mental illness

      AllBusinessCanadaHealthInternationalIsrael
  • Perspectives
    • Israel & the Internet: Circa 1948 – April 19, 2018

      Tales from the fascist book club

      The 70 faces Of Israel

      Documenting Israel’s birth

      Liba Augenfeld – the survivor who brought her love of Yiddish with her

      AllAsk EllaAsk The Love RabbiFeaturesJewish Parenting WisdomOpinionsIdeasLettersPersonal Essays
  • Food
    • The Shabbat Table: A special post-Passover garlic shlissel challah

      Everyone gets gooey at downtown matzah bake

      Making matzah balls unites a modern Jewish family, says Phyllis Feldman

      The easy way out of Passover

      Bannock and matzah: our breads of affliction

      Taste of Pesach 2: A successful sequel to a delightful debut

  • Culture
    • Novella splendidly blends math and literature

      Segal Centre features more Jewish content in 2018-19 season

      Popular Israeli podcast comes to the stage

      Mollie Jepsen – the Vancouver skier who won gold at the Paralympics

      Being Jewish in Havana

      AllArts & EntertainmentThe ArtsBooks & AuthorsCanada 150Jewish LearningJune 1967SportsTravel
  • Events
    • Chai Lifeline’s Restoring Hope contest (Closed)

      The CJN Prize (CLOSED)

      BRITISH YIDDISH AND KIDDUSH CONTEST (closed)

      The CJN Prize for Young Writers Contest (closed)

      JEWISH MUSIC WEEK 2016 (closed)

      AllContests
  • Supplements
    • Home Beautiful

      CJL Magazine

      Passover Greetings

      Passover Greetings

      MTL Celebrations

      AllSpotlights
  • Other Communities
    • Quel avenir pour les Juifs de France ?

      Israël dans la grande poudrière du Moyen-Orient

      Une entrevue avec Enrico Macias

      L’héritage de Shimon Peres: “Aucun rêve n’est impossible”

      L’intelligence artificielle au service de la robotique

      AllEn FrançaisRussian
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre
  • Log Out
Home News Women’s Israel trips to ‘empower’ Jewish mothers
  • News

Women’s Israel trips to ‘empower’ Jewish mothers

By
Janice Arnold, Staff Reporter
-
July 2, 2012
2531
2
SHARE
Facebook
Twitter
The first group of Montrealers to take part in a Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project mission to Israel gather for a portrait in Jerusalem.

MONTREAL — It’s been facetiously called “Birthright for mommies.” Its founder wants to “empower Jewish women to change the world.”

Since 2009, close to 2,000 women, mothers of children under age 18 from seven countries, have participated in these heavily subsidized touring and educational trips to Israel.

They have come from Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto, the native city of the founder of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project (JWRP), Lori Palatnik, now of Washington, D.C. Her rabbi husband is executive director of the local chapter of Aish HaTorah, an Orthodox outreach program to Jews of all backgrounds who want to learn more about Judaism and Israel.

Last month, the first group from Montreal, 16 women, took part in an intensive, nine-day Transform and Grow (TAG) Mission to Israel that organizers hope will become an annual trip.

In Montreal, JWRP is partnering with Jewish Experience, which, like Aish, offers educational programming for all Jews. Ariella Hoffman is the local organizer. Her husband Rabbi Tuvia Hoffman has been a director and teacher with Jewish Experience since it was founded here in 2005.

With little publicity, Hoffman began “recruiting” candidates, and some 50 Montreal women applied to go on the mission. The number was whittled down through an interviewing process.

The Montrealers were among 200 women from Canada, the United States, Mexico and South Africa who travelled together in Israel from June 3 to 13.

Participants are responsible for their airfare only. Time in Israel, which includes sightseeing, accommodation in hotels, meals, classes and other organized activities, is free of charge.

“It’s an intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual experience,” said Hoffman, the mother of three, “with no kids and no husbands.”

She described the speakers as so “funny, entertaining and engaging” that even those who were hesitant about the educational aspect were soon at ease.

Hoffman became aware of the program three years ago, when she and her husband were in Israel. They met two women from her home state of Texas who spoke glowingly of their “life-changing experience.”

One of the Montreal participants, chiropractor Sima Goel, the mother of two sons, heard about the trips from her sister-in-law in Ottawa. Two years after her trip, she is still enthusiastic and her commitment to a Jewish life remains strong, Goel said.

Born in Iran, she said her parents had kept Shabbat and other observances, but until the TAG experience, she had not “understood how Judaism made this a better world. What we were told was not dogmatic, just the facts.”

Although the participants hear from rabbis and rebbetzins, among others, Goel said the religious message was about finding “purpose and meaning.

“The trip exceeded my expectations, many times over,” she said.

The tour is free, to encourage the participation of mothers who might otherwise spend the money on their families, and not themselves.

“Women tend to put themselves at the bottom of the list of priorities,” Hoffman said.

Unlike Birthright, which is for young Jewish adults, TAG is open to women who have previously visited Israel. Goel has, in fact, been several times.

JWRP is seeking women who believe in their potential to effect change through their families and communities, and who want, in Palatnik’s words, “to create a movement based on values.”

Hoffman said it’s often women who make decisions about what neighbourhood the family lives in, who their friends are, what Jewish traditions they maintain, and their children’s schools and camps.

Just three years later, the change is already happening, she thinks.

“Women are coming back… getting involved in Israel activism, volunteering in chesed organizations, putting their kids in Jewish schools and becoming involved in their own Jewish education.”

There is a yearlong followup after participants return, although no specific commitment is expected of them and they can decide how to put into practice what they learned in Israel.

In the short term, the Montreal women may get together for more challah-baking, which was a favourite activity on the trip. Jewish Experience will assist them.

Hoffman hopes to organize another Montreal mission next May, and has already begun recruiting. She is also helping to find funding.

For more information, call Jewish Experience at 514-489-9090 or email ariellahoffman@gmail.com.

 

SHARE
Facebook
Twitter
Janice Arnold, Staff Reporter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

‘The world has lost a bright light’: Prominent rabbi’s son dies unexpectedly at 15

Crowdfunding campaign raises $3 million for Toronto day schools

Holocaust museum postpones exhibit over concerns about Polish law

  • Popular
  • Recent
Subscribe to the CJNSubscribe
RSS FeedView
5,516FansLike
856FollowersFollow
10,095FollowersFollow
195SubscribersSubscribe
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe / Member Centre (eCJN)
  • eCJN Archives
  • Supplements
  • Media Kit
  • Advertising Terms
  • Premiums

One on One at Comicon with Leo Leibelman

Purim 2018 on Toronto's streets

Baba Fira's CJN Prize Awards invite

  • News
  • Canada
  • Israel
  • International
  • Opinions
  • The Arts
The award-winning Canadian Jewish News (CJN) is Canada’s largest, weekly Jewish newspaper with an audited circulation of nearly 32,000 and read by more than 100,000 people each week.
© Copyright 2018 Canadian Jewish News
  • Comments Policy
  • Community Links
  • Contact Us
  • Media Kit
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Admin

Week in Review...

Comes Right to You

Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter

X