Global Sisterhood

During our recent mission to Israel, WRJ President Blair C. Marks, WRJ Immediate Past President Lynn Magid Lazar, and I had a chance to visit with numerous women’s groups that have joined WRJ-Israel in recent years. My major take away from those meetings is how much they long for connections and support from their North American sisters. They are all new and struggling to find their way, and every suggestion and new insight they receive is appreciated. They soak up each program idea like sponges. The relationships that form are deeply meaningful and they find comfort in knowing that their challenges are just like the challenges faced by women’s groups around the world.

Several of the WRJ-Israel affiliates are involved in twinning programs with sisterhoods in North America. While some of their joint ventures have been more successful than others, they continue to seek new opportunities to bridge the geographic divide between us. The Israeli women are excited by the prospect of ‘meeting’ their long-distance sisters either in cyberspace or through opportunities for personal interactions during our respective conferences or when individuals are able to travel abroad. We can help them by taking advantage of as many opportunities as possible to travel to their communities and encouraging them to travel to North America. We are so blessed to have the new WRJ Global Connections Fund, provided by a generous gift by Shoshana Dweck, to facilitate these opportunities. Many of us met several women from WRJ-Israel who were able to attend the assembly with the support of this fund. We hope to bring a delegation from Israel to the WRJ Fried Leadership Conference as well. In fact, one of the women we brought to the assembly, Marina Polinovsky, is now the chair of WRJ-Israel. That modest investment really paid off! Several years ago, North American board member Resa Davids set out to establish WRJ-Israel. Now 27 affiliates strong, they are doing what our North American sisterhoods did 100 years ago–they are beginning to organize; they are networking with one another; they are learning from each other’s experiences and sharing best practices; they are cultivating new leaders; and they are strengthening the new Israeli Reform congregations blossoming in the fertile soil of Israel. Our younger sisters are making us proud!