11111
8 ar
"m
Members of L'Dor v'Dor Northern Michigan Jewish Women's Rural
Leadership Consortium
Strength In Numbers
Small congregations form new Jewish
women's rural leadership consortium.
A
newly formed leadership con-
sortium will give Jewish women
from small congregations in
lower Northern Michigan and the Upper
Peninsula a chance to network and lever-
age resources to enhance leadership in
their synagogues and communities.
Women leaders from six congregations
in Northern Michigan and the UP met
recently in St. Ignace for an overnight
retreat to plan the focus and direction of
a sustainable regional consortium that
would nurture and support leadership
development in small rural congregations,
by creating a network for women.
"Women are often the driving force in
both our family and Jewish communal
life," explains Carol Krugel Ellstein, Ph.D.
and member of Petoskey's Temple B'nai
Israel's board of directors. "Not coinciden-
tally, each of our six congregations cur-
rently has women presidents7
The retreat's purpose was to bring
together key women leaders from each
of the six congregations to network and
to receive training and facilitation to help
form strategies and approaches for long-
term programs and activities.
"We all wear many hats when we
belong to a small congregation:' says
Susan Burack, president of Temple Jacob
in Hancock in the UP. "And we have to
exist with very limited resources and
without other Jewish institutions that you
find in larger communities close by:'
Pamela Ovshinsky was the confer-
ence organizer along with Ellstein and
Sally Cannon, president of B'nai Israel,
which is also the lead congregation for
the grant project. Ovshinsky, a seasoned
organizational and community develop-
ment professional and member of B'nai
Israel, is the project coordinator for the
consortium.
"The goal of this retreat was to help
build ownership and involvement in
the process:' she says. "The fact that the
women were able to develop a vision and
mission statement so quickly reflects
their hunger for greater connection and
empowerment:'
Ovshinsky will work with the newly
appointed core leadership team to build
on the outcomes accomplished at the
retreat and to seek continued support for
the consortium's vision and mission.
"We believe in the solidarity of Jewish
women," says Helen Katz, director of the
Jewish Women's Foundation of Detroit
(JWF). The JWF provided the fledging
group seed money to help fund the devel-
opment of a sustainable infrastructure to
help get this project off the ground.
Earlier this fall, the Traverse City con-
gregations co-sponsored the acclaimed
documentary Ahead of lime, featuring
Jewish centurion Ruth Gruber, the young-
est Ph.D. in the world before going on to
have a career in international affairs and
journalism that spanned seven decades.
"It started with a phone call to Pam:'
explains Ellen Fivenson of Traverse City,
who received a grant from Hadassah to
show the film. "She already had the idea
of organizing a screening in Petoskey and
knew who to contact. This is the kind of
thing a formal network will enable us to
do more of to increase the vibrancy of
Jewish culture in our communities:'
The newly formed network is called
L'Dor v'Dor Northern Michigan Jewish
Women's Rural Leadership Consortium.
It follows in the Jewish tradition of life-
long Jewish learning and passing down
the reins of Jewish leadership to the next
generation to ensure the future of healthy
Jewish identity and congregational leader-
ship. The consortium will also create an
avenue for its members to present a uni-
fied voice to promote the needs of women
and girls in small Jewish communities.
For further information about the
retreat or the consortium, contact
Ovshinsky at povsh@yahoo.com or core
team member Carol Krugel Ellstein at
cgellstein@gmail.com .
Featured Favorites:
Lamb Chops
Chicken Lemonato
Fresh Fish
Housemade Desserts
I Open daily for lunch & Dinner
I
Full bar I Catering I Carry out...
Private dining room
Join us on Thanksgiving, November 22nd
from 11 am- 7pm. Now taking reservations
for Thanksgiving Dinner
'U
19333 Victor Parkway
(between 7 & 8 Mile next to
Embassy Suites)
Livonia, MI
734-744-5555
❑
75