Mikki Frank and Lisa Soble
Siegmann demonstrate
kveller.com/location/Detroit.

MASTERS OF

Jewish
Moms
(And Dads)
Online

With more to kvell about than ever.

Vivian Henoch | Special to the Jewish News

I

f you don’t know the meaning
of kvell, just wait: With the first
sight of your newborn, that first
smile, those first steps and all those
“firsts” to come, you’ll come to under-
stand the Yiddish word for bursting with
love and pride.
And if you have yet to discover the joys
of Jewish parenthood on the national
website Kveller, you will. With the first
questions that pop into your mind as you
toss and turn on those sleep-deprived
nights with your new baby, you might
find yourself clicking on Kveller — for a
little humor, a little advice, a little assur-
ance that you’re not alone on the road in
the grand adventure called parenting —
with a Jewish twist.
“If you like Kveller.com, you’re going
to love Kveller Detroit,” explains Lisa
Soble Siegmann, director of Federation’s
JFamily programming. “Kveller Detroit is
our community portal focused on Jewish
Detroit with a national reach.”
Working in partnership with the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
Kveller.com recently launched the portal
on its site to connect readers to the wealth
of resources, family services, Jewish pro-
gramming and a free listing of events in
the Detroit area.
Federation’s partnership with Kveller
has been made possible by a grant from
the Hermelin Davidson Center for
Congregation Excellence. Content on the
local site will include contributions from
Kveller’s writers, as well as local bloggers,
building a robust online source of ideas,
events and opportunities for Jewish learn-
ing and living.
“Relevant and bold on family issues
and Jewish parenting, Kveller aligns
well with Federation’s NEXTGen target
audience and our mission of helping
build Jewish identity,” says Mikki Frank,
Federation staff coordinator for the
Kveller partnership. “We are thrilled to
be a part of Kveller’s online community,
partnering with its network of writers and
bloggers, and will welcome every oppor-
tunity to develop a distinct Jewish Detroit
voice on the site as we move forward.
“Click on Kveller Detroit today and
you’ll find hometown insight on every-
thing from finding a Jewish preschool
or summer camp to the best seven-layer

cake in the state.”
Kveller launched in 2010 as part of
70 Faces Media, a nonprofit Jewish
media organization that includes
MyJewishLearning.com, JTA, the
Nosher — a Jewish food blog — and
Jewniverse. In the past six months, Kveller
has averaged 650,000 unique visits and
1.23 million page views per month. The
Detroit readership has grown to more
than 63,000 visits and over 46,000 unique
visitors. And this is just the start.
“There is no one way to parent
Jewishly,” according to the Kveller web-
site. “Whether you grew up observing
Shabbat every Friday night or had your
first taste of matzah ball soup when you
married into a Jewish family, the ways
you can incorporate Judaism and Jewish
culture into your parenting style are
diverse. Kveller is a steady resource offer-
ing ideas new parents can run with.”

DETROIT A KEY MARKET
“Detroit is one of only six communities
with local portals on Kveller.com, and I
believe that speaks volumes about the
strength of our Jewish community,” said
Ariella Lis Raviv, who serves as co-chair
of jbabydetroit!, along with Jackie Issner.
“Kveller is a component of a larger
initiative of Federation’s JFamily and
NEXTGen Detroit to bring families
together ‘from Bump to Birth and
Beyond.’ Our year-round Jewish par-
enting programs like jbabydetroit!, PJ
Library, SPARC (Single Parent Alliance
and Resource Connection) — and
events like our annual Barbara and
Douglas Bloom Matzah Factory are all
conceived as a means to reach out and
bring together families at pivotal times
for making social connections that
include Judaism in their everyday lives.”
Stressing the value Federation places
on engaging and connecting young
families, Issner added, “From strength
to strength, our goal with Kveller, and by
extension with all of JFamily’s program-
ming, is to help introduce new parents to
one another with the hope that cohorts of
new families will create lasting bonds.” *

Copland and His Contemporaries
Stories and Music

Featuring the Artists of the
Michigan Opera Theatre Studio and
Professor Howard Lupovitch

Sunday, February 21, 2016
4:00 p.m.
The Berman Center for the
Performing Arts

:0DSOH5G:HVW%ORRPƅHOG

Become immersed in the worlds
of Copland, Gershwin, Bernstein,
Sondheim and others as we pay
tribute to America’s greatest
20th-century Jewish composers.

Tickets

General Admission $22
Friends of Melton or JCC Members $18

For tickets call 248-205-2557 or
visit theberman.org

Cohn Haddow

Center for Judaic Studies

This story first appeared on Federation’s
MyJewishDetroit.org, where Vivian Henoch is
editor.

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January 28 • 2016

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