A few weeks ago Lori Palatanik, director of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project, was in Kansas City as a guest of the Community Kollel of Kansas City. At one event attended by more than 100 young adults, she discussed the Transform and Grow Israel Tour JWRP sponsors every summer. The women who were there were intrigued.
“Almost every woman who was in attendance came up to me or Gevura (Davis) and asked if she could go,” said Esther Sokoloff, wife of Rosh Kollel Rabbi Yehuda Sokoloff.
In just a few short weeks Sokoloff and Davis made arrangements for 10 local women — nine plus Sokoloff — to participate in the JWRP’s 10-day TAG Israel Experience. The women will leave July 18 and return July 28. The trip is sponsored by JWRP and the Kollel. The participants, who will be chosen through an application and interview process, pay solely for their airfare. The rest of the trip’s expenses are paid by the sponsors.
“I spoke to someone in Dallas and she said everything we do is the best of the best,” Sokoloff said. “Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience the educators are the best also.”
The trip is designed for women who have at least one child at home, who are interested in learning more about Judaism and who hope to become more involved in the local Jewish community.
“This is a unique program for Jewish mothers who, until now, have chosen everyone else above themselves,” Sokoloff explained.
“When these women go to Israel they will connect on many levels with each other and their Judaism. We hope they come back and give back their time to the community,” she continued.
Sokoloff said the trip itself will concentrate on fulfilling a woman’s spiritual, physical and emotional needs. Participants will travel across the Jewish state from Safed to Jerusalem. Among the items on the itinerary are floating in the Dead Sea, kayaking on the Jordan River, riding camels in the Judean desert, and visiting the Western Wall.
As well as touring the country, Sokoloff said there is a strong educational component as well. The women will attend Torah lectures, learn to make challah and serve the poor in soup kitchens. They will also have the opportunity to be inspired by the women of Israel who are soldiers, business leaders and politicians. About 1,000 women from around the world will take part in JWRP missions this summer.
The Kollel is currently seeking grants and donations to pay their share of the trip expenses. Sokoloff said as a trip sponsor, the Kollel is asking each woman who is chosen for the trip to volunteer 30 hours of their time upon their return to various activities in the Jewish community “in whatever way that they think is suitable for them.”
Application are currently available by contacting Sokoloff at . The will also soon be available at https://www.jwrp.org/SF/SSI/ApplicationForm.php. Applications are due by April 12.
Between the application and the interview, applicants will be asked to discuss a variety of subjects, including their Jewish background, whether or not they have been to Israel before, what types of Jewish experiences they have had in the past and what they hope to gain from participating in a TAG Israel Tour.
Sokoloff stressed that the idea of the trip is to inspire the participants, not necessarily to change them.
“The hope is that if a woman is inspired, she will inspire her family and ultimately inspire her community,” Solokoff said.
As a wife and the mother of three little boys, she understands it could be very hard to leave the family for this 10-day trip.
“But I think in the long run I’m doing the best thing for my family,” she said. “It’s a very small price to pay for the long-term results.”