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Mission
Jewish Milestones is a nonprofit educational resource dedicated to deepening the engagement of Jews with their heritage by supporting active participation in authentically Jewish and personally meaningful rites of passage: typically related to birth, maturation, partnering and loss.
Recognized as one of the most innovative Jewish nonprofits operating in North America today, Jewish Milestones has been included in Slingshot: A Resource Guide to American Jewish Innovation for five years in a row.
Over the past five years, Jewish Milestones has gone from being the hypothesis of two Jewish educators in Berkeley, California, to a highly respected, well-staffed non-profit, making a difference in the lives of thousands of Jews. Today the organization is poised to make a substantial contribution in the national area as well.
“We’ve spent the past five years working to meet the needs of the celebrants themselves, who are seeking personalized, education-oriented consultations and ritual-related resource referrals that will allow them to actively engage in the creation of their rituals. We have also been addressing the need for professional development among facilitators – clergy and lay people – in order to cultivate reflective practitioners, promote best practices and help augment their own capacity to design and facilitate meaningful and authentic rituals in the context of their own communities,” said Rachel Brodie, a Co-Founder and the Executive Director of Jewish Milestones.
The result, as one of their clients put it is “a powerhouse organization changing the face of Jewish life ‘simply’ by responding to the presenting issues of those who seek their help.”
Key Facts
Geographic areas served:
USA, SF Bay Area emphasis
Results to date:
In just five years Jewish Milestones has -
• Offered Education and Referral services to more than 1500 clients and their families with our high-touch, personalized service
• Provided training and support to hundreds of ritual facilitators in a wide variety of areas including skill development, ritual innovation and creation, as well as programs on specific Jewish lifecycle rituals
• Built a state of the art database enabling us to make the highest quality referrals to ritual facilitators, clergy, tutors, service leaders and others
• Developed a Ritual Resource Library which includes books (both informational and inspirational) on traditional and contemporary Jewish lifecycle rituals; articles; music; sample rituals, invitations, and programs; and Jewish rituals objects available for loan
• Raised money to purchase a Torah scroll which is now available on loan for lifecycle rituals and begun construction on a portable ark for this Torah
• Partnered with highly regarded national organizations such as Storahtelling, Mayyim Hayyim, Jewish Mosaic, STAR: Synagogue Transformation and Renewal, among others, to bring our expertise to programs across the country
Board Members and Affiliation:
Rachel Gold
Gene Manyak
Dan Oppenheimer
Debbie Toizer
Past and Current Funders:
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
Walter and Elise Haas Fund
Jewish Community Endowment Fund of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin & Sonoma Counties
Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin & Sonoma Counties
Koret Foundation
Natan Fund
Many generous individuals
Key Staff
Rachel Brodie, Executive Director
Dana Sheanin, Director of Operations
Julie Batz, Director of Programs
Deb Fink, Education and Referral Specialist
Jennifer Childs, Business Manager
Jenni Mangel, Research Associate