When Miri Tarazi looked out of her window the morning of October 8, 2023, everything she could see was engulfed in flames. Those flames, created by an IDF strike on Hezbollah terror targets, marked the new unofficial end of Israel’s northern border and where the war began.
Everyone north of her community of Mitzpe Hila (located a mere nine kilometers from the Lebanon border) was displaced and sent to live in hotel rooms across the country. Although many of those families struggled after the war, they were given government assistance and help to navigate their new life.
Tarazi and others like her found themselves in a purgatory-like state, where they were waiting for the government to intervene or for the war to end, whichever came first.
It became clear that neither solution was on the horizon anytime soon, and Tarazi sprang into action. She was an integral part of her community’s efforts to raise money for the soldiers – uniforms, blankets, and other necessities. Soldiers often used Tarazi’s home as a base within a base, where they would eat, shower, and sometimes sleep.
“As the months progressed, the biggest challenge was how do we hold this community together?” Tarazi explained. “Parents of young children left because all the schools were closed. We had no official channel for help or advice, even though the sheer amount of artillery from both sides was literally destroying our houses.
“We understood that we had to help ourselves. We thought we could face up to everything, but we realized that for the community to endure, we had to reinvent ourselves,” she said.
As such, Tarazi mobilized her neighbors and created an association which galvanized members to work for positive change in their community. By drawing upon members who have more free time than others – retirees, students fresh out of college – she has helped create a circle of giving.
From establishing watchmen shifts where retirees and young people man the gate to the community to raising money to sewing hats for the soldiers in the area, families have come together in a courageous act of selflessness and resilience.
“Our focus is to inspire people to volunteer, which is hard to do when so many people feel demoralized. We needed a multi-generational movement. Most importantly, we need a thriving community so those young families who left feel incentivized to return,” she said.
Momentum: Empowering Jewish mothers to lead a Jewish future
To that end, Tarazi attended the Momentum Fellowship, an intensive three-day summit that empowers Jewish mothers to lead a Jewish future by cultivating communal leadership skills.
Of the 120 women at the fellowship, many are already formidable leaders, seeking a sense of direction and relevant tools to help them fulfill their vision.
“This is the right thing at the right time. This is the perfect framework that can give me the tools to map out what exactly our association must do to make our vision a reality,” Tarazi said. “Mostly, I’m a great believer in a woman’s power in the community. These are the two things I’m most passionate about.”
Momentum Fellowships, which are organized in collaboration with the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, are part of the organization’s global movement to empower women to leverage Jewish values to connect with Israel and fuel meaningful change within their homes, community, and beyond.
While the fellowships have taken place around the world, the Israel fellowship is a unique one because of the urgency among Israeli society.
While many of the women have very different personal stories, they share a common goal – to emerge from the October 7 travesty as part of a stronger, more positive and resilient nation that is forced to re-think how community is a critical part of bringing about societal change.
In early January, leaders of 21 organizations gathered together to take part in inspiring seminars and create strategic action plans.
Dana Sendler-Mulla, Momentum’s director of leadership development, said, “We’ve had seven fellowships in the Diaspora. There, we saw many women who were alarmed by the state of antisemitism and were craving ways to help after October 7. In Israel, the challenge is unique because we’re trying to build up resilience, combat widespread trauma, and support a population that is exhausted. How can we charge their batteries?”
After attending the fellowship in Ontario last year, Nathalie Garson, founder of the Global Network for Jewish Women Entrepreneurs & Leaders, marveled at how much Israeli women were eager to obtain guidance and advice at the Jerusalem event. Her organization strives to create a space for 2,200 Jewish women entrepreneurs from 20 countries to feel at home and fully connected to their Jewish identity, their femininity, and their business so they can realize their potential. Moreover, her organization’s ability to tap into such a wide network of Jewish women around the world made her presence very valuable at the summit, as her organization in many ways acts as a bridge between Israel and the Diaspora during this challenging time.
Garson observed, “Here, I felt there was such a need, not only for guidance for each person in the room but also because everyone was going through some sort of trauma. In those three days, we learned not only how to lead our communities but also ourselves, and to figure out solutions in our own lives. You could feel the emotion in the room. We all need tools on how to cope.”
Participants also engaged in uncomfortable conversations, many of which touched upon the sore spots of Israeli society. From how to engage with haredim to how to advocate for the hostages, the women were encouraged to talk freely about these subjects, even if doing so led to awkward pauses within the discussion. These conversations were guided by experts like Israeli educator, columnist, and social activist Adina Bar-Shalom and Shelly Shem Tov, mother of hostage Omer Shem Tov, who helped them navigate these difficult topics.
At the fellowship, participants also learned how they can improve their daily lives.
Naama Levy Shayevitz, the founder of Mamatcal, a volunteer organization for the wives of battalion commanders in the IDF, attended the fellowship to do just that. She established the organization in April 2023, realizing that being the wife of a soldier who is often called up for reserve duty is an impossible situation to be in, and the only way to survive it is to have a sisterhood that can step in to help.
On October 7, she understood that her organization was more needed than ever.
“We wanted to create a home front reserve duty for women, where we need to be close to one another when our husbands are called up,” she said.
Shayevitz has been granted access to IDF data of reservists and is working on reaching out to municipalities which can help coordinate activities, and a volunteer network for women who have spouses in active reserve duty.
“The war surprised us. Yet, it raised awareness about this dire situation,” she said.
So far, the organization has coordinated bonding activities and reached out to its wide network of women and asked them to step up when they see a fellow sister in need.
“It’s very hard to take responsibility for someone else if you’re in a reserve family, but the goal is to empower women to do so. When one woman’s husband is called up, we want her to feel comfortable to reach out. And conversely, when one woman’s husband is at home, we want her to feel equipped to step up and ask who needs help,” she explained.
As such, Shayevitz said the fellowship came at a perfect time, as her nonprofit has begun to grow. She doesn’t want to squander the progress her organization has made in such a short period of time and believes the fellowship will provide her with the tools she needs to expand its operations and recruit as many members as possible.
“Our goal is never to be where we were on October 7,” she added. “Women say that part of their anxiety is being afraid for the safety of their husbands, but their sense of loneliness is also unbearable. They are craving community.”■