Elluminate E-News April 2024



Message from our CEO 

I returned home from Israel last week, and as expected, it was at once a deeply emotional and highly inspiring and informative visit. Not only did I spend valuable time with our incredible Israeli Collective members, I also met other feminist leaders at the Jewish Funders Network 2024 International Conference — where I spoke on a panel focusing on giving through a gender lens. 

The issue of women’s leadership in Israel is a key priority for not only Elluminate, but for women leaders and visionaries working across a range of areas. Yet currently, less than 2 percent of charitable dollars go to women’s priorities and organizations.  

For all these women, equality in Israel is central. They want to see more women of diverse communities in the Knesset. They want to see more women sitting at the table for negotiations and decision making during wartime. They want to see more women ministers and directors, and ensure that women soldiers have a voice and that women’s organizations are funded.  



Five years ago, Elluminate, a gender catalyst for social change, created The Collective to fill a much-needed space to lift up and advance global Jewish women’s leadership. We have connected, trained, and built a cadre of Jewish entrepreneurial women executive leaders working for social change. And, we created a fellowship program focused on leading through a gender and Jewish lens, provided capacity support, networking opportunities, and international visibility. 

Our Collective is indispensable as our Jewish women leaders grapple with critical moments of war in Israel and growing antisemitism in the US.  

I am proud that Elluminate is able to do our part. We now have a short-term staff person in Israel to help our Collective members during this critical moment, and we have joined with the Hadassah Foundation and other Jewish Women’s funds as part of the Jewish Women’s Funding Network — to support and advocate for Jewish women’s leadership.

I hope you will join me and the Elluminate community at our upcoming Annual Luncheon on May 7 in New York, and have the opportunity to meet our inspiring Collective members who are doing amazing, courageous and life-changing work in the US, Israel and around the world! It is an opportunity not to be missed.

Warmly,

Melanie Roth Gorelick

Elluminate CEO

Annual Luncheon - Seats Going Fast

Registration Ends April 15

Join us for Elluminate’s Annual Luncheon, May 7 in New York. Seats are going fast! If you haven’t yet registered, the deadline is April 15 … TO REGISTER CLICK HERE.

We will be honoring our 13 bold and courageous Israeli Jewish Entrepreneurial Women Executive Leaders (JEWELs), and Aela Morgan, our long-term and cherished Board member and Visionary Philanthropist. 

The Luncheon will feature Israeli Feminist Poet Maya Tevet Dayan (pictured above). She is the recipient of the Israeli Prime Minister's Award for Literature for 2018. Her latest book, "Feminism, as I Taught it to My Daughters" (2023), is a bestselling short memoir in essays based on her highly popular feminist columns and essays published over the years in Haaretz magazine. Maya is a prominent voice in poetry, feminism, and current Israeli affairs.

Learn more and reserve your seat here.

Elluminate in Israel

Elluminate President Stephanie Garry, CEO Melanie Roth Gorelick, Executive Committee Member Aela Morgan, and Senior Advisor Nancy Kaufman visited Israel in March to show our support and stand with Israeli women leaders at this time. Some highlights:

Stephanie Garry saw firsthand how women’s organizations on the ground are navigating current challenges, meeting with many of Elluminate’s Collective members individually and joining the Hadassah Foundation’s solidarity mission.

Aela Morgan and Melanie Roth Gorelick participated in the Jewish Funders Network 2024 International Conference. Melanie was a speaker at the workshop, The Impact of Gender Inequality on Israel’s Security, Resilience & Recovery. 

Elluminate held its first gathering of our Israeli Collective members organized by our representative in Israel, Liron Peleg Hadomi. They shared how, as women leaders in positions of power and influence in their respective circles, they are meeting this critical moment in Israel and working to help the most marginalized people, support shared societies and coexistence, uplift communities evacuated from the North and South, find missing women friends and colleagues in the South, and mobilize Israelis wanting to volunteer and help.

Elluminate Advisor Nancy Kaufman convened Israeli and American feminists working for gender equality for a debrief session and to share common priorities.

We visited our friends and let them know we care. We are grateful for all of the incredible work of women in Israel maintaining and strengthening Israeli civil society while envisioning a better future. #womenstrongertogether

Crown Jewel Conversations

Rabba Sara Hurwitz 

In March, our guest was Rabba Sara Hurwitz, a member of Elluminate Collective Cohort IV and Co-Founder and President of Maharat — the first institution to ordain Orthodox women as clergy — and member of the Rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Rabba Sara shared how her work moves the needle in providing increased opportunities for women in the Orthodox community and how the role of rabbis has become more intense since the October 7th attack on Israel. To watch the Crown JEWEL Conversation with Rabba Sara, click here.

Upcoming 

Register for the upcoming Crown JEWEL Conversation with SooJi Min-Maranda, Executive Director of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal on Thursday, April 4th from 12:00 - 1:00 PM ET. To register, click here.

SooJi is educating, training, and ordaining leaders, and building communities of spiritual practice. Her aim is to revitalize Judaism, bringing spiritual vitality and meaningful experiences to communities worldwide.

Spotlight from the Field

Karyn Grossman Gershon, CEO of Project Kesher and an Elluminate JEWEL, authored an eJewish Philanthropy op-ed piece on International Women’s Day, “Helping Women in Wartime: Key Lessons in Honor of International Women’s Day.” 

Congratulations to the Association of Ethiopian Jewry, headed by Elluminate JEWEL Rina Gorelik, for being highlighted by the Jewish Federations of North America as one of the main recommended organizations to fund to support Ethiopian and marginalized communities in Israel.

ICYMI 

Israel Briefing Series by Israeli Women Featured Tamar Shwartz, CEO of Women’s Spirit, on March 14

Elluminate hosted Tamar Shwartz, CEO of Women's Spirit, who briefed more than 25 women on the effect of October 7 on women in vulnerable situations, and shared her experience speaking to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Tamar is a participant in Elluminate’s Women in the C-Suite, which convenes Jewish women CEOs from the US and Israel each month as they navigate the particular challenges of Jewish women’s leadership. To view the program, click here.

Last Chance to Register for SUFFS. We’re Broadway bound on Wednesday June 5, 7:30 PM. 

The fight for gender equality is at the center of our work, so we’ve organized an Elluminate outing to Suffs, the new Broadway musical. The show, at the Music Box Theatre, boldly explores the victories and failures of our matriarchs’ struggle for equality … a goal that’s far from over. 

Ticket sales close on Thursday, April 4th.

Ticket Details: Prime Orchestra seats are $225.57 each, and Side Orchestra seats are $143.17 each.

To RSVP and pay by credit card, click here.

To RSVP and pay by check, email Eva Stern at eva@elluminatewomen.org.

Thank you to our strong and growing Host Committee! Your support of our Luncheon is invaluable.

There is still time to add your name! Click here to learn more.

VISIONARY

Madelyn Bucksbaum Adamson*

Aela Morgan*

BENEFACTOR

Deb Feyerick & Shawn Henry

Klara Silverstein*

Julie Sissman

ADVOCATE

Shelly Mitchell*

Nikki Silver*

Linda Yarden*

CHAMPION

Madeline & Miriam Caslow*

Bonnie Dimun*

Susan Edelstein

Rachel Weinstein*

TRAILBLAZER

Frances Brandt*

Roberta Elliott*

Stephanie Garry*

Joanna Golden

Lesley Goldwassser

Fern Hurst*

Claudia Jacobs

Zena Kaufman

Betsy Landis*

Sarah-Marie Martin

Abby Pogrebin

Micki Reiss*

Lynn Tobias*

CHANGEMAKER

Daniele Bleier

Amy Feller

Elise Hahn-Rubin

Meg Roth

SUPPORTER

Stephanie Ambroise*

Loren Averick

Lisa Barr

Lucinda Bhavsar

Jill Bodian

Susan Cantor

Margaret Jan Chi

Kim Chirls

Heidi Cohen

Debbie Eisenberg

Rebecca Eisenberg

Anna Fisch

Erica Friedman

Gail Furman

Jennifer Gardner

Paula Gendel

Marilyn Gottlieb*

Marcy Harris

Emily Hirsch Katz*

Lisa Liman

Amy Linde

Natalie Maksin

Emily Sachs

Lori Schreiber

Randi Sellinger

Suzi Stadler

Dana Levinson Steiner*

Marilyn Thypin*

Vicki Warner

Shari Weiner

Stephanie Weiss*

Toya Williford*

Keri Zaro

*Denotes Elluminate Board Members

Please consider making a generous gift to support Elluminate’s work and programming during this critical and challenging time.

Elluminate

elluminatewomen.org