WLI History: Cohorts 1-3 & Ki Tisa

This Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating the incredible growth of our organization over the past ten years. Over a decade ago, our founder, Rabbi Elana Kanter, saw the need for more women to be leading the boards, organizations, committees, and culture of our Jewish community here in Greater Phoenix. Already committed to cultivating women as lifelong learners with the Women’s Jewish Learning Center, Rabbi Kanter collaborated with Alison Betts, PJ Library, and other local leaders to create an innovative new program.

The Women’s Leadership Institute cohort program combined a “special sauce” of ingredients that make it, still today, a unique and precious gem in our community. WLI is an intergenerational program, bringing mentees in their 20s-40s together with mentors who are seasoned women leaders in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. The mentees and mentors connect monthly throughout the program, and also participate in monthly learning sessions with the entire cohort, exploring leadership ideas through the lens of Jewish values. Each mentee completes a project in service of the Jewish community, meaning that WLI’s impact, even in its first years, was immediately felt beyond just its participants.

In partnership with other local organizations, some of the projects from the first few years of cohorts were so successful that they remain integral to our community today: Penni Golub (Cohort 1) helped launch Gesher’s annual Model Seder, which WLI mentees and alums continue to support to this day. Jennifer Starrett (Cohort 1) started a website for young Jews to get connected, laying the groundwork for JewishPhoenix today. Laura Drachler (Cohort 2) used her project to establish the still wildly successful PJ Library Family camp. These are just a few examples of the ways these young leaders created lasting positive change in our community.

Members of those early cohorts have gone on to become board members for WLI and numerous other local organizations, organizational leaders, and are a dynamic presence in our community to this day. And it all started with the simple idea that women deserve to be empowered, connected, mentored, and in the rooms where decisions are being made. That idea became reality through the tireless work of our founder, Rabbi Elana Kanter, and the many partners she worked with over the years.

For many, this week’s Torah Portion of Ki Tisa is synonymous with the Golden Calf story. And while, yes, what we read this Shabbat is a reminder of what happens when leadership is absent (if only Moses and Aaron had learned some lessons from WLI!), it also shows us a model for how leadership can be cultivated. In Exodus 30, God describes to Moses a special combination of oils to be mixed into a sacred blend, used only to anoint the priests and the tabernacle. I like to imagine that the Women’s Leadership Institute has mixed its own special blend for sacred leadership, a combination started a decade ago and perfected since. We mix together women of all generations and Jewish practices, deep community connections, organizational partnerships, and Jewish leadership values, to create a formula that has had lasting impacts on the women who participate in our programs and the entire community.

We hope you’ll save the date to join us on May 14th as we celebrate a new generation of graduates and a decade of advancing women’s leadership, connection, and empowerment in our community.

Shabbat Shalom and happy Women’s History Month from all of us at WLI.