Emily Richman was thrilled when two local women, Emily Yasmer Lazarus and Shelley Kippur, approached her shortly after she moved to Tucson in 2022 about bringing the MOMentum Journey of Growth program to Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona.
Richman, JPSA’s chief development officer, had staffed the program in Pittsburgh and knew that in addition to a weeklong trip to Israel, it included pre- and post-trip meetings that give participants additional time to learn, bond, grow, and connect with the local Jewish community.
Yissel Salafsky, a member of Southern Arizona’s first MOMentum cohort, which visited Israel in May 2023, calls the program “a life-altering experience.”
“As a mom of three children,” Salafsky says, “I always spent so much time fostering a spiritual connection for my family, but I didn’t spend much time doing that for myself. Being able to experience that sense of belonging and spirituality in Israel, feeling at home there, and finding a real sisterhood for life, was so powerful.”
“Since returning home, I feel so much more connected and grounded now to not only my own spirituality, but to this incredible group of women. We’ve become a family,” she adds.
Each cohort is intentionally capped at 10 women, allowing participants to truly connect and build lasting relationships with each other.
She also flipped the national organization’s call for “Jewish women raising children 18 years old or younger” to “women raising Jewish children 18 years old or younger.”
She wants to include women who may not be Jewish but are fully committed to raising a Jewish child or Jewish children, if they are open to the experience.
Lazarus and Kippur chaired Southern Arizona’s first cohort. The second, which was chaired by Danielle Larcom and Kathy Gerst, was JPSA’s first MOMentum group to visit Israel since the events of Oct. 7, 2023. They wrapped up their trip last month.
“This trip helped me realize that our people’s story is not the hardships we have had to overcome, but the joy that we have impacted and imparted along the way,” says Jennifer Bell, a member of the second cohort.
“I expected a war-torn country full of heaviness and mourning. Instead, I found joy, laughter, love, and humanity everywhere I turned,” Bell says.
Now Richman and her co-chairs for the third cohort, Samara Klar and Diana Newman, are seeking applicants for a group that will visit Israel from May 11-17, 2026. The first step is to apply on the national group’s portal by Jan. 2.
After MOMentum reviews the applications, Richman, the co-chairs, and past participants will meet with potential participants.
Richman explains that they will aim to put together a diverse group of women, with different life experiences, membership in various synagogues or no synagogue, from different parts of town, with kids of all ages who attend a variety of schools.
“The whole purpose of this program really is to expand the circle and to bring new people into the Jewish community and show them that there is a space for them, a place for them, and that we want them to engage with us,” Richman says.
The pre- and post-trip meetings are vital to building that sense of community, she says.
For Southern Arizona’s first cohort, the post-trip sessions were a safe space to talk about what was happening post-Oct. 7 in Israel and the backlash in the United States, she says.
The second cohort is planning a somewhat more structured experience, which may include local rabbis or Jewish educators as guest speakers, but the programming is up to the participants.
“I’m happy to help them and direct them, but it’s also about building leadership,” Richman explains, adding that the group will also attend Jewish community events together, gathering for a meal before or after to catch up on each other’s news.
Larcom’s family has found a rich sense of community in the 10 years they have been in Tucson. For her, MOMentum was about recharging her inner batteries before her teenage sons start college in a few years.
It was the perfect time, she says, “to go to Israel, to connect with myself, to find the light in me that may have dimmed just a little bit and have it spark again. And that is exactly what happened for me. It was finding the connections in people: the people I was with, the people of Israel, and the people at home.
“Just say yes,” Larcom advises anyone curious about MOMentum. “You don’t need to know anyone … You don’t have to be super religious. Just come with an open heart. I promise you, you’re going to see Israel in the most meaningful way.
And, she says, “You’ll build friendships that you didn’t even know you needed.”
The program is heavily subsidized by the national MOMentum organization, JPSA, and Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.
“At JPSA, we invest in Momentum because we understand how those who have a strong connection to Israel shape the Tucson Jewish community in powerful ways,” Richman says.
JPSA’s Lions of Judah covered the organization’s share of the cost for the first cohort, says Richman, who adds that “if there’s a community member out there that wants to fund this program, it is a lot of bang for your buck in the community — a sound investment in the Jewish future.”
Potential MOMentum participants may fill out an application HERE by Jan. 2. For more information about the application process or about sponsorship, contact Richman at 520-647-8472 or [email protected].
