FAQs - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Jewish Milestones?
Jewish Milestones (formerly The Ritualist) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a community resource for Bay Area Jews preparing for lifecycle rituals. The most common Jewish lifecycle rituals are: welcoming a baby girl, Brit Milah (ritual circumcision), Bar/ Bat mitzvah ceremonies, weddings, and funerals.
Are there other Jewish lifecycle rituals?
Yes. Jewish rituals for other transitions and personal milestones are as varied as the lives of the individuals who experience them, and the creative possibilities are virtually limitless.
What does Jewish Milestones offer?
We offer consultations and referrals to those seeking guidance for these important lifecycle events. In addition, we provide professional development opportunities for facilitators of rituals, enabling them to expand their knowledge, hone their skills and reflect on their practice.
Jewish Milestones is honored to be included among the "50 most creative and effective Jewish organizations and leaders
across the country" in the 2005,
2006, and 2007 editions of Slingshot, a publication of 21/64 (The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies).
For more information on Slingshot 2007, click here.
Why was Jewish Milestones created?
From weddings to baby namings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs to funerals, people who do not belong to a synagogue frequently do not know where to turn. Questions arise, such as: Who can help facilitate my Jewish events? How can I ensure that my ritual facilitator is credible, trained and the best match for me? Which books and websites are worth using? Can I lead my own rituals?
Despite having a strong sense of Jewish identity, many Jews have limited Jewish knowledge, few resources to navigate the Jewish world, and for a whole host of reasons do not choose to have their rituals as part of a synagogue-based community. Founders Rachel Brodie and Julie Batz perceived this phenomenon and created Jewish Milestones (formerly The Ritualist) to serve this portion of the Jewish community.
What kind of clients do you serve?
Jewish Milestones (formerly The Ritualist) currently serves Bay Area Jews who choose to mark significant life transitions and personal milestones through Jewish rituals that are authentic and personally meaningful.
Some clients are committed to active participation in Jewish life but have not found a local synagogue that "speaks" to them. Many are Jews with multiple identities and communities—interfaith families, Jews with cognitive and/or physical special needs, GLBT Jews, Jews of color.
Other clients are affiliated with synagogues but choose to have their rituals led by facilitators outside a synagogue framework, for a variety of reasons: personal fit, a stronger affiliation with a community outside their synagogue, and/or the nature of the specific ritual.
Ultimately, we hope to expand our services to all fifty states, so that Jews across the nation, regardless of where they are on their Jewish journey, can have the opportunity to explore and strengthen their identities through participation in meaningful Jewish lifecycle rituals.
What kind of professionals do you serve?
Jewish Milestones (formerly The Ritualist) believes in the need for well-trained ritual facilitators, and is addressing this need by offering opportunities for professional development (continuing education) and networking, with the goal of growing the skills and heightening the integrity of the key players in this emerging field.
We are committed to supporting professionals who develop deep connections with the people they serve - before, during, and after the ritual event.
Jewish Milestones serves a wide range of professionals who support and facilitate Jewish lifecycle rituals. We work with congregational and non-congregational rabbis and cantors, student rabbis and cantors, Jewish educators, service leaders and other educated laypeople who facilitate Jewish lifecycle rituals, as well as therapists, tutors, event planners and other professionals whose work brings them into contact with individuals or families around lifecycle transitions.
We are also exploring ways to share what we have learned with synagogues in order to augment their capacity to design and facilitate innovative, meaningful and personal rituals within the context of synagogue communities.
Who is behind Jewish Milestones?
Staff:
Rachel Brodie, Executive Director
Julie Batz, Director of Programs
Deb Fink, Education and Referral Specialist
Dr. Wendy Rosov, Consultant
Sarah Kotleba, Research Associate
Julie Gordon Mitrani, Webmaster
For more information about our staff, click here.
Board of Directors:
Don Friend, Rabbi Dan Goldblatt, Ken Kramarz, Amy Mezey and Toby Rubin
Funders:
Our work has been made possible by generous grants from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman
Fund (www.goldmanfund.org), the Walter and Elise Haas Fund (www.haassr.org),
The Jewish Community Endowment Fund (www.sfjcf.org/endowment/),
The Koret
Foundation
(www.koretfoundation.org),
and the Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies (www.acbp.net).
Jewish Milestones is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit. Tax ID #26-0217471
How Can I Get More Information About Jewish Milestones?
We welcome your questions, comments and suggestions:
Jewish Milestones
748 Gilman Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone: 510.559.3636
FAX: 510.559.4646
Email: info@jewishmilestones.org