Mapping Loss, Grief and a Path Forward: A Shabbat of Comfort & Contemplation
July 1, 2026
Federation Events
Join Am Kolel on Friday, July 24 at 6:30PM for "Mapping Loss, Grief, and a Path Forward", a potluck dinner (dairy/vegetarian/fish) and program with Karen Paul, staff member of New Jewish Narrative and author of Cartography of Loss: A Widowhood in Essays, to be released December 1, 2026. Music with Reb David.
Karen Paul has written about caregiving, parenting, marriage, death, loss, and grief for outlets including The New York Times (Modern Love), Washington Post, Boston Globe, Lilith, Modern Loss, Open Secrets, and Grit & Gravity, the local journal featuring the work of women writers of the DMV, as well as numerous literary magazines and anthologies. Her short story “Vertigo” won the Lilith Short Fiction Contest. Karen holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Vermont College of Fine Arts and facilitates grief-writing workshops locally and online. She lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with Bo, the black-and-white dog who rescued her family, and her partner, Steve, who is deeply patient and mostly unfazed to be sharing the home with its ghosts.
Volunteer at a Community Kitchen with the Den Collective
June 23, 2026
Federation Events
oin the Den Collective for a morning of service, community, and meaningful action as we volunteer to serve lunch together at a local community kitchen.
Jewish tradition teaches us the importance of caring for our neighbors and working toward a more just and compassionate world. This volunteer opportunity offers a chance to put those values into practice while connecting with fellow Den members and making a tangible difference in our broader community.
Whether you’ve volunteered with us before or are joining for the first time, we’d love to have you with us!
This gathering will take place in Northwest DC. For security reasons, the location will be shared only with registered participants. Additional details and volunteer instructions will be provided after registration.
Healing Together: Overcoming Trauma Through Advocacy and Dialogue
May 26, 2026
Federation Events
Nearly three years since the October 7th attacks, the Jewish community continues to grapple with profound loss, trauma, and how to move forward in an ever-changing landscape at home and abroad.
The ongoing war in Iran, the widening political divide, and the rising level of antisemitism have added to our collective anxiety. How can we channel these emotions and overcome adversity through fellowship, advocacy and dialogue?
Join us for a thoughtful conversation on how trauma impacts individuals and how it reverberates across families, communities, and the global Jewish population.
Renowned trauma expert Dr. Miri Bar-Halpern and Jewish Women International Chief Executive Officer Meredith Jacobs in conversation with JCRC President Galia Messika Greenberg, will discuss trauma and post-traumatic growth. Together, they will weave together clinical insight with lived experience, offering a deeper understanding of how trauma shapes individuals and communities — and how healing can begin.
We’ll also explore the critical role of advocacy in responding to and addressing that trauma — chiefly through the lens of JWI’s I Believe Israeli Women campaign, which has worked to elevate awareness of gender-based violence, support survivors, and ensure that the experiences of Israeli women are seen, heard, and believed.
Grounded in Jewish values of communal responsibility and care, this program invites participants to consider: What does it mean to truly “show up” for one another after tragedy? How can we support survivors, hold space for pain, and foster resilience within our own circles? And how do we move, collectively, from grief toward meaning and renewal?
Am Kolel invites you to OLAMOT: A Jewish Wellness Festival. Named after the Hebrew word for “worlds,” OLAMOT explores the connection between ancient Jewish wisdom and modern approaches to holistic health and well-being.
Spend the afternoon choosing from a range of sessions—including Judaic meditation, movement, healing arts, and mindful approaches to diet and lifestyle. OLAMOT offers a welcoming space for people of all backgrounds to explore wellness through a uniquely Jewish lens.
register today! amkolel.org/wellness
SVIVAH Book Club: When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin
April 20, 2026
Federation Events
The SVIVAH Book Club is reading When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin
This story is hard. Its author is one of the strongest voices of the past three years.
Rachel Goldberg Polin has called us together before – let’s read her story together now.
We believe there is powerful Torah in the stories we carry. Each one of us carries Torah in our lived experiences and, through our stories, we all have something to teach.
Let’s start with Rachel Goldberg Polin’s story — she has so much Torah to teach.
This is Hersh z”l continuing to be a blessing.
Join us for a WhatsApp-based book club.
Robin Hettleman Weinberg, President, and Gil Preuss, CEO, The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington
A missile siren sounded just before Karen Katzman, Director of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s Israel Office, joined our community for a live update from Israel.
“Just about 20 minutes ago… I received a siren. Luckily, I have a safe room in my home and just had to go into it, which is just a few meters away from my office. Generally, if we get an alert like that, I have about 90 seconds to move to the shelter.”
Life Under Missile Alerts
Across Israel, families are living with repeated missile alerts. Schools are closed, businesses shuttered, and people are staying close to shelters. In the moments after a strike:
“You see the people emerging in the minutes after the attack… people coming out in shock, holding babies, helping elderly people leave their apartments, holding their dogs and pets. People were sobbing.”
In the midst of all this, Karen said something that stayed with many of us:
“It sounds maybe kind of cliché, but Israelis truly are resilient.”
She also shared joyful moments she’s witnessing:
“Some of you may have seen on social media the clips of Israelis celebrating Purim in the shelters. I saw a clip today that there was even a wedding in an underground shelter in a garage.”
The Toll of Sustained Conflict
Karen spoke about the growing mental health strain:
“For many people, the sirens and the missile attacks are extremely triggering after everything they’ve experienced over the past year and a half.”
Communities are responding to missile strikes, displacement, and the growing emotional toll.
How Our Community Is Responding
Moments like these are why Federation exists: to bring our community together and respond when Jews in Israel need support.
The full scope of need is still coming into focus, and we are working closely with partners across Israel—from national organizations to municipalities, hospitals, and grassroots groups—to understand how our community can respond in the days and weeks ahead.
For those who want to help today, your gift strengthens our community’s ability to respond quickly and responsibly as needs emerge.
Earlier this month I traveled to Ukraine, Georgia, and Poland with Federation leaders to witness the impact of our partnership with JDC. From resilient communities rebuilding Jewish life to centuries of enduring tradition, the trip reaffirmed the power of investing in one another.
While touring one of Mexico City’s oldest synagogues, one simple insight stayed with me: “There are so many ways to be Jewish.” That perspective shaped our Women’s Philanthropy mission, reminding me that Jewish identity is built through connection, community, and the people who inspire us to keep building together.
From delivering hidden Hebrew dictionaries to Soviet refuseniks in 1987 to visiting Jewish communities in Georgia and Ukraine today, this journey reflects the enduring power of global Jewish solidarity and the impact of Federation's commitment to supporting Jewish life across borders.
New Synagogue Project Community Chevre Kaddisha Zayin Adar 5786
February 12, 2026
Federation Events
Come join the NSP Community Chevre Kaddisha (NSP CCK) for our first annual Zayin Adar meeting. A chevre kaddisha is a “holy society” that carries out Jewish end-of-life and death rituals, and Zayin Adar, or the 7th of the Hebrew month of Adar, is when the chevre traditionally meets.
This year we’ll meet a little later in Adar, on the Gregorian date of Sunday, March 8 from 2:00-5:00pm. We’ll discuss our plan to continue forming our chevre and how we plan to care for our community in life and death. Topics will include how we’re building a gender-expansive chevre, and breakouts for our subgroups: education, ritual, bereavement care, and shrouds.
Food will be provided. Masks are requested when not eating or drinking.
RSVP here: https://newsynagogueproject.org/chevre-kaddisha-zayin-adar/
Please reach out to ck@newsynagogueproject.org with any questions.
Alison Cohen, mindfulness teacher and Jewish educator, presents an in-person Introduction to Applied Mindfulness Workshop, February 8, 2026, from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM, focusing on accessible practices to reduce stress, cultivate present-moment awareness, and strengthen relationships, with relevant Jewish wisdom woven throughout. She will guide foundational meditation techniques and introduce practical ways to bring mindfulness into aspects of daily life, such as communication.
We will be focusing on 3 main topics:
Breath and body awareness practices
Working with thoughts and emotions
Bringing mindfulness into daily life, especially relationships
Workshop: 1:00-3:30 PM, followed by snacks and conversation until 4:00 PM
HerTorah: Miriam’s Song: Song as Language of the Soul
January 23, 2026
Federation Events
Join us to explore the power and impact of singing, music-making, composing, and song-sharing as a spiritual practice. We are excited to learn from (and listen to!) some of the most beautiful contemporary song leaders about how melody holds memory, accesses emotion, and speaks a language like no other.
Chana Raskin, founder and facilitator of RAZA, grew up entrenched in the world of Chabad Hasidut and its stirringly complex melodies. These nigunim (melodies) have carried her at every point on her journey. Chana leads RAZA circles—meditative nigun deep dives—for diverse communities around the world. You can sample the magic of her music-making here. Read more about Chana’s song journey here.
As vocalist, composer, anthropologist, and producer, Galeet Dardashti has earned a reputation as a trail-blazing performer and advocate for Middle Eastern and North African Jewish culture. She is the first woman to continue her family’s tradition of distinguished Persian and Jewish musicianship. Galeet will share her familial story of singing as well as songs of freedom that speak to her Iranian heritage — particularly resonant at this moment in history. Sample Galeet’s music here and explore her family’s connection to music in the excellent podcast with her sister Danielle, Nightingale of Iran.
Join us if you love making music, listening to music, or if you want to explore a new language of the soul.
No prior music experience necessary. As always, learners of all backgrounds are most welcome. Come when you can, stay till you can’t. But, come. We have so much to learn from you.
“Verbal abuse becomes graffiti, becomes arson, becomes physical violence, becomes murder.” We know this continuum well. We have now watched every step play out with devastating consequences in Australia. How maddening that two thousand years after the first Chanukah, people are still seeking to murder us for being Jews.
When CNN called me for my thoughts on the attack, they could no doubt sense the aggravation in my voice. No one should have to wake up to stories about a mother and her 17-month-old diving for cover after checking out a Chanukah event full of music and bubbles. About the rabbi who lost his life two months after his son was born. About how Jews gathering to celebrate were gunned down. Again.
Across time. Across space. This has been our story to bear. It is time for a new one. Leaders on both sides of the aisle have spent the last several years dismissing antisemitism, explaining away antisemites, and letting hints of radicalization slide. But the hour for tolerating any kind of minimizing is over.
It’s incumbent upon all political, civic, business, and religious leaders to challenge the hate directed at Jews and the Jewish people unequivocally, which includes condemning ardent and budding antisemites no matter their place in society or on the political spectrum.
Additionally, I’ve seen how it’s become normal, even chic, in certain circles to denigrate anything having to do with Israel. This too demands our pushback. Criticism is okay. Open debate is vital. But even as we strive for nuance, we must reject the vilification of Israel as a country, of Zionism as an idea, and, of the Jewish people as a whole.
As members of the Jewish community here in the nation’s capital, we have especially urgent roles to play in this effort. This is one of the most networked, most passionate communities around. It’s time to use our influence and find our voice so that we can be a collective thorn in antisemitism’s side.
We can all reach out to people we know in positions of power—federation, state, and local representatives, school board leaders, teachers, and so on. We can help raise the expectations for speech in the public square. Help emphasize that words have consequences. That a twisted comment becomes a belief system becomes a bullet.
It’s also important to remember that most people in our own social circles are well-meaning. Instead of jumping straight to condemnation in these cases, we can help by opposing problematic language and making generous offers of engagement and education.
I’m heartbroken. I’m devastated for the families of those killed and injured at Bondi, and, even now, we have a way forward.
We’ve known hate and we know how to overcome it. As the Maccabees would remind us, it starts with tapping into our agency and the strength of the Jewish people.
Earlier this month I traveled to Ukraine, Georgia, and Poland with Federation leaders to witness the impact of our partnership with JDC. From resilient communities rebuilding Jewish life to centuries of enduring tradition, the trip reaffirmed the power of investing in one another.
Keeping our Jewish community safe requires trusted partnerships, coordinated planning, and community-wide action. Thanks to a new $180,000 grant, JShield is expanding free security training, grant assistance, and emergency preparedness to help Jewish organizations across Greater Washington stay safe and resilient.
While touring one of Mexico City’s oldest synagogues, one simple insight stayed with me: “There are so many ways to be Jewish.” That perspective shaped our Women’s Philanthropy mission, reminding me that Jewish identity is built through connection, community, and the people who inspire us to keep building together.
