In The News
Rethinking ‘spiritual’ communities — Jewish women’s wisdom circles
EJEWISH PHILANTHROPY - FEBRUARY 2, 2023
A blessing for Dina
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL - DECEMBER 9. 2022
With Dina's disappearance from her own story - the men make decisions without her - the Torah conveys the experience of many survivors in the aftermath of abuse
Grants with an unusual clause: don’t use this to fund your nonprofit
EJEWISH PHILANTHROPY - SEPTEMBER 9, 2022
UpStart awarded grants to dozens of groups.
Collaboratory conference announces grants to push partnership and inclusion
EJEWISH PHILANTHROPY - MAY 16, 2022
Encouraging connection and partnership is always a motif of the Collaboratory, which was held virtually last Wednesday for 250 Jewish professionals and activists.
The painfulness of Purim
Washington Jewish Week - March 17, 2022
Honoring Elul by bringing together female scholars
EJewish Philanthropy - September 2, 2021
The personal conversations, facilitated by SVIVAH, aim to inspire spiritual reflection during a busy season
Jewish Fertility Support Summit with SVIVAH + I Was Supposed To Have a Baby
The brainchild of SVIVAH and I Was Supposed to Have a Baby, the event featured a panel of representatives from 11 fertility organizations, in addition those doing related work, such as the women’s advocacy group Hadassah. “Tonight is as real as it gets,” said Ariele Mortkowitz, founder of SVIVAH, as she started the evening. “Aimee and I don’t know how to do it any other way.”
EJEWISH PHILANTHROPY - February 2021
HerTorah featured by The Covenant Foundation
Rabbanit Aliza Sperling—Founder and Director of HerTorah, a SVIVAH program dedicated to diverse women’s voices and perspectives in Jewish scholarship that received a 2020 Covenant Foundation Ignition Grant—welcomes even unexpected opportunities to foster community online. “Community is part of learning,” Rabbanit Sperling explained. “Learning is not just the text and the teacher—it’s you in conversation with someone else. Even though we are on Zoom, we are co-creators.”
Covenant Foundation Sight Line - February 2021
Ariele Mortkowitz on LeaderFolk Podcast!
TC Jewfolk created an incredible podcast "Leaderfolk" highlighting women*s leadership in the Jewish community. In this week's episode, Sara Bogomolny talks to Ariele Mortkowitz about what it means to be a community of women* and what "kehillah"/"community" means in general.
TC JEWFOLK - AUGUST 2020
Author, activist Abby Stein shares her impressions of SVIVAH after teaching for HerTorah
ABBY STEIN - June 2020
UpStart Invests in Multiple Cohorts of Jewish Ventures Leading the Way Through Uncertain Times
EJEWISH PHILANTHROPY - APRIL 2020
Ariele Mortkowitz Talks “Community” in Yesh Tikva's Infertility Awareness Event
Yesh Tikva - March 26, 2020
"How do we keep a people as old as Moses innovating?"
INNOFAITH - January 24, 2020
"How do we keep a people as old as Moses innovating?" Insights for institutional religion from a gathering of spiritual innovators
Improv brings women together
WASHINGTON JEWISH WEEK - June 26, 2019
“Four women stand on a makeshift stage, the only clue to the setting are the words “Metro car” written on an easel. Taped to their clothing are tags: police officer, Metro driver, Passenger #1, Passenger #2. The Metro car is stuck on the tracks and the passengers, one of whom is pregnant, are panicking.
“It could happen. Sometimes, they’re born early. It could happen, it could totally happen,” one passenger says to the other. She’s interrupted by the Metro driver breaking into song.
Some 40 women squeezed into the Bump n’ Grind coffee shop in Silver Spring on Monday for a night of
improv…”
Sivan - What does it mean to form a community?
PODBEAN - June 13, 2019
“A conversation about creating Jewish communities. I speak with Ariele Mortkowitz, creator of SVIVAH, and Lauren Spokane, the Lead Instigator and Board Chair of the New Synagogue Project, about their efforts in forming strong, modern, Jewish communities in the DC area.”
A seat at my seder table
THE TIMES OF ISRAEL - APRIL 18, 2019
“Add these women’s perspectives -- diverse in affiliation, background, and more -- to your discussions on leaving Egypt and feel more like you were there…”
HerTorah Inaugural Women’s Learning Event Explores Storytelling in the Haggadah
KOL HABIRAH - APRIL 11, 2019
“Writer and speaker Rachel Sharansky Danziger wove together the biblical exodus from Egypt with her family’s contemporary exodus from the former Soviet Union at the inaugural HerTorah event. “HerStory: Making the Exodus Our Own,” was held April 2 at the Gwendolyn Coffield Community Recreation Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. The event attracted 110 women and girls from across both the Greater Washington area and the Jewish denominational spectrum…”
A place for Jewish women, of all kinds
Washington Jewish Week - DECEMBER 26, 2018
“Svivah comes from the Hebrew word “sivuv” meaning circle, to surround, explained Arielle Mortkowitz. “And that is exactly what we intend to do.”
Mortkowitz is the founder of Svivah, a new Jewish women’s group that officially launched earlier this month. She wanted to create a place to “inspire, support, connect and celebrate Jewish womanhood,” so on Dec. 16, the group met in the meeting room of the Blair Apartments in Silver Spring for conversation and kosher snacks…’
New Communal Network Taps into Hopes and Needs of Today’s Jewish Women
KOL HABIRAH - December 20, 2018
“Earlier this month, 50 Jewish women gathered to launch a new kind of Jewish communal space. SVIVAH is both a community and a resource clearinghouse, providing for the spiritual, intellectual, and emotional needs of Jewish women. The initial lineup of events demonstrates this commitment to serving a broad spectrum of women’s interests and needs…”
Spotlight: Ariele Mortkowitz, SVIVAH
GLEAN NETWORK - DECEMBER 18, 2018
“The 2018-2019 START cohort kicked-off in-person in mid-November, convening 24 faith leaders from around the country in Providence, RI. Ariele Mortkowitz shares her reflections on her experience in the cohort so far, as well as some early successes!"…”