Moments That Transform Jewish Consciousness

What motivates someone to become an engaged and seeking Jew? What events, conversations and experiences change someone’s life direction from indifferent to observant, uninvolved to engaged, unconcerned to committed? Was there a moment that lit a spark for you?

The High Holidays encourage us to think about our Jewish journeys and how we got to where we are today. For many of us that journey has included a transformational experience, a trip, an encounter, a moment in time and space that opened us up to new possibilities and set us on a different course.

The Lippman Kanfer Institute’s Monica Rozenfeld was intrigued by this idea. She set out to gather stories about such transformational experiences, what we came to call “Jewish sparks.” Piecing together these stories from friends, mentors and readers of her blog, Monica compiled a think piece that asks and begins to answer the question of what can catalyze meaningful and powerful Jewish engagement today. We hope you will take a few minutes to read Jewish Sparks and add your thoughts to hers. And if you are so inspired, we hope you will share a story of your own.