TL;DR: Personal connection has the power to bridge differences across the Jewish world. With the Global Jewry Circle, we can form a community for people who want to build relationships, share diverse perspectives, and strengthen Jewish life through optimism, collaboration, and mutual learning, one conversation (and one cup of tea) at a time.

As I think about what it means to build the Global Jewry Circle – a community designed to connect people across backgrounds, geographies, organizations, and traditions – I keep coming back to one of the simplest forms of connection I know: sitting down with someone over a cup of tea.

There was nothing I loved more than drinking a cup of tea with my grandaunt, Raymonde Michaelis, who felt more like the Savta I never had. We would talk about family history and values, the latest developments in the world, how to knit a kippah – despite considering herself a secular, traditional Jew – the best Moroccan fish recipe, or reminisce about sitting together on the Ashdod beach, the wind in our hair, sipping on a limonana.

Over the last few years of her life, I had the joy and honor of learning so much about the coat of many colors that is our family. Raymonde, who later became Israeli, was born and raised in Tiznit, Morocco, until the age of 16, when she and her family were expelled and fled to Israel. She soon met my granduncle, Dalo Michaelis, who was born in Hamburg, Germany, and fled the Shoah with his mother and brothers to Zurich, Switzerland. Eventually, he made Aliyah and built a life in Israel. Dalo’s father, Herbert Michaelis, was killed by the Nazis after a failed attempt to resist their regime.

Raymonde was strong-willed, to put it mildly. She was loving, warm-hearted, kind, humorous, and possessed a relentless spirit of optimism. No matter what struggle she faced – the expulsion from Morocco, living in tents in Israel, learning a new language, building a new life, raising four children through the numerous wars Israel faced, with several of her sons serving throughout them, her husband’s stroke and eventual death, or her long struggle with cancer – she remained remarkably resilient. At the end of her life, she could not even be bothered by the missiles coming from Iran. She had placed her life in God’s hands and was ready to let Him decide when it was time for her to leave this earth.

What eventually broke her heart was not the cancer, or the war, or the politics, but the death of her younger sister. She could bear almost everything, but not this.

In her relentless spirit of optimism, it is both an honor and a great responsibility to build the Global Jewry Circle: a community that brings together people from all walks of life, diverse backgrounds, countries, traditions, and affiliations, who are connected by a belief in the good in this world and a willingness to put in the work to make it better. People who believe in Tikkun Olam. People who believe in building Jewish life with positivity, embracing our traditions, and drawing strength from them – despite, or perhaps exactly because of, the hardships we face.

We owe it to our children and to the generations that will come after us to overcome the difficulties of today and build a better future. Judaism offers us so much wisdom, beautiful traditions and culture that span the globe. The Circle is an opportunity to connect all those who care: those who want to build rather than lament, who want to contribute rather than complain, who want to lift others up rather than tear them down.

It is an opportunity to connect Jews from around the globe who want to do their part; who want to learn from Jews on the other side of the world; who speak different languages, carry different traditions, and see the world through different lenses. It is precisely this diversity that can allow us to build new connections, solve problems creatively, and discover and embrace aspects of our shared heritage and culture that we might otherwise never encounter.

The story of my Savta is one among many – but to me, it is one of a kind. May her memory be a blessing – יהי זכרה ברוך

If we sat down for tea with Jewish strangers more often, we might discover an incredible story of resilience. We might learn how generations before us faced unimaginable challenges and chose life, chose family, chose the Jewish people, and continued to build our communities. We have so much more to learn, to see, to connect over, and to appreciate.

And perhaps that is what I love most about the idea of the Circle. Somewhere across the globe, there is someone whose story we have yet to hear, whose perspective might change the way we see something, whose experience might inspire an idea, or whose friendship might become the beginning of something none of us could have built alone.

So let us sit down together. Let us learn from one another, build meaningful connections across borders, and create impact wherever we are – with the help, support, and inspiration of peers spread across the world.
Perhaps it all starts with a cup of tea.

If this resonates with you, please reach out to me at salome@globaljewry.org, I’d love to get to know you over a cup of tea.

Shavua tov,
Salome Kornfeld
Fellow for the Circle

Have an achievement (e.g. publications, awards, appearances, etc) you would like highlighted in a future GJ Connections? Let us know by emailing sandy@globaljewry.org.

PS: If you don’t already do so, please ensure you are staying connected with Global Jewry by following us on social media on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.