Category: Jewish Values

After Isolation, We Reconnect – With a Taste of Israel

“If they can’t go to Israel, we’ll bring Israel to them!” said Momentum Founding Director Lori Palatnik – and with the launch of Momentum Retreats, that’s exactly what we did.

Finally Understanding My Wife

When Howard Kaplin arrived in Israel for the first time, he was hopeful that he would understand the life-changing experience his wife enjoyed during her MOMentum Trip. Just a few years before, she had returned home brimming with love for Israel and excited to share everything she had learned with their family.

Brotherhood

At Driving to Greatness, the MoMENtum Men’s Retreat in Orlando, Florida, we got real about our lives and our potential – and put ourselves in the driver’s seat. With educators Charlie Harary, Ari Shabat, and Harry Rothenberg as our guides, we tackled how to handle failures and setbacks, bounce back, and succeed the way we want to. 

Momentum Men were OOO – and in the driver’s seat

At Driving to Greatness, the MoMENtum Men’s Retreat in Orlando, Florida, we got real about our lives and our potential – and put ourselves in the driver’s seat. With educators Charlie Harary, Ari Shabat, and Harry Rothenberg as our guides, we tackled how to handle failures and setbacks, bounce back, and succeed the way we want to. 

Doña Gracia Mendes-Nasi: From Portugal to the Promised Land

In Medieval Spain and Portugal, conversos practiced Judaism in secret. But as the authorities cracked down on these “secret Jews,” their lives and livelihoods were in grave danger.
As she fled through Portugal, Belgium, Italy, and Turkey, one young mother used every tool she had – her cunning wit, her business connections, and her family’s fortune – to save her people.

Recha Sternbuch: A Wartime Story of Selflessness and Courage

Recha Sternbuch was destined for a quiet life as a wife and mother in the mountains of Switzerland.
But when the Holocaust reached her home, she discovered within herself a fierce warrior who could not stand by.

We are hurting

Market Debates and Masada Celebrations

“You must go on the men’s trip!” were the first words Steven Arenzon’s wife, Robin, said when she returned home from her MoMOMentum Trip to Israel. Steven’s MoMENtum Men’s Trip – which included experiences like celebrating a Bar Mitzvah atop Masada to applying ethical Jewish questions during a visit to the market, led Steven to make Jewish study a greater part of his life, introduced him to a close group of friends, and moved him to become more philanthropic in his community.

I have seen miracles

Prayer is not a slot machine; it’s a deep, internal process.

Bittersweet

The journey was well worth it, several cars, planes, and a train, a myriad of Covid tests, countless government forms… a lot of prayer— and Voilà— this week I was reunited with my mother after 13 long months apart.