Six years ago, a group of around 80 Jewish women in Sonoma County came together over two days to laugh, learn and explore their Jewish heritage. It’s taken awhile, but in two weeks, the second such gathering will be held, this time at Camp Newman in Santa Rosa.
Organized by the Jewish Community Agency of Sonoma County, Jewish Women Gathering II is built around the theme “Celebrating the Creativity in Our Midst.” Carolyn Metz, the JCA’s executive director, said the theme gives the meeting a dual purpose. “It means focusing on the arts but also creating Jewish ritual that’s meaningful in our lives.”
In planning the weekend gathering, May 14 to 16, the aim was “to celebrate minds, bodies and souls,” said Barbara Tomin, the event’s co-chair. Morning yoga sessions will be followed by religious services, study sessions, an artists’ panel, creative arts workshops and musical interludes, including a folk-dancing lesson.
Mealtimes will engage minds as well as mouths. While dining at tables of six, said Tomin, participants will discuss such questions as, “What stories did your mother and grandmother tell that helped you forge a connection to Judaism?”
In addition to reaching out to Jewish women of all religious streams, organizers hope to attract the unaffiliated.
“For secular Jewish women, the transition between non-observance and joining a temple is a big one,” said Tomin, the event’s co-chair. “We see ourselves as a kind of middlewoman.”
So far, marketing for the event has targeted Sonoma County women, but women from outside the county are welcome. “We’re planning for 60 women, though we’d love it if there were more,” said Metz.
Though it’s been six years since the last gathering, the hunger for Jewish women’s events in Sonoma has not waned, said Tomin. As a result of the 1993 conference, a Jewish women’s group was launched in Petaluma and has been meeting ever since. This year, she added, “even before we publicized the event, women heard about it and called up, offering to run workshops. To me, that speaks to a need in the community.”
So why the lag between gatherings? The main reason was the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s decision three years ago to close its Santa Rosa office, which organized the first gathering. In response to the closure, the nonprofit JCA was set up, but its resources were limited.
“This is mostly a volunteer agency — if there are people and energy enough to do something, we do it,” said Metz.
Last year, the JCF decided to reopen the office and affiliate with the JCA. Now, “there’s a wonderful working partnership with the federation, and the time was right for another women’s conference,” said Tomin.
As in 1993, female heritage and feminist empowerment will be important themes, according to Metz. “I think that in general, Jewish women have been coming into a sense that religion is something they can make real and relevant in their lives, so they don’t feel like second-class citizens.”
To accommodate as many women as possible, arrangements have also been made for those who are Shabbat observant. Two local rabbis, Elisheva Sachs of Congregation Ner Shalom in Cotati and Bridget Wynne of Congregation Shir Shalom in Sonoma, have been “instrumental in planning the weekend,” said Tomin.
Metz and Tomin hope that a broad range of women will attend. Last time, “a diverse group of women told stories about being Jewish — there was a grandmother, a teen, a lesbian, whoever we could think of,” Tomin said. “Just being there was wonderful, spiritually and emotionally.”
In all, the purpose is “not only to give women more choices about Judaism, but to give them the information and ability to make thoughtful, intelligent choices,” Metz added.
“There’s a wonderful, special energy when women gather together,” Tomin said. “We’re aiming to provide a wonderful spiritual experience that will continue to have benefits in whatever way women choose.”
As for the men who might feel left out, said Metz, “I’d welcome it if they wanted to plan a men’s gathering through the JCA. We’re not prejudiced; I’m sure they’d get a lot out of it.”