Courtesy of CJX.
The photo is of Lisa Cook, Director of Operations for CJX and Marisa Phillips and Jessi Baer — lay leaders for CJX/Momentum Cincinnati
By Lorie Kleiner Eckert
Calling all Moms! If you are Jewish, have kids living at home who are younger than eighteen and live within a thirty-minute drive of Cincinnati, a seven-day trip to Israel can be yours for only a nominal amount! This highly subsidized trip is being offered by Cincinnati Jewish Experience (CJX) — a partner agency of MOMentum Unlimited — and by the Israel Ministry for Diaspora Affairs.
Lisa Cook is the Director of Operations at CJX. She has led one MOMentum trip to Israel and will lead two more this year. She has a lot to tell us about the trip and about MOMentum itself. Since CJX has programs for demographics beyond Jewish-moms-with-kids-living-at-home, she will also report on other Jewish growth opportunities through CJX.
But let’s start with MOMentum. According to Lisa, it had an interesting start in 2008. Eight Jewish women from different walks of life, affiliations and ages came together in Utah to make a difference. They realized that young kids had the opportunity to go to Jewish camps! They knew that Birthright offered a free trip to Israel for any Jewish teen/young adult! But there was no program offered to women that would spark and deepen their love of their Jewish heritage. They set out to fix that.
MOMentum’s basic philosophy is beautifully expressed on their website:
“Inspire a woman,
you inspire a family.
Inspire enough families,
you inspire a community.
Inspire enough communities,
you can change the world.”
With these concepts in mind, 24,000 participants from 48 countries and 450 partner organizations have traveled to Israel with MOMentum since 2009.
Cincinnati has had a handful of trips in that time. Lisa Cook led the last one in 2022. The Cincinnati cohort included twenty-six women. Once in Israel, these young women met up with hundreds of other Jewish women from dozens of cities all over the world.
Marisa Phillips participated in that trip and has this to say about the experience:
In 2017, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Israel on a women’s trip that deeply impacted me — and in 2022, I returned as a lay leader to help guide others on their own journeys. Taking time for myself as a woman and a mother was transformative. These trips are more than just travel; they’re about reconnecting to purpose, identity and community. The friendships I made are lifelong, and the connections — both to the land and to each other — are unforgettable. Every woman deserves the chance to do something just for herself, and this experience is truly a gift that keeps giving.
And then there is Jessi Baer who was also on Lisa Cook’s 2022 journey to Israel. She poignantly says:
As the pandemic haze lifted, groups of women from all over the world were granted the opportunity to engage in the journey of a lifetime. When I joined Cincinnati’s MOMentum trip in 2022, it had been nearly 25 years since my last visit to Israel (where I spent the summer as part of my camp program). In some ways, it felt like nothing changed: the beautiful stillness of Shabbat, the camaraderie between perfect strangers and the incredible food. Yet in other ways, much had changed: the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the expansion of the Western Wall Tunnels (a must do!). When we left our homes in Cincinnati for our other home, the one bestowed upon us by birthright, I could not have anticipated the impact it would have. Together, we became unified in our shared past and forged enduring friendships for our future. I am so excited for the next cohort of women to have their turn.
In spite of the fact that a war is currently going on in Israel, two MOMentum trips are planned for 2025, so new cohorts of women will definitely have their turn! The first trip is June 30 – July 6 and the second is November 17 – 23. Lisa says it is special and important to go now, “to show up and show we care.”
Beyond connecting with like-minded Jewish Moms from all over the world, Lisa says the travelers will…
See Israel from a unique perspective with THE BEST guides and educators. They will experience Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Dead Sea. And they will be immersed in the best of Israeli culture and food.
As they “show up for Israel,” the women will meet with — and hear accounts from — many Israelis affected by October 7th and the war. Thanks to partnering with the Israel Ministry for Diaspora Affairs & Combatting Antisemitism, they will learn how to affectively advocate for Israel. And they will have the opportunity to do volunteer work in Israel as well.
Thanks to the three agencies already mentioned — CJX, Momentum and the Israel Ministry for Diaspora Affairs — the trip is highly subsidized putting it in easy reach for Jewish women who have never been to Israel, or who would like to visit again. And the trip is for women at every level of Jewish affiliation — from none to a lot.
And perhaps most important, the women will return to Ohio bursting with Jewish pride, with love for Israel and for the Jewish people. Knowing how easy it is to lose such newly-found zeal, Momentum sisters will meet in the months after the trip to continue building themselves, their families and their community.
MOMentum’s website says that participants will explore their souls, their heritage and the Jewish homeland on their trips. Sounds amazing!
Equally amazing is the breadth of programing offered by CJX itself. Living up to their name, Cincinnati Jewish Experience, they provide study, travel and community building opportunities — not to mention Shabbat and holiday meals — to a variety of age groups. Olami is their program on the campuses of UC and Miami of Ohio. CJX YP’s is for young professionals. And all age groups are welcome on their trips to Poland. The most recent journey there had folks from their 20s to their 70s. The previous one was for college students.
Simply put, CJX exists to make the wisdom, depth and beauty of Judaism accessible to every Jew in Cincinnati.
