Story

Partner Spotlight is a new weekly feature that aims to highlight one of the many amazing organizations that grew from JWRP Momentum Trips.

Renaissance Chile was started in 2013 by Lorena de Mizrahi. Lorena is a JWRP alum, traveling to Israel on a Momentum Trip with the Aish Chile group in May 2011. Lorena and a group of like-minded women found the trip to be incredibly inspiring.

“It was the JWRP trips that led us to want to continue our growth. We didn’t want that feeling to end”, says De Mizrahi. 

This special group of women decided to found an organization dedicated to uniting all the Chilean JWRP sisters who had participated in Momentum Trips. Working under Aish Chile as their umbrella organization, Renaissance Chile aims to “create a women´s movement in order to maintain our inspiration and help continue our spiritual growth, to then be able to transmit Jewish values to our children and communities” (Renaissance Chile’s mission statement).

This mission translates to several goals: spiritual growth, social experiences, and chesed (service projects). So far, Renaissance Chile has experienced ample success on all three fronts. Since the organization’s founding, there have been three annual dinners – each with a theme, as well as a guest speaker discussing a related topic – all well-attended by women from the Momentum Trips. There have been special cooking classes, such as a Mother and Daughter class, or a Passover class. Renaissance Chile has organized two all-day seminars, featuring women from all over the world as inspirational speakers. Throughout the years, the organization has performed small chesed projects for the community. This past Chanukah, Renaissance Chile designed and sold 100 “Chanukah Kits”, which carried all the essentials for a family to have a wonderful Chanukah celebration, including menorahs, candles, a set of dreidels, gelt and a Chanukah Guide. This event was so successful that the organization plans on making it an annual project, with increased quantities. And this year, Renaissance Chile has an all-new initiative: “We started having…our Renaissance COFFEE BREAK, where we invite a Rebetzin to speak on different topics while we share great coffee and good breakfast. [This occurs on the] 1st Monday of every month, open to women from all the community”, says De Mizrahi.

These events have had a widespread impact on the greater community. “We believe that through our activities, seminars, classes and other projects we have done since we started, we´ve given the opportunity to many women in our community to keep learning, growing and connect to Judaism and Torah”, De Mizrahi explains. “We inspire others and support each other by not letting go of that spiritual high that the trip to Israel created. We are there for each other for whatever we may need, as friends and spiritual guidance.”

Are you a JWRP alum located in Chile? Find out more about Renaissance Chile by requesting access to join their Facebook group – just search for ‘Renaissance Chile’!