What Do We Mean by Jewish Engagement?

By Molly Ritvo

The word engagement isn’t new, but now it seems to be in job titles (like mine) and event descriptions all around the Jewish world and beyond. When I have shared my title with folks, I get a smile followed by a confused glance. “What does that mean?” My oh so kind friend Becky asked me over iced coffee the other day. At first I said it means “making programs more meaningful,” but then I felt like that wasn’t accurate. I am not a program professional and I never have been. So, then what is engagement?

At JVCT, we’re more than a programming organization (although we do do that).

We’re more than a fundraising entity (though we absolutely do that in order to spread the funds back in the VT Jewish community).

We’re more than a calendar listing (and, we definitely do that!).

So what is JCVT and what is engagement?

At its heart, engagement is about helping people find a way in.

It is creating an invitation that feels genuine, accessible, and relevant. It is listening closely enough to understand what people are seeking, even when they may not yet have the words for it. It is noticing who is already connected, who is standing at the edges, and who may not even realize that Jewish community is available to them.

Engagement is not only about asking, “How many people attended?”

It is also about asking:

Did someone meet a new friend?

Did a family discover a Jewish tradition they want to bring home?

Did a person living far from a synagogue feel less alone?

Did a local organization find a partner, resource, or idea that strengthened its work?

Did someone feel, perhaps for the first time, that there is a place for them in Jewish Vermont?

This is why Jewish Communities of Vermont plays such an important role.

JCVT is Vermont’s central Jewish agency, serving as a statewide connector among individuals, families, congregations, community groups, educators, funders, and partner organizations. In a rural state where Jewish life is spread across many small communities, and where the nearest Jewish gathering may be an hour or more away. connection cannot be taken for granted.

It has to be cultivated with intention.

JCVT is the connective tissue that allows Jewish life across Vermont to feel like part of something larger. We share information, build partnerships, support local leaders, connect people with resources, and help Jewish organizations learn from and collaborate with one another.

Sometimes that work is highly visible: a family program, a holiday celebration, a community gathering, a newsletter, or a statewide calendar filled with opportunities to connect.

Sometimes it happens quietly: answering an email from someone new to Vermont, introducing two leaders who should know each other, helping a family locate Jewish resources, supporting a small community with a grant opportunity, or making sure that an individual in a moment of need reaches the right person.

During the past year, JCVT has reached more than 8,000 Vermonters and built relationships with synagogues, Havurah groups, Jewish organizations, cultural institutions, and community partners across the state. JCVT also represents Vermont’s Jewish community in partnerships with national organizations, supports schools and community leaders responding to antisemitism, and serves as a trusted resource for individuals and organizations navigating complex community needs.

As the implementing partner for the Harold Grinspoon foundation’s PJ Library and PJ Our Way programs, JCVT currently funds subscriptions to 625 Vermont children, with enrollment continuing to grow. Since the program launched in Vermont in 2008, JCVT has enrolled over 1,758 children and engaged them in Jewish life through books, resources, family programs, and opportunities for learning and connection. Across all of JCVT’s gatherings, educational programs, communications, partnerships, and community initiatives, more than 9,000 people discovered and participated in Jewish life this year in the cities, towns, farms and forests of Vermont.

These numbers matter. They help us understand the reach of our work and where opportunities remain.

But numbers tell only part of the story.

Engagement may begin with a book arriving in a child’s mailbox. It may begin when someone opens an email and notices an event happening in their town. It may begin when a family attends a gathering where they do not know anyone and leaves with two new phone numbers. It may begin when a small Jewish organization realizes that it does not have to solve every challenge alone.

Engagement is the slow, steady work of building relationships, trust and connection.

It is helping people move from awareness to participation, from participation to belonging, and even, sometimes, from belonging to leadership.

JCVT supports the beautiful Jewish community work happening around the state—in congregations, organizations, and even in peoples’ homes; we don’t replace it. Our role is to help strengthen that work, to make it easier for people to find it, support it, participate in it, create it, and feel part of a broader Vermont Jewish community.

This is especially important because there is no single way to be Jewish in Vermont.

Some people are deeply connected to a congregation. Others find Jewish meaning through books, food, social justice, music, nature, family traditions, learning, or friendship, and grappling with or celebrating their relationship with Israel. Some are returning to Jewish life after many years. Some are raising Jewish children in interfaith or multicultural families (like mine). Some are new to Vermont. Others have been part of this community for generations.

Meaningful engagement begins by honoring all of those paths.

As I begin this new role working closely with Beth and the JCVT board, I am eager to listen. I want to learn where people are finding connections, where barriers remain, and how JCVT can continue helping Jewish life flourish in every corner of our brave little state.

Because ultimately, engagement is not about persuading people to show up for something that does not speak to them.

It is about building a Jewish Vermont in which more people can recognize themselves, find one another, and know that they belong, and feel that they are part of something whole and joyful. And that we’re stronger and more resilient together.