Carol Simon

WHY WL? – From Florida Region

Some of you may have heard my story…either at Convention 2014 or at a Leadership Institute. Many years ago, the synagogue that we belonged to went through a transition… and I recall sitting in a Sisterhood meeting, and I was one of two or three younger women… of course, the women were all friends of my mother-in-law and were much younger than I am now! At that point I realized that I needed to step up, with no thoughts about anything other than volunteering to keep the Sisterhood viable.

Fast forward a few months, and I was introduced to one of many sources affiliated with WLCJ… we had a discussion leader come visit. I don’t remember much, other than she encouraged us to attend the Branch (now you know how long ago this was) in May in West Palm Beach. And we did… a few of us drove to West Palm from Miami, we walked into the hotel, and immediately were welcomed and asked if we wanted to help out. During that Branch conference I remember sitting in the suite that evening thinking, ‘I have found my home.’ It felt like USY or LTI… and I knew then that I wanted to be a part of this organization. The friendships, the focus on Jewish education spoke to me then and has continued until the present.

Over these many years I feel that I have received much more than I have given. Yes, I have given of my time and dollars, but in return I have learned:

How to speak in public with passion, conviction and kindness;
My Judaic skills have improved;
How to run a meeting;
How to relate to others with compassion, kindness and understanding of other situations;
How to go out of my comfort zone, when approached to take on a task or volunteer position and then to encourage others to do the same thing;
Meeting our members from every region;
Being able to travel to our Sisterhood affiliates all over North America, even going to Canada in February;
Traveling to Israel as a delegate to the World Zionist Congress once and as an observer once;
Participating in missions to Cuba and Argentina;
Meeting members of the Masorti/Conservative movement and working together;
Attending more Leadership Institutes than I can count… and meeting and inspiring (hopefully) our members that have given us 3 days to make a difference;
And did I mention meeting our members, sharing their successes and their challenges?
Reaching out to our members, through the Shabbat newsletter, Shabbat message, WL Reads and more; working with some incredible women, sisters, while I was president.

And… it is the women. I have shared simchas and sorrows with women around our regions. They are my sisters. They have supported me both working together and personally. Each member that I have connected with brings joy, friendship, a connectedness because we share the same Jewish values. Yes, volunteering we know, is good for our health… spiritually, emotionally and physically. And the benefit of meeting some amazing women… and if not for WLCJ we never, never would have ever met one another.

So why WLCJ? Because we believe in each other. We support each other. We grow together and learn together. We are about increasing our Jewish experiences through education… through participating in a variety of classes, workshops and Zoom meetings.

This journey that I have been a part of because of my participation in my Sisterhood, Region and WLCJ, has been priceless. I am so fortunate that so many years ago, sitting in that suite during a conference, I found my place.

Carol Simon
Past International President – Boynton Beach, FL – Kol Isha Sisterhood of Congregation Shaarei Kodesh, Boca Raton, FL & Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Tampa, FL