As JCVT celebrates its 13th year, our Bat Mitzvah year, we are reflecting on what it means to support and sustain Jewish life across Vermont.

Sometimes that means bringing people together for a statewide program or helping a family discover PJ Library. Sometimes it means connecting someone with a synagogue, a rabbi, or another Jewish family nearby.

And sometimes, one connection becomes something more.

When Shira returned to Vermont after living away for about 15 years, she was raising a young family and trying to figure out what Jewish life here could look like.

She recalls,“I kept asking: Where are the other Jewish families?”

With support from JCVT,, Shira began finding them through PJ Library events. Families connected. They started gathering. And slowly, the Jewish community Shira had been searching for began to take shape. Families connected. They started gathering. And slowly, the Jewish community Shira had been searching for began to take shape.

“It really took off, and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone anymore.”

Today, many of Shira’s closest friends are part of the small havurah those families built together.

Those relationships have carried them through joyful celebrations and difficult moments alike. After October 7, as Jewish communities everywhere faced new uncertainty and isolation, the connections Shira and her neighbors had built became even more important. With support from JCVT and other partners, they continued to gather, celebrate, and care for one another.

For Shira, Jewish life in Vermont has come to mean something deeply personal:

“I feel confident that this kind of DIY Judaism is actually a gift. There is something powerful about creating the Jewish community you need.”

For 13 years, that is what JCVT has helped make possible.

Across a rural state where Jewish individuals and families often live miles from the nearest formal Jewish community, or simply may not yet know one another, JCVT helps people find their way into Jewish community and gives local Jewish life the support it needs to flourish.

As Shira puts it:

“For the first time since coming home, I didn’t feel alone in trying to build a Jewish life here. JCVT has been part of that journey for me for almost a decade, a backbone to lean on, on the best days and also on the worst ones.”

As we launch a year-long celebration of JCVT at 13, we are celebrating stories like Shira’s, and the thousands of connections, big and small, that make Jewish life in Vermont possible.

Your support helps ensure that wherever someone lives in Vermont, they do not have to build Jewish community alone.

Thank you for helping us begin JCVT’s next chapter.

If you have a story about how JCVT has inspired you over the past 13 years, please share with us!

We look forward to embarking on this exciting journey with you!

JCVT AT 13

Celebrating 13 Years of Connection, Community, and Creativity