Written by: Sandy Myers Grawert, HMI New York City

Even 5 years after our HMI experience in Israel, the HMI community continues to have a presence in my daily life. My husband and I went on our HMI trip in January of 2017 where I met two of my closest friends, Laura Wood and Rachel Kellersberger. Our friendship grew even stronger as we all became moms during the spring and summer of 2020. We regularly texted about everything from pediatrician appointments and sleep routines to what Jewish foods and holiday activities we were excited to share with our kids as they grew from babies to toddlers.

Over the last few years, as we shared these Jewish family traditions with each other, we noticed there wasn’t a lot of meaningful and beautiful Jewish content on our social media feeds. So we decided to create something that seeks to inspire a beautiful and meaningful Jewish life! This past January, we launched our shared Instagram account, “Our Jewish Life,” where we share our favorite parts of Jewish living including how we observe holidays, our favorite recipes, how we think about what it means to be Jewish, and how Judaism adds so much to our life. 

We’re so excited to share what we’ve created and collected with the HMI community because HMI is all about finding a way to incorporate Judaism into your life in a way that’s meaningful for you and your family. There’s no right or wrong way. Our account seeks to empower people to find what works for them. As we come up with posts to share, we’re constantly reminded of our incredible HMI experience as much of our content has roots in Israel or the way we incorporate Judaism into our lives. Plus, without HMI, we might never have met and come together to create this special collection of posts! 

If you have any questions or comments to share about our account, please feel free to message us on Instagram!

Sandy Myers Grawert

Rachel Kellersberger

Laura Wood