Olamim

Olamim cultivates a sense of belonging and wholeness for Latin Jewish families. It grew from six families gathering and learning together in the Bay Area. Its work draws on the organization’s own research into how Latin Jewish families navigate a “double diaspora” while raising multiethnic children. Its programs are bilingual in Spanish and English, include Hebrew, and blend Latino culture with Jewish learning. Each program runs in partnership with a local JCC, synagogue, or cultural organization, which creates pathways for families into the broader Jewish community.

Small Group Vision: Redes y Raíces

Redes y Raíces (“Networks and Roots”) is Olamim’s first national initiative. It brings Olamim’s family-based learning model to eight circles led by trained hub leaders in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and the Bay Area, with interest from families in Boston and Tucson. Each circle of 8–15 participants meets for eight sessions, usually monthly, in homes, backyards, or parks.

Circles are intergenerational. Families with children of any age are welcome, and so are grandparents, who are often the primary carriers of Judaism and culture within a family. Through a partnership with PJ Library, families can receive up to $100 per gathering for snacks and supplies. Participation is free when a local institution partners with Olamim, and families pay a sliding-scale fee otherwise.

For Olamim, Jewish wisdom lives in the home and family. It is the knowledge and practice that help families live a meaningful Jewish life together

Accessible Jewish Wisdom

For Olamim, Jewish wisdom lives in home and family. It is the knowledge and practice that help families live a meaningful Jewish life together, including wisdom drawn from Latin Jewish experiences of migration, community-building, and raising multiethnic children. This first round of circles explores “finding yourself in Jewish time,” pairing each holiday with a resonant value. Purim connects to masks and holding multiple identities, Pesach to family migration stories, and Shavuot to peoplehood.

Each 80-minute session brings adults and children together. It opens with song and ritual from a shared bilingual songbook, followed by a check-in and an introduction to the session’s theme, often using a “talking tub” of objects. A hands-on family project follows, then sharing and celebration, with blessings over food on Shabbat. All materials come in English and Spanish and take about 10 minutes to prepare, so parents can lead as educators themselves.

Peer Leadership Model

Hub leaders are chosen through an application process. Some are already well connected, and others are motivated to build the community they’ve been missing. Olamim encourages pairs of leaders to co-lead, sharing support and building geographic connection. In one case, a Jewish leader is co-leading with her Mexican-Jewish mother-in-law as a family leadership team. Leaders recruit families from their own networks, supported by Olamim’s materials and local partnerships.

Leaders receive a $550 stipend, five community-of-practice sessions on curriculum and on fostering belonging, and roughly an hour a week of one-on-one coaching. Leaders may swap in a song or activity as long as each session still weaves together its Latino and Jewish elements. Olamim hopes its leaders will grow into a peer network that sustains the work beyond this first year.

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