The Hadassah Foundation, an organization that promotes the physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being of Jewish girls and young women, recently named Traverse City’s Temple Beth El as one of 13 nationwide grant winners. When the Foundation, which celebrates its 13th anniversary this year, publicized their intentions to award a series of “Bat Mitzvah year mini-grants,” they received applications from every corner of the country. Temple Beth El was awarded one of the $500 grants. It will use that money to conduct a program about young Jewish women and their mentors, featuring a film about renowned photojournalist Ruth Gruber and a panel of leading local women in northern Michigan.

“This seemed like a really great program,” says Rabbi Ellen Flax, the director of the Hadassah Foundation. “They (the Temple Beth El) are great at taking advantage of local resources, and their idea for this grant seemed like a small synagogue trying to do a big thing. That was very exciting to us, and we wanted to be involved.”

Interested? Watch the Temple’s official website for updates on the upcoming program.