A Jewish Organization in Boston that Prioritizes Caring for the Carers

When airlines show regulation safety videos, one message is always the same no matter your destination: Adults are encouraged to put their mask on before they assist a child or someone in their care.

That is the sentiment that informs much of the mission for NeshamaCare, a new Boston-based non-profit organization that aims to build a supportive community for Jewish women in healthcare, with a focus on strengthening their Jewish identity through meaningful connections to Israel and to each other.

At NeshamaCare, Board President Dr. Traci Portnoff and Vice President Dr. Kimberly Fenton-Zeira, asked themselves who is caring for the carers? The two friends were inspired to create the organization amid the COVID-19 pandemic where more than 16 million women working in healthcare faced an unprecedented level of stress during a time of great uncertainty. In 2021, the women embarked on a “Healthcare Heroes” mission launched by Momentum, an organization that teaches Jewish women to build a Jewish future through community activism and organized trips to Israel. There, the two women reunited after 30 years apart when they lived as college roommates.

Their transformative trip where American and Israeli medical professionals shared their experiences of working on the frontlines of the most harrowing period of healthcare professionals in the 21st century, prompted the two women to leverage these meaningful connections forged between the women.

“At NeshamaCare we want to take care of those who devote their lives caring for others and often put themselves last,” Fenton-Zeira said. “We became very close and intimate on our Israel trip and I wanted to recreate that experience. The women on the trip came from across the United States and it became obvious that we were creating a network of strong, thoughtful healthcare professionals who needed a safe space to share the highs and lows of our jobs.”

She added, “All of a sudden, we felt connected to women who we never met before but were living the same lives as us. We all went through the pandemic, and all had different trauma from that. We know what it’s like to try to keep our heads above water, so we made these amazing connections.”

As such, Fenton-Zeira and Portnoff sought to transform the powerful interactions they had with the Israeli professionals and expand it so these experiences wouldn't be forgotten by the time they went back home.

“We wanted to bottle up our experience in Israel, formalize it and turn it into something special,” she said.

The two spent the next two years formalizing plans for their non-profit. Then after the Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, their mission of reaching out to Israeli women became all the more critical.

“If we thought we were burned out during Covid, the healthcare professional women in Israel were on another level. While their children were in bomb shelters at school, they had to continue to show up to work, one ER doctor even talking to us about how she had treated a terrorist who was apprehended,” Portnoff recalled. “These women gave us a new understanding of what being tired and stressed really meant.”

“One of the Israeli healthcare professionals, an oral surgeon, sent us a video of herself on October 9 where she explained how she could only identify some bodies based on dental records,” Fenton-Zeira lamented, “We were still trying to wrap our heads around what happened, but she was already there, on the ground. We realized everyone was worried about the victims and hostages, but who is caring for the people treating them? They needed to be taken care of too.”

As such, the women sprang into action by delivering care packages to the Israeli medical professionals and, in July 2024, sponsored a bus for one of the Momentum solidarity trips to Israel where American Jewish women came to bear witness to the atrocities of October 7.

Putting together that cohort was the first item on their to-do-list. Up next? A wellness retreat in the mid-Atlantic region next year for North American participants where they can share their experiences and put together a myriad of educational webinars on a variety of topics.

“The trip gave us the tools to create a unified community with Israel where we can support each other despite the distance of an ocean between us,” Portnoff said. “It was hard to hear the stories of what they witnessed, but every one of us felt compelled to share what we learned when we came back home to the United States.”

The two women have taken Momentum’s mission of showing Jewish women how they can be a part of something bigger than themselves to heart and NeshamaCare is an extension of that goal to cultivate robust, diverse and active Jewish communities worldwide.

“We’re just one example. So many of Momentum participants came home and did amazing things within their communities,” Portnoff said.

Fenton-Zeira agreed, saying, “We’ve only just begun at NeshamaCare, but we hope we’ll help Jewish women find their place in a community of like-minded people, where they can learn to further nurture their Jewish identity, their relationship with Israel and inspire other women to continue advocating for the country.”