Mashpia–Mentor–Counselor (MMC) Fellowship

Equipping Orthodox women who serve as pillars of spiritual and emotional support in their communities through an intensive 2.5-year program.

What is the MMC Fellowship Program?

The Mashpia–Mentor–Counselor (MMC) Fellowship is Core’s flagship, 2.5-year intensive for Orthodox women who carry significant communal responsibility and who seek to expand their roles and capacities.

MMC gives these women:

  • A clear framework for thinking through complex, sensitive situations
  • Ongoing guidance and mentorship from experienced teachers and professionals
  • A trusted peer group so they are never carrying their work alone

Who Are Our MMC Participants?

The MMC program is designed for women whose decisions and presence affect many others, such as:

  • Shul rebbetzins and women in rebbetzin-type roles
  • Educators, principals, and senior mechanchot
  • Outreach professionals and community engagement directors
  • Founders, CEOs, and directors of Jewish organizations or initiatives
  • Clinicians and practitioners whose work is shaping a field of communal practice

MMC participants come from over 16 countries and communities, spanning the spectrum of classical Orthodoxy.

All of them are women whom others turn to, who want to carry that role with more clarity, strength, and expansiveness.

How the Fellowship Works

The MMC Program combines:

2.5 years of guided learning
Regular sessions focused on real cases from the field, boundaries, crisis response, and leadership in communal roles.

A global cohort of peers
A confidential chevra of women in similar roles, across countries and communities, who continue to support one another beyond the program.

Project design and reflection
Each participant develops and implements an annual project addressing a real need in her community, with support in planning and reflection.

Mentorship from experienced leaders and professionals
Access to people who understand both the Torah and professional sides of the work.

Over the course of the fellowship, the program:

  • Strengthens decision-making: Fellows move from instinct and isolation to structured thinking, consultation, and clear referral pathways.
  • Raises the quality of guidance: Responses to complex questions become more Torah-rooted, thoughtful, and consistent, with appropriate rabbinic and professional input.
  • Seeds new initiatives and standards: Each participant designs and leads an annual project in her community as part of the program. These often grow into ongoing initiatives, frameworks, or contributions that raise the standard of practice in their field.
  • Protects both the community and the woman serving it: Women in the program learn to set healthy boundaries, understanding what is theirs to hold and what is not, so they can continue serving without burning out.

The Results

An MMC fellow is not one more participant in a program.
She is a multiplying force in her community.

Investment in the MMC Program:

  • Reaches far beyond one woman, touching the many people who turn to her
  • Helps ensure that those people receive guidance that is clear, responsible, and well-supported
  • Builds a long-term infrastructure of capable, grounded women in key roles across the Jewish world who can support and deliver the benefits of our cherished institutions

“I find myself using my Core skills all the time. I’m naturally a very black-and-white thinker. The MMC program gave me tools to see the gray in between, to slow down my reactions, and to look at situations from multiple perspectives.”

Shirah Stern, MMC

Cleveland, OH