Our Story
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Tova Jussim
Founder & Host
The Shpiel Storytelling
THE BEGINNING
Where the Story Began
Tova Jussim founded The Shpiel to create welcoming spaces where Jewish women can share personal stories, feel heard, and build meaningful community through storytelling.
Origins
Her love of storytelling began early through high school storytelling programs and undergraduate studies in theater, and later became woven into her professional teaching practice. Over the years, she carried with her a deep desire to tell Jewish stories and create spaces where others could do the same.
Breakthrough
While studying the craft more deeply, Tova pitched a personal story and was selected to perform at The Stoop Storytelling Series. The experience of sharing her story publicly was both empowering and transformative, and her story was later selected as one of two featured on WYPR, Baltimore’s NPR station.
Insight
Through that experience, she recognized how few public spaces exist for Jewish women to share personal stories of faith, resilience, identity, family, and lived experience — and how powerful it can be when women gather in community to listen, reflect, and be heard.
That realization sparked the vision for The Shpiel: a storytelling community created by and for Jewish women, where authentic stories can be shared with warmth, courage, and connection.
