2003
ISSUE 62
5
past and redeeming our history.”
The HUC-JIR students met with
the students’ families and their
principal.
In Bobruisk, Belarus, rabbinical
student Micah Streiffer, his wife
Kim – an education student, and
rabbinical student Karen Thomashow
noticed that the
Netzer
youth
group did not have a
mezuzah
on
the doorpost of their all-purpose
room, nor did they have
Shabbat
candlesticks. Using clay they had
brought from Israel for this pur-
pose, the students joined with the
teenagers to make
Shabbat
candle-
sticks. The students also donated a
mezuzah
,
which the teenagers
affixed, thus reclaiming their
Jewish heritage.
In Tula, Russia, students Jonathan
Jaffe and Ann Folb joined 60
Russian Jews crowded into a small
community center room for the
Passover
seder.
The room was
unchanged from the days of the
Soviet regime, with a huge mural
of Lenin painted on the front
wall. Jaffe and Fold thought it
symbolic to celebrate the holiday
of freedom overshadowed by this
remnant of years of oppression.
Led in Russian and Hebrew, the
evening was filled with hours of
singing and dancing. “This night
was especially wonderful because
the community was so excited to
celebrate the holiday with us and
they really led with their enthusi-
asm,” Jaffe recalls. “They were all
so happy to have visitors
in a town which is the center of
gun manufacturing in Russia and
not a popular tourist site. We
made the
seder
as interactive as
possible, with members of the
community reading parts, acting
others out, and singing with us.”
As Jaffe played
“
Yerushalayim Shel
Zahav”
on his guitar during the
meal, a group of elderly women
began to sing along, with great
emotion; they later waltzed around
the room to
“
Tumbalalaika.”
They
were joined by teenagers loudly
singing
“
Hava Nagila”
and asking
lots of questions about the HUC-
JIR students’ lives in America and
Israel. Jaffe and Folb had their own
questions: What is it like to have to
rebuild your community after the
fall of Communism? How did you
keep you community together dur-
ing that era? What is it like to live
without roots, only to discover
them later?
The students’ activities included:
•
35
Passover
Seders
•
15
Youth Programs with
Netzer
Olami
(
Reform Jewish youth group)
•
12
Sunday School Programs
•
20
Programs with Adult
Congregations
•
10
Visits to Homebound
Elderly/Warm Houses
•
5
Reform/Progressive Jewish
Kindergarten Programs
As Ari Poster recalls, “The trip was
amazing. It was so moving to come
as Reform Jews and to share the
same music, same ideology, and
same
Siddur
.
We celebrated our
commonalities, asked questions,
answered questions, shared ideas
and stories, and came away with a
much wider concept of the word
Kehila
[
community].”
With assistance from the WUPJ and the
Jewish Agency, HUC-JIR, the first-year stu-
dents, colleagues, families, and friends
raised over $20,000 to
cover travel expenses, art
supplies and Judaica
(
mezuzot
and
kiddush
cups) that were given to
the local communities.
Students also brought
Reform
Haggadot
,
translat-
ed into Russian, donated
by the CCAR.
Plans are underway for next
year’s
Pesach
Partnership.
For further information, to
participate, or provide sup-
port, please contact Rose Ginosar at
rginosar@huc.edu
or (02) 620-3326.
The
Pesach
Partnership students, now
studying at HUC-JIR’s stateside cam-
puses, would love to share their stories,
accompanied by a multi-media DVD
program, with your congregation. To
invite a student to speak at your syna-
gogue, please contact the Dean’s Office
at the center of learning closest to you.
Cincinnati:
(513) 221-1875
Los Angeles:
(213) 749-3424
New York:
(212) 674-5300
An invitation for your congregation:
The congregation of Yevpatoriy
HUC-JIR students Jonathan Jaffe (front row, second
from right) and Ann Folb (front row, middle) at the
Tula seder in front of the Lenin mural.
RUSSIA
Tula
Kaluga
Moscow
Tver
Ryazan
Lipetsk
Tambov
Briansk
Orel
UKRAINE
Simferapol
Jankoy
Vinnitsa
Chernovsty
Poltava
BELARUS
Mogilev
Gomel
Bobruisk
Polotsk
Vitebsk
Lida
Baranovichi
Grodno