FSU Pesach Project-Russia 2010!

I just returned from an amazing 4 days in Russia-traveling, learning, teaching, meeting new people, and having fun.

Our journey began at 2am when we were picked up to head to the airport for our 6am flight to Moscow. We arrived in Moscow and we're greeted by a 19 year old youth worker who gave us a tour of Moscow. We saw Red Square, the Kremlin, the Kremlin Churches, GUM department store, and St. Basil's Cathedral. After a long exhausting day, we headed back to the airport to board our flight to Tyumen. At the airport, Ally and I experienced the difficulty of not knowing any Russian. We ordered our dinner by pointing to pictures. We're still not exactly sure what we ate. When we arrived in Tyumen at 4am we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. We took a long bus ride from the plan to the "airport". The airport looked more like a luggage room. The leader of the community, Igor, was supposed to meet us with a sign, but instead a woman in a nice fur coat walked up to us and gave Ally a hug. It was Igor's wife-clearly we stuck out like the only Americans! Igor's wife drove us to the hotel where we were able to sleep for a little while.

Our translator, Mahsah, met us a few hours later, and then Igor came to meet us in the hotel. hen we headed of to a Georgian lunch. Over lunch we talked about the plans for the Seder which was to take place that evening. Igor told us that the Seder that evening was going to be comprised of mainly young adults and a few little children. Most of the people would not know each other, and he seemed concerned about making sure that the Seder worked in a way to make people want to continue to come to the Synagogue. After lunch we walked over to the Synagogue and helped to set up for the Seder. Igor's wife along with other members of the community prepared the food for the Seder, while Igor, Ally, Masha, and I discussed the details from beginning to end. At around 6:45 people started to arrive. Igor gathered everyone in the sanctuary to say Kaddish for the lives lost in Moscow. At this time, we had no idea what was going on and were in Moscow for the entire day on Sunday. After the prayer for the victims of the terrorist attack we began the Seder. Everyone was fascinated by AMERICANS! Ally and I led in the songs, which is only funny because neither of us can sing! Everyone would clap after every time we led a part of the Seder. There were about 40 people at the Seder and about 30 of them had NEVER been to a Passover Seder before. A little boy about the age of 5 said the four questions (he repeated after his mom). At home, we always argue over who HAS to say the four questions, but this little boy stood up on his chair and repeated the Hebrew words after his mom, it was adorable! Ally and I helped to teach the basic elements of the Passover Seder, like the items on the Seder plate and their significance. We are so used to reading the Hagaddah year after year that this was a much different experience, especially since we did not even use a Hagaddah. Igor prepared slips of paper that different participants read throughout the Seder to tell the story of the Exodus. The meal was quite interesting. There was no Matzo ball soup or gefilte fish. The members of the community did not know about keeping Kosher for Passover, but boy, did these Russians enjoy the four cups!
Since we had a train to catch, we had to leave the Seder right as it ended. Everyone kept clapping and thanking us for coming. Several people insisted on taking us to the train station.
After a 6 hour train ride and 2 hour car ride, we arrived in Chelyabinsk! In the afternoon we met with the madrichim to plan the Seder at the community center. When we arrived, everything was already set up and looked so nice. The madrichim are 19-21 and work in the community to plan events as such. They attend conferences with madrichim from other cities to get their training. Igor was the head madrichim and was very organized with the Seder. He knew exactly where he needed our help. As we were planning we shared some of our snacks, they had never tried dried fruit! The madrichim were so energetic and fun-they reminded Ally and me of our youth group days! The seder was set up with a projector that had music and youtube Passover videos playing as the people walked in. The average age at this Seder was much younger, around 20. There were 15 or so middle age adults, but the majority of the people were 25 and younger (no little kids). There were about 50-60 people at this Seder. Ally, Igor, and I all led the Seder. This time, Igor did the singing as he plays the guitar. Ally and I said all of the blessings, and did a few activities throughout the Seder as well. This Seder was completely interactive and participatory. We even did "acting out the 10 plagues" which turned out to be so funny! Ally and I brought Israeli postcards as prizes. When the Seder ended, Ally and I were bombarded with young adults coming over to talk to us. The ones who knew English were all trying to talk at the same time out of excitement. The ones who didn't really know English, just starred and smiled as if they were fully engaged. We learned that in Russia, if you are Jewish you are Jewish (not Russian) and if you are not Jewish you are Russian. One girl was telling me that her dad is Russian and her mom is Jewish. She did not grow up with Jewish customs and celebrations because her mom was never able to freely practice Judaism. When I asked her how she got involved, she told me that when she was traveling back from Turkey with her mom they had a layover in Tel Aviv. She said that when she was in Israel, she just felt her Jewish roots. Her friend from University introduced her to this community. Many of these students want to move to Israel or America. They feel that after this age, there is not Jewish life in Russia.
Ally and I spent the next day with Eugene, the leader of the community, who does not get paid, but had voluntarily filled this role for 17 years! He took the entire day to show us around Chelyabinsk and tell us about the Jewish community. We saw the Chabad Synagogue, but it was closed because of Passover, so we couldn't go inside. When Ally and I asked what Eugene wanted us to get out of this experience and take back to America, his responses were saddening. He told us that he does not believe that Jewish life will ever be able to flourish in Russia and that everyone should move to America and Israel. He thinks that the core problem was that Russian Jews (especially the older ones) are used to getting and not giving (in terms of money). Eugene is not willing to give everything, he believes that these people need to want to connect and feel Jewish and make some effort as well. His first desire is to form partnerships with communities in America. He believes that it really is only the first generation of Russian Jews in America who are eager to assimilate. The people now who want to go, are eager to have the freedom to observe, celebrate, and embrace being Jewish.
Eugene grew up in a non religious home. His father fought in WWII and his family never talked about Judaism or Jewish traditions, but he always knew he was Jewish. As a child, he experience antisemitism from his neighbors. He worked as a teacher, and had the opportunity to be the headmaster of the school, but they would not allow him to be, because he was Jewish. In 1993, when people were able to be Jewish in Russia, he became the leader of the community.
He doesn't believe everything is bad. He told us that Chelyabinsk is one of the most well known Jewish communities in the FSU. There are always people around the building, they keep the offices open all day and there are always things going on. He even told us that sometimes, he thinks that the students forget about their studies. The community really reminded me of my youth growing up at North Shore Congregation Israel in terms of always being around and wanting to be involved. These youth have no role models of Jewish leaders in their communities. They see no hope in continuity to be Jewish and involved. To them, it all ends after University. They believe that the only way to remain Jewish is to leave. It was sad, but it doesn't have to be. We kept telling them about what we are doing and Igor, the madrichim, told us of his interest in being a cantor one day. By the end of the trip we realized the importance of Jewish leaders. There are only 6 Reform Rabbis in the entire FSU. The connections that we formed these past four days were huge! We hope to remain in contact with these communities and only wish for the best.
Thank you to all of those who helped make "This Year in Russia" possible. I hope you can see from the pictures, the effect this project makes. It's hard to put into words, especially after 42 hours of traveling in 5 days. Nonetheless, this is an experience that I will always remember. But even more than that, is now part of my thinking and mindset as a future leader of the Jewish Community in America.

Enjoy the ">video of pictures! Eugene gave Ally and me a CD of a Russian singer, I used one of the songs from the CD, Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem which means "hope". The other song is "lo alecha" which is from Pirkei Avot and says "you are not require to complete the work, but neither are you free from avoiding it."