February /March 2006 –Shvat /Adar 5766
Update from Russia
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Havdalah |
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Tu B'shvat in Moscow |
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St. Petersburg
Mr. Vadim Polyansky in St. Petersburg has begun to develop a Masorti kehillah in St. Petersburg and build ties with Masorti Olami. Olga Wainshtein, Marom Israel coordinator and fieldworker for Russia for Masorti Olami, traveled to St. Petersburg at the end of November to meet with the group of approximately 30 members. She explained the ideology of our movement and answered their questions.
The group meets each week for Kabbalat Shabbat followed by a Shabbat dinner together. Occasionally, they also meet for Havdalah. In December, they joined together with all the Jewish organizations of St. Petersburg for a huge Hanukah celebration. 13,000 people attended the Hanukah festivities and concert in "Ice Palace" of St. Petersburg.
We look forward to developing close ties with the kehillah.
Torah for Adath Shalom East Paris
A sefer Torah from Inwood Congregation, a Conservative Synagogue in Upper Manhattan which recently closed, was donated to Adath Shalom East, a young kehillah in Paris. The sefer Torah was brought to Paris on February 19 by Kate Palley, a Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical student and Sara Stave, a teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School in Bergen County, New Jersey. We are grateful to the Inwood Congregation for their important donation and to Eytan Hammerman for arranging the "shidduch".
Adventures in ParisBy Sara Stave
It was just a typical trip to Paris. The Louvre, the Seine, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower… Adath Shalom! My Rough Guide to Paris trusty guidebook took me to all the typical cultural spots. What may you ask brought me to the Masorti congregation in West Paris called Adath Shalom? It was another sort of trusty guidebook, a Sefer Torah, which I personally escorted from New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary, across the Atlantic Ocean, to its temporary stay at Adath Shalom West. The Torah was donated to Masorti Olami by the Inwood Congregation, a Conservative Synagogue in Upper Manhattan that recently closed its doors.
Members of the shul wanted the Torah to go to another Conservative/Masorti congregation. The Torah will eventually settle in the aron hakodesh of Adath Shalom East, a new community which already meets on Shabbat.This truly was a priceless opportunity, which I shared with my friend and JTS rabbinical student, Kate Palley, during this Presidents’ Week vacation.
Our adventure in France got underway when we received a warm welcome by representatives of the shul after the baggage claim at Charles de Gaulle Airport. We visited the shul, participated in a Haknassat Sefer Torah ("welcome the Torah”) ceremony and dvar Torah on the apropos Parshat Yitro given by Jean-Claude Suder, a Machon Schechter rabbinical student and intern at Adath Shalom East. During the week, we met up with our Adath Shalom friends at the Jewish Museum for a tour. We also found out we would also join them again for Shabbat meals. Our week concluded with the most “international” Shabbat dinner I have ever attended. It was at this dinner that I realized the incredible power of Torah and Masorti Olami to bridge the gaps between Americans and European Jews. We ate with the Rabbi and his family, the President of the shul and his family as well as Rabbi Gesa Ederberg and her husband visiting from Berlin.
My ears were hearing French, English, German and Hebrew. I was in an apartment in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, yet I was not in a foreign place. We were discussing day schools, synagogues, Camp Ramah, Noam, USY on Wheels and the place of halakhah in our communities. It was a typical meeting of Conservative Jewish educators, to which I am very accustomed in my life as a Solomon Schechter School teacher/ JTS graduate/ long time Camp Ramah in the Berkshires staff member. I would not have chosen to celebrate Shabbat in any other way! So far this year, I have visited Masorti communities in both Buenos Aires and Paris. I hope to continue traveling and seeing the world. Most likely, my next trip will not involve a Sefer Torah or an all-expenses paid trip to Jewish summer camps in Argentina. However, I know that I will be able to feel “at home” abroad should I be lucky enough to connect to a local Masorti community.
Sara Stave teaches at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County andparticipated in the Camp Ramah Staff Mission to Argentina this past January
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Letter to Eytan Hammerman from Jean-Claude Suder, Schechter Rabbinical Seminary student and Intern at Adath Shalom East
Dear Eytan,
Thank you very much for arranging this wonderful present. Thank you to the Inwood Synagogue of Manhattan that gave it to us and thank you to the Conservative movement of America. Thank you to Kate and Sarah who accepted the responsibility to bring it to us. Receiving the Sefer Torah after Parshat Yitro was very good timing. We are looking forward to hearing more about the history of the sefer Torah.
Thank you to Eric Aboudi and Claude Machline (from Adath Shalom Paris), Judy Gray, Rabbi Joe Wernik, Alan Silberman, Laurence Spira-Weil and the whole team of Adath Shalom East and to all the people who helped to make it possible.
May this Sefer Torah help us to develop our young congregation and protect us from a harsh environment.
Warm regards,
Jean-Claude Suder
If you are interested in donating a sefer Torah to a congregation in need, please contact Eytan Hammerman eytan@hammerhoff.com
Long Distance Learning Launched in Spain
Rabbi Uri Ayalon, an Israeli Masorti rabbi and native Spanish speaker, has begun teaching weekly classes in Spanish via the internet to members of Masorti kehillot in Spain, including Alicante, Valencia and Madrid. These classes include topics such as parashat ha'shavua, holidays, Israel, Zionism and other topics relevant to Judaism. Rabbi Ayalon is in direct contact with the students via email and will meet with the students personally during visits to Spain.For more information or to sign up for the long distance learning project, please contact Rabbi Ayalon at: aya95@012.net.il
We are grateful to the World Zionist Organization's Pluralistic Religious funding for supporting this project.
Correction
In the last monthly report, we reported the names of contributors to the Midreshet Yerushalayim-Masorti Educational and Cultural Center in Kiev . We sincerely apologize for an error made in our report.
The correct names of the supporters are:
Ha'Nadiv Charitable Trust in London, Genesis Philanthropic Fund, Midreshet Yerushalayim (under the auspices of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem), Masorti Olami and the World Zionist Organization Pluralistic Religious Services funding.
Library Established in Midreshet Yerushalayim -
Masorti Educational and Cultural Center in Kiev
The Streett family of Jerusalem has generously donated funds towards establishing a library in memory of their beloved daughter Tova (z"l) in the Midreshet Yerushalayim-Masorti Educational and Cultural Center in Kiev. The center opened in January and houses the Sunday school, Masorti kehillah, Marom activities, adult education program and cultural activities. The library will serve as an important educational resource center for the community.
Tova worked in the Masorti Olami office in Jerusalem from the time she graduated high school in June 2001 until she began her army service in December 2001. She was an integral part of the Jerusalem office staff, contributing her skills, ideas and enthusiasm to every project she undertook. Even during her army service, Tova continued to stay in touch with us and was always eager to hear about new developments in Masorti kehillot around the world.
Tova passed away in May 2005 but her energy, smile and optimism stay with us. We thank the Streett family for perpetuating Tova's memory by helping the Jewish community of Kiev.
Contributions to the Educational Resource Library at the Midreshet Yerushalayim- Masorti Educational and Cultural Center in Kiev can be sent to World Council of Conservative Synagogues, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027.
For ideas on ways to honor or memorialize a loved one, please contact Eytan Hammerman, Development Director at eytan@hammerhoff.com
