Ukrainian teen finds time for bat mitzvah at Camp Swig

When Natasha Kokoz asked a friend at Camp Swig to help her translate a Hebrew word, he jokingly asked her if she was studying for her bat mitzvah. She considered it for a moment and said, "Sure. Why not?"

Being 17 and attending Community American College in Ukraine, she never had the time to study for a bat mitzvah. But at camp, she said she finally had the free time that she needed.

Kokoz is from Simferopol on the Crimea peninsula of Ukraine. Her family is still there, and she intends to go back soon. But for the summer, she is learning what it is like to be an American Jew.

She was able to come to the Bay Area and live with a Jewish family -- the Vainers in Fremont -- thanks to a program called Naymark Campership. The program also sent her to Camp Swig in Saratoga.

Sherman Naymark is a member of the board of directors for the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Pacific Central West Region and UAHC Camp Swig. Naymark's devotion to education was the reason why he was asked by Yad L'Yad -- Hebrew for Hand to Hand -- to donate money in order to help send five Ukrainians to an American camp for Jewish teenagers.

Yad L'Yad is part of Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal. It pairs Bay Area synagogues with Jewish communities throughout the former Soviet Union.

Kokoz and the other four teens were picked because they are all Jewish youth leaders in their community.

Kokoz has helped to start discussion groups for Jewish youth. She teaches English and began a Hebrew studies club. She has worked closely not only with her own rabbi, but also with the head rabbi of Ukraine.

The fifth participant is an adult chaperone for the group.

During her 26 days at camp, Kokoz chose to mark her bat mitzvah. Rabbi Bruce Kadden of Temple Beth El in Salinas helped her with that decision and with her Torah portion. Rabbi Michael Berk, regional director of UAHC performed the ceremony, which was held Aug. 11 at the camp.

Although Kokoz is the most religious member of her family, they are all very proud she embraces her Judaism. She hopes that her 13-year-old brother back in Ukraine will make a similar discovery.

"Our parents let us decide our religious life," Kokoz said, proud that she decided to have Judaism be such a big part of her life.

This is not Kokoz's first time in the United States. She lived in Texas for two months in 1999 as an exchange student. But this has been a very different experience for her.

Coming from a town with a small Jewish community, through this trip she experienced an opportunity to become part of a bigger community. She felt comfortable enough with the rabbis at the camp to have them be part of her bat mitzvah.

The Naymark Campership is in its first year as part of Yad L'Yad. Anna Bell, assistant director of special programs for Yad L'Yad, has been working on the Naymark program from the beginning.

Bell hopes that bringing teens from Ukraine will introduce them to a new opportunity for their Jewish identity. But she also wants it to improve the American view of Judaism.

"It can strengthen the community here and help people realize what a challenge it is to practice Judaism elsewhere," she said.

Yad L'Yad also works to provide information access to Ukrainian families. The program has already sent a menorah and a Torah scroll to some towns in Ukraine.

Kokoz's synagogue didn't have a Torah of its own when she was getting to the age when she would have considered celebrating a bat mitzvah. But this fall, it is receiving its first one, which was donated by another local synagogue.

Kokoz studied for her bat mitzvah for two weeks. She said that the hardest part was getting started and again picking up Hebrew, which she hasn't practiced in awhile.

"Everything else was easy because there are so many people who are helping," she said.

Kokoz has found the Torah portion for her bat mitzvah appropriate for own situation. The portion, from Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25, takes place after Moses receives the Ten Commandments. Moses speaks to the people of Israel about the hardships they have faced and how their community can achieve its goal.

For Kokoz, this excerpt parallels how her people in the former Soviet Union weren't free to practice Judaism. It also symbolizes the breaking up of the Soviet Union in 1991, she said.

Although Kokoz was only 6 years old and hardly remembers when communism fell, she said she knows the stories well.

When she was 12, Kokoz said she knew that she was Jewish. But she didn't know what that meant.

"This has helped her find her Jewish roots," Bell said about the teen attending Camp Swig. "She's found a Jewish connection."