Beth Am builds bridge for émigrés to enter Jewish community

It began with freedom seders.

Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, remembers well those April days in the late '80s when dozens of Bay Area residents, Jews and non-Jews, gathered in front of the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco. With a table laden with wine and matzah, they opened their haggadahs and asked for an Exodus of a different sort.

In those days, the Bay Area Jewish community was on the front lines of the struggle to free Soviet Jews, allowing them to emigrate. And once they arrived here, the focus turned to integrating the émigrés into American society.

Now the Jewish community is tackling its most challenging task yet — incorporating Jews raised in an atheist society into religious life.

Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills is one of the only synagogues in the Bay Area with a program dedicated to connecting Russian Jewish families to Judaism through a targeted use of Russian culture and language. This culturally sensitive approach can make all the difference in capturing a market that's been difficult to engage though English-language programming.

"When you put Russian Jews in a pure American environment, we have seen that it sets them back. That is why we have created this bridge between the émigré community and the Beth Am synagogue community," says Inna Benjaminson, Beth Am's émigré program director.

Herself a Russian immigrant, Benjaminson believes that her program's success is based on an insider's view of Russian culture, use of the native language and a Russian-only audience. Of the 619 Russian Jewish families in the area, 180 of them have become members of the synagogue and many more participate in the non-member programs offered by Beth Am.

The popular non-member program at the synagogue is called the Chug Shalom (Circle of Friendship). It includes a monthly newsletter informing unaffiliated Russian families of Russian-language events, classes and holiday celebrations at the synagogue. Being among their own community often dispels the uneasiness many Russian Jews feel about entering a foreign environment.

Also, Hebrew prayers often alienate Russian Jews because they didn't grow up with them, says Benjaminson. That's why all Jewish educational programs and prayer books at Beth Am are translated and transliterated into Russian.

Four years ago, Beth Am offered a Torah study group in Russian, but found it drew mostly older adults who already had a much deeper connection to Judaism than the younger generations. To reach a more elusive demographic, Beth Am's émigré department developed a program that catered to the congregation's future — its young families and children.

Masha Farber has been a bilingual Jewish studies teacher at Beth Am for over a decade. In her native Leningrad she was involved with the Jewish National Movement, an organization dedicated to Jewish education and cultural events in post-Cold War Russia. It was her idea to start the wildly successful My Jewish Discovery Program for the émigré population.

"I taught young families in English for Beth Am's Shabbaton program, and saw how powerful the idea of family education was," says Farber. She realized how much a Russian-language family class on Judaism could offer the émigré demographic. It would keep up Russian-language skills for children and let hard-working, busy parents spend time with their kids while learning about their heritage together.

Farber was right — the program has been extremely popular. It involves a two-year commitment of two hours once a month on Saturday afternoon. For the first hour the family is together, and for the second the kids split off to work on art projects while parents delve into deeper subjects.

"There's been an explosion of children in the Russian community and we wanted the whole family to participate together. Parents love to spend time with their children and learn as a family in their native language. The children love it because they are curious and natural philosophers," says Benjaminson.

Last year the synagogue had its first Jewish Discovery Program graduates. Many from the group went on to study in a more intensive program that meets three times a month and conducts lessons in both Russian and English.

The synagogue also hosts Russian-language Chanukah parties and Passover seders, which include performances by the children involved in the Jewish Discovery Program.

Structuring synagogue programs this way and involving children has translated into high attendance at holiday events. There were 130 people at the last Russian-language seder, and 200 people came to the Chanukah party.

The program is making waves in the Russian Jewish community as leaders of synagogues in the former Soviet Union visit Beth Am to study it.

Beth Am's émigré program grew out of a 20-year partnership between Jewish Family and Children's Services and Beth Am. It was spearheaded by Peggy Shapera, a volunteer in the South Bay Jewish community, in the late 1970s. The funding for the program comes mostly from JFCS.

The program began by matching Russian families with American families to provide tutoring services, general help and exposure to Jewish holiday celebrations. As the Jewish population in Los Altos grew and their needs shifted, Benjaminson, who was hired in 1994 for resettlement work by Beth Am, began to shift her focus to religious programming for the émigré population.

Lena Zusmanovich, a teacher in the Jewish Discovery Program, explains why their approach works so well. "Everyone in the class speaks English, but it is the language of work and communication with the outside world," she says. "Russian is the language of family and philosophy. The participants feel at home and it's easier to learn abstract concepts in Russian. I base my lessons on a knowledge of their background and even quote fairy tales they read as kids."

Beth Am's émigré program is a beacon for other Jewish communities interested in engaging Russian Jews, especially those synagogues that have met defeat in past efforts.

"The assumption that Russian Jews don't want to be part of the Jewish community is wrong. In order to enroll people you need a proper approach based on an understanding of the cultural background and use of the native language," adds Zusmanovich.

Jewish Discovery Program participant Vlad Rapoport agrees. The first time he first set foot in a synagogue was 15 years ago, when he emigrated from Ukraine to Kentucky. It was a negative experience, and he felt alienated and out of place.

After moving to California, having a son and hearing about Beth Am from friends, he gave synagogue another try — and was hooked.

"I wanted my son to grow up with an understanding of his Jewish culture, and I couldn't give that to him," Rapoport says. "Beth Am's programs are a great education for the both of us. I love learning with my 7-year-old son."