Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on December 20, 2014

What Lures Ex-Soviets to Most American Branch of Faith?

david bachar/haaretz

Published December 20, 2014.

(Haaretz) When worshippers arrive for Friday-night services at Israels newest Reform congregation, they dont greet one another in Hebrew. Not in English either, as they would in some of the more established Reform congregations founded by Anglophone immigrants around the country.

At this brand-new congregation in Tel Aviv suburb Ramat Gan, Russian rules. Not only is it the mother tongue of every single worshipper showing up for services, its the language in which many of the prayers are recited and the rabbis sermon is delivered.

Set up specifically to serve Russian speakers, the congregation doesnt yet have a name, but it already has a core of 35 members who attend the traditional Kabbalat Shabbat prayer service every other Friday night.

And its not the first to target this particular audience. Four years ago, Shirat Hayam-Carmel in Haifa paved the way, and plans are on tap to set up similar congregations in two other cities with large Russian-speaking enclaves: Beer Sheva and Ashdod.

Reaching out to this community is a key strategy for us in the coming years, says Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Reform movement in Israel.

To be sure, its not a mass movement. Gregory Kotler, the rabbi of both congregations, estimates that several hundred members of this community at some level or another have been brought into the fold in recent years. But like Kariv, he believes the potential goes way beyond that.

To outsiders, it would appear to be an anomaly. After all, how does a Jewish religious movement that made its way to Israel via America end up appealing to immigrants with roots in the atheistic Soviet Union?

Continued here:
How Russian Jews Fell in Love With Reform Movement in Israel

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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