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Volume 1, Number 2 • Spring 2001 • Sivan 5761 |
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Two young women, Aleksandra Ushakova and Inna Golbereg, were called to the Torah this year in celebration of becoming a bat mitzvah. Aleksandra and her family are members of Congregation Shaarei Shamayim in Brooklyn, New York. Inna and her family are members of Jüdische Gemeinde Hameln, in Hameln, Germany. Both young women are recent émigrés from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and are members of congregations that are being assisted by the Jewish Appleseed Foundation.
Both congregations are composed almost entirely of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Both are “liberal,” they are led by talented female lay leaders, and they are about five years old. For both congregations, this was the first bat mitzvah in their history, but there the similarity ends.
Brooklyn, New York — Congregation Shaarei Shamayim is a Russian-speaking congregation in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Its founder and lay leader, Natasha Shiryeyeva, grew up in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. Under her leadership, the congregation offers regular Shabbat services, holiday celebrations, adult education, and life cycle officiation. Shaarei Shamayim hopes to retain its Russian language and traditions while reaching out to new immigrants from the FSU who live in the New York area.
Although it is five years old, the congregation still lacks the financial resources to make major steps forward in its development, i.e., a permanent home, and the establishment of a religious school. With help from the Jewish Appleseed Foundation, Shaarei Shamayim is now seeking a permanent home so that it can expand its programming and offer more services to its members. One key to a permanent home is the acquisition of grant money. This past winter, several major grant proposals were written by JAF on behalf of Shaarei Shamayim. It is hoped that this effort will be effective not only in generating "rent money" but also in producing funds to help expand the congregation’s program offerings.
Shaarei Shamayim’s greatest challenge is to develop a capable lay management team. (Because few Jews from the FSU have had any synagogue experience, they often lack a fundamental knowledge of effective synagogue organization.) A new program proposed by the Jewish Appleseed Foundation will bring together professionals — social workers, fund raisers, executive directors of congregations, management consultants, rabbis, and cantors — to introduce the ABCs of congregational management to Shaarei Shamayim’s most promising lay leaders.
Hameln, Germany — Jüdische Gemeinde Hameln (JGH), is a German-speaking congregation that uses both a Russian-Hebrew and a German-Hebrew prayer book for its Shabbat and holiday services. American-born Rachel Dohme is the community’s dynamic founder and leader. Her considerable congregational experience in the United States has enabled her to build a thriving community in this relatively inhospitable environment.
A significant obstacle for Progressive congregations in Germany — including JGH — is that because various government and religious agencies do not recognize Progressive congregations as legitimate Jewish religious organizations, they receive little if any of the tax monies that are allocated to “approved” synagogues. In addition, the organized Jewish establishment is waging an ongoing campaign to drive the Progressive communities out of existence. This harassment has been particularly virulent in Hameln because of JGH’s success in recruiting and retaining its members.
JAF is an active partner with JGH in helping the congregation meet these challenges as well as raising awareness of the problems faced by Jews in Germany today. Both JGH and Shaarei Shamayim must currently look for funds from friends outside their congregational community to provide quality services for their members.
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