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OTS Newsletter - Summer/Fall 2005Yachad: Encouraging Israelis to Rediscover their Jewish HeritageWorking as "Jewish Renewal Facilitators" in community centers across Israel, Straus Seminary graduates are promoting Jewish unity and stemming alienation by approaching secular Israelis on their own terms. An extraordinary phenomenon is taking place in cities across Israel: over 10,0000 secular adults, teenagers and children are eagerly participating in innovative activities centering around Jewish themes. The spark for their newfound interest in Judaism? A group of educators and rabbis from the Joseph Straus Rabbinical Seminary’s Yachad program, who are specially trained to encourage non-observant Israelis to reclaim and cherish their Jewish heritage in an accepting and non-coercive environment.
Working within the nation-wide framework of the Israeli Association of Jewish Community Centers, these Yachad innovators are filling the newly-created position of "Jewish Renewal Facilitator" at the JCCs. Their goal: promoting Jewish unity, stemming alienation and approaching the Israeli public on its own terms, through creative, non-judgmental educational and social activities. “Bridging the religious and secular communities is very important to me,” says Noam Kriegman, 28, a former high school teacher who now runs Jewish programming for the community center in Ariel. “Many Israelis are hungry to learn more about Judaism without feeling threatened. They would like to feel part of a community. We are providing them with a framework in which they can take a new look at the world around them.” One of Kriegman's first steps in community building was establishing “The Women’s Circle,” a weekly encounter for a group of 30 women - some two thirds of whom define themselves as secular, and the others observant - who meet to examine a specific Biblical theme through a uniquely female lens. These discussions launch into conversations related to current issues that concern them all, such as raising children and family values. "The group has become a small community in itself - warm, unified, truly pluralistic and held together by deep friendships," the facilitator reports. The women have also brought their families together for special activities, such as a weekend retreat in Safed that featured a marriage workshop incorporating classical Jewish sources, and a tour of Jerusalem with a visit to Yitzhak Rabin's grave that triggered a discussion on the Jewish response to anger and violence. Each week, Kriegman also leads a group of senior citizens in studying the weekly Torah portion, and holds special activities for Rosh Hodesh and holidays. “Participants are not observant Jews, but they are enjoying the exposure to Jewish culture and Jewish values, and the examination of Judaism from a fresh perspective,” Kriegman observes. Exchanging Ideas
All Yachad participants undergo a year of training at to prepare them for work with people ranging in age from kindergarten to senior citizen, stresses Rabbi Gedalia Peterseil, the program's coordinator. Once they assume their positions, the Jewish Renewal Facilitators meet every three weeks with a mentor from the Israeli JCC administration and maintain constant contact among themselves to share ideas and experiences. Like Noam Kriegman, Avi Kaddish, 37, the facilitator in Karmiel, has initiated an encounter group for women. He also runs a family program every Sunday with culturally-related programs for parents and young children, is training 50 young youth leaders to organize activities that can spark Jewish identity, and is working with a nearby secular kibbutz to plan Jewish-oriented programming. Kaddish aims to guide participants into becoming volunteers for Karmiel's elderly and needy; “social action is a natural outgrowth of the study of Jewish sources,” he maintains. In preparation for the recent Shavuot holiday, Yachad facilitators ran a wide range of programming that included evenings of study and song for members of religious and secular youth movements, performances for children, and study sessions for adults on modern-day issues related to Megilat Ruth, such as assimilation or leaving the Land of Israel. In the Ramla area, facilitator Ariel Liebowitz helped several local schools organize special, school-wide activity days focusing on the holiday. In fact, Leibowitz has instituted monthly fairs in the schools, with activities based on the holidays that are coming in that month. “I begin by meeting with the staff, and together we create events which activate the entire student body,” he explains. “At first the staff of the schools was hesitant and suspicious of my motives, but eventually they saw the value in making sure their students - the future leaders of our country - had a strong connection to their Judaism and their roots.” Other Yachad facilitators across Israel have initiated a wide range of innovative programming, such as:
Eli Gur, director of the Jewish Community Renewal Department of the Israeli Association of Jewish Community Centers, is enthusiastic about the joint project with OTS. “We place the highest value upon combining the world of community affairs with the world of Torah," he says. "Yachad has involved thousands of Israelis-among them a high percentage of olim-in JCC-sponsored activities that acquaint Jews with their heritage and history. The JCC Association looks upon Yachad as a hothouse for cultivating community leadership,” he continues. “The concept of Jewish community organizers, which is well known in North America, is not yet widespread in Israel. We see the Jewish Renewal Facilitators as filling this role here, acting as catalysts for unity and promoting new Jewish leadership across Israel.”
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