20 • S d bS°utheasternidgVirginia JewishileNeWs ith h May 22,g1998
Ruflfila, U. . fitu entfl r e m fi w new exc an e
By Rebecca Segall their parents; and it seemed that 'Sometimes we do get a little Weiner, an American who made otherwise are very hard to reach
they were hungry for a modern, family support. My very secular aliyah to Israel and now heads from Moscow," he said.
NEW YORK, (JTA) - It was intellectual type of religiosity, grandmother was excited about special projects at the Moscow Amir Shaviv, JDC s assistant
hard to imagine tbat the two sets In one instance, all but one of the Pesach seder this year." office of the JDC. executive vice president for spe-
of students - talking face to face - the students from the Conserva- Most of the American stu- Video conferencing will help cial operations, said after observ-
were thousands of miles apart, tive movement's rabbinical semi- dents in the room devote their American Jews better understand ing the exchange in New York:
Looking at each other on a big nary agreed that they were raised lives to Jewish causes - many of the complexities and nuances of "The students in Moscow were
television screen, a dozen Jewish in homes where Judaism was them to helping Russian Jews. the Russian Jewish experience, exposed to a group of future rab-
Russian university students in 'important." As the camera was turned off he said. bis, men and women, from plu-
Moscow and twice as many Jew-
ish Theological Seminary stu-
dents in New York City shared
illuminating anecdotes.
The video-conference conver-
sation - albeit focused on the
uniqueness of Jewish identity in
Russia - was marked by unex-
pected similarities:
Almost all of the students
shared the experience of being
more religiously identified than
The Russians laughed.
"Our families think we're
crazy for talking about mitzvot
(commandments) and our Jewish
roots," said Anna Neistat, the
Moscow moderator who is a
graduate of Project Judaica - a
joint academic venture of JTS,
the YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research in New York and the
Russian State University for the
Humanities in Moscow.
But smiles spread throughout
the room in New York as well.
"My parents think I'm crazy,
too," whispered a student of Jew-
ish education at JTS.
But it was evident that for the
Russians, the phenomenon of
Jewish renewal is more intense.
"My husband and I try to keep
mitzvot like kashrut," said Anya
Sorokina, a fourth-year student
of Project Judaica in Moscow.
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after an hour of dialogue, the
American students kvelled at
how inspiring the discussion
was. The same was true in
Moscow.
The video conference pro-
gram - this was the third such
exchange - is sponsored by the
American Jewish Joint Distribu-
tion Committee and JTS.
People in the United States
"know virtually nothing about
the social and academic Jewish
reality" in Russia, said Eugene
For the Russians, the confer-
ence represents unprecedented
opportunities to connect with the
Jewish academic and religious
world, he said.
"We could have interactive
video seminars on holidays and
classical Jewish texts," said
Weiner, a Conservative rabbi
who was one of the catalysts
behind the video conferencing
project.
"This medium can be used to
hold seminars with people who
Docent Terry Sarfan takes 3rd grade class of Hebrew Acedemy of
Tidewater through the Damascus Gate
ralistic backgrounds and different
upbringings. That is a significant
message."
In Moscow, Neistat said to the
JTS students as she closed the
session, "We hope you come
here to Moscow, and continue to
teach us, and we hope you get
something from us, too."
(JTA correspondent
Lev Krichevsky in Moscow
contributed to this report.)
Jerusalem
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
on interactive manner." Ms. Lan-
dres was assisted by 28 volunteer
docents who gave of their time to
take groups on tours of the gates,
and enriched the learning experi-
ence of those who attended the
three week exhibit. The people who
toured were able to write a prayer
and place it in the wall of the Kotel,
touch some of the artifacts and learn
about archaeological digs and see
the art and literature from the area.
A favorite stop was the shuk, or
marketplace. There people got to
see products found in the USA in
their Hebrew packaging, as well as
some native clothing and head cov-
erings. Additionally, the children
were able to make a hamsa, a
mizrah, or a mosaic to take home
with the
The Hrginian-PtTot provided on-
line experience for the students and
adults who went through the exhibit.
Through the Pilot On//ne project, stu-
dents were able to access the intemet
and fnd but what was going on in
Israel through various websites.
j
Children creating s mosaic in the Lion's Gate
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