Issue # 369

Issue #369 – 29 October 2009 / 11 Heshvan 5770

IN THIS SPECIAL ISSUE:

WORLD UNION DELIVERS ON ITS PROMISE AND DEDICATES NEW MOSCOW CENTER

NEXT WEEK’S URJ BIENNIAL TO FEATURE WORLD UNION-LED TWINNING WORKSHOP

UPCOMING EVENTS




WORLD UNION DELIVERS ON ITS PROMISE AND DEDICATES NEW MOSCOW CENTER

World Union for Progressive Judaism recently opened L’dor v’Dor (From Generation to Generation), a new Jewish community center and synagogue in the heart of Moscow. The event marks the completion of the first stage of a World Union building commitment to the growth of Progressive Judaism in the FSU.

The Moscow center was dedicated in a joyous ceremony on October 8. From the opening shofar blast it was the true celebration of a dream realized, proving that at a time when other Jewish organizations are cutting back, the World Union is one of the few that is delivering on what it promises – clear evidence of a true commitment to its mission statement: “To build and connect Progressive Jewish communities worldwide.”

“While many other Jewish organizations are struggling to reinvent themselves, focusing on survival and restructuring, I am happy to report that the World Union for Progressive Judaism has stayed true to our mission and maintained focus on our core values,” said Steve Bauman, the organization’s chairman.


Rabbi Sasha Lyskovoy provides a traditional blast of the shofar (left) before World Union chairman Steve Bauman delivers greetings.

The six donors who made this remarkable achievement possible were Sue and Jimmy Klau, and Anne Molloy and Henry Posner III from the USA, who funded the purchase; and Ed and Svetlana Kaufman from Moscow, who underwrote the renovation.


Jimmy and Sue Klau.



Henry Posner III and Anne Molloy.



Ed and Svetlana Kaufman.

With them at the Thursday evening dedication ceremony were Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari; World Union leaders Steve and Ina Bauman, Austin and Nani Beutel, Jim Heeger and Darryl Messenger; Steve Schwager, chief executive of the Joint Distribution Committee; Michael Steiner, representing the Pittsburg Federation; World Union professional staff members Shai Pinto, Rabbi Joel Oseran, Alex Kagan, and FSU-based rabbis Sasha Lyskovoy and Leonid Bimbat; as well as over 120 invited congregational and community leaders and dignitaries from the FSU and abroad.

There were also greetings by Ambassador Azari; Irina Cherban, chair of the Union of Congregations for Progressive Judaism in Russia; and Novruz Mamedov and Gene Moldavsky, local Jewish leaders and supporters of the project; and special moments of recognition of the principal contributors.

The dedication was followed by Shabbat and Simchat Torah worship the next evening and on Saturday.

“It was a wonderful sight to watch Sue and Jimmy, Anne and Henry, and Svetlana and Ed, along with Nani and Austin Beutel, and both Rabbi Sasha Lyskovoy and Rabbi Leonid Bimbat, carry the Torah scrolls under a tallit chupah into the sanctuary as we began the first ever religious service to take place in our new Moscow home,” said to Rabbi Joel Oseran, World Union vice president for international development. “It was a wonderful occasion made all the more special by the fact that Austin and Nani were able to carry the very same Torah scroll they delivered to our Moscow congregation nearly 10 years ago as a gift from their home congregation, Temple Sinai of Toronto.”

The Thursday dedication ceremony launched the new facility, Oseran added, “but the Shabbat and Simchat Torah celebrations that followed truly brought it to life.”


Rabbis Sasha Lyskovoy (right) and Leonid Bimbat carry the congregation’s Torah scrolls into the new sanctuary under a tallit chupah held by the donors


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NEXT WEEK’S URJ BIENNIAL TO FEATURE WORLD UNION-LED TWINNING WORKSHOP

Next Friday morning, at the Union for Reform Judaism biennial in Toronto, representatives of the World Union will conduct a workshop titled “The Rich Rewards of Congregational Twinning.” The emphasis will be on relationships between North American congregations and Progressive communities worldwide, using the successful model of twinning programs with Progressive congregations in the former Soviet Union.

The panel will include Rabbi Joel Oseran, the World Union’s vice president for international development; Helene Waranch, chairwoman of its North American Council; Kathryn Michael, project director for its European Region and coordinator of Exodus 2000, which helps twin UK and FSU congregations; and Cherie Half, a member of Congregation Beth Am of Los Altos Hills, California, and a leader of its successful twinning program with the Progressive congregation (also named Beth Am) in Poltava, Ukraine. 

The World Union encourages biennial participants from outside North America to take part in the workshop in order to add their own perspectives on twinning. It promises to be a very worthwhile convention activity.

For information on ways your congregation can establish ties with Reform and Progressive congregations around the globe, contact the World Union’s Jerusalem office at wupjis@wupj.org.il.


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UPCOMING EVENTS

November 4-8, 2009 – Biennial of the Union for Reform Judaism, Toronto, Canada

January 28-31, 2010 – Union of Jewish Communities in Latin America Biennial, Panama

January 28-February 7, 2010 – Beutel Seminar for Progressive Jewish Leaders, Jerusalem

March 4-7, 2010 – European Region Biennial Conference, Paris, France

April 16-18, 2010 – Liberal Judaism Biennial Weekend, England

May 14-16, 2010 – Biennial of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism, Durban

May 28-29, 2010 – Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism Biennial, Israel

November 25-28, 2010 – Biennial conference of the Union for Progressive Judaism in Australia, Asia and New Zealand, Canberra, Australia

February 7-13, 2011 – CONNECTIONS 2011, USA





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