Hillel Minsk’s successful “Jewish Education for Beginners” series reaches wide audience

Hillel Minsk (Belarus) received an NCEJ grant to support its “Jewish Education for Beginners” series which ran from January-June 2019. There were 17 meetings (workshops, excursions, seminars, and trips) attended by more than 60 participants who were originally unfamiliar with Jewish culture or traditions. There are estimated to be between 10,000-20,000 Jews in Belarus, out of a total population of about 9.5 million.

The director, Alena Kuliounich, used games, cooking, outings, and other activities to educate and engage participants.

“They were ready to explore themselves a wonderful world which is called Judaism”

Following are some of the highlights from her report to NCEJ, in her own words.

Program Highlights

Jewish vocabulary – First we made a short introduction to the Jewish Community of Belarus, Jewish organizations and their role. Then in the form of a game we introduced main definitions which we use during Shabbats, meetings and holidays.

Jewish Holidays and their stories – We chose main Jewish holidays and suggested to make a calendar of holidays, representing each holiday in the form of a story and every participant was a character in this story.

Seder Pesach – Every part of the Seder was prepared by our guests. They made every dish themselves, studied the history of the holiday and learned new facts about History and Traditions of Pesach. It was the best way to remember all of them and be a part of the whole process of the holiday.

People learn from Holocaust – We suggested participants join a big commemorative concert as volunteers so they could communicate with ghetto victims and listen to their stories. Later our participants started to visit these elderly people, bring them flowers or fruits, help them celebrate Jewish holidays.

Charity in Judaism – One of the meetings was dedicated to the role of Hesed (good deeds) in Judaism. As a result of this meeting we initiated a charitable evening in the community for one of the members who suffered from cancer and needed help to take therapy which costs a lot.

Meet a Rabbi – None of the participants ever met a Rabbi… And the meeting took place in the café which seemed very strange for our students as they believed a myth that a Rabbi is a strict and old person who does not talk to young people… Imagine their surprise when both Rabbi and his wife spent the whole evening with us telling about their life, their family, and answering all their questions.

You are always welcome to a Synagogue – We decided to make a trip and visit a synagogue in Bobruisk. The Rabbi is very open and our participants fell in love with him from the first word. He made an excursion for us and told about all unknown things in the synagogue (believe me, there were a lot of them). Then we had a lesson with Rabbi for people who come to the synagogue for the first time.

Judaism is everywhere – To make Jewish culture closer for people we decided to show them that it is everywhere, that every day we meet it and don’t pay attention. That is why we made a series of outdoor meetings for our participants:

Judaism in Art. We visited an exhibition of Salvador Dali…And what a surprise was for the participants when we showed them his series of works which is called “12 Tribes of Israel”.

Judaism in Literature. As there are a lot of Jewish poets in the former USSR countries we decided to make a literature evening and announced a contest for reciting poems of Jewish authors.

Judaism in Music. And one more meeting which was presented in the form of an old Jewish Soviet flat, where people used to listen secretly to the Jewish songs and stories…We were having rehearsals for weeks and finally an old-styled evening (party) with costumes and Jewish music happened. Participants were singing and playing their roles as if they used to live some 50-60 years ago.

Secrets of Shabbat/Secrets of Havdallah – And finally we had Shabbat and Havdallah with our participants who were ready to hear words which used to be unfamiliar, to sing all melodies, which used to be unknown. These were amazing ceremonies as totally new people took part in them. They felt every moment and every word, every story and (it seems to me) even candles were burning as bright as never before.

Impact of Program

Director Kuliounich says that as a result of the program:

“They have become more active in the Jewish Community and more educated in the sphere of Jewish Education… We have a great desire to continue the project as every day we have new people who have potential and desire to grow.”

“As a result of a balanced combination of educational, entertaining, and volunteering parts the number of participants grow, our students get to know Jewish traditions better, (and) new students come and start keeping traditions.”

Photos above courtesy of Hillel Minsk, from the project “Jewish Education for Beginners.” Thanks to the group for sharing!

GRANT NEWS

15% Bonus for applications submitted by 2/28/2020 for Judaism 101 programs that begin in 2020

NCEJ is offering a 15% bonus for grants for marketing and other eligible expenses for introduction to Judaism classes and similar programs that start in 2020. To qualify for the bonus, applications must be received by February 28, 2020. NCEJ grants are designed to welcome new people to Judaism. Programs are not limited to the US — NCEJ currently funds programs in Israel, the UK, Canada, Spain, Poland, Latvia, and several other Eastern European countries. For details visit our site or contact Ellen Gerecht, Executive Director.

Jewish Federations of North America awards subgrants to 5 communities

JFNA received a grant from NCEJ to support programs geared primarily for interfaith families in small to medium sized cities. Five federations were recently awarded subgrants: Atlantic/Cape May Counties, NJ; Dayton, OH; Grand Rapids, MI; Las Vegas, NV; New Orleans, LA.
Contact Beth Cousens, Associate VP, Jewish Education and Engagement, for more information about this program. Read her E-Jewish Philanthropy article about Jewish engagement and education.

Recent Grants

• Shir Hadash- Los Gatos, CA
• Temple B’nai Israel – Monroe, LA
• Town and Village Synagogue – New York City
• Keneseth Israel – Allentown, PA
• Virginia Tech Hillel – Blacksburg, VA
• Bet Chaverim Community Synagogue South King County – WA

Want to know more about the type of programs we fund?

Check out our updated website. It’s chock-full of useful information on our goals, eligibility guidelines, deadlines, and much more. Take some time and browse our site.

If you have questions about anything you see, contact Ellen Gerecht, Executive Director or call 301-802-4254.