Group Bar/Bat Mitzvah Ceremony is First for Youth in Russian Far East

"I want my bonds with the Jewish community to grow stronger day by day," said one teenage boy who participated in the project. "I have been a consumer of the services that the Jewish community has been providing to me. Now I want to — and can — help."

The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Project grew out of a JDC Board mission to Siberia in the fall of 2004. Seeing the opportunity to provide further Jewish renewal to the region, JDC Board member Elaine, with support from her home community in California, acted on her vision to enable youth in the Russian Far East, who had never experienced the monumental lifecycle event of Bar/Bat Mitzvah, to study Jewish tradition and publicly declare themselves Jewish adults.

"When Elaine visited in the fall, she asked me whether I’d had a Bar Mitzvah and was very much surprised to hear the truth that I had not," explained Ilya, leader of the Khabarovsk chapter of Hillel, a youth club currently helping to foster Jewish renewal for some 10,000 students through 27 chapters in the FSU. "When she suggested organizing this ceremony here, at least for us, I said, ‘Isn’t it too late for us?’ She smiled and responded, ‘It is never too late. I had a Bat Mitzvah when I was in my sixties.’"

With Elaine’s initiation, in November 2004, a list of young community members who would participate in the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Project was compiled. In preparation for the group ceremony, Vladimir, a Jewish educator from Tomsk, designed a course of study, and materials were sent to the community centers in Khabarovsk, Birobidjan and Vladivostok. Directors of Jewish renewal programs at these centers helped to familiarize the Bar/Bat Mitzvah candidates with Jewish topics, preparing their minds and souls for this momentous occasion.

Months of organization culminated in a five-day event, from June 28 - July 2, coordinated by JDC’s Krasnoyarsk office, in cooperation with local Jewish organizations. Twenty participants traveled from Birobidzhan, the Stalin-era Jewish autonomous republic, 20 took an overnight train from the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, and 21 were from the Hillel in the host city, Khabarovsk.

In the first three days, the students received intensive preparation for their B’nei Mitzvah — from two young rabbis from the U.S. — including lectures, games, singing, prayer study, discussions and a ceremony rehearsal. On Friday, a Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony, replete with the singing of traditional Jewish nigunim (tunes), was celebrated by the participants and their parents at the synagogue. The families returned to the shul on Saturday morning to witness many future leaders of the Jewish community become B’nai Mitzvah.

"After this ceremony you are not only adults, you are real community members, real helpers to your community," said Lev, Director of the Birobidjan Jewish center. And from the essays they prepared by the Bar/Bat Mitzvah candidates, it was evident that they understood the ceremony’s significance.

"Before this moment my parents were responsible for me, for both good and bad things I used to do," said Sarvat, one of the Bat Mitzvah candidates, to an audience of 120 guests. "If I got a good grade, people would say I had great parents. If I acted out in school, people would think it was because my parents did something wrong. Now I feel that I am responsible for myself, and this is great."

Echoing this sentiment, one of the participants said, "Inside myself I have become an adult and this is very important because it will be in a different way that I assess myself and my plans for the future."

Still others expressed an eagerness to take on living actively as Jews, above all else. "This is a transition into adult age. It is very important for me, as a Jewish girl, to be allowed to light the Shabbat candles and observe this main tradition of any Jewish home," added a female celebrant.

Many days of festivities culminated in an emotional Havdalah ceremony at the Khabarovsk Hillel, followed by a conversation with the program’s benefactor. The students asked Elaine to recall the moment in her life when she realized that she wanted to help Jews around the world. "I have always been active within the Jewish community and it is quite natural to help," she offered, warmly. "Assisting those in need is an instinct."

And Elaine’s instincts have produced miracles, bringing Yiddishkeit halfway around the globe. "I am certain that every Jewish child all over the entire world should have Jewish education, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah and a Jewish wedding," she said, watching proudly as the participants chanted a prayer. "Though you were the actual participants of the ceremony, you cannot even imagine how special it feels to watch you."

For entire communities in the Russian Far East, celebrating the B’nei Mitzvah of dozens of Jewish youth became more than a fleeting occasion — it served as an invitation for participants and other local youngsters to become connected to their fellow Jews. "When I was told that there was an idea to organize a Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony for some 60 youth in Khabarovsk, it sounded like a fantasy to me," said local community chair Mark. "Now I see that it has become a precious reality."

JDC hopes to be able to support similar efforts by local communities in Siberia to revive the tradition of Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the region’s youth.