80 Russian young adults talk Jewish identity

On the weekend of November 7-9, 2008, 80 Russian Jewish young adults from New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and the Bay Area converged on San Rafael, California to participate in Mitbachon (Hebrew for kitchen cabinet), an educational retreat designed to bring together Russian Jewish young adults from different communities in the US for a weekend of Jewish learning, networking and community building. Of the 80 participants, 40 were from the greater San Francisco Bay Area, at least 10 of them had not participated in any Jewish events before.

The educational program for the retreat was inspired by Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Everything is Illuminated.  This theme was woven into the schedule, linking all workshops and activities into one sequential, virtual journey between the past and the present. Six educational workshops took place simultaneously, allowing participants to choose their topics of interest, engaging with Jewish and Israeli content that is closest to them. Sealing the retreat, an open space discussion debated our Jewish future and the impact we want to pursue. - Alexandra (Sasha) Belinski, Emissary for FSU Emigrés Community of the West Coast, The Jewish Agency for Israel

"[...] it was wonderful to participate in a weekend that got ideas running through my head and inspired me to continue engaging in the Russian Jewish community".

"Dear Sasha and Anya, Thank you very much for an illuminating weekend!  I have truly enjoyed participating in workshops, especially Nata's session on Memory/Architecture and Holocaust [...]." - Jane C.

Mitbachon project is supported by the Jewish Agency for Israel, San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, UJA Federation of New York, Israel Center of SFJCF, Combined Jewish Philanthropies (Boston), Russian Hillel (Chicago), The Genesis Foundation and the Los Angeles BJE