Mishmash discovers Kevah text study

By Vera Fishman, member of Mishmash

The Mishmash Kevah group has a special place in the life of the Mishmash community. We are a group of Russian Jewish young adults who were mostly raised in Russian-speaking countries and have little to no formal Jewish education. Though many of us have typically turned away from organized religion, we are comfortable talking about Judaism as a personal identity. So something like "text study" can sound intimidating at first. However, those of us who were curious and open-minded enough to attend the first Kevah session found out that text study can be an intellectual journey and a journey of Jewish questions and values. We all returned for a second session, regardless of our religious practices.

Mishmash Keva's 1st session: Jewish Tradition Series

Studying text for the first time can be a truly eye-opening and liberating experience. The most important thing about Kevah is that it inspires. It turns out that text study is neither boring nor a purely academic experience - it can be fun, it can be challenging, it can be relevant to our daily lives. Kevah makes it possible to focus text study around topics that are most relevant to the group. It is amazing that after each session every one of us leaves wanting more.