Shavuah Tov Virtual World

Shavua tov virtual world! And shabbat shalom!

We spent Shabbat with our Kazakhstani peers at our woodsy “hotel,” singing songs and thinking about what Judaism means to all of us. It wasn’t quite the traditional American Shabbat we were used to, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t any less spiritual.

Something I’ve learned after spending a week here and talking to some new friends is that Judaism in Kazakhstan is seen in an entirely different light than Judaism in America. After years of Communism and religious suppression, Judaism is just beginning to emerge in the mainstream. Additionally, many of our Kazakhstani peers have only recently found out that they are Jewish, something almost every American Jew knows immediately from birth. Our parents are Jewish, our grandparents are Jewish, and our great-grandparents are Jewish. But in Kazakhstan, it is an entirely new ballgame. One girl in my work group found out she was Jewish two years ago — and she’s 18 years old. Because of this, they don’t have the same foundation in Jewish tradition. But their desire to learn about their world and their religion is inspiring. It has shown me that I may be taking my Jewish upbringing for granted and Judaism isn’t just what I see in the American movement.

On Friday afternoon my work group went to the JCC here and watched the children in the daycare program celebrate Shabbat; they lit candles, blessed the wine, and ate challah. Then they sang traditional Shabbat songs, songs I too sing at home. On a trip where we hadn’t had too much of a Jewish connection to our Kazakhstani peers, it was refreshing to see the future of the Almaty Jewish community interested in their religion and expressing it. This was only continued back at the hotel where we celebrated Shabbat as a group. We didn’t do traditional Friday night services, but I still had the same Shabbat feeling that I get at home. We taught each other songs and talked about Shabbat. We also went around the room and said what our favorite part of our week had been so far, all the while throwing a string around the room to create a giant web connecting each of us to each other. Rachel talked about how we all came here as individual people completely separate but now we sat there connected and intertwined through our experiences.

On Saturday morning, we read the Torah portion in Russian and English and talked a little about what it meant and how it related to us as Jews. What does Israel mean to us? Should every Jew go there? Why or why not? What is our responsibility to Israel? Later on in the day we had a small Maccabiah, with sack races, relays, darts, and a tug-o-war. There was a final match of Kazakhstanis vs. Americans in volleyball, with Kazakhstan emerging triumphantly, 3-0.

We concluded our day with havdalah, standing in a group, saying the brachot, passing the spices, and putting out the candle. It was the end to a day that cemented us as friends and brought us together. Again, we had come here as separate groups but had emerged as friends. We might not always be able to speak the same language, but we can get past that roadblock and connect through laughing, simple words, and common activities. And if we can learn from each other while doing it, even better.

-Sarah