(Susan)

Jewish Lesbians, Treblinka & Miniskirts, do you have any idea what I am getting at?

Probably not…. as neither did I and that was just the introduction…

I was praying that anyone slightly conservative or square would have already been deterred from the workshop’s title, “I Knew Nothing: Tales of a Clueless Jew,” and would have otherwise chosen the exciting reading on Родовое кольцо перчатка А.С. Пушкина Мифы и легенды  or Man ist viel zu früh jung…. Since most our participants are over the age of 60 and Russian, there was not much reason to worry.

She was loud, lewd and provocative with her words, as her stream of consciousness retells her life through a funky Jewish lens. After living in Germany for a year, it is easy to forget how much I love to hear and indulge in unrefined banter…  I had the pleasure to work with Susan Jane Gilman, author of Undress me in the Temple of Heaven, Hypocrite in Pouffy White Dress, and Kiss my Tiara. Susan was one of many authors invited to do a reading at a recent book festival I helped to organize in the Duisburg Jewish community in Germany.

For Jews and non-Jews alike, Susan’s voice is a fresh breath and a new perspective of what it means to be Jewish today.  She is honest and undeterred even by exposing herself during her lowest of lows.  As she read from her book, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, a collections of memories that speak to the most feverish highs, lows, and defining points of her life, I couldn’t help but think Hell! this woman has guts and I can’t get enough of her! Hearing her hash out many of the experiences that usually don’t make it into conversation was not just hysterical but inspiring.  Having read her book prior, I felt as though everything she was reciting I had known and felt and at the same time was bursting with excitement to relay my own similar experiences. For me, especially living in Germany, it doesn’t happen often that I find myself in the company of stranger who feels far from strange…

As Susan clarified many times, being clueless can be a natural state of being or unconscious recurrences in life. Society convinces us that we should always pretend we are aware and never to expose our vulnerable moments, particularly the times when we fall hard. Susan let it all out, the good, the bad, and the ugly. She reminded me of the importance of doing so, as we are all human and definitely far from perfect. Everyone does stupid things and at some point in life you have to embrace it and laugh about it. Too many times in life we are convinced to remain clueless, uniformed, and simply neutral, by doing so we miss out on having a Voice and letting it be heard.  

Our Voices are the greatest tools for change.

This Past week was Tu Bishwat. Check out the wonderful photos from our Seder in Bielefeld.  Participants at the Seder were Zadenu families and in addition a few new comers welcomed us! The Seder was led by Rabbi Katz and prepared by my colleagues and me.

Chanukah in the Kita!

Part of my job this year is working at the local Jewish Kindergarten (Kita). For the Kita Chanukah party, I was asked to make Chanukah games that parents and children could play together. Unlike in North America or in Israel, there are very few Jewish education materials that are easily accessible in Germany… I decided to use the game that the kids love best, Memory…! I made a Chanukah memory game using symbols from Chanukah. In addition I also made several different puzzles for kids between the ages of 0 and 5. On a side note, I love that in my job I can find opportunities to be creative and make simple and functional pieces of art.

For the celebration, a TV station came to the Kita and reported on our Chanukah party. The TV crew did not lay low, they got excited quick by the festivities and before long were schmoozing with both the parents and the kids.

Enjoy the photos!

and happy 2012 :)

A year ago I was invited to join a group a people given an ambitious assignment with no defined boundaries or clear goals. We wanted to create ‘something’ that would connect Bar and Bat mitzvah age students from Germany and the US.  Not fully understanding our direction, we let our instincts guide us, and after months of hard work Zadenu took form. The ‘something’ that we had not predicted was a solid community of well-connected parents and teenagers from across Germany.

Last year a young boy in New York decided to do a mitzvah for his Bar mitzvah. He wanted to create a project in Germany, and from his goodwill Zadenu was born. Zadenu, a projected initiated by the Beran family of NY, supported by the JDC, connects families with Bar and Bat mitzvah students from the US and Germany. Zadenu’s main goal is participants, both parents and children, share and learn through each other’s experiences.  Zadenu consists of seminars, meetings, peulot, Shabbat gatherings, attending Bar and Bat mitvahs, and most recently an international Shabbaton weekend in Berlin.

Although it has been said to me many times before, since my arrival in Germany, it was the Zadenu project that physically taught me how community work is done in German.  The three vital components are personal connections, meetings and contact. Many of the participants in Zadenu were just as much estranged from each other as they were from us, the leaders behind the initiative.  Hard work and contact built a community from individuals, as what began as an impossible assignment became possible. As I mentioned in my last blog, FSU Jews in Germany are learning what it means to be Jewish. And as they learn they are redefining German Jewry. It is their kids and their grandchildren who will ultimately give new meaning and life to Judaism in Germany. To have a Bar/Bat mitzvah is not only a new idea in Germany Jewish communities but an essential and defining landmark on one’s Jewish life Journey. It is not just a one day event, but rather a yearlong learning experience that impacts the whole family, prior and long after the Bar/Bat mitzvah day has come and gone.

In Jewish communities in Germany people belong to synagogues and community centers, and it is through their local communities that they become involved in nationwide German Jewish organizations and/or programs. It is rare that people join a group or club that does not already have a strong foot in their community. What the Beran Family and JDC did is unheard of in Germany. Unlike in America, in Germany people do not jump at new opportunities, instead they are more inclined to the familiar. Zadenu was anything but familiar.  Zadenu is successful because it fills a unique gap in Jewish communities across Germany, as it provides a pluralistic experience for the whole family to strengthen Jewish identity. Zadenu may be unique in Germany but not to the work of JDC, as JDC supports programs that fill gaps.  To learn more about the JDC visit their website at, http://www.jdc.org/

Watch out, more Zadenu stories coming soon!

A few weeks ago I began JSC year two. I moved across the country into a guest room above a synagogue, with no internet, in a small German town, where McDonalds is the only place open after 9pm. Although this was only temporary until I found an apartment, I experienced deja vu, and returned to September 12, 2010, the day I first arrived in Berlin.  I was struck like a deer in the headlights.. (as we say in NC, because it happens so often) it finally hit me that I was staying another year in Germany.

The Jewish community I work in serves Jews from various smaller surrounding towns.  The community is a myriad group from Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. Some days I think I should be learning Russian instead of German, and most days I find myself learning more new words in Russian than German…. Over the past 20 or more years, Germany has invited approximately 200,000 Jews (almost 5 times more than the Jewish population before their arrival) from FSU countries to immigrate to Germany on the basis that they are Jewish as declared under Soviet decree (it is worth pointing out that many Jews who came to Germany that were deemed Jewish under Soviet rule are not considered Halachakli Jewish. This is a complicated discussion for another time).  In the Soviet Union, to be Jewish meant to be discriminated against. On ones i.d. card “Jew” was written and consequently you were automatically victimized.  As one father from Kazakhstan explained to me, “because I was a Jew I was discriminated against and even so, I was never allowed to learn what it means to be a Jew. I hope my kids can now learn.” This was from a conversation I had last year when I worked at Bambinim Familyclub, a JDC project in Berlin. The Soviet Union’s restrictions created a culture without a religion and as people started to do without knowing, slowly Jewish knowledge faded.

Recently I was in Skopje, Macedonia, and my friend (who grew up during Tito times) explained to me, “Sarah, it is we who must learn now and teach our parents,” this was from a conversation we had concerning the future of the Jewish community in Skopje, Macedonia. This is also the reality in the community I work in now. The children are pioneers, learning what it means to be Jewish and will redefine German Jewry. The process is slow and many times from an outsiders perspective self-defeating. Having already spent a year in Germany working inside the Jewish community, and observed many different Jewish groups across the religious spectrum, I can say that to be Jewish is not always what we know as American Jews. When Germany invited 200,000 Jews from former Soviet Union countries to come to Germany over the past 20 years or so, the Jewish communities were not prepared to absorb them socially, physically, economically, or politically. On both sides of the spectrum, people were and continue to be slow to new ideas and accepting that a new era of Jewish life is sprouting.

                What does it mean to be Jewish? I ask myself this question a lot lately, sometime multiple times a day, as I am entering a new Jewish world that is foreign to all that I know.  My Jewish identity is different from the people that I recently began to work with. When I ask myself, what does it mean to be Jewish, I am also asking myself, who am I? Where have I come from? And where am I going? My answers are not their answers.  As I begin my second year in Germany, in a new community far from what is familiar, Berlin, I ask myself what it means to be Jewish in Germany today. Berlin was special, as it is an island in Germany, a cosmopolitan city that is like no other city in Germany, which creates a unique, diverse and rich Jewish community.  In my new placement I work with families, children, and youth. I ask myself, what does it mean for this first generation of youth, growing up in a foreign country (Germany) where they were not born, do not have roots, their parents don’t speak the language and have little or no connection to Judaism, and they struggle to not only assimilate but understand how Judaism will be a part of their lives?

                 I hope in the next year that I am able to give new inspiration to Jewish life in the community.  My goals are realistic, as I do not intend to change anyone or anything but I hope through my input, new concepts will be sparked and new attitudes turned. With one year behind me I have learned that my role and my purpose is not to lead but to inspire others around me to lead, to become leaders, to want more, to do more, and ultimately find their place not only in the local community but also in the larger Jewish world. I understand that I am not a permanent force here and what I contribute, I want to last after I am gone.  The problems are not in lack of programing but in changing personal perceptions and stigmas about what it means to be Jewish through better education. Many people are Jewish when they come to the synagogue, but at home or with friends, the part of their identity that is Jewish is not present. This situation is complex and only time will tell how, who, and what the next generation will be.  I myself wonder how they will define Judaism, what they will preserve and what will fade, only to be rediscovered by another generation. Valuing and/or prioritizing Jewish culture and tradition is also for some (the old FSU generation) a new idea, as I learned this past Sunday.  For some children, last Sunday’s singing session at the synagogue about “Santa clause is coming to town” and “the Christmas market” may be the defining Jewish memory they have in 20 years from their childhood days spent at synagogue, but I hope not.  When the teacher began to sing, my mouth dropped open. I was mortified.  These children barley have a connection with Judaism, their parents hardly bring them to synagogue and this is what they are doing… This is just one of the many disconnects you have between the different generations.

I’ll share one more story. This coming weekend I will help to lead a seminar in Berlin. A year ago, I helped to found a project that’s goal is to bring together Bar and Bat mitzvah students from the US and Germany to connect and share experiences regarding Jewish identity. The seminar this weekend is a culmination of many day seminars, online discussions, and Shabbaton from the past year. When we began the project we considered many questions. The hardest question to explain to our American counterparts was why, in a project that focuses on identity through family programming and the Bar and Bat mitzvah process do we not ask specific questions regarding family members. In the US your Jewish identity and family members go hand in hand in conversation but for many Russian families in Germany that is not true. Many Russian families are broken, in more ways than one, and it is a sensitive subject to ask specific questions about the family.  Jewish identity is less rooted in the family and more in the community and ones experiences in the community.  Instead we focus on what is and how to work with the present. Only if someone willing brings forth information than is it open for discussion. 

Coming back to what does it mean to be Jewish? I rarely skip a day were this question doesn’t come up in my mind or in conversation. The people I work with struggle to find their roots and to answer fundamental questions such as who am I, where have I come from and where I am going.  Time will eventually tell, how they will define themselves personally and in society and whether or not it is through their past, present, or future…

A lot has happened since I last blogged! In the past two months the new fellow has arrived and three generations of JSC fellows have crossed paths in Berlin. Upon Yahel’s arrival we, Molly and I, decided to do what we do best… Make a delicious breakfast! Below are photos from Yahel’s arrival! 

Yahel’s Arrival, making biscuits at 7am! 

the breakfast table! We are ready to eat, as always

Biscuits going into the Oven. 

Biscuits in the Oven.. yumm

Machene is Amazing!

I spent the last two weeks at UPJ Netzer Germany’s summer camp in Radstadt, Austria (UPJ Netzer is a youth movement of liberal Judaism). Although I had received several emails prior to camp with details regarding location and climate, I had not read close enough….

Day 1:  By mid-afternoon, kids and madrichim spanning all corners of Germany had finally arrived in Munich. Shortly after 3pm, we made our way onto two large buses and the final stretch of our journey began. As the bus began to roll, I fell asleep and two hours later, I woke up as we were winding into the Alps, crossing through narrow passages and steep land formations. Classic Sarah!  I had forgotten to check the location, and to my surprise I was about to spend the next two weeks in the most beautiful place (something out of the Sound of Music) I had ever been before. Machene sat in a valley surrounded by stark green hills and snowcapped mountains that rolled into the Austrian Alps.  

And so it began, with one thought, with one word, Machene is Amazing!

Having grown up in a Reform community and youth movement in the USA, Netzer machene was not familiar but felt like home.  Over the past six years I have worked in several Jewish communities in the USA and around the world, but never did I form a connection of personal belonging. Although I entered as an outsider, I left feeling an immense sense of pride for Netzer, for their incredible work to cultivate and maintain Jewish identity for German Jews, many of whom are new to Germany and have limited social and economic means. Over twenty years prior, Germany invited about 200,000 Jews from Former Soviet Union countries to immigrate to Germany. This population continues to struggle with issues of integration not only in German society but also in the Jewish community. Netzer’s model of Liberal Judaism overcomes social, cultural, and economic barriers that traditionally divide German Jews from German Jews of Russian background.  My experience at Netzer machene has empowered me to dedicate my time, skills and experience to strengthening Jewish communities. As an American Jew, growing up in a melting pot of Jewish resources and organizations, it is sometimes too easy to forget the difficulties faced in the Diaspora.  

Maybe it was the liberal lens or the diverse background of madrichim and chanichim or perhaps the desire by all to create community or rather something I can’t explain, but for the first time since living in Israel, Jewish boarding school, or my family, I felt, I heard, I saw, I smelled, I tasted, and I believed I was a part of something incredible.  Words cannot describe my experience with the Netzer community, as it reminded me of the feelings, smells, friendships, laughter, and love I felt during countless summers at Young Judea summer camp. During my childhood and for the children at Netzer, Machene is a powerful reminder of who you are, your community, and the values, morals, and goals that are most important in life.  

This past weekend was Limmud! A four day festival of Jewish learning, at a beautiful campsite, just north of Berlin. Early Thursday morning I set out with the Bambinim Team and some volunteers who joined us for the weekend. Bambinim Familyclub ran the kids program for children ages 0 to 6 at Limmud.  

Blessing the Shabbat candles.

Making ceramics with Chaim!

Shabbat Shalom!

Afternoon Theater by the Kinder!

The Lake!

Last weekend I was invited to join a family weekend in Donauwörth, Germany, organized by Netzer, a youth movement from the Union of Progressive Judaisms. I organized and ran the children’s program. Check out my pictures from the weekend!