Russian American Jews: A Bright Spot for the Jewish People

Boardwalk in Brighton Beach, an enclave to Russian-American Jews. Photo: wiki commons.

When it comes to Jewish population studies, I am conditioned to expect reports of gloom and doom. Assimilation and intermarriage among non-orthodox Jews has been an unstoppable fact of life in the American melting pot.  The Russian American Jewish community may seem like an unlikely place to look for a bright spot in seeking to secure Jewish continuity, but as I was trying to make sense of the latest UJA-Federation of NY communal study, the numbers seemed to just jump up from the page.

According to the study, which looked at New York’s Jewish population, while the overall intermarriage rate for non-Orthodox Jews continued to increase, Russian Jews living in the New York city area experienced a decrease in intermarriage rates, from 17% in 2002 to 13% in 2011.

Being one of a small number of Russian-speaking Jewish communal professionals, I’m used to hearing all sorts of  stereotypical complaints regarding our community being unresponsive to Jewish educational efforts. We’re accused of being apathetic, deeply secular and allergic to synagogues.  Yet, somehow when it comes to Jewish continuity, a bright spot of sorts was achieved, and if there is one rule for creating real change, it is the importance of being able to find a bright spot and build on it.

Over the past six years 3000 Russian American Jews in the New York area, roughly 10% of the entire target population of marriageable age, have participated in a unique transformational experience organized by our organization, called the RAJE Fellowship program. The semester long program consists of ten, 4.5 hour sessions, two weekend retreats and a two week educational trip to Europe and Israel. Over the course of a single semester the students experience over 250 hours of highly impactful and transformative programming, providing what I believe to be a deeper level engagement then any program of its kind within the Jewish community.  As a direct result, most have remained involved in Jewish communal life by actively participating in follow-up programming or finding alternate venues for engagement within the community; continuing their Jewish education in one form or another and getting involved in Jewish organizations.

A 25% drop in intermarriage within our target population is only the latest indication that something seems to be working right, a bright spot which must not be ignored.  In an American Jewish communal landscape, which is so used to segmenting itself by denominational lines and particulars of religious observance, a very different type of ‘peoplehood centric’ Russian American Jewish community is  emerging. It is a community which can be observed in the hundreds of Russian American Jewish college students and young professionals marching in the Israel day parade. It is a community which united to oppose the anti-Semitic congressional candidate Charles Barron, keeping the focus on his radical antics, with press conferences and countless volunteers getting out the vote – successfully proving that an anti-Semite like him has no place in American Politics.  It is a community where those who observe Shabbat and those who do not, naturally sit at the same Shabbat table and feel a connection to each other which goes far beyond religious particulars.

There are many problems faced by the Jewish people which do not have obvious solutions, where no amount of resources can reasonably ensure a desired outcome.  When it comes to Jewish continuity, at least for the estimated 750,000 Russian Jews in America, a bright spot has emerged, a blueprint which if nurtured and embraced can be scaled both in the New York area and nationwide, strengthening the Jewish people and leading to more positive reports in future communal studies

Rabbi Mordechai Tokarsky is Executive Director of RAJE.