Behind the Headlines: Reform Movement Expanding Presence, Stepping Up Activities in Soviet Union

The Reform movement is stepping up its activity and expanding its presence in the Soviet Union with the establishment of religious schools, adult education classes and new congregations.

The World Union for Progressive Judaism, the Jerusalem-based parent organization of Reform, Liberal and Progressive synagogues world-wide, will open three religious schools this fall, one in Moscow, and two in locations that have not yet been finalized, according to its executive director, Rabbi Richard Hirsch.

The schools, for children from ages 7 through 13, will be run in cooperation with the Association for Jewish Studies and Jewish Culture in the USSR, headed by Valerie Engel.

Classes of 30 students at a time — as many as can be filled — will meet on Sundays and run for most of the day, Hirsch said.

In Moscow, they will be held at a location that has just been rented to temporarily house Hineni, the country’s first Reform congregation.

Hineni was ousted from the facility it was using, called the Poliakov synagogue, during an acrimonious and public feud with Chabad, the Brooklyn-based Lubavitch Hasidic movement. Chabad claimed it was the legitimate heir to the building under the Soviet government’s plan to return Jewish-owned property confiscated under Communist rule to the Jewish community.

On May 7, Moscow’s City Council decided to give the Poliakov synagogue to the Lubavitchers and to find new premises for Hineni.

In the meantime, Hineni has been conducting weekly religious services in a Moscow apartment, with 50 or 60 people crowding into a small living room to attend, Hirsch said.

He was in New York for a brief stop after a visit to the Soviet Union, where he arranged the new home for Hineni.

CULTURAL CENTER PLANNED

Hirsch said the World Union agreed to accept either one of two buildings he saw during his Moscow visit: a three-story building on Arbat Street or one which he prefers, a two-story structure on Amalya Bronnaya Street.

The final decision will be made by the Moscow City Council, which is supposed to have an answer by the end of July.

Both buildings have over 21,000 square feet of space and are “considerably larger than the Poliakov synagogue,” Hirsch said.

Whichever one the Moscow City Council selects, the Reform movement will pay to renovate, which will require “considerable investment,” Hirsch said.

Since other premises will need to be found for the Soviet government-authorized offices currently occupying both of the selected buildings, and the extensive renovations either building requires will take some time, it may be a year or more before the facilities are ready for Hineni, Hirsch said.

The facility he prefers, on Amalya Bronnaya Street, was formerly the Rosenbloom Music School, which was run by Jews, and is on a major thoroughfare. The building on Arbat Street is in an “unsavory” neighborhood, Hirsch said.

Once the new site is selected and renovated, it will be turned into a Jewish cultural center, as well as Hineni’s home.

The planned center is expected to attract thousands of Jews to a library and museum for Judaica, meeting areas for conferences and cultural events, and activities, including lectures, concerts, films and theatrical productions, in addition to religious services, Hirsch said.

It will enable “the majority of Jews (in Moscow) who still have not had contact with anything Jewish” to “come out of the woodwork” and explore their identity, he said.

TEACHERS TRAINING IN ISRAEL

Circles of Progressive Jews are also being established in Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Odessa, Riga, Tallinn, and the smaller cities of Chernovtsy, Narva and Rostov, according to Hirsch.

“We have prepared a charter for these groups,” he said. “We are drawing plans to create a national structure of Progressive Jewish congregations and congregations in formation.”

The World Union’s associate coordinator for the development of Progressive Judaism in the Soviet Union, Mark Rykel, will soon visit the active communities in the Soviet Union.

The World Union has also flown 25 Soviet Jews to Israel, where they are attending a three-week seminar at Beit Shmuel in Jerusalem, the organization’s headquarters.

Participants will return to the Soviet Union to teach in the educational classes for adults and the Sunday school programs for children that have recently been launched in various Soviet cities, Hirsch said. They also will serve as community and congregational leaders.

Next month the World Union will sponsor a 10-day adult summer camp in the Soviet Union for 25 to 30 potential leaders of Progressive groups. Staffers from the World Union’s head-quarters will travel from Jerusalem to Moscow to teach in the camp.

Both of the programs have been partially funded by a leadership development grant from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.