Dear friends, your perseverance and professional attitude make a difficult time much easier. Together, we can be stronger for those who need us.

All-Russian Union of Jewish Students

The All-Russian Union of Jewish Students (RUJS) hosted an online meeting with a deputy of the Russian Duma, a member of the State Duma Committee on Health, Boris Mendelevich.

Professor of Tel Aviv University, Director General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, Dr. Haim Ben Yaakov, discussed with students the relationship between Jews and Judaism, nationality and religion.

In cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel (Sokhnut), RUJS held a webinar on internships and studies in Israel. The new online project for spoken Hebrew study is well underway.

Hillel CASE

Hillel Kharkov launched a new regional project “Hillel is everywhere”. Participants share excerpts from their favorite books, quotes, nigunim, and Jewish wisdom on the project’s Telegram channel. Each week, the coordinator of educational programs presents a weekly Torah portion. The number of project participants is growing every day.

More than 400 students took part in an online lecture and conversation with the renowned psychologist Igor Geller. The Hillel Talks project also hosted online meeting with Nathan Sharansky.

The Quiz Box intellectual marathon attracted 85 Jewish teams from seven countries. Congratulations go to Nathan and his team (Kiev) on their victory!

The Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony brought together students from the CASE region: 10 online broadcasts, 5 countries, and more than 450 participants! Every Saturday, people share hundreds of photos of their Shabbat celebration, and the Minsk Hillel members even recorded a special Shabbat song.

48 new teams took part in the new and extremely successful Limmud Brain Labs project, which gathered about 300 participants.

Проект Кешер

Project Kesher, an international women’s organization with representation in five countries, has switched to distance learning and communication with its participants. Now, the L’Dor v’Dor webinars bring together Jewish mothers and daughters from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Online classes, training, and masterclasses are aimed at strengthening family relations, Jewish learning, and community activism in local Jewish communities. The number of participants is growing from meeting to meeting.

Еврейская община Грузии 

The Jewish Cultural and Educational Foundation (JCC Tbilisi) twice a week offers online lessons for kids by the Shalom Sesame program and the Mishpakha family club meetings, including Jewish learning and Hebrew lessons. The Jewish University classes have moved online and continued as scheduled.

The Jewish Youth Club arranges regular Zoom-meetings, and the School of Madrihim offers online lectures weekly. Sunday school and sports training also continue online.

Еврейская община Молдовы

The Jewish community of Moldova launched a new Telegram channel reporting about the communal social and charitable activities during the coronavirus shutdown. Here you can also find special safety instructions, addresses from Jewish leaders, community information, and world Jewish news.

Еврейская община Казахстана 

The Jewish community of Kazakhstan holds competitive intellectual games attracting Jewish teams from five countries. The Shalom Family Club continues studying Jewish tradition online while the Rimon community center theater project is already rehearsing a mini-performance for the Shavuot celebration. 

A young volunteer and entomologist, Innokenty Treskunov introduced his rich and unusual collection of insects to virtual visitors from Kazakhstan, Israel, Russia, Moldova, and Germany.

A virtual bakery, organized at the initiative of Almaty and Karaganda synagogues, gathered dozens of the Kazakhstan Jewish communities’ activists. As a sign of hope and solidarity during the coronavirus pandemic, each woman at her kitchen performed a mitzvah of separating challah from the dough. This beautiful ritual symbolizes victory over impurity. 

The representative office of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress in Central Asia (Mitsva Association) is expanding the database of online courses and content while training teachers-volunteers in the field of online education.

Hebrew lesson taught by volunteers was the first online lesson in the new format. Chess, choreography, and fitness lessons followed. Children’s educational virtual program Mini Club, which is basically an online development center, is coming soon.

The traditional Shabbat weekly meetings also went online, and the first online Shabbat has already brought together 11 families. Soon, online classes on Pesach history and tradition will begin.

The Kesher project, an international women’s organization with representation in 5 countries, supported by the EAJC, has announced a series of webinars: from a financial literacy course to an online meeting on the development of Jewish female leadership.

Hillel CASE (Central Asia Southeastern Europe), which operates with the support of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, has developed and implements a diverse online program covering a large number of young participants from around the world.

151 teams from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Israel, the Netherlands, and the US took part in the fourth game of the online Quiz Box project season.

Hillel CASE students gathered online to meet Shabbat together. More than 100 students from Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Israel shared photos of their Shabbat on Instagram.

The soulful online Havdalah ceremony – a Jewish religious ceremony that marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushers in the new week, has been organized by Hillel Kiev, which also launched a new author’s project in collaboration with Limmud Labs: the intellectual game Limmud Brain Labs with the participation of 44 teams from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Germany. The premiere of the project attracted more than 200 participants, and this is only the beginning.

The Jewish Association of the Philippines, affiliated with the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, continues teaching preschool children online. As for adults, the community offers online challah preparation and Shabbat lessons.

Hillel Russia, supported by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, adapted all the country’s Hillels to distance work and moved the educational programs online. As part of the new Shabbat Home program, visitors will receive a set that includes Siddur, Shabbat candles, two challahs, and a bottle of kosher juice or wine. Hillel Russia also offers special online sessions for those who conduct Shabbat on their own for the first time. The whole team contributes to the development of online programs, including the celebration of Pesach.

The international educational platform JFuture, the flagship project of the EAJC, held its first online lesson in 28 cities around the world. More than 500 kids gathered together to learn a lot of interesting things about the history and traditions of Pesach. JFuture also offers children interactive Hebrew lessons online.

The All-Russian Union of Jewish Students (RUJS), with the support of the EAJC, launched a new online project helping young people to study and use conversational Hebrew. Students attend fascinating online meetings and discussions with Israeli journalists, political and public figures, as well as prominent rabbis and artists.

Dear friends, together we will overcome difficult times and unite even more to protect our loved ones, the Jewish people, and the whole world. Stay home!