Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
19/08/2016
What do 135 Jewish children from all over Ukraine, 25 counselors and staff from Ukraine and Israel, 13 junior counselors from seven North American Ramah summer camps, a Ramah mission led by Rabbi Mitch Cohen, National Director of Ramah, and the heads of theSchechter Institutes in Jerusalem have in common? We all gathered together at Camp Ramah YachadUkrainelast week to celebrate the wedding of Lev and Yulia Kleiman.
The story begins 26 years ago in August 1990 after the Iron Curtain fell. We, at the Schechter Institutes in Jerusalem, wanted to do something to help the Jews of the FSU return to Judaism but we didn’t know what. We sent two rabbinical students on a pilot trip; they came back and told us that we must found Jewish schools ASAP. In summer 1991, our Midreshet Yerushalayim affiliate teamed up with an amazing educator namedGila Katz to found a Jewish day school in Chernowitz. By 1992, we had founded Camp Ramah Yachad; a few years later Gila began to direct the camp as well. After making Aliyah in 1996,Gila Katz continued to direct the camp and eventually became the Director of Midreshet Yerushalayim. Over the years, Midreshet Yerushalayim grew to a network of family education centers, day schools and/or synagogues. Today we have branches inKiev — led by RabbiReuven Stamov and co-sponsored by Masorti Olami — Chernowitz, Berdichev, andOdessa.
To return to 1992, Lev Kleiman began to attend the Midreshet Yerushalayim day school in Chernowitz in first grade. There he learned Hebrew and Jewish studies fromGila Katz. Later, he began to attendCamp RamahUkraine, eventually becoming a counselor, and, since 2013, he has been the director of Midreshet Yerushalayim’s Kehillah in Chernowitz.
Thus, when Lev asked me to perform his wedding to Yulia (Miriam) atCamp RamahUkrainethis past week, how could I say no? To me, Lev’s biography symbolizes the incredible revival of Jewish life inUkrainesince 1990. The children and grandchildren of Jews who were not allowed to read Hebrew and attend synagogues are now running their own schools and kehillot inUkraine!
Standing under the improvised Huppah of a tallit and four poles facing theCarpathian Mountains, I talked to Lev and Miriam – in Hebrew, English and Russian — about the time, the place and the people at the wedding:
“The time symbolizes our love for Zion and Jerusalem. You are getting married at the time of year when we remember the Destruction. In a few moments, Lev will recite “Im eshkakheh Yerushalayim“, “If I forget thee O Jeruselam”, before breaking the glass. Finally, the weekly portion of Matot-Masei is also filled with Zionism: the sons of Gad and Reuven volunteer to go before the camp as Halutzim (pioneers) for the Children of Israel (Numbers 32); the parashah delineates the borders of the Land of Israel (Numbers 34); and the daughters of Zelaphad also demand a portion in the Land (Numbers 36).
The place symbolizes that you want to build a Jewish home 24/7, 365 days a year. That is why you asked to be married specifically here at Camp Ramah Yachad, because it symbolizes for you full Jewish life, which you have learned here over the course of many years. May it be God’s will that you continue to build a wonderful Jewish home in Chernowitz.
Finally, the people here symbolize the unity of the Jewish people, the fact that all Jews are responsible for one another. That is why this wedding is being attended by campers from all overUkraine, by staff fromUkraine andIsrael, by aMission from RamahUSA, by young counselors from seven Ramah summer camps; and by the leaders of theSchechter Institutes, which has been funding Midreshet Yerushalayim andCamp RamahUkraine for the past 26 years.
May the time, the place and the people continue to inspire you for the rest of your lives.”
Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin is President of The Schechter Institutes, INC. based in Jerusalem, which funds the Schechter Institute, The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, The TALI Education Fund, and Midreshet Yerushalayim.
