How one decorates one's home is often a very personal
statement reflecting one's values. Ten years ago, the
Horowitz family in Moscow was no exception. Every year in
the spring, the Horowitzes would obtain a single matzo
through the refusenik grapevine and display it prominently
in their living room for the entire family to admire. This
was how they celebrated Pesach.
For hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews, matzo was a
powerful symbol of their determination to cling to the last
threads connecting them to their lost heritage.
Paradoxically, however, when the Iron Curtain fell and they
fulfilled their lifelong dream of living in Eretz Yisroel,
that desire to connect with Judaism waned.
Take the Horowitz family, for example. Last year the family
had the money to buy a box of matzo and the children, who
had learned all about Pesach at Shuvu, were eager to
celebrate the chag. The parents, however, were less
knowledgeable and less enthusiastic -- until they attended a
model seder for Shuvu parents, where they got a gift
package of matzo and wine.
This year, Shuvu will distribute some 7,100 Kimcha
Depishca packages -- totaling 13 tons of matzo and
11,000 bottles of wine -- to Russian immigrant families like
the Horowitzs, whose children attend Shuvu schools. But this
is not tzedaka in the traditional sense.
Symbols Are The First Step
According to Rabbi Chaim Michoel Gutterman, Shuvu's Director
in Eretz Yisroel, because matzo was one of the most
inspiring symbols of the refusenik movement, Shuvu is using
that symbol to bring Russian immigrant Jews back to their
heritage.
"Not everyone was a refusenik," he says, "but most of the
Russian Jews knew about the movement and took pride in what
the refuseniks were doing. Even if they couldn't attend a
seder themselves, they knew that seders were
happening. They heard the stories about the matzos that were
smuggled in, and how the refuseniks were willing to risk
imprisonment for the sake of obtaining even a small
piece.
"Our task at Shuvu," he continues, "is to take this symbol
from their Russian past and give it a new context that will
reconnect them with their Yiddishkeit -- and their
future in Eretz Yisroel."
That new context is not just the Pesach packages, but also a
series of model seders that Shuvu schools conduct
every year a few weeks before the chag. The children,
of course, have learned about Pesach in their classrooms,
and so they know all about a seder. In fact, it is
the children who conduct the model seders for their
parents. They are eager to show their parents what they have
learned in school, but since many of the children want to
practice what they have learned, another purpose of the
model seder is to inspire the parents to observe
Pesach at home.
This is why the model seders are held in the evening,
so that working parents will be able to attend with their
children. For many Russian Jewish parents and grandparents
this is their first time participating in a seder,
and the impact is often incredible. One new immigrant,
who is already a grandmother, could barely contain her
emotions when she attended a model seder last
year.
"This is my grandmother's holiday!" she exclaimed. The woman
hadn't been at a seder since she was five years old,
and her eyes filled with tears as long-forgotten memories of
her grandmother's home rushed back to her.
However, for most participants the highlight of the event
occurs at the end of the evening, when each family is
presented with a Pesach package that includes a 2.5 kilogram
box of matzo, a bottle of wine, a bottle of grape juice, a
seder plate, kiddush cups, a Haggadah
and hilchos Pesach in Russian.
Sara Grossman, a Shuvu administrator who is helping to
organize the delivery of the packages, stresses that it
isn't the monetary value of the gift that makes the
impression.
"The model seder gets the process going," she says,
"because by the time the evening ends the families are very
excited about the holiday. When they receive the package --
something they can take home with them -- they get another
boost. `Let's do it,' they say. `Let's make Pesach this
year.' "
"The children are thrilled when they hear this," she
continues, "because many of them are well on their way to
becoming fully observant. It's obviously much easier for the
kids to be scrupulous in their mitzva observance if their
entire family is eating kosher lePesach food during
the chag."
From Dress Rehearsal To The Big Night
While most schools are winding down during the weeks before
Pesach, Shuvu is gearing up for a whirlwind of activities.
The Shuvu staff becomes a major resource for the Russian
Jewish community, who need a great deal of help in getting
ready for the chag.
Some of the families want to kasher their homes, but
they don't know what to do. Rabbi Dov Glass, principal of
the Shuvu school in Ashkelon, works closely with Rabbi
Avrohom Reisman, Rosh Yeshivas Beit Achiezer-Toras Chaim, to
help families in his area who are tackling Pesach cleaning
for the first time.
In the meantime, other staff members are busy organizing the
public seders that are held in cities throughout
Eretz Yisroel.
When the educational network first began organizing the
seders 10 years ago for the students and their
families, Shuvu could make all of its deliveries in just two
days using one rented car. But the school system has grown
so rapidly that this year they have had to hire a trucking
company, which estimates that the job will take a full four
days.
Although the public seders are extremely popular --
and are an important first step in getting new families
involved -- some families who have been with Shuvu for a few
year are now ready to celebrate the chag in a more
homelike setting. Shuvu staff helps place these families
with volunteer hosts, which often includes Shuvu teachers
and administrators.
According to Grossman, being in another family's home for
the seder is often the next step along the path to
getting a family to the point where they realize they can
conduct a seder on their own.
"Last year there was a boy who brought his parents to his
teacher's home," she says, "and during the seder the
father got really upset. Why? Because the father suddenly
realized that he should be doing the seder
himself.
"The family thanked their hosts after the seder," she
continues, "but the father told his son's teacher not to
expect them back next year. The teacher told me that this
was the best `thank you' he could have ever received."
Pesach Is A Part Of Klal Yisroel
Every year more
and more Shuvu families take that big step and decide to
conduct their own family seder. But every year there
is a new group of immigrants who will be celebrating a
seder for the first time and need Shuvu's helping
hand to guide them through the process.
And that means that while in most schools teachers don't
work past Rosh Chodesh Nisan, for Shuvu staff the work
actually intensifies during those last two weeks before
Pesach. Yet they don't seem to mind.
"After all these families went through in the former Soviet
Union, the story of Pesach really touches them in a very
deep way," says Rabbi Gutterman. "They're so eager to
receive everything we offer them that the staff also becomes
incredibly inspired.
"We really feel privileged," he continues, "to be doing all
this work, because we get to see firsthand how deeply Pesach
-- and the desire for the Geula -- are etched into
the hearts of all Klal Yisroel."
