IN THIS  ISSUE: 

• PROGRESSIVE EDUCATORS HOLD CONFERENCE IN KIEV

• UPCOMING TAMAR SEMINAR MARKS MAJOR INROADS IN LATIN AMERICA

• ZAVIDOV ELECTED NEW CHAIR OF ISRAELI RABBINIC FORUM

• BRITISH REFORM CENTER MARKS DOUBLE BIRTHDAY

PROGRESSIVE EDUCATORS HOLD CONFERENCE IN KIEV

Close to 80 educators from throughout the former Soviet Union recently gathered in Kiev for the third Progressive Pedagogical Conference, marking one year since the World Union began standardizing its formal education programs in the FSU.  Leading the weekend gathering were rabbis Alexander Dukhovny (Kiev), Michael Kapustin (Kharkov) and Gregory Abramovich (Minsk), and Israel-based rabbis Gregory Kotlyar and Alona Lisitsa.  (Lisitsa coordinates a project by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion that provides ongoing training and support for rabbis and educators living and working in the FSU.)  The program, which featured lectures, workshops and group discussions, was prepared by World Union education coordinators Olga Marcus and Natalya Verjbovskaya (Russia), Alona Pisnaya (Ukraine) and Irina Belskaya (Belarus).  Among the guest lecturers was Dr. Lisa Grant, an education specialist from HUC-JIR (see photo).  During the course of the weekend, the conference staff distributed copies of a newly published syllabus for nursery school- and kindergarten-age children that focuses on Jewish history and tradition, and on the Hebrew language.  There were also presentations highlighting some of the innovative programs in use in the participants' own classrooms.  Aside from educators, principals and teachers, the participants also included some 30 coordinators and leaders from Netzer Olami, the World Union's international youth movement, which has spearheaded many of the informal education programs that have taken place in the FSU.

Dr. Lisa Grant leads a session at the Progressive educators' conference in Kiev

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UPCOMING TAMAR SEMINAR MARKS MAJOR INROADS IN LATIN AMERICA

TAMAR, the movement for Progressive young adults, will hold a three-day weekend seminar in late July in Porto Allegro, Brazil, signalling a major expansion for the movement in Latin America.  TAMAR provides a framework for graduates of Netzer Olami, the World Union's international youth movement, and, until recently, its only branch in South America was in Argentina.  However, following a visit there and to Brazil earlier this year by Maoz Haviv, executive director of both Netzer and TAMAR, local interest in an organizational framework for Progressive young adults grew, and South America's second TAMAR branch was quickly established in Porto Allegro.  According to Haviv, the July seminar will be the "stepping stone for the wider entry of TAMAR – and Netzer Olami - into the continent."  The gathering is being planned by a team led by Tamara Schagas, of Netzer/TAMAR's Jerusalem office, and by Gaby Gitelman and Lucas "Pato" Lejderman in Porto Allegro.  The approximately 100 participants will come from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, and from such Central American and Caribbean nations as Aruba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama.  There will also be guests from Israel, the US, Spain and Italy.  The immediate goal of the seminar itself is to strengthen the participants' sense of Jewish and Zionist identity, forge closer working relationships between Progressive young adults in different countries, and facilitate activity planning and leadership training.  However, its true success will mean new "territory" for the movements established on behalf of Progressive youth and young adults.  Says Haviv, "Now that Netzer and TAMAR have managed to 'conquer' the former Soviet Union, it seems the time has come for Latin America."

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ZAVIDOV ELECTED NEW CHAIR OF ISRAELI RABBINIC FORUM

Rabbi Ada Zavidov has been elected chair of MARAM, the Israeli Progressive Rabbinic Council, succeeding Rabbi Kinneret Shiryon.  She was formally installed in her two-year term at the biennial conference of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism in May (see WUPJnews #212).  Zavidov, 47, was ordained on the Jerusalem campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1999.  She currently serves as spiritual leader of Congregation Har-El in Jerusalem, Israel's oldest Reform community, making her the first woman to lead a congregation in the holy city on a full-time, year-round basis.  She is the granddaughter of Aba Achimeir, one of the founder’s of Israel’s pre-state Revisionist movement.  She will represent MARAM at the convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis in San Diego, California, later this month.

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BRITISH REFORM CENTER MARKS DOUBLE BIRTHDAY

Sir Sigmund Sternberg, president and a major benefactor of Britain’s Reform movement, this week celebrated his 85th birthday, as well as the 25th anniversary of the Sternberg Centre, which will soon become the largest Jewish education and culture facility in Europe.  Located in the northwest London suburb of Finchley, the center houses the Leo Baeck College-Centre for Jewish Education, an elementary-level Jewish day school, London's Jewish Museum, and the New North London synagogue.  It is also headquarters for the country's Movement for Reform Judaism, as well as for the World Union's European Region.  Local officials have now given the green light for a $40 million renovation program that will expand the college and its library, as well as the day school and synagogue.  There will also be a new building for the Reform movement.  Born in Budapest, Sir Sigmund is a noted businessman and philanthropist who has made his mark in interfaith activities, most notably Jewish relations with the Catholic Church.  In recognition of these efforts, he received the 1998 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which he donated to the foundation he established to promote Reform and interfaith activities.

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