Molly and Dave headed back to Minsk for their last day in Belarus! Here is Molly’s Top 5 of the last day:

1. We arrived back at the office in Minsk for….another seder!!! Just one more for good measure, I guess. It was a lot of fun to be reunited with the other groups traveling in Belarus and share stories!

2. Jewish tour of Minsk with Rabbi Grisha and Mischa. We saw a lot of WWII memorials and the buildings that used to be the Minsk Yeshiva and Dance Hall for Girls. They are located right next to each other, and I’m pretty sure their main function was a match-making service. 

3. Since it was April Fools, Rabbi Grisha was trying to make jokes all day, but begrudgingly agreed that it wouldn’t be appropriate to make a Holocaust joke while at the WWII memorial. Good call, Rabbi!

4. Our lovely Passover Picnic at the airport, where we dumped all our leftover Kosher for Passover food on the table and went to town! The most satisfying meal I had in four days. 

5. We shared flights in and out of Tel Aviv with our orthodox equivalents, so it was fun to run into them at the Belarus airport and swap stories about our experiences. It was a nice bonding moment to realize that even though we are so ideologically different, we were all there for the same shared purpose.

That’s it, folks!  Jeremy and Bess headed back to Israel via a short stay in Istanbul leaving behind great experiences and great people.  

Cat of the Day: Feodosiya, Ukraine

This specimen was found a mere five feet from where we were leading the seder.  It wouldn’t be a proper vacation without a cat photo.  This cat would probably make Aliyah if he knew what the life was like for cats in Israel.

Molly and Dave’s first day of no travel! Here is Molly’s Top 5 of the Second Day in Mogilev:

1. Seder at the kindergarten! The kids sang songs for us and told the Exodus story. If nothing else, Belarus certainly has adolescent discipline down, but there’s always one terror in the class and this one’s name was Max (who also happened to be the only boy…coincidence?)!

2. Jewish tour of Mogilev with kids (middle-school age) from the Alef-Bet school. Basically, we saw a lot of buildings that used to be synagogues and are now sports centers or swimming pools. 

3. In the evening we met with Mila and Anatoliy, the leaders of the Reform Jewish community in Mogilev. Anatoliy had some amazing personal stories to share about Passover in his family. Mila is the super-woman of the community - her energy and enthusiasm is remarkable! Anatoliy also gave us some fresh birch tree juice he had just collected, which basically tasted like flavored water and apparently has lots of good minerals.

4. Espresso! My first coffee since Sunday…

5. We played a disturbing amount of Spit to keep ourselves entertained during our down-time. 

After a 90 minute bus ride from Simferopol, Bess and Jeremy arrived in Yevpatoria.  Here is our Top 5: 

1.  Breakfast Entertainment - We arrived as usual and ordered the Passover Special: Breakfast #2. To our surprise, we quickly realized we were in fact watching the verbatim Ukrainian analog of hit 90’s television show, “Married with Children.” Except in this version, everyone is much more attractive, ESPECIALLY Marcy D’Arcy. Our translator Tonya explained that in the Ukraine it is known as “Happy Together.”  And yes, Al still sells shoes. 

2. If you’re wondering who the Karaites are, look no further. Yevpatoria hosts one of the largest Karaite communities. The Karaite religion broke off from Judaism a long, long time ago.  While in Yevpatoria we visited a restored Karaite Kenasa (think 1800s Jewish Community Center complete with dining hall where you can get a delicious lunch to this very day).

3. Tour of Yevpatoria - some of the highlights include a former synagogue that was transformed into an Electrical Substation during the Soviet years (the facade of the building was recently renovated with Jerusalem stone to show the building used to be a synagogue despite its current use), a mosque, a Russian Orthodox church, and the Karaite Kenasa within a 10 minute walking distance from each other.  From here we had our first glimpse of the Black Sea.  Note: although the Black Sea is called a warm water port, warm seems to be a relative term in these parts of the world.

4. Hope you brought your coat!  The gorgeous and newly refurbished synagogue that is missing only one thing - heat.  Luckily, the warmth of the community warms the place right up (if you are wearing a coat…).  Our adoptive Bubbes were constantly worried if we were warm enough throughout the seder.  As we assured them we were fine and very comfortable we noticed you could see your breath… Also a highlight of this seder were the three enthusiastic singers who repeated nearly ever Hebrew song we sang in Russian.  Adorable.

5. One 21-year-old we met at the seder joined us for dinner with Rabbi Kapustin and Toyna and introduced us to Russian/Ukrainian rap.  Luckily for us, he showed us his very own music video part of which was filmed in the synagogue office.  If we can find the youtube link we’ll post it immediately.

Another great day in another great Crimean town.

Another morning of travel for Molly and Dave! They left Bobruisk and arrived in Mogilev in the afternoon. Here is Molly’s Top 5 of Mogilev:

1. Disco Seder! As you can see from the photos above, our second night seder was held in a disco club. 

2. During the day we met with Sasha and Dasha, twin sisters who run the Netzer program in Mogilev, as well as a few of the Netzer participants. It was interesting to hear about their plans for college and post-college. A lot of them are planning to make aliyah (become citizens of Israel), which probably makes sense for their futures, but is sad for the future of the progressive movement in Belarus.

3. We learned that in Mogilev there are only two synagogues and they are both orthodox. It’s amazing to see how a few incredible individuals have created an active and energetic Reform community without having the most basic services like a synagogue or a rabbi. I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around this idea that these kids are growing up with a Reform Jewish identity that has absolutely no connection to a synagogue.

4. The skit/concert/karaoke session that took place during the meal at our seder. 

5. Alice, one of the Netzer participants who is an art student, made some paper cut art for us as a thank you! 

Molly and Dave arrived in Belarus at 4:30 am, spent a few hours in Minsk and then arrived in Bobruisk by mid-afternoon for our first Passover seder.

Here is Molly’s Top 5 of being in Bobruisk:

1. This well-dressed beaver seems to be the symbol of the city, and we saw statues of him all over. I know one former girl scout leader that would fit right in here!

2. Almost all of the restaurants we ate at were themed, so I started to wonder if maybe I was just lost in Epcot Center. 

3. Our first seder was quite the experience! The highlight was that they served the meal at the beginning of the seder, so people tended to be more focused on their food than on the actual seder. 

4. We gave postcards of Israel to the kids at the seder, which led to an impromptu autograph session when they all asked us to sign the postcards. 

5. Help. Go. Caterpillar. - the three English words the kids knew. They’ll be set if they are ever in a situation where a caterpillar has an emergency and they need to send someone for help. 

Bess and Jeremy’s Top 5 of their last day of bread and first day of seder:

1. Simferopol City Tour - highlights include Soviet tanks, a Lenin statue, a former synagogue that was turned into a Soviet office building - if you look closely at the picture you can see the outline of a Star of David under the Soviet star, and a mall where we saw the latest in Ukrainian fashion. 

2. Good-bye to Chametz - our tour ended at a Ukrainian Pizza shop as we eat our last meal with Chametz.  The pizza was surprisingly delicious.  Topping choices included: corn, pickles, assorted meats, and imitation crab.  And of course, they had vodka.

3. Making Charoset for 85 - At a generous sized work station of 2.5 feet Bess, Jeremy, and Tonya were hard at work grating apples, chopping walnuts, and adding the secret ingredient…VANILLA SUGAR!  Note: Bess managed to grate 50+ apples without removing flesh from her hand. Kol HaKavod!

4. Seder time! - Our first of many encounters with boiled potato as Karpas and with chicken leg (that was to be eaten) as Zeroa.  At this seder of 85+ the only criticism we received at the end was that there was not enough dancing.  

5. Meeting two Israelis who moved to Simferopol - Luckily they have cousins in LA that will welcome us with open arms…if we call them.

Photos from Bobruisk, Belarus

The FSU Pesach Project is finally here! 

Molly is flying to Belarus and Bess is flying to Ukraine to celebrate Passover with Progressive Jews living in the Former Soviet Union!

Unfortunately, we do not expect to have access to the internet, so we will have to blog about our experiences upon return. 

Hag Sameach to all!

This year in….The Crimea!  Bess and Jeremy packed their bags and their matzah and headed to Simferopol, Ukraine.  Today was marked mostly by traveling, but here is our top 5:

1. Landing in Simferopol, walking off the plane and into the one building airport

2. Being the fifth and sixth people off the plane and being the fifth or sixth last people to get through passport control - apparently pushing to the front of a non-line ‘line’ is not only an Israeli phenomenon.

3. Walking out of customs to find our lovely hosts for the week, Rabbi Misha Kapustin and our translator Tonya - her English was better than both of ours.

4. Arriving at our hotel, Hotel Imperial, which to our surprise was nicer than almost every hotel we’ve stayed at this year (with the exception of the Marriott in Cairo).  

5. Eating at a Traditional Ukrainian restaurant complete with servers in Traditional Ukrainian dress (also still being able to eat bread was a plus).

Eat at Spaghettis in Mamilla Mall to Support the FSU Pesach Project!

Please help us make this event a success by passing this information on to anyone you know who lives in Jerusalem!

Date: Tuesday, March 9
Time: ALL DAY!
Location: Spaghettis Restaurant at Mamilla Mall
Be sure to mention: HUC and the FSU Pesach Project

You can come and go as you please,make a big reservation, or even do take-out!

We hope to see you all there!