Project
Kesher, in partnership with the Institute of Jewish Studies,
under the auspices of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, conducts an intensive
Torah study training program for Jewish women in the CIS.
Graduates of Beit Binah become strong Torah facilitators. They
also become leaders in all forms of Jewish life in their communities.
They return home to facilitate Torah study groups, organize
holiday programming, and engage in humanitarian activities.
Project Kesher now has 69 Torah study groups reaching
close to 1000 women twice a month. This is usually the
first serious adult Jewish learning experience for participants
in the study groups.
As documented in independent research conducted by Professors
Lisa Grant and Diane Schuster of Hebrew Union College through
a grant from the Hadassah-Brandeis Research Institute, the increased
level of Jewish study and social activist activity they trigger
raises the quality and scope of Jewish life significantly in
their communities.
BUILDING BRIDGES,
FACILITATING DIALOGUE
In
addition to working with the Institute, which is Orthodox, Project
Kesher brings in teachers from the Progressive (Reform and Reconstructionist)
and Masorti (Conservative) movements.
Participants in Torah study represent all branches of Judaism
and a whole spectrum of organizational affiliations. Exposing
participants to a variety of religious viewpoints and observances
is a highly unusual and innovative approach to Jewish study
in the region.
Through Torah study, educators and participants forge relationships
that are critical to a unified, healthy Jewish community.
OTHER JEWISH IDENTITY BUILDING PROGRAMS:
>
Mother Daughter Retreats
> The
Torah Return Project
*
The Commonwealth of Independent States of the former Soviet
Union is known as the CIS.
