The Reform movement in Judaism (also known today as the movement of progressive or liberal Judaism, which accounts for 1.5 million adherents) emerged in Germany, at the beginning of the 19th century, and was, originally, a response to the challenges of the New time – Enlightenment and Emancipation. The accelerated process of assimilation and the retreat from the Jewish religion insistently called for an adequate response on the part of Jews who wanted both – emancipation and the retention of their religious identification. The initiative of creating a new religious movement belonged to the educated and liberally-spirited layers of Jewry and it is natural that the issues of Jewish education were, from the very start, of paramount importance. The first Reform communities appeared in Seesen (1810), Berlin (1815) and Hamburg (1817), and the first educational institution already appeared in 1810, in Kassel. Later on, in 1829, the Rabbinical Institute was opened in Padua, in 1854 – the Jewish theological seminary in Breslau and in 1855 – the Jewish college in London, etc. In the second half of the 19th century, the center of the reform movement shifted to the U.S. where, in 1875, the Hebrew Union College was opened in Cincinnati (Ohio). In due course, it turned into the world’s largest reform educational institution with affiliations in New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem. Within the boundaries of today’s post-Soviet space, the first Jewish educational institutions of the reform type appeared in the 1940th in Galicia (Lvov). As for the Russian Empire proper, reform communities began to take shape at the beginning of the 19th century, in Saint Petersburg and Odessa. But the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, which for long extracted Russia from the world’s stream of civilization, cut short the regular process of development of the Jewish community. Under the totalitarian Soviet regime, only the Habad-type underground structures (the Tomchey Tmimim yeshiva) made some kind of attempts to retain the system of independent Jewish education.

Collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakdown of the Communist system were conducive to the process of Jewish restoration in which Jews-reformists played a worthy role. In the spring of 1988, a delegation of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, headed by its Executive Director Rabbi Richard (Asher) Girsh, visited Moscow and Leningrad and discovered, among the Jews there, a great thirst for knowledge and an urge to find approaches to an active observance of Judaism. Rabbi R. Girsh was inspired by the idea to introduce progressive Judaism to those whom Elie Wiesel called the Jews of Silence. R. Girsh was right to perceive the highly educated, though, predomi- nantly, secular Soviet Jewry as a substantial potential for the development of reformism, which was then showing good prospects of becoming the most wide-scale Jewish religious movement in the world. The Reform movement, first and foremost, attracted intellectual Jews who were, due to their longstanding experience of Soviet brainwashing, immune to any kind of head-on indoctrination and were organically unable to embrace the classical Jewish principle naase venishma (“[First] do and [then] listen”). In December, 1988, “Rodnik” (the Source), the reformist edition in Russian, was first published and it immediately appeared in the Soviet Union where it arrived in the suit cases of tourists and by parcel post. Presenting the basic knowledge in the realm of Jewish tradition and history in an unobtrusive and thoughtful way, the new edition perfectly suited those who were accustomed to first studying the subject and then making a choice.

 

In 1989, in Moscow, the Reform rabbi from the U.S. Maynard Bell met with Russia’s Jewish activist Zinoviy Cohen and inspired him with the ideas of Reform Judaism, which resulted in the formation of the first community “Hineini” (Here I am!). Scrupulously collecting grains of religious materials, often amazing their foreign guests by extravagant improvisations, the community began to grow fast. Already in May, 1990, the participants of the 25th World Congress of WUPJ, standing in the London synagogue in front of the open Arc of the Covenant, welcomed the entry of the Moscow community “Hineini” into the WUPJ and listened to Zinovyi Cohen reading the 10 Commandments in Russian.

 

Thus, the year of 2010 is the 20th anniversary of the Progressive Judaism organizations’ activity in the former USSR. At present, in Russia, Ukraine and Belorussia there are over 100 communities reckoning themselves among this movement. From the very start, it was obvious that the young, newly developed movement was in need of leaders capable of managing the religious, cultural and educational life of the community. Indeed, there were no such leaders and the movement of Progressive Judaism set itself a task to train people like that from among the Jews of the former USSR. It was decided to rear one’s own cadres and not to depend on envoys from the U.S., Israel or Britain. The first step was the establishment of an educational institution that would offer basic knowledge the need of which was so acute after long de- cades of life without any ties with the tradition. In early 1990s, no one could even dream of the appearance of Russian-speaking Reform rabbis. Up to this day, the idea of creating a Rabbinic college in Moscow remains urgent and requires a lot of effort for its realization.

During several years, the preparation of potential community leaders was carried out within the framework of specialized seminars, courses and other projects by rabbis, teachers and community officials from abroad. But already in 1993, on the initiative of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ), there was created the Institute for Modern Jewish Studies (or “Machon”) – an ongoing program for preparation of community workers. In the years of 1997-1999, “Machon” functioned in Kiev, where the program was headed by David Wilfond, the first rabbi of Progressive Judaism working on a permanent basis in the former USSR. However, the Ukrainian capital could hardly serve at the time as an attractive place for students from big cities of Russia and other CIS countries, and beginning with 1999, the program for training community workers was again stationed in Moscow. The program was headed by Haim Ben-Yaakov (1999-2001), R.Grigoryi Kotlyar (2001-2005) and R.Alexander Lyskovoy (from 2005 up to the present day).

 

The project is aimed at preparing potential leaders possessing, on the one hand, basic knowledge in Jewish tradition and, on the other, well-grounded in organizational, social and psychological aspects of a community’s functioning. Some of the students continued their education in Leo Baeck College, (London) and obtained the title of rabbi. Among them are – R. Alexander Lyskovoy (Moscow), R. Grigory Abramovich (Minsk), R, Michael Kapustin (Simferopol) and R. Leonid Bimbat (Moscow). At present, the graduates of the “Machon” program are learning at European Rabbinical Colleges – Leo Baeck College and Abraham Geiger Kolleg (Berlin).This is highly important in terms of the future of the Jewry in the post-Soviet space.

The “Machon” training program lasts two years. The first year is full=time instruction in Moscow, the second year is designed for the continuation of studies in Israel for several months and practical work in one of the modern (Progressive) Judaism communities in Russia, Ukraine or Belarus. The “Machon” curricula include the following subjects: Hebrew. One of the duties of the community worker is the conducting of prayers on Shabbat and on holidays, the majority of which are read in Hebrew. For the reading and exegetics of the Torah it is important to understand the text in the language of the original. It should be noted that the students also learn contemporary Hebrew (the curricula offers a course in levels Aleph and Bet and there are all the necessary provisions for a more advanced study of Hebrew as well).

 

The Jewish calendar. Life in a community is organized and centered on holidays and memorable dates different from those generally accepted in a non-Jewish environment. Being part of a broader society and observing most of the holidays of the home country, a Jew, at the same time, belongs to the ancient tradition which attaches particular meaning to the structuring of time according to dates chronicled and sanctified in the Written and Oral Torah. Special attention is given to the development of the Jewish calendar since ancient times hitherto, including dates entered in the calendar in the 20th century, after the creation of the State of Israel. The life cycle. In the life of a Jew, it is customary to commemorate his/her most defining moments - birth, circumcision, name giving, bar/bat mitzvah, hupah (wedding) and funeral. The tradition consecrates the special events in a person’s life endowing them with significance and spiritual meaning. The aim of the community is the observance of all the ceremonies throughout the person’s life cycle. Therefore, the community worker must possess all the necessary knowledge in this sphere.

 

Liturgy. The prayer is a particular form of self-disciplining service instrumental in organizing a person’s time throughout the day, week, month and year. Not only does it carry through the invisible but strong bond with the Supreme Being, but it also unites all the Jewish people, holds them together and ties up every one of us with the history of Israel. Careful study of liturgy has been one of the features of Progressive Judaism throughout its 200-year history. History of Jewish religion. Jewish religion is undergoing a constant process of formation retaining, at the same time, all the best it has achieved throughout the centuries of its development.

 During the 17 years of its existence, the “Machon” program has faced a number of problems, one of which was lack of permanent premises. One had to change temporarily rented premises, therefore, for quite a long time there was no possibility of setting up a library or a methods center. Only after the Moscow Center for Progressive Judaism was opened in October of 2009, did it become possible to have a full-fledged resource center with all the mainJewish sources (various editions of the Tanach, Talmud, Halakha ordinances, collections of Midrash, etc.) both printed and in electronic form. The creation of such a library is only at the initial stage. The quality of education depends directly on the availability of both Jewish sources and contemporary academic material, manuals and books. Enrollment of students is another problem to consider. An ideal applicant to the program is a young university graduate with an experience of active participation in communal life who seeks to get a systematic Jewish education.

However, the main criterion is the motivation of students, and therefore a wider range of applicants are admitted. As a result, in the same training group we have students of different levels of knowledge and experience. So the problem is how to bring together such a diverse group of people giving everyone an opportunity of self-fulfillment. It causes certain problems for the professors and takes some efforts on their part to properly organize the academic activity. Particular emphasis is placed upon the development of personal leadership skills. Conferences, discussion groups and courses of lectures are held regularly under the auspice of the Moscow Center for Progressive Judaism. This helps students and graduates to acquire leadership skills essential for involving new activists in communities and Jewish organizations, consolidating the existing groups and developing various programs and projects. What the present-day Jewish community really needs is qualified and well-educated organizers capable of integrating it in the life of the broader society and of responding to the challenges of the dynamically changing world.

 

At the end of their study at Machon, students write diploma papers basing on their communal work during the second academic year when they get an opportunity to realize their projects in communities in Russia, Ukraine or Belarus. Depending on their academic progress and practical efficiency, a graduate may be sent to one of the rabbinical colleges in the United Kingdom, Germany, the U.S. or Israel. In this respect, Machon serves as the first step on the way toward acquiring one of the most sought-after professions in the Jewish world.