TORONTO — As a Russian Jew, Suzy Uretzki never felt as if she fit into Toronto’s Jewish community.
From left are Sarit Shor, 24, Suzy Uretzki, 19, and her sister, Inna, 24, who started the group “I’m a Jew.ru” to help the Russian Jewish population in Toronto connect. [Rita Poliakov photo]
Then she went to a Shabbaton in Chicago after receiving an e-mail about the event, specifically for Russian Jews, from Hillel.
Impressed by Chicago’s well organized Russian Jewish community, Uretzki,19, and her 24-year-old sister, Inna, realized how fragmented Toronto’s Russian Jewish population is. Along with Sarit Shor, 24, who they met in Chicago, they decided to start the group “I’m a Jew.ru,” so younger members of the community could connect.
Hillel-funded, I’m a Jew.ru is aimed at Russian Jews in Toronto aged 18 to 26. Created a few months ago as a Facebook group, it currently has more than 200 members.
According to Romm Gurel and Lea Soibelman of Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS), many members of the Russian Jewish community have not integrated with the Jewish community in Canada. “They don’t come to events, they don’t feel like they belong,” Gurel said.
The younger Uretzki agrees.
“It’s discouraging,” she said. “[We] don’t have a place where [we] can feel comfortable.”
While organizations such as Hillel do bring Jews together, both Uretzkis never felt like they fit into these groups.
“I went to university for four years, and I never went to Hillel. [It] wasn’t a safe space,” the older Uretzki said.
Rotem Stark, a 25-year-old Israeli, is the group’s Hillel contact and is helping them organize. She is the founder of Fanan, a Hillel-funded Israeli Jewish group.
“Just because we’re all Jewish doesn’t mean we have the same culture or background. Jews in Canada have different interests,” Stark said.
Olga Safro, a 24-year-old Ryerson University graduate, emigrated from Kazakhstan in 2001.
A member of the I’m a Jew.ru Facebook page, she said Russian organizations in Toronto are “based solely on language. Nobody cares about cultural background. I think that most Jews in Canada are from the same background… It’s hard to connect.”
Jew.ru’s first event, held on June 22, was a meet-and-greet at the Jewish Urban Meeting Place (JUMP). In future, the group may add more of a religious aspect to events, but this could get complicated.
“Judaism [in Canada] is seen as a religion, in Russia it’s a culture,” Shor said.
Groups for Russian Jews in Toronto are “very religious oriented. If you don’t ally with religious beliefs, you’re left to find your own [group],” Shor added. “We want to expose them [people] to Judaism, but we’re not pursuing them.”
The Uretzki sisters and Shor are considering modelling an event after the Shabbaton they attended in Chicago.
“We had a Shabbat dinner with a rabbi. It wasn’t too religious. [We were] getting exposed to topics in a completely different way. It was social and fun. Basic religious aspects were there to expose [guests] very slowly,” Shor said.
Jew.ru’s mandate is to recognize both the Russian and Jewish aspects of their members’ identities.
“The two aren’t exclusive, you can’t separat
e being Russian and Jewish,” Suzy Uretzki said. “I’m Russian Jewish, it’s who I am.”
