Maria Grinev will be having a very Russian summer. In Israel.
Grinev is one of 20 Canadians who will be going on the first Canadian Taglit-Birthright Israel trip designed specifically for Russian Jews, called the CIE Canadian Russian Adventure.
The trip, which runs from July 11 to 22, will have 20 participants from Canada and 20 from St. Petersburg, all of whom will be travelling with Russian Jewish soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces.
For Grinev, the trip is a chance to merge two cultures, something she’s been struggling with since she immigrated to Israel from Russia when she was six, and then to Canada when she was 11.
“It’s too much for a child to learn both Hebrew and Russian and go to the synagogue and keep track of Russian events,” Grinev, 22, said. “I did feel like a little bit of an outcast [in the Toronto Jewish community].”
That’s why, about a year ago, Grinev, who’s going into her fourth year at York University in psychology, joined Jewski, a Hillel group for Russian Jews who don’t quite fit into the Canadian Jewish community.
“[At Jewski events], I really did feel like I’m [involved] in the Jewish community. I didn’t feel like I’m not Jewish enough,” Grinev said.
Alona Geysman, who plans Russian Jewish programming at Hillel, is helping to organize both Jewski and the Israel trip.
“The idea came to me because I looked at my own background,” said Geysman, who was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Israel, and then to Canada, before she turned 12. “What happens is a lot of [Russian immigrants] put their Russian identity on the backburner in order to adapt and blend into Canadian society… we become Canadianized.”
The trip will give Canadian Russian Jews the opportunity to connect with others like them, as well as with Israel.
“It’s definitely going to be the same itinerary as any Birthright Israel trip. We’ll have a Russian-speaking tour guide and will probably talk a little bit more about Russian-Israeli culture,” said Geysman, who will be leading the trip.
Geysman organized the trip with the help of people from a Hillel in St. Petersburg, as well as with the Canada-Israel Experience, which approved the idea in January.
“My participants are really excited. They think it’s really cool to meet people exactly like them, but from different cultures,” Geysman said. “It’s really great if we can create friendships during this trip.”
Lior Cyngiser, CIE’s madrichim co-ordinator, hopes the trip will inspire participants to get involved in their local Jewish community. “We’re using Birthright Israel as a vehicle not only to make connections between Russia and Toronto, but to make connections to the Toronto community itself,” he said, adding that this can be done through events and programming for Birthright alumni.
“Through the work with Alona and her relationship with Hillel, we’re able to introduce this new group into the larger community.”
Cyngiser sees the trip as a way to explore three different cultures and perspectives.
“[The Canadian Russian Jewish population] will be able to be more comfortable about sharing their cultural backgrounds and, at the same time, will realize how much they have in common with Jewish Russian Israelis and Jews from Russia,” he said. “This trip will hit different personal and cultural key points that a regular trip wouldn’t have.”
