Hope

Beth Shalom
seder gives
Russian
immigrants
a place to
rediscover
Judaism.

AMY MINDELL Special to The Jewish News

BILL HANSEN Photographer

Directly above, Lenny Newman
of Huntington Woods explains the meaning
of wine in the seder ceremony.

Clockwise from top..
Genrikh Shif of Oak Park, right,
was the translator.

Yuriy Mushkin poured wine for Rakhil Mayina,
left, and Raisa Cherkasova, all of Oak Park.

Rabbi David Nelson welcomed
the group to Beth Shalom.

Taking a stab at singing were,
left to right, Shefdl Zisser of Southfield,
Mayina and Newman.

4/9
1999

or two hours last Sunday, 20 elderly
Russian immigrants felt both Jewish and
remembered.
Dressed in their holiday finery, the
new Americans participated in a model seder at
Congregation Beth Shalom, an emotional occasion
for many who are rediscovering their Judaism.
The immigrants are members of a two-year-old
program called Circle of Friends, run by the Oak
Park Conservative synagogue. The group is dedi-
cated to integrating these Jews into American
Jewish life and building connections between con-
gregation members and the immigrants.
The model seder is a special part of the pro-
gram, as the Jewish exodus from Egypt recalls for

Amy Minden is a Southfield-based freelance writer.