Russian Children and their Families Celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs at American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Program in Siberia’s “Sleeping Land”

As the tundra melts in Siberia this Summer, nearly 70 young people and their families from remote communities in Russia’s Far East will travel as long as 20 hours to Khabarovsk, Russia to reconnect with their lost Jewish heritage at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)’s week-long Bar/Bat Mitzvah program. Held July 28-August 2, 2008, the celebration includes lectures, games, prayer study, discussions and—of course—a ceremony lead by eight young “madrichim,” or leaders from the region who have participated in past programs and Rabbinical students from the California-based American Jewish University (AJU). For the first time, the program invites families for the week-long celebration.