‘May our hearts rise up in prayer’: responses of Russian-speaking immigrant Israeli reform congregations to the Russo-Ukrainian war

ABSTRACT

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in March 2022 stunned the world and recalled levels of aggression unseen since World War II. Along with political, military and diplomatic discussions, this anthropological study contributes a sociological-cultural perspective through the examination of Israeli Reform Jewish congregation responses, which include Russian-speaking immigrants, to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. I analyze how the crisis pushed congregants into an internal dialog with their Jewish identity and Reform communal affiliation. Furthermore, this exceptional situation is reshaping rabbinical positions and creative liturgical responses. As such, Reform Jewish congregations are sites to identify tendencies and changes in the perception of Jewish identity, values and sense of belonging among Russian-speaking immigrants in Israeli society. Therefore, this research sheds light on the intersection between a time of crisis, such as war, and the intensification of religious views, liturgical flexibility and reflexive inquiry of religious leaders.

KEYWORDS:

• Russo-Ukrainian War
• Reform Jewish community
• Israel
• identity
• liturgy
• immigrants

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For Reform Jewish remote rituals during the COVID-19 pandemic, see Ben-Lulu (2021a).

2 A commandment according to Jewish law.

3 For more reading about the Reform movement's stance on officiating interfaith marriage ceremonies, see: D.E. Kaplan (2017).

4 Shechinah is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning ‘dwelling’ and describes the presence of God in a place. It refers to the divine feminine, or to the feminine aspect of God.

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Elazar Ben-Lulu

Elazar Ben-Lulu, is an Israeli socio-cultural anthropologist specializing in the Anthropology of Religion, Gender and Sexuality, Israeli/American Reform Jewry, Queer Jewish liturgy/theology, and LGBTQ Studies. He currently serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Ariel University in Israel.