Russian Jews Ring in Their New Year with Caviar, Champagne, and … Decorated Trees?

JANUARY 10, 2019 – 4 SHEVAT 5779 JEWISHVOL 43, NO 11 JOURNALJEWISHJOURNAL.ORG Russian Jews ring in their new year with caviar, champagne, and … decorated trees? By Michael Wittner Reed Brockman, a structural engineer from JOURNAL STAFF Marblehead, also was unnerved by the traditions after he married his Russian wife, Larissa. On a recent night, a jolly old man with a long white “I grew up in a pretty conservative Jewish house, so beard and a sack of gifts visited the homes of Jewish the tree thing took me by surprise,” said Brockman. children around the world. The next morning, under an “The deal is I don’t want to have anything to do with the evergreen tree decorated with glass ornaments, these tree on Christmas. Christmas has to be over. I’m still not Jewish children found more presents. completely comfortable with the idea of a tree.” But it’s not what you think. The night was Dec. 31, the Since most places that sell Christmas trees are empty jolly bearded old man was Ded Moroz, or Grandfather after the holiday, Brockman scours the neighborhood Frost, and the tree is not a Christmas tree – it is a Yolka for discarded trees. tree, the Russian word for “spruce.” The holiday was not “You feel like a crook – you hear the ‘Mission Christmas, but Novy God, the Russian New Year, which Impossible’ music as you get out of the car,” he said. is enjoyed by Russian Jews throughout the North Shore. After Brockman is able to stealthily haul a tree into Jane Mikityansky, an information systems engineer the car, it remains standing until mid-January, or “Old from Marblehead who grew up in Moscow, estimated New Year,” a smaller celebration marking the New Year that around 70 percent of Russian Jews in the area still according to the traditional Julian calendar once used celebrate this major Russian holiday. in Russia. “That was the only big celebration we could have Still, most Russian Jews still associate the tree with for the whole year,” said Mikityansky, who grew up in a secular holiday and fond childhood memories, and the Soviet era, when any type of religious celebration celebrate Novy God wholeheartedly. That means learn- – Christian, Jewish, or otherwise –was banned. In fact, ing the many traditions that accompany it. First, there is Mikityansky was not even aware that the Yolka tree the meal, which begins with the Olivier salad, a classic resembled a Christmas tree. “Christmas was not even a Russian plate usually consisting of some combination of word there,” she said. potatoes with peas, carrots, onions, meat, pickles, eggs, The tradition of the tree began in the early 19th and mayonnaise. The Novy God meal contains other century, when the Prussian-born wife of Tsar Nicholas staples of Russian cuisine, such as herring and cabbage, Reed and Larissa Brockman decorate their Yolka tree for I brought the German tradition to the Russian court. Novy God. blintzes, salmon caviar, and pickles. As the century continued, more and more elements Olga Belyakova, a medical billing manager who grew of Western European Christmas began seeping into Mikityansky. In fact, shortly after arriving in America, up in Moscow and now lives in Lynn, enjoys a host Russian New Year’s celebrations. Mikityansky stopped celebrating the holiday, worried of other Novy God traditions, from a top to bottom Novy God’s close resemblance to Christmas tradi- that that it would confuse the children she wanted to cleaning of the house on New Year’s Eve, to young chil- tions has made some Jews uncomfortable, including raise Jewish. continued on page 14 Forget New Year’s resolutions: for The Jewish voices behind Jews, it’s all about the High Holy Days ‘Our Bodies, Ourselves’ By Michael Wittner By Penny Schwartz JOURNAL STAFF JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT On Jan. 1, many people wake up late in the BROOKLINE – Nearly 50 years ago, morning to a splitting headache and a messy a small group of Boston area feminists house. In the cold, sober light of day, they decide began meeting in each other’s homes to that in the upcoming year, they’re going to make talk about women's health issues and some changes. women's sexuality. Making – and breaking – New Year’s resolu- The women were preparing material tions has become as identifiable a holiday tradi- for a course on women's health, a subject tion as champagne flutes or the ball dropping that at the time – in the late 1960s – was in Times Square. But does this secular tradition ignored by mainstream health care pro- extend to Jews, who already have their own New viders and even considered taboo. The Year’s tradition in the fall that requires intense idea for the course grew out of Boston's Photo by Heratch Ekmekjian/Brandeis University self-reflection? first “Female Liberation” conference in Brandeis Professor Emerita and renowned Not especially, according to North Shore Jews the spring of 1969 at Emmanuel College, historian Joyce Antler. and rabbis, who all say they prefer the High Holy where Nancy Miriam Hawley led a work- Days to seek a better way. shop titled, “Women and Their Bodies.” lished in 1970 that is widely credited with “Being a good Jewish woman, I take the Jewish “At the time, there wasn't a single text empowering women of all ages – around High Holy Days very seriously, because I think written by women about women's health the world – to be informed advocates of the text of Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur kind of and sexuality,” Hawley told women's his- their health, their health-care rights, and sets up the framework for your guidance on how tory scholar Joyce Antler decades later. their sexuality. you should be working with everything – reli- "I would say that Jewish wis- The group, which later became the Now considered the “bible” of wom- gion, society, everything,” said Marion Garfinkel, dom discourages us from making Boston's Women Health Collective, en's health, “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” has a nurse from Swampscott. vows – promises that we may set out to change that. From an early, sold more than 4.5 million copies and “I’m more focused on teshuvah [repentance not be able to keep, despite our stapled newsprint booklet on women's has been translated into more than 25 and self-examination that take place during the best intentions,” said Rabbi David health, the collective wrote “Our Bodies, languages. continued on page 15 Meyer. Ourselves,” a trailblazing book pub- continued on page 15 The Jewish Journal is a nonprofit newspaper supported by generous readers, committed advertisers and charitable organizations. Email [email protected]. 2 THE JEWISH JOURNAL – JEWISHJOURNAL.ORG – JANUARY 10, 2019 COMMUNITY NEWS TheMillennials WHAT WAS YOUR JEWISH cultivate the sacred, build community, and ensure BACKGROUND GROWING UP? that community is not just inwardly facing, but also outwardly focused, doing our part to help My parents were always seekers trying to find achieve some equity and justice in this world. a synagogue or a Jewish community that they felt While I was still in school, I spent three sum- at home in, so I kind of bopped around to differ- mers founding Mikdash, a grass-roots cooperative ent Hebrew schools over the years in Reform and Jewish community in Portland, Ore, rooted in a Conservative shuls. My two primary childhood philosophy that each generation has the oppor- communities ended up being Jewish Renewal and tunity and responsibility to create our own ver- Chabad. My home life was deeply spiritual, with sion of sacred community. My last year of school a strong Jewish identity, a real strong celebration I served as the Rabbinic Intern at a renowned pro- of holidays and community. I participated in the gressive spiritual community in Los Angeles, called Maccabiah Games … went to Israel on Y2I when I IKAR. While I was there, IKAR along with six other was I guess 17, and had a really strong Jewish com- path-breaking Jewish communities from across the munity and Jewish life at Vanderbilt University. country formed the Jewish Emergent Network, to WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO help revitalize the field of Jewish engagement. I was BECOME A RABBI? hired full-time as the inaugural Jewish Emergent Nate DeGroot, 30 Network Rabbinic Fellow at IKAR. After my experi- I never considered becoming a rabbi until the ence at IKAR, I sometimes dream of helping to bring ALMA MATERS: Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School age of 21. Prior to that, I anticipated I was gonna an IKAR-like Jewish Emergent Network community ’06, Vanderbilt University ’10, Hebrew College ’16 go into some kind of business. My junior year was to Boston one day. JOB: Hazon Detroit Co-director, Spiritual & Program director a major turning point for me – I was very deeply COULD YOU TALK ABOUT surrounded by and a part of the dominant social FAVORITE FOOD: Thai food: specifically Phuket fish HAZON, WHERE YOU NOW culture at Vanderbilt, which, while there was a WORK? FAVORITE MUSIC: I was raised on classic rock...Beatles, lot of fun to be had, there was also a lot of really Crosby, Stills & Nash, James Taylor, Kenny Loggins, and Van destructive social behavior happening. I’d had After finishing my Fellowship at IKAR, my amaz- these Alternative Spring Break experiences where ing wife and I moved to Detroit, to be closer to her Morrison. More recently … Chance the Rapper, The Carters, and I would come back feeling really centered, really family and to get to work at Hazon. The work of Spotify Discover Weekly. whole, and really kind of clear on my purpose and Hazon is threefold: to help Jews reconnect to our FAVORITE BOOKS: “Braiding Sweetgrass;” “The Fifth the spiritual aspects of who I was.

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