The Melamedia International Informal Jewish Education Center

The Institute for Jewish Studies in the CIS is deeply grateful for the Pincus Fund's ongoing and generous support of Melamedia.

Melamedia is a new initiative of Rabbi Steinsaltz's Institute for Jewish Studies in the CIS. By training the trainers, investing in new media and devising new ways to deliver the message, Melamedia focuses on preparing community activists, opinion leaders and teachers for self-sufficiency.  Its goal is to reach and teach 300,000 individuals within the next five years and to create an educational infrastructure that can withstand the vicissitudes of the Russian political landscape.

Melamedia, which was established with a grant from UJA Federation of New York, has fast become a leading resource on informal Jewish education.  Major funding is also received from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.  Numerous programs fall under the rubric of Melamedia, and several are already off to a successful start.  June 2006 saw the launch of the Magen David program, designed to address the increasing concerns of Russian Jews for their physical safety.  Russian Jews learn self-defense, while establishing a foundation of Jewish values and interpersonal skills that enable them to defuse tense situations quickly and effectively.  Graduates of the program become trainers themselves. Since 2006, Magen David has trained 18 instructors and self-defense experts who are working in 14 communities.

Another Melamedia project is the new Educational Resource Center, Maayan (www.maayan.org.il). The Center's staff prepares curricula and texts that are especially relevant to a Russian audience. The new materials complement the Institute's existing extensive on-line catalogue of Judaica, both for teaching and recreational purposes. While the Resource Center is located in the Steinsaltz Center in Moscow, online users can look up what they need and order it by mail.

Melamedia College, a 2-year degree program, is raising the status of key educators.  It is the only program of its kind in the Former Soviet Union.  Through an intensive program of on-site and distance learning, students become experts in informal Jewish education, ready to fan out across the country to staff community centers, youth groups and after-school programs.  In this first year, 40 students enrolled and 120 applicants had to be turned away.  Each graduating class is expected to impact 4,000 children and adults annually.

Other Melamedia programs include the innovative Jewish Theater Workshop, which, under the auspices of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is training 25 Jewish theater directors and working with them to develop theater pieces grounded in classical Jewish texts.  Click here to see photos of a recent session of the Jewish Theater Workshop. 

Bayit LeMidrash, a network of peer-led study groups, explores topics in Jewish history and tradition.  Since 2000, over 300 groups have been formed and more than 10,000 individuals have participated in this twice-weekly, two-year course of study.