RJ INSIDER’S GUIDE
ST PETERSBURG: Treated Like a Queen By Gail Glezerman Sherman
T
ravel is my passion. I find gressive (Reform) synagogue in St. nothing more exhilarating Petersburg, Russia. than visiting new places… Before the trip, I learned of and but not for the reasons you reached out to Rabbi Gary Brettonmay expect. Yes, I enjoy Granatoor, vice president for philanvisiting historical sites, seeing magnifithropy at the World Union for Progrescent art and architecture, and sampling sive Judaism. He excitedly explained delicious indigenous food. But my real that St. Petersburg was one of only four joy comes from cities in all meeting people, of Russia— especially when the others they are Jewish. being MosI love to learn cow, Minsk what it’s like and Kiev— to live as a that had a Jew in another Progressive country…what synagogue. is similar to the Since our U.S. and what time in St. is different. Petersburg Usually the included a similarities Friday night, RABBI HELENA RUBENSTEIN (R.) AND I AT THE fascinate he suggested ENTRANCE TO SHA’AREI SHALOM’S SANCTUARY. me most. we attend I’ve conversed with party-goers at a Shabbat services and put me in touch Sephardic bar mitzvah—on a Thursday with Rabbi Helena Rubenstein— evening—in Nice, France (except for “who,” he said, “along with her congrethe language, the party was like all the gation, will treat you like a queen!” ones I’ve attended in America); learned Rabbi Rubenstein wrote, in good about French Jewish Pesach traditions English, that she’d be delighted to have while buying Passover pastries at a us. She provided me with the address and kosher bakery in Paris; and conversed directions—and her cell phone number. with a Jewish glass blower in Venice ♦♦♦ about a Murano glass kiddush cup that After our first day of exploring the city, seemed like a major extravagance—but I was still feeling jet lagged from the which I’ve regretted not buying ever 11-hour time difference and regretting my since. And, this past summer, my huscommitment to attend services. Plus it was band Jay and I experienced the most cold and rainy; a bowl of hot borscht and personal Jewish encounter of all— attending Shabbat services as the guests an early evening sounded very appealing. But the rabbi was expecting us, so of honor at Sha’arei Shalom, the Prowe hailed a taxi to what turned out to be a Soviet-era office building, across from Gail Glezerman Sherman is a member of Temple Beth Torah, Ventura, California. “the Cruiser Aurora” (which, we later reform judaism
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learned, was the ship that fired the shot that started the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, and is now a museum). The taxi driver pointed and sped away. Without any signage, we had no idea what we were looking for. A man who seemed to be a security guard looked at the address—in Russian—and led us to a dismal yard surrounded by a chain link fence. This could not be right. Retracing our steps back to “the Cruiser Aurora,” I called the temple, only to reach a Russian-speaking woman who didn’t understand me and hung up. Now it was raining hard, the wind upending our umbrella. Royalty, hmmm. I fumbled for the rabbi’s cell phone number, and to my relief she answered. Her secretary would soon meet us outside the building. At last, we saw someone gesturing broadly, “Come in, come in.” We had arrived at Sha’arei Shalom. Rabbi Rubenstein, an elegant woman in her mid-50s, greeted us warmly. She immediately offered us tea and sweets, and then (as she was in the midst of a counseling session) put us in the hands of one of her English-speaking members: Alla, a beautiful young woman with an adorable two-year-old daughter. Alla showed us around the first floor facilities: sanctuary—a very modern space reminiscent of American synagogues—offices, and a small social hall (religious school classrooms occupy the upstairs space). She apologized in advance for the small turnout expected at services—about 20 of 100 members— because of the rain and many members away on summer vacations. When Rabbi Rubenstein rejoined us, she told us her life story—the twists and turns of how a young Jew who grew up without an understanding of Judaism in
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg: Troika Travel, troikatourism.com
Greetings from The State Hermitage Museum
spring 2013
1/17/13 8:24 AM