August 31, 2012

(JTA) – A Conservative synagogue in the Los Angeles area is starting a Russian-language religious school program.

Congregation Beth Meier will start the program on Sept. 9 for children ages 6 to 8, at its at Studio City campus, according to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.

The program is designed to help the children build their Russian-language skills while learning about Judaism and Jewish culture, Rabbi Aaron Benson told the newspaper.

The class will mirror the congregation’s English and Hebrew-language Jewish studies classes, he added. 

The approximately 100-family congregation has about one dozen Russian-speaking families, Benson said. He hopes the new program attracts additional Russian Jews living in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and elsewhere.

The 1997 L.A. Jewish population survey reported that there were 24,500 Jews from the former Soviet Union in the area. However, demographer Pini Herman, research coordinator for that study, told the newspaper that the number is likely lower today. 

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