I Dressed Up, Skipped Kiddush With My Parents — And Found a New Family at Ramat Ganim
I showed up in my finest clothes, an elegant kippah, and no shortage of nerves. Within an hour I was reciting Kiddush from memory in front of a room full of new immigrants — seated, of course, on the Russian-speaking side of the table.
On August 28th I got to know a wonderful community called "Ramat Ganim" — a community for new immigrants in Ramat Gan. I showed up in my finest clothes, an elegant kippah on my head, even though I'm completely secular. I wasn't sure what the vibe would be, so I figured it's better to overdress than underdress.
Worth mentioning: to make it, I took the night "off" from Kiddush with my parents. I love them dearly, but exploring communities around Tel Aviv matters to me, and Friday-night dinners are an inseparable part of that mission.
I brushed up on my English on the way there, but in the end I barely needed it — because what actually welcomed me there was mostly family. The one conducting the whole orchestra is Shai Shenkman, head of the Immigration and Absorption department at the Ramat Gan municipality, alongside two wonderful volunteers, Merav and Alona, and Shaul — a new immigrant from Brazil who's already volunteering and helping the newer arrivals too.
Shai greeted me with a smile and asked if I knew how to lead a Kiddush. I'm secular, but traditional — we do Kiddush every Friday at home, so yes, I know it by heart. I was moved and flattered to be given the honor of blessing the wine on my very first time there, and I could genuinely feel the togetherness taking shape in real time.
Before the Kiddush, everyone said a few words about themselves: who they are, whether they're a new immigrant or a local, and what they're planning to do the next day, Saturday — so people could tag along on each other's plans and take the connection further than just one evening.
We blessed the wine and the bread, and ate together. I, of course, gravitated straight to the Russian-speaking side of the table, and met some really lovely people from Belarus, with whom I spoke Russian all night.
I had a wonderful time. Warmly recommended — the Ramat Ganim community, and not just for Ramat Gan residents. It's one of the most family-like communities I've come across in the new-immigrant world, and if you're looking for a place that feels like home from the very first time, this is exactly the address.