COJECO is excited to launch its Adult B’nai Mitzvah Journey, a program for Russian-speaking Jewish adults in New York! This unique experience encourages and enables the participants to join meaningful Jewish learning, celebrate their Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and bring the joy of Jewish living to their families.
The program empowers RSJ change makers to create their own community-building initiatives, with the support of a network of peers, educational workshops, one-on-one mentorship, and mini-grants for project implementation.
A customized, year-long family program for Russian-speaking Jewish parents and their children leading up to Bar/Bat Mitzvah.
The Virtual Academy of Jewish Heritage offers a series of top-notch Jewish and Israel-related educational sessions in English and Russian. Learn more on how to attend these free virtual lectures and help support the academy!
Interested in a unique Jewish learning program co-created by Russian-speaking Jewish families and leading Jewish educators? RJKrug, an Innovative Jewish Learning Program For Children and Parents, will soon begin its cohort for 2023-2024.
Bringing Russian-speaking Jewish young adults on a 9-day educational trips to Germany to explore the past and present of Jewish life in Germany, and to experience modern Germany first hand.
We have launched a successful program for adults, children, teens, and families in Northern New Jersey, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey.
As the war in Ukraine rages on, our community is welcoming more refugees from Ukraine every day. COJECO has been working tirelessly to help people impacted by the War in Ukraine to resettle in New York and New Jersey. Read more about our efforts and Join!
Join COJECO in celebrating its annual gala honoring the RSJ Community. Stay tuned for details about the 2025 annual gala!
Thu, February 27, 2025
As a Russian speaking, Jewish, queer couple who wants our future children to be fluent in Russian and know about their cultural roots, we notice that there’s a deficit of Russian-language books with characters who look and live like we do. We see English language children’s literature grow more diverse and inclusive, but find that the same phenomenon has not yet spread to Russian books. This makes it difficult for families with young children to build a love of the Russian language at home while also encouraging modern values. We want readers whose families read in Russian at home to recognize themselves in the characters they are reading about and to be exposed to fictional worlds rich in diversity. With this project, we want to create a series of Russian-language children’s books on Jewish holiday topics that represent the wide variety of Russian speaking Jewish families in the US today including interfaith families, LGBT families, and Jews of color. It is our hope that with books like these, the next generation of American Russian-speaking Jews will be able to learn about Jewish holidays and how they have been celebrated both in the FSU and in various traditions around the world in the language their families speak at home. We want children to learn about Jewish culture through books that have relatable characters, plots, and settings.
Tatyana Dvorkin Cheburashka Wears a Kippah Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tatyana immigrated to the US with her family at age 11. She received her BA in Sociology Summa Cum Laude from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master’s in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College Columbia University where she focused on the use of games and social media in education. She has been an educator for 12 years, the past 5 of them at The Jewish Education Project working with day schools and congregational institutions all over North America to innovate classrooms and make learning more engaging and personalized. She currently works at an all boys school on the UES teaching coding and STEAM. She shares a home with her wife and about as many books as could comfortably fill a small public library.
COJECO was formed in 2001 as an umbrella organization for grassroots community organizations of Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants in New York to make their voices heard and respected. Today we represent over 30 such network organizations, including young adult leadership groups, Holocaust Survivors, professional associations, arts & culture organizations, and social justice groups.
COJECO was formed in 2001 as an umbrella organization for grassroots community organizations of Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants in New York to make their voices heard and respected. Today we represent over 30 such network organizations, including young adult leadership groups, Holocaust Survivors, professional associations, arts & culture organizations, and social justice groups.
Tel: 212-566-2120 E-mail: info@cojeco.org
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