| Founder and Director: Rabbi Ervin Birnbaum Kikar Ha’atzmaut 11, Netanya 42103 Mailing Address: P.O.B. 2695, Netanya 4212602 Facebook : Please Click Here Phone: 052-3653522 |
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About
In 1988, when Rabbi Ervin Birnbaum of the Bet Israel Masorti Congregation, Netanya saw the plight of Russian musicians arriving in Israel with no prospect of work, performing on our streets, he started inviting them to perform at concerts at Bet Israel Masorti Congregation and telling his congregants to attend. This was the beginning of Shearim (Open Gates), Netanya and except for summer breaks, those concerts have been held at noon every Monday ever since and feature some of the best musicians in Israel, including soloists from Israel Opera and the Israel Philharmonic and new olim whose performances are supported in part by the Center for Absorption of Immigrant Artists and Returning Residents, part of the Minstry of Aliyah and Integration (Misrad HaAliyah VeHaKlita, formerly called the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption).
Additional nighttime concerts are with the assistance of the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration. The weekly and nighttime concerts have helped launch the careers of many now successful Russian musicians, who return to Shearim regularly.
Shearim quickly began responding to other needs of the Russian olim and besides helping the musicians, proceeds from the concerts now help support Shearim’s other programs, including a “Tzaharon,” a day care centre for children of less fortunate, single parent families. The children are provided a hot lunch and often enjoy listening to parts of the concerts when the concerts don’t end before they return from outdoor activities.
Housed in the center of Netanya, on Kikar Ha’atzmaut (Independence Square), Shearim is busy morning to night.
Shearim hosts theater groups and art classes for both children and adults. It provides Hebrew lessons for olim along with conversion classes for Russian immigrants who are not Jewish according to Halacha. Shearim enhances children’s education with intellectual games on Shabbat and music classes along with both a children’s and an adult choir. Shearim also runs a support group for Nitzolei Shoah, survivors of the Holocaust.
Shearim also provides and subsidizes monthly tiyulim (tours) where the Russian olim learn more about Israel, from the Negev to the Golan. The cost for the Russians is also subsidized by English speakers who join them on the tours.