In Kazakhstan, Building an Intergenerational Jewish Life

Jewish Kazakhstan is as vibrant as ever because of leaders like Yulia Yugenshtein — a JDC volunteer who serves the elderly and inspires the young in Karaganda.

By Yulia Yugenshtein - JDC Volunteer; Karaganda, Kazakhstan | June 24, 2024

The future of Jewish Kazakhstan is in the hands of young leaders like Yulia Yugenshtein — a JDC Volunteer dedicated to serving Jews of all ages.

For Yulia Yugenshtein, Jewish life has no age limit. As head of the teen club at the JDC-supported Shemesh Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, Yugenshtein leads Jewish programming for the country’s youngest generation. But through one innovative program, she serves its oldest generation, too. In this reflection, Yugenshtein walks us through her Jewish journey, her work as head of her local teen club, and what inspires her commitment to intergenerational Jewish life.

Yugenshtein (center) poses with members of her local Active Jewish Teens (AJT) chapter.

My life’s purpose is to study Jewish history and honor the traditions of our people.

Each and every day, I fulfill this mission alongside my second family — the Jewish teenagers of Karaganda. With them, I feel at home.

It wasn’t so easy for my ancestors. My grandfather’s parents were observant Jews, and they celebrated Shabbat. But there was a drawback –– they had to hide their Jewishness under Soviet rule. That’s the main difference between their Jewish lives and mine — I get to be Jewish out in the open, sharing my experience with other communities, traveling the world, and creating a Jewish future for the youngest generation.

I felt this calling even as a child, when I lived in the small town of Kievka. I grew up far from the JDC-supported Shemesh Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Karaganda — but nonetheless, they still invited me to Shabbat retreats and celebrations.

Later, when I turned 16, I moved to Karaganda to study at the medical university. That’s when I became a member of the JCC’s Shatil teen club — a space for young Jews to socialize, celebrate, and learn more about Jewish life.

Since then, I’ve come a long way from being a Shatil teen club member to a madricha (counselor), and from a madricha to head of the Shatil teen club today. In that role, I organize meetings every week, lead classes, and learn Jewish traditions and history in an informal setting.

Throughout my journey, I joined many seminars and conferences with Active Jewish Teens (AJT) —the JDC youth program in the former Soviet Union (FSU) in partnership with BBYO. I even attended the BBYO International Convention in the United States. This experience opened a door to the wider Jewish world, and afterwards, I began to feel part of the global Jewish community.

Most importantly, I brought this global experience back home to Karaganda.

Yugenshtein (right) plays a BrainHQ game with an elderly client.

At the convention, I won a $1,000 grant for my club to continue fulfilling our mission and develop a roadmap for the future — and that money went a long way here in Kazakhstan. Today, as head of the Shatil teen club, I see that these resources were crucial for my teenagers, allowing them to discover and strengthen their Jewish identity.

Without the Shatil teen club and other programs at JCC Shemesh, I never would’ve learned about or met Jews from around the world. Kazakhstan is far from most other Jewish communities. That’s why it’s vital we have the chance to discover and assert ourselves, so that other people will know that Jewish life exists here in my country.

Participating in these programs means being part of one Jewish world and having the chance to communicate with outstanding, interesting people from all around the globe. At the same time, I’ve also realized it’s important to focus on those right in front of you — the most vulnerable Jews here in Kazakhstan.

That’s why I decided to volunteer with BrainHQ.

BrainHQ’s mission is simple — to prevent the development of cognitive disorders among seniors by strengthening their memory, attention, communication skills, and coordination. All of this happens through an app on specially designed smartphones as part of JDC’s JOINTECH initiative — a program that allows our seniors to join vibrant Jewish life, participate in the community, and access life-saving services no matter the circumstances.

When I first heard about BrainHQ, I was fascinated –– I’d never seen a project like this in our community. I knew I had to volunteer.

As someone who studied medicine, I know that BrainHQ’s games really do improve cognition. Our seniors particularly like Hawk’s Eye, a game that boosts your visual memory, and Double Decision, a game that improves brain processing speed. The other games boost logic, creativity, and more.

Most importantly, our seniors have fun. They aren’t just staring at smartphone screens — they’re sharing their results with each other and offering encouragement. Every difficulty they face is just more motivation to keep playing. I see their improvement firsthand, in their mood, their focus, and their memory.

It’s vital we have the chance to discover and assert ourselves, so that other people will know that Jewish life exists in Kazakhstan.

Through BrainHQ, we are literally honoring the memory of those who came before us, learning from them and carrying their wisdom into the future.

At least, that’s what I do with the teenagers at the Shatil teen club. On Fridays, we celebrate Shabbat together, and on Saturday, we gather for Havdalah.

These moments are sacred. Everyone in Karaganda knows the Jewish value of arevut, the Talmudic notion that all Jews are responsible for each other. At Shatil teen club, this is our motto — the words we live by.

It’s important we help others without expecting anything in return. Here at JCC Shemesh, we continue the work of our ancestors, writing a new chapter of Jewish history today and together.

Yulia Yugenshtein is a JDC volunteer in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and the head of the city’s Shatil teen club.