Learning on Zoom Year-Round? For Some, This is Their Life: An Engaging Interview with Naama Oishi from Kaluga, Russia

Naama Oishi (35), mother of 4, is a Chabad emissary in the city of Kaluga in Russia, where she and her husband run a thriving Jewish community. She grew up in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, in a Chasidic (Chabad) family, as the fifth of 14 children. She studied teaching for middle schools and majored in communications. 

What drives a standard young woman, recently married, with small children, to one day get up and leave for a mission in a foreign country that is practically devoid of Jewish life?

Naama reflects on her time as a young woman in seminary, where, as she puts it, the dream of becoming an emissary abroad was born: “As part of my studies at the seminary I attended, second-year students would go on a six-month mission abroad. During my time there, the missions were mainly in the countries of the former Soviet Union. During this mission, girls would go to schools or other educational institutions of Chabad emissaries in the area, helping wherever needed. My mission was to help at a children's home in Moscow. That was where I was first exposed to the daily work of being an emissary. Before that mission, I had been a counselor in summer camps and helped at different Chabad Houses in Israel, but it was the first time I truly lived it day in and day out. During that period, I decided that this was the life I wanted for myself after marriage.”

Oishi family children by the Oka River crossing the city of Kaluga

Did you choose your mission location, or was it chosen for you? Would you prefer to be elsewhere?

“No one is forcibly sent on a mission,” Naama says, “Every couple deciding to go on a mission looks for a preferred location and the type of mission that suits them. This could be in Israel or abroad, working with a local community, Israelis, tourists, students, etc. When we looked for a mission, we wanted it to be in the region of Russia or Ukraine because both of us had been on missions in this area before our marriage and already knew the mentality, language, and style. And no, I wouldn’t want to switch.”

Learning Year-Round on Zoom

Tell us about the challenges in your Jewish life in a country where there’s almost nothing Jewish. What’s the biggest challenge, and how do you overcome it?

Naama takes a few minutes to recall the challenges and explains why: “Our Jewish challenges accompany us throughout the day, not just sporadically on Shabbats or holidays, but since we have gotten used to this life, it takes a few minutes to remember them all…” Nevertheless, Naama shares some of the main ones: “There’s the food issue, kosher products are extremely scarce here, and many things don’t exist at all, even basic products. Of course, there are no restaurants, snacks, or such luxuries. All bakery products, bread, pita, cakes - none of these are available in kosher form here. There’s no ordering pizza or running to buy a roll and a treat in the morning.”

“There’s also the challenge of the children’s education, learning online all year and being far from friends and class, sometimes meeting only once a year, and sometimes not at all… The distance from family, friends, family celebrations, etc., is also not a simple, mainly emotional challenge. Of course, there are the challenges of the mission itself, which is the desire to reach every Jew in the city and bring them to the events we host, prayers, and various activities.”

You mentioned your children study online all year; how does it work? In Israel, they barely manage distant learning for a few months… Don't they miss real friends?

“My children study at a virtual school called ‘Or Menachem,’ intended for the children of emissaries worldwide, mainly from the former Soviet Union and Europe, due to relatively overlapping time zones. They study at the virtual school for about 3 hours every morning, each in a different room, each with a computer, headphones with a speaker, and everything necessary for effective learning. This is what they know and the reality they were born into, so unlike Israel, it’s not new to them; it’s part of their life.

“Regarding friends, they have classmates they meet virtually, and they have friends from our community they meet during activities on Sundays, and sometimes also on Shabbat. We definitely feel the lack of social interaction, especially when we do meet someone ‘real.’ Thank G-d, today, with so many communication and media tools, we can certainly feel more connected.”

Corona Time in Russia Too

What’s the COVID-19 situation like there? How do you manage a Chabad House during this time? Does it affect your activities?

“COVID-19 didn’t skip over Russia, as you know, and this situation isn’t easy for anyone,” Naama sighs, “but when you run a synagogue and community and have responsibility for others, it's even harder. There were times during the pandemic when I couldn’t sleep because of the worry and thinking about what to do and not do, what’s right and what’s not. There were times when we completely closed the synagogue, no prayers or activities. If in Israel they had balcony or yard minyanim - here, once we closed, there was nothing. And this is not an easy responsibility, even emotionally. For Passover, for example, we prepared kits for the Seder night for about 60 people from the community who wanted to celebrate the holiday at home. The kit included a Haggadah with precise explanations on what to do at each part, symbols for each, matzah, and wine. On Shabbats, we began distributing Shabbat kits that included wine, challah, cake, some salads, and a designed newsletter with explanations about Kiddush, etc. Of course, I cooked and baked everything myself, as I mentioned, there’s no finding kosher pastries here.” 

How did people react to the distribution of these kits for Shabbat and holidays?

“These kits really warmed people’s hearts and made them want to listen and get closer, so we continued with them for Shavuot and Rosh Hashanah and sent more comprehensive kits with information and symbols of each holiday. Additionally, we had a humanitarian aid project for the elderly. There were classes and different activities via Zoom that were less successful, so we just shut everything down until the lockdown here ended and returned to almost regular activities. But the impact of COVID-19 was very much felt here, and the number of people definitely dwindled. Now a second wave is starting here, and we feel it a lot. If on a regular Sukkot, on the eve of the holiday, we have around 60 people in the sukkah, this year, only 30 were present.”

It sounds like you are indeed a powerhouse of Jewish outreach, but what's your real ‘mission’ role? How do you manage to balance the challenges of the mission with raising a family and work?

Naama laughs and responds with her trademark humor that I’ve come to know: “Whenever I’m asked what I do for a living, I answer that it depends on the day, hour, and date. The roles change a lot, but there is the basic foundation. First of all, I’m a mother to 4 children, three of whom study online from home, as I mentioned, and one little almost-3-year-old who doesn’t yet have a framework because there’s no Jewish kindergarten in the city, and I try to give her some structure with crafts, games, etc. On Sundays, I have two children’s clubs, one in the morning for kids aged 6-12 and another in the afternoon for older kids aged 12-17. Each club, of course, requires preparation of programs, which I usually prepare on Thursday or Saturday night. On Tuesdays, I have a regular women’s class in Russian. Thursdays to Fridays are devoted to kitchen work - cooking and baking for Shabbat. On Shabbats, we host; on Friday evenings at home, and on Shabbat mornings we all eat at the synagogue the food I prepare. Once a month, I hold an event for women, as well as a senior citizens club. Besides that, all community events, meaning holidays, Bar mitzvahs, Bat mitzvahs, etc., I organize, produce, and sometimes even cook and bake for. In short, life is not boring here…

The Oishi family on the last Purim celebrated with a flight concept

“At night, I work on my computer - writing and producing activities for the ‘Morasha’ organization of the European Jewish Association. Balancing all this with raising a family often requires prioritizing and understanding that I’m not Superman, and there are things to give up for the sake of the kids or energy. And there are times the kids know I’ll be busier and less available to them, especially during holidays. So we really make sure after the holidays to take a day or two for fun with the kids to make up for the times we were busier or less available to them.”