With international travel almost at a standstill and many countries still very much in lockdown with strict restrictions in place, we have never been so disconnected physically. But then again, with thanks to technology and resilience, we have on the other hand, never been so connected in the virtual world. To that end, The Together Plan is connecting to people on a global level in a way that they were never able to a year ago. Covid brought so many businesses to a standstill, and by virtue, people found themselves needing to repurpose themselves or start new initiatives. In Budapest, two entrepreneurial young Jews, Dora and Sebastian, with a passion for Jewish history, heritage and culture, finding themselves in this very position, took the brave steps at the start of the pandemic to establish Qesher;
Qesher, connection in Hebrew, is a project for an unusual time, in which physical borders have become stronger, but we are more in contact than ever.
There are Jewish communities all around the globe with their own unique history, culture, places, and most of all people and stories. All of them different, but sharing so much. We would like to invite you to a virtual journey to discover some of these Jewish stories from around the world.
Qesher reached out to us at The Together Plan and invited us to give a talk about the history of the Jews of Belarus. At the end of 2020, Artur Livshyts and Debra Brunner gave their talk. It was oversubscribed and as a result, we were invited back to speak again in March. This time, we gave a slightly different talk, giving an insight into why we set up The Together Plan, sharing some of the lesser-known facts that shaped our passion for Jewish activism, before taking people on a journey into the history of Jewish Belarus. We were delighted to receive feedback the next day:
I had the pleasure of attending this session with my cousin from San Francisco. He’s actually visited Belarus and connected with family members who are still there, and I’ve managed to find family members and their descendants who immigrated to Israel and Germany.
This was really something special for us, and I wanted to thank you and particularly Arthur and Debra for an outstanding job.
Again the talk was oversubscribed, and so we have been asked to speak again on April 8th.
To book in for that talk, click here.
Meanwhile, closer to home and back in the UK, Debra Brunner gave a virtual talk for the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation. It is always a pleasure to be invited by individual communities to speak about our work, our projects and Jewish Belarus and in these times of disconnect to be afforded the opportunities to make personal connections even if it is in a Zoom room.