# Machanaim

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This article is about the organization. For the kibbutz, see [Mahanayim](/source/Mahanayim). For the biblical location, see [Mahanaim](/source/Mahanaim). For the game, see [Machanayim](/source/Machanayim).

**Machanaim** is an organization dealing with the spiritual absorption of [Jewish people](/source/Jewish_people) from the former [USSR](/source/USSR) in [Israel](/source/Israel). The movement's work and its goals spawned its name, the [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language) word מַחֲנָיִם from meaning "two camps", in this case referring to [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem) and [Moscow](/source/Moscow).

Machanaim's founders are Rabbi Dr. Zeev Dashevsky, Dr. [Pinchas Polonsky](/source/Pinchas_Polonsky), and Dr. Michael Kara-Ivanov. Machanaim began in [Moscow](/source/Moscow) behind the [Iron Curtain](/source/Iron_Curtain) in 1979, during the period of [Brezhnev stagnation](/source/Brezhnev_stagnation), as a group of young people who gathered to study [Jewish history](/source/Jewish_history) and tradition and pass on this knowledge on to their fellow Jews. Over time it developed into an organized underground network for studying [Torah](/source/Torah), [Jewish philosophy](/source/Jewish_philosophy), and [Jewish law](/source/Jewish_law). Almost all the group members were [refuseniks](/source/Refusenik_(Soviet_Union)). Classes were sometimes interrupted by the [KGB](/source/KGB).

In 1987 most of the Machanaim activists received permission to [emigrate to Israel](/source/Aliyah). There they set two main goals: to work with new immigrants and to provide assistance in Jewish education for those Jews still in the [CIS](/source/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States).

The organization has produced many books and classes, especially for [conversion to Judaism](/source/Conversion_to_Judaism). Its other main projects include teaching [Judaism](/source/Judaism) via the media, running a [synagogue](/source/Synagogue) lead by Rabbi Yaakov Belenky, and other activities in [Ma'aleh Adumim](/source/Ma'aleh_Adumim). It is an important proponent of [Religious Zionism](/source/Religious_Zionism) among Russian-speaking Jews.

## Other uses of the name

Machanaim is also the name of a popular game played at Jewish summer camps and schools. It is sometimes spelled [Machanayim](/source/Machanayim). In Jerusalem there is a Haredi neighbourhood named Machanaim, close to Sanhedria.

## References

- [Machanaim](https://machanaim-new.org/) online
- [From Russia with faith](https://web.archive.org/web/20100425005010/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/64173265.html?dids=64173265:64173265&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+17%2C+1997&author=Dan+Izenberg&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=08&desc=From+Russia+with+Faith), Dan Izenberg, Jerusalem Post, 17.10.1997
- "*Machanaim*: The search for a spiritual revival of Judaism among Russian Jews" by Miriam Kitrossky, Michael Kara-Ivanov and [Pinchas Polonsky](/source/Pinchas_Polonsky) in "Conversations. Orthodoxy and Diversity", issue 7, spring 2010/5770, pp. 54–65

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