According to the World Congress of Mountain Jews, there are currently 40,000 Gorsky Jews living in the US but no Gorsky Jewish schools, and, until recently, only one existing Gorsky synagogue.
The cultural and educational center Beit Juhuro was founded in 2014 with the goal of preserving the unique identity and culture of the Gorsky Jews and is one of the few Gorsky Communities in New York.
Starting with just five people we have rapidly grown into a community of about 200 people over the years and earned a reputation within New York City as a go-to place for social, cultural, and religious activities.
Unfortunately, Beit Juhuro never had its own permanent space. Rabbi Farhi from Kehilat Bney Yaakov generously hosted us for many years, after which we run programs at three different locations including BJX and RAJE, and moved multiple times. Then we finally found a beautiful new space for our community at 2320 Avenue U and began the constructions process at the end of April 2021.
Beit Juhuro received tremendous help and support from its members during this time. We are especillay grateful to German Zakharyayev and STMEGI, as well as our amazing volunteers who contributed their time and effort to get the new place to where it is now and received an incredibly high amount of donations that exceeded our fundraiser goal by far. Over 500 people participated in the fundraising campaign. A total of $160,228.20 was contributed in the span of two months. It is a truly historic occurrence in our community! 22 teams volunteered to raise funds for the new home of Gorsky Jews in South Brooklyn. A fundraiser of such proportions, both in quantity and quality was never done before! We are incredibly grateful to everyone who donated! This is a smashing success an absolutely unprecedented accomplishment, and a legacy we can leave for generations to come.
