Synagogue Helps Soviet Emigres Learn Prayers, Rituals for Passover : Thousand Oaks: The newcomers are studying Judaism. Their religion had been forbidden in the Soviet Union.

While growing up in Riga, Latvia, Alexander Zaks was never taught about Jewish traditions.

Today, three days after arriving in the United States, he and his family will get their first taste of religious freedom when they celebrate Passover at a Seder with his brother Yuri.

“We never had these traditions,” Alexander Zaks, 38, said as he fingered a yamalka at his brother’s apartment in Simi Valley. “This was lost in Russia.”

Zaks, his wife Irena, his mother Julia, and his 12-year-old daughter Yelena are among two dozen Soviet emigres in Ventura County who are learning about their faith with the help of Temple Etz Chaim, a Thousand Oaks-based synagogue that is at the heart of the Russian immigrant enclave in the county.

On Saturday, Rabbi Shimon Paskow will lead about 200 people, seven of them Russians, in a community Passover dinner that has become an annual celebration of their exodus from the Soviet Union.

“In Russia there’s nothing for Jews,” Paskow said. “The young people are afraid to go to synagogue.”

Russian immigrants began coming to Temple Etz Chaim for help after a member of the congregation first contacted Paskow to ask for help in finding homes for emigres in the United States.

Yakov Galperin’s was one of the first families to be sponsored by Temple Etz Chaim.

Thirteen years ago, Galperin, then a chemist living in Leningrad, was a “refusenik,” the name given to Soviet Jews whose exit visas were refused by the government.

Galperin, 44, said he and his wife Olga used to celebrate Passover in private at home.

“We got matzo almost illegally,” he said. “The only place you could buy it was a synagogue in Leningrad. When you went to the synagogue, the KGB would be there.”

Four and a half years ago, Galperin’s family was finally granted exit visas and found their way to Thousand Oaks.

Galperin now works as a research chemist in the San Fernando Valley. His wife volunteered at the Temple Etz Chaim office until she found a job as a sales manager at a software company in Westlake.

Galperin’s 13-year-old son Yuri practices the prayers that his father has never learned. It has been hard learning about his Jewish identity, he said.

“It’s kind of strange. In Russia, we were Jews in our passport, but we didn’t know what that meant,” Galperin said. “We came from a different world, not just a different country.”

The temple’s Hebrew school has eight Russian students.

Zaks’ daughter Yelena will be the first in two generations to speak Hebrew, Paskow said.

In addition to helping newly arrived immigrants practice their faith, the temple has also assisted Russians in finding housing and eased their transition into the community by helping them learn English, Paskow said.

And next fall, several Russian couples will reconfirm the civil vows they took in the Soviet Union in a full Jewish ceremony at the temple.

In turn, immigrants have contributed to Temple Etz Chaim’s growth as the largest synagogue in Ventura County. It now counts 1,000 families among its congregation.

Passover is a particularly poignant time for the Russians because it symbolizes freedom, Paskow said. It is a time for families to read about the Jewish exodus from Egypt, and to share making and eating matzo.

Before they left the Soviet Union, many had never seen the flat, unleavened bread called matzo, he said.

Olga Zaks, 32, who welcomed her brother-in-law’s family two days ago, said she and her husband Yuri had to learn about Jewish traditions from the temple when they arrived two years ago.

“It was difficult to celebrate,” she said, “because we didn’t know how.”

Tonight’s observance will have added meaning, she said, because “it’s the first Passover we’ll all be together.”

Celebrating Passover Passover, a celebration of the escape from Egypt, begins tonight at sundown. Three synagogues and an organization will celebrate Passover at community Seders in Ventura County. Where: Temple Etz Chaim, 1080 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks

When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m.

Details: Reservations only. Call 497-6891 for tickets.

Group: Chabad of the Conejo

Where: Home of Rabbi Moshe Bryski, Oak Park

When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Details: Reservations only. Call 818-991-0991 for tickets.

Where: Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks

When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m.

Details: Reservations only. Closed.

Where: Temple Beth Torah, 7620 Foothill Road, Ventura

When: Saturday, 6 p.m.

Details: Reservations only. Closed.