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Bringing Circassians’ Hebrew up to speed

A language program at the Kfar Kama Rayan Center instructs Circassians in Hebrew.

A language program at the Kfar Kama Rayan Center instructs Circassians in Hebrew.

Kfar Kama (TPS) — Nestled in the green hills of the lower Galilee stands a Circassian village by the name of Kfar Kama, one of two Circassian villages in northern Israel. One can hear the Circassian native language — a mix of Russian, Turkish and Arabic — as well as Hebrew expressions on the streets of the village.

While Circassians, who are Sunni Muslims, have been in the Land of Israel since the 1860s and most speak Hebrew and serve in the Israeli military, there are those who have not learned to speak Hebrew — yet.

These Circassians, who come from abroad and have married Israeli Circassians, often experience challenges in finding employment due in part to their lack of Hebrew.

The Rayan employment center in Kfar Kama, which is supported by Israel’s Ministry of Economy, has developed a plan to help integrate the Circassian arrivals into the job market by first offering an intensive 200-hour Hebrew language course.

As a result, a group of 24 Circassians, which includes mostly recent arrivals to Israel but also some veterans, have been studying Hebrew with teacher Rivka Beer over the past month.

One of the course participants, Ania Abreh, 24, moved to Kfar Kama from Munich, Germany two years ago after she married her husband, who is a native of the Lower Galilee village.

“Israel is very different from Germany,” she told TPS. “It’s much more informal here, less strict, and there’s much more balagan,” Abreh said, using the Hebrew word for chaos. “I want to study to be an English teacher here,” she said. “But it’s funny because I must first know Hebrew in order to do that.

“I need to learn Hebrew for the everyday, even for the simplest things like reading Facebook posts. Thanks to this language course, I’ve learned how to read and write,” said Abreh whose family originally comes from Kfar Kama but still lives in Munich.

Once she completes the course, Abreh plans to attend Israel’s distance education institute, the Open University, and hopes that the online classes will be conducive to being a stay-at-home mother to her young toddler.

For others, like Yaldar Tomash, a Circassian who was born and raised in Amman, Jordan, the Hebrew language course has helped enrich his Hebrew vocabulary. “This course is really important to me,” Tomash told TPS.

“I have an accounting degree from Jordan, but I need Hebrew for the job market here.”

Tomash’s wife is from Kfar Kama. He and his wife moved back to her native village because they believed it was the best place to raise their family following the birth of their firstborn baby.

“Kfar Kama is beautiful — there is nature and it is clean and quiet here,” he said.

“When you move to another country, you have to invest time in learning the language so you can move forward in your career,” added Tomash, who is currently working in a start-up based in Haifa.

The history of the Circassian people in the Land of Israel began in the late 19th century, following the Russian Empire’s takeover of the Caucasus region in 1864, where over one million Circasssians were killed and most of the population was expelled from the Caucasus Mountains.

The neighboring Ottoman Empire welcomed the Circassians to settle in their territory, which included the Land of Israel at the time.

Today, Turkey, Russia, Syria and Jordan are among the countries that have the largest Circassian populations, followed by Western Europe and the US.

There are roughly 4,000 Circassians in Israel with around 3,000 who reside in Kfar Kama and another 1,000 in the village of Rehanyiya near Safed.

Yasmin Shamshi, the employment coordinator of Kfar Kama’s Rayan Center, told TPS that the Hebrew language course has been instrumental in many ways for the participants, who come from Jordan, Turkey, Germany, Peru, the former Yugoslavia, the US and the Caucasus Mountains and of whom only four know Arabic.

“Some of the arrivals have been scared to look for work because of their language barrier. I can see the difference in their self-confidence now that they know how to better speak the Hebrew language,” she said.




One thought on “Bringing Circassians’ Hebrew up to speed

  1. kfar kama

    False: “One can hear the Circassian native language — a mix of Russian, Turkish and Arabic — as well as Hebrew expressions on the streets of the village.”

    The Circassian language isn’t a mix of Russian Turkish and Arabic it’s a language at it’s own, it’s clear that the author don’t have a clue about the language or the Circassian themselves.

    Also: “While Circassians, who are Sunni Muslims, have been in the Land of Israel since the 1860s and most speak Hebrew and serve in the Israeli military, there are those who have not learned to speak Hebrew — yet.”

    False: Most if not all of the younger Circassians know Hebrew better then they know their own language.

    Reply

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