It is difficult to analyze and understand all of the thoughts that swirl through my mind as we explore the many complex issues that crash into one another here in the Russian Jewish community. As one of the directors of an NGO here said, the Jewish community here is post-assimilationist. To wit, the young adults here know nothing about Judaism because they are the children of people who knew nothing about Judaism because they were the children of people who knew nothing about Judaism. This chain of ignorance is several generations long. The Soviet Union destroyed all Jewish knowledge, familiarity, and practice; Judaism was a vague entity that was not an identity to be explored or experienced. At most, it was 'line 5' of one's identity card, which of course, was a ticket to ostracism and persecution. When the iron curtain fell, Jewish identity did not suddenly fall from the sky and infuse Jews with pride and connection. There has been a slow crawl back to their history, but I would not exactly describe this as a reclamation of identity. Reclamation implies an active pursuit. In many cases, that's not quite what happens here.
The generation of Jews who lived through KGB oppression and suspicion are (understandably!) uncomfortable revealing their Jewish lineage. Many have kept this a secret from their own children. It is thus, not uncommon for a child to learn that he is Jewish as a fifteen year old kid. Often, this is revealed because of pragmatic reasons, not because of a desire to reclaim one's heritage. For example, there is a Jewish summer camp that is very affordable (it is funded by the Jewish Agency and UJA Federation), so a parent may say to his daughter, "We are sending you to this camp in a few days for three weeks." "But Papa, this is a Jewish camp." The father responds: "Yes, I know. My grandmother was Jewish, which means you too are Jewish." Two days later, this child finds herself at a camp full of Jews who are learning Hebrew, having a Shabbat experience, learning about Israel, the Bible, Jewish history, and so on. It is earth shattering. We went to one of these camps and one of the counselors explained precisely this situation- this was how she learned that she was Jewish. She described it as feeling like her head was exploding.
These camps are the entryway into a new / old identity. It is remarkable to see. You can watch the pintele yid, the Jewish spark ignite, and a Jew is reunited with the last three thousand years. I have ever seen anything like this. About five years ago, 16,000 kids were at these camps throughout the former Soviet Union. Because of a drop in funding, this number dropped dramatically to about 4,000 kids, and over the next few years, it has plateaued at 6,000. This drop is purely a reflection of funding, not interest. There are thousands of kids who want to go to these camps but simply can not afford it. Of course, the goal of world Jewry must be that any child in this situation who wants to go to such a camp must be able to go, period. I could not help but see the irony of the situation: in America, we are throwing money (not enough, but its a healthy start) at families to try and get them to send their kids to Jewish summer camps but our numbers are quite small, while here, thousands of Jewish kids want to (need to!) attend Jewish summer camps but the money is not there.
We were blessed to explore these issues with a very knowledgeable guide: Natan Sharansky flew in from Israel to bring us to this camp. We met him and his wife Avital at the train station in Moscow and travelled to St Petersburg together. It was surreal, really. To be in Russia with one of my heroes, a man who withstood nine years of imprisonment as a Refusenik, and to learn about these complex issues through his eyes was an experience I will always cherish. Seeing these young Russian Jews walk by him and have no idea who he is or what he went through was almost unimaginable. A good sign, no doubt. A sign that the plight of Jews here has moved away from victimization and is heading toward something new. Yes, it is troublesome that these kids seem to be oblivious to this history, but are they any different than American kids who know so little about our own history? Probably not. There's always Wikipedia, I suppose.
I will conclude, for now, with a surreal moment at dinner. A young man who just graduated from university here and was active in Hillel shared a bit about his own journey. He found out that he was Jewish a few years ago when his dad saw an advertisement for a top notch leadership training seminar and suggested that he attend it to become more skilled. A resume builder, to use our language. The only catch, his son noticed, was that the culminating project had to involve the Jewish community in some way. "But dad," he said, "that has nothing to do with me." His father responded by informing him that his father was actually Jewish, which in his eyes, made his son Jewish. This was the beginning of this young man's Jewish awakening. Now, according to Jewish law, this young man is not legally Jewish because his mother is not Jewish, but here, this is a meaningless distinction (outside of Chabad, of course). He cares deeply about his Jewishness but the construction of identity here is so different than what we are used to. Listen closely: He said that his dad is Jewish and his mom is Russian. He said that he identifies as a person from St Petersburg but not as a Russian. He is Jewish but he is in love with and wants to marry a Russian (Gentile) but she has agreed to raise their kids Jewish. In other words, according to Jewish law, we have to people who are not Jewish, committed to raising their children as Jews with Shabbat observance, holidays, day school education, and so on. Is your head spinning yet?
Questions of identity here are complex, and this is of course, not limited to the Jews of Russia. There are hundreds of thousands of Jews here, maybe over a half a million, who have not discovered that they are Jewish, or at least, have not revealed their Jewishness. Jewish law seems to have little to do with defining the boundaries of who is a Jew. These things are far more fluid here. The question that sits beneath all of this for us (and is largely unspoken) is whether or not we are looking at the future of American Judaism in a few generations. That remains to be seen...
With warm wishes, on a train from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
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