Asking the Right Question

In the last online issue of the Tablet, there is a very challenging article by one of my favorite contemporary American Jewish authors, Dara Horn, about a topic which unfortunatelly will never get old and obsolete: the reactions to outside anti-Semitic pressures. 

We have the story of Purim versus the story of Hanukkah, both narratives successful, but as Viktor Frankl said in Man's Search for Meaning: 'Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way'. Which also means that some people might decide to be on the wrong side of history. Everything is about making choices, assuming it, no matter what. 

An episode of this long story is Yevsektsiya, an institution created in the Soviet Union, designed by Jews from very learned educated (including religiously) families that helped the local authorities to destroy Jewish life - schools, Hebrew-speaking institutions, religious centers. In Horn's words they were looking to make the other Jews 'cool' - I so don't like the term, but it suits ironically the context and the circumstances -, in the long tradition of court Jews. In the end, they ended up in Siberia, a dirty prison cell, a bullet in their head, in the best case scenario completely isolated.

I've heard and meet all my life such people in Eastern Europe. People that willingly accepted to be 'cool' part of an establishment that from the very beginning hated them. Deeply. They were never accepted but used and abused. People that turned against their own people, wrote extensive reports for the 'intelligence' services against their people, sometimes their relatives too. Nothing new under the son, as under the Greek Empire, there were many notable Jewish families that encouraged the same behavior and openly repudiated their religion - including by practicing foreskin restoration for the sake of the Hellenic 'beauty standards'.

Most of them ended up like the Yevsektsiya members, dead - both spiritually and physically. Those who survived the communist times and caught some fresh democratic air, were just a shame for themselves and their community. No one really wanted to deal with them and they didn't look keen to ask for forgiveness either. In many respects they failed, as the communities and synagogues they tried to destroy were still there, against all odds.

Purim and Hanukkah are two sides of the story that I both loved and which offered to those people two noble alternatives. Either be like Queen Esther - be part of the establishment but save your own people - or like the Maccabees - fight openly against the oppression. I've meet many Queens Esther but always secretly envied the Maccabees. Smart is to know when the spirit of the times requires you to be Queen Esther and when the Maccabees.

But although I listen or read stories of assimilation and integration, observed people blindly involved in their activities and their dismise - or disparition, Dara Horn raises a very important question: Did those people find actually the integrity they 'so desperately wanted'? 

This question it's the key and as usual, a question is completely enlightening the whole context. It completely changes the perspectiv and challenges the mindset. Personally, I know that the Queen Esthers were driven exactly by those integrity values. The rest, it remains to be found, if ever.

Learning to be Jewish in Germany

Dmitrij Belkin is one of the few of the so-called 'contingent' Jews who arrived in Germany following chancellor's Kohl decision to open the country to people of Jewish origin from Russia. Although the venerable leader of the Jewish community in Berlin Hans Galinski requested that only those who are halahically Jews - mother is Jewish - to be allowed, the political interest prevailed and in the end where accepted all those with a 'Jewish' heritage, which complicated at a great extent the overall distribution and identity of the newly created community.

Dmitrij Belkin arrived in the South of Germany from Ukraine as an adult, keen to continue his studies and learn - including German. Wandering from an absorption center to the other, meeting his new German neighbours or other people with migration background, Belkin is becoming aware not only of the new realities of the country he is about to become part of, but also of his Jewish identity. Actually, it is not the first time when I hear that someone is becoming more interested and focused on his own Jewish identity since living in Germany. It has to do not only with the memory of the Shoah, but with a certain Jewish reality that you cannot ignore and sooner or later, becoming part of this - even only intellectually - will happen. Even if you are an outsider, observing this reality means that there is a minimal interest for it and it may be enough for making a fire out of the sparke later. 

Ironically and self-ironically, engaged or just observing, Belkin is going through all the stages of becoming a public Jewish intellectual in Germany - including by doing his conversion to Judaism. He is taking note of the different Jewish communities in Frankfurt/Main or Berlin, is becoming involved in various projects and improves his German and academic credentials. He is part of the newly Jewish experiences in Germany and his full of humour memoir is really worth reading it if you want to better understand a different Jewish mentality and perspective.    

Lena Gorelik's box of memories

Long time ago, what I knew about Russian Jews in Germany what the result of some articles published in various publications, whose main treat was the sadness of being poor, often refused - as it was not enough to be a refusenik once - and marginalized by both the Germans and the local Jewish organizations. My big question - not yet fully answered - was why to decide going to Germany instead of using your free ticket to Israel.

Little by little, I learned not only to appreciate them - especially after reading many interesting books about the hard resistance to keep Yiddishkeit alive - but to simply understand their specificities and their specific cases. I met many BT in their early 40s, with secular background but a desire to grow permanently and to learn more and more about Judaism. And last but not least, who are very proud that their children are the first generation of frum Russian Jews, with ahavat Yisroel and desire to learn in yeshiva and create Jewish homes. Somehow, their generation made the transition to a new generation a better Jews. 

There are not too many young Russian Jewish authors in Germany more active than Lena Gorelik. She writes book after book, in German, with a lot of humour and creative inspiration. I've read at least four of her books and even though some of the subjects may repeat and the main topic is always the same, I never got bored. She can be funny, serious, engaged and informtive at the same time. Her books are not only good documentaries about the life of Jews in Germany in the last decades, but also about the identity of Russian Jews and their interesting background and the normality of their struggle to recognition and acception of what they are. Understanding is the first step towards tolerance, and Lena Gorelik is doing a good job of using her talent of creative writing in this direction. She has the simplicity of her personal stories and a strong voice that brings to light children stories and more recent memories. 

I am not sure if she is much known outside Germany or if her books were translated, but she represents a new wave of strong voices of the Russian Jews in Germany. And, of the Jewish literary life.

The Long Hand of the Mossad: The Revival of Russian Jewry

An interesting lecture on YUTorah Online - an investigation into the turmoil of the Russian Jews during communism.

We have so much to learn from them. While listening the lecture I was thinking a couple of times, how in our history every tragic moment can be turned into an opportunity to increase and develop. And this is part of our miracle. 

Browsing my bookshelf

In my busy life, books are playing always one of the most important role. Reading all the time is my dreamlife and sometimes I have the feeling that I am living my dreams. Mostly in the last weeks, I had the time and the energy to read a lot of good - or not so good - books.

Following, is the latest selection - from the last Thursday on:

For a long time I wanted to find out more about the Bulgarian Jews and to go into details regarding the attitude of the Bulgarian majority during World War II. Years ago, I visited Rusciuk, Elias Canetti's hometown, but there were no traces of Jewish life and I didn't find Jewish memories in the city of Sofia. Thus, I was curious to read Michal Bar-Zohar's (himself a Bulgarian Jew) book. Beyond a deep sense of pride of and loyalty to the Bulgarian origin, I discovered an interesting story. The sentimental bias is diminishing considerably the academic value of the book. The Bulgarian Jews were saved in 1943 by being send to death, but 12,000 Jews from Thracia and Macedonia, territories added to Bulgaria as a consequence for the good behavior towards Germany were not spared. As in many other places, anti-semitism pervaded the Bulgarian establishment, but in comparison with other countries from the region, there were more individuals keen to help the Jews. There were humiliations and racial laws and discrimination and rightist political parties, but the population - and some institution as it was the case of the Bulgarian church - didn't acquiesce with the general policies. As a first contact, the book was interesting and I should continue probably further researches and lectures on this issue.

My latest lectures put also a new subject on the research list: the Jewish life in Albania, after reading an Albanian-English book dedicated to this subject. The English version is unbearable and confusing and the critical balance is completely lacking. But at least it opened some windows into my mind as I never thought about Jewish life in Albania and I don't have an answer why. The book could be interesting for researchers in Holocaust studies, as is providing an extensive list of people who helped Jews during the fascist occupation. As in the Bulgarian case, we are told that Albania "was the only country in Europe where Jewish population increased during the war", a statement I should check. Some of the many things I didn't know about Albania is that it is supposed that Sabbatai Zvi's tomb is located on the territory of nowadays Albania. Or that at the beginning of the 20th century, in Kosova/Kosovo there were more than 3,000 Jews. This is an advantage though in reading bad written books, isn't it?

The other book I had on my desk addressed an issue I am familiar with and had the occasion to discuss several times, including "on the ground": Jewish life in China. The book is covering the communities created in Harbin, Shanghai and Tientsin, many created by Russian Jews refugees from the pogrom-torned Russia, but also by Jews who moved from Iraq (as the Sassoon family) or India in the 19th century. Before and during the WWII, they created strong communities, with cultural and religious centers, including a branch of the Betar Youth Movement, counting among founders Mordechai Olmert, the father of Ehud Olmert. Connected with Europe only through the immigrants escaping the terror, the Jews from China and Asia in general, weren't affected directly by the war, but continued to keep their hearts for Israel where many of them moved before and after the creation of the state. And the traces of this presence continue to be seen nowadays in a big city as Shanghai.

I don't know how many studies were made regarding the adaptation of the Asian Jews to the daily Israeli life, but the topic of Russian/Soviet immigration continue to represent a matter of concern and curiosity. Through extensive interviews and ground research, Allan S. Galper is trying to understand and describe the challenges undertook by the immigrants from the Russian-speaking space. Deciding to move mostly for economic reason than for identity needs, many faced cultural dislocation and identity crisis. Many returned to Europe or moved to the United States, but there were also a couple of them who continued to live there and succeeded. The end of the Cold War changed significantly the motivational structure of the aliya waves and I am sure that more and more people are taking the decision of moving to Israel following the wise conclusion that Israel is the only country of the Jewish people.

A bon entendeur, salut!

Remembering the refuseniks

The Conversion law

The debate is not recent. It is maybe the final point of various kind of approaches and discussions regading this issue, taking into account the experiences from the last decenies, including the massive Alyah from Central and Eastern Europe.

Here are several opinions expressed in this respect:

Ha'aretz - Conversion as a strategic goal

"The purpose of the Conversion Bill is to increase the number of Jews, and as such it must be supported on principle. It is a strategic goal, a matter of survival for our people, whose ranks are dwindling exponentially. Diaspora Jewry is in an accelerated process of extinction, out of choice, and every action that increases the worldwide Jewish population, whether legislative or educational, is welcome".

Diaspora - A threat!

On the other side, it is to be mentioned that Reform and Conservative movement do not enjoy equal rights and status in Israel - see here an example of the relations with the Orthodox mainstream, so claiming now the risk of division is rather a political move, than reflecting an action plan aimed to correct this situation.

The supporters

The Jerusalem Post - Troubles in the coalition

Dolls

Sometimes, they are situations when you are simply speachless. Not because you don't have nothing to say, but because it is about a non-sense. Last on my list, Rebecca Rubin.

Identity DJ

Wladimir Kaminer is a very successful media product: DJ in the Russendisko, author of various books about enjoying his Jewish-Russian identity in Berlin - to be read Prenzlauer Berg, Schonhauser Allee - and talking, succesfully again, about how it is to be DJ in Russendisko, author of...etc.etc. Everybody his niche and he is not the only one (will be back soon about this). He is having already an audience. But when very simple, "eatable" identity positionings, are becoming the mainstream and the reference point for the community in itself - and many of its members - as for the outside observers, you will lost exactly those whose contribution will help to preserve what it is not a matter of fashion and "coolness".