The Jewish Week - 04.11.2003

 

 

 

 

The Jewish Week

Delivering The Promise For Russians

by Dr. Robert J. Meth and Joel M. Schindler

Through his column of March 14 (“Searching for a Voice on the Russian Front”), Gary Rosenblatt again has helped to raise awareness about the aspirations and potential of the more than 1 million Jews in the former Soviet Union. We share both his assessment of that community’s importance and progress to date, and his resolve that American Jewry not reduce its support. We are certain also of American Jewry’s resolve to see this through. 

When we meet with community leaders today in the former Soviet Union, we are not meeting with refuseniks denied the right to emigrate, nor are we meeting with indigent recipients of American largesse. 

We meet Jews whose communities still have significant needs but who feel increasingly empowered, optimistic and connected to global Jewish life. 

We must not patronize the third-largest Jewish population in the world, nor can we afford to dismiss their continuing needs. The American Jewish community is devoting many resources, financial and otherwise, to addressing the needs of Jews in the FSU. After 70 years of Communist control and more than a decade of post-Soviet freedom, they are developing communal frameworks. Though we have traveled far since the uncertain days of glasnost and collapse, there is still much work to do. 

The American Jewish community has focused, appropriately, on Israel’s vital needs, on international terrorism, on the growth of anti-Semitism and on Jewish education at home. This need not be at the expense of the Jews in the FSU. 

In the FSU, activists and students are themselves rallying popular support on these same issues. Large pro-Israel rallies have taken place during the past two years, community leaders are uniting with moderate Muslims to form an interfaith coalition against terrorism and extremism, and Jewish learning continues. As Western Europe stumbles toward addressing its upsurge in anti-Semitism, it is FSU governments and other former Communist bloc states that are pushing for greater awareness and a stronger response. 

Last fall we visited Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, and saw a full-fledged community: the largest Jewish day school in Eastern Europe; local leaders funding programs and connecting with sister communities in the FSU, United States, Israel and Europe; pride in being Jewish; opportunities to express Jewish identity. This is for real. 

Most Jewish communities in the FSU are not self-sufficient like Dnepropetrovsk. But here is a model, and evidence of what is possible. Fifteen years ago, who seriously believed or understood that the Soviet Union was about to collapse? Now we have real potential for Jewish life on the ground, even with continuing aliyah to Israel. 

Today the FSU faces a demographic crisis due to low birth rates and high mortality. The Jewish community is no exception, with a disproportionately elderly population. Despite innovative approaches and an influx of Claims Conference funds, sustained American support will be indispensable for the foreseeable future. 

One means toward self-sufficiency and local empowerment is the restitution of communal property. Getting back communal buildings stolen by the Soviets and Nazis could make a major difference in assuring the continuity and intensity of Jewish life. Time is running out as elderly Jews perish and too many youngsters grow up without the chance to learn about Jewish religion or culture. American Jewish organizations are pursuing this issue with government leaders in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and other countries. 

Popular anti-Semitism remains an endemic feature of post-Soviet society. It is no longer state policy, and governments and public figures increasingly speak out and enforce laws against incitement or hate crimes. Holocaust education is spreading along with awareness of Soviet and Nazi crimes. Jewish organizations and the U.S. government maintain ongoing pressure on national and local officials, developing our own coalition of the willing. 

Anti-Semitism does not disappear overnight, but we are working to transform the ruins of communism into the building blocks of a pluralistic civil society. This may be easier than tearing down the Soviet regime, but it is infinitely more complicated. 

The opportunities for American Jewish involvement are many and varied. They include participating in the political advocacy efforts of NCSJ (created in 1971 as the National Conference on Soviet Jewry); donating through your local federation, which funds NCSJ, United Jewish Communities, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency; strengthening the bonds between individual communities in the United States and their FSU counterparts; involving members of Congress and local officials; visiting communities in the FSU to learn and teach, to discover personal roots, to experience the miracle of Jewish renaissance firsthand; and raising awareness in your own community about the needs and potential of Jews in the FSU. 

What keeps us going is the dual knowledge that our past efforts paid dividends to the Jewish people — a shot in the arm to Israeli society and the revival of organized Jewish life in the FSU — and that the Jews still living in the FSU have the potential to rebuild their own communities and deepen their ties with those of us in Israel and the United States. 

Increasingly, the governments in the FSU understand the importance of vibrant Jewish communities, and the U.S. government continues to assign a high priority to this objective. Can we, the American Jewish community, allow ourselves to do any less? n 

Dr. Robert J. Meth and Joel M. Schindler are, respectively, chairman and president of the NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia (www.ncsj.org ).