Reuters - 05.12.2006

Russian Jews meet to talk culture amid racist wave

By Oliver Bullough

MOSCOW - (Reuters) - Russian Jews, who for decades have been encouraged to leave for Israel, are changing tack with a new movement to develop their distinctive culture at home.

But the moves to boost Russian Jews' self-confidence risk colliding with a resurgence of Russian nationalists, who have already staged several anti-semitic attacks this year.

Leaders of the World Jewish Congress flew into Moscow this week for a "Limmud" -- talks with community leaders from all over the former Soviet Union -- in an attempt to support efforts to encourage cultural and educational renewal.

"This is a kind of grass roots movement. After a half-century of 'let my people go' in the Soviet Union, this is a chance to say let my people know," said Rabbi Israel Singer, chairman of the WJC's policy council, in an interview.

"This is a way of responding to the needs of the Jews of the former Soviet Union and particularly the needs of the Jews outside Moscow," he told Reuters, speaking in a Moscow cultural center where little children ran from room to room, giggling to each other in Hebrew.

Although a million Jews left Russia after the Soviet collapse, estimates suggest a million remain -- the world's fourth largest Jewish community.

Jewish leaders say four-fifths of them have no contact with community groups and have lost contact with their traditional culture, in a country where Russian nationalists are becoming increasingly aggressive and confident.

ZION

Jews in pre-revolutionary Russia suffered terrible violence, with regular pogroms around the end of the 19th Century provoking mass emigration.

Jews like Leon Trotsky were among leaders of the Bolshevik movement -- but they became sidelined amid traditional racism. Many were barred from many top jobs, and found it difficult to move to Israel.

Although official anti-semitism is no more, racism has flourished in Russia since communism collapsed. Skinheads have killed dozens of foreigners in the last two years and local Jews have also been targeted.

A man shouting "Heil Hitler" burst into a synagogue earlier this year, stabbing nine people. Vandals scrawled swastikas on Jewish graves in Siberia last month.

"When the Soviet Union fell, and anti-semitism stopped being state policy, we hoped it had passed, that xenophobia had ceased to exist," said Alexander Mashkevich, head of the Eurasian part of the WJC, and one of the richest businessmen in Kazakhstan.

"But sadly, the situation is not improving in Russia. In many regions it is actually getting worse."

The Limmud -- an institution that started in Britain, and is spreading to other countries -- features dance, cinema, language and other aspects of traditional culture. Organizers hope it will lead to young Jews rediscovering their heritage.

"In my opinion, next year there will not just be a Limmud for the former Soviet Union, but one for Russia, one for Ukraine, one for Belarus," said Alexander Pyatigogsky, 25, who organized the forum.

"For us the main answer to all these anti-semites is to be Jewish, to get as many people as we can to be Jewish, to live like a Jewish person. That is the answer."