RJC Monitor - 09.12.2003

 

The Russian Jewish Congress

JEWISH ACADEMIC LIBRARY OPENS IN MOSCOW

The presentation of the Moscow Academic Jewish Library project took place September 9 at the Center of Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library. The actual opening of the Jewish Library, which will include two readings rooms and spacious storerooms for book collections at the Shakhovskys Palace in downtown Moscow, will take place in 45 days.

The library is established on the initiative of Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization of the Moscow State University’s Institute of Asian and African Countries. Bound to become the largest depository of Jewish books and books on Jewish history and culture in the former USSR, the Library will include a really precious collection of incunabulas, many of which were restored in 2002 with funds provided by the Russian Jewish Congress, old Jewish manuscripts and books from the famous Baron Gunzburg and Schneerson collections. Added to these now will be modern publications assembled by the MSU Center.

The new library at the Shakhovskys Palace, which is only a five-minute walk from the MSU Center, will form a Jewish scholarly and cultural complex in downtown Moscow that has no par anywhere in Russia or Eastern Europe. Now the valuable stocks of one of the largest Jewish libraries in the world will be available to students, scholars and general readers for the first time in many decades The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, RJC and private donors have funded the project.

Guests at the presentation heard the addresses of Maria Trifonenko, head of the Russian State Library’s Oriental Literature Department; Prof. Arkady Kovelman, director of the MSU Center of Jewish Studies; Ms. Sarah Bogen, head of the JDC Jerusalem Office’s Program of Academic Judaica; and RJC President Evgeni Satanovsky. Also taking part in the presentation were members of the visiting Mission of the Russian Regional Committee, which includes major American donors and AJJDC officials. Leading American philanthropist Ms. Lynn Shusterman headed this delegation of 30 people.

At the close of the ceremony, a member of the Mission who is a Reformist rabbi and a woman, presented a mezuzah to the head of the Library, which was nailed to its doorpost by Ms. Shusterman together with Mr. Satanovsky.

JEWISH FESTIVAL OPENS IN BIROBIDZHAN

The five-day Seventh Festival of Jewish Culture opened in Birobidzhan, capital of the Jewish Autonomous District in the Russian Far East, September 11. Participating in the festival, which will feature performances of professional and amateur musicians and theatrical collectives, are guest groups from Ukraine and China,

A special program prepared by the local Jewish community known as Freid includes the presentation of a collection of rare books in Yiddish and books published on the occasion of the coming 70th anniversary of the Jewish Autonomy.

The Russian Jewish Congress is one of the main sponsors of the festival, whose budget runs to 60,000 USD.

RJC AND CHAIS CENTER MAP JOINT VENTURES IN EDUCATION

Prospects for and priorities of the development of the Russian Jewish community were the topics of discussions September 5 between Evgeni Satanovsky and leaders of the Chais Center for Judaica Studies in Russian, headed by Mark Chais Jr., son of the American multimillionaire and philanthropist Stanley Chais.

Stressing the role of university education in the upbringing of younger generations, Mr. Chais and RJC President Satanovsky reviewed the possibility of setting up a rabbinical department at the Dubnov Higher School for Humanities (former Jewish University in Moscow) and the training of teachers for Jewish high schools in Russia and the former USSR on the basis of the programs of the Chais Center, the Dubnov School andthe St. Petersburg Institute of Jewish Studies. They also discussed a joint program of support for the sciences and humanities expected to serve as locomotives of scientific development in the 21st century in both Russia and Israel.

RJC has maintained partnership relations with the Chais Center for Judaica Studies in Russian since 1999. In particular, the two organizations jointly fund the Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization at Moscow State University’s Institute of Asian and African Countries (a joint venture of MSU with the Hebrew University and the Dubnov School) and the Center for Judaica and Bible Studies (a joint venture between Hebrew University, the St. Petersburg Institute of Jewish Studies and the Department of Philosophy of St. Petersburg State University) in St. Petersburg.

CHECHNYA AND MID-EAST EXPERIENCE

On September 9, the Hotel Savoy in Moscow was a venue for the regular session of the Open Forum club, which this was devoted to the presidential elections in the Chechen Republic and prospects of peaceful settlement in the North Caucasus.

The Open Forum’s mission is to involve experts and acting politicians in a debate on topical social and political problems with a view to developing practical recommendations and mechanisms for implementation of political programs.

Joining members of the Russian expert community at the Savoy meeting were well-known Chechen politicians from Moscow and representatives of the provisional administration of the Chechen Republic from Grozny. RJC President Evgeni Satanovsky, who is also president of the Institute for the Study of Israel and the Middle East, was invited to address the meeting as one of the experts.

Several speakers at the Open Forum drew parallels between Chechnya and Palestine, especially with regard to peaceful settlement. «We are not dealing with the Chechen problem as a civilization, European or humanitarian problem, for the simple reason that Chechnya is being used as a chip in the game of European, and world, politics. People who pass themselves off as the defenders of the rights of the Chechens do not, in reality, even sympathize with them,” said Mr. Satanovsky. He is convinced that “Chechnya will remain part of Russia for one simple reason: the experience of Middle East has shown that nothing is more catastrophic than independence of the former colonies, which rapidly become engulfed in Islamism and, the civil war. The chief goal of people whose countries acquired independence is to get jobs and homes in the former metropolis, from where money may be sent to support the families in the newly independent lands,” he said.

“Neither Middle Eastern states, no Islamic countries, despite all declarations of their intentions to help restore life in Chechnya, will actually undertake this work there; instead, they may try to impose some rules of the game that fit and protect their interests there,” said Mr. Satanovsky.

Unfortunately, the Russian authorities appear to be doing exactly the same things in Chechnya today, he said. “Instead of trying to solve the Chechen problems, we are, in effect, trying to resolve current tactical problems related to the elections, the correlation of some groups or other within the administration, or the relationships among individuals. The problems of Chechnya will remain unresolved as long as this goes on,” he concluded.

RUSSIAN-AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP AND A FUTURE FOR THE MID-EAST

The future of the larger Middle East and prospects for American-Russian partnership in the region were on the agenda of a symposium held September 8 and 9 at the Carnegie Center in Moscow. Taking part in the six sessions of the symposium were major American and Russian political analysts and experts in Oriental studies, including Alexei Malashenko, Irina Zvyagensky, James Dobbins, Georgy Mirsky and Evgeni Satanovsky, who combines the presidencies of the Institute for the Studies of Israel and the Middle East with that of the Russian Jewish Congress.

The experts focused especially on the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the struggle against terrorism, as well as Russian-American partnership in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Iran.

ON TRILATERAL COOPERATION IN SECURITY MATTERS

Stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and possibilities of cooperation in the field of security between Russia and Israel, Russia and Greece and Israel and Greece, as well as between all three countries, were the subject of the September 9 meeting between Evgeni Satanovsky and Dr. Teophilaktos, head of the Greek CNC consulting group.

The CNC Group is a leading organization in Greece engaged in political consulting and monitoring of the state of political balance and security systems in the Eastern Mediterranean.

FAUD HONORED AT RECEPTION IN MOSCOW

On September 10, the Jewish Agency for Israel gave a reception in Moscow’s Prague restaurant to honor the visiting former Israeli minister of defense and former leader of the Avada Party, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Faud).

An informal but detailed debate that went on during the reception touched upon the entire agenda of issues related to the Russian-Israeli cooperation. Mr. Ben-Eliezer mentioned such achievements of his while the minister as bills that fix the right of the Israeli non-Jewish soldiers killed during the intifada to be buried next to their Jewish comrades-in-arms, as well as bills that forbid the deportation of their non-Jewish parents from the country. While observing these achievements of the former minister, RJC President Satanovsky stressed that as a considerable number of repatriates from Russia come from ethnically mixed families, the support of their rights is an integral part of the Congress political strategy.

Attending the reception were the Israeli ambassador in Russia Mr. Arkady Mil-Man, JAFI officials and leaders of the majority of Jewish communities and organizations, with the exception of R. Berl Lazar and Mr. Lev Levayev, the principal sponsor of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.