126. As noted in the section on Pavlograd, older Jews in that city
referred to a nearby pre-war Jewish agricultural settlement, Freiheit.
A similar settlement existed in the vicinity of Krivoi Rog, another
city in Dnepropetrovsk oblast.59
Such Yiddish-language colonies existed elsewhere in the pre-war
Soviet Union, some as expressions of Soviet efforts to collectivize
the Jewish population in a manner that, not incidentally, would
also increase the agricultural productivity of the new Soviet state,
and some as projects of Agro-Joint. This important chapter of Soviet
Jewish history should be recorded while some of its participants
are still alive and before relevant archival material is misplaced
or worse during current conditions of confusion and disorder.
127. Dozens of Jewish newspapers are published
in the former Soviet Union, most on a monthly basis. They have great
potential to reach tens of thousands of Jews, to be a major factor
in the development of Jewish identity and a sense of Jewish community.
With few exceptions, these newspapers are poorly written and composed,
dependent on handouts from the Lishkat haKesher or JAFI and reprinting
of lengthy chapters from books on Jewish history, antisemitism,
or other topics. Various measures can be taken to improve the quality
and thus the appeal of these publications, such as editorial and/or
reporting workshops with the help of quality Russian-language Israeli
newspapers, diaspora Jewish newspapers, schools of journalism, and
private western foundations concerned with improving the post-Soviet
press; translation and transmission of appropriate Jewish Telegraphic
Agency reports; and, in Ukraine, strengthening of an existing Jewish
press service. Workshops for business managers would also be beneficial.
128. Indigenous Jewish leaders and Jewish organizations
in the successor states should be sensitized to the implications
of their involvement in partisan political campaigns. It is presumptuous
for American Jews to assume that their experience in such matters
will translate fully into the post-Soviet milieu; nonetheless, some
aspects of American and other diaspora practice in this area may
be of benefit to Jewish leadership in the successor states.
129. Small Jewish population centers are scattered
throughout the post-Soviet Union. Provision of services to these
communities is difficult and expensive. Cost factors may preclude
the establishment of day schools or, in some cases, even Sunday
schools or youth groups; yet it is essential that young people in
these towns be reached by Jewish organizations. With few Jewish
peers for social interaction and little sense of Jewish peoplehood,
the positive Jewish identification of such younger Jews is at risk.
Many are likely to migrate elsewhere in search of greater opportunity;
if a strong Jewish identity is developed during their childhood
and adolescence, their migration is more likely to be to Israel
than to a life of assimilation in a larger post-Soviet city. Energetic
recruitment of such youngsters for Jewish summer camps and various
youth seminars is essential.
As noted elsewhere in this report, elderly Jews
constitute the majority of the Jewish population in smaller cities
and towns. Addressing their needs, which are often greater than
those of their counterparts in more sophisticated urban centers,
is an enormous logistical challenge. |
130.
Most Israeli and diaspora workers in the post-Soviet successor states
readily acknowledge that their collective efforts reach only ten
to fifteen percent of the post-Soviet Jewish population. As Jews
in Israel and the diaspora strive to raise and allocate additional
millions of dollars to expand these efforts, attention must be focused
on the needs of post-Soviet Jews themselves and the ability of world
Jewry to respond to those needs. Although the problem of overlapping
and competing agency programs may have been resolved in some areas,
it still exists in others. JDC must define its own priorities within
its ever-broadening agenda, including the nature of its relationship
with the Lishkat haKesher. As the only mainstream Jewish organization
with a mandate for and experience in welfare operations, perhaps
the JDC focus in the successor states should be in addressing the
needs of Jewish elderly who have few alternative resources for assistance.
Provision of additional Jewish identity-building
programs for children, adolescents, and young adults would seem
essential. Youth groups and summer camps may be more effective in
transmitting a sense of Jewish peoplehood than formal Jewish education,
the latter being an alien and discomfiting concept for many post-Soviet
families long separated from Jewish tradition and wary of religious
doctrine. Jewish Agency efforts in these endeavors should be supported
more generously, and increased mainstream Jewish communal funding
might also be sought for other agencies that have initiated worthwhile
programs with promise in the post-Soviet successor states. Some
of these are struggling with inadequate financial resources, such
as the Masorti movement’s Ramah camps and some activities
of Bnei Akiva and Ezra. In Ukraine, where aliyah is increasing,
all such activities should be strongly Zionist in content so as
to prepare participants for aliyah and klitah.
Adult education programs, such as ‘Jewish
universities’ that reach both the new Jewish educators and
communal service workers as well as lay people comfortable in an
academic setting should also be supported. Scarce resources should
be directed toward those institutions that have the ability to focus
on Jewish studies without the distraction of non-Jewish course offerings.
Community-building will proceed at its own pace
in each community as some post-Soviet Jews are better prepared than
others to enter into self-governance. Similarly, twinning or sister-city
relationships between a post-Soviet Jewish population center and
a diaspora Jewish community will reflect the strengths and weaknesses
of each partner city. Two relationships may be comparable, but not
identical.
Finally, the ‘conflict’ between those
Jews who remain in the post-Soviet Union and those who emigrate
is overdrawn. Even the most fervent Zionists recognize that Jews
will remain in the post-Soviet successor states for some time. Equally,
most champions of a strong diaspora acknowledge that current instability
in some areas of the former USSR and potential instability in almost
all of the newly independent states suggests that aliyah may be
a wise course for many post-Soviet Jews. Whether Jews stay for a
decade or more or whether they leave in the near future, they should
be provided with opportunities for Jewish identity-building. Jewish
elderly deserve compassion and a variety of services, wherever they
live. Eventually, the combined forces of emigration, assimilation,
and aging of those who remain will reduce the size of the post-Soviet
Jewish population in general and leave its remaining numbers advanced
in years. Continuing support from outside the successor states will
be necessary and should focus on the most effective means of service
delivery. Certainly, more local Jews must be trained to assume positions
of leadership in their own post-Soviet communities. Outside agencies,
whether Israeli or diaspora in origin, must work collaboratively,
each in fields of greatest competence. That most such agencies are
financed directly or indirectly by a single American Jewish fundraising
mechanism should encourage American Jewish leadership to pursue
an institutional response that uses limited resources efficiently
to assist post-Soviet Jews to live in dignity and to reclaim their
Jewish heritage.
This report was prepared by Dr. Betsy Gidwitz in
consultation with several other individuals who are familiar with
the Jewish population centers covered in the report, the relevant
agencies, and/or other applicable issues. May-July, 1994. |

59.
In fact, a leader of the current Krivoi Rog Jewish community was
approached earlier this year by an elderly Jew, a onetime resident
of the settlement, who is now living in a town near the former collective.
The visitor was searching for a tenth man for a minyan to replace
another settlement veteran who had just died.
|