Visitor to USSR Recalls Experiences Under Tzar in Pres ent Status Report "" i'm • \-2 By NORMAN S. FOX Of the 600,000 Jews that live now in Moscow, only about four to five hundred attend the syna- gogue. I was there on a Saturday and was impressed with the old- time orthodox services. The syna- gogue was packed to capacity; the balcony for women, however, was practically empty, just a few at- tended. They had a distinguished looking rabbi and a good cantor. They read from the scrolls and called me to bless the Torah. Each of the worshipers had a prayer book in his hands and each wore a "talith" (prayer shawl). Both, the books and the taleitim, did not seem to be very old, certainly not 40 or 50 years, dating back to the time when such were permitted: most of them were of recent pur- chase. Western Jews bring these as gifts to the congregation, when- ever they visit the Soviet Union. Although it is forbidden by the government to bring into the coun- try any kind of religious articles, or religious books, the Soviet Union seems to tolerate this ac- tion, as long as these articles are not used for commercial purposes. There was something in the Moscow synagogue which re- minded me of the Jewish prayer books of many years back, be- fore the revolution. Every Jew- ish prayer book of that time * *** * *** * *** * *** * *** * ** LEWISTON LODGE IS DESIGNED FOR YOUR VACATION COMFORT Rooms in the main lodge, in individual log cabins or our new redwood mo- tel units all with com- plete bath facilities. Single, couples, families or group facilities. LEWISTON LODGE HAS: • • • • • • • • A NEW RIVIERA CRUISER WATER CYCLE GOLF SWIMMING FISHING TENNIS & VOLLEY BALL HORSEBACK RIDING AND MANY OTHERS Relaxing is fun too and good food helps. We're just 200 miles north of Detroit in the healthy, pollen-free North woods country. ALL THAT'S LEFT FOR YOU TO DO IS THE DRIVING LEWISTON LODGE FOR YOUR VACATION Call Miss Carol for our reasonable rates and reservations—EL 7-0761 *** ** ****** ** ****** ** *-k contained a special prayer for the Tzar, and it was recited every Saturday in the synagogue by the worshipers. Here, in this synagogue too, I saw something similar to the prayer for the Tzar. On the wall, near the Torah ark, there was an inscrib- ed placard, printed in Russian, a prayer for Khrushchev. Reading this prayer, I laughed and won- dered what Khrushchev might say about it. Times never change for our Orthodox Jews, God bless them. The synagogue Is a big structure and an old one, left from the few Jews who ever lived in Moscow under the Tzar. These present worshipers are not the descendants of the old Moscow Jewish com- munity; these orthodox Jews came here after the revolution, when the ban on residence for the Jews was lifted. As in any other syna- gogue in the various cities of the Soviet Union, in the Moscow syna- gogue, too, the ages of the wor- shipers range from 60 years to well over 70. The young genera- tion, those who were educated in the Soviet schools, have no con- ception of religion and do not at- tend the synagogue. The cities of Kharkov and Kiev never had many synagogues; they were closed cities for Jews under the Tzar and the Jewish popula- tion there was very small. Now, they have one synagogue in each of these cities, each with fewer worshipers than in Moscow. When I attended school in Kharkov, my uncle used to take me to a synagogue which they called "Kor-Shuh" It was some- thing like a reform temple in the U.S.A. It was a very beautiful structure, outside and inside, lo- cated in a very aristocratic sec- tion of the city. It was very pain- ful for me to look at this syna- gogue now, empty and just fall- ing apart, piece by piece, brick by brick. In the same condition was a synagogue I went to see in Kiev. The last time I was there, it was on Yom Kippur in 1919. I re- member now, that although the synagogue was packed to capacity then, the tension among the wor- shipers was disturbing, too many had been liquidated, being sus- pected of counter-revolutionary activities, by the then Soviet se- curity police, the "Cheka." Almost every family in the synagogue had lost some of its members that way. In both of these cities I visited their open synagogues; one in each city was open for services. The attendance in each one of them was very small, but there was no indication of anti-Semitism being the reason for it. In Odessa, when I looked at those closed synagogues, my heart just sank within me. It was a tragic experience, the synagogues in ruins before my eyes. The Broder synagogue where the famous cantor Minkofsky of- ficiated, the Big Beth Amedrosh of the w ell-known cantor Shsteinberg, the Shalashna syna- gogue of the world-famous can- tor Rasumni, all of these stay closed and are gradually falling apart. One can actually see big chunks of stone and cement fall- ing to the ground. In reference to cantor Rasumni I would like to mention, that there were ru- mors after his death about his vocal chords having been re- moved and placed in a museum in commemoration of his very rare and excellent voice. My mind went back to the time when I was a student in Odessa, for six or seven years. Of special significance was my recollection of the Jewish High Holidays, when we Jewish students in our elegant school uniforms, the girl students in their uniforms of white starchy pinafores over green dresses and wide-brimmed straw hats, used to congregate in the courtyards of these synagogues and pass the time in discussions and reminis- cences. These memories of my young student life so closely linked with these synagogues, now in ruins, affected me to such an ex- tent that I felt as if these des- tructed houses of God were my personal tragedy, my personal loss, an unforgivable insult to my personal dignity. I also visited in Odessa the closed synagogue "Yavne." Of all the closed synagogues in the Soviet Union I had seen, "Yavne" seemed to affect me the most. It played an important part in my boyhood life. It was here, in this synagogue, where real Judaism actually took its beginning for me; it was here I first came in contact with out- standing Jewish personalities and Jewish idealists; it was here I first learned to appreciate Hebrew and Yiddish literature. The "Yavne" was a very small synagogue, in structure and in the number of worshipers, but its con- gregation was composed of all the renowned Jewish scholars, intel- lectuals, and writers of that per- iod. Among the synagogue's wor- shipers were men like the world- famous Hebrew poet, Chaim Bia- lik, Dr. Joseph Klausner, philoso- pher Asher Ginsberg—known by his pen name as "Mendele Mocher Sforim"; Dr. Chaim Tchernowitz, known by his pen name as "Ray Tzohir"; Leib Borochov, Moishe Levinsky, Mena lem Usishkin and many other distinguished Jews of that time. These men comprised the cream of the Jewish intellec- tuals of Eastern Europe, and their contribution to Judaism is price- less. We, the Jewish students studying in the Russian schools of Odessa, were frequent visitors to this synagogue. We were under the constant guidance and influ- ence of these great men. While I am on the subject of the "Yavne" synagogue with its worshipers of such distinction, I cannot omit mentioning an in- teresting incident between one of its members and a representa- tive of the English Common- wealth in the old Russia. In 1919 when the Balfour declara- tion for Palestine was announc- ed, the Odessa Zionists staged a parade. It was this worshiper of the "Yavne" synagogue, the world known Zionist Usishkin, who persuaded the then English Consul in Odessa to address the paraders from his balcony. I remember distinctly how the Consul in his broken Russian told the Jewish people of Odessa, that the world Jewry should not doubt the sincerity of the English govern- ment; they will carry out the terms of the Mandate over Pales- tine to the fullest exent, in order to secure a homeland for the Jews. I remember the exact words when he said: "Let the Jews of the world take notice that this dec- laration is not a 'piece of plain paper,' it is an honorable docu- ment and it will be fulfilled to great satisfaction for the Jews." I remember the smile on Usish- kin's face, mild and happy, when he shook hands with the Consul on the balcony of the English con- sulate. Many times throughout the years, when England constantly abused the terms of this sacred document, such as the issue of the white paper and many other in- justices instituted against the Jews of Palestine, I used to recall the scene on that balcony in Odes- sa. I visualized that I saw those two men again, standing on that balcony, but Usishkin's face was not smiling, just hurt and disap- pointment marked his features. As I stood there by the ruins of the "Yavne" synagogue, heartbro- ken and shocked, looking at that dilapidated little building, the faces of all those men of the dis- tant past, including the faces of my student-colleagues of so many years back, suddenly came to my mind. The only Jews who corn- prise the present Jewish popula- tion of the Soviet Union are those, who were reared under Commun- ism, without any religion. Would they rush to the open doors of the synagogue? No. They would just say what countless others of them, Jews and non-Jews, told me so many times about churches and synagogues, "C he p u c h a" (non- sense). THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, June 19, 1964 9 MI INS EN I•111 MI NI Ell GOING TO WORLD'S FAIR? I This, compartively, is the story Look your best in our smart I of all the closed synagogues in sportswear, beach wear, the Soviet Union. It is a tragic I dresses, I accessories. blow to world Jewry, but as seen I SURWIN'S from the facts presented here, I Lot G. Northland Center anti-Semitism is not the reason • I • behind it. I= ER EN IN1 =I mil sis EN II ■ 111111 ■ MIMMINF 1111111111111/ 1964 A Phone Call Will SAVE You Money ! "RIMY ABRAM SHORE CHEVROLET CO. TW 1-0600 12240 Jos. Campau Res. 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