that means segregating them in their
own institutions. As Ms. Friedman puts
it, "There are multiple methods to ex-
press Jewish identity."
With San Francisco Family and Chil-
dren's Services' encouragement, immi-
grants are running a Russian-speaking
chapter of Hadassah, which appeals to
many middle-aged newcomers who aren't
assimilation prone. The Soviet emigres in
the Bay Area also have started a Russian
language newspaper.
The third strategy acknowledges there
may be tensions between immigrant and
non-immigrants, particularly resentment
on the part of "old" Jews that the
newcomers are getting their money for
programs. So at camps, the organization
sends bilingual case workers to teach
counselors the methods of breaking down
intergroup rivalries. And it's made clear
to San Francisco Jews that, for instance,
deserving American-Jewish scholarship
applicants will not be deprived of grants
simply because Soviets are also needy.
The Jewish Family and Children's Ser-
vices has established an Emigre Speakers
Bureau. Teen-age and adult emigres from
both the "new" wave and "old" wave
speak to American Jewish groups about
their backgrounds and aspirations to
assure them that they're basically no
different than the audience.
But tensions are the exception rather
than the rule. The real question is: Does
the American Jewish community want
the Soviets to become more Jewish than
American Jews?
After all, American Jews are by and
large not synagogue-goers, except on the
High Holidays. American Jews may see
to their children's bar and bat mitzvah,
circumcise their boys and provide re-
ligious weddings, but they don't often
observe other rituals.
"I suppose there are those who want
them to be a certain way even if they
themselves aren't that way — the same
people who want a convert to Judaism to
be more religious than a born Jew," says
Rabbi Zedek of Kansas City. "But I think
overall most people realize that, given the
Soviets' religious backgrounds, if many
become Jewish'at all that will be wonder-
ful."
of New York, the survey shows that
Soviet Jewish immigrants of a decade ago
are doing well indeed, religiously speak-
ing.
The poll of a cross section of Soviets in
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Cleveland, Los Angeles and the North
Shore of Massachusetts reveals that:
• Being Jewish is important to more
than 90 percent of those surveyed.
• Although 4 percent of the immigrants
have a formal Jewish education, they
provide it to 79 percent of their 12-year-
old children as they approach bar or bat
mitzvah age.
• Some 40 percent of the "old" Soviets
send their children to Jewish youth
groups and camps.
• Forty-one percent are members of
synagogues, and 32 percent belong to
community centers.
• More fast on Yom Kippur and give to
Jewish charities than American Jews.
"Soviet Jews are at least as Jewish as
American Jews, and in some respects
more," says Misha Galperin, a New York
clinical psychologist and a Soviet Jew
who immigrated in 1976. "The American
Jewish community has been misinform-
ed."
Mr. Galperin says he believes the new
Soviet Jews, though younger and from
more diverse regions, have every bit as
good a chance of succeeding religiously.
Although those who work with the new
emigres have varying methods and pro-
grams, most agree that the future for the
newcomers looks bright.
With a little help from their new-found
friends, the workers say, the Soviet Jews
will win respect as Jews in America the
old-fashioned, red-white-and-blue way:
They will earn it. I=1
Soviet Jewish emigres in
communities all over the
United States are getting
their first sampling of the
religion and culture they had
so long been denied.
There may be something to celebrate.
Though the perception is that the old
wave of immigrants was lost to Judaism,
a new study reveals that might not be the
case at all.
Recently released by the Council of
Jewish Federations and City University
Yosef, who recently arrived from Tashkent, learns Sukkot blessings from Sarah Geifman, who teaches a class of Soviet Jewish children at the
New England Hebrew Academy in Brookline, Mass.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
45