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"Still it is hard to know if
we did make an impact,"
said Rabbi Aft, who would
like to think he and Jason
left their new friends in the
Soviet Union with more
than a few Judaica items,
American toys and packets
of aspirin.
When Rabbi Aft and Jason
left for the Soviet Union,
they didn't know what to ex-
pect, especially with grow-
ing fears of anti-Semitism
among Soviet Jews.
"I was scared about leav-
ing," Rabbi Aft said. Yet, he
was never involved in any
anti-Semitic acts, in part be-
cause most anti-Semitic
groups have greater in-
fluence in cities like Len-
ingrad and Moscow than
Riga and Vilnius.
Instead, he discovered a
greater freedom to practice
Judaism, especially in Riga
where the Jewish commun-
ity is well-established.
In Riga, where officials
had opened a Jewish day
school, the 40 children who
attended the youth camp
knew a great deal about
Judaism, Rabbi Aft said.
"The school makes a big dif-
ference," he said.
Because of their knowl-
edge, Riga students weren't
interested in an introduction
to Judaism course, Rabbi Aft
said. So Rabbi Aft, Mr. Stark
and Jason spend most of the
four days getting to know
the students.
"They needed us just to be
role models," said Rabbi Aft,
adding that Jason was a big
help in that area. Soviet
teens found it easy to ask
Jason about American Jew-
ish life, Rabbi Aft said.
They also learned about
Riga's past, focusing on the
destruction of the Jewish
community during the Holo-
caust.
One of their most mem-
orable experiences was
climbing the steps to the
capital building in Vilnius,
Rabbi Aft said. As they
walked, they noticed Heb-
rew written on many of the
steps. Stalin had ordered
Jewish gravestones be used
to make the stairs.
And in Riga, a woman
leaving for Israel the next
day, took the time to show
the three Americans pits
where Jews were shot and
buried during the Holocaust,
said Jason, citing the inci-
dent as one of his most
powerful memories.
As for the future of Jewish
communities in the Soviet
Union, there is much uncer-
tainty, especially in Vilnius,
Rabbi Aft said.
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