SOVIET JEWRY
Jewish Miracles
In Soviet Perestroika
ISAAC LAKRITZ
Special to The Jewish News
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"Thank you for all the
miracles, now we want the
Messiah" — a simple Hebrew
rhyme that happened to be
the text of a poster hanging in
a Lubavitch mitzvah mobile
that was parked in front of
Moscow's Israel Consulate.
After an absence of 23
years, an Israeli flag once
again flies over Bolshaya Or-
dinka Street in the city's
center. With full diplomatic
status, Israel's envoys freely
come and go, Soviet Jews
enter to facilitate their
aliyah, and now Lubavitchers
distribute literature about
Shabbat, Torah study, and
urge all Jewish males to enter
and don tefillin.
It is no wonder that a mes-
sianic leitmotif can be heard
echoing through contem-
porary Jewish affairs.
Remarkable world events —
the crumbling of the Soviet
empire, the massive Soviet
Jewish aliyah, the Gulf War,
the 36-hour Ethiopian airlift
— have unfolded in a pattern
that, for a change, has been
kind to the Jewish people.
This is especially apparent in
the Soviet Union, where the
juxtaposition of what until
very recently would have
been inconceivable occur-
rences, reminds one of the
Passover seder's dayenu —
one amazing episode acts as
prelude to another.
Shabbat at Moscow's main
synagogue — this jewel of a
building was always main-
tained in pristine condition to
show that Judaism is not
neglected in the worker's
paradise. Now it is rapidly
filling with the content that
its lovely appearance once
belied. Jewish study classes,
a children's summer camp,
meaningful services and an
activist Swiss rabbi irrigate
the desert that is Moscow's
Jewish community.
Special guests were present
on a beautiful summer Shab-
bat: Mordechai Ben-David, a
well-known Brooklyn
Chasidic entertainer, en-
thralled the congregation
with melodies about redemp-
tion and God's love for every
Isaac Lakritz, executive
director of the East Central
Region of the American
Technion Society, recently led
a Betar Youth Organization
journey to the USSR.
Jew. Suddenly, Rabbi Yitz-
chak Grossman, dean of
Migdal Ha'emek Yeshiva, an
institution for Israeli delin-
quents, began to address the
congregation. Though he is a
fourth generation Israeli,
Rabbi Grossman explained
that his great-grandfather
came from Russia.
He has returned to continue
the renaissance of Jewish
learning. Speaking in Yid-
dish, his deep melodic voice
cascaded across the crowd
that by now tightly surround-
ed him — a flashback to an
era and a style when such
personalities were thought to
directly transmit the word of
God.
The very few who
have learned to
use the system
have become
surprisingly
successful. Sergei
and Vladimir,
young Jewish
entrepreneurs,
have amassed
millions of rubles.
journey to the USSR. "Today
I walked in the streets of
Moscow dressed in Chasidic
clothes with a tallit on my
shoulders. Last night we sang
and danced in honor of Shab-
bat in my hotel room. Until
very recently," Rabbi
Grossman noted, "I might
have been imprisoned or
thrown out of the country for
such activities. No more!"
He was very direct: now
that Soviet Jews are no longer
restricted, they can freely
practice their religion. "Jews
must eat kosher foods, Jews
must marry other Jews, Jews
must keep Shabbat and the
holidays, Jews must send
their children to Jewish
schools and Jews must live in
Israel, the Jewish land." The
crowd seemed to react more to
the image before them than
to the content of the message.
After services had conclud-
ed, Rabbi Grossman led
members of the congregation
dancing through the aisles to
the entrance of the synagogue
where people had gathered
(as they do weekly) to catch
up on Jewish news. Atop a
marble pedestal, framed by a
white column, Rabbi
Grossman repeated his
message.
A throng of individuals
gathered around him, trailing