•
I-8
p.
Tracking the devastating ef-
fects of the changes in Russia
is Mr. Semenovsky's job. A vet-
eran of the dissident move-
ment, he was one of the Soviet
Union's first "poor relatives,"
people who could not emigrate
because an immediate family
member denied permission to
do so, as was required by Sovi-
et law. In 1989 he finally did
leave and now resides in San
Francisco.
Mr. Semenovsky has re-
turned to Moscow for nine
months to track anti-Semitic
movements for the Soviet-
American Bureau On Human
Rights. The office, opened in
October 1990, monitors human
rights and emigration policies
for the Union Of Councils For Soviet Jews (UCSJ).
He explains the importance of separating between
real and imagined anti-Semitism to maintain credi-
bility.
"Before we say it's a pogrom, if something has hap-
pened on the streets, we should understand what re-
ally happened," he says.
For now, though, Mr. Semenovsky feels his work
is blocked by the overwhelming economic dangers fac-
ing the country.
"We have some friends in the Russian parliament
and they can help us create a new immigration law,"
he says. "But we can't come to Yeltsin about Jewish
problems now because he has so many other prob-
lems. So many things happened here recently, so
for me it was inadvisable to ask my friends to help the
Jews."
A Church-Goer
►
h e Jews have never lived here comfortably,"
says Slava Rapoport. "They never have and they nev-
er will live here with any kind of feeling."
Mr. Rapoport wanted to become a journalist, but
was told by the authorities to either change his last
name or pick another field. He became an economist.
"I didn't want to change my name because it was
humiliating," he says. "I was not angry about it be-
cause it was the time when it was a common attitude
toward all the Jews, not just me."
Unlike most young Jews here, in his house Passover
seders and Rosh Hashanah meals were celebrated.
That ended in 1985. His father, a prominent psy-
chiatrist, was thrown in jail for refusing to treat dis-
sidents brought to his hospital. They were not sick,
he complained. For the first of the three years that
the elder Mr. Rapoport languished in a Soviet prison,
his family was forbidden to visit him.
Slava Rapoport's mother was not born a Jew. She
converted to Judaism after emigrating to New York
City about two years ago with her husband.
Yuri Semenovsky
has returned to
Russia to help
monitor incidents
of human rights
violations.
ents. He looks forward to attending the Conservative
synagogue to which they belong.
`The first thing I would like to do in New York is go
to synagogue and see what it is for my parents," he
says. "I really appreciate that my parents have got-
ten much help from the Jewish community."
Culture As Key
cv-
e are using the Yiddish as a tool to open peo-
ple's hearts, but our challenge is to bring them Jew-
ish culture for today, not in a nostalgic way," says
Arkadiy Pevzner, director of the Jewish Chamber Mu-
sical Theater. "We are not trying to recreate the past."
The actors and actresses have just finished a per-
formance of the Yiddish play Jewish Babylon. The
show tells the story of a young couple as they go
through their engagement, wedding and honeymoon.
"It was inevitable because my mom is a very reli- That last part includes visits to Jewish communi-
gious person," Slava explains. "She never attended ties around the world.
The theater's next play will be A Lady From Odessa.
church here, but she believed in God and the things_
In Russian, it explores the traumas of emigration.
connected with the church and religion."
"In general I treat Jewish culture as a global cul-
In his parents' absence, he has sought out some
ture,"
the 45-year-old director explains. `The first part
religion of his own. At least twice a week he attends
of Babylon is dedicated to the Jewish influence of
the Church of Christ.
"It is very social," he says, an English copy of the the east where Yiddish was spoken. The second part
New Testament on the coffee table in front of him. shows the young people on their honeymoon."
This evening's performance was for the Moscow
"People meet with God and meet with each other and
I really enjoy it. Also, I live alone here and feel great Jewish War Veterans, many of whom were dressed
in military uniforms adorned with medals. They un-
loneliness."
He says he does not attend a synagogue because he derstand the Yiddish. performance, but will others?
'We saw in Byelorussia and elsewhere that young
cannot understand what goes on there. "I have seen
a lot of Jews (at the church) because the Jews here people were filling the balcony, waving Israeli flags,
are not Orthodox at all and they don't pay attention standing up and singing Hebrew songs," Mr. Pevzn-
if it is a synagogue or the Church of Christ," he says. er says. "A new generation is learning. Unlike us they
Next month Mr. Rapoport hopes to visit his par- realize that they are Jews and they want to be Jews.
"Will they fill the niche
needed for Jewish culture to
survive?" he asks. "Nobody
knows. Nobody knows what
will happen here tomorrow."
Slava Rapoport
finds his visits
to the Church
of Christ an
antidote to
loneliness.
Partin g
Thoughts
Katznelson, a journal-
ist and English-language
translator, is typical of the
Jews here. He is bright, well-
read and aware of the trau-
ma his country is facing.
Married to a non-Jewish Rus-
I
O m"
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
27