SINAI HOSPITAL

Sinai Hospital Surgery Department
is pleased to welcome

Escape From Grozny

Hashim Alani, M.D.
and
Daniel Sherbert, M.D.

Chechen Jews celebrate their first Passover in Israel.

ETHEL G. HOFMAN SPECILA TO THE JEWISH NEWS

F

Dr. Alani specializes in plastic and reconstructive
surgery, and has recently been appointed Section Chief
of Plastic Surgery at Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Sherbert specializes in plastic and reconstructive
surgery, with special training in breast reconstruction.

Their office is located at:

29877 Telegraph Road
Suite 107
Southfield, Ml 48034

For an appointment, please call during
normal business hours Monday - Friday
(810) 352-8070.

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or the Nissimov family, this
Passover marks their own
remarkable exodus. On
Dec. 27, 1994, Marina, Ilya,
their three children, and Ilya's
mother, Brillya, were among the
32 refugees from Chechnya who
arrived at Israel's Ben-Gurion
Airport. They left behind the ter-
rors of the civil war in Grozny,
capital of Chechnya and their
home for generations.
Before the outbreak of the bru-
tal conflict between the Russians
and Chechens in December, the
Grozny Jewish community to-
taled approximately 250, reduced
from 1,500 in 1981. With war,
conditions became grim. In
Grozny, the street where most of
the Jews lived had been reduced
to rubble.
"The Russians hate the
Chechens and barely tolerate the
Jews. The Chechens hate the
Jews," said Ilya, 34. "We were in
the middle. We had nothing left."
In the months before war
broke out, the small Jewish com-
munity was constantly under at-
tack. The synagogue was
demolished. Jews were stoned in
their homes and insulted in the
streets. The Nissimovs' car was
stolen and their eight-room home
destroyed. "I saw it reduced to
rubble with one bomb," said Ma-
rina. "My garden with apricot
trees, our belongings, nothing
was left."
When their 11-year-old son,
Vadim, was kidnapped by
Chechen bandits, the remaining
40 Jewish families raised ransom
money. With his return, the fam-
ily "left immediately, with noth-
ing but the clothes on our back,"
said Ilya.
With the help of a non-Jewish
friend, a Red Cross ambulance
driver, the Nissimovs were dri-
ven in sub-zero temperatures to
a tin can factory. There, they
were smuggled onto a freight
train to Nalchik, a Russian city
just over the Chechen border. It
was a 100-mile journey "cramped
together in a small space under
crates of tin cans. We couldn't
move. I became old overnight,"
said Marina, 32.
In Nalchik, the Jewish Agency,
with United Jewish Appeal fund-
ing from the Associated and oth-
er Jewish federations, provided
all refugees with first aid, food,
clothing and a place to stay until
they had documents to leave. The
local Russian authorities cooper-
ated and within a few weeks, the
Grozny refugees had passports
and could depart for Israel on a
Jewish Agency-chartered plane.
After 2 1/2 months in Israel,
Marina and Ilya are tanned; the

children rosy-cheeked and
healthy. Ephraim, 13, already
has learned Hebrew. On March
27, the family began studying He-
brew at an ulpan. But grand-
mother Brillya, 55, remains
silent. Her face is aged with lines
of weariness and worry. She is
suffering the effects of exposure
and finds it difficult sharing a tiny
two-bedroom, one-bathroom
apartment with the Shelmaev
family of four, who came to Israel
from Chechnya two years ago.
(The Nissimovs sent most of the
Israeli government money in-
tended for an apartment back to
the remaining Chechen Jewish
community to repay Vadim's ran-
som. There is doubt that the mon-
ey ever reached them.)
Others are not so lucky. Cou-
ples and families have been sep-
arated, some reaching the safety
of Nalchik, others trapped in
Grozny.
As the Nissimovs celebrate
freedom in Israel, they will be
adapting Chechen Passover tra-
ditions going back to the moun-
tain Jews of the region. Marina
described Passover preparations
in Grozny as a frenzy of activi-
ty: "Kitchen walls are freshly
painted, tables and all surfaces
scrubbed and scoured. The best
fruits, vegetables and herbs are
shopped for at the outdoor mar-
kets, and chickens are taken to
the shochet [ritual slaughterer].
"Because we want to be sure
everything is kosher for Passover,
everything is made at home —
from the horseradish root grated
and mixed with cooked beets to
huge, 20-inch matzahs made by
the local rabbi's wife."
In Grozny, the seder wine was
made from local grapes and left
to mature in a cool cellar for two
to three years. Apricots, apples,
peaches and plums, cut up and
strung out in the summer sun or
near the stove to dry, were next
year's Passover dessert. The
menu will include some tastes
from their homeland. Chives will
appear on the seder plate.
• Charoseth will most likely be a
mixture of stewed dried fruits
such as apricots, cherries and
peaches chopped together with
almonds, then moistened with
wine and sweetened with honey.
Horseradish will be grated by
hand. In Israel, matzahs come in
boxes and horseradish in jars.
Doubtless, the abundance of
fresh, cheap Israeli produce will
influence future Nissimov cele-
brations. But for now, they will
continue traditions of happier
times in Grozny as they cele-
brate their first Passover in Is-
rael. ❑

