Stepping Up
Russian Jews in America assuming new leadership roles.
RACHEL POMERANCE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
This is the second installment in a three-part JTA series on
Russian Jews in America.
New York
R
ussian Jews in America are "tired of being
perceived by the American community as
clients and not as partners.
So says Susan Fox, executive director of
the Shorefront YM-YWHA, just off the Russian bistro-
lined boardwalk of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, N.Y.
After nearly 30 years of working with people in neigh-
borhoods where English is less commonly heard on the
streets than Russian, Fox has her finger on the pulse of
the community.
Roughly 25 years after the first wave of Jews from
the former Soviet Union arrived in the United States
and 13 years after the mass exodus that followed the
collapse of Communism, the Russian Jewish commu-
nity in America now generates its own organizations
and philanthropists.
"There has been a visible maturation of their involve-
ment, and-there is a momentum that has gotten the
attention of many," Fox says, describing an array of
Russian Jewish groups and leaders.
Indeed, American Jewish groups are reaching out to
the community with new programs that reflect the
community's growing size and stature.
Most estimates of the number of Russian Jews across
the country, including those who emigrated and the
families they have created since they arrived, range
from 600,000-800,000. Today, about 300,000 of those
immigrants live in the New York area, making up a
quarter of the local Jewry.
Russian Jews also have significant communities in
Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and
Philadelphia. At least 8,000 live in the Detroit area,
according to the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit.
"
Elusive Integration
But even far from the shores of Brighton Beach, inte-
gration with mainstream American Jews around the
country remains, for the most part, elusive.
Russian Jews and those involved with the communi-
ty say the situation stems from an early misunderstand-
ing on both sides.,
American Jews expected Soviet immigrants to be
grateful to them for working for their liberation and
eager for Jewish life. The emigres, for their part, antici-
pated a fraternal reception with generous assistance in
landing jobs and Jewish education that would extend
beyond the initial programs local Jewish communities
made available to them.
In addition, the new immigrants, after enduring
more than 70 years of atheist Soviet rule, arrived with a
Jewish identity that seemed foreign to American Jews,
especially given their customs of erecting Christmas
trees or savoring pork sausage.
Another obstacle to integration for Russian Jews was
psychological. Arriving with the Soviet mentality,
which mistrusts religion and organizations, many
Russian Jews steered clear of synagogues and Jewish
educational institutions. In addition, immediate reset-
tlement needs, like learning English and finding a job,
eclipsed everything else, including Judaism.
This alienation was further accentuated as Russian
immigrants often chose to stick together, especially in
cities that drew large numbers.
But with years of basic resettlement under their belt,
Russian Jewish communal life now is emerging.
New York represents not only the largest Russian
Jewish community in the country, but also the most
organized one. Thirty-four Russian Jewish organiza-
tions recently have joined together to form the Council
of Jewish Emigre Community Organizations, or
COJECO. This model is being replicated nationwide.
Amid this Russian-initiated activity, American Jewish
groups are also reaching out to them.
The American Jewish Committee, which for six
years has run a leadership-training program for New
York's Russian Jews, plans to go national, beginning a
program in Boston in February. In September, it
launched the National Committee on Russian Jewish
Community Affairs, mandated to fulfill the post-reset-
tlement needs of the community, such as integration
into American Jewry.
With regional directors in Atlanta, Milwaukee and
Los Angeles, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society creat-
ed a program to train community leaders and aid their
organizations in October 2002. It also plans to create a
civic education and voter registration program this
spring in New York.
And the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
the pro-Israel lobby, is creating partnerships with New
York's Russian Jewish community.
Is Enough Being Done?
But outreach efforts to the community is not without
its critics.
Zvi Gitelman, professor of political science and
Judaic studies at the University of Michigan in Ann
ARbor, charges that the American Jewish community is
dropping the ball on outreach to the population.
"The American Jewish community has spent next to
nothing on what has happened economically, socially
and, most importantly, Jewishly, to the largest single
immigration to the United States since before the First
World War," he says.
"There has been no systematic national study, not
even a regional study of, for example, the effects of all
these outreach programs."
Several Russian Jews community officials maintain
that successful integration begins with separate com-
STEPPING UP on page 38
Soul Of The Shtetl
Through music, Russian singer recreates the flavor
of Eastern European Jewish life.
S
ongs of the Jewish Shtetl-2, a
direct-from-Moscow produc-
tion of Jewish songs and
dances of Russia and Eastern
Europe, comes to Southfield's
Millennium Theatre 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 24.
The musical production is the latest
effort of Russian-Jewish performer-
singer Efim Alexandrov, who brought
his original tour to town in 2002.
Like its predecessor, Songs of the
Jewish Shtetl-2 is dedicated to the
preservation of Jewish culture. Both familiar and
lesser-known songs once sung in the shtetl (Jewish
village) will be performed in Yiddish, Hebrew,
Russian and English. On his 16-city North
American tour, Alexandrov is joined onstage by
musicians, dancers and a choir and is aided by
elaborate sets, costumes and lighting.
His musical performances reach audiences "on a
very deep-rooted, elementary level," Alexandrov
told the Jewish News in 2002.
"This is -true for Jewish and non-
Jevvish audiences alike. Some of my
non-Jewish audiences are absolutely
fanatical about this music."
Born in 1960, in the small town of
Podvolochizy in Ukraine, Alexandrov
spent boyhood summers in the vil-
lage of Bershad, which is saturated
with traditional Jewish influences.
The opportunity to perform the
songs he heard sung in Bershad in
symphonic arrangements is "a little
boy's dream come true," he said. ❑
•
David Sachs, senior copy editor
Efim Alexandrov performs in Songs of the Jewish
Shtetl-2 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 24, at the
Millennium Theatre in Southfield. $30-$50. For
tickets, call (248) 967-2146, (248) 538-6700,
(248) 483-3830 or (248) 865-3553.
4/16
2004
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