for college students by college students

attendance felt Chanukah was a traditionally
important Jewish holiday.
There had been very little Jewish educa-
tion, even after the fall of the Soviet Union,
particularly among the elderly. The younger
generation knows more about Judaism than
their grandparents, but they are unable to put
it into a broader context. They know they
are Jewish, but have trouble expressing the
meaning behind their Jewish identity as part
of a bigger picture.

Respecting Religion

Her only support is the help provided by the
Jewish community. This situation is heart-
breaking anywhere, but particularly acute
when only a few blocks away a new financial
district is emerging.

Traveling Central Asia

Following my Peace Corps service, I trav-
eled around Central Asia and the Caucuses
for four months. The middle of winter is not
usually a time to travel though mountain
passes, but it did give me the chance to move
far outside traditional tourist sites. In each
country, I met with civil society and human
rights activists, Peace Corps volunteers and
the Jewish community.

pronouncing "Levi," mixing it up with
"Levy." Oleg, our guide, asked about my
background.
While I usually was upfront with my
Judaism, because I was told to be particularly
careful with Judaism in Turkmenistan, it took
another shot of vodka to get "Jewish" out of
my mouth. Oleg, clearly amused that I found
it difficult to say I was Jewish, followed with
"my best friend is Jewish!" I decided to go
on a limb, "Is his name Zinovi?" Our guide's
best friend is the head of the Jewish com-
munity in Turkmenistan, and he was back
in town. Small world barely describes this
experience.

Peace Corps volunteers have an often-
difficult balancing act between representing
the United States all day, every day and
expressing their own views. While
Azerbaijan
I had met a part of the Jewish
In America, we usually
community, I still did not
focus on large divisions
know how the general commu-
within the Jewish com-
nity would view my Judaism.
munity — Ashkenazic,
Kazakhstan is a primarily
Sephardic and Mizrachi
Muslim country, although it
and more often Reform,
also has a very large Russian
Conservative and Orthodox.
Orthodox community, along to
Through traveling, I was
being home to more than 100
introduced to many other
other nationality groups.
Jewish communities. An
As I became closer with
American Azeri friend
my Kazakh colleagues and
told me I should go visit
as my Russian improved, we
the Mountain Jews in
began to discuss religion.
Azerbaijan. I thought he
Around my second Yom Kippur
was joking. I had first been
in Kazakhstan, I asked my
introduced to the Mountain
Kazakh supervisor if it would
Jews through Absurdistan
Teicher and friend Sahib Isganderay atYanar Dag,
be OK to not come to work
by Gary Shteyngart. How
near Baku, Azerbijan, where natural gas creates a
wall of flames in the ground.
the next day, as it is a Jewish
could they be real?
holiday. My colleague looked
stunned. She was shocked I would even need
Turkmenistan
to ask; of course, I should not come to work
Sitting in a yurt (hut) in a
on my holiday, particularly if I would be fast-
village of 200 people in
ing. This type of response was very common.
the middle of the Karakum
Throughout my travels, across Muslim and
Desert was not the place I
Christian countries, people were genuinely
expected to be introduced to
interested in Judaism.
the Turkmenistan Jewish com-
Most of my work took place in Aktobe,
munity. I was told the head of
but I also had the opportunity to work with
the Turkmenistan Jewish com-
the American Jewish Joint Distribution
munity was away on vacation;
Committee (JDC) and the Jewish community
they gave me his contact infor-
in Almaty. When the war in Georgia erupted
mation, but noted there would
in 2008, a group of Tufts University students
be no reason to call. I was
came to Kazakhstan instead to work along-
warned that organized Judaism
side Jewish youth. As an alum of JDC uni-
occupies an illegal position in
Young Kazakhstani Jews from Almaty lead Shabbat
versity trips, I was invited to help this trip.
the country's laws. As I had
evening services during a Joint Distribution
While there is a strong revitalization occur- to be with a guide through my
Committee program Teicher helped run.
ring amongst Jewish youth in Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan trip, I decided
the position of the elderly is increasingly
there would be no point in try-
fragile. The government support system
ing to get in touch.
Then I arrived in Azerbaijan and received
is minimal. A main component of the trip
I had only crossed the border from
a quick rundown in Jewish history foreign
involved teams of American and Kazakhstani
Uzbekistan into Turkmenistan a day earlier.
to most American Ashkenazic Jews. A week
youth visiting the homes of elderly Jews and
We already felt very close to our guide,
later, I took a four-hour bus ride and arrived
cleaning and talking with them.
a wonderful ethnic Russian man from
in Quba, the home of the largest commu-
One woman has lived in the same house,
Turkmenistan. The yurt night, we had been
nity of Mountain Jews in the Former Soviet
right behind the central bus station, for more
drinking and we started talking about jeans
Union. The city is divided into two parts:
than 50 years. She still has no running water
— Levi jeans. As I hadn't talked or thought
the Jewish part (Krasnaya Sloboda) and the
and no more relatives left in Kazakhstan.
about jeans in a couple years, I had trouble
Muslim part (Quba).

A Peace Corps volunteer in the city had
wanted to explore Krasnaya Sloboda since
arriving in Azerbaijan, so we crossed the
bridge into what is considered the last com-
pletely Jewish settlement outside Israel. If
you did not know everyone was Jewish, you
would have no idea people weren't Muslim
Azeri. Then, you look up and see Jewish stars
and Hebrew text on every other building. We
wandered through the streets and found the
one functioning synagogue.
Like many Jewish communities in small
towns, there was a clear demographic shift;
mainly only young kids and the elderly.
Young adults and middle-aged men seem to
have largely left. It's a similar problem, but
exacerbated, that we have in many American
cities — if there's no opportunity, you leave
when you can.
We have it much easier being Jewish in
America than overseas. It is relatively easy
to blend in in America. Our ethnicity isn't on
our passports and, more so, Judaism is gener-
ally recognized as a mix of ethnic, religious
and national factors.
While traveling, I was first considered an
American and then Jewish. I grew up in a
warm, welcoming and inspiring Jewish com-
munity, but it was while traveling and spend-
ing time with Jewish communities overseas
that I gained a better perspective on my own
Jewish identity.
I could not have chosen a better way to
spend the last three years than in the Peace
Corps and traveling around the region. I rec-
ommend Peace Corps and similar opportuni-
ties to those willing to embrace a challenge
and move outside their comfort
zone to learn about themselves.
The opportunity to make a
meaningful, measurable and
sustained difference, to get to
know individuals and com-
munities in another part of the
world, and to better understand
myself will serve me well in
araduate school and will be a
t
continuing connection for the
rest of my life. @

,

Perry Teicher, 25, of West Bloomfield,
majored in organizational studies
and political science at the University
of Michigan; he will be attending a
1D/MBA program in fall 2011.

To see more photos and read about
Perry's experiences, go to
pteicher.wordpress.com and
picasaweb.google.com/pteicher.

For more information about Peace Corps,
go to www.peacecorps.gov.

November 11 2010

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