Yizkor, 1943 by Rachel Auerbach

In the piece entitled “Yizkor, 1943”, the author Rachel Auerbach presents a moving piece on the theme of remembrance of the numerous Jewish victims who perished in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis. “Yizkor” proceeds to capture in as much detail as possible the individuality of the groups that were targeted. As opposed to the Nazis’ aim which was to target the Jewish people as a group, only regarding them as a collective based on their Jewishness, the message of this piece is that the people who were targeted were babies, children, teenagers, women, men, who had their own individual identities.

The destruction of an entire people is introduced in this piece through a parallel. The piece starts with a description of a tragedy that occurs in nature, a flood in the mountains that carries away wooden huts along with men, women, and children. It shows the uncontrollable way in which nature affects the lives of people. The people who are faced with this flood are helpless, and they’re compared to “a tangle of arms waving from the roof like branches blowing in the wind waving desperately towards heaven, towards the river banks for help. At a distance, one could see mouths gaping, but one could not hear the cries because the roar of the waters drowned out everything”. This description serves as an analogy to introduce the tragedy of the victims who perished in the Holocaust, “And that’s how the Jewish masses flowed to their destruction at the time of the deportations. Sinking as helplessly into the deluge of destruction.” The piece proceeds to describe in detail the hopelessness and endless pain that the masses that are doomed to being murdered underwent with the purpose of remembering these peoples and conveying individuality to those who perished. Furthermore, the author describes those who are helpless and powerless, as “such low branches…the lowly plants of the world….the sorts of people who would have lived out their lives without ever picking a quarrel…” and yet, they are the ones who are doomed to destruction.

The piece asks a series of questions for the reader to ponder, “How could such people have been prepared to die in a gas chamber? The sorts of people who were terrified of a dentist’s chair; who turned pale at the pulling of a tooth.” The author proceeds to describe the little children, who regardless of how small they were, and in spite of all their innocence, were murdered, then continues to include the many people that were doomed for destruction, such as “the two-  and three-year-olds who seemed like newly hatched chicks tottering about on their weak legs….five year olds, and six year olds. And those who were older still…” Auerbach further identifies “boys who, in their games, were readying themselves for achievements yet to come. Girls who still nursed their dolls off in corners…Girls who eleven, twelve, thirteen with the faces of angels (…) The Rivkas, the Rebbeccas, the Leahs of the Bible, their names recast into Polish.” After the imagery of those who perished, the author notes that, “it was these, and such as these, who went into the abyss—our beautiful daughters”. She then proceeds to describe the Jewish young men, many who were ”tortured in camps even before the mass murder began”, then the religious folks, the “pious Jews in black gabardines (…) Jews who were Rabbis, teachers who wanted to transform our earthly life…and then there are other groups such as “Artisans, workers. Wagon drivers, porters….”. The message of the author is to point out that there is a long list of people who can be identified in many ways, who carry an identity, who existed. Then, the author shifts attention towards the elderly, the “grandfathers and grandmothers with an abundance of grandchildren. With hands like withered leaves (…) They were not destined to decline wearily into their graves like rest-seeking souls (..) like they would get to see the destruction of all that they had begotten; of all they had built.” She wants to stress out the point that they were all killed only because they were Jewish. The author elicits empathy also for groups that otherwise would be forgotten like the beggars who were “the first to be rounded up”. The last to be described are her own relatives who also perished. She writes “I have so many names to recall”, people who were “killed on the spot” in the gas chambers. 

The purpose of this piece is to remember those who perished, the message being that “Each of them hurts me individually, the way one feels pain when parts of the body have been surgically removed”.  The  piece ends with a call to God to remember” the “souls of those who passed away from this world horribly, dying strange deaths before their time”.

The title of this piece Yizkor is the name of the memorial prayer service that is recited four times a year in remembrance of those who passed away. This piece ends with the location of where this may have been written, “Aryan Side of Warsaw. November 1943”. The message of this piece is to bring to light the atrocities that have taken place during the Nazi times, and to recall as much as possible those who perished “because they were Jews”. The author hopes that the victims would be recalled individually and remembered, as their remembrance is a way for others to learn that tragedies like this are not to be repeated. This piece can also be characterized a form of resistance against the perpetrators who committed the ultimate crimes, and who may want to hide their atrocious crimes they committed.

Divan by Pearl Gluck

The movie entitled “Divan” is directed by Pearl Gluck who is also the narrator. In this movie, Gluck delineates her trip back to Hungary, in search for a couch where Hassidic Rabbis used to sleep on. The search for this couch is symbolic of Pearl Gluck’s search for her own heritage and her desire to adhere to the identity she chose for herself in spite of the fact that those in her surroundings try to shape her identity to determine her to come “back to the fold”. Though she was born in Brooklyn in 1972, in the milieu of a Hassidic community, Gluck left the community and became less religious and more secular in her outlook and observance. As she leaves to Hungary, she interacts with various characters. Some of these characters are more religious than her and they do not agree with the path she has chosen for herself, to be secular, as opposed to her very religious Hassidic father. She also presents in the movie the perspectives of other Jews like herself who chose to leave the fold and be less religious, and more involved with the outside world. In certain places in Hungary, she interacts with Hassidim and she is not allowed to film the surroundings, and at times, she interacts with individuals who point out to her she is not adhering to the strict dress code of ultra-Orthodox tradition. When she is finally able to bring back the couch home, she only brings back a replica of the original couch, and not the real couch. She informs her audience that one of these reasons is that her family back in Hungary would not entrust her with the original couch because she is not as religious as expected, and their desire for her is to get married to a Hassid and settle down.

 

The Refuseniks and The Party Line on Soviet Jewry *Documentaries*

The documentary Refuseniks appeared in 2008, directed by Laura Bialis, and it delineates the activities that took place in the Soviet Russia during the 1960’s and 1970’s to help those who wanted to emigrate from the Soviet Union to Israel, but were forbidden from doing so. There were activists in the Soviet Union who communicated with international organizations to gain support the right of refuseniks to emigrate out of the Soviet Union. Once they had their exit visas refused, the refuseniks were persecuted in their jobs, as it was considered to be an unpatriotic act to want to leave the Soviet Union.

A well-known character that appears in this film is Natan Sharansky. He was a former refusenik who was sent to jail for his activity of supporting the cause of the refuseniks. Finally, after being released from jail in 1986, he was able to come to Israel where he was reunited with his wife.  He was released by Mikhail Gorbachev due to international pressure from Ronald Reagan. He wrote his lifestory in his memoirs entitled Fear No Evil. The movie presents the scene when Sharansky lands in Israel. As he exits the plane, there is great joy among everyone who was awaiting his arrival. 

The Party Line on Soviet Jewry is a documentary that shows how good life was in the Soviet Union, and that the Jews who were lured to emigrate to other countries were very much grateful to the Soviet Union when they were allowed to come back. There are scences in the movie where Soviet Jews are depicted kissing the land upon which they walk as sign of joy for being allowed to return. It is a propaganda documentary sponsored by the Soviet Union in order to show how successful and happy Soviet Jews were in the Soviet Union. They warn against emigration to Israel, what they regarded as an unpatriotic act against the motherland. This documentary is supposed to bring support for the position of the Soviet Union which was forbidding Jews from emigrating elsewhere. It is meant to improve the image of the Soviet Union locally and internationally.

These two documentaries both highlight the desire of Soviet Jews to leave Soviet Union, but in different ways as they diverge in the perspective they assume. While the documentary Refuseniks shows the positive aspects of leaving the Soviet Union and deems emigration to be a violation of human rights, the documentary The Party Line on Soviet Jewry tries to convince the public union of the negative aspects of leaving the Soviet Union and how emigration proved to be a bad choice for those who emigrate and who actually wanted to come back, and felt blessed to be granted the right to return to the Soviet motherland they had abandoned.

A Study of Former Soviet Union Jewry

The piece entitled “E Pluribus Unum? Post-Soviet Jewish Identities and Their Implications for Communal Reconstruction” by V. Chervyakov, Z. Gitelman, and Vladimir Shapiro deals with the issue of reviving Jewish community life in the Former Soviet Union and the challenges and implications that surround this topic. The matter at hand is that there are different points of view when it comes to assessing the feasibility of reviving Jewish life in the former Soviet Union and whether this can be regarded as a feasible option. Research was done to assess the attitudes of the Former Soviet Union Jews, especially for Jews living in Russia and Ukraine, in regards to their Jewish identity. This research sheds light on the various factors and attitudes that resolve around the question of Jewish identity.

The attitude of the Israeli government as evidenced by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s perspective in 1999 was that Russian Jews should emigrate to Israel. However, in the former Soviet Union, Jewish self-awareness among particular Jewish communities, as the article points out, encompasses a different perspective

The piece presents the findings of an empirical study that assessed the conceptions of Jewishness of Russian and Ukrainian Jews. Its conclusion is that it is “radically different from both historical understandings and contemporary notions held by most Jews in the Diaspora and Israel” (p. 61-62).  It is interesting that this research found that “For FSU Jews, the Jewish religion is hardly a factor of Jewishness…” (p.62). The Russian and Ukrainian Jews emphasize different aspects of their definition of what makes a Jew a “good Jew”, highlighting factors such as “knowledge of history and culture, especially feeling pride in one’s Jewishness and a duty to remember the Shoah, or Holocaust”. The Jews of Former Soviet Union emphasize both aspects of their ethnicity, Russian and Jewish. Though they maintain ties with Israel, they’re not as closely attached to Jews in other places.

The research found an overall decline in interest in Jewish matters between the findings of the two surveys that were done in 1992/1993 and 1997/1998. However, the interest of those who are actually interested in their Jewish identity has increased from one time period to the other. However, overall, there is no conclusive answer as to whether Jews are more or less “communally active and engaged”. There are certain transitions that occur. The article forecasts that a demographic erosion is occurring, and that the result may make the Jewish community “distinctly more secular” (p. 62) and it is a question that awaits an answer in the matter of how Jewishness “divorced from religion and not imposed by the state can ultimately be evolved and sustained” (p. 62). The research interviewed Russian and Ukrainian Jews, and it was performed by the Jewish Research Center of the Russian Academy and Sciences. It surveyed three Russian and five Ukrainian cities. The cities that were surveyed were Moscow, St. Peterburg (Leningrad), Ekateringburg, Kiev, Odessa, Kharkov, Lvov, Chernovsty, and the persons interviewed were at least 16 years old. It noticed a distinct change, a negative birth : death rate ration and the emigration of younger people. They interviewed people who had both parents Jewish, half or quarter Jews, and those with more remote Jewish roots. The sampling noticed a decrease in the Jews with two Jewish parents. One reason being that those with stronger Jewish roots passed away or emigrated. There was also increase in intermarriage.

A finding of this study is that partial Jewishness seems to influence one’s behavior and how Jewish the next generations will be, noticing some underlying trends such as that partial Jews have a higher tendency to intermarry. This survey makes note of the fact that under Soviet ruling, Jews were forced to chose one’s nationality when parents had different backgrounds.  Now, those who are intermarried had two or more identities. They identified especially however as Russian and Jewish.  Those who were fully Jewish were more likely to identify as Jewish, whereas those who were partially Jewish were less likely to identify as Jews, and it was even less likely for part Ukrainian Jews to identify as such than for Russian Jews.

As of October 1917, in Russia, a law was passed where it is no longer to required to register one’s nationality in the passport and as such, those who identify as Jewish in public on their passport is declining. The impact of this in the past was that Jewish identity was registered in one’s consciousness as one had to deal with this on a daily basis. As such, many disapprove nowadays of being identified as Jewish in their documents because Jews suffered ethnic discrimination in the past. Two other trends that the surveys observed were that the elderly are more likely to identify themselves as Jewish, whereas those of mixed nationality are more likely to become aware of their nationality later in life. Antisemitism is also a factor that strengthens the bonds among pure Jews. Pure Jews are more influenced by holiday observances and Jewish foods whereas part Jews discover their Jewish consciousness later and through more abstract means and processes (p. 68). They are also made self aware through negative emotional experiences. There is also a decrease in the influence of the environment in shaping one’s Jewish identity. Ukrainian Jews are more likely to identify with Russian culture than with Ukrainian culture. What is unusual is that the concept of Jewishness among Russian and Ukrainian Jews is “radically different from both historical and contemporary understandings of most Jews in Diaspora and Israel. Judaism is largely irrelevant to Jewishness…” (p. 71).

The article concludes that when it comes to revival of Jewish life in FSU, the definition of what it means to be a Jew challenges the hierarchy of values between what the Western “normative” definition of a “good Jew” is and that one held by the Jews of Russia and Ukraine. There is a duality between a Jewish and another identity. There is also an erosion of Jewish identity. The Russian Jews are more distant from other Diaspora Jews, and they don’t regard Israel as the only place to live in. They don’t place much emphasis on Judaism and practice. Because the definition of Jewish identity for the Jews of former Soviet Union is different than that of Jews in Israel and Diaspora, it may present “problems of mutual recognition and understanding” (p. 74).

Everything is Illuminated-Best Movie I've seen in Ages