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).
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