Khabarovsk, Russia
Two weeks ago, I flew first almost 5,000 miles to Moscow and then another 3,000 miles and seven time zones from Moscow to the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East. I went to visit the staff and students of Khabarovsk Hillel. Hillel is the primary organization that serves Jewish students at most universities in North America. But yes, there is a Hillel in Khabarovsk, Russia.
In fact, Hillel has operated in the former Soviet Union for more than 10 years and has opened 27 student centers in seven former Soviet republics. Although more than 1.5 million Jews left the region after the Soviet Union collapsed, more than 1 million Jews remain. Out of an estimated global Jewish population of only about 14 million, the remaining Jews of the former Soviet Union remain a significant component of World Jewry.
Khabarovsk sits on the Amur River, which is Russia’s largest source of salmon and caviar and also serves as the Russian Chinese border. The first thing I saw upon landing at the Khabarovsk airport through the grey fog and falling snow was a large statue of Lenin and a crumbling Soviet hammer and sickle. Next, I was greeted by the 21 year old Hillel Director, Ilya Baru. Ilya drove me into the center of Khabarovsk which has a population of approximately 600,000. The day of my arrival coincided with a major holiday in Soviet times, the anniversary of the 1917 Soviet Revolution,. The holiday was cancelled under Yeltsin and replaced by a November 4 celebration called Russian Unity Day by Putin.
When we arrived at Khabarovsk’s main square, 50-60 mostly older people in heavy coats and fur hats were gathered under a Great Patriotic War (World War II) statue waving Soviet flags and holding up placards bearing the likenesses of Lenin and Stalin. A rag-tag band played old Soviet hymns and many of them danced together in the falling snow. Their normally bitter and downcast faces glowed as they re-lived what they think of as the glory days of the Soviet Union.
Today’s Russia is a country of stark contrasts. The nouveaux riche and growing middle class of Moscow eats Sushi, goes to Yoga classes, and drives SUVs to the Moscow IKEA to buy the latest in do-it-yourself Swedish furniture. But most Russians remain poor and down-trodden with little reason to expect that their lives will improve.
Even within Khabarovsk I saw major contrasts. I had lunch with Ilya and his twin brother Igor at a trendy café called Chocolate where many Hillel students hang out. The café was located directly across the main square from where the old Communist gathering was still taking place. Ilya and Igor explained that most of the Jewish young adult population does not plan on leaving the area. They painted a picture of Khabarovsk as a city of pioneers with a thriving entrepreneurial spirit. They stressed that if you have the energy and the skills, Khabarovsk is a place you can succeed.
Khabarovsk is important for Russia for economic and geopolitical reasons. The two population centers of Russia’s Far-East are Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. Vladovistok is the major port city of the region and Khabarovsk is the primary educational center and indsutrial city with significant lumber, metal, and fishing industries.
Geopolitically, Khabarovsk is important because Russia is facing a major threat from neighboring China. Russia is undergoing a trend of de-population. With the average Russian man’s life-expectancy at 59 (lower than most sub-Saharan African countries) and families averaging only 1.7 children, the population is in significant decline. The bustling Chinese city of Harbin is only 400 miles from Khabarovsk. As Russia’s population declines, the Chinese population is only growing and many Chinese are looking to the Russian Far-East as a land of opportunity. There are already more than an estimated 30,000 Chinese illegally working and residing in the Khabarovsk region. Unless Russia can increase the population of Khabarovsk and create a viable immigration policy, many locals fear that the Chinese will eventually control the region’s economy.
There are approximately 11,000 Jews currently living in Khabarovsk. How did Jews get to the Russian Far East? To get an answer to this question, I had dinner with Dr. Victoria Romanova, a professor of history in Khabarovsk who specializes in the Jewish history of the region. Dr. Romanova explained that there were Jews in Khabarovsk as early as the founding of the city as a Russian city in 1858. Prior to that, control of the region switched between the Russians and Chinese. These were either ex-prisoners from Siberia or veteran soldiers who were allowed to live anywhere in the Russian empire they chose. The Jewish population and general population grew dramatically after the completion of the trans-Siberian railroad in 1903.
Much of our discussion focused on Birobijan. Birobijan is a region just south of Khabarovsk created by Stalin in 1931 as a Jewish Autonomous region. In 1931, Stalin created the Birobijan Jewish Autonomous Region as a Soviet alternative to Zionism. By creating a homeland for Jews within the Soviet Union, Stalin hoped to both rid the European parts of the country of Jews and increase the population of the Russian far – East. Many thousands of Jews traveled to Birobijan in the early 1930s. Even Jews from the United States and other countries traveled to Birobijan in that time to take part in building the new region.
By World War II, Birobijan had failed. Creating a paradise in Siberia was never really in the cards. Aside from being a frozen tundra most of the year, Birobijan is just too isolated geographically to attract many people. There is still a mall population of Jews remaining in Birobijan although most of the population has moved to Khabarovsk in the past decade.
I visited the synagogue of Khabarovsk which is a large newly opened building in the center of the city. Hillel keeps an activity room and office on the third floor. The synagogue was built on the site of the original Khabarovsk synagogue which was destroyed during the Soviet period and used as a theatre. The Rabbi works together with the Hillel and other organizations in a mutually beneficial and cooperative arrangement.
I met a group of Hillel students who explained how Hillel has given them an opportunity to live a Jewish life. Before Hillel, they were Jewish in name only but had no idea of what it meant to live a Jewish life. The students reminded me of students in America. They all have cell phones, surf the internet, and are trying to negotiate the difficult first steps of adulthood. They ask the same questions and have many of the same challenges as students anywhere in the world. I even met several students who were from Khabarovsk originally, had moved to Israel, and were now back. (There are an estimated 30,000 Russian speakers who have lmoved to Israel and returned to Russia in the last few years.)
The next morning, we accompanied a Hillel student named Anya to visit an elderly woman who receives material aid from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Sofia Isaacovna is 94 years old and has lived in Khabarovsk all of her life. Her parents came to Khabarovsk from a city near Lake Baikal in Siberia. She insisted that her family has always been from Siberia and had no recollection of knowing of any of her grandparents coming from Europe.
I asked Sofia if she remembered anything from before the 1917 Communist revolution. She smiled and said she thinks she does. She remembers that he parents spoke Yiddish and that they celebrated Pesach every year. She remembers the Matza. However, most of Sofia’s life was lived under the Soviet regime. Sofia was a party member and worked in the regional party headquarters all of her career. She said she had no Jewish life at all during that period. Sofia never married nor had children but she has a nephew and grandnephew in Khabarovsk who visit her regularly.
My second night in Khabarovsk featured a dinner with a group of Hillel Business Club representatives. The local Hillel has organized a group of young entrepreneurs who meet on a regular basis to network and celebrate Jewish holidays. The club also donates small amounts of money every month to the Jewish community. One member, Sergei, is a founder of a network of convenience stores throughout Khabarovsk. Sergei and the other members said that working and living Moscow or the West remain a dream and a long term goal.
I had the pleasure of spening most of my trip to Khabarovsk with the Hillel Director, Ilya and his twin brother Igor. The brothers eagerly told me that they had never been circumcised as babies and they were undergoing a full Jewish bris the following week. Although I winced at the thought, I was amazed at their commitment to being Jewish. While Americans in Israel or North America take being Jewish for granted these Jews still revel in their newfound freedom to live as Jews.
Throughout more than 70 years of Soviet rule, having a bris was illegal, gathering as Jews was dangerous and repression was the norm. Now, young Jews freely congregate and Hillel gives them an opportunity to explore Jewish life.These young Jews know the value of their freedom and take learning about Judaism very seriously. They recognize that they have a responsibility to build local Jewish communities and teach their parents and friends about Judaism.
From Khabarovsk, I flew back to Moscow where I spent a few days and then went on to Odessa in Ukraine. Odessa, on the Black Sea, was the home of a majority of the great Zionist thinkers and many of the great Jewish artistis and intellectuals. I wandered the old cobblestone streets and saw the homes of Jabotinsky, Ahad Ha'am, Dubnow, Pinsker, and others.
Only a few hours later, at the Odessa Hillel, I was treated to an impromptu concert by Hillel students who sang and played violin and guitar. For some inexplicable reason, Odessa is still an incubator for Jewish artists and intellectuals. While the Hillel budget in Odessa is only a few thousand dollars a year, the students are eager to both create a community and to explore Jewish life.
I landed in Israel last night and am spending shabbat with friends in Jerusalem. Arriving in Israel is always special and emotional for me. The sun is setting now and shabbat is beginning. The streets are empty except for people walking to synagogue. The overwhelming feeling is a simple one: I am home.
This has been an exciting and insightful trip. I always feel lucky to be able to make an impact on community development in the former Soviet Union. As long as Jews decide to stay there, we should help them in whatever way we can. As a global movement on almost every continent, Hillel has the opportunity to create a global Jewish community. In so doing, we have the ability to make an impact on the larger world around us.
Sorry for the length of this e-mail but this is already heavily edited.
Shabbat Shalom,
Avi
In fact, Hillel has operated in the former Soviet Union for more than 10 years and has opened 27 student centers in seven former Soviet republics. Although more than 1.5 million Jews left the region after the Soviet Union collapsed, more than 1 million Jews remain. Out of an estimated global Jewish population of only about 14 million, the remaining Jews of the former Soviet Union remain a significant component of World Jewry.
Khabarovsk sits on the Amur River, which is Russia’s largest source of salmon and caviar and also serves as the Russian Chinese border. The first thing I saw upon landing at the Khabarovsk airport through the grey fog and falling snow was a large statue of Lenin and a crumbling Soviet hammer and sickle. Next, I was greeted by the 21 year old Hillel Director, Ilya Baru. Ilya drove me into the center of Khabarovsk which has a population of approximately 600,000. The day of my arrival coincided with a major holiday in Soviet times, the anniversary of the 1917 Soviet Revolution,. The holiday was cancelled under Yeltsin and replaced by a November 4 celebration called Russian Unity Day by Putin.
When we arrived at Khabarovsk’s main square, 50-60 mostly older people in heavy coats and fur hats were gathered under a Great Patriotic War (World War II) statue waving Soviet flags and holding up placards bearing the likenesses of Lenin and Stalin. A rag-tag band played old Soviet hymns and many of them danced together in the falling snow. Their normally bitter and downcast faces glowed as they re-lived what they think of as the glory days of the Soviet Union.
Today’s Russia is a country of stark contrasts. The nouveaux riche and growing middle class of Moscow eats Sushi, goes to Yoga classes, and drives SUVs to the Moscow IKEA to buy the latest in do-it-yourself Swedish furniture. But most Russians remain poor and down-trodden with little reason to expect that their lives will improve.
Even within Khabarovsk I saw major contrasts. I had lunch with Ilya and his twin brother Igor at a trendy café called Chocolate where many Hillel students hang out. The café was located directly across the main square from where the old Communist gathering was still taking place. Ilya and Igor explained that most of the Jewish young adult population does not plan on leaving the area. They painted a picture of Khabarovsk as a city of pioneers with a thriving entrepreneurial spirit. They stressed that if you have the energy and the skills, Khabarovsk is a place you can succeed.
Khabarovsk is important for Russia for economic and geopolitical reasons. The two population centers of Russia’s Far-East are Khabarovsk and Vladivostok. Vladovistok is the major port city of the region and Khabarovsk is the primary educational center and indsutrial city with significant lumber, metal, and fishing industries.
Geopolitically, Khabarovsk is important because Russia is facing a major threat from neighboring China. Russia is undergoing a trend of de-population. With the average Russian man’s life-expectancy at 59 (lower than most sub-Saharan African countries) and families averaging only 1.7 children, the population is in significant decline. The bustling Chinese city of Harbin is only 400 miles from Khabarovsk. As Russia’s population declines, the Chinese population is only growing and many Chinese are looking to the Russian Far-East as a land of opportunity. There are already more than an estimated 30,000 Chinese illegally working and residing in the Khabarovsk region. Unless Russia can increase the population of Khabarovsk and create a viable immigration policy, many locals fear that the Chinese will eventually control the region’s economy.
There are approximately 11,000 Jews currently living in Khabarovsk. How did Jews get to the Russian Far East? To get an answer to this question, I had dinner with Dr. Victoria Romanova, a professor of history in Khabarovsk who specializes in the Jewish history of the region. Dr. Romanova explained that there were Jews in Khabarovsk as early as the founding of the city as a Russian city in 1858. Prior to that, control of the region switched between the Russians and Chinese. These were either ex-prisoners from Siberia or veteran soldiers who were allowed to live anywhere in the Russian empire they chose. The Jewish population and general population grew dramatically after the completion of the trans-Siberian railroad in 1903.
Much of our discussion focused on Birobijan. Birobijan is a region just south of Khabarovsk created by Stalin in 1931 as a Jewish Autonomous region. In 1931, Stalin created the Birobijan Jewish Autonomous Region as a Soviet alternative to Zionism. By creating a homeland for Jews within the Soviet Union, Stalin hoped to both rid the European parts of the country of Jews and increase the population of the Russian far – East. Many thousands of Jews traveled to Birobijan in the early 1930s. Even Jews from the United States and other countries traveled to Birobijan in that time to take part in building the new region.
By World War II, Birobijan had failed. Creating a paradise in Siberia was never really in the cards. Aside from being a frozen tundra most of the year, Birobijan is just too isolated geographically to attract many people. There is still a mall population of Jews remaining in Birobijan although most of the population has moved to Khabarovsk in the past decade.
I visited the synagogue of Khabarovsk which is a large newly opened building in the center of the city. Hillel keeps an activity room and office on the third floor. The synagogue was built on the site of the original Khabarovsk synagogue which was destroyed during the Soviet period and used as a theatre. The Rabbi works together with the Hillel and other organizations in a mutually beneficial and cooperative arrangement.
I met a group of Hillel students who explained how Hillel has given them an opportunity to live a Jewish life. Before Hillel, they were Jewish in name only but had no idea of what it meant to live a Jewish life. The students reminded me of students in America. They all have cell phones, surf the internet, and are trying to negotiate the difficult first steps of adulthood. They ask the same questions and have many of the same challenges as students anywhere in the world. I even met several students who were from Khabarovsk originally, had moved to Israel, and were now back. (There are an estimated 30,000 Russian speakers who have lmoved to Israel and returned to Russia in the last few years.)
The next morning, we accompanied a Hillel student named Anya to visit an elderly woman who receives material aid from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Sofia Isaacovna is 94 years old and has lived in Khabarovsk all of her life. Her parents came to Khabarovsk from a city near Lake Baikal in Siberia. She insisted that her family has always been from Siberia and had no recollection of knowing of any of her grandparents coming from Europe.
I asked Sofia if she remembered anything from before the 1917 Communist revolution. She smiled and said she thinks she does. She remembers that he parents spoke Yiddish and that they celebrated Pesach every year. She remembers the Matza. However, most of Sofia’s life was lived under the Soviet regime. Sofia was a party member and worked in the regional party headquarters all of her career. She said she had no Jewish life at all during that period. Sofia never married nor had children but she has a nephew and grandnephew in Khabarovsk who visit her regularly.
My second night in Khabarovsk featured a dinner with a group of Hillel Business Club representatives. The local Hillel has organized a group of young entrepreneurs who meet on a regular basis to network and celebrate Jewish holidays. The club also donates small amounts of money every month to the Jewish community. One member, Sergei, is a founder of a network of convenience stores throughout Khabarovsk. Sergei and the other members said that working and living Moscow or the West remain a dream and a long term goal.
I had the pleasure of spening most of my trip to Khabarovsk with the Hillel Director, Ilya and his twin brother Igor. The brothers eagerly told me that they had never been circumcised as babies and they were undergoing a full Jewish bris the following week. Although I winced at the thought, I was amazed at their commitment to being Jewish. While Americans in Israel or North America take being Jewish for granted these Jews still revel in their newfound freedom to live as Jews.
Throughout more than 70 years of Soviet rule, having a bris was illegal, gathering as Jews was dangerous and repression was the norm. Now, young Jews freely congregate and Hillel gives them an opportunity to explore Jewish life.These young Jews know the value of their freedom and take learning about Judaism very seriously. They recognize that they have a responsibility to build local Jewish communities and teach their parents and friends about Judaism.
From Khabarovsk, I flew back to Moscow where I spent a few days and then went on to Odessa in Ukraine. Odessa, on the Black Sea, was the home of a majority of the great Zionist thinkers and many of the great Jewish artistis and intellectuals. I wandered the old cobblestone streets and saw the homes of Jabotinsky, Ahad Ha'am, Dubnow, Pinsker, and others.
Only a few hours later, at the Odessa Hillel, I was treated to an impromptu concert by Hillel students who sang and played violin and guitar. For some inexplicable reason, Odessa is still an incubator for Jewish artists and intellectuals. While the Hillel budget in Odessa is only a few thousand dollars a year, the students are eager to both create a community and to explore Jewish life.
I landed in Israel last night and am spending shabbat with friends in Jerusalem. Arriving in Israel is always special and emotional for me. The sun is setting now and shabbat is beginning. The streets are empty except for people walking to synagogue. The overwhelming feeling is a simple one: I am home.
This has been an exciting and insightful trip. I always feel lucky to be able to make an impact on community development in the former Soviet Union. As long as Jews decide to stay there, we should help them in whatever way we can. As a global movement on almost every continent, Hillel has the opportunity to create a global Jewish community. In so doing, we have the ability to make an impact on the larger world around us.
Sorry for the length of this e-mail but this is already heavily edited.
Shabbat Shalom,
Avi
posted by AWR | 5:18 AM
|
0 comments
