Judism/Jews - a Russian perspective

[Straighterway]

Dear Nonson,

u don't feel too loved here, do u?

but anyhow what's up with mentioning Russians in ur comment? i think i am the only Russian responding to this topic so far.

luv.

[Straighterway]

Dear friends,

[the moment of truth]

ok, back on topic here. Jews in Russia??? well, i am Russian and I think i personally relate to the question in many ways.

while i lived in Russia i was not brought face 2 face with the position of the people of Jewish heritage in the Russian society at any point of time. i just lived my life, and came in contact with different people and it didn't matter to me whether they were Jewish or not, and if they were, i don't remember any incidents.

oh goodness, i got so much to say that i don't know what to start with. let me think...

my arrival to San Fran made me view things in a different way. there's a whole community of Russian-Jewish immigrants in the bay area. they are coming here in entire extended families.

what i'm saying here is no lie. i am not Russian Jewish, i'm ethnicaly a Russian-Ukrainian-Tatar mix,born in Moscow. but i currently hang out mostly with Russians of Jewish heritage. and of course i view them as dear countrymen and Rossijane, especially that some of them share my exact feelings for Russia.

nah, there's an dirty issue relevant to the topic, but i will not go into it [at least not for now]. dir-ty!

my best friend here is also Russian Jewish. she talked to me about how she was treated in Russia. she said she was teased at school, and even fought with people who hated her for being Jewish. that was like a knife right through my heart. i never witnessed anything like it in Russia for myself, and I was totally shoked and ashamed that it was happening in my country.

everything depends on place and case I think. I don't think there's any large-scale discrimination going on though, since many Russians of Jewish heritage now occupy high political and economical positions. That would be impossible 4 a state where discrimination is the law!!!

But it looks like there are elements of hostility on the individual level. This is what concerns me most, I mean the 'individual level' or the people's mentality. What are the causes? Same that in Europe and the US at some point of time. The same absurd ones. [they killed Jesus, b@stards…but Jesus was Jewish, duh!!!]...some logic :sarcastic:

luckily, anti-semitism has been more or less repressed in the western countries, due to the effort of the government and the society to repress it. not perfectly of course, but battles have been won.

problem in Russia: i think we, as a community, have not yet dealt with the issue on a large scale. enforcement of ethnic tolerance must be a part of the culture. adoption of tolerance is a stage that a country just has to go through.

here in the west people have addressed the problem and took a stand- with school programs, social programs, speakers, laws etc. not so in Russia.

when did a speaker ever come to a Russian school and tell Russian kids about why it's not right to tease those who differ ethnicaly [i don't mean just the Jewish people, any ethnic minority]. whenever have the abused individuals been able to complain and get help from the authorities?

prejudice is unfortunately part of every culture. and tolerance needs to be learned, oftentimes with sweat. but the Russian government is too busy stealing everything they can to actualy care about social improvement in the country.

note [4 u, Dr. W., so that u don't feel the urge of asking me whether i am Russian or Christian, lol] when i say Jewish, i mean the Jewish ethnic & cultural backround, not really religious. a lot of Russian citizens of Jewish heritage don't practice Judaism. and i also don't think that having a Jewish heritage makes a person less of a Rossijanin. more on that later.

luv 2 all, Evelyn.

[Lorisa]

Nonson -- Who were you addressing in your last post?

Straighterway (sorry if I spelled that wrong)
Thanks for your insight and opinions.

[Dr_Woland]

Hi Evelyn!

>> when i say Jewish, i mean the Jewish ethnic & cultural backround, not really religious. a lot of Russian citizens of Jewish heritage don't practice Judaism <<

I'm so pleased to hear you saying this! It seems misunderstood by others too often :-)

Dr W.