"Working for the AJC this summer was a incredible expierience. My time at AJC  helped me grow into becoming a  Leader in the Russian Jewish Community."

                              -Vlad Popik  Russian Division Summer Intern 2010

“A story about how I discovered my Jewish identity is not unique.  As I have recently learned, many Russian Jews have had the same experiences relating to our ethnic background. 

I never knew I was Jewish until 1981 at age seven, when another child in my Moscow first grade class made fun of me. In their lives in the Soviet Union, my mother and father had never truly seen Jewish identity as a source of pride, rather as a topic to keep quiet. I did have a great-grandmother who was observant, but her forays to synagogue had only made the family uncomfortable since nearly everyone else at shul was an informant for the KGB. 

My family decided to keep me in the dark about Jewishness so that I wouldn’t feel different.  After the incident at school, I asked my grandfather what being Jewish meant. He said that it was something to be proud of. Karl Marx, Albert Einstein – they were Jews. Even Vladimir Lenin was part Jewish, he said. Since these were people that everyone in Russia admired, I was armed against future tormentors who wished to mock my ethnic background. 

Nevertheless, Jewishness occupied a despised place in the Russian culture of my childhood. Bad luck was known as “Jewish luck.” Bigoted jokes could be heard everywhere. Jewish religious and cultural teachings were not allowed until the Soviet Union fell apart. I came to America in 1992 for college, thrilled at the opportunity to explore my Jewish identity. I never left. My closest friends are fellow Russian Jews whom I met at college and law school and I found my American future husband at a Shabbat dinner. We have three small children who sing Hebrew songs that might have gotten me in trouble back in the USSR. 

In December, 2009, during Chanukah, I had a chance to go to Israel for the first time with a group of other young Russian Jews from the United States and the Former Soviet Union.  Participants of the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Russian Division leadership program comprised the American part of the group.  Our weeklong training program was coordinated by the American Jewish Committee and the Israeli governmental organization Nativ, and its academic part was provided by Interdisciplinary Center of Hertzlia.  

The flight from New York covered 5600 miles but the distance from my childhood in Russia can only be measured in light-years. American-born Jews may be so accustomed to the concept of a vibrant Jewish State that they take it for granted. For those of us who experienced anti-Semitism personally and Jewishness negatively and tangentially, Israel still has the capacity to bewilder and awe. 

The legendary refusenik Natan Sharansky spoke to us in Russian about his journey from the Gulag to the Knesset. We met with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a native of Moldova, and learned about the complicated quest for peace in the Middle East. We saw Israeli army bases, Yad Vashem, the Western Wall. We learned what had been denied us as children, the opportunity to realize the magnitude of Jewish strength and endurance throughout history. 

We saw patriotic and strong Israeli Jews who deeply believe in the cause of their country. We saw why they were proud of it – Israel is a beautiful, historically rich state, a country that cares not only for its own but also about Diaspora Jews who might feel unwelcome in their own countries. The state of Israel is their guaranteed refuge, a safe haven. 

I have also realized the dimensions of my Jewish identity go beyond being ethnically Jewish – the only perceived difference between us and other citizens of the FSU.  I am an American Jew, a Russian Jew and an immigrant from the FSU.  As AJC Director of Russian Jewish Community Affairs Sam Kliger noted at the conference, all these identities come in one and the strongest – the Jewish belonging.  In the end, it is this Jewish belonging that defines us and our offspring.  Our Jewish belonging forever connects us to Israel, this Shining City on the Hill.

Israel, with its beauty, history, high technology, democratic government and the world’s largest Jewish population, to us felt like a true home.  At the same time, Israel is a very eclectic place because Jews who live in Israel come from all parts of the world and they bring their diversity of values and characteristics with them.  It’s a Jewish melting pot.  As I joined the others in lighting Hanukkah candles each night in the lobby of our hotel (and had salmon and ten different kinds of fish for breakfast – an Israeli tradition to feed their guests that way), I realized how fortunate I was to freely celebrate my Jewish heritage and how fortunate we are to have a Jewish State of Israel.” 

-Natalia Gourari, Youth Leadership Conference in Israel

December 2009

Dear Mr. Harris,

 I wanted to say “Thank you” for the most memorable trip of my life.  The trip was so special not only because it was to the most unbelievable place on earth (I have been to Israel once before), but because of the team who put it together and the young leaders themselves turned it into the most inspiring and eye-opening experience that I ever had.  As one of the participants (Eugene Shkolnikov) put it: ‘We did more in one week that we did in the entire year”. 

 First, the trip was extremely educational and organized on a very professional level.  Second, most of the participants were professionals in their fields, hand picked as top leaders in their community and very interested in the Jewish cause.  Third, our little “American” team was very well prepared and briefed and “debriefed” by Sam Kliger.  We were the most organized ones who were able to lead the rest of the group into a number of “unplanned” activities:  singing and dancing until wee hours of the night, eating and drinking together, playing charades, sharing stories and life time experiences. 

 Special thanks to Sam, who brought a level-headedness and purpose to our every meeting.  At first we were a little resilient about his group exercises, briefing and debriefings – we were really tired after the days activities and not sleeping at night (since we were dancing and singing and drinking the night before).  However, Sam brought a lot of “order” into our activities in the evening and really forced us to focus on the things that are important.  His presentation at a round table was one of the best that we heard, to the point and very well organized.  He was a great leader and participated with us in every single unplanned activity.  We had many…

 We formed such a unique bond with the rest of the participants from other countries that now we feel a bit empty.  The things that we did together really showed us what it means to be a true leader and what our “Jewish Identity” means.  It also showed us that we are more alike that different.  Even if we live in different countries, we still have what Sharansky was talking about: our Jewish roots and our Jewish identity.  For letting us discover that and many other things that we didn’t know we had in us, Thank You. 

 After the conference, we formed our own “leadership” groups on Face book, Odnoklassniki.  I never had to answer so many Birthday and New Year wishes as I had this year, after the conference. 

 As of now, we have been invited by our Ukrainian participants to round 2 in Odessa in July….  With Sam’s enthusiasm and leadership, we might just able to pull it off…

 In short, even though I left my 3 young kids, my husband (wasn’t easy for me, I am still hearing about it), my law office and extremely spoiled clients behind for the entire week, I now know that it was the best thing to do.

Sincerely, 

Inna Fershteyn

December, 2009