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To Russia and Back: Learning from the "Periphery"
Publication Date: July 2009
Publisher(s): National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership
Author(s): Shari Cohen
Series: CLAL Politics and Policy Archive
Special Collection: Berman Jewish Policy Archive
Topic: Culture and religion (Religion and religious groups)
Culture and religion (Cultural heritage and preservation)
Keywords: Leadership; FSU; Communal Organization
Type: Other
Coverage: Russia (Federation)
Abstract:
The author shares reflections from a visit to the former Soviet Union, arguing that the Russian Jewish community quickly is becoming a community that American and Israeli Jews ignore at their peril. This community has something to teach us -- perhaps more than we have to teach them. It offers insights about membership, about taking risks with Jewish culture, and about the Jewish contribution to society at large. Russia may well be the site where a post-assimilationist Jewish identity will emerge.