By Ilya Magid

How Some Jews Dropped Religious Practice, Others Adopted, and others Abided by the Jewish Religion in the Soviet Union

I think in the Soviet Union 90% of the Jews were Jews only by their passport designation. They behaved like other Russians and told nothing to their children about their Jewish roots. They thought that the children would not receive happiness in life from that knowledge. That is one of the reasons why many Jews did not know anything about their heritage.

For me it is interesting to know about those who were able to save their Jewish roots and tried to return to Jewish tradition.

Same cases:

1. Benzion was born in shtetle clause Kiev in 1911. Benzion's family lived in Kiev. Benzion's grandfather was a teacher in a Yeshiva. Benzion's father blew the shofar at Rosh Hashanah in the year 1920. He was condemned to prison. After Lenin's death in the year 1924 there was a big amnesty. He was set free before the appointed time. After that Benzion's father feared to teach his son about religion.

Benzion worked as a designer in a plant in Kiev. He was a hard worker, and tried to introduce his own political ideas on the job. His first experience with religion occurred at the time his daughter was studying in the Teacher's Institute. She asked him to help her to pass a test in the subject 'Scientific Atheism'. In the Soviet Union "atheism" was a word that was much in favor, in contrast to the word 'religion'. He read her textbook 'Scientific Atheism' and a book by the author Kitaigorodski, 'The Religion for Believer and Nonbeliever'. There were included citations from the TORAH. He thought, "That author is part of the communist machinery, but maybe he previously studied in a Yeshiva. The book enabled me to understand that the TORAH is a serious book".

In 1980 Benzion's family emigrated to America. He studied English as a second language for four years, then Hebrew for two years in Boston University. Now he goes to the synagogue all the time. His daughter promised to study religion after age 65, when she would be a retired citizen. His granddaughter is religious. She celebrates each Shabbat and goes to the synagogue.

Benzion wrote a book about his life and printed it on the computer with a special keyboard with big letters. I met him in an English language religion class with rabbi Zaichik. Right now Benzon has many problems. His vision is poor; he uses a hearing aid and walks with difficulty. But he is an optimist and admires John Glenn who at age seventy seven participated in a mission in space.

2. When religious Jewish boys (in the 1920s) were called up for military service (in the army or navy), they could not refuse to serve and their military indoctrination led them to become atheists. In the military they could not keep kosher and go to a synagogue, etc.

3. Samuel was born in Moldavia (Romania) in 1913. His father was owner of a restaurant. He bought a special seat in the synagogue near the bimah, although he was not such a religious person. Samuel had his bar mitzvah in the synagogue. He studied in 'heder', graduated from the Jewish gymnasium and studied in a Romanian gymnasium. Once, a Romanian student beat him. When Samuel became 15 years old he read the book about astronomy by Kamilia Familian. After that he stopped believing in G-d. He stopped putting on 'tefillin'. His parents sent him to study medicine in France.

In the year 1940 that area of Rumania was "set free" by the Soviet Army.

His father and his family were exiled to Siberia because his father was the owner of a restaurant. At that time Samuel worked as a doctor in another town and therefore he was not exiled.

He hated Stalin. But very soon WW2 began for the Soviet Union (1941). He knew all about Hitler and eventually felt more favorably about Stalin who saved his family. He wanted to go to the Soviet Army as a volunteer.

In that time there was Stalin's order, "Do not draft any soldiers from new 'realized' territories." He had many problems, but he went to high level military leaders and he was drafted in to the army; otherwise he would be exiled, for the best to his family in Siberia.

His career in the army: first he was sent as a doctor to a medical and sanitary battalion on the front. Then as a person who knew Romanian language he was sent to a Romanian prison camp for soldiers as a translator. Later when Romania was seized by the Soviet Army, Samuel was assigned to "the Soviet Control Commission" in Romania. He worked among the generals. Samual received many medals on his uniform.

Before his father was owner of a restaurant, he had been a tinsmith. In Siberia he worked in a plant producing cans of fish. He was able to find pieces of tin to make tin mugs, etc. which he sold. (In wartime people couldn't buy those things in the shops.) Samuel gave his family his officer's "attestat" (wages). (The Military registration, and enlistment office, voenkomat, gave officers wages to their families each month.) Samuel helped his nephew enter the institute, because an exiled person normally couldn't enter the institute.

After the war he continued to work as a doctor. When he was 36 years old a 'shad hen' introduced him to a Jewish woman. After one week he was married. They have a son and a daughter. They lived together with 6 of his wife's relative in one room (14.sqvare meters) for a very long time. Then, as a veteran of WWII, he received a separate government's apartment. They emigrated in 1990 to America. Right now he has grandchildren. His wife died here.

He spoke about religion: "Each person has his own reason to be religious or not religious. Many educated people do not believe in G-d. I know everything but I don't believe in G-d. Here in America I once went to the synagogue and saw the siddur. For me everything in the siddur is very clear. How does G-d know about two billion people on earth, all about them? I beleve that everything happens naturally is without G-d's intervention".

Samuel said the cosmonauts were in space and reported that they did not see G-d

4.Seeking a Spiritual Way of Life
Reizel Polak helped me to write this story

I am Jew from the former Soviet Union. I was born in Orsha, Belarus. I came to the United States in 1991. In my youth I knew nothing about religion. Jews were deprived of leaning Yiddish and Jewish culture. In Leningrad there was one synagogue, which the government showed to foreigners. The KGB kept track of Jews who went there. If I went to the synagogue, it would have caused problem for me in my job at the military institute.

The government education was based on Soviet communism and atheism. There were no private schools. All education was government. The government produced the atheist the way the factory produced cars. Educated people thought that all things could be explained by science. Religion seemed to me like an anachronism. Once I saw a few old women praying in church and I thought that where they die and religion will also die.

I began to study religion by reading antireligious literature that I found in bookshops in Leningrad because the bookshops didn't sell any religious books.

Now I live in a free country. I am seventy-five. I have to study English language, Hebrew, and Jewish tradition. If I live as long as Moses, until the age of 120, I will have a lot of time to come back to Jewish roots.

5.How I came to Believe in G-d
Musya Tverskaya wrote this story

For twenty-eight years I suffered with heard disease, which doctors could not alleviate. Through many trials of personal illness and through a difficult yearlong separation from my children, I turned to God and prayed for help. After my husband and I left the USSR en route to the USA, we were in Vienna. I became sick and was afraid if I died, my grave would be there. I prayed that God would let me live so that I could see my children again.

When I came to America, I was very happy to rejoin my daughter and grandson and to attend synagogue together. I began to read religious books my daughter gave me. I wanted to know more about religion. Now I study Torah in a group. When I speak with Jewish people, I tell them the first step is to light Sabbath candles, and not to go shopping or work on Saturday. Step by step, I am beginning to understand more about doing mitzvoth. Before I liked to help people, but now I feel the necessity to do for others in the best way I can.

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