HOST
New York City is home to more than 300,000 Jews from Russia and Ukraine—many fled persecution in Europe in the 20th century. Now, in the third year of Russia’s war in Ukraine, many Jews are grappling with their connection to their homeland. Iryna Humenyuk reports.
HUMENYUK 1
When Fanya Vasilevsky was growing up in Soviet Ukraine, in the 1970s, she was ineligible to attend university.
VASILEVSKY 1
For me it was very difficult. The most I could achieve was to become a registered nurse. I wanted to go to medical school. But the dean of the medical school said there will be no Jews in medical school—period.
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Vasilevsky’s religion meant that she could not go to school. In 1974, Vasilevsky was one of thousands of Soviet Jews who immigrated to the United States fleeing Soviet oppression. In America she was able to receive degrees in political science, and law. She started visiting a synagogue for the first time in her life. Eventually, she settled in Brighton Beach.
VASILEVSKY 2
I really enjoyed the newfound freedom. I really was almost like drunk, I could not stop drinking this air of freedom.
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But Vasilevsky recognizes she also has enduring ties to the former USSR.
VASILEVSKY 3
Ukraine is a very beautiful country. It's so beautiful—the flowers, the food, people, the colors—everything is beautiful.
And her feelings are also complicated. She says, since the war in Ukraine, she and other members of her synagogue have constantly debated and discussed their sense of identity. Before we started recording, she told me, “I don’t regret leaving the USSR. But I regret that my culture is Russian.”
VASILEVSKY 4
The bitterness is that neither Russians nor Ukrainians ever let us feel that we were Ukrainian or Russian.
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Vasilevsky says because of the oppression she faced she does not identify as Russian or Ukrainian. Today, Vasilevsky considers herself an American Jew.
Rebecca Kubrin is the co-director of The Institute for Israel and Jewish studies in New York. She says it’s common for Ukrainian and Russian Jews to reject their European heritage.
KUBRIN 1
One of the greatest quotes I've read is Jews only become Russian once they come to America. Because no one in Russia considers a Jew Russian. But when you're in America, and you're speaking Russian, they consider you Russian.
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But Kubrin also maintains that Jewish being is inextricably linked to East Europe. And that also means some Jews feel guilt about being associated with a culture that has a history of Imperialism.
KUBRIN 2
They regret their Russian entity because being Russian is actually being an Imperial. Right? Since Catherine the Great, Russia is expanding, and is Imperial, it was the largest country in 19th century in Europe. The Jews spoke Russian, they spoke Ukrainian, they spoke Polish, they were trading with everyone. So, even though they may articulate that they are different, they are part of the landscape and the landscape is also part of them.
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But for some American Jews with Russian or Ukrainian roots, questions about their identity are simpler to come by—despite the ongoing conflict. Joshua Ruban is in his twenties; he’s younger than Vasilevksy. He works with his father and grandfather in the Diamond District of Manhattan. He doesn’t feel any ties to his Soviet heritage. But he doesn’t associate this with intergenerational trauma. He just grew up American.
RUBAN 1
I mean, I kind of view my identity as American, because I was born here. But I really I wasn't that connected to my Russian heritage other than during holidays like food? That's about it.
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As for Vasilevsky, she’s planning to continue talking about her identity at temple at Saturday services—complicated issues and all. Iryna Humenyuk, Uptown Radio News.
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