Russia

From JudaismWiki

RUSSIA. The earliest Jewish settlers in Russia were probably merchants from Byzantium, who arrived sometime during the 6th century C.E. In the course of the 8th century Jews arrived from the land of the Khazars, south of Russia, where Judaism had become the national religion. Jewish fugitives from the Crusades sought haven in Russia during the 12th century. Most of these immigrants hoped to reach Kiev, a large trading center that linked the Black Sea zone and Asia with western Europe. In the 13th century the Tatars conquered Russia, stunting the growth of its Jewish communities.

Since Christianity did not take hold of the Russian people until late in the history of Europe (about the 10th century), the clergy and the ruling classes remained highly suspicious of Jews and classed them with unbelievers and considered them a threat to the young Church. At the end of the 15th century, a strong movement of conversion to Judaism arose in Novgorod, from where it spread to some of the nobility in Moscow. This movement was ruthlessly suppressed in 1504. Thereafter, Jews became an even greater object of suspicion among the people of Russia, who saw them as enemies of Christianity.

From the time of Ivan the Terrible (1553-1584) the Tsars were in general fanatically antisemitic and either limited or prohibited the Jews’ right to live in Russia (see Pale of Settlement). Toward the end of the 17th century, there were many Jews in Muscovy who practiced their religion in secret.

With the first partition of Poland during the reign of Catherine II (r. 1762-1796), 100,000 Jews from Poland and what is now White Russia came under Russian rule. Their numbers and importance in commerce necessitated a revision of the official policy. When Alexander I (r. 1801-1825) came to the throne, the Jewish community, or Kahal, had received official recognition. However, Jews were still subject to much discrimination, including excessive taxation and restricted living areas. During the Napoleonic wars, Jews gained in prestige by their opposition to Napoleon, whom they regarded as an enemy of religion.

With the accession to the throne of Nicholas I (r. 1825-1855), a reaction set in. He was responsible for the ordinance under which Jewish children were recruited for the army, sent to the most-distant regions of Russia, and forcibly converted to Christianity in the course of their military training (see Cantonists). This form of persecution ended with the rule of the new Tsar, the liberal Alexander II (r. 1855-1881), when the condition of the Jews generally improved. Together with the rest of the Russian population, they prospered culturally and economically, gained new privileges, and witnessed the abolition of abuses such as serfdom.

However, a new wave of anti-Jewish antagonism and suspicion developed during the end of the 19th century. One of numerous ritual murder trials on record in Russian-Jewish history occurred in 1878 (see Blood accusation). In 1881, Alexander II was assassinated, and the highly antisemitic Alexander III came to the throne. He encouraged the popular notion that Jews had been responsible for his predecessor’s death. A long series of pogroms began, fostered by court circles to divert the people from the developing revolutionary movement. In the winter of 1891, all Jews were expelled from Moscow. Numerous new discriminatory regulations were passed.

In 1906, as a result of a revolution in 1905, the Tsar convened the first Duma, or representative assembly, in Russian history. Jewish delegates were present, and Jewish problems discussed, but on the whole, the Duma was dominated by reactionary, antisemitic groups. The Russian government continued to follow a policy of social and economic restrictions against Jews. Continued persecution caused an increase in Jewish emigration. Close to one million Jews left Russia during the decade preceding World War I, most of them heading for the U.S. Despite its hardships, the Russian Jewish community before World War I was the most active and numerous in the world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, such highly important movements in Jewish history as Hasidism, Haskalah, and Zionism, and Jewish socialist bodies took root and flourished in Russia. World-renowned yeshivot existed in many towns. Russia was the center of Hebrew and Yiddish literary activity. Mendele Mocher Sefarim, Sholom Aleichem, Peretz, Ahad Ha-am, Bialik, and Tschernichowsky are a few of the great writers of the pre-Revolutionary period.

The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was followed by the most terrible pogroms since the Cossack uprising of 1648. Various opponents of the Bolsheviks—the counter-revolutionary leaders Denikin, Petliura, Kolchak, and others—accused Jews of sympathizing with the Communists. Their bands of soldiers and peasants attacked Jewish communities, murdering and pillaging the defenseless population. It is estimated that between 1917 and 1921, 100,000 Jews lost their lives, most of them in the Ukraine. More than 900 communities suffered the ravages of pogroms and famine. Hundreds of thousands of children were orphaned and remained destitute.

The Soviet government secured complete political and economic emancipation for Jews. However, their economic condition steadily deteriorated. The curtailing of private enterprise and trade severely crippled the economic position of the Jewish population. An exodus from the small towns to larger industrial centers, especially of Jewish youth, began. To alleviate the situation of unemployed Jews, the government encouraged their settlement in agricultural colonies. Aided by Jewish organizations from abroad, especially by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, tens of thousands of Russian Jews settled in the Crimea and in agricultural areas in Ukraine and White Russia.

The Soviet government outlawed antisemitism, yet discrimination and anti-Jewish feeling prevailed. Recognized as a national group, Jews were allowed to form their own village and town soviets, or councils, wherever they constituted a majority of the population, for example, in parts of the Crimea and in Birobidjan. In 1934, Birobidjan became an autonomous Jewish district and was represented in the central government. Yiddish was the primary language of instruction in a number of educational institutions and of cultural expression in certain segments of the Jewish population. However, the Birobidjan experiment failed. Jewish religious life, like all religious life in Russia, was greatly restricted and officially ridiculed and proscribed. The government banned Zionism and the Hebrew language entirely. Many of the 3 million Jews living in Russia before 1941 assimilated rapidly into the general population.

With the outbreak of World War II, hundreds of thousands of Jews in Russian territory perished during the Nazi invasion. Facing a common enemy, world Jewry hoped Russian Jews would be able to draw close to the Jewish communities abroad. These hopes, encouraged by a more lenient policy in the Soviet government, were destined to be shattered when the victory in World War II made the need for a favorable world public opinion and a “united front” less crucial for Russia. Under a new policy toward Jewish culture, the Yiddish press, theater, and literature were all but destroyed. Many outstanding writers, artists and poets were killed or banished. Autonomous Jewish life in Russia ceased to exist. The spontaneous demonstration of Jewish national feeling after the establishment of the State of Israel was quickly suppressed by the Soviet authorities. In 1956, Jewish activity in Russia appeared to be limited to a small number of synagogues.

A dramatic change in the history of Soviet Jews took place in the late 1960’s, when, for the first time, large numbers of Jews were allowed to leave the USSR. By 1983, some 260,000 Jews were permitted to leave, of whom 170,000 settled in Israel, the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. In the mid-1980’s, however, the flow was drastically reduced, and some 382,000 Jews wishing to emigrate entered a period of harassment and unemployment, acquiring the status of “Refuseniks.”

The National Conference on Soviet Jewry was created in June 1971 in the U.S. by 37 national Jewish organizations and hundreds of Jewish community councils and federations as a unified effort to attain freedom and equality for Russian Jews. In 1970, a massive crackdown against some of the more activist Soviet Jews led to a series of trials in which death sentences were issued against Jews who allegedly attempted an escape from Russia. Afterward, American Jewish organizations realized that the critical nature of this problem required a coordinated effort on the part of American Jewry, and the National Conference for Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) was formed. The Conference, enjoying a broad base support of American Jewry and particularly American Jewish youth highly sensitive to the plight of Soviet Jewry, organized mass rallies and protest meetings and exerted influence on the American government, greatly contributing to the release of thousands of Jews from the Soviet Union.

Between 1989 and 1993, under the leadership of President Gorbachev, Jews were once again allowed to leave Russia. Since 1990, well over 500,000 Russian Jews arrived in Israel. At the same time, a growing number of Jews in Russia is returning to Jew¬ish studies and the study of the Hebrew language. In 2007, the Jewish population in Russia was down to 228,000. The former USSR began to renew diplomatic relations with Israel.

SYNAGOGUES

Birobidzhan

Jewish Community of Birobidzhan Website 14a Sholom Aleikhema str. Birobidzhan 679016 Chabad Lubavitch Tel: (7 42622) 20-402 Fax: (7 42622) 60-193

Bryansk

Ohr Avner - Synagogue 27a Uritzkovo St. Bryansk

Chelyabinsk

Chabad - Lubavitch of Chelyabinsk 6-B Pushkin Street Chelyabinsk Tel: 7-3512-334-971 Fax: 7-3512-334-971

Derbent

Chabad Lubavitch of Derbent 23 Kandelaky Street Derbent Tel: 7-87240-217-31 Fax: 7-87240-217-31

Dubna

Jewish Community of Dubna 8 Blokhintseva, 5 Dubna

Kaliningrad

Chabad of Kaliningrad 2 Saltykov-Shchedrin Street Kaliningrad Tel: 7-0112-464-345

Kazan

Chabad Lubavitch of Kazan 15 Profsouznaya Street Kazan Tel: 7-8432-925-602 Fax: 7-8432-925-622

Khabarovsk

Chabad Lubavitch of Khabarovsk 76 Frunza Street Apt. 2 Khabarovsk Tel: 7-4212-304-518 Fax: 7-4212-304-518

Kostrama

Synagogue of Kostroma 16-A Sennoi Peroulok Kostrama 156000 Chabad Lubavitch http://www.kosero.narod.ru/

Krashnoyarsk

Chabad Lubavitch of Krashnoyarsk 65 Surikova Street Krashnoyarsk Tel: 7-3912-223-615

Krementshug

Chabad of Krementshug 33 Shevchenko Street Krementshug Tel: 7-05366-251-71 Fax: 7-05366-251-71

Magnitogorsk

Jewish Community of Magnitogorsk 2 Naberegnaya St. apt. 51 Magnitogorsk

Moscow

Aish HaTorah Moscow 8 Pokgrovsky Boulevard Bldg 2, Apt. 22 Moscow Aish Hatorah Tel: (7-095) 917-9346 Fax: (7-095) 917-9592

Association Humanistic Judaism Vsevolozhsky per. 2 OROSIR Moscow 113303 Humanistic http://www.shj.org/

Bucharian Synagogue 10 Spasoglinishevsky St. Moscow http://www.fjc.ru/default.asp

Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue 2 Vysheslavtzev Per. 5-A Kv. 31 Moscow Tel: 7-095-289-2325 Fax: 7-095-219-9707

Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue 6 Bolshaya Bronnaya Street Moscow --Unknown-- Tel: 7-095-202-4530 Fax: 7-095-291-6483

Georgian community 20 Lermontovo st. Moscow

Malachovka Synagogue Moscow

Marina Rosha Synagogue 4 Novosushevsky per. Moscow Tel: 7-095-289-2325 Fax: 7-095-229-9634

Marina Rostcha Synagogue Chabad Lubavitch Moscow Tel: 7-095-737-8275 Fax: 7-095-737-8276

Moscow Jewish Community Center 2nd Vesheslautzev per Moscow

Ohr Avner - Chabad Lubavitch 14/2 Obratzova Street Moscow --Unknown-- Tel: 7-095-284-4435 Fax: 7-095-737-8276

Synagogue of South Western District 97a Leninsky prospekt Moscow Tel: 7-095-138-5129 Fax: 7-095-289-9423

World Union for Progressive Judaism-Russia Vsevolozhskiy Pereulok 2 Entrance 1 Moscow 119034 Progressive http://www.wupj.org/

Nizhny Novgorod

Jewish Community of Nizhny Novgorod Website 5A Gruzinskaya Street Nizhny Novgorod 603000 Tel: 7-831-4344907 Fax: 7-831-4344050

Novosibirsk

Chabad Lubavitch of Novosibirsk Gurkova 85 Novosibirsk Tel: 7-3832-222-151 Fax: 7-3832-237-704

Omsk

Chabad Lubavitch of Omsk M. Zukov St. Omsk Tel: 7-3812-313-307 Fax: 7-3812-307-289

Orenburg

Chabad Lubavitch of Orenburg Tziklova 27 Orenburg Tel: 7-3532-728-492 Fax: 7-3532-728-492

Piskov

Jewish Community of Piskov 71/31 Sovetskaya St. apt. 7 Piskov

Rostov-na-Donu

Chabad House of Rostov-na-Donu Website 18 Gazetny Peroulok Rostov-na-Donu Tel: 7-8632-624-759 Fax: 7-8632-624-119

Samara

Chabad Lubavitch of Samara Website 84-B Chapaevskaya Street Samara Tel: 7-8462-320-529 Fax: 7-8462-704-274

Saratov

Chabad Lubavitch of Samara 84-B Chapaevskaya Street Samara http://www.fjc.ru/default.asp

Smolensk

Chabad Lubavitch of Smolensk 13 Bolshaya Sovetskaya Street Smolensk Chabad Lubavitch http://www.fjc.ru/default.asp

St. Petersburg

Aish St. Petersburg St. Petersburg

Choral Synagogue Lermontivskiy Avenue 2 St. Petersburg 190121 Reform Tel: 7-812-113-6209 Fax: 7-812-113-6209

Tambov

Tambov Synagogue Ulitsa Sovetskaya 93 Tambov 900323 Reform Tel: 956635 Fax: 953640

Tshelyabinsk

Chabad - Lubavitch of Tshelyabinsk 18 Gazetny Peroulok Tshelyabinsk Chabad Lubavitch Tel: 7-8632-624-759 Fax: 7-8632-624-119

Ufa

Chabad Lubavitch of Ufa 82 Communistiaskaya Street Ufa --Unknown-- Tel: 7-3472-223-331 Fax: 7-3472-223-331

Ulyanovsk

Jewish Community of Ulyanovsk 21 Oktyaborskaya St. apt. 50 Ulyanovsk

Uzhno-Sachalinsk

Jewish Community of Uzhno-Sachalinsk 13a Militzeyskaya St. apt. 21 Uzhno-Sachalinsk

Vladivostok

Jewish Community of Vladivostok 3 Charkovskaya St. apt. 121 Vladivostok

Volgograd

Chabad Lubavitch of Volgograd Komunitkeskaya 10 Volgograd Tel: 7-8442-37-43-56 Fax: 7-8442-37-43-56

Voronezh

Voronezh Synagogue Website Stankevicha, 6 Voronezh 394018 Orthodox Tel: 7-0732-77-06-49

Yekatrinburg

Chabad Lubavitch of Yekatrinburg 60/38 Tzalyoskinzev Yekatrinburg Tel: 7-3432-777-084 Fax: 7-3432-777-084