Wandering Jew Hopes Renew
Got thrown for a loop today. I visited the capital of the Russian Jewish Autonomous Region, Birobidzhan. The Region was set up by the Russian gov't in 1938 as a "homeland for the Jews" before Israel was anywhere close to being founded. The Russian gov't was trying to entice Jews to move to there so that they wouldn't have to deal with pogroms (some of which they had a hand in). It a decent arrangement, as the Jews were allowed to run the local government and establish a relatively untampered life, despite the fact that officially the synagogue and Hebrew schools were closed.
Birobidzhan is a lovely place, lots of trees, a beautiful riverside area and a general tranquility. Of it's 90,000 residents, only about 4,000 Jews remain, some 18,000 having left for Israel after the Soviet Collapse. Still, the main street is named Shalom-Alechem Blvd and all of the food stores in town are called "Tzimmes", written in Hebrew and Hebrew styled Cryrillic letters. The town's mayor is Jewish and the area seems proud (jew and gentile alike) of it's special heritage.
After investigating the city and synagogue, my wonderful tour guide, Galina arranged for me to have a personal meeting with the 81 year old director of the Jewish Society, Lev Gregoryevich Toytman. He shook his fist at me in humourous dissapointment when he told me that if only I had contacted him first, my trip to Harbin would have been VERY different. It turns out I missed everything.
In Harbin, there's a new synagogue. There's an active Jewish museum. There's lots of records. There's many people there who would have been happy to host me and show me around and take care of me as their honoured guest. Lev Gregoryevich is very connected with the Harbin community. Just last week, while I was there, was an international gathering of Jews from Harbin which he attended. All this, right under my nose with no way of knowing.
So I'm stuck. A large part of me wants to return to Harbin to finish what I started. Already here in the Russian far east, I've found a taste of the trail to one of my ancestors. If I go back to Harbin, I feel like I might really find something special-- not to mention the fact that it sounds fun to go there and be the guest of the local community. I could go down there, stay for a bit, then return to the US via Beijing.
On the other hand, this means leaving Russia and I can't return since my visa only allows one entry. That would mean giving up on the language study I've been cultivating for months now. It also means giving up on seeing the rest of the country by rail, stopping to meet Alex in St. Petersburg, and seeing Karl in Iceland this season (of course, I could just as easily fly there from NY after Velma's wedding).
A compromise has popped into my head. If I can rent a flat here in pleasant Khabarovsk for a few weeks and find a Russian teacher, I can stay immersed here, relax and chill out for a while and then go down to Harbin. That way I could get my Russian experience and still get to visit Harbin properly. I'm going down to the travel agent first thing in the morning and see if this is something they can set up.
Other options include a shorter loop on the Trans-Sib (although I don't really see the point), popping off to Sakhalin Island (as suggested by Rich), or maybe even Japan.
Mmmmm, Japan. I could really go for some sushi about now.
Birobidzhan is a lovely place, lots of trees, a beautiful riverside area and a general tranquility. Of it's 90,000 residents, only about 4,000 Jews remain, some 18,000 having left for Israel after the Soviet Collapse. Still, the main street is named Shalom-Alechem Blvd and all of the food stores in town are called "Tzimmes", written in Hebrew and Hebrew styled Cryrillic letters. The town's mayor is Jewish and the area seems proud (jew and gentile alike) of it's special heritage.
After investigating the city and synagogue, my wonderful tour guide, Galina arranged for me to have a personal meeting with the 81 year old director of the Jewish Society, Lev Gregoryevich Toytman. He shook his fist at me in humourous dissapointment when he told me that if only I had contacted him first, my trip to Harbin would have been VERY different. It turns out I missed everything.
In Harbin, there's a new synagogue. There's an active Jewish museum. There's lots of records. There's many people there who would have been happy to host me and show me around and take care of me as their honoured guest. Lev Gregoryevich is very connected with the Harbin community. Just last week, while I was there, was an international gathering of Jews from Harbin which he attended. All this, right under my nose with no way of knowing.
So I'm stuck. A large part of me wants to return to Harbin to finish what I started. Already here in the Russian far east, I've found a taste of the trail to one of my ancestors. If I go back to Harbin, I feel like I might really find something special-- not to mention the fact that it sounds fun to go there and be the guest of the local community. I could go down there, stay for a bit, then return to the US via Beijing.
On the other hand, this means leaving Russia and I can't return since my visa only allows one entry. That would mean giving up on the language study I've been cultivating for months now. It also means giving up on seeing the rest of the country by rail, stopping to meet Alex in St. Petersburg, and seeing Karl in Iceland this season (of course, I could just as easily fly there from NY after Velma's wedding).
A compromise has popped into my head. If I can rent a flat here in pleasant Khabarovsk for a few weeks and find a Russian teacher, I can stay immersed here, relax and chill out for a while and then go down to Harbin. That way I could get my Russian experience and still get to visit Harbin properly. I'm going down to the travel agent first thing in the morning and see if this is something they can set up.
Other options include a shorter loop on the Trans-Sib (although I don't really see the point), popping off to Sakhalin Island (as suggested by Rich), or maybe even Japan.
Mmmmm, Japan. I could really go for some sushi about now.
posted by Scottley at 5:43 AM
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