A Culture Rekindled: Jewish Traditions Return To Russia click the images to view

From September of 1992 until July of 1993, while living in Moscow and freelancing as a photojournalist I embarked on a project to document the remarkable changes taking place in Jewish communities all over Russia. I spent most of the year in and around Moscow. With a Jewish population of anywhere from 100,000 to 250,000, there were always activities to photograph and people to meet. Towards the end of my stay, I set out across Russia, with my sister in tow, to seek out the small communities, and see what, if any Jewish life, existed outside of the big city. When we got off the train in Tyumen, just east of the Ural mountains in Western Siberia, I had no idea what to expect. We arrived on Friday, just in time for Shabbat, our host, Pyotr, informed us. He was about 28 and the leader of this community. With the sun setting we arrived at the building where the service would take place. The city's synagogue is not much more than a pile of rubble, having been abused for years as government warehouse. Instead, the congregation rented a room in the Union of Textile Workers building, or something like that. They were a ragtag group of about 15, ranging in age from 4 to 74. The amazing thing was, if you couldn't hear the Russian being spoken, you might think this was any small reform community in America celebrating an improptu and casual shabbat ritual. They prayed a little, played a little, and then ate a little. The wine was worse than Manechevitz, but the challah was great, homemade by the community's aging matriarch. In the absence of strong traditions, this little community has started one of its own: lighting many chanukkah-like candles, so that everyone can share in the mitzvah of kindling the shabbat lights. Pyotr took us on a 4 hour adventure the next day to nearby Tobolsk. There was a cemetary there, so overgrown and forgotten we drove around the block 5 times before realizing we had arrived. But even this depressing symbol of what once was, coupled with the desecrated synagogue in Tyumen, could diminish the feeling that we had been witness to something special and encouraging. I couldn't help but feel optimistic and at that moment I, too, believed that there was a future for Jews in Russia. back to top back to stories menu