Rabbonim have joined with other leading Russian Jewish
figures in issuing a plea to the West to help them to
overcome a Communist campaign against the Jews of Moscow and
outlying regions. Antisemitic incitement from the podium of
the Duma (Russian parliament) as well as violent attacks
against rabbonim and synagogues, are manifestations of this
current phenomenon.
According to the London Times, Russian Jewish leaders
have written to the parliaments of Britain and France, the
United States Congress and the European Parliament in
Brussels, informing them of the latest wave of attacks and
incitement, and urging them to respond by severing all ties
with Duma members who fail to condemn these actions. The
Western legislators have yet to be heard from.
The Communists have lately adopted the tactic of lacing their
attacks with an anti-Zionistic slant. For example, Yevgeni
Zuganov, head of the Communist party, has recently attributed
the fall of the Soviet Union to -- as he calls it -- "The
International Zionist movement."
In an interview, Moscow Chief Rabbi wonders aloud why Western
Jewry, which was most vocal against Russian antisemitism
since Czarist times, now seems unperturbed by this latest
onslaught.
Sources among Russian Jewry say that outbreaks of
antisemitism in other parts of the former Soviet Union are
also on the upswing. Ukrainian Jews have been accused of
smuggling sensitive scientific technology to Israel, contrary
to any evidence. In addition, several Jewish Agency
representatives have been expelled for trying to recruit
scientists for aliya to Israel. The flight of
Ukrainian Jews is especially worrying to authorities
there.
The British weekly, The Economist, recently devoted a
special feature to this development. The article states that
thirty thousand Jews (out of a total 300,000) are emigrating
yearly, with Israel, Germany and the U.S. their main
destinations. The Economist goes on to forecast that
if these trends continue, virtually every Ukrainian synagogue
will be boarded up within 12 years.
HaRav Yaakov Bleich of the Ukraine takes a neutral stand on
the emigration question, saying only that whether the Jews
remain or leave, the prime objective of the local rabbinate
is to infuse the Jews with a renewed attachment to Torah and
Yiddishkeit to the greatest possible degree.
