Many years ago, I expressed confidence that Soviet Jewry was destined to play a major role in the future development of Judaism and Israel. In those days, the Soviet aliyah activists were either Gulag inmates or "refuseniks" (my family among them), and I was ridiculed for entertaining such a weird idea. Nobody in Israel believed in the possibility of a massive aliyah from the USSR, and there were no grounds to expect a completely assimilated assortment of people to somehow influence Jewish thought.
My prediction was based on the logic of Divinely directed Jewish history, wherein nothing happens for no reason or purpose. It would be inconceivable from this point of view that such a significant portion of the Jewish people (at least 3 million) was placed in a unique situation without the Hand of Providence.
Indeed, Soviet Jews were completely cut off from the rest of world Jewry, robbed of any knowledge of Jewish history, Jewish language and culture. They were forced to assimilate such that most of them could not even explain to their children what it means to be Jewish. The only thing that preserved them as Jews was the infamous "fifth paragraph" in their I.D. card listing their nationality (not religion!) as "Jew". By keeping this paragraph, the Soviets negated their own ideal of blending all nations into one "Soviet people", and yet it was kept as if to remind every Jew of who he or she was.
Nevertheless, they received a high-level education in the sciences, training in critical thinking, as well as strong ideological convictions. Never mind that those convictions were communist. From Soviet practices they discerned the falsity of those ideas. But the power achieved by the USSR on the basis of those ideas taught Jews that ideology provides a nation with might greater than military.
It was with this unique background that these assimilated Jews witnessed the collapse of the great Soviet Empire. This helped them discard whatever remained of the Soviet ideology and practically forced them to migrate to Israel. Under the ruins of their past lives, they had to leave everything they had ever earned. However, three things remained in their unalienable possession: vast scientific knowledge, critical thinking, and a huge spiritual void replacing their former ideological convictions.
Now, almost twenty years later and a mere decade after the beginning of what is termed "the great Russian aliyah", we are witnessing two interesting phenomena.
(1) An unprecedented renaissance in Jewish thought. People educated in the rigorous sciences are returning to Judaism, and they are interfacing their secular knowledge with the Torah. For a high percentage of these newly religious scientists, Russian is their native tongue.
(2) The largest body of intellectuals in Israel, whose mentality has not been tainted by moral relativism, and who insist that it is impossible to defend Israel from her Arab-Islamic enemies without strong ideological convictions, are those who were educated in Russia.
This metamorphosis of recent materialists and atheists seems paradoxical to many Israelis. In fact, however, Israelis themselves have unwittingly contributed to this transformation. How?
Had the numerous scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, etc. found themselves needed in Israel, they would have resumed work in their respective fields with the same professional zeal they had displayed in the USSR. This would have kept them so busy that no spare time would be left for any spiritual quest. But from the start, Israel's scientific and intellectual elite erected a wall between themselves and the newcomers. They had no intention of letting these well-educated competitors undermine their comfortable positions. So the only thing the newcomers received ? for the first time in their lives ? was a lot of time off, the time to think and search for their identity. The time that was needed to fill the spiritual void that had been left in their souls.
This quest brought thousands of them to Judaism. But having been taught not to accept any ideas at face value, and being equipped with scientific knowledge and critical thinking, they applied such intellectual discipline to the study of their ancient heritage. This contributed greatly to the renaissance of Jewish philosophy.
Russian-speaking intellectuals are performing a no less significant role in shaping the sociopolitical mentality not only of former "Russians", but of Israeli society as a whole. With the rare exceptions of those who have sold out, not so much for money as for the sake of being accepted by academic circles, the majority of the Russian-speaking intellectuals stand firmly on the only viable ideological ground vis-a-vis the Israel-Arab conflict. This ground is Judaism and the Jewish right to the G-d-given Land of Israel. Their thinking has not been corrupted by cultural relativism. Having been influenced by the national pride of a superpower, they are not ashamed to assert Jewish rights and Jewish national pride.
Now that growing numbers of Israel's intellectuals admit the mistake of Oslo, but are unable to transcend the relativism implanted in their minds by Western university education, the Russian-Jewish intellectuals' influence is coming to the fore, which promises a Jewish alternative to Oslo.
My prediction was based on the logic of Divinely directed Jewish history, wherein nothing happens for no reason or purpose. It would be inconceivable from this point of view that such a significant portion of the Jewish people (at least 3 million) was placed in a unique situation without the Hand of Providence.
Indeed, Soviet Jews were completely cut off from the rest of world Jewry, robbed of any knowledge of Jewish history, Jewish language and culture. They were forced to assimilate such that most of them could not even explain to their children what it means to be Jewish. The only thing that preserved them as Jews was the infamous "fifth paragraph" in their I.D. card listing their nationality (not religion!) as "Jew". By keeping this paragraph, the Soviets negated their own ideal of blending all nations into one "Soviet people", and yet it was kept as if to remind every Jew of who he or she was.
Nevertheless, they received a high-level education in the sciences, training in critical thinking, as well as strong ideological convictions. Never mind that those convictions were communist. From Soviet practices they discerned the falsity of those ideas. But the power achieved by the USSR on the basis of those ideas taught Jews that ideology provides a nation with might greater than military.
It was with this unique background that these assimilated Jews witnessed the collapse of the great Soviet Empire. This helped them discard whatever remained of the Soviet ideology and practically forced them to migrate to Israel. Under the ruins of their past lives, they had to leave everything they had ever earned. However, three things remained in their unalienable possession: vast scientific knowledge, critical thinking, and a huge spiritual void replacing their former ideological convictions.
Now, almost twenty years later and a mere decade after the beginning of what is termed "the great Russian aliyah", we are witnessing two interesting phenomena.
(1) An unprecedented renaissance in Jewish thought. People educated in the rigorous sciences are returning to Judaism, and they are interfacing their secular knowledge with the Torah. For a high percentage of these newly religious scientists, Russian is their native tongue.
(2) The largest body of intellectuals in Israel, whose mentality has not been tainted by moral relativism, and who insist that it is impossible to defend Israel from her Arab-Islamic enemies without strong ideological convictions, are those who were educated in Russia.
This metamorphosis of recent materialists and atheists seems paradoxical to many Israelis. In fact, however, Israelis themselves have unwittingly contributed to this transformation. How?
Had the numerous scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers, etc. found themselves needed in Israel, they would have resumed work in their respective fields with the same professional zeal they had displayed in the USSR. This would have kept them so busy that no spare time would be left for any spiritual quest. But from the start, Israel's scientific and intellectual elite erected a wall between themselves and the newcomers. They had no intention of letting these well-educated competitors undermine their comfortable positions. So the only thing the newcomers received ? for the first time in their lives ? was a lot of time off, the time to think and search for their identity. The time that was needed to fill the spiritual void that had been left in their souls.
This quest brought thousands of them to Judaism. But having been taught not to accept any ideas at face value, and being equipped with scientific knowledge and critical thinking, they applied such intellectual discipline to the study of their ancient heritage. This contributed greatly to the renaissance of Jewish philosophy.
Russian-speaking intellectuals are performing a no less significant role in shaping the sociopolitical mentality not only of former "Russians", but of Israeli society as a whole. With the rare exceptions of those who have sold out, not so much for money as for the sake of being accepted by academic circles, the majority of the Russian-speaking intellectuals stand firmly on the only viable ideological ground vis-a-vis the Israel-Arab conflict. This ground is Judaism and the Jewish right to the G-d-given Land of Israel. Their thinking has not been corrupted by cultural relativism. Having been influenced by the national pride of a superpower, they are not ashamed to assert Jewish rights and Jewish national pride.
Now that growing numbers of Israel's intellectuals admit the mistake of Oslo, but are unable to transcend the relativism implanted in their minds by Western university education, the Russian-Jewish intellectuals' influence is coming to the fore, which promises a Jewish alternative to Oslo.