The Long Lasting Journey
Notes of a Wondering Jew
by
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I think it was 1997. The crew on the remediation site in one of the New York City boroughs included Poles, Yugoslavians, and the Latino American workers. I was the only one from Russia. I remember lunch breaks when workers chatted about when each of them was going back to their home countries. Some intended to return after earning their American pensions. Others wanted to save enough money to buy a property and return back home for good. Everyone was thinking of returning eventually. When it was my turn to share the vision of my future, I said I had no plans to return to Russia. I remember they were astounded. Although that did not mean they would definitely return, in their minds, they had another home… the real one… and they all dreamed of going there. I did not tell them that I am Jewish. For them, if I am from Russia, I am Russian, no matter who my parents are. Your nation is what your mother tongue is. That is a common understanding of people from many countries, apart from Russia. In spite of this, ethnicity matters there, and the Jews are not seen as Russians in the eyes of others. After two hundred years together, the greater part of Jews left Russia and moved to Israel, America, Canada, Australia, Germany, and elsewhere. Was Russia a motherland or a stepmother for these people? Which country are they loyal to? What memories do Russian Jews keep of their country of origin and of new places? Why do people who used to be Jews in Russia, became Russians in America, and what is their identity? In addition, who is the Russian Jew in America? Many questions and but fewer answers. Historically, the exodus has been the last resort for the Jewish community to survive the hardship of persecution. Every time was thought to be the last one. Yet, after a few decades or centuries, they have to move with a hope for a better destiny. With migration and new settlement, this nation has had to adjust to new restrictions and even absorb the traits of the local people. Although they remained Jewish, the cross current traditions and religions affected their culture. After receiving his Nobel Prize, a journalist asked Joseph Brodsky, an ingenious poet exiled from Russia: - “You are an American citizen who is receiving the Prize for Russian-language poetry. Who are you, an American or a Russian?” “I am Jewish… – a Russian poet… and an English essayist,” he responded. Still the confusion exists among the community members about who the Russian Jewish Americans are. Three entirely different cultures made an input into this new commonness. This observable fact has predetermined the plot of the book.
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About the Book
Over three thousand years separate the exodus of biblical Jews from the land of Egypt and the last wave of Jewish migrants to exit Russia. Today, hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews find themselves in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere. What made them depart this time around? What country are they loyal to? And finally, who is a Russian Jew? The Long Lasting Journey is about a people in quest of a better destiny. The story is written against the backdrop of dramatic political developments in two world superpowers in the second half of the twentieth century. Historical and social conditions of the past century have formed the distinct culture of Soviet Jews - an educated, ambitious, secular, and yet conservative people. For these people, the journey is a cultural integration to a new society - a society with a social order polar opposite from that of their own. It is also about the principle fiber of a people with a split identity. They are deeply rooted in Russian culture but maintain an elusive difference from the Russian majority; they consider themselves Jewish but are essentially distant from Judaism; they carry on an American way of life but their mind-set alienates them from the US mainstream. A mixture of personal divisive experiences, focused observations, and subjective reflections about these people of the last exodus determined the substance of this first person narrative. The Long Lasting Journey outlines the cultural merits left behind in one world and found in another.
About the Author
Leo Pevsner belongs to a generation of baby-boomers. His lifetime has been divided into two dissimilar parts: Russian and American. This divergence alleviated his understanding of moral basis, cultures, and ethics of these two so distinctive societies. In his book, he depicts Russian speaking immigrants in the US, specifically Jews, their common background, and cultural traits. Over three thousand years separates biblical Jews exited from Egypt from the last wave of Jewish migrants exited from Russia. In present time, hundreds of thousands modern day Russian Jews found themselves in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere. Why did they leave their country of birth? Why people that used to be Jews in Russia became Russians in America? What country are they loyal to? And finally, who is the Russian Jew? This book is about the principled fiber of the people deeply rooted into the Russian culture but keeping the elusive difference from the Russian mainstream; their mind-set also alienates them from the American mainstream. Historical and social conditions of the twentieth century have formed the distinct culture of Soviet Jews – educated, secular, and ambitious. Through the example of his own fortune, the author attempts to describe the divisive experience of these people and observe how their culture melts with an American one. A combination of personal experience, focused observations, and reflections about people of the last exodus determined the substance of this book. Leo holds doctoral degree in marine engineering, has a number of scientific publications in international technical magazines as well as over a dozen of inventions. The area of his business for the last 17 years is Environmental Engineering. In addition to engineering, he has a longtime concentration in History, Genealogy and Judaic studies. He lives in Northern New Jersey with his wife Marina. He works as a Project Engineer in Engineering Consulting firm.