A Miraculous Post-Soviet Religious Revival

[rug]

OCTOBER 14, 2011

Jewish practice has come a long way since owning a Russian copy of Leon Uris's "Exodus" could land a Jew in jail.

By STEVEN SCHWAGER

As Jews around the world gather to celebrate Simchat Torah next week—the raucous holiday marking the completion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings—I am reminded of one of the more curious practices among Soviet Jews in the final decades of the Communist regime.

Living under duress, these Jews gathered illegally in homes or even in the streets to celebrate a holiday for an object that most had never seen, let alone read from. Such celebrations persisted despite systematic anti-Jewish persecution by the Soviets, including university quotas, discouragement from certain jobs, and an all-out effort to eradicate Jewish culture and religion.

And yet 20 years after the Soviet Union's fall, this act of defiance has taken on an entirely different character. That's because—contrary to all expectations—we are in the midst of one of world's more miraculous revivals of Jewish civilization, and in much of the former Soviet Union such celebrations are no longer taboo. In fact a million or so Jews in former Soviet states are now celebrating their faith, history and culture with an enthusiasm previously unimaginable.

I credit this renaissance to two main forces.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576628890368780266.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[xchrom]

1. very cool. nt

[Deep13]

2. The Orthodox Church has rebounded too.

Natty Geo had an article about it a few years ago. I wouldn't call it miraculous. I guess if people are oppressed by the state, be it a communist or whatever the Russians have now, they will cling to whatever community identity they can. So the engines of oppression become self-perpetuating. It is unfortunate to see people returning to institutions--R.O., Jewish or Muslim--which oppressed them before the Russian revolution.

[Name removed]

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