Development of Jewish studies in the former Soviet Union is seen by many Jewish scholars here as a major tool to help bring Russian Jews closer to their historical roots.
“The future Russian Jewish leadership will emerge through strengthening and support of Jewish studies programs in the country,” said Nehemia Levzion, director of the Jerusalem-based International Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization.
Levzion was among a group of scholars and governmental leaders who addressed the conference this week of the Moscow Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization, also known as Sefer.
Yevgeny Velikhov, vice president of the Russian Academy of Science, which hosted the conference, emphasized that the scholarly activities of Jewish intellectuals in Russia serves as a great contribution to Russian culture in general.
More than 100 researchers and university teachers of Jewish history, philosophy, linguistics and literature from the republics of the former Soviet Union, the Baltic countries, as well as from the United States, Israel, Canada and Great Britain attended the event, which began Monday.
The conference focused attention on the increasing interest in Jewish studies among students in Russia as well as in other former Soviet republics.
According to Sefer, 48 universities throughout the former Soviet Union now offer courses in Jewish studies and Jewish-related topics. Among these schools are five Jewish universities operating in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in Kiev, Ukraine.
Russian Jewish religious leaders see these Jewish academic programs as one of the ways to help Russian Jews rediscover their nearly forgotten Jewish roots.
“Jewish studies is one of the tools to make sure that Jews who stay here will remain Jews,” said Chaim Chesler, referring to the high rate of assimilation among Russian Jews.
Chesler, the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s delegation to the former Soviet Union, said the rate of assimilation in Russia ran as high as 70 percent, compared with about 50 percent in the United States and only 10 percent in South Africa.
Terming the event “the conference of surviving Jewish people in Russia,” Chesler said that students are “the most important part of Jewish continuity” in every community throughout the world.
The chief rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, used his address to the conference to point to the necessity of creating a national association of Russian Jewish students.
He noted that membership in Russian Hillel organizations has not yet gained wide popularity among Jewish students here.
In a greeting to the conference sent by Ralph Goldman, the honorary executive vice president of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, he described Judaica scholars in the former Soviet Union as helping to restore a sense of pride among Russian Jews.
To the surprise of those who attended the conference, the Israeli ambassador to Russia, Aliza Shenhar, gave a lecture on Jewish folklore.
Before her diplomatic career began more than a year ago, Shenhar was a philology professor at the University of Haifa.
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